Okay, I had an idea...what if Black Tom Cassidy was arrested and tried in London? I jotted down some notes, changed things around when I saw someone posted awesome stats for Purifiers, and moved on from there.
We played half the adventure tonight. Summary: I need to read the rules again. I also need some work with pacing.
Also, I really like the game.
Okay, I'm going to bed now. The cat is acting odd.
Showing posts with label rpg's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rpg's. Show all posts
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Stream of consciousness
I've been working on a new game. Its about ghosts, and people who hunt for them. I have some solid pages down about the mechanics, and character creation. I think I know what I want to look for when it comes to artwork. I know my source material. I know the genre. I've studied what ghost stories mean to American culture. I understand scary stories.
But what does a ghost represent, and why am I so obsessed about stories about them? And why is it so hard to write about them?
My wife talked to me about what ghosts mean to her. She's really practical. To her, the meaning is really simple: its a person's lack of willingness to let go. A ghost is about our baggage. What haven't you been able to release? That's probably what will manifest.
Its elementary, I suppose. If you're going to write a ghost story, think about the stuff that hasn't been resolved.
I haven't been able to get any further than the mechanics. Every time I try to write about the ghosts themselves, about what they represent and about how people interact with them, I'm stuck. I'm not ready to talk, in a game, about what a ghost means to fictional characters.
Here's a funny story...I needed a palate for my paint. I have this old crystal dish that my mom used as an ashtray. As a matter of fact, I only ever knew it as an ashtray; I don't think it ever had any other purpose when it was in my mom's possession. It took effort, but I used it as a palate. I made a dumb comment about it on Facebook, just to ease the tension, a little something to help rip the bandage from the wound, I guess.
Does that analogy make sense? It has to do with my mom, too.
So, we were talking about ghosts. I've been jotting down notes about what ghosts mean in different cultures...about the angry poltergeist, about the Victorian haunters.
I had this professor in college who told us that we'll know what's real, what's true, when it comes to us in the still, small moments in the night. They're the things that wake us up. I'd forgotten about that. He always helped us get over what ever baggage we had when it came to academia. Remember what is real.
Grief is real, sure. But so is the creative process. So is the written word.
But what does a ghost represent, and why am I so obsessed about stories about them? And why is it so hard to write about them?
My wife talked to me about what ghosts mean to her. She's really practical. To her, the meaning is really simple: its a person's lack of willingness to let go. A ghost is about our baggage. What haven't you been able to release? That's probably what will manifest.
Its elementary, I suppose. If you're going to write a ghost story, think about the stuff that hasn't been resolved.
I haven't been able to get any further than the mechanics. Every time I try to write about the ghosts themselves, about what they represent and about how people interact with them, I'm stuck. I'm not ready to talk, in a game, about what a ghost means to fictional characters.
Here's a funny story...I needed a palate for my paint. I have this old crystal dish that my mom used as an ashtray. As a matter of fact, I only ever knew it as an ashtray; I don't think it ever had any other purpose when it was in my mom's possession. It took effort, but I used it as a palate. I made a dumb comment about it on Facebook, just to ease the tension, a little something to help rip the bandage from the wound, I guess.
Does that analogy make sense? It has to do with my mom, too.
So, we were talking about ghosts. I've been jotting down notes about what ghosts mean in different cultures...about the angry poltergeist, about the Victorian haunters.
I had this professor in college who told us that we'll know what's real, what's true, when it comes to us in the still, small moments in the night. They're the things that wake us up. I'd forgotten about that. He always helped us get over what ever baggage we had when it came to academia. Remember what is real.
Grief is real, sure. But so is the creative process. So is the written word.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Marvel Heroic RPG after-action report
I forgot, I never got to write up that after-action report for my Marvel Heroic RPG.
The characters were chosen some time earlier. Matt chose Cyclops, Chris chose Storm, and Alan chose Cannonball. So there we were, with Team "Team Leader."
To try out the system a little bit, we started with a Danger Room scenario: the team fighting ninja vampires on the rooftops of Neo-Tokyo. The players interacted in an interesting manner...seeing three team leaders interact was fun. XP were gained as a result of the small inter-party confrontations.
We started quickly picking up on how to manipulate the environment by dice rolls. I'd bought a big dry-erase board earlier that day, and jotted down valuable notes for everyone to see (what effects were in use, some stats for bad guys, that sort of thing). We found that keeping the board out there, and constantly writing out the effects we created for everyone to see helped.
We picked up with the mission: Cerebra picked up a new mutant coming into their powers somewhere in the midwest. The first part of the action started at a shopping mall, with a pit of darkforce growing in the floor. The group did a good job moving the civilians out of the area, disrupting the threat from the darkforce, and finding whomever was the cause. The run from the mall, with a young mutant in their arms, was troubles by a couple of black helicopters with anti-mutant folks at the guns. The choppers were defeated, and the new mutant was saved.
The players all picked up the narrative use of the dice quickly. There was only an occasional bit of prompting. If someone said they were attacking, I asked what effect they were looking for. This created a cool, action-filled set of scenes.
We had a transition scene, with the PC's meeting with the new mutant's parents. Storm went to give the "I understand you're going through a lot of changes," speech. Cannonball and Cyclops gave the, "We work at a really cool school...we even brought pamphlets," speech. It was a nice way to get the players to find their characters' voices.
No dice rolls in the transition scene. No one had taken any damage in the previous scene. It was cool, but in danger of going to far.
So, in come the Sentinels. And some Hellions. The fight was cool, with everyone pulling out the best opportunities to do cool stuff and create effects that stayed over the battlefield. Plot points were handed out, the Doom Pool was used to near exhaustion. Ultimately, the Sentinels were defeated, and the Hellions were sent running. The new young mutant agreed to go to Xavier's School, with the blessing from a very nervous, but appreciative, parents.
The dice rolling during combat was quick and loose. Thanks to Christine for having her laptop open, ready to confirm the rules we needed. The biggest wall we'd hit, I think, was how we were supposed to use our Plot Points, and how I was supposed to give them out.
The characters were chosen some time earlier. Matt chose Cyclops, Chris chose Storm, and Alan chose Cannonball. So there we were, with Team "Team Leader."
To try out the system a little bit, we started with a Danger Room scenario: the team fighting ninja vampires on the rooftops of Neo-Tokyo. The players interacted in an interesting manner...seeing three team leaders interact was fun. XP were gained as a result of the small inter-party confrontations.
We started quickly picking up on how to manipulate the environment by dice rolls. I'd bought a big dry-erase board earlier that day, and jotted down valuable notes for everyone to see (what effects were in use, some stats for bad guys, that sort of thing). We found that keeping the board out there, and constantly writing out the effects we created for everyone to see helped.
We picked up with the mission: Cerebra picked up a new mutant coming into their powers somewhere in the midwest. The first part of the action started at a shopping mall, with a pit of darkforce growing in the floor. The group did a good job moving the civilians out of the area, disrupting the threat from the darkforce, and finding whomever was the cause. The run from the mall, with a young mutant in their arms, was troubles by a couple of black helicopters with anti-mutant folks at the guns. The choppers were defeated, and the new mutant was saved.
The players all picked up the narrative use of the dice quickly. There was only an occasional bit of prompting. If someone said they were attacking, I asked what effect they were looking for. This created a cool, action-filled set of scenes.
We had a transition scene, with the PC's meeting with the new mutant's parents. Storm went to give the "I understand you're going through a lot of changes," speech. Cannonball and Cyclops gave the, "We work at a really cool school...we even brought pamphlets," speech. It was a nice way to get the players to find their characters' voices.
No dice rolls in the transition scene. No one had taken any damage in the previous scene. It was cool, but in danger of going to far.
So, in come the Sentinels. And some Hellions. The fight was cool, with everyone pulling out the best opportunities to do cool stuff and create effects that stayed over the battlefield. Plot points were handed out, the Doom Pool was used to near exhaustion. Ultimately, the Sentinels were defeated, and the Hellions were sent running. The new young mutant agreed to go to Xavier's School, with the blessing from a very nervous, but appreciative, parents.
The dice rolling during combat was quick and loose. Thanks to Christine for having her laptop open, ready to confirm the rules we needed. The biggest wall we'd hit, I think, was how we were supposed to use our Plot Points, and how I was supposed to give them out.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Lord of the Rings gaming coming back
Have you seen pics from Cubicle 7 of the new Lord of the Rings role-playing game, The One Ring?
Well, take a look.
I'm a sucker for nice presentations, and the pics alone make me want to add this to the collection. The dice in the next-to-last picture are nice, though I think I would rather use Q Workshop "Elven" dice. The maps look nice, and I guess that's to be expected. You just can't have a Tolkien game and not have gorgeous cartography.
It reminds me of their Doctor Who - Adventures in Time and Space boxed set, which included some equipment cards, blue dice, and a sheet of "story points." I enjoy boxed sets with props and extra bits (anyone seen my small collection of 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay?). I can see myself getting The One Ring just for the cool bits.
Am I interested in playing in a Middle-Earth setting? The usual argument about playing in a setting like that is that all the cool stuff has already been done. I never quite got into LoTR gaming, but I blame the people who introduced me to LoTR gaming...rabid fanboys who forced their own love of the setting on the players, and punished any deviation from their image. I've had the same problem with Dragonlance, Star Wars, Serenity, Star Trek, Forgotten Realms, Call of Cthulhu...same as most gamers, I imagine.
If you love a piece of literature or fiction like that, enough to want to run a game in that setting, then you are going to want to spread that love to the rest of the layers. You want them to be as rabid about the things you love about the setting as you are. But then, you get folks who want to play quick-drawing space pirates in a Starfleet-based Star Trek game, or are playing Forgotten Realms just to kill Elminster*. Things just don't work, and you declare that they just don't get your artistic vision or some such thing.
I ran a Star Wars game for a few years. The players played it like they were CIA agents in the early 1980's. They spent a great deal of their time destabilizing planetary governments, making propaganda videos, assassinating heads of state, organizing military coups...nothing at all very Star Wars like. There were no heroic Jedi Knights fighting to restore the glory of the Old Republic. This was the kind of story we wanted to build together. And we spent a lot of time sitting, talking about what we all wanted to do with the story. And we built it all together. If I were more of a rabid Star Wars fanboy, I'd be upset. But they wanted to do what they wanted to do with the setting, and I had to be cool with that.**
So I hope that people have fun with The One Ring, and make their stories their own. Best way to make it succeed.
*And can you blame them?
** As said during one LARP: "The rest of us are playing Call of Cthulhu, and Tony's playing Kult."
Well, take a look.
I'm a sucker for nice presentations, and the pics alone make me want to add this to the collection. The dice in the next-to-last picture are nice, though I think I would rather use Q Workshop "Elven" dice. The maps look nice, and I guess that's to be expected. You just can't have a Tolkien game and not have gorgeous cartography.
It reminds me of their Doctor Who - Adventures in Time and Space boxed set, which included some equipment cards, blue dice, and a sheet of "story points." I enjoy boxed sets with props and extra bits (anyone seen my small collection of 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay?). I can see myself getting The One Ring just for the cool bits.
Am I interested in playing in a Middle-Earth setting? The usual argument about playing in a setting like that is that all the cool stuff has already been done. I never quite got into LoTR gaming, but I blame the people who introduced me to LoTR gaming...rabid fanboys who forced their own love of the setting on the players, and punished any deviation from their image. I've had the same problem with Dragonlance, Star Wars, Serenity, Star Trek, Forgotten Realms, Call of Cthulhu...same as most gamers, I imagine.
If you love a piece of literature or fiction like that, enough to want to run a game in that setting, then you are going to want to spread that love to the rest of the layers. You want them to be as rabid about the things you love about the setting as you are. But then, you get folks who want to play quick-drawing space pirates in a Starfleet-based Star Trek game, or are playing Forgotten Realms just to kill Elminster*. Things just don't work, and you declare that they just don't get your artistic vision or some such thing.
I ran a Star Wars game for a few years. The players played it like they were CIA agents in the early 1980's. They spent a great deal of their time destabilizing planetary governments, making propaganda videos, assassinating heads of state, organizing military coups...nothing at all very Star Wars like. There were no heroic Jedi Knights fighting to restore the glory of the Old Republic. This was the kind of story we wanted to build together. And we spent a lot of time sitting, talking about what we all wanted to do with the story. And we built it all together. If I were more of a rabid Star Wars fanboy, I'd be upset. But they wanted to do what they wanted to do with the setting, and I had to be cool with that.**
So I hope that people have fun with The One Ring, and make their stories their own. Best way to make it succeed.
*And can you blame them?
** As said during one LARP: "The rest of us are playing Call of Cthulhu, and Tony's playing Kult."
Monday, June 13, 2011
At my age, I have to pace myself
Sometimes, I get really lucky.
A short time ago, I hit a nearby used bookstore. I found a bunch of treasures there, including an old Deities and Demigods (which ended up being the big find...more on that in another ost), as well as an old Avalon Hill war-game. Stuffed along the few gaming books and wargames, I found this little gem:
An old Tournaments Illuminated from 1983.
How awesome it that?!
The inside is full of typewritten pages and hand-done drawings. Articles range from, "What my Award of Arms Means to Me" to a history of kites. Its beautiful...a zine that represents the down-and-dirty, grass-roots feel of the earlier SCA. Its obviously a work of love and patience.
I love that do-it-yourself feeling that I get from this magazine. The cottage industries that are supported by the hobby certainly make any SCAdian's life easier...certainly, I wouldn't have half the gear or garb I have if I had to make it all myself and rely on my own craftiness. The feeling I get from seeing an old periodical like this, though, is more counter-culture, more small-community feeling.
At my first Kings and Queen's Rapier Tournament, there was talk about the Cording System's email group. This was the mid to late 90's; I was broke, and didn't own a computer yet. I asked how I'd keep in touch with the rest of the group if I didn't have access to email, and was told, "The 21st century is in a couple of years. Get with the times." The irony, of course, that the woman telling this to me was wearing an attempt at 16th century clothing and carrying a rapier. We all laughed. Now, I couldn't imagine an SCA without the web.
In 1983, how many days a week did you work on your hobby? How often did you communicate with other members? How important were your local buiness meetings or armoring nights or sewing gatherings? Today, I can be in constant contact with any number of members. If I want to, I could be on my local group's email list, the local region's email list, the local region's fencing email list, my kingdom award's email list, the kingdom fencing email list, etc. And I was...and more. And eventually burnt out.
It was hard for the SCA to feel special when I was being bombarded with news and info all day. It was hard to feel like I could devote any time t my other hobbies. Suddenly, if I wanted to paint, I felt like I should be making an effort to paint heraldry...that sort of thing. Of course, no one made me feel that way, but with the SCA always in my field of vision, it was hard to ignore any possible SCAdian use for anything I did. The SCA started feeling really...mundane.
Focus on any one really cool thing long enough and you're likely to tire of it. I know people in various fandoms who eventually burn out. I know die-hard convention goers, war-gamers, LARPers, board gamers...the list goes on...who get tired and need time away. Sometimes you need that time to make something feel special again.
I know people who felt that way about church, too, and other social activities. Hit the same nightclub week after week without stop, without breaking routine, and watch yourself loose the motivation to dance, to smile at the barmaid. We have enough free time on our hands that anything can eventually become boring...we grow apathetic, develop a sense of ennui that replaces our excitement and passion.
I'm a geek, and that isn't likely to change. I'm nearing 40, and I still play role-playing games, I play war-games, I'm a SCAdian, I might even LARP again if the opportunity presents itself. I've edited, playtested, and written for gaming products, and spent way too much time thinking about obscure rules from old, yellowing game products. I can't turn down a game of chess and I still read comic books. I love swordsmanship and find it difficult to pull myself away from old fencing manuals. And horror of horrors, my 10 year-old thinks its all cool. If I want to have the passion to get him interested in medieval costumes and gaming books and painting minis and chess, I have to learn to pace myself. I'm not getting any younger and, thankfully, it doesn't look like any of the things I love are going away anytime soon.
A short time ago, I hit a nearby used bookstore. I found a bunch of treasures there, including an old Deities and Demigods (which ended up being the big find...more on that in another ost), as well as an old Avalon Hill war-game. Stuffed along the few gaming books and wargames, I found this little gem:
An old Tournaments Illuminated from 1983.
How awesome it that?!
The inside is full of typewritten pages and hand-done drawings. Articles range from, "What my Award of Arms Means to Me" to a history of kites. Its beautiful...a zine that represents the down-and-dirty, grass-roots feel of the earlier SCA. Its obviously a work of love and patience.
I love that do-it-yourself feeling that I get from this magazine. The cottage industries that are supported by the hobby certainly make any SCAdian's life easier...certainly, I wouldn't have half the gear or garb I have if I had to make it all myself and rely on my own craftiness. The feeling I get from seeing an old periodical like this, though, is more counter-culture, more small-community feeling.
At my first Kings and Queen's Rapier Tournament, there was talk about the Cording System's email group. This was the mid to late 90's; I was broke, and didn't own a computer yet. I asked how I'd keep in touch with the rest of the group if I didn't have access to email, and was told, "The 21st century is in a couple of years. Get with the times." The irony, of course, that the woman telling this to me was wearing an attempt at 16th century clothing and carrying a rapier. We all laughed. Now, I couldn't imagine an SCA without the web.
In 1983, how many days a week did you work on your hobby? How often did you communicate with other members? How important were your local buiness meetings or armoring nights or sewing gatherings? Today, I can be in constant contact with any number of members. If I want to, I could be on my local group's email list, the local region's email list, the local region's fencing email list, my kingdom award's email list, the kingdom fencing email list, etc. And I was...and more. And eventually burnt out.
It was hard for the SCA to feel special when I was being bombarded with news and info all day. It was hard to feel like I could devote any time t my other hobbies. Suddenly, if I wanted to paint, I felt like I should be making an effort to paint heraldry...that sort of thing. Of course, no one made me feel that way, but with the SCA always in my field of vision, it was hard to ignore any possible SCAdian use for anything I did. The SCA started feeling really...mundane.
Focus on any one really cool thing long enough and you're likely to tire of it. I know people in various fandoms who eventually burn out. I know die-hard convention goers, war-gamers, LARPers, board gamers...the list goes on...who get tired and need time away. Sometimes you need that time to make something feel special again.
I know people who felt that way about church, too, and other social activities. Hit the same nightclub week after week without stop, without breaking routine, and watch yourself loose the motivation to dance, to smile at the barmaid. We have enough free time on our hands that anything can eventually become boring...we grow apathetic, develop a sense of ennui that replaces our excitement and passion.
I'm a geek, and that isn't likely to change. I'm nearing 40, and I still play role-playing games, I play war-games, I'm a SCAdian, I might even LARP again if the opportunity presents itself. I've edited, playtested, and written for gaming products, and spent way too much time thinking about obscure rules from old, yellowing game products. I can't turn down a game of chess and I still read comic books. I love swordsmanship and find it difficult to pull myself away from old fencing manuals. And horror of horrors, my 10 year-old thinks its all cool. If I want to have the passion to get him interested in medieval costumes and gaming books and painting minis and chess, I have to learn to pace myself. I'm not getting any younger and, thankfully, it doesn't look like any of the things I love are going away anytime soon.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Two Castles and Crusades sessions down
I don't update this nearly enough.
I'm still on my Castles and Crusades kick; it really satisfies my need for a Dungeons and Dragons fix. The rules are a welcome relief from the traditional D20 set. The SIEGE Engine is elegant. roll a D20. If the action your character is performing is based on a primary attribute, your target is 12. If the action is based on a secondary attribute, the target is 18. Modify the die roll based on the difficulty of the action, and the level of the character. Bang. Done. Combat: roll higher than the other guy's armor class. There are a few maneuvers that can give bonuses or penalties, but nothing as detailed as combat feats. We take a lot of liberty describing what we want to have happen, and apply bonuses or penalties based on the circumstances. Yes, its what we did we we played 1st edition AD&D in high-school. The inclusion of character special abilities and the removal of feats and special abilities makes the game run faster, with just enough "crunch" to keep the dice rolling interesting.
The campaign is supposed to have a very Arthurian, old-world fantasy feel. Everyone created characters that fit the setting. We have a traditional 4-class model (fighter, cleric, thief, and magic-user). Its a necessity for the setting and the rules. Some people might think of that as a negative point of the setting, but I like having a party with a cleric that uses a mace.
There were goblins and magical knights and cursed swords and a dungeon...they cleared one level of the dungeon already, and are starting work on the second. Its moving very smoothly, and it looks like everyone is enjoying it so far.
I'm still on my Castles and Crusades kick; it really satisfies my need for a Dungeons and Dragons fix. The rules are a welcome relief from the traditional D20 set. The SIEGE Engine is elegant. roll a D20. If the action your character is performing is based on a primary attribute, your target is 12. If the action is based on a secondary attribute, the target is 18. Modify the die roll based on the difficulty of the action, and the level of the character. Bang. Done. Combat: roll higher than the other guy's armor class. There are a few maneuvers that can give bonuses or penalties, but nothing as detailed as combat feats. We take a lot of liberty describing what we want to have happen, and apply bonuses or penalties based on the circumstances. Yes, its what we did we we played 1st edition AD&D in high-school. The inclusion of character special abilities and the removal of feats and special abilities makes the game run faster, with just enough "crunch" to keep the dice rolling interesting.
The campaign is supposed to have a very Arthurian, old-world fantasy feel. Everyone created characters that fit the setting. We have a traditional 4-class model (fighter, cleric, thief, and magic-user). Its a necessity for the setting and the rules. Some people might think of that as a negative point of the setting, but I like having a party with a cleric that uses a mace.
There were goblins and magical knights and cursed swords and a dungeon...they cleared one level of the dungeon already, and are starting work on the second. Its moving very smoothly, and it looks like everyone is enjoying it so far.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
New Year, new games
I've never been a big fan of boardgames. I never really enjoyed that they just existed in one particular point-in-time. There was no backstory, and the game itself just seemed too much like like a futile distraction of dice-rolling, space-occupying, and time-killing. I'd based this opinion of games from my childhood...the types of things we've all played over and over (Monopoly and the like). I enjoyed tactical wargames much more, because they existed in some kind of world (like either the real-world of WW II, like my old Avalon Hill wargames, or fictional settings like Car Wars or Battletech). Those never felt like boargames. My friends and I were playing scenarios that could have been part of a larger experience. Our experiences could connect to something bigger, and it made us feel like what we did mattered a little more.
Recently, though, I've been spending more of my afternoons at Natural 20 in Westmont (my favorite game store...go there and check it out). I've been swept into a few different games that have gotten me to appreciate boardgames a little differently. There are better reviewers out there who can give better descriptions of how these games are supposed to be played, =but I want to give my personal opinions about a few of them.
Battlestar Galactica. If you haven't played this yet, get to a game store on their boardgame night and try it out. Players work to get humanity's fleet to Earth, but Cylon's hidden in the players' ranks try to sabotage the effort. Times I've played, most people spend alot of time yelling, "You're a fracking toaster!" at each other. Great fun.
Neuroshima Hex: A tactical game from Poland. I enjoy it, but am horrible at playing it. Last night, the owner of Natural 20 told me that he spent three days yelling about how horrible I play. His words: "Its a great game, unless Goodman's playing. Then you get angry."
A couple of recent acquisitions: Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, and Red November (the game of a sinking gnomish submarine). I would absolutely love to play either of these much more. Also got Munchkin Quest as a Christmas present from my Don. I'm still waiting for a chance to break that open.
Roleplaying games: I'm surprised at how much I like all of the stuff coming out for Star Wars Saga Edition. The core rulebook was nothign special, but every suppliment that's come out has been spectacular. My favorites recently have been Scum & Villany (playing scoundrels, smugglers, and the like), The Force Unleashed companion book (which includes a great deal of information on how to run a Dark Times game, set between episodes 3 and 4), and Starships of the Galaxy (which include further information on playing pilots and more starship combat rules). More setting books are coming out soon (The Clone Wars, this Tuesday, and the rebellion Era, a few months from now). I'm eagerly anticipating both.
I've been collecting and reading material for the Dark Heresy RPG (the Warhammer 40K RPG). I enjoy it. Although I have no idea where or when I'll get the chance to use the material, I eagerly await whenever the next set of books will come out. There's a great deal of setting information in them, and I enjoy what I read more and more. Its inspiring me more and more to work on my Space Marine army, too.
Recently, though, I've been spending more of my afternoons at Natural 20 in Westmont (my favorite game store...go there and check it out). I've been swept into a few different games that have gotten me to appreciate boardgames a little differently. There are better reviewers out there who can give better descriptions of how these games are supposed to be played, =but I want to give my personal opinions about a few of them.
Battlestar Galactica. If you haven't played this yet, get to a game store on their boardgame night and try it out. Players work to get humanity's fleet to Earth, but Cylon's hidden in the players' ranks try to sabotage the effort. Times I've played, most people spend alot of time yelling, "You're a fracking toaster!" at each other. Great fun.
Neuroshima Hex: A tactical game from Poland. I enjoy it, but am horrible at playing it. Last night, the owner of Natural 20 told me that he spent three days yelling about how horrible I play. His words: "Its a great game, unless Goodman's playing. Then you get angry."
A couple of recent acquisitions: Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, and Red November (the game of a sinking gnomish submarine). I would absolutely love to play either of these much more. Also got Munchkin Quest as a Christmas present from my Don. I'm still waiting for a chance to break that open.
Roleplaying games: I'm surprised at how much I like all of the stuff coming out for Star Wars Saga Edition. The core rulebook was nothign special, but every suppliment that's come out has been spectacular. My favorites recently have been Scum & Villany (playing scoundrels, smugglers, and the like), The Force Unleashed companion book (which includes a great deal of information on how to run a Dark Times game, set between episodes 3 and 4), and Starships of the Galaxy (which include further information on playing pilots and more starship combat rules). More setting books are coming out soon (The Clone Wars, this Tuesday, and the rebellion Era, a few months from now). I'm eagerly anticipating both.
I've been collecting and reading material for the Dark Heresy RPG (the Warhammer 40K RPG). I enjoy it. Although I have no idea where or when I'll get the chance to use the material, I eagerly await whenever the next set of books will come out. There's a great deal of setting information in them, and I enjoy what I read more and more. Its inspiring me more and more to work on my Space Marine army, too.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Weekend gaming recap
I was in three different games this past weekend: a Dr. Who RPG using D20 Modern, a Warhammer Fantasy Battles game, and my Warhammer RPG. They were a little different from your average series of games. The two RPG sessions were fairly short (about three hours), and the fantasy battles game went fairly quickly (about an hour of play time, I think, after around an hour of set-up). Each one had alot packed into the time, though.
The Dr. Who game is on a Friday night, and I think we started playing around 8:30 and ended around 11:30. There was alot of story and investigation stuffed into the time. The players took the time to unravel the mystery in the story, as well as soak up the atmosphere. By the end of the story, the group was going through a fortress inspired by one of the original episodes of the series...The Daleks.
The Fantasy Battles game was a great introduction to the hobby. My three units of Bretonnian calvary (with a little help from a few units of archers) carried the day against an army of Lizardmen. There was maybe an hour's worth of playtime, but it was great fun, and inspired me to really built a bigger army. We talked a little about how to augment units with different models, which helped me re-imagine how to design different units of men-at-arms and archers.
The Warhammer RPG Sunday had to be shortened, since one of the players had to leave early. The PC's started their trek to the Imperial capital of Altdorf, following a pack of mercenaries. There was some strong character building (with one player changing his career due to interactions in the adventure). There was one encounter with a pack of undead soldiers, and the survivors moved on.
Each gaming session was considerably shorter than what I'm used to. Everyone put alot into each session, though.
The Dr. Who game is on a Friday night, and I think we started playing around 8:30 and ended around 11:30. There was alot of story and investigation stuffed into the time. The players took the time to unravel the mystery in the story, as well as soak up the atmosphere. By the end of the story, the group was going through a fortress inspired by one of the original episodes of the series...The Daleks.
The Fantasy Battles game was a great introduction to the hobby. My three units of Bretonnian calvary (with a little help from a few units of archers) carried the day against an army of Lizardmen. There was maybe an hour's worth of playtime, but it was great fun, and inspired me to really built a bigger army. We talked a little about how to augment units with different models, which helped me re-imagine how to design different units of men-at-arms and archers.
The Warhammer RPG Sunday had to be shortened, since one of the players had to leave early. The PC's started their trek to the Imperial capital of Altdorf, following a pack of mercenaries. There was some strong character building (with one player changing his career due to interactions in the adventure). There was one encounter with a pack of undead soldiers, and the survivors moved on.
Each gaming session was considerably shorter than what I'm used to. Everyone put alot into each session, though.
Friday, April 11, 2008
What kind of game you play changes with who you are
When Vampire: the Masquerade hit the shelves in the early 90's, it immediately struck a chord. I was interested in creating characters that were designed to really just interact with the environment. I would be happy to just play a character who walked the streets, talked to people, and tried to figure out how to exist as the un-dead in a world not meant for him. I created settings and adventures designed, for the most part, along that idea. Did it work? Did the games fly? Sort of. Some went well, others didn't. Some players just wanted to play Immortals With Cool Powers, some engaged in some kind of revenge-fantasy, some wanted Dungeon Crawling With Fangs.
But here it is, around 16 years after the first edition of V:tM came out, and every now and again I get the itch to run that game again. I sit down, try to work on a setting, and then drop it. It just doesn't work; I'm not in that place anymore. My early 20's seemed to be the right time to play and run Vampire, you know? It was the time to feel disassociated from my peers, to feel like I didn't belong, and to express that in a game. A good number of people felt the same way, too, and some games built up from that were pure magic.
But im in my mid-to-late 30's now, and times are different. I still put some of my life into my games, but I'm trying to say something different now. I think about my home, my family, and how to carve out a victory from a life that keeps trying to hand out defeat. And you know what game speaks to me when I think of that?
Serenity.
Funny, huh? When I think of a game in that setting, I think of people building a better life for themselves, using their wits and their strengths. Characters for the setting just seem a little more real; they have dirt under their fingernails. They're working hard just to keep what's theirs.
Some of the best times roleplaying I've seen recently have come out of a couple of different Serenity games. Very little was drawn from Whedon's setting. Rather, characters seemed to be built from the players' frustrations with the working world, with their economic situations, from their desire to really be heroes in a world not meant for heroes. I've seen game sessions that were almost entirely about how to make the next couple of credits, how to keep enough fuel in the ship to make the next credit to get to the next job. That cycle of despiration is a hell of a motivator.
I'm going to try to re-create that kind of environment when the new edition of Traveller comes out. I want players who will create characters who are real, born out of their own fears, frustrations, and see what stories come out from them.
But here it is, around 16 years after the first edition of V:tM came out, and every now and again I get the itch to run that game again. I sit down, try to work on a setting, and then drop it. It just doesn't work; I'm not in that place anymore. My early 20's seemed to be the right time to play and run Vampire, you know? It was the time to feel disassociated from my peers, to feel like I didn't belong, and to express that in a game. A good number of people felt the same way, too, and some games built up from that were pure magic.
But im in my mid-to-late 30's now, and times are different. I still put some of my life into my games, but I'm trying to say something different now. I think about my home, my family, and how to carve out a victory from a life that keeps trying to hand out defeat. And you know what game speaks to me when I think of that?
Serenity.
Funny, huh? When I think of a game in that setting, I think of people building a better life for themselves, using their wits and their strengths. Characters for the setting just seem a little more real; they have dirt under their fingernails. They're working hard just to keep what's theirs.
Some of the best times roleplaying I've seen recently have come out of a couple of different Serenity games. Very little was drawn from Whedon's setting. Rather, characters seemed to be built from the players' frustrations with the working world, with their economic situations, from their desire to really be heroes in a world not meant for heroes. I've seen game sessions that were almost entirely about how to make the next couple of credits, how to keep enough fuel in the ship to make the next credit to get to the next job. That cycle of despiration is a hell of a motivator.
I'm going to try to re-create that kind of environment when the new edition of Traveller comes out. I want players who will create characters who are real, born out of their own fears, frustrations, and see what stories come out from them.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Paizo Publishing's new Role Playing Game: keeping D&D 3.5 alive
Have you picked up your copy of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game off of Paizo's website yet?
Well, why not? The Aplha Playtest version is free! Download it, give it a look.
It looks really interesting, to tell the truth. Wizards and Rogues get a higher hit-die. Clerics get to cast orisons at will. There are some other neat ideas in there, as well.
I think its a fantastic way to keep edition 3.5 of D&D around, when 4th edition makes its way to the shelves.
Well, why not? The Aplha Playtest version is free! Download it, give it a look.
It looks really interesting, to tell the truth. Wizards and Rogues get a higher hit-die. Clerics get to cast orisons at will. There are some other neat ideas in there, as well.
I think its a fantastic way to keep edition 3.5 of D&D around, when 4th edition makes its way to the shelves.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
My first Warhammer session
We had our first Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game session this past Sunday. It felt like it was a complete success! It was a new system for all of us. Only one player had a strong background in the Warhammer setting. One did some research beforehand, and jotted down a one-page character biography (something I didn't expect, but it gave her a good starting point).
I was most impressed that three of the four players opted to use the random generation method to choose careers. As such, we have an Apprentice Wizard, Fisherman, Pit Fighter, and Entertainer (that player chose her career). I discussed the setting, mood and rules. Within a couple of hours, we were ready for a short combat to try out the rules system.
An hour and six dead goblins later, we were ready to play. This was a surprise to me...I expected character creation and the trial combat to take the whole night.
I gave some background to the setting (see my previous post), and started the adventure. There was a riotous mob, accusations of witchcraft, dark magic, and a battle with a beastman.
I was actually left drained. The entire week before, I'd been eating, breathing and drinking Warhammer. I read the rulebook cover-to-cover, and received the Old World Armory and Sigmar's Heirs (the guide to the Empre) Saturday. I'm still coming down from the day. Its difficult to even prep for my D&D game this coming Sunday. This stuff just gets under your skin, you know?
I was most impressed that three of the four players opted to use the random generation method to choose careers. As such, we have an Apprentice Wizard, Fisherman, Pit Fighter, and Entertainer (that player chose her career). I discussed the setting, mood and rules. Within a couple of hours, we were ready for a short combat to try out the rules system.
An hour and six dead goblins later, we were ready to play. This was a surprise to me...I expected character creation and the trial combat to take the whole night.
I gave some background to the setting (see my previous post), and started the adventure. There was a riotous mob, accusations of witchcraft, dark magic, and a battle with a beastman.
I was actually left drained. The entire week before, I'd been eating, breathing and drinking Warhammer. I read the rulebook cover-to-cover, and received the Old World Armory and Sigmar's Heirs (the guide to the Empre) Saturday. I'm still coming down from the day. Its difficult to even prep for my D&D game this coming Sunday. This stuff just gets under your skin, you know?
Saturday, February 9, 2008
From the "I got one and you probably didn't," department...
I spent part of the afternoon at Natural 20 in Collinswood, NJ. I wasn't planning on buying much of anything. I was hoping to find a set of Dungeon Tiles (they had the entire set; I picked up the first set), but while I was glancing at the shelves, I saw a copy of this:
That's the copy of the role-playing rules for Warhammer 40K, Dark Heresy.
Did I get it because I've been addicted to the setting for years? Because I'm a hard-core Warhammer 40K fan?
Nope. Played 40K once or twice. Don't know a whole heck of a lot about the setting.
It's just so darn pretty.
I mean, just look at it.
Buncha bad-asses on the cover, holding guns, and looking...um...bad...
...and stuff...
Okay, okay...the truth is, my collector's instinct hit me. All the RPG's published by Black Industries are being discontinued. I've heard nothing but good things about the book, and it sounds like a great read. Plus, I already have a copy of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game, so it feels good to know I have its "sister" product.
So, I'm happy with the purchase. I'm excited to read it (its next on my list, after a collection of Kurt Vonnegut short stories I'm enjoying right now).
That's the copy of the role-playing rules for Warhammer 40K, Dark Heresy.
Did I get it because I've been addicted to the setting for years? Because I'm a hard-core Warhammer 40K fan?
Nope. Played 40K once or twice. Don't know a whole heck of a lot about the setting.
It's just so darn pretty.
I mean, just look at it.
Buncha bad-asses on the cover, holding guns, and looking...um...bad...
...and stuff...
Okay, okay...the truth is, my collector's instinct hit me. All the RPG's published by Black Industries are being discontinued. I've heard nothing but good things about the book, and it sounds like a great read. Plus, I already have a copy of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game, so it feels good to know I have its "sister" product.
So, I'm happy with the purchase. I'm excited to read it (its next on my list, after a collection of Kurt Vonnegut short stories I'm enjoying right now).
Sunday, January 20, 2008
What, you think there's something wrong with a guy who chose a set of plastic over interaction and socializing with friends?
My budget was a little tight, so I had the choice of either going to an SCA event this weekend, or buy a set of dice.
Guess which I did?
Just look at 'em. Ain't they gorgeous?
They're the Limited Edtition Call of Cthulhu dice from Q-Workshop.
You have to admit, they're darn pretty. I picked them up at Stormwatch Comics in Berlin, NJ. Hell of a great store. You a comics fan? Go there.
I really like the look of these. There's an elder sign on each die (except the D4), taking the place of the high-number.
My next step is to get one of Q-Workshop's dice-cups.
Guess which I did?
Just look at 'em. Ain't they gorgeous?
They're the Limited Edtition Call of Cthulhu dice from Q-Workshop.
You have to admit, they're darn pretty. I picked them up at Stormwatch Comics in Berlin, NJ. Hell of a great store. You a comics fan? Go there.
I really like the look of these. There's an elder sign on each die (except the D4), taking the place of the high-number.
My next step is to get one of Q-Workshop's dice-cups.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Game design inspired by my players
I had a good game yesterday evening with my every-other-Sunday-its-kind-of-like-Star-Wars-RPG-but-not-really group. Better than half of the group requested I run Star Wars again (we'd just ended a really good year-long campaign), so I made some notes, threw together a custom setting, and decided how I wanted to run the game.
I asked the group what style they wanted to play. They aren't much for thrilling heroics, nor for a military-style game, but really enjoyed the underworld/criminal elements I put in the last campaign. They said they wanted the style to be a little more Bourne Identity and a little less swashbuckler-ly.
So, I cheated, They think they're playing Star Wars. They're really playing Cyberpunk.
I let them in on the secret when we sat down for our character creation session...that I was burned-out on Star Wars for the time being, and when I do SW, I really love running games in the Rebellion era. So, to spice things up a bit, I made the campaign setting a little grittier, a little tougher, and a little more remote.
The first thing I did, once I decided on the feel of the campaign, was write up a couple of pages of setting notes for the group. I mailed them out to everyone a week before the character creation session. The setting is very remote (compared to other locales in the Star Wars universe), and doesn't do much "business" with the Republic (I'm setting the game a couple of hundred years before Episode 1). To my surprise, everyone created characters from the remote setting, and didn't have them have much contact with the rest of the Republic. I took this as an approval of not only my setting, but an acknowledgment that this wasn't going to be your traditional Star Wars RPG.
I've discovered a few elements that really make my recent campaigns any type of success:
1: Character creation sessions happen before any dice hit the table. These are just plain necessary now. Everyone creates characters together, sharing ideas off one another, creating back-stories off one another, and sharing in kind of a story-creating process. I've found that people are much more willing to share roles and even be a little more revolutionary as to how different roles are portrayed when they get to create everything together.
2: Player input to the types of campaign we should run is necessary. There's nothing worse than when the group thinks the game is going to be run one way, and you're thinking something totally different. This has been my bane as a GM for two decades. I have my image as to what the campaign should feel like, but then so do the players. If everyone isn't on the same page, then the campaign is doomed to failure. I've played and run alot of mood-oriented games (Cyberpunk, Vampire: the Masquerade, for example) that suffered because my image of the campaign setting wasn't near the players' expectations.
So now, I make a point of sitting with the players and asking what kind of setting they're expecting. I share what I want to portray, they share what they want to interact with. The end result is a collaborative setting in which the players feel much more invested.
3: Campaign documents help the players and GM keep the focus of the campaign. Every game I run now has some type of documentation, even if its just a one-page handout. I give some notes about the setting, list some house rules, provide pictures, maps, or diagrams where necessary, mention notable NPC's, and usually describe anything notable about the character creation process. I've found that putting something of a "mission statement" in helps really solidify the campaign. If I'm having trouble focusing on what kind of adventures to create, the mission statement and campaign doc helps keep me in the right direction.
For example, I run a small D&D campaign. I decided, when first creating it, I wanted to have a retro, classic, 1st Edition D&D feel. When I find that the plot is getting too convoluted, or my dungeon design is getting too weird, I remember that I'd said from the beginning that the campaign was supposed to feel "classic." This keeps me designing things with that "classic" influence.
None of these things are really revolutionary. Some of them, though, had to be taught to me (thanks, Eldrich, for the suggestion of "themed parties," that inspired me to have character creation sessions). Some came because if I didn't evolve, I'd never really be happy running a game again.
I keep these elements in mind while I design my own new game system. I'd like to incorporate, into the rules, character creation as a group activity (Spirit of the Century does this remarkably well). I'm thinking about designing campaign creation checklists and documents to help shape groups and campaign settings. Part of the design philosophy behind the settng and rules is based on cooperative storytelling.
A practical application for right now, too: I have an old-west game coming up soon; I'll likely use the Aces and Eights system (its all different kinds of cool), but Deadlands is speaking to me, too. To help me decide, I'm going to throw together some notes, and present them to my potential players, and maybe we can decide together.
I asked the group what style they wanted to play. They aren't much for thrilling heroics, nor for a military-style game, but really enjoyed the underworld/criminal elements I put in the last campaign. They said they wanted the style to be a little more Bourne Identity and a little less swashbuckler-ly.
So, I cheated, They think they're playing Star Wars. They're really playing Cyberpunk.
I let them in on the secret when we sat down for our character creation session...that I was burned-out on Star Wars for the time being, and when I do SW, I really love running games in the Rebellion era. So, to spice things up a bit, I made the campaign setting a little grittier, a little tougher, and a little more remote.
The first thing I did, once I decided on the feel of the campaign, was write up a couple of pages of setting notes for the group. I mailed them out to everyone a week before the character creation session. The setting is very remote (compared to other locales in the Star Wars universe), and doesn't do much "business" with the Republic (I'm setting the game a couple of hundred years before Episode 1). To my surprise, everyone created characters from the remote setting, and didn't have them have much contact with the rest of the Republic. I took this as an approval of not only my setting, but an acknowledgment that this wasn't going to be your traditional Star Wars RPG.
I've discovered a few elements that really make my recent campaigns any type of success:
1: Character creation sessions happen before any dice hit the table. These are just plain necessary now. Everyone creates characters together, sharing ideas off one another, creating back-stories off one another, and sharing in kind of a story-creating process. I've found that people are much more willing to share roles and even be a little more revolutionary as to how different roles are portrayed when they get to create everything together.
2: Player input to the types of campaign we should run is necessary. There's nothing worse than when the group thinks the game is going to be run one way, and you're thinking something totally different. This has been my bane as a GM for two decades. I have my image as to what the campaign should feel like, but then so do the players. If everyone isn't on the same page, then the campaign is doomed to failure. I've played and run alot of mood-oriented games (Cyberpunk, Vampire: the Masquerade, for example) that suffered because my image of the campaign setting wasn't near the players' expectations.
So now, I make a point of sitting with the players and asking what kind of setting they're expecting. I share what I want to portray, they share what they want to interact with. The end result is a collaborative setting in which the players feel much more invested.
3: Campaign documents help the players and GM keep the focus of the campaign. Every game I run now has some type of documentation, even if its just a one-page handout. I give some notes about the setting, list some house rules, provide pictures, maps, or diagrams where necessary, mention notable NPC's, and usually describe anything notable about the character creation process. I've found that putting something of a "mission statement" in helps really solidify the campaign. If I'm having trouble focusing on what kind of adventures to create, the mission statement and campaign doc helps keep me in the right direction.
For example, I run a small D&D campaign. I decided, when first creating it, I wanted to have a retro, classic, 1st Edition D&D feel. When I find that the plot is getting too convoluted, or my dungeon design is getting too weird, I remember that I'd said from the beginning that the campaign was supposed to feel "classic." This keeps me designing things with that "classic" influence.
None of these things are really revolutionary. Some of them, though, had to be taught to me (thanks, Eldrich, for the suggestion of "themed parties," that inspired me to have character creation sessions). Some came because if I didn't evolve, I'd never really be happy running a game again.
I keep these elements in mind while I design my own new game system. I'd like to incorporate, into the rules, character creation as a group activity (Spirit of the Century does this remarkably well). I'm thinking about designing campaign creation checklists and documents to help shape groups and campaign settings. Part of the design philosophy behind the settng and rules is based on cooperative storytelling.
A practical application for right now, too: I have an old-west game coming up soon; I'll likely use the Aces and Eights system (its all different kinds of cool), but Deadlands is speaking to me, too. To help me decide, I'm going to throw together some notes, and present them to my potential players, and maybe we can decide together.
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