Gamer: The Blogging

@ReverGamers Master List Number 29

2012-01-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

#29: What does the word "gamer" mean to you? Is that different than what other people seem to think it means?

I'll answer the second question first. The meaning of the word has changed within my lifetime. So I'll give the progression here.

When I was a kid, the word typically meant a person who plays RPGs and/or, to a lesser extent in the '80s, wargames (in the '70s there was a lot more overlap, I'm told). It was used to self-identify by gamers, and it was used in a derogatory way by non-gamers. "Oh, he's a gamer." I think it was derogatory, mostly to people who didn't understand it.

Today, the word has been co-opted by video games. If you self-identify as a gamer, people typically assume you play a lot of video games. I don't think being labeled a gamer is as negative as it used to be (geek chic and all).

I've taken to calling myself a tabletop gamer or pen and paper gamer or roleplayer. Then I have to explain it. I've also found people who play primarily board games use the term among each other. So essentially, if you are a gamer, and you're not a video gamer, you probably have to explain yourself--that is assuming it matters enough to you to explain.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 28

2012-01-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

#28: Do you have any house rules when you game? What are they, and why do you use them? If not, why not?

There are two house rules. The first one is pretty common. I believe the second one is becoming common.

1) Floor dice don't count. If the dice hit the floor they get re-rolled. This rule is an old one for me. I think it comes from worrying about people cheating when they pick up their die. I'm not so much worried about that today--if cheating is what floats your boat, and it's not negatively affecting the other players, go for it. These days, this rule is just tradition.

2) This rule is completely non-negotiable. Those who play in my house must be kid friendly. This rule is about eight years old at the time of this writing. My wife and I have a daughter. She can be loud and obnoxious. She's been known to interrupt the game on occasion. And we don't apologize for her. If this is a problem for you, you may game elsewhere. Our current weekly game consists of mostly parents and one kid friendly non-parent. The other parents bring their kids too. The reason for this is pretty simple. We want to game. And we would like for our daughter to look at gaming positively. To encourage this, we don't ship her off to a relative or babysitter when we game. It's just something that happens in our house.

Heck, these days, we game with out daughter on occasion.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 27

2012-01-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

#27: If you were an Ent, what kind of Ent would you be? Or, what other NPC creature would you be? Why?

If I could be a creature it would be a dragon, only I wouldn't have a compulsion for gold. I'd rule a large swath of land with benevolence. I'd fight off armies and protect my people.

And that is all.

[Fuse Friday] System and Magic Duels

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Fuse is a game setting I plan to publish. I’ll be talking about it most Fridays.

I recently mentioned I haven’t committed to making Fuse a Savage Worlds setting. The reason I haven’t cemented my system choice is twofold: 1) the setting is more important to me than the rules, so I want to make sure I’m not giving anything up when designing the system; and 2) I have concerns regarding the value of having Fuse with rules included, which I can’t do with Savage Worlds. That said, I will be presenting a lot of Fuse stuff with Savage Worlds in mind, since I’ve been heavily entrenched in the system for almost nine years. It’s what I know these days.

And speaking of which...

Kristian Serrano and I were chatting about magic duels the other day. It turned into a brainstorm session. Kristian is a Savage like me, so the rules we discussed were in that context.

I’m of two minds about duels at this point. On one hand, I think a magic duel could happen in the blink of an eye. Two practitioners lock eyes, they match wills, and one of them relents or falls. It would all happen in an instant--a single action in a combat round. On the other hand, it could be a multi-round thing that could be interrupted by the environment or other combatants. Let’s take my ideas in turn...

Instant Duel, Just Add Eye Contact

Both characters agree they’re dueling; neither duelist may move nor take any other action this round. The character with initiative holds his action till the slower practitioner is up, and then they begin the duel. There may be a +1 bonus on the first roll-off for the practitioner with a higher initiative card. This is an opposed Spirit contest. The loser takes a level of Fatigue, two if the winner got a raise. Repeat this roll until one practitioner falls. Incapacitation does not kill the loser, unless the winner calls for a Finishing Move. All this happens and resolves during a single round. No one in the combat sees anything, but the eerie eye contact of the practitioners.

Another possibility is an opposed Dramatic Task, first to five successes wins. Character death would still be a choice for the winner.

Protracted Duels for the Nosy Onlooker

These could work like the above two methods mentioned, but it would occur over multiple rounds. This would allow for more complications in terms of environment and the other combatants.

Edges and Hindrances

In either of the above cases, Edges and Hindrances would be created to allow players and GMs to create expert duelists.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 26

2012-01-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

#26: Who or what was the most memorable NPC you've ever encountered? Why?

That'd be my version of "One-Eyed" Hank Ketchum. Again, I'm going back to my classic Deadlands campaign. He ended up being in Veronica's character, "Black Widow" Beth's, background as the guy who recruited her. I brought him in as a one-off to kick off the campaign. He was well-liked by the group, so I ended up making him recurring.

He wasn't one of those GM characters that stayed with the group or anything, but he did show up now and then to give the group a mission or nudge them in one direction or another. I never had him saving the day or anything--that's never fun for a group when a GM character has to bail them out all the time.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 25

2012-01-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

#25: If you game enough, you're bound to run into someone being an ass. What's the most asinine thing someone's done in a game with you? How did you react? Did that experience change the way you game?

A long time ago my wife (who was then my girlfriend) and I were playing in a roleplaying game (you'll see why I don't even want to name it here in a moment) with another couple we knew. The game master had a habit of doing really bad crap to his wife's character at every turn. His wife hated it, but he continued. It was kind of dickish and made my wife and I really uncomfortable, but we continued to play because we were friends. One week, this guy had his wife's character beaten and raped. After that session, we just kind of stopped playing. It was too uncomfortable and shocking to even say anything at the time. (These days I'd likely call him on it and walk away on the spot, but I care a lot less what people like that think of me.) We maybe saw the couple one or two times after that--having worked really hard to avoid them--before we moved out of state. To this day, Veronica has an unreasonable hatred for that game.

That situation was more than asinine--it was kind of sick--but there ya go.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 24

2012-01-24T11:30:00.000-07:00

#24: Have you ever been to a game convention? What was it like to be surrounded by so many other gamers? If not, would you like to go to one? Why or why not?

I've definitely been to conventions. Here in Denver, I've been to Genghis Con and TactiCon. In Arizona I've been to the late, greats, RinCon and RandomCon. In North Carolina, I've been to MACE. And I've been to Origins.

I simply love it. Games are my favorite pastime and gamers are my favorite people. Conventions give me the opportunity to try new games and meet new people, either through playing or GMing.

I began attending game conventions after I started The Game's the Thing, so cons also give me the opportunity to meet friends I've made through the show, be they listeners or gaming professionals or both.

The bottom line is, there's no better atmosphere for me than to be surrounded by gamers. It's electric, and if I could, I'd go on a convention tour every year.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 23

2012-01-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

#23: Have you ever experienced Total Party Kill (TPK), or been close to it? What effect did that have on you personally? On your group of players? Have you ever used retroactive continuity (retcon) to save yourself? Why or why not?

I'm not counting convention/demo games or games where that was the point (tournament modules) because there's really no emotional investment in it for me. It's just a fun time where stuff happens. I've never been on the player side of a TPK. I've always been the GM when it comes up.

In the first instance it was during my long-running Deadlands classic campaign I've often discussed. The protagonists were going up against a Native American cult who were using artifacts to drain people of their blood for power. The party split up and ran smack dab into two different encounters, each of which were designed for all of them. I decided to try them out, as is. It was pretty epic, as I was running two combats, simultaneously. I quickly figured out they weren't going to survive either one, so I ramped up the crazy. One player was left hanging upside down from a rafter, about to be drained. Another player had his arm ripped off and was beaten with it. Finally, as they were all in the process of dying, I used one of the characters killer hindrance combo of Heavy Sleeper and Night Terrors to keep the party alive. My last sentence of the night was, "And that, my friends, is why you don't split the party."

I don't actually believe that advice anymore, but it was still an epic moment in gaming. Once everyone realized their character wasn't dead, they started laughing and admitted to having a good time. It's still talked about, semi-regularly, to this day.

The rest of my TPKs have been related to a combination of overpowered enemies and bad party planning.

There was a Deadlands classic game where I underestimated the toughness of the walkin' dead. Shane Hensley takes his zombies very seriously.

Then in Savage Worlds, the first three times I ran it resulted in a TPK. This was mainly from the players not understanding tactics mattered in Savage Worlds. They weren't using cover well or ganging up, things like that. At one point, Veronica announced she'd never play Savage Worlds again. These days it's work getting her to play anything else.

As far as the effect of a TPK... it depends on the person. For me, I'm disappointed when it happens because I feel like I've done something wrong (and sometimes I have). Other players at my table react in different ways. Some get very emotionally invested in their characters and want to protect them; others couldn't care less because they like changing characters.

I've seen TPKs kill campaigns. One of the three Savage Worlds incidents killed an Evernight campaign we were starting--a campaign I never got to restart or go back to. These days, unless I'm running a tournament module or a crazy campaign game, I avoid them as a GM.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 22

2012-01-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

#22: Describe the worst game you've ever played in. What made it so bad? Did your fellow players help, or make it worse?

I was playing in a Witchcraft game several years ago. A good friend was running the game. He wasn't an experienced GM, but he was not the reason the game was so bad. I was.

I'm a really convincing guy. I could sell Bill Gates an iMac if I needed to. Seriously. And my friend running the game is a really nice guy, and kind of a pushover.

Basically, I ran roughshod over him and the game with my ideas. I got him to say yes a lot, and the game stopped being a game. The other players joined in, and they ran all over him too. I felt really bad about it. The game didn't last long, and I've never seen him GM since.

Heck, I've never run or played Witchcraft since. Suckage.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 21

2012-01-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

#21: What's the best bribe you've ever given (or received as) a GM? What did you get (give) for it?

Wow, I'm not proud of the answer coming, but it's the truth. As recently as the late nineties, I would give players extra XP or special items for their characters if they bought me supplements for the game I was running. The sad part of it is I had many takers.

Bribery isn't the sort of behavior I'd engage in anymore, but it sure was easier on my gaming budget in my younger days.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 20

2012-01-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

#20: What was the most memorable character death you've ever experienced? What makes it stick with you?

There was a regular Mage: The Ascension game I was playing in at a coffee shop. I played a Euthanatos mage who had the delusion flaw. He thought he was an action hero. It was a lot of fun playing this guy because I had to figure out how to use Entropy in ways that I could reason would make my character look like an action hero.

Anyway, there was this huge battle with the Technocracy. All the marbles were on the line. My character used his power to essentially save the day, and to hell with the Paradox in doing it. Basically, he kind of exploded. It was spectacular--skin bulging and pulsing until BOOM!

It was one of those "holy crap!" moments in gaming I'll never forget. Best. Suicide. Ever.

[Fuse Friday] The Spirit Weapon

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Fuse is a game setting I plan to publish. I'll be talking about it most Fridays.

One of the things I really liked about the characters in the opening of the Doctor Strange animated movie was they had these weapons they could pull out of nowhere (if you still haven't seen the DVD, think Voltron forming Blazing Sword--you folks have seen Voltron, right?). Each character's weapon was unique and seemed to match their personality. I really want this for Fuse.

I'm thinking the Spirit Weapon (as it's currently being called) would be built almost like a character, and in my setting, it would change with the character--the player would have the opportunity to modify the weapon throughout the character's progression.

If I go with Savage Worlds for the system, I already have this mapped out. In a nutshell, the weapon would have a stat-based damage rating and the player could take special Edges and Hindrances to modify the weapon. When drawn, the weapon would "set aside," rather than use, a certain number of Power Points.

Example: Bob the Elementalist normally has 15 PP. If he forms his weapon, he only has access to 10 PP. If he dismisses his weapon, those 5 PP are instantly available to him. If Bob's weapon was not already formed, and he only had 4 PP available, he could not form his weapon.

(Notice I mentioned "if I go with Savage Worlds." One of my struggles with this game has been, "is Savage Worlds the right rules set for Fuse, or do I just love Savage Worlds?" What I don't want to do is try to shoehorn Fuse into the wrong system. To be honest, I've waffled so much on this, I've stopped deciding and taken to concentrating on setting stuff.)

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 19

2012-01-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

#19: What's the weirdest character you've ever played? How did you end up with him/her/it?

In a previous post, I mentioned my wife took a stab at GMing Deadlands. Soon after that stint it was time for a new campaign, and she agreed to back me up by sharing the GM role. One of the goals we had was to have a story reason for us to switch off. Enter "Black" Jack and "Red Hand" Jill.

Jack and Jill were huckster twins who lost a deal with the devil (heh... that even reads like a sick nursery rhyme). The result was they were both forced to occupy the same space--only one of them could exist at a time. When one was in the world, the other was off being tortured in some other dimension. The whole thing made for some interesting storytelling and allowed us to switch off when necessary. Also, the group always had a huckster.

We didn't get to play them long. The campaign died due to the curse of Canyon o' Doom--an adventure which, every time we started it, it killed our campaign. It was no fault of the adventures content; it was just cursed. Seriously.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 18

2012-01-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

#18: Have you ever "cheated" on a die roll/random chance outcome, or looked up a quest solution on a fan site? Why or why not? If yes, was it worth it?

As a player, I'd love to say no, but it isn't technically true. When I was a teen, and into my early 20s, I did fudge the occasional die roll when the GM wasn't looking. I had a need to "win" at the time, as it was long before I understood the value of falling forward in a game or the growth that comes from failure. I also think it was at least partly a result of the "whiff factor" prevalent in so many games. It's hard to take when you're facing down the "big bad" only to roll a "2" on your d20. I don't do it any more. I let the dice fall where they may.

As a GM, I used to fudge rolls all the time, all in the name of "story." In recent years, I've taken a "roll in front of the screen" mentality. It's improved my games because my players know there's real danger when I roll the dice. That said, I don't typically let a die roll be the sole arbiter of character death--I always involve the player when that comes up.

Since I've learned failure can have more to do with intent than the listed action, I take some liberty with that, as well. Hanging off a cliff and botch your climb roll? Rather than fall to your death, I may beat you up a bit on your way down. And if you want to get to the top of that cliff, you won't be climbing there. Find another way. This beats the heck out of: "You die. Here's a new character sheet."

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 17

2012-01-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

#17: What was the best reward you've ever gotten in a game? What made it so great? How much do you need tangible rewards (loot, leveling, etc.) to enjoy a game?

Probably the best in-game reward was in a D&D 3.x game. Our whole party received custom magic items that leveled with us. Basically new powers and abilities were added as the game went on. The DM gave us a little control (in the form of requests) as to how they changed over time. Mine was a cloak, which was fitting for a rogue. Aside from the leveling aspect, what made it so great was these items tied in to adventurers from history, and their spirits were eventually there to help us beat the "big bad" of the campaign. So having a story tie-in was the main thing.

In general, I like characters that upgrade--new levels, abilities, etc.--but I think that has more to do with conditioning than any sort of need. I played in a FATE campaign, where it turned out I was just as happy being able to swap skills around and modifying aspects was just as gratifying. My character never actually got better. I think this means I'm less about the trappings of change and more about the change itself.

Hmm... There's something to this revelation. I think I will delve into it in a future post.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 16

2012-01-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

#16: Who was the most memorable foe you've ever come up against in a game? How did you beat him/her/it? Or did you?

All my players. OK. Just kidding--sort of.

As a player, that would have to be the Knights of the Golden Circle.

Veronica likes to pretend it never happened, but for a brief time, she took the reigns of our long-running Deadlands (classic) game. For our campaign, I mostly ignored the canon and built the game around the characters' backgrounds. But at one point, I needed a break, and Vern volunteered (she may have been voluntold here--who remembers these things?) to take the game for a bit.

Unlike me, Veronica has not only love, but skill, when it comes to history. She came up with a fictionalized version of a real secret society, which was the Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC). She spun a killer yarn around them, from which sprang my character, Ethan, whom I would be playing for her run. Further, her character, "Black Widow" Beth Hickson--a Texas Ranger of some regard--was captured by these folk.

Ethan started out as a mole inside the KGC--he was actually there to destroy it. Beth accidentally foiled his plan by almost getting killed. Ethan made his turn early and saved her life, but stayed undercover in order to get Beth back to her band.

The scene where Beth was returned was pretty cool. I didn't initially have a character, so Veronica had me play my favorite NPC, "One Eye" Hank Ketchum, The Texas Ranger. In the scene, we were faced off with members of the KGC holding Beth. Vern had me make Ethan, but she didn't tell me when he'd be coming in. Well, during the exchange, it started to go pear-shaped, and I was handed his sheet. Veronica said "go," and I was playing Ethan, who happened to be standing over Beth. We took out the KGC goons and we had Beth.

While Beth was back, she didn't fare well in the conflict. And, after convincing Beth's band he wasn't really with the KGC, Ethan took the lead of the band to take on and destroy the KGC's foothold in the Great Maze.

I guess the reason they were so memorable is because Vern is damn good at coming up with these back stories. If she ever sheds her "natural" fear of improvising at the table--the root of her GM phobia--I may get more play time in the future.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 15

2012-01-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

#15: People often talk about the divide between what happens "in game" and "in real life." Do you maintain that divide in your own play, or do you tend to take what happens to your character personally? Why?

I maintain a pretty stark divide between real life and game life. That said, I'm really invested in my characters. I don't get mad when things go badly for them--hell, that's half the fun--but I do take a strong interest in what happens and the characters' development.

The "why" is pretty simple. I'm a creative person. I care about story and development. So the story and characters have to make sense to me.

The 800lb. gorilla in the room--and really what I think this question is about--is character death. I am OK with a character dying--any character--but I am not OK with random, pointless death. You know the kind--a goblin aces multiple times on his damage roll, and your Legendary paladin dies on his way to the final battle. Remember when I said the story and characters have to make sense? Here's an example of it--random death may be "real-life" realistic, but it makes for a crappy story if the guy in the opening montage credits gets hit by a bus and dies when he stops for coffee. In a story, when a protagonist dies, it's got to be important. Period.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 14

2012-01-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

#14: What kinds of adventures do you enjoy most? Dungeon crawls, mysteries, freeform roleplaying, or something else? What do you think that says about you?

Really, it depends--on the group, the GM, my mood, etc.

I know GMs who run killer dungeon crawls, and that's always a pleasure. I do not like vanilla dungeon crawls--"you approach a random ruin..." I'm a fan of dungeons with a strong story or at least a unique setup.

With the right group, freeform roleplaying can be a blast, but I find--more often than not--groups want at least a little leadership at the table, a semi-obvious route to take. When freeforming happens on it's own, though--not planned--it can be pretty freakin' special.

I personally love running mysteries. I come up with a problem--a setup--and I let the group go for it. Sometimes it's all improv after that. Sometimes I have an end in mind. That depends on my time and my whims, to be honest.

Once in awhile, I just love pure actionfests. Four hours of ass-kicking can be rewarding after a hard week's work.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 13

2012-01-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

#13: Who's the best GM/storyteller/party leader you've ever had? What made him/her so great?

Jason Corley, the self-proclaimed best GM in Tucson, is the best GM/Storyteller I've had (don't tell him I said this--he's got a huge head). One thing that makes him so great is he's the first person I've met to be as good as me at improvisational GMing--and I'm pretty friggin' good. But Jason has more he brings to the table, particularly in the area of organization.

Jason doesn't organize his game like normal, human GMs, he does it by character. In his trusty GM book, Jason puts a page aside for each character. Whenever anything--anything--happens in game, he goes through the pages of characters and decides how the event effects them, and what their reactions are.

Jason runs a lot of public games throughout Tucson; look him up through the Tucson RPG Guild. I promise playing at his table will be a treat.

I should close by saying all the above may not be true. I might just be filling blog space. See that, Corley! You'll never really know!!

@ReverbGamers Master List Numbers 10 & 12

2012-01-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

So I'm either crazy or Blogger ate my answer to number 10. I remember reading the question; I remember writing the question. So below is my second draft of number 10, followed by the as-scheduled number 12.

#10: Have you ever played a character originally from a book/TV/movie?
How did the character change from the original as you played? If not, who would you most like to
play?

I played a TV character, for the first time ever, at last year's TactiCon, here in Colorado. I was the 10th Doctor in Cubicle 7's Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space. I even got to give one of those classic David Tennant speeches wherein he stares down a foe, outmatched and outnumbered, and explains to them that he's the Doctor, dammit! And they backed down. It was made of awesome!!

This was a convention one-shot, so there wasn't much time for change. I worked really hard to stay dead-on with the character. Table consensus seemed to point to my success.

As fun as it was, I have to say I would not want to play a character like that for any length of time--maybe a one-shot or limited series, but that's it. Too much pressure.

#12: Do [you] prefer collaborative or competitive games? What do you think that
says about you?

Assuming this is about roleplaying games like the rest of the questions (to those unaware, there are cooperative board games), my knee-jerk reaction is to say cooperative, all the way. That said, I have never played a competitive roleplaying game. One of my favorite things about roleplaying games is the group storytelling, and in my head, playing an RPG competitively seems to be at odds with what I love.

With the above in mind, I would be open to trying it. Perhaps I'd be proven wrong...

But at the end of the day, I'm a lover, not a fighter.

I'm not completely sure what it says about me. I'm fine being (fiercely) competitive in board games, so it's not a "need to win" thing. It's likely the whole thing comes down to lack of experience. I've been roleplaying cooperatively for 27 years... tough to change.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 11

2012-01-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

#11: Have you ever played a character that was morally gray, or actually evil? Why or why not? If yes, did you enjoy it?

Again--GM--so yeah. From a player standpoint, I have played both morally gray and evil characters.

My morally gray character was already covered here.

My evil character was in a Planescape game. I was playing a psionicist named Mandrake (which, if I recall correctly, means “poison”). Mandrake was really evil. He would kill for nearly any reason. He was neutral evil, and so was capable of playing well with others, if it served his purpose. What was interesting was it was not an “evil” campaign, so Mandrake had to keep some of his activities somewhat private.

Honestly, I loved Mandrake as a character--I’ve re-purposed his personality multiple times over the years for villains in the games I’ve run--but I didn’t enjoy him as a player character. And that’s because, as a GM, I always play evil, and I’m usually the GM. So for me, a change is to play a good guy.

I do love to play morally gray characters. I think it’s because there’s a freedom in it for me. As a nice guy, there are a lot of things I’d like to do, but would never do. With a morally gray character, I can do those things. Again, see my write-up of Revenant for a good example.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 9

2012-01-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

#9: Have you ever played a character of the opposite sex. Why or why not? If yes, how did the other players react?

As a GM, of course I have! But I'm guessing that's not really what this question is about.

In 27 years of gaming, I have never seen anyone effectively play a character of the opposite sex. In every case I've seen, these characters end up being more caricature than anything else. I can tell you it's an area of discomfort for me as a GM (I never feel like I do women justice when I play them). When you're dealing with a game table that includes people of both sexes, people can get downright offensive. I don't completely disallow cross-gender play at my table, but I do discourage it. And when someone chooses to go that route, they're put on notice they may be asked to change.

Obviously this strong opinion is based solely on my experience. I'm sure it's been done well, somewhere. And I'd love to see it.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 8

2012-01-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

#8: What's the one gaming accessory (lucky dice, soundtrack, etc.) you just can't do without? Why?

Aside from what's needed for the game I'm playing, there's nothing I truly can't do without. I don't suffer from any sort of gamer superstition, and I try not to get too attached to anything.

That said there are two items that come close...

My iPad contains nearly every roleplaying book I own, and it goes with me nearly everywhere. I run games with the iPad--some games I run nearly 100% with the iPad (ICONS comes to mind). The more I use it, the more I need it. That said, I draw the line at dice. I will always use real dice. Dice rolling apps just don't cover it.

I own a Pentel Twist-Erase III mechanical pencil with 0.9mm lead. It's the perfect thickness for character sheets, it writes smoothly, and it includes a killer eraser. I get seriously discombobulated when I don't have this particular pencil.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 7

2012-01-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

#7: How do you pick names for your characters?

I have a ton of sources for names, mostly media-related. Some names come straight out of my head. For fantasy names I'll either use something "old sounding" and completely made up or start with a common name and change a couple letters--"Andrew" becomes "Andrel" or "Calvin" becomes "Colvyn."

My very favorite tool--indeed a favorite of the whole Blessing household--is Writer's Digest's Character Naming Sourcebook. It includes advice on how to name a character and names from a couple dozen nationalities around the world, past and present. Every GM and Player should own a copy.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 6

2012-01-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

#6: Describe your all-time favorite character to play. What was it about him/her/it that you enjoyed so much?

My favorite character... that's a tough one. Two characters immediately spring to mind, but I'll pick one...

(Much of this comes from an old Facebook note I wrote, and has been edited for content and grammar. The very last paragraph is all new.)

Revenant was a superhero with a dark past. He was once an investigative reporter, named Michael Mortis (the cheesy alliteration was a nod to comics), who learned too much about an organized crime group and got himself and his family killed. A major power player named Necromancer brought Michael back from the dead, endowing him with powers.

Before Revenant knew his true origin, he thought he was actually a revenant from mythology, a person brought back from the dead to enact revenge on those who did him wrong. Thinking it was his only ticket to dying and join his family, Michael sought out and killed his family's murderer.

Then nothing happened.

Distraught, Michael eventually took on the Revenant persona in an effort to repent for the murder he committed, all the while searching for a way to die. Eventually he hooked up with Omega Force, a team he now leads. Since the beginning, Michael has learned that the self he knew did die, and his soul he knew went on to whatever afterlife was waiting. He was merely an imprint of the Michael he once believed he was. He changed his last name to Sinclair (his wife's name was Clair, so "no Clair"), and started his new life.

Revenant was fun to play because he was kind of a dick. I based his wit on Dr. Cox from Scrubs. I entertained the table, while cracking myself up on occasion, so that was cool. What I liked best about him, though, was he was going to do the right thing, no matter who he hurt in the process (especially himself). There was no compromise when he saw the "right" path. That quality led to a lot of fun conflict with villains and his teammates. If there was a dirty deed to be done, though, he kept his teammates out of it. He might kill, but he would never let his partners do the same--that was his cross to bear. This part of Revenant's personality started with Batman, but I dialed it up to 12. If the Joker encountered Revenant, there might be a second encounter, but never a third--he'd be dead.

[Fuse Friday] Design Goals Part One

2012-01-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Fuse is a game setting I plan to publish. I'll be talking about it most Fridays.

So this week I want to outline my design goals. I think it's important this is out there early, so folks know where I'm coming from. Obviously, these could change as time goes on, and that's why I'm calling it "Part One."

Design Goals Part One

All the principals involved in the fate of the world are partially right
The various types of magic-users have to feel different
Magic has to be something you can duel with
Players and GMs should have the tools to make new spells
The Spirit Weapon (or whatever it's called) needs to be personal to each practitioner, reflecting their personality and magical affinities
Every feature of the setting should have ties to the Spirit World (or whatever it's called)

Magic users get their "souls" from there
Monsters from mythology and legend have ties to the Spirit World

Rituals are needed to send a certain level of spirit away
Warlocks (bad guy practitioners) should have some sort of corruption/taint, and all magic-users should have the option to use magic in a way that could cause them that corruption (it should definitely be an easier/more powerful path)
While the setting is intended to be from the perspective of practitioners stopping the collision, I want the Warlocks to be granular enough to make them player characters in some future supplement or some such
Combat needs to feel like it's constantly moving
Combat needs to emphasize teamwork
Battles with large creatures should feel like A BIG DEAL
I may want some way to measure how close the collision is (this depends on how open I want the setting--I've toyed with the idea of having a built-in campaign ending, with the ability to create new and different campaigns with the same tools)

Thoughts?

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 5

2012-01-05T11:30:00.000-07:00

#5: Have you ever introduced a child to gaming, or played a game with a young person? How is gaming with kids different than gaming with adults?

Yes. Yes I have. There are a couple differences when playing with kids.

Kids have shorter attention spans. The typical game session for an adult group is about four hours (sometimes more). For kids, avoid going much past two hours--that way lies madness (and frustration).
Kids are more creative than adults. If you're a GM, and you think your players have messed up your master plans in the past, try GMing a seven-year-old or two. You'll stop complaining about your adult players going "off course." A kid at the table will surely keep you on your toes.
Kids are more honest than adults. If they're not having fun, you'll know it.

As a parent, I will close by saying nothing is cooler than watching your kid "get" roleplaying and want to do it with you.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 4

2012-01-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

#4 Are you a "closet gamer?" Have you ever hidden the fact that you're a gamer from your co-workers, friends, family, or significant other? Why or why not? How did they react if they found out?

I am not a closet gamer.

I am sometimes careful about how I introduce or talk about gaming to co-workers. It's not embarrassing as much as I hate having to explain. Everyone assumes I mean video games, and for some reason that annoys me. It really annoys me to learn how much people don't listen. I can give a full description of roleplaying after I've been asked, only to have the other conversant still talking about video games.

The reactions of people who learn I'm a gamer range from legitimate interest to simple weird looks. I'm surprised often at who I learn "used to" game. It's really funny when I'm occasionally told in secret by someone who just acted like I was an alien in front of other people.

[Read-Thru] Wu Xing: The Ninja Crusade

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

In July of 2010, my buddy Eloy Lasanta, owner of Third Eye Games, sent me a review copy of Wu Xing: The Ninja Crusade. I read the book and loved it, and I had Eloy on my podcast to discuss the game several months later. But I never got around to commenting on the game here. Recently, I’ve had reason to go back and re-read the game (maybe the reason will be discussed here one day), so I figured I’d give my thoughts about it while it’s fresh in my memory.

In Wu Xing, you play a ninja who has joined the Lotus Coalition, in an effort to strike back at the Izou Empire, which has called for the destruction of all Ninja. While the Lotus Coalition means well, there is still plenty of enmity between the various Ninja clans, so there’s a lot of potential for some awesome storytelling.

Let’s take this chapter by chapter...

Introduction
The book starts off with a brief introduction, which includes a look at the setting, the ninja clans, and the (very) basics of the game system. It also includes a short example of play in the “what is roleplaying” section.

Wu Xing is powered by the Dynamic Gaming System (DGS), the same system found in Apocalypse Prevention, Inc., which requires only a single d20. This is not in any way related to The d20 System--it simply uses a d20.

I think this section of the book is just about perfect. It was enough information to get my juices flowing about the setting, without setting me up to re-read too much later in the book (who has time for that?).

Chapter One: Ninja vs. The Empire
Ninja vs. Empire goes into more detail about the setting. You get the history which leads up to the Ninja Crusade. You learn a little more about the clans and what it means, in general, to be a ninja. The major players of the world are discussed, to include the Lotus Coalition, the Izou Empire, and the Five Kingdoms surrounding the Empire. (The Five Kingdoms are only given a very high-level view, as they will each be covered in source books, the first of which has been released--The Land of Seed and Blossom.) There are two beautiful maps: one for the Izou Empire, and one for the rest of the world.

There is a great deal of information in this chapter, and I feel like, once again, it’s just what a GM needs to create her own campaign. Eloy is known for amazing control of the delivery of setting information, and he didn't disappoint here.

Chapter Two: Clans
The Clans chapter goes into detail about the 10 major ninja clans of the setting. (To date I believe the number of playable clans has roughly doubled with the release of two source books and one single-clan PDF.) They are presented in what I call the classic White Wolf style--you get a quick story about a sample clan member, the history of the clan, the lifestyle of a typical clan member, clan agendas, character creation info, and the telltale Clan Impressions section, which gives a sentence or two describing, in the words of a clan member, what they think of the other clans, the Lotus Coalition, and the Empire. The clans include:

Bamboo Herbalists: Adrenaline junkie healers with a propensity for going where they’re not wanted to get their ingredients.

Blazing Dancers: Light-hearted circus performers who use performance to stay in shape for ass-kicking.

Grasping Shadows: These guys are probably what comes to mind when you think of a Ninja (deliberately capitalized here).

Hidden Strands of Fate: These ninja spend less time fighting and more time politicking and controlling things from within.

Living Chronicle: Contemplative biographers of the world, they keep their records on their skin.

Pack of the Black Moon: These are the country folk, attuned to nature--especially animals. They can grant their powers to specially-trained dogs.

Recoiling Serpents: Masters of poison, and they’re ambitious to boot. Everyone watches them closely.

Virtuous Body Gardeners: Tattooed upstarts, these guys can animate their tattoos. Since they’re a newer clan, they are constantly looking for ways to improve themselves--which usually involves taking crazy risks.

Wardens of Equilibrium: All these ninja care about is balance in the world. They created the Lotus Coalition to combat the imbalance created by the Empire. Most of these guys are merchants.

Will of Iron: These metal smiths like to fight. Think of a Viking, only violent.

Another skill, at which Eloy excels, is the ability to keep you thinking about “your character” as you read through his books. In this chapter, I had to keep re-reading sections because I kept going off into my own world, thinking of “my character.” Then I’d realize I didn’t know what I just read. That’s a nice problem for a gamer to have and a nice one for a designer to create.

The Clan Impressions and the fiction in each clan write-up solved another problem for me. In the first chapter, I was thinking Eloy’s writing style might be wrong for a game about the Far East. The Clans chapter solved this conundrum for me. By the time I read the included fiction and the Clan Impressions, I got the sense Eloy was deliberately going for a looser style. The language and the sensibilities of the book are deliberately Western (the hemisphere, not the genre), and it will make Wu Xing more approachable to folks, like my wife (hint hint), who know little about Eastern cultures.

Chapter Three: Character Building
Character creation is basically a point buy system, with each part of the character having so many points to spend. There are six steps to creating a character. They’re listed in a sidebar at the beginning of the chapter. I couldn’t find step four (select Wushu) anywhere in the body of the chapter, but it’s listed again in the quick reference at the end (and Wushu is covered fully in the next chapter). The chapter is rounded out with a complete character creation walkthrough, to include a completed character sheet. More games should have this.

This chapter includes all the stats you’ll use, to include Skills, Gifts, and Drawbacks. Wu Xing has a lot of numbers to keep track of--this is seriously one of the crunchiest games I’ve liked in years--but this chapter does a decent job of conveying what needs to be done. With the exception of Clan choice, Wushu, and equipment, everything you need for your character is in here, which should minimize page flipping, at least a bit.

The skill list is short, which is a Good Thing(TM). There are a number of Fighting Styles to choose from, definitely taken from Kung-Fu styles, named after animals. There are a lot of variables in here--each style gives bonuses for different things, and there are special abilities associated with the styles. It’s great for flavor, but could create issues with keeping track of what your character’s bonuses are for which moves.

There is quite a bit in character creation that gets a player thinking about her character and provides guidance on how to play it. Eloy spends quite a bit of space on concept, including upbringing, gender issues, etc., then there are stats that provide guidance as well. Your character’s Chi levels in Yin and Yang determine much about personality. Your ninja will also have an elemental soul, which also provides more great food for thought. Put these together with Drawbacks, and even less-experienced players should walk into the first session with good ammunition for getting into their character’s head.

Character advancement is very White Wolf. Basically you get a point for showing up, a point for learning, etc. These XP can be spent to improve your character.

Chapter Four: Wushu

Wushu are ninja powers. Each clan has their clan-specific wushu, and there are more general wushu, which more than one type of ninja may possess. Those are usually elemental.

The powers are activated with a die roll, and Chi is spent in different ways to fuel it.

The feeling of wushu covers the gamut from spells to superpowers, and there’s a lot of variance between the different types of wushu. The chapter ends with some quick and dirty rules for making your own wushu. It gives magic a “sky’s the limit" feel.

(Coming from a guy who plays a lot of Savage Worlds, the way powers are set up in Wu Xing is certainly refreshing for me. All the characters are spellcasters, and they all manage to feel different. It takes a lot of suspension of disbelief on my part to have multiple spellcasters in Savage Worlds--not so here.)

Chapter Five: Equipment and Combat
I’ll say right away I was taken aback by having equipment share a chapter with combat. Equipment isn’t just about weapons, so there’s more to it then fighting. I would have definitely broken these up.

In regards to equipment, your Class in life determines what you can afford to have as a character. Land-owners can buy things with Cost: 1 or less, Artisans can buy things with Cost: 2: or less, and so on. It’s really clean, and it ties nicely into the setting. As weapons and armor help in combat, other items can help with skill checks. Pretty straightforward; I like it.

Combat is pretty crunchy, but I think in a game where spells, fists, feet, and swords are flying, wuxia-style, that’s completely appropriate.

Different combat actions essentially provide a combination of modifiers to attacks, defense, and damage. These numbers are further modified by Fighting Styles, armor, and weapons. Everything you do has a Speed, which brings me to the initiative system.

Each combat round consists of 20, half-second Counts on a combat tracker. Your initiative roll determines your starting space on the tracker. Then on your turn, the action you choose determines when you’ll go next. Every character has at least two actions per round.

You may initially be thinking, “oh, crap--phases ala Champions,” and you would be wrong. Instead you have to make strategic choices every time you act or react to someone else in the combat.

Example: You act on Count 2, your opponent on Count 7. Do you take an action that does more damage and give your opponent the chance to act next, or do you go for less damage, but give yourself two actions before your opponent? For your opponent, do they try to avoid your blow, pushing them down the combat tracker and giving you another chance to attack, or do they take the hit and hope for a killer comeback?

By default, the DGS uses no battle mat, but my sense is there’s little chance of falling into “I attack, I hit, I damage” with this system. And unlike other game systems, not using a mat won’t require a ton of GM fiat either.

I haven’t played it enough to give a final verdict on this, but I’m really excited to spend some time with it.

The chapter is rounded out with a three-round, one-on-one combat example. It does a great job of conveying what Eloy is going for with this combat system.

Chapter Six: Antagonists
There's a thorough selection of NPCs. There are also supernatural creatures, to include Spirits, Celestial Animals, and Oni. The stat blocks presented are pretty easy to read and understand--they’re neatly organized.

Barring something very specialized, there’s no reason a GM should ever need to fully stat up NPCs with what’s presented. That said, it’s my hope there will be a supplement to expand on the supernatural creatures, especially the Oni. I just wanted more.

Chapter Seven: Storytelling
This chapter is all about GMing. There are tips on theme and mood and recommendations for animated films to watch (for the record, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Naruto, and Basilisk). Also included are story hooks, based on the different styles of story the game is meant to be played with. The chapter is rounded out with some general “don’t be a dick”-style GM tips.

Between this chapter and everything else in the book, this game deftly avoids the trap so many games fall into: “so now what?” In Wu Xing, the “what” is clear.

Appendices
The book is rounded out with a glossary of terms, a series of quick reference sheets for combat and fighting styles, character sheets, and an index. The index is serviceable, but not as detailed as I’d like (to be fair, most aren't).

Conclusions
This is my favorite Third Eye Games setting so far, which is saying something, since I edited the bulk of Part-Time Gods. I’ve loved them all, but this one fires on all cylinders for me. One of my favorite features is there’s no metaplot, just the setup. There are no secrets, which only the game master may know--another Good Thing(TM). The end result is players can read this book, cover-to-cover, and their understanding and enjoyment of the game can only be enhanced by doing so.

While I've mentioned the crunchiness and statiness (new word) of the game, the core mechanic of the game is simple--roll d20, add modifiers, beat target number. A deft GM could easily roll in the additional mechanics as needed, to a crunch-shy group.

I have two issues with this book: 1) It seems to me a game about a war should include mass combat rules. I know ninja battles are showcased as one-on-on events in anime and manga, but larger-scale skirmishes and battles are mentioned; so they should be represented by rules. 2) The editing in this book leaves much to be desired. There are times where I laughed for all the wrong reasons when I was reading.

If you’re looking for a blow-by-blow replacement for Legend of the Five Rings, you may be disappointed by Wu Xing. Further, avoid it if you weren’t excited about my description of initiative and combat. But if you love martial arts action, and authentic Eastern culture is a tough sell at your game table, this is a must buy. Heck, if you saw Avatar: The Last Airbender and loved it, go directly to your FLGS or Third Eye Games' store or RPGNow--do not pass go; do not collect $200.

@ReverbGamers Master List Numbers 1, 2, & 3

2012-01-03T11:30:00.000-07:00

Due to the magic of social networking, I just found out about Atlas Games' Reverb Gamers Master List of 31 question about RPGs. Thanks to Ryan Macklin for bringing this up on Facebook (via Twitter). Like Ryan, I will do all 31 questions, and I will post each day. Since this is already day three, I will answer the first three questions today then going forward, one per day.

#1: What was your first roleplaying experience? Who introduced you to it? How did that introduction shape the gamer you've become?

My first roleplaying experience was at the age of 11. My buddy Tony had me over his house (I think it was after school) to hang out. He busted out the AD&D Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Unearthed Arcana. We made a quick character, and Tony gave me some magic items. I honestly don't remember any details as to the character or the magic items. Tony ran me through a dungeon for a couple hours and I had a great time.

I don't know how much it shaped me as a gamer, but it definitely started me off on a hobby that's lasted 27 years so far, to include podcasting, freelance editing, and game design.

#2: What is it about gaming that you enjoy the most? Why do you game? Is it the adrenaline rush, the social aspect, or something else?

This is honestly a tough one. I've been gaming so long, the whys are kind of lost on me. I'll try though. For starters, I love being around people--the social aspect is likely number one for me. Also, I love the act of playing a character and telling a story. To be completely honest, I really love "performing" for people, and roleplaying is pretty much a captive audience!

#3: What kind of gamer are you? Rules Lawyer, Munchkin/Power Gamer, Lurker, Storyteller/Method Actor, or something else? (Search "types of gamer" for more ideas!) How does this affect the kinds of games you play? For example, maybe you prefer crunchy rules-heavy systems to more theatrical rules-light ones.

I tend to agree with Macklin on this one. It's all about what the game, the situation, and the group requires of me.

I'm definitely a rules guy, but I try not to cram it down anyone's throat. I prefer rules systems that allow for lots of options in uncomplicated ways. I wouldn't say I prefer rules-light or rules heavy, just rules consistent. I like systems that are written in such a way so it's relatively obvious what you should do when you don't remember the exact rule. It doesn't matter how many rules there are, or how deep they go, as long as the make sense in the context of the other rules. It's also very important the rules evoke the setting or at least get out of the way.

The effect is, I don't play many games with pasted-on rules or too many subsystems, or games with a rule for everything.

From a role-playing perspective I tend to base my characters on personalities I've seen or read in media--or an amalgam of characters. Like Batman meets Dr. Cox from Scrubs (yep, done it). Does that make me a method actor?

I am by no means a lurker. I'm usually in the thick of the story, as a player, to the point where I actively have to monitor myself and pull away so others can shine. I've gotten pretty good at that over the years.

***

Well, that's it for the first three... I welcome your comments!

[Fuse Friday] What's it about?

2011-12-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

Fuse is a game setting I plan to publish. I'll be talking about it most Fridays.

A six minute action scene in a cartoon can go a long way toward an idea, but Warrior-Mages vs. Giant Monsters is not enough hook for a roleplaying setting, at least for me. So it begged the now-classic question, “What’s the game about?”

The general premise is pretty simple. Our world runs parallel to a spirit world. Since the beginning of this semi-shared existence, denizens of that spirit world have found their way here. Their world is so different, though, it’s very dangerous for them to be here. Since before recorded history, people have existed with the power to send these creatures back to where they belong--the power of magic.

Over the last several hundred years (the exact time depends on whom you ask), these incursions have increased. There has also been an increase in the number of people given power. At first it was assumed this increase has been on pace with population growth. It was recently learned (in the past hundred or so years), this is not the case. The increase in both the incursions and the number of people with powers have been on pace with each other, but it’s outpaced population growth. The discovery of this exponential growth has led to a startling revelation: the worlds are colliding--they will soon occupy the same space.

With the knowledge of the creatures they’ve been fighting these millennia, magical practitioners have worked to figure out how to stop the collision. Unfortunately, not all the practitioners agree on solutions. Some believe the collision isn’t real--that there is simply an ebb and flow to the magic in the world, and more magic means more creatures from the spirit world. Some have decided the collision can’t be stopped and have chosen to find a way to side with the denizens of the other world, hoping to find a better lot in life when the inevitable occurs.

In recent years, a group of mundane humans has learned of the impending collision, and they blame the levels of magic used in the world. They believe that to save the world, they must destroy magic--and those who use it.

Truth be told, there is wisdom to be found in all the opinions.

So Fuse is about the struggles those magical practitioners who want to stop the collision face--from the spirit world, from humanity, and from their own kind.

[Fuse Friday] Enter Fuse

2011-12-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

Fuse is a game setting I plan to publish. I'll be talking about it most Fridays.

Awhile back, I was watching the direct-to-DVD, animated Doctor Strange movie (go watch it if you can). The opening sequence--it's about six minutes--got me really excited, and I remember saying: "This would be an awesome RPG."

I didn't mean the Doctor Strange RPG (although that would be kinda cool); I meant the action scene itself--warrior-mages kicking the ass of a giant creature from another realm. There was definitely something to it. The idea has churned in my head for a long time. In fact, I've started and stopped development of the idea multiple times. In the last year, the idea has morphed into a game setting I'm calling Fuse.

Going forward, I'll be talking about the setting I've been creating (and am still creating). I'm doing this with some goals in mind.

Motivation to keep going
Tweaking and tightening the settting
Marrying the setting to mechanics - either an existing system or a brand new one
Getting feedback and opinions from my readers

Stay tuned. Better--get involved!

[Play-Thru] Claustrophobia

2011-12-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

In 2009, I owned a lot of board games - mostly because I was working at a game store, and I have "ooh, shiny" syndrome. (I've since paired my collection down to about 1/3 it's former glory.) One of the games I picked up at the time was Asmodee's Claustrophobia, a two-player dungeon crawl, based in Hell Dorado, the setting of a minis game. A little over two years later, I finally got to play it.

One player controls the Redeemer (essentially a Paladin or Cleric) and his condemned warriors, a group of thugs and and murderers with nothing to live for but their redemption. The other player controls the demon and his troglodytes. It amounts to 17 beautifully pre-painted plastic minis. One may think this is a limited selection in the grand scheme of things, but read on.

The board is modular, a series of square tiles, which get turned over as you explore the catacombs. Many of the boards have special rules, including movement-affecting terrain and game events, such as card drawing or treasure collecting. The tiles are sturdy, the art gorgeous, and the random aspect of the catacombs really increases the re-playability of the game, while adding to the immersion of "where the hell am I" for the Redeemer player.

Speaking of re-playability, there is quite a bit in Claustrophobia to keep you playing. The Redeemer can start the game with a number of different spells and abilities. While the game is scenario-based - there are several in the book and more at the designer's website - the random abilities and the random board seem to provide plenty of fresh play. The condemned are outfitted with different weapons and abilities as well.

While the demon figure doesn't change (duh!), the demon the figure represents does. Basically you have a card that explains the stats and abilities of the demon you're using. There's some nice variance here; I can't wait to try more out.

I mentioned I have "ooh, shiny" syndrome, but if you know me, you know I wasn't necessarily referring to the beauty of the components. The big draw for me was actually the mechanics.

Each good guy character has an interesting take on a character sheet. The character card is dropped into a raised plastic tray, similar to those found in my favorite racing game, Formula D. You use pegs to show damage on these, and there's a spot for a six-sided die. The die you put in that spot determines your stats for the round.

At the beginning of the turn, the Redeemer player rolls a number d6s equal to the number of active characters in play. The dice are then assigned to the character cards, and the numbers correspond to a line of stats. The Redeemer's abilities also tend to correspond to a die number, so you only get them when the right die is used on his card. I mentioned peg holes for damage. These also correspond to lines of stats. If a line is marked by a peg, you can't use that line any longer. If you're forced to put a die in a card that matches a canceled line, that character is out for the round, for the most part.

On the demon side, as I mentioned before, the demon's stats and abilities are determined by which demon you're playing. The troglodytes have their own board. Here dice are rolled to give the troglodytes modified stats or to give the demon player access to more monsters or special events that generally make things hard on the good guys.

Both sides get to make fun - and tough - choices. It makes for an enjoyable tactical experience, as you react to your opponent and deal with the "hand you're dealt" throughout the game.

The rules recommend you begin with a scenario where the Redeemer and his condemned are trying to escape the catacombs, and the demons are pretty much trying to eat the good guys. My friend Robert and I went with this scenario. I played evil (indeed!), and Robert played the Redeemer and his condemned.

At the start of the scenario, it seemed like the good guys were going to run away with it. A d10 was used to show how close the Redeemer was getting to the exit, and it was ticking up fast! Evil eventually got some control and stomped the good guys. Our first play went pretty fast, considering we had the book in hand. I absolutely believe the 45-minute play time on the box.

Combat in the game is simple. Roll a number of d6s equal to the attacker's Combat stat. Each die that beats the defender's Defense causes a wound. Simple and efficient.

Claustrophobia is aptly named. The Redeemer starts out confident; then the game starts to really close in on him. This was exacerbated by the fact that I had two rules wrong, both of which favored my side (not deliberate, I swear!). While we initially thought the game was too skewed toward the bad guys, it turns out it's much more balanced when you play the game correctly!

It's a good sign when the loser of the game wants to play again, and once we determined my rules flub, Robert was ready to play again.

My one complaint about Claustrophobia is the dice. The d6s are OK, but the d10 is very obviously cheap. At the very least, I will be replacing the d10. I may replace the 6s if I can match the size right.

Overall I recommend checking out Claustrophobia. It's a great two-player game - one of my new favorites (despite it being on my shelf two years).

[Read-Thru] The Flux

2011-12-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Are you one of those GMs who get Shiny New Game Syndrome? Does it cause you to constantly switch games on your usually-reeling players? Have your players held an intervention to make you commit to running the same game for more than, say, 90 days?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions (I may have), then John Wick's The Flux might be just the ticket for you and your group!

The Flux is one of the many little games to be found in John Wick's Big Book of Little Games. The PDF was provided to me, gratis, by the fine folks at DriveThruRPG.

You might be playing The Flux in your current game, and you don't even know it - yet. Because The Flux happens to your character, to your group's whole party, and usually when they least expect it.

Imagine playing a sorceress in a Pathfinder game, and she's in the midst of a climactic battle. Suddenly, your GM describes a humming in your character's ears. She can't place where it comes from - it's everywhere and nowhere. Then there's a flash and BAM! She's no longer a sorceress in Golarion, but a mad scientist in Hollow Earth Expedition. Later in the Hollow Earth, she has been captured by Nazis and left without any gadgets. As the player you try to help the mad scientist recall a memory - a skill or ability - from a previous world or existence, and suddenly she makes a gesture, speaks an incantation, and throws a fireball at her captors, clearing a path for escape!

In The Flux, you can totally do that. Seriously.

So if you're running a game, say RunePunk for Savage Worlds - you love it; you really do - and you discover you can finally read Earthdawn Third Edition on your iPad (totally not your fault!), there's an easy way to transition, using The Flux and making it easy on your players:

Grab your players' RunePunk characters
Make new Earthdawn characters for them, based generally on their RunePunk characters
One session, in a tense moment, have The Flux kick in
You're now running Earthdawn

Your players don't have to make new characters or come up with new personalities - you're remaking their characters in a different world. Your players don't have to know about the new world right away - your players' characters are supposed to be hazy on the new setting.

There's no need to remember the rules from the old game. To access their previous characters' abilities, the players keep their characters in a stack - newest on top, oldest on the bottom. They roll some d6s - the difficulty based on how old the previous character is - and if they succeed, they automatically succeed with the best possible outcome: Fireball? Max damage. Shooting? The target is dead, if that was the goal.

On the surface it may seem broken. You may think players will abuse the abilities. But there is a price. The world knows someone is breaking the rules, and it fights back. Every time you use an ability from a previous character, there's a chance for Whiplash, where your character may get really hurt - or worse.

The Flux is very cool. I will be trying it at some point. And to my players: trust me, there were no spoilers in this post...

Freedom From JPEG2000 Tyranny On iPad

2011-12-07T10:00:00.003-07:00

If you’re an iPad user and a roleplayer who likes PDFs, one term has likely been the bane of your existence: JPEG2000 compression. As awesome as the iPad is for viewing PDFs, especially with GoodReader, any PDFs using JPEG2000 compression are at least buggy and sometimes unreadable.

There have always been tricks to make them work, but some PDFs are unfixable. Worse, due to many publishers locking their PDFs, there’s nothing you can do but appeal to the publisher for a fix. The problem is you have to spend your hard-earned money or do some research to even find out if a PDF will work on your iPad.

Publisher’s have gotten better about testing their PDFs before release, but for many publishers, there is a lack of skill and/or resources (and sometimes desire, sadly) to do such a thing. And since my iPad has become my primary reading device, I have taken to just not using those books I can’t read on my iPad. I tend to read on my breaks, and lugging around a 300-page hardcover tome just isn’t convenient. This was an especially tough decision for me recently, when I had to veto my beloved Earthdawn (3rd Ed.) as a candidate for game night, since those books are epically unreadable in GoodReader, despite my efforts.

Then the other morning I had guests, one of which had a new Kindle Fire. I’ve been thinking about the Fire for my wife since she wants a tablet. I’d tried it in the store and liked it. But one thing I’ve considered is making sure there was a PDF reader that will utilize the built-in bookmarks like those added in Acrobat. Sadly many PDF readers (including Adobe’s on Android) don’t.

A quick search led us to ezPDF Reader. For $2.99 it seemed to have what Android users needed. My buddy went ahead and downloaded it. Success! So if my wife gets a Fire, or any other Android tablet, she’ll be good to go.

It’s a great app, and I liked the interface so much I wanted to see what it looked like on iPad. A quick trip to the App Store, and I was dumbstruck. It lists as a feature that it can read JPEG2000 compression! I downloaded it immediately.

It turns out it works as advertised. I can now read my beloved Earthdawn on the iPad. Pages turn a little slow when the app is set so it can read JPEG2000 (GoodReader just builds on features native to iOS - which is why its fast and JPEG2000 doesn’t work on it), but it’s absolutely beautifully displayed.

The interface seems clunky, but it might just be that it’s different, since I’m so used to GoodReader. I haven’t even made the time to check out all the features, so I won’t call it a GoodReader “killer” just yet (though it will read those bookmarks). But at $2.99, it’s well worth the price of admission even if I only ever use it to read those pesky JPEG2000-plagued PDFs.

The Family Game

2011-10-17T07:33:00.002-06:00

Recently, we've started a family roleplaying game on Sunday afternoons.

I am GMing the game, and the players are my wife (Veronica), my brother (Cliff), my brother-in-law (Scott), and my daughter (CaLeigh), who's nearly eight. While my wife and I have quite a bit of experience, everyone else at the table has little to no experience with pen and paper RPGs.

To keep it simple and free-flowing, I've decided to run ICONS. Veronica put aside her prejudice against random character creation, and we went all in with it. To say the least, character creation was quite a bit of fun. Despite the ability to throw together a character in minutes, we decided to do it as a group; and I walked them through each step. We ended up with:

Lady Flux (CaLeigh): A shape changer who can grow and shrink, usually into animals - think Beast Boy.
Knight Shade (Cliff): A crime fighter with elemental power over darkness.
Force (Scott): A mutant with the power of telekinesis.
SwitchBack (Veronica): An ex-cat burglar with a transmutation gun.

After a quick discussion, Cliff and Veronica decided Knight Shade convinced SwitchBack to become a hero (in Knight Shade #42!), so there was at least one connection in the group. We decided the team would get together after a chance meeting, so we're running the first adventure, Sins of the Past by Theron Bretz, before doing Team Creation.

I did make one small mechanical change to the rules. Veronica is not a fan of the d6-d6 dice mechanic, and I thought the ladder concept, in general, might cause some confusion with CaLeigh. So I'm just having everyone roll up and add, and on the back end, I'm simply adding 7 to the difficulty. Shedding the plus/minus concept doesn't change any probabilities, and it seemed to make the game run just a bit faster. It may not be technically faster, but I for one have been rolling 2d6 for a very long time (going back to Monopoly when I was younger than CaLeigh). It just feels really natural.

We started late for our first play session, and Cliff and Scott had plans after our scheduled stop time; so we only got through the first two chapters of the story. There were still some highlights. Lady Flux turned into a huge ape and belly-flopped an armored bad gal. SwitchBack used her transmutaion gun to turn the same bad gal's armor to pudding (it'll turn back in 10 pages). Knight Shade overconfidently raised a wall of darkness, only to have it shut down by a villain with probability control. Force used his telekinesis to throw a metal desk through the darkness, only to find the armored villain holding it when Knight Shade's wall came down.

Fun was had by all.

[Read-Thru] Agents of Oblivion

2011-08-16T08:00:00.001-06:00

Recently my friend, Sean Preston of Reality Blurs, sent me an early copy of Agents of Oblivion (AoO), an upcoming Horror/Espionage setting for Savage Worlds. The copy was sent simply for my amusement, but I offered to provide my thoughts on this Savage setting for this site, and he agreed.

The copy I received is text only, but it is the final text (barring any last-minute proof-reading) of the game, laid out and waiting for art.

Forgive the length of this post, but I’ve seriously waited several years for this setting…

The Read-Thru:

Savage Worlds veterans should be careful to read this section, as there are a couple tweaks, to include the bonus for being human, starting and available Skills, Hindrances, and Defining Interests. Speaking of Defining Interests, this is one of my favorite features common in Savage settings from Reality Blurs—essentially you choose a set of hobbies and other interests not necessarily covered by Skills, and these get you bonuses to your Common Knowledge rolls. This is a great way to help flesh out your character.

Another thing AoO provides is archetypes, nearly ready for play. Essentially the Attributes, and Skills are filled in, and you need only choose your Edges, Hindrances, and Defining Interests (though the latter can be chosen in play). These archetypes are a nice compromise between designing a character and having a pre-gen—your work is nearly done, but the archetypes are customizable so you can still feel like the character is yours.

There are a few additional skills—not the typical Knowledge (Whatever), but real new skills. I’m not a huge fan of the new Skills. All these skills could be covered by existing skills, and while they make things a little better defined, I’m personally a “fewer is better” thinker. On the bright side, Agents get four free Skills at d4, so this should make up for the extra Skills you have to choose from.

There are several new Edges and one new Hindrance. My favorite addition here is Power Mods. These edges modify existing powers in a way you might expect to do in a supers setting. For example, there’s one called Selective, which allows you to choose who is hit with an area effect power. Very cool! In addition there are Technological Edges, which deal directly with cybernetic implants.

In the Setting Rules section there are rules for Extended Trait Checks (or ETCs), as originally found in Reality Blurs’ Iron Dynasty: Way of the Ronin. These cover a similar roll to the new Dramatic Tasks rules found in the new Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition (SWD). I’m glad these are here, though. They’re well written and more detailed, which allows for greater flexibility. I can see using both ETCs and Dramatic Tasks in the same campaign, depending on the situation. Also, it may be awhile before many players convert to SWD, and I think this type of rule is essential to the genre.

AoO provides some great guidance on different ways to use skills for certain situations you don’t want to roleplay out, such as manhunts and hacking. There’s some good stuff here. I think other licensees—and for that matter, designers of all systems—should take note of this. This type of guidance can be invaluable to a gaming group.

Now for my favorite rules bit of AoO—Using Powers. Reality Blurs has devised another way to go Power Point-less in Savage Worlds. I am aware of three other ways it’s done, including Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane, Hellfrost, and the new SWD. This version is my personal favorite. Basically you just ignore Power Points, and power maintenance begins immediately. Blast and bolt were re-written and broken down into separate powers to take care of the stickiness these rules would cause with those Powers as written. While I don’t have a problem with Power Points, some Savages do, so this is a Good Thing.

Special Ops teams are typically provided their gear, and AoO has a great day to simulate this. Agents are given Resource Points to spend on mission loadouts—package deals for equipment. Players take a few moments to make their gear picks, and off they go. There are also rules for that equipment an Agent may need when already in the field. This seems to work very well and can actually be used right alongside the standard money system if your campaign concentrates at all on your Agents’ real lives.

You can also use your Resource Points to purchase Perks—special benefits you may need for a mission, like calling in an air strike or arranging an escape from a bad situation—and Spytech & Special Training (which I would hope I don’t need to describe). These are a nice idea and necessary to the genre for sure. Well handled.

The final section of the players’ portion of AoO is a lexicon of terms used in this setting and the special ops genre in general. I find this sort of thing very useful for immersion, and it’s great for newbies not already familiar with the lingo.

The Eyes Only!—or GM section—of AoO is chock full of great setting info and GM tools. As is pretty common in Savage Settings, it comprises much more of the book than the player section.

The Hidden Histories section gives you the setting history and info you need on Oblivion and its evil counterpart, Pandora. I love that Reality Blurs went with the G.I. Joe/Cobra format for their bad guy. It’s nice to have someone for the players to be paranoid about and blame for everything—makes a GM’s job easier!

The campaign section gives a lot of great advice on the genre and provides some clear direction for the GM. In addition it provides guidance on tweaking the setting elements, including, aliens, conspiracies, magic, horror, and tech. It really allows you to run anything from the default Mission: Impossible meets X-Files, all the way to G.I. Joe versus Cobra—no kidding!

The campaign advice section rounds out with campaign archetypes, which are generally frameworks for your campaign’s direction. This section covers a huge swath of campaign types—really anything I could think of while reading the book.

The next section, Agency World View, gives you an idea of what’s going on around the world, and it’s designed to work alongside the campaign archetypes. There are a ton of story seeds to be found in these pages. You could seriously run several campaigns out of this book with very little prep!

Speaking of little prep, AoO includes the now-obligatory adventure generator found in so many Savage settings. The Mission Generator, as it’s called, is much more detailed than the typical adventure generator, though. It’s chock full of great options for when you have one hour till the game session starts and you seem to have failed to prep (that may happen to me sometimes).

In addition to the Mission Generator, there’s a Creature Generator, for those times when your mission consists of “just what the hell is this thing killing people?!” I love this tool and could spend days just making creatures.

This is where we get into the “But wait, there’s more!” section of the book.

As if there wasn’t enough campaign goodness in this book, AoO includes sample story arcs, one for each of the Campaign Archetypes from earlier in the book. These are basically outlines for Plot Point Campaigns. Combine these story arcs with generated missions, creature hunts, and stories of your own devising, and voila! The story arcs are reminiscent of what Ken Hite called Savage Skeletons in The Day After Ragnarok, but they’re more detailed, including stats for each story arc’s major players later in the book.

The final section details some useful NPCs and organizations, including those from the aforementioned sample story arcs. The NPCs cover nearly any other character you may need for a game, certainly any character with little tweaking.

The Conclusion:

Agents of Oblivion may be Reality Blurs’ best effort to date. With enough information to support seven complete and varied campaigns packed into the book, the full edition of AoO can’t make it into my hot, rather large hands fast enough. Awesome setting aside, this may have been called the Horror/Espionage Companion, were it a Pinnacle product.

If you enjoy horror, espionage, modern action/adventure, or any other modern gaming, this book is a “can’t miss” for you. Don’t bother with the book if you are not into any of those things or detest fun in general.

[Weight Loss] Back to Blogging My Weight Loss

2011-07-15T10:08:00.000-06:00

So I am a mass-enhanced individual--or a fat guy, for those who can handle that sort of parlance. I've struggled with it my whole life. I started getting overweight in the second grade and have gained weight most of my life since.

My max weight (that I know of) was 449.2 pounds. I learned this after my first Origins (2008), which I struggled pretty significantly to make it through. By Origins 2009, I'd lost almost 100 pounds on Weight Watchers. Later that summer my weight loss peaked at 103.4.

At that point I fell off the wagon. It was a slow fall--gained a little, lost a little. By Christmas I was barely paying attention. The following Summer I was laid off, and my eating was back into full-on destructive mode. Throughout this ordeal, I made feeble attempts to get back on the wagon, but nothing I'd call serious.

Late in April I went back to Weight Watchers. I had come within two pounds of my Origins 2008 weight--447.2! Since I got back I've struggled quite a bit. I've skipped meetings, skipped tracking, etc. My peak weight loss is 12.4, but then I went a month without a meeting and put 4.8 back on.

Last week I found a leader I really like, and I'm feeling pretty motivated. I did some tracking this week, but I made a few assumptions without tracking or even checking. I fully expected a 1 or 2 pound gain, but I got lucky and lost 2.2 pounds. Rather than allowing it to give me a false sense of "I know what I'm doing," I'm calling it luck, because that's what it is.

So why am I writing this on Gamer: The Blogging? Well... at my most successful in the area of weight loss, I have blogged about it. It gives me a sense of accountability. The other reason is pretty simple too. If you're reading this blog, there's a good chance you've had some of the same struggles I've had with weight. Weight, in general, is rightly associated with the gaming community, and it's not like this is a secret. If you're a gamer, and you are in great shape--or at least not overweight--then more power to you. I promise to only hate you a little.

My plan is to provide a weekly update of my weight right here. The titles will start with the square-bracketed phrase "Weight Loss," so you can skip these entries if you wish.

If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading!

[Read-Thru] Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game

2011-07-13T21:25:00.000-06:00

Awhile back, I posted my thoughts about Eureka, a system-neutral, plot-assistance book for Game Masters by the fine folks at Gnome Stew. I was pretty excited about the book, as it was the most useful book of its type I'd come across in 25 years of GMing. UPDATE: I still use it. I used it a couple weeks ago. No one's changed my opinion of its status as the best RPG plot book ever.

The same group is back with a system-neutral NPC book, and, given my adoration for Eureka, I couldn't resist digging in. I should disclose, unlike with Eureka, I received a PDF of the new book, Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game, free of charge, for review purposes. Further, while my opinion has been solicited, it has in no way been guided.

Masks starts out on familiar ground. Like Eureka there's an explanation of why the book exists and how to use it. The why is obvious, I hope--make it easier for a GM to provide awesome NPCs to her players. The how is much more detailed.

The NPC's are broken down (nearly) equally into three broad genres: fantasy, sci-fi, and modern. They are further organized into enemies, allies, and neutrals. Each character takes up a quarter page. The design goal was to provide enough information without being too much, so the entries were kept to a tight word count budget. This goal was definitely met.

Each numbered, character entry is written sparsely, but manages to provide everything you need to know about the character in question, including everything but stats. The NPCs include an entry number, a name, a quote, and a two-word description, containing an adjective and a noun (the first entry is a "Possessed Cleric"). These are followed by tips on appearance, roleplaying, personality, and background. Like Eureka, each Masks entry includes traits, by which NPCs can be searched in the book.

The most important thing about the NPCs in the book is they're very well written. I haven't read all 1,000, but I can tell you I've read a lot of them. From the very start, the NPCs are interesting and thoughtfully designed, especially compared to what most GMs get when they truly have to make up an NPC on the fly. I found myself wanting to know more about these people--always a good sign.

One final thing about the uniformity of the NPC entries: the authors suggest the template they've created for these characters will help you write your own characters. I tend to agree. And I look forward to using the template myself.

The authors believe you can use these NPCs on-the-fly or with some planning, and I tend to agree. You can just grab a name; or the two-word descriptor and the traits maybe. You can read them all the way through if you have time. There is a simple list of names that starts at the beginning of the first NPC page and ends on the last. I'm terrible at taking notes during play, so I plan on grabbing a couple key words and jotting down the entry number so I can return later to flesh out my find.

On the advice front, there is a section on how to modify the NPCs to fit any roleplaying game, by giving a twist here or a quarter-turn there. For instance, all the NPCs are humans, as this is the easiest twist of all, since any race a game designer can create will have intrinsic human qualities. Simply focus in on those to find your race. A gruff carpenter? Dwarf. A beautiful sorceress? Elf. There are definitely more than 1,000 NPCs in this book when you consider these simple changes you can make.

The other advice in the Masks is a collection of excellent points on playing NPCs, from the GM's standpoint. This advice has been delivered elsewhere by many people, but I've never seen it all together in one convenient place in a book designed for roleplaying. Players should take note of this section, as it serves as a great set of tips for PCs as well.

Like Eureka, Masks is a super reference. There are indexes in the book to help you find characters by trait, by name, by author, and by group (think Tavern Staff or Bandit Gang), so as a GM, you have lots of ways to find what you're looking for. The pdf is superbly bookmarked. My only gripe is I believe the entry numbers should have been used in the bookmarks with the character names (yes, all 1,000 characters are bookmarked), as one more awesome way to reference this book.

I plan to have Masks close to me for every game I run, and if you're a GM, you should too.

ICONS Revisited

2011-07-09T08:55:00.000-06:00

Awhile back, I put ICONS back on the shelf. Having run it twice, I wanted to love it, but I couldn't bring myself to. There were a couple reasons, but the principle one was in play. I couldn't get past the Invulnerability power.

Basically a character with Invulnerability can never be physically harmed by a character with Strength two or more points below that Invulnerability. From a genre standpoint, it makes total sense--Batman can smack the heck out of Superman for days and it wouldn't do anything but annoy Superman. But from a game standpoint, it felt wrong. In my experience there should always be a way to hurt the bad guy.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with Chuck Rice, who writes a lot of support material for ICONS. I decided to bring up this flaw to maybe get some house rules from a subject matter expert. It didn't go the way I'd planned. Chuck made some pretty good arguments for why this was OK. So I resolved myself to run the game one more time, looking at it from his standpoint--it is a genre convention; it forces the players to thing outside the box; this is a Good Thing.

This week my Friday group was down a player, and since we're just starting a campaign, I didn't want to go on without him. I took the opportunity to run Steve Kenson's excellent adventure, The Skeletron Key, using the official freebie characters given out to promote the release of ICONS. Justin played the Hangman, Ed played the Mighty Saguaro (brilliantly, I might add), Veronica played Miss Tikal (that name still cracks me up a year later), and our guest player, Matt, played All-Star.

I warned the players in advance about the inability to damage some things--they wouldn't necessarily be able to smash their way to victory. I told them to think outside the box when this issue came up. The group really thought on their feet. They used Stunts and Retcons to defeat the physically tough opponents. All-Star was equipped to hurt anything in the story, but that didn't stop the other players from doing their part.

I was impressed. Not only did the players get around my perceived flaw in the game, they had a blast doing it. And it felt more like reading a comic or watching a cartoon. The result is ICONS does a great job of providing an authentic-feeling, super-powered experience.

Another thing I learned about the game is I'll be running it exclusively from my iPad. As a physical book it's beautiful, but I have some organization issues with it. There is no index and the table of contents is anemic. The powers section is not organized in a way that lends itself to quick reference. Powers are broken down alphabetically by type, rather than just alphabetically. Further, there's no alphabetical page number reference to make things easier to find, and the table of contents doesn't tell you what page the sections for power type start. It makes for a very frustrating experience when you're new to the game and need information now. On the iPad, I just bookmarked this stuff, and I can now reference the book very quickly.

Overall, ICONS is a great game, and as long as you warn the players of the genre conventions and keep your copy on a laptop or iPad, you should enjoy it too.

(Not So) Hostile Takeover

2011-07-08T14:34:00.001-06:00

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post for a word from…me! Hello everyone! This is Veronica, also known as Ron’s lovely wife, The Dread Pirate Vern, and Ron’s better 1/3. Yes, this is still Ron’s blog. However, since I am too lazy to maintain my own blog, and according to the state of Colorado, I already own half of this one, I thought I might borrow it for a moment. I hope nobody minds.

The other day Ron and I took our daughter, CaLeigh, to see the new Green Lantern movie (which I liked, but that’s a topic for another blog post). As we were settling in, they played a trailer for the new Cowboys and Aliens movie. The first thing I thought was not “wow, I want to go see that” (which I do, but that’s beside the point). No. The first thing I thought was “I would TOTALLY play that.” This makes perfect sense, when you think about it, because as a self professed Gamer Geek, I tend to view the world through RPG-colored glasses. Comments like: “Oh! I want to make a character like that!” and “Sorry, I completely failed my notice roll!,” can be heard from me on an almost daily basis. This trailer in particular started an idea rattling around in my head. There are all kinds of movies, books, TV shows, and fun ideas in general which should totally be made into table top roll playing games. As a proud and mentally competent gamer, it seems rather selfish of me to expect someone else to just guess which sort of settings I’d like to see written.

So I thought I’d make a list, just to help people out.

1. Cowboys and Aliens: Maybe as a Deadlands supplement? Are you reading this Matt?
2. Buckaroo Banzai: Here’s your chance to join the Hong Kong Cavaliers. I’m rather surprised this one hasn’t already been done. I mean really? Who wouldn’t want to play rock star/scientists who save the world on a daily basis?
3. Gargoyles: Based on the animated Disney series. A rich world with lots of details that were tossed out there but never explored. What would your clan be like?
4. Avatar: The Last Airbender: We’re talking kids with elemental powers here, not blue folks with tails. Set your game generations into the past, future, or half way across the world.
5. Torchwood: Save the world from aliens as the new staff of Torchwood Four. The 21st century is when everything changes. Are you ready?

There are more, but that should be enough to get you all started. Let me know if you need help play-testing.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

Learning Layout

2011-07-07T09:50:00.000-06:00

Awhile back, I picked up Adobe InDesign CS4 Classroom in a Book. My intent was to learn layout, so I'd have another marketable skill for freelancing. I'd started the lessons, done one or two, and dropped it. I recently completed what I believe will be my last freelance editing job. I'm no longer interested in increasing my marketability as a freelancer. I may do some writing down the line, but no more editing. And this likely means I won't end up freelancing for layout.

These days, I'm looking to learn layout for my own purposes. My intention is to layout my own book. And now I'm back in the same Classroom in a Book. I just got the spine cut on the book and a coil binding added, so the book will lay flat on my desk now. I remembered the book's inability to lay flat before as an annoyance.

This week I have four days off in a row. I kind of blew the first one, but now I have three days to build up a head of steam and learn layout.

Let's see how this goes.

UPDATE: Bulldogs! Not Cursed

2011-07-02T12:49:00.000-06:00

Our group got together last night and successfully completed characters.

We ended up with a psychotic, pink teddy bear, a warrior-race black sheep who just wants to do science, a manipulative purple guy, and a robot avatar for the ship's artificial intelligence. Should be fun!

Given the characters, this is shaping up to be a more gonzo game than I expected. In my experience that won't exactly make for a long campaign, but I believe a good time will be had for whatever the duration turns out to be.

In addition to finishing characters, I managed to explain conflicts, including the confusing-for-some damage and maneuvers. We also ran a quick, in media res combat to nail down the basics.

Overall the group seems to be looking forward to the campaign. No curse here. Move along.

Is Bulldogs! Cursed?

2011-07-01T10:54:00.000-06:00

So I have to confess I came late to the show when it comes to Kickstarter. I got involved in time to back a couple cool projects after Eloy Lasanta asked me to check out his presentation of Part-Time Gods. One of those projects was Bulldogs!.

I was aware of Bulldogs! in its d20 iteration. I'd heard "Good Things." Unfortunately, I was already too disenchanted with d20 to really look into it. But a FATE version? I was in...

When I got my PDF copy of the new Bulldogs!, I poured over it. It was Thursday evening, and I had a new gaming group, poised to try a new science fiction (preferably FATE) game the very next night. We were going to use Diaspora, but there were some concerns about the hard SF leanings of the game. We wanted to kick ass, and I'd heard Bulldogs! was in fact "Sci-Fi That Kicks Ass."

I'd loved nearly everything I'd read in Bulldogs!, and the next night I presented it to the group. They gleefully agreed it would be the way to go. We started with the Ship Aspects and completed those. Halfway through the Captain Aspects, though (technically it was two-thirds--we had two of the three Aspects), three children came up from the basement and asked who was smoking.

There were no smokers in the house.

After a frantic search we determined there was smoke and an electrical burning smell. I called the fire department, and we got out of the house.

The house didn't burn down, but needless to say, the gaming mood had been killed. There were crying children and freaked-out adults. We decided we'd finish creation the following week.

The next week we set about finishing character creation. The house was warm because we've been trying to conserve AC costs, but with guests coming we shut the windows and turned on the AC! About an hour later, the house went from 80 degrees to... 82. The AC was broken (and as it turns out, the culprit of the previous week's fire scare).

With two big guys (myself included) and a colicky baby on the premises, the heat was too much for our group and we only made it about halfway through our characters.

So I'm wondering... is Bulldogs! cursed?

There's an adventure from my Deadlands Classic days called Canyon o' Doom. It was guaranteed to stop a campaign in its tracks. In fact, Canyon o' Doom was involved with the death of three campaigns (not because it was a bad adventure--I loved the story). It was just... unlucky.

I sincerely hope Bulldogs! isn't my new Canyon o' Doom...

Con Report: Genghis Con XXXII

2011-02-23T10:14:00.001-07:00

February 17-20 was GenghisCon here in the Denver area. I had a blast with Vern and CaLeigh there. I will break it down by day then talk about Con Jr.

Thursday:

I went solo Thursday, and I decided to beat traffic and get to the hotel early--about 3:00, I think. There was nothing going on yet. I saw a guy sitting, looking like a gamer. (I don't know exactly what that means. It's certainly profiling, but I was dead on.) I asked him where everything was, and he told me I couldn't really do anything till 5:00. I then ran into Leif Olson, the con organizer, and he basically said the same thing.

Then I saw a guy who was walking by, and he looked vaguely familiar. It turned out to be Ross Watson, of Fantasy Flight Games, whom I've never met in person, but I'd seen his picture. He's been on TGTT a couple times, so I introduced myself. Then I realized Ross was on his way to meet the gamer guy I asked for directions. It turns out he was Michael Surbrook, Hero Games contributor and author of the excellent Kazei 5, an unabashedly '80s-inspired, Anime Cyberpunk setting for Hero. Michael has never been on the show, but he almost was twice. So we had at least emailed before. Soon, we were joined by Bill Keyes, who's done layout work for Hero and BlackWyrm Publishing. Several local friends came by over the next couple hours--Lee "Gobbo" Langston, Richard Wetmore, and some other folks whose name I unfortunately forget. We ended up having some great, pre-con gaming discussion. Fun was had by at least most.

After we registered, I was invited to grab some grub at the hotel restaurant, along with Ross, Michael, and their friends from here and New Jersey. Conversation was good--food, not so much.

That night I ran Iron Dynasty: Way of the Ronin, a Savage Setting of "heavy metal oriental action." I think everyone had fun. The table was full, and I did have to turn folks away due to only having six characters (note to self: have extras for Tacticon). I ran the game without minis or any sort of tactical map, and it didn't seem to detract from anyone's fun. That said, I think I'll start running Savage Worlds with the tactical set-up, at least in public.

After my game, I drove home. I'd be staying at the hotel for the rest of the con, but there were Friday school concerns with the little one, which made it easier to be home the first night.

Friday:

Friday morning, Vern and I headed to the con. Traffic prevented us from making the first block of gaming, so we spent the time chilling out and meeting up with friends. There was a lot of wandering here. The dealers' room wasn't open till 3PM, so really our trip down to the con was kinda wasted. I was very happy to have the time with Vern, though. We get precious little with my current Real Life Job.

Driving back to Broomfield to pick CaLeigh up from school meant we would miss the second RPG block of Friday. When we returned, we were able to check out the dealers' room (pretty well stocked for a local con), and I signed myself up for a Gumshoe homebrew game, based on Esoterrorists. Friday was my "freedom" night, when Vern had CaLeigh come bedtime.

After I had my game setup, my buddy Matt Cutter, from Pinnacle Entertainment said we should get dinner and have a pickup game after the his Deadlands game was done. So I went and turned in my Gumshoe ticket for greener pastures. Shane Hensley ended up joining us for dinner, and we went off-site, to an Italian restaurant called The Bent Noodle. (If you're ever at GenghisCon, look this place up. It was awesome.) Dinner was great, and the conversation was even better. Shane graciously picked up the tab (which made for the best "you're flyin' I'm buyin' ratio ever--thanks Shane!).

When we got back to the hotel, Matt was too beat to game, and Shane went off to check out the minis. We'd missed the final block of RPGs, as well. So it turns out we did zero gaming on Friday. We dropped CaLeigh off at Con Jr., and I did end up going to the auction. Vern hung out (read: fell asleep on my shoulder) till CaLeigh's (and her) bedtime.

The reason I stayed was I noticed two copies of the 1991 revision of TSR's Marvel Super Heroes Basic Set. They looked to be in good condition, so I decided I'd pay up to $30 to get my hands on one. The first set was sold for $31. That's right, I kept to my guns. I noticed the other hands in the room dropped much earlier than mine, so I had a feeling I wasn't going to get too killed on the price of the next one if I was patient. Speaking of patience, it would be two hours before copy number two was offered up, but I won it for $13--a complete steal! All the cards and figure flats (unfolded) were included, along with the dice. The books were in great condition. One corner of the box tore, I think, under the pile of games where it lived for the several hours during the auction. No worries. Tape can fix a box corner. $13!!

Saturday:

Saturday morning, the family and I joined the Rocky Mountain Savages for a breakfast meeting. It turns out we're going to try for a proper Savage Saturday Night at Tacticon. Also, we're going to start organizing Savage Worlds games in game stores. Fun fact: Savage Worlds fielded more games at GenghisCon than D&D 4e!

After breakfast, I reported to the room where I was to run my Smallville game. I had only two pre-regs, but I was hopeful we'd get more. Not only did I not get more, but the pre-regs never showed, either. So no go for Smallville. Sad face ensued.

I reported my game-fail to Linda Weygant, the phenomenal RPG coordinator, and she got me squeezed into Marc "Lord Inar" Gacy's homebrew Savage Worlds game, set in a family-friendly world he called Rocknester. I got to play a female Skunk. Yep... crossplay and a furry. In the first round of the first combat, my character got shot, taking 27 damage to her Toughness 5 frame. Believe it or not (mostly thanks to Marc's pity), my character survived. The session was fun. I will be asking him some questions about Rocknester. I think I'd like to use it with CaLeigh and my nephew, William.

Saturday afternoon, Vern and I were in a couples-based Unknown Armies game. The guy running it, and his significant other (I never determined wife or girlfriend), were doing the game to celebrate their anniversary. Very cool! I own UA, but I've never played it. We had a blast. The story was centered on a couples' retreat. Vern played the creepiest character I'd ever seen her play--she did it well, too.

Saturday night was Vern's "freedom" night. She was in an invitation-only game with Shane Hensley, held for the convention staff. One member of each podcast there (more on that later) got to join in. Vern's gamer-crush on Shane dictated where I stood in that situation.

Since I didn't get to game on my night, we found out Shane's game would be done at a reasonable hour, and Vern turns into a pumpkin at 10:00, my amazing wife offered to let me stay out if I found something to do. so I set up an after-hours game with Shane, Matt, and whomever. When Shane found out about my Marvel Super Heroes find, he suggested I go remind myself how to play and run that. So I spent Vern's game learning Marvel Superheroes. I managed to learn and prep in about two hours!

The game included Shane, his sons Caden and Ronan, Matt, his friend Dave (whom I've heard "war stories" about for years--it was nice to finally meet him), and my friend (and founder of the Rocky Mountain Savages), Chris Fuchs. We had a good time, but the one planned combat dragged the game down a bit. The old Marvel game did a lot of things well, but I ended up house-ruling the damage and the strength of Wolverine's claws so everyone at the table could be effective. The nostalgia alone made it fun, though--Shane kept saying: "I'm freakin' Spider-Man!"

Sunday:

Sunday morning was podcast-o-rama. We recorded two episodes of TGTT and one episode of the excellent (but explicit) WombatCast. The cast included me, Vern, Andy and Justin (from WombatCast), Ross, Michael, Bill, Marc, Leif and Bill (from the Denver Gamers Association), and Linda (RPG coordinator). We had a blast recording, and it turns out I may have gotten myself into some sort of Sumo match with Justin at Tacticon--we'll see what comes of that.

We ate lunch, and I went to the board game area next to host my game of Formula D. We ended up with six players. Two baled with only one replacement. There was one casualty in the game (the long-time leader ended up losing control of his car on turn three of the second lap). Since there was enough room for me, I played. In the end I won, due to some bold moves and one very lucky die roll. I had a good time, but I have to say I don't seem to identify with board gamers the way I do with roleplayers. I probably won't host anymore convention board games.

Con Jr.:

I have to give a shout out to the DGA for having Con Jr. It's a con-long kids event, coordinated by a teacher who either loves kids or is a masochist. CaLeigh spent the entire weekend entertained with games, arts & crafts, and movies... all for the price of a con ticket! This was brilliant, and it will serve as a great introduction for CaLeigh into the convention environment. Con Jr. is run at both GenghisCon (Presidents Day weekend) and Tacticon (Labor Day weekend). Very highly recommended.

In Closing:

Despite a couple hiccups--no gaming on Friday, my Smallville game not coming off Saturday, crappy hotel restaurant--I really had a blast at this convention. I am excited about Tacticon this September. It's smaller, but it's run by the same folks.

Genghis Con XXXII

2011-02-16T09:00:00.016-07:00

So this weekend, I will be at Genghis Con with my lovely wife. We're excited because our friends Shane Hensley and Matt Cutter, of Pinnacle Entertainment, will be in from out of town. Also, a two-time TGTT guest, Ross Watson, the man at Fantasy Flight Games behind the Warhammer 40,000 RPGs, will be there. I'm very excited about meeting more of the Denver gaming community, overall.

Ignoring my own advice (like I do), I am running three games at the convention:

Thursday night, I will be running Iron Dynasty: Way of the Ronin, for Savage Worlds.
Saturday morning, I will be running the Smallville RPG.
Sunday afternoon, I will be heading up a game of Formula D.

I hope to see you there!

Oh Index, Where Art Thou?

2011-02-02T09:00:00.003-07:00

One of the things the RPG industry is notorious for is bad or missing indexes. I've discovered over the last few years, some publishers don't know how to do them and some don't find them important. Others will drop them, supposedly, due to page count concerns. This last one I often find suspect, especially when there are ads or blank pages in the book (I have multiple publisher friends guilty of this sin).

One thing I can guess is they have to be pretty hard to do. Not necessarily the physical process of making one, so much as the decisions that go into what belongs in one. In most cases, it's not enough. You get your "lip service" indexes--the one-pagers. And sometimes you get behemoth indexes that never seem to have what you're looking for.

In the most recent episode of The Game's the Thing, I took part in a discussion about the index in Iron Dynasty, Way of the Ronin from Reality Blurs. I commented on how excellent the final of version of the book's index was. We had to cut the conversation, but I'd like to still give credit where credit is due. Apparently, the Blur's lead editor, Lyn Harm, is responsible for the index. It's six pages and includes a separate table index.

The size isn't what really hit me, it's the fact I have yet to stump the index when searching for something. According to Sean, Lyn actually kept a running list of what needed to be indexed as she edited the several versions of what became the final book. This process also apparently caught missing items, which needed to get added back in.

I am told the layout person is typically responsible for all matters reference in a RPG book--I have certainly never been asked to help in indexing when I edit--but I think the editor should certainly take part in the way Lyn did. Maybe this has been done before; maybe it's relatively common. I just know my experience, and it has never included anything involving the index.

Anyway... Well done, Lyn. And nice find, Sean.

The Denver-Area Gaming Community

2011-01-26T10:00:00.003-07:00

While I’ve lived in the Denver-area before, I wasn’t active in the gaming community back then. I really got involved in community when I started working for Game Daze in Tucson. I was meeting a lot of gamers, which led to me starting the podcast, helping to form SAGA, working with Pulp Gamer, and so on. While TGTT is still going, I don’t have that very public presence like I did working at a game store. And I honestly miss that.

My first foray into public gaming was earlier this month at MagnaCon. The folks I met there are primarily board gamers, and I’m psyched to have that venue. But it seems to me there’s a bit of a hole where there should be a more thriving RPG community. I know there are huge presences for 4E and Pathfinder here, and I hear tell the local Savage Worlds community may be organizing, but there’s not anything I can find for “everything else.” While there’s nothing wrong with any of those groups, they are a bit too narrow for my tastes.

My initial plan when I moved here was to just find a “home base” game store and go from there. Denver has several very good options for local game stores. The store closest to me, Total Escape Games, has a nice setup. The staff is decent, and the owners are cool folks. But like every other game store I’ve checked out in town, their prime in-store game slots are already taken by 4E, Pathfinder, Magic, Warhammer 40,000, and Warmachine/Hordes. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that. I just don’t have any interest.

Between MagnaCon and a couple chance encounters, I have put together a small group of folks who share my interest in playing different RPGs. I’ve decided to take a page or two out of the Tucson playbook and start something of an RPG guild. I’ve begun networking with interested parties, and we are officially in the planning stages. What I can say now is the main things on the agenda are regular meet-ups, a reverence for all RPGs, bringing roleplayers out of the woodwork, and introducing new people to the hobby. There’s also some grumbling about a sort of GM support group--something we were beginning to have in Tucson when I decided to leave Arizona.

I think a thriving, public RPG group is important because, more so than board games, RPGs tend to be a private affair. The trouble is when private groups fail, or just stop, people who would like to continue playing often cannot find a group, and so they leave the hobby--sometimes temporarily, sometimes forever. I want to reach out to those folks and help keep them in the hobby, and perhaps we can grow it as well.

[GM Tools] Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters

2011-01-21T13:48:00.001-07:00

I mentioned briefly in my last post I consulted the awesome book, Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters. It's written by the fine folks at Gnome Stew--the best GM-centric blog on the Interwebs. I've been using this book for awhile now, and it's time to give it a real shout out.

Essentially Eureka gives away its purpose in its title, but only word of mouth will sing to its utility. There have been a ton of products on this subject over the years, and they've always fallen short for me. Not so with Eureka. I bought the Print+PDF bundle because it's always nice to have a paper book, but I knew I'd want it handy on my iPad.

In Eureka, there are 167 adventure plots, each in the broad categories of Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror. They're further broken down into themes. Then there is a list of genres the plot should be easily adapted to. Finally, each plot is tagged with keywords designed to give you some ideas as to what features a story may have, like dungeon crawls, intrigue, etc.

The book actually opens with detailed instructions on how to read and adapt the plots. The advice is great and is easily adaptable to just about any module or pre-written scenario. I've already used it outside the book, in fact. Even if your game's genre is not one of the listed "big three," this book is still very useful.

The book rounds out with four indexes, one each for genre, tag, title, and author. At first I thought the author index was a vanity thing, but then I realized I started to get a feel for each of the authors and began seeking authors out by their style. The book is super-easy to navigate, even if you have very specific needs when searching for a plot--the PDF more so, given its ample bookmarks.

Every GM who has an off-the-cuff style should have this book. Even if you're one of those heavy-prepping types, these plots are more than seeds, and many of them could actually serve as overarching campaign plots. I've personally used it in both modes, "quick, I need a plot" and "looking for inspiration."

As you can guess, this one's highly recommended.

Con Report: MagnaCon 2011

2011-01-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

MagnaCon was a lot of fun. I ran five games (in four different systems) and met some awesome people. I'd like to especially thank Veronica Livingston for being a great host, and I'd like to thank Matthew Ward for getting me involved in the first place.

On Friday, I started out running Swords & Wizardry. I only had two players initially. They each ran two characters so we could run the adventure. Eric and Camdon were both good sports, and I think we all had a good time. Later in the session, we were joined by Matt, who managed to have two characters die on him. Finally, the last part was rounded out with the addition of my wife, Veronica.

For the Deadlands session, we had Wife Veronica, Camdon, Matt, Ed, Other Ron, and Lee. That game was a blast. I was going to go with a post-train robbery, Reservoir Dogs kinda thing, but at the last minute I decided to go with more of a From Dusk Till Dawn thing. My great friend Clint Black put that bug in my ear early last week, and by Friday morning, I'd decided he'd made a better call. It ended up being a blast.

Saturday morning, I ran Icons for Wife Veronica, Lee, and Olivia (11 years old--awesome!). It was a good time. The cheesy, in-character one-liners were hilarious.

Running two of the same story at MagnaCon turned out to be a mistake, as evidenced by the one person who showed up to re-play the S&W story I was running. So Camdon, my wife, and I put our heads together and decided to grab some Savage Worlds fantasy pregens from the Reality Blurs website and run something off the cuff. I consulted the excellent book, Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters, and had a story ready in minutes. It was relatively short, but I think we all had fun.

For the finale, I ran my Chicago, A.D. (After Dresden) story using the excellent Dresden Files RPG. We had Wife Veronica, Camdon, Ed, RP, Matt, and Chuck. Despite several factors--noise, group size, and mild food poisoning on my part--the game went pretty well. I have to say FUDGE dice hate me. I rolled multiple -4s and -3s in that game. This wasn't an isolated incident, either. It's happened every time I've played FATE. Unlike what the math fans will tell you, FUDGE dice really average -1, at least in my experience. I mean when I rolled high, the players were even celebrating.

So in my judgment, I am a little nuts for taking on as much as I did for MagnaCon. I won't put myself in quite that situation again--running so many games in so many different systems. That said I had a lot of fun.

But I have to say, "mission accomplished," on multiple levels. I ran five stories in four systems. People seemed to have fun. I had fun. Most importantly, potentially long-lasting relationships were formed in those two days. And that last thing is what this hobby is all about for me.

The only truly negative experience of the weekend (other than the mild food poisoning) was I missed my daughter terribly (as typically happens when we're separated for more than a day), so Vern and I have made the decision to take CaLeigh to Genghis Con Jr. next month. She was excited when we told her. I'm really looking forward to seeing how that goes.

Overall, MagnaCon is really a board game con, and they're trying to add RPGs. If board games are your bag, they had everything. The open library rivaled Pulp Gamer's, and Time Well Spent was there selling games at website prices.

MagnaCon 2011

2011-01-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight and tomorrow I will be at MagnaCon in Denver, running roleplaying games. Here's what I'm running:

Friday
3:00pm - 7:00pm: Swords & Wizardry (up to 8 players)
Labyrinth Tomb of the Minotaur Lords - Enter the dungeon and discover it's treasures. Swords & Wizardry is a revival of the original fantasy roleplaying game. All materials necessary to play are provided, but feel free to bring a pencil and pad to take notes, and your own set of polyhedral dice.

8:00pm - 12:00am: Deadlands: Reloaded (up to 8 players)
Greed - Your gang has just robbed a train full of railroad payroll. The heat is on, and you're holed up in a small town, waiting out the law. But something's... wrong. This horror western uses the Savage Worlds game system. All materials necessary to play are provided, but feel free to bring a pencil and pad to take notes, and your own set of polyhedral dice, including a separate, different six-sider.

Saturday
9:00am - 1:00pm: ICONS (up to 8 players)
It's Saturday morning--time for cartoons! In this super-powered game, your super team must foil the Siderial Schemes of Dr. Zodiac. All materials necessary to play are provided, but feel free to bring a pencil and pad to take notes, and two different-colored standard dice.

2:00pm - 6:00pm: Swords & Wizardry (up to 8 players)
Labyrinth Tomb of the Minotaur Lords - Enter the dungeon and discover it's treasures. Swords & Wizardry is a revival of the original fantasy roleplaying game. All materials necessary to play are provided, but feel free to bring a pencil and pad to take notes, and your own set of polyhedral dice. THIS IS A REPLAY OF THE FRIDAY EVENING GAME.

8:00pm - 12:00am: The Dresden Files (up to 8 players)
Chicago, A.D. (After Dresden) - Harry Dresden is dead or missing, and there's a power vacuum left in Chicago. Can Harry's friends stop a new player from filling the void? This FATE game is based on the popular Dresden Files novels by Jim Butcher, but no knowledge of the books is required to play. All materials necessary to play are provided, but feel free to bring a pencil and pad to take notes, and your own set of FUDGE dice.

The ICONS and S&W games are published adventures, which I'd normally avoid, except Dr. Zodiac was only made available to folks who pre-ordered ICONS, and the S&W adventure was published in a fanzine. So I feel safe running them. The other two are my creation, though Vernie helped me with the DFRPG one.

You might be saying, "Ron, that's four different systems" or "that's open to close on both days," or somesuch. You're likely thinking, "this guy's nuts." But it's a good cause.

I'll let you know if I'm nuts Monday...

Back in the Saddle 2: Electric Boogaloo

2011-01-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

So you may have noticed a distinct lack of me being back. There's a reason for that, and I think I may be on to something which explains other blogs I've had fall off the radar: I put a lot of pressure on myself to say "really important stuff."

When I think about it, that's rather pretentious of me.

So a few changes can be expected going forward:

1) Many (and perhaps most) of my blog posts will not be about games or gaming.

2) Many (and likely most) of my blog posts will not contain "really important stuff."

3) Any pretentious rules I promised to follow in earlier posts can be considered "in the past." I may follow them, but don't expect it.

The bottom line is, I call this blog Gamer: The Blogging because "Gamer" is a rather large part of my identity. I embraced that a long time ago. Being a gamer informs a lot of things about me, and that's a fact.

That said, I'm also a father and a husband (like in the title). And I think that opens me up to write about nearly anything I feel the itch to write.

So this time it's for real. You can expect two or three posts per week (hold me to it). There will be games, but anything I want to write, goes. Even if it's dumb.

Comment Spam and Upgrades

2010-12-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

A couple years ago, The Game's the Thing got nailed with several thousand (not quite five figures, but nearly) bits of comment spam. Libsyn's interface for such situations sucked. Basically, each bit would have to be deleted individually. So I left it unmoderated in an effort to keep it from the public eye. Recently I discovered some good news and some bad news. The new version of the Libsyn software allows 10 bits of comment spam to be deleted at a time--good news. The bad news is when the upgrades were done to the server, it auto-approved all the unmoderated spam. I discovered this last night. Between last night and today, I've cleared it all, which is why this will have to suffice for a blog post.

Back in the Saddle

2010-12-15T00:26:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, there was never a "Dresden Files RPG: City & Character Creation Part Two" on this blog. There won't be. Sorry about that. I won't get into why, either. Suffice to say there are equal parts reason and excuse involved. Regardless, I'm back. My goal is to post somewhat regularly. Here's to goals...

Dresden Files RPG: City & Character Creation Part One

2010-04-12T12:57:00.000-06:00

Last night our new Sunday group got together to prepare our Dresden Files campaign, one of two campaigns we'll be running (the other being a Cortex-based, post-apocalyptic game, which I'll blog about when we know more--it's Jeremiah meets X-Files, according to the GM, Don). We got through all but the Faces portion of City Creation, and we still need to finish from First Adventure on in Character Creation. But I can still talk a little about what we've come up with.

The top two city candidates going into the session were L.A. and Las Vegas, so naturally we went with Philadelphia--this after a great pitch from Brenda, who recently spent some time there.

Philly has a lot of great things going for it. My favorite Aspect to get thrown out there has to be: "It's a hooker-friendly town," which is apparently a quote from a real life article about the city. My favorite feature of the city is we decided William Penn, founder of Philadelphia, is still alive and pulling the strings in the city. Penn was known as an obsessive micro-manager. We're unsure whether he's a Dragon or just recently resurrected. As improved as Philadelphia has become this last decade, there are still things to not be proud of. We're looking at a red light district run by the White Court, with its local leader beholden to someone in the Black Court, and they want in. The drug trade is run by the Red Court, and the local Mafia and gangs are not happy about sex and drugs being the purview of the undead. There are beautiful murals painted all over Philly, as part of the city's fight against graffiti. These are all entrances to the Nevernever. They're the Summer Court's doing, and Winter's not so happy about it. There's more, which I'll go into later.

Here's the general character breakdown, as I remember it. I should note we plan to run the city troupe-style (rotating GMs), so we are all making characters. We have:

A washed up Boxer. He's a Lycanthrope who was expelled from boxing when he killed three opponents in the ring. Also, he's the black sheep (wolf?) of the local Italian crime family. He's played by me.
A street punk werewolf. She's the niece of the boxer. She's played by my wife, Veronica.
A focused practitioner with psychic powers. This guy thinks he's an alien. Played by Don.
A Changeling theater promoter. Total wannabe. Jason's playing this one, and I can't wait to see where he takes it.
Brenda's playing a Sorcerer. She's playing the only real fortune teller in Philly--apparently there are a lot of fake ones in the city.
Golda's character is an Amish runaway who is now a Champion of God (She has Shiro's sword!).
Finally, Kim is playing an Emissary of Charon. Yes, the one you pay to cross the river Styx. What a creepy, awesome character!!

That's all for now. I'll come back when we finish creation and tell more.

D&D Animated Series to Blame for Magic Item Lurve

2010-03-17T18:03:00.000-06:00

I started playing D&D in 1984, the same year the D&D cartoon came out. In case you don't remember this show, it's about six kids who ride the Dungeons & Dragons roller coaster at the amusement park. The ride somehow propels them into a fantasy world where they meet Dungeon Master, a pudgy, bald midget dude who instantly gives them magic weapons. The ranger gets a bow with no string or arrows, that shoots unlimited arrows. The barbarian gets a magic club. The cavalier gets a magic shield (no sword, no horse). The thief gets a cloak of invisibility. And the acrobat gets a magic staff, which can appear in her hands at will. The point of the show was for the kids to find a way back home. It was a cute show. My daughter and nephew are both six, so I decided to use them as an excuse to purchase and watch the series again.

My buddy Tony got the core AD&D books from his parents after seeing the cartoon. He had me over to play. What's the first thing he did? Assign me a magic item. Heck, we didn't even roll attributes yet. So now I know why my friends and I, and probably so many others who started out in those times, were obsessed with magic items in D&D.

I don't know why this is important, but I thought I'd share.

And for the record, the kids want to know more about D&D now. Mission accomplished. :)

Play-Thru: Leverage - The Quickstart Job

2010-03-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Margaret Weis Productions has announced Leverage: The Roleplaying Game, and with that has released the Quickstart Job. As would be expected, Leverage is powered by the Cortex System. The back of the book bears a logo that says "Cortex Plus." Given the many differences between the Cortex we already know and what is in this quickstart, it's appropriate to have at least a slightly different name. I've had a chance to run the Quickstart Job twice, with mostly different groups. My roleplaying group has been chosen as a playtest group for the game and had this in hand before release. It may be helpful to read my post about Cortex before continuing on. Also, anything I say could be different in the final release of the game, as it's still in development. This is really just what's in the quickstart.

Before I get into the game itself, I should probably talk about Leverage, the property on which this game is based. Leverage is a show set in our modern day. It's basically Ocean's Eleven meets Robin Hood. Nathan Ford is a former insurance investigator who hit rock bottom when his employer let his son die by refusing to cover the boy for a medical treatment that could have kept him alive. Given a chance to get even with his former employer, he wound up working with a team of criminals, each experts in their field: Parker, the really crazy (and completely adorable) master thief, Eliot, the "retrieval specialist" and resident muscle, Hardison the expert hacker, and Sophie the grifter (and occasional love interest for Nate). Over the course of working together, the group finds purpose in helping people get back at companies that are able to bypass the law with their power and money. The concept is, only thieves have a chance against such corruption.

The moment I saw the show, I was thinking roleplaying game. In the second season, they nudged me along by actually calling out the roles of each character: Nate was the Mastermind, Sophie was the Grifter, Parker was the Thief, Eliot was the Hitter, and Hardison was the Hacker. The more I thought about this as a roleplaying game though, the more trepidation I had about the whole concept of a heist/caper RPG. In my opinion, I've never truly seen the concept done right. Either you end up playing a modern dungeon crawl (don't split the party) or you have players twiddling their thumbs waiting for each specialist to do their job. In the best play circumstances, the GM's prep job is ridiculously cumbersome. The Leverage RPG seems as if it will find a sweet spot for me.

Gone from Cortex are skills. The character sheets have the traditional attributes in place, but instead of skills, there are stats for each role: Mastermind, Grifter, Hitter, Hacker, and Thief. Like skills of old, they're rated in die types, so the core mechanic of Cortex is basically intact, Attribute + Role Die. Instead of a difficulty number, the Guide (GM) rolls dice to generate a more fluid difficulty. On a glance I thought I'd just do away with the dice and have the Guide take the average roll, but that's where the new stuff kicks in, and Cortex becomes a roll-keep system.

Remember Traits from Cortex? They're slightly different now. They're a little like Aspects from Fate, really (small wonder since Rob Donoghue and Fred Hicks are on the development team). If a trait is helping you, you get to roll an additional d8. If a trait is hindering you, you roll a d4 and take a Plot Point. This leads me to another divergence.

Whenever you roll more than two dice, you still only keep the best two. This is now how you spend Plot Points. You spend them to keep more of the dice you rolled rather than to add dice to roll.

Whenever a player rolls a "1" on any of their dice, regardless of which dice they keep, it triggers a Complication. These are situational issues that come up, which give the Guide dice to add to his rolls whenever appropriate to the task at hand. For instance, if Nate causes a scene to give Parker some time, and the player rolls a 1, the team now has to deal with HEIGHTENED SECURITY d6, whenever it would apply. If HEIGHTENED SECURITY gets triggered again (with a roll of 1), it could be stepped up to a d8 and so on. The good news is 1) the Guide has to abide by roll-keep as well and 2) whenever a player rolls a 1, they receive a plot point.

The players have access to similar ammunition in Assets. They can spend a plot point at any time to create an Asset like SOPHIE DISTRACTED THE GUARDS d6 for a scene. If the Asset is purchased after the Guide rolls a 1, the Asset lasts for the rest of the story.

Needless to say, the Plot Points fly in all directions.

There is one combat encounter in the Quickstart Job (with a potential for two). I love the way it's handled. Basically, the player has an Endurance based on the character's Vitality. The bad guys get 2 plus one for each bad guy. So if a character has a 6 Endurance, and he's fighting three bad guys (5 Endurance), it seems like a pretty close match. Basically the player and Guide have a series of opposed rolls. Whoever wins takes an endurance from the opponent. Two get taken with an Extraordinary Success (win by five or more). Description of what's happening occurs between rolls. When someone's out of Endurance, they're Taken Out. It should be noted, too, that the outnumbering side gets additional dice for their numbers. So if three guys are rated at d8, the Guide would roll d6+3d8 to oppose the PC. If this is a Hitter the mooks are fighting, they're likely going up against 2d10 plus any Traits, Talents, or Assets that apply. In one of my plays, Eliot grabbed a WINE BOTTLE d6 and a FULL GLASS OF WINE d6 going into a fight.

I mentioned Talents. These are similar to Feats or Edges in other games. They let you break some rules or give you special perks, essentially. Eliot has one where, if the Guide rolls a one, he can spend a Plot Point to remove a die the Guide rolls for the rest of the encounter. Basically, he's Taken Out one of the bad guys.

The Quickstart Job is setup at the beginning of the con itself. There's "boxed text" of Nate and Hardison explaining the job, then the team is already on the scene. You of course play as the cast of the show. On both plays, my groups finished in two hours, counting rules explanation. The Quickstart Job doesn't mention the rules which I'm guessing will be included for job planning and other roleplaying opportunities. Feedback was nearly universally positive, and everyone wanted to see more. Even here in the desert, I can hardly wait for Summer.

Who is this for?

If you're a fan of Leverage, you need to check this out. Indie or Hippy gamers should totally check this out. It's Cortex laced with Fate and Dogs in the Vineyard. If you're frustrated with heists and capers in your modern games, there's something here for you.

Who should stay away?

If you prefer tactical play over narrative, this might not be your cup of tea. If you're not happy if there's no big combat in a game, you'll probably not enjoy this. If you hate the show and movies like Ocean's Eleven, 10-foot pole rule (also, we probably shouldn't hang out).

Honestly, I can't really see any group getting nothing out of this game. It had everyone at my table's wheels turning. It's inspired at least one campaign in a different genre already. What are you waiting for? Grab the Quickstart Job, and "let's go steal a holding company."

Rolling Dice and Social Encounters

2010-03-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

One of the most common arguments to be had in the roleplaying community is whether or not one should make skill checks for social encounters. This can range from interrogating a subject to the simple collection of information. Recently I've developed a new opinion on this subject--I used to be firmly in the camp of "just roleplay it out"--and it's one I'd like to share. I believe, in the interest of fairness, all encounters in a roleplaying game should be resolved in a similar way. This belief is based on two principles. The first is fairness. The second is anything important to a campaign can be a complex action.

Fairness is something often overlooked by roleplaying groups. It should be covered in a group's social contract (a subject for another time--for now, let Google be your guide), but most groups don't have them, at least not knowingly. In such circumstances, the rules of the group are usually governed by whomever is the Alpha--the leader. For instance, I've always argued in favor of "just roleplay it out." And do you know why? I'm good at it. I've been told I could sell Bill Gates an iMac. Is that really fair? Should I have an advantage over the other players because I'm good at social conflict in real life? I think not. Let's apply a pro "roleplay it out" stance to combat.

Let me introduce my friend Bill. Bill is skilled in at least four martial arts by my count. He's a hiker and a climber. Bill's in pretty good shape. And if you're reading this, it's more likely than not that Bill can kick your ass. So let's say you take "roleplay it out" as your method of resolving combat. Most people doing that at a table with Bill at it would be insane--suicidal or at least masochistic. Roleplaying games already know this, though. So it's not an issue. But is combat really more pivotal than social encounters? It depends of course.

The real question to be asked in a game is, "how pivotal is the action a character is taking?" The only honest answer is, "it depends." But when social encounters are supposed to be important, most game systems fall short. Some games have attacked the problem by having generic conflict mechanics, which can be applied to anything. Some game systems have full-on combat systems and give lip service to other complex actions by having a generic mechanic. One game system I have to applaud for their social-to-combat ratio is the one behind Green Ronin's A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying. The combat chapter is longer than the social conflict chapter, but the social conflict mechanics are every bit as deep and basically use the same system.

I believe comfort level is the real issue behind this. Most gamers are media consumers. In media it's easy to learn how to describe a fight. But couldn't the same be applied to the social? Not always, and with good reason. When you describe combat, you're using a tool other than your hands and feet to do it. When you describe a social conflict, that's not the case. The very mouth you use to communicate is the one the experts use when they're arguing. But honestly, some people aren't good at describing a good ass-kicking either. They get to roll the dice. Why shouldn't those taking social actions?

I think the answer is most gaming groups do it backwards. We say what our character will do, then we roll the dice. This is overlooked in combat. We're just used to describing a combat action and having it not pan out because of dice--it's the norm. (I think this is why diceless systems came into being.) But when we give impassioned speeches or make excellent arguments and roll a failure, it just feels wrong. Part of the reasoning is conditioning--for the first several years of roleplaying's existence, combat was king. So many groups have either dispensed with rolling for social actions completely or they roll and don't let the talented people (like myself) take the stage.

I think with a simple twist it's easy to start repairing this damage (as perceived by me) without abandoning our favorite, non-social game engines. Roll then describe. Need to persuade somebody? Make your rolls then act it out. The roll tells you how you need to do. Those who aren't comfortable with acting out social can skip all the details. Those who are comfy with it can go for it. There is a problem with this method. Getting people to act on failure can be tough. At least in combat, the overall outcome is uncertain. Would most gaming groups act out a combat scene knowing they couldn't win? I don't think so. It's still unfair to ask it of players in social situations, but I think its better than the alternative. Another option would be to derive mechanics from combat and apply them to other encounters yourself.

Looking into Old School

2010-02-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

Recently, I got into the tabletop Dragon Age RPG from Green Ronin. One of the reasons I like it is because it invokes an old school feel, in presentation and play. This got me thinking about the old school renaissance again. Last year I was looking into this stuff, until I got sidetracked. But between really enjoying Dragon Age and seeing Swords & Wizardry (a retro-clone of OD&D--if your not sure what I mean here, check out this episode of TGTT) being run at the most recent Tucson RPG Guild gathering, my interest is piqued again.

If you aren't sure how to quantify what old school is, check out Matthew Finch's excellent A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming. If Matt's essay doesn't make you want to play in a dungeon crawl or build a dungeon, or at least make you think about the way your play, feel free to ignore my posts with the "old school" label.

On a related note, I picked up the PDFs of Goblinoid Games' Labyrinth Lord Revised (LL) and Advanced Edition Companion (there are free "no art" versions, but buy the full art versions--totally worth it). LL is a retro-clone of early-80s Basic D&D, and the Companion allows you to add AD&D-style character depth to the simpler basic rules. I had a customer service-oriented issue, which I brought up to Dan Proctor, the man behind Goblinoid. That was last night. This morning, he not only got back to me, but he totally solved my problem. I'm decently sure Dan had no idea who I was when he got my email, so I can only assume this is how he treats everyone. Either way, I told him I'd spread the word on his awesome service, so here it is. Thanks again, Dan!

To Screen or Not to Screen?

2010-02-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

In a fairly recent conversation on the Pinnacle Entertainment Group forums, I argued in favor of using a GM screen to, at least occasionally, hide rolls. The longer the conversation continued, it got me thinking about my philosophies regarding this. Then I read this post from Rob Donoghue's blog, and I had an epiphany. I'd already done some "roll then describe" stuff with my group, but I never applied it in as wide a scope as Rob's article suggests. I also held on to at least a few secret rolls prior to this read. I resolved to give it a try when next I ran a game, which happened to be my first run of Dragon Age last week.

I sat at the table, GM screen in front of me--I had created three additional panels of tables, to supplement the reference on the back of the GM's Guide, in an effort to minimize book flipping. I sat there, GM screen in front of me, and explained how roll then describe would work at our table. The players seemed game to give it a whirl, so we went for it.

When the first combat encounter began, I realized soon that I needed those tables, but I also felt like I was cut off from the rest of the players. The screen I was using was of the vertical style, and I've been using horizontal-style screens for years. I'm sure that extra height added to my discomfort. Since my screen was custom, I pulled the sheets out of the screen. My wife suggested I put them back-to-back in sheet protectors to save space, which I did. We made the quick adjustment and got on with our combat. I must say I have never felt so engaged with my players. I've gone sans screen before, using my hands to hide a roll, but I never actively paid attention to the difference in feel at the table until now.

I can honestly say I don't see myself ever using a GM screen again, outside of having it handy to check out a chart. And if I ever fall back on secret rolls (something I no longer intend to do, but who knows what a given system will require?), there is always my hand to hide them.

Play-Thru: Dragon Age

2010-01-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

Last night I ran Dragon Age for the first time. I won't be posting "actual play" here because I'm running the included adventure in the GM's Guide. I'm not a fan of spoilers, either in the giving or the receiving. If I ever post true actual play, it won't be with a published adventure. In my previous post, I started talking about Dragon Age, but for completeness, I may repeat some of what I said there, here.

For those not in the know, Dragon Age is based on the video game of the same name. Chris Pramas of Green Ronin designed it with a new system called the Adventure Gaming Engine (AGE). I've played roughly 90 minutes of the video game, so I don't feel I have the knowledge to compare the two, so I will be ignoring any comparisons to canon.

My understanding is the pen and paper version of Dragon Age is meant to attract newcomers to the hobby, so it's written with novice players in mind. To that end, everything about the presentation of this game evokes "entry to the hobby." The player is primed for the setting, taught to make a character, then taught how to use it. All the while, excellent play advice is given. The GM's Guide gives tons of advice on running a game, which can most often be applied to any game. There's some additional rules info as well. A small bestiary is included, along with guidance on rewards. The book finishes off with an introductory adventure, which is designed to introduce the players and GM to the mechanics of the game. The GM is treated to inline advice on running the game, including reminders to remind the players of their options.

One final note on the books. This is "Set 1," and it only covers levels 1 to 5 (sound familiar?). Many have complained about this fact. I, on the other hand, applaud the choice. For one, I love the Red Box feel of that. For two, I think it allows this first set to really drill down on getting the players going. The message is clear: here's what you need today; now go play.

We played through the first three scenes of the game last night, and so far, I'm impressed. My only quibble with the books is the rules for Advanced Tests are only in the GM's Guide. Advanced Tests are AGE's way of dealing with extended actions and remind me of Skill Challenges from D&D 4E. This is great since Skill Challenges are one of the few positive takeaways I have from 4E (I reviewed 4E on TGTT awhile back, and it was mostly positive, but I soured on the game rather quickly). Before getting into the details of Advanced Tests, I should discuss the other mechanics of the game.

Character creation is mostly random, which turns out to be a good thing. First, it evokes old school, an obvious design goal of this game. Second, it makes creation easier for newcomers, another design goal--mission accomplished. I was initially turned off by the randomness, in part because the sample characters Green Ronin provides could not have been made unless all the players were extremely lucky or cheated on their rolls. I was going to use a point buy system but decided it was counter to the goals of the game. So I went with an old D&D house rule. Since abilities are derived by rolling 3d6, I had the players roll 3d6, but re-roll ones and twos. My instincts were dead on, as the characters the players came up with were pretty well in line with the samples.

Characters are made up of Abilities, Focuses, and Talents, essentially. Abilities are your basic stats; there are eight: Communication, Constitution, Cunning, Dexterity, Magic, Perception, Strength, and Willpower, and they start out ranging from 1 to 4. Those Abilities are derived from a 3d6 roll and a table reference. Average is considered a 1. Focuses are used instead of skills; they're attached to Abilities. If you have a Focus, you add two to your result. Focuses aren't required unless otherwise noted. Talents are similar to Feats or Edges. They give you little extra things you can do, like re-roll a failed result, use an action faster, etc.

After you roll up your Abilities, you'll choose your Background. Backgrounds add a layer to race and class. Basically, they give you Focuses, Ability raises, Languages, and Weapon Groups. They are also how you choose race, and they're the gateway to the three classes, Mage, Rogue, and Warrior. I had a concern about Dragon Age only having three classes, but Backgrounds make it much more interesting, alleviating my concern.

Like Backgrounds, classes give you access to Weapon Groups, but they round you out with Talents, Class Powers, and Starting Health. Mages will choose spells as well.

Gear is handled well. Characters have starting wealth, but they also receive automatic adventuring equipment in addition to their money. It sets you up with the basics, plus weapons and simple armor. Everything you need is in here, but I must say the first thing I looked for was a 10-foot pole and was disappointed (only on a nostalgic level).

OK. So you have a character; what's the system like? I have to say AGE is very cool. In other media, I might say awesome! Here's the gist of the system: roll 3d6 (one of which is a different color--the Dragon Die), add the Ability, and add +2 if you have the focus. Target Number (TN) is determined by the GM, with 11 being Average, and it goes up or down by twos.

In combat, a character must have the appropriate Weapon Group or suffer a -2 to their attack roll and half damage. Characters can still take a Focus later, to add the +2 as well. There is no listed botch mechanic (unless I'm forgetting), and the Stunt Points system takes the place of critical hits.

If you roll doubles when making an attack roll (or casting a spell), and you succeed, the number on the Dragon Die gives you Stunt Points, which must be spent immediately or lost. Stunts are effects that can be added in addition to normal damage. The obvious one is here, adding additional damage. All the other Stunts are most commonly found in other RPGs as maneuvers declared before an attack, and in those cases, they usually cause the innovative player to take penalties and often fail. For instance, if you want to knock a character prone in a given RPG, you'll often have to do some special maneuver that requires opposed rolls, penalties to your attack roll, or worse: both. In Dragon Age, this stuff happens after you roll. It also makes it more cinematic, and, in my opinion, more like fiction.

In fiction, the protagonist often gets the best of her opponent through providence--the character either sees an opening or has an epiphany. Stunts mimic that perfectly. You make an attack; you roll doubles and get Stunt Points. Here's how it could be narrated:

I melee attack the guard on my right, and when I strike my target, I see that he's off balance, so I follow through, knocking him prone. My momentum carries me through to attack my other opponent. I deal 14 damage to the prone guard; then I hit the second opponent for 11 damage. I then step past the downed guard, putting some distance between me and the standing one.

You can totally do that in AGE, if you get a 6 on your Dragon Die. What I like is the game rewards you for rolling the doubles rather than penalizing you for having interesting ideas.

The one drawback I expected to the Stunt Point system is the potential for analysis paralysis, and I was right. When doubles were rolled, it stopped the table cold. I expect the issue will improve in extended play. Here's the interesting part: it didn't hurt the game. Even with the extra time things took--we only got through the first three scenes of the adventure--everyone had a blast. And by the end of the one combat we did, veteran gamers were already flying through the stunts.

The Dragon Die has a couple other uses in the game. For one, it determines how well you succeed at a given task. So if a rogue is jumping between rooftops and gets a 1 on the die, he barely makes it or at least lands clumsily. If he gets a 6, he may look like an Olympic athlete. The included adventure also has tables for investigation bits, where the Dragon Die determines the level of detail found on success. I can conjure many uses for the Dragon Die, thanks to this little detail.

The final use of the Dragon Die is for Advanced Tests. Like I mentioned, this is when you are taking an extended action that requires detail and/or the measurement of time. Basically, you have the task TN, like a normal action, and you have a Threshold to reach to complete the task. When you succeed at a roll, the Dragon Die gives you a number of points toward meeting you Threshold. Each roll can be a measurement of time to say how long something takes, or it could be used for social encounters. An example for social could be to convince an angry crowd to not maul you to death, say TN 13, Threshold 10.

Health in the game is very straightforward. If you reach zero, you're dying. Your friends have rounds to save your bacon. There are numerous ways to heal to keep your character going. I like this, and it doesn't feel as forced as the way 4E does it, meaning it never feels like you clicked on something to heal--though I guess that feeling would be more appropriate in Dragon Age, given it's actually based on a video game IP.

The magic system in AGE is interesting. There are Stunts available, and they do everything from making spells cheaper to use to strengthen them to making them harder to resist. Spells cost Mana points to cast, and there's a skill roll. Many spells give opponents a chance to resist. The ability to resist is determined by the spell and the TN is determined through a Spellpower: Magic ability plus 10, with a +2 if you the mage has the appropriate Focus. One cool thing about mages is they all have an ability called Arcane Lance, which is a low-powered, ranged attack that doesn't use Mana points, so a mage is never completely useless in combat, regardless of Mana level.

I look forward to exploring the AGE system more. I sincerely hope this system is expanded out and used for other genres. Giving the system a separate name from the IP certainly paves the way for more genres and even licensing.

To be honest, it's hard not to gush about this system. It's an inspiring design, and I want more. I'm already coming up with multiple ideas on my own. I'm going to love tweaking this game. My only hope is that Green Ronin a) gets the other boxes out quickly and b) decides to use this system for other things and/or license it out.

Who is this for?

I'd say this is definitely meant as an entry level RPG, though the system has so much potential. It's also an excellent rules light system. Indie gamers looking for a crossover product should check this out as well.

Who should stay away?

If you like "crunchy" systems or a lot of attempts at realism, this is certainly not your game. If you are looking for a treatment on the Dragon Age setting, be warned: this is just a primer on a small section of the world.

Thinking About Dice

2010-01-30T09:49:00.000-07:00

Lately, with my decision to play new RPGs this year, I've been checking out a few new games. What's been interesting me most, for some reason, is innovative dice mechanics. For years I've been narrowing down what I like and don't like in a dice mechanic. Here's what I've come to so far.

I like roll up systems better than roll under. It just seems fundamentally off to me to want a low number. It gets really wonky when a counter-intuitive mechanic is added in, such as when an opposed roll looks for the highest roll, while staying under the target (I've seen so many systems; I wish I could say what it was--probably a BRP derivative of some sort). I get the logic, truly, but this reminds me of some encounters I've had with mentally unstable people over the years: do you want me to roll high, or do you want me to roll low? Make up your mind! Roll up systems make you feel like you're trying to reach a goal, at least, so I'm cool with that.

I'm somewhat lukewarm to dice pool systems, with the exception of the excellent Ubiquity system--I went over this one when I talked about player facing rolls. Most dice pool systems have a couple of problems for me. For one, and this goes to success-based dice pool systems, it seems anti-climactic to roll 10 dice and come up with a result of "three." The feeling is almost akin to roll under systems. Roll up dice pool systems (decried by many) are better, but if I have to add up a ton of numbers, I'd rather it be for damage than to find out if my character "made it up that wall." I think the Cortex system hits a sweet spot for me--attribute die, skill die, trait die, roll up.

I like roll-keep systems. I can't pinpoint why, to be honest, but I can say with all honesty that I've always loved the most popular roll-keep style games, including John Wick's L5R and 7th Sea games and Shane Hensley's classic Deadlands. Of course my recent go-to system, Savage Worlds, is a simplified roll-keep concept as well.

Over the years, I've lost interest in single-die systems. There are three I love, though: Mutants & Masterminds, Unisystem, and Gumshoe. But this is in spite of the single die. (M&M is my all-time favorite supers game because it does everything Champions ever did with relative simplicity. Unisystem is the home of my all-time favorite, if ill-fated, modern urban fantasy setting, Witchcraft. Gumshoe stands, in my opinion, as the best investigative game engine ever conceived.) When I roll a single die, I often get the "you mean that's it?" feeling. I have no other explanation. I could go on about dice curves and probability and such, but honestly, my feeling toward single-die system seems purely emotional to me.

Speaking of innovative dice mechanics, I've been checking out Dragon Age from Green Ronin. Powered by GR's new Adventure Gaming Engine (AGE), it uses three six-sided dice for resolution and d3s and d6s for damage. Like BASH!, the fun stuff is triggered when you roll doubles, but this is particularly in combat and spellcasting. I said you roll 3d6, but one must be a different color. This is the Dragon Die. When you roll doubles on an attack or a spell, and succeed, the Dragon Die result is the number of Stunt Points you receive to modify what you're doing. Combat stunts can range from an extra damage die to knocking the opponent prone to adding to your defense. There's more you can do of course. You can even use multiple effects if you have the points. On its face it seems very exciting, reminding me of those times in fiction when the protagonist sees an opening, perhaps getting lucky, and takes it, to staggering, climactic effect.

There's been a lot of talk over the years about RPGs that penalize players for being innovative (most of them, really). If you want to do this extra thing or that cool thing, there's a penalty to your roll. To me, this Dragon Die/Stunt Points mechanic seems to mimic fiction better. It neither rewards nor punishes innovation, but relies on providence, much like the hero in a story.

I do have one concern about AGE, and this comes more from my board game experience than my roleplaying experience: analysis paralysis (taking too long to make a decision). The stunt system in Dragon Age has the potential to stop a table cold as a player peruses the stunt table, like a restaurant menu, for the perfect stunt. I think if the issue occurs it will most likely be a temporary one, as folks get used to the system.

Tonight I get to find out, as I'll be running the game for family and friends. Two of the players are kids, a pre-teen and an early teen, so I'm excited. I'll report back here about the experience at the table.

Magic in Swords & Sorcery

2010-01-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

In the last year or so, I've really rekindled my love for the swords and sorcery (S&S) genre. I'm talking about Lankhmar, the Black Company, and, to a lesser extent, Conan. Specifically, I've been thinking about the role of magic in a S&S game.

For me, the Lankhmar books seem to nail it--protagonists don't use magic; magic uses them. Magic is a sinister force which happens to the characters, much the way nature happens to them. I find the magic systems I'm aware of lacking here. They either simply don't work this way, or attempts to model this approach are just tacked on an existing system.

I'd love to see a system designed around this type of magic.

In a game like this, the magic chapter would be found in the GM's section, right alongside the bestiary and foes chapters. It would be another tool in the GM's arsenal, used in storytelling. Players would encounter magic, and, should they wield it, they would wield it temporarily and at great peril. Those in the world who wield magic would be alien to the PCs, either changed by magic or never human to begin with. Were a PC to make use of magic too often or too long, they would be changed in some way. Indeed, every instance in which a PC encounters magic, they would be in danger of some sort of corruption or mutation, physical or otherwise.

This concept makes for an interesting design goal.

Read-Thru: BASH! Ultimate Edition

2010-01-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

Recently, I've been looking for an easy-to-run game to use with new players. As providence would have it, I found a complimentary coupon code in my email, from the fine folks at Basic Action Games, which netted me the PDF version of BASH! Ultimate Edition (Basic Action Super Heroes), the latest iteration of a rules light RPG that manages to keep it simple, while allowing players to reenact every major trope of super-powered fiction, be it comics, movies, or cartoons. Overall, the game definitely scratches an itch for me.

The Basics of Basic Action

The core mechanic is a 2d6 roll, multiplied by the appropriate stat. The dice themselves explode in an odd and cool way: if you roll doubles, you get to roll an extra d6 and add it to the dice total before the multiplier. If your extra die happens to match the original doubles, you get to roll and add another, and this repeats till the bonus die doesn't match. Again, all this before the multiplier.

A typical stat goes no higher than five, but different circumstances (equipment, powers, etc.) can bring the multiplier up beyond 10, depending on the power level of the game. There's potential for some very high results. For instance, when playing a cosmic-level game, there is a 200+ success level (called Beyond Imagination). Regardless of this, BASH! seems like it will handle all power levels, from pulp heroes like the Shadow, to the Power Cosmic-wielding Silver Surfer.

Like many modern games, BASH! has in-game currency, called Hero Points. Hero points can be used to add to rolls; they can be combined to buy Hero Dice, which can be used to great effect. The Narrator gets equivalent currency in the form of Setbacks and Villain Dice respectively.

The game includes over 70 powers, and I could find nothing of note missing from the list. There are simple systems in place to modify powers to make them cooler or cheaper. The amount of customization is astounding, given the ease of the creation system. We're not talking 80s Marvel game easy (due to BASH!'s point buy character generation--random will almost always be easier, if not more desirable) or Champions (or even Mutants & Masterminds) depth (no higher math required), but it hits a sweet spot that appeals.

The details of the system manage to stay light while giving players options to imitate great comics moments like the Fastball Special. The knockback rules guarantee all kinds of genre-appropriate property damage. There are even rules in place for completely scalable, improvised weapons--from lamp posts to city buses.

Over half the book is for GMs. The Narrator's chapter is packed with tips for running a game. Given my recent interest in player-facing rolls, I found it interesting that the rules for minions make fighting them completely player-facing. While only minions work that way, it's nice to see the concept in use in another game. An additional nice feature in this section is a series of random encounter tables.

The Settings chapter provides genre-specific tweaks for running in 10 different styles, including all the proverbial "ages" found in comics, as well as pulp, super teens, cosmic, sci-fi, and fantasy. Included are ideas for mixing genres as well.

Finally, there are appendices, which include an archetype appendix, broken down by character scale, and a whole section on alternate mechanics for the game, which includes several different resolution options to include dice pools, playing cards, and Fudge dice.

What I Would Change

The book starts out with a glossary of terms and leads right into character creation and rules, which is great, but I found important rules hidden in the Powers chapter (which comes after the rules) that aren't necessarily power-specific, like the details on how area effect works in the game. Also, the minion rules are hidden in the Narrator's chapter, which wouldn't be a problem if the writer didn't make a big deal out of the need for transparency between the Narrator and the players in a super hero game. Why not just put all the rules in the rules chapter?

BASH! uses quite a few tables. I'd like to see the tables put together at the end of the book or in a free download on the website. The book does include a dice roll chart on the back of the book (for those who don't want to use a calculator or wait for someone to multiply 23 by nine in their head), but it's the back cover of the book, which is black--printing that table for those who need it would use a ton of ink. I did notice a more printer friendly chart available on the website, which is a good thing.

The core mechanic of the game is so different (in a good way) from others I've seen. This book needs tons more substantive examples. For instance, sometimes modifiers are applied to dice rolls (before the multiplier), sometimes modifiers are applied to the multiplier, and sometimes modifiers are applied to the final result. A few more examples might help a reader contextualize which to use in what situations better. Also, there are success levels in the game, but sometimes you have to beat a target number by a certain amount--essentially a target number modifier.

The PDF

While this is a locked PDF, which I'm not a fan of, BASH! is fully bookmarked, and the publisher left copy and paste capability intact. There's no printer-friendly version, but BASH!'s clean layout couldn't get much more printer friendly without removing all the art, which has always seemed wrong to me.

Who is this for?

Anyone who's ever wanted to try a supers game but was intimidated or turned off by the front-loaded, math-heavy character creation typical of the genre should check this game out. BASH! also seems well-suited to introduce new players. Old school gamers would probably get a kick out of this game, as it leaves much open to GM interpretation. Finally, I'd feel pretty comfortable handing out some of the archetypes from the back of the book and running a pick-up game with this, no notice needed--and who doesn't have a need for that?

Who should stay away?

If you like highly detailed character options, this is not the game for you. If you find yourself wanting more realism in a game, move along. If you want a lot of detailed rules for every possible maneuver, I'd also recommend checking out another product.

Player-Facing Rolls

2010-01-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

A lot of RPG rules are promoted as getting "out of the way" of the story. Many of them actually succeed. As a GM, one thing I've always looked for is, "what's in it for me?" One feature I'm a fan of is when a game allows (but doesn't require) the GM to make all rolls player-facing. What do I mean, you ask?

In the typical RPG model, players roll dice for antagonists, and GMs roll for everything else. Some systems have options in place to either reduce or remove the need for the GM to roll dice. If a PC attacks, the player rolls to hit; if a PC is attacked, the player rolls to defend. This is player facing. Two systems come to mind for this: Cinematic Unisystem and Ubiquity. They go about it in slightly different ways.

Cinematic Unisystem, the engine behind Eden Studios' licensed properties like Army of Darkness and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, breaks the game's stats down into three scores (by combining stats and adding an average die roll), which provide the check number and target number for anything affecting the NPC in question. To paraphrase my friend Thomas Deeny, the GM and the players are essentially playing two different games. The method Cinematic Unisystem uses could be adapted to a lot of games. In fact, D&D 4E and Star Wars Saga Edition use a similar philosophy to come to its Defense numbers (which replaced the original d20 Saving Throws)--attribute bonuses plus average die roll.

Ubiquity uses a dice pool system with very simple math behind it--each die has a 50% chance of success--so you know if your dice pool is 10, for instance, your average roll will bring five successes. Since the core mechanic is opposed rolls, it's easy to see how a GM would never have to roll. Even if there's an odd number of dice (in which case, Ubiquity rules you just roll one die to find out which way it goes), the GM can simply choose to round in a direction based on the situation--it's basically one more way a GM can set difficulty.

Not all systems can be made to work this way without extensive modification. For instance, no system with exploding dice could be modified to work this way easily. It would just make for too many wonky situations. Systems with no opposed roll mechanics--or at least target numbers derived from theoretical opposed rolls--are also off the table if one is looking for easy conversion to this resolution method.

I'm a fan of player-facing rolls because I find dice-rolling more enjoyable as a player than as a GM. Also, it really does help a system get out of the way of a story and gives the GM much more control over the pacing at the table. Few things slow a table down like waiting for the GM to roll for a bunch of attacks or defenses. And in the case of games with an opposed roll mechanic, it cuts the total number of dice rolls in half. Finally, games without the wild factor of GM rolls tend to be easier to prepare for.

If your system of choice lends itself to this type of change, or if you have a chance to try a new system, I recommend giving player-facing rolls a try.

Cortex is Not a Savage Worlds Clone

2010-01-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

Last year, I decided I would run a regular game that wasn't Savage Worlds in 2010. Sounds simple enough (why would an experienced GM need to make that kind of resolution?), but it is in fact a tough thing. You see, I've tried it before. I've read other games, run one-shots. But for multiple reasons, I've always fallen back to Savage Worlds--at least since 2005. One reason is my group, especially my wife, is really into Savage Worlds. The system's comfortable to us and Savage Worlds is really versatile. Also, with my busy life its tough to gain a familiarity with a system like the one I have with Savage Worlds. But for my sanity as a "system guy," I have to do it. So I publicly declared I would (see, I did it again--damn!).

On my search, I decided I wanted to look at modern games. I looked at White Wolf's World of Darkness and decided it was too much fluffy reading to find both the rules and the point of the game. I thought about adding the core rules in with Second Sight, but I got frustrated in trying to find the mechanics plainly explained--did I mention I was spoiled by Savage Worlds? I thought about going with something like Hunter, then I realized I'd be going through over 300 pages of Second Sight-like reading, plus a re-read of the World of Darkness corebook (200+ pages), and thought better of it. Don't get me wrong. I like White Wolf. I think their products are cool. But I just don't have the time and patience to act as a GM, at least the way I'd want to, with their rules. But Hunter did intrigue me, so I at least had a lead.

Enter the Supernatural RPG from Margaret Weis Productions--sort of. I should go back a bit. Last year at Origins I grabbed a copy of the Cortex rulebook--because I was intrigued that it came with a PDF download code--and promptly tossed it on my RPG shelf when I got home. I even downloaded the PDF and promptly tossed it on my RPG thumb drive (nearly eight gigs of gaming goodness). A couple weeks ago, I opened the book for what was basically the first time (I did open it that one time to get the PDF code, ya know). It seemed pretty interesting, but I wanted something all-in-one. Then, enter the Supernatural RPG--really.

Another aside: I should mention there's a special relationship between those who love the Cortex System (which powers Supernatural) and those who love Savage Worlds. The basic belief is that one copied the other. On the surface, I can see where this comes from, and since Savage Worlds came first, I get it. There are some similarities, too: Cortex uses die types for Attributes and Skills just like Savage Worlds. Savage Worlds has Edges and Hindrances, and Cortex has Assets and Complications (they even both use "minor" and "major" descriptors, at least for the negative Hindrances and Complications--at least in the Serenity iteration of Cortex). Savage Worlds has bennies; Cortex has Plot Points (a name that will initially confuse the hell out of a Savage--it did me, at least). When the Serenity RPG came out, I bought it immediately (sort of--it sold out so fast I ended up with a second printing). Then I flipped through it and saw the die types and major and minor Complications. Then I went to the Pinnacle forums and saw them compared. My group ended up running a Savage Firefly game in lieu of Serenity, and the Serenity book sat on my shelf.

I can't say whether there was any copying going on or not. I've been told they are just close because of their core mechanic. Cortex's came from Sovereign Stone, and Savage Worlds' came from the Great Rail Wars (and before that Deadlands). I have been told Cortex's designer, Jamie Chambers, was a Deadlands fan. But to be honest none of this matters. The pen and paper RPG business is too small and too incestuous to pretend it matters. What matters is the results--good game or no?

Back to Supernatural (for real, this time). I picked it up because I thought I was cheating. I could pretend I was using a new system, but it was so much like Savage Worlds (I'd heard), it would be nothing to learn it and run it. Also, Supernatural was a self-contained, monster hunting game of just 180 pages. To run Hunter, I'd be going through 500+ pages of material. If I wanted to explain the setting, I could just have my players watch the show--we have DVDs of Cute Boys Hunt Monsters (my wife's name for the show) in my house. So I read the intro and game basics chapters of Supernatural and skipped character creation in favor of the play rules--I was all set to start comparing them to Savage Worlds. What a surprise I would find.

First off, the Complications (and the Assets, for that matter) weren't using "minor" and "major" like Savage Worlds' Hindrances. They were using die types instead. And in many cases they'll be rolled. Huh? That's different. It's a full roll up system, rather than Savage Worlds' roll and keep. There are Life Points (a really cool hit point system) instead of the tiered Wound system. Combat rounds are three seconds, not six. And Cortex didn't get any mechanics from miniatures games like Savage Worlds (the minis thing is a sticking point for me--I generally don't like using them), so you can just skip minis if you please. The biggest difference I found is in the way bonuses and penalties are assigned. Savage Worlds has bonuses and penalties to roll results. Cortex adjusts the die type up and down in steps (which reminds me of a rules-light version of Earthdawn's Step mechanic). There's also adjustable difficulty numbers. So die steps are applied to character conditions, and difficulty levels are assigned to environmental conditions.

The bottom line is Cortex is very different than Savage Worlds. And I like it. I've settled on it for my non-Savage regular game this year. Is it better? I don't know. I haven't played it yet. I'm running Supernatural next month at SAGA's Tucson RPG Guild meeting. I'm not running Supernatural at home though. Why, you say?

I found out that the Cortex System has done a ton of evolving. Serenity could be called Cortex 1.0, Battlestar Galactica could be dubbed 2.0. Supernatural and the Cortex book could be referred to as 2.5. This came up when I joined the Cortex forums. I was then contacted by Cam Banks, current Guy In Charge of Cortex. Cam comped me a PDF of the Big Damn Heroes Handbook (thanks, Cam!). This book is an add-on to the Serenity RPG and brings that game's system up to 2.5 with optional rules. It also goes a bit further with some new, indie-inspired mechanics for Cortex. I put it to my Facebook and Twitter friends I was torn between Serenity and Supernatural. Between some comments there and discussions with my wife, I've decided to go with Serenity, but thanks to my buddy, Berin "Unclebear" Kinsman, I may end up introducing aspects of Supernatural into the 'Verse.

I'll post more on my experience with Cortex as it comes up.

Reviews?

2010-01-04T23:17:00.000-07:00

I want to touch on the concept of reviews. I won't be doing them, per se. What I will do is present games I'm interested in. I'll talk about their good points, things I might change, who would enjoy it, who wouldn't, etc. But you'll never see thumbs, stars, or any other rating system. Some games I'll buy; some games I'll be given. Rest assured the opinions expressed are my own, though, and they won't be tainted by anyone's expectations. If I don't like a game, I'm not going to waste the time I think is necessary to give any intelligent opinions on it. It just won't come up.

What's this?

2010-01-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

Good question.

This is where I'll be writing about all things gaming related. My posts will discuss game theory, mechanics, play, etc. I'm mostly interested in writing about tabletop games like pen and paper roleplaying games and board and card games, but the occasional video game or some other category may come up. Also, there's no telling what other geekery I may feel the need to write about. If it's plausible a guy like me may be interested, it's plausible it could show up here.

So why blog about it?

Well, my life is pretty much consumed by gaming. Nearly everything I do is gaming related. I manage a board and hobby game store, I produce two gaming podcasts (The Game's the Thing and Smiling Jack's Bar & Grill), I work on the suite of gaming podcasts produced by Pulp Gamer (I'm actually affiliated with them beyond the "cast" level, too--more to come on that front), and I'm a freelance writer, editor, and budding designer in the pen and paper roleplaying business (there could even be a small publishing business in my future--we'll see).

Oh, and I play games, too. Funny, that.

Summing it up, I guess I just have a lot to say. I sincerely hope you enjoy what comes of this, and I welcome your comments.