RPG Thoughts- Game Building 2

This is the second in my series about creating a modern campaign. It started as a series of emails to Eldest Child, who has started running an Alternity Game with his buds (Check out his blog here). 

Since it was written as emails, there are random starts and stops and with how busy I've been elsewhere, it is a bit of a keep you interested thing. However, I like to think the information is still good.

Building a Game 2: Campaign Arc

A good campaign is like a good tv show. Allow me to elaborate on that for a moment. TV shows that last a long time come in two varieties; serial and episodic. A serial television show is where there is an ongoing continuity, and if you miss an episode you miss major changes that happen. Episodic television is the opposite of that though, every episode follows the same format, but nothing really changes episode to episode, so it doesn't matter if you miss an episode since major changes only happen at the season level.

A great campaign works along the same lines as both. Typically, you have each adventure or session that have nothing to do with each other, but every couple sessions you have one that ties into the overall story arc of the campaign. This way you can provide variety and different types of challenges to your PCs each session, but there is a continuity that you can follow and will eventually drive the campaign.

The campaign story arc is a hard thing to define. You almost have to sit down at the beginning and decide how it is going to work out. That's what separates veteran DMs from novices. A veteran DM can roll with what his PCs do to create a good story line out of thin air, whereas a novice has to have it all prepared before hand. I'm not going to talk about creating a campaign story arc on the fly, since that is not something that is helpful to people who already know how to do it. This is a series for beginners, any way.

Now, the first thing to keep in mind is the length of a campaign. We would all love it if our campaigns lasted forever, but in truth that's a lofty goal. Campaigns fall apart for a number of reasons; real world commitments, game burn out, and even falling out amongst players. So it is best if you plan a campaign to last a certain number of sessions. If you plan forward, you decide how much you need to do for your campaign arc.

This is where things get tricky. You have to decide how many sessions that your campaign will last. This is probably the hardest thing that a new DM can do, and to be honest its one that even veterans have trouble with. I've had a lot of campaigns end out from under me for no apparent reason, and you will too. It happens. That's why pre-planning can be infuriating. However, you have to be realistic with yourself. If you are planning to play 'whenever we can all get together', you are better off with a very short campaign maybe four sessions, if that. On the flip side, those of us blessed with nothing but time can take a completely different scale and plan for hundreds of sessions. Now, most people I know play in a regularly scheduled manner. Use that schedule as a basis for what you are planning.

Now, most games I've ever played have lasted a year, (possibly two) typically playing once a week. However, a year long plan is a good benchmark no matter what game you are playing. Things will stay relatively stable across the course of a single year. Others disagree and think that a six month ideal is better, and in a way it is, since you can have a bit more flexibility should real world issues come up. The end of the day, your schedule and how long you are willing to run it is what will decide the number of sessions.

If you are playing a weekly game, a campaign will typically last 52 sessions. Bi-weekly games will last typically last 26 sessions. Poor monthly games will last a scant 12 sessions. However, knowing how many sessions a game will last will allow you to make a better plan.

Going back to the television analogy, you want to build your campaign like a TV season. Let the first season be short. Very short, almost like a mini-campaign, that way if your PCs decide they don't like the game, you will get a nice little self-contained game that you can look back at fondly that you can end easily.

The first season should be about four sessions. The first session where everyone learns the rules and creates characters doesn't count. That's like getting the pilot picked up. Season one should be about the variety of things that can be done in the system. Go out and have fun with it. The first three sessions of the season can be about anything (or nothing at all), however the fourth episode should be your first story arc episode. That gives you everything being neatly cleaned up at the end, but a nicely dangling piece of bait should the PCs want to continue.

That's the good thing. If they PCs decide that they want to continue, then go ahead and 'pick up the back 9'. Expand the campaign to a further 9 sessions. Roughly 25% of all sessions should be campaign story arc. They should not be 1,2,3, arc. Mix it up, throw them around, make your PCs guess what is going on. The final session of the first season should be where the PCs finally discover what the 'Big Bad' is. That's when things really start to take off.

Plan out the rest of the seasons, even before you get to the end of the first season. Since you already know how long your campaign is supposed to last, you can build it up differently. A full year of weekly play will allow for 4 total seasons (that includes the four plus nine first season). A biweekly game will get two, but the poor monthly will barely get one.

This allows you to plan out exactly how you will dole out the story arc. Now, the good part of this type of set up, where you are leaking information about the overall story arc is that you don't have to have each story arc session actually directly do with the story arc. That seems like an oxymoron, but keep with me here. The thing is that it can have to do with the story arc in a very ancillary way. For instance, if the session has to do with a genetically altered animal, it could be that the big bad of the story arc is actually the person/group who paid for the project, even if they had nothing directly to do with it. Or one of the scientists works for the big bad, or something like that.

It has gotten too busy to continue...more later.

RPG Thoughts: Building a Modern RPG 1

This is the first in a series of Emails that I sent to my Eldest Child about how to run a modern RPG setting. While the information in here is more specific for modern games, it may be useful for other games as well.

How to build an RPG game for fun and a lack of profit.

The creation of an RPG is not that hard. Running games is easy, though DMs tend to make it look much harder then it actually is. With pages and pages of stuff written down, maps everywhere, and checking the balance of items, it seems like a lot of work. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In truth, running a RPG is a bit like a research project from school. It's a bit of thinking, a bit of writing, and a whole lot of reading what other people did and then stealing it.

Since you expressed interest in a conspiracy theory type game, or paranormal investigation (if you prefer), I will start my thoughts there. These are actually much easier to run then other types of games. Actually any modern setting is particularly easy. You don't have to do any conversions, you don't have to worry about creating strange names, and you don't have to worry about your PCs not understanding the local laws.

What makes it so easy to run a modern game is the shear abundance of material available on the internet, compared to the bad old days. Wikipedia is your friend. You can find a lot about anything there. With wikipedia and a rule book for a modern setting, you can run tons of stuff. It makes it so easy to note things down, to get a few ideas, and start right off.

Here's a brief outline of how to do it;

1. Choose a major city, US or foreign. It really doesn't matter which one. I strongly suggest choosing a city that you and your players have never been to, that way you aren't going to get 'Hey! That's not right, broad street never connects with 2nd ave!' which while lessens the verisimilitude of the place, it absolutely kills game flow. Look that  city up on wikipedia. Looking over the basics of a city will give you a great overview of that city. You know the basic neighborhoods, the layout, and some major land marks.  Especially pay attention to libraries, museums, and monuments- as well as large buildings (like sky scrappers).

2. Review the history of the city specifically. Where there any major disasters? How about battles? Scandals are always fun as well. This stuff is a great base for creating adventures. Haunted battlefields, psychic depressions in areas of great suffering, and even strange groups pulling the strings behind the scenes for scandals. This is also why it is a good idea to pick a city that you nor your PCs are emotionally attached to. If you pick your hometown there's always a chance that your PCs will go 'My great-great-grandmother died in the Great Fire of '27, that's not right that you made it a plot by the Evil Organization'.

3. Do a quick search on the internet for things like '[City Name] Haunted sites', or '[City Name] UFO sightings'. That sort of thing. That will give you a great start for figuring out some more adventures.

4. Extra leg work. This is entirely optional, but it can be fun and entertaining. Look at some places in the city with google street view and maybe do some searches on youtube for things in the city. Another fun thing is to find the local news stations and watch some local news, get a real feel for the real things that are happening there. If during a session, your PCs have to take a detour because of construction that is happening.

So this can all be done in as little as a half hour or so. If you want a more mobile campaign, you can keep doing this over and over again with a different city each time.

Geez, guys, you can't tell me when the formatting is all messed up? Come ON!

RPG Thoughts: On Line Play

Well, I took the jump. Went into online play. It was an interesting experience. I dug out my old homebrew D&D campaign, and we had a blast.

First a bit of background. Due to half my work group getting new jobs, I was at a loss. While I can still play stuff with the remaining, I was at a loss. So while talking to my buddy Consadine, who lives several hundred miles away, we hit on the idea of playing an RPG by Skype.

So I also decided to get a few more people involved. I invited Jim and Po, who had left work. Then I invited Consadine, since it was in part his idea. Finally, I invited Doug, who is probably one of my oldest friends, we've  been playing D&D and other games together since 6th grade- he was especially important since he played in Campaigns II, III, and IV of the homebrew campaign.

Now, Jim didn't have a microphone to join via skype. And for the first session Po was having trouble with Skype (which was his own damn fault). So it was just Doug and Consadine for the first session. As first sessions go, it was pretty typical as RPGs go (I'll do up a quick write up, if readers and players want it). What made it unique was the stuff I learned.

1. Skype is excellent for decreasing the amount of tangents. Back in the day, I actually had a 'S.T.A.N.' jar. S.T.A.N. stood for 'Stupid Tangents a Nickel'. We would charge people who broke game flow a nickel. The clink of the nickel dropping into the glass jar was a nice sharp focus (and we occasionally cashed it out for pizza). With Skype though it, there were no tangents. Multiple people talking at once made for mass confusion, every one took turns talking. Even getting up to take the kids to bed or switching laundry didn't cause a big disruption.
2. Rolz.org is an amazing gadget. First off it allowed us to all join a room where we could see each other's rolls, but also had neat scripts for the weird unique type of die rolls I like. You could do roll-over (roll the highest on the die, add in and reroll), or drop the lowest result on a number of die. It was a great tool, and one that I think that everyone would want to use if they are playing online.
3. No more lost character sheets. Since everyone had to send me a copy of the Character Sheet, that means that I will always have one. Especially since they will remain forever inside my gmail, there's little to no danger of losing something.
4. Easy reference. While I didn't use it myself this session, I do plan on using links much more in the future. However, it was great that when I was talking about a primitive trombone, called a sackbut, Consadine was able to get into here. However, given that my PCs are going to be going to going into a territory that is thematically based on The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, I'll have lots of chances to use those awesome Seirra Club pics of the southwest that are everywhere on the internet.
5. More importantly then with live gaming, it is important that everyone has a chance to catch up with everyone. This kinda harkens back to the first point, since there is really no chance for some talking when someone else is the primary player. This will also teach me to really spread around the love, there's nothing worse then sitting while someone is the center of attention, except perhaps not even being able to talk to your buddy while it is happening.

In all it went really well, but I can't wait until next week to pick up a new PC or two. It went so well that I think that I might expand the invite to a few others. However, that may prove difficult depending on the number of players. We'll see.

RPG Thoughts: D&D Next Playtest Stuff

RPG Thoughts; D&D Next Playtest Stuff

As I have mentioned, I got the D&D Next Playtest stuff. Took me awhile to look through and figure out what I needed to so here's what I wanted;

  "Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may publicly discuss your thoughts regarding the D&D Next Playtest Materials and your playtesting experience." 

-From the Playtest Agreement

That's what I needed to hear. That means I get to talk to all of you fine readers about my thoughts on it. Now, make no mistake, I can't stand 4th Edition. I hate it, and I make no bones about it. As I've said, its a fine RPG, but it ain't D&D. D&D Next seems at first glance exactly what they were looking to do, mesh all of the editions into a game that appeals to the majority of players. However, over at the WotC forums, all the 4th Ed players hate it-so I'm liking it for no other reason so far. So let me get a bit more indepth, and these are just my first impressions after reading the materials and just slaughtering my kids in two encounters. I am going to talk about this in depth in a couple different categories.

The Playtest Materials.

1. First off, they were hard to get to. While they were released on Thursday, due to bad servers and demand, I got 404 errors until Friday morning. This seems to have resolved itself, mainly due to demand dying down, but it was a raw deal. When doing an open play test like this, you should expect TONS of demand.

2. The set up. The packet itself was a .zip with a bunch of files in it. Overall it was around 125 pages of material. Me, being, me, I had them printed at Fedex office (AKA Kinkos), though it seems they raised their prices, and it cost me nearly 15 bucks to print it all. I can read rules off the computer screen, but actually running an adventure, I need to have something tangible in front of me. 

3. While it was bare bones, it was neatly presented, and the info was relatively easy to find with a little flipping. While I am not too enthused over the way that some of the info was presented, it wasn't a deal breaker. 

4. B-2! While it is missing the 'Keep' part of 'The Keep on the Borderlands' it is an old school adventure. That's some classic game there. It makes me happy that it came back. It is just the 'Caves of Chaos' it was a nice nod to those of us who have been playing forever. 

The Characters.

1.  The playtest packet only contained the four basic classes (Fighter, Wizard, Rogue, and Cleric). However, they did have two different character builds for clerics. Now, there were NO character creation rules, and all the characters were pre-generated. I suspect that there will be a character creation play test at some later point.

2. The character sheets were good...sort of. There were a lot of places that are still behind the curtain, so to speak, so there were things that weren't properly explained. Just going off what is on the sheet, there were some things (like damage modifiers) that I couldn't fathom how they got to. There seems to be a Base Attack Bonus or To Hit Armor Class Zero in there somewhere, but it wasn't specifically called out, or explained. 

3. While each sheet described how to level each character, there was no choice in the matter. I think this goes back to this is the 'combat' or 'monster' playtest, not the character one.

4. Hit Points are set instead of random. However, you can take a ten minute break and use your hit dice to regain some hit points. Its a nice change, it rather splits the difference between the no self healing of previous editions and the 'healing surges' of 4th.
5. Cantrips and Orisons (Sp?) are now at will spells. That's awesome, except for the fact that magic missile like it existed in 1-3.X is at will. WTF? Seriously a group that spammed wizards would be nigh-unstoppable. Seriously, if you have four wizards, that's 8 damage minimum guaranteed to hit every round with a max of 20. That's hardcore. 

The Rules.

Before Listing things, I want to talk a bit about the rules. There weren't very many of them, and many of them are basically slight variations of the same things that are in every edition. So I wanted to mainly talk about those things that are either A) Entirely New or B) New to Me.

1. Advantage/Disadvantage. This is one of the simplest yet most effective game mechanics I've ever come across. Basically, you roll 2d20, and if you are at an advantage, you take the higher, and if you are at disadvantage, you take the lower. It's simple, its clean, and its easy for everyone to get after about two tries. 

2. Long Rest. If you take a long rest of 8 hours (IE go to sleep), you regain all of your hit points and magic back. Now, this upset some people, but I disagree. While I have not house ruled this, my PCs basically have always practiced this. Go fight, get hurt, return to base, heal. Get up, heal again if necessary, if not at full compliment of spells, take the day off. Get up, go back to fighting with full HP and full magic. This basically takes that extra day or two out of the equation. I have a feeling that many people probably already house-ruled this, OR their PCs were doing the same things mine were. In this edition whenever a PC goes to sleep I'm going to do the Do-do-duedue-DUE from Final Fantasy. There's fluff that basically states that your HP is not actual wounds, but your exhaustion from battle or whatnot, but really it doesn't need to be justified. 

3. Themes and Backgrounds. These I believe are being brought from 4th ed, and I actually kind of like it. Background is nice, its basically an in-game back story that gives you an actually crunch thing. Themes though, I'm slightly wary of. Right now, it seems like a nod to 4th where everyone has a set party role (Defender, Striker, er, other stuff). I'm not a fan of the set party role. Without more character stuff, I'm not sure what this is really going to be like.

4. Simplify by diversification. Ability modifiers are MUCH more important in this game. There's no specific saving throws, its all by ability modifier. Then there is no scaling in the Difficulty Class for saves dependent on level. Then skills are all set at a certain rank. Skill rank+ability modifer+d20 is what you roll, that being said, I don't think that the DCs of skill tests are going to get ridiculously high.

5. No More Hand Holding. There's no sliding scale of appropriate encounters like there was in 3.X and 4. There are monsters, and you will not be able to beat them all. Run away. This is very old school. Each Monster has XP, no indication of what threat level they are. Learn quick.
6. Death Threshold. I really like this change. It went from -10 to Con+level. The stabilization rules are also more streamlined, and include a penalty for not succeeding. The flip side of that is that healing magic ignores those negative hit points, which is kinda dumb given how easy it is to get back up to full HP.

My Issues.

Again, I want to stress this is a playtest, and there's a bunch I'm missing, but I still think I need to talk about this stuff.

1. Armor As Treasure. There's a ton of armor as treasure in this adventure. Especially like platemail (Room 27, 16). In previous editions it was handled one of two ways. In 1st and 2nd it was clearly spelled out that to use heavy armor like that, it had to be made to order. In third edition it was good for a particular body shape (elf, or dwarf). In this case, which is it? The availability of those heavy armors could be a huge difference in the game, especially since it is better armor then what the PCs have to start with.
2. Where's pick pocket? The Rogue has a 'stealth' skill, but that seems more like being sneaky rather then dipping your hand into someone else's coin purse.
3. The kobolds in the module do 1d4+2 damage with a dagger, but in the bestiary they do 1d4-2 damage with a dagger. Which one is the typo?  An argument could be made for either type.
4. Light. The rules for light were simplified down to bright light, shadowy, and dark, the game really does not go into how much of a difference that makes. Shadowy seems to exist as a way to allow Rogues to hide in shadows, but there really aren't any more penalties for it. It says that it makes everything 'lightly obscured' but there is no real definition for what 'lightly obscured' means. Does it mean I can't target something in shadows with magic missile or what? I like only having three light levels, it makes it simpler, but there needs to be some clearer rules for what those light levels mean.
5. Technically, to play this, you MUST sign up for the playtest. This is a pain in my ass. I tried to get my eldest kid signed up to make it all kosher, but to sign up, I would have needed to send in a parental approval thing by snall mail or fax. What? C'mon! Let me sign the damn thing online, especially since I am a member myself! Stupid.

Well, that's all I got so far. I'll probably have more as I go along.

RPG Thoughts: Online Gaming

RPG Thoughts; Online Gaming

So my work game group has fallen apart. Jim and Po are moving on, and I for one cannot congratulate them enough. I'll miss them, and to be honest, losing my last two vets is a blow. Being left with just Tom and Megan does not make for great gaming. Two people is a very small group, and we don't have anymore days where we are all together, but the bosses aren't. So no more big games like Mordheim (the boss would frown on us putting up a table when the big bosses could see).

I don't really want to lose this group of gamers. I've lost a lot of groups over the years, and I really don't want to lose this one. So I am going to try and start an online D&D game via Skype. It seems like an easy fit. I can sit there and DM, and they can listen and respond. I've done quite a few things with group chat in Skype, and it will be an interesting thing to run a D&D game. It has a built in file send so that I can send quick maps to people for combat.

Ah, combat, that's the interesting thing. I've found lots of online dice rollers, but none that allow others to see your roll. I know that it is possible, since the old WoD chat games had one. That's a minor concern though. If it comes down to it, we can find other ways of doing rolls.

I am looking forward to returning back to my homebrew campaign. I always found it rewarding. I can't wait to introduce some new players to it. This will be an interesting experiment. Have any of you my faithful readers done anything similar?

RPG Thoughts: Lost and the Damned

So I've been thinking about getting my old stuff together for a new campaign. Like I said earlier, I remember all the rules, but the world is nothing more the ephemeral wisps in my memory.

The stuff I remember is the fun stuff, things that PCs did, and neat world building locations. I can't remember the names of countries or cities. I can barely remember NPCs, and those I do remember are either dead or retired.

This isn't the first time this type of thing has happened to me. I lost the campaign bible for a Vampire campaign, in the middle of the campaign. So I had to rebuild stuff. I don't know how we continued at that point. We lost sires and locations and all sorts of things that were mentioned at some point and we never got back to. It must not have been that important since we didn't bother with it again.

Then there was a time when the guy running a game kept all the character record sheets and left the notebook on the bus. Gone forever. We were able to rebuild the characters, but we lost quite a bit of really cool character treasure.

Of course, who could forget the time in High School when I joined a Traveller game at the FLGS, and the dude had all the rules and characters on his laptop-which then catastrophically crashed in the middle of a session. We gave up and went for wings instead.

Then there's the couple people who left 40K models in my basement. It's been a decade, I declare them mine now. Lost to them, free models to me. If it were a big deal, they would have picked up those 2nd ed metal 'nids a long time ago. On a related note, Jason, if you happen across this, can I have all those Fantasy Orcs in your gameroom that what's-his-name left there years ago?

Then the best was when we decided to play on the porch, since it was boiling in the attic, and my buddy dropped a set of brand new dice into the bushes. Eight years later, there's still a hole in my bushes where he jumped after them, but he never found the d10. Almost as funny as when my wife decided to use his hand as an ashtray.

Another buddy chronically forgot his character sheet to every session in every game that I ran for 7 years. I eventually started keeping them myself, rather then risk loosing them.

Of course, the worst thing is the FLGS that are gone. The Hobby Horse (where I bought my first minis and D&D adventure, not to mention my first X-Men comics- lost due to the rent at the mall going up), The Comics and Gaming Dungeon (where I learned of GW, and played Traveller- lost due to early embezzlement and never recovering), and Helm's Deep Games (where I played more games then I care to remember- lost in part to the owner losing interest and part to theft).

Those are my stories of things that I've lost, what are some of yours?

RPG Thoughts: Coming Home

In RPGs all things are cyclic. I find myself going back to the same themes over and over again. The stuff I like doesn't fit everywhere. What I like is weird. There are few games that work, so I keep going over it. There seems to be no way around it.

I think I have to go home.

Way back in 1992-1993 somewhere along there, I created my own gameworld for D&D. Something designed specifically to hold the weird stuff that I like. There's guns, and psychics, and a vaguely steampunk feel . It works, because it was designed from the ground up with all of that in mind. When you just toss that stuff in, it feels wrong and out of place. That's why psionics and Forgotten Realms doesn't really work, it comes off as alien.

Since I created the world, I've used it to run more successful campaigns then any other game world. Three massively successful ones, two that phased out due to real world concerns. The thing is that I keep advancing the timeline, and things change. The actions that PCs take change the world. I love that about it. PCs become important NPCs in future campaigns. It's the best of all worlds.

My main problem is how much actual background info is missing. My mind ain't as sharp as it used to be. I remember characters, and a vague map. City names, and politics are all gone. It's sad. I remember the rules clear as day. That's the easy part. I had to spend so much time on the rules, getting the balance right that I'll probably never forget them. Besides the capital city (Crynin), the rest of it is gone. I'll probably search through all my old papers for any scrap of info, and try to dreg my friends minds, see what they remember.

What I am thinking of though, is finally going ahead and making a PDF of the game. I am tempted to actually go ahead and do up a full game guide and maybe get it professionally printed or self published so that I have a nice hardback of it. Something to remember from. I did a quick logo. Let me know what you think.

RPG Thoughts; GM Questionnaire

Saw this around the net- GM questionaire from D&D with Pornstars. Great name, not a follower, but an interesting idea.

1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?

Ah, that would be the expanding caltrops that get eaten and then expand in the stomach. Lots of damage, then save or die from massive damage. Mucho fun.

2. When was the last time you GMed?
Real GMed? Like with a group? Maybe two weeks ago.

3. When was the last time you played?
As a player? Undoubtably back in december.

4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.
A chase scene that actually worked!

5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?
Take calls.

6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?
Whatever I want, but I prefer Peking Duck.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?
No, why would it be?

8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?
Running a Death Company.

9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?
Not really, all games are only semi-serious to begin with.

10. What do you do with goblins?
Have them kill each other in interesting ways.

11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?
There's an episode of Dr Who that will be making its way to the table soon enough.

12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?
I still think the funniest thing I ever did was releasing some undead mice that sent an entire group of fellow players first into a panic, and then into a kill me mood.

13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?
Uh, that would probably be one of the birthright books, more information, I guess.

14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?
Tony DiTerizzi, love his planescape stuff, or Brom with his Darksun work, its just so evocative.

15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?
Only rarely.

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)
Loved running Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?
A good table, adequate lighting, and comfortable seats.

18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?
Uh, probably Call of Cthuthu 5th Edition and Marvel RPG (Saga version)

19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?
I would say the various game groups that I've been involved with, each one is a unique set of players that makes the game work differently.

20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?
One who thinks, but is unafraid to act.

21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?
Uh. Not sure.

22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?
More Alternity game stuff.

23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?
No.

RPG Thoughts: Risk By Way of D&D

Hi, I'm LAZ, and I have gamer ADD.

I admit it, hell, I embrace it. Since last year at this time I've run/played in homebrew D&D, Ravenloft, Alternity, Vampire; The Masquerade, Spelljammer, Planescape, Mordheim, and now, I'm starting Birthright. I'd probably play even more if I had more time/opportunities.

The thing is that the reason that we change games so often is generally due to work. I play at work, so if we get busy, our game gets abandoned. Sometimes we get back to it, sometimes we don't. Right now, there is a big gearing up for a major promotion, so it looks like we are going to be busy for the foreseeable future.

I'm tired of not gaming when we're busy. Funk that jazz! (See the pun?) So I needed something that we could keep going regardless of how busy we are. I needed something that wouldn't necessarily require any type of stats. I wanted to do something Epic. Not Epic level, that's just dumb. I hated that book, its whole solution was 'bigger monsters', which misses the point.

I wanted to do something political (which is really what VtM is about, but the PCs always miss that). So after trying to jury rig something, I remembered that I owned Birthright. Birthright was the right idea. It was massive and sprawling, and it really didn't require that much conversion.

Birthright is a unique campaign, and I think that most people who bought it used it wrong. Hell, I played it wrong for years before I realized how it SHOULD be played. Every campaign I was involved in was Adventurers who were Kings! Which is the wrong emphasis. It is Kings who happen to adventure. That's a huge difference, one that most people missed. The thing is that the Kings are supposed to be like the Kings of old, leading armies, fending off assassins, and doing diplomacy. Adventurers wander around looking for fights, Kings have fights brought to them by their subjects. Roleplaying out a diplomatic session should be paramount, not shaking down informants for information.

That's the great thing. The rules for the Domain turn (IE the Ruling part of the game) are pretty divorced from the normal rules of D&D, so I don't have to spend a bunch of time figuring out a ton of stuff like I did when I converted Ravenloft II from 1st Ed to 3.X. Right there is a big reason that I want to play this game, I can continue using the same rules that I'm already comfortable with.

So that's one point in its favor, the other is that it is practically custom made for a PBM (play by mail) game. Which is exactly how I plan on running this. Each day people will email me their domain actions, and I'll compile it all and send out a world update. Which is perfect. Those who play can make their decision at some point of the day and send in what they want to do, I come home, compile everything, declare what happened, and send out an update. So we all continue playing, but we do so in our own time at our own pace. So the game continues, and I don't really have to do anything that extraneous.

To keep everyone up to date, I created another blog (yes, another one); The Thousand Year Game. Check it out if you are interested. There's still a few unclaimed territories, and I wouldn't be opposed to someone else joining in.

RPG Thoughts: Rule of Cool II

Hello again! I just read over the whole last post, and I realized that I really didn't get into the Rule of Cool thing. I titled it that, but I kinda missed the point.

The Rule of Cool is exactly that. According to tvtropes.org The Rule of Cool is; "The limit of the willing suspension of disbelief for a given element is directly proportional to the element's awesomeness."

That's Spelljammer in a nutshell. Hell, even in the main book it calls out to the Rule of Cool; "How does it all work? Well, the easy answer is 'It's magic.' The more involved answer is 'It's magic and it knows it's magic.' The rules are still there and must be obeyed, but it is a different set of rules from what we are used to in our world. As anyone here will tell you, a fire-breathing, 50-foot-long, flying reptile is impossible, but it can live in our imaginations. The same argument applies to spelljamming ships." -Forward by Jeff Grubb, Spelljammer AD&D Adventures in Space, p3.

If that isn't a cognizant argument for the Rule of Cool, I don't know what is. Also its a pretty good definition of the Rule of Cool as well. With this campaign, I not only wanted to give my kids a grand tour of the old TSR stuff and play some 3rd Ed, I also wanted to do the most off the wall wild stuff that I can think of. I'm tired of naturalism in RPGs, and politics of game worlds. Fuck it. I want neat things to happen, because NEAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING!

Dungeons and Dragons is built on the Rule of Cool. Each different campaign setting does it, and I think that it is funny that the two biggest (in scope) run on this Rule Cool exclusively. Planescape is Rule of Cool in philosophy and strangeness of characters. Spelljammer on the other hand, is running of pure Rule of Cool in the setting itself. Flying boats that go to other planets? Hell yes! Squid head people who eat brains? Yes, please! Floating xenophobic magic eyeball maniacs? Of course! Hippo men with flintlock pistols that dress and act like the height of the British Empire? FUCK YEAH!

Now, here's the thing. Spelljammer is pure Rule of Cool. That's great in and of itself, but it doesn't help make things happen. What makes a great game is the stuff that is around. Did up the NPCs, and I gotta say, they are real Rule of Cool type guys. Granted, I already elaborated on the captain, but I got some others. I have a real thing for those quirky shows about small towns. Right now, I am almost finished watching Northern Exposure, which is about the a small town in Alaska. Quirkiness abounds. I find nothing more Rule of Cool then quirkiness.

Sir Captain Reginald Dawntree: 6th level Half Elf paladin, going to the stars in a quixotic quest to win the approval of his potential father-in-law.
First Mate Juan Obi: 7th level Elven Monk, best friend of the captain. He's rather exasperated and the most level headed of crew.
Navigator First Leftnenant Monticello: Giff navigator, prone to fights and takes things rather literal. As in when asked to go to the 'coolest' planet in the system, he plotted a course to an ice planet.
Ship's Cleric Helmsman Father Ishmael O'Flanigan: A 5th level human cleric of a sea god who looks like the Gorton's fisherman. He's at home on a ship even in the roughest weather, but gets spacesick.
Man-at-Arms and Ship's Butler Bigglesworth Mount Veracci Gucci Jimmy Chu: The gnome butler who works for Sir Dawntree. He's the stereotypical butler with a bowler hat, cane, and monocle. The thing is that he has a nasty temper. What the PCs don't know is that he's a 12th level barbarian. The bowler hat is a Keen Vorpal Throwing Bowler Hat +2 (1d2 damage, critical range of 14-20). He's there to be the 'dues ex machina' in case the kids get over their heads, BOOM Bigglesworth to the rescue! He is the epitome of Rule of Cool.
Ship's Wizard 'The Boy': a first level human wizard. The Boy is the former apprentice of the previous ship's wizard (who blew himself up by casting a maximized fireball in the phologiston). So The Boy has all the magic items of his former master and very little idea of what to do with them. The other main thing is that the Boy isn't actually a boy, but a girl who was posing as a boy so that she could get onto the ship (since women at sea are bad luck).
Siege Engineer Ironfist: 3rd level Dwarf rogue. He keeps going on about how he's too old for this shit. Even though he's only 45, barely out of his teens, and his beard is only 7 inches long.
Quartermaster Whose Name I already Forgot: 12th level dwarf aristocrat. He's there to make sure that the 'quest' of Sir Dawntree goes according to Hoyle. The fun thing about him is that he's slightly corrupt and slightly incompetent. So when told to get food for the journey, he'll buy a ton of escargot instead of hardtack or something.

A big group of quirky people. They are not in and of themselves an adventure, they are there to add some background and flavor. With the NPCs in place I can start working on the really cool stuff. I'm thinking of some Gith pirates riding pterodactyls. That's cool. Minotaur vikings in a spelljamming longboats (horned helmet on top of horns!)? A magic item powered version of the Justice League (Capes of Flying anyone!)? Rock'em Sock'em Golems? Getting caught in the cross fire of a beholder and Illithid battle? An Immoth Bard Rock Band playing heavy metal via auditory illusions? Wolfmen on the moon? Ninjas? Any other suggestions for Rule of Cool encounters?

RPG Thoughts: Rule of Cool

Well, hello, again wide world of blogging! I realize that sometimes I'm just talking to an empty theater, and my hits go up with the vitriol. I don't like being that guy. Seriously, I don't. It comes too easy for me, I am by nature an angry person, and dear god does GW bring it out in me sometimes. This is why I love to write about the type of stuff that I am about to write about.

I like to play RPGS, (dur), and my kids are starting to get into them as well. Eldest child has a fairly regular D&D 4th ed game that he's involved in (gah!), which has nothing to do with me. Which is both a blessing and a curse. The kids started the group and I was contented to stand aside. Eldest child and his friends needed to get their games in without a meddling old dude. My dad was never a gamer (even though he did introduce me to all the stuff that lead to gaming), and it is a tad creepy with an old dude playing with a bunch of middle schoolers. That's my thoughts on it. However, Eldest Child's best friend had an uncle who disagreed. So he's running their group, which is why they play 4th ed. That's fine. I really have no problem with that, especially since he brought in some more kids around the same age to play. So bigger group is a good thing.

So here I am trying to not to be the only adult in a room full of kids, and boom! They go get an adult to run the game anyway! Now, here's the thing. I can deal with the not being the adult, I can deal with the not being the DM, I can even deal with them playing with 4th ed. So, what's my problem with it? I'm not too sure. See? Like I said, anger comes easy. Regardless, I wanted to play a game with my kids, and just my kids.

So I've been looking over stuff to play. I finally decided on the one thing that could really keep a campaign going for a long haul and not get too caught up in the long term adventure.

Spelljammer.

They both rolled up rogues. Halfling and Elf respectively. One focused on talking, one on actual stealing stuff. Dropped an anchor on them from the sky, they climbed it and now they are on the Rock of Bral. Which is an excellent starting place.

Where I plan on taking it, though is the best part. I'm going to do the Grand Tour of the old TSR stuff. Hit all the major campaign worlds, giving them a 'signature' adventure in each place. I'm not sure where they'll go, or in what order, but I'm going to make up some good stuff. The point is to capture the feel of each game world.

So right now, I'm just spit balling ideas before I send them anywhere. Listing things that make each world special. Here's the list so far;

DragonLance: Krynn. Kender, draconians, dragon riders. That scenario practically writes itself, doesn't it?
Forgotten Realms: Toril. Drow, Zhentarim, and ridiculously high level NPCs. Might take a bit more thinking.
Dark Sun: Athas. Technically not accessable by Spelljamming, but fuck it. Psionics, Thri-Kreen, Gladiators, and life destroying magic. What's not to love?
Greyhawk: Oerth. Old School. I'm thinking a dungeon with lots of death traps.
Birthright: Aebrynis. Yes, I had to look it up. I owned this game, and I couldn't remember it. Though a bit of intrigue, politics, blood lines stuff, and those weird halflings and elves they got.
Mystara: Mystara. Well, that's a good question. Mystara was a big melting pot of everything. I could literally shove anything in here, and it would fit. Going to think a bit to get something signature.
Ebberron: Ebberron. Damn, I know nothing about this game except for warforged. That should be easy to work in, though.

That's a good start. I might expand it a bit. I mean Kara-Tur, Maztica, and Al-Quadim are now technically part of Forgotten Realms, but I think that with a bit of spin, they would be fine to use as a base for a different planet and do something.

Now, the really fun part, I've created the crew of the ship they will be traveling on. The Lady Danielle Ashley II. The Captain is a half-elf paladin who went to the stars because of the following conversation;

Paladin; Milord! I wish for your daughter Lady Danielle Ashley's hand in holy matrimony!
Lord: Go to hell!
Paladin: Verily! I shall go to the place that evil dwells to smite it!
1st Mate: He's being a dick, that's not a real quest!
Paladin: Is this true, milord?
Lord: Fine. Go to the stars and bring me some stardust!
Paladin: Verily! I shall go to the stars themselves and bring back the glittering majesty that is the firmament of the universe!

Then he went to the stars and found out that they are made of dirt, or portals to the elemental plane of fire. Neither of which is actually a great thing to take home to try to impress your future inlaws. So he's still out looking for something that is suitably impressive. I'll have more on the rest of the crew later, after I introduce the kids to them. They are all created and stated out, just waiting to be introduced.

RPG Thoughts: Plot Help

I recently got a message from a friend of mine, and he gave me the OK to share it with you guys:

From Consadine:
I found the Steal This Hook! section on the WotC website, not too shabby. I've given the players the Etched With Mystery one; already dealt with the druid, now on their way to the one that tends a glassware shop. Problem is I'm not too sure how to make it exciting. The others are easy. Organized crime, hermit = dungeon crawl, missing body can be tied into the organized crime. But a glassware shop?

My Reply:
Glassware shop is EASY! Just think about the type of people who need glass...

1. The obvious is to include a Minotaur, the proverbial bull in a china shop. A little obvious, but think about it. Etchings while mainly done by glassblowers, are also used in Scrimshaw. The minotaur came across one of his buddies' horns with an intricate design, and wanting to find who killed his buddy is seeking out places where the work is done. The guy who commissioned the scrimshaw will have more information.

2. Glasswork is also used extensively by mages. Cool idea for a rod of lightning. Perhaps the PCs run into a mage who needs just one more thing for his wand...and if they bring him enough, he can make two of them- one as payment for services rendered. Into adventure!

3. The holy water maker needs more flasks, but the glassblower is stacked with other orders, perhaps something the PCs can do can either make the work go quicker, or find another way to get the holy water where it needs to go. Now, WHY does this cleric NEED all that holy water?

4. The Noble's Kid: THe PCs enter the glassware shop as the keep and a young nobleman are agruing. The kid apparently broke one of his parents glass sculptures. He needs to replace it before they come home next week. The keep can do the work, but wants payment, but the noblekid can't afford it. However, he knows where he can get some treasure, if there just happened to be someone around who could help him.

5. Golem Bits: The stained glass golem is almost finished, but the glass keep needs more red sand from a certain beach in order to finish it for the church. Go forth for sand in a very dangerous area!

6. Tied together: Have the thieve's guild there shaking down the keep for a protection payment. This imbroils the PCs in thieve's guild politics, which will lead to the other warforged.

7. Impish Nature: There's a radient mephit in the shop breaking stuff, because it makes such pretty prisms. Or a bunch of them. Whatever suits needs.

Personally, I love unique locations like that. I never would have thought of a glassware shop as a place to begin an adventure, but as the saying goes, the more unique the start, the more memorable the adventure. Just as an FYI; he decided to go with #6.