South Bend Games Day announcement

Announcing South Bend Games Day! Info first, links to various items at the bottom.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Coming October 13:  South Bend Games Day, a role playing game event hosted at Fantasy Games in South Bend, IN

Join us for two sessions of high adventure and gritty action starring your favorite role playing games. There will be two sessions for games and four games per session.

Interested GMs can sign up at the South Bend Games Day website or by emailing Derek (derekas@gmail.com).

Sign up for interested players will be completed in a similar manner, after we post the games for official sign up. We’ll do that just as soon as we have the GMs signed up!

Questions should be addressed on the SBGD website or via email to Derek. Fantasy Games is not managing this event, so they will be unable to properly assist you with questions related to the games.

Main Site

General announcement

GM announcement

Player announcement - coming soon

2 more quick game ideas

I use to be an adventurer like you, until I took an arrow in the knee (or, CSI:  Pavis)

Premise:  The cast plays the part of city guardsmen in a major fantasy city (Pavis, Waterdeep, Minas Tirith, etc.). In this setting, there are no patrol men, investigators, or crime scene technicians. There are only guardsmen, sergeants, and captains.

This game can go many different directions. Players can take on the part of those guardsmen lucky enough to clean up after adventurers. They have to talk to innocent bystanders, find ways to placate the citizens from outright revolting against these supposed do-gooders who take on bounties hunting down monsters, and figure out how to rebuild whatever was destroyed by the adventurers. Perhaps, the cast were all seen as either bumbling idiots or did something to irritate their supervisor. Now, their job is to go out and stop adventurers from breaking laws. (I’m sorry, Mr. NPC Necromancer, casting "raise dead" is against the law. I don’t care if he’s the only person who knows the whereabouts of a missing “magical” sword.) The game can also be run as a straight up crime drama with the cast going after Big Bads and little evils. Classic monster tropes like vampires, werewolves, and a guild of thieves play into this send up. All in all, the cast is on the side of the law. Whether that law is more The Shield, Magnum Force, or  Dragnet is up to the GM and players.

Starting Point:  The cast are assigned to a guardhouse ("precinct") and work a shift together. Let's face it, we all know the excitement is going to occur during the evening and late night hours. That should likely be the shift they work. Then, again, this setting isn't likely to have unions stating when employees can and cannot work. Instead of late night/early morning phone calls, there will be other “lesser” guardsmen banging on doors to wake up the cast. That leads to irritated neighbors and more opportunities for role playing.

Basic Assumptions:

1.  This is not a sandbox setting. The stories are all based in the city of choice. There may be occasional forays outside the city, but these should be minor occurrences and not major plot points. That is the work of the army or adventurers.

2.  Magic is somewhat common. While a setting that uses magic to replace modern technology would likely break the setting, Vancian magic is quite okay. A setting with magic being less common could be interesting from the standpoint of giving the cast an edge if they have a magic user or two. However, it also means villains that can cast magic have a higher threat rating.

3.  Technology stopped with plate armor and crossbows, in other words, standard D&D.

4.  No psionics

5.  While magic does exist, a list of what is legal to cast and illegal to cast will need to be developed and delivered to the players before the game begins. Knowing that information, what happens if one of the cast is a magic user and eventually needs to use that illegal spell they secretly learned in order to solve the case?

System:  Any system will do. Pick your favorite fantasy setting and go!

For an alternate take on crime drama and investigation, check out Robin D. Law’s Mutant City Blues. Yes, it is designed for something more modern day and involving superheroes. However, his treatment of how to run a crime scene investigative game is good. I like more die rolling than this game does, but I’ve stolen plenty of ideas from it.

Links of Interest for I use to be an adventurer:

CSI:  D&D

Creating a forensics Based Adventure

CSI:  Waterdeep

Thanes of Whiterun (or, What's the matter, someone stole your sweatroll?)

Premise:  I'm blatantly stealing this idea from Lowell. On his blog, Age of Ravens, you can read his wife's write-up of a session he ran of this idea using Hollowpoint. I played in that session. It was all types of awesome. The setting is Bathesda Softworks, LLC's Skyrim. The cast are all thanes for the Jarl of Whiterun (or low fantasy setting of your choice). Thanes in this setting, are more or less, troubleshooter, ala any '80s action TV shows and movies, and work for the local jarl. The game is set before the events of the video game, but will move through a similar storyline, including the choice of joining Ulfric's rebellion or not. This game will give the players the opportunity to enjoy the realm of Skyrim, while making the setting their own.

Jarl Balgruuf the Greater charges the cast with maintaining the peace in his lands (Whiterun Hold). His hold benefits by being in the center of the realm, having a major river flow through it, and sitting upon a major trade route. He understands the desires of freedom expressed by Ulfric Stormcloak and the benefits of working with the Empire ala Jarl Elisif the Fair. This means that the players will be asked to cross territory lines to deal with situations outside of Whiterun.

The end of the first season should have a major moral twist to it that forces the group to choose between the Empire and Ulfric. Leading up to that decision, the cast will be approached by both agents of the Empire and Stormcloaks, asking for their support. When the cast makes their decision, they are effectively also making the decision for Jarl Balgruuf. They are, after all, his thanes and when he hears what they were put through, he will follow their lead and cast his lot in with their choice.

Season two would pickup with the cast being brought into the fold of whomever’s cause they decided to support. By the end of the second season, the cast will have begun helping take over holds (and maybe they were successful in a few attempts?) and the kingdom of Skyrim is on the brink of an outright war amongst the Jarls.

Oh yeah, and somewhere in there, the cast will need to get involved in helping decide who will be the next high king.

Starting Point:  Why hold back? Start the game in Dragon’s Reach with the jarl handing the cast a situation to handle.

Basic Assumptions: 

1.  This setting can be more sandbox than CSI:  Pavis. Yet, it is definitely set up to be a quest-driven game, at least in the beginning.

2.  Players may not be Dovahkiin and the GM is free to drop them from the game, being naught but legend.

3.  The GM is allowed to alter what happens and how the NPCs behave in the game, versus the video game. When the players are in doubt of motivation, they can ask if the GM has changed the NPC’s motivation from the video game. While the GM should answer either “yes” or “no,” they are not obligated to state how or why it was changed.

4.  The video game storyline involving Alduin and the end of the world is not part of this game.

5.  Horses, can, in fact, enter cities.

System:  This is another game where any system will work.

For an alternate take using a system that plays with trust issues, take a look at Cold City. In using Cold City as inspiration, I would suggest making each of the cast have a different hold as their point of origin. All of them have been sent to Whiterun Hold as agents for their individual jarls, who have their own agendas and their own thoughts on choosing the Empire or Ulfric. When the ball goes up, whose side will the cast be on?

Links of interest for Thanes of Whiterun:

Postmortem Studios blog

Telluric Contents blog

Discussion on RPGnet

Homebrew via the Forge

What Skyrim Does Right in the Eyes of Tabletop

A discussion on playing a one shot at a con

Elder Scrolls Wikia for Skyrim

Kilts

My kilt has been ordered (from the UK).

Groomsmen gifts are also ordered.

Groomsmen rented kilts to be ordered this week.

It grows closer!

Where are you from?

I know some folk who fought their way to and through Mercy Hospital. They went on to Riverside and it was a bust. They crossed the Whitney County Bridge to get to Fairfield. They found nothing worth staying for in Fairfield and continued on to Newburg. I hear they tried to reach the Metro International Airport, only to find out their flights had been cancelled. The Allegheny National Forest wasn’t safe for campers and not because of the bears. The Millhaven base was near there and near Outpost Echo, the northeast safe zone. I guess they didn’t stay there long, either.

Savannah wasn’t any better, really. We went through fancy hotels, gun shops, and even a mall. After Savannah, we went to Rayford. There wasn’t much there, either. We met those other survivors there, helped them cross a bridge in a fancy car. They were looking for a boat down in the docks, hoping they could make it to the Florida Keys. I hope they had some luck.

We cut a swath through Griffin County, heading for the Whispering Oaks Amusement Park. Turns out, the folk we were hoping to meet up with there, had been overrun. Funny thing, posters for the Midnight Riders concert were still up, even though they never got a chance to play the venue.

The Village En Marais faired better than most did against the infected. Better than Shreveport or Bossier City. After that, we moved through Mississippi. I think the town’s name was Ducatel. There was a sugar mill there, but all I really remember of that place was all the rain. It kept coming and coming.

We hitched a ride with a former shrimper and snuck into NOLA via the waterways. It was just more of the same Bienville Park, the bus station, the market along the waterfront, Sant Roches Cemetary – all empty, all dead. We made it to Veterans Memorial Bridge, to where they were taking survivors to cruise ships. Can you imagine? Cruise ships sailing the seas with no infected on them. Such a beautiful idea.

If only.

I’ve met other survivors. They come from all sorts of places. Fort Harris County in Texas. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. British Columbia, even. So, where are you from?

Half Full or Half Empty?

The world ended. All of the crazies were right. World War 3 was fought over water, someone's deity sent down a plague, and the end was really fucking nigh.

Edgesphere, a pharmaceutical company, came up with a way to better purify water. They went after the really foul water, anything hard to clean up and ripe for government grant money. They succeeded in devising a chemal that could cut standard purifying time in half. They revolutionized the conversion of sea water to drinking water. They also found ways to supply pure water to those countries suffering from a lack of water in Africa and the Middle East.

We do not know where it started or how it started. Research and rumour suggest that the G.I.s returning from the world war in the Middle East brought it home. They were said to be carriers. At first, all of the research confirmed those theories. Later, it would come out that the government had covered up the problem in the Middle East. Our access to foreign news was shut down during the war. Even Internet access to foreign sites and hosts was removed from USA citizens. So, maybe the military boys weren't carrirers. Maybe the potential existed in all of us to be carriers.

What we know for sure is this: the areas where Edgesphere was heavily invested were the first to be overrun and they were the hardest to be overrun. Suddenly, World War 3 didn't matter to those at home, stateside. It didn't matter to the boys fighting the war - of either side. There was a new enemy and its name was death.

That was three years ago. Some things have changed since then. Water is clean, without needing a chemical enhancer. Gasoline in autos needs a chemical enhancer to clean it for use. There are no more governments to wage a world war.

At least one thing has not changed: the deadliest creature on the planet is still man.

What it is: a Deadworld for AFMBE

What you will need: AFMBE corebook, but the Zombie Master Screen, both Book of Archetypes, One of the Living, and Atlas of the Walking Dead will help. The ZM Screen is a standard screen, all the damage stats you will need for your usual weapons. You also get an article on running horror survival games and a scenario. The two Book of Archetypes books are filled with pre-made characters. The first one will likely be of more use, overall. The Second Book of Archetypes has characters for modern games, Fistful o’ Zombies, Enter the Zombie, and Pulp Zombies. This means that your use ratio will be much smaller. If you can not find either of the archetypes books in your local game store, I suggest picking up the .pdfs via drivethrurpg.com. That will allow you to print out only the characters need and keep the game moving. One of the Living is everything a zombie master or player will need for surviving after the fall. Since this Deadworld is set after the fall, it is right up your alley. Atlas of the Walking Dead will help flesh out the zombies. You may want something beyond the usual shamblers or runners.

Antagonists: Your standard zombie movie is about humans fighting off other humans, while trying to avoid zombies. In this setting, I want to up the ante. I suggest using quick zombies ala 28 Days Later or the most recent Dawn of the Dead. If you really want shambling zombies, I think it will be more challenging than usual, as there is not much left of the world. Humans will be few and far between, in theory. Zombies are the main antagonist in this setting.

Strength: 2, 10
Dexterity: 3
Perception: 2
Constitution: 0
Intelligence: 2
Willpower: 1
Dead Points: 15
Endurance Points: n/a
Speed: 18
Essence Pool: 10

Attack: As normal human

Weak Spot: Brain (+6)
Getting Around: The Quick Dead (+10)
Strength: Dead Joe Average (0), Iron Grip (+1)
Senses: Like the Living (+1), Life Sense power (+1)
Sustenance: Weekly (+4), All Flesh Must Be Eaten (0)
Intelligence: Animal Cunning (+2)
Spreading the Love: One Bite and You’re Hooked (+2)

Power: 27

The characters should be survivors. This is after the fall, after all. Norms are not going to cut it in this world.

The chemical designed by Edgesphere is no longer important. Some characters may want to go after it or those involved with it. ZMs are free to explore as they feel free.

This setting is all sorts of messed up. You can combine Last Man Standing, the aforementioned Dawn of the Dead, and suck in any end of the world type game material. Mix, match, do a little shake ‘n bake, and you're done.

2 quick game ideas

I cleaned a notebook this evening. I removed old in-game notes and two ideas for WoD games. I thought to share them here, in case anyone can use them.

The Country Wolf and the City Wolf
Campaign Phases
Born of Night
Born of Fire
Grande Scheme
War of Supernaturals
Unholy Alliance
Corruption of the Person and the Soul

Alignment
Country Wolves against Country Mages
City Wolves allied with Techno Mages
Royal Wolves and Traditional Mages have no alignments
City Wolves and Techno Mages against Camarilla
Camarilla against Sabbat
Anarchs against Camarilla
Anarchs influenced by Sabbat
Lasombra usurper influences Camarilla
All wolves aligned with other wolves
All mages aligned with other mages

The Story
The Garou make a two point attack. The first attack is on the Country Chantry. They hope to reclaim it from the mages who currently control it: Verbena, Dreamspeakers, and Euthanatos.

At the same time, the City Wolves will lead an assault on the Kindred. The Royal Wolves will be more involved (and welcomed) in this attack, as compared to the Country Wolves and their attack. The Techno Chantry is unaware of the attack on the Country Chantry and will assist the City Wolves as requested.

These activities stay out of the media for the first few nights (actions?). The younger, more brazen Garou will eventually do something that will attract the attention of the media. This, in turn, will clue in supernatural hunters and potentially forewarn the Techno Chantry against the City Wolves’ activities.

Sidebar Note
This last paragraph may be a good point in which to introduce the cast to the story. They could be caught up in one of the fights in a public place. Whichever side of the fight they become more exposed to, should be Kindred and opposed to the current prince or aligned with the usurper.

Within a week’s time, the Sabbat will hear of the situation and begin to make moves against the Kindred of the city. They will influence the Anarchs into taking actions against the Camarilla proper. Said actions will be mostly ineffective. They only serve as a smoke-screen in which the Sabbat can move.

All Sabbat attacks will avoid the Lasombra pretender. However, a severe attack will take out one of the pretender’s entourage. This is done in an effort to not leave the pretender out of the fight in the eyes of the other Kindred.

At this point, there is now a war on three fronts. Whoever controls the local law enforcement will use them as cover to go after the other supernaturals. The same will happen with the local crime groups.

The media will spin stories about the city’s rough days during prohibition and how those days may be coming back to haunt the city.

All of this will build to a head and result in the current prince dying and the usurper taking control of the local Camarilla.*

The wolves should gain the Country Chantry. However, the City Wolves will suffer serious losses, in both power and physical territory.

The mages will gain power overall. While they will lose the Country Cottage, they will gain in-roads in several places around the city. They will firmly place themselves as potential rivals to the Kindred for overall control of the city.


*Caveat: If, through role playing, the first prince is able to survive the various attacks, the usurper will set themselves up as a second prince in the city.



Ghost Town Idea
The most powerful Mage in the city, a member of the Order of Hermes, is beginning to take over the local reality. Several places in town are more like their “dark” Umbra counterparts that what would be expected.

The gateways into the shadow realm are different than standard Umbra gateways. Slipping sideways simply happens. Over time, the gateways become reality, overpowering and replacing the known Near Umbra. (How will it affect Chantries and Cairns?)

The Order of Hermes is trying to take over the city, in all aspects. They are brokering deals with other supernaturals. The idea is to solidify their power and completely take over the controls.

Free Book, Skyrim, BRP, and Pendragon link dump

Today's a short day, so I thought I would toss out some links.

I discussed James Hutching's The New Death and Others here. Well, it's free on Amazon for a week or two. If you are remotely interested in it, I would say now is the time to pick it up.

When I'm home, I've been spending time playing Skyrim. I have been thinking of running a fantasy rpg sometime after I'm done running AFMBE. That, of course, leads to looking at stealing ideas from Skyrim. After all, the technological level is about where I want it for an rpg. James Desborough discussed using BRP or a variant of it, such as Legend or Runequest on the Postmortem Studios page.

BRP links: BRP, BRP quickstart, Runequest, Legend, Discussions,

Although, you could do Skyrim with DnD or a variant, quite honestly.

I've picked up Pendragon and The Great Pendragon Campaign after Lowell pointed me in the direction of actual play articles that are fun to read. You'll find the actual plays in the blog section of that Great Pendragon Campaign link. I'm reading through the corebook, now, and hope to gather my thoughts on it for you once I've finished it.

Sharing Ideas

Jason has a new blog up over at The Wasted Lands disussing a game idea I have seen discussed around. I think Lowell and PeterAmthor would probably steal the most ideas from it. The premise is that the characters have all been brought back from the dead and given a second chance to be better people by a mysterious woman. All of the characters have died from their major character flaw. However, the catch is that they must fight against the supernatural evils in the world and punish sinners.

Jason goes at it from his Gnostic standpoint, tieing in various spirits and demons. The Archons get mentioned, as do vampires and werewolves. His plan would be to use Unisystem rules from Armageddon and give everyone Primal Powers. I think you could do just as good a job with Scion, Supernatural, or Kult if you have a copy. You could probably even do it with your favourite superhero game rules.

Jason's taken the idea from a band who released a concept album around the same premise, albeit with a comic book tie-in, as well. I know several of us have stolen directly or indirectly from music sources for campaigns in the past.

I thought the game idea was worth sharing. Give his short post a read and maybe you will gather ideas for your game or find new music to spin.

Layout update

Just a quick note that I've updated the blog roll. I've divided what was ne into two. The first is for non-gaming, the second for gaming. It looks like I may need to go through and retire some of the links, as they haven't been active in over a year

I also need to add Doug's, Nik's, and maybe a couple of others' blogs from Twitter.

New Game Premise Thoughts

I have been forcing myself to do more reading and writing lately. I have been letting work overpower my time and my work is stagnating. Exposing myself to outside influences always helps prevent stagnation from setting in for too long.

What follows are four ideas I had for games to run. I find it interesting that only the first one is designed as a modern setting. The other three are fantasy settings. Still, I could potentially run the first one as a fantasy setting, as well. It could be very interesting to drop it into a Roman, Dark Ages, or Middle Ages world where the supernatural is not understood very well.

Of the three fantasy settings, the first two were designed together. You can think of them along the lines of a season one and a season two. They reflect my preference for low fantasy settings. The third fantasy setting was started after reading up on Ravenloft. I liked some of the ideas I saw in the game and didn’t like others. Plus, it gave me a chance to work in Kult to a fantasy setting, which I have wanted to do since John B-ski mentioned doing it.

None of these games are slated to be run, at this time. I am still running the AFMBE game. They are simply ideas that came to me and I wanted to put them down on paper. Perhaps if there is enough interest, I could run them in the future. . .



Powers, Principalities, & Dominions

Premise: Reality is changing. What was once perceived as supernatural is becoming more common. (Preternatural?)

Starting Point: The group learns to harness their powers.

Ending Point: The group becomes powerful as individuals in their own right.

Basic Assumptions:
1. The individuals in the group seek to be part of a whole – are there others like them in the world or are they the only ones?
2. There are no large, over-bearing, governmental organizations designed to handle this situation. No Watchers, no Black Book, no Delta Project.
3. Unless directly confronted, local law enforcement and politicians will not become involved. Who polices whom?
4. The news media will approach everything involved and keep it with their “news of the weird.” This, and assumption #3, is designed to give the game a more “underground” direction.
5. Reality is changing due to something introduced into the system. (Will need to define what the something and system are, before game start.)

System: M&M, Scion, Mutant City Blues, Conspiracy X. My original take on this was to approach it from a Millennium or Fringe style aspect, not a superhero aspect. However, it could very easily become a “year one” game.



High Fantasy with Gothic Horror

Premise: Dark world filled with monsters, both supernatural and human. Oppression is everywhere, but the oppressors hold the power (FREX: kings with armies). The players must confront this bleak landscape in an effort to bring hope into a hopeless world. Monsters are monsters. Ravenloft meets Kult

Starting Point: The cast bands together to help locals. They confront the minions of one of the great supernatural threats. After facing this threat, they realize that only they can face such foes – not local villagers. This leads them on to other standard adventures.

Ending Point: After discovering betrayals and back-room dealing on the human side, the party must decide if stopping with the human leader is enough. Or, do they go after the greater supernatural threat?

Basic Assumptions:
1. As bad as the oppressors are, many have built infrastructure with grand cities and castles for their subjects to admire and sometimes use. This also provided their subjects with work to perform, granting them food and sometimes shelter, as well.
2. The supernatural are real and follow many of the tropes from classical literature. Some have become very powerful individuals.
3. Standard high fantasy magic exists.
4. Monster hunting is limited to a small, grizzled brotherhood (pull info from Rippers?).
5.

System: ADD Ravenloft, Pathfinder (Mistfinder?), WoD, Stormbringer, Action Cards, FATE, Dragon Age. I was originally thinking clunky game system with lots of “stuff” when thinking on this game. However, due to the high fantasy aspect, I could also see doing this as a rules-light game and keep the focus on social interactions. However, I want some monster hunting, so some crunch will be needed.



Low Fantasy #1

Premise: A gritty fantasy world filled with rival “earls” in kingdoms, low tech, and misunderstood fae-creatures.

Starting Point: Folk banding together for the common good of their “earl.” Due to their abilities, he keeps using them as allies or sending them out to help conquer other earldoms and ascend to king-hood.

Ending Point: The earl making the final bid to power. Have the players stood by his side or turned against him? What about the other earldoms, what local allies, or enemies are out there? What about the king, other kingdoms, and the fae creatures. . . as a new menace lurks off the coast.

Basic Assumptions:
1. Gritty setting where the average person dies in combat
2. Technology is roughly equivalent to the Dark Ages, chainmail – yes, plate and gun powder – no
3. Magic terrifies villagers. Few practice it and those who do are a secretive lot. It takes many years to become more than just an apprentice, assuming you don’t go mad or kill yourself first.
4. Coast lines, crags, moors, keeps, and mud-filled towns without roads all exist. This isn’t the Forgotten Realms, it’s more along the lines of Harn or Ars Magica on a bad day.
5. The group will be faced with moral dilemmas on a regular basis. How they react will help align or oppose them with the Powers that Be in the setting
6. Great sacrifice or suffering leads to great reward, for the good guys and the bad

System: Dragon Age, Runequest/Stormbringer, Pathfinder, Ars Magica, retro-clone. I want something that will support both the deadliness of combat and the fear of magic that can overwhelm villagers.

Low Fantasy #2
Premise: An unknown menace arrives on the shores. Long boats deliver a culture of warriors with more advanced armories and wizards with magics never before seen. They seek to conquer and enslave the peoples of the continent. Use the world from Low Fantasy #1 as a starting point.

Starting Point: Recovering from a civil war or sorts, the cast is forced to address this new problem. Overwhelming odds force a retreat and the party must find a way to make alliances with former enemies in order to confront this new enemy.

Ending Point: If the cast can gather allies, a final stand can be made against the invaders. The cast and their allies will be crushed by the foreigners, survivors scattering to the winds. Without allies, the cast will see an ever losing battle raging around them. What will they do?

Basic Assumptions:
1. More powerful or more readily available magic exists in the world, the players simply have never been exposed to it
2. The foreigners’ technology reaches to full plate, well-made blades, not too heavy crossbows, but not to explosives or guns
3. Some of the fae-creatures will become allies of the cast. Others will leave for Arcadia, closing the door behind them.
4. The final battle will be lost by the good guys
5. God-magick is weakened by the presence of the foreigner magic-users (or perhaps their priests?)

System: Same as the first Low Fantasy Game Set Piece

images copyright their respective owners, used without permission

edited a new image in, as the other one dropped out