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.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
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.
I also need to add Doug's, Nik's, and maybe a couple of others' blogs from Twitter.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
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
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
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
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Microscope changed from Setting to City to Goals in a Zombie game
On Age of Ravens, Lowell discusses using Microscope for an alternative purpose. He takes the idea of creating a shared world role-playing experience and using the same basic structure to build a city-setting. I took a few minutes to create such a thing myself and instantly knew I had a new way to develop ideas for my AFMBE zombie game. I will walk you through what he defines the new labels as, then what I created for a city, and finally my zombie adaptation.
Lowell alters the process by inserting City, Neighborhood, and Sights to replace the standard Microscope levels. City is defined with a simple statement. Neighborhood replaces Eras in Microscope. Sights replace Events and are made up of a Person, a Place, or a Thing. Each Sight is made up of rumors. The rumors may be true, partially true, or not true at all.
I did not want to use this process untested on my current setting, Beaver City. So, I used my second default locale, Port City. Port City is located along a southern coastline in the USA. I define southern coastline as anywhere from North Carolina to Texas. I have a state map, of sorts, for Port City, so I know what is nearby and what is a few hours away. This includes other cities, the state line, parks and recreation areas, highways, major landmarks, and a Native American Reservation. My simply statement for the city is, “inviting southern city on the coast.” After all, it’s a much nicer place than Silverbrook.
One of the major landmarks is an island called Baird’s Isle. I discussed a little bit about Baird’s Isle here. I decided to utilize Baird’s Isle as my neighborhood. No further input is needed at this level, so I move on.
For sights, I decided to go after all three and create three rumors for each.
Person: Beach Bum
+ Is a descendant of the original Baird and has so much money that he can wander the shoreline all day
+ Former spy, burned and left here by the KGB
+ Is the primary source for cocaine in the Port City area
Place: Restaurant
+ Serves as a meeting place for high level government officials in Congress and the Department of Energy
+ It is the original boat house for “Old Man Baird” (insert ghost and lost treasure stories as necessary)
+ Is owned by a gun runner with ties to gang leaders in Mexico
Thing – Statue
+ There is a secret bunker below it designed as a hideout for nuclear attack
+ There is Spanish gold behind the name/date plaque
+ The statue façade is of someone else than who is named on the plaque
Coming up with all of these ideas took under 30 minutes. Thinking about the players in my zombie game, I could have done this with all five of them, and had all five of them contribute one neighborhood and one sight to each of those five neighborhoods. I think such an exercise could be fruitful and fun. That lead me to thinking about how I could use this for my zombie game, now that it is already in play.
I changed the rules from being setting specific to goal specific. I also removed a level from Lowell’s City design. I already know the city and don’t really need it. In the long run, I guess you could leave it in when making this a group activity. However, that would depend on what you had planned out for your game. Do you want your players able to move from city to city in a zombie game? Not all of us do.
I changed Neighborhoods to Goals and Sights to Sources. I felt that Goals better represented a survival horror games’ atmosphere. Food, water, ammo, shelter, these are the things important to the game, not names of neighborhoods. At least, not in the short run. Sources supply the Goals, so we have to have them. Sights really doesn’t ring true for Goals. I kept the Person, Place, and Thing theme. I think this works just fine.
To supply a similar experience to the walk-through of my City creation, I did a walk through for a Goal – Food. Now, for the Sources:
Person – Know-it-all Teenager
+ Has a map with all the local grocers marked on it
+ Only sells info where to find food in trade for cigarettes, alcohol, bullets, and sex – depending on what you look like you can afford
+ Has food hidden throughout town in various homes, only he knows which addresses
Place – Former Farmer’s Market
+ There is a group of people using it as a base and they may be willing to help or trade with visitors
+ It operates as in days of old, but only on every sixth day
+ There are big freezers on sight still operating, they have meat left in them and the community only takes what they need
Thing – Hand-Painted Sign directing the cast to a specific location
+ It’s a trap to capture people and take their stuff
+ The location has already been raided and all that is left are crumbs
+ The location is somewhat hidden and you will need to search for it to find it at the location mentioned by the sign
It’s a meager list, but I think it works for this exercise. I am not certain I like the idea of doing this with the players for a survival horror game. There should be a level of uncertainty on the players’ side as to what is out there. Does this reduce that uncertainty if they know one of these could be right? Do I simply need to remind them during the Goal creation process that these are rumors that may not be true? Would pushing them towards the negative thought process of “may not be true” actually help them keep that in mind once game play starts?
Yet, if the players know such rumors exist, would it give them a reason to search out such Sources? Would knowing that there is potentially a Former Farmer’s Market that could have food convince them that searching it out would be worth their time? I think with a good group and a Zombie Master that is comfortable with trusting their players to a certain extent, yes it would work. After all, nothing says that each Rumor must be used or used with the Source associated with it. That said, it might hurt some feelings if it wasn’t used in the manner designed. I think this can help with game sessions where goal-orientated play is what you desire. It sounds a little hack ‘n slash-ish, sure, but sometimes more structure is better than less structure.
To step back to Lowell’s City creation process, you could add a Goal and Source to the Sights section. Players could include a goal and source as part of their Sights. It may make it too complicated and I should probably try mapping it out before trying it.
I really like how this works. If I had started with this process for my current game, I would have multiple areas ready to go, various rumors and ideas I could spread around (who says the rumors that aren’t used for one topic can’t be used with another?), and the players would already have seeds in their own heads of storylines.
I took this idea and did it with the hunt for generators (for power at their hide-out after the power plant went offline). It worked out pretty well. Not only did I have pre-generated ideas ready to go, when the players went a different direction, I at least had thought through the concept and was more ready than I might normally have been. I think group think for a zombie game involving food, water, weapons (or some sort of protection), power, hide-out, medicine, transportation, or whatever else you think you may need.
There are two thoughts that give me pause for concern. The first is that if you have bad players, you can end up with meta-game abuse. I guess you just have to deal with them in those situations. Bad players are just that, bad players. Maybe you will be lucky and find a way to turn them in to good players through this process.
The other thought is that this may narrow down your options, too much so. If you only have 5 rumors about an old doctor’s office that could have supplies and none of those rumors can be delivered to the players, it becomes a wasted effort. Many of us have been GMs long enough that we can recover and find new ways to use those rumors and insert rumors that better fit the story.
My concerns do not outweigh the positives on using this idea. The fact that I did a second Goal structure for use in the actual game I am running is proof of that. Here it is:
Goal – Power Generator
Person
+ One of the kids they picked up can let them know their family has one on their farm
+ Other people are also out looking for a power generator, they claim to know where to get at least one
Place
+ Lowes/Home Depot type
+ Tractor Supply store
+ Outdoors store like Bass Pro Shop
Thing
+ Sight - generators found in the street, all of them are broken, can any be fixed up
+ Sound – the cast can hear generators running in the distance
Don’t forget to add in an obstacle or two!
+ Building has wandering zombies in it
+ Area/building is filled with zombies
+ An organized group is raiding the building/area the cast wants access to – will they all play nice together or not?
+Another group arrives just as the party finds their goal
Lowell alters the process by inserting City, Neighborhood, and Sights to replace the standard Microscope levels. City is defined with a simple statement. Neighborhood replaces Eras in Microscope. Sights replace Events and are made up of a Person, a Place, or a Thing. Each Sight is made up of rumors. The rumors may be true, partially true, or not true at all.
I did not want to use this process untested on my current setting, Beaver City. So, I used my second default locale, Port City. Port City is located along a southern coastline in the USA. I define southern coastline as anywhere from North Carolina to Texas. I have a state map, of sorts, for Port City, so I know what is nearby and what is a few hours away. This includes other cities, the state line, parks and recreation areas, highways, major landmarks, and a Native American Reservation. My simply statement for the city is, “inviting southern city on the coast.” After all, it’s a much nicer place than Silverbrook.
One of the major landmarks is an island called Baird’s Isle. I discussed a little bit about Baird’s Isle here. I decided to utilize Baird’s Isle as my neighborhood. No further input is needed at this level, so I move on.
For sights, I decided to go after all three and create three rumors for each.
Person: Beach Bum
+ Is a descendant of the original Baird and has so much money that he can wander the shoreline all day
+ Former spy, burned and left here by the KGB
+ Is the primary source for cocaine in the Port City area
Place: Restaurant
+ Serves as a meeting place for high level government officials in Congress and the Department of Energy
+ It is the original boat house for “Old Man Baird” (insert ghost and lost treasure stories as necessary)
+ Is owned by a gun runner with ties to gang leaders in Mexico
Thing – Statue
+ There is a secret bunker below it designed as a hideout for nuclear attack
+ There is Spanish gold behind the name/date plaque
+ The statue façade is of someone else than who is named on the plaque
Coming up with all of these ideas took under 30 minutes. Thinking about the players in my zombie game, I could have done this with all five of them, and had all five of them contribute one neighborhood and one sight to each of those five neighborhoods. I think such an exercise could be fruitful and fun. That lead me to thinking about how I could use this for my zombie game, now that it is already in play.
I changed the rules from being setting specific to goal specific. I also removed a level from Lowell’s City design. I already know the city and don’t really need it. In the long run, I guess you could leave it in when making this a group activity. However, that would depend on what you had planned out for your game. Do you want your players able to move from city to city in a zombie game? Not all of us do.
I changed Neighborhoods to Goals and Sights to Sources. I felt that Goals better represented a survival horror games’ atmosphere. Food, water, ammo, shelter, these are the things important to the game, not names of neighborhoods. At least, not in the short run. Sources supply the Goals, so we have to have them. Sights really doesn’t ring true for Goals. I kept the Person, Place, and Thing theme. I think this works just fine.
To supply a similar experience to the walk-through of my City creation, I did a walk through for a Goal – Food. Now, for the Sources:
Person – Know-it-all Teenager
+ Has a map with all the local grocers marked on it
+ Only sells info where to find food in trade for cigarettes, alcohol, bullets, and sex – depending on what you look like you can afford
+ Has food hidden throughout town in various homes, only he knows which addresses
Place – Former Farmer’s Market
+ There is a group of people using it as a base and they may be willing to help or trade with visitors
+ It operates as in days of old, but only on every sixth day
+ There are big freezers on sight still operating, they have meat left in them and the community only takes what they need
Thing – Hand-Painted Sign directing the cast to a specific location
+ It’s a trap to capture people and take their stuff
+ The location has already been raided and all that is left are crumbs
+ The location is somewhat hidden and you will need to search for it to find it at the location mentioned by the sign
It’s a meager list, but I think it works for this exercise. I am not certain I like the idea of doing this with the players for a survival horror game. There should be a level of uncertainty on the players’ side as to what is out there. Does this reduce that uncertainty if they know one of these could be right? Do I simply need to remind them during the Goal creation process that these are rumors that may not be true? Would pushing them towards the negative thought process of “may not be true” actually help them keep that in mind once game play starts?
Yet, if the players know such rumors exist, would it give them a reason to search out such Sources? Would knowing that there is potentially a Former Farmer’s Market that could have food convince them that searching it out would be worth their time? I think with a good group and a Zombie Master that is comfortable with trusting their players to a certain extent, yes it would work. After all, nothing says that each Rumor must be used or used with the Source associated with it. That said, it might hurt some feelings if it wasn’t used in the manner designed. I think this can help with game sessions where goal-orientated play is what you desire. It sounds a little hack ‘n slash-ish, sure, but sometimes more structure is better than less structure.
To step back to Lowell’s City creation process, you could add a Goal and Source to the Sights section. Players could include a goal and source as part of their Sights. It may make it too complicated and I should probably try mapping it out before trying it.
I really like how this works. If I had started with this process for my current game, I would have multiple areas ready to go, various rumors and ideas I could spread around (who says the rumors that aren’t used for one topic can’t be used with another?), and the players would already have seeds in their own heads of storylines.
I took this idea and did it with the hunt for generators (for power at their hide-out after the power plant went offline). It worked out pretty well. Not only did I have pre-generated ideas ready to go, when the players went a different direction, I at least had thought through the concept and was more ready than I might normally have been. I think group think for a zombie game involving food, water, weapons (or some sort of protection), power, hide-out, medicine, transportation, or whatever else you think you may need.
There are two thoughts that give me pause for concern. The first is that if you have bad players, you can end up with meta-game abuse. I guess you just have to deal with them in those situations. Bad players are just that, bad players. Maybe you will be lucky and find a way to turn them in to good players through this process.
The other thought is that this may narrow down your options, too much so. If you only have 5 rumors about an old doctor’s office that could have supplies and none of those rumors can be delivered to the players, it becomes a wasted effort. Many of us have been GMs long enough that we can recover and find new ways to use those rumors and insert rumors that better fit the story.
My concerns do not outweigh the positives on using this idea. The fact that I did a second Goal structure for use in the actual game I am running is proof of that. Here it is:
Goal – Power Generator
Person
+ One of the kids they picked up can let them know their family has one on their farm
+ Other people are also out looking for a power generator, they claim to know where to get at least one
Place
+ Lowes/Home Depot type
+ Tractor Supply store
+ Outdoors store like Bass Pro Shop
Thing
+ Sight - generators found in the street, all of them are broken, can any be fixed up
+ Sound – the cast can hear generators running in the distance
Don’t forget to add in an obstacle or two!
+ Building has wandering zombies in it
+ Area/building is filled with zombies
+ An organized group is raiding the building/area the cast wants access to – will they all play nice together or not?
+Another group arrives just as the party finds their goal
Friday, January 20, 2012
Legos for Fan Film Friday
I wanted to go a different direction this week for Fan Film Friday. Instead of people doing all of the work, I thought I would show you two Lego-based films.
There are a large number of Lego films out there. My favourite are the stop motion based films. It is harder to see the stop motion in some films than in others. Some "Lego" based films out there are digital images and not real Legos. Those were not reviewed or even remotely considered for inclusion this week.
Another topic that I consider when reviewing these films is the quality of sound and proper use or lack of use of sound. Do they utilize music? If so, is it appropriate to the genre or mood of the film? There are tools out there that can be used to improve sound quality. If you are just talking into your laptop's internal microphone and not filtering with a program, you are doing your audience a dis-service.
Based on all of that, I have a Batman and a zombie fan film for you to watch. The Batman fan film actually has backgrounds that remind me of the Batman Lego video game. The voices are a combination of the tv show and movies. Robin is in the film, as is the Joker and his henchmen.
I like this one, because it's clean and nicely done. There's a quick view of the situation, we know how the cast arrived, and we see them arm up before the attack. The zombie film has more than just your standard zombies in it. There is a feel of Left 4 Dead or Resident Evil to a couple of the zombies. If you aren't a fan of either of those, I don't think they will ruin the viewing experience for you.
There are a large number of Lego films out there. My favourite are the stop motion based films. It is harder to see the stop motion in some films than in others. Some "Lego" based films out there are digital images and not real Legos. Those were not reviewed or even remotely considered for inclusion this week.
Another topic that I consider when reviewing these films is the quality of sound and proper use or lack of use of sound. Do they utilize music? If so, is it appropriate to the genre or mood of the film? There are tools out there that can be used to improve sound quality. If you are just talking into your laptop's internal microphone and not filtering with a program, you are doing your audience a dis-service.
Based on all of that, I have a Batman and a zombie fan film for you to watch. The Batman fan film actually has backgrounds that remind me of the Batman Lego video game. The voices are a combination of the tv show and movies. Robin is in the film, as is the Joker and his henchmen.
I like this one, because it's clean and nicely done. There's a quick view of the situation, we know how the cast arrived, and we see them arm up before the attack. The zombie film has more than just your standard zombies in it. There is a feel of Left 4 Dead or Resident Evil to a couple of the zombies. If you aren't a fan of either of those, I don't think they will ruin the viewing experience for you.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Fan Film Friday - Left 4 Dead
Welcome to Fan Films Friday...late night edition!
PJ and I really enjoy the Left 4 Dead video game series. I recently caught these two fan films on YouTube and thought I would share them.
I think the films do a good job emulating the series. The use the zombie tactics, sound, and music from the video games. What they don't do is make it easy for a non-L4D fan to watch them and instantly know what's going on.
PJ and I really enjoy the Left 4 Dead video game series. I recently caught these two fan films on YouTube and thought I would share them.
I think the films do a good job emulating the series. The use the zombie tactics, sound, and music from the video games. What they don't do is make it easy for a non-L4D fan to watch them and instantly know what's going on.
RPG Con listing for Northern Indiana travels
Several of us has been thinking about heading to a local rpg con or two this year. I started putting together a list and thought to place it online for all to utilize. I think it would be fun to get back out there to conventions and try to enjoy them. I've only been to GenCon the past few years. I always have fun, but there's a difference between GenCon and all of these other cons I have listed here.
I have yet to find a good site that lists all of these with current dates and links. I also seem to be geared at not looking at Michigan for potential locations and dates. Feel free to suggest Michigan Cons or any other con within a day's easy drive for inclusion.
Right now, it's in order by date.
NeonCon - couldn't find good data on a 2012 date
Winter War
http://Winterwar.org
January 27-29
Champaign
BashCon
http://Bashcon.com
Feb 17-19
Toledo
Arcti-Con
http://arcticon.webs.com
Feb 18
Valpo
Who's Yer Con
http://www.whosyergamers.org/wygms/
Mar 2-4
Indy
GaryCon
http://Garycon.com
March 22-25
Lake Geneva
MidSouthCon
http://www.midsouthcon.org/
Mar 23-25
Memphis
Marcon
http://www.marcon.org
April 6-8
Columbus
Adepticon
http://www.adepticon.org/
April 19-22
Lombard
Little Wars
http://www.hmgsmidwest.com/main%20LW.html
April 27-29
St. Charles, IL (west burb)
Forge Con
http://www.forgecon.com/
May 25-27
Lexington
Origins Game Fair
http://www.originsgames.com/
May 30-June 3
Columbus
Three Rivers Game Convention
http://3congames.com/
June or July
Ft Wayne
DieCon
http://www.diecon.com/
June 22-24
Collinsville, IL (near St Louis)
InConJunction
http://www.inconjunction.org/
July 6-8
Indy
GenCon
http://GenCon.com
Aug 16-19
Indy
Archon
http://www.archonstl.org/36/
Oct 12-14
St Louis
Flatcon
http://Flatcon.com
October 21-23
Bloomington, IL
Rock Con
http://rock-con.com/
Nov 4-6
Rockford
PentaCon
http://www.pentacongames.com/
Nov 9-11
Ft Wayne
WindyCon
http://www.windycon.org/windy39/
Lombard
Nov 9-11
Is this more pop culture than rpg?
WolfCon
http://Wolfcon.org
Thanksgiving weekend
Chicago
updated 05.12.12 to include the dates for FlatCon
I have yet to find a good site that lists all of these with current dates and links. I also seem to be geared at not looking at Michigan for potential locations and dates. Feel free to suggest Michigan Cons or any other con within a day's easy drive for inclusion.
Right now, it's in order by date.
NeonCon - couldn't find good data on a 2012 date
Winter War
http://Winterwar.org
January 27-29
Champaign
BashCon
http://Bashcon.com
Feb 17-19
Toledo
Arcti-Con
http://arcticon.webs.com
Feb 18
Valpo
Who's Yer Con
http://www.whosyergamers.org/wygms/
Mar 2-4
Indy
GaryCon
http://Garycon.com
March 22-25
Lake Geneva
MidSouthCon
http://www.midsouthcon.org/
Mar 23-25
Memphis
Marcon
http://www.marcon.org
April 6-8
Columbus
Adepticon
http://www.adepticon.org/
April 19-22
Lombard
Little Wars
http://www.hmgsmidwest.com/main%20LW.html
April 27-29
St. Charles, IL (west burb)
Forge Con
http://www.forgecon.com/
May 25-27
Lexington
Origins Game Fair
http://www.originsgames.com/
May 30-June 3
Columbus
Three Rivers Game Convention
http://3congames.com/
June or July
Ft Wayne
DieCon
http://www.diecon.com/
June 22-24
Collinsville, IL (near St Louis)
InConJunction
http://www.inconjunction.org/
July 6-8
Indy
GenCon
http://GenCon.com
Aug 16-19
Indy
Archon
http://www.archonstl.org/36/
Oct 12-14
St Louis
Flatcon
http://Flatcon.com
October 21-23
Bloomington, IL
Rock Con
http://rock-con.com/
Nov 4-6
Rockford
PentaCon
http://www.pentacongames.com/
Nov 9-11
Ft Wayne
WindyCon
http://www.windycon.org/windy39/
Lombard
Nov 9-11
Is this more pop culture than rpg?
WolfCon
http://Wolfcon.org
Thanksgiving weekend
Chicago
updated 05.12.12 to include the dates for FlatCon
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Art as Inspiration
I was browsing through Spectrum 18 last night when my fiancé asked why I liked to do so. I had to think about it for a moment. My immediate answer in mind was, “because it’s got all this neat, cool stuff in it.” I knew that wouldn’t suffice. It’s too personalized of an answer and doesn’t convey anything useful to her. She likely would have rolled her eyes, muttered something under her breath and moved on to the next level of Angry Birds Seasons (yes, there are different releases for Angry Birds – it isn’t a one game deal).
So, I thought about it for a moment. Why was I looking through this book of art? First off, it was a gift. I have been receiving them as winter holiday/birthday gift for the past four years and I had just received this issue. Being that it was brand new to me and a book, I wanted to dive into it, right away! Mostly, though, I look through it for inspiration, inspiration for all manner of things. Let me explain this series of books and then I will give you some examples of the inspiration I receive from number eighteen.
The Spectrum series of books is advertised as, “The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art.” This volume and others were edited by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner. The publisher on this volume (copyright 2011) is Under Wood Books. The book starts off with a word from the Chairman of the annual Spectrum Fantastic Art jury, gives us a quick blurb and photo of the jury, a nice, but brief article on this year’s Grand Master Award winner (Ralph McQuarrie), next is an article by Arnie Fenner, and finally it moves on to the art. 283 pages of art in the form of drawn, digital, or dimensional media. It wraps up with the URLs for the various artists. Sure, the words are nice to read, but 283 pages of art!
The art includes published and unpublished. The publishers give us the art directors, clients, medium, size, title, and artist for each piece. One to four pieces are on each page, supplying more than 283 works to review.
The first piece to strike me is one by Jesper Ejsing. The oil painting is of a werewolf engaging a mortal man in a hand to hand fight, a pack of wolves scatter the outside of the fight, the moon is yellow off in the distance, and the scene is flowing down a snow bank. You will never get the visual by my words alone. The mood reminds me of something I might expect from a Batman cover. The work was for the Ravenloft setting by Wizards of the Coast. I’ve always wanted to play in or run a Ravenloft game. I know so little about it that I can be safely intrigued with no ruination upon my imagination. Eastern European flavored fantasy game of horror. Sign me up!
Jason Chan’s work, Sooner Dead, is a digital entry. The depth of field is wonderful, the shear craziness of the image is wild with a human female in fantasy garb with a anthropomorphic, biker, bison riding a giant lizard with tires for wrist bracelets on the run from a biker gang of unknown origin (perhaps magpie or mouse), with power lines flowing overhead and perhaps factories in the background. The depth and detail in this let me sit back and study. I can let my eyes un-focus and notice new bits and bots. Sam Brown’s Space Station 05 does something similar, but with a hallway. Details here, details there. You will never see all of them, but you will always see something. Life is like that, there is more depth than you will ever know and just when you think you’ve seen everything, you can turn around and get smacked in the face by something else.
Artists like Paul Youll, John Harris, and Daniel Dociu provide hard sci-fi vistas that remind me of books and magazines I read as a child and teenager. These often provide me with inspiration when writing fiction or creating set pieces for games like Traveller, Star Wars, or Diaspora. Ginormous (is that a word?) space hulks, speeding cruisers, large cloud formations, and a feeling that time is running out.
There are classic art stylizations, like the comic book character Daredevil drawn similar to Japanese line art paintings. There are rifts on classic characters like Little Red Riding Hood, the Caterpillar and Cheshire Cat, the Wizard of Oz, and even Dracula. You will come across several works that were developed for video games such as Guild Wars. The old suspects like Brom, Arthur Adams, and Steve Fastner & Rich Larson all make appearances.
There are maidens and warrior women, men in space suits and men in rags, monsters human and otherwise, heroes and villains, zombies consuming economics and zombies consuming pumpkin brains, wizards and witches and warlocks abound, robots and warnings to citizens of Mongo, there’s even a sculpture of Vampirella.
All of these works show me different ways to look at things in the world and spin them for creativity. I can use them for music or writing or roleplaying. Their mood, their form and color, their smiling, fanged faces or axe wielding bodies spark ideas and lead to hastily written notes saved for later. Sometimes, those notes don’t stop and they keep going and going and going, only stopping hours later due to a cramped hand or a lack of paper to write upon... and no paper towel or napkins to supplant the stuff of standard writing paper.
I have developed games taken from music sources. Blue Oyster Cult’s songs surrounding Astronomy was the primary source material for the first Silverbrook game I ran years ago for LDB, Michelle, Randy, and MrFenris. I have story-arched a fantasy game based upon Queen’s first two albums. If I can do this with music, why not art?
Looking through the various works of what I would call hard sci-fi in outer space works, I could see designing a game around them for Diaspora. Explosions ripping a space hulk into pieces. A team of troubleshooters races to recover data. Travelling to a far away planet to experience vistas undreamed. I can see 12 session right there.
If that type of setting isn’t your thing, maybe fantasy is? If so, there are more works of art for you in this book than any other genre. If you cannot find something here to inspire you, you simply aren’t looking or may not have an eye for inspiration through art.
And that’s what I told her, kinda.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Review: The New Death and Others by James Hutchings
The New Death and Others by James Hutchings is a collection of short stories and poetry. Published in 2011, this eBook can be found on both Amazon and Smashwords and contains 44 stories with 19 poems. The current retail price is $0.99.
The tales within this collection run the gamut of funny to horrific, long and short, and truthful l, yet not. Readers of such authors as H.P. Lovecraft, Neil Gaiman, Robert E. Howard, and perhaps Voltaire may enjoy reading this short tome. Mr. Hutchings appears to be influenced by those authors and many more.
For those of you looking for your own inspiration, I think you will find it in these pages. Mr. Hutchings relives tales from Robert E. Howard’s Kull in “The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune,” giving us a new take of the same story. He also delves into the world of Lovecraft with “Under the Pyramid.” He provides gods, monsters, and men – complete with desires base and unseemly.
Mr. Hutchings modernizes old tales, such as Rumpelstiltskin. He brings them into the 21st century and introduces old concepts to new, with tales such as “A Date With Destiny” (internet dating), “The Jeweled City” (we are but the thoughts of an author in a Microsoft Word document), and “The Auto-Pope” gives us a story of robots.
Commentary on today’s world of love moves beyond internet dating with “Compatibility” while “The Uncharted Isle” gives way to “Weary Love” wherein Commerce takes over for Love at the call center. Yet, Mr. Hutchings does not stop there when it comes to love. He delves in to the realm of concept-gods, ala Neil Gaiman, and reveals that even the gods have trouble in the world of love.
Mr. Hutchings does not shy away from any topics. He dives into politics with “Monsters” and reminds us of our modern horrors. Rumpelstiltskin’s tale doubles as commentary upon what one can do for work, when one can do nothing else.
He even includes ninjas.
The medium-length tales in The New Death and Others do little for me. The voice of the story is oft times lost on me and the voices of the characters too often sound the same. I lost my place looking at the text of these stories for too long. Mr. Hutchings should work on establishing voice as quickly in these medium-length tales as he does in his short pieces.
The shortest works are better than their more medium sized brethren. They are quick blurbs about a topic and often meant to be funny. Taken in small doses, they help to break up the monotony of their larger cousins.
The best works in this book are those of more significant length. Mr. Hutchings does a fine job telling tales through prose or poetry, when he lets himself become long in the tooth. In these stories, he does a much better job of bringing forth the horror and mystery reminiscent of Lovecraft and Howard. In some of these tales, he also delves into the world of Teleleli, a world he has created and continues to develop in his blog. “The God of the City of Dust” is set in this setting, called Teleleli. It describes the actions of three priestesses, the followers of a rival deity, and what comes of converting from one deity to another.
The tale of “Todd” reminds me of something I would expect by John Shirley or Jack Ketchum. The story begins nice and neat and becomes a bloody mess by the end. Or, at least in my mind it becomes a bloody mess. We are not really told what happened to Todd and Kimberly, but I guarantee you it was not a nice thing to write home about.
Overall, the quality of material is a steal for less than one dollar. I think Mr. Hutchings should continue to work on his prose and poetry, continue to expand his ability to wax verbose, and continue to write. His writing in this novel comes across as very “common” and no yet refined into a style of his own. It is obvious that he loves his work and for a first outing, this collection of writing is not a bad one.
Fans of Vertigo comics, early fantasy authors, and role players looking for ideas should enjoy this book. However, if none of the topics I have mentioned throughout this review are of interest to you, I cannot recommend picking this work up.
I have attempted to provide you, the reader, with not only quick glimpses into the material contained within this volume, but also with my thoughts on the author’s abilities.
I would give this book a rating of 3 out of 5 stars. The topics at hand are good, but the writing itself needs more development.
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