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Magic Words: Interactive Fiction in the 21st Century: a guide to past history and current news in the world of text-based adventure games. Great reading and very... interesting :)

Posted by Doyce at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There's a game I'd like to write up in full that I never will. Two reasons:

One is simply that almost all of the mechanics of the thing are based off of a great indie game called Trollbabe. While the author might be (in fact, probably is) down with people riffing off his game, to do him justice I should be charging for it and making sure he gets his due. This conflicts with the second thing; making money off of it would be illegal, in that setting a game in Amber is the right of someone else in the gaming world. (Not that they're doing anything with that right, but there it is.)

Anyway.

So, the only way I could do it as a complete rules set for Amber would be to make it free, which screws the original game's author, which I won't do.

So this is best I can do: kind of an OGL "You must own this book to use these rules" type of deal -- go buy Trollbabe, by Ron Edwards. Just do it. It's ten damn dollars and probably the best money you'll spend, per dollar, on any game. If you disagree I'll pay you back.

Jesus, still hedging?

Well, you can go read the review here, which should give you enough rough understanding of the rules to get you though the rest of the post, but really you should just cough up the tenner.

For those of you who've got Trollbabe, but don't know about the setting of Amber, go buy the five books of Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber series and read them, or just ignore this post.

Now then, you've bought. You've read.

Everyone on the same page? Good. Let's try out a game called Amberite.

I've asked this before: What is an Amberite?

Here's my answer.

Simply put, an Amberite is somewhere between a human and a god -- functionally different (vaguely noir), and tied into a setting thick with conflict: political, familial, violent, romantic... you name it, they've got it. An Amberite might be a friend or enemy of any other characters in the setting, but one thing they aren't ever going to be is neutral.

In old-school RPG terms, an Amberite's Race is Protagonist; their character class is Catalyst -- it's what they do, it's who they are -- their presence cannot help but mess the status quo in any particular situation. Things happen when they arrive.

The story is always about them... just ask them.

Trollbabe is a role-playing game by Ron Edwards (creator of the excellent Sorcerer). It lets you tell stories like that.

How do I use the game to do Amber?
Most of the character generation stuff is the same. Pick your number. The three stats that derive off of that work the same way, but some get different names: Fighting becomes... Prowess (or whatever trips your trigger), Magic becomes Powers, and Social stays the same.

Specialties work a bit differently for the Powers stat: Whatever you pick as your Powers specialty is at the normal value; every other Power you have is at -2 from the normal value (unless that would take the chance of success below the range of possible numbers, in which case it just drops to minimum). Such secondary powers (of which you might not have any or might have a half-dozen) must be acquired through play or okayed by the GM if desired at the start of play (a good rule of thumb might be to allow Number/3 in secondary powers at the start of play, but YMMV.)

I doubt I need to give a list of standard 'canon' Powers to anyone familiar with Amber. :)

Some GM's may want to add a rule in which the areas that you don't pick as your Prowess speciality are at -2 or -1 as well. I wouldn't, but some might. Ditto Social specialties, though my resistance there is much lower -- it might be more useful and thematic there for someone whose Social speciality is "Scary" to face a penalty when trying to charm someone at a party.

Scale is terribly useful when playing Amberite; all the Elders have a Scale associated with them -- by default, when dealing with an Elder as a starting PC, you are operating at a smaller Scale than the Elder and suffer penalties accordingly. I'd start the most powerful elders at the highest Scale in the game ("state" or at least "demesne") and work down from there. I might also add a step or two to the scale for things like Dworkin, Oberon, and the Unicorn.

Character progression is easy: as the PC's own scale rises, they move closer to playing at the Scale of the Elders.

Scenario setup in Trollbabe includes the determination of any built-in penalties and bonuses for the setting/story, and this works well for Amberite as well: Being in Amber is -2 or -3 to most Powers checks, while being near the Courts is probably the reverse. Read the Trollbabe rules and examples will occur to you.

Finally (and best of all), this game is based on a diced mechanic that relies so intrinsically on story-telling that it utterly obliterates the 'd20' problem of deprotagonizing your character through failures that don't 'work' with you character concept. You can fail, certainly, but when that happens you will always fail on terms that work within the concept of your character's story. It's one of the most powerful concepts in the game.... any game, for that matter.

Why would I use the game to do Amber?
It's my personal opinion that one of the main reasons that the players who play Amber do so because they desire more control over the story -- by playing in the Amber setting, you have a tremendous amount of say over what's happening to your character and the world around them -- it's that kind of setting. (Maybe not that kind of game (vanilla ADRPG), but that kind of setting.)

Trollbabe gives the player more of that kind of control through a built-in mechanic that lets the player have a HUGE amount of influence over the story.

Let me repeat that: not just over the character; over the story.

Quick example from the game system: my character is sitting on a rock somewhere. I tell the GM that I want to keep an eye out for anyone sneaking up on me. The wording is key here: in calling for a conflict resolution of some sort, I'm also calling for conflict: saying "I want to be ready if anyone sneaks up on me." automatically means that someone IS sneaking up on me -- the roll merely determines if I'm ready or not. If I say, "I want to avoid anyone sneaking up on me," then the sneaking up is now part of the story -- the check is to see if I avoided it.

Did you notice that the player's the one who determines what's happening to them?

Let's use a more Amberesque example: I, as a GM, am not that great at coming up with Political Stuff. One of my players is, and more to the point really likes that style of play.

The scene is a Party in the Castle. I ask the player what they're up to, and they say "I want to mingle and see what I can pick up from various rumors and whatnot."

Now, for the purposes of the system, this isn't specific enough. The player needs to give me a Goal. I ask them what their goal is, and they tell me, "I want to see if Lord Feldane is trying to outmanuver me regarding the grain embargo I've put into place against Shadow Hyrmsmir."

A ha.

See, it doesn't matter if they make their Social check or not... I as the GM now know that this is a story element the player wants for their character. It is, in fact, now part of the story -- the question is only whether or not the character knows about it. :) (Obviously, the player does.)

GMs: Ever feel as though, even when you're firing on all cylinders, you're still only giving the players -- even those you know well -- a really good scene about 50% of the time, just because you can't always know what they find interesting at the moment, or what they're in the mood for?

I wonder if the player can be wrong about that. I really don't think so.

Why not just incorporate the whole mechanic into the DRPG?

Frankly, I'm not sure you can. With heavily narrativist, player-empowered games like Trollbabe and InSpectres, there is a built-in mechanic that clearly determines who has influence on the Story at each moment -- it's a protected process and rightfully so, since the possibility of resentment can run high in this kind of game.

I suggest using the mechanic as part of the whole system because I don't personally think the mechanic can be ported successfully into a diceless game -- such things require a system to determine success and failure in Conflict that does not involve direct character-character interaction, and the two diceless systems I'm passing-familiar with (ADRPG and Nobilis) don't have that -- the only real chance of failure/success comes from facing off against a peer -- left to their own devices with no opposing actions, an Amberite or Noble *will* succeed, and that mechanic doesn't feed back into determining Narrative Control very well.

Anyway. There's my game thoughts for the evening. Go play.

Update: Some more discussion here.

Posted by Doyce at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

The sweetest phrase I've typed in awhile: This is a Z entry in the Lexicon Of The Second Age. :)

I want to publically thank Jere for the opportunity to work/play on this game/project; it opened my mind to a world of possibility in the Lexicon format, to Wikis in general (I didn't have any when the Lexicon started -- now I have two), and to Nobilis. Also, it exposed me to some great writing from other folks that really made me stretch my mind to match. It has been great.

It has also been hard. We started the "A" entries right around Christmas and just wrapped the "Z"'s... well, technically it was supposed to be yesterday, but it was today for me.

Still, I may not have always been on time, but I never missed a letter: my personal list of contributions are here, or you can just look at this list:

• Anaxam -- psychotropic metal
• The Baikal -- 'flimy' connections between world-fruit
• The City Of No -- home of the Poet-Bakers
• The Demesne Kalon -- garden chancel of Beauty That is More than Skin Deep
• The Eidolon Tapestries -- Mad patterns of creation
• Florilegium Requiescat -- The Book of the Dead for destroyed Flowers/Estates.
• Gliriform Masque -- Not to be confused with the Gliriform Mask
• Hallow The Eater -- just what he sounds like
• Iluac, Garden of -- the virtual world
• Jewel Of Markov -- in which we learn that Math Hurts
• Kaldath -- my favorite Power of the Dark
• The Lorists -- Second Age pseudo-historians
• The Mandala Principle -- in which Creation bitch-slaps time-travelers
• Nephtarya -- the Tragic Mountains
• Order For Irresponsible Behavior -- Buckaroo Banzai meets Nobilis
• Plimorath -- adversity creates... beauty
• Quumyagga -- the last and best of the Powers of Kalon
• Rite of Air-Speaking -- banned in 48 of 50 states
• Scaraboids -- yeah... pretty much like they sound
• Teggnukan -- one of only four Powers to survive to the current day from the Second Age
• Unknown Benefactors -- love hurts
• Vilphori -- a good argument against the right to public assembly
• Wulfaben Mushrooms -- Free Your Mind
• Xylotomous Parasites -- See also, Scaraboids
• Yantiburum Monks -- Jedi meet the Nobilis... and DIE
• The Zeroth Age -- saying goodbye to the project

I also created references to these other entries, which other authors were then obliged to make sense of:

• Drenveldin Larkspur -- my new favorite Wildlord EVER
• Ellerophon -- every game needs a decadent pleasure world
• Fleet of the Yu Ketch -- little, green, different
• Genun -- he makes Evil fun
• Glantri Shelf Fungus -- Trippy, Jumbo-sized
• Kalon, Estate of -- more than skin-deep
• Omnifarious Fruit -- Everything to Everyone
• Q'san-Drin -- hosts of the Pleasure World
• SpinWolves -- Destruction and Zero-Point energy rolled spun into one
• Supernal Surculation -- pruning the World Ash
• Ys, City of -- it really is the Thought that Counts
• Zendix Prime -- The second-age-about-the-first-age version of the Lexicon we just finished writing

Posted by Doyce at 11:30 AM | Permalink

Not like we need another beer and pretzels game around, but still... X-Bugs

Posted by Doyce at 8:04 AM | Permalink

So, for my second to the last entry on the Lexicon of the Second Age game, I was digging up brainfood by (don't make me explain it) Googling "monastic order of" silly.

First hit? Brin's discussion of Lucas' main mistakes on Return of Jedi forward.

Posted by Doyce at 12:28 PM | Permalink

Donjon (site), Donjon (review), Donjon example characters -- player-driven dungeon crawling -- it seems as though this could be either an InSpectres-level romp or a serious game. I'm intrigued.

Paladin (site). Probably for a small group... maybe 2, maybe three. Maybe good for Justin. Good mechanics at any rate.

Trollbabe. Review. Example of play here. Again, a smaller group. I've got a lot of hope that this game might be really good for some of my players.

Sorceror. I put off getting this for a very long time. I was wrong to do that. Great game. Great. Already looking around for Sorceror and Sword.

Posted by Doyce at 1:05 PM | Permalink

Perverse Access Memory: WISH 85: Character Inspirations

What inspires you to create characters? Do you have partially-developed characters in mind for use when you get into a new campaign? Do you shop characters around, or do you come up with new characters when you get into a campaign? Why? If you GM, are you bothered by receiving a solicitation for a “generic” character, or does it enthuse you to get a solid proposal even if it’s not closely tailored to your game?

I wonder how well this ties back into making the same character over and over.

Let's look at the last few character's I've made for games:

* Dylan isn't a continuation of any ongoing riff I've been trying to play: as a general rule, he's a 'new' character to me, especially when you take the complications of his home life into account. I got the basic idea from ... I guess Alias and the character Jack on the show -- at least the profiling bit, but that came on later -- really I just think I'm better off playing a faceman -- I tried an laconic character with Bob and it doesn't really work for me. So, Alias, with some home-life stuff from... who knows. Some of the stuff I have in mind for him is based solely on my plans for the character, while other stuff is growing out of my interaction with the game.
* Japteth is something else entirely -- conceived solely for the purpose of working within the setting and campaign, he doesn't really work in another setting or story. Again, he's sort of a faceman/leader type, but not in a charming way... in a bossy way. I wanted a guy who commands the legions of the dead because that's his right... someone who can talk to gods without quailing because of the utter surety he has in his duty.
* Jacob, in CryHavoc, was a character I've been trying to play for several years in several different settings and systems. I finally had to a chance to play him, and now I'm pretty much over it.
* Gwydion, the smooth-talking scotsman bard was another I carried around for awhile (not nearly as long as Jacob) trying to get 'right'. I think I did that in LGreyhawk (before it all went to hell), and while I would have liked to have done more with 'Her Brilliancy's Secret Service', I think I got what I wanted out of the character, and I don't need to play him again.
* Bob was a joke that turned into a character that turned into a joke. The campaign I was playing him in didn't support that kind of player, but at the same time I have no desire to 'try again' with him at a later date.

And then there's Kethos, the guy I keep trying to play in any number of games... Amber NPC, Living Arcanis demonkin... heck, even Grez'k in LJ is sort of a Kethos adaptation... or he became one. On the one hand, I've never really been able to finish playing this character... on the other, I think my friends are tired of seeing him at the table :)

Posted by Doyce at 12:20 PM | Permalink

So I got to run my first game of InSpectres on Friday when Jackie called off Necropolis (pleading no prep time due to imminent departure to France). Now, I didn't prep either but with InSpectres it hardly matters -- everything went like gangbusters -- the group took to this style of play like veterans and made me want to cancel every regular game so we can to squeeze in Trollbabe, My Life with Master and HeroQuest alongside InSpectres. Terrific stuff.

The Premise

Players create normal (but a bit strange) employees of this company. Said employees face a variety of challenges, and the franchise (and challenges) grow. It's Ghostbusters, MIB, The Real World and internet startups all rolled into one game, with a great investigation/mystery-solving mechanic.

Supernatural events are usually more annoying or just plain embarrassing occurrences (they *can* be morbid and creepifying, but they aren't always that way).

CharGen
Character creation is simple. All InSpectres characters have four attributes, with nine dice divided between them:
* Academics: researching information, remembering facts, casting spells.
* Athletics: sweaty physical stuff requiring strength or agility (i.e.: fighting, shooting).
* Technology: building, buying and using hi-tech gadgets (i.e.: computers, lasers).
* Contact: persuasion, public speaking, interviewing clients, lying to people.

To make your character, just distribute 9 points between the four attributes (minimum 1, maximum 4) and write down a Talent your agent has. A Talent gives them a bonus in certain areas and don’t need to correspond to any one Skill. An agent with the Talent: “Mechanic” could gain a bonus die when fixing a truck (technical), identifying a car’s make and model (academics), swinging a monkey wrench in a fight (athletics) or talking to fellow grease monkeys (contact).

After that, maybe a little background.

While you *can* make a Buffy the Vampire... umm... Hunter..., and it can be fun to play them, it can also be very funny playing Hank, the ex-Plumber going through his mid-life crisis and seeking a new career. Normal is funnier than weird. InSpectres is really about normal folks wrapped up in abnormal situations.

Once you create their characters, you divide some dice among the attributes of your new Franchise -- it's very much like the (five-minute) process of making characters.

Characters

***Dave sent me:

The Summer Intern Academics: 4 Athletics: 2 Technology: 1 Contact: 2 Talent: Bookworm
Background: John King Wong III is a divinity student working at the franchise for the summer as researcher and records-keeper. He's got another year to go before he gets his DD and he's looking for some good stuff to write his senior thesis on.

Dave also mentioned John being sort of a nerd, but knowledgeable and confident in that knowledge; he knows some of the "ritual type magic stuff". (As I put it, Giles magic, not Willow magic :) His dad's an orthodontist and Grandpa's sort of a China-town 'magician'. They both apparently think John could be doing different things with his life.

Not a lot I could add to that -- I knew it'd be fun.

Randy sent me:

James (Jim) Taylor 30, white, male, ruggedly attractive Academics: 1 high school grad, not a "reader" Athletics: 2 Technology: 2 Contacts: 4 Talent: Cast Iron Innards (Jim can eat or drink just about anything without much ill effect. He can drink or smoke most people under the table, or eat expired sushi without consequences other than gas. He can cook for himself but nobody else eats his cooking twice. He hardly ever gets sick. When he does he's a horrible baby about it.)
Background: James was a highly successful used car salesman. When he turned 30 he suddenly realized that he couldn't stand to do his job another day. He wanted to do something exotic and adventurous, something to help people, and something with a lot of potential for big bucks. Oops.

Now, on the surface, this is great, except that I had been talking to Randy about a slightly different character the night before that I pretty much thought would rock on toast. Jim's a fun guy, but he didn't have a lot of really good hooks. After asking Randy about it, he agreed and posted me his original Weird Character concept:

Vincent (Vince) Taylor, new vampire
30, white, male, ruggedly attractive
Academics: 1 high school grad, not a reader
Athletics: 3
Technology: 2
Contacts: 3
Cool: 1 (Vamp tricks)
Background: Vince was a highly successful (Lexus, Porsche, Rolls) used car salesman. He loved it. The thrill of the chase, the kill, the triumph over better educated people from wealthier backgrounds, all of it -- being a vampire is a distanct second-place replacement to that kind of thrill.

On his 33rd birthday he met a very attractive young lady, put his wedding ring in his pocket and had a wild night. He woke up three days later, dead. Undead. Whatever.

Car sales is mostly a day job.

He lost his job, his house (his (3rd) wife didn't take well to his new condition), his Lexus, his Land Rover, his wife, his golfing contacts and a lot of his 'friends'. He has managed to hold onto a '97 Porsche and still has a lot of his old charm and ability to scam. He has money. He also has alimony and child support payments from marriage #2.

Sleeps in the back closet of his Inspectres office, hanging from a set of gravity boots. Has a layer of dirt under the rug, a lock on the inside.

Gets his blood from muggers, mean dogs running loose and (idiot) Goth chicks.

Uses good quality fake tan treatments. Wears a fake Rolex, a good fake. Wears Armani-knockoff suits.

Randy also detailed all three ex-wives, the kid from the 2nd marriage, all the stuff he'd lost in the last divorce settlement, and the affair Wife #3 was now having with his ex-boss.

Now tell me there isn't more 'normal people' stuff going on with Vince :) Heh.

The next few folks I have less info on, since it was verbal relayed during the game, rather than email prior.

Margie gave me:

Fred McGrew
Academics: 3
Athletics: 2
Technology: 3
Contacts: 1
Talent: Fringe paranormal theorist -- uber-fringe. Even in the world of Inspectres, he's fringe.

In short, Fred's sort of the "Ray" character from Ghostbusters.

Jackie came up with

Katie Stone, ex-Mormon
Academics: 2
Athletics: 2
Technology: 4
Contacts: 1
Talent: Mechanic -- Katie was raised by very strict parents who have several very clear rules: stay clean, and stay away from weirdos. Then she got out on her own. She joined a trade school and found out she was really good with machines... nice, greasy machines. After that, applying for a job as a tech for InSpectres just seemed... perfect.

The rebel girl busting out of her family's rules. Katie's a cross between Firefly's Kaylee and Julie-the-Mormon from the Real World (and now The Inferno) (you either know who I mean or you don't).

And finally, Justin had:

Bart Wakisashi
Academics: 1
Athletics: 4
Technology: 2
Contacts: 2
Talent: Ninja Burger Delivery Boy (laid off)

A silly little homage to a silly little game, but the player had fun, and I had fun ruling on the fine points between where "ninja" and "ninja burger delivery" Talents did and did not overlap. :)

Franchise

John wanted a smokin' PDA with all sorts of Wireless connectivity. John's tech is a 1. John ended up with a Hello Kitty Daytimer from 2000. The player's started to understand that "He who thinks of the cool toy must be the one to roll for it." For instance:

• Fred wanted a good Client list already established. Fred rolls Contacts... the roll is not good. Not only does the franchise not have a client list, but Fred's advertising campaign (fliers, yellow pages, and late-night local TV & cable ads) all have the wrong phone number listed. Nice.
  
  

  MARGIE: Um, guys, do we need a contact list of customers?
  DOYCE: Margie, you roll for it.
  RANDY: But that's *my* job.
  DOYCE: Yeah, but she asked about it.
  DAVE: (to RANDY) It was your job to think of it first.

  
  
• Katie, impressed with the brick-facade, two-story home office, built in a cool brass firepole from the 2nd to 1st floor.
  
  

  JACKIE (Katie): Got a five.
  DOYCE: K, you got it built just fine, and after some people mentioned it, you even put a nice bit of padding around the edges of the hole so no one gets splinters in their butt.
  JACKIE: (nods at Vince-the-Vampire) Probably more important to some people than others.

  
  
• Katie got an Amazing lab set up in the back...
  
• ...but Fred arranged for Internet connectivity and ended up with a single dialup that all the PCs in the office had to spoon-proxy through (using the Lantastic Token-Ring network) to use.
  
• Fred bounced back with a 6 on the company Espresso machine: a beautiful work of art in copper, mounted on Italian marble and shipped direct from the motherland (Vince winced at the expense report).
  
  

  SOMEONE: Crappy networking gear but great coffee machine -- this really is a startup company.

  
  
• Bart managed to score a sweet katana with his single Tech roll.
  
• Vince got a state-of-the-art walk-in restaurant-grade fridge... with a rack for Type O in the back.
  
• Katie scored the group's only Wierd Science weapon: the basic Proton Pack that pretty much only she could use (though Fred had some very strong guesses about it and a stronger desire to test them out).
  
• Fred got a (5) on the Spectre Detectre (tm) he wanted and ended up with one that worked reasonably well.

By this point in time, I was ready to call a halt to the Franchise equipping (we hadn't really decided on where to put the 7 dice yet!); even though everyone was having fun, we were running out of space on the Franchise sheet for all the notes.

Right about then, Randy remembered that the group needed wheels. He asked me for a Contact roll instead of Tech, since he used to be a car salesman. I let him have it, he grabbed his three dice...

1's. All three of em. 1's. Bus-passes for everyone... at best.

Working out the story behind this, Randy decided that his "old buddy" and former boss (remember him? the guy sleeping with Vince's ex-wife behind Vince's back?) had taken the money but bought the new vehicle in both Vince and his wife's name, and now the damn thing was tied up in court.

Vince first arranged to trade in his last personal car... the Porche... to get a panel van to cart everyone around in. For this sacrifice, I gave him another roll, which got them a 4, but they improved the van later (more on that in a bit). Meanwhile, Vince went over to the dealership to find out why the guy had screwed him like that and... well... Vince's ex-wife was on the boss's desk. With the boss.

The first Stress check. We haven't even started PLAYING yet.

STRESS Stress, in game, limits your character’s skill, representing real world difficulties (getting stuck in traffic), on-the-job issues (copier jams), and even moments of intense fear (your mailman's face falls off and he starts moaning 'brains'). The more difficult the situation, the more stress you have to deal with... the lower the number is one the lowest die you roll, the most stressed you get -- the more stressed you get, the more your OTHER stats are screwed up.

But Vince nails it. He rolls a 1 and a 6, but has a point of Cool -- so he discards the 1, keeps the six, and gets EVEN COOLER.

At this point, Katie LEAPT... LEAPT, I tell you, into the Confessional.

THE CONFESSIONAL Confessionals are taken from real world reality shows where characters take an aside to comment about the current scene. In InSpectres, characters can take confessionals, describing in past tense some piece of the puzzle that allowed their characters to survive the particular scene. This information is then granted as a new trait to a particular character, allowing them to immediately use it to solve the current situation. It's a great, fun mechanic.

KATIE: I don't know what happened over at the dealership, but... when Vince came back, he had a weird smile on his face and brand new Range Rover.

Heh. So Randy has Vince walk over to the security camera VCR, pop the tape, walk right by the boss's desk, show them the tape in his hand, pick up the keys for a new Range Rover, and walk back out... leaving a claw scar on the top of the marble desk as he left. See... the divorce settlement's not over yet, and it seems Vince's ex-boss is married. Nice.

The players are starting to get Confessionals.

Note: we haven't started playing yet.

Dave/John wants to roll to get some Art School friends to spruce up the panel van, rolls his Contacts, and gets a 6.

DOYCE: The whole college art department comes out and does a fabulous job ...
MARGIE: ... all sorts of colors, and a big flaming skull, and ...
DAVE: No, I got this. It's a 6, so it's Weird Science, right? So, it's very elegant, black, a nice logo, and subtle screening of caballistic insignia on it -- that makes it proof against spirit invasion.
DOYCE: So if things get out of hand, you can go hide in the van? I like it.
DAVE: Exactly. Of course, we've got a problem the first time the boss [Vince] wants to ride. [As Randy] "Okay, guys, one of you get in and invite me the hell in."

At this point, out of desperation to actually have a job happen, I put Dave/John in the Confessional Chair and start up a scene where he's being interviewed by Adele Arakawa.

[Stress Check 2 for being on camera, cuz I'm a bastard, which costs John 2 Attribute dice.]

She's telling people about the new InSpectres franchise in town, interrupting John as he tries to talk about his degree in Divinity (a "hot" field since paranormal activity has kicked up), and asking John how the first case went. John replies that everything came out very, very smooth... remarkably so, in fact.

ADELE: Really? You think it went well?
JOHN: Umm... yes?
ADELE: Really.
OTHER PLAYER: ...and the camera pans out to the police cars and flaming wreckage in the background.

Remember the flaming wreckage... it comes up later.

So, we cut from the interview and I have the phone ring in the office and jump to that scene while everyone's busy laughing. The setup for the job was a simple randomly generated deal right out of the book that I didn't roll until that moment: an employee from the Denver courthouse calls up, terrified, because weird things are going on in his office, and he can hear whispering voices. (So can the players on the speakerphone, for that matter.)

Before they head over, John does some research.

[Academics roll of 4] "Um, well... being a court house, well... dating back to the old western days, the spirits of the old cowboy guys who were hung, they haunt the place?

[checks books]

Except, back then, it used to be a different building. So if those are cowboy ghosts, they would have had to move when it was torn down. I mean, otherwise, they'd be haunting where the Barnes & Noble is on the 16th Street Mall and dude, nobody haunts a Barnes & Noble."

Riiiight. Everyone gears up and heads to the courthouse.

[For those who don't know, the way to solve the mission is to accumulate Franchise dice -- in this job, the group needed 14. You get dice by making attribute checks and either getting a 5 (earn one dice) or 6 (earn two). Somehow, the fact that the player's are making up the story, earning the dice to conclude the story, and basically writing the ending by racking up the dice... it all works -- the story comes together and even ends when it's supposed to... it's brilliant -- and every time, they solve a mystery that they made up.]

Bart scores the first 6 of the mission when everyone piles out of the van.

[Athletics roll of 6]
BART, the NINJA PIZZA BOY: Hmm. I've delivered here before... I'll meet you inside.
ONE OF THE OTHERS: What do you mean -- [looks around -- no one's there] -- I hate it when he does that.

Everyone else heads in into the darkened building, unarmed, since they have to get by the security guy. They head upstairs to the third floor and start checking things out as they close in on the office... the voices are already audible in the air.

[Stress check, level 1]

[Margie: Academics roll of 6, using the Spectre Detectre (tm)]
FRED: Hmm... the ectoplasmic "hot spot" isn't in Whittiker's office. It's in the janitor's closet, next to it. In ... the mop bucket.
RANDY: Does it smell like blood?

But... the low Athletic check indicates no blood. Hmm.

[Another 6 on Tech, this time with Jackie]
JACKIE: The water fountain is clean... the water's clean... so the bucket is clean. It's ... the mop.

Right about then, BART slips into Whittiker's office through the window and see's their potential employer pinned against the office wall, feet dangling being strangled by... a mop (a HA!) -- the bushy end is jammed against the man's throat and holding him off the ground.

[Stress check, level 2]

BART pulls out his sword, and attacks the mop. Athletics roll -- "I roll a 6!"

[DAVE goes to the Confessional chair.]

BART: But I got a 6!
GM: Okay, got it, you'll kick ass in a second, just hold on right there. Dave?
DAVE/JOHN: "It was kind of ironic. I've always liked old, classic films. I'm probably the only one in my class who'd seen Fantasia, or remembered the Sorcerer's Apprentice scene ..."
GM: [prostating self before the Confessional Chair] Thank you!
DAVE: ... so our ninja pizza boy had no idea what was going to happen next.

I should point out here that, while the rest of us are in our 30's (or more), Bart's player is thirteen... he missed the Fantasia reference ENTIRELY.

GM: So, Bart, you rolled a six. What do you want to do?
JUSTIN: I cut it up into little slices, all the way up to the threads, then I kick the mophead away from his throat.
GM: Eeeexxxxcellent...

I love the fact that Dave used a confessional to screw things up.

So... a few seconds later, the bits of Mop start to reform... each piece becoming another Mop. Bart screams for help.

KATIE runs back to the van for her Photon Gun and some Pieces and Parts.

VINCE strides to the office door, whips it open, and sees 14 five-foot-long stakes -- er, mop handles gyrating around the room.

[For a vamprie, this should probably have been about a Stress check, level 3, but I spaced it.]

VINCE: Mops ... why did it have to be mops?

MARGIE leaps into the Confessional Chair.

MARGIE: None of it started to fall into place until I saw the nameplate on the office door when the Boss pulled it open... Whittaker worked for the City Zoning Commission.

JOHN tries an academic roll on the whispering voices in the hall but, with a 3 or 4... all he's getting are things like "Hey baby, you look good tonight..." "Look at the one on the pole..." "Champagne room is only twenty bucks...." and "Adult peepshows in the back..."

[Huh? What were we doing here? Oh, we figured out from Margie's Confessional that Whittiker was rezoning a less-reputable area of town. According to Margie's suggestions, which I took, the ghosts were pissed because a local strip-joint was being torn down (it was their favorite... haunt). The mops were actually from a different disgruntled victim of the rezoning... a local witch who was losing her fortune-telling shop.]

Still, John seems really interested in all this information about the strip club... very interested.

BART grabs his grapple line, hooks a broom, grabs their client, and leaps out the window (Athletics, 6). The broom is pulled after them and wedges across the window frame to brace the line. Whittiker screams like a fat, balding, middle-aged drag queen and wraps is arms around Bart's face... Bart can't see where to stop falling and barely keeps from impaling the both of them on the wrought iron fence below.

[Stress check, level 2]

VINCE burns a Cool dice to use massive vampiric speed to gather all other the brooms up in one big bundle. He get's the mops in his arms, but they're throwing him all over the room. He hollers for something to tie the bundle together with.

Meanwhile, KATIE has grabbed her Big Gun and some stuff that she thinks she can use to turn FRED's Spectre Detectre (tm) into a dousing rod to locate whoever's animating the mops.

[MARGIE rolls a 3 (on Tech) to try find some duct tape in the janitor's closet to wrap up the mops the vampire is trying to hold.]
GM: No duct tape, but you found an old garden hose.
MARGIE: Great!
DOYCE: ... which someone used to, uh, clean a clogged waste line, you think. That's how it smells anyway. It's nasty.
MARGIE: I toss it to the intern.
DAVE: AHH! Eww...

[Should have been a Stress check for that, but I forgot, I was laughing too hard.]

JOHN races into the room, rolls a decent athletic's check to tie up the mops but NOT the vampire (a 5) and then tethers the bouncing bundle of mops to the leg of Whittiker's desk.

Jackie hops in the Confessional
KATIE: ... of course, anyone who's ever had a big dog knows you never tie something to the leg of a desk or table... they'll snap something like that right off.

So... snap. :) I love when the player's hose themselves (they claim they had to... they needed three more dice :)

RANDY: Wouldn't a government desk be metal?
GM: Can't be. She just said the leg broke off. :)

I have dubbed this "Confessional Logic". :)

The bouncing, angry mass of pissed-off mops bursts through the door into the hallway, right on top of KATIE and FRED, who are regearing Fred's Spectre Detectre (tm) to home in on whoever's animating the mops. Everyone gets knocked around... the Spectre Detectre (tm) goes flying through the air, the Proton Pack goes another way...

[I should have had a big Stress check here... but I forgot again.]

KATIE dives for the falling Detectre. She rolls a 5 and just catches it.

FRED, realizing this is his only chance to get to Fire the Cool Gun, leaps for the Proton Pack. (S)he rolls a 6 (the last two dice they needed to finish the job), grabs it, and zaps the ghostly mops. The burning wreckage (remember the burning wreckage?) is blasted into flinders and (GM retcon) out the window at the end of the hall.

GM: And, of course, leaves big char marks along the walls.
DAVE: Yeah, this ties in great with the newscast at the beginning.
GM: You said it was a "smooth".
DAVE: Exactly. The proton beam melts the linoeum in the courthouse hallway, so it cools off all glassy and ...
GM: ... and now it's smooth. Niiiiiice.

In the wrap-up, the PCs helped the cops home in on the witch, and Vince slipped her a business card before she got hauled off.

VINCE: First offense... she'll get off, and she might be useful. She does good work. Lot's of personal investment in the project.

The whole actual game part of the game took about ninety minutes... maybe two hours. Tops. What a blast.

In Retrospect

1. We didn't use the Confessionals a lot. That's the sort of thing you just have to learn to do with practice. That said, what the player's did do with the Confessional was REALLY GREAT.

2. I didn't remember to call for Stress checks enough. As a result, the whole group was down only three attribute dice at the end from Stress, and the group ended up going from a 7-dice franchise to 14-dice in one shot (even after Vince siphoned some off to bump his Cool up to a 3). Government gigs pay well, apparently.

JACKIE: Wow... we're at 14 dice now? Kick ass.
RANDY: Which means that next time we need... 28 dice to complete the job?
GM: Yep.
EVERYONE: Oh crap.

It was a great, great time.

Posted by Doyce at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

My Life with Master: a must-play as far as I'm concerned.

My Life With Master (MLWM) is a horror game about being the minion of an evil genius in a bleak, isolated European village in the 1800's. You serve Master by (for example) going for bodies, kidnapping beautiful young ladies and quite possibly being killed by the mob in the final act as they head for your master’s home with torches flaming. Gothic atmosphere oozes: Czege’s is a hell of a good writer and he understands the genre: it's hard to distinguish the attributes of the characters, Master, and locale from an academic-quality examination of gothic tropes.

A game begins with players and GM designing their Master, who has two stats that aren’t really measures of abilities. Fear determines the Master’s grip on the setting, Reason determines how much the folk of the setting are able to escape the Master in their hearts and minds. Masters are further defined with other non-numeric but story-critical attributes.

Players then create their Minions, who have three stats: Self-Loathing and Weariness are bad-but-often-useful things, both of which make it harder to resist the Master's demands -- it's a bleak world for a Minion. The one ray of hope in a minion’s life is Love. Love measures the relationship between the Minion and Connections with specific townsfolk. The stat begins at zero and increases through roleplayed scenes expressing affection toward the Connections. The more Love you get the more chance you’ll have of disobeying your Master and breaking free. Failed attempts get you the Love, but also increase Self-Loathing.

Minions also have a virtue and a flaw; the things which makes them More than Human and Less than Human. These qualities don't affect dice rolls -- they make them irrelevant; a mute Minion can never make a roll to talk -- an inhumanly strong one will always win a fight. However, each quality has an exception; the mute minion may be able to sing beautifully -- the inhumanly strong beast be weak in sunlight.

The mechanics of the game are scene-based; a player describes what he wants to do in a given situation (resist his Master’s orders, perform an act against the townsfolk or a fellow Minion, make an overture of love) and a dice contest is rolled, using your various attributes and those affecting the Setting (Fear, Reason). The die result (success or failure in achieving your goal) is then narrated or roleplayed -- both success and failure will change your stats.

Note: unless your Love rises, you will the Master's tool; the game actually finishes when a Master’s command is resisted by someone who has high enough Love.

Why do I want to play it? Well, I like the genre and have great admiration for the game itself. Maybe you have no love for or knowledge of gothic horror but really, MLwM works anywhere there are Masters and Minions: hell, Office Space would work as a setting for this game.

Personally, if I were going to try out on 'standard' rpg players (which might be brilliant or a fiasco), I like the idea of running the classic AD&D Ravenloft module with the PCs as Strad's minions.

Posted by Doyce at 12:04 AM | Permalink

One of those fantasy games that (like HeroQuest) I plan to try out with my DnD group after they wrap up the current campaign (assuming we ever finish the current frelling module): Burning Wheel

Character creation in The Burning Wheel is based entirely on a "Lifepath" system. There is no random rolling; the player decides everything, and really, anything's possible: Conan, from slave-to-king... Wesley, from farmboy to Pirate... Every decision on the Lifepath adds a number of years to the character's life and give points to put into appropriate abilities.

The game mechanics are a basic d6 die-pool system somewhat like Shadowrun (or, of course, WoD games, which 'borrowed' the mechanic and made it d10); the character has so many dice in an ability, there's a fixed target number based on the character's competence level in that ability, and the GM decides the number of successes required to achieve a particular task. It's easy, it works. The damage mechanic is something new; a modified hit point system using a scale to determine how many points a character can take before getting scratched and dinged, seriously injured, knocked unconscious, or killed dead-dead. Again, the player has control over these numbers, which are based on player decisions and character attributes.

The background is generic fantasy with elves, dwarves and orcs available as characters in addition to humans, plus an easy way to add pretty much whatever race you're looking for. Each race has its own Lifepath options, with specialized skills and abilities open only to those races.

Finally, the game prices at $15 for two 200-plus page books -- it's hard to go wrong. I got my mailed to me from a number print run of 1000 and a personal note from the author in the front cover. Sweet.

Posted by Doyce at 11:28 PM | Permalink

Rather, Hitherby Dragons: Hamlet 2: The Arrows of Fate

"Eat of onions, but by no means garlic. Those slaves you have enthralled, and found to serve, bind them to your soul with hoops of steel; but do not hasten to enthrall each girl you meet. Beware the werewolves, and do not fight, but remember, if you must, that they as well fear thee. Taste every maiden's blood, but give your blood to few; dress to impress, but not with glitzy fashions that in five years shall pall--for the fashions of the day are the zoot suits and stirrup pants of tomorrow, and the reputation that you lose for goldfish shoes is not easily regained upon the morrow. Neither a borrower nor a lender be, but borrow sunscreen if you must; and this above all: do not let Hamlet know the truth, for he has slain vampires more cunning and more terrible than thou."

Posted by Doyce at 3:32 PM | Permalink

Perverse Access Memory: WISH 84: Five Games

What five games would you love to run/play if you had a willing group and a weekly time slot?

Well, this shouldn't be hard.

...

Actually, limiting it to just five will be hard.

HeroQuest -- the more I read it, the more I really like the "extended" task resolution -- a great amalgam of a diced mechanic and (to my mind) one of the more fun things about the vanilla ADRPG that was woefully unused in the game itself -- the bidding war. Ideally, I can see using the system for a number of game settings -- the traditional fantasy, Buffy, Dragaera, Oriental drama, perhaps even Supers -- a great game mechanic with a wide-open skill system. I think it's particularly interesting that, in order to use HeroQuest in different settings, you have to convert the setting, not character classes or whatnot.

My Life with Master (which I really need to do a summary/review of soon today) -- this is something I really want a chance to do -- great storytelling potential and a fun setting: with the right group of people it could be a magically horrible experience. Probably only 2 to 5 sessions, though, which would be kinda nice... most of my games take a leisurely 25+ sessions to wrap up.

Firefly, using Unknown Armies -- a great system for mental stress, a very wide-open skill system (you make up whatever works for you), and a lot of stories I'd like to tell. This would probably be a long campaign.

Inspectres -- saying this is sort of cheating, since I happen to know I'm going to be running this tonight, since Jackie didn't have time to prep Necropolis. This game, downloadable for ten bucks (just Google for it and head for Momento Mori) looks to be a tremendous amount of fun -- we'll find out if that's the case tonight, I guess. You can read what I said about it a few days ago, search for reviews, or just go buy the dang thing. Good as a pick-up game or to run concurrently, since there's negligible GM prep.

Also, I hope to record tonight's game as an example of Actual Play and post it up here.

Dead Inside: I know finding a group will be tough for this one, but I'd like to try out Dead Inside with a real small group. I like the mechanics, I like the setting, but most importantly I like the message -- honestly, it's a game I'd be interested in running for Justin -- I guess that's a parental rather than GM selection, but there it is. Not to imply too much cause and effect, but after three years of having him play the backstabbing, troublemaking rogue in the DnD group (and getting praised for it), I think a few months of playing a game where the point is to be nice might be... well, not a bad thing. Probably a short game... the example scenario outline in the back of the book carries that at least one participant escapes being Dead Inside within one session (though that doesn't mean you couldn't keep playing as a sensitive, certainly).

There's other stuff: I haven't mentioned Trollbabe (summary forthcoming RSN), Unbidden, Sorceror, Witchcraft, Ghost Stories, or 5 or 6 of the 1PG games from Deep7... and in all that I'm sure there's something ELSE I haven't remembered to mention.

Posted by Doyce at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

First off, there's a good review of InSpectres, here.

Now, a summary:

What Is It?
The game centers around a startup franchise dedicated to the task of exploring and dealing with the supernatural. Players create normal (but a bit strange) employees of this company. Case by case, the employees face a variety of challenges, and the franchise (and challenges) grow.

It's Ghostbusters, MIB, The Real World and dot.com startups all rolled into one great game, with the best investigative/mystery solving mechanic, ever.

Ever. EVER. E-VER.

*ahem*

Breakdown
In the modern world of InSpectres, supernatural events are usually more annoying or just plain embarrassing occurrences (they can be morbid and creepifying, but they aren't always that way).

Got a vampire infestation? Enter InSpectres, your one-stop source for paranormal deliverance!

Character creation is simple and relies on description and character as opposed to numbers or math. The first step is coming up with a character concept and name. Using that as your base, the next step is to distribute 9 points among four character skills – Academics, Athletics, Technology, and Contacts. Finally, you choose one Talent for your character, something that makes him or her especially unique. Character advancement is also covered in this chapter.

It should be noted here that, while you *can* make a Buffy the Vampire... umm... Hunter... the *real* fun comes from making Hank, the ex-Plumber going through his mid-life crisis and seeking a new career.

Once you create their characters, it is time for them to come together and decide where they work -- make the franchise. Basically, each franchise gets a number of dice to develop its various features. Those dice can be used to purchase cool equipment or research strength and other goodies in the form of Franchise Cards. The more dice the franchise gets during this step, the more challenging the missions will be for the startups.

Game Mechanics
Anytime an agent wishes to use a skill, the player rolls a number of 6-sided dice equal to that skill’s number. The highest result out of the roll is compared to a simple chart -- the rest of the dice are ignored. A 6 or 5 is not only a success but grants the agent a franchise die. A 1 or 2 results in a possible dire situation for the agent. Overall, the mechanic is very simple. With enough successes, the agents continue toward their goal of solving the mission, recognized by earning franchise dice. (Each mission has a set goal of franchise dice accumulation required to “solve” the case; each success opens up a new piece of evidence or plot by the investigators.)

STRESS
Stress, in game, limits your character’s skill, representing real world difficulties (getting stuck in traffic), on the job issues (copier jams), and even moments of intense fear (your mailman's face falls off and he starts moaning 'brains'). The more difficult the situation, the more stress you have.

THE CONFESSIONAL
Confessionals are taken from real world reality shows where characters take an aside to comment about the current scene. In InSpectres, as characters explore and uncover mysteries and family curses, characters can take confessionals, describing in past tense some piece of the puzzle that allowed their characters to survive the particular scene. This information is then granted as a new trait to a particular character, allowing them to immediately use it to solve the current situation. It's a great, fun mechanic.

Gameplay
Apparently, the author made some demo sessions for Gencon a few years ago and had them run by someone who has never read the game before. And it WORKED. That's how easy it is to learn this game. The way InSpectres is setup, GMs do not have to come to the table with an entire adventure mapped out -- they just need the starting scene and the willingness to improv scenes. The players to create the thread of plot as the adventure evolves. Since the source material is ready knowledge for most gamers (who hasn't seen Ghostbusters?), this game should be no problem for experienced or inexperienced groups.

Overall
InSpectres is a blast of a game where the focus is fun, some spookiness, and trying to keep your startup company's head above water. It offers unique ideas that could be added any roleplaying game (I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate some of the investigative stuff already). Players have lots of power in determining the outcome and story of the mission.

Posted by Doyce at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Next up, let's take a look at a fantasy system: HeroQuest.

First, a particularly good and useful review can be found here, listing both the good and the bad of the system, all of which I entirely agree with, and some of which I've co-opted for the summary below.

HeroQuest is the latest roleplaying game set in the world of Glorantha. It is, essentially, a second edition of the "Hero Wars" RPG [insert long story about the copyrights to the HeroQuest name here... personally, it's not worth reading about] -- it's a much improved version over what I've seen for Hero Wars.

WHAT IS "GLORANTHA"?
Long topic, especially if I decide not to run in that setting.

Briefly, Glorantha was created by Greg Stafford over 35 years ago -- it's probably one of the industry's longest-standing fantasy settings. It has been the backdrop for several war games, five roleplaying games, two magazines, a computer game, fiction, gaming conventions, and dozens of websites. It's really a shared world; thousands of people have explored and contributed to the setting.

CHARACTER CREATION
There are three character creation methods in HQ.

In the "Narrative Method," the player composes a 100 word description of his character, incorporating some "keywords" from the rules or inventing his own. A "keyword" can be a homeland, such as "Heortling" or "Dara Happa," a profession like "Warrior" or "Merchant," or the name of a god, pantheon, or religious philosophy. For example, the sentence "Ysara Carusias is a Foot Soldier from Lunar Tarsh" incorporates two keywords from the book, "Foot Soldier" and "Lunar Tarsh." This automatically gives the character access to the skills and abilities associated with those keywords. In addition, a player can create unique traits just by writing them in the narrative. "Ysara is attractive, but fiery tempered and stubborn" gives the character the traits "Attractive," "Fiery Tempered," and "Stubborn," all of which will be assigned a numerical rating and have an effect on play. This is a good option if you have a clear holistic vision of the guy you want to play.

Using the "List Method," the player simply goes through the book and selects keywords and abilities and pencils them on his character sheet. The player is generally allowed a homeland, professional, and religious/magic keyword, as well as 10 additional abilities. This is a very good and familiar option for folks used to standard "point buy" rpg systems.

The "As You Go" method is perhaps the best for players completely unfamiliar with RPGs. Basically, the player comes up with a very general concept, but is allowed to create the character in play, selecting keywords and abilities as he discovers them.

THE SYSTEM
What I'd heard about the task resolution system is what attracted me to HQ to begin with. A character's abilities are rated from 1 to (potentially) infinity, with every increment over 20 being expressed as a "mastery." A starting character might have Cook Tasty Meal at 17, a more experienced chef would have it at 10W1 (ten with one mastery, read as "ten-mastery-one," or the equivalent of 30). The legendary heroes have their most important abilities at 10W5 or higher. If both hero and opponent have masteries, they cancel each other out: our 10W1 chef preparing a very complicated meal of difficulty 5W1 would test an ability of 10 against a difficulty of 5, because the masteries cancel out.

Preface to the following: This is not a d20 system. It uses a d20 for resolution of conflict, yes, but this is not an OGL derivative. The two systems have nothing to do with each other.

*Ahem*

All actions are resolved by an opposed d20 roll.

• A natural 20 is a Critical Failure.
  
• A natural 1 is a Critical Success.
  
• Any result higher than the the rating of the keyword or ability being tested is a Failure.
  
• A result lower or equal than the target number is a Success.
  
• A mastery allows you to "bump" your result by one category for each level of Mastery you have - from fumble to simple failure, from failure to success, or from success to critical.
  
• Leftover bumps (once you hit Critical) can be used to bump down your opponent's result.

There are, however, some possible complications.

• HERO POINTS Players have Hero Points. These are the currency of the game, used to purchase new abilities, increase old ones, etc. They can also be used to "bump" a result up just like a mastery. Of course, this uses them up, so you have to decide between "immediate payoff" and "long-term advancement".
  
• AUGMENTS Related abilities can be used to "augment" a character's rating. This can either be taken as an Automatic augment that basically works as a flat "Synergy Bonus", or you can be a little riskier and take a Variable Augment, where you roll your augmenting ability against a difficulty number based on the bonus you want it to give you -- the risk is that you could blow the roll and your augmenting ability (say, "Fiery Temper", used in a fight) might actually penalize you. The upside to this risk is that if you succeed, you get a bigger bonus from a Variable than you would get for an Automatic augment.
  
• EXTENDED CONTESTS Extended contests, usually reserved for climactic trials, give your hero a number of Action Points (APs) equal to his ability's numerical value. Our 10W1 chef would have 30 action points in this contest, while the meal he's preparing would have 14 action points. In each round of the contest, both the hero and the GM bid a portion of their action points, with larger bids representing riskier attempts. Both sides then roll as for a simple contest - the degree of victory or failure indicates whether you lost some APs or whether your opponent lost some (or, if you really nail it, whether they lost some and you get them, which creates a great interchange with point totals dwindling only to skyrocket in a last-second comeback).

As with character creation, the word is "options." How many last-ditch, campaign-ending duels have boiled down to the same tired interchange of "roll, parry, roll, hit, damage, initiative" that followed all the duels that led to this one? Or, alternately, how many times have you wished that you could just handwave through inessential trials (fording a river, bribing a guard) so they could get to the meat of the story? HQ gives you two options where most systems only give you one

MAGIC
The default setting is pretty magic-rich. Everyone has some magic, and everyone uses it. A farmer prays to the god of crops to bless his fields, and a warrior invokes the god of war. HQ uses four types of magic to simulate these things.

1. Common Magic: These are simple powers derived from inside the character himself.
2. Animism: This is magic that summons spirits to perform certain tasks.
3. Theism: This magic calls upon the gods to aid the hero.
4. Wizardry: Calls upon cosmic "essences" to benefit the individual.

The character's cultural backround generally determines the kind of magic he uses, and as a result, how he views the world. A nomad might use animism, and thus for him, the world is alive with spirits. A soldier might worship a god of battle and view the world as a reflection of the struggle. Magic is not so much a game mechanic in HQ as it is a philosophy and system of beliefs. It shapes the character's personality.

As for the mechanics, magic can be used to augment abilities or called upon to perform spectacular feats. The more focused you are on your magic, the more powerful it is, but the less flexible it becomes... casual users can do more 'whatever' types of things, but it's a more expensive prospect for them to get better than hedge-magic.

WHAT YOU'D BE DOING
There is scope in the game for all sorts of adventures. The most obvious beginning is that all the characters are from the same tribe or city, the oddballs who get sent out troubleshooting while normal folks are farming and cattle-raiding. Eventually they might become mighty heroes who beat up enemy gods.

Overall
HQ is good. The system is simple enough that creative minds can easily invent new powers and abilities, while traditional RPG players can simply bring old spells and manuevers with them into the game. However, it is a very free-form system, so players who prefer detailed combat rules, clearly defined results, and lists of spells, skills, and results may not like it as much. It is not, and strongly resists any attempt to make it, a simulation. I resisted it for awhile but was won over once I began to grasp the possibilities offered by the system.

Posted by Doyce at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So I've got a bunch of games laying around -- stuff I want to run, to try out... whatever.

I communicate more succinctly in the written word than the spoken, however, so my enthused rambling face-to-face usually tends to miss a few things that I really wanted to mention about any particular game.

Therefore, what I'm going to do is assemble (and I mean that literally) a summation/review of the various games that I'd like to take a stab at some point -- some I have in mind for the weekend folks, some I have in mind for the DnD group... some would work for both, so g'head and read -- you might see something you like. If so, lemme know.

First up (simply because I've been reading it this morning) Dead Inside:

Dead Inside's focus is on the dilemma faced by people who, through neglect, abuse, or happenstance, lose their souls. This premise is backed up by easy-to-use rules, a very detailed 'spirit world' setting (which, I point out, just oozes story ideas).

Player characters are those who are Dead Inside. Character generation is loose and open in format; basically, you answer seven questions, assign a few points, and go. There are virtues and vices (modeled after the standard Christian traits, but with notes on customization), Qualities (like “handsome”, “dancer”, and “scientist”), and Special Qualities (like “bind”, “change landscape”, and “soul-taking”). Finally, you have soul points (or, for starting characters, a single lonely soul point).

The rules (for quality checks, conflict, and combat -- all emphasize quick resolution) are coherent and seem quite playable. The book includes many good examples of play.

The object of Dead Inside (at least the most obvious goal) is to acquire enough soul points to regain their soul and become complete (again, or for the first time, depending on your particular background). There are a variety of friendly and less friendly ways of doing this. The game has a built-in moral compass of sorts, one that requires wisdom, kindness, self-knowledge, and occasionally a little ass-kicking.

The game is not rehashed Vampire crap. As one reviewer put it: "this is the Pilgrim's Progress meets the Tibetan Book of the Dead meets Carl Jung meets Monkeybone RPG you've been waiting for [...] It really is a story about the soul and saving it, if you're lucky and noble and true. I think it's probably the first game I've ever played where the whole point of play is being nice."

From the book itself:

WHAT DO THE DEAD INSIDE DO?

The Dead Inside strive.

They reach for meaning. They struggle for growth. They seek a return of what has been lost. They cannot turn away from their quest for a soul, because that would give them time to dwell on the holes within. They must keep moving, trying to fill themselves.

Because they know that if they die, the hollowness won’t end – it will only become deeper, longer, and colder. Without a soul, they cannot return to the Source. Death will merely change them from a living body without a soul to a dead body without a soul.

The setting is split between two worlds: the Real World and the Spirit World. While the PCs usually begin in the Real World, the Spirit World is where the real action is. Scenarios can be set in either world, as well as weirder places -- like within the dreams of a little girl, on the surface of a gigantic dead god's skull...

The game is very complete – good rules and lots of plot hooks waiting to be used. Also, bonus: a thorough glossary and bibliography and a very detailed introductory adventure that could easily form the basis for an entire campaign (and also serves as a model for how to set up and run a DI game).

Note on the bibliography:

Cartoons & Comics
Gaiman, Neil. The Sandman series (Vertigo); McCay, Windsor. Little Nemo: 1905-1914 (Evergreen); Straczynski, J. Michael. Midnight Nation (Top Cow);
Willingham, Bill. Fables (Vertigo); Willingham, Bill. Proposition Player (Vertigo); Willingham, Bill. Elementals (Comico).

Films & Television
Dark City; Hook; Jacob's Ladder; The Matrix; The Prisoner; Spirited Away; What Dreams May Come; Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory; Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective

I mean... where do you go wrong with a list like that? How do you?

The game's not for everyone. If you groove on the setting, you’ll probably love the thing. If it doesn’t work for you, you're better off with something else.

Posted by Doyce at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Here's an observation, neither novel nor groundbreaking. d20 in it's current incarnation will never be a good system for non-dungeon crawling (i.e., search for traps, get treasure, kill bad guys).

It boils down to search time. Your To Hit and Armor Class bonuses are prefigured, as are your Damage dice and Skills.

Search Time to hit a bad guy? If I haven't memorized it, it's a glance at the character sheet.

One PC decides to subdue and bind a bad guy, rather than kill 'em.

What happens?

Several people flipping through books, GM jokes about being taken by surprise and unready for non-lethal action from the players. Search Time is quin-trebles.

D20 suffers from selling itself as a universal system -- when you try to do anything other than killing or skill checks, you've just doubled or tripled (or worse) the search time.

The game encourages XP rewards for finding alternate and creative solutions, but doing these things is such a pain in the ass it's not worth it.

Posted by Doyce at 12:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

** Atomic Sock Monkey - Dead Inside **

I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to play it, but I want to own it. Now, please.

You are a Mage, a living body with a double-soul:
you have substantially more spirit-energy than
Average People or even Sensitives. You utilize
this energy to do magic. The Second Sighted see
you as dense and burnished-bright, and you
might not cast a shadow. You have a wide range
of powerful abilities, are incredibly durable,
and pursue True Immortality. If you are killed,
you will split into two beings a Ghost and a
Zombi.


What Type of DEAD INSIDE Being Are You?

Posted by Doyce at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Perverse Access Memory: WISH 83: My Character's Motto

What are your characters’ mottoes, in ten words or less? Quotes and formal mottoes encouraged.

Japteth: Harm Not the Dead.
  (Unofficial: You die, you're mine.)

Dylan: Everyone has secrets.
  (Unofficial: Sometimes, you wing it.)

Bob: Never trust Jedi.

Gwydion: In Her Majesty's Name.

Hmm... I should have more characters, so I can have more mottos.

Posted by Doyce at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Victorian Roleplaying Themes -- mine it for all it's worth.

Posted by Doyce at 9:53 AM | Permalink

I've often said there's practically no difference between the basic PC conflict setups for Amber and Vampire (whether that's a good or bad thing is left as an exercise to the reader.)

Someone actually worked out the similarities.

Heh. I can think of others, but they're definitely not wrong.

Posted by Doyce at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Wednesday Weird is a writing exercise where each week a topic will be posted and participants will write about in it in their own blogs, livejournals or the comments section. The Wednesday Weird is for gamemasters, writers and anyone else who wants to practice their creativity through this excercise. Each week in the Wednesday Weird, I will supply a fairly common cliche in gaming and/or fiction. Participants will then be challenged to take that cliche and give it an original twist.....something a little weird, then explain why it's weird.

First up: The Mugging

Basics: The basic mugging goes something like so: mugger comes out, weapon in hand, and demands your money.

My twist: Mugger comes out, weapon in hand, and demands that you take his money. Take. Not Have. He literally forces you to steal it, at gunpoint, then runs.

Why?: The poor bastard stole a cursed coin or bit of scrip and the only way to get rid of it that he can figure out is if someone steals it from him -- problem is, no one mugs a mugger, and he's had to take matters into his own hands.

Posted by Doyce at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)