tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24370420729466220752024-03-12T22:51:24.656-04:00Underwear on the OutsideThe musings of a Comic Book Legend (in his own mind at least) and gaming industry professional (okay, that one's mostly true).Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-82970910384066471032020-12-28T13:15:00.005-05:002020-12-31T19:04:04.273-05:00General Gamery: Freelancing with a Fickle Muse<p> Okay, so this is a weird one.</p><p>A couple weeks ago, I was working on a new assignment for Paizo (nope, can't talk about it until it's announced). As I was working on it, I had to follow my process to get in the right state of mind for writing.</p><p>For me, the pre-game is a two-step process.</p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Step One: Tactile Goodness</span></b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mRnjtlabCBI/X-oN4S1Xe8I/AAAAAAAARHc/Un5gA7QVQAcW_uhlPMuUcgOsfgPvHaslQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/42366810_10157531201157580_6047620488878882816_o.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mRnjtlabCBI/X-oN4S1Xe8I/AAAAAAAARHc/Un5gA7QVQAcW_uhlPMuUcgOsfgPvHaslQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/42366810_10157531201157580_6047620488878882816_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Okay, this is old news, but a couple years ago I put together a keyboard to fill my tactile needs. I like the click-clack of Cherry MX blue switches, and while terrible for gaming, my keyboard (aka Fairlight Excalibur) is perfect for my writing needs. <p></p><p>For those that don't know, Cherry MX Blue is a type of switch (the apparatus beneath each actual key) that not only supplies the signal for each key depression, but adds a certain amount of bounce and tension to each keystroke. Different switches in the Cherry MX family offer different levels of tension and each feels different when stroked. The blue is fairly bouncy, but not as stiff as green or white switches.</p><p>What makes blue switches stand out is that the plunger is in two parts- the blue plunger which is attached to the key above, and a white slider that actually completes the circuit. To some degree, the white slider moves independently, but it is pushed down or drawn up by the plunger. When the slider is fully depressed against the switch housing, it makes an audible "click." The result? An experience that affects both touch and hearing. As such, for a long time- this element of my necessities to get into the right zone has been met.</p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Step Two: Music Sets the Mood</span></b></p><p>Step two is specific to each project. For most of my life, I've had a mild auditory hallucination, sometimes referred to as musical tinnitus. Since I have actual tinnitus from years of performing live music without ear protection, this makes me extra special. But seriously, this basically means that a part of my brain is constantly hearing music. I don't have any cancerous growths or symptoms of Alzheimer's, nor have I been on any medication or drugs that could cause such a malady- I simply always hear music. I sometimes jokingly call it WJOE radio.</p><p>When I was younger and in bands, this was easy to remedy- I'd simply put myself to writing music and like magic the songs in my head would change to focus on what I was writing. Mind you, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a good songwriter- and a lot of what I have done is fairly derivative. But I blame my internal musical muse for that. I've also found that listening to music seems to sate that part of my brain (thank the Gods Below that I grew up in an age with the walkman and the products it spawned). To some degree, any time I needed to concentrate, I've required musical accompaniment. And this has transferred more specifically to my writing than any other part of my life.</p><p>So yes, Fearless Reader, if you have read more than a dozen words of mine strung together, it was written to music. This has a greater effect on individual projects than I would have expected. Early in my freelancing career, I didn't recognize this need. As a result, my work on Smallville and Red Dragon Inn didn't display the potential I've been able to show in later projects. It wasn't until I worked on Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game: Annihilation that I found my muse.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1sr-RanrmXY/X-ogWa9gTLI/AAAAAAAARHo/ij4G1aeW0mUcdHrac4PCQLwxIaavmdkfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s316/ChevelleSCIFICRIMES.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="316" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1sr-RanrmXY/X-ogWa9gTLI/AAAAAAAARHo/ij4G1aeW0mUcdHrac4PCQLwxIaavmdkfQCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h200/ChevelleSCIFICRIMES.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2013/02/general-gamery-marvel-heroic.html" target="_blank">Annihilation</a> was a big deal for me. Finally, I was not only doing professional work, but it was for one of the pillars of my geekdom. I was working on a project that had the name Marvel on it. Even more importantly, Nova was (and still is) my favorite superhero, and Annihilation was his vehicle, his moment to shine. I could not screw this up. I was more than a little intimidated by the project, and as my deadline was creeping up, I wasn't getting nearly as far as I should. So, I did what I have had to do when buckling down on a spreadsheet- I put on some music and let it pull me along. In this case, it was Chevelle's Sci-fi Crimes. A decent album and it drew me into Annihilation's major beats and space battles perfectly. This was a game-changer for me.<div><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z4pYcXG8VW8/X-ogjFcWVpI/AAAAAAAARHs/CmG2x_I2qgkkWHQTWtbUKm3vGt85ib4NACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/100100691_10160010218317580_4039221630113677312_o.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1321" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z4pYcXG8VW8/X-ogjFcWVpI/AAAAAAAARHs/CmG2x_I2qgkkWHQTWtbUKm3vGt85ib4NACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/100100691_10160010218317580_4039221630113677312_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Fast forward a few years, and this is a more formal part of my process. If I'm writing for a project that in any way evokes theme, or depth of character, I've spent time to curate a playlist long before I've put a single word down. For <a href="https://paizo.com/products/btq023i3?Wayfinder-20">Wayfinder</a> when I wrote The Boomrock Run, I made a list full of Fugazi, the Rollins Band, KMFDM, and started it all off with Faith No More's Surprise, You're Dead. Cosa Nostra, my <a href="https://www.cortexrpg.com/" target="_blank">Cortex Prime</a> setting set during the time of Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky found a soundtrack influenced by the music I listened to at the time my grandfather would tell me those stories- Billy Joel, Elton John, the Clash. <a href="https://paizo.com/products/btq022x7?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-221-Illegal-Goods" target="_blank">Starfinder Society: Illegal Shipment</a> drew inspiration from late 80's sci-fi/action movie soundtracks like Aliens, Predator, Terminator, and liberal seasoning of the Mandalorian. While my <a href="https://paizo.com/products/btq026me?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-318-Secrets-in-Stillness" target="_blank">newest work</a> was entirely drawn from Pink Floyd songs to fill my mind with the haunting mystery and drama that music can inspire. And so on, and so forth.<p></p><p>I don't know if I'm in the minority of people that do this, but I'm curious to see what the next soundtrack will be.</p><p><br /></p><p>~The Doc</p></div>Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-71957855462363923302019-06-09T16:54:00.001-04:002019-06-09T16:55:59.365-04:00General Gamery: Dime Stories 2nd Edition and Ch-ch-changes...Holy crap it's been a while sine I posted here!<br />
<br />
Alright- well let's get to it. I've had a bee in my bonnet for a while about Dime Stories.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lu24RCKlS6I/XP1v9v7EjsI/AAAAAAAAQVk/EKBzCUNTbMEy_GDorYXzNclCFbUv3n2-gCLcBGAs/s1600/Dimestories%2Blogofinal1%2Bcopy%2B%25282%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="112" data-original-width="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lu24RCKlS6I/XP1v9v7EjsI/AAAAAAAAQVk/EKBzCUNTbMEy_GDorYXzNclCFbUv3n2-gCLcBGAs/s1600/Dimestories%2Blogofinal1%2Bcopy%2B%25282%2529.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-76ttH9hH_cU/XP1wCs8SsQI/AAAAAAAAQVo/XCeppt-9jVcw-ZbR10qXzaqIgubmJPAJwCLcBGAs/s1600/c9615-architectdoozer1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="962" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-76ttH9hH_cU/XP1wCs8SsQI/AAAAAAAAQVo/XCeppt-9jVcw-ZbR10qXzaqIgubmJPAJwCLcBGAs/s320/c9615-architectdoozer1.jpg" width="320" /></a>A few years back, a game designer I respected made the comment that while Dime Stories was fun, it lacked anything mechanically that tied it to the theme. I'm paraphrasing, but the idea stuck. And somewhere in my noggin, wheels started to turn. Sure, Dime Stories was always the red-headed stepchild of my creations. Most of my time and attention had been spent on <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2017/02/general-gamery-superhuman-rpg.html" target="_blank">Superhuman</a> and my <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2013/02/general-gamery-marvel-heroic.html" target="_blank">freelancing projects</a> and I would make sidelong comments about Dime Stories calling it "barely a game" and "utterly terrible." So, I let the doozers in the back of my head work on the problem for a while. A long while.<br />
<br />
Every now and then I jumped in to make things pretty with a <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2015/07/general-gamery-back-to-backwater-new.html" target="_blank">new logo and a new cover</a> for the rulebook. I talked to artists about making new and improved art for a print edition of the rulebook, but I never more than skimmed the surface while avoiding the main problem. The game had problems- not unfix-able problems- but problems. And even if I fixed them, the initial comment that the game did not mesh with the theme was still the mountain in front of me.<br />
<br />
Every now and then, I touched on something that worked and ran with it. I ran an amazing mod of Dime Stories last year at Gencon with a Shadowrun theme called Nuyen Stories- to be fair, this mod was far better than the original. One time I dipped my toe in to fix Dime Stories and accidentally wrote a GI Joe RPG in the process (more about Battleforce at another time). I even decided to keep much of the core principles of the original game (though fixed with two minor changes) to be used as a generic role-playing system (something else for me to come back to another time).<br />
<br />
But ultimately, it was something I had set aside for a wholly different project that proved to be the true impetus for change- cards.<br />
<br />
Despite set in the far future on an alien world, Dime Stories is, at its heart, a western. And when I don't think about gunfights in the old west, I think about a handful of unsavory types playin' cards in some seedy bar or brothel. So, I naturally wanted to make a few sets of cards. I briefly toyed with the idea of making some in-world poker variants when I realized that an ancillary game wasn't what I needed to do. Great thematic games like <a href="https://www.kenzerco.com/aces_n_eights/" target="_blank">Aces & Eights</a> and <a href="http://nightskygames.com/welcome/game/DogsInTheVineyard" target="_blank">Dogs in the Vineyard</a> had found ways to incorporate poker in their games- why hadn't I? Not to mention the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAGA_System" target="_blank">SAGA</a> line of games that WotC created in the late nineties to try to change up the aging game systems of RPGs at the time.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-achqNodrDuM/XP1wZOLrSxI/AAAAAAAAQV0/vI3shd_uabAMgv5MdAsk1qTC66mGoGKYgCLcBGAs/s1600/61080058_1022309571299260_2550751471884828672_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-achqNodrDuM/XP1wZOLrSxI/AAAAAAAAQV0/vI3shd_uabAMgv5MdAsk1qTC66mGoGKYgCLcBGAs/s640/61080058_1022309571299260_2550751471884828672_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
So now, it's months later. Dime Stories no longer has dice. Like at all. Cards have replaced just about everything- with each player using their own deck, playing poker for physical and social combat situations, and using a trumping system similar to my beloved <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Super_Heroes_Adventure_Game" target="_blank">Marvel</a> and <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/186462/Dragonlance-Fifth-Age-Dramatic-Adventure-Game-SAGA" target="_blank">Fifth Age SAGA</a> rules from years past. And I love it.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hzV4q6w5_Bk/XP1wmhVktWI/AAAAAAAAQWE/Z42PJElQBZULYUxxEzRet2Tnj36r4UciwCLcBGAs/s1600/Resh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hzV4q6w5_Bk/XP1wmhVktWI/AAAAAAAAQWE/Z42PJElQBZULYUxxEzRet2Tnj36r4UciwCLcBGAs/s200/Resh.jpg" width="132" /></a>Does it work?<br />
<br />
No idea, but it will be with me at <a href="https://www.originsgamefair.com/" target="_blank">Origins</a> and <a href="http://www.gencon.com/" target="_blank">Gen Con</a> for alpha testing with the public before I send it out for beta testing without me involved (yep- I'm looking at you, my fearless reader- reach out and be a part of it!)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VomMdRl87vs/XP1wlxqEzSI/AAAAAAAAQWM/e8JTm3nZabwFjh2jdiyyfn4Iyvrzi6lVACEwYBhgL/s1600/Barry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VomMdRl87vs/XP1wlxqEzSI/AAAAAAAAQWM/e8JTm3nZabwFjh2jdiyyfn4Iyvrzi6lVACEwYBhgL/s200/Barry.jpg" width="133" /></a>Of course, this get's my inner designer going. So on top of the first of Dime Stories' new poker decks (<a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/275883/Megacorp-Playing-Card-Deck?src=hottest_filtered" target="_blank">available now at DrivethruRPG</a>), I needed to redesign the pregen PCs and NPCs in Easy Money for convention play. Those that have played Dime Stories with pregens before will see a lot that looks familiar. Thinkin' has been split to two abilities (Thinkin' and Socializin'), traits no longer have numerical scores, but everything else seems pretty similar, right? Well... it looks the same, but holy hell is it different. Everything interacts in new ways that actually feels like it belongs in theme (more on this later)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsNbTNyt4Z8/XP1wm0DbN6I/AAAAAAAAQWY/tHBTaXrq1p0gnB5EPZXmPFfIQIVIgTKCgCEwYBhgL/s1600/security.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="825" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsNbTNyt4Z8/XP1wm0DbN6I/AAAAAAAAQWY/tHBTaXrq1p0gnB5EPZXmPFfIQIVIgTKCgCEwYBhgL/s200/security.jpg" width="146" /></a></div>
And for reference- these pregen PC's are not the format for the character sheets going forward- these are just how pregens will appear in our published materials.<br />
<br />
Non player characters needed similar changes. Gone are the "come up with three traits and give them numerical scores" days. They need to work the same way (albeit with a few simplifications) as Player Characters- a lesson I learned from running the awesome Nuyen Stories mod (Drew- if you're reading this, that's what I keep forgetting to tell you).<br />
<br />
Which leads to the important question my five fans will have- what happens to those that have bought earlier Dime Stories products? Well, that's simple. Anyone that has ever bought a dime stories product has bought the product in pdf or received a free pdf if they bought a printed adventure. Every single one of those products will be updated to 2e after testing is complete (so likely Q3 or so). I will add free downloads of the new material and rules for those customers and as new product moves in, I'll take old products down so limit confusion for new customers.<br />
<br />
As far as where to find us at <a href="https://www.originsgamefair.com/event-registration" target="_blank">Origins</a> this week?<br />
Saturday Morning Games will be running several events in the GCCC Union Station Ballroom Foyer.<br />
<br />
Thursday,-Jeph will be running games of Punk's Been Dead since '79. At 1pm is the 1996 Northwest Ohio Battle of the Bands and at 7pm is Blackjack's Revenge.<br />
<br />
Friday- Jeph is running the same two scenarios, but Blackjack's Revenge is at 9am and the 1996 Northwest Ohio Battle of the Bands is at 1pm.<br />
<br />
As usual, Saturday is a doozy for us. at 9am I'll be running the 10 cent tale Easy Money updated for Dime Stories 2nd Edition (as I talked about above). At 1pm, Jeph is running his bible camp follow up to PBDs79 in an adventure called Paint over Piety. And finally, at 2pm we're returning to Centennial City in the convention adventure for Superhuman- The Bank Job.<br />
<br />
Hope to see you there!<br />
<br />
An also, I'm not avoiding you, Fearless Reader. I promise I'll write soon. I... I love you.<br />
~The DocDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-88552866564161981962017-07-06T10:36:00.000-04:002017-07-06T11:20:33.372-04:00Campaign Concepts- Pathfinder: Outcasts Part 2- Player's Guide I: Character Creation and TraitsContinuing my exploration of an unofficial Adventure Path for Pathfinder RPG. The following is the first part of what would be a Player's Guide highlighting character creation and campaign traits in the proud Paizo tradition.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x9Wim1Mtk1M/WV5KhduijvI/AAAAAAAAMns/r6OSkKTbX6M83RvEQSqEpMUjZtHrMumegCLcBGAs/s1600/logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="575" height="289" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x9Wim1Mtk1M/WV5KhduijvI/AAAAAAAAMns/r6OSkKTbX6M83RvEQSqEpMUjZtHrMumegCLcBGAs/s640/logo.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<h2 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Character Tips</span></span></h2>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your friends are all you have left. </span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-d9369bff-1850-6818-98ba-ad55956636d3" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whatever you did that caused you to become a pariah in your hometown, you’ve come to realize that only your traveling companions can truly be relied on for allies, comrades, even friends. But that doesn’t mean you’ve found a home. Far from it. You’ve left Cheliax behind, and the lot of you have had to keep running.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While pooling storylines that Paizo and 3rd party companies have written in the past, Outcasts doesn’t resemble Paizo’s brilliant adventure paths in structure nearly as much as it does in spirit. But Player’s Guides have helped build PCs that fit with the themes and stories of past Adventure Paths. So, below are several things to keep in mind while designing characters for Outcasts.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Pariahs:</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> For whatever reason, the PCs are pariahs and monsters, cast out of their various homelands and on the run for some reason or another. The characters are in search of a home, but could come from nearly any background. In addition to the following campaign</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">traits, resources like Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea World Guide and nearly any Pathfinder Player’s Companion will be invaluable to help build your character.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Class Tips:</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This campaign will take you through a number of dungeons and cities. Knowledge (local) and racial low-light vision or darkvision might come in handy.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Classes that rely on animal companions or mounts might find Large creatures a liability in tight underground corridors or when interacting in some civilized environments, but that should not be the reason to avoid those classes. Social classes should also do well, if only to smooth over the common people’s (read: mob) interaction with the party.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>The Bad Guys</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Outcasts features the gamut of monster types, so be ready for</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">anything! You’ll face many different creature types— from vermin, humanoids, and fey at low levels to giants, undead, constructs, aberrations, and evil outsiders at higher levels. But more than anything, the most common enemy will always be the regular humans around you. They don’t like you, will try to scare you off or hunt you down, so be prepared for them first.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<h2 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Campaign Traits</span></span></span></h2>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Outcasts, the players have been cast out of their respective societies- either through deed, choice, or birth. They’ve banded together to seek kinship, assistance, and a refuge from a world that doesn’t allow for them to fit in. These aren’t crusading knights, adventurous Pathfinders, or even hardened mercenaries. These are the heroes that Golarion forgot and never really cared for.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For whatever reason, you were forced to flee your homeland. Chance or fate has brought you here, and it’s here that your money ran out. Now you can only rely on each other.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forlorn</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Elves and Half-elves only)</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having lived outside of traditional elf society for much or all of your life, you know the world can be cruel, dangerous, and unforgiving of the weak. No matter how hard you have tried, most elves shun your company.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefit: You take a -1 penalty on all Charisma-based skill checks made when dealing with elves but gain a +1 trait bonus on Fortitude saves as a result of your steadfast determination to survive. (The penalty aspect of this trait is removed if you ever manage to establish yourself among elven society.)</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Monster </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Featured and Uncommon Races only)</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">People fear what they don’t understand. In the towns and countryside you grew up in, you and your family were the only ones of your kind. The public fear of your species was enough to run your family out of town with fire and pitchforks- or worse, adventurers. It only got worse after your parents passed on as a lone monster became oddly scarier than a family.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefit: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Intimidate checks, and Intimidate is a class skill for you. In addition, you gain a +1 trait bonus on Will saves against fear effects.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bullied</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You've spent years at the wrong end of a closed fist. It might have been family, acquaintances, even those you trusted. In the end, you found you could trust relatively few souls and that has made you paranoid and quick to react to danger. </span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefit You gain a +2 trait bonus on Initiative checks.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Religious Pariah</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In your homeland, your faith is at best frowned upon, but more likely is illegal (such as non-Asmodean faiths in Cheliax or worship of an evil god in most other regions). But your calling is true and you have no interest in seeking another god to follow. </span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefit: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (religion) checks, and Knowledge (religion) is a class skill for you. If you cast divine spells, pick three spells on your spell list. You are particularly adept at casting these spells, so they function at +1 caster level when you cast them, and their save DCs (if any) gain a +1 bonus.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Former Criminal</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Life has been hard for you. Perhaps your parents and siblings were crooks and con artists, or maybe your rough, lonely life led you to fall in with thieves and worse. You know how to ambush travelers, bully traders, avoid the law, and camp where no one might find you. Recently, you've run into some trouble, either with the law or with other bandits, and you're looking to get away to somewhere no one would ever think to look for you. </span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefit: You begin the campaign with an extra 100 gp in ill-gotten gains. You also gain a +1 trait bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks when dealing with brigands, thieves, bandits, and their ilk.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Political Liability</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Humans or Half-humans only)</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of your parents was a member of one of the great families of the Inner Sea (likely from Taldor, Cheliax, or Ustalav). But ill tidings and intrigue has caused terrible tidings to befall your family, and you are likely the last of your line. Yet you have no substantive proof of your nobility, and you've learned that claiming nobility without evidence makes you as good as a liar. While you might own a piece of jewelry, a scrap of once-rich fabric, or an aged confession of love, none of this directly supports your claim. </span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefit: You take a -1 penalty on all Charisma-based skill checks made when dealing with members of nobility but gain a +1 trait bonus on Will saves as a result of your stubbornness and individuality. (The penalty aspect of this trait is removed if you ever manage to establish yourself as a true noble.)</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Firebrand</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s something very wrong with the world. Spouses were not meant to huddle at their windows hoping and fearing day after day that their loved ones returned from work safely. Parents were not meant to hush their children when questioned about what happened to their neighbors. Citizens were not meant to avert their eyes and hurry by as guardsmen beat old friends in the street. The people of your country suffered long enough! Unfortunately, you were not the voice of change you could have hoped. Instead, your nation’s guards and knights want your head on a spike. So you ran.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefit: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Initiative checks, and if you act in a surprise round, you gain a +1 trait bonus on all attack rolls.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Touched</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your mind works differently than others. You’ve considered that the voices might be some form of mental disorder, or they might be some kind of enlightenment. After all, they make you better able to see the truth of things. In any case, your situation marked you as different from those around you, and those that tried to get close to you were unnerved by your abnormal personality quirks and ability to see right through them. But as far as you are concerned, you are likely the only one that can see things clearly.</span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefit: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Sense Motive checks, and Sense Motive is a class skill for you. In addition, you gain a +1 trait bonus on all Will saves made to resist mind-affecting effects.</span></div>
Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-78499521338337500192017-05-26T09:54:00.001-04:002017-05-26T09:59:01.255-04:00Campaign Concepts- Pathfinder: Outcasts Part 1- Laying the Groundwork<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BXk1tBtgqpk/WSgeccNGR-I/AAAAAAAAMbQ/s6OvzA6e9YI0Vihjvq3FxdeFAQ5u0lZhwCLcB/s1600/PZO1021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="780" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BXk1tBtgqpk/WSgeccNGR-I/AAAAAAAAMbQ/s6OvzA6e9YI0Vihjvq3FxdeFAQ5u0lZhwCLcB/s200/PZO1021.jpg" width="155" /></a>For the last few months, I've been running my fourth or fifth Pathfinder Adventure Path (I lose track after a while- especially after starting <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinder/adventurePath/riseOfTheRunelords" target="_blank">Rise of the Runelords</a> three times), <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinder/adventurePath/curseOfTheCrimsonThrone" target="_blank">Curse of the Crimson Throne</a>. I really enjoy the drama of Curse of the Crimson Throne. I like its bad guys, the personalities of the NPCs, and how everything is contained into one major city undergoing major political upheaval. I especially love how the theme feels like Masque of the Red Death and the depth of the antagonist's evil.<br />
<br />
Soooo good.<br />
<br />
I'd say it is currently third in my list of favorite Adventure Paths behind <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinder/adventurePath/ironfangInvasion" target="_blank">Ironfang Invasion</a> (because I was sorely missing a good forest campaign and Ironfang gives us that in the middle of a war of LoTR proportions) and <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinder/adventurePath/skullAndShackles" target="_blank">Skull & Shackles</a> (because pirates, duh).<br />
<br />
But I find myself missing the days when I would create as a GM. <a href="http://paizo.com/" target="_blank">Paizo</a> has such good writing that it's made me lazy. I can expect their adventures to be so well written (if sometimes unbalanced) that prep becomes just reading the adventure ahead of time. So, I really wanted to create something new.<br />
<br />
Does that mean I want to write an Adventure Path?<br />
<br />
Oh, hell no!<br />
<br />
Unless I get lucky enough to end up in the Paizo bullpen at some point, I've got enough on my plate (shameless plugs follow) with <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/5770/Saturday-Morning-Games/subcategory/19033_23237/Dime-Stories" target="_blank">Dime Stories</a>, <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2017/02/general-gamery-superhuman-rpg.html" target="_blank">Superhuman RPG</a>, my Cosa Nostra supplement for the upcoming <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/530352392/cortex-prime-a-multi-genre-modular-roleplaying-gam?ref=user_menu" target="_blank">Cortex Prime</a> RPG, and my own Pathfinder fantasy/western campaign book, Boomtown (Currently in preliminary planning stages).<br />
<br />
Instead, I'd like to use what is already there in modules and third party materials and tap my creative juices to string them together in a coherent storyline (adding my own flourishes and side quests along the way). There's a plethora of great material out there that Paizo published in the dark days of 3.5 that most players these days have never seen (like the Falcon's Hollow storylines) that would make a great starting point and takes place in Golarion.<br />
<br />
So let's start with the helicopter view:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kp51jn9YSyY/WSggNDw18QI/AAAAAAAAMbc/4V-DvUeOnTE3Q75g7CoMS8AoElRdd2veQCLcB/s1600/logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="575" height="290" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kp51jn9YSyY/WSggNDw18QI/AAAAAAAAMbc/4V-DvUeOnTE3Q75g7CoMS8AoElRdd2veQCLcB/s640/logo.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>Campaign Outline:</b><br />
<br />
Pathfinder Outcasts starts with the players already familiar with each other. They are pariahs and monsters, cast out of their various homelands and on the run for some reason or another. The only people they can trust and rely on are each other. Already, this is different than the normal hometown hero story, these are the people the hometown hero is hired to run out of town. Not necessarily evil, just unwelcome.<br />
<br />
Players are encouraged to build deeply flawed characters full of story, hardship, and spirit. They could be of nearly any class, but should be monstrous, morally grey, crazy, untrustworthy, iconoclast, unconventionally devout, or just somehow different than a normal PC (the campaign traits will help flesh this out).<br />
<br />
The PCs start out already on the run, having crossed the Cheliax/Andoran border in hopes for a place they could live out their years in relative peace. While leaps and bounds better than Cheliax, the players find that Andoran is hardly welcoming as they pass through Arthell forest in hopes that the oft-mentioned Falcon's Hollow will prove to be a respite.<br />
<br />
Spoiler: it's not.<br />
<br />
One of their few allies will mention a place much more egalitarian than Falcon's Hollow where our group might find a home: a small town in the River Kingdoms called Hordenheim. Problem is, they'll have to go through the war-torn Galt to get there- and unlike Andoran, galtans aren't exactly welcoming to outsiders.<br />
<br />
So far this mini AP has two major arcs.The first is a search for a home which has the PCs trying to make a home for themselves in southwest Andoran to very limited success. This will use the modules Into the Haunted Forest, Hollow's Last Hope, Crown of the Kobold King.<br />
<br />
Galt will act as a bridge between arcs with Flight of the Red Raven and Revenge of the Kobold King.<br />
<br />
The second act brings them to Hordenheim where they begin to feel more at home. This will primarily follow Colin Stricklin's fantastic <a href="https://adventureaweek.com/" target="_blank">Adventure a Week</a> modules in the city of Hordenheim.<br />
<br />
All that brings the PCs to level 9 or so. That's where I fill in. Early in the series, they are introduced to the story of a druid king of ages past called Navren. They discovered some magic items of his that act in concert and have been scaling with the PCs as the campaign dragged on. Are they secretly the key to a greater darkness? Will our heroes become the beloved heroes they had always hoped to become?<br />
<br />
<b>Themes:</b><br />
<br />
Primarily I'm playing with the theme of <i>family</i> in a very X-men way. X-men always shined at showing those that society cast out could form true familial bonds by standing together to protect a world that hates them. That's the core theme here. But each arc should have it's own feel as well.<br />
<br />
The first arc is a little bit Frankenstein and a little bit Willow. Early on, it becomes obvious that the PCs are the only competent adventurers for the jobs at hand, but they are still ignored, despised, or even chased out of town with fire and pitchforks. Despite the heavy theme,the execution will be a bit tongue-in-cheek with how the villains and other NPCs act (especially with the Kobold King as the early primary recurring villain). This is intentional so that the second arc isn't as jarring.<br />
<br />
Hordenheim becoming home is very different. No longer on the run, we can abandon the Frankenstein feel for a more comedy/action feel in a Die Hard vain. This whole arc is more about becoming a part of their new society and should feel a bit like Edward Scissorhands or The Burbs. In fact, let's make that easier:<br />
<br />
<b>Required Viewing:</b><br />
<br />
<i>First Arc:</i><br />
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein<br />
Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame<br />
Monster Squad<br />
X-men First Class<br />
Willow<br />
Serenity<br />
<br />
<i>Second Arc:</i><br />
Edward Scissorhands<br />
Die Hard<br />
Die Hard with a Vengeance<br />
The 'Burbs<br />
The Witches of Eastwick<br />
The Harry Potter series<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Special Rules:</b><br />
<br />
Every Adventure Path introduces a bunch of special rules to make it stand out. Outcasts will be no different.<br />
<br />
First, I plan to lift the relationship map from Cortex. Not only will this help to establish the interactions between the PCs, but it will allow each pair of players to agree on a teamwork feat they can use together as if both possessed the feat (think of Colossus and Wolverine with the Fastball Special). Every four levels, the players can agree to change their character's views on each other to add new tactics and feat to their partnering.<br />
<br />
Second, the trope of their time in Andoran and Galt will be that they are being run out of town. So I'll be sightly modifying the Pathfinder <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/gameMasteryGuide/chases.html" target="_blank">chase rules</a> from the <a href="http://paizo.com/products/btpy8ffn?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-GameMastery-Guide" target="_blank">Gamemastery Guide</a> with serious story implications if the PCs are caught.<br />
<br />
This as well as scaling items of power that the PCs get REALLY early on and some other goodies.<br />
<br />
I'll expand on all these rules in a later article.<br />
<br />
<br />
That's it for now. Come back next week as I lay out the campaign traits in a mini Player's Guide.<br />
<br />
~The Doc<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-36183502211601699442017-02-12T11:29:00.001-05:002017-02-12T14:20:57.792-05:00Tell Me About Your Character: Ep.4- Tell me lies. Tell me sweet little lies.<b>Box Text:</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Following in the footsteps of <a href="http://blackhatmatt.blogspot.ca/2013/01/character-creation-index.html" target="_blank">Matt McFarland</a>, my fellow Saturday Morning Gamers, <a href="https://gamishdesigner.blogspot.ca/p/character-creation-list.html" target="_blank">Jonathan</a> and <a href="https://geoffwritesstuff.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-rpg-character-library-introduction.html" target="_blank">Geoff</a>, have begun to slog through their RPG collections and they are making a character for each game. My plan is to do the same, with a slight variant. A lot of my collection is made up of several editions of the same game or setting (D&D, Marvel, Star Wars, Star Trek, Shadowrun, etc.). So while I will document the characters and process for most games normally, for those with multiple editions I will be making one character and remaking the same character for each edition. Ideally, this should give some insight to some of the decisions the design teams made and how they differ even with the same subject matter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Wherever possible, I am using randomized stats or whatever the most common methods were to build characters at the time and core books rather than entire game libraries to give the entry level experience. Oh sure, there will be some games that I'll pull out all the stops and use half a dozen game books to create a fleshed out character. But that will be a rare occurrence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Also, I'm not going to be showing you optimized characters. First, that's not how I build characters, I'm a story guy. But more importantly,this column is about the process, not the result.</span><br />
<br />
As usual, we'll start with the character and concept first:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
I tire of explaining things in such a mundane fashion. So, I will allow my followers from <a href="http://geekandsundry.com/fabricate-your-victory-with-the-extraordinary-adventures-of-baron-munchausen/" target="_blank">Geek and Sundry</a> to explain the good Baron's "Game" with their customary lack of ingenuity and class.<br />
<i style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: inherit;">The rules are relatively minimal. The first player prompts the player on their left to regale them with a story of their choosing. This could be anything such as, “Tell us about the time you fended off that invading Mongolian horde with a banana” or “How precisely did you woo Catherine the Great and bring about the age of Russian Enlightenment?” From there, the challenged player begins telling the story with as much detail as possible. The other players may attempt to interrupt, distract, and prove the story false by wagering tokens. “But how could that be true if Genghis Khan had already seized all the bananas in eastern Asia?” The storyteller must then counter the argument with their own token, offering an explanation as to why their story is completely true or an excuse as to why that detail does not fit. Players can argue back and forth until one concedes. Once each player has told their story, all the players use their tokens to select their favorite tale.</i><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Who am I?</span></b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xzKzo484j8E/WKCA9NijLjI/AAAAAAAAL7w/K8bbG58GVFoLfNmqbd6vC7j6HZXNIygDACLcB/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xzKzo484j8E/WKCA9NijLjI/AAAAAAAAL7w/K8bbG58GVFoLfNmqbd6vC7j6HZXNIygDACLcB/s200/maxresdefault.jpg" width="131" /></a>I am Marquis Edmond Augustine Ignatious Wilfred Steven du Lac , Second Prince of West Asia, Defender of the Order of Free Peoples, Knight of The Righteous Rose, former Duke of East Carolina.<br />
<br />
You've heard of me- or at least my story, you just do not know it yet. Your friend, the blogger, has asked me to fill in to tell you my story in his plain, uninteresting dialect.<br />
<br />
I am the second son of the King of West Asia, born far from here in Tycho City, Luna in exile of my homelands. Most of my life was spent sailing the phlogston seas of space and time, having adventures and romantic interludes with the finest lovers and most gallant combatants the ages could have ever produced. Still none have been my equal at sword, treaty, dice, or love. And to this day, hundreds seek my counsel in nearly every matter.<br />
<br />
Come to my table and I will merrily tell you a tale. It will only cost you the time and coin to refill my goblet and the pleasure of your company. I need not promise, for it remains fact, that my company is always a pleasure.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QZea6d3j8Hw/WKB-i2iR-0I/AAAAAAAAL7g/i0TvxgdwXOcMRn-VMKI1ZNkC0pQtS2ARgCLcB/s1600/wa01_book_right.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QZea6d3j8Hw/WKB-i2iR-0I/AAAAAAAAL7g/i0TvxgdwXOcMRn-VMKI1ZNkC0pQtS2ARgCLcB/s200/wa01_book_right.png" width="130" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen</b></span><br />
By Fantasy Flight Games 2017<br />
<br />
I do not feel that I have a need to wax philosophical on how the Baron's game came to its Third Printing with the simple plebs of <a href="https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/the-extraordinary-adventures-of-baron-munchausen/" target="_blank">Fantasy Flight</a>. I will say that it greatly improves on previous editions from the likes of Mongoose Publishing by simply adding more words.<br />
<br />
Yes, those words highlight new ways to play the "game" with a dozen new variations. They are far from the thirty nine variations the Baron approached me to help him create, but it seems that books can only hold so much information and the publishers were afraid that if we kept my additions, the books would invariably break their bindings and the sheer knowledge that could have been gained would be lost forever. Ah, what a day it might have been to see those words etched forever in paper and ink...<br />
<br />
But I digress.<br />
<br />
It should be apparent to you that the good Baron consulted me time and again on the creation of his game. He claimed he wanted only to tell the most fantastical tales based on my own exploits, but I suggested he change the focus to others trying to keep up with the truths of my wondrous life.<br />
<br />
Wait. Hold. I need to have my goblet refilled. This form of retelling makes one quite thirsty.<br />
<br />
Ah, excellent. The Red Queen of the Martian Steppes personally supplied me with this vintage of helioberry wine from the stores of the Jeddak. There is no finer drink of the vine.<br />
<br />
Back to the Baron's game. It was nearly thirty years ago that, hat in hand, the Baron approached me gentleman to gentleman and bade me tell him the tales of my exploits throughout the cosmos. As a nobleman, I could hardly dismiss the request of a fellow patrician. So it was surprising, even to me, to see the Baron's eyes wide in recognition of the tales he had heard- far more poorly- detailed before him.<br />
<br />
Even from my boyhood adventures at the side of the King of Carolina, my claim to the Shah of Highsand's harem, and my third marriage to the current Queen of West Asia, my tales had spread from dance hall, to tavern; from pauper's pit to royal hall. However, it seems that my tales were so legendary, so influential that others- ne'erdowells and vagabonds, I expect- had dared to lay claim to my story as their own.<br />
<br />
And thus, I explained to the good Baron, that he could find his game within. Oh sure, the publisher made the poor decision to not utilize my good name to sell more volumes, but I expect it was fear of my legal wrath if tempted that kept their hand from the affront.<br />
<br />
No matter, it is a rare day that I cannot rule the day at the Baron's game, much like any other such idle pastime, simply by telling the amazing truths of the years that have preceded this one in my astonishing life story.<br />
<br />
One day, you should see for yourself. But for now, I must call upon the maitre d' to refill my goblet once again.<br />
<br />
~duLac<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A note from Joe: The running list of characters can be found <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2016/12/tell-me-about-your-character-episode-1.html" target="_blank">here</a>. If you have any other ideas for games not on that list, or know what you'd like me to dive into next, drop me a line.</div>
<div>
~Joe</div>
Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-4404716372837828122017-02-09T22:39:00.000-05:002017-02-10T20:49:17.293-05:00General Gamery: Superhuman RPGWait... what?<br />
<br />
Yeah, you saw it. Superhuman RPG.<br />
<br />
Does this mean that I'm not going to continue working on the Superhuman Miniatures Game that was promised forever ago?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SW2XyRRKxCo/WJ00rj4f2bI/AAAAAAAAL6w/R_JnfW1503s2-tdoRwuI8RLLw5_fJSp_QCLcB/s1600/Pyschic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SW2XyRRKxCo/WJ00rj4f2bI/AAAAAAAAL6w/R_JnfW1503s2-tdoRwuI8RLLw5_fJSp_QCLcB/s1600/Pyschic.jpg" /></a>No. Not at all. Actually, it's kind of the opposite.<br />
<br />
Miniatures are expensive to make. I mean really, really expensive. Especially in the scope that Superhuman requires. But art for the game, I already have in abundance. Not to mention setting.<br />
<br />
Oh sure, I'd been tossing around the idea of making a FATE Superhuman RPG... but then I realized something far better designers than me figured out a few years ago. SYNERGY!!!<br />
<br />
For the last few years I've been loving the Iron Kingdoms RPG- partially because I adore Immoren as a world. But more than anything else it's that the wizards over at Privateer Press figured out that the same people that roleplay in Iron Kingdoms might also play Warmachine or Hordes. And that making the rules for one work with the others might benefit all three games.<br />
<br />
And so that's what I'll do here.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-di1prQgMytU/WJ00EtriE9I/AAAAAAAAL6k/SusX0qbx2kkcNzq0gxMZ6diykz-BFM7awCLcB/s1600/SHRPGlogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="69" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-di1prQgMytU/WJ00EtriE9I/AAAAAAAAL6k/SusX0qbx2kkcNzq0gxMZ6diykz-BFM7awCLcB/s200/SHRPGlogo.png" width="200" /></a></div>
The Superhuman RPG (oh, I should toss up the logo for it, huh?) will use the art I've compiled for the minis game over the years from the likes of <a href="https://chanticostudios.com/" target="_blank">Avery Liell-Kok</a>, <a href="http://www.pictaram.com/user/bbexclamationpoint/217723242" target="_blank">Bryan Bretz</a>, and <a href="http://www.pictaram.com/tag/matthewparmenter" target="_blank">Matt Parmenter</a>, build the world, and utilize the entire ruleset for Superhuman with some tweaks and add-ons to give it depth.<br />
<br />
<br />
Then, whenever it is possible to fund a project like Superhuman Miniatures, we can broaden the scope to change the focus to small teams of supers, rather than individuals like in the RPG.<br />
<br />
Sounds simple, right?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kfUCF9blBuQ/WJ00PfM9e6I/AAAAAAAAL6o/CtsfwxfO8woTZMmiMD3WIE-f5dRcvD3qACLcB/s1600/Magnetic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kfUCF9blBuQ/WJ00PfM9e6I/AAAAAAAAL6o/CtsfwxfO8woTZMmiMD3WIE-f5dRcvD3qACLcB/s200/Magnetic.jpg" width="165" /></a>Well, it's not. Retooling Superhuman for RPG means digging deep and revisiting all the mistakes I made in the earlier versions of the game. In the decade or so since I first conceived of Superhuman, I've changed and grown as a game designer so much that earlier drafts are pretty much unreadable. Basically it's more difficult to retool than start over.<br />
<br />
But no, starting over isn't really the right way. The core of Superhuman was pretty good and I can build from the basic mechanics to something grand on multiple levels.<br />
<br />
And I'll want you to help me with it.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_0v1oh1pIxs/WJ00jJXU1qI/AAAAAAAAL6s/YSAwuroj1LYSHOE-sTtqMEYUDtW5X5TtwCLcB/s1600/Beserker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_0v1oh1pIxs/WJ00jJXU1qI/AAAAAAAAL6s/YSAwuroj1LYSHOE-sTtqMEYUDtW5X5TtwCLcB/s200/Beserker.jpg" width="104" /></a>We start this summer with Gencon 50.<br />
<br />
At Gencon, I will be running a single event for Superhuman on Saturday at 1pm. Players in this event will play the villains in a Bank Heist- the first in The Crew, a line of convention exclusive adventures that longtime readers will remember from my <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2011/08/campaign-concepts-crew.html" target="_blank">early steps</a> in this blog.<br />
<br />
If I do this right, every player will walk away with a copy of the introductory adventure complete with pregenerated PCs and all the rules you would need to run it. From there, we'll start playtests so that Gencon 2018 can see a full release of the book.<br />
<br />
Fingers crossed,<br />
Doctor Mono<br />
<br />Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-2180692395687984132017-01-01T22:15:00.001-05:002017-01-02T08:05:31.118-05:00Tell Me About Your Character: Ep.3- By Crom!<b>Box Text:</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Following in the footsteps of <a href="http://blackhatmatt.blogspot.ca/2013/01/character-creation-index.html" target="_blank">Matt McFarland</a>, my fellow Saturday Morning Gamers, <a href="https://gamishdesigner.blogspot.ca/p/character-creation-list.html" target="_blank">Jonathan</a> and <a href="https://geoffwritesstuff.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-rpg-character-library-introduction.html" target="_blank">Geoff</a>, have begun to slog through their RPG collections and they are making a character for each game. My plan is to do the same, with a slight variant. A lot of my collection is made up of several editions of the same game or setting (D&D, Marvel, Star Wars, Star Trek, Shadowrun, etc.). So while I will document the characters and process for most games normally, for those with multiple editions I will be making one character and remaking the same character for each edition. Ideally, this should give some insight to some of the decisions the design teams made and how they differ even with the same subject matter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Wherever possible, I am using randomized stats or whatever the most common methods were to build characters at the time and core books rather than entire game libraries to give the entry level experience. Oh sure, there will be some games that I'll pull out all the stops and use half a dozen game books to create a fleshed out character. But that will be a rare occurrence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Also, I'm not going to be showing you optimized characters. First, that's not how I build characters, I'm a story guy. But more importantly,this column is about the process, not the result.</span><br />
<br />
As usual, we'll start with the character and concept first:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.</b></span><br />
<br />
Ah, Conan.<br />
<br />
First an admission.<br />
<br />
I do not like Conan stories written by the character's creator, Robert E. Howard. Nor do I particularly care for any of the books that followed from authors like Harry Turtledove, Sean A. Moore, and Robert Jordan. Most of my interest in Conan came directly from two sources: the fantastic Marvel Comics Savage Sword of Conan series and the Schwarzenegger films.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JMeTUnFeTCo/WGm2bwBb90I/AAAAAAAAL0E/WfxkyLZqgQEefv4YPS1IiJMV1wBpf91QgCLcB/s1600/Hyboria_map1950.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JMeTUnFeTCo/WGm2bwBb90I/AAAAAAAAL0E/WfxkyLZqgQEefv4YPS1IiJMV1wBpf91QgCLcB/s200/Hyboria_map1950.jpg" width="200" /></a>But Conan, while a suitable protagonist for his series, did little for me as the hero of the stories. He seemed to be simply a collection of tropes that would have seemed new and interesting in the pulp era, but lost something in the eighties and nineties of my youth.<br />
<br />
What really drew me in was the world-building Robert E. Howard and subsequent creators put into the Hyborian Age where Conan's tales are set. Unlike many of the worlds in which sword and sorcery stories find themselves, the Hyborian Age melded historical (if somewhat anachronistic)times and places with an artificial mythology of magic, monsters, and brutality. While Howard himself created a world he placed between the fall of Atlantis and recorded history (around 10,000 BCE), the final creation felt more timeless as it blended in later european, eastern european, and north african influences.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Who is Petrucco?</span></b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rYAojcBPlUM/WGkatcfBs1I/AAAAAAAALzs/NP1tmIUG0Pgv0FsFMaof-oHJxImxXsQCwCLcB/s1600/MV5BMTI0MTUzNjg5M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNDYyNDky._V1._SX450_SY366_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rYAojcBPlUM/WGkatcfBs1I/AAAAAAAALzs/NP1tmIUG0Pgv0FsFMaof-oHJxImxXsQCwCLcB/s200/MV5BMTI0MTUzNjg5M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNDYyNDky._V1._SX450_SY366_.jpg" width="200" /></a>Petrucco was born to sail.<br />
<br />
The town of Tortage is called the gem of the Barachan Islands by the pirates that dwell there. When Petrucco began to quicken in his mother, Carisia's belly, she drydocked the ship she had captained for nearly a decade for exhaustive repairs while she reared and raised her only child.<br />
<br />
When Petrucco was old enough to man a sloop of his own, Carisia and the captains of several allied Tortagian vessels took him under their wing to learn the Barachan ways of sword, sea, and piracy. For the next two decades, Petrucco sailed with any ship that would have him and earned a reputation as a fearsome pirate, canny gambler, savvy carouser, and brilliant sailor.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
When Petrucco finally decided to captain a ship under his own flag, he had no shortage of able bodied sailors vying for a position on his crew. It was his mother, now years into a wasting disease that would finally take her life, that offered him the ship he would come to call home- her dry-docked barachan galley, Leviathan.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-flEJywYjTTo/WGkatfvCFAI/AAAAAAAALzw/XMlu6cqYUa8TbMUorWLvqI3e-7aIBENcACEw/s1600/Conan-the-Role-Playing-Game-1st-edition-2004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-flEJywYjTTo/WGkatfvCFAI/AAAAAAAALzw/XMlu6cqYUa8TbMUorWLvqI3e-7aIBENcACEw/s200/Conan-the-Role-Playing-Game-1st-edition-2004.jpg" width="153" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conan: The Roleplaying Game</b></span><br />
By Mongoose Publishing, 2003<br />
<br />
So what the hell was that, right? Okay, again, Conan was far from my favorite character in the series. If I wanted to see Conan, there are plenty examples of him in the book. I wanted to play with other parts of the world.<br />
<br />
I toyed with making someone close to Subotai, my favorite character from the first movie. But the Hyrkanian race are built to make pretty much only him (even though Red Sonja should also be Hyrkanian and is far from an archer), so that wasn't really what I wanted to do.<br />
<br />
Instead, while I was mulling over the races (more on that in a minute), my wife was watching the most recent version of The Count of Monte Cristo. I got to thinking that Luigi Vampa would be a great Barachan pirate, and on I went. And as Barachans are essentially Italian pirates (related to Argossians which are Mediterranean seafaring merchants), I gave him an Italian sounding name in Petrucco.<br />
<br />
Conan: The Roleplaying Game is standard d20 fair with very little deviation from the OGL. Other than a few specifics, no standard D&D 3.0 character would be too far out of place. This meant, for the most part, I already knew what I was getting myself into for character creation.<br />
<br />
The bulk of the differences are as follows:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>There's no alignment and characters are based on their code of honor (if any) and allegiances instead.</li>
<li>All characters are human, but a differentiated by their culture, conferring different skills and abilities by region. I love this idea and plan to make culture have as much significance as race in a Pathfinder based campaign world book called Boomtown that's been on the back burner a while. </li>
<li>Multiclassing is done differently,but I'm making a starting character. NEXT.</li>
<li>There are 2 stats, Dodge Bonus and Parry Bonus that reflect the defensive options a character can take instead of the normal Armor Class. Instead, armor gives a character damage reduction, but takes a greater toll on what a character can do than in vanilla OGL games.</li>
</ul>
<br />
On to character creation!<br />
<br />
I started with Ability Scores as normal. Conan offers two options for standard or heroic character generation. I chose heroic, because duh. Basically, you roll a d10 and add 10 for each stat, then distribute the scores as you see fit. This makes pretty powerful characters, but is fitting with the setting.<br />
<br />
I rolled 19, 17, 16, 15, 14, 14. Pretty swanky.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IpJMmk8a-5M/WGkav12PLfI/AAAAAAAALz0/OGfoIn0ZG8sw13wAopcYtxdrC_faOnr4QCEw/s1600/Petrucco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IpJMmk8a-5M/WGkav12PLfI/AAAAAAAALz0/OGfoIn0ZG8sw13wAopcYtxdrC_faOnr4QCEw/s200/Petrucco.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
Next I chose Petrucco's race. As an Argossean/Barachan he got all of the "civilized" Hyborean bonuses too, so this was a lot to add in. These included greatswords as martial weapons, extra Fate (think Hero or Force points), and bonuses to all kinds of piraty skills.<br />
<br />
The Pirate class is essentially a rogue/ranger mix with a seafaring theme. But it has some pretty cool abilities like Ferocious Attack, but I explain all these on the character sheet.<br />
<br />
One of the things I like about Conan is that if you can use a weapon and it is a "finesse"weapon, you are treated as if you have the Weapon Finesse feat from D&D. So that saved me from wasting a feat on it. Two Weapon Fighting was included with the class, so I decided on Persuasive (because Luigi Vampa- remember him), and Combat Expertise. There's a great feat called Intricate Swordplay that eventually allows you to add your Charisma to attacks and Parry Defense. Combat Expertise was the first feat in that tree, so that's what I planned on.<br />
<br />
Beyond that, I filled in skills for a swarthy, charismatic, and skilled pirate and gave him class based starting equipment. Nice and simple.<br />
<br />
Overall, I'm happy with how Petrucco turned out. He's a little more like the most recent Sinbad that used to be on Syfy than Luigi Vampa, but that's not a bad thing.,<br />
<br />
As always, the running list of characters can be found <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2016/12/tell-me-about-your-character-episode-1.html" target="_blank">here</a>. If you have any other ideas for games not on that list, or know what you'd like me to dive into next, drop me a line.<br />
<br />
~The DocDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-23668922569216060802016-12-20T21:35:00.000-05:002016-12-20T23:28:41.880-05:00Tell Me About Your Character: Ep.2- A Galaxy Far, Far AwayAnd so it begins...<br />
<br />
<b>Box Text:</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Following in the footsteps of <a href="http://blackhatmatt.blogspot.ca/2013/01/character-creation-index.html" target="_blank">Matt McFarland</a>, my fellow Saturday Morning Gamers, <a href="https://gamishdesigner.blogspot.ca/p/character-creation-list.html" target="_blank">Jonathan</a> and <a href="https://geoffwritesstuff.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-rpg-character-library-introduction.html" target="_blank">Geoff</a>, have begun to slog through their RPG collections and they are making a character for each game. My plan is to do the same, with a slight variant. A lot of my collection is made up of several editions of the same game or setting (D&D, Marvel, Star Wars, Star Trek, Shadowrun, etc.). So while I will document the characters and process for most games normally, for those with multiple editions I will be making one character and remaking the same character for each edition. Ideally, this should give some insight to some of the decisions the design teams made and how they differ even with the same subject matter.</span><br />
<br />
Wherever possible, I am using randomized stats or whatever the most common methods were to build characters at the time and core books rather than entire game libraries to give the entry level experience. Oh sure, there will be some games that I'll pull out all the stops and use half a dozen game books to create a fleshed out character. But that will be a rare occurrence.<br />
<br />
Also, I'm not going to be showing you optimized characters. First, that's not how I build characters, I'm a story guy. But more importantly,this column is about the process, not the result.<br />
<br />
For now, let's dive into a character created from games spanning three decades and all kinds of dice mechanics.<br />
<br />
We'll start with the character and concept first:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>A long time ago...</b></span><br />
<br />
Why Star Wars? Have you seen Rogue One yet? Hell yeah, Star Wars!<br />
<br />
Disclaimer: If you haven't seen Rogue One yet, stop reading this. Leave your house, go to the theater, watch the great movie, and come back to thank me later. You can owe me later.<br />
<br />
Soooooo.... I knew I'd be starting with the WEG Star Wars game and after decades of playing that system, I was more than a little familiar with the templates they designed for character creation. So, before I began to flesh anything out, I had my wife randomly choose a number between 1-16 (the number of templates in the main book). Her pick? 3. Brash Pilot.<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TESheCALlW8/WFmmS8xnqmI/AAAAAAAALu4/jpXWTMdWq8oATT7eZTsc16co23jJejgOgCLcB/s1600/TheDarkStryderCampaign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TESheCALlW8/WFmmS8xnqmI/AAAAAAAALu4/jpXWTMdWq8oATT7eZTsc16co23jJejgOgCLcB/s200/TheDarkStryderCampaign.jpg" width="138" /></a><br />
So,that meant a rebel pilot character across all 4 games- this mattered especially for the Fantasy Flight game since it would decide which game I would be using (more on that later).<br />
<br />
I'd always intended this character to be built as if I was playing the excellent WEG campaign,<a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_DarkStryder_Campaign" target="_blank">Darkstryder</a>. For those of you that don't know about Darkstryder, the players have several characters aboard a modified Corellian Corvette called the Farstar. You are behind enemy lines, chased by an Inquisitor, possibly infiltrated by traitorous elements.. oh, and the Captain is dead. Basically,it plays like Battlestar Galactica in the Star Wars universe.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ca8_wLZI-Qc/WFmlJ6oMKxI/AAAAAAAALuQ/iPXqzf-l_JQeDQGoEPvB0D7RUROSrPmDwCLcB/s1600/Farstar%2BPatch.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ca8_wLZI-Qc/WFmlJ6oMKxI/AAAAAAAALuQ/iPXqzf-l_JQeDQGoEPvB0D7RUROSrPmDwCLcB/s200/Farstar%2BPatch.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, I changed the Farstar's mission patch to Aurebesh. Sue me.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Darkstryder is a low force campaign, so I would have had my wife "reroll" any of the three force-user classes. It's still Star Wars, so Force sensitive characters are okay. Just no Jedi. That being said, I knew my pilot was going to be Force sensitive.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I also wanted to pull away from the Maverick/Top Gun style of over-the-top pilot that thinks they're the best even when they can't see the forest for the trees. I wanted someone more cerebral. Someone that could think, not just act. I was trying to build Apollo from BSG or Wedge Antilles, not the Last Starfighter. For me, this meant giving him somethingto fight for, but making that something that would make him think twice. Luckily, the Star Wars Universe has that in spades- especially with Alderaan.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--P_BGsXnzeY/WFmryfsyzmI/AAAAAAAALvI/Ch7AS1NCKg8BTUzxr4jezCy2vBm7LK_XACLcB/s1600/Galactic_Campaign_Guide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--P_BGsXnzeY/WFmryfsyzmI/AAAAAAAALvI/Ch7AS1NCKg8BTUzxr4jezCy2vBm7LK_XACLcB/s200/Galactic_Campaign_Guide.jpg" width="147" /></a>I also needed a name. Wizards of the Coast is always my biggest help there when it comes to Star Wars. About a year after they released the Revised Core Rules, WOTC put out the Galactic Campaign Guide. It was meant to be a fast, easy reference for GMs to make quick NPCs, ships, planets, and encounters. But it has a bunch of random tables with names, personality types, quirks, etc. for every race available in the game at the time. And we like random tables. And so, Vyntal Drase was born. I also could pick out Personality types, Identifying marks, Height, Weight, Hair, and Skin color from WOTC's charts, so I did that ahead of time.<br />
<br />
As a fan of BSG (both versions), and fighter pilot movies like Top Gun, I truly believe all pilots should have a callsign. And yes, I know in Star Wars they often just use their squadron designation (as in Red 5, Rogue Leader, Specter 4). That's a cop out because George Lucas sucks at this kind of thing. Fuck that, they get a name. Pilots thriveon that kind of camaraderie.<br />
<br />
Problem is, I was at a loss. In the Rebel Legion (the good-guy arm of the 501st Costume group) I dress as a Rebel Pilot with the callsign Hooligan. While I could fallback to there, it doesn't fit the image of Vyntal I'd already begun to create in my mind. When I'm at a loss, I'll sometimes look through old toys from my youth. GI Joe, MASK, Robotech, Starcom, and Transformers have provided names to many of my favorite pilots, ships, and superheroes over the years. And they came through with the Aerialbot called Slingshot.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Who is Vyntal "Slingshot" Drase?</span></b><br />
<br />
Vyntal (Vyn for short) grew up on Alderaan, the son of a pair of free traders. While Vyn could still barely walk, Castin and Iella took him throughout the core worlds as they continued to make contacts and move freight. By eight, he could already fly a shuttle and was considered one of the best pilots in the Drase's operation before his twelfth birthday.<br />
<br />
Any dreams Vyn had of joining the Alderaan Space Control fleet when he grew up died a crib death as the Death Star destroyed Alderaan while the Drases were making a habitation module shipment to Corellia. Sure the Drase family spent half the year off planet, but Alderaan was their home and the terror of the Holonet's coverage of the disaster grew in the small family right from the start.<br />
<br />
Castin wasted no time. He had contacts in the Rebel Alliance from years of delivering weapons and foodstuffs to their bases and ships throughout the known worlds. He hadn't chosen a side,until the Empire chose it for him. He signed up to direct supply lines and fly a freighter when needed. But Castin was wise enough to keep his family far from it all. Iella set up a speeder repair shop in Coronet City on Corellia until Vyn passed the age of consent. Two years later, Iella and Vyn joined Castin at the rebel base on Talus.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K_WHmL4uZ7o/WFmmKOMKSzI/AAAAAAAALvA/5UX3xEMjYKssYkmArj8JoubyRV7GEfkSACEw/s1600/rogue_one%2B%25281%2529.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K_WHmL4uZ7o/WFmmKOMKSzI/AAAAAAAALvA/5UX3xEMjYKssYkmArj8JoubyRV7GEfkSACEw/s200/rogue_one%2B%25281%2529.gif" width="200" /></a>At nineteen, Vyn was considered a bit too untested to be trusted to fly one of the Rebellion's few remaining starfighters, but a few months of seeing his calculated and precise piloting of speeders and transports was all it took to get him drafted for heavier lifting.<br />
<br />
<br />
It was his squadron mates that gave Vyn the name "Slingshot." Vyn had earned a reputation for always being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes, Vyn would seem to be far from a target or wingmate, but would appear just in time to blast a Tie fighter or drop the payload- whatever was needed. "It's almost as if Vyn knows what's coming before it happens," Lt. Lara Hannser once mused, "or he was shot out of a slingshot to get there just in time."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZM482Otr8Pg/WFmmArvTPPI/AAAAAAAALvA/Ds1AzDwTIDAXFEFxsmOjxf_PrqPjDteugCEw/s1600/Star_Wars_The_Roleplaying_Game_-_Second_Edition_1992.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZM482Otr8Pg/WFmmArvTPPI/AAAAAAAALvA/Ds1AzDwTIDAXFEFxsmOjxf_PrqPjDteugCEw/s1600/Star_Wars_The_Roleplaying_Game_-_Second_Edition_1992.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (Second Edition)</b></span><br />
By West End Games, 1992<br />
<br />
West End Games released it's first edition of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game in 1987. It was based on their earlier Ghostbusters RPG and created much of what became the expanded universe.<br />
<br />
How much, you ask? When Timothy Zahn was hired to write Heir to the Empire and the rest of the Thrawn Trilogy, Lucasfilm sent him a care package of West End Games' Star Wars material to study and from which to base the background of his story. This included species names like Twi'lek and Rodian and much of what was created for this game still exists in Disney's canon for Star Wars today.<br />
<br />
West End Games' Star Wars:The Roleplaying Game (sometimes called by it's current name, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D6_System" target="_blank">d6 System</a>) is a skill based system. Each skills fall under one of six attributes (Dexterity, Knowledge, Mechanical, Perception, Strength, and Technical) which are assigned numbers to tell you how many 6-sided dice to roll. All skills under an attribute roll at least that attribute's amount of dice when untrained, but if your character is trained in a skill, they can roll more (sometimes many more) dice. It's also possible to specialize in certain aspects of a skill to be better at some part of what that skill purveys.<br />
<br />
For instance, a Smuggler is a fairly agile template and rolls 3 dice for a Dexterity check and adds 1 to the final result (this reads on the character sheet as 3D+1). Her player might have sunk some points in the Blaster skill (which falls under Dexterity) to make the smuggler a really good shot at 5D+1. However, that smuggler has a trusty heavy blaster that never leaves her side, so the player adds a specialization in Heavy Blasters that is 6D+1. That means this smuggler rolls 6 six-sided to take a shot and adds 1 to the sum of all those dice. Like most games on this list, these results are rolled against either a difficulty number decided upon by the GM or opposed by an opponent's rolls.<br />
<br />
Building Vyntal was going to be a breeze in this system. First, because I didn't want to make something from scratch, I chose one of the 16 pregenerated templates in the core book (There are actually many more in the revised edition and supplement books like the Tramp Freighter Captain or New Republic Pilot). These templates offer a wide range of character types and nearly every character in sci-fi could be created from these alone. In this case, Mary had chosen for me: the Brash Pilot template.<br />
<br />
The template gave me Vyntal's base attributes, his skill list, starting equipment, and spaces for personality, background,connection to other characters, physical description, objectives, and even a place fora quote. These I filled in immediately from my concept, story, and things I rolled up in the Galactic Campaign Guide.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-172sultJDXQ/WFmlMRtxTiI/AAAAAAAALvA/Byxogat7Sbwlz_2yBbVM4LUYqli9GbwzQCEw/s1600/slingshot1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-172sultJDXQ/WFmlMRtxTiI/AAAAAAAALvA/Byxogat7Sbwlz_2yBbVM4LUYqli9GbwzQCEw/s320/slingshot1.jpg" width="225" /></a>Following this,beginning characters have 7D to allocate to the skills on their template, but no skill can be raised past 7D and no more than 2D can be allocated to any one skill. Vyntal was going to be at his best in a cockpit, so I didn't feel the need to up his Blaster skill past his Dexterity's ample 3D. Dodge,however could use 1D. I applied 2D to Starfighter piloting then 1D to each of Starship Gunnery and Starship Repair. I wanted Vyntal to be able to talk to people, but not exactly a scoundrel so 1D was added to persuasion. And because pilots get in fights, I couldn't go wrong by adding 1D to Brawling.<br />
<br />
Next, characters get to pick 3 skill specializations. Vyn has been flying X-wings exclusively for a few years now and knows their quirks better than his family's. So I gave him an X-wing Specialization for Starship Piloting and Starship Repair, and a Laser Cannon specialty for Starship Gunnery.<br />
<br />
Finally, there's the Force. This is Star Wars, so it makes sense to show you how it affects character creation. For now, it just means that Vyn gets 2 Force points instead of 1, giving him the ability to roll more dice in certain situations more often than non-force sensitive folks. Eventually, this ability would affect Vyn a great deal as it opens up force powers and the ability to sense or change his surroundings with space magic. But for now, it's not that big a deal.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ybx1m0wKzcg/WFmmAvCivyI/AAAAAAAALvA/58M_Rvppz24Ubxq82ixO-WmQXMLIP3eYQCEw/s1600/RoleplayingGameRevisedCoreRulebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ybx1m0wKzcg/WFmmAvCivyI/AAAAAAAALvA/58M_Rvppz24Ubxq82ixO-WmQXMLIP3eYQCEw/s200/RoleplayingGameRevisedCoreRulebook.jpg" width="154" /></a><b><span style="font-size: large;">Star Wars Roleplaying Game (Revised Core Rules)</span></b><br />
By Wizards of the Coast, 2002<br />
<br />
After West End Games ended their relationship with Lucasfilm (and went bankrupt), Wizards of the Coast got the rights to Star Wars. Around the time of the release of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, WOTC released the first edition of its D20 adaption of Star Wars with a second edition called Revised Core Rules a couple years later to clean up the system a bit.<br />
<br />
For the most part, this game is the standard D20 RPG introduced with Dungeons and Dragons 3.0: it has the same six attributes, classes, levels, feats, and skills. Actions are resolved by rolling a twenty-sided die, adding your character's modifier, and comparing the results to a difficulty number or the GM's roll. Higher numbers win.<br />
<br />
Where Star Wars diverged from its pedigree was in the details. The races and classes didn't quite resemble D&D, skills and feats worked the same but were flavored for the Star Wars universe, and Hit Points were separated into Vitality Points (for superficial damage) and Wound Points (for more serious injury).<br />
<br />
This was my least favorite build. The Revised Core Rules doesn't feel particularly like Star Wars and actually suffers from its parent system. Sure, character creation is easy because I've built more D20 characters than all other games put together, but in RCR the characters only seem different in very small ways at low levels. Sure it can be argued that the variety in stats and feats is the qualifying measure, but it's only barely so.<br />
<br />
So, Vyntal. In this version of the rules, I knew Vyn would need a lot of feats to make him even remotely a pilot. There's a real lack of specialty in this system, so basically other than one feat, I built him just like I would any other character with a gun that was something other than a scholar or face character. Vyntal is a Human Soldier with a high Dexterity, average Strength, and slightly better than average everything else. I didn't want to min-max too much here, because I envisioned him to be more of a person than a video game character.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jfayHoyzYps/WFmlNtMb30I/AAAAAAAALvA/88uvh7ZqEUsrE-uGxWfYXiL40M6WvcuCACEw/s1600/slingshot2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jfayHoyzYps/WFmlNtMb30I/AAAAAAAALvA/88uvh7ZqEUsrE-uGxWfYXiL40M6WvcuCACEw/s320/slingshot2.jpg" width="320" /></a>Other than the normal soldier starting feats, he got Starship Operation and Force-Sensitive because they are part of his background already. For skills I went with piloting and mechanics, some astrogation and knowledge of planetary systems, and some talking ability. Nothing special, just the basics. But other than maybe a skill or two, it's the same I would build for an Endor Trooper, an elite officer, or some hutt's arena gladiator. That's the problem here. Maybe if this version of Vyn was played to high levels he'd feel more like a pilot, but that's like playing a video game for the end content only. What's the point?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-75VK8iVUR_k/WFmmAPS3psI/AAAAAAAALvA/Fii8DJscq2wsyFOzYjkJ2Y_WspIdhVigACEw/s1600/Star_Wars_Roleplaying_Game_Saga_Edition_Core_Rulebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-75VK8iVUR_k/WFmmAPS3psI/AAAAAAAALvA/Fii8DJscq2wsyFOzYjkJ2Y_WspIdhVigACEw/s200/Star_Wars_Roleplaying_Game_Saga_Edition_Core_Rulebook.jpg" width="200" /></a><b><span style="font-size: large;">Star Wars Roleplaying Game (Saga Edition)</span></b><br />
By Wizards of the Coast, 2007<br />
<br />
In 2007, WOTC did a line-wide overhaul of their Star Wars RPG. Saga Edition was more than just a streamlining. While gaming had moved to make more use of miniatures in RPGs, Saga embraced this. The Vitality/Wound system was flawed and cumbersome, so Saga returned to Hit Points. Classes were reduced to five, but they were given specialized "talent" trees that made characters from the same class vastly different. Saving throws were gone and replaced with "Defenses" that married the old saves to armor class. And skills were paired down with skill points all but eliminated, instead characters had "trained" skills that would advance as the character leveled up.<br />
<br />
There were also some new tricks. Characters had a Destiny that had a rules component to give their characters onus to be part of the story and the feeling of the movies instead of gritty realism. Force sensitive characters had a skill that would handle most minor Force use as well as a repertoire of powers and other abilities.<br />
<br />
Honestly, Saga Edition was an improvement on its predecessor in every way. If the design concepts that went into Saga made their way back into Dungeons & Dragons, I'd likely not be playing Pathfinder today.<br />
<br />
Back to Vyntal.<br />
<br />
I started by bringing over the same attributes I had in Revised Core. That wouldn't need to change much. But this time, with some pretty awesome talents waiting for him, we were going for the Scoundrel class instead of Soldier like the last version. All beginning characters get a talent from their class, so from Scoundrel I gave Vyn the Spacehound talent. Mostly this just give him the ability to deal with zero G environments and makes him proficient with starship weapons. But in a couple levels he'd get Starship Raider or Stellar Warrior to get bonuses to attack rolls and temporary Force points while on a starship- perfect for a pilot!<br />
<br />
For Feats and Skills SAGAVyn stayed close to the RCR version. Force Sensitivity gave him the ability to use the Use the Force skill this time (which I took) and the Vehicular Combat Feat lets him avoid damage to any ship he pilots- much more useful than in RCR.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T4AL4MfQzfo/WFmlJp-BWNI/AAAAAAAALvA/rRh6gtrDgCsudgLFGGitNb3_oP4b78uuwCEw/s1600/Slingshot3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T4AL4MfQzfo/WFmlJp-BWNI/AAAAAAAALvA/rRh6gtrDgCsudgLFGGitNb3_oP4b78uuwCEw/s320/Slingshot3.jpg" width="320" /></a>While not as specialized and not as good a fit as the West End Games version of the character, this is <br />
a good compromise between the systems. It uses some of what made d6 work with one of the best versions of D20 ever. As this version of Vyn went up in levels, there would be more and more to add to make him an effective representation of his concept- especially once the Ace Pilot prestige class could be applied.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EPMK0HBBgtk/WFmmAV5w3qI/AAAAAAAALvA/tzdiwZw6_uw0OH_tHdW4e1KKGM5EqihBQCEw/s1600/Age_of_Rebellion_Core_Rulebook.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EPMK0HBBgtk/WFmmAV5w3qI/AAAAAAAALvA/tzdiwZw6_uw0OH_tHdW4e1KKGM5EqihBQCEw/s200/Age_of_Rebellion_Core_Rulebook.png" width="141" /></a><b><span style="font-size: large;">Star Wars Roleplaying Game (Age of Rebellion)</span></b><br />
By Fantasy Flight Games, 2014<br />
<br />
In 2010, WOTC decided not to renew their license for Star Wars. This was thought to be the death knell for the Star Wars gaming franchise. But lo and behold, here came <a href="https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/#/universe/star-wars" target="_blank">Fantasy Flight</a> with fancy dice and something new in 2012.<br />
<br />
Fantasy Flight's Star Wars Roleplaying Game is actually three standalone games with each one meant to play a specific flavor of character and campaign. 2012's <a href="https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire/" target="_blank">Star Wars: Edge of the Empire</a> was tailored around smugglers, bounty hunters, pirates, and other fringe elements of the Star Wars universe. <a href="https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-age-of-rebellion/" target="_blank">Star Wars: Age of Rebellion</a> centered on soldiers, pilots, and diplomats of the Rebel Alliance in their struggle against the Empire. Finally, in 2015 there was <a href="https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-force-and-destiny/" target="_blank">Star Wars: Force and Destiny</a> to play the last few Jedi hidden under the watchful eye of the Empire. Each game is interchangeable with only a few mechanics specific to each flavor (Duty for Age of Rebellion, Morality for Force and Destiny, and Obligations for Edge of the Empire). These rules really have more to do with how the gamemaster adds complications or boons to the group as a whole, so the various mechanics do little to interfere with each other in gameplay.<br />
<br />
Each version of the rpg had a Beginners Box released with simplified rules, dice, pregenerated characters, and a multi-session adventure to play. There was also a fourth Beginner Game released in 2016 for <a href="https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-the-force-awakens-beginner-game/" target="_blank">The Force Awakens</a>, but this was meant to pull from all three parts of the RPG instead of acting as a precursor to a fourth iteration of Fantasy Flight's Star Wars.<br />
<br />
Fantasy Flight's Star Wars uses special dice similar to their last edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. These measure results on two axis, success/failure and advantage/disadvantage. While normally only one success is required to succeed at a test, the other axis could mean you missed the target but pinned the enemy down so that your teammate might have an easier time hitting them on their turn (Failure and Advantage) or you climbed up the hill but accidentally kicked a rock making it easier for the enemies below to realize you're there (Success and Disadvantage), or some other variety. You get the idea.<br />
<br />
When you roll dice in this game, you gather a dice pool. It's made up of Green d8's (Ability Die) from your attributes, Yellow d12's (Proficiency Die) for abilities you have some skill at, and light blue d6's (Boost die) from advantageous factors like higher ground, insight from previous turns, or the like. On the negative side there are purple d8's (Difficulty Die) where the harder it is to do something the more purples are rolled, red d12's (Challenge Die) for opposing skills ore really difficult situations, and black d6's (Setback Die) for when things really aren't going your way.<br />
<br />
The results on the dice are Success (explosion symbol)/Failure (caltrop symbol), Advantage (a pip in a wreath)/Threat (a pip on the central facet of a faceted sphere), or Critical Success ("Triumph", a starburst in a circle)/Critical Failure ("Despair", a triangle in a circle). Blank faces confer no benefit or penalty. The result depends on subtracting the lower result from the higher result on an axis. A result of 5 Successes and 3 Failures is a Success of 2. A result of 2 Advantages and 5 Threats is a Threat of 3. However, Triumph and Despair do not cancel each other out and double as a Success or Failure result; a result of no Triumphs and 1 Despair is 1 Critical Failure / +1 normal Failure. These results mean that the character made the Skill roll with a bonus of 1 Success, but suffered 3 Threats and 1 Despair as well. The Game Master would interpret the result to indicate what problems and difficulties would happen next.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>For example, a Rebel commando bumps into a squad of Stormtroopers turning around a corner and he shoots his blaster at them. The player rolls the 1 Success, 3 Threats, and 1 Despair from the above example. His blaster shot hits (1 Success) and does the blaster rifle's base damage +1 (from the number of Successes). The Game Master interprets the negative results to mean that the commando suffers 1 point of Strain (1 Threat), suffers 1 Black Die on the next skill roll (2 Threats), and the power cell in his blaster ran out and needs to be reloaded (1 Despair).</i><br />
<br />
There's also a white d12 (the Force Die) that has the double duty of calculating Force Tokens (think Luck or Hero points) and powering Force powers. These don't get used nearly as much.<br />
<br />
Characters have Attributes and Skills similar to previous Star Wars games. Their Attribute score (numbered 1-6) tells a player how many Green d8's to roll. If they are skilled in the skill requiring a roll, their skill's score tells the player how many of those d8's to make yellow d12's with a greater chance for success. There is some wackiness to numbers but after a roll or two it makes sense.<br />
<br />
There are also derived abilities: Strain, Wounds, and Soak. Strain (seen in the example above) tells you how much physical, mental, or emotional stress the character can take before passing out. Wounds are all about physical damage, and Soak is the protection gained from clothes, armor, or natural toughness.<br />
<br />
Fantasy Flight brought together all the things that worked in all previous Star Wars games and found a balance that should not have worked at all. But it REALLY REALLY does. Once again characters are really specialized, but in a way that makes sense and is really well balanced between careers and specializations. More than anything else, I've described it as WEG Star Wars through the lens of Saga Edition.<br />
<br />
So, on to our friend Vyntal Drase.<br />
<br />
Step 1 is to create a character concept/background. I did that three games ago, we're good.<br />
<br />
So now it's to the Age of Rebellion specific mechanic: Duty. Of course all the characters in Age of Rebellion want to defeat the Empire. This is HOW your specific character expects to attain this and what they bring to the table. For Vyn it's easy- Space Superiority. He knows he belongs in the cockpit and what cards he has up his sleeve. This is also a team mechanic that stacks and can affect the team's resources within the Alliance, and the GM will make rolls to have it apply in game at random times. Working with an estimated group score, I figured on starting with 15 duty. This lets me spend some to make Vyn better. I spent 10 to give him more XP.<br />
<br />
After picking a species (you, still a boring ol' human), it's time for career and specialization. The Ace career is full of pilots, drivers, beast riders and the like so Ace career, Pilot Specialization was a given. These allowed me to choose six trained skill levels after the two free non-career skill levels for being human.<br />
<br />
Finally I get to spend the starting human XP and bonus Duty XP to flesh him out. So I raised his Agility (where piloting comes from) and Cunning (street smarts)a bit, added to his skills, and gave him a second specialization: Force Sensitive Emergent. Like the Pilot specialization this opened a talent tree to spend XP on. In this case,the Uncanny Senses talent to make him supernaturally aware- especially when flying.<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hnJ4H766taA/WFmlOWGmqZI/AAAAAAAALvA/_2Q7OYwVE8I4RXbkWGnIHdK12XX6yxPbACEw/s1600/Slingshot4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hnJ4H766taA/WFmlOWGmqZI/AAAAAAAALvA/_2Q7OYwVE8I4RXbkWGnIHdK12XX6yxPbACEw/s320/Slingshot4.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
A little fleshing out and spending some credits and we're all done.<br />
<br />
This felt like the best version of the character. From the beginning, he felt as close to the core concept as the West End Games version and far, far ahead of anything WOTC offered. But while the WEG version would not change all that much as the game wore on, the Fantasy Flight version would adapt and grow similar to Saga Edition.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Annnnd that's all folks! Sorry it ran so long, but there was a lot to talk about.<br />
The running list of characters can be found <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2016/12/tell-me-about-your-character-episode-1.html" target="_blank">here</a>. If you have any other ideas for games not on that list, or know what you'd like me to dive into next, drop me a line.<br />
<br />
~MeDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-76586636488144579572016-12-10T11:43:00.000-05:002017-02-12T11:31:41.401-05:00Tell Me About Your Character: Ep.1- The Master Plan and Character ListThis was not my idea.<br />
<br />
No, seriously it wasn't. This was the brainchild of <a href="http://blackhatmatt.blogspot.ca/2013/01/character-creation-index.html" target="_blank">Matt McFarland</a>. Soon after, <a href="https://gamishdesigner.blogspot.ca/p/character-creation-list.html" target="_blank">Jonathan</a> and <a href="https://geoffwritesstuff.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-rpg-character-library-introduction.html" target="_blank">Geoff</a> decided to do the same. Seemed like a good idea to follow suit.<br />
<br />
The concept is simple: <i>Make a character for every RPG you own. </i><br />
<br />
Anyone that knows me can tell you that is a very tall order. But since creating a character is step 1 in learning a game for me, this is absolutely well within my wheelhouse. At least initially, I'm going to limit it to games I have in a physical format (obvious exceptions will be games made by me or my friends). Once I've slogged through them, I'll follow up with PDFs- so figure we'll get to PDFs sometime in 2028 or so.<br />
<br />
This brought up something of a quandary. For my 30th gaming anniversary a few years back, I'd planned to have all my friends choose their favorite Marvel superhero and I'd run each of the demo adventures for each edition of a Marvel RPG so they could see how the games and characters have grown. While I ended up just running Shadowrun instead, that nugget of an idea stuck in the back of my brain. This might be my chance to exorcise some of those demons.<br />
<br />
Whenever I have a game that has made it through several editions, I'll make the same character for each edition to show the changes in design philosophies. Obviously there will be some things I won't fully flesh out. For example, the differences in Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition to 3.5 is too slight to remake the character entirely, but from 2nd edition to 3rd is big enough to talk about in depth.<br />
<br />
So using that method, I'll be starting with the various Star Wars roleplaying games (mainly because Rogue One comes out next week so I've got Star Wars on the mind). I'll make the character in West End Games' Star Wars D6 first and remake him or her in every version of Star Wars through Fantasy Flight's most recent offering.<br />
<br />
Below is a list to represent my game shelves, and it will be broken up into categories to correspond with the blog posts as I do them. For now, I'll keep it alphabetical. Every time I make a character or add a game I'll update the list accordingly.<br />
<br />
If your game isn't on the list and you would like me to make a character for it, feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to add you to the list.<br />
<br />
Oh, and this list isn't even close to complete. But with X-mas taking temporary residence in my Nerd Cave, I can't get to my shelves to write them all down.<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br /></b><b>Role Playing Games Master List</b></span></h2>
7th Sea<br />
13th Age<br />
A/State<br />
Aces and Eights<br />
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons<br />
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition<br />
Apocalypse World<br />
Atomic Highway<br />
Atomic Robo<br />
Armageddon 2089<br />
Batman Roleplaying Game<br />
Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game<br />
Big Eyes Small Mouth<br />
Blowback<br />
Boldly Go<br />
Buffy: The Vampire Slayer<br />
Bulldogs! Sci-fi that Kicks Ass (FATE)<br />
Burning Wheel Roleplaying Game<br />
Call of Cthulu (D20)<br />
Changeling: The Dreaming<br />
Changeling: The Lost<br />
Chill 3rd Edition<br />
Chivalry and Sorcery<br />
Conan: The Roleplaying Game- <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2017/01/tell-me-about-your-character-ep3-by-crom.html" target="_blank">Petrucco</a><br />
Cortex<br />
Critical!: Go Westerly<br />
CthuluTech<br />
Cybergeneration<br />
Cyberpunk:2020<br />
Dark Heresy<br />
DC Universe Roleplaying Game<br />
Deadlands<br />
Deathwatch<br />
Demon Hunters Role Playing Game<br />
Dime Stories<br />
Do (FATE)<br />
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space<br />
Dogs in the Vineyard<br />
Don't Rest Your Head<br />
Dragon Age<br />
Dragonlance Fifth Age (SAGA)<br />
Dragonquest<br />
Dread<br />
Dresden Files RPG<br />
Dungeons & Dragons "White Box"<br />
Dungeons & Dragons 3.0<br />
Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition<br />
Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition<br />
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game<br />
Dungeon World<br />
Earthdawn<br />
Epyllion<br />
Exalted (1st Edition)<br />
Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen- <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2017/02/tell-me-about-your-character-ep4-tell.html" target="_blank">Marq. Edmond A. I. W. S. du Lac</a><br />
Fantasy Age<br />
Farscape: The Roleplaying Game<br />
FATE Core<br />
Feng Shui 2nd Edition<br />
Fiasco<br />
Fireborn: The Roleplaying Game<br />
Firefly Role-Playing Game<br />
Freemarket<br />
Gaesa<br />
Gamma World<br />
Gear Krieg<br />
Godlike<br />
Haven: City of Violence<br />
Headspace<br />
Heavy Gear<br />
Hellas: Worlds of Sun and Stone<br />
Heroes Unlimited<br />
Horizon d20: Redline<br />
Horizon d20: Spellslinger<br />
Horizon d20: Virtual<br />
Hunter: The Reckoning<br />
Icons<br />
In Nominae<br />
Interface Zero<br />
Iron Kindoms Roleplaying Game<br />
Iron Kingdoms (d20)<br />
Ironclaw<br />
Jumpers<br />
Katanas and Trenchcoats<br />
Leverage: The Roleplaying Game<br />
Little Fears<br />
Little Wizards<br />
Mage: The Awakening<br />
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying<br />
Marvel Super Heroes<br />
Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game (SAGA)<br />
Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game<br />
Masks:A New Generation<br />
Mechwarrior<br />
Mekton II<br />
Mekton Z<br />
Men In Black: The Roleplaying Game<br />
Metal Wars<br />
Middle Earth Role Playing<br />
Midnight (Fantasy Flight d20)<br />
Monsterhearts<br />
Monsters and Other Childish Things<br />
Mouse Guard Roleplaying Game<br />
Mutants and Masterminds 2nd Edition<br />
Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition<br />
Mystical Magic<br />
Numenera<br />
Outbreak: Undead<br />
Paranoia (2nd Edition)<br />
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game<br />
Pendragon 5th Edition<br />
Prime Directive (d20)<br />
Prince Valiant Storytelling Game<br />
Project Ninja Panda Taco<br />
Rifts<br />
Savage Worlds<br />
Serenity Role Playing Game<br />
Shadowrun 1st Edition<br />
Shadowrun 2nd Edition<br />
Shadowrun 3rd Edition<br />
Shadowrun 5th Edition<br />
Silver Age Sentinels<br />
The Sixth Gun<br />
Smallville Roleplaying Game<br />
A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying Game<br />
Spirit of '77<br />
Spirit of the Century<br />
Spycraft (d20)<br />
Star Trek Role Playing Game (FASA)<br />
Star Trek The Roleplaying Game (Decipher)<br />
Star Wars (Fantasy Flight)<br />
Star Wars Roleplaying Game (d6)- <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2016/12/tell-me-about-your-character-ep2-galaxy.html" target="_blank">Vyntal "Slingshot" Drase</a><br />
Star Wars SAGA Edition (d20)- <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2016/12/tell-me-about-your-character-ep2-galaxy.html" target="_blank">Vyntal "Slingshot" Drase</a><br />
Star Wars: Revised Core Rules (d20)- <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2016/12/tell-me-about-your-character-ep2-galaxy.html" target="_blank">Vyntal "Slingshot" Drase</a><br />
Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Age of Rebellion- <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2016/12/tell-me-about-your-character-ep2-galaxy.html" target="_blank">Vyntal "Slingshot" Drase</a><br />
Starship Troopers: The Roleplaying Game<br />
Superhuman: The Roleplaying Game<br />
Supernatural Role Playing Game<br />
Tales From the Floating Vagabond<br />
The Sword and The Hand<br />
Technoir<br />
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<br />
The D6 System Customizable Roleplaying Game<br />
The One Ring<br />
Toon!<br />
Trinity<br />
Vampire: The Masquerade<br />
Vampire:The Requiem<br />
Venture City<br />
Void Vultures<br />
Warhammer Fantasy (Fantasy Flight)<br />
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game (Black Industries)<br />
Werewolf: The Apocalypse<br />
Western City<br />
The World of Indiana Jones<br />
Wraith: The Oblivion<br />
<br />
Enjoy the meal,<br />
~Doctor Mono<br />
<br />
<br />Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-48834531808929687352016-12-09T21:44:00.003-05:002016-12-09T22:52:14.909-05:00General Gamery: New Roles, New Campaigns, and a New PlanCh-ch-ch-changes......<br />
<br />
I know, I know.. who's this guy darkening up my feed?<br />
<br />
That's on me. I haven't really touched this blog in... well.. okay.. Too Damn Long (tm).<br />
<br />
Sorry about that.<br />
<br />
I have a ridiculously adorable 2 year old and a lot of gaming to do.. so while I haven't been avoiding you, fearless reader, I just needed some space.<br />
<br />
But I'm back. And I've made a plan. Okay, a few plans, but first some accounting:<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">New Roles</span></b><br />
<br />
<b>Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_mrcHo0HEOU/WEtW3moxUgI/AAAAAAAALqk/rQ2DS8Q4VCk7FuWrkOhuh07l3K_esmUqgCLcB/s1600/PFS-RoleplayingGuild.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_mrcHo0HEOU/WEtW3moxUgI/AAAAAAAALqk/rQ2DS8Q4VCk7FuWrkOhuh07l3K_esmUqgCLcB/s1600/PFS-RoleplayingGuild.jpg" /></a></div>
For the last eight or nine years, I've played off and on in Paizo's worldwide ongoing Pathfinder fantasy campaign, the <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety" target="_blank">Pathfinder Society</a> or PFS for short. For those that don't understand this style of play, let me video game reference it for you. Your home campaign is Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. You can make uber powerful characters and enjoy a rich, intense gaming experience pretty much at your own pace. But you are limited to playing with a defined group of people and it tends to keep the scope of the game small-ish. Pathfinder Society is the equivalent of Elder Scrolls Online. You are more limited in what you can do with your character, and the game is not as deep or rich.. BUT you are playing with people from all over the world and it is far more balanced than Skyrim at your house with all your fancy mods.<br />
<br />
But I'm not just a spokesperson for PFS, I'm a client!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cI_FJ6S4tPc/WEtXbLve0BI/AAAAAAAALqo/HpG9ZVRJBigAYiKvt2XqAHVjRkZqV-B-QCLcB/s1600/PathfinderSocietyIDCard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cI_FJ6S4tPc/WEtXbLve0BI/AAAAAAAALqo/HpG9ZVRJBigAYiKvt2XqAHVjRkZqV-B-QCLcB/s320/PathfinderSocietyIDCard.jpg" width="320" /></a>No seriously. On a whim- okay, it wasn't exactly a whim- I put my name up there to join the ranks of Paizo's Venture Officers within the Pathfinder Society. From conversations I'd had, PFS seemed to be waning in the Queen City area, and with fantastic new stores opening locally, this would not stand. I jumped on to run games twice a month at the newest, and prettiest comic store in the area, <a href="http://www.upupandawaycomics.com/Welcome.html" target="_blank">Up Up & Away</a> in Blue Ash and was rewarded with the position of Cincinnati's ranking VO, the Venture Lieutenant. I've worked with several of the local stores and brought in new (and fantastic) blood in local GMs to help me revitalize the area.<br />
<br />
And we've had great success! One of my Venture Agents has risen to take over the role of Venture Lieutenant of Northern KY, and another former venture officer has returned to the fold to assist me as a co-Venture Lieutenant for our city. These are good times.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">New Campaigns</span></b><br />
<br />
A few months before Gencon, Rise of the Runelords came to an end. No, the PCs did't reach the end of the story, and despite some serious close calls, there wasn't a TPK either. But it found an end point that suited it.<br />
<br />
While we've continued playing in a monthly Pathfinder: Carrion Crown campaign run by one of my awesome PFS venture officers, I wanted to lay low for a bit and plan for new games to run. With Gencon coming, we filled in with some home games of Pathfinder Society in a very irregular and inconsistent capacity. But all that was to prepare for what was to follow.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JY0Hk1tjDB8/WEtdrkOGF0I/AAAAAAAALq8/mhQ6-2fs3qUq4L_WUhpquboIqOJvopQKQCLcB/s1600/EC-knights-450-thumb-200x296-160.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JY0Hk1tjDB8/WEtdrkOGF0I/AAAAAAAALq8/mhQ6-2fs3qUq4L_WUhpquboIqOJvopQKQCLcB/s200/EC-knights-450-thumb-200x296-160.jpg" width="135" /></a><b>Mutants and Masterminds: Emerald City Knights</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://mutantsandmasterminds.com/" target="_blank">Mutants and Masterminds</a> has always been one of my favorite games. Since it is essentially a standard D20 game with some very compelling window dressing, it was a fairly easy game to slot my regular Pathfinder group into for a monthly game. Savvy gamers and longtime readers know MnM to be a standard 4-color superhero game and Green Ronin's Emerald City Knights campaign builds on that idea.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5wyPoPG6QkQ/WEte92U_wHI/AAAAAAAALrI/6SzwkNIPOyAcIfMfyDu9b3tXY1V1Fi1QgCLcB/s1600/IMG_7546.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5wyPoPG6QkQ/WEte92U_wHI/AAAAAAAALrI/6SzwkNIPOyAcIfMfyDu9b3tXY1V1Fi1QgCLcB/s200/IMG_7546.JPG" width="200" /></a>As a tool to help me in my GM prep for the game, I designed and printed out a set of face cards for every PC, NPC, and villain in this series of adventures. The front of each card has a picture (usually from Green Ronin's excellent sourcebooks and adventures) of the character/location/event with a player friendly blurb. On the back, each one has game data and statlines pulled form the adventure text. This is handy for introducing and bringing back NPCs for the players to interact with and keeping me from flipping through books in combat situations.<br />
<br />
I don't own the rights to any of these characters, so I won't be putting these up on Drivethru to sell or up here for download. But I highly recommend something similar if you have the requisite talents required.<br />
<br />
The story itself is pretty straightforward. In Emerald City on the US northwestern coast, there is a catastrophic event called the Silver Storm. During this event, many people are injured and some die. But still others are changed by the storm's effects giving them wondrous powers- some become heroes, others have more nefarious plans. No one knows what caused the event, but our heroes have made it their job to find out.<br />
<br />
Our heroes seem to run the gamut of origins.<br />
<br />
<i>Lionheart</i>- At fifteen, Fiona Perez was abducted by Labyrinth and forced to undergo the DNAscient process. The telepathic abilities she gained from the experiment helped her escape, but fractured her mind. For a time, she worked alongside fellow escapees Rant and Rave as the psychic villain, Fiasco. But after Labyrinth captured her again, she was rescued by her enemies, the teenage superheroes called NextGen. With the Master Mage's help, NextGen was able to repair Fiona's fractured psyche and gave her a new start. With a new heroic identity, Lionheart enrolled in Claremont Academy and became a valued member of NextGen for a while. After heroing for years, Fiona put away the tights and moved to the west coast as a social worker intending to help children stuck in similar situations she had been through.<br />
<br />
<i>Vegas</i>- To say that Zack Slater was born lucky would be too easy. Zack was born to Emerald City's upper crust as the heir to Slater Advanced Ideas Inc. But rather than his father's genius, Zack's uncanny luck allowed him to skirt by on his good looks, charm, and natural athleticism. Where Zack tread, women and attention followed. The silver spoon kid enjoyed anything he could desire, until he fell for the lovely Amanda Agostino. When he last saw her, Amanda claimed she was leaving him because she had gained super powers and had no time for a silly little rich boy like him. As a result, Zack did something really, really stupid. He thinks that mixing a cocktail of a bunch of unlabeled chemicals in his father's lab gave him powers. In reality, he's just supernaturally lucky that he isn't already dead.<br />
<br />
<i>Reaper</i>- Dr. Lillian Graves thought she had found her calling as one of the most respected emergency room doctors in the city. But there were clues early in her residency that something was amiss. She always knew when a patient was near the end of their life,and even could see something of their image passing on- if only from the corner of her eye. But recently, she learned that there was more to her parentage than she could have ever suspected. Supernatural bodies had labored to bring her to life, and she had the Fates invested on one hand, and Death himself on the other. While Death expected her to join his service as the first among his reapers, for now the Fates had other plans for poor Lilly.<br />
<br />
<i>Ghost- </i>When the U.S. Army came calling, Sgt. Quincy Carlisle signed up for tour after tour, dedicating himself to the defense of his country and the brothers he forged in the desert sun of Iraq and Afghanistan. But when he tried to return to a normal life, the war came with him. Sgt.Carlisle could never shake the specter of the things war had made him do and the soldier he had become. Homeless, jobless, and suffering from PTSD, Quincy had planned to pawn his beloved rifle, Daisy, for his next meal when the Silver Storm hit. But now, he has found that he had to concentrate simply to maintain solidity, and even the bullets he shoots from Daisy's barrel can become intangible enough to pass through solid steel.<br />
<br />
<i>Dr. Dino-</i> Dr. Paul Moncrief is the leading expert in the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods on the North American continent. When the Silver Storm hits, the paleontologist was working on the newest display for the Emerald City Museum of Natural History, the most complete skeleton of a tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered. Little did he realize that the storm would merge him with the dinosaur at a genetic level making him the super-strong powerhouse, Dr. Dino.<br />
<br />
<i>Fastball-</i> AJ Dalton had never dreamed of becoming a super hero. As the starting third baseman for the Emerald City Ospreys, he was already living his dream of baseball super-stardom. When his manager set up the signing for AJ on a beautiful day at a store opening on Yellow Brick Row, he thought it would be the least exciting day of his week. But after the Silver Storm hit, all AJ could consider is whether he could still play for the Ospreys with his newfound light based super powers.<br />
<br />
I'm sure there's a lot more I could talk about here, but until the Emerald Guardians (as our heroes have named themselves) discover more about the events they have found themselves involved in, I'll refrain from giving away any juicy spoilers.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_RFR5D4Jc8s/WEtdrk5oepI/AAAAAAAALrA/tHf0HdCl9ugIoVNehctyfcHa0qPmryb8ACLcB/s1600/PZO1021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_RFR5D4Jc8s/WEtdrk5oepI/AAAAAAAALrA/tHf0HdCl9ugIoVNehctyfcHa0qPmryb8ACLcB/s200/PZO1021.jpg" width="155" /></a><b>Pathfinder: Curse of the Crimson Throne</b><br />
<br />
<br />
With the anniversary re-release of this fantastic <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinder/adventurePath/curseOfTheCrimsonThrone" target="_blank">adventure path</a>, I knew it would be a hit with my group. Sadly, Mary is sitting out on this one because of taking care of our Princess Monster (tm), but in that case she gets to see behind the screen of my GMing duties and read ahead of the players.<br />
<br />
Here's the 30 second pitch for this campaign:<br />
<br />
The king is dead! In the Varisian port city of Korvosa, the death of a monarch leads to chaos, and only the PCs can hope to save the city from its own darkest tendencies. As the rule of the young queen grows more and more draconian, it's up to a band of bold adventurers to stop the spread of tyranny before all of Korvosa is crushed beneath her iron fist.<br />
<br />
In the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, the heroes delve into the depth of urban adventure in order to stop riots, combat a plague, root out organized crime, and rescue political prisoners before escaping to the harsh badlands of the Storval Plateau, where only the friendship of the barbaric Shoanti and a weapon drawn from the heart of a gothic castle can give them the strength to return and depose the evil queen once and for all.<br />
<br />
Our group is a little less diverse than I expected:<br />
<br />
<i>Junior Moncrief</i> is a Dwarven cleric of Desna from a small mining town outside the Korvosan hinterlands. Young and impressionable, this is Junior's first time in a big city like Korvosa and while he's found work at one of the local places of worship, he still misses the small mining town where he grew up.<br />
<br />
<i>Natzumi</i> is a Ratfolk wizard that spent much of her life with Varisian caravans and until recently, was a student at the Acadamae. As a ratfolk painted in varisian colors, she's already less than trustworthy to the good people of Korvosa. But being a bit shifty herself and caring for an unsavory drugg addict half-elf named Tsuto makes it much worse.<br />
<br />
<i>Orik Vankercaskin</i> was an NPC from our last campaign. He's a former mercenary that was on the wrong side of Thistletop in Rise of the Runelords. A decent fighter, great with a bastard sword and prone to making bad decisions.<br />
<br />
<i>Caden </i>grew up an orphan in Korvosa and was one of Lamm's Lambs. Despite his unscrupulous youth, he found hope and rescue from Gaedren Lamm in the guise of Lilly- who eventually fell victim to Lamm's wrath. In despair, his hand found the sword and his soul fround the Inheritor's grace. He's been a paladin of Iomadae ever since.<br />
<br />
<i>Dray</i> either doesn't know, or doesn't speak much of his past other than from the bottom of a bottle. He's varisian and not opposed to do more underhanded jobs for the right pay. But since his only remaining parent died under Lamm's orders, he's wanted nothing else than to see the shafts of his arrows protruding form Gaedren Lamm's chest.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">A New Plan</span></b><br />
<br />
Amazing! I have a plan. Like many of my plans, I don't foresee them all coming to pass. But who knows? We might get lucky.<br />
<br />
<b>Reviews</b><br />
<br />
My game collection has continued to grow and there's a lot of smaller, lesser known games I'd like to shine a light on. Games like <a href="http://www.hologridmonsterbattle.com/" target="_blank">Hologrid</a>, <a href="http://www.funto11.com/" target="_blank">Epic PVP</a>, and <a href="http://www.actionphasegames.com/pages/kodama-the-tree-spirits" target="_blank">Kodama</a> all have been gathering dust on my shelf waiting for me to talk about them. Newer materials from <a href="https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Home?_requestid=6011137" target="_blank">Games Workshop</a> like the new Warhammer Quest, Blood Bowl, and Horus Heresy games need this attention too alongside newer minis games like <a href="https://us-store.warlordgames.com/collections/konflikt-47" target="_blank">Konflikt '47</a>, the new edition of <a href="http://www.dp9.com/heavygear" target="_blank">Heavy Gear</a>, and<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hawkwargames/dropfleet-commander" target="_blank"> Dropfleet Commander</a>. Not to be outdone, there are RPGs I want to talk about like the new <a href="http://growlingdoorgames.com/chill.html" target="_blank">Chill</a>, <a href="http://www.greenhatdesigns.com/?project=head-space" target="_blank">Headspace</a>, and so much more. These will be making their way soon.<br />
<br />
<b>Marvel Burger</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vYeX3RpcyEA/WEtraXmuOQI/AAAAAAAALrY/C1uXcjoz8ho-Etl2qudyveZFDTfMQyCJACLcB/s1600/nova-1-cover-209781.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vYeX3RpcyEA/WEtraXmuOQI/AAAAAAAALrY/C1uXcjoz8ho-Etl2qudyveZFDTfMQyCJACLcB/s200/nova-1-cover-209781.jpg" width="131" /></a>This week, Marvel Comics has resurrected my favorite hero, Nova. With Rich's return, it has rekindled my interest in this particular column. As I originally planned, I'd be giving a play by play of each issue in the original Man Called Nova run and end it with characters and/or scenarios for play with the long lost Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game. In the next few weeks/months, I should be jumping back in with a repost of Issue 1 and soon after a jump to Issue 2.<br />
<br />
Should.<br />
<br />
Operative Word.<br />
<br />
<b>Tell Me About Your Character</b><br />
<br />
Following in the footsteps of <a href="http://blackhatmatt.blogspot.ca/2013/01/character-creation-index.html" target="_blank">Matt McFarland</a>, my fellow Saturday Morning Gamers, <a href="https://gamishdesigner.blogspot.ca/p/character-creation-list.html" target="_blank">Jonathan</a> and <a href="https://geoffwritesstuff.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-rpg-character-library-introduction.html" target="_blank">Geoff</a>, have begun to slog through their RPG collections and they are making a character for each game. My plan is to do the same, with a slight variant. A lot of my collection is made up of several editions of the same game or setting (D&D, Marvel, Star Wars, Star Trek, Shadowrun, etc.). So while I will document the characters and process for most games normally, for those with multiple editions I will be making one character and remaking the same character for each edition. Ideally, this should give some insight to some of the decisions the design teams made and how they differ even with the same subject matter.<br />
<br />
Or I'm just being lazy.<br />
<br />
You decide.<br />
<br />
Either way, I will be putting up a list of my games and update that list as I create characters. I hope to start with Star Wars in the lead up to Rogue One next week.<br />
<br />
More to follow,<br />
~ The Doc<br />
<br />
<br />Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-16364683892636912612015-10-02T18:49:00.001-04:002015-10-03T09:05:47.707-04:00Reviews: Exponential by Adam CesareI'm going to start this review with something that you, my fearless reader, might already know. In general, horror is not my go to genre for reading. Sci-fi, fantasy, superheroics- these are my bread and butter. But my own logical skepticism has a tendency to pull me away from truly enjoying most horror books and films. Especially when they devolve to unmitigated- and not scary- gore porn.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xjurMRNb1Wc/Vg8AhuWlaMI/AAAAAAAAEnA/kSCLpEdvLQg/s1600/Exponential-book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xjurMRNb1Wc/Vg8AhuWlaMI/AAAAAAAAEnA/kSCLpEdvLQg/s320/Exponential-book.jpg" width="213" /></a><br />
That is not the case with this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Exponential-Adam-Cesare-ebook/dp/B00NW6FVDA">book</a>.<br />
<br />
Imagine a world where a nightmare creature born of Miyazaki's mind blending a classic D&D Gelatinous Cube with a little bit of Katamari Damacy to make a perfect cinematic horror monster. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Adam-Cesare/e/B0074VA0JY/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1">Adam Cesare</a>'s monster, Felix, brings back memories of the thing in the lake from Creepshow 2 (aka Stephen King's the Raft), and I found myself wanting to hear the characters exclaim "I beat you!" before their imminent demise.<br />
<br />
But Felix is not what made me love this book.<br />
<br />
In any monster book or film, the monster can be creepy, scary, and downright disgusting- but it's only as good as the eyes that tell its tale. Here Cesare shines. Exponential is a series of small vignettes, each highlighting an individual character. While the protagonists earn multiple chapters to tell their tale and eventual meeting at Rose's Tavern- where the book finds its climax, victim after victim get to be fully fleshed out characters as their lives and potential are snuffed out in horribly messy ways by our not-so-beloved Felix. This made the book for me. Anyone can tell the tale of survivors holing up in a southwestern bar hiding or combating a horrible menace. Plenty of crappy movies have used that plot to hide small budgets and unimagined authors. But Cesare doesn't have that problem. He embraces every character, no matter how small, with the mantra that everyone has a story to tell.<br />
<br />
Now, why horror usually fails with me because I let my disbelief color my ability to feel fear from books and movies. Yet there is one aspect of horror and disaster fiction that I love- rising dread. I love that feeling when characters go about their own lives unaware of the increasing danger waiting to find them. And like the first Fall about to embrace Pern's shores, Exponential has tons of characters waiting to die, unaware of how short their life really is or the troubles about to find them.<br />
<br />
But in my desire to keep this short, and not ruin the whole story with spoilers, I'm just going to go right to the rating.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Final Rating:</b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SwwbJwhXxrM/TriXzYQInNI/AAAAAAAAAWg/-_g-1dlI6EY/s1600/UotOrating.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><img border="0" height="120" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SwwbJwhXxrM/TriXzYQInNI/AAAAAAAAAWg/-_g-1dlI6EY/s640/UotOrating.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<div style="color: #f3f3f3;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Underwear on the Outside uses a FASERIP rating system derived from TSR's beloved Marvel Super Heroes Role Playing Game from 1984. We will give a numerical score somewhere between 0 (for the REALLY GODAWFUL) and 1000 (for the "slit your wrists because now you can die it's that good"). These numbers fall into categories on the chart above. Through varying degrees of dislike we would likely not recommend things from Shift 0 up to Typical. We feel fairly "Meh" about Good and Excellent. We'd spend money on Remarkable and Incredible but anything above that we get into varying levels of like, love and geeking out. There's also a little space there numerically. We may give one item a rating of 35 and another 38. Both are considered REMARKABLE, but we think one is a little better than the other. </span></div>
<div style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
<br /></div>
<br />
Exponential is the third book I've read by Cesare. The first, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tribesmen-Adam-Cesare-ebook/dp/B00L2DMKHA/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8">Tribesman</a>, was an enjoyable romp with cannibals attacking a movie crew reminiscent of old Italian cannibal movies. It was pretty much how I always felt King Kong should have ended, without the big, building climbing ape. It was good, and for a quick read, it scratched an itch.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Video-Night-Adam-Cesare-ebook/dp/B008PGMQOO/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8">Video Night</a> hit me a lot closer to home. It brought back old days of video rentals, Nintendo, and classic horror fare. It was a nostalgia filled blast, but didn't transcend the genre for me. I enjoyed it enough to add it to my "READ ME AGAIN" pile, but not enough to put word to screen to laud its accomplishments.<br />
<br />
Exponential took me places I didn't expect. I found myself rooting for characters I normally would have hated enough to cheer on the monster. It kept me engaged and drove me to eat up each word despite not particularly liking the reader on the audiobook version. On its own merits, Exponential earns a fitting <b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">75 Monstrous</b> rating.<br />
<br />
The audiobook version has issues. I'm particular in how I listen to a book. Originally, there were problems with the audiobook missing a couple chapters at the end, but that didn't flavor my review. Really, it's the reader. While competent, his voice and delivery grated on me. His throaty voice and the way he chewed on the words seemed incongruous to the majority of the characters he was describing- and don't get me started on his accents. It's enough to lower the grade for that version three levels. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>32 Remarkable</b></span>. Would I still buy the audio version? Yeah, sure. But unlike books like World War Z that were improved by their audio variant, Exponential suffers from it. Any day of the week, this book needs to be enjoyed in print or on screen rather than listened to.<br />
<br />
In fact, go buy it. Now. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Exponential-Adam-Cesare-ebook/dp/B00NW6FVDA">Here</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Full disclosure:</b> Adam Cesare is my cousin. However, he doesn't need to be my relation to get this review. Exponential is the third book of his that I've read and it is my favorite so far. The book earned a review all on its own and Adam's personal style of writing has made me embrace the genre more than I had reading heroes like King and Koontz. And if I wasn't related to Cesare, I'd say the same thing. Every single word.Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-6203447760097879082015-07-12T23:17:00.000-04:002015-07-12T23:17:01.337-04:00General Gamery: Back to Backwater- New Products & Promotions for Dime StoriesThe impending doom that is Gencon always gets me working hard to finish projects in time for the con, and this year is no different. I hate to admit it, but work on Saturday Morning Games projects tends to take a backseat to freelance work, but not having a hard deadline for my own projects will do that.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Design</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TAeCAm_Humc/VaMXP1jIGKI/AAAAAAAAD3M/T8r-PX4oR10/s1600/Dimestories%2Blogofinal1%2Bcopy%2B%25282%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TAeCAm_Humc/VaMXP1jIGKI/AAAAAAAAD3M/T8r-PX4oR10/s320/Dimestories%2Blogofinal1%2Bcopy%2B%25282%2529.png" width="320" /></a>Earlier this year, I noticed the fifth or sixth game project on Kickstarter that used the Bleeding Cowboys font for its logo- just like Dime Stories. It was enough to make me change the logo to something more original- so away to Illustrator and Photoshop I went to push out something that felt right. It took me a bit, but in the end I created something that really works and I'd be proud to put on every Dime Stories product from now on.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TGz0HXxoc-M/VaMXgYYRh5I/AAAAAAAAD3U/a0Gx5rnJSok/s1600/DSCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TGz0HXxoc-M/VaMXgYYRh5I/AAAAAAAAD3U/a0Gx5rnJSok/s200/DSCover.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
The timing for this change could not have been better. After working with a few printers on costs and formatting, it was made apparent that the landscape format I used for the main rulebook would likely end up prohibitively expensive and for some POD printers, impossible. To be fair, I'd already been reconsidering some of the art I had in the game- sure it was all free up to this point, but I wanted more. I've been in talks with some game artists I grew up loving, so that's already coming along. And changing to a portrait 5.5 x 8.5 format would end up far less expensive over all. So a new cover was also required. I wanted something that would be easily modified for different books, but would retain a consistent style throughout the line. This was far easier to accomplish with the new logo, so bonus!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ktkvqwgx45s/VaMXjvVMnqI/AAAAAAAAD3c/orBiCGTNVbk/s1600/DSRCoverbackback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ktkvqwgx45s/VaMXjvVMnqI/AAAAAAAAD3c/orBiCGTNVbk/s200/DSRCoverbackback.jpg" width="154" /></a><br />
And before you ask, no, the rulebook has not made it to print yet. While I am waiting for the new art, it will remain the same PDF only book as before. I expect to have a print run ready by the holidays.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">New Products</span><br />
<br />
All these changes made me reconsider some of the original products I had intended and more importantly, how I used them in practice.<br />
<br />
Anyone that got to play last year's Gencon adventure, Among the Living, would have noticed that the Ten Cent Tale incorporated two sets of cards for play. The first (and I doubt I'm giving much away here) is the zombies and other NPCs that the player characters run into around every corner. These are randomly drawn, so I had simple cards printed out for my use only. The second deck was Infection Cards, since every attack from a zombie had a chance of spreading their disease to the player characters. This year, I wanted to use some more professional looking cards for the adventure, and I'd already been working on some Dime Stories cards with Drive Thru Cards (see<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Promotions</span>), so it made sense to keep going. Once I'd reworked the<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fKPwMCDi4PQ/VaMgOJMx40I/AAAAAAAAD38/Ru77QLk3Cs8/s1600/IMG_3408.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fKPwMCDi4PQ/VaMgOJMx40I/AAAAAAAAD38/Ru77QLk3Cs8/s200/IMG_3408.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></a>NPC cards with more of the free art I'd originally used for the rulebook, I continued on and made a card for each player character, and finally six cards to tell the adventure itself. This was an entirely new format for the module, and I love it. As long as the module clocks in under 70 cards, <a href="http://drivethrucards.com/">Drivethrucards.com</a> can even provide a nice plastic case for a dollar. If the proofs were halfway decent, I'd make it available to the public, if not I just end up with fancier cards for personal use at Gencon.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IdBKbCoqJPc/VaMgNHrx9nI/AAAAAAAAD3s/PDLFEM-T5yA/s1600/IMG_3409.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IdBKbCoqJPc/VaMgNHrx9nI/AAAAAAAAD3s/PDLFEM-T5yA/s200/IMG_3409.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
They came out spectacular. I really like this format and it makes a good and different product for our modules. Among the Living has the most use of cards for our current crop of Ten Cent Tales, and it ended up 70 cards exactly, so the cards fit in plastic case perfectly. As a result, today I hit the publish button and Among the Living will be the first Ten Cent Tale available to the public. By Gencon I will have the Potter Creek Massacre also in card for use at the convention, but our previous adventures probably won't be available until after Gencon (I'll update you if this changes).<br />
<br />
I have ten adventures planned leading up to the Grand Imperial Civil War (Oh, didn't know we are doing a civil war in Dime Stories? Yep), and ten during/after. Each Ten Cent Tale will be available on Drive Thru Cards and I'll do my best to make them fit in the convenient plastic boxes. Pre Grand Imperial Civil War adventures will have the brown leather backing designs while later Ten Cent Tales will have different backing. Soon after Gencon we will have Among The Living, Easy Money (Jeph Lewis' Ten Cent Tale from the main rulebook), The Village at La Naranja Mesa by Geoff Bottone, and The Silent Silo Run by Jeph Lewis all done in this format. While The Potter Creek Massacre and My Dearest Clara will both be ready, I plan on holding off on publishing them until early next year since they have been written specifically for this Gencon.<br />
<br />
I know what you're thinking: "Won't cards be a little small for maps?" You'd be absolutely correct. Instead, I will be providing free maps on <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/5770/Saturday-Morning-Games/subcategory/19033_23237/Dime-Stories">Drive Thru RPG</a> for free. My plan is two map packs- one pre and one during the civil war. As each adventure is published, the files for the map packs will be updated at no extra cost.<br />
<br />
Finally, I decided to start a new small PDF line for Dime Stories. As I was working on the Gencon promotion, I wanted to write a bit more about the character involved- General Cassar. For the most part, Cassar is General Custer. With very little retooling, he fit perfectly in the Dime Stories universe. This meant a short five or six page PDF that I would put on Drive Thru RPG. IT would not only provide rules to make Cassar usable as an NPC in Dime Stories, but it would also give a character history and rules for the Imperial Units that follow him.<br />
<br />
But why stop there? This is a great way to flesh out the universe, so I'm going to have to make more. In all likelihood, the villainous La Esqueleta will be next, followed by some more characters based on personalities form the wild west. The line will be called Dime Stories: Wanted. I hope you will all enjoy it.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Promotions</span><br />
<br />
I keep talking about how this promotion pushed me to work on other products, so here it is:<br />
<br />
With a name like Saturday Morning Games, it stands to reason that our favorite events to run at Gencon would be the ones we run on Saturday Morning. This is usually the new game we're showing off, or a brand new adventure for one of our existing games. And each year I've provided individual sized cereal boxes and milk for all of our players.<br />
<br />
This year I wanted to provide something special to our Saturday morning players. Last year, General Cassar showed his ugly, scaly head in adventure after adventure, this year our players will get to leave with him in miniature form. And true to form, it will be in a format befitting Saturday Morning Games.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G21RaWsfN3Q/VaMrlwBhM3I/AAAAAAAAD4Q/FBSjzu4R7mQ/s1600/11003157_10153031033076380_319917319_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G21RaWsfN3Q/VaMrlwBhM3I/AAAAAAAAD4Q/FBSjzu4R7mQ/s200/11003157_10153031033076380_319917319_o.jpg" width="150" /></a>I hooked up with <a href="http://www.ursasden.com/">Bryan Steele</a> while he was still at Cool Mini or Not. He hired me to do reviews for Ravage Magazine, and when I needed a sculptor to bring General Cassar to life, he was more than happy to help. After a couple pictures and descriptions, Bryan sculpted a great 28mm scale miniature and introduced me to people that could take the green and mass produce it.<br />
<br />
Emily at <a href="http://www.on-the-lamb.com/content/">On the Lamb Games</a> is one of the nicest people in the industry that I've had the pleasure of meeting. She patiently walked me through every step of taking the green to full production and my order for General Cassar miniatures were on their way to my home in no time at all.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lt2KrdvRoAA/VaMrmjuiF2I/AAAAAAAAD4U/yPyF_W45Mpc/s1600/IMG_2897.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lt2KrdvRoAA/VaMrmjuiF2I/AAAAAAAAD4U/yPyF_W45Mpc/s200/IMG_2897.JPG" width="150" /></a>I had barely received my General Cassar miniatures when I instantly dove into painting the figure, choosing the colors that would not only grace him, but all the Imperial troops in the upcoming war. The light grey I chose worked on many levels- especially when I began to nickname Imperial forces as Greyscales in my mind. Trust me, this is terribly funny.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.gangfightgames.com/blackwater-gulch/">Blackwater Gulch</a> from Gangfight Games had been one of my favorite miniatures games since I'd been able to take part in their <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gangfightgames/blackwater-gulch-gangfights-in-the-old-west/description">Kickstarter</a> back in 2012. So naturally, if I was going to make a western style miniature, I'd want to be able to play it in that game. Thankfully, the guys at Gangfight Games were gracious enough to let me make a card for Cassar compatible with their awesome game.<br />
<br />
This is where Drive Thru Cards came in. With cards for Cassar in Blackwater Gulch on the way, I thought it would make sense to (as in: I would be an idiot not to) include a card to use the character in Dime Stories. This card became the format for all the cards to follow and was where the idea for the Wanted line began.<br />
<br />
Now all I needed was the right presentation. No matter what people try to tell you, if you are trying to get something to the public, presentation is always more important than content. Oh sure, people try to tell you not to but a book by its cover, but that's only because most people will, every time. I could have just handed out free blister packs with the miniature inside to my players on Saturday, but where would the charm be in that? That is piss poor advertising and honestly, not worth the attempt. Instead, my fantastic wife made the best recommendation- cereal. Make the miniature the prize in the bottom of a cereal box!<br />
<br />
Genius.<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sSUBvhkxOqc/VaMgNeAhkHI/AAAAAAAAD34/CGeUaQ4jxhw/s1600/IMG_3407.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sSUBvhkxOqc/VaMgNeAhkHI/AAAAAAAAD34/CGeUaQ4jxhw/s320/IMG_3407.JPG" width="320" /></a>Despite the headache of finding a company to make individual cereal boxes cheaply- most companies won't touch it for less than 1500 units- I was able to get a local printer, Peerless Printing, to push them out for me with time to spare.<br />
<br />
So on Saturday, players for our 3 events (<b><i>Dime Stories</i></b>: <i>The Potter Creek Massacre</i>, <b><i>Dime Stories</i></b>: <i>Assault on Fort Ss'zithriss or To My Dearest Clara</i>, and <b><i>Velour & Go-go Boots</i></b>: <i>The Vatizar Incident</i>) will get a box of General Flakes with a prize inside.<br />
<br />
Hope to see you there!<br />
<br />
~the Doc.<br />
<br />Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-33842861040364549352014-09-09T14:26:00.000-04:002014-09-09T18:17:10.854-04:00General Gamery: RPGaDay Catch-up 21-31And finally, the remainder of my adventures in <a href="http://autocratik.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/rpgaday-in-august.html">RPGaDay</a>:<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>21st- Favorite Licensed RPG</b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aSdkJuH-uUY/VA8BueaGKlI/AAAAAAAACfQ/Uw6uJ_ZZnIc/s1600/Marvel_heroic_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aSdkJuH-uUY/VA8BueaGKlI/AAAAAAAACfQ/Uw6uJ_ZZnIc/s1600/Marvel_heroic_cover.jpg" height="200" width="154" /></a></div>
There's a lot to this category. Evil Hat has had a stroke of genius in their Dresden Files and Atomic Robo licences. Cubicle 7's The One Ring and Fantasy Flight's Star Wars: Edge of the Empire/ Age of Rebellion/ Force of Destiny series of games are unequivocally the best incarnations of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars respectively. But there is one licensed game that takes the cake for me.<br />
<br />
<i>Marvel Heroic</i>.<br />
<br />
Yes, I know I'm biased since I got to work on this game (The Civil War: X-men supplement and the Annihilation books have my name in the credits). But seriously, everything about this game is awesome. It is born of the Cortex Plus rules system, but goes so far beyond its predecessors, Smallville and Leverage. More than anything, Marvel Heroic evokes the same feeling I got as a kid turning the 4-color pages for the first time. In fact, read my <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2012/03/reviews-marvel-heroic-roleplaying.html">review</a> for more.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>22nd- Best Secondhand RPG Purchase</b></span><br />
Ah, I love conventions. Sure, I've picked up my fair share of secondhand RPG books at Half Price Books, at my local brick and mortar, Yottaquest, at garage sales, and some just as hand-me-downs. But the bargain basement booths at conventions give me so many options to scratch that cheap RPG book itch.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aUaOul6buU8/VA8M24ylKTI/AAAAAAAACfc/bDERS9Z-xrc/s1600/Midnight2e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aUaOul6buU8/VA8M24ylKTI/AAAAAAAACfc/bDERS9Z-xrc/s1600/Midnight2e.jpg" height="200" width="156" /></a>Through the convention buy one get on free booths I've completed collections of great games like Margaret Weis Productions 3.5 run of Dragonlance, okay games like the d20 Conan from Mongoose, and pretty crappy games like Decipher's Star Trek RPG. But one series of games stands out among the morass of... admittedly mostly d20 products: Fantasy Flight's Midnight.<br />
<br />
I usually explain <i>Midnight</i> as what Middle Earth would be like a hundred years after the fall of Gondor if Sauron had won the War of the Ring. The player characters have to hide their abilities and act mostly in secret to avoid being noticed for being heroes because the known world is under the occupation of the dark forces. It is fantastic. And one Gencon, I got used copies of every book in the series for less than fifty bucks.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>23rd- Coolest Looking RPG Product / Book</b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GMMoFA_n-vA/VA8cop5RorI/AAAAAAAACfs/NXVa1j2hQo0/s1600/Numenera-web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GMMoFA_n-vA/VA8cop5RorI/AAAAAAAACfs/NXVa1j2hQo0/s1600/Numenera-web.jpg" height="164" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>Numenera</i>.<br />
<br />
I'm not the biggest fan of Monte Cook. I was one of the few people I know that hated Unearthed Arcana, and while I like his take on World of Darkness and I love the Iron Heroes books produced by his company (but mostly not written by him), for me most Monte Cook books fall flat.<br />
<br />
However, Numenera is gorgeous. Set one billion years in Earth's future, Numenera seamlessly blends science fiction and fantasy for a rich and deep world. But as good as the world is, as innovative as the mechanics are (and Monte made a lot of great choices in his design elements), these are not what drove me to this book. The art is amazing. It is full of lush landscapes, evocative imagery, and some of the nicest paintings of the human figure I've had the pleasure to witness. And the graphic designer managed to keep their design elements unobtrusive enough to be able to showcase the art, but in a thematic way that brings the books together as a whole. It's enough to warrant the tagline: "Numenera- Come for Monte Cook's rich world and game mechanics. Stay for Kieran Yanner's amazing art."<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>24th- Most Complicated RPG Owned</b></span><br />
I've played a lot of complicated games over the years- I am a product of the '80s RPG scene and an avid wargamer, so it comes with the territory. But despite the complications of certain aspects of Shadowrun, or Traveller, most of my games aren't all that complicated. Oh sure I've played HERO system, Mekton Zeta, and Hybrid, but none of those grace my shelves. Nope, my most complicated RPG shares double billing for my rarest RPG. I'll let you read more about it there.<br />
<br />
...so many graphs...<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>25th- Favorite RPG No One Else Wants To Play</b></span><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s27AF3Ae9bI/VA8qp9PKHpI/AAAAAAAACgA/mcG8AUnrn_4/s1600/mgrpg-box-set.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s27AF3Ae9bI/VA8qp9PKHpI/AAAAAAAACgA/mcG8AUnrn_4/s1600/mgrpg-box-set.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a>This is an easy one. <i>Mouseguard</i>.<br />
<br />
Mouseguard is based on the Burning Wheel system, but is a bit more approachable. I played Burning Wheel at I-con a few times and loved it. But Mouseguard takes those rules and simplifies them in the right parts while clarifying in other. It makes a good game great. But that's not the reason it's not played.<br />
<br />
Mouseguard is based on the popular indy comic of the same name. The brainchild of the far too talented David Petersen, it is the Eisner award-winning tale of a cadre of mice charged to protect the borders and peoples of an all mouse society. It is full of medieval imagery, some blood, violence, and pretty amazing dramatic moments. It might be the best indy comic in my formidable comic collection.<br />
<br />
So.. great world, great game, why does no one want to play?<br />
<br />
Easy- too many games. To date, my amazing wife and I are the only ones that have read enough of or really have an attachment to Mouseguard. Add that into the inevitable glut of games like Pathfinder, Star Wars, Firefly, Shadowrun, etc, etc, ad nauseum. Yeah...back burner of the back burners. Maybe when my daughter is old enough to enjoy the comics, I'll find a way to indoctrinate her to the Mouseguard.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>26th- Coolest Character Sheet</b></span><br />
I was going to originally mention <i>Spirit of the Century</i> for this one, but then I looked up and remembered <i>Numenera</i>'s unfathomable sheet. I mean, seriously- look at this thing!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UveQcZ1-nno/VA8eX21m_xI/AAAAAAAACf0/z07tzSX_Q24/s1600/sheet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UveQcZ1-nno/VA8eX21m_xI/AAAAAAAACf0/z07tzSX_Q24/s1600/sheet.jpg" height="249" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>27th- Game I'd Like To See a New / Improved Edition Of</b></span><br />
Please, please Star Trek.<br />
<br />
Look, I love the old FASA system. Decipher and Last Unicorn should never have been allowed to write games ever. For anything. Ever. And the d20 Modern system that works so well for Spycraft doesn't quite fit for Prime Directive. What it needs is a rules-light system that lets you get thrust into plot and character over mechanics.<br />
<br />
Sound familiar, Geoff?<br />
<br />
Also, <i>In Nomine</i>. More than a revamp- this game of angels and demons needs a line-wide retooling. Scrap the old ruleset and start anew. But I might as well wait for hell to freeze over for that to happen (heh). Instead, I'll just write that myself in Cortex Plus. It's coming. I promise.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>28th- Scariest Game I've Played</b></span><br />
Spin the bottle in the 4th grade with Gina Fuentes. Oh, wait we're talking RPG.<br />
<br />
It will seem cliched, but for me it was a game of the modern incarnation of Call of Cthulhu, a game called <i>Cthulhu Now</i> that I played in the early 90's. With a really descriptive and imaginative GM, this game can be as terrifying for the player as it is for the characters. I don't remember his name, but our GM that night in his seemingly abandoned house in Norwood was both of those things. And he set the scene with all the lights out in the house on a stormy night and only a couple candles to play by.<br />
<br />
I remember having nightmares from it, but not much else.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>29th- Most Memorable Encounter</b></span><br />
There have been so many encounters over the years. Maybe too many to count.<br />
<br />
Like the time I killed a party of overzealous 10th level adventurers with kobolds and clever use of murder holes.<br />
<br />
The "Zone of Truth Incident."<br />
<br />
Vecna's Knot with Treena hiding in the treasure room.<br />
<br />
Jaster's great fall.<br />
<br />
"Vesh just killed the Moff."<br />
<br />
Khoth turns to the dark side.<br />
<br />
Chris brings Khoth back to kill his other character- the traitorous doctor.<br />
<br />
"You guys are level 6 right?"<br />
"No Todd, we're level 3."<br />
"Crap."<br />
<br />
Fester, goblin cook, exalted of Vecna.<br />
<br />
Jack Rolls a 20.<br />
Adam: "Jack, I think Falcon just one-shotted Hades. Here's a hero point so you can reroll."<br />
Jack rolls a 20.<br />
Adam groans.<br />
<br />
But for most memorable, I'm going to have to go with the play in the Council of Thieves adventure path.<br />
<i>You did not make them do a table reading of The Six Trials of Larazod!</i><br />
Yes, Self, I did. And it was GLORIOUS.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>30th- Rarest RPG Owned</b></span><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xAcnkFeQths/VAxochu4rXI/AAAAAAAACdo/LNiQAY4V3tk/s1600/51Au%2B3yqvwL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xAcnkFeQths/VAxochu4rXI/AAAAAAAACdo/LNiQAY4V3tk/s1600/51Au%2B3yqvwL.jpg" height="200" width="155" /></a><i>Chivalry & Sorcery: Warfare and Wizardry in the Feudal Age</i> (1st edition).<br />
<br />
This book entered my collection as a hand-me-down form my father's board game collection. Released in 1977 as a more realistic slant on D&D, Chivalry and Sorcery didn't have a very large following or print run- at least initially. My dad doesn't roleplay, so how this ended up as part of my his collection, I'm not sure. And I really don't know when it ended up in mine, but I loved the book. Despite the abundance of charts and graphs that were exceptional, even for that era of gaming, C&S was more a study of feudal life and conflicts than monsters in dungeon.<br />
<br />
While there are more than a few limited edition gems on my shelf, this book is by far the rarest and hardest to find.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>31st- Favorite RPG Of All Time</b></span><br />
I would love to say that one of my own games, <i>Dime Stories</i>, <i>Superhuman</i>, even the unfinished<i> Playthings</i> is my favorite RPG. But I don't really have that kind of attachment to any of my creations other than my daughter.<br />
<br />
The problem is, so many different games are my favorites because of certain aspects of them. Shadowrun's setting, D&D's longevity, the way Pathfinder retools and fixes all of the issues I had with 3.5, the various incarnations of Star Wars... because Star Wars, Firefly for similar reasons, Smallville for no other reason than because it was my first professional credit, Marvel Heroic because it is Cam's best work and I got to write Nova and X-Factor, everything with the FATE rules because they are awesome. No sir, I don't have just one favorite. I have many, for as many different reasons.<br />
<br />
Instead, I'll talk about the one game that should be on everybody's favorite list. The best free, downloadable, independent RPG on the market. The steampunk tour de force called <a href="http://www.onesevendesign.com/ladyblackbird/">Lady Blackbird</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-djA6DuyV2iw/VA843dahv3I/AAAAAAAACgQ/azqbhgXwuCk/s1600/LadyBlackbirdLogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-djA6DuyV2iw/VA843dahv3I/AAAAAAAACgQ/azqbhgXwuCk/s1600/LadyBlackbirdLogo.jpg" height="258" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Lady Blackbird</i> feels as if it was written as an adventure first. The characters and game rules followed. In sixteen pages, John Harper (of Agon and Danger Patrol fame) gives us a pretty complete game with multi-faceted characters, a steampunk Firefly-esque universe, and just the right rules to make a fun, rollicking romp of an rpg. This is what I was failing at doing when I wrote Dime Stories, and will be the benchmark for me as a game designer for years to come.<br />
<br />
It's that good.<br />
<br />
Even better, John offers it up for free on his <a href="http://www.onesevendesign.com/ladyblackbird/">website</a>. Go there now.<br />
<br />
~JoeDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-47207776156582228802014-09-07T14:11:00.000-04:002014-09-07T14:21:20.592-04:00General Gamery: RPGaDay Catch-up 14-20Because Gencon happened and I got a bit distracted in the days following, here is the continuation of my adventures in <a href="http://autocratik.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/rpgaday-in-august.html">RPGaDay</a>:<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>14th- Best Convention Purchase</b></span><br />
This is a tough one since I've been to nearly every Gencon and Origins in the last decade and several Gencons and I-Cons (Long Island convention at my alma matter) in the years before. A lot of games have made it into my stash thanks to these, so it's tough to narrow down to a "best." Instead, I'll have to mention two, specifically.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vibLKn4i4sg/VAxxGpZrBCI/AAAAAAAACd4/ijC9OXPAfb8/s1600/SerenityRPGLimitedEdition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vibLKn4i4sg/VAxxGpZrBCI/AAAAAAAACd4/ijC9OXPAfb8/s1600/SerenityRPGLimitedEdition.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a>The First is going to be the <i>Serenity Roleplaying Game</i>. Not because it is a phenomenal game (It's not bad, but not great), not because it's Firefly/Serenity (most of my friends already know of my Firefly obsession), but because my interest in getting the limited edition version of this game led to the jump-start of my freelance career.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l_vOvDPDvqw/VAxxNmz1dBI/AAAAAAAACeA/u167Q1kcqjo/s1600/big_box_Cutthroat.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l_vOvDPDvqw/VAxxNmz1dBI/AAAAAAAACeA/u167Q1kcqjo/s1600/big_box_Cutthroat.gif" height="200" width="158" /></a>While working at the Slugfest Games booth at Gencon, I made it over to the Margaret Weis booth to purchase one of the limited edition copies of Serenity. In the process, I got to meet the writers and staff of MWP at the time- Jamie Chambers, Cam Banks, and even Margaret Weis herself. After a hurried presentation, I gave the kids at MWP a copy of my in-progress work on Superhuman. From what I understand, it was that presentation that led Cam to contact me to work on Smallville.<br />
<br />
For the second, I'm going to have to break from the RPG specifics and move into board game/RPG hybrid. <i>Cutthroat Caverns</i> by Smirk and Dagger. Cutthroat Caverns is a competitive dungeon delve game. You need your allies to complete the adventure, but you want their share of the treasure. While it's only made it to my table a couple times, it is still pure genius.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>15th- Favorite Convention Game</b></span><br />
Again, the same goes as the above question. Too many conventions, too many games. Most of the games I played at conventions were either board game demos I ran for Slugfest like <i>Red Dragon Inn</i> and <i>En Garde</i>, or games I wrote myself *COUGH* <i>Dime Stories</i> *COUGH*. But, I did get to play a bunch of games not written by me. While I love <i>Pathfinder</i>, my PFS experiences at convention aren't all that different to my home experiences. Playing both <i>Critical! Go Westerly</i> and<i> Gaesa</i> were great experiences, but I can't say I would put them as my favorite.<br />
<br />
That right goes to my pal Geoff Bottone's new RPG, <i>Velour & Go-go Boots</i>. V&GGB is only a temporary name for the game that started as a snarky take on Star Trek: The Original Series, but instead evolved into a rich and hearty Star Trek experience in Geoff's deft hands. Unlike actual Star Trek games, my companion Brian and I weren't bogged down by the rules system. Instead we could dive headlong into the type of moral quandaries the old Star Trek series used to emphasize. Even if Brian and I were Geoff's only players at that sitting, it was the best game I played this past Gencon.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>16th- Game I Wish I Owned</b></span><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UVIFnnrW2Ks/VAyEOy9WMmI/AAAAAAAACeQ/otj68kS3l6c/s1600/51QmNvrSQ-L._SX258_BO1%2C204%2C203%2C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UVIFnnrW2Ks/VAyEOy9WMmI/AAAAAAAACeQ/otj68kS3l6c/s1600/51QmNvrSQ-L._SX258_BO1%2C204%2C203%2C200_.jpg" height="200" width="160" /></a>This is an easy one. In the early eighties, TSR had the rights to Indiana Jones and released the short-lived RPG, <i>The Adventures of Indiana Jones Roleplaying Game</i>. Soon after, Lucasfilm took the rights back and TSR had to pulp any remaining stock.<br />
<br />
To commemorate the end of the license, TSR employees in the UK made a small pyramid shaped trophy from some of the remains. Based on that trophy design, the Diana Jones award has been awarded since 2000 every Gencon for excellence in game design. I'd love to have copies of the former if only because my childhood best friend, Chris, and I were stalwart Indiana Jones fans. But more than anything else, I'd love to write something worthy of being awarded the latter version. While the Ennies are awesome, they can feel like a popularity contest. The Diana Jones Awards are really what will make me feel like I've written something worthwhile.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>17th- Funniest Game I've Played</b></span><br />
Okay, this is a tough call. I have, as seems to be the trend, two choices for this one. Crap... I have three.<br />
<br />
First, My partners in the Saturday Morning Games Venture, Geoff and Jonathan wrote a great game called <i>Critical! Go Westerly</i>. It was written for comedic value and when I read it, I hear the narrator from Hitchhiker's Guide in my head. That was intentional.<br />
<br />
Second, <i>Paranoia</i>. Anyone that has ever played this game knows there is little that is as hilarious as nonstop clonedeath (TM)- especially if your GM is particularly creative- mine was.<br />
<br />
The third one is <i>The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen</i>. 'Nuff said.<br />
<br />
I'm not deciding. Buy them all and decide for yourself.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>18th- Favorite Game System</b></span><br />
Mine is probably not a popular answer.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IEVVRtxGKzM/VAyZjTDV79I/AAAAAAAACeg/4cyxZI9rbsA/s1600/TSR1148_Dragonlance_Fifth_Age.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IEVVRtxGKzM/VAyZjTDV79I/AAAAAAAACeg/4cyxZI9rbsA/s1600/TSR1148_Dragonlance_Fifth_Age.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a>My favorite is the <i>SAGA System</i> from TSR used in their 90's iterations of <i>Dragonlance</i> and <i>Marvel Super Heroes</i> (Before you ask, this is NOT the same as Star Wars SAGA which is just D20 with a facelift). Instead of dice, SAGA used cards (called Fate Cards) to decide actions. While your hand was random, you decided how much effort your character put into an action by how high of a card number you played. It also used card suits to synergize with character attributes and descriptors on the cards for flavor. This was a great idea if a little before its time. The gaming community wasn't really ready for this concept as Magic: the Gathering was still fairly new and the concept of deck-building games hadn't come into light yet.<br />
<br />
It sounds like it should be cumbersome, but it really isn't. At one point, I had a table of twelve players in Dragonlance using three sets of Fate Cards playing simultaneously and GMming felt effortless.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>19th- Favorite Published Adventure</b></span><br />
This could go a bunch of ways. In my youth, I loved a bunch of adventures- from Shadowrun romps like Bottled Demon and Harlequin, to my favorite D&D modules like Ravenloft, Isle of Dread, and the first Spelljammer module: Wildspace. These days, I love some of the brilliance I see from Paizo. Most of their adventure paths are perfect, especially the Rise of the Runelords adventure path and the Skull & Shackles path. The first is almost a gazetteer of Golarion, the second a wonderful pirate romp.<br />
<br />
But my favorite is a trilogy form the old Marvel Super Heroes line. MT1, 2, and 3. Or by name: <i>All this and World War II</i>, <i>The Weird, Weird West</i>, and <i>The Revenge of Kang</i>. These adventure took modern superheroes through the history of the Marvel universe from WW2, the Wild West, through the creation of the X-men, Fantastic Four, and heroes like the Hulk and Spider-man- all in an effort to thwart the machinations of Kang the Conqueror. I liked it so much that years later, I tailored a Mutants and Masterminds adventure in the same vain.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5Yxj_ZkNlRw/VAyddvYQoWI/AAAAAAAACeo/Tzo2alivetU/s1600/Therevengeofkang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5Yxj_ZkNlRw/VAyddvYQoWI/AAAAAAAACeo/Tzo2alivetU/s1600/Therevengeofkang.jpg" height="200" width="149" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xUFOiE2AU9o/VAydd8UVM8I/AAAAAAAACew/ZkNV_ZNGX3Q/s1600/All_This_and_World_War_II.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xUFOiE2AU9o/VAydd8UVM8I/AAAAAAAACew/ZkNV_ZNGX3Q/s1600/All_This_and_World_War_II.jpg" height="200" width="151" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YFL_YH4vP2Q/VAydd3IJPLI/AAAAAAAACes/_NAIMDFp_BI/s1600/Theweirdweirdwest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YFL_YH4vP2Q/VAydd3IJPLI/AAAAAAAACes/_NAIMDFp_BI/s1600/Theweirdweirdwest.jpg" height="200" width="151" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>20th- Will Still Play in 20 Years Time...</b></span><br />
It's tough to say what I'll still be playing in twenty years. In all likelihood, it's less about the game than the world. Whatever it's incarnation, I'll likely be playing some version of Star Wars (hopefully my current favorite- the Fantasy Flight Star Wars RPG or whatever follows that), Marvel Super Heroes (preferably SAGA or Marvel Heroic), and Dungeons & Dragons (or Pathfinder as it were). In my own campaigns, I've seen my game groups keep the ties of a campaign going despite new editions, publishers, and members to our game groups, so nothing would really surprise me.<br />
<br />
<br />
~The DocDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-70227653534717075482014-08-13T19:00:00.000-04:002014-08-13T19:00:00.804-04:00General Gamery: RPGaDay 13Continuing my adventures in <a href="http://autocratik.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/rpgaday-in-august.html">RPGaDay</a>:<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>13th- Most Memorable Character Death</b></span><br />
The most memorable death is a relatively recent death and wasn't one of mine.<br />
<br />
A couple years ago, in Star Wars Saga RPG, I was gamemastering the Dawn of Defiance campaign for my friends. The group of proto-rebels were deep in Imperial territory on Coruscant. And they were in the skyscraper fortress tower of the Inquisitors. As the tower began to fall, the resident scoundrel, Jaster, decided the best thing to do was to make sure his friends and the scientists they were sent to rescue were safe. Unfortunately for Jaster, despite securing everyone in pods that would inevitably keep them alive for the fall of a couple hundred stories, he had only his jetpack to keep him alive, and it was out of fuel. Jaster fell to the ground and several thousands of tons of building fell on him.<br />
<br />
Heroic deaths are always the best in an RPG, and the group felt like it was missing something without Jaster, despite the fact that his player built a new character to keep playing. I've seen many other character deaths in my years of gaming, but Jaster riding a building down to his own end remains my favorite.<br />
<br />
~JoeDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-76700053155686833402014-08-12T19:00:00.000-04:002014-08-12T19:00:00.616-04:00General Gamery: RPGaDay 12Continuing my adventures in <a href="http://autocratik.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/rpgaday-in-august.html">RPGaDay</a>:<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>12th- Old RPG you still Play / Read</b></span><br />
Okay, once again, I have two. Recently I've been re-reading the old FASERIP Marvel Superheroes RPG and FASA's Star Trek Roleplaying Game- for similar reasons.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9kZ5WrETn1s/U-gj5SlTcII/AAAAAAAACbA/q5EyjaOwibQ/s1600/6a00d83451622e69e2019101a25fad970c-800wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9kZ5WrETn1s/U-gj5SlTcII/AAAAAAAACbA/q5EyjaOwibQ/s1600/6a00d83451622e69e2019101a25fad970c-800wi.jpg" height="140" width="200" /></a>After working on Marvel Heroic, I've hatched an idea: I want my friends to choose their favorite Marvel characters. From there I will walk them through the introduction game for each version of Marvel roleplaying- from FASERIP, through SAGA, the horrible one with the stones (yeah- you know what I'm saying), and finally Marvel Heroic. Through each, they will play the same character and see how each system works. Ahhh, I can see it now... Dreadnoughts everywhere.. good times.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1sGQSiYTNLk/U-gkDhHlOoI/AAAAAAAACbI/3_Dp9LGDuNQ/s1600/star+trek+contents.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1sGQSiYTNLk/U-gkDhHlOoI/AAAAAAAACbI/3_Dp9LGDuNQ/s1600/star+trek+contents.JPG" height="180" width="200" /></a></div>
Similarly, I've been itching for a good classic Star Trek game. The old FASA game is needlessly complicated in the character creation portion, but I still think it's the best RPG made for the series. Plus, I loved the starship combat system that spun out of FASA's work.<br />
<br />
~JoeDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-61795190419134342062014-08-11T19:00:00.000-04:002014-08-11T19:00:04.094-04:00General Gamery: RPGaDay 11Continuing my adventures in <a href="http://autocratik.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/rpgaday-in-august.html">RPGaDay</a>:<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1Qorsv8rpmM/U-ggmP-rVdI/AAAAAAAACa0/OWu69kvoyaM/s1600/hardback-194x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1Qorsv8rpmM/U-ggmP-rVdI/AAAAAAAACa0/OWu69kvoyaM/s1600/hardback-194x300.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>11th- Weirdest RPG Owned</b></span><br />
This was an easy one. The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen. This game is hilarious. In a lot of ways, this storytelling game is fairly rules-light, but the whole book is narrated by the good Baron, himself. The players have to try to one-up each other with tall tales of heroism and derring-do. But the questions and obstacles the other players posit will force each player to step up their game, as it were.<br />
<br />
Hilarity ensues.<br />
<br />
I found this game by accident at a Gencon a few years back (mostly due to my love of Terry Gilliam), and it has been one of my favorite games to peruse, even if I don't get to play it.<br />
<br />
~the DocDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-49568895492360554482014-08-10T21:28:00.000-04:002014-08-11T12:59:01.518-04:00General Gamery: RPGaDay 1-10I'm a little late to RPGaDay, but I'm going to play catch up today and lead into Gencon. Will I remember to post during Gencon? Probably not, but I might continue my <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2013/08/roll-for-initiative-day-one-enter-dragon.html">Roll for Initiative</a> posts from the front line.<br />
<br />
But, as usual, I digress.<br />
<br />
RPGaDay it the brainchild of David Chapman on his <a href="http://autocratik.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/rpgaday-in-august.html">blog</a>, and is meant to mimic Borough Press' #BookADay.<br />
<br />
So enjoy.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rMgdTIbTWR4/U-gXxJZ_LrI/AAAAAAAACac/P42C1RFI6H0/s1600/dungeons-dragons-player-handbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rMgdTIbTWR4/U-gXxJZ_LrI/AAAAAAAACac/P42C1RFI6H0/s1600/dungeons-dragons-player-handbook.jpg" height="200" width="151" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1st- First RPG Played</b></span><br />
My first RPG was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. It was 1983, I was 8, and my neighbor, Sean, wanted to run a game for me and his two brothers. I believe my first character for his game was a half-elf paladin. But we followed that game only a week later with the old FASERIP Marvel Superheroes RPG (where I was Nightcrawler). The two Games started so close together, that they run into each other a bit in my memory.<br />
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">2nd- First RPG Gamemastered</b><br />
The First RPG I Gamemastered was probably Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP, oh yeah), though it might have been FASA's Star Trek or Dungeons and Dragons. I didn't start gamemastering for three years, as I rather enjoyed having Sean for a GM while I lived in New York. Instead, it was slowly introducing my friend Chris into his next lifelong obsession that made me the defacto gamemaster for a while, at least here in Ohio. Eventually, Chris took over those duties with a decades long game of West End's Star Wars RPG that morphed into D20 and Saga as the new systems reared their heads.<br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">3rd- First RPG Purchased</b><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RlINTPr0iyc/U-gXwB1fBYI/AAAAAAAACZ0/acOfhvpRZ2s/s1600/Dungeons-and-Dragons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RlINTPr0iyc/U-gXwB1fBYI/AAAAAAAACZ0/acOfhvpRZ2s/s1600/Dungeons-and-Dragons.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a>Ah, the smell of dollars lost. My first RPG purchase was... well...incorrect. We were playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (Orange-spined hardback books of beauty, dice, and charts). But me? Well, my first buy was the Dungeons and Dragons basic rules set 1. I was eight! What did I know? Sure, it was the easier game, but it was not the one we were playing.<br />
<br />
Little did I know.<br />
<br />
Of course, it was only a few weeks later that my mother bought me the Players Handbook, Monster Manual, and Fiend Folio. By then, I was fully hooked.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5LzW1sjBDz4/U-gXwCWMxTI/AAAAAAAACZ4/QvXAAiphWHY/s1600/51Ykm93n8ML.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5LzW1sjBDz4/U-gXwCWMxTI/AAAAAAAACZ4/QvXAAiphWHY/s1600/51Ykm93n8ML.jpg" height="200" width="156" /></a><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">4th- Most recent RPG purchase</b><br />
The most recent RPG Product to grace my collection is the new Dungeons and Dragons Starter set. It is really nice and evokes the game that got me started in so many ways. And while I don't think it will replace Paizo's brilliant Pathfinder for my go-to fantasy RPG, it's a good product and great game regardless.<br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">5th- Most Old School RPG owned</b><br />
Ha! My collection is just that. I have books from my old AD&D days alongside the entire line form TSR's Marvel Superheroes and FASA's Star Trek RPG. By sheer age alone, I'd say the FASA Star Trek books are the oldest since they were released in 1982, but they entered my collection after the Marvel Superheroes RPG Box Set from 1984/5, which is in fact the first gaming product I bought of those still in my collection.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yDukmjI9x9A/U-gXwxFDxEI/AAAAAAAACaE/dh2i8_kTXH4/s1600/Pendragon220px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yDukmjI9x9A/U-gXwxFDxEI/AAAAAAAACaE/dh2i8_kTXH4/s1600/Pendragon220px.jpg" height="200" width="149" /></a><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">6th- Favorite RPG Never get to play</b><br />
Without a doubt, Pendragon. I've read through the main rulebook 5 or 6 times and I love every word in it. It is the type of game I wish I wrote, but want much more to get to play. It's a tough game though, because if done correctly, lots of characters will die and the game will span generations. Which just adds to its awesomeness. It's just too big and involved for most players, or gamemasters for that matter.<br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">7th- Most "Intellectual" RPG Owned</b><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gUbgUxFdGpk/U-gXxEBMlGI/AAAAAAAACaM/CQCEKMNv3Vs/s1600/freemarket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gUbgUxFdGpk/U-gXxEBMlGI/AAAAAAAACaM/CQCEKMNv3Vs/s1600/freemarket.jpg" height="200" width="148" /></a>hmmmm.. This is a tricky one. By "intellectual" I'm going to go with a game that makes me think outside the box, or better yet, a game that makes you ask some tough questions. For this I have two answers. The first is a game by Luke Crane and Jared Sorenson called <a href="http://projectdonut.com/">Freemarket</a>. Besides some truly inspired gameplay, Freemarket makes you ask the question, what do you do if no one ever gets sick, gets old, or dies? And the other is my friend and Saturday Morning Games cohort, Jonathan's, game, <a href="http://www.firestorm-ink.com/?page_id=45">Geasa</a>. Like Fiasco, Geasa is GMless- some would say rudderless- game, but it is a great storytelling exercise with enough rules to make it interesting, but not so much as to pigeonhole you into a story structure.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CQ4T-gqufzo/U-gXxn4uQtI/AAAAAAAACaQ/lp7dpF1iXjg/s1600/th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CQ4T-gqufzo/U-gXxn4uQtI/AAAAAAAACaQ/lp7dpF1iXjg/s1600/th.jpg" height="142" width="200" /></a><br />
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">8th- Favorite Character</b><br />
For my friend Lucas' Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 challenge (which I aptly named Vecna's Knot for him) I played a goblin cook (rogue as far as class went) named Fester, hired by the party to keep them well fed on their travels. He was cantankerous, annoying, refused to do "roguey" things if they were looking, and was an expert with his kitchen knives. It was several days before the party realized he was using the same knives to kill as he did to cook- and even longer to realize he didn't clean them in between. But hey, kobold makes great "flavoring."<br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">9th- Favorite Die / Dice Set</b><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TrFLLHAv_so/U-gXwYKQCKI/AAAAAAAACZ8/45mACl3u4OE/s1600/MINT40_CRYSTAL_CASTE_ORIGINS_2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TrFLLHAv_so/U-gXwYKQCKI/AAAAAAAACZ8/45mACl3u4OE/s1600/MINT40_CRYSTAL_CASTE_ORIGINS_2014.jpg" height="115" width="200" /></a>I would normally say it's some pretty FATE dice set or the special dice made for Pathfinder. But this year, I missed out on Origins Game Fair because my daughter, Jocelyn, was being born. My best friend picked up the Origins Commemorative Dice Set from Crystal Caste the morning she was born. Those hideous pink dice are my favorites. I will never use them, they went in Jocelyn's dice bag, but they are definitely my favorite.<br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">10th- Favorite tie-in Novel / Game Fiction</b><br />
Dragonlance. I'd go into more detail, but I did that <a href="http://www.underwearontheoutside.com/2014/07/general-gamery-30-years-of-dragonlance.html">already</a>.<br />
<br />
That's all for now, more as the week (and hopefully me RPGaDay continues).<br />
<br />
~The Doc<br />
<br />Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-68258611437050446372014-07-03T23:10:00.000-04:002014-07-04T07:34:19.167-04:00General Gamery: 30 years of DragonlanceToday is Dungeons and Dragons day, with the release of the 5th edition of D&D, or D&D Next as it is called. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the long-running, ever-changing game system. But as much as I love the imagination engine that is the ampersand of doom- and more importantly to me, the vast, innumerable game systems that have been created as a result or in spite of it- there is one aspect of D&D that far outshines its Ruby anniversary for me. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of my favorite shared campaign world- Dragonlance.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hA27FraPJiY/U7YDn88tesI/AAAAAAAACT0/VExkOSiAHt8/s1600/heroes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hA27FraPJiY/U7YDn88tesI/AAAAAAAACT0/VExkOSiAHt8/s1600/heroes.jpg" height="496" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">A Bit of History</span><br />
<br />
In the early 1980's, TSR had a dilemma. There were more than enough dungeons in its flagship game, but there wasn't exactly an abundance of dragons. But filling this need had eluded the small company to this point. Enter Tracy Hickman.<br />
<br />
Based on some modules he had written for the company, Tracy was hired on as one of TSR's writers/line developers. While Tracy and his wife, Laura, made the move to Wisconsin, the seeds of Dragonlance were planted in their discussions. Upon his arrival, Tracy pitched their idea as a twelve module series- each one focusing on a different dragon. TSR entertained the idea, putting him in charge of what was then called <i>Project Overlord</i>, alongside TSR staffers like Roger Moore, Larry Elmore, and Douglas Niles.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_OapAW1r5D4/U7YOvipXczI/AAAAAAAACUE/jmWhaMmxkHg/s1600/Dragonlance-Logo-Orig.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_OapAW1r5D4/U7YOvipXczI/AAAAAAAACUE/jmWhaMmxkHg/s1600/Dragonlance-Logo-Orig.png" height="60" width="320" /></a>The <i>Project Overlord</i> team eventually came to the conclusion that a series of novels would help to flesh out the world they were inadvertently developing, and while the higher-ups at TSR weren't exactly excited with the idea of novels, they nonetheless gave the green light, hired an author, and assigned<i> Endless Quest</i> editor Margaret Weis to edit the project. This was an expansive project for the company- not only modules and novels, but lead miniatures, board games, and eventually other support projects like art books, calendars, and even a DC Comics line would find their way into what was beginning to be called <i>Dragonlance</i>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U3D27iHKhhY/U7YPCx4J3nI/AAAAAAAACUM/8KcqQlynyd4/s1600/dl-dl1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U3D27iHKhhY/U7YPCx4J3nI/AAAAAAAACUM/8KcqQlynyd4/s1600/dl-dl1.jpg" height="200" width="157" /></a></div>
While the team worked on the finishing touches for the first module, <i>DL1: Dragons of Despair</i>, Weis and Hickman were finding that the original author didn't exactly see eye to eye with their shared vision. Reports are fuzzy as to the specifics, but it became apparent that the editing team were better off simply writing the first novel themselves. Despite the legends to the contrary, the Dragonlance team did not write that first novel based on their actual play sessions for <i>Dragons of Despair</i>. Instead, over a weekend, Weis and Hickman pounded out the prologue for the novel based on the <i>Dragons of Despair</i> module they had already completed. TSR liked it enough that they fired the author and set Weis and Hickman to the task of writing the book on their own.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GOtgC2-XzGo/U7YPQ0W75DI/AAAAAAAACUU/9UVxm2W5s-4/s1600/dl1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GOtgC2-XzGo/U7YPQ0W75DI/AAAAAAAACUU/9UVxm2W5s-4/s1600/dl1.jpg" height="200" width="120" /></a>After two years of writing, editing, and re-writes, TSR published the first Dragonlance novel, <i>Dragons of Autumn Twilight</i>. TSR didn't quite expect the demand, so they had to order a second printing just to make up for their initially small printing of the novel. But in a masterstroke, The first Dragonlance novel was published, followed soon after with two more novels to round out the <i>Chronicles</i> trilogy.<br />
<br />
As the decades passed, TSR found success in novels as well as games, and Dragonlance became the first of its shared universes. Not only were modules written by many different teams of writers, but the novels themselves would have names like Douglas Niles, Jean Rabe, and Cam Banks grace their covers. While not all books were gems, even the bad Dragonlance books far outshone the miasma of drek that graced most sci-fi/fantasy shelves at the time. Over the years and dozens of books, the novels endured and like Robotech, became a multi-generational extravaganza.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xm72sOhmLe4/U7YPhWQNb2I/AAAAAAAACUc/ClMiK9ZUzEw/s1600/TSR1148_Dragonlance_Fifth_Age.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xm72sOhmLe4/U7YPhWQNb2I/AAAAAAAACUc/ClMiK9ZUzEw/s1600/TSR1148_Dragonlance_Fifth_Age.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a>TSR even launched a somewhat experimental card-based version of D&D called the SAGA system with the Fifth Age of Dragonlance as its basis. While the old guard of Dungeons and Dragons players seemed to balk at the SAGA rules, for me personally, this system opened my eyes to opportunities and ideas that D&D never attempted to create for me. And while I preferred Dragonlance's fourth age (the age that the Chronicles novels inhabited), I enjoyed the way the Fifth Age setting fit the rule system.<br />
<br />
Eventually, Dragonlance gaming was updated to 3rd edition D&D by Sovereign Press (the company that would one day become Margaret Weis Productions). Under Sovereign Press' watchful eye, all ages of the Dragonlance world were updated to the D20 format and some of the best adventures for the game system found print.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-woTrLxZKOaA/U7YPqCZGEqI/AAAAAAAACUk/9ZZGph1DTek/s1600/Dragonlance-DoAT_31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-woTrLxZKOaA/U7YPqCZGEqI/AAAAAAAACUk/9ZZGph1DTek/s1600/Dragonlance-DoAT_31.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>All was not golden for Dragonlance, however. Despite great voice actors like Michael Rosenbaum and Kiefer Sutherland, a terrible animated movie was made of Dragons of Autumn Twilight. No, seriously, it was horrible.<br />
<br />
Moving on.<br />
<br />
Dragonlance was exceptional not only for the memorable characters, fully realized world, and world-spanning plotlines, but for the marriage of game to fiction in much the same manner that Forgotten Realms, Birthright, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, and Eberron would eventually follow.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">A World Apart</span></b><br />
<br />
The bulk of the Dragonlance novels are set on the continent of Ansalon on the world known as Krynn. Chronicles starts three centuries after an event called the Cataclysm had not only terrorized and reshaped the peoples and lands of Ansalon, but had taken Krynn's gods with it. Instead of fat, lazy, Tolkienesque halflings, Krynn had the fearless, childlike kender to romp alongside its disparate tribes of elves, mountain and hill dwarves, minotaur, ogres, goblins, dragons, a new race of dragon people called draconians, and all sorts of other peoples and monsters. Wizards were organized into small sects in the often hidden Towers of High Sorcery. An ancient knighthood struggled to hold onto its ancestral home in the land of Solamnia on the northern portion of the continent while fould armies of the Dragon Highlords massed to the west.<br />
<br />
All the while, a small party of adventurers returned to their quaint home in the trees of a town called Solace after years seperately seeking any sign of the return of the old gods. Their escapades would lead to the greatest conflict Krynn had seen since the Cataclysm- the War of the Lance.<br />
<br />
There's so much to love from this period in Krynn's history- and while the novels eventually spanned much of Krynn's history both before and after the War of the Lance- most readers relate to this time in particular. Like me, most readers started with the Chronicles series. The overarching plot alone would have pulled me in, but it was the well developed three dimensional characters that got me to stay. Krynn was filled with believable personalities. Perhaps it was the flaws- a reluctant leader cursed with self doubt, an overly ambitious wizard teetering over the edge of evil, an ancient dwarf preparing for his last great adventure, a party of adventurers wholly unprepared for the adventure that awaits them. Yeah. I'm sure that was it.<br />
<br />
There's a lot of characters to love in Dragonlance. But I'm not going to talk about my favorite...because.. well.. he dies and it's kind of a big spoiler. This should surprise no one. My favorite character usually dies- Boromir, Ned Stark, seriously.. if they ever make a Dragonlance movie, I'll have to lobby for Sean Bean...but I digress. Let me talk instead of my favorite hero and villain that are not my fallen friend.<br />
<br />
For a hero, I'll go with Gilthanas.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yiS1qPU2dIg/U7YXewErU4I/AAAAAAAACU0/Tfp4nTv28jY/s1600/GilSilv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yiS1qPU2dIg/U7YXewErU4I/AAAAAAAACU0/Tfp4nTv28jY/s1600/GilSilv.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a>I can hear the groans already, but hear me out. Gilthanas is the spoiled elven prince, second son of Solostoran, Speaker of the Sun and ruler of the not quite high elves called the Qualinesti (think of Rivendell elves). When he is introduced, he is an arrogant ass, full of piss and vinegar and especially disapproval for his little sister's love for the half-elven leader of our heroes, Tanis. And eventually he falls in love with a young wild elf, Silvara. This changes his outlook greatly. Over the series, Gilthanas undergoes massive growth as a character and becomes quite the hero himself in his search for his lost love. There's a lot more to it, but I'm trying to be all un-spoilery. Character growth like that is rare in most fiction, let alone to the degree that Gilthanas changes.<br />
<br />
Okay let's talk villains.<br />
<br />
Lord Soth.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ts9gmr2LMrE/U7YY2dLAC_I/AAAAAAAACU8/zCDoGjAmqZ4/s1600/Dragonlance_5_by_JPRart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ts9gmr2LMrE/U7YY2dLAC_I/AAAAAAAACU8/zCDoGjAmqZ4/s1600/Dragonlance_5_by_JPRart.jpg" height="320" width="210" /></a><br />
Bet you thought I was going to talk about Raistlin, didn't you? Look the wizard is a fine good, bad, good, bad guy. But I love fallen figures. And Soth fell harder than nearly anyone. Lord Soth was once a Solamnic Knight of the Rose, dedicated to chivalry, honor, and all those knightly virtues. Well, sort of. Soth wasn't exactly the nicest fellow and had.. well let's just call it a lapse of good judgement. This caused him no end of turmoil and despite his desire to atone, he would instead rise as one of the undead- a death knight, dark, bitter, and full of hatred for the living. Lord Soth eventually fell so hard that he ended up in Raven loft. Yeah. That guy.<br />
<br />
There's only so much I can put into my little blog to gush about this world. There are elements of Krynn that stick with me, not only in games, but in writing, character development, heck I even have a Dragonlance tattoo.<br />
<br />
To this day, Krynn has my favorite knighthood. More than Round Table knights, Bretonnian Knights, even Jedi Knights, I love the Solamnic Knights above all- from their structure (Knights of the Crown, Knights of the Sword, and the highest order, Knights of the Rose) to their design (Gothic fantasy meets fantastical Norse nobility with audacious Germanic mustaches) from their oath (in Solamnic, "My Honor is My Life") to their often tragic history.<br />
<br />
Seriously, go out right now. Find <i>Dragons of Autumn Twilight</i> by Weis and Hickman. You'll thank me later.<br />
<br />
Est Sularus Oth Mithas.Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-42834540131033435612014-04-13T12:23:00.000-04:002014-04-13T12:29:07.345-04:00General Gamery: Ravage Magazine 2- Review BoogalooOk, I've been a bit lax in updating you guys as to new works.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WwM6GocvKi0/U0q5d24HnwI/AAAAAAAACNw/DTPyE2dff3c/s1600/image-6caf8962bbd7cf799a57c456e9775446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WwM6GocvKi0/U0q5d24HnwI/AAAAAAAACNw/DTPyE2dff3c/s1600/image-6caf8962bbd7cf799a57c456e9775446.jpg" height="320" width="230" /></a><a href="http://ravageusa.com/magazine/issue/13/">Ravage issue 12</a> has come to the stands with the second review I've written for the fantastic periodical. The subject? JUDGE DREDD.<br />
<br />
Oh yeah! <a href="http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/">Mongoose Publishing</a> teamed up with <a href="http://www.warlordgames.com/">Warlord Games</a> to give us a new crack at an old <a href="http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/miniatures/judge-dredd.html">favorite</a>. And to make matters worse (no that's not right.. better.. to make matters better), the guys at <a href="http://ravageusa.com/">Ravage</a> chose me to write the review on it- a big multi-page spread.<br />
<br />
No, I'm not going to tell you what I think of the game here... that's what the magazine is for... you can get a print copy <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/ravage-magazine-12-english-edition.html">here</a> or download it on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ravage-magazine-us/id635362800?mt=8">Ravage Magazine's ios app</a>.<br />
<br />
Beyond that, <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/117837/Dime-Stories-Grit-and-Gunfights-on-the-Far-Edge-of-the-Galaxy">Dime Stories</a> should be coming to print soon and we'll be finishing up a new city-building supplement for that game this summer.<br />
<br />
Since there is a ton of <a href="http://monkeydenproductions.blogspot.com/2011/11/bad-guys-r-us-work-of-avery-liell-kok.html">awesome art</a> for it, <a href="http://monkeydenproductions.blogspot.com/">Superhuman</a> will see new life as a FATE based rpg this year. If nothing else than to get the world out there before we dive neck deep into the skirmish miniatures game.<br />
<br />
Also, I am nearly done with my Cortex hack: Dreamscape. Expect to see more about that in the coming weeks.<br />
<br />
Till then my fearless readers,<br />
~Joe<br />
<br />Doctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-70387107272587605842013-12-15T14:05:00.000-05:002014-01-06T19:31:24.015-05:00General Gamery: Ravage Magazine and New Release DayJust a quick blurb since I have new work releasing today:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oDL1z9tDQN8/UsC2IhiZdWI/AAAAAAAACFY/3jCwEhZCLW0/s1600/998650_559440214146918_996775215_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oDL1z9tDQN8/UsC2IhiZdWI/AAAAAAAACFY/3jCwEhZCLW0/s320/998650_559440214146918_996775215_n.jpg" height="320" width="233" /></a></div>
For those that aren't already aware, <a href="http://www.coolminiornot.com/">Cool Mini of Not</a>'s in-house magazine, <a href="http://ravageusa.com/">Ravage</a> deals with gaming as a whole. Reviews in it's beautifully laid out pages run the gamut from small, hard to find or lesser known games like <a href="http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en">Infinity</a> and <a href="http://www.knightmodels.com/">Knight Models</a>' <a href="http://www.knightmodels.com/index.php/shop/show/viewcategory/batman-miniature-game/IdCat_product/31">Arkham City</a> to blockbusters like <a href="http://guillotinegames.com/en/">Zombicide</a> (a favorite of the geek clan that gathers at my gaming table) and <a href="http://www.malifaux.com/">Malifaux</a>. It has information about games from big companies like <a href="http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/home.jsp">Games Workshop</a> and <a href="http://privateerpress.com/">Privateer Press</a> and smaller companies like <a href="http://www.flyingfrog.net/">Flying Frog Games</a>. However, Ravage's biggest draw for me is the cornucopia of extra content for games I love like Zombicide and <a href="http://www.mercsminis.com/">MERCS</a> to games I have always wanted to play like Sedition Wars.<br />
<br />
In advance of the print release, Ravage Magazine always has an early <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ravage-magazine-us/id635362800?mt=8">digital release</a> for iOS. Today, issue 11 released with a review of <a href="http://www.urbanlasercraft.com/">Urban Lasercraft</a> terrain by yours truly. The first of many, I hope.<br />
<br />
I won't go into the details of the review- there's a whole magazine for that (see above). I will say, I appreciate when I form a good, professional working relationship with a company. My first interaction with Bryan from Ravage Magazine/Cool Mini or Not was at Gencon 2006 while I was working with Slugfest Games and Bryan was still with Mongoose. I managed to talk up Superhuman to him (it was early in that game's development and I still thought I was going to go it alone), and Bryan got pretty excited about it, going so far as helping me to start talking to Mongoose about publishing through their Flaming Cobra label. We would talk every Gencon, and eventually Bryan found himself working for Cool Mini or Not. In his capacity at CMON, Bryan assisted with Kickstarter Projects (they really are pros at that) and worked the convention booths demoing games and promoting sales in a similar capacity to what I was doing with Slugfest. What I didn't realize was that he also ran the awesome Ravage Magazine- a magazine I'd already picked up for the extra MERCS, Zombicide, and X-wing scenarios.<br />
<br />
On a whim, I sent him an email after reading an advert in issue 8 that said "Have something for Ravage?" Luckily, Bryan remembered me (though I might have sent some writing samples and my CV- I don't quite recall now) and gave me a chance. The review on page 58 of issue 11 is the result.<br />
<br />
Like I said, you can find Ravage Magazine issue 11 in the<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ravage-magazine-us/id635362800?mt=8"> iOS Newstand App</a> and in <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/ravage-magazine-11-english-edition.html">print</a> (Or click the image on the left). Now back to the writing mines for me. I have another review for Ravage due on January 4th and work to do to on Dime Stories books 2 and 3 before moving on to other new projects.<br />
<br />
Till next time,<br />
See you space cowboy...<br />
<br />
~The DocDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-19859243103249088182013-08-19T17:22:00.003-04:002013-08-19T17:22:45.870-04:00Roll For Initiative: Day Four, So Long and Thanks for All the FishDetermined to get my Gencon exclusive Robotech miniatures, I got up ridiculously early on Sunday. Mary and I were sitting in front of the dealer's hall at 6:30am, barely awake on coffee and fumes.<br />
<br />
When 10am came around, we charged into the hall alongside hundreds of other hopefuls. We had three tasks: I would get my exclusive Robotech Max and Mirya miniatures (90 of each left), Mary would get our usual Gencon Commemorative Dice (only 35 left, that's what we get for not getting them early), and we would meet at Catalyst to sign up for the Shadowrun experience.<br />
<br />
We were 100% successful. I was second on line for Robotech minis, Mary got the dice, and we were scheduled for Shadowrun at 10:30. While we waited, we stopped by Cool Mini or Not for the exclusive Super Dungeon Explore character, Nyan Nyan and to Greater Than Games for some Sentinels of the Multiverse Buttons. By that point, it was 10:35, so we raced back to Catalyst.<br />
<br />
The Shadowrun Experience is a thirty minute demo adventure of Shadowrun Fifth Edition. Each players pick a character (in this case, I chose a decker and Mary chose a tank) and are given the rules rundown by the "host" of a popular Seattle shadowrunner club called Dante's Inferno. He introduced us to a Mr. Johnson that was convinced that leaking certain sensitive Ares information to the government has put his life in jeopardy. Sure enough, a group of assassins decided to slay the suit there on the spot. After a couple rounds of combat, Lone Star showed up to break up the fight and arrest all involved. Thanks to an armor spell our mage had cast on the Johnson, and a mass confusion spell, we were able to get away with our injured, but living employer.<br />
<br />
As a reward, we were given the Sixth Age Almanac hardcover for free.<br />
<br />
We made sure to say goodbye to most of our con friends in case we did not make it to the end of con dinner that a few of the indie publishers we are close to had every year, and made our way back to the JW Marriot for Cortex Fantasy Heroic with Dave Chalker.<br />
<br />
The game of Fantasy Heroic (from the <a href="http://www.margaretweis.com/#!shop/c23st">Cortex Plus Hacker's Guide</a>) was part of my reward for contributing to the Cortex Plus Hacker's Guide on Kickstarter. Dave paid for pizza and drinks while Jeph, Angie, Mary, and I made characters. Similar to Marvel Heroic: Annihilation, character creation involved choosing a race and a class (your two power sets) and then specialties, aspects, and your experience milestones. This approach was great. It combined traditional fantasy RPG tropes with the Marvel Heroic engine I love in a simple, wonderful package. Our dungeon delve was great and mixed social and action scenes very well. I'd play this again any day.<br />
<br />
Finally, when the game ended at 4, we were pooped. We could have waited for our friends to finish breaking down their booths to meet them to dinner, but after four days we were done and wanted to go home to our bed, dog, and home.<br />
<br />
This was a decent Gencon (other than the mess that was Pathfinder Society) and it was a great con for Saturday Morning Games. But next year... next year will be amazing.<br />
<br />
Till then-<br />
~JoeDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-80133545329260363452013-08-18T01:28:00.000-04:002013-08-19T16:38:28.610-04:00Roll for Initiative: Day Three, Let's Be Good Guys!It's Saturday Morning, so with a name like Saturday Morning Games, I figured it was a good idea to do something cool for my gamers in Dime Stories' 9am to 1pm slot. So, I brought them cereal packets and single serving milks. There was much rejoicing.<br />
<br />
For the first time, someone chose to be the mercenaries hired to rescue the Village at Naranja Mesa from La Esqueleta's Banditos. In the process of finding a way to keep the Banditos at bay, the mercs stumbled along Butch McCallister (my low level boss before PCs need to face La Esquelata herself). In his datapad, they discovered the Bandito lieutenant was on the take from Megacorp. Further research revealed that Megacorp bought the mine AFTER it had dried up and they had managed to buy up all the mines in the Akauli Cauldron. Megacorp- leading manfacturer of Stargates (the main competition tyrium dependent hyperspace engine manufacturers have for interstellar travel). With the Banditos on the payroll, it was obvious Megacorp was trying to get rid of the Village and her jobless miners. Despite the shootout that ended the game (and yay! I killed a payer character), the mercenaries had learned of a far larger conspiracy. One that hinted at the destruction of the planet Rath a few decades earlier.<br />
<br />
Which got me writing, now that I had a solid idea for the cause of the upcoming civil war we will be exploring in the fourth DS book called Dime Stories: The Imperium Divided.<br />
<br />
Again, my players seemed to really enjoy the game, and I found Mary so we could indulge in a Gencon tradition, the Ram. As usual, the Ram had it's fare of beers and Warmachine inspired meals. And as ever, it was excellent.<br />
<br />
A final run of the Dealers Hall allowed us to pick up that little game Love Stories I mentioned yesterday, the Age of Rebellion beta book for Fantasy Flight's Star Wars line, and the new Warmachine deck-building game called High Command. Mary got to play X-wing with me and we got to see a few old friends before making our way to Sagamore Hall to try to get in a Pathfnder Society game or two.<br />
<br />
This was a total bust.<br />
<br />
The PFS mustering system should work in theory, but the places their posters say to muster for certain tiers were not remotely correct. We ended up wandering around asking everywhere if there was room for a level 1 game, but we were scooted along by people looking to play the new hotness adventure ( a level three romp). Even when directed to certain places by Paizo people, we were led to people that could not help us. Complete chaos and a failure on their part.<br />
<br />
We ended up trudging back to the hotel so Mary could change the uncomfortable boots she wore with her Captain Jack Harkness outfit. On the way we ran into Dave Stern and ended up going to Buca di Beppos to celebrate the birthday of Saturday Morning Games' unofficial staff artist, Avery Liell-kok. MMM.. italian food...<br />
<br />
Finally we ended the day hanging out with our friends in Windmill Games playing a game of one of our favorite co-operative card games, Sentinels of the Multiverse.<br />
<br />
I didn't get to see all the people I would have liked, and the debacle of Pathfinder Society was really disappointing, but still it was a good day.<br />
<br />
~JoeDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-51459834468820854742013-08-17T13:32:00.002-04:002013-08-19T16:33:19.825-04:00Roll for Initiative: Day Two, I like Tacos!Friday started with an early jump to the Dealer's Room after a complimentary continental breakfast at my hotel (Thank you Spring Hill Marriot). The goal was to get some celebrity autographs, get some exclusives I wanted, and do the lion's share of my shopping.<br />
<br />
Two out of three ain't bad.<br />
<br />
I got to meet a Star Trek Original Crewmember in none other than Walter Koenig (Chekov) and the Doctor himself, Peter Davidson. Both gentlemen were gracious and wonderful to meet if a bit weary from convention. But yay! Autographs acquired.<br />
<br />
For exclusives, I did not fair as well. First and foremost in my exclusives hunt was Max and Mirya's exclusive miniatures for Robotech Tactics by Ninja Division and Palladium. By 10:15am (fifteen minutes after the Dealer's Hall opened), the line for Max and Mirya stretched half the length of the hall. Considering they only had a couple hundred of the models on hand, the 2-3 hour wait was not going to produce the minis. So, with some sadness, I trudged on to my other important acquisition- Firefly the Game from Gale Force 9.<br />
<br />
No luck there either. The game sold out only moments before I arrived at the booth taking away my ability to acquire the convention special Alliance Battleship.<br />
<br />
Sadness ensued- so I consoled myself by spending too much money. First we visited Paizo to talk RPG design with Ryan Macklin- you might remember him as the gentleman that had the Game Design Challenge on his blog leading to the creation of Dime Stories. He was refreshingly earnest and frank and we had a great conversation about game design and the ins and outs of the industry. While at the Paizo booth, I bought a set of player mats for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game and their new comic Pathfinder: Goblins. The day was starting to look up.<br />
<br />
It was time to talk to some old friends. Margaret Weis Productions was the first stop. I'd preordered the Firefly Gencon book from MWP a few months earlier for pickup at the con, but the people were the real pull for us. MWP's business manager, Christi, was wonderful and personable as always, and it was great to see her smiling face. We talked about upcoming projects from MWP, mutually lamented the loss of Marvel Heroic, and laid the groundwork for further work to come my way from MWP in the near future (man, I needed this). Margaret Weis herself was on hand to sign my Firefly book, and I couldn't help but pick up the first two novels in her new Dragon Brigade series- which she signed as well. A little thrill goes down my spine every time I meet Margaret and she remains one of my favorite authors every time I read her work. Amanda Valentine was on hand for some hugs and excitement at the release of her new game, Little Wizards- not to mention, Amanda was to host the Ennies that night. Amanda was the first woman to ever host the Ennies and it was being broadcast all over the world. So... no pressure. And finally, Dave Chalker of Get Bit fame stopped by and we planned for our game of Fantasy Heroic for Sunday- my reward for contributing to the Cortex Hackers Guide Kickstarter. Dave is a great guy and I loved working for him on Marvel Heroic: Annihilation. I can't wait to play Fantasy Heroic with him.<br />
<br />
The old friend search continued at Slugfest Games where we spent some time with the lot of them- Cliff, Sam, Jeff, Dave, Yvonne, and the rest were swamped with gamers playing demos and buying games so we couldn't stay too long. I picked up a softcover copy of Red Dragon Inn: A Guide to Inns and Taverns, an awesome Pathfinder Compatible tome that I was lucky enough to help write. Despite the crowds at the booth (ah memories of Gencons gone by), it was great to see them all.<br />
<br />
Finally, on our way out, we hit the Wizkids booth to pick up Star Trek Attack Wing, their new tactical combat game based on the rules for Fantasy Flight's awesome X-Wing game. Of course, the best part was their convention exclusive con card.. or rather Khan card, as it were- Khan Noonian Singh. Just...awesome.<br />
<br />
After lunch at High Velocity in the JW Marriot (great food. The Prime Rib lunch special just blew me away), we joined my Saturday Morning Games partner Jonathan Lavallee in a game of Critical! Go Westerly. This was a rollicking good time. Mary played a gypsy thief type that knew too much and couldn't keep her mouth shut. A father and daughter from Cincinnati played Gronk, ork hero - if only in his own mind, and Captain- a curmudgeon pirate that had lost her ship long ago and was looking to find it again.. in the land locked cities and forests of Westerly. Go figure. For my part, I played Perolinius- a geriatric master wizard with Alzheimer's and some serious dementia. Between Peck (as Perolinius was called) and Gronk, and with Jonathan's fantastic performance as GM, this game was nothing short of hilarious. I think Mary was broken in laughter by it three times.<br />
<br />
To wind down before returning to our room for leftover dinner, Jonathan played a game of Love Stories with us. This is a great, simple, sixteen card game that we picked up instantly and would make a great filler game for any group. I have to be sure to stop by AEG on Saturday to pick up a copy.<br />
<br />
Finally, at 8pm I ran my second game of Dime Stories. Another group of gamers had come to experience a new game and we were joined by my co-worker Brian, his friend from Illinois, and former Slugcrew member Owen. Once again, the party elected to work for La Esqueleta and raid the Village. But this adventure went completely the opposite way than the other one. While the other group learned about the hired mercenaries and sought to undermine their operation, this group decided instead to plan for their existence and set up an elaborate trap to slaughter the mercenaries in one massive shootout. Simultaneously, several of the bandits gathered to break Esqueleta's daughter out of the small jail.<br />
<br />
All in all, it seemed like everyone had a good time.<br />
<br />
Till tomorrow,<br />
~JoeDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437042072946622075.post-33969465073036549042013-08-15T23:44:00.002-04:002013-08-19T16:25:50.182-04:00Roll for Initiative: Day One, Enter the DragonDay One began in much the same way as every other day- with sadness and pain.<br />
<br />
No not really.<br />
<br />
I got up early to make sure I received my badge. As a gamemaster, my badge isn't available at the Will Call booths. And unlike Will Call, the Gamemaster HQ isn't 24 hours. Gamemaster HQ opens at 7am and is closed by 8pm. So when we got here at 9-ish wednesday, Gamemaster HQ was already closed. Since we had True Dungeon at 10:14am, I made sure to wake up Mary and drag her kicking and screaming to Gamemaster HQ as early as possible- we got my badge at 8am or so.<br />
<br />
Breakfast at Panera. The food was alright, but the best part was getting to talk to Bill Cavalier for a few moments before going in.<br />
<br />
Then True Dungeon with my hotel roommates Dave and Heidi, and my friends Jeph, Angie, and Evan. Mary, a new friend Chris, and I had never been to True Dungeon before. It was a pretty cool mix of DnD 3.0, carnival games, and actual problem solving. Though we chose the combat variation of the game for our adventure, fully half of our rooms were puzzle rooms. I could get into a long winded description of how to play True Dungeon, but it's better explained <a href="http://www.truedungeon.com/">here</a>. In the end, the final puzzle defeated us and our characters all died.<br />
<br />
I love the art of the TPK. But only when I am the GM.<br />
So sad.<br />
But at least I pulled a random piece of treasure that apparently sells for more than six times what I paid for my ticket to the event anyway.<br />
So.... win!<br />
<br />
Lunch at Champions. Good burgers as usual but FAR more expensive than I remember.<br />
<br />
Shopping in the Dealers Hall. First Priority was Catalyst Games. Fifth Edition Shadowrun was officially released at this GenCon. And to make matters worse, they released a pretty leatherbound version with the Mayan calender embossed in gold on the leather cover.<br />
<br />
Oh gods it's pretty, and my awesome wife let me have it.<br />
<br />
After spending too much money, we made our way back to the hotel and I began to get ready for Dime Stories' first public game.<br />
<br />
The event went off without a hitch. Two players had already dropped the game, so I had four players that came to the game. With Mary jumping in to play the crazy luddoc Krem, we had a party of five bandits working for La Esqueleta to relieve the village of its stores in tithe. This evolved into a complicated scheme that involved busting into the local Megacorp HQ to release a mercenary's wife from indentured servitude.<br />
<br />
The players seemed to have enjoyed the game, so I would say this was truly a successful first outing for Dime Stories.<br />
<br />
More tomorrow... sleep beckons.<br />
~JoeDoctor Monohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01157929667336216790noreply@blogger.com0