Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Blog Archive » Lunchtime Poll #30: Whaddaya Got?
Li asks:
What’s the last board, card, or roleplaying game you bought, and what do you think of it?
The last RPG game that I bought was two volumes of Iron Kingdoms, by Privateer Press.
An odd D20 world, more "Steam and guns, rather than sword and sorcery". Magic is primarily focused through an arcane-steampunk technology known as Mechanika, the world itself is gritty and harsh.
Its a weird world to be sure, and definitely not your standard d20 universe. Will I run a game in this place? I'm not sure. At the very least, I can mine ideas and concepts for inclusion in other games (eg, using a version of this world as a shadow in an Amber game).
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Blog Archive » Lunchtime Poll #29: Us and Them
Li asks a deceptively simple question:
Do you consider the GM part of the group, and why or why not?
The question is deceptively simple, since my conception of a GM and what they do has changed, evolved and grown over time.
Back in the days of D&D and its kin, the GM (or more commonly, DM) was the adversary, the opponent, the one who held the other side of the equation that the players balanced. Both as player and as GM myself, I considered it a competitive sort of relationship.
As time has gone on, and especially the experience of running a long term PBEM, and being exposed to new ideas, games and gaming philosophies, I have come to see things differently.
I see the GM now as a partner and active participant in the game. I've always had at least the germ of this in Amber gaming, when I infuse some of my NPC creations with as much vitality and drive as their PC cousin counterparts.
Games like Dogs in the Vineyard, Nobilis, Everway and the like have (via osmosis if not direct ownership and play), and exposure to campaigns like Arref's Eternal City and House of Cards have only confirmed this "partnering" sort of philosophy. Granted its not a communistic equal, the GM has, I feel a larger stake in world creation and building.
However, gone are the days when the GM created everything. I not only feel comfortable when players create pieces of my world in mini-me fashion, but I actively want that sort of thing.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Blog Archive » Lunchtime Poll #27: Better Late than Never
Li, who might give up the Polls (boo!) asks in #27:
Describe a game you’ve played in or run (or would like to play in or run), based on a “ticking clock” setup.
I'm not much one for deadlines. I admit that time pressure doesn't work for me that much, especially as a GM. There might be a time limit within a game, but I can't really think of a game that I've run where a time limit has been featured.
That said, however, an idea has occurred to me that would appeal for me to run. It's a primitive time travel scenario. The players are sent back, one shot only, to change an event in the timeline gone wrong. Let's, for fun, say an event that wasn't supposed to happen: The murder of President Bush on September 11th, 2001
The problem: The time machine has gone astray, putting them crucially far from the target. The Laws of Time don't allow a second chance, and so its a race against Time for the PCs to get to the target location, and prevent the event, and make sure that the prevention itself doesn't change history.
A multi-genre and themed game, as the PCs might have to appropriate odd forms of transportation and jump through hoops to reach the "zone" in time to save the timeline.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Blog Archive » Lunchtime Poll #26: The Way We Weren'tt
Li's Lunchtime Poll this week:
Describe the best game you came up with and never got to run (if you’re a GM) or the best game that you were invited to join and never got a chance to play in (if you’re a player)?
Many choices abound, both from a GM and a playing perspective...
Li, though, is asking for the Best.
I am going to harken back to a Role Call James asked about, about game ideas I have not done yet but want to. In that entry I mentioned Status Quo Ante Bellum, which since that entry I HAVE run at ACUS, successfully. The other, more epic idea I have not yet run, and I reprint it here.
Borders of Eternity
Inspired at first by Arref's successful creation of the Empire of the Gleaming Banner, the opening image is what drew me to this and its stayed with me since. One of the player characters, on a private secluded beach in shadow, a shadow no one else in their family knows about, finds a set of footprints where none should be. Not Amberian, not Chaosian...someone else.
In its most epic and ambitious form, this would be a three sided game with characters from the three poles of the universe...Amber, Chaos and the third pole, hitherto unknown, in a direction perpendicular to Amber and Chaos both. My mental modeling of this third world is a quartet of shadows influenced heavily by Elizabeth Willey's books. They have a quartet of elemental powers, scions of them able to travel shadow, and an even match for Pattern and Logrus masters and mistresses. They are just as real.
What happens in the contacts between these worlds? Intrigue, adventure, conflict, and exploring new worlds and lands. Expanding one's vision of just how large the universe is. Finding the borders of Eternity.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll 24: The Sweet Spot
Li asks:
A common complaint that GMs hear is that they’re unprepared. Another common complaint GMs hear is that they’ve overprepared. How’s a GM to know when she’s hit that sweet spot, and the level of preparation is Just Right?
Well, I admit freely that I have trouble hitting that sweet spot. Like Li, I often have too much plot for con games, and wind up either jettisoning it mid-route, or worse, have actually split a game into next year (Ad Astra) to accomodate the rest of the plot.
This year, I jettisoned a lot in TOTR: Royal Legacy because I only had three players. In my other two TOTR games, the players did it for me, moving with a single-mindness that sometimes scared the crap out of me. Side plots and problems never materialized thanks to the likes of Bridgette, Michael and Ginger on the case.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #21: Spinoffs
Li asks:
What’s the best media tie-in game out there—Star Wars? Buffy? Take a position and explain it. Ladies and Gentlemen, start your opinions!
I haven't played many, if any, spin-off games...
So my viewpoint is a little narrow, I admit. I've seen and flipped through Star Wars, Buffy, Stargate, Babylon 5, and the like.
I do have a recent purchase of a spin-off that I am excited about the more I read: The Black Company.
It's a d20 setting based on the books by Glen Cook, the novels revolving around a mercenary company in a black, white and very grey world.
The book contains a good summary of all the novels, a nice chunk of pages detailing the world, ideas on hooking characters into events from the books (or even "alternate" events) and a lot more. The magic system is completely redone; in point of fact a crossover d20 wizard loses all access to their spells while in this setting.
I also read somewhere that Cook is very happy with the faithfulness of the game and its tone and vision to his vision of the Black Company world.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #18: Not in Kansas
Li asks:
What alternate-historical setting would you most like to play in, and why?
Damn to Li to pick my favorite SF sub-genre. The choices are broad, and even given that, some of my favorites have been scooped up.
Li herself mentions Stirling's Nantucket books which would be a lot of fun. Ginger mentions the Agent of Byzantium series, again, Turtledove is one of my favorites. She also mentions the Kay novels, like Tigana or the Sarantine Mosaic.
But beyond just me-tooing the two ladies, I'd like to try a game set in the Roma Aeterna of the Silverberg stories (or the world of Hannibal's children). If we can throw a fantasy alternate universe in there a la Kay, the Videssos novels of Turtledove are a strong choice for me.
Beyond those, the magic and intrigue of the world of Shadow of the Lion would also appeal. And although Ginger didn't like it anywhere near as much as I did (but admitted to wanting a GURPS module for it), the fantasy-alternate history world of Kushiel's Dart and its sequels would be wonderful to explore.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #17: Long-Term, High-Yield
Li asks this week:
“New games are popping up all of the time, yet they don’t stay around very long at all anymore. Magic: The Gathering has lasted 10 years…The White Wolf “storytelling” system reached its apex at about 4 years old…the (*shudder*) Pokemon game lasted maybe two years…what’s going to last?”
Ginger and Arref make good points about the fact that, especially for FTF games, you may not want the game to go on forever.
PBEM games, or games that can be enjoyed serially are far more likely to stand the test of time. So I would say that the types of games which are likely to survive have a majority of these features:
Portability. By this I mean that I can play the game FTF, PBEM or even in a chat room as appropriate. I'll bet money that tabletop gaming is more popular than LARPing...just because its easier to set up and do.
Elegance of rules. Rolemaster type charts for everything discourage players, except the fanatics. Rules should do what they need to do to allow the GM and players to tell the story.
One-shot applicability. Games that lend themselves to one-shots are flexible. Ginger mentions games like DOTV which she is excited about. I've heard good things about other Indie games (like, say, Burning Wheel or Dead Inside). I'm studying Fireborn at the moment and would love a chance to run a short scenario in it.
Accessibility. This is close to Elegance, but this refers to the idea that a new RPG and its rules should invoke inspiration, not dread, in a new player. Really, in the end, an RPG needs new players to grow, survive and last.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #16: I Am a Jelly Doughnut
Li asks:
How do you convey the feeling of being unable to speak the majority language in the area where the story is taking place?
I am mostly in Ginger and Arref's camp.
I do occassionally have dramatic use of language in my games, both from my end and the players. Ginger's PC Alais, for example, having been raised in a place which uses French as a first language, does throw bits of French here and there for flavor.
Mentions of Golden Circle languages, languages of other shadows and the like does come up now and again. Thari is not a universal language, and hardly anyone on Earth is going to recognize it--except, perhaps, an enchanter who will recognize it as a magical language.
I've mentioned here and there that the Chaosian variant of Thari is distinct from Amberian, for example. Two Realms divided by a common language. I've enjoyed using idioms and expressions in the differences even between Amber and Rebma, both as a GM and as a player.
As far as my own PCs, Marcus in AOR has used French in talking with his sister, Gaius in SOM speaks an Italianate like language. Cadmus knows Greek and Latin.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #15: Off-Label Use
The uses of some things are fairly obvious, or so you’d think. Grappling hooks, fire extinguishers, blenders, and Magic Missile spells, for example, would seem to be fairly straightforward, one-use tools…but not always. What’s the best or most creative “off-label use” of a spell or item that you’ve seen?
I am going to highlight part of the incident that I mentioned in a previous Poll, the one where Marcus literally threw his sister Agacerie at Brand...
I mentioned in that entry about a "waterspout spell" but it really wasn't quite that at all, although that was the effect.
The spell itself was designed as an offensive weapon, a pressurized gout of water to sweep away lesser foes and cause all sorts of havoc with enemy forces. But, with his mother's life hanging in the balance, Marcus turned the spell into a waterspout, having it come up underneath his mother, so that it propelled her back over the lip of the Abyss, and to safety.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #14: Job Requirements
Li asks:
What do you think is the most important quality required to be a successful GM? Please discuss amongst yourselves.
Despite my protestations to the contrary sometimes, running a PBEM for nearly 9 years qualifies as successful. To say nothing of con games and the like...
I think Li hits it on the head pretty well, but I will rephrase it. It's dealing with the Left Turns at Albuquerque that make a GM successful or not.
No one likes a railroad, and Amber players in particular seem like to get off of the tracks, and head out into terra incognita. The successful GM not only handles this well, but does it in such a way that the players divergence from expectations really feels like the GM wanted it all along and can adapt as he or she goes.
SB had an early Left Turn that has, in the flowering, led to new plotlines, epic battles and cool roleplaying. I can't imagine the game if that Left Turn *didn't* take place.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #12: Look It Up
Li asks:
What’s the most useful non-gaming source of information (book, website, etc.) you’ve ever found? And what makes it so darn useful?
Barbara Ninde Byfield
Tough to limit it to one. I have a lot of books and a decent amount of reference books on all sorts of things, from symbols to history.
I think I will stick with my Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient History by Colin McEvedy. Covering Europe, the Mediterranean and the Near East from 5000 BC to 400 AD, its a wealth of knowledge about ancient peoples, places and concepts. I love to steal motifs and ideas from ancient cultures, and find the atlas an endless source of things to use.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #13: Oops, I Did It Again
Li asks on this go around:
You knew it was a bad idea at the time, and you did it anyway. Tell us about it. Were there any repercussions, or is it just a good cocktail-party story?
Okay, it was a crazy idea cooked up by Marcus's sister Agacerie and I, early in the AOR game.
The scene was the battle at the Abyss, Patternfall. As Deirdre's children, we were horrified when Deirdre was taken captive by Brand, and teetered at the edge of doom.
We were all paralyzed with shock at first, and then a lack of good options. Agacerie's suggestion was bold and audacious...
...to use her as a missile weapon against Brand. Marcus was easily strong enough to use her as a weapon, but was it the smartest idea we had? No?
The result...a teleport or transport of some kind of a mysterious rider intersected Agacerie's flight path after Marcus launched her against Brand. Agacerie got some bumps and bruises out of it.
Marcus wound up helping his mother out of the Abyss fall with a timely waterspout spell. (Marcus' magical specialty is force based spells, and his element is water.)
Discuss successful and/or unsuccessful ways you’ve integrated a new character into an existing game.
I've had mixed success with integrating characters into existing games, but I think that I have tried hard, on my own end, to do so.
Some examples:
In the AAPA series, I had great fun in introducing a new character to the second installment at ACUS 2003, in the person of Jenn Woelke. I used her character's appearance and unusual abilities to good effect, helping to drive the plot and making her an integral part of the happenings in the second (and subsequently) third installment. It was the first real roleplaying Jenn and I had done together, and it worked out well.
More recently, I've added new players to SB, in the persons such as Claire (Kennard), Ginger (Alais), Michael (Oliver) and Amber (Alex and Braem). In each case, I found niches where new characters could and would shine, and have worked with the players to get the characters into fun and intriguing situations.
Since inter-PC threads are not that common in SB (as opposed, to, say, House of Cards), I've made great use of NPCs to get new characters familiar with my game and my style. In a couple of cases, the players aren't aware of the NPC, yet, and in one case, I quickly threw two new players together, to interact and grow together.
On the other hand, I've had my share of failures. Players who just aren't compatible with my style and ethos, ranging from Scott Olson (whose style and mine just did not mesh), to players whom I regret letting into SB. My vetting process in the past has been poor, although I've gotten much better. I'm very happy with my latest recruits (relatively speaking) to the game.
Do you have recurring characters and/or places in any of your games? Why or why not? If so, please discuss.
I tend to reuse NPCs in various con scenarios. Its a way for me to play and participate on that level, as well as a PC level. And my players in con games really respond to it...
For example, at ACUS 2003, I ran "Ghosts of the Past", a scenario based on the mysterious appearance of a river running through shadow. By using Scipio, a PC and NPC I've used in many places and times as an NPC character, a fair number of my players already knew what to expect, and even knew his weaknesses and vulnerable spots for teasing.
Similarly, all of my Amber games contain the officious and annoying Chamberlain of Castle Amber, Lord Henden. His reputation for being a stickler has gotten him in trouble in many games, as players can't resist making his life a living hell.
Although less seen, I always also include Michael, the Lord of the Kitchens of Castle Amber. He's easier to deal with than Henden...as long as you acknowledge his sovereignty over matters culinary in Castle Amber.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #8: Little Buddies
LI asks:
What’s the best sidekick you’ve ever had? Tell all!
I don't know if I should stick to anthropoids or not. If we can count sentient companions who are of a different species, then the answer is Hadrian's Dora.
Dora is a Wyvernet, somewhat akin to a Brustian Jhereg, but not as poisonous. On the other hand, Dora is a guiding, mediating temperment for the young Hadrian, and has a sense of humor over Hadrian's adventures, especially with respect to the fairer sex. (Dora is, as you might guess, female herself, and finds mating rituals and habits of humans fascinating).
Dora has slightly limited shapeshifting, so she has been present for amorous encounters, even if the female company is not aware of it. (That sword isn't a sword...)
Dora (and Hadrian) currently do NPC duty in Strange Bedfellows.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #7: Unearthed Arcana
Li asks:
I’ve often said that one of the best science-fiction authors whose work you probably aren’t reading is Connie Willis. Along the same lines, what’s the best game that I’m probably not playing?
A couple of choices come to mind.
The new Paranoia XP looks like a lot of fun, updating an old school game for a new generation of players, and still keeping the flavor for those who have played it before.
Second, Fireborn is properly ambitious, eschewing a d20 setup for their own system, and a milieu which looks interesting. Talking with Scott about the Gamemaster's book, there are a couple of possible holes or sources of confusion, but still, I'd love a crack at this game, too, to GM or to play.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #6: The Great American Novel
LI asks why we roleplayers are not writing novels, instead of creating in this fashion.
Well, in one case (Elizabeth Bear), she is doing both--both roleplaying, as well as writing novels. I can think of one other person in our circle who is writing short stories.
For me, gaming is a social activity as much as a creative one. I game to spend time with my friends. Sitting in a locked room writing a novel doesn't quite allow that.
Maybe, one day, I'll put my hand to writing, too, but I am content with the role gaming has in my social and creative life.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #5: Under the Sea
Li asks us this time for our favorite take on Atlantis.
Well, I admit that there is a strong Atlantean influence on my world of Thera, an area in Strange Bedfellows only visited by two characters thus far.
My favorite version of Atlantis, though, has to be crossing GURPS Cabal and GURPS Atlantis, and setting Atlantis as having escaped its imminent destruction by a massive astral transport spell, putting the lock, stock and barrel in one of the otherworlds. Unable to reverse the process for the nation as a whole, Atlantis has worked over the millenia to try and maintain influence over Earth and its history...
There's a game there, I can feel it.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #4: 2d or not 2d?
Li asks about Mechanics and Random Elements in gaming this time around
Most of my gaming these days is diceless. ADPRG, or freeform games like Gal Ren or Murder at Christmas.
Its been an evolution, because 10 years ago, I did far more diced gaming.
Dice do have their use and their place in games, when a random element can be useful. Sometimes random elements are useful to bridge gaps in sequences. And I wouldn't mind running a D20 game if I had the chance.
And then there are other randomizers like the fortune deck in Everway, and such. So while I don't employ randomizers, they are not categorically anathema to me either.
But Mechanics? Even ADRPG has mechanics. In contests in SB, I *do* look at the stats as well as listening to what the players are telling me that the PCs are trying to do. This is especially tricky in Player versus Player conflicts. But pure points are not a sinecure for victory. Its not just a straight-up comparison.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #3: Imperfect Attendance
Li asks:
How do you cope with the absence of a player, either in a single session or repeated absences?
Like Ginger, I play mainly PBEMs these days.
If anything, SB is slow paced, by the standards of HOC, or the revitalized ROP. But even so, since SB has always been relatively slow paced, there are players who don't even make this relatively slow pace.
So what do I do? I work with the situation as best as I can, especially when players are in threads together or have actions that affect others. I am not a disciplinarian when it comes to turn responses, and perhaps I could be more so.
Without naming names, I have players who respond within the framework and probably wouldn't mind if I posted 3x a week rather than 2. I have players who are happy with my pace. And then there are players who my pace is a challenge to meet. But, then, in its initial inception, SB ran at a pace of 3 turns per 2 weeks.
But getting back to the initial question, once players start dropping off the face of the Earth, I move and work around them. I don't like to do it, and if possible, I retcon, but more than one player has missed out because of response slowness.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #2: Bizarro World
Li's LP this time involves the bizarre.
What’s the strangest character you’ve ever played?
I haven't played very odd characters--as PCs anyway. As NPCs, I've played a rogues' gallery of unusual things, and I think I am going to focus on them.
After all, some of the GMS here agree that many of your NPCs become as real and vivid as players' characters, tangible parts of the gaming world.
Anyway, in a long ago AD&D game, I had the players raid a Yuan-Ti temple deep in the jungles north of the only civilized nation in the area (not so cleverly called Southron). The Yuan-Ti Temple was carved into the base of a mountain. What the players, and the Yuan-Ti didn't quite know except from legend, is that the mountain was a volcano.
And, inspired by Carathras in LOTR, this volcano was sentient. A careless roll on the party's psionicist, and I decided, in a flash of inspiration, that she contacted not her target--but the volcano itself.
The volcano was old and "cold" and I played him with a cross between a slow-thinking mountain and a fiery, impulsive streak.
A long, drawn out mental conversation between the character and the volcano resulted in a minor eruption to "get rid of the snake infestation." That the characters nearly got themselves burned, and they lost the treasure were minor matters compared to wiping out the temple, and getting notoriety for same.
Ravings of a Textual Deviant » Lunchtime Poll #1
LI, who recently asked a question about Supers systems (and even emailed me directly so I would see it) has instituted the idea as a new feature. I guess I am going to need a new category, natch?
Anyway, her first Poll question is:
What is your favorite historical period for RPGs, and why?
Tough question because there are so many good choices, so I will pick one.
16th century. Ginger calls it "Early Modern".
The tech level of the 16th century has been a default assumption in many of my games. In my first D&D campaign, the major event of the last 50 years had been the dissemination of the printing press, and the concordant historical ripples that was causing.
You can have interesting sorcery, nation states and city states, and all sorts of intrigue, romance and more within the time frame. It makes for a rich gaming milieu (and writing milieu...Paul Kearney's books, the first of which I've read, fits into this time frame well).
And, of course, games like 7th Sea are already set in this time frame, more or less.