JUNGLE ADVENTURE/DEATH WORLD
Originally published at Memento Mori Theatricks. Please leave any comments there.
Humorous Tales of OrcCon, Part 2
It was Friday evening. After running around gathering my materials to demo Penny, getting caught in a minor traffic back-up on the 405, and discovering that the hotel parking was full and that I instead needed to park several blocks away, I finally made it to OrcCon. The first people I ran into were playing The Shotgun Diaries, John Wick's game of zombie survivors. They were led, unsurprisingly, by John Wick. I was immediately roped into the game, and, as all of existing Archetypes were taken, John made me the Crazy Survivor. He then says to me, "I don't know what that means yet. Fake it."
The game was set in LA, and at some point we got ourselves to the Griffith Observatory where the Smart Survivor was going to do something involving the telescope to save us. The plan ran out of steam, however, when we couldn't come up with a reasonable use for the telescope. "Hold on," I said, as I grabbed a flashlight, a piece of paper, and a pair of scissors. "What are you doing?" someone asked. I turned on the flashlight and shone it past my paper cutout, down the shaft of the telescope where it reflect off the mirror to project my design into the sky. "I'm summoning Batman," I said. "What?" they asked incredulously. "Come on," I said, "Adam West has got to be out there somewhere."
I took John's inability to breathe as a sign I was doing ok.
More map making fun with Photoshop
I churned this map out for a sandbox campaign I’m planning on running next fall with the kids at the school gaming club. Of course, not wanting to waste a lot of time dreaming up new names, I did what any good GM should learn to do: I borrowed names from existing products. In this case, my old 1st edition Forgotten Realms box set, Krynn, the 4E DMG, and even some real life locations (e.g., Mirror Lake is in upstate NY). The Scar by the way is where I’m locating some of the locations of the current Dungeon Magazine Chaos Scar adventures, although in my case there’s a very different history behind the creation of the region.
Click for larger version
Fuck you and your box text
Originally published at Memento Mori Theatricks. Please leave any comments there.
Your box text might be incredibly well written and interesting to read on the page but it’s not at all important when you’re playing a game and it’s time to relay that information to the players.
It doesn’t matter.
Investigation is not about taking in every detail and trying to make sense of it. It’s about finding answers to your questions.
There’s a thread on story-cunts and predictably, the host of usual suspects just doesn’t get it. Jesse sees the problem, because he’s an astute guy. From him, re: Gumshoe (which I dislike immensely, so full disclosure there):
“You come into the library, ornate tapestries hang from the wall depicting scenes from the life of Henry the V. Each row of books is headed by an ornately carved statue. The floor itself appears to be made of marble and is inscribed with odd occult runes. The large domed ceiling sports an incredibly detailed map of the stars.”
In most of these kinds of games and in this example, the GM waits for one of the players to pick the right thing to inquire about, then gives him the relevant information. This is ass-backwards.
What should happen is that the players investigate the scene not by finding an answer but by asking a question:
“What are we doing here?”
Look at a police procedural. It’s not a clue by clue scavenger hunt, with bloody footprints leading the way to the next mini-scenario like a trail of breadcrumbs. It’s people searching for the answer to a question and then using that to determine their course of action. The players decide where the story goes based on the evidence. The best part of this is that they won’t ever be wrong. Even if they don’t go to the next obvious place to find the next piece of the puzzle, wherever they go/whatever they do will give them something related to their first inquiry.
Standard investigation game: the players are searching a room for *a* clue. Any clue. The GM gives them a description and the players try and figure out the obvious breadcrumb trail. Sometimes it’s with a search roll or something relevant to the item/location/person being examined (like botany or archeology or library science). If successful, the GM elaborates on the item/person in question, giving them more information that wasn’t originally included in the description. The roll is either binary (yes they find it, no they don’t) or it’s scaled (varying amounts of information tied to the character’s proficiency or die roll or both).
My investigation game: the players ask a specific question and the GM gives them the thing that answers that question. Proficiency determines how much the answer helps to build their case. Example: the players enter a murder scene. What’s the question? Well, in general it’s “Who dunnit?” but that’s too broad. They can begin with a theory or start totally cold. What they need to do is to build a case to support their theory. “How the victim die?” Well that’s known… someone else did the legwork and they just talk to the guy (an easy task because the medical examiner is on their side. “Blunt trauma to the head.” he says, perusing the victim’s crushed skull). The players decide they’re going to go to scene of the crime and ask the next logical question: “What is the murder weapon?” The GM doesn’t give them any more than minimal details about the location until they ask this question and make the appropriate die roll. The players roll well and the GM gives them the murder weapon (a heavy stone paperweight) and a clue about that clue (it has spots of dried blood on it).
Everything is a clue until it’s determined to be irrelevant, nothing is a clue until it’s put into context.
The players can know that yes, this is the murder weapon. The paperweight fits the profile (heavy, hand-held, bludgeoning trauma, available to the victim’s killer). The dried blood is another link in the evidence chain. If they rolled even better you could have more solid evidence (hair fibers stuck to the stone, and/or the paperweight is not on the desk where it should be but is underneath the desk). “Knowing” it was the paperweight doesn’t matter until the case is built. The more facts are known, the more solid the evidence, the more solid the case.
Less is more: too much information is not helpful. Investigation is about discerning what’s important in a sea of noise. Don’t contribute to the noise.
So what if they roll poorly? You can still give them the clue but it’s shaky evidence (“Well, it MIGHT have been this stone paperweight…”) and then the players need to continue exploring that angle (lab tests? fingerprint dusting? smashing gelatin heads and comparing the result to the wound on the victim?). Or you use the lack of evidence as ANOTHER CLUE.
There is an empty space on the desk that catches your eye. Everything is a little dusty but for one roundish spot. The breeze blows in through a window, scattering papers piled on the desk.
This of course leads to a follow up question: “Where is the murder weapon?” Answering this clue will give them the murder weapon but also lead to more questions they can ask, all leading up to the most interesting mysteries:”Who?” and “Why?”
So that’s how I’d do it.
Laban Movement Types
Brand and I do a lot of description in our RPG’s - not surprising as we both are writers and we play emotion centric games in which we often want to have things illustrated, but not verbalized in play. We use description cues in an NPC’s movement to give them characterization and depth. This is especially true of the two games we’ve been playing recently. One is a pseudo historical swashbuckling bodice-ripper done in a quasi-novella style and the other is our home brew So You Think You Can Dance game, in which- as you can imagine - character movement is particularly important thing to describe.
One of the tools we use to get at characterization through movement is a methodology of analysis I learned back in my theatre days so long, long ago. A dance dude by the name of Rudolf von Laban provided a system of language to describe and understand movement by breaking it down into a set of Basic Effort Actions made up of component binaries based on weight, space and time. According to him, movement was some degree of heavy or light, direct or flexible, sudden or sustained. In all combinations, this produces eight basic effort actions descriptively called Float, Thrust, Glide, Slash, Dab, Wring, Flick, and Press.
These terms are used to describe individual actions in Laban Movement Analysis, but they have been adopted by acting methodology to shorthand emotion through movement in theatre. Brand and I use them in RPG’s to shorthand the emotional state of a character, but we also use the ideas in them to shorthand their personalities as well. I thought one or two of you might find the model useful in your own games, so here’s a list:
Press (direct, sustained, heavy) is my favorite effort action, and I always start here when describing them. It’s heavy, so the movement has weight and bearing. It’s direct so it goes at a goal, and it’s sustained, so it is not as much quick or sharp as grinding ever forward. Press is a presence-y commanding push, a slow, relentless dominance of action, a grinding down under forward progress. Press is a bulldozer, press is a marching army, press is a dominant seduction. In our games, press people are great people - An emperor, a general, a calm, intense, ambitious person who is unafraid of grinding anything in his path to dust to get at what he wants.
Thrust (direct, sudden, heavy) is an easy one to describe. It has at it’s goal with speed, efficiency, control and deadly intent. It’s the final blow of a driving blade. A bullet to the brain. A knockout punch. In our games. Thrust characters are intense people. When they are good guys they’re often proud and capable and exceedingly restrained.
Slash (flexible, sudden, heavy) is a neighbour of Thrust. It’s heavy and fast, but where Thrust is controlled, Slash is wild. Slash is a back alley knife fight. Slash is a swashbuckling, bottle smashing, drunken brawl. In our games, Slashers are arrogant, audacious, sexy rakes with big reputations.
Wring (flexible, sustained, heavy) is the last of the heavy actions. It’s sustained like press, but it’s not direct. It’s flexible and twisting, like wringing a wet towel out. Wring is an inward churning individual. Wring could be a twisted malcontent. Wring is an strategic herder. In our games, wrings are often scheming villains, twisted and evil.
Glide (direct, sustained, light) is light, graceful, and directed. Gliding is a ballroom dancer. Gliding is an ice skater. Gliding is a courtesan on a gondola. Gliders in our games are socially adept, dangerous people who get you to do things you didn’t intend to do and yet somehow have you respecting them for it.
Float (flexible, sustained, light) is like Gliding without direction, Wring without Weight. Float is lazy cumulus clouds. Float is puppy love. Float is collateral damage waiting to happen. Floaters in our games are benevolent friends, hapless tarot fools skipping off cliffs, and sometimes the maddening few that can not be encumbered by you.
Flick (flexible, sudden, light) is like Float, but without the ease of sustained action, or Slash without the threat. Flick is lick of fire. Flick is toss of hair. Flick is an always distraction. Flickers in our games are most often maddening, mercurial creatures who must be cajoled, convinced or connived into commitment, or loyal, but somewhat inconsequential allies.
Dab (direct, sudden, light) is like Thrust without deadly intent. Dab is a bon mot. Dab is cutting remark. Dab is a Lady Macbeth. Dabbers in our games are devastating social creatures. They’re political powerhouses, and deft manipulators.
Let me know if you find this useful, or if you’re using anything like this in your own play or discussion around play. If you’re one of the folks (Jim, Emily, Jason, I’m looking at you) that has a late interest in theatre or improv that grew out of RPG’s I’d recommend you spend some time physically playing with the eight Basic Effort Actions. It’s a great movement exercise, and an enlightening emotional technique.
For Rob: The Checklist Manifesto
My friend Rob suggested that I read The Checklist Manifesto. I did so. He then asked me questions about it, which I answer here:
What field were you looking to apply TCM to? Any examples of problems you hoped it would apply to?
I went into it with no real idea what it was about. All I had was your strong recommendation, based some of our conversations about (I believe) Made To Stick.
Do you think there's a meaningful difference between cockpit checklists and construction checklists? Do you think this needed more exploration?
I'm undecided. Certainly what he found useful about them was different. In the case of construction checklists, he emphasized the communication component (the submittal schedule) rather than the "this is what you do" component (which is probably some variant on a Gantt chart). In the case of cockpit checklists, he emphasized the latter, which makes sense given the number of people involved.
One complaint I've heard is that it gives too little guidance on how to actually make a list. Once that was called out I realized I was filling in gaps with my GTD knowledge, so I am not sure about this one way or another. Your thoughts?
It certainly lives up to its "manifesto" claim in that regard: It presents a clear call for action, without really giving specific guidelines about how to it. That's not entirely true, as there's a few choice paragraphs in the "The Checklist Factory" chapter about what makes good and bad checklists. But there are too few concrete examples. Did you notice how the whole book is about the development of the WHO Safe Surgical Checklist, but the checklist itself is never included in the book? (If you're interested, it's here.) I certainly would have like to see examples of each of the types of checklists that he talks about it. He also talks about the need to test and refine new checklists; I would like to have seen before and after versions.
Do you think this idea has any real chance of penetrating the geek mindset?
I do think there are real challenges to adoption, as he identifies in "The Hero In The Age Of Checklists." As to whether those are overcome, your guess is as good as mine on that.
Now that you're done, how do you see yourself applying this?
Any book like this is like the cave in The Empire Strikes Back for me: What's in there is what I take with me. What I took with me was a lot of stuff about Scrum, since that's what I'm living in right now. There's a lot of resonance there: pushing authority out the people on the ground, insisting on regular communication to resolve problems, and following a checklist-like process to take care of the dumb stuff so that you can be smart. Plus, the inspect-and-adapt cycle of Scrum lends itself to the development of checklists. We'd already started to create checklists for the different types of stories we implement; I'm working on one now for estimation.
Beyond that, I see some potential for application in RPG design. As you pointed out, the end-of-session and end-of-year processes in Mouse Guard are basically checklists of this. They get you to stop and think about the right things, which ultimately is what the manifesto want you to do.
Does that answer your questions?
The Ghost: Reliving the Past
Originally published at Memento Mori Theatricks. Please leave any comments there.
The ghost represents our fear of death, but more accurately our anxiety over unfinished business. Because ghosts refuse to accept death, they are able to pursue revenge or work toward a final task. The tragedy of ghosts is that they often repeat the same mistakes, failing to learn why they died in the first place.
Most cultures believe in ghosts and the concepts of haunting, resurrection and possession. However, when apparitions appear in myth or literature, their primary role has been to give guidance to the living since death brings a different perspective on mortality. The shade of Achilles in The Odyssey, Hamlet’s father and Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol provide crucial information to the protagonists.
In the Pulp Era and Golden Age, several crime fighters adopt ghostly imagery to add mystery to their personas (1933: Phantom Detective; 1936: Phantom; 1949: Ghost Rider), but two “resurrected” characters dispense justice from beyond a presumed grave: a Texas lawman (1933: Lone Ranger) and a big city detective (1940: The Spirit), both cut down in the line of duty.
The first true-ghost protagonist was an avenging angel dedicated to eliminating evil from the world (1940: Spectre). The reanimated corpse of a businessman (1944: Solomon Grundy) with no memory turns to crime to regain his perceived loss of wealth. An infamous highwayman (1947: Gentleman Ghost) doomed to remain on earth until his immortal foes are vanquished. Due to the Comics Code Authority ban on supernatural themes, ghosts appear through the lens of science fiction. Superman faces criminals (1961: Jax-Ur and General Zod) from the Kryptonian past imprisoned in the aptly named Phantom Zone.
The late Silver Age debut of the ghost of a murdered trapeze artist (1967: Deadman) who faces drug smugglers and his own killer directly challenged the Comics Code Authority. With the relaxation of the code in the Bronze Age, supernatural ghosts returned: a demon who possesses a motorcycle stuntman (1972: Ghost Rider), a mummified Egyptian prince (1973: N’Kantu) and a mindless revenant controlled by a mystic amulet (1973: Zombie). The Ghost Rider character remains very popular and serves as the template for the anti-heroes of the Modern Age: an indestructible force (1989: The Crow) suffering from guilt and melancholy and a servant of hell (1992: Spawn) with extensive magical powers. As undead creatures, they question the morality of their actions as they cling to the last vestiges of their humanity.
Some More Words
I was thinking about how useless “crunch” and “ruleslight” are as terms to describe games. Which led me to this (click to embiggen):
This is for my experience playing these games, not a blanket "this is how these games are."
Difference between structured and “accidental” freeform is simply the difference between saying “we’re playing freeform” from the outset and playing a game with rules, but not actually using them because what you’re doing by yourselves is good enough.
Some food for thought.
L’Espirit De L’Escalier
Two weeks ago, several people from our office in Lausanne, Switzerland, were visting to help jump-start a joint project. While talking with Hervé (who is actually French, rather than Swiss), I related several incidents from our trip to France and Switzerland in 2006, the linguistic difficulties I faced, and the self-deprecating manner in which I overcame them. He had a good laugh and then told me, "Your accent is very good."
I realized too late I should have replied, "Yes, but my vocabulary is merde."
Escaping to World War II
I’m pretty sure the world is full of people like this guy, Mark Hogancamp, Henry Darger, and Matthew/C++. It’s only in this age of astounding communication that we can get these glimpses into their experience through their art.
(Thanks, Jason Corley for the link)
Family Games: The 100 Best
Originally published at Memento Mori Theatricks. Please leave any comments there.
I contributed an essay about John Wick’s game, Cat.
Apparently It Was A Family Name
On Wednesday, after an elapsed span of 156 days and a total reading time of approximately 65 hours, I finished Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. It did exactly what I wanted it to do: It gave me a narrative and chronological framework for understanding the American Civil War, something I didn't have at all before. (It also gave me a much better idea of how to play For the People, but that's beside the point).
It also taught me that while the Confederacy lost the war, they did prevail in a critically important area: generals with cool names. I mean, Ulysses S. "Unconditional Surrender" Grant (real name: Hiram Ulysses Grant) is pretty cool, but that's about all the Union brought to the table. (Well, that and an amusing number of generals named for Winfield Scott, Mexican War hero who was General-in-Chief when the Civil War broke out.) As proof that the South won this contest, I present the Top Five Coolest Confederate General Names:
5. Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson"
4. Leonidas Polk, aka "The Fighting Bishop"
Paypal functioning once more
For the last few days, the paypal links have been horribly broken due to a problem that Paypal had with me. Fortunately, today I was able to work it out, and the links should be working again. Thank you all for your patience.
D&D Camp lives!
Over on the Escapist they recently had a short post about how the Harbourfront Centre is offering a Dungeons & Dragons camp as part of their March break program. How cool is that? I wrote about the Shippensburg College D&D camp back in the 1980s last year and am encouraged to see that these types of programs are popping up again.
Academic Stealth Operations
An Academic starship, about a year before arrival, lighting the night sky ever brighter as it approaches a colony.
Over at the new Shock:Human Contact forum, Malcolm Craig asks,
Are the Academy always overt when they arrive at a planet?
The answer is, “It’s hard not to be, but there are ways, when the circumstances are right.” Join the conversation and help form the Academic Contact Best Practices document!
Gaming with Kids: Temple of Elemental Evil (Session #7)
Session #7 involved a full table with all 10-players back in place for the first time since the beginning sessions.
Will you just die?
As most of the group rushed to lend a hand, Irma and Balder faced off against Lareth the Beautiful and his remaining two mercenaries. Irma struggled to break the evil cleric’s hold person spell (I allow saves every round since getting locked down automatically for the whole combat really sucks; even with the saves the chances of actually breaking free is under 50% each round).
The two lackeys went down fast under Balder’s axe, even as Salladhor ran full out in to the wall as he struggled to make it through the magical darkness Lareth had summoned. Kira and Ada were a bit more intelligent in their approach, feeling their way along the wall until they emerged from the darkness just in time to see Irma break free from the effects of the spell. Lareth fearlessly engaged the four adventurers, confident his platemail and his dark god’s blessing would see him victorious. And victorious he nearly was, as round after round, the group struggled to hit him as he systematically cut down Balder and then Kira, leaving both on the ground unconscious and bleeding to death. Irma too did not fare too well, taking several blows. However, the tide slowly turned as Tor arrived just in time to heal Balder (getting the dwarf back on his feet), Enzio began to sing an inspirational song, and Olaya lit up Lareth with a faerie fire spell. In the end, everyone present managed to lend a hand and never gave Lareth a chance to surrender as Irma finally connected with a solid blow followed by Howell.
As the group struggled to stabilize Kira and Balder (who went down for a second time), Ada and Olaya searched the dark priest’s rooms while Enzio pulled the helm off their foe, revealing the face of a stunningly handsome young man. The group also uncovered a mysterious tattoo (one resembling an eye) on both the evil cleric and Zort. Collecting what treasure they could carry, the group made its way carefully back to their camp and limped their way back to Hommlet to report what they had discovered.
DM Commentary
The major fight is finally over and what I realized, having now run both 1st and 4th edition D&D for the same group, is that AD&D combats aren’t really any faster than 4th edition. Now, to be fair, I ran this combat with 8-10 players compared to ~6 for 4th editon, but the overall time involved isn’t much better. Why?
Part of the reason has to do with the fact that there’s a bigger whiff factor in AD&D with enemies with low (as in better) ACs. The group repeatedly missed Lareth; at one point we went four rounds without a single PC connecting. Part of that was due to bad rolls, but the big problem is that, as written, Lareth has a -1 AC and that means everyone needed a 20 to hit him. That’s brutal. I ended up bumping his AC up a couple of points, but that didn’t help much and it wasn’t really until the group all started layering on effects (at one point: faerie fire, bless, the bard’s inspiration, and a flanking bonus) that they started to hit. Another reason is that some PCs have very few ways to contribute to a battle once they’ve spent their spells or if they can’t get within striking distance: The most obvious victim of this is low level magic users who’ve spent their daily spells. I think this is one of the biggest improvements 4E has made to D&D: PCs can always contribute meaningfully to a combat rather than functioning as passive bystanders.
The group has now returned to Hommlet and we’ll spend next session tying up some loose ends and also hold a “debrief” at the end of the session in which we’ll talk about some of the tactical, social, and moral choices the players made, why they chose to do so, and how they impacted the game, the group, and the story in general.
The full bucket
Originally published at Memento Mori Theatricks. Please leave any comments there.
Ideas fall like rain in Florida; they are sporadic, inevitable, unpredictable and torrential.
My brain is a bucket. Ideas overfill the brain bucket, spilling out over the sides. My energy, time and desire is a tiny ladle with holes in it. The challenge is to empty that bucket with that meager implement. Whatever I can scoop out fills another bucket: the project. When that bucket is full, the project is done.
That said, I’ve been busy. Rain falls into the brain bucket and I’m feverishly scooping out as quick as I can.
I have two card games I’m working on (“Don’t Burn the Toast!” and “Jungle Ball”), as well as a few more ideas I have yet to start (working title: “License to Kill”). Work continues on FreeMarket but right about now it’s all editing and production… the niggling finish work we have to get done for the summer release.
Speaking of FreeMarket, check the project-donut.com site or the Facebook group for some info on a contest we’re running!
The schedule for GenCon is done and it’s… ambitious. Luke and I will be super busy, in addition to manning our respective booths (and speaking of Manning, HEY MANNING! WELCOME!).
I also have a couple RPGs of my own I’m exploring, not to mention some media licenses that Sorensen/Crane is hoping to develop.
Busy busy busy. I need a bigger ladle.
An Interview with John Lennon by a 14 Year-Old Kid
This is really charming, in part because of the fanboyish naïveté of the interviewer, and in part because it still applies so well. I’d be proud to have that kid around. It would be nice to still have John around, too, I think.
Soul
Author
Chris Enger
Description
This game was the winner of the 2010 R.I.S.K. competition.
A game about mankinds willingness to sell his own soul for immediate satisfaction. And how to push them into doing just that.
The role you are to assume is a minor devil or demon from hell, sent up to the surface and the kingdom of man to catch a soul for the amusement of the inferno. While you do possess some supernatural powers to assist you in achieving this goal, then you most of all need to rely on your own cunning and guile to triumph in this hunt. Trust too much in your magics, and you will discover that there are far more powerful things out there than you.
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D&D Dungeon Masters, the video
I realize this is old news but I have a few readers that don’t read a lot of other blogs so this is mainly for them.
The last section bashes on 3.5 a bit, though I agree with most of the points they raise. Incidentally, having now been running AD&D and 4E in parallel, I’ve decided I like 4E a lot more.
Impact Crater on Google Maps
Big-ass crater in the Democratic Republic of Congo
According to this article, this crater some 40 km across may have been caused by the impact of a 2km asteroid several tens of millions of years ago. The prevailing thought is that it was mid-Creatceous — that is, sort of in the middle of the Age of Dinosaurs. The scientists that discovered it are planning on going and taking field observations. If it’s what they think, it’s one of 25 known on Earth, so it’s not like it’s wholly unique.
Anyway, what’s neat to me is that I found it on Google Maps.
All Games Considered: Lady Blackbird
Give it a listen, here:
http://www.agcpodcast.info/2010/03/rpg-buffet-5-second-helping-lady.html
Thanks, Mags!
A Temporal Threeway
Time & Temp: Paperless Office Edition is now available at DriveThruRPG. Which brings us now to three convenient ways for you to join the office of the future (and the past):
- Purchase it through me, via PayPal, where you’ll have to wait until I can answer my e-mail;
- Through the good folks at Indie Press Revolution, where you may also get the physical Unbound Edition;
- And now through the vast DriveThruRPG, where they have the neatest little preview thingie.
What a day and age we live in.
2010-03-09: Show of hands
1. Have you designed a roleplaying game? If so, have you published it?
2. Are you designing a roleplaying game now?
By Vincent Baker in anyway. Filed under rpglink. 2010-03-09
Need
Author
Anders Nygaard
Description
This is a game about needing things. The object of the game is to win the most points by fulfilling your need for as many as your characters as possible.
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