Tabletop Deathmatch: The Series Begins

WHO RUNS BARTERTOWN?

As I mentioned last year, back in April of 2013,  Cards Against Humanity announced their Tabletop Deathmatch competition. On a whim I submitted the board game I’ve been working on and playing for the last couple of years, Right of Succession. To my shock, I made the cut for the final 16. I went down to GenCon in August and pitched the game to a panel of 16 judges. They also had the team from Loading Ready Run film the competition. Cards Against Humanity planed to make that into a web series. They told us they hoped to have the series up by the end of September, but it didn't quite happen that way. 

Last week they put Episode Zero of the series up for viewing. Over the next several weeks they will be release up episodes featuring each of the designs. My episode's scheduled for May- I have no idea what that's actually going to looking like. It could be great- or if reality shows are any indication, I could come off looking truly goofy. At least I didn't slap or yell at anyone (I'm pretty sure). I'm nervous to see what this looks like. They're doing a showing of all the episodes in Chicago, so I hope to go see that. I'll give details if I catch that and once my episode's up online. We will be Kickstarting the game after the series wraps. So wish me luck with all of that. 

You can see the prologue video here and find out more information about the competition. CoH will be running another of these in 2014. 

SO WHAT’S THE GAME?

(Repeated from my earlier post on the blog) I’m glad you asked, fictitious voice in my head. In Right of Succession you take the role of a noble house, trying to rise and gain influence over several generations. You do that in a couple of ways. You add new branches and key leaders to your house, eventually marrying and creating new lines. Each key person has an area of expertise and a rating- so you might have a branch with a Grand Dame (Society 3) and a Pamphleteer (Activism 1). Those roles allow access to different actions which can be used to modify your house, gain influence, generate money, or affect other player’s houses.

More importantly, you’re trying to build up values in the different areas to match the agendas of the current “Real Power,” the figure within the royal household who actually has power. That may be the king, a sneaky vizer, a young prince, the grand inquisitor, or even the royal consort. Each has differing interests. By matching your house’s development to that, you gain more influence (aka VPs). But the trick lies in the way those royals operate. In each generation, one of three people may be the “Real Power”- and through actions and money you can affect who has command. A generation lasts for two turns, and then another rises and takes its place- forcing you to calculate how to match their desires. You can see a couple of turns ahead, allowing for strategic planning.

I enjoy board games, but I’ll admit I can get burned out of even a good game after a half-dozen plays. I’m hugely biased, but we’ve been playing this game for the last couple of years pretty much every week and I’m not tired of it. I still find new approaches and I still look forward to playing. I’m managed to build a game that really hits the sweet spot for elements I enjoy when I play.

ORIGINS

Right of Succession came out of two distinct game elements I enjoyed. The first came from classic board games which had better ideas than execution. GW published an epic kingdom-building game called Blood Royale in a giant box. We played it, I think twice. It ended up too long and too boring. It had some great ideas in it- I loved the concept of the goods and treaties. I used that to craft a "Model Feudal Council" at an academic summer camp. It allows me to bring together some fantasy elements with training in Robert’s Rules of Order. I figured that would serve them well if they later wanted to do Model UN, Arab league, or the like. The more interesting idea from Blood Royale was the creation of a lineage- with marriages, family evolution, and the changing of generations. I wanted a game with more of that. I picked up Avalon Hill's Down with the King, hoping it would do that, but it was just a weird hyper-long and detailed game. (That’s one that needs to be reworked and rebuilt for a new era).

So I knew I wanted a game with multiple generations of families. To that I brought another mechanic that I really loved: Demon Fusions from the Shin Megami Tensai video game series. In that, you can merge two demons to create a higher rank one. What you get depends on what you combine. More importantly, there’s a game to trying to carry over the right skills to the new beast. When you play, you try a merge and if it doesn’t exactly give you the right combo of abilities, you back out and try again. And again and again. It’s a weird grind that’s strangely satisfying. I worked trying to figure out how to use that mechanic elsewhere. In the end, I used it as the basis for the marriage system in Right of Succession.

Which I hope doesn’t say anything bad about me.

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Nine: 2006-2007)

GM OF TWO WORLDS

I’ve talked about this before but I wonder: how many gamers actually play games in published “settings.” Let’s leave aside settings presented in particular corebooks- like Earthdawn’s Barsaive, Aberrant’s Nova-filled Near Future, or Cyberpunk’s Night City. Let’s also leave out licensed world books or historical ones. I’m thinking about new settings presented for an existing system. So for example TSR’s Planescape, Pelgrane’s Bookhounds of London, or Mongoose’s Cthonian Stars. Or to more specifically to my subject- Necessary Evil for Savage Worlds, Paragons for Mutants & Masterminds, or eCollapse for Wild Talents.

I ask because I’ve always built my own supers campaign worlds. I’ve been running my hodge-podge, multi-property Firstwave: Year One campaign online for two years. It borrows from many sources but is a completely new beast. Before that I ran the NO:LA Nightwatch campaign I’ve been posting about recently. Then there was the Arkham Harbor, an all-women team in a supernatural world; Bloodlines, which offered a setting with only hereditary and genetic powers; Frontline ,which had strong government enforcement and control; Saviors which offered street level heroes in a world which had once had superbeings. I have several others, but I don’t think I’ve ever run straight from a setting sourcebook. I’ve borrowed characters and organizations, but I’ve never taken a published supers setting’s key premise.

And I don’t think I’m alone in this. Most of the superhero GMs posting online seem to build their own worlds (like Barking Alien and Armchair Gamer). Now that’s a purely anecdotal observation, but I wonder if we ways to study that. One means might be to track how many of these supplemental settings actually get solid support and expansion. The three I mentioned in the first paragraph have respectively gotten a reprint, a module, and nothing. While I’ve seen many fantasy campaign settings arrive and go nowhere, I’ve also seen several spawn rabid followings like Midnight or Forgotten Realms. I’m hard pressed to point to a superhero setting, not tied directly to a core system, which has had multiple and substantial supplements. In this case I’m particularly not talking about numerous small pdfs or villain/organization books which happen to be set in that universe. If that is true, I wonder why that happen? What actually sells for superhero games? And why do we continue to get new settings books: Are they thought experiments? Are they just house campaigns written up for vanity? Do they sell to GMs looking for source material? Or am I wrong and these settings are getting serious and consistent play?

TIMELINE

Wikipedia Year in Comics 2006; Year in Sales

Wikipedia Year in Comics 2007; Year in Sales

Events: Infinite Crisis, Civil War, 52, Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America, One Year Later. Amazons Attack, World War Hulk, Countdown to Final Crisis, Sinestro Corps War, Annihilation, Annihlation: Conquest, Messiah CompleX

Television: Aquaman (Pilot), legion of Super Heroes, Heroes, Power rangers Operation Overdrive, El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, Blood+, Painkiller Jane, Bionic Woman

Films:  Blood Rayne, Ultraviolet, V for Vendetta, X-Men: The Last Stand, Superman Returns, My Super Ex-Girlfriend (uuuuuughhhh), Ghost Rider, TMNT, Spider Man 3, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

These lists cover a smaller slice of time than my past rpg lists. I hope this makes them easier to read. I include mostly core books, but also significant setting or sourcebooks. Given the number of great things published I haven't included everything I wanted to.  I list revised editions which significantly changed a line. Generally I only include published material- print or electronic. I leave out freebie or self-published games. I'm sure I've left something off without adequate reason; feel free to add a comment about a line I missed (if published from 2006-2007). I've arranged these in by year and then alphabetically within that year.

History of Superhero RPGs (Part One: 1978-1982)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Two: 1983-1985)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Three: 1986-1992)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Four: 1993-1996)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Five: 1997-1998)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Six: 1999-2001)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Seven: 2002-2003)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Eight: 2004-2005)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Nine: 2006-2007)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Ten: 2008)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Eleven: 2009)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Twelve: 2010)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Thirteen 2011-2012)

1. BASH! (2006)

The original BASH- Basic Action Superheroes- is a short, quick-play system. Characters have three attributes, skills, advantages/disads, and a set of points to buy powers. The power list on offer in the first book is eclectic- and a little odd. While the whole thing feels threadbare, the resolution system's pretty easy- based on compared 2d6 (with doubles exploding). It would be easy to dismiss BASH given the layout, art, design, and general messiness. However in the years since the publisher has continued to support the line and release supplements. That includes BASH! Ultimate Edition which is about four times the length of the original. That got an ENnie Awards nomination in 2010. There's a lot to look at in the line: fantasy & sci-fi versions, modules, villain collections, and powers books. Point buy. d6 Resolution.

2. D6 Powers (2006)

I never played any of the old WEG games, not even Star Wars. I read the rules but didn’t have a chance to actually try them out. It’s a system that gets a lot of love, despite a mixed history of companies supporting it. D6 Powers covers two bases- serving as both a generic sourcebook for d6 games and a power supplement for GODSEND Agenda (discussed on the previous list). Setting specific elements are carefully marked in the text- an example of good editorial choices. It also has...wait, wait. I have to say this once again: if you're going to put a background element on your pages- watermark, illustration, cityscape outline...PLEASE MAKE IT AS SUBTLE AS POSSIBLE. Alternately, make it easy to turn off. D6 Powers isn't the worst offender in this category- but it wore on me as I went through the book. 

D6 Powers does exactly what it needs to. It opens with light suggestions and discussions of how players create supers characters- with decent examples and advice. Advantages & Disadvantages come next which says something about how you're supposed to think about your character. A large selection of powers follows, the gadgets rules, new combat options, and finally some templates for character types. I like the way the game inserts commentary and advice within each section. Red text covers the implications of different items and how a GM or player might manage them. This is a great sourcebook for the d6 System and a useful sourcebook for homebrewers looking for some supers rules to adapt. Point buy. d6 Pool Resolution.

3. Hearts & Souls (2006)

In the early to mid 2000's we got a slew of new amateur press rpgs with the same problem. The designers had enthusiasm, interesting new approaches, and access to new DTP tools. However they didn't have experience with those tools or with layout in general. That resulted in many, many hard to read games- with jammed & difficult to follow text design. Hearts & Souls is hard going, but it has a few interesting ideas. It makes a character's Drive central to them- giving them access to rerolls. Stress triggers offers a new approach to weaknesses. It also use a relatively simple system for tracking character stats. Other elements I'm not as sure about- especially things like the Monologue mechanics. The game has powers and attributes, but players assign qualitative values to them as they wish. There's no point or parity system in the main rules. The power list is only a little over a dozen items on a couple of pages. Most of the core book consists of general GM advice and setting pitches. The problem is that H&S doesn't make a compelling case why it should be the go-to light supers system over any others. In fact it feels more like a GM's home campaign with tacked on rules. Freeform character generation. Various dice resolution.

4. Humanydyne (2006)

A French rpg, Cubicle 7 apparently published an English softcover in 2011- but they don't have that available as a pdf. Instead you can buy the French 112 page electronic version for $20 (marked down from $40!). On the other hand, that English version may in fact be mythical. While some retailers (like Amazon) have an entry for it, others show it as a cancelled product. That's too bad as it looks like an interesting concept. Some describe it as post-apocalyptic, but it looks more dark future (ala Transmetropolitan). Players apparently take the role of agents trying to maintain some balance between humanity and superbeings. That reminds me a little of The Boys as well, but this seems more cyberpunk and less testosterone. ????

5.  Legends Walk! (2006)

A mythic superheroes game in the vein of the later Scion system and GODSEND Agenda. The characters have been chosen by a pantheon which grants them specific powers. Legends Walk! uses a simple resolution system- closer to Fate or Marvel than Champions or even V&V. While the game offers some optional complications, players will find the basic system rich enough. The core book presents a fully-fleshed out setting. It gives a near-future world which has been shaped by the emergence of the super-powered bearers of mythic force. Imagine a superhero universe where the only characters were like Wonder Woman or Thor. Players have to balance their choices with the demands and restrictions of their pantheons. Silver Branch has published several supplements with new characters and pantheons. As well they've released a version of the game using the Truth& Justice rules. List pick character creation. d6 Pool resolution.

6.  To Be A Hero (2006)

A superhero setting sourcebook for d20. It feels like a long house campaign mixed together with a splatter of new d20 mechanics. I'm not a big d20 person, but usually I can tell when some thought and care has gone into the mechanical adaptation. Those games make an effort to clarify changes, make any new sub-systems clear, and explain what the game's adding to the d20 basics. Then there's everything else which takes d20 mastery as a given and shovelwares more rules onto the page. TBaH feels like the latter. I'm also more than a little annoyed by the trace art here- clearly lifted from the Justice League cartoon. Only recommended for the most die-hard d20 fans. Level and class. Various dice resolution.

7.  Wild Talents (2006)

Wild Talents takes the superhero rules presented in Godlike and brings them into a modern setting. It further refines the One Roll Engine mechanics used in that system (and in games like Reign). Interestingly, Wild Talents was among the earliest 'crowdfunded' rpgs- resulting in a heavy hardcover edition. The game retains the complexity and depth of the original Godlike game. It is closer to Champions or GURPS Supers than Mutants & Masterminds or any flavor of Marvel. Some of that complexity comes from the granularity and some from the potential scale of the game. That's at least my impression; I've heard other opinions.

Wild Talents also builds on Godlike's setting. It offers a campaign frame which details the history from post-WW2 to the present day. The coolest tool allows GMs to define worlds on several axes: Morality, Super Being Influence on History, and Weirdness. That's a neat way to break down settings. It makes it easy to look at later Wild Talents setting supplements and get a feel for the play. Later Arc Dream would revise Wild Talents with an Essential Edition covering just the key rules and a full 2nd Edition which includes the setting material. Point Buy. d10 Pool Resolution.

8. Pulp (2006-2007)

As with some of the other lists in this series, I've consolidated the corner-case Pulp Hero games into one entry. Pulp Era: Cinematic Adventures in the Yesteryear! is a revision of a much earlier free rpg product, heavily expanded. It definitely covers the domino-mask wearing crimefighter. It seems to have had a wide distribution as a trade paperback. The blurb line describes it as a game that covers that territory, but with a Tarrantino twist. Not sure what that means. Better known is Spirit of the Century which IIRC offers the first approach to the modern FATE system. Definitely more light and cinematic, SotC gives plenty of options for science heroes and vigilantes. Evil Hat has since played up this universe with other games. Two-Fisted Tales Revised took home an Ennie nomination for best writing in 2008. The original appeared in 2003, but this revision knocks it out of the park. It offers a great overview of the genre, a solid bibliography, and uses public domain art of the era appropriately. The game has some crunch, but isn't especially difficult. Characters can have powers or power-like effects through mystical training, gadgets, or actual spells. That can be tuned by the GM to create distinct genre types. Definitely a useful resource for any GM wanting to run a pulp game.

9. 4C System (2007)

One of the first old-school superhero clones and another early crowdfunded product. The 4C System offers a basic engine for play, but encourages other publishers to build on it. Basically, 4C rebuilds the FASERIP mechanics from Marvel Super Heroes. This core engine can then be used to play out many different games. 4C includes significant material on superpowers as you might imagine. But the whole thing only comes in at 32 pages and can be downloaded for free. If you liked FASERIP and want to give it another spin, you can't go wrong with this. Given the price of Marvel Supers old stuff (especially MA3: The Ultimate Powers Book) 4C is a better option. If you don't know the original game, you still might look at it as a quick and simple superhero game with options for integrating personality and play. Random generation. Percentile resolution.

10. Gestalt: The Hero Within (2007)

Designer Scott Bennnie has done a ton of amazing work. He's made solid contributions to superhero gaming across several systems. I think some people assume 'superhero' as an rpg genre doesn't have the dynamism of something like fantasy or sci-fi. But setting books like this, Underground, and Aberrant prove that wrong. They put a new spin on the genre- sometimes with massive changes and sometimes with simple shifts to the initial premise. Often it begins with the question of origin.

In this huge world book superbeings are literally archetypes. Called Gestalts, they represent a key concept, ideal, or symbol. In most cases a person becomes bonded to a concept and gains powers- for better or worse. The world book presents these ideas and the setting arising from it in over 300 pages of detail. It’s pretty massive and thorough. Gestalt aims for a more serious approach, but not necessarily a dark one. It reminds me a little of the early days of Marvel's Ultimate lines. GtHW presents many ideas and characters, but these are often deeply embedded in the background and setting. GM's looking for a complete new setting may be interested in it as well as those who like to strip-mine background books. It exists in several versions including ones for HERO system and Mutants & Masterminds 2e.

11. GURPS Supers (Third Edition) (2007)

Earlier on these lists I mentioned my group’s reaction to GURPS Supers. We loved and played GURPS but really disliked early attempts at modelling superheroes. Several times we came back and looked at it but gave up. By the time this edition of GURPS Supers came out, we'd migrated completely away from GURPS. I read through it and the earlier GURPS Powers. Powers covers more of the rules and mechanics for handling superpowers. On the other hand like other genre-focused supplements for the new GURPS 4e line, GURPS Supers offers more of sourcebook for running these campaigns. It gives some new mechanics (new powers, other approaches to character builds) but last third of the book discusses campaigns, superhero universes, and modelling these elements in GURPS. The books still has a lot of rules, so GMs looking for a more open or generic sourcebook may be disappointed.  Point buy. d6 Resolution. 

12. Guardian Universe II: Power Overwhelming (2007)

While it has gotten better in recent years, I loathe CG artwork in rpgs. Many, many games throw you into the Uncanny Canyon. I dread some publishers because of this. I'm not saying every piece of art in GUII is bad, but there's some serious nightmare fuel. Combine that with thick watermarked gutters, dense text design, and tomato red callout boxes and you have a book which you have to slog through. Guardian Universe II weirdly assumes players know the world of the previous Guardian Universe game, and then completely blows that away. From there it doesn't do much to tell you what you're actually doing in the game or how it differs from other supers rpgs. Clearly there's an interstellar feel- but you have to get far into the book before you have any sense of what's going on. Character generation is random for the most part. Beyond that, the organization of the book makes the rules hard to follow. It does have an index, but that's small comfort. Random generation. Percentile and d10 based (I think).

13. Paragons (2007)

Mutants & Masterminds 2e came with a built-in setting, the world of Freedom City. This echoed Champions' approach with 4e and beyond. Interestingly the M&M world shifted between 1e and 2e, with certain characters and elements excised out. I think this has to do with the original developer group leaving or being removed from the project. That's too bad as that cut some cool ideas. But Paragons is a completely new setting. It aims for two design goals. On the one hand it wants to be flexible for GMs. On the other it wants a "realistic" approach which places superbeings in a real world setting. On those Paragons has mixed success.

Don't get me wrong- this is a dynamite book. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in supers gaming. It has great resources in the form of characters, story seeds, and GM techniques. However it doesn't have quite as many dials as it could. The GM can tune the source of power outbreaks, specifics of the initial events, and some other details. But the book takes as given much more- societal impacts, organizations, and what the power structures look like. I wish Paragons had more wide-ranging options in the chapters, but I wonder if that wouldn't be an entirely different book. The "realistic" approach it goes for, on the other hand, doesn't work. It feels like most other superhero settings: lots of paranormals, weird organizations, superbeing bars, etc. It has all of those trappings. It certainly isn't a Year One setting book. While it does address some of the implications of supers to the real world, it doesn't feel any more realistic than the backdrop of Aberrant or the Champions Universe. I think that's more a question of a book which tries to offer something for every GM. Paragons may not do exactly what it sets out to, but it remains a highly recommended supers supplement.

On the flip side of "realism", I also point to another Green Ronin supplement from this period: Iron Age. That tries to emulate the feel of comics from the mid-80's to mid-90's when men had pouches, spines arched, muscles bulged, and no one had feet. That's a fun read and also worth picking up.

14. Scion aka Hero (2007)

Some might consider this a corner case, but it really feels like a superhero game to me. You have a modern setting, characters who discover they have special powers, and battles against the forces of evil. Sure you have all the mythic trappings and details, but we see the same thing in characters like Hercules and Zauriel. This first book feels the most superheroic. Eventually the Scion game line moves from high powered adventure to earth-shaking struggles, but if you've read any of Jack Kirby's work or even Grant Morrison's various heroes as new gods stuff, then you know the template.

The first book of the Scion line, Hero is pretty awesome. It sets up the concept well and offers lots of choices for the players. It borrows the base system from Exalted 2e- complete with the battle wheel. That makes sense and the games feel close. The way the system handles Epics attributes (borrowed a little from Aberrant) works decently. The system does have couple of problems. Some effects and aspects are simply much more powerful than others. In particular, speed is the end all and be all of the system. Beyond that the combat can be slow, with significant downtime for players. Most importantly, once you get to the highest power rank of the Hero book things get crazy. The sheer numbers of dice, the necessary level of the opposition, what the characters can do to normal humans are all crazy. And that's just the first of several arcs- with later books getting even more potent.

Still I'd recommend the first book (as well as portions of the Scion Companion). The ideas and details there could easily be adapted to your supers system of choice. The concept of Fatebinding, where NPCs who interact with the PCs get knotted up in their stories is worth stealing. Really, really worth stealing.  Point and pick character generation. d10 pool resolution.

15. The Supercrew (2007)

A light-hearted supers game presented in a comic book format. Originally from Sweden, it received a later English-language version. In the game players play themselves. In the middle of a game session, they're called away to assume their secret identities as heroes. Supercrew uses a hyper-simple stat and resolution system. Overall it looks light a fun and light-hearted superhero game with unique art. Random generation. d6 Resolution.

History of Superhero RPGs (Part One: 1978-1982)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Two: 1983-1985)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Three: 1986-1992)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Four: 1993-1996)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Five: 1997-1998)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Six: 1999-2001)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Seven: 2002-2003)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Eight: 2004-2005)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Nine: 2006-2007)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Ten: 2008)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Eleven: 2009)

History of Superhero RPGs (Part Twelve: 2010)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Thirteen 2011-2012)

Interview with Jacob Wood: Play on Target Special Episode

Earlier this week we had the chance to talk with Jacob Wood. So far we’ve been pretty conservative about doing designer/publisher interviews. The other one we did came mostly from Brian’s absolute love of Amber Diceless (take a drink). In any case Jacob Wood currently has a Kickstarter going for his game, Monster Kart Mayhem. But at least as importantly, he’s an advocate for accessible games (hence the name of his company and website). We talk with Jacob about what he sees as best practices for publishers, what games need to be more accessible for gamers with impairments, and what conventions can do to better serve this community. That’s all important stuff, plus his game sounds really fun- and I’m curious about the combination of rpg and board game elements in it. Check it out.

INTERVIEW WITH JACOB WOOD

Play on Target Episode Round Up

If you like RPG Gaming podcasts, I hope you'll check out Play on Target. We take a focused approach- tackling a single topic each episode. You can subscribe to the show on iTunes or follow the podcast's page at www.playontarget.com.

This Imaginary Life: GM Burnout & Long Campaigns

Yesterday I sat in with amazing gamers for a session of This Imaginary Life. TiL’s a G+ Hangout show affiliated with Canon Puncture- another great gaming resource. I got to chat with Rich Rogers and Judd Karlman. Rich does a ton of things beyond Canon Puncture, including Indie+ events and such. Judd blogs at The Githyanki Diaspora and was part of the Sons of Kryos podcast (which I’ve heard was awesome). He also wrote an amazing Sorcerer supplement, The Dictionary of Mu (which I had a dream about). I appreciate Rich asking me to sit in again; I love talking with other GMs about what they’re doing.

Judd mentions those kinds of conversations when we talk about GM Burnout. Gamemasters at low energy or on the brink might consider talking to - face to face, through G+, or on some other forum. I’ve seen some success with that- though online conversations run the risk of going off topic. That depends on the forum. Every once in a while I watch threads on Reddit's r/rpg go off the rails. But generally other GMs want to help and have ideas and suggestions. If a worried gamer asks a specific question, that’s easy to manage and respond to. But what if they (or you) just have a sense of vague unease, uncertainty about what’s gone on, or general dissatisfaction.

As I mention in the show, I think that might require something akin to a writers’ workshop. How would that work? You’d want to establish some ground rules- beginning with the idea of everyone gets a chance to present what they’re doing. We’re all gamers with the impulse to talk about our games so we’d need a safe space to discuss that. Well, not exactly safe- more a fair space- that everyone’s gets their turn. Beyond that you’d want to figure out what kinds of responses work. I know that when I’m uncertain about something and still trying to work it out in my head, more direct suggestions don’t help as much. Because the listener hasn’t been at the table, they don’t know the whole story. I can get in a cycle of frustration and defensiveness even with someone I trust, like my wife Sherri.

So perhaps we’d need to think about ways in which we give feedback. Reactions are fair- especially pointing out things that stood out as a GM-Listener. Point to cool things, to places that generated new ideas, to places which left you unsure, to scene breaks, to novel obstacles, to scenic details. If handled well you can help a GM make a map of what’s working or not. I think focusing on asking questions offers an even better opportunity. What do you see the players doing in this scene? How are you shifting from this event to the next? What kind of adversaries do you see there? What kinds of players are you running this for? As I’m writing those out I realize that’s harder than it looks. I want to ask questions that elicit info without implying a judgment (i.e. Doesn’t this power level seem too high here?).

I want to consider the "GM Workshop" some more and see what people have posted about best practices. Are there some accessible tools to use? I have an idea about how that structure might be made into something interesting, but it’s a little rough right now.

We also talk about Long Campaigns in this episode. I think there’s a clear and vital link between burnout and length. The longer a campaign goes on, the harder it is to track the shape of it. A GM may find themselves running a completely different campaign as it progresses. I ran a d20 Black Company mercenary game that doubled in length over what I'd imagained. The PCs had back up characters but they became as important as their primary ones. I ended up having to run both parties in parallel. The game shifted from gritty and easy death to something the players invested in more fully. That campaign was only about sixteen sessions.

The longest campaign I’ve run went bi-weekly from Feb of ’07 to Dec of ’13. I broke that Steampunk Fantasy game into chapters, but even then I could feel the runaway wagon of it start to splinter and buckle by the end. I managed to hold it together with spit, sealing wax, and shiny encounters. One issue we don't discuss in regard to Long Campaigns is the question of power creep. Players get more stuff, become more potent, use up the available rules options over time. Some games can handle that. But I ran a homebrew fantasy game I imagined going for perhaps a year. It ended up going almost three years- and the mechanics simply weren’t built for that. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the episode and find something useful in it!

NO:LA Nightwatch: A Supers Campaign Seed (Part Two)

More of the background for my NOLA: Nightwatch superhero campaign. Previous post and more explanation can be found here. 

The Second Sunder War

Embroiled in a conflict with Qurac, following a closely contested election and having suffered a near disastrous event in Hurricane Katrina, America in 2006 was ill prepared for what was about to happen to it. Some had seen the signs-- strange omens and portents, the vanishings of key researchers in the field of magic, changes in the alignment of elements around those places with mystical connections. For some time there had been some rare travel between the worlds of our own Earth and that of Empyre and Majestic-- mostly the result of super team-ups and strange events. But in late 2005 the few gates connecting our world to Majestic collapsed. They had been dismissive of our own world and paranoid about contamination, so most assumed this to be deliberate action by the masters of Majestic. Dust Pilgrim, a super who had come from Majestic years before, assembled a team to look into the matter. After several unsuccessful tries, they managed to wrench open a gate and pass through. Most would never be heard from again.

In early 2006, The Perfect Master, traveling in Empyre found himself dragged before the Arcadian Court and told to leave. The gates between Earth and Empyre would be closed forever and anyone who attempted to move through them would be destroyed. Again, given how rare such travel was, most ascribed this to either a political change in that world or simple xenophobia.

Then in early August, Dust Pilgrim returned-- near death, blistered, his body contaminated with a dark force, he managed to reach the super group The Guard and speak with their team leader Magi before collapsing. Lord Sunder had wholly and completely seized control of Majestic. He'd finally laid hands upon the Eclipse Matrix. Even darker, he'd managed to wrest the Crown of Dusk from Empyre-- brought to him by a traitor from among the Seelie. Empyre had shuttered itself, closing its gates in an attempt to keep Lord Sunder from coming through. But Sunder cared little for that world, instead his attentions had turned to Earth and to the third and final piece of the Shadow Trinity.

The Guard spread out to pass word of the impending assault to everyone they could. In some cases they were able to raise allies, in some cases they found infiltrators who worked to stop or distort their message, but in most places they met indifference. Rumors of a super-villain on another world, even one who had caused so much damage before, could not be the basis for diverting resources and changing long-term strategic plans. In the end, all of that mattered little because the Guard only had seven days to rally people to their cause.

On the seventh day, Lord Sunder came through looking for his own. His forces had been refined and developed-- technology seen in the earlier conflict had been adapted and twisted to his own dark ends. Worse still, he had managed to corrupt much of the forces of Majestic-- and now his armies were supplemented by Bio-Mechanical Warriors, Organo-Mechanical Striders, and the Telepathic Corp that had once defended their own world.

Sunder had also planned his strike more carefully-- in Europe, in Russia, in Japan, in any major industrialized nation he struck at the command centers and cut off communications. Those countries not initially struck were given an ultimatum-- remain apart from the conflict or be destroyed. They would fall later-- for now Sunder's goal was the United States and the final part of the Shadow Trinity. Across the United States, major metropolitan areas came under attack. Superheroes came out in full force trying to keep back the dark forces. There were some successes but more often than not these heroes fell. In some cases, Sunder brought them under his own sway and tossed them back into the fray to fight against their former allies.

As chaotic as the first assault wave seemed, it soon became clear what Sunder's target was-- Boston. There he sensed the energy of the third part. As August neared its end-- Sunder drew his diverse forces together and launched wave after wave at the New England city. Within 48 hours it had nearly been laid to waste. But it was then that Sunder discovered he been tricked. Magi and other had worked to create a diversionary signature to draw Sunder away from the real location. Though they'd later be accused of cold calculation in sacrificing Boston, only a city with a potent magical heritage could have powered the diversion long enough to keep Sunder's attention. The question remained if the sacrifice Boston, Magi and the other heroes would prove to be enough.

As the end of August approached, desperate heroes gathered in New Orleans. Many had already fallen to Lord Sunder-- dead, missing or corrupted. Despite the threat, both remaining government superteams-- Interdict and Frontline-- had been recalled to protect Washington DC. Still some defected away and headed south, alerted by various means that the Crescent City would be the site of the last stand.

From elsewhere, across the globe, heroes found themselves forced to make a choice. They could stay and defend their homelands, or they could recognize the threat to all humanity. Although the exact numbers will never been known, surviving witnesses saw the Russian hero Finality stand shoulder to shoulder Iranian Vigilante Honorable Blade, American super Parity working alongside wanted Malaysian Arch-Villain Son of Light. Even from beyond our world they came. A group of rogue warriors from Empyre, known only as The Twelve Blades, came along with a score of others from their world-- all now outcast and barred from returning home. Some few from Majestic gifted with powers who had managed to escape Lord Sunder's dominion came as well.

Sunder's forces marched from Boston, spread out and divided to raise terror and prevent an effective response. To the east, forces led by Sunder's right-hand Servant, Blackvigil, tore along the coast before heading west towards New Orleans. To the west were the diverse forces under the command of the Atomicus, a super villain who had joined Sunder in the early days of the invasion. His forces had worked to disrupt any local military response in the Midwest and beyond. Finally along the most direct route to New Orleans came Sunder himself and the bulk of his forces. They moved with haste despite the destruction of roads and bridges before them.

On the ground, there were those among the resident New Orleans heroes who begged that the Midnight Gauntlet be taken from the city. But the risk remained too great and there still existed a plan as to how Lord Sunder might be fought using his own weapons. The heroes of New Orleans recognized, but did not truly accept, what had to be done. They turned their attention to evacuating the city as best they could. With only limited help from the government-- occupied with Boston and battling Sunder's march, they moved people away. The Watchman and his team traveled from neighborhood, from house to house. Others-- like Bloodmoon, The Concord, Silverstock, and The Riverman-- used their powers to construct barriers, ease traffic jams leaving the city, and turn the very landscape of the region to their advantage.

Sunder approached the city, confident in his powers. His two flanking armies prepared to move forward. The heroes had been quiet in their preparations which they now set into motion. In the east, the terrain had forced Blackvigil's armies to consolidate. It was then that the assembled heroes-- those with mastery of the elements-- let loose the force of nature itself. Rivers and waterways had been carefully and quietly dammed, and the landscape had been reshaped to draw the army into what essentially had become a valley. When they let loose all of the waters at once, combined with the force of a tropical storm a group of heroes died harnessing, the army shattered and drowned.

To the west Atomicus gathered his forces. He'd supplemented those given him by Sunder with any supervillains who would join the cause of destruction. Two days outside of New Orleans Atomicus gathered his troops together on a abandoned military base. Having called his subordinates together, Atomicus quietly declared his allegiance to the Earth and, with the flip of a switch, set off a nuclear weapon-- incinerating the mass of Sunder's forces there.

Despite the losses of his two flanking armies, Sunder pressed on. He had no need for subordinates-- they would all eventually be fodder to him anyway. His power had grown such that only those wholly corrupted and imbued with his essence could remain in his presence for any length of time. Sunder tore aside all natural obstacles in his path, leaving behind any stragglers and pressing on. By the time he reached New Orleans he had perhaps a thousand warriors left to him, each blazing with the light of Sunder's essence.

Conflicting accounts remain of what happened next. The heroes who remained alive in the city were a fraction of Sunder's numbers, but they fought valiantly. Pitched battles along Canal Street, a raging firefight in the Morial Convention Center, a crushing melee that devastated the Irish Channel-- each of these a holding action to keep Sunder from his prize and give those trying to come up with an answer more time.

Time, in the end, would be its own answer-- combined with the nature of Midnight Gauntlet. No one has yet confirmed exactly what happened, but some speculation can be made. The Shadow Trinity granted power which grew as the items came closer together. Sunder had been using his corrupt avatars as power sinks to hold some of that power as he assimilated it. No one is sure who finally took the Gauntlet to Sunder, battled him and forced the energies into him. But it was at that moment that other heroes, led by the Tempus Fugitive, let loose their trap. Somehow they spread Sunder's energies-- held in his avatars across time. They would exist in moments-- trapped and separate from one another but unable to join their power together. As Sunder fell into the void of time he dragged others with him, many of the last defenders who had managed to hold him long enough.

Before the Second Sunder War, few had any solid estimates as to the number of superbeings-- of various origins-- on the earth. What is generally agreed is that at least two-thirds, likely more, died or vanished in the war. More lost their powers, suffered grave injury of simply retired after those battles, having seen too much. Some moved away from herodom into other circles like entertainment and politics.

Today, well over a year after the final battle, New Orleans and the rest of the US works to rebuild. Much has been accomplished. Much remains to be done. It is now that some few, a new generation of heroes, have begun to step up and take the place of those who have fallen. Fewer superheroes exist, fewer super villains are active, but there are still threats out there that require a response.

Next: Media and the World

Better Player Advice: Play on Target Podcast Ep. 26

Play on Target goes classic today with a perennial question: how can I be a better player? As with the last week’s episode, I think we hit some concrete and specific strategies. Certainly we do less name-checking of odd rpg systems and resources. As I mention in the podcast the discussion comes from four people who generally GM. That informs our position- though all of us play in campaigns (some online, some f2f, some Pbf). I think in the future we need to do a slightly tilted version of this topic: what do I want as a player? Ideally I want to play at the intersection of those two concepts: knowing what makes for enjoyable play and knowing what I like from a game. 

BEING A BETTER PLAYER

Play on Target Episode Round Up

THE MIRROR GAZES ALSO?

I think it's harder to judge your performance as a player; perhaps more particularly to accurately judge your performance. As a GM you’re out in front of everyone, watching the group and working to generate reactions. Enthusiasm, player participation, tension, attention, remembering details, taking initiative, playing off of the world- all of these are good benchmarks for a GM’s success. (That assumes the GM isn’t in the self-doubt death-spiral, which is a topic for another post). A good GM thrives and works with that feedback.

So how do you tell if you’re doing well as a player? You have some objective criteria. You get invited back, for one. Though you could also read that as socially mandated or based on the need to fill a seat. How about if the GM backs your character choices- though that may instead reflect the GM's style. You can’t necessarily judge it based on how much time a GM affords you at the table. A good GM spreads the spotlight around. You can't judge it on laughter you generate, since sometimes comedy breakouts slow a game down. I’ve had class-clown players who brought sessions to a halt. So much of what happens at the table is subjective- a player’s voice is one among many. If you’re good with judging social situations and responses, you probably have an easier time judging how well others enjoy your play at the table.

Maybe?

SELF-ASSESSMENT

I’m not sure- I’ve seen some socially smooth folks who went to weird places in games. They’d clearly decided on an approach and didn’t connect that with others. I’ve seen players who absolutely can’t pick up on social cues or avoid confrontation play strong and solid characters at the table. Is that a factor of play style, a factor of their ability to judge their performance, or some combination of the two?

Some games award bonus points for good play- rp’ing or some other factor. You could take that as an indicator. I’ve almost never used that. My sense has always been to reward the group as a whole. I played in a Champions campaign where people could vote on a bonus point award for a particular player. As a newbie coming into that group, I always felt a little out of place. The system encouraged the players not to rock the boat with one another or with the GM.

A smart group tells the GM what they’ve liked and how much they’ve enjoyed the session. That keeps the GM happy (generally- death-spiral aside). I think it equally important for the GM and other players to talk about play that they’ve enjoyed. That’s one of the things I like about both online games I run- the players stop and take time to say how awesome a particular scene, choice, or interaction was. I need to be better about making clear when I enjoy someone’s play. The responsibility has to be on the whole group- not just the GM- to point to striking and fun moments at the table. We need to point out good play to the players who play it…(need a better phrase for that).

TALKING TRASH

Does the reverse hold true? That’s more difficult. If you’re bothered by somone’s play your choices are more constrained. Obvious bad play- racism, sexism, interrupting, disrupting can be more easily pointed out. That’s still hard. I had to call a fellow player one time on the fact that whenever one of the women in the group spoke, he interrupted them. It took me some time to get the nerve up for that. How do you call out just not good or mediocre play? Criticism won’t work- you have to find some way to see if you can judge their interests, find a better role for them, or reinforce what they do well. I’ve had that work and not work. I think players should help one another. If someone has success in a niche, encourage that. But I think the GM has more responsibility on that side. If a player isn’t fitting in, if they’re bringing the group down, or if the GM just plain doesn’t enjoy running for them, that’s needs to be communicated.

Otherwise you could operate in a vacuum. You might not know if the other people at the table disliked your choices. I had this happen in a game. I may have posted this story before. I played in a Buffy-style game with three other players. We had a Slayer, a vampire, and a Voodoo Priestess. They all had interesting powers. I took a one-armed investigator who had a phantom arm. He could use it to break things from the inside, open doors, and do a modest amount of damage. The power was fairly light-weight in comparison to the others. But I liked my character- and I liked positioning myself as the normal person in a group devoted to high weirdness. I had decided to play the Zander/Zeppo figure in the team. I’d comment on that role- especially when they forgot I had any powers at all. I enjoyed it Until I found out the other players thought I was serious about my complaining. They’d taken it as me having sour-grapes for making a shitty character.

I hadn’t been clear about my play and the other players hadn’t given me feedback. We’d ended up in a loop. I felt like an idiot. I ended up quitting and the game stopped after that.

Yikes. Let’s hope I’m better at that now…

TWO WAY STREET

Related, but a little off topic, I want to do a player survey of some kind. About fifteen years ago I did one for my players- multi-page paper sheets using muitple question types. I suspect I wanted affirmation as much as information. The results did offer me a sense of some things: genre preference, game activities, system details. Of course all of this was stated preferences, which in my experience can be radically different from actual preferences. I’ve seen GMs and players who make a claim to wanting a certain amount of crunch, realism, and leathality but in practice really hate that. The survey was too big and clunky and wasted space. I did learn that at least one of my players had been cheating regularly and consistently, something I hadn’t known.

Now we have much easier tools for setting up surveys and actually getting that in a useful and anonymous format. By my count I have about two dozen players who have played at least four sessions in a campaign of mine over the last five years and who I still feel comfortable communicating with. That’s a pretty decent pool to draw on. Ideally I want to come up with a short, easily completed survey focused on getting useful information. I want to imagine it more like playtest feedback. 

Right now I’m thinking a quantitative section- with an agree/disagree continuum- and a short qualitative section. The former seems like the easier to come up with, although I really want to keep that short and reasonable. I’m imagining an optional section for rating genres and activities. The qualitative section’s more of a challenge. I have to ask myself what I want to find out. Ideally I want to know about moments where they thought something cool happened, moments/sessions that spring to mind when they think about the game, times when they felt stuck or helpless, times when they were confused, times when they felt their choices didn’t matter. I want to see if I can identify open or unsatisfied questions or moments for them.

I’ll post some details when I actually have something put together.

BEING A BETTER PLAYER

Play on Target Episode Round Up

If you like RPG Gaming podcasts, I hope you'll check out Play on Target. We take a focused approach- tackling a single topic each episode. You can subscribe to the show on iTunes or follow the podcast's page at www.playontarget.com.

NO:LA Nightwatch: A Supers Campaign Seed (Part One)

COURTING DISASTER

When I was asked to run a short superhero campaign a several years ago, I went to the players to ask them what they wanted. Most comments remained fairly general-- higher powered, not street level, some four-color action. But a couple of players suggested that they wanted to do something set in New Orleans. They'd been there several times and had run some campaign set there pre-Katrina. I'd opened the floor to their input and decided to go with it. However to avoid a lot of the political and cultural potential baggage I made a couple of changes.

Since this was a superhero universe, I opted to have the disaster which had visited the city be of a  super-powered nature. Katrina had occurred the year before, and had been slightly ameliorated by the presence of super-beings. Then the following year, a major villainous calamity, as you'll see in the history happened.

The background theme for the game would be the level of distrust which might arise towards supers following such devastation. I've read many comic books which have these things happen and then the next issue, it seems to be forgotten. In the Avengers, Kang took over the world for several issues and put all the supers in camps, but once that arc was over-- no one talked about it or the fact that he had trashed New York. In fact the only one which kept those consequences going that I recall was “The Pitt” arc from the short-lived New Universe line from Marvel.

My goal would be to have the group work on two fronts-- fighting villains but also trying to reestablish trust with the community. I'm not sure how successfully both elements worked, but we had a generally solid twelve session max-series campaign with a beginning, middle and an end. I'm hoping Mutants and Masterminds GM's will find this campaign outline/seed useful to mine for ideas. I'm avoiding stats, but gamemasters may find some plot seeds or ways to structure their own game.

Most of this material is fairly conventional. I deliberately echo the kinds of fast and trope-filled material you find in much supers world-building. One important detail is that I released this material to the players every few days in the weeks leading up to the campaigns. I think that made it a little easier to work through, though some of the later concepts- especially the NPCs- ended up lost in the shuffle. 

EARLY SUPERHERO HISTORY

Supers (and hero prototypes) have existed for some time—reaching back to a pulp era in the 1930's that included gangbusting vigilantes, sinister masterminds and lost civilizations. Most heroes at that time were either non-powered adventurers, based in technology or technological accidents, or had a mystical origin. International Adventurer Duke Dawson ("And His Twin Fists of Legally Inspired Justice") and Black Coffin ("Who Brings Fear and Doom to Criminals Everywhere") represent the twin poles of this era. On the one hand the public had an insatiable appetite for the brightly lit and well publicized adventures of Dawson and his Men of Justice. On the other cloaked vigilantes possessing strange powers and knowledge were spoken of quietly in the dark and dangerous hearts of American cities.

But theses heroes could not keep the world from descending into the darkness of World War Two. Many ended up involved in World War II but not to any great effect. In fact most operated on the home front or else joined their respective armed forces in their real identities. Following the war most of these heroes faded into the background, except for a handful who maintained this lifestyle.

Though the impact would not be known for a decade and a half, the Roswell Crash of 1947 began a crisis which would change the world. In that year an explosion occurred in Roswell New Mexico. The weak cover story of a crashed weather balloon only fed the fire of rumors about an alien spaceship and crash survivors. In fact the ruse was intended to cover an even stranger event-- tales of "Little Green Men" were a relief to those in charge of the Roswell Project. In fact the crash and explosion had marked the appearance of a group of travelers from a parallel world. They had escaped their own world, dominated by a being of pure evil, but fell into the hands of the government who treated them as experiments. Eventually they died under the "care" of these scientists, leaving them with almost no answers.

However certain of the more mystically attuned sensed the strangeness surrounding Roswell. While they we unable to uncover the full truth, they were eventually able to extricate three artifacts the travelers had brought with them. These artifacts had been brought to our world to prevent Lord Sunder from gaining his full strength. Understanding something of the danger of the objects but not their full importance they divided and concealed them across the globe.

In 1963, Lord Sunder came looking for his treasures. His sorcerous invasion swept across Europe, Asia and North America. Sunder's hordes spilled out of gates, cairns and old locations of power. Local forces fought back as best they could be, but many of Sunder's troops resisted conventional arms. These could only be fought with the assistance of those magically and paranormally powered. Heroes, some the children of those from the 1930's, joined the fray and the resources of dozens of secret orders, ancient masters and hidden sanctums flowed into the war. Throughout the winter of 1963 the battle raged on—while Russia threw itself into the conflict and some attempted to ally with the invader, eventually the combined forces managed a series of successes. Part of their success came from the assistance of two other parallel worlds—one, called Empyre, where the Sidhe, had taken control and held humanity enslaved. Despite the potential for conflict, the Sidhe recognized the potential danger and lent arms which could strike at the invader. The other, known as Majestic, possessed no magic or knowledge of it, but did have a hybrid technology based on psionics and biomechanical engineering. Eventually Lord Sunder was driven back and the gates were closed.

Quietly, the sorcerers of the earth put the three artifacts into new hands. One was given to Empyre, another to Majestic, and the third into the care of a secret cabal in this world. The war had the effect of disrupting the course of the Cold War, but only temporarily. Many had feared that one side or the other would eventually use nuclear arms, but that potential disaster was avoided. It also had the effect of making the idea of magic and parallel worlds and more generally the fantastic, available to the general public. Acceptance of new heroes and vigilantes arose from that.

In the years following the war, another change began to be seen across the world. Persons with new, strange powers seemingly arising from nowhere. Latent powers were often triggered by accidents or traumatic events. These "naturally" powered individuals formed the core of a new generation of supers who shaped the 1970's and beyond. The most common theory as to the origin of these powers is that the Sunder War created a kind of reality fallout-- the gates, the world changing magic, the strange technology-- all of this had altered the genetics of some people allowing these powers to appear. Scientists continue to explore this theory, especially since new supers have begun to appear born with super powers. Some suggest these are most potent latent powers perhaps activated by the pain of birth, but no consensus exists.

Next Time: The Second Sunder War