Friday, April 21, 2017

500 Cyberpunkish Names

Ashutosh Paradise
Child Daksha
Olinski Loss
Vikas Misiak
Helmet Master
Chaudhry Child
Flaminio Mist
Chalk Anirudhh
Steel Cryptic
Sanat Vinaya
Warren Manami
Boar Lover
Ratti Imagawa
Caiazzo Jasper
Isabell Bobko
MacGriogair Mcintyre
Ai Warlord
Glorifying Dharmavira
Gemstone Rain
Sinha Kuranosuke
Knight Nymph
Tanya Matsuko
Hadley Vasumati
Young Acid
Raman Petal
Fang Vinay
Taneja Manacle
Munenori Maiden
Joel Lord
Enlarged Ramesh
Heart Neon
Driss Denmaryk
Den Anton
Wave Werewolf
Citadel Twentieth
Svante Crushing
Brobutl Rachna
Victoro Cherian
Patterson Ray
Florence Buczynska
Alias Books
Kanak Strasburg
Bali Servant
obufusa Cursed
Cook Kubilus
Mië Wing
Noriyori Esther
Kathia Presta
Fanny Granite
Discordant Jurian
Manuel Silver
Ryan Pandey
Loving Xie
Wickes Sniper
NíScolaidhe Cryptic
Zylphia Kieber
Tomone Worshipping
Grandjean Gothic
Muni Slutsky
Harris Amaya
Mind Zilá
Lachman Azure
Mad Ghost
Bitterness Steiger
Silver Elisabeth
Richy Tobin
Ice Gina
Tara Manacle
Sunna Blowtorch
Hattori Orchid
Moonsilver Masatoshi
Sundering Hanusa
Dalal Praising
Annihilation Cloth
Sally Kozloff
Face Sharmistha
Asia Shobha
Plutus Crawford
Mikie Ninurta
Tsunami Dolinski
Makary Odalisque
Al-Tayyeb Gerwin
Takayoshi Kelly
Copper Lila
Mockus Ketaki
Alias Serge
Kanetsugu Tora
Bodhisattva Manju
Consuming Shield
Nori Great
Rufus Okita
Pallavi Serpent
Dot Faulkner
Unlamented Seat
Flak Andris
Neena Sawhney
Mahavira Jans
O'reilly Rakesh
Vyas Viola
Wason Decimo
Roborn Dalenky
Variya Gunter
Ignazio Tsunenaga
Tyranny Annihilation
Jack Ginny
Tomiju Vibhuti
Second Alderdice
Chui Maitreya
Tak Excellent
Narang Kusagra
Athanasiou Pulkit
Satiated Eduardo
Kameyo Victorie
Stok Hiram
Master Mainchín
Rust Flowing
Ore Smith
Ekström Charan
Tor Sanjog
Satayu Wesley
Fulop Coxand
Pain Dubuisson
Anger Sjöholm
Diminished Ii
Tarpana Everardo
Sìle Lalla
Ottelien James
Blindfold Vitkus
Lord Groge
Mist Heerwagen
Freitag Bail
Bradley Feodora
Kemp Seraphina
Void Jessamine
Fayyad Preshea
Strewth Kramar
Selma Oda
Nagayasu Hōjō
Uppal Dead
Lonsdale Jue-Chuo
Mccoll Drunken
Saunak Ognibene
NicCruadhlaoich Tamara
Hundredth Doshi
Medard Fearghasdan
River Demeter
ÓCathal oshitaka
Bert Johnsson
Lover Ooka
Whiskey Grasmick
Thorwald Moroz
Dass Frida
Constance Unfettered
Boar DiBerardino
Cruz Sane
Takenaka Nagakura
Devantaka Drive
Drakenberg Charity
Meera Undefeated
Doerr Devin
Ogasawara Buccini
Ōtomo Turing
Golden Smalbrugge
Forsberg Kirchner
Skies Venom
Elisha Kikkawa
Masako Cursed
Laugh Strange
Fuwa Flak
Momo Naoie
Tokimune Cerulean
Thomas Gudrun
Lalima Macris
Surya Kagekatsu
Lea Edifice
Mariann Gunda
Sophronia Hiroie
Sinnett Wolstenholme
Bockus Nagamoto
Chiyoko Narain
Chadha Anya
Ujiyasu Lady
Kozma Jain
Gaffy Dobrow
Procession Eagle
Seth Chokei
Ore Bogdán
Norbut Klara
Flip Petal
Jones Quantum
Number Takakage
Satyavati Egidio
Nikita Belly
Bright Dominik
Ginchiyo Seventh
Rai Andō
Eracla Grim
Avinash Aroused
Gaby Mccarthy
Henk Gitika
Rainbow Sunrise
Exultant Ekachakra
Lucian Satyen
Amol Ramaswamy
Sagacious Mukul
Major Nagamasa
Pirate Lemken
Bright Anzu
Camila Zachariah
Sunder Stream
Jansson Pacho
Soulsteel Mattie
Arima Edna
Bairbre Saffron
Rat Malas
Nirupa Pearl
Neele Manacle
Anthes Hari
Killer Mohini
Nitro Bureau
Hatsu August
Ashwin Ishida
Orchid Bella
Hurley Manoj
Chinami Wave
Sawyer Ashwini
Lundholm MacPhàidein
Laura Mitsuharu
Wada Herbert
Bhaltair Data
Cryptic Risa
Bashō Knobben
Micajah Killer
Merz Ajit
Grey Ramiro
Olivia Pale
Tamaki Ruin
Shindou Unfettered
Beneficent Koto
Millee Keisuke
Hitotsubashi Gun
Ádám Ore
Porter Anshul
Seoras Galinis
Ankur Nankervis
Rogue Bindiya
Lover Narcyz
Ebon Lord
Rati Usami
Hunter Stanley
Molis Kikuë
Kairis Kojima
Willow Nettie
Jeevan Koko
Christodoulou Madhav
Coen Abramov
Runciman Kazi
Beneficent Kamakshi
Srikant Mander
Din Kato
Wattan Sudarshan
Lotus Georgia
Flowing Suté
Hisa Bolotin
Allen Magnuson
Naomasa Iagan
Urjavaha Plummeting
Walton Vermillion
Armor Grinder
Rokosz Gandhi
Gilmore Kiyoni
Price Master
Minerva Prokop
Fujitaka Onyx
Parnika Iginia
Eliza Viviana
Crater Simkus
Domhnall Stephens
Final Vault
Katsumi Loes
Zoe Sharp
Sunrise One
Muadhnait Valeri
Mist Israel
Félix Mckenzie
Fuji Twentieth
James Gate
Cox Bunny
Colbert Blitz
Jayant Sergi
Charlotte Hepner
Jatin Tiger
Sunrise Kennyo
Prachi Guardian
Rezső Abi
Prison Patrido
Besson Pain
Dhananjay Mechanation
Ireland Hikaru
Hill Spider
Yoshimichi Viswanathan
Godelieve Seshadri
MacTuirc Verma
Som Lala
Harris Shruti
Dhawan Skies
Vinita Joyous
Grey Sobha
Jubilant Kura
Johal Patrick
Meson Bronze
Lucian Overload
Thérèse Kazue
Takatoyo Bawa
Rajagopal Toshikatsu
Sayoko Bala
Rancorous Khalsa
Nozomi Someina
Prasoon Mand
Gurkin Masked
Bhavsar Citrasvana
Sumanna Geronimo
Gavan Alabaster
Vikrant Dani
Chu-Kai Vaisakhi
Jeff Banshee
Shukis Shintarō
Duskin Medard
Yoko Taga
Yashodhara Kova
Robert Mazzetti
Crozier Shiho
Koemi Garden
Rosenquist Ekta
Oak Sood
Angry Tapti
Aeson Shikha
Cipher Zou
Spigot Macklin
Abád Mather
Stewart John
Buch Omy
Jayani Aleksander
Deena Serena
Stag Florieke
Myrtle Imai
Intonation Vineet
Genevieve Gijsbert
Temple Granqvist
Grasshoff Stream
Vivek Lamberta
Asvin Phoenix
Nobutomo Caetana
Radgärd Dead
Nobuchika Azure
Devouring Ten
Oza Edit
Schroth Ami
Bailey Boulle
Purohit Martin
Kowaleski Jinx
Narayan Kazutoyo
Mathieson Marianna
Trusha Kai-Zu
Crimson Wable
Shere Prakash
Butterfly Rantidev
Ivan Grievous
Marlina BenAbdelaziz
Anna Angel
Kazushige Yuka
Marble Iris
Rogue Tearing
Lecia Bornholdt
Dawn Blind
Bishop Forsaken
Alloy Citizen
Masako Fourth
Tokiwa Del
Vairaja Cliff
Pau Kissing
Albert Levi
Jonathan Ran
Lind Lyuba
Pohl Komal
Braga Largo
Promire Chandra
Doctor Varun
Smirti Grigas
Nyoko Nimrod
Dòmhnall Tomb
Serial Jaya
Palmer Thrashing
Léonard Eeada
Walia Rosalina
Haeffner Sorrowful
Kakar Ox
Giertych Rout
Refuge Alice
Goda Maksim
Juda Upendra
Sandy Gour
Shark Hatano
Tapi Redoubt
Mellor Rose
Random Valiy
Kaedé Klukas
Dai Plot
Tyranny Annaisha
Forova Sparrow
Moss Hellberg
Tear MacIlleDhòmhnaich
Soul Sour
Finger Lance
Doctor Nene
Moon Naina
Shackle Wali
Nayak Maitryi
Xue Nitro
Faga Keane
Canino Ore
Kaylock Bhandari
Izō Kiko
Chhabra Shigetsuna
Foster Master
Débora Bunny
José Rüdiger
Bhalla Goodwin
Suri Gavrie
Kortman Rui
Stanton Gustafson
Toufiq Roelofs
Worshipping Venkatesh
Lysagh Spyridon
Síoda Thumpston
Durmada Doi
Wilfred Starmetal
Komara Mega
Shah Lord
Prisha Elm
Number Davidson
Tami Vault
Brewer Cyber
Cho Hardesty/Hardisty
Tapesh Lawrence
Markowski Ōta
Jibran Lodewijk
Hermine Binson
Running Lord
Alaine Oksana
Tadaoki Gamo
Kumar Turtle
Mary Rachna
Owl Deviant
Sumitra Hiroshii
Marsaili Corinna
Nagi Pitters
Motochika Rao
Zaccardi Miskinis
Ravana Mcneil
Asharya Tulasi
Perry Jackpot
Hammond Sour
Elm Jade
UíhAinbhthín Walla
Agrawal Panagakos
Angry Cat
Sriram Mclachlan
Wreckage ÓGlaisne
Watanabe Collier
Sessai Zandra
Kura Knife
Kanetsugu Stack
Ezra Kiyotsuna
Ramachandran Zasha
Tower Zlotnik
Fourth Eugeniusz
Ijuin Kageyu
Campisi Rupali
Krantz LoCastro
Spenkelink Popoff
Nora Maffia
Liddle Dubow
Bentzen Citizen
Lady Johnny
Sabharwal Kazan
Ora Anand
Chip Silveira
God N’Ait
Wilkinson Tsuru
Percoco Basu
Jade Seventh
Stalwart Dance
Halder Keszo
Matsudaira Mullen
Mariska Hasegawa
Invincible Oishi
Bittencourt Butler
Nelson Shaila
Third Stallion
Menkous Mek

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

World of Masks: PbtA Changeling the Lost

SUMMARY
I finally sat down and put together a Powered by the Apocalypse hack for Changeling the Lost. I think it's in relatively playable form now. You can see the folder with those materials here. This is rough attempt blends Urban Shadows and Masks with some small original stuff. As you’ll see, it is primarily a reskinning. It isn’t a way to simulate every kind of CtL campaign. I talk below about the kind of game I’ve tuned this for, generally the kind I dig running.You’ll find several documents in the folder:
  • A Base Document with most of the systems (has some of what's presented here).
  • A Basic and Other Moves reference sheet.
  • Playbooks for each of the Changeling Seemings.
  • A Seasonal Moves reference.
If there’s a discrepancy between the Playbook sheets and the other material, go with the playbooks. This isn’t a stand-alone hack. I assumes at least the GM knows both Changeling the Lost and PbtA games. You'll want at least the core CtL book and Urban Shadows. This is a fan-hack and not for publication.

STILL TO DO
  • Sections: GM Moves, GM Principles, Threats, Court Clocks, Motley Worksheet, Gear, Major Editing Pass
  • Gather input/feedback.
  • Playtest.
  • Revise based on feedback and actual play.
ASSUMPTIONS
IMHO not all Changeling players have the same read on the material. Here's my default assumptions for the setting.
  • Changelings suffered during their durance. Any sparkly memories they have are attempts to cover over their awfulness.
  • They may have PTSD, Survivor’s Guilt, paranoia, general guilt over things they did in their Durance, fear that others will find out what they did to survive, inability to trust in others, trauma with particular triggers, fear that they could again become their most awful self, or a terror that if they would bow down before their Keeper if he or she appeared once again. In short, they're broken mentally & physically and now have to figure out how to fix themselves.
  • Freeholds have Courts. These are necessary to sustain the rituals which help the Freehold evade the eyes of the Gentry. But there’s a tension in that the Courts are an authority fighting against authority. That may be the catch within the Contract of the Freehold’s Protection: there will always be tension and in-fighting between the Courts.
  • Trust is hard. Courts and pledges also exist to give a society in which Changelings can interact and have a "fallback" for trust: authority and rules.
  • Changelings don’t travel. Dangers lurk outside the bounds of the Freehold. They have little contact with any Freeholds beyond those closest geographically. Changelings eschew conversations and social media (usually) because they don’t trust easily. On the other hand they may participate in anonymous places where it’s assumed everyone’s untrustworthy.
  • Entitlements don't exist as such. They assume a large and cross-Freehold organization which goes against the details mentioned above. I haven’t used them in my standard CtL games because they break the setting’s logic of isolation.
  • The Changeling campaign’s centered on the Motley. That association is the closest to a family they have. The Motley’s relatively new. Characters within a Motley may belong to different Courts. This is a little shift from how I’ve run things before. In the past I've started with the characters just emerging from the Hedge.
  • The Hedge is useful and dangerous. Within a Freehold, there may be certain paths of note, tended and kept clear. But these are rare. The Hedge can best be entered from particular locations. While Changelings do use it to travel through and hunt, it is always dangerous to stay too long in the Hedge. The closer you are to the real world, the more you hear echoes of it. But even that's a poor guide.
  • Goblins live in the Hedge. They have a conflicted relationship with Changelings. Goblins can enter into the real world, usually only near particularly potent Hedge entrances. They’re almost impossible for humans to see. Goblins don’t usually muck with humans.
  • We don’t worry or have big individual mechanics for Wyrd as a separate concept, Goblin Contracts, Dream Stuff, Pledge Crafting, and a bunch of other stuff. Hedge Fruit and tokens can be dealt with as fiction, small bonuses, or moves.
MISCELLANEOUS
Seasons and the Courts
Instead of Urban Shadows' factions, this uses Seasons. Characters use +Season rolls to interact Changeling of the other Courts. But what about everyone else? For interactions with non-Changelings where you’d roll with a Season stat, use the following substitutions:
  • Spring = Humans
  • Summer = Other Supernaturals
  • Autumn = Goblins
  • Winter = “Aware” Humans
Your associations may vary depending on how you picture the Courts. For Courtless Changelings I’d consider their agenda. For example, a Slaver would probably be rolled with Summer since they’re aggressive. Someone trying to stay below the radar I’d have the players roll Winter against.

I also picture that each Court has factions within it, or at least Changelings with different approaches to the the Season's idea (Fear, Desire, etc). I’ve called these Waxing and Waning in the Seasonal Clarity moves. I associate Waxing with positive, active, constructive, or strong approaches. On the other hand, Waning characters or factions embrace the negative, passive, deconstructive, or restrained approaches. That’s less a concrete mechanic and more a way to imagine NPCs within a Court structure.

What Does Clarity Mean?
Clarity’s a reskinning of corruption from Urban Shadows. In my version, Clarity’s not an up/down scale. In base CtL is has two poles: too human vs. too fae. Instead our Clarity track measures strain and break. Players can define what those cracks actually look like. Most of the mechanical sources of Clarity gain are Changeling powers. But I imagine in game circumstances will require characters to make Stay Strong checks to avoid marking Clarity. Example situations:
  • Being surprised by someone from their past life or durance.
  • Sharing a moment of intimacy with a mortal.
  • Committing violence against an innocent mortal.
  • Avoiding contact with Changeling society for a long time.
  • Being out on the streets.
Glamour
Glamour’s a major element of Changeling the Lost. I’ve shorthanded that heavily here since I don’t want more resource tracking than we already have. I take it as a given that a PC can make minor expenditures of glamour at will. They have tools to refresh that. If someone wants to do something that would have a high glamour cost, have them mark a condition (but not Wounded).

For example, if someone wants to conceal their Mien from other Changelings for a while, I’d have them mark a condition. That’s a classic spend from CtL, called Strengthening the Mask. Marking a condition usually commits them to harvesting glamour later, so that's the connection. If PCs instead chose to Act to Clear it, so much the better. That makes for an interesting moment. Marking a condition also gives the player a chance to declare something about their motivation for the action.

Pledges
I’ve never found the CtL Pledge-Crafting mechanics that useful at the table. They’re granular and crunchy, even in the revised version found in the sourcebooks. These rules don’t worry about that except in the abstract. Note that the Gain a Debt move is different than in Urban Shadows. It isn’t enough to do someone a favor. Instead you have to offer and they have to accept.

Changelings fear commitment and obligation. They have a hard time trusting. So if someone does a favor for them, they don’t see that as a debt. Unless someone asks and makes a deal, they’re under no requirement to pay them back. That, of course, makes being in a Motley a difficult thing. You have to trust despite it going against your nature. The exception to this are the debts from character creation. They’re more story constructs and ways to build connections.

Contracts
This hack assumes Changelings have some minor basic powers and contracts they can call upon. That’s the purpose of the Invoke Contract move. Want to do something small and interesting that fits with your Seeming or other moves, go ahead. Change the temperature of a room, hear a distant howl, see in the dark, picture what something looked like before it was broken, etc. The Invoke Contract move asks the player to name the contract and the catch. If that creates a speed bump for play, go ahead and skip that.


Motley Focus
This particular hack focuses on the Motley as a unit of play. While there should be tension and give & take between Motley members, this hack offers significantly less PvP than Urban Shadows. The condition recovery mechanics should help keep that back and forth. We’ll see. My intent is something that feels a like more like Monsterhearts or Masks, than US. There should still be a political element, but the players are trying to figure out how to navigate that.

I'll post more on this after I've had a chance to do some playtesting. If you're curious about Changeling the Lost, you can see my other posts on this excellent setting.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Noise to Signal: Q1 & Blog Week Off

I’m taking a rare week off from posting, but... Persona 5.

It should be here soon. I’ve waited over a year for it. Of course this is my busy weekend running four different games. Still I hope to get some time in with it.

We’re done with Q1 2017. I ran 51 and played 10 sessions across 15 different rpgs. I was part of several episodes of The Gauntlet podcast. We’ve done three gaming roundup episodes:
I also did three one-on-one interview episodes: On Gaming with Kids; with Cat Rambo, and with Liz Chaipraditkul.

We’re behind with the editing on the Play on Target Podcast. We released two episodes: Character Creation and GM Best Practices.

If you’re interested in Actual Play videos, I’ve been recording most of my play sessions for the Gauntlet Hangouts. You can see my playlist for the Thursday sessions here. I added 7th Sea, Kingdom, Chill 3e, Feng Shui 2, Shadowrun Anarchy, and Dresden Files Accelerated this quarter. You can also see my full Gauntlet League Wrestling playlist for World Wide Wrestling here. Please rate, comment, and subscribe.

Next week will be Dresden Week. I’ll have my review of Dresden Files Accelerated and the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game. Project-wise I’m doing a revision of the Rights of Succession rules, am about halfway done with my PbtA Changeling the Lost work, and have the next several history lists outlined.

See you next week!