I've had strong success in the last few years framing campaigns within school settings. That background provides rich opportunities for role playing, solves some campaign start problems and supplies an easily grasped structure for both the players and the GM. Obviously right now the grand-daddy of that form in literature is the Harry Potter series. But other books, Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind, Mary Gentle's Rats and Gargoyles, Sherri Tepper's True Game, and John Wright's Orphans of Chaos all use that for different purposes. It pops up heavily in Japanese narratives, both manga (Fruits Basket, Bleach, and Naruto) and anime (Evangelion, Shikabane Hime, Ikki Tousen). Likewise it appears in a number if jrpg video games (the Persona series, Mana Khemenia, and Final Fantasy VIII). In American lit we can see it in comics (the X-Men, Gunnerkrieg Court), television (Buffy, Veronica Mars, Galaxy High), and movies (The Faculty, Sky High). For some fringe cases you can even point to Volcano High and Battle Royale.
A number of rpgs have also built games or published supplements revolving around these kinds of themes. Teenagers from Outer Space and Curriculum of Conspiracy use pre-college settings. The d20 supplement Redhurst Academy of Magic tries to shoehorn a very HP-like structure into the multiverse of existing D&D settings, with mixed success. Miskatonic University could easily serve as a starting place for a Call of Cthulhu campaign, though the question would be how long the campaign would remain there before moving away (or having the rampant strangeness overwhelm the grounds). For high weirdness, there's GURPS IOU. In the supers genre, M&M has a sourcebook, Hero High, devoted to these kinds of games.
Below are some thoughts drawn from my experience running four campaigns with a school focus (either in the foreground or background) and having played in one.
Rich Cast
One of the most obvious benefits of a school setting is that it provides a rich pool of NPCs of very different kinds. If the school draws on an international (or larger) pool, the GM has the opportunity to showcase a number of different cultures. One trap the Gm should be careful of is overdoing it, however. Select a few notable classmates, rivals, a couple of notable upperclassmen, important administrators, staff and the teachers for the PCs subjects. Even that will, depending on the setting turn out to be a pretty big list. GMs may find it really useful to hunt down pictures if possible to add to the flavor. Since these characters will be consistently recurring, it means that effort won't be wasted. PCs will have to interact and develop at least some kind of relation with these NPCs so taking the time to flesh them out pays off.
These kinds of campaigns also encourage a different kind of approach from simple brute force. Players shouldn't want to get kicked out of the school-- so they have to find other methods to deal with their rivals, even those in charge. A school setting gives real focus to characters with social and sneaky talents. Rumor mongering, pranks, building reputation, succeeding in academic contests-- the players can best their rivals on different levels and in different ways. There's still room for more direct conflict, but it must be managed carefully or off school grounds.
Development
Robin Laws in HeroQuest 2e makes an interesting point about character development. Experience points and continuing growth are really an artifact of classic role-playing systems. Generally in most conventional dramatic narratives we see characters at a certain skill level throughout. They might pick up a few tricks, but those aren't core to the story. The exception to this is the school/educational based story setting, in which the growth of the character in skills parallels personal development. In other words, putting characters in a school can explain why they start out sucky and get better. It explains how characters can amazingly develop many new skills, abilities, feats and the like without mechanics for side-quest training time or having them miraculously appear.
But mechanics aside, the school setting allows characters to grow into who they are. Often when players make up characters, they've already established some of the major events of those lives. They know their purpose, profession and ideals generally. A school gives players the space to figure those things out based on the events in front of them, with less baggage to shape those decisions. In point based games like GURPS players can begin with disadvantages, here they can actually pick those problems up. Significant first moments can be played out, since the players are still relatively young. In our fantasy steampunk HP-esque campaign, Libri Vidicos, the first time a couple of the players had to kill other people, when attacked on a field trip, they had to deal with their reactions to that. It made for some really nice moments at the table.
The school setting really allows players to buy-into the setting. One the one hand players will likely be familiar with the dramatic conventions from all of the narratives mentioned above. They know that students have restrictions and make their fun within the limits of those. On the other hand, most players will have been in a school for a good portion of their lives. That's an experience they share with their character, where other aspects of the character's life may be foreign to them. Players know how schools operate-- with good and bad teachers, the pressure of homework and the potentially awful web of social interactions. These two level of empathy allow a player to riff and improvise easily within the setting. They can fill in the gaps in the imaginative space presented.
Players often begin with a deep suspicion of authority and value autonomy over their choices. That's not necessarily something to be stifled. The problem lies where players instinctively react negatively to anyone who seems to be giving them orders. The school setting shifts that a little-- there's a built in give and take between players and the authority of the school (administration or teachers). The players have to find other ways to get around those authorities, since those groups are providing something they want (training, shelter, and so on). The player needs to be creative in their responses, resorting to hijinks and mischief to get around the authority. As well, punishments for defying authority aren't final: detention, bad marks, being kept from activities and so on. There's a give and take there.
Structures of the School
In Harry Potter you know classroom scenes will probably do at least one of three things: illustrate character interactions/development, provide a goofy humor moment, or foreshadow an important plot point for later. I enjoy using the last of these things fairly liberally in the campaigns. It works best in classes which the various PCs share, but can be done for one or two PCs in a class at once. Throughout the campaign I'll throw in lectures from the classes, probably no more than one or two per session and no more than one or two from any particular class. That reminds characters they are in a school and keeps the flavor of what's happening without it being overwhelming. In those lectures, especially early on, I'll bury points that will come back later. It can also be used to establish things like moral or ethical choices which appear later- creating a contrast between talking about something and actually having to do it.
Lectures serve another important purpose. They allow the players to learn about the world as their characters do. Players often begin a game with a blank map of the game world, unless they've played in or read about that setting before. A GM who has built an extensive background and history for their world often finds it hard to get some of those ideas out into play. This ought to serve the path of the story-- a GM should be careful about info dumping. While the tale the GM's woven in their head is undoubtedly rich and interesting, focus should be placed on the details which will come back later. Otherwise there's a risk of having players tune out if they think the material is just exposition without purpose.
Besides classes, a school game gives the GM an interesting variety of set piece events. Clubs, field trips, performances, athletic contests, inter-house competitions, guest lectures, dances, hall parties, detention, tracking down mentors, researching topics in the library can all be used in the game. If you're campaign goes on long enough, players will be begin to anticipate and prepare for these. For example in Libri Vidicos, as first year students, the characters didn't get to go to the big dance. Instead they had to serve as staff for it. That made it all the more interesting the next year when they were able to go. These events can also reflect changes in the administration's character. In Year Three of LV the new Headmaster has restricted students to only being a member of a single club, forcing the PCs to choose only one of their groups and establishing a certain amount of tension.
A secondary benefit of the school campaign is that it provides a “home base” from the start for the campaign. Generally in the games I've run players live at the school itself, providing an insular setting. Players return to the school and their rooms for some safety and regrouping with privacy, after a caper, after a field trip or even after a long vacation. This answers one of the basic needs of a group: shelter and security so that they can focus on other needs. As well, the GM can contrast this safety later: having to forge for themselves while they're “in the field” or if something bad happens in the school making their position unsure.
The structure of the school year provides a nice form for the players. You have pretty clear markers about the progress of he story, some clear stopping points for sidebar adventures, and some room to time lapse forward. As a GM, don't feel bad about saying something like “...but the pressures of class and work meant that they weren't able to look into that matter for another week.” Special events like sports can be also used to mark time. On a higher level, the breaking up of the campaign itself into “years” which serve as books allows players to make some mental changes and have a sense of how far the larger campaign has progressed. In the case of Libri Vidicos, I told them right from the beginning the campaign as a whole would cover five school years. We got through year one in a year real-time, and year two in a year and a half. I think that reflects some of the bloat Rowling had in her own series. Ideally I would like to get through each school year in one year or so of play.
Campaign Forms
While the school setting can easily be used for lighter games with perhaps a touch of campiness ala anime, they don't have to be used that way. Consider the training camps of Starship Troopers or Full Metal Jacket. There can be a singularly awful aspect to the school as well, forcing students to try to survive within that place. These kinds of settings can also be used just as a starting point for a campaign, a period of development contrasted to action or escape later on. If the school's a bad place, players may find their way out and then have to evade capture and figure out how to defeat their alma mater later. The destruction of a school while the students are there could provide a great and shocking framework for a campaign with a strong dramatic shift in the middle.
Changes in administration or scholarly focus can be used to change up the setting if players get too complacent. PC actions may cause some characters to die, retire or be fired. That can shift the hidden balance of power as to the school's agenda resulting in changes the PCs didn't expect. If a campaign extends over a couple of years, each one should have a dramatic theme or difference the group can identity.
Levels of mysteries can presented within the school itself, but the game doesn't have to exclusively focus on that. Field trips, missions, holiday recess, visits home and so on can be used to break up the action. Done sparingly these kinds of moments help reinforce what makes the school setting different. Home visits (or even visits to the school by parents) allow the characters to reflect on what has happened. GMs may want to allow PCs to visit each others' homes or homelands to help show what made the PC who they are. In one case, a particularly awful rival NPC gained immediate sympathy from the PC group once they met his mother. Suddenly they could see why he was that way and they made an effort to break him out of those behaviors.
Keep in mind that in using a school setting, it doesn't have to overwhelm the game. GMs can try out material and judge how central those issues should be-- based on what the players seem to be enjoying. For our Libri Vidicos campaign, the school is front and center, shaping the play. While there are plots and stories happening outside the school, they all eventually intersect with the school itself. As I said before, while is is a fantasy steampunk game, it draws on HP pretty heavily and that's what the players enjoy. On the other hand, for my Changeling: the Lost campaign, while the characters are at a school, that isn't the centerpoint of the game. Instead it is a place of refuge and a location where they can interact with a few normal people of their age. So in this case I don't play out the classes so much or have big events, instead I make occasionally reference to how the school sometimes impacts their out of game lives. The game may also have an even more dramatic split, as in the "Neon Genesis Zombi"e game I ran (An AFMBE game based on Evangelion) in which we had an absolute split between their school lives and their mecha piloting secret activities. Finally, as I mentioned before, the school can simply serve as a starting or jumping off point, a prologue or first part of the campaign, establishing the group together for the big dramatic shift.
GM Prep Needed: Basic layout of the school; list of classes; list of rules; NPCs same year friends, same year rivals, select upperclassmen, teachers (for the classes the PCs take), staff (nurse, cook, security, etc), administration (headmaster, house master); and a few events.
The School Campaign: Examples from Libri Vidicos I
The School Campaign: Examples from Libri Vidicos II
The School Campaign: Examples from Libri Vidicos III
The School Campaign: Examples from Libri Vidicos IV
Monday, January 11, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Choices From My 2009 RPG Posts
I thought it might do to have a quick post which put together my favorite posts on rpgs from 2009. I hope this will be the last word on that year and I can finally move forward.
General
* Gamemastering NPCs-- done in five parts, beginning with this one.
* On Matrix Arguments as a tool in games.
* The series I did on GM prep: general tools, prep where prep is due, three things, and session prep sheets.
* Some thinking about combat in games-- likes and dislikes, from a player's perspective and from the GM's side.
* Thoughts on dramatic evolution and characters which starts with this post on ethos and development and then carries on with a three part series beginning with this one.
* Maps of the Games: Conceptual Differences in Play
Reviews
* A review of Heroquest 2e which I then followed with a longer break down of the HQ2e mechanics starting here.
* An overview of GUMSHOE followed by reviews of The Esoterrorists and Fear Itself.
* A look at Legend of the Five Rings in the first edition and in the second edition.
* Looking at Mutants and Masterminds and the various supplements.
* Reviews of Villany Amok, Strangers in Prax, The Dying Earth rpg, among others.
My Campaigns
* A longish metachronology of the various shared world campaigns I've done, in five parts beginning here.
* A postmortem for my Scion: Hero campaign which begins here.
* A postmortem for my Vampire campaign which starts here.
* Example brainstorming from my City of Ocean campaign.
* The campaign survey I did.
There's quite a bit more, but those are probably the one's that come to mind first when I think about pieces I was pretty pleased with.
General
* Gamemastering NPCs-- done in five parts, beginning with this one.
* On Matrix Arguments as a tool in games.
* The series I did on GM prep: general tools, prep where prep is due, three things, and session prep sheets.
* Some thinking about combat in games-- likes and dislikes, from a player's perspective and from the GM's side.
* Thoughts on dramatic evolution and characters which starts with this post on ethos and development and then carries on with a three part series beginning with this one.
* Maps of the Games: Conceptual Differences in Play
Reviews
* A review of Heroquest 2e which I then followed with a longer break down of the HQ2e mechanics starting here.
* An overview of GUMSHOE followed by reviews of The Esoterrorists and Fear Itself.
* A look at Legend of the Five Rings in the first edition and in the second edition.
* Looking at Mutants and Masterminds and the various supplements.
* Reviews of Villany Amok, Strangers in Prax, The Dying Earth rpg, among others.
My Campaigns
* A longish metachronology of the various shared world campaigns I've done, in five parts beginning here.
* A postmortem for my Scion: Hero campaign which begins here.
* A postmortem for my Vampire campaign which starts here.
* Example brainstorming from my City of Ocean campaign.
* The campaign survey I did.
There's quite a bit more, but those are probably the one's that come to mind first when I think about pieces I was pretty pleased with.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Different Quits for Different Games
I've been thinking about why I do or don't play some games, and the different dynamics of "getting out".
Not Playing Board Games
In the case of board games, I'm pretty open-- a statement of course I have to modify immediately. Generally I'll play most games at least once to try them out, but after that I'm a little more picky. For example, I've found my usual tolerance for board gaming is about two hours. If a game's going to go longer than that I know I have to set up a special time and space to play it in. So I have a number of games I like-- Starcraft, Warrior Knights, Arkham Horror for example-- that I know I'll only get out on the table once in a blue moon. I have several monster games I haven't even played because of those limitations.
But some other games I won't play again-- mostly for one of three reasons. Some games are just really badly done, with runaway leader problems, bad graphics or design. I'd count Wasabi, Heads of State and Phoenicia among those. I won't play those again if I have other options. Some games rely too much on negotiation and risk real king-making. That's why I don't like Settlers of Catan, where one player can make the lives of others really miserable. I'm not against negotiation/diplomacy games-- Illuminati and Senji spring to mind as games of that type I like. However Settlers and some others make it too easy to completely block players out, restricting their other choices. Finally there are some games, like Puerto Rico, Caylus and El Grande that are perfect information games. They might have a dash of randomness (El Grande varies the available action cards) but these are games that some people get really good at. There are optimal moves at any point. Not making those can put you out of the running early. In those cases I don't like playing them with people who really know the games, have studied the strategy. It isn't that I don't like losing, I just don't like losing to sharks who take these things too seriously. When you're learning a new game like this and a player mentions they've played it 100+ times, I know I'm going to lose. I enjoy playing in an atmosphere of parity-- with the illusion that everyone has a shot. It is why I like my Tuesday Night Boardgame group. We're all on about the same level-- though I know that Mark and Jan will pick up on details of the game faster than I will. They're more likely to have a coherent strategy the second and third time we play something, especially if we play it a couple of weeks in a row. But that isn't set in stone and I rarely feel like I'm being blown out of the water.
Walking Away from Video Games
I've got a number of video games that I want to love-- want to be able to play, but my skills just can't match up to them, even on easy. Drakengard, Devil May Cry, a couple of the Castlevania games, Assassin's Creed. I wanted to like all of them, but I barely got out of the gate. They have interesting stories and neat stuff going on, but there's a brick wall I hit right away and I know I'll never be able to move past it. I love Thief, for example. I've read everything I could about that game. But when I can't even complete the first baby mission, then there's nothing I can do. On the other hand, I've got a number of FPS games that I spent many hours delving into: System Shock 2, Deux Ex, and Half-Life come to mind. I played the hell out of all of those. But there comes a point that even with care and practice I just can't move past. And I'm talking about getting more than half-way through the game or even to the last level (Armored Core) and then just being stuck, even with FAQs and advice. So I quit and, in the case of most PC games, time goes by and they no longer run on my machine. I'd love to play Starfleet Command again but I'll never be able to.
On the other hand, for my favorite genre, video game rpgs, I've got other reasons for stopping. I've finished many rpgs, but I've got many more that I just never bothered with. One might imagine that I play these kinds of games for the storylines-- I'm at heart a role-player, so that would seem obvious. But really I don't-- I enjoy the stories as they roll along, but that's a lot of hours of minimal interactivity to invest in. If the story is good (Final Fantasy VI and X, Valkyrie Profile, Suikoden III) then that will give me an added push, but generally I like small constant rewards that these games have. You're leveling, finding items, getting stuff...
...and it is incredibly easy. The fact of the matter is that turn-based rpgs are, for the most part, incredibly easy. If you put the time in and play carefully, you will win. If you lose you can restart and perhaps you've lost a little in the way of resources. But generally if you expend time, you will get success. And that time is often spent in repeated and potentially mind-numbing repeated actions. Me-- I like that stuff. I like inventory manipulation, maxing out stats and hunting down every last tidbit in a game. At least generally I do for a while. Sometimes I'll make it through, especially if the system is friendly and I can slowly roll along with new interesting abilities and means opening up over time. But then sometimes I'll play one of these games for hours and hours and then just stop. I have at least a dozen rpgs, each with dozens of hours invested, that I could go back to finish but I don't.
Often I'll have figured out the system pretty heavily-- how to play, how to maximize things, where I need to be. If I stop and try to pick it up again, then I know I'm looking forward to relearning all of that. And that isn't what I want out of those kinds of games-- quite frankly, I want comfort-- something crazy mindless. I don't want twitch reactions, but a slow progress where I can have some low-key mental stimulation without stress. I'm the guy who has hundreds of hours invested in Civilization and Alpha Centauri but has never played anything higher than the most basic level of difficulty.
For me a video games more of a constant, low hum of entertainment-- a modest challenge event. If it eats up time in a relatively interesting way, I'll keep going. Board games serve another prupose entirely for me-- social interaction and the thrill of the play. I want more challenge there, but I'd rather not play against others with 'God-Mode' currently set. I think we've only quit one board game in mid-play over the years-- by mutual assent. If I'm not enjoying a game we're playing I try to stick it out and hold back too much criticism until the end. There's nothing like constant complaining by another player to crush what enjoyment you're getting out of an experience.
The Dynamics of Getting Out: RPGs
Which brings us to RPGs. There's a common slogan in our gaming group: if you're not enjoying a game, talk to the GM. If you're still not enjoying it after that, don't play. That kind of unhappiness gets transmitted at the table. It brings down the other players and the GM.
But more often than not, I've seen players stick around and turn to a passive-aggressive approach to play. They ignore what the other players want to be doing, cause deliberate problems for the group, play chicken with the GM and, in short, quietly do their level best to short-circuit the game. I don't know if they think they're being clever or subtle, but most of the time they aren't. I was struck by this a few months ago when we had a couple of new players suddenly shift into this mode-- complete with smirks of self-satisfaction, especially when the other players tried to keep the game running smoothly. The problem's two fold-- players confronted on this will usually deny what they're doing and it ends up putting a certain burden on good players who don't want to cause a scene.
In my case, I stepped away from a couple of games in the past because of this. Both times we had players who I clashed with. I spoke to the GM and sat out, hoping that my absence would allow the game to progress forward. So here I quit games I enjoyed in order to keep them going. However, in both cases, the players I had problems with ended up quitting after I left and I was able to come back after a time.
The problem with rpgs, and at the same time something I love about them, lies in how entangled player dynamics can be with character dynamics. I love the play back and forth at a good table. That's something which can make even a weak campaign have real spark. It also means that quitting a game can have significant repercussions, moreso if the group has other ongoing campaigns or parallel social engagement. While I can imagine you could irritate the other players in a board game by quitting in the middle (something I've never done) I don't think it would have the same impact. Quitting a game from the player's side can be taken as a judgment on the group, the GM or even particular players at the table. And frankly, sometimes it is.
When a GM quits running, the situations a little easier I think. Most players know that running a game is a significant investment of time and energy. They can appreciate that a GM may not be enjoying the story, play or system anymore. On the other hand serial quitter GMs who pick up and shut down campaigns can be irritating. We had a GM in the group who could spin out wonderful starting sessions-- great set up, excellent ideas and a good deal of energy at the beginning. However you could tell when his attention would begin to wander and play at the table began to fall apart. Generally we did what we could to keep things running, but always knew it to be a lost cause. Though difficult I think a GM who wants to shut down a campaign really needs to find some kind of hook or closure for the arc they've worked through, especially if the game has gone more than a few sessions. Doing that minimizes baggage which might come back to haunt them latter. I've had the luxury not to have to shut down any campaigns for some years. But when I did it usually cost me players, opportunities and enthusiasm in the long run. I've had some campaigns that I started to lose focus on but I've pushed through and found new hooks and pushed resolutions forward trying to prevent the spectre of another haunting, a dead and not dead game hanging around in the background.
A GM quitting also has the psychological advantage of being the one who has arguably laid the most time into the shared project. Stopping a game there usually says more about the GM's satisfaction with the job done. On the other hand, handled badly, a player quitting can get read as not taking the work of the GM or the time investment of the other players seriously. Yes, it is just a game, but usually it is one that people have put some time and energy into.
So players can get caught in a trap here. Too often I've seen players quit without giving reasons or addressing concerns. However at least in my game I try to make it clear that if players have a problem, I'm willing to talk about that problem. I'll try to find a solution if I can. If they still want to quit, I want them to-- and I'm explicit about not holding recriminations later on. Yet, I'll say I haven't always followed that advice and in cases when I have, I've seen it go awry anyway. I can think of a couple of campaigns I played that I should have gotten out of-- should have talked to the GM about what I wasn't enjoying. But I didn't. The GM hadn't made explicit the kind of contract I try to build and I was fairly sure criticism would not be taken well. So I sat though some truly awful sessions-- ironically in one case to have that GM turn around and go passive-aggressive destructive in one of my campaigns after I'd put up with his.
On the other hand, talking sometimes doesn't help. I've had that fail a couple of times when I was a player. In one case the GM simply laughed off my concerns; in the other case the GM acknowledged that some of the things I wanted from the game could be handled better and repeatedly promised some changes: plots for my character, better handling of my role instead of leaving me twiddling my thumbs for hours and so on. But none of those changes ever happened. And in at least once case when talking to a GM I managed to be overly critical and dismissive of the work they'd done.
From the GM's seat, I've seen failure on that front as well. I had a player who expressed dissatisfaction with the campaign. I tried to work through what he wanted to see and we came up with some things. However then when I put those in the game he ignored them or asked why the hell we were heading down that track. It took several tries to figure out that the player simply wouldn't be satisfied with the game: he didn't know what he wanted from it or couldn't articulate it. As a GM I couldn't fix something he couldn't define.
But I've also had it work, have had players bow out and gotten good feedback from them as to why they were leaving. I've managed to keep other players in the game by shifting things, trying to answer their needs while not pandering or stomping over other people's turf.
GM's need to be explicit early on about trying to have a game fit the players' needs-- and they need to be prepared for the kinds of criticism that comes with that. Some issues can't be resolved, but if the GM establishes the terms early on, they can prevent some future problems. On the flip side, a player needs to take some care when quitting. “It is just a game” seems to me to be just as big a cop-out as “I was just playing my character.” Players should try to identify what's bothering them about a game. Some things the GM can solve (pacing, kinds of plots) some things they can't (genre, other players). In any case a player ought to give the GM at least a shot at a fix.
Not Playing Board Games
In the case of board games, I'm pretty open-- a statement of course I have to modify immediately. Generally I'll play most games at least once to try them out, but after that I'm a little more picky. For example, I've found my usual tolerance for board gaming is about two hours. If a game's going to go longer than that I know I have to set up a special time and space to play it in. So I have a number of games I like-- Starcraft, Warrior Knights, Arkham Horror for example-- that I know I'll only get out on the table once in a blue moon. I have several monster games I haven't even played because of those limitations.
But some other games I won't play again-- mostly for one of three reasons. Some games are just really badly done, with runaway leader problems, bad graphics or design. I'd count Wasabi, Heads of State and Phoenicia among those. I won't play those again if I have other options. Some games rely too much on negotiation and risk real king-making. That's why I don't like Settlers of Catan, where one player can make the lives of others really miserable. I'm not against negotiation/diplomacy games-- Illuminati and Senji spring to mind as games of that type I like. However Settlers and some others make it too easy to completely block players out, restricting their other choices. Finally there are some games, like Puerto Rico, Caylus and El Grande that are perfect information games. They might have a dash of randomness (El Grande varies the available action cards) but these are games that some people get really good at. There are optimal moves at any point. Not making those can put you out of the running early. In those cases I don't like playing them with people who really know the games, have studied the strategy. It isn't that I don't like losing, I just don't like losing to sharks who take these things too seriously. When you're learning a new game like this and a player mentions they've played it 100+ times, I know I'm going to lose. I enjoy playing in an atmosphere of parity-- with the illusion that everyone has a shot. It is why I like my Tuesday Night Boardgame group. We're all on about the same level-- though I know that Mark and Jan will pick up on details of the game faster than I will. They're more likely to have a coherent strategy the second and third time we play something, especially if we play it a couple of weeks in a row. But that isn't set in stone and I rarely feel like I'm being blown out of the water.
Walking Away from Video Games
I've got a number of video games that I want to love-- want to be able to play, but my skills just can't match up to them, even on easy. Drakengard, Devil May Cry, a couple of the Castlevania games, Assassin's Creed. I wanted to like all of them, but I barely got out of the gate. They have interesting stories and neat stuff going on, but there's a brick wall I hit right away and I know I'll never be able to move past it. I love Thief, for example. I've read everything I could about that game. But when I can't even complete the first baby mission, then there's nothing I can do. On the other hand, I've got a number of FPS games that I spent many hours delving into: System Shock 2, Deux Ex, and Half-Life come to mind. I played the hell out of all of those. But there comes a point that even with care and practice I just can't move past. And I'm talking about getting more than half-way through the game or even to the last level (Armored Core) and then just being stuck, even with FAQs and advice. So I quit and, in the case of most PC games, time goes by and they no longer run on my machine. I'd love to play Starfleet Command again but I'll never be able to.
On the other hand, for my favorite genre, video game rpgs, I've got other reasons for stopping. I've finished many rpgs, but I've got many more that I just never bothered with. One might imagine that I play these kinds of games for the storylines-- I'm at heart a role-player, so that would seem obvious. But really I don't-- I enjoy the stories as they roll along, but that's a lot of hours of minimal interactivity to invest in. If the story is good (Final Fantasy VI and X, Valkyrie Profile, Suikoden III) then that will give me an added push, but generally I like small constant rewards that these games have. You're leveling, finding items, getting stuff...
...and it is incredibly easy. The fact of the matter is that turn-based rpgs are, for the most part, incredibly easy. If you put the time in and play carefully, you will win. If you lose you can restart and perhaps you've lost a little in the way of resources. But generally if you expend time, you will get success. And that time is often spent in repeated and potentially mind-numbing repeated actions. Me-- I like that stuff. I like inventory manipulation, maxing out stats and hunting down every last tidbit in a game. At least generally I do for a while. Sometimes I'll make it through, especially if the system is friendly and I can slowly roll along with new interesting abilities and means opening up over time. But then sometimes I'll play one of these games for hours and hours and then just stop. I have at least a dozen rpgs, each with dozens of hours invested, that I could go back to finish but I don't.
Often I'll have figured out the system pretty heavily-- how to play, how to maximize things, where I need to be. If I stop and try to pick it up again, then I know I'm looking forward to relearning all of that. And that isn't what I want out of those kinds of games-- quite frankly, I want comfort-- something crazy mindless. I don't want twitch reactions, but a slow progress where I can have some low-key mental stimulation without stress. I'm the guy who has hundreds of hours invested in Civilization and Alpha Centauri but has never played anything higher than the most basic level of difficulty.
For me a video games more of a constant, low hum of entertainment-- a modest challenge event. If it eats up time in a relatively interesting way, I'll keep going. Board games serve another prupose entirely for me-- social interaction and the thrill of the play. I want more challenge there, but I'd rather not play against others with 'God-Mode' currently set. I think we've only quit one board game in mid-play over the years-- by mutual assent. If I'm not enjoying a game we're playing I try to stick it out and hold back too much criticism until the end. There's nothing like constant complaining by another player to crush what enjoyment you're getting out of an experience.
The Dynamics of Getting Out: RPGs
Which brings us to RPGs. There's a common slogan in our gaming group: if you're not enjoying a game, talk to the GM. If you're still not enjoying it after that, don't play. That kind of unhappiness gets transmitted at the table. It brings down the other players and the GM.
But more often than not, I've seen players stick around and turn to a passive-aggressive approach to play. They ignore what the other players want to be doing, cause deliberate problems for the group, play chicken with the GM and, in short, quietly do their level best to short-circuit the game. I don't know if they think they're being clever or subtle, but most of the time they aren't. I was struck by this a few months ago when we had a couple of new players suddenly shift into this mode-- complete with smirks of self-satisfaction, especially when the other players tried to keep the game running smoothly. The problem's two fold-- players confronted on this will usually deny what they're doing and it ends up putting a certain burden on good players who don't want to cause a scene.
In my case, I stepped away from a couple of games in the past because of this. Both times we had players who I clashed with. I spoke to the GM and sat out, hoping that my absence would allow the game to progress forward. So here I quit games I enjoyed in order to keep them going. However, in both cases, the players I had problems with ended up quitting after I left and I was able to come back after a time.
The problem with rpgs, and at the same time something I love about them, lies in how entangled player dynamics can be with character dynamics. I love the play back and forth at a good table. That's something which can make even a weak campaign have real spark. It also means that quitting a game can have significant repercussions, moreso if the group has other ongoing campaigns or parallel social engagement. While I can imagine you could irritate the other players in a board game by quitting in the middle (something I've never done) I don't think it would have the same impact. Quitting a game from the player's side can be taken as a judgment on the group, the GM or even particular players at the table. And frankly, sometimes it is.
When a GM quits running, the situations a little easier I think. Most players know that running a game is a significant investment of time and energy. They can appreciate that a GM may not be enjoying the story, play or system anymore. On the other hand serial quitter GMs who pick up and shut down campaigns can be irritating. We had a GM in the group who could spin out wonderful starting sessions-- great set up, excellent ideas and a good deal of energy at the beginning. However you could tell when his attention would begin to wander and play at the table began to fall apart. Generally we did what we could to keep things running, but always knew it to be a lost cause. Though difficult I think a GM who wants to shut down a campaign really needs to find some kind of hook or closure for the arc they've worked through, especially if the game has gone more than a few sessions. Doing that minimizes baggage which might come back to haunt them latter. I've had the luxury not to have to shut down any campaigns for some years. But when I did it usually cost me players, opportunities and enthusiasm in the long run. I've had some campaigns that I started to lose focus on but I've pushed through and found new hooks and pushed resolutions forward trying to prevent the spectre of another haunting, a dead and not dead game hanging around in the background.
A GM quitting also has the psychological advantage of being the one who has arguably laid the most time into the shared project. Stopping a game there usually says more about the GM's satisfaction with the job done. On the other hand, handled badly, a player quitting can get read as not taking the work of the GM or the time investment of the other players seriously. Yes, it is just a game, but usually it is one that people have put some time and energy into.
So players can get caught in a trap here. Too often I've seen players quit without giving reasons or addressing concerns. However at least in my game I try to make it clear that if players have a problem, I'm willing to talk about that problem. I'll try to find a solution if I can. If they still want to quit, I want them to-- and I'm explicit about not holding recriminations later on. Yet, I'll say I haven't always followed that advice and in cases when I have, I've seen it go awry anyway. I can think of a couple of campaigns I played that I should have gotten out of-- should have talked to the GM about what I wasn't enjoying. But I didn't. The GM hadn't made explicit the kind of contract I try to build and I was fairly sure criticism would not be taken well. So I sat though some truly awful sessions-- ironically in one case to have that GM turn around and go passive-aggressive destructive in one of my campaigns after I'd put up with his.
On the other hand, talking sometimes doesn't help. I've had that fail a couple of times when I was a player. In one case the GM simply laughed off my concerns; in the other case the GM acknowledged that some of the things I wanted from the game could be handled better and repeatedly promised some changes: plots for my character, better handling of my role instead of leaving me twiddling my thumbs for hours and so on. But none of those changes ever happened. And in at least once case when talking to a GM I managed to be overly critical and dismissive of the work they'd done.
From the GM's seat, I've seen failure on that front as well. I had a player who expressed dissatisfaction with the campaign. I tried to work through what he wanted to see and we came up with some things. However then when I put those in the game he ignored them or asked why the hell we were heading down that track. It took several tries to figure out that the player simply wouldn't be satisfied with the game: he didn't know what he wanted from it or couldn't articulate it. As a GM I couldn't fix something he couldn't define.
But I've also had it work, have had players bow out and gotten good feedback from them as to why they were leaving. I've managed to keep other players in the game by shifting things, trying to answer their needs while not pandering or stomping over other people's turf.
GM's need to be explicit early on about trying to have a game fit the players' needs-- and they need to be prepared for the kinds of criticism that comes with that. Some issues can't be resolved, but if the GM establishes the terms early on, they can prevent some future problems. On the flip side, a player needs to take some care when quitting. “It is just a game” seems to me to be just as big a cop-out as “I was just playing my character.” Players should try to identify what's bothering them about a game. Some things the GM can solve (pacing, kinds of plots) some things they can't (genre, other players). In any case a player ought to give the GM at least a shot at a fix.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Looking Back: Campaign Summary: Thonak '89
Back in this post in 2009 I'd presented some summaries of the various fantasy campaigns which had all taken place in the shared world. Today I happened upon a document with summaries I'd written closer to the time of those campaigns, back in 2000. They have more detail and some interesting points I'd forgotten about. Since we're still playing in that world, I thought I should post some of these to flesh out the history a little further. Some of these events would impact later games pretty heavily.
The Thonak Campaign (1988-1989)
Simlain Glantri, a half-elf warrior mage, is hired to join an expedition investigating old ruins. The site is filled with both traps and strange arcane ancient texts. He discovers a variety of prophecies, including those of the Three. However, the expedition is betrayed by a mad scholar servitor of the Thonak. Glaantri and a companion manage to escape the ambush. He heads to Neutral City to inform the expedition leader’s lover of his death. She turns out to be one of the Three, the Grey World Mage.
Following this, Glaantri decides to journey to Aoniae, the land of mages, to try and follow up on some of the prophecy he has heard. He is briefly joined by a member of the royal house of Miremal and her companion. It is here that he first hears of Lord d’Aragon and his fruitless campaign against the Thonak. To further his ends, Glantri joins up with a group of adventurers sent to explore an ancient tower. The group includes Kari (later known as Lionspaw) an Elven scout; Yorich Skrull, a Save Knoran scholar; Izan the Friendliest of Barbarians; and Cree a swordswoman from the Greater Glory. In the tower the uncover more about the Three and how they might be able to aid against the Thonak. They also learn of how mages came to this continent “from elsewhere.” [Incidentally, this is the first suggestion that there is more than one continent]. The group eventually makes its way back to the mainland.
In Gilden Hur they face many adversaries, fighting off the Thonak’s chaos plots throughout the region. They travel to the desert kingdom of Ylaruam to consul the great libraries there. They are joined by Elon Shadowfall, a mute Orc-hating archer; Stig Samhain, a thief; Seralin, a mysterious shape-shifter, and Sebastien Farnsworth, a fop. They uncover the secrets of the ancient Nithians who originally summoned the Thonak and raid the fortress of their evil.
They return to Gilden Hur, tracing the Thonak’s activities. There is a hunt up and down the great river culminating in the destruction of a great family of chaotic servants. Finally with much evidence and hope they head to Rykel to speak with the Lords of Miremal. However, this plan is thwarted when Seralin gives into a murderous rage, apparently at the instigation of the Thonak whom she once served. The rest of the group is forced to flee. Through a series of accidents they fight their way through the Skaven who have been chewing at the underbelly of the great city. To escape they are forced through a gate.
They find themselves in Gundabad, the heart of the Thonak’s Orcish armies. Stig Samhain is lost, but the group is joined by Kamien and Alvacan, half-elven magical brothers apparently tied to the Drow. They have been part of d’Aragon’s quest to find allies and uncover intelligence. After a series of running battles, the group is rescued and transported to a hostile region of Aoniae. They fight against a Vampiric Sheriff who defeats them, but releases them after they turn over d’Arargon’s lover. This is not a high point.
Now having contacted d’Aragon, although not without cost, the group heads back. They return to plead their case before the College of Scholars at Bogenhafen. The Save Knorans are reluctant but agree to spread their words among to their diplomats in many of the unaligned kingdoms. Most notably the Atlantaen representative seems to commit to fight against the Thonak. Word reaches the group here that the Thonak’s forces have mobilized at an increased rate. Miremal and the other border countries stand ready to fall. Finally the nations which have been content to wait understand the gravity of their situation.
The group splits briefly at this point. The Scholars have provided directions to a place where other magical armaments might be found. Half the group heads there, while the rest meet with agents of d’Aragon to discuss strategy. However, the expedition goes awry. Izan is killed and the others are forced into the realm to Sensailia Itatain to escape his fate. Yorich Skrull, sensing danger to his companions, makes a desperate solo trek across the mountains in the worst storm in Gilden-Hur’s history. He dies just before reaching the location.
Sensailia Itatain, once an ally of the Thonak has realized the danger his being poses. She releases the group and rejoins them with their fellows. She also frees a Cyclops named Arges to join them. One of d’Aragon’s trusted lieutenants, Hurok joins them. He shows a profound distaste for magic. They strike at several key Thonakian strongholds. Eventually gathering the intelligence needed for the final battle to come. That battle is based on the knowledge the group has gathered so far, that the Thonak can be split, but it will require the strength of the divine and the faith of many, something once forgotten in this. Plans are made, but squabbles break out among the group as to what role to play. In the midst of their debate, a simple warrior who has accompanied them reveals himself to be from a world where this argument led to the division of their efforts and the Thonak has won. Reaffirmed, the group sets out for the Darkest Woods.
They are not greeted well by the Drow there. The brothers, Kamien and Alvacan turn out to be part of a pact shown between the Changer God Ilvir and the Elvish Dancing Goddess. In exchange for the creation of children of her body, Ilvir has created a buffer against the Thonak. However, the return of the brothers signals an end to that. The Drow, realizing that they cannot hide behind ancient ways, agree to aid in the fight.
Meanwhile in Rykel, Priests from across the land have gathered to form a Circle of power, a living representation of the Divine Wheel. They channel that power into the Thonak’s Fortress, the Cabatura. It is shattered, but most of the priests die in the backlash. However, the Thonak himself is split into three parts, which is what has been planned. Those parts flee to his three remaining citadels, but the forces of good are prepared. d’Aragon leads his group into the Crimson Fortress, while a band of Paladins of all faiths descend into the Forsaken Citadel. Glantri leads his group into the Tower of Night. There they fight and destroy one part of the Thonak, split and weakened. With his passing, the armies of the Thonak fall apart and his allies collapse. However, Glantri’s soul is ripped from his body in the battle. It takes seven years for the Lady of the Woods to finally find it in the Pool of Souls and return him to full life.
The victory against the Thonak is bittersweet however. Those places which allied with the darkness find their lands barren and poisoned. The Atlantaens take advantage of the the defeat to seize vast mainland areas and slaughter the entire race of the Cebu. It will take Miremal, even under the leadership of d’Aragon decades to recover. Many of Glantri’s heroes become nobles in the new Miremal, Alvacan assumes the Drow throne, while Kamien joins his father Ilvir, still others, like Kari, vanish to await the next evil which they know must come.
The Thonak Campaign (1988-1989)
Simlain Glantri, a half-elf warrior mage, is hired to join an expedition investigating old ruins. The site is filled with both traps and strange arcane ancient texts. He discovers a variety of prophecies, including those of the Three. However, the expedition is betrayed by a mad scholar servitor of the Thonak. Glaantri and a companion manage to escape the ambush. He heads to Neutral City to inform the expedition leader’s lover of his death. She turns out to be one of the Three, the Grey World Mage.
Following this, Glaantri decides to journey to Aoniae, the land of mages, to try and follow up on some of the prophecy he has heard. He is briefly joined by a member of the royal house of Miremal and her companion. It is here that he first hears of Lord d’Aragon and his fruitless campaign against the Thonak. To further his ends, Glantri joins up with a group of adventurers sent to explore an ancient tower. The group includes Kari (later known as Lionspaw) an Elven scout; Yorich Skrull, a Save Knoran scholar; Izan the Friendliest of Barbarians; and Cree a swordswoman from the Greater Glory. In the tower the uncover more about the Three and how they might be able to aid against the Thonak. They also learn of how mages came to this continent “from elsewhere.” [Incidentally, this is the first suggestion that there is more than one continent]. The group eventually makes its way back to the mainland.
In Gilden Hur they face many adversaries, fighting off the Thonak’s chaos plots throughout the region. They travel to the desert kingdom of Ylaruam to consul the great libraries there. They are joined by Elon Shadowfall, a mute Orc-hating archer; Stig Samhain, a thief; Seralin, a mysterious shape-shifter, and Sebastien Farnsworth, a fop. They uncover the secrets of the ancient Nithians who originally summoned the Thonak and raid the fortress of their evil.
They return to Gilden Hur, tracing the Thonak’s activities. There is a hunt up and down the great river culminating in the destruction of a great family of chaotic servants. Finally with much evidence and hope they head to Rykel to speak with the Lords of Miremal. However, this plan is thwarted when Seralin gives into a murderous rage, apparently at the instigation of the Thonak whom she once served. The rest of the group is forced to flee. Through a series of accidents they fight their way through the Skaven who have been chewing at the underbelly of the great city. To escape they are forced through a gate.
They find themselves in Gundabad, the heart of the Thonak’s Orcish armies. Stig Samhain is lost, but the group is joined by Kamien and Alvacan, half-elven magical brothers apparently tied to the Drow. They have been part of d’Aragon’s quest to find allies and uncover intelligence. After a series of running battles, the group is rescued and transported to a hostile region of Aoniae. They fight against a Vampiric Sheriff who defeats them, but releases them after they turn over d’Arargon’s lover. This is not a high point.
Now having contacted d’Aragon, although not without cost, the group heads back. They return to plead their case before the College of Scholars at Bogenhafen. The Save Knorans are reluctant but agree to spread their words among to their diplomats in many of the unaligned kingdoms. Most notably the Atlantaen representative seems to commit to fight against the Thonak. Word reaches the group here that the Thonak’s forces have mobilized at an increased rate. Miremal and the other border countries stand ready to fall. Finally the nations which have been content to wait understand the gravity of their situation.
The group splits briefly at this point. The Scholars have provided directions to a place where other magical armaments might be found. Half the group heads there, while the rest meet with agents of d’Aragon to discuss strategy. However, the expedition goes awry. Izan is killed and the others are forced into the realm to Sensailia Itatain to escape his fate. Yorich Skrull, sensing danger to his companions, makes a desperate solo trek across the mountains in the worst storm in Gilden-Hur’s history. He dies just before reaching the location.
Sensailia Itatain, once an ally of the Thonak has realized the danger his being poses. She releases the group and rejoins them with their fellows. She also frees a Cyclops named Arges to join them. One of d’Aragon’s trusted lieutenants, Hurok joins them. He shows a profound distaste for magic. They strike at several key Thonakian strongholds. Eventually gathering the intelligence needed for the final battle to come. That battle is based on the knowledge the group has gathered so far, that the Thonak can be split, but it will require the strength of the divine and the faith of many, something once forgotten in this. Plans are made, but squabbles break out among the group as to what role to play. In the midst of their debate, a simple warrior who has accompanied them reveals himself to be from a world where this argument led to the division of their efforts and the Thonak has won. Reaffirmed, the group sets out for the Darkest Woods.
They are not greeted well by the Drow there. The brothers, Kamien and Alvacan turn out to be part of a pact shown between the Changer God Ilvir and the Elvish Dancing Goddess. In exchange for the creation of children of her body, Ilvir has created a buffer against the Thonak. However, the return of the brothers signals an end to that. The Drow, realizing that they cannot hide behind ancient ways, agree to aid in the fight.
Meanwhile in Rykel, Priests from across the land have gathered to form a Circle of power, a living representation of the Divine Wheel. They channel that power into the Thonak’s Fortress, the Cabatura. It is shattered, but most of the priests die in the backlash. However, the Thonak himself is split into three parts, which is what has been planned. Those parts flee to his three remaining citadels, but the forces of good are prepared. d’Aragon leads his group into the Crimson Fortress, while a band of Paladins of all faiths descend into the Forsaken Citadel. Glantri leads his group into the Tower of Night. There they fight and destroy one part of the Thonak, split and weakened. With his passing, the armies of the Thonak fall apart and his allies collapse. However, Glantri’s soul is ripped from his body in the battle. It takes seven years for the Lady of the Woods to finally find it in the Pool of Souls and return him to full life.
The victory against the Thonak is bittersweet however. Those places which allied with the darkness find their lands barren and poisoned. The Atlantaens take advantage of the the defeat to seize vast mainland areas and slaughter the entire race of the Cebu. It will take Miremal, even under the leadership of d’Aragon decades to recover. Many of Glantri’s heroes become nobles in the new Miremal, Alvacan assumes the Drow throne, while Kamien joins his father Ilvir, still others, like Kari, vanish to await the next evil which they know must come.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Last Things To Be Said About 2009
Honestly 2009 ended up a really solid year for gaming, but pretty much an awful year for most everything else. We had some general awfulness from my sister-in-law who managed to drag the family through more turmoil after soaking us for a chunk of money we're clearly never going to see again; we saw a good friend go through an awful divorce that- while for the better for her- still meant her having to suffer through a lot of unpleasantness which I certainly wouldn't have wished on anyone; my mother went through a cancer scare that shook her (and me) pretty badly though the surgery went much better than we could have hoped; my father as well went through a number of health emergencies and problems that also freaked me out; my incipient ulcer; we had a couple of new people in the group pull back their masks to reveal the crazy; and of course my job hunt remains unsuccessful.
Good things would be that we're still alive and intact. We got through the holidays which, pretty much from Halloween on feels like a rapid downhill slalom. I got a story published with Gene in a Spanish and American anthology, so it was great to see that in print. We had a great visit from my sister- honestly the highpoint of the year for me. We only got out of South Bend once this year, but that was to go to Gene's pretty amazing birthday party in Chicago. My niece started at Indiana Academy which I consider an epic win for her. We found some new coffee that we like and generally managed to avoid anything too traumatic in life.
I did see a few things that stuck with me this year-- Kung Fu Panda and Wal-E on Blu-Ray. I finally got more caught up with the new Dr. Who which I like but don't love. Better to say that I love some of it, but not all. I blew through How I Met Your Mother which is a solid show, doing really good stuff with characters. I'd count Fringe, Better Off Ted, Castle and Modern Family as the only other TV shows I follow with any regularity-- pretty much strictly on Hulu. Movie-wise I don't remember all that much I saw in the theater-- Paranormal Activity was strong, but other than that? Did Watchmen come out this year-- if so I count that a disappointment. I'm more fascinated with odd cinema now that I can find that on DVD through Netflix. I worked through quite a bit of classic wushu stuff-- both TV series and movies. I caught quite a bit of Seijun Suzuki's work, a Japanese direction who is something like a midpoint between Lynch and Goddard. Worth checking out but be prepared, especially on his later efforts, to be lost wondering what is happening. I think my favorite surprise film this year was the Thai martial arts film Chocolate which has a weak plot but absolutely amazing fight sand choreography.
I don't think I really bought much new this year in the way of actual rpg books. A traded for some of the Gumshoe stuff, including Trail of Cthulhu which is dynamite. I'd recommend Play Unsafe and Things We Think About Games-- both of which gave me some really strong ideas. Reading the first of those led me to read Keith Johnstone's Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre which I think is necessary reading for thinking about running NPCs for the players-- how to react with an open approach, how to change up the scene, and how to denote status shifts. I did read HeroQuest 2e by Robin Laws and I think that's one of the most important rpg systems I've looked at. I really does most of what I want a game to do.
I managed to put up 237 posts in 2009. Let's chop a quarter of those off to being filler, and another quarter to being just not so good. That's 118 I'd sign my name to again, and probably half of that I'd say are really strong. I also threw a good deal of effort into geekdo (aka rpggeek)-- becoming one of the largest contributors to database entries, posting reviews and session reports, and putting up geeklists and threads. I've really enjoyed that experience and I encourage everyone again to take a look around there and contribute if you can.
Jim McClain makes a nice observation that resolutions sounds a little off, that goals is probably the better way to put this, so in short, my goals for 2010:
1. Keep up an every-other day schedule for blogging here.
2. Go back through last years entries and where I started a series of ideas but didn't finish, get through written up.
3. Do campaign post-mortems for a couple other games.
4. Put titles on blog entries this year.
5. Get the Action Cards rules done up nicely into a 3e version playable by others.
6. Run Action Cards at a convention with a cold group.
7. Finish revisions to one of my board game designs and submit it somewhere. Get one or two of the other designs somewhat in shape.
8. Get a job.
9. Finish one novel.
10. Get something significant published.
11. Get out of town at least four times this year.
12. Finish video games I buy this year-- or at least improve my record significantly on that.
13. End one of my campaigns and start something new I haven't run before.
14. Reduce and eliminate my smoking.
15. Follow through more consistently on my exercise.
16. Play every board game I own that I haven't played at least once.
17. Develop at least three new core recipes for my dinner repertoire.
18. Listen to more new music.
Good things would be that we're still alive and intact. We got through the holidays which, pretty much from Halloween on feels like a rapid downhill slalom. I got a story published with Gene in a Spanish and American anthology, so it was great to see that in print. We had a great visit from my sister- honestly the highpoint of the year for me. We only got out of South Bend once this year, but that was to go to Gene's pretty amazing birthday party in Chicago. My niece started at Indiana Academy which I consider an epic win for her. We found some new coffee that we like and generally managed to avoid anything too traumatic in life.
I did see a few things that stuck with me this year-- Kung Fu Panda and Wal-E on Blu-Ray. I finally got more caught up with the new Dr. Who which I like but don't love. Better to say that I love some of it, but not all. I blew through How I Met Your Mother which is a solid show, doing really good stuff with characters. I'd count Fringe, Better Off Ted, Castle and Modern Family as the only other TV shows I follow with any regularity-- pretty much strictly on Hulu. Movie-wise I don't remember all that much I saw in the theater-- Paranormal Activity was strong, but other than that? Did Watchmen come out this year-- if so I count that a disappointment. I'm more fascinated with odd cinema now that I can find that on DVD through Netflix. I worked through quite a bit of classic wushu stuff-- both TV series and movies. I caught quite a bit of Seijun Suzuki's work, a Japanese direction who is something like a midpoint between Lynch and Goddard. Worth checking out but be prepared, especially on his later efforts, to be lost wondering what is happening. I think my favorite surprise film this year was the Thai martial arts film Chocolate which has a weak plot but absolutely amazing fight sand choreography.
I don't think I really bought much new this year in the way of actual rpg books. A traded for some of the Gumshoe stuff, including Trail of Cthulhu which is dynamite. I'd recommend Play Unsafe and Things We Think About Games-- both of which gave me some really strong ideas. Reading the first of those led me to read Keith Johnstone's Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre which I think is necessary reading for thinking about running NPCs for the players-- how to react with an open approach, how to change up the scene, and how to denote status shifts. I did read HeroQuest 2e by Robin Laws and I think that's one of the most important rpg systems I've looked at. I really does most of what I want a game to do.
I managed to put up 237 posts in 2009. Let's chop a quarter of those off to being filler, and another quarter to being just not so good. That's 118 I'd sign my name to again, and probably half of that I'd say are really strong. I also threw a good deal of effort into geekdo (aka rpggeek)-- becoming one of the largest contributors to database entries, posting reviews and session reports, and putting up geeklists and threads. I've really enjoyed that experience and I encourage everyone again to take a look around there and contribute if you can.
Jim McClain makes a nice observation that resolutions sounds a little off, that goals is probably the better way to put this, so in short, my goals for 2010:
1. Keep up an every-other day schedule for blogging here.
2. Go back through last years entries and where I started a series of ideas but didn't finish, get through written up.
3. Do campaign post-mortems for a couple other games.
4. Put titles on blog entries this year.
5. Get the Action Cards rules done up nicely into a 3e version playable by others.
6. Run Action Cards at a convention with a cold group.
7. Finish revisions to one of my board game designs and submit it somewhere. Get one or two of the other designs somewhat in shape.
8. Get a job.
9. Finish one novel.
10. Get something significant published.
11. Get out of town at least four times this year.
12. Finish video games I buy this year-- or at least improve my record significantly on that.
13. End one of my campaigns and start something new I haven't run before.
14. Reduce and eliminate my smoking.
15. Follow through more consistently on my exercise.
16. Play every board game I own that I haven't played at least once.
17. Develop at least three new core recipes for my dinner repertoire.
18. Listen to more new music.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
My Year in Gamemastering 2009
Libri Vidicos
By my calculations we've only had two sessions skipped this year for Libri Vidicos, which means we've had 24 sessions this year. We started out this year still a little bit into the first half of their PCs second year at school. While we did finish that game year, the last few sessions have been devoted to some of the sidebar adventure work of the group-- in specific a trip to investigate leads they'd uncovered about Khinsai. That also overlapped with their summer break. What that means is we will be starting Year Three of the game timeline right at the beginning of the year, giving me a nice yardstick to measure real-world time against the game timeline. I know the players might disagree, but ideally, I'd like to be able to do one game year within the span of one real time year give or take a month. That's probably unrealistic- especially since that means that end sessions would hit around the holidays.
At least from where I'm sitting, I'm still really pleased with the game. I'm still nervous about it as I have a lot of plots and details juggling in the air. Each session that goes off strongly surprises me. Like most GM's I tend to focus on the negative about the play after a session and how it could have gone better. I find myself doing that less with LV. Again, in great part this arises from it being the best group of players I've ever run for. That's not a knock on anyone else at all, but this group maintains a high level of trust and interest for each other-- they know each others' characters and enjoy them as much as their own.
We had some great sequences this year. I did a scavenger hunt that ended with a pretty significant shocker of a student NPC death. We had some great bits during the mid-semester break, including Scott's battle with the Hypno Toads. Some great combats-- the battle on the train, the fight on the airship, the showdown with the Queen of Eyes, and others. Some strong revelations about backgrounds-- for Valmont and Sokka and particular, but just about everyone else as well. Some NPCs came more to the forefront, getting more focus while others faded back a little. I'm looking forward to starting Year Three. I'm not introducing entire new years of students as I did last time, since at this point first year students would seem like faceless fodder to them. However, I do have visitors from other schools, so that's a new group of NPCs. Plus I have a new regime on campus with the assassination of the headmaster last year. Plus new instructors, new classes and the showdown between the rival Student Councils.
Changeling
Count tonight's session, I will have run 29 sessions of Changeling this year. That means they somehow managed to pull three extra sessions out of the deal. We'd only had five sessions in the game before we rolled into this year, so it is mostly a 2009 campaign. There's a lot to like about this campaign-- the backstory from the White Wolf material is strong, I have a lot of great NPCs, I have some distinct arcs for the story in mind, and I like what I've done with the Midwest location. It is a modern game, based on character internal tensions and choices, which can be tough to handle-- making sure to divide between player and character. But overall I'm still very happy with the campaign.
Which isn't to say there haven't been rough spots. In great part I started the campaign to bring in two new players to the group. They seemed fine but that turned out to be an incorrect assessment on my part. I'd been warned by a couple of people about that, but Sherri and I didn't listen to their judgment. The game seemed to be going well but eventually inter-player tensions developed, with one of the players really blowing up at the table. I thought we had that settled, but then in the middle of my own crisis with a mess of things, not least of which was my mother's surgery for cancer, they decided to leave the game in an unpleasant way. There was a strange streak of narcissism I should have picked up on earlier. I think selfishness about play is one of the most destructive elements for a group. I'm not talking about the “Loner” archetype, which can work, but a degree of self-absorption, irritation at others having attention, and willingness to crap on other people's scenes that seems just petty. I hadn't realized how unhappy the other players were really until after those players left. In any case it has made me seriously gunshy about making an effort to bring other players into the group. I'm going to have to be much more careful in the future.
That aside, we had some really great moments in the campaign-- mostly built around character interactions. I've been loose and slow with the development of the big arcs, although the first Campaign Season ended with wrapping up some significant things. That was one trick I tried, using a strong marker to signal the break between “seasons” in the game. More than other campaigns, this one functions like a television series, so I've been trying to use that model. I have some big arcs out there, some medium arcs (season length) and some short ones. I've also been pretty happy about how my Action Cards system has held up when shifted over to another campaign setting. Adapting the Changeling rules over took some work, but I think it has been worth it. There's a transparency to the rules-- in the sense they don't get in the way of play-- that I think is vital to this kind of character centered game.
Third Continent
It took me some time to finally get this campaign up and off the ground. In 2008, when I was finishing off the Scion campaign, I gave the players a list of campaign seeds. I had them vote on them. Strangely (at least from my perspective) the campaign that got the strongest rating and had the least number of negative votes was one returning to the Third Continent fantasy setting where they'd played before. I originally planned to use Storyteller, and then maybe a modified version of GURPS, and then finally decided to use Action Cards after having rammed my head against the wall on design decisions for the other two. I took the risky step of adding dice for damage, which I think has come out pretty well in the context of this kind of high-fantasy campaign. I certainly wouldn't want to do that for other genres however. I also polished the magic system-- it is better but still not the best and added a set of profession tracks to echo classes from Final Fantasy Tactics.
We've done around a dozen sessions of this campaign, I believe. I started them out as youths, with little development and then destroyed their home village-- as I warned them I would do. We then took up five years later with the group being drawn together once again with the goal of finding a way to destroy those who had destroyed them. It is an interesting group-- with a mix of players driven by character interaction, plot and table play goals. That's often hard to manage. We have more combat in this game than I usually do which can be hard. But we've also had some great moments-- in particular Candy's various Plum Wine incidents, Ori's cheerfulness, Raythe's dive and Zot's lowlife hunt. My goal for the next part of the campaign arc will be to develop more on the HeroQuest and gods side of things-- each character is the last bearer of their particular divinity and they are shaping that figure through their actions and adventures.
White Mountain, Black River
I believe we've done eight sessions so far of this wulin-themed fantasy campaign. We have three regular players and two sit in players for when they can come in from out of town. I've tried to deliberately structure my plans so that the sessions with the smaller group are focused on general development, NPC interaction, and development of resources with a few incidents thrown in. They when we have extra players we can pull up a particular episode or directed story which can be run to ground in that session alone.
I'd have to say the session with both fighting the Hopping Vampires and the tournament contests was the highlight for me. We had a nice mix of things happening there and got quite a bit in. But I've also really enjoyed the slow character developments and connections which have been going on. I've got some threads for each of the players' “flaws” that I hope to bring into play over time. Like the wulin/wushu television series, I see this game as an extended soap opera interspersed with investigations and combat.
I did a pretty hefty homebrew for this campaign, drawing on the Storyteller system to put into play the Crouching Adjective, Hidden Noun martial arts mechanics I'd worked up some time back. I find it a strange switch to move from running rules light games to more crunchy ones. I like what I've done with the mechanics, but I also see the limits of it pretty clearly. Mechanics are fun, but what helps a good group play well is better. So this will probably be the last game I run using Storyteller or any high-crunch system. The exceptions will be for one shot or short-run games; superheroes (in which case I'll use Mutants & Masterminds); or if I do another arc of the Scion campaign. For everything else I'm going to use Action Cards, HeroQuest 2e, Gumshoe, or an equally rules lite set of mechanics. And Sherri will likely hold me to that.
Lyceum Aegis
I ran (I think) five sessions of this pick up game for my niece and Sherri. It is still ongoing and I hope to get another session in over her holiday break. It uses a school setting, drawing a little on Mage: the Ascension, Persona, and the Orphans of Chaos series. We've only been able to play this infrequently, but I do have a lot of details I've built into the game. I need to start playing out some of the story arcs more strongly soon-- I've hinted at a couple of them already.
Other
I also ran only one session of the Arkham Harbor all-girls supers game. Schedules really haven't permitted us to do more than that which is too bad. I ran a quick one-shot horror game which was the spiritual successor to the All-Flesh Space game I've run at conventions. It went over pretty well-- with the various PC deaths being dramatic and horrible.
What's Missing?
The most glaring absence from this list is, of course, my Dragonblooded Exalted campaign set in Crux. We have one player who hasn't been able to make it and she's really core to the campaign play. Normally I'd run with a single player missing, but she serves as the heart and engine of the group. The players agreed that not having her there would feel wrong. That's really too bad as I love that campaign, as do many of the players. I'd like to get back there, but at this point, I'm not certain we can. If it happens in 2010, that would be great otherwise I think I simply have to write it up as an unfinished story which just kills me.
In Conclusion
So, in total, by my count, I ran 80 sessions in 2009.
By my calculations we've only had two sessions skipped this year for Libri Vidicos, which means we've had 24 sessions this year. We started out this year still a little bit into the first half of their PCs second year at school. While we did finish that game year, the last few sessions have been devoted to some of the sidebar adventure work of the group-- in specific a trip to investigate leads they'd uncovered about Khinsai. That also overlapped with their summer break. What that means is we will be starting Year Three of the game timeline right at the beginning of the year, giving me a nice yardstick to measure real-world time against the game timeline. I know the players might disagree, but ideally, I'd like to be able to do one game year within the span of one real time year give or take a month. That's probably unrealistic- especially since that means that end sessions would hit around the holidays.
At least from where I'm sitting, I'm still really pleased with the game. I'm still nervous about it as I have a lot of plots and details juggling in the air. Each session that goes off strongly surprises me. Like most GM's I tend to focus on the negative about the play after a session and how it could have gone better. I find myself doing that less with LV. Again, in great part this arises from it being the best group of players I've ever run for. That's not a knock on anyone else at all, but this group maintains a high level of trust and interest for each other-- they know each others' characters and enjoy them as much as their own.
We had some great sequences this year. I did a scavenger hunt that ended with a pretty significant shocker of a student NPC death. We had some great bits during the mid-semester break, including Scott's battle with the Hypno Toads. Some great combats-- the battle on the train, the fight on the airship, the showdown with the Queen of Eyes, and others. Some strong revelations about backgrounds-- for Valmont and Sokka and particular, but just about everyone else as well. Some NPCs came more to the forefront, getting more focus while others faded back a little. I'm looking forward to starting Year Three. I'm not introducing entire new years of students as I did last time, since at this point first year students would seem like faceless fodder to them. However, I do have visitors from other schools, so that's a new group of NPCs. Plus I have a new regime on campus with the assassination of the headmaster last year. Plus new instructors, new classes and the showdown between the rival Student Councils.
Changeling
Count tonight's session, I will have run 29 sessions of Changeling this year. That means they somehow managed to pull three extra sessions out of the deal. We'd only had five sessions in the game before we rolled into this year, so it is mostly a 2009 campaign. There's a lot to like about this campaign-- the backstory from the White Wolf material is strong, I have a lot of great NPCs, I have some distinct arcs for the story in mind, and I like what I've done with the Midwest location. It is a modern game, based on character internal tensions and choices, which can be tough to handle-- making sure to divide between player and character. But overall I'm still very happy with the campaign.
Which isn't to say there haven't been rough spots. In great part I started the campaign to bring in two new players to the group. They seemed fine but that turned out to be an incorrect assessment on my part. I'd been warned by a couple of people about that, but Sherri and I didn't listen to their judgment. The game seemed to be going well but eventually inter-player tensions developed, with one of the players really blowing up at the table. I thought we had that settled, but then in the middle of my own crisis with a mess of things, not least of which was my mother's surgery for cancer, they decided to leave the game in an unpleasant way. There was a strange streak of narcissism I should have picked up on earlier. I think selfishness about play is one of the most destructive elements for a group. I'm not talking about the “Loner” archetype, which can work, but a degree of self-absorption, irritation at others having attention, and willingness to crap on other people's scenes that seems just petty. I hadn't realized how unhappy the other players were really until after those players left. In any case it has made me seriously gunshy about making an effort to bring other players into the group. I'm going to have to be much more careful in the future.
That aside, we had some really great moments in the campaign-- mostly built around character interactions. I've been loose and slow with the development of the big arcs, although the first Campaign Season ended with wrapping up some significant things. That was one trick I tried, using a strong marker to signal the break between “seasons” in the game. More than other campaigns, this one functions like a television series, so I've been trying to use that model. I have some big arcs out there, some medium arcs (season length) and some short ones. I've also been pretty happy about how my Action Cards system has held up when shifted over to another campaign setting. Adapting the Changeling rules over took some work, but I think it has been worth it. There's a transparency to the rules-- in the sense they don't get in the way of play-- that I think is vital to this kind of character centered game.
Third Continent
It took me some time to finally get this campaign up and off the ground. In 2008, when I was finishing off the Scion campaign, I gave the players a list of campaign seeds. I had them vote on them. Strangely (at least from my perspective) the campaign that got the strongest rating and had the least number of negative votes was one returning to the Third Continent fantasy setting where they'd played before. I originally planned to use Storyteller, and then maybe a modified version of GURPS, and then finally decided to use Action Cards after having rammed my head against the wall on design decisions for the other two. I took the risky step of adding dice for damage, which I think has come out pretty well in the context of this kind of high-fantasy campaign. I certainly wouldn't want to do that for other genres however. I also polished the magic system-- it is better but still not the best and added a set of profession tracks to echo classes from Final Fantasy Tactics.
We've done around a dozen sessions of this campaign, I believe. I started them out as youths, with little development and then destroyed their home village-- as I warned them I would do. We then took up five years later with the group being drawn together once again with the goal of finding a way to destroy those who had destroyed them. It is an interesting group-- with a mix of players driven by character interaction, plot and table play goals. That's often hard to manage. We have more combat in this game than I usually do which can be hard. But we've also had some great moments-- in particular Candy's various Plum Wine incidents, Ori's cheerfulness, Raythe's dive and Zot's lowlife hunt. My goal for the next part of the campaign arc will be to develop more on the HeroQuest and gods side of things-- each character is the last bearer of their particular divinity and they are shaping that figure through their actions and adventures.
White Mountain, Black River
I believe we've done eight sessions so far of this wulin-themed fantasy campaign. We have three regular players and two sit in players for when they can come in from out of town. I've tried to deliberately structure my plans so that the sessions with the smaller group are focused on general development, NPC interaction, and development of resources with a few incidents thrown in. They when we have extra players we can pull up a particular episode or directed story which can be run to ground in that session alone.
I'd have to say the session with both fighting the Hopping Vampires and the tournament contests was the highlight for me. We had a nice mix of things happening there and got quite a bit in. But I've also really enjoyed the slow character developments and connections which have been going on. I've got some threads for each of the players' “flaws” that I hope to bring into play over time. Like the wulin/wushu television series, I see this game as an extended soap opera interspersed with investigations and combat.
I did a pretty hefty homebrew for this campaign, drawing on the Storyteller system to put into play the Crouching Adjective, Hidden Noun martial arts mechanics I'd worked up some time back. I find it a strange switch to move from running rules light games to more crunchy ones. I like what I've done with the mechanics, but I also see the limits of it pretty clearly. Mechanics are fun, but what helps a good group play well is better. So this will probably be the last game I run using Storyteller or any high-crunch system. The exceptions will be for one shot or short-run games; superheroes (in which case I'll use Mutants & Masterminds); or if I do another arc of the Scion campaign. For everything else I'm going to use Action Cards, HeroQuest 2e, Gumshoe, or an equally rules lite set of mechanics. And Sherri will likely hold me to that.
Lyceum Aegis
I ran (I think) five sessions of this pick up game for my niece and Sherri. It is still ongoing and I hope to get another session in over her holiday break. It uses a school setting, drawing a little on Mage: the Ascension, Persona, and the Orphans of Chaos series. We've only been able to play this infrequently, but I do have a lot of details I've built into the game. I need to start playing out some of the story arcs more strongly soon-- I've hinted at a couple of them already.
Other
I also ran only one session of the Arkham Harbor all-girls supers game. Schedules really haven't permitted us to do more than that which is too bad. I ran a quick one-shot horror game which was the spiritual successor to the All-Flesh Space game I've run at conventions. It went over pretty well-- with the various PC deaths being dramatic and horrible.
What's Missing?
The most glaring absence from this list is, of course, my Dragonblooded Exalted campaign set in Crux. We have one player who hasn't been able to make it and she's really core to the campaign play. Normally I'd run with a single player missing, but she serves as the heart and engine of the group. The players agreed that not having her there would feel wrong. That's really too bad as I love that campaign, as do many of the players. I'd like to get back there, but at this point, I'm not certain we can. If it happens in 2010, that would be great otherwise I think I simply have to write it up as an unfinished story which just kills me.
In Conclusion
So, in total, by my count, I ran 80 sessions in 2009.
Monday, December 28, 2009
AC Combat Styles: Detailed
The last bit (I think) on Action Cards combat system. Next post will be a game year in review and then I hope to finish out this revision throughout January. I'm more behind than I'd hoped I'd be at this point.
COMBAT STYLES (Optional, Detailed)
The basic Combat Styles system allows players to abstractly add effects and options to their combat actions. Gamemasters who wish a more detailed and specific set of options may want to break down maneuvers into sets with very specific effects. These rules assume the use of dice based damage. In this case players learn Combat Styles which have specific elements. A character may apply elements to their actions-- some work with attacks and others with defenses-- to enhance them. In the beginning, a character may apply one element they know to any applicable attack or defense action.
These kinds of style can be used to simulate genre or to balance out the available options between classic warrior types and those using magic in a fantasy campaign. This option does add a level of complexity and option tracking for the players which may slow combat down.
In this option, players may learn additional styles and may eventually raise the cap on the number of elements they may add to any individual attack or defense. If the campaign uses the Profession Tracks option, then new styles and the increase on the cap for elements will have to be bought through those tracks. If using a straight point based system, then each Combat Style costs 10 points. Raising the cap to two elements costs 10 points and raising the cap to three costs 20. The GM may want to limit which combat styles a player may buy or how many they may know. They may also limit when players may raise those caps.
A character can change what they're adding to which action from round to round or action to action. There's no additional skill roll required, no spending of fatigue or focus. Primarily these elements are intended to add color and provide a broader range of choices without detailing all the possible martial arts or having individual rules for maneuvers. Some elements apply strictly to attack, some to defense, and some to more particular forms (grappling, unarmed, ranged attacks, and so on). Combat Styles apply to both Armed and Unarmed combat, some can apply to Ranged Attacks as well.
If a character has learned the same element from more than one style, they may double up the effects-- the exception to this is Enhancements to Dodge, Block or Parry which may not be doubled unless conducting a Full Defense. Some effects, like Trip, substitute for dealing damage.
Gamemasters may simply list the four or five elements (depending on the genre) for any particular style or they may add descriptive names for the elements within the style to add color to the game.
Defensive Combat Elements
Attack Awareness: Negate Gang-Up penalties to defense
Enhanced Block/Parry: +1 to Blocks/Parries.
Enhanced Dodge: +1 to Dodges.
Escape: +1 to contest for escaping grapples
Evasion: If targeted in melee, reduce chances of being hit from randomization
Missile Parry: May parry ranged attacks
Riposte: If defense is successful, lower attacker's Defense pull by -1 for your next attack.
Roll with Blow: If defense fails, add +1 to your DR.
Root: Gain +1 to resist being knocked down, tackled or moved
Turn Blow: May parry normally unparryable attacks-- i.e. a battle axe with a dagger.
Offensive Combat Elements
Accuracy: +1 to attack pull
All-Around: May attack any target in surrounding area without penalty
Armor Destroying: Successful attack reduces the target's DR 1 for the duration of the combat (min 1). Some armor may resist.
Armor Piercing: Halve target's DR vs. attack
Beast-Slayer: +1 die damage and attack versus animals and monster creatures
Breaking: Enhanced strength for breaking inanimate objects.
Called Shot: +1 bonus to offset difficulty for hitting a particular location..
Choke: May attempt to KO a held target- target must make a Physical resistance pull. Must follow grab.
Clinch: May grapple with one hand, keeping other hand free.
Coordination: When attacking with an ally, target has a -1 penalty to defense pulls
Critical: Switch one successful damage die to a ten.
Crush: +2 dice damage when inflicting a crush in a grapple
Damage: +1 die damage
Disarm: +1 bonus to disarm contests
Feint: Successful attack means target suffers a -1 penalty to defense pulls on following round.
Grappling: +1 bonus to Physical contests to hold target in a grapple
Ground Fighting: No penalty to attack or defense while prone.
Knockback: Target makes test or be knocked back
Lock: Grappled target takes damage with unsuccessful breakout attempts.
Mook Killer: If attack hits a Mook, KO Mook
Precision: Always hit chosen target when firing into melee.
Running Strike: +2 dice damage if full move made before attack
Sharpshot: Reduce Range penalties
Silent: Attack makes no noise.
Stun: Successful attack forces Stun test on target.
Subdue: Gain bonus when attacking to subdue/KO without injury
Surprise: Gain +2 dice to damage when making a surprise attack
Sweep: May target up to three adjacent targets with an attack-- cumulative -1 penalty.
Throw: +1 die damage when throwing a target. Greater control and distance for throwing.
Trip: Successful attack forces target to make check or be knocked down instead of damage.
Unbalance: Target must make Physcial check or lose either their Move or Standard action on following round.
Weapon Lock: May attempt to grapple target's weapon.
Advanced Combat Elements
Area: Attack affects a mega-hex
Blind: Target makes Physical check or be blinded (or deafened) on following round.
Cone: Attack has a short, cone area
Create Weapon: May create a magical or makeshift weapon instantly
Disrupting: Target check or suffer a Physical result penalty for the combat
Explosion: Attack explodes out from character with diminishing damage
Flying/Leaping: Move action with Attack/Defense may be vertical without test or penalty.
Range: HTH may be made at range
Tracking/Trick: Ranged attack ignores cover
Unhealing: Damage takes double time to recover or must be healed with magic
Example Styles (From a more wushu style setting)
Storming Master’s Form
Lightning: Attack Awareness
Thunderous: Armor-Piercing
Whirlwind: Accuracy
Rain-touched: Precision
Hurricane: Silent
Seeking Pilgrim’s Style
Reaching: Enhanced Block
Collapse: Attack Awareness
Directed: All-Around
Center: Running Strike
Distant: Beast-Slayer
Way of the Waters
Ocean: Enhanced Dodge
Cascading: All-Around
Tidal: Armor Destroying
Wave: Sharpshot
Depths: Breaking
Taunt of the Monkey
Lashing: Escape
Gift: Enhanced Block
Endless: Armor Piercing
Echo: Silent
Crying: Called Shot
Secrets of the Earth
Splinter: Evasion
Rippling: Armor-destroying
Pressure: Beast-Slayer
Stillness: Stun
Unconquered: Choke
COMBAT STYLES (Optional, Detailed)
The basic Combat Styles system allows players to abstractly add effects and options to their combat actions. Gamemasters who wish a more detailed and specific set of options may want to break down maneuvers into sets with very specific effects. These rules assume the use of dice based damage. In this case players learn Combat Styles which have specific elements. A character may apply elements to their actions-- some work with attacks and others with defenses-- to enhance them. In the beginning, a character may apply one element they know to any applicable attack or defense action.
These kinds of style can be used to simulate genre or to balance out the available options between classic warrior types and those using magic in a fantasy campaign. This option does add a level of complexity and option tracking for the players which may slow combat down.
In this option, players may learn additional styles and may eventually raise the cap on the number of elements they may add to any individual attack or defense. If the campaign uses the Profession Tracks option, then new styles and the increase on the cap for elements will have to be bought through those tracks. If using a straight point based system, then each Combat Style costs 10 points. Raising the cap to two elements costs 10 points and raising the cap to three costs 20. The GM may want to limit which combat styles a player may buy or how many they may know. They may also limit when players may raise those caps.
A character can change what they're adding to which action from round to round or action to action. There's no additional skill roll required, no spending of fatigue or focus. Primarily these elements are intended to add color and provide a broader range of choices without detailing all the possible martial arts or having individual rules for maneuvers. Some elements apply strictly to attack, some to defense, and some to more particular forms (grappling, unarmed, ranged attacks, and so on). Combat Styles apply to both Armed and Unarmed combat, some can apply to Ranged Attacks as well.
If a character has learned the same element from more than one style, they may double up the effects-- the exception to this is Enhancements to Dodge, Block or Parry which may not be doubled unless conducting a Full Defense. Some effects, like Trip, substitute for dealing damage.
Gamemasters may simply list the four or five elements (depending on the genre) for any particular style or they may add descriptive names for the elements within the style to add color to the game.
Defensive Combat Elements
Attack Awareness: Negate Gang-Up penalties to defense
Enhanced Block/Parry: +1 to Blocks/Parries.
Enhanced Dodge: +1 to Dodges.
Escape: +1 to contest for escaping grapples
Evasion: If targeted in melee, reduce chances of being hit from randomization
Missile Parry: May parry ranged attacks
Riposte: If defense is successful, lower attacker's Defense pull by -1 for your next attack.
Roll with Blow: If defense fails, add +1 to your DR.
Root: Gain +1 to resist being knocked down, tackled or moved
Turn Blow: May parry normally unparryable attacks-- i.e. a battle axe with a dagger.
Offensive Combat Elements
Accuracy: +1 to attack pull
All-Around: May attack any target in surrounding area without penalty
Armor Destroying: Successful attack reduces the target's DR 1 for the duration of the combat (min 1). Some armor may resist.
Armor Piercing: Halve target's DR vs. attack
Beast-Slayer: +1 die damage and attack versus animals and monster creatures
Breaking: Enhanced strength for breaking inanimate objects.
Called Shot: +1 bonus to offset difficulty for hitting a particular location..
Choke: May attempt to KO a held target- target must make a Physical resistance pull. Must follow grab.
Clinch: May grapple with one hand, keeping other hand free.
Coordination: When attacking with an ally, target has a -1 penalty to defense pulls
Critical: Switch one successful damage die to a ten.
Crush: +2 dice damage when inflicting a crush in a grapple
Damage: +1 die damage
Disarm: +1 bonus to disarm contests
Feint: Successful attack means target suffers a -1 penalty to defense pulls on following round.
Grappling: +1 bonus to Physical contests to hold target in a grapple
Ground Fighting: No penalty to attack or defense while prone.
Knockback: Target makes test or be knocked back
Lock: Grappled target takes damage with unsuccessful breakout attempts.
Mook Killer: If attack hits a Mook, KO Mook
Precision: Always hit chosen target when firing into melee.
Running Strike: +2 dice damage if full move made before attack
Sharpshot: Reduce Range penalties
Silent: Attack makes no noise.
Stun: Successful attack forces Stun test on target.
Subdue: Gain bonus when attacking to subdue/KO without injury
Surprise: Gain +2 dice to damage when making a surprise attack
Sweep: May target up to three adjacent targets with an attack-- cumulative -1 penalty.
Throw: +1 die damage when throwing a target. Greater control and distance for throwing.
Trip: Successful attack forces target to make check or be knocked down instead of damage.
Unbalance: Target must make Physcial check or lose either their Move or Standard action on following round.
Weapon Lock: May attempt to grapple target's weapon.
Advanced Combat Elements
Area: Attack affects a mega-hex
Blind: Target makes Physical check or be blinded (or deafened) on following round.
Cone: Attack has a short, cone area
Create Weapon: May create a magical or makeshift weapon instantly
Disrupting: Target check or suffer a Physical result penalty for the combat
Explosion: Attack explodes out from character with diminishing damage
Flying/Leaping: Move action with Attack/Defense may be vertical without test or penalty.
Range: HTH may be made at range
Tracking/Trick: Ranged attack ignores cover
Unhealing: Damage takes double time to recover or must be healed with magic
Example Styles (From a more wushu style setting)
Storming Master’s Form
Lightning: Attack Awareness
Thunderous: Armor-Piercing
Whirlwind: Accuracy
Rain-touched: Precision
Hurricane: Silent
Seeking Pilgrim’s Style
Reaching: Enhanced Block
Collapse: Attack Awareness
Directed: All-Around
Center: Running Strike
Distant: Beast-Slayer
Way of the Waters
Ocean: Enhanced Dodge
Cascading: All-Around
Tidal: Armor Destroying
Wave: Sharpshot
Depths: Breaking
Taunt of the Monkey
Lashing: Escape
Gift: Enhanced Block
Endless: Armor Piercing
Echo: Silent
Crying: Called Shot
Secrets of the Earth
Splinter: Evasion
Rippling: Armor-destroying
Pressure: Beast-Slayer
Stillness: Stun
Unconquered: Choke
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