RPG Catch Up

So a few observations going into November. First, Robot Zero Tuesday will be back next week with new material. Second, as I head towards the end of the year, I hope to hit my milestone post right at the end. I have a couple of players & friends who have generously offered to do guest posts, so I hope to have a couple of those pop up before 2011 runs out. Third, I'd planned on posting something substantive every day in October, since I wasn't going to be doing a review each day. I came close- ending up with 29 posts. I consider that a victory given that the primary hard drive on my computer died and I lost...well nearly a decade worth of work and notes. I'm still trying to find a solution, but I've set that aside for the moment so I don't make myself crazy.

Towards the end of the year, I'll be putting together an overview of the campaigns, where they stand, where they've been in the last year, and where I see them going. But I'll mention a couple of things that have recently happened in a couple of the games:

*In both the Libri Vidicos and the Pavis High Fantasy games, the players have developed approaches I didn't see coming. Now I expect some of that- you can't predict everything the group will do, but an experienced GM will usually have a range in mind and what the group does will often overlap with that. In Libri Vidicos, the players managed to bring back the apparently dead Headmaster Gravast Direlond, in a pretty epic scene I'd been building towards for the last year and a half. But in some ways that's one of the few things I foresaw and planned for that the PCs have done. They've been cutting deep into the meta-plot and things are, as they say, “getting real.” In the Pavis game, they crossed a bad guy, who killed one of their NPCs. I expected them to deal with that- work around to taking him out and changing up the political situation in the city. Instead, they called on the last favor owed them by a god, and asked to be teleported into the bad guys lair. And then they went to town on the bad guy and his minions. Boom, boom, boom. I might have described it as overkill, but the players saw it as just-right-kill.

*In the Changeling the Lost campaign, I took advantage of a major quest arc wrapping up to make changes to the mechanics of the game. I'm hopeful about that. Essentially, I wanted to add the aspect and tags system from FATE to the game since it had worked well in a couple of the other versions of our house rules. We'll see how that plays out- this last session the group essentially changed the rule sof the game literally and figuratively in the campaign's freehold: establishing their own Court and subverting some agents of the enemy into joining them. Now they have to go and present themselves to the Princes of the city and then go and finish off the Draconic servants of a Keeper.

*In the "Treasure Hunters" campaign, we had a long, long session. I'd say most of our weekend games end by midnight at the latest. Our Thursday and Sunday games end by 11pm at the latest. There's some calculation on the players part, especially regarding elements which refresh from session to session (such as abilities and drama points). On Saturday, the group continued their invasion of the Ninja Fortress. I'd intended the adventure to take one session, but the previous session had been delayed by two players arriving late from a horse-riding accident. So we pressed on- and I watched the players spend their points. It got later- mostly based on bad pacing on my part, but I was determined to wrap the adventure that night, so we started the big epic battle at 11pm. The group faced four times their number in enemies, including seven named and significant adversaries. We wrapped up at 1:30am after a pretty awesome battle. I like doing that every once in a while and it did mean the players had already tapped some of their resources.

Lastly, I wanted to point to an interesting article I found recently. It had apparently been out there in the game blog community for a number of years, but I'd missed it. Five Geek Social Fallacies hits home pretty hard- because I've seen that go on and I've engaged in that apologist behavior over the years. I've been thinking about that recently, because we've seen some 'at table' social bullying: getting angry, threatening, and so on. It bothered me when one player I respect told another that they'd just have to 'give in' to make everything fine. The problem I have is that approach privileges one player over another, and rewards and reinforces bad behavior.

Finally, which I'm guessing comes after lastly, I'd like to point out this miniature:

And this post. I used to play with Tom Anders, M:tG mostly. I found him to be one of the most excellent, generous and personable gamers I've ever known. He is a genuinely good person who shows immense enthusiasm for the games he plays. He's been instrumental in the Blood Bowl (tm) community, as I understand it. And when I say instrumental, I'm completely underselling his role and impact. And of course, because it was a Games Workshop product...well, if you're a gamer you can probably finish that story yourself. Anyway, I'm incredibly pleased to see Tom receiving such a nice gesture.

Ashen Stars: Review & Additional Thoughts

TO THE BRIDGE
Over on Diehard GameFan I have a pretty extensive review of Ashen Stars posted. Bottom line: I'm generally sold on it, with some reservations (some of my other thoughts on GUMSHOE here). I also reviewed separately the adventure collection for Ashen Stars, Dead Rock Seven. In some ways, seeing those cases written out helped me get a handle on what was going in the main game. It took me a while to understand what I liked and didn't like about Ashen Stars and what it was trying to do. Pelgrane's put out an amazing and lovely game- but it may take some work to get new players into it. Players need to have a clear handle on two elements in play. First, the alien races and their natures. They need to know who they are, what they can do, and how that might bear on cases. Some of the races have special abilities, so players need to know those- especially if the GM plans on having any or all of those races present in an investigation. Second, what exactly you can do with each of the abilities. Some are obvious, but some aren't- and a condensed summary of those would be helpful- maybe a two page cheat sheet for the first couple of sessions.

MYSTERIES VS. PROBLEMS
Ashen Stars broadens the structure of investigations. The Lasers are as much problem solvers as they are detectives. They have a secondary set of concerns- beyond figuring out whodunit. They have to enact a solution, they have to do that in a way that causes the least offense, and they have to work to enhance their reputation. The Esoterrorists had a pretty basic line- figure out who was behind an occurrence, stop it and neutralize them. Fear Itself is even narrower- solve the mystery before the mystery kills you. Mutant City Blues and Trail of Cthulhu stick closely to traditions of police procedurals and CoC adventures. But Laws recognizes that most episodic sci-fi is built on a simple structure: problem, investigation, twist and solution. Now that could apply to many genres- but think of how any of the Star Trek franchises operate, early Babylon Five, or Farscape. Character-centered and extended arc stories in space opera represent a relatively recent phenomena (BSG, late B5). Ashen Stars opens things up- it isn't Space Precinct, but instead a rich and diverse sci-fi rpg. It doesn’t necessarily have the classic sci-fi paths of rebellion, trade, exploration, or bug-hunting but what it offers is pretty exciting.

BUYING AND SELLING
That having been said- sci-fi's not something our group's gravitated to. Or rather where we've done sci-fi it has been along pretty tight lines:

1. Science Fantasy: I want to start with the one which is hardest to define. Typically when I think of science fantasy I think of John Carter, Warlord of Mars. That mix of swords & sorcery with a sci-fi backdrop. But I also think of some sci-fi rpgs as being science fantasy as well. For example, Fading Suns and Rogue Trader feel like fantasy with a thin tech veneer on them. Our group played the former and has some interest in the latter (with a number of retired WH40K players among them).

2. Established Settings: For example, Star Wars which rightly ought to fall into the Science Fantasy category above, falls here. It's probably the sci-fi setting people in our group have played most and has the most positive reception. Then there's Star Trek and Firefly, both of which have had their heyday- played in several different versions.

3. Cyberpunk: For many years, this was the go-to sci-fi game of choice. Eventually the couple of people in the group who really enjoyed it moved on to other things. I think other genres have pushed over into what would have been cyberpunk's territory. You see elements from it elsewhere- especially in transhumanist concepts. Ashen Stars notably uses the self-augmentation chrome that I associate with cyberpunk.

4. Superheroes: Depending on the setting, superheroes can be more or less sci-fi. The X-Men, for example have always been much more in touch with that than other superhero groups. Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men for example is strongly sci-fi. The same thing with J. Michael Straczynski's Supreme Power series. We've played a couple of superhero campaigns that have that approach- a singular genetic source for super-powers and the implications of that.

So not so much about classic space opera. In think part of that comes from our gaming DNA. Our groups have never been ones attracted to Traveller. I know a couple of players with some fondess for it, but they're the exception. It never caught on around here as it did elsewhere. Most players among the groups I play with strongly went down the fantasy path. Until I talked to some of them recently, I hadn't realized that some them never bought into Star Trek, for example. I'd always taken that as a geek-given: that everyone had watched ST and had some affection for it.

All of that makes Ashen Stars a tougher sell for my group. I could focus on the diversity of aliens and system spanning travel that make it feel like Star Wars. But SW suggests a certain heroism and epic scale that doesn't quite fit with my conception of Ashen Stars. Star Wars offers a literal black and white conflict, which closes out more ambiguous drama- at least as presented in core materials of the movies. On the flip side, Firefly's pretty popular and "The Bleed" of Ashen Stars does echo the "The Black" of lawless space. But Firefly has more grit and a lot less fantasy- fitting aliens, weird powers and high glint technology into that frame doesn't work.

ALL GAMES ARE LOCAL
Or all of that may be my own hesitation; rationalizing it with our group's history. Space games intimidate me for a pretty specific reason- the question of scale. To actually have a space opera game, the players need to be able to move from location to location quickly. Each case should take place in a new world, with new sights and sounds. And those sights have to be rich, interesting and play into the investigation at hand. Jonathan Lethem said an interesting thing about the detective novel- that those stories are travelogues and explorations of place. That's why he used a mystery structure for his alternate universe exploration, The Yiddish Policemen's Union. [WRONG- Michael Chabon actually wrote YPMU and the point is his from the interview I heard on NPR. Error helpfully pointed out by a commenter.]

Now I'm a lazy GM- or rather I'm a GM who runs enough that my goal is to minimize prep time by maximizing utility. And I'll admit that's part of why I like singular location campaigns: cities and schools for example. The material you develop for those locations don't usually get thrown away because the players move on. These stories build layers of details- with characters and places adding to and informing other stories. And if something or someone doesn't get used, you can repurpose it elsewhere. In those games, when players go "outside" to new places, that's usually for a pretty narrow purpose and I can just worry about surface details and color, rather than having to plot out the depths of those places. I know, really, that the same thing holds true for a system-of-the-week space opera game, but it feels more intimidating. I'm enough of an obsessive and simulationist, that if I build a story with a cool planet or location, I'll probably end up spending too much time planning.

WRITING TO THE TABLE
But that won't be Robin Laws' fault. Ashen Stars has the tool's a GM needs to build things and not worry about the details. This game really cements for me what Laws does better than many other designers. He actually writes for what's getting played at the table. He writes to give gamemasters solid, interesting and quick tools to create a session. He writes for players to show them what they can do in play and how they can manipulate that. Laws offers ideas- dramatic necessity determining results (GUMSHOE, HeroQuest), all conflicts as conflict (HQ), moments as cinematic shots (Feng Shui)- that seem obvious in retrospect. He's watched how games actually play and offers systems that help that process. So in Ashen Stars he gives a planet creation system based purely on what story the GM wants to tell.

That's not to dismiss the cool of system building. I remember those complex systems well from the early days: Traveller, Space Opera, Universe. Each had chunks of rules dedicated to doing that kind of building, but that was something that appeal to me in the abstract. When I actually sat down to do it, it didn't give me the kind of thrill I know it did for other gamers. It's actually why I admire the kinds of approaches of games like Diaspora (or Microscope) where the creation is a collaborative effort. That makes that kind of more detailed process appeal to me. Not that those approaches have the crunch or scientific verisimilitude of hard sci-fi games.

LAST THOUGHT
So bottom line- I like Ashen Stars and I'm considering it for a longer campaign, with some modifications. My one practical concern comes from the number of alien races. My gut tells me that I don't want a party of mostly non-humans. I think having too many in a group potentially dilutes the impact. When I ran Star Wars, I allowed (in a party of six) up to two "alien races"- meaning non-humanoid aliens. I ended up with a droid and a wookie. I've done the same thing in fantasy games- reducing the number of non-humans there such that being one has some story impact, allows the player to own something unique. But then again, I haven't run that much sci-fi, so I don't know if I'm perhaps being too controlling- I probably need to ask other GMs.

The GUMSHOE Companion: RPG Wishes

KEEP REACHING FOR THE STARS?
I just finished about 6500 words on Ashen Stars and its accompanying adventure collection Dead Rock Seven. I hope those will be up next week. I had a strange experience in reading through those rules. I'd pre-ordered them and gotten the nice autographed full-color version. I really enjoy some parts of GUMSHOE and I've reviewed a great deal of the line. My first reaction on reading Ashen Stars, though, was more than a little negative. It felt complicated and overwhelming. It wasn't until I sat down for a serious read that I began to see what Laws & co. aimed at- a distinctive sci-fi game of investigation in the broadest sense with all the possible trappings of the genre. That's a flip from Mutant City Blues which presented superhero mysteries with a heavily defined and limited setting. MCB doesn't simulate superheroes, nor even the comics from which it borrows (TopTen and Gotham Central). Instead, to make mysteries of a particular kind playable it establishes some strict ground rules: all powers from a single source, a precise and mapped order of those powers, and players as police officers with powers investigating those heightened crimes. In some ways, MCB's really the first sci-fi approach for GUMSHOE, but a far cry from the space opera of Ashen Stars.

LOOKING FOR CRACKS
Now I'll admit I love some elements of GUMSHOE. I've heard people dismiss the concept of not rolling for investigation as obvious or simplistic. And yes, perhaps groups had already been working with that mechanic. But GUMSHOE uses that as a starting point. It isn't that you don't roll when investigating, but that the system and mechanics support and promote an interesting and involved investigation. Players have access to other kinds of clues, make choices about where to spend resources in following leads, and gain trust in their GM that the mystery will play out and they have the competency to investigate it. Laws & co offer more ideas about running, planning and even winging mystery games than just about any other resource out there. And they show how that emphasis can be built into the fiber of the game.

On the flip side, I don't like how GUMSHOE handles risk and tension, at least for the kinds of games I want to run. To set this up, I need to give a nod to Ryan Macklin's couple of blog articles on Dice and Risk (here and here). GUMSHOE came out of investigative horror- and in the case of Fear Itself, out of a game where you'd probably be running incompetent characters. For that a system with wonky ranges and the requirement to spend before rolling makes perfect sense. I've run a lot of stripped down Unisystem horror one-shots. That system also pretty much says "You've got a skill rating, that's great...I'm still going to screw you over..." That's perfect for games of limited life-spans and bloody deaths. Dread's probably the best example of this. The only control you might have is desperately arguing that something on your character sheet questionnaire should allow you to skip a pull. But if you're using GUMSHOE for something other than horror, it becomes frustrating. I know that might sound a little backwards- after all you get to spend points and therefore have control over the roll. But you don't have any real sense of expertise, you have a die with an absolute range of 1-6 and so it is very easy to waste a spend.

I say this based on play experience with an espionage skin of the system; a Victoriana version of The Esoterrorists; and Mutant City Blues. There's a strange split in the feeling of personal competency between one side of the mechanics and the other. The response was pretty universal across those groups. I suspect that's the nature of the games our groups have been playing for the last couple of decades- certainly we're move to greater player and narrative control systems. I don't want to harp on these problems too much- GUMSHOE offers so much good stuff for use with that system or adaptable over to other games and mechanics. I'm excited by the idea of a Pathfinder conversion (Lorefinder) in particular because I want to know what Pelgrane sees as the key elements of the system. I'm also excited by the news that Will Hindmarch and Fred Hicks will be putting together a hack. I can't imagine that they're just going to adapt it to FATE rules. Not that that wouldn't be a great thing- it would be an amazing thing (and something that skalchemist gave me advice about).

HAND ME MY TOOLBOX
Which finally brings me to whatever point I have in this post. I want to see Pelgrane put together a GUMSHOE companion. This would be a general book, useful to players across the games in the line and for general GMs of mysteries...maybe, I don't know exactly. I know there's an The Esoterror Fact Book, but what I want to see is something broader. There's a real strength in that Pelgrane has approached each of these games as solid and individual rpgs. They have rich settings- which means that the game presented isn't really a toolkit. I'd like to see something that focuses more on those bits and bolts.

So what do I want to see?

1. Guidelines and ideas for adapting GUMSHOE over into other systems. I think it is great that they're doing a stand-alone product for their PF hack, but perhaps we could have some ideas about conversions for other systems and approaches- perhaps one's that likely won't be worth their own book. For example nWoD, L5R or ORE?

2. Optional systems for handling general abilities. A couple of different flavors of this could be presented. Perhaps one which ditches spends and another which keeps spends but offers more control and choice. Along with that more articulation to the combat system, perhaps? I say that as a person who runs rules-light games. I think options to add more emphasis to that side of the game wouldn't be a bad thing.

3. Revisiting and talking generally about some of the interesting options presented in the later books- like the shop/organization system from Bookhounds of London; stability from Trail of Cthulhu; and character arcs & vessel combat from Ashen Stars.

4. Consolidating and picking out the best GUMSHOE articles Robin Laws and others have presented in See Page XX.

5. Retooling the Quade Diagram to change the organization of powers and perhaps add a few more. My friend Gene Ha in particular has been tinkering with another way to arrange this chart.

6. Another variation on the Quade Diagram- using it for a fantasy setting. In this world spells and schools of magic have particular signatures depending on how they're used. What mages can do starts tightly grouped together at low levels and then radiates outward. For this setting, I imagine the PCs as town guards. So they'd be trying to solve crimes while at the same time dealing with keeping adventurers from burning the city to the ground. I imagine some ideas from Witless Minion! could fit in with that.

7. Discussion of how to handle particular historical genres. You could get an expert on Ancient Rome rpgs like (Chad Bowser) to write up what the ability sets, law enforcement and structures would look like for that period. Any historical period which has been well covered in modern mystery fiction (Feudal Japan, Medieval England) could be treated.

8. Parallel to that- a discussion of how to handle different mystery fiction themes and genres in games. Ideas like corruption, betrayal, unreliable narrators, existential or surreal mysteries could be examined for tabletop play.

9. How to run a game aimed at younger players- with Nancy Drew or Veronica Mars style adventures. Ideas for integrating school life into such games. Perhaps with more rules for relationship mapping as a technique and source of investigation.

10. Running a detective agency- with mechanics for dealing with money, expenses and clients.

11. Building a mystery city- how to excavate and create mysteries which carry on the feeling of a place. How the players can help with that or have more power in the process (as in The Kaiin Players Guide). There are some interesting city books out there that consider the mystery flavor of places (The Naked City and Nameless Streets for example.

12. Further discussion and ideas on how to run improvised mysteries using GUMSHOE.

That's off the top of my head- I have a few other things I'd like to see, but in part I'm waiting to see what Ken Hite's Night's Black Agents (supernatural espionage) and Will Hindmarch and Jeff Tidball's Eternal Lies (post apocalypse) will bring to the table.

Robot Zero Tuesday: Reboots Mean Doom

Previous Entry here.

We got things straightened out and I left my old shell with Prof. Doctor. The last I saw my old self, she was carefully scraping the black gunk off of it. I’m fully expecting to have to fight my evil twin within a year.

So I’m a couple weeks back now and I think I’m ready to destroy the group.

It isn’t anything specific– or rather a whole series of very specific things. The way Yes Man eats a sandwich, that Chrysalis Archer poses before a mirror when he thinks no one is watching, the broken sewer pipe to the base that we can’t get anyone out to fix unless we provide a $100K bond for their workers safety. I have temporarily deactivated my olfactory powers– a procedure much akin to shoving a screwdriver up your nose in search of sinus relief.

But let me go back a bit– just to set the scene and atmosphere for what’s happening right now, again if you’ve looked out your window and seen dinosaurs ravaging your neighbors or are in that part of the country currently under assault by cyborg raccoons, then you know what I’m talking about. If not, give it a minute.

So back at the ‘base’ I went through my favorite part of coming back with a new body– the “accidental” misunderstanding fight between heroes. I landed and headed in when Yes Man came barreling out of security trailer, the sound of a car alarm blaring behind him. He hit me about mid-chest with a maneuver I know he picked up from a wrestling video game. I staggered back and he flopped to the concrete in front of me.

“INTRUDER!…FRONTLINE ASSEMBLE!” I didn’t think his voice could get louder, but it could.

“Don’t say that—they’ve got lawy…” Yes Ass interrupted me with a boot to the head. Now, by all rights I should have been saying stop, but seeing him laying on the ground clutching his head from the bad hit– I was more irritated than worried. I stumbled back and watched Yes Man roll up to his feet, fists flying. He’d apparently learned his fighting moves on a super playground. I grabbed a free hand, twisted and threw him.

Which is how that sewer pipe I mentioned earlier got broken. So maybe I shouldn’t complain about that too much.

“Listen…I’m Robot Ze…” Interrupted again– this time by the gigantic hammer driving me into the ground. This was how I learned that Cyber-tron was a shapechanger…or a steel version of Stretch Armstrong. He was up on me– one arm formed into a ridiculous hammer and the other into gigantic pruning shears. He lunged forward with those to clip my head off. They bounced off my static field, and I powered up.

“Your electric blasts will have no effect on my insulated frame.”

“Yup.” I clicked off my non-lethal safety and launched a ball of plasma into his chest. Robo-Dick knew it was me.

I learned then that a lack of understanding of human emotions doesn’t preclude someone from screaming like a crushed baby. Not that I know what that sounds like. Anyway, Cybertron started flailing around and making high pitched squeals just because I blew his arm off– an arm I now planned to beat him with.

Except I started getting pummeled by ghosts, gothicky ghosts with chains and long wind-blown spooky hair and eyes that were like liquid pools of sorrow. I saw Kim Reaper waving her hands in some pattern and reciting bad poetry.

“Do you even understand what Goth is?” I shouted as her Byron-esque summonings pitched me across the parking lot. I landed at Chrysallis Archer’s feet.

“Great– Archer help me up…” I looked up and saw the cocked bow and an expression that said “I’m not listening.” With a twang the arrow went into my right eye. A subroutine the doctor had installed popped up with a quote for the repairs. She reloaded in one quick motion– this time the arrow had a cartoon bomb on the end. I reached up and pulled the arrow out and jammed it into her foot. More screaming, and as I rolled to my feet I saw Yes Man and Kim Reaper prepping for the next round of beating the crap out of me.

“OK– I think we’re done.” And Meta-Woman inserted a scene-break.

I think I’ve pointed out before how irritating I find reality-alerting powers, but I could handle this. Meta-woman and I were seated at a table in the dining hall. We were apparently in mid-conversation.

“So what I don’t get is why every time we run into each other we end up fighting– misunderstandings, supposed mind control, lack of communication. It’s like meeting new supers drains the collective intelligence in the area.” I found myself saying– I mean I said it, but this ‘in medias res’ crap…whatever.

“Fan appeal– the chance to see their dream fight. New tinder for flame wars.” Meta-Woman said.

“What are you talking about?” I couldn’t follow anything.

“Sorry– my powers.” Meta-Woman focused on her coffee. “Anyway, I figure there’s something big– cosmic crisis, major crossover coming soon.”

“What makes you say that?”

“They gave a crappy character like you a reboot.”

Which of course, turned out to be the case.

RPGS That Scare: The Book of Unremitting Horror (Gumshoe)

WHAT IS IT?
Book of modern monsters and horror for use in GUMSHOE system games such as Fear Itself and The Esoterrorists.

TO BEGIN
Allow me to establish a fact before digging into this review.

I like the horror genre. I like a good horror film- I like the dread of them. I've watched all kinds and except for more recent torture porn movies- have usually found something interesting in them. I started reading Clive Barker through imported British editions. I did my senior college project on consumerism, morality plays and tropes in slasher films. And I've run a lot of horror games. I have people who will attest to my skill with that. I consider myself well-read and have seen many different games try to model horror. I've read all the "Black Dog" mature audience crap White Wolf put out, trying to push the envelope of gore and terror.

All that being said, this book creeps the living **** out of me.

I just want to get that out there.

THE BOOK ITSELF
The Book of Unremitting Horror: Gumshoe Edition (BoUH:GE) comes in at a solid 222 pages, softcover. The cover is awful. In fact, the image I've posted here isn't for this edition. That's the less disturbing cover for the shorter d20 edition. The cover on my version you can see here. Did you go and look at that well-drawn but awful thing? I turn the book over face down when I have it laying around. The d20 cover is creepy...this one's well, jeez- let's just say I wouldn't take this out for "Read an RPG Book in Public Day." That cover's done by Dave Allsop, who also provided the lion's share of the interior black and white art and cow-wrote the book. Adrian Bott's the other writer, and he handled the adaptation of the original material to the Gumshoe system. An early Pelgrane book, it shows the excellence in layout and book design that company's come to be known for. Once again, the amazing Jérome Huguenin, turns in a page design simultaneously interesting and useful. The page edge effects and typography are dynamite. This is a thick book and the only criticism I have of it as an object would be that the lamination on the cover pretty quickly curled at the corner.

The colors used on the front cover offer an evocative mix of grey-green and red. I could talk about that all day. But at some point I have to open the book up again don't I? I have to review this...I'm putting that off.

TURN OF AN AWFUL PAGE
OK, let's start simply, with a statement of what the book offers. It contains details on 40+ modern horror 'monsters,' fifteen magical artifacts, ten scenario seeds, and two fully fleshed out developed Gumshoe scenarios. It is useful.

There. Are we done? No? More detail. *sigh*

I'm going to try to avoid spoilers- so as not to ruin the surprise and also because I don't want to think about these things too hard. Each creature provide here has a short piece of fiction to introduce it: a story, a report, ramblings of a madman, a witness statement. I'm not one for game fiction usually, but some of these worked for me- hitting me solidly and giving me unpleasant ideas about how I might cut open and jam these into a campaign. After that the book provides modest game stats; the rules lightness of Gumshoe means that you don't need much. Most of the space is devoted to the nature of behavior and special abilities of the various creatures. The book does a good job of offering what's need to actually play out these powers- without worrying about exhaustive discussion. A discussion of the monster's origins, its purposes and intelligence rounds that out. The most useful section for the Gumshoe GM will be discussion of the kinds of clues and evidence left behind by these creatures. Those details make constructing scenarios for them significantly easier.

But what are they like? They're modern horrors. Some of them take classic old stories and twist them in a new way (Clootie, The Drowner), some of them have a Barker-ian or Candyman-like feel to them (Kooks, The Organ Grinder), and some of them are just freaking awful and nightmarish (Dementia Larva, The Blood Corpse, The Blossomer). In particular that last one...guh. These are nasty, brutish and above all visceral monsters. They're also really adults only- some of the stuff is pretty hardcore. It isn't torture porn, but it does echo splatterpunk-style horror, the best of the Hellblazer material, and ideas of writers like Joe Lansdale, Ramsay Campbell, and Kim Newman. It isn't subtle, but it is insidious.

Including an introduction that offers some additions minor Gumshoe mechanics (such as how to handle drowning), the monsters section takes up 134 pages of the book. The next fifteen pages present artifacts drawn from this nightmare world. These are fairly rule-agnostic and several of them tie into specific creatures from the first part. After that, the authors consider how the cosmology of Unremitting Horror and The Esoterrorists actually fit together. That's an interesting section- and one that does an excellent job of laying out the theories behind each settings monstrous entities. Depending on how strictly a GM adheres to the logic of either, they will find this more or less useful.

Next the book presents ten scenario outlines using the Unremitting Horror beasties. Each plot in this fourteen page section is given a useful breakdown: sinister conspiracy; investigating scene; core information; supplementary information; antagonist reactions; climax; and aftermath/veil-out. Some of these are quite good and any of them could make for an evening or two of really gruesome investigation. Finally the book concludes with two extended adventures using the book's ideas. The first offers an easily portable rural setting, and the second an urban adventure for London, but which could also be moved elsewhere. Both offer nice twists and investigative opportunities. In particular, the second adventure, "The Final Case" has great atmosphere, especially one of the free-floating clues. It does have more magical overtones, which may not fit as well with some versions of The Esoterrorists or Fear Itself universes.

OVERALL
I'm picky about my horror- some I just don't like and some actively repulses me, like the current strain of torture-porn horror. On the other hand, many of the old classics have been worn out into sad pale imitations or reduced to jump scare moments. Horror which genuinely bothers or gets under one's skin is harder than ever. The Book of Unremitting Horror manages to hit on many of the things which bother, disturb and scare me. I'm kind of its ideal audience in that it pushes all of my buttons. On top of that it is well written and full of interesting detail. It is dark and awful- GMs should consider their group and game before dropping things from this book into play. Used sparingly, they can really darken a game. If you're running modern Gumshoe horror, you should pick this up.

PORTABILITY
While there's a d20 version of this, the Gumshoe version does offer a focus on investigation- framing the monsters in that way. I think that makes this more useful. The mechanics here are fairly light. All of the creatures here could very easily moved over to another game system. If you're doing dark modern horror, like Unknown Armies or Delta Green, consider picking this up.

OK, I'm done now. I can go put this book back up on the shelf and not look at it again until I run this kind of game. I'm serious when I say this cover really gets to me. I have it sitting beside me with the monster's red eyes staring at me as I'm typing this review up on my laptop.

OK, I flipped it over face-down now.

Character Sheet Sunday: Wild Cards Elvis

So today a character sheet in my collection from one of my players, Art Lyon. We played a lot of superhero games in the late 80's and early 90's and I went through a spate of short-run Champions campaigns- some of them interesting and some of them pretty trashy. But my favorite of these was the brief Wild Cards campaign we ran, based on the novels and the GURPS Sourcebook. We had a pretty good and overly large crew, many of them well-acquainted with the setting. I had everybody come up with a general idea of what they wanted and then I made their characters up based on those suggestions. I still have the sheets for most of the group- but striking not for two of my favorites.

Most of the group ended up with Ace or Ace-light powers. A couple ended up as Jokers with some significant powers as well (Charles' draining midnight-skinned version of the Michelin Man; Kenny's rat-man gangster). Jim McClain made up a full Joker character- someone without powers. Those points instead went to stats and skills, where he seriously outclassed the rest of the group. IIRC he was a former FBI Agent who had been mutated so that he essentially looked like he was wearing clown make-up. He had a bad temper and took everything seriously. I think Jim only sat and played with us a couple of times, but he was memorable. The other character sheet I can't find is Barry's. He ran a arrogant and wealthy upper class twit from New England. He'd gotten mixed up with the group somehow. His power essentially allowed him to catch himself on fire, like the Human Torch. Unlike the Human Torch, however he could feel the burning and screaming agony of the flames, so he hated doing it.

Then there was Elvis.

Elvis had been an Elvis Impersonator when he got hit by the Wild-Card Virus. And he became Elvis, as he imagined him. Elvis was super-tough and knew karate. Elvis had many immortal lines, but one lives with the group. I won't even try to give context.

"I always wanted to go kayakin'..."

I'd like to try Wild Cards again, especially now that the really excellent Mutants & Masterminds sourcebook's out there. I'd have to reread the series again from the beginning, though.

For a larger and more legible version of the character sheet, see here.

The Last Fleet: Sabotage & Sunforge: Session Eight

Continuing the series of session reports for the Last Fleet campaign; previous entry here.

The group had returned from their expedition bloodied but triumphant. In the rescue of the Dwarven ship, they'd perhaps found a way to escape the In Between and make it through the Stormwall of their destination, where the pull of their linked twins lead them. But a new problem faced them- if the explosion on the flagship had been sabotage, then there might be further threats to the fleet.

The group parted ways, many of them heading off to recovery from their wounds. Whet spoke with his second-in-command, Tomyle Devildream, to see if anything had changed in their absence. While their had been nothing suspicious, the illness gripping many across the fleet had increased. In several cases, victims had been transformed by the magic, becoming violent. They'd injured themselves or others, forcing Devildream to shift the various personnel around the fleet to serve as security. Normal patrols had been canceled. She noted that the Artikhane either weren't affected by the magical ailment or else were speaking of it.

Dweena, relatively uninjured, wanted to begin working on investigating the sabotage. However, the Admiral told her that she needed to turn all of her attentions to aiding Gavesk Sundering. She set her staff to several tasks- primarily aiding the Shield creation. But as well they gathered people who might be able to aid with the de-petrification of the Dragon they'd rescued. But she did manage to find the time to pull all the records for the incident- supplies and deliveries.

Chain Firespinner spent time in the infirmary of the flag ship despite his desire to return back to his own people. The presence of the newly acquired dragon still brought thoughts of murder to his mind. Though the dragon Razeheart had helped to save him, they were ancient enemies of his race. Chain spoke with the orcish healer and found himself scolded when he spoke of his desire to slay the beast. He tried to clam himself, and spoke with the dragon briefly, trying to come to some kind of understanding. That would be made even more difficult later when Whet arrived bearing bad news. Chain's people, the Scalebound, had withdrawn support from him. His wyvern was to be given over to another warrior. Distraught, Chain reacted angrily to Whet next suggestion- that he make a pact with Razeheart as his new flying mount. Chain thought on it and recognized the necessity- his feelings and even the feelings of his people would have to be set aside for the interests of the fleet.

Marreg and Lira healed up and dealt with similar domestic matters. Marreg's twin brother paid him a brief visit, intending to bring words of disappointment from their father. But when he saw the attractive orcish physiker, Rainmouse, his attitude changed. Marreg could tell this would become a problem. Once recovered, Marreg returned to his duties and a surprise. His brother had volunteered to join his work on the hunting boats. The Master of Duties offered to instead have Marreg's brother assigned to cleaning out the nightsoil, but Marreg declined. He would deal with this on his own terms. Meanwhile, Lira looked in on her brother Aden. Like many of the Namiir, the loss of their land and people had struck hard at him. The whole history of their people had been lost. The Great sadness, as the Namiir called it, had already dragged a number down into suicide. Lira found her brother trapped in the depths of that. She shouted and railed at him, eventually dousing him with water to shake him out of it, with some success. Lira noted a clocked figure in the corner observing, Thanos, the Namiir god of death who faded away after thanking her for her efforts.

In the many days which followed, the group found themselves caught between many duties. Each had the tasks and responsibilities of their respective positions. But they also found themselves working on new operations and tasks related to Gavesk's Magical Shield. In order for that to work, the vessels of the fleet would have to be tied and drawn closely together. All of the shifts wold have to precisely match course and speed. The risks of the plan were enormous. The ships were already running their engines hard, trying to get to the swiftly approaching Stormwall as quickly as possible. Many of the flyers in the group found themselves running maneuvers- either flying patterns around the fleet to keep stragglers in line or else flying in between ships watching and trying to make sure they kept a reasonable distance. Ships knocked against one another, but only a handful of crew were lost. The also had to deal with tensions between the Dwarven engineer Gavesk and the high arcanist Rodol Faithjester. Gavesk still found the company of people overwhelming and Faithjester demanded more information on the operation of the shield. Dweena and the others interceded and defused the situation.

With some of that taken care of, they could finally turn their attention to the question of sabotage. They spoke with the various mages who had looked over the wreckage. Those examiners had narrowed the problem down to one of three items crafted on other vessels and sent over to aid with the project. Each had been made to specifications and been checked. However, the pattern of the destruction suggested one of them had an anomaly. The first item was a lens crafted by the Artikhane insect folk. Marreg and Whet traveled there- eventually gaining an audience. Whet could sense some of the disturbance among the Artikhane, worry that they might be accused of a crime and suspecting that their outsider status made them ripe for scapegoating. Whet and Marreg carefully questioned those involved. In doing so they finally gained some insight into the Artikhane people. Clearly speaking about “internal” matters- like politics, homelife, society- was considered taboo among them. Talking of such things to outsiders clearly made them uncomfortable. Whet and Marreg came away a little wiser and convinced that the Hive Ship had not been involved.

Chain, Dweena and Lira meanwhile went to speak with the magical craftsmen on the Nocturne Consortium ship. While Chain entertained the Captain, the Goblin and Namiir, went into the workshops and carefully questioned everyone. The Gob,ins had been commissioned to cut a piece of magistone to specifications. They've even made of set of them cut to the specs and had chosen the one which bets fit. Lira and Dweena examined the stones and could detect no flaw. Given the quality control there, they suspected that the item from the Nocturne had also not been the item of sabotage.

Finally the group as a whole traveled to the human ship of the Straadi. The best appointed of the vessels, the Straadi had clearly maintained their old social structures and hierarchy. Eventually, the group tracked down the Straadi magical engineer who had supplied a particular regulator device. Immediately they detected something was wrong- with the engineer evasive and nervous. Playing bad cop, worse cop, they applied pressure until the got the information. The regulator device which had been requested had been a little beyond the abilities of the engineer- at least in the time frame given. However, one of the Aeolatoi, Poet Shell had visited and offered to assist. He'd done the work and asked for no credit. The group stormed off in pursuit of Poet Shell.

They found him on deck, speakin with another Aeolatoi, Casting Fate. Chain carefully moved her away as Whet engaged in questioning. The Elf realized that he's never actually spoken with Poet Shell before- that the Aeolatoi had avoided him. Surrounded, Shell admitted to what he'd done, but not for the reasons that they suspected. He hadn't sabotages the device to slow the Fleet down. Instead it had been a signal to his master Sunforge. The elemental energies would have finally told the Overlod where the Fleet lay. Poet Shell made to escape but found himself quickly cut down. Even as they did so, everyone could feel a change in the atmosphere- a sense of gathering power. Lord Sunforge was coming.

The group desperately raised the alarm, calling all ships to alert. Everyone made for their flyers- hearidng the fleet into ready position. In the distance behind them, they could see the sky shift and warp. Soon Sunforge's legions would pour through. While the others raised the hue and cry and got flyers into the air, Dweena rushed to the Dwarven vessel. She broke the news to Gavesk. He nodded slowly and told his assistants nearby to alert the Admiral that they would have to activate the emergency plan he'd spoken of. The fleet would have to draw in quickly as close as they could. Gavesk dismissed Dweena and his bodyguards, who reluctantly withdraw from the Dwarven ship, leaving the last of the Dwarves to his machines. Meanwhile the first wave of assaults began, even as the group desperately herded the fleet's ships like cattle- heedless of the crashing together. Then suddenly the Dwarven vessel exploded with electric fire. A field suddenly expanded around most of the fleet. As it had done when escaping the Stone Queen, the vessel fired off arcane energy propelling everything at breakneck speed. The fleet slammed into the Stormwall and passed through, protected by the shield. The gaps crackled close behind them, even as the Dwarven ship imploded from the strain.

The Fleet had made it through, had escaped from the In Between. But what lay before them in this new and unknown world?