Endy's RPG Stuff

It’s St. Patrick’s Day! Everybody’s Irish! Yes, even you.

endymionmallorn — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:32:02 +0000

Obligatory holiday greetings, everyone. While you are getting drunk on green beer and full up with corned beef and cabbage, I am writing feverishly on my games. Progress has been slow and painful and I have nothing akin to a finished product ready to go out there.

However, I do have several ideas that I will hold until next week. For today, a few adventure hooks that you might have to hold until next year (sorry!).

Every good adventuring party occasionally stops in an inn or pub. And there, they most often look for adventures and then rest. I suggest that if the game has been filled with much buckling of one’s swash and other daredevil adventure, you give them a murder mystery.
In the middle of the night, someone turned up dead, a green, steaming drink clutched in their hand. Everyone’s a suspect, especially the PCs. Each person will give a Rashomon-like interpretation of the events, and it’s up to you, the GM, to keep these stories straight and help the PCs on their way to solving the mystery.
On the other hand, there’s the military campaign option. The PCs are hired as mercenaries, helping invade an island nation of stout-hearted people. Will they ‘go native’? Will they help slaughter these natives? Or will they simply fight for whoever pays them?

Of course, you can always have the faerie creatures sort of show up as they always do in Irish myth. The idea of the Good People appearing seems interesting, as one might have to put paid to the question of the elvish relation to faerie creatures. And since so often, the challenge that they put a mortal to is a moral and rational one, it certainly should put the players to the test as well as their characters.

Have fun, may the wind be ever at your back, and may the road rise to meet you on your journey. Oh, and for Murphy’s sake, remember to bring your eleven-foot poles!

Buckling down and getting to work

endymionmallorn — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:06:35 +0000

In this economy, it’s hard to justify doing something like writing a free RPG. Especially when you’re either unemployed, or underemployed. And yet, this is what I want to do and have wanted to do, for two whole years or more. So, by next week, you should see at least a full preview of one of the games I am currently working on.

Sorry for the lack of anything else this week.

My headspace this week

endymionmallorn — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:00:05 +0000

Okay, I’ve missed two posts over on the Free RPG Blog, so I want to post links to them now. Mr. Lang has been my inspiration since the start of this project, and I do like to give the credit where it’s due.

Fallout: The RPG. Designed with Interplay’s blessing, this game is the definitive Fallout RPG. For those of you that don’t know, the game was originally going to run on GURPS, but thanks to disagreements between Interplay and SJG, they had to implement their own system: SPECIAL. Jason Mical redesigned it yet again, and the game is now here. Remember. GURPS has who knows how many books out, but Fallout has three games and some download packs. Which is the well-known name?

Adventure Squad. A seven-page system revolving around die sizes – the larger the better. Seems easy enough.

Otherwise, I don’t have much to say or think about this week. However, work is trundling along at its slow pace on the games I have been doing my best to pour my soul into. The Pokémon RPG has seen so many potential revisions I do not know what to call it anymore. All I know is that it will be done when it is done, and that is final. Tales of Cranes and Dragons, similarly, is coming along faster than the other, because I am not adapting material specifically, but rather taking from sources I like and filling in the gaps where it does not seem ‘right’.

However, I have been reading Eclipse Phase – and I am liking it all the more.

Reading Like a GM, Part 3

endymionmallorn — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:00:33 +0000

Alright, everyone. We’ve looked at reading like a GM in novels, and in Text-based roleplaying. So what could possibly be left behind?

Role-playing game source books!
Most games publish books specifically with either the player or the GM, one or the other, in mind. And when they don’t create a book for the GM specifically, they think they can get away with creating a book for the players, and a chapter for the GM. This doesn’t help if you’re not experienced at grasping things quickly – or simply aren’t great at storytelling. So you need to learn what they leave in there that you need to know NOW, and how to pull it out and make it useful to you. First, I suggest you get either a paper notebook, or a word processor program opened. Each of these steps probably should be on its own page. If you take two pages for a step, that’s fine too. Remember in your word-processor, you can use columns to increase text space on the page while maintaining readability. I also suggest using a few different fonts, to give yourself as many little visual ‘cues’. Don’t go crazy, just use what works for you.

So let’s look at what you need to focus on here, in order of importance:

Conflict resolution systems: Most games you will come across have vastly different systems – and some have different systems for doing different things. I suggest writing things down to give yourself pointers – like you would on a GM screen. Or, perhaps like John Kirk did in Design Patterns of Successful Role-Playing Games. You can learn a lot about your favorite system when you look at it from the perspective of a graphic. But for the quick and dirty, using my favorite system as an example:
“Roll d%; Check table; +/- CS; White=Fail,Green=Success,Yellow=Good Success, Red=Best Success. Blunt+Edged+Evade(Fighting);… Vehicles:Control=Agility,Speed,Body=Material Strength;Control FEAT=lesser of Control|Driver Agility; Hit Something? Ramming;…” – and so on.

Either way, try to figure out what you will need most and place it either at the top of a page, or most prominent – whichever works. For instance, in a lot of games, Grappling/Wrestling is different than just punching a guy in the face. Your players will be the ones to tell you which one you need more. Work out the basics, write it down. That way, you look like a genius to your group and you feel like one when you don’t need to open a rulebook. Same goes for vehicular combat – or magic!
Character Generation: I consider this, after years of GMing (and very little other playing), to be secondary at best, for a new GM to learn on-the-fly. Firstly, it’s laid out for players and thus made painfully obvious. Second, it’s almost always the first thing in a book, so you can always go over it with the players at the first session. It can be something like John Kim’s notes on Dogs in the Vineyard; or just a few basic pointers to help speed it up. It depends on three things: the game, the group and the GM.
Basic Character Options: If we pick a game like Dark Heresy, I suggest making note of a few things in Character Generation: Homeworld, Characteristics, and Career Path – just write down that they have to roll it – and possibly transcribe the table of what die roll indicates what result. Those are the things where everyone goes through the same process with the same beginning and the same results. From here it becomes as much the choice of the player as the nature of the game.
Start by picking out a basic equipment list, such as you might expect a group of players to pick. I suggest the following as basics:
- A blunt weapon (like a hammer or club)
- A slicing weapon (like a knife or sword)
- A projectile weapon (like a bow & arrow, a slingshot, or a small handgun)
- An explosive
- A basic “Magical” item (Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I am lumping them together).
You notice that these are, again, very basic ideas – nothing game or genre-specific. But suffice to say, take one of each type of weapon. Transcribe its statistics, special rules, and possibly create an anecdotal to give yourself a quick “refresher” about how the player is to use the weapon. Some feats, traits, powers, and a few low-power magic spells should round out this page.
Some quick-and-dirty generic NPCs: I cannot stress how necessary this is. In fact, it could probably take up a notepad of its own. I’ll put up my own little list of NPC pointers later on. But try and generate between 6 and 10 nameless people; if the setting supports it, make them of multiple races as enemies or alllies. You will thank me.
The basics of the setting in question: This is almost optional. But a map or some kind of identifier for the setting as far as the campaign is concerned has always helped me. In a street-level game of Marvel Super Heroes, I kept the New York subway map open – and I cannot tell you how immensely it improved the game, despite the players never actually having to look at it.

So as you can see, what’s in there for the players is also in there for the GM. The main difference is that the two sets of priorities are vastly different. Where the players need to focus on puzzle-solving, you the GM need to ask what kinds of puzzles they can solve. When they’re worried about finding traps, you’re concerned about laying them to be challenging, but not unavoidable. And most of all, they only need to worry about their own combat options. You have to worry about them and the NPCs; that’s why I always look at that first. If you can’t grasp in your head quickly how to run 6 NPCs and manage the player’s abilities, that’s not a game for you.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series.

Stuff on the Internet!

endymionmallorn — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:00:28 +0000

Well, I just found something very fun on the Internet. On DriveThruRPG, there was a Pantheon Generator for free download. It was created by a group called Chaotic Shiny Studios. These generators include things like the aforementioned Pantheon Generator, a Crowd generator, even (humorously to my mind) a Zombie generator. I suggest you all go check them out!

And over on a blog I’ve recently been reading, the Level 1 GM, he has described The James Bond Treatment. Essentially, what he’s describing is something that I did in my own first GMed games – a mission-oriented structure, where the players are given an objective and then allowed to do it – as they see fit! I suggest you go read the post.

PS – completely unrelated to RPGs, there is also a decent-looking Random Name Generator that I’ve recently found online.

So what kinds of generators do you use for your games? How do you create the names of NPCs? Drop those hints in the comments – or on your own blog and give me a trackback. Either one works!

Another Instant Challenge!

endymionmallorn — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:00:38 +0000

So, for those that haven’t seen Instant Game yet, I’ve even had a comment from one of its two creators, the brothers in charge of Animalball Games. On their frontpage, they state:

“Many moons ago, Animalball dreamed of making really cool games and then selling them as pdfs. Then reality cracked us over the head and explained that you can’t make money selling pdfs. So now we just make really cool games and let people download them for free. Enjoy.”

I ask that everyone download it.

But, I was hoping to make something relatively “new”, at least for me. As often as I can, perhaps once a month or so, I want to put up an “Instant Challenge” – that is, develop a story using items rolled from Instant Game. The more you can create, the better. I don’t know what I’d award for stuff. Or if there would be a “winner” as such.

Instant Challenge, February 2010

Instant Setting:
Setting: Microworld
Tone: Parable/Moralistic
Things: Atomic Monster (Historic)
Things: Alien (Fortunate)

Instant Story:
Opposition: Traitor
Action + Thing: Hunt + Computers (Clear)
Action + Other Thing: Win + Religious Fanatics (Giant)

So tell me, what comes up in your mind?

UPDATE: Sorry, HTML and I got into an argument. It is fixed now.

Sorry about the delay

endymionmallorn — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:47:47 +0000

Sorry, today’s post is non-existent. The snow caused me to be outside all day. I apologize whole-heartedly for that. See you on Friday if the atmosphere permits.

Reading like a GM, Part II

endymionmallorn — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 07:21:14 +0000

Last week I quickly discussed how to read novels like a GM, i.e. what to pull from them. I will admit freely – this post is late, and will be far later than is comfortable for me. But I’m going to go over that which actually inspired this series.

Text-Based Roleplaying
Some of you may look down on those of us who supplement our tabletop gaming with online, freeform roleplaying. That in itself is something to be discussed, but I will accept that the two skillsets are complementary but distinct. But either way, each game has its own character sheet, just as with a tabletop game. Most of the time, these require histories – ranging from drastically short to overly long. So what can we take from this?

These players hand you backstories. Think about that, then look back at AD&D, and another topic I’ve discussed, Robin’s “Laws”. Most of what you will see there are the kind of player who are involved for the ‘kick’ of beating enemies. But to be able to transition from that to players with an emotional investment in their character as an individual is a great thing.

Look for ideas like:

Relations (great for kidnappings and/or murders)
Family Heirlooms (Awesome things to destroy or steal)
Vanity (Consider having them outclassed, or caught in a fight and have their “beauty” destroyed)
Past loved ones (They just handed you a villain on a silver platter)
And lastly, Childhood Friends – these have great potential.

As with the last one, this is a short list of pointers. I’ll see you next week.

Reading like a GM? (Part one of three)

endymionmallorn — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:00:31 +0000

I admit it – I roleplay on various fora online, as well as around a table. I’ve got three different types of material that I have been reading, where I’ve been noticing that I truly do read like a GM. I wonder if you do too.

Let’s start with…
Novels: I, like many others, have fallen prey to Bones. It’s a fun series. Well, being a library employee, and generally a reader, I’ve picked up Kathy Reichs’ first novel, Dejá Dead. Reading that and a few other different books at the same time (Romance of the Three Kingdoms especially), and I’m starting to find little threads to pick out. Ideas for plots & NPCs, especially. For instance, I had never been aware of Montreal’s police situation, and it seems like an interesting idea in a game. For instance, let’s imagine a game of Dogs in the Vineyard for the moment. Imagine the conflict that might happen if the Dogs were to get called farther East than is the norm, and instead of the (relatively weak) Territorial Authority, they actually have to deal with US Marshals, and all the conflict that could cause. Various characters jump out from the pages of everything I read – the number from Romance of the Three Kingdoms alone is astounding.

Archive?

endymionmallorn — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:00:06 +0000

Okay, I need comments here. You’ve seen the change between Recent Posts and the Dropdown Archive. Which do you prefer?