Continuing...

Hey there, friends, most of my blogging energy is going into my newish gaming blog, Continuing Clockwise. You should go there and read!

Break the Stereotype

So, I played Dungeons and Dragons, 4th editon for the first time today, DM'd by a 14 year old girl, with three other thirty something players and another teenager player. We had great fun.

I will admit, I would have enjoyed a bit more in-character role-playing. I don't like it when DM's read background information from their documents; I'd rather play it out.

I played a pre-generated female dwarven fighter. I never play dwarves, and I never play females. It was a good change for me.

One offs are a great opportunity to experiment with different types of characters.

I also met a couple guys who are starting a campaign in Greenlake soon. The thing is, I have someone in Ballard who I've been emailing, who will also be starting a campaign. I'll probably play with both at first. When two games gets to be too much, I'll pick my favorite (or most convenient).

Go Play Northwest

Yesterday I pre-registered for Saturday at next weekend's Go Play Northwest indie gaming convention.

I also signed up to play Don't Rest Your Head with Ogre Whiteside from Stabbing Contest. It also looks like Ryan Macklin from Master Plan has signed up to play that session.

I listen to both of their podcasts regularly and am really looking forward to this.

Now I better find a copy of the game... I listened to The Game Master Show cast playtest DRYH, so I have some idea what I'm getting into, but that's not the same as having actual familiarity of the rules.

Another Experimental Marvel Heroes Mechanic

This rule activates when a player decides to use karma for a dice roll.

Normally, the makes this announcement, but doesn't have to decide how much to spend until after the dice roll. The minimum is 10 points.

With my rules hack, the character has the option to decide in advance how many points to use, and what level of success she desires. The minimum is still 10.

If the character succeeds with beyond the minimum required for the announced result, the player has earned the right to control the manner in which the success occurs. This is a 'yes and...' success. The player's creative control includes the ability to introduce a helpful non player character or affect with a maximum characteristic equal to the extra karma.

The player can also introduce additional obstructive NPC's or affects to receive a karma refund (or bonus) equal to that character's maximum characteristic.

Karma points are also refunded based on player creativity.

If, however, the player fails in spite of the karma use, one of two things happens. If the player would have succeeded had they used 1.5 times the amount of karma used, the character fails forward. This can be thought of as a 'yes but...' result.

For example, Benjamin is playing Thor for a session. Ben decides that Thor really needs to knock out his opponent during his next attack. In other words, he needs a 'stun' result on a Fighting roll. Thor's Fighting score is Unearthly, so he needs a roll of 86 or better for a red result.

Ben decides in advance to use 30 karma points on this endeavor, then rolls the dice.

If he rolls a 98, he has a total of 42 extra karma points ([98-86]+30) and has earned the right to control the scene. Since 42 falls in the 'Incredible' range, when Ben narrates the action, he may introduce new beneficial characters or affects with up to a max score of Incredible. He may also choose not to introduce anything. Either way, Ben is encouraged to be creative with his description. Have fun!

On the other hand, if Ben rolls a 73, Thor has trouble. While that normally would have resulted in a yellow fighting success, it misses the announced mark. The good news is, that if Ben had spent 13 more karma, it would have succeeded: this earns a 'yes but' success. The judge (GM) narrates "Thor hits Mega-thug, which slams the now unconscious villain into the pillar. The force of the impact shatters the load bearing pillar, and the building starts to collapse."

The character can not succeed beyond the announced result, and any successes less than desired are 'yes but' types of tainted success.

Marvel Super Heroes Power Stunts

As written, Marvel Super Heroes has a mechanic that forces characters to use large amounts of karma to use their powers in varied and interesting ways.

For example, Storm's mutant power is weather manipulation. To use that ability to create winds that permit her to fly is a 'power stunt.'

Since I want to use the karma mechanic to propel the story rather than encourage players to save them up, I need something else.

My thought is to break the rankings of powers into two categories: power and skill. At character creation, it would be assumed that both are equal; players could raise one at the expense of the other, if desired (at character creation).

Any power stunt would be assigned an 'intensity' ranking by the judge (aka, game master). Some stunts would be automatic (making it drizzle in Seattle with weather manipulation) and would only require the normal roll. The intensity ranking would go down every time the hero successfully uses the power in that way.

Yearly Marvel Heroes Game

Here is some role playing stuff for my once per year game that won't make sense to most of you:

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In a rare discussion with the press, Nimrod stated "Mutant and mutant sympathizer incursions will not be tolerated. The Canadian government has been advised that harboring militants will not be tolerated and that they will be held responsible for such activities." European analysts suggest that this is in reference to the situation in the nation's Pacific Northwest...

Earlier this morning, the BBC reports that the federal government has declared a state of emergency in the three states which constitute its Pacific Northwest: Idaho, Washington and Oregon. An increased Sentinel presence has been confirmed at several points along Interstate 90 and Highway 2, specifically in the Snoqualmie and Stevens Pass areas.

Goooood Morning to the Liberated Northwest! Canadian Liberation forces are in direct confrontation with Sentinel forces

Attention citizens of Seattle! Mutants and mutant sympathizers have invaded your community, and a general curfew has been declared. Sentinel forces are here to help you. You are instructed to stay indoors until the situation has been stabilized. Violators of the curfew will be treated as enemies to the nation.
********

Karma starting base:

Lightlord 50 (Sentinel battle), 20 (RP 'leadership' bonus and artwork submission)
Shadowmaster 50(Sentinel battle), 10 (RP 'my brother!' bonus)
Silverbrand 50(Sentinel battle), 20 (RP 'my people' and character refinement bonus)
Fool 50 (Sentinel battle), 10 (character refinement bonus)

Nora's character: 10 (character refinement)

Current Role Playing

My oldest friends and I always had a string of role playing geekery in us, but have never played seriously. Last year, we pulled out some of their Marvel Superheroes characters (last played over 10 years ago), which we had played a few sessions in something resembling the 616 universe. Then I plunked them into the Days of Futures Past timeline.

In story terms, the young characters my friends had played in the late '80s, early '90s continued adventuring, as their world went into decline.

My vision for this game is to play it somewhat convention style. We don't play often enough for a normal campaign, but even if we play once or twice a year, we can string some stories with continuity together and have a good time of it.

Here is the history these characters live in:

***********

In January of 2003, a mutant terrorist group attacked the Super Bowl, murdering dozens. A larger disaster was averted largely because of timely intervention by the Avengers. However, the press was terrible and wave of mutant hysteria began to boil.

Later that year, 1500 innocent civilians died during a battle between the Marauders and a group of young crimefighters. The majority of those crimefighters were mutants.

The anti-mutant hysteria continued, and began to spread to include all super humans.

In the fall of 2003 the U.S. military became involved in a Waco style incident surrounding Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Like Waco, it ended in fire and death. Unlike Waco, the besieged gave as good as they got. There were many deaths on both sides.

In the spring of 2004 a member of the Senate, Joseph McGrafton was revealed to be a mutant with emotion-control based powers. He hanged himself two days later. In his journals, a mutant conspiracy was revealed that spread throughout North America, whose goal was to create a pro-mutant apartheid state, with non-mutants serving as second class citizens.

That election led to a wave of anti-mutant extremists being elected to federal office. Most moderates were forced to resign; some grew silent, a few died under mysterious circumstances.

In January of 2005, the Sentinel Program was begun anew. By the end of the year, mutants were forced to live in special areas (ghettos) of cities. Camps were established for those who resisted, planned to resist or those deemed otherwise too dangerous to be free.

Resistance groups have sprung up across the country, most notably, a large group is based in Canada, not far from Vancouver. There have been cross border incidents, and the relationship between the U.S. and its neighbor to the north has seen better days.

Warcraft Roleplaying

The Earthen Ring server is technically a role-playing, or RP server. In reality, very few of us stay in character while out questing. On a whole, role playing is gladly accepted, though rarely perpetuated.

In my own head, however, my characters have strong personalities and histories. This comes from playing the Bioware games of the last decade, specifically Baldur's Gate and Knights of the Old Republic. Both of those games allow for vastly different interactions based on decisions made by you on behalf of your character. Since those games are strictly single player, there is no chat interface, and conversations occur using a 'choose your adventure' format.

It is easy enough to translate that into WoW, primarily through the design of your character, and through the choice of quest lines. For example, Shadrachgrey is somewhat of a barbarian and feels out of place in Silvermoon City. His rep there is low, and he generally avoids Blood Elves. He'll take their money, mind you. Shadrach is all too happy to do mercenary quests, and to let the blood flow. Politics are not his concern. Keeping his bellly full is his concern. He has great affinity for Thrall, and orcs in general, and he has a sweet fondness for tauren.

On the other hand, my druid Sasquatch has a more gentle soul. He is fascinated by the Blood Elves (reflected by my journey there to do the starter quests in Silvermoon), and wishes to help the Forsaken find some sort of peace. He is, however, deeply disturbed by their insistence on creating a new plague to kill humans (Shadrach didn't mind so much, even though the undead make his skin crawl).

Now that Shadrach has spent some time in the Outlands, he has returned to Azeroth for deeper training to help him sustain his long term maneuvers. Like any good special forces type soldier (or warrior) he must be self sufficient. I had let his cooking, fishing and first aid skills slip, and it was becoming difficult to heal quickly between battle.

Game Design Notes

The game master of my game group recently passed around an interesting article abotu game design. This article emphasizes how the mechanic of the game should encourage fun play (to put it very simply).

I then started thinking about the type of science fiction game I might like to play. I've had a desire to design a science fiction rpg since high school, and I doubt I'll ever flesh it out. Still, here are a few ideas I had:

Ship combat that isn’t too complicated, but rewards quick decision making and tactical play

Niche jobs for everyone: for example pilot/helm, engineer, captain, security, science/medic specialist.

This does work somewhat for large scale, Star Trek / Battlestar Galactica activities, but would be best suited on a medium scale, Millenium Falcon, Serenity, Starship Defiant sized crew.

Exploration of planet surfaces and space stations in a way that everyone gets to go along. It’s no fun if the captain has to stay on the ship.

Mage: The Ascension

This week I created a list of devices used by my Mage character. Some are purely stolen ideas, others are fairly original.

Harvey Campbell’s Gadgets
6/5/07

Short-range rocket-glider
Forces 2

Two compressed gas tanks, upside down with a simple, mundane igniter. A pair of small, retractable glider wings is mounted beneath. The wings are useable without the rocket propellant for pure descent or when particularly useful updrafts are present.

In game terms, I expect these to be paradox free for short distances (reflecting current jet pack technology). The longer the distance, the greater the chance for paradox. Forces magic is used to reverse and adjust gravity’s affect on Harvey. The rocket pack is relatively noisy (like the 60’s batmobile), but the glider function is silent.

Lab


Dr. Obrastoff’s Ether Blanket
Forces 2

This converted electric blanket changes its color, to duplicate the surrounding environment. When functioning at its highest level, this blanket can actually make its user seem to disappear. This is likely to cause an imbalance in the Ether if not handled properly.

Lab


Hansen’s Ether Electric Key Maker
Correspondence 1, Matter 2, Prime 2

With a quick push of a button, this small device scans a nearby lock and manufactures the perfect key. The button pops back up to its previous position when the key is ready.

This device can be plugged into Harvey’s Ether glasses to scan locks that are far away.

Hooks to belt








Epistemological Ether Evoker
Correspondence 2

This pink, spherical sphere is baseball sized, and has two buttons, one on either side. The first is triangular, the second is oval. Pressing both buttons activates the ward. The buttons are notoriously sensitive to pressure, which require very precise handling for maximum affect.

Bag




Emerald Incisor
Correspondence 2, Forces 2

This device has one cable leading to his watch, and the other to Harvey’s earpiece. By pressing the buttons on the face and side of the device, Harvey can create a direct telephonic connection to any other phone in the world.

Hooks to belt


Grand Matter Mega Nullifier
Matter 2

This device closely resembles this raygun http://www.wetanz.com/updates/rayguns/images/Goliathon1_500w.jpg



It fires liquid, gas and blue laser light. It also uses compressed Ether with the laser’s radiation to convert the liquids and gases to other types, as desired. The gun also fires irradiated Ether which can convert any substance into any other similar substance.

Holster on right hip
EFGA (Ether Fueled Gravity Adjuster)
Forces 2

This skeletal exoskeleton allows its user to lift extremely large objects. When not in use, it folds nicely into a small briefcase.

Lab


Etherdriver
Matter 3

This screwdriveresque device moves, adjusts and reshapes objects as desired.

Bag or pocket


Hand Powered Mega Manipulator
Prime 2 & 3

Part hand held barcode scanner, part hand drill, this device absorbs, adjusts and exhausts Ether.

Bag


1st, 2nd and 3rd Eyeglasses

Correspondence 1, Forces 1, Matter 1, Life 1, Prime 1 / Correspondence 2

These glasses have three small devices connected, plus a Bluetooth like earpiece. Each subdevice can be disconnected and used separately, though the scanning quality is much greater when used with the main structure.

The other use for these glasses is to find the small rifts in the ether, then through careful manipulation of the dials and small switches on the glasses’ frame, look through the realm of Ether in such a way that Harvey sometimes forgets that the locations are not adjacent.

Pocket or worn

RPG

I've done it. I've joined a role playing group. I watched Craigslist until I found a group that sounded close to my wavelength. We meet on Sunday afternoons (if the Hawks aren't playing), and so far it's going really well. We're playing Mage: the Ascension, and I'm really enjoying myself. Role playing does seem a bit odd, since the emphasis is on the storytelling rather than the 'game' part, but there is enough game to keep the whole thing honest.

I got mixed up and bought the wrong books initially. There's a new edition this year, and those books ran me about $50 for the pair. The right ones were about $10 for two, since I found them used. That was pleasant.

My character is a "Son of Ether" which means 'mad scientist' in this system. All the characters use magic, but they need some way focus it, because their ability to change reality is rooted in their belief. My character requires gadgets as foci for his hocus pocus. "Harvey Campbell" is his name, and he's part Elijah Snow, part Buckaroo Banzai, part Mr. Fantastic and part Agent Cooper.

I'm amazed at how fast time flows while gaming. Our sessions have lasted about 5 1/2 hours each so far, and that seems about right. I can see how it could last longer, but really enough is enough.