#the plot itself and a lot of the characters are so very Tabletop Roleplaying Game Adventure

[githvyrik]

friends and I dressed up for dnd movie last night and like 3 people in public filmed/took pictures of us :/

[theresattrpgforthat]

do you know of any ttrpgs where you play as a dragon rider? ideally that would be the main premise that the game is built around, but i'm open to anything that involves riding dragons.

THEME: Dragon Riders

Hello friend. For standalone games regarding Dragon Riders, I was only able to rustle up one. So to make up for it, I have some supplements for other games as suggestions, as well as a way of hacking a different genre to make it work for you.

Dragon Riding is Easy, Isn’t It? By Hans.

You are a Dragon Rider. With your companion dragon and your friends, you will face danger, see the world, and make new friends. Along the way you will take turns playing the Rival, driving the story forward and confronting the Dragon Riders with their foes.

This is a game with a lot of room for decisions about what exactly you’re riding dragons for. Collaboratively, your group will decide what makes Dragon Riders stand out, and what kinds of differences exist between the dragons of your world. The dice system uses d6s, with staggered levels of success. What’s interesting about your dice results is that each one must be assigned to an aspect of the task at hand (Goals, Risks, Traits and Complications), which means that your results well tell you more than whether or not you simply succeeded or failed. The meat of the story will surround the efforts of the group to foil the plot of the Rival, a character played by members of the party who sit in the GM’s chair - and everyone might get a chance to take a turn at this! The system itself feels pretty rules light, and the game its pay-what-you-want, so it’s worth checking out!

Dragon Riding, (for 13th Age) by Pelgrane Press.

The lethal combination of dragon and rider helped create the Dragon Empire. Now unleash the fury on your foes! Full rules for player character dragon riders appear alongside story advice for campaigns looking to add dragon-riding options.

13th Age is a fantasy game built similarly to games like D&D 3.5 and D&D 4e, but containing mechanics that address the narrative side of play. Rather than focusing on a consistently “realistically” coherent setting, 13th Age focuses on what is dramatically important instead. Character creation will look similar in that it has races and classes, but you also decide on a relationship between your character and an Icon of the setting - the Icon being a major player in the world. This relationship makes your character immediately relevant to whatever story is about to happen, putting them front-and-centre of the action.

The Dragon Riding Supplement adds rules to the base game and advice on how to incorporate dragon riding into a story. You don’t just get character options - you also get adventures and advice on how dragon riding might be incorporated into battle, how the healing system works with dragons, and more.

If you are familiar with games like D&D and Pathfinder, then 13th Age isn’t a very big step. However, if you ‘re new to tabletop roleplaying games, this is a pretty big learning curve, so be prepared for a significant amount of rules and lore.

Moth-Light by Justin Ford and RIDERS by Me!

If you’d like a game that can easily turn into a game about Dragon Riding, you can also check out my RIDERS supplement for Moth-Light. The creatures of Moth-Light are supposed to be giant insect-like creatures called Moths, but I wrote RIDERS while being deeply inspired by the Chronicles of Pern - which is a science-fiction setting that has dragon riders!

Metal Sword, by Mousewife Games.

Metal Sword is an "acoustic cover" of Austin Ramsay's Beam Saber.  It's a fully playable Forged in the Dark game, but with simpler rules, easy to read character sheets, and less overall math than is often seen in games of this genre.

The central mechanic for building both your pilot character and their vehicle are "Quirks", which you devise similar to how you would design your vehicle's Quirks in Beam Saber or a character's aspects in FATE.

Alright so you’re probably asking - why is there a mech game in this list of recommendations about dragon riders? I think there’s a lot of similarities between the kinds of stories told in mech games and the stories about dragon riders. You are a tiny, fragile human, responsible for a large, powerful creature or machine. Success in any mission requires a great level of knowledge and skill.

I chose Metal Sword because it’s a very stripped-down version of Beam Saber that is pretty easy to hack. The biggest change you’d have to make is the terminology. Your Vehicle becomes your Mount. Your Vehicle Actions become something like Heal, Maneuver, Sense and Blast. Because you are writing in the Quirks according to what makes you and your mount unique, you can incorporate details about your dragon’s powers and personality into character creation.

Not all Mech games will easily convert to Dragon Rider games. But I think there’s definitely potential!

[txttletale]

bundletober #8: nasty, brutish, and long

welcome to bundletober, the txttletale dot tumblr dot com ttrpg blogging indulgence that absolutely everyone. is talking about? yes! today i read a slightly longer game than most of the ones i've been talking about here, because, frankly, it captivated me. nasty brutish, and long, by not writing, is a game about rebellion.

what instantly drew me into this game is that 'rebellion' isn't abstract and it doesn't happen for no reason. a lot of games like to style themselvs as being 'about rebellion' or 'about revolution', with no actual desire to engage in why revolutions happen--there's an evil empire and you're fighting it because it's evil. but nasty, brutish, and long is clearly deeply invested in questions of class and economics--part of the first session asks you to consider the economic state of the nation:

and yet another part gives you a 36-item table to roll on for an inciting incident for the revolution in question:

i love this shit--well, firstly, because i love games that give you strong plot hooks, games that tell you about their world, games that imply possibilities through options rather than grabbing your lapels and telling you what possibilities are on the table in tedious monologue. but second because this shows that the game wants to tell stories about the realities of revolution, that it is founding itself in history as more than just an aesthetic.

another really cool thing that happens before you even get out of character creation is 'backgrounds' -- as part of creating your character, you select four backgrounds (professions your character has worked), which are separated by social class (another choice you make at character creation). while you can always choose, the game encourages you to roll on yet more tables and make a story from that--i've done it a few times, and it's great fun.

for example, in the course of writing this post i created geoffrey--born a rural peasant class, he was taken in under the wing of a preacher after his family died. the preacher recognizes his potential and groomed him to be his successor--when the preacher eventually passed away, geoffrey, who'd always been a confident silvertongued lad, became his rural township's pastor. however, although he was convincing, he'd never been a true believer--so while when on a pilgrimage a merchant approached him with a simple scheme, using the legal immunity afforded to pilgrims to have him smuggle contraband into the country, he happily became a smuggler. this worked out great for a while, and saw geoffrey make a very tidy sum--but after a particularly close call he realized that he needed to get the hell out of this arrangement. with the sum of his ill-gotten gains, he travelled to a city and purchased a bookstore, becoming a middle class shop owner. he happily lived out the next few decades selling books--but at heart, he missed the fire of a sermon, having the ear of a crowd, so in his late years he passed his shop on to his son and became an elderly teacher, bringing literacy to the village of his youth.

this is exactly the kind of thing i fucking love about tabletop roleplaying games, the feeling that the game is chiming in with me as i try to tell a story, throwing me these weird curveballs i have to 'yes, and!' to create a backstory i'd never have thought of on a million years on my own. something else worth noting is that character creation is very open for a forged in the dark game -- you're unlkely to even have the same set of attributes as someone else, and you can pick backgrounds and abilities (mostly) totally independent of one another or any overarching playbook-type restriction.

the game itself diverges from blades in a lot of interesting ways. instead of blades' system of looking for the highest die, nasty, brutish, and long operates on a die pool system, which is what allows for it to add a large pile of levers for influencing rolls, including using multiple attributes for the same roll--there seems to be some OSR influence in here, with the open-endedness of the actual moment to moment gameplay and the vast amount of opportunities to use and exchange in-game resources. that said, unlike OSR stuff, there's a lot of effort being put in here to hand narrative control to players. instead of just saying 'you succeed' on a success, it says, 'the PC narrates what happens' which is a really cool spin on the usual success/mixed success/failure trifecta. players also get the ability to make up NPCs by expending resources, which is super cool.

other highlights include a take on burning wheel's drives system, a weird version of blades' resist mechanic that lets you change, rather than avert, the consequence your character faces, and a take on 'downtime' that frames it as more of a timeskip, during which years can pass. it's pretty cool stuff.

oh, and finally--the fucking style of this game is incredible. it does a lot with very little colour--a few splashes of dark red here and there is all it needs to complement its striking black and white, rich sense of texture, and

if there's one thing i don't like about nasty, brutish, and long, it's that it doesn't have any strong ideas about what the players need to be doing. the game establishes social turmoil and brewing revolution, makes a huge point of social class and class differences, but the verbs, the substance of what your player characters do, is deliberately left totally open. and that's cool for some people, some people like that openness a lot! but for me, who appreciates a tight and specific design, it doesn't do much. the tagline says its 'an game about class and revolution'--and i'm not sure i can fully agree with that. it'd be more accurate to call it a game 'containing class and revolution'. which is a step up from a lot of games that claim to be revolutionary, as i said before--but at the end of the day leaves me feeling like something's been left on the table.

still, there's a huge amount here worth checking out--even if you don't intend on playing it, it's a great look into the different directions you can take the forged in the dark framework, and a great tool for Making Up Guys. can't go wrong with making up a guy!

nasty, brutish, and long can be purchased as a digital download through itch.io

[dailycharacteroption]

Subsystems and You 13: Relationships

(art by barn-swallow on DeviantArt)

What sets tabletop RPGs from the video games that have tried to emulate them over the years is that a GM can tailor the roleplaying experience in real time. Characters will react to the heroes in real times like a real human being because they are portrayed by a real person, rather than playing along the story beats that a script writer assumes that the player might find interesting.

And with that flexibility comes developing relationships, either positive or negative, between your character and the NPCs, which can be a great way to emotionally tie oneself to the campaign and the setting. Emotional investment, after all, being what every storyteller seeks to elicit in their audience.

Now, oftentimes the roleplay itself can be it’s own reward, or at least lead to other rewards as NPC allies tend to be helpful to their new heroic friends. Conversely, rivals or enemies may be the inciting incident in many an interesting plot thread, which leads to other rewards.

However, maybe you wanna directly reward roleplay in your game. Perhaps the group is newer (or older) players that need some encouragement, or maybe you want to emphasize building relationships as part of the campaign. Either way, we have the Relationships subsystem from Ultimate Campaign!

With this system, the GM keeps track of how the party interacts with their allies and enemies in order to track how the NPCs react to the heroes as well as dole out xp for the party taking the time to advance that relationship, be it a positive one or a hostile one.

The way it works, Each NPC has an initial relationship score determined by the charisma and likeability (or like-to-punch-them-in-the-face-ability) of the character in question. Through their interactions, the characters can grow to like or detest each other more, which changes the relationship score, which has certain thresholds that grant xp rewards, though only once. (sorry, no grinding xp by alternating between insults and gifts)

Note that this score is not a positive-negative slider, but rather a measure of the passion of the emotions that the character feels towards the hero. While simply knowing the character is basically the same regardless of what the specifics are, as they grow to care about or detest the PC in question, the score rises.

Exactly how you manipulate this score comes in a few flavors, such as time (represented by leveling), actively going out of your way to do nice things or not so nice things (termed gifts and insults), as well as simply roleplaying your character and doing things that the NPC in question would like or dislike, such as saving their child, or utterly destroying them in a tournament.

Because the score is a level of passion, rather than being two ends of a spectrum, it is possible to flip between being rivals/enemies or friends/companions, though obviously the efforts to do so will reduce the passion after the flip. After all, betraying a friend to make an enemy is bound to leave them conflicted and confused, while befriending a rival leaves them hesitant.

While this system can be useful for those seeking a way to add a direct reward for RP, on the other hand, I know a lot of players and GMs would actively avoid using this system because it “game-ifies roleplay”, and they are right to be concerned about that. Having a manipulatable relationship system feels very video-game-y in a bad way. More specifically, it feels very “dating sim”-esque, which is a whole other can of worms.

Still, if you think you can make it work, go for it, but I don’t see it getting a lot of play, honestly.

That will do for today. Tune in tomorrow for the final subject of this week!

[sunset-a-story]

Author Ask Tag

Thanks to Scribe for hitting me with the talking stick. Their answers can be found here.

What is the main Lesson of your story? And why did you choose it?

The best "lesson" I could name for Sunset is power corrupts. And that's for both institutional powers and the powers that are the character's knacks (extra-human abilities). I don't choose/plan lessons or morals. That's just not how I think about it. I write the people and stories in my head and trust that if I'm true to them, something bigger will come through.

2. What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding?

We took inspiration from a lot of tabletop roleplaying games that we'd been in or run like Hunter: The Reckoning. Witch Hunter Robin for vibes. The Soul Society in Bleach for organization.

3. What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

I'll go with our two mains, Reeve and Alex. Reeve is just trying to do the right thing. That's his center compass and he was "born" into a life that makes that not very straightforward. Alex wants to find where he belongs, what he's meant for. Honestly, the thing I'm trying to achieve is to tell their story. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind or teach readers something. Those things may very well happen, but they don't enter into the equation when I'm writing.

4. How many chapters is your story going to have?

We don't have chapters but we broke Arc 1 down into 15 chunks for bi-weekly releases.

5. Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Original. We plan to post it on our Patreon first and then on A03 and Wattpad.

6. When and why did you start writing?

My partner and I started developing the characters and the world through games and drabbles and such around 2006? The plot sort of evolved itself through that. We started seriously putting words down around 2015. And I feel like we have to write it. It's too big to keep in my head.

7. Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of writeblr? What other writers of tumblr do you follow?

Life's too damn short to not write the stories that are important to you in the way that you want to write them. Fuck the rest. And I follow way too many amazing writeblrs to even count. @scribe-of-stories obvs. My co-writer @touloserlautrec <3. Super grateful to @words-after-midnight for beta reading for us and being so supportive. @pandoras-comment-box has been an amazing telepath-ranting buddy and I always adore talking to @thatndginger.

I was away from tumblr for like a week so I'm not sure who has been tagged in this recently so I'm leaving it an open tag.

[naamahdarling]

How did you get into tabletop games? Is Magical Kitties your current favorite?

My sister! My sister had all the 2nd Ed. D&D books and I don't know how much she played or if she simply read them like I did. I had a BIG problem with numbers and with complex rules. I needed (and did until I was about 30, when I finally became confident with basic math*) help with the numbers. I needed to be taught the rules by a person through play. So I kind of went from storytelling by myself or with a couple of friends using what I found there without actually playing, to playing when I found someone (ex husband) who taught me how to actually PLAY. So I played with him as GM, and then in a friend's group, for a while, and eventually tried running things myself and discovered I'm very very good at it. Just not reliable. Couldn't keep up with every week. So I don't GM much.

I have played at least a dozen different systems. All versions of D&D, White Wolf/Storyteller/VtM/Werewolf, Chaosium/Call of Cthulhu/any licensed tie in like Elric or Elfquest, GURPS, FATE, Champions, Star Wars (can't remember the core system, it was a d6 system), several d6 systems I can't remember, and some stuff almost nobody remembers like Arcanum or god save us the very confusing Jorune. Other stuff I have forgotten. At least two entirely homebrew systems. I think my favorite to play was Chaosium with the expanded rules and magic system my ex developed himself. Really fun and was intuitive for me.

But I have RUN five different systems now and like MKSTD best because it is the one that most facilitates the thing I like best about TTRPGs and have most missed about the games I have been playing in for the last mumbleteen years: collaborative storytelling, and unbridled FUN.

Are there rules? Sure, sorta. They're only there as a way to guide the story and challenge players' creativity.

I am a good player and very very good GM in terms of roleplaying. I give my players tons of latitude to interact and explore, and I am fortunate enough to be incredibly fast on my feet so it doesn't matter who they want to talk to or what they want to ask, I don't break stride. I'm not bragging, I say this to highlight the fact that it is very nearly all I am good at. I cannot run combat or design balanced encounters to save my life. With Magical Kitties I actually CAN. It's so simple. And with such a lighthearted subject, plotting is a lot easier. Still, I am approaching the point where the Larger Plot needs to assert itself and I am TERRIFIED because I do not know what is actually causing the big bad problem.

Anyway, yeah, this is pretty amazing for something so silly, and there's no reason the core ideas for the system couldn't be used to approximate any setting or type of character. It doesn't suit some kinds of player, but those are players I don't enjoy running games for anyway (not personally, they're usually lovely, but in terms of play styles not meshing).

I highly recommend it. Silly as it is. Especially if you like cats.

*I have very very bad dyscalculia and adding more than three multiple digit numbers together was for decades a slow process of counting on my fingers and making marks on paper as I went. Around 30, after practice several times a week, I graduated to still being bad at it but at least not needing my fingers, which is where I still am now. I use my phone calculator a LOT, or ask other players for help. Never feel ashamed for being a grown-ass adult who fears subtraction despite people teaching it at you. It says nothing at all about your intelligence. You're fine.

[redfieldfeer]

About those who know what to do even though they're never done.

There are people who manage to be natural, even playing tabletop RPG for the first time. I recently discovered that one of the players in my current campaign was of this special type. It's her first contact with tabletop RPGs, although she got used to following some (mainly Critical Role) and so, what can I say about her? She is natural. Her character is one of the two most emotionally charged characters in the group. She chose to play the Sorcerer, and I suggested a race to her that has significant importance in the world I've created. So it was up to her to come up with a narrative that fit what I had planned and she, with lots of questions and even better ideas, blew me away. As a result, we have a young sorcerer who has spent her life on the run since she woke up alone in a scene of destruction. She was taken in by an organization that protected her and granted her a quiet life as a waitress in a tavern. She allowed me to work on the origin of her power and in the origin session, she got a glimpse of what it could be. Well, I can't say much about it because she follows me here (hi, Gretha! hahaha), but it's something interesting that deals with the emotional and also, with what I think she wants for her narrative. In her origin session, we started with an ordinary day that progressed to a conflict on the road during one of her day's tasks... I tested her character's empathy, as someone who lives on the run and she responded by saving an NPC even in the face of questions from other characters in the scene. And she surprised me, again, with what she delivered in roleplay. We established a very special relationship between her and the owner of the tavern where she works, a motherly relationship that moved me as much as it did her. Thus, an NPC who was there to provide information ended up becoming essential to her plot and what was to come next... Again: she is a natural as a player and, essentially, as a character. Still, she has questions about the mechanics and the game itself... But for someone who instinctively knows the hardest (not everyone delivers a roleplay as unique as hers), rules are the least, right? Well, I don't know if I'm a total believer in the "rule of cool", but I am a believer in great storytelling and great experiences... And at the end of that last origination session, I know I have precious players and characters in my hands. For someone who gave up GMing a few years ago, until I took a risk and rolled the dice one more time... I dare say, with this table, I finally rolled my Nat 20.

[exspiraviit]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER. ( REPOST DO NOT REBLOG ! )

○    name: Raeve ○    pronouns: She/her or they/them.  I’m not overly picky ○    preference of communication: I’m pretty open to whatever, honestly, but I guess if I had to pick one, Discord is my platform of choice. ○     name of muse(s):  Garrett.  I have a couple others elsewhere, but that’s the one that matters here~ ○    experience/how long (months/years?): I’ve been roleplaying for...god, I don’t even know exactly how long.  Started with tabletop; D&D and VtM, and gradually moved on from those.  Writing in general, though, I’ve been doing for longer still...but if you’re looking for an exact number, I legitimately have no idea, lmao.  Let’s just go with “a long--ass time”. ○    platforms you’ve used: Tabletop, Tumblr. Discord, Skype, Kik, e-mail, forums, in-game ○    best experience: Overall, or here on Tumblr?  I’m going with overall:  it’s a VtM game that’s been going on for three years now.  The campaign itself was pretty simple, in that this coterie was looking for a specific book that contained some...let’s call it “confidential information” that really shouldn’t fall into the wrong hands because of the power it held.  Before the game started, the storyteller went around the table and asked everyone why their character wanted to retrieve this book - everyone except me - and all of them were for fairly greedy, personal purposes.  After a few games, the storyteller finally asked me why my character, who is kind of a cornerstone of not only his clan but the sect in that particular city, wanted to retrieve it, which was exactly what I mentioned above: to keep it out of the wrong hands and protect it within the walls of his clan.  Super long story short, the storyteller was setting something up, where my character appeared to be the villain because everyone else was kind of on a similar page as far as intent went.  They found the book, and while they were all pouring over it and fighting over who got to keep and read it, my character revealed his purpose...and the last game, the other four attempted to fight him for that book, which resulted in a rather quick TPK lmao.  That group wanted to keep the storyline going and try again with different characters, which is where we’re going to pick up next round, but yeah, the twist, the story itself, the interactions between characters, the build-up and planning - 100%, the best experience I’ve ever had. ○    rp pet peeves / dealbreakers: Possessiveness over partners/muses, forcing ships, godmodding, the usual stuff. ○    fluff, angst, or smut: Honestly, any of the above.  Each has their place and time, and I’m absolutely here for all of them, as long as there’s a plot that kind of brings them about.  So, like, I’m absolutely down to write a steamy moment between muses (as long as mun and muse are 18+, we’re 21+ up in here so y’know.  Good to go on this end), or a sweet moment, with lots of build-up beforehand so it has meaning.  Granted, sometimes it’s fun to just break it out but for the most part, I like the build-up, too.  That said, though, I’m 3000% down to rip my partners’ hearts out of their chests with angst at the drop of a hat, so...y’know, there’s that, too.  Point is, I love all three and I’m usually down for them. ○    plots or memes:  First time our characters are meeting?  Memes.  They’ve met and now we want to shove them together again?  Plots.  But, I guess if I have to pick one just, overall, I’m going to go with memes.  I don’t always have time, attention, or energy to dedicate to writing a big plotted thread, but if you throw a meme at me?  Oh, hell yeah, we’re doin’ the thing. ○    best time to write: . When crap isn’t hitting the fan and I have two seconds to sit down, think, and write -- which is to say, late at night. ○    are you like your muse(s): I’m a very private person.  Won’t say ‘secretive’ because that makes it sound like I do bad things and I really do try not to.  Other than that, I don’t...think I’m much like Garrett?  In terms of personality?  I don’t know, hard to say.  I guess I’ve never really thought about it.

[unearthed-legacies]

———  basics! ♡

(PEN)NAME:  Technic Generation (Shortened to Tech or Technic)

PRONOUNS:  He / She / They

ZODIAC SIGNS:  Libra

TAKEN OR SINGLE:  Single and (not) ready to mingle

TIME ZONE:  CST, because American

———  three  facts! ♡

I am genderfluid with no idea what I’m into sexuality wise.

I was officially diagnosed with OCD last year. It was relieving to hear at the time, but the damage has long been done.

I have a massive backlog of video games that I really ought to clear up, but...don’t.

———  experience ! ♡

It’s difficult for me to pinpoint an exact timeline for my RP history since my memory is hazy on it, but I’ve been at this for at least over a decade. The earliest memories I have of roleplaying begins in the Sonic The Hedgehog fandom. This was back when the fandom was a little less...what it is these days. At the same time, I also had my first foray into Dungeons & Dragons with my school’s tabletop club. I eventually started to RP on Maple Story and Mabinogi when I still actively played those two MMOs. Afterwards, I made it to tumblr, where I first started roleplaying on the site in the Mega Man fandom. The group I was with had a falling out over time which lead me to roleplaying in the Monster Girl Quest RPC. It was there that I met a number of friends and, perhaps surprisingly, got a taste of the Touhou RP scene. I took my steps into the HDN and Disgaea fandom around the same time, but eventually departed from MGQ roleplaying after a particularly unpleasant experience in being abandoned by that community.  I ran the HDN train for quite a while before it came to an eventual halt. Nowadays, I spend most of my roleplaying on Discord and came back to tumblr after many years of inactivity to branch out from that platform.

———  muse preference !  ♡

Honestly, it’s a mixed bag. You might think I have a leaning towards Fate since those are the only OCs and most of my canon muses on their respective blogs, but I have a dip in a lot of fandoms. As far as personality types are concerned, I try to write various character types to remain flexible, even if I have a leaning towards certain types over others. Namely, I don’t often write flirty/promiscuous characters or overtly evil/assholeish ones either. That isn’t to say I won’t write them, as doing so is often a good writing exercise for me. So really, I’m willing to try writing all sorts of characters if I think I can manage to portray them well enough. I suppose the only real preference I can think of is that I feel I write canon characters more than my own OCs.

———  FLUFF / ANGST / SMUT! ♡    

FLUFF:  It’s something I need to work on as a writer. I tend to have more “neutral” interactions, so when fluff comes up, I feel the presentation I give is lacking. I will say that fluff oughta be done where it is realistic for the muses involved. It’s better that the fluff be genuine.

ANGST:  My views on angst are stunted thanks to being witness to it in excess during my earlier days of roleplaying, particularly from the Touhou and Monster Girl RP communities. That isn’t to say I’m wholly against it; angst is very good for character insight and does well when plot relevant or serving as a point of contention during an interaction. Like with most things, however, it needs to be done in moderation. Too much of it cheapens it to the point of being unappealing.

SMUT: Considering that I used to roleplay in the Monster Girl Quest sphere, you might get the impression that I write it a lot and I did write it frequently back then. (It was an eroge game, after all.) Presently, I don’t do it partly because the opportunity only rarely presents itself and I don’t think I’m very good at it. I won’t say that I’m not going to do it. Just that I’m going to be particular about when it happens.

PLOT / MEMES: I prefer plots to memes since I like to have at least some structure in an interaction. However, I recognize that not everyone wants a plot to occur for an RP to happen and you don’t really need one, which is why spontaneous interactions tend to be a default of sorts for a lot of people. That being said, those memes do well as a means of getting characters to interact and may even present new writing ideas, so I’m certainly not opposed to them in any capacity.

tagged by: @fatumservis​

tagging: Anyone who wants to do this.

[kusunogatari]

[ ObiRyū October | Day One | Shining Armor ] [ @abyssaldespair ] [ Uchiha Obito, Suigin Ryū ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ]

[ Previous || Next ]

It all comes down to this.

Checking and double checking his gear, Obito can’t help a worried sigh. For weeks he’s been considering giving a new hobby a try, and even before then he’d started saving for something to do. He stumbled across a possible activity completely by accident when making a detour home one day from work. In a park he’d never visited was a group of twenty or so people - adults, mind you - doing what looked to be some kind of...really involved make-believe.

A little research revealed it to be called LARPing. Live-action roleplaying. Like taking one of his favorite fantasy videogames or a tabletop campaign, and making it as close to real as one can really get: literally acting it out, in real time, with real people. Dressed up as their characters and everything!

He was hooked.

Hours of research later, he’d gotten started: crafting his outfit, weapons, supplies, and a character to play. A barbarian warrior...something he thought suited his build, and his appearance.

No real need to explain his scars, that way.

It took a while to build up the nerve, but he finally approached one day and asked about how to join. Most events were just day-long ones as opposed to full weekends, he’d learned. And an entry fee helped cover a few costs like extra props, costumes, and even food for the players over the course of the day. Fifty bucks and he could hop in.

He hadn’t done so right away, still fiddling with all the details of his character. He wanted it to be perfect…! But eventually there was nothing left to procrastinate, so...he packed up his gear and headed out.

And now here he is, standing with a few other newcomers. Thankfully his underclothes were normal enough to walk here in, and he starts strapping on armor he’d made. It’s nothing too fancy, but he managed to get some metallic paint to make it look like real steel. Overall, for his first go of it? He’d say he’s done well. There will always be time to improve as he goes, right?

It’s a high fantasy setting, as he’s learned. Elves, magic, that sort of stuff. Pretty typical, as far as he’s read. And while he’s set to be a moldable, playable character, so too are there those who play more static roles for the players to interact with...as well as those helping to craft the stories. Each only takes six to eight hours, as not to drag on past each day gathering. But some end up interconnected. Today, it seems, given all the new faces, they’re starting a new event.

The main coordinator and storyteller gathers the characters together to give a brief overview, as well as introduce the NPCs before they start. But once it begins, there’s no breaking character. Hours of being someone else for a day - no longer is he Obito, but Garver the Crushing, complete with a mace and shield he found tutorials for online.

With the plot set, everyone disperses, taking their places and readying for the game to begin. Obito, along with a few others, start by browsing the “town” to gather supplies for an upcoming battle set to take place. His character doesn’t know any magic...but he can certainly use things like throwable weapons, and potions to ensure he doesn’t get taken down too easily.

But the NPC selling potions is swarmed first, so he idles around for a bit, browsing a selection of weapons available for gold...or in this case, real-world quarters used in place of anything too fancy. In the end he picks up a dagger, not wanting to eat into his character’s savings too much.

He then finds the potion “shop” empty of other patrons, and shyly makes his way forward.

Right away he can tell, this one’s a pro. Not only does she have a good array of props, but her outfit looks entirely legit. Within an actual period-appropriate tent are few shelves, complete with a banner: White Dragon Remedies, it proclaims. Bottles filled with shimmering liquid are made of a squishy, clear material to prevent any breaks. She also has some “enchanted” clothing: more glittering fabric to indicate their magical properties.

Turning to face him, she reveals more of her outfit. While her actual dress is a rather plain dark grey, it’s her cloak that makes his jaw drop comically. White with silver embroidery work, it’s a piece of art in and of itself. It sweeps the grass, a wide hood draped over her head, still revealing her fake (but very convincing) elven ears.

Her eyes are a light grey, almost white to match her colorless locks. Even her brows and lashes are white! He wonders if it’s makeup and a wig, or if this is how she actually looks.

“Greetings, traveler,” she offers with a smile that makes his chest clench. “Are you in need of my brews…? Or perhaps something laced with magic to protect you?”

Still a bit shell shocked, Obito flounders for a moment like a fish out of water. Clearly she’s a long-standing player to be this prepared and decked out. “Uh, I...y-yeah. Um…”

As he stutters, she can’t help a glint of amusement in her eyes he’s pretty sure isn’t in-character - she’s actually having to hold back a laugh, he can tell. “I have a wide variety of wares,” she offers, clearly trying to help him regain his head. “Potions of healing, articles of protection, and even scrolls of contained spells for those unable to cast enchantments themselves. All highly valuable on the battlefield for a warrior such as yourself. Is there anything specific you’re looking for…?”

Trying to delve back into his character, Obito looks around. What would Garver like to take with him…? “I’ll take healing potions, at any rate. What do they cost?”

“I’ve one that can heal a minor wound, and one for a more...serious injury. The former is ten gold, and the latter twenty.”

Ooh, he...won’t be able to get too many. His ears turn red in embarrassment at his both in- and out-of-character poverty. Weighing his coin pouch, teeth nibble the scar along his lip in thought.

“I also have garments that help reduce damage taken. More costly, but also more effective over time. You’ll need fewer potions for as long as you have it, my lord.”

“Oh, I’m no lord,” Obito quickly refutes. Garver is a simple mercenary, after all.

“Any patron of mine receives my respect,” is her polite rebuke. Reaching for a verdant scarf, she holds it aloft for him to look at. “This will halve any damage you take. A robust enchantment indeed.”

Something about it catches his eye. “...and the cost?”

“Fifty gold is all. And, since you’re a new face in town, I’ll throw in a lesser potion of health for good measure, no extra charge.”

“But -?”

“Dark times lie ahead, traveler. We must all be cautious. And you’ll need to survive them to visit me again when you’ve more coin to spend, hm?” She winks an eye, and his chest flutters again. “Consider it an investment in your well-being. And perhaps mine, if you ever return.”

Blinking at her, Obito then looks down at the scarf. It does sound like a pretty good deal… “...I’ll take it.”

“Excellent!” Folding the scarf as he counts out his quarters, she fetches one of the blue sparkling potions. “I wish you luck, traveler. May fortunate winds blow at your back.”

“A-and you,” he stutters in reply. “...thank you.”

“Save your thanks for when that scarf saves your life, stranger.”

“...Garver.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I - my name, it...it’s Garver.”

Her expression brightens. “Ah! A pleasure, lord Garver. I am Wyria of the White Dragon. I hope our paths will cross again sometime.”

Not sure how to reply, Obito just gives a sheepish nod before retreating. Nearby, another male player seems to evaluate his gear.

“Well met,” he offers, nodding to Obito in greeting.

“Hello.”

“Been to stock up on potions, have you?”

“Er...yeah. Yes. I...can’t afford much.”

“A mercenary’s life is spent in constant search of coin, eh? You must spend it to make it.”

The corner of Obito’s mouth twitches. This interaction seems a lot...easier. “True enough. Though just once I’d like to get ahead.”

“All it takes is one lucky break! And just one unlucky one to have it all come to a screeching halt. We walk a blade’s edge, my friend.” Holding out a hand, he offers, “Irkvar.”

“Garver,” Obito replies, shaking it.

“So...what think you of the potion seller?”

“What do I...think?”

The other man grins. “A beauty, isn’t she? Not often you see elves this far north. They seem to prefer the warmer climates. But she keeps us all stocked and alive.”

Before he can stop it, Obito’s brow furrows. “...seems we’re lucky to have her, then.”

“Indeed.” Glancing around, the man then leans in and whispers, breaking character for a moment. “She’s a professional cosplayer. Goes to cons and makes big bucks with photos and shit. She’s huge on Instagram, too. All-natural hottie - no wig or anything, that’s just how she looks. Makes her super popular if the cosplay fits well. Wouldn’t mind getting to know her better but she tends to ghost once the events are done.”

At the rather...objectifying language, Obito scowls. “Can’t imagine why,” he mutters sarcastically.

But his tone seems lost on his companion, who then slides back into character. Yet even as the idle speech drags on, Obito can’t help but remain annoyed with the guy.

What an ass.

Once the prologue is completed and the characters found to be ready for the next phase, Obito manages to evade his new “friend” and immerse himself more into the story. The city has received word of an impending attack...and he has a choice to make. Stay and fight for the city, and receive less gold...or betray them and join the attacking force, which has more gold to spare.

Thinking of the goods he could acquire with some extra spending money, Obito nonetheless finds himself tugged toward the moral high ground. So after some debate, he decides to remain in the city. A few more darker-aligned characters actually swap, and he finds himself preparing to face them.

It’s them, or him.

Hours pass as skirmishes start and stop. Strategies are laid out, twists in the story guided by the NPCs. Obito, scarf around his neck, manages to keep his character alive, relying on his single potion as the battle seems to wane.

But then the boss appears...and he realizes he’s made a grave mistake. There’s no way he’s going to make it with no more potions! He could do the cowardly thing and run, but -?

“I cast Wall of Spectral Light!”

Jolting, he turns to see the potion seller. A hard glint is in her eyes, staring at the boss with a snarl.

Seems she’s decided to work to protect her home.

The narrator calls out the spell’s effects, proclaiming that her actions help protect a section of the defending army...including Obito. No damage is taken, but the barrier can only repel so much damage. From a belt at her waist, she begins tossing extra potions to the players.

“I’ve no gold,” Obito replies.

“We’ll settle any debts later, should we live through this,” she replies, looking to him gravely.

For a moment, Obito forgets this is all a game. He meets her desperate gaze with one of his own, and there’s a sort of...spark.

But they don’t have much time to chat.

The battle rages on, player characters calling out spells as Wyria and other NPCs lend scripted hands. And just as the sun starts setting, someone lands the final blow...and the boss collapses, dead.

A chorus of triumphant cries echo out over the park, and characters celebrate, embracing and beating chests. Obito sags in relief. In truth...he’s exhausted. More so than a day at work!

And as the cheering goes on, it’s joined by children who had stopped to watch, Obito sheepishly waving to them and earning more excitement. Seems they’re convinced this is all real: the joys of childish imagination.

Looking just as tired as the rest of them, the NPCs offer their congratulations to their heroes. And Wyria greets Obito, much to his surprise.

“So, seems that scarf served you well, Garver,” she offers with a wry grin. “I think you can properly thank me, now.”

“It did...as did your potions. I owe you more than just gold - I owe you my life.”

“You and a few others,” she replies cheekily. “But all debts will be settled in time. I’m sure  I have a job or two you can do for me sometime.”

Grinning tiredly, Obito watches her for a moment before everyone is gathered for a final celebration in the town. As it begins to wind down, the storyteller declares the event over, and everyone is allowed to break character at last.

Sighing in relief - yet wholly satisfied with his Saturday - Obito glances around. It’s then he realizes he didn’t see Wyria in the party, and indeed she’s instead been packing up.

Seems the man from before is right - she doesn’t waste any time. It wilts his expression, as he’s pretty sure he understands why. Keeping his helmet tucked under his arm, he sheepishly approaches. “...need any help?”

At his voice, she spins around, eyes wide, still dressed in her attire. But she softens as she recognizes him. “Ah, sorry...I thought you were, uh...nevermind.”

“I think I know who you mean,” Obito assures her. “So I thought I’d lend a hand, if...you want it.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you.”

They finish dismantling her setup, which Obito compliments. “This must’ve taken a lot of time.”

“And money,” she assures him dryly. “But...I love it. It’s been worth every dollar and hour. I love acting and dressing up, so...it only makes sense. I was one of the people who helped set up the LARP group here.”

“Really?”

“Mhm! Right out of high school. It was really small and...cheap at first. But we’ve grown a lot over the years. We even put on shows for schools sometimes. Which helps earn more money to keep the group going.”

“That’s awesome!”

“Maybe you’ll join us for one?”

“Eh…” At that, he hesitates. “...maybe. I’m still, uh...new. And…” He gestures to his face, wilting. “...not sure I’d be good around kids.”

“They seemed to love it before. And they’ll just believe it’s part of your character. Are…?” It’s her turn to pause. “So...those are real?”

“Yeah.”

“Me too. The hair and stuff, I mean.” Her eyes roll. “Used to get me bullied, but I do pretty well thanks to it now.”

“Someone mentioned you cosplay professionally…?”

“Mhm. It’s not a full gig, I still work. But it helps. And it’s a lot of fun, when...people aren’t being jerks.”

Obito sours. “Yeah...I caught a whiff of that earlier. I’m sorry.”

“It comes with the territory. Just...wish that it didn’t.” After a pause, a box of stuff in her arms, she offers, “I...just realized I never introduced myself! My...real self, that is. I’m Ryū.”

“Obito.”

“Nice to meet you. And thanks for the help.”

Helping her load the last boxes into her car, Obito can’t help but ask, “So...do you always play an NPC?”

“I do. As much as a character is fun, I enjoy being part of the structure. And since I’m one of the founders, I feel more...set in stone that way. I play Wyria every time. So I’m almost like a playable character, just...set to a script. I’m the same person for every story, but I enjoy it a lot. I feel like a piece of the foundation that way.”

“I think I understand.”

Closing the car door, she gives him another look. “Thanks for helping me pack up. And…” She glances past him for a moment, and his head tilts. “...for helping ward anyone else off.”

Obito nearly turns to look, but brightens in understanding. “...oh! Yeah, sure. Any time.”

“So, will you be back next weekend?”

“Er...maybe.” He itches his neck guiltily. “The, uh...ticket price is a little steep for me.”

“Yeah, it can be. Very few people come every week. Mostly it’s every other, or once a month. It keeps the group fluid, though. A different pool every time.” Ryū gives a smile. “But it’ll be cool to see you again. You did really well for a first timer!”

Obito feels himself get warm at the compliment. “Y-yeah?”

She nods. “Did you do any theater in high school?”

“A little, yeah.”

“That helps. And it only gets easier the more you do it. I’m sure Garver will be a staple pretty soon. And Wyria will always be happy to sell him some potions...for the right price.”

Smiling bashfully, Obito then stiffens. “Oh -!” He reaches up and takes off the scarf. “Here, I -”

“No, that’s yours.”

“...but -?”

“You bought it in-game, so it belongs to Garver.” She waves a hand. “I get material and stuff pretty cheap, don’t worry about it. And players trade things back in for upgraded stuff, so it usually cycles back. Just don’t lose it, okay?”

“Oh...well, thanks.”

She just smiles in reply. “Well, I guess I’ll see you whenever you can make it back in! Take care, Obito.”

“Yeah, you too.” He steps aside, letting her pull away from the park’s lot in the dusk of evening.

He needs to get home, too...it’ll be dark by the time he gets back. Stripping off his gear and putting it back into his duffle bag, Obito smiles to himself. It was a really good day…! Better than he’d feared. And maybe he’s even making a new friend, both in and out of character. Sadly his low wages mean it might be a while before he can come back, but...well, it’ll be worth the wait.

Replaying it all in his mind, he starts back toward home, unable to help but linger on the scenes with Garver and Wyria. Partly he feels bad - he doesn’t want to be like Irkvar. But, well...her character is interesting! And Garver just...enjoyed her. That’s all.

...that’s all.

     Aw yisss, we’re back with another ObiRyū October, y’all! And the first piece is set in a modern verse with some LARPing, cuz...Obito is a canon professional LARPer, after all xD And the prompt just fit too well, I couldn’t not do it lol      I have a few buffer days built up JUST in case I fall behind (as I...always do), but I’ll still be writing to try and keep up. Otherwise, as per usual, I’ll be doing my best to post once a day through the whole month in celebration of my OTP!       So on that note...I better start working on more xD Thanks for reading!

[dare-to-dm]

5, 8, and 10.

Tell me about your most recent OC! 

Technically, my most recent OC is Andi Dietrich, a character I made for a Call of Cthulu game!  She’s a drug dealer.  I made her with the intention of A) being the muscle for our group and B) being motivated by greed to actually pursue the plot of the game.  She was originally envisioned as a prohibition era gangster, as I was under the impression our game was set in the 20′s.  But then I was told it was modern era, so I had to do a quick rebrand, and the result wasn’t very inspiring.

Unfortunately, I just don’t seem to like Call of Cthulu at all, so it’s not going well!

Tell me about a roleplaying moment that made you feel like a badass.

I’m playing a ranger right now, and it’s a lot of fun.  It feels like I can hit pretty much anything, usually 4 times in a round!  Anyway, we recently finished up a narrative arc where we descended into Hades itself to retrieve the soul of my dead companion and best friend so he could complete his mission of defeating a horrible liche.

Obviously a classic tale, but let me tell you, heroic tropes exit for a reason and it feels great to experience the classics for yourself!

Are there any tabletop role playing games you just don’t like?

Um.  Call of Cthulu, definitely!  I like feeling heroic, not pathetic.

But on the flipside, there’s a limit to how heroic I want to be.  Thus, I also don’t like Exalted.  Everything is epic to the Nth degree in that setting, and I just don’t enjoy a narrative arc where you start out as a demi-god.

[jeanjauthor]

“I am Ironman“

I was chatting with my sister just a little while ago.  She finally got the chance to see Avengers: Endgame.  And the things we discussed, I decided I wanted to share here.

In my honest opinion as a longtime reader and a professional storyteller...the opportunity to open and close a massive series with a perfect line is exceptionally rare.

It can be done, and it can be pulled off...but the impact of that one line when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) cannot be understated.

Especially since it was a throwaway line by Robert Downey Jr.  A moment of improve, where he decides to look right into the camera aimed up at his face, and pronounce those infamous, famous three words, “I am Ironman.”

Yeah yeah, technically that came at the end of the first movie, not the beginning...but that moment, readers & writers, was the beginning of the MCU.  The entire span of over 20 movies would not have done as well, would not have held our attention, if it weren’t for that bald-faced ego-stroking truth.

Most people would’ve lied.  Most would’ve kept their secret identities a secret.  But the way RDJr played Tony Stark...it wasn’t in his nature.  It just was not in his nature to hide his light, to hide his self-confidence...to smother his arrogance.  He HAD to do it.

Now personally, I didn’t always like the character of Tony Stark.  There were several scenes where I wanted to smack him upside the head.  But that’s admittedly a viewer’s reaction, a reader’s reaction.  As a professional storyteller, the ups and downs of the character of Tony Stark were absolutely amazing.  The PTSD was believable.  The fact that RDJr kept touching the arm that kept consistently getting more and more injured throughout all the movies he was in...all of it was masterfully well-done.

Perfectly? No.  No piece of art, no creation, is ever perfection itself.  Especially not parsed out over so many different movies with so many different screenwriters & directors & producers & actors interacting with each other.  But that’s the key.  Robert Downey Jr. played a character that had glorious interactions with the other characters. The ego/pissing contest he had with Dr. Strange, the anguish when he reminded Cap that they were friends, too, the playful way he offered Bruce a blueberry out of a packet the actor had stashed on the set (again, more improv by RDJr)...

When one movie is made, it’s the work of everyone coming together to tell a story.  Key grips, digital artists, foley fx artists, cinematographers, casting directors...  The heaviest burden lies upon the shoulders of the scriptwriters, the actors who must bring that script to life (or add improvements), and the directors who make the final decision of what gets included and what gets cut.

The MCU took a throwaway line destined for the cutting room floor, completely off-script...and allowed the actor to make his portray of Ironman into a character so memorable, so unforgettable, that he made everyone else step up their game.

And best of all, the directors kept allowing it.

That offering of food from Tony Stark to Bruce Banner while in the lab?  Beautifully done, but total improv.  Hawkeye bitching about Quicksilver while trying to evacuate & defend the citizens of Sarkovia?  Completely believable, but yet again, improv.  Starlord nearly dropping the sphere holding one of the Infinity Stones?  A genuine accident with a fantastic improv recovery of the actor’s fumble. 

The little flinch of worry from Thor when Mjolnir moved ever so slightly when Cap jokingly tried to pick it up during the celebration party.  Later on in another movie, Thor compliments Cap on his “Thor-like” beard choice.  The lines, too, not just the acting.  “I’ll do you one better! WHY is Gamora?” which is hilarious...and the utter flipside tear-jerker of “I don’t wanna go” in the same movie.  And the whole silent post-credit scene of the Avengers eating shawarma (which is delicious, btw; I had some in Jerusalem) was riffed off of yet another improv moment from RDJr.

All of these improvs made the characters more human to audiences.  More relatable.  We’ve all fumbled a ball, whether in a sports game literally, or in an important moment at work figuratively, whatever.  We’ve all been arrogant enough to proclaim who we think we are are when someone is expressing doubt about our abilities...and then had to live up to that boast.  We’ve all said things with a straight face in the heat of a oment that in retrospect were absolutely hilarious...if we didn’t feel like dying from embarrasment.

But that first major improvised moment, that opened the door.

We all expected Ironman to keep his secret identity.  Spider-Man always did.  Superman always did. Batman always did (with the exception of a delightful bit of snark from Alfred from one of the Keaton movies)...  We all expected Ironman to be no different in the end.  We all expected “just another superhero movie”...

We got something different.

We got something that broke the trope-mold.

We got something new.

And though there are still a lot of problems with all of the movies, from Ironman to Endgame (such as the “Engaming of female characters” where if you can take virtually all scenes with women out of the movie and it still makes sense, you haven’t given those female character any truly empowered roles--not empowering, but empowered, because there’s a huge difference)...despite all of that, there were a lot of new ideas, new characterizations, new spins on everything.

That’s saying a lot, too, because Marvel & DC comic book characters get revamped so often, that it’s not always easy to find something new.  But they did it.  As I said above, making a move is a group effort.  (Much like playing a tabletop roleplaying game.)  With the directors & screenwriters & producers allowing others to bring extra material to the story (including that Make-A-Wish child’s request of Thor claiming the Hulk is a friend from work), it became so much greater than the sum of its originally scripted parts.

With all of that, the writers very wisely brought things full circle by paying homage to that throwaway line of just three words.  Through those three little words, that arrogant but finally earned assertion...we got to ride along as RDJr’s Tony Stark brought that huge plot arc of improv-providing-relatability, that humanity in cinematic history, to a satisfying (if rather tear-filled) sense of satisfactory completion.

By the end of the arc...we still don’t always like Tony Stark.  He makes choices out of fear and arrogance and everything else flawed within him that drives him...but by the end of the arc of all those movies...he wasn’t just boasting about being a superhero.  He was a genuine superhero.  He makes an iron-willed choice to end the battle as a man, and not merely an admittedly genius but arrogant little manchild.

...One more thing: In the movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, they talk about how “anyone could wear the mask!  You could wear the mask!”  With Tony Stark’s Ironman Suits, we got not only Ironman, but War Machine, Spider-Man (Tom Holland’s version made me actually care about Spider-Man again, since I’d gotten burnt out on the previous plethora), Rescue (Pepper Potts in her own Ironman-esque armor), and more.

Robert Downey Jr. made us believe that we could wear that metal mask, too.

[soyosauce]

The Classic Cyberpunk Setup In Sneakers

Warning: this article contains some spoilers for the 1992 movie Sneakers.

When you go searching on the Internet for the best cyberpunk movies you probably won’t find this movie. Released in 1992, Sneakers flew, and continues to fly, under the radar of many fans of cyberpunk. Cyberpunk 2020, the popular tabletop roleplaying game was published just one year before. Snow Crash, often regarded by fans as the point in which cyberpunk literature officially “died”, dropped the very same year as Sneakers.

So just as the movement died (not the literary sub-genre, in my opinion) Sneakers showed just how much staying power cyberpunk would have.

Sneakers is a movie in which a gang of various misfits are paid to test the security systems of their employers. They make a living breaking into places, basically (although not a very good one, according to a sassy bank clerk). Just as all seems well, the leader of this group, Bishop, is confronted by government agents dredging up his past in order to strong-arm him into taking on a job for them; outright blackmailing him. So he goes to his group with two choices: do their job… or he goes to jail. He knows he can’t do it alone.

What is more classic than government spooks that know too much, acting as puppeteers, right?!

Of course, like most classic cyberpunk where you get a job from anybody, but especially the government, it can’t be trusted. The spooks aren’t spooks, what they’re hired to steal ends up being groundbreaking and cutting-edge tech that can break into literally any encrypted database, and the team is put in mortal danger.

In Hamish Cameron’s recent cyberpunk tabletop game, The Sprawl, the rules actually mechanize these double dealings from employers. That’s how intrinsic this framework is to classic cyberpunk.

Sneakers presents a viable framework from which to generate your own jobs to give to players in a tabletop game. It might even be the only movie reference that has a team of people with skill sets similar to what you can do in cyberpunk games like Cyberpunk 2020; everyone working toward a common goal without their own goings-on as more than B plot.

You’ve got betrayal, technology with massive implications for the future of the world (somewhat a hallmark in CP 2020 adventures in retrospect), the shady pasts of all the characters bringing them together as a group, the coolest hacker of any cyberpunk movie, Whistler; a blind man hacking the system with a customized deck that uses braille inputs.

And tying it all together, Bishop’s past ends up bringing in the main antagonist, an omnipresent like figure who is radicalized by the ideals Bishop once possessed… but has since shed for a less simplistic and more nuanced set of beliefs.

Although far from a perfect movie (there are some contrived occurrences in the third act that undermine the only woman of the team, which bugs me a lot), if you’re ever looking to run any kind of cyberpunk tabletop game, you could do far worse than to watch this gem of a flick.

In some ways, it’s the most faithful adaption of a first wave cyberpunk novel we are likely to see. Sneakers is an enjoyable and relevant cyberpunk movie, as well as maybe the only easily adapted movie to a tabletop game framework; making it useful, too.

What do you think? What other movies might lend itself to helpful frameworks for tabletop games, if any?

[aion-rsa]

Cyberpunk 2077 Review Roundup

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Cyberpunk 2077 is arguably the most highly-anticipated game of 2020, and after several delays and other controversies, it’s finally here. Fans will be able to get their hands on CD Projekt Red’s new RPG on Dec. 10 (unless you pre-ordered from Best Buy). Ahead of the global launch, here’s what critics are saying about the game so far:

Andrew Reiner, Game Informer:

“Cyberpunk 2077 is a work of awe-inspiring ambition, dazzling with its massive scale and creative vision. The world of Night City is a metropolis of futuristic art, stealing your eye with stunning neon-lit architecture and streets filled with citizens made of flesh and metal. Night City is an open world that immediately pulls you in and keeps you engaged with its dark narrative, meaningful player choice, and overwhelming amount of side content.”

Score: 9/10

Kallie Plagge, Gamespot:

“It also bears a mention: Cyberpunk 2077 is phenomenally buggy. I played a pre-release build that was updated during the review period, and there’s a day-one patch planned as well, but the scale of technical issues is too large to reasonably expect immediate fixes. I encountered some kind of bug on every mission I went on, from more common, funnier ones like characters randomly T-posing to several complete crashes. I didn’t notice much of an improvement after the update, either. In a very late-game, very important fight, the game froze on me–twice. I ended up taking a break out of frustration before attempting, and finally succeeding, the third time.

These bugs, more than any game I’ve played in years, took me out of the experience often. Non-interactable items like cardboard boxes will explode when you interact with something next to them; UI elements will stay on-screen long after they’re meant to, which is only solved by reloading a save; characters will interrupt themselves during proper dialogue sequences by repeating a throwaway line they’d say in the overworld, seriously disrupting key moments; I died once and, upon reloading my last save, found my hacking ability no longer worked, forcing me to roll back to an autosave 10 minutes prior. The list is extensive.

Score: 7/10

James Davenport, PC Gamer:

“I found it moving and life-affirming in the final moments, even in the face of near certain death and a relentless onslaught of bugs. I suppose it’s an appropriate thematic throughline though: Cyberpunk 2077 is a game about V coming apart at the seams, in a city coming apart at the seams, in a game coming apart at the seams. Play it in a few months.”

Score: 78/100

Tom Marks, IGN:

“Cyberpunk 2077 kicks you into its beautiful and dazzlingly dense cityscape with few restrictions. It offers a staggering amount of choice in how to build your character, approach quests, and confront enemies, and your decisions can have a tangible and natural-feeling impact on both the world around you and the stories of the people who inhabit it. Those stories can be emotional, funny, dark, exciting, and sometimes all of those things at once. The main quest may be shorter than expected when taken on its own and it’s not always clear what you need to do to make meaningful changes to its finale, but the multitude of side quests available almost from the start can have a surprisingly powerful effect on the options you have when you get there. It’s a shame that frustratingly frequent bugs can occasionally kill an otherwise well-set mood, but Cyberpunk 2077’s impressively flexible design makes it a truly remarkable RPG.”

Score: 9/10

James Billcliffe, VG24/7:

“In the midst of such intense anticipation and scrutiny, it’s easy to get carried away with what Cyberpunk 2077 could have been. The final experience might be more familiar than many predicted, with plenty of elements that aren’t perfect, but it’s dripping with detail and engaging stories. With so much to see and do, Cyberpunk 2077 is the kind of RPG where you blink and hours go by, which is just what we need to finish off 2020.”

Score: 5/5

Carolyn Petit, Polygon:

“One of my fears about Cyberpunk 2077 was that it was going to be so cynical and nihilistic that playing it would be like wallowing in grim hopelessness, that the cheapness of human life in the game’s world would be mirrored by the game itself. But that’s not the case. It’s easy to lose the human thread in the overwhelming glut of stuff Cyberpunk 2077 puts on your plate, with your map plastered with crimes you can violently “neutralize” for a reward from the police, and fixers constantly sending you text messages about underdeveloped one-off jobs you can take on to earn a bit of extra cash. But the humanity is there, if you look for it.

“And that humanity is the saving grace of this alluring yet uneven and deeply flawed game. I can’t deny that Night City wowed me with its scale, its verticality, and its sense of history. But I wish I could see people like me on its streets as something more than objects. I wish that the game’s politics were more radical. Yes, I know I shouldn’t look to a colossal game that was itself produced under exploitative labor conditions to lead the charge of anticapitalist liberation, but I wish the sparks of Johnny Silverhand’s ideological rage got to burn brighter, that Cyberpunk 2077 felt more interested in envisioning new futures than in reminiscing over bygone glories. Neither its gameplay nor its narrative can imagine the bold possibilities that I find so central to the best of cyberpunk. But what it does offer is visions of people trying to make do and get by in a world that’s trying to eat them alive, and sometimes those people get by with a little help from their friends. It’s not the revolution I hoped for, but it’s something.”

Riley MacLeod, Kotaku:

“I haven’t fallen in love with playing Cyberpunk 2077, but I haven’t loathed it either. Some moments have been exciting or moving, while others have just felt like stuff to do. I’m middle-of-the-road on it so far—having fun in spots, left wanting the game to be more like what made The Witcher 3 great in others. The game itself wants so badly for you to think it’s cool, that it’s the cutting edge of graphics and game design, that it talks about edgy topics like body modification, corporate power, and the internet. It tries too hard, stuffing itself with a tangle of complicated roleplaying game systems; with so many cyberpunk tropes, plots, and slang; with neon and holograms and so many in-game ads, most of them for sex; with car chases and hacking and corporate espionage and double-crossing powerful people; with a world where the human body is made obsolete with money and technology, while also chewed up and spat out for the sake of capital. There’s an admirable diversity of races, sexualities, genders, and body types, but they feel like a veneer. It’s not a politically progressive game: these identities are all in service of the game’s vision of the cyberpunk future, one that can feel implausible and alienating but also has hints of the world we live in today.

Chris Tapsell, Eurogamer:

“It’s still early on for me, I should say – after 30 hours I was still, no doubt to the horror of many with vanishing spare time, just finding my feet – but much of that focus is placed on Cyberpunk‘s central story, which has so far been a welcome surprise. Beneath the noise – and Cyberpunk is truly cacophonous – there is a lingering thread of tenderness to it. I’ve opted to play V as a woman, with a ‘Corpo’ background, and she’s been voiced impeccably by Cherami Leigh and written with some skill. There’s real tenderness here, real vulnerability – a lot of “this city’ll chew you up and spit you out” stuff, sure, but there’s a waver to the tough talk, and from more than just V. Cyberpunk‘s story so far is one of fear, the surface of it plated in chrome and angst and body horror gore, but still built on a core of humanity. It’s more than I expected, and more than we’ve been taught to expect, frankly, by the brashness of the marketing, the pitching of Night City as this great, submissive, ultra-hedonist playground. Night City is a vile swamp, in actual fact, and Cyberpunk‘s characters are drowning in it. It is, so far, more than just a synthwave skin on another puerile open world.”

Rob Zacny, VICE:

“Cyberpunk 2077 is a game of the past and its forgotten futures. Its setting is a pastiche that was overtaken by history and technology. It is a piece of software that is a throwback to PC gaming of the 1990s and early 2000s in every possible way, and its aesthetic and narrative sensibilities of a teenage boy’s bedroom in the 1980s. Yet its lavish and utterly sincere devotion to its influences recalls what has made these dated visions so alluring and enduring. Cyberpunk is too tacky and graceless to be cool, but it’s very big, and very loud, and sometimes that’s all it takes to be awesome.”

Brad Chacos, PCWorld:

“Even if the main narrative somehow stumbles at the finish line, it wouldn’t take away from that sublime core gameplay experience. After a dozen hours, I haven’t come close to exhausting the available activities in just the first of Night City’s six districts and surrounding Badlands. No matter what happens with V, I can’t wait to discover all of Night City’s secrets. I’m in love.”

Richard Scott Jones, PCGamesN:

“Retroactive trigger warning about ‘politics in games’ for whoever cares about such things, by the way, but if that’s you, then you’d best steer clear of Cyberpunk 2077 if you stand by your claimed convictions. This is one of the most explicitly politically charged games ever made – Mike Pondsmith designed the tabletop game upon which it’s based as a “cautionary tale,” and after the killing of George Floyd back in June, reiterated that his universe is “a warning, not an aspiration“. Anyone who insists it’s pure, meaningless escapism is hopelessly deluded.

“Even if such sentiments are uttered in sincere good faith, I think it’s a tragic diminishment of our medium to insist that it shouldn’t tackle politics. Cyberpunk 2077 might not push quite as many boundaries in game design as a landmark release could, but if it can convince more people that games can and should take a position on issues of substance rather than peddle mindless thrills, that’ll be a worthy legacy.”

Stay tuned for Den of Geek’s review of Cyberpunk 2077 next week!

The post Cyberpunk 2077 Review Roundup appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3lRMjRF

[gmcryptkeeper]

Campaign Grimoire #1

With all things, there is a beginning, especially the campaigns we run.  How we start is often extremely important to how smoothly the campaign ends up running.  So, with that said, I will take a little bit of time discussing my role in the beginning of the campaign I’m currently running.  In this entry I want to go over what made me interested in running the campaign that I am, speak a little on the campaign itself, talk about my recruitment process, talk about my players and the discussion of their characters.  That being said, since this does include information about a Pathfinder Adventure Path (AP), I will do my best to not spoil overly much about the campaign but you should be warned that reading this may give you hints to the AP that (if you’re a player) you should not otherwise have.

Why GM Again?

So, I should start by stating that it has been a little bit since I’ve GM’d last, specifically before I started my venture into graduate school.  I decided that I wanted to make my own campaign after being on a hiatus and would eventually bring people into the world after I felt comfortable with the product.  Even so, I wanted to be able to do something in the mean time, so I chose to pick an Adventure Path from Pathfinder since my group endorsed interest in playing in it.  So, knowing what kind of games I love, I ventured into selecting the Strange Aeons AP.  After all, it couldn’t hurt to dust off the ol’ skills every now and then, right?

Strange Aeons, indeed.

Let’s look at the top down.  Pathfinder is a system that I’m very comfortable with running and playing in.  It has a lot of customizing options for both players and GMs (much of these things can be ported to other systems with a little bit of knowledge, confidence, and the hopes and dreams of small children).  Strange Aeons is a story that is very involved with the Cthulhu Mythos.  Now, if you remember from my introduction, this is something that I’m very interested in myself, something I’m a little more practiced with.  Also, considering the people I was going to be running with, not many of them have played in a horror setting, particularly.  Upon reading into the AP, there is definitely some difficulty there and ways to introduce horror in combat, in social settings, but also atmospherically.  Plus, the more I thought about it, different aspects of the late game make this AP able to be tied into my larger campaign once it’s finished, despite not being on the same world, technically.  I wanted to pick something that would give me hooks into my world later on but something that may not be entirely (initially) connected to my world.

So, important notes: I looked at setting, interconnections into my larger work, confidence, and difficulty.  These were important to me but this may be wildly different for you.

The Pitch

I’ve been discussing getting back into the saddle as GM for a while with my playgroup.  At the time of the pitch, two of our group’s members were running games of their own (one 5th edition, one Pathfinder).  So I cast a wide net among the group and asked who would be interested.  Keep in mind, I had selected what I wanted to run for the campaign.  Now, does that always work?  Not particularly, but I do believe that in order for a good campaign to get rolling, the GM needs to actually be interested in running the campaign.  Additionally, I’ve played with many of these people many times.  After all, we call our group (affectionately) 2′s and 20′s.  I’m sure you can figure out why.

I consider myself very lucky to have this group.  There are many different styles of players that bring different things to the table.  We have a couple of members that formed the core of the group (the forerunners, you could say) and we have inducted more into the group as different campaigns have fired.  I had a pool of about 7 to pull from in the beginning when I needed 4 players.  Fortunately, 4 was not a hard number to accomplish.

Had the situation been different, there are numerous other styles I could have used.  For one, the game store I work at has a lovely posting board for gamers to connect.  I could have sought help through Meetup or other such sites.  Or I could have spent time at the store physically recruiting people if necessary.  This could be an anxiety inducing situation to be in if you’re not overwhelmingly extroverted like myself.  With that said, we could discuss this as another topic entirely in another entry.

The Players

I managed to get 4 hapless fools wonderful associates to play in this AP.  So let’s do a quick run down of my people.  None of these judgments that I’m putting forth are meant to be critical but to show what I know about these people (and often love).

The Polymath: This is a player who I, as a GM, have to be very alert for because more often than not, they are prepared for just about any natural or unnatural disaster that I could throw at them.  This is someone who has a ridiculous knowledge of the game on an integral level and is subtle about it.  He’s very interested in building characters that work almost seamlessly into the plot but with abilities that seem strange, at first, but will ultimately be used to devastating effect.  How often does this happen?  Roughly every game I’ve run or been in with this player.  As a GM, I’m excited to run for him.  He’s very engaged, will come up with an intricate backstory and is someone that I’m very prepared to take the gloves off for.

The Would-Be Hero: This character is, as the title implies, someone who often will step into the heroic role.  This is someone who, in real life, very much believes in being a good guy and generally believes in being honorable.  He’s definitely someone that I’m used to counting on for wanting to be in melee, blazing in a path of glory.  He likes to integrate his character into the plot of the story and responds well to being important to the overall story.

The Synthesist: This player is rarely a player and often a GM.  That informs his ability and desire to make different types of characters that are generally very unique and often either obscure or a couple of mixed classes.  He is someone that is innovative and actively engages with his environment which really pushes me to either prepare a lot of interactable situations in my setting or pushes my improv to accomplish this.

The Green: This title exists for two reasons.  One reason being that she is fairly new to tabletop roleplaying, hence, Greenhorn.  The second reason is that she has a knack for playing nature focused characters.  See, I’m occasionally clever.  She has become so much more confident in interacting with the overarching stories of games and coming up with something she connects to meaningfully with her characters.  Once she’s invested, she can become a major pilot for the party if she feels strongly about what her character cares about.

The Characters

I find it is only natural to talk about the characters following my short description of the players.

Poly/The Occultist: The Occultist character is designed to be a little unhinged.  This character is missing much of his past, only coming in on wisps of insight, only to be consumed by nonsense.  That was the essential feeling the player gave me.  Poly wanted to play a character that had occult origins that would fit well into the game.  The Occultist is an elf who, between some work between me and the player, has a tragic backstory that is marked by trauma that he currently cannot remember.  Lack of memories is a theme to building a character for this AP.  This character specializes in Necromancy and Divination, starting out.

Hero/The Fighter: The Fighter is someone of noble bearing.  He remembers being associated with a noble house and having a noble cause, but cannot remember who were his enemies or what happened to him or his estate.  He is a harsh character who believes that his order, his rules are the ones to be followed.  Hero wanted to play a character that was within his type but he wanted to venture out a little and picked up the Loremaster Fighter.  Someone who is more knowledgeable and inquisitive while still being a fearsome foe.  He chose to become a switch-hitter and definitely capitalized on the “Rich Parents” trait in Pathfinder.

Synth/The Bloodrager: The Bloodrager could be believed to be more beast than man at times, someone who is tempestuous and wild.  However, underneath that frightening exterior lies someone who was created to be this way and utterly broken.  Experiments dot his hazy memories, especially ones of pain, injections, and a laboratory.  Synth has an entire build that he wishes to see how it turns out for this character and made a horrific backstory to back it.  This character will end up having multiple bloodlines but how he originally got them is locked in his mind and something that may be better left hidden.

Green/The Druid: The Druid is someone who is solid and stable, much like the Earth she worships.  She was brought up in a Circle but set out on her own to fight at the corruption that sought to taint the land she defended.  But who are her true enemies and what horror did she hope to vanquish?  Green wanted to stick with a nature oriented class but this is her debut into 9th level casting.  She has a quality as a player that is reflected a bit in this character (based on the creation) that will very much help with this AP.  She is someone level-headed and stable (at least, the Druid believes she is such) and will be a solid anchor for the rest of the party.

The Session Zero

Every game should have a solid session zero in my opinion.  Doesn’t mean that good games cannot come without it but it eases parties and GMs into the game.  It gives the GM more to prepare (the hooks for the characters) and the players to figure out how they’re going to work together.  All of the information I just provided you was provided and developed in this Session Zero.

Here’s the but.  I would have loved to have a formal session zero with a couple of hours dedicated to everyone sitting at the table and focused on this character creation process and plot building.  Despite it being an AP, much of it is determined by the characters background and how I inject that into the larger plot.  The party has a good dynamic of mix a classes and should be adaptable to the encounters that they run into.  However, there isn’t a bunch of communication among party members as to what they were planning to do.

Now, Strange Aeons starts everyone off with the classic “Amnesia Backstory”.  As in, they don’t remember much about themselves except maybe some of their older memories, so they don’t need to figure out how they know each other.  They are thrown together awfully fast in the very beginning of the first book.  However, there could have been other discussions, such as expectations.  This is a big concept for any group.  I did seed that the path would be difficult and that they should be aware that death is something that can come quite swiftly if they’re not careful.  However, not much else was stated globally about expectations, which was a mistake on my behalf.

Why did this happen?  Well, at the time, I didn’t push for it as much as I wanted and I believe my desire to run the game outweighed my patience.  It happens sometimes.  The other thing to consider is that many of us had particularly chaotic schedules leading up to this point (this is an issue that became resolved fairly quickly).  As I previously mentioned, I’m finishing grad school, I’m in an internship, and I work part time at a fantastic game store.  There’s a lot on that plate but I went into this setting aside some time to be able to run this and pull this off.

We were able to handle the major things: 

-How often do we play?

-What time/day of the week?

-How fast should we progress?

-How we will communicate about status of attendance and whatnot for the game?

-Where will game be? (This is easy, it’s always my place).

-A reminder of limitations, what to do about cancellations, etc.

Next Steps

From here, we move on into the campaign itself.  At the time of this writing, we have moved through 4 sessions.  When I post the next campaign grimoire, it will likely address general things of session 1 and 2, followed by an entry on 3, and an entry on 4.  I plan on discussing a little bit about what the party did/how they interacted given the circumstances of their situation but I don’t want to give too much about the game as it may spoil some of you.  I will note the changes I’ve made/improvisations that came about and what was important about the sessions in terms of me as a GM.  But that is a sample of the things to come.  For now, traveler, I bid you farewell.

-GM Crypt Keeper

[nutcrackergame]

So how did it go?

I ran a continuous Stars Without Number (2nd ed beta rules) drop-in game at Ropecon 2017. 18 hours, 13 characters, four worlds, two ships, not sure how many players; perhaps 13-15. This is my report.

WHAT DO I MEAN BY “DROP-IN” GAME?

Anybody could jump in at any time, as long as there were fewer than six players at the table. Basically any scene change worked for changing characters (and players). That meant people looking to kill an hour or two could jump in without compromising their existing engagements and plans. I am very happy to report that almost everyone came back for more - some for all three days.

We played for five, eight, and five hours, (on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, respectively) as planned. In hindsight the eight hour game was a bit much for myself, and I probably shouldn’t have started the Sunday game at ten in the morning.

I went for minimal frontload. I hoped that the OSR legacy Stars is a part of would be enough handholding for everyone. That wasn’t quite the case as it looks like my 39 years on this planet have skewed my perception a bit. However, Stars was easy to pick up for everyone, regardless of their previous level of experience with D&D/OSR/tabletop RPGs in general.

Even more than the OSR tropes I was banking on my premise of “it’s Firefly”. Firefly was mostly or completely unknown to all of the younger crowd (let’s say under 30). Thankfully it’s easy enough to cover in a minute or so.

THINGS THAT WORKED

The sandbox setting is perfect for drop-in games. There is no major plot to follow except whatever the current players at the table want to do next.

I had pre-created all characters. This in itself is a given in a con game, but I’d gone a little bit further than that.

First, every character was represented by a card with a line or two outlining what that character is like.

Second, I had another set of cards with portraits on them. This gave everyone at the table an easy reference for themselves and for the other players. There were more portraits than characters (19 vs 13), and each player could choose their own until all thirteen characters had an assigned face for continuity reasons. I think this subtle psychological guidance was all most players needed to get going - pick a card with some words you like, and pick another card with an image you like. I mentioned that while the characters had gendered names, most of them were from foreign cultures (as per SWN standards), and I left the actual gender vague on purpose, so you could basically pair any image with any characters.

Finally, I spent some effort on making sure each character had a couple of lines of background and current goals. This allowed everyone to quickly get on with the roleplaying, no matter their level of system expertise. Most players seemed to really take to their proposed demeanour.

I handwaved player changes. Before we started the game with a new player, I always made sure they understood a couple of rules.

One, all the characters have a pressing need for the mission to succeed.

Two, we are not going to talk about how characters enter or exit the stage. If the player is at the table, then the character is there, and if they’re not, then the character is not. A few players struggled with this a bit, but it didn’t take long for everyone to get on board. I argue that coming up with increasingly implausible entrances and exits for shifting party configurations is a lot more destructive to maintaining a sense of disbelief than characters being on and off screen as needed. It’s not like assemble casts in movies or TV shows are all on-screen all the time.

I had pregenerated the sector, of course. I read through all the systems and worlds to get an idea about where things are. I did pre-plan the jump routes, even though that wasn’t really necessary. I made a big spreadsheet where I could quickly figure out the factions and notable features in play at each stop. This was the biggest bit of prep I did. The sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VA3pdCXbjhjB5Ro9WNge3VahLNba6uCGe00YP-ncEF8/edit?usp=sharing

I had pre-thought factions and aliens. I didn’t need the aliens after all, but the factions were useful to have available with little improvisation. I didn’t have more than two lines each, though. The biggest task was preparing faction power relations and presence on each world. I just gave them a number, from N/A to 5. One faction is in control, another is challenging them, and there may or may not be a third one in the mix. Players were quick to start working from this setup.

I ensured the players had clear objectives. After every jump, the ship needs refuelling, and the pilot needs updated metaspace maps (jump routes, or “rutters”). Everything else is a bonus as far as the players are concerned. Each world did have a spaceport on the planet surface to make things easier; many of them were contested or in hostile control, though, providing the players with immediately solvable situations.

The mission was clear. Explore a lost sector, recently become available through a shift in metaspace “weather conditions”, re-establish contact with surviving Crown (the players’ own civilization, the “Magellan Union”) elements, claim Crown resources, and make a ton of money trading on the way. So this way players were always looking for signs of Crown, and a potential deal.

I read through the far trader expansion, Suns of Gold, and decided to use most of it, depending on how focused on trade the players are. It turns out trading made for a good excuse to get out and do stuff, but the book keeping side I kept very light. It would probably make for great gaming in a regular campaign, but for a con game the trading objectives were not immediate enough, I feel.

I rolled with the punches in lieu of making plans. I used the random tables for everything, from what a random important NPC wanted, to what kind of pet the cowgirl PC picked up in the bazaar. Sometimes this slowed down play a bit as I was fishing around for the right hardcopy or PDF bookmark. I would organize my materials better if I were to do this again.

THINGS I HAD TROUBLE WITH

Space combat was something I had originally felt I’d leave out of scope, but having read the revised rules in the new edition’s beta rules, I really liked them and wanted to give them a go. I shouldn’t have done that on the fly.

It would’ve been fine if I had had more play aids: cards with all the actions per stations, plus six cards with general actions, and tokens for Command Points. I only had one starship combat before realizing it was a mistake and refraining from having more. If players would’ve pushed the game in that direction, I would’ve abstracted it to simple skill checks and attack rolls.

I hadn’t really understood how fast the characters are supposed to level in the beginning, or how much of a jump there is between levels one, two, and three. Both the amount of increased HP and skills available changed the game quite a bit. The next time I would either not level the characters at all, or, preferably, prepare the levelled up versions of the characters in advance, with no need to dig for new or levelled up Foci.

We had psionics, but I neglected explaining their role in the world in any way. As a result, most players didn’t really use their psionic abilities. I did choose their powers so that I could condense them down to a line or two on the character sheets, but obviously that fell apart when the psionics levelled up and chose their own powers. I was lucky in my most psionic heavy character being played by my regular D&D group's cleric, who's very familiar with D&D type magic systems. That could've been a disaster.

Being a marketing kind of guy, I don’t quite understand how I neglected to prepare an elevator speech. My “welcome to my table” speech got shorter and more to the point as the weekend wore on, but the whole game should’ve been written around a short speech. The first time I had three people joining the table just minutes apart I realized I had made an unfortunate mistake. Everybody was very understanding, though, and I don’t know if there was any damage to the overall experience except my own desire for efficiency.

Should you run Stars Without Number as a drop-in convention game? Yes, you should.