Changing relationship maps

In previous discussions about relationship maps, the map has been a static map over how things are in the world at a given moment. This time, however, I'm going to talk a little about the idea of relationship maps that develop over time.

The main idea is that one of the goals of a session can be to change how the map looks. Sworn allies can be made into enemies, or leaders whole cities can be toppled and replaced.

Most of these things can of course be roleplayed out without any particular rules. However, sometimes it's nice to have a nice foundation to start from as a GM. So, let's expand on the idea of relationship maps once more. Each important relation and link can have

• A value representing the strength of the relationship. A low value means a relationship that is weak or unimportant. A stronger value means a relationship that is strong and important. The higher this number, the harder it is to change it (at least to the worse)
• A weakness. Many relationships can have a weak point. Two warriors and allies in love with the same woman, a peace agreement that holds as long as no one enters an area important to both parties etc. If the characters manage to discover and use this weakness, it makes it easier for them to destroy and change the relationship.
• Dependencies. In some cases, a relationship is depending on another relationship. Prince Afur has the power over the city, but that's only because he currently has the backing of the ancient Orthus-family. If that backing is lost, he will soon lose his grip over the city.

The idea is not to write long essays about each of these, but rather use them as a very quick framework for how to structure your adventure and environment to make it easier to run games that feel open ended and dynamic.

Relationship Maps

Relationship maps expanded

A while ago I wrote a little about how to build an adventure using relationship maps.

Mapping out your adventure pt1
Mapping out your adventure pt2
Mapping out your adventure pt3
Mapping out your adventure pt4

In many cases, these maps describe a number of secrets for the characters to uncover. However, the map in itself doesn't say anything about HOW these relationships are discovered.

You can naturally wing it, and just give out clues whenever you feel it's appropriate, but if you prefer a little more planning I suggest the following:

For each relationship, write down a number of signs of the relationship. These could be obvious and visual (Mr Darris is a member of the Order of the Black Triangle, and has a ring on his right index finger with a black triangle on it), to more hidden clues (Underneath Mr Darris beds can be found a number of letters concerning threats against the Order). Maybe two persons who are secret lovers can't help but look at each other and smile from time to time, and if given some money or bought a drink, one of the locals can tell that he's seen someone enter the mansion from the servants entrance.

To make the mystery a bit easier, I'd suggest give out at least 3 clues or signs to each relationship (that isn't already known), so that if the players miss one of these clues, there are other ways to find out.

If you want to expand even more, one could add a quick note on which skills are usable to detect the relationship, and how hard it is.

Micro-tip: Use Google maps for inspiration

Sometimes it can be hard to come up with names and maps for a specific place. For instance, not long ago I wrote an adventure sett in a slightly oriental/ arabic setting. Since I had a hard time coming up with names that had the right feeling, I took a look at Google Maps, and zoomed in over places like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and similar. It didn't take me long to find a couple of names that fit perfectly in the setting.

As a side note, that's also a very good place to find city maps, even for fictional cities. Who cares if your Bindorian village looks exactly as a village in east russia?

Player vs. player - or "The golden rule of roleplaying"

In our last game, the issue of player vs. player action came up. More specifically, one player said that his character did a mind control on another players character. This wasn't appreciated by the other player, who was open with it, so the first player changed his course of action.

The incident, however, got me thinking (and spurred some discussions on the groups Wave about the game). Several solutions were presented, like making that particular character immune to Domination etc, however, I think that those kinds of things should be settled outside of the game.

Now, the easy way is to say that "no player vs. player actions whatsoever". I think, however, that there is a deeper lesson to be learned. First of all, I'd like to separate character vs. character from player vs. player. Instead of making the situation a contest that one of the players win, make it a collaborative effort. First suggest (humbly) something along the lines of "It would fit the story and my character, and is a part of his downwards journey, if he tried to Dominate you in this particular situation. Would that be ok with you, and how would you like to play this out?" If, and only if, the second player agrees, the scene can be played out. The rules can still be used to decide if the power works, but the two players work together to make the scene interesting. This way, even though the character looses control, the player doesn't.

You can then add in a "give-and-take" approach, like the player running the controlled character can say something like "yes, you control my character for a little while, but in the process, he get's an insight into your mind, learning something from you", or something along those lines. But remember, this is an example of what can be done in addition to the above collaborative work.

The important part is that both players enjoy the situation and finds it interesting. In Swedish traffic law, there is the basic rule that basically states that "All drivers should at all times do as mush as possible to avoid accidents". That is the most important law, and all other laws are specifications and concrete rules about how to uphold/ fulfill that first law. That way of thinking could be applied to roleplaying games as well, written something like this:

"All players should at all times work towards making the game as 

enjoyable as possible for all participants"

That, my dear friends, is what I would call the "Golden Rule of Roleplaying"

Cabincon 2010

So, this weekend was time for the annual (and second) little retreat with our gaming group. We went out to a cabin, next to lake Vänern, the largest lake in Sweden. The idea is to play some games full time for a weekend, and to try out at least something new. The games this year was a DnD3.5-game (the demonweb pits), a Star Wars Saga-game, where we played separatists running from the newly formed Empire, and finally a game of Legends of Anglerre. This last game was the game most new to all of us.

A longer review will follow, but the weekend all in all was a blast, we had a very good time, and we enjoyed the games. I myself has been talking about trying out a fate game for some time, and I wasn't let down by the game as such, and the rest of the guys seemed to enjoy it as well. So, in one shape or another, we will try it out again.

So, what's next.. well, currently we are doing a Reign-game that will last a couple of months more. After that, there's talks about either Mouse Guard or Starblazers. Reviews will follow.

When it comes to new games, the ones that I'm closest to buying right now are Dresden Files and Smallville. There are other games out there that has my interest, but those two are the main ones. If you also include supplements, Greg Stolze just released the Progenitor-book, which seems very interesting, and this weekends game made me more determined to get the Legends of Anglerre companion. Propably as a PDF, but it may come as a print copy as well. With that said, the iPad has lessened my need for printed books slightly. They do look nice in the book-shelf though :-)

For my own projects. There are a few, including some ideas for a book, the writing on my games continues, and I also have some ideas about a longer article concerning relational maps. Consider it a continuation of my articles about Mapping out an adventure (part 2, part 3, part 4)

The Hopeless Gamer on Die Rolls

http://thehopelessgamer.blogspot.com/2010/08/whats-in-roll.html

In the blog-post above, The Hopeless Gamer writes about the Dice Roll. Their thoughts on rolling the dice are quite similar to mine (and he is for instance referencing a couple of my favorite sources as well, Luke Crane and John Wick).

Drivethroughrpg app? - RPGnet Forums

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?p=12578678#post12578678

According to this thread, it seems that there will be an app for the iPad for browsing and buying books on drivethroughrpg. I will post more info on this as soon as I hear anything. In the meantime, I have a couple of posts on the way dealing with using the iPad and iPhone as a gamer.

(and for all you Android users: it's not that I don't like Android-phones, its just that I don't have one. This in turn makes it harder for me to write about it)

Concept ships - inspirational site

So, I'm finally back after some travelling around the globe (or at least around Europe). Today I'd like to share a site I found a while ago. It's called, short and simple, conceptships, and features collections of space ships drawn by various artists. I'm definately going to use this as a source of ideas (and also to find images to show to my players) when doing my next sci fi game (which, incidentally, will be next weekend. My first Starblazers-adventure)

concept ships

Some thoughts on failure

Note: Very few of these thoughts are my own. They are picked up from different games and articles, and I just sum them up here.

GM: "Give me a skill-check on skill X"
Player: "Ok"
Rolls dice
Player: "Dammit, I fail"
GM: Ok then... you don't find anything/you fall down on your behind while trying to climb the wall/ nothing happens

Now, this is.. well, let's face it, not particulary exciting, is it?

In addition to this, there are two worst case scenarios here: The first is that the adventure comes to a grinding halt. The other is that after a while, the players tries again... and again.. and sooner or later he succeeds. Neither of these solutions are good (and the second solution is more or less an attempt to solve the first solution).

One thought I've read lately (among other places I've seen it in the excellent game Burning Wheel, by Luke Crane) is that in any one scene you only get one check for a particular skill or action. You need to cross that wall and you fail. Sorry, then the climb check has failed. No rerolls!

However, there are a few things you can do that makes things more interesting:

• You as a player could change the circumstances. In most cases this means making things more serious. Can't find what you are looking for in that room? Well, try actually prying open the doors and the cupboards. People will see that you've been here, but you are allowed a reroll. In the case of social interaction, you could go from Diplomacy to Intimidation.. or to violence. The key word is "in order to get a reroll, change the circumstances significantly". Some games calls this "raising the stakes"
• Instead of failing the attempt, the attempt is still a success. You climb that wall, you find what you are looking for. But there is a side effect. You are noticed by the guards or trigger an alarm. Yes, you convince someone to give you information with that failed diplomacy-check. However, they get annoyed with you and sell you out at the first opportunity.

Random plots, characters and stories

Sometimes we get stumped for ideas, and whatever we do, we can't come up with a decent idea. This means we, for most parts, need to kickstart our creativity. One way to do this is to get some random ideas thrown at you, and then you see what you can do with those.

The site Archetypewriting.com has a number of nifty generators that might help you

• Plot Scenario generator
• Character generator
• Everyday problems generator

Another interesting site is the Big Huge Thesaurus (for looking up synonyms), and it also contains a Plot Generator

Worldbuilding: Keep It Weird, Part Two, by Justin Achilli

This is an interesting article by Justin Achilli about how to use a well known concept or situation, and then add 10% twist to that (let's call it "just a little twist of twist" )

Justin Achilli - Justin Achilli -- Blog - Worldbuilding: Keep It Weird, Part Two: "The 90/10 rule states that when executing a given concept, 90 percent of that concept should be what your audience expects, and 10 percent should twist that expectation or provide a permutation that throws the situation for a loop."

Hamlet's hit point - New book by Robin Laws

It seems that the good man Robin D Laws has another book coming. "Hamlet's hit points", as the book is called, is a book about story structure, and how you as a GM can use classic story structure to make a more exciting game.

I must admit, I am a bit sceptical about this. The more I game, the less I see the point of having a story structure in my game. Roleplaying isn't story-writing in the classical sense, but the story emerges from the decisions and relations of the player characters (at least in the games I prefer to run). I don't know if I'm overly sensitive here, but the blurb mentions ".. you'll be equipped to lay compelling track for an emotional roller-coaster". To me, that suggests that the GM more or less should railroad the adventure so that it fits HIS idea of what is a good story or plan.

However, I have the deepest respect for mr Laws, and when he says that he'll present this subject from a roleplayers perspective, then I'm more than willing to give the book the benefit of a doubt. The books is arriving in August, so I guess we'll get some answers then.

"HAMLET’S HIT POINTS"

So.. A new toy has arrived

Today I finally got my iPad, after a long wait. Being the avid gamer that I am I naturally intend to get back to you with thoughts and reviews about how to use it in relation to games.

The apps I've installed so far is dropbox and goodreader (to read pdfs of course), and also Dicenomicon, which propably is the best dice-roller for the ipad and iphone so far. I liked it on the iPhone and after a quick look it seems even better on the ipad.

Naturally, this post was written on the iPad as well..

New design journal from DC Adventures RPG

In their latest Design Journal, Steve Kenson and Green Ronin presents a short fight between Batman and some thugs. From what I can see, rules-wise it doesn't differ that much from previous editions, for good and bad. It does, however, seem slightly more streamlined. One part of this seems to be something called Routine Checks. From what I can see, that's when your skill or bonus is at a certain level compared to the DC, and in that case you don't need to roll. A bit like take10 in old D20.

It looks interesting, perhaps a bit bland (a complaint I've had about earlier editions about MnM as well), but the rules themselves seem solid enough. I have a preference in my RPG's that there should be some connect between "fluff"/ descriptions and the mechanics in some way. It doesn't have to be detailed or simulationist, but there should be a connect. For instance, the player starts out with casting a menacing shadow over the thugs, but this has no effect on the outcome of the battle. In a more Fate-inspired game (for instance) this could be applied as an Aspect on the scene, just as a mention about how that could affect the game.

Same thing goes for all the nifty attacks.. the player does all these interesting descriptions, but there is nothing in the game that rewards him for this, or supports him doing so. Once again, there is a disconnect between his creativity and what the mechanics do.

However, apart from that, it seems like a solid, nice system, and I'm definitely looking forward to it. (and of course, the main questions is whether to buy it or not.. but if I'm gonna buy this version, or vanilla MnM3... Knowing myself, I'll probably end up with both)

DC Adventures Design Journal #6 - DC ADVENTURES: "DC Adventures Design Journal #6"

ICONS - First play impressions

So, yesterday I got a chance to play Icons! for the first time, since our regular gaming was interrupted. The group was all experienced players, but we were all new to Icons! (to be expected, really..) Two of us had played in fate-like games before and had some idea about the principles behind it.

Even I can bleed - Design idea

For previous posts in "Even I can bleed", look here

One if the core ideas in the game Even I can bleed is that it's one player against a group of GM's. That player rotates in the group. Each session has a number of phases (initial conflict, buildup, turning point, confrontation, finale). At the start of each session, the player running the protagonist has a number of Hero Points. These are points he won when acting as a GM. Points are gained by putting the hero in interesting but dangerous/ complicated situation, connected to the Hero's background and/ or aspects. 

Each situation has an intensity, a description and something that moves the story forward. The intensity is depending on how dangerous the situation is. Each phase has a different max-level of intensities, for instance, the initial conflict can have a max level of 3, the buildup 1, turning point 3, confrontation 2 and the finale 4. 

When one GM has set the situation, both the player and the other GM's can add details to that situation. For each item added, another Hero Point is added to the pot. 

The rules for situation resolution are then used to decide what the situation leads to, and also how the points are distributed among the participating players. The "supporting GM's" don't get their points back, but can use them as hooks in later situations. More on that later

My current projects

From time to time, I tinker a little on a couple of different Roleplaying Games. Hopefully, at least one of them will actually become reality. I can't make no promises though.

WAR: The RPG

This is a game aimed at playing in violent times. The characters play soldiers and fighters on both an individual level and on squad (and higher) level. The rules are supposed to be light, with a slight emphasis on the narrative side. Content is partly player created, and players can add complications and goals to their missions to gain more "Meta"-points (that are used to influence rolls etc).

The original setting is sci-fi-ish, but is generic enough so that it's possible to play in a fantasy setting, for instance.

Even I can bleed

This is an experimental game that turns the tables around. Instead of having on GM "against" a group of players, this time it's the other way around. You have a group of GM's against a single player. This game is for all the lone heroes out there. Batman, Lone wolf and Cub, Tarzan etc. The group creates the lone character together, and then you take turns, playing him against threats designed by the GM-group during play.

Super Hero RPG 1

I know, the Super Hero RPG market today is fairly saturated (and more are coming), but I couldn't help myself. It is, after all, one of my favorite genres. The focus of this game is the drive of the character. Being a hero has its costs! How much do you want to sacrifice to stop evil?

Super Hero RPG 2 (a.k.a Yet another Superhero game)

Another Super Hero game (that may or may not fuse with the above, depending on how they grow and develop). This is a more free-form, narrative game where all your powers are built on a set of key qualities. The sum of these qualities decide on your chance of success in any given situation.

Make Your Own Condition Markers Effect Markers Out of Paper Clips - RPGnet Forums

I found this very clever tip on a thread on rpg.net. I can see heaps of uses for that..

Make Your Own Condition Markers Effect Markers Out of Paper Clips - RPGnet Forums: "Just wanted to share something I made for use with my dnd/pathfinder game. There pretty easy to make. (instructions on my website) but all you do is use an acrylic rod to bend jumbo sized paper clips (which are coated in a vinyl sheath in various colors) to form a nice kink free circle and with a bit of hot glue you've got yourself a circle of wire, which you can use for condition markers in 4.0 or other types of markers for figures. They're a little larger than 1in bases but you can make them any size really. They also don't 'raise' up your character like the colored magnets do."

Note: The image isn't mine, but linked from rpg.net, and belongs to the poster of the idea.

The first lineup revealed for the new DC Universe RPG

Yesterday Green Ronin announced which characters that are included in their new DC Universe roleplaying game (at least in the core book). This is the lineup (for actual power levels, read the full article):

Heroes

Superman, batman, wonder woman, green lantern, the Flash, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Captain Marvel, Zatanna, Robin, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Nightwing, Plastic Man

Villains

Lex Luthor, Joker, Black Adam, Black Manta, Brainiac, Catwoman, Cheetah, Circe, Darkseid, Gorilla Grodd, Prometheus, Sinestro, Solomon Grundy, Vandal Savage

DC ADVENTURES Design Journal #3 - DC ADVENTURES: "DC ADVENTURES Design Journal #3"

RPG reviews on youtube

Below is a short video containing a nice review on Barbarians of Lemuria. The interesting thing isn't actually the review as such, but the fact that it's up on youtube. While I shouldn't be surprised by the presence of rpg-reviews on Youtube, it hasn't occured to me before to look for them.

Review of Houses of the Blooded - RPGnet

A long time now I've been thinking about running a game of Houses of the blooded. In the meantime I have to settle for reading the review on rpg.net. It's long, well written and gives a good image about the game.

Review of Houses of the Blooded - RPGnet: "A bunch of sociopathic hedonists more fixated with image than substance."

Can RPG's be used for all genres?

Lately, one question has been nagging me more and more. What if not all genres are suitable for RPG's?

So far in life, I've been more or less convinced that most genres could be simulated in a roleplaying game, given a decent rules-set, good gm-ing and well written adventures. Now, I'm not that certain anymore...

For instance, the occasions where I really feel that I'm in an action packed session.. well, they are few and far between. Same thing goes for when I'm playing super hero games (which, admittedly, was a while ago). I don't have the same impact, the same geist as when I read the comics or watch the movies. Mind you, I'm not saying it's bad, just not the same.

So... maybe... When I run or play a roleplaying game.. maybe I shouldn't try to emulate genres from other media, but rather from rpg's themselves. Maybe the game in itself is unique enough! I don't need my super hero rpg be like the comics or the movies. Instead, the rules and the form gives other aspects, other experiences that are enjoyable. To find these, perhaps, I shouldn't look at other media, but instead look more closely at what I enjoy to play in a roleplaying game.

What a novel idea! ;-)

Icons! playtest review

Some Space to Think: Nerdy Saturday: "This weekend ended up having the right combination of scheduling openings to allow for a bit of pickup play, so I gathered some friends to try out some newly acquired games, one RPG and one board game."

These words is the beginning of a well written review of the new Icons! rpg. The sum of it all is that it's a fun game that has its' issues. Go read it, it seems to give a good impression of the game.

[CoC] Carl Sagan Helped Me Understand - RPGnet Forums

This is from a thread on RPGnet where the poster(s) talk about how to use Carl Sagans explanations of cosmos and the fourth dimension to get how the Cthulhu cosmology works. I think he is dead on with this!

[CoC] Carl Sagan Helped Me Understand - RPGnet Forums: "So, now I understand that many mythos monsters move through more than three dimensions, hence they would have a constant and terrifying undulation to their appearance, with different parts appearing, moving, and shifting in an unpredictable fashion, including occasionally going completely invisible. This also makes the Powder of Ibn Ghazi make more sense."

Superman and Batman - Relative attributes in RPG's

One of the classic tests whenever a new Super hero Roleplaying game arrives is if it can handle both Superman and Batman in the same scene.

The core problem is that if you give Superman stats that compares to what he can do in the comics, he will completely outshine Batman (who is still an ordinary human) without even trying.


This leaves the player playing Batman sitting at the table feeling that he can do nothing.

In the comics, they solve this in two ways. First, they can script so that the focus is on Batman a specific time (which "forces" Superman to be in the background), and second, they usually makes Superman slightly weaker/slower/dumber when he is around Batman (or the rest of the Justice League).
It's this last point that got me thinking:
Could you build a RPG where the abilities of a character is relative, and not absolute. When the player playing Superman is by himself, he has one set of abilities, but as soon as he works with others, he loses some of his abilities in favor of others. Same thing goes for Batman. By himself, he is a complete warrior, detective and inventor. When in a group, he moves towards being "just" the detective.

There are games that have done this (the Amber RPG comes to mind), but it's still not particulary common.

When the players create their characters, they don't do it one-by-one, but instead they together create the group as a whole. They choose the level of intelligence, the strength, the prowess etc. Then they have to distribute which character that best represents that particilar ability or attribute. When you play with your group, that character is connected to that ability trumps all other characters within that area.

Action!

The last couple of months I've been posting ideas and tips on how to build a complex adventure/ setting for the characters to discover. At least for me, that's a system and a method that works very well.

However, the kind of gaming that it generally results in is investigative, social and conspiratorical. What if I want a game or two that is action filled, fast paced and exciting? Furthermore, what if I want that kind of game, but keep it low prep?

One thing that I have noticed about many games is that there is nothing that slows a game down as much as action and excitement. Most of the time, it is reduced to a series of rolls, that just takes time from the overall plot. So, I've been toying around with different ways to add some more excitement to the game. Among the design goals is that it should be low-prep, hard to predict and not just feel like the GM adds another opportunity to roll the dice.

This idea is slightly based on what John Wick did in A Wilderness of Mirrors. In that game, you can get bonus dice if you add a complication for another player. So, why not try to add that to more games? What if, at any time, a player can throw a small threat on another player? If you do that, you get fate/destiny/plot-points to your own character. So, if you need that points to learn that spell or that stunt... state that the warrior slips on the ledge, and finds himself hanging by his fingernails over that deep chasm.

One could also add that an area or a certain phase has a higher or lower danger level. At higher levels, you can narrate more dangerous situations for more fate-points to your character.

This idea needs whole heaps of polishing and thinking, and I'm not even sure it works, but it would be fun to try it out, and I'll keep it in mind when designing my two games War! and Even I can bleed. Any thoughts and ideas are appreciated.

Skullduggery - Initial impressions

Many years from now, longer than I can remember, a game called Dying Earth was released. A nice little game that I played once or twice. One of it's nicer features was a simple and elegant system for solving conflicts, both social and physical. I have looked at it a couple of times over the years, wanting to do something more with it, perhaps using it in other settings.

Turns out, I don't have to anymore!

This tuesday, Pelgrane Press released the game (or at least, opened it up for pre-orders) Skullduggery, which is a generic game for backstabbing, intrigue and dark conspiracies. It is to large extents based on the old Dying Earth game. Since I preordered it, I got to download the pre-release PDF that same day.

ICONS! - My first character

A couple of days ago, the Preview PDF of the game Icons! was released. Since I'm always interested in a new super hero rpg, I preordered the game, and downloaded the pdf as soon as it was released.

My impressions so far is that it's a fast, loose game that strive to avoid getting stuck in details. If you want to know exactly how fast your character can run or how many tonnes he can lift, this is perhaps not the game for you. However, if you want to build a character quick and have a story-focused game open for improvisation, this just might be it.

When I had the game downloaded, I tried to make a character. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I had a finished character 15-20 minutes after the download was finished. For your pleasure, here he is:

Fox Tail

The latest generation in an old line of gifted or blessed persons, Jacob Robins was given powers from the familiys patron totem, the Fox. At first he was given the task of protecting his tribe, but he later realised that his duty was also outside the confines of his own people.

The Fox has given Jacob incredible speed, the ability to read minds and produce illusions, and finally to sense his surroundings even in pitch black darkness. He is trained in the ancient martial arts of the tribe and is superhumanly strong, and can lift about a ton.

Origin: Birthright

Prowess  - 5; Coordination - 2; Strength - 6
Intellect - 5; Awareness - 6; Willpower - 5

Powers
Super Speed - 5 (abt the speed of a sports car)
Telepathy - 6
Illusion - 7
Supersenses (Radar) - 5

Specialty - Martial Arts

Stamina: 11
Determination: 2

Aspects:
Quality - Find peace
Challenge - Weakness (Telepathy Overload)

Low-prep map-making

The map to the left is a rough map over the city in which our latest campaign takes place. What's special with it is how it was created. Instead of me drawing the map before the gaming session (something that a: would take a lot of time and b: propably not resulting in a particulary interesting place), I tried another thing.

I let the players draw the map. Using the guidelines in Starblazers and Legends of Anglerre, the map was gradually built from nothing. After 15-20 minutes (roughly) the city grew in front of my eyes.

What helped, I think, was that this was actually the second session in this city, and I had been fairly clear with what style and genre the game was (I was aiming for a kind of medeival Venice/ Italy, with loads of conspiracies and intrigue).

My impression was that the players enjoyed doing it. We all got an immediate connection and relation to the city, and I didn't have to spend as much time preparing the game. The players also supplied me with numerous of interesting plot hooks and places that I could add into the campaign. On my evergoing quest towards minimizing prep-time, I think this was a successful experiment.

The year of the super hero

If you, like me, enjoy a good super-hero game once in a while, these last couple of months, and the rest of this year as been a gold mine... or a flood, depending on how you look at it. Let's see.. a while ago Wild Talents 2nd edition was released in print. This was followed by BASH Ultimate edition, Supers! and Icons! As if this wasn't enough, Green Ronin has announced both a DC Heroes license and a third edition of Mutants and Masterminds, to be released this fall.

Man.. so many games, so little time..

Learning a new game, a micro-tip

Recently we started a new campaign using a new system (Reign) that none of us had ever played before. Before this, I was a bit nervous, because it was a game I've been looking forward to try out for a long time, and I felt a little pressure from the rest of the group that it should be good.

So, in order to make it easier for both me and the rest of the players to get into the game, I decided to write a short summary of the game. A kind of cheat-sheet, with all the important stuff written down.

What I wrote down was

• The general dice-mechanic (since it's a bit quirky in the ORE-system) and basic rules. Including the most common exceptions / special cases.
• Basic skill usage, and some special cases
• Healing and dying. (since these are things I tend to forget when I learn new games)
• The combat system (or the most important bits of)
• The different combat maneuvers that can be used in a combat, abbreviated

I left out lists of things, and also character creation, magic and similar. This was because it's not used in the game as such. 

I found this had a number of advantages

• It served as a handy reference sheet for both me and the players
• It forced me to go through the entire game. Since I wanted to write a summary of all the rules, I also had to think them through so that I understood them. This in turn made it easier for me to remember the rules even without looking at the cheat-sheet.

After the first game session it was definately a help, in many ways. However, I also did notice that somethings where missing. But after looking those things up, it was of course no problem adding some clarifications and additions.

I used Google Docs to write it, and also invited the rest of the group to that document, so that they could read it through, clarify/format some bits, and print it out directly if they wanted to.

My only complaint so far is that Google Docs lacks even basic layout-tools. I would like to be able to make the sheet a bit more compressed, so that more elements could be fitted into one page. Overall though, it has worked like a charm, and I'll do that again whenever it's time to play a new game.

Damn Green Ronin!!!

For those of you that read my previous post, I just decided on this years gaming budget. My thinking was that "well, there's nothing more intereting on the horizon anyway".

The following day, Green Ronin dropped this bomb, revealing that they have a license to produce a DC Heroes RPG.

There goes my budget...

My gaming-budget this year

Darn... it's only May (and beginning of May at that), but it seems my gaming purchases for this year are already planned. It has been an interesting year so far, and there are a number of games that will get my hard earned money (and some already has).


Games and game-books already purchased are

• Wild Talents 2nd edition + Wild Talents Essential Edition
• the Day after Ragnarok
• Reign Enchiridion
• add to that a small number of PDF's to the Gumshoe-system and savage worlds (mostly)

In addition to that

• I've preordered Icons! (the new super-hero game by Steve Kenson)
• I will preorder the Dresden Files
• Purchase Legends of Anglerre as soon as possible.

It seems like my new systems of choice are the ORE-system and various Fate-incarnations. So far, I consider them elegant, nice and modern systems that are open to swift and easy playing, without to much preparation time, at the same time as they cover a lot of ground/ areas. 

Random characters

The other day, me and my gaming group started of a short campaign using the game Reign. Since I was the only one that had much knowledge about the system, we decided to use the random character generation system instead of designing the characters with the points-buy system.

It was a blast!

There is something with random character generation systems. They can lead you in directions it wouldn't occur to you to pick otherwise. They might add a twist to your character that you would overlook.


In this case, the characters became different, but with some really nice connections. It didn't take long for the group to decide that they wanted to have a company that dealt with information, basically a spy-network. It all fit together very nicely, the process added a couple of both patrons and enemies, and gave me a number of sub-plots to incorporate.

Why do I mention this? Thing is, I think that the last couple of years, random character generation has gotten kind of a bad rep. Different kinds of point-buy systems are the norm, as is different kinds of class-picking (and often a combination of these). And, while I definately see the charm in custom-building your character sometimes it's just as fun to roll the dice, and then use your creativity to make sense of whatever was rolled.

One game I remember fondly was the old Golden Heroes superhero-game from Games Workshop. You rolled up all your powers, and then you had to come up with a background and theme fitting those powers. The powers you couldn't fit into that background you hade to forfeit. A couple of my most memorable characters was made using that system.

That's why I'm glad that there are a couple of games that return to random chargen. One of these is Reign. If you are using Wild Talents, there is an official webb-download with a similar random generation system for superhe.. sorry... talents. The upcoming game Icons! also uses a random system.

So, consider this post a small praise for the interesting, challenging and wonky characters you can get from using random character generation.

One-roll Talents

One of the many super-hero roleplaying games to appear the last couple of years is Wild Talents. It's a more gritty game compared to many others. It also uses the ORE-system, as found in Godlike and Reign, among other games.

Now, one of the nifty things in the ORE-games is that they usually contain One Roll Generators. That is charts and systems for generating characters, monsters, nations etc with a single roll of a number of 10-sided dice. One of the things that are missing from Wild Talents is a One Roll Talent generator.

However, the good mr Stolze have fixed this, by uploading PDF's with just that, a way to build a Talent from a single roll of a pool of dice.

They can be found at the Nemesis website downloads section

Push the players with triggers and phases

This is, to some extent, a development of my previous post where I talked about how to add "combat rounds" to other things, and in other time scales, than just combat.

In this post, I want to add two more ideas/ concepts. The first one is Phases, and the second one is Triggers.

Phases

A phase is a part of a module, adventure or story. When you go from one Phase to another, something in the world or the story must change. In order to motivate a phase-change, it should be something significant. For instance, in a game with a vampire as the antagonist, the first Phase might be about investigating strange deaths. After a couple of hours, the vampire learns that the players are on it's tail, and acts indirectly against them. This would be the second Phase. In this Phase, perhaps, the vampire has gotten some control over the local police, the keeper of the vast library that otherwise could be useful etc. In the third Phase, the confrontation is more direct. This is where the players (or the vampire) seeks out the enemy.

One could add in meta-rules as well, rules that dictate not only changes in the story, but also if something is allowed to happen or not. For instance, in our vampire-example, you could say that no major character in the game can die in the first two Phases. It's only when the story proceeds to Phase 3 anyone can die (both the players and the vampire).

Triggers

Instead of having the Phases occur at set, predetermined times, you could let the players actions decide when to go from one Phase to another. Some actions doesn't advance the Phases and, unless the GM says otherwise, could be done an infinite number of times without advancing the plot (mind you, this has the slight disadvantage of not.. you know... advancing the plot). However, certain actions advance the plot to the next Phase. Let's say that you can do an infinite number of library research, but you can only talk to three people before rumors spread and the vampire hears of you (thus advancing the adventure to Phase 2). So, the players can basically decide when they want to further the plot, but they do so by raising the stakes.

More structure for more creativity

I've stated before that I think that the most important game balance is time/spotlight balance from player to player. Ironically, this is in a way most enforced in combat, for one simple reason: Each player at least has his go. Every turn, each player get to do something. Of course, this "something" might vary quite a lot, and not all game system are particulare good at this, but all players still have their turn to do something.

Now, what would happen if we kept the round-system, but increased the scale. Let's say that we are playing an investigative game. I know that in 8 hours the next murder will happen, unless the players do something. So, instead of just asking the players "What do you do?", I make them roll for initiative (perhaps using a more fitting stat then usual), and ask, in turn, what each character do this hour. I also make sure to tell them that other things happen that hour as well.

Why do I think this could be an interesting idea?

The main reason is, it gives all characters and players a better chance to tell the the group what they are doing. Of course, they have that chance anyway. My experience, however, is that the louder members of the group often dominates the talk.

And NO, I won't just be satisfied with "then the shy guy has to speak up". Nope, gaming should cater to all personality types, and this gives all types a better chance to tell the group what he wants to do.

Also, if the GM starts to count the hours, it can give a sense of urgency to the group.

When using this solution, I believe that the GM should be fairly generous with clues about what happens. Just as in combat, the goal and (at least some of) the premises should be clear. Tell the players what the basic structure is. If needed, give them some ideas of what they can do each time-slot.

Whatever the players say they do, make it matter! It may not be as effective as they would like (compare, once again with combat... an attack might miss or do less damage), but for each time slot, each and every player should have a chance to contribute to the development of the situation.

Mystery adventures - a few tips

One of my major weak spots is that I'm less than stellar at writing and running mystery adventures. This isn't that surprising, considering that these kinds of adventures can be quite tricky. I have written a few other posts that touches upon the subject, but today I thought I'd just point you towards a couple of links that gives helpful advice.

First is a thread from rpg.net, where a player asks about help to run an murder-mystery-adventure.

My favorite from that thread was the "three methods (quoted from the thread):

The Agatha Christie method: The victim was a snot - Murder is murder, but the Victim was a genuinely nasty person who had it coming. Maybe Victim wasn't a criminal, but he/she made the lives of people around him/her absolute misery. Every NPC within Victim's circle (family, business, social) had an excellent reason to hate him/her and is a potential suspect. Solving the mystery involves unraveling the NPCs' relationships with Victim and each other to determine who hated Victim most and had the opportunity to do him/her in. Some of the NPCs will be openly bitter. Others may be sympathetic sufferers. Christie usually gave the culprit at least one kindly trait to throw readers off.

The Doc Savage method: The culprit comes after the PCs - The victim was probably a nice person, since he/she was a friend/associate/acquaintance of the PCs. The culprit is so sure that the adventurers will give him (or her) grief over the murder that he starts trying to off them as soon as the crime is committed. The PCs' friend was somehow tangled up in a much larger conspiracy; as they attempt to defend themselves against their assailants and investigate their friend's death, they'll uncover a web of clues that will inevitably lead to the villain.

The Sam Spade/Philip Marlow method: Never trust a client - No client or assignment is what he/it seems to be. The PCs are hired to watch or find somebody who doesn't want the attention. The more they pursue their quarry the more goons and corrupt officials come out of the woodwork, and the bodies start stacking up as not-nice parties with conflicting agendas "remove" people who have given/might give info to the PCs. They typically have to fend off/avoid the police while they hunt down the culprit(s). It's not unusual to have different victims slain by different villains, all of whom are trying to conceal the Big Secret that the heroes are threatening to uncover.

Another good place is an essay written by Justin Alexander where he (among other things) talks about the three-clue-rule, where he says that the GM should have at least three clues for piece of information he wants the players to find. Well worth a read!

Now DON'T do it again..

In chess, there is a rule (If I'm not mistaken) that says that if the players repeat the same moves three times in a row, the game is a stalemate, a draw.

Sometimes, I think this could be a good thing to include in Roleplaying games. It's not uncommon for combats to be reduced down to a long row of rolls to see if you hit or if you miss. That is NOT particulary exciting. So, let's say that if the players do exactly the same thing three times in a row (unless something happens),  introduce something in the battle. Maybe switch time-focus, and just say that "The battle rages on and on, you both parry and attack, without anyone gaining the advantage".. and then make the players roll for fatigue to see who manages to keep on fighting the longest.

Perhaps one could introduce other complications. Let's say that the environment changes.. or that a weapon breaks.

No matter what, the important thing is that whenever combat is reduced to just dice-rolling (and the occasional yawning) and repetition, change it!

Quickly!

Not by luck, but by skill..

What if...

In a game, in an adventure, you as a GM tell the players "You will be defeated in every fight you enter... unless you do something about it"


They cannot rely on having luck with the dice.. they cannot rely on spending "action points" (or whatever they can be called in your game) to change the outcome of the rolls.


What they CAN do, however, is change the circumstances. They can do research of old legends to find out that the dragon is prone to staring at beautiful jewels, and then use that as a distraction. In space battle in a sci-fi setting, they can do a quick-and-dirty modification of their ship to boost the power of their guns (of course, with the result that they no longer can use their hyper-drive, and must limp to the nearest planet to fix it.. and have more adventures there).




Whatever happens, they must change the circumstances... they must change the odds to their advantage.

I don't know if this would work, but I'm willing to give it a try as an alternative to endless rolling of dice...

To much background will kill you!

Ok, maybe it doesn't… but for me, it kills the mood! There are several games out there that have deep, detailed and complex backgrounds and settings. I'm thinking about games like Exalted, various DnD-settings or Fading Suns.

Maybe it's just me, but whenever I read a game with a solid, detailed setting I tend to be intimidated. There is ONE single game (ok, let's say two) where I've actually enjoyed reading the background (also known as "fluff"). But for the rest, it's like reading the history-books all over again. (Now, don't get me wrong.. I like history.. but the real one, the one that actually happened).

Now, where was I? Yes, to much background… Another issue with it is that I'm feeling constrained by it. It's harder for me to wing it if I have a detailed large setting to keep track of. This actually extends to when I'm preparing adventures, double checking everything to see if it fits with what's written etc.

So, whith that said.. what DO I like instead? Let's call it Meta-setting! A perfect example would be DnD4th, the core books. They call it "the points of light"-setting, which is a dark, violent, dangerous world, where cities and villages are the only safe places. The rest is wilderness, where only heroes venture. Note that they are not actually including any maps, cities, hardly any names etc. Just the basic type and theme of the setting.

Another good example is Starblazers. Same thing there, it has a set premise, a theme, but no details. Rather, it spoils the GM and the players with tips, tricks and mechanics for how to run your games in that TYPE of setting.

Those types of games I enjoy, because the make me inspired, not intimidated. I can feel creative, not constrained.

And for those wondering.. the two games where I actually enjoyed reading the setting? The first one is Houses of the Blooded, by John Wick (but then again, the man's a genius), and the second one is the setting book Freedom City for Mutants and Masterminds (which is just brilliant)

Inspirational book on improvisational roleplaying

Not long ago I read the book Play Unsafe by Graham Walmsley. It's a book on improvisational roleplaying and contains tips on how to run games with very little preparation.

I must admit, I don't think I'm ready to change my games into 100% improvisation. However, the tips found in this book is (from what I can see) usable on a sliding scale. They can be applied to a more traditional game, and of course to a strictly improvisational game. Even more so, wherever you are on this scale, this book is useful, and above all, inspirational.

For a more thorough review, I recommend the review on rpg.net. I fully agree with the reviewer, the book (at least as a pdf) is less than 10 USD, and contains loads of tips for both GM and players. 

Theatrix - The best game I never played

One game I keep coming back to is a game called Theatrix. While I never played it as such (and I don't know if I would want to), the entire game is a splendid Gamemasters Guide.

It's a completely dice-less game, which means that you as a player can't rely on your luck to defeat an opponent. It also means that the game has plenty of advice on how to make things interesting without the randomness of plastic platonic solids. For instance, if the players discovers that a certain enemy is to tough for them, then they are BOUND to come up with a way to tip the battle in their favour. Player creativity, not luck of the dice, becomes the winning factor.

Theatrix also added in a strong degree of player created content and player meta-input (that is, the players could, with the help of Drama Points (I think it was called) rewrite/add facts into the scenes and the story). The book also had a couple of interesting examples of how to do this

Finally, the game contained a very nice introduction to the three-part story-structure, which has helped me quite a lot in my game mastering (even though I'm drifting more and more towards situational gaming nowadays).

So, if you find it, pick it up. While it may not be the best game out there, it is definitely one of the better Gamemasters Guides.

Everway - A humble praise

I've propably played over 50 different roleplaying games over the years.. some of these just end up as another book in the book-shelf. They were nice enough, but didn't bring anything new and notable. Then there are other games.. games that grab you.. that you learn to love.

One of these games is Everway. It was designed in the early 90's, but with ideas that can be considered modern today. It's focus on storytelling and drama is still one of the best I've seen.

I won't try to write everything I like with it in this blogg, but I will lift up a couple of highlights.

• Everway is one of the few games that uses a truly qualitative system
• You build your characters with pictures!
• Adventures always has something at stake. The actions of the heroes changes the fate of many.

Finally, one of my most beloved characters of all times was an Everway-character. His name was Fourclover, and he was a storyteller and a fairy-tale dwarf. Always cheerful and with a pipe in his mouth, controlling the smoke, so that it formed pictures to follow his stories. He was a great little man, and he is the one that gave this blog it's name.

So, here's to you, Fourclover, and to the game that gave birth to you

I'm HIT!!

Let's see

• In A New Hope, not one of the main characters are hit in combat. The only exception is Obi-Wan Kenobi, and that is when he is killed by Vader
• In the Empire Strikes Back, Luke loses his hand.. and that's the only real hit (although one could argue that his is slightly hurt by flying crates, sent by Vader)
• In the Return of the Jedi, Luke is hit once with a blaster (on his cybernetic hand), Leia is hit once with a blaster (and is almost out of the combat for it). Then there is the final combat between Luke, Vader and the Emperor.
  

See? Very few actual hits, and those that are tend to put the character out of action.

Now... roleplaying game... for instance: Star Wars Saga.. yupp, I can take numerous hits without going down. Actually, not even when I'm hit by a light saber am I in any real danger of going down with a single blow.

I'd like to see more games that focus on the maneuvering, the parrying and riposting, feinting, taunting. Any single hit would end the fight, so make sure you don't get hit!

Lose your temper, and lose the fight!

The way I see it, you could perhaps have a system with "combat advantage" points. You can reduce the opponents combat advantage, or spend a maneuver to increase your own. When you have reduced him to 0 points, he is at your mercy, and you can deal with him as you please.

Just make sure, you don't get hit yourself...

Don't be reckless, overconfident... don't overextend yourself..

Move those feet.. taunt your opponent... make him attack you! You can avoid his angry attacks..moving out of the way. Then, you got him!

You got him right where you want him... now what do you do?

Mapping out you adventure pt 4

In the previous posts, I've been looking at a way how to design an adventure using a relational diagram. This is a snapshot of the situation so far, but it's still not a playable adventure. We are almost there, but I'd like to add some more seasoning and presentation.

First of all, the main conflict here is of course if the wizard manages to perform his ritual or not, but there are other conflicts. For instance, will the dwarves let the player characters investigate the theft of the crown?

Before trying to run this, I'd note down a few things more. One of these things are key scenes. What can you do to kick-start the module? Look for a situation that seems filled with drama and excitement, and have that as your adventure starter.

Then try to find other situations as well to use as exciting scenes. These scenes are key-points in the characters discover of the situation as a whole.

That leads us to the next point: Add clues!

Using the word "clues" implies that this is a mystery, but in this context, it's all things that shows more of the situation as such. There is a tendency among GM's (at least from my experience) to be rather sparse with clues that reveal the inner workings of his plans.

Believe me, that is a mistake! My advice would be to include 2-3 clues for each relation that isn't completely obvious (but add some there as well just for the sake of it). Looking at the diagram, we see a number of different relations that can be discovered. We can include an old bard that sings about how the wizard was defeated the last time by the guardsman, we can give the guardsman a scar over his face from the last battle and we can say that he patrols the area where the wizard had his tower last time a lot.

More clues doesn't equal a more boring or predictable world, it means a more rich and living world.

So, finally, with the diagram, a bucketful of clues, some exciting scenes (including a few combats), we are ready to go.

And, one last thing: Don't forget to use player input. Sometimes they come up with ideas that are a lot better than your original idea was.. in that case, go with that idea and toss your own out the window.

Mapping out your adventure pt3

The next (and almost final) step is to fill in the blanks. The map from last post is decent as a starting point, but to build a more complex module we need to fill it in a bit more.

For each entity, I tried to add so there's at least 3 arrows to or from each entity (if possible), and to make sure that there are no "unconnected" groups in the map. In this step, I also try to add some more drama and interesting connections. In this case, I decided that Joanna (someone I added without knowing her purpose when I put her name down) was in love with the guardsman, and that gave her a weakness that the wizard might exploit. Another question to answer was WHY the wizard wants to cast the ritual. Revenge is always a nice motivator, so let's add that. Let's say that the guardsman stopped the wizard before.

So, I for each entity I added some more relations, adding more depth and drama to the story.

Looking at the diagram when I feel ready, I see the following situation.

Many years ago, Helvith the Tall thwarted the plans of the wizard Thuluman the Red. Thuluman went away, but didn't forget. Years later, he slowly returned, armed with the knowledge of a powerful ritual. He needed a very rare metall, secretium, for the ritual. This metal can be found in the crown of the dwarven clan. Therefore he exploited the weakness of a dwarf of the clan, Naug Grim, and put him into a gambling debt. Naug Grim then stole the crown, intending to hand it over to Thuluman.

The ritual also needed a sacrifice of someone who is emotionally attached to the victim. Joanna is a young woman who is in love with Helvith the Tall, and Thuluman used that to lure her into believing that the ritual will make Helvith fall in love with her.

There's still some things to fill in, but we now have a fairly solid framework with greed, revenge and romance from which to improvise an adventure together with the players.

Mapping out your adventure pt2

So, with the basic story written down, and the different participants and entities written down in cmaptools (or on our sheet of paper).

The next step is to draw lines between the enteties. Each line represent a relation or an attribute. Naug Grim, for instance, is a member of the dwarven clan. The wizards wants to cast the ritual etc.

We do this by either drawing a line between the enteties and write down what the relation is, or in cmaptools, click on the arrows above each entity and drag it to another entity.

If you look at the example above, moste enteties now have at least 1, but sometimes 2 relation-arrows going to or from it. We can already see a few things of interest (the crown is lost, the wizard is trying to make the ritual etc), but the map is still a bit lacking. The next step will be to fill out the diagram to make it more dynamic.

Mapping out your adventure pt1

My latest find is a tool I wanna share with you all, together with a way to use that tool to design modules and adventures for RPG's.

Now, mind you, the tool in itself isn't necessary for the method, but it's handy and it's free. Can't get better than that, now can it?

The tools is called cmaptools, and it's a tool for drawing relational diagrams. In short, create a map of "enteties" and their relations.

The image attached to this post is an example of how it can look after you have added a number of enteties.

In this particular case, I as a GM brainstormed a couple of things. I have Naug the dwarf, who is a member of a dwarven clan. It is run by a chieftain. Not far from the hills where the clan lives is a human-populated village called Outskirts. In the village we have the Rangers, a group of able bodied men protecting the surrounding area from harm. In a tower not far from the hills, a mighty wizard lives. He is currently researching a powerful ritual.

This short story resulted in a list of things that I added to the work area in cmaptools. Now, mind you, all of these things could be done manually.

Excel at relations.

Sometimes it's fairly important to keep track of relations between different persons and factions within an adventure or a module. This can be done in different ways, and one of these ways are a relational matrix.

A relational matrix is a grid with columns and rows (as matrices tend to be). In both the leftmost column and the top row you enter the participants of the adventure or story.

The way I usually do it is to have the column as the "active" part. That is, in the cell where a column meets a row, it's what the person in the column thinks about the person in the row.

So, in the example picture, you can see that Andy is afraid of John, for instance. In the cells where the person "meets himself" I just write down what he thinks about himself or his state of mind right now.

One of the uses is if course as a reference, I can have it in front of me when running the module. However, it's just as helpful when planning the module. I can start with the known relations, and then fill in a sufficient number of empty cells. It makes my work a bit more structured.

When I'm done, I can also try to see if any interesting scenes grow out of it naturally.

The example below was done in just a couple of minutes, but it didn't take me long before a semi-comples relational structure started to show up on the screen.

You can use basically any tool that has tables or grids on it for this. Many word processors have tables or you can use a spreadsheet like Excel to use it. In my example I used the spreadsheet function in Google Docs.

The circle of heroes and villains

Batman and the Joker

Superman and Lex Luthor

Thor and Loki

Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty

The Hero

and the Villain

They are bound together by a strong bond. They belong together, close but so far away from each other.

Batman, a character that thrives in darkness and fear.. his enemy isn't someone with an even more dark and fearsome image, but someone dressed as a clown. Superman faces one powerful foe after another, but the most dangerous one is Lex Luthor.. just a human. However, when Superman is the paragon of humanity, Luther is the paragon of inhumanity.

It's not uncommon that the hero is the genesis of the villain, or the other way around. Batman was born as a result of a dark crime, and while fighting crime, Batman created the Joker. Spiderman was the genesis of Green Goblin for example. He also made J.Jameson hate him, which in turn drove Jameson to fund the creation of multiple villains.

Next time you make a character for a game, think about who his enemy is. What sides of him does he mirror, and what sides is he the opposite of?

And if you are the GM.. don't just come up with your own villain, base him of the player characters. Or even better, ask the players to create him for you.

After all, the hero and the villain, are one, but not the same

All I got is a red guitar, three chords and the truth

The Blues!

One of the simplest forms of music there is!

In its most simple form, it has five notes and three chords.

That's it! Five! And three..

But.. with those 5 notes you can make a guitar cry with emotion
With those 3 chords, you can build songs that touch heaven and moves the earth

That's why I love the blues.. it's so simple and elegant.. but with it you can express so much.

You can add more notes.. more chords, but it all comes back to the same, simple foundation.

It's not about fast guitar solos at all costs, or exotic harmonies. It's about making those steel strings sing and cry. Pull that string... bend it.. feel it!

Now.. apply that to roleplaying. The more I game, the more I fall back to making simpler characters, with a few basic themes. Nothing to complex, nothing fancy. Just a man, some basic words and sentences that capture the spirit of him

Then I make him cry.. I make him sing! I push him.. pull him.. That's what I want.. Emotion.. Passion.. rising from those simple foundations. Don't give me 3 pages of background and information, give me three chords of passion! Don't give me that one long story, give me one long, crying note of life.

THATS when roleplaying gets fun

In with the new

Some time ago I got a few remarks for my habit of looking at new games, often suggesting that we try out this-or-that system. Why do I do that? Why don't I stay with the mainstream games, where it's easy to find players, that I already know how to play?

Well, quite honestly, there is a simple reason:

The mainstream, regular games.. are starting to bore me. Most of the bigger, mainstream games today stick with principles that haven't evolved since the early 80's. Too often, a nights gaming can consist of a number of die rolls that may or may not affect what happens to your character.

More than once, I've tried to build an interesting character in games like DnD or Star Wars Saga, only to find out that interesting characters are sub-optimal. The way to go, if you want some time in the spotlight, are to maximise how you pick stuff from long lists.

I don't care about if my character wins all the battles, but I do care if my character makes a difference, get some time in the spotlight. Problem is, in most bigger games, time in the spotlight equals combat efficiency.

Sorry, but that's not my cup of tea. Especially when there are heaps of new games that at least try to be more exciting.

Admittedly, I also have a weak spot for trying out new things. But on the other hand, why shouldn't I? Why should I not want to try out things that seem to offer other and different things than the ones I've tried AND found lacking in many areas?

So, here's a virtual toast to all new and interesting games out there. May you live long and prosper!

"Lone Ranger"-gaming

Many comics and storys are about one main protagonist and a hostile world with enemies. Examples are Batman, the Phantom, Lone wolf and cub, Modesty Blaise, Flash Gordon and many more.

The common theme here is that the protagonist is alone. Sure, he has sometimes a sidekick (Robin, in the case of Batman, for instance), but there is a difference in power and importance. The sidekick is still the sidekick.

However, these stories don't work to well with roleplaying games, since those are (most of the time) group activities. While you of course could play a group of Batman-ish characters, that is a bit against the genre. One important aspect of the solo-hero is the focus on his persona. In a group-adventure this aspect tends to be downplayed.

So, inspired slightly by games like Annelise, Fate, Progenitor and similar, I want to set up the guidelines for a game, that may or may not be developed in the future.

• The game is played by a group where ONE player plays the protagonist, the rest of the players takes different parts of the world/story/enemies
• These roles shift every session, or at the most every 2-3 sessions
• The game should be low prep. Much content should be built around the table
• The first session should be the "origin"-session where the protagonist AND the major antagonist(s) are created.

I don't know if this is possible at all, but it's could be interesting at least from a theoretical point of view.

The case of the bar-owners son, or How to make things matter

Imagine the following. You are playing an adventure, where it is crucial that you enter a mansion to get hold of a document containing secrets about a spy from an enemy empire. Your first obstacle is entering the mansion in itself. There are some windows locked from inside, a big wooden door on the front (locked) and a smaller servants entrance in the back, also locked.

So, the thief of the party walks up, and tries to pick the lock on the servants entrance. Problem is.. he FAILS. Same thing happens when he tries the lock on the front door.

This is where the bard of the party tries to be clever, and heads to the nearest bar, uses his social skills to find out if one of the servants of the mansion sometimes hangs there. The GM thinks this is a clever idea, and says that one of the maids of the household dates the son of the bar-owner, and sometimes comes here. The son has an extra key to be able to sneak into her room at night. The bard persuades the son to help them, and he lets them in via the back door.

So, that's that, right? The party got into the mansion alright, through cleverness and good thinking. Also extra credit to the GM who was creative enough to let this happen.

There is, to me, however a small issue with all this (at least if not handled well). If the characters couldn't enter the mansion in the first place, the adventure would come to a grinding halt. So, any solution that would let the characters in would work after a while. If this is so, why don't just let the players in the mansion in the first place? Why not just say that "the thief picks the locks" and be done with it, let the adventure continue? I mean, now all that happened was that the adventure took a quick detour, and then ended up right back on track again.

Overall, I've seen that happen a bit to often. There is an obstacle in the way, and if that is not solved, the adventure can't continue. Or, if that is not solved, another way must be found, but the end result is still the same.

However, what if you make each roll make the story take a slightly different way, each solution branches of in a different direction. The bartendes son above could be captured.. or bribed... or maybe try to save his love from the house later on.

The important thing for me is to create something new with the rolls. Don't let a roll result in the stop of the adventure. In that case, just skip it. However, if the roll can add something interesting to the adventure, do it. Maybe a failed roll just means that nothing interesting happens, but a success makes the adventure more interesting. Perhaps the lock-picker not only picks the lock, but also realises that this particular lock isn't made localy, but imported from the faraway, hostile country. A fight is NOT just about defeating some enemy and then continuing down the path, but it's also about getting to know someone better, or pushing someone else to hate you. (Then again, all combats can't be pivotal encounters where the future is at stake.. some battles are just random battles).

So, to sum up: Make things matter! Don't just demand a skill check for the sake of it, put it there to make the adventure more interesting.