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.