Observations of the Fox

 I pledged to the Altered Carbon RPG Kickstarter when it was going. It was meant to have been shipped in August 2020, but I guess COVID has stuffed up a lot of things this year. I have finally managed to have a look at the second version of the backer review copy of the game.   It looks alright. But as I read through it, I'm seeing lots of fiddly systems and subsystems. The core system looks interesting and fairly sturdy, with a system that's going to be a bit counter-intuitive to most gamers of mainstream systems. It's a roll under system, where characters start with a big die (a d12) as a crude level of skill/potential, and gradually get their die lower as they train and improve. Easy tasks have a high target number, while hard tasks have lower target numbers. Certain effects like having specialised equipment or training, seem to let you roll multiple dice (then pick the best result), while other effects modify the target number.  There's a few variations depending...

Last night, I managed to upload " The Law " to my DrivethruRPG/RPGNow shopfront. I was thankfully alerted to the fact that there were a whole heap of spelling errors on the page, due to the "p" key on my rapidly aging keyboard not working half of the time...but that's all fixed now. I'll probably update the shopfront page with a few more images and a couple of more interesting elements of text, but for the moment it's done it's job. While I was sleeping, a copy of the game sold, and now I can purchase the "Dr Who Humble Bundle" that I referred to in yesterday's RPGADay question. Stupidly, in my enthusiasm last night, I started working on the Dispatch Guide for the game (which, for those who haven't been following, is basically the GMs guide). The first ten pages of that basically came from the fact that I wanted to keep the whole game tightly focused as a highly illustrated 32 page "game comic"...which meant there ...

I'm totally looking forward to this... Especially after "Daredevil" It's feeding into a desire to run a superhero game in the near future.

Our four monsters hidden in a small town just outside Hobart...   Steve Grady, the Vampire (played by Daniel) Rachel Lennox, the Angel (played by Ben) Tia, the Chosen (played by Leah) Evelyn Black, the Witch (played as an NPC by me) First we looks at strings (the mechanic for describing relationships in the game) Steve begins with a string on everyone.  Rachel has 2 strings on Steve due to their ongoing relationship, and 2 strings on the mysterious guy from the morgue (and he has a string on her). Tia has a string on Evelyn (she caught the witch going through Rachel's stuff looking for a magical focus item), she also has a string on Rachel, and a string each on "Danno" and "Tammy-Lynn" (a pair of other hunters she is acquainted with).  Evelyn has a sympathetic token on the mysterious morgue guy (because I want a few ways to pull him back into the story for later). An unknown person has 2 strings on Tia (someone is hunting her, or someone wants rev...

I guess this is sort of a follow on from my last post...not exactly, but it shares a few themes. I roleplay because I like imagining situations that I could never get into in real life whether due to legal ramifications (letting out my aggression beating up on people/stuff or killing things), moral implications (screwing over other people remorselessly), physical reality (casting spells) or just generally getting into situations that make me think in different ways. Roleplaying to me is not about the experience, and the rules of the game combine with the interactions of the people involved to create that experience. With that in mind, Leah and I have joined a new group of players to start an old school Warhammer Fantasy campaign. This is a group that has been playing together for years, so we're the new couple. They haven't had a female gamer in their midst, and to looks like they haven't been sure how to take a female player. Apparently one of the players has played ...

For those who are interested in the world of Aussie RPG design, there is a Facebook group dedicated to designers down under. Australian Game Designers (Facebook) For those who din't have Facebook accounts, I've set up a companion group on Google Plus. Australian Game Designer (Google+) If you're not an Aussie, feel free to join anyway. Maybe we can show you some interesting techniques that have been developing down here over the past few decades.

What is it about scandinavian gamers? I've been reading through the Manifesto of the Turku school , and the first thing that comes to mind is that we've been doing a lot of this stuff in Sydney since the late 1980s. Live gaming and immersion are such an intrinsic part of the Australian-style freeform that we just never bothered to formulise the proceedings. As far as we were concerned, it was all a part of the word free-form. Just like most Australian endeavours, we innovate, but no-one can be bothered ritualising the details or refining the patents. Aussie attitude, probably...sheer laziness, maybe. I've played games under The LARPers vow of Chastity , and have had really great times doing so. Often adding immensely to the theme of the session for other players. In fact I spent the L5R freeform at Gencon 2008, simply sitting in the corner painting pictures in character, not following agendas because I didn't have any, I simply painted and had other players approach me,...

Sometimes you just don't notice the interesting things happening around you. Sometimes you just take them for granted. I gave a personal reflection on a game called Raven's Nest , an unusual game incorporating aspects of miniatures and live action. I played it around 15 years ago, but a lot of the concepts it used seem relevant to the notions of story gaming and narrativist play. I thought the game was dead, but apparently it has started making a comeback. Maybe it was just ahead of it's time.

Scene 1: In which our characters awaken in a large room. Lying on cold metal tables, they have vague recollections of who they might have been but they have no idea of why they are here. Scene 2: In which our characters are escorted to their private quarters, where they are given free reign for the night. Scene 3: In which the premise of the game is described, and our characters have their circumstances explained. Scene 4: In which our characters start their first investigation and have their first chance to properly explore the setting. Scene 5: In which our characters reach a climax within their investigation, and start to define how they will work as a team. Scene 6: In which our characters face their first deep moral decision. Game concludes with the players really thinking about where they'd like to go. These days, that's about as strict as my planning process gets. As I said in a previous post, we're playing D&D. Old School D&D. It's not so much that I hat...

I’m going to quickly follow up with a second Game Mechani(sm) because my internet is running really slowly at the moment and I’m not sure if I’ll manage to get next weeks post out. This is one that I’ve been pushing for a while on the forge. The premise is simple: Every time you fail at something, you simply learn another way not to compete the task and you refine your knowledge about how it works. Every time you succeed at a task, you feel your knowledge is adequate and it doesn’t improve. Beyond this simple premise I’ve had to clarify some points. These clarifications have arisen due to questions that people have asked me, and certain situations that have arisen where the basic premise just doesn’t make sense. The first clarification requires that the character is actually able to succeed in their attempt in some way. A regular human, with no supernatural powers and no advanced technology isn’t going to be able to fly under their own power. They may be able to jump off a cliff or sky...