It Slices! It Dices! tag:www.alkime.org,2008:/mtfierce/gaming//19 2008-09-10T21:37:30Z "It Makes Split Level Homes in Seconds!" (aka the Fierce & LintKing's Gaming Gallimaufry) Movable Type 3.36 A Quick Q&A: Progress Report? tag:www.alkime.org,2008:/mtfierce/gaming//19.7660 2008-09-10T19:51:36Z 2008-09-10T21:37:30Z Games Up To The Moment, 9/10/08 MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ 1) What does Illegal Gods do that no other existing game does? What makes it unique? When I was first designing the game, a heck of a lot that other games don't, but, as time has gone on, it's been crowded out with others' ideas. That's the problem with slow-cooking. On the other hand, God-Merchants, Soul Jockeys, and maybe the HSEL are the first three things that come to my mind. I think of it mostly as a pirates-in-space game with religion added. Preacher pirates in SPAAAAACE. Erm.
What is holding you up in your minigame, "The Four Queens"?
Trying to work out a mechanic that isn't so self-contained as to make a great card/boardgame, and allowing narrative to have an influence.
What other RPG irons do you have in the fire?
My ACNW games, of course. I took out the Lonesome October style LARP as I need another GM for it, and about 20 people for it to work the way I want. Aurors Gone Wild is about ready to launch. I just need to fill in some final information and I'll be happy there. The Reclaimers! which I think of as a Shadowrun game 'gone twisted,' (you play in a world of mutants and magic and try to dig up the future) is being nudged and massaged, if not in any playable form yet.
And computer RPGs? Boardgames?
Still playing Arcanum. About to take on Arronax, or whatever his name is, presuming we can, um, get back to him. That's kind of awkward when you move into the next room and teleport somewhere else and there's a hanging plot point. Still, the designers have been vaguely smart about it so far...]]> You broke it. I'm fixing it. tag:www.alkime.org,2008:/mtfierce/gaming//19.7654 2008-09-10T14:35:36Z 2008-09-11T04:35:57Z Knock me off my kilter, and I'll get up again. Never gonna keep me down. Erm. Wrong story. MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ Twitter:
"I can sum up my ACNW game submissions on Twitter: `It's all gone wrong. It's your fault. Can you fix it?' and have characters left over."
The reason I'm talking about it here and not on my Amber Blog is because this isn't inherent in any fashion to ACNW, Amber, or even my games. It's indicative of a methodology I've embarked upon in changing the way I GM.]]> Falling Rules for Shadowrun - which I really could have used after pushing that mobmaster off the cliff into Tir Tairngire... but I digress.) I want to know I can handle whatever happens. Because I *want* "whatever" to happen. My friends know I will run things from the seat of my pants, and usually that works just fine. (There are notable exceptions. [sigh]) On the other hand, having reams of notes doesn't help my in-game comfort. Sure, it makes me feel more prepared, but maybe my group thinks I'm better when I'm knocked off my kilter. Whatever my kilter is. Perhaps it's something like a tuffet? So, I figured out my problem in part was that I took too much responsibility for the game. I needed to make the players responsible for more of the design. Not that they mind, necessarily, it's just that I was dug in too deep to "GM as host," and I'd hate to be impolite. (The Laws of Hospitality, and all.) Hence, "It's your fault." There's the buy-in right there. And "Can you fix it?" is the game.]]> 4e is the anti-D&D? tag:www.alkime.org,2008:/mtfierce/gaming//19.7652 2008-09-06T06:09:37Z 2008-09-08T00:02:49Z Don't diss on my D&D, h8rz. Word. MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ Houses of the Blooded) something that is, "Anti-D&D." I find myself torn between two immediate responses. One, the, existential, "Why?" and the second, "But wait, hasn't D&D gone there, itself?"]]> Why?
Why? Is it that D&D didn't do something for you that you wanted?
As much as I hate the whole, "You can do anything with this game!" concept, (the "supersystem!" theory, I suppose) there's a lot to be said that the basic, "You kill things, you level!" precept was almost irrelevant to any game I enjoyed of AD&D. One might thank necessity (or desperation) for that. It's what we had, so it's what we used to tell the stories we wanted to tell. Now we have fantastic tools to do it with... tools that are lovingly crafted to sculpt and mold and tantalize and season to taste. Complaining that the flint we once used both as knife and scraper of clay isn't as precise as the microprobes we've designed, well, that's just ridiculous. Should we call it guilt? Guilt that we had so much fun with something so awkward, so flawed, so racist/sexist/classist/whatnotist? Frustration, perhaps? "We wanted so much more out of it?" Well, what stopped you from making something else? Given that I'm reading these essays IN THE MIDDLE OF NEW ROLEPLAYING GAMES, the answer would be, "Um...nothing?" You know, the same thing that kept us happy with it; years, nay, generations of House Rules. I'm tempted to write it off as just one variant campaign; a whole book of House Rules. You cannot be the anti-D&D without D&D?
sidenote: I remember being part of a conversation with some others about how hard it is to judge how many people are roleplaying based on 'net participation. I agree with whoever pointed out that the old D&Ders are playing their 20-year games and not talking about it on forums, not looking for new rules, not sharing their games outside their long time groups. I haven't figured out how to bring the idea of this "underground" into my post-apocalyptic games quite yet, but there's this whole clan war idea that occasionally bubbles up, and not just men with axes shouting, "We love THAC0!" (disclaimer: I run House Rule-modified 1st Edition AD&D with Unearthed Arcana additions. It really is kind of like identifying my sect... Second edition is an abomination, none of the third editions even exist in my D&D worldview. Oh, and no, except for the occasional mention of it here, I don't frequent any D&D forums or even talk about it outside "my group," so I understand.)
Which brings me to 4e. I was never tempted to delve back into it with 3rd (or 3.5) edition. Not once. With my opinions on 2e, and with my original DM's Guide as what I (at least in my heart-of-hearts) measured all other systems' books against. (Which is why I am beginning to be turned to Spirit of the Century.) It sounds like they've made it fun again, and that's the anti-D&D. Isn't it? Wasn't that what everyone was fighting against? The presumption that it was all charts and math and rule lawyers making some obscure social profit against you via your characters? It's probably still a bunch of adventurers kicking down doors and laying the hurt against the evil undead (undead O!) but with it turned a notch higher up to awesome. I'm willing to be convinced. For someone so firmly set in their ways, that's halfway to conversion.]]> Elfquest: Briar's Tale tag:www.alkime.org,2008:/mtfierce/gaming//19.7303 2008-01-07T23:44:31Z 2008-01-07T23:48:30Z Briar is the mostly-NPC character I am playing in the Elfquest game. She's about to try to refuse Recognition, and this is the story behind it. MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ SPOILERS INSIDE. Briar's the mostly-NPC character I am "playing" in the Elfquest game. She was Recognized in the last session. I knew a little of her background, but it wasn't until that hit that I realized the reason why she was going to fight this. Nevermind it's like refusing water, and it might kill her and her potential mate. She's got a story, and this is what is behind it. It was small and did not survive. It was not the first one, or the last, to die before taking breath. Some were worse, passing on only after you could hear the sounds of their hunger in the winter storm. I don't like to remember it. If its father gave it a name, I never asked. What good are names against the elements? The names are not like wolves that howl and are heard against the wind. They are the prints before they are filled by the snow. They speak in their dreams about Recognition, and they are wrong. I do not tell them that. They are allowed their dreams. I tell the others again: it is only Timmain's children that live. That is why I love her. That is why I will follow them, in their strange, warm shapes, with the bright eyes that see in the dark. I will give up the sun and live in the night. Only... I cannot sleep. I invent lists in my head to help calm the thinking. Lists of the plants and their uses. Lists of the colours and knots of the things I weave. Lists of all the things I will forget so that I can learn them anew. I try to forget how to walk, or how to sing, so that I can mimic the way the others, the children do it. They do some of it so lightly, despite the concentration and focus that must come with the predator blood. We learned to lose focus, to relax and let the shaping flow through us, like rivers, like belief. Like Dreamseeker's belief that there would be cool shade and sweet, cold water. Like his belief that his dreams were sendings from the forest beyond the burning cliffs. The belief that burned hotter than the tiny rocks beneath our feet, that dragged wolves and elves united behind him with the strength of his vision alone. I have lost my ability to do any of that. I follow. I follow because I do not know how to lead. I follow to death. The chief has banished me. I think he would argue but silently agree. I cannot provide for the tribe. I have no end of bravery because fear requires imagination. Only... I cannot sleep. And I cannot dream. Elfquest: Fire and Ice...shaping. tag:www.alkime.org,2007:/mtfierce/gaming//19.7249 2007-11-29T14:45:23Z 2007-11-30T15:42:32Z Magic in Elfquest, or "the way we roll." MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ Please note that I am actively soliciting comments and game-design questions here on this post, so if you're feeling like you've got something that'll work, or even work "better," please chime in! edited to add:comments now work [sigh] So we completely reworked the way we had been doing magic, as a skill roll combination that didn't really fit the comic's view or the system very well. Number of successes and effect weren't really rolled together.
I don't think it's necessarily munchkinism that has some of our players taking advantage of the fact that several "standard actions" in the system rely on a couple combinations of rolls, and putting all their points in those combinations, but it's close enough to give me a frown. Does that count?
]]> The GM was quick to say that built-in story trumps point cost. I don't have any problem with that: maybe it'll work to push people to write their background stories. The overall scale for the points is a 1-to-10 scale. Ten was told to me to be "world changing events." I got to create the rest:
  1. Minor Uses
  2. Common Uses
  3. Common Uses with "Oomph"
  4. Uncommon Use
  5. Difficult Use
  6. Life Changing Event
  7. Rare - Community Changing Event
  8. Environmental Changing Event (Permanent)
  9. Large Scale Historical Event
  10. World Changing Event
All fine and dandy, so far. They're fairly differentiated and levels three-to-four feel "magical" whereas one and two are good, basic uses of power. So what does it actually mean? We have three "shapers" in the crowd. (So much for, "Not a very magical society." Well, it's what people wanted to play so we suck it up.) One flesh, one rock, one fire. (Which sounds like a funny variant of rock-paper-scissors, doesn't it?) So here's what I have, and what I want more input on, particularly. Fleshshaping/Healing
  1. Aches, sprains, bruises, minor wounds, remove scars.
  2. Moderate wounds ("need stitches"), and basic breaking of bones, basic decorative scarring.
  3. Punctured lungs, organ failures, minor plastic surgery.
  4. Loss of limbs, cure medium poisons, major plastic surgery.
  5. Change type of organ (skin to fur, etc.), cure major poison.
  6. Moderate mind-healing, knowledge of the elf-spirit and its relationship to body, hold spirit in flesh.
  7. Large-scale shaping, such as limbs to wings, heal the mind/spirit.
  8. Heal the land, bring back from death.
  9. [...at a loss. Heal all elves? Heal continent?]
  10. Heal the world? Settle soul in another body?
Fireshaping
  1. Match, spark, flicker. Low heat.
  2. Lighter - longer time, torches. Low-medium heat.
  3. Hearth/cooking fire. Medium heat.
  4. Burning flame, medium-high heat, can set wet things aflame.
  5. Flamethrower effect, burn people.
  6. Conflagration, high heat.
  7. Firestorm, direct pure flame.
  8. Maelstrom and lightning.
  9. Draw magma from the Earth
  10. Envelop world in flames.
Rockshaping
  1. Draw pebbles from ambient earth.
  2. Draw rocks, make basic tools, or basic designs in existing rock.
  3. Ornamental tools, detailed designs in existing rock.
  4. Obelisks, fine tools, draw from bedrock.
  5. Draw metal from the earth.
  6. Large-scale building with rock, or draw rock away (to build tunnels, etc.)
  7. Call boulders from distance.
  8. Shift bedrock.
  9. Earthquake, tectonic plates.
  10. Bring mountains from the Earth.
We also have a person with a "Hypnotic Stare" that I'm working on, but it's more a matter of story than points at this stage. Oh, and finally, any ideas on how to "restore" magic points?]]> Elfquest: Administrative Details tag:www.alkime.org,2007:/mtfierce/gaming//19.7222 2007-11-16T22:25:25Z 2007-11-16T23:20:30Z Monday we discussed another kind of administrative detail: the gaming contract. MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ Glitter and the Glamour) spreadsheets I've used before to run analyses and keep track of the little number details, but it always ends in heartbreakends up meaning administrative details that either consume my time and energy, or being fairly irrelevant.
You'd think this would push me harder to go to descriptor-based systems rather than numbers, but the truth is, I don't like the vagaries of words compared to the hard truth of mathematics. Is "va-va-voom sexy" higher or lower than "knock-out sexy?"
]]> The LintKing had been observing my grumblings about the game and had asked me if I was enjoying it. My first response was, "I'm gaming." You know that response: it's probably a little passive-aggressive, with a tinge of, "Would I be feeding my left arm to sharks if I didn't like it?" My second response was, "Yes, but I'd enjoy it more if I weren't responsible for it," which also isn't fair. For one, it shocks everyone who knows me and "knows" I prefer to GM. For another, I'm only assisting. For the third, players are at least half responsible for teh AWESOME! [sic] and I know that as well as anyone. See, the LintKing's a fairly smart guy. He had pointed out while I was musing on the nature of games in this difficult genre (just keep asking yourself, "Where's the conflict?") that it relies a lot more than usual on the GM's ability to express his or her personal view of the world. If you're going to replicate a "look and feel" you have to know the "look and feel." I have the same problem with pulp games: I don't really feel comfortable or that I even like "the pulp genre" so I am at a loss as to how to develop characters and plots who would fit into the idea. (A sidenote: I was helping determine some books for a potential book club at the coffeehouse I frequent, and one of the people near me listed a number of classic science fiction shorts, and then declared them as "pulp." Oh. Well, maybe I have some familiarity after all. I just don't see the tropes for the, erm, tropics, I guess?) In the Elfquest universe, part of this is knowing what "The Way" is.
"The Way" is like art: I know it when I see it.
"The Way" is like a mission statement. It's what gathers the core activities and goals of the Wolfriders and how they relate to the environment around them. It's a contention amongst them as well, as it's an instinctual issue and does not lend itself well to analysis. Understanding it, though, is essential to certain roles within the tribe/clan/pack. I had suggested to the GM that maybe we run through a "day in the life" and we used it as an opening discussion point, asking each person what their character does on a regular day and how it relates to "The Way" as they understand it. Of course she made me an example, as I had my hooks into a pure-elf character I designed on a lark to follow the process with everyone else. (I think my character had fallen in love with Timmain, but I haven't really created a backstory. Maybe when I have that laughable chimera, "Free Time.") The other thing we discussed was what our character and player goals were, which digressed a little into what brought us to the table.
The good part is that I have them written down...the bad part is that it reinforced my feeling that the experienced in the group are stifled by previous roleplaying. I, for example, expect that a strong showing in something on the character sheet is an implicit statement to the GM that my PC is good at that thing and that I want to have challenges and conflicts that relate to that. At least one player indicated that, on the contrary, that meant they wanted to know more about it!
We managed to flow from that to a player-instigated plot issue that had people involved and made the rest of the game time go quite quickly. I think it might have helped with that - as well as pointing out Yet More Issues we'll have to discuss (like a particular player who is overriding the game.) Also, props to me: I managed to create an interesting map "on the fly," as it were. No one mentioned it, so I'm just going to give myself a gold star, darnit. [laughing] ]]> Elfquest: Character Hurdles tag:www.alkime.org,2007:/mtfierce/gaming//19.7202 2007-11-01T06:19:54Z 2007-11-29T16:46:20Z I, myself, prefer to lean into the "develop in play" method of character development. MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ When it comes to breaking anything into two types, you usually have the ones "in the know" and the ones out of it. (Or the ones who can't count.) I, myself, prefer to lean into the "develop in play" method of character development. That's from years and years of writing 20 page character histories and then finding out in the middle of session two, "Oh, that isn't how it happened at all, and, by the way, I didn't know this at all before, but my character is like, gay. Totally gay. Gay, gay, gay, gay, flaming homosexual gay." (Go ahead and laugh - it could happen to you.) With the Elfquest group we're working with something that also throws a bit of a monkey into the wrenchworks: we're working on group-cooperative play, rather than the usual group-dysfunctional play. Ahem. OK, that was a bit snarky, but it's a valid term. If the only glue in your group is based on the "mission" or plot, or an obsession with sparklies, you don't probably need a lot of character-to-character intense workshop.
I see absolutely nothing wrong in having "We're all looking for the shiny!" as the reason your group got together, but it isn't what we're looking for in this game.
The problem, of course, is finding the velvet sock approach rather than, ahem, the jackboot of GM fiat.
Hey, if I'm going to mix my metaphors, they're going into the high-speed blender.
You need to be able to say, "No, no, that isn't going to work." I won't say that we have three of seven character concepts that if I were GM I'd probably throw out immediately, because I've got just enough experience to say, "Fine, if you think you can make it work, and, most importantly, that's what you want to play, let's go for it." I know that underlined you is at least half the battle: I'm not going to go out of my way to make something unplayable happen for a player, although I'll give them the same opportunities to play as everyone else. I am totally going to keep the door open for the player to decide, "You know, this isn't exactly what I wanted to play after all."
I might even remind them gently of that point... less than a dozen times.
But of that potential three of seven players, I do get concerned that the game I want to (help) run isn't the same game they want to play. We've got three deliberately loner (OK, "look for trouble") characters, and an additional one that is alone because of player-driven circumstances. We have a plethora of deliberate troublemakers, and incidental ones simmering on the back of the stove. We have more magic than sense. Yeah, a pretty typical group. I don't want typical.
  • I want players who are happy with average character's abilities and are not afraid of character change. Which isn't to say they don't have Special PC powers, but that their characters aren't, well, munchkin.
  • I want characters who have secure, separate, useful niches.
  • I want players who enjoy and understand the world as much as the GM(s) do(es).
It seems like so little to ask, and so obvious, doesn't it? These should be the same things the players want so we can go for the shiny together. We've spent several sessions on character generation. I think we'd have a riot if we told them, "No, no, no, no, and no," now. ]]> Elfquest: Plot Concepts tag:www.alkime.org,2007:/mtfierce/gaming//19.7193 2007-10-24T19:03:18Z 2007-11-16T11:15:59Z It's a story of change, exploration, survival, with all sorts of romances and betrayals, and some great soap opera, so, of course, you would think that it would be a world ripe for gaming! MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ Elfquest is based off the travels of a chief of a tribe of elves called the "Wolfriders" (who have a special bond with their canine kin), and how this chief deals with the other kinds of elves he discovers, and finally with the origins of the elves on this world with two moons (Abode.) It's a story of change, exploration, survival, with all sorts of romances and betrayals, and some great soap opera, so, of course, you would think that it would be a world ripe for gaming! I would agree, but now you're waiting for the, "except..." ]]> Elf versus Elf Elf versus Non-Elf (Human) Elf versus Non-Elf (Troll) Elf versus Non-Elf(Animal)
central character(s) and opposition character(s)
Elf versus Non-Elf (Magical) (Elf's Work)
morality play
Elf versus Environment (Nature)
central character(s) and event or phenomenon
Elf versus Self
usually subplot
Now, Elf versus Elf is strongly frowned upon in Elfquest canon. Elves are just too rare to spend in mortal contest, and some are just more dangerous dead than alive. Elf versus Non-Elf is the most obvious conflict, and while there have been some interesting opposition characters, it's a yawn. Elf versus Environment is, well, not the kind of conflict that interests me much, unless, of course, the Environment in question is a lull in the magic-ban around the world which releases Horrors from other dimensions. [ahem] Elf versus Self I'm sure we'll have a lot of, at least in the characters, but it's not the kind of conflict that really drives troupe-play (except in fun bits like, say, Don't Rest Your Head). Now, the GM I'm assisting is looking at relationship-driven conflicts, which is a kind of skew from these traditional ones, but only works when you have a developed background. We're on a tangent from the developed storyline, pre-dating it and not interfering with it. (We have options to tie it back into existing canon, but nothing we're planning on, depending on the strength of the chronicle.) This has meant fleshing out an entire new family group (and their lineages) and adventures in the past.
[I have one complaint, but it's made of two small pieces. The first is the GM chose a modified White Wolf system as the base. Alright, blah blah, ease of use, familiarity, etc. The second is that the GM is a setting-purist, and doesn't want me to blend in any other references, however tempting. Tempt, tempt, tempting...]
Relationship-based conflict requires knowing your characters (and to some extent, your players.) This holds us up as we develop the tribe as a whole, but we can gauge some trends. We've got a lot of playful characters. A lot of people want to play with magic. I keep trying not to sum it up with, "The players have bad habits from other gaming." I don't WANT them to fall into the, "I want to be as powerful/as much of a generalist as possible," trap. For one, the genre is one of cooperation - if you can't do something, there is someone to help. Munchkin may be an extreme example of the independent mindset most games seem to push, but it wouldn't be so funny if it wasn't true.
We've had to cut out a few character concepts of the "lone wolf," however appropriate, mostly where "was raised alone," is inappropriate in the original "it takes a village" (or a pack) sense.
The challenge is not going to be plot, I think, it's going to continue be developing play skills and characters to meet the kind of game the players are capable of creating.]]> No, no, you don't need to remind me. tag:www.alkime.org,2007:/mtfierce/gaming//19.6892 2007-06-16T04:43:32Z 2007-08-02T00:35:30Z Snark. MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ solved by a bunch of white guys with internet access. I never thought they would.]]> the LintKing provides. "Do you know how many options there are out there on how to kill a tarrasque?"]]> Pulpy Goodness tag:www.alkime.org,2007:/mtfierce/gaming//19.6891 2007-06-12T08:55:00Z 2007-08-02T00:35:30Z Some thoughts behind The Century Clubs Presents... Amanita Grey MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ Doyce's whimsical Spirit of the Century character creation get-together (along with such infamous individuals as ***Dave and the inimitable Margie, their exuberant daughter K, the always piquant Mr. Trimmer, and John Barnes (not as reported previously, and I don't know why it was written differently on my notepad. [sighs] [thanks Doyce for the update]). I pushed myself to go (normally I don't drive up to Denver on a whim) but I knew, turning the corner off my street and towards Adventure! I would be glad to go, and I was!]]> Nine Princes in Pulp adventures will be noted elsewhere, I had had at least some background in the system (for us needing remedial instruction) the day before to start making a character. I had spent the drive up trying to come up with a better concept for a character than I had had the day before, something that would be comfortable but still push the envelope a little for me. Amanita Grey had started as a dilettante. I knew she had money, and more, I knew she knew how to use it. When I started writing her stuff up, though, at the game, I realized she wasn't just an heiress, she had a criminal background.
"I wonder how much trouble, `My Mom Did What?' would give me as an aspect."
"There's no such thing as too much trouble." (consensus)
I think of her mom as someone like Mata Hari, but that's partially because Doyce encouraged me to use Amanita's mother as the patron contact with the Century Club. I am reminded of what I told the Barbarian in regards to having dead people as contacts - "That means they're out of trouble now, but can still get you into more." For her second, "during the war," aspect, I kind of envisioned something like Lady Sybil Vimes of Discworld and her finishing school connections (ala The Fifth Elephant and Thud! which lead to her becoming a suffragette, as well as a diplomat. The perfect courier, I realized, as I was writing it up - she could be a reporter (mostly of the "gossip column" style to start) and rub elbows with the hoity-toity. (The "hoity toity" being several steps removed from the "hoi polloi," of course.) It wasn't until the skills selection that I realized Amanita didn't know how to drive. That gave way to "I have people for that," which, like, "I can buy one of those," suggested Resources as a top priority. I need to look through the Stunts - I'm not fixed on the ones I've got quite yet, and I still need to choose one.]]> Space Slayers tag:www.alkime.org,2007:/mtfierce/gaming//19.6890 2007-06-07T01:12:09Z 2007-08-02T00:35:30Z Another brief dip in the PTA system. MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ Rainbow K and the Barbarian) we started with a pitch session that had Pirates, Vampires in Spa(aaaaaaaaaaaaa!)ce, and bits and pieces from other shows the two had watched. We were driving to my place, so I figured we had enough time to at least build the idea in the kids' heads.
"Why vampires in space?"
"No sunshine."
"Oh.   Yeah.  They'd LOVE space."
The premise turns out to be that Vampires have invaded Earth, and the protagonists are freedom fighters trying to get their home out of the clutch of the evil undead (undead, O!) So the real argument came up with the fact that both players wanted to be Captains of their own ships. I tried a variety of alternatives
"How about one of you take 'Captain' as a trait, and the other be...I don't know... pilot?"
"No." [in chorus]
"How about you both be other things, and there be another Captain on the ship, like an NPC?"
"No." [in chorus]
"What if I said that your ships were itsy-bitsy tiny so being Captain wasn't really going to count for anything?"
"Um...." pause, consider, "No."
So on, and so forth.
...but they were set. Cool.
(I always encourage testing them to see what's going to be their pivot point, but if they're steady, let's (of course!) go with what they want. I think that's one of the "gaming with kids" rules that goes unnoticed a lot, because we have GM fiat and player choice (fiat! [snort]) and when working with kids, they'll change their minds if you haven't poked them. After all, does it say anywhere in the rules that you can't change your mind?)
So, we described the characters, and why they were involved in their anti-Vampire ways. Rainbow K's character had a vampire contact who had been teasing her by offering her the power to do what she wanted, but we created this intensely convoluted reasoning, wherein she was his catspaw against the other vampire families. The Barbarian had as his main contact his dead father, who was the reason he was fighting, and as we pointed out, could still have a lot of minor contacts and favors, and a possibility of a cameo as a ghost. After several rejected names for the series, we decided on "Space Slayers!" which was a tad bit misleading, but easy to remember. [note to self: make logo] The first scene had people going through a processing facility before they could load up on their ships. It was very depressing, with cattle-kill lines of folks being scanned for possible vampire taint, and no views of the ships. They were being held for departure when an alarm sounded. The force fields (made of anti-gravity technology) start sputtering on, when one of the spaceforce guards (in femme-style armor) is grabbed by a pair of levitating vampires. Enter combat, with lots of pretty weaponplay (including UV grenades), and a rescue of the guard, with the next scene going to be reviving her in the medical unit. Unfortunately at that point we made it home and other things took our attention, but I think the kids liked it, and they got the hang of the narration and contribution very quickly. It's starting to look like PTA may end up being a good "car game," which would be a break from Amber. I think using group consensus is a fair use of the game even without cards, although it may weaken the conflict. More experimentation is needed.]]> Illegal Gods: Sexist-free Player Occupations tag:www.alkime.org,2007:/mtfierce/gaming//19.6889 2007-05-21T07:37:16Z 2007-08-02T00:35:30Z Just making a feminist sensor check. MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ written previously:
The "standard" (by which I mean, "described and suggested") character types for Illegal Gods are: Pirates, Ambassadors, various members of Military Forces, Spies, Asteroid Miners, Priests, God Merchants, Soul Jockeys, Demigods, Scientists, Bureaucrats, and Droids. Most of these are fairly self-explanatory, but there are some professions (God Merchant, Soul Jockey) that are unique to the setting.
Pirate is pretty non-gender specific, right? Same with Ambassador, Military, Spy, Asteroid Miner, God Merchant, etc. So it's only "Priests" and potentially "Demigods" that hit my (broken) feminist sensor. The problem I have there is whether or not to change them to "priestesses" and "demigoddesses," the latter of which is clunky at best. I don't want to presuppose that only those two classifications are feminine, which changing them (in my mind) would suggest. Should I shift "Priest" to "Cleric," and risk the D&D connection? Probably wouldn't hurt, but I don't know what to do with "Demigod."]]> PTA to the 2nd Power tag:www.alkime.org,2007:/mtfierce/gaming//19.6888 2007-05-02T03:31:50Z 2007-08-02T00:35:30Z Oh dear, we forgot to name our show. Anyway, the premise was "Ars Magica as done by Jim Henson and Brian Froud," but we all know it's secretly the Nemesis' show. MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ Doyce's example, and what with having a couple hours to kill before we were ready to go to bed, my husband and I gave it a spin.]]> nPC, and he'd run a couple of characters. That's usually a good mix for us. It gives him a chance to stretch his character creation opportunities, and I got to run through it so I can explain it later to the kids. For most people, of course, the first part consists of creating the type of show we wanted. This is hard when people are ambivalent all over. I said because the husband's been playing a lot of Earthdawn maybe we'd want to go drastically the other way and do something skiffy. He was amenable to this, but I didn't want to make it sound like some kind of underhanded chance to get some Illegal Gods lovin', so I threw out a couple more suggestions which sounded fun and goofy. He pointed out he was more into designing for something determined, so we kind of ended up with our premise: Ars Magica as done by Jim Henson and Brian Froud.
"What about a show chronicling the wild and wacky adventures of um...what are those Ars Magica thingies?" "Convents." "No. Covenants. But an Ars Magica Convent sounds like a lot of fun, too."
I had been building names earlier that day, so I had a few to draw upon when naming my character. I wrote the name down as "Ymaya," and immediately thought she was the sister of Aughra from The Dark Crystal, which meant we had to decide if Aughra was a unique entity. I had the impression she was just "the last," and thus changed the idea to "youngest sister of a Great Sorceress. A very neutral sorceress who some people say was the most evil ever developed, and some say was a Good Witch," suggesting a Glinda kind of aspect. As for her Issue, I started with "grief," but kind of swapped it out for "lack of recognition." The LintKing came up with (names supplied by me - yes, he waited for it) Henna and Arkan. Arkan was your completely stereotypical bumbling apprentice type. You know, the one whose spells don't do what they're supposed to do, but somehow manage to save the day anyway. Arkan had a self-worth Issue. Henna obsessed over things. For traits, I gave Ymaya, "Great Sorceress." I figured she was just as good a sorceress as her more famous sister. I thought about another, but ended up giving her two contacts; the Cook (figuring it meant she knew when deliveries were made and thus could sneak in and out of the back door) and I created a "troublesome" character out of an old Amber NPC I hadn't really had too much of a chance to play, a bard daughter of Corwin named Iolon who knew everybody, drank everything, and was trouble however you spelled it. Her personal set was her melodramatic balcony "atop a high tower," at which she would sit and look out towards the sunsets. Arkan had "bungling apprentice," and a contact in his own sorcerous master. We were dithering between another contact, but then I had an idea - what if Arkan had been a member of the priesthood before finding his own magic, and it was by the grace of his goddess that his spell failures were made benevolent. (Not to mention, it could also add conflict in being why he's having problems becoming a mage in the first place.) He decided on a nemesis (again based off of an old Amber NPC I hadn't played much) with much giggling. Satyr. (In case anyone remembers PoB/WoS...) Henna was a "natural weaponsmith," and an "illusionist," a deadly combination. She was set up more martially oriented. Her main contact was Arkan's Master as an ex-lover, giving his characters ties to each other. We started out in the dining room, since that seemed like a logical place for people to be gathered. We decided the first scene needed to be a plot building one, rather than character defining. I described the scene, from starting with the Cook's bubbling cauldron to the roast beast spinning on the spit...
At some point during the evening we had started with halfling thieves and their nutritive qualities (or lack thereof), based off of an old character, and then somehow in my mind it turned into kobolds (with a half dozen kobold filks in mind) but when the roast beast was mentioned, it was a halfling thief. "Mmmm. Halfling."
The description started the oddity because I was describing it as if done on television to what an audience would see, not in the "describe as if you were really there and the players need to pick up clues" method to which I'm accustomed. It was both easier in that I could quite quickly paint it all with a broad brush, relying on the visuals, and more difficult because of the unfamiliarity of the technique. I narrated (as Producer) a situation whereupon the Nemesis showed he was, indeed, a good Nemesis. (Satyr spilled something on one of the noble ladies' laps, and sweettalked her into removing a veil, only to have the stain disappear, as well as, ahem, the veil.) Then I decided to get the action moving with Ancient ("Need a name..." [looks around, sees a bunch of index cards] "ah...Oxford!") Oxford's collapse. So the first "conflict" was going to be who got to Ancient Oxford, first. Ymaya's reasoning was that she needed to show her healing ability to be in the "good" category. We decided Arkan needed to practice his skills, as well as needing to fulfill the Priest ("As the Cleric Turns") archetype, and Henna decided that healing one of the Ancients would be good for her obsession...which the LintKing decided was to build a secret society. Cards drawn, flipped, explained, and Arkan won, but by using his "bungling apprentice" edge he had to explain as to how even though Ymaya teleported and Henna flipped acrobatically over the table, Arkan still managed to make it there first. Apparently he managed to spill beer on his Nemesis and then slip dramatically right through where Henna and Ymaya were opening the doors and...into the next scene.
You know what I think we were missing? Dialogue. Because we were describing our actions so visually we didn't really have a lot of dialogue. That's probably also a result of only having the two people playing - I can expect that we would have more direct protagonist interplay.
So, sliding into the next scene, Arkan bumps into where a Generic Wizard is trying to help Ancient Oxford, who is flipping around in convulsions and pulling stuffing out of his chest. We smooth out Henna having dropped out of the scene with a line from Ymaya about how "huffy" Henna is, and Ymaya opens dialogue with Arkan about how he smells of beer. They both attempt a healing with the Producer winning the conflict. We describe the special effects and how Ancient Oxford seems to get sewn up...but the stitching goes crazy. Ymaya decides it's because the apprentice interfered, and just teleports back to her tower so that she doesn't have to rip Ancient Oxford's seams or anything. Arkan is left with a bunch of fuzz, a patchwork wizard ("Gepettomancy") and a bemused expression...before the "commercial break" of deciding we were pretty tired and going to bed.]]> Illegal Gods: On Discrimination tag:www.alkime.org,2007:/mtfierce/gaming//19.6886 2007-03-07T05:41:55Z 2007-08-02T00:35:30Z I think these are my last words on discrimination. Includes triffids. MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ Summing up, I can't force sensitivity on people, but I will not abide harassment. That's my goal; something where 'the guys' aren't suddenly saying, "Oh, a girl/an individual of Asian descent/a triffid, gotta watch our language," but, "Hey, we're aware of you being a woman/Asian/carnivorous alien plant, but we're only going to make as much a deal of it as you do." Awareness and acknowledgment, not artificial action. Illegal Gods: The Role of Women tag:www.alkime.org,2007:/mtfierce/gaming//19.6885 2007-03-01T05:58:27Z 2007-11-16T11:19:18Z With the recent reiteration of the "feminism in gaming" discussions, I figured I needed to discuss some of what I was doing in Illegal Gods. MtFierce http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/ Illegal Gods, and as a woman.
Cheesecake Art
I like to look at curvy women, and I probably wouldn't be able to tell you what changed it from good looking to cheesecake. I envision cat girls in skin (fur?) -tight spacesuits.
Actually, I do that regularly. In fact, I got distracted for a moment because I was thinking of something whisker-lickin' good.
I also don't imagine them on the cover. Sure, my marketing director may disagree with me, but... My game isn't about the cool of playing sexy cat girls. (Right now, for the temporary "internal" version, there's that big astronomical picture we've all seen with the nebula that looks like an angel. I've been thinking that if I was going to have a separate "GM" section for folks, I'd get rights for a good picture of the Helix Nebula...) Maybe a ship shaped like some ancient goddess art? Oooh. Anyway, I don't really see any particular characters on the cover. It's not any pre-existing characters people are looking to play in my game, it's their own, so why limit imaginations?
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Example characters do include a fairly even mix of men and women, and at that, a variety of ethnic bases. Yes, we do have something that could be considered a "sex robot" who happens to have the form of a woman, but it's a System-biased saboteur first. The escort thing is just "her" day job. (I am hard pressed to think of its gender as anything but a weapon.) I have one drag queen priestess of lingerie. I can't imagine the art not promoting this equity, but then again, I'm silly that way.
Female Characters
I love to make characters...well, at least the design behind them. My husband usually ends up making them for me because so often character creation and game rules don't seem to mesh. Creating characters ought to be part of the game. It should help you absorb the setting and rules, and it keys the GM into what kinds of things the players want to play. One of the biggest obstacles to continuing with the design I'm looking at is how to get the system from character creation on up to connect to the worlds of Illegal Gods. With that in mind, the setting is primarily futuristic, and thus, any biological differences between people can be negated with technology or magic. So saying "Well, women are X," is going to be ridiculous. Which isn't to say that any gender characteristic is irrelevant; maybe it's not a set modifier on statistics, but the player has made a choice for a reason. If you don't want to respect that reason? Hey, I'm not going to tell you HOW to play, but I know it wouldn't work for me. With that said, there is a strong caveat: not every existing or imaginary religion treats the genders with equal respect. I recommend strongly that that kind of conflict be developed as another potential challenge, if the gaming group is interested in that kind of story. [shrug]
Female Pronouns
Oh, come on. I'm sorry, I don't feel more included because some guy is clunky with language and shifts "he" and "she." In fact, I don't feel more included when they're suave with language and do the same thing. [grin] Still, when it counts, the GM will be referred to as a woman, and I'll decide what's least likely to cause pronoun confusion for the rest.
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