It Slices! It Dices! http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/gaming/ "It Makes Split Level Homes in Seconds!" (aka the Fierce & LintKing's Gaming Gallimaufry) en Copyright 2008 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:51:36 +0700 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss A Quick Q&A: Progress Report? 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...]]> http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2008/09/a_quick_qa_progress_report.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2008/09/a_quick_qa_progress_report.html Reviews and Ramblings Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:51:36 +0700 You broke it. I'm fixing it. 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.]]> http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2008/09/you_broke_it.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2008/09/you_broke_it.html Investigations and Inspirations Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:35:36 +0700 4e is the anti-D&D? 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?"]]> http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2008/09/4e_is_the_antidd.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2008/09/4e_is_the_antidd.html Cultural Commentary Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:09:37 +0700 Elfquest: Briar's Tale 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. http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2008/01/elfquest_briars_tale.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2008/01/elfquest_briars_tale.html Quirks and the Queer Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:44:31 +0700 Elfquest: Fire and Ice...shaping. 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?
]]> http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/11/elfquest_fire_and_iceshaping.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/11/elfquest_fire_and_iceshaping.html Investigations and Inspirations Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:45:23 +0700 Elfquest: Administrative Details 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?"
]]> http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/11/elfquest_administrative_detail.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/11/elfquest_administrative_detail.html Cultural Commentary GMing Sat, 17 Nov 2007 05:25:25 +0700 Elfquest: Character Hurdles 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." http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/11/elfquest_character_hurdles.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/11/elfquest_character_hurdles.html Investigations and Inspirations GMing Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:19:54 +0700 Elfquest: Plot Concepts 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..." ]]> http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/10/elfquest_plot_concepts.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/10/elfquest_plot_concepts.html Investigations and Inspirations Thu, 25 Oct 2007 03:03:18 +0700 No, no, you don't need to remind me. solved by a bunch of white guys with internet access. I never thought they would.]]> http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/06/no_no_you_dont_need_to_remind.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/06/no_no_you_dont_need_to_remind.html Cultural Commentary Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:43:32 +0700 Pulpy Goodness 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!]]> http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/06/pulpy_goodness.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/06/pulpy_goodness.html Investigations and Inspirations Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:55:00 +0700 Space Slayers 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.]]> http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/06/space_slayers.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/06/space_slayers.html Reviews and Ramblings Thu, 07 Jun 2007 09:12:09 +0700 Illegal Gods: Sexist-free Player Occupations 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."]]> http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/05/illegal_gods_sexistfree_player.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/05/illegal_gods_sexistfree_player.html Illegal Gods: Game Design Mon, 21 May 2007 15:37:16 +0700 PTA to the 2nd Power 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.]]> http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/05/pta_to_the_2nd_power.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/05/pta_to_the_2nd_power.html Investigations and Inspirations Wed, 02 May 2007 11:31:50 +0700 Illegal Gods: On Discrimination 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. http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/03/illegal_gods_on_discrimination.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/03/illegal_gods_on_discrimination.html Illegal Gods: Game Design Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:41:55 +0700 Illegal Gods: The Role of Women 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?
]]> http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/03/illegal_gods_the_role_of_women.html http://www.alkime.org/mtfierce/blogarchive/gaming/2007/03/illegal_gods_the_role_of_women.html Illegal Gods: Game Design Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:58:27 +0700