by | August 31, 2015 · 3:33 pm

#RPGaDAY2015: Part Seven, Island of the Lizard King

Day Twenty-six: Favourite inspiration for your game?

Music.

I’ve had a few characters, campaigns etc sparked off by watching a particular movie (for example I think the recent NOAH film might make a neat Apocalypse World hack) but in the main I think it’s music that does it. There’s a different buzz for creation there.

Anything from Jethro Tull and Bob Dylan to Gary Numan and Heaven 17; not to mention everything inbetween/around/before/after.

I’m never sure if the music is the inspiration itself or if it’s simply making things coalesce.

Example: I’d planned to do some kind of superhero background, so that was very much in mind, and then I was listening to March the Mad Scientist by Jethro Tull and it clicked with what I had bubbling away in my head.

The lyrics of that song (“and March the mad scientist, brings a new change…”) added to Rage In Eden by Ultravox and a few other things, led to my MARBLE ARCH superhero campaign (“and they were the new gods, and they shone on high”), which appeared in slightly altered form as the DECEMBER STORM variant Earth in the original Nearside Project game.

Different music might have resulted in a somewhat different setting?

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by | · 2:46 pm

#RPGaDAY2015: Part Six, the Savage Horde

Day Twenty One: Favourite RPG setting?

Well, clearly there’s Glorantha, but on the other hand there is also what’s known as the NEARSIDE from Broken Rooms (the RPG formerly known as THE NEARSIDE PROJECT). It’s published by Greymalkin Designs who are also responsible for the ‘high fantasy brought low’ game DESOLATION.

Broken Rooms is mostly written by Stephen Herron, and deals with thirteen alternate versions of Earth, where things are going very badly indeed.

There’s a world struck by an asteroid, a world where aliens have invaded, a world turning into an icebox. I could go on…

At this point I should probably mention I am responsible for some of the stuff in Broken Rooms – some worlds and bits and bobs – but I do genuinely think it’s an excellent background for exploring anything from high adventure to subtle introspection, all wrapped up in a deeper undercurrent of story about grief and meaning and what’s all this stuff about the number 13…

Day Twenty-two: Perfect game environment?

I like a table and comfortable chairs. It’s not essential but I think people get more into ‘game mode’ (if there is such a thing) when they’re sitting around a big table and have enough room for their character sheets, pencils and dice, beverages and snacks. Plus enough space in the centre of the table for maps or handouts. Bonus points if the table is away from the television, passing non-player traffic and any other distractions.

Gold star if there’s a giant chalkboard on which to write down important stuff about plot etc.

Day Twenty-three: Perfect game for you?

Anything. Okay, almost anything.

It’s the players (GM included) that make the game, not trivial stuff like background or setting or system. Clearly there are settings I prefer – superheroes (in disaffected vigilante format), spies (worn down, world weary, post-cold-war looking for a new foe style) – but, whatever is on offer I’ll usually give it a try. I’m not a huge fan of unrelenting grimness, but even that can be lightened by the right group.

Everyone gets together and tells an entertaining story for a few hours/days/years. That’s the perfect game.

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by | · 2:14 pm

#RPGaDAY2015: Part Five, the Empire Strikes Back

Day Sixteen: Longest game session played?

Not sure. Back in the early days we spent entire summers playing AD&D or SPACE OPERA or whatever from very early in the morning until long past dark. I’ve not done any of those charity ‘play a game for 24 hours’ things.

I was once in a terrible, terrible home-brewed science fiction game at a con. That session felt like a painful eternity…

Day Seventeen: Favourite Fantasy RPG?

RUNEQUEST. The landscape, the people, the mythology, the sense of scale etc.

It just resonates on the correct frequency for me.

Day Eighteen: Favourite SF RPG?

SPACE OPERA.

This raises an interesting question (for me anyway) about what exactly makes a ‘favourite’. I mean, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about the rules or the background for Space Opera – beyond I vaguely recall one of the scenarios had a Sky Marshall character who was not unlike a heavy breathing villain from an at-the-time-rather-popular sci-fi movie franchise…

As I recall it, the campaign I was involved in was heavily influenced by DUNE. There was a lot of noble houses and politicking involved. But also a lot of dropping ordnance from high orbit on unsuspecting enemy forces.

What made the game great, however, was the GM and the group and the fun we had playing it for long summer days about twenty-five years ago. I guess it could have been any game? Or maybe something that wasn’t Space Opera wouldn’t have sparked the same interactions and would have lacked the same entertainment value that we found there?

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by | · 1:51 pm

#RPGaDAY2015: Part Four, the adventure continues

Day Eleven: Favourite RPG writer?

Greg Stafford. I’m more interested in backgrounds and world building than focusing on clever systems for play, and the GLORANTHA setting for RUNEQUEST is incredible. Stafford’s KING OF SARTAR book of mythology & lore is outstanding.

And having mentioned King of Sartar, I’ve just discovered there’s a new revised and annotated edition that I do not have :-O

Day Twelve: Favourite RPG illustration?

Tough question, this one. I liked a lot of Larry Elmore stuff from back in the day. Not to mention a whole heap of illustrations from various Palladium RPGs.

White Wolf art was always pretty strong, and there was one in some Vampire book or other of a Cop or Private Detective. Woman in a trench coat carrying a pistol. I thought that was an excellent capture of character and purpose. Can’t find it right this moment of course, but I’ll go with that one.

Day Thirteen: Favourite RPG podcast?

I’ve never listened to a podcast. I wouldn’t even know where to start in terms of finding a good one. Maybe I’ll fix that before #RPGaDAY2016.

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by | · 1:23 pm

#RPGaDAY2015: Part Three, more of this

Day Six: Game most recently played?

That would have been Labyrinth Lord which I played a brief session of at Q-con 2015.

It’s another of those retro-style stripped down basic adventure experiences, attempting to capture the glory of the old school days; dungeons, monsters, fights in the dark!

Great fun.

Day Seven: Favourite free RPG?

At the moment, it’s Stars Without Number. Did I mention that was free?

Also, have to mention Puppetland by John Tynes. A fairytale world of puppets struggles against the harsh rule of the twisted dictator Punch.

Day Eight: Favourite Appearance of RPG in media

I could have gone for the D&D playing in ET. Or the AD&D episodes of COMMUNITY.

And then of course there’s MAZES & MONSTERS. So bad it’s funny.

I’ve decided to go with a religious tract though. DARK DUNGEONS by Jack T Chick publications. An exquisitely wrong-headed rant about the dangers of RPGs and how it turns all the players into actual wizards/witches/tools of Satan.

Now a motion picture:Dark Dungeons

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by | · 12:32 pm

#RPGaDAY2015: Part Two, some answers

Day One: Which forthcoming RPG most looking forward to?

I’d have to say Apocalypse World Second Edition.

I loved Apocalypse World by D Vincent Baker; the design work, the bare hints at setting, the general vibe, the way it brought characters together and put them in conflict with a free-form fallen-world of desperate survivors scrabbling through the ruins.

I’m expecting great things from iteration 2.0

Day Two: Kickstarter game most pleased you backed?

I’ve not backed any. Not being totally connected to the whole gaming/blogging ‘community’ I tend to learn about these things three weeks after the kickstarter has closed. I really need to start paying more attention…

Day Three: Favourite new game of last 12 months?

In terms of ‘new to me’ games, I was planning to go with Hero Kids; clean design, clear and simple rules, excellent art and the children (ages 8 to 13) seem to enjoy it when we manage to find time to play amidst the computers and tablets and DVD-watching.

Last week though I finally encountered Stars Without Number, and despite the fact I’m just at the ‘reading the book’ stage, I’m already well on the way to being a big fan. It’s science fiction, in the far future, in a universe that’s slightly worn out and weary, but also built upon the ruins of a better past. Aside from that it’s basically D&D in space, and you can even use old monsters and scenarios with a little tweaking; dungeons become narrow-twisty corridor spacecraft, monsters are alien races, etc.

I have big plans.

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by | · 11:47 am

#RPGaDAY2015: At last I post something…

Okay, so over at the blog called Autocratik there’s this RPGaDAY thing where folks are meant to blog, tweet, facebook, vlog, or whatever, every day for the month of August, on the subject of tabletop roleplaying games and with daily topics taken from the image below.

I had intended to do that very thing, and do it properly, but unfortunately various things conspired against me. So I’m instead going to offer a quick run through of all/most of the #RPGaDAY2015 subjects on this, the final day.

rpgaday2015 topics

What people talk about when they talk about RPGaDAY2015

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by | August 27, 2015 · 12:29 pm

randoms vii: flash character intro thing

Over at Chuck Wendig’s blog this week, there’s a flash fiction challenge to
create a character in 250 words or less, and then let someone else run loose with it the following week.

Here’s mine:

Never try to hang a magician.
That should be a law or something. Save everyone a lot of time and
inconvenience for a start. Remove a share of panic, and struggle, and pain.
These are the thoughts that tumble through Isbel’s broken head as the noose tightens around her throat, as the rough rope bites. Breath slowing to a choking burning halt, heart beating hammers as the world darkens all around the edges of her vision.
Her trembling feet kick and jerk.
The mutts around her smirk and snort. Their mocking laughter spills
across her eyes as stripes of red and blackened light.
Planning on doing something, best make it soon, she says.
Don’t make me tell you twice, she says.
I aint kidding here.
Do it, she says.
Do it now.
A flare of brilliant white. Narrow like a blade and slicing deep
across the rope high up behind her head… and then she falls.
The laughter stops as she drops heavy and hits hard and rolls and
stands in one fluid movement. A broken black winged bird, rising up to fly again, she is, with hands still tied behind her back, noose still strung around her bruised neck, eyes cold blazing blue.
These would be killers stare at her with mouths gone slack and stupid.
She locks eyes with each of them in slow and steady turn and wishes
them all dead. It doesn’t do anything, but it sure makes Isbel Blake
feel better.

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by | July 1, 2015 · 9:45 am

randoms vi : caddy’s call

This one time. No, no, you aint heard this one before. I’m waiting up at Loop, you know where the big eastern rail sweeps round in a circle and there’s a whole town all crammed and jumbled up in the middle?

You aint been there yet? Sight to see, boys, sight to see. They haul all kinds of stuff out of the deadgrounds and malts. Weld it up, nail it together or rope it down to make a house or a hotel or a what-have-you.

Anyways, I got a crew out buying and selling. We’re packing up the long train for the run that afternoon. Had some troubles coming in, I can tell you. Threshers, wrigglers, sulks and that. Aint important what, though, point is I’m sitting out on a sun lounger with a third of a warm beer left, enjoying the high bright heat of the day, half looking to pick up some new blood if I can. Replacements, you know?

Figure slides up out of the salt-flat haze.

“Hear you’re hiring,” says this voice. Light enough but it’s got that deep down burr of the dust. This one aint a stranger to salt and desert, that’s a true bill.

“Mayhap,” I says. “If you got a skill worth paying for that is.”

I stand up then. Move a little so I can get a better look at her, out of the direct blaze of the sun above.

First off, it dint look good. I could lie and spin it so I knew right ways what I had here but, shit, Caddy’s call is a straight shout and if I aint got that then what am I, yeah?

So here’s the truth.

Stood real tall, so there’s that, bit skinny to my mind, delicate, know what I mean?

Dressed up fine. Brightland chic. Heavy boots and grubby jeans, one them high collared jackets with way too many buttons, long duster coat down to the ankles. Unruly black hair trapped and tied back out of the way. Pair of goggles and a wide brimmed hat in one hand, pistol at her belt.

Really, dint look like much. Looked like a costume more than anything, like a kid at play. Young enough to be my own daughter, hells sake.

Still. Brightland grows you fast, don’t it?

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by | June 25, 2015 · 2:19 pm

things of the past iii

Third in an erratic series of references to things I have written in the past:

“Under the Green Witch” from the Fox Spirit Books Girl at the End of the World anthology, volume 2.

girl at the end of the world volume 2

This is the second of two epic volumes containing tales of all manner of apocalypse and the varied stories of the women and girls who have to deal with what’s left.

Full details and links here: Girl at the End of the World

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