MIRK

Human Occupied Landfill

2010-09-09T19:22:00.000+01:00

Human Occupied Landfill is the second gift I received from my Austrian fiend. Unlike Ninja Burger ( ) I had very mixed feelings about this game.

The thing that strikes me about the book the most is the way it's written. From the moment you open the book you see these letters written down all over the place... which is the total opposite of most roleplaying books with their clear fonts, no crossed out words and horizontal lines of text. Naturally, this is very much in theme with the game itself as the book tells you from the get-go it is not what other games are.

The game is set in the far future controlled by a corrupt and oppressive government in cahoots with the Church. These who entities control the vast expanse of space, the universe and all that jazz. There is one planet where all the unwanted and unnecessary things go, including YOU. Yes, you are the dreg of society living on a garbage planet so filled with junk that you're not even sure if there's any dirt under all these layers of throwaway stuff. This is also the planet where criminals, nut-cases, rebels and anything else the government doesn't approve of gets left to rot.

The first part of the book is the player section. The voice used for this section is very degrading. The system uses a set of 5 statistics and skills tied to them. The skills have very long winded names and are supposed to be funny, like: "Science and Everything Else You Failed in High School". In this it reminds me of my other gift since it looks like the skill list can be easily expanded upon. The system itself is fairly simple where you roll 2d6, add your statistic and applicable skill and any modifier the HoL Meister can come up with. Such as -5 for not bringing his favourite snack (a modifier that the game encourages). Then hope you get in the range of 15-19 if you want to be achieve anything. As with many other games, a roll of 12 allows you to roll again and add the new result to your total while a roll of snake eyes makes your head explode... if the HoL Meister is feeling especially merciful today (and as we all know, it takes a special kind of sadism to be a Game Master).

HoL has no classes but it does provide you with a few sample characters. Amongst them is a priest who liked to spend his time educating little boys, a man who when the full moon is up in the sky changes into a man, the Zinc Surfer and my favourite, the worst roleplayer stereotype ever. Well... at least I got a giggle out of this small part.

It's only when I reached the Game Master section that I started having doubts about my initial bad reaction to the game. The way it praised me for not being one of those lousy players and scaring them away from this section as much as possible was to be expected considering the previous part of the book. What I didn't expect is the cool ideas. While the system didn't feel right, rolling to spot someone and a fail means your head explodes is just weird, but the setting actually has some interesting ideas. Normally in a game you're playing a paragon, even if it's a paragon of scum, the tendency is to play someone who is part of society in some way. In HoL you're playing a person who everyone wants to forget about. Think of the worst stereotype of any type of character class you can think of and multiply it by a thousandfold, that's your character. The description of the planet itself and its various places has piqued my interest. It is just such a grim and dangerous place where you have to scavenge for scraps of fifty year old milk for breakfast... if you're feeling especially lucky today... and think of all the things people throw away! Some might actually be quite useful.

And then there is one antagonist that makes the whole game even cooler: The King. Here's a description of one of his abilities: Immortality - No that doesn't mean he can't die, but even if he does, he'll still eventually show up in a supermarket checkout line on the other side of the universe.

Yeah, a sci-fi game where you can kill Elvis... repeatedly...

Buy it Now on Amazon : Human Occupied Landfill
Buy it Now on Amazon : Human Occupied Landfill

Ninja Burger: the RPG 2nd Edition

2010-08-25T19:15:00.000+01:00

On one of my many birthdays I have received a gift from a martial artist. This gift (see what I did here, Chris?) consisted of two roleplaying books. One of which was Ninja Burger!

In Ninja Burger you take the roles of honourable employees of Ninja Burger. It is a fast food restaurant chain that caters to the ever increasing demand of high profile people who need food fast, in like 30 minutes or less. Your inability to deliver the order in the required time requires you to commit seppuku.

Ninja Burger uses the Prose Descriptive Qualities system, also known as PDQ. While most systems I'm used to use some kind of Attribute/Skill mechanic, PDQ approaches character creation quite differently. Instead of a set list of traits you get to make them up. So your ninja can have any trait you want, though they all start with Ninja [+0] and the appropriate profession: Chef, Deliverator, Driver, Navigator, Spotter and Dispatcher at [+2]. The numbers in brackets serve as the level of your capabilities within the field. It usually ranged between [-2] and [+6] this number is added to a 2d6 roll and compared to a target number to see if an action has been successful.

Out of all the roles mentioned above all but one are available to the players. The one role that is solely for the Game Master is the Dispatcher. Ninja Burger proposes this character to be treated like any other, with a personality and a role within the team. You should roll for the Dispatcher to look through the plans of the mansion the team is currently infiltrating and hacking the security systems while the rest is fighting off pirates. It reminds me of a GMPC in some way but due to the character not being physically present with the rest, there is very little chance for the Game Master to steal (even by accident) the spotlight from out of a player's nose.

The system is fairly easy to learn and doesn't take long to explain. The lack of a clear list of traits you could choose from can be a bit daunting to new players but sample "character sheets" are provided for each role. It should also be noted that the system does not use traditional health levels. Instead failure on a test (whether it be a simple task or combat) results in having to lower one of your traits by 2. These are called failure ranks and damage ranks, the only difference being when they go away.

The simplicity of the system is nice but for those who like something a little bit more complex, it provides you with a mechanic for Upshifts and Downshifts which allow you to get a positive or negative modifier to a roll. My favourite though is Ninja Magic. Nine special abilities which come in two variations. One for more or less realistic games (get a modifier on an action) and another for very cinematic games (walk on water).

Finally, I come to the advancement system. Normally a game rewards players with a number of points that they can then spend on raising their character's capabilities. Instead of Experience Points that we are so used to, Ninja Burger uses a Honour Score. This number represents how honourable a ninja you are. The score is a guideline of how others will interact with you and you're allowed to spend the points to act in a dishonourable way but by doing so, you gain a bonus on your die roll. Between sessions, you are also allowed to spend Honour points to raise your traits. Thus you are given a choice of either being seen as a paragon of honour or get more numbers to add to your dice. I should also mention that if your Honour Score goes too low, you will commit seppuku out of shame.

That's all I can think of about the rules so let's move on.

The book itself is written in a very humoristic way and is laden with pop-culture references. It provides the Game Master with the setting of San Francisco, including a map of the city and information on various districts. Where the book really shines, however, is in the random table generators. It is full of them for anything from fleshing out your character to generating obstacles for the ninja crew and delivery ideas. It makes for an excellent aid if you're good at improvisation and just need to make a game on the spot.

Catching all the references to films is just an added bonus. The examples provided in the book gave me ideas on how to change some film plots into games by adding "feed the main character! while he is in danger and busy with other things!".

Finally at the end of it all we're give five (definitely not three) scenarios to play though. Fill Bill is possibly the longest and may very well be turned into a campaign depending on how much detail you're willing to add. Many are more action oriented, like Diet Hard or The Meatrix, but there's also one, Burger She Wrote,where killing everyone in sight is probably a bad idea. Which in turn shows you not every Ninja Burger game has to be the same old plot of fighting your way through to the customer.

I enjoyed reading through the book and it gave me a lot of laughs.
Thank you for the wonderful birthday gift!

Buy it Now on Amazon : Ninja Burger: The RPG 2nd Edition
Buy it Now on Amazon : Ninja Burger: The RPG 2nd Edition

Note: For those of you who don't know German, gift means poison...

Hey, Wanna Play?!

2010-03-22T19:06:00.000Z

Every game that a Storyteller runs needs players. Such is the life of one who runs games that when a potential players comes forward, he has no choice but to explain the game! However, many times, our enthusiasm for a game is so great that we scare people away with an overload of information instead of catching them in a net of fun. Here are some ways on how to ensnare people into joining the table over which you rule supreme!

Keep it simple

If you can't describe a game in less than 30 seconds you should start thinking how you could do that right now. You don't want to preach to a person who isn't interested in a game the way you, as the Storyteller, see it. You're just wasting your time and their time, not to mention the voice that can be better utilised to, like, run games and such!

It is obviously very hard to give a short description of a game but nonetheless, if you are running a High Fantasy games with Organic Robots flinging magic at each other with added drama and the potential player isn't interested in that at all, it doesn't matter how many words you use to describe the game. Not everyone is into everything and not every Storyteller sees the game the same way.

Use general terms

Games use a lot of terms for a variety of system elements. Throwing them at a player usually ends up being extremely confusing, especially if you don't have a sheet handy to show it's actually not as hard as you're making it sound. Try and avoid any game specific term. It's nigh impossible to do that but if you try not to, your end of the conversation will be much more accessible to someone with little to no knowledge of the game.

Do not ask to read a dozen books

Unless you really don't want any new players, never expect a person to read a book just for your game. Tell them it might help but is not essential. Be prepared that no one at the table will know the rules, explain and show them the game's system and world gradually. After a few sessions, they'll know what's going on better than you do.

Telling someone they can just show up and sit down creates that sense of entertainment, like going to the cinema or for a walk. When you ask someone to read a book, which is essentially learning something brand new during their free time, even before they have a chance to know if they like a game or not, you'll scare them away faster than get them to touch the thing. Sure, some people love learning but you don't have to tell those people to learn! They'll grab the book anyway.

And it really is a nice feeling when one player asks another player to lend them their copy of the core rules so they can have a look through it over the week without you doing a thing to cause that other than create a very enjoyable game!

but not really!

2010-03-13T11:38:00.000Z

Recently I've been witness to a Storyteller giving a description of something to kill. It amounted to "They look like zombies but not really!"... and it got me thinking!

My preferred method of setting up a scene is to describe it without saying what it is or what it resembles. When you tell the players what something looks to their senses, they can decide what it is for themselves. Quite often you can use that to lure them into a false sense of security.

For instance, if you describe a zombie but never actually use the word "zombie" in the description, the players might realise it is a zombie. However, this information came from them and not the Storyteller so there's room for them being wrong. On the other hand, if you as the Storyteller use the word "zombie" as a basis for the description, cutting away the preconceptions you don't need, you are telling them what this thing definitely isn't thus destroying part of the mystery.

This is not to say that you should always use a detailed description. There are times when it is more advantageous to give a one sentence summary. If you want your players to add detail to a scene, just tell them where they are and what kind of things would be within their reach.

I once told my player that he is in a storage building at the docks. There were big wooden crates all over the place and people moving them onto a loading bay. He then asked me if there is anything he could use as a distraction, to which I said "What do you need?" and suddenly his character noticed someone smoking a cigarette to unwind for a while. He used that to make the whole place go in flames.

It is a very simple thing but as a Storyteller I don't think about every minute detail, focusing more on the bigger picture. Coming up with what every person on the street looks like or what they carry would take way too much time. So I leave that job to the players by giving them a general idea what kind of things they would be able to find and approve or disapprove their ideas.

As one of my friends said: as long as it's reasonable and not a nuke in the car trunk...

Oh Dear

2010-03-06T08:23:00.003Z

Well... it's been a while since anything has been posted around these parts... unfortunately, life got a bit out of hand and I lost track of things... before I knew it, it's already March and more things need to get done... like a dissertation on Jack The Ripper...

I have a post ready and it will probably go up somewhere around Wednesday... for now know that MIRK is still alive and I haven't abandoned it yet... doesn't matter what the rumours say!

as a distraction, I offer to you part of my madness... more than two years ago, I posted to the White Wolf Livejournal all the mistakes I found with Changeling The Lost... I'm reposting them here as proof of how messed up I am...

30: „The Hedge can as easily manifest as immaculately landscaped Victorian hedgerows as it can ghastly stinking bogs where passage is marked (or hidden) by treacherous streches of murky water.”
33: „As a result, trusting another changeling or making a mutual pledge of friendship or alliance is an profound act that changelings do not take lightly.”
81: “He the puts one dot each into Intelligence and Resolve, which puts him squarely in the average in those areas.”
87: “Minor banes can be a painful aversion to the sound of church bells, exposure to wolfsbane or hearing a one’s name.”
126: “In general, though, images and symbols will mostly as they did in the dream (as with a changeling who assumes the “costume” of an entity in the dream), while an item will appear by and large as it did in the sleeper’s thoughts.”
127: “Hearth Contracts are a broad path of beneficial effects, boons that a changeling can grant to an individual or himself when he needs and extra edge of just a little bit of influence from something greater than himself.”
137: “Everyone else within range doubles all environmental penalties to Wits rolls involving perception, including Wits + Composure rolls, as well as Wits + Skill rolls to notice events or Wit’s + Investigation rolls to intentionally search for something.”
139: “The dice pool for this attack is Dexterity + Brawling + half of the character’s Wyrd.”
147: “Mortals can clearly see they are talking speaking to a creature of inhuman appearance, but this merely impresses them to the extent that mortal onlookers are incapable of attacking the character except in self-defense.”
164: “The caster knows the outcome of something random or similarly unknowable in her immediately vicinity, such as which of four streets the people she is pursuing fled down or which roll of scratch-tickets to buy to win between $10 and $25.”
164: “Each success reduces one die of ranged combat penalties normally due to the target’s distance (range penalties), position (such as being prone), size (for very small targets) or environmental factors such as darkness, snow, cover penalties or anything else that doesn’t directly work directly upon the changeling.”
176: “This is the not the full limit of the changeling’s pledges, however; other kinds of pledges may be invested into other aspects of the changeling, from his true name to his connections to mortals and the fae.”
176: “Though the changeling’s true name is shared by another, the changeling still have the right to swear oaths by it.”
196: “This is a process then can take days.”
201: “(though some particularly power tokens offer staggering shifts in perception)”
203: “Taking a pint of blood will, when drawn, causes one lethal point of damage (or one Vitae in the case of vampires).”
207: “The bump because to rupture within minutes, spilling out several insects or bugs – a small cloud of black flies, a dozen spiders or maybe a passel of centipedes.”
207: “However, the nightmares also confer the Phobia derangement (mild), with the focus being of that phobia being insects.”
214: “If multiple changelings are in the same area, they effects they have on the Hedge meld together in subtle ways, though the changeling with the highest Wyrd rating always has the greatest influence on the area (with one possible exception, discussed below).”
244: “Unless the players all decide to create Courtless characters of the beginning of the chronicle, the rebels’ ideology will probably seem to radical to the characters, and they’ll decline, which can make for a scene of good, tense diplomacy as they try to extract themselves from the rebels’ company now that the characters know the rebels’ plans.”
251: “The player can, of course, leave this entirely up to the Storyteller, under the rationale that the character probably knows nothing about her fetch, and this if fine, if the Storyteller is amenable to the extra work.”
253: “Experience plays a large role in development, and how could the experiences of an Fae-enslaved human and an Earthbound fetch possibly be the same?”
255: “Echoes, as the name implies, as powers based upon the fetch’s relationship with its changeling counterpart.”
257: “The fetch can enter the Hedge the same ways that a changeling can(see p. 216).”
257: “The fetch can only shadows only from living beings with souls.”
267: “Perhaps, when that byway is severed, the rest of the changelings will see realize the danger and see how effective it is to cut themselves off from the Hedge, and thus the Fair Lands, completely.”
273: “Although the True Fae often retain their ability to take on their natural form when out on the hunt or otherwise traveling in the human world, banished Fae no longer has this ability.”
276: “Regardless, the Noppera-Bo will use their human or changeling seeming to work their way into the company of a group, playing up their apparent weakness or injuries to full affect.”
315: “Some who discover their presence have begged to be in the order, and have are been chosen for if their talents at manipulating fear and generating terror are up to par (or at least have the potential to be) – but that is the exception to the rule, not the rule itself.”

yes, dear reader... I'm that sad...

Settings

2009-11-24T12:51:00.000Z

I always felt there are two sides to a roleplaying game. We have the mechanics; the rules governing how good your character is at something and the setting; the world your character runs around in. While I find mechanics to be varied and vast in what they do, settings are a different matter.

Having looked through many games I noticed settings can be boxed into three general types: Published, Licensed and Assumed

Published settings are probably the most well known. These are the settings that a given publisher creates. The only way to familiarise yourself with this type is to either read the book, have someone tell you about it or read reviews/articles about the setting. Published settings are often based on genres or a theme. It is fairly easy to compare them to a well known form of media or a particular property but they remain their own thing.

The Published Setting's main advantage is that, provided we'll assume we're only talking about the core book, everyone starts on the same field in terms of knowledge. If you read the book, you will have about the same amount of setting information as anyone sitting right next to you at the gaming table. In addition, as they are supported by the publisher, a community around the setting grows. Players who love it will often seek gaming groups that would play with them. Problems only arise when someone turns up to the game without knowing anything about it. Telling a potential player he needs to go through 200 pages of setting information before playing has a very high chance of scaring him away.

Licensed settings are based on a property. These games start out as something else, whether a book or a television series and are then given rules for people to play in those worlds.

These games don't necessarily require people to read books before playing. It's fairly easy for a Game Master to tell the players what film they should watch before making characters. In about an hour the players will get the feel for the settings without it feeling like doing homework. Unfortunately, these settings are based on series with an existing plot and characters thus they need to somehow deal with them. Either by ignoring them, which can result in losing part of its appeal, or allowing the players to take the role of the main cast, which may lead into the fear of those characters being portrayed incorrectly by others.

Assumed settings build up on knowledge that you already have. It's fairly easy to compare them to something everyone already has some kind of idea about and provide a short list of differences. Many modern games fall into this category. A player assumes everything is just like in the real world but there are monsters around, for example.

These settings are fairly easy to get into if you already know the base idea behind the game. In many cases, you can have the whole game focus on precisely how the setting is different from that base assumption that everyone is familiar with. If you do go that route, you would have to make sure the players won't read how the setting is different from their preconceived notions. The only disadvantage to this kind of setting I can think of is if someone has absolutely no clue what the base idea behind it is like, which I find doubtful.

Assumed settings are my favourite. They don't require people to spend time learning what the setting is like and allow me to jump in straight into the fun of playing. It is not impossible to present Published and Licensed settings as Assumed but it comes with its own problems.

Dungeons and Streetwise

2009-10-31T20:42:00.004Z

Street Dungeons and Dragons
This sounds to me like a very good idea for promoting a roleplay store

Out of a Comic Book
This is what you should do after having your precious books stolen

Dresden Files RPG to be released for Origins 2010
I always wanted publishing companies to offer a free pdf with the purchase of a book, offering them with a preorder sounds like a step in the right direction

Hobby Bid
A new site for auctioning your stuff. Since it's new there's hardly anything on it but it might grow into something cool... or die under the colossus that is eBay...

GM Ambition and you, Part 1: Smooth Sailing

2009-10-16T21:44:00.006+01:00

Alek has spoken about player ambitions which is not to say that that GMs cannot have ambitions too. GMs want their game to succeed and to have fun, just as any player wants their characters to succeed and have fun.

The GM has crafted the scenario or the campaign. He has worked hard to make his game succeed, so if the game goes off-track this may cause the GM to have less fun and be annoyed with his game. To me, roleplaying should be fun for both sides, player and GM alike. So naturally the GM wants his scenario to succeed just as the players want to slay the dragon or whatever.

No game survives contact with the players in my experience. Maybe the players adamantly refuse to: 1. form a group, 2. pick up whatever hook you have planned to get the game running or 3. both at the same time. So what do you do when the players refuse to pick the hook or form the group? You could use force in either case, however that would not only seem unreal but also create a bad atmosphere.

What you could do instead is have the players make their characters so that they are already familiar with one another, you could put them in the same location where the game starts. Put them on the merchant boat that will get attacked by the pirates or in the only military unit that survives the charge against Hill 401. Forming a group is a tricky deal, but so is running a game. It is part of the job of a GM to deal with these problems. Another way to have a group work easier together is arrange for a session of pure character creation. This is especially important in games that are based on heavy character interaction and politics, but don't leave it out in more fantasy or action-based games. You don't want a paladin group of thieves and murders and you don't want a thief in a party of do-gooders. Then again that would make for an interesting game.

As for the hook. Well that is another thing you will have to deal with, so serve it and serve it well. Of course, it varies from group to group, but generally speaking, people react well to strange or exciting things. If your hook makes your group collectively go "Ooooo" then you have them.

The important thing here is to have fun yourself, especially if you are the GM. If you come to the game with little passion about running the game and you seem tired and bored, this will spread to your group very quickly, so whatever you do, make it fun and interesting. Isn't that why you are playing?

Player Ambition and You, Part 1

2009-10-14T20:09:00.005+01:00

Ok, so I know I said I'd be doing Grease Monkey Workshop posts to start with, and this particular issue is much more player/plot focused, but tends to be in the forefront of my mind, both when I play and when I GM.

Though the subject of this post is "Player" ambition, in reality it is the Character's ambitions we're talking about. Any character worth roleplaying as is likely to have goals, and I've seen few characters who were not immediately rejected who simply didn't have them (in some settings, even "To live in peace" can be acceptable, if all hell is breaking loose around you). So the question is then, how do you, the player, go about accomplishing them?

Not to be too overeager to stratify everything about this hobby, but I frequently find myself dividing players into two categories; proactive and reactive. Certainly, there is some overlap here; some players prefer to be proactive about getting to interact with pet NPC's, or seeking out a particular situation they'd like to endure. Others don't really have a preference, and will take whatever the GM throws at them. This is an appropriate application of the concept, but isn't quite what I'm talking about.

The hallmark of a proactive player is that they make opportunities for their Characters. They won't just ask the GM for this or for that; they'll have their characters actually go out into the world and make it happen. They will organize, they will plan, they will amass details for your setting. They will build bureaucracies, build industries, and build social networks. In some cases, if your player is confident enough (and you are permissible enough), they can be relied upon to actually create much of this background detail themselves without needing to follow your lead.

You may have heard the term "sandbox" in reference to a game format before. This is where the proactive player thrives. It is worldbuilding at its best.

Then there's the reactive player. This type of player likes missions, they like adventuring parties, and they like having mentors or superiors to tell them what to do. This isn't due to some deep-seated need for subordinance; it is simply because they prefer to react to the world being portrayed around them. That is what being a hero is all about, right? Responding to danger, saving the day.

Do you know any players who are clearly "proactive" or clearly "reactive"? Share your thoughts, and in the next installment of this series, we will explore some of the ramifications of this paradigm, and techniques we can use to bring out the proactiveness of your players (or, tone it down a little, Mr. Kicks Down All Doors)!

Show Me The Awesome

2009-10-14T16:11:00.001+01:00

It really is true that a Game Master should from time to time change the position where he sits at the table and become a Player. Doing so allows for a change of perspective and you might notice a few things about the dynamics of the game that aren't obvious when you are a Game Master.

I noticed this when after two years of running games I decided to play games. After several gruesome moments of contemplation everything became clear. You see, when I was running a game, I had this idea for a story and all the possible things that would happen. I imagined how Non-Player Characters would act and what the Players would do in various situations. Yet there were times when I just couldn't understand why someone would take this sort of action rather than some other one. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a specific plot in mind nor do I prohibit Players from taking the course of action that they want to take... but there were moments where I just couldn't understand why this and not that... that's when I started playing.

Here's an example: in an Exalted game, I'm playing a Lunar who really doesn't like slavery so when he ends up on an island where he finds out there's a whole nation run by other Lunars who enslave people, he is not happy. Now I picture him going to the palace of the Wolfman-in-charge and telling him his name, what he stand for, what will be the result of his actions and that he, as the ruler, is free to try and stop him. After which point he would show off the speed with which he can run and hide in plain sight. Only to become a shadowy menace that can't be found but whose actions are not only known but seen all around them.

Then Alek tells me it is not the best course of action. That it would be far better to infiltrate the court and destroy their infrastructure from within while inspiring the populace to rebel against their slave masters. As usual, Alek is most certainly right. It is a better course of action and it is more reasonable... so why don't I like it? The answer is simple...

Going to the Big Bad Guy, telling him he sucks and that this is the face that will take him down and then make a run for it is Awesome. Then I imagine the story would revolve around inspiring the slaves to rebel and giving them a helping hand all while evading capture (and imagining how frustrated the Big Bad Guy must be)... and I find that incredibly awesome...

That's when it hit me. Looking at the campaign from the Game Master perspective, I tried to allow all Players to have a chance to shine and make sure it all fits in into the big picture. When playing, all I am looking at is the immediate story of my character and the group. Making wild things and showing off your speciality is very enjoyable. So now when the players go with something I didn't really expect, I do not question in my mind their reasons for taking this course of action, I just accept that Players want to be awesome :)

Crunchometer!

2009-09-10T20:31:00.000+01:00

Transitive Property of Gaming did something I think is really cool: a crunchometer. Check this post to read about it in detail. When I read it I thought I’d apply it to all the systems I run. When I listed them out, it turned out not much but I don’t feel confident in my knowledge of mechanics if I haven’t sat in the Game Master chair. It’s a different experience when you’re a player and all you think about is what applies to your character.

So here is the long awaited Crunchometer!

c20: Exalted – I’ve never run Dungeons and Dragons so I don’t have that to use as a base for this level, however, I feel Exalted can be safely put at the top in terms of complexity. The system is nice and elegant but there is a lot going on with Charms. Every Charm changes how the system applies to your character from a really slight change to giving you complicated actions to use. Then there are Combos which further play with the Charms and one cannot ignore all those players who keep moaning on the internet how certain things are broken with some Charms. I’ve been running it for about 3 years and I’m not sure if I understand the system yet…

c12: Vampire The Requiem, Werewolf The Forsaken, Mage The Awakening, Promethean The Created, Changeling The Lost, Scion – I put the World of Darkness games on this level for the simple fact that by adding a few more rules the complexity of the game goes up. There’s more things to track and more rules that come into effect due to the specifics of the type of creatures the characters are. Although Scion is based on the same system as Exalted, it doesn’t have the problem of lots and lots of various Charms, thus it’s not as complex as said game, which is not to say it doesn’t have its problems.

c10: World of Darkness – At first I wanted to put this one lower since it’s fairly easy to run it just by looking at the sheet but then I thought that the system provides you with all those tables so it should be a bit higher, and really, it uses d10s so it fits here in a way.

c4: Ninja Burger – The simplest game that I’ve run. The character sheet is the size of a playing card, all traits are made up descriptors with a rating of +2, +4 or +6 that you apply as you see fit, just roll 2d6, add those and check the difficulty. There are a few more things that let you pump up your ratings a bit and some optional magic and damage is your rating going lower. That’s it, the whole system… and that’s why I deem it the simplest of this bunch.

Overall, there hasn’t been that many games I run. I wanted to add Vampire The Masquerade there but it’s been so long since I opened the book, I don’t think I remember the rule system enough to place it on the meter. Hopefully, in the future, as I find new games I’ll add them here and I might even add some new levels like c2 and c100 if I feel like it!

Entering the Dungeon

2009-07-24T20:30:00.000+01:00

It’s that time of the month again. The Blog Carnival has arrived and this time the subject matter is Dungeons and Dragons. I thought that I might as well write about how I got into this game and why if it wasn’t for Fourth Edition, I wouldn’t be playing it.

Unlike most roleplayers, I started my venture into the hobby with Vampire The Masquerade. Several months of pretending to be flame throwing vampires going through sewers on the behest of some creepy Nosferatu we met at an Elysium, looking for an item from bygone times that would end our mission later, I would learn of this game called Dungeons and Dragons. At the time, Third Edition was on the shelves (or 3.5, I don’t know), it’s sheer amount of books made me stay away from that game. Of course, it was two years before I learned World of Darkness had a similar amount of books but they just weren’t on the shelves at the time. I found the massive number of books unwieldy and just wasn’t into buying them all so still no Dungeons and Dragons for me.

In 2004 the current World of Darkness line ended and was replaced with a new one. It was the first time I experienced Edition Wars. People feeling cheated by the end of their favourite game and stating they will never play the new one because of its inferiority in setting and mechanics. For two years it kept me from picking up the new World of Darkness. All that talk about how bad a game is and how you’re better off with what you have does have an impact on a person. Only two years later I gave World of Darkness a chance and suffice to say, I really liked what I saw.

That revelation made me realise that one should not limit themselves to just one game system above all others because that way you can miss on a lot of fun. I was really glad when I heard Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition was coming out and I decided I will try it out. DragonMeet 2008 arrived in December and I was about to buy the player’s guide when my friend asked me not to (”it’s not DnD”) so I didn’t. Past New Year I became more involved in a Roleplaying Club and soon I got my first chance at a Dungeons and Dragons game. The first one was 3.5, the second was 4th and I still like the 4th better. 3.5 felt like the only thing I could do is whack someone, 4th provided me with a little bit more options for strategy and a pay off for working together… which is terribly annoying when the other players don’t work together but that’s also part of the charm… and all that, in addition to roleplaying. I never saw any merit to the claims that 4th Edition was more about combat and less about roleplaying, from the games I played, it was the other way around. Now I’m glad I finally get over the whole war and got into Dungeons and Dragons, it’s a fun game.

I guess this is what Edition Wars do. People get up in arms that their favourite game is dying, that it’s not supported is a huge disadvantage and thus the whole game line will eventually die out. All this talk is really discouraging to someone who would like to get into the hobby and instead of helping, the Edition War just robs us of potential playmates. It would be a much nicer world if we’d just stop bitching about a game and played what we love…

Abandonment

2009-07-03T20:29:00.000+01:00

It’s been too long since I made a post.

Moving countries and dealing with family (and friends) while trying to find the time for other projects and running games made me put off writing posts for about two weeks. Fortunately, I’m not done with the blogosphere.

You all know the drill, family comes first… and when it comes to roleplaying, if I don’t do that, what’s the point of having a blog about the subject?

So in about 3 hours from now I’ll be heading off to Avangarda. While most bloggers are at Origins, I’ll be going to Warsaw. Hopefully, I’ll find an interesting seminar and made a blog post about it or maybe I’ll do something even more fun. Time will tell… I just need to ask him…

And this month’s blog carnival looks interesting… I think I know what I’ll write on it…

Thanks for the attention and all those nice comments about my erratic thoughts on talking animals… seriously, who spends their time thinking about that stuff?! I’m so messed up…

You can Talk?!

2009-06-17T20:27:00.000+01:00

In many roleplaying games there is a power that allows a character to talk with animals. Sometimes it is one type of animal, other times all beasts. Speaking with them is useful for getting information in settings where people aren’t known to be able to converse with pets and it speeds up the training process if your guard dog knows precisely what you expect of him. In most games I played animals talked exactly the same way as humans which to me sounds a bit strange. Thus I thought of way to use language’s complex nature to flavour the way an animal speaks.

First and foremost we have to remember that a single letter isn’t indicative of a single sound. Words when spoken are in essence sounds so you can play with their length. The animal can potentially explain complex things in a shorter (or longer) amount of time than a human would. This might depend on what is asked and how closely it relates to what the animal interacts with. A cat, for instance, would describe a mouse in a lot of detail with one word while it would need several minutes to describe the shape of a car.

Game Implementation: Tell your players how long it would take for an animal to answer their questions and see if they still want to ask them or write down a long sentence on a piece of paper and tell them how little time it needs to say all that.

In a similar vein to sounds, you may want to play with words. In some languages, a word takes on a meaning contextually. This means that one word in one language may stand for two or more words in a different language. The meaning is not lost, rather than depending on the word used, it is hidden in the context. For instance, in Polish pokój is used for both room and peace and yet, it’s obvious from the sentence which meaning is being used.

Game Implementation: Take two words that have no relation to one another, pick one and use it in place of the second. Just watch out for players frustrated with your overuse of this trick… they can bite too!

Language categorises words into other words. We have terms for elements, cars, shoes and food but not all categories are equal. Another language may categorise items in a different way than our own, thus we have one word for what to us are two different things… or the other way around! Example: our favourite kitty could see all vehicles humans ride as one thing, whether it’s a car or a bike, it would call all of them something-that-is-ridden.

Game Implementation: Take a large category of words (feline, canine, plane, house, etc.) and use it every time you’d normally say something more specific. Have the players realise how clueless the animal is when asked about whether the villain escaped in a black Ford or a yellow Chevrolet.

Simply changing how animals talk and what they find important is enough to make using the ability to talk with animals different than asking a human for directions. I have used the above methods to achieve that and to avoid the horrible lost in translation trope that only infuriates players when they realise they didn’t get the information they wanted.

I hope you’ll find these tricks useful in your games.

The Middleeastern Wind - Part 2

2009-04-18T20:26:00.000+01:00

Grim went to see if Rupert managed to find anything on Marduk while Dr Hether left to tend to the people who survived the sandstorm. Rupert managed to locate a myth about the god. Marduk was the chief god of the Mesopotamian pantheon but before he became their leader he fought Tiamat. It all started with Anu, Marduk’s grandfather, creating the four winds as toys for him. The winds teased Tiamat, the primordial chaos associated with the ocean, about not having avenged the death of her husband Apsu. She then created twelve monsters and the Tablet of Destinies to control them and sent them out to battle the gods. Marduk stood up to defeat her, he commanded the winds to enter Tiamat’s stomach through her mouth and when she inflated, he shot an arrow into her, splitting her in half. From these two halves he created the Earth and Sky. He took the Tablet of Destinies from her and wore it on his chest as he went off to create the social order.

Having heard this tale they both went off to find the other Scions. Hether and Ana were helping the dead as well as the living, they found many people with contracted lungs lying around town. Sean was lifting up debris that fell on people, after putting down his bottle each time before he did so. When they finally gathered in one place, Grim demanded everyone explain what each could do so they would be able to work out how to work as a team to stop the wind from destroying the town. Ana mentioned that they might have less time than three days as winds are known to be fickle. As the conversation progressed Ana came out as the best for investigations, Grim for hunting people down, Rupert for anything relating to books, Hether for dealing with the dead and Sean was the strongest.

It started to get late so most Scions departed to get a well deserved rest, other than Grim and Rupert who decided to investigate the archaeological dig site which they believed had something to do with Tiamat’s restoration. Being part of the research team, Rupert took the Scion of Odin to the outskirts of town where the ziggurat was located. They found the site nearly buried in sand, the fence sticking out of the desert and no sign of anything other than a few ancient bricks. Thanks to glasses that allowed him to see in moonlight as clear as day, Rupert noticed the sand collapsing near the ruins. The two Scions went closer to find sand sinking into a hole in the ground, not wanting to risk falling inside they left with the intention of returning tomorrow morning.

When dawn came, the Band split up with Ana and Rupert going to the dig site. They arrived to see Dr Samuel Queen already coordinating researchers and local workers to salvage as much recovered artefacts as they could. After giving a folder with an extensive analysis of Marduk to the overworked doctor, Rupert introduced Ana who then proceeded to chat Samuel up. Falling for her exotic charms he told her how they were overworked and in a state of disarray. She asked about his connection to Borrelli, to which he told her Mr Borrelli approached him when he was looking for funding for this expedition. He was very generous with his offer and wanted very little in return but now it might all be lost. Ana told Dr Queen she’ll get him some volunteers to help, for which he was very grateful, especially when she returned with three, the rest of her Band.

Grim went off to clear the bricks, an archaeologist tried to stop him but Grim insisted it was just rumble in need of clearing up. The archaeologist went on a rant saying how the ruins of the ziggurat are an ancient peculiarity. The whole ziggurat normally functions as a temple around which a town was built but here this was not the case. The ruins already suffered from robbers taking the bricks and selling them and they didn’t need anyone else destroying the place. Glad he received the information, Grim backed off. When they finished arguing, the Jamaican stuntman already finished digging up the hole that Grim and Rupert saw yesterday. The researches were amazed at the speed he cleared up the two stories deep entrance to the temple and began to mount up a crane to get him out.

The Band decided to take the opportunity of Queen being busy with rescuing the dig site to inspect his hotel lodgings. Sean and Hether went to his hotel, Ana attempted to locate Borrelli and his assistant while Grim and Rupert decided to keep an eye out on Queen. While Hether had little experience in breaking into people’s rooms, it was crucial for her to be with Sean so he knew which lock to pick and most importantly, where to find the correct door. However, first they needed to know what room Dr Queen was in so they gave a sealed envelope with a blank letter addressed to him to the reception. The staff put it in a box with his number on it. Armed with this knowledge, Sean broke into the room and they both found an utter mess of notes, documents and photos from the dig site. After a moment they noticed some of the notes stuck to the wall seemed to concentrate on one area. When they removed it they found an ancient picture of a beast that had characteristics of a snake, dog and eagle painted on a brand new wall.

Sean took out his cell phone and called Ana.
“Hi Ana, we went through Queen’s room and found a painting. It’s strange, the paint looks a lot older than the hotel wall,” he snapped a picture of it to send to Ana. “It blinked!”

The conversation between Rupert and Queen, who was very impressed with the work he had done compiling and analysing information on Marduk ended abruptly with Queen’s sudden expression of terror and a “I must go.”

Grim remained vigilant so the moment the main researcher started to leave the site in a hurry he called Hether, “Get out of the room, Queen’s coming, I’ll buy you some time.”

The Middleeastern Wind - Part 1

2009-04-11T20:25:00.000+01:00

The town of Nakhwar in Iraq was starting to find peace after several terrorists were apprehended by the US soldiers stationed in the local base. It may have been only in the mind of Grim that this atmosphere was transitory. Fate has brought him here, he could see and feel its power condensing around the town. Ragnärok was coming, he was told to stop it. Fortunately, he wasn’t alone in this task. Others were, like him, chosen by the gods, he just needed to trust Fate to guide him to them.

The first he met was a stuntman. Sean, a Scion of Ogoun who has just finished filming the action sequences to another summer blockbuster out next year. He found him sitting in a restaurant and joyfully filling his body with liquor. They talked but it was difficult to get through to him. Grim said he would return later.

The second he met was a journalist. Ana, Scion of Miclántecuhtli, came to Nakhwar in order to expose the dirty secrets of Paragon Corps whose CEO, Santiago Borelli, came this morning to inspect the workings of his enterprises. She was quickly shut down with a no comment from Borelli’s assistant and a remark to Google her name if she wants to know it so badly. Not one to give up easily, she was following the crippled old man and his assistant through town when a man came up to her with words of a connected lineage. They finished their quick discussion of things to come and felt a sudden and strong wind pass by. When he left, she ignored his warning of the Scion of Ogoun sitting in a nearby restaurant and went to meet him.

The third he met was a librarian. Rupert, the adopted Scion of Athena did not expect to find another Scion in the library he worked in. He was brought here together with other researchers, mainly archaeologists, to study the remains of a strangely placed Ziggurat. His role was to sort out documents and ancient manuscripts as well as navigate the vast repertoire of knowledge hidden within the library walls. They were quickly interrupted by Dr Samuel Queen, the head researcher of the expedition, who was surprised to see someone talking to Rupert. Nonetheless, he quickly told Rupert he will need any information he can find on Marduk and left. Grim seemed to recall there being a god called Marduk who fought Tiamat, the primordial chaos, and so asked Rupert to look into it in hopes they would uncover why Fate has brought them here. Then he left to find a breeze outside. Before he reached his final destination, the wind grew in strength.

The fourth he met was a coroner at the military base. At first, he was barred entry but after flashing his FBI ID and asking the soldiers to call up Washington DC, they allowed him entry. He found Dr Hether, a Scion of Anubis, examining a man whose lungs contracted at about the time when a strange wind was reported yesterday. As they talked, the doctor’s assistant came in to inform them they were under a lock down due to a particularly large sandstorm raging outside. Grim remarked he would leave through the window if need be.

Meanwhile after Ana discussed things with Sean, she opened the door leading out of the restaurant only to allow entry for wind and sand. She could not close the door alone but Sean seemed to have very little problems helping her. As he walked over to her, he heard the name Tiamat whispered by the wind. The walls started shaking, the patrons began to panic as all could hear the roof about to be taken by nature. The Scions went upstairs to get everyone down to the basement, they were nearly done when the building broke in half. People were starting to fly away but Sean caught them and assisted in getting into shelter. The Scions covered their faces to protect themselves against the sandstorm and headed out into the chaos. If it weren’t for the two holding each other by hands, Ana would have flown away into the carnage. Yet, they could hear the wind speak to someone.

The window crashed at the base, the sandstorm entered the morgue. It was no ordinary sandstorm, that much was clear to Grim’s eye. When he looked outside he also felt a sentience within the wind.

“I demand you to stop!” he shouted, hoping for a reply.
“I cannot,” the wind replied. “Tiamat is rising, it is my duty to stop her.”
“Who?” he kept on. “Who told you this?!”
“My King Marduk, it is my duty to not let Tiamat rise.”
“This is not the way, we will stop Tiamat, leave this town be!”
“We? Who are you? Enemies of Tiamat?”
“Yes, we. I am the son of the Father of All. There are more like me, we will stop Tiamat from rising.”
“Very well, you have three days,” with those words, the sandstorm receded into a gentle breeze within minutes. Putting everything safely down on the ground.

Grease Monkey Workshop

2009-04-09T20:24:00.000+01:00

Hello folks, I am your guest blogger and resident Crunch-master, Aleksanteri. For those of you who read the wonderful post Lunatyk made about his game, United We Stand, I am fortunate enough to be one of the players.

Anyhow, this is a bit of an introduction to my totally irregular series, entitled Grease Monkey Workshop (hereafter known as GMW so I can fit something more interesting into the post title). I will be generally focusing on game mechanics, gaming etiquette, and how a game’s setting, plot, and characters interface with a given mechanical system. To be sure, I am no math wizard, and my statistical analysis skills are almost non-existent, so I will not be focusing on those aspects, but a more abstract look at how we can make the crunchy bits work for our stories, how to avoid common player/GM pitfalls, general GM technique, and other, stranger things.

Cheers,

Aleksanteri Agitshev

I cast: No PDFs!

2009-04-08T19:23:00.001+01:00

While the RPG Blogosphere is all buzzing at the news of Wizards of the Coast suspending the sales of their PDFs on other sites, other companies are offering their PDF products at a discount price.

Among them is White Wolf, whose games I’ve started my gaming career with. I’m not going to get into the whole discussion between the pro-PDF and anti-PDF groups. Those who use PDFs have their reasons, those who don’t see the point of them just don’t need to use them. PDFs help me to speed up games but I’m still waiting for the time when a book will come with a copy of its PDF so I don’t have to pay for the same thing twice.

What really interests me here are two things:

1 – White Wolf once again gives people the chance to get into Exalted for free. They did so once before when Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition was about to come out by offering the option of exchanging the older edition book for Exalted 2nd Edition and now this. It seems Exalted is their way to combat Dungeons and Dragons. I’m not surprised considering the book has the following sentence in the introduction section right at the beginning (which I always felt talks about Dungeons and Dragons as the most “games”):

In most games, a player’s “heroic” character starts out as a complete wuss. He’s lucky if he owns a rusty dagger and a loincloth, and he’s possessed of all the fighting prowess of an asthmatic schoolboy. Exalted is different.

(Exalted 2006:14)

2 – Eddy Webb says “that White Wolf is still actively looking into returning to the print-on-demand arena.” Which makes me really happy. I am not too big on their PDF-exclusive products but I am one of those persons who really wants to get some print-on-demand goodness. It broke my heart that I couldn’t buy them from Lulu when I finally managed to scrape enough cash together.

To finish off this blog post, go to either RPGNow or DriveTrhuRPG and get yourself a copy of Exalted. It’s free, it’s worth checking out… especially since wwlovesyou (that’s the coupon code).

Foreword: The Middle Eastern Wind

2009-04-05T19:22:00.000+01:00

It’s about time I blog about my ongoing campaigns. Starting with the tabletop Scion game, The Stoicheion Pentagram, mainly because it’s unexplored territory for me. I’ve been gaming online for years and have fond memories of that experience. I would expect running games at the table is very different than running them online. I have been waiting for an opportunity to run the sort of game every other roleplayer plays for years and now that I have a regular gaming group where I can act as The Storyteller… I’m happy!

The first time I went to meet them, we had a boardgame day and played The History of the World. I liked them so at the end of the day I told them I would like to run a game of Scion. I’ve decided on it because it’s an easy game to get into. The setting is familiar to everyone who knows anything about mythology, at the same time, being unfamiliar with myths is not a deterrent.

I told them that the first chapter of the campaign would begin in a fictional city in Iraq and that they’re free to make any character they want, from any nationality since the scope of the campaign will be the whole world. When preparing the first chapter of the story, I only had my campaign framework set up and a general idea of where to place the introductory story. I spent the next day reading Mesopotamian myths, opting to incorporate the creation myth into a simple story about an evil god waking to destroy the world.

I planned for something simple with a few hints to use in later sessions. A very short introduction to the main antagonist and a simple story hook to get the players involved in saving lives. Overall, it was a very general story geared towards showing players (and me!) how the system works with enough room to gauge how complex plots I can create later on and showing me how I need to run this sort of games.

Running the game was my main concern. I haven’t done this in nine years, excluding a few one-shots where I learned the brain works differently for writing than it does for speaking. I practiced some of the key words I’d need, noted down the creation myth, made up a few names and thus went off to play.

First Time Adventurer

2009-03-29T19:20:00.000+01:00

About a week ago, the Roleplaying Club that I go to on Thursdays had two people running a Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition Day. They each run a game for people who wanted to try it out. I was one of the players and it was my first encounter with this edition of Dungeons and Dragons.

The Game Master running it was very good. It helped to be reminded of options I could take and showing how the range is counted using squares on a map. Having never played with the use of miniatures, at first I thought I wouldn’t like it. I was wrong, it was a different experience and allowed me to focus on things other than the position of everyone in an imaginary confined space and the abstract distances between us. No more questions about how far away is X from Y!

The only thing I didn’t like is how the adventure started with a big brawl. The sheets we were given were fairly comprehensive in mechanics (the only thing missing was the Warlock’s Curse damage at level 1) but I was still uncertain how the game actually works within its combat system. I’m used to that though. I am more of a story person than a mechanics guru so it’s always a problem for me to imagine how the rules interact with one another without seeing it first hand. After that initial combat scene, merely seeing how we can act as a team, added a great deal to the feel of being a group of adventurers rather than lone wolves with a common goal.

The non-story situations were exciting too. I liked the skill challenges and was happy that I could roll when intimidating and seeking for knowledge in my head. I’m just that kind of person that starts out quiet in a conversation and needs some time before really starting to roleplay. After all of that, I’m not sure why people keep saying it’s purely a miniatures game that pretends to be a roleplaying game. It didn’t strike me as such. The miniatures are a big part of it but for me who always played without them, they felt like a nice change from the usual abstractions.

I only played one session of 3.5 and I enjoyed that one Fourth Edition session a lot more. It took the way I think during combat in a very different way, gave me enough flexibility to work in and outside of combat and I had a chance to roleplay without being forced to do so. In 3.5 I felt like all I could do is swing my axe and add a cool description to it, in Fourth Edition the Spells my Warlock had provided me with so much more. Fortunately, that wasn’t just the case with me but with all the other players and their characters.

I think I’ll be picking up the books when I get a chance

Cultivation of War

2009-03-21T18:19:00.000Z

While reading Scion there was one thing that I felt was missing from the War Boons. Mainly a Boon that would allow you to actually lead soldiers into battle. It seemed odd that while the first few Boons gave your allies bonuses, the higher you got the more personal power you’d achieve. A God of War certainly can’t be a wimp but not being good at leading soldiers into battle against incredible foes seems contrary to the concept of War. My answer to this problem was simple, make up a Boon that would enhance your soldiers! It’s only level 4 since I didn’t want to get too into the Demigod area without playing through it first…

Cultivation of War (War 4)
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Command
Cost: 1 Willpower + 1 Legend per Trait per Soldier
Not everyone can throw teeth to the ground or call to the heavens to summon battle ready warriors. The gods wage their war too and at times, good soldiers are scarce. Scions with this Boon have an advantage over their peers who have to wait years for their Followers to gain battlefield experience or ask their parents for new soldiers. When a Scion leads his troops to battle he may bless them with a portion of his own strength. He spends a Willpower point and then one Legend point (up to his Legend rating) for each soldier thus affected. Each Legend point spent above those expenditures allows the Scion to raise his soldiers’ Traits on a one-for-one basis, these traits include: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Perception, Wits, Athletics, Brawl, Fortitude, Marksmanship, Melee, Stealth, Survival, Thrown, Courage, Endurance, Loyalty and Valor. The Scion cannot raise a Trait above the mortal’s natural maximum nor above his own rating in the Trait but all soldiers gain a Loyalty 1 regardless of this limitation to reflect the commitment to their new Scion leader.

The Origin of United We Stand

2009-03-15T18:17:00.000Z

I’ve been waiting for a topic I could write on as part of the RPG Blog Carnival. I really love that idea of bloggers posting around one topic. This month it’s War!!! What better time to talk about my three year long Exalted campaign where the backdrop was an impending war? Especially considering that the third year anniversary is just around the corner

About three years ago I had this urge to play Exalted. I wanted a plot of epic proportions with a larger scope than I’m used to, that’s what Exalted is for in my mind. Suddenly the idea of a war hit me with full force. It was something that had both the glory of heroes leading armies to victory and the ever present shadow of death, fear and misery. Now I was only left with certain questions I had to answer before continuing.

Where will this war take place?

For armies to march to war, you have to give them something to march on. I wanted something standard but with enough twist to make it interesting so I went with the Hundred Kingdoms. I didn’t want to create hundred kingdoms so I decided that the area is composed of a hundred or so city-states with various alliances, meaning that there will be a dozen or so Rulers with enough pull to force everyone into a war. Cities need to feed themselves somehow so they are all near food sources, woods and rivers in addition to farmlands surrounding their walls. Smaller villages would export their crops to cities with a mercantile focus, thus creating a trading network. It was important for me to know how people function before the war to explain why constant battles would hurt their lifestyles.

Why is this war being waged?

Wars don’t happen just because. I didn’t want the reason for this war to be obvious so I decided there will be more than meets the eye. While all Rulers involved have their own reasons, ranging from greed to fear, there is someone who is sending his agents to each of them, pushing the nobles ever so slightly towards the brink of war. Naturally, it needs to be someone who would benefit from countless of battles being fought between neighbours. A reason thus creates an opportunity for players to resolve the war without ever taking to the sword, as unlikely an option as it is, it’s there.

Who is fighting?

The next step is who are the leaders and generals, what strategies do they have and how much resources do they have. This information I don’t have precisely defined, it’s easier to divide soldiers into groups of infantry, cavalry, navy and spies, define how many of each an army has overall, what are the army’s strengths and weaknesses and give those on a need-to-know basis. For instance, at present the players only know of one militaristic Kingdom which is comparatively small but has experience fighting during the winter months.

Who are the player character?

When preparing this campaign I wanted to put the players in charge of a kingdom but first I asked to see what characters they would give me. I told them what the focus of this game will be and waited for the backgrounds. Fortunately, one player decided his character’s Motivation will be to oust tyrants… instant plot hook! The first thing they had to deal with is entering a foreign kingdom, meeting each other for the first time and learning that the Ruler of these lands is a despot who cares more about his coffer than his people… so they went to knock on his door and took the Kingdom away from him. That way they were put in a position where they could not ignore the threat of a war and already contributed to the political unrest.

When is this war fought?

As I already mentioned, I didn’t want to start with a war already taking place. Unfortunately, a war doesn’t happen overnight. I had rumours of battles being fought far away from the players’ new Kingdom enter, slowly gave them clues about their neighbours and finally let the information of an alliance against them reach their ears. Now they have a chance to do something about it but will it be enough to stop a war when there is a force as powerful as they are working in opposition to their efforts? That’s the first question for the game to answer…

Pokemon The RolePlaying Game

2009-03-07T19:16:00.000Z

A while ago Leisure Games posted their New Releases, among them this gem

Pokemon Jr Adventure Game
(Introductory Childrens RPG; For 1 Parent + 1-6 Players; Ages 6-8)

In this game, you and your friends, become Pokemon trainers and set out in a series of exciting adventures. Journey from Pallet Town to Viridian City, looking for Pokemon to capture and battles to win!

With each story-game you play, you and your friends collect Pokemon and gain experience in your quest to become Pokemon masters.

The system is a very simple D6 based system.

This box contains everything you need to play!

This reminds me of one of the first times I run a roleplaying game. I was very into Pokemon during my secondary school years. One faithful day I bought a guide to the Nintendo game with all the stats for Pokemons in it and decided it’s enough material to make a roleplaying game. A few days later two people became my players. First one was my erstwhile storyteller who I had one session with before the group broke up; the second was my buddy sitting next to me in class. We had a blast with it, they ended up being mad scientists researching ways to develop the ultimate Pokemon to rule them all!

I made so many mistakes as a Storyteller back then. Which isn’t surprising considering I was only starting out my career… and unlike most people I don’t feel embarrassed admitting I was into Pokemon. Ignoring all the bitching I can already hear coming about it, I have to admit that I don’t see how this game could be appealing. I feel like the whole Pokemon craze is over; it’s all a shadow of its former glory nowadays. Like with all licensed products, if there isn’t a strong outside appeal for a brand, the branded game won’t fare well.

Maybe if I had kids I would buy that game but as is, it’s very unlikely…

It's Over 9000!!!

2009-02-28T19:15:00.000Z

A recent post on Transitive Property of Gaming made me think about fights and their difficulty in relation to player characters. My recent exploits with Exalted and Scion have shown me that I am terrible at statting up antagonists whilst keeping in mind player’s power level so I had to learn how to create test antagonists for the group to kill so I’ll get a feel of their powerlevel and go up the scale from that.

Later on when I started reading on narrative theory it occurred to me that doing this is in theme with many plots. This particular stage is called the Dream Stage where the protagonist seems invincible because every obstacle thrown at him can’t stop him. In game terms, it’s the point of a scenario when I, as the Storyteller, begin to test the combat system. From there we move into the Nightmare Stage where everything seems too much for the protagonist but in the end, he succeeds.

Watch a James Bond film (probably one of the older ones, I haven’t seen the newer ones so I can’t tell) and notice how at the beginning 007 is so clever, great and full of sheer awesome that he rules the scene. After a while though the agent is met with adversary worthy of his skill, he might even fail initially but at the end of the story, he succeeds.

Does this excuse developers to not provide a level system for both characters and players? While reading Ninja Burger the answer that popped into my head was No. The Dream and Nightmare Stages are useful in the game even if you already have a balanced level system. They allow you to contrast antagonists and emphatise the importance of certain villains. However, if you have a balanced level system you can go straight into the frail that you want, without the need to get a feel of the system. Thus you save up your time and I notice that at least as a reader I feel more comfortable starting a game that has a confrontational level system than one that doesn’t.

The Highway

2009-02-17T19:14:00.000Z

As Storytellers we all do two things, we plan out a game and we narrate it. The first part of this activity can take many forms, some people plan out a game while narrating it (total improvisation), others spend countless hours on preparing their multi-layered plot days before they sit down and roll the dice. As is the case with many people, I am somewhere in between. One of my online players once told me that he likes the way I storytell because it’s more reactive. Now is the question: how do I achieve this style of play?

There are three basic things all my scenarios are composed of: Point A, Point B and Area.

The Area is the place within which the player characters can and may move to their hearts’ desire. Within this area there will be events to provide the players with entertainment so while they are not outright prohibited from jumping on a plane and leaving the city with all its weirdness behind, they are made aware that in so doing they are forcing me to come up with ideas on the spot. The downside of me improvising is that the plot I create suffers in either complexity or execution.

Point A is the starting point for the characters. It’s that point within time and space where the scenario begins. The beginning must involve some hook that will make the characters aware of something going on in their vicinity, it’s the hook of the story without which there is no story.

Point B is the resolution scene. The aforementioned story will be concluded after it finishes. Notice that the way in which this scene ends has no defined ending. The characters may fail or succeed depending on what they have done until now and what they will do in this very moment.

What’s so reactive about this style of storytelling? There is nothing else planned. I might have some ideas as to how to direct players to that Point B but they never depend on what the players have to do. Having a Point A means I know what’s been happening until now to cause a disruption that the characters notice. The Area means that the players are within certain parameters of action that will affect them whatever they do. Finally, Point B provides me with a direction to make the various disruptions meaningful.

Until now there are two things I didn’t explain, I mentioned events and disruptions. Those two are very similar. An event is a moment of exposition, it’s when the characters become aware of the forces at play in the scenario. A disruption is an event that occurs in reply to a character wanting to achieve a goal but he is met with an obstacle. These two are responsible for making the game interesting during narration and it’s when I’m at the table that I come up with detailed versions of them.

Without examples, it’s really hard to make sense of what I’ve been writing about until now. Don’t worry about it, I have a session on Saturday and afterwards I’ll present to you how the theoretical became the actual gaming experience.

In Nomine

2009-02-15T19:12:00.000Z

In Nomine starts with two interrelated stories about a group of angels and demons each trying to get their hands on a special painting. After reading them, I got to see how things happened from both sides and got a feeling for each group. I saw a cherub guardian who immobilised the woman under his protection, naturally for her own good and another angel who seemed like a bitch from the way she treated a human being. On the other hand, while not entirely good, the demon narrator of the other story seemed kinder towards humans and yet, peculiarly malicious in his own way. This mixing of unfamiliar elements to an existing concept is not that uncommon. Here it creates a distortion of our preconception of the forces of good and evil, making them more grey than black and white thus the reader realises that just because you’re playing a demon or angel, you don’t have to be good nor evil by default, it’s a choice for you to make.

After that we are introduced to the setting and mechanics of the game. The setting has many references to music themes, from calling the whole of reality The Symphony through Songs being the angelic and demonic powers to describing angels and demons as instruments. There is little in terms of a division between setting and mechanics in this part of the book. A description of an element of the setting is followed by the game rules governing it. All of which are based on the d666 system. It seems a simple system, based on your characteristics you have to roll below a specific number on two of three six sided dice (those two need to be identical and distinctive from the third die). The third die tells you the degree of success. What’s interesting about the mechanic is Intervention. On a roll of 1-1-1 the Holy Spirit helps out angels and screws demons (an epic failure if you will) while the reverse happens on a roll of 6-6-6 because Lucifer smiles upon you. The characteristics themselves are divided into six main ones, further divided into Corporeal, Ethereal and Celestial groups like most elements of the game and then you have additional skills that add to your main characteristics in specific tests. Your angel/demon can also have servants and as mentioned before, you get powers in the form of Songs. What really surprised me is that angels and demons don’t have to possess people in order to stay on Earth. It is a necessity for some but most can just don a vessel that they create themselves and with appropriate point allocation, you’d even have a background history for your new persona. This also makes you really hard to kill as death only means you go to Heaven or Hell and then you can just make yourself another body.

Next up we meet the angels. A player can choose from seven Choirs, each representing a concept such as Truth, Balance, Honour or Politics. A Choir is your characters nature, it allows you to attune to The Symphony and gain insight into how its played in relation to your concept. The downside is that going against your nature could eventually cause you to Fall from Grace all the way to Hell. After the Choirs come Archangels whose bidding the angels do on Earth. Each Archangel represents a specific conceptual Word and sends his servants to further his cause in The Symphony. Serving an Archangel gives you benefits, some default, some earned. Demons and Demon Princes are represented in much the same vein. The main difference is that Demon Bands are reflections of Choirs with inverted concepts. While a Seraph of Truth can attune himself to The Symphony and gain insight into what is true and what isn’t, a Balseraph will force a truth onto The Symphony around him. In other words, demons change The Symphony to further their own goals. A description of Heaven and Hell is given including various realms of the Archangels and Demon Princes.

The last and smallest part of the book consists of a selection of NPCs, a few pages of gamemastering advice and a list to draw inspirations from.

The Halloween Spirit

2009-02-07T19:12:00.000Z

“Trick or Treat,” the little children said with their bags raised up, waiting for sweets to fall.
Jason looked at them with contempt “Get the Hell out of here!”, he screamed and shut the door before the children’s noses. Marry ran to him from the kitchen, still wearing her kitchen apron. “What was that all about?”
“Nothing., he replied while turning towards the stairs “Just those stupid kids in their ungodly costumes.”
“You know. You should allow them to have fun until their kids.”
“And let them join a satanic cult when they grow up?” he began climbing the stairs “It always starts with fun. Someone has to do something before they turn their backs on God.”
He was about to leave for the bathroom when he noticed the stairs led much higher than he expected. What’s more, he found himself standing on a pole high above the ground. Jason looked down almost instinctively, he felt sweat dropping off his forehead as his eyes widened in fear, his heart began to beat louder and louder, his feet felt like jelly. Then he noticed it wasn’t just his feet, the pole he stood on began to erode and he found himself screaming for his life as he began to fall down.
Marry heard her husband scream, but at the same time she felt something crawling her leg. A spider is what she saw, she jumped out of sheer fear and stomped the beast as soon as it feel off. Ashamed she looked back at her love, but he was nowhere to be seen. Instead a creature, an amalgam of man and arachnid, looked directly at her with all eight eyes. It jumped on her, forcing her down on the ground, she panicked, grabbed a shoe and hit on the beast’s face while screaming for her life.
Jason finally meet the ground, a headache he never had before was the last thing he remembered. The beast, although Marry’s fierce retaliation, injected her with its venom, Mary’s heart stopped.
It wasn’t long until the door to their house opened and a man with a pumpkin on his head came inside.
“Trick or Treat, you got yourself a Trick,” he said, looking at the bodies of Jason and Marry lying on each other on the floor “Happy Halloween,” he said before the hallway was filled with laughter.
Background: When children and teens start looking for a costume for their Halloween parties, they may sometimes find their way to a shop with a peculiar one. Made of just a black cape, a plastic scythe and a fake pumpkin head. Most of them disregard such a costume as too unoriginal, but from time to time, some decide to take it with them. It doesn’t take long till they begin to feel the need to try it on before the parties start. Unfortunately for these individuals, the cape envelopes them, turning their clothes black as night, from beneath which straw can be seen. The scythe becomes all too real, while the poor soul laughs as the pumpkin head grows.
Description: The Halloween Spirit takes on the physical height of its victim, although it always remains thin. The Halloween Spirit will search for a target at least one a night and use its Induce Fear power to trap the target in an illusion filled with its worst fears and nightmares. After dawn, The Spirit reverts to its costume form, but it will attempt to get back to the possessed person’s home before that time in order to try possessing him the following night. It often stays with its “owner” until the Halloween night passes, after which the costume is nowhere to be found, although it often appears much before the very night.
Storytelling Hints: On this night, people must feel fear. No matter who, they all have their nightmares hidden beneath that petty courage. It is time for them to face them on the night of All Hallow’s Eve.

Story Seeds

The characters notice increasing death rates among their associates, and probably friends. Their investigation doesn’t give any obvious link connecting the victims aside from the fact they all lived close to each other. When they come to the neighbourhood they begin to feel watched. It’s obvious to them that the people living here are already prepared for Halloween, having all the decorations prepared, but the people have become grim with the tragedy inflicted upon them. Is someone targeting the community? Is someone trying to get rid of the characters contacts to spite them? Or is this just a coincidence that all the victims died of a heart attack?
A tragedy happens in close vicinity to where the characters live. A young pair has been found dead in their apartment. All the evidence shows both of them attacked each other and hit each other with whatever was around until neither was able to move. How will the characters deal with such a violent death in their close vicinity? Will they help in the investigation? What will they do after the same happens the next night?
The characters are all enjoying trick or treating when they see a man with a pumpkin on his head. At first they may laugh or give weird looks, but they soon go off to the next house. After a while they notice the neighbourhood they were in has suddenly become empty. What’s more, they lose each other from their sight and soon, they discover the place is crawling with monsters. What has the strange man to do with all this? Will they try to fight the monsters or run for their lives? Are they going to notice they are fighting each other before it’s too late?

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2
Physical Attributes: As the possessed
Social Attributes: Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 3
Skills: As the possessed + Stealth (hide) 3, Intimidation 3
Merits: N/A
Willpower: 5
Morality: N/A
Virtue/Vice: Faith/Wrath
Health: As the possessed
Initiative: Possessed Dexterity + 3
Defense: As the possessed if higher than 3, otherwise 3
Speed: As the possessed
Size: As the possessed
Supernatural Powers:
Supernatural Entity: As a supernatural creature, the Spirit gains a deal of resistance against other supernatural powers. Add 3 dice to any rolls to resist supernatural powers targeted at the spirit. Although its name, the Halloween Spirit is not a spirit being and as such, all supernatural powers purely affecting spirits fail automatically against the Halloween Spirit (such as some Gifts and the Spirit Arcana spells).
Possession: The Halloween Spirit may attempt to possess an individual who wears it any given night. It then rolls its Intelligence + Dexterity against the targets Resolve + Composure. If the Spirit is succesful, it gains control over the body for the rest of the night (until dawn) and gains a cumulative +1 bonus to possess the same individual, until it disappears after Halloween. The change is physical. While the person possessed appears to be in a sleep like trance, all damage dealt to the Spirit is suffered by the possessed individual.
Induce Fear: The Halloween Spirit may attempt to trap the target of this power in an illusion of its worst fears manifested. To do so, the Spirit rolls its Wits + Intimidation against the target’s Resolve + Composure. Each success above the victim’s causes the target to gain a lethal point of damage as his body is suffering symptoms similar to a heart attack. Vampires, and other undead creatures do not gain this sort of damage due to their unbeating hearts, but they can still be trapped in the illusion. The Spirit may attempt to trap multiple characters in the illusion but is unable to cause the damage effect of the power to more than one person at a time. In this case, switching the target doesn’t free the previous target from the illusion, but he doesn’t lose his roll to resist either. If at any given moment, the target achieves more successes than the Spirit, he overcomes his fears and sees the illusion for what it is. He is immune to the effect until next Halloween.

The Sarmatae

2009-02-04T19:10:00.000Z

Quote: “My protection can be granted as well as withheld in a manner of days. Tell me, how many enemies have you made?”
Description: The Bloodline members claim they existed even before the creation of the Roman Empire, although their claims were never proved as no record of their existence during the period has ever been found. Kindred historians are more apt to believe the Bloodline was started around the 17th century in Eastern Europe.
At the time, certain members of nobility among the kine have stood up with the belief of being Europe’s protectors against the Eastern intrusion. Similarly, notable members of Clan Ventrue voiced the same right but with respect to their own kind. At first nothing special was thought of these Kindred, until Prince Prakseda of Lwiw showed an affinity for physical might and a stance of superiority which could be traced to the previously mentioned Kindred. Only then the Bloodline was officially acknowledged, already having spread to most of Eastern Europe including Poland, Ukraine and Moldowa.
Since then, the Bloodline suffered a significant decline. Some argue it was due to their belief of guardianship (which often resulted in tyrannical leadership) by divine right that caused in-fighting and lack of a definite threat to the domain. Most Sarmatae proclaim such accusations as being nothing more than a Carthian propaganda or worse, one of their rival’s. Their decline was merely because of less people of noble descend being born onto this world. The Bloodline had a tradition of allowing only those of noble blood to join the ranks, as it was believed only these individuals were strong enough to survive the hardships of being a Sarmatae.
Today the Sarmatae can still be found holding positions of authority among the Kindred courts. Their stance on protection changed significantly over the ages, nowadays they protect from anything, gladly taking the role of Prince in order to guard the Kindred society. Even when they aren’t Princes, many Princes see their worth as Sheriffs and Hounds, but at the same time, they need to make sure their own position is strong or the Guardians might become too ambitious and take their rightful place of protecting the Kindred populace with a stronger fist.
Parent Clan: Ventrue
Nickname: Guardians
Covenant: The Sarmatae can be found in any Covenant to a certain degree. The most traditional ones tend toward the Invictus or Lancea Sanctum, but they aren’t below joining any other. Many a rebellious young Sarmatae joined the Carthian Movement in order to overthrow his Sire. The Circle of the Crone holds as much interest to the Bloodline as the Lancea Sanctum, after all, it isn’t certain who exactly granted them the divine right. Similarly, the concept of transcendence can draw some Kindred of this Bloodline to the ranks of the Ordo Dracul.
Appearance: The Sarmatae make sure their status as superior predators can be seen by the lesser Kindred. They carefully choose their garment to look imposing or threatening, depending on the station they wish to pursue. Most are Eastern European in descent, although to various degrees. They walk with noble grace and fight fiercely when it is required.
Haven: The Guardians take great care in taking only the havens that best suit their needs and pleasures. Of course, being dead they probably won’t have the best house a mortal would live in, full of decorations and little practicality to the design other than safety and efficient maneuvering between rooms.
Background: The Sarmatae Embrace only those mortals who managed to impress them. Seeing how the person in question is given more possibilities to advance over a prolonged time, the Sire-to-be starts researching the prospect’s lineage. If he finds it sufficiently pure (different Kindred might have a different understanding of the concept), the decision to Embrace is made. A Guardian might never be told why he was chosen, but they soon find out when their abilities are put to test.
Character Creation: A newly Embraced Sarmatae often has a specialty that caught the eye of his Sire. Their prioritization often depends on what said specialty is but it is rarely developed to its full extent, leaving enough room for the Guardian to focus on other aspects of his Requiem. Upon induction to the Bloodline, the Sarmatae is trained in rudimentary fighting techniques which leaves them with a few dots in Brawl or Weaponry at least and a Fighting Style Merit at most.
Bloodline Disciplines: Animalism, Dominate, Resilience, Vigor
Weakness: The Sarmatae suffer the main Ventrue weakness (-2 penalty to Humanity rolls to avoid acquiring derangements after failing a degeneration roll). In addition, the Guardians have a hard time positioning themselves on equal grounds with other Kindred. When a Sarmatae has to deal with someone as if they were equal, he suffers a -2 penalty to Social rolls, however they have an easier time with members of their parent clan (the penalty is only -1 if dealing with a Ventrue or a Ventrue Bloodline member).
Organization: Lineage is highly important to the Sarmatae, it isn’t uncommon for one to name all known Sires in a direct line, even though they can be few in number. The Guardians prefer to stay in touch with each other, even though it is not always possible. They rather surround themselves with their own kind or other Ventrue than other Kindred but even the most recluse among the Bloodline rarely don’t take the chance to show their superiority to whoever is watching.
Concepts: Ambitious politician, aspiring hound, protégé, young athlete, Prince’s right hand, strife spreading conspirator

Eve

2009-01-25T19:09:00.000Z

Quote: The path you walk isn’t the one you should be walking.
Background: The Pilgrimage is a long and lonely road for many. Some walk it with doubt in their hearts, trying out new paths, shifting between methods of pursuing that hope of becoming mortal, looking at all possibilities before deciding to form their resolve to walk one of them. And yet, there are those who are too stubborn to admit their path won’t lead them where they are heading. They are the ones who may have met Eve at some point in their journey.
Description: When in Twilight, the qashmall appears to be a woman of vicious beauty. With snake skin from down the waist and elbows. Her hands end with long fingernails, sharp at their ends. She has no legs, but a serpent’s tail. Her eyes are hypnotic, yet her gaze is that of a predator. When she speaks, her mouth can open too wide for it to be normal, while venom drips from her fangs. She has no hair, rather a nest of vipers sprawling from her scalp. When she materialises, she takes the guise of a woman of extraordinary beauty. But her viciousness cannot be hidden. She rarely has revealing clothes, but they are often rather provocative. Her hair is nearly often green.
Storytelling Hints: Eve appears less to those who walk the wrong or right path for them, and more to those who walk their path without taking into consideration any other possibility. She is kind and polite to the targets of her mission, but her demeanour reveals there might be an ulterior motive to her behaviour. It is not her duty to force someone to walk away from their life, rather, she is here to question. Eve instils doubt to be overcome and doubt to be taken into consideration. She must do it, before her mission ends and she returns from whence she came.

Choir: Lilithim
Order: Lesser
Attributes: Power 2, Finesse 4, Resistance 4
Willpower: 6
Virtue: Temperance
Vice: Lust
Pyros: 15
Initiative: 8
Defense: 4
Speed: 13 (species factor 7)
Size: 5
Corpus: 9
Numina: Clasp, Awe, Grant Vision, Invoke Disquiet, Materialise

The Creeper

2009-01-17T19:08:00.000Z

Quote: (Screams of anguish as skin is being torn from flesh)
Background: It seemed a good idea at first. A progeny must be made in order to gain Mortality, so it’s best to make sure the new creation would look good. Such was the reasoning of a Galateid who wanted to be mortal too soon than he had earned. He collected various body parts from women whom he found beautiful, killing some of them when no grave at the local cemetery was deemed worthy by him.
When all the needed parts were assembled, the process of creation took place. She woke, the Logos he uttered gave life to a beauty incarnated, or so he thought until she looked at him and her back tore open revealing wicked wings the likes he never seen before. He started running as soon as she began to tear her skin from her body with scream written all over her face, although no sound reached his ears.
The Pandoran he met moments after, flying towards him from the skies above had nothing female in him. After a brutal fight, he was taken back to the place he tried to escape from. There, the captured Promethean had to watch as his creation caught humans from the nearby road and with crude tools sliced them. Most of them still alive, he had to listen to their screams up to the moment when they were just parts, the Creeper ate some of them, the rest he stitched together, in a mockery of his own birth. Yet these creations had no beauty in them, bodies with no heads attached at their spines, replaced limbs, fingers sticking out of the forehead.
The Galateid supposedly escaped, and learned that one of the bodies he used was born a male, but to this day the Prometheans who speak of the Creeper in their Rambles don’t know if they are telling the truth, a rumour, or just a fairy tale. The roads, however, hold many secrets best left untouched.
Description: The Creeper tried to conceal his monstrous nature when outside his cave. He often wears an over coat and a hat stolen from his victims, as well as pants and a shirt, although he might be seen wearing them incorrectly at times. When inside his house, he wear no garments, revealing his wings, claws, wicked smile always present on his face and the tarnished skin that looks more like leather.
Storytelling Hints: Everyone is flawed. Their bodies aren’t the way they should be. It’s time to repair them, to make them right, and feast on the imperfections. Only fools will try to stop you, those who want things to be ugly. What strange sounds of joy they give when you put them right is a question you often ponder on your escapades.

Mockery: The Silent
Rank: 3
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 1, Wits 3, Resolve 2
Physical Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 1, Composure 2
Mental Skills: Crafts (stitching bodies together) 3, Medicine (Anatomy) 2
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Drive 1, Stealth 3, Survival (Rural areas) 2
Social Skills: Intimidation 2
Willpower: 4
Vice: Gluttony
Initiative: 5
Defense: 3
Speed: 12
Size: 5
Health: 9
Transmutations: Pandoran – Armor (ºº), Bizarre Weaponry (Claws ºº), Manlike Stature (º), Perfected Bezoar (Sharp Weapons ºººº), Wall Walking (ººº)
Bestowment: Wings (ºººº)
Pyros/Per Turn: 14/3

Weapons/Attacks:
Type	Damage	Range	Dice Pool	Special
Bite	(B)	-	6	-
Claw	+1 (L)	-	7	-

Cyberians

2009-01-10T19:07:00.000Z

The Robots

Progress is inevitable, everything evolves given time, the past is but an illusion, only the future exists. Mankind invented tools, tamed wild beast and explored the earth. Now they reach further, inside themselves and outside the boundaries of their own planet. At one point, not so long ago, some scientists tried to play God. One of them was Dr. Frankenstein, but there were others.
One of such scientists, it was unknown whether he was inspired by the works of Dr. Frankenstein or was able to obtain and modify his research notes, nonetheless, he succeeded. From this invention, the Cyberian Lineage rose.
Carrying the wonders of modern science, they embody what people want to be and what they fear. Stronger, more durable, resistant to injury… but so very lonely. The same element that gives them strength, spreads out Disquiet, the fear of man’s own creations turning against him.
Their veins run with not only blood, but Oil is added to the mix in order to ensure their component part work efficiently. The Cyberians often get lost in their thoughts, for they are granted many ideas, but few decide to work with them. Yet, they strive for more. This is where their curiosity comes from, the more knowledge, the more raw matter their imagination has to work with. An irony in itself, taking the works of others, moulding, mixing, changing, until it becomes their own idea.
The Technology that granted them life is always present within their bodies. A mechanical device forever imbued into their flesh. That part of them is a constant reminder of where they come from, the hands of man. Part-machine, part-corpse, the Divine Fire bonding both into one. It is their belief that by replacing that part of them which never was human, they can achieve the Mortality they all crave for.
Progenitor: The most common origin story among the Lineage is that of a scientist. Much like Dr. Frankenstein, this man wanted to create life. The reason for it is unimportant, most say it was an attempt at progress, others speak of inspiration by Mary Shelley’s book. The deed was done, but this demiurge was different. Instead of copying the process that gave “birth” to the Frankensteins, he changed it. Instead of multiple bodies, he used one body and a machine component (although some say he used more than one body, to which the part was then added).
After his invention rose, the demiurge was overjoyed, but he felt something was missing. It is unclear if that feeling was the effect of Disquiet or not, nonetheless, the new Invention had to endure the constant experimentation his creator deemed necessary. Whether he killed the demiurge or simply fled also depends solely on whom to ask.
The First (as his progeny started to call him, because no one knows of his true name) wandered through the world. After a time he felt he was too advanced technologically in order to be accepted by any given community, and he felt nature feared what he represented, the monstrous capabilities of humans. It was in his understanding he needed to devolve into a being less ahead of its time, as such he sought Mortality.
There’s another tale, less grand. In it, the demiurge tried to create life from dead matter, but something went wrong. There was an explosion in his laboratory, in which the demiurge died, but his body rose the next morning, fused with one of the machines he used in his research. Cyberians who believe this story say they are more a failure than a work of art preceding its time.
Other Nicknames: Inventions, Tools, Machines
Appearance: The Cyberians seeking parts to make their progeny often look for bodies belonging previously to thinkers, in hope of the great minds returning to life so they can continue their art. The concept of a “great mind” depends solely on the given Promethean. Some may decide to choose artists, others’ dig out doctors, although all of them must had a connection to technology before death (metal sculptor, IT specialist, image designer, mechanic). Their bodies often look weak and fragile. Such is the price for exerting one’s mind over the body.
The component part of a Cyberian can be anything made of metal, plastic, glass, aluminium or a combination thereof. The placement of it also varies. It can be anything from a small microwave in the stomach, a watch embed into the hand, metal plates on the forehead, these are some of the variations. Although that part is hidden under the Promethean skin while disfigurements aren’t visible.
Disfigurement: The Cyberian’s skin changes into what seems to be an artificial fabric. His movements become less energetic and more mechanical to the mortal eye. Their faces become expressionless. Their eyes seem not to focus on anything, as if daydreaming.
The skin and thin muscle tissue hiding their machine component melts from the heat it starts to generate. It’s openly visible even no matter where it’s situated.
Humour: Petroleum (creativity, progress)
Element: Technology. Even alchemists of old used primitive machines in their research. Each day coming with answers to their questions, and coming ever so further into achieving their goal. Yet, technology often lies in opposition to nature and all living things, as it is the element of matter that was never alive. In Prometheans, it is the element of progression for good or ill, the element of creating…
Bestowment: Machine Kin (see below)
Refinements: The Cyberians’ drive to develop themselves often brings them to the practice of Ferrum. Concentrating on understanding their bodies as well as how their component part works with the rest of their anatomy. Others’ turn to Cuprum instead, although those who do, attempt to be close enough to a junkyard or factory if not living alone in a city. Those who see their component parts as their source of Pyros turn to Mercurius, in hopes of finding a way to transmute it into flesh. There’s too much disconnection between humans and the Cyberians, especially those who think of themselves as being superior to mankind, in order for them to take the rudiments of Aurum. Stannum likewise doesn’t hold much interest for them due to the required anger amounts.
Some Cyberians take their condition as superior to such lengths that they join the ranks of the Centimani. These Prometheans are fearsome creatures of flesh and steel, wicked metal claws, penetrating glass eyes, and more component parts are the characteristics they often revel in. More machine than man.
Character Creation: Either Mental or Physical attributes are often taken as primary for the Cyberians, Social being left tertiary. Mental and Physical skills dealing with machinery and tools of any kind are nearly always emphasised.
Faith in a mathematical reasoning of events occurring in the universe, technological Fortitude as well as Temperance in balancing the human and machine sides within are common Virtues. Envy of not having to deal with the cold steel and Pride in their superior condition are the Vices most of them represent.
Concepts: Car mechanic, computer geek, factory foreman, electrician, laboratory worker, doctor, artist of steel sculptures.
Quote: I am a work of art, why can’t you see that?

Stereotypes
Frankenstein: You are like a brother to me.
Galatea: Your body is artificial just like my soul.
Osiris: Great minds think alike.
Tammuz: They aren’t so strong as they think.
Ulgan: I don’t see what you see in what I don’t see… whatever.

Vampires: Dead like the machinery.
Werewolves: Their destructive capabilities can be mimicked with today’s technology.
Mages: So much power, where does it come from?
Mortals: Weak, but whole.

Machine Kin
The Cyberians have a distinct connection to machines. The Machine Kin Bestowment allows them to channel their Pyros through their component parts into those of other machines, allowing them to remote control them from a distance.
Cost: 1 Pyros per turn
Action: Instant
Transmutation Cost: Intelligence x 7
The Promethean gains the ability to control a man made machine for a turn. Although he cannot command a machine to take actions contrary to its primary function, he is able to make it act contrary to the action of its current user, like telling a gun to fire elsewhere instead of the Promethean the police man is shooting at.
Simple actions, starting an engine, firing a gun, turning the lights on, don’t require a roll, but other circumstances may call for an Intelligence + relevant Skill roll. Remotely driving a car requires a Drive roll, remotely firing a gun requires a Firearms roll, remotely shutting down the security system requires a Computer roll. Although anyone in opposition to the commands of the Promethean (the car’s driver, the gunman, the security officer) may contest the roll with their Intelligence (for mental tasks) or Strength (for physical tasks) + the relevant skill.
The connection the Cyberians share with machines also grants them an intimate understanding of their function. The Promethean benefits the 9-Again rule on any Intelligence roll dealing directly with technological devices. (Note: this doesn’t include rolls made for combat, as those require precision on part of the weapon’s user not the weapon itself, although it does take effect while making repairs.) Finally, the Promethean can raise his Intelligence Attribute above the mortal limit of five dots with experience points.
Although it’s not part of their creation, other Prometheans may gain the Machine Kin Bestowment as a Transmutation. Such a change does not mimic the Cyberian disfigurement, but it does demand delicate alterations to the humours of the Created on a metaphysical level. Gaining the Machine Kin Bestowment requires an increase in the level of the oil humour within the Promethean. This increase grants the Promethean greater imagination. The Created may often be found lost in his own thoughts.

Pyros Regeneration
Robots have to sleep in close proximity to their kin. That could range from falling asleep in a car or near a TV set to sleeping in the basement of a factory. The machinery however needs to function and the light or sound it produces must reach the Cyberian. He only needs to fall asleep to the cacophony. As long as the machines remain working for his first hour of sleep, he gains the benefit, even if he awakens to a non-functional pile of metal.

Disquiet
Those affected by the Cyberian Disquiet begin to be more curious about some topics, unfortunately for the Promethean, those subjected to his Disquiet see him as an unimportant figure, and they try to avoid contact with him. It all starts out innocent, reading a bit more magazines, buying a couple more newspapers, watching the information channel for an hour more. After some time, the subject begins to forget about his daily chores. He starts coming late to work, he forgets to bath, he eats less. Until the increasing shortage of money spent on learning materials and warning from work become too obvious to ignore. The disquiet effect then takes a turn. Discarding the normal sources of information doesn’t help the growing curiosity though. The subject starts getting interested in the dealings of his neighbours, he may even begin to stalk people who he deems suspicious. Unfortunately, Disquiet doesn’t take hold in just one person but spreads through the community, it’s inevitable that the neighbours find each other spying and spreading rumours about each other. Some of them start feeling shame, others anger. Their reasoning tells them someone had to be behind this. Someone just had to infect their peaceful community with suspicion. After a time of conversation, their rumours are tracked down to the Cyberian. The one person whom everyone seen, talked for a brief moment or overheard speaking with their neighbour next door. They cannot tolerate his behaviour any more.

Torment
When a Cyberian suffers extreme torment he becomes lost in his own thoughts. He thinks less of the present and his current goals, becoming easily distracted. His inborn curiosity takes control, while the component part paints the way he thinks. He starts to be more analytical and gets distracted by ideas that seem strange to others. The Promethean takes upon him a statistical task, like counting all the streets in a given city and comparing their number to the number of litter bins found on each street with relevancy to the intensity of light on the streets at night. Although Cyberians suffering from Torment say they have more important things to take care of, they easily change their focus to something as irrelevant as before (suffering a -2 penalty to Resolve rolls made to resist coercion).

Wasteland
The element of the Cyberian is technology, the creation of mankind, for humans, by humans. It represents progress as well as control over one’s creation. But where a Cyberian Promethean stays for too long, the machines around him deteriorate and rebel against their creators.
Stage Two – New pieces of machinery brought home straight from the shop seem faulty. Older machines seem to brake a little more often than usual. Rust takes hold quicker than normal under given circumstances. Fruits and vegetables taste different.
Stage Three – Refrigerators, toasters, ovens, lights, fire alarms begin to go on and off at will. Cars coming into the Wasteland often brake, but can be repaired given enough time. Fruits and vegetables completely lose their taste, meat begins to taste different. Animals start to act distressed, howling can be heard during the night.
Stage Four – No piece of machinery works. Repairs, replacement of essential parts, even buying a new model doesn’t make anything in the limits of the Wasteland work. All food types lose their taste completely. Predator animals seem to search for something, or someone, while prey animals flee their territories.

Creation process
Upon finding a body with an appropriate connection to modern technology, the Cyberian chooses the component part. It doesn’t have to be the same part as they have, although some think of them as signatures, much like artists signing their paintings. After the decision has been made, the part is carefully installed into the dead body. The installation process might take more than a day’s work depending on the complexity of the machine in question. When it’s done, the Cyberian connects his component part with that of his progeny, and like in a blood transfusion, gives his child some of his own oil. If everything was installed correctly, the Pyros-infused oil spreads over the body through its machine part as it rises as a new Promethean.

Gremlin (Cyberian Mockery)
It is technology that animates the Cyberians, but those Inventions who attempt to create more of their kind with faulty parts, old equipment or a body with too small a connection to technology, run the risk of creating these Pandorans. Mischievous creatures intent on destroying what the Cyberians create. Their small size aids them in getting into houses, into larger machines and causing malfunctions from the inside.
The Gremlins prefer to reside in urban areas, where there is an abundance of machines waiting for them to play with. Cyberians believe that there are no Gremlins in the wilderness and rural areas, although the sight of a Gremlin tampering with devices in villages isn’t unheard of.
Their favourite plaything, unsurprisingly, is the component part of a Cyberian. Not only a Gremlin takes much joy in causing malfunction after malfunction to it, he can also feed on it and the Promethean, who provides him with enough nourishment to tamper with household devices. Thus they more likely to capture a Promethean, although swarms of these Pandorans in a feeding frenzy don’t have enough patience to do just that. But when they do, they can be very cunning with their traps made of various parts of machinery that isn’t supposed to be working together properly, and yet it does.
Gremlins, in addition to their small size, have long limbs with small torsos and large spiky ears. A wicked grin is almost often seen on their faces, often accompanied with a sinister laughter. Their skin looks as if they burned themselves, there’s a theory saying it looks like burned because these Pandorans spend most of their time getting inside machinery and making sure it won’t work anymore. Most of them develop Transmutations that aid them in hiding in small spaces as well as making more damage to various kinds of devices.
Dormant Form: When Gremlins are forced into Dormancy they look like broken personal devices. Anything from a watch whose batteries died, a broken iPod or a piece of a mobile phone. Unfortunately for the finder of this Dormant Pandoran, even after repairs, the device constantly malfunctions or doesn’t work at all, which only results in discarding it later on.
Bestowment: All Gremlins possess the Small Stature (º) and Clockwork Servant (ººº) Pandoran Transmutations.
Sublimati: Gremlins who gained a dose of intellect above the basic animal instincts are dangerous creatures. They start not only destroying machinery, but causing it to work improperly, often to harm the user, while they hide in the shadows and laugh at the result of their pranks. Their gained reasoning also helps them to better hide their tampering, making it even more difficult to recognise their presence in the area.
Weakness: The Gremlin Pandoran love nothing more than to tamper with technological devices. Each day the Pandoran must roll his Resolve + Composure. If the roll fails he feels an urge to seek a machine which he could damage to the extent of it being unusable or working in an improper way. Although the Storyteller might grant a bonus to the roll depending on the current hunger level of the Gremlin, likewise, more sophisticated machinery in the vicinity might penalise the roll.

New Year = New Blog

2009-01-02T19:05:00.001Z

I think that the New Year is as good as any time to start something new. I’ve been toying with the idea of making a roleplaying blog for a while now. Hopefully, I’ll manage to write something new and put up things that I’ve written over the course of last few years.

For now I don’t have much planned, the semester starts soon so I think the best course of action for the coming weeks will just to take it easy and put up a couple of things that I have on my hard drive. Some of which I wrote three years ago. Here’s a short list of those things that I’ll update as the thing in question becomes available on the blog.

Cyberians – a Lineage for Promethean The Created, written shortly after the release of the book and since the line ended I keep hearing how this idea is far worse than the Unfleshed presented in the last book.
The Creeper – a Pandoran who likes sewing very much. Inspired by a film as the title suggests.
Eve - a Quashmall idea I had from the Bible.
The Sarmatae – a Vampire The Requiem bloodline of prideful lords and ladies offering protection to their subjects.
The Halloween Spirit – an Antagonist for your Halloween themed one-shot.

You might have already noticed I quite like Promethean, I’ll probably write some more things about it in the future. Other things I have planned are an (semi-) Actual Play report of an Exalted game I run and some posts on how I run games on RPOL. That probably won’t be all but only time will tell what else pops up into my mind.