Voices in The Dark

As stated in my previous post, Call of Cthulhu - the American born Tabletop RPG by Chaosium based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft - is the most popular Role Playing Game in Japan.

There are numerous reasons for this (see Mountains of Madness) but chief among them is Japan's love affair with the Horror genre. That fondness has led to the development of numerous other TRPGs, some derivative of the 'Great, Old One' and some that do things very differently. The more recent, 'small press' takes on the subject do some things I find very interesting and would love to discuss and explore further. 

To that end, here are a few of Japan's most notable Horror TRPGs that aren't Call of Cthulhu:

From Left to Right, starting with the Top Row and we have...

Ghost Hunter The Role Playing Game

Author: Hitoshi Yasuda (founder of Group SNE) and Tsuyoshi Shirakawa.

Studio: Group SNE

Publisher: ASCII. Later Enterbrain and Kadokawa.

Published in 1994, Ghost Hunter is one of the first, if not the first, Horror TRPG produced by a Japanese company for the Japanese game hobby market. It was created by the founder of Group SNE, a creative studio best known for Record of The Lodoss War and all related Forcelia titles (the Sword World TRPG, the Legend of Crystania animated film, and many more).

In addition, Group SNE is responsible for the translation of a number of Western RPGs into Japanes, as well as the continuation and expansion of those games in Japan. Currently they handle GURPS, Shadowrun, Tunnels & Trolls, and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. 

I don't know a lot about the game beyond its general premise and a little bit about its rather unusual system. Ghost Hunter is set around the 1920s and 30s and focuses on the Player Characters fighting off incursions of supernatural entities into our mortal world.

Various aspects of your character are named for the constellations of the Western Zodiac and the rules system uses traditional playing cards as random number generators [instead of dice]. Truth be told, it might use dice as well. I am not sure as I haven't read through it completely. 

Oh yes, sorry, you can read a fan translation of this game thanks to the incomparable Claydonian, a fellow Japanese TRPG enthusiast who actually speaks and reads the language and lives in Japan. Check him and his awesome works out through his twitter.

Peekaboo Horror - The RPG of Neighborhood Spirits

Author: Toichiro Kawashima and Nagomi Ochiai (the Illustrator and Kawashima's wife)

Studio: Adventure Planning Bureau

Publisher: Shinkigensha Co., Ltd. 

One of my favorite Japanese Tabletop RPGs and the first game to use the Saikoro or 'Dice' Fiction system. In my past posts on Dice Fiction (see tag below) I completely forgot that Peekaboo was a Saikoro Fiction game. 

In this Horror/Comedy game, the players take the roles of Elementary School children (called Innocents) who investigate supernatural mysteries with the help of a Boo or Spooky, a paranormal entity that is linked to the child. Each player plays both an Innocent and a Spooky but you don't play the Spooky attached to your Innocent. The players play each others' spirit companions so as to maximize player to player interaction. You can also play where one Player is the Innocent and one is the Spooky, working off a single character sheet 

Some of the most intriguing rules govern what a Boo can and can't do without its Human partner and when each of the characters is active in the story. For example, Spooks can operate at night while the child is sleeping, Innocents can do things during the day when a Spooky is at its weakest, and then there are times the two work together. 

The horror is along the lines of things like Goosebumps crossed with the classic Japanese Anime/Manga GeGeGe no Kitaro. A bit less goofy than the two of these can be believe it or not but definitely imbued with a sense of tongue-in-cheek humor. 

I was able to run this some time ago with students at the tutoring center where I used to teach and it was an absolutely blast. I am really looking forward to running this again sometime in the future, likely influenced by some of the ideas I've had for Ghostbusters; a little creepier and scarier than is standard yet still very funny.

Nechronica - The Long, Long Sequel 

Author: Ryo Kamiya

Studio: Patch Works

Publisher: Tsugihagi Honbo

This one...Whoa Nelly. Those with sensitivity to...well...a lot of things...should probably skip this game and its description. Continue reading at your own risk. 

Ryo Kamiya is quite a talented individual and their talent varies widely as far as subject. They are best known as the creator of both MAID, the first Japanese Tabletop RPG ever translated into English and Golden Sky Stories, translated and published in the USA by Ewen Cluney and Star Line Publishing. 

Nechronica is a very difficult game to describe. It's not that I can't tell you what it's about but rather that in doing so I will paint an inaccurate picture of the game. It reminds me of trying to explain Neon Genesis Evangelion; I could tell you the story is a classic alien invasion by bizarre Kaiju-sized monsters and that the Earth attempts to repel them using Giant Robots. The robots are developed from the body of the first of these aliens to crash on our world. That is both a completely accurate description and not even close to scratching the surface of what Evangelion is about. 

OK, here goes...

In a post-apocalyptic world of damnation and ruin, mysterious Necromancers animate the dead bodies of girls to battle other such minions of other Necromancers. These doll-like Zombies are often cobbled together from multiple people 'Frankenstein'-style and may have mismatched parts. Additionally, when one zombie beats another they may take a part of the defeated and use it to upgrade themselves going forward. Often inorganic matter is incorporated into these bodies as well, from plastic skin armor to machine guns for legs. 

Nechronica is a game about being physically strong but emotionally vulnerable in a world of the dying, the dead, and the undead. This includes your PC and her 'sisters'. The PCs are all Dolls - thinking and feeling undead girls who fight against the Necromancer and his minions, even though it is the Necromancer who created the Dolls in the first place, for simple amusement or as a decoration for this rotting world.

Sounds fun, no? Ahem...

The mechanics are largely concerned with creating the patchwork zombie characters, body horror, and combat for engagements between these undead girls. There is also a detailed Madness system which revolves around complex emotional connections between the Player Characters and sometimes their foes, who are more often then not in the very same situation and condition they are.

In order for a Doll to stay stable and sane, it/they must rely on and manage their complicated, often conflicting emotional state and their relationships with their fellow Dolls. Nechronica is a game about the cheapness of life but also its beautiful fragility. Likewise, it is darker than the darkest dark but really a game of hope and holding onto positivity in a world of decay and doom. 

I'll be honest, this is both too grim for me and absolutely fascinating. I would love to run it or play it just once to understand it better. It really feeds my desire for esoteric, high concept genre gaming at its wildest. 

An unofficial fan translation of the game can be found online. 

inSane - Multi-Genre Horror RPG

Author: Toichiro Kawashima

Studio: Adventure Planning Bureau

Publisher: Shinkigensha Co., Ltd. 

A 'cult hit' in Japan, inSane is not a sales powerhouse but it is much loved by those who play it. Additionally, it seems the game gets a fair amount of fan-made doujinshi love, much like the industry leader that likely inspired it. 

inSane is another Dice Fiction game, this one covering a wide range of Horror subgenres. I mentioned in my prior entry that the Japanese use Call of Cthulhu for a variety of different types of Horror beyond the default mythos. That obviously wasn't the intention of that game's designers but here that was exactly what the creator of inSane had in mind. 

Though the game is set so that Gamemasters and their groups can create their own Horror settings, five pre-made settings have been developed. The default setting in the core rulebook is a really scary modern day Japan. The additional sourcebooks cover America in the Roaring Twenties, Victorian England (titled, 'Dark Victoria' or 'Victoria in The Dark'), Parallel Worlds or 'Loops' (Events repeated but in alternate ways, called 'Deadloops'), and finally a book based on the SCP Foundation milieu. 

As far as the rules go, the game has a 'Fear Check' mechanic that I find quite cool. Every Player Character has Sanity Points. At the beginning of the game, players choose three Crazy Cards, all placed face down. Bizarre and frightening information and events can drain these points. A character with only one point remaining has a Shock condition. With a zero, no Sanity left, the player turns over one of the Crazy Cards, each of which describes a madness that is inflicted upon the PC once a certain trigger is met.

I really love that last part. Imagine that you get 'Go Catatonic' but only 'If the entity addresses you directly or the situation or entity follows you when you try to escape'.

Kill Death Business - Hell TV Reality Show RPG

Author: Takayoshi Saito

Studio: Adventure Planning Bureau

Publisher: Shinkigensha Co., Ltd. 

This is probably the game I am most fascinated by and intrigued to play. Really run. When I say 'play' what I really mean is run. 

I've discussed this game already in a previous post but basically we're looking at an Action/Adventure, Dark Comedy, Horror about Contestants (the PCs) on a Reality Show/Game Show hybrid that airs in Hell. The Contestants earn points on the show by defeating, capturing, or destroying renegade Demons and other unpleasant folk on the run from the authorities both Above and Below. The points can earn you a transfer to Heaven, a better spot in Hell, or maybe, just maybe, a return trip to the world of the living. 

Imagine combining the Good Place with Guns Akimbo. Mix Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel with a kind of reverse Running Man. I love the idea of PCs caught in a demented, infernal entertainment industry version of a very surreal 'Reality Show'. Tons of opportunities for crazy combat sequences, offbeat characters, world-building, and more. 

I am currently in the process of deconstructing and translating the Character Sheet as a means of figuring out how the rules work. Plus, I've been able to find additional rules notes across the 'net. It should be noted that this is also a Dice Fiction game. I guess I'm really into their stuff. 

I'd love to give this a try.

 

Novice Novice Table Talk Role Playing Game - The Horror

Author: Takashi Konno

Publisher: Arclight Games

Here is another game I don't know a lot about but what I've seen of it is very promising as an introductory game for those new to Tabletop RPGs. 

This game is the second in the Novice Novice series [I believe], with the first being a traditional Western Fantasy game and a third installment being Steampunk. All the games share the same basic mechanics and play style: The players draw cards that give them a pre-generated character template which I think can be customized by other, additional cards. The characters than go on an adventure who has a very tightly structure sequence of phases; this is common in many Japan TRPGs.

In each phase players draw a card to determine the direction the adventure will take or the outcome of various decisions. Meanwhile, they can role a 6 sided die against a score on their Character Card to perform an action within the scene. From what I understand, the cards don't so much tell you what is happening as much as they provide context for the events unfolding. 

Clearly more research on this one is needed. If anyone knows more about this game or any game in the Novice Novice series, please share. 

Finally...

The Castle in Gray - Haunted Palace Gothic Horror RPG

Author: Karikari Ume

Publisher: Unknown - Available through Conos

An independent, small press game created by a designer with a few other interesting game credits under their belt, The Castle in Gray, aka 'Gray Castle Mystery', is the game I know the least about. As far as I can tell the game is only available through a website called Conos, which is essentially a Japanese version of DriveThruRPG, with both official and unofficial/Doujinshi products being available from the site. Curiously, as with most Japanese book and TRPG products, you can only buy physical copies. There are practically no e-book or PDF versions of anything (though this is slowly changing). 

Why the Japanese don't do more PDFs is rather confusing. As I understand it from friends who know more about copyright laws and the Japanese market than I, the publishing companies of Japan fear that people will buy PDFs and then just make copies and give it to all their friends/players. At the same time, they have no issue with someone making money selling original material based on a product they didn't create, unlike in the US. So strange. 

Anyway, the key thing that makes The Castle in Gray interesting is that the PCs are all drawn to a single location, a mansion or other large, old building, and from that point on they find themselves inexplicably back at the location time and again. The edifice is Haunted and may simply be creepy and spooky or down right Amityville depending on what the players and GM want. 

While at the 'Palace' they will receive word of various ghastly goings on and if they investigate and solve the morbid mysteries they are confronted with the house will ease up on them, allowing them to go home, see their family, and friends, etc. Only by solving the mystery of The Castle in Gray itself will the curse be lifted and the PCs lives return to normal. 

Love that as a campaign concept and goal. 

Well, that's all the time we have for now. I have a real surprise in store for my next post. To see it, you'll need to look to スペース...最後のフロンティア.

See you soon,

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The Dungeon Meal Guide for Adventurers

While working on the rules for what I hope will be an upcoming Anime/Manga themed Medieval Fantasy RPG campaign, I had a mini-epiphany; one that is making me question how best to proceed.

The more I work on The Dungeon Experiment, the more I realize how much it is being influenced by a single Manga series: Dungeon Meshi, known in the USA as 'Delicious in Dungeon'. 

Sure, a lot of ideas go into a project of this nature and some are conscious additions while others seep in over time and through fandom osmosis. While I am not actively adding anything into The Dungeon Experiment from say, Record of The Lodoss War or Ruin Explorers, those are definitely two Japanese titles in the same genre that I really enjoyed in the past and to say they have no effect on my approach to this game would be short-sighted. 

That said, Dungeon Meshi is really the template from which I am working. This begs the question - Considering who I am and how much I love IP/Franchise based gaming, does it make more sense to create The Dungeon Experiment or simply make a Delicious in Dungeon Tabletop RPG?

In the seven years that the Manga has been in print (first US edition produced by Yen Press was released in May of 2017), the series has generated excellent reviews and a sizeable and dedicated fan following.

Creator, writer, and artist Ryoko Kui, in addition to the main Manga, has produced a guide to the characters and setting (The Dungeon Meshi World Guide Adventurer's Bible),  Senshi's Diary - A Record of Life (a series of diary entries by the Dwarf Cook Senshi noting observations about his fellow party members and what they'd all eaten), several one-shots tangentially set in the same milieu (most notably the story, 'There Were Dragons in The West'), and three artbooks/sketchbooks entitled Daydream Hour that have additional notes on the world, its species and monsters, alternate and additional characters designs and costume variations, and more. 

Finally, the book shown above, 'The Dungeon Meal Guide for Adventurers', is both an in-universe book the character Laios Touden carries around with him and an unofficial fan-made  actual book containing original fan art and recipes (giving both monster ingredients and real world ingredients that can be substituted to make the dishes in your own kitchen). 

All this additional material [beyond the Manga chapters themselves] fleshes out the setting in a way that is perfect for world-building an RPG campaign. The additional art is an excellent way to visualize elements unique or specific to the game world (such as depictions of Dungeon Meshi's Orcs and Kobolds). 

Left: Female Orc

Right: Male Kobold

I love the doggo Kobolds!

I have a lot of reasons to love this idea and to want to make an unofficial fan-made Delicious in Dragon RPG. But...

Should I? Shouldn't I stick with a more original, widely accessible game with inspiration from Dungeon Meshi AND all the other series I've been discussing. Part of me thinks this makes the most sense. I don't need to introduce those unfamiliar to the world of the Manga if I am using a world I am developing as I go. It's definitely more flexible, more expansive, or at least that's how potential players would see it (as people always feel strange entering an established setting that they don't know...for some reason). 

Yet...I am the 'IP Guy'. I feel the pull; the challenge of making a game based on this series. The same reasons I love running DC Comics Superheroes, Ghostbusters, Red Dwarf, Star Trek, and Star Wars, are the reason I feel the desire, almost the need, to make a Delicious in Dungeon RPG. 

I'm torn. 

Curious to hear what others think. 

I guarantee you more to come soon...

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Breath of The F.A.R.M.

It's time to take a good, hard look at the system I want to use for my Anime/Manga themed Medieval Fantasy game. 

Here goes nothing...

While doing this deep dive into my efforts to run an Anime/Manga themed, Dungeons & Dragons inspired, Medieval Fantasy RPG, I came across the art of Misosile Busher (aka 'HIZIKI'), who did the illustrations for an interesting little game called F.A.R.M. Champions.

Cover Art By Misosile Bushner ( HIZIKI )

F.A.R.M. Champions is a Pay-What-You-Want, Rules-Lite, Indie game created and written by Matthew and Tim Bannock. Currently in its BETA stage, this game has the right feel and mechanics (generally speaking...but I'll get to that later) for the kind of game I'm going for.

There is a lot to like in F.A.R.M. Champions. It's a simple, 2D6 (Yay!) based game with a very easy Stat + Skill + Roll and beat a Difficulty Number action resolution. When going against a Difficulty Number set by the Gamemaster it is called a Test. When going against another character or condition actively trying to thwart you it is called a Contest. A Test would be unlocking a locked chest, swimming across a creek, or trying to recall some vital fact about a Monster. A Contest would be if the chest turned out to be a Mimic and tried to attack your PC and they tried to dodge.

It has a little extra crunch, specifically in the area of Settlements. 

In addition to Character Creation the players and the Gamemaster work together to establish the village from which the characters all hail. It is a conceit of the game that the PCs grew up together in the same town and that they continue to live and work in this town. The Settlement has its own Attributes which determine its nature, size, and that sort of thing. Stats cover things like:

Safety - how well protected it is from threats.

Resources - the availability of natural resources such as farms, metals, water, and wood. 

Solidarity - how civic minded are the citizens, It measures their ability to work together.

There are additional areas but you get the idea. Deciding what the Campaign Setting is and therefore where the Settlement is located effects the stats of a Settlement so for example: A Wilderness Settlement has a Safety of -1 but a Resources of +1. There is ample access to hunting, trees for timber and fruit, but there are also a large number of dangerous animals and strange beasts lurking in the forest. In some ways this reminds me of building your kingdom in the Japanese TRPG Meikyuu Kingdom.

When you go on Adventures you are generally doing so to aid the Settlement and its Community and the game provides random charts and ideas for generating Events and Threats that might force a brave and hardy band of locals to team up and go on a Quest to aid the village. There are mechanics for this and yet it's not at all complex.

A high stat in one of the Settlements attributes means it is likely to attract new denizens and allow local families to grow thanks to prosperity in whatever area has done so well. Likewise a low or zero score in one of the attributes is likely to require a journey to find something or someone who can improve the Settlements situation.

If Safety is at 0 perhaps a band of Goblins has moved into the area causing all sorts of mayhem and Adventurers must root them, chase them off, or slay them if they have to. If Resources are at 0 we might need to find out why the crops have all gone foul. Maybe we can find the legendary treasure from the nearby Dungeon and give in to the King in hopes he will reward the town or lend extra support.

Goblins 

Art By Misosile Bushner ( HIZIKI )

All in all, I am leaning heavily towards using this game for my Anime/Manga Medieval Fantasy campaign idea. With some minor adjustments...

OK, there are a few things I would need to expand and change.

The way they do Occupations is neat, giving each PC a job in the town in addition to an Adventuring Class. The Occupations contribute to the Settlements stats but don't seem to give the characters themselves any kind of ability or skill. I would add that in so your choice of Occupation directly effects play. I might have to look at Ryuutama again to see if anything there might be worth porting over. 

I think I'll expand Classes a bit as well. F.A.R.M. standards for Fighter - Acolyte (basically Cleric) - Rogue - Mage. Nice but I would put in a few additional Classes that are especially popular in Anime/Manga Western Fantasy such as the Ranger and Paladin.

Finally, I didn't go into it but another great feature of the game is the concept of a Health and Wellness system separate from Hit Points. It is some I am eager to use, inspired by Delicious in Dungeon's emphasis on eating well and resting as the keys to Dungeon survival. 

F.A.R.M. Champions does use Hit Points however and that is a major thing I wanted to do away with. I don't like the traditional Combat Systems of most Fantasy RPGs, with Hit Points, Damage, and Armor being my chief pet peeves. I think I can adapt the Combat System I planned on using for my Mecha game in with little difficulty. 

Well, that's all for now. I am very excited and curious to see where this goes next...

More to come...

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MSV - Dice in The Pocket

I created and developed my homebrew Anime/Manga Mecha game, Mecha System Variant, for the purpose of running various IP based games - Macross, Gundam, and even Japanese TRPG based settings like Wares Blade. The goal was to have a system that would accurately emulate the feel of these well established Mecha series where both the players and the GM (myself) knew, generally speaking, what the robots and their pilots should be capable of.

While this has worked extremely well for each outing I've run so far, it means that I've ignored a crucial element of Mecha Anime gaming. I don't have a Mecha Construction System. I never designed rules for players to create their own Mecha as we were generally using our favorites from whatever franchise we were playing in.

Heheh. My bad.

All joking aside, this is indeed a problem.

I'll be honest, I feel pretty foolish that it never even occurred to me to create a system for players to create original robots. I mean, what is this Marvel Heroic? 

Now that I want to make this into a game others beyond myself and my groups can download and use, I need to flesh out the system in ways I never really intended. Originally, I made only what I needed and wrote it all down in a way that worked for me, no more no less.

What you're going to see over the course of a few upcoming posts is a man reverse engineering a game he himself created. Yeah, kind of nuts but it's the only way I can think of to make this work. 

To begin, let me lay out the basic structure of the game as well as the why of that structure. 

I'll be honest and upfront with you, what I had determined to be a finished game before the month started is looking more and more like a work in progress. Part of the reason this post - this whole month - has taken so long to put together is that I continue to make changes to the details of how this game functions on an almost daily basis. *Sigh*

The main ideas are thus:

When performing actions with their Mecha, a Mecha Pilot adds their stat and skill to the connected capacity of their Giant Robot. At present, you roll 2D6 and try to get under that number. That is not how it originally worked. Originally, you rolled a 1D10 and added the the combined Pilot Stat, Pilot Skill, Mech Stat and tried to beat a target number or an opposed roll. Unfortunately, that seems to close to Mekton for me. Another option I am toying with is that the combined total is the number of 6 sided dice you roll and attempt to get 'successes', I style of game design I have been really enamored with these past few years.

Mecha are structurally similar to Characters. 

Computer Control is Brains

Hydraulics is Brawn

Maneuverability & Handling is Agility

Power Systems is Cool...Sort of. 

Sensors is Perception 

While some of this is self explanatory, others need a little clarification. Brawn is Physical Strength, used to fight hand-to-hand, push open doors, or lift things. Cool for a Character is your default Social Skill and I am likely to switch up that term for something else before the game is complete. For Mecha, its replaced by Power Systems and governs Special Moves or Effects that don't easily fall into any of the other categories. Basically, when your Mecha needs to do something 'Cool' you tap Power Systems.

The other key element is, as noted in an earlier post, there are no hit points or anything quite like that. Instead, under Software and Hardware (as well as Weapons) you list the various components that make up your Mecha; Software includes Targeting System, Database, or Energy Scanner, while Hardware are physical parts like Right Arm, Head, and Jetpack. 

When you successfully hit an opponent or are hit by them, weapons do 'Rolls of Damage'. Let's say a Laser Rifle does 3 Rolls. Each Software and Hardware component is numbered and you roll 2D6 (or originally 1D10) for each Damage roll. An attack might hit your Left Arm, Left Leg, Sensors. Each hit reduces the function of that component, dropping it's dice/effectiveness. You can opt to spend a Drama Point (possibly a Reactor Point) to say, "I land all three hits on the Sensors" or "the Left Arm". This effectively disables that part until repairs can be enacted.

If  your Mech's Arm is holding a Beam Sabre and that Arm is disabled, you can't use that Beam Sabre. If your Sensors are down you can't see, flying blind and suffering a major penalty. If the region is randomly struck again after being disabled, it is destroyed - the arm is blown off and goes hurtling through space or lands as a heap of burning wreckage. 

As I write this I realize I am rethinking parts of the game more and more. Part of the reason for this is I am currently running a game with a similar system to the 1D10 variant that feels, well, a bit mechanically tedious. Rolls of the dice aren't particularly engaging or exciting for some reason and I need to figure out why or how I can get them to feel more interesting. 

As you can probably tell, I am struggling a little this month, even though I am totally jazzed about this idea. I have a number of strong concepts for games, including this one, bouncing around in my brain but my anxiousness over real life stuff and frustration over some of the other games I'm running is making it difficult to get this done. 

As is often the case with things I truly love, want to do, and believe, I am too dumb to give up. 

The quest to complete MSV and discuss Anime/Manga Gaming continues...

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MSV - The Origin

In 2009, Game Designer Jim Clunie created a game for a 24 Hour RPG Challenge called Extended Mission. I originally found the game through the website 1KM1KT but as of now neither that site nor Extended Mission seem to exist. I will update this if they become available one more. 

A rules-lite, resource management game, the focus was on playing satellites trying to get information about an abandoned Earth for the Humans living on Mars before their batteries ran out and/or they burned up in Earth's atmosphere. I was intrigued and inspired by the system and concept and began to tweak the rules to work with an idea I'd have for years; a game in which players would play Artificially Intelligent robots. 

The result was something I initially called Extended Mission Expanded. I ran it for several sessions and those sessions were pretty damn great. I forget why it ended. Scheduling most likely, the ultimate enemy of good games. 

From there I made some changed and pushed the game even further, thinking that if it could handle robots of the Star Wars Droid and WALL*E variety, maybe it could handle Giant Robots. Maybe, just maybe, I had a potential Anime/Manga Mecha game on my hands that could solve what I felt/feel is the key issue with the Mecha games that have come out so far...

They aren't, generally speaking, very Anime like.

Before I get into that though, let me finish with the origins of my new RPG. Where was I? Ah yes...

Over the years that followed I tinkered with the game further and further, eventually transforming it from Extended Mission Expanded to Extended Mecha and finally its current incarnation - Mecha System Variant or MSV*. 

Now here's where I give my unpopular opinion:

While there have absolutely been some awesome Mecha RPGs over the years, especially Mike Pondsmith's seminal game Mekton, most American Giant Robot games focus too heavily on tactical, wargame oriented combat. Pages and pages are dedicated to range, armor, damage, and the specific mechanics of missiles vs lasers, size and weight, and other such details that don't really matter. 

That's right, you heard me, these things don't matter. 

Very few Anime or Manga make a distinction between different weaponry beyond what that do. Is the opponent in range? Don't pull out a hex map and measure the distance - they don't do that in the medium. Are you and the target on screen at the same time? Was the enemy approaching before a jump cut to the hero? In either case, they're in range because that allows for action. You shouldn't slow down a Mecha Anime game with crunch and I feel that's exactly what most Mecha games do. 

There are no hit points in Anime. Mecha rarely loose armor points, though sometimes their armor gets blown off.  Animation and Comics are visual and visceral and they focus on what happens, not on abstractions. Gundam robots don't take 3 points of damage, they lose targeting or visual sensors. When the EVA-01's arm is cut off the important thing for the audience to know is that the pilot, Shinji, is afraid and in terrible pain, not that it adjusts his hit modifiers.

To this end I set out to produce a Mecha game with no hit points and armor that reduces the level of negative events. I wanted rules that added drama and built to climaxes. It was important that the action move the story and vice versa, avoiding action for actions sake. This doesn't mean action isn't a major element of the game; far from it.  Mecha Anime and Manga are solidly a subgenre of Action Adventure. It's just that the goal in making this game was to create sessions where you can see and feel what is going on in the game and not spend too much time calculating numbers. Decisions you make are character, story, and scene driven and less tactical in nature. 

30 Minute Mission Alto Custom

by ICHI [いち]

At least that's the plan. 

Here goes nothing...

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Barking Alien

*The name MSV actually comes from a series of books put out in Japan called 'Mobile Suit Variations' which detail designs and variations on those designs for robots featured in the Universal Century and One Year War timelines of the franchise.

Many of the designs never appear in any Gundam series, having been created purely for merchandising (models kits mostly) or for a planned series that was cancelled. Nonetheless, as the books were put out by Bandai/Sunrise - the company that owns Gundam - and designed by the writers and artists of the series, all the Mobile Suits in these books are considered canon. 

I used to collect these whenever I found them and loved pouring over the various designs again and again. When I started thinking up names for my own Mecha game, MSV was the first thing that popped into my head and it kept coming back. Defining it as Mecha System Variant, an alternative to traditional Mecha RPGs, sealed the deal. 

Here's Where Things Get Dicey

Fair Warning: This entry goes all over the place but if you'll follow along I think you'll enjoy the ride. 

My previous post on the Japanese tabletop RPG system Saikoro Fiction, or 'Dice Fiction' in English, by Adventure Planning Service was posted this morning, yet it was based on a conversation I had last Wednesday and actually written this past weekend. Why did it take so long to complete? Partly it was due to the accompanying illustration and the sample Attribute/Skill Grid I put together. 

Mostly though, it was because I did some addition research, had some thoughts, and got feeling truly creative again. Between my original twitter conversation and now I've been incredibly inspired in a way I haven't felt in a long while. I think the last time I was honestly this jazzed about gaming ideas was when I ran our Red Dwarf/Yellow Sun campaign using the ALIEN RPG. 

What follows - both in this post and over the next month - will be a breakdown of a series of ideas that have come to me, not all of which flow in a straight line. I will do my best to organize them into some kind of order. At some later point, when the ideas are largely out of my head and on paper/screen, I will likely compile some of them into a book of some kind. I can even see a sellable product coming out of some of them. 

To begin...

I am really intrigued by Dice Fiction and its Attribute/Skill Grid but one of the things I noticed when building a sample one was that with six Attribute columns and eleven Skill rows, the total number of Skills in sixty-six. 66! That's kind of nuts. It was really tough coming up with 66 names of Skills and what they might possibly be used for (or why one might be used as opposed to another).

I propose a 6 x 6 grid which would result in 36 skills. I also think that not every PC in a given game has the same 36 Skills. Creating different grids enables PCs to cover areas other PCs don't which not only allows for greater character customization but also enables you to make Templates not unlike those found in Star Wars D6. In a given setting its possible everyone has Dodge or Melee Weapon under the Attribute 'Prowess' but not everyone has the same special abilities, magical skills, or martial talents under their 'Technique' column. I believe some of the official Dice Fiction games do work this way.

 

Sample Attribute/Skill Grid for my Dice Fiction version

of the RPG Yokai Hunters Society

Now here's where my first idea comes in; a few weeks back I downloaded the game Yokai Hunters Society from the amazingly cool itch.io website. A neat, rules-lite game of masked, Meiji era Japanese folks battling demons, ghosts, and spirit monster against the background of the political and social change prevalent in Japan in the late 1800s. It has some similarities to a number of Anime and Manga series, notably the extremely popular Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, as well as numerous Japanese live-action TV shows and Movies in the Horror genre. 

Wow! I mean, seriously right up my alley, right? What a great idea for a game. Only...I don't love the system. Very simple, almost too much so, with not a lot to sink ones teeth into. It is functional, even fun, but a little lackluster for my tastes.

If I apply the Dice Fiction rules to the setting, I think I have something. Something really interesting that I can see being used for a long term campaign.

First though I am thinking of fleshing out some of the 2D6 vs. Assignment Skill mechanics with conditions or points that would allow for rolling with Advantage or Disadvantage. For example, an Enchanted Sword that gives you Advantage on your Melee Weapon/Sword so that you need to beat the Target Number on 2D6 but roll three six-sided dice and take the highest two. Meanwhile, if injured or perhaps cursed by a Yama Uba (Mountain Hag/Witch), you might roll three six-sided dice and take the lowest two.

I am definitely going to work on this and flesh it out a bit more. In addition, I will be posting both a more detailed overview of the basic Dice Fiction game (based on my research) and this alternate Barking Alien version I am developing. 

This leads me, indirectly mind you, to another idea I have. While it has nothing to do with Dice Fiction, it was looking into that game that reminded me of my age old love affair with Anime, Manga, and RPGs with an Anime/Manga influence and flavor. I miss running our very Japanese influenced games of Cyberpunk 2020 and Space:1889, not to mention games like Mekton and Teenagers from Outer Space. 

I figure it's about time I made one of my own.

Stay tuned...

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My apologizes to the creator of Yokai Hunters Society, Chema González, who did an excellent job with the writing, illustrations, and layout. Clearly impressive enough to inspire my own take on the game.

 
Also an apology to Nate Treme, who created the Tunnel Goons rules used in Yokai Hunters Society. Again, fine rules, completely workable, but they just didn't grab me personally.  

Lights Over A Bowl of Dust

Wednesday evening I covered for our regular Kapow! GM Keith, who runs an excellent Superhero RPG campaign over Google Hangouts. Actually, he's been doing it a good two and change years now.

Periodically I run something with the same group, usually when Keith is unavailable for some reason as was the case this time. This past week and next he is moving and so I stepped in with a planned two-parter.

Originally I had intended on running my Ghost Story RPG, 'Unfinished Business', but I decided to wait. A suggestion on a setting time and place by one of the players (Thank You Carl!) gave me a moment of Gaming Epiphany and I switched gears to another long time game idea I've always wanted to try.

Instead of a Ghost Story, I went with a UFO/Mystery/Period Piece set in the mid-1930s. The game had odd though overall effective pacing (I'll elaborate in an upcoming post) and generally went over very well. I am really happy with how it turned out.

Here's a session recap...

Act I

Oklahoma. The Dust Bowl. September 1936.

Years of drought, and dust storms have turned the great plains of America's heartland into a desert. Salt of the Earth farmers do the best they can to survive. Many abandon the state, and head west to California. President Roosevelt works to address the hardships of the struggling homesteaders as his New Deal plans seek to pull the United States out of the economic difficulties of the Great Depression.

On a lonely stretch of Route 66 between Oklahoma City, and Tulsa, Mr. and Mrs. Hildy and Archibald Dunkirk stop to fix a flat tire. Hailing from swank society Chicago, the married Reporter and Photojournalist duo have been covering the dust storms and the effect they've had on the fine people of the state of Oklahoma. Unfortunately, one such storm, a real doozy of a humdinger, is right on their heels.

Enter Deputy Sheriff Milton Stokes, out on the road looking for travelers stranded by the rough conditions. Getting reports of high winds, brush fires, and peculiar lights in the sky, Stokes comes upon the couple and tries to lend a hand.

Meanwhile, blues guitarist 'Albuquerque One-String' Simon comes upon the group. Taking the bus when he can afford a ticket, hitchhiking when he can't, he sees the people and cars ahead and tries to make a break for them before the devil of dust storm catches up to him (and them as well). He wants their aid and shelter in one of their vehicles, but he also wants to warn them just the same. Momma Simon taught her son right.

Simon is facing the storm and sees it a'coming clear as day, even though it is nearly dusk and the muted hues of land and sky make it all bleed together on the horizon.

Deputy Stokes and the Dunkirks realize trouble is truly brewing when the wind picks up out of nowhere, roaring to life, and drowning out all other sounds. Stokes runs to his car to report back on his location and that he's trying to aid some folks, but after a few moments he loses the conversation to static. The sky grows darker and the headlights of his car flicker. The Dunkirks' own car radio gets louder, then inaudible, then back to normal in a blink. At normal decibels it is completely drowned out in the din of the wind.

Albuquerque is getting close, so he shouts as loud as he can, but they just can't hear him. He waves his arms frantically and Hildy sees him in her car's rear view mirror. Taking off her reporter's hat, she dons a scarf, or kerchief, and long gloves, then rushes out to help the poor fellow. Archie sees her and knows he must go to his wife's aid (or he'll simply never hear the end of it)! Stokes focuses on finishing fixing the tire. When he's done he runs over to see the rest of them have formed a Human chain, attempting to pull Simon towards the police car.

Just then, a low flying plane, like a crop duster, sails just over Stokes' head. He can see some sort of light coming from underneath it. He can not hear it at all. Even with the rolling thunder of the wind, the plane seems quieter than a church mouse.

Stokes grabs the bumper of his car with one hand and Archie Dunkirk's arm with the other. Archie grabs Hildy. Hildy grabs Simon. Simon holds on to his guitar for dear, dear life! The Storm Arrives! Everyone is pelted in the back (Simon in the face) with sand, grit, dust, and debris. As the mysterious aircraft flies overhead, Stokes catches sight of another object some fifty feet up in the rapidly darkening evening. It looks like a ball of orange fire...

The storm is caught by a terrible cross wind and what seemed like it couldn't get worse, does. A wide tornado of gravel, dust, and dry grass forms around the group. For a brief moment - the blink of an eye - the beat of a heart - the group seems buffeted by wind, but relatively safe in the eye of the whirlwind.

Just as suddenly as it formed, the massive dust devil POPS! A thunderously loud explosion overhead breaks up the dust storm, slamming all the people on site to the ground, flat on their backs, with such force that they are all knocked unconscious...

End of Act I

Our players and characters are...

Hildegard 'Hildy' Dunkirk, Mrs. - Reporter, The Chicago Eagle - Chicago, IL (played by Melinda S.)

A spunky, good girl with a heart of gold and a bank account to match, Hildy Dunkirik has the epitome of both a 'high society debutante' and a spirited, big city reporter. 

'Roughing it' in the rural wastelands of depression era Oklahoma, she nonetheless strives to tell the honest, Human side of the the Dust Bowl's situation. 

Archibald 'Archie' Dunkirk, Mr. - Photographer/Photojournalist, The Chicago Eagle - Chicago, IL (played by Stephen H.)

Likewise born with a silver spoon in his mouth (but one not as shiny as Hildy's), Archie Dunkirk has been given the opportunity to pursue his interest in photography. With a brave demeanor and a talented eye, Archie has managed to become well known and respected back in Chicago for his gripping photos that powerfully depict the plight of the common folk.

Archie is bit of a klutz with any machinery or equipment other than his trusty camera and photography gear. Nobody's perfect.

Simon 'Albuquerque One-String' Simon - Blues/Jazz Musician - Albuquerque, NM (played by Carl E.)

Born and raised in Albuquerque, NM, Simon Simon (Momma was a good woman but none too creative) grew up poor and largely uneducated. A self-taught guitarist with a second hand guitar, One-String Simon made money doing odd jobs and playing in dive cafes and on the street. 

One day, Albuquerque received a letter from a famous musician in St. Louis asking him to join his band for a spell with the possibility of hiring Simon full time. The musician had heard Albuquerque play while passing through One-String's home town. The fellow was the leader of a blues band of some notoriety and Albuquerque knew this was the opportunity of a life time. 

Packing up all he had (which was basically his hat, his guitar, and his one good suit), Simon alternated between bus, train, and hitchhiking to get where he needed to go.

Milton Stokes - Deputy Sheriff - Oklahoma City, OK (played by Mark O.)

An Oklahoma native and life long resident, Milton Stokes is an honest man doing an honest job for honest folks. He can't stomach it when folks in need go without. That's why he does what he does I reckon.

Stokes native status means he knows the people around these parts like he knows his own shadow. He's on a first name basis with all the bus drivers, the milkmen, the mailmen, the farmers, and the old lady who runs the motor lodge up around Sand Creek way. 

When strange things start happening around the area, rest assured Deputy Stokes is on the case.

***

A storm, dead car batteries, a midnight rescue by a bus driver and his charges, an out of the way motor lodge, strange radio signals, and a series of lights in the sky later, and this eclectic group of strangers seem to have uncovered a mystery that grows stranger and stranger as the night wears on. The Dust Bowl is empty of water, but it might very possibly be full of...something out of this world.

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