Showing posts with label Mutant Future. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mutant Future. Show all posts

Friday, March 18, 2011

The Land of Gorch - I Got You Babe


"Psst. Adam. Pssst.""Who's that...I...SCRED?!"
"Yeah. Can I come out and talk to you?"
"Wow. Yeah, sure buddy come on out."





"Thanks. I just wanted to say, on behalf of the Gorch Muppets, we appreciate this thing you're doing here. It's really nice be remembered and recognized."

"Aww Scred. Listen pal, I'm sure you'll get your day in the sun soon. I mean, there's a new Muppet motion picture coming up, Sesame Street is still going strong and Cookie Monster even sang with Jeff Bridges on Saturday Night Live. It's just a matter of time before..."

"What?"


"What what? About Cookie Monster on SNL? Yeah, he sang with Jeff Bridges during a Christmas episode."


"I see. How nice for him. Would you excuse me I have an errand to run."


(Hefts a large club with spikes in it and walks off muttering to himself...)

"Hmm...hope he doesn't do anything rash. Oh well... "




...



First a note I should've made before...

In a Land of Gorch game, I recommend only one character per player, unlike a typical Muppets RPG. The cast was smaller and the setting more specific. Also it helps give the impression that there isn't much life out there in this barren badland dump your characters call home.

All characters are also Customs. The techniques used to build these Muppets are too elaborate to waste on Whatnots.

Relationships

Routines are less about the Routine and more about the Relationships in a Land of Gorch game. A character would be able to say 'Consider My Appeal' as opposed to 'Hold Your Applause' and then receive an Exploding Die when interacting with specific characters in specific, preset ways.

For example:
King Ploobis is the husband of Queen Peuta, father of Wisss and secretly lusts after Vazh. Well, it's a secret to Peuta anyway.

If Ploobis wants to make a move on Vazh but it's possible Peuta isn't too far away, he can have the table 'Consider My Appeal' and then an Exploding Die in his attempts to seduce Vazh or avoid detection. Now he's taking a risk of being found out and losing a 'Stay' at the close of the session (Peuta will be furious!) and in a way endangering Vazh as Peuta could vote her off instead! Queens so wronged can be very vengeful.

So Routines become Relationships in Gorch. If you wanted to stretch the meaning, which would be in keeping with the themes of the setting, you could use Relationships to illustrate addictions. That is, instead of a Relationship with a character, your PC could have a 'Relationship' with a thing or a substance like money, booze or craters.

Wisss is a 'Crater Head' and enjoys getting wasted by sticking his head into smoking craters and breathing in the noxious vapors. If this is important to the character maybe (Director and Player should discuss the option) he can hold off on getting Appeal and get an Exploding Die to hide his nasty habit from his mom and dad (Peuta and Ploobis) or his pal Scred.

OK. That's it for Gorch for now. I hope you've enjoyed this little Muppets RPG variant and consider checking out the SNL episodes featuring this nearly forgotten phase of Henson's genius. See you round the tar pits.

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Muppet Quotes

King Ploobis: Well, it's, uh... looks like the first draft of a letter to Lily Tomlin!


[ Peuta pops up from the crater and reads the letter over Ploobis' shoulder.]

King Ploobis: It says: "Dear Lily Tomlin: I have watched with enchantment your beautiful image, when I can sneak away from my loathsome, degrading, filthy job."


[ Peuta gasps.]


Peuta: Read on, read on.


King Ploobis: Yes. It says: "mi amore enchante, je t'aime, je t'aime." Hunnhh. It says: "PS, Be mine tonight, your slave in love, Scred." And then down at the bottom, it says, "PS, X X X X."


Peuta: Oh! He's in love with Lily Tomlin!


King Ploobis: Grrrunnhh. She has my sympathies.






Here's A Muppet News Flash!

The rose presented to the beautiful and talented Lily Tomlin (I too am a big fan) by way of Scred was actually an unrehearsed surprise gesture from Scred's performer, the amazing Jerry Nelson. You know Jerry as the performer for Floyd Pepper, Julius Strangepork, Sesame Street's Count Von Count, Fraggle Rock's Gobo Fraggle and many others
.





Thursday, March 17, 2011

The Land of Gorch - Live From The End of the World, It's Saturday Night!

So you're in the mood for a post-apocalyptic struggle for survival against harsh elements, blood thirsty mutant cannibals (which would technically mean they eat other blood thirsty mutants I suppose) and strange powers your feeble mind was not meant to comprehend. Then, someone says, "Hell yeah! And Muppets!"

Well, you've got the Muppets RPG but you're going to have to make a few changes.


..



First, you would be creating a character who looks like they would fit in the Gorch 'universe,' so Shticks like 'Frog', 'Penguin' or 'Ghost' would be dropped for more of what you do or your place in the tribe. Essentially, everyone on Gorch is a mutant something-or-other. Leave it at that.

Applause and Stars could be renamed for flavor but that flavor could also add a bit of depth and meaning to the game. I like the idea that part of Gorch's nature is that it could end at any time, figuratively and literally. Your character and the world he lives in, within and without the 4th wall, is in a lot more danger of being cancelled by the powers that be. To get a little metaphysical, the campaign is both a 'show' and a metaphor and one I don't think enough post-apocalypse games talk about.

What if...If you (the PCs) don't make it, the world doesn't make it. What if the world's survival depends upon your own.

This would be a fantastic thing to consider in any post-apocalypse game but it would seem front and center in the Land of Gorch.

To this end, Applause is called Appeal, as in the character's appeal but also an appeal to the gods to let you live on one more day. Appeal can be obtained by entertaining the group in the same fashion as the regular Muppets RPG but it can also be obtained by accomplishing something that helps the groups survival. Maybe it was you who found shelter or actually understood what the Mighty Favog was talking about.

Star Power is therefore, Staying Power. A character with more Staying Power can attempt to use that power to perform feats similar to those in the regular Muppets RPG (which may expand soon - keep checking back for details-AD).

Now, here's the big twist...Survival depends on Staying Power right? OK. What if, at the end of each session all the players weigh in on who contributed to the Land of Gorch's Staying Power?

If you cheated on your betrothed, ate the last living Glig or failed to milk the Gorkon properly (and hey, we've all been there), maybe you were entertaining but we're all gonna die. Maybe you get voted off the island. See where I'm going with this?

Everyone votes on who did the best job and who did the worst job of keeping the Land of Gorch alive. Gorch itself, the world that is, should start the game with a Staying Power of 5. If a character receives a positive majority vote they get one extra Staying Power mote or a 'Stay' if you will. If anyone gets a negative vote they lose one. If someone loses one, Gorch looses one.


For Example:


It's the first session.


The Land of Gorch has a Staying Power score of 5.

The secret ballot votes are tallied for the first adventure.As for who did the best at keeping us alive and on the air..

.
Peuta gets 1 vote
Ploobis gets 1 vote
Scred gets 2 votes
Vazh gets 1 vote
Wisss gets 0 votes

As to who put us on a direct path toward utter extinction...

Peuta gets 0 votes
Ploobis gets 1 vote
Scred gets 1 vote
Vazh gets 0 votes
Wisss gets 3 votes

In the end, Scred gets an extra Stay, Wisss loses a Stay and the Land of Gorch goes down to 4.

If the votes had been one each or one person got 2, another got 2 and another 1, no one would lose a Stay because it was a tie. Likewise, Gorch wouldn't lose one either.

So how does Gorch gain Staying Power? Only together can we make the world a better place...seriously. So if everyone gives up 1 Stay, Gorch gains a Stay.







(I'm thinking this mechanic could also be used in some way to simulate 'saving the Muppet Theater'. A sort of short hand resource management game that keeps the constantly broke Theater a float. More ideas to add! It never ends...!).

One more installment coming...then on to some really strange ideas!

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Barking Alien



Muppet Quotes


Ploobis: Oh, Mighty Favog! I got a problem.
Favog: BUSINESS, SPORTS OR PERSONAL?
Ploobis: Uh... Scred?
Scred: Medical, your grossness.
Ploobis: Oh, Mighty Favog, it's medical.
Favog: MEDICAL.
Ploobis: Mmm.
Favog: IT'S GONNA COST YA.
( Ploobis looks uneasily at Scred. )
Favog: THREE CHICKENS, TWO SWANS, AND A DUCK.
Ploobis: Holy guacamole. Whatcha got on you, Scred?
Scred: Just two chickens. But that's car fare home!
Ploobis: Oh Favog, I offer you two chickens -- it's all I've got!
Favog: BUSINESS IS SLOW. I'LL TAKE 'EM.

Here's A Muppet News Flash!

I am serious up there when I say ideas keep coming. They Just Keep Coming! I could do a year of posts...well maybe not a year. I do want to talk about other things. Yet this is the most fun I've had in a while. Maybe Muppet Mondays? Hmm...



The Land of Gorch - Post-Apocalypse Muppets

Ladies and Gentlemen...the time has come...

Gorched Earth Policy is in effect!

As promised, Muppets Post-Apocalypse is here!

A little back story...

During the 1975-76 first season run of Saturday Night Live, Jim Henson's Muppets were featured in a series of short sketches collectively known as the Land of Gorch. A desolate, swampy landscape of grey rock, heavy shadows and red-orange skies, Gorch looked like an awesome place to adventure in.





At 8 years old I probably shouldn't have been up watching Saturday Night Live but I did and the images of that set and the strange characters that lived there had a major impact.

The Muppets of the Land of Gorch were not your typical Frogs, Dogs, Pigs and Whatevers. OK, close to Whatevers but not typical ones.




The cast: left to right:
Scred, Queen Peuta, Wisss, Vazh and King Ploobis
with Mighty Favog in the front.


Using the same sort of glass eyes taxidermists use and applying various unusual painting and dying techniques, the Saturday Night Live Muppets were alive and disturbing in a way the previous ones had not been. In addition, they were among the most flexible, both structurally and in terms of what they could do and say. These were adult Muppets who could 'Stay Up Late' as it were. Elements of the Land of Gorch sketches included discussions of adultery, alcohol, drugs, endangered species and other 'adult' topics normally taboo in most Muppet productions.





Ploobis and Scred get hammered before going to see the Mighty Favog


The characters themselves were broadly portrayed stereotypes, at least at first but real depth came to them over time, especially when in the second season it was revealed that Saturday Night Live would no longer be having the Muppets on the program.

You see, though created by Henson and company, it was the SNL writers who wrote the stories and skits and the writing staff was not fond of working with the Muppets. Therefore, for the second season Gorch sketches, the Land of Gorch itself was often missing and instead the Muppet characters would interact with the live actors on the show. Many of the gags at that point revolved around the Muppets trying to keep their jobs. The end result, sad though it is, was that the Gorch characters developed real three dimensional personality just as they were being cancelled. I especially miss Scred. That dude was freakin' awesome. Alas, Gorch was dumped and the characters have not been used in any Muppet production since.

It's a damn shame.

I could seriously envision a late night comedy program with these characters on Cartoon Network. Come on, the guys who brought us Venture Brothers, The Mighty Boosh and Robot Chicken couldn't swing a dark comedy Muppet Show?

Where was I...ah yes...Gorch.




Scred tries to get Wisss to stop 'Smoking Craters'.

While some subsequent references to Gorch would seem to indicate it to be an alien planet, I took it to be more like Planet of the Apes or Gamma World when I was a kid. With the ability to be edgier and still very much in character and tone for a Muppet production, a Gorch game would rock. I could see running it with Gamma World or Mutant Future, a somewhat hacked Encounter Critical, Apocalypse World (Good Lord!) or, just throwing this out there, The Muppets RPG.

So that's what you're about to see. A Post-Apocalyptic Muppets RPG campaign set in a cynical, messed up world of horrible and twisted mutations. Won't this be fun!

In the next post, how to turn the wild and wacky game of The Muppets RPG into a boiling cesspool of degenerate filth. Come on in the waters great!

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Barking Alien


Muppet Quotes

"This land is your land, this land is my land.
From the bubbling tar pits, to the sulfurous wasteland.
From the rotting forest, to the stagnant mud flat,
This land was made for you and me."
King Ploobis to Queen Peuta.

Here's A Muppet News Flash!

I used the Land of Gorch as the picture in my mind of a Post-Apocalypse New Jersey in one of my first Gamma World games. The session, the first of several in a short lived campaign (typical of the original Gamma World) featured a tribe of mutant lizard/walrus hybrids whose design was based on the Muppet of King Ploobis.

I saw the Land of Gorch puppets up close and personal at the Lincoln Center Exhibition in 1979. Their eyes, the texture of some of them and their clothing give them a truly eerie appearance. Even more so when on display and unmoving I'd wager.

Scred is one of my all time favorite Muppets, up there with Gonzo, Grover and Uncle Deadly. It is so unfortunate that most people don't even know who the character is.







Sunday, September 13, 2009

Predictably Random

Another element of my gaming experience that differs from the majority of my fellow 40-something gamers and distances me from being a traditional 'old schooler' is my love/hate relationship with Random Tables.

As a GM I love them for the potentially inspiring and sometimes ridiculous ideas they can generate but I also rarely (if not exceptionally rarely) use anything I have ever rolled 'as is'. I'll roll for magic items found in a pirate's buried treasure, get a ...*clatter*clatter*...+2 Sword and instead announce a curved blade with ancient Sea Elf runes and a hilt carved to look like a mermaid. The sword will indeed be found to be +2 but more importantly it gives a +2 bonus to resist Siren Song and allows the wielder to breath underwater.

I also find that while I like them, I never really need them. For example, I haven't rolled for a wandering monster in over 25 years. I will look over lists of monsters however and read one and say to myself, "Hey, there's a beastie I like that I haven't used in ages...cool!" I just don't find myself ever wondering what I should throw at my players and when. I usually design my worlds/universes so I know what is where and why, so when the players suddenly say while waiting for their patron/contact, "We're leaving the spaceport for a few hours and going into the jungle to see if we can find that rare plant the guide told us about", I know exactly what kind of creatures, plants and people live near the trees, which ones live near the pond and so forth.

Lastly, and this is especially frustrating, I tend to roll the same numbers over and over. I know its impossible trust me but it always happens nonetheless. Case in point...

Jeff Rients recently put up two awesome random tables for Mutant Future. I was especially interested in his Optional Random Mutant Animal Stock table and I commented that if I ran a game I'd have it so everyone who wanted to play a Mutant Animal would have to roll twice and combine the two (I really like chimeras). For fun, I decided to roll up a few random creatures and make a character out of the most interesting combos. I also figured I would test my photomanipulation skills by trying to create an image of the thing I roll up.

Muskrat came up 6 times in 10 rolls. 6 out of 10! I eventually rerolled a bunch of times only to get Skunk almost as often. Parrot came up 4 times and Weasel 3. So apparently, by rolling randomly, I have created a world of Skunk-Muskrats, Parrot-Muskrats, Muskrat-Weasels, Weasel-Skunks and Skunk-Parrots! Woohoo the diversity of nature!

Random rolls are too predictable for me. When creating things out of my own head or from research I never know what I'll find.

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Barking Alien