31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 15

This is Question I5 of 31 and it might be my last for the month of December.

Work, life, and the holidays have gotten in the way, making it difficult to finish, let alone catch up to where I should be by this time.

Fret not! I sure won't. Not this time. 

The whole point of this endeavor you see was to light a fire of inspiration under me and it has done just that. December has the most posts I've put up in one month since back in August. Usually when I do these blog challenges I don't hit my goal and end up feeling bad about it. This has been and is very different. Here the goal was never 'to win'; I never prioritzed completing 31 answers to 31 questions. Rather, the objective was to 'get better engagement with the viewers/readers of the blog by interacting with them more and using said interactions to fuel my desire to post more often'. I feel I've accomplished that.

I've seen more responses and comments these past four weeks then I have in a long while. Again, I've also posted more this month than I have in the past three months combined! I'm mentally cataloging this as a success and it has me itching to prep for next month in advance. 

With all that, here is Question #15 - it comes from my friend Miguel de Rojas, who has my sword, my bow, and my axe but remember, I'm just lending them to you. I need them back. 

For a guy with such love for IPs and a stated interest in medieval Europe's myth, legend, and folklore (not to mention RPGs), The Lord of the Rings is conspicuously absent from your blog. Can you explain your relationship with Tolkien's works?

As Gandalf himself once said, “The wise speak only of what they know.”

I don't really know Middle-Earth. Not the way I feel I would need to in order to run it.

I discovered the Hobbit after first playing D&D and The Lord of the Rings sometime after the Hobbit. It took me a while to get through all three books of Tolkien's trilogy but get through them I did and yeah, I really enjoyed it. Those books started my interest in reading more Fantasy books of the Appendix N variety.

Thing was, there wasn't more Lord of the Rings after Lord of the Rings (at least not that I knew of at the time). At the end of the story, the tale has been told.  After the original Star Trek series there was the Animated Series, comic books, novels, later movies, and further on there'd be much more material across many different forms of media. The same is true of Star Wars, Marvel and DC Comics, and a host of other franchises.

Lord of the Rings impressed me but it was all there was to it. After a while it fell off my radar. It was never my all time favorite thing, it wasn't something that I really wanted or needed more of, and that was fine because there really wasn't more to have.

It was also a story that didn't (and to some extent still doesn't for me) lend itself to continuing. It was a set story with some unique characters, and we know (largely) their final fates. There are a specific and very limited number of Mages and we know what happens to them (for the most part). Frodo (and to a lesser degree Bilbo) were rare and truehearted enough to carry the One Ring and again, they have a happily ever after of sorts.

I mean, the LotR series focuses on 'The One Ring'. There's only one, it's in the name. We know who was part of the one Fellowship that went to rid the world of the One Ring, and the events that ultimately did so.

It's what I tend to refer to as a Closed Story or Closed Setting. Star Trek, as an easy example, is an Open Setting. We learn there are other ships, with other crews, doing other things. It's inherent in the make up of the franchise's universe. Lord of the Rings feels more 'closed'; a single, specific group did a single, specific thing with a singular object. The End. Star Trek doesn't have a The End. It keeps on keeping on.

Part of that is because Star Trek is indeed a franchise, an IP, not a story. There isn't one book or trilogy called Star Trek. There will always be Superman comics. Star Wars could theoretically go on forever as well. Lord of the Rings just doesn't have that feel. 

Personally I never loved it enough to learn all the details and complicated history of its world. There are many people, including several of my gaming friends, who know far more about the setting then I. This puts me at a considerable disadvantage as a GM. I wouldn't mind playing in that world for a short while though. 

Lastly, while Middle-Earth might be influenced by European folklore and myth, it isn't Ars Magica. It's its own animal and one that I am less confident about adding my own stuff to, a key necessity when running in an established IP. 

I liked the Peter Jackson movies more than I ever did the books. I also enjoyed the animated film way back when. That's about as far as my love of Tolkien's creation extended for me today.

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31 Questions For Barking Alien - Question 4

Here's one from my pal Andy, who actually sent me a few quite interesting inquiries. You all might know Andrew from his 31 Days/31 Characters entry, The Hyborian. 

Question #4 from Andrew F. Rodriguez

Where does the content provided from an official TTRPG (setting, story, game mechanics) begin and where does it end at the gaming table?

I am going to interpret this question as follows: 'At what point do you start to add to or divert from the official 'canon' and rules-as-written of a game that has its own established setting [and of course mechanics]. 

A funny thing about [tabletop roleplaying] games...I've often said that most are terribly overwritten. In an attempt to cover any and all actions a Player Character might take or situations they might find themelves in, a ton of extra rules and subsystems are added in, often turning a relatively workable system into a bloated mess. 

At the same time - and this is key - TRPGs, regardless of how choked with mechanics a game is, they NEVER cover everything that can and will happen in your campaign. It is literally impossible, since a virtually infinite number of possible actions and reactions is the very nature of roleplaying games. 

To me, the best RPGs have a base mechanic and everything you want to do is essentially figured out the same way. Want to rewire a hostile robot to be your ally? Roll a pool of D6s and beat a Difficulty. Want to convince the Maitre d' you were invited to the fancy shindig? Roll a pool of D6s and beat a Difficulty. Trying to slash a monster with your sword? You get the picture.

Once a default Judgement system is established, all the game needs to do is say, 'If you come up against something and you don't know how to adjudicate it...use the base mechanic in a way that makes sense.' Game Designers of the world, I just saved you a hundred plus pages and a crap ton of money in printing costs. You're welcome.

So, back to the question and how what I'm talking about relates...

Depending on the game, you're either going to get everything that could possibly happen in the setting or a general idea of how to run a game in 'this type of genre'. Some TRPGs are Shadowrun, some are mechanics for running a Cyberpunk game with Magical Elements. These two things are not the same. Battletech/Mechwarrior if a very different beast from Mekton. 

As a general rule, the 'official game' ends when and where you reach a point where the players or the GM want to do something with the story, setting, or mechanics not covered by the established parameters given by the game. For some games that can take a while since the corebook and supplements have crossed all the t's and dotted at the i's for you. For others, that can kick in right from the start since that's the whole point. The latter type of game is basically telling you, 'Add to this. Modify it. Please! That's what its for.'.

Speaking for myself, I usually prefer that latter kind of game. Unless you're creating a franchise/IP TRPG - I'd have to discuss that subject a bit differently - I'd rather you give me a straight forward, all encompassing rule mechanic, and the base components that make the game an RPG about X. Let me begin making my own stuff right off the bat. 

Incidentally, one of the things that always bothered me about D&D in my early days in the hobby was how the game gave you Classes, Monsters, Spells, etc., but not rules/mechanics for creating those things yourself.

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Thoughts to De-Cypher

My Sunday group recently finished an original 'Mecha vs. Kaiju' campaign using the Cypher System by Monte Cook Games. It's OK, you don't need to apologize. You didn't do anything. I'm not blaming you, nor anyone really. It was my own decision. I could have said no.

In defense of the GM*, he did a good job with the campaign itself, in spite of the fact that he didn't have a really good source for running this particular genre with the Cypher system. Had he had a solid sourcebook/rule supplement specifically geared towards helping a GM to run a Mecha vs. Kaiju themed game, he would likely have been able to add a spoon full of sugar to help the system go down better. 

I'm just joshing of course but yeah, I don't like those mechanics OK, I basically despise them but that isn't really what this post is about. The point of this entry is something I observed during the game that related to something else I've been thinking about lately. In order to wash away my feelings about Cypher, I want to take a look at why it didn't work for me and why a very different outlook on game design is appealing to me more and more. 

In Cypher, the player rolls a D20 and attempts to beat a number determined by the opponent's or situation's Level (or Tier? PCs have Tiers which are just Levels so...) times 3. So, to hit a Level 3 monster, the PC needs to beat a 9. Yep. You get a number (Level - Difficulty), multiply it by a number (3), in order to get another number (in this case 9). Way easier than saying, 'OK, you need to beat a 9', right? Anyway...

During the actual campaign, it seemed like the overall average difficulty for enemies and tasks was 12 and 15. A PC can spend points from one of three pools (which pool dependent upon the nature of the action) to lower that difficulty. Based on another aspect of your character, it can cost between 1-3 pool points to drop the Difficulty one Level. I would guess each of the three Players/PCs spent points one out of every three actions. Why so often? Because we missed a lot. A LOT! Even after spending the points, we still missing fairly often. So much missing!

In a game with a binary Success/Fail outcome, missing sucks. Sure, sometimes you miss or fail, that's gaming and life. That said, if I go and miss and then the next player, two villains, and then the last player go before the GM gets back to me and then I $^%&ing miss AGAIN...it's more than frustrating. It isn't fun.

Bare in mind, nothing else is happening. I just miss. There is no cool side effect, no interesting 'you miss but this opportunity opens up...' or anything like that. You just sit and wait your turn until you miss again. You could also hit. It's possible. Through out this, you are likely spending points from the same finite pool that powers your special abilities and in the case of 'Might' serves as your Hit Points as well. 

Anyway, I don't want to dwell on the specifics of Cypher but rather the mindset that went into the design. It doesn't reward failure, regardless of the context of that failure. A good idea followed by a poor roll equals a failure result. Having a good idea doesn't really matter. Sure, the GM can award you a reduced Difficulty if they want want but I am not sure if the rules-as-written include that idea. My point is, Cypher appears to be built on much the same mentality as Dungeons & Dragons (not surprising - Monte Cook don't you know); Hit/Miss resolution, little Narrative influences or results, and your PC begins the game incompetent. 

Meanwhile...

I've seen some talk about the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV Tabletop Roleplaying Game from none other than the 'House of Final Fantasy' itself, Square Enix. One of the interesting ideas the game is supposed to feature is the way your 'To Hit' roll works. Based on the way it works in the MMO itself, you always hit. Take a moment, step back, breathe deeply and release it slowly, now read that over again. You always hit. 

The Starter Set and Core Rulebook

All coming soon...

From the FFXIV Reddit Community:

• Attack rolls are checked against physical or magic defense (AC). Attacks will always hit, but rolling (+ bonus) above defense is a Direct Hit and has additional effects (just more damage?).

• Nat 20s are Critical Hits, which double your damage or healing. There are no critical misses (Nat 1).

What a fascinating approach to the normally punitive to the players combat systems of classic Fantasy TRPGs. I'm not sure I love no Critical Misses as those offer opportunities for cool complications and narrative additions but I get it as those wouldn't appear in the MMORPG. Hmm. Wonder how hard it would be to mod that? Sorry, where was I...

On this same line of thinking there's the Japanese game I recently covered (and merged with Ghostbusters), Tokyo Ghost Research. TGR also has every roll (combat or otherwise) succeed unless the player decrees that they fail. If the roll meets or beats the  Target Number it results in a positive outcome. If its less than the Target Number you get a generally positive outcome plus a negative or problematic outcome to go with it. You either succeed or succeed with 'Trouble'. What's Trouble? Something interesting.

I know I use the word 'interesting' a lot here but really, after 47 years of gaming, games that go: roll, hit, damage, roll, miss, roll, hit, damage are immediately followed by yawning. A lot of RPGs, the majority I think its fair to say, focus on Combat or more accurately have Combat as a key component of the game. If that Combat is flat, untextured, and dry it means you're going to be experiencing that blandness regularly. I just can't take that. I don't have the attention or patience for un-engaging combat scenes that happen often. Ugh. 

The same is true, to a less extent perhaps, to non-combat activities amounting to nothing. Skills rolls for things that should just happen because of the in-setting context that a character is a specialist in the thing they're doing and/or the meta-context that if its just a failure the game comes to a halt. Either just allow the PC to succeed at the endeavor or make the roll have the possibility of an added positive or negative outcome. 

Have actions worth rolling for result in a useful, detrimental, or otherwise memorable outcome. Also, I personally prefer games where the PCs, the protagonists of your story, don't seem like they absolutely suck. They shouldn't always be successful; I want to be clear that's not what I'm saying. What I'm trying to convey is the idea that out of five actions, four of them being failures is lame - unless that failure comes with a 'and yet', 'but you notice', or some other narrative element that makes failure as fun, or at least nearly as fun, as success.

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*The GM of our Cypher game, as well as the other players, enjoy the system very much. They have various reasons for this and they're all as valid and legitimate as my criticisms (for whatever that amounts to). The GM finds the system extremely easy to run, the rules requiring the least amount of prep of any game he's played. Understandable that this would be appealing, even more so given the differences in how he preps and executes a game compared to myself [who's generally loosey-goosey with rule mechanics in favor of rule of cool.]

Cypher isn't a bad-wrong, terrible system. It just really isn't for me. 

 

Starfleet Support Services

I finally got the chance to read through Modiphius Entertainment's Star Trek: Lower Decks Campaign Guide for the Star Trek Adventures RPG and I'm very impressed.

Not only does the book capture the art and humor of the animated series, it expands the game overall with several elements that work with any and all eras and settings. For example, this book contains the first full-on alien creature design system. I'm not only amazed it took this long for the game to have such a thing but that it should first appear in the Lower Decks sourcebook is wild.

The book isn't perfect, although none of its minor short comings impact my overall love for this product. There are some editing errors and it doesn't include stats for two alien species that are nonetheless depicted and/or mentioned, specifically the Dooplers and Pandronians. Luckily the latter are given a full write-up in the Star Trek Animated Series Supplemental Guide (which is awesome in and of itself - check it out!). Finally, and this one gets me, each new Species is given sample names except the Exo-Comp. WHAT? You're not going to elaborate on the choice of PEANUT HAMPER? Perfect opportunity for humor casually tossed aside. For shame! 

The more I read, the more ideas I get for a Lower Decks campaign but there are some changes I would make to the 'core game' to add an additional level of emulation to the game and the part of the Star Trek universe it depicts and embraces.

Yeah, yeah, you know me. I can't help it. I just have to customize. 

Optional Lower Decks Character Creation

It bugs me a little that they didn't change or add much to the Character Creation process for Lower Decks characters. To me, there are some considerations that I feel could be a lot of fun if addressed. 

For instance, standard Character Creation involves having two Career Events: things like Conflict with a Hostile Culture, Ship Destroyed, and Transporter Accident. These events give the PC bonuses to an Attribute and a Discipline, as well as providing a prompt for some backstory. Cool right? But...Lower Decks characters haven't had a Career yet, let alone two character building Events. 

I would like to suggest a few alternative options for making a Lower Decks PC in Star Trek Adventures. Here goes nothing...

Environment and Lower Decks Upbringing

Environment and Upbringing seem to be a big deal for the characters in Lower Decks, especially Mariner and Tendi, though Boimler too to a lesser extent (I'd love to meet his parents in an episode). I think this should be evident in Character Creation, perhaps giving the PC something more meaty than Homeworld and Science and Technology. *Yawn*

I'm thinking you can probably keep Environment as is (haven't decided) but Upbringing should carry more weight. Maybe with Lower Decks Upbringing you get only one Attribute bonus, you pick a Discipline as usual, a Talent, a Focus, and then you have Issues.

Issues are drawbacks that can benefit your PC by operating at a cost or with a disadvantage for your PC now in exchange for a bonus later. Something like Rebels Against Authority for Mariner or Embarrassing Heritage for Tendi. Hmm, maybe you get to re-roll a D20 when interacting with your Issue ( say, when Mariner is disobeying an order from the First Officer or Tendi is trying to explain away how she knows where the secret compartments on a Smuggler's ship are located) but any Success also comes with a negative consequence (be it real or perceived). 

Career Events Academy Major and Academy Minor

Academy Major: Character receives a +1 to one particular Discipline and a Focus related to their career objective. Command Officers might take Diplomacy or Starfleet Protocols, Security Officers might take Energy Weapons or Small Unit Tactics, etc. You also get to come up with a story on how, this one time, you aced a test the rest of the class did poorly on or helped a classmate get past a mental block preventing them from grokking a subject. Gain a Contact! In the first example, the Instructor was so impressed she stayed in touch. In the second situation, you and the other Cadet remained friends even though they're stationed on another ship.

Academy Minor: The PC receives a +1 to one particular Attribute and must choose a Focus that will not come up that often. A very niche area of knowledge or a not generally applicable skill is their forte. Maybe they excelled at reasoning out Time Paradoxes in Temporal Mechanics Class. Perhaps they're extremely well-versed in early period Andorian Ice Sculptures.

Alternatively...

Academy Event

A Lower Decks Player Character receives a +1 to any one Attribute and a +1 to any one Discipline as well as two Focuses related to whatever the event was. It could be recommended [by the Narrator] that one of the Focuses be more serious and the other more trivial but it isn't necessary I suppose. I just think it's a fun idea.

On a related side note:

One of the things I loved about the FASA Star Trek RPG that other incarnations have kind of ignored is that it included skills like Gaming, Sports, and Trivia. I think we had a houserule that you could switch one of these for Hobby. Characters had interests and familiarity with things outside of beaming down to planets and scanning spatial anomalies. Lower Decks is all over this, so it seems only fitting to include it in the Character Creation section for a game in this setting. 

Values Goals

A lot of Star Trek Adventures players I know have difficulty understanding the Values feature and the rules around it, myself included. Part of the problem is I've been gaming for so long without needing or using role-playing mechanics (that is, a rules sub-system governing aspects of role play) that it takes me a while to wrap my head around rules that adjudicate my acting. Another issue, one I come across very often, is that they don't know their character's values at Character Creation. Sure they have some ideas but a lot of them develop their PC's outlook and beliefs as they play. Making Values before playing the Character is counter-intuitive to many of my friends, let alone ones that will aid them in a mechanical way.

In our [now 7 year long] Prosperity campaign, we just don't bother with Values at all. Determination is spent when it seems dramatically appropriate to what is going on in session. In other games I've run I let people leave them undefined at Character Creation to be written in later as they get to know their PC. 

For Lower Decks, I'm thinking of replacing Values with Goals. Instead of identifying the attitudes and convictions of a young Starfleet Officer who may not have figured those out for themselves, we go for the more straightforward objectives of a newly minted Ensign. Some possible Goals inspired by the show include:

• Find a Bridge Buddy
• Get noticed by the Captain
• Join a Clique/Club (For example: The Bear Pack, The Redshirts)
• Get a promotion
• Get transferred to a cooler ship

Like Values, you can act counter to your Goal but I recommend doing this near the end of an adventure/arch. If it fits what's going on, talk with your Narrator about making it a 'B Plot' for your character while participating in the latest 'episode'. Perhaps your Goal is to get transferred to a cooler ship in the standard fleet. Finally you're awarded exactly that after you work with your friends to save your current ship, a California Class vessel. Sure you get what you wanted but you turn it down to remain with your Cali-Class starship and crew. In the recently finished adventure you gained a new found appreciation for your ship and your crewmates. You might then swap that Goal out for a different one moving forward. 

I have more thoughts on this, including working out some new Talents, as well as Academy Majors, Minors, and Events to use with the idea above. I'll leave things here for now, as tomorrow starts a whole other focus for the blog.

Hint: It's Spooky.

Don't worry Star Trek fans, we'll talk again soon.

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Generating Interest - Part I

I had a fascinating conversation with my friend Ray last week regarding Player Characters in Fantasy RPGs versus those in other games.

The focus of the discussion followed Ray's observations as to why I - me personally - often find it difficult to create Fantasy PCs and why I don't often find the Fantasy Player Characters I generate all that interesting. This can lead to my becoming bored with the character, wanting to try some other sort of Race/Class combo, or simply losing interest in the game overall. 

Ray's keen insight into why I don't have an investment in Fantasy RPG characters is that they simply aren't particularly intriguing to begin with. They are not, by their nature, especially cool. To paraphrase Ray himself...

'Fantasy RPG characters don't start out interesting. They become interesting.'

 

I can just imagine the reactions to this statement out there in TRPG Internet Land and the images it conjures in my minds give me quite the hearty chuckle.

I should point out we are talking about Fantasy PCs created in the majority of the bigger, more popular Fantasy game systems; the discussion concentrates on RPGs like D&D, Pathfinder, Cypher System, and other Race/Class/Level based games. I could absolutely create a PC I find interesting in Ars Magica. Ars Magica is a very different beast from the games we're talking about here, though some of what makes it different will come into play (no pun intended) later in the post.

Many a modern gamer would disagree with this statement outright, saying the PC is as rich a character as the work you put into it. A truism I'll grant but that work is all you the player, with little coming from the system itself. Remember we are talking beginning PCs starting at 1st level here. I know many like to run and create characters that begin at 3rd Level or even higher but that only proves my point. The bulk of the classic style Fantasy games don't have you start at First Level with the kind of character you'd really like to play. That comes later (this is a key point that will come up further on in the post).

I can see the Grognards and Neckbeard Old-Schoolers (the latter the name of a Dwarf I met once I'm sure of it) saying that's the point! You start with nothing, a nobody, you're not a 'Character' in a story but a game piece, a component for the game that is D&D (or Rolemaster, Tunnels & Trolls, etc.). That's possibly true...and doesn't interest me. I don't want to play a glorified wargame or innovative board game. I want to go on adventures that tells/turns into stories and I want to be part of those stories with a story of my own. 

Now back to Ray's proclamation: It's always kind of bugged me that you begin many Fantasy game with a character who often seems like they never existed before they first stepped foot in 'Ye Ole' Meeting Place' tavern or the Dungeon-of-the-Week. 

"Flakgore the Barbarian turns to see an Elf in the Wizard Robes standing next to him. She wasn't there a moment ago but then again...was he? He has no memories of his life before opening the vaulted doors of the Crypt of Cataclysm. Looking at the other members of his party, there is a vague recollection of meeting them all in a tavern..."

These types of characters rarely feel 'real' to me and as such, I usually concoct a short description of who they are and why they've deciding upon the life of an adventurer. Without that, it all feels immaterial to me. Unimportant and definitely not special. The problem is, in my experience, I can't come up with a description because there isn't much to go on inspiration wise. Fantasy game settings often feel same-y to me and since I'm not a fan of the genre overall, these elements combine to create a blandness that doesn't motivate me to come up with much. 

Then there's the make-up of the characters themselves...We begin with 'Race'. Humans are boring, the other Races sound cool on paper but have few mechanics reflecting the fluff, and there are rarely rules for creating your own Species. This has improved in later editions and various systems. Classes are fairly rigid, start with few abilities, and multi-classing is usually poorly thought out. There is little to give any ideas for character background (later editions of D&D and other systems have added this and its much appreciated), and I just don't know where to go with it since I'm at a handicap with Fantasy to begin with.  

Compare this to some of my favorite games from other genres:

Star Trek (various versions) and Traveller: Rolls and/or choices develop your PCs pre-playing history. Your 'starting' character isn't just starting out in life but moving onto the next big, bold chapter of it - it just happens to be the chapter the GM and other players are interacting with. 

Characters begin the campaign after their 'Pre-Academy' days and 'Tours of Duty'. They may have gained 'Special Assignments', received 'Promotions' and/or 'Commendations'. They've lived interesting fictional lives before they've even entered the first session. This person is, to me, instantly interesting. It inspires ideas and makes me want to answer questions like, 'What was their homeworld like?', 'What was the Special Assignment they were given?', and 'Who gave them their Commendation? Are they still in touch?'.

Star Wars (specifically the West End Games D6 System) is so customizable that you can practically make up a cool character first, then figure out the Template's numbers, skills, Species abilities, etc. Let's say...OK let me try an experiment. I am going to do a Google Image Search for 'Star Wars Alien'. Give me a moment.

OK, the first three were a Hutt, Grogu (Yoda's Species), and Jar Jar Binks, a Gungan. OK, I love redeeming the Gungans so I'll make one of those. What Template? I'll build my own. There is no official Gungan Mercenary but I like the idea of playing one. Another quick search shows a few different Gungan Species write-ups. The Second Edition has a Mercenary Template as well as rules for making Templates so - bing, bang, boom - I can make a Gungan Mercenary, customize some of the skills, take away some gear since I get a few Amphibious abilities as a Gungan and I have a character I like that I designed myself for the most part. His name is, hmm, Junji Terble. Yeah. I could totally play this guy. 

I had 20 minutes and too much coffee so I made an image. 

Champions and Ars Magica take the previous approach and lean in on it hard. Through the purchasing of Attributes, choosing Advantages and Disadvantages, building your various Powers and Abilities exactly the way you want, I can create precisely the character I would find interesting. I can come up with a story for the character and then dig through the systems for rules that reflect that story. If my Superhero character's origin has her trapped in a forest fire before being given her plant powers by Flora - Spirit of All Plants, Daughter of Mother Nature - she might be as mighty as a Redwood but remain afraid of fire. So...hmm...Psychological Limitation. Cool. How about...Pyrophobia and maybe she takes Vulnerability: Extra Damage from Fire. Nice. That gives me more points so I can add more Plant-themed gimmicks to my PC's repertoire. Which gimmicks? How do they work? The ones I want and how I want them. 

One of my oldest Superhero characters, Excelsior - art by Keith Conroy, 1992.

The randomly generated Villains and Vigilantes version was cool. 

The custom built Champions version was AWESOME!

It would seem that the main focus of classic Fantasy RPG Character Creation is more Character 'Generation'. You are, for the most part, along for the ride as you roll dice and make some choices. You are a passenger on a commercial airplane flight. You get to pick your meal from one or two choices, decide what you want to drink, and whether or not you want the peanuts. 

With many of the games I enjoy it's more like being the pilot of a private jet. It's your plane. Go where you want to go, bring the food you want to eat, and if you want the peanuts, hell, knock yourself out. 

As Ray notes (paraphrasing): 

"The Fantasy character traditionally starts off simple. A basic design without much to make them appear unique. As they adventure, as they explore, fight monsters, and perform their skills, they will gather experience points they can spend to get new and more special abilities. Even more so, they will establish friends, enemies, and live through events that will give them a 'life story'.

Eventually, the PC will become much more interesting, both mechanically and narratively, as they've gone through numerous 'character building' moments."

OK, I get that. That certainly makes sense. I'll even go as far as to say it sounds fun to follow this complete rookie, this noob, through their development into a hero of the realm. But...

Spoiled as I may be, what with having cool traits, knacks, and maybe some neat equipment at the very start - all of which I built or decided upon myself - can you see how I'd automatically be more invested, more attached to this kind of character than the one just described? 

At the end of say a dozen sessions, both a classic Fantasy RPG PC and a Space Adventure/Supers RPG PC will have had the same amount of potential in-game character building and development time.

Yet the Space Adventure/Supers character had a head start on the 'being cool' factor right from the get-go. This is key to my forming a relationship with the PC that makes me want to keep playing them.

What can be done...?

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Pokemon Go...Shoppng!

This post was originally meant to focus on Runar Synch Moves, the super secret special abilities I'm instituting into my Pokemon: Rise and Fall RPG campaign. Unfortunately, its taking a little longer than expected to rework and format the information so I figure its as good a time as any to tackle another aspect of the game that needs fleshing out: Inventory.

This is a set of guidelines designed to give the Pokemon AD player a little 'resource management' mixed into their high adventure exploration game of cute monster collecting. The mechanics here - such as they are - are less concerned with tracking encumbrance and that sort of thing and more about deciding what your character can and can't live without when heading into the wilderness on your Pokemon Journey. 

This past week, while giving my players an overview of the Inventory mechanics, one of them asked, "How important is Inventory going to be?". A reasonable question and one relatively simple to answer, though as is often the case, what one person says and another hears can be two very different matters. 

Suffice to say Inventory is not one of the most important or largest elements of our Pokemon campaign. It is an element though and as such, it needs some rules. 

Pokemon Trainers begin with a Basic PokeBag that has 10 Slots of Inventory Space. PokeBags can be upgraded at Pokemon Centers for a fee and new PokeBags with far more Slots can be purchased at Poke Marts (A Pokemon League sanctioned international franchise of convenience stores that sell Pokemon related supplies). 

Most items take up 1 Slot. These items are generally about the size of something that would fit in a small backpack, 'fanny pack', or handbag. That's just a rough estimate of course. A rolled up Tent for 1 person also takes up a single Slot. So would a Medical Kit that would itself contain Bandages, Antiseptic Spray, Aspirin, and other related components. 

If the item is notably larger or effects/is useful to multiple people at once it will likely take up two or even three Slots (though that is rare). If the item is too big, not only will it not fit in your PokeBag, it may possess Inventory Space of its own. In fact, that's a good sign that you're looking at an item that shouldn't go in a backpack, like a Steamer Trunk or a Car.

Note that many special items can have multiples of themselves stored in a single Slot. These items will be listed with a ' # per Slot ' on the table below indicating how many can be stored together.

Here are some standard Pokemon Journey items, how many Slots they take up, their cost, and some descriptions:

 

Items noted under the Number of Slots column may be listed as # by Type, such as Potions. This means that a single Slot may hold 3 regular Potions or 3 Super Potions or 3 Max Potions but different types of the same item do not stack. The important thing is that if you have 2 regular Potions and 1 Max Potion, the regulars will go in one Slot and the Max in another. Different varieties of Berries may be stacked together and different Evolution Stones may as well. Not so with Potions or items listed the same way. 

If the Cost of an Item is written #+ by Variety, such as Pokeballs at 200+, it means the basic or standard version is the price listed but improved or special versions of the item can go for more. A standard Pokeball is 200 but a Great Ball costs 600, while an Ultra Ball costs 1200! 

Items with an asterisk * are considered Key Items. Key Items are items often available for free under certain conditions. When a player creates their PC, they may choose up to three Key Items to begin the campaign with. It is strongly suggested that at least one of these choices be directly related to your Trainer Class. For example, if you are a Pokemon Rider, you don't have to buy Riding Gear. You can just choose that as one of your starting Key Items and its definitely a good idea to do you. 

If an item has no Cost, it is generally not available for purchase or is far too expensive to make it viable to a Player Character. Fear not! These items may be given for free as they are intrinsic to the game (like a Pokedex) or they may be obtained on a Scenario by Scenario basis (though in these cases you might not get to keep them). Some are gained as a reward by performing a task for an NPC, as is the case with the Bike Voucher. 

Some items here will likely require further description and explanation but I will save that for another post. This one is already quite long and was much delayed. 

The list above is also no where near complete in that it isn't anything and everything a Pokemon Trainer might want or need so Players and GMs should consult with each other regarding adding new items using the Item Chart about as a reference point. 

It probably doesn't need to be said but you might have some D&D players in your group so: A PokeBag takes up 1 Slot if placed inside another PokeBag, as long as the stored PokeBag is empty. If there is even one item/slot occupied, it counts as 'too big' to place inside the first PokeBag because, as noted above, it is an item with its own Inventory Space. 

AD

Barking Alien

I Got The Moves Like Ketchum, I Got The Moves Like Ketchum

I am so close to running my first session of our Pokemon: Rise and Fall campaign with my Pokemon AD homebrew rules and I can not tell you how excited I am. Like, truly excited! I

haven't felt this thrilled about a campaign in a long time (or at least it feels that way). 

All we need is the Trainer Moves List, an Inventory List, and the Starter Pokemon. This post will deal with the Trainer Moves, including the special Runar Synch Moves, a unique feature of the Alfmork Region.

I'll start off with Trainer Moves

Trainer Moves are techniques that enable characters to boost or modify the stats and abilities of themselves, their Pokemon, their allies, their allies' Pokemon, and even opposing Trainers and their Pokemon. These abilities are akin to Feats or Talents in other TRPGs.

PCs start with a single Trainer Move of their choice during Character Creation. After completing the Tutorial Stage/Introductory Adventure, they may choose two more for a total of three to start their Pokemon Journey. 

Note that some Trainer Move require the user to have special Advantages (such as being Psychic) or only work with particular Types of Pokemon. If there is a character requirement it will likely be noted under Story Cost/No. of Uses. If there is a Pokemon Type requirement it will be noted under Target, indicated by the Pokemon Type Symbols. 

Top Row, Left to Right:

Normal, Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Ice

Middle Row, Left to Right:

Fighting, Poison, Ground, Flying, Psychic, Bug

Bottom Row, Left to Right:

Rock, Ghost, Dragon, Dark, Steel, Fairy. 

The first thing listed is the name of the Trainer Move, following by the Story Point Cost and the Number of Times it can be used in a single Battle/Scene. You must spend the Story Point Cost after declaring the maneuver but before it is executed. Usually Trainer Moves can only be used one time each but not always. Next is the Target, the recipient of the Move's effects, and the Type of Move it is - Attack, Defense, Enhance, Heal, or Hinder. Finally we have the Description, which explains what the Move does in game terms.

Trainer Moves are primarily used in Battles but many have out-of-combat applications as well. Most initiate immediately upon being used and only last for a single Action. In order to use a Trainer Move, declare which one you are employing at the start of your Attack Action or in response to an Attack as a Defense Action, during your turn. Enhances and Hinders must occur on your Attack Action but you can Heal on your Attack or Defense Action. If using the Move to aid an Ally you must expend an Action/Move before that Ally goes, then you announce which Trainer Move you are using, then that Ally may take their Action/Move modified by your assist. 

Be aware that a single round in a Pokemon Battle/Scene is over when everyone has used all their Moves/Actions. Moves come from your Pokemon, so make sure you know how many Moves you get by checking your Pokemon's Move stat. Most Pokemon are only going to have one or two Moves but more powerful, highly Evolved Pokemon can definitely have more. If you switch Pokemon during a Battle/Scene, subtract the number of Moves you've already taken from the new Pokemon's Moves total. The result is how many you have left that round. 

Example: Emma is an accomplished Pokemon Trainer specializing in Cat Pokemon. In a Battle against Team Usurp she begins with a Purugly, which has a Speed of 11 and gets 2 Moves during each round. In the second round of the fight Purugly uses its first Move to Attack but then gets seriously injured by its opponent. Emma uses the second move to recall Purugly and put out Zeraora. Zeraora has a Speed of 14 and 3 Moves. Subtracting the Moves Purugly already used, 2, the completely unharmed and tip-top Zeraora has one more Move it can take this round. 

Here are 39 Trainer Moves for the start of your game and ours. More will be added later. This should hold us over for a while though. Additional Trainer Moves can be obtained following Milestones or they can be taught to your Pokemon Trainer by a Trainer of higher Rank that knows the Move.

Next up are the rare and unusual Runar Synch Moves! What are they? How do they work? What are Runar and what is their connection to the ancient history of the Kingdom of Alfmork?

Stay tuned,

AD

Barking Alien

Many Small Moves Make A Pokemon Master!

This post was written yesterday, December 31, 2022 but I got so tired while editing it my eyes went blurry. I have posted it as such, the final post of last year, mostly for aesthetics and OCD reasons understand by no one other my own subconscious. It was completed on January 1, 2023.

Thanks for putting up with my weirdness.

These Mechanics were largely inspired by the Mobile Games

Pokemon Masters and Pokemon Masters EX.

Back to Pokemon AD and the conclusion of Character Creation!

One of the things a Game Designer learns during the process of creating an RPG system is how many pages it takes to explain rules, even if those rules are relatively simple. Here we have a fairly rules light game and this is the fourth entry on just creating a Player Character! Technically the fifth post if you include my rule change regarding PC improvement. Gah!

Anyway...

On the final day of 2022, New Year's Eve, we reach the last key section of the Character Creation process - Trainer Moves and Inventory:

Trainer Moves are similar to Feats and Talents in other games. They shake up the situation with effects that allow the PCs (and Major NPCs) to benefit themselves, their Pokemon, their allies, and their allies' Pokemon. In some cases Trainer Moves can hinder your opponents or an opponents' Pokemon. 

There are a lot of Trainer Moves and the purpose of this entry isn't to list them all (though I probably will soon so don't worry) but rather to explain how they work. I will of course describe a few of them by way of example. 

Trainer Moves consist of:

• The name of the Move
• The number of times it could be used in a Battle/Scene and the Story Point Cost.
• The Target - Self, Pokemon, Ally, Allied Pokemon, Opponent. Opposing Pokemon
• The Type of Move - Attack, Defense, Enhance, Heal, and Hinder.
• Description - What the Move does and how it works. 

When a PC has an available Action and they want to execute a Trainer Move, the PC spends the required number of Story Points and states which Move they are using. The Move then happens, its effects changing the situation the PC is in, be it a Battle, a Contest, or some other situation in which they and their Pokemon are working together towards a shared goal. 

Most Trainer Moves require 1 Story Point to be spent and can only be used once in a Battle or Scene. There are some powerful Moves that require more than 1 Story Point to activate. Others can be used twice in a single Battle or Scene with the cost of only a single Story Point.

Furthermore, most Trainer Moves are Instant, occurring immediately and lasting only as long as the Target's current or next Action (as noted under the Move's details). Others can last from the moment they are initiated until the end of the Battle or Scene. Check the Trainer Moves' Description for information on duration but the general rule is they happen on your Action and then they're over. 

The Target is pretty self-explanatory. Trainer Moves always have a Target. They must directly effect someone or several someones - a person, a Pokemon, a group of people, or a group of Pokemon. The more Targets a Trainer Move effects the more likely it is that the Move will have a higher Story Point cost or great specifics on how, when, and how often it can be used.

The Type is mostly a way of tracking the various Trainer Moves but it also helps the players and GM know the purpose of the Move. Attacks and Defenses are generally used in combat and to counter the opposing Move of another. A Heal is similar but it's important to know that a Heal Trainer Move is what it is and not the use of a Healing Potion or a Heal Return, as those use different rules. Enhances buff or improve allies and allied Pokemon, both yours and others. Hinders are debuffs that weaken an opponent or an opponent's Pokemon and make them less effective. 

Description gives you the the ins and outs associated with each Trainer Move and what happens when it's used. As Trainer Moves are all about boosting things, weakening others, and changing the rules (by the rules of course), the magic is very much in these details.

Note that a number of Trainer Moves operates with very specific conditions that must be met in order to use the ability. These are noted where appropriate or under the Move's Description. 

Example: Surge of Power only works on your own Electric Type Pokemon, so under Target it would say 'Pokemon (Electric Type)'. Clear Your Mind heals Stress from an ally (but not yourself) but requires the Trainer be Psychic. The Target would read 'Ally'. Under Number of Uses/Cost it would say '[Psychic] 1/1'.  

Format-wise if there is a word in brackets [  ] after a number or piece of text it refers to something connected to a PC ability. If there is a word in parenthesis ( ) it refers to something related to a Pokemon . Often Pokemon Types will be identified with Type Symbols (see next Pokemon AD post for more details).

These are the basics and as I noted above, I'll be putting out a list of Trainer Moves very soon and probably give additional information on them as needed.

Inventory is a collection of gear that you carry on your person. It is usually kept in a 'Bag', the video game series' catchall name for a backpack, small duffle bag, sack, or even a briefcase used to store everything you need. You are free to design what your Bag looks like but all starting PokeBags are capable of holding the same Inventory. You receive the basic Pokemon Trainer Bag for free at the start of your journey. 

The world of Pokemon has a slightly unusual relationship with Time/Space and Mass, as evidenced by the fact that living creatures can be transformed into energy patterns that are then stored in balls about the size of Human fist. These very same spheres than shrink to roughly the size of a ping pong ball or golfball to be stored. Later, you can release the creature from the Pokeball with no harm to it at all (in fact, it might even be healed of earlier damage but we'll talk about that another time). 

Likewise, a Pokemon Trainer can keep items in their PokeBags that might not seem to fit, such a Med Kit, a Fishing Rod, and even a Bicycle. It's not about the weight or mass of the object - well, not exactly about that - but rather how many slots of available Inventory Space you have and how much each item occupies.

 

Each Item you wish to carry takes up 1 or more Inventory Slots and your PokeBag begins with 9 Slots. Most Items are 1 Slot-to-1 Item such as PokeScope Binoculars, a Pokedex, Rope, A Notebook (though Pens, Pencils, Post-Its, and other such things are included in the Notebook Slot), a Medical Kit (1 week of Medical Supplies), and Food Packs (1 week of Food, three meals a day plus snacks for 5 days). 

Items that take up more than one Slot would be a Portable Lab (2 Slots), Film Equipment (2), a Bicycle (2), or an Inflatable Raft (with two collapsible oars) (2). Larger Items would have to be discussed with the GM. 

In some cases multiple versions of the same Items can be held in one Slot. A single Inventory Slot can hold 5 Potions.

One slot can hold 10 Pokeballs, with or without Pokemon in them, but there is a catch. Six of these are considered 'Active', as Pokemon League law states that a Trainer may only keep six Active Pokemon on them at any time. These six can also be worn on your PC's belt, leaving room for extra empty Pokeballs in your Inventory. 

Your four remaining Pokemon are in a deeper storage slot - sometimes called 'The Box' - that is not easily accessible. In order to access your Box, you would need to stop and exchange one or more of your Stored Pokemon for your Active ones. Once switched, you must still end up with six Active and four Stored.

Example: Grete, a Pokemon Fisherwoman, has 6 Active Pokemon, three on her belt and three on her hat, along with a selection of lures. Generally these are there to help her with particularly tough Fish Pokemon or scare off local Pokemon Predators or Scavengers trying to steal her catch. In Grete's PokeBag, which resembles a Tackle Box, she has six empty Pokeballs and four Stored Pokemon. 

One day while fishing for the hard to locate Relicanth, Grete accidentally catches a Sharpedo who is none too happy to be on her line. During the fierce battle that immediately ensued between the Shark Pokemon and Grete's Yamper and Dragonair, Grete reached for an empty Pokemon in her Inventory and once weakened, she caught the ornery Sharpedo! 

But now...hmmm...she placed the Pokeball with Sharpedo on her belt alongside those containing Yamper and Dragonair. She now has too many Active Pokemon and decides to place her old friend Wartortle, usually the third on her belt, into Storage. She's relied on him a lot in past months and it might be a good idea to give him a break. 

Grete ends the encounter with six Active Pokemon (one of which is Sharpedo), five empty Pokeballs, and five Stored Pokemon. 

Your Money, also called Pokemon Dollars or Pokedollars, is also a part of your Inventory but takes up no Slot. It is stored in a separate compartment or perhaps in a wallet in your pocket or a side pouch of the PokeBag. 

OK, at this point the game needs lists of things like the above - Trainer Moves and Items - before one can truly finish creating a Character but I think there is enough to at least have a working concept. You could certainly put a PC together sufficient to run a Session Zero or Prologue type scenario. 

More to come with Pokemon AD and Rise and Fall as well as a lot of other things. I choose you!...to come back and check it out. Heh.

AD

Barking Alien