Where You From? Originally...

Holy Smokes! I almost went on to the Combat rules for my Ghostbusters RPG fan project without covering a very important element of the Entity Analysis Form that I am personally quite proud of.

Let's look at different aspect of Ghostbusting...

You will notice that underneath the space left for an image of the paranormal entity (Visual Evidence) there is a section for information about a post-living being's pre-ghost state. 

A major part of my most successful Ghostbusters RPG sessions has been when the ghosts need not be busted. Sometimes, they can be helped.

If you recall, one of the Descriptors in the post on the CDI System was 'Terminal'. Terminal indicates a ghost that can be assisted or [more rarely] made to move on to the 'next world'. Quite often, especially in the case of Class IV entities, intense mental or emotional trauma keeps the ghost attached to our material plane. To coin a phrase, the entity has Unfinished Business in the physical world. 

Essentially, the spirit's continuing existence in our time/space continuum is self inflicted and sustained by some feeling of anguish and turmoil. If the entity can overcome this psychological/emotional state it will pass from this dimension to some other wherein it's PKE will no longer experience the unpleasantness of being in between realities. 

Sometimes it's a Ghostbusters job to blast, snare, and trap a ghost. Sometimes it falls upon a team of Ghostbusters to help a harrowed 'soul' come to terms with or overcome whatever is eating them up 'inside' so they can leave this world behind and continue on to their next adventure. 

To this end, it is sometimes vital to record the following:

Mortal Identity: When was this individual while they were among the living?

Cause of Death: Often a hint to what ties them to the physical world or a clue to the nature of their abilities. The ghost of Captain William Warms died sometime after being accused of negligence in the shipboard fire that claimed 137 lives. He returns as a Fire Ghost. Who could have seen that coming?

Next of Kin: Who did the deceased leave behind? Often someone connected to the life of the nearly departed can help them to realize it's OK to let go and leave this mortal coil completely. Don't hang here on our account!

Place of Origin: Good for records and sometimes relevant, this could be where the ghost's living self was born or - as is often the case - the place they thought of as home. It could be where they grew up, living most of their life, or where they died. The latter would make it the ghost's Place of Origin more so than the living person's. 

As you can see, this is immediately followed by Case Notes; information on the case and the entity involved that may be relevant to understanding its thoughts, motives, abilities, and possibly why it is here. In instances with many [though not all] Class IV ghosts, research surrounding their lives and/or deaths can help immensely and would be recorded in this section. 

Asphalt Annie

The Ghost of 'Annie's Road' in Totowa, NJ

Alrighty, on to Combat unless something else comes up to further delay our...what's this now? Art...punk? Muhuwahahahaha! Oh good grief. You D&D guys kill me! Anyway, more Ghostbusters up next...

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Barking Alien

Stranger Games

I know I've mentioned this before but I do so love this analogy...

My friend Dave used to say, "Adam, you run two types of games, Blockbusters and Art Films. What [most] players want to play are your Blockbusters. What you really want to run, are your Art Films."

This is so true.

The urge to run something more than a little off the beaten path has been very powerful of late but I'm not sure I have the audience for it. The players in both my current in-person groups have certain preconceived notions and down right hang-ups that make running the ideas I am presently wrestling with a bit more problematic than I would like. 

Truth is, I don't want it to be problematic at all.

I can't help feeling that I have some awesome game ideas that may never get the chance to see the table. This is a phenomena I am not used to (well, I am getting more used to it). I don't like it. It irks me. That's right, irks. 

Maybe my online group? *

Did any of you see Stranger Things? It really inspired me. It reminded me of ideas I've shelved that were originally intended for my NJ group or an older variant of my NY group that I no longer have access to...exactly. More on that in a bit.

Basically, I am in the mood for...

A variety of recent TV shows, books, and other things have me chomping at the bit to run some oddball games that I know, I Just Know, would be awesome for the right group. I might be able to pull some of them off in one of my current groups, or the other, but I don't really feel confident that they'd go over well. Running a game just to run it has never been my thing. If everyone isn't going to buy into it, and love it as much as I do, well really, what's the point?

Here are some of my thoughts...

I have several subjects over which I routinely obsess. Among the ones at the forefront of my thinking right now are UFOs and Aliens, Ghosts, and Faerie FolkloreI.

UFOs and Aliens:

I'm envisioning a game that merges elements of Attack the Block, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Men in Black, and Stranger Things.

The players play Middle School aged kids who uncover and become mixed up in some kind of mass UFO siting situation that somehow involves what appears to be a shadowy government organization. 

I have some interesting ideas on how to make use of 70s and 80s Sci-Fi movie tropes and also how to flip some of them. 

No title for this yet, although I was considering 'Watch The Skies'. The system would have to be something really simple and flexible. Possibly Ghost/Echo, InSpectres, or Powered by the Apocalypse. Likely some kind of homebrew kitbash of these. 

Ghosts:

While I should probably wait until October (Halloween Season), I'm going to try and test drive my long labored upon Ghost Story RPG, Unfinished Business. I think I finally have a system that works. It's very simple, based on the free indie RPG Doom & Cookies. 

The premise, as noted in past posts on the subject, is that you play a ghost. You're dead. The object/goal of the adventure is to move on to whatever comes next. The problem is, for some reason you're stuck here on the mortal plane, though barely able to effect is. 

Through role-playing and resource management, you attempt to accomplish something that will let you go to your just reward. Maybe you need the new homeowners to find your comic book collection, and note on where to donate it that hidden in the basement. Perhaps the want your daughter to know you approve of her choice of husband after all. Whatever is holding you here, whatever tragedy, disappointment, concern, etc., needs to be rectified so you can properly shuffle off this mortal coil.

In addition to wanting to create a game where you get to play a ghost haunting the living, the game was inspired by the concept that in most games you create a character, and try to keep them alive so you can keep playing them. Unfinished Business starts with you being dead. The purpose of play to reach a point where you can stop playing your character, and remove them from the game.

*As it turns out, the opportunity to run Unfinished Business is here quicker than I expected. I will be filling in for our Wednesday night online game GM for two sessions, and I've decided to run my ghost story game. Wish me luck!

Faerie Folklore:

I'm currently using Ars Magica 3rd Edition to run a game set in my D&D-But-Not universe of Aerth. It's fun, but I find myself drifting away from the Superheroic angle of it, and more towards Ars Magica proper.

Why? Recent things I've read, and watched, including Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell on Netflix, a novel set in the world of Jim Henson's Dark Crystal, and other such flights of fancy (and fantasy) have me longing for magic, and myth the way I like it. That is to say, not like D&D.

More specifically I want to go back and revisit some of my sadly short lived ideas for campaigns I never quite got to work.  First, a heavily folklore influenced, Jim Henson's Storyteller inspired Ars Magica game. Next, a variation of what I once tried to do with Pendragon (probably not such a bright idea based on the last experience). Third, a tragically too short Faery's Tale Deluxe campaign I started, but never got to continue.

On a related note, I am going to write a post very soon about Magic in Fantasy that is going to hurt your head, and burn your eyes if you are of the Dungeons and Dragons/Pathfinder persuasion. Just a friendly warning. 

Do view it won't you. Heheheh.

Well, that's about that for now. I will probably be talking about some of these ideas again, and with any luck it will be because I am running on of them. 
Until next time,

Heh-heh. Got carried away,

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Barking Alien

WORLD OF DARKNESS - THE LIGHT BRINGER

I've been wanting to get back to Campaigns I Have Know for a long time now. I find it a lot of fun, and it seems to have been pretty popular among my viewership (you five know who you are. Thanks for stopping by).

I promised around the time of my last entry in this series that the next few would be a bit different. Mainly, I wanted to focus on successful campaigns I've run that were set in genres, or settings that may seem atypical for me. While I'd like to say I cover a wide range of RPG topics, I can't deny that I swing back to my favorites fairly often. Star Trek, Star Wars, General Sci-Fi, Superheroes, Anime and Manga related games, and comedic games certainly get more attention than anything else.

I am complex however. A many layered renaissance man as it were. OK, maybe just a guy who likes to stretch his creative muscles, and try new games. Either way, I've run some campaigns that certainly don't fit the genres listed above, and some may even use games you wouldn't think I'd like.

One such example is...

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Campaigns I Have Known

Proudly Presents...

 

WORLD OF DARKNESS - THE LIGHT BRINGER

The key element to this campaign was that I didn't want to run Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, or Wraith: The Oblivion*, nor did any of my players want to play in a campaign limited to any one of those titles. We wanted to run and play 'The World of Darkness'.

As such, I made some minor adjustments to both the established settings canon, and the rules to allow all of the various supernatural types to coexist without any one type having an unfair advantage in all situations.

True, Mages eventually had the upper hand in terms of rare power, but even they were held in check somewhat by the laws of the universe (not the laws of nature, or the law of physics mind you. They could slap those around if they wanted to), and by the collective conscious of Humanity.

Title: WORLD OF DARKNESS - THE LIGHT BRINGER

System: World of Darkness (White Wolf), 1st Edition - Some House Rules.

Circa: 1993-1994. There were roughly a dozen sessions, each lasting 6-12 hours. The game took a hiatus in the middle due to the December-January Holiday to New Year season.

Player Base: There were five players, four male and one female, ages 22-25. All the players were present for all the sessions, and unlike a lot of my other games, there were no guest players, or characters.

Characters: Sadly, I don't recall the characters' names. I don't know why I don't remember them, since it wasn't that long ago. It's possible the relatively short 'run time' of the series, only about twelve episodes, made it more challenging for me to imprint the names into my noggin. As with other campaigns I've posted in the past, I do remember the characters themselves quite well, as well as who played them.

If any of the original players read this and can remember the names of the characters, please let me know, and I'll update this post.

Human Mage - Non-Traditional (played by Adam T.)

Our story begins, and largely centers on, a young man trying to find himself in the world. A brilliant dreamer, an artist, a poet, and an unconventional thinker, he parties too hard, and thinks too much in a desperate attempt to make sense out of our senseless existances.

After a particularly wild night at an exclusive underground party in New York City, he wakes up on the roof of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, not know how he got there.

Following this bizarre occurrence, he begins to stumble upon, and be confronted by increasingly strange people, and events that lead him to discover he is part of a fantastic legacy. He is a Mage, gifted with the innate ability to alter the vary fabric of time, and space.

Numerous forces wish to sway him to their cause, as the end of the world is coming, and what follows is really up to him. If he can be convinced to see things the way a given faction sees them, he could make them the masters of the Earth, and beyond.

Werewolf of The Get of Fenris (play by Aris)

A Werewolf of mixed Scandinavian descent, this character is hinted as being the last of the Get of Fenris, or at least the last of his particular pack, and its extended family. He is acutely aware of the coming Apocalypse as he, and his tribe have been charged since the dawn of time with protecting the Avatar of the Ascension, the person who will bring about the new, post End-of-Days world.

Opponents of the PCs claimed the Get of Fenris Werewolf was lying. The Get is descended from the Fenris Wolf and as such, are charged with bringing about the destruction of all things according to some. They are said to be the ushers of Ragnarok.


Vampire of the Clan Tremere (played by Jason N.)

Vampire and Blood Sorceror of the Clan Tremere, this fellow claimed to be an ancestral blood relative of our young Mage. He tried to sway the newly emerging Avatar towards the world view of the Tremere, and their ruling Elders until he found out more about his own origins, and what the Tremere truly intended to do with the 'World After'.

Turning on his own Clan, he sought allies in the Magus community, but found very few willing to trust him. Luckily, our Tremere finally found an ally in the most unlikely of people - the ghost of a former mortal lover who knew a few things about the young Mage and his destiny. 

Ghost/Angel* (played by Angie)

*Perhaps the most unusual of the characters, our Ghost was born from our utter disappointment with Wraith: The Oblivion.

When Wraith was first announced, it had another subtitle instead of 'The Oblivion'. Rumors from convention playtests described a very different game from what we eventually got, and a far superior concept IMHO.

Wraith suffered from being separated from the World of Darkness, taking place in a bizarre, extremely esoteric Afterlife dimension. What it didn't do was give us what we all imagined it would, tragic characters caught between the mortal world, and an afterlife. We didn't wanted to be Ghosts in Ghost Land. We wanted to be Ghosts haunting the world of the living - The World of Darkness.

With a bit of work, and some creative GMing and playing, I think we got what we wanted. Later supplements to Wraith would come close, but the game never really did the job we were hoping it would do. Wraith's failure to be a game about playing spirits of the dead walking among the non-departed was a major contributing factor to my development of my own game Unfinished Business.

Sometime in the late 1930's or early forties, our Tremere Vampire had been romantically involved with an African American nightclub singer who packed the halls wherever and whenever she crooned in New York's various Harlem hotspots.

Sadly, the lovely lady met an unfortunate end when caught in the crossfire of organized crime gangs. In truth, these 'gangs' were agents of the Technocracy, an authoritarian organization of Magi looking to rule the world by suppressing the understanding and belief in magic among normal, mundane Humans, and introducing it through technology and science that they alone would have domain over.

Learning many secrets that lie in the lands beyond this mortal coil, our haunting heroine discovered much about the prophesized Apocalypse and what could be done about it. She lent her unique knowledge and abilities to our group in hopes of saving the world, finding peace, and passing on once and for all.

Human Hunter of The Supernatural** (played by Keith)

**So here's another example of wrestling something out of a system it wasn't really designed to accommodate.

Hunter: The Reckoning, the World of Darkness game that enables you to play a 'normal' person fighting the supernatural beings of the setting, wouldn't be out for another five years or so when we began this campaign. We had to make this character up from scratch, developing a number of different concepts and rules to enable him to stand up to the obviously far superior physical abilities, and superhuman powers of his would-be opponents.

What we ended up with would be woefully weak compared to the Hunter: The Reckoning PCs you would later be able to build in that game. As such, I think Keith's character was infinitely cooler. He was a normal person. He had reasonable gear, and weapons. He was considerably out of his league. He was therefore far more interesting than the Buffy-like super soldiers one plays in Hunter.

Keith couldn't decide what to play at first, then envisioned a CIA, or FBI agent who had learned that the World of Darkness actually existed. With no proof and well on his way to being fired, if not committed to a mental institution, the agent went rogue.

He became a one man army, protecting the oblivious mortal world from the darker denizens of the supernatural. However, it was clear early on that the character had no real understanding of the World of Darkness, it's exact make up, or it's politics. The true nature of the various groups (Mages, Vampires, Werewolves) were unknown to him.

Eventually hooking up with the group and learning that not all supernatural beings exist simply to prey on Humanity, the Agent/Hunter lent his much needed expertise, intelligence, firepower, not to mention his pure willpower and guts to the cause.

Like many of Keith's characters, a personal favorite PC of mine. The normal person in the World of Darkness on the eve of Armageddon. Awesome.

Synopsis: As noted, the campaign mainly revolved around a young man discovering both he, and the world he lived in, were not what they seemed. Almost overnight he goes from hedonistic, philosophical drifter to the driven, responsible Chosen One, and really the transition isn't all that smooth.

Rebelling against fate at first, he soon decides to grab the reigns of destiny tightly with both hands, and find out how to steer the thing so he can make the best possible choice for the people of the Earth.

A multitude of factions seek to gain control of the young man and his power. Their goal is to place themselves in the role of deciding factor for what the world after the Apocalypse will be like.

Interestingly, many of the other PCs start with their own ideas, and agendas, but eventually back the Mage on his play, whatever it's going to be. Turning on their own kind, and even their own ideals to some extent, the group realizes that in the end, the world is not here solely for their supernatural minorities. The greater good is what is good for all Humanity. Each of them is, in a fashion, still Human whether they are cursed with feeding on the blood of the living, charged with protecting the Earth as shapeshifters, or gifted with the powers, and responsibilities of magic.

The world they end up choosing, is a world without their kind. A world in balance.

After twelve sessions of The World of Darkness, the darkness was removed. The world of White Wolf's setting was no more.

Appendix N: Aside from the multitude of books in the World of Darkness line, other contributing inspirations included The Lost Boys, Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire and related books, comic books such as I, Vampire, Swamp Thing, Hellraiser, Books of Magic (All DC Comics), and a variety of comics and short stories in the modern, gothic horror genre.

Bonus Features:

I owned all of the main books, and dozens of supplements for World of Darkness across all the various lines. This campaign was created before Changeling: The Dreaming was released, which is actually my favorite White Wolf game. It is my favorite for the exact same reason I dislike Wraith - it doesn't really deal with the World of Darkness.

For Changeling that makes sense. For Wraith it doesn't.

This was one of only three World of Darkness campaigns I ever ran (not including Changeling campaigns). It was the longest, and definitely the most successful (other than ones for Changeling). I eventually sold all my World of Darkness stuff (except Changeling of course).

This particular gaming group is what I sometimes refer to as a transitional group. Some of the players were new friends, or were friends I had not yet gamed with who later became part of a long term group. Some were friends who came and went, thanks to the universe's strange way of moving people through your life.

Next time...Something medieval fantasy I think...Heheh

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Barking Alien

Creepy, Kooky, Mysterious, and Spooky

October is here, and I'll be damned, but the weather on the East Coast of North America is giving it quite the fitting welcome.

I'm personally a fan of the cold, yet this is a chilly, wet, blustery cold that gets into your bones. It's the perfect conditions for hot cocoa, curling up with a good book and a warm brunette (ahem...sorry, personal preference), and getting ready for Halloween.

Or a warm redhead.

I ain't got nothing against redheads.

I like Halloween, though perhaps not for the same reasons many others do. After all, I'm not into watching Horror movies, I don't go to those haunted house attractions, and I haven't been to a Halloween party in so long I can't rightly recall the last time I went to one. These are the grown-up ways of celebrating Halloween though, are they not?

I like to see people in cool looking, and clever costumes, love a well-carved Jack O' Lanterns, and who doesn't enjoy candy? I think of Halloween as fun, and I enjoy the fun of Halloween. That's what it always was for me growing up.

Unfortunately, Halloween has become a night of terror, toilet papering people's homes, throwing eggs, and watching the umpteenth story-less, gore-bore fest motion picture.

Nothing could make me less enthused.

When I planned out my theme months for Autumn, I knew October would have to be focused on the scary, and spooky, but I hoped to bring a touch of weird, and whimsy back to the 'Season of the Witch'. Instead of discussing Horror in the traditional sense, what you are going to see this month is more the odd, the quirky, and yet still slightly macabre.

You dear reader are in for, well...less Paranormal Activity, and more ParaNorman. Not so much The Green Inferno, and much more Ghostbusters.

As the title says, the creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky.

In addition, I am hoping to add in a few bits of real fright night plights scattered here, and there. I plan on doing a follow up entry on my Alien Dread idea, some sample supernatural things that go bump in the night, and (if I can scrounge up enough time, and/or a miracle) share what I have so far on my original RPG Unfinished Business.

That's not all, but I figure that's enough to interest you in coming back to have a look around. Just don't go into the cellar, or the tool shed out back.

You've been warned.

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Barking Alien

Fall Preview

Viewership is back up here on Barking Alien, showing that the old adage is true, 'If you post, they will come.'

Frustratingly vague though it was at times, doing the RPGaDay Challenge this year was fun, and completing it renewed and re-energized my desire to blog, just as I'd hoped it would. Hopefully, I can keep up the momentum going into the fall season, which is one of my favorites (that, and winter).

I have a bunch of mini-themes planned for the next few months. Largely it's just things that have been on my mind, and I needed a way to organize my ideas, while simultaneously motivating myself to post them. I'm not going to be especially strict about each theme, and you'll certainly see posts unrelated to each month's focus.

I thought I would give you some teasers though.

Shhh. The trailers are starting...

September is Funny at Barking Alien

The theme for September is Humor, and Comedy RPGs are going to get some much needed love here at Barking Alien. It's all in honor of the premiere of the first prime-time series in almost twenty years to feature my favorite fuzzy, felt covered stars, 'The Muppets' on ABC, beginning September 22nd!

Expect new material for The Muppets Role Playing Game*, some play reports about old comedy campaigns, and some new comedy game ideas for Hunter Planet, Toon, Teenagers for Outer Space, and more!

Psst. Hey Play on Target. September would be a great month to discuss Comedic RPGs, and get a certain guest on the program. Don't believe me? Check out what fans have to say!

October is Spooky at Barking Alien

What better month than October to talk about Ghostbusters, more about my Alien Dread idea, and perhaps finally lock down my original RPG Unfinished Business. Plus, it's an excuse to discuss a little frightening faerie folklore, and perhaps even some Fantasy.

 Illustration by Francesco Francavilla

Barking Alien discussing Fantasy? If that doesn't spook you nothing will.

November is Super at Barking Alien

November is looking like a job for Superhero gaming! A subject near, and dear to my heart that I sadly haven't done a lot lately. At least, not in a big way (which is the way I like doing it).

By the time November rolls around, we'll have seen the new season episodes of Flash, Arrow, the new Supergirl series, Agents of SHIELD, and more. We'll also have all the latest comic book news from New York Comic Con, which occurs in October.

  Mutant 009 - A Cyborg 009 / X-Men Mash-Up

by Thomas N. Perkins.

With all that Superhero goodness bouncing around, I'm bound to come up with some new Supers ideas, and insights for running, and playing Superhero RPGs. Be there! Nuff said!

December is Out of this World at Barking Alien

There is a certain little film coming out in December that has peaked my interest. Perhaps you've heard about it...

Yessiree Boba! In honor of Star Wars: Episode 7 - The Force Awakens, I will be posting some ideas, memories, and even art for the Star Wars D6 RPG by West End Games that I speak of so fondly.

December is also the month in which our three year long classic Traveller campaign finally draws to a close. I will be discussing that, as well as more details on my plans for our new Traveller campaign, tentatively scheduled to begin in January.

A Very Merry, Science Fiction, Holiday Season is coming your way this December from Barking Alien.

All this AND Thorough Thursdays is back starting this week!

As always, if there is a question you'd like to ask, a subject you'd like covered, or you simply want to say hi, feel free to comment anytime.

Are the leaves changing color yet? Are they?

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Barking Alien

*Which is Unofficial. No Money is Being Made. It's Just For Fun. Please Don't Sue. ^ ^;

RPGaDay Challenge 2015 - Day 20

Day 20, and I am caught up, and going strong. Yay me!

It doesn't take much as you can tell...

Yikes! Favorite Horror RPG?

Do I even have a favorite Horror RPG? Do I like enough of them to have a favorite?

Horror is a genre I have never been particularly fond of. I don't find it fun to be frightened the way some people do. In addition, very little 'Horror' is scary in the first place. It's largely shock, and gore. Neither of those things impresses me.

I do enjoy Twilight Zone-esque situations, a good ghost story, and tales of strange events, or unexplained phenomena. I like the creepy, the unnerving, and the odd to the point where it kind of messes with you.

In short - Don't gross me out. Do give me the heebie-jeebies.

What game does that?

This is one of those instances where it really is about the GM. A good Gamemaster can create the right atmosphere, and situations that will freak people the *^#$ out. Dungeons & Dragons, Traveller, even Champions can scare the pants off of you if the right person is running the show. 

I've been working on my own ghost story game for some years now entitled Unfinished Business. Sadly, it has thus far lived up to its name, and remains a work in progress. I sincerely hope that when I finish it, and publish it, the final product will have the kind of effect I'm talking about.

Until then, the games that I've had the best results with, and the ones that tie as my favorite 'Horror' games, are...

No really. I'm not kidding around here. I've given people the industrial strength willies with these babies.

The combination of Humor, and Horror creates a very interesting dynamic. Especially in the case of something like Ghostbusters, it initially lulls the players into thinking it's naught but a farce. People seems to default to the feeling that they are in a cinematic comedy, and right so, and as such there is little to fear.

Then, in the first act, we meet the PCs, those loveable, and endearing knuckle heads who've started up their own local Ghostbusters franchise. We like our characters. We like how they interact with the other PCs. We meet a couple of NPCs, and we have a supporting cast to love, and love to hate.

Then the weird crap sets in. Here's where merging GB with InSpectres was one of the smartest moves I've ever made. The ghosts are real, and they're dangerous. You could get hurt, your friends could get hurt, and so could your endearing supporting cast.

I've noted it before, but it's worth repeating: Ghostbusters worked because Ray, Egon, and Peter are odd, quirky characters. Winston adds the face of the normal guy, the regular Joe. They say funny things, they have weird habits, and interests, and they are thrown together into this deadly situation.

But the situation, and I can't stress this enough, is actually deadly. Very deadly. Apocalyptic even.

Gozer is not a joke. The city will be destroyed, and then very likely the world, if you four shmoes don't do something about it.

During the second of my two Ghostbusters games, I definitely gave the players the creeps at various times, and since the campaign focused on weakening, or removing the ghosts by figuring out what was keeping them here among the living, we touched on some real tear jerker material as well.

I think Horror can be done, and done well. I don't even think it's that hard to do. I just think I'm talking about a different kind of horror than most people are.

Buckets of blood, splattered entrails, and all that nonsense, no. Yuck, and yawn. No interest.

Getting the players to whisper, "Whaaat the...?", or hearing them shout, "Holy sh...! I almost fell off my chair. Can I catch her before she plummets?".

Yeah. That's the stuff.

I should also say that I like Dread, the Jenga powered game that I intend to someday use to run a game set in the Alien(s) universe. You can check out those ideas here and here.

For additional Horror RPG references by yours truly, check here.

Next question...

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Barking Alien

Inspired By Mediocrity

I am in one of my moods.

You know the one I'm talking about. I'm sure you get into it yourself. It's the one where ideas are coming at you like a Japanese Bullet Train. Dozens of them pulling into the same station at the same time, threatening to crash into those already there at any moment.

 

Seriously, they look like freakin' starships.

Right now my brain is a madhouse! A MADHOUSE!

Funny enough, this has been the case every since I ran Dungeons & Dragons 5E on July 4th. Funnier still is that none of the ideas I'm having have anything to do with D&D 5E.

I found the game serviceable, and if I had to play a D&D game, I would prefer 5E over any of the others based on what I've seen so far. As one of my friends and players said today, "That's high praise from Adam."

Yes, tell the people that Barking Alien approves of this game. It makes him vomit least of all the versions. That's marketing, that is.

The only negative thing I have to say about it, so far as my experience with it goes, is that it is a tad bland. Not exactly dry, as it's probably a bit unnecessarily flowering in its prose, but just not exciting.

It doesn't stir me, or make me want to work up a campaign of it. Perhaps it would if I were predisposed to Dungeons and Dragons style gaming, but I'm not, so it left me with an uncontrollable urge to make something really interesting to compensate.

It would be like having a really boring lunch, and afterwards all you can think of is stirring up something really exotic and spicy for dinner to make up for it.

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So What's On My Mind?

Attack The Block, The Role Playing Game

Awesome concept. Not letting this one go. Still developing some ideas for it on the side. No idea when I'll be able to run this, but if I can work out a holiday one-shot some time in the not-too-distant future I'd be really happy.

Fringeworthy/The Long Earth

I am currently reading the third novel in the Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, The Long Mars. The idea of parallel Earths, and the undertaking of reaching and exploring them, has long been a fascination of mine. Strangely underwhelmed by the various Stargate series, I have always wanted to run a game in an original, or at least more original, version of what you saw in the first of those programs (Stargate SG-1).

Fringeworthy, the first alternate world and alternate history RPG ever published, is a precursor to Stargate in many ways. I am pretty much convinced that Stargate was someone's Fringeworthy campaign. There are just too many similarities.

So basically my idea is a bit of Stargate-by-way-of-Fringeworthy, a bit of The Long Earth series. I'm still working it out in my head.

UFO, The RPG

Working title for my revamped, Sci-Fi, comedy game about blue collar flying saucer jockeys. Inspired by Attack The Block, I want to make it a little more creepy-weird, in that way documentaries on UFOs and other unexplained phenomena often are. I don't want to lose the comedic aspect, but I feel it needs to generate the same feeling you'd get if you actually saw odd lights in the night sky, and wondered, "What the *^%# is that?", immediately followed by, "That's pretty awesome!"

It is my hope to publish this game some day. Once I can really lock in on what it is.

Unfinished Business

Yeah, I'm back to thinking about my supernatural, ghost story game. Another game I want to publish in the not too distant future. I just can't seem to get past the awesome, initial idea to actually making it work as a game.

***

So these are some of the ideas rolling around in my mind. I have others. Many, many others.

What crazy things are you thinking of doing this summer?

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Unfulfilled Promises

I am purposely not making any resolutions this year.

I always feel bad when I don't meet the resolution goals I set and even worse when I forget what they were all together. This holds true for gaming and this blog as well.

Last year (and in years prior as well) I promised to continue and/or complete a number of projects I simply haven't gotten around to. Muppet Mondays, Supervillain Sundays and completing the A-to-Z Challenge, completing the NaGaDeMon Challenge and Unfinished Business and mini-projects like The Storyteller, The Twilight Zone and probably a half dozen others.

That Sid and Marty Kroft game ain't making itself...

For this year, I intend to do a few things that I really want to do but I am making no promises. Consider these 'Low Resolutions'.

Here is what I hope to achieve with this blog in 2014:

1) Muppet March Madness Month II. I really want to update the games mechanics a little now that I've actually gotten the chance to playtest it with a large number of different people. Some things works, some things can be improved a little and there are still a lot of ideas I haven't gotten to explore. It is here that I will complete The StoryTeller RPG and add some additional concepts I've been considering. I've got a lot in store, not to mention the fact that the new Muppets motion picture, Muppets Most Wanted, will be out that month.

2) I want to Complete The A-to-Z Challenge in April this year very, very badly. I did it only once and after that drop the ball each time. Last year I only did 16 entries. The year before I didn't even bother. I'm not sure how to do it without getting bored or getting overwhelmed with other stuff, which is what usually happens to me around April. Hmmm. Maybe make it a Star Trek theme. We'll see.

3) Do the NaGaDeMon, National Game Design Month Challenge, next November. While it would be awesome if I could finally finish Unfinished Business, I am making no guarantees. I will do something. Just...something.

4) Posting More Often is a simple but major goal for 2014. I was really happy when Charles Akins, of the increasingly intriguing blog site Dyvers, included Barking Alien on his Great Blog Roll Call list, complete with a short but positive review, but bummed to see he listed it as being updated "About ten times a month". When I looked back at my average over the year and realized how accurate that was, I felt kind of ashamed. I can do better than that. I have a lot more to say and I will find a way to say it.

5) I Will Try Not To Start What I Can't Finish. I don't want another post of this nature next year. Expect fewer new projects this year in favor of going into depth on those subjects I love: Star Trek, Superheroes, Muppets, Traveller, Comedy, Star Wars, Mecha/Giant Robots, general Science Fiction gaming and Medieval Folklore will provide the core content.

That brings me to a few minor "sub-resolutions":

A. Talk more about Star Trek RPGs since I am running a new campaign.

B. Talk about Star Wars gaming. I can't believe I've done so little of that and played it so often.

C. Comprehend Pathfinder. One of my players is going to run it and I am switching to the role of player for that campaign. Will I survive? Will he?

D. Podcasts. Listen to more and if at all possible, do one. This is high on the 'I want to!' list.

E. I am thinking of going back to an old hobby of mine that actually made me some money. I have a hankering to build Japanese Mecha plastic model kits once more. I used to build them, kitbash and customize them, paint them up and sell them. I always kept a few around to inspire ideas for Mekton, so don't be surprised if that happens this time around as well.

Well, that's all for now.

I have a numbers of ideas for posts in the pipeline so maybe come back tonight and see if there are any updates.

Laters,

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NaGaDeMon and A Ghost Of A Chance

I have some unfinished business with Unfinished Business.

So here is my idea...wait. I have kind of explained what the idea of this game is already in previous posts. Maybe not completely but I've eluded to it.

So here's my problem...

Very often (though not always of course), when I design RPG systems, the concept and design pops into my head full formed. I'm serious. The theme, rules, the look of it, everything. I then clean up that block of solid creativity into something that I can actually show others.

Do you know the old quote attributed to Michelangelo that goes...

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

That is a bit like my game design philosophy. I think of it as 'Zen Michelangelo' (although by no means do I see myself as Michelangelo). The feeling is, this game already exists, inside of my head, in it's final form, completed. I know all of it but it's too much for my brain to handle. Instead, I am only able to perceive this big mess of parts, ideas and cool stuff and I have to then spend time sorting it out, putting it in order, adding a few pieces that got stuck deeper in my skull, while throwing out extraneous parts from other games and places that got mixed in and don't need to be there.

The Smurfs worked that way. Futurama worked that way. Galaxy Quest worked that way.

The Muppets did not. Not exactly. It popped out ready made but that version wasn't good enough for long term use. Several versions popped into my head after that. Over time I kept adding, taking away, adjusting and modifying until I finally got what I wanted in March of 2011. And the truth is, I'm still tweaking it.

The StoryTeller, a variant of the Muppets RPG system that is turning out to be quite different from the 'core rules' (Oh, so now you're some shot, eh? You got Core Rules for the Muppets do ya?), is half and half. In my noggin' it was basically fully formed but I need a lot of names for things. Like the Twilight Zone RPG, I saw in my mind's eye how to run it but the mechanics needed (and still need) a lot of spit and polish before I could actually run it.

Is any of this making sense?

So what is the deal with Unfinished Business?

Did anyone else hear that in Jerry Seinfeld's voice?

Well, I don't have it fully formed in my head. I've been thinking about it for a long, long time and while, once again, I can see how to run it and what kind of game it would be, I feel that the mechanics for achieving that goal are less formed than any previous project I've worked on.

The question is why? Why can't a lock this down from a rules standpoint?

The answer is 'a lot of reasons'. Among them the fact that real life and other projects have me highly distracted. Why the heck do they run this NaGaDeMon thing in November anyway? I'm busy as all get out in November. I need to be after a hit and miss Summer. Why not make it a Summer project? That would make so much more sense and be so much easier. Gripe, gripe, gripe.

Another reason is I may be trying to hard. Some game ideas come very naturally and the mechanics flow with them and it all follows suit. With this, an idea I had originally hoped to publish professionally , I am being ultra-picky and a perfectionist and as a result making very little head way.

What to do...

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Barking Alien

On This Veteran's Day, I just want to say to our service men and women, I appreciate what you've done and I am sorry that you had to do it. I remember and honor those who fought, served and died but long for a of time when your services will not longer be required.

Peace.

And now for something so freaking cool it's almost ridiculous...

Ryuutama in English on Kickstarter

The Return Of The NaGaDemon

Greetings all, and a very happy November to you!

November is one of my favorite months, for it contains Thanksgiving, one of my favorite Holidays. Thanksgiving is a big deal with the Barking Alien clan and well love when it rolls around.

 Another November festivity I've been looking for to is the tempestuous, biting and oh-so-challenging National Game Design Month event!

For those of you who don't know about it, National Game Design Month, or NaGaDeMon, is a challenge put forth by Nathan Russell who was riffing off November's annual National Novel Writing Month event.

(It's cool too by the way and you should check it out. Even if its initials don't spell out a mythological monster. Our contest is just cooler like that)

The challenge is to design, write, play and complete a workable, playable game in one month. It can be a board game, a card game, a role-playing game or anything else game related. There is no physical prize other than having a completed game of your own design in your hands but there are the accolades and cheers of your peers and fellow NaGaDeMon slayers.

Last year I failed to complete the challenge. Heck, I barely started it. I had a few good ideas and false beginnings but the timing was terrible. Hurricane Sandy and some personal sadness lead to me giving up early on. My heart just wasn't in it (actually my heart was a mess but that's another tale for another time).

This year, SCREW YOU YA CREEPY, DICE-TAILED SERPENT! I am going to best this challenge and the resulting work is going to be so beautiful you will look upon it and cry little snake tears.

Yeah!

So what am I doing? Right...

Unfinished Business, my Ghost Story Role Playing Game which I have been thinking about for forever and a day, will be completed by month's end. That is my goal. You can read a little about my obsession and ideas for it here and here.

It may be biting off more than I can chew, but I also intend to finish The StoryTeller, my Muppets RPG variant based on the Jim Henson series of the same name featuring John Hurt and Brian Henson (as the Dog). You can check out what I've mentioned about it so far here. I have decided not to focus on any elements from the latter Greek Myths series but may do it as a sort of expansion at some later date.

Wish me luck and please stop by for periodic updates on my progress.

See you soon!

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I Can't Get This Out of My Head - Ghosts

Sadly, for me at least, some of the approaches to subjects for gaming that I find incredibly interesting are takes on said subjects that are not particularly popular.

Case in point, I love medieval folklore and fairy tales but I don't like typical medieval fantasy. For every Faery's Tale Deluxe or even Ars Magica there are thirty Dungeons and Dragons style RPGs. Mine is not the popular view.

This holds especially true for a project I've been working on for a very long time, although perhaps it is to my advantage...

 

Other than the Dogs, Faerie Folklore, Muppets, Smurfs, Star Trek and Superheroes, there are a handful of other things I am obsessively fascinated by.

One of them is Ghosts.

As I have mentioned at least once before, I have been thinking about this idea for a game for so long, at some point I thought such a game existed. On further inspection (and a good deal of research), it turns out I must have dreamed it because I am fairly certain no game exactly like my concept exists. A number of games come close, yet none of them quite do the trick.

When Ghosts come up in gaming, they are usually an adversary. Be they the aging menaces of D&D or the comical opponents for InSpectres Agents, the Ghost is your PCs enemy. In a rare few games, you can be the Ghost or you get to have a Ghost ally.

Does anyone remember Wraith: The Oblivion?

What a let down that was. Not because it was a bad game or poorly designed. Indeed it's setting was well (pardon the pun) fleshed out and quite fascinating, if a bit overwrought. It was a disappointment though for all of us playing World of Darkness at the time (mid-90s) as we were really looking forward to the idea that our characters, or campaign stories, could now interact with the recently departed.

Only...that's not exactly how it worked. The realm of the Wraith was far removed from the rest of the World of Darkness and indeed the world itself. Yes, you could perceive and interact with the living world somewhat but the focus of the game was on the lands of the dead, which were a gothic labyrinth of strange names and complicated politics.

I used to hear, read, and tell Ghost stories as a child. I have watched Ghosthunters, seen Poltergeist, and checked out books on the paranormal. I must have missed the parts where they described a Stygian empire that ruled with an iron fist, and guilds existing to fight the tyranny of...wha? What the flaming, flying skull does that have to do with Ghosts?

Ghosts are creepy. They are mysterious. Their situation seems sad and lonely, or at the very least forlorn. They are gone but still here. They haven't moved on. Why? How can they fix this tragic error in the natural way of things?

THAT is what my game is about. You are dead, a spirit, a spectre that initially no one can hear or see. You need to build up enough power to be seen, heard, to move an object, touch the living, or in some other way get their attention. Why? To resolve an issue. To finish something you started, or never got to do before you passed on. Something is keeping you here, and not letting you go...wherever it is you are going to go. You don't know. All you know is right now you are stuck, and that is a horrible feeling.

Here is the piece de resistance, the master stroke of my idea...the object of the game therefore, is to lose your character.

In every game you've played the key is to not die, to keep your character going. The idea here is you start dead, so the goal is to move to the next state of existence, and remove your character from the game.

Nice huh?

I want it to be, all at once:

Amazing Stories (TV series), Destination Truth, Ghost, Ghosthunters, Poltergeist, The Terror,  The Twilight Zone (TV Series), The Uninvited, Weird US, and the numerous, unquantifiable ghost stories we've all heard since forever.

And more than that.

Modern Ghost films, actually modern horror films in general, are simply dreadful. To me, most horror movies totally miss the point of the genre in it's cinematic form, but that is a different discussion for a different day.

Right now it's just an idea.

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