Fantasy Fugue

I am in a distraught and confused state. Argh! Argh! I say.

Dave, I blame you.

Stunning Art by Sam Bosma

A few days ago, my buddy Dave and I were having a conversation about gaming, when pretty much out of the blue Dave says he's in the mood to play some Fantasy.

Being the sensitive, understanding, flexible, versatile friend and GM that I am, I didn't kill him.

But it was too late.

He got me thinking.

Damn his hide.

What Dave said he was really in the mood for was Ars Magica, a game we ran a very short campaign of before it puttered out, and we put it away to possibly be revisited later. He wanted the 'full experience', and said it felt like we really didn't get that from our last go at it. I have to agree.

The main reason that game didn't last was completely my fault; I got bored with it. Now you could say it wasn't completely my fault, and you might have a point, but yeah, it was largely me. I wanted something mythic, fairytale-folklore oriented, and the players turned it into a politics heavy D&D game. I should have realized it was happening early on, and done something to get it back on track, but by the time I accepted how far off the mark it was, it was too late. I was just tired of it.

It had become generic, medieval fantasy. I despise generic, medieval fantasy.

I entertained Dave's idea anyway, just to see what he had in mind, and how I could perhaps get it right this time around. I'd done it before with my old New York crew, my New Jersey crew, and my ex-wife. Why couldn't I...hmmm. My newer group. Grrr. I'm seeing a pattern.

At the same time, we played with the idea of an Ars Magica variation that I used in the past, but which isn't really how the game is supposed to be played. Instead of the standard 'troupe play' approach, wherein each player has a Magi (Wizard), and a couple of companions, and henchmen characters, Ars Magica can be used in a more traditional way, with each player playing a single PC.

In the latter case, I adjusted the total number of character building points each PCs was constructed with (a bit higher for Custos* and Grogs*, a bit lower for Magi) so that characters felt a bit more even, and balanced.

I've used this approach before as I said, and it worked very well. Am I interested in trying it again? I...well...hmmm.

Dragon-slaying 101?

Another delightful piece by Sam Bosma

 

 

My current group includes the players from the previous campaign, but it's larger, as we've added a few members since that last outing.

Maybe...

I've also being going over the unedited, English language rules for Ryuutama.

Having come across the work of artist Sam Bosma around the same time, I'm very inspired to give this game a try. Bosma's illustrations fit right in with the look of the original game, and reinforce the concept of an initially light hearted fantasy world, that becomes more serious, and deadly, as the PCs travel further, and further from home.

Traveling, the journey itself, is a big part of Ryuutama. It is part of obstacles the PCs need to overcome to survive, and prosper, but it's also connected to the theme and nature of the game.

Like the best young adult fantasy novels (Such as Harry Potter, and The WondLa series), the world of Ryuutama grows, and matures with it's audience, as they transverse their developing campaign world.

 

Epic By Valentin Seiche

 

 

Fantasy gaming is not generally my cup of tea, unless (and this is a BIG unless) it's a very particular type of Fantasy. A particular type that is, sadly, pretty much a mystery to a lot of players I know.

The majority of people I encounter just aren't as familiar with the kind of fantasy I'm interested in. Maybe they are familiar, and they just don't like it. That's just the way it is. It's a shame for me, but it's really no skin off anyone else's back.

Still...I do like my type of folkloric, mythic, atmospheric fantasy. I think Ars Magica can pull that off. Maybe Ryuutama too. I don't know. I'd like to try. And if Dave is in that mindset as well?

Maybe...just maybe...

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Anatomy of A Successful Campaign

What exactly constitutes a successful campaign?

As with so many other things, the answers to this question will be as numerous, and as diverse, as the people who run, and play RPGs. I can't speak for them all, but I can tell you what it means to me.

For yours truly, a truly successful campaign, and you can quote me (heck, I'll quote me) fits this description:

"Any campaign in which all of the participating players, including the Gamemaster, are enjoying themselves much more often than not, for the entire duration that said campaign lasts."

As long as you are doing that my friends, you've made the grade. That is it. That's the brass ring right there. Sounds simple, right? Is it? That depends...

If it fits all the above criteria, but only lasted four or five sessions, was it successful? What if it started out awesome, stayed amazing for the first three years, and royally sucked in the last two. By my definition, no, not a complete success.

Am I being hard on myself? My campaigns? Am I holding the hobby up to an impossible standard?

Don't rightly know. Don't care. This is my standard. This is what determines for me whether my games have worked (or are working), or not.

A favorite Sci-Fi painting of mine, and very Traveller like, IMHO.

The Outposter, by Peter Elson 

This weekend we had the 27th session of our Traveller campaign.

Twenty-seven sessions. That's no where near the most I've had for a given campaign, but it's definitely the most I've had for a campaign in the last few years, and surely the most with my current group.  

***

Marcus has not yet returned to Traveller (if he's returning - but more on that another time), Andy is perpetually not aware of when the game is scheduled (regardless of how often we contact him ahead of time, in how many formats), but we've added a new player (Steve from our Champions game).

We started with Ed, Jeff, Marcus, Ray, and Will.

Ed and Jeff couldn't make the scheduling, but Andy, Dave, and Hans were added.

Dave couldn't make it for a while. Now he is back, but it's a little irregular. As is Andy.

Marcus was kicked out. :(

Now it's Hans, Ray, Steve, and Will, with Dave, and Andy as irregular regulars.

***

 

There are so many factors that contribute to how awesome this campaign has been, is, and looks to continue to be well into this year. While the meta-plot (as it were) has a definitive goal, a possible 'end-game' if you will*, there are so many ways victory can be achieved, or lost, and so many directions the players, and their PCs, can go, that I feel we have a good stretch of time yet before this one sees it's grand finale.

What makes it work so well? Let's dissect the anatomy of a successful campaign, shall we?

Control Station - Illustration by Ken Kyujo

  

 

Great Expectations - Not Preconceived Notions

I'll freely admit, my campaigns often require a pretty big buy-in. For some of my higher concept games to work (and even my normal concept games), the players need to be familiar with the tropes of the genre I'm running. The more focused the concept, the more specific the tropes, and (as I'm experiencing these days) the fewer people there are who are as familiar with those tropes as the guy running the game (namely me).

With this particular Traveller game, I kept the concept simple, the details general, and basically waited to see what the players came up with character-wise.

It wasn't a question of, "Please make a PC that fits this setting." Instead, I modified the Traveller canon setting to fit the PCs the players created. I do that regardless of the game honestly, but usually I have a more distinct idea of what I'm looking for going in. Here I just told them to surprise me.

Because they weren't trying to make characters that were Star Trek-like, or Star Wars-like, or Space: 1999-like, they ended up making characters that they liked.

After a little communication with each of them, they were characters that I liked too.


Diverse Characters - Singular Goal

With a wide range of player types, with notably different gaming styles, ages, gaming experiences, ethnicities, backgrounds, etc., the game wouldn't work if they didn't all end up wanting the same thing.

They can have wildly different motivations, approaches, and abilities, but if the player characters' end game goals don't line up, it's going to be a very difficult campaign to play through. The goals of the various character do not need to be identical, but they definitely need to be compatible.

I've talked about this idea before on the blog, but I have no qualms doing so again as it is integral to a great campaign in my experience. Depending on the type of campaign you're running this can become downright essential.

When this campaign began, I had no idea what the players would want to do, what would interest them, and that sort of thing. Looking at their background stories, I saw several places where the stories could easily connect.

As I was connecting them in the 'background', the group followed the goals of one particular PC, who offered to pay the others for helping her. One thing lead to another, and soon everyone was involved in that particular PCs story, not realizing how it intertwined with their own.

It actually took quite a bit of time for them to discover the connections between them. The group, consisting of a few players unfamiliar with my long term storybox approach, spent so much time worried about themselves, their NPCs, their stories, that they didn't even consider they all had the same big bad pulling the strings, and threatening the entire sector with war. Once they did, Oh Man, Oh Man! Wow. The looks on their faces when the light bulbs went on over their heads was priceless.

 

***

The primary reason Marcus needed to go was because he was not only acting like a jerk (that I can deal with), but he was constantly, actively acting against the best interests of the party.

He refused to divulge information his PC knew that could help the group's efforts. He continually undertook actions without informing the group, but always needed the group's help to make his plans work, or to get him out when the plans went South. He used PCs, and NPCs, but rarely interacted with them in a mutually beneficial way, then was surprised that they didn't trust him, or want to help him.

He expected a lot, offered nothing, and did what he wanted even if it was counter to agreed upon goals. He wanted very much to be the star of his part of the story, and win his own victories, but he only knew one way to do that - diminish the actions, and victories of the team, and impede the overall plot.

Now in his defense (yes, defense), I don't think that is exactly how it played out in his (the player's) head. I don't think he decided, "I'm going to be a total putz today!" I think there was some miscommunication early in the campaign that made Marcus feel his contributions wouldn't be taken into consideration. He himself felt like a henchmen, not a member of the group. This was one of the points he made before rejoining the gaming group and participating in our Champions campaign. I thought about it, and I totally get why he thought that. We agreed that if something like that occurred again for any reason, he would bring it up right away. He also agreed to try to have better inter-player communication in general, and so did the rest of the gang.

***

Do What Works - Not What Doesn't

This is vital.

In twenty-seven sessions, each lasting roughly 8 hours (Sessions in the first year were about 6 hours long, after that they've generally run 8-10 hours), there have been 9-10 combat encounters. Ten fights in twenty-seven games.

Why? Because Will and Ray avoid physical conflict at all costs, and Hans and Andy only fight when there's no other option. Marcus was in nearly all the battles we had. Why? Because while the rest of us were playing the Sims, he was playing Call of Duty.

Unfortunately, there was one computer, and one screen. The Sims was loaded, and no matter how often we pointed that out, he kept trying to use his keyboard to change weapons.

Yeah. It was like that.

The majority of the group plays Traveller like a cross between a Cyberpunk/Shadowrun game, and a 'Life-In-The-Future' simulator.

The campaign consists mainly of business deals, espionage missions, deducing mysteries, learning about alien cultures, interpersonal relationships, corporate and political maneuvering, designing and constructing new weapons and technologies, and working behind the scenes to insure a facist, militant, species-ist megalomaniac doesn't get into a position of considerable political power, and secretly complete, and launch his private army of cyborg piloted battle robots.

Physical conflicts are going to come up, but that is not the game element these players (for the most part) most enjoy.

Do I personally wish there was a little more action? Sometimes. Yet I haven't seen this level of character, and story depth in a long, long time. I wouldn't give that up for anything.

***

 

I could go on, and on, with this, since I like this campaign so very much. It may not be everyone's idea of a good time, and I'm sure the average ol' school player might not get into it, but my group and I are having a blast.

 

People keep coming back, one travels from another state to be here when he can, and another misses it, and wants back in.

 

 

Achievement Unlocked.

 

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Thorough Thursdays : ALIEN

Welcome to Thorough Thursdays!

Prior to this post, I have only mentioned Alien, the 1979 Science Fiction/Horror film directed by Ridley Scott, in blog entries once or twice before.

That's just wrong.

Alien came out in theatres on May 25, 1979, when I was 10 years old.

The film, written by Dan O' Bannon, based on a story by himself and Ronald Shusett, was groundbreaking for the time, even if no one involved was wholly aware of it.

Combining the unparalleled artistic talents of Ron Cobb, Chris Foss, Moebius, and of course, H.R. Giger, the movie, directed by Ridley Scott, tells a traditional horror story in an especially untraditional way, using a very relatable Science Fiction setting.

The protagonists are an older, more experienced group than you'd typically see in a horror film. They are a crew of blue collar 'Space Truckers', something not really seen in Sci-Fi films prior. These were normal, working class 'Joes' and 'Janes', thrust into an abnormal, and deadly situation.

As a kid, I was not all that enamored with Horror films or comics. I was a rather peaceful, even timid lad. I didn't like being afraid (and I still don't). As a result, scary movies, roller-coasters, and other things designed to give you a fright were not my cup of tea.

That said, I did like the creepy, the odd, and the unexplained. Mysterious you see intrigued me. Gore and pointless death did not appeal to me (Nor does it now).

But then there is Alien...

At 10 years old I was not supposed to watch this movie. I had not even heard of it until I went to my grandfather's movie theatre where he worked as manager. I had gone there with my uncle and first cousin. While the adults spoke to each other, my cousin snuck into Alien. I saw him, looked at the films poster, was definitely intrigued, but nonetheless snuck into The Muppet Movie (watching it for around the 3rd or 4th time).

After the film was over, I realized that no one had come to get me. I walked backed out to Pop's office (Pop or Poppi was my maternal Grandfather's nickname), where he told me my uncle had to run back to his office in Manhattan (we were in Brooklyn). My cousin and I were staying at the theatre until either my uncle came back or my Mom came to pick us up and take us back to my place.

My cousin went back in to watch Alien again. This time...I followed.

I spent the majority of that first sit through of the film with my eyes closed or covered by my hands. I couldn't help it. My cousin said the movie took place in outer space, in the future. He it had a neat spaceship. He said it had the coolest looking alien ever. He was right on all counts but damn, if it didn't scare the bejeebers out of me.

If was the first and perhaps the most enjoyable, good scare I ever had.

Fast forward to now...

I've now seen the original film at least ten times, and the 1986 sequel, Aliens, at least twice that many times. All the others in the 'series' I've seen at least twice, but I consider them apocryphal. Only the first two films matter to me and believe it or not, they matter to me a lot.

On the left is 'The Book of Alien',

an Art Book/Making of The Movie Softcover.

That is my copy. An original first printing from 1979.

I've only ever gotten to play in the Alien universe once, at a gaming convention in New Jersey around 1995 I believe. It was an excellent session (though I don't remember the specifics of the system) and I remember it had a great story. I really liked my character, an android (Although he preferred the term, 'Artificial Person') named Rook Grey (Grey - Ash / Rook - Bishop) who appears to be setting up the Colonial Marines for a fall only to reveal he was working to save their lives the whole time.

The game gave me a host of ideas. Reading the 'Making Of...' book, 'The Book of Alien', only increased my desire to run something set in that milieu. Over the last 20 years or so I've thought up scenarios, NPCs, ships, and really exciting, nail-biting scenarios for a team of PCs to engage in.

One of my most inspired, but tricky ideas, which keeps nagging at me to give it a try, is to use Dread, the indie Horror RPG which in turn uses Jenga to determine the outcome of situations. Unlike how Dread normally uses the Jenga blocks, I think I have a way to do more with them. While still nearly as deadly as standard Dread, my variant would allow a little more survivability for campaign play purposes, as well as enabling them to use it for skill checks and the like.

If I can work out the details, I will try to post it here on the blog.

I have yet to use any of it. I've not run a game in this setting.

Now, with the release of the computer game Alien - Isolation, and all the incredible concept art that goes with it, I've got the urge again. It's like a throbbing pain, banging at the inside of my...*cough*...my ribs...ack! The need to...run this...so...so...powerful. It's going to burst right out of my...

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DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan appreciation, insomnia, and an overzealous love of RPGs based on TV shows, movies, comic books, and other pop culture media. The creator of this material in no way intends to infringe on the copyrights, and badass legalese of 20th Century Fox, Dan O'Bannon, Ridley Scott, H.R. Giger or anyone else with abominable lawyers, and more money than God.

The same thing to the makers of Dread.

I am not making a dime off this. This is just for fun.

Just Being Thorough

Looking over my tabs, I am amazed at how few posts some of my favorite subjects have had.

Seriously, in 7 years, and about 845 posts, I've only mentioned Boot Hill once, which is one of only two posts to discuss Westerns at all. Chill, DC Heroes (DC HEROES People!), Paranoia, the Japanese table top RPGs Metal Head and SATASUPE Remix, all mentioned only one time each.

There's only been thirteen posts about Mekton. Thirteen posts about one of my favorite, most frequently played games. What the hell?

To remedy this situation, in which the games, and subjects I love don't get enough love, I am instituting my first reoccurring feature of the 2015:

THOROUGH THURSDAYS!
 

 

On Thorough Thursdays, I will be exploring one of my all time favorite things that, for one reason, or another, I have not talked about nearly enough on this blog.

 

Note that this may range from obscure games, or settings that I really enjoyed but haven't played in 30+ years, to games I play, or have played quite often, but for some reason that completely eludes me, I haven't told you guys about. Also, don't be surprised to see entries on artists, actors, books, films, TV shows, and other major influences on me that I've treated like dirt. I am to make amends.

 

I mean, only three Red Dwarf posts? Three? What is that about?!

 

Thorough Thursdays, every Thursday, starting later today. On a Thursday.

 

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Mercy Kill

I deleted my last post, and it's follow up, which is something I don't normally do.

Not every post is a winner. Usually though, I'll leave up less than stellar examples of my writing skills more often than not just as a reminder to myself that I can do better. Also, I keep them up because they may contain some small nuggets of gold amid the sediment.

The last post made perfect sense in my head, but on repeated viewings, didn't really say anything significant. Furthermore, it needed a follow-up post to fix it, and trying to make that follow-up generated a sort of creative constipation. I couldn't finish the post, and I couldn't move on until it was finished.

So I dumped it.

Hard call, but now I can move on to other things. I have a lot to say this month, it's the 8th already, and I haven't gotten a third of it out.

Moving On,

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