Real Ultimate Showdown Round 3
[This round is over, go vote in the FINAL ROUND]
Eight groups enter, only four will advance. The epic battle to determine what is the coolest thing of all rages on. Some unexpected warriors have made it this far, but they still have difficult battles ahead of them.
Below are the four match ups for the week. Remember to vote for WHO YOU WANT TO WIN! Six of you still have a shot at winning the grand prize… get the word out for everyone to vote! [Read the rest of this article]
Ia Ia Etc Etc
Yeah, so, pretty much inevitable: LOLCats + Cthulhu = LOLTHULHU. My favorite so far is “I HAS A COLOR, IT FROM BEYOND SPACE.”
Meanwhile, SuicideGirls News [NSFW] argues that a mysterious undersea noise coming from a gigantic undersea creature (known to scientists as the Bloop) actually already has a name.
Let's sweeten all that Crunch with some Sweet20
Image Source: Chatty DM’s game room
It’s no secret, since the seventies, D&D has arguably been mostly about two things:
- Kill Stuff
- Take their loot
A lot of people were content with that (and still are). I have been for a long time. However, as I played D&D 3.0, and later 3.5, I realized that we had matured to a point where character development became a more important parts of the plots that I weaved. The game had grown past the killing and looting and was tentatively exploring Story-driven roelplaying territory.
And while we have had a few good game sessions with hardly any die rolls (much to the chagrin of Eric) giving XPs for good role playing has always been a matter of ill-defined DM fiat for me (and I hate ill-defined, I can’t stand ambiguity). I often felt I gave too little which in turns encourages killing stuff for XPs.
Then I discovered this D&D Ptolus log (one of the best logs I’ve read after Adam Winsor’s X-crawl adaptation ) and I found what I had been looking for. This very funny British writer plays in a Ptolus campaign that uses the XP component of an unfinished d20 variant called Sweet 20 by Clinton R Nixon. (Go ahead, have a look, it’s only 2 pages long)…
So if you understand the same things I did, the Sweet20 proposes to do away with D&D’s genocidal XP system for another system aimed at rewarding roleplaying. It works as such:
- Each character chooses a certain number of ‘keys’. These keys are core motivations for the character.
- Whenever the character plays out a scene, he wins XPs if he played according to his chosen keys.
- The player loses XPs if he played “counter” to the keys.
- Except that it’s also possible to willingly play against a key to move on from a motivation (i.e. turn the page), gaining a large amount of XP but losing the key forever as a potential source of XP.
- The higher level you are, the more keys you get, the more opportunities for RPing XPs.
This is awesome! I’ve been looking for a way of handing out Role-playing XPs in such a way that it would motivate players to roleplay more. By letting them chose their keys according to their tastes it becomes a potentially self-motivated system.
Handing out these XPs is going to be a group thing. When a players makes a choice, he’ll inform me that he’s invoking a given key and act accordingly. I’ll ask around the table if it’s acceptable, subjected to DM veto, and hand in the XPs if agreed.
Here’s how I intend to implement this in my current group:
- I’ll keep XPs as D&D, no simplification to 13 points.
- A successfully used key will give between 1/13th and 3/13th of the XPs needed to level up.
- I’ll maintain XPs for killing stuff as my group likes a good fight. (I don’t mind speeding up the leveling up process, I aim to finish the campaign in May)
- I won’t use Scene Keys as it amounts to giving XPs to players for just showing up. I’ll probably award Scene-specific XPs anyway.
- To make it easy to implement in my group, everyone will start with only 1 key this week. If all goes well, I ‘ll suggest taking extra keys up to the allowed limit (they are 7th level) in the following sessions.
Here’s an example I discussed with Yan today. He is thinking of taking a Warden of Trees key for Lillie, getting XPs whenever she does something to protect or promote trees in the Ptolus very urban environment. (and Yan, planting an oak feather token in the sewers does not count unless you have a good reason to think that this would help the trees’ cause)
So I hope this will catch on with the group. It sure looks good on paper and from the aforementioned Ptolus logs, it sure seems to work for these guys.
Would it work for you and your gaming group?
Dive in this bowl of Crunchy Hit points
Image Source: Do I really need to? 
I’m prepping this week’s game tonight so I’ll keep the post a bit on the short side.
Greywulf commented on this post earlier today* and shared his most excellent tricks to save time in RPG combats (dude, I’m like Keanu now, whoa!)
One of his tricks literally set my crunch-loving-but-lazy DM brain on fire:
- As GM, I keep a Hit Point pool for groups of monsters rather than track individual totals. When there’s enough in the pool to down one of the critters, I pick one (usually the most dramatically applicable), and he’s dead. Reset the pool, and start counting. It sounds like this is going into 4th Edition, which is cool.
That’s just so cool. I had read, somewhat hastily, about it on Treasure Tables but it’s only this morning that the little spark of inspiration hit the one receptive cell in my brain (Terry Pratchet quote!!!) and exploded.
You see I love mooks, they are the bread and butter of the early fights of a Friday night D&D evening. The players are tired, they are getting into the groove of the evening’s game and mowing down mooks gets the blood flowing. This trick is awesome to speed up what is otherwise a near-pointless exercise in terms of story and plots (but helps generates the necessary non-Role-playing XPs).
I’ve spent some time with Yan over Gtalk bouncing different ways of implementing this rule in our group and we came up with 3 Scenarios:
- As is, it’s simple and effective.
- As above but don’t reset the pool upon death of a mook. This allows Critical hits and massive damage abilities to drain the pool while there are still mooks around. Once the pool hits zero, all remaining mooks are demoralized and flee/Surrender.
This makes the players really enjoy Crits and massive damage as the DM describes the poor mooks being splattered with chunks of their colleagues. But it feels to me that it’s really open for abuse by crafty players. Especially our Crusader that can have a 9d6 blast available in each encounter.
- As the 1st variation but the DM multiplies the pool by a Morale Modifier based on the motivations of the Mooks.
For example, a street gang in their home turf, outnumbering a party of PCs 3 to 1 would get a pool increased by 10 to 20%. They’d still lose a member whenever an individual’s average HP is reached, but the group would be more resilient to massive damage and therefore less easy to intimidate.
Furthermore, this opens a lot of possibilities for social PCs to influence that pool with morale affecting skills and abilities. In D&D, this could mean intimidate checks, Bardic Inspire courage, Fear effects and various others to affect, upwards or downwards, a Mook Hit Point pool. Yan and I really like it and are looking forward to try it on Friday.
From the player and DM perspective, what do you think?
*Secret Blog trick: The more comments you have on your blog the easier posting gets as you stea… huh build on other people’s ideas… yeah that’s it!
YouTube of the Week: Let's Blow This Thing Edition
Music from the Star Wars musical synched to the original footage. I was reminded of it after the excellent Family Guy Star Wars episode last Sunday.
First Impressions: Chuck, Heroes, and Journeyman
I caught NBC’s Monday premieres tonight: the series premieres of Chuck and Journeyman, and the season premiere of Heroes. Here’s my quick thoughts:
Chuck was a lot better than I was expecting. It’s not the out and out comedy that the commercials make it out to be, but it was very well directed (by McG, no less) and had some excellent action scenes. The characters, especially the titular character Chuck, are sincere and believable (with the exception of Chuck’s nerdy sidekick, Morgan.) I’m especially looking forward to some post-Firefly-but-still-badass Adam Baldwin. The whole thing felt very much like a movie, including the typical silly fake computer stuff. I’ll definitely be checking this one out in future weeks, and hope that it stays interesting and doesn’t fall into a “problem of the week” rut. [Read the rest of this article]
Mining Tropes for RPG nuggets: Let them see the light.
Image Source: D&D 3.5 Monster Manual
This is part of a series of articles that tackles the concepts of tropes and how they can be applied by a DM/GM to improve their favorite Role-Playing game adventures. It is heavily inspired by the sheer goodness of the TV Tropes Wiki.
“I’m sorry, you’ve never faced a troll before, so you’re not supposed to know that fire damage is lethal. That’s Metagaming”
“Ah come on!”
Have you ever had this discussion or one like that with your players? I sure did, and quite often too. That’s why I’d like to tackle another trope that fantasy gaming DMs* more often imposed on their players than on their NPCs:
Genre Blindness
A condition afflicting many television characters, seen when one demonstrates by their behavior that they have never in their life ever seen the kind of show they’re in, and thus have none of the reactions a typical audience member would have in the same situation. Worse, they are unable to learn from any experiences related to their genre.
The current incarnation of D&D is all about near-super humanoid heroes and their quests to become the legends that bards will sing about for centuries to come. And there lies the problem of DMs applying this Trope ‘for believability’ or ‘to prevent Metagaming’. If bards have been signing songs about all the world’s heroes exploits, then any tavern scullion worth her salt would know all about Trolls regeneration, Succubus life drain, Color-coded dragons and Rust Monsters by the time she was 12.
I have always found it easier to design an adventure while assuming that the characters know nothing about the monsters and the context they would appear. But that’s being somewhat unfair towards the inherent coolness of the characters. The later D&D books confirm this by allowing players to know key things about a monster or character class with a Knowledge skill check. So I now try to avoid imposing this trope. Heck, the Rust monster’s continued existence from edition to edition is directly linked to the huge reaction it triggers in Fighter types, so using them might not be all that bad …
Furthermore, in order to properly challenge the players, DMs create encounters where antagonists are painfully aware of the whole Fantasy Genre and take creative measures to prevent getting killed and losing their loot (the early Goblins webcomics were exactly about that).
I’m not saying that players should be handed all the monsters books and be told about each special abilities. But they should not be penalized if they react or plan based on commonly known things about canonical creatures of your game world. However, once this is established with your players and they had the immense pleasure of using bits and pieces of knowledge to their advantage, it’s your turn to subvert the trope and surprise your players:
- Trolls may be killed by fire, but Crystal Trolls are only vulnerable to Sonic attacks.
- A Silver dragon caught a disease that makes it always ravenous and destroys all the crops and cattle of a trusting community.
- A Succubus was actually striped of all her powers and she must actually fall in love with a Paladin and get him to reciprocate for her to regain them.
How was this trope used or subverted in your games?
*It may happen in other genres, but I think the trope actually needs to be imposed in most horror campaigns or any game where a certain level of cluelessness is ‘de rigeur’.
Inq. of the Week: Halo 3
The most obvious choice for this week is to ask everyone about Halo 3, and whether you couldn’t care less or if you’re already waiting in line checking the site on a laptop or your iPhone! But first, let’s cover the results of Dave’s question about upcoming sci-fi shows premiering this week. The results are that exactly half of you don’t care, or don’t watch any tv. Congratulations! The show that got the most people interested/excited is not very surprisingly Bionic Woman, which premieres this Wednesday at 9pm (on sci-fi), with Pushing Daisies coming in second. Unfortunately Cavemen only got one vote, which I honestly can’t remember if it was mine or not, but needless to say not many people have hopes for a series based on what is a great series of commercials but shows little hope of filling out an entire episode, much less a season. Also unfortunate is that I have only heard disappointing things about Bionic Woman as well, but we can only hope it picks up later in the season, or just becomes a hit despite its quality *cough*heroes*cough*.
Now then, based on Microsoft’s and Bungie’s rabid advertising campaigns, not the least of all including some excellently delicious Mountain Dew variants, I assume you’re painfully aware that Halo 3 comes out at midnight tonight (ie – tomorrow). This finale to the trilogy (was it a trilogy from the get-go, is it only now a trilogy, if there’s a fourth does is its trilogy-ism revoked?) is being lauded as one of the most anticipated games ever, blah blah blah, yadda yadda. The reason it’s hotly anticipated is because the brains behind the series decided to blue-ball everyone with the absolute worst “ending” ever concieved in the second game. So the question I have for you is,
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.The hype for this game really isn’t as pervasive as a lot of people would have you think, but to me it is more in the ridiculous direction then the annoying/in-your-face approach. For instance, the Washington Post had an article not particularly about Halo 3 as a game or its launch, instead they covered how members of the Redskins football team were given an early opportunity to play the game. What’s cool about it is that they got to play the game online, against members of other football teams across the United States. [Read the rest of this article]
The craziest, shortest, game I ever wrote/ran.
Image Source: Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
Martin over at Treasure Tables had a recent post asking DMs what were ideal gaming sessions and the shortest ones we’re comfortable running (Quick Answer, 4 hours, 2 hours).
That made me think of the shortest, craziest one-shot game I ever GMed. It was right before D&D 3.0 and, like Greywulf’s commented on my Storming post, I too was getting burnt-out after playing Fantasy campaigns (with Gurps) for nearly 3 straight years.
I got an idea for a one-shot adventure on the Internet (if someone finds the source please give it to me so I can link to it). It went like this:
- There is only 1 character, but with multiple personalities
- Each player controls the same player
- At fixed durations* or when a stressful event occurs, all players but the current controller can roll a d20. Highest roll obtains control of the body.
- Create a setting and let chaos unleash (the author said that a walk in the park could be a whole adventure).
I went a bit further with the setup and added the following rules:
- The players can talk to each other, but only if the character sees himself in a reflective surface. Then, non-controllers can vie for control of the ‘image’ to talk to the controller.
- Except for one player, the players knew nothing of the nature of the scenario, much less the multiple personality thing. Each had his own copy of a character sheet.
I then set up a short scenario:
- We’re in the mid 80′s in Silicon Valley. A female Russian infiltrator named Natasha has seduced what she thinks is a R&D microchip engineer in order to steal the plans of the most advanced chip in the world.
- Natasha is waiting for the engineer at the chip plant to get the microfilms, which are hidden somewhere (oh lord, are those Tropes or Clichés?)
- The ‘engineer’ is actually a CIA agent with a, shall we say, less than intact personality.
I had four players so I created the following personalities (each had a character sheet with different attributes, Skills, and traits):
- The Agent: The remains of the core personality. A Straight Arrow that does not smoke nor drink. He knows who Natasha is and must take her into custody and make sure the microfilm is safe.
- Boris: Jealously (and Insanely) in love with Natasha, this drunk brute wants to grab her and the microfilm and ‘go back’ to Russia.
- Jimbo: A pure Redneck with a pathological love for firearms and an equivalent hatred of commies. He knows Natasha is a Red and only wants to kill her.
- Hannibal: The Homicidal Sociopath, He knows about all other personalities and doesn’t care about any other goals. He just wants to create as much chaos as possible.
The first scene started as such:
The Agent wakes up on his couch, with a spitting headache, violent spasms of nausea and surrounded with several empty bottles of Vodka. It’s 11h00 AM…
The game lasted 1h45 minutes of pure chaos, action and some of the most awesome reactive role playing I can remember on all parts. Maybe I’ll tell the story later. Alternatively, Yan (Boris) could tell it if he still remembers…
Do try a game like that on a slow evening, it’s well worth it and a great exercise for Improv.
*The shorter the duration, the insaner things get.
Review: The Film Crew: "Killers from Space"
In High School, nearly every Saturday at Sion‘s house meant three things for me: GURPS, Swiss Cake Rolls, and Mystery Science Theater 3000. We were big fans of the show, and kicked off many a game session with a bad movie. Of course, when the show went off the air (with an excellent finale) we were all upset that there would be no more MSTing.
Now, it seems the guys behind it cannot stay away from mocking bad movies. First they reunited for RiffTrax, which were audio tracks you downloaded and played at the same time while playing popular movies in a regular DVD player on mute, allowing them to make mock popular movies that they would never have been allowed to use on MST3K.
But if you want the full MST3K experience, their new project is the closet you can get: The Film Crew. While I haven’t tried RiffTrax yet (due to it costing money), I fired up the old Netflix to check out The Film Crew as they make fun of Killers from Space. Here’s how it compares to MST3K.
