When in doubt, have them grow wings
This is an entry into this month’s RPG Blog Carnival about Transitions & Transformations, hosted by some jerks.
I’ve written before about the many mean things I’ve done in horror RPGs. There’s another technique that I enjoy in any games that I run that ties into that, but doesn’t have to be mean. I enjoy transforming people’s characters.
Now, characters will undergo transformations on their own as they change and grow. Depending on what system and setting you’re running, the characters may gain powers and abilities, have their morals shift, change homes, and so on. And there are the transformations that are parts of the characters abilities, that when you get right down to it, are not that big of a deal. Back in 3.5e D&D, a high enough level Druid was going to be changing shape in practically every combat. That’s all accepted as part of how RPGs work. Even the campaigns lacking in any kind of fantastic elements are going to have the characters change in other ways- that’s the point of XP, right? [Read the rest of this article]
I'm sick, Here's my note!
To whom this may concern
Please note that Phil, that you know under the pseudonym of The Chatty DM, hasn’t been blogging much in the last few days as he’s been stricken with a bad case of stress-induced insomnia. He’s focusing his creative writing on his freelance adventure.
I told him to exercise more and eat more vegetables but he doesn’t listen to me anymore.
Phil’s Mom.
There you go, I have a note!
I’m ok, just so damned tired all the time.
If things don’t turn around soon, I may start re-posting oldies but goodies from my 500+ library of posts.
All the best and do enjoy the weekend!
Mutants and Mastermind: Hacking it so I can play it
Philippe – Always use your powers for Good. Steve Kenson Gen Con 2008
That’s what’s written in the inner cover of my copy of Mutants and Masterminds 2nd ED. I bought it at the Green Ronin booth on the last day at Gen Con last summer and when I saw that the author was behind the cash machine, I rushed to get him to sign it.
Geekout!
For most of the rest of summer and fall, the book rested on my ‘to read’ pile, along other books I obtained since then. Since I spent a lot of time and effort reading adventures and getting in the D&D 4e groove for our fall gaming season, that book was left mostly ignored.
A few weeks ago, needing some RPG distraction from our current game, I picked the M&M book up and started reading it. I’m not yet done reading it, having reached the Gamemastering section.
Up to that point in the book, I was having mixed feelings.
First of, I was really impressed of what had been achieved with the d20 rules. I would not have expected an apparently balanced point-buy system to be feasible within the framework of the that game engine. Yet it was done.
Secondly, the book is well written, has great art, and offers pretty much all the options one would expect from a Supers RPG. It feels like a Supers game whenever you pick the book and peer at a random page.
In fact, when you factor in all the options, feats and limitations that can affect each power there are a lot more packed in these pages than it appears. The combat section has all the options you would expect from a Supers game while at the same time having dropped Attacks of Opportunity and encouraging playing without a battlemap. Still there’s a lot of rules in there!
So much so that this is where the book kinda loses me. This is a late design d20 3.5 game with its complete toolbox approach to character creation and task resolution. While I was reading the section on combat I could imagine just how much I would have to go back to the rules and check powers, feats and special combat moves time and again.
I don’t currently want that in a game. I moved away from D&D 3.5 for a reason and reading M&M, while awesome in itself, reminds me why I moved away.
I’m a cyclic gamer (some would say I a weather vane) and while I’ve highly enjoyed playing d20 by the time 2008 rolled up, I was ready for something else.
However, what saved the game for me was how the first part of the GM’s chapter is crystal clear: “We’ve put all the crunchy bits of d20 because we had them around and you might enjoy them, but feel free to play with only these 4 rules… (all centered around the core d20 mechanic of ‘roll high against a target number).
So given that I’m still somewhat comfortable with the d20 system, I could totally see myself play a few one-shot adventures of M&M by ignoring preety much every thing I don’t like about the rules.
To that effect I’d play it thus:
- Premade characters, fluffed up by the players
- I’d use only premade guys from the Core Rules and the Campaign Setting (I also purchased Freedom City 2E a few weeks ago), I would not design bad guys.
- I’d ignore most feats on the bad guys unless I could ‘get’ them easily enough without lengthy page flipping.
- I’d use the 4 basic task resolution rules along with Hero Points and the combat Knockback rules (those are cool).
- The rest I’d probably make up on the spot!
You guys have any other tips to give me should I want to tackle this promising yet oh so crunchy game?
Play Auditorium
Thanks to Tycho, today I found the game Auditorium online and now I’m hooked. The funny thing is that I’ve only played with it at work where I don’t have speakers, but from the name and looks of it I imagine I’m missing a part of the game without the auditory experience. I guess a fun physics / puzzle game is enough for me as it is!
The game involves using various directional nodes to direct/influence flowing particles towards meters that fill up as more particles hit them, and you finish a level when you fill up each bar. The later levels incorporate whirlpool nodes and different colors for greater challenge, and possibly more but I’m currently stuck on a level so I don’t know about that yet!
You should check it out!
YouTube Tuesday: Akira Remake Edition
A satirical take on a remade version of the classic movie Akira. With Day the Earth Stood Still starring Keanu Reeves coming out, no crazy remake concept would surprise me nowadays.
Contest: Give the Gift of D&D
‘Tis the season for giving, and we’ve got stuff we want to give away, so it all works out!
We are giving away a prize pack that will give any new D&D player everything they need to get started. The pack contains:
- Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set (4th Edition)
- Keep on the Shadowfell
- D&D Miniatures Game Starter Set (Revised)
Between the three of these, you’ll have dungeon tiles, maps, counters, dice, minis, adventures, and of course, some rules to get you started playing D&D 4th edition. A great gift for a new D&D player. [Read the rest of this article]
RPG Blog Carnival: "Transitions and Transformations"
What is a blog carnival? It’s where bloggers mutually work on the same theme or topic for a month. This month we are proud to be the fifth host to the RPG Blog Carnival. Thanks to The Dice Bag for hosting last month’s Carnival about Religion.
We have decided that, given that this is the end of the year and a time for change from one year to the next, that this month’s theme will be “Transitions and Transformations.” Tackle anything in RPGs about transitions from one thing to the next, or any kind of transformation that occurs in RPGs.
How do you get in on the carnival? Just write a post around this month’s theme, then leave a comment on this post with a link back. At the end of the month, I’ll round up all the entries in another post. Then the carnival will move again! That’s all. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. [Read the rest of this article]
Bedtime Adventure: Enter Cartain!
This series chronicles my Interactive Storytelling bedtime stories with my kids. Today is a chronicle of the short session I had with Rory, my 5 year old daughter.
Chatty: So sweetie, do you want to try making a story like I do with Nico?
Rory: Yes Daddy! I’m going to be Cartain the Warrior Princess that can summons many many many faerie friends! They are all like me!
Okay, so how do we start this?
Well, I’m wearing a beautiful blue blouse… except its a bit dirty.
Because you like to fight so much?
Yeah, Cartain is not always a nice girl.
Okay, what else?
I have a glowing tiara and also a nice skirt… but its also dirty. Start the story daddy.
All right, so you are eating your dinner in the castle when someone knocks at the door.
I call all my faerie friends and we draw our swords!
(Rory does NOT share Nico’s gameplay it seems.)
Chatty: Why do you do that?
Rory: Because its a Dinosaur!
Okay, so the door slams open and a big dinosaur roars!
We kill it with our swords!
Okay, you and all your friends surround the dinosaur and kill it dead. A message falls off, its from the evil gnome wizard Ratintin.
Yeah, he makes dinosaur capsules that he hides and they become Dinosaurs after 1 full day!
That’s quite an ingenious plan… The message tells you that he hid some capsules in the city and that you need to find them before they grow. Are you ready to go and help the city?
Daddy… your story scares me.
(Duh? She creates the dinosaur, kills it, then invents where they come from and now she’s scared of the story… Woah… I was a bit lost. Maybe she was scared I’d start describing what would happen if she failed to arrive in time.)
Chatty: Okay, lets forget about the Dinosaur pills. Lets say that some dogs found them and ate them.
Yeah! When you eat them, the pills don’t work and no dinosaur come out.
Perfect! Are you still scared?
No daddy, I’m good now, can I go to sleep?
Sure you can… I’ll stay with you a few more minutes. Good night sweety.
Good night Daddy.
Rory has a very fertile and unbridled imagination. She loves to create and prefers the actual setting up of a story than playing it out. She’s also brasher than her brother and prone to resolve conflicts by fighting in such stories. I’m sure that when she does play D&D, she’ll be playing Elven Warrior maidens and Barbarian Queens.
I’m not sure I’ll try another story with her soon. I may let her grow up a bit more or maybe go for more classic Disney-type interactive stories (although she’ll probably add Carnivororus Robots and laser axes to even the most mundane story I go for).
Have a great week, I’ll be spending a few evenings
Chatty's Break: Game Night Report
We had fun last night playing card games and board games. I needed the distraction and it was really enjoyable.
See here for a description of the games we played.
We played two shifts of Lord of the Fries and its a fun Card game… Although when played with several players (we were 6 for the second shift) the game slowed down perceptively and several players couldn’t play their hands (The rules mention that).
In such cases, fun was saved by inter player banter and Zombie jokes.
Someone mentioned that it was a good game but that only 2 players were really playing it each shift. I’d say that’s somewhat accurate. Control of the game usually shifts between a few players with luckier hands and then later in the game it shifts to another pair.
All in all, I’d replay that game again.
The we played one game of Knock, Knock. It was cutthroat as we liked it to be (and also very crude). The game ended up being exceedingly close. I lost by one point!
Two of our friends felt like playing some Magic the Gathering so we split the group in two. The remaining four of us: Yan, Eric, Marco (Stef’s Son) and I, played a game of Red Dragon Inn. It is a cute game with several reversals of fortunes.
However, if a player gets knocked out early, there’s a significant delay where he sits out the rest of the game. Also, as I mentioned yesterday, once you’ve discovered what the game is about, its replay ability becomes limited.
We also played a game of Inn Fighting, the D&D Tavern Brawl game. I lhave played that game several times and I like that game. However, I’m starting to feel that my tactical choices (Who I attack) are made for me by the dice I play.
We then tackled the Exalted game. This game is a very rich (Settings wise) semi-cooperative Quest game. My friends say that it reminds them of the World of Warcraft Boardgame. You travel a world to get to quests and try to beat them by rolling your White Wolf patented dice Pool.
As the game progresses, rivals pop up on the map and you must face them or lose renown. Your resources also get depleted and you must seek the help of others to achieve harder and harder quests.
The game is supposed to end when a player completes the 3rd part of an Epic Quest and becomes the undisputed leader of the Sun or some such fluffy nonsense.
As we played the game, I became more and more tired and I had trouble concentrating. I still enjoyed it preety much. I had a particular pleasure in teasing my friend Yan (who owns the game) because he kept ignoring all the little fluffy tidbits of the game like quest text and the Biography of our rivals. I would of course take pains in reading each one I could find aloud…
I mean dude… that’s a White Wolf game… it demands to be read and appreciated for its fluff no? (I like to tease White Wolf games… I used to hate them, now I just accept that they don’t cater to my needs).
So I played from 5 PM to 10PM, a great evening all in all.
You have a great weekend
Chatty's Break: Board/Card Game Night
Hot on the heels of me declaring myself a burnt out DM, some of the gang has agreed to secretly meet in the depth of the Northern Suburban Jungle of Montreal tonight. As the title subtly hints at, we’re going to play some card games and Board games.
Anything but D&D and Magic the Gathering!
Here’s what we have planned for tonight:
My friend Dave the Game quoted someone saying that Chinatown was Monopoly done right! And I must agree with him. I won that game at Draconis (Montreal’s main gaming convention) and gave it to Yan’s girlfriend since its was in French.
This is a pure negotiation game whose simplicity and pace is hard to beat. The setting is set in New York in the late 60′s where laws of the city were supposedly changed to encourage immigrant commerce.
Each player gets building lots and Shop tiles randomly. Placing a tile gives you a payout at the end of one of the game’s 6 turns. Placing a tiles of the same type adjacent to one another (up to a maximum set by the shop type) gives you larger payouts.
Since everything is random, you must negotiate with others to get adjacent spots or to get the missing tiles. I played it about 3 times and its a lot of fun. I trust I will also get better at it the more I play.
This card game is a subversion of the fantasy adventure game trope. Instead of focusing on a party of adventurers killing monsters and taking loot, the game is actually about trying to get your fellow adventurers sloshed and/or broke at the Tavern after the adventure.
The game is at heart a card game where each player represents an archetypal Fantasy adventurer. You play cards that will either rob a player of its Fortitude points, steal their money or force them to drink (i.e. increasing your drunkenness) more than what the core rules require. If Fortitude = Drunkenness or if your money drops to zero, you are out!
I played twice and while interesting, I’m not sure how replayable this will be. I’ll tell you later tonight.
Each player is a staff member of Friedey’s, the Fast Food Restaurant of the Damned. As Zombie Fry cooks, you must build meals and combos with your cards and deliver them as called or rolled by the game’s current leader.
I have yet to play that game but it does look fun! Game play is apparently fast and the premise is humorous enough. I hope we play at least a full game tonight.
Plus, I mean Fast Food and Zombies… its like the perfect mix… no worries of dying of Coronary Failure.
Knock! Knock! (French Version)
A favorite of Eric, this little bluffing game is about getting the most monsters to join your Haunted Castle party. Each turn, a player sends one of his secret guest cards to another player’s castle. That player must then decide to open his door or not.
Interesting in itself, this game takes a whole new dimension when you play it with a bunch of semi-drunk 35-45 year old males that make lewd comments about how the Vamp (Female Vampire) sucks your best visitor away.
Exalted: Legacy of the Unconquered Sun
If we feel up to tackling a game that takes more than hour, we also have a copy of this White Wolf game based on the Exalted RPG. Having historically been allergic to White Wolf products, I’ve not been introduced to the game’s setting and I currently have no idea what the game is about.
At first glance it seems to be one of these ‘achieve quests and get loot to become the head honcho’ game like Talisman. I like those… especially during the game’s exploratory/discovery phase.
I don’t think we’ll play them all, but we have more than enough to spend a good night.
And if push comes to shove… there’s always Rock Band on the X-Box!
Looking forward to it!
Have a great weekend.
