RPGs
The coolest sounding RPG book I’ve heard of in a while
Lucha Libre HERO! I can’t imagine ever getting around to running this but I like the fact that I live in a word where it can exist.
(via Ken Hite)
Need a 1920’s character photo?
I had a GM a while back who required us to all get photos for our characters. It wasn’t something I’d done before and I’m not sure we really used them much but I thought it was a decent idea.
Today I found (via Very Short List) this cool flickr set of 1920’s passport photos. They’re of famous people but they’re largely not recognisable (and not all of them are still famous). Perfect for a Pulp game or some 20’s Call of Cthulhu.
Want to play ars Magica? Live in Singapore?
If so check us out!
My Gamemaster is looking to expand our group up to 4 players (we’re currently at two). It’s a fun game (that I should post about more) so hopefully we’ll find someone soon.
Monday Musings: A gaming conundrum
In the last few years I’ve come into contact with a heap of different table top roleplaying games some of which I’ve played and others that I’ve just wanted to.
Recently though I’m finding that the games that I play which demand a high level of player buy in and direction are the ones I’m enjoying the most. This doesn’t just mean “dirty hippie indie games” (or small press games, or shared narrative games or what ever you want to call them) but also more “traditional” games in which the players take an active role in trying to develop the plot, rather than just waiting for the GM to tell them what happens so they can react to it. This often means that I get disappointed as both a player (when a GM refuses any input from me into the outcome of an action or scene) and as a GM (when the other people I play with want me to tell them exactly what I want to happen, with no input from them) because I see this roleplaying thing we do as a a shared story telling experience.
I really enjoy shared narration games. I love how they promote more player buy in for their characters, especially in the compressed time frames of Con games. The fantasic play experiences the I’ve had with these games have made me expect more from the people I play with, and made me fight against the idea that as a GM I’m just here to “bring the fun”. Being GM doesn’t stop me from being a player, it just means I have a different role.
So what to do about this? How am I going to continue to play in and run games where I feel that I’m getting out of them what I want? Well for starters I’m going to write games where that kind of buy in is needed. Some times that means mixing more traditional games with shared narration ideas, like I did in a recent Mongoose Traveller scenario I wrote, Still to Come. Other times it will be to ask the players for the things they want to happen, and if they don’t focus on those who do. As a player I’m going to offer ideas to the person running the game and if those ideas are consistently ignored or sidelined I’ll find myself another game.
All these things are easier said than done. But it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, so expect more posts of my random game related musing.
Dragon Age RPG mini review
The other day I pent 4 or so hours playing through the introductory Dragon Age adventure The Dalish Curse. This gave me my first taste of the new Dragon Age RPG ruleset in play and over all my impressions were positive.
The stunt system was a fun way to make combat more dynamic, with out bogging down the rules. I’ll be especially interested in how they add new stunts as the box sets are released. I noticed even in our one session that people gravitated to the same stunts. Unfortunately the other day my dice weren’t in the mood to pair up, which made each time they did that much more exciting.
Otherwise the system was easy to pick up and didn’t seem overly intrusive in play. There was some discussion around the table on the Dragon Die and it’s place as the decider of success levels. Personally that didn’t bother me too much. If you succeed at a task, you succeed. The number of successes you have only matters occasionally. Using them in extended tests did seem a little cumbersome to me however. But as with all these things I’d just adjust how I used them so it didn’t get in the way.
I was playing a Dalish ranger type so didn’t have much to do with the magic system. there was quite a lot of discussion after the game on whether mages are ineffective. Reading through the rules I’m not sure it’s such a problem. The ability for people to turn aside a spell seems like a good one, especially going forward. Perhaps it could have been streamlined so that you have a Magic defence score rather than needing to do a roll every time to see if it gets through. But I’m sure that is the type of thing groups will house rule if they feel strongly about it.
I’d be a little reluctant to kick off any sort of campaign (even if I had the time) until I had a firm idea of when box set 2 will be out. I have a feeling that many of the gripes I’ve read in forums about the lack of setting info will be addressed in the up coming box sets. There are two releases already announced, the Blood in Fereldan adventure pack and the Dragon Age Game Master’s Kit. No release dates for these yet however.
All in all I liked the system and think it works well and has room to grow with the additions. If you have been looking for a light weight fantasy system then this might just be it. I’m planning on running an adventure at KapCon this month, so look out for the actual play report of that.
Ashelle Litwyn – Sophie’s character backgrounds
Following on from Nick’s post the other day about an old PC of his, I thought I’d do the same. This is a PC I’ve just rolled up for (possibly) a one off game of the new Green Ronin Dragon Age RPG (first impressions here), but for some reason I’ve got a really good sense of who she is, maybe due to her being from a world I’m already familar with.
Ashelle Litwyn was born as just another of the Dalish Elves. Both her parents were well liked and active members of the Clan and she wanted fo nothing.
As she grew she was expected to take a more active role within the Clan and it was noticed by most that she had quite an abtitude with the bow. It is this that lead to her nickname, Ash. She was never seen with out her ash wood bow. She started ranging far and wide as the aravel made their stately way across Ferelden learning more and more as she went.
However it was her first meeting with humans that really started her down the path she is on now. Unlike many of her kind this meeting was not particularly traumatic and it didn’t end in the death of all her family. Rather, Ash stumbled across a human child lost in the forest and returned her to her farmholder parents. In gratitude the family invited the young Elf in for dinner and told her stories of their familes.
Since that day Ash has been fascinated with Humans, Human culture and Human history. Her parents dispair that it will inevitably end in her death and the rest of her Clan think her slightly mad to be interested in the race that almost caused ther distruction.
She is slightly short for an elf, but with her peoples natural grace. She is naturally inqusitive but it is her naivity that really amazes people. Despite having encountered the good, the bad and the ugly of humanity she still sees them as facinating creatures and wishes to know all she can about them.
Dragon Age the RPG – first impressions
Just before Christmas Green Ronin announced that they were starting to take pre-orders for their new licenced RPG, Dragon Age. As an extra insentive they offerd a free PDF version for ever hard copy ordered. Being a bit of a Green Ronin fan, and also having just spent the majority of my free time playing the Xbox version of the game, I decided to take advantage of this offer (which if any one is interested is still avalible).
Age of Conan gets a free trial
So I’m not a massively-multiplayer kind of guy especially – I like the idea but I have a job, kids and other things that mean that they’re not suited to my lifestyle. I pelayed a little EVE Online and that was it. But I heard good things about Age of Conan and apparently there’s now a free trial. According to Economical Gamer you need to register and download by the end of the year (which is why this isn’t just a link post kind of thing) so get stuck in and drive your enemies before you…
Cælin the Huscarl – Nick’s Character Backgrounds
So I’ve been going through old PCs (as in the computers) and found a few old PC backgrounds (as in player characters). I’m posting this up in aprt to get a bit more RPG content here but also to keep a record of the characters. I’ve been meaning to do this for a bit, so here it goes! At the moment I just have fluff but will try to post stats as well.
Cælin thus Huscarl was a PC in a shortish game I played with the Oakleigh Roleplayers Club. You can get most of the background from the campaign wiki but basically it was a Dark Ages game played with the HarnMaster rules, using the GM Kyle’s own setting.
Cælin is a young huscarl in the service of the Eorlderman. At age 7, as with all Bronding children, he was fostered out to learn a trade. In Cælin’s case this was to Offa, his mother’s brother. Offa was a huscarl and he trained young Cælin in the ways of battle.
There was little doubt that Cælin would become a warrior – he was a strong but slow witted child, with none of the mental spark of his brothers and sisters. 4th in line, there was no way he would inherit property and he had no flare for craft. Cælin liked to hit things and so a warrior he became. When he came of age he inherited his uncle’s franciska and was given a ring byrnie by the Eorlderman. These are his most treasured possessions and he keeps them in immaculate condition.
But for all his dullness, Cælin was well liked amongst the clan. He had a sense of fun, a willingness to do almost anything, and he delighted in eating and drinking all kinds of things. Where ever mead flowed and meat was roasting, there was Cælin, looking for a story to hear (for he had no talent in that regard) or a woman to fondle. His like of drink and his strength meant that Cælin could find himself in trouble, as he was easily led, but so far nothing to untoward has happened.
Of some concern to his parents and Offa is Cælin’s friendship with Alric, the seneschal’s assistant. Alric has always been a reliable source for Cælin to get things from the larders and Cælin has rewarded this with stanch loyalty. For those who know Alric’s reputation for dubious moral sense, Cælin’s friendship seems misplaced. But Cælin’s reputation for slow wittedness has helped disguise the fact that he has fairly lax morals himself.
Finally though, Cælin has a secret which none know but Offa. Once, while hunting near the Henna, Offa and Cælin saw a gigantic black boar with but one tusk staring at them from the edge of the woods. Thinking it to be the Mæstbar of legend, the two hunters charged heedlessly into the forest. While in pursuit, Cælin tripped and fell down a steep slope, hitting his head hard upon a rock. When Offa scrambled down to check on him he found Cælin in the grip of some uncontrollable fit. The moment passed, but Cælin lives in fear that another blow may set him off again, this time either in battle or in front of the other clan members. Cælin believes it is a curse upon him from the goblins who haunt that forest. Offa has agreed to keep his secret, but worries that it to do so may be a mistake. For Cælin, the dark woods of the Henna hold a hidden fear. As a result, nether have ever told of the time they saw the Mæstbar.
Linky linky linky linky LINKS
Sorry for last week’s lack of links and apologies in advance for the lack of links next week!
- Mark Charan Newton thinks sci-fi books are dying. I tend to agree.
- Why fandom owes even more to H.P. Lovecraft than we realised.
- A man has ‘beaten’ WoW. Sort of (via Boing Boing)
- Dollhouse battles were about sex. So says Whedon – Fox will never tell.
- Real life vampire killing kits!
- Using Microsoft’s Surface to play D&D – more footage.