#RPGaDay2019 Week 4

As I sit down to write this last installment of #RPGaDay2019 I’m dreading the completion of this exercise. For some reason unknown to me I find myself unmotivated to finish it. I feel like its wearing thin on me. While doing weekly installments has been much better than daily it still feels hard to complete. I shall persevere.

22. Lost- Perhaps this one is better suited to lost in translation. There have been many times while playing games or even conveying information via text that the meaning of my intentions get lost along the way. During a game I interpret this as my lack of clue giving or lack of properly describing the situation to the players. Online while responding to posts on social media its quite easy for your intent to be misconstrued the wrong way. This is just something that happens and you have to accept it.

23. Surprise- In game terms there is usually a mechanic to “Surprise” the characters but what about surprising the players? I can recall only one time I was surprised as a player and that was because I totally wasn’t expecting a giant monster to come out of the water into the cultist lair. It’s very hard to surprise players nowadays. We’re all gamers and like to read so we all read the monster manuals. If I throw an Aboleth at a group, chances are high that someone will know how to fight it. I’m going to take a different approach with these types of things for my DCC Lankhmar game coming up soon. I’m hoping I’ll at least creep out a player or two.

24. Triumph- Defeating a mighty evil against all odds while the numbers are in the favor of your enemy. I can’t think of a time in a game where I felt truly triumphant. Savage Worlds is more of a cinematic game in my eyes which kind of takes away the triumphant victories. In Call of Cthulhu, just surviving is considered a victory so being triumphant would have a different meaning I suppose. I think in order to get that triumphant victory feeling it needs to happen over the course of a long campaign. One in which the characters are slowly achieving the overall goals to face the big bad guy with setbacks at every step of the way. They have to feel like the objective is hopeless yet achievable.

25. Calamity- Oh boy! I’ve been in many, many, many games where calamity ensued. The one that sticks out most in my mind is the encounter in my Irongate game. It’s the second session in a short campaign and the characters come across an encampment. The scene is an old RV camper off to one side with cages on another. Near the middle of the camp a woman is chained to the ground while someone is sawing off her forearm. The players don’t quite know it yet but these cannibals are the Fratelli family. One of the characters decides to go have a chat with these fine people while the other 3 sit back and watch what’s going on. Well, one of the 3 weren’t so sneaky and Sloth was sent to check it out. Someone attacked Sloth and the one talking to the cannibals tried to yank a shotgun away from Mama. Let’s just say that one character died, one got captured, and the other 2 limped away to safety. I wish I could have recorded that scene. It was a real fun one. Well, for me anyway. Hehehe.

26. Idea- They come from all over the place for me but mostly movies and books. I have shelves full of books that I might never play but I mine the information to use in other games. I’ve had a few good ideas from podcasts like Finding the Narrative, a podcast about FFG’s Genesys system (its their Star Wars game with the Star Wars ripped out). Tony, Chris, and Stephen are very knowledgeable on the game.

27. Suspense- Now this is a good one. How do you create suspense in a game? The easiest way is to end the session on a cliff hanger (no token needed). My buddy Eric just did it to us a couple of weeks ago. We were sitting in a local watering hole and after we gathered the needed information we’re relaxing when some German soldiers enter. Of course, the only one of us that speaks German decides this is a good time to go to the washroom. The Germans are coming towards us and as I grip my Colt 1911 Eric ends the session.

28. Love- I’m not a fan of toying with this emotion in rpg’s. It usually just feels weird and other times it’s a cheap way to force characters into action. Using the characters loved ones to force them into performing acts is an old cliché. It shows lack of imagination of the part of the GM. If the characters loved one is an active part of the story then it could be okay to an extent but should be avoided.

29. Evolve- Some people say that games need to evolve but I disagree. It’s the people who don’t like the game as it is that say this. I’m sorry but if you feel that way then you need to find a different game. Many people like the game the way it is and don’t need it to evolve into something completely different. I also feel like publishers do this just to make more sales. Look at D&D for example. No one can agree on which edition is best. A lot of people love 5e and hate 4e. Some people liked 4e but the game evolved because there was an overwhelming number of people who disliked it. Now 5e is out and they still haven’t produced any new content. All they’ve done is convert old products to the latest edition and people are clamoring for more.

30. Connection- Isn’t this what the hobby is about? Connecting with people around a table to have a good time. Sometimes those connections get stronger as time goes on and other times they weaken. What about connecting with your character. I’ve not experienced this but some view their character as an extension of themselves and they grow connected to it. It’s just a game folks. You should play some OSR type games where a character often dies and you show up with 3 backup characters.

31. Last- A fitting end to the challenge. The last thing I want to do is let people down. Scheduling an online game is hard enough but cancelling at the last minute always disappoints me. I will always try to let others know if I can’t make a game at least a few days in advance so it irritates the heck out of me when others can’t do the same. Sometimes these games are dependent on everyone showing up while other times it makes no difference if a player can’t show up. There have been stretches of time when I was only gaming once a month and when the GM cancelled at the last minute I was really pissed off. So please try not to let other people down.

P.S. There are a lot of people over at the Nerds-International community that put out great content and it wouldn’t have been possible without Jaime Pierson. The Brewery is his show where he does wargames, rpg’s, and reviews. Go check out his Youtube channel.

Nerds-International MeWe community

#RPGaDay2019 Week 3

#RPGaDay2019 Week 3

Well this week’s entries are taking longer than expected. Some of these are really stonewalling me. The past two weeks just rolled off my frontal lobe as I thumb tapped them into my Samsung’s memo pad. Alrighty, let’s do this.

15. Door- Do you loot the room or kick down the door? I kick down the door! As a creative person in any hobby, the hardest thing to do is kick down that door that blocks you from your passion. It could be a metaphorical door like writer’s block, or it could be an actual physical barrier like not having the income to purchase the necessary tools to be creative. I would say that motivation is my biggest, most heavy door to accomplishing my goals as a creative person. I like to jump from drawing to writing to painting minis to playing guitar to terrain building and the list goes on. Without motivation my stamina drops to a lethargic level and I move on to something new or back to an old standby. For me that old standby is writing. I like to write, but without a deadline that has consequences, my motivation wanes quickly. Another type of door could be the one that keeps you from going pro. Breaking into the industry as its most often called. I can’t provide any advice or insight to that one as I haven’t figured it out myself.

16. Dream- I’ve often wanted to include a dream sequence in a campaign but it sounds too cliché to me. Most of the time I hear about other GM’s doing it, they say they don’t tell the players until it ends. That’s all fine and dandy but I feel like there should be subtle clues dropped to the players to indicate they are dreaming. This way they might figure it out ahead of time and might just attempt to perform daring feats because there are no perceived consequences. It’s fine, I’ll just wake up like nothing happened. Or will you? I propose that there should be some sort of consequence. Maybe the thief who dropped his dagger during combat wakes up and misplaced his prized dagger. Perhaps a character that died in the dream has recurring nightmares and takes a level of fatigue for the next month. It’s all too easy just to say nothing happened. I guess I’m a dick GM for thinking this way. Oh well, c’est la vie.

17. One- One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do. Two can be as bad as one. It’s the loneliest number since the number one… I was just reading a post about a guy running one campaign for over 40 years. Yes, that’s just one campaign. I can’t imagine the stamina and motivation it would take to run a campaign for 40 years. To be honest, that sounds dumb to me. Why would I limit myself to one game for 40 years? I gave up D&D 5e after 3 years because it limits what I want to do with characters and because those rules lawyers can go fuck themselves. I switched to Savage Worlds due to the variety of settings it has to offer and the fact that characters can take multiple actions.

18. Plenty- Back in the days when I was gaming at my Friendly Local Game Store, I would do my best to provide plenty of handouts for the players to keep. These would usually consist of paper folders full of setting info, gazetteers, and anything I thought the players should have. I highly believed that this alone might get some of them involved in the setting but as time went on, I’ve come to the realization that players don’t want to be bothered with reading. I’m guilty of this sometimes as well but that is primarily limited to one shots or convention type games. I still believe that throwing plenty of handouts to the players makes for a better game, especially if some of them are personalized to specific characters. You can usually tell which players at the table appreciate these gestures because they will thank you after the session. Even if they don’t, I can tell by their excitement. It makes you feel good inside as a GM when you see how excited they get and your excitement builds off of it.

19. Scary- What are the best methods to make your games a little scarier? I’ve been thinking about this one for some time because I was hoping to include a little Cthulhu style horror into a DCC Lankhmar game I want to run (after Con on the Cob). I started looking at how other Cthulhu style games implemented insanity and I think I’ve found one that I can steal. Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing looks like a pretty good sanity system to use with DCC. That will help me and the players judge how insane the character is but how do I make the game feel scary? I think the best method to use is one that I need to work on to be a better GM. You need to be very descriptive. My typical description goes like this: The cave like room is 20 ft. x 30 ft. with vaulted ceilings that have stalactites. The walls have vein like structures throughout. A better method might be: As you enter the cavern the stagnant air tastes like putrid decaying flesh. Looking around, there are purplish red stains littering the walls. You could swear the walls are throbbing slightly, almost in rhythm with your own heartbeat. Hanging from the ceiling are ivory stalactites with a clear jelly like substance slowly dripping. You stare in amazement as it seems to take forever for the ooze’s surface tension to break and smack the floor with an obscenely loud PLOP!

20. Noble- We’re all familiar with using nobility in our games. Sometimes they are pompous asses and sometimes they are very helpful. They can even be a source of information or income to the characters. What about false nobles? That’s an interesting thought. As a GM I think I might try using an imposter pretending to be a noble. They would need forged documents and a source of wealth in order to fool everybody. Maybe they could have just cast magic on everyone to make them think they are noble. That would be some powerful illusionary magic for sure. Would the characters even ever come into contact with this false noble? I suppose they would otherwise this is just a pedantic waste of time. Eventually the characters will need to find out what is going on. To not do so would be boring and the characters might even feel like they owe the NPC some sort of loyalty by this time. This could be an interesting plot hook to keep on the back burner.

21. Vast- My favorite RPG system is Savage Worlds and while it’s far from perfect, it is extremely vast in the number of different settings. It ranges from undead cowboys to Wiseguys in Vegas and everything in between. If you can’t find the setting you’re looking for, then I’d say you probably haven’t looked hard enough. The system is easy enough that you can make your own setting if need be. Lots of people have published free content under the Savage Worlds Fan Logo including myself so look some more and ask around if you can’t find what you’re looking for. Chances are that someone else has already made it.


P.S. If you've been living under a rock like Patrick Star and haven't heard yet, The Wild Die Podcast continually produces great episodes for all the Savage Worlds fans. Their last episode was a very interesting topic on publishing content under the SWAG (Savage Worlds Adventurers Guild) program on DriveThruRPG. Definitely worth a listen if you have any aspirations of writing game content.

Nerds-International MeWe community

#RPGaDay2019 Week 2

Okay boys and girls its week 2 so lets get right to it.

8. Obscure- This may be a little-known fact but I like to include obscure references to innocuous things in documents I write. That’s easter eggs for you video gamers. I enjoy parodies of well known movies and shows so including these obscure objects is my way of including humorous things (well, humorous to me anyway).

9. Critical- Critical failures in RPG’s don’t necessarily mean failure. Everybody thinks of them as a failure with something really bad happening. While I employ this mentality for the most part, what about just adding a complication? Let’s say the character critically fails their notice check to look for someone in a crowd. Now bear in mind that finding this person is crucial to continuing the story. Perhaps the critical failure was that you do see them on the opposite side of the plaza but you bumped into someone and made them drop an earthen jar of their late wife and it breaks open on the ground. Now you have an altercation and a crowd is forming around you. People are upset and an unknown person throws a rock at you, roll initiative.

10. Focus- As a DM/GM/creator I often lose focus. With today’s technology it’s easy to get sidetracked by the new shiny RPG setting. I like to read a lot so I buy these books and get inspired only to have it happen all over again with a new to me setting. It’s really a difficult thing for my focus.

11. Examine- Self reflection isn’t something I put at the forefront of my mind but I constantly need to examine myself in just about everything I do. How could I have made that session better? Should I have waxed Gary’s character? I need to start thinking about this more and more these days because most friends won’t be honest and say that session could have been better.

12. Friendship- Now this one is interesting. According to Aristotle there are 3 types of friendship: utility, pleasure, and good. I’d like to think that many of the people I’ve met through the Nerds-International community are of the good variety but understand that how I perceive a friendship may not be reciprocated in the same way. RPG’s bring many different people together under the guise of entertainment and over time strong bonds are formed with like minded people. I have met a few good friends this way and hope that they don’t view me as a utility friend.

13. Mystery- A true mystery is why people feel the need to defend their RPG system of choice when another person expresses their dislike of that system. It happens all the time and I’m guilty of expressing an opinion just to stir the emotions of those people. While it’s usually intentional, it’s also a social experiment of mine. I’m interested in seeing how many responses I can get. One time on Google + I was able to garner 175 in a single thread. Ah, the good ol days.

14. Guide- As a game master of RPG’s your job is to guide players through the game world. Not only are you an invisible guide but you are also an adjudicator of rules and outcomes of die rolls. There used to be a trend in D&D that the Dungeon Master was perceived to be the antagonist that the players needed to defeat. This in my opinion is reflective of a bad DM, one who is confrontational in nature and is likely caused by a lack of experience. The DM/GM should be on the side of the players. Their job is to ensure a fair representation of the non-player characters.

P.S. If you haven't heard by now The Murder Hobo Show has changed formats. It used to be all about Rifts and ICRPG but now he has changed it to include all RPG's. I highly encourage you to check out his new podcast at https://themurderhoboshow.podbean.com/

Nerds-International MeWe community

#RPGaDay2019 Week 1

This was a tough decision for me to participate in #RPGaDay2019 or not. I’ve done the last two years and got bored because the questions felt redundant and boring. This year’s infographic was unique in which a single word is used to prompt whatever you can think of. The previous years I participated daily but this go around I decided to do it weekly, so here goes.

1. First- My first online game was at FGCon 2014. It was also the first Savage Worlds game I played. Aaaand, it was the first game I ever played with my buddy Eric. That was a momentous occasion for me.

2. Unique- One of the things I’m always on the lookout for are unique RPG related products and people. One of those people is a Youtuber named Franky D. Crafter and his channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwEfMk3gkARbtasf0eH5uTw

He has a unique way of sculpting minis that’s inspiring and refreshing.

3. Engage- Aye aye captain. I’m a huge sci fi fan but have only played a handful of sci fi games. Two of the games I’m looking forward to playing are Interface Zero 2.0 and my own homebrew version that’s loosely based on Star Trek.

4. Share- I love to share my writing and other creative outlets on social media. I may not be particularly good at any of them but I like to see other people’s reactions to them. I think that’s why I haven’t written on my blog in quite a while. Getting people to interact with me through the blog has always been a problem.

5. Space- The final frontier, these are the voyage of the starship… Yup, its sci fi again. Star Wars is good but Star Trek is waaay better. I particularly like The Orville version of Star Trek. It’s intelligent and a parody at the same time. I’ve often thought of creating a Savage Worlds version of a sci fi parody but I don’t think Pinnacle would go for it. I’d have to sell it to an Ace to publish it since PEG doesn’t really monitor you once you become an Ace.

6. Ancient- Is how I feel since I turned 41 this past February. When I look around on YouTube or at game stores, I see mostly 20 somethings all over and their version of gaming is vastly different from mine. This seems more prominent especially when I get nostalgic and want to play games based in or around the 80’s.

7. Familiar- I was listening to a Gaming and BS episode recently where the hosts posed the question of, if you were put on the spot to run a game with no prep, what would it be? I had to really think about this one because my first reaction was to use the one I’m most familiar with. That would be either Castles & Crusades or Savage Worlds. I’m familiar enough with both to run them on no prep. The issue for me is which one I’m more familiar with and which one is easier to run. I still haven’t been able to figure it out. I guess it depends on how I’m feeling that day.

P.S. – I’d like to take this opportunity to invite you to the Nerds-International MeWe group. There are a bunch of gamers with wildly varying gaming interests in our little community. The very first post in that group is a list of podcasters, bloggers, vloggers, and more so check it out. I’d also like to take this time to highlight Imaginary Ramblings. It’s a podcast about whatever Matt and Ben have on their minds at the moment. It could be a craft beer episode or something on surviving the apocalypse.

Nerds-International MeWe community