EldritchFire Press

Marvel RPG Launch Party

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 08:17:10 -0600

Face front, true believers! The time of heroics is upon us! Don your mask, power up your armour, and flaunt your mutant powers! Today is a very special post! I have been given permission by none other than Cam “Boymonster” Banks himself to do a short review of the Marvel heroic Roleplaying game Launch Party!

What is the Launch Party You Speak Of?

Most of you are aware of the upcoming (or past!) launch parties going on all over the place. It’s just an excuse to get together at your FLGS and play some Marvel Heroic RPG! Check with your FLGS and see if they’re participating, or hit up the MWP website to see if there’s a party near you!

What’s in a Launch Party?

That is indeed a good question! It comes with a two-act adventure that was honed through many hours of playtesting, 10 Marvel heroes, cheat-sheets, a glossary of game terms, and enough of the rule book for Watchers to know what they’re doing.

The Heroes

When you show up to a launch party, you’ll have the choice of 10 iconic heroes from the Marvelverse, each with their own data file:

Black Panther
Black Widow
Captain America
Daredevil
Iron Man
Luke Cage
Ms. Marvel
Spider-Man
Spider-Woman
Wolverine

Wait, what’s the “data file” I mentioned? A hero’s data file is their character sheet. As seen here in Captain America’s file, it’s a two-page sheet with not only their game stats on it, but a brief history about the hero, as well!

Cheat Sheets, you say?

Indeed! There are two sheets, one for Watcher, and one for players. The Watcher sheet is 2 pages, since they have a bit more rules to remember. The player sheet is only one page. However, both Watcher and player sheets have notes in the margin telling you where to find more info about the topic, with page numbers and everything! If you want an example, check out Marvel Preview #3 over on MWP’s site.

Rule book? I CAN HAZ RULZ!

No, you really can’t. It’s an abridged version with just enough to get you by. And just enough to make me want the full version last week!

Besides, this is a review of all the fun you have to look forward to on the launch party! It’s not a review of the game itself! Stay tuned in the coming weeks for a review of the full book!

Share Your Stories!

Cam wants us all to share our experiences with our respective launch parties. If you were in a launch party - as Watcher or player - please spread the word about your experience. Blog about it, post it to Facebook, live tweet during it (if that’s cool with your group). But whatever you do, please post a link to it on the MWP Facebook page, or even leave it in the comments of this post.

Don’t you worry, I have my own launch party coming up! One or two games, and I’m going to be blogging all about it when the time comes!

What’s Next?

If you liked the game, head over to MWP store to purchase your copy! With every physical book, you get a free PDF! Or, if you want to support your FLGS, pre-order it from them! If it’s a preferred retailer, you can still get the complimentary PDF!

NOTE

Please note that there is no free swag to be had at the launch party. None of it is for you to take home.

Excelsior!

Twitter Tools

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:13:00 -0600

Some of you may have noticed that I have a few new tools going on. Some of the tools are right here on my site, while the rest are on my twitter feed! Heck, two of them are “hidden” tools that you never see me interact with! Today, I’m going to talk a bit about my cool new tools.

The first tool is Buffer. You may have noticed the button up top, next to the tweet button. Buffer is a, well, buffer of your tweets. You put tweets in the buffer, and it posts them to either Facebook or Twitter at a set time.

During the set-up, you choose what times you want it to tweet, and as long as you have posts in your buffer, it’ll shoot ‘em out at the right time. There are tons of goodies available, like the Buffer button up top. But you can also install a plug-in for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, & Twitter! Heck, there’s a generic bookmarklet, if that’s more your style. Don’t forget to get the iPhone or Android app, too!

If you’re interested, here’s a link to get started! The basic, free, account only has 10 slots. If you sign up with my referral link, we both get one more, free!

Ok, so buffering is pretty cool. But how do you know when to have it blast your tweets?

SocialBro does so many things. To be honest, I’m still learning it. The main thing I use it for is scheduling my Buffer tweets. It analyzes your Twitter stream, and lets you know when most of your followers are on, and helps you set up the most opportune Buffer times!

It also keeps track of your followers, friends, who you follow, your new followers, and a whole host of other things! I can’t possibly name them all! Heck, why would I? Just go to their website, and find out for yourself!

Another new addition to my site is m Tywlah-powered page. It’s in the menu bar, labeled My Tweets. It’s my “brand page” that shows what I’ve been talking about, and lays it out very nicely.

One of the best things about it is that my tweets don’t just disappear in the onslaught of other tweets in your stream. It’s organized by category - not just a long list. It shows pictures and embeds videos. It’s seriously sweet!

One thing to keep in mind is that it’s still a start-up company, so they don’t have many employees. I’m only mentioning this because it took me about 3 or 4 days to get my Twylah page up and running, and a few more days to host it on my site..

This isn’t a jab at them, it’s so you know to be patient. Kelly, the voice of Twylah, was very helpful and willing to talk to me when I was going through the setup process.

The last tool is Summify. I hesitate to bring this up, because they’re currently not open to new users since they got bought out by Twitter. However, it’s still an awesome service that I hope opens up to the general public soon.

In a nutshell, it aggregates my Twitter feed over a span of time - I chose every 4 hours. So what does it do? It summarizes the most popular tweets in my feed, judging by retweets, favorites, etc. So the more something gets retweeted, the more likely it is to show up on my summery.

It’s really nice for days like today where I’m not at work, so I don’t have a Twitter client open most of the day. Summify makes sure I don’t miss a beat!

Closing Remarks

So those are the tools I use to keep my Twitter life in check. What about all y’all? What Twitter tools do you use?

Rolling Dice - Opposed vs. Static

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:25:51 -0600

In most RPGs that I’ve played, rolls tend to be against static difficulty numbers. However, more recently, there have been more games that do opposed rolls. Today, I’m going to talk about the differences between the two, and which I like and why.

Definitions

To begin with, let’s define opposed and static.

An opposed roll is where both parties roll dice and compare
A static roll is where one party rolls the dice, and compares that result to a target number

Examples

The classic example of static rolls is D&D. You make an attack roll vs. AC, or make a Heal check vs. the DC of the poison. Heck, in 4th Edition you roll Stealth vs. their Passive Perception. Again, only rolling on one side.

For opposed rolls, the most recent example I can think of is any of the Cortex Plus games: Smallville, Leverage, Dragon Brigade, or the up-coming Marvel Heroic Role Play. Anytime anyone rolls dice, it’s opposed by either another character or the GM. Even when there’s no character opposing you, the GM still has a pool of dice to roll.

Most games fall somewhere in the middle. For example, the old-school West End Games Star Wars RPG - you know, the one that uses d6s (how many of you didn’t know there was a SWRPG that predated WotC?) - uses both. Most rolls are opposed: you rolled your Blaster skill vs. their Dodge, or Search vs. their Sneak. However, there are still static difficulty numbers, ranging from Very Easy to Heroic+.

Even FATE is a mixture. When there is another character opposing you, you roll off, otherwise roll vs. a static number.

Opposed Rolls - Positives

Opposed rolls are useful because they empower players and draw their attention. When your character is acting - or reacting! - it feels good to roll your dice; it makes it feel like your character’s skill is important. Also, it keeps the player’s attention. If they have to roll dice, they’ll want to know what’s going on so they know what to roll.

Another nice thing about opposed rolls is ease for GMs. As a GM, the thing that I dislike the most is trying to figure out “What’s the difficulty of this?” With opposed rolls, you don’t need to worry about it. You just pick up the dice and roll ‘em!

Lastly, opposed rolls simulate strokes of luck really well. Even if the “difficulty” is the same, the dice won’t normally give the same result twice in a row. Go ahead, roll 4d6 ten times. Look at that distribution. Some times it rolls high, other times not so much. Nothing in life is static, why should difficulty numbers be?

Opposed Rolls - Negatives

The major drawback of opposed rolls is time. For a fair number of games, you need to figure out what you’re rolling. For example, in Smallville, what Value are you using, what Relationship? Are you challenging either of them? What about Assets or Resources? If you take any of the World of Darkness game, what attribute and skill are you using? Do you have any superpowers that add to that? Oh, don’t forget about Willpower points!

It does take a while to get your dice together if you aren’t paying that much attention. In addition, you have to do this twice per roll - once for the actor and once for the reactor.

After you’ve rolled the dice, you still have to add them up. It doesn’t matter if it’s WoD-style counting successes or Cortex+ adding actual numbers, twice the rolling is twice the math.

Static Rolls - Positives

The good about static rolls are inversely related to opposed rolls. Static rolls are quick, the actor rolls the dice and tries to beat That Number. Less math, only one person rolling the dice, and most of the time you know what number you need to beat†.

Also, when doing the same roll a couple of times (for extended actions, for example), it goes quicker since you have all the math done.

Static Rolls - Negatives

My biggest problem with static rolls is coming up with difficulties. Either it’s too formulaic (4e) where there’s little room for eyeballing it, or it’s really free-form (FATE) where it seems to be nothing more than “pick one and have fun!”

Another downside (for me) is the sameyness of static rolls. I don’t have the best of memories, so sometimes I change the difficulties without meaning to. For those at my table with better memories, they’d be like “Why’d it change? What’s made it harder/easier since last time?” To which I’d reply, “Umm…oops…?”

Static or Opposed?

That’s not a question that can really be answered. All of the above blather has been from my experience and my preferences. As stated above, both have good points and bad points…usually, the good of one is the bad of another. In my experience, it’s really a personal preference.

Heck, personal preference or not, most games lean one way or another by default, so it takes work to get it to lean the other way. I’m not saying it’s too much work, I’m just saying each game has its preference.

†Of course, that’s just my take on things. I don’t see the point of hiding the target number from my players. Other GMs like to keep things secret. That’s cool, too. Your table, your rules!

Technoir & Trenchcoats

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:26:43 -0600

One of the things that I really like about Technoir is the fact that gear is really simple. I mean, if it helps you, add some push dice. If not, ignore it. Simple.

However, one place where a lot of games fall a bit short is when dealing with non-combat, non-vehicle items. Today, I’m going to be talking about the trenchcoats!

Trenchcoats?

Yes, you hear me right, trenchcoats. Let’s face it, film noir is full of trenchcoats. So where does that leave us? With clothing.

Seriously?

Yes, I am serious. In on of the first D&D 4e games I played, a character spent quite a bit on a fancy dress, with no stats besides 20g (or close to it, it’s been a while). The rest of the party looked at the player quizzically, and asked why. He said, “Because my character is a princess, she should have appropriate clothes.”

It wasn’t until session 2 or 3 where we did our first social skill challenge. Before going into it, she (the character) changed into her nice dress, preparing for the challenge. At that point, the lightbulb came on for the rest of the group.

Even though there weren’t any in-game stats for the fancy clothes, I gave the player a bonus anyway. I mean, it’s 20 frickin’ gold worth of a dress. If that’s not fancy, I don’t know what is.

Enough Gaming Stories

Ok, on with the show, then. How this ties into our topic today is simple. Technoir has a great way of dealing with stuff like that. A Nice Dress could easily cost 2 or even 3 kreds, with good tags to go with it.

For example, Nice Dress - Fancy attire, Rich, Is that spun gold?

Simple! That’s a cost of 3 kreds, with a possible +4 push dice to any one roll (remember, you get one push die for the item itself, and one additional per tag).

Back to Basics

So we need a few tags for different types of clothes. Since there is a cyberpunk aspect, you need hookers, right? So sleazy or trying too hard sounds good. For trenchcoats, flowing, large, or imposing. This could be used for intimidation, hiding objects on yourself, etc.

Also to keep in mind is the idea that one thing trumps another. However, in social situation, what trumps what can shift. For a seduction attempt on the streets, sleazy would trump fancy in most cases. However, the same seduction at an upper-class party would see fancy trump sleazy.

Final Words

I really think that more games need to either have rules already for clothes and other things that could be gear for social conflict, or a gear section that is easily hacked. Perception is very important to people, and the way our characters - both player and non-player - look should be given a bit more credence than currently showed in most games.

highmoon: LEGO MACROSS VALKYRIE!!! This is a fan-made project,...

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:49:23 -0600

highmoon:

LEGO MACROSS VALKYRIE!!!

This is a fan-made project, and if you think it’s awesome, you can vote to support it here. It needs 10,000 supporters to be considered for production, so all you Robotech fans, GO!

AND IT TRANSFORMS!

http://youtu.be/VFRhaNnne8c

(via LEGO® CUUSOO | Macross VF-1 Valkyrie Fast pack)

New Years: New Rules

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:45:31 -0600

Ok, so the title is a bit lame, but hey, go with it for a bit, please? Thanks! ^_^

New Year

With it being 2012, there’s a lot going on for me. I’m getting married in April, the world is ending in December, and I’m sure there’s lot of stuff in between. So what does that mean for me?

Well, I’m going to be doing a lot of stuff in the next few months to get ready for the wedding, it’s on the 13th, btw. That means I’m going to be busier than I have been since it’s crunch time. Since I’m not going to have a lot of time to procrastinate, I’m hoping that encourages me to post more.

Resolutions

It’s a time honoured tradition to make loads of promises to yourself in January, only to stop somewhere in April or May. I’ve never really been one to do them, but why not try, right? Also, since I’m making resolutions about my blog, I find it only fitting to announce it to the world, right?

This Year, I Plan on…

Getting married (a freebie, I know :p)
Blogging twice a month
Being more active in the communities of podcasts I listen to
Reviewing RPG books regularly - don’t ask me what “regularly” is, because I don’t know yet
As an aside to the above, do some interviews of RPG people
Keeping my new and awesome job (hopefully another freebie!)

Wow, that’s 6 resolutions! Balls-to-the-wall, I guess.

How You Can Help

Ok, now that y’all know what I’m up to, can you help me to accomplish them? Specifically

Bug me on twitter about blogging—especially if I don’t mention it in a while.
How does one get more active on podcast communities? I’ve been a lurker pretty much my entire internet life, so tips from the pros would be great!
What do y’all like to see in reviews? Do you know of any current reviews that I can read to mine for info?
For those of you who interview often, how do you do it? What are your recipes for success?

*PHEW*, that was easy enough! ^_^

Please, please, PLEASE leave comments below if you have any ideas/tips for me to keep my resolutions!

highmoon: Princess Leia, bitches.

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:14:58 -0600

highmoon:

Princess Leia, bitches.

highmoon: Clever tag is clever.

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:35:01 -0600

highmoon:

Clever tag is clever.

FATE Blocks - Necessary?

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:18:31 -0600

I’ve been pondering for a while now the necessity of the Block action. In theory, it seems like a great plan…in practice…well, read on, readers!

What Is a Block?

At its heart, a block is nothing more than a proactive defense. Not only are you giving up your action for a better defense, but you have the option of providing a better defense for others, as well.

Are There Other Ways to do a Block?

Yes. Two, really. The first is the defensive action. +2 to all defensive rolls. That’s awesome! It’s even better than a manoeuvre! Mostly. The defensive action gives you a +2 to all defenses, so if you’re rolling more than one defense next round, it makes sense. However, not all games do that.

For example, in Diaspora you roll only once for each “type” of defense. Even if you’re getting shot at by three different bad guys, that’s only one roll, since they’re all athletics rolls. However, in, say, Dresden Files, you’re rolling against each attack, regardless of the skill used.

Second is a manoeuvre. This can take the place of a self-block—like block spells in Dresden—or an ally block. Make your roll, and if you succeed, you/they have an aspect that can be used for their defense roll. If they don’t need to tag the aspect, your block “worked.” If they need to use it, it “breaks” just like before.

I can hear you now, “But what about when I rolled that epic 8-shift block? How do you represent that awesomeness with a manoeuvre?” Easy: spin! Let me explain.

Spin is achieved when you roll really well (3 or more higher than the difficulty), right? Right. So how about we give a bonus for those who get spin? My first thought is give the aspect 2 tags instead of the standard 1. Another possibility is to allow that one tag to be worth +3. However, that might make it too powerful. I don’t know, I’d have to play around with it some.

Why Change Things?

That’s a really good question. I’m not sure why I started thinking about it today, but it brought back some memories of my Dresden Files character. He was a scion of Gaia, and one of his rote spells was a block…and it sucked. Either the 4-shift block was easily blown through by the enemies, or they couldn’t and it was a waste of magic.

If I would have used a 4-shift manoeuvre instead of a block, it would have lasted longer, and been more useful. I mean, my defense skill was at 4, so the block was really just an “oops, I rolled a -2” than a “useful spell.”

Besides, I also think that “Block” as an action isn’t up to par with the rest of the available actions. I mean, one of the things that makes FATE so awesome is aspects! Why reinvent the wheel when what you have already works well?

Closing Remarks

For my Halo Hack, I think that aspects work better than Blocks. It may not be for everyone, but I think it works well for most. I know that I would rather have an aspect to tag to improve my defense rather than a skill-roll-substitute. What do y’all think?

Technoir Player's Guide 1.0.1

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:52:39 -0600

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been getting the Player’s Guide ready for mass consumption. And I did!

What’s Different?

The first difference is that it’s hosted on a real site. It’s not longer just on my dropbox. I’ll leave it there for now, but it’ll come down in a week or two.

Second—well, a byproduct of the first—is that it’s now offline-capable! All you have to do it visit it once while connected to the internet. The next time, even if you have no connection, it’s all saved locally! It was designed specifically for tablets that don’t have 3G.

I’ve gamed in locations where there wasn’t any WiFi available, which meant neither my computer nor my tablet was online. With the new set-up, you’re good even with no wifi/3G/etc.

A side benefit of that is every once in a while when I make changes (they will come, don’t worry!), it’ll be updated when you next open it!

What’s coming?

I’ve been talking to Jeremy, and I have the icons for [+] [-] and the various states of them (sticky, locked). I’ll be putting them in the document. That’ll be 1.1.

After that, I’ll be finishing my transmission, and putting that up as well. If y’all would like to see anything else, please let me know!

Where can I find it?

Good question! Here’s the link.

How do I make an App?

It depends on your OS. For Apple, go to the link above, and click on the middle-bottom of Safari. Choose Add to Home Screen. Couldn’t be much simpler!

For Android, go to the link and bookmark it. From there, go to your home screen, and hit your menu button (the “hard key” that looks like three lines). Click on “Add” and add the book mark.

Windows or Mac. Not as easy. Download Google Chrome (why aren’t you using it already?) and open the link. Click on the wrench in the upper right corner. Tools —> Create Application Shortcut…

Simple as pie! Not that pie making is simple (have you ever made a pie? It’s hard).

Closing Remarks

It’s been quite a ride getting to this point, and I hope it comes in handy to y’all! Please please please get back to me with any ideas, advice, or feedback!

Game on!

Technoir Player's Guide 1.0

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:06:32 -0600

Alright, guys, it’s “done.” I’ve been working hard this week, and the online player’s guide is done!

What’s Different

Being as how I’ve made it into a web document, I did change a few things. The most noticeable is that the Relationship adjectives are in the Generation chapter, not the Adjective chapter.

Another thing to notice is that it’s pretty much mono-colour. In the PDF, some words are a different colour—what I call “Technoir Teal”. Usually, this means that they’re game terms, and usually have a separate entry. I’m holding off on that for two reasons:

It took me longer to figure out how to do it
I’m going to try to make the Technoir Teal links to the appropriate section

Thirdly, the table of contents is missing Notes. There’s no such section in the PDF, so I omitted it.

What I Would Like

I would like to get some feedback on what I have done. Like said in the title, this is version 1.0. Please please please look it over and send me feedback! Does something not work right? Do you have suggestions? Did I miss something? Is there an error?

I’m going to take a break from this for a little while (probably a week), and I’d like to make my Transmission into a web document, as well.

If You Missed It

In case you haven’t gotten it yet, here is the link.

Making it into an App

If you have an iPhone, it’s easy! Just click on the link, click on the middle button on Safari, and choose “Add to Home Screen.” Simple!

For those with an Android, it has one more step. Again, click on the link, than bookmark it like you normally would. To add it to your home screen, hit your menu button, and click on “add.” Now just add the bookmark!

Closing Remarks

I’m currently looking into hosting this where it can be turned into an off-line app. That means I’m looking for a cheap/free hosting option that allows a .htaccess file. If I can, then I’ll set it up to cache on your phone, so you won’t have to be online! That also has the benefit of having it load instantly! woot!

If anyone knows of a cheap/free hosting service, I’d love to hear about it!

To Contact Me

If you have any feedback, you can either leave it here on the comments, or send me an @reply on Twitter.

Technoir Player's Guide is ONLINE!

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:21:50 -0500

I’ve been busy since my last post, even though I have been quite silent. I didn’t want to say anything until I got the green-light from Jeremy.

Enough Blabber, what is it?

Alright, now that I have your attention. I have started putting the Technoir Player’s Guide online. It’s designed specifically for viewing on smartphones and tablets. I mean, we’ve all been there when there just aren’t enough books to go around the table, and the printer is fresh out of ink/paper/etc.

Why Online?

Good question! Let’s face it, we’re living in the digital world, the world of a world-wide interface _{(see what I did there?)} and technology is everywhere. And I’m tired of lugging books around…and PDFs aren’t optimized for mobile devices.

“Pure” text is the best format for mobile viewing and reference. Let’s face it, when you want to know the tags on a SkyRabbit, you don’t need to see all the pretty pictures. Stats and tables are in text, and text flows well on all mobile devices. So I’m cutting out the superfluous pics—at least for the smartphone version—because it just takes up space you don’t really have.

What’s on the Horizon?

That really all depends on you! Right now, I’m going to finish the Player’s Guide. After that, I’m going to see if I can make a similar set-up for tablets that includes more pictures. If you have the space, it’s not a waste, right?

Once that is taken care of, I’m going to try to “take it off-line.” By that, I hope to get your mobile device (tablet or phone) to store the “book” in its cache, so even when you’re offline, you can still access it.

What Can I Do Now?

Right now, you can bookmark it, so it’s easy to find. Heck, on both iOS and Android, you can create a link on your home screen to the bookmark, so it’s almost like an actual app! Granted, I don’t have a picture yet to adorn the home screen, so it’ll be the default “bookmark” pic, but that’s why it’s a work in progress!

Oh, you can also visit it here: http://efpr.es/nlfSjD. Please be patient whenever you reload it, since it’s currently residing on my dropbox. I’ll look into a better host when I have the time.

Closing Remarks

This is really a labour of love, I learned the skills to make it so, and went at it. Please keep in mind that while my HTML skills are up to par, my CSS and JavaScript are not. So it’s not going to work perfectly for a while. Just so you know, the links to TechnoirRPG.com and my blog in the © section don’t work yet. Also, only chapters 0 and 1 are fully complete, and chapter 2 has just been started. I will try to work on a chapter ish a week, but I can’t promise anything.

Enjoy!

Nashville Transmission, Part VI

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:51:33 -0500

Welcome back for another exciting addition to my Technoir transmission: Nashville! Todays topic is Threats. It’s exciting that I’m getting to the end! After the threats, all that’s left is to make the tables, and try to pretty it up!

Threat Inspirations

The first thing we need to do is figure out the inspiration for the threats. For that, we’ll go back to what we’ve already done, try to tie it all together.

First up are the factions. Who do we have that could use some muscle? the Adian Syndicate and the Bradford Family pop out right away. Even though Monoc Cybernetics doesn’t “pop” out, I think it would be cool to have a threat of their experiments…both current and failed.

So that’s three, halfway there! After factions, let’s go way back to the beginning, the Exposition. The society section, specifically, calls out to me. “…many of the workers are underpaid and overworked…” and “Drug dealers and pimps are on the rise.” The first quote just screams unruly citizens. Thankfully, the playtest transmission, The Twin Cities Metroplex, has just such a threat! From there a gang of dealers & pimps rounds things out nicely.

So far, we’ve gotten 5 of our 6 threats! That’s not bad for just looking over what I’ve already done!

For the sixth and last threat, we need to think a bit. Heck, since we have nothing but “bad guys” so far, why not make one of our threats be “good guys”? I mean, it’s not like the protagonists are going to be on the right side of the law, so a threat of Nashville’s finest would work nicely!

After an hour or so of pondering, I finally have my threats!

Adian Syndicate goons
Bradford Family heavies
Monoc Cybernetics experiments
Unruly Citizens
Pimps & Dealers
Nashville’s Finest

Today’s Efforts

For today, I’m going to be working on the Monoc Experiments, Nashville’s Finest, and yoink whole-cloth the Angry Citizens.

Blog Format

I’m not going to be giving you the entire write-up here. If you want to see everything fully laid-out, please download the current draft of the PDF in the downloads section.

Assistance Requested

Now that I have most of the transmission up, I would love some help getting it finished right. Mainly, please let me know of any typos, editing mistakes, etc. You can either leave them as comments here, or get in touch with my via Twitter (see my stream on the right of your screen?) or any other method you may have.

Also, I’m not that good with stating out NPCs…either actual stats or gear. So I’m going to be leaving the objects section empty for now on the transmission. If you’d like to advise me on some stat changes or object additions, please! I’ll be sure to credit you!

Gambling in Bulldogs!

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:40:41 -0500

Yesterday was the second Bulldogs! game for my gaming group. So far, we’re having a blast! Two of my players wanted to do some gambling while at a pleasure palace planet—you know the type, if you want it, we got it type of place. Unfortunately, only one of the players actually had the gambling skill!

So to accommodate the player with no gambling skill, I broke the whole thing into a social conflict!

Gambling 101

As a social conflict, there are more things that can be done besides gambling rolls. Just like any social conflict, manoeuvres, attacks, defenses, and blocks are all options for you. Almost all social skills can be used, but take great care in allowing contacting, leadership, and trading.

Setting the Stakes

The first thing you always do when gambling is setting the stakes. From my reading of the rules, if the stakes are equal to your resources, you are gambling for a resources aspect, but if it’s greater than your resources, you’re gambling to raise your resources.

So you set the stakes for the pot. The stakes also serve as the difficulty of any navel-gazing manoeuvres. Why is this you ask? Simple. The higher the stakes, the more unnerved you’re going to be, and the more others will be scrutinizing what you do.

Assemble the Players

Now that you have the stakes set, it’s time to assemble the other players. To keep things easy, just use the minion rules found on pages 78-79 (for those of you who don’t have Bulldogs! yet, here are the full minion rules).

Once you have the number and type of players, don’t forget to choose their species! This not only gives some colour to the table, but also gives you RP cues on how to play them. Heck, to make things interesting, give each one a species aspect that can be invoked/compelled during the game!

Play the Game!

Now that everyone is assembled, it’s time to gamble! From here on out, treat it as any other social conflict. Gambling, intimidation, and even resolve can be used to inflict stress. Most of the other skills can be used for manoeuvres and blocks.

Each time around the gaming table (IRL) is akin to one time around the (gambling) table. Each time one of the minions are taken out, they are removed from the game. Player characters can take consequences to stay in the game. They should be related to luck, finances, or their frayed nerves. Really, just as long as it makes sense for a gambling-related consequence.

Taken Out

As has been stated before, once taken out, an NPC is just out of the running. Per the minion rules, once enough of them are removed, the GM is rolling at a lower bonus. For PCs, if the stakes are equal to their resources, they get a negative resources aspect. If the stakes are above their resources, their resources is decreased by 1.

That’s It!

So that is how I winged a full-on gambling session for two PCs. What do y’all think?

onegreatgeek: Use the force … IKEA?

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:20:26 -0500

onegreatgeek:

Use the force … IKEA?

Nashville Transmission, Part V

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 11:36:06 -0500

Wow, it’s been a while since my last installation of this transmission, but I’m back today! It’s time for some connections!

Connections

Connections are the go-to people that our protagonists go to for info and favors. They are the ones that point them in the right direction…most of the time. Remember that after they are connected enough to the plot-map, they may be at odds with the protagonists.

Also, we want to keep in mind the exposition. Nashville is the home of Country Music, subtle cyberware, pimps, drug dealers, and greenspace.

Keeping all that in mind, here’s the descriptions of the connections. For the full tables, please visit the downloads section for the current version of the transmission.

Renzo Tully
An old-school doctor, Renzo doesn’t believe in cyberware. However, Renzo does like drugs.

Aaron† Willis
Aaron knows the streets, and is more than willing to connect people who need connecting.

Fred Cannon
Fred is a pimp without morals. Not only will he sell his own mother, but yours as well.

Adrienne Valentine
Adrienne is an established Country singer/songwriter who is trying to stay on the straight-and-narrow.

Ranger O’Malley
Ranger O’Malley is a local park ranger who tries uses the forests to hide his dealings.

Lois‡ Charmichael
Lois is working up through the Adian Syndicate. While no longer on the bottom rung, there is still a long way to go.

Please forgive the PDF for the transmission. The two pages for the connection tables are blank for now. I’m not going to make the tables until I can fill them out completely. Same with the lack of master table.

†Aaron could also be written Erin. It’s a good name that can be used for a male or female.
‡Lois can also be pronounced Loy-ce, making it a male name.

Dragon Brigade: Opening Salvo

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:39:25 -0500

Recently, Margaret Weis Productions gave us a new free teaser of their upcoming RPG based on Margaret’s own, along with Robert Krammes, novel series. Being the Cortex+ buff that I am, I went ahead and downloaded it. I mean, why not, it’s free.

One of my friends, Adam (@atminn on twitter, Adam Minnine on G+), found out that I got my hands on it, and asked me what my thoughts were. I have no idea why, it’s not like his name is in the credits or anything†.

So instead of just telling him, I’m going to tell the whole world.

Initial Reaction

Based on my first scan-through, it was well laid out. The basic rules were up front, along with the standard definitions—what’s a d4, complications vs. assets, etc. Each scene (called engagements) was given its own section.

The last 12 pages are six pregen characters, who are given a two-page spread. The characters not only list the traits, but a brief run-down of the rules.

Engagements

Each engagement is laid out the same. It has a brief description of what was happening, what the players are supposed to do, and an evocative picture of what’s going on in the engagement.

All the “important” rules were called out in text boxes, so you knew how to do what you wanted to do. The heading told you if it was a test or a contest. For those who don’t know, a test is whoever rolls higher wins, and a contest is if they got higher, roll again to try to beat their new total. After that, it tells you who rolls what and why. It ends with what happens on a success, including extraordinary success (exceeding the difficulty by 5 or more), and a failure. In addition, it gives a small list of possible complications.

For the later engagements, there are sidebars saying if X happened before, don’t forget about Y. So if, for example, a bandit was captured in the first engagement, he (or she) will remind the party of something important is the second engagement. Another sidebars call out what type of engagement it is (combat, social, etc.) and what characters have complimentary specialties, talents, or distinctions.

Rules

Since I’ve mentioned the rules set-up for the text boxes, I guess I should tell you how the game works. If you’re familiar with either Smallville or Leverage, you know the basics. Compose a dice pool of 2+ dice, roll ‘em, and add the two highest together.

Each character has 5 Action Traits. These are like Values in Smallville or Attributes in Leverage. Whenever you want to take an action, pick one or two action traits to roll. they are:

Courage - bravery, will, and mental fortitude
Faith - conviction and strength of spirit
Guile - craftiness, deception, and wits
Reason - intelligence and the ability to understand
Vigor - physical endurance, strength, and effort

If you choose two, those are your base pair. If you only choose one, grab two of that die.

Also, each action trait has a statement, akin to Smallville’s values and relationships. If what you’re doing lines up with one or both of the statements, you get a free reroll if needed!

As seen in Leverage, each character also has 3 distinctions. Each one gives you a d8 if it helps, or a d4 and a Plot Point if it hurts. To round things off, you have several specialties, rated from 1d6-3d6.

Roll all your dice, and add the two highest. Plot Points can be spent to include more dice in the total.

Confusions

Ok, now that I’ve made it sound all perfect, it’s time to rip into it! I’m joking, it’s not that bad.

I own and am familiar with both Smallville and Leverage, so have a bit of Cortex+ knowledge. Unfortunately, I think that might have been a detriment. I had some preconceptions that just didn’t pan out. But that’s ok!

The first confusing thing that I ran into was stress. It’s similar to Smallville, but not. Each “main trait” can suffer stress. If you’re using the trait, whoever you’re rolling against adds your stress level in that trait against you. Well, unless it’s a d4 stress—in that case, you roll it.

When the stress of a trait equals or exceeds the trait in question, you are considered shaken. This means that you only add the highest die when that trait is being used, instead of adding the two highest. If two or more of your action traits are exceeded by their stress, you’re out of action. Of course, you can spend Plot Points to reduce/remove stress.

Overall Impressions

Now that I have babbled on for a lot longer than I should have, I’ll get to what Adam asked for in the first place.

Overall, it’s a solid quickstart. I had to read up on the stress rules a few times, but that might be because I’m used to the way it’s done in Smallville. The magic system isn’t talked about much, just a short “here’s how this character can do magic.” Less than i’d like, but that’s because I like to play the magic user.

The difference between tests and contests aren’t spelled out in the quickstart. Some things that I would consider a contest is a regular test. For example, in the first engagement, you can engage the “leader” in a test, but not a contest. Most big bads would be contest, In my opinion. I’m sure the actual book will spell it out much better.

Again, these are just my initial reactions after reading it through a few times today. I haven’t actually ran it, so all my musings are theoretical, not practical.

It’s a pretty cool read, so if you’re even the slightest bit curious, pick it up. It’s free, so what have you got to lose?

If anyone is looking to run it online—Skype, Google+, whatever—I’d love to play! Hit me up on twitter or G+.

†That’s a joke, by the way. His name is in the credits.

I'm Not Dead Yet!

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:23:31 -0500

Yeah, yeah…I’ve been gone a while. Last week, I got a new job, so I’ve been getting back into the swing of the 8-5 life. But that doesn’t mean that I’m fading out of existence!

What’s on the Burner

There’s quite a lot of stuff that I have going on right now, on the blog, that I’d like to get done. Right now, I have the following unfinished:

The Serenity Job
Halo
Organizations in Cortex-L
Technoir Nashville Transmission

The Serenity Job

This one is easy to take care of. I’m dropping it. Craggle is doing a much better job at it than I am, and he’s giving it the attention it deserves. It’s to him what Halo is to me right now. You can check his stuff out here, over Exploring Infinity.

Halo

I’m so close to finishing Halo, but I also don’t want to rush it. It’s been an experience, that’s for sure, and I’m looking forward to collating it into a PDF! However, read on.

Technoir Transmission

This is going to be my prime concern for the upcoming future. I only have two or three more things to get done, and the game is finally out! The PDF is available at RPGNow, and I’m hoping Jeremy will be able to help me make it official looking.

Cortex-L Organizations

I’m not really sure if I’m going to be doing anything with this. It’s not that I’m against Cortex+ or anything, but it was kind of a whim post, and I haven’t thought it through at all. Ok, let’s be honest, I’ll probably pick it back up after I get my current queue empty.

Wow, that wasn’t as long as I had hoped for, but at least I’m getting words to the proverbial page, hey?

Pool Fight! Aspects in Play

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:28:05 -0500

Last Sunday, I ran one of the best combats in FATE that I have ever been a part of! It was awesome! There were declarations, manoeuvres, magic, and an honest to God Dynasty-esque pool fight!

The Set-Up

Ok, here’s the set-up: The PCs were helping out a scared kid that got in over his head “playing” with vampires. You know the type, “Vampires are awesome, misunderstood people who are going to help us live forever!” Yeah, well this kid found out what vampires are really like, and bolted. So the vamp sent his goons to get the kid back. “Join or die” mentality.

The PCs were trying to calm the kid down and get him out of town. Unfortunately, the vamp’s goons showed up, first.

The Players

There are three PCs:

Bud, the soulfire-wielding monk(that’s pronounced Boo’d)
Johnathan Sparks, the man jacked into everything with a microchip
Viktor, knight of the Spring Court

And there were 3 NPC goons, all red-court infected, pretty much straight from Our World.

The Scene

The PCs were in Johnathan’s apartment on the 3^rd floor. Being the spark of information (his high concept), he was working on getting the kid a new identity to escape the crazyness of Austin. There was a knock on the door, and one of the goons told them, in no certain terms, that they were there for the kid. It was all “Hand him over and no one gets hurt,” kind of deal.

Needless to say, they were not going to acquiesce to his request. So he busted down the door. Johnathan has supernatural speed, so was able to act first and grab the kid, locking him in the master bedroom.

The Zones

There were 9 zones to start. The hallway outside the apartment, which led to the foyer. The foyer led to both the kitchen and the TV room. The TV room and foyer led to the back hallway, which connected to the spare bedroom, master bedroom, and the bathroom. The TV room also opened up to the balcony.

First Exchange

Bud answered the door, and was the first to engage the goons. Viktor was in the TV room, and two more goons jumped through the glass door to the balcony and surrounded him. There was some trash talk exchanged, and the fight was on!

The first goon started with an attack against Bud, trying to get the first punch in. Thankfully, Bud is an accomplished martial artist, and was able to deftly avoid the hammer of blows. Viktor got to go next, and his player surprised the heck out of me: he handed me a Fate point and said, “the pool is right outside the balcony.”

He than proceeded to grapple one of the goons. Johnathan decided to calm down the kid as his action. Bud, being the pacifist he is, self-compelled his trouble to try to talk the goons down, to no avail.

Second Exchange

For his first action, Bud pummeled the goon that broke down the door with his staff, scoring a direct hit! In retaliation, the goon tried and failed to land a haymaker. The goon that was grappled failed to break it (which is saying something, since Viktor was rolling at a +1 for inhuman strength only)! The last goon tried to crack Viktor over the head, trying and failing to help his friend.

Viktor, with his victim still grappled, jumped over the railing, splashing into the pool below, using his opponent to break his fall! With all the commotion going on outside, Johnathan again decided to stay with the kid.

Third Exchange

The grappled goon headbutts Viktor, breaking the grapple with a manoeuvre (giving Victor the dazed aspect). While up top, Bud, not liking being ganged up on, unleashes his soulfire, causing some major damage (minor and moderate consequence). One goon made a flanking manoeuvre against Bud, letting his friend tag it to land a blow! The one who took the consequences used his supplemental action to heal the minor, using his inhuman recovery.

Meanwhile, Johnathan decided to use his technopathy and turn on and off all the electronics in the house, causing the unharmed goon to become jumpy.

Fourth Exchange

Bud unleashes a less-powerful spell, but strong enough to down the goon. The jumpy one tried to trip Bud, but being jumpy he was unsuccessful (tag for a +2 defense). Johnathan emerges from the bedroom, and unleashes his lightning bolt of lolz (breath weapon). Singing the remaining goon.

Down in the pool, the one goon climbs out of the pool, and kicks Viktor, causing some stress. Viktor, in response, tries to get out of the pool, but with a tag of dazed, he can’t make it out of the pool (I described it as the goon stepping on Viktor’s hands as he tries to pull himself out of the water).

Fifth Exchange

Viktor, seeing that he can’t get out of the pool, pulls the goon back in, giving him the aspect not again! While up top, both Johnathan and Bud deal with the third goon. The wet one, not happy with being in the pool again, dunks Viktor under the water, giving him the aspect short of breath.

Sixth Exchange

From here, it’s all down hill for the last goon! He tried to drown Viktor, tagging short of breath, but Viktor was too good to let him do it! Bud, not one to let his friend duke it out in the water, jumps down to assist Viktor. Needless to say, that was the end of that.

Aftermath

I was extremely happy with how this combat turned out! First, Viktor’s player made a declaration. Then, they all made manoeuvres to spice things up! To boot, they described how and what they were doing! I totally had a nergasm!

It was the best RP’d combat I’ve ever had the pleasure of running. Heck, the best RP’d combat I’ve ever been in!

I just had to brag, I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog…oh yeah, that’d be me anyway!

Arms of the Covenant Forces

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:50:53 -0500

I know it’s been a while since my last discussion on Halo, but I’m ready to get back to it! Last time we discussed weapons, it was UNSC gear. This time, it’s all about the Covenant!

A Primer on Plasma

As Halo veterans are aware, plasma weapons can be fired—or, in the case of the plasma pistol, charged—enough that it has to cool down. In FATE, the easiest way to model this is just like any other ammo concern—aspects!

All plasma weapons have a unique aspect, supercharged. You may invoke it for more power (representing holding down the trigger), or compel yourself to not attack (the weapons do need to cool-down).

Also, as mentioned in the UNSC post, plasma weapons do less damage to armour.

Weapons

Plasma Pistol

The standard weapon of grunts and jackles, the plasma pistol can fire both semi-auto and semi-guided. The semi-guided mode of fire is great for reducing shields and disabling vehicles.

Damage: 3 (1 vs. armour)
Accuracy: +1
Range: 2
Improvements: Additional capability (EMP attack as a maneuver), supercharged
Cost: Good (+3)

Plasma Rifle

An upgrade of the plasma pistol, the rifle fills the target with plasma bolts.

Damage: 3 (1 vs. armour)
Accuracy: +1
Range: 3
Improvements: Longarm, autofire, supercharged
Cost: Great (+4)

Plasma Repeater

The plasma repeater is nearly identical to the rifle. The repeater, however, has a built-in safeguard to that slows down the rate of fire to prevent overheating.

Damage: 4 (2 vs. armour)
Accuracy: +1
Range: 3
Improvements: Longarm, autofire, powerful
Cost: Great (+4)

Concussion Rifle

The concussion rifle is a man-portable grenade launcher. It is designed not only to take out groups of personal, but also light vehicles. Note, that the high explosive improvement gives it an area 1.

Damage: 4
Accuracy: 1
Range: 3
Improvements: Explosive, longarm, high explosive, indirect fire
Cost: Superb (+5)

Needler

The needler is a devious weapon. The needles not only home in on their target, but if enough of them stick to the target, they cause a minor explosion!

Damage: 2
Accuracy: 1
Range: 2
Improvements: Accurate, autofire, supercombine
Cost: Fair (+3)

Needle Rifle

Akin to the UNSC DMR, the needle rifle is designed for mid-range sniping. Like the needler, the rifle shoots semi-homing needles that cause an explosive effect if enough contact the target.

Damage: 3
Accuracy: 2
Range: 4
Improvements: Longarm, accurate, long range, powerful, supercombine
Cost: Superb (+5)

Energy Sword

This is the iconic weapon of the elites. Concealable and powerful, the energy sword is feared by all who see it.

Damage: 2 (4 vs. organic targets)
Accuracy: 1
Range: Melee
Improvements: Accurate, concealable, powerful, specialized (+2 damage vs. organic targets)
Cost: Great (+4)

Spike Rifle

The favoured weapon of brutes, the spike rifle not only fires a volley of soda can-length nails, it also has some nasty scythes used for melee attacks.

Damage: 3 (1 vs. Shields)
Accuracy: 0
Range: 3
Improvements: Longarm, autofire, specialized (damage 2 when making melee attacks)
Cost: Good (+3)

Focus Rifle

Intended for long-range sniping, the focus rifle emits a constant stream of plasma particles. This stream increases the damage done over time to the target. Because of this, it is effective against vehicles as well as infantry.

Damage: 3 (1 vs. armour)
Accuracy: 1
Range: 5
Improvements: Longarm, long range x2, specialized (+2 damage if hit same target as last round), supercharged
Cost: Fantastic (+6)

Plasma Launcher

This weapon can fire up to 4 homing plasma grenades. While ideal for anti-vehicle activity, the long range and high-power of the grenades spells trouble for any infantry nearby.

Damage: 5
Accuracy: 0
Range: 4
Improvements: Heavy weapon, high explosive, long range, specialized (+2 damage when you tag an aiming aspect)
Cost: Fantastic (+6)

Gravity Hammer

While not as intimidating as the plasma sword, the hammer is a more powerful weapon capable of damaging vehicles as well as people. Also, whenever it hits the ground, it emits a gravitic pulse, sending people flying a few yards. The persistent effect adds a fragile aspect to the target.

Damage: 4
Accuracy: -1
Range: Melee
Improvements: Powerful, persistent effect to all in the zone (off balance)
Cost: Good (+3)

Fuel Rod Gun

The Covenant equivalent to the rocket launcher, this weapon is a shoulder-launched, man-portable support weapon employed in both anti-personnel and anti-vehicle roles.

Damage: 5
Accuracy: 0
Range: 4
Improvements: Heavy weapon, long range, high explosive
Cost: Superb (+5)

Closing Remarks

I hope that I was able to faithfully portray the Covenant weapons. As I said before, Bulldogs! is a great addition to the FATE family, and their weapon creation rules are top-notch!