I started to write the DOUG review when I realized that it became a review of the publication history of The Bones of Chinatown. Interesting story, I think, but not relevant to DOUG. So I'm going to post it separately here.
I've been wanting to run this scenario for many years. Really it goes back to January 2002 when Dungeon magazine had Polyhedron run in the back, and in that issue they had a d20 mini-game called Pulp Heroes. That was my first introduction to the world of the 1930's adventure pulps and roleplaying and I was quite hooked. The rules were actually quite elegant without being too complicated and the class system of d20, while not the best, seemed to work.
I sat down and scribbled out an outline for "The Eyes of the Ruby Tiger" for d20. I never did anything with it, but as the months went by I would periodically return to that outline to restructure and reorganize it. After I picked up the GURPS Cliffhangers 2nd edition book I changed the name to The Ruby Eyes and broke it down into three acts, converting the whole thing to GURPS at the same time. Or at least I tried, as I only got through the first act, The Bones of Chinatown.
Then I was introduced to Savage Worlds through the Ravaged Earth Society and I knew I had found the perfect fit. I went back to The Ruby Eyes and updated the first act and finished the second and third parts, converting it all to Savage Worlds. And then I sat on it for a short while. I wanted to see it in print but I didn't know what to do, and then in an issue of Knights of the Dinner Table they were advertising an adventure design contest. Any adventure for any genre or system.
Since the Bones of Chinatown could very easily stand on its own and fit the word count, I submitted it for KoDT. I got response message back saying my email was undeliverable and I was sad, but moved on quickly. After a few weeks I got in contact with the company that picked up the license for the Ravaged Earth Society, Reality Blurs, and I submitted The Ruby Eyes for publication (since they were a SW licensee already). They liked it and I got in touch with Sean Preston, the president on what projects I could work on.
Immediately after hanging up with Sean for the first time in December 2008 I got an email from KoDT saying my submitted adventure had taken 3rd place and would be published in an upcoming issue of KoDT! My joy was split. I was ecstatic that I was going to be in the magazine/comic that I've read for so long, but I was torn by the fact that I had submitted the scenario to two different companies (thinking the first one had failed!). I called up Sean and explained the situation and he was very understanding.
We agreed that there was enough Ravaged Earth stuff coming down the pipe that The Ruby Eyes would not be terribly missed so I gave the go ahead to KoDT. The Bones of Chinatown was published in Knights of the Dinner Table #148, The Perp Walk. And I finally got to run it in February 2010. W00t!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
DOUG This Sunday
I think what I'm going to have ready for DOUG (Day Of Universal Gaming) this Sunday is going to be my pulp adventure published in Knights of the Dinner Table, The Bones of Chinatown. I'll have six pregenerated characters ready to go so we can get started and finished before the Super Bowl, which I believe is around 5ish. I can play with only two people or up to six, so I think if you're available you're definitely welcome. Worst case scenario I'll come up with more pregens.
Quick plug for the scenario: set in 1936, the heroes are quickly thrust into the deepest underbelly of San Francisco's Chinatown fighting their way through tong gangs, mysterious creatures, explosions, and hair-raising chases in a quest to recover one of the fabled Ruby Eyes of the Lo-Man Tiger. Pulp adventure awaits!
Quick plug for the scenario: set in 1936, the heroes are quickly thrust into the deepest underbelly of San Francisco's Chinatown fighting their way through tong gangs, mysterious creatures, explosions, and hair-raising chases in a quest to recover one of the fabled Ruby Eyes of the Lo-Man Tiger. Pulp adventure awaits!
Monday, February 1, 2010
01/31/2010 DOUG: Runewars
The other thing I wanted to do with the concept of the Day Of Universal Gaming (DOUG) is to write a synopsis or review of the session the day afterward. Since yesterday, 1/31/2010, is going to be the official start to DUG (new name too) I'll write a quick synopsis/review of what we did.
Game: Runewars
Style: Board Game
Genre: Fantasy
GM: Dave Olson (moderator)
Players (Factions/PCs): Alice (Elf), Matthew (Uthuk), Trenton (Undead), Harris/Luke (Human)
I love Runewars, even when I'm just moderating instead of playing. It's like Twilight Imperium in a fantasy setting. The scope is a little smaller but the game runs a lot quicker in general, with smooth components and intelligent design. Really, this game represents everything great I've come to expect from Fantasy Flight Games.
To get things going quickly I setup the board knowing that I would be moderating, so I endeavored to set it up so that no one player had a distinct advantage over another. The map was laid out and I explained the rules a total of 3 1/2 times as various people showed up. Luckily the game concepts in Runewars are pretty easy to grasp and make sense once you start playing.
The point of Runewars is to capture 6 Dragon Runes, and each player starts with 2 to begin with. These tokens are placed on the individual map tiles of the configurable board, one each, and each player also had a false rune token. This meant that each of the three areas of a players' home realm had a Dragon Rune, but only two were real - one was a decoy.
The game is played out over the course of years, with each year divided into four turns represented by the seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter). Each player chooses one of eight strategy cards to play during each season dictating their action, and then the strategy cards are returned to your hand at the beginning of each year.
In the game itself I was actually pretty surprised at the lack of player-to-player hostility. Sure, it started off with Alice leveling Matthew's city but it didn't really escalate from there. Most players kept themselves engaged by dealing with the neutral factions surrounding them and sending their heroes on quests to retrieve Dragon Runes. After about the third year Harris had to leave and Luke graciously stepped up to fill the player void, but Harris had made some questionable tactical decisions that left the human faction in a very very tight bind.
The end of the game came when Matthew claimed 6 Dragon Runes in the winter of the fourth year. It seemed like everyone had a good time and the mechanics of Runewars kept the game flowing very quickly even for four people who had never played it before. Verdict? Definitely worth playing again.
Game: Runewars
Style: Board Game
Genre: Fantasy
GM: Dave Olson (moderator)
Players (Factions/PCs): Alice (Elf), Matthew (Uthuk), Trenton (Undead), Harris/Luke (Human)
I love Runewars, even when I'm just moderating instead of playing. It's like Twilight Imperium in a fantasy setting. The scope is a little smaller but the game runs a lot quicker in general, with smooth components and intelligent design. Really, this game represents everything great I've come to expect from Fantasy Flight Games.
To get things going quickly I setup the board knowing that I would be moderating, so I endeavored to set it up so that no one player had a distinct advantage over another. The map was laid out and I explained the rules a total of 3 1/2 times as various people showed up. Luckily the game concepts in Runewars are pretty easy to grasp and make sense once you start playing.
The point of Runewars is to capture 6 Dragon Runes, and each player starts with 2 to begin with. These tokens are placed on the individual map tiles of the configurable board, one each, and each player also had a false rune token. This meant that each of the three areas of a players' home realm had a Dragon Rune, but only two were real - one was a decoy.
The game is played out over the course of years, with each year divided into four turns represented by the seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter). Each player chooses one of eight strategy cards to play during each season dictating their action, and then the strategy cards are returned to your hand at the beginning of each year.
In the game itself I was actually pretty surprised at the lack of player-to-player hostility. Sure, it started off with Alice leveling Matthew's city but it didn't really escalate from there. Most players kept themselves engaged by dealing with the neutral factions surrounding them and sending their heroes on quests to retrieve Dragon Runes. After about the third year Harris had to leave and Luke graciously stepped up to fill the player void, but Harris had made some questionable tactical decisions that left the human faction in a very very tight bind.
The end of the game came when Matthew claimed 6 Dragon Runes in the winter of the fourth year. It seemed like everyone had a good time and the mechanics of Runewars kept the game flowing very quickly even for four people who had never played it before. Verdict? Definitely worth playing again.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Shadowrun Game Day Thoughts
I like Shadowrun quite a bit, and I think the style of play suggested by that game and setting really lends itself towards the Game Day application (see previous post). So Shadowrun is going to be one of the games in rotation but I wanted to post a few ideas I've had so that people had the right idea.
The first thing is that the actual runs won't be limited to a single city, or even a single country. There are a lot of really cool places and people in the world of 2071 and I'd like to get an opportunity to spread out. Now, with that said, each runner is still going to need a home, and I'd like to use Seattle as the default "base."
Each runner's piece of illegal gear will need to be written up on a small gear card that I have, for several reasons. The first is that every single Shadowrun character sheet I've seen has had very little space for equipment, which is odd considering how much emphasis the game puts on high tech gadgetry to get in and out of situations. Having each piece of illegal gear on a card allows for a much better management of on-hand equipment, so you don't have to take everything with you (some of it may be impossible to pass customs with anyway depending on its legality code). It also allows the player to jot notes about what the gear does for quick reference.
Also each runner's contacts will be written up on a small contact card, similar to the gear card. This avoids the issue of having too little space on the character sheet for contacts and makes managing them much easier. Your contacts are your lifeblood, and one of the rules I'll be using is the Friend of a Friend system - it's possible, depending on how connected your contact is, that they know someone in a city or area where you otherwise are without a friend. This will be the primary means for gaining new contacts.
I'm going to keep the naming convention of metal song titles for each run, and I might jump around a bit between artists. Definitely Iron Maiden's on the docket, but there are a lot of Megadeth titles that would work as well, plus some Metallica names I didn't get to use.
The first thing is that the actual runs won't be limited to a single city, or even a single country. There are a lot of really cool places and people in the world of 2071 and I'd like to get an opportunity to spread out. Now, with that said, each runner is still going to need a home, and I'd like to use Seattle as the default "base."
Each runner's piece of illegal gear will need to be written up on a small gear card that I have, for several reasons. The first is that every single Shadowrun character sheet I've seen has had very little space for equipment, which is odd considering how much emphasis the game puts on high tech gadgetry to get in and out of situations. Having each piece of illegal gear on a card allows for a much better management of on-hand equipment, so you don't have to take everything with you (some of it may be impossible to pass customs with anyway depending on its legality code). It also allows the player to jot notes about what the gear does for quick reference.
Also each runner's contacts will be written up on a small contact card, similar to the gear card. This avoids the issue of having too little space on the character sheet for contacts and makes managing them much easier. Your contacts are your lifeblood, and one of the rules I'll be using is the Friend of a Friend system - it's possible, depending on how connected your contact is, that they know someone in a city or area where you otherwise are without a friend. This will be the primary means for gaining new contacts.
I'm going to keep the naming convention of metal song titles for each run, and I might jump around a bit between artists. Definitely Iron Maiden's on the docket, but there are a lot of Megadeth titles that would work as well, plus some Metallica names I didn't get to use.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Official Game Day Post
I like continued campaigns with overarching stories, but I'm getting to the point where I can't seem to get players together on a regular basis to make it worth it. But I've still got a lot of ideas and access to a lot of scenarios and settings, and I want to start making it work. And thus begins ...
The Official DFGA Game Day!
Personally, especially lately, I've found my Fridays to be dull and boring, so I propose Friday late afternoon/evenings for the Game Day. Sunday would also work, I think, especially now that football season is over.
The concept of Game Day is a day to game - anything, something, in a format similar to the various anthology TV series (Outer Limits, Amazing Stories, Tales from the Crypt, etc.). Board games and RPGs would be the mainstay, and most of the RPGs I plan to have available with pregenerated characters for ease of play. This would allow us to play many different types of games in many different types of genres without having to worry about missing people. The goal would be to have each scenario take up a session with little or no overlap.
I also want to encourage others to take the helm of GM, as this format is perfect for many people to try their hand at gamemastering.
Here are some games/genres I've got planning right now: Shadowrun, RuneWars (board game), World War II, 1930s pulp adventure, space pulp adventures (like Star Wars), Victorian era monster hunting, modern day spy ops, Western horror, 1920s Mythos horror, D&D-esque fantasy adventures, pirates on the high seas, superheroes and villains, colonial era mystery and adventure, and many others!
The Official DFGA Game Day!
Personally, especially lately, I've found my Fridays to be dull and boring, so I propose Friday late afternoon/evenings for the Game Day. Sunday would also work, I think, especially now that football season is over.
The concept of Game Day is a day to game - anything, something, in a format similar to the various anthology TV series (Outer Limits, Amazing Stories, Tales from the Crypt, etc.). Board games and RPGs would be the mainstay, and most of the RPGs I plan to have available with pregenerated characters for ease of play. This would allow us to play many different types of games in many different types of genres without having to worry about missing people. The goal would be to have each scenario take up a session with little or no overlap.
I also want to encourage others to take the helm of GM, as this format is perfect for many people to try their hand at gamemastering.
Here are some games/genres I've got planning right now: Shadowrun, RuneWars (board game), World War II, 1930s pulp adventure, space pulp adventures (like Star Wars), Victorian era monster hunting, modern day spy ops, Western horror, 1920s Mythos horror, D&D-esque fantasy adventures, pirates on the high seas, superheroes and villains, colonial era mystery and adventure, and many others!
Friday, January 22, 2010
The League 2000
Harris mentioned to me some time ago (years?) about a forum post he read that kind of stuck with me. It was about the League of Reagan-era Gentlemen and followed the trend of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in the sense that a group of otherwise unrelated characters were brought together to foil some plot/defeat some evil.
The idea has been rolling around in my head for quite a while and I decided I wanted to do a one-shot with this idea. It would be with Savage Worlds and would involve the League in 1999 - on the cusp of the 21st century. Some villain(s) were threatening the world and only an assortment of characters from the past 25 years stood in their way.
The premise behind the League is that the characters of fiction are real. Most of the most renown characters in the past 30 years have been TV or movie characters - larger than life, people whose name you know even if you haven't seen them or read them.
Here are some characters I brainstormed. You'll see some of these fulfill different niches, and more than a few are essentially "duplicates" (fulfilling the same role). But you get the idea.
The idea has been rolling around in my head for quite a while and I decided I wanted to do a one-shot with this idea. It would be with Savage Worlds and would involve the League in 1999 - on the cusp of the 21st century. Some villain(s) were threatening the world and only an assortment of characters from the past 25 years stood in their way.
The premise behind the League is that the characters of fiction are real. Most of the most renown characters in the past 30 years have been TV or movie characters - larger than life, people whose name you know even if you haven't seen them or read them.
Here are some characters I brainstormed. You'll see some of these fulfill different niches, and more than a few are essentially "duplicates" (fulfilling the same role). But you get the idea.
John McClain – Die Hard
John Rambo – First Blood
Doc Emmet Brown – Back to the Future
Clarice Starling – Silence of the Lambs
Sarah Connor – Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Jules Winnfield – Pulp Fiction
Egon Spangler – Ghostbusters
Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez – Highlander
Ash Williams – Evil Dead II
Roy Neary – Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Karate Kid – Karate Kid
Cole Sear – The Sixth Sense
Agent J – Men in Black
“Crocodile” Mick Dundee – Crocodile Dundee
David Lightman – War Games
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Thoughts for a Game Day
No kidding it's been a while. Well, I've been thinking, and thinking, and thinking, and sadly not playing. Aaron has a new Fantasy Craft campaign but sadly that's already falling victim to the dreaded "missing players in a small group" attack that seems to crop up at an alarming rate. All for good reasons, of course, so no hits there, just a reality of trying to play an ongoing RPG campaign with mid- to late-20s adults.
So I've been thinking about the best way to rectify this. I've got some ideas, and I'd like to repurpose this blog as a sounding board for those ideas. I'll post something in a few days once I work out a few kinks, but my idea is a sort of open game day - a day in the week devoted to gaming of some sort, including RPGs, board games, card games, and MAYBE video games (though that gets a lot of attention anyway). No ongoing campaign, essentially a series of one shots or one shot like campaigns sprinkled amongst other gaming related things.
So I've been thinking about the best way to rectify this. I've got some ideas, and I'd like to repurpose this blog as a sounding board for those ideas. I'll post something in a few days once I work out a few kinks, but my idea is a sort of open game day - a day in the week devoted to gaming of some sort, including RPGs, board games, card games, and MAYBE video games (though that gets a lot of attention anyway). No ongoing campaign, essentially a series of one shots or one shot like campaigns sprinkled amongst other gaming related things.
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