Dungeon World - New Beginnings

Yesterday was a new chapter in the Dungeon World campaign being run by Michael Bay, the name of the campaign is "Screams In The Darkness". It was particularly fitting for this episode! Some of the characters had died in the last session so this had something old and something new.

The biggest change was realigning the group to being mercenaries in a wonderfully lawless town named "Gondgul". It has various influences, including Dwarven, Pharazonic (Egyptian) and numerous others. In the absence of government, the city is run by rival mercenary "expeditionary companies", wizards and religious orders.

Three characters returned from previous sessions, the Shaman, Thief and Fighter. The new characters were a Paladin, a Barbarian and my character, a Mage. I've never played a Mage or Wizard in a fantasy game before, I've tended to play front line law and order characters so this was a great chance to try something different.

I chose a magical path known as "The Mask". It's really all about illusions. My character can solve general problems magically which aren't related to his school, but that comes with a penalty. When he uses magic aligned with his path (misleading others,avoiding notice,cunning plans) he gets major bonuses. On the other hand, there are heavy restrictions....he can never use magic for brute force or to break facades. This was great because it forced me to play a style which was non-confrontational.

The game itself was excellent, a security operation to protect a warehouse, leading to the classic trek through underground sewers and ruins. I had a succession of spectacular failures in my attempts at spell casting, one which left us in complete darkness and having to abandon the mission! The dynamic within the group was fun as always,with a real sense of mischief from the various roguish characters. Michael did a nice touch in giving each character their own plot threads here and there.

The session ended with a revelation that there were Dwarven ruins beneath the city,plenty of exploration ahead of us.After levelling up, I added a new magical path for my character, "The Twilight",giving him the ability to manipulate shadows.The penalty? He can never create light or fire, very apt after the failures this time around. It was a great session with a more gritty feel this time around.

Monster Of The Week RPG

I recently purchased the "Monster Of The Week" tabletop RPG by Michael Sands. It uses Vincent Bakers "Apocalypse World" rules, along the same lines as other adaptations such as "Dungeon World" and "Monsterhearts".

I've played "Apocalypse World" and "Dungeon World", both run by Michael Bay. I like the simplicity of the system, just 2D6 rolled to determined success and no opposing rolls needed from the GM. Also the emphasis on bonds and history between the player characters adds a nice layer and encourages the making and breaking of relationships.

"Monster Of The Week" takes the system and applies it to a setting that would be familiar to fans of shows like "Buffy" and "Supernatural". From a game perspective, this game also resonates with me as a "Call of Cthulhu" and "Unknown Armies" GM...both are cited as influences on the game, and as in CoC the GM is referred to as a "Keeper". Essentially you have a group that investigates a supernatural event, identifies the monster behind it, finds its weakness and kills it.

The game starts with a basic setting up of the theme for the group, the reason for them to be together. They could be a slayer like Buffy with the rest of the group forming the entourage, or perhaps they're a family on the road, taking the fight to the monsters. Once that's established, players choose a "playbook", a character sheet. Each character has a set of moves, things that they,and only they, can do. If I were to play this I'd have a real tough time choosing which to be, as they all have so much appeal. There's the "Chosen", basically a Buffy kind of character. There's the "Wronged", like Dean on "Supernatural". Throw in the Expert, Flake (conspiracy theorist),Mundane,Professional and several others, and you have the makings of some great stories. One player can even be a monster that joins the group.

I really like the advice for running stories and campaigns in this,and what struck me was how closely the guidelines given map to my own process of running and preparing games. It's taken me two years to find my own style, and it's interesting to see someone else from a "Cthulhu" background end up in the same place! The advice is really clear and well articulated. I recommend getting this for the advice alone.

"Delta Green" is set to finish after three more sessions and then I'm on to "Vampire:The Masquerade". "Monster Of The Week" is my top contender to run after that, or perhaps alongside it. I think it'll be great fun  to run.

Delta Green Pt 3 - Cleanups and Conspiracies

The third part of my Call of Cthulhu "Delta Green" campaign took place yesterday and was a departure from previous games, featuring some elements I'd never tried before.

The group consisted of eight players, so my thoughts in advance were to break the group into two or three smaller ones. I specialize in this anyway and enjoy running a game in parallel threads, taking full advantage of the group being divided. It also means that each player gets a piece of the pie in terms of game time, rather than being sidelined by the group as whole.

Instead I did something I've never done before. I split the session into two separate missions, completely unrelated to each other but tied to previous sessions. The beauty of this was that I could make plot revelations in one mission that had importance to the characters in the other mission. The players of course would all realize this, but the characters can't acknowledge what they don't know!

Also, the missions themselves where very basic "one room" stories. One was about destroying evidence that had been salvaged from the previous game, the evidence was being mailed to a college professor, later revealed to be one of the leaders of Delta Green. The other was a cleanup mission at the woodland cabin of former Agent Alphonse, a character who'd died in the "Aklo" game.

I sent a group of NPCs to the cabin game and this is where the conspiracy ramped up. They claimed to be members of Delta Green, that the organization had been compromised at the highest level...and that "S" Cell was really part of Majestic 12, the arch rivals of Delta Green. "S" Cell of course, consists of the player characters in the other mission! Characters turned on each other,lied to each other, even shot each other. Lots of twists and turns played out in mass confusion. Nobody knew who they were really working for anymore...though the big revelation at the end was that the players are legitimately members of Delta Green. The cell sent to the woods was from Majestic 12...though there are still big questions about who really runs Delta Green and to what level it has been compromised.

All in all this was exactly what I hoped it would be. An intense, confusing session that left everyone feeling really uneasy at the end, setting the next three sessions up perfectly. I'll be bringing more horror back into the next one and I'm delighted with how this format works. Some of the players were even discussing creating a new Delta Green..."Delta Greener"! Lots of fun and good preparation for other future games that I have planned, such as "Vampire:The Masquerade" and "Monster Of The Week".