The new Apocalypse World campaign headed by +Tony Reyes kicked off yesterday with a group of four players (soon to be five) and had a nice blend of the new and familiar.
I play a Hocus who runs a hedonistic UFO cult. Jason plays the Brainer, the twin sister of my character. Neil chose the Battlebabe, the cool,distant yet violent assassin. +Michael Bay took the role of Hardholder, the guy who runs the town that we live in.
The town is "The Vault", the remnants of a skyscraper. Business is doing well,but not so well as to be seen as a threat by rival towns. It has a bar and marketplace, which gives it a very different vibe compared to "Circustown", the setting for last time. The dynamic is very smooth as well, our characters get along well and have a relationship very much defined by how we all contribute to the town.
The Hocus and Brainer emphasize the truly weird side of life, and given that we made up half the group it shifted the focus of the game heavily onto the psychic maelstrom. Tony gradually introduced external factors in the form of visions, an ambushed training mission and visitors from another town.As in any first session there is significant time spent on character concepts and history, along with getting a feel for the system and how the characters play.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, though I think I'd like to stir up the dynamic somewhat. The Hocus/Brainer relationship is fascinating and extremely creepy, but I wonder if we contribute too much of the same thing given the size of the group.I might suggest that the opening event of the next session, a mass orgy and psychic channelling that involves every character except the Hardholder, backfires horribly and takes the Hocus out of play. That would totally shift the dynamics and give the other characters a whole new set of challenges to deal with. How would the Brainer handle the sudden responsibility for the cult, for example. I could introduce a new PC shortly after, such as a Skinner. Food for thought, and we'll see what the group thinks when we reconvene.
It was great fun to meet new players and also to have Tony run a game, it was the first time I'd played in one of his. He did a phenomenal job with a challenging, improvisational setup.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Returning to Apocalypse World
This coming weekend I'll be returning to one of the most challenging and unusual RPG's I've had the pleasure of playing, Vincent D Baker's "Apocalypse World". This time round the game will be run by one of my regular gaming colleagues, +Tony Reyes .
Last time he played a "Battlebabe", a fighter who is also a charmer, and was instrumental in some of the trickier storylines. The "Master of Ceremonies" (the GM) last time we played was +Michael Bay , who will be a player in this game. He's assuming the role of "Hardholder", the character who runs the town in which our campaign is based. I played that role last time and it was definitely a challenge, though it did result in probably my most memorable character. The rest of the group are people I haven't played alongside before.
The big challenge for me,as always, is what character should I play? A few appeal and while I want to try something different, there are aspects of the game that I'm drawn to. The "psychic maelstrom" for instance, is a wonderful concept...that "something" lingering over us all that can be tapped into for weird and bizarre inspiration. A few characters are more tied to that the others, such as the "Brainer", the "Hocus" and the "Savvyhead".
I also like idea of taking one of the more overtly violent characters and doing something more nuanced with them. Taking the "Gunlugger" for example and giving him some sort of personal code that he must follow, like a futuristic Bushido. Or the "Faceless", a brutally violent character who has a totally different personality when unmasked.
There are also characters tailored to the social side of the game. The "Skinner" looks fantastic, totally captivates an audience and can be the glue between the other characters. The "Maestro D" runs a social establishment. I was very tempted by this one, the idea of someone running an Amsterdam-style coffee shop where anyone can go to escape the real world for a few hours. That would heavily shape the focus of the game though and doesn't always work.
It looks like I'll try my hand at the "Hocus". This character taps into the weird side of life and at a glance seems like a Manson-like cult leader. I have my own ideas for it though that I haven't seen in play before, more along the lines of Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Galactica. I'm thinking less hippy, more an intellectual with a compelling (if strange) vision and taste for hedonism. I have a feeling this is going to be just as good as last time.
Last time he played a "Battlebabe", a fighter who is also a charmer, and was instrumental in some of the trickier storylines. The "Master of Ceremonies" (the GM) last time we played was +Michael Bay , who will be a player in this game. He's assuming the role of "Hardholder", the character who runs the town in which our campaign is based. I played that role last time and it was definitely a challenge, though it did result in probably my most memorable character. The rest of the group are people I haven't played alongside before.
The big challenge for me,as always, is what character should I play? A few appeal and while I want to try something different, there are aspects of the game that I'm drawn to. The "psychic maelstrom" for instance, is a wonderful concept...that "something" lingering over us all that can be tapped into for weird and bizarre inspiration. A few characters are more tied to that the others, such as the "Brainer", the "Hocus" and the "Savvyhead".
I also like idea of taking one of the more overtly violent characters and doing something more nuanced with them. Taking the "Gunlugger" for example and giving him some sort of personal code that he must follow, like a futuristic Bushido. Or the "Faceless", a brutally violent character who has a totally different personality when unmasked.
There are also characters tailored to the social side of the game. The "Skinner" looks fantastic, totally captivates an audience and can be the glue between the other characters. The "Maestro D" runs a social establishment. I was very tempted by this one, the idea of someone running an Amsterdam-style coffee shop where anyone can go to escape the real world for a few hours. That would heavily shape the focus of the game though and doesn't always work.
It looks like I'll try my hand at the "Hocus". This character taps into the weird side of life and at a glance seems like a Manson-like cult leader. I have my own ideas for it though that I haven't seen in play before, more along the lines of Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Galactica. I'm thinking less hippy, more an intellectual with a compelling (if strange) vision and taste for hedonism. I have a feeling this is going to be just as good as last time.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Delta Green Pt 4 - The Clinic
The latest Delta Green session had the players visit a small fictional town in Nevada, in an adventure that brought them closer to "Majestic 12", the main rival faction in this setting.Rather than run parallel adventures like last time, this one had half of the group join the main mission halfway through, but initially playing NPCs.
The basic story had former Agent "Andrea", a leader of Delta Green who had gone into hiding, re-emerging in a clinic in Nevada. She had been sent there by Agent Alphonse and contacted a player character, "Selene", who she had established a connection with in the previous game. Three players, including and led by Selene, faked clinic admission documents to get inside as patients. The other four players were waiting in the wings for further instruction.
I had created basic character outlines for five NPC patients who were already in the clinic, and these were randomly assigned to the four players. One of them was a Majestic 12 insider, another was a resurrected former player character from another time, a nod to the Nathaniel Bishop storyline. This worked great and all the players really embraced the roles.
Behind all this was the story of what was really going on. The town itself was a facade, home to an observatory run by the Mi-Go and a place for MJ-12 to try psychological experiments and conversion programs on Delta Green agents. I used a plot device from the "Music of the Spheres" scenario, so at certain moments the observatory would contact an Outer God, resulting in random psychological reactions from anyone in the town. Some of the reactions where violent, which triggered the usual destructive path established in this campaign.
With the clinic destroyed and all but one of the NPCs dead, the group quickly set about using explosives to destroy the town and observatory. While no-one went to inside to discover the story secrets, one character experienced a temporary mind swap with the sole inhabitant of the observatory..a Mi-Go. This obviously had big implications for his sanity.
So four chapters in and yet another small town destroyed. I might jump ahead and make the next chapter the final one, as I feel it's time to tie up all the threads and ramp up the scale. This has definitely been fun so far with plenty of insanity,paranoia and plot twists.
The basic story had former Agent "Andrea", a leader of Delta Green who had gone into hiding, re-emerging in a clinic in Nevada. She had been sent there by Agent Alphonse and contacted a player character, "Selene", who she had established a connection with in the previous game. Three players, including and led by Selene, faked clinic admission documents to get inside as patients. The other four players were waiting in the wings for further instruction.
I had created basic character outlines for five NPC patients who were already in the clinic, and these were randomly assigned to the four players. One of them was a Majestic 12 insider, another was a resurrected former player character from another time, a nod to the Nathaniel Bishop storyline. This worked great and all the players really embraced the roles.
Behind all this was the story of what was really going on. The town itself was a facade, home to an observatory run by the Mi-Go and a place for MJ-12 to try psychological experiments and conversion programs on Delta Green agents. I used a plot device from the "Music of the Spheres" scenario, so at certain moments the observatory would contact an Outer God, resulting in random psychological reactions from anyone in the town. Some of the reactions where violent, which triggered the usual destructive path established in this campaign.
With the clinic destroyed and all but one of the NPCs dead, the group quickly set about using explosives to destroy the town and observatory. While no-one went to inside to discover the story secrets, one character experienced a temporary mind swap with the sole inhabitant of the observatory..a Mi-Go. This obviously had big implications for his sanity.
So four chapters in and yet another small town destroyed. I might jump ahead and make the next chapter the final one, as I feel it's time to tie up all the threads and ramp up the scale. This has definitely been fun so far with plenty of insanity,paranoia and plot twists.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Vampire - Blood and Smoke
As followers of this blog will know from previous posts, one of my plans is to run a "World of Darkness" game. Having compared the 20th anniversary edition of "Vampire:The Masquerade" to "Vampire:The Requiem", "Masquerade" was the one I settled on, though it was a tough call. Now everything's changed with the brand new version of "Requiem", "Vampire:Blood and Smoke" due out this summer.
I have been following the developer blogs over at White Wolf and have downloaded the playtest documents. The main thing that has struck me is the redesign of the disciplines, the special powers that vampires have based upon their clan.I'd been reading the guidelines of the disciplines in "Masquerade" and after numerous readings, still wasn't blown away by what the disciplines do, and in some cases I was downright confused. The new versions are crystal clear. I can describe and explain each of them off the top of my head, which is the level of comfort I prefer to have in a game like this.The story potential from each is immense too.
"Auspex", for example, used to be about extra-sensory perception. Now a lot of those powers (seeing in the dark, smelling prey) are common to all vampires. Auspex is now about secrets, much in line with the clan that it's associated with, the Mekhet. At the most basic level, it allows the player to ask the GM questions about a situation to shed light on what's really going on. "Protean", which used to be more along the lines of animal shapeshifting, is now an emphasis on the vampire becoming less human and more of a beast. At the highest level the vampire can transform into mist!
While the clans appear to be the same as those in Requiem (Daeva, Mekhet,Ventrue,Gangrel and Nosferatu), the covenants could be changing. There is a new villain, the Strix, who prey on vampires. They first appeared in the "Requiem for Rome" setting and will be fun to use. The predatory nature of the vampires themselves has led to new mechanics being introduced.
Overall, everything I've read simply makes more sense to me.There also seems to be more of an open acknowledgement that many players aren't looking to play vampires for the angst, they expect vampires to be cool and enjoyable to play as well, possibly an influence from recent shows like "True Blood".
There will be a quickstart version of the game released in select stores on "Free RPG Day', June 15th, and it'll be published online soon after. This will definitely be my next game to run, probably starting in August this year, and I'm already looking forward to it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)