Yet another great year of games is about to end, this one went by quicker than the last! My last post talked about the games that I was a player in, this time I'm looking back at the games I ran.
Call of Cthulhu - This was classic 1920's Cthulhu set in New York City. It featured elements of the scenario "Lurker in the Crypt", and I finished the story of the Bishop family,a legacy started way back in the scenario called "The Condemned". I also put in some weird travels through time and space to Mars, which finished off the sanity of one character in particular. A wild way to wrap up the story.
Delta Green - A five part campaign which had some of my very best sessions. The group was fantastic and really embraced the paranoia, chaos and overall downward spiral of the setting. I used one published scenario, "Convergence", to kick things off. The rest was my own material. Most of it was single room mysteries, the focus was firmly on plot twists. At the end of it most of the group casualties were inflicted by the players on each other.
My Life With Master - Still one of my favorite games, I ran this twice. The first was a one-shot, the second time I did a two-parter. I actually prefer the one-shot format for this game. Although it does rush things, the game flows and the threads all come together. This game has themes that everyone understands at a very deep level. The buzz for me is seeing what the players come up with in the darkest of situations. They never fail to surprise me.
Paranoia - Yes, the old classic. I ran this recently and it was great fun.The group composition is really important in this game and we had a good one. Some of them also played "Master", and these games certainly have things in common. It also stirred up nostalgia on the day, with people coming over to see what we were playing. I'm surprised this doesn't get run more often, it's definitely a much loved game.
Trail of Cthulhu - This was a short campaign in the "Bookhounds of London" setting. I enjoyed the system in many ways, though felt it was too easy for the players, especially compared to "Delta Green". It was also fun to have some new players at the table. Overall this one had some good moments though we burned through all of the story threads very quickly indeed. I don't think I had as good a storyline in this one compared to "Delta".
The ones that got away:
Unknown Armies - I do love this system and I had a big group. Too big. We just about finished character creation and I just wasn't "feeling it". We had no concept for the campaign and I could tell that none of us really understood it. I just knew at that point that this one was going to die quickly, so I pulled the plug.
Fiasco - I missed this because of stuff at home on the day...the game went ahead though and was a real blast.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
2013 - What Did I Play?
With the end of another year rapidly approaching, I thought I'd take time to look back on the games that I played, as I line up new games for next year. Next time I'll be posting a summary of the games that I ran.
Games that I took part in as a player :
Dungeon World - This was run by +Michael Bay and through the course of various games I played several characters. It was interesting to visit the "Apocalypse World" engine from a different angle, which will help when I run "Monster of the Week" next year.
Apocalypse World - This time out +Tony Reyes was at the helm in a weird, violent (to be expected) mini-campaign. I played a cult leader who steered the group down entirely the wrong path. This game is always interesting but challenging to play, and I never envy the person who has to run it. They seem to be caught between improvised responses and not being allowed to have much influence in the setting.
Shadowrun 5th Edition - A one-shot demo of a game I'd never got round to trying before. Great setting, but far too crunchy for my tastes. I was definitely the only one at the table who wasn't having a blast, so it can't be denied that Shadowrun has a certain "something".
Mage:The Awakening - I finally got to try a "New World of Darkness" game! I thought it was great, much easier than I'd anticipated. The LARP adaptation of the rules and the tendency to stay immersed in character threw me a little, and sadly my schedule got in the way of staying with the game. I'd feel confident running this myself, but there doesn't seem to be an audience.
Savage Worlds - This was a zombie survival game, absolutely not my ideal setting, but I really enjoyed the system. It had enough crunch to make the combat satisfying, something which I feel is missing in the games that I run. Fun, and great for one-shots.
Fate Accelerated Edition - +Scott Acker ran a demo of this and aside from being a fun session, I came away feeling that I actually understood how the game works...always a good sign in a demo! I'm interested in seeing where Fate goes in future settings.
Old School D&D - +john yorio has ran two sessions of this recently and I played in both. It took me back to my childhood and was good old-fashioned fun. Simple rules, deadly opponents and a really great sense of camaraderie at the table.
So there you have it, a decent selection for the year and I didn't realize how much I'd played until I planned this post! I salute all the people who ran these games. All were excellent gamesmasters and I learned something from each of them to take forward into the games that I run.
Games that I took part in as a player :
Dungeon World - This was run by +Michael Bay and through the course of various games I played several characters. It was interesting to visit the "Apocalypse World" engine from a different angle, which will help when I run "Monster of the Week" next year.
Apocalypse World - This time out +Tony Reyes was at the helm in a weird, violent (to be expected) mini-campaign. I played a cult leader who steered the group down entirely the wrong path. This game is always interesting but challenging to play, and I never envy the person who has to run it. They seem to be caught between improvised responses and not being allowed to have much influence in the setting.
Shadowrun 5th Edition - A one-shot demo of a game I'd never got round to trying before. Great setting, but far too crunchy for my tastes. I was definitely the only one at the table who wasn't having a blast, so it can't be denied that Shadowrun has a certain "something".
Mage:The Awakening - I finally got to try a "New World of Darkness" game! I thought it was great, much easier than I'd anticipated. The LARP adaptation of the rules and the tendency to stay immersed in character threw me a little, and sadly my schedule got in the way of staying with the game. I'd feel confident running this myself, but there doesn't seem to be an audience.
Savage Worlds - This was a zombie survival game, absolutely not my ideal setting, but I really enjoyed the system. It had enough crunch to make the combat satisfying, something which I feel is missing in the games that I run. Fun, and great for one-shots.
Fate Accelerated Edition - +Scott Acker ran a demo of this and aside from being a fun session, I came away feeling that I actually understood how the game works...always a good sign in a demo! I'm interested in seeing where Fate goes in future settings.
Old School D&D - +john yorio has ran two sessions of this recently and I played in both. It took me back to my childhood and was good old-fashioned fun. Simple rules, deadly opponents and a really great sense of camaraderie at the table.
So there you have it, a decent selection for the year and I didn't realize how much I'd played until I planned this post! I salute all the people who ran these games. All were excellent gamesmasters and I learned something from each of them to take forward into the games that I run.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Old School Gaming
Last weekend I took part in an old school meetup ran by +john yorio . I know John through some of my own games.He'd played in an "Unknown Armies" one-shot and one of my more unusual "Call of Cthulhu" sessions.
This game was Basic D&D with some Labyrinth Lord modifications. It was a one-shot, also one of the original modules. I couldn't resist the nostalgia and I love one-shot games in general.They're such a great way to get a taste for a game without investing too much in terms of characters and campaigns. Basic D&D was the first game I ever played back in the early 1980's. My next experience was with Advanced D&D 2nd Edition when I ran a Ravenloft campaign in the 1990's, and the only fantasy games I've played since returning to the hobby in recent years have been Dungeon World and Pathfinder.
There was a good turnout for the game. It took a few minutes to put some characters together (though pre-gens were readily available) and it was fun to see how basic and direct the game really was. You could be a Fighter,Magic User, Thief, Cleric, Dwarf, Elf or Halfling. I opted for the Dwarf, as I do enjoy head first characters.
It was a classic dungeon arrangement, with skeletons, goblins,an evil Cleric, hidden doors and traps. The action was fast and quickly resolved...but what was truly special was the headcount. My Dwarf was the first to die, my Halfling somehow made it. Some other players actually went through three...yes,three characters in what was probably a three hour session. The pre-gens came in handy!
All in all it was just simple fun. Everyone was into the game and the spirit of it. Thinking back to how I started running "Call of Cthulhu", I was really tapping into the same thing...giving players the chance to reconnect with an old classic that they hadn't played in years or missed out on first time around.This inspires me to dig out some of the others, like "Paranoia" and "Judge Dredd" (Games Workshop version). It also reminded me how much I love the one-shot/demo format, and I'm seriously thinking about making 2014 a year where I run a one-shot of a different game each month, alongside just one campaign. That would also be good preparation for my stint in "Games on Demand" at Dragoncon 2014...but that's another post :-)
+john yorio has another session lined up for next month and I'm looking forward to that one too. It's good to see the level of excitement around this and he runs the sessions well.
This game was Basic D&D with some Labyrinth Lord modifications. It was a one-shot, also one of the original modules. I couldn't resist the nostalgia and I love one-shot games in general.They're such a great way to get a taste for a game without investing too much in terms of characters and campaigns. Basic D&D was the first game I ever played back in the early 1980's. My next experience was with Advanced D&D 2nd Edition when I ran a Ravenloft campaign in the 1990's, and the only fantasy games I've played since returning to the hobby in recent years have been Dungeon World and Pathfinder.
There was a good turnout for the game. It took a few minutes to put some characters together (though pre-gens were readily available) and it was fun to see how basic and direct the game really was. You could be a Fighter,Magic User, Thief, Cleric, Dwarf, Elf or Halfling. I opted for the Dwarf, as I do enjoy head first characters.
It was a classic dungeon arrangement, with skeletons, goblins,an evil Cleric, hidden doors and traps. The action was fast and quickly resolved...but what was truly special was the headcount. My Dwarf was the first to die, my Halfling somehow made it. Some other players actually went through three...yes,three characters in what was probably a three hour session. The pre-gens came in handy!
All in all it was just simple fun. Everyone was into the game and the spirit of it. Thinking back to how I started running "Call of Cthulhu", I was really tapping into the same thing...giving players the chance to reconnect with an old classic that they hadn't played in years or missed out on first time around.This inspires me to dig out some of the others, like "Paranoia" and "Judge Dredd" (Games Workshop version). It also reminded me how much I love the one-shot/demo format, and I'm seriously thinking about making 2014 a year where I run a one-shot of a different game each month, alongside just one campaign. That would also be good preparation for my stint in "Games on Demand" at Dragoncon 2014...but that's another post :-)
+john yorio has another session lined up for next month and I'm looking forward to that one too. It's good to see the level of excitement around this and he runs the sessions well.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Reflecting On Running Horror RPGs
With very few exceptions,such as FASA's Star Trek RPG, every game I have run has been of the horror genre. Even Star Trek took a horrific turn when I ran it. I have always loved horror stories and movies.
My biggest runs have been "Call of Cthulhu" and "Ravenloft". I've ran "My Life With Master", "Unknown Armies","Kult" and "Wraith". Next year sees "Monster of the Week" added to the list. I was thinking over all of these games in a discussion with a friend a few days back, and it was the first time I'd really reflected on how I'd ran them.
On the surface I enjoy weirdness rather than lots of gore, probably why I favor Lovecraftian scenarios over zombie ones. I especially like games that focus on odd, disturbed NPCs. I also tend to play with time and dimensions in my sessions too, one of the reasons why I love Tindalosian Hounds so much.
Thinking back to "Ravenloft" and how well some of those sessions went, I realized that they weren't focused on those areas at all. Granted,it was a different setting and I was a lot less experienced then. It struck me however, that there was something that worked in those games that still works now.
One of the "Ravenloft" sessions was set in a small village in Kartakass, home to wolfweres. They are "inverse" werewolves, wolves that assume the form of humans. The locals are friendly, musical and jovial. The players were at their most paranoid in this session, and it was because they were out of their comfort zone...this was AD&D, a game in which they'd got used to fighting their way through things. Now,they were in a social situation, forced to mix with friendly locals, not knowing who or what the threat was. The paladin, representative of all things lawful and good, simply couldn't start swinging the sword.
That's really the thread I've seen as a GM.Make the players uncertain about reality, their characters capabilities and the world around them. Put the characters in situations where their usual modus operandi simply doesn't work or isn't an option any more. In "Ravenloft", it was fighting characters in a friendly,social situation. In "Call of Cthulhu", it's when the academia are forced to blow up buildings, or cops when realize their bullets don't work.
My biggest runs have been "Call of Cthulhu" and "Ravenloft". I've ran "My Life With Master", "Unknown Armies","Kult" and "Wraith". Next year sees "Monster of the Week" added to the list. I was thinking over all of these games in a discussion with a friend a few days back, and it was the first time I'd really reflected on how I'd ran them.
On the surface I enjoy weirdness rather than lots of gore, probably why I favor Lovecraftian scenarios over zombie ones. I especially like games that focus on odd, disturbed NPCs. I also tend to play with time and dimensions in my sessions too, one of the reasons why I love Tindalosian Hounds so much.
Thinking back to "Ravenloft" and how well some of those sessions went, I realized that they weren't focused on those areas at all. Granted,it was a different setting and I was a lot less experienced then. It struck me however, that there was something that worked in those games that still works now.
One of the "Ravenloft" sessions was set in a small village in Kartakass, home to wolfweres. They are "inverse" werewolves, wolves that assume the form of humans. The locals are friendly, musical and jovial. The players were at their most paranoid in this session, and it was because they were out of their comfort zone...this was AD&D, a game in which they'd got used to fighting their way through things. Now,they were in a social situation, forced to mix with friendly locals, not knowing who or what the threat was. The paladin, representative of all things lawful and good, simply couldn't start swinging the sword.
That's really the thread I've seen as a GM.Make the players uncertain about reality, their characters capabilities and the world around them. Put the characters in situations where their usual modus operandi simply doesn't work or isn't an option any more. In "Ravenloft", it was fighting characters in a friendly,social situation. In "Call of Cthulhu", it's when the academia are forced to blow up buildings, or cops when realize their bullets don't work.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Playbooks - Making Life Easier
Over the last few years I've been lucky enough to have to played in or ran games from a variety of systems. A personal goal of mine is to have ran a session in every different "Cthulhu" RPG to get a feel for how the rules compare and contrast in a familiar setting.
Now in terms of rules,I'm a lazy GM. I don't want to to wade through hundreds of pages to understand how to run something or have to refer to lots of charts during gameplay. Combat usually frustrates me in this regard. I do,however, like to have some structure..enough to support and add to the game. "Call of Cthulhu" and "My Life With Master" have been great for this.
I also don't like situations where the players need a copy of the rulebook or a long explanation of the rules to be able to play the game. I ran into this when I did a kickoff session for "Unknown Armies" recently. I love UA and the base system. However, for players who didn't have the books it was remarkably difficult to explain the various magical schools, the setting and some parts of character generation. I brought a lot of handouts and cheat sheets to try and make this easier, but I still feel it's an uphill task. Hopefully things will click during actual gameplay. I also had to do a lot of handouts and preparation like this when I was starting up "Trail of Cthulhu" and "Delta Green".
It was then that it struck me, the thing that I really missed. It was the "playbook" approach used in "Apocalypse World" and all of the games based on it. I'd got used to using them in "Apocalypse World" and "Dungeon World", and I'll be seeing them again when I run "Monster of the Week" and "tremulus".
Playbooks are essentially a customized character sheet. For example, in "Dungeon World", there is a "Cleric" playbook. This contains all the instructions that the player needs to create the Cleric, details of the all the things that character can do that are specific to that class, and how to level up. This means no need to look for the rulebook,and each playbook captures the distinct feel of that particular class/role/occupation. The only other thing that's needed is a copy of the general "moves", things that every character can do.
I've used them enough that I miss them in other games. For the "Unknown Armies" session, I realized that I was trying to compensate by making my own cheat sheets...the process would have been so much easier for everyone involved if I could have handed over to each player a single document that had everything they needed to create,start and play.Has anyone else experienced this,and how did you adjust?
Now in terms of rules,I'm a lazy GM. I don't want to to wade through hundreds of pages to understand how to run something or have to refer to lots of charts during gameplay. Combat usually frustrates me in this regard. I do,however, like to have some structure..enough to support and add to the game. "Call of Cthulhu" and "My Life With Master" have been great for this.
I also don't like situations where the players need a copy of the rulebook or a long explanation of the rules to be able to play the game. I ran into this when I did a kickoff session for "Unknown Armies" recently. I love UA and the base system. However, for players who didn't have the books it was remarkably difficult to explain the various magical schools, the setting and some parts of character generation. I brought a lot of handouts and cheat sheets to try and make this easier, but I still feel it's an uphill task. Hopefully things will click during actual gameplay. I also had to do a lot of handouts and preparation like this when I was starting up "Trail of Cthulhu" and "Delta Green".
It was then that it struck me, the thing that I really missed. It was the "playbook" approach used in "Apocalypse World" and all of the games based on it. I'd got used to using them in "Apocalypse World" and "Dungeon World", and I'll be seeing them again when I run "Monster of the Week" and "tremulus".
Playbooks are essentially a customized character sheet. For example, in "Dungeon World", there is a "Cleric" playbook. This contains all the instructions that the player needs to create the Cleric, details of the all the things that character can do that are specific to that class, and how to level up. This means no need to look for the rulebook,and each playbook captures the distinct feel of that particular class/role/occupation. The only other thing that's needed is a copy of the general "moves", things that every character can do.
I've used them enough that I miss them in other games. For the "Unknown Armies" session, I realized that I was trying to compensate by making my own cheat sheets...the process would have been so much easier for everyone involved if I could have handed over to each player a single document that had everything they needed to create,start and play.Has anyone else experienced this,and how did you adjust?
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Mage - The Awakening RPG
I finally got round to playing a game of "Mage - The Awakening", which is the New World of Darkness version of my old favorite, "Mage - The Ascension".
The game was run by the Mind's Eye Society, a World of Darkness LARP group, and it was the LARP rules that were used in the game. The rules and certain elements of the setting reminded me of two other games in particular...more on that later.
First of all it was time for character creation. I'd done some research in advance and came with ideas of which magical path and order I wanted to belong to. As is often the case with me, when it came to actual creation and discussing concepts with the GM ("Storyteller"in WoD terms), I went with one that had initially appealed to me the least! The path is all about what kinds of magic you do, and how you interpret the world magically. The order is more about your philosophy and view on how magic should be handled.
The paths are Acanthus (Enchanters who are all about luck,chance and time), Mastigos (Warlocks who work their inner demons,and other peoples), Moros (Necromancers who focus on death and material things), Obrimos (Theurgists who use raw,prime divine magic) and Thyrsus (Shamans who deal with the natural world). I strongly leaned to Mastigos and Moros before I attended the session, and ended up going with Acanthus. I liked Time magic, and playing with chance. I wanted a character who would get into trouble through gambling.
The orders are the Adamantine Arrow (fighters),Guardians of the Veil (spies), Mysterium (Lorekeepers), The Silver Ladder (Rulers) and the Free Council (Modernists). I went with the Mysterium, as I also wanted a research and investigation emphasis in the character.
The game reminded me in some ways of "Nephilim". Specifically, the five paths are aligned to Watchtowers. You have your Watchtower, the others are neutral but one is opposed..it's your weakest point. When visualized as a pentagram, this strongly resembles how the elements in Nephilim work, and how you assign Ka.
The system had a few different ways to be played, with hands, cards or dice. I went with dice, and rather than using the tabletop rules of a dice pool, instead you add the number of dots in an attribute to the dots in a skill plus a D10. Anything over 10 is a success. This is pretty much how Unisystem works, and I recognized it from running "All Flesh Must Be Eaten". It's a fast,easy way to resolve things and has me wondering about giving the "Angel" RPG a shot...
All in all a fun game and not nearly as complex as I thought it would be. I look forward to more sessions and exploring the system more.
The game was run by the Mind's Eye Society, a World of Darkness LARP group, and it was the LARP rules that were used in the game. The rules and certain elements of the setting reminded me of two other games in particular...more on that later.
First of all it was time for character creation. I'd done some research in advance and came with ideas of which magical path and order I wanted to belong to. As is often the case with me, when it came to actual creation and discussing concepts with the GM ("Storyteller"in WoD terms), I went with one that had initially appealed to me the least! The path is all about what kinds of magic you do, and how you interpret the world magically. The order is more about your philosophy and view on how magic should be handled.
The paths are Acanthus (Enchanters who are all about luck,chance and time), Mastigos (Warlocks who work their inner demons,and other peoples), Moros (Necromancers who focus on death and material things), Obrimos (Theurgists who use raw,prime divine magic) and Thyrsus (Shamans who deal with the natural world). I strongly leaned to Mastigos and Moros before I attended the session, and ended up going with Acanthus. I liked Time magic, and playing with chance. I wanted a character who would get into trouble through gambling.
The orders are the Adamantine Arrow (fighters),Guardians of the Veil (spies), Mysterium (Lorekeepers), The Silver Ladder (Rulers) and the Free Council (Modernists). I went with the Mysterium, as I also wanted a research and investigation emphasis in the character.
The game reminded me in some ways of "Nephilim". Specifically, the five paths are aligned to Watchtowers. You have your Watchtower, the others are neutral but one is opposed..it's your weakest point. When visualized as a pentagram, this strongly resembles how the elements in Nephilim work, and how you assign Ka.
The system had a few different ways to be played, with hands, cards or dice. I went with dice, and rather than using the tabletop rules of a dice pool, instead you add the number of dots in an attribute to the dots in a skill plus a D10. Anything over 10 is a success. This is pretty much how Unisystem works, and I recognized it from running "All Flesh Must Be Eaten". It's a fast,easy way to resolve things and has me wondering about giving the "Angel" RPG a shot...
All in all a fun game and not nearly as complex as I thought it would be. I look forward to more sessions and exploring the system more.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Fate Accelerated Edition
+Scott Acker ran a demo of FAE (Fate Accelerated Edition) on sunday at my usual gaming haunt. We've played in several different games together and he knows the various incarnations of FATE inside out, so I asked him if he could set up a demo as I'd yet to play any FATE games. Like all too many people in this hobby,I have shelves of games that I've never played or run.
The demo was called "The Gothelrealm University of Esoteric and Arcane Arts".The setting was a Harry Potter Hogwarts-style university where the students are all supernatural beings. The classics were all well represented, vampires,ghosts,werewolves, fae,wizards and dragons all on the roll call.
I chose to play a werewolf. Scott gave us blank character sheets and some previously prepared "Aspects" (descriptions of the character that can be directly applied to the setting) and "Stunts" (special things we can do) to choose from. We also prioritized our "Approaches" (how we do things), such as "Quick","Careful" etc.
I haven't used Aspects before and it made a lot of sense to me in play. In some ways I found it reminiscent of "Unknown Armies" with its list of Passions. I liked having a "High Concept", a nice one-liner summing up who and what the character is in the game. Most of all, I liked have a "Trouble" Aspect. By choosing to use this Aspect in the game, you can be rewarded with a "FATE point", which you can then use later in the game to reroll dice, add +2 to a result or to add a detail to the game. I think this is probably the part that I enjoyed the most in that it encourages the players to make the story more interesting by making dangerous or difficult choices rather than focusing purely on winning.
The game flowed really well. I won't give details of the session itself as I know Scott runs this at conventions too. It had a strong gothic feel and I could see how a "Sleepy Hollow" game would work well with this. The characters were also very distinct archetypes, something else that I personally enjoy in games,especially as a player.
So having played this demo, I feel I've had a good taste of FAE. It's remarkably easy to play.I'd like to try it's more complex brother, "Fate Core", and some of the established settings too. If you haven't tried this and fancy a light, fast-paced game I strongly recommend giving it a look.
The demo was called "The Gothelrealm University of Esoteric and Arcane Arts".The setting was a Harry Potter Hogwarts-style university where the students are all supernatural beings. The classics were all well represented, vampires,ghosts,werewolves, fae,wizards and dragons all on the roll call.
I chose to play a werewolf. Scott gave us blank character sheets and some previously prepared "Aspects" (descriptions of the character that can be directly applied to the setting) and "Stunts" (special things we can do) to choose from. We also prioritized our "Approaches" (how we do things), such as "Quick","Careful" etc.
I haven't used Aspects before and it made a lot of sense to me in play. In some ways I found it reminiscent of "Unknown Armies" with its list of Passions. I liked having a "High Concept", a nice one-liner summing up who and what the character is in the game. Most of all, I liked have a "Trouble" Aspect. By choosing to use this Aspect in the game, you can be rewarded with a "FATE point", which you can then use later in the game to reroll dice, add +2 to a result or to add a detail to the game. I think this is probably the part that I enjoyed the most in that it encourages the players to make the story more interesting by making dangerous or difficult choices rather than focusing purely on winning.
The game flowed really well. I won't give details of the session itself as I know Scott runs this at conventions too. It had a strong gothic feel and I could see how a "Sleepy Hollow" game would work well with this. The characters were also very distinct archetypes, something else that I personally enjoy in games,especially as a player.
So having played this demo, I feel I've had a good taste of FAE. It's remarkably easy to play.I'd like to try it's more complex brother, "Fate Core", and some of the established settings too. If you haven't tried this and fancy a light, fast-paced game I strongly recommend giving it a look.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)