And, man, do I mean action! This was an action-packed convention, thanks to Bulldogs! and the new Marvel Heroic RPG.
I signed up to run a crazy number of games, five in all. This is definitely my limit. Two sessions were playtests of my medieval politics game-in-development, The Art of Power. The first went well but didn't really stretch the system much. The second was much more intense. We tried several things the rules didn't support very well, which is great, and I had the inestimable Rob Donoghue as one of my players. After the game was over, he joined me for dinner and we had a great discussion about the rules, with many wonderful ideas tossed around. As he put it after the game, "I think you've got a solid core here, but now I'm going to take a fire axe to it."
This gave me a clear idea for future development, but lots more work to do. Also, this game is definitely going in a card-game direction. That opens up a lot of headaches for printing and sourcing. I will be digging into those issues as I go along.
The other three games I ran were Bulldogs!, all using the Getting There Is Half the Fun scenario, set on the planet of Arsubar and involving a missing cargo. It was loads of fun, and my method of running the game with a random choice from 10 different characters always makes it a unique experience, since I never end up with the same crew. Different players bring a different flavor each time, as well. We ran into one minor issue in the first game when one player felt seriously blocked, but a good conversation between players quickly resolved the situation and the same player got to be completely heroic and badass in a subsequent scene, so all was well.
I also got a chance to play in a few games. Kevin Allen Jr.'s Trouble for Hire is basically an action movie in the style of the 1970s and 80s, with a single protagonist. The game shares the GM tasks out among the other players, and periodically everyone switches roles. It was really interesting and fun, and we created a great story that felt just like an action movie. This game is doing just what it intends. I wanted to play because Kevin was interested in publishing Trouble for Hire through Galileo Games, and after having a session of the game I'm really excited to be on board.
I also played in a session of Bulldogs! run by Jared Axelrod. This was super fun, I rarely get a chance to play in my own games, I'm usually running them instead, so just diving in with the character of "Big" Brunda Margab, Hacragorkan cargo loader, was a lot of fun. Jared presented a nicely crafted little adventure with some zombism, some space pirates, and a fleet of Templar warships. It was awesome, but we were all pretty incurious and relatively stupid characters, and all the backstory he prepared was ignored in favor of ass-kicking. In Bulldogs!, that's probably as it should be.
The last RPG I was in was the new Marvel Heroic RPG run by John Stavropoulos. John is a super high-energy GM, and we had a great time with the game. I played as Colossus and managed to absorb most of the damage laid out during the session, even when it was meant for someone else. I also leaped into the East River in metal form to rescue a drowning villain, who returned the favor by feeding off my mutant nature to try to kill me. It was epic!
The last thing I did was squeeze in a demo of Velociraptor! Cannibalism!, a card game designed by some friends of mine. It is very goofy fun, and I've contributed to their Kickstarter. I suggest you do the same, it's a lot of fun.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The Art of Power: Successful Playtest
I got a chance to playtest The Art of Power last month at the Meetup of Doom. My three playtesters, all game designers, took to it pretty quickly and most of the mechanics behaved just how I wanted them to. I'm pretty confident at this point that things are on the right track.
I'm going to be running a couple more sessions over the weekend at Dreamation, which will hopefully put some final polish on the initial playtest rules. The next step after this is to finish writing them up and get them out to some select groups of outside playtesters.
I'm so excited about the game that I've already started working with an artist and the playtest materials are going to have some great art. They will be pretty finished looking, actually. I definitely got ahead of my usual schedule on this one.
I'm going to be running a couple more sessions over the weekend at Dreamation, which will hopefully put some final polish on the initial playtest rules. The next step after this is to finish writing them up and get them out to some select groups of outside playtesters.
I'm so excited about the game that I've already started working with an artist and the playtest materials are going to have some great art. They will be pretty finished looking, actually. I definitely got ahead of my usual schedule on this one.
Friday, January 13, 2012
The Art of Power: Design Conundrum
I'm working on a new game for this year, working title The Art of Power. I've got a little practical design issue I'm running into.
In the game, I have four attributes and they are associated with the four suits on playing cards.
The attributes are:
Violence, Authority, Affection, and Influence
These map metaphorically to the card suits, at least in my mind: Spades (originally swords) is Violence, clubs is Authority (club relating the the scepter), Affection is naturally hearts, and Influence is diamonds (or coins, since money falls in this category).
This is great, pretty logical, but runs into a problem. The order in which I list these above is the proper hierarchy in the game, but when mapped to the suits this goes against the standard suit hierarchy of card games (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs). I could remap the attributes, but that separates hearts from Affection, which will seem counter-intuitive to a lot of players, but I am also worried that changing the standard card hierarchy makes things difficult, since many players will be familiar with this.
Thoughts?
In the game, I have four attributes and they are associated with the four suits on playing cards.
The attributes are:
Violence, Authority, Affection, and Influence
These map metaphorically to the card suits, at least in my mind: Spades (originally swords) is Violence, clubs is Authority (club relating the the scepter), Affection is naturally hearts, and Influence is diamonds (or coins, since money falls in this category).
This is great, pretty logical, but runs into a problem. The order in which I list these above is the proper hierarchy in the game, but when mapped to the suits this goes against the standard suit hierarchy of card games (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs). I could remap the attributes, but that separates hearts from Affection, which will seem counter-intuitive to a lot of players, but I am also worried that changing the standard card hierarchy makes things difficult, since many players will be familiar with this.
Thoughts?
Monday, January 9, 2012
L5R to AW: Updates
It's been more than a little while since I posted anything regarding my L5R to AW hack. I had been thinking about attending 11/11/11 and running it there, which would have prompted me to do a lot more work on it, but unexpected family business sent me on a trip that weekend. My L5R group hasn't met since October, either, and it's definitely been out of my mind. The good news for those of you waiting for more info is that we meet again this month, so I will have some fresh motivation to work on this.
The bad news is that I've got a big, aggressive publication schedule this year for Galileo Games, so I may not have much time for projects that can't ever be legally published! I'll post what I can, maybe a playbook or two over the next two weeks, when I can squeeze it in. Bear with me!
[This post prompted by a New Year's Eve conversation with my L5R players. On a recent visit to Chicago, they ran into someone from a podcast I won't name, who complained about the long wait for me to post more info on this topic. As the conversation went on, my players gradually realized that the topic was their own game. Anyway, if you are interested in what I'm doing here and want more, make sure you comment! When I post files and hear nothing, I assume nobody's reading. :) ]
The bad news is that I've got a big, aggressive publication schedule this year for Galileo Games, so I may not have much time for projects that can't ever be legally published! I'll post what I can, maybe a playbook or two over the next two weeks, when I can squeeze it in. Bear with me!
[This post prompted by a New Year's Eve conversation with my L5R players. On a recent visit to Chicago, they ran into someone from a podcast I won't name, who complained about the long wait for me to post more info on this topic. As the conversation went on, my players gradually realized that the topic was their own game. Anyway, if you are interested in what I'm doing here and want more, make sure you comment! When I post files and hear nothing, I assume nobody's reading. :) ]
Thursday, October 20, 2011
L5R to AW: Wealth
I was meaning to post this last week, but life got busy! Here's the next installment of the Legend of the Five Rings to Apocalypse World hack.
Apocalypse World is a setting of scarcity. A lot of what happens in that setting is based on the fact that resources are few and there are people competing for them. In Legend of the Five Rings, the player characters are part of the aristocracy. Want is not something that they need to worry about (with a couple of exceptions). Because of this, wealth works a little differently in my hack. Almost all characters get some wealth to play with every session, and I put together some tables for the cool things you can do with it.
Characters' uses of wealth can be found in this PDF.
Apocalypse World is a setting of scarcity. A lot of what happens in that setting is based on the fact that resources are few and there are people competing for them. In Legend of the Five Rings, the player characters are part of the aristocracy. Want is not something that they need to worry about (with a couple of exceptions). Because of this, wealth works a little differently in my hack. Almost all characters get some wealth to play with every session, and I put together some tables for the cool things you can do with it.
Characters' uses of wealth can be found in this PDF.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
L5R to AW: Something New
Monday I covered the Basic Moves. As you saw, I added a bit to the list, but for the most part I stuck pretty close to AW's main set.
This time, I put together a little something extra, available to all samurai (not ronin, usually). These are Staff Moves. You can have several kinds of staff as a samurai:
The various effects of Staff, as well as a quickie mechanic for Favor at court, can be found in this PDF.
This time, I put together a little something extra, available to all samurai (not ronin, usually). These are Staff Moves. You can have several kinds of staff as a samurai:
- Soldiers, if you have a military rank.
- Bodyguards, for people who need assistance for defense.
- Servants, for anyone of sufficient importance.
- Aides, if you have been awarded a political position.
The various effects of Staff, as well as a quickie mechanic for Favor at court, can be found in this PDF.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Hacking Apocalypse World to Legend of the Five Rings
One of my favorite games in the last 15 years has been Legend of the Five Rings. I had a lot of fun with it when the first edition came out, and recently I started a new campaign with my regular game group. Sadly, the recent campaign ran into trouble. System trouble.
4th Edition Legend of the Five Rings really rewards system mastery. If you can figure out how to optimize your character build with skill, stats, and advantages, you can really create a powerful, or possibly overpowering, character. The makeup of my group is two players who love this part of the game, and three players who could care less about character builds. This led to a very unbalanced play group and some serious problems for my game.
After playing some Apocalypse World, I decided to hack it to L5R, because AW is right up the alley of at least one of my players. I'd like to share the hack here on the blog. This is a completely unofficial hack, I have no rights to either AW or L5R. Enjoy and share.
The first step is to convert the stats. AW has five: Cool, Hard, Hot, Sharp, and Weird. I decided to stick a bit closer to AW for this, but conveniently, there are five stats and five rings. I changed the names to fit the L5R flavor better:
The Fire ring stands for Bold. With Bold, you can defy danger and duel. Defy danger comes from Dungeon World, but I just loved that term, and it fits with Bold.
The Earth ring stands for Strong. With Strong, you can threaten violence and fight.
The Water ring stands for Elegant. With Elegant, you can seduce or manipulate or engage in a battle of words.
The Air ring stands for Sagacious. With Sagacious, you can read a person or read a situation.
Lastly, the Void ring stands for Blessed. With Blessed, you can commune with your ancestors or commune with the kami.
These actions all map pretty closely to actions in AW. I added a few, and now each ring has two actions you can undertake. I think the duel is the weakest of the new ones.
For the full Basic Move writeups, here's a PDF.
4th Edition Legend of the Five Rings really rewards system mastery. If you can figure out how to optimize your character build with skill, stats, and advantages, you can really create a powerful, or possibly overpowering, character. The makeup of my group is two players who love this part of the game, and three players who could care less about character builds. This led to a very unbalanced play group and some serious problems for my game.
After playing some Apocalypse World, I decided to hack it to L5R, because AW is right up the alley of at least one of my players. I'd like to share the hack here on the blog. This is a completely unofficial hack, I have no rights to either AW or L5R. Enjoy and share.
The first step is to convert the stats. AW has five: Cool, Hard, Hot, Sharp, and Weird. I decided to stick a bit closer to AW for this, but conveniently, there are five stats and five rings. I changed the names to fit the L5R flavor better:
The Fire ring stands for Bold. With Bold, you can defy danger and duel. Defy danger comes from Dungeon World, but I just loved that term, and it fits with Bold.
The Earth ring stands for Strong. With Strong, you can threaten violence and fight.
The Water ring stands for Elegant. With Elegant, you can seduce or manipulate or engage in a battle of words.
The Air ring stands for Sagacious. With Sagacious, you can read a person or read a situation.
Lastly, the Void ring stands for Blessed. With Blessed, you can commune with your ancestors or commune with the kami.
These actions all map pretty closely to actions in AW. I added a few, and now each ring has two actions you can undertake. I think the duel is the weakest of the new ones.
For the full Basic Move writeups, here's a PDF.
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