After weeks of sporadic tinkering the role-playing system I was hoping to run for Protozoicon is finally at a usable stage. Still not polished to the sleek and glossy shine I’d prefer but workable at least and including all the necessary components. Also, at six pages, it’s mercifully brief.
You can find it here in PDF format.
For those really interested there’s more commentary available here on the design philosophy behind it and such.
This year the RPG run at Protozoicon will be decided by concensus. So if you’re planning on attending and interested in playing please give a little feedback if you’ve got time.
The survey only contains 10 questions so hopefully it won’t take too long.
You can click here to take it.
Alternate Title: Evil Elf Chicks Must Die
This was the adventure designed for the sole purpose of testing out the Injury and Consequences mechanics mentioned earlier. The level of the PCs was 6th and I had them gradually facing protagonists closer and closer to the standard D&D challenge ratings.
The since some of the mechanical elements I eventually try out might clash with any of the pre-planned settings (ie. Forgotten Realms or Ravenloft) I instead cooked up a home-brew setting with characteristics generally similar to the standard ones. There’s not much to it but a few background details thrown together and some antagonists. Since I’d been reading Vance’s Dying Earth recently you may notice some minor thematic aspects of that setting worked in as well. Other elements will be invented later as they become relevant to the story.
My prep-notes for the session follow. As such they contain spoilers, players be warned.
Continue reading d20 Adventure – Playdough Fun Factory of the Godz
In trying to playtest the d20 combat systems discussed recently I’ve gotten to the point where the alternate rules are sufficiently different from the original rules that it’s difficult to keep track of things on a normal character sheet.
So here’s a sheet to keep track of the new character stats:
d20 Alternate Rules – Character Sheet – Combat Section
This sheet is just for combat-relevant stuff. I figure at some point I’ll come up with one for spells and another one for abilities, skills, and other noncombat stuff. But for now the standard sheets can handle those things pretty well.
A bit over a year ago I posted an idea for some alternate mechanics as a substitution for hit points for games using the d20 system. Rarely do I ever DM though, so the odds of getting these mechanics actually play-tested seemed slim. However on Thursday, this past, I actually ran an adventure in which they were tried out.
The results didn’t seem too bad and, as expected, combat was short and deadly. Overall reaction afterward seemed to border on actual enthusiasm though a number of concerns were voiced and a fair bit of discussion and suggestion quickly followed.
Continue reading d20 Alternate Mechanics – Injury & Consequences (Redux)
One thing that always bugged me about the magic system in D&D and it’s d20 offspring is the reliance on the same old “spell slots†magic system. Via this system magicians get a certain number of spells per day. The magician fills up the memory slots in his head with spells at the beginning of the day and then casts the spells throughout the day, thus emptying slots which may be filled again after 8 hours of sleep. â€
This was a magic system unlike any I had ever read in story or myth at the time††and the fact that it neither inspired me nor modeled any aspect of the worlds I’d imagined or read about annoyed me to no end.
“Well, why not throw the whole game out the window?†you ask, “There are other RPGs out there with more cohesive magic systems… take Mutants and Masterminds for example, you could use that system to model any sort of power you’d ever want and it’s powers seem intuitively balanced and consistent.â€
To this I can only say:
True.
But the nostalgia man. The nostalgia!
Continue reading d20 – Weave a Little Spell (Part I – The Basics)
As the revels continue the Freehold gates, their chimeral aspect massive and dwarfing the hall’s celebrants, swing ajar. Their movement though is hesitant, cautious. Not the dramatic slam of pomp and grand entrance, nor the gentle swing they’d grant a welcome but timid visitor. The portal’s timbers seem to question one to the other in silent, wooden speech, “Is this a one to be allowed entry? Truly enough it braves the Silver Ban, but the fall of it’s tread echoes more distantly than that of folk who dwell within, and the rap of it’s knuckles resounds alien upon our planks. Yet it’s intent seems clear…”
Throughout most of the day yesterday I could feel a tickle in my throat and by the time I went to bed a dull ache had settled over my body. Unable now to sleep I may as well regale you all with my experience this past night.
Fuel for the Fire
Partly due to the interest of a mutual friend and partly to the loathsome yet addictively crack-like nature of the medium, my wife and I have ended up watching several “reality TV” competitions over the last few months, the most recent being “America’s Next Top Chef”. In addition Cartoon Network recently replayed the episode of Futurama where Bender wins the Iron Chef competition by unknowingly using an aqueous solution of LSD as his secret seasoning.
In a totally unrelated vein: Last night I’d been pouring over descriptions of monsters and spells in the old Call of Cthulhu horror RPG to help provide background for an artifact I was thinking of submitting to the Delta Green mailing list.
All of these ingredients mixed together in my fever-addled brain, congealing at around 4:00 a.m. this morning into a viscous stew.
I started writing this review at least six months ago but got side-tracked at the time. Since the subject of video games is again on my mind for other reasons it seemed like now’d be an appropriate time to finish it off.
Warning: Minor spoilers.
The recent Ultima entries brought the subject of Live Action Roleplaying (or “LARPing” as it’s known in the “industry”) to mind. But I was a little hesitant to post this stuff on such a highly accredited website as to Protozoic. As Loki has pointed out information on this hobby abounds on the internet already and I hate to fool anyone into thinking the stuff I’ve written on LARPs is particularly more informative than any existing LARP-ocentric sites already out there.
The stuff below may serve as a general introduction and outsider’s totally biased critique of LARPs, but does suffer slightly from being pulled straight out of my ass. Not that I’m saying anything made from whole cloth, or even in part intentionally fictitious. But while I’ve followed table-top roleplaying games (RPGs) in general alot over the years, as I’ve mentioned at other times, I sort of steer clear of LARPs. I’ve picked up a few tidbits about them here and there, but my knowledge of LARPs is about as informed as my knowledge of football: I might have a vague ideas of the rules and paraphenalia, and maybe remember an amusing anecdote or two someone told me about the game, but when it comes to the background, sub-culture, and details of specific games/teams/conferences/etc. then I’ve been pretty much willfully ignorant of the whole deal.
Still, even though my understanding might not be perfect, I would like to discuss it at the moment. So, for the sake of argument consider the following a primer written by an outsider, or better yet a straw dog to be beaten apart so as to stimulate more elucidating discourse.
With that excessively long disclaimer…
Continue reading Them’s Me Magic Spells: The twisting paths of live action roleplaying.