DexCon Debriefing

So, Elizabeth and I went to DexCon this weekend and had a lot of fun. Here’s the rundown:

We played Russ’s game Contract Work, which is a lot of fun. It’s about contract killing. He has some concerns about the mathematical rough edges it has, and sure, it’s not done yet, but it’s going to be a really good thing when it is. It’s pointing at a really cool new thing, structurally, and he runs it really well. What I’m most excited about, though, is that it’s not just good for its thing, but also, the formula he’s got in it is obviously also the formula for heist movies and ‘catacomb plunderer’ action film.

It’s Complicated went really well both times we ran it. One session turned out to be an 80s drunken college kids movie about being trapped in a morgue freezer on a dare, and the other was a reality show about failed or just inconsequential celebrities. Who knew that IC was a game that’s good for reality shows? We hadn’t predicted it, but Shael and Ellen and Bret twigged to that immediately and it was super great. I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.

Mist-Robed Gate went really well too. I had fun running it, and it seemed like Lilith enjoyed watching. I gotta figure out how to insert new players in the middle of an already-running game. Thanks to all my players!

It was great seeing my tribe and hanging out. We had some pretty serious crowd anxiety, and like Elizabeth and I both sort of flipped out about that. But it was nice. I got to see some of Jenn’s new art! I got to see new Annalise books! We talked about games with Bret and Shael and Ivy and Jere and Bob! There was a flowchart! Rob showed us the proofs of Misspent Youth! Gingerbread smells good. Oh shit I have to send formalwear email.

P.S. Also my car exploded but now it is okay and thank you everyone who came to our aid in dealing with that. You are all lifesavers. Gummi lifesavers.

Your Father’s Armor

I made a character sheet for Riley Madison’s cool Mulan game, Your Father’s Armor.

Burning for You

So, at Jiffycon, we did get to play Annalise, which was…well, I have nothing but good to say about this game. It’s rich and textured and I met a new friend and really why am I doing this when Elizabeth has me covered. The Mist-Robed Gate was a lot of fun too, and I learned a lot from the session. I’m diving back into the text now to make revisions based on my brilliant playtesters’ critiques. More on that later.

While at the Mike Doughty concert tonight, I wrote a miniature game, and I thought I’d share:

Carrying a Torch

an autobiographical roleplaying game

So, you remember the first person you really loved? The first person you really hurt or hated? The way it changed you? That’s what this game is about.

Carrying a Torch is a story about how your relationships can have really pervasive, intense effects on your psychology, even long after those relationships have changed or moved on.

To play, you need a group of people who are pretty close, and some writing instruments, a number of smallish moveable markers such as Parcheesi pawns, and character sheets. The character sheets are laid out to support at most six characters, but in principle there’s no reason not to play with more. Each player will have one character; you get to say what that character says and does.

Start by describing a close-knit group of people. Fill out the top part of your character sheet; write down the character’s name and something about him. Then, choose an archetype card for each of the other characters; don’t tell them which archetype you chose. In the bottom half of the archetype card, write the character’s name. This card indicates what that character means to your character; it’s a lens by which he looks at their interactions.

Take a look at an archetype card if you haven’t already; you’ll see that it has a name on top, a meter down the right side, and two halves labelled “Heal me” and “Hurt me.” The meter tells you how good you’re feeling about that character at the moment; it starts in the centre point, at equilibrium. When you interact with this character, if they do the thing in “Heal me,” it makes you feel good, and if they do the other thing, it makes you feel bad. It doesn’t so much matter what else they do. When an archetype card says, “me,” it means you, not the archetype. It represents what you say to the archetype.

So, when they heal you, first nudge the marker on their meter one notch upward. Now, if the marker’s in the top half of the meter, then move the big meter on your character sheet toward the good end as many spaces as the marker is distant from the center, and if it’s in the centre or in the bottom half, only move it one space. That is to say, if you’re in a pattern of healing interactions with that character, then they affect you more, and it has more influence on your holistic well-being.

That’s what the big meter is, by the way, and notice that I didn’t decide for you which end is the good end, so you’re going to have to make that decision and record it ASAP.

Now, when they hurt you, it works a similar way; nudge their meter down and read it like the heal meter, but reversed; if it’s in the good half, then it only takes you down a notch, but if it’s in the bad half then you can go down several notches.

Now you’ll see that your meter has some big Os on it, at the ±5 and ±10 marks as well as the dotted-O at equilibrium. If an interaction makes you cross just one of the fives, then your character does something big in his life. If it was +5, then it’s a thing that improves your life. If it’s –5, then it’s a decision that’s ultimately bad, but it looks fine for now. The next time someone hurts you, they’ll let you know why it wasn’t such a great idea.

That’s not the only thing that happens! You reset your meter to 0, and the character that caused this turn in your life turns over. You choose a new archetype to represent him, or you choose a different character and a different archetype to occupy that spot in your character sheet.

Finally, you imprint that archetype. Set the turned-over archetype card to the side; now all characters can heal or hurt you in that way, to the tune of their own relationship meters. If they’re a character that doesn’t have an archetype for you, then their meter always reads 0. If you have to decide whether a character’s healing or hurting you because an imprint and their archetype disagree, then follow their archetype.

If an interaction makes you cross two Os, which is to say that it goes from less-than-ten to ten or more, or makes you cross 0 and a 5, then all that stuff above happens, but you imprint asymmetrically. If you were healed, cross out the hurt on that card. If you were hurt, cross out the heal. Only the interaction that remains affects you.

You might run out of archetypes eventually. Maybe you should, like, stop playing.

Another Bird; Eggs in the Nest

I’d like to share Sugarcrane with you. They are a jewelry-design group that makes really striking, masculine accessories with an interesting tinge of the multicultural and the antique, but with a modern edge. I kind of see them as the jewelry makers for Final Fantasy games; there is something of that fusion vibe in their work.

Plus, it’s stuff that I’d really like to wear.

It’s February 29, and a chance to make a 2-29 post only comes every four years, so I thought I’d take it today. I don’t have a lot to talk about, except for my Jiffycon Boston plans; I’m going to play Annalise with Nathan, and if things work out right, I’ll run the Mist-Robed Gate in the afternoon, although there is some whispering in the wind about doing a shot of Snow from Korea instead.

I’m really excited about Annalise. Nathan and I played it recently, as a two-player game, and it really rocks out. Having more people to play with will be super-interesting, too, as I didn’t get to see its secrets mechanics in action.

Whichever game I end up running, I’m a little apprehensive. Snow has shown its chops a couple of times, but it’s in dire need of an update to the text. It’s also got some complicated bits around the edges, that could do with some trimming. On the other side, Gate is really lean and tight, but it might be lean to the point of emaciation; I’m not sure that the rules provide all the content that we need to play it, without myself in attendance. It also hasn’t shown its function in actual play.

I’m leaning toward trying out Gate if I can get some willing persons, but I’ll be bringing Snow to fall back on.

Long Ago, the people were fighting at the end of the world…

a Polaris~Exalted game, by S. Musgrave, S. Sampat, and E. Shoemaker.

BUT HOPE WAS NOT YET LOST, FOR VENDIR HASTLEBROOK STILL HEARD THE CALL OF THE SUN…

The waves parted obligingly for Vendir’s royal canoe. All was still on the oceans of the world today; even the gulls were silent. Only the sound of water splashing on the canoe paddle could be heard. And, in that splash, a footstep, a sandaled foot landing in the back of the canoe. Assassins. Vendir did not take his eyes off of the water, now ruined with the ripples of his would be murderers. he slowly dropped the reed he had been stirring the water with “You should know that this is a private vessel.” Cold knives, still dripping seawater, touch Vendir just below each ear. It runs down to the hollow of his throat. One presses harder, draws blood.

Vendir looked up to the assassin, his eyes much more serious. “You mean to kill me here, I take it? I have a pretty good guess where you’re from.” The waters surrounding the boat begin to stir. A metallic fin surges above the water’s edge in a accelerating cycle about Vendir’s boat. “Are you sure you wouldn’t want to back out now, brothers?”

“The killing of kings is an amateur sport. We are only here to watch you while our brethren salt your fields, flood your armouries, poison your granaries, and otherwise kill everyone you care about.” A curl of smoke rises from the shore, edged with an ominous alchemical purple.

“There’s no time to waste then.” And in a moment, the metallic fin underneath the water reveals itself, a huge sword who’s blade is rigged to its handle with an extending chain, jumps out of the water by itself, blowing straight through one assassin and into Vendir’s hand, from where he cleaves another.

BUT ONLY IF one entire village is already lost.

BUT ONLY IF Vendir is able to swim to shore before anymore major damage.

AND THAT WAS HOW IT HAPPENED, SO IT WAS.

BUT HOPE WAS NOT YET LOST, FOR ANEMONE PEARL-EATER STILL FELT THE WARMTH OF THE SUN…sitting on a small spy vessel, another clan-member eagerly presenting her with an oyster so that she might provide the clan with insight into this tumultuous battle, her brother Sindbad watching the grey-purple smokes rise up from the shore. Languidly, Anemone runs a single finger along the contours of the mother-of-pearl shell, its creamy sheen glowing slickly brilliant in the light. “Only one village shall fall today, but it will feel like ten.” Her eyes flickered to her brother. “The coast will be thick with purple fog in a fortnight.” The shell seems to vibrate in her hand, almost as if in pleasure. It opens up, and reveals a quite strangely large pearl that is black as midnight, and sparkles with a forboding radiance. Her eyes go wide. “Black pearls mean black hearts. Dark desires.”

Sindbad presses the oyster closed. “One doesn’t need to consult the sea to see that.” He doesn’t release her hand.

Anemone smirks a bit. “Dark desires are ever present, aren’t they?”

Sindbad licks his lips. “Oh yes. Have you -seen- that delicious prince of the land people? He will make a delightful cabin boy.”

The purple smoke on the shore seems to dissipate. The attending clan member runs to the side of the boat to spy on it with the attached spy-glass, searching for the sight of his confidant on the shore village, but he’s nowhere to be found.

Anemone raises a brow. “He is quite lovely, though not half as lovely as you, dear brother. It would be nice to keep him.”

“You are lovelier still, my pearl.”

“Miss Anemone! Somethings gone wrong! I smell a foul trap! Please, the pearl.”

Anemone daintily pries open the oyster and drops the pearl into Sindbad’s palm. “Do you mind?” She asks, parting her lips. The attending clan member pulls on his hair as he watches the couple take their leisurely time, but holds his tongue until Sindbad feeds her the pearl. The seer’s eyes roll back in her head, and her brows knit in concentration.

“One of our assassins.. he is in love with a girl from the prince’s kingdom. He sabotaged our efforts. He has a scar below his left eye.” As Anemone eats the pearl, she is jolted by the visions of what she sees. Her marauding clan, snickering as they tear through the lands of Hastlebrook. Giant machines in the shape of men shooting out the fires of hell from their arms to burn them to cinders. Herself in the Arms of Vendir, licking his naked chest. Herself kneeling above the bloody, motionless body of her brother Sindbad, dropping the weapon that battered him. The visions stagger her into a seizure on the floor of the boat.

BUT ONLY IF Sindbad opens his eyes at the end of the vision.

AND FURTHERMORE, As Sindbad opens his eyes, he sees his sister covered head to toe in red blood, her eyes the emotionless holes of a remorseless slaughterer. (Betrayal of the People)

AND FURTHERMORE, As the camera zooms out, Vendir is revealed, blue and dead, Anemone’s hair twisted around his neck. (Betrayal of the Sun.)

AND FURTHERMORE, Anemone feels that it is impossible to struggle against this fate, and views it with inevitability and lust at her conquest of Vendir. She gets experience and the Aspect, Fate: “Conquest of Vendir”. (Forbidden Love.)

AND THAT WAS HOW IT HAPPENED.

The attendant Clan member grabs Sindbad as her sister shakes on the floor “Fughadabout her!! They need us on the shore! Get in the water!”

Sindbad pushes him aside long enough to hold Anemone still just for a split second and plant a kiss on her lips; then he steps out onto the waves, gliding over them like shifting sand, drawing his red-veined salt crystal sword. At the kiss, Anemone slumps into slumber.

AND SO IT WAS, BUT THAT ALL HAPPENED LONG AGO, AND NOW THERE ARE NONE WHO REMEMBER IT.

Sword of the Soul: Review

by Tristan Brightman

(Hey, tris, is there a place we can keep the text of this game that’s a little more accessible? KF is not totally link-friendly.)

Sword of the Soul is a game that Tris wrote for me for the True Meaning of Friendship Game Design Challenge. Thanks, Tris! It is the seed of something quite cool, I think. I particularly like the idea that each action scene is mapped to a grid, with a meaningful layout. I’m just going to go down section by section, red-penning as I would with a text I’m marking up for revisions.

Setup

Here we learn how to create characters and locations. Characters are constructed out of Motivations, which are things they want or want to do. I like this! On the other hand I feel like we are left out in open water a little with regard to guidance; there are countless different stories you could tell by arranging them in different ways (think about the stereotypical black-and-white fantasy cast, or the tangled, loyalty-blurred wuxia movie, or the swashbuckling story where allegiances are like outfits…) and countless different non-stories you could tell by arranging Motivations poorly (We all want pie! Except Ned, who is a piemaker. Pie for everyone!), and so it’d be beneficial to have an overseeing hand here. Come to think of it, here’s a spot where you could put in an oracle like in a Wicked Age or a genre dial of some other kind.

I’d like some guidance regarding location maps, too, mostly wrt how many features to have and how to arrange them. It’s not a big deal that this isn’t in this version of the text; I think it will take some testing before we can really figure out where the sweet spot lies. Some idea seeds about “areas of interest” would be welcome as well, although I see and appreciate that this is intended as a space to make the game your own. As it stands, it reminds me in a good way of the Set-Piece Battles essay I wrote about running cool fights in Exalted.

I think maybe maps can have walls.

Fighting

On your go, if you have any “Strike” counters next to you, you may either take the blow, or try to defend them, by starting your sequence with a number of blocks, or dodges. Once you have decided, the player(s) who placed the strikes rolls one d6 per strike. Any die showing 4+ is a hit. You then roll your dodge/block dice. For dodging, a 3-6 blocks an attack, but forces you to move the Dodge rate away from your opponent. For blocking, a 4-6 blocks an attack.

I think that we can simplify this, numbers-wise. I like that you are forced to move some distance with dodges. Here is a thing that has a lot of potential—like suppose that your map is a vertical plane cut through a bamboo grove, and you must always Dodge downward a long distance, and the Move rate is significantly lower? Cool!!

I think that movement could use some clarification, maybe the Move rate is a cap on how far you can move in a turn? Else you may be unable to reach some spots on the board (think about chess bishops). What directions are okay?

Your action sequence must be narrated as flowing from one of the motivations used to drive it.

Suggestion: We don’t need this, as long as we narrate this in the defence process. I think maybe the constant harping on motivations isn’t always what we need, but we need it at these critical points, eh?

a remark

What happens when we’re not fighting? How do we interpret dodging and blocking in the context of a battle of words?

Welcome Back

Hey, it looks like Dev’s blogging again. Welcome back, man.