Another V5 stream! STed by Jason Carl, on Penny Arcade.
“Both LA by Night and Seattle by Night are part of the official World of Darkness streaming universe! Their characters, stories, and events exist in the same continuity. Characters can visit both cities and events can affect story across the streams.”
From the V5 Discord
Friday, 30 August 2019
RPGaDAY 2019 30: CONNECTION
RPGaDAY 2019
30: CONNECTION
Playing online.
I’ve been gaming online pretty much since I got online. Since broadband rolled out, gaming online has gotten faster and doing it live with video more viable.
My regular midweek group is still on even though the GM is on a screen calling in from Glasgow. He prefers to GM rather than play as the focus is on him and it’ll be obvious when the stream freezes, a reminder that telepresence gaming still has a way to go.
And larger than that, Dave notes that RPGaDAY is all about connecting with other gamers. Hello, other gamers!
30: CONNECTION
Playing online.
I’ve been gaming online pretty much since I got online. Since broadband rolled out, gaming online has gotten faster and doing it live with video more viable.
My regular midweek group is still on even though the GM is on a screen calling in from Glasgow. He prefers to GM rather than play as the focus is on him and it’ll be obvious when the stream freezes, a reminder that telepresence gaming still has a way to go.
And larger than that, Dave notes that RPGaDAY is all about connecting with other gamers. Hello, other gamers!
Thursday, 29 August 2019
RPGaDAY 2019 29: EVOLVE
RPGaDAY 2019
29: EVOLVE
How has my play evolved? If it has.
When I started GMing, I prepared extensively and tried to guess likely options. But I got into TOON very early, a game which actively encourages players to run off in all directions and GMs (“Animators”) to improvise madly, backed up by random tables for things like what pulls up when you try to call a taxi and advice on creating running gags. That was a big leap, and I still mostly GM that way.
Nowadays I mostly just prep for what I’m not good at improvising, like NPC names. A list in my notes prevents the players meeting too many NPCs called Bob.
29: EVOLVE
How has my play evolved? If it has.
When I started GMing, I prepared extensively and tried to guess likely options. But I got into TOON very early, a game which actively encourages players to run off in all directions and GMs (“Animators”) to improvise madly, backed up by random tables for things like what pulls up when you try to call a taxi and advice on creating running gags. That was a big leap, and I still mostly GM that way.
Nowadays I mostly just prep for what I’m not good at improvising, like NPC names. A list in my notes prevents the players meeting too many NPCs called Bob.
Wednesday, 28 August 2019
RPGaDAY 2019 28: LOVE
RPGaDAY 2019
28: LOVE
Love as a plot.
“It’s love, in point of fact. Something a good deal more dangerous.”
Love is one of the great motivators in life and fiction. It tends to feature in character-focused RPGs, sometimes as the central system in story games.
It’s not something every player will be comfortable with acting out at the table anyway. Borrowing some advice I read in Cyberpunk one option is romance at one remove, with NPCs needing help with their affairs and the PCs playing matchmaker.
But if players go for it, it can really make a game. The Watch House stopped being a Monster-Of-The-Week series when Milli and Jake’s players created a love triangle.
28: LOVE
Love as a plot.
“It’s love, in point of fact. Something a good deal more dangerous.”
Love is one of the great motivators in life and fiction. It tends to feature in character-focused RPGs, sometimes as the central system in story games.
It’s not something every player will be comfortable with acting out at the table anyway. Borrowing some advice I read in Cyberpunk one option is romance at one remove, with NPCs needing help with their affairs and the PCs playing matchmaker.
But if players go for it, it can really make a game. The Watch House stopped being a Monster-Of-The-Week series when Milli and Jake’s players created a love triangle.
Tuesday, 27 August 2019
The 100 is back! ( - are back?)
The 100 season six, starting next Wednesday in the UK. A whole new planet to ruin!
#RPGaDAY 2019 27: SUSPENSE
RPGaDAY 2019
27: SUSPENSE
How do I keep a reader in suspense? I’ll tell you tomorrow.
Suspense is actually pretty easy to achieve - ask for a perception roll and make a note - but when is it enjoyable?
Suspense depends on what the stakes are, and those vary from game to game. A collaborative storytelling game works differently than a horror game with a map behind the GM screen and a tenet to let the dice fall where they may. Runeslinger on suspense by genre.
And every player’s interest in and comfort with suspense will vary as well. Something to consider when pitching or signing up for a game.
27: SUSPENSE
How do I keep a reader in suspense? I’ll tell you tomorrow.
Suspense is actually pretty easy to achieve - ask for a perception roll and make a note - but when is it enjoyable?
Suspense depends on what the stakes are, and those vary from game to game. A collaborative storytelling game works differently than a horror game with a map behind the GM screen and a tenet to let the dice fall where they may. Runeslinger on suspense by genre.
And every player’s interest in and comfort with suspense will vary as well. Something to consider when pitching or signing up for a game.
Monday, 26 August 2019
Fireworks
I’m always surprised by new sights at the Fireworks Concert. This year, the spiralling around the castle.
Musically, the unfamilar Overture to Ruslan And Ludmila, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and three fifths of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, which seems like an odd choice even if the three pieces are quite different. The only time I remember the whole concert playing one piece was Pictures At An Exhibition in 2013.
Inevitably with loud bangy classical music, unless I have a strong reason not to such as a different association like Apprentice, I start thinking of Star Wars scene ideas....
Musically, the unfamilar Overture to Ruslan And Ludmila, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and three fifths of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, which seems like an odd choice even if the three pieces are quite different. The only time I remember the whole concert playing one piece was Pictures At An Exhibition in 2013.
Inevitably with loud bangy classical music, unless I have a strong reason not to such as a different association like Apprentice, I start thinking of Star Wars scene ideas....
The Rise Of Skywalker
Just a little snippet at the end of this D23 special look, after reflecting on how far the saga has come.
And... well, jeepers.
And... well, jeepers.
#RPGaDAY 2019 26: IDEA
RPGaDAY 2019
26: IDEA
“Hey, what’s the big idea?”
That phrase is specifically used when somebody does something that annoys the speaker. It’s not generally an invitation to explain your thinking.
Where do ideas come from? Given that all of these prompts are about suggesting ideas they’re a demonstration. Like “taking a line for a walk”, seeing where a prompt takes you.
One of my blogging party tricks, pioneered by Steve D, is putting together a run of adventure hooks based on a random-ish selection of phrases such as the titles of songs on an album. It’s actually easier to fully free associate if you don’t know the songs well. And it’s always a pleasure when I hear of somebody using one of the resulting ideas!
26: IDEA
“Hey, what’s the big idea?”
That phrase is specifically used when somebody does something that annoys the speaker. It’s not generally an invitation to explain your thinking.
Where do ideas come from? Given that all of these prompts are about suggesting ideas they’re a demonstration. Like “taking a line for a walk”, seeing where a prompt takes you.
One of my blogging party tricks, pioneered by Steve D, is putting together a run of adventure hooks based on a random-ish selection of phrases such as the titles of songs on an album. It’s actually easier to fully free associate if you don’t know the songs well. And it’s always a pleasure when I hear of somebody using one of the resulting ideas!
Sunday, 25 August 2019
#RPGaDAY 2019 25: CALAMITY
RPGaDAY 2019
25: CALAMITY
Emergencies, disasters, and heroic actions to save the day.
The established Allegiance I wrote up in The Trinity Continuum is the Neptune Foundation, an offshoot of the Aeon Society and a future part of the eponymous Trinity. While the Triton Foundation focuses on research into Talents and mysterious Flux phenomena, Neptune is concerned with crisis response. They’re the people who go in to fix that dam that’s about to crack after an earthquake and flood a town. They go into hot zones to treat pandemics. I was thinking of Rescue Fiction, the term Warren Ellis used to explain Thunderbirds and Global Frequency, as well as the real heroes who do this kind of thing.
It can feature in other genres as well, notably superheroes, where the disasters might be caused by villains but the people still need saving in between fighting those responsible, and sometimes they have to deal with emergencies with nobody to punch out.
Disaster movies are more of a one-shot thing, unless you count Die Hard where the same poor guy gets stuck in the middle of villain-created disaster-movie scenarios and works to defuse the threat and defeat the villains responsible, saving other people involved on the way.
There’s also the stopping-the-apocalypse genre like Armageddon and The Core, which focuses on saving everybody rather than going into the danger zone itself and saving the people there. The story game Our Last Best Hope models this, with characters dying at the dramatically appropriate moment being a key mechanic.
So how do you make an emergency exciting to play, besides adding a villain to take out at the end? It should have stages, complications and setbacks, and chances for heroism, good planning and improvisation. It would be good to track the size of the threat and ways it can go up or down - cooperative board games like Pandemic and Flash Point: Fire Rescue are built around this. While I rarely use maps in-game, if everybody’s trapped in a sinking ship then it will probably help to have deck plans.
25: CALAMITY
Emergencies, disasters, and heroic actions to save the day.
The established Allegiance I wrote up in The Trinity Continuum is the Neptune Foundation, an offshoot of the Aeon Society and a future part of the eponymous Trinity. While the Triton Foundation focuses on research into Talents and mysterious Flux phenomena, Neptune is concerned with crisis response. They’re the people who go in to fix that dam that’s about to crack after an earthquake and flood a town. They go into hot zones to treat pandemics. I was thinking of Rescue Fiction, the term Warren Ellis used to explain Thunderbirds and Global Frequency, as well as the real heroes who do this kind of thing.
It can feature in other genres as well, notably superheroes, where the disasters might be caused by villains but the people still need saving in between fighting those responsible, and sometimes they have to deal with emergencies with nobody to punch out.
Disaster movies are more of a one-shot thing, unless you count Die Hard where the same poor guy gets stuck in the middle of villain-created disaster-movie scenarios and works to defuse the threat and defeat the villains responsible, saving other people involved on the way.
There’s also the stopping-the-apocalypse genre like Armageddon and The Core, which focuses on saving everybody rather than going into the danger zone itself and saving the people there. The story game Our Last Best Hope models this, with characters dying at the dramatically appropriate moment being a key mechanic.
So how do you make an emergency exciting to play, besides adding a villain to take out at the end? It should have stages, complications and setbacks, and chances for heroism, good planning and improvisation. It would be good to track the size of the threat and ways it can go up or down - cooperative board games like Pandemic and Flash Point: Fire Rescue are built around this. While I rarely use maps in-game, if everybody’s trapped in a sinking ship then it will probably help to have deck plans.
Saturday, 24 August 2019
#RPGaDAY 2019 24: TRIUMPH
RPGaDAY 2019
24: TRIUMPH
I have my name in a book!
The Trinity Continuum, shipping to backers soon.
I created four of the published Allegiances and wrote the Allegiance profile for the Neptune Foundation, as well as some of the in-character artefacts and Storyguide advice.
The guest appearance by Harry Houdini is my fault.
I could tell you my idea for the supposedly dead American soldier on the run in France is, but the point was to offer a prompt to thought rather than a full adventure hook with ending.
The moment of seeing Allegiances I wrote illustrated was particularly strange. But I could get used to it.
24: TRIUMPH
I have my name in a book!
The Trinity Continuum, shipping to backers soon.
I created four of the published Allegiances and wrote the Allegiance profile for the Neptune Foundation, as well as some of the in-character artefacts and Storyguide advice.
The guest appearance by Harry Houdini is my fault.
I could tell you my idea for the supposedly dead American soldier on the run in France is, but the point was to offer a prompt to thought rather than a full adventure hook with ending.
The moment of seeing Allegiances I wrote illustrated was particularly strange. But I could get used to it.
Friday, 23 August 2019
Disney+
Disney+ launch lineup announced! Featuring The Mandalorian, the live-action Lady And The Tramp, Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader as brother and sister Santa, and a newly-revealed Jeff Goldblum fun documentary series!
The Mandalorian trailer!
Ms. Marvel getting a live-action series on it!
And She-Hulk and Moon Knight!
And The Clone Wars revival!
And Obi-Wan really is getting a series!
And Muppets!
And even some Disney-type stuff too!
(And apparently Emma Stone as young Cruella, not a Siouxsie And The Banshees biopic.)
And... still no word on a UK launch... :/
The Mandalorian trailer!
Ms. Marvel getting a live-action series on it!
And She-Hulk and Moon Knight!
And The Clone Wars revival!
And Obi-Wan really is getting a series!
And Muppets!
And even some Disney-type stuff too!
(And apparently Emma Stone as young Cruella, not a Siouxsie And The Banshees biopic.)
And... still no word on a UK launch... :/
#RPGaDAY 2019 23: SURPRISE
RPGaDAY 2019
23: SURPRISE
Who likes surprises?
As I noted on Day 8: Obscure, some players like surprises in their games and some don’t. The Watch House didn’t feature a lot of shocking twists, just a few here and there, and some of those came out of the events of the session.
The kind of surprise matters too. How will the players take it?
And players can surprise GMs as well, not just with their reactions to the regularly scheduled plot but with ideas well beyond that. The famous TWH example was the unexpected creation of Captain Rugged, where Matthew’s player dropped an entire Funny Magic Episode plot on top of a session.
23: SURPRISE
Who likes surprises?
As I noted on Day 8: Obscure, some players like surprises in their games and some don’t. The Watch House didn’t feature a lot of shocking twists, just a few here and there, and some of those came out of the events of the session.
The kind of surprise matters too. How will the players take it?
And players can surprise GMs as well, not just with their reactions to the regularly scheduled plot but with ideas well beyond that. The famous TWH example was the unexpected creation of Captain Rugged, where Matthew’s player dropped an entire Funny Magic Episode plot on top of a session.
Thursday, 22 August 2019
#RPGaDAY 2019 22: LOST
RPGaDAY 2019
22: LOST
A setting with one or more central mystery, and providing a satisfactory solution.
Because that big capitalised LOST inevitably makes me think of...
(I am not alone.)
LOST was one of the biggest things on TV at its height. Here in the UK season one and two were shown on Channel 4 before the rest went behind the Sky paywall, so a lot of people here didn’t see the ending. And some would say “lucky them” as the ending was, inevitably, divisive.
It was partially an ensemble drama about survivors of a plane crash on a desert island, but it was also full of other genre elements - a smoke monster, an out-of-place polar bear, prophetic dreams, conspiracies, symbolic numbers (this is day 22, but should really be 4, 8, 15, 16, 23... or ideally 42) and more. One immediately popular theory was that the island was Purgatory. The fact that we didn’t see any scenes away from the island until the end of the first season certainly supported this. It was all very Bermuda Triangle, and had a far higher Weird Level than a show originally pitched as a scripted version of Survivor would suggest.
The nearly weekly “what the... ?” cliffhangers were one of the main features picked up by other shows, of which Heroes was the most successful. It may have also influenced the 2009 remake of The Prisoner, where the original was an earlier example of a similar premise.
It also got a video game, a board game and two ARGs (and some unofficial miniatures as well as the official six-inch scale figures) but not an RPG, which would have needed either an explanation for the GM to work from or a toolkit to create your own mystery box plots.
So how would you run something like this? The initial castaway premise gives you a great hook, and it’s easy to escalate mysteries (this PVP strip imagining a LOST RPG demonstrates just how easy) but I think a reasonably coherent explanation and finale would be required. Although in RPGs you have the advantage of only having to provide a satisfactory ending for a few people, not millions.
A drama-focused game would fit the show best, even though it does have plenty of adventure elements with the uncharted island and the polar bears and super-science bases and all.
I’ve tried less serialised and more adventure-ish games influenced by Alias and Heroes, but never gone for this.
Flashback mechanics appear in the likes of Leverage there to empower the players, and the Memoriam system in Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition, where they can reveal unexpected things and the description mentions continuity glitches as a possibility. 3:16 uses them as well, in a looser way.
22: LOST
A setting with one or more central mystery, and providing a satisfactory solution.
Because that big capitalised LOST inevitably makes me think of...
(I am not alone.)
LOST was one of the biggest things on TV at its height. Here in the UK season one and two were shown on Channel 4 before the rest went behind the Sky paywall, so a lot of people here didn’t see the ending. And some would say “lucky them” as the ending was, inevitably, divisive.
It was partially an ensemble drama about survivors of a plane crash on a desert island, but it was also full of other genre elements - a smoke monster, an out-of-place polar bear, prophetic dreams, conspiracies, symbolic numbers (this is day 22, but should really be 4, 8, 15, 16, 23... or ideally 42) and more. One immediately popular theory was that the island was Purgatory. The fact that we didn’t see any scenes away from the island until the end of the first season certainly supported this. It was all very Bermuda Triangle, and had a far higher Weird Level than a show originally pitched as a scripted version of Survivor would suggest.
The nearly weekly “what the... ?” cliffhangers were one of the main features picked up by other shows, of which Heroes was the most successful. It may have also influenced the 2009 remake of The Prisoner, where the original was an earlier example of a similar premise.
It also got a video game, a board game and two ARGs (and some unofficial miniatures as well as the official six-inch scale figures) but not an RPG, which would have needed either an explanation for the GM to work from or a toolkit to create your own mystery box plots.
So how would you run something like this? The initial castaway premise gives you a great hook, and it’s easy to escalate mysteries (this PVP strip imagining a LOST RPG demonstrates just how easy) but I think a reasonably coherent explanation and finale would be required. Although in RPGs you have the advantage of only having to provide a satisfactory ending for a few people, not millions.
A drama-focused game would fit the show best, even though it does have plenty of adventure elements with the uncharted island and the polar bears and super-science bases and all.
I’ve tried less serialised and more adventure-ish games influenced by Alias and Heroes, but never gone for this.
Flashback mechanics appear in the likes of Leverage there to empower the players, and the Memoriam system in Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition, where they can reveal unexpected things and the description mentions continuity glitches as a possibility. 3:16 uses them as well, in a looser way.
Wednesday, 21 August 2019
Chronicles Of Darkness at 15
Chronicles Of Darkness and Vampire: The Requiem are fifteen today.
In that time, I have run several Vampire: The Requiem games, mostly with the second edition (starting before it came out in hardcover) and some Chronicles mortals adventures here and there, as well as Demon: The Descent. I’ve even gotten to play a couple times! Several have been on my to-do list for years now...
#RPGaDAY 2019 21: VAST
RPGaDAY 2019
21: VAST
Settings with a lot of material and a lot of options, kitchen sinks and more constrained premises.
When I followed my Buffy game The Watch House with a military SF game called The Stars On Fire I purposely focused on one serialised plot, future humanity as multiple nations in space making first contact with a single hostile alien species. And over the course of a year, I had a good dozen adventure ideas that just wouldn’t fit. So I wrote them down as prep for running a Star Trek game next.
I’m currently running Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition, taking into account some of the setting developments - one of the PCs is a Thin-Blood and another is a formerly rogue Tremere who is now basically ignored because the clan structure has fallen apart, one of the ongoing plots featured Thin-Bloods under threat and another involved refugees from the collapse of Sabbat leadership - while ignoring others - the Beckoning has only been mentioned in passing. And there are various chunks of the overall setting that aren’t being featured, some ideas I just don’t like and others that I do like but which don’t fit this particular setting. Over twenty-five years of publication history will do that. And that’s with no more than a couple of non-vampire supernatural manifestations in a year of sessions. I’m deliberately not using the whole kitchen sink. I could run another V5 game next year running on entirely different plot threads.
A constrained setting has advantages like consistency and being relatively safe from premise rejection, but I find it much easier to run a big kitchen sink setting where I can throw in a really random adventure idea from time to time, so my constrained premise games tend to be shorter and it’s one reason (along with most importantly player keenness) that The Watch House is the longest series I’ve ever run.
21: VAST
Settings with a lot of material and a lot of options, kitchen sinks and more constrained premises.
When I followed my Buffy game The Watch House with a military SF game called The Stars On Fire I purposely focused on one serialised plot, future humanity as multiple nations in space making first contact with a single hostile alien species. And over the course of a year, I had a good dozen adventure ideas that just wouldn’t fit. So I wrote them down as prep for running a Star Trek game next.
I’m currently running Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition, taking into account some of the setting developments - one of the PCs is a Thin-Blood and another is a formerly rogue Tremere who is now basically ignored because the clan structure has fallen apart, one of the ongoing plots featured Thin-Bloods under threat and another involved refugees from the collapse of Sabbat leadership - while ignoring others - the Beckoning has only been mentioned in passing. And there are various chunks of the overall setting that aren’t being featured, some ideas I just don’t like and others that I do like but which don’t fit this particular setting. Over twenty-five years of publication history will do that. And that’s with no more than a couple of non-vampire supernatural manifestations in a year of sessions. I’m deliberately not using the whole kitchen sink. I could run another V5 game next year running on entirely different plot threads.
A constrained setting has advantages like consistency and being relatively safe from premise rejection, but I find it much easier to run a big kitchen sink setting where I can throw in a really random adventure idea from time to time, so my constrained premise games tend to be shorter and it’s one reason (along with most importantly player keenness) that The Watch House is the longest series I’ve ever run.
Tuesday, 20 August 2019
Mythos by Stephen Fry
Receiving its European premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival, Stephen Fry telling stories from Greek mythology in his books Mythos and Heroes, with Troy on the way. A trilogy of shows each over two hours, backed up by screen projection, music, a little dry ice and a post-intermission email Q&A.
Today, Heroes. Perseus, Theseus, Heracles and Jason.
I did not know Theseus spent so much time fighting serial killers.
Today, Heroes. Perseus, Theseus, Heracles and Jason.
I did not know Theseus spent so much time fighting serial killers.
#RPGaDAY 2019 20: NOBLE
RPGaDAY 2019
20: NOBLE
What is a noble action?
That’s in the eye of the beholder, of course. And not having everybody agree on what the right thing to do can make for some interesting conflicts and debates in character. Hopefully it’ll stay there.
The most recent session of my Vampire: The Masquerade chronicle From The Dust brought it up. One of the characters, actively seeking redemption and balance with his inner Beast, wrestled over the idea of putting a rival for the Prince of the city’s throne into torpor to prevent warfare. One of the others felt that wasn’t permanent enough. Who is right? And was the penitent’s anger at the pragmatist going behind his back, with the approval of some of the others, righteous, or proof that he was farther from redemption than he hoped?
20: NOBLE
What is a noble action?
That’s in the eye of the beholder, of course. And not having everybody agree on what the right thing to do can make for some interesting conflicts and debates in character. Hopefully it’ll stay there.
The most recent session of my Vampire: The Masquerade chronicle From The Dust brought it up. One of the characters, actively seeking redemption and balance with his inner Beast, wrestled over the idea of putting a rival for the Prince of the city’s throne into torpor to prevent warfare. One of the others felt that wasn’t permanent enough. Who is right? And was the penitent’s anger at the pragmatist going behind his back, with the approval of some of the others, righteous, or proof that he was farther from redemption than he hoped?
Checking in with the GM
Today I was GMing a ttrpg game. The players latched onto a throw away comment (of course they did) and wanted to make it the focus of their session goal.
A player stopped and asked, "Is this ok? If you haven't prepped for it we can focus on something else."
That simple check-in made me feel incredibly cared for. Because it felt like I wasn't "The GM" there to provide a game...I was another player whose enjoyment matters.
We went with the new goal and I think it's going to be a really fun direction. That unexpected creativity is part of what I love about ttrpgs.
But it was 100 times more fun because I knew my players were there to support me + each other.
Cass Kay on Twitter
A player stopped and asked, "Is this ok? If you haven't prepped for it we can focus on something else."
That simple check-in made me feel incredibly cared for. Because it felt like I wasn't "The GM" there to provide a game...I was another player whose enjoyment matters.
We went with the new goal and I think it's going to be a really fun direction. That unexpected creativity is part of what I love about ttrpgs.
But it was 100 times more fun because I knew my players were there to support me + each other.
Cass Kay on Twitter
Monday, 19 August 2019
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