#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
I could probably run the college paper based Buffy game...
1B: BEGINNING
2B: CHANGE
3B: THREAD
4B: VISION
5B: TRIBUTE
6B: FOREST
7B: COUPLE
8B: SHADE
9B: LIGHT
10B: WANT
11B: STACK
12B: MESSAGE
13B: REST
14B: BANNER
15B: FRAME
16B: DRAMATIC
17B: COMFORT
18B: MEET
19B: TOWER
20B: INVESTIGATE
21B: PUSH
22B: RARE
23B: EDGE
24B: HUMOUR
25B: LEVER
26B: STRANGE
27B: FAVOUR
28B: CLOSE
29B: RIDE
30B: PORTAL
31B: EXPERIENCE
Monday 31 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 roundup
#RPGaDAY2020
I think I’ve managed some interesting posts. It’s always nice getting feedback as well!
A general roundup thanks to Richard “Bat” Brewster
See also Buffy thread!
1: BEGINNING
2: CHANGE
3: THREAD
4: VISION
5: TRIBUTE
6: FOREST
7: COUPLE
8: SHADE
9: LIGHT
10: WANT
11: STACK
12: MESSAGE
13: REST
14: BANNER
15: FRAME
16: DRAMATIC
17: COMFORT
18: MEET
19: TOWER
20: INVESTIGATE
21: PUSH
22: RARE
23: EDGE
24: HUMOUR
25: LEVER
26: STRANGE
27: FAVOUR
28: CLOSE
29: RIDE
30: PORTAL
31: EXPERIENCE
I think I’ve managed some interesting posts. It’s always nice getting feedback as well!
A general roundup thanks to Richard “Bat” Brewster
See also Buffy thread!
1: BEGINNING
2: CHANGE
3: THREAD
4: VISION
5: TRIBUTE
6: FOREST
7: COUPLE
8: SHADE
9: LIGHT
10: WANT
11: STACK
12: MESSAGE
13: REST
14: BANNER
15: FRAME
16: DRAMATIC
17: COMFORT
18: MEET
19: TOWER
20: INVESTIGATE
21: PUSH
22: RARE
23: EDGE
24: HUMOUR
25: LEVER
26: STRANGE
27: FAVOUR
28: CLOSE
29: RIDE
30: PORTAL
31: EXPERIENCE
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 31B: EXPERIENCE
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
31B: EXPERIENCE
“Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower or a, a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell... musty and-and-and... rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a... it, ah, it has no texture, no, no context. It’s-it’s there and then it’s gone. If it’s to last then, then the getting of knowledge should be, ah, tangible, it should be, uh... smelly.”
I, Robot... You, Jane
My experiences running Buffy, and the characters’ experiences over seasons.
I’ve been running Buffy The Vampire Slayer since the series ended and would have started earlier if I’d found a regular group. I still regret that I missed a chance to play a homebrew game at the 1999 Nationals, and considered running it with World Of Darkness. It’s a universe ideally suited for the gaming table.
After a one-shot as a player, directed by Steve D with the premise of college-age Watcher trainees, and another as Director, my proper start was The Watch House, and we went with that because my other idea of a band gave the characters a reason to hang out but not to go monster hunting.
And I’ve GMed Sounds Like Hell Season One multiple times, and yes, unless someone leans into the band premise it falls by the wayside, providing a couple of adventure hooks.
The TWH crew could have made it work as they jumped on the interpersonal drama, but that mix of monster of the week, arc plot, and character chaos is required.
Hence the college paper hook I’ve been doing here this year, a reason to investigate mysteries as well...
--
Anyhoo, it’s also the end of a season, and that means a Big Bad battle, but also other developments. Characters come and go, die and sometimes get better, unspoken feelings get spoken, and skipping town may be involved.
Buffy season finales are meant to work as endings both to the seasonal story and possibly to the series. Season Six has a last minute “Whaaat?” moment, and Two and Five would have been huge downer endings, but they still mostly provide closure. Most seasons of Angel end on cliffhangers, partially because it was more ongoing to begin with. Knowing if you’ll be back next year is a factor too!
2.21: Night Of The Living Undead
Draugr has the heart of Maloker, demon sire of vampire kind, and with it he can raise any largely intact body to vampirism. Not something he plans to do in the long term due to food supply issues, but good for a temporary boost if he wants to kill a slayer and open a Hellmouth, for example.
“Y’know, I never thought I’d miss the general personal hygiene level of regular vampires.”
2.22: Deadline
Can Shelly destroy the heart, destroying the vampires it raised, and maybe Draugr as well? Can Caitlin push past the blinding effect of the ghostly power surrounding it? Can Willis and Madison talk? Can Ty make a deadline?
“Okay. Let’s do this.”
“Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower or a, a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell... musty and-and-and... rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a... it, ah, it has no texture, no, no context. It’s-it’s there and then it’s gone. If it’s to last then, then the getting of knowledge should be, ah, tangible, it should be, uh... smelly.”
I, Robot... You, Jane
My experiences running Buffy, and the characters’ experiences over seasons.
I’ve been running Buffy The Vampire Slayer since the series ended and would have started earlier if I’d found a regular group. I still regret that I missed a chance to play a homebrew game at the 1999 Nationals, and considered running it with World Of Darkness. It’s a universe ideally suited for the gaming table.
After a one-shot as a player, directed by Steve D with the premise of college-age Watcher trainees, and another as Director, my proper start was The Watch House, and we went with that because my other idea of a band gave the characters a reason to hang out but not to go monster hunting.
And I’ve GMed Sounds Like Hell Season One multiple times, and yes, unless someone leans into the band premise it falls by the wayside, providing a couple of adventure hooks.
The TWH crew could have made it work as they jumped on the interpersonal drama, but that mix of monster of the week, arc plot, and character chaos is required.
Hence the college paper hook I’ve been doing here this year, a reason to investigate mysteries as well...
--
Anyhoo, it’s also the end of a season, and that means a Big Bad battle, but also other developments. Characters come and go, die and sometimes get better, unspoken feelings get spoken, and skipping town may be involved.
Buffy season finales are meant to work as endings both to the seasonal story and possibly to the series. Season Six has a last minute “Whaaat?” moment, and Two and Five would have been huge downer endings, but they still mostly provide closure. Most seasons of Angel end on cliffhangers, partially because it was more ongoing to begin with. Knowing if you’ll be back next year is a factor too!
2.21: Night Of The Living Undead
Draugr has the heart of Maloker, demon sire of vampire kind, and with it he can raise any largely intact body to vampirism. Not something he plans to do in the long term due to food supply issues, but good for a temporary boost if he wants to kill a slayer and open a Hellmouth, for example.
“Y’know, I never thought I’d miss the general personal hygiene level of regular vampires.”
2.22: Deadline
Can Shelly destroy the heart, destroying the vampires it raised, and maybe Draugr as well? Can Caitlin push past the blinding effect of the ghostly power surrounding it? Can Willis and Madison talk? Can Ty make a deadline?
“Okay. Let’s do this.”
#RPGaDAY2020 31: EXPERIENCE
#RPGaDAY2020
31: EXPERIENCE
Experience Points, and the experiences of gaming itself.
Experience Points are a deep abstraction unless a game separates them out. In D&D they go into the bank for a level, a bunch of new abilities and boosts all at once. I do like the BRP version where using a skill lets you try to improve it, but it can lead to characters switching weapons just to get a tick. Games where characters start competent often de-emphasise them compared to the classic zero-to-hero level model.
And they’re one of the basic units of RPG rules that has made it into other kinds of game. I remember being rather thrown when I saw an advert for a temporary double experience point boost for a shooting video game as a promotion for an energy drink.
But anyway, the actual experience of RPGs is much more than the points accrued. Gaming has forged lasting friendships, created families, inspired creativity and learning, encouraged me for one to travel as well.
31: EXPERIENCE
Experience Points, and the experiences of gaming itself.
Experience Points are a deep abstraction unless a game separates them out. In D&D they go into the bank for a level, a bunch of new abilities and boosts all at once. I do like the BRP version where using a skill lets you try to improve it, but it can lead to characters switching weapons just to get a tick. Games where characters start competent often de-emphasise them compared to the classic zero-to-hero level model.
And they’re one of the basic units of RPG rules that has made it into other kinds of game. I remember being rather thrown when I saw an advert for a temporary double experience point boost for a shooting video game as a promotion for an energy drink.
But anyway, the actual experience of RPGs is much more than the points accrued. Gaming has forged lasting friendships, created families, inspired creativity and learning, encouraged me for one to travel as well.
Sunday 30 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 30B: PORTAL
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
30B: PORTAL
“You see, opening dimensional portals is a tricky business. Odds are he got himself stuck, rather like a, uh, cork in a bottle.”
The Harvest
Portals are a pretty big deal in the Buffyverse. The Hellmouth qualifies for one thing, as the Hell it opens onto isn’t entirely under the Earth. I think.
We also have other realms accessible through assorted rituals and powers, and most of them aren’t very nice. We see a lot of Hells but only get to hear about one Heaven second-hand, although there may be more. The World Without Shrimp is probably okay, depending on what else is missing as a result.
There are a variety of A Whole New World options available in the setting.
You can use these as reasons to drop various kind of monsters on the cast, or drop the cast into various kinds of adventures. They may also have to keep one sealed, or have to figure out a way to open one up.
Since we’ve already had characters falling and/or climbing through various kinds of Frame, there are several examples of problems that portals can provide there.
2.20: Rip It Up
Someone is opening dimensional portals, maybe as test runs. So far nothing disastrous has come out - although the portal to the World Of Nothing But Shrimp did lead to a lingering smell and a lot of excited gulls in the area - but how long will that last...?
“Okay, somebody is punching holes in the universe and they oughtta not do that.”
“You see, opening dimensional portals is a tricky business. Odds are he got himself stuck, rather like a, uh, cork in a bottle.”
The Harvest
Portals are a pretty big deal in the Buffyverse. The Hellmouth qualifies for one thing, as the Hell it opens onto isn’t entirely under the Earth. I think.
We also have other realms accessible through assorted rituals and powers, and most of them aren’t very nice. We see a lot of Hells but only get to hear about one Heaven second-hand, although there may be more. The World Without Shrimp is probably okay, depending on what else is missing as a result.
There are a variety of A Whole New World options available in the setting.
You can use these as reasons to drop various kind of monsters on the cast, or drop the cast into various kinds of adventures. They may also have to keep one sealed, or have to figure out a way to open one up.
Since we’ve already had characters falling and/or climbing through various kinds of Frame, there are several examples of problems that portals can provide there.
2.20: Rip It Up
Someone is opening dimensional portals, maybe as test runs. So far nothing disastrous has come out - although the portal to the World Of Nothing But Shrimp did lead to a lingering smell and a lot of excited gulls in the area - but how long will that last...?
“Okay, somebody is punching holes in the universe and they oughtta not do that.”
#RPGaDAY2020 30: PORTAL
#RPGaDAY2020
30: PORTAL
Portal Fantasy is a subgenre for characters going from one world (most often ours) to another. The Chronicles of Narnia is probably the most famous example. Doctor Who is basically portal science fantasy, Outlander uses it for time travel, and Stargate is portal military SF.
The premise is different depending on whether the portal goes both ways, and again if it’s mobile, restricting to one otherworld or jumping all over.
Portals can also open the other way - Primeval is more about things coming out than people going in.
Note that sending characters far from their starting point without the players’ knowledge is one of the basic Bait And Switch moves.
The Dungeons & Dragons cartoon put one in a rollercoaster, while plenty of other examples like DIE and Legendlore go with the obvious RPG idea of gamers being sent to a game world or somewhere similar.
30: PORTAL
Portal Fantasy is a subgenre for characters going from one world (most often ours) to another. The Chronicles of Narnia is probably the most famous example. Doctor Who is basically portal science fantasy, Outlander uses it for time travel, and Stargate is portal military SF.
The premise is different depending on whether the portal goes both ways, and again if it’s mobile, restricting to one otherworld or jumping all over.
Portals can also open the other way - Primeval is more about things coming out than people going in.
Note that sending characters far from their starting point without the players’ knowledge is one of the basic Bait And Switch moves.
The Dungeons & Dragons cartoon put one in a rollercoaster, while plenty of other examples like DIE and Legendlore go with the obvious RPG idea of gamers being sent to a game world or somewhere similar.
Saturday 29 August 2020
Sounds Like Hell 1.10
My new favourite NPC pairing, Jeremiah and Abigail Marsden, the current elder and eye-rolling emo kid daughter of a creepy family of former monster hunters. I had to have heirs to three of four families in power in town, and I figured the one who’d spent most of her life stuck at home behind a mystical barrier would not be the most amiable. I feel I summed her up in her first word:
Mint: We probably need to speak to the heir.
Jeremiah: A moment. (calls up) Abigail!
Abigail: Whaaaaaaaaat?
Mint: We probably need to speak to the heir.
Jeremiah: A moment. (calls up) Abigail!
Abigail: Whaaaaaaaaat?
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 29B: RIDE
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
29B: RIDE
“I told you I will find a-a spell.”
“What about until you find a spell?”
“Until then, you and your mother are welcome to ride around with me in my car.”
Passion
Characters in Buffy start generally young and have little access to their own vehicles, though not at the Kids On Bikes level. Xander borrows a car in The Zeppo as an attempt to give himself a niche in the group, even though Giles and Cordelia have cars and Oz has a van. It doesn’t work and nearly gets him killed several times.
The biggest vehicle chase in Buffy is between a Winnebago and knights on horseback.
Angel has a few car chases here and there. And some jousting.
It’s also the kind of setting where a haunted car wouldn’t seem out of place. Or a rollercoaster to a parallel universe. Or four horsemen. Or catching a boat across the Styx. Or an express elevator to Hell. Or a giant bat who’s happy for the slayer to ride around on it. Or...
... Yeah, it’s an odd setting.
My favourite picture in D20 Modern, by Ryan Sook, inspired an adventure hook too...
2.19: Skeleton Crew
Who is using animated skeletons as cheap labour? And are they really qualified to do all the jobs they’re doing?
This is mostly an excuse to have some Harryhausen style animated skeleton fun, particularly with the urban fantasy juxtaposition of monsters in the everyday.
“I don’t think that guy’s licence is up to date...”
“I told you I will find a-a spell.”
“What about until you find a spell?”
“Until then, you and your mother are welcome to ride around with me in my car.”
Passion
Characters in Buffy start generally young and have little access to their own vehicles, though not at the Kids On Bikes level. Xander borrows a car in The Zeppo as an attempt to give himself a niche in the group, even though Giles and Cordelia have cars and Oz has a van. It doesn’t work and nearly gets him killed several times.
The biggest vehicle chase in Buffy is between a Winnebago and knights on horseback.
Angel has a few car chases here and there. And some jousting.
It’s also the kind of setting where a haunted car wouldn’t seem out of place. Or a rollercoaster to a parallel universe. Or four horsemen. Or catching a boat across the Styx. Or an express elevator to Hell. Or a giant bat who’s happy for the slayer to ride around on it. Or...
... Yeah, it’s an odd setting.
My favourite picture in D20 Modern, by Ryan Sook, inspired an adventure hook too...
 |
| I particularly like the driving skeleton hunching over defensively. |
2.19: Skeleton Crew
Who is using animated skeletons as cheap labour? And are they really qualified to do all the jobs they’re doing?
This is mostly an excuse to have some Harryhausen style animated skeleton fun, particularly with the urban fantasy juxtaposition of monsters in the everyday.
“I don’t think that guy’s licence is up to date...”
#RPGaDAY2020 29: RIDE
#RPGaDAY2020
29: RIDE
How do the characters get from adventure to adventure, outside of single-city games?
Horseback is a popular choice for historical and medieval-ish-fantasy games. As noted by clarkythecruel, horses are often treated as motorbikes that run on oats. I’m not an expert on horses myself, but I do know they can get tired.
Modern groups often have vans that somehow carry six people and all their gear. Vehicles being bigger on the inside isn’t just for Doctor Who!
Planet-hopping SF games usually have a fairly detailed ship, and frequently ship combat rules. These are often small and run by the player characters and maybe an NPC or two, Millennium Falcon style. Star Trek style big ships with lots of NPCs are less common. Smaller ships come with fewer expectations of staying on mission, and breaking down as a spur to adventure feels less contrived.
Some games follow the Indiana Jones line on a map to show travel, while others make the journey a major feature of the game. The One Ring is very much about the Journey.
Kids On Bikes is more about the genre than the actual bike-riding, although having a bike denotes a certain freedom to travel.
And there are lots of ways a vehicle can lead to an adventure. A coach pulling up at a crossroad? A car with no driver? An express elevator to Hell? A boat across the Styx?
See also the Combat Wheelchair for a vehicle taken into indoor adventures as well.
29: RIDE
How do the characters get from adventure to adventure, outside of single-city games?
Horseback is a popular choice for historical and medieval-ish-fantasy games. As noted by clarkythecruel, horses are often treated as motorbikes that run on oats. I’m not an expert on horses myself, but I do know they can get tired.
Modern groups often have vans that somehow carry six people and all their gear. Vehicles being bigger on the inside isn’t just for Doctor Who!
Planet-hopping SF games usually have a fairly detailed ship, and frequently ship combat rules. These are often small and run by the player characters and maybe an NPC or two, Millennium Falcon style. Star Trek style big ships with lots of NPCs are less common. Smaller ships come with fewer expectations of staying on mission, and breaking down as a spur to adventure feels less contrived.
Some games follow the Indiana Jones line on a map to show travel, while others make the journey a major feature of the game. The One Ring is very much about the Journey.
Kids On Bikes is more about the genre than the actual bike-riding, although having a bike denotes a certain freedom to travel.
And there are lots of ways a vehicle can lead to an adventure. A coach pulling up at a crossroad? A car with no driver? An express elevator to Hell? A boat across the Styx?
See also the Combat Wheelchair for a vehicle taken into indoor adventures as well.
Chadwick Boseman
Chadwick Boseman has died, aged 43. Black Panther director Ryan Coogler talks about his life, work and legacy.
Friday 28 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 28B: CLOSE
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
28B: CLOSE
“Alright, alright, I-I-I’ve got something. It’s Latin, so bear with me. Uh, to revive the vampire they need his bones, uh... w-which they have, and, um, the blood... this is very unclear, of the closest person... uh, someone connected to the vampire.”
“That’d be me.”
“Perhaps.”
“We were close. We killed each other. It really promotes togetherness.”
When She Was Bad
(It actually turns out to mean near physically, and the episode also comments on the Hellmouth being closed, so we’re covering all the bases here.)
Buffy has a hard time letting people get close to her, and by slayer standards she’s unusually open. She only has the Loner Drawback some of the time. It’s one of a number of “good in a fight, bad in a relationship” Qualities and Drawbacks in the books. Love is a big one, available in both regular and Tragic varieties. It can all be very dramatic, and be used as a lever on the characters, with a stable couple being a rarity.
If the players are up for it, who will the characters get close to?
2:18: Negatives
Things are building to a final confrontation with the ancient vampire Draugr. Shelly calls in the slayer gang, Carli arrives and tells her Kim and Ana are both dead, and she feels she let them down by not dying with them. Willis gets badly beaten up in a fight with Draugr’s minions, and finally tells Madison how he feels.
“Well, if we don’t die, this’ll be awkward.”
“Alright, alright, I-I-I’ve got something. It’s Latin, so bear with me. Uh, to revive the vampire they need his bones, uh... w-which they have, and, um, the blood... this is very unclear, of the closest person... uh, someone connected to the vampire.”
“That’d be me.”
“Perhaps.”
“We were close. We killed each other. It really promotes togetherness.”
When She Was Bad
(It actually turns out to mean near physically, and the episode also comments on the Hellmouth being closed, so we’re covering all the bases here.)
Buffy has a hard time letting people get close to her, and by slayer standards she’s unusually open. She only has the Loner Drawback some of the time. It’s one of a number of “good in a fight, bad in a relationship” Qualities and Drawbacks in the books. Love is a big one, available in both regular and Tragic varieties. It can all be very dramatic, and be used as a lever on the characters, with a stable couple being a rarity.
If the players are up for it, who will the characters get close to?
2:18: Negatives
Things are building to a final confrontation with the ancient vampire Draugr. Shelly calls in the slayer gang, Carli arrives and tells her Kim and Ana are both dead, and she feels she let them down by not dying with them. Willis gets badly beaten up in a fight with Draugr’s minions, and finally tells Madison how he feels.
“Well, if we don’t die, this’ll be awkward.”
#RPGaDAY2020 28: CLOSE
#RPGaDAY2020
28: CLOSE
RPGs tend towards close combat, again in part from starting with medieval wargames, but more generally it makes for easier dramatic action if both opponents can hit each other. Sniping from a distance may be more sensible as weapons advance, but it’s a lot less interesting - being shot without warning from half a mile away is about as anticlimactic as the proverbial falling rock.
A face to face fight allows for dialogue, for one thing. As well as dodging and blocking and other ways to save the character from being one-shotted.
A setting can come up with reasons for this, or just run on the Rule of Cool.
Star Wars has lasers that can blow up planets from beyond orbit, but many of its most exciting fights are lightsaber duels, its gunfights are usually at Western-style close range as well, and its starfighter battles are close enough that both sides are usually in the same medium shot.
Buffy encourages punches and discourages guns for stealthiness reasons, and while the gang use crossbows they don’t have a very long effective range for hitting the heart specifically. (Angel does get sniped with a modern composite bow at one point, but not to kill him, and specifically to mess with Buffy...)
Does the Quickening from Highlander disperse if you don’t land the killing blow yourself, or you’re standing too far away? Uhh... maybe? The TV show probably addressed this. But kneecapping your opponent before beheading them is just generally considered rude.
See also Warhammer 40,000 where millennia of warfare and weapons development across a vast galaxy still usually comes to skirmish range.
There is also close as in shut, but Portal is in two days’ time.
And emotionally close, for which I have a Buffy thread.
28: CLOSE
RPGs tend towards close combat, again in part from starting with medieval wargames, but more generally it makes for easier dramatic action if both opponents can hit each other. Sniping from a distance may be more sensible as weapons advance, but it’s a lot less interesting - being shot without warning from half a mile away is about as anticlimactic as the proverbial falling rock.
A face to face fight allows for dialogue, for one thing. As well as dodging and blocking and other ways to save the character from being one-shotted.
A setting can come up with reasons for this, or just run on the Rule of Cool.
Star Wars has lasers that can blow up planets from beyond orbit, but many of its most exciting fights are lightsaber duels, its gunfights are usually at Western-style close range as well, and its starfighter battles are close enough that both sides are usually in the same medium shot.
 |
| Laser weapons with a range of three feet. Because it’s awesome. |
Does the Quickening from Highlander disperse if you don’t land the killing blow yourself, or you’re standing too far away? Uhh... maybe? The TV show probably addressed this. But kneecapping your opponent before beheading them is just generally considered rude.
See also Warhammer 40,000 where millennia of warfare and weapons development across a vast galaxy still usually comes to skirmish range.
 |
| I have no idea if this meme uses official art. I would not be surprised. |
And emotionally close, for which I have a Buffy thread.
Thursday 27 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 27B: FAVOUR
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
27B: FAVOUR
“Where’s the downside? You just got yourself one less demon you have to pay tribute to. The way I see it, I did you a favour.”
“I guess you did! ... In the future, I’d be very careful how many favours you do for me.”
Band Candy
The demonic underworld in the Buffyverse runs on deals, barter and trade, but other than using snitches the heroes only tend to get involved as an occasional source of trouble. Demons requiring tribute, Spike calling in assassins, Cordelia being kidnapped for an auction of magical body parts, figurative and literal deals with the Devil...
This one comes from recent Actual Play.
2:17: A Little Favour
The local occult snitch foregoes the usual payment method of a couple of rumpled twenties because his sister wants somebody to whack the siren who stole her boyfriend.
“Hey, she’s still a monster, so it’s no big, right?”
“Where’s the downside? You just got yourself one less demon you have to pay tribute to. The way I see it, I did you a favour.”
“I guess you did! ... In the future, I’d be very careful how many favours you do for me.”
Band Candy
The demonic underworld in the Buffyverse runs on deals, barter and trade, but other than using snitches the heroes only tend to get involved as an occasional source of trouble. Demons requiring tribute, Spike calling in assassins, Cordelia being kidnapped for an auction of magical body parts, figurative and literal deals with the Devil...
This one comes from recent Actual Play.
2:17: A Little Favour
The local occult snitch foregoes the usual payment method of a couple of rumpled twenties because his sister wants somebody to whack the siren who stole her boyfriend.
“Hey, she’s still a monster, so it’s no big, right?”
#RPGaDAY2020 27: FAVOUR
#RPGaDAY2020
27: FAVOUR
We have in-game favours. The favour economy of Boons is a major feature in the Vampire family of games, and the John Wick films make great demonstration models, but there are plenty of other examples...
We also have favoured attributes and favoured enemies and the like. Language is funny like that.
Have you ever GMed or played a game as a favour?
I mostly GM at conventions to help out, once ran a game over a summer because a player was looking for the chance to try it, and played some games where a GM asked for someone familiar to be there in a mostly new group. The games in question being fun was a bonus.
27: FAVOUR
We have in-game favours. The favour economy of Boons is a major feature in the Vampire family of games, and the John Wick films make great demonstration models, but there are plenty of other examples...
We also have favoured attributes and favoured enemies and the like. Language is funny like that.
Have you ever GMed or played a game as a favour?
I mostly GM at conventions to help out, once ran a game over a summer because a player was looking for the chance to try it, and played some games where a GM asked for someone familiar to be there in a mostly new group. The games in question being fun was a bonus.
Julie And The Phantoms
Julie And The Phantoms may have just solved an issue with Sounds Like Hell, where the band is nice setup and provides a few plot hooks but gets in the way of the basic monster hunting.
Wednesday 26 August 2020
(Motherland) Fort Salem
Fort Salem (aka Motherland) is now on BBC One! ... It started an hour ago, and I've already watched most of it, but it's nice.
BSG BBC TWO
The second iteration of Battlestar Galactica is coming to BBC Two and the iPlayer, starting on Saturday September 5th.
Thanks to GEEKchocolate for the news.
Thanks to GEEKchocolate for the news.
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 26B: STRANGE
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
26B: STRANGE
“Giles, planning on jumping in with an explanation any time soon?”
“Well, uh... something... something, um, very strange is happening.”
“Can you believe the Watchers’ Council let this guy go?”
Doppelgangland
The heroes of Buffy and Angel sometimes acknowledge that their lives are really weird, and the shows sometimes crank the Weird Level up a notch with a format-bending episode. I try to keep it to one or two per season.
But when it does strike, a strange idea can also go big and take the series forward, as well as being a fun break from the already odd norm. It might be enough to merit a two-parter to explore it.
Borrowing from the Buffy Season Eight comics, an example of genre shift influenced by medium...
2.15: Mild-Mannered Reporter
A cult steals an ancient mystical crystal, and Shelly gets cut while defending it and some of her blood spills on the stone, and...
“I can frickin’ fly!”
2.16: We Could Be Heroes
What do you do with that kind of power? And what if you knew you could only keep it for so long before it kills you?
“I already had great power and great responsibility, now I just have great headaches...”
“Giles, planning on jumping in with an explanation any time soon?”
“Well, uh... something... something, um, very strange is happening.”
“Can you believe the Watchers’ Council let this guy go?”
Doppelgangland
The heroes of Buffy and Angel sometimes acknowledge that their lives are really weird, and the shows sometimes crank the Weird Level up a notch with a format-bending episode. I try to keep it to one or two per season.
But when it does strike, a strange idea can also go big and take the series forward, as well as being a fun break from the already odd norm. It might be enough to merit a two-parter to explore it.
Borrowing from the Buffy Season Eight comics, an example of genre shift influenced by medium...
2.15: Mild-Mannered Reporter
A cult steals an ancient mystical crystal, and Shelly gets cut while defending it and some of her blood spills on the stone, and...
“I can frickin’ fly!”
2.16: We Could Be Heroes
What do you do with that kind of power? And what if you knew you could only keep it for so long before it kills you?
“I already had great power and great responsibility, now I just have great headaches...”
#RPGaDAY2020 26: STRANGE
#RPGaDAY2020
26: STRANGE
RPGs have been linked to fantasy and other genres from the outset. The format started with Dungeons & Dragons rather than Chainmail. My own start was with gamebooks, and while Fighting Fantasy diversified into SF with the fourth book and horror with the tenth, they left straight historical adventure and detective gamebooks to other publishers. Even the Brontës’ proto-RPGing was set in a fantasy world.
This continues partially because the big RPGs are genre works so they attract genre fans, but also I think because of the strengths and weaknesses of the form.
Improvisational storytelling lends itself to the fantastic because it’s as easy to describe an imagined vista as a modern real-world setting, and easier to make something up about it. So RPGs tend to the strange and unusual in form as well as audience.
It’s also easier to strip the fantasy elements from a game than add them in, and to create source material - and own it as intellectual property - rather than collate and research real examples. It’s easy to make a real-world-ish detective game from most of the investigative RPGs.
There have been few successful real-world-ish RPGs - Dallas was an early outlier, both in concept and design, and is famous for its weirdness. In this hobby, a lack of monsters is strange.
26: STRANGE
RPGs have been linked to fantasy and other genres from the outset. The format started with Dungeons & Dragons rather than Chainmail. My own start was with gamebooks, and while Fighting Fantasy diversified into SF with the fourth book and horror with the tenth, they left straight historical adventure and detective gamebooks to other publishers. Even the Brontës’ proto-RPGing was set in a fantasy world.
This continues partially because the big RPGs are genre works so they attract genre fans, but also I think because of the strengths and weaknesses of the form.
Improvisational storytelling lends itself to the fantastic because it’s as easy to describe an imagined vista as a modern real-world setting, and easier to make something up about it. So RPGs tend to the strange and unusual in form as well as audience.
It’s also easier to strip the fantasy elements from a game than add them in, and to create source material - and own it as intellectual property - rather than collate and research real examples. It’s easy to make a real-world-ish detective game from most of the investigative RPGs.
There have been few successful real-world-ish RPGs - Dallas was an early outlier, both in concept and design, and is famous for its weirdness. In this hobby, a lack of monsters is strange.
Tuesday 25 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 25B: LEVER
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
25B: LEVER
“Now. I-I’ll start again. How did you win on that slot machine?”
“I put a quarter in the slot and I pulled that little lever.”
Angel, The House Always Wins
Levers are also things you can use to move things. Things like Drawbacks for cast members, for example. I tend to call them hammers rather than levers, but go with me here.
Take a look at the what the players took, see what they’re okay with doing with it, and bear in mind the Drama Point payout option for clobbering them.
Who has Love, particularly Tragic Love? Or the assorted other Drawbacks that pair with action-hero Qualities to make characters good in a fight and bad in a relationship? How about Secrets, or Obligations?
2.14: Steady
Of course Willis’s new girlfriend is some kind of weird thing. But you gotta roll with the odds.
“I should really stop dating.”
“Now. I-I’ll start again. How did you win on that slot machine?”
“I put a quarter in the slot and I pulled that little lever.”
Angel, The House Always Wins
Levers are also things you can use to move things. Things like Drawbacks for cast members, for example. I tend to call them hammers rather than levers, but go with me here.
Take a look at the what the players took, see what they’re okay with doing with it, and bear in mind the Drama Point payout option for clobbering them.
Who has Love, particularly Tragic Love? Or the assorted other Drawbacks that pair with action-hero Qualities to make characters good in a fight and bad in a relationship? How about Secrets, or Obligations?
2.14: Steady
Of course Willis’s new girlfriend is some kind of weird thing. But you gotta roll with the odds.
“I should really stop dating.”
#RPGaDAY2020 25: LEVER
#RPGaDAY2020
25: LEVER
“People like that, corporations like that, they have all the money, they have all the power, and they use it make people like you go away. Right now, you’re suffering under an enormous weight. We provide... Leverage.”
The Leverage RPG is now out of print, but series creator John Rogers wrote a guide to modern con and heist games for Fate Worlds.
And with the series coming back, we might get more.
It’s set in a heightened real world for no monsters andhardly any no time travel, but it’s a great fit for RPGs as it features a small group of irregulars with clearly defined roles (which become the stats in the game) and many RPGs are heists anyway. Add the Flashback mechanics and other tricks to avoid hours of planning.
It’s been on my GMing backlog for a while now.
And yes, Les Fantômes in Trinity Continuum is absolutely in this genre.
But anyway, the series title refers to this:
Leverage is using non-standard ways to deal with problems.
And what’s more player character than that?
25: LEVER
“People like that, corporations like that, they have all the money, they have all the power, and they use it make people like you go away. Right now, you’re suffering under an enormous weight. We provide... Leverage.”
The Leverage RPG is now out of print, but series creator John Rogers wrote a guide to modern con and heist games for Fate Worlds.
And with the series coming back, we might get more.
It’s set in a heightened real world for no monsters and
It’s been on my GMing backlog for a while now.
And yes, Les Fantômes in Trinity Continuum is absolutely in this genre.
But anyway, the series title refers to this:
Leverage is using non-standard ways to deal with problems.
And what’s more player character than that?
Monday 24 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 24B: HUMOUR
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
24B: HUMOUR
“Manipulative, Two-Faced, Bad In Sports, Superficial, No Sense Of Humor, Fake Smile, Brie, Xander”
Cordelia’s weaknesses on the whiteboard, Homecoming
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is an urban fantasy action superhero drama horror comedy, and the comedy mostly comes from the characters’ reaction to everything else. How do we do that in the RPG?
I talk about how humour works in RPGs including Buffy in the general, how much of it comes from the players and how you can encourage by example and setups.
Even the darkest and most dramatic episodes still have occasional moment of light - see Cordelia’s concern about having let Angel into her car in Passion for example - the trick is not to totally undercut, and that’s pretty much on the players.
And I discussed Funny Magic Episodes in the original Buffy Season, where the plot is built to encourage absurd results. Sometimes the Director will do this, sometimes the players bring it.
So for simplicity, a Director-instigated example. Stealing from Supernatural because I think I’m due one after all the format-bending episodes I did before them. ;)
2.13: It’s All True
Ty attempts to use magic to get the Dean to be completely truthful on the record and gets the design of the warding circle wrong, so now everybody on campus is unable to lie.
Naturally this happens while one of the cast is being evasive about something personal and someone else is wondering what’s really going on with someone else and everybody needs a reminder of why they have to keep secrets and...
“Okay, this evening has been nice but I’m trying to come up with an excuse to leave not because I don’t want to stay but because I have to go and hunt vampires and oh what the hell why am I still talking?”
“Manipulative, Two-Faced, Bad In Sports, Superficial, No Sense Of Humor, Fake Smile, Brie, Xander”
Cordelia’s weaknesses on the whiteboard, Homecoming
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is an urban fantasy action superhero drama horror comedy, and the comedy mostly comes from the characters’ reaction to everything else. How do we do that in the RPG?
I talk about how humour works in RPGs including Buffy in the general, how much of it comes from the players and how you can encourage by example and setups.
Even the darkest and most dramatic episodes still have occasional moment of light - see Cordelia’s concern about having let Angel into her car in Passion for example - the trick is not to totally undercut, and that’s pretty much on the players.
And I discussed Funny Magic Episodes in the original Buffy Season, where the plot is built to encourage absurd results. Sometimes the Director will do this, sometimes the players bring it.
So for simplicity, a Director-instigated example. Stealing from Supernatural because I think I’m due one after all the format-bending episodes I did before them. ;)
2.13: It’s All True
Ty attempts to use magic to get the Dean to be completely truthful on the record and gets the design of the warding circle wrong, so now everybody on campus is unable to lie.
Naturally this happens while one of the cast is being evasive about something personal and someone else is wondering what’s really going on with someone else and everybody needs a reminder of why they have to keep secrets and...
“Okay, this evening has been nice but I’m trying to come up with an excuse to leave not because I don’t want to stay but because I have to go and hunt vampires and oh what the hell why am I still talking?”
#RPGaDAY2020 24: HUMOUR
#RPGaDAY2020
24: HUMOUR
Hey! I have a label for this!
Humour is tricky in RPGs, a tone dependent on everybody’s mood. As has been noted before, it has a lot in common with horror.
It can be difficult to get it going, and indeed to keep it from undercutting a serious plot.
This may get waffly. Humour me.
Humour-focused series-friendly RPGs like Paranoia, Ghostbusters, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the like have settings that can be played basically straight and much of the humour comes from the players and their characters. Alpha Complex is an absurd dystopia but still a dystopia. Ghostbusters is basically a Call Of Cthulhu adventure solved with laser vacuums and deadpan snark, with the RPG’s designers including its mastermind Sandy Petersen. The Buffyverse is a scary place where a sense of humour is a vital defence mechanism.
A lot of the humour in Ghostbusters and Buffy arises from the kind of sarcasm and in-jokes that happen around the table - which here work in-character.
Short-term comedy RPGs like TOON and one-shot-only games like Fiasco and Honey Heist often work with a more absurd premise, as can individual adventures for series games, humorous and otherwise.
Son Of TOON added Series premises, mainly parodies of other genres, including Ghostbusters. For a while I actually ran both as an outlet for ideas slightly too wonky for the Ghostbusters game...
What kind of humour fits a given game? Examples and prompts can help.
I often have a sounding board NPC in part to include and join in-character joking. I run a few Funny Magic Episodes in a typical Buffy series. And the occasional mockably cliché situation, inept monster or cultist, and melodramatic feed line can go a long way.
Humour can also flatten an attempt at a serious game. There’s a reason I’ve owned King Arthur Pendragon for thirty years and run it for one session, and that reason is Monty Python And The Holy Grail. A disapproving look can only get you so far.
Of course I want my table to be fun even in a serious-minded game, but there are various kinds of fun and they don’t all fit together.
“How do I run a Vampire game like What We Do In The Shadows?”
“The tricky part is how not to.”
You can certainly have humour in horror and other games, you could run them light for a session or a whole chronicle.
One of the most popular Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play adventures, “A Rough Night At The Three Feathers”, and author Graeme Davis also wrote one of my favourite published Vampire: The Masquerade stories, “Annabelle’s Party” in The Succubus Club, both essentially farces, with multiple plots crashing into each other, misunderstandings, and some planned to embarrass important people.
Humour should fit the overall tone. Horror games are good for gallows humour, mean-spirited quips and the like. Lestat’s a funny guy but he’s also a monster.
A lighthearted session of an ongoing game can work well if the players are in the mood. It can be good for a break from a major plot, or for a special occasion like the session closest to Christmas or April Fools’ Day.
(This is another way it resembles horror, as a sometimes thing you can drop into a game with a different general tone. D&D got both Ravenloft and Dungeonland in 1983.)
As the GM, you can drop a comedy episode into a regular game with little or no warning, or flag it up in advance, and also recruit players to help the joke along. Some comedy-centred episodes of The Watch House were just me throwing them in, but the infamous The Fourth Wall involved planning with four of the players and dropping it unannounced on the other two. Not something done lightly!
It can also come from the players. This can be planned in advance, or emerge at the table and if it works roll with it. Some of the great comedy episodes of TWH came from the players, with or without warning.
And it can happen by accident, usually due to a string of weird dice rolls. I once dropped another planned TWH adventure and had the group fight a gremlin due to a run of 1s at the start of the session.
So look to your players and their general snark levels, as well as their mood on a specific evening, before planning to highlight humour, or the lack thereof, in a series or session.
24: HUMOUR
Hey! I have a label for this!
Humour is tricky in RPGs, a tone dependent on everybody’s mood. As has been noted before, it has a lot in common with horror.
It can be difficult to get it going, and indeed to keep it from undercutting a serious plot.
This may get waffly. Humour me.
Humour-focused series-friendly RPGs like Paranoia, Ghostbusters, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the like have settings that can be played basically straight and much of the humour comes from the players and their characters. Alpha Complex is an absurd dystopia but still a dystopia. Ghostbusters is basically a Call Of Cthulhu adventure solved with laser vacuums and deadpan snark, with the RPG’s designers including its mastermind Sandy Petersen. The Buffyverse is a scary place where a sense of humour is a vital defence mechanism.
A lot of the humour in Ghostbusters and Buffy arises from the kind of sarcasm and in-jokes that happen around the table - which here work in-character.
Short-term comedy RPGs like TOON and one-shot-only games like Fiasco and Honey Heist often work with a more absurd premise, as can individual adventures for series games, humorous and otherwise.
Son Of TOON added Series premises, mainly parodies of other genres, including Ghostbusters. For a while I actually ran both as an outlet for ideas slightly too wonky for the Ghostbusters game...
What kind of humour fits a given game? Examples and prompts can help.
I often have a sounding board NPC in part to include and join in-character joking. I run a few Funny Magic Episodes in a typical Buffy series. And the occasional mockably cliché situation, inept monster or cultist, and melodramatic feed line can go a long way.
Humour can also flatten an attempt at a serious game. There’s a reason I’ve owned King Arthur Pendragon for thirty years and run it for one session, and that reason is Monty Python And The Holy Grail. A disapproving look can only get you so far.
Of course I want my table to be fun even in a serious-minded game, but there are various kinds of fun and they don’t all fit together.
“How do I run a Vampire game like What We Do In The Shadows?”
“The tricky part is how not to.”
You can certainly have humour in horror and other games, you could run them light for a session or a whole chronicle.
One of the most popular Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play adventures, “A Rough Night At The Three Feathers”, and author Graeme Davis also wrote one of my favourite published Vampire: The Masquerade stories, “Annabelle’s Party” in The Succubus Club, both essentially farces, with multiple plots crashing into each other, misunderstandings, and some planned to embarrass important people.
Humour should fit the overall tone. Horror games are good for gallows humour, mean-spirited quips and the like. Lestat’s a funny guy but he’s also a monster.
A lighthearted session of an ongoing game can work well if the players are in the mood. It can be good for a break from a major plot, or for a special occasion like the session closest to Christmas or April Fools’ Day.
(This is another way it resembles horror, as a sometimes thing you can drop into a game with a different general tone. D&D got both Ravenloft and Dungeonland in 1983.)
As the GM, you can drop a comedy episode into a regular game with little or no warning, or flag it up in advance, and also recruit players to help the joke along. Some comedy-centred episodes of The Watch House were just me throwing them in, but the infamous The Fourth Wall involved planning with four of the players and dropping it unannounced on the other two. Not something done lightly!
It can also come from the players. This can be planned in advance, or emerge at the table and if it works roll with it. Some of the great comedy episodes of TWH came from the players, with or without warning.
And it can happen by accident, usually due to a string of weird dice rolls. I once dropped another planned TWH adventure and had the group fight a gremlin due to a run of 1s at the start of the session.
So look to your players and their general snark levels, as well as their mood on a specific evening, before planning to highlight humour, or the lack thereof, in a series or session.
Sunday 23 August 2020
The Batman
The Batman teaser looks nice in a “not an origin, going straight to a Dark Knight style villain conflict” kind of way. Batman is a character meant to be ongoing, so this seems like the obvious setup.
Compared to the Affleck mask, the Pattinson mask does a much better job of concealing his identity. And the eye makeup necessary to make the mask work doesn’t magically vanish when it comes off like the Keaton mask!
(The Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman 1984 trailers look good too, but established settings get my speculation engine firing up less.)
Glasgow Necropolis is suitably Gotham-y. And Gotham in general is fairly World Of Darkness, in a more low-key way.
The use of a remix or very close cover of Something In The Way by Nirvana works for me too as a grunge goth kid.
Though I’m shocked that it’s been over twelve hours and I can’t find the teaser redubbed with Untitled Self Portrait by Lego Batman.
Edit a day later: We do have The Bat Parade from video editor Maddy Gibbons.
Edit: FOUND IT
Compared to the Affleck mask, the Pattinson mask does a much better job of concealing his identity. And the eye makeup necessary to make the mask work doesn’t magically vanish when it comes off like the Keaton mask!
(The Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman 1984 trailers look good too, but established settings get my speculation engine firing up less.)
Glasgow Necropolis is suitably Gotham-y. And Gotham in general is fairly World Of Darkness, in a more low-key way.
The use of a remix or very close cover of Something In The Way by Nirvana works for me too as a grunge goth kid.
Though I’m shocked that it’s been over twelve hours and I can’t find the teaser redubbed with Untitled Self Portrait by Lego Batman.
Edit a day later: We do have The Bat Parade from video editor Maddy Gibbons.
Edit: FOUND IT
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 23B: EDGE
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
23B: EDGE
“You mean... Angel? I saw him too.”
“That’s not terribly stealthy of him.”
“I think he’s lost his edge.”
Pangs
Characters in the Buffyverse are often the only line of defence against supernatural badness, so it helps to have an edge. Power, knowledge, courage, loyalty, that kind of thing. If not, they may be pushed to the edge.
2.12: Close To The Edge
A break-in at the museum targets the medieval weapon display.
“Magic sword, huh?”
“Looks like.”
“You mean... Angel? I saw him too.”
“That’s not terribly stealthy of him.”
“I think he’s lost his edge.”
Pangs
Characters in the Buffyverse are often the only line of defence against supernatural badness, so it helps to have an edge. Power, knowledge, courage, loyalty, that kind of thing. If not, they may be pushed to the edge.
2.12: Close To The Edge
A break-in at the museum targets the medieval weapon display.
“Magic sword, huh?”
“Looks like.”
#RPGaDAY2020 23: EDGE
#RPGaDAY2020
23: EDGE
Over The Edge is an interesting RPG in a number of ways. Simple define-traits-yourself mechanics designed to deal with a wide variety of character types coupled with a big city setting built to throw as much surrealist trouble as possible (and more) into one mad little island. Some great GMing advice. And several contradictory metaplots, one of which involves the PCs discovering they’re PCs.
I’ve played it exactly once. Something I’ve always wanted to do more with.
Talking about it on the twenty-third day of the challenge seems appropriate due to the whole Significant Number thing too.
23: EDGE
Over The Edge is an interesting RPG in a number of ways. Simple define-traits-yourself mechanics designed to deal with a wide variety of character types coupled with a big city setting built to throw as much surrealist trouble as possible (and more) into one mad little island. Some great GMing advice. And several contradictory metaplots, one of which involves the PCs discovering they’re PCs.
I’ve played it exactly once. Something I’ve always wanted to do more with.
Talking about it on the twenty-third day of the challenge seems appropriate due to the whole Significant Number thing too.
Saturday 22 August 2020
Sounds Like Hell 1.09 part 2
There are lots of options for rituals but with vampires it’s pretty much “Blood” or “Why not blood?”
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 22B: RARE
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
22B: RARE
“Spontaneous human combustion is, is rare, and, and scientifically unexplainable, but there have been cases for hundreds of years. Usually all that’s left is a pile of ashes.”
“That’s all that would have been left if it hadn’t been for Buffy.”
“So, we have no idea what caused this. That’s a comfort.”
Witch
Buffy characters are often rare in the setting and in some cases totally unique.
Vampire Slayers being “one girl in all the world” definitely count as rare. Not to mention vampires with souls, world-class witches, karaoke demons from another dimension, and the like. Indeed, they may get a little thrown when they find out they aren’t unique.
Anyway, while the game has rules for slayers and vampires with souls and the like, more unusual character types can work. Superhero origin specialness definitely applies.
The main characters still have to fit into the setting to some extent though, they should generally look human enough to patrol and hang out in clubs without drawing too much attention. They may feel apart from the normal world but shouldn’t be totally excluded. (Lorne gets by on charm and occasionally wears a hat.)
Personally, I have many Buffy odd character ideas, but my longest-running character as a tabletop player was a guy who accidentally drew a certain sword from a certain stone. I’ve never actually tried my Gargoyles homage character. Or my The Last Action Hero “pulled out of a comic book” idea either, though at least that one looks human.
Likewise, they have a tendency to come up against some pretty odd stuff. Unique beings, forgotten monster types, singular ancient artefacts, that kinda thing.
2.11: One In All The World
Having met a whole gang of other slayers, Shelly is a little less buzzed about her alleged uniqueness. On hearing a prophecy about the slayer dying to save the world, she’s acutely aware that she might not be the one to do it, and has rather mixed feelings about that.
“I have to go face the deadly evil, even if there are other applicants. I mean, I’ll feel really guilty if I don’t. Just also I’ll feel really dead if I do.”
“Spontaneous human combustion is, is rare, and, and scientifically unexplainable, but there have been cases for hundreds of years. Usually all that’s left is a pile of ashes.”
“That’s all that would have been left if it hadn’t been for Buffy.”
“So, we have no idea what caused this. That’s a comfort.”
Witch
Buffy characters are often rare in the setting and in some cases totally unique.
Vampire Slayers being “one girl in all the world” definitely count as rare. Not to mention vampires with souls, world-class witches, karaoke demons from another dimension, and the like. Indeed, they may get a little thrown when they find out they aren’t unique.
Anyway, while the game has rules for slayers and vampires with souls and the like, more unusual character types can work. Superhero origin specialness definitely applies.
The main characters still have to fit into the setting to some extent though, they should generally look human enough to patrol and hang out in clubs without drawing too much attention. They may feel apart from the normal world but shouldn’t be totally excluded. (Lorne gets by on charm and occasionally wears a hat.)
Personally, I have many Buffy odd character ideas, but my longest-running character as a tabletop player was a guy who accidentally drew a certain sword from a certain stone. I’ve never actually tried my Gargoyles homage character. Or my The Last Action Hero “pulled out of a comic book” idea either, though at least that one looks human.
Likewise, they have a tendency to come up against some pretty odd stuff. Unique beings, forgotten monster types, singular ancient artefacts, that kinda thing.
2.11: One In All The World
Having met a whole gang of other slayers, Shelly is a little less buzzed about her alleged uniqueness. On hearing a prophecy about the slayer dying to save the world, she’s acutely aware that she might not be the one to do it, and has rather mixed feelings about that.
“I have to go face the deadly evil, even if there are other applicants. I mean, I’ll feel really guilty if I don’t. Just also I’ll feel really dead if I do.”
#RPGaDAY2020 22: RARE
#RPGaDAY2020
22: RARE
I have some rare games. Limited editions, early ones, signed copies, a few really obscure things.
My Buffy post about things that are rare in-game is much bigger.
I went to the Grand Masquerade 2011 to get an even more special edition of Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition than the regular crowdfunded special edition, and to get it signed by a bunch of the contributors, Tim Bradstreet and the models for his new art (including Rose Bailey and Dhaunae De Vir) so that rates high on the rarity level.
For books that made it into shops and vanished with nary a trace, Monster Horrorshow seems a likely candidate, as discussed in RPGaDAY 2014 in Rarest RPG Owned.
22: RARE
I have some rare games. Limited editions, early ones, signed copies, a few really obscure things.
My Buffy post about things that are rare in-game is much bigger.
I went to the Grand Masquerade 2011 to get an even more special edition of Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition than the regular crowdfunded special edition, and to get it signed by a bunch of the contributors, Tim Bradstreet and the models for his new art (including Rose Bailey and Dhaunae De Vir) so that rates high on the rarity level.
For books that made it into shops and vanished with nary a trace, Monster Horrorshow seems a likely candidate, as discussed in RPGaDAY 2014 in Rarest RPG Owned.
Friday 21 August 2020
Chronicles Of Darkness at 16
Chronicles Of Darkness and Vampire: The Requiem are old enough to get married in this country.
Mad Max Elliott
Mad Max Elliott, The Blue Moon Goon. Now I have to run a rockabilly horror game.
Via Zola Jesus.
“I’m underneath your bed just to hear your heart beat, I’m The Creep”
Via Zola Jesus.
“I’m underneath your bed just to hear your heart beat, I’m The Creep”
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 21B: PUSH
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
21B: PUSH
“Maybe that’s your problem, maybe you push ’em away? Or is it the other, maybe you cling too much?”
Checkpoint
Pushing it.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is in part about how much one person can do, and in part about how that affects others.
Characters push themselves to and past their limits, and push each other to action, and yes, push each other away. Buffy tends to isolate herself when she’s hurting.
This is mainly a player and character thing, but the Director can spotlight it with relevant themes...
2.10: Pushing It
A demon cult kidnapping people, a midterm and a bad breakup, all in one weekend.
“Yeah, if I can save the world tonight I can try to get a passing grade tomorrow. And I can do the “that guy’s an idiot” thing on the way to stop the dark ritual maybe? ’Cuz that guy is an idiot.”
“Maybe that’s your problem, maybe you push ’em away? Or is it the other, maybe you cling too much?”
Checkpoint
Pushing it.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is in part about how much one person can do, and in part about how that affects others.
Characters push themselves to and past their limits, and push each other to action, and yes, push each other away. Buffy tends to isolate herself when she’s hurting.
This is mainly a player and character thing, but the Director can spotlight it with relevant themes...
2.10: Pushing It
A demon cult kidnapping people, a midterm and a bad breakup, all in one weekend.
“Yeah, if I can save the world tonight I can try to get a passing grade tomorrow. And I can do the “that guy’s an idiot” thing on the way to stop the dark ritual maybe? ’Cuz that guy is an idiot.”
#RPGaDAY2020 21: PUSH
#RPGaDAY2020
21: PUSH
Pushes for in-game action.
In Medias Res is the obvious starting move for this, skipping the “deciding whether to take the job” phase and going to the “breaking in to the building” phase or even the “fleeing the Imperial fleet” phase.
The trick here is getting the players to go along with its specific requirements - “I would have checked for traps!” Some players are never happy with this, and some thrive on it.
In session, a bit of scene framing can go a long way, for similar reasons.
And there are also narrative pushes, where the pacing comes from the events in-game. The classics are in-character deadlines and activity happening while the PCs are doing something else. I come from the “cut the wire with 007 seconds left on the clock” school of thought, so I have to make it clear that I’m doing this, and stick to it, and I don’t apply it to campaign-ending apocalyptic deals.
Cutting away to what the antagonists are up to can be fun in an appropriate genre, but keep it short and vague.
And, why not, the film Push (2009). One of Chris Evans’s several superhero roles, though not one of his several comic adaptation roles.
Push is about different kinds of psychics in a plain-clothes supers modern action setting, rebelling against an authority trying to weaponise them. This is rather relevant to the Trinity Continuum, not least Aberrant - drop the powers for Aeon into the present and mix with Deviant: The Renegades and you’re most of the way there. There are also smaller Scanners-y games like The 23rd Letter that could work, though it’s lower on action.
21: PUSH
Pushes for in-game action.
In Medias Res is the obvious starting move for this, skipping the “deciding whether to take the job” phase and going to the “breaking in to the building” phase or even the “fleeing the Imperial fleet” phase.
The trick here is getting the players to go along with its specific requirements - “I would have checked for traps!” Some players are never happy with this, and some thrive on it.
In session, a bit of scene framing can go a long way, for similar reasons.
And there are also narrative pushes, where the pacing comes from the events in-game. The classics are in-character deadlines and activity happening while the PCs are doing something else. I come from the “cut the wire with 007 seconds left on the clock” school of thought, so I have to make it clear that I’m doing this, and stick to it, and I don’t apply it to campaign-ending apocalyptic deals.
Cutting away to what the antagonists are up to can be fun in an appropriate genre, but keep it short and vague.
And, why not, the film Push (2009). One of Chris Evans’s several superhero roles, though not one of his several comic adaptation roles.
Push is about different kinds of psychics in a plain-clothes supers modern action setting, rebelling against an authority trying to weaponise them. This is rather relevant to the Trinity Continuum, not least Aberrant - drop the powers for Aeon into the present and mix with Deviant: The Renegades and you’re most of the way there. There are also smaller Scanners-y games like The 23rd Letter that could work, though it’s lower on action.
Stealing from a ninja museum
Ninja museum in Japan robbed. Sadly of visitor takings, not of ancient cursed weapons or anything.
Thursday 20 August 2020
Adventure Presents: Tartarus Gate
Adventure Presents 1 has arrived. A Kickstarter RPG from backing to arrival in seven weeks flat. Obviously a very small one.
Unpainted Goose Game
Miniatures for the ultimate enemy.
Thanks to Bruce for the link. They also make dogs, cats, wild and farm animals, and terrifying death bunnies.
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 20B: INVESTIGATE
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
20B: INVESTIGATE
“This is freaky. I don’t ever remember ever seeing Giles be this weird.”
“I know. He’s usually Investigate-Things-From-Every-Boring-Angle Guy. Now he’s I-Cling-On-To-My-One-Lame-Idea Guy. What gives?”
I Only Have Eyes For You
As noted on the general, I run a lot of investigative and mystery games, and Monster Of The Week episodes of Buffy involve research identifying demon-y types, finding weaknesses to exploit and plans to avert. The trick is not to make that all they are.
See also Angel where the Angel Investigations bit gave way to the drama side pretty quickly.
And for this series idea we have people investigating things openly as well as monster-huntiily.
So we can lean on the Veronica Mars side for a week...
2.09: Special Report
Crime on campus! Test fraud! Somebody using this to fund some kind of mystical supervillainy, but the funding method itself is still bad!
“Okay, it’s not getting him sent down for warlockery, but it’ll still stop him collecting the evil amulets. It’s the Al Capone approach.”
“This is freaky. I don’t ever remember ever seeing Giles be this weird.”
“I know. He’s usually Investigate-Things-From-Every-Boring-Angle Guy. Now he’s I-Cling-On-To-My-One-Lame-Idea Guy. What gives?”
I Only Have Eyes For You
As noted on the general, I run a lot of investigative and mystery games, and Monster Of The Week episodes of Buffy involve research identifying demon-y types, finding weaknesses to exploit and plans to avert. The trick is not to make that all they are.
See also Angel where the Angel Investigations bit gave way to the drama side pretty quickly.
And for this series idea we have people investigating things openly as well as monster-huntiily.
So we can lean on the Veronica Mars side for a week...
2.09: Special Report
Crime on campus! Test fraud! Somebody using this to fund some kind of mystical supervillainy, but the funding method itself is still bad!
“Okay, it’s not getting him sent down for warlockery, but it’ll still stop him collecting the evil amulets. It’s the Al Capone approach.”
#RPGaDAY2020 20: INVESTIGATE
#RPGaDAY2020
20: INVESTIGATE
Investigative games are my default setting.
I can come up with clue chains and conspiracies more readily than interesting fights or dramatic developments, and players tend to jump on them.
So much so that I sometimes set out to do drama or something else but a mystery will probably take over if the intended dramatic plot doesn’t build up steam.
I can generally rein it in after a while, if the players are up for it.
The tricky part of an investigative game is keeping a partially improvised clue chain straight. Some red herrings are acceptable, but there really does need to be an answer that makes some kind of sense.
A really planned-out investigation with handouts and the like can be a lot if fun too, but obviously much more work.
Right now I’m running a Vampire game that turned from drama to mystery after I realised most of the players wouldn’t know what the original hook was about and a Buffy game that I’m actively avoiding turning to a serialised investigation.
This goes almost all the way back to formative GMing experiences, my first long game being The Enemy Within for Warhammer Fantasy Role Play, which is very much an investigation with some monster fighting interludes, more Call Of Cthulhu than D&D. Call Of Cthulhu also inspired GUMSHOE, a whole system built to address the clue finding bottleneck.
20: INVESTIGATE
Investigative games are my default setting.
I can come up with clue chains and conspiracies more readily than interesting fights or dramatic developments, and players tend to jump on them.
So much so that I sometimes set out to do drama or something else but a mystery will probably take over if the intended dramatic plot doesn’t build up steam.
I can generally rein it in after a while, if the players are up for it.
The tricky part of an investigative game is keeping a partially improvised clue chain straight. Some red herrings are acceptable, but there really does need to be an answer that makes some kind of sense.
A really planned-out investigation with handouts and the like can be a lot if fun too, but obviously much more work.
Right now I’m running a Vampire game that turned from drama to mystery after I realised most of the players wouldn’t know what the original hook was about and a Buffy game that I’m actively avoiding turning to a serialised investigation.
This goes almost all the way back to formative GMing experiences, my first long game being The Enemy Within for Warhammer Fantasy Role Play, which is very much an investigation with some monster fighting interludes, more Call Of Cthulhu than D&D. Call Of Cthulhu also inspired GUMSHOE, a whole system built to address the clue finding bottleneck.
Wednesday 19 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 19B: TOWER
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
19B: TOWER
“You think I just want attention?”
“No, I think you’re up in the clock tower with a high-powered rifle because you wanna blend in.”
Earshot
Towers have the same symbolic and practical effect in the Buffyverse as in stories in general.
The Gift plays the princess in the tower straight with Buffy storming up the stairs to save Dawn, so I probably would have used a quote from there if anybody actually said the word “tower” out loud.
We never get a wizard tower - we get some creepy isolated wizards but they stay in basements or occasionally mansions - so that could be a trope to play on.
Sunnydale doesn’t have skyscrapers. We leave that for L.A. in Angel, where they’re often used for their action movie purpose of characters getting thrown off them.
2.08: The Bigger They Are
Radio towers can also be used as improvised weapons against electricity dragons.
“Okay, the trick is to do this plan and not also die.”
“You think I just want attention?”
“No, I think you’re up in the clock tower with a high-powered rifle because you wanna blend in.”
Earshot
Towers have the same symbolic and practical effect in the Buffyverse as in stories in general.
The Gift plays the princess in the tower straight with Buffy storming up the stairs to save Dawn, so I probably would have used a quote from there if anybody actually said the word “tower” out loud.
We never get a wizard tower - we get some creepy isolated wizards but they stay in basements or occasionally mansions - so that could be a trope to play on.
Sunnydale doesn’t have skyscrapers. We leave that for L.A. in Angel, where they’re often used for their action movie purpose of characters getting thrown off them.
2.08: The Bigger They Are
Radio towers can also be used as improvised weapons against electricity dragons.
“Okay, the trick is to do this plan and not also die.”
#RPGaDAY2020 19: TOWER
#RPGaDAY2020
19: TOWER
Having asked what a forest means, what about a Tower?
A tower shows (and rhymes with) power, both practical and symbolic.
A high and commanding view. Security and isolation. Pride and hubris. Compensating for something.
(TVTropes alert!)
Wizards have them, as demonstrated by Sauron and Saruman in, hey, The Two Towers.
Princesses get locked in them.
They might be at the centre of all things, like The Dark Tower.
Children’s ITV encouraged reading from 1979 to 1989 with The Book Tower, first presented by Tom Baker at the height of his Whovian power. So towers being vaguely ominous and magical has been a thing since I was a kid.
And they provide an obvious route for an attack, unlike a more spread out fortification.
Modern settings have skyscrapers for all your centralised ominous height needs.
Non-flying superheroes often need something to swing on or brood on top of.
The cover for the first major sourcebook for Vampire: The Masquerade, Chicago By Night, has a vampire being thrown off the top of a skyscraper, starting a glorious tradition continued through this shot in the first World Of Darkness MMO trailer and a direct homage in an internal art page for the new Chicago By Night. And we see the Prince looking out over the city in the Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 trailer, like the Prince in Bloodlines 1.
Put your Dark Lord in a turret and nobody will be impressed.
See also Dread.
19: TOWER
Having asked what a forest means, what about a Tower?
A tower shows (and rhymes with) power, both practical and symbolic.
A high and commanding view. Security and isolation. Pride and hubris. Compensating for something.
(TVTropes alert!)
Wizards have them, as demonstrated by Sauron and Saruman in, hey, The Two Towers.
Princesses get locked in them.
They might be at the centre of all things, like The Dark Tower.
Children’s ITV encouraged reading from 1979 to 1989 with The Book Tower, first presented by Tom Baker at the height of his Whovian power. So towers being vaguely ominous and magical has been a thing since I was a kid.
And they provide an obvious route for an attack, unlike a more spread out fortification.
Modern settings have skyscrapers for all your centralised ominous height needs.
Non-flying superheroes often need something to swing on or brood on top of.
The cover for the first major sourcebook for Vampire: The Masquerade, Chicago By Night, has a vampire being thrown off the top of a skyscraper, starting a glorious tradition continued through this shot in the first World Of Darkness MMO trailer and a direct homage in an internal art page for the new Chicago By Night. And we see the Prince looking out over the city in the Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 trailer, like the Prince in Bloodlines 1.
Put your Dark Lord in a turret and nobody will be impressed.
See also Dread.
Hellboy RPG
The new Hellboy RPG (based on D&D 5) is now on Kickstarter. From Mantic, making the miniatures available. Also, free quickstart.
Tuesday 18 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 18B: MEET
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
18B: MEET
“It’s nice to meet you both.”
“I’m nice to meet.”
The Freshman
Having already talked about meeting NPCs, and PCs, and about in-character meetings, going a bit more specific:
Meeting NPC hero types.
One of the very first pieces of advice I read about RPGs in general and superheroic RPGs in particular was an article by Phil Masters in White Dwarf (v1) 65 on NPCs in supers settings, including addressing the presence of other heroes in the setting - “otherwise the players may feel they are fighting a lonely and unbalanced war.”
Buffy really is fighting a lonely and unbalanced war, “one girl in all the world”, and Angel is even more unique as protagonists go. But they meet other heroic types along the way. Buffy stops being the only slayer pretty early, for better or worse. The Initiative appears in Season Four and... mostly gets in the way, apart from Riley. Angel meets Gunn’s street-level vampire hunters, among others.
So there’s room for team-ups, often involving superhero misunderstanding fights first naturally.
This is a big enough deal for a two-parter...
2.06: Multiple Choice
A monstrous big deal arising, and the gang might conclude it has something to do with mysterious sightings of three women in dark fighting-friendly outfits. But this is a post-Chosen spinoff show, so...
“They’re slayers? Like, all of them?”
“We look more like slayers than you do, Easy Breezy Covergirl.”
2.07: Common Cause
A well-equipped band of travelling monster hunters offering Shelly a place. Does she really belong with regular folks...?
“Wow, they say never meet your heroes.”
“You’re my hero.”
“You know what I mean.”
18B: MEET
“It’s nice to meet you both.”
“I’m nice to meet.”
The Freshman
Having already talked about meeting NPCs, and PCs, and about in-character meetings, going a bit more specific:
Meeting NPC hero types.
One of the very first pieces of advice I read about RPGs in general and superheroic RPGs in particular was an article by Phil Masters in White Dwarf (v1) 65 on NPCs in supers settings, including addressing the presence of other heroes in the setting - “otherwise the players may feel they are fighting a lonely and unbalanced war.”
Buffy really is fighting a lonely and unbalanced war, “one girl in all the world”, and Angel is even more unique as protagonists go. But they meet other heroic types along the way. Buffy stops being the only slayer pretty early, for better or worse. The Initiative appears in Season Four and... mostly gets in the way, apart from Riley. Angel meets Gunn’s street-level vampire hunters, among others.
So there’s room for team-ups, often involving superhero misunderstanding fights first naturally.
This is a big enough deal for a two-parter...
2.06: Multiple Choice
A monstrous big deal arising, and the gang might conclude it has something to do with mysterious sightings of three women in dark fighting-friendly outfits. But this is a post-Chosen spinoff show, so...
“They’re slayers? Like, all of them?”
“We look more like slayers than you do, Easy Breezy Covergirl.”
2.07: Common Cause
A well-equipped band of travelling monster hunters offering Shelly a place. Does she really belong with regular folks...?
“Wow, they say never meet your heroes.”
“You’re my hero.”
“You know what I mean.”
#RPGaDAY2020 18: MEET
#RPGaDAY2020
18: MEET
Meeting characters - and going to meetings.
A roleplaying game session is at least in part a meeting.
(This one took a while and included taking a photo.)
We have a group of people getting together to talk. The PCs often talk at length with NPCs, as dialogue is the main thing we have outside of system mechanics.
And some classics in the source genres include meeting scenes. The Round Table, the Council of Elrond, the briefing before the attack on the Death Star...
So inevitably we have meetings in-character.
Introducing NPCs can be tricky. GMs can create impressions other than the intended, players can bounce off NPCs for unrelated reasons... There’s a very familiar GMing joke about the players being pointed at an important planned NPC and fixating on a background character. Because, as also noted, sometimes the blank shows what they want.
But we have one advantage over reality here - we can state that the first impression didn’t go well and redo it.
Introducing PCs can be tricky as well, with some wanting to skip it entirely and use the “PC Glow” with no in-character reason to trust the new arrival, and others actively opposing that to equally absurd extents leading to actively avoiding these strangers or interrogating them on their motives. Having a good in-character reason to meet up can help a lot. Easier done between sessions than in the depths of a dungeon... Delta Green started in part to address the need to bring in new PCs for a high-attrition Call Of Cthulhu game.
And running meetings can be tricky as well, especially big ones with multiple NPCs speaking - there are only so many ways you can turn your head and so many voices you can do.
Many freeform and non-boffer LARPs are based around meetings, parties and the like. This gives the characters a reason to be together and talk, often with conflicting agendas. The default for a live Vampire games is Elysium, where vampires gather every month or so to hold court and hang out on neutral ground.
GMing a big meeting at the tabletop makes visual markers for NPCs very helpful. It’s much easier to keep track of who’s here and who’s sitting with whom.
And it lets you set down another image for a dramatic entrance halfway through.
18: MEET
Meeting characters - and going to meetings.
A roleplaying game session is at least in part a meeting.
(This one took a while and included taking a photo.)
We have a group of people getting together to talk. The PCs often talk at length with NPCs, as dialogue is the main thing we have outside of system mechanics.
And some classics in the source genres include meeting scenes. The Round Table, the Council of Elrond, the briefing before the attack on the Death Star...
So inevitably we have meetings in-character.
Star Trek: TNG is a sci-fi show about people having meetings.
The most sci-fi thing about the show is that people accomplish things in these meetings.Maya Shwayder
Introducing NPCs can be tricky. GMs can create impressions other than the intended, players can bounce off NPCs for unrelated reasons... There’s a very familiar GMing joke about the players being pointed at an important planned NPC and fixating on a background character. Because, as also noted, sometimes the blank shows what they want.
But we have one advantage over reality here - we can state that the first impression didn’t go well and redo it.
Introducing PCs can be tricky as well, with some wanting to skip it entirely and use the “PC Glow” with no in-character reason to trust the new arrival, and others actively opposing that to equally absurd extents leading to actively avoiding these strangers or interrogating them on their motives. Having a good in-character reason to meet up can help a lot. Easier done between sessions than in the depths of a dungeon... Delta Green started in part to address the need to bring in new PCs for a high-attrition Call Of Cthulhu game.
And running meetings can be tricky as well, especially big ones with multiple NPCs speaking - there are only so many ways you can turn your head and so many voices you can do.
Many freeform and non-boffer LARPs are based around meetings, parties and the like. This gives the characters a reason to be together and talk, often with conflicting agendas. The default for a live Vampire games is Elysium, where vampires gather every month or so to hold court and hang out on neutral ground.
GMing a big meeting at the tabletop makes visual markers for NPCs very helpful. It’s much easier to keep track of who’s here and who’s sitting with whom.
 |
| And this is a quiet night. |
Monday 17 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 17B: COMFORT
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
17B: COMFORT
“I move pretty fast. You know, a man’s always after - ”
“Conquest?”
“I’m a conquistador.”
“Are you sure it isn’t comfort?”
“I’m a comfortador also.”
Restless
Comfort for the characters. (See general thread for comfort for the players.)
We rarely see our heroes get to relax in-character, usually around the start of an episode before the status quo gets disrupted or at the end when it’s more or less restored. They get quiet days in between episodes but as an audience we’re not here for that. The most we see them having fun is when they get to have adventures on their own terms.
You can have longer hanging-out scenes at the table, as the players are partially creating the heroes and their actions and also partially the writers’ room jamming. Cut away for pacing, drama and irony.
We very rarely get an episode which is mostly a nice time for the characters. There are some with mild threats and/or where almost everybody has a week off to deal with life stuff.
The Prom has Buffy make good on her promise to give everybody else a nice night by quickly demolishing the MOTW. And even then it’s also the episode where Angel breaks her heart.
Amends has everybody doing low-key holiday preparations except, again, Buffy and Angel.
There’s also finding comfort in the moment, blowing off steam mid-episode.
And there’s also comforting each other. One of the ways to regain Drama Points is Support Your Local Hero, where a White Hat helps somebody through an emotional crisis.
2.05: Think Happy Thoughts
Caitlin sees someone die in a vision, can’t help him, and her insight goes on the fritz. Now she can only see nice things, anything dangerous is just a blank. And there’s only so much the gang can deduce from a blank.
“I know I have to fix this. I just... don’t want to.”
17B: COMFORT
“I move pretty fast. You know, a man’s always after - ”
“Conquest?”
“I’m a conquistador.”
“Are you sure it isn’t comfort?”
“I’m a comfortador also.”
Restless
Comfort for the characters. (See general thread for comfort for the players.)
We rarely see our heroes get to relax in-character, usually around the start of an episode before the status quo gets disrupted or at the end when it’s more or less restored. They get quiet days in between episodes but as an audience we’re not here for that. The most we see them having fun is when they get to have adventures on their own terms.
You can have longer hanging-out scenes at the table, as the players are partially creating the heroes and their actions and also partially the writers’ room jamming. Cut away for pacing, drama and irony.
We very rarely get an episode which is mostly a nice time for the characters. There are some with mild threats and/or where almost everybody has a week off to deal with life stuff.
The Prom has Buffy make good on her promise to give everybody else a nice night by quickly demolishing the MOTW. And even then it’s also the episode where Angel breaks her heart.
Amends has everybody doing low-key holiday preparations except, again, Buffy and Angel.
There’s also finding comfort in the moment, blowing off steam mid-episode.
And there’s also comforting each other. One of the ways to regain Drama Points is Support Your Local Hero, where a White Hat helps somebody through an emotional crisis.
2.05: Think Happy Thoughts
Caitlin sees someone die in a vision, can’t help him, and her insight goes on the fritz. Now she can only see nice things, anything dangerous is just a blank. And there’s only so much the gang can deduce from a blank.
“I know I have to fix this. I just... don’t want to.”
#RPGaDAY2020 17: COMFORT
#RPGaDAY2020
17: COMFORT
Comfort for the players. (See Buffy thread for comfort for the characters.)
RPGs can, like all media, provide the comfort of the known and familiar. Sometimes you just want to kick in a door and fight some goblins.
A known setting or system can feel like home too. System Mastery is, at least in part, a way to be sure of what to expect.
I go to Star Wars for this, a setting that can include philosophical issues but can also boil down to override a blast door and zap some Stormtroopers.
Likewise, obviously, Buffy, some episodes of which definitely count as comfort TV, even though some absolutely don’t, setting out to surprise and engage. I watch the Season Two episode Killed By Death whenever I get a cold. And when running it I try to restrict myself to a few format-breakers in among the regular monsters and the like.
17: COMFORT
Comfort for the players. (See Buffy thread for comfort for the characters.)
RPGs can, like all media, provide the comfort of the known and familiar. Sometimes you just want to kick in a door and fight some goblins.
A known setting or system can feel like home too. System Mastery is, at least in part, a way to be sure of what to expect.
I go to Star Wars for this, a setting that can include philosophical issues but can also boil down to override a blast door and zap some Stormtroopers.
Likewise, obviously, Buffy, some episodes of which definitely count as comfort TV, even though some absolutely don’t, setting out to surprise and engage. I watch the Season Two episode Killed By Death whenever I get a cold. And when running it I try to restrict myself to a few format-breakers in among the regular monsters and the like.
Behold! A vision!
Some see Jesus in the clouds. Some see Jesus in Marmite lids.
Not I. Oh no, my people!
I see Khorne, Chaos God Of War, in ravioli!
Not I. Oh no, my people!
I see Khorne, Chaos God Of War, in ravioli!
So you wanna do a D&D
Patrick O’Duffy on D&D.
So yeah, everyone loves D&D now, everyone listens to D&D podcasts and watches D&D livestreams and goes to D&D-themed drag queen shows and none of this makes any sense to old geeks like me but hey, fine, let’s roll with it, life is strange.what D&D does well, what it doesn’t do well, and more.
Sunday 16 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 16B: DRAMATIC
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
16B: DRAMATIC
“A dramatic scene is the easiest way to get through the talent show, because it doesn’t require an actual talent.”
The Puppet Show
Everything is so turgid when you’re in high school, everything is so powerful, so dramatic. I don’t think there is a time in life when you really feel that way except in high school. I’ve said, and I will say it until I’m in my grave, that high school is a horror movie and a soap opera, and I was trying to capture that in the show.
Joss Whedon, Empire interview
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is an urban fantasy superheroic action horror comedy drama. Drama isn’t high on that list, but sometimes it takes over.
Buffy also runs on Drama Points, its term for OOC boosts for when the player wants to do something impressive and/or meta. The name ain’t a coincidence. It’s a rule for the big move, the big closeup, both a mechanical I Win button and a spotlight grabber. (As well as for I Think I’m Okay, an obvious undercutting move the show uses a lot too, and the classic example of the Plot Twist rule is an undercut as well.)
It’s easy to run the game in early Monster Of The Week mode and not make the big drama a feature. Going for the drama takes players being very on board. If they aren’t, you can do the big drama at one remove with NPCs...
And the characters are aware of the dramatic effect of their actions as well as other genre savvy. Buffy makes her declaration of who she is by interrupting Giles’s monologue about the slayer, defeats her first MOTW with a big dramatic distraction, and sometimes calls foes out to get them to focus on her. Angel is Mr. Billowy Coat King Of Pain, and a lot of the humour about him is when the style fails. And Spike is a huge drama llama, who was sired because he stormed out of a moment of pain and constructed a brawler and melodramatic villain persona for himself.
So...
2.04: These Our Actors
The drama club are putting on a play. There’s no way this can result in supernatural weirdness like the play becoming real or anything, right?
“So, uh, how many people die at the end? Oh...”
16B: DRAMATIC
“A dramatic scene is the easiest way to get through the talent show, because it doesn’t require an actual talent.”
The Puppet Show
Everything is so turgid when you’re in high school, everything is so powerful, so dramatic. I don’t think there is a time in life when you really feel that way except in high school. I’ve said, and I will say it until I’m in my grave, that high school is a horror movie and a soap opera, and I was trying to capture that in the show.
Joss Whedon, Empire interview
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is an urban fantasy superheroic action horror comedy drama. Drama isn’t high on that list, but sometimes it takes over.
Buffy also runs on Drama Points, its term for OOC boosts for when the player wants to do something impressive and/or meta. The name ain’t a coincidence. It’s a rule for the big move, the big closeup, both a mechanical I Win button and a spotlight grabber. (As well as for I Think I’m Okay, an obvious undercutting move the show uses a lot too, and the classic example of the Plot Twist rule is an undercut as well.)
It’s easy to run the game in early Monster Of The Week mode and not make the big drama a feature. Going for the drama takes players being very on board. If they aren’t, you can do the big drama at one remove with NPCs...
And the characters are aware of the dramatic effect of their actions as well as other genre savvy. Buffy makes her declaration of who she is by interrupting Giles’s monologue about the slayer, defeats her first MOTW with a big dramatic distraction, and sometimes calls foes out to get them to focus on her. Angel is Mr. Billowy Coat King Of Pain, and a lot of the humour about him is when the style fails. And Spike is a huge drama llama, who was sired because he stormed out of a moment of pain and constructed a brawler and melodramatic villain persona for himself.
So...
2.04: These Our Actors
The drama club are putting on a play. There’s no way this can result in supernatural weirdness like the play becoming real or anything, right?
“So, uh, how many people die at the end? Oh...”
#RPGaDAY2020 16: DRAMATIC
#RPGaDAY2020
16: DRAMATIC
RPGs require storytelling and encourage acting as well. With such dramatic tendencies, many players go for the dramatic as well as or instead of the practical.
Some games encourage this heavily, like games with meta narrative powers, as well as something as simple as the division of IC and OOC desires especially when put in rules terms.
The level and type of drama you’re going for are something else to check you’re on the same page about as you prep for and run a game.
16: DRAMATIC
RPGs require storytelling and encourage acting as well. With such dramatic tendencies, many players go for the dramatic as well as or instead of the practical.
Some games encourage this heavily, like games with meta narrative powers, as well as something as simple as the division of IC and OOC desires especially when put in rules terms.
The level and type of drama you’re going for are something else to check you’re on the same page about as you prep for and run a game.
Saturday 15 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 15B: FRAME
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
15B: FRAME
“Sometimes when I’m sitting in class, y’know, not thinking about class ’cause that’d never happen, I think about kissing you, and it’s like everything stops. It’s like, it’s like freeze frame. Willow kissage.”
Innocence
As well as the framing of the scenes, so that we can look one way, then the other, then back and hey there’s a vampire in frame now, we also get things like Buffy being framed for a killing...
But being an urban fantasy sometimes horror show, we also have things in frames, like pictures and mirrors.
Mystical objects come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but pictures and mirrors are good for visual media for obvious reasons.
I have the real Dorian Gray as one of the characters in a PBP game right now!
The first M.R. James ghost story I came across was The Mezzotint, where something starts to get closer every time you look back at a picture...
Issue 8 of the original Buffy comic had a movie vampire escape from an old film reel - something also done with photographs in Sapphire & Steel and film in a Torchwood episode by its creator PJ Hammond.
Mirrors of course have significance as a tell for vampires. Old silver-backed ones make good improvised weapons against werewolves as well, as Andy discovered in The Watch House when he got thrown into one hanging over a bar.
And just as they can not show things they should, they can show things they shouldn’t as well. (I recently learned that mirror has the same Latin root as miracle.)
The mother of all haunted mirrors is in Dead Of Night, where it starts to show the room it was originally hung in - over a century earlier.
I stole that plot for TWH with a mirror uncovered after a century and the century it came from starting to leak out of it...
Poltergeist and the Evil Dead films have wrong reflections as well, Mirrors has a building full of them all connecting to a parallel world, and Oculus makes one an active antagonist.
So anyway, mirrors...
2.03: Ps and Qs
Someone just used an enchanted mirror to call forth a duplicate Shelly.
“So is the evil mirror you left-handed or something?”
“I’m ambidextrous.”
“Oh. Does she at least part her hair funny?”
Or photographs...
2.03: You’ve Been Framed
Willis is showing some of his pictures at a college art show. The photographer getting most attention is using an old camera that can also photograph ghosts...
“This series is great, the shape coming towards the viewer.”
“What shape?”
Or art...
2.03: Frame It And Hang It
Borrowing from the Buffy novel Doomsday Deck: A landscape painting of a creepy old ruin, if exposed to moonlight at the same phase as in the painted sky will let you enter. And somebody just threw Shelly through the painting into it...
“And now I’m stuck in a haunted castle. Bet I’ll have to fight an empty suit of armour or something...”
Or to be very modern, video calls...
2.03: I See You
A format-bending episode done as a group video call, when the gang are supposed to be planning a new issue while the office is shut but there’s a mysterious sixth caller...
“If I get attacked by an emoji I’m blaming you.”
15B: FRAME
“Sometimes when I’m sitting in class, y’know, not thinking about class ’cause that’d never happen, I think about kissing you, and it’s like everything stops. It’s like, it’s like freeze frame. Willow kissage.”
Innocence
As well as the framing of the scenes, so that we can look one way, then the other, then back and hey there’s a vampire in frame now, we also get things like Buffy being framed for a killing...
But being an urban fantasy sometimes horror show, we also have things in frames, like pictures and mirrors.
Mystical objects come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but pictures and mirrors are good for visual media for obvious reasons.
I have the real Dorian Gray as one of the characters in a PBP game right now!
The first M.R. James ghost story I came across was The Mezzotint, where something starts to get closer every time you look back at a picture...
Issue 8 of the original Buffy comic had a movie vampire escape from an old film reel - something also done with photographs in Sapphire & Steel and film in a Torchwood episode by its creator PJ Hammond.
Mirrors of course have significance as a tell for vampires. Old silver-backed ones make good improvised weapons against werewolves as well, as Andy discovered in The Watch House when he got thrown into one hanging over a bar.
And just as they can not show things they should, they can show things they shouldn’t as well. (I recently learned that mirror has the same Latin root as miracle.)
The mother of all haunted mirrors is in Dead Of Night, where it starts to show the room it was originally hung in - over a century earlier.
I stole that plot for TWH with a mirror uncovered after a century and the century it came from starting to leak out of it...
Poltergeist and the Evil Dead films have wrong reflections as well, Mirrors has a building full of them all connecting to a parallel world, and Oculus makes one an active antagonist.
So anyway, mirrors...
2.03: Ps and Qs
Someone just used an enchanted mirror to call forth a duplicate Shelly.
“So is the evil mirror you left-handed or something?”
“I’m ambidextrous.”
“Oh. Does she at least part her hair funny?”
Or photographs...
2.03: You’ve Been Framed
Willis is showing some of his pictures at a college art show. The photographer getting most attention is using an old camera that can also photograph ghosts...
“This series is great, the shape coming towards the viewer.”
“What shape?”
Or art...
2.03: Frame It And Hang It
Borrowing from the Buffy novel Doomsday Deck: A landscape painting of a creepy old ruin, if exposed to moonlight at the same phase as in the painted sky will let you enter. And somebody just threw Shelly through the painting into it...
“And now I’m stuck in a haunted castle. Bet I’ll have to fight an empty suit of armour or something...”
Or to be very modern, video calls...
2.03: I See You
A format-bending episode done as a group video call, when the gang are supposed to be planning a new issue while the office is shut but there’s a mysterious sixth caller...
“If I get attacked by an emoji I’m blaming you.”
#RPGaDAY2020 15: FRAME
#RPGaDAY2020
15: FRAME
Scene framing is an important if often tricky part of the GM’s job. Both starting and particularly ending scenes, and determining what is and isn’t included.
I occasionally narrate a camera move like pulling back to reveal an enemy watching the oblivious characters but it needs good IC/OOC boundaries. It also fits what is seen being real or not - like a supervillain is only dead if you saw the body, and then has to be resurrected in an even more convoluted way.
(TimeWatch has the Observer Effect as part of how time travel works, so if you can avoid seeing something you can change it later.)
Other options for Frame include pictures and crimes you didn’t commit.
15: FRAME
Scene framing is an important if often tricky part of the GM’s job. Both starting and particularly ending scenes, and determining what is and isn’t included.
I occasionally narrate a camera move like pulling back to reveal an enemy watching the oblivious characters but it needs good IC/OOC boundaries. It also fits what is seen being real or not - like a supervillain is only dead if you saw the body, and then has to be resurrected in an even more convoluted way.
(TimeWatch has the Observer Effect as part of how time travel works, so if you can avoid seeing something you can change it later.)
Other options for Frame include pictures and crimes you didn’t commit.
garbage at 25
garbage by Garbage was released 25 years ago, making first-time listeners panic their CDs were skipping, and providing themes for Vampire games ever since, if not earlier thanks to the lead single including Vow and #1 Crush, also the theme for Hex.
Friday 14 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 14B: BANNER
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
14B: BANNER
“Okay, well, if my slaying doesn’t get me expelled, then I promise my banner making won’t get me killed. Okay? Just please let me get through this week.”
School Hard
In my first draft of this post, before remembering the above quote, I used this:
“Right, don’t mention Puny Banner...”
Avengers: Age Of Ultron
I couldn’t find a Buffyverse quote for something like a banner day or year either.
Some waffling, and then an adventure idea about college sports.
Sometimes monsters have heraldry, cult outfits, ritual scars and tattoos, and other kinds of visual identification.
The heroes may sometimes resent that their secret identities mean not getting a parade after saving the world again.
But on a campus you’re most likely to see banners for events which can foreshadow future episodes or just mark the passing of time, student groups which may appear in adventures too, or not...
... and of course for sports. US college sports are a very big deal. On TV high school sports are a big deal as well, they make whole shows about them, but college sports really are very important to a lot of their hosting institutions for financial as well as team spirit reasons.
So...
2.02: Coming Home To Roost
The Homecoming game, and the Fenmore Falcons are expected to do well. Partially because of a potentially fatal curse on the visiting team. Willis notices something amiss, Madison is dating the starting quarterback, Caitlin gets a headache from sensing the curse-induced hallucinations plaguing the visitors, Ty rants about the funding of college sports, and Shelly has to punch out a phantasm.
“We need a way to get you on the field.”
“See, if this sport was co-ed I could just be on the team. I mean, I kick real good.”
“I think having a slayer in the team would also qualify as cheating.”
“You could throw me like one of those little flags?”
14B: BANNER
“Okay, well, if my slaying doesn’t get me expelled, then I promise my banner making won’t get me killed. Okay? Just please let me get through this week.”
School Hard
In my first draft of this post, before remembering the above quote, I used this:
“Right, don’t mention Puny Banner...”
Avengers: Age Of Ultron
I couldn’t find a Buffyverse quote for something like a banner day or year either.
Some waffling, and then an adventure idea about college sports.
Sometimes monsters have heraldry, cult outfits, ritual scars and tattoos, and other kinds of visual identification.
The heroes may sometimes resent that their secret identities mean not getting a parade after saving the world again.
But on a campus you’re most likely to see banners for events which can foreshadow future episodes or just mark the passing of time, student groups which may appear in adventures too, or not...
... and of course for sports. US college sports are a very big deal. On TV high school sports are a big deal as well, they make whole shows about them, but college sports really are very important to a lot of their hosting institutions for financial as well as team spirit reasons.
So...
2.02: Coming Home To Roost
The Homecoming game, and the Fenmore Falcons are expected to do well. Partially because of a potentially fatal curse on the visiting team. Willis notices something amiss, Madison is dating the starting quarterback, Caitlin gets a headache from sensing the curse-induced hallucinations plaguing the visitors, Ty rants about the funding of college sports, and Shelly has to punch out a phantasm.
“We need a way to get you on the field.”
“See, if this sport was co-ed I could just be on the team. I mean, I kick real good.”
“I think having a slayer in the team would also qualify as cheating.”
“You could throw me like one of those little flags?”
#RPGaDAY2020 14: BANNER
#RPGaDAY2020
14: BANNER
Visual identifiers of groups, in and out of character.
Flags and symbols denoting specific groups are obvious in Tolkien-y fantasy where armies march under banners, and Arthurian heraldry and the like.
These are often simplified for fantasy settings, partially for ease of reproduction on various scales. Try painting a miniature shield with the crest of the Knights of Solamnia from Dragonlance versus something like the modern arms of the Prince of Wales.
See also Crap Pirate Flags.
We have modern banners to show our allegiances as well. Superhero symbols, gang tags, corporate logos, fandom merch and the like. Sometimes these are very obvious, sometimes very in-jokey - I own a Buffy logo T-shirt and one for Sunnydale High School gym, and that’s a lot less obscure than a friend’s replica Bunny’s Dog-Walking Service T-shirt.
RPG social/familial splats in particular gained visual markers at least as early as the Clanbooks in late first edition Vampire: The Masquerade, and people started showing up at conventions with clan symbol tattoos soon after. Were they in-character? Sort of. One of the Clanbooks included an origin story for the modern symbols, and clan heraldry in the Dark Ages setting emphasised some bits that fit the medieval setting and retconned others that didn’t, so the upside-down Anarchy A for the Brujah being crossing swords, for example.
The new fifth edition updates them, and devotes most of a page to commenting on the changes and how the clan symbols can vary in-game, and giving an in-character reason why fans shouldn’t feel obliged to get their tats fixed to match!
Vampire: The Requiem ran with this with the Cacophony, a wider collection of symbols and phrases likely to be found in territorial graffiti, emphasising the more local nature of the setting while still including Clan symbols, which have had some updates during the run as well.
14: BANNER
Visual identifiers of groups, in and out of character.
Flags and symbols denoting specific groups are obvious in Tolkien-y fantasy where armies march under banners, and Arthurian heraldry and the like.
These are often simplified for fantasy settings, partially for ease of reproduction on various scales. Try painting a miniature shield with the crest of the Knights of Solamnia from Dragonlance versus something like the modern arms of the Prince of Wales.
See also Crap Pirate Flags.
We have modern banners to show our allegiances as well. Superhero symbols, gang tags, corporate logos, fandom merch and the like. Sometimes these are very obvious, sometimes very in-jokey - I own a Buffy logo T-shirt and one for Sunnydale High School gym, and that’s a lot less obscure than a friend’s replica Bunny’s Dog-Walking Service T-shirt.
RPG social/familial splats in particular gained visual markers at least as early as the Clanbooks in late first edition Vampire: The Masquerade, and people started showing up at conventions with clan symbol tattoos soon after. Were they in-character? Sort of. One of the Clanbooks included an origin story for the modern symbols, and clan heraldry in the Dark Ages setting emphasised some bits that fit the medieval setting and retconned others that didn’t, so the upside-down Anarchy A for the Brujah being crossing swords, for example.
The new fifth edition updates them, and devotes most of a page to commenting on the changes and how the clan symbols can vary in-game, and giving an in-character reason why fans shouldn’t feel obliged to get their tats fixed to match!
Vampire: The Requiem ran with this with the Cacophony, a wider collection of symbols and phrases likely to be found in territorial graffiti, emphasising the more local nature of the setting while still including Clan symbols, which have had some updates during the run as well.
Thursday 13 August 2020
The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special
The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special, coming this Life Day, November 17th.
I’ve sometimes wondered if we could have gotten more Star Wars Holiday Specials if (the animated bit of) the original had been a success. But I never imagined we would... until now.
(Also, what’s the betting that Rose gets more to do in this than The Rise Of Skywalker?)
I’ve sometimes wondered if we could have gotten more Star Wars Holiday Specials if (the animated bit of) the original had been a success. But I never imagined we would... until now.
(Also, what’s the betting that Rose gets more to do in this than The Rise Of Skywalker?)
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 13B: REST
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
13B: REST
“Well, what about the rest of the note?”
“What rest of the note?”
“The part that says, “P.S. This is a trap”?”
When She Was Bad
Downtime in-character, including gaps between seasons.
(Okay, not the relevant use of the word above, but it’s from the first episode of Season Two...)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a mix of standalone and serialised stories and doesn’t try to thread all the way through a season. Episodes that don’t end on immediate cliffhangers tend to assume the rest of the week has gone by after the day or two the previous episode covered, giving time to heal bruises, do schoolwork, and have that semblance of a normal life that keeps getting interrupted by monsters of the week.
The biggest downtime is the summer breaks between seasons, when high school and university are on vacation and the long days prevent much vampire activity.
The gap also allows adjustments to the status quo, and the first episodes back often settle things before the new season starts proper an episode or two in.
Buffy only gets a few summers where relative normality are likely. Between Seasons One and Two she’s in L.A. avoiding her trauma, Two and Three she’s in L.A. avoiding her trauma under an assumed name, Three and Four is probably normal but moving to college, Four and Five is probably the most normal as she seems to stay in Sunnydale and has a consistent boyfriend, Five and Six... y’know, and Six and Seven Willow is away among other things.
We’ve had twelve episodes already like Buffy Season One. We have nineteen more prompts, if we include some two-parters that gives us a Season Two. So...
2.01 Crashing
Shelly returns to Fenmore after a summer away following the fight with the Undying to find the Sentinel not yet up and running, journalism majors looking to join, the radio station doing the news thing live, and a masked killer stalking Welcome Week.
“So nice to be back.”
13B: REST
“Well, what about the rest of the note?”
“What rest of the note?”
“The part that says, “P.S. This is a trap”?”
When She Was Bad
Downtime in-character, including gaps between seasons.
(Okay, not the relevant use of the word above, but it’s from the first episode of Season Two...)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a mix of standalone and serialised stories and doesn’t try to thread all the way through a season. Episodes that don’t end on immediate cliffhangers tend to assume the rest of the week has gone by after the day or two the previous episode covered, giving time to heal bruises, do schoolwork, and have that semblance of a normal life that keeps getting interrupted by monsters of the week.
The biggest downtime is the summer breaks between seasons, when high school and university are on vacation and the long days prevent much vampire activity.
The gap also allows adjustments to the status quo, and the first episodes back often settle things before the new season starts proper an episode or two in.
Buffy only gets a few summers where relative normality are likely. Between Seasons One and Two she’s in L.A. avoiding her trauma, Two and Three she’s in L.A. avoiding her trauma under an assumed name, Three and Four is probably normal but moving to college, Four and Five is probably the most normal as she seems to stay in Sunnydale and has a consistent boyfriend, Five and Six... y’know, and Six and Seven Willow is away among other things.
We’ve had twelve episodes already like Buffy Season One. We have nineteen more prompts, if we include some two-parters that gives us a Season Two. So...
2.01 Crashing
Shelly returns to Fenmore after a summer away following the fight with the Undying to find the Sentinel not yet up and running, journalism majors looking to join, the radio station doing the news thing live, and a masked killer stalking Welcome Week.
“So nice to be back.”
#RPGaDAY2020 13: REST
#RPGaDAY2020
13: REST
Rest breaks in sessions.
My response to Rest comes from a discussion during an online session last night. These tend to be two and a half to three hours, and one thing they lose from face-to-face gaming is the break to get snacks somewhere in the middle. Players make the usual quick runs to the loo and/or fridge, and it only feels communal when the GM announces and does it.
When GMing I try to aim for the end of a scene here, maybe a bit of a cliffhanger. Mid-session cliffhangers are easier than end of session, because players are often reluctant to let you get away with that.
For downtime in-character, see the Buffy thread.
13: REST
Rest breaks in sessions.
My response to Rest comes from a discussion during an online session last night. These tend to be two and a half to three hours, and one thing they lose from face-to-face gaming is the break to get snacks somewhere in the middle. Players make the usual quick runs to the loo and/or fridge, and it only feels communal when the GM announces and does it.
When GMing I try to aim for the end of a scene here, maybe a bit of a cliffhanger. Mid-session cliffhangers are easier than end of session, because players are often reluctant to let you get away with that.
For downtime in-character, see the Buffy thread.
Wednesday 12 August 2020
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. ends
Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. ends tonight in the US.
Hopefully we’ll get to see the final season here... sometime.
Hopefully we’ll get to see the final season here... sometime.
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 12B: MESSAGE
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
12B: MESSAGE
“It’s kind of warm and fuzzy for a message of doom...”
Prophecy Girl
Between a Slayer, a seer, a collection of old books and newspaper clippings, and a personals section, there are plenty of ways for a prophecy, portent or other ominous message to arrive. This is a setting where personal ads could start sending warnings from the future, on top of every other option.
1.12: The Message
And this message in particular is about the threat of the seasonal Big Bad, the ritual murders on campus connecting to a rising threat.
“I have to do this. None of the rest of you have to come...”
12B: MESSAGE
“It’s kind of warm and fuzzy for a message of doom...”
Prophecy Girl
Between a Slayer, a seer, a collection of old books and newspaper clippings, and a personals section, there are plenty of ways for a prophecy, portent or other ominous message to arrive. This is a setting where personal ads could start sending warnings from the future, on top of every other option.
1.12: The Message
And this message in particular is about the threat of the seasonal Big Bad, the ritual murders on campus connecting to a rising threat.
“I have to do this. None of the rest of you have to come...”
#RPGaDAY2020 12: MESSAGE
#RPGaDAY2020
12: MESSAGE
Like all media, RPGs send messages, intentionally or not. What you include, exclude, emphasise and sideline in a given game can say a lot. It’s good to discuss intended themes as part of setup, and keep an eye out for developing themes.
Look for mixed messages as well. The original Humanity system in Vampire: The Masquerade prescribes one thing per level, and intentional property damage was ranked worse than accidental killing. I don’t think I’ve ever made anyone roll Humanity for that. Maybe for destroying a work of art, which says something about me in turn, but it’s never come up.
Themes develop as well. For example, The Watch House started as being sort-of about the freedom of starting adult life as first-year students balanced with familial and other obligations, and by the end it was about how the characters choose to proceed as the adults taking over that obligation, deciding how to balance tradition and new ideas.
Shout out to Steve D for The MESSAGE, Men Ending Slurs and Sexist Attitudes in the Gaming Environment. See advice on making women welcome in gaming spaces.
12: MESSAGE
Like all media, RPGs send messages, intentionally or not. What you include, exclude, emphasise and sideline in a given game can say a lot. It’s good to discuss intended themes as part of setup, and keep an eye out for developing themes.
Look for mixed messages as well. The original Humanity system in Vampire: The Masquerade prescribes one thing per level, and intentional property damage was ranked worse than accidental killing. I don’t think I’ve ever made anyone roll Humanity for that. Maybe for destroying a work of art, which says something about me in turn, but it’s never come up.
Themes develop as well. For example, The Watch House started as being sort-of about the freedom of starting adult life as first-year students balanced with familial and other obligations, and by the end it was about how the characters choose to proceed as the adults taking over that obligation, deciding how to balance tradition and new ideas.
Shout out to Steve D for The MESSAGE, Men Ending Slurs and Sexist Attitudes in the Gaming Environment. See advice on making women welcome in gaming spaces.
Tuesday 11 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 11B: STACK
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
11B: STACK
“They’re coming in through the stacks!”
Prophecy Girl
Stuff stacks up. Even without a double life, a single life can get on top of you.
1.11: Crush Week
A term paper is due and the new issue should be out tomorrow and Shelly had to fight off two different vampire attacks last night and there’s a troll on the loose and there was a fire alarm at four in the morning and... is somebody doing this on purpose, or is this just how finals week feels?
“Okay, that’s two different monsters in half an hour. That’s not usually a thing.”
11B: STACK
“They’re coming in through the stacks!”
Prophecy Girl
Stuff stacks up. Even without a double life, a single life can get on top of you.
1.11: Crush Week
A term paper is due and the new issue should be out tomorrow and Shelly had to fight off two different vampire attacks last night and there’s a troll on the loose and there was a fire alarm at four in the morning and... is somebody doing this on purpose, or is this just how finals week feels?
“Okay, that’s two different monsters in half an hour. That’s not usually a thing.”
#RPGaDAY2020 11: STACK
#RPGaDAY2020
11: STACK
How many modifiers can you stack before it becomes an I Win button? In my case, generally three before I get bored of looking more up.
And an I Win button can be fun at times, and in keeping with some genres. A supers game where everybody gets an automatic win on something they specialise in can be a lot of fun.
11: STACK
How many modifiers can you stack before it becomes an I Win button? In my case, generally three before I get bored of looking more up.
And an I Win button can be fun at times, and in keeping with some genres. A supers game where everybody gets an automatic win on something they specialise in can be a lot of fun.
Monday 10 August 2020
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY 10B: WANT
#RPGaDAY2020 BUFFY SEASON
10B: WANT
“I don’t know. I... I mean, ‘want’ isn’t always the right thing to do. To act on want can be wrong.”
“True...”
“But... to not act on want... What if I never feel this way again?”
Surprise
Over on the general strand I talked about what players and characters want, and where they conflict.
Buffy characters sign up for the good fight, some more grudgingly than others but all in to some extent. But they also want other things too...
Buffy wants some semblance of a normal life, though she accepts she’s never going to get it for long if at all. In the high school years she also wants the boy she can’t be with. Willow wants to learn, and to some extent to be powerful. Xander wants to prove he isn’t as useless as he often feels. Giles wants to atone for past mistakes, and to keep Buffy safe, in conflict with his original obligations as her Watcher to make her the best possible soldier in the fight against evil.
What do your characters want beyond the kicking of evil ass? Who has Love in their Drawbacks, or Obligation, or Conspicuousness, or any of the other motivators to jump into a plot?
1.10: Punch And Bowl
Madison gets the chance to organise a charity event, to impress the sorority president and that nice boy from the varsity charities group. So she wants everybody to come, and she’d really like it if no monsters attack. Of course somebody else would really like it if it doesn’t go well...
“Somebody killed the caterer? Where am I going to get vol-au-vents at this hour?”
10B: WANT
“I don’t know. I... I mean, ‘want’ isn’t always the right thing to do. To act on want can be wrong.”
“True...”
“But... to not act on want... What if I never feel this way again?”
Surprise
Over on the general strand I talked about what players and characters want, and where they conflict.
Buffy characters sign up for the good fight, some more grudgingly than others but all in to some extent. But they also want other things too...
Buffy wants some semblance of a normal life, though she accepts she’s never going to get it for long if at all. In the high school years she also wants the boy she can’t be with. Willow wants to learn, and to some extent to be powerful. Xander wants to prove he isn’t as useless as he often feels. Giles wants to atone for past mistakes, and to keep Buffy safe, in conflict with his original obligations as her Watcher to make her the best possible soldier in the fight against evil.
What do your characters want beyond the kicking of evil ass? Who has Love in their Drawbacks, or Obligation, or Conspicuousness, or any of the other motivators to jump into a plot?
1.10: Punch And Bowl
Madison gets the chance to organise a charity event, to impress the sorority president and that nice boy from the varsity charities group. So she wants everybody to come, and she’d really like it if no monsters attack. Of course somebody else would really like it if it doesn’t go well...
“Somebody killed the caterer? Where am I going to get vol-au-vents at this hour?”
#RPGaDAY2020 10: WANT
#RPGaDAY2020
10: WANT
What do the players want, and what do the characters want? And what if they conflict?
Characters may have solid reasons to adventure, depending on genre and tone. Dungeon delvers seeking gold and glory, space explorers with the thrill of discovery, superheroes and monster hunters with power and responsibility, something that can motivate them for the duration of a campaign or series. Horror games are usually the shakiest here, since they involve going into serious danger more than once.
Players on the other hand generally want interesting things to involve their characters. They may question or deny specific plot hooks, but they’ll usually go for most things. (I say generally because I’ve met players who really don’t, who actively avoid the call to adventure on a regular basis. Just a couple, and they baffle me, but they exist.)
The second edition Chronicles Of Darkness introduced Aspirations and noted that they can be a mix of in-character and out of character. Right there on the character sheet, possibly opposing player and character goals.
A character may well want a quiet life. Few games will deliver that.
“All that I want is to wake up fine...”
Paramore, Hard Times
Ultimately for a functioning ongoing character I find it’s best to have some reason to get involved, not have to be reluctantly dragged into every single story.
As a GM, my motivation is simple, I’m here to entertain.
10: WANT
What do the players want, and what do the characters want? And what if they conflict?
Characters may have solid reasons to adventure, depending on genre and tone. Dungeon delvers seeking gold and glory, space explorers with the thrill of discovery, superheroes and monster hunters with power and responsibility, something that can motivate them for the duration of a campaign or series. Horror games are usually the shakiest here, since they involve going into serious danger more than once.
Players on the other hand generally want interesting things to involve their characters. They may question or deny specific plot hooks, but they’ll usually go for most things. (I say generally because I’ve met players who really don’t, who actively avoid the call to adventure on a regular basis. Just a couple, and they baffle me, but they exist.)
The second edition Chronicles Of Darkness introduced Aspirations and noted that they can be a mix of in-character and out of character. Right there on the character sheet, possibly opposing player and character goals.
A character may well want a quiet life. Few games will deliver that.
“All that I want is to wake up fine...”
Paramore, Hard Times
Ultimately for a functioning ongoing character I find it’s best to have some reason to get involved, not have to be reluctantly dragged into every single story.
As a GM, my motivation is simple, I’m here to entertain.
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