How To Get The Best Of All Editions

March 11th, 2010

This post came out of a journaling session on 750words.com.  If you’ve never used it, I recommend it highly.  Because of the uncensored nature of the journal, there may be some residual disorganization, but I’ve tried to tidy it up the best I could without killing the enthusiasm that drove my original scribblings.

Edition wars are common.  Really common.  Whether a grognard or a 4E evangelist (or one of the Pathfinder nutjobs – this is a joke, in case you don’t know me very well, since I am one myself), many gamers have a favorite edition and are not afraid to extol the virtues of one over another.  This is a good thing and a bad thing, in my mind.  Why is it good?  It helps you figure out what you really like in a game.  Why is it bad?  It creates divisions and sometimes hurts feelings.  I’d hesitate to say that many people get too bent out of shape about it, but I’m sure it happens.  Anyway, here’s my take on how to get the most out of edition wars that begins on a slight tangent about world building:

I started thinking about freedom and rulership and small towns today while reading The Forgotten Realms guide.  I love that book.  I really like the power structure inherent in the Forgotten Realms.  I mean, Eberron’s is pretty neat too, but Forgotten Realms just has a really cool setup.  I like the Dales and the cities and the diversity.  I love the prevalence and power of magic.  Eberron has magic galore, but it seems somehow less awe-inspiring.  It’s not that magic in Eberron can’t be awe-inspiring, but I think it’s been a little too long since I played a real fantasy game.  I like the idea that magic really is magical, that it can perform miracles.  Even if the players are used to their wizards and sorcerers and clerics casting spells and begging for miracles, I don’t know if the characters should be.  Okay, so it’s not so much that the characters don’t expect it, but that it’s still a mystical force to them.  The gods should be kinda realish, too, but perhaps not to everyone.

I love the independence of Faerun’s Dales, and that’s the spirit that I think should be embodied in my entire Pathfinder world.  There should be some powerful merchant nations, owned by the highest bidder, and some powerful theocracies, owned by the priests and acolytes of the holy ones, and there should be some real bastards out there who only really want to amass power and use it.  There should be armies and wizards and towers and castles and wonder.  WONDER.  That’s really the key to this whole thing we call roleplaying games.  A roleplaying game is meant to fill you with a sense of wonder.  Not a sense of oh-boy-another-stuffed-chest-of-gold.  Not a sense that whatever you want, you can have.  Just ask the GM and it will all fall into place.

My God.  I’ve had an epiphany.  Am I becoming an old school gamer?  Am I abandoning my trusty 3.5?

I mean, old school gaming is on to something.  I don’t really see anything wrong with any edition of D&D, to be honest.  I don’t see that any one edition is better than another.  But each does something especially well.  Old school does wonder and realness to the hilt.  The idea of GM as game referee is one that really appeals to me, actually.  Third edition does rules pretty well.  They give you a lot of options and they cover almost every eventuality.  Some are pretty cumbersome, though, which is where Pathfinder comes in and breathes some fresh life into it.  Fourth edition is great for tactics and fairness, and it really does make the game EXCITING.

Now, there really isn’t a way to combine all of those into one mega D&D game.  They’ve been trying for years.  There’s also really no need.  Why spend time creating yet another variation when you can just either: 1) play a kitchen sink game where everyone brings what works for them, or 2) play with all of these elements in mind?  By remembering and consciously thinking about the elements of each edition that make it the best, you can keep that mindset that keeps RPGs alive and kicking.  You can do wonderful things with games if only you think about all the awesome bits and work to make the awesomeness carry through in every single game.  Really pretty exciting when you think about it.

Now, a little brainstorming.  How can I make those awesome elements show through in my game world?  How can I make them really salient to the players?  How can I make them realize that they live in a living, breathing, adventuresome world where tactics and combat and rules and ROLEPLAYING matter?  First, I can set the tone as the GM.  Music, lights, props, etc. should be used sparingly, but can really help.  Better yet, design a world where they fight for their lives on a regular basis.  Make them not the only fish in the sea and they’ll quickly realize that they’re in a real world.  Next, design exciting adventures and combats.  Let them play their roles and use those skills and rituals they never thought they’d need.  Build a puzzle into the game that can only really be solved by thinking.  Maybe a spell can do it.  Maybe brute force will be enough.  But either way, give them options and make them hard to find.  Last, put living, breathing people and politics into the land.  Don’t make a longsword ever cost the same amount twice unless they’re buying from a consortium that fixes prices across the kingdom.  Then you’re rocking.

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Stacy’s Mom [Shambles Recap]

February 27th, 2010

Last weekend Psi Phi hosted its once-a-semester Cookies N Characters, where GMs bring a one-shot or two and we invite everyone to join us for cookies and games.  It is usually just Psi Phi members, but occasionally we’re joined by newcomers.  Either way, we all have a great time.  This semester, I decided to host a Shambles game since I’d had the opportunity to review but not playtest it in the fall.  It was a good choice.

I tend to like games with a large off-the-cuff element, and the LAFFS system was a good start.  I had a name (Stacy’s Mom) but not much else.  I decided to set the game in sleepy little Collegetown, USA on a Sunday morning, following a party.  I did an overview of the rules for my seven players and let them generate their own characters.  Most rolled lots of dice, resulting in some interesting layouts.  One player actually rolled nothing lower than a four, and he ended up with quite the erudite zombie.

Character creation was a chance for the players to help build the premise of our game, which worked rather nicely.  It had, of course, not occurred to me that a player might choose to play a professor, but, as it so often does, the unexpected happened.  One player created  a professor of Viking Studies, and decided that the party had been held at his house.  Another player decided that zombies were boring and created a succubus instead, adapting the standard attributes to something more appropriate.  And one player took what I’d given them so far and named her character…Stacy.

The characters all found themselves waking up, scattered around a strange house, feeling somewhat different.  I decided that the professor woke up with his tie, but no shirt, and couldn’t quite remember how it happened.  Our erudite zombie was a guitar-playing stoner with an acoustic guitar, and he and Stacy were draped across a sofa.  The succubus was prowling, a local pickpocket was groggy, and a visiting lecturer named Gregor Samson had strange dreams of Kafka and giant bugs.

The door soon rang, and sure enough Stacy’s mom had dropped by while looking for her daughter.  She didn’t notice anything until Gregor grabbed her and started to eat her brains, at which she only moaned, “Mr. Samson!” and flailed limply.  So, there went my first NPC and the characters had begun to figure out that something was going on.  They fumbled around for a bit, getting used to their zombieness, until Stacy’s dad arrived.

Stacy’s mom was Cassie, and her dad was Kyle.  Cassie was a cougar, and Kyle was the sheriff.  When Kyle arrived, he started berating Cassie once again for her cougaring ways, totally missing the fact that her limp, bloody body was being pulled apart by his daughter and a strange man.  Yes, I rolled that.  Plus it was just funny.  At this point a couple of players decided to steal his cop car, one of those ones from the 70s with a gumball on the top, to go in search of snacks.  Oh, and they stole his gun.

Our succubus friend, Serena, seduced Kyle and Gregor Samson took the opportunity to snag the gun on his way out.  Serena took her new toy and Cassie’s car, but as she ordered Kyle to drive off, Professor Arthor Thorvald landed with a splat on top of the car.  Hilarity ensued as they drove down the street.  Eventually they reached the campus, where Professor Thorvald visited the Viking Studies dept.  He broke down the door and used the axe in the lobby to cut his way into the Chair’s office.  Of course, this being the Viking Studies dept., the chair had a crossbow on his desk…  Professor Thorvald managed to dethrone him nonetheless, and began a new reign.

Meanwhile, Serena ate Kyle’s soul once they reached campus.  She then tried to seduce the campus security guard, but he turned out to be gay.  She whipped out a dog collar and that took care of that, but it was an unexpected curveball.  Thereafter she commenced eating the souls of the poor, underfed mall employees.  Mm mm, good!

Let’s get back to our friends in the cop car.  Gregor, Stacy, Ralph, and Tristan motored on down the road towards the closest diner.  Ahead, the mailman was making his daily rounds on his bicycle.  Tristan used his guitar to smack mailboxes as they approached, until the mailman noticed them and freaked.  He lost control of his bike and veered out into the road to avoid hitting the blind old woman being walked by her blind guide dog (who just memorized the route).  Ralph and Gregor managed to spend some LAFF points to hit the mailman and launch him into the old lady, but they decided to return for him once they’d hit the diner.

At the diner, our merry band of maniacal zombies wreaked havoc through various means.  Stacy tangled with some of the waitresses, managing to down a few brains.  Tristan figured that there was a probably at least one stoned dude in the corner, and sure enough there was.  His brains were gooooood duuuuuuude.  And in the spirit of havoc everywhere, the zombies herded all the patrons into the kitchen, whereupon to eat their brains.  Of course, they also decided to torch the place, since they heard cops coming.  Gregor noticed a little golden-haired girl, who turned out to be his sister, and as the diner burned he ran outside, shouted, “What have we become?!”, and offed himself with Kyle’s gun.

Fin.

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Board of Managers

February 19th, 2010

Tomorrow is the Swarthmore Board of Managers luncheon. This year, an unlimited number of students may attend. I plan to be one of them. In the mean time, I’m living in a cocoon of horror with German a Capella about chickens and conversation about Schnappi der Krokodil.

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Nanoloop: Electronic Synth Joy On The iPod!

February 19th, 2010

Electronic music interests me.  It is an exciting art form and it’s a lot of fun to play around with.  For a while now I’ve been looking for a way to try it myself, especially on a platform like my iPod.  I’ve tried GarageBand, but it’s almost too feature-rich.  It’s just kinda hard to get into using the controls and making anything new.  The samples are great, of course, but the synths don’t work as easily as I’d like.

Anyway, I was on my morning Twitter cruise this morning when I spied a tweet from Doctor Popular, a comic/music/yoyo extraordinaire and all-around awesome dude, about Nanoloop.  I thought to myself, “Gee!  Doc Pop always tweets such cool stuff, I’ll have to check it out.  He’s even suggested a track swap, so it must be musical.  And sure enough, I found something that sent shivers up and down my spine.

Nanoloop is nothing short of awesome.  The interface is minimalist grays and whites (which is somewhat annoying outdoors or in bright sun, but indoors it looks great) and the functionality is superb.  It’s pretty easy to start setting up some simple loops using the synths and samples provided.  You can change pitch, volume, tempo, and which sounds you want to use.  If you have a microphone (or an iPhone), you can record new samples to use.  When you’re done, or just have to get up and go to class, you can save or email your tracks.  I’ve already swapped tracks with Doc Pop, which really just adds to the fun.  I think that even serious musicians with more skill and needs than I will find a use for Nanoloop.

Interested in joining the track swap?  Send me yours at will @ creativeanomalies . com and I’ll reciprocate.

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Two Random Ideas

February 17th, 2010

Idea the First: I was considering crossbows and their mechanics while in seminar today, and it occurred to me that what a range increment represents is your ability to hit a given target with different levels of accuracy.  So, your range increment should increase if you can find a way to reduce the noise in your aiming mechanism.  The long and short of it is that a crossbow bipod makes a lot of sense.  No reason you can’t use it to stabilize your crossbow and add 10′ to your range increment.  The caveat, of course, is that you must have something to rest it on, so you must be prone or near a steady object of appropriate height.  All of my future D&D/Pathfinder games will include bipods, since I’ve always felt that crossbows don’t get enough love.

Idea the Second: Psi Phi will be hosting our semesterly Cookies ‘N’ Characters on Sunday, and I’ll be running either a Pathfinder adventure or a Shambles one-shot.  Can’t decide which, so I’ll bring both to the event and let the players decide which they want.  I’m going to have a lot of fun working up a Shambles adventure I think I’m going to call “Stacy’s Mom.”  Yeah, that’s right.  It’s gonna be crazy.

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Review: CthulhuTech Dark Passions

February 16th, 2010

Few gamers are unaware of the Lovecraftian mythos. Even if you haven’t read any of H.P. Lovecraft’s deliciously terrifying stories (Call of Cthulhu being one of the most well-known), you’ve most likely encountered My Little Cthulhu or another of his otherworldly creations in one game or another. The fear of tentacled, non-Euclidean things that go bump in the night seems to run deep in the human psyche. And, naturally, Lovecraft is an inspiration for a great many games and stories playing on the feelings evoked by Lovecraft’s prose.

But this post is not about H.P. Lovecraft’s tortured (and very racist) genius, fascinating as it may be. No, here I shall take a few bytes to discuss the excellent CthulhuTech RPG written by WildFire and published by Catalyst Game Labs (who also publish BattleTech, though the two are unrelated). Obviously, the name derives from an amalgamation of Lovecraft’s greatest monster, Cthulhu, and a sci-fi spin. The most important things to take away from the name are these: mind-bending horror, mechs, and interplanetary warfare in the future. I’ve been wanting a chance to look through this game for a few months now, so naturally I took the chance offered to me by the wonderful Ed Healy of Atomic Array. What follows are my thoughts about the CthulhuTech game and the Dark Passions supplement (the PDF version). For a review of the core book, read this at Stargazer’s World.

One caveat before I proceed further: CthulhuTech is not for the faint of heart. I said mind-bending horror and I meant it. To be clear, these books will not scar you for life but they are intended for mature audiences. Part of good roleplaying is getting in the mindset of every hero and villain, but part of a healthy mind is knowing when to stop and pull back.

So, on to the good stuff! First off, the layout of Dark Passions is nothing less than fantastic. The palette is generally pleasing to the eye, though the white-on-dark print fiction included in every CthulhuTech book can be a bit jarring. Aside from that minor detail, the book is marvelous. The artwork is fun and inspiring, not to mention evocative, and the book is generally well-organized and easy to read.

After some introductory fiction and a brief overview of the content, Dark Passions gets straight to business. The book focuses on the minor cults that feature in the future Earth. Most are associated with a larger cult of evil, but a few “benevolent cults” are included as well. The evil cults are the most easily spotted, since they tend to turn up in bloodbaths, while the benevolent cults walk in dreams and protect the citizens of the New Earth Government. The first chapters of Dark Passions cover these minor cults, relating them to the larger threats presented in the Core book (the Esoteric Order of Dagon, for example). They also include a basic primer on where the minor cults can be found, who joins them, and what their purposes are (both seen and unseen).

The minor cults range from brutal terrorists to friendly neighbors. Dark Passions does a fantastic job of presenting each in turn, describing the recruiting process, current status with the New Earth Government, and the puppeteers pulling the strings behind the stage. Later on, the book also supplies sample characters who might be found working for each cult. Each sample character includes stat blocks and brief blurb of flavor text.

The second half of the book offers more fiction, supplemental rules to spice up the minor cults, and two sample stories designed to introduce the minor cults into a CthulhuTech game. I haven’t been able to playtest the stories yet, but they appear both comprehensive and interesting. Similarly, the fiction is engaging enough to be sold on its own but it also serves the purpose of opening a window on the future Earth. Needless to say, I’m a bit freaked.

On the whole, Dark Passions is a quality product. I enjoy the way CthulhuTech weaves Lovecraftian horror and science fiction, and Dark Passions throws the spotlight on some of the more neglected aspects of the future Earth. The PDF is high quality and equally suited to providing flavor or inspiration for a game not using CthulhuTech’s Framewerk system. My only point of contention is formatting of the fiction, really. If you play CthulhuTech, you want this book. Hell, I’d recommend Dark Passions to any gamer with a taste for horrific science fiction in a heartbeat. Cults are a major part of most roleplaying games, and I’ve rarely seen them detailed any better than this. Now go play!

Disclosure & Thanks: I received the PDFs for the existing CthulhuTech books to date in order to do my review. In no way was my review altered or edited by Catalyst Game Labs or Atomic Array, and if I didn’t think I could give the product a good review you wouldn’t be reading this right now. Thanks also to the fine folks at Atomic Array for providing the opportunity to review a fine product.

Want to learn more about CthulhuTech? Read on…

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The End Of A Series

February 14th, 2010

Tonight, as part of a special Valentine’s Day thing, I participated in a reenactment of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.  I got to deliver the line, “Big Al wants us to send you’s a message: Eat lead, you gravy-sucking pigs!”  And then we “gunned down” a bunch of unsuspecting mobsters eating in the dining hall.  Very fun, very silly.

So, the other neat Valentine’s Day thing I did was finish Angel with Anne Charlotte.  I have now finished all shows in the Buffyverse, though Season 8 is still on my list.  In keeping with my policy of no spoilers, I’ll say only this: I have never seen a more epic ending for anything ever.  The show deserved a good send-off, and it got one.

It’s going to take a while for me to process, and I’m going to take a short vacation from TV while I regroup and work on some other things that need my attention (I’m looking at you, massive piles of paper on my floor and neglected Google Docs).  Just watch the show for yourself and let me know when you’ve finished.  It deserves discussion.

And, in other news, my MacBook’s case is starting to crack.  Goody.

Update: Andy Hallett, the actor who played Lorne, died last March of congestive heart failure at the age of 33.  Few things could be as heartbreaking.  There just aren’t words.

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Upcoming (Not Dead Yet!)

February 7th, 2010

The last few weeks have been busy, which is why I’m pleased that I have some neat stuff coming up here at Creatively Anomalous.  In the past couple of weeks, I’ve turned 21 and the year changed.  Talk about news!  Later this week I’ll be posting a review of CthulhuTech, a fascinating RPG that combines (you guessed it!) Lovecraftian horror and science fiction!  I will also include some life updates (I’m working on a new show: The Butter & Egg Man) and my thoughts on Braid, among other things.  And, eventually, I’ll get around to posting my interview with Clash Bowley, game designer extraordinaire!

In other news, I’m taking a class called Fan Culture, and it’s changing my life.  The theoretical stuff alone is intoxicating and curiously concrete for theory.  Throw in some Buffy, Rocky Horror, and de Certeau and you’re golden.  Fan fiction just sweetens the pot a little more.  I hope to share some of my thoughts on the class here going forward, especially since this is the first class I’ve taken where a class blog actually works out well.

In other news, don’t blog while sick and on Nyquil.  Or while operating heavy machinery.

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DriveThruRPG’s Donation Package Raises $50,000 In One Day For Haiti Relief

January 21st, 2010

DriveThruRPG released the following press release earlier today, and I hope you will all take advantage of the deal they are offering.  Not only is it a good one for you, but a little humanitarian aid never hurt anyone, right?

Thursday, January 21, 2010

In an effort to hurriedly engage publishers and fans in a charitable relief action for the people of Haiti and the Dominican Republic (following the earthquake that devastated the region), DriveThruRPG put together the single most amazing bundle of products ever seen in the RPG hobby’s history. For a $20 donation, fans are given over $1500.00 in RPG books, music, and more.

It killed their servers within hours of going live.

As one fan put it, “I’ve never been happier to get an error message.” The generosity has been utterly overwhelming, and the collective patience of the customer base has been greatly appreciated by the folks at DriveThruRPG.

“It is an embarrassment of riches of the highest order,” said Sean Patrick Fannon, Marketing & Communications Manager. “We simply had no idea how huge this would get, and how quickly it would become a massive sensation throughout the gaming world. I’ve never been more proud of my community or my job.”

In order to resolve the server issues, DriveThru employed a “coupon solution” that enabled customers to gain a code that would let them select each of the products in the original bundle for free download. With well over a hundred products, however, this became a tedious and frustrating process, and the customers rightfully complained.

As of now, a new coding has been employed, and now customers are getting all of the products that go with the bundles automatically added to their download lists. The folks at DriveThruRPG care immensely for their customers, wanting the experience to be as easy and enjoyable as possible. While the main focus is to get help to Haiti, DriveThru also wants to leave a positive and lasting impression on everyone who comes to the site.

As of this press release, DriveThruRPG has collected well over $56,000, which will be going to Doctors Without Borders for their efforts in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The “Gamers Help Haiti $20 Mega Bundle” will be available until January 31st. Other relief efforts may continue as needed.

For more information, contact Sean Patrick Fannon at sean@onebookshelf.com. Go to www.drivethrurpg.com to obtain the bundle and learn more about what DriveThruRPG is doing to help Haiti.

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One Year Ago Today…

January 20th, 2010

I stood near the Capitol.  It was cold.  My cousin Sam and I woke early to walk across D.C. to reach the Inauguration.  We waited in a lot of lines, and we slowly moved forward, and the whole time I wondered what I was doing there.  Just like everyone else, I was kind of nervous but also kind of excited.

After passing through the lines, we entered into the seating area.  My grandfather provided us with ex-Congressional tickets, entitling us to seats with the other friends and family of politicians and dignitaries.  I’d say we were about 750′ from the podium.  Every so often someone else would be announced and take his or her place on the risers.  If you looked backwards from our position you could see only an ocean of humanity stretching out to the Washington Monument, obscure in the distance.  And I still wondered what I was doing there.

At long last, the ceremony commenced.  People spoke, and sang, and danced.  And then President-elect Barack Obama took the Oath of Office and became President Barack Obama.  Finally, I didn’t wonder what I was doing there any more.  Each and every person in the audience could feel it too.  We all stood there and witnessed something powerful, and the fact that we were all there gave it that much more weight.  I have witnessed few, if any, more awe-inspiring events in my 21 years, and I doubt that there will be many more so, unless I make it a habit to visit the Inaugurations.

And that’s where I was one year ago today.

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