Day of the Dove

Today is Star Trek Day 2021 and the 55th Anniversary of Star Trek! 

I had this big post planned for today but I am totally wiped out and need to get some rest, so instead I will leave it at that and see you all later in the week. 

Live Long and Prosper - Peace and Long Life.

Here's to another 55 years and beyond...

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Barking Alien

High Concept Anxiety

A recent post on Monsters and Manuals reminded me how much I miss running High Concept RPG games. My friend David Cotton (who alas is no longer with us) used to say I ran two kinds of campaigns, Blockbusters and Art Films. Today, I want to talk about Art Films. 

Before I do though, I guess I should address what High Concept means. A Google word search defines it (via the Oxford Dictionary) as '(especially in a movie or television plot) emphasis on a striking and easily communicable idea'. Hmm. Not sure about that last part. Wikipedia says, 'High concept is a type of artistic work that can be easily pitched with a succinctly stated premise'. Interesting. What I find odd about both of these descriptions, though I will concede that they are correct, is they say a High Concept story is easy to communicate or describe. For some reason that feels counter-intuitive. In my head the opposite is the case.

Standard Dungeons and Dragons is pretty easy to explain - warriors, wizards, and other Fantasy types go exploring dungeons and ancient ruins, kill the monsters that live there, and steal their treasure. Your run-of-the-mill Dungeon Crawl isn't very High Concept. 

Monster Hunter, the video and computer game franchise from Japan, takes that in a whole new direction. In a largely unexplored world, skilled people called Hunters slay monsters in order to produce things needed by the Medieval to Renaissance level societies of the world. These things include food, armor, weapons, and information on the environment and the Monsters themselves. Monster Hunting is a key economic and scientific touchstone of that world. 

That latter description is much longer and doesn't even scratch the surface of some of the Monster Hunter World's background and world-building. So how is High Concept easy to explain? Huh. Maybe it's a bit different with gaming? A standard game isn't Low Concept but it is relatively easy to convey - We're playing Superheroes. It's a Wild West game. We're playing Call of Cthulhu. There will be varying particulars but the basic premise of the campaign is described by a simple genre or IP title. You can give as little as a pitch line and your game idea can be understood. 

What I consider to be High Concept games can be a little less clear as to what the players will do in the game. It's possible the genre or setting will be atypical, a road less traveled as it were. Maybe the campaign's structure will be peculiar, with episodes told out of linear order or as if being narrated by a mystery storyteller. 

None of this implies things such as pre-plotted campaigns, pre-determined outcomes of events, or any such strange assumptions. A High Concept game is, in my humble opinion, one with an unusual concept, an innovative or at least non-traditional approach, and hopefully a memorable outcome. 

Next up, I will try to deliver one such campaign...

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Barking Alien

Alternative Mainstream

Noisms is a brilliant and always interesting blogger with thought-provoking musings on the gaming hobby. I read his posts regularly, even though he primarily discusses games I don't run or play. I continue to visit his blog however because his ideas are well considered and his posts well executed. 

In spite of all of that,  there are times when our opinions and thoughts on a given subject don't jive. There is a disconnect; a difference of perception so wide it makes me feel the need to address the subject on his blog here on my blog. 

He recently posted an entry entitled, 'On High Concept Campaigns and Plot Immunity'.

Please go read it before continuing. My main issue isn't with the post itself so much as its initial paragraph and how it applies to RPG gaming in general.

He writes:

"Is there a Lagrange point between old school play, which emphasizes emergent narrative, sandboxes, and letting the dice lie where they fall, and the mainstream of the RPG hobby, which is all about pre-plotted story, pre-determined outcomes, character development, and fudging?"

Clearly his experiences in the gaming hobby have been very different from mine. His attitude towards what makes for a fun game likely differs as well. Given all of that I feel there a large gap between what he represents as Old School Play and what is Mainstream Modern Play. 

First, aren't Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder (or as I call it 'The Other Dungeons and Dragons') the most popular RPGs on the market in most of the Western world (Call of Cthulhu holds that position in Japan as I've noted in the past). Isn't that Mainstream? When most of the people doing a thing are doing the same thing it becomes the Mainstream, no? Are the people playing Pathfinder pre-determining the outcomes of their games? Are D&D 5E players Fudging a lot? Maybe. I don't play those games so I don't know. One reason I don't play them...too Mainstream. 

What games is he referring to that he believes are Mainstream? Monster Hearts? Blades in the Dark? Popular sure but I never thought of them as Mainstream. Maybe Blades might be considered that way now as it's become more widespread. Are sessions of these games Pre-Plotted? Do they have Pre-Determined Outcomes? I've played Blades in the Dark, MASKS, and Lancer in the last year or so and didn't find this to be the case with any of these. 

As for Old School Play...I guess I was never really old school, even as far back as 1977. My games, as both a player and a GM have always included Emergent Narrative and Character Development. We've had PC Death and Fudging (of a sort). The only times I've ever played in games where you had to do it the Gamemaster's way or else, where you were railroaded into a particular plot was Dungeons and Dragons. To me, that's what Old School means. 

Finally, this whole Plot Immunity/PCs Never Die thing...where do people get this? Oh I am sure it happens; I'm sure a lot of people play a completely non-lethal game but how common is it really. Also, what kind of game are we talking about? Is it a game where people aren't supposed to die or aren't able to like Toon or Teenagers from Outer Space? I've said before that very few people die in my games but that's partially because I run Star Trek, Star Wars, and Superheroes. It is built into these genres and often the games that emulate them that main characters dying is rare but yeah, they can die. 

Just because PCs aren't meaningless Chess pawns, as expendable as used tissue paper and nearly as interesting, doesn't mean they have Plot Immunity. I've had and seen more characters demoted in rank, imprisoned for life, lose an NPC friend, family member, or significant other, or have their starship destroyed (basically their home AND a member of the party) more often then I've witnessed PC deaths in my 44 years in the hobby and guess what? I remember them all.

I recall them because they had more emotional weight then Nameless Fighter #5 killed by a rat or kobold or whatever. Doesn't matter. Another random, pointless death. Next. 

When people say Old School Games they get this glint in their eyes that I can only imagine is largely nostalgia driven. I certainly don't remember most of the games I played in my earliest years being that great, which is why I largely stopped being a player and almost always GMed.

Nowadays my games have:

• A Theme and/or an Over-Arching Plot going on in the setting. 
• An Emergent Narrative that can change said Over-Arching Plot or be affected by it.
• Character Development
• Sandbox elements
• As well as clues about Campaign-oriented and PC-oriented subplots (my Storybox)  
• Rare but possible PC Death.
• Rare but possible Fudging for dramatic/cinematic effect. 

...and more. 

Hey, it's your game. You do you. I'm just saying, there's more than one way to cook a dragon. Or something like that. 

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Barking Alien

Paranormal Activity

Of the many pet projects I'm currently working on, the one that is furthest along is my [ongoing] update of the system I use for running Ghostbusters games.

Ghostbusters 'No Ghosts' Logo Variant

By Justin Gammon

For some years now I've been using a rules set I put together combining the original West End Games Ghostbusters RPG and Memento Mori's InSpectres. Honestly, the system I use is primarily InSpectres but since that game owes a lot to the Ghostbusters game I feel the latter is worth mentioning. It's DNA is clearly visible in the final product. 

I've decided to add something new to the mix with the Stress Dice/Panic Chart mechanic from Free League Publishing's ALIEN RPG. To this end, I had Nice Dice Customs (who I highly recommend!) produce a dozen 'Ghost Dice' with the No Ghost emblem in place of the 1.

The idea is that you would roll one or more of these Ghost Dice as you would the Stress Dice from ALIEN, along with your appropriate Action Dice for the Tasks Attribute and Skill combination. 

A 6 on any of the dice, Action Dice or Stress/Ghost Dice, indicates a Success. Ghost Dice would be added to the mix in stressful, frightening, or obviously dangerous situations. The more stressful, the more Ghost Dice you would add to the roll. A player may also request the addition of one Ghost Die to their roll as a gamble to increase ones chance of Success. 

If the No Ghost symbol comes up, that is considered Panic. The player than makes a Panic Roll. Take a count of the number of Ghost Dice/Stress you rolled, add the number of dice that came up Ghosts and add the total to a single standard/Action Die roll. That final Panic number is checked against the chart below (still a work in progress). 

Example:

A particularly perturbing Poltergeist presents a problem for veteran Ghostbusters Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore.

The duo tries to surround their formidable fortean foe in the atrium of an abandoned building. Ray is on the North East side of the area while Winston is on the South West. Ray fires off a stream from his Proton Pack hoping to ensure the ghost while Winston tosses a trap underneath it. 

Ray rolls his Action Dice; adding his Technology Attribute (say 3 Dice) and his Neutrino Wand Talent (Adding +1 Dice) for a total of 4 Dice. In addition, the GM (Ghostmaster like in the ol' West End version?) declares that this is a 2 Ghost Die situation (more on how I see this working in a future post).

Ray is therefore rolling four Action Dice and two Ghost Dice for a total of six (6) Dice. His results are: 6, 6, 4, 3, and two Ghost symbols. Uh-oh.

Now according to the original system by Free League, I believe that rolling Panic negates the action the PC is attempting to take. I could be wrong here. My house rule is that you do accomplish what you were attempting to do if indeed the roll includes Successes. The effect of the Panic Roll also happens.

Based on the situation, as well as GM and player input, the Panic Effect may occur during or immediately after the Success result. If the Success and Panic are incompatible for any reason, the Panic supersedes and the Action fails regardless of Successes rolled. 

Optionally, if you roll more Successes than you need you may spend one to prevent your Action from being negated. I kind of like that. What do you all think? 

Where was I? Oh yes, the Panic Roll. With 2 Ghost Dice rolled and 2 Ghost symbols popping up, Ray rolls 1D6 and adds+4 (2+2). He gets a 6; which along with the +4 is a 10. The GM then consults the Panic Chart. 

Apparently the piercing green eyes and transparent rib-cage thing is too much for Ray once he takes a good look at it and he freezes in place (It's Right Here. It's Looking at Me.).

Winston wasn't really looking at the ghost so much as waiting for Ray's que to drop the Muon Trap he was prepping. He suddenly realizes Ray isn't moving and starts to get nervous himself (tacking on +1 to his Stress Dice as noted). 

Obviously still a work in progress and this is one of many notes I need to go through but what do you all think so far? I'm really liking it. 

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Barking Alien

What You Leave Behind

 I have seen a lot of gamers on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms posting a query that goes something like, "What were the first three Tabletop RPGs that you played?" or "What were the first two RPGs you encountered after D&D?, the later being presumptuous if not entirely unexpected.

To me a far more interesting question would be, "Of the first five or six RPGs you played after getting into the hobby, how many do you still play?"

For me the answer is...one.

Can you guess which one it is?

Answer below. 

There is exactly one TRPG of the first five or six games I've played that I still bring to the table. Perhaps once in a blue moon one of others might get some attention for a special occasion, often only for the sake of nostalgia or novelty. None have been played in a long while and it's unlikely they will see the light of day anytime soon. 

With the exception of Dungeons and Dragons, I only played a short set of adventures or perhaps a one-shot of each of these. Traveller, which is incidentally the only one I still play, was a game I really did not like at first. None of the other had any real staying power with me at the time, which would've been between 1977 and 1982.

Alright that's not entirely true. I played D&D quite often as that was the most popular game in town and around 1979-1980 my friends and I 'graduated' to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (1st Edition). We often played a mixed D&D/AD&D hybrid until we fully got the hang of AD&D in its entirety. 

The big changes came in 1982 when I purchased Villains and Vigilantes 2nd Edition and Star Trek by FASA. Never a huge fan of Medieval Fantasy or Swords & Sorcery stuff, I played D&D and anything like it (Rolemaster, Runequest, Chivalry & Sorcery, etc.) less and less now that I had access to Superheroes and Star Trek. 

Trying out new games became a thing for me and my buddies, a hobby within a hobby, and before long I practically never picked up a D&D book unless it was specially requested I run something. 

As for the others...I ran one or two short Gamma World campaigns and turned a friend's Metamorphosis Alpha campaign into a Star Frontiers Super-Spy game for a stint around 1983. I ran a really amazing Boot Hill homebrew variant around 1979-1980 that I can't imagine I will ever surpass or even come close to. Finally, also around '83, I ran a short Gangbuster campaign that was fun and leaned heavily into film noir detective movies and novels more than the real history and crimes of the Depression Era. 

Now it's 2021 and not only haven't I played any of these save Traveller is well over 30+ years, I haven't played V&V or FASA Star Trek in a very long time either, unless you count a one-shot here and there over the past two and a half decades. 

How is it that some people play one game and have been playing it for so long? How do you survive without adaption and evolution? What if anything have you changed or learned about the game you've been playing for 30-40 years or more?

What are you first five? Which ones do you still play?

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Barking Alien