Let's Do The Time Warp Again

Yes, it's the obvious title. So sue me.

I was having a think in the shower this morning (as you do), and had a thought pop into my head. It was kind of a cool thought. It led to a couple other cool thoughts. They suggest a character for a story, but I'm not quite sure yet what the story would be. I'm also pretty sure I don't have the chops to write either character.

The subject: Time travel. But not as you know it.

Take 20: Creating a constrained setting

Over at the excellent They Might Be Gazebos blog, a challenge was thrown down. Create a sandbox setting based solely on twenty monsters. I think this is a pretty awesome idea. I like the idea of constraints spawning creativity. I think a setting with only twenty common monsters would likely hold together somewhat better than one with everybody in the book. And, it would help to strongly reinforce character build decisions like a ranger's favored enemy.

So, here's my list of 20. I'm going with the d20srd list, for simplicity's sake.

Adventure Concept - The Ultimate Puzzle

I was putting together a puzzle/investigative adventure, and it occurred to me that there is one concept that I am pretty sure simply would not work.  Does anyone out there think you could convert Da Vinci Code/National Treasure into a workable adventure/campaign?

The End of the World As We Know It

I want to write/run a multi-genre post-apoc rpg. One of the first things that needs to be decided, obviously, is the "apoc" part. The nature of the end of the world shapes a lot of the future. So, what to do? I have three possibilities I'm considering.

The Disease is the Cure (version 2)

(Ed. note: Yes, this is pretty much a repeat post. I did not even notice that in my original blog, as the posts were several months apart. They are slightly different, though, and this one is a bit closer to the post-apoc setting I'm going for.)

So, I've been thinking about my post-apoc fantasy setting. Incidentally, for now, I am calling it Aurelian.

One of the bits is the presence of psionically-gifted humans. Another is the presence of "monsters." After much thinking, I think I can tie many of these elements together fairly neatly.

It all starts with a virus....

The Disease is the Cure (version 1)

I am working on a post-apocalyptic kitchen sink setting (a la Rifts), and I want to justify a lot of the setting elements, but preferably in ways that have not been done before. I was thinking about vampires, and how to make them work. I like the whole concept of "vampirism as a disease" (seen in numerous works, but I first found it Barbara Hambly's excellent "Those Who Hunt the Night"). Then, I happened to read a couple articles (I don't recall why, it was one of those "click on one too many links in Wikipedia" things). The mythology of vampires may have arisen from a particularly virulent outbreak of rabies in Eastern Europe. A lot of the symptoms line up, including aversion to sunlight and strong smells (like, say, garlic). The peasants saw one of their own suddenly exhibit a terrifying and violent alter ego, which later reports would embellish with some nice poetic elements. Then the Church would add a nice layer of demonic presence to, in addition to the idea that the Church is capable of protecting you from such evils.

Interestingly enough, only a few minutes later, I followed a link to a justification of rabies as the source of werewolf myths. Normal guy gets bitten by a strange-acting wolf, then starts lashing out in a bestial rage. But, hey, I'm already thinking about making vampirism a disease, they shouldn't both be diseases. That just looks cheesy.

This starts percolating, and I go see Zombieland this weekend. (Ed. note: This pretty well dates the original post.) Zombies as a disease. Sure, been done to death. But something upstairs clicks, and the mind gnomes present their collage.

Campaign Concept - The Natives Are WHAT?!?

Recently, I have had another setting concept pop into my head. See, I am in a regular monthly D&D group. But, I would never GM 7K, DFRPG, or most any of the other games that excite me for them. First, the group is too big, at around 7 players. Most story-heavy games simply can't handle that kind of spotlight division. Second, the group is very much into casual gaming. They don't want to think too hard, they have trouble staying on task, and they rarely do much actual roleplay. They are just about chucking dice and having moments of awesome. Also, they are pretty solidly welded to playing 3.5 D&D, for now at least. I may try to run a one-shot of Gamma World for them at some point, just to see if they'd go for it.

So, I want to run a game, and running for these guys seems like the most likely outlet in the near future. But, with the restrictions above, most of the games/campaigns I'd want are right out. So, I was digging through my old box of ideas one time while walking the dog, and two ideas popped out, merged, and suggested some potential awesome.

How fragile we are

IMO, any post title that has me singing Sting lyrics is a good one.

In working on my new PA setting, I came to a startling conclusion. Our information-based infrastructure is like a gigantic balloon. Press it at any point, and it will give. Remove the pressure, and it will rebound. But pop it, and it cannot be repaired. It can only be rebuilt from scratch.

7K - Another reboot?

Yeah, I've walked down this road before.  I'm becoming less and less happy with sticking to d20 as a system for this campaign.  I'm just feeling like the real strengths of the system aren't things I'm looking to leverage, and the drawbacks of the system are definitely cropping up as stumbling blocks.

So, the question of the moment is, should I scrap what I've done and start over with a new system?

Feedback requested

Well, it seems that I need to learn to read the instructions on this thing better.  I screwed up the scheduling on a couple posts last week.  So, they may or may not be coming later.

I say may not, because I need some feedback here from you loyal readers.  I've noticed that I've gotten pretty much zero feedback on my Seven Kingdoms stuff.  More importantly, I noticed while trying to get caught up on the RPGBA feed that I tend to skip everyone else's posts regarding "here's my new system/setting!"

I'm thinking that live-blogging the development of an RPG is a lot like Greg Stolze's patron model.  If you already have people who are interested in what you have to say, it can really work.  If you're still making your bones, people aren't likely to be interested in watching you flail about.  That's especially true when, like me, you can't drop a new post on the subject every day.  People just aren't likely to remember what else you're doing to see how all the pieces fit together.

So, the feedback I'm looking for is whether or not I should even continue posting Seven Kingdoms stuff.  Please don't worry about hurting my feelings.  I recognize there's a difference between "I'm not interested in reading about you trying to pull this game together" and "Your game sucks."

I'm still planning on working out the game.  When I get it all together, I may be releasing it as a PDF.  Of course, part of this is also spawned from the fact that one of the missing posts from last week is that I'm no longer convinced that d20 is the right system, even with the tweaks I'm making.  I'm actually considering creating a franken-system out of all the bits I highlight in my "System Wank" series.  If I'm going to re-boot the whole system (again), I don't want to drag it out on the blog.  Unless you guys want to see me drag it out.

I'll just wrap this up with a blatant begging for comments.  Even if you're just saying, "meh, whatever," I'd still like to hear it.  Given the number of readers I have, trust me, every vote counts.

New and Improved Goblins

I was listening to a podcast last week (I can't recall which one) and the subject of flying mounts for small creatures came up.  I had a sudden flash of inspiration, that I want to capture here.  Conveniently enough, it ties in with this month's RPG Blog Carnival topic, which is animals in RPGs.

As a result of Tolkien's influence, we often see goblins riding worgs, or some other kind of large wolf.  What if we extended that connection to other types of animals?  Goblins riding giant bats or even wyverns?  Goblins using trained rats or spiders?  There is a lot of potential here, I think.

A bit of introspection

Wow.  I am a wordy bastard, aren't I?  I really want to try and do 500-word posts, but I just find it so hard.  Especially when I'm doing setting posts, where I want to have a paragraph on each of the Seven Kingdoms.  Would you believe that some of these posts have actually been trimmed down?  That's how thoroughly sick I am.

I think I'm getting the hang of blogging more frequently now.  Blogger is definitely better for me in this regard.  I don't think I can really articulate the reasons, but the UI just feels better to me.  I'm also actually finishing more blog posts, instead of ending up with a graveyard of a dozen partials.

My traffic numbers aren't great.  Much better than my old blog though, and that's entirely due to RPGBA.  Probably two-thirds of my traffic comes from there.  I'm trying to decide if I want to be "that guy" who spams every post to every social media site he can reach.  On the one hand, that seems rude.  On the other, it's not like an audience is just going to magically find me.

The numbers that I really want to get up, though, are the number of comments.  My most-visited post, the one on Women in Gaming, has zero comments.  (Admittedly, my second most visited post is also the one with the most comments, so there is some correlation.)  I'm curious as to why I get no comments.  Are my topics just not interesting?  Is my presentation too closed, in that it doesn't invite discussion?  Is my vocabulary off-putting?  Do people just get tired of reading before they make it all the way to the comment box?

Of course, I have noticed that many other blogs end up with zero comments.  So, it's more a problem with blogs and blog readers than with me.  To help combat that, I have been trying to employ the "Mark Meredith Method" of commenting on at least three blog posts every day.  It's not that hard, and I've actually gotten some good discussions going.  (I've also had another blogger challenge me to a post, or series of posts, on a particular topic, which you'll hopefully see next week.)

Brevity is the soul of wit.  My wit is clearly a soulless abomination.

Concept for a Convention Game

In reading chapter 5 of Shared Fantasy, he has an interesting anecdote about a con game.  The point of the anecdote is demonstrating what happens when intraparty cooperation breaks down.  But, I think it could also just be a neat idea.

Short description: The young baroness has been kidnapped by bandits. You have been hired to rescue her. But, are your companions what they appear to be?

Always with the delays

This is something of the typical "sorry I'm not posting more" post.  I've been busy.  I've been producing output that isn't blog material.  And, you know, I'm a slacker.


There are a couple other reasons, too.  Mark Meredith, better known as the Dice Monkey, threw out a challenge on Twitter a while back to comment on at least three blog posts a day.  It is an excellent suggestion.  I've been trying hard to keep up with that.  Of course, that means that I need to keep up with a lot of blog posts.  The new RPG Blog Alliance has been helping considerably with that.  It especially helps me target blog posts that don't get a lot of traffic.  I mean, I love Rob Donoghue's stuff, but he really doesn't need my comment just to let him know he's not howling into the wilderness. 

And, I have to say, it's really important for me to get that kind of feedback.  I know that I often have lulls in my posting precisely because I don't feel like anyone is reading them anyway.  A comment, any comment, helps to alleviate that, and spur me to more posting.  The ever-amazing Will Hindmarch made the same point on Twitter just yesterday.  So, as the saying sort of goes, be the change you want to see.  If I want traffic coming in here, I ought to give other blogs the love.

On another note, I've also been profligately wasting my word count.  The aforementioned Mark is currently on something of a hiatus due to a beautiful new baby girl.  I penned a couple of blog posts for him, one on An Unusual Source of GM Tips and one on Reward Types.  So, go check those out.

And, remember people.  Comments are love.  (/pity party)

Rules, rules everywhere, and not a chance to think...

I had an interesting experience a couple of weeks ago, in which I participated in a FantasyCraft one-shot at a local mini-con. It was a lot of fun, and I want to keep an eye out for similar events coming in the future.

One of the things I found interesting, though, was my experience with the rules. Lately, as most of you know, I have been tinkering with the Gamma World and Dresden Files RPGs. The total shift in mind-set from these games to FantasyCraft, most particularly when it comes to character creation, has been idling in the back of my head.

Campaign Concept - The Natives are WHAT?!?!

So, I'm still working away on the Seven Kingdoms stuff. Posting has taken something of a break as I'm working on classes and discovered that it's actually damned hard to just finish one class and then move on to the next. Once they're done, expect a flurry of posts.

In the meantime, I've had another concept pop into my head. See, I'm in a regular monthly D&D group. But, I would never GM 7K, DFRPG, or most any of the other games I'm excited about for them. First, the group is too big, at around 7 players. Most story-heavy games simply can't handle that kind of spotlight division. Second, the group is very much into casual gaming. They don't want to think too hard, they have trouble staying on task, and they rarely do much actual roleplay. They are just about chucking dice and having moments of awesome. Also, they are pretty solidly welded to playing 3.5 D&D, for now at least. I may try to run a one-shot of Gamma World for them at some point, just to see if they'd go for it.

So, I want to run a game, and running for these guys seems like the most likely outlet in the near future. But, with the restrictions above, most of the games/campaigns I'd want are right out. So, I was digging through my old box of ideas one time while walking the dog, and two ideas popped out, merged, and suggested some potential awesome.

Can you RP on Twitter?

So, that's the question. It's kind of intriguing. I have no idea if it's going to work. But I'm giving it a shot.

I ran across a post on Dice Monkey (http://dicemonkey.net/2010/08/11/twittrp/) about this TwitRPG game. It sounded intriguing. I left a comment. I'm in the game.

(Ed. note: The game lasted about a week. Turns out Twitter has a lot of noise that interferes with the flow of the game. Also, Twitter has an odd pattern of asynchronicity, in that you often post a lot of things during the couple hours you are active, then go inactive for several hours. That makes it hard to do one or two tweets, then wait for the other people to log on and respond.)