attacks of opportunity

Principia is a good system for games where the characters are embedded in a social order under stress. I've been playtesting Principia in it's default setting a lot. I was thinking about alternate settings for a game at Go Play NW, and Star Wars just kind of jumped out at me.

When you set out to run Principia, your first job is to find a pressure point on the current world order and push. Make sure the pressure point encompasses something the characters care about. Finally, pose a question that ties them together.

So I'm thinking about Star Wars Episode 2. The Jedi Order, the Senate, and the Republic are all under stress. Let's take the Jedi Order. That's our pressure point. We'll decide it's fate through play. We'll assume the characters care about the fate of the Jedi Order. This is Star Wars after all.

Now we need a question. This is the question we're going to answer at the end of play. "Does the Jedi Order deserve to survive?" is a good one. How about "Is the Jedi Order hypocritical?", or "Can balance be restored to the Force (without destroying the Jedi order)?"

So for characters we can have a group of Jedi, or a mixed group of heroes, or even Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Palpatine. That sounds pretty cool--a game where we can play some of the principal characters on both sides of Episode 2 and decide the ultimate fate of the Jedi order.

Labels: go play nw, Principia

Posted by Tony at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments

Go Play NW 2008 pre-registration is almost done!

Go Play NW 2008 is our home-grown role-playing game convention. This year it's going to be held at the Watertown Hotel in Seattle's University District, May 31 - June 1. You can find out more and register at the Wiki.

Last year we used an ad-hoc game sign up system where people simply showed up, offered games, found players, and played. This year we're going to try having a bit more structure, with a mix of pre-scehduled games you can sign up for and ad-hoc gaming on site.

Labels: go play nw

Posted by Tony at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments

I've been playing a lot of old-school D&D this year and enjoying it tremendously. This has given rise to a little "secret" project that's slowly coming to fruition. Here's a little preview:

Labels: dungeon crawl

Posted by Tony at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

I was just reading Ed and Joe's blog Esoteric Murmurs, and found a post back from the end of February linking to a discussion about "how best to experience weird fantasy in a [D&D] campaign" on a forum called Knights & Knaves Alehouse. Ed calls attention to a particular suggestion made by a forum member called Kellri, the "Otus/Elmore Rule":(The link above goes directly to Kellri's post, not the first post in the discussion.)

Posted by Phil at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments

I should've announced this here a while ago, but we're holding our second annual Go Play NW event this year May 31 - June 1.

Go Play NW 2008 is a gathering of role-playing gamers and game designers where we get together, play some games, renew old acquaintances, and make new friends. For more information, see The Go Play NW wiki.

Also, here's the registration page. Because of our new location, we only have space for 75 people this year.

You can also now order T-shirts with your registration. The theme is "robo-sasquatch". John Harper is doing the design again this year. We don't have a preview yet, but it should be pretty cool.

See you at Go Play!

Labels: go play nw

Posted by Tony at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

Over on Story Games, JBR made some very pointed observations about Tomb of Horrors. So I feel compelled to explain why I consider Tomb of Horrors to be one of the greatest D&D modules every written. Everything I need to make this defense is contained in the first hallway of the dungeon.

WARNING: SPOILERS ENSUE!

First of all, any given party is either going to examine everything carefully or they’re not. If they’re not, then this isn’t the right adventure for them. They’re going to die horribly and not have any fun doing it. The assumption of Tomb of Horrors is unmitigated complex deadliness. This is part of what makes it awesome, but only if that's what the players are up for.

If they are going to examine everything carefully, they’ll quickly find the hidden path and the poem that are the key to the entire dungeon and absolutely necessary to surviving it.

The path leads the party, first safely, then not so safely down the hall. The message is obvious. Careful observation will get your part way there, but not all the way. This dungeon actively seeks to mislead you. In the dungeon as in the hall, a careful party will get some distance on care alone, but only so far. Near the middle point, things will start to go horribly wrong. The poem, like the path, provides a step-by-step guide to several of the nastier perils of the dungeon and must not be ignored.

At the end of the hall, the party is given a choice between two unattractive options. The first is the demon face. While it’s conceivable that completing the tomb might involve a leap of faith into a dark abyss, it’s not an attractive option. It should not be chosen unless no other option is available.

The second choice is also unattractive, but perhaps not quite so unattractive. A party may be tempted to try it out (and most often at least one character gets separated here). Ultimately, however, the correct conclusion is that they ought to seek a better solution before they continue. Some heavy divination could be employed here, but it would be a dangerous waste of resources.

The instant that this conclusion is reached, the fiction of the game gives the players the correct answer. There is a big freaking door painted on the wall. If the players engage the fiction at this point, they will find the correct solution. If they don’t engage the fiction, but instead engage the mechanics, by looking for secret doors and so on, they will also eventually find the correct path.

This one room gives the players all the information they need to complete (or at least come close to completing) the Tomb of Horrors. It gives them the poem. It warns them that it will try to purposely mislead them. And it tells them that there are choices within choices. It engages them on the level of fiction and on the level of mechanics.

Tomb of Horrors isn’t for everyone. I fondly remember the all-nighter in which we defeated the tomb to be one of the best RPG experiences I’ve ever had, though I’ve also seen if flop. It is my brother’s all-time least favorite module. Your mileage may vary.

Posted by Tony at 12:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

Over in the Story Games forum, user komradebob started a thread asking for some more stereotypes to use in a game crossing Space: 1889 with Miss Schiffer's School for Young Ladies of Quality (Meguey Baker's game in development). Apparently characters in YLQ have a nationality, which gives them bonuses on certain tasks; these bonuses are based on stereotypes of those nationalities. Three examples he quotes: American girls get some benefit when attempting rash, bold, or dangerous things; British girls get some benefit in withstanding hardship or enduring duress; French girls get some benefit in dissembling and social exchanges. (There's also German, Swiss, and Italian, and Bob was looking for the equivalents for the Martian tribes and other Earth nationalities.)

So as mentioned these are of course stereotypes. My initial thought was, what if you could choose any one of the benefits for your character - because after all these traits appear among women (and men) of all nationalities, not just the stereotypes - but then you'd have to deal with being mistaken for someone of that nationality? That implies some kind of penalty to social/diplomatic rolls, but perhaps bonuses to espionage/intrigue/disguise as well... but it quickly opens up actual issues of exploring racial and cultural (and gender) stereotypes and prejudices, which is tricky ground. Can these be handled in the context of a typical adventure/exploration game without overwhelming it (or cheapening the issues)? Or is it best left to a game purpose-built to explore such issues?

I know Full Light, Full Steam approaches this, with Thematic Batteries that you charge by taking a penalty at first, and then later discharge to gain a benefit. The Shadow of Yesterday could handle it with Keys, although there it'd be more of a delayed benefit as the inconveniences would earn you XP you could later spend on improving yourself. Again, even framing it as "benefits" and "penalties/inconveniences" seems like making light of real serious problems; but if Star Trek could do episodes about these issues, surely we ought to be able to at least acknowledge them in adventure games. (Of course, that does presume Star Trek handled it gracefully...)

I called this a "small idea" because really, all I've got is my initial reaction to part of Bob's post, and then some questions. Mainly I'm just curious now about ways to play with and against stereotypes in adventure games, and adding a little nuance to them that way.

Posted by Phil at 1:21 AM | Permalink | Comments

Wow this place is quiet.

Maybe it's because God invented January to test us and the devil invented February to show he could test us better. A pox on those two months of dreariness and dark.

So here's what I've been up to in game and design lately:

I'm still refining and updating How to Host a Dungeon. It's gotten some nice praise from quarters I never would have expected. Plus Ben Lehman won't let it lie.

We're still working on Principia. Brandon came up with a heap of secrets for the game, and I've been working up a new playtest version with the new secrets and positions.

I helped run the Story Games Lounge at Conquest NW. Here's an after-action thread.

Also, we have a date for our convetion, Go Play NW. It's going to be May 31-June1. Go to the Wiki for more information.

Labels: go play nw, How to host a dungeon, Principia

Posted by Tony at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Comments

Reign, by Greg Stolze bills itself as a fantasy RPG of lords and leaders. The game features company rules reminiscent of Ars Magica. These rules are built so you can play PCs who are the principle figures in an organization, like a guild, estate, kingdom, or band.

The company rules are really cool and let you do things like manage your company’s troops and money, fight other companies, and carry out espionage and counter-espionage. But what’s in the book is only the tip of the iceberg as far as what you can do with companies and what companies can do for you.

Summary: a company is a group of people united with a common goal. The company has five qualities, which measure its strengths from 1-6; might, treasure, influence, territory, and sovereignty.

Here’s a bit of what I want to do with company rules in my next campaign:

Of these sovereignty is exceptional. It doesn’t change or combine in the same way as the others. It represents the lifeblood of the company. If a company runs out of it, the company dies. The rules don’t give you any hard and fast rules to adjudicate what constitutes sovereignty for a particular company, so I propose linking it explicitly with the company’s goal. Sovereignty is how well the members think the company is doing at its goal.

This is important because the goals of the company aren’t necessarily those of the people in the company. Good (that is interesting) characters have goals. When characters have goals that cross other characters it makes for interesting play:

• A character might have goals that cross the company’s goals. The company’s goal is gain prestige. The character’s goal is to kill vampires. But the character is in love with a vampire. What should the character do? If the other members get wind of this, how will it impact sovereignty? Finding out is fun.


• Characters in the company might have goals that cross one another. All the nobles want power. But there can only be one king. How will this tension affect the characters and the fate of the kingdom? You can build an adventure or a campaign around that question.

Companies can do things. The players decide what their company does. But companies can also contain sub-companies, like a kingdom containing a number of noble houses. Conflict between the elements of a company can be an exciting avenue for play. But what are the boundaries of player authority? I propose that each company has members and officers.

Members participate in a company’s sovereignty, but don’t make big decisions. Officers make decisions. Players might be officers in only part of a composite company. The King’s spymaster is the officer of the intelligence corps, a part of the kingdom. He makes decisions for the spy core. The King is an officer of the Kingdom, but doesn’t directly make decisions for the spy corps. This creates a space for conflict.

Oh yes, and sub-divisions of the same company have their own goals which can conflict with the master company. The intelligence corps wants to string the traitorous Duke along to find out who’s funding him. The Army wants to kill him and raze his manor.

Labels: reign

Posted by Tony at 9:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

I've just added a news feed to the Planet Thirteen Games Front Page. I'll be posting small news items about my games there, rather than clutter up Attacks with them. I'll be still be posting here regularly when I want to talk about design.

Labels: planet thirteen

Posted by Tony at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

Oops, I just realized there were a couple of mistakes in the How to Host a Dungeon rules that make it rather hard to play propertly. I've fixed them now. doh!

Also, I'm going to add a news feed to Planet Thirteen soon so that minor news updates to my games don't have to posted here on Attacks.

Labels: How to host a dungeon, planet thirteen

Posted by Tony at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments

I've just posted a new version of the Dwarven Dungeon Game, with a new name, How to Host a Dungeon. Plus I created a How to Host a Dungeon page. You can find the latest version of the game there, plus some Dungeoneering and Dungeon design resources. I've added a host of new monster flavors and dungeon features to the game. The procedures are slightly streamlined, though I have artfuly preserved the slighly fiddly clunky feel of the mechanics. :)

Here's a screen from a v2 playtest (click for full size):



I consider this a pretty much finished vision of the game for the time being. This is a game that I find fun to play, so I'll probably keep throwing minor revs out as ideas percolate, or as I get a response from players.

Coincidentally, costik over at Play This Thing! has a review of Dwarf Fortress, a nethack-like Dwarven Fortress simulator and an inspiration for How to Host a Dungeon! His review is brilliant, as he points out that Dwarf Fortress has the same spark of brilliance that spawned Civilization and Sim City, yet "is a game from an alternate universe. Clearly, no one in his right mind would have created it in our own."

Labels: design, How to host a dungeon

Posted by Tony at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments