Monday, September 19, 2011

Moe's Scale of RPG Hardness

I've always been a fan of talc.
Over the last year, I think I've played a larger variety of role playing games, with a bigger mix of people, that I have in any other year during my gaming life - especially as a player - not just a DM.  It's gotten me thinking about a lot of facets of gaming - and about what I like in a game.  One of the things I keep on coming back to is Roll vs. Role playing.

I'm still on the fence about a lot of it, from a player's point of view, but it seems to me you could map a lot of it out on a continuum, like Moh's Mineral Hardness scale.  People have probably already done it - and I just haven't seen it - or didn't pay attention at the time.  On one side would be having everything in a game be determined by the results of dice rolls versus skills.  The other is where everything is decided by GM fiat.  Everywhere in the middle would fall actaul real games that existed in reality.

As a players, it's pretty neat to create a character that can yell there way out of combat.  Playing one, ont he other hand, feels kind of weird when you do you best yelling every - then roll your die and hope the other creature is intimidated.  

On the GM's side, the use of skill rolls is nice in that it gives an out - the GM doesn't have to bow to social pressure in making everything run away from a character who yells all the time.  Those rules give some comfort in how to handle it, I guess.

But it all seems strange to me, when you step aside from the social interaction and toss a die. 

Anyway, this little post is really quite half baked as I am still trying to wrap my head about how I feel about certain styles of play.  Feel free to comment down below, as I'd love to see some discussion about it - from many different viewpoints.

- Ark

Saturday, September 17, 2011

The Road Less Exploded

Note the carefully placed snipers behind the
bottle of soap bubbles and the Wii Zumba box!
I've been a long time fan of Savage Worlds.  Back last year, I ran some one-shot games and was preparing to run a campaign, but it fell through.  The Boy even GMed a short game with some friends, which was very fun.  I'd love to do some more Savage Worlds, but with the amount of other games going - it just hasn't been feasible.

Enter Savage Worlds Showdown.  Showdown is a skirmish version of Savage Worlds.  The rules are basically the same as Savage Worlds, with a bit of streamlining to take it out of the realm of RPG and into the wargaming world. You build your units with points, agree upon a scenario with your opponent, and have at it.  It's kind of like GURPS Warhammer, I guess, in that you can build just about whatever you want.  It's easy to min/max and make unfun - if that's what you like - but if the players agree upon some guidelines and look at the process of creating a scenario as game design, rather than competition, it can be loads of fun.

We started out using LEGO Star Wars figures, and as the Boy and I were playing, I came to the realization that we really didn't have to play on a game board or map.  We could use the entire frikkin living room as our battlefield.

Today, we graduated to our old WOTC Star Wars minis.  This was mainly because The Boy didn't want to go through the effort of digging through his vats of LEGOs to find the battle droid pieces.  The minis were fun.  I must say - Savage Star Wars is much more fun than the old Star Wars skirmish game.  

The Boy had a troops of clones - some regular clones, a troop commander (kind of a vanilla Rex) and some snipers.  I had some Super and non-Super Battle Droids.  Oh, and some snipers as well.  The two sides were fighting over a set of strange LEGO buildings that The Boy had crafted.  They were important to the war effort, I'm sure.

Like our old Soviet nemesis, I decided to go with sheer numbers.  The Boy went with grenades.  Frikkin grenades.  That punk commander had a thermal detonator.  It didn't take long for my poor troops to become scrap.

The boy took the Road Less Exploded, and that has made all the difference.  ;)

Savage Worlds Showdown is FREE, btw.  You can get it at the company website on the downloads page.  Don't forget to snag the excel worksheet that has all the troop building formulas built in.

Enjoy!

- Ark

Friday, September 16, 2011

Artistic Clarification

Clarence the Frog Goblin
There has been a continuing confusion about my artistic ability, though I have tried, in some posts, to clear it up.  The angry demon in the title banner and the sad succubus are NOT by me.  The angry demon is by Angel Urena.  The succubus is by Matthew Humphreys.  Both are absolutely wonderful artists who I commissioned with COLD, HARD CASH to draw these things.  Again, they are not by me.

I, on the other hand, draw like crap. Passable crap sometimes, but still - crap. Please take Clarence the Frog Goblin over there as an example.  If you want to commission me to do some art - sorry - I only do things for free.  But I'd be happy to draw Clarence for you.  In fact - take Clarence.  Use him.  Print him on cardstock and make an army of him to battle your players in a 4e game.  Go ahead.  Feel free.

So, sorry for any confusion.

- Ark

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Dungeonspiration: Atlantis

When I was young, my mother would enter a trance-like state and describe her memories of past lives.  One such session stuck with me vividly.  She reported that in a previous life, she had been a man at Atlantis.  At the time, Atlantis was a collection of thousands of little islands with connecting bridges.  The most common transportation was by boat - powered by a network of crystal energy transmitters that ultimately got their power from one big crystal that pulled its amperage directly from the sun and stars.

My mother had been a scientist who had helped develop the whopping big mega crystal.  The crystal was a source of tremendous raw power.  The Atlantean government decided to use that power against the Lemurians, who were a hostile force on the other side of the planet.  Focusing the stellar forces with the crystal, my mother and her fellow scientists blew up Lemuria - sinking it into the depths of the Pacific ocean.  Regretfully, the shock-waves went round the world and caused Atlantis to sink as well.

Needless to say, I had a voracious appetite for anything I could find out about Atlantis.  The home bookshelves were filled with such content.  Jane Robert's descriptions of Atlantis and multi-colored people riding dinosaurs seemed to back up my mother's recollections.  And Charles Berlitz' memoir about diving in the Caribbean and coming under attack from a crystal powered pyramid shooting laser was great.  Edgar Cayce was a bevy of information, what with all of his access to the ethereal Akashic Records.  And von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods - well - can you say NAZCA?

Eventually I picked up Plato and read his descriptions of Atlantis.  I did a lot of head scratching and sat down with pencil and paper to map out what he described.  This - the definitive source on Atlantis - didn't seem to have anything to do with the Atlantis in my mother's books.  Other than that some sort of land mass sunk, that is.

I kept my eye out for more books, though.  One I found in high school pointed out the similarities of Plato's Atlantis with Troy.  It was a great book, full of very interesting details.  The only problem was that Troy never sank.  Bummer.  Other books pointed out Antarctica and Greenland as possible sources.  Sri Lanka?  Hmmm.

Santorini (Thera)
After a long, fallow time in my Atlantis research, I came back to it with renewed vigor.  Revisiting the theories, most seemed silly and - frankly - wish fulfillment on the part of whoever was advancing a particular theory.

The theory that really made sense was born out of Spyridon Marinatos' excavation of Akrotiri, a city on the Greek island of Thera.  There had been a thriving civilization on the volcanic island.  Then one day, some four thousand years ago, the volcano blew its top, turning most of the island to ash that sank to the bottom of the sea, and burying what was left.  The event spawned tidal waves that severely crippled the surrounding islands, and perhaps hit mainland areas all over the Aegean and Mediterranean.

The Atlanteans appear to be the people archaeologists call the Minoans.  I had already known about the Minoans.  I think the first thing that struck me about them was BOOBS.

Tiny little shirts.
Yeah.  Breasts.  The Minoans of Crete and the surrounding islands had some wonderful art - and a lot of it seemed to focus on breasts.  Or, at least, the bits I remember.  They seemed to have something against bras - and shirts, for that matter.  But really, the Minoans had some wonderful art.  The drawings were very cartoon-like - a favorite style of mine.  The sculptures could be very lifelike - very realistic - especially when focusing on bulls.

The Minoans were a very mysterious lot.  They were just beginning to write at the time, and really only using it to record crop productivity and the number of goats owned by a particular noble.  I did a lot of study on the Minoans, and eventually came to the conclusion that no one know what the hell they are talking about if they say anything definitive about the culture.  They could count sheep, they built buildings and ships, they could paint pretty pictures, and apparently they sacrificed people when they felt the need.  They even, apparently, build a handful of buildings in Egypt and the Levant - or, at least someone was there using very similar architectural and artistic styles.  But what the heck that means is up in the air - though I like the idea of trade embassies, myself.

So, my long search for Atlantis ended with - well - it ended with a great big question mark.  To me, Atlantis is the Minoan civilization predating the more sweeping Mycenaean based culture that swept in from mainland Greece.  But all there are are scraps and trash - leftovers of what appears to have been a bright and vibrant civilization.  But it's really not about the destination.  It's about the trip that brought me there, and everything I learned along the way.

I'd love to create an RPG - or at least setting - based on the Minoans - perhaps with a sprinkle of Greekish proto-mythology dropped in.  What I have in my mind, however, would be a massive undertaking.  And I guess that few would ever want to play it, as it would delve deeply into bronze age cultures and a mindset that is probably very hard for modern players to get into.  D&D with Minoan trappings is not what I am after.

But still, all that I have learned is useful in my campaigns.  If you see powerful, sea-faring cultures in one of my games - you can be assured that there is a little o Atlantis in all of them.

So go forth research what you love.  Even if it's about the gestation period of the tsetse fly, I bet there is something there that can be plopped right into a campaign - making it all the more rich.

Oh, and for your reading pleasure, here is some of the research material on my shelves in my last great fact-finding tour of Atlantis.  Enjoy!

Apollodorus.  (BCE).  The Library of Greek Mythology.
Apollonus of Rhodes.  (BCE).  Jason and the Golden Fleece.
Burr, Elizabeth.  (1993).  The Chiron Dictionary of Greek & Roman Mythology.
Cahill, Thomas.  (2003).  Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea.
Cameron, Pat.  (2003).  Blue Guide: Crete.
Campbell-Dunn, GJK.  (2006).  Who were the Minoans? An African Answer.
Castleden, Rodney.  (1998).  Atlantis Destroyed.
Castleden, Rodney.  (1990).  Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete.
Chadwick, John.  (1987).  Linear B and Related Scripts.
Chadwick, John.  (1976).  The Mycenaean World.
Cottrell, Leonard.  (1953).  The Bull of Minos.
Dickinson, Oliver.  (1994).  The Aegean Bronze Age.
Farnoux, Alexandre.  (1993).  Searching for the Legendary Palace of King Minos.
Garrison, Daniel H.  (2000).  Sexual Culture in Ancient Greece.
Graves, Robert  (1955).  The Greek Myths.
Hawkes, Jacquetta.  (1972).  Dawn of the Gods.
Herodotus.  (BCE).  The Histories.
Hesiod.  (BCE).  Theogony.
Hesiod.  (BCE).  Works and Days.
Higgins, Reynold.  (1967).  Minoan and Mycenaean Art.
Homer.  (BCE).  Illiad.
Homer.  (BCE).  Odyssey.
MacGillivray, J. A.  (2001).  Minotaur: Sir Arthur Evans and the Archaeology of the Minoan Myth.
Marinatos, Nanno.  (2010)  Minoan Kingship and the Solar Goddess: A Near Eastern Koine.
Martin, Thomas R.  (1996).  Ancient Greece.
Mathioulakis, D. & I.  (1960).  Crete.
Mohen, Jean-Pierre.  (2000).  The Bronze Age in Europe.
Pellegrino, Charles  (1991).  Unearthing Atlantis.
Plato.  (BCE).  Critias.
Plato.  (BCE).  Timaeus.
Saggs, H. W. F.  (1989).  Civilization Before Greece and Rome.
Snell, Daniel C.  (1997).  Life in the Ancient Near East.
Time-Life Books.  (1987).  The Age of the God-Kings.
Unknown.  (BCE).  Gilgamesh.
Wiedemann, Thomas.  (1981).  Greek & Roman Slavery.
Wilson, Ian.  (2001).  Past Lives: Unlocking the Secrets of Our Ancestors.

- Ark

Monday, September 12, 2011

And I Thought Holes Were For Throwing People Down

After some intense carousing, the party found themselves wandering the Wilds again. They were somewhat grumpy, owing vast sums to the City of Fultum, the Thieves' Guild, and the Assassin's Guild in long night of debauchery.  Oh - and there were the accusations of horse molestation, too.

They don't take roads anymore, so they didn't catch the attention of yet another green dragon in the sky.  This one was patrolling the skies over Barton Hill.  Yes, that Barton Hill, the site of the infamous Cube of Force attack.  They carefully hid while The Boy's halfling thief - Ferrit - shimmied up a tree.

With the aide of Ferrit's magical glasses, they saw the dragon light inside the walls of Barton Hill - half a mile away.  They also saw that the human guards on the wall had been replaced with orc guards.

Tim was livid.  The last time they attacked the city, Sai-Lin - Ron's cleric/Magic-user - had talked everyone into not burning the whole place down - just the city hall.  Think of the children, was the cleric's plea.  But this time it was unanimous - burn the mother to the ground.

Around four months ago - real time - the party found a set of wands that acted almost exactly like the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device in the Portal video game, the Wands of Doors.  Suddenly, the entire party remembers that they have the wands (gotta love gamer's selective memories,) and begin to try to figure out how they might work outside of the dungeon in which they were found.

After some Q&A, Sai-Lin determines/remembers that the Wands only work on granite.  They have Ferrit eyeball the walls of Barton Hill.  Are they granite?  I make a roll and give it a one in three chance.  Crap.  Yes, the walls of Barton Hill are granite.

After looking at the town, they only place they can place a portal hole so it gives a view inside of Barton Hill is on one of the two towers.  They can do that, alright, but they need to have portal near to them - and they are not willing to go closer than half a mile near the town.

"Are there any pieces of granite around?" they ask.  Some pebbles, yes.  But they need a space six feet in radius to get a portal to appear.  I let them know there is nothing like that around.

"What about those city walls?" Mervyn's cleric dwarf suddenly pipes up.  "There had to be a quarry somewhere around to get that much stone.  A granite quarry."

Greeeeat.  The frikkin dwarf has turned into frikkin Columbo.

"Okay okay, you find the quarry.  It's got all the slabs you'd ever need."

They drag a slab to half-mile mark from the town and place a portal hole on it, then have Ferrit place the other side of the hole on the granite tower.  The party then peers down the hole in the slab and sees the city square below.

Thirty orc stand in formation in the square.  One one side of the square, the Church of the Lawgiver sits, looking worse for wear.  It appears as though the front face of the church has been ripped off.  Rubble is on the ground around it, but they can't see directly into the hole in the church from the angle of thier portal.

"Is that hole about the size of a dragon?" one of the players asks.

Crap.

The characters readied flasks of oil, bows, slings, and torches - grinning with delight - all aiming downward.

(This, dear friends, is what we call a CLIFFHANGER.)

- Ark

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Dungeonspiration: Etymology


When I was younger, I used to grab a dictionary off the shelf, sit down on the floor, flip to a page, and just start reading for hours. One of the things I particularly liked about a good old fashioned dictionary was that little piece before the formal definition of a word - the etymology bit.  I was always fascinated about how the meanings, uses, and forms of words shifted over time.  Those little blurbs were always too small - just offering a hint of what that particular word had been up to over the centuries.

Twenty years ago I stumbled onto a book by Robert Claiborne called The Roots of English. It's basically an etymological dictionary, but as Claiborne states, "It's in no sense a comprehensive dictionary of Indo-European roots but rather on of Indo-European roots in English.  And only some of those . . . about a third.  In partial compensation, I've added a modest selection of non-Indo-European words or roots that have contributed to our everyday vocabulary."

The Roots of English is fascinating to read.  Most entries have interesting little stories about these 'proto-words,' and Claiborne makes interesting links from one word to another. I learned about the word "arkhein," from this book:

[Greek ARKHEIN, to begin, > take the lead, which > rule (rulers - sometimes - take the lead, though not always in the right direction).  The "begin" sense > ANCIENT ("from the beginning"), ARCHAEOLOGY (the study of ancient things), and the ARCHIVES where ancient documents are stored, frequently enshrining ARCHAIC laws.  The "rule" sense produced the MONARCHY ruled by one person and the ARCHITECT who is the "ruler" of construction - a master builder.]

Of course, arkhein also reminded me of a combination of arcane and Arkham as well, so it has been a favorite word of mine for two decades.

What I found particularly useful was that I could take the root words from the book and turn them into good words for role playing and story creation.   Fantasy words made with real English root words seem to strike a chord with the listener much better than a word formed out of gobbledygook.  There is even an index in the back of the book that links English to the root word, making word creation much easier.

The Roots of English is a great resource for DMs and word-o-philes and I highly recommend it.

Oh, and as a little side note, Robert Claiborne was a fascinating guy himself.  He was a folk singer who toured with Woody Guthrie, a victim of the House Un-American Activities Committee, an editor at Scientific American and various Time-Life science books, and wrote on subject such as medicine, astronomy, climate-anthropology, marine biology, and linguistics.  He was quite a fascinating guy.

So go grab a dictionary, a comfy patch of rug, a quiet afternoon, and a glass of Hi-C and go invent a new language or two. :)

- Ark

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Vayniris Anthology Update


Two giraffes use peer pressure to try and convince
The Boy to spend his lunch money on Warhammer 40K minis.
I've been spending a lot of my time recently working on the Vayniris Anthology Project.  I'm pretty excited about it, and I think the end product will be a great collection of short stories.

For those who don't know, the project is an attempt to produce an 'Appendix N worthy' shared world anthology, set in a vast urban fantasy sprawl.  More information about it can be found in this post.  The deadline for submitting stories in December 31st, 2011.  This is a non-profit project, with all proceeds going to a children's charity - most likely Bryan's House. If you are interested in contributing, shoot me an email and I'll send you the guidelines.

I've been poking around, getting a feel for the cost of art for the book cover, and it makes my wallet want to run and hide.  Honestly, I'm not a great spender.  But I'd like to have a nice, spiff-o-riffic cover that entices people to buy the book and raise money for kids in need.  This has brought me to two different lines of thought.  1) Why not just ask people to donate art? or 2) Start up a Kickstarter project and raise any money I need that way.

So . . .

1) Probably wouldn't work.  I'm looking for something pretty specific in the cover art - something that would not be amiss on bookshelves in the sci-fi\fantasy section of B. Daltons or Waldenbooks back in 1981.  I'm not sure an artist donating their time and effort would put up with my picky-ness on the matter.  (But if somewhere out there is a masochist artist willing to put up with me, feel free to reply below or send me an email.)

2) Kickstarter - hmm.  Seems like a magical well where people go and scoop up money for free.  I'm sure there is some catch, but I haven't looked very far into the process.  I'm pretty sure that even a vague amount of interest could generate enough cash to pay for cover art - but do I have to sell my soul?  Heck, it could potentially get enough cash to publish in some manner other than Lulu.  If anyone has experience in using Kickstarter - let me know your experiences, good or bad.

The more I think about this project, the better I want it to do - I want excellent stories that people will love to read, an excellent framework that will showcase the author's work in the best possible light, a kicking cover that evokes exactly the right mood, and a final product that can go beyond the confines of the OSR and really make some money for the kiddos.

So, anyway, I'm scratching my head at logistics here.  Thanks in advance for any advice.

- Ark