18 September, 2012

Some Rules of Etiquette for Game Groups

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This week was another bust for gaming. One friend is still settling in over in Texas, another two are on the road, and a third player decided that they weren’t able to come to the sessions anymore. It’s discouraging, especially as I’ve been lucky enough to have a stable core group for over a decade until recently. The one reliable gamer left was supposed to come by to do some playtesting of the Atomic Robo RPG but Sandia Labs was locked down due to some incident on the air force base, and by the time I had gone to pick him up and bring him back (he’d missed the connecting bus) we’d have had no time, really. So I rode my Thruxton down to his end of town for drinks and a discussion on our recruitment plans for new gamers.

One of his comments — that people don’t say “good-bye” anymore; they just simply stop showing up — got me thinking. Partly, I think this trend is a function of where we are: the Southwest is very lackadaisical about social niceties, and in particular matters of reliability or time. There’s a mythic “Indian time”, as in “When will you be here?” “Tuesday” To a person from the East Coast, that means the upcoming Tuesday…to the Southwesterner that could be Tuesday three weeks from now. Indian time. “I be there at six” means they’ll leave for your place at six…even if you are an hour’s drive away. Several of the players have been somewhat wishy-washy on their goodbyes. They talk about coming back, but they don’t mean it. It’s just words. Hopeful ephemera.

But it got me thinking about etiquette for this hobby which attracts a lot folks with, to be honest, weak social skills. I’m not talking the stereotypical, troll in mom’s basement sorts, but perfectly functioning human beings that don’t seem to notice their actions affect others. So here are a few things to remember when being part of a group (gaming or otherwise):

If you can’t commit to a bit of time, don’t commit: That doesn’t mean you’re locked into a period of indenture. Everyone knows life happens. Sometimes you have work or school, or emergencies. Everyone gets that. I’m talking about having committed to be at a place and time (like say babysitting), and you continually find another thing to do, instead. It’s rude, primarily because you aren’t the only one affected by your choice to blow off your group to see a movie, or sit at home playing Skyrim.

If you find you can’t do it, tell them why: One of the most annoying things of having a player bail is when they lie about why…and not well. You’re uncomfortable with the group. Say so. Maybe you’d rather do video games and teamspeak — cool. Say so. Maybe your wife doesn’t get gaming and doesn’t like you do it. (This is a whole different issue on your end…) Say so. Maybe you just can’t commit to a weekly, biweekly, or annual game. Say so. Honesty is better than prevarication. In other words, say “goodbye.”

You’re not the only one: Remember the guy or gal running the game? How much work do you think they put into the story line you’re currently not running? Remember how they might have even made a concerted effort to make you the central character of the plotline for that adventure? Now you’ve dicked the whole thing up not just for him, but the others playing. If you commit, at the very least stick out the adventure, or early on let the GM know you aren’t going to be reliable so they don’t focus on you. (Then don’t bitch you don’t get as important a role in the game.)

 

11 September, 2012

Atomic Robo RPG Playtest Report 1

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Last night was a bit of a bust, as two of the players couldn’t video conference in, and two didn’t show up. However, myself and the one player with the most experience in system design managed to get together and do some character bashing with the new Atomic Robo RPG rules currently in development.

We were able to build four characters over the space of an hour and a half, and about half of that time was taken up with side talk, attending to my screaming 17 month old, and eating. The main changes from standard FATE, which this is based on (the author is Mark Olsen of Dresden Files RPG fame):

MODES — this is a skill package. Rather than cherry picking all of your skills, you have a mode of action that includes certain skills. There are overlaps between the modes that add together and make you better at some things. More in a moment. Our opinion on this was positive, and it occurred to me that it could be used to good effect for Star Trek, where anybody has at least a minimum proficiency in all skills. (Come on, the counselor can drive the super-complicated starship? I know it’s some variant of iOS and “just works” but lets be realistic…or not.) The modes fits the pulp style of the comic book and the “action scientists” that inhabit it.

The modes are ACTION, BANTER, INTRIGUE, and SCIENCE. You choose three and get either a base +3 (to your roll) Mode, a +2 Mode, or a +1 Mode. If you have a skill in two modes, you pick the highest, and elevate that skill one more  (so if Athletics was in your +2 and +1 Modes, it would be a +3 in the higher mode.) You then get a certain number of “upgrades” to tweak your skills. The only open skill mode is Science — you pretty much design the science skills in the mode as you wish and the number of upgrades is dramatically higher for the mode than others to capture the weird science feel of the comic book.

As with regular FATE, there is a concept aspect that can add +2 to your tests if appropriate. Each mode has an asepct, as well that adds under certain circumstances, or can be a negative to get you Fate points. There’s also another general aspect that you can develop in play. (The rules state you can do this for all but your concept aspect…the other player liked the ability to redefine the character on the fly — you never really know where a character is going to go that first play session or two.) You get Fate points for each aspect defined at creation. There’s also the usual Stunts, which can also be designed on the fly. they work like aspects, mechanically, but are more specific.

That’s it. Play.

Our impressions: Positive — Character generation is fast. You can get a pretty well defined character with just a few short descriptors and a couple of dice modifiers. Negative — If you’re into “crunch”, FATE is not for you. It’s very freeform, which I both like and don’t; I like flexibility and rules that don’t hamper play, but when they are too loose, I find that this can slow play or make it seem a bit unfair if the GM is not consistent in their rulings. You can’t really play weak characters, which was a comment of one player (Olsen’s response: Why would you want to?), but you could hamper them seriously with negative aspects (there’s an example or two below.)

Here’s the characters created — two were characters in prior games and were built to see if the system would handle them.

GORILLA ACE (Roland Cabot) — Concept Aspect: It’s a Talking Gorilla!

+3 Mode (Action): +4 Athletics, Intimidation, Notice, Physique, Vehicles, Will; +3 Athletics, Combat; Aspect: Prehensile Feet (adds to Athletics)

+2 Mode (Banter): +3 Contacts, Deceit; +2 Empathy, Rapport; Aspect: Now a Word From My Sponsor… (adds to Contacts)

+1 Mode (Intrigue): +1 Burglary, Stealth; Aspect: Sing into Action (adds to Athletics[also in this package])

Other Aspects: Created by Helsingard Science!

Stunts: Signature Hardware — Fighter Plane, other four not defined.

ARTEMIS CAMPBELL — Concept Aspect: Smuggler Queen

+3 Mode (Intrigue): +4 Athletics, Contacts, Deceit, Notice ; +3 Burglary, Stealth; Aspect: I always have a plan…

+2 Mode (Action): +3 intimidation, Will; +2 Combat, Physique, Vehicles; Aspect: Savate Expert

+1 Mode (Banter): +3 Rapport, +1 Empathy; Aspect: You may have heard of me…

Other Aspect: Criminal organization

Stunts: Signature Hardware (Pikros — old Italian gunboat), There’s always a way through (adds to Stealth), Sixth Sense (adds to Notice); other two undefined)

DR. ALVIN KINGHOFFER — Concept Aspect: More Enthusiasm than Ability

+3 Mode (Science): +5 Theoretical Physics; +4 Exotic Propulsion, Gonzo Engineering, Chemistry; Aspect: I haven’t exactly proven it yet…

+2 Mode (Banter): +3 Intimidation, Will; +2 Contacts, Deceit, Empathy, Rapport; Aspect: Stay Calm! We’re Scientists!

+1 Mode (Action): +1 Athletics, Combat, Notice, Physique, Vehicles; Aspect: Now where’s the safety..? (negative on athletics and combat)

Other Aspect: Whaddya mean do I know what I’m doing?

Stunts: Klinghoffer…You’re alive! (Fate point to shift all consequences to the environment), I think I packed that probe…: Fate point to have appropriate equipment, Signature aspect (Where’s the safety…?) Invoke free once per session for 2 fate points, I’ve been trained for this! (Fate point gives +2 to Will tests), 1 undefined

Captain Craig Carter, US Army [WWII period] — Frontline Gadgeteer

+3 Mode (Science): +5 Theoretical weaponry; +4 Chemistry, Demolitions, Physics; Aspect: It just needs one last adjustment

+2 Mode (Action): +4 Combat; +3 Athletics, Notice, Vehicles; Aspect: Where did I put that..?

+1 Mode (Intrigue): +2 Contacts, Stealth; Aspect: Science Underground

Other Aspect: Undefined

Stunts: Everything Has a Weak Spot (adds to combat vs. machines), Signature aspect (Science Underground; invoke for free or 2 fate when negative), Signature gadget — night vision goggles (adds to notice at night); two undefined

 

 

10 September, 2012

Coming Up: Reviews

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I “inherited” a bunch of the Burning Wheel stuff, including Mouse Guard from a friend last night, so I will do a review of the game once I’ve had a chance to look through it. Also, our group is in the first playtest round of the upcoming Atomic Robo RPG, so there will be an after-action report on the game tonight — character generation and play.

 

 

6 September, 2012

Cawnpore and Perseus Now Available in Print

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Cawnpore and Perseus are available in the Createspace eStore and on Amazon.com where, if you order a physical copy of the books, you get the ebook for free. They are also available as ebooks on every ereader out there.

iBooks apparently is requiring different cover resolutions, so here’s the new cover for Perseus:

PERSEUS

Coming in late summer/early fall: Hercules, the follow-up to Perseus.

HERCULES

 

5 September, 2012

Testing Vid Conferencing For Gaming

Posted by blackcampbell under Roleplaying Games, Technology
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Tonight I was testing Facetime, Skype and Google Hangout with a few friends to see if it could be useful for getting together to game, as we are starting to get pulled apart geographically. Facetime and Skype had the best resolution and sound quality, but are limited to calling one person (Skype will allow multiple callers, but you have to pay a monthly fee.) Google Hangout did multiple people easily, but we did notice that the iPad in the conference suffered microphone fidelity — a known issue (there’s an app for that) and I suspect fallout of the idiotic pissing contest between Apple and Google.

Here’s an idea guys, try servicing the customers instead of trying for world domination. What’s next? frickin’ lasers on the moon?

It didn’t hit me at the time, but thinking on it I am still able to be amazed that I am talking to friends 70 miles away in Santa Fe, and also in Seoul on the other side of the world, at the same time — seeing their faces, hearing their voices… There’s a lot wrong with the world (isn’t there always?) but there’s still wonderous things that technology is bringing us.

As for using teleconferencing, I’ve come to the conclusion that if we only have a single player calling in, Skype or Facetime (if they have a Mac) is the way to go; for multiple players, I would go to Google Hangout (which also has a third party dice app you can get a hold of. Facetime was very stable over the period used, but Skype was a bit twitchy from time to time. Google was the worst of the bunch, continually losing at least one of the people.

On the matter of being able to see the person — for the group that’s present, it looks like I’ll probably use the iPad as the camera/mike, and mirror the pickup with an HDMI rig into the television in the living room — and I’ll use my laptop for the notes, dice, etc.

 

4 September, 2012

Player Moving Away? Do You Have to Lose Them From Your Group?

Posted by blackcampbell under Roleplaying Games, Technology
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It’s a problem that our gaming group is about to have: One of our better, more fun players is about to GTT (Gone To Texas, for those of you not up on 19th Century slang.) We want to keep him in the game. Solution: Facetime. Both he and I use Apples, and will be on wifi connections, so why not use my iPad to throw the Facetime screen on the television, use the iPad camera so he can see us, and play long distance?

We’re going to do a test run this week to see if the camera has the field of vision to show the whole room for him.

Has anyone else run games via Google Hangout, Skype, or Facetime? I’m interested to see how it’s working out.

 

4 September, 2012

After Action Report: “Season Finale” Of Our BSG Game

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One of our players is moving to Texas, another has gotten a job that might impair his attendance…yes, we’re heading into a possible dry spell on gaming here in Albuquerque.

So we decided to pull a long session on Labor Day and finish out the “season” of our Battlestar Galactica campaign. We completed the last adventure we were playing and launched straight into (and finished!) the finale. The first hour saw the crew do a lot of scientific research and speculation on the findings at the archeological dig site under their deep-range observation post near the Armistice Line. The site appears to have been an ancient tylium mine, and they found human skeletons mixed with very tall human skeletons…and two intact corpses in spacesuits.

One corpse was send back to Picon for the intelligence corps to analyse, while the ship’s doctor and the dig’s archeologist did an autopsy on the other. They had only a few hours to do their work before exposure to the atmosphere caused decomposition of the corpse. What they found: DNA had 46 chromosomes but at least another 5000-10000 gene sequences over humans. It’s a different species, but one that most likely could breed with humans. The next move is to extract mitochondrial DNA and see if it matches that of the 12 “base” mitochondrial DNA sequences that make up the Twelve Tribes.

The height, very dense bones, and tightly packed musculature suggest a very strong and resilient creature. they also found what they think were dogtags in pockets of the suits — disks with the odd writing they’d found on signage and computer-like devices, but with a symbol of Athena on the reverse. Isotope dating put the corpse at about 3000 years old — so younger than the old city found on Sagittaron, but older than the founding of the Colonies.

Their speculation: these giants are Lords of Kobol. The discovery has both emboldened some religious types, and caused serious anome in the crew.

After a bit of episode clean-up, we moved onto the next mission — the recon of the Cadmus system, 3.2 light years on the other side of the Armistice Line. They have a clever plan to use a stealth viper (we’re calling them the Mk VI Cobra) to do a flyby of Cylon positions on a few moons of a gas giant in the system. Two other ships that are part of Operation UNDERTOW are Valkyrie (under CDR William Adama), and Mentor. As expected, things do not go as planned. For Valkyrie, it’s a version of the Bulldog episode from third season (I think it’s third…) Mentor pulls off her mission with no issues.

The players, on the other hand, have serious problems. The CAG is flying the mission and both he and the guy checkin his course goof their rolls. He nearly hit a moon of the nearby planet he’s using to slingshot assist his approach to the planet. He has a 10 hour ride in the cockpit to the gas giant and falls asleep and last minute realizes he’s drifted off course and has to risk a correction. He does his flyby and two ballistic drones capture images and ELINT of a new kind of basestar (the one from Razor the hybrid was on) and another on the surface of a moon acting as some kind of base of operations, as well as a massive tylium and metals mining operation. The Cylons are busy…

Mr. Murphy is along for the ride, however, and while the raiders doing CAP over the posts don’t pick up his electronic signature or see him on DRADIS, they get eyes on him in front of the gas giant. He runs for it, pulls off a spectacular escape using the planet’s atmosphere, and flees, sending out a krypter to a nearby observation raptor. Good thing those new, strange looking fighters can’t jump, huh?

He runs straight into the radiers that were chasing him; they’ve jumped ahead of his course. The character’s Cobra gets shot to hell and he has to punch out. A heavy raider — they’ve not seen one before — comes for a pickup and he sees a new centurion inside. That’s when Aegis arrives to save his ass. The ship’s fighter squadron does a number on the Cylons, which are being jammed heavily by the ship to prevent their communicating with their basestar. One of the raiders jumps out.

The CAG is rescued and as another raptor is recovering the black box from his plane, the basestar arrives. A short and vicious battle ensues, but they escape.

The adventure ended with the heavy politics that has been central in the campaign. They find out that the mission was approved but no one expected it to be a success. A main point of the rules of engagement was a zero footprint mission — no contact with the Cylons. Both Adama and Pindarus (a PC and the task force commander) had some kind of contact. Adama wasted his pilot before Valkyrie was discovered. Aegis actually fought Cylons. It could start a war!

The admirals are ready to hang him out to dry, but an impassioned plea for the fleet to start getting ready, that the Cylons are mobilizing, manages to get him “promoted” to a bigger ship. It’s actually a penance tour to slow down his fast rise in the ranks…he’s been giving the soon to be decommissioned Galactica. The Cylon threat is used to coaxed the Quorum of 12 back into session — President Adar will classify the Sagittaron dig that has caused much political and religious strife, and the Sagittarons return to the quorum to allow for the defense budget to pass.

As you can see, I’m using the idea of the “all of this has happened before…” motif of the new show to do a new iteration of the story. Hints that were dropped suggest that last campaign (which was set during the RDM show as a second fleet game) happened in the past. Why have Adama as the commander of Galactica? This time, someone else is playing that role… It puts the characters in place to be instrumental in this next iteration of the Wheel of Time.

 

31 August, 2012

Trixie Almost Finished

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New PSR bar end mirrors, and levers by Dime City Cycles. Next, pinstriping the fender to match flyscreen:

 

 

Dad tested, Sofia approved…

 

31 August, 2012

House Rule: Battlestar Galactica RPG

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Here’s a new house rule for BSG:

Player characters can use Plot Points to aid a group, unit, or NPC under their command. The PC may either create a pool for use by those NPCs prior to the action sequence beginning (ex. CPT Muir decides to create a 4PP pool for his vipers during an upcoming battle) or, they must be able to communicate with the NPC to use plot point during an action sequence (ex. Muir has comms with a viper that is about to start a strafing run on a Cylon position. He can aid the roll of the NPC with his own plot points.)

 

31 August, 2012

Welcome to Tesladyne

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W00t!, as the kids say: Looks like my gaming group has managed to get itself into the Atomic Robo RPG playtest.

SCIENCE!

Oh, and just in case you haven’t had a chance to read any of these excellent pulp comics, here’s the first volume, second volume, third volume, fourth volume, fifth volume at Amazon.com. You can also get them through Comixology on the iPad (and I’m assuming other e-reader doodads.)

And no — I’m not being paid for recommending the books. They’re just that good.

 

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