RPG Solitaire Challenge: Newsquest & The Librarian

*Blows the dust off of the blog*

My word, that's better.

Hello there, my lovely readers. Long time, no talk. Where to begin.

Point the first: I have been off the RPG blogging radar for over a year for quite a few reasons, but the primary one is that Beneath the Screen is, sometime in the next few months (if all goes according to plan) going to undergo a complete and total overhaul. A new name, a new look, a new host, and all sorts of wonderful things like that. It's very exciting and I have a lot of new ideas that will be cropping up. So keep an eye out if you've liked my blogging in the past, and you will undoubtedly see more in the future.

Point the second: What brings me back on this new year is a little something called the RPG Solitaire Challenge. Though I don't write all too often and am only involved in the RPG blogging community in a small sense these days, I do still keep up to date on some of the more exciting things going on. This grabbed my attention RIGHT away because I love designing games. I love it, love it, love it. So, over the next week I will be refining TWO games - yes that's right, I'm crazy - for submission into this fine contest. The basic summaries and teasers are below, with more refined rules to come. Let the advice and suggestions start fellow competitors! I'd love to hear what anyone and everyone thinks.

Newsquest

(Evan's "The Stuff In Your Domicile" Challenge)

Newsquest is simple enough. It's a solitary roleplaying game played with two items (at least to begin): a pencil, and the morning paper. Players pick an article and pick out words that will become their Allies and Challenges. The length of words defines their strength, and if all the Challenges can be overcome, the player gains a certain amount of Script (functions like experience points) which can be spent to create new words they have in their arsenal, such as weapons or spells. Reading the news has never been so fun! Just a warning however. With all the markings, colors, drawings, and nonsensical doodling this game will inspire all over your newspaper, I highly suggest you let your family read the paper first.

The Librarian

(Working Title. Robert's "Unlonely Your Fun" and Epidah's "The Sharing" Challenges)

The Library is massive. Impossibly massive. But it's yours. The dungeon's been crawled, and the monsters defeated. The scroll is yours. The scroll is... somewhere. In this library. This impossibly massive library.

Crap.

That's where The Librarian comes in. A quirky young construct with an old brass key, or perhaps a flitting magical beetle with tiny runes carved upon it. Whatever guise your Librarian takes, he has one purpose, and one alone. To serve the researchers.

The Librarian is a simple enough game that can tie in beautifully to any fantasy roleplaying game. What it introduces is a semi-intelligent NPC of sorts in your game who is able to take research requests from your party, and seek out the knowledge they seek. But the research takes time (since you'll be the one writing it), so you have until next session to prepare. In that time between sessions, as the Librarian scurries away to the great Library, he will have many challenges to overcome in it's bookshelf-lined walls. This game carries the mechanics for you to run a short solitary RPG for this lovable young robot as he scurries about to fulfill his master's wishes. How the game falls out will directly influence what kind of handouts or information you prepare for your players. This game is intended to introduce a fun NPC into your games, make the preparation of creating write-ups for your players new and exciting, and to create products that can stand alone as pieces of fiction, poetry, or cartography. This game is best suited for storytellers who enjoy writing, drawing, or creating handouts for their players, but like to have a little fun on the side.

More details to come, stay tuned!

Top 5 Cartoons That Should Be RPGs - #2

Alright. Long story short - I love RPGs and Cartoons. Let's get right to the countdown. So far here's what we've got:

5. Avatar the Last Airbender
4. Danny Phantom
3. Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

Onwards we go...

#2 - Recess

"This film takes place at an adventurous elementary school. Among the elementary school faculty is the sleazy principal (Prickly), the tough playground guard (Finster), and the nice 4th grade teacher (Grotkey). The six main cast members are T.J.,the leader and schemer of the group; Spinelli, the girl who is a bully with a heart of gold; Vince, the playground jock; Gretchen, the science whiz and smartest girl in school; Mikey, the poetic drama king; and Gus, the wimp with a military family. Then there are plenty of other typical elementary school kids, like the spy Randall, the 4 Ashley snobs, the diggers, the kindergardeners, etc., and including the older kids like King Bob. Everyday the group hangs out at recess dealing with different problems they must work together to overcome."
- Anonymous

What Makes It Awesome?

I know, I know, another school based game. Blah, blah. But seriously, the world that Recess provides is awesome, and totally worthy of immortalization in RPG form. Lets break it down.

If you've seen the show, the main characters basically fill out a balanced adventuring party. You've got the leader, the nerd, the punk, the romantic, the jock and so on... And yet, they come together despite their diverse backgrounds to overcome challenges and be best friends. Sound a little like your gaming group's last session?

The big reason this game would work so well is it's parallels to D&D games already. In addition to the "classes" your character could fill, based in their role in the school yard - statistics like popularity, intelligence, athleticism and charm play a big part of this series and could easily be translated into a tabletop game's rules system.

The general basis of this show is to get the most out of every recess, whether it's participating in the various strange rituals of the playground, to battling older students for authority, to simply trying to cause trouble without getting caught. Players could be presented with a variety of tasks to complete, and much like in the Mouse Guard vein, they could be presented with a series of challenges opposing them. Depending on how they respond to the challenges they may either succeed or fail, presenting new challenges as a result.

The greatest part of Recess however, is simply this. The world of the playground is much more expansive than you might think, with a fleshed out culture, several factions, ancient rituals and traditions, and a government of it's own to boot!

A Snapshot: The World

The playground is a massive collection of varying factions and a self-sustaining government with customs and traditions that kids of the playground are expected to know. As such, the playground is populated with people who can aid with a variety of tasks, or who should be avoided at all costs. Here are some examples:

The King of the Playground (King Bob) - The playground exists as a monarchy, with the King attended by his personal aides, wielding the power to create or destroy traditions or decrees within the playground which then become law. The King is also a judge in all disciplinary issues or matters between two students who need a judge. In the show, King Bob is the ruler of the Third Street playground and the former prankster prince, whose throne sits atop the jungle gym. He is one of the school's older students (he is in the sixth grade). Bob is regularly depicted with a number "8" hockey jersey, and carries a hockey stick as a scepter. He is the individual with the most power on the playground and all bow to his commands.

The Ashleys - The prissiest members of the playground are the collection of all the girls named Ashley, a name which by some right sets them on a higher pedestal then the rest of the playground. As such, they also hold a bit of power, in addition to their own private clubhouse. They are fountains of gossip and generally good targets to go to for information.

The Kindergartners - Making up their own unique group among the students, the kindergartners live as uncivilized, and even dangerous, little urchins that wear face paint, carry tribal weapons, and harass the older children. They are uncontrollable and do not abide by the laws of the playground - sectioned off in their own private area with their own King. When they get loose however... dangerous things can happen.

And it doesn't end there. There are dozens of personalities on the playground. Each known for their specialties:

Randall C. Weems - Randall is the resident snitch of the playground. He is at the beck and call of the assistant teacher, who rewards him with various confiscated items and cookies.

Theresa "Cornchip Girl" LaMaise - Cornchip Girl is a sweet and loving girl who always thinks of other people and also gives people lots of useful advice.

Sam and Dave the Diggers - Two boys who enjoy digging holes.

Swinger Girl - A girl (voiced by Francesca Smith) who likes to play on the swings every recess. She wears her trademark pilot's outfit.

Upside Down Girl - A girl who hangs upside down on the monkey bars every recess. As a result, her pigtails always stand up.

The Hustler Kid - Francis, the Hustler Kid, is a kid that offers the children of the playground trivial toys and food, often discreetly.

Guru Kid - A boy who offers Buddha-like wisdom to kids who seek his advice. He wears a pair of striped shorts and his shirt on his head as a turban.

And my favorite...

Knarf - The nerd who usually hangs out in the school basement during recess with his three nerdy friends playing RPG games, reading comic books, and collecting trading cards.

Why Number 2?

Recess is already well on it's way towards being an RPG. There is enough just in the cartoon series to easily craft rules, a class system, and a full map of the playground and school. It would be a fun game for a couple reasons.

First, you get to be a kid again and use kid logic to solve problems. Second, the big problem is how can I get the most out of recess? Is there a nobler task? This game, as would most of these cartoon RPGs, would function best for one-shotish sessions, rather then ongoing campaigns, but I feel like it would be a blast.

This cartoon comes it at number 3 because I can already imagine playing this game, and it's not all that big a task to undertake to write up a small rulebook to make playing it a possibility. Plus, I loved recess when I was a kid - both the cartoon and the actual thing. I wish my playground was like this series!

Watch the opening below, and you can get a good idea for everything I've talked about here. If you get a chance, go watch an episode!

Stick around for #1 on the horizon!

Classy D&D Beverages (and stormtroopers)

I don't usually just like to give a shout out towards a funny link or video that I've found, but this is too good to be true. Want to show up all your fellow gamers at your next D&D session? Show up and throw some of these in the fridge. Maybe your DM will give you an XP bonus if you give him one, you never know!

http://www.myjones.com/code/limited.php?campaign=wizards

Has anyone tried these? Tasty? Horrible? Let me know!

Also, an extra video for your viewing pleasure...

Top 5 Cartoons That Should Be RPGs - #3

As discussed a little while back, I have an unhealthy addiction to both cartoons and RPGS. Blending my two passions, I have produced a fun little countdown for Beneath the Screen as I list the top 5 cartoons that I think could be turned into fun RPGs!

First I discussed Avatar: The Last Airbender, ranking it lowest primarily because of it's likeness to some other games out there, and it being an obvious choice. Next I discussed Danny Phantom, a fun ghost-based game where young surly teenagers go ghost hunting and interact with a variety of strange villains.

Onwards we go...

#3 - Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

"The plots revolved around three roommates/students that just happened to be monsters. You had Ickis, a monster struggling to be half the legend his father was, Krumm, a smelly and hairy little guy that carried around his own eyeballs, and my personal favorite, Oblina. She was the nerd and over-achiever of the group. The monsters studying at the observatory had to remain hidden to humans unless completing their homework by scaring them. They then reported their actions to the Gromble (the teacher of the school, and the first cross-dressing cartoon character I have ever seen) and were graded on how they assessed the situation.

Unfortunately, Ickis, Oblina, and Krumm were always suffering some sort of mishap."

- sjbursich

What Makes It Awesome?

Calling for unique challenges, widely diverse characters, strange powers, and intense creativity, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters rolls in at number three in the countdown.

I mean... think about it.

You get to play a monster. Normally you fight monster. Here, you get to PLAY the bad guy! Everyone always wants to try their hand at being eeeeeevil, but now you have a reason, homework!

This show circles around a "scare" school, where homework assignments include scaring various humans in specific ways (Think Monsters Inc). Along the way, the students run into a large number of problems, usually stemming from the fact that they're not supposed to be seen by humans unless they're actually scaring. Tie that with all of the fun monster school drama, and you have the makings of some pretty awesome game sessions.

A Snapshot: Plot Hook

The dull sound of tired conversation and silverware on ceramic filled the small diner as the roar of the midnight train rolled by on the nearby tracks. A ding from the kitchen sent Bernice into a one-eighty spin as she shuffled back to pick up the order. As she picked up the plate of pie, the angelic ringing of the door's trio of bells indicated a new customer entering, to which Bernice turned with a smile. "Welcome to Be-" The woman stopped, as no one new seemed to enter at all. Someone must have left, she thought - shrugging it off looking for the now empty table.

As she laid the pie down, a blood-curdling scream rang out from the kitchen. Turning on her heels Bernice ran into the kitchen as the lights flickers. That's when she saw it, and the entire diner erupted into utter terrifying chaos.

A group of particularly nasty monsters unaffiliated with the school have been making a series of scares in a nearby neighborhood with no regard for how many humans see them, and in many cases actually harming those they attack. In this adventure, our monsters must locate the rogue monsters and keep their activities quiet, while trying to scare some sense into them.

Why Number 3?

I love Aaahh!!! Real Monsters because it can be played in a few ways. One of which being a sort of light-hearted, childish manner. One of which being a more Hunter fashion where setting up and executing scares is all about forward planning, staking out your foe, and executing everything flawlessly. And the final of which being in a World of Darkness horror genre type setting, where you are the things that go bump in the night, but there are other dangerous things out there as well.

This game gives the players a chance to combat enemy monsters, plan and puzzle out complex scare assaults, and try to achieve a large number of goals all at once. It is far from typical and has the makings of a great game.

Stick around for #2 next week!

Altered Posting Schedule

Some of your may have noticed a slow in my posting schedule as of late. To tackle this issue, I am introducing a temporarily shortened posting schedule. For a little while, Beneath the Screen will be posting on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. This is for a few reasons.

1. Job Hunting - Most of my time is spent these days just trying to find a job. I'm trying to move down to Boston but it's still a terrible job market, even in such a big city. Similarly, I'm also trying to wrangle myself an apartment. All of this searching is eating up a lot of time, as it should because it's important that I find employment.

2. LARP Season - As many of you know, I'm an avid LARPer. I am in the middle of LARP season right now, and will be until Halloween. This means that I'm gone from Friday night to Sunday afternoon every weekend. Typically, I need a good portion of Friday (and sometimes Thursday) to prepare for the weekend, and all of Monday to recover.

3. NO GAMES! - I'm not actually RPing right now. My summer tabletop group broke off to go back to college, and my online groups are running slowly. Normally, after a tabletop or IM game I have lots of things to write about, prompted by the session. Not having any games to play has made coming up with ideas a little harder so I've found I don't have as much to write about.

So, stick with me, and swing by Tuesdays to Thursdays each week. Also, if you happen to have an IM/Chat game I can join, or a job in your company I can apply for, please let me know!

Keeping Secrets at the Table

The Dungeon Master's jaw rested very comfortably on the floor as he stared down at his notes - eyes wide. "The... the dragon... dies?"

Cheers erupted from the table.

"Success!"
"Huzzah!"
"For the Mountain Dew!"

The Dungeon Master however, was not impressed. Sifting through his stack of papers he found the photocopies of our character sheets and made some quick references. "Wait a second. How did you beat the dragon's grapple checks? That's impossible with your modifier!"

We all looked to the victorious warrior who leaned back, a slick grin on his victorious face.

"Remember the minor Shadow Ring artifact we found in the Citadel of Midnight? You said it had the ability to change into any one magical ring. Well, I changed it into a Ring of Freedom of Movement before the battle. Pretty smart huh? See, I wrote it on my sheet!"

"Smart?" Wisps of steam rose from the pink-faced Dungeon Master's ears. "You didn't tell me you had Freedom of Movement cast! You just said you beat his grapple checks!"

"Well, the dragon wouldn't have known about the ring or it's effects on me. I knew if it couldn't grapple me the first time it would get frustrated and - not being able to take defeat well - would keep trying and waste all of it's rounds."

"I can deal with what the dragon knows. As the Dungeon Master though, I need to know what your character has for abilities and items! That's why I made copies of your sheets! How can I run a fun and challenging game for you all without knowing what will actually challenge your characters?"

"If you run your challenges based on what we can do, then what benefit is there for getting more powerful and coming up with unique strategies? You'll have an answer for every attack!"

*Cue fight music*

- - -

Secrets at the table. Good idea? Bad idea?


You Can Never Know Everything

Any good DM knows that even if they know the ins and outs of their player's character sheets, they could never know everything about a character. Some players assume that when a DM has a copy of their sheet, they lose all chances to do something which surprises the DM, but they must realize that a DM can never account for imagination and creativity.

Players, you still hold the power! So, if your DM wants copies of your sheets, try not to worry TOO much.

DMs, please remember that you can't control what the players do. Just because you have their stats doesn't mean you know everything they're going to throw at you. Even if you think you can predict your player's movements to a T, don't rely on it, lest your carefully planned campaign de-rails a little and you find yourself uttering those words no DM should ever utter.

How Much Fun Is "Challenging"?

Challenging is an interesting word. I don't think anyone, player or DM would say that they wanted a simple, non-challenging campaign. An easy campaign is just no fun. Sure, having the occasional encounter where the heroes simply stomp the enemies can be fun, but overall a campaign should be challenging.

But how do you make a campaign or encounter challenging?

Is it simply by sending boatloads of monsters at your PCs, or launching something several levels higher than them onto the grid?

One of the best ways to make an encounter challenging is to tailor a monster specifically to battle the group. If the group is seriously lacking in aerial attack power, throw something with wings at them. Take down your party's pyromancer with a monster immune to fire! Yes, this is challenging... but is it fun?

One of the big reasons DMs may keep careful tabs on their players is to tailor encounters to be "challenging" for them, but TREAD SOFTLY DMs! If you take away all of their favorite toys, your players may close down and stop having fun. As soon as a player feels "useless" in a battle, you've hit a major problem.

Tip: If you want to keep a challenging battle fun, rather than make your character's abilities useless, force them to come up with new and creative ways to use their abilities. Puzzle bosses are a great example of how you might incorporate this idea.

An Unfortunate Reality

One benefit of transparency is that it takes a big stab at cheating. Players can't change their skill points, or their prepared spells, or their eye-color mid-campaign. The other edge of this sword is that a call for transparency unfortunately does imply at least in some small way that a DM wants to keep tabs on their players.

Is that so bad?

Well, it can put pressure on the DM/Player relationship, even though it does help to keep everyone at the table honest.

Obviously this aspect of transparency at the table should be addressed in an individual group-to-group manner. Only you know what will work best for your group, and how trustworthy your players are to not fudge their sheets. In an ideal world, no D&D player would ever cheat, and in many groups it never happens.

Every so often though, there are players who make an attentive DM raise their eyebrows. I've sadly seen this more often than I'd like in my time as a DM.

Final Verdict?

The question of whether or not players should be able to keep secrets from their DMs is one I've dealt with in many of my gaming groups and really should be solved on a case-by-case basis. What will work best for your group? What will maintain levels of fun and a healthy degree of challenge?

A DM's expectations of transparency should be laid out at the beginning of a campaign (don't hold your players to high expectations that you've never explained), and players should work with their DM rather than against them.

In the end, it's up to you! It's true that "secrets, secrets are no fun", but sometimes they're the best things ever.

Anthology of RPG Blogs: PDF now available!

I never talked about Open Game Table - The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Vol. 1, and I'm not really sure why. For those of you who don't know, it's a collection of some of the finest RPG blog articles of 2008, from a variety of both prominent and lesser-known RPG bloggers out there. From ChattyDM, to Unclebear, to yours truly!

I actually got two of my articles from last year published. Even though none of the writers were paid it was the first time I've ever gotten an RPG article published... so that's pretty awesome.

There are tons of articles in there! The hardcopy is really nice, which you can purchase from Amazon, but if you want a digital copy with easily printable articles and a searchable PDF format, go pick up your copy today from RPGNOW!

Lessons from LARPing: Delaying Death

Every so often, LARPing teaches me a little something that I can bring right to the table (if you don't know what LARPing is, read this post!). This little lesson deals with killing off characters - a topic I discussed not too long ago.

So, a character dies. Always an icky business. You're looking down behind your DM screen and see the natural 20. You glance at your notes - they have twenty hit points left. You look at the stat block of the goblin - x4 multiplier. You roll again... another 20. The time has come (the walrus said) to make a decision.

Do you fudge the roll?

Do you go ahead and kill off a character?

But, this is a GOBLIN! A random encounter gone horribly wrong!

What if you just gave this critical... a raincheck?

Sometimes, the random encounters can get out of hand. Even the planned ones can! PC's can die at the worst possible moments, when it would completely disrupt the flow of the game, at the hands of a minor and nameless foe, or in any one of another one hundred inconvenient ways.

Fudging the dice to make your PCs invincible can be lame, and can remove the fear of death from your campaign which can make things hard on all fronts.

So, fudge the dice for now, but that PC has died, and sooner rather then later (Final Destination style) that character's going to die - though in a much more epic way. Add in extra damage when the PC faces the next boss, or add a deadly trap to an important plot hook around the next corner.

You can postpone death to a point when the other players (and you) will be able to give the death the attention it deserves, and feel like the PC didn't die for no reason. If you're playing a game where there's no coming back from death, this could be especially effective.

Delaying a death hinges on one big thing though - not telling your players. It can cheapen the initial battle, and make them angry about the second death, even if you were doing it for them.

Keep it to yourself, and don't forget about it! Writing yourself a little "I.O.U. One Death" post-it to remind you later doesn't hurt!

Here we go a'LARPing!

Don't wait up!



See you Monday!

The Bloggin' Mood

Not in the bloggin' mood today. So, for your amusement, if any of you don't read Penny Arcade out there, the most recent strip they put up reminded me humorously of some of the more angry looks I've gotten from players whose characters I've killed in the past. Check it out!



If you're looking for a fun gaming web-comic, Penny Arcade is worth checking out!

As a side note, this particular strip is a follow-up to a rather ridiculous, but unfortunate article from a few days ago. Apparently, attitudes went sour when D&D gamers were fighting over a girl, or something like that... I didn't read far because it must be fake. I mean seriously, gamers with girlfriends? Preposterous! (I'm joking of course, but I am a single gamer so I'm allowed to make such jokes!)

Anyways, if you want to read the whole article, it's here!

Contests, Contests, Contests!

I'm off to LARP for the weekend, but in the meantime make sure to check out all the contests going on around the blogosphere:

Chatty DM: Yes! Please tell me about your PC... on Twitter

Roleplaying Pro: Game Fuel Contest – Win Free Stuff!

Mikes Mind: Win DM's Tracker for the iPhone

So, while I'm gone, go win stuff!

Double Post Day!

As much as I hate to take a break from my fun Cartoon Countdown that's begun this week, I did want to take a day out of my normal posts because I don't think I could handle three posts in one day.

Today (interestingly enough, the one year anniversary of my first ever guest post on the blogosphere - Extreme Makeover: Tavern Edition - over at Musings of the Chatty DM), I am proud to be authoring both a guest post over at Chatty DM's blog and my most recent work over at Nevermet Press.

ChattyDM - Adventurers Anonymous: My post over at Musings of the ChattyDM today deals with what it means to be an Adventurer, both in general, and in the grand scheme of your campaign world. It approaches a handful of potential prejudices the commoners of your village/town/setting/world may hold towards members of the adventuring profession, and is an altogether hilarious article so GO CHECK IT OUT!

Nevermet Press - Bastion of the Hidden Kingdom: My post over at NMP is continuing their series with the villain Brother Ptolemy. I've outlined the villain's big spooky sanctum and even drew up the map for the post as well. I actually did some research into French Victorian Manor Houses for the design, and think it turned out quite well. So you can go and check that out too!

Alright, so this is indeed kind of a cop-out in terms of a post, but I hope my other two posts will keep you all entertained until we hit #3 of the Countdown!

Top 5 Cartoons That Should Be RPGs - #4

As discussed in yesterday's post, I have an unhealthy addiction to both cartoons and RPGS. Blending my two passions, I have produced a fun little countdown for Beneath the Screen as I list the top 5 cartoons that I think could be turned into fun RPGs!

Yesterday I discussed Avatar: The Last Airbender, ranking it lowest primarily because of it's likeness to some other games out there, and it being an obvious choice. I hope these remaining four choices will catch you all a little off-guard!

So, without further ado...

#4 - Danny Phantom

"Action-packed adventures of Danny Fenton, who straddles two worlds as a shy freshman at Casper High and a heroic phantom-fighter with ghostly superpowers. With his best friends, techno-geek Tucker and free-thinking Goth girl Sam, he thwarts the misdeeds of menacing ghosts; and stumbles through daily social hurdles."

- Anonymous

What Makes It Awesome?

Danny Phantom is great because it's a superhero game with a unique (ghost, specifically) twist. Since Ghostwalk came out and the idea of playing a ghost actually became a possibility it got me pumped.

One of the best parts of Danny Phantom is the awesome villains you have the potential for. You've got full ghosts, half-ghosts, and ghost hunters, each of which can come in all shapes and sizes.

The main reason I love the potential of Danny Phantom as an RPG is because of the hilarious grouping of ghosts you can throw at your players. There are runty little ghosts that basic combat can take care of, puzzle ghosts who can be destroyed by figuring out what makes them tick and dealing with it, and then of course really powerful villains who never quite can be destroyed.

Another great thing Danny Phantom has going for it is the wide spectrum of character concepts. It would be played in a modern setting, and players could take the roles of half-ghosts, full ghosts, ghost hunters, computer whizzes, or any other variation of average joe who takes up the mantle of battling evil ghosts.

There are many options for unique adventures and challenges in this game, from ghost hunting, to protecting innocents, to evading the public eye. Obviously a party with ghost-members has a lot to worry about in terms of staying hidden amongst the normal populace, which can create some interesting plots and challenges.

From entire towns being hypnotized by ghostly music, to neighborhoods vanishing one by one as they join a ghostly pirate crew, to a massive underground scientific organization opening a ghost portal and using ghosts for their own gains, there are hundreds of potential adventures that your heroes could embark on.

Similarly, this game would include pretty awesome opportunities for playing evil ghosts - sneaking onto the mortal plane and causing chaos while avoiding ghost hunters and do-gooding ghost folk.

Lots of fun opportunities.

A Snapshot: Villains

Here are some of my favorite villains taken from the TV series, to give some ideas of villains that are possible in this system.

Ember McLain: Ember McLain is a hard rocking ghost girl who feeds off the idol worship in teenagers. Ember's appearance, song, and character in general, portrays her as a ghostly embodiment of teenage rebellion and disobedience to authority figures.

Skulker: Skulker is the predator ghost hunter who hunts down rare and unique things, and sets his sights on half-ghosts, unique humans or creatures, and rare artifacts. Skulker is actually a small ghost blob who wears a large battle suit.

Youngblood: Youngblood is portrayed as a child who plays Dress-Up as a game. He has an assistant, a skeleton-like shapeshifter who takes the form of animals who go along with these characters (when Youngblood is a pirate his shapeshifter is a parrot, or a horse when Youngblood is a cowboy)

Vortex: Vortex is a century-old ghost with the power to control the weather. He finds the earth to be a meaningless planet, and has wrought havoc on the earth throughout the ages. Vortex is a ghost of large stature. He wears metallic armor on his torso and, rather than having legs, his lower half mimics a tornado. A lightning-shaped "V" crosses his right shoulder and comes to a point at his chest. His most notable detail is his constant, mid-sentence wheezing.

Pariah Dark: Pariah Dark is the King of all Ghosts, with control of the powerful Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire. While wearing both of these items, Pariah Dark has near limitless power. He commands the Fright Knight as well as an army of Skeletal ghosts. Very powerful foe, but more interested in becoming king than defeating his enemies.

And my favorite...

Box Ghost: The Box Ghost has the standard ghost powers of intangibility, invisibility, and flight. Most importantly, he has the ability to control boxes, and to empty the items inside. Later versions in the series of Box Ghost also have the ability to control bubble wrap and the power to create energy cubes out of thin air. Box Ghost's goal is to find Pandora's Box, with which he temporarily gains unlimited evil power, rendering him unstoppable.

(Villain info taken from the Danny Phantom Wiki)

Why Number 4?

The idea of fighting ghosts has always appealed to me (one of the reasons I'm the only one in my White Wolf group who actually really wants to play a Hunter game).

One of the big reasons that Danny Phantom is great though, as I've said, is the wide expanse of villains, challenges, and encounters you can have. On top of ghosts invading the mortal realm, the Ghost Realm itself holds an entirely new world to explore.

The greatness of a Danny Phantom game really comes forth in the fact that the sky is the limit in terms of encounters. The downside is that most of the action comes in the form of combat encounters, and will pretty much always be fighting ghosts - regardless of how unique each individual enemy may be.

A much more unique setting in terms of RPGs then Avatar, Danny Phantom's game play could wind up being somewhat limited or repetitive in terms of encounters and abilities (unless you have a really creative GM). The sheer potential for creativity is huge, but not quite as huge as the cartoon which falls in at #3.

Stay tuned, the final three may surprise you!

Top 5 Cartoons That Should Be RPGs - #5

It's Saturday morning. You crawl out of bed at ten without an alarm clock and take a breath of that fresh weekend air. Time to put on your favorite Cthulu slippers, grab a bowl of Sugar Frosted Sugar Lumps cereal, and sink into your couch in front of your favorite
Saturday morning cartoons RPG!

Inspired by some of the great "someone turn this into an RPG please!" posts I've seen over at the RPG Blogger's Network I thought I'd throw some of my own RPG dreams out there, building a huge past time of mine - cartoons.

Not sure why I'm such a huge fan of cartoons, but twenty two years young and I'm still hooked on my Saturday morning sugar cereal and animated antics. Combined with my love of RPGs I threw together this little list I'll be delving into for the next week or so.

So, here we go. Five cartoons that should be made into RPGs.

Starting with...

#5 - Avatar the Last Airbender

"When the hostile Fire Nation threatens to enslave the Water, Earth, and Air Nations, a reluctant and irresponsible boy must face his destiny as the Avatar, the Chosen One who can restore the world order. This new animated series centers on twelve-year-old Aang, who must forgo his selfish wandering to learn to master his latent powers over the four elements. Only then can he conquer the Firebenders, the evil magi who threaten the world."

- Sara Stern Levin, Nickelodeon

What Makes It Awesome?

Avatar: The Last Airbender has a lot of good things going for it.

Firstly, Avatar is set in a well developed world, with lore and culture all it's own. Comets and stars, as well as the changing seasons and the yearly solstices, all have a significant impact on the world. The world believes in spirits (with powerful beings being able to travel into the spirit realm) and sometimes even see spirits made flesh. And the world is rich with secret organizations such as the White Lotus, and unique games such as Pai Sho.

Secondly, the potential build of characters could be very interesting. Benders must gain training to increase in their skills, encouraging them to travel all around the world to learn from masters. The world itself is full of strange creatures and unique challenges the players could match themselves against - using not only bending powers, but creativity, physical skill, and philosophical minds.

Thirdly, the setting is fantastic. A world divided, locked in a neverending war. And ever since Oriental Adventures was released for D&D, I've loved Oriental settings, which I think Avatar alludes nicely to with it's roots in martial arts.

A Snapshot: Character Classes

Airbender: Harnessing the power of air; quick movement, and even flight are at your disposal. Airbenders are spiritual, often pacifistic, nomads. Their skills are used for defense, dexterity, and unique movement on the battlefield - as well as disarming and inconveniencing their opponents.

Earthbender: Earthbenders are proud, strong, and sometimes stubborn people. Earthbenders are decisive and sure footed. Though they may be the slowest among the benders, they pack more strength behind each individual attack then any other bender. Great architects and builders, Earthbenders are as long-lasting and stalwart as the structures and cities they have raised in their kingdom.

Waterbender: With the powers of water and healing at their side, Waterbenders are powerful enemies and even more hardy friends. Flowing and graceful in their art, Waterbenders are at one with the spirit of the moon and the ebb and flow of the world around them. Talented at both defense and offense, tied with their ability for healing, Waterbenders are balanced and kind characters.

Firebender: The power of fire is harsh and quick. Firebenders are quick, deadly, and confident - not allowing any defense to stand in their way. Fast to act, Firebenders draw their power from the sun and - while they can utilize some defensive maneuvers, are best trained for their deadly offensive skills.

Scholar: While not everyone's a Bender, the knowledge Scholars possess of the world, the stars, and the many myths that circle the four kingdoms speak their own power. Seeking ancient ruins, forgotten libraries, and the shadowy history of the world, a scholar can be a fast companion - inquisitive and trained in many unique skills, including the use of ancient relics and scrolls.

Inventor: Some are content to study the past, but Inventors look to the future. Masters of creation, Inventors aren't Benders, but seek to emulate their abilities with everything from flying machines to grenades to firearms and much, much more. Some inventors are always traveling, looking for inspiration and studying the strange creations of distant nations while developing their own machines. An Inventor is a grab bag of usefulness, often coming up with the perfect tool when you need it the most.

Soldier: Whether a trained Fire Nation soldier, an Earth Tribe warrior, or a Water Nation barbarian, Soldiers may lack the skill for Bending but are skilled in the art of battle and war. There are many groups of trained warriors and mercenaries all across the four nations, each with their own unique style of combat. A talented warrior can be the greatest benefit to any group of travelers. Where Bending may fail, swords are always a good Plan B.

Why Number 5?

I partially ranked Avatar at the bottom of the list because it's so obvious! Anyone who's seen this show has probably thought of how much fun it would be to take on the role of an Earthbender or Firebender. The rest of the list consists of much more unexpected choices, which ranks them a little higher in my book simply because of how unique they are and how fresh the game would be.

In the end, Avatar - while it would be a unique take on a fantasy-like setting - winds up being not too different from some other games out there. Also, the choices for characters seem like they could be fairly limited (since everyone would obviously want to play a Bender).

Altogether though, Avatar would fit well into a tabletop game and I'd love to see it. From the deep culture and lore that's already been written for the series, to the clearly defined character concepts, to the oriental setting which always makes me smile.

Dibs on being the Earthbender!

To learn more about Avatar, check out the Avatar Wiki!

Real Life Headlines - Big Brother Plot Hook

An Orson Wells dream come to life, the UK is coming forth with privacy invasion that you only though possible in science fiction. Here's some inspiration for you next modern or sci-fi campaign!

"The UK government is about to spend $700 million dollars installing surveillance cameras inside the private homes of citizens to ensure that children go to bed on time, attend school and eat proper meals.

No you aren’t reading a passage from George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, this is Britain in 2009, a country which already has more surveillance cameras watching its population than the whole of Europe put together.

Now the government is embarking on a scheme called “Family Intervention Projects” which will literally create a nanny state on steroids, with social services goons and private security guards given the authority to make regular “home checks” to ensure parents are raising their children correctly.

Telescreens will also be installed so government spies can keep an eye on whether parents are mistreating kids and whether the kids are fulfilling their obligations under a pre-signed contract."

Check out the full article here.

Small Blogging Hiatus

My first LARPing event of the season is just a week and a half away. As exciting as this is, it also means a lot of prep time, as this is the LARP I work as a staff lead for! So, in preparation for that, and given my upcoming post for Nevermet Press and another guest post for Chatty DM, I will be not be able to throw up a blog post here - just for the next couple days. I hope to pick right back up on Thursday or Friday though once I'm all caught up.

In the meantime, ALL HAIL GARY!

Also, if you like steampunk: check it.

Personal Plot at the Table

If your group enjoys writing detailed backstories for their characters, well... your a lucky, lucky dungeon master. Don't take it for granted! Use those backstories! Personal Plot, aka character-specific plot, can lead games in interesting directions, give individual players the spotlight for certain scenes, and develop connections between your characters and the overarching plotline.

Choosing to incorporate personal plot in your game has both pros and cons, so your should make the decision about whether or not you use it based on your group and what you think they would enjoy!

Personal Plot Pros

Delving into a characters backstories can add a lot of things to your game. First and foremost it will make the player of the character in question happy that you took the time to work their backstory into the campaign, and will craft encounters of particular enjoyment to that player since their character gets to shine in the spotlight.

Personal plot, if used well, can provide plot hooks for characters based on their past, or NPCs from their past, encouraging them to continue on their quest. Such plot can also be used to develop plot twists, and to connect PCs in strange, sometimes unexpected ways to the overarching plot.

Dungeon Masters should remember that most character backstories hold the reason why PCs began adventuring in the first place. Ensuring that their adventures continue to fulfill these reasons, you can usually keep your party entertained.

Personal Plot Cons

The main reason personal plot can go badly is the very reason that makes it great - it singles out a player. While this can be great for the player, whenever you give one character the spotlight you make every other player take a backseat in the action.

This can be fine, when used in doses. If however you've got a game with six players, and you give one player a significant, extensive, and tons-o'-fun personal plot encounter, your other players will expect that they'll be receiving the same treatment - as it's only fair.

Essentially, you should make sure you think ahead to the amount of time you might be committing to personal plot. If you wind up having a few session's worth strictly of personal plot that don't really do much to advance the story, players can become bored and feel detached from the game.

A good way to avoid that downside is to ensure that even personal plot involves the entire party in some way. Another good technique is to have individual sessions for players to swing by and have a one-on-one game with you for an hour or so to play out some personal plot.

Ensuring that each player gets a chance to shine equally in the spot light during your campaign is important, but just make sure you don't overdo things and have your entire campaign be spotlights. The whole party taking the spotlight together should make up the majority of every campaign, or your players may become competitive with each other - something you want to avoid, trust me. The more plot where the party works together and relies on each other, the better.

Short Fiction: A Day With Mr. Ambrose

My short fiction work, A Day With Mr. Ambrose, was published yesterday over at Nevermet Press. The story is finishing their most recent cycle of publications following the idea of using faustian bargains in-game, and presenting the villain Immeril Lithos for use in any campaign. The story is about a pair of devils discussing the finer points of bargaining for souls. Here's a preview...

The overstuffed leather office chair protested loudly on its wheels beneath Laok’s weight. In their natural form, imps were rather light creatures – most being under three feet tall and composed primarily of hot gas and loosely concentrated nightmares – but it was no secret that Laok was immoderately obsessed with his "bargaining form," Mr. Ambrose.

"Besides," Laok had argued on several occasions, "to sit in a chair properly, one must shed unnecessary shoulder baggage. Wings make the entire experience of relaxing substantially more difficult."

Therefore, Mr. Ambrose was the form Laok favoured more often then not, insofar as comfort was concerned, and the same form whose weight the chair now protested against.

If you want to read more, go check it out!

The Polls Are Closed!

The votes are in!

For those just tuning in, two weeks ago I started taking suggestions for how to best spend a $10 Amazon Gift Card I won from Exfanding Your Horizons (who were also nice enough to send some link love my way today). A week ago, I gathered the suggestions and opened a poll with the five options which received over 60 votes.

The voting was heated, and three different products took the lead at one point or another. When the last day of voting hit, Pathfinder RPG and Mouse Guard RPG were tied at 20 votes! As the day ended the winner, by one vote became clear.

Pathfinder RPG!

So, following my promise, I've thrown in a pre-order for Pathfinder RPG and will post a detailed review once the product is released as I've had a chance to play it. As a side note, due to the large amount of interest also in Mouse Guard RPG, I will try to purchase this product as soon as I have the disposable income to throw at it, so hopefully somewhere down the line I'll be able to review this product as well. In the mean time, Gnome Stew has a really great review of Mouse Guard over at their blog.

Anyways, not much today in terms of a post, but if you haven't read my post from yesterday about "saying Yes" in your game, you should go check it out. (I'm proud of it!)

Learn To Say "Yes"

"Yes" can be a powerful word. In improvisational theater, actors are taught to always "say yes", because it opens doors for the scene to continue. "Saying Yes" does not always imply actually saying the word "Yes" of course, rather, it means accepting what the other actor is saying as possibility and not turning down ideas or potential directions the scene can go in.

In improv, it doesn't matter what the question is, the answer is always "yes" - and add more detail. For example, in a scene you might be asked, "Do you sell fenceposts?" A tempting response might be, "No - we don't sell anything". That might get a laugh, but it offers no new directions for the scene to go in and gives your partner nothing to work with. So just say "Yes" - and keep going by adding more concrete detail. "Yessiree, I've got a cow-fencepost here that even a 4,000-pound cow was unable to tip over." Now something is happening. That could trigger just about anything in your scene partner's imagination. "Oh, good! I've only got two 2000-pound cows, but they like to team up. Now let's see, I've got them enclosed in half an acre... How many fenceposts am I going to need?" Now, in just two lines, we've gone from nothing to the beginnings of a plot. - The Improv Wiki

Why talk about improvisation on an RPG blog? Because I love the theater! I don't care what those critics say! Broadway, here I come! Because a good Dungeon Master will always say "Yes" too.

Let's put it this way. No matter how amazing a Dungeon Master you are, and no matter how well you've written your campaign, or how excellently you've planned ahead, or how extraordinary the published adventure you're using is, it is impossible to account for player... creativity.

If you think you can predict the actions of four to six creative folk huddled around a table with imaginary swords and lightning bolts with nothing but a tiny bar of text that says "alignment" to guide them, you are in for a treat.

Sometimes, running a game can be stressful. I've seen many a Dungeon Master start sweating bullets as they brainstorm furiously for a plan to keep their campaign intact as they try not to panic while their precious plothooks were burned to the ground along with the tavern they were set within.

So, the players have killed the king's messenger after thinking he was a spy, hired no less then three members of the assassin's guild to kill the king after following a red-herring sidequest where the very same assassin's guild planted rumors that the king was a doppleganger, and have burned down half of the city in a fight they never should have gotten themselves into with the town guard.

Do you get angry?
Do you call the campaign quits?
Do you start hurling dice at your players until they stop?

No. You say "yes".

Players will have crazy ideas, but it's not your place to stop them. "But, but I'm the Dungeon Master! I control worlds! Universes!" A classic mistake that many Dungeon Masters, Storytellers, and Narrators make is thinking that the campaign is a movie, and they are the directors - controlling everything. This is an understandable mistake, but one that all DM's need to be aware is wrong. The only people who control the characters are the players.

I mentioned the hazards of critiquing roleplaying in my recent New DM Mistakes article, and the great rpg blog Gnome Stew actually has a pair of articles that tackle this issue directly, both on DM's not being the director, and how Dungeon Masters should never say that players are doing something "wrong". A player can't play their character "wrong". It's their character - not yours.

So, the issue of why you shouldn't say "no" is covered, but now, how do you say yes? Before getting into how to say Yes correctly, lets cover how to say Yes incorrectly.

Saying Yes, but while kicking and screaming "NOOOOO!"

"Sure, you can tie up the tailor and steal the silk shipment he's asked you to deliver... little did you know he was actually a MIND FLAYER IN DISGUISE! ROLL YOUR WILL SAVES YOU REBELLIOUS BASTARDS!" *evil laughter*

Yes, I know you're upset. Your carefully crafted plothook is being kicked in the face. You overestimated the player's dedication to your railroad plotlines. Put down the gun and no one will get hurt.

An unfortunately common response that Dungeon Masters have to players going off the beaten pass is to make it so difficult and frustrating for them that they will damn sure never want to bother again. This is usually done by making the actual act of "rebellion" incredibly hard to do - by raising DC's up to extraordinary levels, or suddenly making a level 1 commoner into a level 10 wizard half-dragon - or by going overboard on the consequences, making them unnecessarily harsh and/or deadly.

Obviously, there are always consequences for the actions your players take and you should make sure that such consequences occur. You should be careful however, to ensure that the consequences which occur are not unreasonable, unfair, or unlikely.

For example, if a messenger from the King meets the PCs on the road and the PCs then kill the messenger and bury his body somewhere - the King probably won't know. No matter how much you wish it was true, the King probably doesn't keep individual scrying beacons active on all of his messengers at once, and since this is a world filled with monsters and bandits, truth be told his messengers probably don't return intact or alive all that often anyway.

If you allow the PCs to kill the messenger, only to torment them brutally for it afterwards, this isn't "saying yes" correctly. This is punishing your players for their creativity, and your players will recognize what you're doing. Yeah... don't do that.

Saying "Yes", or Going With The Flow

The best Dungeon Masters are pros at going with the flow. If you have plot planned, and the PCs do something you aren't expecting, this shouldn't close any doors - only open new ones.

The hardest part about this is that it makes you have to think on your feet. Speaking as a DM who is not the best improviser out there, this can be hard - especially for new DMs. You have to greatly alter your plots all at once, and quite possibly even completely throw out what you were thinking.

There's two ways to tackle an unexpected event. Either, find some way to twist it, or some new way to approach the PCs to get them eventually back on track to your initial plot, or to indulge their actions and take the story in a new way following what they've done. As long as you allow PCs to be independent and to drive the story forward in interesting ways - rather then you driving the story with them just along for the ride - they'll be happy.

The trick, and the hallmark of a great DM, is to make absolutely everything that happens in a session look like you planned for it.

If the PCs go off the beaten trail, keep your cool, pretend like you expected it, and seamlessly string together what was your scripted plot, and what is now coming off the top of your head.

If you get upset, become overbearing with unnecessary consequences, start tearing your hair out, or generally get all mopey - the players won't have as much fun because in the back of their mind they'll know they're screwing up your plot. Since the PCs are the main characters of this story though, the plot is them, regardless of what you've written, so go with the flow and they'll think it's the best campaign ever.

Take a Breather

Do not feel ashamed if you need a moment to think. Every so often, the players will take the campaign in such an unanticipated direction that you literally have nothing to go off of.

Call a smoke break, or a snack break, and move away from your players. Take a pencil and some paper to start making notes about possible outcomes of your PC's actions. Turn it into a plot. Some of the best advice here actually comes from your players! If your players killed the king's messenger because they were CERTAIN he was an assassin... Well, maybe he was! Maybe these assassins captured the real king's messenger. If the PCs track down the assassins and rescue the true messenger he can give the PCs the same plot hook the original one was going to give, but now you've satisfied the craziness of your group's imagination.

If you don't have much time left in your session, you can also just try to hold out until the end of the session. The easiest way to do this is with a decent sized battle (which may or may not have any purpose) to slow the game down and stall until the session ends. Battles could also be used mid-session if you're good at multi-tasking. As the battle is waged you can scribble notes furiously behind your screen.

Either way, take a breather, and get some notes down - even just the most basic of guidelines. Break out a name generator, and any spare encounters/maps/NPC sheets you have kicking around. Create the side quest as you go, and constantly shuffle some papers around behind your screen to make it sound like you're going for a pre-made character sheet.

Put a smile on your face and offhandedly mention, "I was hoping you guys might do that". The players will think they gained access to a secret sidequest that you put time and energy into and will LOVE IT!

Regardless, learn to say YES! It will take some practice and some trust in both yourself and your players, but it can take a campaign in fantastic directions you'd never imagined. Have fun with it!