[In The Game] Zeppelin Armada

Evil Hat is working on a new card game called Zeppelin Armada. Developed by Jeff Tidball, it's been described as: “Dude. You have a fleet of zeppelins. You blow up other people’s zeppelins. Do I need to say more?”

Yeah, they got me. I'm gonna get it.

[In The Game] Jousting

Jousting is awesome. I think there should be more of it in games we play. Jousters are the rock-stars of the medieval times. And whether you are running a historical game or a complete fantasy, it's got it's place, either on the road or in a tourney. A chance for your players to grab that glory and ride down their enemies on horseback with a lance.

It lasted nearly 700 years! The first recorded tourney was in 1066. Henry II of France, the king, died as a result of this sport. The friggin' King of France took part. It was that popular. It lasted nearly 700 years! And now it's a popular draw in Las Vegas and at ren faires all around the world.

I hope that at some point soon, jousting becomes the thing to do in RPGs.

[In The Game] The Big Bad

Part of the best things about being the GM is the ability to determine who the Big Bad is in any game. I usually leave the Big Bad spot empty, with a vague sense of who it should be (or at the least, what characteristics they should have).

If you listen to the players, you know who they want to be the Big Bad. They'll give you the clues during the game, even though they have no idea they are doing so.

[In The Game] I Reserve The Right To Kill Your Character

Next time I run a game, I'm going to read the following statement:

Good evening. I am your game master and I reserve the right to kill your character, or not, as I see fit. Your opponents will try their best to kill, maim or capture you, as their preferences allow. They are not your friends and I will run them as deadly as I am able. Rest assured, I will not kill your character in a capricious or ill-conceived manner. I will attempt to have your consent on this but not always. In the event that an opponent scores enough damage to actually kill your character, I will choose whether to keep him alive in order to screw him later or let the death stand. The odds, however, favor neither choice, but I will admit an opportunity to mess with you in the future is more appealing. In fact, the rule will be that the each time I chose not to kill the character despite the roll, the fates will be unkind to them sometime in the future, in order to balance the scales. Their cheating death will translate to a complete and utter failure that I can bestow on any action your character takes. He wants to impress the king? Sorry, that's a failure. He succeeds in taking out the Big Bad with one blow? Sorry, no, it didn't happen. I believe this is an equitable solution to character immunity on one side or total party kills on the other side of the spectrum. This announcement allows you, the player, an opportunity to play knowing the full choice available to you and allows me the ability to change the results as I see fit and have the ruling in the open, rather than behind the scenes fudging rolls.

[In The Game] Rendezvous in Samarra

An old Sufi story about Fate, using the personification of Death as the hammer.

One day, a merchant going about his business in the bazaar unexpectedly encounters a friend of his, who looks very pale and is shaking from fear.

"My friend," he asks, "Whatever is the matter?"

"I must leave this town at once," replies the other, in great agitation, "I shall go immediately to Samara."

"But why?" asks the merchant, much surprised.

"Just now," explains the frightened man," as I was walking here in the bazaar, I saw Death, and I am sure that he noticed me." With those words, the merchant's friend rushes away to prepare for his journey.

The merchant, continuing to stroll among the fine carpets and jewellery, the fruits and spices of the bazaar, himself comes across Death, who speaks to him in this way:

"As I was walking here in the bazaar not long ago, I came across your friend. I must admit that I was surprised to see him here in this town, because I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra."

Does this story end here? Or is the real story what happens in Samarra?

[In The Game] Alternative Religions

I love these motivational posters. A modern game with a Church of Henry Rollins would totally rock.

It would totally beat out the 24 Hour Church of Elvis.

[In The Game] Who Are You, Part II: Postgeek

I've realized recently that I'm postgeek, sort of like what postmodern is to modern.

Wikipedia lists the differences between modernism and postmodernism such that "modernism was often associated with identity, unity, authority, and certainty, postmodernism is often associated with difference, separation, textuality, skepticism."

So whereas geek is often associated with cutting edge technology, interactive video games and media, social networking and the "we're special because we're different" belief, postgeek has none of those things and as yet I don't know how to define it.

Cutting Edge Technology: I don't own the latest tech gadget. My mac is over 6 years old, most probably 8. Sure, it runs OS X but it's several, several, several versions behind. I use it to hold my iTunes, for my 30GB iPod that was a gift from a friend when he got the latest iTouch a few years ago. On a daily basis, my home computer is a PC laptop that is over 4 years old. The last two tech purchases I made in the past 6 months were a 16GB thumb drive and an $80 (on sale) digital camera.

I have a 20 inch TV from my (first) grad school days. It's 16 years old (the same age as my car, coincidentally). I have a DVD player, but I don't have cable (I have a Netflix account with a Roku box instead), I don't have a Tivo or any thing like that. I don't have a home theatre or surround sound.

I don't have a smart phone. In fact, my cell phone is the cheapest, low-tech phone I could get. It has no camera and I don't text. I have texting blocked. I do have an iPod, as I mentioned, and I use it, mostly in my car.

I don't read the latest technology news on the internet, nor do I have any subscriptions to Wired or any other tech magazine. I am like much of America when I hear of the latest device or technology that is going to hit the streets - and it's probably already in stores by that time.

Interactive Video Games and Media: I don't play video games, normally. I do have two that I'm very fond of: Curse of Monkey Island (1997) and NeverWinter Nights (2002), both of which I haven't played for 3 or more years. I like them though. I don't have an XBox 360 or Playstation 3 or Nintendo Cube, nor have I owned even the previous versions of these systems. I do have a Wii, on loan from my cousin while she's overseas for work for the next few years. She'd been in London for a month and a half before I set it up. At the prompting of a friend who came to dinner.

I don't play any games online, no MMORPGs or anything like that, nor any of the flash games available to me. I'm not aware of anything in the video game industry, short of what my friends in the VGI tell me. When they talk about the games they're playing, I let my mind wander because I don't have the context about the games or the history of games. I sometimes daydream while nodding and smiling, like they were my girlfriend telling me something about the latest episode of Dancing with the Stars. Actually, guys, I'm not that checked out. Honest.

I haven't seen Avatar, didn't see Abram's Star Trek, missed District 9, and a whole bunch of others that have come and gone in the theatres for the past four years. Since I don't have cable (and haven't had it for over 10 years) plus have limited TV reception, I haven't seen anything beyond the first 5 episodes of season 1 BSG, anything past season 3 of SG-1, only one or two episodes of 1st season Torchwood and the new Dr. Who., not to mention any of the other hit shows on regular TV like Heroes. Sure, I have them in my Netflix queue but haven't gotten around to watching them. Someday though.

Social Networking: I don't have a Facebook page, nor a MySpace page. I don't plan on getting accounts on these networking sites any time soon. I don't Twitter but sometimes I read Twitter. Don't get it, really. But I do blog. But I only blog about gaming. That's the limit.

I read gaming forums, mostly RPG.net and a few others, but post? I do, averaging 0.42 posts per day on RPG.net. That's only 1271 posts since January 2002. Not a prolific poster, that's me.

I don't go to conventions much. The last one was Gen Con in 2008. I don't think I'll go to any in the near future. I'm always tempted to go but for the past four years I've worked full time and gone to (2nd) graduate school. That has put a serious crimp on conventions for me and I've noticed recently that I haven't even noticed that I haven't missed going it's so far from my thought process.

Specialness: I've listened to podcasts where the innate specialness of geeks is extolled, but I'm just left cold about the whole thing. I watched Wil Wheaton's PAX East keynote and felt distinctly (with exception to the D&D section) not part of the group.

So what parts of me are still geeky?

I'm an engineer and a physicist, I collect and play role-playing games, I like science fiction, I read, I like the internet, I do math for fun and work.

I'm not sure if that's enough, though.

Am I postgeek?

Any thoughts on this appreciated.

[In The Game] The Curly Effect

Ever feel like you're playing like this? So excited to game, you make an ass of yourself and your compatriots have to constrain you?

I do.

I get so excited to game I starting doing the equivalent of "N'yuk, n'yuk, n'yuk."

Don't worry, I usually calm down. Usually.

[In The Game] My ideal Forgotten Realms Campaign Kicker

I've been a fan of the Sons of Kryos podcast for a while and one of their earlier podcasts featured Jeff and Judd talking about Jeff's Forgotten Realms game which started with Elminster crucified and found by the PCs.

What a way to make the Forgotten Realms your own. That's a great Bang.

I like that - straight from the beginning, change the landscape of the NPCs to the point where what the PCs do is great and the NPCs are second fiddle.

So what would be my ideal Forgotten Realms Campaign Bang?

Whatever system I'd use, I'd start with the PCs traveling through Shadowdale and witnessing a mighty magical battle between an unknown baddie and Elminster. When the smoke cleared, the combatants would be gone and in their place would be two babies. Which is Elminster and which is the bad guy? What do the PCs do? Especially when they learn of the twin prophesies:

• that the two children will grow up to become the twin-fathers of the reborn goddess Mystra, or
• that one child will destroy the world while the other child ascends to becomes a god.

Just a thought that's been banging around in my head for a while now.

[In The Game] Fear and Dependents

"All men are islands. And what's more, this is the time to be one. This is an island age."
- Will, About a Boy

There is an ongoing trope in gaming about the loner PC. No family, no friends, no past entanglements that the GM can hold against him.

I think most of this is the result of fear that the GM will screw the player over and lack of a social contract. No man is an island, despite what the movies say. All of us, even the least of us, have some connections, somewhere.

I've played in games and played PCs that have no past relationships defined explicitly or implicitly. And it hasn't hurt the game. But there are a lot of systems out there, like GURPS, that have Dependents (with the capital D) as a Disadvantage, worth points to improve your character on creation. That means the GM has the right and obligation to mess with them.

Why choose dependents, when it's easier (and less stressful) to choose a disadvantage like overconfident or greedy or honest? Those really don't take any work and the points are effectively free, while dependents force players to behave in certain ways not in their control.

But relationships, past and present, are real things to us as human beings. None of us could survive without having them, either professionally, personally or romantically. We all have someone.

"Every man is an island. But clearly, some men are part of island chains. Below the surface of the ocean they're actually connected." - Will, About a Boy

Have you heard of Dunbar's Number? It's pretty fascinating. According to anthropologist Robin Dunbar, the maximum theoretical cognitive limit for stable social relationships is 150. That's counting all the relationships in your life if I understand it. And 150 is a pretty big number for small brains like ours.

We're social animals. Gaming is a social activity. Not to draw any Venn Diagrams here, but if you counted up all your family, friends, gamer friends, work friends, aquaintences and old High School friends, could you reach 150? I think I could (simply because my large ethnic family).

If each of us has 150 social relationships of some level or another, have we ever met anyone with no such relationships? No, because we all know that even "loners" have a few friends. Even the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, had family who cared about him, including his brother David who turned him in. And, face it, any self-proclaimed loner is either a poser or a nut. We all think it even if we don't say it. Why would we play that?

"I was in some strange territory. Was I frightened? I was petrified." - Will, About a Boy

As I mentioned earlier, players fear that the GM will use the PCs friends and family against them so they don't mention them or use the system to get points to define them. Given the choice between choosing dependents or overconfidence, the majority of players would choose the later. We players have been burned too many times by the GM and we GMs have done the burning. Admit it.

So let's negotiate. Let's verbalize a social contract that the players and GM can use to include friends and families of the PCs into the game.

First, the player has to be upfront and tell the GM what he's comfortable with and give him some leeway (i.e. you can't kill or hurt my PCs brother outright without my permission but you can use him to blackmail/threaten me into doing something, or get him involved as a dupe, or witness something that brings my PC into the scene).

Second, the GM has to hold to that agreement and periodically check in with the player to see if the verbal contract can be changed (hey, I got an idea about your brother ...). Building trust is important but the GM also should also include the dependent just as a matter of course, without it being part of the adventure (you got a call from your brother and he needs you to call him back ...) which (hopefully) will lead into further adventure (his company's looking for an investigator and he put your name forward, expect a call).

Finally, the player needs to involve his dependent himself by bringing him into the session, either as a source of information (my PCs brother got beat up by some thugs after wandering into a possible drug deal at the local library and my PC wants to investigate) or a bit of background color (my PC spends the weekend in Vegas with his brother).

"Oh, please, just shut up. You're wounding my soul." - Will, About a Boy

Even past relationships and dead relatives can bring in the adventure. A few years ago, I ran a Colonial Gothic game where one of the PCs had a dead wife and the player had left the backstory was sketchy. I used that info and filled in the blanks, saying that the frontiersman PC was in business with a man who later betrayed the PC, his wife and his wife's tribe to the British, and that man was in Boston, now a Lieutenant in the British Army. The player agreed to the additions to his backstory and had an instant reason to get involved in the adventure.

Past relations can be everything from old lovers, friends of the family, childhood friends or old rivals. And dead relatives can still bring problems down on the PCs - a common fiction trope has the enemy of a father returning to exact revenge on the son. Even if the PC is a loner, the GM can spring that one on him, which is especially good if the PC is an orphan who never knew his parents.

We live in a world filled with relationships, not to things or organizations, but to people, past and present. Developing these relationships will lead to a better gaming experience. And build trust between players and GMs.

[In The Game] Who Are You?

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” - Socrates

A link on RPG.net brought me to Paul Graham's article Keep Your Identity Small. He makes a convincing argument that people who have identified with specific ideologies have a difficult time arguing about religion and politics that deal with those ideologies because they are personal.

I think it can also apply to RPGs. There are plenty of gamers who self-identify with one product or set of gaming thought or specific authors. They argue endlessly that others are playing the games "bad wrong fun." I've done it myself.

• Do you consider yourself a traditional gamer? Do you eschew indie games?
• Hardcore power gamers are the only ones that have fun!
• Are you an indie gamer not interested in the hack-and-slash of D20?
• Have people accused you of being a casual gamer, like it's a bad thing?
• Damn those LARPers! They're not real gamers!

There are plenty of blogs and articles about how we balkanize gaming into sub-groups from an already small niche. Do we split up or just step back, take a deep breath and realize that we're all gamers.

After reading this article, I have to honestly ask myself: who am I? And who do I identify with and why?

[In the Game] Boardgame Night

My friend KM and his wife A invited the gf and myself over for a boardgame night on Saturday. We joined in with two other couples, T & C and D & R, as well as KM's co-worker M. We brought some tasty snax and played two games of You Must Be An Idiot (R&R Games), with the gf and I on the same team. This boardgame was very interesting and fun, very much so that I am interested in buying it.

The board has boxes numbering from 0 to 40, as well as colored boxes (red, blue, green, yellow, white and purple) for each of the player teams and each team has three colored plastic markers. One marker is used to travel on the board and the other two are used to vote during each turn.

The game starts on box 10 and one player team draws a red question card. The other teams are issued a blue personality card, which shows a variety of pictures (ballerina, pig farmer, astronomer, hippie, ice queen, & etc) or a picture of person holding a sign that says "I'm an idiot." If you get that idiot card, you purposefully have to flub up the answer to the question; otherwise, you have to answer the question to the best of your ability.

The red question card has 5 or so questions, from simple to complex, one of which is read to the group. Each team writes down the answer and when everyone is ready, each team answers the question. If they get the answer correctly (assuming you have a non-idiot card), the team reveals their blue personality card and moves ahead 2 spaces. If they get the answer wrong, then they do not reveal their personality card and the voting beings. If you accidentally get the answer right when you are an idiot, you gain no benefit (that happened at least once during the game).

Each team can vote whether two other teams are idiots. You don't have to vote at all but the risk is worth the reward, sometimes. After everyone votes, each remaining personality card is revealed, one at a time. If you discover an idiot, you gain two spaces. If you incorrectly accuse a non-idiot of being an idiot, you move back one space and the team you accused moves ahead one space. If you are an idiot and you remain undiscovered, you move ahead THREE spaces.

Then the next team asks the next question and the game continues until there are no more blue personality cards to draw. The team with the highest points, wins!

Part of the fun was trying to spoof the other players into thinking you were an idiot when you really weren't (which happened quite frequently). There was a lot of gags, raised eyebrows, and verbal assessing whether this person or that person was an idiot or just faking.

We had a good time, got to meet some new and friendly people and play a game with good food and drink. All around, a very enjoyable evening.