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Book Review: D-Jumpers Volume #1: A Gate to Adventure from DVOID Systems

November 2, 2010 in Books, D-Jumpers, DVOID Systems, Da' Vane, GMing, Gamemasters, NPCs, Ouroboros, PCs, Places, Resources, Reviews, plot, supplement, systemless by Fitz | No comments

When Da’ Vane (Christina Freeman) dropped me a note about the first D-Jumpers product from DVOID Systems, I was definitely intrigued. Da’ Vane is another of the folks going through Yax & Johnn Four’s Gamer Lifestyle Project. She started in April 2010 and in six months has released a book with help from Ouroboros I (Sebastian Klement), which is an impressive feat to begin with!

With that in mind, I started to dive into a final copy (minus artwork, which had been delayed) of D-Jumpers Volume #1: A Gate to Adventure… As a fan of cross-genre rules systems, my interest was piqued by the very first paragraph and the question – “Why limit your games to one genre, to one setting, to one world, to one imagination?” This product provides four different encounters in very different worlds – from fantasy and space opera to the great beyond.

Each of these mini-campaigns is presented as “systemless,” which should allow you the freedom to mix/match ideas and concepts but use any rules system from Storyteller and d20 to any other system you like or no system at all (though I’m not sure how that would work, it’s an interesting idea). As you go through each “Encounter,” they’re set up the same way, with an Objective, Hooks, Details, Development, Options, and a Checklist. This makes it easy to hop from one encounter to the next with a known structure.

“Gate Keeper” introduces characters to the multi-world concept of D-Jumpers. The PCs meet an inventor who’s managed to create a tool (i.e. spell or device) allowing adventurers to go to various places to gather critters, items, and information for him. He then can better plan how to take over the weaker worlds and gain more power… Of course, this evil genius doesn’t let the PCs in on his ultimate goal of controlling the multi-verse, so they won’t know what they’re getting themselves into...

→ Read More at Game Knight Reviews here...

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Book Review: Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 2

September 27, 2010 in Books, Reviews by Fitz | No comments

When I reviewed Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 1 back in October 2009, I felt it was a monumental and worthwhile compilation of game material from around the blogosphere. Jonathan Jacobs somehow managed to do everything from curating the articles to having the book printed and available. The result was a book that managed to provide players and gamemasters, both new and old, more inspiration than you could shake a stick at.

With Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 2 (OGTv2), Jacobs managed to get much more help with nearly every part of the process – from nominating material to editing, art, and so on. He even managed to get sponsors to help foot the bill to pay for part of the publishing effort so it wasn’t all out of his wallet.

To avoid any misconceptions, I helped with a couple of parts of the process of OGTv2. I worked as a peer reviewer and contributed some funds to help get the book printed. But even with my help and the help of many other folks, I suspect Jonathan put in the lion’s share of the work on this book.

That said, this book is simply astounding from the description of the daily gaming convention on the web in the foreward from RPG industry veteran Justin Achili to Trent Colwell’s hilarious article – “The Tale of Jacques: A Study in Ignominious RPG Death” – in which poor Jack’s character drowns in spectacular fashion teaching everyone to make sure the rope is tied off before you jump into a torrential river of death… I think there’s something for everyone stuffed into this 158 page volume…

→ Read More at Game Knight Reviews here…

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Friday Links, December 4, 2009

December 4, 2009 in Advice, Articles, Friday Links, Resources by Fitz | No comments

Another week of awesome posts in the gaming blog community means I’m back with a new list of links for Friday!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving (if they celebrated) and is looking forward to some happy holidays. Winter has finally arrived in Colorado (with most of this week spent near zero degrees fahrenheit), so even I’m starting to think about Christmas.

Friday Links Banner 150x150But I digress. :)

Here are a few posts to contemplate when winter weather hits in your neck of the woods:

  • In the “Not Necessarily from This Week” category, we have “Fistfull of Lead: All the Monsters on a Budget” from Jonathan Drain over at Kobold Quarterly. The article tells us where to procure a solid collection of miniatures for your gaming pleasure. Everything from humanoids and skeletons to demons and insects is included in this mix and match collection for a bit over $100 US. Not bad!
    http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/article3132.php
  • Is Chivalry dead? The RPG Athenaeum offers some suggestions on how to bring knightly orders into your game in “Chivalry doesn’t have to be dead…” The tips on designing a knightly order are very cool – including what to do if a knight fails to live up to the code. As someone who’s designed a few knightly orders, I wish I’d had these tips when I was writing them. :)
    http://rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/chivalry-doesnt-have-to-be-dead-use-knightly-orders-in-your-game/
  • Also from the RPG Athenaeum, we have “Flesh out your hero with an anecdote or two,” which offers some awesome suggestions on quirks for characters that might not have occurred to you. The article covers things like quirky appearance bits, emotional bits such as memories that surface during certain conditions, or unique phrases from their adventures or where they grew up. Cool stuff to consider for NPCs as well as PCs I think!
    http://rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/flesh-out-your-hero-with-an-anecdote-or-two/
  • From Abstract XP, we have an article on “Writing effective setting in adventures (part three)”. Weather is one of those things I never get right in campaigns, from what it should be from a seasonal perspective or what it should be from a geographic perspective… So tips and hints for using weather in an adventure is quite welcome. And when you add in tips for avoiding cliche’s and bringing in culture, the article starts overflowing with ideas!
    http://abstractxp.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/writing-effective-setting-in-adventures-part-three/
  • Rob Lang over at The Free RPG Blog brings up some intriguing ideas about making fantasy RPG rules into something that doesn’t fall flat in “How to turn your stock fantasy RPG into a unique delight.” As someone who’s trying to make a generic RPG and start with the fantasy aspects, this was particularly well timed. By not only going back to the source of fantasy ideas – fiction, myth, and folklore – but researching games and other mechanics to borrow ideas here and there to add crunch to otherwise not crunchy bits, I may have enough ideas to finish something soon. :) Thanks Rob!
    http://www.thefreerpgblog.com/2009/12/how-to-turn-your-stock-fantasy-rpg-into.html
  • Ravyn at Exchange of Realities proposes three ways to think about solving problems in “Three Problem-Solving Question Sequences.” And though this was meant for gamers, I might actually suggest it to my daughters as ways to approach many different things in life. It’s hard to argue with “What do I have and how can I use it?”, “What do I want and what do I have that can help me get it?”, and “What could solve this problem and how could I get it?” Although they all pose similar questions, it’s HOW they’re asked that’s the key… Very though provoking!!
    http://exchangeofrealities.today.com/2009/12/01/three-problem-solving-question-sequences/
  • And lastly, we have a throwback to an earlier time for me… This picture of Orcus from the Lord of the Green Dragons just made me smile as I thought back to my youth and the early days of playing D&D. Good times. Does it reflect poorly on me when I think back on a big demon prince as a symbol of my youth? Maybe. :)
    http://lordofthegreendragons.blogspot.com/2009/12/old-school-orcus.html

Thanks to everyone who wrote the articles above and to the many more I have yet to read on the various RPG blogs I follow.

Have a great weekend!

–Fitz

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Review: Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 1 Edited by Jonathan Jacobs

October 21, 2009 in Books, GMing, Inspiration, Resources, Reviews by Fitz | 4 comments

Hi all…

As my contribution to the RPG Gamer Network’s Small Press Week, here’s my review of Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 1.

small-press-weekAs a lifetime player and gamemaster of tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs), I’m constantly amazed at the amount of passion, knowledge, and depth of other members of this collective of people who play RPGs. There are players that might as well be actors with as deeply as they get immersed in their characters. There are gamemasters (GMs) who know not only the art of story construction, but how to keep campaigns alive for years by constantly changing things up.

And then there are people like me. I straddle between the two camps, or at least try to, gleaning what I can from experts on both sides of the divide. I try my hand at writing roleplaying games, playing myself, and hopefully soon starting to GM again.

So when I come across new resources such as Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 1, I am blown away by the creativity and imagination bound up within. There are countless roleplaying blogs now, and Open Game Table aims to collect some of the finest blog articles from 2008. The articles may have been dusted off, edited, and illustrated to make them shinier, but they are the same thoughts that appeared on the internet first.

Jonathan Jacobs runs a blog known as The Core Mechanic and participates in a network of roleplaying bloggers known as the RPG Bloggers Network. And it’s many of the writers from that network that grace the pages of this first volume of what I hope will be many.

Jacobs and the other editors have arranged the book into broad chapters – Play Style, Game Play, Characters & Players, Monsters & NPCs, and so on. Each chapter collects a number of articles on the broad themes for that chapter. I have to say that with the sheer number of authors, pages, articles, and words, there were bound to be a few typos here and there, but they were all extremely minor and never caused any issues.

Some of my favorite content includes:

  • “Giving the Players a Reason to Enjoy the Campaign” by Brandon Daggerhart from Turtles all the Way Down – actually ASK the players about their characters and get them involved in the campaign earlier in a more interactive way.
  • “Extreme Makeover: Tavern Edition” by Stephen Dewey from Musings of the Chatty DM – so you’ve got a ratty old tavern in your campaign… maybe it needs some atmosphere, better descriptions of the food, or a gimmick?
  • “The Adventure Funnel” by Andrew Reyes from I Waste the Buddha with my Crossbow provides a stone simple way to focus your adventure ideas and funnel them into a complete experience – including the idea, obstacles, details, assistance and rewards

This is just a sampling of the many, many great, thought-provoking articles throughout this collection. What’s exciting about this is that it’s just volume 1! The potential is here to produce volumes of this sort of content as long as people are playing roleplaying games and blogging about them.

I have to commend Jacobs and the many authors and editors for putting together such a quality product. Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 1 should be on the “want list” of all gamers, whether you’re a player, a GM, or a writer. Order your copy from Lulu today as a hardcopy or PDF or check out RPGNow.com! (Jacobs also let me know that the book was picked up by Studio2Publishing, and is now in retail distribution so you should be able to pick up a copy from your friendly local gaming shop!

–Fitz

p.s. You can also order it from Amazon:

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Friday Links for October 9, 2009 (a day early)

October 8, 2009 in Advice, Design, Friday Links, GMing by Fitz | 2 comments

Hi all!

I’m going to be gone tomorrow, so I thought I’d post my Friday Links a day early. Yes, it might warp the time-space continuum, but oh well. No worse than the large hadron collider. :)

  • Friday LinksUnique Tavern Encounters from the Bard of Valiant. You know when you read the first thing in a list of 11 and laugh out loud, it’s probably going to be a good list. This one is. I absolutely love the visual of having a bunch of burly tavern-goers drinking their grog though a straw!
    http://www.bardofvaliant.com/2009/10/unique-tavern-encounters/
  • From Held Action, we have a brief description of Spirit Mimics, such as the woman behind the counter in a diner that may never have existed. To me this is a great idea to use sparingly. The idea of a magic shop that moves around isn’t new, but maybe a phantom tavern that shifts from location to location with a unique set of NPCs. Would the PCs want to try and find it again?
    http://heldaction.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/phantom-diners/
  • Bigtime food for thought from the Emergence Design Weblog about making magic more mysterious. This is something I’m currently tinkering with in my own system and wondering about, so the timing is perfect. How do you balance the factors of game balance, rules, and knowledge to come up with something worth the PC’s time investigating?
    http://ruscumag.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/rpg-design-making-magic-mysterious/
  • In the “Things I Could Have Used a Few Years Ago” category (for a campaign based loosely on ancient Rome), Evil Machinations provides us with Roman names beyond Fred…
    http://www.rpggm.com/blog/2009/10/05/beyond-fred-roman-names-for-characters/
  • From Gnome Stew and John Arcadian comes “Johnny’s Five – Five Things About Your Game That Will Never Beat the Reality Test,” which really puts a damper on the “reality factor” of dungeon diving and adventuring in general. I think reality and the fun factor have to peacefully coexist, but there are aspects of the five things mentioned that I like to bring in now and then myself… such as having to drop a PC’s pack before going into a dungeon because the entrance is caved in and too small to get in. But who wants to have to deal with the eating and waste management portions during a game? Bring on the encounters and combat!
    http://www.gnomestew.com/johnnys-five/johnnys-five-five-things-about-your-game-that-will-never-beat-the-reality-test
  • From Akratic Wizardry, we have “The Duchy of Briz: Overview and Map,” which proves that you don’t have to have a huge setting location to find some adventure or story ideas. I love the fact that he worked in not only the history of the place, but provided hooks, such as the rumors of treasure in the cairns of Solan and the few who ever return from the hidden mounds of the dead. Great stuff!
    http://akraticwizardry.blogspot.com/2009/10/duchy-of-briz-overview-and-map-revised.html
  • From Gothridge Manor, we have some ideas on how to make Villages a bit more crunchy. Providing a bit of a skeleton for each village (max 4-5 sentences), makes a lot of sense to give you some ideas when the players get restless and want to stop in the next village for a drink… :)
    http://gothridgemanor.blogspot.com/2009/10/villages.html
  • From Bard of Valiant and Viriatha, we have some great things to consider for new characters. I especially like the idea of coming up with secrets for the character and passing one to the GM to pass to another player and coming up with the list of character traits!
    http://www.bardofvaliant.com/2009/10/8-new-character-tips/
  • In the wow category we have “Iconic Elements in Campaign Setting Design” from Badelaire at Tankards and Broadswords. I’m going to have to reconsider my own Immortals’ Wake and Phaedrus campaign settings with these iconic elements in mind. Great ideas.
    http://tankardsandbroadswords.blogspot.com/2009/10/iconic-elements-in-campaign-setting.html

So there you have it… Some wisdom from the blogosphere on all things roleplaying. :)

Have an awesome weekend!

–Fitz

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Player-Character Bonds… How do YOU find an emotional bond with your character?

September 29, 2009 in Advice, Seeking Feedback by Fitz | 7 comments

Funny little story…

This past weekend, the gaming group I’ve been playing with decided it was time to put the sandbox campaign we’d been playing on hold and start something new in November. At the heart of the decision was the fact that the campaign just never “clicked” for everybody involved (two players and the GM). And I have to say that some of that lack of “clicking” was definitely my own problem.

Question MarksThe issue was that I just never bonded with the character. Whether it was my understanding of the setting, or the background I’d chosen, or some other hidden factor, I really don’t know. But the emotional bond just wasn’t there.

What was funny to me was that the GM had created a story early in the campaign that I really attached myself to. My emotional bond was to that story – not to my character or the world – but this small thread that even the GM mentioned he had no idea what he was going to do with.

For the next campaign with this group, I not only have to find a solid character concept that works in a party setting – but I really have to focus on finding an emotional bond with the character. Without that connection, I might as well be simply playing a board game and moving a piece around on a game board.

So here’s my question… What are the different ways YOU find to bond with a character? If you don’t find that bond immediately, what do you do? I’m curious and would love to learn from the collective wisdom of the community. :)

–Fitz

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Demons in my Soup (Elemental Magic)

September 17, 2009 in Design, Magic by Fitz | No comments

In the beginning, there were wizards with spellbooks and monsters with special abilities. Then there were superheroes and villains with powers. But I never played in a campaign where there was a mix of traditional fantasy and super powers – so we created one.

Immortals’ Wake is a world in which magic, both arcane and divine, worked together to create Fire Symbol - Alchemya being with magical abilities – the power to control raw elemental energy. Why would they do such a thing you might ask? And why not stop with one experiment? A thirst for knowledge sometimes leads down some interesting roads.

However, these “Changed” as they came to be known, gained the ability to collect and manipulate the forces of water, fire, earth, air, and spirit. Think for a second about someone who could control these elements. Can you imagine the damage they could do? Then think about the good that could be done as well… You’re really introducing traditional comic book hero abilities into a fantasy world.

And as such, these powerful individuals are often called Demons by those who mistrust the destruction the Changed often bring with them. Initially, newly Changed have little control over their abilities. Freakish fires or floods may cause huge swaths of damage during the Change. Or whole buildings may be swallowed by the Earth. What do you tell the innocents who may have lost their lives or property after such an event? “Sorry” barely scratches the surface.

What can they do with Fire? Destruction comes to mind. Simply redirecting the power of a campfire or torch to set other objects aflame, take the heat and warm up an opponent’s metal weapons or armor, or simply launch a ball of fire at an opponent to do as much damage as possible. Then reverse it. Imagine a powerful elemental Fire mage who could draw the flames from a housefire or forest fire, or draws the heat from a room to lower the temperature.

The scariest of these elemental abilities for me comes with those who can control Spirit. During one campaign, we had a character take the spirit of a person and place it in a plant, just to prove a point. During another, we had a character speak to the spirits in a haunted area and provide a shell for one of them to communicate with others. And in yet another instance, a character used Spirit abilities to travel in an Astral form and manipulate the dreams of an NPC. Remember Anne Rices’s novel The Body Thief? It’s no wonder mortals would be scared of these individuals.

Depending on the element, there may be physical changes as opposed to psychological changes in the individual as well. For example, an Earth Changed might become more angular or stony, with skin color adjusting to be more like the prevalent stones in the surrounding area. Fire Changed may simply have more anger management issues or attack their passions with more energy.

Each Changed individual may have a slightly different strength for their abilities as well. Some may be little changed by the experience, while others would then have the ability to speak with powerful Elemental beings in their own plane of existence. What would you chat about with a being made of pure Water? or Earth?

Like any fields of magic in the Moebius Adventures system, there are few limits – which leaves the power in the hands of the GM and his or her players. And like in all things, there are repercussions to holding such abilities.

Would you choose to be Changed? Or will you let the Fates make the decision for you? What would it cost you to become Changed? What would you pay to lose the abilities? These are all crunchy topics ripe for roleplaying.

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