There is always a temptation in games to over-plot things, I think. Or, at least in my case, throwing out plots like a kid tossing a meal at a wall and seeing what sticks. For a change, I'm not doing that with Carolis. Barring anything really weird, the first part of the game should, in some form or another, go as planned. I.e. PCs meet, get introduced, solve some problems, get to the attention of Important People (which can, of course, be either good or bad). From there it's all open-ended, since PCs tend to create plots just by thinking about things, and I tend to make stuff up without knowing why and sort of hope the reason surfaces or, in the case of Ios, a player suggestion like a vampire-werewolf is too much fun to not use.
In most D&D games, though, the biggest problem tends to be getting the PCs together. The way I hope to do it is run the first few sessions (and any pre-games for players who make pcs ahead of time (or on time, Chaos and Caltak :p)) is to do it all as one-on-one and the PCs all end up together as mercenaries of sorts. Mind you, this is helped by the players knowing this naturally. (:
How it'll all happen depends entirely on PCs and players, as does where the plot goes. Most games develop a kind of inertia at some point that keeps them going on, and on, and on, without much real "plotting". This is, on the whole, a good thing. OTOH, there is going to be a specific progression for the game. I do have one or two endings in mind, and some twisted surprises to throw at PCs, but in the end it all depends on what the PCs do, and why they do it, and what they want to do. For good or ill, they're the stars of the story, and if we tell it well it's going to be fun and good and a source of lots of quotes.
The plot is nothing more than the beginning. The PCs choose the middle, and the end. With luck, it'll be one they like and survive. If not, Sparkie always has the final laugh, over every plot and every plan.
Monday, July 19, 2004
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Infection
My name is Martin Graves. Was Martin Graves. I don't know anymore. I don't know anything anymore. It started when the dead began to mail me postcards, from Hell, filled with things no one knew except them and me. My brother, my sister. The secrets siblings share. I never told anyone they were doing that, it didn't seem proper. And, besides, I am/was the head of security, at Nullsoft. Genetics stuff, mostly. Trying to conquer death, to make us immortal.
But there is more to life that life. There is death. Without it, there is just living, forever. And ever.
I see that now. Gerard died firs, then Blinkins. McGover was never, in his sleep. All the scientists. All the researchers. It was like a plague had struck us. Some talked about nanovirii and the like, but no one knew. We just knew we were dying, one at a time, a piece at a time. Death was coming for us.
Henderson had a theory, that we were all machines, infected with Spirit, the spark of life. That without it we'd just keep going and wind down, like clockwork toys. That it kept us here, and burning like sparks in an empty void. He'd been really drunk. He'd died first, his heart failing. 26, and a heart attack. No one could explain it, though we tried.
The government has quarantined us. Rogers has been stalking the hallway, claiming he's Death, and come to take us back home. It would be funny, if he hadn't died last week. No one else seems to notice this. It's not like he's changed. Even dead, he's still an asshole. I'm scared to bring this up with the others, in case they think he's alive. But I know he's dead. He made a break for the door, and I shot him. I was following orders. Only following orders.
They might take my gun away, if I told them. And I think he's waiting for that, waiting for me to be alone. I've been trying to read the notes the others left, deciphering them for hidden meanings, but I can't make head or tails of it, or anything else. We're dying, for something we never did, accessories to the murder of death.
We were just trying to wipe out the virus. Only now I wonder which was the virus, death or life. The walls have been changing lately. I can see other places, other people, like veils are being pulled back. I think I have a fever. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm already dead and just don't know it. I'd like to ask someone.
I put the gun to my head, to see if I'd felt it before. I wonder if I can kill myself, if I'm dead, if death will let me die that easily. I don't do it. I think Rogers is laughing, but I can't hear him. I think they're all dead, and I'm the virus sent for them, and I don't know it. I think I'm insane. I think I'm the only living person in the world, surrounded by robots.
I want to take them apart and see if they bleed, but I could be the robot. It might all be a trick, and I don't know it. They're all rotting flesh sacks, the stink of death and fear like a drug in the air, and I'm the same. Oh God. Oh God. I need help. I help need.
It's almost a relief, when Henderson comes in, with the shotgun, and tells me he's God. It's so much easier now, cleaner. All my problems melting away. I'd lie and say it didn't much, but it did.
I cut myself with a paper clip, of all things. I'm not sure why. My name is Martin Graves. Was Martin Graves. I don't know anymore. It started when the living began to send my postcards, from Hell, the kind of things only they knew. My wife, my son. The secrets families share. My new bosses discovered out I was getting letters, and they'll be next. I've been told it has to be this way. I'm doing a job now. Following orders. Only following orders. I'd eat my gun, but it wouldn't taste good, would just be symbolic. Just be another thing that doesn't mean anything, like their letters I kept hidden in my trunk.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
KIAEB Plot
PC level is 3-4. (3 if you want a very odd PC idea ,or something Really Special for your PC.) The PCs are going to be a bandof wandering adventuerers/traders/mercenaries in the pay (or employ) or whomever. As such, the players will need to decide among themselves what PCs will be the defacto leaders and the like.
While a good crossing of classes can be good, I am not enforcing anything, so it's up to the players to get together and decide if anyone wants to be a sorcerer/wizard/druid type or whatnot. (And no, players won't be penalized or rewarding for what class they pick.)
Keep the mercenaryish nature of the PC group in mind when deisgning your PCs. Feel free to work with each other for complementary skills and the like if you want.
Total players will be 6, maximum (and 4 minimum). If you want to play, read the game site over, talk to Alcar, and other players. Find out if it's a game you'd like to play in, and we'll go from there.
Current Prospective Players are:
Keith
Sintaqx
Caltak (will have to leave games 1/2 hour early)
Chaos (will arrive at games 1/2 hour late)
Tass (?)
If there are others, I do not know of them.
While a good crossing of classes can be good, I am not enforcing anything, so it's up to the players to get together and decide if anyone wants to be a sorcerer/wizard/druid type or whatnot. (And no, players won't be penalized or rewarding for what class they pick.)
Keep the mercenaryish nature of the PC group in mind when deisgning your PCs. Feel free to work with each other for complementary skills and the like if you want.
Total players will be 6, maximum (and 4 minimum). If you want to play, read the game site over, talk to Alcar, and other players. Find out if it's a game you'd like to play in, and we'll go from there.
Current Prospective Players are:
Keith
Sintaqx
Caltak (will have to leave games 1/2 hour early)
Chaos (will arrive at games 1/2 hour late)
Tass (?)
If there are others, I do not know of them.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
KIAEB Notes (The D&D Game)
Okay. This game is set in the kingdom of Carolis, which is large and isolated and 99.9% human. (I was tempted to include halflings, but they're useless so I didn't.) The campaign is going to be called KIAEB (Ask Keith to explain it if you want to know :)). The actual format and nature of it isn't known, yet. This will depend on who is playing what, and what they want to do with their pcs. I.e. What KIND of game do the players want?
Political Intrigue?
Hunting down Monsters?
General Quest?
Work for Merchants named Blok?
Mercenaries in the pay of anyone at all?
Depeding on what players have in mind for their characters I'll come up with a specific idea (by late nexk week; at which time anyone who wants to play should have a PC done. Character creation guidelines WILL be done tomorrow and put up) and the campaign itself will begin the week after (Wednesay, the 28th, with possible one-shots beforehand).
Keep in mind that, one way or another, your PC will be joining a group of other adventurers. Loner-types are strongly discouraged, as are the kind of personality that makes others want you dead very quickly. Giving a detailed background means I have more to work with for your PC, and that's always a good thing.
Some stuff I have yet to write up for the game but you should keep in mind:
And that is basically that. Trade is almost universally barter, since the gold and silver mines of the kingdom are pretty much exhausted.
A few other things:
There is no battle between Good and Evil happening. There won't be one. (The characters are, of course, free to decide they are on the side of Good in a battle, but it is more a case of Us vs Them than Good vs Evil.) The PCs are adventurers. Not heroes. They're just people.
There are some Monsters in underground areas, but they're rare and largely myth. Characters may have heard of some, but you don't know any facts about them, just legends.
The setting is not the middle ages. The cities are more renaissance than anything else, and the nobility are searved by lite-rail trains that fly over the ecity and are build and designed by a reclusive oder of techo-mages that few know about. (And no, a PC can't be one.) This being said, outside of the cities the technology level is basically the middle ages since that is what works. Farming is farming, as far as the farmer is concerned, and no fancy machines will do it better than a man and his ox.
Finally, few people travel. They don't have reason to. So the cities are largely built up to almost mythical status by those living outside them.
(Ideally, no PC will be from one of the cities, to make them more foreign.)
And that's all for now :)
Political Intrigue?
Hunting down Monsters?
General Quest?
Work for Merchants named Blok?
Mercenaries in the pay of anyone at all?
Depeding on what players have in mind for their characters I'll come up with a specific idea (by late nexk week; at which time anyone who wants to play should have a PC done. Character creation guidelines WILL be done tomorrow and put up) and the campaign itself will begin the week after (Wednesay, the 28th, with possible one-shots beforehand).
Keep in mind that, one way or another, your PC will be joining a group of other adventurers. Loner-types are strongly discouraged, as are the kind of personality that makes others want you dead very quickly. Giving a detailed background means I have more to work with for your PC, and that's always a good thing.
Some stuff I have yet to write up for the game but you should keep in mind:
- Females are second class citizens. In the nobility, this is because only males inherit power and titles. This mentality has filtered down to the cities themselves. In the countryside, it's more a simple division of labour. Few men in the country really think of women as second-class (and never say it unless they want to never marry), it's more than everyone knows fighting is the man's job and giving birth and looking after the home is the woman's.
Basically, there are no women fighters. None. No one is going to train one, because it would be stupid. - The only exceptions for females to be classed are sorceresrs (who have no damn choice) and rogues, who are equal-opportunity thieves and females are more likely to get off with lighter sentences.
- Wizards all come from the nobility and are trained in the Academy. They serve their family, and the king, and the nobility in general. They do not go out and adventure normally, if ever.
- Druids are rare, and tend to be solitary wanderers healing animals and the like. Their belief system follows the rule of 3 for witchcraft and is very pagan and archaic. Most people think them a little daft.
- Barbarians are rare, since most people who can be taught to fight are picked up by the Baron and become real Warriors (some, rarely, make knights). And there is no part of the kingdom not under a barony (With one or two unique exceptions run by mad spellcasters).
- Sorcerers are feared, pitied, despised and hated universally. They're born with magic and it manifests itself no matter what they want. They don't understand it, no one can teach them it, and they're generally screwed. (There are no noble sorcerers. They have means of weeding said children out of the gene pool and killing them.)
- Bards are common, bards casting spells almost unheard of. No bard knows they can do this, and can only learn it from another bard who has done it and, for some unknown reason, is actually willing to teach it. It's not likely.
- No clerics. Ditto with Paladins. (While the occassional cleric does exist, there have never been paladins in this world. Yet.)
And that is basically that. Trade is almost universally barter, since the gold and silver mines of the kingdom are pretty much exhausted.
A few other things:
There is no battle between Good and Evil happening. There won't be one. (The characters are, of course, free to decide they are on the side of Good in a battle, but it is more a case of Us vs Them than Good vs Evil.) The PCs are adventurers. Not heroes. They're just people.
There are some Monsters in underground areas, but they're rare and largely myth. Characters may have heard of some, but you don't know any facts about them, just legends.
The setting is not the middle ages. The cities are more renaissance than anything else, and the nobility are searved by lite-rail trains that fly over the ecity and are build and designed by a reclusive oder of techo-mages that few know about. (And no, a PC can't be one.) This being said, outside of the cities the technology level is basically the middle ages since that is what works. Farming is farming, as far as the farmer is concerned, and no fancy machines will do it better than a man and his ox.
Finally, few people travel. They don't have reason to. So the cities are largely built up to almost mythical status by those living outside them.
(Ideally, no PC will be from one of the cities, to make them more foreign.)
And that's all for now :)
Monday, July 12, 2004
New D&D Game
Blame Keith. Blame him a lot. And me, too, cuz I said I'd likely never run D&D again and here we are again and, well, damn it. This time, though, instead of going all-out cliche, or grumbling about the POS that is D&D system-wise, I am endevouring to make it's weaknesses (of which there are many) work with me for a game.
Game time: 11am - 2pm PST, Wednesday-Friday.
This may change, in terms of days, but that's the basic time for the game. So far, Keith and Sintaqx are able to make the time. (Brings back many old memories, too :p)
The setting is Carolis, a kingdom ruled by a powerful king, and an academy of mages who run most of the show behind the scene, as it were. Magic is very uncommon, and magical items almost unknown. Common people (and anyone who is not a wizard) know zilch about magic aside from terror and fear and horrible rumours.
An actual campaign idea will be developed depending on what the players want to play characer-wise, and the kind of game they'd like to play plot-wise.
A few caveats:
PCs will begin the game no higher than level 4 no matter what type of game it turns out to be.
There are no PC clerics. (This can be negotiagted, if someone really, really, really wants to play one.)
There are no non-human PCs. (Unlesss someone wants to deal with *serious* levels of racism and die very quickly.)
The rules are guidelines. The point of the game is to role-play, not roll-play.
In line with that, if you have a PC idea that isn't "allowed" by the rules, it may be allowed anyway. Too often the game rules, in telling you what you can do, do a damn good job of saying what you can't, or making the idea in your head for your PC not possible. I never like that, so I have no problem with fudging things.
Alignments will not exist. Spells used to detect such will only get the current rough idea of the PC, given current actions etc. (So, a pc killing a noble who is planning to murder people is good, but evil to the NPC cleric who thinks they just butchered someone, for example).
I don't use stuff like encumbrance, you don't need to either. (If things get silly, I'll let you know.) Speaking of rules, I'm not big into knowing each rule, and using it. If you recall someone, use it. Otherwise we wing it. The story being told is more important than the system we use to frame it.
Character backgrounds ARE MANDATORY. (Depending on how the game begins the PCs may be required to include some details for the GM to NPC friends and family.)
If, all this having been said, you want to play, reply here or memo/talk to Alcar.
Sparkie thanks you, because your PCs will all die horrible deaths.
Game time: 11am - 2pm PST, Wednesday-Friday.
This may change, in terms of days, but that's the basic time for the game. So far, Keith and Sintaqx are able to make the time. (Brings back many old memories, too :p)
The setting is Carolis, a kingdom ruled by a powerful king, and an academy of mages who run most of the show behind the scene, as it were. Magic is very uncommon, and magical items almost unknown. Common people (and anyone who is not a wizard) know zilch about magic aside from terror and fear and horrible rumours.
An actual campaign idea will be developed depending on what the players want to play characer-wise, and the kind of game they'd like to play plot-wise.
A few caveats:
PCs will begin the game no higher than level 4 no matter what type of game it turns out to be.
There are no PC clerics. (This can be negotiagted, if someone really, really, really wants to play one.)
There are no non-human PCs. (Unlesss someone wants to deal with *serious* levels of racism and die very quickly.)
The rules are guidelines. The point of the game is to role-play, not roll-play.
In line with that, if you have a PC idea that isn't "allowed" by the rules, it may be allowed anyway. Too often the game rules, in telling you what you can do, do a damn good job of saying what you can't, or making the idea in your head for your PC not possible. I never like that, so I have no problem with fudging things.
Alignments will not exist. Spells used to detect such will only get the current rough idea of the PC, given current actions etc. (So, a pc killing a noble who is planning to murder people is good, but evil to the NPC cleric who thinks they just butchered someone, for example).
I don't use stuff like encumbrance, you don't need to either. (If things get silly, I'll let you know.) Speaking of rules, I'm not big into knowing each rule, and using it. If you recall someone, use it. Otherwise we wing it. The story being told is more important than the system we use to frame it.
Character backgrounds ARE MANDATORY. (Depending on how the game begins the PCs may be required to include some details for the GM to NPC friends and family.)
If, all this having been said, you want to play, reply here or memo/talk to Alcar.
Sparkie thanks you, because your PCs will all die horrible deaths.
Monday, June 28, 2004
Intro to a game idea...
It used to be the World Trade center, before it became a political message of hate.
There is now an opaque circular building that literally reaches into the clouds where it once stood.
The city used to be called New York, before they came.
Now, we call it Dino-1.
We call them Saurians - we had no notion of their true name, nor anything else about them when they first came. The first wave captured our world, 10 short months ago. Small creatures, 2' high at best, armed with strange weapons and forcefields. Hundreds, thoustands of them, swarming into every city. Within days, it was over. The larger ones - the dinosaurs of our stories - that came down from the heavens in living spaceships, were almost a relief, a boost to our broken egos at having lost a war against such a small foe.
The Home, as they called it, was built in a hour. They did know what what the WTC had meant, hadn't cared that the Statue of Liberty was famous: they came to conquer, not to care. Why here? Why now? We may never know. Helpless before their technology and resources, the last scientists developed an AI, Magi, and fed it all the secret and terrible things governments had kept hidden, for greed and the common good.
Before they died and it was put off-line, Magi sent out a virus, a virus that struck random people and changed them, into something far more than human. Heroes, perhaps. The last hope of mankind, marked by the last of the Wise, and hunted by the dinosaurs who will not let anything interfere with their plans.
There is now an opaque circular building that literally reaches into the clouds where it once stood.
The city used to be called New York, before they came.
Now, we call it Dino-1.
We call them Saurians - we had no notion of their true name, nor anything else about them when they first came. The first wave captured our world, 10 short months ago. Small creatures, 2' high at best, armed with strange weapons and forcefields. Hundreds, thoustands of them, swarming into every city. Within days, it was over. The larger ones - the dinosaurs of our stories - that came down from the heavens in living spaceships, were almost a relief, a boost to our broken egos at having lost a war against such a small foe.
The Home, as they called it, was built in a hour. They did know what what the WTC had meant, hadn't cared that the Statue of Liberty was famous: they came to conquer, not to care. Why here? Why now? We may never know. Helpless before their technology and resources, the last scientists developed an AI, Magi, and fed it all the secret and terrible things governments had kept hidden, for greed and the common good.
Before they died and it was put off-line, Magi sent out a virus, a virus that struck random people and changed them, into something far more than human. Heroes, perhaps. The last hope of mankind, marked by the last of the Wise, and hunted by the dinosaurs who will not let anything interfere with their plans.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
"Beholding Love"
Just a nice sonnet I did up a few days back on very little sleep. It's a love poem. Sort of.
"O love, last night outside your home I stood
Waiting for you to come and meet with me
"I will not hide from love," I said: I wooed
You to come so we could togther be.
O love, that love could enter your bright eyes
And make you see me as I truly am!
Our love 'twill be doomed if the romance dies
And both our families will call it a sham.
Understand I am opening my heart,
And that I wait alone for you outside
Who has been hurt before but shall not part!
Even tho you shook your eyes I shall bide.
O! my Love! with tears unshed my eyes blur
I am not stalking you, my beholder."
"O love, last night outside your home I stood
Waiting for you to come and meet with me
"I will not hide from love," I said: I wooed
You to come so we could togther be.
O love, that love could enter your bright eyes
And make you see me as I truly am!
Our love 'twill be doomed if the romance dies
And both our families will call it a sham.
Understand I am opening my heart,
And that I wait alone for you outside
Who has been hurt before but shall not part!
Even tho you shook your eyes I shall bide.
O! my Love! with tears unshed my eyes blur
I am not stalking you, my beholder."
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
XP given out for UA
EXP has been given out up to session 5.0.
If you didn't get it via memo, it's cuz esper was being a pain in the peer. If so, msg me for it.
If you didn't get it via memo, it's cuz esper was being a pain in the peer. If so, msg me for it.
Monday, June 21, 2004
We need more games
Sort of says it all. Currently, we just have me and Chaos running games. Lets gets more. We have enough people, and it's fun, and we used to run a lot more games. So, if you want to run a game in #game1, let an OP know. (Or, if you are an OP, run something :p).
As long as the game doesn't conflict with another in the title, it's fine. Any system, etc. is allowed. OPs are given to whomever runs the game for the duration of the game, so they can kick people annoying them out, and the like.
So if you want to .... feel free :) You'll even get a nice audience! And, uhm, mention in the topic. And, possibly, quotes.
And, as everyone knows, it's all about getting quotes.
As long as the game doesn't conflict with another in the title, it's fine. Any system, etc. is allowed. OPs are given to whomever runs the game for the duration of the game, so they can kick people annoying them out, and the like.
So if you want to .... feel free :) You'll even get a nice audience! And, uhm, mention in the topic. And, possibly, quotes.
And, as everyone knows, it's all about getting quotes.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Some Thoughts
Superheroes I
The next superhero game I do will use Amber as a system, because it's simple, easy, and makes sense. PCs'd likely be a low build and I am tempted to try the whole "world of superhumans you have to police" method. It'd be fun, and dangerous.
Superheroes II
The other option would be to have PCs born/come into strange abilities, and run it more like "So, you can do things no one else can ... what do you do?" rather than the normal superhero-comics idea game. And, of course, have a larger threat exist for the PCs to have to defeat, perhaps the very source of their powers. In this idea, superhumans beside the pcs would be very rare, if they existed at all.
Continuum
Continuum is a simple system game designed to be played at any time and with no regard to narrative coherence or anything else. Should be quite interesting, to say nothing of insane.
The next superhero game I do will use Amber as a system, because it's simple, easy, and makes sense. PCs'd likely be a low build and I am tempted to try the whole "world of superhumans you have to police" method. It'd be fun, and dangerous.
Superheroes II
The other option would be to have PCs born/come into strange abilities, and run it more like "So, you can do things no one else can ... what do you do?" rather than the normal superhero-comics idea game. And, of course, have a larger threat exist for the PCs to have to defeat, perhaps the very source of their powers. In this idea, superhumans beside the pcs would be very rare, if they existed at all.
Continuum
Continuum is a simple system game designed to be played at any time and with no regard to narrative coherence or anything else. Should be quite interesting, to say nothing of insane.
Sunday, June 13, 2004
Weird Writing Idea...
What if a group of us all took a story. What story. Dunno. Something basic, like "Harry and Suzie fight, and she leaves him" and see how differtly we write/resolve the same idea. I think it could be fun.
Monday, June 07, 2004
New UA Players?
Well, I have no idea how many players UA curently has. Caltak and Chaos are at every session (barring Chaos's computer dying and stuff), fsz said he'd make the one before last, but RL got him. I have no clue where JacobRiis is ... WarezBert made one session (late), showed late for another (and wasn't worked in at the time) and hasn't been back, far as I know. Bali, well, hasn't shown at all, but I kinda half expected that :) Gemm missed the last, but as far as I know he's still in.
Alicia is making a PC, last I heard.
So, barring the return of players missing due to the evil known as RL (I'm giving them until the end of this month to show, otherwise their PC will be worked out of the game, or at least put to the side in a minor-NPC fashion until they return), there may be openings!
So if anyone knows anyone who'd like to play a weird rules light modern horror game, let 'em know :)
Alicia is making a PC, last I heard.
So, barring the return of players missing due to the evil known as RL (I'm giving them until the end of this month to show, otherwise their PC will be worked out of the game, or at least put to the side in a minor-NPC fashion until they return), there may be openings!
So if anyone knows anyone who'd like to play a weird rules light modern horror game, let 'em know :)
Saturday, June 05, 2004
Proposed UA Idea
While this idea runs counter to horror games in general, given the fact that, minorly, a certain dice bot has a tendency to be a B-I-T-C-H and, majorly, it gives PCs a slight edge, I'm considering adding something akin to plot points.
The basic idea is that if you do something that a) advances the plot and b) is in character and c) does not benefit your PC (GM discretion on all of those), you get a Plot Point. This can be used during the game to give a +/-30 Shift to a roll for a PC or, if the GM is feeling particularly benevolent, an automatic success of whatever is rolled.
In game terms, it's the cosmos thanking you for doing specific things. The PC will just feel ... well, nothing most likely, but what they try, what they need to happen, may happen. (Mostly, this would be if the PC is doing whatever he is doing to help others, or to further whatever caused the PC to be given the Plot Point in the first place.)
It's not really "horror" like, but let's face it: if this was a horror movie, Hugh would be dead via boy #1 already :) But PCs are the stars of their own story, and this will reflect that in a very minor idea.
N.B. The only PC action so far worthy of one would be Hugh helping the insanse sociopath boy #1 :p (How George treats his brother could be another, later on.) So they aren't easy to get, and shouldn't be a goal.
Any thoughts on the idea? I'm ambivalent myself, but thought I'd toss it out.
The basic idea is that if you do something that a) advances the plot and b) is in character and c) does not benefit your PC (GM discretion on all of those), you get a Plot Point. This can be used during the game to give a +/-30 Shift to a roll for a PC or, if the GM is feeling particularly benevolent, an automatic success of whatever is rolled.
In game terms, it's the cosmos thanking you for doing specific things. The PC will just feel ... well, nothing most likely, but what they try, what they need to happen, may happen. (Mostly, this would be if the PC is doing whatever he is doing to help others, or to further whatever caused the PC to be given the Plot Point in the first place.)
It's not really "horror" like, but let's face it: if this was a horror movie, Hugh would be dead via boy #1 already :) But PCs are the stars of their own story, and this will reflect that in a very minor idea.
N.B. The only PC action so far worthy of one would be Hugh helping the insanse sociopath boy #1 :p (How George treats his brother could be another, later on.) So they aren't easy to get, and shouldn't be a goal.
Any thoughts on the idea? I'm ambivalent myself, but thought I'd toss it out.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Where UA is going....
Okay, oocly ....
The Boy #1 & 2 subplot that spun out of control should come to a sort of hiatus soon. Mostly because boy #1 is far too fun and his shawdow-thing "friends" too, but he's also rather scarily dangerous, even alone.
The crow girl plot that, well, created itself is just ... odd.
Dawson (hopefully) will find out about the mansion some more.
Billy will continue his quest for his own death, sort of.
George's family will get SERIOUSLY weird for him. It says a lot that the weirdest plots are planned for what is basically the most "normal" of the PCs.
Mac should have some interesting run-ins with ghosts, and his family :)
And, of course, Hugh mght find sokme aliens. And about his past.
Meta-plot wise, a few plots have begun to take shape, tho the PCs don't hang out much so information is scattered all over the place, like Jane having seen aliens and Hugh knowing who did the stuff to the high school walls. (Tho I'm not sure PC or Player know that yet :)).
What I want to know is where players want their PCs to go .. what kind of plots you want, what kind of threats. Do you want relationships with Signifigant Others, PC or NPC? Research out evils and deal with them? Actually have the PCs work together and stuff, or whatever.
Toss comments in here, channel, and msg.
If you don't like certain plots, or the way some things are going, or thinkg your PC or certain NPC aren't getting enough (or too much) air time, let me know. And no, Jillian won't get less :p
The Boy #1 & 2 subplot that spun out of control should come to a sort of hiatus soon. Mostly because boy #1 is far too fun and his shawdow-thing "friends" too, but he's also rather scarily dangerous, even alone.
The crow girl plot that, well, created itself is just ... odd.
Dawson (hopefully) will find out about the mansion some more.
Billy will continue his quest for his own death, sort of.
George's family will get SERIOUSLY weird for him. It says a lot that the weirdest plots are planned for what is basically the most "normal" of the PCs.
Mac should have some interesting run-ins with ghosts, and his family :)
And, of course, Hugh mght find sokme aliens. And about his past.
Meta-plot wise, a few plots have begun to take shape, tho the PCs don't hang out much so information is scattered all over the place, like Jane having seen aliens and Hugh knowing who did the stuff to the high school walls. (Tho I'm not sure PC or Player know that yet :)).
What I want to know is where players want their PCs to go .. what kind of plots you want, what kind of threats. Do you want relationships with Signifigant Others, PC or NPC? Research out evils and deal with them? Actually have the PCs work together and stuff, or whatever.
Toss comments in here, channel, and msg.
If you don't like certain plots, or the way some things are going, or thinkg your PC or certain NPC aren't getting enough (or too much) air time, let me know. And no, Jillian won't get less :p
Is d20 a good thing?
Part of an interview with Mark C. MacKinnon, creator of tghe Tri Stat DX and the BESM DXX systems, found here.
Marx Pyle: What do you think of d20 and the OGL? Do you think it has been a good thing for role playing games?
Mark C. MacKinnon: I think that the collective gamer mentality that goes along with the propagation of the d20 System has set role-playing back many years. I know, I know -- it's odd hearing a publisher of successful d20 products saying such a thing. I think the d20 core has far too many details and strategy-game components to it, which de-emphasises the "role-playing of a character" and encourages the "gaming of a character." I'm a role-player, and not a gamer, which is why I see it that way.
The OGL, on the other hand, is a great idea that isn't working. The problem is that nearly every game designer thinks that they can design stuff better than other people. This is why we have multiple versions of the same d20 products. Other than compilation books (complete feats, complete spells, etc.), publishers aren't using each other's open content enough in their works. In addition to creative designers, a lot of this has to do with obscure or crippled OGC declarations and inability to easily access OGC.
Marx Pyle: What do you think of d20 and the OGL? Do you think it has been a good thing for role playing games?
Mark C. MacKinnon: I think that the collective gamer mentality that goes along with the propagation of the d20 System has set role-playing back many years. I know, I know -- it's odd hearing a publisher of successful d20 products saying such a thing. I think the d20 core has far too many details and strategy-game components to it, which de-emphasises the "role-playing of a character" and encourages the "gaming of a character." I'm a role-player, and not a gamer, which is why I see it that way.
The OGL, on the other hand, is a great idea that isn't working. The problem is that nearly every game designer thinks that they can design stuff better than other people. This is why we have multiple versions of the same d20 products. Other than compilation books (complete feats, complete spells, etc.), publishers aren't using each other's open content enough in their works. In addition to creative designers, a lot of this has to do with obscure or crippled OGC declarations and inability to easily access OGC.
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