As my brain meandered the other day, as it is apt to do, I had a thought about game systems.   A common trait between many unpopular systems is that they possessed combat systems which are very deadly.   A mere chance encounter leads to character death far more often than other systems.

All systems can be deadly but the systems that have not achieved popularity do not possess the ability to mitigate risk.   Other than a GM blatantly fudging rolls, a characters in those combat systems are likely to end up dead. Is a deadly combat system a death knell for a system?  Not necessarily.   However, the odds do not to be in the system’s favor.   Popularity, failure, and deadly are all very subjective.    Definitions are required and because it was my thought, I must define each of them.

Popularity:

If a game system is no longer available at a game store in some resemblance of its current state, especially by name, consider it non-popular.   If the original name is intact and still available, no matter the divergence from its roots, consider it popular if and only if it has been commercially available for a decade or more.

Failure:

Utter failure would be a rule system that reached publication but failed to garner any support by the publisher in the form of a second edition or by having affiliated materials published.  Many systems fall in the middle between failure and popular.     In the end, those systems that showed up but only lasted fewer than 5 years, should be judged as failures.  Harsh but they failed the test of time.

Deadly:

Deadly is far easier to define.  Should a character step into combat, he has about equal odds of dying or surviving.    Mano a Mano will result in someone dying.   It might be the PC, it might be the other guy.  Equally paired, players with even stats, are evenly matched.  Being outmatched is not deadly, it is being stupid or being forced to engage in combat when you should not.

In the End:

No game system I could recall hit all those factors and still remains.  Kevin offered an exception.  D&D.  In the basic edition,  D&D hit all the deadly requirements but is still popular.  It was very deadly but the system has elements which mitigate death:  Armor and encounter strength.   Killing kobolds at level 3 is not deadly.

Is there any game system, set in relatively modern times, that defies my supposition?   By relatively modern, assume from the time the crossbow made plate armor moot through when kevlar was introduced as a staple of modern warfighting? Are all systems such as Boot Hill, Gang Busters, James Bond, Top Secret, etc.  doomed to failure before they start?

Tags: Boot Hill, D&D, Death, GangBusters, James Bond, System Design, Top Secret

After selecting GangBusters 3E for my game master duties at the Fall Convergence, I sent out a call for character generation with some basic instructions and snippets of background information.   Since I’ve never run the system before and none of the players have played it, the starting aspects of the game will be the Gang War scenarios listed in the 3E rule book or 1st module of the 1E rules.   Thus, each player wil be playing a criminal gang member.  At least to start.

GangBusters appears to be a deadly system so I chose to have each player generate two characters — One Criminal and one of their own choosing.   The secondary character is a backup in case of demise and perhaps a chance to GM off the cuff a secondary plot.

Character generation is stock with the exception of the skill system.  I tossed the skills portion of the stock rules and let each character have 3 skills from either the rule list or of their own choosing.   Even if you’ve never run a system before, selecting a house rule can improve the fun.  A character with a few skills has higher playability than those that do not especially in a limited time window.  If I were planning a long running campaign, I’d err on the side of the game system over changing it immediately.

Today, I got the first character sketch from Randi.   He brought to life William Sarcina aka Whisky.   A smuggler and skilled driver, Whisky will often be found behind the wheel of the gang’s 1919 Packard. The car was his choice but meshes well with the setup scenarios.   His imagination is sparked by that classic ride and that will help the game overall.   I’m looking forward to running.

Finally, I’d like to thank Rick Krebs for GangBusters.   As you can see, in his own words, it was no easy task.  His work and that of others will provide hours of entertainment for the weekend. If you have musings or questions about GangBusters, there’s a board on the OD&D discussion site.

Tags: Characters, Chargen, GangBusters, House Rules

I’ve been pondering another major arc game to run at this Fall’s Convergence. I’ve begun to think the best setup for the get-together is a couple of major games punctuated by one-offs. Since Mark has already chosen the first major game to be played, namely his GangBusters Prohibition, and I’m not sure if the other attendees are going to run anything other than a short session or two, the task of coming  up with another multi-session game befalls your’s truely.

I started to think about what I really want to run. My choices are numerous since I have books and material and ideas for the following games:

• Dungeons and Dragons – Arguably the best known and easiest to do. I have tons of material and know the system quite well. Unfortunately most of the players know the material I might want to run at least as well asn I. That’s a significant hurdle to overcome.
• Top Secret – I don’t think I should run this until maybe next Spring’s Convergence when the (hopeful) return of the three core members of The Greatest TS Game the Universe has ever witnessed will be in attendance.
• Boot Hill – To be honest, I’ve never been drawn to Boot Hill. I enjoy playing it, but running it leaves me with the taste of dirt and dust.
• Call of Cthulhu – I’d do this were it not for a couple of factors.
  1. “You’re all going to die”
  2. Keeping players involved in a story arc is an inherent  challenge to the game already.
• Superhero game (DC Heroes or Marvel) – Ideas I’ve got, player buy-in? I think not.
• KORE – I could do any of the above in KORE, but I think this Convergence should be a return to known quantities, nostalgic era games.
• I could siphon off the aforementioned GangBusters game. – But I think maybe a change of pace may be in order at some point.
• I could run something very gritty, a la Battlestar Galactica, but I’m not sure that BSG pressure-cooker is what is needed in a long term story arc game. Maybe as another punctuation this would make a nice addition.

With all that in mind, I realized I had always been leaning back on the classics… it was time to admit that a good ol’ fashioned old school game of D&D was what I wanted to run. Nostalgia once again rears it’s head and I think this time I’m going to embrace it whole-heartedly. But how to do so?

I could use any of the vast abundance of modules I have for the game. But I risk preparing to run a module only to pull it out to be confronted with the classic, “Yea, I’ve run Temple of Elemental Evil a few times. But I promise to keep my knowledge from interferring” response. And I’m not willing to swap modules and try to run one without preparing first. That just leads to long periods of player-idleness while I peruse the material… not a good scene.

Sorry CT, but it really wasn’t going to work out well. In retrospect, you probably should have done something different. – KO

I don’t have the time to build something new. At least nothing with some depth that isn’t going to be a complete rip-off of something I’ve either run earlier or has been experienced by the players. What’s more, I always hate the methods to generate new high level characters for players. Characters always feel so cardboard when they don’t have history to go with their stats, gear, and abilities.

So we’re back to the question of how do I run something that has some depth, hasn’t been experienced by the players before, and yet can be quickly recalled and molded by me?

To be honest, I was stumped; baffled by this conundrum that didn’t seem to have a solution. And then this morning brilliance (or something I’ll call brilliance) struck. As it turned out, I already had a module prepared. One in which I already knew the material to a depth that I could easily run it off the top of my head with a few notes. In fact, large portions of the game had even already been played by a number of people including myself. Everything I needed to run a number of sessions was done. And as far as I know, none of my players have run through it themselves.

The more I pondered the simple solution, the more I was in GM heaven. – KO

Where you ask, did I suddenly come up with this wealth of session material? Neverwinter Nights.

That’s right. It looks like I’m about to eat some serious crow. Crpgs are about to help me ease the return to the classic pen and paper game. Fitting isn’t it?

I have 3 modules in a 5 part series already built for NwN. In fact, they’re available for download on the Neverwinter Vault here. These 3 modules should be fairly easy to convert back to pen and paper rules while the other 2 modules are already penned out in notes that should be easy to backstep into some good tabletop material. The very layout of the modular setup should help to pace the game so it can be stopped and returned to with ease at the breaking points. Of course, I’ll have to do a bit of alteration to eliminate some of the more “computer game” necessary parts, but that’s not a big deal. The bulk of the work is already done. I just need to convert it back.

In order to keep a sense of nostalgia, I considered going all the way back to the beginning and running the game from the Basic/Expert ruleset. In fact I’m still keeping that option open for now. If not, I’ll run the game in the next best option; namely the AD&D Edition rules. So everybody brush up on those THAC0 rules, we’re going back to the mid-eighties for some serious old school gaming.

Tags: Battlestar Galactica, BSG, Call of Cthulhu, Convergence, Crpg, D&D, DC Heroes, Dungeons and Dragons, GangBusters, KORE rpg, Marvel Superheroes, Neverwinter Nights, NwN, rpg, Setting, Top Secret

My ponderings for the Fall Convergence began a month or two back.   I was ill prepared to GM for the March convergence but ran an Old West game off the top of my head.   It was mostly ad-hoc and as such suffered from the normal stalls inherent to getting players together, moving the action along, etc.   Its hard to ramp up a 1-off session with very little planning even with great players.

So I set about pondering.   Leafing through my library of books, resource materials, and the array of affilitiated, odd-ball stuff I’ve collected, I walked away thinking something was awry.   There was plenty of stuff available including things I cannot even recall purchasing…let alone the reasons for procuring them at the time.   Inspiration came a few hours later via the History Channel.

Yes, Kevin, I know, always go back to Inspector Gadget.   Where do you find IG these days? -M

The show was about various people, locations, and events during the Prohibition era.   Gangsters, Cops, and Feds allow a vast array of things for a short lived campaign.   Perfect for a Convergence session or three.   A bit of searching around found a variety of systems set in the period.   All of them probably would work just fine.

I went old school and bought a GangBusters (TSR) rule book and 3 modules for inspriration off EBay for about $15.   None of the other people have played the system before and we’re not going to learn it anyway.   Character generation and about 12 rules will suffice…probably 6 or less is more than enough.   I could probably do it with KORE but I’m lazy and my available time is limited.

Game system.  Check.   Area of the genre?   Law enforcement?   Politicians?   Gangsters?  Media?  GangBusters contains it all and suggest a mixed group of all the above.   That is not a reasonable for a single weekend and probably not cohesive enough for a general campaign overall.   Perhaps that was its downfall or perhaps the genre just wasn’t fantastic enough for most.      Being the law is easy on players, they know right from wrong and can easily apply it to characters.

Too easy!   Criminals it is.   Gangsters they will be in one fashion or another.   Not high-ranking over the top ones,  they’ll have to get bloody and do the dirty work.      When common sense and morality are not on your side, you have to push yourself to figure out who, what, and why you are in the role.   I’m railroading the characters at the start so I’ll never have to do it again over the weekend.

Next up is filling out the campaign premise.  Low to mid level gangsters provide a lot of room for chaos.   So I read the material in the rule book and all three modules.   Two of the three modules got discarded quickly.  There are gems to be exploited but not enough for the baseline.   Strangely enough, the material in the rulebook I bought and the 1st module are near identical.   Not surprisingly, its just two different “versions” of the game that may as well be the same stuff repackaged.  I know, I know, you are “shocked”.  So was I.

Both the module and the rule system, dubbed “3rd Edition”, provide a nice baseline of NPC characters and some starter plot lines even if they are nearly identical.   After reading through them a couple of times, I started  jotting notes on scrap paper.   Personas, organizations, plot ideas, actual encounter thoughts are put to paper.   Even if they are copies of the actual material.     If I write it down, my brain retains it far longer than if I let the whim pass by.

The scratched notes are nice but not much of a plan.  Its in my brain and not on paper and will be lost if no action is taken.     So I grabbed a new notebook and started transferring ideas.   One person per page.   One organization per page.   One encounter per page.  If you’ve never seen the idea of a One Page Dungeon, Google it.  I’ve used it for 20 years but cannot say it was formalized.  Its a fantastic methodology to prepare for the chaos your players will create.

I’m unlikely to use the notebook during the gaming sessions.   Every plan is screwed as soon as it is enacted.   But I can use every page to sit down the next day, scratch out people, make notes on others, update events at a location.   Sometimes I need a reminder about a person or place I had in mind.   The notebook will make that easy enough.

However, on the One Page Per Dungeon thought, you may need to start a fight to keep it flowing.   When you have a couple dozen plausible encounters noted in part, its quick and easy to exploit.  And if this idea translates between a couple of different Convergence Sessions, 6 months or more apart, that notebook will be a godsend.

The last Convergence was a great time.   This one should be even better.

Tags: Boot Hill, Convergence, GangBusters, Ramblings of Mark, Setting, system