Some RPG and Boardgames I played in February

This comic isn't a review of mechanics or a proper storyline thing as I sometimes do.  I would just like to show off what I have been playing recently, and will then follow it up with a few comments.

It was do that or never actually make use of all these photos.

Getting all this fun and potentially more fun in the future took a LOT of work.  It took months if not years of posting online and on bulletin boards looking for players.  It took joining mailing lists and looking for interested folks.  It also took playing at a store as opposed to a home venue.  It also helps one of my players is a social butterfly and is utterly FEARLESS at talking to and inviting people to things.  I am more passive about it.

See we used to have a huge group, but we just met at a home to play.  We shrunk and shrunk and shrunk and never recovered to the point it basically fell apart.

Now some of us continue but play at stores and join in with other groups at stores looking to play new games and meet new people and not just do closed private games or games where nobody sees one playing.

Seeing folks PLAYING is a good way to get folks to join in and buy stuff of their own.  Hell, it gives you the chance to see other games.

And gaming is supposed to be a social activity after all.  

Things like board game meetups, open in store RPG campaigns, and events like the D&D Encounters program are great for gaming and meeting new people and maybe making a few new friends.

Which leads to me getting to run an RPG campaign, and play both Space Hulk and Space Crusade.

I am all for that!

The Tao of Blood Bowl (And Wisdom for Other Such Games)

Over at Something Awful there is a fine discussion thread for the Blood Bowl computer game, currently in a sadly download only Legendary Edition.  (As an owner of the previous retail version I got 33% off the new one which almost mitigates it being virtual.  Going from 9 teams to 20 helps a LOT.)

One fellow was lamenting the random chaotic luck inherent to Blood Bowl.  Which like many of the Games Workshop campaign system games (BBowl, Necromunda, Mordheim, and Gorkamorka) isn't exactly perfect, and sometimes leads to losing your entire force due to simple bad luck instead of keeping more experienced forces from completely dominating.

This was some of my thoughts on Blood Bowl's random dice madness and dealing with losing or even just simple gaming frustration:

cKnoor posted: Overall it's pretty clear that this is not a game for you. If you can't enjoy it for all it's "faults" (I put that in quotes as I don't think having different tiered teams = bad gamedesign) then it's just not for you. If you can't remember all the awesome times when you get bad dice, or take that as a challenge to come back and win, then you just shouldn't play. Well said! Its pretty much how to play Blood Bowl. Take losses as a learning experience. Heck, you can still gain SPPs even when its a doomed game. For some teams this is when you start just trying to kill the other team for the hell of it. (Ok Elves. Its 3-0? You keep scoring. Im gonna just foul every goddamned pointy little bitch I can get my Lizardmen's claws on. I no longer need victory. I see little arrogant piles of SPPs. You just stop doing anything and I will stop fouling with my Kroxigor.) First time I played Elves online (since in Fumbbl most soft teams wouldn't go near any of my team types) I got owned but I LEARNED from it. One online game and it changed my whole basic strategy. I've even made dumb mistakes and laughed at it. Losses HAPPEN. If you have a fun game playing who cares if you won or lost? You still probably got some SPPs or money and had a match. Losing dudes? ITS GONNA HAPPEN. Its part of the game's structure. Sure as I have mentioned its supposed to keep every team in check to some degree but mostly hurts newer teams, but learn to deal with it. Don't just spend every GP you earn. You have to learn how to manage your team long term, especially in Blitz mode where everyone will leave in time no matter how good they get. The early BB team management is getting them where you want them. The long term is KEEPING THEM THERE. Sure you might have the Orcish Tom Brady one season only for him to be too old or get injured for dozens of games or be made virtually useless. You shrug, fire him or send him to be an Assistant Coach then hire a new Orc to replace him. Its PART OF THE APPEAL. Sometimes you are just gonna lose because the RNG loathes you that day. Other times you will embrace the chaos and prove your mettle and win ANYHOW. I've seen this done in Battletech which is a game that makes BB's dice chaos look like its a Chess game and not a heavily luck driven game. (In that game nearly every hit can take out a unit. But every hit has maybe a 1% chance of doing so. Sometimes you lose 1 of your 4-12 units with their own stat page to a single hit. Other times that same unit takes DOZENS of shots and laughs, making Bruce Willis in Die Hard look like a wet paper bag in comparison.) Sometimes the dice won't go your way. Boo hoo. Man up and fight through it. Or it just might not be to your taste and that's cool. GW can't balance its games. Gamers like all people are in general horrible self absorbed douchebags. Cyanide has about as much programming talent as Troika/Obsidian. If the game is making you rage its best to either take a break or find a different game. Like the old joke goes. If it hurts when you do that? DON'T DO THAT.

Some things to think about.  Hobby games are supposed to be fun.  Most of them aren't perfect, in many cases NOT EVEN CLOSE.  But you gotta WANT to have fun or you won't have any.  But if the player base is terrible, or the game isn't to your taste, step back.  Maybe you need a break from the game or its community.

Or maybe you just need an entirely different game or group ENTIRELY.

It took me many years to learn that, in many cases playing with certain people and groups was making me miserable.  I wasn't happy at all.  Heck in some cases, people have ruined certain games entirely for me.

(Hero Quest, Jyhad, Lord of the Rings Miniatures, New World of Darkness, and Warmachine for examples in my own sad history.)

It might not even be the games' fault but my memories are completely tainted.

Instead of staying with those games or the people that ruined them, I got the hell out of dodge, in some cases selling it all off on ebay to buy things I can enjoy and have a good memory for.

Sure I might not be gaming anywhere NEAR as much.   But in its "Stopped Clocks are Right at Least Twice a Day" way, some folks on RPGnet had a good bit of wisdom:  "No gaming beats BAD gaming".

Something to think about.  In some cases it just might be the audience, or maybe even the game itself for you and your preferred style of play.

But why make yourself miserable just to play something that is supposed to be fun?

Movie Review/Game Ideas: Paranormal Activity

WARNING WARNING! Spoilers ahead. It is recommended you either watch the movie first, or don't care about having the whole thing spoiled. Last chance to back out jerky!

IM SERIOUS. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT STOP READING IT NOW DOOFUS!

(Edited at 11PM November 3rd with some direct gaming ideas.)

I saw the movie earlier today, without knowing anything other than that it was a horror film, its name, and it was made on the cheap. I hadn't seen any reviews or previews or anything. (I got rid of everything but Basic Cable a few months back which I don't actually watch anyhow.)

Its a movie that builds dread and you have to at least have a suspension of disbelief about it all.

The basic plot and synopsis
Our story involves a young twentysomething couple, Katie and Micah. Katie is a graduate student working on becoming a teacher while Micah is a day trader apparently doing really well as they have a very nice house in San Diego California. Katie has been having weird occurrences happen to her and Micah buys a very expensive camera and audio setup to try to get it all on tape. Come to find out Katie has been harassed by a mostly unseen entity since she was a child, and believes it to have caused her childhood home to have been destroyed.

The film is done from the viewpoint of this camera, ala "Blair Witch Project" and "Cloverfield" two movies I really like.

Micah's filming causes additional friction to the couple, and an early discussion with a psychic reveals it is most likely a demon not a ghost, and that it is actively following Katie. He recommends consulting a Demonologist, and Micah's early skepticism and failure to heed the psychic's warnings that it feeds off negative energy merely antagonizes the entity whose actions amp up more and more through their 3 week ordeal.

Later on as they are low on sleep and their nerves continue to fray more and more they make even more mistakes even as the evidence mounts. Now unable to get a hold of the Demonlogist they were recommended the demon apparently possesses Katie, kills Micah, then looks at and attacks the camera facefirst.

Now on to my thoughts about the movie and some thoughts about some folks' comments on the movie.
Yeah one of our two leads did some dumb things. Early on because he like most of us would be a skeptic. Later on he wanted to handle it MAN STYLE. By the time he realized the threat it was too late and he was so sleep and emotionally drained he did idiotic things.

You have to empathize with the characters and actually care about them. If you go all "its just a movie blah!" of course you won't like it. If you need special effects and to see everything you won't like it either. I liked Blair Witch and Cloverfield and I like this sort of movie. (I am a huge fan of the original Dracula novel too, so I sort of like this "from the character's point of view" thing.)

Plus the style is raw and leaves you drained and empty. Even with this apparently derided ending you are left MESSED UP by the experience. And I actually like the demon coming up and attacking the camera. Its the demon's way of saying "Hello mortals. You cannot stop me. I will invade you in your homes. I cannot be contained, controlled, or reasoned with. I have all the power. And I have a body. I am coming. For you."

And that's chilling. Hell, I even yelled out "Word that rhymes with TRUCK!" even though I knew what was coming up next. It was a mostly sparse audience, but 655 PM on a Connecticut November Monday isn't going to be a packed house, especially with the amount of showings it was getting. (And the theater staff commenting most of their business this day was for the movie.)

If I was a character in the film I certainly would have done things differently, but even as a skeptic on the supernatural, I am not a disbeliever either. I know enough to know I don't know enough. Plus I would be (outside of being doomed to die via possessed lady) lucky to have a lot of cash for a nice house and an attractive lady. How some of people can not find her attractive (and even call her fat!) is beyond me. She could be any woman you meet in the real world.

So I really liked it but can understand some people would not like it. Folks who need constant action or who nitpick EVERY stupid thing characters do in movies or folks who only want REALISTIC films. (I knew a pit boss at the casino I worked at who was proud to have never seen Star Wars as he wanted "reality" in his entertainment. I wonder if he realized he worked in an industry based around a complete LACK of reality..)

But to each their own. Nobody is gonna like everything. Hell, each of us should realize everything we adore and hold dear is utterly despised by someone else out there.

Why some folks seem to have spent the last 2 weeks posting about how much they hate the movie leaves me baffled though.

Most of the audience I was with liked it, though a few didn't. A couple folks were either coughing, laughing, or shrieking around the 3/4ths mark of the film but I just ignored it.

The two characters are well acted and you generally feel bad for their plight and wish you could help them and warn them of some of their more foolish actions. (A Quija board? Yeah. Dumb move there. I am not sure I believe in the supernatural, but I know well enough that YOU. DO. NOT. USE. A. QUIJA. BOARD. EVER.) The practical special effects were all well done and if there were any CGI effects I really could not tell, though some of them had to be given the 15,000 dollar budget I have heard the film cost.

But have you ever got that feeling in your eyes when the supernatural is discussed or you read a tale about the spectral unknown? Where you begin to tear up a little around the edges, and you want to leave all the lights on, you know.. "Just in case"?

This movie did that for me. if you like films with a sense of dread and not big showy special effects productions, I highly recommend this movie.

I do kinda want to run a Call of Cthulhu game as a sequel to this though. It leaves with a nice hook. (Or New World of Darkness Mortals. The trail could lead to a.. special place. A Silent Hill perhaps? :pyramidhead:

(Yeah that's a cheesy idea but it could work if done right. And the right player group.)

What really did happen to Katie? Is she still possessed? Where has she gone? Has the demon altered her, slowly warping her flesh into a proper host for a demon? Is her soul still within her body? Did she have to watch her boyfriend being murdered by her, powerless to do anything? Did she not know, but was then shown its handiwork afterwards? What is the demon doing NOW? Is it going to possess others? Is it bridging a gateway to bring other demons across? Could Katie just be a latent psychic whose powers she has no control over? What if for brief instances she can retake control of her body?

An entire adventure or campaign could be created answering those questions above. And the film itself is a great example of setting a proper mood for a horror game. It starts off basically normal, with even some jokes. Then the night comes. Things get worse and worse each night. Sanity frays causing foolish actions to be taken. The feeling of helplessness and dread descends upon you. Then, a brief instance of terror with most left to your imagination. And it ends. You have no answers, no denouement. In fact, you have more questions than answers.

And you know, it does not care about locked doors. It will visit you. In your sleep. Just because. And it feeds off your suffering and pain. And you cannot stop it. If it wants you, it will have you. And it can wait.

Pleasant dreams.

(Some game ideas below.. if you can sleep after seeing it. I must say I had.. difficulties in sleeping. I wasn't scared but the movie wouldn't leave my mind, nor that final bit..)

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay/40K Roleplay.

The basic concept would work great in either line. A young couple connected to a semi important merchant or noble has gone missing with a basic log or servoskull readout telling the basics of what happened. If playing a game as the aftermath to the events it will be time to hunt down and purge the demon with cleansing fire and blade. (Some chain powered if its 40K.) In the Warhammer universe the demon is clearly either Tzeentch or Slaanesshi in origin. It either possessed Katie to further its plans, or just because it enjoys feeding on pain and negative emotions, something Slaaneshi demons love.

(As an aside, how come every Warhammer Slaanesh fan merely fixates on the sexual side of things? Slaanesh is about emotion and passion and senses. Not just URF URF SPLUT...)

Now that it has a body, what will it do with it? Perhaps the Tzeentch demon will use her money and minor influence to put plans into motion, perhaps fleeing the planet/region and going where it can cause great harm and nobody will really find out that Katie is missing and wanted for murder. If Slaaneshi, she will probably form dark cults in either universe, seducing other young nobles and bringing them into her dark ways.

The hunt could involve investigations, explorations of tombs or now daemon infested starships, it could have big battles in the deep underhives.

And if you want to use the events in the movie itself directly and change things? Howabout a noble asking the PCs to protect Katie and find out what is haunting her. Perhaps she is a latent psyker? Witch Hunters and Inquisitors will need to be blunted from her as their main answer will be to kill her and let the Emperor/Sigmar sort it all out. Can the PCs save Katie and her macho yet problem escalating fiancee? Or will they just make things worse? Why is she being harassed? Is there a cult behind it? Does Katie's family hide a dark secret?

Similar ideas could be used in many Palladium games, World of Darkness, Call of Cthulhu, Legend of the Five Rings, D&D, and even lighter games like Kobolds Ate My Baby! or Ghostbusters.

(Though it would be lighter and funnier in those cases. Perhaps Katie is possessed by Vor who is angry at Micah for being such a doofus and he then decides she could make a fun way of smiting annoying Kobolds. He can send his avatar to do it for them and eat the furry little blighters without having to constantly look at what stupid things they are doing, and have the fun of watching a human devour them live. In Ghostbusters maybe the demon is a bored spirit who was a teacher and just doesn't think Micah is a good fit. Perhaps its less scary and more amusing in its actions. Maybe instead of killing him, the demon just gives him nightly wedgies and messes up his stock trades. (I know if I were a demon haunting a young woman I wouldn't want her with such a yuppie bro type either. Especially when he does stupid things to annoy me directly!))

See? One short movie leads to a ton of inspiration for adventures if not entire campaigns.

The fact its a darn spooky movie just makes it all the better!

Argh Painting Takes TOO LONG (Plus Game Organization Tips from Me to You)

Yeah. This took me about SIX FREAKING HOURS:



The process I used:

1: Spray both sides of the model using Krylon Fusion (Dark Brown I think).
2: Paint arms and face using Citadel Foundation Tallarn Flesh.
3: Paint helmet and torso armor using mid 90s era Citadel Colour Brazen Brass.
4: Paint spear tips using mid 90s era Citadel Colour Chainmail.
5: Paint helmet plume with Citadel Foundation Mordian Blue.
6: Paint grey rocks with Valejo Game Color Cold Grey.
7: Cover flat part of model base with mid 90s era Citadel Colour Vomit Brown.
8: Dip wet base paint into Tupperwear style tub of Woodland Scenics ballast. (Forget exact name.)
9: Use Vomit Brown around edge of model base.
10: Paint gloves black. Paint back of shields black. Paint Tail and Hooves Black.
11: Use new Citadel Washes Ogryn Flesh on the fleshy bits and the grey rocks. (Should have used Badab Black wash on the rocks looking back. I might go do that if I go back and drybrush the tails sometime.)
12: Drybrush mid 90s era Citadel Colour (man do those old paints store well or WHAT?) Snakebite Leather on the brown horsey bits.
13: Glue shield on.
14: Tape up pegs on the formation trays.
15: Spraypaint with Krylon Fusion tan(or light brown.. I dunno) over the trays. Once dry pull off masking tape or regular old clear tape.
16: Wonder why it took so damned long for such little models and feel bad because there is more detail to the minis I just skipped painting because I am lazy.

I need to learn how to paint faster and nicer because this whole box of nearly 200 minis needs some painting done to it:

15 Roman Spearmen/Shieldwall and 15 Egyptian Archers not shown due to Krylon Fusion/primer drying

Luckily the rares and uncommons mostly just need a nice Badab Black Citadel Wash and my favorite quickie base flocking method as I described.

But notice that Plano case? That's a great way to store your Arcane Legions minis, as well as many other minis. In Arcane Legion's case especially since I want to paint and flock the bases we need a quick way of determining the model's ID codes. Thus I size the models with some room to breathe/grow, and put a piece of semitransparent tape on the spot above the model's new home and write down the code. (If I had a label writer I could really get fancy!) If I buy more boosters I have room for extras, and the tape lets me remove it and resize in the future if I choose to spread things out a bit more and go to 2 cases.

The things are a pretty good deal for under 5 bucks for this sized one, and the variable slot setup lets me fit things better.

My Swords and Wizardry House Rules

One great thing about Swords and Wizardry is how simple it is, leaving you plenty of room to add in as you see fit. Currently these are our house rules created over 2 hours or so of actual gameplay.

Like all house rules, they may be found wanting in extended play and should be tweaked to fit everyone's satisfaction. Provided you have a gamegroup where rules tweaking is considered making it more fun and fair for everyone and not an evil plot to get your own way. This is why its called house rules and play testing. They evolve over time! Its all part of the fun of tabletop gaming. If you are just gonna play every game exactly as written (Aka: RAW, Rules as Written), why not just play a videogame? Its faster and more immediate.

On to our rules!

Character Generation & Attributes
1. Roll 3d6 7 times for attributes, and assign the 6 highest in any order you like.
2. Maximum Hit Points for levels 1 and 2.
3. An 18 in a stat has a modifier of +2 with an extra 2nd level spell for spellcasters if it is their Prime Attribute.
4. A 3 in a stat has a modifier of -2.
5. Maximum character weight carried is STR x 10.

Character Classes
1. Fighting Men at 5th level get Weapon Focus. One weapon type (ie Short Sword, Hand Axe, Long Bow, ect) when wielded is +1 to hit and damage. At 10th level a Fighting Man may either take a second Weapon Focus, or get an extra attack per round with the weapon he chose as his Weapon Focus choice.
2. Elves and Dwarves get Weapon Focus, but not until 10th level. (Which means 10 Fighting Man level gains for the Elf.)
3. Elf starting HP is based on whatever class they first go into adventuring with.
4. Magic Users and Clerics do not have to pre memorize their First and Second level spells. They may choose what spells to cast based on how many slots they have for the day, and what spells they know.
5. At level 10 a character adds 1 point to their Prime attribute.

Combat
1. A natural rolled 20 to hit is an automatic hit and you do maximum rolled damage plus any normal modifiers.
2. A natural rolled 1 to hit is an automatic miss and you may do nothing next round.
3. Moving out of an adjacent square/base to base with an enemy gives them a free attack on you before you move out.
4. Attacking an opponent directly from behind them gives a +1 to hit and damage against them.

Adventuring
1. Random checks to do stuff: If not covered by the rules, roll D20 equal to or under the most applicable attribute. If the task is relatively easy but has a chance of failure, count the attribute as 5 points higher for the roll. If it is considered very hard, reduce the attribute by 5 for the roll. Modest difficulty is considered to be the attribute's normal value.

Canon and Rules as Written

Over at http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/08/muddled-and-confused.html the writer is doing a series of posts about the covers and to a lesser extent the content of the entire D&D corebooks line since Original D&D. In the comments section a discussion about freedom vs "following the book" has come up. I am reposting my thoughts from that because its some rather important things I think most people really should heed when running and playing in an RPG. It it seems a little jumpy its taken from the discussion in the blog post above. I cut and pasted my parts I thought were worth saving and sharing.

I've always been a "fluff" gamer. Gimme the information overload (yet keep the rules simple, streamlined, and elegant!) on the setting, the peoples, the world.

Then I can gleefully use it or twist it into whatever horrible pretzel shape I choose.

Cool players won't mind. I've thrown Innsmouth pretty much as written (outside of automobiles anyhow) into Dragonlance and the big DL fan didn't complain a bit.

My players gave me a statement of truth: You are the GM.

Obviously you have to make it logically fit, but any good GM can use or change anything he wants to fit his campaign world.

I guess I am wierd when it comes to D&D. I consider Mentzer Basic THE book any new RPGer should pick up. (The only game that could be better is D6 Star Wars, which might be one of the best RPGs ever made, even if it gets wonky at high power levels. Call of Cthulhu is in the best ever running too, but its NOT a novices game at all.)

Even though I am not very fond of the old school D&D mechanics in general, I absolutely adore the "feel and charm" of AD&D1, and the worlds and fluff of AD&D2.

OD&D I own all but the Gods book, but I don't see the point in a toolkit. Mainly because I end up with something like Castles & Crusades anyhow.

Even if my next campaign will probably be AD&D2 with Basic stat advances and almost every race and class from both AD&D editions. A little from Skills & Powers Combat, a little from Battlesystem 2, a little from Rules Cyclopedia...

Now if only the Troll Lords would do a big book of races and classes so I could just start converting classic and neo classic modules over.

I think its more gamers than the books who sort of enforce this behavior, though I cannot disagree that the later era RPGs tend to push this sort of thing subtly.

Its funny how the same audience who insist on writing fanfic and fanart, much of which is rather... deviant shall we say have trouble with any level of freedom or change.

I've even seen people in fan circles insist THEIR totally unsubstantiated and totally against canon source interpetations to be the correct one and then they proceed to verbally berate and harass anyone who dissents.

A lesser example I saw myself when I joined into a White Wolf game once. My character had a silver weapon, as he was from a campaign where Werewolves and Vampires were fighting together against really bad world destroying stuff. (I can't help it. I like people uniting against the great darkness. Its my comics and anime influences showing through..) Well I took my NPC into this game. When he was revealed to have said weapon the Wolf players in this game FREAKED OUT as if I had broken some great taboo. By their interpretation its mere proximity to their PCs would cause negative effects.

Yet by the rulesbooks it DID NOT. Here we have the other PCs pooing bricks and the GM is looking up to confirm. Once it was found I told the GM I would be happy with whichever way he wanted to run it as it was his game. I was the only one who seemed to be more interested in how the GM wanted to run things than the book or the group concensus.

FRACK CANON IF IT MESSES WITH YOUR GAME.

Gaming is supposed to be about fun. Its not a peenwaving contest. Its not a competition. Its sure as hell not a good way to pick up girls. (A good way to repel them maybe...)

If we just want to level up and not affect or change anything and follow someone else's lame-o story there are plenty of console RPGs available out there.

Why try to deal with scheduling and people conflicts and the time and expense to read all these blasted overpriced rulesbooks otherwise?

My Tau, or How to Organize an Army

Look at this folks. This is the kinds of information you should bring to your miniatures games. Your army, pointed and statted out in a nice 9 point font on a double sided sheet of paper. I have 1 page with multiple units, and their points costs with some variables for the various wierdo size games out there. I have all my units with wargear lists and every thing I want to use with them. This will save you a good 30 minutes or more every game day. Not seen is the army book's reference sheet with the backside being used for a self typed list of all those wargear and weapon and tech info thingies my army needs and uses so I don't have to refer to the damned codex every 5 minutes. (Which is bad for me since I play multiple games and in 40K 5 different armies. Forgetting the rules or little specific bits happens all the time!

This is the path to truth.

With luck, I can have something similar ready for my players for the big ass Lord of the Rings Miniatures game in 2 weeks.

Now I just need to spread this truth to every minis gamer I know. Spread this good readers, and save all of us tons of wasted game time every session!