2011 and going forward

    So it’s 2012 and idiots across the world will now be counting down to their ‘doom’ on the 21st of December. So before I go into a round up of the year that has been lets follow up my last post of my first week in Germany.
 
    Life in Germany is steadily getting better. Shopping for food is substantially easier now we know where to go to do it. This has meant that I have got back into making stir fry meals, pasta dishes and similar things. It feels good to once more be consuming a healthy balance of things.
    This last week has also seen our friend, James, who works at Big Point as a games designer, visiting, and spending our time watching plenty of movies. Buy a new TV and blu ray player when we got here was has made a big difference. We now also have all of Sam’s DVD collection and are over half way through watching all of Angel.
    Also on the subject of food we have finally found one place that does a decent brunch called Mandragora. Inside is dark like an old pub back in the UK. While outside are gurning gargoyles. So far it has been great, with a crazy selection of pancakes to eat.
 
    So onto the year in review.
 
    January:
    January saw a very cold winter with lots and lots of snow and myself and my wife in the flat with our two young kittens. I look at their pictures and it is hard to imagine them ever being that small.
    Also had a good time celebrating my birthday with my fellow Capricorn, and musical alchemist, Mark. We’re the same age (his birthday being the day after) and we share a lot of the same interests. Plus his girlfriend is the awesome Anna, aka Aiko273, who has photographed my wife. These are two people I am really greatful for making friends with.
 
    February:
    February is always special as it is the month in which I celebrate my marriage. Of course with the kittens this meant getting away was out of the question. Plus we really couldn’t afford it what with getting the kittens and paying for their medical care. It feels sad each time we cannot go back to Venice but then we did have the cats to think about, who have been a great addition to our lives.
 
    March:
    Seems a dead month. Roleplay wise we were close to finishing the Changeling chronicle, and had played a one shot of Fading Suns, and were preparing Exalted.
 
    April:
    April saw me join the Darker Days Radio team. Initially as a guest I am now a co-host, adding to the insightful thoughts of Mark and Mike.
    April also saw me start my first foray into freelance writing for games, in this case for David Hill and Filamena Young’s project, Amaranthine. I still need to run it at some point :(  . It was a good start at doing some writing and I hope to do some more again.
    Also April marks me being with Sam for 4 years.
 
    May:
    Saw a few good things. A paper being practically finished. More Darker Days podcasts. Running Exalted for a larger group of players. And also buying the Asus Transformer.
    If there is one piece of technology that has changed my life, the Asus Transformer is it. Fucking hell has it been worth it. Not only for being a web device. Not just for being an ereader. But it actually does make it easier for working on certain things. It makes life less cluttered. It also comes with a stupid amount of free storage space on the web! Hell i use the thing during games. It is just such a joy to use. I really want the new one, but that is just greedy.
    Also played on Mass effect and thought it was a pile of crap.
 
    June:
    We went to see the weird film, Rubber, at a showing that took place in the mausoleum of Warwick St Mary’s church.

I also played on LA Noire until I just couldn’t stand the constant killings of women and the misogyny.

We also got back some awesome photos from Anna from a photoshoot myself and Sam did back a few months before (I just can’t remember when.... sigh. It involved visiting and staying over in London which is always fun).

 

July:

OK this was a weird month. I had got back info on some funding. I didn’t get it. And so began my mad panic to get further funding and applying for jobs. I applied to Minneapolis, Chicago, New York, a job in Italy, another in France, and also one in Bochum. The one in Bochum would become very important.

 

August:

On the 10th I flew out to Bochum, and well the rest is history. I got the job on the spot.

The week before involved Sam being photographed by Anna again. This basically meant me sitting around reading a paper or two for my interview, and then having a good chat with Mark. Plus the two took us to an excellent Turkish restaurant.

I also had the pleasure of reviewing the new, revised edition, of Unhallowed Metropolis. A great game, which I can pick up the new copy in print form as it was in the local gaming store here in Bochum.

With the job sorted, and forms being filled out, I had to start working out how to end my Exalted chronicle early. This is always a shame but has to be done.

Also my most recent paper was submitted and off in referee limbo.

 

September:

Birthday time month as Sam turned 26. Last year was quite a big party. For her birthday we had a smaller gathering, and lots of cake. The cake was a theme cake, with Harley Quinn on it. It was awesome and the start of an obsession with our local cakery and their fine foods.

Also September saw us getting the cats mega vaccinated ready for shipping them over to Germany (April time) and also me going to a conference in Barcelona. It was quite amazing, and a shame that I did not bring Sam, but then the conference meal was only for people there on business.

 

October:

So the slow march to packing began.

I got back my paper with referee questions to answer and changes to be made. But it was all OK and sent back.

 

November:

Saw the start of the end as roleplay was wrapped up, packing continued, and we had our leaving party. The party was a sort of late Halloween with a computer game theme and lots of cocktails.

Mark and Anna also came to visit us on last time before we left the UK.

The hardest thing this month was saying good bye to our cats as they were sent up to Sam’s mother’s place to stay until we were ready for them to be flown over. It was a really hard day saying good bye to them.

 

So that brings us all the way up to the most recent posts.

 

Looking back it doesn’t look like the most exciting of years, but then I think 2011 was really the year of doing little extravagant as money issues were still present and we also had to think of our cats. I honestly wouldn’t change the year though as I think as years go it has been a year of normalization, with new standards being set in place and new status quos. The main thing is that Sam and I our more settled with our balance of life, with her not working and writing, and me having a job. We have just found a better way forward which means less drama and stress.

Overall i am really positive about this year. I already feel renewed and ready to tackle my job head on and a push forward with things for gaming. The podcast has been a great addition to my life, and I really hope to be more creative this year with regard to my writing.

 

If there is anything I miss? My old gaming group, and brunch at Corleone’s in Leamington. I feel the last year involved making many good friends, friend who I wish I had spent more time with.

 

World of Darkness and the Science of Evil

World of Darkness and the Science of Evil

World of Darkness (WoD), both new and classic settings, has a primary focus on supernatural horror. Monsters are things from myths, from our past, Biblical or from our folklore. They are urban legends and ghosts of old, or quite simply men driven mad and have become something new.
But horror and terror are not just born from magic and the arcane arts and powers of forgotten gods. Horror can be born from science.

In classic WoD (CWoD) a war exists between science and magic, fought by the Technocracy and the Tradition mages. It is a war of belief and absolute truths and control. And so magic and science are different simply by definition and categorization. They come from the same source. The difference is the lens through which the truth is viewed. Spirits, ghosts, aliens, vampires etc, are just entities for which the science is not fully defined.
This view of science and the supernatural is also within new World of Darkness (NWoD), but the presentation is more fuzzy. There is no war between magic and science. Without that analogue in Mage the Awakening, science and magic bleed over into each other in many different ways. It is the interface between the two which can be exciting and lead to different horrors.

So what am I getting at?

The supernatural and scientific can blend together to give birth to new horrors. In CWoD  we saw this with the Hitmarks of the Technocracy. They are cyborgs powered and designed using hyperscience, Enlightened Science, which is simply magic manifesting as technology. In NWoD there similar concepts in Promethean the Created. Each Promethean lineage is aligned to an element (earth, air, fire, water, spirit). But the also present the concept of Prometheans born of nuclear energy and radiation. There are also those Promethean which are cybernetic. Essentially androids, but made human like by the Divine Fire. In Hunter the Vigil there are groups that turn to science to fight the supernatural, making use of advanced weapons to fight the things in the dark.

So can science give birth to things that in fact mimic or tap into supernatural powers, or can the reverse  happen? Why not. Can science modify the supernatural, and the reverse? Well yeah.

Some of may favourite story seeds look at things like this. For example, in the Chicago book for NWoD, they talk about Bell Laboratories and the particle accelerator there. Because of the cutting edge science being used the suggest the idea that such machines tear open the skin of reality and allow in strange energies, material and entities. These entities could easily fit the definitions of spirits, or even aliens, or the Fae. In Night Horrors: Wolfsbane, this idea is further expanded upon when detailing the Idigam. These banished spirits consumed the powers of spirits that rode to the moon from other worlds. This along with the book Summoners for Mage the Awakening, and of course the concepts in Changeling the Lost, allow you to play on the question, ‘Just what are spirits?’ Are some spirits really just inter dimensional beings? Can you clone from them? What about demons and angels? Are they just other forms of aliens? Are those were creatures just some sort of cryptid? Perhaps just a mutation? We know there are ghosts, but what about ghosts from alien worlds brought to earth on a comet? What does vampirism mean in light of blood research and stem cell science?

So my advice for games? If you want to through your gaming group a curve ball add a bit of science. There are things in the world that science has yet to explain but can be used to fight. But there are things not understood that science has created.

So some random story seeds to use:

•  
  • An organ transplant from a werewolf leads to something strange and murderous.
  • Cloning of a changeling leads to something more like a fetch.
  • Quantum teleportation allows for a exponential spread of a spirit.
  • From the depth of space comes a signal that follows Atlantean magic, but sent by a race from another world.
  • A supernova sends energy, in the form of flux, to earth, and awakens Pandorans.

Posted via email from Etheric Labs at http://doctorether.posterous.com

Speak Out With Your Geek Out - From Wildest Herefordshire to Darker Days Radio #speakgeek

So what is this all about?

'Take a stance against baiting nerd rage and stereotypes of geeks.

Post about how much you love your geeky hobbies or vocation from Monday, September 12th, 2011 to Friday, September 16th on your blog, website, social media account or in a forum somewhere. Then come here and tell us about it. We'll have a kick-off post where you can stand and be counted.

Let's show the world why we're awesome and why there is nothing wrong with being a geek.

Initially proposed and organized by author, game designer and freelance consultant Monica Valentinelli.'

http://www.speakoutwithyourgeekout.com/

So what do I have to add. On flamesrising.com they have some great points on how to address this type of points.

I am an unapologetic geek. It has fuelled my passion for the sciences, for history, for mythology, for finding my own spirituality, and has also led to me finding jobs, friends, and also my wife.

Is being a geek bad thing? Of course not. Many people are geeks. They have a deep passion for some niche interest. Be it roleplay games, video games, or football fans. Geek has been a word negatively attached to an interest in technology, sciences and books. But as time has gone on, and the world has changed, being a geek has started to payoff big time, but in a more apparent way.

Many who meet me assume I still a student. And a student into the arts. I guess the big bleached spiky hair confuses many. They seem shocked to learn I am a doctor of chemistry. I am a geek, but not the stereotype may imagine.

So where does my proud life as a geek begin?

Transformers. It has to be Transformers. Even now I am a big fan of them. My wife bought me the Megatron toy from the Transformers Animated series a few Xmas' back. But I got my first Transformer when I was just 18 months old. My mother explained to me that back then I constantly wanted them as I saw older boys with the toys. Of course, that was the Eighties, and as I grew up there were many of the classic cartoon shows. He-Man, Thundercats etc. All of this fuelled my imagination, and that imagination was allowed to create with Lego.

During Primary school I discovered Greek myths, and then the other myths from other pantheons. Again my mother fed this need, and got me books on the subject. I was also equally obsessed with space, and knew even at the age of 9 all about the shuttle program, the planets and about stars.

It was also around this time my parents got for Xmas for my sister and myself a computer. The Amiga 500. This machine let my play games, use early publishing and art software, and also try out basic programming.

Then came High school, and it was in my first year there that a friend got me into wargaming. Warhammer 40000 to be exact. This of course led to me eventually playing all the games that Games Workshop produced at the time. Overtime my parents accepted this expensive hobby, noting how it let me be artistic, develop good logic and number skills, writing, and reading, and also let myself and my friend socialize doing something other than watching TV or playing on the computer.

It was also at High school I got into table top rpgs. My parent came back one Saturday afternoon with a black box with a red dragon upon it. This was D&D Basic. I of course got my wargaming friends into table rpgs. That Xmas I got the WEG Star Wars rpg, and a year after that Vampire the Masquerade. It was also around this time, while doing work experience at the Hereford Archaeology centre that I picked up some Magic the Gathering cards. This too also became a major hobby for my friends.

Of course all the way through school, from primary to high school, to 6th form, I was a bullied for being a geek. A nerd. I did well at lessons, and in exams, especially at maths and sciences. it wasn't that I didn't like sports, but I preferred things like Martial Arts. By the end of school I was a brown belt in Karate. But for all of it I was bullied. There were often times I even wished I was not as good at school. Is it any surprise then that I got into alternative music?

Of course these matters seem pointless in hindsight once on goes to university and finds that where before you were part of an apparent minority, you are now part of a larger, a more diverse, and accepting, body of people and peers. Of course I feel I would never have gotten to university, and even got my invitation grades lowered, if I had not been a geek.

Throughout university I was still doing wargaming, and for 3 years worked part time at a Games Workshop store. While there the parents of the kids that came in were often surprised to learn that I was a degree student. They could see that this hobby promote the types of skills and interests that would lead to their kids going to university.

Of course while at university I also joined gaming groups, joined the anime society, and became more alternative. I was a industrial/cybergoth in the making.

My degree of course is quite geeky. It started out as just chemistry, but then took a computing angle, and my final degree project was the simulation of water. So I was now a programmer/chemist. I worked in an office compiling code, reading up of quantum mechanics. I was a chemist, just not in a white coat.

Of course this led to me doing a PhD in computational chemistry. My skills expanded and I learnt about AI, neural networks, machine learning, protein folding (you know the stuff on the PS3). I was becoming an expert in my field, writing papers in a unique part of chemistry. Of course I was still roleplaying during this time, but I had also stopped wargaming. I needed the time, and the money. I also got into the industrial/goth scene around this time, and found that many of the goths in the city were also scientist geeks of some form, or artist geeks. I also met my wife half way through my PhD. We originally met over the internet. We were both members of a goth meetup, but never were at the same one at the same time. So we met up one day, geeked out over Spiderman films, and then spent a lot of the day walking around geek shops, like Forbidden Planet. Sam of course brought into my life all her geek interests, some I get, some I don't, and she in turn is now an important member of my rpg group. We also cosplay when we get the opportunity as our favourite anime characters.

So where am I now? I have almost finished my first postdoc research post at the University of Warwick, and I will be moving to Germany for my new job. I have also been married for almost 3 years, with Venice now being a geeky obsession of mine, as it is a place I got engaged in, married in, and I have also written about, both for my own games, and for the rpg Amaranthine (my first shot at freelance writing). I now also co-host the Darker Days Podcast, a World of Darkness focused podcast.
Since moving to Warwick I have set up another gaming group which consists of computer game artists, battle re-enactors and political researchers.

Now I am no paragon of geekdom. I have had my rants. Be it against those who bitch and moan about a company catering to their tastes, or having a rant a person who kills their gaming party in the first scene. I also dislike certain hobbies, but that is not to say that I do not accept that others.

So what is my message to other geeks who feel as if they are the outcast, or that their hobbies are some form of social impediment. They are not. These geek hobbies can fuel the mind and imagination in a way that can lead to finding other like minded friends, and can be turned into respectable jobs. After all in this day and age of computers and technology and computer games, don't geeks somewhat rule the world? Of all the people that have encouraged me, it has been my mother who has pushed me with my studies, accepted my hobbies and in fact got me started in them.

So there we go. I am a proud geek, and there are more out there than you realize. They just don't look like the stereotype.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Posted via email from Etheric Labs at http://doctorether.posterous.com

Zero Charisma -- IndieGoGo Fucking A! #roleplay

via indiegogo.com

New Changeling ebook cover

New Venice ebook cover by malacar.

Untitled

 

 

 

[advice] Do you have a plan? @darkerdaysradio

      In came up over a few pints between myself and David the issue of how much planning do we put into running a roleplay game.  David admits to being lazy and working on the fly. I plan a lot, and have loads of notes that may never see use, but exist anyway. So which way is best? Related to this we also considered the nature of a setting and whether or not you  plan your setting and plot before or after characters are created.

       Our realization. I plan TV series that assume a null hypothesis.

      What does that mean? Ok I plaan long plots. In fact I have in mind multi season plot arcs. I find that most one shots I run for a game are often a test of the setting for the series. They are the 'pilot' episode, where the basic feeel of the setting and the game can be tried out, just like in the Fading Suns game I ran recently. That plot comes out of the back of the 2nd edition core book, but I have a whole chronicle planned to follow from it. What do I like about this way of planning? The ability to dip in. I can look at the events of the chronicle from the angle of any for off antagonist, and choose to play from any point along the timeline of the series. I can dip in and start from any point, and the players really have little or no clue to this. This is a sort of fail safe so that I can create a plot, and if the game falls  apart and I restart with a new group I can play from a point I haad originally hope to gett to in the past.

      Ok that seems fair. A person wants to get something out of the game they are running. I like to have the feeling that there are grrand plot arcs and that I can sample the plot at different points, since to me these represent different types of gameplay i.e. you begin at the very start of the plots and are a starting troupe of characters, or you begin at the half way of the plot and are an experienced group. The issues that each group deals with at those points in the plots are very different. Thus I have built in tiers of gameplay in my settings.

     This gets us to the other point, that of the null hypothesis. David asked me why I plaan before character creation. I answered that I want to make the players feel like they are within in the setting, but that the setting doesn't just hinge upon them being.  So that means events will occur in the setting whether or not the players are aware of them. Therefore it is up to the players to get involved in the plot. Of course some plot points I have left loose so that I can work the players in properly, or I have left entire areas open to incorporate the player ideas. So then David asked what happens to the setting with the players interacting, surely nothing? That I said is not correct. The  fact is that setting will always result in the a change, and it is up to the players to interact with  that mechanism of change. There is no status quo. The players are interacting with the setting at a point of upheaval in the setting, no matter how minor. This means if, for a new group of players we start at season 2 of the settting, it assumes that the events  off season 1 have happened but that the players never interacted with it. Thus the null hypothesis. What happens to the setting if the players don't interact with it. This is because I also think about what reactions NPCs would have to the player interactions. I get behind the mind of the NPCs so that believable reactions can occur in responce to player actions.

     Now I would say that there is merit in designing a chronicle simply about the info you get given  on the player characters, or having a looser setting, or handing out to players  pre-generated characters that fit in with your plot. After all these are just tools and guidelines.

Update - As always these are not at any frequency.

In general how are things. I would say good and getting better. The other month saw me finish me latest application to the Leverhulme trust. This again would be the funding that would let me also do teaching for 2 years, and so has a significant payrise attached to it. Last year the competition was tough and this year I expect it to be no different. But there are a few changes this time round. Only those who have had phds in the last 5 years could apply. This means true early career researchers and so no competition from those who should have had their career sorted out by now.

Also at work I have 2 papers on the go. One is almost complete, with few changes, which I feel is a good measure of my own skills since my time back in Manchester. I'll be glad to see these two papers done since they are proof of principle type things and so anything after is the icing on the cake.

Home wise the cats are now all well since their operations a month ago. Yamato is just a big, athletic killer of a cat, while Kalina is just the same old cute, little cat. I doubt she will grow much more than she is, making her a 2.5 kilo cat. Tiny!

On the gaming front, the last week gone David and Aidan tried out 'Chaos in the Old World'. It's a Fantasy  Flight game based on the idea of each player being one of the 4 Chaos gods directing the war of Chaos on the Old World in Warhammer. It is very good. Excellent gameplay, and great tatics involved.

The weekend before I had the chance at showing some of the guys 'Fading Suns' and essentially dusting off the chronicle I ran while in Manchester. It was met with enthusiasm and was seen as a great sci fi game while not being too heavy on the science in the setting, and really being great fun to play since the setting places the player  characters in a position of command, while still being at the bottom of the rung in some respects. I can see this game being played more frequently in the near  future.

Also on the roleplay front Changeling now creeps to its conclusion and I now prepare to run Exalted. I am both excited and scared by this prospect.

Finally, on the roleplay side  of things I am near the completion of my Venice setting ebook for Changeling, and I have also co-hosted, and expect to do so again, on the Darker Days Radio podcast for White Wolf games. It was a blast and I eagerly await the next recording.

Onwards then? More papers, more recordings, more roleplay, oh and Combichrist are playing in Leamington!

Fadings Suns - Intro Game

Fading Suns: Hyperion Falls

Intro Game

 

A New Year.... what may be going on

So Xmas has been and gone, and it was spent happily at home with my wife Sam and our kittens, who were only 3 months old. For this reason we opted not to travel the length of England to visit parents. Instead my parents should be staying over some time soon now that we have a decent new sofa/futon bed.

As for the kittens, boy are thy growing. Last check the boy, Yamato, was a full 400g heavier. We were told he eats like a pig when we got him. Both kittens are now fully vaccinated and have had more deworming (something I will have to do again in a month, but it's easy and should be the last time). In unrelated circumstances our last hamster, Marishka, finally died of old age, being well over 2 years old.

Present wise has so far seen

- Sam got me a book on the journey of Marco Polo

- Her mum got me a book on the history of the Royal Society for science

- Xmas money got me a shirt and jacket as seen in previous posts, and Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, which is good comic relief from AC2-Brotherhood

- Still expecting some presents off my parents to arrive when my sister stays over

Roleplay wise things have been on pause due to the festivities, and now should be on again as of next week as we push into the last half/third of changeling the lost, with a reprisal of Vampire along the way, and then on to running some Exalted.

Work wise sees the mopping up of my latest paper, finally, and working towards the next, as well as another round of funding application. I hope to have that done end of Feb and the current work over and done with come end of March.

This weekend sees a pre-emptive birthday drinks meetup with the roleplay group and friends, as I turn 28 on Tuesday next week. 28 seems definitely older. And we also have the pleasure of Anna and Mark visiting on Saturday/Sunday, which is great as he also turns 28 the day after me. That I feel is a sign of the Old Ones!

Finally did you know that a) I now have coffee/purple/red hair and b) a goatee. Yeah, sure we'll see photos of those soon. But for now...

 

OK Gandalf, sell me on this trip to Mordor? Is it like Butlins?

      God I have had this sat on my posterous ready to write for a while. Life - that meaty real thing we exist in - has gotten in the way of this blog to a certain degree. Mainly these articles.

      So what the hell am I going to rant about next? What seeds of inspiration can I give you? What insights into the games I have run? This time it is Gandalf and his ilk. And by this I mean the ever present old man/CEO/captain/commander who tells the party of players where high adventure (and more importantly plot and thus 'shit to do') lies. This is my love letter to those wise men and suits giving the orders.

 

      When you get your players together, you have to think, how the hell do I even get them to chase after the story of my game. Each person, hopefully, has a well developed background for their character and this is laden with plot hooks to use. The very hooks that when a player spots it in game will get distracted and announce 'Fuck you guys! Plot lies that a' way!', and then proceed to head of on their own quest. This is great. It means the game feels alive as each player character pursues their own goals and desires. But there are times when the plot needs a unified goal, something that all the players will work towards. This is hard. If you, like me, want to have the feeling of not rail roading the players to 'The plot!' then you may just have to deal with the fact the players may just not want to deal with the steaming pile of crap you have set up on the horizon. They are no fools and can smell a turd from a mile away. And this is where Gandalf and his cronies come in. Those vile NPCs who give the players good reason to go routing about in that cesspit.

      Back in the day of my first DnD game I ran, and stuff like Star Wars, my 'Gandalf' was pretty obvious. Some self important person who has a very good reason for the player troupe to go off and take the mission on. It may well be some monetary reason, or something the players are all fighting towards (saving the kingdom/galactic empire etc). But there comes a point when you desire the players to be more proactive. Soon every self important old guy is a 'Gandalf' festooned with plot. Or at least that is what the players come to expect. This was something I wanted to break out of. I wanted the players to figure out what was important and pursue these goals themselves, and not really on the 'Gandalf' and his cattle prod.

     It was while running Vampire: the Requiem (a chronicle I have now run twice and similar results were achieved) that I used the idea of the 'Gandalf' that would in fact back stab the players. Not because the 'Gandalf' was inherently evil, but just that he had his own plans. As up and coming neonates the players would learn that trust is a rare commodity, and this would be the ultimate lesson it trust. It would also show the importance of knowledge and being proactive (something my wife did well at, even going as far as double crossing the entire coterie and their boss and selling them out to the other side!). They even found other 'Gandalfs' that they didn't trust that in fact turned out to be good allies.

     In comparison, when running Fading Suns, the 'Gandalf' was light years away, having sent them on their mission across the stars. They had a mission, with a few caveats, but otherwise they were open to how they achieved it. This allowed me to introduce other more temporary 'Gandalf' like characters that they could choose to ignore if they wished. Again this allowed the players to pursue the main mission, their own goals, and even take up other jobs if it meant that they gain something form of extra leverage in their main missions.

     Now, in Changeling, things are quite different. Changeling: the Lost has very obvious player goals from the outset. They don't want to go back to Arcadia and the Fae. They want some form of their old life back (or perhaps something better). They may want revenge or to learn the secrets of the Fae. Either way this means the players come with a lot of their own goals and plot hook on which I can run the game. Now the 'Gandalf' types I have suffer from many shades of grey, so it has come down to the players to really determine what things they are pursuing plot wise, and who to trust. This of course lends itself well to the setting of Changeling where the society of the players revolves around pledges and contracts.

    Ultimately the use of the 'Gandalf' has to be done. You need to present plot. But there are ways to make this more interesting than the typical 'You go into the bar and a old man comes to you asking for your help'. Trust is the first thing to play with. Then there are the player movtivations and character goals. Lastly, a trick I look forward to using, is to make one of the characters the 'leader' and make them set the goals of the group. This may come into practice during my next part of my Vampire setting, where we do a sequel to the last chronicle and bring back one of the old player characters to be team leader.

 

    So Gandalf? Who do you deal with the pipe smoking old git?

Cthulhutech

via veoh.com

Just what were you expecting it to be about???

      Ever picked up a game and thought 'How do I run this game?' What is the first thing you do? Yes you read the setting material. You read the rules. You read the small short stories and the examples of play. And of course, if it is included, you watch films, read books and listen to music that are quoted as being inspiration for the game.

      So recently, in a very lengthy online discussion on forum (so yes it did get a little bitchy) I was confronted with problem. A person wanting to run Vampire: the Requiem, and his players, dislike the setting of the game because they found the Covenants too shallow, and that there was no 'ancient enemy', like in Masquerade, and that the exploration of what it means to be a Vampire was too boring (or too emo). What he, and his players wanted, was an in built purpose (i.e. I am this type of monster and this is what I do) more akin to say Hunter: the Vigil, or even the Forsaken in Werewolf: the Forsaken. He wanted clearly designed goals for the players, and in his terms, quests. In turned out he and his players wanted their game to be more like the PC game, Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines.

     So I sat back and had a think about this, how he could play a game within the Requiem setting that also gave him and his players what they wanted. And what I realized is this. Some STs are really quite lazy and unimaginative. All the things present in Masquerade were easily simulated in Requiem. In fact you know had books that presented you a multitude of options that you could use. It was up to the ST and not White Wolf, to say what was fact, what was history and what was just a myth. The complaint this ST had was that he was not given a consistent origin for Vampires.

      You see, as stated in a recent White Wolf pod cast, Requiem replicates somewhat the experience of vampires in 'Interview with the Vampire'. The vampires are not gods, they have to fear humans, and they have no true clue as to their origin. Using this in a game, where the players and the NPCs are all for all intents and purposes immortal is important. It means myths and legends remain so. And that Vampires, due to the imperfect memories they retain by sleeping through the ages, have to rely on faith for their beliefs and codes of conduct. It means younger Vampires do not have to taken an elders beliefs as fact. This to me is exciting and means it is up to the players and ST to come to their own conclusions. Requiem is thus built on contradictions so that conflict arises due to conflicts of faith/belief/philosophy. And all of this is important to Vampires, as it up to them to believe what they want so that they can better understand their own place in the world and reconcile their monsterous nature. But, with such tropes so common in Vampire media, why is this such an issue? What was this ST and has players wanting from a game about Vampires? Ah, cool powers, things more darker than the player characters to kill, and some sort of higher calling. They wanted to be dark heroes.

     This left me wondering. Is it bad to think that people are really not running the game as intended by the designers. Now, you can say, and this is fair, that players can run the game the way they like it. It's their game after all. But when you run a game that is so against the grain of the game as it is designed, where many of the important issues of the setting and systems that reinforce those, are made moot by the 'collateral damage' attitude taken in the game, why even bother using that game to run what you want. Why not find something that caters for the action you seek but simulates the Vampires in a more action orientated way. Hell just play Masquerade if you want ancient evils, and forget about whining how Requiem does not have that in the setting. And if that is still not enough why not just make the modifications to the game yourself. All the tools and ideas are there. And failing that do your own research and make up your own setting material.

    I often feel like those that complain the most about the game are those who are too lazy to put in the hard work to make the game their own.

Changeling: the Lost - Venice Unmasked - Origins

 

The origins of my Changeling chronicle run deep. Back with an old gaming group we had played a long chronicle of Vampire: the Dark Ages during which the characters had a few visits to the city of Venice. The setting for the game was around the events of the Fourth Crusade, the shocking event where Venice, seeking retribution, diverted the forces of the Crusade from Jerusalem to the city of Byzantium, settling an old score for the Doge.

Of course my interest in Venice grew when I had the chance to go there for a holiday with my wife, when we were just only going out at the time. I had always wanted to visit the city, for its history, art, culture, food and magic of the Carnival. We went during that celebration and went to a masked ball at a grand palazzo, ate loads of food and indulged in the decadent city. It would also be during this time that we would get engaged and the following year return to Venice for our wedding. As a result Venice has invaded my mind. It is a city steeped with history and legend, and is a unusual and unique location.

So why Changelings in Venice? Well I guess because Venice is an easy setting to grab hold of for games like Mage and Vampire. Venice has been the centre of religious, political and scientific intrigue. So not using those games has been a challenge. Changelings seem to fit the concept of Carnival better. They have a need to reclaim life, yet hide amongst the revellers. Venice is also known as the 'Fairy City' and has it's own legends of the Fae visiting the city, and so it has been more exciting looking at Venice through this lens rather than the brooding gothic of Vampires, or the occult war of Mages.

Changeling will be...

A lot of this

 

 

 

 

Annoyed

So this relates to some thing I wrote as gaming advice here . So what has gone wrong.

Well way back before Xmas, James M left Leamington and thus our roleplay group. Fine. James was an excellent member of the group and put a lot of energy and effort into the game. Faultless!

I then, fearing the worst for the gaming group, tried recruiting more players. This did not work out as personalities clashed and the group felt uneasy. I felt uneasy. So the problem player was removed from the group, and good terms. And things seemed to go back to as they were.

But then, one of the players, had issues at work, meaning long hours etc. So fine, the game went on hold for about 2 months. I then eventually restarted it. Got 1 week of play, then a week off, then another week of play, then another week off, then finally another week of play and nothing.

What happened. Well last week we were meant to play, at the usual time, the usual place. But did they turn up? No. See half the troupe is  a couple and so if one doesn't turn up then neither does the other. So they didn't turn up, didn't forewarn me of this, and when I did get a response (after texting and calling both their phones) all I got was 'we forgot'.

Sam emailed them and no that wasn't the issue. See they know how much effort I put into the games, preparing everything. But the response we got was that Kate, now did not enjoy the games, felt it was too complex, and that no one was into the game.

I am rightly offended by this. Firstly I have run the same exact plot before, to completion (oh did I say we had two sessions left of gaming before the end of the entire series) with no complaints (in fact everyone else has applauded the immersion/level of complexity in the conspiracy to make it fun and dark). Secondly, the only person I have noted that is not into the game is Kate. And thirdly, if there were issues with it getting a little complex I could have understood, and eased things a bit.

But no. She came out with her issues from no where and so has left may gaming group in the lurch (i.e. non existent). All this before the end of the chronicle and thus leaving me with no conclusion played out (I will write it though) and with me having to find a whole host of new players for my changeling game.

What really annoyed me is that saying that there were too many characters to keep track of in the game (my plots have a cast of about 20) is crap. Why? I have all the gaming session written up, online, in multiple locations for her to read. But I know, fact, that she has never read a single one. So of course it is hard to remember everything, but that is what the actual play reports are for.

Conclusion.... I am very pissed off with this. Fine the game got too complex perhaps. But is the rudeness in the communication (lack off) and the presumption of whether anyone is enjoying the game (it is very easy for one person to sap the energy from the game).

So yeah. Hopefully soon a new gaming group for changeling the lost. 

Communication Frequencies

       This has all the chance of becoming a rant. But I will try and stay on topic. It's all about communication.So why this topic. I will get to that as examples.       

      Roleplay games are a form of communication between a group of friends. The thing being communicated is fun, unity and of course the story which is what the game is. But of course things are never perfect. Things can fall apart and break. And it is this that I have experienced first hand, and very recently.       

      

      For a roleplay game troupe to survive there must be communication. Communication between the players and the storyteller. It is two way street and has to be respected. We need this communication so that everyone is one the same page. We use it to understand what each individual wants to get out the game and to learn why things are not quite working/what is working and if there are any issues that need to be worked around.

      The first thing for a rpg troupe that must be communicated is whether or not the group gets along. This may not be obvious at first, but it should never be held back. Keeping quite about things like this can lead to a very cancerous atmosphere in the gaming group where the energy is sapped away and people start looking for excuses for not showing up. It is only by finding out about this issue that it can be addressed and remedied in what ever manner suitable for the group. You can't be afraid of hurting someone's feelings when the entire troupe is at stake (this is an issue I will return to a lot).

      Next up is the game. It is important that everyone has an idea about what everyone wants to get out of the game. You can't run a game that no one wants to play. Equally players can't play characters in a manner that is harmful to the game experience of the rest of the troupe. It is by communication that the desires of all troupe members can be ascertained and a balance can be met. Again, don't be afraid that you are going to hurt someone's feelings. Better to nip this in the bud now than to let it fester through 5 gaming sessions. In fact a persons expectations of a game can change over the lifetime of the game and it is important that this too is communicated.

      Next, the players are struggling. So the game is basically what everyone wants to play. However, along the line it has got too difficult for the players to comprehend. They feel like they are lost, trapped, and basically have no control over the game. In that case it is important to make that known to the storyteller. Things can be easily tweaked and adjusted to make the game experience more fun and less confusing. Once more it is better to say these things rather than be afraid that the storyteller will take offence.

      Next, Characters. Now I have come up against this a few times. And really I find the excuses for not doing so weak. But here goes. Playing in a roleplay game that is story (and thus character) drive, rather than dice roll driven, requires a certain amount of player commitment. You have a certain idea for a character you want to play? Fine, great. But please, please, please write out some form of background for them. Communicate the character concept, put the effort in. Otherwise, why bother? The game and the setting are not just the sole responsibility of the storyteller.       Finally, and this is a big one relating to most of the above. If things are really not going well outside of game then just speak up, tell the person running the game and things will be fine. Simply not turning up, and not giving enough notice is plain rude! Now sometimes this is not always possible, but those times are rare. In this day and age a simple phone call and text to say you can't make it are easy. However, it is a bad habit to do this always on the day of the game, a few hours before. A day or so before means the person running the game can have time to reschedule things.

      Now am I going to rant about my more personal experiences of any the above? No. Not yet. But that doesn't mean I am happy currently with certain things, and feel very annoyed. Simple good manners are hard to come by these days it seems.

Shit I need to Write about this week

This list is purely to help me, but then again it may amuse you.

 

·         Write up Vampire session from last week.
      o   Includes a player character dealing with a death of a loved one.
      o   A massive political conspiracy which the players choose to go darkside with.
      o   The madness of the Circle of the Crone Winter Solstice rites.
·         Write up more motleys for Changeling.
      o   So far I have focused on Spring Court centric motleys. Next up will be Summer Court.
·         Restarting my efiction story that is based a lot on Mage: the Awakening.
·         Write more gaming advice bits and pieces. Perhaps how to get the most out of your players? Dealing with difficult subjects in game? A mini review of Fading Suns and why I love it?
·         My new tv. Second hand Sony Bravia.(I made sure the sucker was full hd and not hd ready). The lounge/kitchen in the flat now feels significantly bigger now the CRT TV of doom is gone.

     o   So far we have watched on it: Charlie Jade (intro sequence is awesome), FF7: Advent Children, Transformers, Bring it On (this was because in all that we needed watched something light hearted.... and filled with Kirsten Dunst :D )

     o   We will be watching: All of Devil May Cry anime again, PotC trilogy, The Matrix, 300 (or Zoo as a friend told me that his friend thought the poster said), and pretty much anything else. All non Blu Ray at this point

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Episode...

           So Episodes, and their structure. Last time was looked at taking the chronicle pitch and planning out the series of events that would tell this story. Now we have a series of events that tell a particular story that we wish to run, we will now look at exploring a few of these events that take place together, or almost together, and now plan an episode about these.

 

An episode in any TV series depicts a small part of the larger story. An event occurs, like a murder, a theft, a discovery, a terrible accident (this list is limitless really) and deals with the immediate causes and effects about this event. For instance in Supernatural in season 2 a girl foresees the death of one of the main characters. This is a story that revolves around a simple concept, even though it is part of a larger plot for the entire season and series. However, Supernatural  is also a show that is filled with episodes that have no relation to the main season or series plot.

 

Now lets take an example event and apply an apply it to an episode. Let us once more refer to my Vampire: the Requiem chronicle and take a major event, the assassination of the leader of the Carthians. This event involves a number of things. First let us look at causes. There is the need for the opponents of the Carthians to cause unrest within this political group. There is also the need to show that even those in a position of power are just as likely targets as anyone else. This event within the chronicle is a critical moment as it initiates a number of things. Firstly it escalates the rumours of a conspiracy within the Carthians. It also starts the election process and more importantly makes the player characters (PCs) key witnesses, investigators and allies as they become involved in the whole mess.

 

So we have the reasons for an event occurring, and also the desired (yes, desired, there is no guarantee that any of this will happen) outcomes after the event. Now let’s apply these to the episode.

 

Generally an episode consists of a number of scenes. In TV again let’s take Supernatural  as an example. An episode in that show has a number of keys scenes. Typically they are;

 

·        Find out that some weird shit has gone down and arrive at the location and discover the first bits of information on the weirdness. Who has died? How? Where? And any other little bits of weird evidence.

·        The first initial investigation that leads up to a conflict, either directly or indirectly with the antagonistic force. So this may be searching a haunted location and some initial attacks by the ghost, or say, in the episode ‘Wendigo’ , the conflict is the presentation of a complication, like the theft of survival equipment.

·        There is then the next bit of investigation and a series of revelations.

·        Another scene based upon some form of conflict or challenge that leads to the tension of the episode being heightened.

·        A scene where the last bits of investigation and revelation leads to the group being able to formulate some form of plan or solution, which takes us to…

·         Final conflict/challenge event.

·        The last key scene deals with the resolution of the event and some form of character growth.

 

So that is 7 key scenes. Now that is not a hard and fast rule. There can be more or less scenes depending upon the complexity of the story and the player choices. Now just like the chronicle structure of events, scenes are, in a way, mini-events, and they are a guideline of how the players get from the start of the episode to the end. Not all of scenes will happen. Others may occur without player knowledge and so with their interference, and so take place ‘off screen’. Some scenes may even need to be added on the fly. But really there are 3 scenes that have to occur. The introduction, the finale and conclusion, and a scene in the middle where the tension and risk in the story are heightened. If we can map the tension in the episode it should increase slowly towards the middle of the episode, spike, then increase slowly (perhaps drop a little) then spike up again before settling for the conclusion.

 

Now an episode does not have to focus on just one plot line, it is possible to include two or even three plot lines. This adds to the complexity, however, it is best within the episode to focus on a conclusion that involves the just one of the plot lines. So while other plot events are being heightened for the other plots, one plot progresses so that a significant event occurs. It is this event which is then the main focus of the episode.

 

To help in the design of episodes it may well be worth trying to classify the episode using the ‘Thirty-Six Dramatic Situation’ by Georges Polti. These have been shown in ‘Mage: the Ascension – Storytellers Guide’. Along with ‘The Big List of RPG Plots’ by S. John Ross, we can identify the type/types of stories being told in an episode. We are even able mix and match these plot archetypes, going as far as making and episode appear to be one type of plot before, as a twist, becoming another. The old bait ‘n’ switch.

 

So what more can I now add? Well how about just the act of writing an episode. Script over notes? Notes every time. Typically each scene in my notes consists of a few basic elements.

 

·        Name – Just to inspire the writer more than anything.

·        Objective – Well exactly what it says. What is the point of this scene? What should be revealed or occur.

·        Location – a brief description of the location, including anything atmospheric. Perhaps included a list of sights, smells, sounds.

·        NPCs – a list of NPCs present for this scene and why they are present.

·        Play by Play of the scene – this list simply is a bullet point description of the scene and how it ideally should play out, with further bullet points for contingencies.

·        Clues – every scene should be treated as if it is a crime scene, laden with clues, but also red herrings.

 

Really the advantage of this is to allow absolute flexibility, while not having planned out so much that all that hard work is wasted when the players go off on a tangent or find an unusual solution or mess up on an epic scale. Scripts are only of use when you have a particular scene in mind that has to occur. Most often this is at the start of an episode.

 

So that rounds that up. Next time will be roleplay techniques in game that I make use of, and then we may look at just general horror roleplay tips.

 

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Show me a Film, Tell me a Story

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So last time I went on about chronicle structure. How to put together episodes of a chronicle to make a coherent whole that tells a main story and follows sub plots, in such a way that it allows for the players to have as much influence over the direction of the plot as possible. This time we look at taking that structure and using it for a chronicle idea. But first we must consider the main issue. Just what do you want to run for your chronicle?

The chronicle follows a pitch, a main idea that will sell the chronicle to your players. So for example let us take a few chronicles and games that I have played in. Firstly for Vampire: the Requiem the pith was simple;

"The players are a group of recently embraced vampires who become involved in the deadly political games of the Carthian Movement, an election for a position of power, and the power games between the Covenants."

Pretty simple. So far the players have been working for one of the Carthian election candidates, and have seen firsthand the benefits of change and conservatism within the Carthians, and all this occurring before the larger back drop of intra-covenant power games, elements of which that can be investigated in sequel chronicles.

Another example is a Technocracy game for Mage: the Ascension in which I played;

"The players are a task force of operatives using enlightened science, combating a variety of threats, including a conspiracy within their own department."

Again simple.

Another, this time for Fading Suns;

"The players are a group of Questing Knights and their entourage, having set out from Byzantium Secundus, to investigate the claims of a lost house of nobles on the recently rediscovered world of Iver."

This last one is for something I am planning for Geist;

"The players are a Krewe of Sin-Eaters in Paris, and must deal with the needs of the dead that haunt the city, and also the insane plans of a ghostly mage who plans to rewrite the face of the city and the world itself".

So those are all pitches. In a sentence or so your chronicle has a definite concept, the players a purpose, and of course there is an end. So now we must take these pitches and elaborate on them in order to fill out the potential 7-10 episodes of the chronicle.

First and foremost be flexible. Episodes contain events. Some of these events occur only due to player interaction. Others occur even if the players do take action. Some events will occur with the player’s knowledge, others will not. So across the 10 or so episodes will be a series of events that can take place, and it is these events that push the story along. They also are the frame work for the chronicle's start, middle and end.

For example, in Vampire right now there are three main events that define the player's chronicle and journey. In the start they are presented to the Chairman of the city (the Carthian equivalent of Prince). In the middle we have the assassination of the Carthian Prefect. The final event is the election and the consequences for the players. These events are set in stone. They occur regardless of player interaction, and are the result of NPCs acting, rather than reacting. The players react to these events, but have freedom in how they get from one event to the next.

Other events can then be added along the chronicle timeline. They can be things like people having secret meetings, murders, thefts etc. Now these are events that can be discovered or simply the effects of them felt (for instance the Invictus and Ordo Dracul team up in my chronicle and the meeting of course takes place secretly. There is then a later event, an Ordo Dracul ritual, which the players drop in on as they follow clues. If they didn't discover it a vampire would have died and they would not have known why).

Once these key events have been put in place, and others littered throughout (or at least ideas of events for a chronicle can move direction dramatically due to player involvement) you are now in the position of putting these events into episodes.

The other advantage of this event planning is that you take a simple pitch and can elaborate upon it easily. For instance, going back to the Vampire election plot as you have noted there are interactions with the Ordo Dracul and Invictus. Now these were not in the original pitch, but have been added as the event time line, based upon the pitch, has been laid out. But how?

Well NPCs are not static reactionary plot instigators. They are characters like the PCs. They too have plans and react. They also have history. So the looking at the Carthian election plot the questions were who would want to interfere and what do they want to get out of it. This is where event planning becomes a two way street of ideas. Some events are based upon background material you have developed already for your game setting. Some events ideas will in fact shape this material. For instance the Ordo Dracul, why do they want to be involved in the election plot? Well they are banned from the city for some reason. Now this reason was either a) already written down by me or b) (and this is true) was an amendment to the background based upon the desire to have them act as an outcast group.

So from pitch to chronicle is about planning events (not too rigidly though) that lead the main plot (and eventually sub plots) from set events that occur at the start, to the end, via events in the middle. By looking at these events, their source and results, you can further expand upon the pitch and the background material of your setting, leading to a plot that has internal logic to why things are occurring.

Next time we will look at episode planning, taking events from our timeline and expanding them into entire episodes.

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