The Dread Fuzzy Blog

Game Chef 2008 results

2008-05-16T11:22:29Z

So, the results of the judging of this years Game Chef have now been posted and are available in this thread.

First off I'd like to congratulate the winners and say that I had a really, really good time participating. I think that the use of art as a direct inspiration to game design was inspired and worked extremely well and that it produced a lot of cool art sets and very neat games.

And what of The Three Clans? Well, amazingly, it won an honourary award! I know, no one was more shocked than me. You can see the award here and I've copied the text of what Andy K wrote below:

Best Game That Uses All Those Hippie Mechanical things like Set Structured Scenes, Endgames, Interpretive Card Mechanics and the Like The Three Clans by Geoff Hall.

Although individually a lot of writers were trying new styles, exploring new grounds, and experimenting with design, when I stepped back and looked at the entries in aggregate, it was like a field full of Structured Scenes; Playing cards or something in a certain way then interpreting the results and narrating, stuff like that. And you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an Endgame mechanic. However, this game really ties them all together in a pretty epic way. You're telling the story of a clan war (and if the focus wasn't such on barbarians, I could see it working for a Romance/Tale of the Three Kingdoms style story) between three clans.

The setting is rich and expansive, complete with backstory of the world and events. I almost lament the tightness of the structure at times, it feels a little too constrained even as it focuses the story on clear barbarian leaders, hunters and priests. However, because of the scale, the story, and all the heart that went into it, this is one that I'd love to try sometime (though I'd still probably want looser story/adventure scenes, to have a little more freedom in playing the role and the resulting events). Solid example texts, too.

So thank you to Andy; I really appreciate the award as I felt that TTC had become lost in the sea of GC games and, due to my obscurity and lack of marketing nous, was destined to be buried forever. And what now post-GC? Well I fully intend to carry on with development of TTC. The text needs tightening up in general and the resolution mechanic used within the scenes needs a real overhaul. There's a lack of choices and options in the game at the moment and I want to open it up somewhat and make it a little less restricted. I also need to try and contact Kevin Allen Jr. about use of his art set as, right now, I have no rights to use it with the competition finished. If anyone has any ideas as to how I would go about contacting him then please speak up as I'm clueless!

The Three Clans

2008-04-28T23:13:10Z

Well, I just uploaded my Game Chef entry to the official submissions thread:

My entry

I'm pretty certain that most of Chapter 6. is rubbish but that's okay. It's done, it's up there and I can proudly say that I finished a good 7 hours before the deadline. Now I need to sleep!

What I will note, before heading bedwards, is that I've had a lot of fun with Game Chef in my first time entering. It's amazing just how much you can manage to get done when you have a deadline to work to, even with kids, work and other Real Life™ things getting in the way. The Three Clans is a little longer than I'd like at just shy of 13k words but that's okay. Carrying on after Game Chef is over will allow me time to do some serious editing, something that the game currently lacks. It will also give me a chance to actually playtest the thing. I'd hoped to do that on Saturday but the reality was that I wasn't far enough along to get a playtest in. It's a shame as I think the game would really have benefited but there's no point beating myself up over it. In the end I've achieved what I set out to do and I'm happy with the final result.

Feel free to check it out (bearing in mind that the format of GC this year required the submitting of games in plain .txt format, hence the rather basic nature of the submission.)

It's cookin' time!

2008-04-18T10:20:44Z

So I've been hanging fire a little on Anarchy recently as I've had a fair amount to do outside of game design, although I've tweaked it since I posted up chapters 2, 3 and 4 here. I'm not too bothered though as it was always going on the back-burner sometime around now because Game Chef 2008 is kicking off. In fact it has kicked off, a few hours earlier than expected.

Thus far I've blitzed through all of the art submissions and have been impressed by many of the entries, not least of those being the steampunk set submitted by ginasketch. My initial reaction, though, is to go for a sci-fi theme and base my game around the victoriana/sci-fi bugs of Bjamesyoung. That's just after a first pass though, I've got a few art sets to look at again before I make my final choice.

Whatever the case I'm psyched to be participating this year, even if I have no idea what kind of gae I'm going to make!

I wanna destroy...

2008-04-02T19:04:30Z

...possibly.

Okay, the final chapter (thus far) in my playtest doc is Chapter 4: System and Scenes which talks about the structure of an Anarchy session, the mechanics of conflict resolution and the consequences thereof. Behind the cut:

Chapter 4: System & Scenes

Okay, now you have a character and your group has a Cell; you’re ready to go out into the world and bring down The Man, fight the power, rage against the machine and generally bring about a new world order. So how do you do it?

Sessions and Scenes

To start with a discussion of the structure of a session of Anarchy is probably necessary. A Session of Anarchy (i.e. an evening’s play) will be broken down into a number of Scenes. Much like a TV show these Scenes will focus on one or more characters and will serve to drive the plot for that Session (or arc of Sessions) forwards.

So how do you generate these Scenes?

Initially that job will fall to the Games Master (GM) whose job it is to provide the plot and adversity against which the players will pit themselves. Once the first Scene has been set (called Framing the Scene, or Scene Framing) and the players have acted it out to its conclusion the job of Framing the next Scene will technically fall to the player on the GM’s left and will rotate clockwise around the table as the Session progresses.

In reality of course it is entirely probable that people will have cool ideas for their own Scenes (i.e. Scenes involving their PC in some central way), or suggestions for Scenes for other PCs (or even NPCs), totally out of turn order and that’s absolutely fine. The suggested progression of Scene Framing is simply there to try and ensure that everyone gets a chance to Frame their own Scene during the Session and to try and encourage player participation in the Scene Framing process.

However, none of that answers the central question of how one actually Frames a Scene. It’s really a very simple process if you bear a few essential points in mind.

A Scene should be doing one of two things (or, preferably, both of them together):
- Driving the plot forwards;
- Showcasing character growth.
A Scene should not be open ended; it should be heading towards something.
A Scene should be engaging for everyone at the table.

Keeping those three points in focus you then simply set out an opening to a Scene. Describe the location, who is there (PCs and NPCs, including your character) and what the beginning situation is. You can go into as much or as little detail as you like but try to make sure you strike a good balance between giving everyone at the table enough to work with (especially if their character is involved) and rambling for minutes about this cool situation that you’ve conceived of. Remember, it won’t seem quite so cool to the other players if they have to listen to you go on about it for five minutes before they get to see what happens!

What if the GM or other players aren’t happy with your Scene as Framed?

During the Scene Framing it’s entirely possible that one or more other people around the table might have a neat idea for an addition to the Scene or a twist to the described situation. Alternatively someone may not like a part of the Scene or may have a problem with something in the set-up. Don’t be scared to share your ideas or issues and, as the Scene Framer, don’t be offended if people suggest alterations to your set-up. Just remember point (3) above and be willing to listen. Such suggestions should be saved until the Scene has been initially Framed (no need to knock the Framer off of their flow) and the player who is Framing the Scene has a veto on these suggestions. It is, after all, their Scene.

Finally, if she has not already done so, the GM is allowed to suggest changes to a Scene. Usually this will just be done at the same time that the other players throw out ideas because there is something that the GM thinks would be cool or fitting. Sometimes, however, the suggested Scene might really mess with the flow or pacing of the game or be set-up using ridiculous assumptions about the world or situation or be Framed in such a way as to give the PCs an unrealistic advantage given their prior actions or preparations.

In such cases it is up to the GM (assuming another player hasn’t already called the Framer on it, which they are completely entitled to do) to hold up her hands and say ‘woah, that may sound cool to you but it’s seriously uncool for the game and the story.’ Of course such a blanket statement doesn’t help anyone, which is why the GM should then explain why the Scene, or certain aspects of it, don’t make sense or are based on wonky assumptions. Even more helpful will be some suggestions as to what could be changed to keep the Scene mostly intact whilst addressing those problems.

Given that Anarchy is very much a collaborative exercise in storytelling the GM should only exercise this authority when strictly necessary and should always seek buy-in from the other players when doing so. Just remember that the game should be fun for everyone at the table, the GM just as much as the other players. Wrecking the feel of the game that has been established in previous Scenes isn’t on and more advice on this aspect of play, among other things, is given in Chapter 5: Playing and Running Anarchy.

And what ‘something’ should Scenes be ‘heading towards?’

All right, so you know how to Frame a Scene in the most basic sense now but what should you be aiming for when Framing your Scene? What is the point of your Scene? The answer is, usually, Conflict.

When you Frame your Scene you should always have an end point in mind. It may be the case that things don’t go as you envisage it (working with other people is tricky that way) but nonetheless the Scene should have a definite end point. You see this in TV shows where each Scene comes to an end at an appropriate time before the show cuts to the next Scene, generally either when something is resolved or something is set-up for a future Scene.

In Anarchy the end point of the Scene should almost always be a Conflict of some sort. Conflict in this case means an issue or action over which two or more PCs and NPCs will want a different outcome and be willing to challenge each other to see their preferred outcome come to pass. This does not have to mean a physical or even a direct confrontation, simply that the goals of the participants are in some way opposed.

Regardless of the nature of this Conflict the Scene should be moving in that direction right from the beginning. The Scene should be set-up in such a way that Conflict is almost inevitable. The purpose of the Scene is almost always to drive towards Conflict so as to advance the story in meaningful and interesting ways with an uncertain outcome.

What if I don’t want to ‘drive towards Conflict’ for a Scene?

Tough! Only kidding…

Occasionally the players may want to take their foot off of the accelerator a little and that’s okay. Most meaningful character growth or exposition should occur as part of a Scene either leading up to, or as a direct result of, a Conflict. That doesn’t always have to be the case though. Having said that you should still refrain from using the following option too often as Anarchy is supposed to be a tense game with a real sense of inevitability as your character spirals towards his inevitable demise. As such I would suggest a limit on this option of not more than once per player per Session.

Colour Scenes

If a player wishes they may Frame what is known as a Colour Scene (rather than a regular Scene.) A Colour Scene has no drive towards Conflict. Indeed it may well only feature the Scene Framer’s PC and that’s absolutely fine. A Colour Scene allows you to reveal some aspect of your character that you think is important or interesting without having to work a Conflict into the Scene. The Colour Scene doesn’t even need to be set at the present time in game, it could be a flashback instead or even (if agreed with the GM) a glimpse of the future. Do bear in mind that the latter option is tricky to get right whilst maintaining tension and uncertainty in the outcome of future Conflicts so do be careful with it.

Wherever and whenever you choose to set it a Colour Scene is Framed in the same way as any other Scene and the Framer should still pay attention to the three points outlined above. The Colour Scene should still be either driving the plot or (more likely) showcasing character growth. It should have a definite end point where it can be naturally cut away from. Finally it should try to be interesting and engaging for the players not involved in the Scene.

Just remember that the Scene has to matter. In the same way that roleplaying shopping trips in certain other RPGs when all you’re doing is shopping and you’re not using the opportunity to show some essential aspects of your character’s personality is boring (at least after the first time) so is a Colour Scene that exists for no other reason than the player wanted to use up their Colour Scene for the Session. Make it important. Make it revealing. Make the rest of the players around that table want to hear what happens next! If you can’t do that then stick to driving for Conflict instead.

Conflict Resolution

All right, so you’ve Framed a cool Scene with some added ideas from your friends around the table. You’ve roleplayed it through and now you’re reaching the end of the Scene. It’s all but played out and the impending Conflict that has been looming in the background since you first Framed the Scene is about to thrust itself to the front and demand resolution. How do you go about it?

Anarchy, unlike most traditional RPGs but like many other indie RPGs, uses a Conflict Resolution system rather than a Task Resolution system. What this boils down to at its core is that in Anarchy individual tasks don’t matter, it’s your overall goal that is important.

So what does that actually mean?

That means that the success or failure of your overall goal for the Scene is what is at stake, not each individual action that you may have to achieve to get there. I.e. if your goal is to place a bomb in a government installation and get out undetected you don’t have to make a bunch of sneak checks followed by an explosives expert check and then some more sneak checks, you just make a single (opposed) check to see if you achieve your goal or not. This means that when going into a Conflict you have to be very clear about what your goals actually are. That doesn’t sound too difficult but getting to the root of what the Conflict is about can actually be harder than it appears, especially if you’re used to Task Resolution systems.

Setting Stakes

This process of defining your goal for the Conflict, i.e. what you want out of it should you succeed, is called Setting Stakes and it is a very important concept to grasp for the purposes of playing Anarchy.

Once you have set your Stakes for the Conflict your opponent (all checks in Anarchy are opposed) must set their Stakes too. Your opponent may be another PC, an NPC handled by the GM or even some generic opposition that the GM places against you. In the latter case just think of it as the environment or circumstances opposing your attempt rather than a specific human opponent (be honest with yourself, how many times have you felt like you were in just such a position in real life in the past?)

Multiple Stakes in one Conflict

It is possible that a given Conflict may have more than one side to it, in which case everyone involved who is not helping someone else sets their own Stakes for the Conflict; winner takes all.

Once the Stake Setting has finished it is time to actually resolve the Conflict and bring the current Scene to a conclusion.

Resolving Conflicts... are there dice?

Yes, there are dice. Anarchy uses a Dice Pool system based around the humble d6 (that’s a standard six-sided die for the uninitiated). At its heart Conflict Resolution is quite simple. You and your opponent both roll your respective dice pools and count up the number of dice showing 4, 5 or 6. These count as Successes; highest number of Successes wins.

Ties go to the person with the highest die showing, if that’s a tie too look at the next highest die and so on. In the unlikely event that both participants have identically sized dice pools and roll identical dice then the person with the highest associated Attribute wins. If this still does not resolve the Conflict then I’m afraid that it’s time to burn your copy of Anarchy and throw in your lot with the corrupt forces of the British government. That or re-roll your Dice Pools.

You will need two different colours of d6s to represent the two different types of dice used in the game; Anarchy Dice and Order Dice.

Dice Pools?

Indeed, dice pools. To form your Dice Pool you first decide which of your Attributes the Conflict falls under: Body, Intellect or Wits. Each Attribute is assigned a separate pool of dice equal to its numerical value, i.e. someone with a Body of 3, Intellect of 4 and Wits of 3 would have 3 dice in their Body Attribute Pool, 4 in their Intellect Attribute Pool and 3 in their Wits Attribute Pool. The relevant Attribute then forms your Attribute Pool for that Conflict and will, initially, be composed entirely of Anarchy Dice, although that will likely change as the game progresses.

Once you have that Attribute Pool you can look at bringing in Traits and Relationships.

Bringing in Traits

Each Trait that you can manage to bring in to the Conflict gains you one die of a type dictated by the Trait. Anarchy Traits give you an Anarchy Die; Order Traits give you an Order Die. You may only ever bring one Anarchy Trait into a given Conflict but you can bring as many Order Traits in as you wish. You bring a Trait into a Conflict by coming up with a reason that the Trait is relevant to the Conflict that the GM and the other players agree with.

Bringing in Relationships

Relationships work in exactly the same way as Traits except that they may have more than one die assigned to them. Anarchy Relationships still provide Anarchy Dice and Order Relationships still provide Order Dice. There is no limit on the number of Relationships that you may bring into a given Conflict, assuming that the GM and the other players agree that they are relevant.

Bringing in Cell Connections

Cell Connections become relevant when multiple Cell members are participating in the same side of a Conflict. In that case only one member of the Cell, known as the Active Member, actually forms their dice pool and rolls for the Conflict. All other Cell members involved Aid the Active Member (usually the person whose Scene it is unless the players and GM agree that it makes more sense for one of the other PCs to be making the roll) in the Conflict.

They do this by donating dice from their relevant Attribute Pool (the Attribute Pool that is being used for the Conflict) equal to the Cell Connection value that the Active Member has assigned to them, NOT the Cell Connections value that they have assigned to the Active Member. All Cell members who Aid the Active Member in this manner will be subject to any negative Consequences generated by the Conflict (more on Consequences later on in this Chapter.) Also note that as the game progresses and the composition of player’s Attribute pools begins to flip from Anarchy Dice to Order Dice the dice donated via Cell Connections will change to reflect this, as they are taken directly from the Aiding character’s Attribute Pool.

Bringing in your Secret

Everyone has a Secret; the question is how far are they willing to go to keep it? Protecting his Secret should be a powerful drive for your character and to reflect this it has a powerful mechanical effect. Whenever you are directly protecting your Secret in a Conflict (as determined by the GM) you gain 3 extra dice to add to your Dice Pool. The type of dice is determined by your opponent in the Conflict. If your opponent is a GM controlled NPC then you gain Anarchy Dice. However, if your opponent is another PC then your gain Order Dice, even if you are part of a multi-sided Conflict involving an NPC as well as another PC. Whilst protecting yourself from the forces of the government may drive you to greater heights keeping things hidden from the rest your Cell at any cost can only lead to disaster.

What about your Limit?

Every character has a line they are unwilling to cross, some action they cannot conceive of taking. Unfortunately, there’s something they don’t tell you when you sign up to fight a totalitarian regime. To put yourself in a situation where the odds are stacked against you and the slightest mistake can lead to the death or capture of you or your friends or the exposure of your family to that world. A cause like that doesn’t respect people’s limits.

In any Conflict where you are required to break your Limit (called Crossing the Line) to succeed you have two options. You can either choose to bow out of the Conflict and concede defeat or you can Cross the Line and continue on. If you bow out you earn yourself a moral victory even whilst failing at your goal and can flip an Order Die in one of your Attribute Pools into an Anarchy Die. If you choose to Cross the Line and continue on you roll the Conflict as normal but must half all of your Attribute Pools (rounding down and losing Anarchy Dice before Order Dice) for your next Conflict as the implications of what you have done weigh heavy upon your mind.

So I have my Dice Pool, now what?

Roll it! Really, just roll it then count up your Successes. Make a note of how many Successes you get on Anarchy Dice and how many on Order Dice as this will be relevant for determining the Flavour of the Conflict. Your opponent rolls their Dice Pool and does the same and you compare Successes. Highest number of Successes wins.

Hang on, Flavour of the Conflict?

Ah yes, Flavour. As noted you begin with only Anarchy Dice in your Attribute Pools but bringing in Traits and Relationships (and later Cell Connections) can add both Anarchy Dice and Order Dice to your Pool. Not only that but it is very likely (unless your Conflict is with another PC) that your opponent in any given Conflict will have a Dice Pool composed mostly (or even entirely) of Order Dice.

Once the winner of a Conflict has been decided by comparing Successes the Flavour of the Conflict must also be determined. This is done by comparing the number of Successes on Anarchy Dice to the number of Successes on Order Dice; highest number of Successes dictates the Flavour of the Conflict. In the case of ties the Conflict is Order Flavoured because in the world of Anarchy, Order dominates.

Okay, so I know who won and what the Flavour of the Conflict is. What happens next?

Next whoever won the Conflict gets to narrate the outcome based on having won the Stakes that they declared at the beginning of the Conflict. They should also take into account the Flavour of the Conflict during the narration as if the Conflict was Order Flavoured that represents the authorities closing in on them in some way; despite their Success at achieve their stated goal. Essentially, though, they can narrate the manner in which their Stakes are achieved however they wish.

Consequences

Once this has been done, before you move on to Frame the next Scene, the Consequences of the Conflict must be noted down. There are two sets of Consequences to take account of as there are two ways that a Conflict is won; though Successes and Flavour.

Standard Consequences

If you won the Conflict (by rolling more Successes than your opponent) then you must choose one of the following (appropriate) options to apply to your character:

Gain a new Anarchy Trait;
Gain a new, 1 die, Anarchy Relationship;
Increase an existing Anarchy Relationship by one;
Increase the Attribute that you used in the Conflict by 1 for the next Conflict in which it is used;
Temporarily convert one Order Trait that you didn’t use in the Conflict into an Anarchy Trait for the next Conflict in which it is used. This Trait follows the usual rules for bringing Order Traits into a Conflict; it is not limited by the usual Anarchy Trait restrictions.

If you lost the Conflict (by rolling fewer Successes than your opponent) then your opponent must choose one of the following (appropriate) options to apply to your character:

Gain a new Order Trait;
Gain a new, 1 die, Order Relationship;
Increase an existing Order Relationship by one;
Decrease the Attribute that you used in the Conflict by 1 for the next Conflict in which it is used;
Temporarily convert one Anarchy Trait that you did use in the Conflict into an Order Trait for the next Conflict in which it is used. This Trait follows the usual rules for bringing Order Traits into a Conflict; it is not limited by the usual Anarchy Trait restrictions.

These Consequences for losing a Conflict are also applied to any PCs who Aided the Active Member in a Conflict where multiple PCs participated on the same side using Cell Connections to boost the Active Member’s Dice Pool.

Flavour Consequences

If the Conflict is Anarchy Flavoured then any PCs involved in the Conflict (including those who Aided the Active Member in a Conflict via Cell Connections) must convert one of the dice in their relevant Attribute Pool from an Order Die to an Anarchy Die. The relevant Attribute Pool is the Attribute Pool that they used for the Conflict. This cannot convert the final Order Die in a character’s Attribute Pool into an Anarchy Die; once the government has sight of you they never give up the trail. If the character has no Order Dice in that Attribute Pool then the Anarchy Flavour of the Conflict has no effect on them.

If the Conflict is Order Flavoured then any PCs involved in the Conflict (including those who Aided the Active Member in a Conflict via Cell Connections) must convert one of the dice in their relevant Attribute Pool from an Anarchy Die to an Order Die. The relevant Attribute Pool is the Attribute Pool that they used for the Conflict. If any of the PCs cannot do this (because all of their dice in that Attribute Pool are already Order Dice) then they must flip an Anarchy Die in one of their other Attribute Pools instead.

Crossing the Line Consequences

How many times now have you gone further than you thought possible? How many times have you Crossed the Line? Is there even a line there anymore? If you Cross the Line three times then it is assumed that your character has overcome his Limit and that it no longer applies to him. When this happens all other Cell Members must reduce their Cell Connection with you by one die to a minimum of zero. You are obviously committed to that Anarchist Movement but, when it comes down to it, can they really trust you not to sell them out if you think it will benefit the cause?

Cell Connections Consequences

If Cell Connections were used in the Conflict then they can be adjusted once the Conflict is over and any dice in the Attribute Pools have been flipped. If the Conflict was won (regardless of the Flavour of the Conflict) then you may increase any Cell Connections that you used in the Conflict by 1 to a maximum value of the other characters lowest Attribute. If the Conflict was lost (again regardless of the Flavour of the Conflict) then you must decrease any Cell Connections that you used in the Conflict by 1 to a minimum of zero.

The only way to regain a Cell Connection that has dropped to zero this way (or by a player Crossing the Line too many times) is to Aid them in a Conflict where they are the Active Member and win the Conflict. If that occurs then you may raise your Cell Connection to them to one. Note that this means that if your Cell Connection with a character drops to zero and their Cell Connection to you does so too neither of you can ever again raise your Cell Connections above that point. You have lost faith in each other to the point that it cannot be recovered.

Death by Order

If, when a player is required to flip an Anarchy Die in one of their Attribute Pools, it would flip their character’s final Anarchy Die into an Order Die the next Scene must be Framed by that character’s player and it must write them out of the game. The character has been killed, captured or otherwise taken out as the forces of Order have finally caught up to him. It is up to that character’s player to decide how that has happened and to narrate their character’s final Scene but it must unequivocally remove the character from the game in such a way that it is clear that the government’s agents have got to him. The Scene should not involve a Conflict of any kind; it is the only way that a player can have two Colour Scenes in a single Session.

When this happens all of the other Cell Members must flip one of their Anarchy Dice into an Order Die but it is their choice as to which Attribute Pool the flipped Die comes from. It is entirely possible for this to cause a chain reaction that will result in multiple Cell Members being taken out at once. This is completely intentional as it is often the case in the real world that when one member of a terrorist cell is rooted out the rest of the cell will swiftly follow.

I know what I want...

2008-04-02T18:50:33Z

...and I know how to get it.

Edit: I think (other than examples) that I've finished this chapter now. The extra bots are now included in the cut.

All right, the next chapter is Cell Creation. This one is still a work in progress and has yet to be finished but I'll put up what I've currently got anyway. I should also note that I haven't yet designed either a Character Sheet or a Cell Sheet. ONce again behind a cut to preserve peoples sanity:

Chapter 3: Cell Creation

The creation of your group’s Cell is, even more than character creation, a collaborative effort. In defining your Cell you will be setting the initial relationships between the various characters in the group, identifying important NPCs that matter to the Cell as a whole (rather than just the individual characters, such NPCs having generally been covered by the ‘Who matters?’ question) and setting the goal that your Cell is currently working towards.

Cell Connections

Cell Connections are a slightly odd duck in terms of their placement within the rules. They are located here, in the Cell Creation Chapter, yet they are recorded on your Character Sheet along with the other information generated in Chapter 2: Character Creation.

They are located here as they define the initial state of your Cell in terms of the relationships between its members. This structure can and will change over time but it is here, after everyone has determined the details of their characters, that it is initially set.

Cell Connections represent the trust and faith that you have in the other members of your Cell. You have a number of points to assign equal to the number of players (including yourself) +1 and you can assign them to any other members of your Cell in any configuration that you wish. The only limit is that no Cell Connection can be greater than the smallest Attribute of the player that it is assigned to.

Finally, do bear in mind that, whilst you can start play with some of your Cell Connections to other characters set to zero, if you do so later raising them will be difficult (see Cell Connection Consequence in Chapter 4: System & Scenes.)

[BOXOUT EXAMPLE]
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Anarchists, Officials and Others, oh my!

In Chapter 2: Character Creation you defined a number of NPCs who matter to your character. In this section the group as a whole must now come up with some NPCs who matter to the Cell as a whole, rather than just to one of the individual members. You must collectively describe at least one Anarchist and one Official, although you are free to create more characters than this if you wish. The more NPCs that the players create in this manner the less work the GM must do to prepare for the game and the more likely those NPCs are to reflect things that the players want to see. I.e. everyone wins!

Anarchists are other members of the Anarchist Movement. They may be members of another Cell, free roaming individuals who simply consider themselves aligned with the cause or perhaps leaders within the larger Movement. Whoever they are they should be someone that has a relationship to the Cell as a whole, rather than just some of the members within it.

Officials are people who work directly for the British government, usually within either the police, MI5 or Whitehall although they may equally be directly employed by one of the shadowy cabal who run the country or even one of the cabal themselves. Whatever their exact position they should be one of those involved in trying to bring down your Cell. They will likely be aware of your existence at least indirectly and they have had an actual, physical encounter with the Cell or your handiwork in the past. Certainly they will be ruthless and dedicated to eradicating the Anarchist Movement. Well, at least initially…

Others are people who are important to the Cell for one reason or another but are neither directly involved in the Anarchist Movement nor working for the British government in a capacity that would make them Officials.

[BOXOUT EXAMPLE]
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Goal

Finally you should collectively decide on a Goal that your Cell is currently working towards. It doesn’t have to be something big or overarching; in fact it’s better if the goal is quite specific but something that can’t be achieved with only one Conflict. Nor does the Goal have to be immutable; it can change as a result of in game events and will certainly have to be replaced once it is completed. Any given Goal should probably be achievable in one Session but could last for a handful of Sessions depending on the nature of the Goal, the Cell’s actions and the length of time that you have for a given Session.

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I am an Anti-Christ...

2008-04-02T18:45:09Z

...and I am an Anarchist!

Ahem.

So after my last post I decided to take my own advice and try working on my system chapter for Anarchy. I've found myself with a bit of time available over the past few days and have therefore been getting on with it at a reasonable pace. Not wonderful but reasonable. As such I'm about to make a series of posts, hidden behind LJ cuts due to their length, that encompass most of what I've done on Anarchy thus far. This isn't everything but it is a lot of it. I'll start off with:

Chapter 2: Character Creation

To begin I offer a piece of advice: You should set aside the first session of your group for character (and Cell) creation. This is important as character creation should be a collaborative exercise with the players riffing off of each others ideas and concepts. This usually leads to the formation of a more coherent group and allows for interesting group dynamics to be built-in right from the word go. This is especially important when deciding on your characters Secret (more on which below.)

All player characters (PCs) in Anarchy are Anarchists, members of the Anarchist Movement. In addition to this, though, they were originally just people, no different from the mindless herd of their countrymen. They have day jobs, many of them probably have families, friends, loved ones. They have many connections and links to the wider world, the world ruled over by the government that they are trying to topple.

Before worrying about the mechanical aspects of your character you should take the time to answer some questions about him and to try and get a feel for what sort of person he is, what motivates him and drives his crusade for change? What are his ties to the more normal side of life? How did he become involved in the Anarchist Movement? To that end there are five questions that every player should attempt to answer about their character.

The Five Questions

1. What do you do?

In the world of Anarchy everyone has an assigned role within society. You may not like it, you certainly won’t have chosen it but it will be something that you are, in some small way, suited to. You will have natural talents or affinities, or perhaps a specific personality-type, that are a good fit for your given task.

This question asks you to decide what it is that your character does when they’re not at home or planning the revolution. What is their day job? What is it that society expects of them?

This is important as it provides grounding for your character in the world outside of the Anarchist Movement and ties him into the world of Order. If he starts failing to show up to work people will notice and become suspicious, if his productivity or quality of work drops off too much someone is bound to notice. How will he balance this potential for discovery against his need to do something and bring about change?

Your answer to this question will also be the primary source of inspiration for the generation of your character’s Order Traits (but more on Traits later.)

2. Who matters?

People’s relationships with those around them are one of their most defining characteristics. Who you care for and why says a lot about you and your priorities in life. The same holds true for your character.

It should be a given that your character cares for their ideals and their goals within the Anarchist Movement but what about those around him? Who does he love and care for? Who is he in a relationship with and what is its nature? Does he have a family? Close friends? What would they think of his secret life? Most would likely turn him in without a second thought as it is what they have been conditioned to do. Your character’s desires to both protect the ones that he loves whilst simultaneously trying to bring about far-reaching, perhaps catastrophic, change as part of a group of freedom fighters are unlikely to be compatible, which creates great potential for conflict.

You should use this question to note down any Non-Player Characters (NPCs) who have an important, personal relationship to your character. Most, if not all, of these characters should be part of the world of Order rather than part of the Anarchist Movement.

3. How did they find you?

At some point your character woke up and shook off the mental shackles imposed by the government’s subliminal messaging and spiked drinking water, their propaganda and lies. The how and the why aren’t strictly important although you should feel free to flesh out that part of your character’s background here if you wish. However he awoke something will have happened to him afterwards that brought him into contact with the Anarchist Movement. Now, the Anarchist Movement doesn’t take out adverts in The Times for new Anarchists to join their crusade against the forces of Order; they recruit people in a very select, careful manner. They must for government agents lurk everywhere and successful infiltration attempts can have disastrous consequences for the Movement.

Nevertheless at some point your character will have been approached. It may have been by another, more experienced member of his current Cell or it may have been by a different member of the Movement. Perhaps he was recruited by his Cell’s immediate superior, their connection to the wider Anarchist Movement. Perhaps it was by someone he has never seen again. Whatever the case this was his introduction to the Anarchist Movement and the world of possibilities that it offered. This was also the lead in to the introduction to his Cell, the most important group of people in any Anarchist’s life.

4. How will you bring them down?

Every character has some abilities or talents that make him useful to the Anarchist Movement; otherwise he would never have been recruited. Where those talents lie, however, is up to you. Whatever those talents are they should dovetail into your character’s favoured method for instigating change. So what is that method? Does he prefer to engage in deft political manoeuvring or fiery, street-corner rhetoric? Does he see seditious leaflets and newsletters as a valid method of bringing about change or is the bombing of government facilities the obvious way forward? What are the tactics that he pushes his Cell towards and why does he favour those tactics?

However you answer this question it should give you a good handle on where your character will focus his efforts to bring about a transformation of the system. It will probably also let you see where some of his biggest bones of contention with his other Cell members will be as it is highly unlikely that all of the members of the Cell will answer this question in a similar way. Indeed, I would advise against doing so as it will reduce the opportunities for tension and conflict between the PCs, something that Anarchy, unlike many RPGs, does not want to do.

As previously stated it should tie into your character’s natural abilities, although it may well be the case that those abilities had gone undiscovered prior to his becoming an Anarchist. They certainly don’t need to relate to the talents that saw him assigned to his regular job although they can be a natural extrapolation from that beginning if you wish.

Your answer to this question will be the primary source of inspiration for the generation of your character’s Anarchy Traits (again, more on Traits later.)

5. Where do you draw the line?

There are many potential ways to affect change within a political system and the route taken by an individual or group can earn them the moral high ground or see them derided by the international community as terrorists. Of course those striving for change may not care what outsiders think of them, their place in the footnotes of history paling in comparison to the ultimate success of their goals.

In the end the acts necessary to bring about the downfall of the British government may go far beyond that which your character believed himself capable but, especially in the beginning, he will have lines that he believes he is unwilling to cross. For some it may be violence or, more usually, violence against civilians and other innocents. For others it may be negotiation with the state that is so thoroughly controlling everyone’s lives. Whatever the case your character should decide where he draws a moral line in the sand and refuses to step over. What are his limits and taboos? What will he just not do? At least for now…

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Character Attributes

Once you have answered the five questions you should have a better idea about who your character is, what he believes, his history and what matters to him. Now that you have that essential information you can begin to define him within the mechanical structure of the game.

The first thing to consider is your character’s Attributes. All characters (both PCs and NPCs) are defined by three Attributes.

Body

This Attribute covers any physical actions or activities that your character may be required to perform. This includes such areas as tests of strength, physical endurance, manual dexterity and speed.

Intellect

This Attribute covers any actions that require knowledge, education or raw intelligence. This includes such activities as scientific research, wiring an explosive device or recalling a pertinent fact.

Wits

This attribute covers any actions that require the use of social interaction with other PCs or NPCs. This includes such activities as fast talking your way out of trouble, bluffing at a hand of poker or seducing the MI5 infiltrator within your Cell.

Every player has 10 points to spend on his PC’s Attributes. They can be spread out between the 3 Attributes however you wish within the limits that the minimum score of an Attribute is 1 and the maximum score is 5.

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Traits

Traits allow you to better distinguish your character mechanically. They represent some skill, talent, personality trait or physical ability that sets your character apart from the norm. Characters in Anarchy begin play with 5 Traits of 2 distinct types, Anarchy Traits and Order Traits.

Anarchy Traits

Anarchy Traits are your skills, talents, etc. that you have gained or have become useful as a part of your life as an Anarchist. They were either undiscovered or irrelevant to your daily life before you joined the Movement and should relate to your answer to the question ‘How will you bring them down?’ Some examples could include Infiltration Expert, De-programmer or Subverting Security Systems. You begin play with 2 Anarchy Traits.

Order Traits

Order Traits are the abilities or quirks of personality that saw you assigned to your place within society. They should relate to your answer to the question ‘What do you do?’ and will be things that you are known, if only by your immediate acquaintances, for. Some examples could include Surgeon, Long Distance Driving or Computer Use. You begin play with 3 Order Traits.

Usually these Traits will be determined during character creation but you can, if you wish, choose to leave some of them blank and assigned them at any point during the game outside of a Conflict.

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Relationships

Relationships work in a very similar manner to Traits in that you will have Order Relationships and Anarchy Relationships. In answering the Five Questions listed above you should have generated some additional, background characters who have relationships to your PC. The most likely questions to have generated such NPCs are ‘Who matters?’ and ‘How did they find you?’ but you may have defined other characters in answering any of the questions.

You can assign up to 5 of those relationships as having mechanical significance, 2 as Anarchy Relationships and 3 as Order Relationships. Alternatively you can choose to leave 1 or more of these unassigned and assign them at any point during the game outside of a Conflict.

When you assign Relationships mechanical significance in this way you are effectively assigning dice to these Relationships (this will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 4: System & Scenes.) As such you can choose to give some Relationships more weight than others by assigning them more dice. This is a difference from the operation of Traits where any given Trait is only ever assigned 1 die. So you could, for example, use both of your Anarchy Relationship slots on a single Relationship, assigning it 2 dice and giving it more weight and, therefore, more in-game effect.

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Your Limit

Every character begins play with a Limit. This is the line they are unwilling to cross, even in the pursuit of their goals. This Limit should have been determined when answering the question ‘Where do you draw the line?’ and may be the result of a moral code, religious beliefs or even hatred of a person or entity.

This Limit need not be a positive (morally speaking) statement such as ‘I will not harm the innocent,’ it can equally well be a very negative statement such as ‘I will not seek the aid of or help my treacherous, wife-stealing brother.’

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Your Secret

Every character should begin play with one Secret. This should be secret from the other characters but not from the other players. In fact I would encourage you to look at the other player’s character sheets, paying particular attention to their answers to the Five Questions and their own Secrets, when deciding on your Secret. It will prove much more effective in generating interesting situations and conflicts in play if it ties into something that is important to one of the other players so don’t be afraid to discuss this aspect of your character with everyone else at the table.

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And finally...

Once this is done you should, if you have not already done so, think of an appropriately British name for your character, at which point character creation is finished.

Cooking with kindling/cooking with gas

2008-03-27T10:05:04Z

Two things in this (admittedly belated) entry:

1) Anarchy;
2) Game Chef 2008 – Artists First!

First Anarchy; I admit that I’ve found myself stalled out on it again. My post-Conceptions motivation has waned and I’ve been struggling with re-writing the Character Creation chapter to my satisfaction after garnering some useful feedback from the Collective Endeavour on my Five Questions. Not to mention the fact that I’m drawing a real blank on Cell Creation. I think that I might need to re-read Covenant and break out the copy of Conspiracy of Shadows that I got for Christmas for a bit of inspiration in that area.

So Anarchy is on hold again until I can get my head around what I need to do with it. What I might try is to begin writing the System chapter as I know what I’m doing there, at least to begin with, and it will allow me to get something useful down on paper. I need that to try and regain some momentum and to make sure that the system-stuff in my head doesn’t become corrupted through neglect. If I have it written down I don’t need to try and remember the details!

Secondly we have Game Chef 2008. I contemplated last year but it wasn’t a good time (I think we’d just moved house and I’d just started working for Steph) and I ended up not entering. I still kinda regret it although I know, intellectually, that it was the right decision at the time. This year, however, I fully intend to take a shot at it for the first time. I don’t know a whole lot about what’s going on with it yet but I’ve registered my interest and am on the official GC forums as Geoff.

I really like the idea that they’re running with this year for Artists First! Getting a whole bunch of art for the first half of the contest and then having designers design game around that art is a pretty awesome (sorry Graham) idea. I don’t know how well it will work mind you but I love the concept in principle. I even know a very good artist (ginasketch) that I might ask to participate. I don’t know whether she’ll go for it or not but I figure it’s worth a try.

Anyway, I’m actually really looking forward to trying my hand at Game Chef this year and I’m hoping that the manic, motivated energy that it engenders will feed into Anarchy when GC itself is over with. Whether or not that happens I’m sure it will be a bit of a crazy ride so what can I say except “bring it on!”

[Anarchy] - Character Creation Questions

2008-02-18T12:25:54Z

Cross-posted on the Collective Endeavour forums:

I've pretty much got the whole character creation chapter down now but wanted to focus on the first section of it and throw it out to anyone who happens to read this for some opinions and feedback. From reading a number of indie rpgs and taking on board some of Malcom's experience with Cold City I decided that a good way to begin would be to ask some focussed questions that should help define a players character and set them neatly within the game world with some ready made hooks and potential conflict points. What follows is these questions with my elaborations and pointers as written up in my current playtest document.

What I'm looking for is some feedback on these questions. Do they seem to focus on the correct areas (especially given the background info posted in my previous entry)? Do you think that they will produce useful information that can be brought into later conflicts? Have I worded them in an excessively shite manner or are they reasonably clear and understandable? That sort of thing.

Cheers.

(Note, actual section hidden behind LJ Cut to preserve your friends page)

The Five Questions

1. What do you do?

In the world of Anarchy everyone has an assigned role within society. You may not like it, you certainly won’t have chosen it but it will be something that you are, in some small way, suited to. You will have natural talents or affinities, or perhaps a specific personality-type, that are a good fit for your given task.

This question asks you to decide what it is that your character does when they’re not at home or planning the revolution. What is their day job? What is it that society expects of them?

This is important as it provides grounding for your character in the world outside of the Anarchist Movement and ties him into the world of Order. If he starts failing to show up to work people will notice and become suspicious, if his productivity or quality drops off too much someone is bound to notice. How will he balance this potential for discovery against his need to do something and bring about change?

Your answer to this question will also be the primary source of inspiration for the generation of your characters Order Traits (but more on Traits later.)

2. How did you awaken?

The British population is in thrall to the government. Using a combination of subliminal suggestions, tailored drugs, fear mongering and propaganda they keep any thoughts of rebellion or a better life in check. Yet your character has seen through the lies. He is somehow able to resist the suggestions. He either avoids or is immune to the drugs. He sees past the propaganda and the manipulation to the truth that lies beneath.

How did he get to this point? Was it a gradual realisation? Some singular event? The manner of his awakening can say a lot about your character, the how and why of becoming an Anarchist can be intricately tied into his awakening as can his thoughts and feelings towards the government that has done this to the British people.

3. Who is important to you?

People’s relationships with those around them are one of their most defining characteristics. Who you care for and why says a lot about you and your priorities in life. The same holds true for your character.

It should be a given that your character cares for their ideals and their goals within the Anarchist Movement but what about those around him? Who does he love and care for? Who is he in a relationship with and what is its nature? Does he have a family? Close friends? What would they think of his secret life? Most would likely turn him in without a second thought as it is what they have been conditioned to do. The desires to both protect the ones that he loves whilst simultaneously trying to bring about sweeping, perhaps catastrophic, change as part of a group of freedom fighters are unlikely to be compatible, which creates great potential for conflict.

You should use this question to note down any Non-Player Characters (NPCs) who have an important, personal relationship to your character.

4. Who recruited you and how?

At some point your character woke up. The how and the why should have been dealt with by the question ‘How did you awaken?’ but you must still consider what happened to him next. The Anarchist Movement doesn’t take out adverts in The Times for new Anarchists to join their crusade against the forces of Order; they recruit people in a very select, careful manner. They must for government agents lurk everywhere and successful infiltration attempts can have disastrous consequences for the Movement.

Nevertheless at some point your character will have been approached. It may have been by another, more experienced member of his current Cell or it may have been by a different member of the Movement. Perhaps he was recruited by his Cell’s immediate superior, their connection to the wider Anarchist Movement. Perhaps it was by someone he has never seen again. Whatever the case this was his introduction to the Anarchist Movement and the world of possibilities that it offered. This was also the lead in to the introduction to his Cell, the most important group of people in any Anarchist’s life.

5. What is your preferred method of instigating change?

There are many potential ways to affect change within a political system and the route taken by an individual or group can earn them the moral high ground or see them derided by the international community as terrorists. Of course those striving for change may not care what outsiders think of them, their place in the footnotes of history paling in comparison to the ultimate success of their goals.

In the end the acts necessary to bring about the downfall of the British government may go far beyond that which your character believed himself capable but, especially in the beginning, he will have lines that he believes he is unwilling to cross. For some it may be violence, or more specifically violence against civilians and other innocents. For others it may be negotiation with the state that is so thoroughly controlling everyone’s lives. Whatever the case your character should decide where he draws a moral line in the sand and refuses to step over. What are his limits and taboos? What will he just not do? At least for now...

Anarchy playtest doc, introduction

2008-02-15T14:19:10Z

So, I'm progressing on my self-set target of getting a playtest document for Anarcgy written up by the end of February. I've now managed to get the introduction sorted out and have been working on the system, which I think is looking much better than it was before I lost my notebook! The draft intro is shown behind the below cut, to avoid cluttering up your Friends Page:

Introduction

What is Anarchy?

Anarchy is a roleplaying game of conflicting dichotomies, struggle and inevitable decline and failure set in a dystopian, near-future Britain where the government holds all of the power and most of the population in its thrall. In the game you and your friends play a resistance cell and the government and wider population know you as Anarchists, part of the Anarchist Movement. Anarchists are the only free voice to be found in this time of oppression and brutality. You and your fellows are pushing for change and an end to the dark regime that controls the country, although whether you bring about that change by political means, with devastating terror tactics or powerful rhetoric is up to you. Whatever the case you know that the status quo cannot be allowed to remain; sweeping change is necessary and you and your cell are the ones with the vision, the drive and the determination to bring it about, no matter the cost.

However, questions remain. What are the motivations of your fellow Anarchists? How have they broken free from the mindless acceptance that has swept the rest of Britain? What secrets do they hide? What agendas do they pursue? You are collaborating with terrorists and hooligans, political ideologues, power hungry men and women who are as likely to be corrupt or in the pay of the government as they are to be allies and saviours. Who can you really trust except for yourself? Does it matter? In the end the police or MI5 will get you anyway; either through carelessness or betrayal your time will come. All that you can really hope for is to make a difference in the short time that you have before your freedom is ended.

The World of Anarchy

Anarchy is set in a near-future, dystopian Britain of 2027. In the year 2006 a cabal of powerful, shadowy individuals staged a successful coup via the use of sponsored terror attacks and deft political manoeuvring. It was done in such a subtle, behind-the-scenes manner that the general population was barely aware of the transfer of power.

True, there was a fair amount of popular uprising at the time in the form of protests and demonstrations, some of them even quite sizeable, but that was directed at the government when they revealed certain planned laws and reforms. There was even violence between the protestors and the police on a number of occasions. In one case large parts of central London were engulfed in a huge riot with people protesting the death of civil liberties. However the rumblings of discontent from the people of Britain slowly subsided as they got on with their lives, safe in the knowledge that nothing would ever really change, no matter what laws were passed.

None of them knew the real truth.

The laws that came into force allowed the unelected party of conspirators to wrest control of the country from the elected parliament, putting into place a puppet government to maintain a façade of democracy and placate the liberal activists and campaigners.

As the years passed the veil shrouding the cabal’s activities slipped further and further until their actions, motivations and utter control of all aspects of life within Britain were overt and unavoidable. And yet, like the frog that sits quietly whilst boiled alive, the British people did nothing. Indeed, protests and acts of defiance became increasing rare as time went on and those that engaged in such activities had a distressing tendency to disappear. After 10 years of increasing overt dictatorship fronted by a puppet Prime Minister and Cabinet the British people seemed to have utterly accepted their fate. They had become as sheep to the wolves that led their flock.

The near total level of disinterest and acceptance of their fate across a nation renowned for their opposition to such regimes in the past seemed inexplicable to the outside world; a world that found itself increasingly cut-off from the affairs of an isolationist, paranoid Britain. The truth was far more sinister than anyone had guessed.

The cabal had been experimenting with subliminal control techniques and various drugs for years prior to the success of the coup. Once they had seized power they began to put knowledge, and the considerable resources now afforded them due to control of the British government, to use.

Modern Britain is a world where the televisions and radios (where one can receive only the BBC and other state approved programming) broadcast constant subliminal messages and cannot ever be switched off, where the national water supply is deliberately contaminated with drugs to make the population docile and suggestible, where the internet does not exist. It is a world where neighbours are encouraged to sell out their friends, loved ones urged to betray their families, all for the slightest hint of seditious thoughts or revolutionary leanings. It is a world papered over with lies and held together by pernicious technologies and the velvet-cloaked brutality of MI5 and the police. It is a world where progress, living conditions and quality of life have fallen dramatically for the average citizen, where cars spew fumes into the smoggy sky and people work from dawn to dusk in their assign careers, never to retire before they die.

It is in this world that you have woken. You are different, unique. You are somehow immune to the subliminal messages, resistant to the drugs. You know that something is deeply wrong at the core of Britain and, unlike the rest, you care. You know that something must be done; you know that the system is corrupt and that those in power must be brought down. You are an Anarchist. And you are not alone...

Motivation such an aggrivation..

2008-02-06T13:11:30Z

Inspiration and motivation are funny things. I set up Dread Fuzzy Designs Ltd for a number of reasons; primarily (from a personal perspective) as a games design company, specifically roleplaying games. And yet the secondary and tertiary uses of working for Steph and returning to my old job for contracting purposes have become the main focus of the business. Why is that? Why has game design fallen by the wayside for me?

It’s because I lack the motivation to do it. Why do I lack that motivation? Because I haven’t been inspired by roleplaying for some time now. And why have I not been bitten by the bug of inspiration? Because I no longer do it. For something to inspire and motivate me I have to be partaking in the activity itself and with roleplaying I’m not. Our online game has fizzled out and, to be honest, I’d stopped engaging in it and enjoying it some time ago anyway. My regular group is still mostly unsuitable to roleplaying as none of us are interested in taking the GM/facilitator role because we simply don’t get any enjoyment from it. Finally, I have neither the free time nor the finances to organise/join another gaming group that is more amenable to roleplaying (and contains at least one GM!)

Now please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not trying to bitch and make an ‘oh woe is me’ post. My life and circumstance is what it is and I enjoy my Friday/Saturday evenings of board and card games a lot, although I do miss face-to-face roleplaying. The thing is this was all brought to a head by my recent trip to Conceptions 2008, a yearly roleplaying con held in the Hoburne Naish holiday village near Christchurch on the south coast of England in early February.

Conceptions is fun; pure, unadulterated fun. It’s one of the best cons in the UK and probably the top con for just gaming. The trade presence is shite and seems to get worse every year (indeed, there was literally nothing that I was interested in buying this year) but there are 3 gaming slots a day with a whole raft of games running in each slot and the chalets that make up the accommodation make for excellent gaming opportunities right through the night should one be so inclined.

This year my standard crew combined with a number of Collective Endeavour members to take up two, adjacent chalets. This was a brilliant move and lead to 11 or 12 people squeezed into one of the chalets each night drinking and chatting and generally having a good time. A lot of gaming was done by pretty much everyone and I played a whole bunch of board/card games when I wasn’t roleplaying too. All in all it was a damn good time. This is not, however, a con report; it is a roundabout and long winded look at the way inspiration works for me.

Now, I didn’t even talk about any of my nascent games this year (I ran a playtest of Anarchy last year) and I was playing in Scott’s SotC game whilst the one playtesting slot run by the CE guys was happening so I’ve had no real exposure to games design this con. There wasn’t even much game design talk in the evening, despite about half of the participants being designers and almost everyone being avid roleplayers. What I have had exposure to is roleplaying, one of my favourite pass times and one which I realise I have missed a lot in its absence. And just the simple act of playing has me fired up again. Well, that and trying to sort out the tax implications of DFD Ltd and how best to pay myself, etc. I figure if I’m claiming it as a game design company I ought to have some game designs to show for it, even if I have yet to create an actual product!

So now I’m interested again but my horizons and my scope have broadened some what. I am looking at Anarchy with fresh eyes (something which would have been easier had I not left my sodding notebook with Anarchy notes at the con, argh!!!) but I’m also contemplating other avenues. I’m thinking that Finger on the Button might work best as a card game which, with some prototype pasting-up and some serious playtesting could be submitted to a publisher or, if I feel up to it, self-published; although such things are harder than roleplaying books simply due to cost. I’m also just thinking more of new ideas instead of plugging away at games that have ceased to interest me, or interest me only periodically.

Not, mind you, that any of this will necessarily last. Still, my group are going to try and get some more roleplaying done. It will probably be mostly Contenders variants due to the simplicity of running them GM-less with pro-active players who are afraid to improvise and elaborate but maybe we’ll get a bit more ambitious and run something requiring a GM., you never know ;o) . Either way I’m hoping that a steady injection of actual roleplaying can keep me at least partially focussed on my goals. I would like to get a document written for Anarchy and playtesting started by the end of February. Lets see how I do shall we?

EDIT: Seeing as the spam bots seem to have locked onto this entry I'm locking it to any more comments.

The perils of online roleplaying

2007-09-11T10:04:22Z

So, first off I apologise for not updating here sooner, I've had a variety of Real Life™ issues that have left me with little time to dedicate to DFD but I'll skip the detailed explanations here and save them for my personal LJ.

Today I want to talk about online gaming and my issues with it (as opposed to updating any of my games that I've not had time to work on, shut it Andrew ;o) ). You see for me online roleplaying is pretty much all I've got right now. I have a weekly gaming group comprising of myself, my two older kids (15 and 12) and thoughtfulwolf. The thing is that due to intrusions from my 4 year old, the lack of consistency from week to week and the 12 year old having a general aversion to roleplaying our gaming nights tend to consist of a variety of board and card games. Now, don't get me wrong, I love our gaming nights. I love to play board and card games; they're great fun and the lack of prep time and quick (comparatively and mostly) play time makes them ideal fun from my perspective. But man I miss me some face-to-face roleplaying action!

Right now other facets of my life prevent me from going out and finding a new, roleplaying only gaming group to hang with so all of my gaming has to be done at home. That makes the above scenario with board and card games pretty much the only game in town (pun very much intended, sorry.) As such I get my roleplaying kicks online instead. I play in a weekly game on Sunday nights with thoughtfulwolf, littlestkobold, my 15 year old, littlestkobold's brother and a few other ex-university gaming buddies. Right now we've just started up a WFRP campaign set in Marienburg, a wiki for which can be found here.

These days our online play is done via Teamspeak although in the past it was all text based, either in MSN chats, over IRC or in OpenRPG. In theory using TS means that we're moving closer to face-to-face play. Sure, we're not all sitting around a table, dice scattered about, character sheets and notes strewn everywhere, snacks and drinks littering the surface and littlestkobold waiting with baited breath for us to exclaim "You absolute fucker!" at him when he pulls some truly evil twist on us but we're at least talking in real time instead of typing. It sure as hell makes things move more quickly than our text-based games did, although part of that might be the move away from d20 games. Crunchy combat mechanics and inherently slow online play != gaming fun. In fact it tends to = 3+ week long combats; talk about dragging on!

Still, even with TS things take longer, you get periods of sudden silence where everyone is waiting for someone else to speak first. It's also much harder to catch what's going on if multiple people start talking at once and it takes awhile to untangle it all and start again. But overall it's definitely faster. Orders of magnitude faster in fact (although still probably an order of magnitude slower than face-to-face play.)

The thing is that there are some negatives to the use of TS over text as well. With IRC (or whatever) you have a record, right there on the screen, of what's been said. If you miss something you can easily and quickly go back over what people have typed in the meantime and catch-up. Plus you have a ready made archive of each session, which is always handy. Personally I find that distractions and interruptions are a huge problem for me when I'm playing online. I live in a house with my wife, our 4 kids (15, 12, 4 and 1), 2 bloody great dogs and 7 cats. Not only that but being on the internet brings with it its own set of perils and tempting distractions to navigate around. If find myself pulled away from the action for short (and sometimes long) periods with a frustrating regularity, a regularity that just wouldn't occur if I were face-to-face gaming (and even if it did it wouldn't be such a killer.) And with TS it means I come back totally out of the loop in terms of the action and plot. It's very frustrating and it's very difficult to catch up as well, at least not without interrupting the entire game and ruining the flow, something that I hate doing.

And that happened to me on Sunday during our very first real session of the WFRP campaign. Due to the younger kids I couldn't get online on time (although the game started late so that didn't matter in the end) and then due to them and a variety of other factors I kept getting pulled away from the game. By mid-way through the session I had no real clue what was going on, no idea where my character would fit into it all, no inkling of what it would be best for me to be doing and, to be frank, no real interest in the session. And that's a shame as, prior to that, I had been totally stoked by the game. The two previous sessions where we talked through what we wanted from the game and made characters had gone really well and left me fired up to play. It helps that I love Warhammer too. Yet the session left me cold. It wasn't anyone else's fault either and I could tell from what I did catch that everyone else was getting involved and having fun. In the end I gave up and stuck around semi-listening to what was going on whilst reading various RPG forums, mostly because I felt obliged to although a part of me wanted to apologise and just go to bed early.

So where am I going with this post? I'm not really sure, I guess that I just wanted to relate my most recent online roleplaying experience and get down some of the hazards of online play. Don't think that it can adequately replace a regular face-to-face session either. It's definitely better than no roleplaying (well, most of the time at any rate) but it really isn't the same.

Online play is SLOW. Text-based is slow in a way that it's tough to even describe, especially with a crunchy system. It works quite well with something like Nobilis but combat in D&D and similar drags like there's no tomorrow. Teamspeak (or skype or whatever) is much, much faster but still slower than doing it face-to-face.
Distractions are killer. Sitting on your computer there are far more things to distract you than there are in a regular session. Other people come in and out and have much less regard for the fact that your playing than they would if there were a group of you sitting around. The internet itself is a massive trap of alternate things to do, especially when the plot is focussing places other than on you, that must be avoided. Sadly that's far easier said than done.
Even with TS, skype, etc. you lack that visceral sense of being there that a face-to-face session gives you. The body language and subtle, social cues are missing. So are the communal snacks and most of the casual banter, which just can't be done right over TS.

All of this means that I find that it's much harder to engage in an online session and that real world distractions and considerations that might barely affect a regular game can completely take you out of the mentality of playing online and ruin a session for you. If you're not in the right mental state then online play will just seem trite and boring, no substitute for the real thing. On the other hand if you're mindset is right and everything is gelling you can have some truly wonderful sessions online. I've experienced both but, sadly, probably more of the former than the latter. Of course that probably says more about my life outside of gaming than it does about the individual sessions themselves but it's a fact that is definitely exacerbated by online play.

So, if online play is the only way you can keep gaming with your group (and in my case I wouldn't want to stop gaming with my group, I've known some of them for 10 years, they're my good friends as well as my gaming buddies) then by all means go for it. Just bear in mind that it will at times be frustrating and unfulfilling and that getting together face-to-face as often as your are able is well worth any hassle involved.

#1

2007-09-03T16:01:13Z

Okay, so I've finally bitten the bullet and started up my own design blog for my company, Dread Fuzzy Designs Ltd. Herein I shall talk rubbish and ramble verbosely about a variety of related subjects such as games that I'm working on (this is the important one people, don't let me neglect it!), games other people are working on that look cool, games that are out, general thoughts on the industry, interesting stuff that inspires me or could inspire others... you get the idea.

I'm hoping that this endeavour will help to keep up my motivation and drive and give me a creative outlet during my long, dark months of only online contact with the vast majority of the roleplaying and games design community. (You see I'm unremittingly broke at the moment so attending cons, etc. isn't looking all that likely in the near future.) I require a focus so that I wont cease designing games and this (along with sites like The Collective Endeavour, Story Games, The Forge and The RPG Site) will provide it. So, to begin things I will mention a little bit about each of the games that I'm working on and where they're at.

Anarchy

Anarchy is my game of roleplaying freedom fighters in a dystopian future Britain. Heavily inspired by such sources as Children of God, Spooks (specifically the start of Season 5) and V for Vendetta the game sees the players taking on the role of Anarchists, members of the so-called 'Anarchist Movement' intent on changing the world for the better and bringing down the corrupt, dictatorial government. It is a game of impossible odds, inevitable capture, loss and betrayal but also of hope. You and your 'friends' are working against the monolithic yet near omniscient state, an annoying fly attempting to lay low a lumbering bear. Your companions are criminals, terrorists, fanatics and idealists; who can you trust? Who will betray you for an easier life, free of the terror of living on the run, constantly in fear for your life and who will help you, defying the odds to strike back and bring the light of Anarchy to the all-encompassing darkness or Order? How much can you accomplish before the end comes?

At the moment Anarchy has been moved to the back burner as I focus more effort on Xenophobia: Invasion (but more on that later). It went through an initial playtest back at Conception in February that produced some useful feedback and talking points. Since then I've gone over the audio recording of that session (thank you thoughtfulwolf) and made notes but haven't progressed the game any further for a variety of reasons.

Finger on the Button

I wrote a post about FotB over on the Collective Endeavour quite some time ago and, to be honest, I haven't thought about it since then. I really don't know if this game will go anywhere or not although I still like the basic premise. It's on my radar but that's about it for now.

Xenophobia: Invasion

X:I is my new baby, although the idea has been brewing in my head for years (it's far older than Anarchy as a concept) without my actually trying to take it anywhere. It can best be described as UFO: Enemy Unknown (the first XCom game for those outside of Europe where it was called something different) the RPG with the serial numbers filed off. I absolutely loved the original XCom game, the feeling of tension as you carefully advanced your squad through a Terror site or crash site, the panic as a Crysalid charged out of the shadows and barrelled towards a poor, unfortunate soldier, the wonderful interaction of squad-based tactical play with the overarching strategic choices presented by the base building/research/manufacture/etc. side of the game. Absolutely loved it.

Anyway, my intent (although it's all just whirling around in my head at the moment) is to focus the actual RP side of it on the squad based missions. You play a squad of marines who will attend crash sites, terrors sites, clear out alien bases, etc. I think that there will need to be an aspect of troupe-style play, perhaps a fixed number of squad members with players taking on extra members as needed. Obviously casualty rates should be pretty high and your average rookie ought to be quite poor ;o) . However, I also want to include a higher-level (macro level I guess) strategic mini-game (sort of like Burning Empires) that incorporates many of the base building and research elements of the computer game. The idea would be for the choices and outcomes of the macro game to feed into the standard game (so, tech levels, specific missions, that sort of thing) either giving you advantages or disadvantages depending on what occurred. I think that the game would also need extensive mission and scenario generation rules, something to make it quick and easy to whip up an alien base of downed ufo.

Anyway, that's all I have time for now so I'll finish there.