Category: Blog Posts

#RPGaDay2015 18: Favorite SciFi RPG

trfadmin # # # # # # # # # #

Last year we celebrated Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 18, What is your favorite SciFi RPG?
Aser: My favorite sci-fi RPG is probably Eclipse Phase. That system and world are so meticulously put together and play off the early 21st Century zeitgeist so well that the game just feels fresh and cool every time you visit one of the strange little bubbles of transhumanity struggling to survive after the fall.
Chuck: The Cypher System
John: Eclipse Phase.
Jonn: Serenity/Firefly
Landan: Numenera fits this in my opinion
Matt: The Strange has been a lot of fun, and has been the only sci-fi RPG I’ve played in awhile.
Megan: The Strange. Though WH40k has a special place in my heart.
Patrick: Dresden Files, not sure if it is SF per se, but I’ll just put it here
Rob: Firefly RPG

Previous #RPGaDay Posts

Categories: Blog Posts, RPG DiscussionLeave a comment

What’s Cool on Kickstarter

Megan # #

There’s many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, and here are the coolest ones this week.

Vurt: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game
I’ve never read the novels this game is based on, but it’s using the Cypher System to create a new world to play in. Plus the sci-fi weirdness of this world seems very interesting, and a pretty great fit for the Cypher System

“Vurt: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game is an RPG based on the visionary and hallucinatory science fiction of author Jeff Noon (who won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Vurt in 1994). Amid the glass-strewn streets of the lethal and anarchic Manchester England of the near future, players ingest slender Vurt feathers to travel to parallel worlds as vivid, unique, and unpredictable as our wildest dreams. But they’re no mere fantasies. These worlds – and all the wonders and horrors they contain – are as a real, and every bit as dangerous, as the one you were born in.

The ability to seamlessly transition to the shared dreamscapes of the Vurt and then back to Manchester’s gritty cyberpunk scene without missing a beat – without having to change the game in any way or fumble with changing game mechanics – is what makes Vurt: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game so perfectly suited to the incredible versatility of the Cypher System by Monte Cook Games. (If you’ve already played Numenera or The Strange, then you’re already familiar with the flexibility and ease of the Cypher System rulebook and it’s capacity for facilitating great adventures.) The perfect alignment of Jeff Noon’s prismatic source material with the flexible, low-maintenance framework of the Cypher System rulebook is why Vurt: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game is the first officially licensed Cypher System game based on an existing fictional universe—and it’s why Jeff Noon allowed us to bring his work to tabletop gamers around the world in the form of a luxurious, 300 page full color hardcover rulebook filled with vivid art.”

 

At the Mountains of Madness: Interactive Book
This looks like a great way to experience one of Lovecraft’s most famous stories.

“At the Mountains of Madness is a report on the events of a disastrous expedition to Antarctica. The story is told by Geologist William Dyer who is the leader of the expedition. Dyer is lonely and desperate, and he also wants to deter a much publicized planned expedition to Antarctica based on his own experience on the continent. The report is his attempt to save mankind from the Antarctic horror.

At the Mountains of Madness Interactive eBook is a media project in the form of an app for iOS and Android.

Imagine that you’re opening the notes of Dr. William Dyer, the geology professor and leader of the disastrous Miskatonic University Expedition to Antarctica in 1930-1931.

You will find photos of landscapes, drawings and sketches of his colleagues and students who disappeared in the ice.”

 

Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse
If you like gaming on the go, then this is definitely a project you’ll be interested in. It comes with the dice, pieces, and instructions you’lll need. And the instructions are even waterproof! I think it looks like a lot of fun, and would be a great game to carry around.

“A little worker placement, a lot of resource management, and some area control all in a real-time game.

It’s a nice day in Meepleton. You and your friends are enjoying the day without a care in the world when suddenly . . .BOOM! Transformers blow, cars crash, people fall to the ground. Phew, you’re wobbly but okay. RAWR! Nearby a giant, nefarious monster wreaks havoc! Be forewarned: this is no B-movie monster. It has its own intelligence, specifically level 2 AI (artificial intelligence) as defined by Tom Jolly. Hurry! Get your team to the school’s forgotten fallout shelter.

Once two or more of your team members make it inside the shelter, send out a reconnaissance pair to grab a box of supplies. One box is plenty and it doesn’t matter if you or your opponent gets it. But the monster spots you once you grab a box – so you gotta be fast! The shelter holds a max of 7 meeples and it takes 4 from the same team to pull the door closed. Do what you must to survive – If you’re standing outside, knock down an opponent and make them scramble to their feet again. If you’re in the shelter, shove an opponent out and make room for your team. Once the fallout shelter is closed, it sucks to be outside!

But wait! It might not be over if you spot a manhole cover. Grab it and knock the monster down or use it to pry open the fallout shelter. If you grab the cover before you secure the box of supplies, the nefarious monster will surely notice you. So don’t waste time but be careful! This is a simultaneous, competitive, and frantic 2 player game all packed into a tiny tin. So ridiculously small that it makes other microgames look monstrously huge!”

 

Chaos of Cthulhu
Have you ever wanted to build a being of unmentionable horror while beating your friends at a game? Now’s your chance! This is a relaunch of a previous Kickstarter, but it looks like a great game, especially if you have a great group of friends to play with.

“A pantheon of Elder Beings from the mind of H. P. Lovecraft has been unwittingly set loose in the basement of the teenager next door. The catch? The Necronomicon, or Book of the Dead, used to summon the creatures was torn asunder in an argument between the teen and her friends. The stars are definitely not aligned, the essential grimoire has been mended with tape, and the monsters appear as hybrid abominations, eager for the chaos of battle. The tournament to find the strongest amongst them begins…

Take hold of the damaged tome and summon forth a unique Lovecraftian nightmare, mix-and-matched from 6 different Old Ones and Dark Minions. Then clash in strategic dice battle to be the first to assemble a fully matched monster. Part strategy, part luck…all madness!”

 

All Fathomed Out
This game is about ocean exploration to be the first to find a new species and presumably be able to be the first person to name them. It rubs me a little the wrong way that this game only accounts for mustachioed men being at the forefront of scientific exploration, but I can let it slide. The art and set up for this box are gorgeous, and its worth checking out!

“It’s 1878, and All Fathomed Out pits 3-6 players against each other in a family friendly race to discover and catalog the most noteworthy new species brought up from the uncharted waters of the South Pacific. These mustachioed men of science face not only stiff competition from their fellow explorers as they dive (only one man can take credit for discovering each species, after all, and science waits for no one) but also the multitudinous natural dangers and perilous creatures that lurk in the briny deeps.

As you explore the beautiful hex-based ocean you’ll uncover aquatic species ripe for the cataloging, environmental events both fair and foul, and underhanded shenanigans the unscrupulous can use to tip the balance in their favor (the scallywags!).”

 

Still active!

Dungeons on Demand 2
Marked for Death: A Comedic Fate module about assassins
Cultists of Cthulhu
RPG Coasters
Pennypult
Fablestone Dice
Wheel of Flame Candle
Numenera: Into the Ninth World
AcadeCon 2015
The Things We Leave Behind
Zodiac Empires
Meta Dice

Categories: Blog PostsLeave a comment

#RPGaDay2015 17: Favorite Fantasy RPG

trfadmin # # # # # # # # #

Last year we celebrated Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 17, What is your favorite fantasy RPG?
Aser: I think Numenéra would be my favorite fantasy setting. Though not strictly sword and sorcery, the Ninth World harkens back to a time when it was a common conceit for technology of the future to be so advanced as to belong to the realms of magic. Science Fantasy has always been a fun playground and Monte Cook has revived the qualities of weirdness and wonder that made the genre so appealing to so many for so long.
Chuck: (You are going to see a pattern) The Cypher System
John: D&D red box BECMI.
Jonn: D&D. Despite my dislike of its semi-Vancian magic system there is nothing that really comes close to what it offers across all its varies platforms.
Landan: Pathfinder
Matt: I haven’t played it as much as I would like, but the Iron Kingdoms RPG does a lot of neat things in a very cool setting.
Megan: Numenera
Patrick: 7th Sea
Rob: D&D 5e

Previous #RPGaDay Posts

Categories: Blog Posts, RPG DiscussionLeave a comment

#RPGaDay2015 16: Longest Game Session Played

trfadmin # # # # # # # # #

Last year we celebrated Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 16, What is the longest game session you’ve played?
Aser: I think that would still be the first Old Gods of the North, clocking in at about 4.5 hours, or one heck of a first date… 😛
Chuck: 18 hours, an AD&D game over a Labor day weekend in ’87
John: Probably first time as Call of Cthulhu Keeper for TRFpodcast: ‘The Madman’ went 5 hours!
Jonn: 11am to 11pm, but there was a two hours for food and bio breaks.
Landan: I think any session played when I was in High School was routinely over 12 hours on various weekends. Many times played from sunset to sunrise.
Matt: I’m pretty sure I’ve played in (and ran) some 12+ hour games. I recall having folks over where everyone brought over breakfast, we ran out to grab lunch, ordered in dinner, and had some drinks before everyone had to go home. Good times.
Megan: I don’t think I’ve ever gone over 5 hours. I think it’s easier to do in person then over the internet, and I don’t get many chances to play in person at the moment.
Patrick: Six hours, what a trainwreck.
Rob: 12 hours of RIFTS

Previous #RPGaDay Posts

Categories: Blog Posts, RPG DiscussionLeave a comment

#RPGaDay2015 15: Longest Campaign Played

trfadmin # # # # # # # # # #

Last year we celebrated Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 15, What is the longest campaign you’ve played?
Aser: Our current longest running campaign is Numenéra, though Pathfinder is bound to overtake it soon due to sheer regularity.
Chuck: 3 years D&D 3.5
John: PX Poker Night was the longest coherent game with the same characters.
Jonn: Longest campaign has been about 3 years. Longest game group about 4 years.
Landan: It would be the Mysteries of the Ninth World played in Numenera for TRF actually.
Matt: I ran a 4e D&D game for some buddies that went on for a long time. It was a home-brew world I had rolling around in my head for some time that I would like to take another crack at some time, just not in 4e D&D.
Megan: Mysteries of the Ninth World. It’s been running for a year and a few months, and we haven’t been able to play as consistently as we wanted, but we’ve had a ton of fun along the way.
Patrick: Rise of the Rune Lords
Rob: Firefly RPG, for The Firefly Podcast

Previous #RPGaDay Posts

Categories: Blog Posts, RPG DiscussionLeave a comment

GM Advice: The TPK

Patrick West # #

I have written about death in your game in a previous article and with recent event in my own game I thought it was time for me to write about the dreaded Total Party Kill. TPKs happen, often unexpectedly, but they don’t necessarily spell the end of your carefully crafted story.

First I want to take a look at the probable causes of the party’s demise. When a single player character dies on their own it is often boiled down to a poor decision on a player’s part. I myself have fallen victim to the “I got this.” mentality when my characters died more times than I can count. Other times a named monster or villain gets a lucky shot in at just the wrong moment; or worse it comes down to a failed save versus something deadly; just poor luck there really. But what about when the entire party bites the big one? Where does the fault lie?

A die roll or a series of rolls?

GM fiat?

A string of poor decisions made by one player who is having a bad day and has decided to blow it all to the ninth circle of hell?

It could be all of the above really. The first thing you want to do as a GM is derail the train of thought about placing blame. It will lead to the dark side and can drive a nail into the heart of the most hard-boiled groups. Break things up by taking a break, get snacks or drinks while you think on where to go next. When the game reconvenes, talk to your players and get their perspective on what they want to do next, and then plan accordingly. If the TPK happens early into your game night, spend the rest of the evening playing a different game (Zombicide often hits my table) and get everyone back into a good headspace. After the night is over, plan your next move.

And what move should that be? With an (almost) fresh start it can be whatever you want it to be. The sky is the limit. Why (almost)? Well, just because the party is dead it doesn’t have to mean that you are done with them. In a fantasy setting you can now run an adventure of an indeterminate length of the party trying to fight through the underworld for the right to live again and continue where they left off. And if they succeed, a time jump to a few years or even decades from when they died can be a possibility. In a more modern or sci-fi game may be the party is captured by the evil scientist or group and brought back to life with “enhancements” insert devious giggle here. Heck it doesn’t even have to be the bad guys doing the experimenting. Perchance your players own employer dispatched a group to retrieve the bodies of the party and then goes to work on them. You can even have the players play the rescuers.

I also like the idea of the next group of adventures living in the world that the old characters failed to save. You can make the world as dystopic as you want. Or maybe even the changes that the old party turned out to be for the better but it is now a totalitarian society that new party is rebelling against. You have a wealth of opportunities when the party suffers a total kill. Even a random wipe.

Now that you have ideas to work in a random TPK and not have everything go to heck. Why not try a deliberate TPK. You don’t even have to tell your players that you are planning it ahead of time. Just drop it on them at a moment of high tension. Have your story guide them to a point where victory almost seems at hand and then push them off the cliff with a backup plan to screw things for them. At the time it may seem like all their effort was for naught and could lead to some hard feelings so the purposeful party wipe is not for the faint of heart. Your group needs to have faith in your ability to weave a story and not leave them out in the cold.

One thing that worked for me as a player is that my GM brought me in on the plan and my character was to turn traitor in the battle that lead to the “wipe”; after the things happened we handed in our sheets at the end of the session and there was a few days of radio silence from the GM. Then when we were about to get together for our normal game, the preceding day we received our characters back. The other had slight modifications, extra perks or enhancements whilst I made a new character. My original one had become an NPC and the new focus for the party to hunt down. Good times.

If you really want to go the distance and have the mental fortitude and dedication you can have several TPKs or wipes. Even if they don’t involve the party dying; really, a wipe is simply starting over. If your party is particularly successful you can have the original group of characters retire or start their own long term plans and run a multi-generational game where the new party is their descendants or servants. The options are whatever you want to make them. Talk it out with your players outside of the game and see what they thing about long term goals, they may surprise you.

In short when faced with a TPK, remember this:

Picture1

Until you say it is.

Thank you for reading and happy rolling.

Categories: Blog Posts1 Comment

#RPGaDay2015 14: Favorite RPG Accessory

trfadmin # # # # # # # # # #

Last year we celebrated Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 14, What is your favorite RPG accessory?
Aser: I have this great dice rolling octagon that Megan got me. It’s sort of the centerpiece of my physical gaming space. It possesses a great deal of sentimental value as it is yet another expression of her thoughtfulness and love.
Chuck: Roll20
John: Dropbox.
Jonn: Friends
Landan: Well for Pathfinder if you don’t do too much homebrewing I am a fan of the Hero Lab program but it can get pricey. It also works with several other RPG’s if you purchase the license to unlock it.
Matt: My iPad, for sure. It can do basically anything I need it to, from referencing books, to rolling “dice”, to storing notes, to tracking initiative, etc. It’s nice to be able to grab one thing to go gaming and be sure I’m not forgetting something important.
Megan: Dice! Aser gets them for me almost every time I visit him, and I like collecting cool ones from Kickstarter.
Patrick: The mechanical Pencil. If you don’t know why, you never will.
Rob: Those Octagonal dice boxes

Previous #RPGaDay Posts

Categories: Blog Posts, RPG DiscussionLeave a comment

#RPGaDay2015 13: Favorite RPG Podcast

trfadmin # # # # # # # # # #

Last year we celebrated Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 13, What is your favorite RPG podcast? (Don’t worry, it wasn’t a requirement to choose TRF)
Aser: This would have to be RPPR and their actual play feed. So many of the games I love and much of what I love about gaming, I learned from Ross Payton’s gang of lovable murder hobos.
Chuck: Fandible
John: The Redacted Files! Tied for second: Miskatonic University Podcast, The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, Grim Dark Podcast.
Jonn: Cthulhu & Friends.
Landan: Omitting TRF I would have to say Firefly Podcast: Balls and Bayonets Brigade, Cthulhu and Friends, and Drunks and Dragons.
Matt: I’m going to cheat and name two (aside from TRF): One Shot and THACO. The former is another fun actual-play podcast that tends towards the silly with lots of random (and amusing) 80s and 90s pop culture references. The latter is focused on general geekery, and the crew there is fun to listen to (I’ve been listening since their Fell Calls days, totaling over 500 episodes between the two).
Megan: This is almost exclusively what I listen to. TRF of course. Firefly Podcast, Fandible, Godsfall, One Shot and Campaign, Cthulhu and Friends, and the Adventure Zone. I’ve been working to add some new ones to the list like The Leviathan Files and RPG Academy.
Patrick: Nerd Poker, Just because I’ve listened to more of it.
Rob: Cthulhu and Friends

Previous #RPGaDay Posts

Categories: Blog Posts, RPG DiscussionLeave a comment

#RPGaDay2015 12: Favorite RPG Illustration

trfadmin # # # # # # # # #

Last year we celebrated Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 12, What is your favorite RPG illustration?
Aser: That thing with Cthulhu in power armor count? 😛
Chuck: Anyone doing work for Monte Cook Games
John: Maybe the PCs/NPCs from Warhammer 40K Dark Heresy 2nd Edition.
Landan: I love most the art in my RPG books but I think I will just say the Pathfinder Bestiary 1,2,3, and 4. It has the most pictures in it.
Matt: I really liked the old Planescape art, especially the maps by Robert Lazzeretti.
Megan: I love the Strange and Numenera Bestiaries. I think the best image in each of them is the size comparison of the various monsters to a human.
Patrick: In the Montaigne Nation Book for 7th Sea there is a drawing of a nobleman using a servants back as a writing desk. It’s just so goddamned weird
Rob: Anything Cthulhu

Previous #RPGaDay Posts

Categories: Blog Posts, RPG DiscussionLeave a comment

#RPGaDay2015 11: Favorite RPG Writer

trfadmin # # # # # # # # # #

Last year we celebrated Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 11, Who is your favorite RPG writer?
Aser: Adam Scott Glancy: I like ridiculously well researched historical Cthulhu games setting in very bleak places. He’s my guy for that.
Chuck: Shanna Germain
John: Ken Hite.
Jonn: It sucks that this isn’t plural. So I’m going to go with my Favorite RPG writer in the last couple of years. Erin M Evans
Landan: I am bad with names the only one I can think of offhand is Shanna Germain.
Matt: Vincent Baker (Lumpley Games). Not only are his own games amazing, but the games that have spun off of his work (like Dungeon World) are really great, too.
Megan: Shanna Germain, Monte Cook, Bruce Cordell, and Kenneth Hite.
Patrick: Rob Vaux, if only because my copy of the Freiburg expansion of 7th Sea was signed by him.
Rob: Monica Valentinelli

Previous #RPGaDay Posts

Categories: Blog Posts, RPG DiscussionLeave a comment