Saturday, May 11, 2013

Call to Adventure - Critical!: Go Westerly Adventures

Okay, I've been neglecting putting out some stuff for Critical!: Go Westerly because part of me is always looking to do something new, and the other part of me is working on writing books for the stuff.

That said, I'm looking for 3 adventures that are going to be going out in the next year or so but I need other people to write them for me. This is a paying gig (it's 30$ per adventure), and if you want an idea on how the format is being done you can check out You All Meet in a Tavern for the format. They really should be no more than 10-12 "Chapters" long which puts them between 4 - 6k in their word count.

If you'd like to pitch, I'm looking for a twitter length pitch for your adventure and a little paragraph as to why your idea is funny.

EDIT: Where to send them?

Send all submissions to jonathan at firestorm-ink dot com.

EDIT the Second: Where are the rules?

You don't have the game? Well, it's 5$ for the pdf version which comes with the world setting, or if you just want to check out the rules then they are under CC and available for free here.


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Previously Generated - NHL RPG - Kiss of the Ice Duck

There was a conversation on Twitter between RPG Writer, Editor and Generally all around Awesome Guy Clark Valentine, and amazing, talented, author Jocelyn Koehler about hockey. Well, it was kind of tangentially related to hockey. He had mentioned Leaf-Bruins and she said it sounded like a D&D creature.

Of course, knowing of my love of thing geeky and hockey colliding so I'm going to bring you some things you'll find in the NHL RPG: Kiss of the Ice Duck (title suggested by Jocelyn Koehler). I'm going to use Dungeon World for stats, mainly because that's the latest Fantasy Game I've played, and one that more people do play. If someone wants to do it for another fantasy game, please feel free and we'll post and or link it here.

Leaf Bruin

Group, Large, Animal, Aggressive
Armor 2 (Front)
Armor 3 (Rear)
D8 Damage
12 HP

The Leaf Bruin is a large bear creature with blue and black fur that is prone to violent outbursts when provoked, usually by poking at it with sharp objects. It tends to be overly aggressive at times, which has caused it to charge over things necessarily, but thankfully it has even greater armor on it's back end which prevents all kinds of damage.  They tend to fight in groups, but do better when they're outnumbered or when there is an equal number on both sides. As soon as there is any sort of advantage, the Leaf Bruin starts to get too fancy and is easily defeated.

They are found in the Eastern Lands, and are a rarer combination. The Leaf Bruin hasn't been seen by most people for almost a decade. Not enough to have people forget them, but long enough that people were used to not seeing them around.

Instinct: 

  • To control their territory
  • To run over enemies

Moves:

  • I will run you down

Blues Kings

Solitary, Medium, Intelligent, Magical
Armor 5
D6 Damage
10 HP

The Blues Kings are a ruling class of musicians that run the city of Missornia in the West, a place filled with intrigue, magic and mystery. Each Blues King has their own style, and their own plots in the city though they are frequently not seen without their massive armor that they wear to prevent them from the many assassination plots that occur. Despite their individual agendas, they do have a leader named The Backes who has a particular vendetta against the Frigid North. He frequently leads his forces against them, and is willing to take on anyone who has any ties to them including other Blues Kings.

Instinct (Which Blues King has that Instinct):
  • To be the one true Blues King (All)
  • To punch all the foes of the north (The Backes)
  • To destroy The Dry Island (Richards Carter)
  • To reclaim the clone Doty (Doughty)

Moves:
  • There is magic in the music
  • The one true authority

Red Wing Duck

Horde, Small, Magical
D6 Damage
6 HP

The Blues Kings have their own flying force, made up of a magical mash of a wide variety of creatures until the Red Wing Duck was born. They fly in large numbers, and dive to attack their foes using their super heated wings to sear people, and burn down structures. They have pin point accuracy, and when a group of them attack it can be over in a wingbeat before they go off to their next target as demanded by the Blues King.

They're a big reason why Missournia hasn't been attached in recent memory. The Red Wing Ducks destroy any siege engines that get remotely close to the city. Any that manage to get past the Red Wing Ducks end up crushed against the Kron Wall.

Instincts:
  • To burn the target
  • To obey the Blues King

Moves:
  • Searing wing beats

Penguin Islanders

Horde, Medium, Intelligent
D6 Damage
6 HP

To the east, there is a small group of islands that are home to a group of enterprising penguins. While sometimes they've been dropped by their neighbouring flyers, these free flying animals have been known to come off the island and defend the East from any threats from the West. The Penguin Islanders are larger, flightless birds who have grown opposable thumbs, and stand around six feet in height. They are excellent swimmers, and are recognized as premier divers among the Eastern Lands. They are incredible fisher folk who have rising to prominence because of the shrewd manoeuvring of their leader The Shero.

The Shero has been successful because he's been able to get people, and transform them into effective and efficient Penguins. Every year he manages to take outsiders and integrate them successfully into his forces. Recently he took an Oil Flame and integrated him into one of the best teams he has. If there is one flaw of the Penguin Islanders is that they have a weakness for flowers. If there are too many flowers, then the Penguin Islanders get distracted they tend to miss a lot of events.

Instincts:
  • To dive in the water
Moves:
  • Well co-ordinated attack
 

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Monster: The Noun - Vampires


This was I think the first thing I wrote for Monster: The Noun. I enjoyed it enough that I felt like I should try to make a bigger project out of this, and part of why I'm glad that I didn't. If I'm going to do something funny, I would rather do something like Critical!: Go Westerly than something like Monster: The Noun. Anyway, here's the Vampire section.

*~*~*

The darkness that shines upon the eternal soul of everyone also draws that soul towards the dark and occult paths.  The small bit of blackness that exists in the brightest of hearts, from priests and ministers to the small child selling matchsticks for a quarter, all yearn towards the void of evil.  Be it something simple as taking candy from a baby or as far down the trail of monstrosity as taking candy from many babies, nothing matches the awe inspiring terror mixed with an unhealthy dose of dankness and a side order of depression as the Vampire.  After all, no other creature is forced to live as they do, drawing blood from any living thing.  Hanging out after dark, never truly enjoying physical pleasures and therefore try to make up for it by indulging in large quantity of sins of the flesh, drinking, partying, smoking, bitching and whining until the dark monster within rises up and takes a hold of you.  That is the lot of the vampire, eternally asking where the party is but never finally getting to it.

Through history, the Nosferatu have been feared for their fiendish ways and frightening eating habits.  They play on our darkest fears in our history, like Vlad the Impaler who impaled many people he didn’t like -on pikes no less.  They crop up in our literature, the dark and sinister Dracula who would seduce and woo.  Culminating in more recent incarnations of the Vampire that has made such devious appearances on children’s cereal boxes, showing that there are no depths that the Vampire will not go in its quest to satiate itself.

Vampires blend well into current society, there are cities that never sleep after all, and such Beasts only sleep during the decent hours of daylight.  However, there are tell tale signs that tend to give these monsters away. First they tend to dress in dark clothes, usually involving trench-coats, black t-shirts and black leather pants.  There are alternatives to this standard of dress, usually involving corsets, red lipstick and cloaks but all the variations focus on dark colours mixed with either white or red with a focus on being as dark and mysterious as they can be.

Everyday people attempt to resist the urge to fall to the dark side of un-life, but not everyone is as resilient to this call as most are.  They fall into some easily definably categories, not all fit these types but you will find that most do.

1.         The Arrogant Prick:  He knows that he’s far superior to the rest of the world.  He thinks he’s stronger, smarter, faster, braver, sexier, cooler than the rest of us could ever hope to be.  He likes to lord it over all those who he considers inferior, there can be no sweeter reward for The Arrogant Prick then the lord it over other for ETERNITY. 
2.         Lesbians:  Scientists are uncertain as to what comes first, are lesbians drawn to vampirism or does the kiss of fangs create lesbians.  The fact is that is really doesn’t matter since we can verify through anecdotal evidence that there seems to be a predominantly large amount of them running around.
3.         Lonely Geeks:  Often drawn by the allure of power, and lesbians, the Lonely Geeks embrace their un-life with open arms.  However, it always ends up being less than they dreamed.  Realizing that the lesbians have no interest in them, and the Arrogant Pricks get to lord it over them for eternity, these lowest of the low, most pathetic of the dark are stuck in a void of hopelessness that does nothing but feed their dark hearts.

While other creatures of darkness might congregate well with others, Vampires tend to spend time with their own kind and bemoan any time spent with happier creatures.  With darkness approaching the Vampire finds that the hunger and the thirst drag upon his soul and blot out his or her mind so that there is only one thing to do.  That one thing is to approach a local bar to imbibe what they can under the cover of darkness.

Vampire Power:

Ennui: Vampires have the uncanny ability to be so mopey and annoying that people will do anything to make them go away.  This goes as far as pretending to believe that they think they can’t see you, as long as you go away.  When failing your ennui to do something vampirish the more people will pretend that you did exactly what you did just to get your pale face as far away from them as possible.  You’re whiney, and annoying and really so filled with the dark that others just get listless and depressed around you, doubly so when you actually start talking.  Use your ennui to inspire thoughts of depression, sadness and general antipathy around you and maybe you’ll actually be able to get a date that doesn’t involve roleplaying.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Previously Generated: Fiasco - Sudden Death

This is something that Clark and Amanda Valentine and I talked about last Origins, I think. It might have been the one before that.

At any rate, I finally got off my behind and "finished" (that term is used very loosely) Sudden Death, the Fiasco Playset where you play a hockey team about to come unglued in game seven of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

I like some of the rule modifications to make it fit a hockey game, and I enjoy the scoring mechanic so you can see how well or poorly you're doing as the game progresses. I'm sure there are better elements, and tonnes of mistakes, so if you have suggestions, ideas or anything just post them here. When I have enough of them I'll probably make the changes to the document and then we can get a better playset!

Download Sudden Death


Thursday, April 4, 2013

Retro Game Day - Crazy 8s

Most people have probably played this game at one point or another.

My favourite part of this game, isn't really the playing of it anymore but more along the lines of negotiating the various versions that people have played. The extra rules that come up and throw you for a loop when you hear them the first time.

I think we can all agree these are the basic rules.

Step 1. Draw one card
Step 2. Play one card under these certain conditions
a. It is the same suit as the previous card played.
b. It is the same rank as the previous card played.
c. It is an 8, at which point in time you get to declare what suit is now eligible to played in as per 2.a

These are the basic special cards that I know.

2 - The next player draws 2 cards.

What are your special rules? What do you think makes the right rules for Crazy 8s?

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The FATE of Being Human?

I've been thinking about Being Human a lot on the subway.

I do a lot of my thinking on my train ride to work. It's a good set of time to sit back and and think about what else I could use for the game. I really want to tell this type of story, I really want to push the idea of fighting between being that monster you are and the human you were and want to be.

However, I'm having a problem coming up with a system that works for me. It's coming along with CyberPark, but the "Being Human" one I'm drawing up a blank. That usually makes me start to look at other systems and maybe I should make it a FATE game. That said, part of me hates that because now I feel like some kind of giant band wagoner who is like "Oh, everybody is doing FATE games."

The other part of me, the designer part of me, goes "Fuck no! I can make it on my own!"

But that second one is a lie. It really wasn't working.

The first question is, is FATE even a good idea? It's designed to be pulpy and full of action, and that's fine. I don't think that having action in this game is a bad thing because there are people are groups and enemies that are certainly going to want to make sure that you don't achieve your goal, or are out for revenge or other things like that. I want to know if it's a good idea to use for the emotional drama that I'm hoping the game allows for.

Is it possible? The folks at Machine Age Productions do because that's a big part of their Apotheosis Drive X kickstarter. It's not just an action mecha game, it's a game of high drama. White Picket Witches is all about the relationships of five witching families ... so I guess it's possible. The question comes down to how would I do that because it's still not going to be a standard RPG because the goal is to be as human as you can while bad stuff happens around you.

Maybe finding a way to do that GMless while still providing opportunities for Compelling and Invoking Aspects. Anyway, that's more thoughts for another time. 

Monday, March 18, 2013

MUSICAL ADVENTURE GOODNESS!

I don't know if you know but I love adventure games. I love adventure games that do something fun and exciting. That's why I can't wait for April 1st, because that's the perfect time to get the game!

More details are found on Deirdra's website.


Firestorm Ink's Fan Box