Hey Folks,
Just giving a heads up here that Geasa is part of a charity package for a single mom that just got diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa. Her friend Elizabeth, from Two Scooter's Press, asked to put together a charity package and Geasa is a part of that. For 10$ you get 6 awesome games and an additional role for Apocalypse World.
* Mars Colony, by Tim Koppang
* Polaris, by Ben Lehman
* Remember Tomorrow, by Gregor Hutton
* Murderland, by Elizabeth Shoemaker
* Perfect, Unrevised by Joe McDaldno— along with all the reference sheets
* Geasa, by Jonathan Lavalee
* And a special, bundle-only Apocalypse World character class: THE HOARDER, by D. Vincent Baker
You can check out the full story here and buy it there, or you can just access the bundle through the button below.
As of right now there have already been 100 people who purchased the bundle. This is for a limited time too, so I'd go check it out.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Movie Mashup 2011 - Review - Fist Full of Darkness
Since I'm involved in a contest that doesn't end until June 1st, 2011, I figured that I would do what I did with Game Chef and do reviews for people who have put forth entries into the 1km1kt.net Movie Mashup 24 hour RPG competition. I put my game up already, but since I'm not really going to review my own stuff, I'd rather get feedback from other people, I turn my attention to those the other contestants.
I'm doing this because I know that feedback is important, and that it is rather notoriously hard to get. I offer free copies of a book to people who will do a review of the PDF and I still haven't gotten any reviews that fit the contest (though Ed at Robot Viking did one, which is always appreciated).
Anyway, I'll be doing this review using most of the criteria put out by the contest. Copying from the 1km1kt.net thread here are the criteria for judgement.
Don't worry too much about the Keeton part. That's a running joke on the site.
Next on the docket - Fist Full of Darkness by Gryffudd
Fist Full of Darkness is a game that is striving to take The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and Dark City and combines them into a single entity. I will admit that I was pretty excited by the sheer possibilities of this concept. A Western that deals with what Dark City deals with. That's pretty sweet, or it could go horrifically wrong. It all depended on what was going to happen on the other side of 24 hours.
Proximity: The game does a really good job of taking Dark City and making it Dark City at the OK Corral but it doesn't really feel a lot like The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Not that this is generally a bad thing, I think taking a game and turning the genre on its ear can create some awesome game design moments. The problem is that you're trying to mash up two movies into a game, and this feels more like a drop from one was taken and put into a drinking glass filled with the other. It provided a little bit of flavour, a little bit of setting but not much more. I was hoping for a little bit more grit in my alien controlled city.
Complete: It's got all the rules that you need to know in order to play the game. You're always rolling 3 stat blocks worth of dice, which can make for some hand-fulls of dice situations if you've got your two highest stats being pushed against a really high resistance. It uses the DRYH idea of Dominance without the success part which weakens the suspense on the rolling. If you know that you only have to roll high, not get a good number of successes and high dice, and there are no consequences of using your other dice then it's functional, but again in a 24 hr RPG functional is what you're aiming for.
Attractive/Professional: I was jazzed when I saw the cover. I think it's one of the best covers in the competition so far. Really got me into what was going to be inside the cover. Hell, it even made me ignore the coloured paper, which usually annoys me to no end when it comes to RPG books. The border really adds to the Western feel of the game and is really pleasant to look at.
The problems happen when the text constantly runs overtop of the border. That's something that's easy to deal with and should probably be avoided. I know that the author has 24 hours, which is why I don't comment on things like typos or editing mistakes because you've got a limited time, but this is something that you can catch and fix with the basic functionality of whatever application that you're using. When this is one of the criteria I'm gonna mention it.
Smaller quip, would be to try to not have the images be a block of white behind them. It's a problem when you want to use images and coloured backgrounds. Again, it just detracts from the overall look of the book. Also, the two "Indian" images probably shouldn't be there. I use the term "Indian" intentionally, goodness knows I haven't talked about appropriation here, because the western that the author used didn't include any type of appropriative of caricatured depiction of First Nations people in the text, so including the use of said images just makes me sad, really.
Extras: There is a really lovely character sheet in the back filled with the same stylized border, but done in black and white. I think it's a nice book end to the game.
Would I Play It?: Yes. It's still looks like a fun time, and the mechanic is totally playable. Would it be my choice to win the competition? No, but that doesn't mean it isn't a fun concept.
NOTE: Kenisis missed a great opportunity to have it be all sorts of stuff. Pyro, cryo, tele etc.
I'm doing this because I know that feedback is important, and that it is rather notoriously hard to get. I offer free copies of a book to people who will do a review of the PDF and I still haven't gotten any reviews that fit the contest (though Ed at Robot Viking did one, which is always appreciated).
Anyway, I'll be doing this review using most of the criteria put out by the contest. Copying from the 1km1kt.net thread here are the criteria for judgement.
Poor you! Our panel of monkeys will be judging you on:
Must include an NPC called Keeton
Proximity: How close to the two films is it?
Complete: Is it complete? Could you run it?
Attractive: Is it attractive to look at?
Professional: How much effort went into layout and style?
Extras: Did they include actual cover, index, character sheet or any other cool things you get in a proper RPG?
Don't worry too much about the Keeton part. That's a running joke on the site.
Next on the docket - Fist Full of Darkness by Gryffudd
Fist Full of Darkness is a game that is striving to take The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and Dark City and combines them into a single entity. I will admit that I was pretty excited by the sheer possibilities of this concept. A Western that deals with what Dark City deals with. That's pretty sweet, or it could go horrifically wrong. It all depended on what was going to happen on the other side of 24 hours.
Proximity: The game does a really good job of taking Dark City and making it Dark City at the OK Corral but it doesn't really feel a lot like The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Not that this is generally a bad thing, I think taking a game and turning the genre on its ear can create some awesome game design moments. The problem is that you're trying to mash up two movies into a game, and this feels more like a drop from one was taken and put into a drinking glass filled with the other. It provided a little bit of flavour, a little bit of setting but not much more. I was hoping for a little bit more grit in my alien controlled city.
Complete: It's got all the rules that you need to know in order to play the game. You're always rolling 3 stat blocks worth of dice, which can make for some hand-fulls of dice situations if you've got your two highest stats being pushed against a really high resistance. It uses the DRYH idea of Dominance without the success part which weakens the suspense on the rolling. If you know that you only have to roll high, not get a good number of successes and high dice, and there are no consequences of using your other dice then it's functional, but again in a 24 hr RPG functional is what you're aiming for.
Attractive/Professional: I was jazzed when I saw the cover. I think it's one of the best covers in the competition so far. Really got me into what was going to be inside the cover. Hell, it even made me ignore the coloured paper, which usually annoys me to no end when it comes to RPG books. The border really adds to the Western feel of the game and is really pleasant to look at.
The problems happen when the text constantly runs overtop of the border. That's something that's easy to deal with and should probably be avoided. I know that the author has 24 hours, which is why I don't comment on things like typos or editing mistakes because you've got a limited time, but this is something that you can catch and fix with the basic functionality of whatever application that you're using. When this is one of the criteria I'm gonna mention it.
Smaller quip, would be to try to not have the images be a block of white behind them. It's a problem when you want to use images and coloured backgrounds. Again, it just detracts from the overall look of the book. Also, the two "Indian" images probably shouldn't be there. I use the term "Indian" intentionally, goodness knows I haven't talked about appropriation here, because the western that the author used didn't include any type of appropriative of caricatured depiction of First Nations people in the text, so including the use of said images just makes me sad, really.
Extras: There is a really lovely character sheet in the back filled with the same stylized border, but done in black and white. I think it's a nice book end to the game.
Would I Play It?: Yes. It's still looks like a fun time, and the mechanic is totally playable. Would it be my choice to win the competition? No, but that doesn't mean it isn't a fun concept.
NOTE: Kenisis missed a great opportunity to have it be all sorts of stuff. Pyro, cryo, tele etc.
Movie Mashup 2011 - Review - Alone in the Woods
Since I'm involved in a contest that doesn't end until June 1st, 2011, I figured that I would do what I did with Game Chef and do reviews for people who have put forth entries into the 1km1kt.net Movie Mashup 24 hour RPG competition. I put my game up already, but since I'm not really going to review my own stuff, I'd rather get feedback from other people, I turn my attention to those the other contestants.
I'm doing this because I know that feedback is important, and that it is rather notoriously hard to get. I offer free copies of a book to people who will do a review of the PDF and I still haven't gotten any reviews that fit the contest (though Ed at Robot Viking did one, which is always appreciated).
Anyway, I'll be doing this review using most of the criteria put out by the contest. Copying from the 1km1kt.net thread here are the criteria for judgement.
Don't worry too much about the Keeton part. That's a running joke on the site.
First up - Alone in the Woods by Shinobicow
Alone in the Woods takes any Robin Hood movie, and there are plenty, and Home Alone and attempts to mash them up together into a game that takes Sherwood and turns in into a trap filled place to prevent the evil Sheriff of Nottingham and his minions from getting to far into the camp.
Proximity: In this regard the game both succeeds and fails at being close to the films. The location is spot on, you're inside Robin Hood's camp defending it from the evil Sheriff. Great, you've got a perfect parallel between the two movies and the game uses it wonderfully. My concern is that's kind of where the game starts and ends. Robin Hood is an adventure story, filled with action and romance, and Home Alone is all about the childhood dream of being separated from family and then being ingenious enough to grow up when it comes time to defend it from a couple of thieves. It would have been nice to see a couple of those things in there? Maybe not only do you have to defend the place from the Sherrif and his Troops, but also woo the one you love who just happens to live in the toughest place to get to. Maybe have it be less, "Well, I guess everyone is drunk and that's why you're alone" and even more on the "you have to hold out until Robin gets back from his latest caper" would have gone a lot more of the way to make it feel like it was more like the two movies.
The big things were got, maybe one of the little things would have made it better. However, this is something that's come up in 24 hours so getting the big things right is really important.
Complete: It's totally there. Using the paired down d20 system, thankfully, the game makes you use a bare bones skill list and has very defined phases. The author even took the time to write up a "How do you run this game" section in the back. How to run it if you're playing the good folk and the bad folk and what your main job is, which is to keep the funny moving. Character sheet is there, tables are provided. 100% Complete and ready to roll.
Attractive/Professional: It's got a serviceable look to it. The kind that says, "I've got a short amount of time and want to get this out" which I can appreciate since I know that I'm very much in that camp when it comes to my layout skill. However, my one complaint would be the "LOL" put in on the title cover. I think the picture itself would have conveyed the proper, "Oh no!" emotion rather than having to add a LOL to it.
Another thing that probably should have gotten cut was the discussion on all the Merry Men that will not be appearing in this game. The only three that are important were Robin, because you were a Merry Child, the Sheriff, because he is the villain, and Maid Marion, because you can enter her lands to scavenge for materials. That's a lot of text that you didn't need in a contest where every minute counts, and in the end it doesn't add much to the final product as well.
Extras: Yup. All of them are there, especially the things that are needed in a d20 game. Charts, tables, more charts and tables (I'm just joking there are only 5 tables) and the character sheet.
Would I Play it? Yes. All in all, Alone in the Woods is a really solid effort. Someone mentioned on the 1km1kt forums that it would probably make a really beer & pretzels game and I agree completely. It's got the right amount of silliness and the right amount of boardgamyness that would make it fun to sit around a table and play, and I can start to think of all the little doo-dads that would make great add ons the playing experience.
I'm doing this because I know that feedback is important, and that it is rather notoriously hard to get. I offer free copies of a book to people who will do a review of the PDF and I still haven't gotten any reviews that fit the contest (though Ed at Robot Viking did one, which is always appreciated).
Anyway, I'll be doing this review using most of the criteria put out by the contest. Copying from the 1km1kt.net thread here are the criteria for judgement.
Poor you! Our panel of monkeys will be judging you on:
Must include an NPC called Keeton
Proximity: How close to the two films is it?
Complete: Is it complete? Could you run it?
Attractive: Is it attractive to look at?
Professional: How much effort went into layout and style?
Extras: Did they include actual cover, index, character sheet or any other cool things you get in a proper RPG?
Don't worry too much about the Keeton part. That's a running joke on the site.
First up - Alone in the Woods by Shinobicow
Alone in the Woods takes any Robin Hood movie, and there are plenty, and Home Alone and attempts to mash them up together into a game that takes Sherwood and turns in into a trap filled place to prevent the evil Sheriff of Nottingham and his minions from getting to far into the camp.
Proximity: In this regard the game both succeeds and fails at being close to the films. The location is spot on, you're inside Robin Hood's camp defending it from the evil Sheriff. Great, you've got a perfect parallel between the two movies and the game uses it wonderfully. My concern is that's kind of where the game starts and ends. Robin Hood is an adventure story, filled with action and romance, and Home Alone is all about the childhood dream of being separated from family and then being ingenious enough to grow up when it comes time to defend it from a couple of thieves. It would have been nice to see a couple of those things in there? Maybe not only do you have to defend the place from the Sherrif and his Troops, but also woo the one you love who just happens to live in the toughest place to get to. Maybe have it be less, "Well, I guess everyone is drunk and that's why you're alone" and even more on the "you have to hold out until Robin gets back from his latest caper" would have gone a lot more of the way to make it feel like it was more like the two movies.
The big things were got, maybe one of the little things would have made it better. However, this is something that's come up in 24 hours so getting the big things right is really important.
Complete: It's totally there. Using the paired down d20 system, thankfully, the game makes you use a bare bones skill list and has very defined phases. The author even took the time to write up a "How do you run this game" section in the back. How to run it if you're playing the good folk and the bad folk and what your main job is, which is to keep the funny moving. Character sheet is there, tables are provided. 100% Complete and ready to roll.
Attractive/Professional: It's got a serviceable look to it. The kind that says, "I've got a short amount of time and want to get this out" which I can appreciate since I know that I'm very much in that camp when it comes to my layout skill. However, my one complaint would be the "LOL" put in on the title cover. I think the picture itself would have conveyed the proper, "Oh no!" emotion rather than having to add a LOL to it.
Another thing that probably should have gotten cut was the discussion on all the Merry Men that will not be appearing in this game. The only three that are important were Robin, because you were a Merry Child, the Sheriff, because he is the villain, and Maid Marion, because you can enter her lands to scavenge for materials. That's a lot of text that you didn't need in a contest where every minute counts, and in the end it doesn't add much to the final product as well.
Extras: Yup. All of them are there, especially the things that are needed in a d20 game. Charts, tables, more charts and tables (I'm just joking there are only 5 tables) and the character sheet.
Would I Play it? Yes. All in all, Alone in the Woods is a really solid effort. Someone mentioned on the 1km1kt forums that it would probably make a really beer & pretzels game and I agree completely. It's got the right amount of silliness and the right amount of boardgamyness that would make it fun to sit around a table and play, and I can start to think of all the little doo-dads that would make great add ons the playing experience.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Some Thoughts on my 24 Hour RPG
I finished my 24 Hour RPG because I really wanted to get that off the ground for a couple of reasons. It was a break from writing CyberGen 3.0 and Critical!: Go Westerly. It was a chance to get the creative juices flowing again in a different direction, which always makes them come back better when working on projects.
It was also a quick mental challenge that, while draining, is something I think served me a little better than the Game Chef competition did. It gave me a much tighter deadline. I ended up writing 10k words for Game Chef and in retrospect that's far too much. I wanted to be more concise.
I also ended up showing that I can use Geasa and modify it to fit something different. I hope by showing that I can do it, other people can do it too. If I get it polished enough what I might do is put it up on Drivethru as a free download because I think it's a good way to get people to understand that the system is there to be used.
Anyway, if you want to check out the game you can download it here.
It was also a quick mental challenge that, while draining, is something I think served me a little better than the Game Chef competition did. It gave me a much tighter deadline. I ended up writing 10k words for Game Chef and in retrospect that's far too much. I wanted to be more concise.
I also ended up showing that I can use Geasa and modify it to fit something different. I hope by showing that I can do it, other people can do it too. If I get it polished enough what I might do is put it up on Drivethru as a free download because I think it's a good way to get people to understand that the system is there to be used.
Anyway, if you want to check out the game you can download it here.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Which comes first, the Setting or the Rules
So I did a little bit of an unscientific poll on Facebook and Twitter yesterday. The question was, what should come first the Setting or the System.
Now, I should clarify this question as what should come first in the book. Would you rather read the Setting first or the System first. I got 17 People who said "Setting," 2 People who said "System" and 5 people who said, "Get it together asshole, find a way to merge the two."
My personal preference goes to Setting first rather than rules. It's one of the reasons why I like the Shadowrun books a lot. I like reading them because the Setting inspires me to figure out nasty, horrible things to do to the players while rules just tell me how it's possible to do nasty horrible things to the players. I tend to feel that I have a pretty good grasp of how, it's the what that needs to be inspired.
How does this apply to what I'm doing? Well I've got two projects currently on the go. The first is the next edition of CyberGeneration (which we're lovingly calling Evolution 3.0) and the other is a fantasy game I'm working on with Geoff Bottone of Slug Fest Games called Critical!: Go Westerly, which I might have talked about once or twice on this blog. Figuring out how we're going to lay out the book is a big deal, because as Adam Jury has complained about frequently you need to know these things before you really get too far in the writing part of the book.
Planning, planning, planning, or something like that. Measure twice and cut a million times because I suck with tools.
One of those expressions.
So with Critical!: Go Westerly we're stuck with introducing a new world to people. What I want to do with this world is actually start writing books and stories using it, because I think it's that entertaining a place. That means I think we need to showcase the world and put it front and centre. I want people to be amused by it, and want to dive into the various places and build their own stories. I want to make it a CC license so that people can write stories, and it's okay for them to write stories. I think it would be a lot of fun. That the pipe dream there.
Pipe dream? Possibly, but I think it's doable. So there.
With CyberGen what I did like about the 2.0 book was that character creation was built right into the book as an adventure. You didn't need any of the stats to start the game and it threw you into conflict right away, running from CorpSec and throwing all the juves together in the same spot. It was a lot of fun. The thing is, I want to try something different with 3.0. I want the characters the have a life before it gets ripped away from them. Make them feel more connected to the world rather than just starting on the run. I mean, it was great and it makes for an awesome con game but it always seemed to drag for me when it came time to transition to a campaign.
However, much like other games where you have a heavy metaplot setting (Looking at Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, Mechwarrior) you need to make sure that people feel engaged in your setting. That they want to invest their time there.
I think that's why the Setting comes before the rules if you can't find a way to integrate the two of them. It is a way to get people engrossed in what your doing in a way that numbers generally don't.
Now, I should clarify this question as what should come first in the book. Would you rather read the Setting first or the System first. I got 17 People who said "Setting," 2 People who said "System" and 5 people who said, "Get it together asshole, find a way to merge the two."
My personal preference goes to Setting first rather than rules. It's one of the reasons why I like the Shadowrun books a lot. I like reading them because the Setting inspires me to figure out nasty, horrible things to do to the players while rules just tell me how it's possible to do nasty horrible things to the players. I tend to feel that I have a pretty good grasp of how, it's the what that needs to be inspired.
How does this apply to what I'm doing? Well I've got two projects currently on the go. The first is the next edition of CyberGeneration (which we're lovingly calling Evolution 3.0) and the other is a fantasy game I'm working on with Geoff Bottone of Slug Fest Games called Critical!: Go Westerly, which I might have talked about once or twice on this blog. Figuring out how we're going to lay out the book is a big deal, because as Adam Jury has complained about frequently you need to know these things before you really get too far in the writing part of the book.
Planning, planning, planning, or something like that. Measure twice and cut a million times because I suck with tools.
One of those expressions.
So with Critical!: Go Westerly we're stuck with introducing a new world to people. What I want to do with this world is actually start writing books and stories using it, because I think it's that entertaining a place. That means I think we need to showcase the world and put it front and centre. I want people to be amused by it, and want to dive into the various places and build their own stories. I want to make it a CC license so that people can write stories, and it's okay for them to write stories. I think it would be a lot of fun. That the pipe dream there.
Pipe dream? Possibly, but I think it's doable. So there.
With CyberGen what I did like about the 2.0 book was that character creation was built right into the book as an adventure. You didn't need any of the stats to start the game and it threw you into conflict right away, running from CorpSec and throwing all the juves together in the same spot. It was a lot of fun. The thing is, I want to try something different with 3.0. I want the characters the have a life before it gets ripped away from them. Make them feel more connected to the world rather than just starting on the run. I mean, it was great and it makes for an awesome con game but it always seemed to drag for me when it came time to transition to a campaign.
However, much like other games where you have a heavy metaplot setting (Looking at Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, Mechwarrior) you need to make sure that people feel engaged in your setting. That they want to invest their time there.
I think that's why the Setting comes before the rules if you can't find a way to integrate the two of them. It is a way to get people engrossed in what your doing in a way that numbers generally don't.
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