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.

TL;DR version of a response to Steven Long's IPR post

I was going to write a long post about Steven Long's post over at IPR. It was going to be filled with quote things and stuff like that, but in the end I think I could boil it down to the tl;dr version.

Who cares? Makes games you want to play and have fun with it. Now I go write my own IP and pine for a Veronica Mars RPG.

Look at that. 120 characters.

These are the Rules, that I've just made up

So, let's have a little moment to breathe about the rules in the game. When I buy a game, I tend to sit down and go over the other stuff and save the rules for last. The reason for that is that I'm a huge proponent of saving the worst bit for the end. I hate rules, I do. I used to love them when I was younger, because they were the structure on which my gaming house was built. They were comfortating, and familiar and if you knew them well you could do whatever you wanted.

Then I got older, and then I realized rules were kind of like the house that you couldn't remodel. Well, you can (I figured out that later) but if you had someone in your game who loved rules above the game itself, doing anything that went beyond the rules was like pulling teeth. It was hard, painful and left you frustrated more often than now.

Now that I'm even older, and I've done this writing a book or two thing, I've come to realize that rules are just there for when you need them, and the less you need them the better. Often times, rules can get in the way of a good story. That's why there's this term called "Rule Zero" which is, when put succinctly is, "if you don't like it and it doesn't work, throw it the hell out."

There are many reasons why a rule doesn't work. It's overly complicated, or overy specific. If a rule can only apply to when you're falling out of a burning building and landing on concrete, then it's a bad rule. If the rule takes you more than a minute to figure out, then it's a bad rule. If you have to dig through three different books to find the various references on those rules to make sure you've got it right, then it's a bad rule. We can play the bad rule game all day, really. It's fun, I should start a thread where we play the, "It's a bad rule when.." game where you fill in the end. It'll probably be just me playing, but I've been known to entertain myself.

Anyway, a friend sent me on towards this website, Story Games. I'd admit that I'm a little hesitant to do it, mainly because while I was lurking I came across the following thread. So someone played an IaWa game and it didn't quite follow the rules of the book. Now, I know this game because I was in it. I was one of the people who got co-opted to be the co-leader for the game. I'm not ashamed to admit it despite the fact that there was a lot of whining on that thread about how we didn't follow the rules.

I kid you not. After the description there was a note from the writer/creator of In a Wicked Age and he said, and I quote:

"Huh. Discouraging.

-Vincent"

My first though was, "Seriously? Seriously? Well, how about you fuck right off."

You see, I'm of the opinion that if you're playing one of my games that's awesome, period ... end of sentence. Have fun, do whatever the hell you want with it. You don't like this rule, or that rule? Throw them out, make a new one! You think the game is good, but it inspires you to write your own because you think you cane make it better. Rock on sister! Just be prepared to have me read what you did and do the same to you because it's going to have the same effect on me.

"Huh, discouraging?"

I've got news for you. I do love In A Wicked Age. However, what I dislike the most about it is the whole fucking rule system. I've read the book several times and the timing issues makes me scratch my head again and again. I don't care if you got it and it's just like this. I've had people try to explain it to me and it still makes me scratch my head. It's like Burning Wheel in that regard, beautiful book wonderful idea but at some point in time I throw my hands up in the air and say, "Screw this noise" and I go back to reading A Penny For My Thoughts so I can understand that I'm not a moron.

When you write a game, and people don't really get it, then the fault lies not with the reader but with the writer for failing to communicate the rules and ideas behind their game. I know this, I fail on a regular basis when it comes to how I write my stuff. Why? Because this writing thing is hard. However, if someone plays a game a certain way I'm not going to tell them to stop. My first words are going to be, "Keep playing!" Because they main reason for all of this is to have fun, and if they're having fun then more power to them and less wanking off for me. It also lets me sit down and know where I messed up and where I need to be better in communicating my ideas.

"Discouraging."

My second thought, "Really? Really? How about you fuck right off."

Signal Boost - RPGirl zine - Looking for Submission

Hey there anyone who reads this thing.

RPGirl Zine is lookin for women to submit articles for the next 'zine.

Details can be found here.

They like it

So that project we've been working on just got send in for review of the first draft.

The good news is that they like it. We've had to make a few setting modifications, really they just fit in perfectly, and I'm actually loving this game now.

Once it's really, real I'll let you know what we've been doing.

Why I haven't been posting here

It's because I've been working on a new cyberpunk game. It's going to be cool, at least I think it's cool.

That's what matters, right?

DCG - Factions - The Anti-Imperialists

Not everyone is happy with the way things have been going over the past few hundred years. Every so often someone would get slighted, a house would fall and those that survived would blame it on the empire for letting a proud and noble house crumble. These people have built up their own power base on the Capital planet. They keep things quiet, but they do have supporters almost everywhere each one willing to put their lives on the line to end what they see as the wrongful imperial dominion.

What makes this group different is that they don't have one leader with one goal. They've got several leaders each with their own agenda, and methodology. They will often fight each other over clashing ideology. There are three groups lead by mysterious figures (because I haven't designed the cards and therefore don't really want to come up with their names just yet). One group feels that the only way to drive the Imperialist out is by sheer and utter destruction of what they hold dear. They will attack anything and anyone at a moment's notice, usually under the cover of another group's efforts. Sometimes they succeed, more often they fail but it puts the Imperial Guard on double alert when anything goes on in the city.

Another group believes that by taking out any sort of spaceflight ability, that they can wait out and starve out the Imperialists. They spend most of their time attacking the Starport and the ships that are docked there. They also attack communication towers because they believe that this is part of cutting off the head of the snake rather than going after the body.

The third group belives that if they incite the populace enough, they will rise up against their enslavers and throw off the chains of oppression. They do engage in clandestine activities, but a lot less than the two other main groups. They're also more often going to have agents embedded deeply within the various houses, both great and small.

The Imperial Guard takes these groups very seriously, and has orders to kill any known members on site. This has caused them to go underground, but they're still very active. Their hatred of the Imperialists goes beyond the threat of death.

DCG - Factions - The Faithful

Humanity has never really been able to shake religion. It has been viewed as the succor that keeps people honest and has ruled like a bloodthirsty tyrant. It has been done through the worship of nature and through some old dude with a beard somewhere.

The major faith that has evolved in the empire is a group called The Faithful. What the Faithful preach is not a destination but an appreciation of the journey, or The Way. Historically it's a mishmash of various different older religions into a single unified belief. It focuses on service to others, aiming others in the direction that suits them best, as well as a deep seated need for peace and harmony. Most people respect The Faithful, even if they don't hold a similar belief structure.

The Faithful are lead by the Ersthoff, a spiritual leader who doesn't seem to have any outward goal beyond helping others. On the surface it seems as if the Ersthoff has no plans beyond that, but there are a couple of things that seem odd. The first is that he doesn't seem to support any faction over another. The Ersthoff has given orders that all groups who seek aid from the Faithful should get it to the best of their ability. The second is that there isn't much asked for in return. A favour here, or a favour there down the road. A donation to a local chapter is also appreciated but never asked for.

Everyone is certain that The Faithful have some sort of long term goal, but no one has been able to determine it, but it seems as if the Faithful are quietly making believers out of people in all walks of life, and in every house. This has caused the rumour mongers and the conspiracy theorist to call foul, as if The Faithful are setting up for a massive coup, but those who follow the path just smile and continue to help those they see in need.

DCG - Faction 5 - House Ndebele

House Ndebele, out of all the houses, has its power centre based mostly around manufacturing and the military might that goes around manufacturing. Most ships that are used by other houses bear Ndebele's mark. Most weapons used by those fighting are manufacturered on Ndebele worlds. The House has made its money by selling to everyone, they don't discriminate when people come calling to buy things. However, they do reserve the latest and greatest 'toys' for their own troops ensuring their own military supremacy over all those that buy their wares because that's what Ndebele does best, intimidate people into doing what they want.

When they were included with House Aan to be added to the list of Great Houses a lot of others felt that this was Ndebele forcing their way onto the counsil. This isn't true. What happens is that House Zhang felt that be including them it would be a better way to keep them in check, if they were busy looking at the Imperial House as a prize then they might be less inclined to take from their neighbors. It worked and House Ndebele spent the next several decades playing nice while vying for the Imperial seat like the rest of the Houses did at the time, by peddling influence and playing politics.

This was capped with the shortest time as the Emperor. Katina Ndebele was killed by an assassin during the Hernden incident where the Hernden house and the Contreras house were fighting over a trade route. Hernden had said that they had made a treaty with Contreras to have exclusive rights to the route while Contreras said that there was no such exclusive deal in place and that any and all who wished to use the route could as long as they paid the tolls. Emperor Katina was leaning towards siding with the Contreras when the Herndens attacked. To enforce her power, Katina led her forces with Contreras in a concerted effort to end the conflict quickly. Unfortunately, the ship that the Emperor was on was sabotaged by unknown people and exploded during the battle. There were no survivors and the Imperial throne passed to another house.

Currently the house is split along two lines. There are those who wish to play the political game to get back to the Imperial throne and there are those that feel that they need to flex their military muscle to show the others that they should take the throne from the Aans. They feel that this would also get them some extra territory from the Zhangs.

With the House in flux there are many ways this could go. The hope of those in the house is no matter what, it will be a benefit to them all.

DCG - Faction 4 - House Aan

House Aan was one of the two houses promoted to Great House status during the year 170. House Aan was considered because they were the largest shipping House in the Galaxy. If you wanted to get goods somewhere, it was often safer to send it with House Aan than any other organization. Space is a rather large place, so there are those who feel that piracy is still the better way to survive rather than deal with the Houses and their Rules.

This led House Aan not only to control most of the routes but to be able to defend them from the various bands of pirates who would make their livlyhoods by attacking any ship that looked plump and poorly defended. Some of these Pirates were even backed by various Houses who would, almost with a mark of writ, would gladly allow the pirates to sell any goods that belonged to another House at any planet the controlled. House Aan has fought this kind of privateering in space for ages and still continue to fight it to this day.

Currently House Aan is led by Her Imperial Magesty Angelica Aan who is in a tough spot. Her grandfather Casey Aan was considered one of the best Emperors to grace the throne. He negotiated the peace between the LaJoies and the Ndebeles over loans given and repayed or not. He negotiated the end of the expansion wars between many of the smaller houses that tried to expand quickly, often at the expense of each other which then blossomed into armed conflict and wars that threatened the fabric of the empire. Casey didn't just make peace, often times he understood when and where the hammer needed to fall in order to ensure that what was best for the Empire was done.

Angelica's father, Byron Aan, took all the good work that his father did and nearly destroyed it. He was linked romantically with several people, who in turn used him to get what they wanted from the Imperial Throne. He put out edict after contradicting edict all while wasting away the Aan fortune on food, sexual adventure, exotic objects and anything else that tickled his fancy. Thankfully he died soon after Angelica turned twenty, there were some mysterious circumstances surrounding his death but the Aan family took the "natural causes" death as a sign that the lifestyle had finally caught up with the former Emperor.

Now Angelica is left with a difficult task. She must rebuild the Aan reputation of Imperial quality all while the sharks are beginning to circle the throne. The mysterious Campbells have returned from their self imposed exile. The Zhangs and the Ndebeles are starting to fight again and her allies are few and far between. She needs to show that she can lead the empire with a strong and steady hand before someone takes the reigns of power away from her through House edict or by force.

DCG - The Galaxy -

As per request from David I'm gonna go over how the Universe is set up.

The Galaxy is pretty big. Each House has their own territory within that galaxy. They have their solar systems, they have their planets and they have their own absolute sovereign rights within that territory. No one else can come in and tell them what to do on their land, as it were. That means that what's legal in one isn't necessarily legal in all. In some, like the Zhang and the LaJoie territories slavery is outlawed while the Campbells still practice it.

One of the reasons why the Imperial House was set up was that while each House can pretty much do what it wants to do in its own turf, things get murky when they try to trade between these places. That's what the Emperor is supposed to do. They are supposed to define the relationship between the Houses. So what can be traded, what the tarifs are, what the relationships happen. The Emperor is the judge and ombudsman that helps the houses settle their differences and can enforce any edicts as are deemed necessary.

There is a capitol planet where the Empire rests. Each House sends representatives there to push their interests to the emperor and keep an eye on each other. Factions takes place on that planet.

DCG - Faction 3 - LaJoie House

The third of the three original Great Houses is House LaJoie. House LaJoie may not have had the largest army, or the most influence but what they had was the most money. They had found various deposits of precious metals on the various worlds that they controlled which allowed them to gain wealth faster than the other houses. Then, instead of sitting on it, the LaJoie family used it to help others with interest. They started forming banking organizations, and they are the only family that has territory all over other Houses territory. All banks are considered to be LaJoie property.

The LaJoies are quite happy to stay in the background and fund those who they want to see succeed, or those who might bring in the most profit to them. Sometimes these goals were at odds, but ultimately it was the LaJoie's who ended up being the deciding factor in many conflicts as they simply stopped funding the people who they didn't want to win. This behaviour is what caused the Campbells and the Zhangs to include House LaJoie in their discussions and it was House LaJoie that caused the Zhangs to come into power first.

When the civil war between the Zhangs and the Campbells happened the LaJoie's were split. There were those that saw increasing the number of Great Houses as a good thing, it gave them more people to trade with who could work on a grander scale, and there were those who thought that more Houses would mean that there were more people to watch out for in the future. Ultimately the first faction won out and they helped the Zhangs defeat the Campbells and then because there really was no other choice the leader of the inclusive faction of the LaJoies, Henriette, become the next Emperor. Her first edict was to welcome the newer houses into the fold. There were only two that had survived which were House Aan and House Ndebele.

The reign of Henriette LaJoie was very short. While the Emperor is able to get a lot of gifts and bribes from the various houses who are looking to influence the arbiter one way or another, there is also a large head ache that comes with this type of power. The LaJoie's had to raise an army, and pay them, for the length of the Lajoie tenure, which was only three generations at 75 years. Then and there the Lajoie's decided that the last thing they wanted was the Imperial Stewardship. Let the others play with games of power, they would control the purse strings behind the throne.

Over the years House LaJoie has been known as the hedonistic House. They have the money to afford what they want and the money to cover up any indiscretions that might come to light later. Love Affairs, Dueling, High Romance or Secret Passions usually have their root with the LaJoies. Some within dislike this reputation that the House has and do their best to live in austerity, but there are enough young LaJoie's running around the place who like to fulfill what they view as their role in society that there is a great tension developing between the generations.

DCG - Faction 2 - Campbell House

The Campbell House was one of the original three Great Houses that founded the empire. They believed that it was their right, as in the right of the great houses, with all the resources available to them to lead the lesser houses. In part it was the rule, but the other idea was that they wanted a certain level of control to prevent any other players from moving up the ladder. There was a wish that they could do it on their own, but the Zhang and the LaJoies were too big to be handled without a large war that would devastate everyone.

Then things didn't go as well as they had hoped. While making the arrangements necessary to build the Empire the Campbells did their best to instill a sense of ownership to the process. They desired to lead the Empire for many years and Asa Campbell believed that he could deal with all the rules that were put in place to try to check the dynasties and made sure that when one fell the whole Empire didn't tumble with it. However, when it came time to choose the emperor Zhang Hui was chosen instead of Asa Campbell. This pricked Asa's personal sense of honor, but to complain now would undermine the entire enterprise and when the time came to take the Power from the Zhangs it would be a house of cards and it would crumble at the first sign of wind.

The Campbell House spent the next 130 years living out Asa's personal insult. They were abrupt with the rest of the other Houses and kept up their desire to be the next in line of the three for the throne. They did it through their influence as the largest of the Great Houses, they did it through blackmail and backroom deals and through peddling their influence through out the other Houses. Buying a person there with cash, with threats in another place when needed. It was all set for when the Zhangs would fall, and the Campbells would see that they did. Then Zhang Hui did the unthinkable, he wanted to add some of the up and coming smaller houses to the ranks of the Great, to allow them to be considered for the Imperial Throne. That was too much for Adrienne Campbell. This must have been an attempt by the other Greats to push the Campbells out of their rightful place. This started the first "civil" conflict between the Zhangs and the Campbells, with the Lajoies witnessing on the sidelines.

It was a brief conflict with the Zhangs coming out on top more often than not when the LaJoie's did something to end it quickly. They sided with the Zhangs which caused the Campbells to backdown rather quickly. Fighting a losing war on two fronts wasn't their ideal situation. However, they did call for the Zhangs to be replaced and that's what the Lajoies were made the Imperial house by general decree for "saving the Empire."

The Campbells, affronted by the fact that they were not made the next Imperial House mixed with the new Great Houses (since the LaJoie's upheld the decision to add new houses) caused them to retreat into their own territory. They have been absent for the past 500 years. Their estates being cared for by staff, but the whole family stayed within a self imposed exile in their own little section of space. Some thought that they had vanished, and tried to grow at House Campbell's expense only to meet a strong and dedicated military force destroying any attempt to encroach on their space.

Now, in the year 650 IHE there is activity in the old Campbell dwellings. It seems that a diplomatic ship is coming to the Capitol to take command of the Campbell holdings. What it brings nobody knows but who ever comes will be cloaked in absense and legend.

DCG - Faction 1 - House Zhang

Joe, who is desiging the look of the cards (interestingly enough he's got his own company and he does this design stuff too) wanted a run down on all the houses so he could get a feel for them. I figure why not just let everyone know what's going on with them so that there's a little bit of material already there.

The Zhang house was one of the first three founding houses. They are the only house to have been the Emperor twice in the past four hundred years with their last pass as emperor being only just 75 years ago. They are known far and wide as people who propose peace and stability instead of open conflict. It's why they were drawn to the idea of the Imperial Ruling House accord that started the current timeline. They were drafted in -8 IHE and were signed on 0IHE which marked the start of the Imperial House. The Zhang house was chosen to lead the Empire during that time and led for 150 years.

That dynasty fell when Zhang Hui introduced new great houses to the original three. War broke out between the Zhang House and the Campbell House. Ultimately this led to the ascention of the LaJoie House which upheld the Zhang decision. In part this was done because the LaJoies felt that if they ignored the Zhang Hui edicts then other emperors would ignore that which they didn't see fit their reign. It created the precedent that anything a previous emperor had done couldn't be rescinded, modified certainly but nothing ever left the books of law.

The last Zhang Dynasty was much shorter than the first Dynasty. It only lasted two generations as Zhang Yi died childless, she had decided that she didn't want to have children, and so the Imperial House fell to the current Nasra House. In keeping with being first they were the first House to lose their Dynasty through a lack of successors. Yi felt that dynasties that were in power for too long frequently feel to corruption and the loss of the house through a peaceful process would be less damaging financially to the family than if they lost it through war.

The Zhang House, being one of the founding houses, is not known for anything in particular. They do a little bit of everything, from running trading ships to making weapons to manufacturing products to arts and culture. In fact, if there is one thing to be said, the Zhang House has more artists in their space than any other. That doesn't make them weak, far from it. The Zhangs have the most skilled military minds in all the galaxy. They're known for being able to take victory away from the hungry jaws of defeat using unorthodox and sometimes insane tactics.

This skill will be put to the test as the Ndebele House feels that they need to expand their territory a little bit and their first target is the Zhang House. There is a solar system with a couple of high resource planets that have yet to be fully explored by the Zhangs and the Ndebele want, almost need these resources to keep their militarism and their expansion going.