Free RPG Day

As you're all no doubt aware it's Free RPG Day, the one day of the year where we get to preview, test out and revel in all things tabletop roleplaying.

There's nothing I have my eye on in particular - to be honest, I'm looking forward to the local shop, Spirit Games, filling up and giving me the chance to meet new gamers. That's the part of it I like the most.

That, and the free stuff.

D&D 3.5/Pathfinder Simple Ship Combat Rules

I had an email conversation with a friend who wants to run a Pathfinder high seas pirates game but the ship combat was a bit tme consuming and flat. I just quickly wrote up some ideas for him and hopefully these pointers might help with the basics of naval warfare, but can it really be this simple? I guess it depends on how much detail you want.

'Hi Nik - however you want to play it, matey, it's your game. Can you pregen me a fighter as a character, please, as I've not got my rulebook at the mo? Human, put his proficencies and talents into swordplay and leadership, that kind of stuff.

As for vessel combat, if you want to keep it simple, just give a ship some hit points for size and a number of attacks to simulate gun numbers (say, 1 attack for up to 5 guns on one side, 1 attack for bowchasers and stern, fire arc determined facing).

Range can be the to-hit number, such as 1 square is a traget number of 3 to hit (hence 4 squares is 12) and the roll is a straight forward D20, no attack mods.

Speed is determined by size, lets say 1 square of movement per round for every 50 hit points (the larger the vessel, the more cloth - I'm not sure how accurate that is!). 1 square of movement also means 1 face of a turn, so to move 90 degrees uses one space of movement. A hex map would be better, but a D&D battlemat is squares so you'll have to make do!

Hit points could also equal crew numbers, so a reduction in crew/hitpoints could mean a loss of ability. If you make the hit points number divisible by four by default, and then let's quarter the hit points so that every quarter lost means a -1 to rolls and a single attack. So, a crew of 20 means that losing 5 crew means -1 to hit and a loss of 1 attack. Attacks are taken from the side facing the enemy ship.

So, for example, a schooner could have:

HP: 20. Guns: Port 3 (1attack), Starboard 3 (1 attack), Fore bowchasers 1 (1 attack). 1D3 damage per successful attack. Speed: 1

Or a Warship:

HP: 120. Guns: Port 20 (4 attacks), Starboard 20 (4 attacks), Fore bowchasers 1 (1 attack), Aft 1 (1 attack). 1D4 damage per successful attack. Speed: 2 squares.

This way, ships of a similar build would be evenly matched but you'd know not to go up against a warship with a whaler.

If you want to add some PC interaction, let's say the gunners get a +1 to hit with a succesful PCs leadership roll, DC20, with a +2 if they roll a natural 20.

To repair a vessel on the go, 1 hit point lost equals 2 hours of work. For every quarter crew lost doubles that time.

Just some ideas. Either way, I'll have a fighter, please!

Best Regards
JONATHAN HICKS
Owner- Farsight GAMES
www.farsightgames.moonfruit.com
Lead Organiser - GAMMA CON
www.gammacon.moonfruit.com
Contributor - Jedi Newswww.jedinews.co.uk'

A Monthly Roleplaying Magazine

So, I’m never going to get the chance to do anything like this so I figured I’d put it out there. These are a few ideas I had about a monthly roleplaying magazine.

I have always been of the mind that an affordable monthly magazine on the magazine racks of high street stores would be a much better selling point and avenue for new gamers than great big comprehensive rulebooks available in specialist shops or on the internet, where prospective gamers won’t see them or be able to afford them. Creating a magazine-based game such as this and making it a monthly affair at a decent price might make tabletop roleplaying a lot more attractive and help ease players into the hobby. Even older gamers could get some enjoyment out of it – a new setting to game in, using a system they might come to enjoy?  How can that be a bad thing?

My initial idea was to model it after Basic Dungeons and Dragons and that’s still my favourite approach. The only possible problem is the polyhedral dice required, but if a system could be developed using basic six-sided dice then that should solve that problem.

Anyway, here are a few checkpoints I made regarding it:

1 – The magazine will be a full roleplaying game aimed at the teen market with the very first issue being the rules, the basic concepts and the setting. The format could be similar to the magazine dedicated to the ‘Lord of the Rings’ Battles game by Games Workshop.

2 – Every following issue could then have extra rules, guidance for GMs, options for players, two or three scenarios and adventures, expansions on the game world, optional material, reader letters and fan material, and even monster figurines the players can use in an average game.

3 - If the game goes down the standard fantasy route, which would be the best option, the first issue could have a special introductory pack of four or five figures of the different classes the players can use and the dice required. At the very least, each issue could have a sheet of cut-out cardboard tokens.

4 – Make it a levelling game, a la Dungeons and Dragons, so that the players have a sense of progress as they play through the magazines.

5 – The target audience of the magazine should be early to late teens, and it should be presented as an introductory game that explains the rules and the hobby step by step.

6 – A website could support the magazine in the form of making back issues available, articles on the game itself and extra material.

7 – Once the game has progressed, other settings could be introduced such as science fiction or horror. Extra rules can be added and the magazine can then cater for these extra settings but still concentrate primarily on the initial setting.

8 – Initial first issues should be put on the market during autumn/winter months when evenings are longer and children need something to do. In the summer there are plenty of things to do outside in the longer, brighter evenings.

Dark Heresy - a one note campaign setting?

The wargaming roots of the Warhammer 40K universe doesn't seem to leave much room for characterisation and roleplaying opportunities. Everything seems to be 'KILL DEM ALL FOR DA EMPURRAH!!!' and it all seems to be black and white - humans against the galaxy. Well... maybe black and dark.

It took Captain Titus from the video game 'Space Marine' to make me wonder at the depth of humanity and the broadness of character an Adeptus Astartes could have, and I could totally see him as a character I could follow in stories and the like. Considering the bleak, nihilistic and severely limited tone of the setting, is it possible for players to create characters with emotion and character? Or is that a hangover I have from the wargame, that limited need for depth considering that what the writers and designers were writing about was groups of beings simply blowing the crap out of each other?

I love the 40K setting, I love the darkness and the gothic design. I can easily make the game my own and inject as much depth and emotion as I please, but the effectiveness of that will depend on how my players view the setting. Will they want to play depth, or just shoot stuff with their bolt pistols?

I think this is one of those settings that can really divide opinion on how it should be approached.

Marvel's Avengers Assemble... bad, bad timing.

I saw the new Avengers movie last night. It was, quite simply, wonderfully awesome. The problem I have now, is, that I want to run a huge Marvel Super Heroes game more than ever. I want to create my own mythos, my own universe, my own set of weird and wonderful characters and locations and villains and aliens and initiatives and groups and powers and... you get the idea. I've got this renewed interest and vigour regarding this genre and I'd love to have a stab at it using this system in particular.

Of course, I'm still running a Pathfinder campaign and I'm supposed to be committed to that. My heart really isn't in it anymore - I'm not sure if I was really enjoying all that much anyway, and I may have been trying to convince myself otherwise - but I need to get past that. I've made a commitment and this fondness for superheroes might pass somewhat while I'm caught up in the Marvel moment.

Besides, my mate Louis is opening his store COMSHOP in Lichfield this week, and there's going to be a backroom to game in. Maybe I'll save this campaign for that location... Excelsior!

A return to Basic Dungeons & Dragons?

I'm really enjoying running my current Pathfinder campaign but I do miss my simple games, such as Dragon Warriors or Star Wars D6. I want to make sure the gaming group enjoys the game we're playing so I'd like to stick with the system we're using now. In other words, I want simplicity but I want to keep playing the D20 system game.

This has bought me back to Basic D&D. I recently got the basic rulebook for the black box edition and it's perfect for a decent game from levels 1-5 (that's a couple of campaigns easy, if I limit the XP for gold angle) but I've never been a fan of the THAC0 system or the dicey saving throws. Surely it can't be that difficult to take the new new 3.X rules and incorporate them into the Basic D&D game? If I could do that, I could drop the rules I dislike and my players would have a lite version of the game system they love.

There's a greater sense of progression and achievment in any version of D&D then there is in any other game and I think that's what my players enjoy. I love game systems that allow characters to grow of their own accord - Runequest and the D6 system spring to mind here - but right now there's a 'goal to aim for' sensibility at the table and a heady mix of old school and new blood.

I like Pathfinder, but I'd like that progression to be a little less complicated. I must be getting lazy in my old age as simple suits me just fine.

Marvel Super Heroes

I really enjoy superhero comic book material. It's not something I'm heavily into but I do love it and I've come into the possession of a copy of the old Marvel Super Heroes roleplaying game. It's just the books, sadly there's no box, but I've got everything I need to run a superhero game either in the Marvel universe or - and this is probably the way I'd go - completely create my own.

It's a neat little system and it's well presented. It's obviously aimed at kids and it particularly appeals to me as it's styled the way I remember comics when I was a kid. I've got isues 1-30 of the British 'Fantastic!' comics from the late 1960s (no, I'm not that old) and some of the mid-1980s 'Spider-man' and 'X-men' stuff. My wife loves a bit of DC's 'Batman' so we've got plenty of that lying about the place, too. To be honest, my greatest comic love of the 1980s and beyond was 2000AD and the superhero genre was a close second.

So this game came out at the time when I was getting deeper into roleplaying games, when I was at the target age for these kinds of comics and at a time when I could afford to purchase it. What perfect timing. I bought it and owned it for a glorious three weeks before swapping it for something else. I never got to play it but I remember enjoying reading it.

So, here we are the better part of 30 years later and it's once again in my possession, and I can honestly see myself running a game like this. It's great fun and I'm going to pitch it to my group as a filler once my Pathfinder campaign is over, run it as a semi-serious game.

Here's a great website 'Classic Marvel Forever', which not only supports the game but also gives stats for other comic publisher's creations, such as DC and Dark Horse. Anybody still out there playing this game will find this place really useful.

Last minute game prep

I'm usually pretty good at getting ready for games but I haven't had the time to prepare for tonight's Pathfinder game. I'm usually quite casual about game prep, but then the games I usually run aren't as involved as Pathfinder - I'm used to running simple systems for larger groups, such as Star Wars D6 or Dragon Warriors and a much more complicated system requires a bit more attention.

The saving grace for me is the fact that my gaming buddy Jason helps with the general in-game rules but, as he's one of the players, I need to keep 90% of the details away from him. And I'm still getting used to CR ratings.

Usually, I only need about an hour to prepare an evening's gaming (I put all my hours of work into the pre-campaign prep) as I like to make sure I'm up to speed with where the players have been, what they're doing, and what comes next. I'm a sandbox game GM so I like to design situations and not stories so that takes a bit of pressure off, and I enjoy winging games anyway so that I can adapt to player choices, problems and moods.

Still - this is Pathfinder, so I hope that a lack of preparation doesn't ruin the evening's gaming.

Emotional involvement in RPGs

I see getting emotionally invested in a roleplaying session the same as getting emotionally invested in a movie or a book; the events that unfold affect me but it’s not a permanent influence, and the feeling drops to memory quite quickly. You can revisit the feeling by watching the movie or reading the book again but, although the feelings are the same, it’s never as intense as the first time. With an RPG you can remember what it felt like but you’ll never be able to really relive it again as that moment has passed, and all you can do is try to emulate it with a similar event.

In my experience, trying to force that feeling never works and always ends up feeling somewhat flat and unsatisfying. It’s always best to let games go their own way and, with some luck and good timing, similar moments may arise. This doesn’t just cover combat encounters – although most of the better moments I remember came about during a huge fight – but also those smaller moments of drama. Interpersonal experiences, such as betrayals and realisations of respect or love, solving puzzles, outwitting enemies or opponents. There are many moments when a RPG reaches an emotional climax, and the players and GM alike revel in the game as an interactive experience. It’s what makes tabletop roleplaying unique, these shared experiences.

There is a line I do not cross, however. Emotional involvement only goes so far and to take these incidents to heart, to take personal umbrage at defeats or gloat at defeated opponents outside of the game, is an absolute no-go area for me. I’ll have my moments of angry defeat or happy victory, but it’s all within the realms of the game. This applies to both physical and emotional defeat or victory; it can be just as bad to lose a battle of wits, or to fail at a puzzle, or to be betrayed by a friend, or to be outdone in matters of love. These emotional highs and lows should be kept within the game and not allowed to spill into real life. I also learned not to try to use the game as a way to exorcise personal demons or to take out my frustrations on players and GMs. There’s healthy emotional involvement and there’s unhealthy emotional involvement, and a game group will suffer if one player is depending on the weekly session to sort out personal problems. Each player knows their limits and where to draw the line and, even though it may upset others, each player should reserve the right to point out where emotions are running too high. Gamers gather at the gaming table for the same reason and when one player’s reasons dominate the sessions then everyone loses out.

I enjoy getting emotionally involved in games. I look back with fondness on many sessions and how they made me feel. There’s nothing wrong with it and it can be incredibly healthy and satisfying when you can look back and say, ‘I helped create that moment, that story, that drama the whole group was involved in’.

Many people admit to crying at the movies – what makes RPGs so different from that?

For the record, I’ve never cried during an RPG but, that said, I’ve never cried at the movies either. Well, I had a sniffle at the end of ‘The Return of the King’, but that was about it.

Laying down the GM law

I'm not that much of a stickler for rulebooks and I'm more than happy to just drop a quick interpretation of a rule just to keep the game flowing. Now that I'm running a game of Pathfinder - in which the players are well versed in the rules and very good at min-maxing - I need to be on my toes a little more, and I'm finding great aid from my friend Jason who knows the rules inside out. I'm running the game and the basics of the system, but for the detail and nitty-gritty I'm turning to Jason. Up to yet it's working out really well and having the burden of rules knowledge removed from my shoulders means I can concentrate more on an entertaining game.

So that's the rules taken care of. My only situation now is controlling the five-man gaming group.

Way back when I wouldn't dare get upset or make any attempt to stamp out player distractions. If I was narrating a scene I'd stop talking, allow the player to finish what they were saying (whether it had anything to do with the game or not) and then continue. Mobile telephones? I'd wait patiently. Silly comments and stories? I'd wait patiently. I was of the mindset that we were all there to play a game and have fun and any comments from me would run that fun.

Sadly, me not saying anything was ruining my fun. I'd put a lot of effort into creating a gameworld, adventures, a story and NPCs just to watch them all go to waste. I hated being interrupted, and I hated the story going off track. After writing a lot of blog posts about my experience with games and my year-by-year memoirs last year I've realised that maybe, just maybe, I'm being a bit too soft.

Recently my gaming group had become a little more unruly than normal and it was getting me down. After a break for a couple of weeks I've decided that I'll try a much more authoritive stance

Either they'll be intense, genre-busting epic games of awesomeness or my players will hate me forever.