Modern Setting Gaming Tips

A lot of gamers want to game in the fantastical, but gaming in a contemporary setting is a mirror of real life, so you have to ask the question - what's the point? I've combated that by placing the players in a setting they hardly know from experience, such as a Vietnam game and special ops in South America. Removing the players as far as possible from their real life environment can be as effective as placing them in a fantasy world.

Because the world you are in does not require a lot of imagination (as the details/settings/items are all provided for you) it can be difficult for the GM to maintain that suspension of disbelief. In a fantasy setting, the players know none of it is true and they allow themselves to be immersed in the setting. With contemporary games, the real world can pretty much drag the players 'back to reality', and they can feel the limitations and constrictiveness of normality.

To combat this, I try to keep the game moving at a good pace. This is possible because I don't have to spend time describing the appearance and function of many of the items and locations. If you can't keep the game going with atmosphere then keep it going with plot and action. The problem is, burn-out usually tends to come sooner rather than later because of the pace.

The players may feel restricted in their actions and capabilities because they are within a real world environment where all those real world rules and regulations are going to apply. So, the players will have to be wary of actions involving the police, their own skills, and the impact of their actions (because the GM is more likely to realise the effects in a world they know inside-out). Also, most gaming systems I've come across reflect this real world feel, where there is great danger in over-zealous actions and a high payment (death) for certain mistakes in judgement or hits from weapons. With these kind of restrictions, the players will soon get bored, tired, or frustrated.

My answer to that is to throw out the rule books. Be more forgiving to the players, allow them to do James Bond-style stunts and Indiana Jones-style rescues. The more latitude they are given, the more 'into' the game they will get.

Most games in contemporary settings are a mixture of the real world and the fantastical, involving alien conspiracies, vampires, magic, and great old gods come back to reclaim their world. This is good news because it puts the players within a familiar environment whilst allowing their imaginations to work on the fantasy elements of the game.

However, the game can be limited because the game world limits the exploration of the chosen genre. How many vampires can you dust in different ways before it gets repetitive? How many times can the "truth" about the government conspiracy slip through your fingers before you just give up? How many sacred artifacts do you have to recover before you begin to think "hold on... this is all very familiar"? Once you've defeated the foe and saved the world - where do you go from there?

A great way to get past this problem is to have a deep well of imagination, which is why I started GMing in the first place! Fantasy and Sci-Fi games open up many possibilities in their own realms of fiction, but contemporary games consist of the same setting, the same world, the same attitudes. This can limit the adventure, sure, but it can also help you in your quest for a new idea. After all, the world is set and you already have your guidelines as far as the setting goes - all you have to do is come up with the plot. Sure, the game may be another murder-mystery, but it's the reason and circumstance surrounding the murder that makes it unique.

My favourite idea is turning the world up on its head. A vast plague leaving few survivors, a new Ice Age, a holocaust, an alien invasion, the Rise of the Machines... You take the world and twist it all out of sense and proportion. This works great because then the rules don't apply any more. There's no restrictions on society or law, and you can change the rules to reflect that. 

Games I missed out on #3 - 2300AD

I played a little Traveller in the 1980s - sadly, the majority of the games were Star Wars inspired but lacking in any kind of adventure or excitement, but I enjoyed the game system immensely. When the West End Games Star Wars RPG supplied the pulp science fiction adventure I was looking for I then started to look for much more hard sci-fi games, the kind of games I wanted Traveller to supply me with. I found 2300AD: Man's Battle for the Stars in Virgin Megastore, at a time when Virgin Megastores had huge RPG sections, and the attendant told me 'yeah, it's kind of like an updated version of Traveller'. So I bought it, and found out later that it was nothing like the Traveller I remembered. So thank you, Virgin Megastore shop assistant, for not really knowing what you were talking about, even though you were right about the Traveller connections.

2300AD is a great game, with some very hard science fiction ideas and a great background, pretty much picking up the future 300 years from where GDW's Twilight: 2000 RPG left it. The system was pretty good, even though there was a lot of mathematics involved, but I thought this just added to the hard science fiction feel of the game.

I wish I'd got a game off the ground and done a proper campaign with gamers who would appreciate a hard sci-fi game and were also really good at maths. I still have that hard sci-fi itch to scratch even after all these years. I've just got Traveller once again so maybe that'll help.

Star Wars - The Card Game update from Citizen Williams

After my review of Star Wars: The Card Game I decided to pass the game on to seasoned card players and Star Wars fans to gauge their opinion of the product. Below is the opinion Citizen Williams, a regular at Titan Games. Over to you, CW - 


So today I got my grubby hands (well I washed them first) on a copy of the Star Wars Living card game (SWLCG) from Fantasy Flight Games. As a huge fan of Star Wars, card games in general and especially fantasy flights living card games (LCGs) I have been excited to play it since the first “coming soon” banner appeared on the FF site.

For those unfamiliar with the LCG system it works a little something like this; unlike TCG’s like Magic: The Gathering or Pokemon (others are available), there are no random blisters to expand the core sets, each set has a set card list allowing for more complex deck building and strategic play. I play a lot of the “A Game of Thrones” LCG so was hoping to find something familiar when I opened the box.

The first thing that stuck me about the box when I opened it was the simplicity, two decks of cards and two sheets of counters. Before flicking through the rule book I leafed through the cards. Each one is simply stunning, colourful, atmospheric a true delight to look at. Looking at the cards however I felt a little out of my comfort zone, Very little of the card layout matches LCG’s  I’ve played before, the closest system I can think of would be FF’s Invasion system for Warhammer: Fantasy Battle.

Thoroughly confused but exhilarated I opened the rules manual; as a side point I should mention now, there is a video tutorial for the rules  I foolishly watched this after playing the game. Do not do this, watch the tutorial it’s a little hammy but I think a great explanation.  Similar to how Invasion is divided up into six coreraces and AGOT is divided into six core houses SWLCG also has 6 races:

- Jedi (Light Side) – Full deck included
- Rebel Alliance(Light Side) – Full deck included- 
- Smugglers and Spies (Light Side) – Faction card and core elements included
- Sith (Dark Side) – Full deck included
- Imperial Navy (Dark Side) – Full deck included
- Scum and Villainy (Dark Side) – Faction card and core elements included

At first glance the thing that impressed me most was the overall structure of the game. Players defend objectives from their opponent(s) each objective has 5 cards affiliated with it. For instance if you choose the “Imperial Throne Room” as an objective to include in your Sith objective deck you get “Emperor Palpatine”,“Force Lightning”, “Imperial Guard”, “The Emperor’s Hand” and a related event card.  This means from the outset decks are forced into theme and synergy making deck creation simple for casual players and giving layers of depth for experienced gamer.

My opponent and I constructed the “Sith” deck (my faction) and the “Rebel Alliance” deck, we both commented on the amount of extra cards included that fit into neither of the four factions you get full decksfor and that you get a good base for the remaining two factions. We started the game really smoothly set up and playing cards is really simple your objective cards grant you resources which can buy units.

Difficulty arose however once we hit the combat system. Combat breaks down into two main phases the “Edge” phase determines priority and feels a little clunky at first especially as it uses the same hand as your in play units and usually require you discarding some of those units or upgrades to win initiative. Once initiative is determined combat then goes on a card by card basis starting with the player who won initiative, BOTH players are able to attack in each other’s turn which made for a really dynamic combat system especiallyin later games.

Overall combat does feel a little clunky but practice irons out the kinks and it’s the only complaint I have about how the mechanics of the game work. The victory conditions are also a little in favour of the light side who have to destroy Dark Side objectives whereas the Dark Side has to outlast the good slowly clocking up points on the “Death Star” meter.

I have to say the game is great, I can’t wait to play some more and have a look at the expansions. My main interest in further play though is the deck building options, to see how that affects the mechanics and alters play. We found some builds focussed on a speedy strike in our games which seemed to win out but possible power house builds seem possible where a little luck will allow you to win with one crushing blow.

I hope to update you all soon with how continued play is going and any flaws or new positives we find.


- Citizen Williams

Interview - Andy Klosky

Please welcome to Farsight Blogger Andy Klosky, freelance RPG writer and founder of Blackfall Press LLC!

Welcome to Farsight Blogger. Perhaps you'd like to tell us a little bit about yourself?

It’s my pleasure, thanks!  My name is Andy Klosky.  By day, I’m a high school English teacher in Englewood, OH.  By night, I’m a freelance editor and writer for various RPGs.  I’m also the founder of Blackfall Press, LLC—our first product, Cold Steel Wardens: Roleplaying in the Iron Age of Comics is about halfway through its Kickstarter drive right now.

Tell us about your RPG history - what got you into the wonderful world of tabletop roleplaying?

My first ever RPG was Heroes Unlimited—my cousin Jason introduced me to gaming while I was in 5^th grade and I haven’t really looked back since.  After that, it was into 2^nd Edition D&D, which only led me deeper into the hobby.  When my parents bought me a boxed set of a Ravenloft supplement for Christmas one year, I was hooked.  While I was in undergrad, I started the Wittenberg Role-Playing Guild (at Wittenberg University, Springfield OH), which is now in its 11^th year.  Staying within the Dayton area, I’m still able to game with them fairly regularly, though I do have a home group as well.

What is it about the tabletop RPG hobby that attracts you? What do you enjoy most when playing a game?

One of the things I’ve really come to love, particularly as I run games at conventions throughout the Miami Valley, is the way in which stories unfold differently between groups of people.  Each player brings something unique to the table that shapes the experience of everyone around them.  Even when the scenario is the same, the pre-generated characters are the same, and the monsters are the same, the story changes based on who’s at the table and how they react to those elements.  It’s a fantastically unique storytelling medium that’s just not replicable elsewhere.

What's your favourite game? What games that are out there at the moment float your boat?

Like most gamers, I have fond memories of past Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, but my tastes really tend to vary and I rarely find myself enjoying a “true” D&D game.  I’m very high on Savage Worlds right now, particularly the Deadlands universe.  I’ve been keeping my eye on the Fate Core Kickstarter as well, as I really enjoy ICONS.  The brevity and utter boldness of Lady Blackbird: Tales from the Wild Blue Yonder were amazing, and my group had a blast playing in that system. 

Do you still get time to play? What are you playing at the moment?

I do get to play, still!  While usually I’m the GM, my wife has been kind enough to take up the reins for a bit.  We had just finished playing through The Flood (one of the Deadlands “plot point” campaigns), and she volunteered to run Hell on Earth.  When we don’t have enough people for that, we go to our backup—Marvel Heroic Roleplaying—or we play board-games.  Arkham Horror may be my all-time favorite board-game, and it sees a lot of play at our house. 

The tabletop roleplaying hobby has been through a lot changes over the years and it seems that its death-knell is always sounded when newer hobbies come along, such as collectible card games and online computer games. It still seems to be able to hold its own, though – what do you see happening to the hobby in the future? What changes, if any, do you think will have to be made to ensure its survival?

When I see statements like that, I genuinely get confused.  “Death-knell”?  We’re living in a Golden Age of RPGs!   Between print-on-demand, PDF releases, Kickstarter, and numerous print/publisher partnership companies, it’s easier than ever to be published.  If you had asked me even 5 years ago if I thought I could write and produce an RPG, I’d have laughed in your face.  Needless to say, I’m happy to have been proven wrong!  Print may be a dying medium, but RPGs are riding the digital tsunami phenomenally.  My iPad has become an invaluable tool as both a GM and as a player—something I certainly couldn’t have said even a few years ago.  The digital age is nothing short of a godsend for the tabletop roleplayer.

And, truthfully, this era is an Enlightenment of ‘nerd culture’.  Comic book movies make billions at the box office.  One of the biggest cable shows on right now is a zombie-apocalypse melodrama based on a graphic novel.  George R.R. Martin has gone from a niche genre-writer to being a household name.  San Diego has become geek Mecca.  To say that our medium is becoming irrelevant misses the elephant in the room—we’re more relevant now than ever!

Out of all your projects, what are you most proud of?

My ‘piece de resistance’ right now is Cold Steel Wardens.  I’ve put about 2 years of work into it, between writing, playtesting, rewriting, and editing.  And, as we approach development for the system into a full game, the magnitude of what I’ve created has really begun to sink in.

When I started CSW, I saw a massive gap within superhero roleplaying.  Games like ICONS and Supers! emulated the wackiness of the Silver Age incredibly well, but were of limited use in darker genres.  Generic systems like Mutants and Masterminds and Champions claimed to be able to support all genres of comics writing, but fell flat in many ways.  In trying to play to the proverbial middle—being all things to all people—there simply wasn’t room in those games to provide the necessary hallmarks of the Iron/Dark Age of Comics: a detailed investigative system, intrinsically flawed heroes, non-powered heroes on the level with powered ones, and so on.  Nothing against those games—they’re just not built for that level of focus:  they’re broad and all-encompassing, Cold Steel Wardens is narrowly-focused with greater depth.

I still find it somewhat ironic that, despite the fact that Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns are among the best-selling graphic novels of all time, there’s never been a game built from the ground up to replicate those experiences.  Cold Steel Wardens changes that.  It’s focus is what makes it different, and that’s what makes it great.

You’ve no doubt mixed with other great names in the roleplaying community – do you have any stories or anecdotes to share? Any horror stories? Be as frank as you like!

Working with Angus Abranson (Chronicle City, ex-Cubicle 7), has always been a pleasure and led to Blackfall Press agreeing to a print/publisher agreement with Chronicle City.  He was my first point of contact while working on The Laundry Files: the Mythos Dossiers, which went extraordinarily well. 

However, I was lucky enough to be able to hang out with Gareth Michael Skarka at Origins in 2010, just after ICONS had come out.  I was the only one who had run it at that convention, and we spent at least half an hour jamming on various ideas and system hacks.  That might have been the first time I realized that, yes, my ideas were just as good as anyone else’s.  It’s not a matter of “holding your own” against others in the industry—it’s a matter of “what can you bring to the table?”  That said, I did have an utter “squee” moment when Shane Lacy Hensley signed my Hell on Earth books…

Truth be told, my time at Wittenberg has really been spent among some up-and-coming great minds in gaming.  I was introduced to Savage Worlds by Will Herrmann, whose Wild Card Creator was a hit on Kickstarter and is nearing beta release.  Both Will and Kat Ostrander—newly hired by Fantasy Flight Games as an associate roleplaying producer—played in the campaign that inspired CSW.  My good friend Eric Ebbs is in the process of prepping a Kickstarter for his Era of the Ninja board game, which he debuted at GenCon this past year.  The I-70 Corridor through Dayton is a hotbed for gaming creativity!

What are you working on at the moment?

Cold Steel Wardens is taking up most of my waking moments right now.  We have about two weeks left in our Kickstarter, and I’m ready for that sprint to the finish!  I’ve already lined up 4 artists, and am starting my search for a layout designer.  My editors and I are kicking into high gear, preparing for the release of the beta rules for all KS-backers in January. 

If you’re interested in Cold Steel Wardens: Roleplaying in the Iron Age of Comics, check out our Kickstarter here.  Alternatively, stay updated by ‘Liking’ ourFacebook page. 

I’m already in the planning stages for the follow-up volume to CSW, tentatively titled Cold Steel Wardens: Rogues’ Gallery.  I have a great idea for layout in mind already, to say nothing of a bevy of threats for would-be street-level heroes. 

I’ve also been working on a series of essays on gamemastery, which I hope to publish as a collected volume in late 2013.  Stay tuned for that!

Thanks for the opportunity to chat!

Games I missed out on #2 - Birthright Campaign Setting

It's easy to see why it was I missed out on this; I'd already fallen out of love with AD&D 2nd Edition long before this campaign setting was published so let it pass me by, but I know if I had sat and read this when it first came out I would have dusted off my multiple polyhedrons from my Basic D&D boxset and set about running a campaign. I'd have even gritted my teeth and put up with THAC0.

Birthright has everything I'd love to run in a fantasy setting, especially these days with the up-and-up of Game of Thrones and even such dramas as Pillars of the Earth. The intrigue, the political wrangling, the looming wars. There were lots of different kingdoms to choose from and plenty of scope with characters, backgrounds and adventures. I have the option of running a straight forward D&D dungeon bash, or a political intrigue game, or a murder mystery, or all three together.

There's plenty to do in the Birthright campaign setting, and I was overjoyed to find the website www.birthright.net that had plenty of 3.x edition versions for download (all fan created). I downloaded them and absorbed the setting, but I'd still love to have the original boxset.

This is probably the only reason I regret abandoning AD&D 2nd Edition. It's a great setting with a fantastic sense of depth and wonder.

Review - Pathfinder Beginner Boxset

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Beginner Box

Jason Bulmahn, Sean K. Reynolds

PaizoPublishing

Pathfinder hit the shelves to fill the gap that Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 left behind. The hefty 500-plus page rulebook has everything you need but it can be daunting and seemingly complicated, especially to new gamers, so what better way to introduce new people to the hobby than with an introductory game.

THE BOX

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Boxset is a lovely looking 23 x 29 cm box and at 6.5 cm deep with a decent weight you immediately feel you’ve got your money’s worth. The Wayne Reynolds cover art is action-packed and dynamic and sets the tone well. The presentation is very good and the design and weight makes for an attractive product.

INSIDE THE BOX

Upon opening the box I’m greeted straight away with a packet of seven red dice of the varying shapes and a packet of black stands for the card pawns that come with the box – more on those later. Under this these packets is an introductory sheet that explains what to read first depending on if you are reading on your own, if you want to be a player, if you want to make your own character or if you want to be the Game Master. It’s basically pointing you in the right direction and telling you what you need to do first depending on what you want to do with the game. Good start.

The 64-page Hero’s Handbook follows and in this full-colour softback book you have all the instructions you need to create and use a character for the game. It starts with a short choose-your-own-adventure gamebook called Skeleton King’s Crypt and it takes you through 23 options in which you get to experience the basic rules and what they mean in a game. This is followed by a clear and well presented example of play, followed by the normal character creation. This book talks you through every aspect of character creation slowly and methodically, with plenty of illustrations, colour coded pointers and detailed explanations. There are plenty of things left out to make the creation process simple for new gamers; the lists of races, classes, feats, spells, and skills have been cut down to a minimum. You can choose form a Dwarf, and Elf or a Human, and your classes are limited to Cleric, Fighter, Rogue and Wizard. As this is a beginner’s game the reduction of options is a bonus. The book is illustrated with great art throughout.

Next there are four character pamphlets for each of the four classes, four-page sheets of pre-generated Heroes that detail what the class does, their stats, and a short example character bio on the back. The centre pages have the statistics and are flanked by references to everything on the sheet, explaining what each section does, how it works, and what you can do in a round during combat. It’s a great idea and gives new gamers everything they need for their first outing.

Then you get four full-colour character sheets, easy to use and with details on there, such as a dice recognition chart and references to where you can find details of certain sections.

Next is the 96-page Game Master’s Guide, which contains everything you need to know about running games. It stats with a nest adventure, Black Fang’s Dungeon, and this takes you through a standard dungeon crawl step by step. After that it goes into detail as to what is expected from a Game Master, including basic Game Mastering rules, how to build adventures, using the environment, magic items, a large monsters section, random encounters, and Sandpoint, a fully fleshed out campaign town and area with some adventure ideas for players to game in. At the back there are some reference pages so that first-time Game Masters don’t have to trawl through the books looking for basic details.

The large foldout map is next, which you can use with markers to detail locations. It has plain brown on one side and the map for the introductory adventure on the other. Both sides are squared for use with the pawns that come with the box and normal miniatures.

The three boards of pawns give you more than 80 cardboard minis you can stand up in the plastic stands in the box. They’re fully detailed in colour and represent all the Hero races and classes, in both sexes, and all the monsters in the Game Master’s Guide. They’re hardy and incredibly well made, perfect for both this boxset and gaming in general and will last a long time.

The final one sheet details where to go once the players want to go beyond level 5, and is basically an advert for the full-on Pathfinder Core Rulebook and accessories.

CONCLUSION

The Pathfinder Beginner Box was designed to act as an introductory game to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. It’s obvious that new players would buy this then progress onto the Pathfinder Core Rulebook with its vast options as the sides of the box itself is covered in advertisements for the main rulebooks and the books explain how to move on to them form the boxset. They may have been the intention, but what Paizo have produced is a very good introductory game for the roleplaying hobby in general. Every part of the Pathfinder game and the hobby in general is explained in detail and new gamers are taken step by step through ever aspect. This in itself makes it an excellent game and I’d have no hesitation in buying or recommending this for someone who I know wanted to get into the hobby. You could leave this with them and their friends for a couple of weeks and they’d be ready to get into the hobby no problem. Everything is explained.

This only makes the game accessible to the new gamer, mind you. If you’re an old hat at roleplaying - the Pathfinder game in particular - there’s nothing in here you’d need. Experienced gamers would find the Pathfinder Core Rulebook suited to their needs and wouldn’t have to get this, unless they had new gamers they wanted to bring into the hobby.

But it’s not the experienced gamer this is aimed at. The selling point of this boxset is the fact that it is aimed at brand new gamers interested in getting into the hobby. For that fact alone it excels in its intention.

If you’ve been gaming for a while then there’s not a lot in this boxset that you’ll find useful, unless you’ve never played Pathfinder before and feel a little daunted by the huge Core Rulebook. For new gamers, however, this is the perfect introductory game not only for the Pathfinder system but the roleplaying hobby in general, so for you it’s highly recommended.