Back in the Saddle Old School

Well, we finally placed Old School style, in this case a pick up game of Swords and Wizardry played mostly from memory and despite my players being from the D&D3.5 and GURPS 4e generation it went well.

A little dungeon crawling, a lot of silliness mainly derived from using whatever minis we had handy, Skaven, fish people , rats and a demon clown.

The clown was not a success .

However the game was, everyone had a least some fun and they want to play some more old school.

Next time, well I bring the rules (and my house rules document) and maybe later that I talk E into running. E may be a new school player but his games (a solid campaign of Dark Heresy we just finished and some others) are very old school. He'll fit right in.

Our next goals?

Get some more players, we have three and could use a couple more , settle on a framework and play.

Sounds like fun to me.

Last Nights Game

We had a really good game last night. As we have been doing a lot, we improvised. This time we put into to play some Space Marines modified to look like Brotherhood of Steel (from Fallout) the most awesome pad of paper ever which is a huge pad of one inch squares perfect for gaming and tossed some dice.

We played a Brotherhood of Steel after a fusion battery for our anti-ghoul picket gun. We found the batteries and an experimental weapons lab to explore later. Major fun.

Our GM, E. was awesome and even the three newbies who had never played Fallout had a blast. One Mrs L. decided to buy Fallout New Vegas and give it a try.

All in all this is going to be our "standby" game and I couldn't be happier.

Fallout rules and good gamers rule harder.

No Dice? So How Do You Play ?

In tonights session (Frozen Convict Post-Apoc) we had a little conundrum, no one me included remembered to bring dice or cards or any kind of decent randomizer


I suppose I could have made chits but that was more trouble than it was worth. We tried coin tosses to but the odds were too hard to compute.

What I did is use number guessing. I'd pick some numbers between 1 and 10, one for every ten percent chance of success and if you guessed my number you succeeded. This worked like a virtual D10.

All in all the players got it quickly and found it pretty workable. Its n substitute for actual dice but it was more or less (probably less) random, fair and fun which is all we could ask for,

My Group is Incredibly Versitile

Like most gaming groups we have occasional "real life" intermissions and bumps along the way to campaign land.

What sets my current group apart from many of the others though is how we deal with it.

No one in the group is just afraid of making something up or just going with the flow.

With the Fireflyesque game on hold we and our switch to Modern Fantasy 70's style delayed we were at a loss for something to do..

Last weak, down three of seven we did "S.V.U.-Horror" set in L.A. , this week we did Post Apocalypse Prison Break with frozen convicts, next week who knows...

And you know what despite us not having a system or this time even dice we all had a decent time. I don't think I could ask for anything else.

Musing: I've never used a Dragon

I was thinking back on the various games I've run and I realized that I've never used a Dragon in a game.

There are a lot of reasons behind it, length of my early games, preference for low level play, fear of party TPK and the fact I don't care for Color Coded Dragons but I think maybe its time to change that.

Next D&D games, there is gonna be a dragon.

Oh yeah and in case anyone asks, yes I do use dungeons. I love em.

So what Happened to Old School?

Well gaming happened. My group loves GURPS, I like GURPS so we play GURPS. Besides GURPS is Old School its from 1985 after all

I am just kidding a bit with you, besides old school is as much an attitude as a rules base.

To tell you the truth I use a lot of what I have learned playing old school anyway, you wouldn't notice that big a difference in Labyrinth Lord or Farther Stars or Angel or anything else. Some capaigns focus a bit differently but the basic old school idea, the rules are not there to get in the way of fun is in every game.

What matters to me is that GURPS brings home the fun for my players, 6 cool people (including a new guy!) willing to sit down and play together almost every week and have fun doing it.

In that case, well to paraphrase Chumbawumba

The truth is, I thought rules mattered
I thought that system mattered.
But does it? Bollocks! Not compared to how people matter

Presenting the Crew of the ViVi

I thought y'all might enjoy a brief intro the the PC in my new GURPS Firefly-Eque game

The remaining three players made it this week completing the crew. I have a habit of "casting" the various PC's actors ala the Buffy and Angel RPGs. This works to increase immersion a bit and helps people visualize

The first three casting are player approved though the last three are subject to change as I picked them.

we have

1-Face-Merchant-Captain and ersatz leader famous for his good looks and antique wearable computer. Played Dirk Benedict

2-Doctor-Ex Soldier-Falsely Accused Ex Con Played by a young Jeff Bridges

3-Russian Sharshooter and Cargo Hand played by Timothy Olyphant

4-Sicilian Engineer and Laser Nut played by John Leguizamo

5- Pilot and Sophisticate played by Micheal Weatherly

6- Registered Companion with a Jewish Tom Boy side played by Bar Raefelii

Back in the Saddle or Cowboys in Space

It looks like my plans for an old school D&D game are once more thwarted, this time by placers with a surfeit of Skyrim.

I can't blame him really, between playing and modding all the time, burn out is a real possibility.

Instead the general consensus was "Something Sci-Fi" I offered Star Trek Away Team, Last Men on Earth, Travelling, $500 Hyperdrive and "something Fireflyesque"

The Firefly type setting won out by a decent margin with Post Apoc coming in second

For systems I offered D20 Modern, Cortex, Unisystem and GURPS.

My players being rather fond of GURPS chose that.

So I'll be running a GURPSA Fireflyeque game it seems. This will be a 1st for me so I am looking forward to it.

About the LDS Thing

I mentioned the other day that my gaming is predominately, 6 of 8 I think LDS (aka Mormon) .

This is largely an accident (my buddy brought in his friends from church and school) as I am not a member myself.

In case anyone is wondering what effect thats had on gaming. Well its been a pretty positive one.

The religion hasn't crept into play other than one the whole, the players trying to stick to the "good" as vs the neutral which is a benefit in my opinion.

Also many of the players had been on Missions (that the part where the guys looking like IBM sales reps go door to door to spread the Gospel) and had a good idea how to work and play with all kinds of people, it made the game go much smoother. That travel also made them bit more erudite than many Gamers.

Because of that and the fact that their parents and faith encourage education it makes for a very good group, especially for people I've only known a short time.

So in the event you guys (and ladies!) are reading, I appreciate y'all. You make gaming a lot more fun.

DM's and the Novelist Impulse or The Play is the Thing

Its my contention that many GM's have the impulse to be novelists , some are frustrated novelists, some dabble and may have this or that published and others are actual novelists (Kerr, Butcher, et all) .

This is not a bad thing unless it creeps too far into your game.

The fact is when it comes to gaming, what really matters is what goes on at the table, not your flavor text or game-fic. Unless you are an actual novelist, maybe.

Still there is a place for both of these and that place is making play better.

As an example, if I were to read 5 or 6 paragraphs about the nature of Neo-Hellenic magic and how spells worked in my Angel 2075 game, my players eyes would glaze over and everyone (that is the other six players) who is not playing the Neo-Hellenic_Goth-Witch would be bored silly.

This TMI habit dates to the early days of gaming where information was limited to a few books and we had no Internet and had to walk miles in the snow to get to school and fight off angry dogs (literally in my case).

Back than people couldn't just Google it and as such, those paragraphs had a lot more value.

Now however, its a lot simpler to let interested players do their own research and just get playing.

What i do is trim information dumps to a minimum and allow the illusion of flavor to creep in.

In the case of the Angel game it was by renaming a prosaic list of spells with cool Greek style names, saying one statement about it.

#1 you are part of the Hellenic Pagan revival, something happening in the real world. You mostly worship Hecate in Ancient Greek BTW but give respect to the other Gods as well.

Boom thats enough to get started and L, the player can research more or make stuff up or just ask if she wants.

After that I took her spell list and renamed it.

The basic list utility spells, common to many games

Radiant Armor
Scry
Lighting Bolt
Solar Blast
Speak With Dead
Dispel Known Spell


they became

Aegis of Glory
Hecate's Mirror
Borrowing the Thunder of Zeus
Tasting the Presence of Apollo
Plea to Persephone
Unwinding

viola, 1 paragraph and a few words and everybody gets the Greek thing without a lot of time investment.

This allows me to give other players more attention, concentrate on actual play and still give the illusion of immersion.

The same rule can be applied to the history of a land or any other facet of a game. More on that in a follow up post.

2011 Gaming Wrap

I played no D&D of any edition or any simulacrums in 2011.

I did play a GURPS campaign with some old school flavor that ended on an up note after about 12-15 sessions. The characters hit roughly name level and retired.

Now had I payed a bit more attention to my players burgeoning interest in the Shapers (a lost alien culture from Midrea) I probably could have continued but thats OK, we had a good time and I got slip in a few old school-isms like Rulings not Rules and Puzzles.

After that I started and managed a basic intro to Angel 2075. This is the 3rd or 4th game I've run in the Post-Apoc setting and all in all the few sessions we managed were fun and decently successful.

The group, minus a member now on his Mission (my group is predominately LDS) and another player seems to be down to a more reasonable 5. We may be gaining a player or two more but I can cope.

Who is running what however has not been decided as of yet however.

All in all, it was not a bad year for gaming . Here is hoping 2012 will be even better.

10 Things I learned from my Old School GURPS Game in No Particular Order

Running an old school -dungeon fantasy style GURPS game has been a learning experience for me and much to my surprise has changed some of my long held preconceptions about games in general.

#1 I love dungeons.

In the past I thought they were just dumb but these days, I like them a lot, a heck of a lot more than a I did as a young grog. Not only do they make my job as GM easier by keeping everyone on the plot but they help concentrate the groups fun and keep them focused, something essential with a group as big as mine.

#2 I don't really like GURPS rules system for this kind of game.

Its a good system but it doesn't support my wahoo, old school, rules not rulings gaming style the way I want . It simply isn't as much fun as I expected and given the limitations of my group I have to cut it in ways that take away GURPS strengths . I might be willing to give it a try with a more experienced group or on different subject matter but mainline GURPS is too complex and my version of GURPS Medium-Rare is just not doing it.

#3 I dislike GURPS magic.

This really isn't new . I have had a mild distaste for it since Fantasy 1.0 (about 1988 or so) . The system is fine and there is nothing wrong with Evil Stevie's rules but its bland and balanced in ways I dislike. Too meh in combat, too strong in its world building implications.

#4 Fate Points are fun in any system.

I grafted a fate point system based loosely off various GURPS rules and it worked as follows
Basically 1 point makes any roll a success, 1 point saves you from certain death and 2 points allows certain death to become a flesh wound. Players start with 2 and gain 1 per session and 1 for a really cool moment. This worked great as it encouraged player involvement, allowed anyone a chance to shine and let me save key NPC's for later. Mwah Hah Ha Hah...

#5 My world is too weird.

Its a sandbox designed to allow pretty much anything with an emphasis on creative chaos and a world that responds on a semi realistic fashion to actions. It works fine but the mix of Earth stuff, Cthulhu, Space Aliens, Faeries, and standard D&D tropes was a a bit nauseating, kind of the game world equivalent the suicide special drinks we mixed as a kid (a little of everything in one glass) . Its not as good a combo as I'd hope.

#6 The Earth stuff helps the game as I hoped.

The fact humans are from Earth helped get the players into it as I hoped.

#7 I need to tone down the silly.

My flaw really, I think my game might benefit from a bit less chaos arrows, funny voices, talking animals, pet zombies and a bit more taking seriously. This silly doesn't impair the fun factor but I have the feeling its wearing on the me and players.

#8 Borrowing from other systems is good

I came up with a a couple of quick house rules for chases and stealth based off 3e and 4e D&D take 10 and they worked great in GURPS. They kept the drama up, were faster to play and still were basically the same as GURPS 4e core rules math wise. I'll post these later but suffice it say, don't let purism deter you from fixing the rules as needed.

#9 GURPS is incoherently laid out for Fantasy games

This is a not a system issue exactly but one of layout. GURPS really needs a good critter book not a book of mostly real world animals like its Bestiary (though that would be a useful book) or a book of folkloric critters like the quirky Fantasy Bestiary but a straight forward "Monster Manual" with things to encounter and kill. This should include people (bandits, soldiers, cultists, enemy mages) as well. Open book, grab stat block, play. As it is while the rules are all there (mainly in Dungeon Fantasy) the stuff I need especially the monster stats are too spread out for ease of use. I understand and respect the business case (its a sound publishing decision based on well thought out and researched sales metrics) but that doesn't help my game .

#10 I need to do more world building and mapping

I have a smart group who "gets" whats going on but I think my world building needs a boost, Now Midrea was intentionally designed in a haphazard way, what I need than, make it, use, it . This is fine but it needs to jell together better. I need to make a map somehow, put the nations in place and make a world book for people to see if they wish. This would I think improve the game a bit and help take away the "silliness" more than a little.

Well thats that ..

Later I'll include those house rules I promised and an article on why I am not a member of the SCA.

Weird Pets

My current group, the 7 Misfits has a few pets. However unlike the usual cat, bird, shoulder dragon, magic horse that you see they seem to go in for the macabre.

part of this is do the open structure of the system we are using, GURPS and part of this is do the unique nature of my players and another part of it is that Midrea is simply a very weird place.

The current and former list includes such luminaries as

Leroy the marginally sentimental poodle eating zombie, who is not BTW actually under anyones control.

Itsy, a somewhat tamed Drow riding spider, the Samurai's occasional mount and rescuer

Blip, a mouse/bat fae companion of the Serpent Cultist

Eater of Eyes, a fairly normal pet, in this case a smart-ass raven not yet bonded as a familiar

and a Pokethulu whose named I mercifully have forgotten and whose player has left the game as far as I can tell.

So gentle readers, what kind of weird pets have your groups had?

Introducing the 7 Misfits

The most surprising thing about my current Old School styled Dungeon Fantasy game is the shear size of the play group. I have 7 regular, reliable, quality players (with one walk off) who get it and that is big group for D&D much less GURPS.

My suspcion is this a a "benefit" of the recession, people have time and gaming is super cheap.

Whatever the cause I am enjoying the heck out of it. I thought y'all might be interested in meeting the characters, a misfit team of mercs that manages to thrive and survive the craziest things.

Roughly divided we have Team Evil (both played by women, both playing assassins clearly the deadliest members of the gamer species), Team Neutral and Team Good.

Team Evil

Psycho Girl: A sociopathic Knife Dancer/Assassin, probably a changeling easily bored with no regard for human life. In other words a typical Midrean Elf

Snake Lady: Settitte Temple Assassin, Faerie Friend and Stone Cold Killer


Team Neutral:

Zappy the Barbarian: Crazed Barbarian Fighter/Mage/Master Chef on a Doomed Quest. 110% Baravian

Pervo the Crossbowman: A sharpshooting, gun toting, crossbow toting professional mercenary and pervert.

The Samurai: Amnesiac Master Smith turned Samurai Mercenary.

Team Good:

The Ranger: Archer, leader, singer (the player has a rather good singing voice) and all around decent normal fellow.

The Battle Mage without a Past: A powerful wizard with decent soldiering skills played by a GURPS rules expert. All around scary.

There you go, 7 fun characters played by one of the finest groups I've ever played with.

Received a Nice Player Compliment Today

Spoke with one of my players, C who plays the Battle Wizard in my current GURPS game.

I had mentioned to him the spontaneous nature of last weeks UFO literature influenced trip to the alternate universe.

His reply made my day

"Huh, you did that so well I thought you had it planned"

Old School Doesn't Mean Being A System Purist

Let me give you an example.

Much as Peter Dell'Orto over at Dungeon Fantastic is doing I am currently running an old school styled game using GURPS 4th edition.

Its a sandbox with lots of freedom of action, high trust in my players and it covers 3 of the 4 Old School Zen Moments as envisioned by Matthew Finch.

* Rulings, Not Rules
* Player Skill, not Character Abilities
* Heroic, not Superhero
* Forget “Game Balance”

Only the second is deemphasized a little via the mechanics of the game. Its throughly old school run in the style I have run games in since Rune Quest II mumble years ago.

And yet the same games shows rules grafts from Buffy (Drama Points and Static NPC rolls) 3X D&D (take 10) and 4e (my combat cheat sheet) and uses throughly modern GURPS 4e (an excellent system BTW)

Is its still old school?

Heck yeah. And my players, many new to RPG's are loving it too.

Folks, what makes a game old school is less rules and system (most older D&D games after all were a hodgepodge) but you and your players.

Why GURPS Not Old School?

This one is easy. I like GURPS, my players are not familiar with old school (they are on the young side) and like GURPS, one players knows enough to co-GM . It works for all of us. If i game with these guys long enough, I'll eventually get them and a few other people into Angel/Buffy, Pathfinder or Old School D&D but till then, GURPS will do nicely

The New GURPS Game went very well

I met with a new group of players last night for a tight 4 hour GURPS session.Things went far better than I had hoped for for a lot of reasons. These are the ones I think that most added to the game in no particular order.

#1 Well prepared focused and committed players and because there was a strong Earth connection they were actually interested in the game world. Midrea for the win.

#2 Lively Non Morlock players (I have had a lot of these guys of late)

#3 A willingness to get in on the whole William Shatner School of Drama and ham it up on everybody's account

#4 Me thinking fast on my feet, preparation on my part was limited to a few encounter notes which I adjusted as needed, moved to a plausible but fun location and in fact simply added stuff I thought would be fun (The Schroedinger's Princess)

#5 Borrowing from video games A: . Rather than continue a combat that was fait accompli anyway and boring the players, I used cut scenes to move the action along.

#6 Keeping pre game info dumps short and verbal. No one wants to read page after page of notes, they are however interested in listening for around 5-10 minutes or so

#7 No rolling unless failure is interesting or probable. GURPS normally charges for this calling it a perk "no nuisance rolls" I make it a game rule as it speeds up the action.

#8 The presence of a couple fate points. Normally GURPS combat is super deadly and while interestingly no one needed to use any they still helped the game. Having a few fate points and a means to earn more (by being cool) relaxes players and enables them to take more risks. GURPS also supports this with the rules as "Its only a flesh wound" I just used a small separate point pool.

#9 Borrowing from video games B:Quests. Rats, Tunnel, Reward. Easy to understand, plausible and trope-tasticly familiar. The players loved it.

#10 Humans only. People may disagree with me and in fact I did allow non humans but everyone in my group played a human. The group oddball was a Japanese character with a bought local title that he mostly played to his advantage. This worked nicely and contributed to a cleaner game.

Well there you go, story free actual play tips.

And in case anyone wonders, session 2 will be next week if all goes well with schedules.

Watershed moments from mediocre players

Thought I'd share this from my old 3.5 group.

We had a player in the group, I'll call him WC. He was one of those less attentive, shy and unimaginative players that sometimes end up in gaming groups simply because we gamers are pretty accepting of oddballs. He was never super reliable or a super good player at the table but as he was not disruptive and we needed an extra warm body, we let him play.

One game he decided to play a bard. You could probably hear the eyes rolling in their sockets at this point since the bard (unlike say a fighter) is a high involvement character requiring a lot of skill to play.

However bard it was.

As the adventure progressed our low level, I think our usual L2 starting level, party ran into a Harpy. This was not good at all.

However a round or so into it, WC looked up and asked "Hey I have this counter song ability, can I use it."

DM said yep, dice were rolled and much bacon was saved with much congratulations and backslapping.

Now this wasn't really an epiphany in any sense, he didn't suddenly become a great player but he did have a good time and over time improved more than a bit. He was never an asset but he was more welcome and thats good enough.

So how about your stories ?

What common GM tasks do you suck at ?

Me?

I have no skill at mapping to speak of and actually have some degree of antipathy to mapping my game world. Were I flush with cash, I'd hire someone to do all the maps.

Of course this creates problems with large dungeons but happily there are lots of maps out there to use so my players will never know....

How about you?