On the 8th of the 8th 2008, I managed to get everyone (or at least enough people) to agree to start a new roleplaying game. We choose Spirit of the Century as the first game to play because its, apparently easy to pick up and just play (only one person in our group has played it before and I have a textbook knowledge of how to play it). You’ll be able to read write ups of it here on our roleplaying group’s site (in fact you can see write-ups and characters from all our games on that site).

Unfortunately my wife comes down with the flu the next week and is pretty bad this week too. So I haven’t actually managed to attend any games! Arg. But hopefully there is next week…

Related Posts:

• Fudge Passions v0.2 (a extension for the Fudge RPG system)
• Story Hooks v0.2 (a roleplaying system to replace backgrounds)
• TDO Combat Fudge v0.1
• A thought on GM versus Player narrative power in indie games
• When and why should you roll dice?

Continuing on from Story Hooks, this is the second part of item 8 of the L___ H_____ system.

Update #1: Fudge Passions by Mark Cunningham is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Fudge Passions v2.0

Fudge Passions was originally conceived as a way to link a character’s emotional state to other parts of the system (like Gifts or Powers). It is built as an addition to the Fudge RPG system but also replaces Fudge Points (Passion Points replace Fudge Points). It was designed and tested in parallel with my Story Hooks system but both can be used independently.

What is a Passion Trait?

Characters have a minimum of two Passion Traits. A Passion Trait (or just Passion) is made up of rating, an Emotion (also called the Driving Emotion) and a Tie (also called the Emotional Tie).

A Driving Emotion is a single word describing the overall feel or emotional impact the Passion has on the character. It does not have to be positive, negative Driving Emotions are just as useful.

The Emotional Tie describes what the Passion is about. It is only a short sentence describing the concept of the Passion. If you also use the Story Hooks system, Passions of a certain rank require a Story Hook and so allow the player to expand on the Passion.

Based on the seven rank Fudge scale, Passion traits are rated thusly:

A Passion at Interested or Curious is only a Temporary Passion and must be brought up to at least Enthusiastic or Passionate before it is considered a Permanent Passion.

A Passion at Obsessed causes a -1 penalty to all the other character’s Passion Traits but Passion Points are earned at a higher rate for this Passion.

A Passion at All-Consuming blocks out all other Passions. Like Obsessed the character can earn Passion Points for this Passion at the higher rate but with loser restrictions. For certain tasks, the Passion can be used instead of the Attribute or Skill as long as it falls within the scope of the Passion. If the character is blocked from the subject of their passion, they start to lose points. However they can be temporarily pushed into Madness.

Madness has all the flaws and benefits of All-Consuming. However the character has gone mad and isn’t really in control of themselves. The only way to save such a character is to give up the Passion and take a new Fault (something in keeping with the theme of the character madness).

A Passion Trait should generally form a sentence:

My <Rating> <Driving Emotion> <at|of> <Emotional Tie>

Example:

My Enthusiastic Duty of my Priesthood

Passions can be loosely considered to be one of two types: Passive or Goal Oriented. Goal Oriented Passions have a specific purpose, a target that could be potentially completed, such as quest, an oath or some desire (like wanting to be the best sword fighter). Passive Passions do not have a goal, but just exist such as love or duty. A Passion can change between Passive and Goal Oriented during play.

What are Passion Points?

Each Passion Trait forms a pool of Passion Points. For each rank above Interested, a player has one Passion Point in that pool. Passion Points replace Fudge Points.

Passion Points can be spent in similar ways to Fudge Points but limited to the context of the Passion.

They can also be used during a live-or-die situation where the character is genuinely afraid for their life. This would mean a combat veteran would not be able to justify every combat situation as a live-or-die situation. It only really matters when the character has a fight-or-flight reaction to some threat.

Passion Points can be earned during play by interacting with some part of the Passion. Players start with half the number of points (round down) in that pool. After a downtime, pools will refill up to this point only (but points previously earned are not lost).

At Character Creation

Players must take at least two (normally three) Permanent Passions at character creation (but there is no upper limit). New Passions start at Interested and must be raised to at least Enthusiastic. Players have nine ranks/increases to allocate to Passions.

Players can take any Skills they like up to a ranking of Fair. However if they wish to start with a Skill greater than Fair, it must be “linked” with one of their Passions and cannot be a higher rank than that Passion. So if a player wants Martial Arts at Superb, then they must have a Passion at Obsessed. (This is also true later after Character Creation when players wish to increase Skills using Experience Points).

In Play

Passions do not dictate how a character should be played. This is always a player’s choice. Passions should not be taken literally and the player’s interpretation is the most important one. It is their story after all. For example, taking a genre classic, Bruce Wayne (alter-ego/secret identity of Batman) might have a Passion like this:

My Obsessed Guilt drives me to Vengeance of my Parents Death.

But this does not make Bruce an obsessed vengeance freak instead it makes him “the Batman” striving for justice.

The only exception is Passions of rank greater than or equal to Obsessed. At Obsessed, other Passions suffer. At All-Consuming the character cares about nothing else, they are on a self-destructive path. At Madness the character is driven insane by the emotion or tie and normally the player loses control of the character at this point (unless the player is doing an remarkable job of roleplaying a character on the utter edge of sanity).

When a player rolls well (Great or better) using a Skill or Attribute in some capacity related to one of their Passion Traits, and the Skill/Attribute is a ranking less than the Passion Trait, the player should put a mark beside that Skill/Attribute. The player will be able to spend Experience Points on this Skill to increase it.

Earning Passion Points

Passion Points are earned through actions in-play.

One Passion Point is earned for the first time interacting or using something connected with the Passion (such as the Driving Emotion or Emotional Tie) for that session or adventure (which ever is most applicable).

Two Passion Points are earned for achieving something with that Passion or completely submerging the character within the Passion such as for intensive roleplaying or the character is temporarily taken out of play to deal with the Passion.

Three Passion Points are earned for anything considered a major development of that Passion. For Goal Oriented Passions, this might mean making some significant progress towards the target. For Passive Passions, this might mean protecting or saving it from some threat or it being a major element of the session/game.

Passions at Obsessed or greater earn double the rate of Passion Points. At All-Consuming and Madness, players can earn a point each time (not just the first time) they interact or use something to do with the Passion.

During downtime, characters can passively regain passions if they are at rest i.e. relaxing which does not preclude hard work or effort. Rest means the character has reduced stress but can remain active. Characters regain one point per day, the player can chose which pool this goes into. They can only regain up to half of each pool (round down) this way.

Games Master can also offer from one to three Passion Points to the player to encourage the player to roleplay a Passion (often to the player’s disadvantage). However it is the player’s choice. But if the Passion is greater than Obsessed, the player must have a really good reason not to take the Points. At Madness, the player really doesn’t have a choice! But remember it is the player’s interpretation of the Passion that counts most, no-body else.

Spending Passion Points

Players can spend Passion Points in much the same way as Fudge Points except they are restricted to having to be connected with the Passion via the concept of the Passion, the Emotional Tie or the Driving Emotion.

In addition, if it is a live-or-die situation for the character, the player can spend points but the player take points from any pool at a cost of two for one (i.e. the player would pull two points from her pools to spend one point).

Passion Points can be used to affect a roll (related to the Passion or live-or-die). Before making a roll (for either Unopposed or Opposed actions), the player can spend a Passion Point to gain a +1 bonus modifier, up to a maximum of +3. If another roll is going to affect the player (such as an attack), the player can spend a Passion Point to add a -1 penalty modifier to the roll, to a maximum of -3.

If the player waits till after the roll, they can spend two points to alter the result by one level. They cannot do this if they spent points to give a modifier before the roll.

Gifts that require some activation cost or require focused attention of the character should also require at least one passion point (from the most relevant pool). Passion Points can also be used to power abilities that are fuelled by emotions (such as some martial arts, magics and other supernatural powers, etc.).

If a Games Master wishes to balance some of the more powerful Faults, she may allow the player to earn Passion Points when the Fault comes into play against the character. This is optional. Individual Groups and Games Masters are encouraged to find their own uses for Passion Points.

Passion Points must come from the relevant pool/Passion Trait. If the relevant pool is empty, the player can pull two points from other pools to gain one point in that pool to spend.

Temporary Passions and Temporary Increases

During play, characters can pick up Temporary Passions, which are Passion Traits at the low rankings of Interested or Curious. However they do not appear on the character sheet, nor can they be used for anything unless the player spends one Experience Point to buy a rank in the Passion, up to max ranking of Curious. They must explain to the Games Master why they think they have this Temporary Passion (in the context of the current session/adventure) and the Games Master must approve. Once they have the Temporary Passion, they can spend Passion Points from its pool or channel points from their other pools (at a cost of two for one). These Temporary Passions remain listed on the character but drop by one rank each session/adventure until they disappear, if the player does not make the Passion permanent by increasing it to a ranking above Curious. Another reason to buy Temporary Passions in-play is that they are cheaper way of acquiring new Passions (then paying full cost during downtime).

Existing Permanent Passions can be temporarily increased by one rank for session/adventure. This can occur when something to do with the Passion is a major part of the current adventure. The player can suggest to the Games Master that they believe they are due a temporary increase for a specific Passion. A Games Master may also award an unsought for temporary increase if she believes it is warranted by the in-play events. This can push a Passion from Dedicated to Obsessed (or worse). A player can spend a Passion Point to prevent this, if they desire. Once a Passion Trait has been temporarily increased for a session/adventure, it cannot be increased for at least one following session/adventure. Players can spend Experience Points at any time to turn a temporary increase into a real increase at a reduced cost, however the restriction on no temporary increases for that Passion for the following session/adventure are still in place.

As part of Character Development

Players should all earn the same amount of Experience Points each character development cycle (my recommendation is 5 EP).

Increasing a Passion Trait requires spending Experience Points. If a Temporary Increase is made permanent during play, it is done at the Reduced Cost otherwise the Normal Cost is used.

During character development periods (i.e. when players can spend Experience Points), players can buy as many increases for Passions as they like. If during the last session/adventure, a Passion Trait got a temporary increase which was converted into a permanent increase, no more increases can be made until the next character development period (i.e. after the next session or adventure depending on the style of your game).

However players can decrease a Passion and release any Experience Points used to buy that Passion. Increases bought at Reduced Cost, give the value that was spent to buy that increase. You can’t use this to use temporary increase to gain extra Experience Points. Players must always have at least two Permanent Passion Traits with at least one greater than or equal to Passionate. Players are encouraged to “store” Experience Points in Passion Traits.

Any Skills that were used really well in context of a Passion (Great or better) can be increased using Experience Points up to the max rating of the relevant Passion. If the player wishes to increase another Skill, they must reduce one Passion (even if they don’t need the Experience Points).

New Passions can only be added based on in-game events. The easiest way is to take a Temporary Passion during play and make it Permanent as soon as possible. Otherwise a new Passion can only be bought if the Game Master suggests it.

Destroying/Resolving Passions and Shadow Passions

Passion traits can be resolved and destroyed, but only based on in-game events.

If a Passion’s Emotional Tie is destroyed, the Passion can be permanently lost. If it’s less than Dedicated, it is automatically lost. No Experience Points can be regained. If it is equal to or greater than Dedicated, the player can transform the Passion (the Emotional Tie and/or Driving Emotion) but decreases the ranking by one level. If the player chooses not to transform the Passion the Passion becomes a Shadow Passion, again starting at one rank lower. Each session/adventure, the Shadow Passion reduces one level (no Experience Points can be regained from this decrease) until it is only a Temporary Passion (i.e. Curious) and then it disappears. During character development periods, the player can decrease the Shadow Passion like other Passions and regain Experience Points.

Some Passions, such as Goal Oriented Passions, can sometimes be resolved. The character reaches or satisfies the goal of the Emotional Tie, for example. If it’s less than Dedicated, it is removed instantly but all Experience Points (minus the last increase) are regained. If it is equal to or greater than Dedicated, the player can transform the Passion (the Emotional Tie and/or Driving Emotion) but decreases the ranking by one level (no EP). If the player chooses not to transform the Passion the Passion becomes a Shadow Passion, again starting at one rank lower (no EP). Each session/adventure, the Shadow Passion reduces one level (however Experience Points are regained from this decrease) until it is only a Temporary Passion (i.e. Curious) and then it disappears. During character development periods, the player can decrease the Shadow Passion like other Passions and regain Experience Points.

Transforming Passions

Passions can be changed during character development periods. There are two types of transformations: Subtle and Gross Transformations.

Subtle Transformations might be slight rewording of the Emotional Tie or a slightly different flavour of Driving Emotion. All that is required for Subtle Transformations is Games Master approval.

Gross Transformations might be a complete refocusing of the Emotional Tie or using a very different emotion for the Driving Emotion. Such Gross Transformations must either be based on in-game events or some event/dramatic element must be imported into the game to support the transformation (if using Story hooks, this would be importing a Story Hook). They require Games Master approval and support.

Integrating with the rest of your System

Passions can be just used as a replacement to Fudge Points, however the original intention is to link it with other parts of a system, which may be setting-specific, so there are no hard rules here.

Gifts that require some sort of activation should require one Passion Point. Certain Faults may siphon Passion Points from pools. Passion Points may be used to power supernatural effects. For example a martial art may use Passion Points for specific moves that are beyond the human norm.

Other elements of the system may be linked with specific Passions. For example a power that allows the character to invoke an emotion in others may require Passion Points to power it, but it might also be linked with one Passion trait. The Driving Emotion of that Passion is easier to invoke (possible not requiring an activation cost).

Another option is to limit the ranking of some traits based on a linked Passion. By default, Skill increases are limited by the Passion ranks. You can’t increase a Skill higher than a Passion. For example supernatural powers powered by passions would probably be limited by the ranking of the character’s passions.

Using Story Hook

Fudge Passions was original designed alongside the Story Hooks system and the two were integrated. If you use Story Hooks, Passions of Dedicated require a Linked Story Hook. If the player wishes to change the Passion using a Gross Transformation, this Story Hook can be imported to support the transformation.

L___ H_____ Implementation

Both Story Hooks and Fudge Passions were originally designed for a RPG codenamed L___ H_____. There are some additional changes to Fudge Passions for L___ H_____.

Characters can have an Aspect for a Passion. An Aspect works the same way as Passions except it is not split into Driving Emotion and Emotional Tie. An Aspect is a part of the world that the character represents such as Nature, Metal, Computers, Fire, etc. In all other respects it works like a Passion.

Many character types in L___ H_____ have been supernaturally transformed but then suffer “the pressures of the Veil”. This manifests in a Fault called Passion Bleed. This means that characters with Passions less than Obsessed will lose one Passion Point per day. Characters with at least one Passion greater than or equal to Obsessed lose two points per day. If the character has no points left, they suffer a wound, which cannot be healed until they have regained at least one Passion Point.

Characters can regain Passion Points more quickly by entering the Dream or Supernatural Lands specifically associated with their own Passions/Aspects or the character’s Patron. They can regain one point per hour up to half of each pool. After that it takes on day to gain a point, but their entire pools can be refreshed this way. Passion Bleed does not have any effect in these unnatural places.

Passions are inherently linked with Supernatural and Divine Gifts and Abilities. Most effects require at least one Passion Point (though magic users may use Mana instead but require much more time to prepare effects). When the character casts an effect, the linked Passion can manifest as ghostly images around the character.

A character that spends all of their Passion Points and at least half of those on Supernatural or Divine effects will fall into a Supernatural Coma which is a sort of supernatural sleep similar to a mundane coma. They can temporarily put off the Supernatural Coma by a Good result of Willpower but it cannot be put off permanently. While in the Supernatural Coma, characters passively regain points at twice the rate of Rest. Once they regain one point they can wake up but can choose not to and continue to regain points. In this state their bodies are in a form of hibernation and do not need to eat and are unaffected by changes in temperature or environment. To the non-magical eye they appear frozen. They can still be deliberately killed, hurt and destroyed in this state. Even after they have regain all their Passion Points, a character can choose to remain in this state for they do not age or change, though upon awakening from such a long sleep, their bodies are cold and hard to control for at least one third of the time they slept. This restriction can be overcome with the use of magics. They do not dream in this sleep and are not truly conscious either.

Mortals (humans with no supernatural links/ties) have a secret Passion, which describes how much they believe in their view of the world (which may not match actual reality regardless of the supernatural/divine element). Characters with a low ranking are often very detached and distant from their fellow humans. Characters with high rankings are stubborn and narrow-minded. This Passion is often used as an inherent defence against the supernatural and divine attacks).

The Veil can have Passion and Aspect ratings. These can influence the attempts and results of any supernatural or divine effect.

There is an additional rank in L___ H_____ above Madness. This is called “Transcendal” (+6). If a Passion hits Transcendal, it is transformed and becomes more abstract, similar to an Aspect. The character has “transcended” and discovers some fundamental truth or knowledge about the world (centred around the new Passion/Aspect). A character with a Transcendal Passion can no longer live under the Veil. The character becomes unplayable.

Because of the game-world-shattering nature of Transcendal, it is treated as two levels. The first is the transition from Madness to Transcendal. The character becomes calm yet disassociated with the entire world. Their Passion Bleed will increase substantially. Human characters will start to suffer Passion Bleed. However the character believes they are on the edge of complete understanding. Nothing can really stop their “ascension” even death has little real meaning. A character in this state is like a beacon to higher state beings. Avatars may walk with the character and try to guide them. Nymphs and Spirits will gather and follow them. Higher dimension beings may attempt to break through to commune and talk with them.

The second level is the complete transition to Transcendal. They must leave this world. Their mind, emotions, traits, etc. are as unknownable as the gods are to mankind. They are in a sense god-like. Such Transcendal Passions do not have to be positive or ethically/morally good, they just have to be. The final level makes the Passion broad and encompassing.

Characters that reach Madness may see the edge of the first level of Transcendal. They can consciously choose to reject it and their Passion is instantly reduced from Madness to a lower rating but they must take a Fault. However they do not have to lose the Passion. This must be roleplayed.

Related Posts:

• Story Hooks v0.2 (a roleplaying system to replace backgrounds)
• A free roleplaying game: Lost Heroes is available online right now
• Review part 1 of my Custom Dice
• My Cthulhu/thedeadone Fudge Dice!
• thedeadone gaming dice?

Part 1 of to do item: number 8. Part 2, Fudge Passions, will be online soon.

Update #1: Story Hooks by Mark Cunningham is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Story Hooks v2.0

Story Hooks is a system I created to replace the creation and management of players’ characters’ histories (see here for more). The first version, which I designed and wrote-up for L___ H_____, was very basic and involved a lot of hand-wavy “use as you see fit”. It consisted of the “Back-Story” and a non-delimited list of “Story Hooks”, which were practically Story/Adventures Seeds.

This version introduces mechanical checks and balances and in-game uses for Story Hooks. You can use it with any existing system that doesn’t have any rules or system for managing a player character’s background/history. In terms of integrating Story Hooks with an existing system, Experience Points are used when importing Story Hooks and should be replaced with the systems’ relevant character-development currency.

Instead of a background or character history, players create a set of short Story Hooks and a short Back-Story for their character. Over the course of play, the set of Story Hooks and Back-Story can be updated or changed at set moments, in discussion with the Games-Master. The Games-Master can bring Story Hooks into play as new elements (the player earns Experience Points for this) or the player themselves can bring them into play (costs Experience Points).

What is the Back-Story?

The Back-Story is a short piece of text no more than a few paragraphs that provides a context for the player character within the current setting and/or campaign. It should include any relevant points about the origin of the character such as nationality, race and/or gender and possibly their involvement in the current setting/game. It should be purely factual.

What is a Story Hook?

A Story Hook can technically be anything if it’s not long. Normally it’s a short piece of text (but it can be a picture or a piece of music for example). It cannot be big; at most a few paragraphs of text, and it can be as short as a single sentence (or even word if applicable). The important thing is that it describes something about the character that the player deems relevant or important (but is not actually covered by the rest of the character creation system).

A Story Hook can be (for example):

• A fact about the character
• An event from the character’s past
• A powerful/defining memory (descriptive or factual) (vague, false or otherwise) of the character
• An imagined scene involving the character
• Story/Adventure seeds based on the character
• An important relationship (family, platonic, love interest etc.)
• Other related characters or groups (they do not have to exist yet as part of the setting)

A Story Hook can have an optional Title as well.

Characters’ have two pools (or sets) of Story Hooks. The Unallocated Pool has no limit and can contain as many Story Hooks as the player wants.

The second pool has only five Active Slots. The Games-Master can increase this to seven or decrease it to three for that particular campaign. The Active Slots do not need to be all filled; however during Character Creation several slots are reserved and must be filled.

Other elements of the system may require a Story Hook. These required Story Hooks must be, initially, placed in an Active Slot. These are called Linked Story Hooks. If the Linked Story Hook is moved to the Unallocated Pool or deleted, the requirement/link is unfulfilled (and may incur penalties) but if the Story Hook is imported into play than the requirement is considered fulfilled. You can also replace a Linked Story Hook with a different Story Hook. One Story Hook can also be used for several different requirements and there is no limit. Powerful advantages (such as supernatural/super Powers, high ranking Traits, etc.) or vague elements (such as wishy-washy flaws like nightmares, mysterious fate, etc.) can be thusly limited and expanded on.

As a recommendation, Story Hooks should not be recorded on the character sheet. A useful way of managing Story Hooks is to write each one on a separate Index Card (available from most good stationary shops). Players can then keep Story Hooks in the Active Slots in a separate pile from the Unallocated Pool. It also makes it easier to manage character development.

A good Story Hook should have at least one of these properties:

• It interests or excites both the Player and the Games Master (the Games Master can import Player’s Story Hooks and award Player’s Experience Points)
• It appears to add to the character concept/back-story
• It appears to add to the setting or current campaign

All Story Hooks are subject to Games-Master approval but if a Games-Master decides to veto a Story Hook (or usage of) she must give a reason why. Discussion is encouraged.

At Character Creation

Players should create at least three Story Hooks in their Active Slots during Character Creation. All Story Hooks require approval with the Games-Master and should be used to discuss character ideas and concepts. While the Game-Master has veto, she should be offering alternatives or modifications instead of outright refusal.

For creating a character, the Games-Master may require (or setting/campaign dictates) certain Story Hooks must be created. These Required Story Hooks go into the Active Slots. Required Story Hooks can come with any sort of restriction. For example they may ask for a Story Hook based on a relevant Theme, detailed information about their living family, connection to the group or setting, details of the characters life during a certain period, etc. They can even specify the type of Story Hook. After the first adventure (or to the first downtime), these Story Hooks are no longer required and can be swapped out of the Active Pool. Theses are in addition to any other Story Hook requirements. A single Story Hook can be used for several Required Story Hooks and even for Linked Story Hooks, if it makes sense.

During Play

During a game or session, Story Hooks can be imported into play. When a Story Hook is imported it becomes a new element within the setting and is no longer considered a Story Hook for the character. An imported Story Hook can be used to add to the story, as a story seed, aid to roleplaying, for some benefit or disadvantage and so on.

If importing a Story Hook has a positive advantage for the player, the player will have to pay five Experience Points to import it. If it is a disadvantage for the player character, the Games-Master must be the one to import it and the player earns ten Experience Points. If the Game-Master imports a player’s Story Hook as part of the adventure (no positive or negative effect on player, at least for that adventure), that player earns five Experience Points. Players are free to suggest to the Games-Master when they think certain Story Hooks are relevant. Story Hooks that do not benefit or disadvantage the player can be imported for free with the Game-Master approval.

Players can only import Story Hooks from their Active Slots. If they wish to import a Story Hook from their Unallocated Pool, they must spend an additional two Experience Points. There is no restriction with a Games-Master imports a Story Hook, they can import from either of the players’ pools.

As part of Character Development

The Game-Master can specify periods during a campaign where players can update their Story Hooks. This is normally at the same time as when players are awarded, and can spend, Experience Points: such as during downtime or between adventures/sessions. Players can add new Story Hooks, export Story Hooks (Story Hooks based on in-game events), move Story Hooks between Active Slots and Unallocated Slots and delete Story Hooks. There is no cost required. However all changes require Games-Master review and approval. This should be a dialogue between the player and the Games-Master about the character.

Converting Existing Character Histories

There is no hard system for converting existing character histories to Story Hooks. One approach is to break down the character history into a series of bullet points such as a timeline of events in the character’s life. Then these bullet points each form individual Story Hook with the important ones going into the Active Slots.

L___ H_____ Implementation

The only change to the L___ H_____ version of this system was the addition of some Required Story Hooks. As a style guide, these required Story Hooks have a title, a main question and a “description”. There are three to four (depending on character type) required Story Hooks:

Related Posts:

• Fudge Passions v0.2 (a extension for the Fudge RPG system)
• A free roleplaying game: Lost Heroes is available online right now
• Review part 1 of my Custom Dice
• My Cthulhu/thedeadone Fudge Dice!
• thedeadone gaming dice?

Okay, this post is about pen-and-paper roleplaying games but I’d like to start by using computer games to illustrate a point. Have you ever played one of those strategy based games that involves building a base, collecting resources, expanding technology while battling an enemy? Like Starcraft, Command and Conquer, Rise of Nations, etc. etc. Would these games keep your interest for long if you were the only player and all you did was build? (Right now I know some of you are shouting SimCity at me… but I’m trying to illustrate a point about roleplaying so kept with me for a few more sentences).

I feel like I’m caught in a conundrum here. On one side, players should drive the story and GMs (Game Masters) should not railroad players. On the other side, GMs should be providing a good game and therefore should be driving the players if needs be. Delicate balance.

My current GM gave off recently that not all the players have given character backgrounds (see here for my opinion of character backgrounds) and because of that the characters who had given backgrounds were getting all the lime-light. That pissed me off. — Before I speak further about our current game, I have to be honest. We’re playing White Wolf’s Exalted. “So?” you cry. Well, I think Exalted sucks! Crappy combat system and boring setting. Also the GM and myself disagree fundamentally about roleplaying, what’s important, wants not, etc. He’s dogmatic and, dare I say, conservative? I want to try different things (for better or for worse). I guess I should stop here. I mean, surely anything I say now is biased? Yea probably. But I committed to it 100% (I think). Heck, I enjoyed D&D not too long ago, so I’m sure I can find something I enjoy in Exalted, right? I like my character, like what he can do. The last thing I should mention as well is that I’m one of those awful player that doesn’t turn up to half the games but I have a damn good excuse: my wife, Sophie, is six months pregnant with our second child. I simply cannot make every game or even the majority this year. It’ll get better in time, just not right now. The group knows that and seem happy with it.

I did give a background. I even gave several options for how I could have been introduced to the group, numerous story hooks and goals for my character. That should be enough? The real problem the GM wanted to address is not about backgrounds. This is just some unconscious mis-direction. It’s about players driving the game. The two players who “gave backgrounds” have becoming a driving force in the game, meaning that the other players, including myself, are side-lined. Why are they a driving force? Well because they are building things. One is a captain who owns ships and the other powers-up on the occult side. Hopefully you’ll see why I used the computer games example at the beginning. These two players are building up power. When there is a slow in the action, these players fill it in with “I want to do X or Y”. While I just want to play. Am I a bad player? Looking back at my background, none of the motivations or goals were about gathering power. The GM never once brought in any element of my background into the setting. Now the game has gone on for a while, I can’t just say “right I’m going back to where I killed all those monks to see if the Dragon Blooded know?” That would be utterly “out of character” and counter to my own precious enjoyment of the game. (And yes you can argue too that I’m being sidelined because I can’t attend every game and that is a good reason, but then the GM shouldn’t go on about not giving backgrounds when I did and he ignored it!)

Perhaps it’s the nature of Exalted that’s at issue here. It’s a game where the players can get a lot of mechanical power from the system yet they must always hide it from the Dragon Blooded in the setting. This leads to the “building power” syndrome: gathering resources, making contacts, being secretive always, avoid using powers openly, etc. I guess I’m not driven by that kind of meta-gaming (is it meta-gaming?).

My characters goals and story hooks require the GM to use them. I gave a bit of angst and a dark side to my character’s lavish humour, he murdered his brother monks and fleed his monastery when he become an Exalted. The Dragon Bloods are on his trail. None of this has come up in the game. No hunters came looking for Riptal Verek. His face is not plastered on street corners. The problem, I guess, is that my character’s goals are not independent of the GM’s designs. I can’t drive the game without input from the GM. If he chooses to ignore my background (which he did) I’m nothing more than the comic side-kick to the power-gathers.

In a sense, the GM should be driving the chronicle to a degree (at least for a bit at the beginning) for my character to get involved. I want the GM to drive the game, to keep the pace up, rather than wait for me to act. But the GM is content to let the players drive it, which should be ideal… but it isn’t.

What’s happening is that the driving-players are engaged in world-building, just like in those computer games. They build and build and build. Then when the GM introduces some conflict, we battle. Then we recover and build again. It becomes a big strategy game. And, while I like the occasionally game of Starcraft, it’s no Wii and the fun value comes in diminishing-returns (the more I play it, the less I enjoy it, but the occasionaly one-off game is great time-killer).

I guess those big epic fantasy stories are in a sense “strategy games”, but they are interwoven with sub-plots that are purely character based. It’s like the model for this campaign is “world-building”. We expand the world, building on it, meant to be getting involved in it (but I’m not), but two of the players have got the big stakes. One of the other players is a thief, how do they fit in with this power-gathering drive? How does a thief gather power? Shouldn’t an Exalted thief live from escapade to escapade? That, in my mind, would be what makes a character a “thief” as opposed to someone who can just steal really well or is just a kleptomaniac. There are other models for campaigns (see here for one I’ve tried to develop).

There isn’t anything to conclude except to ask “am I making sense”? I probably not, but it makes me feel better to get that rant out of my system.

Related Posts:

• Just to balance out my previously slightly depressing post about tabletop gaming…
• Would Monster Hunter Tri work as a Tabletop Roleplaying game?
• Finally I might be able to start playing again!
• Fudge Passions v0.2 (a extension for the Fudge RPG system)
• Story Hooks v0.2 (a roleplaying system to replace backgrounds)

I saw a post on LJ (livejournal.com) from mytholder which made me think I should write up some of my thoughts on running gaming/roleplaying campaigns (or chronicles) as opposed to adventures.

I’ve just started, hopefully long-running, Nobilis campaign, I’ve started seriously thinking about how to handle campaigns. However I wouldn’t consider myself well versed in long campaigns. I’ve played a few that have lasted more than a few months (real-time) and I once ran a campaign that ran over two years. Still I can think about it.

My understanding is that people think of, or use, three different types of campaigns:

• Episodic Adventures: The campaign is made up of a series of distinct adventures.
• Rolling Adventures: Adventures and stories roll into the following adventures and stories. There is no apparent distinction between one and the next adventure.
• Extended Adventure: Or The Big Plot. There is one big adventure (though it can comprise smaller adventures).

However, I believe these categories are mostly artificial.

This of course does not mean they are useless though. Let me elaborate, all campaigns and adventures are made up of individual sessions. Players and GMs meet up for 3 or more hours, play and then go home. These are hard-limits unless your into mad 8 hour gaming sessions every week!

Sessions are “episodes” in themselves and all the tips and tricks you use for writing/designing adventures should fit into those single session even if the adventure you planned overflows into following sessions. A single session is a complete delimited experience for the players and should be treated like that. If an adventure doesn’t finish in one session, it flows over into the next and I treat this as a “new adventure”, as in I re-design whats left so that it becomes a complete experience again rather than just finishing it off.

When you start thinking long term about the nature of your campaign, then you should start thinking how to manage your story-arcs. No matter how you look at it, your campaign will be made up of several story-arcs. You may have a big plot or you plan to roll with your player characters, but in the end it’s all about story-arcs, either initiated by the GM or the players. The difference is the nature and mix of these story-arcs and this is what categorises your chronicle.

With Episodic Adventures, you have well-defined story arcs. That doesn’t mean they can’t be linked together or have a big encompassing plot. The GM is essentially stating that this point is a beginning of an adventure and that point is an end. Personally I favour this approach myself as it’s easier to plan. It also provides convenient points for character advancement and downtime.

With episodic style campaign, you can plan to have certain types of adventures in a rough order and figure out how they link together. This does not tie you down. You can always modify and change the implementation of future adventures depending on the players, their actions and the consequences of previous adventures. I guess the pace of the campaign (as opposed to the pacing of individual adventures and sessions) might seem a little forced but at least it’s under the GM’s remit. If it becomes stagnant, it’s easier to pull back and get the pacing moving again, just throw an different type of adventure at the players. It’s also easier to have breaks, stops and re-starts without losing the momentum of the campaign.

With Rolling Adventures the GM doesn’t delimit adventures but lets it flow naturally. In my mind you still have “adventures” though you may call them plots or individual story-arcs. The difference is that they run into each other and you probably have a few going on in parallel. With this type of campaign, I believe, you depend more on player characters actions to create new arcs or resolve existing ones. If you don’t have the type of player that generates story-arcs though… your campaign can run out of stream or worse have players overshadowed by others and become bored. I’ve seen both these cases happen a few times. Extended Adventure, in my mind, are just a variant of the Rolling Adventures format because it has one big story-arc normally full of lots of little story-arcs.

So I’m moving towards Episodic campaigns more and more. They are easier to plan out and handle. I believe you can create decent and involving big story-plots better with this approach. On a side-note, as a GM/writer I find it more fulfilling because I get to see complete “stories” without restricting the freedoms of players. I’ve started to put together a “model” for my campaigns, a kind of generic plan that can be modified for any game or idea. This makes it easier to design and write adventures when each has a specific purpose. Even if you do not delimit adventures, having planned story-arcs like this would be useful in managing the pacing of your campaign.

With my new current campaign, while I design/plan episodic-like adventures, they already have a tendency to run into each other as I’ve found that players start to drive things naturally forward onto the next adventure.

So I now introduce Cammy’s Model, as a work in progress:

1) The Introduction. The first adventure is a simple game to get the players use to the world, setting and your GM style. It shouldn’t last more than one session and if possible fit in the same session as character creation. It doesn’t have to be intense and it doesn’t have to introduce your entire setting/campaign.

2) The Setting. The next sequence of adventures should introduce all the elements that you as the GM want to include. I generally plan an adventure around each major element and introduce smaller elements along the way. The order is important too, particularly for combat. If combat is going to be part of your campaign, then you should have it early on, probably in the first adventure. Leaving it till the third or fourth adventure is saying that, while it is an element of the campaign, it will not be a common.

Having a sequence of adventures to introduce all the elements of the setting your interested in also allows the players to get to know what type of characters are needed. Most GM’s allow players to change their characters within the first few sessions. I’d recommend the end of this sequence as a good point to cut that option off. By now they know whats going to be in the game.

If you do have a big story-arc thats going to be the driving force of your campaign, you have to introduce it now, probably in the first of these adventures. You can be subtle and introduce it as minor elements such as have hints of some dark mystery or power and then go full force in 4) The Big Plot (see later).

3) The Players. The next sequence of adventures is about the players’ characters. Each adventure should focus on one character and try to introduce elements from the character. I find it’s useful to be quite open with the players about this, even ask them for plots and hooks. I haven’t met a player who did give me a plot yet but I still ask. It also prevents any sort of jealousy as players know that they’ll get their turn.

If you have the problem of players not getting into the setting, you might try mixing up 2) The Setting and 3) The Players. I’ve tired this with mixed results. While the players have fun, your setting suffers a little, it becomes a little… unreal. And the danger with that is can then crash. It becomes unrealistic or inconsistent to the players and that is death to the campaign (YMMV).

4) The Big Plot. Now is the time to mix things up. Change the pace before it becomes stale. When I talked about designing adventures in a previous article I had a concept which I called “Part Deux”. This is it, for campaigns. You want to introduce a big plot, something bigger than the players and their adventures so far. It could be the revelation of some power manipulating them in previous adventures, it could be the beginning of a great war which will lead in a battle to stop all battles. You should be trying to pull together various elements from previous adventures in this, in particular, elements introduce by the players. Perhaps the dark power kills one of the family of the player characters for example.

While I normally think about the big plot before I start a campaign, I don’t settle on anything until well into the campaign. I collect potential ideas as we play the previous adventures and start letting something form in my mind. I still drop hints here and there and see which ones the players pick up on. By settling too early, it might not gel with the players and their characters.

5) The Rest of the Campaign. Hopefully by this stage everything is running itself, it has a natural drive or pace. This is uncharted territory for me but I hope to explore this with my current campaign. I have a few ideas about what happens next so I guess you’ll probably see me revise this model in the future.

I would suggest, as you drive the big plot forward, you re-visit 3) The Players and 2) The Setting at various points, to see how things have changed because nothing should remain exactly the same. You can of course introduce new elements along the way. Sometimes you’ll need to pump the pace of the game and introduce another 4) The Big Plot or dramatically change your existing one.

6) Climax?. I haven’t worked this one out yet. The climax of any campaign is a (or the) pivotal point thats higher, for the players, then what has gone before. I’ve never been in a campaign that went to such a point though I have tried to do it in campaigns I’ve ran before with varying degrees of failure. Anyone any thoughts on this? Even after the climax of one big plot, you can always start the sequences again (though you should give the option for players to create new characters at this stage).

So thats the first version of my model. Hopefully I refine it and update it in the future. Perhaps I may even throw it out if experience shows me the errors of my thinking. I’m quite open with my players about what’s coming up. What this model does not cover is the idea and implementation of that idea for a campaign, character (both player and non-player) advancement, the impact of various systems and tools and various other little factors. I’ll leave those to you as it really is dependant on what you want from your campaign, the particular rpg and your group.

Right then, back to planning the next adventure of Nobilis: The Journey of the Fool!

Related Posts:

• Finally I might be able to start playing again!
• Fudge Passions v0.2 (a extension for the Fudge RPG system)
• Story Hooks v0.2 (a roleplaying system to replace backgrounds)
• Power-Driving in Roleplaying Campaigns (or why I hate Exalted even more)
• My first AJAX!

It is an Enchanted Device Generator for Ars Magica (4th Edition). It’s built using PHP and Sajax which is a free AJAX toolkit.

It’s been quite an enlightening experiment. The buzz and hype generated around AJAX is quite something, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I started with an idea, a simple script that takes in a few values and does some calculations and presents the result to the user. But, I wanted the user to be able to tweak the values and see the results immediately. That sounds like something AJAX is perfect for.

So the first thing I learnt as I started building the script and using Sajax was JavaScript. I used to avoid JavaScript like the plague. I know you can do some funky stuff but in my past experience, JavaScript slows down the user experience and can be very flaky across browsers. Still, what I learned was that I could have easily built my script using just JavaScript.

Yet AJAX would allow me to offload work from the browser to the server. Great, I thought, now I can do the calculations using PHP and just do all the text stuff using JavaScript. The snag I came across was that Sajax treated PHP as an intermediary interface. For example global variables defined in PHP were not accessible when a PHP function was called from JavaScript. Not alone that, only strings could be passed back from PHP. Rich types like arrays are not currently possible. I solved this by doing the calculations once, putting all the values in a string and then passing that string around when calling other PHP functions through Sajax.

It works now and I’m happy enough. One thing I noticed while I was working away, is that I started thinking about the script more as a User Interface than a webpage. I guess that’s what the hype is really about. All this Web 2.0 silliness. On the other hand, I found it hard to separate the HTML and CSS code and design from the JavaScript and PHP coding. If you look at the script, it’s very bare. I guess if you treat it like a UI, you’d do your “prototype” first and then add code.

Though I’ve come to love PHP, I have my reservations. While it’s a powerful feature to mix html and code, it always bugged me that you can write code that essentially modifies and generates code (in this case HTML, CSS and JavaScript). I guess I’m old fart but that use to be a no-no in the land of C and ASM (a land I know better than I want). It makes the code unreadable and un-maintainable. And I think often PHP is a little unreadable unless you have a syntax-aware editor or layout your code very well. I’m one of those ‘hardened programmers’ that prefer basic text editors over IDEs (though I’ve been softened lately by JEdit). Still the idea of using AJAX to create entire UI-like interfaces is a little scary. You really need to think about design of your code to make it maintainable. Still, I like the potential of AJAX and the possible applications on webpage. On the other hand for small ideas, I could just use some JavaScript.

Related Posts:

• Finally I might be able to start playing again!
• Fudge Passions v0.2 (a extension for the Fudge RPG system)
• Story Hooks v0.2 (a roleplaying system to replace backgrounds)
• Power-Driving in Roleplaying Campaigns (or why I hate Exalted even more)
• From Adventures to Campaigns… Cammy’s Model v0.1

This theme is a clear three column view with a useful toolbar on top. It has support for easy customisation (per category, author and whole site).

This theme is originally a conversion of my site when moving from a MovableType setup to WordPress. Because of that I added a lot of extra functionality into the theme but don’t worry, it’ll work out of the box on a new system without any plugins. (If your interested in the code, most of it is in “tdo-functions.php”).

This theme is for WordPress 1.5 or better. It has been successfully tested in WordPress 2.0. Download it.

It uses CSS to have two conceptual menus. The one on the left is the traditional WP sidebar. The one on the right is customised to the section being displayed (i.e. for category archives, pages, date archives, author archives, etc.).

It is entirely built up on the idea of categories represent sections of your site. In my old MT setup I used to split my page into several “blogs” with their own categories. Thanks to the wonder of WP’s proper implementation of subcategories, I can do away with that and treat my entire website as one site. So the top level categories represent major sections, thats why they are listed in the sidebar. If you browse to one of the sections, the sub categories are shown on the right side. You can of course browse to sub categories of sub categories etc. Category descriptions are used.

I’ve also verified that the theme works in IE, Opera and Mozilla but I haven’t tried it on other OSes besides Windows.

For an example of this in action, check this site (one of mine) and the ‘looks’ of the different subcategories: ‘Game’ pages on MOC.

Installing

You can download it from here. Once downloaded, extract the contents. You should have a directory called tdo with several files in it. Copy this directory and files to your wp-content/themes directory. You can then activate the theme from your admin panel.

Upgrading

If you are using an older version of the theme, first remove the functions.php as this will cause WordPress 2.0 to crash. Then just overwrite the old files with the new files.

Personalising

You can personalise in many ways without modifying the template files
themselves.

You can specify a different icon (IE’s favorites icon), stylesheet, banner image and background image for the whole theme or just specific categories and authors.

Sub categories will take on the properties of their parent category and single posts will take on a stylesheet of the parent category or author. I implemented this because on one of the sites I use, a category can represent a logical grouping including subcategories and individual posts. The author thing I just added because I could.

The order of preference is this:
1. Category
2. Author (if applicable)
3. Sitewide
4. Defaults

To do all this is quite simple. Just drop in a file in the the tdo directory with the correct name. They all start with the prefix “my”:

my"type"[(-cat|-author)"id"]."ext"

For example to specify a new stylesheet for the site, it would be:

mystyle.css

For a category with id 2:

mystyle-cat2.css

And for an author with id 4:

mystyle-author2.css

For the banner and background images for category with id 4 you would have:

mybanner-cat4.jpg and mybg-cat4.jpg

And to change the icon for the entire site you can use:

myicon.ico

Because I’m such a nice person, I’ve include a selection of alternative banners and background images which you can just rename to use. They are called tdo-banner-alt-"name".jpg and tdo-bg-alt-"name".jpg.

If I do any updates to this theme, you won’t have to modify your files, just overwrite the update theme files.

Extra Bits

Hmm. Well you have a “Logged In as ‘username’” in the header with quick links to register, login and logout. Additionally, the category path is printed here too.

On the main page, you’ll see that automagically on the right side, an extract from the latest post from each major category is shown. Additionally, the last five comments are listed too.

If you go a author’s archive you’ll see some details are displayed about the author (including the profile). If you’re logged in, you’ll see their full details including email. By default in WP you can’t really display this information without additional code.

The “path” is displayed at the top. The path is the category path and post. For posts that belong to more than one category, the first category found is used.

Hope you like it and if you do, you can drop me a line on my website. I’m not really vain, but I would appreciate it if you left the “Theme design by Mark Cunningham” in the footer (though you could rename it to “Original Theme desiged by Mark Cunningham”, that’d be okay).

History

10 February 2006: Version 1.3

* Fixed custom category stylesheet, banner and bg. It was broken by WP 2.0 but I hadn’t noticed. It’s possible that some of the other features are broken.

4 January 2006: Version 1.2

* Updated to WordPress 2.0
* Added screenshot

17 May 2005: Version 1.1

Some general fixes and updates.

* Comments and trackbacks were not displayed correctly. This is fixed.
* The banner image scrolled weirdly. This is now fixed.
* If a post had no title, the browse arrows and the link in the ‘latest’ column would not work. This is now fixed.
* The entry ‘path’ links work correctly for pages now.
* Updated to be compatible with WordPress 1.5.1

2 March 2005: Version 1.0

First version

Related Posts:

• A new look for thedeadone.net
• Contact Manager powered by TDO Mini Forms and a new bug fix release (v0.10.4)
• TheDeadOne.net 2006 Theme: The Roaring Void
• Organising my website/blog… need some feedback?
• Speaking of upgrading software

I only just noticed that WordPress 1.5.2 has been released. Took, oh, about 30 minutes to upgrade this site, that site and an other site.

Also, MediaWiki 1.4.12 was released last week. Took another 30 minutes to upgrade that site and that one of there.

’tis important to keep web software up to date otherwise you might end up getting hacked like the IrishGaming.com forums did today.

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• Some fun with Planet Irish Gaming
• Arg, how I hate Internet Explorer!
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• Check Item #2 and 4… about 6 more to go…

You wake up. But it is not your home. Not your house. Not your world. The people are strange. Odd. They don’t seem to care about anything. There are people going mad on the street and everyone watches as they kill themselves. And what the hell is it with that countdown?

If your looking for an RPG based on the cartoon ‘Reboot’ – this isn’t it!

Reboot is a Roleplaying Scenario. In includes characters, setting and plot and is designed for FUDGE (but includes rules to use it with the Storyteller/World of Darkness game rules).

You’ll need Adobe Acrobat to read the PDF file.

Warning! If you plan to be a player in this sceanrio it will seriousily ruin your enjoyment if you read it. I’d advise sending the link to your GM instead. You have been warned!

Download/Read Reboot RPG Sceanrio.

It is based on a once-off game I ran for the Murder of Crows roleplaying troupe so long ago. The site wasn’t around then so no write-ups were ever done!

It has been written for Warpcon 2003; an Irish convention run in Cork at the end of January 2003.

One of the players at Warpcon wrote up a Con Report and this is what he though of Reboot.

“…in the afternoon I signed up for Mark Cammy’s scenario Reboot. He’d been nervous about it because it was his first time writing a game for a con in seven or so years, and the first blurb printed by Warpcon for an early flyer gave away large chunks of the surprise which was integral to the scenario (fortunately none of the players had read it), but I figured it’d be good and made a point this time of getting on the writer’s table (although the other GM seemed to have done his homework and really liked the scenario and was enthusiastic about it, so that’s good). The scenario was really well put-together, and designed so you could use either the FUDGE or World of Darkness system (we used FUDGE because none of us had tried it before) and the scenario was great and a lot of fun. To say anything about it would spoil it, but go download it and play it, it’s great. Unfortunately one of the players sat down at the table and promptly went asleep, which was a bit freakin’ inconsiderate – but fortunately it didn’t matter.”

Related Posts:

• The FudgeList is dead, long live Fudge
• Fudge Passions v0.2 (a extension for the Fudge RPG system)
• Story Hooks v0.2 (a roleplaying system to replace backgrounds)
• Will that technically make me a published writer?
• A free roleplaying game: Lost Heroes is available online right now

I haven’t really done any new content for the site in ages.

This is due for the most part because I have been updating Murder of Crows Blog which is a collabroate webage for my regular PnP RPG troupe. Added lots of functionality and features like a random quote, search engine and email subscribtion for comments!

Unfortantly only one other member from the troupe is using it. This may change when we start roleplaying again (3 weeks without a game; I’m going slowly mad!) because theres no need for it at the moment. It’s nearly enough to make you cry. Well okay not really then.

Anyway… plan to do some writing (finish over Dreamer in Paris and start Big Brother) and drawing over the next week. You’ll just have to hang on!

Ah. The smell of the usual friday morning fry is wafting through my desk. Must eat greasy fattening food!

Related Posts:

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• Some of my thoughts on the Irish Scenario-Con question
• Getting at it, even my mind won’t leave me alone!
• Finally I might be able to start playing again!
• Fudge Passions v0.2 (a extension for the Fudge RPG system)