I...still...function....

I sure know the feeling Megatron

It has been a long time since I have dusted off the blog. It has been missing my love, and while I hope to post more regularly (as I always say), I won't make any bold statements for the moment.

However I am still here and playing games. Here is a quick snapshot. 

I am playing:

• Mountains of Madness with Dale and our regular Thursday night Cthulhu group. It's going really well, and I am enjoying playing the supercilluous, creepy, seed-eating Professor Hoyle. We've game has just stepped up with our first big discovery, so we'll see how long he lasts in his quest for academic glory. Mountains is one of those legendary Cthulhu campaigns, so I'm very stoked to be finally playing it.
• Descent with Vom-Krieg and the Monday guys is about to reach the climax of the Road to Legend campaign. It has been a long and epic 6 months so far, with lots of ups and downs along the way. I'm looking forward to the final battle in what is sure to be a titanic clash. You can read more about our exploits here.
• Warmachine! Not strictly an RPG (though I could argue the point), but it has certainly captured my attention of late, mostly due to Vom-Krieg laying his mind eggs in my skull. I'm actually really enjoying both playing and painting in a way I didn't expect to, and while I plan to try and keep this blog focused on RPGs, it may feature from time to time.

I am running:

• My 4E D&D campaign is still going slowly but strongly, despite our cleric skipping town for a while. I am enjoying running it, especially when we can get a bit of momentum behind it. I will admit it has suffered a bit from irregular play and scheduling problems, but that is mainly on me. Tomorrow night will feature a big boss fight, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they respond when I throw something a little more at them.

That's all for now. I hope to start running some more games in the future, and perhaps I can convince the Monday night guys to playing something once the dust around Descent has settled.

Retro-cover Wednesday: Clanbook: Tremere (Vampire: The Masquerade)

Just a quick update today thanks to a busy week at work, but given these posts are all about retro-covers, I thought that it was about time to break out some Vampire: The Masquerade.

As I've mentioned previously, White Wolf's Storyteller series was the big game in the mid and late nineties, which coincided with my roleplaying youth. Although Vampire wasn't my favourite of the series, it was the most popular and the one which defines the series from the very start. That's not to say I didn't like it, as I certainly did, and played it a lot in both the tabletop and live action form.

The clanbook series established the format of producing a splatbook for the different factions in the various different games. They were short (about 30-40 pages) and comparatively cheap, but as they were written by different authors, the quality was variable.

Clanbook: Tremere is an interesting example, as it was one of the better ones in my opinion. I mean, who wouldn't want to play a blood magic wielding vampire warlock? I haven't read it in years, but I remember it containing good information on Thaumaturgy and the byzantine organisation of the Tremere clan. It was certainly one of the best clanbook to build of cohesive vision of a clan, as opposed to a collection of stereotypes (looking at you, Clanbook: Brujah)

Part of its quality is due to the fact it was written by Keith 'Doc' Herber of Call of Cthulhu fame. Herber makes some less than subtle nods to this, including the Servants of the Worm, who own the Necronomicon and worship Cthulhu. In fact, it is Herber who does much in this work to build the tightly woven conspiracy that lies at the heart of clan Tremere.

Do the rest of you remember the original clanbooks? Do you have a favourite?

Rogue Trader - The Bull and the Wasp

Below is a little novelisation of an epic combat from Rogue Trader last night:

The Bull and the Wasp

The battle raged on and around the alien temple. On the top of the temple The Elder desperately tried to complete their eldritch ritual to shift the sacred structure to another plane, while the competing Rogue Traders below were equally determined to prevent this happening.

With his head still swimming from the strange xeno’s blast of psychic energy, Maarn leap to his feet and charged the Elder Warlock, who had descended to hold off the avaricious humans. Screaming his primitive cry of battle, Maarn unsheathed his great sword from over his shoulder and swung at his eldarian enemy.

The graceful alien psyker easily stepped aside the raging human’s clumsy strike. The runes on the Elder’s witchblade glowed with blue energy, and with preternatural grace and speed he struck a blow on Maarn’s head, slicing deep and opening a gushing scalp wound.

Maarn stumbled backwards with blood rushing down his face and into his eyes and mouth. Knowing he could not match the Elder in speed, he took advantage of a momentary lapse in concentration by his arcane foe as Andreas and Ezekiel joined the fray. Stepping forward, Maarn focused his rage and rammed his skull into the arcane and rune encrusted helmet of the xeno.

The Warlock was caught off guard and fell to the ground with his helmet cracking. Pushing his advantage, Maarn drove his sword into the Elder’s stomach, slicing through its exotic and forbidden armour. The Elder barely filched as the sword drove through it and into the ground below, though all those nearby felt the energy present.

Maarn, his head wound still gushing, and the Warlock stared at each other with icy hate, each tensing for their next move. As the Warlock prepared for its strike, a series of explosions from the top of the temple broke the tension of the moment. As the Elder started to teleport away, Maarn howled in outrage as his foe at his feet sneered at him and dematerialised before his eyes.

Retro-cover Wednesday: Twilight 2000 (Twilight 2000)

In a blaze of 1980's glory comes Twilight 2000! You better watch out Warsaw Pact loving Soviets.

Twilight 2000 was never a game I owned, or even played, but is one I have always found interesting. The game is set in the murky world of the aftermath of World War 3, in which the characters are members of military units who find themselves stranded in Central Europe. They must then decide what lives to make for themselves, whether that be trying to make the long journey home, keep fighting the war, becoming a mercenary or simply surviving.

The game took as its inspiration the cold war paranoia that dominated the 1970-80 which dominated much of the media of the time. The game paid close attention to detail, with limited supplies meaning that every bullet, litre of fuel or ration pack was important. Why this doesn't necessarily sound fun, it certainly makes player choice really important, and this finds expression in the modern day post-Apocalyptic vibe found in games like the Fallout series or TV shows like The Walking Dead.

Part of the interest for me in this game is that it really feels like a historical artefact, unlike many roleplaying games who are set in a less specific place in time. Only being nine or so when the Soviet Union split up, the world described in this game is very different to the one I grew up with in the 1990s. Although efforts were made to revise the game during its lifetime, these never quite compared to the original.

Ironically, an updated version of Twilight 2000 set in the hypothetical now makes a lot more sense. The Middle East after a limited nuclear exchange between Israel and Iran is a viable setting for a game with a similar aesthetic. Throw in the Caucuses and the Central Asian Republics, and combine it with Predator Drones and IEDs, and you could have a pretty compelling narrative.

The cover above comes from the second edition of the rule book from 1990. It betrays its vintage with the gratuitous use of headbands and some fierce mullets. It also reminds me a lot of a military colouring book I had when I was a kid, and those Osprey military books.

The original Twilight 2000 has been reprinted and is available in PDF. I haven't picked it up yet, but it's a game I would really like to play or run at least once is some form, if only to scratch a long held itch.

Back from a long weekend away

I am back in Wellington after a long weekend away up in Auckland with the in-laws. It was really nice, but I'm feeling pretty wiped. I feel like I may be coming down with a cold as well, so it will be an early night for me.

However a nice surprise was that my copy of the RPG Umläut: Game of Metal was in the letterbox waiting for me when I got home. Umläut was one of the games I spotted in the Games on Demand room at Kapcon earlier in the year. It is a GM-less game where each player creates and plays a heavy metal band seeking fame and fortune. Given the fondness I and my fellow ex-Hamiltonian friends have for heavy metal (being of good bogan stock), I knew this would be a good choice.

I can't say much yet, but I understand it operates in a similar style to Piledrivers and Powerbombs where there are set pre-gig, gig and post-gig scenes in which the different bands try and gain more points than each other. Conflict resolution is done using playing cards, which makes it quick and effective.

I'll read it through and round up the lads for a few games before I post on it next, but in the mean time I'll leave you with this handy metal chronology to prepare you.

Retro-cover Wednesday: Maximum Metal (Cyberpunk 2020)

It's time to introduce a new regular feature for the blog, called Retro-cover Wednesdays. Basically I plan to once a week post an old cover from my roleplaying past, along with a few musings that it inspires. Hopefully it'll be entertaining for all and keep my content at least a little more regular.

So the first cover I wanted to write about was from an old Cyberpunk 2020 supplement called Maximum Metal: High-Powered Ordinance for Cyberpunk 2020. As I've mentioned before, Cyberpunk 2020 was my first roleplaying game, so unlike many of you who were calculating THACO and figuring out the damage of a magic missle as a young kid, I was working out the SP of Kevlar skinweave against a Baretta 9mm. I need to write a longer post about this game that I love, but suffice to say these days it really hits those nostalgia buttons for me.

Maximum Metal dates from 1993 and has rules and stats for military vehicles and weapons. The material in this book runs the gambit from the realtively mundane (motorbikes, trucks and tanks) to the more exotic (battle zeppelins and powered armour). While the weapons and vehicles discussed are high powered, they are well supported with some pretty sound rules, and GMs are provided with a heavy caveat that this material is not to be used lightly. 

While Maximum Metal has attracted some criticism for going away from the gritty, urban setting of the source material, there was always a slight thrill if during a game our GM picked it up and started looking through it, as it was a signal to us that sh*t was about to get real. The powered armour seemed particularly cool to us as a bunch of 14 and 15 year olds, though in hindsight the cheese does seem pretty evident.

If I were ever to run a Cyberpunk game again (which is, sadly, highly unlikely), I would keep Maximum Metal in my GM's arsenal. Perhaps it would never seen the light of day in the game, but, like any other deterrent, it would be a good thing to have on hand for unwise player decisions.

Kapcon 2012 (Part One)

Another mad, enjoyable Kapcon weekend has been and, as usual, I had a great time. This year's Kapcon had both some high and low points for me, but plenty of kudos has to go to the organisers for what is most certainly one of the highlights of my gaming year.

What I love about Kapcon is that is a chance to catch up with other gamers from across Wellington and indeed New Zealand. The awesome games on offer are just the icing on the cake.

Below are some quick summaries of what I got up to:

Round one: Games on Demand - Fiasco

This year I opted for Games of Demand (GoD) in round one, as I was keen on a number of the games being offered by the talented pool of GMs. After my hopes of playing Microscope were dashed (for the first time) by a fan push for Monsterhearts, I joined Fiasco being facilitated Jenni Dowsett. I had been hanging out to play Fiasco for a long time, but despite even having a copy of the rules, I had never managed to play a game or 'get' the game conceptually, so this was a golden opportunity.

The six of us sat down and Jenni ran us through a few options for playsets. After tossing some ideas around, we settled on a Harry Potter themed playset. I was a little wary at first, as I have only seen a few of the movies and am by no means a Potterfile, but I needn't have worried as it turned out. I had a great time playing Fiasco and Jenni really facilitated the game well.

Running through the process of establishing connections between characters was painless and we quickly got the hang of building up our cast. I ended up playing Larry Potter, one of Harry Potter's and Hermione's identical triplets (along with Albus and Barry). Larry was the bookish and slightly awkward triplet, who was convinced Hogwart's houses were a bad idea. This resulted in his membership of a secret society (which of course everyone knew about) called the Hatless Few that was dedicated to ending the tyranny of the sorting hat.

Needless to say much laughter and drama ensued. All of the players brought plenty of inspiration and characterisation to the game, and I really liked the way the game supported a lot of improv style collaboration. Against my best expectations (and efforts) old Larry actually ended up as the most successful of the Potter twins, which goes to show that the bookish, misguided geek sometimes end up on top.

Round two: Sundown (Call of Cthulhu)

Despite regularly playing with Dale, I missed out on both his playtest of Sundown and his run through at Fright Night, so I was pleased to be able to give it a shot at Kapcon. Sundown is an old west themed scenario for Call of Cthulhu, and tells the story of a posse who go out to find justice, only to find they are the ones being hunted.

I played Hal Dascher, a dapper confidence man and thief who joined the posse to further ingratiate himself with the the good folks of Tombstone. Although scheduled to play with a full complement of eight characters, we only had seven players turn up. This meant my character's 'wife' was left behind, which was find as it allowed be to play Hal a bit faster and looser.

I won't ruin things by saying what happened in the story, but will instead urge you to go and download it, as Dale has kindly made it available for free download. Suffice to say, it was a really strong game, and one of the high points of the con for me.

The scenario did a great job of portraying an authentic western setting and providing a compelling and engaging plot. We also had a very strong cast of players who really brought their characters to life, all of which helped make it a thoroughly enjoyable session.

Round three: The Bloodstones of Dungeon World (Dungeon World)

After pizza it was time for some Dungeon World, an Apocalypse World hack that takes Vincent Baker's system and applies the tropes of D&D to it. I had been intrigued to try this for a while, and used this session for my GM pick, so I had some high expectations.

Our brave party, including my Paladin Regulus, were on a quest to stop the evil wizard Grundward from using the Blooodstone to summon and evil demon to destroy the world. Unfortunately this involved storming into the Bloodstone fortress and overcoming all manner of opponents, including lizardmen, goblins, ghosts as well as giant fireflies. There were some pretty cool scenes in the game, like our Fighter's stealth mission behind enemy lines with back up from Regulus, and our two thieves trying to escape from some angry fireflies.

In the end we came across Grundward himself (or perhaps it was the other way around) with the demon he had summoned. After a pretty epic battle, we managed to dispatch Grunward, but fell to the demon's whips, despite getting him down to only one hit point.

Although Russell ran a solid, enjoyable game, he seemed pretty tired, and I don't quite feel I got the full Dungeon World experience. The game certainly had a nice, retro feel to it, and a liked the way the different 'moves' have been created to give each class its own unique role. I plan to give it another go soon, as the buzz about it is pretty good, and I would like to see more of how the game plays. I'll probably pick up a copy to play with my regular Monday night group and see what they make of it.

By the time round three finished, I was feeling pretty wiped. I ended up hanging out with some of my regular Cthuhlu crew in GoD room, as most of us weren't involved with the LARP. After thinking about joining in the round 3.5 fun, we decided to call it a night and get some dinner and have a few drinks. A full belly of Japanese food and some beer and sake later, we headed home to get some sleep before day two.

Kapcon commeth. Am I ready?

Returing to the blog here after a long, relaxing summer makes me feel a little like a deadbeat dad who hasen't spent much time recently with their kid. There is no doubt I have been a little neglectful over summer and the end of 2011, though some of the reasons were outside of my control.

So the best way to get back into the habit of something is to start, so before I write up some retrospective/prospective posts about my gaming, I thought I would mention that it is Kapcon this coming weekend, the big Wellington roleplaying event that I have written about in the past.

While I'm looking forward to Kapcon, I have to admit this year I have really struggled to get excited about it or get motivated to run something. I'm not sure if the gloss of past years has worn off slightly, or if it is just an extended hangover from last year's busy year of work, but my buzz certainly hasn't come as easy as in the past.

In the end I've settled on running 'The Wishing Well', which is a heavily modified Advanced Fighting Fantasy (AFF) 2nd edition adventure. I picked up AFF 2nd ed. in December and have really enjoyed the simple ruleset and flexibility of the system, which sits in contrast to my recent experience of running D&D 4E.

There is also the very obvious nostalgia kick which is part of the game. Many roleplayers like myself first picked up their dice to play fantastic adventures in the world of Allansia. The game retains that old school feel and innocence, along with that slightly odd British sensibility that American fantasy games lack.

The adventure itself is simple but solid, and should provide some good fun in the Sunday morning hangover session. However, in deference to full transparency, it hasn't coalesced into a single organic whole yet, which is a fancy way of saying I haven't finished writing it. However since I am using pre-generated characters and modifying an existing story (albeit modifying it increasingly so the more I think about it), it shouldn't prove a problem.

I have become quietly excited about AFF 2nd ed. and while it is far from a perfect system, I think it has the potential as a 'go to game' for some light fantasy fun. I think it even has enough depth for a short campaign, though my kapcon experience will be enlightening about how much I enjoy running it.

Reading up on AFF 2nd ed. also lead me to Matthew Finch's 'A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming', which was an enjoyable short read on the mindset behing 'old school' gaming. While it's not about to make me run off and start playing original D&D and grow a beard, I did enjoy its thoughts on 'ruling not rules' for example. I would recommend it as a short read.

Stay tuned for more of my 2012 gaming plans and a review of my Kapcon 2012 experience.