I hurt, beause I love…

Creepy title, I know.  Still, there’s a measure of truth to it with regards to being a GM.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from having run about nearly a dozen games for nearly twice as many different people, it’s that a great amount of fun in RPGs come from uncertainty.  Certainly players behave in a manner that is supposed to remove or minimize uncertainty, sometimes honing their characters to a keen edge where the fickle nature of dice can be minimized in their chosen fields… but ultimately, there’s a certain perverse thrill to rolling the dice and hoping you succeed.

As such, it falls squarely on the GMs shoulders to push that limit, to drive events and stories up to the point where players are just about to cry foul… but can’t because they know you’re going to be fair, that they’ve been given a chance to overcome this challenge.

Of course, I never forget to celebrate their successes.  Unlike the stereotypical 80’s cartoon villains, I like seeing my players succeed… but I want them to succeed fairly.  I might seem like a harsh GM, but each time they overcome what I throw at them, I applaud them because in some way, I am the audience of their achievements.  They can pat themselves on the back for a job well done, but I’m the guy who can tell them just how incredibly badass their achievements are, and confess to the ways that they’ve upturned my plans and expectations.

And so I admit it.  I level the most devious of traps, the most sadistic of situations and try to put my villains just that iota short of unbeatable because I know you guys can do it.  And when you do, I’ll be there to celebrate your victories right along with you, because that was one hell of a show.

[Mage: the Awakening] Working the Tempo

With Mage: the Awakening starting soon, I’m already working on my notes to remember just where we left off in the campaign, as well as what ongoing plots I had for the bad guys.

Given that the player characters have already hit a point where their abilities are no longer readily ignored, it’s only fitting for the Villains to have managed to grow up a little too, whether in terms of sheer Arcane (or other Supernatural) power, or through wordly influence.

Of course, villains aren’t the only thing running through my mind.  Like I’ve mentioned in other entries, I’m also concerned about the tempo of the game, where I try to balance mundane issues with the supernatural ones, hoping to strike a good balance between them.

Mages are people stuck between the Fallen and the Supernal realms, and I want the game to reflect that.  Therefore, I’m turning my focus back from the conflict for reality to the baser concerns of work, companionship, emotion and life in general.

I’ve got a few ideas running about in my head right now, involving their relationships with various mortals, the concerns of having to earn their keep, and life’s little dramas.  It should be interesting how the players adapt to some of this, given that I’ve not really be diligent about following up on this as I would have liked.  Maybe if I make a concentrated effort now, I’ll be able to use completely human situations to urge the characters to evaluate just what they would use their magic for… when tempted to “fix” normal situations.  It’s a victimless crime, after all… nobody has to know, and (usually) nobody has to get hurt.

—-

As the launch date draws near, I have to confess to feeling more than just a little nervous.  nMage is my longest running Campaign so far, and while it’s earned the respect of my players, and they’ve asked for it to be run time and again, I have to make sure I don’t grow slack, or lose my footing.

I want this campaign to work out, and I want it to be outstanding.

Part of this frenzied blog effort with the Mage: the Awakening tags are a reflection of this.  I put a lot of thought into the campaign… and I pray that it’s enough.

Roleplaying Games in the Philippines: 2009 edition

Roleplaying games have not necessarily had a very strong foothold in the minds of the Philippine public, and the very phrase RPG summons images of dimly lit computer rental shops and clicking away at MMORPGs to the sound of broken speakers and the scent of cigarette smoke.  Now, years after D&D brought about a resurgence of attention to the hobby, and ushered in a new wave of players… there has been a distinct lack of follow through.

Retail

I’m sorry to say that finding any form of reliable source for books is almost impossible.  D&D 4e has finally surfaced in the local distributor of Magic: the Gathering, but I don’t recall seeing any form of marketing effort to push the game beyond the launch.  Add the fact that the store only sells D20’s but not the Polyhedral sets of dice shows a distinct lack of interest in actually getting new gamers to try it.  I think I saw the 4e dice set there once, but I don’t recall seeing more than a single box in all the stores I’ve been to.

That said, there’s a growing interest in board games, and that’s not too far away from RPGs.  As people become more open to such hobbies, RPGs may yet find their niche again.

Internet Presence

The situation is intriguing.  Tiny pockets of RPG enthusiasts play games with their own small circle of friends, but never really reaching out to find others who share their hobby.  Those that do, have found solace in the internet, going to places like RPG.net, or ENWorld, where they can participate and share their enthusiasm with others that understood it.

I am one of those.

When I started this blog, it was on a whim.  Much like the SETI project, I began blogging without a certain audience, broadcasting into space, wondering if I’d actually find my words read by those who shared not only my hobbies, but those of my nationality.  I had hoped to share my ideas, my words and my discoveries for everyone.

I’m proud to say that my efforts have not been in vain.  Several people have contacted me via email or the comments, whether just to share ideas, or to meet up and talk shop, or join my gaming group for a few sessions.  These are all welcome events, and gives me hope in seeing that even with the poor retail situation, people are doing what they can to get their books.

—

With the state of RPGs in the Philippines, it’s easy enough to get disheartened.  However, the prevalence of more affordable PDF products, the increased presence of gaming communities over the internet are good signs for a third world country.

Managing Player Count

With the Mage: the Awakening campaign coming up soon, I’m looking at a return of 4 of my previous players (with an additional one unconfirmed.)  I’ve also got five other players who want to join the mage campaign as well.  This is turning into quite a situation for me as I can handle a group of six at most.

While knowing that there are people who want to play the game warms my heart, I worry about the sheer number.  Turning down players in a game is never really easy, especially since they’re all good friends.  At the same time, I’m aware that if I do somehow force myself to run a game for all of them, quality will go down, and nobody will have enough time to play.

We’ve tried to address this issue by having 2 GMs run every week.  That has sort of helped, but when player preferences for a game lean heavily to one, we usually end up with problems like these.

Have your groups had this kind of problem before with regards to player : GM ratios?  How did you guys manage the large number of players aside from multiple GMs?

Outwitting the Competition

One of the fun parts of being a GM is being outnumbered.  Let’s face it, sure you have a whole load of mooks, any sort of monster you could come up with, and can stack the odds in your favor every time… but in the end, you’re a single man versus a team.

I find this sort of thing amusing. There’s a certain kind of fun in GMing when you don’t cheat and stack things too far in your favor and play exactly by the rules.  When you’re facing a group of two or more people, each with their own special skills and way of thinking, you’re bound to run into situations where they’ve come up with something that you’re totally not prepared for, or haven’t considered.

It’s these moments when you’re up against your players that your mettle as a GM gets tested in terms of mechanics.  It’s not easy to adapt and create things that can and will give your players a challenge.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most mechanically adept individuals in the entire group.  I know the rules, certainly, and I can build characters, but optimizing them to razor sharpness is something my players do, but I haven’t been able to pull off satisfactorily.

I suppose I occupy a curious situation in that I don’t have to worry too hard about killing player characters, since my opponents while not being pushovers, are hardly overwhelming in terms of power.

That said, there’s always room for improvement, isn’t there?  And so with the upcoming Mage: the Awakening Campaign I’m set to run, I’ll see if I can worm in a few hours where I can build some truly atrocious opponents that will leave even my most mechanically able players on their toes, if not on the ropes.

Of course, this being Mage, it also means that I have to start thinking in very creative ways, as Mages generally break the rules of fair play with every spell they cast.  Now imagine having two mages up against each other then?  Fun times for everyone.

So, to the GMs out there, what methods do you guys use to make sure that you get to outdo or keep up with your players from time to time?  Do you guys ever run into the same situation as I do?

[Learning] Mutants & Masterminds – Character Creation and Power Design Question

So far, my attempts to build a character in M&M have been sort of going smoothly, with a couple of hitches.  While I’m no stranger to d20, I can’t help but feel just a little bit lost as to what would constitute decent values for a PL10 game.  As such, I feel that I’m sort of groping around in the dark for now.

I figure a couple of the M&M veterans in the community will be better able to tell me just what an “Average” stat is like when it comes to powers (like Blast… how many Ranks is a decent Blast?  How much is too little?)

That said, I’ve been trying to work my way through building my girlfriend’s old HERO character, Vogue.

[Learning] Mutants & Masterminds, Second Edition

Part of the fun in being an RPG enthusiast is checking out new games, and learning from them.  Whether it’s a clever new resolution system, an interesting approach to character creation, or means to emulate a given genre, I’ve always liked being able to read up and learn from new games whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Admittedly now that I’m in the working world, I don’t really have as much time to dedicate to reading RPG books as I used to in my school days, but perhaps a more rigid reading discipline, and some note-taking will be of help.  Today, I’m going to start off on learning Mutants & Masterminds, Second Edition by Green Ronin.

(continued after the jump)

[HERO System 5th Edition] Flexibility Test: The Naked Tornado!

Since we’re getting some interest in the HERO system as of late, let’s give a small example of  HERO character generation, and exactly why people say that you can actually build “anything” with the system if you try.

See, that’s a bold claim to make of any system, and to be fair, HERO’s done a pretty good job at being able to keep up with it.  The system is fairly complex for character creation, and while there’s simple math going on, I can understand why it may be intimidating to the regular RPG player.

So just to run the system through the ropes, let’s go ahead and see if we can build a character out of an oddball concept.  For this entry, I’m using a character built by a college buddy of mine, the bizzare Luchador inspired Naked Tornado!

The Naked Tornado is the name of the legendary crime-fighting luchador, who wears a vivid red mask with a “T” on his forehead… and wearing nothing else.  He had a body of a greek god, but seeing as he was a wholesome hero out to do good for the world, his naughty bits are perpetually concealed by a magical, black, rectangular censor bar that follows him on it’s own accord.

The Naked Tornado is not simply an exemplary Luchador capable of the high-flying maneuvers of the fighting art, but he is also capable of weilding his censor bar to a variety of effects.  These include blinding a foe by hurling his censor bar to wrap about the person’s eyes (all while the comic panel displays the Naked Tornado only from the waist up,) as well as being able to wield the censor bar as a heavy melee weapon or in a variety of attacks.

Now to the character sheet (with comments for each one):

[Campaign Idea] Power Metal Fantasy!

Alright.  So all of this planning for Mage is already shaping up nicely, so I figure I might as well talk about something different today.  I’ve realized that a lot of my campaigns are pretty heavy on the Philosophy and morals, tales that make you question what you’d do if you were put into (thankfully, improbable) situations that can change your life forever.

I like what I do, and how I pull it off.  But sometimes, you just need to chuck all of that out the window and game like there’s no tomorrow…. and so I figured I’d build this campaign idea that I could run sometime.

—

Death Dealer by Frank Frazetta

Power Metal Fantasy is a non-apologetic game of Heavy Metal-Inspired Swords & Sorcery.  Imagine all of the cheesiest Heavy Metal Album covers you’ve ever seen, with lava, chrome, steel, spike, skeletons, demons and scantily clad chicks.  That’s that image we’re going for.

Take Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian, and Korgoth of Barbaria brand of Sword & Sorcery and slap on Dragonforce, Nightwish and Lordi and you’ll get an idea of just what kind of fantasy setting we’re looking at here.

Setting Conceits:

• Strength is Paramount – Strength in all its forms are what determines the heroes from the commoners.  If you’re not capable of defending what you have, then you never deserved to have it to begin with.
• Armor is a Stylistic Choice – Chainmail Bikinis and Loincloths are perfectly okay, since armor (or the lack thereof) does not influence your level of protection.  In mechanical terms, the system must be able to divorce a defense value from the armor that you’re wearing.
• Rare, but Powerful Magic - Swords & Sorcery magic is often laborious, fraught with danger, and only belongs to the bad guys.  Occasional heroes might have magic, but it’s never a trivial thing as it is with High Fantasy.  Necromancy, Infernalism, Enchantments and Illusions tends to be the forms that magic takes.
• Hordes of Mooks - The average guardsman, bar brawler, soldier are pathetic mewling weaklings compared to the heroes.  They’re hardly even opponents… they’re scenery.
• Gods and Monsters – Actually, gods are monsters.  The ones that actually manifest are often of the demonic variety, or the type that H.P. Lovecraft loves to write about.
• The Undead – No alternate character races in this campaign setting… everyone’s human.  However the bad guys get to play with this little tweak.  Liches, Mummies and Zombies are practically a staple.
• Greatest “X” in the Known World - Niche protection never had it better.  If a given character is said to be the best archer, then by Crom, he’s able to shoot a d*ck off a fly at fifty paces!
• R-Rated – Violence, Sex, Gore and Cruelty are to be expected…
• Maybe its the Far Future! - Maybe.

Now, I understand that this could be pretty much any sort of Sword and Sorcery setting, but where does the Metal come in?  Well, it’s hard to put into words, but it all stems from the tone of the game and the inspirations used.  I suspect I’ll have to end up changing my narrative tone to something more… heavy-metal-ish, and sprinkle a few references to Metal groups, songs, and albums all over just to make things interesting.

Influences:

Aside from the ones mentioned earlier here are a few good examples of stuff that would help inspire this:

• Hokuto no Ken / Fist of the North Star
• Berserk
• Bastard!! Heavy Metal Dark Fantasy
• Legend by David Gemmel

System Recommendation:

HERO, definitely.  I’m certain other games can do this, but for the purposes of mangling a setting from nothing, I like building things from the ground up.  If I need a demon, then I just build one.  If I need a dragon, that shouldn’t be too difficult.  A slavering Ape-God from a lost civilization?  Easy.  A Chrome Spaceship that fires lasers upon the frightened populace?  That too.

I’d have to put a little more elbow grease if I’m serious about actually building characters for this, but I’m confident I’ll be able.  Epic stories, a healthy dose of ass kicking, drinking and whoring, stealing into temples, profaning gods… all in good fun and in the spirit of Metal.

*Throws up the horns*

Rock on!

—-

Also, I’m very open to suggestions for this one.  If anyone’s got any ideas, I’d be very glad to hear them!

[Mage: the Awakening] Boston Unveiled, Part 4: Albedo

With less than 2 weeks to go to plan for Mage, I’m moving on to exploring the themes for this coming cycle of games.  Like I mentioned before, the characters are on the cusp of abandoning their old lives, redefining their relationships with the old, established realities and stripping away what is no longer “important” to them.

Much like Alchemy.

In Alchemy, the Magnum Opus, or “Great Work” refers to the successful transmutation of base matter into gold, or the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone.  The stages of this process are:

• Nigredo – Blackening, dissolution and putrefaction.
• Albedo – Whitening, purification and the burnout of impurities
• Citrinitas – Yellowing, enlightenment
• Rubedo – Reddening, unity between man and God, of the limited to the unlimited

Season 4 focuses on Albedo, the stage of purification.  This story arc takes a closer look at the characters, and will ask the hard questions.  Just how much are they willing to give up?  And how much will they have to lose to follow the path of enlightenment?

Will they stop when the pain begins?  Or will they have the fortitude and willpower to forge ahead through the flames?

—-

I’m sure I don’t really need to repeat myself to my players when I say that I don’t have any kid gloves on for this campaign.  The situations and events will be painful for your characters, as you’ve hit the second stage of your journey.  I don’t mean pain as combat either… though that will still be part of the equation.

I’m looking forward to this stage, because I want to see how the characters evolve, moving further and further towards their idealized future.  Already Yuuko and Gil have tacked on an end goal… the culmination of all their pain and effort.  I’m curious to see what Guile Chambers, Jack MacClaine and Rock Johnson have to add to this equation.

—

Call for Player Feedback:

More importantly however, is the call for player feedback.  I’m inviting all the players to please post their expectations and requests on this thread so I have them on record.  This includes any new players joining the game as well.  I promise to read and comment on each of them to affirm or negotiate accordingly.