How To Get Started As A Philippine Gamer

So how does one even get started with the hobby in the Philippines?

Well, if you’ve found this blog, then you’re on the right track.  Roleplaying games area niche hobby here, perhaps moreso than in other countries, but it doesn’t mean that we’re a hopless case.  Thanks to the internet, getting stuff from overseas has been made a lot easier, and for those who don’t mind reading stuff off a computer screen, RPG pdfs are readily available for anyone who has a credit card.

So, let’s start with the basics:

1. Do your research – Maybe you’ve heard of a particular game, or the concept of the hobby in general interests you.  Take your time and do some research.  Check out company websites, and find out what kind of game you’d really like to enjoy.  There’s a whole spectrum of RPG games for a variety of genres from high fantasy, to pulp, to modern day espionage, to space opera and hard sci-fi.
2. PDF or Print? – This is mostly a personal preference thing.  Some people do better with reading physical books, and they enjoy the fact that they’re actually holding on to something for their purchase.  Others might prefer the pdfs for the ability to search, print out the pages that you really need, and making annotations on the pages.  For the Philippines, your best bet for getting a physical copy is Noble Knight Games.  I’ve yet to have a bad experience with these guys, and when they say that they’ll give you a Mint condition book, they mean it.  For PDF releases, check out DrivethruRPG, which has a large selection of games on pdf for a fraction of the price of a physical copy (and without having to deal with our lovely customs officials here.)
3. Need Dice? – Dice beyond d6′s are a little hard to come by here.  Thankfully some stores like Fortress Toys & Hobbies (in Virra Mall) stocks sets of Polyhedral Dice, as well as sets of d10′s.  Lately Neutral Grounds has also been stocking sets of Polyhedrals.
4. Find or Gather a Group – We Filipinos are a remarkably social people, so I don’t really think you’ll have that much trouble rustling up a few friends who are willing to try something new.  My own gaming group is composed of friends from college, who in turn pulled some people they knew together and we’ve been gaming with this core population for about seven years now.
5. Feel Free to Ask Around – I’m perfectly willing to answer any questions you might have about getting started with the hobby.  Several other gamers also hang out at the Tabletop Wars forums who will be happy to answer any questions.

Resources:

• Article on Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games on Wikipedia
• List of Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games by Genre on Wikipedia
• RPG.net is one of the largest communities of RPG gaming.  There’s a good chance that someone there can answer your questions about any specific game.
• Tabletop Wars is a local group of Philippine Boardgame, Strategy game and RPG enthusiasts.
• The RPGbloggers Network is a massive network of gaming blogs talking about anything from GMing advice to specific games to play styles and giving out free content.
• DrivethruRPG is one of the biggest rpg pdf bookstores out there.  Unburdened by issues of stock inventory, they’re a great place to look for pdfs of long out of print stuff.
• Noble Knight Games is perfect if you really must have a physical copy of a book and you can’t find it anywhere here.  A bit on the pricey side, but you get your money’s worth.

In addition to these resources several other GMs that I know of have willingly volunteered to run games for newbies.  You can get in contact with them through the following emails:

• Tobie: tobito_abad [-at-] yahoo.com
• Adrian: tybalt1701 [-at-] gmail.com
• Adam: ambrosetallis [-at-] yahoo.com

These guys are all Veteran GMs who have a lot of experience running all sorts of games.  Feel free to email them if you want to arrange for a sample game to try.

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While I was around at the right time for the heyday of early RPGs, I’d like to argue that today is even better.  The Philippines has (mostly) moved out of the book-burning close-minded society to one that celebrates subcultures.  Heck, the cosplay and anime scene here is staggering.  Various groups like the New Worlds Alliance are making it awesome to be a fan.

So many obstacles to being a Philippine Gamer no longer exist.  The internet has made it possible to get our stuff from publishers and retailers we would otherwise have been completely ignorant of just a decade ago.  I hope that this article helps get those guys who are on the fence about the hobby to give it a shot.  Check out the links, look for something that interests you, and give it a shot.

Shallow Characters? Just Add Depth

Once in a while I get a player whose character doesn’t really have much in terms of anything else beyond a concept.  No real notable history, no obvious hooks.  Just a concept like:  Grizzled Mercenary, or perhaps Carefree Treasure Hunter.

Is this a bad thing?  Well, no, not really.  If anything it gives you a blank canvas to work with.  Sure their motivations might seem a tad on the shallow side, like money or power, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t spin it off to something interesting.

One way to think of it is that for characters like these, this is your chance to build their connections in-game.  Don’t be a lazy GM.  Start putting together some memorable NPCs, the kind that really grow on your players.  I think videogames are a good source of inspiration in handling this.  In PC and console rpgs, your character is technically a blank slate most of the time.  The stories that begin to matter to you come from the experiences you go through “in-game.”

An excellent example of this would be Mass Effect.  The Protagonist, Commander Shepard is introduced in the game as a pretty generic guy.  Sure he might have a few prior achievements before the game starts, but it’s not really all that significant (yet.)  As the game progresses, your actions, words and achievements stack on top of each other, creating a greater whole.  By the time the game ends, Commander Shepard isn’t “just” a soldier anymore.

For something like this to work, your players have to trust you.  I’ve run a HERO game for a once-reluctant significant other, who resigned herself to making a shallow concept character just to get it done and over with.  She didn’t necessarily like the idea of a HERO game, but she gave me a chance and gave it a fair shake.  Thanks to that, we were able to grow the character, taking what was a shallow concept, and evolve it into a story where the character grew, and discovered more about herself, pushing beyond her initial concept and into one of her favorite characters in her gaming career.

If a player doesn’t have the trust, or motivation to go after any of the hooks, then it might be a good idea to talk to them and encourage them.  I’ve written up a post before about how Character Development Happens In-Game, and that’s something that perhaps everyone should recognize.

In the end, I believe that everyone who plays wants their characters to be memorable.  Even those who adhere to the Old School Gaming mentality remember certain characters fondly because of the things that they went through in game.  As GMs, it’s technically one of our many responsibilities to make sure that every character becomes memorable even when the campaign is over.

That One Game…

I firmly believe that everyone that has ever run a game, has secretly wanted to run but can’t seem to be able to.  Either the campaign falls on it’s face, or doesn’t have any zing to it, or it never really takes off the ground.   Maybe it’s too high concept, or perhaps the setting is so obscure that the GM can’t articulate his ideas properly… but it doesn’t stop him from thinking about it.

For me that one game is actually that one Genre:  Historical Settings

For years now I’ve dreamt of pulling off something awesome in a game set in history. 1930′s Shanghai China, The Warring States Era, World War 2, Victorian… all of these things set off my awesomeness alarm.

But for the love of god I can’t seem to run any of these.  I second guess myself, or I have this strange nagging feeling that I’m not doing something right.  My obsessive-compulsive desire for accuracy causes my inherent creativity to stall when I get to the point where I must improvise.

Something tells me that the root of this particular problem lies in my inability to forgive myself for being inaccurate in terms of the setting.  Fantasy settings and Sci-Fi are fine, Pulp and Modern Day games are a cakewalk, but once I know that there’s a correct answer to something, my brain doesn’t sit still until I’m absolutely certain that I’m right.

And so I admit it, Historical Settings is my Waterloo, and perhaps I’ll never really get to run a game of it unless I lock myself in a room and submerge myself in weeks of historical research.  Only then will I really be confident enough to risk it.

Any other GMs run into similar problems? Does anyone else have that one single game that confounds them?  Feel free to bring them up in the comments.

Tabletop RPG Pet Peeves

After years of running and playing tabletop RPGs, it’s inevitable that we run into things that we’ve seen over and over again to the point that we begin to tire of it.  It could be anything from a certain behavior, a stereotyped NPC, or even a character concept.  Of course since this is an opinion piece, there’s nothing that can be definitively stated as “wrong” in a universal fashion… so don’t flame me if I hit a nerve.

So, without further ado, here are a few of my personal pet peeves:

• A Team of Dysfunctional Individuals – If you’re all dysfunctional, why should we trust you to save the world?
• No family, no friends, no known history in Modern / Future settings – In a world of social networking and vastly improved modern medicine, this is usually hard to justify.
• Lone Wolves – Dude, even Wolverine has his fair share of friends and disturbingly under aged female sidekicks.
• “I’m a Player Character, I can be an asshole to NPCs if I want to” – Being an likeable asshole is an art. Some people can pull it off, most just come off as just an asshole.
• Dare to be stupid – Think before you act.  When I’m running a serious game with consequences (which I often do,) please think before you act.
• Insert [whining] here - Shit happens.  I like it when things flow smoothly in a story, but I prefer to adjudicate via simulation.  If you did something stupid (see above) and the consequences are grave.  Don’t whine about it.  You’re a big boy/girl now.
• “Huh?  Oh it’s my turn?” – If you can’t listen, don’t expect me to recap.  I’m not obligated to, and it’s a waste of time for me and other players.  Besides, it’s rude.
• Oh just keep going, I’m listening *taps away at keyboard* – Admittedly it’s the same as the one above, but a little more annoying.  I don’t like feeling like I’m talking to myself when the person I’m addressing is too busy fiddling with a PC or a cellphone than to even bother giving me eye contact.
• Passive-Aggressive behavior – If you don’t like what happened, tell me.  Don’t resort to passive-aggressive tactics to get under my skin.  It doesn’t solve the problem.

These are all things that I’ve experienced at one time or another as a GM or a player.  Right now I find that I’m having less patience to deal with some of these than before, probably due to the fact that I no longer have the same amount of free time to game.  Each gaming weekend is important to me, so I’d rather not be stressed when I’m participating in an activity that’s supposed to be relaxing.

How about you guys?  Are there any pet peeves that you guys harbor that I haven’t mentioned?  Feel free to add to the list by commenting to this post!

Lessons on Losing Gracefully

It’s a cliche to think of the statement of “Winning the battle, but losing the War” but it is a concept that I feel is worth repeating.  In a game where the GM is not coddling his players, but playing fairly, there will be times when the players disable an immediate, or obvious threat, only to miss out on the crucial clues that point out to a bigger picture, or an insidious second phase of a plan.

With that said, it becomes important for players to realize that it’s not entirely possible to forsee everything that a GM is planning.  Sometimes you have to take your lumps.  Sometimes the characters realize that the bad guys have managed to pull the rug from under them and leave them vulnerable.

This is the point where I see some players start to complain, fuss or rant.  They’re heroes after all, why should they have to suffer the indignity of defeat?  Heroes always win, right?

Not necessarily.  My job as a GM is to present a fair chance of success.  Your villains are flawed, their plans are well thought out, but by no means are they perfect.  But when they do manage to pull a successful plan, then I’m not obligated to bend over backwards to suddenly grant some miraculous win.

That would be a disservice to my players.  I expect them to rise to the occasion, and if they suddenly quit or throw a fuss, then it’s time to remind people that it’s a game.  There’s always a chance to enact vengeance, even if you’ve lost something dear to you.  Losses are a chance to further develop your character.

To take on a possibly vague videogame reference… Final Fantasy 3/6 was a phenomenal game where the characters lost.  It was in their inability to save the world that actually enriched the game, as they each had to find their own reasons to go and fight once more, even when it seemed impossible to defeat the monster their opponent had become.

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Never think of losing as some sort of mark against this strange sports/videogame metaphor of looking for a “Perfect” streak.  RPGs are not always about perfect streaks.  Most of the Old-School Gamers will testify that running away is a perfectly acceptable tactic, and that losing (and even dying) is part of the fun.

In the end though, I think it also falls on trust.  Trusting your GM is giving you a fair challenge goes a long way.  And by fair, I mean that it’s a situation where you can either fight, talk or flee from, depending on the specifics.  Going up against a five-story tall magma elemental for example, when all you have are swords and puny spells, might call for a situation that doesn’t involve hacking at it until it stops moving.  The GM isn’t there to pull a Total Party Kill, he’s waiting for you to think of another solution, one that might even surprise him.

Nobody likes a sore loser, and the same applies even in RPGs.