RPG A Day 2020: Day 15--Frame

 RPG A Day 2020: Day 15—Frame

We’re suddenly just about at the half-way point for this year’s RPG A Day experiment. ‘Frame’ is another tough prompt for me to come up with anything of alleged import to say. When I give prompts to students—prompts will usually be more than one word BTW a topic that’s too open and you never know what you’re gonna get, but in most cases it’ll be a lot of blank stares—I usually tell a struggler to use the dictionary or thesaurus to look up other words and meanings that might inspire them to come up with something more than a blank page. I did this for ‘frame’ and found one of the definitions for the word when used as a verb: “to shape or adapt to a particular purpose: to frame a reading list for ninth graders…” I’m going to run with that and frame a short list of RPGs that I think are appropriate for beginners:

1. Pathfinder Beginners Box—I haven’t messed around with 2E if there is a BB for it yet, I don’t know. I really like the 1E one because it essentially offers up all one needs to know in one easy to use box with a map and paper-minis. It is rule light in a sense, but you could play this BB and shift over to just about any other D20 system. It also has those props and visually stimulating character sheets and artwork that really helps you to “sell” the hobby.

2. Index Card Roleplaying Game—mentioned it already this go, but I think it’s good because it’s self-contained and it strips down RPGs—primarily D&D 5E— to it’s most essential and intuitive form. I actually like ICRPG best of all in some ways but the PF:BB gives you props whereas ICRPG has you create your own…which can also be fun, but we don’t want to overwhelm anyone just starting out.

Any of the Runehammer Games are good to go for beginners. If you want some cyberpunk style action try ‘Altered State’ which I haven’t been able to play yet, but which I have read through. It is so much easier than Cyberpunk:2020, but I envision putting the CP:2020 lore—along with upcoming RED and CP:2077—in the background but using these AS mechanics.

3. Faery's Tale Deluxe—another good one, particularly for kids just starting out. The suggested age range begins at 6. The subject matter is more kid friendly fantasy, but I think there are quite a few adults that like it too.

4. Ryuutama—I’m an early Western convert to this Japanese TTRPG and never miss a chance for proselytizing. This game is about traveling and is often described as Myazaki meets The Oregon Trail. The subject matter is definitely kid and beginner friendly and even comes with built-in mechanics for a GM controlled character that sticks with and helps the PCs and some simple town and world building elements that PCs can join in with. The combat system is very much simplified like an old NES JRPG, but the magic system can be deceptively complex for a kid or beginner as magic tends to be in all systems.

5. Dungeons and Dragons 5E Starter/Essential Set—The starter set for 5th isn’t bad at all for beginners, comes with a dice set, and one of the best starting adventures. It’s bare bones when it comes to other swag though. The PF:BB gave more bells and whistles. I understand the essential set is a little better, but also costs a little more. I don’t think you could go wrong with either. I would say one of the better ones for beginner adults. It’s not necessarily little kid friendly and yes, the magic system is out there at times, but kind of fun altering and figuring out. It probably won’t be too long before 6th edition starts being heard of in the distance, but worth leaning the 5E way and lore behind it because it’s most likely what you’ll end up playing.

Honorable mention:

MÖRK BORG a new and highly-stylized—if you can get the print copy—rules light dystopian fantasy setting that purposefully tries to be all the bad things RPGs were accused—framed if you will—of being back in the 80’s. Doesn’t make the cut because it might scare away the ones that don’t realize how tongue-in-cheek it is especially kids and their parents.

My Little Pony: Tails Equestria—I can’t include it because I haven’t been able to play or read through the system. I’d love to do it though. Essentially light D&D set in the MLP:FiM universe. Appealing to kids of all ages.

Meddling Kids—Been around for a while now and is good for kids 7 and up. I have read through this one, but haven’t been able to play. It is simplified and has a mechanic similar to Ryuutama wherein a GM controlled ‘wild card’—think Scooby or Captain Caveman—helps the PCs. For me it seemed a little too easy and not close enough to the kind of play that I’ve encountered at least. I’m also not sure how many kids are into the Hannah-Barbara Saturday morning type shows nowadays.

Alright, that does it for today and the half-way point. We’ll try to do it again tomorrow.

RPG A Day 2018: Day 3...What Gives a Game Staying Power?

What Gives a Game Staying Power?

Settings and systems that are still finding an audience with younger players some thirty or better years after their initial releases can be said to have staying power. I think if the game developer put their hearts and souls into the project then their game is likely to have it. For a game to have a long life, it should get support from the developers. That may be in the form of supplements, maps, or answering questions about errata. I am old enough to remember that even before the days of the internet that player feedback and developer interaction was a must for the games that stuck around.
We can look at editions in a positive light as continuing to refine and support a setting that people love by tweaking a game mechanic or feature that may feel dated in today's world.

What gives a game..as in my campaign...staying power? Finding players that are available to play consistently, and hopefully being able to give them something to do. At a live table as long as the friends are friends, there's more to game night than just the game, so if you're kind of slogging through a session, at least you get to see everyone and have fun. At the virtual table...a bad outing or two might be all it takes to breakup the group. There needs to be plenty of things to do, and each session needs to seem different enough to keep the game interesting. Your players also need to feel like they are growing: leveling up, learning a new ability or spell, finding a weapon, making an impact on the world and hopefully progressing through the story will be enough to keep them coming back for more.  

RPG A Day 2018 #1 What Do You Love About RPGs?

It's that time of the year again when people look at my blog posts. To be fair I look at a lot more blogs during RPG A Day than I do the rest of the year too. Sometimes people do stick around. I have around ten loyal followers...growing the blog. For a brief shining moment a year ago I was getting paid for these sorts of things :) Miss that easy money.

So, What do I love about RPGs?

It's the people, stupid. It doesn't matter what the system is, how frequent we get to play, or even if it's on a live table or virtual table top it's the people that make me come back for more. Sure, I may prefer a particular game or system over another--and with apologies to my Roll * 20 groups a live table is almost always preferable...I hope they get the chance to go live without me too--but in all cases the creative interaction with friends is what makes gaming fun. This will be my 10th year of teaching abroad...my 9th here in the UAE...and I've met so many people through RPGs both in person and online that I would have never interacted with otherwise. Role playing--even light roll play-- breaks the ice and it helps you to really get to know one another. As a GM/DM/REF it really makes my day when a player comes out of left field with an idea that I'd have never thought of on my own. As a player when we interact with each other and our minds are working together it is something special. I say RPGs are the most unique of any entertainment around. Another thing is that it sparks interest in other subjects. I think I've willingly/voluntarily(?) learned more about the world from trying to make my games semi-realistic than I ever have from school any school assignment...and remember I am a teacher. Day 1 in the books!

Mutant Crawl Classics: Kickstarter Review

My review of Mutant Crawl Classics from Goodman Games. A couple of weeks ago I received my copy of MCC written by Jim Wampler and containing fantastic artwork by various artists.

This roleplaying game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world closely akin to the old TSR/WOTC Gamma World setting. For non-role-players—and why are you reading my review if you’re not an RPG enthusiast? –it’s kind of like the classic version of ‘Planet of the Apes’ wherein some world-shaking disaster has completely changed the landscape of the planet and its surrounding environment—in this setting’s case it is never revealed to be Earth specifically, and in any case the level of advancement for the society that did exist prior to the great disaster was far advanced from our current time.

I originally backed the project on Kickstarter where 2,311 of us pledged $206,806 against a, relatively modest for Goodman Games, $20,000 initial goal. There were many reward tiers and add-ons for the project including: special edition books, T-shirts, PDF modules, special dice, GM Screen and print versions made available for everything. The game is also fully compatible with Goodman Game’s most famous (?) system Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Waiting is the hardest part:
Depending on how much of my stuff you read, you know I’m an English teacher out in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Although I’ve been out here for eight years now, I have always—and will always—realize that this is not a permanent situation. In fact, this year—my ninth—I plan to document in blog form my efforts to look for different—if not greener—pastures, but I digress. The point is that I’m far from the States and even within the UAE, I’m out in the sticks. The couriers in these parts are…let’s say…interesting.  In spite of this fact—and the understanding that I’ll have to move all of this stuff eventually—I love physical print copies and the swag that comes with it.

The project funded almost exactly two-years ago today, but Goodman Games are indeed very good men…and women, I assume…when it comes to updating and giving samples of the process and progress along the way. If you haven’t backed a KS project, I suggest you find one you like and do it. Depending on the creator you back, you can learn a lot of behind the scenes information, and at least for the projects that I’ve chosen it has been very interesting. Grant me one more aside—group fund within reason as it is addicting, make sure you back trusted creators, beware of backing video-games, and remember it’s not a store and you do have to wait for your reward. KS is probably going to be your best bet if you do take the plunge because they at least have some policies to hold creators accountable.

In the case of MCC, we have had the PDF versions of the game since at least Sept. 17th of last year. As I said however, I’m not really a PDF guy so I gave it a quick browse anticipating the eventual arrival of my hardcover copy. A lot of backers who are better men than me, helped to playtest and proofread the PDF. That’s a couple of thousand sets of eyes catching errata before the book goes to print. That’s brilliant, and one of the big perks of KS and the like for these types of projects: the backers get early access and the creators get feedback before the product ever goes to market.

On a slow boat from somewhere…
Fast forward to April 2018 and the first books start heading out the door. This is where I hit a little snag. I find out at this point in the process that an outside company from the UK will be distributing books to overseas backers. I’m not too worried yet because I’ve backed many things before. I just prefer that the package be sent via standard postal services because in my area of the UAE it’s all P.O.Boxes.

May 2018 comes around and the KS update touts 97% shipped…and I’ve got nothing. A short time later I received an e-mail from the UK company stating that the order had been shipped, and a tracking number was included. Not surprisingly—to a guy who’s lived out here for eight years—the tracking number didn’t function. Sometimes our couriers may have a famous name, but it will be up to the man in the truck on the ground as to whether or not he will decide to live up to the lofty expectations—that is to say what would be considered minimally acceptable service from the States and other western countries--associated with said name. A week passes before I’m told that this courier will not deliver to a P.O. Box. Supposedly he would be willing to drop it off at the post office itself and have me pick it up there.

In June the KS updates with 99.9% fulfilled, and I get to welcome myself to the .01% --a very exclusive club. New contact from the UK middlemen confirms that my shipment has been lost to this world. As a make good, Goodman upgrades my pledge giving me all the print goodies beyond the core book—Hooray!!—but, it still needs to get to me. To that end, the UK group goes with the more expensive, super-deluxe, we don’t use these guys except in special circumstances courier…numb to my request that they send it via regular international post.

Two weeks later we head into the middle of June and I’ve still got nothing. Goodman Games was off touring the convention scene and couldn’t answer me directly, while the last communique I received from my pals in the UK was to say that once they sent the product to the courier it was out of their hands. Of course, I was ticked off by this point as I had been preaching since the first hint of trouble that regular postal services were the way to go. Happily, good fortune smiled on me and for whatever reason in the middle of the following week a regular post office truck delivered the package to me at my job. It was in the packaging of the second, expensive courier by the way. Nobody knows how it turned out that way and I really don’t care. I was just glad to get the books.

So, how are the books?
They are just as excellent as I had hoped they would be. The artwork is stupendous. If you’re an oldskool guy like me, then you’ll like the art style even more. Goodman really took care of me when they gave me the upgrade as all of the modules are up to the same quality as the book and have a feel to them that you can’t get anywhere else. As to the system—which I won’t go too much into, it is D20 modified to use the “weird dice” made famous by the sister product Dungeon Crawl Classics. I had mentioned earlier that DCC is completely compatible with MCC, but I think MCC is a bit easier. Maybe it is my familiarity with DCC—meaning I didn’t go into this completely cold--or maybe the creators worded things slightly differently, so that I could understand them more easily. In either case, it is fun to read about all the strange powers and locations. A nice map and GM screen came along with it, so I felt like a kid in a candy store…or else like a kid when the book fair used to come to elementary school.

The initial player races are: Pure Strain Human, Mutant, Manimal and Plantient. In the oldskool fashion only the Pure Strain Human gets a class. We can say his power comes from his class. The classes are Sentinel (fighter), Shaman(wizard), Healer(cleric) and Rover(thief). The other sentient beings get race specific powers. Mutants are mutated humans,  Manimals are sentient animals, and Plantients are sentient plants. All the character types—save PSH—can devolve to their non-mutant form. The mutants just become PSH, but the Manimals and Plantients will  become base—I can’t imagine still playable—forms of animals and plants.

The module included in the core book is a take-off on a very famous family from the future. It took me far too long to “get” the joke, but once I did it was obvious and very funny. One of the unique features of DCC and MCC is the level-zero character funnel. The included module is one of those. The concept is for players to create 3-4 of these fragile characters each. They take the whole lot of them—using the highest of their character’s initiatives or other traits to speed things along—and try their best to survive a dungeon—er, areas of ancient ruins--that’s sure to make them drop like flies. Characters that survive get to become level 1’s and also have a backstory to tell wherein they almost certainly lost a few comrades. In the MCC scenarios, the funnel is a ‘rite of passage’ to adulthood and full member of the tribe. These newly minted heroes graduate from their previous tribal roles of ‘hunter’ or ‘gatherer’ to become a prestigious ‘seeker’ from which point the normal adventuring and campaigns can begin.

Closing:
I’m currently on a Cyberpunk 2020 kick over on Roll 20 while my live-table—which is usually D&D focused—will be on hiatus while we’re on summer break. Unfortunately, that means that I haven’t been able to run or play in an MCC game yet. That hasn’t stopped me from reading the books over and over nor from watching a couple of playthroughs available on YouTube. The plan is to at least run the included funnel as a one-shot for my live-table when school is back in session in September. With that being said, I would give the game my highest recommendation.

Scores:
Game System: 5/5: All the oldskool fun from DCC except easier and a relief from the doldrums of a tired strictly fantasy setting

Presentation: 5/5: For me this is the selling point. If I never get to play—I sure hope to—I would still call this a worthy investment because the art, the lore, the style of the presentation are all just so good. I have come to expect this quality from Goodman Games and they didn’t disappoint me here.

KS Campaign: 4/5: Ultimately, I was taken care of. Unfortunately, I must take a point away because Goodman should have specified how the product would be delivered before taking my pledge. I had previously received material in my P.O.Box from Goodman with no middlemen and no problems. So, I assumed I would be getting the package direct from Goodman to me. We all know what happens when we assume. I've backed many projects--so many that my wife is making me retire--and this was the only one to give me shipping trouble. The designation that the product ships “Anywhere in the world” should mean anywhere in the world…which in the end it was for me...but, none of the parties involved know exactly how that came to be. I could just as easily be sitting here empty handed.

Customer Service: 5/5 from Goodman Games. They were always quick to respond to my complaints and in the end they delivered to me more than what I had paid for. Had they listened to me and went with the regular post, they would have saved us all a lot of time—but then I would have only gotten the core book, so a winner is me. That being said, I would have to be leery of ordering other products from them until such a time when I’m no longer in the UAE…or else find a buddy with a physical address.

3/5 from <Redacted> Games from the UK: The communication with them wasn’t so great. They truly are middlemen and I was an annoyance to them. I won’t use their company name because it ultimately worked out. Had the result been different the review would be even worse. They gave me extra jobs to do—virtual legwork that very nearly became physical legwork—to track the package when my only job should be to making sure the cheque clears.