In media res

This is the sequel to the blog I started about convention or one-shot games.

In the first blog I talked about the hook, now I want to talk about which scene I chose to run first. When you think about it, an adventure is a collection of scenes. When each scene is designed to follow another one, it becomes difficult to pull one out of the mix if you're running out of time and get the full effect. It's much easier to insert more scenes to make the adventure longer.
So maybe you only have 2 hours to run the game, you're expecting 6 players, half of them are new to Savage Worlds, there are 5 scenes in this One-Sheet, Savage Tale, adventure module or whatever you want to run (because you don't have time to prep). Chances are slim to none they'll get past the third scene if there's a combat in there, even with a fast system like Savage Worlds.
Now let me put on a black raincoat, cool shades and ask you: What if I told you there's a way to pace your adventure to last pretty much as long as you want it to last without having to remove any important scenes?

So you've got your hook, now let's wrap it in with the set-up, first scene and goal/destination.

The Don wants you to make Dominic the accountant disappear. Contact Jerry for more information.
[insert conversations with the Don and Jerry along with questions here]
[insert trip to hardware store to get everything on the "Kidnapping for Dummies" list here]
[insert kidnapping scene here]
Hey look at the time, you probably spent more time than you were willing to spend on this part of your adventure and most of it probably wasn't Fast, Furious or Fun with the exception of the kidnapping scene maybe.
Consider starting in media res (in the middle of things).
There's a mob accountant alive in the trunk of your car. You lost a lot of money because of him. The plan is to take him to Coaldale, toss him in a hole and pave a road over his body. You're cruising along on I-95 when your sideview mirror is blown up by what you believe to be a high caliber bullet. What do you do?
Bada bing bada boom! Your game has started with a bang. Maybe the players wouldn't have tackled it this way would they have played it, you say? You're most definitely right. But then again no group wants to role-play every minute of an adventure. Sometimes you fast-forward to the next scene. This is no different really. You just decided where it starts.
After this scene is over, you can answer any questions the players have and provide more details. What state is the accountant in the trunk in? I don't know, you tell me, what did you do to him? Would you like to play it out? Yes? let's go Pulp Fiction with this then.
Why do scenes have to be played in chronological order? Because how do you handle a character dying in a flashback scene Mr. Fancy Pants GM? Remember, incapacitated doesn't necessarily mean dead, and if it's during a flashback scene, why not modify that table and give the PC a permanent injury instead? You can also do as suggested in Beasts & Barbarians and take a Benny from the "deceased" PC.
You have to understand the players are likely playing their character for the first time. Yes, there are hindrances on their sheet and a bunch of stats giving them some type of direction but they still don't know their character.
What I found the best way to put them in character is to drop them in media res where they have difficult choices to make. From the latest examples, do they duck for cover, try to see where the shot came from, pull out their weapon or let out an expletive? This also helps you figure out what kind of players you have at your table.
For players new to Savage Worlds, this allows them to make a few die rolls and get the jitters out of the way.
Starting in media res basically cuts the crap. Do I always start a game out this way? No, I don't, but I found out it makes it harder for the game to switch gears if I don't.
In the next blog I want to show you how I turn this into a full adventure that I can ad lib with and make it last as long as I want it to.

One Sheet failures, Seven Deadly Sins and Fuhgeddaboudit!

It's been forever since I last wrote a blog. Between writing for +Just Insert Imagination, running two play-test groups for an upcoming products for JII, running games, filling in for Blaine on the Wild Die Podcast and my rekindled addiction to Civilization V, there has been very little time for blogging.
Speaking of the +The Wild Die Podcast... Episode 7 was supposed to be about convention games and encounter building but we ran out of recording time because we had so much fun doing the crossover show with the Savage Cast podcast guys. So episode 7 became the crossover show and the content we had planned for it will become episode 8. I also hear from a good source that Blaine will be able to join us for that one so I'm excited about that.
I was itching to tackle these topics, and having to wait another month to talk about it hasn't helped. So I decided to write blogs about it. There are a few challenges when running a convention or one-shot game and I intend to share my take on these issues and how I deal with them. Fuhgeddaboudit! is in a way the culmination of my efforts after years of experimentation.
If you've read Fuhgeddaboudit!, I'm sure you've noticed it has a different format then the popular One Sheets Pinnacles Entertainment and several other licensee put out. There are a few reasons for that.
I believe that a One Sheet is a solid framework to use for an evening a play, but it often has a "story" arc that spans over more than one session of play. It all depends how many hours you have committed to the session, how many players you have and their familiarity with role-playing games or Savage Worlds, and the environment you'll be playing in. It's very difficult for a designer to account for all these factors when the scenes escalating to the climax are all mapped out for you. Too often I've found myself half-way with a half-hour left to play. You're then faced with the dilemma: should I hurry things along and skip a scene or two, or should I end it when it ends, without the group playing the climax scene and maybe narrating that scene as an epilogue?
The introduction of the Quick Combat rules sure give a GM one more weapon in his arsenal to deal with the situation. I haven't used it yet but look forward to the opportunity.
The other thing about One Sheets is that you, as the GM, still need to do some work before you can play it. Often times you have to come up with your own hook. I believe a One Sheet is more a scenario so introduce in your own campaign than a one-shot or convention game scenario. It can certainly be the case but like I said, you'll need to do some work. Then you might need maps, figure flats or minis, pre-gens, etc.
In the end, unless you have no problem totally railroading the adventure, you'll realize you had to improvise for most of the session anyway because the group went in another direction than what the designer had planned. Is that a failure on the part of the GM or adventure writer? Could be. Having read how other RPG systems design their adventures, I believe in it's the format. The adventure writer needs to give the GM the information he needs to run the scenario, not a synopsis of how he believes it may turn out. Does that make sense?
While a veteran GM will usually look at a One Sheet and know how to make it work for his game, a novice GM won't. It lacks instructions due to limited space. Even I, as a long time GM, sometimes need the designer to hold my hand and guide me. How should I run this? Why did you chose to do it that way? One thing I really liked about Shaintar is how Sean Patrick Fannon talks to you throughout the book with the sidebars. He tells you why he chose to design something that way and gives you tips. As a GM I definitely appreciate that.
In recognizing what I believe are failures when it comes to One Sheets design I also recognized my own failures in the design of Fuhgeddaboudit!. When someone commented that we gave them too little to work with I immediately went on the defensive. "Really? five pre-gen characters, three maps, npc stats, setting rules, twice the length of a One Sheet, pay-what-you-want and it still isn't enough?" But after taking some distance and looking at it from the commentator's perspective I realized that this sandbox adventure needed a more thorough instruction manual or an example on how to put everything together and make it a scenario.
So while there's an actual play video here of me running Fuhgeddaboudit! and another one from +JPierson71 coming soon, I want to break it all down into a step by step example in a written format. Hopefully you'll get to understand what went on in my head when I designed and ran it. Look for it in the days (or weeks) to come.

So let's start with the beginning...

The Hook

What I feel is often neglected for a one-shot or convention game is the hook. What motivates the player-characters to jump in and risk their lives? It's easy to use the old trick that involves some dude paying the player-characters or a plea from a desperate and helpless NPC. It works, after all, the players have come to the table to play and they'd be fools to be difficult if they want to participate.
Remember, you don't have 10 sessions of a campaign to help you with the PC's motivations here. You most likely don't know who's going to sit at your table so you don't know which strings to pull. However, if you can manage to get them hooked and buy into the scenario right off the bat, the rest of the game will be much easier for you. So how do you do that?
You need to look no further than the Seven Deadly Sins. Pride, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Lust, Sloth and Greed.
Gluttony and Greed are the easy ones. The heroes want more gold so you give them more than they can carry. However, it's a one-shot, what the hell do they need gold for?
Last month I ran a Deadlands one-shot online called Pedro Must Die. I ripped parts out of a South of the Border Tale called Bat God, added an introductory scene involving npc interaction and changed the hook from Gluttony/Greed (going to a burial site full of riches) to Wrath. Here's the pitch: "He took your money and left you to die. He high tailed down to Mexico. Pedro must die."
The game hadn't even started and the players wanted to make Pedro pay for what he did to them. Promises of Pedro's demise flooded the thread. They couldn't wait. They were already motivated.
Let's pick another one. Envy. So you're running a Supers game. The Super Heroes are part of a team but there's this other team in town and they're stealing the show. Old ladies are baking cookies for them, the news want to interview them, children are asking their parents to go see them and get their autograph. I don't know about you but I hate their guts already. Imagine how your players will feel about them. Suddenly, while these jerks are enjoying the fame, the Super Heroes become aware of a menace in the city. It's their chance to get the spotlight back.

In the next blog I'll talk about the set-up and starting in media res without losing the introduction.

One Sheet failures, Seven Deadly Sins and Fuhgeddaboudit!

It's been forever since I last wrote a blog. Between writing for +Just Insert Imagination, running two play-test groups for an upcoming products for JII, running games, filling in for Blaine on the Wild Die Podcast and my rekindled addiction to Civilization V, there has been very little time for blogging.
Speaking of the +The Wild Die Podcast... Episode 7 was supposed to be about convention games and encounter building but we ran out of recording time because we had so much fun doing the crossover show with the Savage Cast podcast guys. So episode 7 became the crossover show and the content we had planned for it will become episode 8. I also hear from a good source that Blaine will be able to join us for that one so I'm excited about that.
I was itching to tackle these topics, and having to wait another month to talk about it hasn't helped. So I decided to write blogs about it. There are a few challenges when running a convention or one-shot game and I intend to share my take on these issues and how I deal with them. Fuhgeddaboudit! is in a way the culmination of my efforts after years of experimentation.
If you've read Fuhgeddaboudit!, I'm sure you've noticed it has a different format then the popular One Sheets Pinnacles Entertainment and several other licensee put out. There are a few reasons for that.
I believe that a One Sheet is a solid framework to use for an evening a play, but it often has a "story" arc that spans over more than one session of play. It all depends how many hours you have committed to the session, how many players you have and their familiarity with role-playing games or Savage Worlds, and the environment you'll be playing in. It's very difficult for a designer to account for all these factors when the scenes escalating to the climax are all mapped out for you. Too often I've found myself half-way with a half-hour left to play. You're then faced with the dilemma: should I hurry things along and skip a scene or two, or should I end it when it ends, without the group playing the climax scene and maybe narrating that scene as an epilogue?
The introduction of the Quick Combat rules sure give a GM one more weapon in his arsenal to deal with the situation. I haven't used it yet but look forward to the opportunity.
The other thing about One Sheets is that you, as the GM, still need to do some work before you can play it. Often times you have to come up with your own hook. I believe a One Sheet is more a scenario so introduce in your own campaign than a one-shot or convention game scenario. It can certainly be the case but like I said, you'll need to do some work. Then you might need maps, figure flats or minis, pre-gens, etc.
In the end, unless you have no problem totally railroading the adventure, you'll realize you had to improvise for most of the session anyway because the group went in another direction than what the designer had planned. Is that a failure on the part of the GM or adventure writer? Could be. Having read how other RPG systems design their adventures, I believe in it's the format. The adventure writer needs to give the GM the information he needs to run the scenario, not a synopsis of how he believes it may turn out. Does that make sense?
While a veteran GM will usually look at a One Sheet and know how to make it work for his game, a novice GM won't. It lacks instructions due to limited space. Even I, as a long time GM, sometimes need the designer to hold my hand and guide me. How should I run this? Why did you chose to do it that way? One thing I really liked about Shaintar is how Sean Patrick Fannon talks to you throughout the book with the sidebars. He tells you why he chose to design something that way and gives you tips. As a GM I definitely appreciate that.
In recognizing what I believe are failures when it comes to One Sheets design I also recognized my own failures in the design of Fuhgeddaboudit!. When someone commented that we gave them too little to work with I immediately went on the defensive. "Really? five pre-gen characters, three maps, npc stats, setting rules, twice the length of a One Sheet, pay-what-you-want and it still isn't enough?" But after taking some distance and looking at it from the commentator's perspective I realized that this sandbox adventure needed a more thorough instruction manual or an example on how to put everything together and make it a scenario.
So while there's an actual play video here of me running Fuhgeddaboudit! and another one from +JPierson71 coming soon, I want to break it all down into a step by step example in a written format. Hopefully you'll get to understand what went on in my head when I designed and ran it. Look for it in the days (or weeks) to come.

So let's start with the beginning...

The Hook

What I feel is often neglected for a one-shot or convention game is the hook. What motivates the player-characters to jump in and risk their lives? It's easy to use the old trick that involves some dude paying the player-characters or a plea from a desperate and helpless NPC. It works, after all, the players have come to the table to play and they'd be fools to be difficult if they want to participate.
Remember, you don't have 10 sessions of a campaign to help you with the PC's motivations here. You most likely don't know who's going to sit at your table so you don't know which strings to pull. However, if you can manage to get them hooked and buy into the scenario right off the bat, the rest of the game will be much easier for you. So how do you do that?
You need to look no further than the Seven Deadly Sins. Pride, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Lust, Sloth and Greed.
Gluttony and Greed are the easy ones. The heroes want more gold so you give them more than they can carry. However, it's a one-shot, what the hell do they need gold for?
Last month I ran a Deadlands one-shot online called Pedro Must Die. I ripped parts out of a South of the Border Tale called Bat God, added an introductory scene involving npc interaction and changed the hook from Gluttony/Greed (going to a burial site full of riches) to Wrath. Here's the pitch: "He took your money and left you to die. He high tailed down to Mexico. Pedro must die."
The game hadn't even started and the players wanted to make Pedro pay for what he did to them. Promises of Pedro's demise flooded the thread. They couldn't wait. They were already motivated.
Let's pick another one. Envy. So you're running a Supers game. The Super Heroes are part of a team but there's this other team in town and they're stealing the show. Old ladies are baking cookies for them, the news want to interview them, children are asking their parents to go see them and get their autograph. I don't know about you but I hate their guts already. Imagine how your players will feel about them. Suddenly, while these jerks are enjoying the fame, the Super Heroes become aware of a menace in the city. It's their chance to get the spotlight back.

In the next blog I'll talk about the set-up and starting in media res without losing the introduction.

Online Table top RPGs just aren't the same

Ever since I started being involved heavily into running and playing table top RPGs online I come across comments on social media such as "I prefer the real thing".

Now I have no interest in starting a debate here. I could tell you how it enables people living in remote areas to play, for old groups to be reunited once again because they have since moved away from each other. I know because I've heard many testimonies. I've had people tell me.

But this isn't about me.

Last week we held FG Con 8. It's an online rpg convention using the Fantasy Grounds platform. A whole weekend of games with hundreds of gamers participated in this event. We're always happy to hear people had a great time. One particular feedback from my friend +Perry Chalmers particularly moved me.

I'd like you to take a few minutes of your day to read what he had to say about his experience last weekend.

Here's Perry's blog.

No, online table top RPGs just aren't the same...

For someone like Perry, it's the only way to experience this wonderful hobby right now.

I'm glad you had fun Perry.

Shadow of the Demon Lord Impressions

This isn't much a review, it's a blog about my impressions of this new tabletop RPG. I haven't read the whole book yet. I decided to take a pause amidst my frantic devouring of pages and pages of this book to share my enthusiasm with you. It has no structure, just impressions randomly tossed in.
Above is what appears to be a live recording of a seminar the author of the book was a guest at last summer.
I must say I haven't had that much fun reading a RPG core rules book in a long time. This really talks to me and the realistic expectations of running a campaign. It's structured to be 11 sessions (adventures) of 3-4 hours in length. Your character is defined as your group goes up in level.
I love the Warhammer Fantasy influence. WHFRP 1st edition was one of the first RPGs I played and he really captured the feel.
I really like +Robert Schwalb's design decisions with this game. Because my experience with D&D was really short I don't care how the designer seem to define his game in relation to the world's favorite game in the video. Perhaps it was simply because of people in the audience that participated in the Q&A. I think the fact that he was part of the design team for many editions of that game but decided to go a different way with SotdL speaks for itself.
I'd like to see how he would do Sword & Sorcery for D&D 5e. I think he would respect the tropes mechanically much better than Sasquatch Games did with Primeval Thule.
Anyway, if you're looking for a dark fantasy RPG that feels like d&d and Warhammer Fantasy but without the bullshit; if you want a tight design, a modern game that caters to old school gamers; if you want a professional looking book with a great layout and awesome artwork; if you want a game you can easily digest, this is the game for you! I mean this game is badass! What other games do you know of that your character can become so insane he decides to gouge his own eyes out? Cthulhu maybe but it's a different genre with different tropes where such terrible fate is expected for your character.
The only minor quibble I have so far is that there are too many Afflictions (Conditions) to keep track of. Compared to D&D this is standard. Compared to other games I like such as Savage Worlds, Gumshoe, AGE or AW this is a problem for me. The less time I spend looking up rules when I'm trying to run a game, the better.

Making a Star Wars hack for Savage Worlds

So of course, with The Force Awakens out I'm thinking of running some Star Wars. Though it may be tempting to outlaw Jedi knights from the game because the lightsaber alone is kind of an "I win" button, I'm fully aware Jedi are part of the appeal and I'd be taking away what makes it Star Wars.
From a Clint Black advice, I decided to take a look at the Super Powers Companion. SWD stats a lightsaber at Str+d6+8 AP 12. Ok cool.

Now let's take a look at the "Attack, Melee" power. 

• Armor piercing mod. It costs 6 points to give it AP 12. 
• Lethal mod removes one point so we're at a 5 pts cost so far.

Now with the actual damage. It's 2 pts per level, each level is +1d6 damage. So 2 more points for the d6. The +8 damage has got me baffled though. How many more level do you think this represents?

And here's another question. If you were playing in a game and someone other than you played the Jedi, would you feel your character isn't as cool as a Jedi because of lack of lightsaber? Would you want to be compensated for that disparity?
Okay, that was two questions. :)

Beasts & Barbarians On Air! Final Preview

It's almost time for the first episode of The Beggar King, our Beasts & Barbarians campaign for Savage Worlds. On Friday November 13th at 10:00 pm EST, you will be able to follow the arguably best RPG campaign I've ever been a part of. My hope is that this may give your own group ideas or tips on how make your own games memorable with any system, online or not. I also hope you'll find this entertaining even though a RPG session is an interactive experience rarely as fun to watch as it is to participate in.

It's been two months since we last played this game. In the meantime, I ran some one-shots that most of the players have joined for some of the games. One of those games, The Heart of Darkness, was recently recorded and is available on YouTube. I needed the break to refuel and prepare but now I'm anxious to get my boys back. Judging from their feedback, I get the impression they are excited as well. One of them cannot join us yet because of his work schedule but I look forward to his return.

As promised in the previous preview I will now expose the Setting Rules I will use for The Beggar King. Most of them are straight from Beasts & Barbarians Golden Edition and Jalizar, City of Thieves, some are taken from other settings, inspired by other Setting Rules or house rules. While most of them are proven and tested, some of them, particularly house rules will be introduced for the first time.

Beasts & Barbarians Golden Edition

Henchmen and Right Hands

Henchmen have three wounds and no wild die while Right Hands have a wild die but no wounds. I've rarely used this rule before but plan on using it more to challenge the player and highlight some important NPCs without giving them Wild Card status.

After the Adventure

This includes Savings and Events. Savings means regardless of many Moons (B&B currency) they've accumulated, once they've gone back to town to carouse they're left with just enough to resupply and pocket change. 100 Moons per rank is all they're left with at the beginning of the next adventure. This is game is about daring exploits, not looting the bodies to carry around thousands of gold pieces for that vorpal sword.

The Events are what happened during downtime between adventures. The player draws a card from the action deck and the DM comes up with something according to the results on a table which can be good, bad or somewhere in between. It can drive a whole sub-plot and I will certainly use that as inspiration for the next adventure. I will limit the option to pick a card to only one player at a time in order to avoid confusion and to shine the spotlight on only one player at a time.

I usually hand-waive resource management and use common sense instead of micro-managing an economy. I've never once been a part of a fun "count your money" or 'let's haggle with the merchant" encounter. With only two hours to play I'd rather use that time for more interesting scenes. As for the After the Adventure Events, the last chapter of our campaign was one long adventure with no breaks in between so we didn't get a chance to use it. Now we will.

Others

Beasts and Barbarians uses the Blood and Guts, Born a Hero and Joker's Wild rules from Savage Worlds Deluxe. Bennies for everyone on a Joker and they can spend bennies to re-roll damage. Those two are very popular in our group.

Jalizar, City of Thieves

Contacts

A character that has spent enough time in Jalizar or is from there gains one contact per rank. This works like the Connection Edge but the character must spend a Bennie to activate it and can only use it once per session.

I did something slightly different with this. A few months ago I asked every player to design two NPCs with ties to their character, one friendly and another one unfriendly. I want to use the friendly NPC as a Contact or story hooks and the unfriendly NPC as a potential minor enemy or story hook. Only two players worked on that so I can guess they are the only ones that will benefit/suffer from this Setting Rule.

Looking Miserable

Appearance is everything in the city of thieves. If you look like a beggar or put on an otherwise non-threatening appearance, when rolling to see if surprised, potential victims have a -2 to that roll.

Life as a Thief

This is a rather extensive collection of rules meant to expand on thieving operations such as begging, concealing items, disguise, forgery, pickpocketing, shadowing, tightrope walking and traps.

There is only one roguish character in the group so I'll use those if the need arises. I prefer the shadowing rules in Deadlands Noir over the ones in Beasts and Barbarians so I'll be using these. Disguise isn't as Fast (as in Savage Worlds Worlds' Fast, Furious and Fun motto) as I'd like so I'll likely simplify it to one roll instead of having to roll for preparation AND interpretation.

House Rules

Critical Failures

You cannot spend a Bennie if you roll snake eyes. Untested.

Loincloth Hero

I'm changing how this edge works. Instead of granting a free soak roll while wearing no armor it gives a +2 bonus to soak rolls like the Unarmored Heroes Setting Rules in Lankhmar City of Thieves.

Spotlight

This is inspired by the Role rule in Streets of Bedlam. On select episodes, I will direct the spotlight on one character. This may be the result of an "After the Adventure Event" table result or because the story simply demands it.

There are three different roles for these Spotlight sessions: Hero, Sidekick and Plot Twist.

The Hero is the star of this episode, the spotlight is on him. The outcome of this episode will have repercussions and affect that character only.

He can do the following:

• Implicate one of the characters with the Plot Twist role to gain a Bennie, but only one. This must put that character in trouble in one way or another.
• Spend a Benny to gain a +4 bonus to any rolls made toward escaping a bad situation. Once that character is out of immediate danger, the bonus no longer applies.

The Sidekick is there for the Hero, he's there to make him look good. As such, he can do the following to help him out:

• Deliver a uplifting speech in a non-combat situation to motivate the Hero. This is similar to how Interludes work in its execution but must relate to the situation at hand. Consequently, the Hero gets a +4 to his next roll.
• Share his Bennies with the Hero as per the Common Bond edge but with the Hero only.

The Plot Twist is the wild card. He's the special guest star. He can be a the guy that arrives at the right time to save the day or he can be the one who's arrival will make things worse for the Hero. Here's what he can do:

• Spend two Bennies and arrive at the scene providing additional help. The player must also provide the circumstances that lead to this and can be vetoed by the GM.
• Inject his character into the scene but his character must bring complications with him. Maybe he was being chased or followed. Or maybe his own goals competed against the Hero so he steals the MacGuffin right under his nose. Maybe he makes his appearance as the villain's hostage. Regardless of the reason, every player-characters at the scene receive a benny and the Hero can play an extra Adventure Card in this scene, but only once per session.
• Find an excuse to leave the scene and give the Hero an important bit of information (provided by the GM).

This has yet to be tested but I like the idea and I think the players will have fun with it. We like collaborative storytelling and improvisation. I look forward to the results. I will revisit this House Rules as needed then.

And this concludes the previews for The Beggar King. I hope you enjoyed it and will be following the "show".

Happy gaming!