VTT and the Original Dark Magic

I have been hosting games on startplaying.games  for month now, and it has cemented my opinion on using VTT to run a TTRPG online. "Using VTT to run a TTRPG online". I mean this literally. If you commit to using a VTT for your game, the VTT is in charge. You are only going to be doing things in the game which translate to the digital screen. I imagine for some players they only know how to play VTT game and not really know how to play TTRPGs. I never had these tools when I was caught up in the hobbies first days. What we did have, like today, was robust discussions on how to play these games, what these games actually were, and whether or not other mediums have a place in these games. I don't recall important discussions around the use or not of DM/GM screens like there is today, but I loved them as a Dungeon Master, Gamma Master, Star Master, etc. One, they usually came with a decent adventure inside, and would have great art. But they were invaluable because they saved me time looking up, and re-looking up rules and modifiers. Mostly the modifiers. I do remember the screen was up on the table or laying flat, depending on my current needs. 

What I did not have to do was micro-manage tokens, scenes, graphics, lists, character sheets which crunch the numbers for you, tell you what you can and can't do, and the set up of all this takes time. And it is technical. I like ttrpgs because it takes me away from the technical, the managed, and (relatively) controlled aspects of my life. And everyone turns off their camera so they will have the necessary band-width to hang. This is what sunk the whole prospect for me. Call me strange, but I believe this is the greatest gift ttrpgs offer which many games cannot even touch; players invested in their group, dedicated to trying to have their best game possible. This means talking, like a lot. 

Obviously I am in the minority. Not providing an interactive tabletop software program is seen as a negative, a deal-breaker for many players, regardless how promising the campaign. The good news is this market is well served. On my side of the table I see room for an interactive game between the players. Roleplaying comes alive with face-to-face interaction. What player does not enjoy the twists and fits of facial expressions from a flabbergasted, stunned GM by your cockamamie action topped with a critical success roll!?!

The VTT feels like a video game to me. Probably because, like ttrpgs, in the seventies consul and arcade video games were in their infancy. And contrary to popular opinion, most gamers knew ttrpgs were what they had been looking for all this time, but just didn't know it. The game, the concept of the game was dead simple and easily understood. I do remember as a wee child being bored with Monopoly, Clue, Candyland (makes a great drinking game though), Stratego, and Risk. I had been exposed to tactical wargames before I was double digits, and if was going to move counters around the board they better be able to blow hell out of the countryside. But before all this, I only had paperback fiction delivering the imaginative excitement I craved. When Arneson and Gygax put the chocolate with the peanut butter what I needed had been just born. I cannot be the only one the first time someone told you about this game Dungeons & Dragons you got it. The lightbulb didn't just turn on, it exploded. I didn't have any of these game books and boxed sets until '81. What I did have was enticing rumors of this game, what it looked like, where you could find it and who was playing it near you. These trails, these breadcrumbs were everything like a classic Call of Cthulhu game. I was searching secrets many did not know. Picture a seven-year old hanging around the roller skating rink investigating the whereabouts of some person I never met who might know a little something about DnD. 

Trying to get a game group together is much like dating, for me. And can feel as awkward as asking someone on a date, hoping not to get rejected. And many, like me, got over these hang-ups quickly because we were driven to get into this game. Eventually getting the Moldvay Basic set in 1981 was like receiving ancient, magical tomes of wonder. It was easy to see a DM was nothing short of a wizard conjuring magic out of thin air. Almost. You did need pencil, dice, paper, and other people. Who could get along and carry a satisfying narrative with them as they explored the unknown, in game and adventure. That was appealing to me. I did not have any cash, and limited means of earning some. My friends like me who could not afford the game books, this was nice. There was no barrier to entry. 

I lose all this with a VTT. 

Savage Sword, the BRP version of Adventures in Xoth

I should have been on this years ago, but I was determined to write from the ground up my version of a
human-centric sword and sorcery game, which we all know resulted in Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery. Now, twelve years later, and I am once again a serious fan of Chaosium's BRP game system! In the last decade I have thoroughly explored the game systems of Dungeons and Dragons and lots of the OSR retro-clones, Classic Traveller, Space Opera, Clockwork & Cthulhu, Champions, DC Heroes, Cyberpunk 2020, MS&PI's. Some of these systems I had played with before, some it was my first time running the system. And others... I just plain forget all the games I've done a deep dive into since 2012.

There are so many rich rewards I have gained from all this, and the one I am talking about tonight is how much the BRP system suits me. A truly great universal game system it is. You can pick up any of their different types of games and play them all with a brief refresher on the buffs, and options being used which make the games, while using the same system, all having their own unique aspects. Rule tweaks, optional rules, powers, abilities, skills- under it all is just a d100 roll for success mechanic. Combat rules in each different game (Call of Cthulhu and its immense list of specific genre-takes, Runequest, Pendragon, Magic World, Superworld, hundreds of fan-made systems for a specific purpose...

This is all to say, I feel BRP is the best system to run human-centric, pulp-fantasy sword and sorcery tales. If written "right". I am in the process of writing up the rules for Savage Sword, Fantastic Pulp-Fantasy Adventures in a Primordial World. And this world is the tremendous campaign setting Xoth, a creation of Morten Bretan. 

I will be importing all the things I have learned about game systems, tables, random charts and use the coherence of Chaosium's BRP to put it all together. Character Creation is as streamlined as I could make it, skill resolution and task resolution are a snap. Combat system, including simultaneous hand-to-hand combat, is the chariot of this ride. Yes, I love pulp sword & sorcery because of the limb-lopping and corpse-strewn trails of gore! And the combat system has to reflect this. One of the easiest tweaks is to reserve Critical Hits and Critical Successes for PCs only. NPCs... sure they can fumble, but the average gate guard is not going to be the cur slicing your head off. Important NPCs, the important villain will get all the combat bells and whistles, but there are going to be mook rules. 

You know how Stormbringer resolved this design "question"? They gave Elric an 880% skill level with his hell-sword. Basically it allows this top-tier warrior 9 attacks a combat turn! Now, I am not one for bloated skill levels, but it works because it is BRP, and because it is sword and sorcery in the worlds of Michael Moorcock where the heroes reach god-like proportions. I will be tackling this design question differently, just like every other iteration of the BRP system does.

Even Heroes Bleed is Back on the Air

 

I mean, the Vanishing Tower house game has been going steady. We are live streaming the session. But it has been a year since I downloaded a recorded session and created an edited audio of the session for snappy play back! 13 months actually. Since an edited audio of the session is the only thing I can stomach to listen, I have got myself out of my omnipresent god-like vision which has me aware of everything which is going on in the Capitol City universe. Not good. This is a supers game so the subplots and NPC threads are like a busted can of spaghetti-oos on vinyl, spread out everywhere!

It was not too long into the recording before I was made aware, again, of the sticky points in the game we go around on. In the case of DC Heroes, it is about turn order, initiative, and surprise. Since I have not been editing the audio of live plays on a weekly basis, our last game (two nights ago) got caught up in these same issues again. We had been not holding sessions through the holidays, so on return to the table it was a processes of uncovering our common arguments. Like, I am editing a session from September 22. On the listen through of our in-game rules discussions, I was made aware of how I was fouling-up calculating knockback. This is one example of how I use recorded game sessions to step up my "game". It has been the best way to correct poor decisions I make during play. You hear the misstep, you cringe, and then it falls out of practice. 

Per usual the  playback reminded me on campaign "fact" we all have agreed on and the ones we all seem to have forgotten. For example, my players were arguing about why they could not do shit with the magic house some of the heroes part-live/part-guard at the mystical Avery mansion. I informed them every time they interacted with the magic house there was a character of mystical abilities and/or had occult lore. That was the key, the house is magic, it takes a magic user to know the proper buttons to push to get reactions. They backed down because I dropped my "this discussion is at an end" statement, "Play the tape." Nothing establishes better what everyone actually said and agreed to during a game session then the recorded audio. I also believe it is the fastest way to improve your roleplaying abilities, listen to what you sound like!

Space Acid, the Mothership Mod

No need to write up a Space Opera retro-clone, just use Mothership as the basic rules chassis and modify from there. Then you are just creating a setting book instead of this comprehensive rule book. And it is really simple to do. Just add the 2 new character class options I have outlined at the end of this blog post!

Psychedelic Science-Fantasy

Space Acid is a science-fantasy roleplaying game. Science-fantasy stories often feature scientifically logical worlds with hard science-like explanations for supernatural elements. They may also include alternate or imaginary science and technology that is not possible based on known scientific laws.

A hybrid genre within speculative fiction, science fantasy simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientifically logical, while a conventional fantasy story contains mostly supernatural and artistic elements that disregard the scientific laws of the real world. The world of science fantasy, however, is laid out to be scientifically logical and often supplied with hard science-like explanations of any supernatural elements. For this author Heavy Metal magazine typifies the best elements of the diverse world of science fantasy. For yourself it could be much different.

No matter, this kitchen-sink rule kit should provide more than enough tools to capture the spirit of your campaign. If you ever need inspiration for your next Space Acid adventure, thumb the catalogue of movies, comics, music, books, and magazines which brought this genre to life in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. There is literally a bottomless reservoir of material to draw from.

1.2 New Character Classes

Character creation follows the standard one-page procedure outlined in the Mothership core rules. There are two new character Classes to choose from. They are the Clone, and the Fixer. The Clone uses the Android Class but may freely choose the 3 Trained Skills they begin with. The Fixer uses the Teamster Class, but with Max Health being 3x Strength (not the normal 2x).