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Friday, March 22

Six Shooters, Dynamite, and Cigars

Western Game Options from the Genre Tree


I listed Horror, Planetary Romance, and Historical as my choices from the Western category of my new idea; the Genre Tree.

I would instruct the game group to chose one of these three to further define their Western choice for our new campaign. Once they have discussed, and have made their choice I would give relevant background information to aid the players in character creation, and let them at it!

For Western this information would consist of the time period they find themselves in, and their initial jobs, or roles in society. This would all be prompted by a roll on the Detail Table for the sub genre they have chosen.

Here is the full Genre Tree with the Western, Horror branch expanded in detail;



1
Western
2
Space Opera
3
Espionage
4
Fantasy
1.1
Horror
2.1
Post Apocalypse
3.1
Cyber Punk
4.1
High Fantasy
1.2
Planetary Romance
2.2
Comic Book
3.2
Hard Boiled
4.2
Dark Fantasy
1.3
Historical
2.3
Hard Sci-Fi
3.3
Time Travel
4.3
Sword & Sorcery

















Western, Horror;





1
Superstitous Indians
2
Alien Horrors
3
Tormented Townsfolk
4
Wild Animals
1.1
The Burial Site
2.1
Cthulhu Mythos
3.1
Cannibals
4.1
Hunter becomes the Hunted
1.2
A Tragic Accident


3.2
4.2
Town plagued by unknown animal(s)








This is when I would add a random element. This is when I would let fate decide our characters embarkation point into the game world. A 1d4 would be rolled for the top row, and then, if needed, an additional roll to establish the final option from the ones I've listed.







In the case of Horror the players will end up in one of seven possible plot lines. Each separate plot line would have an initial situation the players would find themselves in, and hopefully everyone is sufficiently invested at this point to easily start playing off the material offered. For example;

The indian burial site;

You are part of a survey team looking to stake a lucrative claim. Coming across an ancient burial site you trigger the wrath of a bloodthirsty indian tribe. Your party will have to survive their onslaught. Inspiration; the films Valhalla Rising, Pumpkinhead.

The "tragic" accident;

While apprehending an indian accused of horse stealing the brave is shot dead. The son of the tribe's shaman, the grief stricken mystic unleashes terrible forces in which to exact revenge. Inspiration; the film Pumpkinhead.


 Of course any of these initial embarkation points do not need to be created out of whole cloth, neither do they need to all be original. I have Chaosium's The Great Old Ones, and the adventure "The Spawn" could be easily hacked to take place in the 1860's instead of the 1920's. To further enhance the horror aspect make the characters company men sent to Coopertown to end the labor unrest, and find out why the Beasleys are allowing the quotas to slip. This adventure would also find itself used as presented as one of my "Hard Boiled" Espionage adventure choices with the players unaware of the underlying Cthulhu elements. This helps pare down the prep work this approach demands of the GM.




USR Genre Tree

Taking to heart all the discussion found on the blogs concerning railroads and sandboxes I believe the discriminating Game Master, concerned with delivering a high quality of play for his players, should both "play the game he wants to play", and provide as much "player agency" as he can.

This suggests to me the GM should be able to provide a wide array of genre choices for the players at the outset. I myself find all flavors of role playing with their charm and wouldn't mind having a host of choices on any given game night. What I do mind is having to learn entirely new game mechanics to make such a choice possible.

This has always sent me in search of a universal game engine in which to create adventures and settings which could accommodate my changing fancy, and offer play options which gave everyone around the table the most enjoyment too. Whatever universal game system you choose, I recommend some form of "rules-lite" generic set because a GM will be tasked with preparing multiple worlds in anticipation of a random genre choice. I'm also keen on as short of a character creation process as I can. I want to get the group into play as quickly as possible at this first game session. Myself I am designing adventures with Scott Malthouse's Unbelievably Simple Roleplaying System, and have it in mind as I continue here with the subject of this post; the Genre Tree.

The purpose of the Genre Tree is to provide a semi random table for choosing what game the group is all going to play. To create a pallet of intriguing adventure options, to start every ones creative juices flowing, and encourage player agency from the outset.

Here is my initial Genre Tree. I would let the players know they need to settle on one of the twelve possible genres listed under the four "meta-genres". Once the players had made this choice, say Post Apocalypse, we would then look at the choices available for this particular genre; anywhere from one, two or three, and make a final selection on the game world in which to adventure.



Space Opera
Espionage
Fantasy
Horror
Cyber Punk
High Fantasy
Planetary Romance
Comic Book
Dark Fantasy
Historical
Hard Sci-Fi
Time Travel
Sword & Sorcery


This would mean your players would be looking at from twelve to thirty six possible game worlds to start adventuring in! Of course you don't have to offer as many choices, but I feel I have enough source books and different rule books on the shelf (let alone sci-fi, and fantasy novels) I can sketch out an initial adventure for all. 

The goal here is to have at this point initial character ideas so your group can have at the simple character creation rules of a system like USR with gusto. This should also help spark ideas for story hooks to begin to populate your new born sandbox.

In upcoming posts I will go through each of the "meta-genres"choices I've thrown out, and give a detailed list of campaign worlds for each.

Sunday, February 24

First Gem from The Dragon Magazine archives

Scott Malthouse over at the Trollish Delver has provided a link to where you can find almost all of the old issues of Dragon Magazine at the Internet Archive website.

Here is a nice background table for Boot Hill, or any other western themed game you may want to play, from issue 46;




How to ease the Boot Hill™ identity crisis
by Paul Montgomery Crabaugh
Everyone seems to have a place in Boot Hill except the player-characters, who have to be content with a place on Boot Hill. They wander in out of nowhere, invariably causing much havoc and then moving on. Mind you, it doesn’t have to be that way. A player can simply define his character as being the local deputy, or whatever; however, it seems that most players are reluctant to do that. Nor is this attitude necessarily born of timidity. The Deputy, for example, would clearly have certain advantages over the other characters, and the players may be reluctant to claim a clear advantage for themselves. The impartial (and usual) way to determine matters such as this is to roll on a random background table:



MALE CHARACTERS

01-06    Gunman
07-11    Gambler
12-16    Rancher
17-19    Bartender
20-23    Lawyer
24-27    Bounty Hunter
28-30    Deputy Marshal
31-33    Detective
34         Miner
35-38    Wells Fargo Agent
39-44    Cowboy
45-47    Stage Driver
48-49    Homesteader
50         Merchant
51-52    Gunsmith
53-54    Blacksmith
55-59    Drifter
60         Secret Service Agent
61         Clerk
62         Sheep Rancher
63-65    Foreigner
66-67    Teacher
68-69    Preacher
70         Scout
71-74    Cavalryman
75-77    Cavalry Officer
78         Banker
79-80    Craftsman
81-83    Doctor
84-85    Dentist
86         Photographer
87         Author
88         Artist
89-91    Deputy Sheriff
92-95    Reporter
96-00    Indian








 FEMALE CHARACTERS

01-05    Gambler
06-08    Rancher
09-13    Bartender
14         Lawyer
15-16    Detective
17         Secret Service Agent
18-23    Clerk
24-30    Foreigner
31-38    Teacher
39-43    Doctor
44-47    Dentist
48-52    Photographer
53-58    Artist
59-62    Author
63-64    Reporter
65-72    Secretary
73-81    Saloon Girl
82-88    Indian
89-90    Nun
91-00    Widow