Problematic Interrogating of Colonial Oppression in your Misogynistic OSR game

It is what it is. Running a role playing game in Seventeenth Century Europe where all the superstitious historical and literary tropes are real. In a game sense. We all know witches aren't real, but it was "legal" to burn people alive. We know forcing others into bondage is horrid, but slavery is matter of course. We know zombie movies are a parody of the depredations humanity visits on itself, but the next Battle of the Bulge is just around the corner.

I love the fact that the horrid human fantasy is but window dressing in the furious car chase which is my Clockwork & Cthulhu campaign. Slavery, splat. Cowardice, splat. Alien infestation, splat. Thieving and double dealing, splat. Cannibalism, splat. Gun fights and murder, and murder, and murder, splat. Taking advantage of the unhinged and mentally soft, splat.

Coming from a literate society and playing with others who are well read in the classics; Kirby, Beowulf, Hustler, just makes for a great game. Nothing is sacred and everything is on the table. Traditional role playing games can take any premise, any genre, any implied conceit and make it rock if the principles of good gaming are respected; Game Master with a firm grip on the genre, and Player's who do stuff. After that the setting doesn't matter cause the random mechanics of game play just add an edge to the event. This being everyone at the table has done something awesome, and you know what, you still may get fucked. Trust your Game Master or become one. Do both and be of service to gamerkind. Use POD and DriveThru to make all you have available to others. This is the golden age of gaming. It can only get better!

Scourge Books, the Royal Trux of podcasts

The anchor podcast party continues to grow and more and more episodes from anyone in the gaming universe are dropping every day. But the newest comer on this new block has got me out of the house and working on one of my game books in the parking lot where a lot of the local transients camp for the night.

Scourge Books has caught my attention with its glib attitude and basement living bombast which gets me thinking of overflowing ashtrays, empty liquor bottles and a corner of the room stacked with amps where the “band” practices. Where I’ve seen brevity reign (my podcast included) with gamer podcasts on anchor dropping in at fifteen minutes or less, Scourge Books plopped down an hour and half long first episode. A rambling bull session between “Scourge” and his “Woman”, keeping names and background absent, only revealing themselves through the dialogue; the gaming, video, music topics the two bounce through, the new show feels like a cut up four track mix reminiscent of DIY Heroin-Punk from the late eighties, except it is about table top gaming. And it is on the internet so immediately accessible. I’m sure someone can tell me in a red-hot minute who Scourge is, but for a brief moment the weird world of online content delivered me a dirty, underground thrill like reading Naked Lunch for the first time.

If Scourge and the Woman can keep it up, keep the topics revolving all hipster and eternally young and ultimately disposable Scourge Books podcasts could easily become a favorite listen of mine while I toil away on my own obscure DIY role playing projects. In a van. Down by the river.

Review of Gathox Vertical Slum Adventure Module

+David Lewis Johnson offered me a PDF copy of Quake Alley Mayhem for review. I am happy to do so because; one, I have used much of his royalty free stock art to illustrate my baby USR Sword & Sorcery,Rules Lite Roleplaying for Fantastic Pulp Fantasy Adventures, and two, I purchased Gathox Vertical Slum, a far out, gonzo science fantasy campaign setting for Swords & Wizardry White Box sight unseen because it spoke early eighties Heavy Metal magazine I bought on the down low as a young teen.

So I'm in David Lewis Johnson's camp hard. On top of this +Mike Evans edited Quake Alley Mayhem. He is the moving force behind DIY RPG Productions and does his shit soooo straight and right +Zak Smith threw Demon City at him to carry the publishing load. I buy Zak's stuff because it is some of the best RPG material available today. Mike I met at Gencon 50 and I watched him win a Silver Ennie for Hubris and he is not shy for flying a middle finger. He does not stay up as late as Jacob Hurst or Jez Gordon. So you know he actually is probably kind of a softie.

QuakeAlley Mayhem is a good example of how overworked all our best people are these days. It gives me hope that all of us on the OSR DIY sidelines figuring things out, well, we need to do so, cause everyone like David Lewis Johnson are writing fun good stuff and the pipeline for distribution is jammed. I mean stopped up! Evil Hat hasn't put out anything of value since ever. They are sooo starved for something to do all they can come up with is dissing the Ennies. The Ennies! Smart, mildly good looking men and women, on their own volition, are striving forth, putting everything on the line and producing great game talent and now they are swamped. If it wasn't for the connections at conventions and google plus being made by earnest folk in real time, well you my fellow gamer would be still playing Lost Mines of Phandelver again and again and again.

Quake Alley Mayhem is a harbinger of glee for all and everyone on the nonexistent margins of the RPG game world. Can you edit? Can you do layout? Can you write? Can you draw? Can you playtest? Do you love to proofread (there has got to be someone, right?) Can you use POD software? Gather together and make an RPG product.

Established RPG companies in the “middle ground”* trying to imitate WotC business model are in the process of being disassembled like a first level PC by a Giant Crab.

If you have enough enthusiasm and typing skills you can produce a ready to run adventure so much more interesting than anything else available on the mainstream market in an afternoon. And have people buying it and playing it by nightfall.

The regular game companies should be shitting their pants. I think they have been for the last four or five years and just can't say it. The best they can do is minimize outsider achievement. But once again outsider achievement will be on full display at this year's Gencon. The LotFP booth will sell out. The Ennies will be dominated by outsider products winning awards. These will be, in no particular order, Hot Springs Island, Hobbs and Friends, Frostbitten and Mutilated. In no way should the corporate game world see such scrappy, passionate outfits succeed, but succeed they do. There will be some hangovers after Gencon 51, but none which matter.

*an undefinded term of mine, but I'm thinking Pinnacle, Evil Hat, Green Ronin, Lumpley Games, etc.

Rom'Myr, a dying earth setting for Magic World

Fantasy Adventures in the dying world of Rom'Myr

An OSR setting using the Magic World role playing game rules

Dying Earth is a subgenre of science fiction, fantasy, or science fantasy which takes place in the far future at either the end of life on Earth, or other Earth-like planets. The End of Time when the laws of the universe themselves fail is also a common trope. Themes of world-weariness, innocence (wounded or otherwise), idealism, entropy, (permanent) exhaustion/depletion of many or all resources (such as soil nutrients), and the hope of renewal tend to predominate.

I started this campaign setting with BFRPG in mind, but I want to have a setting to use with the d100 rules of Magic World so I am in the process of adapting the setting. Here I jigger the Character Creation rules of Magic World to fit my conception. This post will then be followed with a post outlining how the magic system works in the game. When I build up setting details suitable for use by the GM I will post them as well, but I work in fits and starts so don't hold your breath on any of this.

Here is a link for a Magic World form-fillable character sheet for those inclined.

1. Character Creation:

Only human characters may be chosen for race. The available human racial identities are Rom'Myr, and the Fir'Bax.

Rom’Myr humans are citizens of the Blue Borderlands, the farthest province east in the realm of The Trackless Empire. Sandwiched between the Cold Heath and the Groaning Mountains on the shores of the Inland Sea. The Rom'Myr of the Blue Borderlands trade for Bolfian Silk from the non-human desert nomads known as the Strangled.

The land of Fir'Bax lies north of the Blue Borderlands. Uncouth barbarians, the elaborately tattooed Fir'Bax scratch a living from the small arable land surrounding the high peaks of the Yani'Hor, the Groaning Mountains. They are extremely xenophobic and war incessantly with the Strangled. This small barbarian kingdom also resent the encroaching Rom'Myrians into their wilderness domain.

Turn to page 20-21 of the Magic World core rule book and follow “A Guide to Creating your Adventurer”. Below are listed (if any) changes to this standard procedure as they occur in the process.

Step 1: Names & Characteristics No changes.

Step 2: Characteristic Rolls No changes.

Step 3: Derived Characteristics No changes. Please note Human Move is 8, not 10. This is a typo in the rule book.

Step 4: Age and Experience Any PC choosing the Shaman occupation rolls 17+5d6 for starting age, otherwise no changes.

Step 5: Magic Adventurers must have POW 16 or higher to be able to use magic. How the magic system works in Rom'Myr is detailed in its own chapter.

Step 6: Culture and Species Only human can be chosen for PC species. All Culture options are available.

Step 7: Skill Category Modifiers No changes.

Step 8: There appears to be no step eight so this is probably a good time to assign your starting Allegiance (page 28-33).

Step 9: Occupation and Skills All Occupation and skills are available and you are free to build your character as you like. Just keep in mind you will be fitting your character into one of seven Character Classes. These seven classes are; Assassin, Barbarian, Druid, Jester, Paladin, Ranger and Thief. The significance of these classes are detailed in their own chapter.

Step 10: Starting Money and Equipment No changes. I recommend you add Thomas Wiegel's a Wretched Catalogue for more equipment choices than what is offered in the Magic World core rule book. Just convert the cost in silver to cost in bronze.

1.1 Character Class Rules:

All the classes are available to any new PC. All but the Assassin, Barbarian and Thief class have the ability to learn and or acquire magic per the included magic rules if they have a POW 16 or greater. Each particular Class may have additional limitations which are outlined below;

All Barbarian PC's must be Fir'Bax. Only the Band and Tribe cultures are available to this Class. Any of the available Occupations listed for these Cultures are available.

Jester PC's should consider themselves more as traveling monk/scholars as opposed to being a kept clown for royalty. The Jester PC may be either human race (Fir'Bax/Rom'Myr). If Fir'Bax is chosen as race only the Band and Tribe cultures are available. Rom'Myr racial identity does not limit choice of Culture. They are limited to the following Occupations: Astrologer, Begger, Crafter (Tribal), Diplomat, Lost/Forgotten, Minor Noble, Nomad, Peasant/Farmer, Physician/Apothecary, Sailor, Scribe, Shaman/Priest/Cultist, Slave (Freed or Escaped), Small Trader, Sorcerer, Thief, Troubadour/Entertainer.

The Druid is a wild shamans roaming the dying lands of Rom'Myr. A Druid must be Fir'Bax. Only the Band and Tribe cultures are available to this Class. Any of the available Occupations listed for these Cultures are available plus Astrologer, and Sorcerer.

The Ranger, civilized cousin to the Druids must be of Rom'Myer descent. Rom'Myr racial identity does not limit choice of Culture. The Ranger is limited to the following Occupations: Bandit, Craftperson, Crafter (Tribal), Fisher, Hunter, Lost/Forgotten, Nomad, Peasant/Farmer, Slave (Freed or Escaped), Small Trader, Tax/Rent Collector.

Assassins are highly trained guild specialists. They owe their skills to an established order or institution. They must be Rom'Myr and must take the State culture. The Occupations available to the Assassin are; Bandit, Hunter, Minor Noble, Paid Assassin, Cultist.

Thieves are your most common of adventuring rogues found within the Blue Borderlands. They can be either Fir'Bax or Rom'Myr. If they choose Fir'Bax they are limited to the Band and Tribal culture. All the Occupations of these cultures are available, except replace Shaman with Thief. Rom'Myrian identity requires the State culture to be chosen. They are limited to the following Occupations: Bandit, Beggar, Craftsperson, Lost/Forgotten, Sailor, Slave (Freed or Escaped), Thief.

A Paladin is a PC who has picked up the sword in defense of some aspect of the lost past. The Paladin can only be a Rom'Myr human and of the State culture. The Occupations available to the Paladin are; Mercenary/Bodyguard, Minor Noble, Slave (Freed or Escaped), Soldier/Guard/Watchman.

2. Orders and Institutions:

Most of the PC Classes are bound to some type of esoteric religion or ageless cult which claim some form of legitimacy through ancient ideas lost to the unimaginable past eons of Rom’Myr. None of these confer any mechanical benefit for the new PC, but is used to embellish this dying earth with some of the player’s ideas. Of course the Game Master can decide to create orders and institutions which do confer mechanical benefits for the PC as they see fit.

There is a wide discrepancy in intent and capability of the organizations of men in the world of Rom'Myr. Whether battle hardened mercenary corp, horrid murder cult, or starving street thugs the one galvanizing feature of orders in Rom'Myr is the expectation of complete obedience.

Fir’Baxian Battle Cults; there is no better inspiration for your own barbarian battle cult than Red Moon Medican Show's Vacant Ritual Assembly Issue #4. Furious Gods (found on pgs 15-18) is a must read! These pages will be drawn on to demonstrate the magic system of the Druid as well as some of the “gifts” a Barbarian may receive from their Battle Cult.

Pagan Religions; below are names to spur the imagination when creating your worlds and player's religious orders.

Tix-ka-tix, The Returner, The Patient One, The Slumbering Pharoh (Petty Godsp.171).

Mespilus, god of medlar trees and their fruit (Petty Gods p.109).

Lubella the Transformative (Petty Gods p.96)

Esoteric Schools suitable for any character class;

Dlarafis, Augazor, Trani, Children of the Sacrificed, Sect of the Son, Chosen Ones of Tranquility, Band of the Studied, Followers of Vranis, Faith of Drysm, Congregation of Kousha.

3. Languages; Dun-Harad is the language of the Trackless Empire. Marude is the language the Fir'Bax speak. Sahrashin is spoken by the dark skinned Ahenti. Torbarel is the language of The Strangled.  The Other Language skill is limited at character creation to these four languages. As the PC's explore the world of Rom'Myr they may come across other languages and PC's may attempt to learn these through the regular rules for Training and Experience (pages 51-53).

4. Combat Skills: The only “House Rule” I like to add to the rules for Combat Skills is in regard to thrown weapons. Instead of committing an additional skill to the particular thrown weapon the PC can assign their Throw skill as their chance to hit with any thrown weapon. This makes putting points into Throw more valuable then having to split points between Throw and an additional Weapon Skill. I take that back, I have an additional house rule; boost the Base % for Crossbows to 35%. No one needs a skill in Crossbow to shoot these weapons at the Base %.

5. Combat: This piece of crunch only applies to PC's. If an attack throw results in a fumble roll a 1d20 on the following Confirm Fumble Roll table. This will either minimize or exaggerate the rolled fumble. Feel free to ignore this step if you don't like this rule.

1 : You really messed up this time! Roll twice on Fumble table.

2 – 10: Roll on Fumble table as normal.

11 – 19: Regular miss.

20: Recover! Reroll to hit.

6. Magic Rules: these will make up the body of the next post!

Robert Bohl Don't Post Here at the Vanishing Tower

This is you right? You threw some lame comment in regards to my last blog post. Yeah you are not welcome. 

The rest of you commenting on my claim that Story Games do a worse job at creating story than traditional role playing games you are welcome to continue arguing your point. I may even engage and try to sharpen my argument, but if this is the kind of person you truck with please just stay away as well.

OSR games develop story better than Story Games

[Edit 7/29/18]: Patrick Stuart makes a far better case than I can, read his post here.

In short I feel Story Games spend much of their game time talking about what the story is about while the traditional rpg's I play and run story is happening because we are playing the game. A common refrain I hear about Story Games is “it's about the story”, that somehow without giving PC's valuable session time to bloviate on what their character is about, what they have done, what matters to them a role playing game is terrible and being played wrong. Oh, also no one else at the table (think GM) can say what happens to their PC. I find the structure of a Story Game obliterates the stand out features of traditional RPG's to the point of making them unrecognizable, so much so they have a name; Story Games.

My latest game session once again reinforced my opinion that a traditional RPG delivers story in so many levels that the fall down for folks who cannot get a “story” out of traditional mechanics can't rise to the challenge. Role playing games offer a unique medium with incredible artistic and creative depth. Underneath the term “game” lies a medium which has no bottom, no limits to the quality of experienced to be realized. Therefore, with any artistic exploit, it is not easy to be good at it. And when I mean good I don't mean enjoyment. As a kid I enjoyed RPG's to the exclusion of almost any other activity. Doesn't mean I was any good at it. In fact I was keenly aware that there was much more to the game than my gaming group could really achieve. The D&D, Stormbringer and Gamma World rule books would mention this thing called a campaign? Where the game really shined as over the course of adventuring a world would be built up and the PC's would be a significant part of this. A Final Word in the original Classic Traveller rulebook sums it up nicely; “The greatest burden, of course, falls on the referee, who must create entire worlds and societies thorugh which the players will roam… The players themselves have a burden almost equal to that of the referee: they must move, act, travel in search of their own goals… Above all, the players and the referees must work together.”

Story Games remove and or minimize the Game Master's/Referee's role in a traditional RPG thereby creating something different. Which is all well and good, play the game you want. But to say a Story Game is the solution for not having story in your RPG is rubbish. It's like saying you can't paint like Picasso because there is something wrong with paint, canvas and a stick, the tools you paint with. No, while it is easy to paint it is difficult to paint creatively.

Today's session went like this; some of the players felt they had a cash flow problem. One of them didn't. Some of the players thought they should pursue a dubious means of solving the problem, one of them didn't. On top of this one of the players had a problem with the relations and deals the party had made with dubious factions through play at the present time. One of the players turned to me and asked, “Do I have to role play this out or can I just roll and try and influence the other player?” In my game rolls for the results of social interaction (bluffing, fast talk, intimidation, etc.) are reserved for NPC's. The players have complete autonomy when it comes to deciding what choices their PC's will make. “Look, you guys have to work this out.” And I usually punctuate the moment by clicking off my mic. This is their time and I want the party to sink or swim on their own desires, needs, wants, abilities and investment. In fact, they had a similar situation just the previous session. One character was not hot on letting the party's surgeon remove his recently acquired kangaroo tail through amputation. They had to work this out among themselves. Arguing the risk of death or permanent disability against the complications such an enchantment would cause for the party at large in the campaign world. This was all on them. And it wasn't the first time the subject had been brought up. Anyways, the tail did come off and the PC survived, but this doesn't mean there was a kumbaya moment where they all came out of the barn holding hands. No, the game's story is being made in real time with their choices and decisions. No one used an “edge” or a “move to direct the tale. There were no mechanics to be forced to help them out of a complicated situation. They argued, decided, and hoped for the best. And the PC's character, their personality, their “story” was made before all out of everyone's own imaginative clay. Good, bad, or indifferent as far as quality of “play”, they got what they got not because they followed some structured method of resolution, but because they made it, together.

Now back to today's session; the dissenting PC (on the cash grab) felt so strongly about it he refused to participate in the action. Once again there was no “my character wouldn't do that”, or “my aspect says I will do this” he played his story in real time, played his character his way, and surprise, surprise, with high fidelity based on what has happened to the PC during the course of play within the overall campaign. Because he was invested, because like everyone else around the table they put some decent effort into their role. And this shit happens all the time with the players. No one at the table is shy about arguing over choice, action and consequence. And this is the story. Sure we have arch villains, and mind-bending horrors to battle. Blood soaked combat and PC death, but it is in the session to session PC on PC interaction which makes each one of them stand out and a distinct and unique story emerges every session.

Are the best sessions when they interact with each other for hours and no dice are thrown? No, not at all. We get the extra icing on the cake because the campaign world is dangerous and adventure abounds. Sooner than later the dice must be rolled and catastrophe breathes heavy over their shoulder. Just because you gamed your balls off doesn't mean your PC has plot immunity. That just sounds too much like a Story Game.

Vornheim - My Most Used Game Supplement

I know I have droned on about this probably ad nauseum, but yes, Vornheim, The Complete City Kit by Zak S. continues to be the most used game product off my shelf during live play. I do use it sometimes for game prep, but, and I believe this is the point of the book, it works best for me when, midgame, I spin around in my chair and literally grab this small 64 page book off my bookshelf and put it  to use in the moment. 

Vornheim Commercial

My continuous campaign is set in 1646 England so the color, the fluff, of the book dovetails pretty seamlessly with this campaign world, but the nuts-and-bolts of the content, when stripped of the fluff, is a real honest-to-grimness Game Master/Referee tool I can use in any genre I'm running. The book has made a part of gaming I always found difficult to run a breeze and a joy. See, when I'm jamming a session there is a lot of noise going on upstairs in my head; what's around the next corner, what are the bad guys doing right now, how does the player's actions effect what is going on, should I arrest them... ? 

It may seem simple when a PC wants to make contact with their secret organization where would it be located, but it is just such tidbits I don't know which can bring my brain to an awkward stop, and worst of all, break the flow of play which most certainly is going on for the PC's. 

For example, today I only used the book once, but as I mentioned a PC wanted to make contact with their faction, a secretive organization which may or may not have a chapter in the current city. I called for a Streetwise skill roll for the PC to establish in a roll whether or not there was a chapter here for him to make contact with. If the roll fails then no luck. But the PC nailed it so I need to give him satisfaction. Go to the back of Vornheim, roll on the table and wala - Orphanage. It kind of bakes in what type of faction leader you are going to find. If I rolled a jeweler the location in the city, the contact's personality, all would be kind of different than the type of personality involved with an orphanage. Not saying the contact would be caring of the innocent, perhaps they hate kids with such a passion the orphanage allows them to enact their viciousness with no one noticing, but it does start the world building process right there at the table with credible elements. It is the English Civil War, there are going to be many orphaned and displaced children, who knows what they have seen... hooks just start mushrooming and all I have to do is sit back and wait for the PC to act. There is much more to the book than just building names, any of the numerous reviews out there can give you tons of detail. The big takeaway for you the reader is it is an in-play game tool which works!

This book is totally worth its weight in gold - highly recommended.