The Good, the Bad, and the Unexpected

A Tale of the Road Crew

So, as of today I have been prepared for three outings to play in local game stores in the Toronto Area. 

Last weekend, I ran Harley Stroh’s excellent Sailors on the Starless Sea at Wizard’s Cache.  The venue was loud, as there were three Pathfinder Society games going on in the same space, and the tables were not overlarge.  But six of us crowded around the table, I leaned in to be heard, and we had a blast.  One of the players I had met on Free RPG Day last year, and another I had met online on Dragonsfoot.  It’s always nice to greet people we know, and to be able to put a face to an online persona.

Today, I was at Duelling Grounds at 11 am sharp, to run The Arwich Grinder, a Lovecraft-inspired 0-level funnel that I had written for Crawl! Fanzine.  I waited an hour, but as no one showed up, I called the event and headed home.

At 4:30 pm, I was at 200 King Street East for The Imperishable Sorceress, at an event hosted by Hairy Tarantula, which was supposed to begin at 5 pm.  Because HT had a large turnout for Magic, they moved the rpg events to the basement cafeteria.  If anyone went to the 6^th floor looking for the game, I apologize.  As the elevator to 6 was not in service due to construction, you might have felt a little like Arthur Dent looking for the zoning commission plans.  I know I did.

In any event, D&D Next took up the space until 5:30, so there was no event, and if anyone had come looking for it, they went away disappointed.  Again, I apologize if this was the case.  I must admit that, at this moment, my momentum tracker was showing that I was losing the spell duel.

I did use the extra time constructively, and drafted a new wizard spell for a project I am working on.

Yet, as there were still some gamers hanging around talking, and as I’d schlepped my materials all that way…I decided to take the opportunity to proselytize DCC.  I mean, why not?  And, as it turned out, we ended up playing a bit of The Arwich Grinder before George Brown College Security kicked us out of the building (apparently, HT didn’t bother to notify security that there was an event scheduled there after D&D Next.

So, what did I learn?

(1) Never schedule a game on Free RPG Game Day at a store that is not participating in Free RPG Day.

(2) Try to partner with stores that will at least take some action to talk to customers about your event.  If you notice that they didn’t bother to put it up on their calendar board (Duelling Grounds) or discover that they didn’t even notify security that you would be there (Hairy Tarantula), consider a more proactive venue.  Wizard’s Cache was much better in this regard.

(3) Pay attention to what you schedule against.  I received emails from some of the Wizard’s Cache participants about scheduling conflicts, although they were interested in the other events.

(4) Never give up.  Unless you are completely alone in the store, strike up a conversation and try to strike up a game.  You never know where that might lead you.

Through no fault of anyone (except, I suspect, Canada Customs) no swag was available at any of the three events that I set up.  Well, except for some dice that went AWOL at Wizard’s Cache.  However, swag has been mailed, and additional swag has been ordered, so it is to be hoped that the next event will be both more successful and more swag-laden.

So, here is my question for you, Toronto area gamers:  Where would you be most likely to attend an event, and when?  I am thinking that the next events should be Well of the Worm (lvl 1) Tower Out of Time (lvl 2), and Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror (lvl 2), because, presumably, the same characters can be reused, so that the loot you get from one goes on to the others. 

Thoughts?  Interest?  Other suggestions?

A Game of Dungeon Crawl Classics

Saturday June 15th (Free RPG Day) at 11 am, I will be at Duelling Grounds (1193 Bloor Street West) running a playtest of The Arwich Grinder, a 0-level funnel written by myself, and slated to appear in an upcoming issue of Crawl! Fanzine.  All necessary materials will be provided.  

The Curwen Family have lived up among the pine woods on the outskirts of Arwich Village for as long as the oldest village gaffers can remember.   Talk in the village is that they are quiet and clannish – perhaps something odd in their makeup – but when famine hit Arwich hard two winters ago, it was they who  kept many of the villagers alive.  The village owes much to their reclusive neighbours. And now, at last, a chance has come to repay that debt.

At 5 pm, I will be at George Brown College (200 King Street East; 6th floor gym) running The Imperishable Sorceress.  This event is sponsored by Hairy Tarantula North!  Again, all necessary materials will be provided. 

Hope to see you there!

Please be advised that Duelling Grounds is NOT participating in Free RPG Day this year, so if you wish to play in The Arwich Grinder, you may first wish to stop at 401 Games on Yonge Street, which opens early, and is participating.

Games Schedule Update

This Sunday, at 1 pm, I will be running Sailors on the Starless Sea (author Harley Stroh) at The Wizards’s Cache, 333 Bloor Street West in Toronto, just a hop, skip, and a jump from the St. George subway station.  

Find out why villagers are disappearing!  Explore the keep!  Die in droves!  And some of you will become heroes!  All necessary materials supplied.

Saturday June 15^th (Free RPG Day) at 11 am, meet me at Duelling Grounds (1193 Bloor Street West) for an opportunity to playtest The Arwich Grinder, a 0-level funnel written by myself, and slated to appear in an upcoming issue of Crawl! Fanzine.  All necessary materials will be provided.

The Curwen Family have lived up among the pine woods on the outskirts of Arwich Village for as long as the oldest village gaffers can remember.   Talk in the village is that they are quiet and clannish – perhaps something odd in their makeup – but when famine hit Arwich hard two winters ago, it was they who  kept many of the villagers alive.  The village owes much to their reclusive neighbours. And now, at last, a chance has come to repay that debt.

Finally, come with me at 5 pm, or meet me, at George Brown College (200 King Street East) 6th floor gym to experience The Imperishable Sorceress, using either your surviving funnel characters or pregenerated 1^st level characters.  This event is sponsored by Hairy Tarantula North!  Again, all necessary materials will be provided. 

These events are the first of a series.  Surviving characters can and will be used again!  Come try this great game if you are not already a player.  And, if you are already a player, come and play!

Hope to see you there!

TalkingClix & Social Interaction

Reading Black Vulmea’s excellent post on social interaction in role-playing games makes me somewhat concerned that my repudiation of –C’s “On the Immersive Lie” and “On the Fiction First Failure” posts make me sound as though I am averse to rolling dice at all where social interaction is involved.

As Black Vulmea rightly points out, there is a similarity between “I roll Diplomacy!” when involved in a social setting and “I roll Tactics!” when involved in a combat.  Just as we expect the player to determine his character’s own tactics, we expect the player to determine how he approaches a given social interaction.  And, in both cases, dice or other widgets may come into play to resolve what then occurs.

The problem with –C’s posts is the idea that deciding what you do before determining how to resolve the outcome is stopping the play of the game in one post, and damaging to (the non-existent, according to –C) immersion in the other.

Let’s imagine that you have an actual altercation, in real life.  The “tactics” of “rolling Diplomacy” include understanding the opposing point of view as well as ordering your own priorities.  Ordering your own priorities is important because negotiation usually requires compromise, and you may have to cede something you would like to keep in order to gain something you need or just want more.

“TalkingClix” occurs when the GM believes it is just too hard to understand the NPCs’ motivations, and/or the player wants to gain the benefits of negotiation without having the inconvenience of giving anything up.  In some cases, this just means giving up the degree of pride necessary to ask forgiveness or for a favour.  It occurs when you begin to argue that knowing what is happening in the fictive milieu isn’t necessary to resolve what occurs (or even damages resolution), and that, since the fictive milieu isn’t real, immersion doesn’t matter/doesn’t exist/is harmed by seeking to understand what occurs in the fictive milieu prior to applying results.

Effectively, this is an argument that dissociated mechanics are better for resolving action within a role-playing game than associated mechanics.

Whether a character is walking across the floor, riding a horse, climbing a rope, or trying to convince a goblin to let her pass, the dice are rolled if (1) the outcome is in doubt and (2) the outcome matters, typically due to a time limit or some danger involved with failure.  For example, no roll is likely required to kill a sleeping goblin, but a goblin who is armed and aware offers the potential consequence of being attacked in return (with related issues of hit point loss and possible death).

Abstract hit point loss works because it leads to a far less abstract potential outcome:  character death.  I do not think that many players would enjoy a game in which they had no say about what their characters offer in order to “roll Diplomacy” with a kobold.  The consequences are made concrete in a fiction-first system by having the players set them (i.e., “IF you let us cross the river here, THEN my brother will marry one of your daughters.”)  The outcome, if in doubt, may then be rolled for, or engaged through a series of mechanical widgets, based upon the game rules and the desires of the participants.

Mechanics for social interaction are not the problem.  Mechanics that subvert fiction-first, immersive social interaction (i.e., dissociative social interaction mechanics) are.  That is when you find yourself playing TalkingClix instead of a role-playing game.

Artists We Know and Love

If you are familiar with Angels, Daemons, & Beings Between, Tomb of Curses, or The Revelation of Mulmo, then you are familiar with the artwork of David Fisher. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXBdtjo5Ik8

David is also the author of the upcoming Trolls of Mistwood adventure from Dragon's Hoard Publishing for the Dungeon Crawl Classics game system.  

While discussing artists, it would be remiss of me not to mention Chris Heilmann, a friend of mine from Ottawa who did the illustrations for Stars in the Darkness from Purple Duck Games.  His online portfolio can be found here.

Road Crew Games

I will be running Harley Stroh's excellent Sailors on the Starless Sea on 9 June 2013 at The Wizard's Cache, starting at 1 pm.

This is a 0-level funnel for Dungeon Crawl Classics, and a great introduction for new players.  All necessary materials will be provided.

This will be the first of several events, wherein surviving characters can continue to grow and prosper (or die horribly).  

333 Bloor Street West, phone 647-748-3433.  

Future games will include a mixture of new material, converted material, DCC modules, and material wherein participants can gain playtest credits!

Wizard's Cache has just negotiated a serious expansion at its current location, so this is also a "Grand Reopening" of the store!

I will be running The Imperishable Sorceress sponsored by Hairy Tarantula North on Free RPG Day, June 15th 2013.  

This is a 1st level module for Dungeon Crawl Classics; all necessary materials will be provided.

Location of this event is TBA, and may be either at the store location (6979 Yonge Street, phone 647-430-1263) or at a gaming event at George Brown University.  I will update this post as soon as a final decision has been reached by the game store.

The Well of the Worm

The Well of the Worm by Harley Stroh (DCC conversion by yours truly) has now been solicited at the Goodman Games website, and is available for a limited time through the Goodman Games webstore.

Why should you consider this one?

First off, because anything by Harley Stroh rocks.  Second off, because all of the DCC products Joseph Goodman has put out rock.  Thirdly, because I had a lot of fun working on the conversion, and I can say that this adventure rocks.

It is always fun to see an adventure for a different system through a DCC lens.  I have converted Gamma World, 1st Edition AD&D, 3.x Dungeons & Dragons, Labyrinth Lord, and other "compatible" materials for my home game.

It was really cool to get the opportunity to do an official conversion!

Thank you, Harley Stroh, for writing such a cool adventure in the first place.

Thank you, Joseph Goodman, for giving me the chance to do this conversion.

Thank you, all of you, who purchase and play it.

Bullshit Alert

Did you know that immersion doesn't exist?  Because people might use the word to mean different things?  Because it might have a very personal meaning?

(Which differs not at all from, say, "role-playing game" or "D&D", which apparently are also lies, if one follows that "logic".)

What does that have to do with playing with people who are your friends?  Nothing!  But, hey, no one can argue with that, so let's toss that in there to confuse the issue.

Let's say that you accept the argument that "the game was in the description! Of course it is!"  Then, does it actually follow that when you are dealing with that description, it is somehow "shutting everything down"?  Or, would it make sense that, if you accepted that the game was in the description, that "stopping play to force someone to describe the action of the game" cannot be "disruptive to play" because that description of action is, in fact, a major component of the game?

Or, let us imagine that taking the role of your character negotiating with a goblin (portrayed by the GM) is only immersive "if you wanted to be immersed in the player persuading the Dungeon Master, not the character persuading the goblin", 'cause, you know, when you are rolling for it, that's the character, not the player. 

"[D]ishonest and worse, counterproductive and not useful from a design standpoint" pretty much covers it.  Yet another post suggesting that you are only playing the game when you are rolling the dice, or working the widgets, from someone who just doesn't seem to understand that the widgets are there to support the fictive milieu and action, not the other way around.

There may be "many. . . unintentional misunderstandings of things" certain people say, or it may just be that bullshit has an unmistakable odour.  I leave it the reader to decide.

ADDENDUM ('cause I just can't leave well enough alone).  If you would be so kind, take a gander at this post.  

How come it's ok to use 'skill checks' for combat, and not for something like talking to opponents? 

Because at the table, I can't use my personal skill to swing an axe, but I can use my personal skill to convince a crocodile to let me pass.

(Actually, seriously, read the comments too!)

Now, go back and read the first linked post, and follow the links here.  And, if you want, you can find my response to that here.

Riddle me this, Batman:  How is it that -C in 2011 knows why combat is handled differently than talking, but two years later this has become a mystery?

Perhaps -C's answer in 2011 is the best one:  "This, is of course another strawman - a misrepresentation of the actual process of play."

ADDENDUM to the ADDENDUM:  Ah, hell.  You should read this one too.  In it, -C postulates, "Combat/feat build uses aside, there is certainly some room for a 'social conflict' system in D&D, but a simple D20 comparison check is a really really boring way to handle it!" so the seeds were sown by 2011.

Actually, there have been several systems in the D20 System written to handle "social combat", the best of which was probably Dynasties & Demagogues, which, if you ignore or are unsatisfied with "Because at the table, I can't use my personal skill to swing an axe, but I can use my personal skill to convince a crocodile to let me pass.", will allow you to consistently make all kinds of social interactions into a mini-game.  

If that's your bag, man, then this is a book that comes highly recommended.

Mulmo Preview - Spoilers Sweetie

If you intend to play through this module, do not read the following.  This is a very minor encounter area, an homage to Robert E. Howard, to give some idea of the flavour of the text.







First Review!




1-12 Storage Chamber: This chamber, roughly 50 feet in diameter, is filled with barrels, crates, and bundles, which have been hacked, with some of their contents strewn around the chamber in a welter of spoiled foodstuffs and broken glass.

These goods were gained through a mixture of trade, tribute, and theft. Most were foodstuffs, although there was cloth, glassware, and ceramics as well.  Nothing of value remains whole, and there are clear signs of animals large and small having been here.

A large urn decorated with a serpent motif and sealed with a heavy lead plug remains unopened. It will only be located if the characters spend at least 30 minutes searching through the debris. Runes on the lid declare it the property of the cult of an evil snake god. Although both elves and trow were wise enough to leave it alone, the PCs may not be – within is coiled a demonic serpent which appears as a 10 foot long crimson cobra with almost human facial features.

The demonic serpent’s bite is poisonous; any who is struck must make a Fort save (DC 14) or be paralyzed instantly, dying in 1d4+2 rounds unless the poison is somehow countered. The serpent can spit a line of venom up to 20’. In this case, the victim must make a Reflex save (DC 12) or suffer poisoning. If the Reflex save is a natural “1”, the victim is struck in the eyes, and must make an additional Fort save (DC 16) or be permanently blinded even if the venom is countered.

Demonic serpent: Init +6; Atk bite +6 melee (1d3 plus poison); AC 18; HD 6d12; hp 50; MV 40’; Act 2d20; SP poison, spit poison, demon traits (type II: speech, read minds, infravision, darkness [+8 spell check], immune to non-magical weapons or natural attacks from creatures of 3HD or less, half damage [fire, acid, cold, electricity, and gas], can teleport back to home plane at will, crit threat range 19-20); SV Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +6; AL C.