Gaming resolution / Stop being a bad GM

Whilst it doesn't look as though I'll be running, or even playing, anything soon, I have resolved to do things differently the next time I do.
I plan on asking the players what would they like to play, and how would they like to play it.
Revolutionary, I know.
It's like a whole new paradigm of thinking. Well, it kind of is for me, as I got into GMing because the guy running the Vampire: the Masquerade game I was playing in really was doing it wrong.
This has bred in me a habit of just 'doing stuff' to the player characters, hoping it'll work and getting frustrated if it doesn't. I've never really stopped to ask the players what kind of game they'd like to play or how they'd like to play it.
Which I guess is kind of basic error, one that I presume (hope) other GM's make.
If they don't, then I really am crap...

I used to try to get players to write up detailed character backgrounds, but going forward I think I'm going to ask about what style of game they would want to play instead. I'm presuming that by this point we've all agreed on the system and setting, and we're now designing characters.
What I think I should now be asking includes:
- What kind of conflict do you want to face? Physical combat, physical obstacles, political intrigue, social challenges, a mixture of two or more, something else?
- What is your character's ultimate goal / win scenario?
- What is stopping your character from achieving this goal?
- How do you all work together as a team?
- What would help you to really enjoy this game?

Ben and holly / Changeling: The Lost

Possibly a niche observation here, but I am drawing comparisons between the Hedge in Changeling and the opening credits to Ben and holly's little kingdom
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=5JarX6RMKos

Paranoid android / gaming apps

I have just invested in an android phone, from which I am posting this entry, and am wondering what gaming apps there are out there.
I've installed a pathfinder spells app, a couple of dice rollers (one of which is nwod specific) and now I'm struggling to find anything else.
Any suggestions?

Scoring your game / Consistent look and feel part II

To continue my earlier post on what 'my' World of Darkness 'looks' like, here's what it 'sounds' like.
Not all of these are songs, artists or bands that i've played in the background on game night, but they've all been in my mind (or playing) whilst i've been writing scenarios or plotting out sessions.
I've been sat on this post for a while, so I'm going to just add bits to it as I think of them.

The Mars Volta / Televators - This video is absolutely wonderful. It sort of reminds me of the original 'Knights of Pendragon' comic book series that Marvel UK ran in the early 90's. It also inspires me to run Werewolf games, or Mage games, or anything that deals with nature spirits invading the mindset of the urban sprawl / fighting back against the encroaches of man.

Superstition / The Kills
Greg Dulli / Early Today (and later that night)
Tom Waits / Small Change, Potter's Field, Alice, Low side of the road, What's he building? Little drop of poison
Death in Vegas / Aisha - I think I ran an entire Vampire: The Masquerade chronicle with this going through my head. Probably most fitting for a Hunter: The Vigil / Slasher or Promethean: The Created game, although it arguably lends itself to a Werewolf: The Foresaken, Changeling: The Lost or Vampire: The Requiem game as well. Or The Esoterrorists, Fear Itself, god, anything really. In fact, this song is just so inspirational to me, I feel like an artificial constructed life form hunting down innocent prey with murder and pity in my eyes every time I listen to it.

Baader Meinhoff / Baader Meinhoff (album)
The Twilight Singers / My Time (has come), Number Nine, Live With Me
Eels / Last Stop: This Town, The Other Shoe, Souljacker


Snow Patrol / Set the fire to the third bar


Spiritualized / Lord can you hear me
The Gutter Twins / The Stations, Idle Hands
Elbow / Grounds for Divorce - To my mind, a great deal of bars in the World of Darkness look like this

Books for sale update / Potential future gaming purchases

So far I have managed to sell on my collection of 4th Ed D&D books. One of the guys from my old gaming group almost bit my hand off, which suggests to me that I under priced them significantly. Oh well, mates rates, I guess.
He's already paid me the money, and the books are still on my shelf. Awesome.

Of the remaining books, I have listed them in my Storefront at Amazon UK, and am awaiting sale. If anybody wants to buy them directly from me, and avoid such niggles as P&P and Amazon getting a percentage of the sale, then drop me a line.

So, what do I plan to do with this potential incoming cash? It looks as though i'm spending some of it on my wife, putting some aside for a friends stag do later this year and, obviously, buying more gaming books.

I have decided that I am definitely buying Pathfinder, and am considering the 4th Edition of Shadowrun.
I'd love to hear any further game book suggestions.

The Esoterrorists / Rules lite proof of concept

I've been rehearsing this review in my head for days. A more forward thinking person would have made notes, but that's not me, so you'll have to manoeuvre your way past numerous half remembered jokes and observations to reach the core of this review. 

Sorry.

I think I started at the wrong end with Gumshoe. The Esoterrorists is a Gumshoe game, written by Robin Laws and published by Pelgrane Press. The Gumshoe system, as I have observed in other posts, is an investigative system designed to support procedural investigation games - CSI games, Mentalist games, Miss Marple games etc. 

The system has two mechanics - Investigation based skills and General skills. Investigation skills always work, never fail and exist to push the plot ever forward. General skills include most 'doing things' skills such as those used to fix a car or kill a man dead. General skills require a dice roll to use, and there is a chance of failure. 

So why did I start at the wrong end? What does that mean? 

I first read Trail of Cthulhu, which is 247 pages long and has a fairly fleshed out rules system. I then read Fear Itself, which is 90 pages long, and I was disappointed to see that a large chunk of the rules text was word for word the same as ToC. 

Now I own The Esoterrorists, which weighs in at a massive 87 pages, and features a bare bones setting and system. 

I looks as though each subsequent release of a Gumshoe powered game has expanded and developed the rules and presentation somewhat, adding value and discussion to the original framework. 

I see it as a proof of concept. The Esoterrorists gives you exactly the right amount of setting and system to springboard a game. All you need from there on in is some imagination and an eye for mystery construction. 

What I like about it:

• It's an easy system to learn
• It's a new idea
• The setting is simple, adaptable and universally understood - you investigate the paranormal for a secret society. You're like a more casual Men in Black or an X-Files team with better funding
• The drive is to solve the mystery, not necessarily blow shit up (although that option remains open)
• The book is cheap and short
• Everything is adaptable, given a basic level of imagination

You could do a lot with this game. A better GM than myself could tell a really gripping story using The Esoterrorists. I could run a fair to middling game, getting better with practice. 

What I don't like about it

• The system doesn't go into as much detail as later Gumshoe books
• It's short - Whilst this is also good, as it makes it an easy buy, the fact that you can get 2.5x the word count for 2x the cost if you buy ToC makes The Esoterrorists  a bad deal on word count
• The setting id a bit too sparse at times

Trail of Cthulhu, in addition to featuring more rules and setting material than The Esoterrorists, also goes into how to write a crime mystery, with hints, tips and discussions on how to construct a story based on clues and deductive reasoning. The Esoterrorists does not do this. It gives the GM some basic advice - keep the investigation moving. always keep moving forward etc. ToC tells you how to plot out the story, at which stages the larger clue should be discovered, how to shuffles scenes and clues around, stuff like that.

This is a terrible miss from the Esoterrorists, one which makes baby Jesus cry. 

As I said, though, The Esoterrorists is a 'proof of concept' game.  It's a new system and setting coming from a small publisher, and serves to test the waters before they dive in with further publications.

This, I think, is why it's such a light book. Why write, layout and publish 200+ pages if it's not going to sell? 

What this book gives you is a new way to run a game, and it is a new way. It's not a rework, or a hack, or 'inspired by', it's genuinely new, creative thinking. 

It gives you a setting framework that you can hang a good number of games on. It gives you a simple, effective rules system that allows for a story to flourish without bogging the session down searching pages and cross referencing source books. 

I would describe The Esoterrorists as 'Lean'. It's ready for action, which is a great thing for a new system - Up and running on the day of purchase. You definatly can't say that about D&D.

Games come, games go / Clearing out

I have a gaming dilemma. I have caused it myself.
I have suddenly decided that I should have a clear out of my gaming books. Get rid off the stuff I'm never going to use and don't want to keep.
I know, it sounds like madness. It is madness. I know it is. I still regret throwing out all my old World of Darkness, Exalted 1st edition and Ars Magica 4th Edition books. I regret throwing out my D&D 3.5 books.
I got rid of all of these books because I made the conscious decision to go all in with the new editions.

This proved to be a mistake with Exalted, D&D and Ars Magica, as I really do not like the new systems. I dislike them so much that I am now considering ditching these games.

To be completely clear, I am thinking about selling, trading, gifting or simply binning my Exalted 2nd Ed, Ars Magica 5th Ed and Dungeons & Dragons 4th Ed books.

• Ars Magica 5th Edition
• Exalted 2nd Edition core rules
• Exalted 2nd Edition storytellers screen
• Exalted 2nd Edition storytellers companion
• Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Players Handbook
• Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Dungeon Masters Guide
• Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Monster Manual
• Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition DM Screen
• Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide

The overriding reason why i'm thinking of getting rid of these games is that I can't get behind the systems.
I don't like the 'everything is a power' thing in D&D 4th ed. It works for Wizards, but not for Rogues or Fighters. Whatever happened to just hitting someone with your sword?
The 2nd Ed rules in Exalted just hurt my head. It's like they were made deliberately complicated and obtuse and ridiculous.
Ars Magica 5th Ed may be a more viable system than 4th Ed, i'll give it that, but I really don't like what they've done to the setting and layout. It's too dry. There's no excitement or flavour, just dust.

I'm not shedding a tear about Exalted or Ars Magica, but I am oddly reluctant to leave D&D behind. I don't have any other game like it - the classic level/class based fantasy quest growing from barely competent chancers through seasoned adventurers to epic godlike heroes.
As a result, I find myself considering Pathfinder. So much so that I've just cleansed my Amazon wishlist.

So, two questions to you all out there:

1. Want to buy some books? All in excellent condition except the Exalted second edition, which has some interior spine damage.
2. Should I invest in Pathfinder? Is it any good? Does it actually improve on D&D 3.5?

Mainstreaming Horror / Being Human

Mitchell - Quite popular with the ladies,
and some gentlemen I know as well

In my last post I talked briefly about the different Vampire offerings currently out there in popular culture, and totally forgot to mention Being Human, the new series of which has just started tonight.
For those of you that are unaware of the genius that is Being Human, it is, in short, a 'comedy-drama' about a Vampire, two Werewolves and a Ghost that all live together and their attempts at living 'normal' lives, in spite of their various disabilities.

It's not really a comedy, it's more a finely observed character piece, with humour arising from the juxtaposition of banal normality and the fact that they're monsters with unfortunate issues (hunger for blood, anger issues, transforming at the full moon, being invisible and dead etc).
Tonight's episode focussed on Mitchell (the Vampire) trying to atone for his murdering of 20 people last series by rescuing Annie (the Ghost) from purgatory (where she found herself after being exorcised last series), George and Nina (the Werewolf couple) attempting to find a safe place to transform during the full moon without endangering themselves, each other or passing innocents, and a sub-plot about two new Werewolves becoming aware of the main characters presence in the area.

Annie - had a hard knock life

In the past we've seen how Vampires organise themselves and the politics of succession and subterfuge they practice, how pissed the afterlife gets with Ghosts that don't cross over when it's there time and what they do about it, and what coping strategies Werewolves adopt to deal with their lunar cycle, as well as what can happen if they deny the wolf, and manage to avoid the change.

After watching it, my wife remarked that what she liked about Being Human the most was that it's just so British. The characters are really grounded with British (and I guess, Irish) values, reactions and habits. Refreshingly, it's not set in London, with the first two series set in Bristol, and the current third series set just outside Cardiff.
Americans - pay attention. If you wish to set a World of Darkness, or any modern horror game, in the UK, then here is your source material. Watch, take notes, look the references they make to UK TV and culture up on Wikipedia.

George - I believe that the special effects guys may have seen
American Werewolf in London once or twice

Right now I can see a workable WoD cross over game that uses Being Human as its core inspiration. The various Morality systems used with the WoD games complement the 'treasure' of Being Human very well, even the Harmony system of Werewolf: The Foresaken. George tries to deny his Werewolf nature, and gains a derangement for his efforts, he is usually more confident and capable when involved with other Werewolves, and has clearly adopted Mitchell and Annie into his pack.

Brooding teens / Why aren't more people playing Vampire?

At the moment popular culture is saturated with vampires. Off the top of my head, I can think of the Twilight Saga, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Let The Right One In / Let Me In, 30 Days of Night (plus sequels), American Vampire and Underworld. 

Whilst it looks like Zombies are coming into fashion, there's a strong argument that Vampires have been enjoying a period of broad cross genre appeal. 

The thing is, a lot of these offerings are thematically or mythologically close to White Wolf's Vampire: The Requiem (or Vampire: The Masquerade, for those mid-school gamers out there). I would say that True Blood cleaves the closest, and it wouldn't surprise me if Charlaine Harris had played a little in the past. 

So, why is everybody playing D&D?

OK, not everybody is playing D&D. My mum isn't, but she doesn't play anything.

I pitched a Vampire game to my old gaming group a year or so ago, and was met with indifference at best, derision at worst, and not derision of the game, but derision of the whole vampire genre and the people who appreciate it. 

Times have changed. Here's the stereotype of somebody who likes vampire games and fiction:

Freaks and losers

Here's what the reality is more likely to be:

A broadly representational cross section of America

Whilst i'm not itching to run or play Vampire, I wouldn't turn it down if the opportunity presented itself. 

Dungeons & Dragons miniatures / Revolutionary new gaming accessories

One of the hot news topics making waves across geek/nerd web community is WotC's recent announcement (some would say 'blow') that they are discontinuing their line of pre-painted miniatures and replacing them with tokens and pixie dust.
This seems to have provoked a mass panic amongst D&D players, who need mini's to play, what with the game being specifically designed for them, and measuring all its effects, distance and movement in Squares. I even suggested, during my last ill fated attempt at running D&D that all in character references to distance be made in Squares, and that the Forgotten Realms had adopted it as a standard measuring unit.

The minimum number of D&D miniatures required
to run a game from level 1 Heroic Tier to Paragon Tier

There have been frantic blog posts and forum questions, screaming "Where can I get more mini's from?!?!?! I need some more Vampire Mind Flayers and Rogue Beholders to complement my Metallic Blue Dragon Riding Goblin Lord."
Ok, maybe that's not a direct quote. It would be a Chromatic Blue Dragon Riding Goblin Lord. A Metallic Blue one just makes no sense.

Now, back when I last thought about running D&D I got a bit concerned about miniatures. I didn't want to let random packs of eight figures back into my life, as I knew from painful experience that you have to buy at least five boxes before you have the right figures to represent the party and stage a fight that doesn't involve saying "The elf archer, troglodyte and wolf are all zombies, the shambling mound is a wraith and the kobold is the lich necromancer that summoned them".
Then I had a revelation. An epiphany. A moment of clarity.

Why the fuck was I not using a chess set?

The board is the right size, if a bit limited in utility (you enter another 40'x40' room).
The pieces are ingeniously designed to allow the portrayal of the party (white pieces) and any adversaries (black pieces).
When it comes to monsters, the boss is always either the King or Queen. Any expendable cannon fodder are obviously Pawns, and other roles can be represented by the remaining pieces.

Let's look at the party:

• King = Warlord or Paladin
• Queen = Rogue or Wizard or Ranger
• Bishop = Cleric or Wizard or Warlock
• Knight = Fighter or Paladin or Rogue or Warlord or Ranger
• Rook = Barbarian or Fighter
• Pawn  = Fighter, Rogue

Fucking genius. I have now added a decent quality Chess board (with Checkers as well, because they played it in Lost) to my Amazon Wishlist.