Using Film and TV to inspire games / Consistent Look and Feel part III

I've a running list in my head of films and TV Series that inspire me to run games, or that would serve as fine examples of games I already want to run. For example, i've previously mentioned how the Tom Cruise 'Valkyrie' movie made me want to run an Empire centric Star Wars game. I still maintain that it would rock. 

So, to complement my existing posts on Images and Music that make me think of the World of Darkness, here are the films and shows that, to me, serve as fine examples of the setting.

Movies

• Sin City - The comic book counts as well. The corruption, endemic crime, moral decay and physical rot of Basin City shows how a World of Darkness city should look. The stark black and white images and stories of love, betrayal, loyalty and revenge all serve as excellent examples of the setting and its themes,and I swear to God that Marv is a Promethean
• Night Watch - Opposing supernatural factions fight an occult cold war in a cramped and run down Moscow
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army - I've only seen this the once, but i'll be damned if that's not a Changeling Goblin Market they find
• Pan Labyrinth - This is such a good film, and could inspire a dozen or more Changeling: The Lost games. The horrific fairy tale elements are just fantastic, and could easily be excursions into the Hedge, with a True Fae tempting an innocent child into his court.
• Dog Soldiers - A staple recommendation for Werewolf games, but more so Hunter games. The film doesn't focus on the Werewolf pack so much as it shines a spot light on how an organised cell can use tactics against a superior foe. Plus, I love it when a posh bird talks dirty.
• Dark City - This is about a Mastigos Mage awakening to his power, and battling against Goetic Demons as he attempts to escape Pandemonium, with it's mazes, warping dimensions and mind bending effects.

TV Series

• Being Human - I think this series really shows what can be done to make supernatural characters normal, assessable, believable, vulnerable and human. It shows three very different people struggling to cope with being a 'monster' whilst trying to lead the kind of normal life that should be denied them, to varying degrees of success.
• True Blood - Let's be plain here, True Blood is the most direct example of World of Darkness Vampires available on popular media today. It shows the political hierarchies and intrigue, the compelling blood addiction, the effects of age, and Humanity loss on a Vampire, and has loads of nudity and a bag full of other supernatural critters knocking about. 
• Twin Peaks - A fine inspiration for a Hunter game, as an FBI agent stumbles across a small town that's being systematically corrupted by what could be a demon, or one of the True Fae, or maybe a Spirit. 

Cult Initiation / An introduction to RPGs

In my last post I mentioned my efforts to recruit one of my work friends into Role Playing. As part of this exercise I squandered valuable work time to write him an email that outlined some very basic concepts of the hobby.
I have smuggled it out of work for your reading pleasure...

So, I'm such a big geek that I really want to talk about this now, and I probably wasn't going to do any work now anyway…

RPGs require a structured system. All participants have set roles and responsibilities. There is usually a robust conflict resolution system and other rules in place to help arbitrate success and failure, and degrees thereof.

Most games, and there are more games out there than you could possibly imagine, require one person to take on a facilitation role. This role has a number of names, depending on which game you're playing. Dungeons and Dragons uses a Dungeon Master (DM). Most generic games use a Games Master (GM). My favoured system uses a Storyteller. Other titles include Director, Narrator and Story Guide.

Irrespective of title, they all pretty much do the same thing.
Describe the game world that the players interact with
Portray other fictional characters that the players interact with (these are called NPCs - Non-Player Characters)
Arbitrate disputes and rules decisions (i.e. prevent the 'I hit you' 'no you didn't' five year old child argument)
Move the story forward - this is the hardest bit, as it requires the GM to keep the players motivated, interested and challenged
Design the game world, plot stories and plan encounters - This is as hard as the GM wants to make it. Some games provide pre-published adventures, so the GM only needs to run the story as written. Some GMs prefer to 'wing it' and just improvise a story as they go on. Others will spend hours researching historical detail and present an entirely accurate 17th Century Venice and all the murder and intrigue that setting could suggest. Others just fudge it and produce games that are as true to life as most Hollywood movies, but have explosions and cool stuff, so that's alright.

The players create a character each, using a detailed process laid out in the games main rules. Characters have two threads - personality and statistics. Some people confuse the two, but they're knob heads.

A player's role is to interact with the world that the GM presents, and to interact with the other players. 'Interaction' can include - climbing walls, lurking in shadows, seducing wenches, murdering cuckolding uncles, stealing stuff, being witty, plotting revolution, disarming bombs, shooting people dead, driving cars - whatever.

Different games have different focuses. Dungeons and Dragons, for example, is massively focussed on killing monsters and getting magic items. Works in a similar fashion to World of Warcraft et al.

The procedural games I mentioned, Gumshoe, focus on unravelling mystery, finding clues, solving puzzles and often running away from horrific monsters. Then there are the social games, that focus on politics, social hierarchies, intrigue, betrayal and revenge.

Nobody plays games that focus on love, forgiveness and chastity.

Many games have rules that govern when and how your character can go mad, how 'good' or 'bad' a person they may be and deal with complicated themes.

Many others deal with simple themes, like smiting evil and killing monsters.

Next time we'll talk settings, genres and tropes.

Dice - We throw these at Power Gamers

Cult initiation / Getting new people into the hobby

I'm a bit of a secret geek at work, and don't, as a rule, publicize my gaming hobby. About ten years ago some work colleagues found out that I did Live Action Roleplay (at the time), and I didn't hear the end of it. Of course, finding a full suit of leather armor, foam sword and shield and a leather cloak in someone's closet is very different to finding some D&D books and some dice...
However, one of my rare work friends has recently expressed an interest in table top RPG. He's been listening to some pod casts about MineCraft, Yog-pod or similar, which also includes some recorded D&D sessions. He seems to think these are very cool, and has asked for more information. I think he's mostly into the fact players can essentially choose their own course of action, rather than be limited the way MMORPGs do.

I've been cultivating this interest in the hopes he'll try it out. I've written a brief overview of the hobby, which I'll try to post up here if I can get it off works servers.

My game collection is White Wolf / World of Darkness heavy, but with Star Wars Saga Ed, Trail of Cthulhu, Esoterrorists, Fear Itself and In Nomine as well.

What's a good intro game for a new player from this lot?

White Wolf / Reports of their death have been greatly exaggerated

A few weeks ago, whilst reviewing World of Darkness: Mirrors, I pretty much stated that White Wolf were no longer publishing game books, and were now just a legacy holding of CCP.

Yeah, I was wrong. Which is fine. I'm not an industry insider, and I'm often wrong. I live with being wrong on a daily basis. Just ask my wife (ba dum dum).
I also don't mind being wrong about this as I enjoy White Wolf games immensely.

However, I would like to share with you the extent of my wrongness. Enjoy...

http://www.vampirethemasquerade.com/

One man grass roots campaign / getting geek books on Kindle

I've recently posted my thoughts on the Amazon Kindle and e-book publishing within the RPG world.
Then I got my wife a Kindle for Mothers Day. More correctly, our children did, but they're both under four, so there you go.
Anyways, I was mightily impressed with what a Kindle can do.
Yeah, It's not much good for anything other than reading, but the fact that it allows you to read pretty much anything is awesome.
PDFs, Word Docs, Open Office docs, html, web pages, other fruit formats, plus mp3s and audio books. Fantastic!

Which brought me back to my original train of thought: why can't you get geek books on the Kindle?
A friend at work writes novels, and his first book on the Kindle. He states that It's piss easy. If he can do it as a part time author, then a full time publishing house should have no issues.
Therefore I have started a one man campaign, and I am wondering if you will join me.
When you view a book on the main Amazon site, there's a link that says "tell the publisher that you would like to see this book on Kindle" or some such.
I have been going through the gaming books I own and / or want and clicking this link.
I believe more people should do so.

Game design by idiots / odds even die rolls.

Shit, this is basically the system I outlined in an earlier post. Back to the drawing board.
http://www.mobunited.com/mobunitedmedia/2011/03/29/the-greatest-game-system-of-all-time/

Ideas I thought of first / Fungal zombies

Every now and then, everybody thinks of an original idea way in advance of popular culture.
I am happy to say that I have thought of something cool before a bona fide gaming genius.
Fungal zombies! It's an alternate zombie origin I thought of whilst running a zombie holocaust game for the Bolton gaming group. I didn't use it, but I still got my friend Eli (Dr Wood to you), a microbiologist, to dumb down exactly how a Fungal zombie may work.

Anyways, here's where I beat Robin Laws to the idea...

http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=4133

EDIT following comments that for some I can't reply to...
Ah, but technically these are animated corpses, and not living creatures infected (?) by a fungus.
The zombie ant fungus dictates the behaviour of the living ant. I suggest a Fungal strain that modifies the behaviour of humanoids and causes them to become violent, have a lust for nutrient rich fresh moist flesh and finally migrate to a tall building and spores.
It also leaves room for Resident Evil esque mutations.
Hooray.

Awesome e-book publishing idea / Tell me why I'm wrong

I have a question for those game book publishers that obviously read my blog.
Or anybody that cares to answer.
It's about publishing electronic books, the perils of piracy and the whole new market of e-book readers.
It basically goes:
Most game publishers have been putting out pdf's for a few years now, and they've been popular enough to justify the existence of multiple e-book only gaming stores. Drive thru rpg, for example.
Obviously, as soon as you put a pdf out, it inevitably gets copied and distributed illegally. This is perceived as a problem by some, a fact of life by others.
Wizards of the Coast cited piracy as the main reason they stopped selling pdfs of their books. Instead they opted to explore other means of electronic publishing, which seems to translate into subscription only web page access.
As you may be aware, I've recently invested in an Android phone (which I'm actually typing this entry on, fact fans), and one of the free apps I've downloaded is Amazon's Kindle app. As I understand it, I can read any Kindle book I've purchased on my phone, PC, tablet device or actual Kindle thingy. It's a buy once, use multiple times on multiple platforms deal. I think this is awesome, especially in today's market of platform tie-ins.
So, my question is: why don't we see gaming books on the Kindle?
I can see real value to the player to be able to access their game library remotely, as well as from their PC. I'd be well up for it. The quick access to that supplement I left at home would be invaluable.
I can also see value for the publisher, who would be providing an e-book in a format that can't (to my knowledge) be copied and shared.
Yes, there's no colour. Yes, art and tables may be problematic, although I know the Kindle displays pencil drawings incredibly well.
So why haven't Kindle game books emerged? Is it something to do with Amazon? Maybe It's too hard to format a game book to Kindle? Would they not provide enough profit?

EDIT 19 March: Google Buzz has provided some good feedback, which I shall now address.
Sam H -Seems like a reasonable idea to me. There is one stumbling block, that being Apple insist on a 30% cut of any product purchased through an iPhone app, even if the app itself is free. This is enough to put off quite a lot of publishers. Colour wise, there will be plenty of colour e-ink readers by 2012. The current displays are a bit slow and clunky still.
Nook - Point taken re: Apple. I'm quite happy using Kindle on my Android phone and PC. Plus Michelle wants an actual Kindle, so that's three devices we could use.
I'm not too bothered about colour at this stage, as most RPG books are black and white.
Alex Bennee -From my point of view DRM is evil because it gets in the way. Although the Kindle DRM is fairly generous in allowing you to view on multiple devices it's something that can be revoked -as Amazon have done in the past. Think you own something, no you don't, it's there at the whims of the holder of the DRM keys. Far better to provide un-DRMed books with watermarks to discourage copying. But of course I'm a freedom loving open source beardy type so I'm probably in the minority here ;-)
Nook - The sheer volume of pdfs I have on my hard drive that I've not paid supports the pro-DRM argument, although I should clarify that I'm trying to see it from a publishers perspective here as well as a consumers. Obviously I'd like everything to be free. I just don't think that will happen.
Arwel Griffith -What I'd like to see is free ebooks/ pdfs with each dead tree book sold. No way I'm paying for content twice.
Nook - I think this is an idea Waterstones are presenting to their creditors as HMV try to stave off bankruptcy. I also believe some RPG publishers do this already. Pelgrane Press, who publish The Esoterrorists and Trail of Cthulhu give you a free digital copy when you buy the hard copy version from them direct.
Since my original posting, I have been thinking about Kindle vs PDF.
Kindle is good for the publisher because of the DRM, and good for the consumer because of the convenience of sharing a document across multiple devices.
It's also bad for the publisher because they're reliant on Amazon to distribute and maintain the document, and bad for the consumer because they can't share the document like you can with a hard copy or a pdf.
Yesterday I bought a pdf from DriveThruRPG (yes, with money. Don't tell the wife), and have today loaded it onto my phone. It's a bit slow, and takes up as much memory for one book as the entire of my Kindle library, but I can share it, print it and copy sections out and paste them elsewhere.
Clearly there are pros and cons to all formats, and I guess my original question still stands... Why don't you see gaming books on Kindle?

One shot game Ideas / Alien vs Predator

My last post was primarily a brain dump in response to a friend telling me he's running his first WoD game, which he intends to be a zombie holocaust-esque game (of the Dan O'bannon variety rather than the Romero type), and was looking for ideas.

Having written the post, I find that I like the idea of sharing ideas. Especially ones I'll no doubt not get round to running.
Sorry for the double negative there...

So, let me tell you about my Alien vs Predator idea. In World of Darkness game terms, it's Werewolf vs Azlu, or, more specifically, a Predator King vs a swarm of Azlu, with humans in the middle.

I kind of see the start of the game in two threads. I'd have the players create two characters each, and split them up into two teams.

The general set up would be an archaeological expedition to the rain forests of South America and some recently uncovered Aztec ruins.
The cast would range from guides and jungle survivalists to archaeologists and documentary camera crew to security and porters.
To maintain the parallels with the AvP film (there was only one, right... la la la I can't hear you), one group will uncover some ancient sealed pottery jars that, when opened, contain large, soft eggs.
These eggs hatch into the immature Azlu, which quickly grow into obscene spider type things.
Azlu can do a number of things. When small, they can burrow into a persons brain and take full control.
When larger, they're massive, horrific spiders the size of dinnerplates (or face huggers) and can encase a human in a web cocoon and transform and take over their body, becoming a humanoid insect (like an Alien).

I hope you can see where I'm going with this.

I opted for a Predator King Pure Tribe Werewolf because these are the tribe with the most disdain for humanity and most likely to hunt and kill humans for the thrill.
There's little danger of a Predator King allying itself with humans, even if it's life counted on it.

So, why have the players stat two sets of characters? Glad you asked. I'll tell you why.
Having a bunch of parasitic aliens invade the bodies of the expedition is horrific in itself, and even more so if it happens to the players characters.
The down side is, those characters are dead and our of play very quickly.

My solution to this is the doubling up of characters and then splitting them off into two separate groups.
During the initial exploration of the ruins the narrative will jump between the two groups.
One will find the sealed pottery jars. The other will find a repository of ceremonial silver daggers. One group will open the jars back at base camp, the other will discover evidence of recent blood sacrifice. One group will be infected by the Azlu. The other group will have to fight to survive as their colleagues turn on them and lone hunter starts killing everybody.

It's probably worth including some supporting NPCs like local porters and tribesmen, faceless jungle guides and sexy college interns who can all die as the need arises.

One shot game ideas / Brain dump

I often walk around with game ideas gestating in my head, most of which never come to term, and those that do are often born baring little or no resemblance to the inspiration that conceived them. The bastard offspring of necessity and circumstance rather than the planned child of vision and inspiration.

So, after that rather turgid and overly long metaphor, what I intend to do with this post is record some of these game ideas for future generations. Seeing as the practice rarely resembles the theory, I'm not too worried about potential players getting advance warning. They usually cause deviation and upset within half a session without prior knowledge.

Summary: zombies lay siege to a gated community
Here's what I'm talking about when I say 'gated community'
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gated_community
One of the virtual fortresses with defensive walls, full time security staff and exclusive residents.
The set up: It is Bob and Lorrain  Danver's silver wedding anniversary. They are having a massive party at their home in Range Point Gated Community, and have invited dozens of guests - friends, family, work colleagues, country club tennis buddies, water buffalo lodge members, mothers circle members, neighbours and local businessmen. It's a huge blow out with professional caterers and a free bar, a jazz band, string quartet, ice sculptures and a guest appearance by a pro golfer.
As the party goes on into the night, the normal dramas and exchanges play out: family politics, illicit liaisons, business networking, drunken brawls, tears and laughter, before finally coming to a sudden halt when Bob keels over from a massive coronary.
Everybody stares. Everything stops. Somebody screams and Lorraine rushes to his side. One of the guests, a doctor, examines Bob and finds no pulse.

As people start to dissipate, and as several guests attempt to call cabs or an ambulance, several things come to light.
There is no mobile phone service. Network error. Network error.
The gates to Range Point community are locked, and the security guard is missing.
There are several homeless people milling about outside.
TV news stations are covering mass riots and gang violence across the country.

Shortly afterwards, Bob gets up and attacks Lorraine.
The dead have risen and are attacking the living.
The residents of Range Point, the party guests, party staff and community security are trapped in the community. They are safe for now, but have limited supplies of food and water and medical supplies.
What do they do? Wait it out or leave the safety of Range Point.

Players can play a resident, a party guest or staff.

The game would use the World of Darkness rules

Edit...
If you're planning a zombie holocaust, then see if you can get a copy of Hunter: the Vigil, which has a whole chapter on Morality and killing monsters.
My tips for dramatic Morality tests would include:
Accidentally killing a human being Having to kill somebody who's been bitten but not yet turned
Having to leave someone behind to die horribly to save someone or something else
Stealing supplies from other survivors. They need it. You need it. You're not them...
Having to kill somebody who's been driven mad by the horror (like Tim Robbins in War of the Worlds)
Not destroying a zombie, and learning that zombie has killed somebody close to you