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Topics - Cthuluzord

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1
General Chaos / Party Fowl: The Game of Drunk Ducks
« on: May 22, 2018, 05:26:41 PM »
Howdy everyone.

I made a board game. I think it's pretty fun. If you like the work I've done with RPPR, I'd appreciate it if you gave it a look:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/159466030/party-fowl-the-game-of-drunk-ducks/

2
I Have A Fear

“…and so, while I guess, there’s not, like an actual actual reason I’m afraid of them, I’m just like totally freaked out by giant squids or krakens or whatever you want to call them. I know we’re landlocked and their cell walls explode above a certain crush depth and all that shit, but just the idea of one is enough. I mean—the word giant is in the name right? Think about what that means, you know? GIANT.

“Damn,” says Tyler, “no more kalimari for this one!”

Everyone laughs. No one means it. Two because it isn’t funny. Two because they don’t know what a “kalimari” is. One because he wasn’t really paying attention. Tyler because he’s desperately trying to keep up the façade of normality that holds back a crushing tide of existential despair. It’s that kind of crowd.

“SOooooo who else?” Tyler beams, slipping the ‘light-hearted, conversation-starting mischief’ mask on that black orb of depression he keeps trying to masquerade as a head. “Who else wants to share their greatest fear this Halloween night?”

“Oh c’mon, Ty” Magda says, nervously scanning these chrome fixtures indicating a club too-expensive for her to keep drinking at. “ ‘Give me a list of your greatest fears?’ It’s a bit transparent as an evil plan?”

Her catty-ness is not trying to hide anything vulnerable from the group. Magda just can’t stomach to listening to Tyler much longer. She’d always kind of frenemied him, but ever since a mutual acquaintance had described him to her as ‘the edgiest youth pastor at Bible Camp’ the image had kind of stuck, and she couldn’t stand him any longer.

Anyway…

Tyler makes this soundboard-perfect maniacal laugh in response. Everyone laughs, but weaker this time. Tyler feels his mask slip.

Then Greg says, “I have a fear.”

It is not expected for Greg to participate in this Halloween icebreaker– or any other conversation, for that matter – due to the fact that pretty much everyone knows that publicly listing his greatest fears in any form of public speaking, especially at a swank club, would have to be, ironically, one of Greg’s greatest fears.

But no. It’s much worse than that.

(Wait…why was he invited again? Does anyone know? You?)

Greg says, “I get this feeling sometimes that I can see through time. Not in a like a hippy-dippy way, but in the same way you can see chess moves or think in…what is it?...counterfactual terms. I think that’s the word. So, I feel like I can see events, if not perfectly, then with a pretty large degree of accuracy. And this sensation gets way worse when I’m at points I can recognize as big choices in my life. Not the Butterfly Effect little stuff, but major decisions which you know are make-or-break moments. Moments where you can literally picture Door Number A and a Door Number B. Where to go to school. Which job to take. Marriage. Kids.  Stuff like that.”

“I can see these sorts of things like branching paths, and it’s easy for me to think these visions of possible futures are correct because, what with all the other choices between my current crossroads and future destination, I’m not even going to recognize that other road by the time I reach the next intersection. Like, that other path is going to be so in the rearview that it’ll be invisible, and I’ll have nothing to compare my past predictions to except the persistence of the present…which is about the most persistent thing there is, when you really think about it. “

“Sorry…rambling again. Anyway, my fear is that when I’m inside these moments and really believing in these alternate timelines, I look ahead and see the best path – the full Voltaire best-of-all-possible-worlds package – and the man I see there totally disgusts me. I’m afraid that, from my current position in life, I’m always going to view success with this sort of knee-jerk, reactionary scorn that I’ll never be able to root out. I worry that I see my best self – waiting down there to become me at the end of a very clear path of choices leading to the best possible outcome – I worry that I see myself there and I just find that guy to be the. Most. Insufferable. Asshole.”

“Like, I fear that I’m so fucking programmed with the need to hate myself, that I view the mere possibility that I might be better one day as this tragic story that’s yet to happen. This moment of pyrrhic victory I’ll do anything I can to avoid. No fate worse than the smarmy, insufferable dickhead I’m just certain I’ll become if I let something good happen.”

“So anyway, Tyler, my Halloween fear is that I see these choices every second of every day, and my unshakable need to hate myself consistently makes me take the worst path with even consciously registering I’m doing it. I’m afraid I make the worse choice constantly. I’m afraid I’m making this mistake right now: telling you this, sitting in this nice restaurant with friends. I worry that this one is the one: the choice that will cause me the most pain in all the possible worlds, a quantum collapse of a life. I worry that I’m always going to be here because I’m always going to choose to be here, and whatever happens I’m always going to believe…truly believe…that I deserve it.”

Greg was a real hit at costume parties, but Tyler didn’t invite him to his next one. Tyler also didn’t have a next one.

Magda felt a vague sort of attraction to Greg after the speech – in a weird way, obviously – but she wrote it off in the next moment as something that would probably never work out.

The two other friends didn’t know what the majority of those words had meant, and they had joined the one who wasn’t really paying much attention.

THE END

3
If you have questions, I'll try to answer them here, but I'll get to you faster if you post on the campaign page itself.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/159466030/red-markets

My thanks to all of you for helping the project get this far.

4
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Red Markets Rewards
« on: February 06, 2016, 09:49:18 AM »
Hello all,

Though we are still a long way out and a lot can change, Red Markets is on track for a late May Kickstarter.

I'm not signing up for any games of RM this GenCon because I hope to sell after hours games to backers.

Which brings me to my question, what kind of rewards would people most want to see. I certainly have some ideas, but I figure the group of people that have heard about the game the longest might have some ideas.

5
RPGs / Red Markets at GenCon/Upcoming Beta
« on: May 13, 2015, 05:01:20 PM »
Red Markets is ready to play. We are six sessions into the macro playtest, and I've got 115 pages of rules ready to go. Things are going well with the RPPR crew, and I’m psyched to run some games for fans. It looks like GenCon scheduling is solidifying, so here’s what I’m thinking:

I’m doing panel talks at 11am and 1pm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at GenCon (please come!). I need to keep evenings free for the RPPR meet-up, the Posthuman Freelancer meeting, traditional Glancy game, and the off-chance I could convince some experienced designers to try it out. That means Red Markets playtests will start about 2:30 pm and end around 6:30 pm. That will give me time to leave the Crown Plaza, make it to an open play-space coordinated through GroupMe (I feel shitty selling tickets to an unfinished game, and tables might all be taken when we arrive somewhere), and run the game before shuttling off to wherever I need to be that evening. I could also run games Wednesday night (depending on when we get in), or after the RPPR meet up (depending on my GenCon endurance roll).

So Red Markets playtests will be unofficial games, played where space is available, from 2:30-6:30 Thurs-Sat. If you are attending the con and want a spot, let me know. I will offer space as available.

Meanwhile, in the future...

If you want to rules to playtest with your own group, I've been filing away every request. I know who you are if you've already told me. I have the “Playing Red Markets” rules done (well, ready to edit, at least), but I’m writing the GM section as we continue recording the RPPR campaign. Additionally, there are no scenarios written outside of my chicken-scratch notebooks. The full workings of a beta playtest won’t be done until I get the school-year wrapped up, but it will certainly be done before GenCon. So if you’re one of those noble souls and want to try the game with some rando’s at the con, you’ll have the ability to do so. Ross might also be running some after-hours Red Markets adventure, to make sure I’m selling a game and not me as a GM.

Fair warning for those looking to playtest at home: I am asking for some dedication. I don’t have time to parse the rules down into the condensed nuggets offered as betas by big studios, and I don’t want to delay the start of the KS any longer by trying to do so. Running the game will basically require reading 2/3rds of the book in a draft format, having your group make characters or copy pregens, and giving one or two example scenarios a shot. It’ll be a big packet for a playtest, bigger so if you’re group is beautiful enough to try one of the campaign modes.

That said, we've got a bitching character sheet done, along with a bunch of helpful handouts, cheat-sheets, manipulatives, and hard-won advice. I also want to see about distributing a preview AP to playtesters, so they can at least hear the game as I envision it as they parse the text. You should all be able to have fun with at least a session or two before something breaks, and I’m eager to get finished so I can hear everyone’s experiences. More on the closed RPPR forum beta as it develops.
Alright, that’s all. Let me know in the thread if you want A) to play at GenCon or B) copy of a future beta and haven’t messaged me yet.

Thanks!

6
Here's the beginning, middle, and end for my prep work running the DW campaign on our many "off-nights" at RPPR. Marvel at my anatomical cartographical mastery!



7
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« on: January 31, 2014, 06:27:34 PM »
Okay, I'm at the point where I've written more than enough rules for Red Markets to break, change, and discard. Doing anything more would be building on uncertain foundations. Here's what I've got written up so far.

Drafted
•   Basic Mechanics
•   Terminology (my personal zombie nomenclature)
•   Tools (tags for gear and rules for spending charges)
•   Gear list
•   Casualties (rules for fighting zombies)
•   Combat
•   Humanity (Sanity system, basically)
•   Negotiations (the social combat mechanic to determine prices)
•   Outfit Sheet (character sheet for the company owned by the PCs)
•   Reputation (how your outfit is perceived, and how it helps or harms you)
•   Character Backgrounds (think in terms of classes or races in traditional RPGs)
•   Character sheet
•   Truncated Setting Description (see below)

I'm going to wait and see how all of that (about 25K words worth) holds up before going on to write the other stuff that will need to be beta-tested

Not Yet Drafted

•   Short fiction
•   Style-guide (will need it for the drafting process, and it will let me farm out portions as freelancing if the KS does well, finished the project faster)
•   Expanded Setting Description (this will be IC voice from metaplot characters, describing the Recession safe zones, Enclaves, The Loss, International setting, and continental US)
•   Competition (cultists, military, rival outfits, and other human enemies)
•   Aberrant (special zombies not to be trifled with...think zombie animals or Zombie jesus for Land of the Dead, plus other monsters as designed by Caleb)
•   Enclave Rules (running contracts out of a community settlement instead of a self-contained base)
•   Interlude Rules (a story telling mechanic akin to a road movie, used while travelling to jobs. There’s something similar to what I’m shooting for in the Savage Worlds Ultimate Edition)
•   Travel Rules and Random Encounters (d100 random roll tables!!! Mwhahahaha!!!)
•   Vehicle Rules (AUTODUEL!!!)
•   Mass Combat Rules
•   Contacts (Networking and reputation economy stuff)
•   Markets (not everyone is capitalist anymore: how do you transfer the rules to barter, controlled, or socialist economies?)
•   Character Advancement
•   Character Generation

Now, it might seem a little odd not to have those last two finished before the Alpha starts, but let me explain my thinking: since the game is about economics, achieving a balance early in the game is key. If players get powerful later through smart decisions and saving Bounty (the in-game currency), there are many options the GM has to make the game more challenging. But if they are too powerful or too weak from the start, the game won't work. I need to find a base number of starting character points and bounty to give level-one's, so to speak. Only after I have that baseline can I codify a process for creating a unique character concept as a player-facing choice.

Furthermore, people are going to think up character concepts I've never dreamed of before. If I can build as many of those into the system from the start and balance them with the game's and setting's economy, Red Markets is going to be more fun to play.

So I'm posting a description of the setting in this thread so people can pitch character concepts that might fit in with the world of Red Markets. I really encourage the RPPR crew to describe what they want to play here, but pitching is open to everyone. I'll try to build each character, then give that described character to the player that pitched it, or draw it at random for another playtest. There are going to be a lot of one-shots before we try the more extended play; the more varied individual characters we have to choose from, the better.

INSTRUCTIONS: read the setting descriptions (next few post), then write up as detailed a character concept as you care to in this thread. Since you don't really know about the mechanics, keep the description narrative. What does the character do well? Why are they a Taker? What happened to trap them out in the Loss? What is their retirement plan? How did they come to meet their crew? Who are their dependents? Do they live in an Enclave, the Recession, or back at the base?

I'll build the character and we'll throw it into a one-shot when we start alpha testing in a month or so. I really look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with, and I hope to get this out of the way so I can give a beta to everyone's home group soon.

Thanks!

UPDATE:

Red Markets is ready to play. We are six sessions into the macro playtest, and I've got 115 pages of rules ready to go. Things are going well with the RPPR crew, and I’m psyched to run some games for fans. It looks like GenCon scheduling is solidifying, so here’s what I’m thinking:

I’m doing panel talks at 11am and 1pm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at GenCon (please come!). I need to keep evenings free for the RPPR meet-up, the Posthuman Freelancer meeting, traditional Glancy game, and the off-chance I could convince some experienced designers to try it out. That means Red Markets playtests will start about 2:30 pm and end around 6:30 pm. That will give me time to leave the Crown Plaza, make it to an open play-space coordinated through GroupMe (I feel shitty selling tickets to an unfinished game, and tables might all be taken when we arrive somewhere), and run the game before shuttling off to wherever I need to be that evening. I could also run games Wednesday night (depending on when we get in), or after the RPPR meet up (depending on my GenCon endurance roll).

So Red Markets playtests will be unofficial games, played where space is available, from 2:30-6:30 Thurs-Sat. If you are attending the con and want a spot, let me know. I will offer space as available.

Meanwhile, in the future...

If you want to rules to playtest with your own group, I've been filing away every request. I know who you are if you've already told me. I have the “Playing Red Markets” rules done (well, ready to edit, at least), but I’m writing the GM section as we continue recording the RPPR campaign. Additionally, there are no scenarios written outside of my chicken-scratch notebooks. The full workings of a beta playtest won’t be done until I get the school-year wrapped up, but it will certainly be done before GenCon. So if you’re one of those noble souls and want to try the game with some rando’s at the con, you’ll have the ability to do so. Ross might also be running some after-hours Red Markets adventure, to make sure I’m selling a game and not me as a GM.

Fair warning for those looking to playtest at home: I am asking for some dedication. I don’t have time to parse the rules down into the condensed nuggets offered as betas by big studios, and I don’t want to delay the start of the KS any longer by trying to do so. Running the game will basically require reading 2/3rds of the book in a draft format, having your group make characters or copy pregens, and giving one or two example scenarios a shot. It’ll be a big packet for a playtest, bigger so if you’re group is beautiful enough to try one of the campaign modes.

That said, we've got a bitching character sheet done, along with a bunch of helpful handouts, cheat-sheets, manipulatives, and hard-won advice. I also want to see about distributing a preview AP to playtesters, so they can at least hear the game as I envision it as they parse the text. You should all be able to have fun with at least a session or two before something breaks, and I’m eager to get finished so I can hear everyone’s experiences. More on the closed RPPR forum beta as it develops.
Alright, that’s all. Let me know in the thread if you want A) to play at GenCon or B) copy of a future beta and haven’t messaged me yet.

Thanks!

8
RPGs / Horror: How Far is Too Far?
« on: July 09, 2013, 08:11:13 PM »
I'm going to explain the specifics about how I came to the question I'm going to ask. There will be SPOILERS for some Hebanon Games releases. If neither sound appealing, you can just skip to the bolded question at the bottom. I'd appreciate hearing some other peoples' thoughts on this.

So I've been thinking about this awhile, but it kind of came to a head today. Tim wrote a very nice summary of his running Lover in the Ice for his group. They called it "disturbing" (yay! it worked!), but then made a joke about him being a freak for backing it on Kickstarter (not so yay). I've also gotten reviews of the scenario like this one: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/11/22/tabletop-review-lover-in-the-ice-no-security/

And while I think the review above is overall positive, I have to admit I was a little disappointed that DieHard GameFAN didn't care for the scenario as much as the others in the No Security pack merely because of the sex angle. I'm not angry, and I get that the topic is hard to touch on even briefly for some gamers, but

Add all this with my writing today. I'm working on the monster for The Wives of March. The description sort of ran away from me and reached the level of short story, but I just rolled with it. Anyway, I was plugging along for awhile before I realized I was kind of squicking myself out. I took a break, Sara snuck in an read it, and now she's giving me a look that says I-just-realized-our-7-year-relationship-is-an-elaborate-ruse-to-torture-and-kill-me.

Part of me feels like this is a good thing: if it can't scare me, what chance does it have with an audience? But I'm also doubting myself. I think its probably a good thing that a MONSTER is scary and disturbing, but I don't want to make people too uncomfortable at the table. I mean, when I came up with the Amante, it literally never occurred to me that people would be made so squicky by it. I actually worried it would be boring because the whole conflation-of-sex-and-death theme would be too trite to be scary. But I've heard suggestions that it actually makes people too uncomfortable to play. I don't want that at all.

But on the flip side, I also want to call bullshit. I think I write games that are clearly R rated, and that you shouldn't teach your kids how to play RPG's with Cthulhu-esque horror games. That is to say, people know what they are getting into with Hebanon Games.

I also think that sex, reproduction, and many other factors in life beyond violence are scary as hell, and I don't know what horror gains by avoiding those topics -- so long as negative actions within those contexts are treated as realistically terrifying rather than exploitative. So long as it serves the narrative at the same time, horror is supposed to transgress and make people uncomfortable, isn't it? If monsters can't have babies, but it's totally cool if they eat your face or suck your soul into a non-Euclidian hell dimension, isn't that just to serving the weird American disconnect between violence vs. EVERYTHING ELSE the culture finds offensive?

To use an example, Skip Mill's house gets mentioned a lot in playthroughs I've been told about. Players get grossed out by the porn covered walls. Good -- that's the point -- but hardly anyone mentions his mother's chewed remains in the bedroom or the blind, taloned monkey-thing crawling around the attic. Why not?

 How is the Amante lifecycle any more disturbing than man-sized puppets that bait you into being prey for an alien god (Bryson Springs), obese carrion eaters festering beneath your feet (Red Tower), or inescapable hell-grubs that can manifest from another dimension at any time and without explanation (Fall Without End)? Is it creepy because some people that aren't infected with hell parasites decorate that way in the real world? Is the sex angle somehow intrinsically too exploitive or sexist? But if so, how specifically? My monsters are equal opportunity harbingers of destruction, and I don't think I for one second fetishized how fun an Amante attack was (or at least I hope no one read it that way...that's genuinely scary to think about).

Despite the urges used to drive them towards new victims, Seeders are NOT trying to rape anyone; they are trying to murder them, though I will admit that the primal fear of violation is something I was trying consciously to tap into. The Amante is NOT doing anything that could be called sex; the fact that's it has an animal definition of its action that doesn't intersect with the human perception is where the scary comes from. I mean, I was consciously going for an Alien vibe, but the scariness is what people remember about that brilliant film, whereas I worry I'm falling short and just landing in "pervy." Obviously, this wasn't my intention, and it's something I'd like to prevent in the future whether its due to the subject matter or just my inability to pull it off.

So yeah, here's the question that all this brings up: How far is TOO far in a Horror Game? What can't be done in a story at the table, and is it the same list for Horror films or books? I think I know when something transforms from terrifying to tasteless, but my definition differs from others. Clearly, that difference of opinion is always going to exist, but what really worries me is that I don't have any kind of vocabulary for addressing that limit, nor do I know what I should do when that border comes into view. Should I attack it? Steer clear? What makes for a better story and game in the horror genre?

You folks are cool, and the extra cool ones are familar with my work :D. Plus, many on the forums are more widely read in the genre than I. I'd like to hear what everyone has to say.

9
I thought there was a thread for this, but I guess not. I'll go ahead and start one even though we are near the end of the campaign.

I needed to warm-up for writing today and couldn't stop thinking about Haru. Specifically, I couldn't figure out why he wanted to figure out the damned conspiracy so much, why he didn't just take the money and run. I wrote a little short story about it, taking place between tonight's game and the last (the raid on Wisdom Laboratories). Thought I'd put it here.

SPOILERS FOR THE CAMPAIGN AHEAD, OBVIOUSLY

Haru swayed but was not lulled to sleep. He was crammed into the dining alcove aboard a ship stolen from a thing he’d defenestrated, immolated, crushed, and shred with an entire clip.

On the table lay the file folder and the laptop. It’s charging light made the dark cabin pulse a dull green.

Haru never slept much anymore. He had to piss too often, and his slightest waking was as complete and total as the deathly exhaustion that could actually put him to bed. Most of all, the others said they’d been visited in their dreams, and though he was loath to admit it, he would not risk carrying the war to that front. Not yet.

Shinji had already rewired and connected the hard drive before bed. He’d used the task to distract himself from Kazuo’s screams as they’d dug shot from the boy’s shoulder by moonlight: still no stomach for blood even this late in the game. They all sprawled out on the bloodstained deck after, exhausted and spent after days on the hunt.

But it was all there for Haru now, the answers finally ready. He just had to open something and start reading. 

Haru did not want to look.

He splayed his hands out on either side of the intel. The calloused old fingers drummed rhythmically, in the way that had driven his life’s every partner, sexual and professional, mad at some point. He thought about how each finger tap meant he’d have to sink this place to hide the prints. He thought about the cordite and blood that stained him up to the wrists, the rasp of detonation wires that had so often of late kissed the fingertips. He thought about all the bones and throats he’d felt give way under those hands in the past month, about the way he could still force those hands to stop shaking as he feigned calm as he walked away from murders.

His life had built to this orgy of bullets and explosions in a terrible, discordant crescendo. A life spent living in vans, watching over bastards, learning to sharpen his eye with contempt like a blade to whetstone. It had served as foundation to these past few months. Even his failures – the drinking, the forced retirement – seemed worth it now.  Who else would keep these green troops alive? Who else would stop this, whatever it was?

Even losing Sachiko and the girls to that man up north – that soft bastard who was better than him for all his weakness – it could all be redeemed now. He just had to lead his boys home and close the door behind them.

He did not want to read the files.

Because he knew he was not thinking right. He knew he was old, nostalgic, and desperate. He knew that in some sick way he wanted all this as a validation, and he knew the enemy would use that desire to gut him. He was thinking like an amateur insurgent in a game that rewarded only the patient and the cold.

And they were playing against the most patient, cold thing Haru had ever seen. He could feel the strategy slipping from his control. Whatever was in the files would make the decision for him.

In the one drumming hand, he placed the possibility that after reading the files he’d no longer be able to fool himself. There would be no more comforting suppositions about black ops, confidential biotech, or false flags. He’d have proof they faced actual Oni of legend, and that would cast him in the role of samurai sworn to save the innocent. He’d start thinking like a zealot, and his boys would get martyred in the process.

On the other hand, the files could confirm his cynicism. It would all be about money and misdirection; it always was. Instead of monsters, they’d be facing the usual greedy bastards, distinguishable only by their fancy new drugs. The whole travesty would be just another job. It would mean so many had died for nothing, for no reason other than he was too proud to admit he’d gotten too old. He’d run away and die years and leagues away as just another broken spook, senile and shitting himself in a hospital bed.

Haru did not want to look at the files.

He emptied his pockets, looking for it. The Miroku revolver hit the table first, followed by the ID’s of a dozen men that didn’t exist but shared his face. Shiny new credit cards with fake names scattered, each fueled the money of a deluded madman who would likely see them all in prison even if they succeeded. A flier for the Empty Five floated out, the cover that may have overwritten the man. Finally, he clutched what he wanted and brought it to the dull charging light.

It was a small bottle of Yamazaki whiskey: a plastic, overpriced hotel sample. It had been the last drink he never took, the one he’d been saving for later the night he got recruited for the security firm. He’d switched loyalties that night, from the bottle to the man who gave him another chance and the boys in his care. But the bottle was always with him, always accepting, desirous of his return. And each day he didn’t pop the lid was a day he still had power. Just looking at it calmed him: the unbroken seal, the full-to-bursting little neck. His fingers stopped their drumming.

Refusal was his power. It always had been. He laid the golden-brown bottle on the file: it was the third option.

Haru took stock. They had enough money, and he had the resolve to get whatever other resources would be needed, provided enough time. They had the patron and his armies. There was the promised pardon upon the victory condition, a new life prepared and capable of shepherding the rest to safety.

He’d long ago recognized the shakes in young Kazuo, noticed the hungry eyes of a junkie every time they mentioned the drugs. Haru couldn’t blame the boy after what he’d been through, but he refused watch it eat him. Still, an addict would do anything for a fix, and one last binge might prove necessary.

Ito was a lost cause, too in love with the killing, too willing to follow orders, too old and worn for his age. That yakuza would keep in the game until he went bust, but he’d stay a good soldier throughout. Good soldiers always had their uses.

Shinji needed out, whether he thought so or not. Too soft. He’d mold the boy into a soldier just long enough to see him freed of the job. He’d ensure he’d survive and hope the boy could become human again afterwards.

Shiro wanted gone. This was not his country, and he was finally realizing that his smile couldn’t keep the shrapnel away. A man would always push harder, the finish line in sight.

Finally, Haru had himself. He had his refusal.

When he’d taken up that bottle, he did so knowing he would one day drink it. With certainty, he would fail. But each day that passed that was not that day was a victory.

Like the drink, he would refuse death. Despite all that faced them, he would survive. Their enemy, whatever he was, would pray for his failure. He’d make them beg for his death with the same desperation as his own ever-present thirst. And Haru would say no, again and again

They’d imagine him hunting forever, leeching their eternity away with paranoia, a thing as persistent and relentless as themselves. They’d grow frustrated, impatient for his inevitable death. They would try to hurry things along. They’d make mistakes.

He would break the decadent immortality of these monsters with the stubbornness and spite of an old man.

Haru took up the Yamazaki, glared once more into its amber swirls, and returned it to his breast pocket.

Then he opened the files….

10
So we are starting the new campaign. I thought I'd post what information I can now so anyone wishing to write up their character has a place to.

The Setting

Brighter Futures Academy: The centerpiece of the whole campaign—The Brighter Futures Academy (owned by the Channing Cooperative Educational Group) is located in a low-rent residential neighborhood in downtown St. Louis, surrounded on all sides by major highways heading to better places. The school is a single story tall and located on what used to be (and sometimes still is) an active drug corner, flanked by a gas station, empty lot, and its bus garage. The floorplan is relatively small, with a modest cafeteria and a single gym. There are still enough students to organize the hallways by separate subjects, but it is still far smaller than the failing St. Louis schools around it. Brighter Futures accepts tuition from students but primarily operates off a controversial school voucher program recently passed in the city. This is its second year of operation.

The Players

PC's can be anyone regularly attending the school: students, teachers, administrators, janitors, IT professionals, nurses, lunch staff.

The World

Superheroes have always existed, though their popularity and acknowledgement as "superheroes" is the product mass media rise. The phenomenon of supercrime and heroism is only about 70 to 80 years old, though there are many tales of extreme superhuman feats as far back as history cares to mention. Previously thought to be poetic license, these events have taken the shape of Silver Age super-people tropes, likely because that is how they were reported for a number of decades, turning the message into the medium.

History hasn't been much altered. The ability to kill stuff with your eye lasers, while useful, doesn't typically make impacts large enough to alter the world stage. Some supers fought in the big wars, a few assassinations were successful that otherwise wouldn't have worked out, but otherwise stuff is the same.

The internet exists, as do cellphones, but they are much larger, more crudely made, and plagued by ugly interfaces. Cars are reminiscent of the 70's and 80's, and weapons aren't much beyond that time period either (cops still carry revolvers; the army still has M16's). A lot of time was wasted in the industrial age research abandoned superhero artifacts (that weren't actually using super science so much as divine magic). Ultimately, society has all the capabilities of 2013, but in a much cruder, less-user-friendly form. Think of John Holmes movie, but with text messaging and facebook (even though it is called "myeblackbook.net").

The Demons

I'm not elaborating on that yet. Demons are liars. Whatever explanation for demons the book suggests that the PC's want to use is fine by me. Even if they give elaborate explanation to the humans as to how they are the human collective unconscious given psychic form, it could just be a hellspawn having fun. If they want concrete information as to the existence of higher powers, they will have to pay for that information with sin.

The Mystery

I'm not ready to talk about that yet either. Suffice it to say that when events kick off, players will be reliant on their demons for information as well as power. Nothing is free in the devil game, so a major mechanic will be bargaining with demons (and other players) for plot information. Who gives up a piece of their soul for the next plot hook? Among other things...

So yeah...that's it so far. Character write-ups are welcome. It's good to have a fleshed out human before we start factoring in the demons and super-personas and whatnot.

11
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / What should Caleb run next?
« on: November 25, 2012, 08:16:04 PM »
We are moving back to the alternating campaign schedule next semester. I want to run a game, but unless something changes in the near future, I'm not leaning towards anything in particular.  What do people want to hear? So far, I've got ideas for...

1. Better Angels
2. Zombie Game (using FATE or Gumshoe)
3. Night's Black Agents

I'd accept suggestions for other stuff. Just don't suggest anything by Palladium; I'll hunt you down >:(

12
RPGs / Better Angels
« on: October 08, 2012, 09:39:23 PM »
I'm going to be running a Better Angels campaign once the group gets back together on a single night and a few more of the rules get solidified. The basic structure of the plot came to me tonight, and I'd like to be able to start picking away at it in spare moments.

Without giving too much away, the campaign will start as an origin story (e.g. how you got possessed by a demon and got superpowers). Everyone is going to be in a charter school for At Risk inner city youth in St. Louis. You certainly can be a teacher if you wish, but no one is limited to that character concept. PC's could be administrators, students, counselors, janitors, lunch ladies, IT professionals, maintenance staff, contractors, resource officers, visiting parents, politicians on walkthrough inspections, or anybody else that might be on the premises.

It would help if I had some ideas as to what players are leaning towards. Nothing that you write down is final, but it will certainly help me come up with initial ideas if there are a few character concepts flying around. It's too early for demon ideas yet; we'll design those in-game. Besides, you have little say in how your character's demon manifests and a lot of creative control over someone else's.

So, any help? The first session or two is going to be that "A Dirty World" scenario Ross is always telling me to write about schools; who do you want to play?

13
I feel it was long overdue, but now that hedonism senator has been unleashed on the world, it is time to give Thaddeus his own fan club thread.

I'll start...

Having run "Dangers of Fraternization" 5 times now, I will forever be disappointed in anybody playing the hard-bitten Sgt. that isn't Thad. Nobody fucking COMMITS to a character quite so much, and I'm thrilled he has joined the group. I hope one day he'll run a game for us so I can get a whole cast of Thad NPC's all at once.

Alright, anyone else want to continue the Thad love?

14
RPGs / Hunger Games and RPG's
« on: June 28, 2011, 07:22:37 PM »
Has anybody out there read the Hunger Games series? I know its YA, but the writing ain't half bad and it gets as violent as any mature fantasy/science fiction book I've ever read. I just finished Mockingjay and it occurs to me that the setting would be ridiculously game-able as an RPG. 

So has anybody read the books? Think there would be a market for this among gamers?

15
RPGs / CoC Etiquette Question
« on: June 17, 2011, 12:33:05 AM »
I've gathered that making up new monsters, tomes, and cults is not unheard of among CoC roleplaying, but what about deities? Is it okay to invent, for the purposes of a specific game, a new Outer God or Great Old One? Or would that be considered in bad taste?

I know I've come late to the Lovecraft party, but after studying the history of the mythos for a bit, it seems that everyone's invited as long as they bring heaping helpings of MADNESS and DOOM. I don't see why people can't throw more contradictions into the already-confused mythos potluck so long GM's "don't negate" the mythos (i.e. "Actually, Azazoth is a pussy; this thing is really scary!"). In fact, I feel that new creations become necessary for real horror to occur in a CoC game once you've read the stories/sourcebook.  As Ross once told me, it is harder to be creeped out in game when that player voice in the back of your head is screaming, "Oh, that shit is definitely a Star Vampire. Buy a plane ticket and get the hell out of town. Game Over." Having versed myself more, CoC gaming seems to be moving towards the tactical decision of when to die/go crazy and away from the more character-driven logic of "OMG! WTF is that?! AHHHHH!" that I feel was Lovecraft's, and the system's, original vision. 

But looking at the GenCon boards, I don't see much in the descriptions promising "new terrors from beyond time and space." Even DG, which adds an interesting new take on human reaction to arcane horrors, seems to treat the deities of the mythos as if they were literally sacrosanct. I haven't heard of any publications expressly dedicated towards the publishing of new mythos deities for the game world.  My limited experience in gaming makes me suspect this might not go over well in mixed company, which I suppose is understandable.  The CoC gaming system is so powerful in part because it originated organically from fiction; perhaps that tradition should be honored. And who wants another of Dereleth's pansy-ass Elder Gods prancing around? Nobody yearns to hear their GM spout off about how the new guy is "like Hephaestus...WITH TENTACLES!"  Yawn.

I mean, if players wanted to live in their GM's personal horror mythos rather than Lovecraft's, they could have played another game, right? In short, my reading of Chaosium doesn't inspire the same eagerness to experiment as, say, Eclipse Phase does, where the GM section is basically, "Maybe the rogue AI's were cuddly and didn't really kill everyone. Who knows? Run with it!"

So I suppose I'm torn on the issue myself. What do you guys think? At what level of the mythos hierarchy should gamers say no more and leave it Lovecraft?

P.S. I'm totally going to try and come up with some new Outer God, regardless of what is said here and/or my massive potential for failure. I'm just curious as to what everybody else thinks.


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