Messages

16

RPGs / Re: THE QUEUE: Whacha got in YOUR gaming pipeline

« on: September 16, 2014, 01:36:46 PM »

Those are both really good ideas.  The original version had the PCs as a small patrol of Confederate cavalry who stumble across the estate where it's all taking place.  Idea being to conflict the modern sensibilities of the players with the racial expectations of the time.  When they discover the plantation-owner's dissection/torture room, she demands to know why they care what she does with her own property.

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RPGs / Re: THE QUEUE: Whacha got in YOUR gaming pipeline

« on: September 15, 2014, 10:02:22 PM »

I'm currently running a Red Markets inspired game in FATE Core.  The previous campaign that I did was a Dreamlands/Inception mashup where the PCs were "interpretation analysts" hired by a tech startup that had this dream-decoding technology.  Stuff currently rattling around the brainpan...

The Anarchy.  One of my players really really REALLY wants to finally play a medieval-fantasy sort of game.  So I tossed out an idea I'd had for a campaign based on the period in England called the Anarchy.  (Heavy inspiration from Pillars of the Earth/World Without End.)  Haven't figured out what system I want to use, though.

Jagged Alliance.  A scenario based on the old Jagged Alliance games: a team of mercenaries goes into a small Caribbean country to lead a revolt and overthrow the repressive government.  I'm thinking of making the enemies double-extra-weird--a cross between African warlords and bad guys from Metal Gear games.  I'm also unsure about what system I want to use for this, since it really cries out for some tactical gunz action.  GURPs would probably do well, but I don't own it and have never played it.  Savage Worlds is the other candidate, which would be less crunchy but is already on my bookshelf.

Werewolf Women of the SS.  I want to do this as a Savage Worlds one-shot.  That is all.

Lover in the Ice.  One of my players keeps bugging me to do this game.  The challenge is, he's already familiar with how it ends.  The rest of the group has no idea...

Welcome to Weyland-Yutani.  This is more a concept than a scenario so far.  Basically, I want to surprise my players with the reveal that they're in the Alien/Aliens universe.  If I start the game out with "so, you're on the Weyland-Yutani ship Edmund Fitzgerald," then everyone's going to expect facehuggers and Gigermorphs.  But if I just tell them they're playing a cyberpunk game, or a Resident-Evil-style survival horror game, I might be able to really surprise them. 

Look Away, Dixie Land.  I actually already ran this for my group.  It's heavily inspired by the David Drake story, "Than Curse the Darkness," moved to the US South.  The first version was set during the Civil War, but I might move it to the 1920s.  The central idea is kind of a fake-out where you have the creepy white Southern family with the mysterious uncle who traveled the Dark Continent and brought back stuff...but the mythos villain is actually a cult of vengeful African-Americans, driven to extremism.  Part of the fake-out is the reveal that one of the wealthy whites is a Delphine LaLaurie inspired serial killer.  I love the idea that the PCs discover the hidden torture chamber under the mansion...and it's not actually where the mythos magic is happening.

Edit:

Vikings!  Between watching a documentary about a mass grave of beheaded Vikings in England, and the History channel series, I've been cultivating this nugget of an idea.  Vikings land on England to pillage, run afoul of Glaaki's minions.  And...uh, that's as far as I've gotten.

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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Caleb is a mad genius (or Yet Another Fan Club Thread)

« on: September 13, 2014, 04:05:30 AM »

Just listened to the Gencon economics panel, and though there was plenty of good stuff, what really blew my mind was the Marxist interpretation of slasher films.  The upper-middle-class protagonists are placed into a setting of real or implied poverty because the trappings of poverty are a threat to their sense of security... Brilliant!

...Which is now making me think of that bit in Pervert's Guide to Ideology where he talks about Titanic as the story of the upper class using the culture of the lower classes to refresh their sense of vitality.  Slasher films kind of work in the exact opposite way...

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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The Iron Devil

« on: December 28, 2013, 05:35:42 PM »

With WWII books in particular, you have the problem with the general vs the specific.  There are plenty of good general histories of the war--John Keegan's is more than adequate--but by their very nature don't have the sort of visceral, specific details that make for good gaming inspiration.

Two that come immediately to mind are A Bridge Too Far, the classic book on Operation Market-Garden; and Iron Coffins, a memoir of one the very, VERY few German submarine captains to survive the war.  Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad is very readable, though it may suffer a bit in the fact-checking department.  (If I recall correctly, it recounts the historically-unconfirmed sniper duel between Zaitsev and Konig--the basis for the movie--as fact.  There may be other "grandpa's war stories" inaccuracies as well.)

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RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder

« on: December 26, 2013, 03:34:32 AM »

Some dude on 4chan wrote a paramilitary guide to killing supernaturals:

I wrote this up originally for Hunters in WoD but you can apply it to any armed individual or unit combating a threat.

To begin we’ll start with the basic fact that mortal Hunters are woefully and completely inadequate for going up against supernaturals; especially solo. Going head to head or being put in a situation where the supernatural has any serious advantage over you is a death sentence.

As a single Hunter, a member of a small cell, or a member of an organization that gives its members significant autonomy your best bet is to be using my personal variation of the F3EAD Targeting Process with significant adjustments made for the supernatural threat you are facing. PF3EADS stands for Prepare, Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Analyze, Disseminate, and Sterilize. To give you some basis on where I am coming from F3EAD is what JSOC uses to hunt down and eliminate insurgent forces in Afghanistan and formerly a previous iteration of it was used in Iraq.

I will walk you through each step and adjust accordingly for the fact I am applying this to fighting supernaturals.

PREPARE
Before you even begin PF3EADS you would do well to be prepared.

Preparation includes:
-Equipment such as incendiary, silver, iron, salt, gypsy tears, etc ammunition for all firearms or edged weapons made of/imbued with that material. If the threat is even more unconventional special attention should be paid to equipping yourself with something that will do the greatest damage to your enemy. Medical equipment, night vision, communications, and concealable body armor are also a must have.

-Skills such as the Combat Marksmanship Merit or an otherwise mastered proficiency for your prefered method of killing should be of particular import to you. This includes the knowledge to build IEDs (Vampire gets into car, opens front door, lays down in bed, etc. BOOM! EFP/gasoline bomb engulfs their ass in fire), providing medical treatment to yourself or others for combat trauma, the stealth and streetwise necessary to surveil and track a target in rural and urban terrain both directly and indirectly, and the larceny ability which will be critical when it comes to acquiring a new method of transportation after or during each operation as well as providing easier access to targets.

-A temporary Tactical Operations Center (TOC) separate from the character’s residence that can be sterilized with thermite with the call of a cell phone if a fast escape is necessary or taken down in under 3 minutes if there is time available. Operational Security should be maintained at all times and no one but the Hunters themselves should know the TOC’s location. Additionally, the TOC should be regularly checked for surveillance and intrusion and sterilized with thermite if any sign is found. Nothing from a compromised TOC should be retained regardless of monetary or sentimental value to the Hunters. I personally recommend storage facilities. TOCs should be changed after every Targeting Process.

-A temporary means of transportation that is commonly found in the Area of Operations (AO). Transportation should be sterilized and changed with every encounter with a supernatural regardless of whether the encounter was successful or remained uncompromised. Sterilization of a vehicle should include scrubbing it of fingerprints, removing the VIN and license plates to be scattered in dumpsters in a different neighborhood, burning the vehicle with thermite if any body fluids were spilled, or leaving it unlocked with the keys in the ignition in a high crime neighborhood if not.

FIND

This phase is all about merely learning about or spotting a High-Value Individual (HVI) for the first time. Firstly you must confirm that the subject is a supernatural or otherwise conducting themselves in a manner that would lead you to target the for a Kill Capture mission. If you have a name, phone number, or location from information or intelligence gathered previously you a can continue with the process. If you are not aware of an HVI you will need to conduct surveillance or sweeps of the AO.

My personal favorite technique was to go to areas I knew had vampires such as club district or busy areas absolutely bustling with what would initially appear to be human activity and observe to venue with a digital camera. When I saw someone blurry through the camera (WoD vampires do this) I would surveill them for as long as I could while keeping other characters on standby to swap out with me to maintain surveillance or to separate and follow other possible targets the HVI interacted with.

Something important to note about PF3EADS is that if your HVI presents you with the opportunity to skip ahead to the Finish phase of the process you are free to prosecute the target. However, it is important to know the difference between just an opportunity and a good opportunity that will allow for a solid Exploit phase. Use sound judgment.

With an HVI successfully found you can begin establishing target priority, assign assets if your unit is larger, confirm HVI, further locate HVI, and decide on a course of action.

You have only two courses of action: Kill or Capture.

Killing your target is done with the express purpose of rendering a target so damaged that it cannot function as intended nor be restored to a useable condition without being entirely rebuilt.

Capturing your target is done with the express purpose of disrupting your enemy to preclude effective cohesion and support systems while enabling detailed exploitation of the captured target. Capture is not ideal given the individual strengths and abilities of supernatural HVIs and in some cases should not even be attempted.

FIX

Once the HVI is identified you are to maintain surveillance, maintain HVI identification, and refine the target’s place and time so you can execute the Finish and Exploit phases to maximum effectiveness. Fixing is all about further refining information you gathered in the Find phase so that you can know at any time whether you are able execute a Kill Capture mission successfully or not. Your intent is to focus and unblinking eye squarely upon the target for the duration of your operation.

FINISH

This is generally the operational climax. In this phase you will execute your mission.

Lethal combat operations in which the Hunters or their surrogates close with and destroy or seize enemy facilities, equipment, or personnel are one type of operation associated with the Finish phase.

However, the finish phase can just as easily be non-kinetic in nature. Neutralization of an enemy communications node, disrupting a courier network, legal prosecution of key target personalities, or achieving a desired psychological, political, or social effect are just as much a part of Finish as missile strikes, explosives, or direct action.

EXPLOIT

This phase; as the main effort of PF3EADS, is the most critical single step in the process as it leads to the Finding, Fixing, and Finishing of the next target and the perpetuation of the cycle. The overall aim of the exploitation effort is to produce enough actionable intelligence to perpetuate the PF3EADS process as rapidly as possible.

You're looking for laptops, hard drives, cell phones, documents, enemy personnel, and anything else you can imagine which will provide information that will allow you to engage the enemy across his network. With this information you can build a targeting matrix and begin working your way through all the HVIs of your AO.

ANALYZE

In this phase the information gained in the previous phases turns into intelligence which can be used to drive future operations. Remember that anything you have acquired should be analyzed and destroyed by thermite immediately following its usage and do not underestimate the network you HVI belonged to. It is not difficult to triangulate a cell phone’s location your unit is now cracking, activate the webcam on a computer in order to see the face of who is hacking it, or utilizing supernatural tracking methods to divine the location of important objects or personnel you may have seized.

DISSEMINATION

Now that you have analyzed the information you must review it and decide what can be disseminated to other Hunters. Remember do not compromise your OPSEC. Presume that any information that is given to those outside your unit should be done under the presumption that is is being given directly to the enemy so it would naturally benefit you not to give out any information about future targets you will engage lest those HVIs become aware and make your attempts to Find, Fix, and Finish them difficult if not impossible.

STERILIZE

This phase is continuous and pervasive. It should be conducted at all times during the Process from start to finish. Everything you purchase for the operation should be done through at least one; if not more, third parties who should either be unaware of your identity or eliminated, everything you touch during the operation should be scrubbed clean, spilled blood of team members should be doused in bleach, other forensic evidence and locations wherein the team conducts serious actions (such as the TOC, the location of the Finish phase, the location of the Exploit phase) should be sterilized with thermite. Attempts to conceal or alter the physical appearance of the Hunters should be made while conducting operations. It is important to conduct these counterintelligence/countersurveillance operations continuously as the networks you will be attempting to destroy and disrupt will attempt to Find, Fix, and Finish you as well. Sterilize everything you wore or used in an encounter with an HVI whether it was overt or covert, a failure or a success. Take absolutely no chances at any time. Presume that everything you touch or utilize can be traced back to you if it was carried or utilized within the general vicinity of an HVI.

Obviously this brings up the issue of resupply in terms of equipment and materiel. If you belong to a larger organization who can replenish you by all means utilize them. Otherwise bulk purchases done through one or more third party brokers wherein communications remain anonymous or the broker who becomes aware of your identity is eliminated. Theft and other illicit means of acquisition are also necessary and preferable when it come to some items such as vehicle acquisition and sterilization.

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RPGs / Call of Cthulhu (BRP) tweaks and houserules?

« on: December 04, 2013, 10:03:55 PM »

I'm gearing up to run another Call of Cthulhu campaign, and I'm interested in any preferred houserules or clarifications people have adopted. 

I've been tempted to houserule full-auto fire to be a bit less overpowering; perhaps make it so that auto fire can give you a bonus to hit or damage, but not both.  It does seem a bit silly for a full-auto tommygun to be the ideal sharpshooter's weapon.  And most of the Mythos creatures that don't have explicit damage reduction from firearms tend to get shredded with a single burst from an automatic rifle. 

On the other hand, I suppose in the long run it still doesn't make the PCs much safer, so leaving it in isn't necessarily going to derail the game.  And the incredible illegality of such weapons could also be said to "balance" their combat effectiveness.

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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Upcoming RPPR One Shot games

« on: June 17, 2013, 06:39:38 PM »

Oh god, that was brilliant.  Was this directly inspired by Shadow of the Vampire, or is it just a parallel? 

I imagine that if you had actually pitched it as "this is a Cthulhu game where you all play cultists," it wouldn't have gone half as well.

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RPGs / Re: The Big Book of No! Things players are no longer allowed to do

« on: May 10, 2013, 07:33:35 PM »

...purchase TacNet?

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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The RPPR Catchphrase, In-joke, and Obscure Reference Appreciation Station

« on: May 10, 2013, 07:32:15 PM »

Just remember, when you're facing eldritch horrors, make sure Ross' character has the machine gun.

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RPGs / Re: Anecdote Megathread

« on: May 05, 2013, 04:29:34 AM »

So my buddy announces this modern-day Call of Cthulhu game, and he tells us to make characters that are government agents of some sort, but "preferably weird ones."

That was his mistake.

That was how I ended up with Katie-Ann Olsen (née Tobolowski), a graduate of Southern Baptist University who works for the National Endowment for the Arts.  She's a "Regional Advisor for Public and Family Values," who submits reports on various candidates to ensure that funding doesn't go to artists who will do embarrassing things with penises and such.

She's also a complete goddamn sociopath with a rather un-Baptist amount of occult knowledge.  I fucked with everyone's heads by being perky and chipper for nearly the entire game.  Oh, crackerjack, that was a real mother-hubbard of a situation, wasn't it?

The pain on the GM's face was so beautiful.  The pain on our in-character contact's face was delicious. It was like a child whose ice-cream cone had fallen on the sidewalk.  So we have the NSA guy, the FBI, the Border Patrol agent...and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The RPPR Know Evil Fan Creation Contest

« on: May 02, 2013, 12:35:43 AM »

On the campaign poster, are those two different versions of Bartleby?  The blue-ish haired woman, and the giant-cranium baldy dude?

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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The League of Extraordinary Gentleman - Listener Edition

« on: April 19, 2013, 08:21:29 PM »

"Half-cocked" Jack Shaftoe.

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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The RPPR Catchphrase, In-joke, and Obscure Reference Appreciation Station

« on: April 17, 2013, 07:39:21 PM »

The joke originated in the second Divine Fire game with the MGB agents.  Occasionally Stalin would pop out of nowhere and say something to the effect of:

More specifically, I believe it was Ross who would threaten other players with Sibera if they failed a dice roll.  The running joke became how consistently it seemed to work.

On a different note, I think I heard the "MATT DAAMOOON" line for over a year of podcast listening before finding out it was from Team America: World Police.  Because I still haven't watched Team America.

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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The RPPR Know Evil Fan Creation Contest

« on: April 14, 2013, 11:02:40 PM »

I thought I'd just post a few examples of fanart I am not drawing and submitting to the contest:

A version of the "Uplifts Playing Poker" painting.  Because I'm not that good.

A portrait of the post-coital Bartlefemme and whazername the four-armed chick, looking incredibly awkward. 

And--the one that just occurred to me last episode--SENTINELS, THE EXTREME NEW COMIC FROM ROB LIEFELD!  WITH ATTITUDE!

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General Chaos / Re: Topic. It's what's for dinner.

« on: February 25, 2013, 06:37:03 PM »

I just want to say, as someone who grew up in North Dakota, went to college in Iowa, and now lives in the Seattle area, every time the guys happen to mention Hy-Vee in the podcasts I nostalgia a little bit. 

Just a tiny little bit.