Messages

16

RPGs / Elder Hollow, a Game of Childhood Adventures and Cosmic Horror

« on: May 05, 2016, 08:37:10 AM »

Last summer I ran a game for my podcast crew (The All Roads Tavern www.lithmage.com/all-roads-tavern) using Fate Core. The idea was Goonies meets Lovecraftian terror.  I created my own original mythos centered on the town and how kids might interpret these horrors. It was a lot of fun, and I got some genuine scares out of my players. I can't believe it took me this long to post, but I wanted to share it with RPPR fans in an unobtrusive way. The less said now, the better.

For an index of all the episodes follow this link.
www.lithmage.com/elder-hollow/episodes

If your interested in subscribing, we put out a new episode every Monday. We are playing a Pathfinder game of fantasy adventure on the High Seas, and a Jazz Age Retro Futuristic Space Opera.

iTunes subscribe link.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/all-roads-tavern-lithmage/id966034301?mt=2

You can look us up on podcast addict or stitcher. We're on Google play now, but not all android devices have access to podcasts.

Give it a listen and tell me what you guys think.

17

RPGs / Re: Watcha gonna do? Delta Green: Agent's Handbook is coming for you!

« on: May 03, 2016, 11:42:28 PM »

New episode of God's Teeth comes out after half a year and suddenly I am Delta Green trash again.

"Old Forgotten Things" and "Killing Time" are the two scenarios I've already run for my group, and when we get back to DG (Currently running Star Wars, then revisiting Red Markets for the Kickstarter) they'll get to experience the rest. They'll be my first attempts at running my own original scenarios for DG rather than adopting and modifying published ones.

That's a beautiful drive you got there.

I've settled on FOR STARTERS running a solo or two man game about a Friendly(ies). Least if i can get my podcast mates to go along with it

A DG agent who goes by Frank calls in a favor to a friendly. He is tasked with retrieving a canister from a temporary locker. He has to break into it before the opposition gets it. Then he must make the long 8 hour drive to his destination. But something is wrong. He's not alone in the car. Someone begins talking to him. Someone able to look into his mind and read his very thoughts. Somehow he picked up a Hitchhiker. And  he doesn't know how or who it is.

 The canister is a smooth cylinder and bears strange markings. A printed label lists a serial number. He's been told not to look inside. But if he did he'd know it was a human brain (extracted by the Mi Go.) The victim was a DG agent, and he knew too much to let him die, but he knows too much for him to fall into the hands of the Opposition. He was also experimented on, or exposed to the Dreamlands, which is what has allowed him to astral project and communicate with the driver. The opposition is either a Majestic 12 agent or Pieces, depending on what era i base it in. they will provide the clearest threat, trying to gun down the PC and take the canister. But the "hitchhiker" as it were is far more dangerous to his psyche.

I'd call it either the "Hitchhiker" or "Third Man Factor".

After this I may start with some of the old scenarios, since i've never run DG before and none of my gamer friends have played it either, I can delve back deep into the depths of DG history and run whatever I want. I want to do Convergence, and eventually a night floors. I just want to find a way to... make them all connected. Classic Cosmic Procedural Horror Cop show.

18

RPGs / Re: Red Markets Inspiration

« on: April 26, 2016, 08:57:14 AM »

Wilzuma: That sounds cool! It's tough to get the emphasis on expending resources and tracking costs that's so central to Red Markets if you're using a single-mechanic system like Dread (that's why Caleb wrote his own system, after all!). But it sounds like you had a really cool game. I especially like how you added roles with special powers to the standard Dread system. It might be tough to balance house rules like that, but I do think Dread is an imminently hackable game.

In case you didn't know, I ran Dread for the RPPR crew once: http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/2015/10/genre/horror/dread-moonbase-red/ I too used secret agendas to build in some conflict, and used a house rule that allowed players to spend accumulated blocks to get freebie successes (this was mostly to include more proactive play instead of having players avoid making pulls, and to help me track spotlight time).

That game is where I got the idea to run this dread game. ;-)

19

RPGs / Re: Watcha gonna do? Delta Green: Agent's Handbook is coming for you!

« on: April 23, 2016, 05:14:16 PM »

Mutatis Mutandis is extremely my shit. Do you have anything typed up about that?

I don't - just my chicken-scratch handwritten notes, but I can type it up if you'd like.

Or just chop your handwritten notes into scraps, pin them haphazardly to a cork board, and take a crooked photograph of it.

That is the most perfectly mundanely DG thing someone has ever posted.

20

RPGs / Re: Red Markets Inspiration

« on: April 23, 2016, 05:13:08 PM »

I missed the Beta, and wanted to get in on the fun, SO i got creative recently. I created a Dread one-shot based off of it and recently got the chance to run about an hour and a half of it with some friends. It was pretty fun. To see what I made I'll post the google doc link below.

My thoughts: Dread is a great system for tension, which is similar to the goal of Caleb's design of playing against the Market and economic horror. The deck is stacked against you. However the Scale of Red Markets is FAR FAR beyond Dread's framework.

I based it in Minneapolis, since I'm from there, and I wanted to, as a creative exercise figure out how that MIGHT work within the Red Markets universe.

Deviations from standard dread: Because I don't own the Dread Rulebook, (though you kind of don't need one if you like to design your own rules), I deviated from the standard Character Questionnaire Handouts to save on time. I created unique secret goals. And since I like to make more work for myself I created character with unique Dread related abilities, that worked to... varying success. Some not at all. Some VERY successful. Some... I didn't see coming at all.

Summery:

I had them select characters (7 in all) secret goals and vote on a leader. The sheriff ended up getting elected the leader. There was only one traitor in the group but it never got to that. The game began as they left out the gates of the enclave. They sent the runner ahead to distract the zombies, while they charged out. While the Runner was on his own he checked out an abandoned drugstore looking for any opiates or painkillers. There was nothing of use. All expired. Almost got killed by a zombie, but took it out with his crowbar. He made the rendez-vous, but the group waited for him. Which allowed Casualties to catch up to them. The leader wanted to just run away, but the Outsider had the Slayer goal, so he wanted to get his kill count up. So he and the Leader each made pulls and the Runner pulled for the group running.

They chose to walk through the snowy streets instead of the casualty infested Skyway. This is why they encountered a sniper bandit who had been tracking them from a high perch on a crane. The mechanic found some makeshift cover then led the group into a department store. Among the manikins some casualties began shuffling through. This was a great moment because one player COMPLETELY forgot his genre saavy and suggested they hide in clothing wracks. The Sage pulled to determine if it was safer to fight their way out, or to hole up in a dressing room. If they'd stayed and hid they'd end up doing more pulls because it would be to Hide and then sneak away later. Running and fighting just yielded more upfront. They ran and fight. ( should have made this scene WAY harder)

Getting free of the department store they were back on the street. They spy some gang tags of a rival group that is still making and selling heroine in the Loss. This attracted the Networker (who was the addict) and the Runner (the angel of mercy). They followed it to a car which was the gang's secretly marked "cache". They broke in, but had to contend with a booby-trap. They succeeded, and managed to get two backpacks of drugs and 3 Bounty. The Sage (who had the Tax Man goal) heard that and wanted to get ahold of the bounty. He was metagaming the hell out of it but the outcome was SO worth it. When they got back the group demanded that the Runner show the stash. He hid the drugs, but the Sage wanted the bounty and PvP between teh Sage and the Runner began.

They did maybe 14 pulls on an already ludicrously balanced tower. They used their mechanical ability. I was really impressed that sage was able to stand up to the Runner mechanically and it worked out so well. The tower looked like an insane child skeleton of jenga blocks when finally the tower fell as the runner made his last pull. I ruled that the Sage and the Runner were wrestling for the backpack and in the struggle, the sage shoved the Runner onto nasty spike through the head.

It was late so we called it there.

Successes: Tension. Man the tension worked so well. I got people thinking about what their next move was, what was safe and what would carry the least risk. The mechanic, had the power to pull blocks and put them back in, and an actual Mechanic played this role and he was AMAZING. He put loose blocks from the upper tower then placed them in lower tiers where the tower was weak.  This one was a surprising success. The Sage's ability could work, but requires lots of tweaking. The Runner's power was STRAIGHT UP overpowering. He did maybe 80 to 90 percent of pulls, but he was the first character (and only character) to die before we had to call it a  night. The Outsider worked exactly as I hoped. It reduced a few multiple pulls to just 2. He was combo'd with the Runner and Mechanic several times. And it accomplished my goal of making the tower harder, and they mechanically distrusted the player. Only drawback is you need a more gun-ho player.

Failures: The Leader role is not... ideal. It could not be working OR i just didn't push the group as a whole enough. I should scrap it. It rarely made a real impact. Networker worked... but it may not be effective. I should have done more group pulls where everyone has to pull 1 or 2. That is the only way I think i can make it work. Some abilities i think i would scrap altogether.  The taxman had too high of a goal. I think i should make the goal 3 and its represented by a block for each. Which means they have the ability to either spend for a pull OR hold onto it until the end of the game, a good thematic conflict were I to do this ever again.

Feel free to read through. It was a noble experiment. I don't know if I'll do it again, but it was ultimately a fun way to introduce Dread AND Red Markets to some friends.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10KNDUnhiCGcrH5FHqWwhLNrWMWiOiwDhKYD7gwIzkzc/edit?usp=sharing

21

RPGs / Re: Watcha gonna do? Delta Green: Agent's Handbook is coming for you!

« on: April 21, 2016, 07:08:27 PM »

Sounds like a fun game! We might run some on the Technical Difficulties Podcast once we've gotten the full package.

I'm contemplating maybe something involving a Midwestern nuclear plant, or disused emergency response "war rooms."

here's a good one! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie_Island_Nuclear_Power_Plant

22

RPGs / Watcha gonna do? Delta Green: Agent's Handbook is coming for you!

« on: April 21, 2016, 09:13:04 AM »

I just got the Agents Handbook pdf yesterday! Can't wait for it in the mail.

What games is everyone planning to play once you get your DG:KS booty?

I am new to the game. I have wanted to play for a while now. When this came out it seemed like a PERFECT point to start playing and joining in. I've been thinking about games I could run, to some fellow newbies as well. I am planning to run "Last things Last" for some friends, hopefully on my podcast.

For a longer-ish game, I loved how Caleb approached DG in God's Teeth. I like the idea of the game as a Police Procedural, mostly because I'd only have to plan one scenario at a time, and we could stop and pick it up at any time, and take breaks. Because... well Delta Green. Not everyone is so cynical and nihilistic as I am.

I like the idea of starting the pc's as Friendlies or "Norwegians". Caleb used Norwegian as a term in "Lover in the Ice" as people exposed to the conspiracy or mythos that are a liability. I thought, what if that was part of my jumping off point. Also I love Fargo, and I"m from Minnesota. Thus the title I came up with, "No Norwegians." The idea is that every player stumbles into the mythos and DG has to decide what to do with them. Their first instinct is to eliminate them, so part of the first "episode" is DG agents trying to silence them forever. If they survive, DG recruits them into the program and they become Cell N, which is based in the upper midwest.

I have a scenario involving the cult of Ithaqua based in a family farm next to a reservation perhaps Red Lake, Turtle Mountain, or Pine Ridge, maybe Mille Lacs. Bodies showing up feet ground down to bone and bodies windburned so hard they have 4th degree burns.

Another one dealing with Cthonians causing earthquakes in North Dakota because Hydraulic Fracking is killing them. Because water melts them. So a cthonian cult is trying to stop the company from drilling. There will probably be a chase / shoot out in a trailer shanty town. Oh man.

Anyhoo, I'm not certain how to start it. Obviously the character's come from different disciplines and jobs, but will have a government job of some kind. Just maybe more state level at the start of the game. Also no one has made characters for this either. But any ideas on how i could structure or set up the first introduction or am I TOTALLY trying something way too unfeasible?

Let me know or share what games you're gonna play.

23

General Chaos / Re: Introduction

« on: April 19, 2016, 06:55:08 PM »

Forgot to mention my games. I play a lot of Fate. I love Dresden Files! I ran a game fate game last summer that was Goonies meets Lovecraftian horrors. It was kind of amazing. I play dnd in all its iterations though I favor 4th and 5th, and OSR games over the labyrinth that is Pathfinder and 3rd. I even look back on when i played WoD a few times... and shudder. I played One Palladium super hero campaign. And I hated it. It was gonzo bananas but it was so broken as shit it was ridiculous. Never. Again.

My favorite though has gotta be Eclipse Phase. I loved it from Know Evil, still my favorite RPPR campaign, though there are several close seconds. I even ran an original one-shot at a con. And it was my first con game. it was kind of amazing!

I have not played as much CoC or DG as I would like. There are so many games I have been unable to play. Hopefully that changes in the future. My gaming groups tends to play... long, long campaigns. I find myself preferring more and more the short campaign or the one/two shot game. Which is what I love so much about RPPR.

I may have done this introduction before, I can't remember. I guess it was Schroedinger's forum post?

Anyhow.

Hi Everybody! I'm Will.
I've been listening to RPPR for a long time, active on Facebook and following the crew on Twitter. I posted once or twice on the forums ages ago. Decided I should start being more active here. The community is really awesome and I think making friends and connections would be worthwhile. I am an educator, like a few of the RPPR crew and from the Midwest, Twin Cities in my case.

The show and community have been a pretty big inspiration for me in this hobby. I ran my first con game last year and am writing my own scenarios and campaign books and join an actual play podcast too. If you are interested check me and my compatriots out at lithmage.com. Any comments or suggestions would be welcome. We have over 60 episodes and haven't missed a post yet. So I'm interested in publishing and anybody who is willing to critique and look at my work.

Hope to get to know some names and faces better that i've seen here and on Facebook a lot more.

-Will

24

General Chaos / Re: Introduction

« on: April 19, 2016, 12:09:57 PM »

I may have done this introduction before, I can't remember. I guess it was Schroedinger's forum post?

Anyhow.

Hi Everybody! I'm Will.
I've been listening to RPPR for a long time, active on Facebook and following the crew on Twitter. I posted once or twice on the forums ages ago. Decided I should start being more active here. The community is really awesome and I think making friends and connections would be worthwhile. I am an educator, like a few of the RPPR crew and from the Midwest, Twin Cities in my case.

The show and community have been a pretty big inspiration for me in this hobby. I ran my first con game last year and am writing my own scenarios and campaign books and join an actual play podcast too. If you are interested check me and my compatriots out at lithmage.com. Any comments or suggestions would be welcome. We have over 60 episodes and haven't missed a post yet. So I'm interested in publishing and anybody who is willing to critique and look at my work.

Hope to get to know some names and faces better that i've seen here and on Facebook a lot more.

-Will

25

RPGs / Re: Redmarket. The ideas I get while listening to the actual plays.

« on: April 18, 2016, 11:12:12 PM »

There is a lot of potential in it. I like your idea with the Missouri. You could frame a whole scenario or campaign as a "Taker Boat Ride" down the missouri. Fill it with all sorts of Alllusions to americana like Mark Twain. They could meet a strange fellow on a ferry ride who keeps talking about the "Famous Jumping Zombies of Calavaras County." Would make an interesting leg or scenario unto itself. Perhaps they need to find and capture a specimen.

I got an idea for a Twin Cities Red Markets setting. I live there and I think one major feature makes it a novel place to set a game. The Mississippi River. In the setting detail Caleb describes that the river is the moat to the zombie barricade. So i imagined Two Cities on each side of the river. The St. Paul Safe Zone which is part of the Recession. And Minneapolis Enclaves which are part of the Loss. This has made the Minneapolis Enclaves actually a central Red Market trading hub. Other Loss enclaves send traders there to buy and trade in needed goods that were traded across the few bridges still in place.

This makes Minneapolis (what's left of it) a Taker Mecca. It also has agents from Ubiq and DHQS embedded in the populace. It is a place of intrigue, commerce and violence.

That's a great idea, somewhat similar to my ideas for St. Louis, Missouri (which would be a huge hub for trade and infiltration from the Loss to the Recession, since the Missouri River is the safest and fastest way to get from the depths of the Loss to the border).

I think a border-centered enclave is likely to be a major sub-setting for a certain campaign style. Working right on the border is going to have a totally different feel than a game set way out in some place like Colorado or on the West Coast.

Thematically, I'd say a border campaign would emphasize the economic horrors of wealth disparity, black markets as a response to over-regulation, and corruption. A more western/deep recession game would likely focus more on resource scarcity, environmental damage, and isolation. And a West Coast game would focus on smoking weed and surfing.

26

RPGs / Re: Redmarket. The ideas I get while listening to the actual plays.

« on: April 18, 2016, 11:06:18 PM »

I myself would consider about a 100 mile zone east of the Mississippi to be DHQS patrolled and depopulated. After all, if the story is that the Loss is....well, the Loss, then it doesn't help them to have cities on the river that can see Enclaves a mile away.

I don't really imagine a lot of people in St. Paul. It would mostly be offices of DHQS and military. There is an actual CDC ficility and hospital in St. Paul so it would be a lot like a military base town. Highly controlled, but still supported with some civilians given clearance.

27

RPGs / Re: Redmarket. The ideas I get while listening to the actual plays.

« on: April 18, 2016, 09:04:23 AM »

I got an idea for a Twin Cities Red Markets setting. I live there and I think one major feature makes it a novel place to set a game. The Mississippi River. In the setting detail Caleb describes that the river is the moat to the zombie barricade. So i imagined Two Cities on each side of the river. The St. Paul Safe Zone which is part of the Recession. And Minneapolis Enclaves which are part of the Loss. This has made the Minneapolis Enclaves actually a central Red Market trading hub. Other Loss enclaves send traders there to buy and trade in needed goods that were traded across the few bridges still in place.

This makes Minneapolis (what's left of it) a Taker Mecca. It also has agents from Ubiq and DHQS embedded in the populace. It is a place of intrigue, commerce and violence.