No wonder hardcore fan-folk (and I use the term meaning no disrespect) often take this to the next level when it comes to the things they are passionate about. Be it the TV series they were really invested in and the networked axed, or the endless novel series whose author passed away before completing it. There can be righteous indignation in such occasions.

It’s no different with fans of role-playing games when a game they love is cancelled, or an adventure series they enjoy is left unfinished, but we have the very particular characteristic that what we enjoy is not solely dependant on the actions of others. If a TV series gets the axe, or a novel series is never finished, well there is not much we can do about it. We can petition and protest and that sometimes has a result, but that’s usually not the case. Some people write fan-fiction and present to the world how they think the story would have ended. But we never get to know how the original creator (be is a sole writer or a production company) had planned for the story. We just won’t know…

Enter our hobby. True some people only play pre-published adventures, but even those who do end up modifying or changing the story by the mere act of playing it, even if they use pre-gens and the GM sticks pretty close to what’s written. Our hobby is not passive; we are the weavers of the tales we tell.

So it is no surprise that when a campaign is not finished we get the same feeling of being let down. No let’s call it what it is, the sense of FAILURE when a campaign we began with such gusto just peters out and dies. As I mentioned this line of thought on Twitter last weekend (follow me as there as @Sunglar) @NookHarper listed the reasons this happens.  He correctly said some reasons include players leaving, new games starting, starting games full of enthusiasm but with little or no planning, among others.

And I agree those are among the common causes that campaigns die. Some will say that’s why they don’t play campaigns, that they prefer one shots or short adventures, and I say, more power to you, to each and everyone his or her own. Play what makes you happy! Me? Well I just love campaigns, the possibility of telling a long term story, the nuances developed as characters interact with the world, be it for a hundred sessions, or just ten. If you have never played a campaign I recommend it, it’s a different experience and well worth the work and aggravation (and there will be a little bit of both I assure you!).

I have finished various campaigns, some years long. I tend to stick to something until the end. I, like any other human being, am a completist. Logically you might now expect my advice on how to make sure that campaign keeps going, tips on how to reach the finish line. Well no! That’s not what this post is about, on the contrary, I will go ahead and say it. That campaign you are sorry you did not finish, well it might be a good thing it never did.

Before you get offended and think I dismissed your campaign, let me tell you why I say this. Have you always been happy with the way a story ends? Be it novel, television series or movie. I can tell you the finale of LOST was one of the most disappointing TV watching experiences of my life. Oftentimes when we like something a lot, there is no way the end is going to be as good as we thought it would be. True with campaigns the attentive Game Master can tailor and shape the flow of things to meet player lies and expectations and hopefully come to a satisfying conclusion. But I have the nagging feeling that more often than not the ends of campaigns happen after some measure of fatigue has set in and they are either, rushed and feel too premature, or dragged out to long and disappoint. I will admit that, while some campaign closings have been successful, some of my campaigns have suffered from the abovementioned ills.

Maybe the campaign wasn’t that good to begin with. It could have been fun but not as entertaining as the GM thought, we are no perfect after all. But maybe it was really good and it ended for reasons beyond your control. When a campaign is just left unfinished and players keep talking about what could have been, all the possibilities, sometimes its better to leave it like that. Specially if a long time has passed. You will probably never be able to recapture the enthusiasm, the thrill of the original games. Better to live of the memory and what if, than to try to go back and end it…

It’s not easy, but I am trying to come to terms with the idea. I fear George RR Martin will die without finishing A Song of Ice and Fire. I’ve made my peace with it. I’ll read the novels as they come out, I’m along for the ride, if I get to the end that will just be s plus. The same with other media I enjoy.

This line of thought came to me as I ponder the end of the current storyline in my Mutants & Masterminds campaign; which will go into hiatus as its proven popular enough with my players to merit a return to it eventually. We have not played out swashbuckling Pathfinder RPG game since last December and as much fun as we had I know not all the players were equally enthusiastic by the end, and we ended it abruptly because everybody wanted to play supers. For a moment I thought, perhaps its time to let it go…

Well I’ll be a stubborn ass and I think I will disregard my own advice and try to retake it. I have some specific plans to overhaul the game, switch the focus and discuss with players the necessary changes. Well see how that goes… I’ll let you know if I was successful or if it should have remained unfinished business.

Related posts:

1. My take on “unfinished business”
2. The RPG Blog Alliance is now open for business!
3. Letting go of that NPC

Links:

GreenRonin Publishing

DC Adventures RPG

Related posts:

1. Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space Unboxing
2. Free Stuff Friday: DC Adventures Quick Start PDF
3. Free Stuff Friday: DC Adventures Character Sheets

My current Dawn of a New Age campaign has become the favorite supers game I have run. Before that it used to be a Heroes Unlimited games that we played for a few months. I don’t recall exactly how long that other game ran (this was in 1992) but I think this one has surpassed it. Last night we played our 30^th session, over seven and a half months of weekly games. I think the success is based on many factors. First and foremost a group of players interested and committed in the game.

Secondly preparation and I’m not talking about the weekly kind, but campaign prep. I did a survey to gather information on just what the players were interested and not interested in to use as a guide when preparing the campaign and possible adventures. Discussed their characters, went over expectations, so we all started knowing what to expect.

But you know what they say about best laid plans. As it is inevitable the plan has needed revisions. Players have changed characters, despite discussing expectations they were varied and sometimes contradictory and trying to mesh them all has not always been successful. Overall I think we have stuck to it and every so often there is something of interest to everyone. As will al role playing games not every session an highlight all the different plots for every character but there should be something for everyone to do.

There have been complications, not everyone understands the Mutants & Masterminds 3^rd edition system. Some players like the crunch, others are lost in the options, but as a group we all pitch in and make it work. I as a GM have found the system flexible enough to allow me to improvise and guesstimate when necessary and varied enough to meet my needs when I need more detailed write ups.

As with everything different opinions on just what a “superhero” game IS, is perhaps the biggest hurdle. Some people think supers are only four-color bigger than life adventures; others prefer grittier more down to earth types of adventures. We try to meet at a happy medium most of the time, but its and ongoing struggle. I ask my players what they thought of the game every session. I have said it before, you need to steel yourself to get the good and the bad and take it in, digest it and use the comments to improve the game.

Overall what have I learned to make running a superhero game easier?

1. Establish expectations, what will the campaign’s tone and style be like and help characters create characters accordingly.
2. Listen to your players, they will drop plenty of ideas about where the game may go or what they expect of it just by what they say or suggest.
3. Be willing to revise, what you might have thought would be the ideal tone or style may slowly evolve as play progresses, embrace it, discuss it with the players and adapt accordingly.
4. Pick a system you all feel comfortable with. Endless rule arguments may take the fun away and ruin the game.

Have I applied them all? Most to a certain degree… I think number 4 may be the biggest point of contention, but we are learning and adapting. As always communication is king. Talk to your players and listen to what they have to say. After all this is a game you ALL should enjoy. Looking at that list this is advice I have gone over before and that will apply to any game, just that it may be particularly important for a successful supers game.

Will this game become my mainstay campaign? I don’t think so… As much as I love supers, my first and true love is fantasy and I can’t resist her siren call forever! I am itching to return to our Pathfinder game, this may be some months away but I am eventually running it again. Then there is the sci-fi game I keep mulling about in different posts. But I have loved this supers game and I want to publicly thank my players for sticking to it though the good and the bad.

Do you have any other advice for running a superhero game? I’d sure like to know…

Related posts:

1. Character advancement the hard way
2. It’s hard to be a reviewer
3. Superhero Campaign Questionnaire (and about the Virtual Book Club…)

I’m just fresh off from running my weekly Mutants & Masterminds games so many of these thoughts are fresh on my mind. One of the best pieces of advice I can give you is know that not all sessions will be perfect. You can please everybody all the time, strive for your best, listen to feedback and know that there is always next session.

Another thing I have been thinking about is where I’ve learned to be a better Game Master, and amazingly it’s by sitting at other Game Masters’ tables. In a way I’m saying, to be a better GM, be a player. Mind you some players are content with just playing out their characters and that’s that, but if you want to improve your performance at the other side of the screen watch and learn. Be attentive to what works, how they do it, what you like and what you don’t like.

I often say I am an awful player, but in retrospect I like to think I have improved, and in fact I’ve gamed with many fine Game Masters and learned a lot from them. Let’s give some credit to all these wonderful people and what they’ve taught me…

Names have been changed to protect the innocent! (No they have not…)

Luis was my first Game Master. Until them I had only been a Dungeon Master playing D&D and he was one of my players. When he took the mantle this was probably the longest time I was a player and not run a game at the same time. It taught me a lot about learning to concentrate on my character, not want to know every secret and learn to take the hard knocks. But from Luis I also learned pacing, build up and to be a better organized GM. Luis took notes and came to the table prepared, before then I did a lot of improvisation and kept most of the information in my head. From him I learned to better use visual aids and an endearing love for all things dark and Cthulhu related. I have friends who say it’s not Luis’ game unless Cthulhu appears and eats you!

My next GM was José. He was a different type of Game Master. Full of energy, creativity, bravado, and his adventures felt like running at breakneck speed. He did unexpected things, played with the rules and was the first GM that ever played music at the table to set the mood.  His one foible was that he was too fickle, when he got an idea for a change he simply ran with it and sometimes it felt rushed or too random, or we just switched games. I also learned from this, I learned that consistency is important for the continued enjoyment of the game. I must say he evolved his style as a GM, and later games have had much better pacing and an organic feel.

Pierre is a longtime friend and casual GM who had never run any long campaign. He ran one of my favorite games in recent memory, a zombie apocalypse game. I especially liked it because he thinks very different. As a GM it’s easy to fall into runts and repeat yourself. He showed me different ways to do things. Different pacing and he did run a game in one of my favorite genres. Enough said!

Lao is another GM I’ve come to play with in recent years, and the one responsible for rekindling my love for just being a player. We have a lot in common; we like to tell big epic stories in a grand scale. He showed me you sometimes need to cut loose. After running very crunchy, mechanic heavy games, he showed me (in a Mutants & Masterminds 2^nd edition game no less) what I knew all along but sometimes lost track of, having fun is ALWAYS more important than the rules.

In recent times I’ve played just one or two sessions or specific games with new friends. Edwin introduced me to indie games, and his quick pick up system is my second favorite zombie game ever. Mario included me in a marathon session of his long running campaign, and while I was a guest star in a long running and well established series, he showed me some breadth and scope that truly amazed me and ran an investigative game with almost twenty people and made it seem effortless. I am really itching to try some of his tactics!

If I’ve missed any Game Master I’ve played with I apologize, it’s an oversight. I’ve learned something from almost every one of you (even from this guy) so my apologies. I am blessed to game with my friends, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they make it worth my while. Thanks for playing guys. You are the best!

So what have you learned from other Game Masters? Any trick or idea you’d like to share? What other experiences you feel make you a better GM? Inquiring minds want to know.

Related posts:

1. Dungeon Master Burnout… My cure!
2. The Dungeon Master Guys
3. New game, new tools!

M&M’s Gamemaster’s Kit came with two items. A black and white paperback QuickStart Character Generator and a full color Gamemaster’s Screen.

The description of this kit reads:

HEROS IN A FLASH!

The Mutants & Masterminds Gamemaster’s Kit is a key accessory for your superhero campaign. It features a sturdy and practical three-panel, Hardback screen with all the charts and tables you need to play Mutants & Masterminds, Third Edition. Also included is a 48-page booklet featuring the Quickstart Character Generator, Which allows players to speedily create balanced starting Heroes. A 2-page Character sheet suitable for photocopying completes the package. The Mutants & Masterminds Gamemaster’s Kit is the perfect complement to the Hero’s Handbook. Kick off your super-hero game with style!

Lets talk about the QuickStart Character Generator first.

The QuickStart Character Generator is just that. A quick character generator. It’s designed to give you three quick ways for your party to build their characters and get the game started as quickly as possible. You have the d20 method, the Menus option and the Combination method. With the d20 method you roll a d20 and whatever number comes up is your archetype. You then role it a couple of more times to determine your Abilities, Advantages, Skills or powers you get. The number of roles you need to make to generator your character varies just depending on the results you get. With the Menus option you get to pick the Archetype you want, go to that page and start picking different packages of Abilities, Skills, Advantages, and Powers you want. Lastly with the Combination method is a combination of the d20 and the Menu method.

The very last page of QuickStart Character Generator is a double-sided character sheet that you could easily put in a copy machine and make copies.

I have a lot of good things to say about the M&M Gamemaster’s Kit. The Gamemaster’s Screen uses wonderful art and all the content is in beautiful color. Everything is easy to find and read. The Quickstart Character generator is just that. A solid character generator with no frills or gimmicks.

Pros

• Gamemaster’s Screen is solid and full color
• Everything is easy to read and understand
• If you pre-order you get PDF versions of everything for just $5 more.

Cons

• None

Related posts:

1. Mutants & Masterminds 3rd edition Unboxing
2. Free Stuff Friday: Mutants & Masterminds Character Sheets
3. A Non-Review of Mutants & Masterminds/DC Adventures

Also, many of my players like some crunch in their game, and as a GM I like some myself, so the idea of going too indie or experimental, while maybe appropriate for a one shot, will not work for a long term campaign. To add to the complications I want to homebrew. I am not playing a pre-existing setting, but instead creating a new campaign.

I have become a fan of reskinning. I had done it before without using the term, repurposing spells or monsters for an alternate effect in AD&D and D&D 4^th edition with its simplicity and the ease for doing this really brought the point home and I have integrated what I learned about reskinning playing D&D 4^th edition in my Pathfinder campaign and even more in Mutants & Mastermind, which has proven incredibly easy to reskin with.

Thinking about possible sci-fi RPGs and reskinkning has led me down another train of thought. Repurposing systems to play another type of game, I won’t call it reskinning since it’s a larger endeavor, in extreme cases its redressing the system to support a different genre that the rules were intended for. I call it filing off the serial numbers.

I have done it before; I once used RIFTS to play a homebrewed fantasy game and used the same OCCs, the equipments, but described it all in different ways. A good friend and longtime fellow player used AD&D to play Mutant Chronicles, and I tried to use Mutants & Masterminds 1^st edition to play a sci-fi game… As you can see I have struggled with sci-fi games before.

Since I aim to please and some of my players have inquired about the possibility of adapting the Star Wars Saga System to a generic sci-fi game, I feel compelled to at least consider it. I posted about this on twitter and got some great feedback. The easiest one: call the Jedi psychics and move on. I don’t what to keep the laser sword wielding monks around, even if I were to call them Cheddar Monks (shout out to the excellent Darths & Droids webcomic), and some have suggested to simply drop Jedi but keep the skill (Use the Force) and the feats to gain powers, thus allowing any of the other classes to gain “powers”. I would also need to weed out certain powers that may be to over the top for traditional (i.e. stereotypical) sci-fi psychics. I have been working over ideas for the past couple of days…

With all this in mind I come to you dear readers. I played Star Wars Saga System for about seven months, but this was back in 2008. Some of our readers may have more experience with the system. What are your house rules and your fixes to the system? Any thoughts on filing off the serial numbers… Anyone adapted it to other settings? I know about the fantasy and horror/pulp adaptations. What else is out there?

I know there are generic or easily adaptable systems out there, GURPS and Savage Worlds to name just two, but I want to explore the feasibility of the adaptation they have suggested. Your thoughts and ideas are appreciated. I hope everyone has a great week!

PS – I was unaware of this use of the filing of the serial numbers concept; still the concept works for the purposes of this post so I’ll go with it. Here hoping no one is terribly confused!

Related posts:

1. Ask the readers: Does not play well with others…
2. Ask The Readers: Fighting Gamer ADD
3. Ask The Readers: What are your thoughts on the GUMSHOE system?

I have always liked to push the envelope in my games, let’s call it Shock GMing! Trying out new storytelling methods such as games where events occur in a non-linear fashion, dream sequences, gimmicks like dressing up as a villain (I know that is dangerously close to cosplay), handing out props like a plastic sword or a glass vial with a strangely colored liquid inside to represent magic items, to more mundane things like altering, tone, pitch and volume when I speak. I still remember the a session when I talking in a calm normal voice and unexpectedly shouted and pounded on the table to represent a startling situation during the game. One player almost jumped out of his skin!

These are far from the only tools in my GM Toolkit, but I also enjoy introducing moral, philosophical or controversial topics and situations in my games. I realize this approach may not be for everybody, after all we ultimately role-play to have fun, and dealing with such topics as religion, politics, may not be everybody’s idea of “fun”. But by the same token I enjoy telling complex stories that tackle such subjects and I believe that while the goal of the game is having fun, it should be fun for all concerned, including the GM. If all I could tell were stories about endless dungeon crawls in worlds of black and white morality, my GM days would be numbered.

Why all these reminiscing and philosophical considerations you ask? Well it has to do with my weekly game and a recent even that motivated me to write this post. It actually happened three sessions ago and I wanted to blog about it the same night it happened, but I considered it and decided I should give myself some time and simmer down, deal with the consequences, before sharing this with you dear readers.

A little background if you’ll indulge me. We are currently playing a supers game using the Mutants & Masterminds 3^rd edition rules, the players are among the first even super humans in the world and the game is a mixture of four colored super heroics and a semi-realistic exploration of their roles and effect they have on the world. We’ve played 14 sessions and so far the players seem to enjoy it as much as I do. Some weeks ago two of the characters infiltrated the compound of a religious fanatic who was condemning all supers as abominations and inciting people to attack them.

The two undercover supers joined the fanatic’s followers and got close to him. To their surprise (or maybe not) the leader of the cult had powers, a strange mix or long distance mind control and the ability force people to do his bidding. They began to suspect he was abusing his followers and the fanatic in turn tried to use his powers on them. He eventually mind controlled one of the player characters and used his powers to rape him!

Ok I’ll let that sink in for a minute…

Your reaction was probably similar to that of my players. The player who’s been with us the shortest time was visibly shaken; the player of the affected character was speechless. The room was hushed for a moment. This was a risk on my part, one of those moments that can ruin a character through no action of his player, permanently disrupt a game or even doom a campaign. I was unsure of whether to go through with it, but now, in hindsight, I am glad I did.

Incorporating this element into the story was not something I did lightly. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard or read the cliché that character’s “speak” to the author. Be that as it may, when I create important NPCs or villains I try to imagine myself in their shoes, what motivates them, what makes them tick. I don’t overdo it; much of what will come out of this experiment may be details that never impact the game directly, but I try to fill in the gaps enough to allow me to represent the NPC credibly. The more I thought about this religious fanatic villain, the more I saw him taking advantage of his followers, abusing his powers in unspeakable ways. I did not set out to rape a player’s character, that was just who the villain was, the character was a victim.

I had other concerns, rape is a horrible act, and I did not mean to trivialize it or belittle victims, this was an adult theme I wanted to explore in the game. Also there was the issue of it being a same sex rape, I did not want this to be a commentary on sexuality or sexual preferences, rape has nothing to do with that and everything to do with violence, a terrible crime. And let’s not mention the religious undertones… So I wrestled with the idea for a while.

Incorporating subjects such as this one is not something you spring on a group of players you just started game mastering for. In such a situation you don’t know how people feel about specific topics or how they may react. So if you remember one piece of advice out of this let it be this: Don’t pull a stunt like that on people you don’t know well.

In our case my group has been playing together for years, we are friends first and gamers later, so we know each other pretty well. Also the player who was victim to the villain’s mind control is someone I have known for a long time. He was playing a happy go lucky character, a charming speedster, but I could tell he was eager for his character to evolve, to change; we had even talked about it incidentally, so when the villain mind controlled him I decided to incorporate this complicated issue into the game and run with it.

After the initial shock wore off, the terrible event had consequences. Once freed from the villain’s influence the character took his revenge, killing him and throwing the whole compound into chaos. The player used the opportunity for his character to grow. He has become darker, edgier, conflicted, trying to deal with what happened as a hero and in his private life. The other super who had infiltrated the compound with him is feeling guilt over the event. And then there is a civilian friend of the raped hero who had joined the cult in an attempt to spy on them, suffered a similar fate, and is now pregnant. So as you can see the fallout from all this is far from over.

These are not the only adult topics we have tackled in the campaign. Two other players are playing a couple and one of them is invulnerable and casually mentioned that she can no longer fell anything, not when her significant other kisses her, or caresses her, or even when they have sex. We have run with this subplot, NOT role-playing intimate moments mind you, but role playing the emotional fallout of this on their relationship. One character is dealing with custody issues over his daughter with his ex-wife, and another is setting himself up as judge, jury and executioner, bringing him in direct conflict with his teammates.

Some people may read this and say, “Well that’s not for me! If I wanted custody and intimacy issues I’d stick to the real world!” And you know what? That is totally valid. Tackling complex issues during a game is not fun for everyone. There is no right or wrong way to play, so play what makes your group happy. Me and my group, we like to wrestle some complex issues and use them as springboards for role playing. In the past we have dealt with slavery, religion, corrupt politicians, secrets and treason, slavery and torture, and the consequences of all these.

I have taken it to far sometimes, my last D&D 3^rd edition campaign was probably the darkest fantasy game I have ever played, it was hard to tell who the good guys and the bad guys were and I liked it like that. Not everybody did, one player even stopped playing the campaign. That is why now I try to discuss these subjects with my players, not specific details, but the tone and topic, the expectations for the game, so we can all be on the same page. Live and learn; if you screw up, learn from it, if everyone is on the same boat and you play it right complex issues such as these can enhance the role playing experience.

When the game session ended, like I do every session, I asked the players what they thought of the game; what they liked and did not like. The player whose characters had gone through the traumatic experience admitted that while it was shocking he was ok with. The newest member of our group said, she could not believe what had happened and something to the effect that this might have been the most shocking thing she had experienced in an RPG game. A long time player turned to her and said, “You have not played with him long enough, give him time” I took both comments as a compliment, my work was done!

So where do you stand? Do adult, or complex, issues have a place in your game? What elements do you feel comfortable with? I’d sure like to know… Thanks for reading.

Related posts:

1. Communication Breakdown: Language in RPGs
2. Almost as good as the real deal: playing RPGs over Google+ Hangout
3. Fleeting Moments: RPGs That End

“Dear d20 System, we’ve had a good run you and me… No, no relax, this is NOT that conversation. I am not breaking up with you! I just think we should see other people. You have your legions of adoring fans, and that shiny new 4^th edition, you can see whoever you want, I have met some new systems, Indies mostly, and I want to explore my options. You can understand right? And we’ll always have Pathfinder…”

All kidding aside, I am not giving up on the d20 system, heck at least 70% of my gaming collection is d20 or earlier iterations. My currently on hiatus fantasy game uses the Pathfinder RPG rules and the current supers game is Mutants & Masterminds. I am happy with both systems, and probably will continue using them for these specific genres. Looking back over the last 6 years, all my long lasting campaigns have used a variation of the rule set: D&D 3^rd ed., then Star Wars Saga System, D&D 4^th ed., Pathfinder and now M&M. There have been intermittent one shot games using other system, Savage Worlds, Don’t Rest Your Head, Lady Blackbird and others, but my gaming group is firmly entrenched on their ways.

I recently began mentioning possible rules for a future sci-fi game. I threw around Alternity, Savage Worlds and Stars Without Number and got a less than enthusiastic reaction. They in turn suggested d20 Future, Star Wars Saga system or even adapting Pathfinder.  Mind you, I did not speak with all my players and I know one player will be up to trying new systems and another is more interested in the story than the rules, but do you see what their suggestions have in common? If you said they are all d20 you are correct.

I was in the d20 bandwagon when it began. The idea of having one system for all games seemed like a great idea at the time, but in implementation, the rules that work for a fantasy game are not always a good fit for other genres. I think Mutants & Masterminds is a stellar example of adapting the basic mechanics into another genre effectively. I can’t say I am impressed with the sci-fi adaptations out there!

Now that I have expanded my gaming horizons and tried out so many new games I want to play with another rule set. I can’t put all the blame on my players, I have been a big influence on the games we play, after all I am the Game Master full time for the group and I have preeminently chosen d20 over all systems. Also we are a pretty crunch intensive group. My players like complex rule systems that allow creating detailed character, so rule light or too far out there indie games are not their cup of tea.

And I’m not proposing a great departure, Alternity was almost a preview of what was to come for D&D 3^rd edition with a really unique dice mechanic and Stars Without Number is definitely inspired by old games and there is a lot of the old school gaming goodness in it. Savage Worlds is perhaps the greatest departure, but it retains things like tactical combat and detailed characters, both things they like.

So I find myself in the conundrum, should I go the d20 route and try to adapt what I have to the campaign I want to develop, like filling off the numbers of Star Wars Saga system to make it a generic sci-fi game, or using the Infinite Futures (sci-fi rules based off the Pathfinder System) I recently purchased?

Again, I don’t want to stop playing with the d20 system, I just want to expand my horizons. I know many of you have gone through similar situations. What did you do? Do you play any d20 sci-fi game you think I should explore? I don’t want to simply say “this is my game and you’ll play what I want”, but I also want to run a game that challenges me as a GM. What was your experience, any advice?

PS – To my players, if you read this, this is not a slam on you. I want to hear your opinion and ultimately this is a decision we’ll make together as a group. I just want to hear what others have gone through. Thanks for playing the game week after week, you are the best!

Related posts:

1. Breaking News: Roleplaying finally possible in D&D 4th Edition
2. Ask the readers: Filing off the serial numbers
3. Gen Con 2011, a retrospective… Part 1: Role Playing Games

Little by little I began to buy more and more RPG books on PDF, from True20 to ICONS and a whole lot more. This was ideal as I attempted to convert my gaming books collection to electronic format. As I embraced the presence of a laptop behind the GM Screen, or in this case supplanting it, I began to see the advantage of having the books on PDF. During my last D&D 3.5 campaign I lugged around a plastic chest (yes a chest) full of books to the game. I needed a handcart and the help of my player to unload the box form the car!

So you can imagine the advantage of carrying just my laptop and a few select books to the game. That’s why, even when I get hardcopies of the books I use (mostly Pathfinder and Mutants & Masterminds these days), I also invest on digital copies to go along with them.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not giving up on print. Even if I got an e-reader and love my gaming PDFs, I still collect books. I just won’t buy every book that comes out if I can get a digital copy. But every so often a game comes along that even when you’ve read it digitally you know this is a game that deserves a sport on your shelve. This was the case when I read Stars Without Number!

(And by the way that is a roundabout way to get to the topic of the post…)

Michael already posted about his preliminary review of the book, and I have to concur. The book is a refreshing entry into the old-school genre. While it may be mechanically inspired by old-school games the book is well written, concise, presents and imaginative setting and includes some excellent sandbox campaign mechanics that seem to be great tools to get the players involved in the development of a campaign. I am yet to try it out, but it seems promising and Star Without Number is edging out other competitors on the race to see which system will be the one for my upcoming sci-fi campaign (Alternity and Savage Worlds being the other two horses in the race right now).

Unless you live under a virtual rock by know you know that RPGNOW and DriveThruRPG are offering Print on Demand, or POD, on various RPG books, some out of print, others original creations that before used to be only available on PDF. Many times when I purchased large electronic books I would print and bind them at the local printing shop, so the possibility of actually having the book I like printed and delivered to me intrigued me.

I was a little reluctant, despite good reviews and the proliferation of POD over the last couple of years; I wondered how it would come out. Also the shipping worried me. Puerto Rico is part of the US Postal Services but some companies fail to grasp the concept and charge astronomical prices to ship to the island. But I liked Stars Without Number so much that I decided to test the waters. During a recent sale I ordered the book, including shipping, the hardcover version of the book set me back $24. Not bad for a 210 page book…

I ordered the book March 2^nd; the book shipped March 7^th and was here March 9^th. The book looks and feels like any commercially printed book out there. Sturdy, well put together, with excellent binding. True the art on Stars Without Number is sparse, mostly stock art and NASA pictures, but Sine Nomine Publishing did such a stellar job with their flagship product and used the art they do have so well that this is not a major issue for me.

I am impressed by the book; it is truly amazing to be able to order such a high quality hardcover print copy of this electronic book. Star Without Number is available for free in PDF. If you like the game in PDF, I cannot recommend enough getting it on print. The price is actually cheaper than what it would have cost me to have it printed and bound at the print shop and the end product is decidedly better.

If you look closely at the pictures accompanying this post you will see they are taken in my car. I wanted to wait to get home and take proper pictures but I could not contain my excitement. See, even if the book arrived March 9^th to the island, I was unable to get my hands on it until today. This is the only bad part about my first foray into POD. Despite RPGNow having my correct address (and I did check) UPS truncated the address and claimed they could not deliver it. I tried to contact UPS and correct the address but they claimed ONLY the sender could do this…

RPGNow customer support was MORE than helpful and offered to have another book shipped, apparently the easiest solution UPS gave them. I asked them not to. Despite having to brave some heavy traffic and not the most helpful customer service people at UPS I decided I would drive to their offices and get it. I’ve had my issues with UPS before, their delivery personnel is very amicable, and I was pleasantly surprised by the helpfulness of the person at the counter today, but dealing with some of their corporate policies and their call center employees can be, to say the least, frustrating.

So the only complain on this whole experiment was something RPGNow had no control over. This might be my first POD purchase, but will not me my last. I am now the proud owner of a print copy of Stars Without Number. I have a feeling I may need to get another copy once my players see this one…

Related posts:

1. What about Kobold Quarterly, specifically the winter issue, number 16? A review…
2. Freebie: Stars Without Number
3. Follow up Castles & Crusades Unboxing (Now with Moving Pictures!)

Jon Leitheusser

Anyone who is a fan of Mutants & Masterminds or DC ADVENTURES has probably seen the Threat Reports that Green Ronin has been putting out lately. Threat Reports are 99 cent downloadable PDFs for Mutants & Masterminds 3rd edition. They contain a quick little story about a bad guy and their stats allowing GMs to use them in their M&M games. I recently got the chance to interview one of the creative minds behind the Threat Reports, Jon Leitheusser and ask him where the idea behind Threat Reports came from. I also got to ask question about what it’s like to work with Green Ronin and what future projects he is working on.

Youseph Tanha: I want to thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview with me. It seems like there are never enough interviews like this in my opinion and I really appreciate you making the time.

Jon Leitheusser: You bet!

Youseph: Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself? Where you grew up?

Jon: Well, I grew up in Burlington Wisconsin. Which is sort of on the South Eastern corner of the state not far from the Illinois border. Actually its ten miles away from lake Geneva which is where D&D was created. I went to school there (Burlington) and high school there. I went to college in Madison and the UW. I ended up spending 14 years there. Not in school, in Madison.

Youseph: What role playing game did you cut your teeth on?

Jon: Oh, Advanced Dungeon & Dragons. I think it was 1982 when I started playing that.

Youseph: How did you come to work for Green Ronin?

Jon: In 2001 I got recruited to come and work for WizKids out in Bellevue Washington. While I was working their I did a little bit of freelance work for Green Ronin. Doing some editing. Specifically doing editing for stat blocks because I enjoyed it. They had a hard time finding people to do that. So I did a little bit of that for them. I did a little bit of freelance writing for them. I wrote part of the Iron Age book with my buddy Seth Jonson who was the HeroClix Game Designer after me. Then I ended up leaving WizKids and the guys from Green Ronin said ”hey you want to come work for us a Line Developer”? And I said “Sure that sounds like a lot of fun to do in my free time”. So that’s how all that went down.

Youspeh: So are they your full time employer right now?

Jon: They are.

Youseph: What did you do for WizKids?

Jon: For WizKids I was hired to be the advertising and public relations guy. I was probably there a couple of months when I walked into the head of the game design department and said “I want your job.” And he said, “All right, I’ll start sending you rules and you start giving me feedback on them. Let me know what you think.” So I… It wasn’t editing. It was slightly editing and slightly like, you know, the logic on this is wrong. The wording on that needs to be cleaned up. That sort of stuff. I don’t know what these rules are trying to say. Here is how I would fix them. He was impressed by this so he hired me out of the marketing department and into the game design department. I moved up from there and I think in two years I had his job and he had been moved up to be vice president.

Youseph: So did having something like that on your resumé open up doors to places like Green Ronin?

Jon: I imagine that is probably true, but I think that has more to do with making contacts with people. I have known Chris Pramas actually now for a good 16 years one way or another. I worked with him when I was a product manager for ‘Capital City Distribution’ which was similar to Diamond Comic Distributors. Then Diamond eventually ended up purchasing Capital City. So I had a lot of contacts in the gaming industry through that job. Chris knew me from that. We would talk at conventions.

Youseph: So how many employees does Green Ronin have currently?

Jon: Full time?

Youseph: Yeah.

Jon: 8 plus some part timers.

Youseph: So the thing that came up that made me want to do this interview was that Green Ronin has been putting out these ninety-nine cent PDFs called Threat Reports for Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition. Looking at the whole thing, the whole idea of it just seems genius to me. I mean you got something that costs less than a buck and it adds a layer of depth to the game. It’s just awesome and it’s set at a good price. Who’s idea was that?

Jon: The short answer is that it started with me, but the long answer is we have been talking about doing more PDF products for a while now. I was sitting around thinking about this and I though “People like PDFs. They like the immediacy of them right? So, if it costs ninety-nine cents, it’s an easy thing to download and have right then.” Then the other thing people really like are bad guy books. Those sell very well for us. So I thought “Why don’t we just do a villain of the week thing.” That’s originally what the ‘Threat Reports’ where called. ‘Villain of the Week.’ Then as we got closer to the launch date we thought “You know we should come up with a more interesting name than this.”
We figured that at the very least the PDFs would at least pay for themselves and they have. Which is great. Eventually we will collect these villains into a book in order to sell in stores.

Youspeh: I imagine there will be several more books to go with M&M 3rd.

Jon: Yeah, yeah, there definitely will be more in the future. Just for M&M this year we have a hand full of books already planned or are in the works. Then for next year we have probably already talked about another half dozen.

Youseph: Which I think is great.

Jon: Yeah it is. It’s a lot of work, but it’s good to keep new products coming out and people seem to be really enjoying the new edition of the game which is great.

Youseph: So, as an outsider looking in I love the fact that the PDFs Green Ronin offers are not watermarked. I love the fact that when you guys do an update, like the errata for DC ADVENTURE I was able to download the entire PDF updated with all the errata and it did not cost me a dime. I mean to me that is HUGE! How come Green Ronin is more accepting of selling PDFs than a big boy like Wizards of the Coast.

Jon: I don’t really know the reason behind Wizard’s strategy there. I don’t understand. As for Green Ronin, none of us are particularly concerned about piracy. It’s just not something we spend a lot of time thinking about. I can’t even say we have a strategy for it. Right? We release the products the way we do because that’s the way we release them. That’s the easiest answer. I think all of us kind of look at piracy and think, ”that sucks,” and it would be great to get all that money from all the people that are “Stealing this from us”, but you know I think a lot of piracy happens because people are interested, but not actually interested enough to spend the money… and if they download something that interests them then it’s entirely plausible and possible–and very likely in fact–that some number of those people in the future will by product from us. So, it’s another way to do marketing I guess. It’s hard to track and it’s not like you would be able to crack down on it anyway unless you pulled all of your PDFs from being on sale… and that still doesn’t even end the problems. We are just not going to bury our head in the sand over it. We know it’s out there, but we hope some of those people eventually spend some money with us.

Youseph: I want to share a link with you. Do you know the author Neil Gaiman?

Jon: Oh yeah. I have been following him and his giving the book away for free. I haven’t been able to convince Green Ronini to do that yet. -laughs-

Youseph: Well what I am trying to say is that I like what you guys are doing with the PDFs and the price point and what not. It works for me.

Jon: Well I think one of the things that helps us is that we have a really good fan base. They are really responsive and interested in what is going on. So when we announce a new project or a new product goes up for sale we do the pre-order which has the hard copy book and the pdf for an additional five dollars, or you can just get the PDF for, I think, full price or something like that. I think when you order the book, and the PDF is only an extra five dollars or so, you don’t have to worry about overpaying. The price makes it reasonable to pay for and download the pdf right away.

Youseph: Right. With the DC ADVENTURES game, was it hard to convince DC or Warner Brothers that you were going to create a PDF and put it out there and not be able to track it?

Jon: No, not at all. Not in the least. We explained to them that we would not only have the hard copy, but we would also be offering the PDF. I think there was a couple of minutes where they weren’t sure. Then they realized we were going to charge money for it and they would be getting their percentage of the sales they were fine with it. The issue of piracy never came up.

Youseph: Well that was kind of cool of them.

Jon: Yeah they have been really great to work with.

Youseph: So the ‘Threat Reports’ are selling well then?

Jon: Yeah. They are doing just fine. I mean they aren’t blowing the doors off. They are not selling thousands and thousands of copies, but you know, hundreds of copies is great. As long as we can make back what it costs to produce them we are going to keep going with them.

Youseph: Can you talk about any future projects you are working on?

Jon: Nothing that you haven’t already heard about. Heroes Journey is coming out right now. Emerald City Nights. The prologue is up and chapter one will be going up hopefully very soon. The M&M Heroes Handbook just came out. The Gamemaster’s Guide is in good shape actually. It’s written, it’s edited, it’s developed. We are just waiting on art. It’s all laid out, we just need to put the art in. Then we should have the DC ADVENTURES Heroes and Villains books coming out soon. We have the DC ADVENTURES: Universe book coming out later in the year. Hopefully in the summer. Then we have the GM Screen and the Character generator that just came out in PDF and will be out in hard copy in the next couple of months. It’s probably no surprise to anybody that there will be an Emerald City book in the summer which I am working on now. And that’s it until later in the year.

Youseph: Do you have a favorite role playing game right now?

Jon: I know I am supposed to say Mutants & Masterminds. Which might actually be true, but I’ll discount that one. See I really like mechanics, game mechanics, and I like elegant mechanics that facilitate fast, fun game play. They don’t have to necessarily have to be super deep. They just have to work well and be consistent. There are just so many games I like. Like I said I am going to discount M&M because that would probably be my favorite since I’m a superhero fan. So outside of that, I would probably have to say Savage Worlds.

Youseph: Really?

Jon: Yeah, because of what I said. Its fast and light and its internally consistent. It has a lot of flexibility because it allows you to play it as a role playing game, or a miniatures game, or a skirmish game. I mean there is all sorts of stuff you can do with that system.

Youseph: I received my copy of Mutants & Masterminds the other day.

Jon: Oh, that’s great news!

Youseph: Yeah it was nice to get it. One thing I was disappointed about was that it was a softcover.

Jon: Yeah. We’ve heard that a few times.

Youseph: Any particular reason you guys went that route?

Jon: Part of it was we assumed that people would have just purchased the DC book and we didn’t want to “make” people purchase another hardcover book since it would have cost at least ten dollars more. So instead we went with softcover. I’m sure at some point will do a hard cover version of the book.

Youseph: Oh don’t say that.

Jon: I am sure it will be a ways down the road, though.

Youseph: Well it is what it is, I guess. So I am ready to do my Inside the Actors Studio ten question ending here.

Jon: -laughs- Ok.

Youseph: What is your favorite word?

Jon: Yes.

Youseph: What is your least favorite word?

Jon: It’s a dirty word.

Youseph: That’s ok.

Jon: Ok, its cunt. I hate that word. It’s so hard.

Youseph: What turns you on?

Jon: Creatitivity. A good idea.

Youseph: What turns you off.

Jon: Willful ignorance.

Youseph: What sound or noise do you love?

Jon: That is a fine question. It’s got to be rain on a roof.

Youseph: What sound or noise do you hate?

Jon: The wrong note.

Youseph: What is your favorite curse word?

Jon: The F word. I also like to say “curses”.

Youseph: Very villainy of you.

Jon: Yes. -Laughs-

Youseph: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

Jon: Really anything, but if I had to pick one I would say full-time writer as opposed to part-time writer, which is what I do now.

Youseph: What profession would you not like to attempt?

Jon: Probably anything where I would have to be really angry or really aggressive all the time.

Youseph: If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you reach the pearly gates?

Jon: I guess you were wrong. -Laughs-

Youseph: -Laughs- Well Jon, that’s it. Thank you so much for your time. I had a blast doing this.

Jon: You bet. Any time.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Chad Underkoffler
2. Interview with David Bezio
3. Robin D. Laws interview

Today was a pretty cool day. I swung by the postoffice after work to pick up the mail and found a box waiting for me. It was my copy of Mutants & Masterminds 3rd edition that I pre-ordered some time ago. I took the box, put it in my truck and drove home to open it up.

When I got home I pulled out my camera so I could take pictures of the unboxing. When I ordered the DC Adventures book several months ago I was very impressed with the packing of the book. The same care was taken with Mutants & Masterminds 3rd edition. The book was shipped with a layer of packing peanuts in the box. The Mutants & Masterminds 3rd edition book was then placed inside and the remainder of the box was cover in packing peanuts. It pretty much insures that as long as someone did not deliberately kick the package the book would remain in perfect condition.

Packaging means a lot to me. I live in Juneau Alaska and I can’t tell you how many products I have ordered that arrive damaged because the sending person or company failed to package the product affectively. That is not the case with Green Ronin. Everything item I have ordered from them has been packaged and shipped with care.

Upon removing my softcover copy of Mutants & Masterminds 3rd edition from the box it was shipped in I let out a sigh of disappointment. Softcover. SOFTCOVER!?!? Did I order the wrong version of the book? I immediately pulled out my Macbook Pro and pulled up the Green Ronin website to see. Upon checking their website I learned that Green Ronin is only selling softcover versions of Mutants & Masterminds 3rd edition. This ment the book was a few bucks cheaper then my copy of DC Adventures.

Aside from the book being softcover (and the complete lack of a hardcover version) everything else is great. The book’s art and fonts are beautiful just like the DC Adventures book. I hope to spend some time over the next few days reading through the book and enjoying the art. I can’t wait to play this game!

Pros

• Beautiful
• Well packaged
• PDF option available

Cons

• Softcover only

Related posts:

1. Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition Gamemaster’s Kit Unboxing
2. Free Stuff Friday: Mutants & Masterminds Character Sheets
3. Can Mutants & Masterminds replace d20 Modern?

This week’s Free Stuff is

Character Sheets for Mutants & Masterminds.

On The Green Ronin Website They Wrote This Stuff up: Character sheets for the third edition of Mutants & Masterminds are now available — in black & white and in color!

Color Character Sheet

Black & White Character Sheet

So get your copy of the Mutants & Masterminds Character Sheets free today. Then be sure to thank Green Ronin for their free stuff!

Related posts:

1. Free Stuff Friday: DC Adventures Character Sheets
2. Free Stuff Friday: Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Character Sheets
3. Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition Gamemaster’s Kit Unboxing

This week’s Free Stuff is

Did you know that Green Ronin released Errata for the DC Adventures Hero’s Handbook? They did! Best of all it’s FREE!

On The Green Ronin Website They Wrote This Stuff up: The DC Adventures Hero’s Handbook errata file is now available!

Got to love it. Short and sweet. So get your copy of the DC Adventures Hero’s Handbook Errata free today. Then be sure to thank Green Ronin for their free stuff!

Related posts:

1. Free Stuff Friday: DC Adventures Character Sheets
2. Free Stuff Friday: DC Adventures Quick Start PDF
3. Free Stuff Friday: Mutants & Masterminds Character Sheets

Last night I played the 8^th session of my group’s newest RPG campaign, Dawn of a New Age, about which I’ve written about before. I’m using the Mutants & Masterminds 3^rd edition rules as they appear in the DC Adventures RPG. After 8 sessions I can say I love the system. There are some things I still need to look up and not all the players feel that they master the rules but so far this has been the best experience with any super hero based system. The rules are complex enough to satisfy the crunch factor we expects, while simple enough that once everyone has created their character, everything runs smoothly.

I had read M&M 1^st edition and played in a 2^nd edition campaign, but never Game Mastered it. I have thoroughly enjoyed it! Admittedly the players are a big part, they have embraced the game and I have strived to fulfill their expectations based on the questionnaires they completed before the campaign begun and ongoing feedback. So lesson #1 would be: Like in all relationships, a game flows better when there is effective communication. The rules really encourage a super hero game, from the changes in attributes, to the Complications and Hero Points.

I think the Hero Points are the one component that I still struggle with. I need to hand them out more in game and players need to find ways to work in additional complications in the game. I have found my players somewhat reluctant to give themselves complications early on the adventure so they can get more points to use later; I guess they just don’t like to fail. Despite this the game has flowed great and everyone is happy.

The concept of the campaign is that the players are among the very first super humans in the world and society around them is adapting to their presence. The players did not want this game to be too dark, but to have elements of realism and for heroes to become an object of media attention. So I began juggling what may have sounded like disparate ideas but it has worked out. Supers have become like celebrities to many while they are mistrusted and outright hated by a minority. The governments had a knee jerk reaction and tried to control and suppress people exhibiting powers.

A very interesting situation developed when two players, after confronting and destroying two Air Force jets, decided they would fly to Washington to talk with the President. They even tried to call the White House switchboard and let them know they were coming. Once they entered Washington airspace they found jets flying overhead, the city in full alert and a perimeter established around the White House.

Amazingly what could have easily become a disaster was averted when the players decided to surrender themselves to authorities and tell their side of the story while the rest of the players raided a secret army base gathering evidence that the armed forces were violating human rights and keeping citizens prisoner. The session was a real surprise because the players did the unexpected, I was able to craft a realistic response to their plan and even the players that missed the fight enjoyed it since they felt their actions had impacted the story. Lesson #2 would be keep it flowing, think on your feet and be willing to listen to your players.

After some time not reading comic books I’ve begun to get back into the groove as part of prepping for the game. I’m not buying individual issues, and, like I said in a previous post, I still think there is a lot of rehashing old stories for a new generation that I’m not interested in reading. But I’ve begun reading some stuff I’m really enjoying.

I’ve recently discovered Invincible, created by Robert Kirkman the guy who writes one of the few comics I still buy The Walking Dead. I’ve just begun reading it but I’m having fun. One of the players in the supers game brought various paperbacks for us to read so we could get into a superhero mood and I read Batwoman: Elegy by Greg Rucka. Great story, beautiful art, a pleasure to read, I just need to get the subsequent stories.

Another comic I’ve recently picked up is the Green Lantern re-launch that began some years ago by Geoff Johns. I am NOT a fan of the revolving door of death in comics and the revival old silver age heroes that were retired (Barry Allen I’m looking at you!) so I passed on this when it came out. The fact that I read Blackest Night, the “culmination” of the Green Lantern storylines over the last couple of years, and I was terribly disappointed, did not help the chances of me going back to what once was my favorite DC Comics hero!

Still someone gave me the paperbacks for this story and against all expectations I’m hooked. The magic of the old Green Lantern comics are there, and I whole heartedly agree with my friend Luis that the Green Lantern Corps comics are better than the Green Lantern series itself. I know that the end product of all these stories, Blackest Night, was not all it could be for ME but I’ll enjoy the ride there! Rediscovering all these comics is really lesson #3, sometimes you need to go back to the source with a fresh perspective to get some references and expand your horizons.

But like said in the title of this post, it’s a good time to be a supers fan. There are lots of supers games being supported, not only Mutants & Masterminds, but ICONS, the Hero System, and a slew of others, so you can take your pick. And not only are supers big in games and comics, they have gone mainstream! There have been good (Watchmen, Iron Man and the new Batman movies are personal favorites) and bad comic books movies (Fantastic Four, the pain!) and more are on the way like Green Lantern, Thor and X-men First Class.

TV also has a great selection of shows inspired by the supers genre. Despite past misses (you might have liked it but I HATED Heroes) there are two excellent shows about superheroes in American TV right now. Young Justice is a great animated series in the Cartoon Network full of teen angst, pulse pounding action and a reimagining of some classic, and no so classic, DC teen heroes.

I also thoroughly enjoy No Ordinary Family. Since it has to do with a family dealing with newly acquired powers and how they fit in a world where there are no powers (this is not exactly accurate as the show progresses, but I don’t want to spoil if for you) it gave me lots of ideas for my campaign. Be aware this is a family show and it has some silly elements, but the tension, the plotlines and the family dynamics are a great source or ideas.

A third show currently on TV (and I have no idea for how long since the ratings are not that good) is The Cape! I have to admit that all the criticism you might have heard about it are true. Corny, campy, laughable, but I have embraced the camp. It’s everything a bad comic could be, but it makes it so fun (at least for me) that at the end of the episode I’m grinning. Watch it to see some tropes of comics translated to TV, to get some tongue in cheek ideas that may be lighten the mood in a supers game and what not to do in your game! Lesson #5, it’s good to go back to the source, but always learn from other media and reinterpretations. Experiment and be willing to break new ground!

After that entire ramble let me finally share a handout I developed for my campaign. After a couple of sessions I noticed that players had some issues calculating successes and dealing with damage, so I prepared this handout you can download in PDF.  It has the Damage Resistance Matrix from the DC adventures book which I think is great help during combat, and summarizes the conditions underneath. The left hand side has a place to keep track of Toughness save penalties and conditions suffered as a result of damage.

Also, taking the idea from a Savage Worlds combat cheat sheet I once used, I created a matrix (i.e. glorified numbers table) to help players calculate successes. It also includes details on recovery and criticals, details some of the players have easily forgotten. The sheet is meant to be printed out and laminated. That way players can use a dry erase marker (wet erase can be used but some colors are hard to get out) and keep track of penalties and conditions, erase and reuse.

I’d love to know what you think of the handout. My players love it, but we don’t have that much experience with the system. Let me know what you think, any changes you think could improve it. Or just leave a comment about what inspires you in your games. As always, these are just my opinions, your mileage may vary. Thanks for readying…

Related posts:

1. Ask the Readers: Any good supers themed questionnaire out there?
2. What time is it? Jade Regent time!
3. I’ve got supers on my mind…

I recently finished reading the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson (that’s the girl with the dragon tattoo, which then played with fire and ended up kicking the hornet’s nest). And in case you are wondering, yes I do read other stuff that is not RPG related. The novels are a satisfying, if little long, suspenseful page turner with an implausible plot. I’ve heard so many people say they were captured by the plot from the very beginning, but I was not. If I had not been reading the book for a book club I probably would have never gotten through the first hundred pages of first novel. After that threshold the book really became engrossing. On the third book I had a similar experience; it did not take off for me after page 113. What about book two? Well let’s just say I only got through it to get to book three!

In all honesty I am being a little facetious, the books are fun an entertaining. Not classics but better than a lot of other stuff out there. After finishing the third book and preparing for the upcoming book club meeting I began reflecting on the novel and realized that one of the reasons I enjoyed the 3^rd one so much was because so much of the book had to do with secondary characters. The parts I enjoyed the most had NOTHING to do with the protagonists. In a way that’s a compliment on the author who managed to make secondary characters so memorable, but it’s really sad that by the end of the trilogy I had come to despise the main characters so much.

All this thinking made me ponder the characters we as Game Masters create to populate our games and ended up being a reflection on Non-Player Characters.

Interested? Read on…

Larsson created (in my opinion, yours may vary) bigger than life protagonists, that despites their foibles are so good at what they do that they simply became caricatures. Mikael Blomkvist is the unflappable reporter, irresistible to all women, a perfect alter ego for the author, and Lisbeth Salander is the super hacker of the 21^st century, overcoming all her past tragedies, strong capable, a modern Amazon. They made me think of that mythical beast, the bane of many a group, the GM character. That special NPC that is better than anybody else, who overshadows everything the player characters do and speaks with the GMs voice. You would think that even a slightly experience GM would know how to avoid this, but I keep hearing horror stories. Let’s take a moment to reflect on this, even if we don’t admit it there is always that NPC you like just a tad bit more than the others, the old wise sage you are attached to, I say to you, kill that NPC. It’s the best thing you can do!

Perhaps I’ve been lucky I’ve never had too few players, on the contrary, I usually have too many at my table. So there’s never been the real need for me to run an NPC to round out the party. I guess that’s the more common thread in many (NPC) horror stories. There were just not enough players so the GM ran a character. There is also the argument that a GM rarely gets to play and he or she want to experience playing a character. I find this last argument rubbish, if you are the GM you don’t get to play a character, your role is to tell an entertaining story by working together with the players, plain and simple.

If Larsson was my GM and I had to play in a game with Blomkvist and Salander I would probably drop out of that game in no time. I can understand the complain of some players when they play on published campaigns and feel like second stringers to drow super rangers and pipe smoking wizards that break the fourth wall. GMs who have NPCs that are just better than anybody else, that humiliate the PCs or rescue them all the time, who tells them the plot and then guides the like spectators through encounters only  the NPC can solve are the enemy of any game.

But you know what? Larsson’s novels are not a game, they are novels and in a novel an author strives to create memorable characters, protagonists the reader can identify with because reading those novels is a passive form of entertainment. For my taste they may not be the best characters, but I know for a fact others love them and identify with them to great a great extent. And here is one of the problems with GM NPCs. Some GMs think their game is a novel or that the most important thing is to tell a story, the story they have created. I’ve been guilty of these at some point. But that is not why we play, we play to be entertained, to have fun, and no NPC should be more important than the protagonists of the game, the player characters.

That’s why again I invite you to think long and hard and identify your favorite NPC, the one you just cannot do without, and kill it!

That must sound like a weird bit of advice, specially coming from a GM who usually juggles so many NPCS. In my Pathfinder RPG game the player have a ship and the crew and passengers are all named NPCs with personalities and quirks, the PCs usually have about 20+ NPCs with them at all times. My current DC Adventures (Mutants & Masterminds 3^rd Ed) game has 49 NPCs after only five sessions. So I love my NPCs, I just try not to love them too much!

Looking back my worst infraction when it comes to GM NPCS was during an AD&D 1^st edition campaign. The PCs knew this wise wizard, who in fact was a polymorphed Gold Dragon, that gave them their quests, pointed the clues they missed and helped them in almost everything except adventuring with them. To me I was playing a clever old character, benevolent and fatherly to the players. Not until much later did I learn how much the players despised him, when one of them asked me to run a game in my campaign and he had his player character kill the NPC. The other players cheered him on, but I was furious, how dare he kill my most important NPC when I allowed him to play in MY campaign. I was ready to kill his character; the grudge monster list was not long enough.

But then I asked myself, why was I so mad? The fact that the player did this, that others cheered him on, it was telling. My NPC was an asshole and I had fallen victim to the GM NPC trap. From that day on I told myself no more. I would recognize the importance of NPCs, after all they make the world around the player characters come alive. Strive as much as I could to make them believable, but never think they were more important than the PCs. Have I succeeded? Not always, but I try every time I GM!

So I urge you again, for the third and final time, find that NPC you love, that one the players have become attached to and kill him. There is no greater way to shake things up and prove to yourself that they are just NPCs…

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We gathered at the beach apartment of a friend (the benefit of living in a tropical island) created characters and began a campaign using the DC Adventures RPG. Despite my love for ICONS It proved to be too rules light for my group, the prefer a little more crunch in their gaming diet, so we went with the Mutants & Masterminds 3^rd edition rules as presented in the DC Adventures book.

I know I proposed a Virtual Book Club to read DC Adventures and I am YET to publish a post about it, but real life (work, illness and other minor details like that) has kept me from writing a post to discuss the game as thoroughly as I’d like. So the real review of DC Adventures is still forthcoming (talk about wasted expectations!). What I intend to talk about is the campaign itself and two tools I’m using to enhance the experience.

Want to learn more? Read on…

Despite having told my players we’d be playing this past weekend well in advanced by the time the weekend came around only three characters were ready!

We only had three copies of the books among 7 players and a GM, making a Mutants & Masterminds character requires some math and since I was the only person who had read the complete book I decided I would help the players create their characters. I quickly realized I needed some technology tool to help me speed things up and keep track of all the possible power combinations. At first I was going to get the Mutants & Masterminds 3^rd edition rule set for Hero Lab by Lone Wolf Development but since this is only a beta release I decided not to. This is NOT a knock on Hero Lab! I own the Pathfinder RPG rule sets and use them extensively, there are excellent, but I wanted to explore other possibilities for this game.

The first thing I did was go lurk in the Atomic Think Tank, the message boards for Mutants & Masterminds. It is a really helpful community full of interesting and well informed discussion of the game in all its versions. I found the DC Adventures/3E Resources topic and there I found the link to an Excel Character Generator for DC Adventures.

The Excel documents created by Ski is EXCELLENT, if you are familiar with Excel you should have no problem navigating the generator. I fiddled with it one afternoon and pretty much got the hang of it, there was a learning curve as I began using it but it proved invaluable for character generation. It allowed me to build the individual components that make powers, put them together and simplify the math needed for character generation.

Character generation still took anywhere from one to two hours, but only about half the players had a working knowledge of the system and we took our time to make sure they ended up with the character they wanted.

After character creation we began playing on Saturday from about 12 midnight to 5 am and then from noon to 7 PM on Sunday. Needless to say we had great fun and everybody was stoked for Tuesday’s regular game. While prepping for the game I began to think of ways to distribute information about the campaign to the players in an effective way. I write a lot of background for the game, use images and pictures for NPCs. In the past I would print them out and hand them out to the players. I’ve also tried e-mail and Yahoo and Google groups. While all my players use computers they have different level of skills or interest. Groups I’ve created in the past have suffered form only about half the players actively participating. E-mail has been a little more effective but not as efficient as I’d like.

Recently Facebook unveiled their new groups which allow the groups to have a group chat, an e-mail address and to be created as a group open to everybody, closed (membership is public but not everybody can join) and secret. The group allows you to share pictures, post news, updates, and links, create events and share simple word processing documents.

I created a group and soon began sharing images for the PCs and NPCs in the campaign. I also created three documents, one a roster of PCs, a list of NPCs (34 so far in 3 sessions) and a collection of new items about the events happening in the world around them.

Think what you will of Facebook it has become so ubiquitous that ALL my players use it to communicate. The group may not be the most user friendly option out there; I still think Google Groups and Google Documents offer much better options, but alas, not all my players use them. Facebook is just too convenient. So far the players are commenting and participating. Are all of them using the group? Not all, but I have hopes, let see how it goes!

So there you are, two new tools I’ve begun using for my new campaign. What new tools and ideas are you integrating in your games, be they new or ongoing? I’d like to know…

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I serialized some fiction specific to the campaign here in the blog. In case you are interested in learning more about the background accompanying this questionnaire you can read it in these posts: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5. I hope the questionnaire is useful to you or inspires you to create your own.

I created it specifically for my players, and while you may not agree with my examples I selected them because I believe those are references my players will understand. Here is a link to the PDF. As always I welcome your feedback, reactions and suggestions. Thanks for reading!

This all ties to the Virtual Book Club reading of the DC Adventures book I was supposed to write at the beginning of the month. I apologize for the delay, real life has kept me too busy to write a proper report on my experience, but fear not, I still plan to write the post, more than likely after Thanksgiving. I apologize for keeping those interested (all two of you) waiting. Keep the faith.

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If you are already reading the book, hope everything is going well. I’m past the middle of the book and trying to stay on target despite an unexpected workload. Everything is going great and I’m looking forward to the discussion. I’m also looking for someone that plays, or played, older editions of DC based role playing games so we can have a discussion about those games as well.

If you are interested in hosting next month’s virtual book club leave a message here in the post, or contact me privately, so we can begin planning. If you have not yet begun you are still in time to join us and participate in the discussion at the end of the month.

Have fun everybody!

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There are two bundles, an RPG bundle worth $724.46 which you receive for a $25 donation. There are some great digital books in that bundle, from Icons, to Dragon Warriors, Don’t Rest Your Head, Exalted 2^nd Edition, Fear Itself, Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs vol. 2, Spycraft 2.0, and many, many more (including some fine Pathfinder RPG supplements)!

This is for a good cause and you get some excellent gaming materials. There is also the comic book bundle worth $173.91 you receive for a $10 donation. I have not read the comics, but there are some gaming PDFs in there, like Dark Champions and Mutants & masterminds 2^nd edition.

I got mine this afternoon and I’m still downloading and perusing all the gaming goodness. I encourage you to find it in your heart (and pockets) to donate. It’s a worthy cause, with loot! As I write this post gamers have donated $9,500, we are a generous folk, I know we can do more.

Have a great day!

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Last time around on this subject I proposed four possible books to read. Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first book of the Dragonlance series, the post apocalyptic rpg Atomic Highway, the retro clone Mutant Future and the new iteration of the Mutants & Masterminds game DC Adventures. Based on the feedback and this being an RPG blog I figured what better way to begin than with a game rulebook?

Enough beating around the bush! For this first installment of the Stargazer’s World Book Club we’ll be reading DC Adventures. The book is available from the Green Ronin online store, in digital format from RPGNow, from your local FLGS or from various online bookstores at a great discount. I realize that getting the book is no small investment but I think the game is popular enough that we will get enough participants.

But just in case, and based on some excellent ideas on the original book club post, we will also be welcoming discussion on previous incarnations of DC Universe role playing games, like the various editions of the DC Heroes games. We’ll have the chance to discuss current and past DC games.

Approximately one month from the time this is posted on the blog, around late October, I will write an initial post with my thoughts on the book and all those who want to participate in the discussion can do it via the comments. I may tackle both subjects (reading DC Adventures and past DC inspired rpgs) in one post or may just split it into two posts. I’m undecided about this, so I’d appreciate your feedback.

For the next round of the book club, whoever is interested can select the book/rulebook, or propose some options, to read and post it on their blog and we can keep on going. This is still a work in progress so we’ll learn along the way.

Looking forward to this, hope everyone has a great weekend. Enjoy your read!

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Real life has kept me away from the blog for too long, and I figured what better way to come back than tackling a topic I brought up little over a month ago, the Stargazer’s World Book Club.

Last time around I expounded the benefits and opportunities of a book club and many of you out there where interested in the idea of participating in a virtual book club so here we go. I’m officially hosting the first session of the Stargazer’s World Book club.

I’m writing this post to propose various options as far as reading material are concerned and to set up some preliminary rules.

What could we read? I have four options in mind:

• DC Adventures – The latest iteration of the Mutants & Masterminds rules adapted to the DC Comics universe. The book has now been out for a couple of weeks and there is a PDF available from RPGNow.
• Atomic Highway – This post apocalyptic rpg has been on my mind for a while. Michael has posted about it and I’m itching to read it. I’m going to grab the PDF whether we choose to read it or not since its on sale, but we could all read it and discuss it.
• Mutant Future – And old school option for the post apocalyptic fix can be this game. It’s a free download available from Goblinoid Games.
• Dragons of Autumn Twilight – After The Hobbit this was the next fantasy novel I read and it began my long love affair with fantasy fiction and reinforced my love for D&D. I have NOT revisited it since, and while I dread how the experience may go, I’m willing to give it a try. I figure it’s easily available and may games will have access to it.

I’ll wait for your feedback on what the majority wants to read. I’ll post a follow up early next week with the official selection. Once that post is up we’ll have a month to read the selection. At the end of that month I’ll write an initial post about what we read and we can all discuss in the comments.

Then next month any willing member of the club can host that month’s discussion. I’d like to begin organizing a calendar of future hosts at least two or three months in advanced, so if you are interested either send me a message or leave a comment.

How does it sound? Let me know what you think! Here is hoping many of you are on board for the Stargazer’s World Book Club. Happy reading everybody!

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Continuing with my Free Stuff Friday DC Adventures Character Sheet from last week, Green Ronin Publishing just released a quick start PDF for the new DA Adventures role playing game. How crazy awesome is that! You can try out the game for FREE before you buy it! That sounds like a company that believes in their product to me. I can’t wait to give this game a spin. I am so excited to try this game out with my gaming group!

On the Green Ronin Website they wrote this stuff up: Prefer to try before you buy? We’re pleased to present a free DC ADVENTURES Quick Start PDF. The county fair is being held in Smallville this year and Superboy, the town’s famous local hero, is invited as guest of honor. But it’s not all prize pigs and cotton candy, as Knockout has come to the fair, and she’s aiming to make a big impression!

So go check out the DC Adventures Quick Start Guide and maybe save the community of Smallville while you’re at it. Also be sure to thank the great folks over at Green Ronin for this free stuff!

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This week’s Free Stuff is

We wrote about DC Adventures last month. It’s a new RPG from Green Ronin Publishing based on the soon to be released the new Mutants & Masterminds 3rd edition rules.

Recently Green Ronin released a Black & White, and a Color version of their Character Sheets for DC Adventure for FREE!!!

On the Green Ronin Website they wrote this stuff up: The DC Adventures: Hero’s Handbook comes with a single-page character sheet, but we know your heroes are bigger and bolder than that, so we’ve whipped up a two-page character sheet.

So go check out these new Character Sheets and start saving Gotham City & Metropolis from the forces of evil! But before you start be sure to thank the great folks over at Green Ronin for this free stuff!

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I have to admit I am not a DC fan. I think most of the comics I’ve read so far have been either by Marvel or one of the independent publishers. But perhaps I will do some more research into DC stuff, now that I own the DC Adventures game.

What pretty much surprised me was that the M&M 3E rules feel very different from 2E. While it’s basically still using a d20 System variant, they’ve made a lot of changes starting with the attributes. Attributes are now ranked from –5 to 20 (Superman has strength 19 for example) and are directly added to the rolls. So the attribute rank is effectively the attribute bonus in itself. That was a good move in my opinion.

The layout is pretty good and the artwork is top-notch. But since we are talking about a licensed product here, this is not really surprising. That’s how a superhero roleplaying game is supposed to look like. I hope the hardcover book looks as good.

What I really like about the book is that it still supports a huge variety of settings. All of the M&M archetypes are still there (when I am not mistaken) and the game seems to have the same toolbox character as M&M 1st and 2nd edition had.

The preorder for the hardcover book sets you back $39.95. Preorder customers are offered the PDF version of DC Adventures for just $5, the normal price is $20. Why they don’t provide the PDF for free when you preorder the game is a mystery to me, because that’s what they’ve done with Dragon Age. But the $5 deal isn’t that bad. For me it is definitely worth it. You can order DC Adventures in the Green Ronin Online Store.

I haven’t had the chance to give the book a proper read, so it might take some more time before I can write a review. But from what I’ve seen so far, they made some interesting changes to the M&M ruleset and while it’s a DC licensed product, you can probably still run every kind of superhero game with it.

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In a nutshell ICONS is an easy to play, easy to pick up superhero game that harkens back to the classic superhero role-playing games of the 80s, specifically the old Marvel Superhero RPG, also called the FASERIP system, that got retro-cloned with the 4C system. It has all the charm of those old time games with a modern, simple and elegant mechanic with great touches that enhance the role-playing aspect of the game.

If you are a fan of superhero games, do yourself a favor and pick up ICONS. There is one caveat, if you are looking for Champions style granularity, or something like Mr. Kensosn’s Mutants and Masterminds, ICONS is not that. It’s light on rules but big on hearth, and believe me that is a good thing.

Want more details? Read on…

The first thing that struck me was the art style. The whole book is done in a very particular style by Dan Houser, reminiscent of the animated style often associated with modern superhero cartoons, like the Justice League or the more recent Batman team up series The Brave and the Bold. Art is abundant, the layout easy on the eye, the font easy to read. The tables take up a lot of the real estate, and I think some slight changes in the layout might have made the book even shorter (its 128 pages long including the ads) but I’m no expert on this. I’ll say this, I read about half of the book directly from the computer or on my iPhone and I had no trouble reading it.  The original PDF is a 9MB file, but I received an e-mail form Adamant letting me know a higher resolution copy is available for download where I purchased my copy.

In all sincerity the art took a little getting used to. I found it whimsical at first but eventually it became a little distracting. I would have loved other styles of art. I know what they were going for but I believe the system is strong enough to support all styles of superhero gaming, from over the top cartoon fun to more serious Watchmen style game and somebody who casually looks at the book in a book store or game store may dismiss it based on the art style. Don’t get me wrong I loved what Mr. Houser did, I just think the book would be better represented by a variety or art styles.

But that’s cosmetic, what about what’s under the hood? The game opens with an introduction to a very simple game mechanic and I think the discussion of the statistics and what results to expect is a strength that helps the reader understand what to expect from the system. The Determination mechanic, a resource available so characters can improve their chance of success, perform power stunts and other in game effects, seems a great balancing factor between super power houses and more down to earth heroes. The more powers you have the less Determination, so Superman has all the powers, but Batman has all the points to make his crazy plans work.

The idea that characters earn Determination through the complications and disadvantages (called Challenges in the game) they established for their characters enforces the tropes of the superhero genre. And I think this is one of the things the games does particularly well, emulate not only the superhero, but the situations and events typical to comic books. From Determination, to creating a team and how the Determination heroes contribute serve as resources to the members, to the role of leaders in hero groups, to catchphrases heroes utter,  all these elements emulate comic books, are quantified in the game, and reinforce the type of adventure that feel, well, super heroic!

Character generation is random, from assigning attributes in the order rolled, to rolling for the origin of the hero and number of powers. I’ve said it before; I’m NOT a fan of randomly generated heroes. But I did give it a chance (and the result is the topic of my previous post) and think it works. It harkened back to the days when I rolled characters using the Marvel Superheroes RPG, but the game has tweaks built in, like allowing you to swap two attributes and the inclusion of complimentary powers (called bonus powers in the game which can be confusing) within power descriptions that you can choose instead of rolling for the next random power, that lets you create a character with some internal consistency. If you don’t want random generation, there is simple point buy option in the book.

Power selection is varied enough that you can cover most powers you can think of. Undoubtedly someone will come up with some power that cannot be represented using the rules, but I can’t think of one for now. The descriptions are very general and some will require interpretation or house ruling, but I think this fits the style of play the game supports. This is a game that wants you to have fun first and foremost and worry about rules later.

My least favorite part of the book is the Taking Actions chapter. It lists the rules, attributes and what you can do with them like attacking and facing challenges and some of these concepts are important enough to have been explained with more details, perhaps a few additional examples. This alone may make the book a little harder to pick up by a newcomer which is a pity since this would be an ideal entry level superhero game. Character advancement is covered very briefly, integrated into the Determination mechanic, but this is one area of the game that could be expanded in future supplements.

The book could have been organized a little better, for example, an earlier discussion of what determination is. Reproducing important tables like material strength level and such in an appendix for easy reference. Some rules refer to other parts of the book and could have either been consolidated in one place or simply repeated. An index is something I always look for in a book. ICONS is small enough that you don’t get lost looking for things but an index would have been a great addition.

But these are minor complaints on an otherwise excellent book. The Game Master section is short but it contains solid advice on running the game and superhero campaigns in general. The sample villains are varied, colorful and fit many of the typical roles to be found in any superhero comic. The short sample adventure illustrates the concepts put forth in the Game Master chapter.

The game also includes some stock characters and creatures, enough to extrapolate much of what you will need. There is some discussion on weapon damage in the rules but I think some tables with real world items and their game effects would have been a good idea.

ICONS is not a game for someone looking to have every detail spelled out for them. It requires Game Master Interpretation, player trust and participation. So many modern games try to quantify every aspect of play and end up becoming endless lists of rules and exceptions. Not ICONS! ICONS is meant to be played by people who trust each other and want to tell a fun story together. That is the best recommendation I can think of for this game!

All this comes from reading the game, I’ve yet to put it to the test, as soon as I get to play I’ll come back and let you know how it went.

Go roll up a character and have fun! I want to hear your stories playing ICONS…

PS – Adamant Entertainment recently announced that all proceeds of ICONS for Kindle and iBooks will be donated to relief efforts surrounding the Gulf oil spill. Kudos to them for this! This is the kind of company to support.

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