Thursday, November 21, 2024

They Lost Me

 For the past two years or so, I've been playing a mobile game called Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes. While it had its annoyances (heavily pushing in-app purchases, making the free-to-play [F2P] a long slog, requiring you to unlock characters after weeks or months of effort, then more weeks and months to level them up, etc.), it scratched an itch I've had since I was a kid. 

Growing up just barely on the good side of the poverty line, I never had many Star Wars action figures. The few that I did have were like gold to me. I loved Star Wars. Still do. And looking at the back of those figure cards, or through the Sears Holiday Catalogue (remember those?) made me wish that I had so many more. 

Well, this game definitely scratches the itch of the would-be figure collector I was as a kid. And yeah, I could be spending money on the actual figures now. But I'm too old to play with them (maybe?). And neither of my boys ever got into playing with action figures. They have a lot of my (and my brothers') old figures, but never played with them much. So I didn't have that excuse. And my wife wouldn't be too happy if I was filling up our apartment with unused toys, making it look like every cringe "nerd" channel on YouTube. 

So I found this game to be a pretty good substitute to that. I was happily going about part of my day grinding for characters, or gear, or completing challenges in the game. Building up my Mando squad. My Rebel squad. My Empire squad. Slowly, little by little, putting some effort into improving the Jedi squad. Pretty much ignoring the sequel trilogy characters as much as possible. 

But this week, the game went through a big update. Before, there was one game mode that had a F2P and P2P (pay-to-play) track. It wasn't the main part of the game. F2P was slow, but you could still make progress without handing over tons of money to EA every month. The new update makes the main game a distinction between F2P and P2P. And that looks like it will slow down that slow grind even more. It will be hard to gather the ridiculously varied types of resources and in-game currencies that are needed to unlock and improve characters. 

So, today I uninstalled the game. 

Am I going to miss it? Maybe for a while. I had quit the game last year after playing for a few months. Then I downloaded it again and was really enjoying having it back. But I think this time, I'm done for good. 

Subscription-based gaming is not something I think I'll ever be interested in.

Friday, November 1, 2024

Update on Flying Swordsmen 2E

Progress has been slow, but I am making progress on the game draft. 

I've got the first draft of the character generation guide. It's only two pages, so it's pretty basic. I plan to add a detailed guide to both picking a template and building a character from scratch later, once the actual rules and the combat system are nailed down a bit more.

I've got a list of about two dozen template ideas. Once I've got the rules stuff more or less complete, I plan to show what I've got to my various play groups (TS&R Jade, Star Wars, Call of Cthulhu), and ask them to help me test the system for character creation. Then I can use what they create for some of the templates. It will save me some time, and prevent some of my own character preferences from biasing the sample. (Can you guess I've been more focused on academics than gaming lately?)

I have write-ups for all of the system's basic skills. It's d6 system, so a referee could easily add more skills to the game as they wish. I don't have sample difficulty numbers yet though. I'll be cross referencing Star Wars and d6 Fantasy for that. And then when I finally get around to play-testing, I'll adjust the numbers based on whether certain tasks seem too easy or too difficult. One thing that I did try to do was to make sure that there is at least one skill useful in combat under each Ability. Star Wars has a lot of situations that don't involve combat, so there is room for the know-it-alls and the fix-it-up guys and the get-you-from-here-to-there guys to shine, along with the dedicated blow-you-to-bits guys. Wuxia should have plenty of non-combat stuff, but a lot of it in the source media is more managing relationships rather than testing your learned proficiencies. So combat should probably play a bigger part, and I want room for characters to specialize in evasive or manipulative techniques in combat, not just punchy punchy Street Fighter types. So I'm pretty happy with that. 

I also have suggested Specializations for each of the skills. 

I'm in the middle of writing up the special martial arts/mystical techniques. These are all inspired by the martial arts maneuvers, spells, and special class abilities in Flying Swordsmen. Mechanically, they work somewhat like the SW Force powers, or like 3E D&D feats. Or like special ability trees in a video game. There are six Powers, and getting trained in a Power grants access to its techniques. One die in the Power grants access to the Level 1 Basic technique. Gaining a second die in the power grants access to three to five Level 2 techniques. Gaining the third die grants access to Level 3 techniques, but only those based on the Level 2 techniques you have learned. 

I've drafted text (including difficulties) for the Qinggong (light step), Neigong (body power), Dianxue (acupressure), and Suan Ming (divination) techniques. I'm working on the Wu (white magic) techniques, leaving only Ku (black magic) techniques to get this section of the rules done. 

Some techniques are automatic ("always on") while most need to be used as actions. Some have unlimited use, others with more power are limited to a number of times per day equal to the dice in the governing Power, or just once per 24 hours for some really powerful ones. And some are unlimited in use until you roll a 1 on the Wild Die while activating it, then you need to wait for the cool-down period to finish before using it again.

In addition to all that, I've got a series of questions based on the Virtues of the Xia and general goal advancement which, similar to White Wolf games I've played, would need to be answered by players at the end of a session or adventure to gain Character Points. I've got guidelines for spending CP to improve skills and Powers, and spending them to gain additional techniques and learning new Powers. And, of course, they can also be spent from time to time to improve rolls. And a few high level techniques rely on spending some CP as a balance measure to prevent their abuse. 

I've got weapon lists, but I'm still playing around with them. I need to decide how certain weapon properties will interact with the combat system, especially around making special maneuvers like flips, blocks, holds, disarms, reversals, etc. I've got a basic Combat Resolution guide draft complete, but I need to add more detail, and especially go into those special maneuvers (and their difficulty numbers). 

The Education ability has a skill called Stratagems which in addition to covering battlefield strategy and tactics, allows for special maneuvers like those mentioned above. The difficulties for using a regular combat skill (like Sword Combat) to say disarm an opponent will be higher than for using the Stratagems skill. But certain weapons, like a hook sword, may allow you to attempt disarms at the Stratagems difficulty level. But then that all has to play well with the basic difficulties to hit with certain classes of weapon and with unarmed martial arts. So I've got a lot of number crunching and experimentation in the future, once I get the draft sorted out and a bunch of sample characters made. 

And there is a lot still to write. I've got to make monsters, magical treasures, update the FS 1E campaign world (or make a generic guide for "fantasy China" or maybe both), and write up the guidelines for creating adventures, interesting NPCs and locations, and challenges. 

And once all that's done (or more likely done piecemeal while working on all of the above), I should start working on a guideline for Wuxia. Probably not as extensive as those in Brendan Davis's Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate or Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades (which are both quite impressive!) but useful to players who might approach this game expecting D&D style hack and slash gaming, only to find a game made for martial arts soap operas.

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Hirelings: Making the Players Care

When I started my TS&R Jade campaign, I made a list of 20 randomly armed men-at-arms for the home town. When players wanted to hire some, I'd check their Charisma scores to see how many turned up, and have the players roll d20 however many times to determine who they got to hire that session. And of course, my sons helped me come up with funny names for many of them, like Yuseok (a Korean name that sounds like 'you suck') or Geun Hae (the name of the disgraced former president). Not all the names are Korean, and most are not jokey. But a good number of them are. 

It didn't take long for repeat hires to appear. Players remembered the names, and this made them feel a little more attached.

It also didn't take long for the group to start losing men-at-arms in combat. If a repeat hire was slain, there was a bit more emotion behind it.

At first, I was replacing them. I'd erase the line with that character in my notebook, and come up with another one. I made a random table to roll for their weapons and armor (mostly not very good). 

Early this year, after a particularly rough adventure for the men-at-arms, I told the players that this was it. I was replacing these guys, and that was it. The town of Pine Bridge was running out of young men and women willing to risk death for a bit of coin as hired guards/soldiers. 

Nate had had his PC collect weapons and armor from some bandits they defeated, and he had been loaning these out to any hired men-at-arms to help with their AC and damage potential. But once I made it clear there would be no more replacements (at least not in Pinebridge Town), and men-at-arms continued to die, players hiring them started shelling out for better armors than the brigandine Saro (Nate's PC) was providing them. It helped that at 3rd to 5th level, they've got plenty of cash saved up. 

Even that is not always enough. This past session, one of the men-at-arms was killed, despite wearing plate armor. The monsters got a good attack roll, and he only had 1hp, so he was gone. The players were a little bit upset that they had lost a man. Not terribly so, but there was a lot stronger reaction than there were in the earlier sessions when they thought there would always be a Hau En Wai to replace Nobuo, or a Nguyen to replace Jin Ping.

The men-at-arms are a useful resource, and making them memorable (even without personalities) then limiting their number has greatly increased their value in the players' eyes.

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Rise from Your Grave (again)

 Hoo-boy, it's been a minute since I've posted here. Well, I've been pretty busy with non-gaming stuff the past couple of weeks, but also a bit of gaming here and there. 


The big thing is that this morning, I pulled up my design notes for a revised, second edition of Flying Swordsmen, this time powered by the Open D6 system. I read through what I'd written, and made some edits and modifications here and there. In particular, I read through the notes on the 108 Martial Arts Techniques* and made some of them a bit more distinctive. Some were more or less the same mechanical effect with just different flavor text, which is boring.

I'd also done a simple character sheet, but I wasn't happy with it. I gave it a big revision, turning it from one sheet to two, and making more space for characterization, notes on your Sifu (master/teacher) or organization, your goals, your rivals, and the like. It's not just game mechanics and a bit of fluff now. I like it much better. 

Then, I wrote the first draft of a Preface, explaining the creation of Dragon Fist, Flying Swordsmen as a retro-clone of DF, and my dissatisfaction with both games, necessitating this new edition. It needs a bit of work as I can be overly wordy. 

And I just finished with an outline for the chapters in the book, and what each chapter should cover. Of course, this is also still likely to change as I actually get into turning my notes into actual text. And I've got to decide how much to update/edit the Zhongyang Dalu setting, or else just copy/paste that. I could actually get dinged for self-plagiarism if I do the latter, so I'll probably have to rewrite it. 

Here's what I've got so far: 

Introduction

-What is this game? RPG Basics

-What is wuxia? Background and Tropes

-Recommended Wuxia Media

-Getting the Right Feel


Playing the Game

-Abilities, Skills, Powers, Techniques

-Basic Action Resolution

-The Wild Die

-Combat Basics

-The Five Virtues and Advancement

-Example of Play


Character Creation

-Think of a Concept

-Select a Template (Simple) or

-Assign Ability Dice and Powers (Advanced)

-Assign Skill Dice

-Personality, Flaw, Background, Sifu, Relationships

-Example Character Creation


Abilities and Skills

-Ability Basics: Prowess, Might, Agility, Presence, Education, Observation

-Skills and Specializations

-Improving Skills

-Skill List


Powers and Techniques

-Powers Basics: Qinggong (Lightness), Neigong (Internal Power), Dianxue (Acupressure), Suan Ming (divination), Wu (White Magic), Ku (Black Magic)

-Training New Techniques

-Techniques List


Running the Game

-Creating Challenges

-Action Resolution (detailed)

-Combat (detailed)

-Training (detailed)

-Rewards of Play

-Creating NPCs

-Creating the World

-Using NPCs and the World as Challenges

-The Stages of Campaign Development


Monsters and Magic

-Monster List

-Magic Items

-Legendary Items


The Setting

-Using Quasi-Historical China

-Using Zhongyang Dalu

-Using Your Own World

-Zhongyang Dalu Overview


Character Templates

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

What a Horrible 15 Years to Have a Curse...

 Hey, I've been doing this for 15 years! 

And yes, I'm way behind on posting. I've got actual play reports, movie reviews (Alien: Romulus and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), and thoughts on Pendragon to write about. But it's the start of the semester so I've been kinda busy. 

I'll try to get some posts on gaming and gaming related media (or propane and propane accessories?) up soon. 

Thanks for putting up with my oddball posts for a decade and a half!

Friday, August 30, 2024

You Don't Need to Use Them All

Two years ago, one of my players, Denis, was thinking about running a game. There was some light pressure from the group for him to give it a shot. He eventually settled on trying to run a Gamma World game, details here and here

That game never got off the ground. For Denis, he felt that there was too much pressure to compare to others in the group who have years or even decades of experience running games. 

At the English camp we were teaching at through most of August, several guys were asking Denis and I about our games (some are former players, some just curious about RPGs). Denis mentioned that one of the main reasons why he never got his GW game going because the random encounter tables seemed overwhelming. 

I instantly understood what he meant. Random tables like those in the books require the referee to be familiar with most of the creatures in the book. And with all the mutations in GW, that may make it overwhelming. If you only need to worry about a few monsters you've placed in a dungeon, plus whatever powers your players have for their characters, it's not as overwhelming. If everything in the book is on the table, it's a lot to deal with. 

I told Denis that he should try to run the game, but just drop random encounters. The look of relief on his face was noticeable. I think he had been in the mindset that the game has rules for this, so he needed to use them. But that's not true. 

You don't need to use all the rules to run a fun game. Especially when you're just starting out. I ignored lots of rules when I was just starting out as DM nearly 40 years ago. And the games were fun, and challenging. Once you are comfortable with the basics of the game, and with planning and presenting adventures, the more complex stuff can be added back in.


Sunday, August 18, 2024

Break Time

I've taken a break from working on the Flying Swordsmen 2E the past couple of weeks. For one thing, I'm teaching English camps as I do most summer and winter breaks. They're fun, but exhausting. Pay really well, too. So no complaints, but gaming stuff (play or prep) has mostly been on hold. One more week to go. 

I also finally took Tallifer's advice and ordered the POD/PDF combo of King Arthur Pendragon from DriveThru. I'm still waiting on the print book, but during some breaks at camp I've been reading through the PDF. I really like it so far, but I was a big Arthur stan as a kid, so reading all the background information, the descriptions of the sources Stafford relied on and how he used them, and all that has been fun to read. But I haven't gotten into the nuts and bolts of the game aside from the character generation bits so far. I'll likely have more to say on it the more I read. 

And yes, it has already given me a few ideas for how to make FS2E more of a social relationship game, instead of just a kung fu game. 

Everyone is also pestering me to run Star Wars again, including Flynn, who would like me to run a game online so that he can play. I asked the guys about it the other day, and they seem willing to start early on a Sunday morning so that Flynn could join us. But that's for some time after camps. 

Oh, and when I asked the guys, it was a week ago, when Justin ran a game of Mothership. Man, that was a fun game! He's thinking of maybe running a longer campaign. We were all hooked, especially the way the session ended with three of four PCs dead, and the final PC given a cut-scene of the aliens creeping up behind, just like you'd expect at the end of a sci-fi horror film or short story.