GURPS Midnight - Character Creation

So, I can't just post the handout I'm using because it has a bit of formatting, but here is what's on it.  The plan is for the players to go through the handout and that it will helpfully lay things out clearly.  My experience of teaching new players to create characters in GURPS has involved a lot of jumping back and forth and re-explaining things and passing the core rulebook around.  Because of this, I have at least some of the rules on the handout.

Setting Introduction
This is just a paragraph introducing the Midnight setting.

Concept
This is a big text box for the player to write in their concept, including name, gender, age, family background, racial package if any (with cost noted), how they resist the Shadow, relationships and so on.

Disadvantages
I broke down Disadvantages into four categories, tying them into the game that I'm planning and the setting.  I find that I need to be somewhat specific with Disadvantages or else new players become overwhelmed reading through the books or GURPS Lite.  For each category, I have a line to list what the player chooses as well as

Heart: Here I list Disadvantages that are kind of "moral", things like Code of Honor or Sense of Duty.   I wanted to make sure that at least one of the Disadvantages the players chose would mark their characters out as 'good' people.  Or at least somewhat good.

Relationships: This is the place for Disadvantages that connect the PCs to other people and their community. I have a problem with characters who are orphans with no siblings or friends, so this is the place to pick things like Dependents, Reputation and Vow.

Weakness: Lastly, the spot for the kind of weaknesses that GURPS players love to pile onto their characters, things like Absent-Minded, Greed and the Phobias.

Quirks: For the 'usual' 5pts of Quirks, I tend to go pretty broad - more like Traits in Burning Wheel.  Just pick five descriptors of your character that may or may not come up in game.

Advantages
Where Advantages are concerned, I encourage players to spend around 40pts.


Talents: Simple - just things that the character is good at, like literal Talents, Ambidexterity, Flexibility and Voice.

Fighting: No secret - this game will involve combat, and I want each character to have at least one Advantage that will help them in a fight; Combat Reflexes, Fearlessness, Rapid Healing, etc.

Socializing: To encourage players who like to just create killing machines, there's a spot for at least one social Advantage.

Magic: Lastly, in Midnight use of any kind of magic is a capital offense, and of course I want the PCs to make lots of trouble for themselves.  This includes not just Magical Aptitude but also things like Higher Purpose and Medium.

Attributes
This part is kind of obvious.  For Attributes, I encourage players to spend around 70pts.

Skills and Spells Worksheet
This is the biggest section of the handout - it gives a lot of room to list skills and spells, note how difficult they are to learn, how many points the player has spent on advancing them, and so on. This is often the most challenging part of character creation, and it's hard to get around that.

Equipment
Here I have a paragraph about equipment and money in the Midnight setting - in brief, you don't get any, and no one has any.  I decided that Midnight characters start with only $500, and I might reduce that even more, but I wanted to give a fighter-type the option of having a cheap sword.

Some Math
At this point I give brief descriptions of how to calculate Block, where to find thrust and swing damage, Dodge, what Damage Resistance, and how to calculate Move.

Racial Packages
The Game is set in the region of Baden's Bluff, and reading through the setting material, I decided that aside from Humans (general Erenlanders), players can play Gnomes, Gnome-raised Dwarrow, Halflings, and Halfling-raised Elflings. For each, I have a brief description and the breakdown of the racial package.

Heroic Paths
On the last page of the Heroic Paths, I list each path and then have a few possible Advantages to be gained from each.  As one example, I list the Beast Heroic Path, I also list Animal Empathy, Ally (Animal Companion), self-only buffing magical Knacks, and improved sesnses.

Remember the Real One

Not cynical fear-mongering, not knowingly spreading ignorance, not vapid scribblings on a chalk-board, not comparing everyone to a Nazi, not hypocrisy married to self-righteousness, not infantile partisan one-upmanship, not snarling jingoist xenophobia. Masterful rhetoric from a heart moved by love even for those who would destroy him, telling us who we are called to be.

Glenn Beck could grow wings and a shining halo and walk across the surface of the Reflecting Pool and never even come close.

GURPS Midnight - Design

Off and on for a couple years now, I've been working (sometimes with help, sometimes not) on an adaptation of the Midnight setting to the GURPS rules.  The problem with D&D and Midnight is that they don't really fit each other at all, and I'm certain that Midnight only uses D20 because of the Open Gaming License.


If you're not familiar with Generic Universal Role-Playing System, this post isn't likely to be of much interest.


If you're not familiar with the Midnight setting - it was released by Fantasy Flight a few years ago under the D20 license.  The setting's byline could be "Middle-Earth if Sauron got the Ring".  It is a post-apocalyptic fantasy (in an original world, not Middle-Earth) set 100 years after the victory of the Dark Lord in the north over the last alliance, etc etc.


I like the setting because there aren't that many post-apocalyptic fantasy settings - Earthdawn and Summerland come to mind, not many others.  I like it because it is gritty and hopeless, with heroes fighting a desperate battle against overwhelming evil and not just hanging out in taverns waiting for the next NPC to hand them the map to the next treasure-gorged dungeon.


(Addendum: obviously, Dark Sun is a big post-apocalyptic fantasy setting I forgot to mention)


Though I like the setting (Fantasy Flight does everything they do well), I've never thought that D20 was a good fit.  Ideally, the setting would have its own system that reinforces the setting's theme and assumptions, but there is nothing about D20 that is desperate or gritty.  In Midnight, if you kick in a door and take a Goblin's stuff, that Goblins friends will hunt down your family, sell your children into slavery, torture your wife to death in front of you, and kill you or sell you into slavery.  It is much more likely for a roving band of adolescent Orcs to kick in your door and take your stuff.


I thought that GURPS would be a good fit, because GURPS is by its nature gritty.  It is really, really to die in GURPS.  Every fight using lethal force is a real threat, and should be scary as hell when the average person has no armor, 10 hit points, and the average sword is going to do about 10 hit points of damage when it hits.  In real life, if someone pulls a knife on me, I am going to poop myself.  Part of me likes games that are like that, so that threats never take on the boring monotony that plagues D&D at certain points.


I've run a couple of one-shots using my GURPS adaptation of Midnight, and fun was had by all.  I also played in a campaign that ended before it's time, unfortunately (as 99% seem to), but I also saw how the system works well for the setting.  GURPS's granularity is actually a strength in a world where it is illegal to own a knife and where you have to beg, barter or steal everything you have in a way that it is not a strength in high-adventure/low-mortality settings.


In the cases of magic and things like physical equipment, D20 and GURPS map to each other pretty well - GURPS is a lot better for both, in fact, so it's easy to adapt from D20 to GURPS.  What were left over as major setting elements to adapt were the many races of Midnight and the Heroic Paths.


Anyone who's played GURPS knows that character creation is by far the most complicated part of the game (I say that never having run or been in a vehicle-based combat).  Similarly, designing racial templates in GURPS takes a lot of time, and ultimately, everyone will do it differently.  For a long time I had both simple and detailed versions of each race, depending on how deep I wanted players to have to dig in the system.  Since, I've decided to go with the simpler versions in all cases, bearing in mind that some races will be able to take Advantages that others imply cannot, both at character creation and through play.


Right now I am putting work into what I hope becomes a regular local GURPS Midnight game, and here are the four non-human races that are available where the PCs are starting off (south of Baden's Bluff if you know the setting).


Gnomes [20pts]

-10 ST -2, Charisma +2

Size -1

-5 Move -1

10 Night Vision +5

15 Talent: Watercraft +1

0 Native Trader’s Tongue

6 Improved Magic Resistance +2 (does not hinder spellcasting)

Gnome-Raised Dwarrow [20pts]

Charisma +2, ST -1

Size -1

-5 Move -1

25 Dark Vision

0 Native Trader’s Tongue

Can buy DR +1

Halflings [25pts]

20 ST -2, DX +2

Size -2

-5 Move -1

5 Night Vision +5

5 Perception +1

0 Native Erenlander

Halfling-Raised Elflings [20pts]

10 ST -2, DX +1

Size -1

-5 Move -1

5 Night Vision +5

5 Perception +1

15 Magery +1

0 Native Erenlander

Ultimately, when all the work is said and done, pretty simple.  All of the races are like that.  Being  kill-on-sight is a big Disadvantage, obviously, represented by a powerful Enemy, but it only applies to Dwarves and Elves, and brings their racial package costs right down.  Obviously those would only count in a game where they'd be outside their own lands.  I could also always see ways to tweak these starting-points depending on the specific situation of the game you're running.  There are more Advantages I could easily add to the template - things like Claim to Hospitality or Longevity or whatever, but I decided to err on the side of simplicity.

The next challenge was the Heroic Paths.  In the Midnight D20 system, you choose a Heroic Path, and each level  you get a new power or an extra skill or stat bonus.  The Heroic Paths basically describe how and possibly why you fight against the Shadow, and include things like Beast, Giantborn, Steelblooded and Shadow Walker.

For a long time I toyed with having a set progression like there is in the Midnight D20 system, but it became bewildering and too much given the amount of possibilities in GURPS.  What I hit upon instead I think is preferable.

For each Heroic Path, I list some options of the kinds of Advantages and Knacks that might come with it (Heroic Paths are one of the few ways to have magical abilities in Midnight if you don't worship the Dark Lord).  Each session, the players will get 5 character points to spend however they want while 5 character points will go into a pool.  When there are enough points in the pool, the character in question will manifest a Heroic Path ability in some stressful situation, after which they'll be use it normally.  The Heroic Paths give characters access to things they can't normally have and let them advance Advantages, or buy them after character creation, that they normally could not.

For example, for the Beast Heroic Path (which is the first one listed in the original Midnight D20 book), a character can earn things like Animal Empathy, a special animal companion (special case of Ally), and spellcasting Knacks from the Animal school.

So far so good, I think, and I'm really looking forward to running this game.

Next up - I changed how character creation happens a bit, hopefully to reinforce not only the setting but the kind of game I want to run, and I'll talk about that a bit too.

Last, I'll make a big post, or possibly a link or a unique page, with all of the rules I have for GURPS Midnight in case anyone else wants to run it, or something like it.

Review: Pathfinder Advanced Players Guide

The newest big news from Paizo is the release of the Advanced Players Guide for their Pathfinder roleplaying game, which you should buy from your FLGS. Don't have a friendly local game store? Buy it here: the best game store just about anywhere.

Since I've already told you to buy it you might guess my review is going to be positive. Like everything Paizo has been doing lately this is a high quality product. The art is awesome, the layout is superb, and the content is top notch.

A staple of D&D systems is supplements with options for players to customize their characters. Every edition of the game has had a slew of such books. The quality has generally been highly variable. Most books have one or two neat new ideas in them, and a bunch of weird crappy ideas that no one ever uses. I have shelves full of past "Complete Warriors" and "Players Handbook 14's" which have seen very little use in campaigns I've run.

This is the first such supplement I've ever purchased in which practically every page has a juicy new idea that I can immediately visualize being used in a game by one of my players in the immediate future. The feats are not retreads of things already contained in the main book. Nor are they so obtuse as to be useless for most characters. There are literally dozens of solid, intriguing feats that could be used by a wide variety of characters. The spells and equipment are similarly spot on.

But where the book really adds interest are the 6 new core classes: Alchemist, Cavalier, Inquisitor, Oracle, Summoner, and Witch. All of these classes, with perhaps the exception of the Witch, are completely original and fill niches none of the other core classes do. Upon first read I had ideas for an Alchemist, a Cavalier, and a Summoner character I would really enjoy playing. We have an Oracle in our current campaign and it fits seamlessly.

My favorite thing in the book is the Prestige Class "Master Chymist". Designed to be a route for Alchemist characters to develop it is a wonderful riff on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Master Chymist functions as an alchemist preparing extracts, tossing bombs, and whipping up magical potions to boost his allies most of the time. But this alchemist has imbibed a few too many of his own mutagenic concoctions. Several times a day he mutates into his alter ego, a bestial humanoid with a different name, and personality and goals - and supernatural abilities. When you build your Master Chymist you must design the two separate personalities (required to have differing alignments) and choose the particular mutations of your alter ego, which may be animal traits or magical resistances, strength, speed, sharp teeth or claws and such.

I already plan to create the pompous and calculating Lawful Evil Dr. Finias - investigator of the bizarre and macabre, and unscrupulous purveyor of hazardous chemicals; and his uncouthe mutagenic alter-ego "Moog" - Chaotic Good party animal and super-cuddly defender of people who feed him sweets.

CCT Journal 11: Buy In

We've ventured into the second module of the adventure path, "Seven Days to the Grave."

One of the complaints people have had about Curse of the Crimson Throne in the message boards and such is that it depends pretty heavily on the players developing an attachment to the city of Korvosa and actually wanting to save it. There isn't that much outside motivation for the players to stay on the rails if they aren't committed to being big damn heroes for the city.

Partly this complaint comes about through poor GMing and laziness on the part of the players. The job of the entire group when coming to the table at a roleplaying game is to forge a social contract which defines the expectations of the game. If this game is about saving the city of Korvosa from destruction the players need to know that and agree to that from the outset and FIND motivation for their characters. It isn't hard. Your character probably has family or friends in the city. You've lived there your whole life, is it so far-fetched for you to have a bit of civic pride?

But even for a group who failed at their basic responsibility to forge a little buy-in before the campaign began should have no trouble if they make it to the second module. In this adventure the city is hit by a devastating plague that threatens to kill a quarter or more of the population. The characters almost certainly get infected early on and have as much reason as anyone to want the plague to be cured and the threat ended.

Unless your party is full of sociopaths they should find it almost irresistible to try to help the mothers thrusting their sickly babies in their faces begging for help. The helpless impoverished people being forcibly quarantined and repressed under martial law. Any character of Good or Neutral alignment who wasn't moved to some kind of action by the large-scale tragedy going on around them would quickly be called out in my game.

Even if your characters are evil, or completely mercenary, how can you miss this opportunity? Saving the city from the plague is a sure-fire route to fame and fortune. There are plenty of unscrupulous people who would pay a lot of money for a working cure, and even an evil jerk through and through cares what happens to their friends and loved ones - who are certainly not immune to the disease.

Honestly, people who complain that the adventure path didn't provide strong enough motivations for the players to pursue the plot are playing a different game from me.

Honorable Mention

Got a mention on the All Games Considered podcast for Parsec and also this blog, so I thought I'd at least return the favor.  I've been a listener to AGC for about four years now, and it's a consistently excellent gaming podcast.  I've mentioned it more than once before, but again: go download and listen to All Games Considered.


And now, we return to your regularly-scheduled blather.

-The Management

bySwarm and Setting-Testing

As I write this, Mike Bohlman is at GenCon running playtests of what we've been working on bySwarm.  Since most of you doubtless don't know what I'm talking about, bySwarm is Mike Bohlman's really cool project that I'm part of - the idea behind it is essentially cloud-sourcing a rolelpaying game and setting.  During the first stage, various designers and writers proposed rpg settings and everyone rated them and then ultimately voted on them to see what we would go with.  The second stage was choosing a system, whether we would adapt an existing system or build our own, and we ended up voting for adapting Pathfinder.

Stage three is where we are now, fleshing out the setting, which is the Dark Golden Age.  We've been designing aspects of the setting, creating new races and feats, adapting the magic system for the special conditions in the Dark Golden Age, and other fun stuff.

The reason I bring all this up is that the playtests that Mike Bohlman has been running are essentially setting tests, and I haven't really thought about that distinction before.  We know that the system works - tens of thousands of people playtested Pathfinder, and I've played it, and there's no question that it works.  It's incredibly easy to come up with feats and races and so on to add to the system as well, so that's not a concern really.  They key is really testing the setting itself.

I'm thinking about what one would do in order to test a setting rather than a system, and I definitely want to talk to Mike about it after he's recovered from GenCon.  It's one thing to have an interesting setting, the way a novel might - it's another thing to be able to specifically highlight that setting as part of a game.  No one reads those DM handouts about setting, in my experience, so if you want something to stand out as part of the setting, you have to tie it into the scenario you are running.

This is of interest to me not only because I am a bySwarm contributor, but also because games like Heroes of Karia that I am working on are in a large part setting-driven.  It isn't enough to have a cool setting.  You have to find a way to have cool setting elements come up in every single session - most importantly in a convention demo that is supposed to be showcasing a new setting.

As a concluding note, if you want experience working on a collaborative rpg project; if you want to be a published rpg writer and designer someday, come over to bySwarm, read up on where we are right now with the Dark Golden Age rules and setting, and be a contributor!

Parsec and Lessons Learned

As I never tire of announcing all over the Internets, my science fiction RPG, Parsec, is out at last.  It is my first RPG credit, and was a long time coming in retrospect.  Like you'd expect with any first-time outing, there is a lot about the project that isn't perfect.  Also, since I was working for a publisher, there ended up being a lot that just wasn't under my control.  Being new to the hobbistry, this is something I've just had to get used to and accept.

Just like with any threshold crossed, I've been working out what I've learned from the whole process, what I can take with me as I move forward to other projects and future goals.  A few things come to mind.

There is no substitute for time
Writing this book took a LONG time.  I started playtesting it about 2 years ago.  Now, granted, during the time I was working on this book I was also going to graduate school and simultaneously working multiple jobs on the side.  I worked 80 hours a week at a hospital for a year.  Then at one point I technically had 6 jobs at once.  So it wasn't exactly a picnic time in my life either.  But still.  I have a much more realistic view of how long it takes to put together something with as many moving parts as a roleplaying game: approximately 6 times as long as I expect.

I cannot playtest too much
I actually only ran 3 or maybe 4 playtests of Parsec.  I had a few people read through it and give me feedback, and I went through it very carefully many times, but playtesting was kind of a challenge to put together.  Fortunately, Parsec is, underneath it all, a pretty simple game. It is a combination of things I know work from other kinds of games combined with a few things I tested in the playtests I did run to see how they turned out - things like the Initiative, zero-G combat, and Scars.  Otherwise, it's a dice-pool task-resolution system most of the time - it's just the system that I've always wanted for simulationist hard science fiction.  For other more innovative designs that aren't built on a dice-pool/task resolution skeleton, I know I'll have to find a way to playtest even more.

Do I want to publish, or be published?
This is a good question put forward in one of the Accidental Survivors' Collateral podcasts, and it was good food for thought in light of my recent experience with Parsec.  I guess my pipe dream is to be published, but to have creative control over the entire project.  Good luck with that, Doug.  Instead the question is creative control OR being published by someone else.  Do all the work myself, or give up some of the creative control to someone else.

That's a hard choice.  Are there companies that will just put something out, unchanged but under their imprint?   Maybe.  That still leaves me either learning layout or hiring someone to do it; either becoming an artist or finding, recruiting and paying them.

Self-publishing is probably something I can do - but can I do it well enough, on top of everything else I have to do well (as a solo pastor, that's everything), to justify not finding and hiring someone who can do it a lot better?

I heart collaborators
Yup, that's about it.  Parsec was 98% designed in a vacuum.  The feedback I got from playtesting helped, but as I noted above, I didn't playtest as much as I'd like to in the future.  Other feedback I got was on the writing itself, from people who are more familiar with other kinds of writing and not specifically writing gaming systems - really helpful, but not exact.

I feel like in an  hour with a couple people I can hash out more good ideas than in a month by myself - maybe it's just how I work.  The price paid for collaborating, though, is that things can also go a lot slower between bursts of inspiration and creativity.  And yeah, sometimes you hit a snag where you just don't agree, and it's hard to see how to move forward then.  Also, people can be unreliable, myself included.  But there's always the chance that I get left holding the bag for a big project when collaborators find they are no longer interested.  I find I have a hard time letting go, even 7 years later.

***

Well, regardless, Parsec is out, for sale at what I think is a good price-point for what it is.  I come away from it a little wiser and more experienced, a bit proud and also thinking of how I can do better next time.  There was nothing about the experience that makes me want to do it less, so here we go - I'm already waist-deep in the next few projects...