New Parsec RPG Sketches

Once again, I got to see some new sketches for the game.  Those of you who know where the art blog is for Parsec can check them out.  Otherwise - here are a few samples:

Yes, my friends, that's a cover mockup.  Not sure the buggy will stay in the final version.

That is a zero-gravity ju-jitsu knife fight.  Zero-gravity because people will fight there, and it will play out differently from fighting in gravity (yes, there are rules for that).  Ju-jitsu because when I imagined the fighting, it would quickly become close-quarters, and once you grab someone in zero-g, the two of you start spinning and jerking around with each push and pull, and something like full guard would help you keep control of an opponent, just like in gravity.  Knives because I don't imagine lots of discharging firearms in a spaceship, and because I really like an action sequence that results in globs of blood floating around the cabin.

This is an idea we talked out (the publisher, the artist and I did) about a flag-raising image, a take on Iwo Jima, but it is of Silva Energy raising their corporate standard over yet another fallen Latin American nation.  The new world order in the ruins of the old.  Impending privatized dystopia and all that.

There's more but you'll have to support the game when we go live on Kickstarter to see it. :)

V20: Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition

Not too long ago, White Wolf announced that they would be releasing a 20th Anniversary Edition of Vampire the Masquerade.  20 years ago, VtM's huge impact on the gaming industry and overall geek culture began.  In terms of system mechanics, Vampire was a hymn to Shadowrun and others before it, but there was some kind of sweet spot that was waiting for something like Vampire the Masquerade to strike home.

According to demographic research done for Wizards of the Coast, Vampire is responsible for bringing in a huge number of women into the gaming hobby, what was up to that point apparently the purview of war-gaming grognards...or something.  I didn't start gaming until around 1991, and I started with Mythus and then GURPS, but one can imagine what a hobby with even fewer women would have been like.

From their official comments, it would appear that V20, as they are calling the anniversary edition, would only be available to those who are attending the Grand Masquerade in New Orleans this year.  Fortunately, I am pretty sure this is not true.  I asked the question via Twitter, using their preferred hashtag #v20, and got a quick response that the book (which is going to be around 400 pages) is going to be available apart from the Masquerade - they just aren't sure about the details yet.

I like how White Wolf is going about this process.  They are actively soliciting and responding on a forum devoted to the topic of the new edition, and they are also posting drafts of the rules and text that will go into the final book.  The book is going to have new, full-color artwork from 'classic' Masquerade artists, and will not be a new edition, nor will it be the beginning of a new round of book releases for Masquerade.  They are saying that it is simply something for those who have been playing Vampire since it was released 20 years ago.

That's what they're saying now anyway.  As always, we'll see.

I've been following the hashtag #v20 on Twitter, and that is where I am getting most of my information and updates, apart from the documents they release and the forums, where I am participating as time allows.

I can honestly say that this announcement has re-ignited my desire to play Vampire the Masquerade.  I started in 1998, my first year of college, and I played in games for the next 7 or 8 years with the same group of great people who are still some of my closest friends.  Before I played VtM, I was actually kind of contemptuous of a game that seemed to be all about being goth and bemoaning one's fate and blood fetishism.  And yeah, there's some of that.  What I got was a fantastic game and great memories and friends.  I'm not really a fan of vampire fiction or movies; I've never been even remotely goth; but VtM is still one of my favorite games out there.  I'm really excited about the new edition, and will definitely get myself a copy when it is available.

In the meantime, for any other fans, I recommend checking out the open development documents and blog, the forums, and also following the news as it comes out.  You ask questions and much of the time, one of the guys working on the book answer you.  That's one thing I really like about our little hobby - the people at the very top are not so high up as to not be accessible to even casual fans.

Updates:

Justin Achilli posts about the weirdness of dice, botching and probabilities.

Eddie posts an exhaustive (?) list of Vampire bloodlines to be included in the V20 book.

CCT 17: Oops

Well... that was a near TPK.

We finished the fourth book in the adventure path this week and it ends in a giant battle with Red Mantis assassins, a deranged racist ranger (aren't they all?) called the Cinderlander, a host of Gargoyles, and the leader of the Red Mantis in this region an evil lady named Cinnabar. I honestly hadn't expected it to be that dangerous of an encounter, but I forgot to take into account several factors:

• Being ambushed in the middle of the night means no armor. Also no packs full of potions and other handy gear and no secondary weapons. They basically charged into battle naked with the weapons they grabbed from beside their beds.
• Being separated over a large area means no access to healing magic or buffs for some of the characters and a significant tactical disadvantage. The bow-ranger had to fight with his sword up-close with no backup. The rogue, couldn't hide and sneak attack. The oracle had no bulky fighter to hide behind.
• Sneak attacks are a bitch.

Result: 3/4 PC's, 1 Animal Companion, and 1 NPC cohort all dead.

It has been a long time since I've overseen a bloodbath that severe. It definitely served notice that I am not a GM who is afraid to pull the trigger - even if it was sorta unintentional.

No feelings were hurt. Two of the players opted for resurrections, while one opted to roll up a new character. I tried to give them all glorious and dramatic ends, and realized after the fact that the deathblows were coincidentally all delivered by one nameless Assassin who is definitely getting a promotion to named NPC so the players can have the satisfaction of wreaking revenge later on. Since the deaths came rapidly one right after another it was pretty hilarious to watch the stunned silence that followed as the lone survivor, a dwarf fighter, walked back into the camp to find his entire party had been massacred.

Oops.

CCT 16: Catching Up

It has been way too long since my last entry in this journal. I have infinite excuses. I will spare you.

Tonight we are concluding the 4th book in the adventure path "A History of Ashes." This makes it a good time for a bit of retrospective analysis on the series so far.

As was apparent from the first 15 posts in this journal I am very impressed with Pathfinder as a whole and with the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path in specific. Book 1 was a solid B+ beginning. It introduced us to the city, contained some great NPC's and a memorable roof chase sequence which my players still talk about. It's downsides were that it was more or less a cliche series of quests for a patron. It could have done much more with the chaos in the city. Still a mile ahead of any other module I'd ever read or run up to that point.

Book 2 "Seven Days to the Grave" blew the first chapter right out of the water, and probably set a standard that the rest of the campaign will not be able to live up to. It is a definite A+. Great characters. Great mood. Creative encounters. Exciting plot. Nothing bad to say about this really.

Book 3 "Escape from Old Korvosa" was a major letdown after the second outing was so superb and will probably be the nadir of the campaign when we're finished. The story didn't give you very good reasons for being in conflict with the major badguys of the book. The Arkonas were interesting, but tangential to the main interests and concerns of the party. The Vivified Labyrinth which provided the climax of the campaign was a throwback to old-school trap-infested dungeons. There is a reason these dungeons are "old" school. A long sequence of nearly unavoidable "save or take tons of damage" situations isn't very fun. It might have been interesting if the dungeon had been a puzzle that could be solved, or a series of challenges that could be creatively overcome, but it wasn't. Still, this module was a step above anything non-Pathfinder I've ever run: C.

Book 4 "A History of Ashes" has been a major return to form. Some people in the forums have complained that it is too big a divergence from the main plot, but my group found it a welcome change of pace to be out in the harsh wilderness instead of the rapidly decaying city. The encounters have been creative, the NPC's are excellent and perhaps most impressively - the Cinderlands are a very interesting and well detailed ecosystem that in and of itself has been the source of a lot of fun. I have had the terrain itself serving as a major character in the game and the players have simply loved avoiding stampeding herds of Auroch's, or raging Emberstorms, or explosive Rockfire. This wasn't quite the apogee of moody goodness that was Book 2, but close: A.

We move into Book 5 "Skeletons of Scarwall" next. I am both excited and apprehensive. It has the obvious failing of being one giant dungeon crawl, but it is one of the most clever and interesting dungeon's I've encountered and chock full of creeptastic encounters. I am definitely running this one for maximum horror. We'll see how it goes.

bySwarm

There's recently been something of a burst of activity on the bySwarm site.  We're planning an online game for the purpose of playtesting and continuing to develop the setting, and the new players have been very eager to get started.

As a result, I returned to the forums today and updated a number of posts.  It's always really exciting for me when new ideas and new people start popping up on this project.  I've been part of it for more than a year now, and it keeps changing and morphing over time.  Most of the people who were involved a year ago are no longer involved, but that's part of the idea of the whole project.  New people bring new things to the Dark Golden Age, and the setting is the sum total of our work.  Still great a year later and going strong.