Editing SGA 2003 Archive

[[Image:MondayNight logo.gif|frame|]] [[Image:SGA logo.gif|[http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/SeattleGAMERS_ASSEMBLE/?yguid=77043035 Seattle Gamers Assemble!] ]]

The following [[Seattle Gamers Assemble!|SGA]] games took place in 2003:

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=Hellboy=
; Game System
: GURPS Light
; Pitch
: Agents of the Bureau of Paranormal Reasearch and Defense investigate strange happenings in the Middle East
; Game Master
: Lukas Myhan
; Players
: 3
; Characters
:
; Date
: October 27, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: David Drake: In attendance were myself, Laura, and Joe Jay, playing (respectively) a changeling/sidhe prince, a monastic medium, and a composite being with immense knowledge and electromagnetic powers.  Together we investigated a nazi expedition to the Brass City, and there fought a crazed nazi-magi-octagenarian and his rebellious Ifrit, successfully foiling their attempts to unlock ancient double-evil.
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
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=It Came From The Desert=
; Game System
: [http://www.peginc.com/Games/Savage%20Worlds/Savage%20Worlds.htm Savage Worlds]
; Pitch
:The 4-H club has taken it upon itself to ensure that America's children experience the blessed rugged heart of America: the Rockies. For a week, you've tromped around the mountains with a posse of kids, seeing the spring waterfalls and the mountain goats and the bright, bright mountain stars. Now, you're exhausted, and it's time to get home.

:Home is Sweet Creek, Colorado, population 1043, which is, as the sign says, "the Pumpkin Capital of the Foothills." Sweet Creek is an All-American town. It's the home of test pilot Buck Drinkwalter and the boxer Harold "Wide Mouth" Mason, and the A-league Sweet Creek Sweets.

:But alas, trouble struck on the road. The five of you -- the cheerleader, the nerd, the reporter, the social studies teacher, and the delinquent*--were riding in the teacher's Jeep when it blew out a tire. The spare was flat, and Mr. James in the school bus didn't seem to notice that you weren't behind him anymore. You had to walk fifteen miles to the next town to get a tow and a new tire, and that was this morning. What should have been a four-hour ride home has taken all day.

:Now, it's after suppertime, getting close to dark, when you round the last hill before Sweet Creek and see....
; Game Master
:Johnzo
; Players
:Wilhelm, Alan B., and others.
; Characters
: Alan B. had the teacher.  I believe Wil had a reporter.
; Date
: Monday, Sept. 15, 2003 in Cardhaus' sweaty back room.
; Technical Notes
:This was all miniatures on whiteboards.  The bugs were purchased at Archie McPhee's.  I had ants and spiders and honeybees and locusts.
; Recaps
:The bugs attacked while the flat was half-changed.  There was a bridge involved.  Weapons were improvised from a high-school chem lab.  At one point, the bugs tore a rag top off a car and feasted on the soft, chewy innards.
; Player Thoughts
:
; Additional GM Thoughts

=TORG=
; Game System
: [http://www.westendgames.com/torg/indextorg.html TORG]
; Pitch
:Anybody up for Monday TORG?
:There'll be jungle mist, monster trucks, one of those big firefighting seaplanes, dinosaurs, a mountain lake hideaway, an Egyptian megalomaniac, ticking bombs, shootouts, swordfights, and, provisionally, syphillis.
:Characters will be provided. All you need bring is a d20.
::<blockquote style="background:aliceblue; border:1px solid black; padding:1em">Syphilis?  I have no goddamn idea what I was thinking when I sent this out.</blockquote>
; Game Master
:Johnzo
; Players
:Laura, Matt Wilson, and others. 
; Characters
:A bunch of templated guys.  I remember there was a lizardman and a mountie.  Maybe a wizard too.
; Date
: Monday, May 19, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
:There wasn't much to this scenario.  It was just a tryout of the rules with several combat scenes, seeing how the oddball cards worked, etc.  The rules seemed to work fine.
:The only concrete thing I remember was that the lizardman came with a minigun that did completely ridiculous damage--it sawed a tyranosaur in half with one shot.  Plus there was a helicopter shootdown too.
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:Torg had long been a bridesmaid game of mine so it was fun to try it out.  Maybe TORG in 2006?


=Hounds Towers (2nd run)=
; Game System
: Hero Wars
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Alan Barclay
; Players
: Laura, Clinton, Matt Borselli
; Characters
:
; Date
: May 12, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: '''Matt B.:''' I would like to say that I had a great time at the Monday meet. I joined Alan, Laura and Clinton in playing Hero Wars. Alan presented a very good game. Since that was the first time for me playing Hero Wars and attending the Monday meet, it was exciting. I love the system and will be checking out the new Hero Quest (Hero Wars v2.0?) when it comes out next month.
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=Blackbirds=
; Game System
: 
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: 
; Players
: Matt Wilson, John
; Characters
:
; Date
: May 12, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:


=The Birthplace=
; Game System
: Trollbabe
; Pitch
: My episode of Trollbabe is the first one I'll be running at a larger Scale than normal, with the fate of an entire village in the balance. The episode title is "The Birthplace," and it is set in the far north of the world, in one of the coldest, most majestic areas possible. The local ice trolls proclaim that the tiny human outpost of Svalbard is threatened by an imminent volcano eruption, although the humans think that's hogwash.  Meanwhile, a darker menace rides in on the waves of the Knife Sea. Expect lots of fire, ice, magic, and death.
; Game Master
: Clinton Nixon
; Players
: Wilhelm, John Harper, Alan Barclay, Saffron
; Characters
: ''Kleewick'' (Wilhelm), a short but wide dark-green trollbabe, fearless in nature and ready for any challenge. She began on the Lady Elise, riding with Captain Miles and Dmitri.

: ''Yalla'' (Alan), a nature-loving leafy green trollbabe who'd been seeking the Egg of Fertility, which worked into the adventure extremely well. She began on the nearby island of Bjørnøya, literally "Bear Island," a huge floating ice sheet covered with polar bears.

: ''Helga'' (Saffron), a tiny (for a trollbabe), scrawny bookish trollbabe in search of mysteries, who began in the village of Svalbard.

: ''Thana'' (John Harper), the weirdest-looking trollbabe you ever saw: red skin, with black hair in a mohawk, tiny devil horns, scarred all over, and two huge wicked knives. She intensely disliked humans and began on top of Mother Fire, with the trolls.

; Date
: May 5, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Clinton:''' This adventure had quite a bit more prep than my last one, Trollbabe 'n' chicken. It was my first adventure at the "organized group" scale, and I knew I'd probably have four player characters, so this time I sketched out a page of NPCs, each with about two lines of description and motivation, along with a map, a half page of ideas for Bangs, and a page of random human and troll names. Still, that was only about an hour prep time, so Trollbabe's still my recommendation for the harried GM.

: The adventure was set in the very far north reaches of the world, a land of ice, snow, bears, wolves, aurora borealis, and the most fun: volcanoes. The tiny (about 35 people) human outpost of Svalbard was being threatened by the imminent eruption of a volcano they called The Smoking Mountain and the local trolls called Mother Fire. The humans didn't believe the mountain would erupt - it'd been smoking since they'd first seen it - and thought it was all a trollish ruse to get them to leave.

The relationships that all affected this were:
** Freyda, the female troll chieftain that wanted to help the humans. Her sight may have been obscured by the fact that she was the lover of Sashenka, a fierce human hunter.
** Ozurla, the male troll shaman that thought warning the humans was nice enough, but didn't really give a shit whether they lived or died.
** Modordi, an outcast human-killin', mean-livin' troll that actively hoped the human village would be wiped out.
** Vladimir, the human leader that was real used to making hard decisions, but listened to himself more than anyone else.
** Sashenka, the village's best hunter, but a bit of a weirdo, always sleeping in igloos, and secretly loving Freyda.
** Captain Miles, the captain of the Lady Elise, a ship bringing supplies to the outpost and possibly providing a way out.
** Dmitri, a human sorcerer coming aboard the Lady Elise, who wanted to harness the mystical power of the volcano's eruption for himself.
** (I'd actually planned more relationships, including Vladimir's wife, who wanted a child badly, but ended up not using them.)

: The big deal about the eruption is that the trolls were making it happen. I tend to make trolls much more varied by location than humans, and these trolls were literally make of ice and fire: they were as ancient as the land and only had new births once every two or three centuries. These births grew as tiny pebbles expanding to the size of boulders over the centuries, enclosed within the volcano. As it erupted, they would be launched out, cracking open to reveal new baby trolls, only five feet tall and not yet covered in snowy white fur, but all black, rocky, and crackling. While some trolls wanted to save the humans, none would let the birth not happen.

: I'm not going to recount everything that happened: I'm hoping the individual players will come on and talk about that. I'll recount my favorite scenes for each one, and how everything turned out, though:

: Thana had some great scenes, and I thought for a while that she'd be at odds with everyone else. She met Modordi right off, who got along with her better than most. After some struggle, though, she ended up rallying the trolls to build a dam to divert the lava flow and save the village, provoking Modordi into attacking her. In a Trollbabe first for me, she was killed in the battle, although her fight let her form relationships with not only a group of other trolls, but Sashenka, the village's hunter and troll-lover. These relationships were later used after Thana's death.
: Kleewick, as always, rocked the house. She managed to fight down a huge ice-sea-serpent that attacked the Lady Elise, and then stopped Dmitri from raising his own army of dark, twisted ice trolls, throwing him into the volcano to feed the fire. Of course, his power did cause the volcano to throw up a huge belch. At the end of the adventure, she took Dmitri's mystical formulas to the top of a nearby mountain, The Titan - the largest in the world - and tried to divert the eruption's power via a ritual and Dmitri's potions to a huge troll-egg atop there. The ritual didn't work, incapacitating her, but allowing me to narrate that it kind of did - the egg burst open, revealing...
: And Helga's story should be told first. I was really proud of the player of Helga, as someone who'd not played much before and was kind of visibly nervous during the game. At first, she didn't get a lot done, even driving the humans to distrust her. She tried to cast a spell to put a group of humans to sleep - including Vladimir - while hunting wolves, convincing them she'd killed them all. The spell floundered, though, causing the humans to think she was full of trickery. She ended up not only convincing the humans to leave, though - the well-timed belch from Dmitri's death helped - but confronting Modordi after Thana died, tying the most physically frightening trollbabe to the weakest. With the dead Thana contributing two relationships to the fight with Modordi, he ended up being driven to the edge of Mother Fire, leaping in to cause the eruption to go off immediately.
: Back to Kleewick for a second. You can guess who came out of the Titan's Egg, right? A huge, nasty, burnt-black, reborn Modordi, looking down at Kleewick with hateful eyes as she hung over a ledge. That was her last scene.
: And Yalla ruled, starting the story befriending a polar bear which continued to follow her. Yalla was a trollbabe from an earlier adventure, and continued on her quest to find this Egg that would let her contact her mother. She made her way into the interior of the volcano, harvesting a smaller, dead troll egg - kind of a troll stillbirth. Yalla's story was marked by failure after that, but it all added to the story. She ran into town with her polar bear, trying to scare the humans into leaving, yelling "Polar bear attack!" Two failed rolls resulted in incapacitation as the villagers grabbed their weapons and beat the bear and trollbabe to the ground, locking her in the belly of the ship she came in on. She was the first to see a baby troll, though, as the eruption launched an egg right into the ship, ending her last scene.

; Player Thoughts
: '''Wilhelm:''' The best moment of the night was actually everytime Clinton pretended to be a polar bear by rearing up on his hind legs and bellowing.

: Oh, and he forgot to mention the scourge of of the ice weasels.  One of my favorite early moments was Thanna intervening in a battle between a group of wolves and a horde of ice weasels, which resulted in the memorable quote "I'm not getting dissed by a bunch of weasels!"

: On a rules note, I'm continuing to see that one of the most common elements of confusion faced by new Trollbabe players is understanding the difference between Conflicts and Series.

: Also, on a strategy note, adding a second action type to a conflict often seems tempting, but it definitely enhances the risk as well.  I've seen several cases where the course of events was dramatically shifted by failing both action types in a single roll.  As always, the essence of Trollbabe keeps coming down to deciding how much you are willing to risk on any particular goal.

: '''Saffron:''' As a narrative game this was an entirely new role-playing experience for me. I was in agony for the first half-hour of the game until I was able to throw down the shackles of causality and move into the Bright Future of plot development. I am particularly enamored by the fact that it is no more enjoyable to succeed than it is to fail during conflict. I don't know that I can ever go back.

:Clinton's trolls were wonderfully evokative, they were what I'd expect the love children of a yeti and a Discworld troll to be. The affair between man and troll was remarkably mature and gave a richness I don't often get from intense and lengthy games, much less a campy one-shot.

:The high point of the game for me, other than Clinton's aforementioned polar bear impression, was Yalla waist-deep in an ice weasel nest and using the geographic feature "weasel tube" to score a reroll, impaling two charging ice weasels [1] thru the ground.

: [1] Don't look 'em in the eye, they can see yer fear!

: '''John:''' The ice weasel stunt was fun. That was my red-skinned, one-eyed trollbabe, Thana. The real possibility of being devoured by ice weasels just made her snap and start stabbing. Not only did she score a handsome ice weasel-fur outfit, but a relationship with a wolfpack as well.

:I decided from the outset that Thana had been abused by humans when she was growing up (used a gladiator/slave in the south) and still bore many scars (of all kinds). I really enjoyed milking the irony of her being the one who saved the human village from the flow of lava from the volcano. She ended up in a fight to the death with the large and angry troll, Modordi, who wanted to see the human village burn. Actually, so did Thana (and she and Modordi could have been fast friends) but she knew deep down that the humans would blame the trolls if their village burned, and soon afterward, the humans would make sure the troll's forest burned as well.

:Thana died protecting the people that she hated in order to save the creatures that she loved. Damn... so many layers -- and in a one-shot no less! Clinton, you rock. You too, Ron.

:This game was loads of fun. I agree with Saffron -- the game sometimes makes failure even more interesting than success, which means that cool stuff is always happening. The game never hits one of those bumps where someone fails a die roll and everything crashes to a halt. Trollbabe delivers what it preaches: a no whiff-factor, protagonizing system that bleeds pure drama at every turn.

:I'm looking forward to lots more ''Trollbabe''. Especially if Clinton promises to do more polar bear impressions.

; Additional GM Thoughts
: You do see a bit of an "Ice and Fire" influence. The "Life in Hell" reference was brought to my attention last night. It seems they get referenced in a lot of games - I remembered them from some other game (I thought it was GURPS Fantasy Bestiary, but I went home and couldn't find them) where they're described as being like cats in that they have a very high internal temperature, so high that their bite actually burns and their blood is near boiling.

:The troll interpretation is odd. It just struck me at the time as a good idea, but I think I'm going to use it for my further games, with trolls being varied by climate. In the jungle, for example, you might find trolls with longer arms and brown/black fur, who reproduce by making large eggs of dirt and mud, and bluish-white furred trolls living on a coastline with webbed hands and feet for swimming, whose eggs grow on the seafloor.

=A Visit to Royston Vasey=
; Game System
: Call of Cthulhu
; Pitch
: It's a dark and stormy afternoon and you are on a coach tour of England. The coach has broken down about five miles from a small town. The driver goes for help, but does not return. It's starting to get dark and you're tired of waiting. You head for the little town. On the way a sign looms through the rain. It says "Welcome to Royston Vasey (you'll never leave)."

: I will be running a game based on a British Dark Comedy tv series. I will use the old COC rules, so you just need two D10s. I will bring pre made characters so that we will have more time to play.
; Game Master
: Laura
; Players
: R.D. Stenzel
; Characters
:
; Date
: May 5, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: Last night was my first time attending this little get together at Cardhaus. I had a great time and it seemed to go quite well. In Laura's CoC game we played stranded tourists trapped in rural England when the zombies come out. Quite interesting and an awesome place to meet with other gamers. I look forward to the next time I'll be able to attend.
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=Trollbabe'n'Chicken=
; Game System
: Trollbabe
; Pitch
:  
; Game Master
: Clinton Nixon
; Players
: Wilhelm, Alan, 
; Characters
: ''Maevonne'', a tall, frightening trollbabe dipped in human magic, but with the uncanny ability to talk to animals. (This ability wasn't really unique to Maevonne, but she utilized it heavily.)

: ''Kleewick'' (Wilhelm), short for a trollbabe at 6' tall, but nearly as wide. Kleewick is a powerful fighter, and is actually a trollbabe from an earlier one-shot I ran, which meant she came with a relationship to the elder of a village in the duchy. (The location of the duchy was never specified, and this was my first GM improvisation, by making it set in the locale of the earlier adventure.)

: ''Yalla'' (Alan), another tall trollbabe, had all the features of a tree, being of great height, willowy, and dressed in green. Her social descriptor was "sexy," and the player definitely played it up.
; Date
: April 28, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: Have I mentioned lately how much ass ''Trollbabe'' kicks for me? If not, it does. Any questions or comments about the following account are more than welcome.

: I ran it for about the fourth time last night as a one-shot game for three other Forge members, and it was my best run yet, resulting in three of us deciding to continue on for a short campaign with it. Going in, I wanted to try something different. Inspired by Ron's recent The Pool: Dragons and Jasmine thread, I did much less GM prep than I normally would have, wanting to see if "letting go" would result in a better session.

: It most definitely did. With only a half-page of scribbled notes, the players and I weaved a damn fun tale. My notes consisted of the following backstory:

** The Duke Baldulf is a renowned fox hunter, and is also renowned for his voracious appetite for the ladies.
** His wife, Lady Vivien, is pregnant and is hiding it from him, for it is not his. The Duke cannot have children.
** There has been a silver fox spotted recently, and it is raiding all the chicken coops in the duchy. The Duke, for all his effort, has not been able to catch it. The fox is actually a skin-changer, and is the duke's sensechal, Petrus, who has also impregnated Lady Vivien.
** The Old Lady of the Forest, an ancient troll, has laid a curse on the Duke so that he may never have an heir, as he accidentally killed her one child forty years ago.

: That was all I had (besides a large list of names), but the four non-player characters were used by the players to make this story rock. The Stakes were pretty simple: will the the fox in the duke's henhouse be revealed, and if so, how will the duke react?

: Here's a shining example of where I go wrong as a GM: I thought the adventure would go something like this:

** Some characters hoof around the countryside looking for a silver fox.
** Others find out that Lady Vivien is pregnant, and investigate either (a) who the father is, or (b) why the Duke can't have a kid.
** Someone finds out the Old Lady of the Forest cursed the duke, and then finds out why.
** It gets all tied up somehow.

: Even scheming the lightest timeline in my head was a big mistake. Luckily, my players shocked me out of it.

: How things really went down:
** First scene, Yalla goes straight to the Old Lady and finds out she's a troll. Yalla's looking for the Mystic Egg of Whatchamizit and the Old Lady tells her the price for the knowledge of the egg's location: a child.
** Kleewick's quickly involved as well: she's bringing a letter to the duke from her friend Silius, the aforementioned town elder she had a relationship with, and ends up on a hunt for the fox with the duke.
** Maevonne, played by someone I can always trust to make awesome, but bizarre, character choices, starts off talking to a farmer who's had his coop robbed. She gets the first glimpse of the fox by casting a spell to release the one surviving chicken from its fear.

: As the game progressed, Yalla makes friends with a group of children and finds out one has no parents. This little four-year-old boy was so frightened by her initial appearance that he wets himself, and her failed attempts to make the boy a new pair of pants makes the children laugh so hard that one ended up telling her a secret: Lady Vivien's having a baby. Yalla's player thought for a while about trying to give the boy, Bjorn, to the Old Lady, but meets his "three moms," Lady Vivien's chambermaids who are raising him.

: Meanwhile, Kleewick and Maevonne end up meeting in the forest while looking for the fox, and Kleewick casts a spell on a lodestone to find the beast. Of course, the lodestone points right back towards the duke's manse, so much charging occurs. Maevonne heads off another way, though, and talks to Rushkin the crow, who tells her that a silver fox has been crawling underneath the duke's manor. (Rushkin wins NPC of the night, by the way. He was completely spontaneous and created by the player, but was totally the most fun to play.) Kleewick finds some silver fox hair in the manor's stables, near where Petrus and Lady Vivien just were, and Maevonne talks to Artus, the groundskeeper, who shows her the crawlspace under the manor where she finds a trapdoor leading to Lady Vivien's room.

: As far as relationships go, they were sprouting up everywhere: Yalla had a relationship with a little girl, Inge, already, and of course Maevonne had a relationship with Rushkin. The interesting thing is that no re-rolls had occurred so far.

: All of that changed in the next bit of the adventure, which I call "the better part."

: As night fell, our three trollbabes:
** Kleewick is literally hiding her huge self inside the duke's chicken coop, waiting for a fox.
** Yalla and the chambermaids have decided it would be funny for Yalla to switch places with one of them tonight that the duke is likely to come have sex with.
** Maevonne's holding off for a moment, but plans to confront the Lady Vivien.

: The duke does come to Yalla's bed, thinking she's one of the maids. A great part of Trollbabe is the Pace of conflicts, allowing players to decide how much focus they want on an event. In this case, the player chose blow-by-blow: we were going to put the spotlight on this sexual encounter. That's something you don't see in an average game run by me. It was awesome, though. There were a few failed Series, leading to some great blows: the Goal was to get through the whole encounter without the duke knowing what the jig was, so as the duke gets suspicious and starts to run his hands up towards Yalla's horns (a failed Series), Yalla flips him over and ties him to the bed with a scarf (a successful Series).

: In the meantime, Kleewick is bursting out of the henhouse after she sees a human hand reach in and steal a chicken. When I say bursting, I mean it: her head pops out the top and she tears through the side, catching up to the man who's now changed into a large silver fox, and then using a re-roll when she failed to keep him down to throw him into a nearby hollowed out stump and sit on him.

: Maevonne has slipped Vivien a human truth serum in her tea, which Vivien noticed (a failed Series), but still affected her (a successful Series). As she blurts out the truth of her child's parentage, everyone hears Kleewick yelling. Maevonne, the drugged Lady, Yalla wrapped in a sheet, and the dazed duke in just his pants all come a-runnin', and an eruptions of conflicts ensue as Petrus, the Silver Fox, emerges from the stump as a man, kicks Kleewick in the mouth and knocks her out, calls the bunch of trollbabes liars and schemers, and gets a spell cast on him by Maevonne to reveal the truth. The initial roll fails, and Rushkin makes another appearance on a re-roll, chanting the spell along with her. The re-roll's failed, though, and Petrus transforms again (hey! the spell worked), leaping at Maevonne, knocking her over and eating Rushkin.

: By the way, all of above specifically happened because of the rules. Two failed re-rolls leads to trollbabe incapacitation, and any relationships involved get killed (Rushkin.) However, in that case, the GM describes the fate, so I had the spell kind of work, transforming Petrus back into a fox form.

: Naked Yalla manages to catch Petrus - after he's attacked by huge enraged chickens, a side-effect of Maevonne's spell gone awry - and the duke nearly kills him before she bargains for his life. He's sentenced to serve Yalla for a year and a day and enter the duchy no more.

: The last scene was six months later, as the duke gives Yalla Lady Vivien's newborn child, covered in light fox hair. It's assumed Yalla will take it to the Old Lady and get the duke's curse removed, but we ended it there.

; Player Thoughts
: '''Wilhelm:''' We had a number of two Action Type rolls, usually of the X + magic variety.  In fact it was failure on a double action that resulting in our first instance of a trollbabe getting into real trouble.

: One thing I was struck by during play was that in Trollbabe, you are only ever as involved in a situation as you want to be... Until you are injured!

: What I mean is this:  If an uninjured Trollbabe is willing to accept a failure, she can walk away from any situation she wants to.  Only if she cares enough to go for the reroll is anything at risk.

: But an injured Trollbabe that is forced into a conflict is going to suffer further injury if she fails her initial roll, or even if she wins the series with a reroll.  It seems like in the world of Trollbabe once you've stuck your hand into a situation, the situation sticks to you.

: I'm still pondering about what this means for the dynamics of play.

: Finally, and interesting note on the dynamics of the pacing rules.  Choosing a slower pace boosts your chance of success if it was already > 50%, but lowers it if was originally below 50%.

: '''Alan:''' What struck me was just how much control I had over building a meaningful series of events.  I'm not sure how much of what follows showed up in play, but here's some decisions and ideas I experienced interacting with the game.

: Clinton had told us the basic elements - the duke, unable to concieve and the egg robberies.  At character creation, I decided to play into this with Earth Goddess/Fertility magic as Yalla's organizing theme.  I suspected the duke was the werefox and envisioned seducing him into revealing the truth.

: Just before play, I got the idea to give myself a mcguffin to chase - a magic stone egg (a fertility totem).  So I immediately asked after a wise woman.  Clinton surprised me with the old troll's request for a child.

: While Wil and James played out the arrival and involvement of their characters, I got the idea for my next scene: it would be ironic if Yalla's next encounter was with a bunch of children playing hide and seek in the woods.  Mind you, I wanted to develop Yalla's quest, not resolve it immediately, so I debated with myself whether I should ask for the scene - then I decided to trust our GM to find a complication.

: I requested the scene and to my great gratification, I got it.  I found it funny that I had started with the intent of a seduction and was now playing motherly games with the village children.  In another twist, the GM didn't provide much complication between me and my goal - I found an orphan child after only one conflict roll (helping a girl find her hiding friends).  

: I had an option at this point to show up in a scene where the other players were helping the Duke hunt the egg-stealer, but decided not to.

: At this point the other players thought I'd just kidnap the boy.  But I still wanted to confront the Duke, so the next turn I had, I requested a scene at the castle.  Yalla arrives with the intent of persuading the Duke to allow the troll-woman to adopt the boy.

: I won't go into any more detail, but I got Yalla into the Duke's bedroom, just after the other players had cornered the egg-stealing werefox.  It wasn't till that point that I realized my guess about the guilty party was wrong.  

: Even so, Yalla played a part in bring the Duke and the fox into confrontation.  Yalla called on the Earth Mother to make all present speak true (this became a blow-by-blow social and magic conflict where I got injured and burned two rerolls.)

: I think I requested all the scenes I played in, except the last one or two which involved the other Trollbabes.   Requesting a scene gives an incredible ability to set up the thematic elements one wants for one's personal story.  I love it!

; Additional GM Thoughts
: That was a wild rush of "what happened." What happened between me and the players, though? Well, I truly let go. Nothing happened as I thought it might, yet all the big conflicts I'd thought about did occur. How come?

: ''Trollbabe'' is a system engineered to do this, and do it well. By default, the GM narrates character success and the player narrates character failure. This is an insanely powerful tool to let the GM guide the story (by tempering successes in certain directions) while keeping the character protagonized (by letting the players guide the failures in ways they prefer.)

: There's not much more to say besides letting go of the reins was a wholly positive experience. The players got to set up what they wanted to focus on (via Pace), make their characters powerful motivators for conflict, and we all had a fantastic time.


=Hounds Tower=
; Game System
: Hero Wars
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Alan Barclay
; Players
: Laura, Kevin Shultz, 
; Characters
:
; Date
: April 21, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: '''Laura:''' We definetely had a lot of laughs, mostly due to Kevin Shultz's horrible Arnold imitation the entire time. He did his best German accent during the whole game.

; Additional GM Thoughts
:


=The Keys of Uriel=
; Game System
: Sorcerer
; Pitch
: This Monday at Cardhaus, I'm running "The Keys of Uriel," a fantasy-western Sorcerer game. 
; Game Master
: Clinton Nixon
; Players
: Wilhelm Fitzpatrick, 
; Characters
:
; Date
: April 21, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: '''Wilhelm:''' The Sorcerer game wound up leaning more heavily on the western tropes than the fantasy, which lead to some cool images, such as the barbarian being a giant guy in ill-fitting pinstripes and a bowler hat with a giant runesword strapped to his back, or the half-fey thief who went about dressed like a riverboat gambler. Actually, the coolest scene was the (NPC) assassin crashing through the window of the brothel with a crossbow pistol in each hand, blazing away :)
; Additional GM Thoughts
:


=Hallo Spaceboy/girl=
; Game System
: Starchildren: The Velvet Generation
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Wilhelm
; Players
: Clinton, Laura, Donald, Eric, and Lynn
; Characters
: Johnny Heroin - punk rock guitarist (Clinton), Maxwell Demon - a glam vocalist directly inspired by and named after the character from the movie Velvet Goldmine, @ (yes, that was his name, think of the marketing possibilities) - the slightly psychotic keyboardist, Bob MacGuire(?) - queen of the skins (Laura), and Arthur Frode - bassist (Donald)
; Date
: April 14, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Wilhelm:''' Borrowing shamelessly and freely from Hedwig & the Angry Inch, Wild Zero, Tommy, Max Headroom and no doubt a few other things wedged in my subconscious I unleashed a demo game of Starchildren on SGA's Monday Night indie gaming group.  It was the first time out for all of us, with only the GM and one other player having read the rules.

: The adventure I set up was partly influenced by a desire to try out as many of the components of the system as possible, as well as the need to fit things into about 3 hours or so.  We had five players, and I had prepared a two page cheat sheet before hand that had slightly cut down character generation rules on one side and a summary of the card mechanic on the other.  I definitely think the character generation sheet helped alot, I had generated a couple characters before hand using the book, and it took me 45 minutes to anhour, but even the players that weren't familiar were able to get through character generation in 30 minutes with the sheet.  I had all the players be Earthlings, both for simplicity, and also because I wanted to introduce Starchild weirdness through play.

: I don't know if anybody read the back of the sheet, we just sort of explained things as we went along.  I started things out in a club where the characters were enjoying a fine set by their favorite band, Wussy Bunny, and waiting for the debut of a mysterious new rocker being run by the Mob, one "Johnny Reb."  The evenings festivities were disturbed as the club was crashed by a bunch of rowdy Hessians, who wanted to put some fear into those pussy glam rockers, but instead were met with a classic Romper Stomper headbutt from Johnny H.  The rest ot the band mixed it up, and we got to try out the combat rules.  A few observations I quickly picked up:

: a) you usually only get halfway through the action deck in a round.
: b) it *does not work* to put in a single set of cards for a group of GM characters, and having them all move on those cards.  The round kept ending before the NPCs could do anything.  As as result, our heros ran circles round them.  However:
: c) Punches and kicks do shite damage.  It seems like two reasonably matched characters would take forever to rack up enough damage for a blackout.  A table leg, which I treated as a nightstick wasn't all that more effect.  A broken bottle treated as a small knife was very deadly though...

: After running about four rounds of combat (which resulted in a couple Hessians being slightly pummled, and one taken down) cops burst in the front door and our heros went out the back into the alley.  While catching their breath, they noticed an unconcious teenage girl in club kid wear dumped on the pile of trash.  Being good hearted folk, they carried her with as they escaped to Johnny H's convenient nearby basement sqaut.

: The girl turned out to be named "Mauni" and claimed that she and Johnny Reb were "in love", only it seemed that Johnny had taken up with some "bad men" who weren't letting Mauni see him any more, and were rather insistent to the point of beating her up and taking her out with the trash.  After an attempt to talk the girl out of what was obviously an abusive relationship, the characters decided to table things till the next day, and Bob (as the only female character) elected to take Mauni home for the night.  Bob's slumber was disturbed by a gentley glowing Mauni, who had somehow gotten a bit, um, "boy" somehow, trying to crawl into bed with her.  Bob gently refused these advanced, but did set Mauni up with her teddy bear.

: We cut to next nights "practice session" for the band (somewhat difficult as only two of them had instruments), before which @ had checked with some of his homies in the dims trying to find out what was up with Johnny Reb.  Not much dirt was forthcoming, but he did learn that the Cat's Eye was running a "Battle of Bands" for the opportunity to open at Johnny Reb's next show.  Mmmm... railroading... So delicous. :)

: So the group decided to enter the contest, all they needed were instruments, songs to play on them, and most vital... A NAME FOR THEIR BAND.  This gave me an opportunity to try out the scrounging rules, and also the Compose rules that I posted to the XIG forum.  These worked out quite well for a first test, and it gave the players some interaction time as they tried to think up song titles, and worked together to make the Compose and Lyrics tests.  The songs, as I recall were:

: ''Raygun Girlfriend'', J. Heroin, A. Bassist : Difficulty 2/+2 Awe
: ''Hallo Spaceboy/girl (Mauni's Song)'', M. Demo, Mauni : Difficulty 2/+2 Awe
: ''The Whole Shebang'', A. Bassist : Difficulty 2/+1 Awe ("It's been done," remarked Maxwell sardonically.)

: And the band name? Well lots of suggestions were made, but the winning entry was HOSTILE CHICKEN!

: I also had the club owner at the Cat's Eye (one Reg Blanco) insist on Musician's Licenses before they could sign up ("I've got to have your Mother-May-I's, don't I then loves?").  Of course, nobody had one.  But a friendly forger offered to whip some up by modifing Ministery of S&C pinball permits.

: I required a beauracracy check to make it through the S&C offices.  This became known as the "pinball written test", as Johnny H. blew his check and was allowed to take the "skills test" instead.  Maxwell also had trouble with the forms, but charmed a young impressionable clerk into helping him out.

: And finally, it was time to rock.  The band managed to patch together the shoddy kit they got from a mob dealer into something servicible, and Mauni, who had become friends with Johnny H. over a tab of Ball Lightning came to the rescue when Johnny's guitar collapsed in a heap of kindling on a botched repair check.  Seems Mauni had this most marvelous guitar stashed in an abandoned warehouse.  Where *does* a street kid get kit like that?  "Brought it from home" he says!

: Needless to say, Hostile Chicken rocked the house and won the day.  I was dubious about the notion of "rocking out" by slapping cards down the table, but everbody was pumped up by that point, so with the assistance of an impromtu light show powered by Mauni, the band score a whopping 29 awe for their set.  Nobody had less than a King on the last song of the set ("The Whole Shebang" of course)  And Mauni and Johny Reb were reunited, and yadda, and yadda.   Cue "Wicked Little Town".
; Player Thoughts
: '''Clinton:''' I, too, was frustrated with the combat, and I generally like combat. It was the one part of the system I found to be inelegant and downright overloaded with extraneous rules. Things like Sharpness, and preparation, and whatnot got in the way of having a great time. Given the chance, I would make combat a very simple action, with each attempt either missing, whomping a guy good, knocking him down, or putting him out.

: The Action Deck is what really started to bother me. I get the point, but it's a layer of rules that really slows things down. Using it for songs might be a good idea, though.

; Additional GM Thoughts
: The Man and players alike had a bit of trouble keeping track of the card mechanics and figuring out at any given point exactly what options they had.  I think with more play the system would get smoother, but it certainly is a hurdle.  As the Man, I kept getting misled by the face values of the players cards.  And twists are definately necessary to give the players an out when the cards turn against them.

: The combat also seemed to drag on, and I couldn't figure out what to do with boosts scored in combat.  I started adding them to damage, but being as I found at brawling combat to be fairly slow, I think I might entertain using them as a multiplier instead.  I think I'll be putting together some rules questions for posting to the XIG forum.

: Anyway, thanks to all my brave players, and look for the Hostile Chicken demo EP under the counter at all your favorite media shops.

=The Shadow of Yesterday=
; Game System
: The Shadow of Yesterday
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Clinton Nixon
; Players
: Wilhelm, Matt Wilson, ?
; Characters
: 
; Date
: March 31, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Wilhelm:''' Clinton ran us through a short adventure for his new "in progress" game, ''The Shadow of Yesterday''. Its a FRPG designed in the "Fantasy Heartbreaker" tradition of "Let's do D&D one better." Clinton fully acknowledges it borrows from many sources, for me it brought echos of classic ''Traveller'' and ''Tunnels & Trolls''.

Some of the key elements of the system are a 2d6 success roll that is modified by adding bonus or penalty dice, from which you take the highest or lowest two, depending on whether you are operating under a bonus or a penalty. Also, attributes are not used to modify rolls, but instead are resource pools that let you buy extra dice to roll or power magical effects.

The story involed a rag tag band under the leadership of a despised and cowardly yet good hearted bard that had to fetch water from the Queen of Fire to save the life of King Khale. I got to play a cool little sorcerous goblin. We fought and snake and had some palace intrigue. We did eventually succeed in our goal, but only after the bard lost his pants and got chomped on the behind by a very nasty magical mastiff.

TSOY looks like the start of a fun little RPG in the "old skool" tradition, yet with some very neat ideas tucked away in it. I look forward to seeing how it grows.

; Player Thoughts
: '''Matt:''' You roll 2d6, and add your relevant skill, and compare to a success-level chart that's about as difficult to grasp as Fudge. Yes, I mean to say that it's easy.

: One of the cooler bits of the game is the idea of Secrets, which are something like Feats, I guess, in that they sometimes grant special abilities. But there are also "key secrets," which determine how that character gains experience. For example, my character had "the Secret of Cowardice." If I managed to avoid a conflict, I gained XP.

: I was the bard, Nevins. Man, I just realized poor Nevins was also sans pants when the queen of fire scorched him. Ouch. Burned in front, bitten in back. The village is going to think he was on spring break or something. "Bards gone Wild!"

; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=Duel of Ages=
; Game System
: Duel of Ages (board game)
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Clinton Nixon
; Players
: 
; Characters
:
; Date
: March 24, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=Pantheon=
; Game System
: Pantheon
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Alan Barclay
; Players
: 
; Characters
:
; Date
: March 17, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=Universalis=
; Game System
: Universalis
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Wilhelm
; Players
: 
; Characters
:
; Date
: March 10, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=Swashbuckler=
; Game System
: Jolly Roger's ''Swashbuckler''
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Wilhelm Fitzpatrick
; Players
: Laura, Donald, Kerrie
; Characters
: Andre, and sauve French swordsman with a penchant for getting stabbed (Donald), Vanessa, a French adventuress (Laura), and Maria, a mysterious Spaniard (Kerrie)
; Date
: March 3, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Wilhelm:''' Fortunately, its a great, and very cinematic combat sytem. The players use cards to select combat manuvers from a set they have selected for their character, and opposing manuevers are cross-indexed to get a modifier on an opposed roll of d20s. Once we got the hang of things, I think it moved relatively fast for a combat system of that detail. It certainly led to some atmospheric dueling.

: The players honored a dying man's wish to return his "greatest treasure" to his homeland. Along the way, they fought bandits, engaged in a midnight chase on horseback, gambled with scum, and learned new uses for goats. They even got a chance to go in against Sicilians when death was on the line.

: After my experience running ''Swashbuckler'' as is, I think I'm going to look at marrying the combat system with FGU's old "Flashing Blades" for what ought to be truely fine derring-do.

; Player Thoughts
: '''Kerrie:''' Erm, yes, the gambling. Had a bit too much fun with my character there tonight :)

: The goats were awesome...and popped up in the strangest of places, including an old woman's string of curses.

; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=BPRD (Hellboy)=
; Game System
: Godlike
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: John 
; Players
: 
; Characters
:
; Date
: February 24, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=Miles Christi=
; Game System
: Miles Christi
; Pitch
: a French RPG of Templars in the Holy Land vs. Saladin.
; Game Master
: Brian
; Players
: Laura, Wilhelm, Donald
; Characters
: Brother Lambert (Laura), Brother Marcel (Will), and Brother Guy (Donald)
; Date
: February 24, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Donald:''' ''By my hand this 27th day of April, the Year of Our Lord One Thousand, One Hundred Seventy-four.''

: ''My Beloved Father:''

: ''Your loyal and loving son Guy hopes this finds you in good health. I write to apprise you of recent events here in the Holy Land, where I believe I have acquitted myself well in my first relatively independent assignment with the Knights of the Temple since taking my vows to the Order and making the long journey here from Charlac.''

: ''As you know from my previous letters, my first few weeks in Jerusalem were, not to overstate matters, most uneventful. I attended my duties, received issue of uniform and equipment, was introduced to my squire (how short a time it seems since I was squired myself!), and established myself in the routines of the Chapter house here. I had gotten to know most of the other young Templars who arrived with me during the long ship voyage from Genoa to Joppa (in between times of various of us being sick from the sea), and I was pleased to find that, when the time came, I was placed with Brother Lambert and Brother Marcel (you remember Marcel, third son of Le Comte de Chambourg, who was always into so much trouble at tournaments and festivals).''

: ''Our assignment, with much of the force of the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaler in this land concentrated on the campaign northward to Galilee (there to oppose the Saracen legions under their new Emir, Sala'adin), was to take our squires, three sergeants, and thirty turkopols to reinforce the fortress at Ashot's Ford, as well as bringing them additional pigeons. There had been a report of Saracen activity in their region, and then no more word, and it was thought that they might require assistance and perhaps have lost any remaining birds they had still homed on Jerusalem.''

: ''In the course of three days and part of a fourth we did ride from Jerusalem, past the Dead Sea and southward up the river which flows into that Sea from the end opposite that where Jordan enters, stopping one night in ruins, one with a minor encampment of Templars, and one at a Coptic monastery where, despite their heresy, we were shown all Christian courtesy, invited to share Mass, and allowed to view their holy relic, a vial of the tears of St. John the Baptist.''

: ''Before noon on the fourth day, we reached the fortress, which we found in a much reduced condition. Vultures (foul, grim visaged birds bigger than the great Alsatian eagles, they are, and eaters of carrion) circled high above the walls, good Christian soldiers gambled in plain sight without shame, and brother Templars violated their vows and took up the bow to hunt the vile avians, yet seldom ever succeeded in smiting them from the sky for that they flew nearly beyond the reach of a dart.''

: ''We had no more than called out for entry to the fortress than the Captain, Brother Anselem, came forth and bade us return to Jerusalem, lest our very souls be damned; he would not, he said, take the lives and souls of any more men upon his conscience. Still...''

: (remainder of the missive is illegible, obliterated by blood stains or washed from the parchment by water)

: The entire game structure of Miles Christi lends itself to putting the player into the mind set of a Templar -- to the point where we players found ourselves, while the GM was away from the table, still discussing our situation in character. This was the best game I've ever played in that respect; the resolution is simple and direct, and character creation isn't excessively complex (we were easily able to finish in under an hour, with none of us three players having ever seen the game before and a requirement for many repetitions of details as we worked at different rates) and it is overall very atmospheric; a few simple words on the character sheet served as perfectly adequate reminders of the vows and duties of a Templar of the late 12th century. And while I normally don't enjoy in-game religion very much, this particular take on historic Catholicism wasn't obtrusive and, beyond being a necessity to the setting, fit in very well with the general feel of the game.

: I'm very impressed indeed!

; Player Thoughts

: '''Laura:''' This game was very sucessful, in my opinion. As I said, I enjoy games that use cards. It's a different experience from dice, in some cases causing yout to use strategy as well as the chance element.  

: '''Wilhelm:''' Yes, I liked this aspect of the system as well. I especially liked the way the system was used for "Gifts", the ability of brothers to occasionally ask God for a miracle. This is done by laying down a high card for one of your regular actions, then deliberately setting it aside unused and drawning a new card to replace it in the action.  In order to build toward a possible blessing in the future, you are forced to take risks now. Very thematic in execution.

: '''Laura:''' The character creation is very conductive to really getting a grasp of the setting and your character.

: '''Wilhelm:''' Very much so. The basis of character generation is selecting three archtypes representing your characters youth, squire training, and knighthood. The archtypes are respectively animals, mythic heros, and christian heros. These archetypes influence your characters attributes, skills, and personality. For example Brother Marcel (my character) had as his archtypes the Horse, Achilles, and Gawain, leading him to be impetuous, brave, and passionate. He excelled physically, but lacked refinement.

: The advancement system is also cool, as you gain skills and traits by acting in accordance with them, and you lose points by acting against them. Your character must "confess his sins", and failure to do so causes the penalties to increase, thus leading you as a player to always be considering your behavior, which very much helps you to get into the character mindset.

: '''Laura:''' We three knights of the temple were sent as reinforcements to an outpost in the middle of nowhere. When we reached the fort the Commander told us to go back, he had not called for reinforcements as he feared to damn anyone else's soul. We saw a brother killed by vultures as we tried to save him.  

: '''Wilhelm:''' Technically it was a sargent, not a brother. One thing I noticed myself picking up on quickly was the class distinctions within the game. One aspect of play I enjoyed was that there was opportunties for the characters to operate both on their own, and also function as sort of "squad leaders". This made playing out the siege very involving and enjoyable for me.

: I'll add to the memorable moments Brother Marcel covering the retreat of his men after the Saracens broke through the ford by standing fast and giving out a miraculous shout that deafened and paniced the oncoming Saracen horse long enough for him to make his escape. As the GM said later, "I thought we were going to have a martyrdom there."

: I sincerely hope that at some future date it will be possible to publish the english version of this game. I'd certainly line up to buy it :) I'd say it falls into the category of what Ron Edwards would call a High Concept Sim, and it definately encourages and rewards the use of Actor stance.

: '''Laura:''' Some memorable moments:

: Brother Marcel riding back barely ahead of a dozen Sacarens.

: The commander refusing shelter to pilgrims and allowing Marcel to escort them to a nearby Coptic Monestary, but if he wasn't back by sunset he'd be flogged. Marcel and Guy's preperation for seige by the sacrans. The crazy old man I found behind a mill stone who told us the story of the curse on the place. Me and a small group of Turkustans capturing the Sacren's large catapult and using it on them.
 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:
 That was quite a missive! I'm really glad everyone enjoyed the game. Now I've got more motivation to try & get it published here in the States...

=Universalis=
; Game System
: Universalis
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Laura
; Players
: 
; Characters
: 
; Date
: February 17, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=Paladin=
; Game System
: Paladin
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Clinton Nixon
; Players
: Laura, Joe, Brian Malcolm, ?
; Characters
: 6
; Date
: February 17, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Clinton:''' Um... it went interestingly. I'm not nearly awake enough to go into full detail, but all six players created great paladin characters, and then, in a game about holy warriors, we saw the brutality and horror of a morally absolute system at work.

: One group of characters went off to prevent a war, and had to fight off the undead general of the invading lord's armies, who nearly killed one character, until the other two jumped him at the same time.

: The other group went to calm down a town where the local lord had been slain by powers unknown and unrest grew.

: In the first case, the characters put most of the town to the sword, which is just vicious, and totally in character. In the second, I saw the first thematically-appropriate suicide in a game, as Alan's character fell from a 100-foot rock drop rather than take the hand of an evil Witch that would save him. Meanwhile, the other two characters basically forced an entire town to confess their sins and rat out their brethren.

: All in all, it was thoroughly disturbing for the GM.
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=The Riddle of Steel=
; Game System
: The Riddle of Steel
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Alan Barclay
; Players
: 
; Characters
:
; Date
: February 17, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=Pax Draconis=
; Game System
: Pax Draconis
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Justin Dagna
; Players
: Wilhelm, Alan, Sally
; Characters
: Courier - A "fixer" in cyberpunk terms (Wilhelm); Savant - A "psion" of sorts (Sally); Treebor muscleman - Big tough alien guy (Alan)
; Date
: February 10, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Wilhelm:''' The scenario was the now classic "shady people need to figure out how to break into dubious building and steal macguffin" of cyberpunk/shadowrun fame. But it gave us a good opportunity to see the system in action. According to Justin, ''Pax Draconis'' tries to provide as much "realism" as possible while still trying to keep the rules simple and fast. Based on my experience with the game, I think he's succeed pretty well.

: Combat ran very quickly a smoothly, with a simple phased initiative type system, spiced up by giving each character an "interrupt" action they could use to go out of sequence, which kept everybody on their toes. Figuring out what you were rolling against was very easy, as skills simply enable you to roll against an appropriate attribute, with possible situation modifiers.  My favorite twist to the combat system was the possibility of a character becoming incapacitated temporarily due to shock or pain, and having to "pull them selves together" to get on the fight. I personally got experience this mechanic as my character spent several round rolling around on the floor after getting shot in the foot.  Reminds me a little of Twilight 2000, portraying the idea the most people aren't going to be relentless terminators until they are knocked out or killed (only giant alien musclemen are like that :)

: It was interesting to play Pax Draconis right on the heels of reading Ron Edward's essay on Simulationism over at the Forge. I'd say ''Pax Draconis'' perfectly fulfills the definition of a High Concept Simulationist game, and in a very tidy way. Overall, an enjoyable game.
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=System Failure=
; Game System
: System Failure/Palladium
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Mark Hughes
; Players
: Laura, John Harper, Donald, Clinton
; Characters
:
; Date
: February 10, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: '''John:''' Thanks to Mark and the other players for a memorable Systems Failure game last night. We managed to play a Palladium product, and it didn't suck! Amazing.

: '''Laura:''' I had a great time, and for the first time ever I had a dream based on the game. Earth was going to be invaded and some of us knew about it. In my dream someone suddenly shouted "It's happening now" and we saw smoke and ran for the hills.  The weirdes part was that the invaders were using old ships and floating them in the sky. I think it was influenced by the old Starblazer cartoon.

: '''Donald:''' Character creation was a bit, um, confusing (especially trying to get through it with time to actually play), but the rather odd chargen sequence produced a pretty playable character. The game itself looked like it would be interesting for a longer term campaign -- I don't know anything about other Palladium products, but Systems Failure is one I'd have to consider if an invitation went out to join a long running game.

: And, for myself, it was quite refreshing to leave angst-ridden characters behind and play a relatively straightforward Exterminator character, whose only significant regret in life was that the world melted down before his high school team could make it to the state championships.

; Additional GM Thoughts
:  I should have made pregens, especially since I only had the one book, but it worked out okay, and you found out what Palladium chargen is like (slow, but usually functional). You all did well getting through it that quickly--I've lost entire sessions to newbies plowing through chargen and trying to dot every "i" and cross every "t".

: <shudder>

: And poor Clinton's "learn to be a ninja by mail"... Low-level HTH combat pales before gunfire, but that changes at higher levels. Gun dudes don't get much better, while HTH gets more and more badass.

: Other than that, once you get in play it's a fast and simple set of rules.

=Ring of Thieves=
; Game System
: Risus
; Pitch
: I'm planning to run a one-shot Risus fantasy adventure of my own devising. I'll be bringing a complete copy of the rules we'll be using for each player (I can handle up to five), and you can read the rules and create a character in under ten minutes (unless you're a very slow reader or truly indecisive). Bring dice -- common six sided are all you'll need, and not more than a half dozen at once; we won't be using Funky Dice for this adventure. Do bring a pencil, eraser, and an open mind, however -- after reading the game pretty carefully, I think it might amaze people how much game you can fit in three pages plus a couple paragraphs of add-ons.
; Game Master
: Donald Qualls
; Players
: Laura, Kevin P., Kevin S., and Alan
; Characters
: 4: A Beastmaster Bard who was raised by wolves until the age of 12 (Laura), A British Dragon Samuri (Kevin S), A dominatrix Necromancer (Alan), and the Ninja Viking who was also raised by wolves (Kevin P.)
; Date
: January 27, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Donald:''' My adventure was a sort of cliched generic dungeon crawl, IMO perfectly befitting the flavor of Risus as a "Universal Comedy System" -- characters met in a tavern, got their first lead from a barmaid, and charged straight on through tunnels, traps, and wave after wave of guards. Unfortunately, because of the time required to create characters in a system unfamiliar to everyone at the table (well, less so to the GM), we ran overtime and I had to cut the adventure short -- perhaps I can run this adventure again another Monday night and find some way to speed up character creation (though I still don't much like the idea of pregens or even templates -- they're pretty opposite much of the idea behind Risus).

: I can also say that, after playing Risus, I think it would make a fine system for a more serious long term campaign, though some optional rules would be needed with the major comedy element of "inappropriate cliches" removed. Best of all, nearly any source materials or existing campaign would convert quickly an easily -- no conversion of stats is required, because Risus doesn't use 'em, and once you're familiar with the system, it takes only a few minutes to create any character. Still, even with all the optional rules for a serious fantasy campaign gathered together, every rule in use would still run to no more than a dozen or so pages -- and the resulting game every bit as good as AD&D was twenty-five years ago.
; Player Thoughts
: '''Laura:''' Thanks for running it. I had a blast. It was great for comedy, and we certainly were all in a silly mood last night.  Some of my favorite moments were:

:Lord Kas, the Samuri, and my character Agatha sitting down to a healing cup of tea after fighting some guards, Gundar, the Viking Ninja finding that he could actually hide behind Lord Kas. Sardia, the Necormancer, talking about making clothes out of dragon skin and Lord Kas offering to shed some for her. And then there was are own small horde of two zombies which helped us beat up all their former friends!

: '''Kevin S.:''' My personal favorite moments were the "innapropriate cliche" defenses, especially Lord Raz's successful use of his "Upper Class British" cliche to defend against the guards bursting in on his and Laura's character's tea break. Although as Alan pointed out, at the end I was channeling John Cleese, but it was all in good fun.

: I also like Gundar's clever use of turning the horns in his helmet upside down to hide the fact that he was a viking ninja.
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=The Pool=
; Game System
: The Pool
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Clinton Nixon
; Players
: 
; Characters
:
; Date
: January 27, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: 
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=Riddle of Steel=
; Game System
: [http://www.theriddleofsteel.net/ The Riddle of Steel]
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Alan Barclay
; Players
: Clinton Nixon, Kevin Schulz
; Characters 
: 2
; Date
: January 20, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Alan:''' We buckled some swashes I think. I can't remember the last time a combat system gave me visions of fast clashing action and a racing pulse - when I was the GM! I don't want to give away details of the plot - because I'd like to run it again for people on this list - so please forgive a the lack of detailed narrative. I'll try to capture a few instances though.  I can see where the game would give the impression that swashbuckler won't work - the combat system, by itself is sudden and bloody. But if you haven't role-played the Spiritual Attributes, you haven't seen the heart of the game.

:SA's are emotional drives defined by the player. When he role-plays action in line with an SA, he can earn a point for it. When a task, like fighting, involves one or more SA, they contribute bonus dice to the task. SAs are also be spent to improve the character's abilities.

:Earlier on, pursuing SAs created some amusing events. For example, Fergus (motivated by memories of his own unrequited love) was engaged in trying to play Cyrano for the dour and depressed young noble from the north - who wanted to woo a lady destined to be the death of many men. At the same time, Roland was trailing kidnappers, taking names, and all out of bubblegum.

:The bonus dice make all the difference in combat. In the final battle to save a noble from kidnapping, Roland (Clinton) and Fergus (Kevin) were getting 3-8 extra dice from things like "Destiny to defend a kingdom", "Drive to serve my lord", etc. Meanwhile the kidnappers had no active SAs in the situation and got pasted. Even my fancy French duelist, who was set up with SAs that activate competing with another gentleman was defeated - all because the two PCs were commoners! And the combat system allowed an interesting end to his battle - Roland took a chance on downing him with a punch, instead of killing him with a weapon, and boxed his larynx. So Antoine, gasping on his knees, surrendered.

:Writing the adventure was a lot of fun and I'm pleased how well it turned out. I'd be happy to run it again for other players.
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:

=FREEDOM, WVa=
[[Image:FreedomWV_poster.gif|thumb|FREEDOM, WVa  "movie poster"]]
; Game System
: [http://www.allflesh.com/flesh.html All Flesh Must Be Eaten]
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Kevin Perrine
; Players
: Pete playing Dimitri
: JoeZ  playing Virgil
: ??? playing Forest
: Lynn playing Calvin
: Wilhelm playing Edgar
: Laura playing Sara

; Characters (aka. "our cast")
: Dimitri: russian college friend / scientist.
:Virgil: Tim's long lost brother and notorious Biker.
:Forest: college buddy, now Tree Hugger type.
:Calvin: 15 yr old Goth kid, taking pictures of the dying Tim.
:Edgar: Youth Pastor and guitar playing friend to Tim.
:Sara: childhood friend, now police officer.
; Date
: January 20, 2003
; Technical & Pre-Game Notes
: I plan to have the basics of several archetypes from the books.
I've trimmed them all down to the NORM level for this playtest
session. If have the book and you'd like to make your own character and
bring it - go ahead, but be sure and use the NORM rules... I'd
also stay away from the supernatural powers (stuff using
Essence) unless you clear it with me prior to Monday.
: For background:
My base idea is that the PCs are all coming into town to have
ONE LAST HURRAH with an old friend that's dying from
cancer... He's checking himself out for the weekend and you'll
be partying like it's 1999 to celebrate his life.
So characters can be from anytime/place from your friend's life
(High School, College, Work, a walkabout in Europe, etc...),
the only real requisite is that you're his friend (or family). :-)
: Archetype I have are:
Alcoholic, Athlete, Beautician, Biker, Business Man, Butcher,
Cheerleader, Tree Hugger, Criminal, Goth, Hacker, Hustler,
Musician, Priest, Reporter, Rural, Scientist, Store Clerk,
Teacher / Academic.  If you have requests for something else I can write it up for you...
; Recaps
: check out threads around the [http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/SeattleGAMERS_ASSEMBLE/message/16454 SGA Yahoo Group starting here]
: 10 folks made it out for the evening... Alan ran [[SGA_2003_Archive#Riddle_of_Steel|"Riddle of Steel"]]. Kevin ran "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" (zombie game).
; Player Thoughts
: ''Ok that was alot of fun! It more than met my expectations. The only problem is the group (including the ZM) was so involved and did such a great job that i have no idea if the game mechanics were good. I've roleplayed for about 12 years now and i must say that SGA members tend to do a wonderful job playing their characters even if they didnt create them. I feel like an amature everytime. My favorite part was realised as my character when flying off the car that we were all headed to my SUV and not only do i have the keys but im the only one who knows the zombies weekness. other good moments included the tree hugger screaming somthing about death to toxic waste and charging in, the goth kid snaping photos of the zombies, the youth pastor thinking hes the right hand of god for a moment, the cop useing a flag pole as a weapon, and of course the biker fending off a little zombie with a teddy bear.'' '''-pete'''
: ''I also had a great time. You have so much great energy Kev. You really got the zombie movie feeling going with your opening description of the semi truck driving down the highway outside of town! I also had fun with the improvised weapons. Calvin sticking Mr. Wiffle in the head with the check holder. Sarah accidently flinging Mrs. Wiffle at her friend with the West Virginia State flag, Whoops''  '''-- Laura'''
: ''I thought the story was excellent. Unfortunately the amount of set up cut down on the time we were able to spend bashing Zombies, but it did also provide a good "normality anchor" to drive home the gruesomeness when the dead started walking. Part of it was simply dealing with the fact that since Monday night games are oneshots, we were on a limited time budget.  They, um, kinda shambled? I found the rules system rather banal, and not particularly contributing to the genre, but they didn't inhibit it either. For example, I like the idea of open ended die rolls, but the AFMBE version of them just seemed like a clunky implementation of a good idea. I thought it worked well, and jumping between characters kept everybody involved. I really admired your effort to keep things moving quickly. It seems like the AFMBE combat system could be prone to bogging down if not carefully managed. For the most part we avoided that. The frenetic narration style you adopted was excellent. Really helped set the mood. Or are you always like that? Keeping the lifepoints hidden was a good idea. I was actually surprised when Dimitry went down, and I had no idea how badly Forest was hurting. I think love of Zombies transcends all barriers.  "I kick ass for the LORD!" from the fine Peter Jackson film "Dead Alive". Which everybody should run out and watch. That or "Meet the Feebles". Both fine films. As good as "Lord of the Rings." Really. Trust Me.''  '''-- Wilhelm'''  
: ''I think if one person really jumps into character everyone else starts to follow along. Also kev you were really into it and kept the pace moving so we didnt have time to think about turning every situation into a pun. I think dead time is when i personaly start thinking of jokes. I love and hate opening sceens. I love them in that every game ive ever played with one has been an intresting story, usualy done by a good story teller and does a great job of keeping players motivated and intrested. I hate them because i have yet to see an open ended game that used them well. Games that use open sceens or movie style sceens are usualy built around a story and not the characters, however you cant really build a one shot around the characters. The beauty of the one shot is in that players are willing to be more heroic and go out with a bang rather than worry about losing this character they have played for a year. love it! one of the reasons i love shadowrun so much is the ability to burn a karma pool point for an automatic success I agree (lifepoints secret), one of the reason i like games that gauge damage on light vs serrious and things of that nature is that as a player im not tempted to say im ok i got 20 hit points ill use it when i get to 5 (yes i have munchkin temptations i must resist) As a GM though i try to let players keep track of most things because im lazy and i dont want to take the time im already tracking for the 20 bad guys. idealy though a GM should always discribe how bad a player is hurt and players shouldnt know stuff like i can take 2 more hits from a longsword.''  '''-- Pete'''
; Additional GM Thoughts
: 6 folks had planned to play "All Flesh" for the evening. I handed out templates to choose from and we got the game rolling...
The mandatory piece for the evening was to come up with your connection to one: Timmy Coffin... our dying friend, who we were all coming into town for one last HURRAH to celebrate. The Town... a little place we like to call - "Freedom, WVa".
: Some key things I wanted to mention:
* I planned just too much, and missed some stuff but I don't think it effected the game so much. I tried using "bullet counters" for the players and I kept all the life points for the characters to add some dramatics to injuries taken...
* the players get a standing ovation from me... you guys did EXCELLENT! And Will - your girlfriend (forgot her name again damnit!) was incredible for not playing RPGs.
* My Favorite Quote: '''''"I'm kicking Zombie Ass in the name of the LORD!"'''''
* My favorite character Moment: tie between - Dimitri shot off the top of the police car into the store window and all that followed or Calvin using one of those pointy things you put checks on in restaurants to impale the Zombie Mr. Whipple's brain!!
* My favorite NPC Moment: that poor little Zombie boy with teddy bear in his footy pajamas...
* I was thinking of sharing my "preperation notes" if anyone is interested in talking about GMing and how you prepare for games, and show mine as an example. Anyone interested?
: Zombie Stuff (was Monday (Jan 20) - How it went)
: Sometimes players throw me as the GM. I was stuttered when
Joe really jumped into character (with Virgil) there at the
begining and then everyone jumped in FAST.
I forgot how excited some folks get.
Even Lynn!! who is new to RPGs... just incredibly great.
To make this relevant (enough butt kissing)...
Why do you think that happens in some games?
and then others lead to, not enough roleplaying - or just go
silly with comedic reference - or are just bad...?
: [on Dimitri flying and dying] True - that was epic (and unplanned for the most part).
I had waited all game to share that flashback with someone
(that I thought would be appropriate) and I picked the
PERFECT person.
LONG LIVE DIMITRI!!
: I always worry about my "opening scenes" have never NOT ran
a game without opening with some sort of opening scene....
I can't imagine starting a game anymore without that cool
opening sequence that always comes prior to the titles and
theme song (for movies or TV shows).
It's stuff you wouldn't need to know (as players) and stuff you
have to firewall as characters (because you technically didn't
see it) but sometimes somepeople just don't understand what/
why I'm doing those openings... it also hopefully sets you into
the tone of the game universe - starting up your disbelief
engine.
When I've done it best - they really add to the overall game.
I just can't open a game straight to the PCs sitting around a table
anymore.
: [on Monday Night Short-Shot time budget]
I was trying to watch the clock to plan WHEN to get beyond the
set up time. I was doing okay (everyone was in town at at the
bar by 8pm) but then the length of time coming out of your
rooms slowed down.... and then the group splitting slowly and
then getting back together slowly (after the imminent dangers)
rolled the game for about 2 hours.
Which took up to near 10pm.
and I hadn't done any of the stuff from outside (the chooper, the
dogs, the rats, the bear, the bikers returning, the State trooper,
etc...)
I wouldn't change it much though - the set up was excellently
played...
I just wish we would have had 1-2 hours more or a second
game session so that I could draw out some of the stuff I
crammed in at the end.
the one-shot time was limiting... but for me I'm learning with it. I
had NEVER ran a one-shot game before.
Combine that with the first time running AFMBE and I'm okay
with the outcome. :-)
: [on rules] I actually like the "Uni-system" as a rules set. Even though
they're not genre specific I think they simulate the world type
well... and you're not afraid of rolling the dice.
I look at little "gimmicks" like the re-rolling 10s and 1s as just
that - Gimmicks.... to set the game further apart from all the
other D? + Attribute + Skill = difficulty number games.
My only wish...
I worried sometimes (as player and GM) that in a game if you
NEED to succeed at something and you have no way to help that
(other than your roll) it can be hindering.
I sort of wish ALL games would include a "hero point" type
mechanic (seen in: Adventure!, Deadlands, MnM, 7th Seas,
etc...) even if the cost is high, to help with those situations...
Actually - Buffy RPG does have these "Drama Points" and it's a
trimmed down Uni-system lite game...
: [on frenetic narration style] 
I do try to go "on-stage" when GMing.
I figure - if the players see that I'm okay with making a fool out of
myself in front of them by acting the parts and such then they will
feel more open to playing their characters to the hilt.
Lead by example kinda play...
but no - normally I'm more reserved. a little goofy fun
sometimes...
I don't know that'd be a fun question for me to have answered by
Joe or Laura - since they "know me" from other games and
outside of games... Guys??
: [on Keeping the lifepoints hidden]
Dimitri went down HARD... the throw through the window from
the speeding police car crash was:
D6 per yard (based on falling) with some "terminal velocity" (up
to x50) involved = my roll of,
(D6 x 4 slashing) x2 ... which brought him down 24 points (my
roll was a 3), then the 4 Zombies ripping at his head (D4 x4
slashing) x2 forced him forced him below -10... making him roll
a Survival check.
If he failed he was dead. he succeeded so he lived for another
minute - then you guys helped him a little stopping the Survival
checks for the moment...
Forest was in bad shape (hope I described that well enough)
he was down to 17 of his 34 LPs prior to getting some first aid
bringing him up to 24. One or two more good shots and he
would have went down (from a Zombie - a gun would have
killed him most likely)
hence...
I really liked the effect and modifiers that damage did... I like
the effect of multiples slashing/stabbing and bullets do alot!
It really forces the survival aspect.
Minor note - all the damage everyone did to any Zombie was
ignored (unless it hit the brain)
A "chop" to a leg/arm for 15 points total would have severed
them... but that never happened. :-)
:  Now that I think about it I think it REALLY REALLY matters that
all the participants are open (if not excited) to try the game. Or
to try playing with the GM or players no matter the game.
Now that I think about it - every game that I've played or ran in
which all the participant WERE NOT willing to forgo any doubts
about the game (or GM or players) and be way open to making
the experience fun for everyone (ie. NOT just themselves!),
they've all ended up sucking really bad.
sometimes playing with the same players for any long time can
build weird assumptions that carry across to any other game you
play with them. Sometimes it doesn't.
weird...  I think if the GM plans and doesn't get lazy
with them (or the game) you can continue these right through.
For example - if we were to continue the Zombie game I'd
probably begin each "episode" like a TV show... First the
"PREVIOUSLY on ..." describing last week's actions (and KEY
moments or clues from past games).
then move into a quick fun pre-titles scene with either the PCs
in a short shot scene (setting up something or media res) or
plan something showing the bad guys or other events that will
lead into the game later...
I think everyone gets to that point after playing for a time... I used
to HATE rules and figuring them out. I'm still not the best at it but
I know the things I like to KNOW before playing a new game.
Like: what controls initiative, what the scores you need to be
average are (to gauge yourself), etc.. etc...
I'm feeling this way more and more these days.
It is a LOT to track as a GM but I felt the Zombie game was better
because the players just didn't know...
It also helped that I didn't have to track bad guy DeadPoints
because they only counted if hit in the brain. :-)
that's another COOL thing that the Uni-system lite has going
for it....
Its not in AFMBE, but in it's spin off rules for Buffy RPG the GM
doesn't even have to roll in combat (NPC) situations. The bads
have single numbers to compare the PC's roll to (either hitting
or dodging) .
So it would be easier to track the LifePoints.
I'm really seeing that I LIKED the AFMBE Uni-System more
than I thought.

=Shadowrun=
; Game System
: Shadowrun
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Pete
; Players
: Laura,  
; Characters
: A Physical Adept elf Steel Orchid(Laura), Orc Rat Shaman called Fang and a cybered up street samurai
; Date
: January 14, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Laura:''' The module is written by one of the original D&D guys and it's a lot like a D&D dungeon crawl done as Shadowrun. The first part takes place in the Tacoma sewers and the GM is supposed to roll for a random encounter at each tunnel crossing. I've never seen anyone roll for random encounters in SR before :). The GM in our game decided not to roll every time. We only ran into two different groups of Orcs and two ghouls. Who would of thought the sewer was so crowded.

: It did work for one night, mainly becuase we skipped through some parts. I think it gave the two newbies a good idea of how the game goes. It was a rather silly module, I think it's better for one shots then as part of an ongoing game.
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
: Seeing how i ran it i may as well say somthing DNA/DOA is not one of the better ones but it is the first one writen (not by time line though) The two harliquins and the two (i think theres two) ones that deal with Deus are considerd the best.  The neat things about all the adventures good or bad is that like the living series by wizards, these are events that did happen in the universe. Next month ill probably try running "Mecurial" ,if any are intested, which i feel is a average or above average one, characters to be basied on the point system rather than priorities (we did the priorities last time) Mercurial is actualy a two parter so depending on time we may quit early or try to squeeze through the whole thing. Mecurial is the first one acording to timeline.

=Spaceship Zero=
; Game System
: [http://www.spaceshipzero.com/ Spaceship Zero]
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Mark Hughes
; Players
: Kevin, Alan, ?
; Characters
:
; Date
: January 14, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Mark:''' 
:'''The good:'''
:I described everything in a low-budget sci-fi manner--the planet scenes are all in a rock quarry, and though the players didn't push on the parts where they'd find out, the ship set is made of plywood. That'd be edited out for broadcast, of course.

:The system is fast and simple; there's no rules at all to remember, really. Most complication-free game I've used in a very long time.

:The players were just using templates, and still got really into character, hamming it up. Cheesy sci-fi all the way. It brings out the right stuff in people.

:'''The bad:'''
:It's hard to kill anything in one shot, unless you just use ZM fiat to say "he's dead". That's not entirely bad, but the super-modern weapons just aren't super enough. I might halve the number of Body Points you get.

:Rolling skills too often is bad, because you have low percentages. So I used two kinds of tests: 1) Simple tests, where you would always succeed unless you rolled 00, but the skill roll tells me how well or badly for descriptive effect; 2) Stress tests, where you can fail drastically.

:But if you don't roll skills often, you don't get to test those Zero skills and earn many Zero Points. What I'm going to do for long-term play is allow players to buy 1 Zero Point for 1 EP, once per session. I might also give out 2 ZP every time you roll a 0 when testing a Zero skill, since it didn't happen enough.

:'''The optional:'''
:I'm strongly considering adapting the TORG Drama Deck over to it, to enhance the cinematic feel even more.

:'''The episode:'''
:I fast-forwarded them through the destruction of the universe, and they came out near Tau Ceti, with systems damage to the Bendall Field and the BTL drive, and low on supplies. After a few false navigation starts by the Robot, they land on Tau Ceti IV: The Rock Quarry Planet, a couple miles from a habitation of some sort.

:The Captain and Scientist send the Robot out to investigate, but unfortunately the Robot becomes lost. Finally all going out, they find that the camp consists of wood barracks and a shiny dome, with human prisoners digging in the rock, while human "trustees" with human prods keep them working, and hybrid overseers watch the trustees, armed with guns.

:They sneak in, well, except that the Captain's none too good at that sneaking stuff, and are captured by would-be rebels among the slaves. After a bit of a scuffle, the Captain is recognized as the reincarnation of the "Chosen One", and they are brought into the barracks.

:After a bit of "if someone asks you if you're a god, you say *YES*"-ness, the slaves are rallied into a fighting force of sorts, and an ambush is prepared for the next day.

:Well, after a slightly bloody charge at the trustees and a horrifyingly bloody charge into the disintegrators of the Hydronauts (I'd expected them to pick off many of the Hydronauts first, oops), 169 of the original 206 slaves were killed, but the 37 survivors have been liberated and armed, and the Captain slowly restored their confidence and determination to free the rest of the slaves on Tau Ceti, while the Robot located the next slave colony. I made the world's simplest mass combat rules, just determining how many trustees, hybrids, and hydronauts a slave could kill per 2 turns, and vice versa.

:Definitely a pyhrric victory, but that works well for the tone of the show described in the episode guide.

:I can't reveal the details in public, but my Universe 2 is pretty variant. After reading the ep guide, I couldn't just do *one* world, I have to give them a whole bunch of strange places to go and universes to blow up before they get to anything like home.
; Player Thoughts
: '''Kevin:''' It's basically a game that you play in the style of the old Sci-Fi radio and TV shows - you know the ones as campy (or more) than Captain Kirk with that styrofoam boulder over his head... Think Captain Video, Buck Rodgers, Flash Gordon and the like.  I LOVE that style and time period for short run games... I'm not sure how it would feel running it long term - I'd guess it's best at short shots.  The rules however aren't my cup of tea... They work just fine (very similar to the old Basic Roleplaying rules of CoC) but they don't feed into the style of the game much at all...  Beyond that I had a great time playing! Mark did a good job giving us the feel of the game...  Myself (the befuddled Scientist), Alan (the Robby style robot) and KevinS. (the man's man Captain), found ourselves on a world inwhich humans were being opressed by evil fish overlords... As any Space Corp crew would do, we quickly set ourselves up as Gods and went about freeing the slaves from tyranny (only losing 170 of the original 200)!  Much fun was had by all including much GREAT roleplaying by Alan and Kevin really sinking into their roles!!

: '''Alan:''' Yeah, I thought the fun part of the game was playing the TV SF tropes. After a brief glance at the book, I'd say that the resolution and rewards systems don't really support the genre per se. Character generation certainly provided the right templates, though - including the slave girl who gives others a bonus when sitting in their lap. More rules like that would reinforce the camp.

:What suceeded was our understanding of the SF cliches - and I thought Mark's way of describing the planet as " a gravel pit somewhere in England" set a great tone. We joked about standard settings, like the California desert, a deserted industrial plant, or a steam tunnel. I began to envision a game that made these elements part of the rules - and maybe even included reusing parts and sets (remember how the Romulan cloaking device resembled Nomad from The Changelling in ST:OS?)

:All in all, I had fun.

; Additional GM Thoughts
: The Zero Dice would, if you had more of them. I'm definitely using some house rules next time to start PCs out with their max ZD, and get more ZD more often.

: But yeah, a very simple percentile system like that is just meant to work and get out of the way, and it doesn't try to be period. Since I grew up playing Star Frontiers, Call of Cthulhu, and Rolemaster, it feels perfectly natural to me.

: I think the game works well for an episodic tone. You *could* run a continuous-time campaign, but fast-forwarding through what's happened since the last ep and starting you in the action is more in line with how a TV show works. I was strongly considering having a "commercial break". I didn't try out the "Dramatic Time" rules for only using in-character speech, but that's more for the radio serial.

=The Riddle of Steel=
; Game System
: The Riddle of Steel
; Pitch
: I'll be running The Riddle of Steel that night. Characters will be pre-generated, and there will be room for four players.
; Game Master
: Clinton R. Nixon
; Players
: Laura, Gabriel, Pete, Ryan
; Characters
: 4
; Date
: January 6, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Gabriel:''' For my first time at the Game Night, I had a blast. We started out on my ship. I was the captain, Virgil. An explorer. We are first attacked by a Sea Serpent. We manage to defeat the beast, but I suffer a nasty chest wound, causing me great pain.

: From there, we sail towards a glimmering shimmer on the edge of the ocean. It turns out to be a small island. Upon landing at the island, we find a track into the forest. We follow it, leading to a small glen, with a glittering pool.  In the pool is a beautiful lady, only she seems more beautiful than humanly possible (think elven beauty here). My first mate, Corwin, dives into the pool upon seeing this fair thing. I tie a rope around me, and instruct our cohorts to pull me out in a couple minutes. I dive in after Corwin.

: Opening my eyes under the water, I see myself beside the beauty, but what ho! I am not underwater, but on the deck of a ship, sailing on the clouds. I ask the woman where my friend is. She replies, "he is safe." I disagree, and ask where he is again. She tells me that I worry too much. I say, "Yes, I do worry, but for good reason, I think." Finally, I break free of the spell and see Corwin floating below me, almost within arms' reach. I try to grab him, but they begin to pull me out. I try harder. So close. Almost! My fingers brush against the collar of his jerkin, but alas, it is too late. I am pulled free.

: I look up to see a elven fellow aiming a nocked arrow at me. I get up, and reluctantly follow him, and my companions. What have I gotten myself into?

: I soon find out as we approach the ruins of what seems to have been a great elven city, but is now only ruins. There are a few structures in decent repair, but by and in large, most of the city is moss-lined, grass covered debris. A shame, perhaps. At this point, the fellow I hired on as a deck-hand dashes off, away from our captors. Suprisingly to all, he disappears into a building. The guards chase after him, but he manages to avoid them and escape. I do not know what becomes of him. The guards return, and they look quite crestfallen, and saddened. Must not have expected a human to get the best of them, eh?

: Finally, we reach a large building, and our led inside. Our weapons are taken from us, but I think the druid hid his dagger. We are led into a room, where the woman who appeared to us earlier is seated in a thrown, incrusted with elven art (think leaves and scrolls). She tells us that she is thankful to us for having brought her a new consort to revive her people, and for the ship, to strengthen the fleet. But we are also told not to meddle, lest our lives be forfeit. I tell her that in now way may she have my ship. She disagrees.  Suddenly, she glances at one of her guards, and points at the ceiling. He nods, and departs. Leaving only her and the guard, I bide my time. After the guard has been gone a few minutes, I proceed to make a dash for my sword, stored in the other room. But fate is not on my side this night. As I attempt to bypass the other guard, I am defeated. He first hits me in the shoulder, causing great pain, then strikes me in the jaw. The world goes black.

: Thus ends my part in the story. I look forward to finding out what happened.

: '''Pete:''' Corwin the mighty (or johny bravo take you pick) I had sailed us bravely through monster infested waters when alas a great serpent was spoted so I loaded the canon for my noble captain... alas it struck but the serpent came so my captain shot it squarly with his trusted crossbow.  still the beast came it bit my captain, so i grabed my trusty axe and with a great war cry behead the scummy thing. Alas my captain had fallen but i had my revenge.  I then found an island and rowed us ashore.
: I blased a mighty trail through the thickest of woods till we came to a pool. The most beautiful of women lived in the pool and beconed me to join her so i droped into the mighty waters and took her...
: darkness...
: i awoke in the might suit god had given me and in a grand bed my lady entered so i arose and went to her proundly ready to take her again, but she told me she would already bear me a might warrior of a son and to put some cloths on that she might not be tempted by my beauty. I did as my lady asked, but left my shirt unbuttoned so that it might tease her and all the other women. We went to the great chamber where my captian came. I sat on my mightly thrown as king and told my captain to take a sack of riches with him if he would cut me from my contract and go his way leaving me with my lady. He agreed and one of the guards arose in anger that a human would be alowed to take elven treasure and struck down my captain. In my bitter rage i killed the guard with my bear hands. Then i picked up treasure and strung it over my back.  Then i went over to the lifeless body of my captain and picked him up. I kissed my lady goodbye saying the elf men would always be jellous of my beauty and i must leave. She wept bitter tears but let me leave saying she would take good care of my son and he would know of his heroic father. I carried my burdens back to the ship and set sail for a great adventure... but that is another tale.
; Player Thoughts
: '''Ryan:''' Open seas, blazing trails, battles, bravery, and adventure.... The tails you speak of of great heroes, and stir my blood to do the same....
; Additional GM Thoughts
: I had fun last night as well. I didn't think my Riddle of Steel game went as well as it could have, but a splitting headache on my part added to the distraction.

=Stone Hearts, Stone Memories=
; Game System
: Ronin/Dust Devils
; Pitch
: 
; Game Master
: Wilhelm Fitzpatrick
; Players
: 
; Characters
: 3
; Date
: January 6, 2003
; Technical Notes
: 
; Recaps
: '''Wilhelm:''' Well, here it is, what I believe is the first actual play report for Ronin (the feudal Japan adaptation of the Dust Devils rules).  I'll try to play to all factions by recounting the story we created, along with my observations on my experience of using the Dust Devils system.

:First let me comment that I had never played Dust Devils itself, nor in fact run any of the modern systems that explicitly transfer director power to the players, although I have played in some.  So the first thing I noticed was the serveral times my players had to remind me when it was time for me to shut up :)  But in all, I liked the ability for players to insert their own ideas into the story.  One trick I did use a few times was to "clarify" a fact that a player had introduced in narration to introduce a plot element from my back story.  Is this a sin against the freedoms of shared directors stance?  I dunno, but i seemed to work.

:Also, I added a variant to the variant, in that I felt that the use of poker cards as the fortune mechanism was a great choice for the old west, but disturbed the mood of Ronin.  So I developed a variant conflict resolution system using Mah Jongg tiles.  We also used Go stones in place of poker chips.  The players had a little difficulting figuring out their hands until they got used to the Mah Jongg suits, but I had prepared cheat sheets with pictures of the tiles, and after a few conflicts they got the hang of it.  Everybody loved the feel of using the tiles, and it was great to be able to say stuff like "Well, your flush in bamboo wins the hand, but I have the red dragon so the narration is mine!"

:I set my adventure in the early medieval period, during the fall of the Kamakura Shogunate and the rise of the Daimyos as powers in their own right.  Unlike the sample Dust Devil adventure, I did not pregen characters, but had players create their own.  One of the players wound up using Roji the Damned from the Ronin sample rules.  The others were:

:'''Matsunai Ishiro''', a samurai disgraced by defeat in battle, driven to seek out and challenge the best swordmasters in the land to learn their secrets.

:'''Endo Toshiro''', a ronin of dubious repute, driven by his lust for wealth, justified to himself as "saving his family from poverty"

:'''Tanaka Umiko''', daughter of a great swordsmith and last of her line, she seeks revenge on the mysterious lord who killed her family and stole her fathers greatest sword.

:One challenge was then to weave the characters motivations into what I had prepared.  My preparation consisted of developing four important NPCs whose relationships presented two seperate, but losely linked conflict, was well as detailing a few important locations, and providing myself with a list of other 'color' NPCs that might come in handy if needed.  The back story I developed was partially a mystery, and in development I had to explicitly force myself *not* to come up with all the answers, since I did not want to be too wedded to something if the players came up with a better idea.  My final approach was to provide myself with a good history of how the current situation came to be, but not to run my ideas forward to any kind of conclusion.

:The advantage of having the setting worked up in some detail was that I was able to come up with plausible tie-ins for all the characters except one (Roji) and after the game I realized I could have accomodated him as well with a little more thought.

:I also took some effort before hand to think up a variety of "intro scenes" for characters other than "you start at the inn" (although I did include that :) which allowed me to start the characters fairly spread out.  I think this worked out well, because even once the characters came together (and not till near the end) they did not seem at all averse to suddenly striking back out on their own as need dictated, and I think we did a good job of avoiding the "party mentality".

:The setting was the village of Isawa, in the moutains of Mutsu province, the summer estate of Governor Ando Tadao adjoining the village, and the nearby Stones Rest monastery.  Peaceful until recently, there were now reports of bandits waylaying travellers on the road at night, and the Governor had sent his most trusted lieutenant, Takehashi Takeru to investigate and deal with it.  Unfortunately, the lieutenant was *not* dealing with the problem, and instead was spending all his time at the Ando estate, being entertained by the governor's daugher, Lady Haruko (the governor was elsewhere).  Ishiro arrived in the village, having travelled to challenge Takeru, but instead met his wife, who was camped outside the gates of the Ando estate, waiting for her husband to emerge.  Roji travelled in from the opposite direction, spending the night at the monastery and learning strange rumors from the monks.  Toshiro came to the village following the talk of bandits, whether to gain a reward for defeating them, or to join them was not clear at first, and Umiko came to the monastery on the rumor that they might have word of her father's sword.  Toshiro and Umiko had stopped at the inn, and heard locals speculating that instead of bandits, an Oni (demon) was loose in the mountains.

:Early on I ran into two difficulties figuring out how to do certain things in the Dust Devils system.  One: how to deal with conflicts that involved some uncertainty, but wouldn't really result in any risk if the didn't succeed.  For example a character wanted to identify strange carvings at the Stones Rest temple using a lore talent.  I wound up using the conflict mechanic, and simply ignoring difficulty if the player lost.  The other was what to do if really only one element applied.  For example, in the aformentioned challenge, its really just intellectual, so after some messing around the players and I agreed that it was okay to just pull tiles for one attribute.  Since these conflicts were usually minor, I typically only pulled a three tile hand for them, so I think it worked out.  Also once in a while I would simply pull a tile for myself to randomize some decision I needed to make (i.e. who spots the bad guy first).

:There was an initial convergence of all the characters but Ishiro at the monastery, but it didn't last, as each character had distinct motivations.  Toshiro appeared to be casing the joint, Umiko wanted to know if they had ever heard of the sword she was seeking, and Roji was fascinated by the strange carvings on the temple tower, which predated the founding of the monastery.  Also, on the way up to the monastery, Toshiro had found a roadside Shinto shrine which had been defiled by the addition of a cracked human armbone to the offerings, which lent some crendence to the Oni idea.  Or was somebody trying to frighten people.

:Toshiro actually figured out that the mysterious carvings on the temple were t'aoh t'ieh, ancient Chinese beast masks of uncertain provenance.  This involved an interesting piece of resolution, as Toshiro won narration, but I paid all players one stone to bid away the narration, since I wanted to introduce the t'aoh t'ieh symbolism for forshadowing.  I see reading the rules afterwards that that is not one of the listed options for the dealer, but nobody seemed to mind, and it worked out fine in play.

:There were some good role playing bits at the temple thanks to the character of a elderly monk with a vow of silence I had added as a color character.  He would only communicate via guestures and by writing the occasionaly character in the dust.  I think the players were exaspirated by him, but I can tell you that the GM had a ball :)

:Umiko was redirected to the Takeru the swordmaster by the monks at the temple, and when she arrived at his pavilion, found Ishiro waiting there with Nezumi, Takeru's wife.  Ishiro had taken to tossing small rocks at an elderly farmer whom he felt was being too nosy into the affairs of his betters, which eventually got him read out by the farmers daughter who was also working nearby, and earned him the nickname "rock thrower" for the rest of the game.  Nezumi chided the Ishiro and Umiko for being irresponsible lay abouts, and urged them to seek out the bandit (in the hope that if the bandits were eliminated, her husband would have no more reason to remain in the area).  This in fact got the characters to go do some more investigation on the moutain road.

:One other piece of preparation I did was to write up a few events which I could drop on characters to get them motivated again when things go slow.  I believe in Forge terminology these are called "Bangs" ?  Anyway, having them handy came in useful several times.  Nezumi goading the characters into going after bandits was one of them.

:Umiko and Ishiro going up the mountain met Roji coming down, and they decided to join forces.  This is where the characters started to come together.  They searched for awhile, then set up camp in the forest to have dinner, and were telling tales of their exploits to each other, when they were surprised by the appearance of the elderly farmer from earlier.  His name was Horokewpo, and he was an Ainu (northern barbarian) who had once served Lord Ando in his youth, and who despite having lost a hand in the service of his lord, was later abandoned when his lord found him socially inconvenient, and he felt a bit ill used by the Ando family.  "I gave my hand that my lord might take an arm" he said.

:He revealed to the players that Lord Ando had once driven an Ogre (or Oyasi as he called it) from the tower which is today the monastery.  He mocked the characters, and felt they would not fare well against such a creature.  He then left for the village, but Umiko, reminded of her father by the old man, chose to escort him back.  And well she did, for as they came upon the roadside shrine, seated upon it in the moonlight, reading from a book was a giant terrible figure.  Umiko tried to sneak up on it, but the creature spoke a poem of secret things coming unbidden, and turned and stuck at her with what at first she assumed to be a bone, but later realized was the pommel of sword.  She also learned that the creature was missing its left arm.

:(This was one of my "edits" of player narration.  The player said bone, afterwards I added "well, that's what you thought it was at first..."  In additional incidents I detailed the sword until it was finally determined to be the one that Umiko was seeking.)

:Umiko was overcome by the beasts furious strength, and ran for it, pulling the old man with her.  Unfortunately, he fell, and the ogre seized the old man and lept over some nearbye trees and vanished.  

:(This was an adaptation of bang I had prepared, in which Horokewpo would be captured while seeking the ogre out by himself, and his daughter would come to the character's for aid.  I learn that prep work is good if you are ready to quickly mold it to the situation that the players ultimately develop)

:She quickly returned to the camp and gathered the rest of the players (Toshiro had now joined them).  They attempted to track the creature, and eventually were able to trace him to a nearby crag, where they found his campfire and stewpot set up, and Horokewpo trussed up but not yet cooked.  They freed him, and he informed them that the Ogre (Wu Fang, although the characters never learned his name) had not eaten him yet because it seemed very impressed by this threats that Lord Ando had beaten him once and would do so again.  Fang had then left saying he had a task to complete.

:(Toshiro also stole a book from the creature's cave, which turned out be a volume of ancient poetry (the Kokin Wakashu).  The player specified "an ancient tome" in his narration, and I had happen to specify that the ogre possesed this book in my character description.  Ain't coinkydink lovely? :)

:Realizing that the Ogre was up to mischief, the characters rushed back to the village, and spotted him climbing over the wall of the Ando estate.  Ishiro, headstrong, rushed into the house without even knocking and began searching it.  The rest of the characters waited outside to ambush the Ogre as it emerged.  Ishiro wound up waking up the head servant, and convincing him of the danger, and they and additional members of the household rushed to the Lady's bedchamber to check on her.

:Meanwhile, having been woken by the noise from the house, Takeru emerged from his pavilion to spy the other characters lurking suspiciously about, and thinking them bandits, challenged and attacked them.  Being honorable, the characters chose to fight him one at a time, and Toshiro got lucky with a tremendous draw and managed to disarm and humble the swordmaster before things got out of hand.

:Ishiro, hearing the fighting outside was about to rush out when a crash from in milady's bed chamber drew his attention.  Peeking in, he saw the Ogre in the act of opening a great iron chest.  He taunted the creature with insults and tried to draw its attention, which he succeeded in doing, but not before the creature drew from the chest its missing arm and reattached it.
: The Ogre attacked Ishiro with a terrible fury and nearly slew him.  However the noise from that battle drew in the characters outside, in time to save Ishiro, and defeat the beast.  Umiko's fury on beholding her fathers sword was truely terrifying, but in the end it was Toshiro's masterful swordwork that saved the day.

:Takeru, witnessing this battle, realized that he had become deceived by his pride in his own skill and worth, and that true selfless valour was what was needed of a great samurai (in his battle with Toshiro, his Fire had been reduced to 0).  He abandoned his foolish daliance with Haruko, and returned to his faithful wife.

:And we rolled credits.

:A final comments on the experience.  I initially found it difficult to figure out when to call for conflict, since the mood of setting seemed to make it often more appropriate to introduce subtle obstacles or innuendo.  Alot of things along these lines were handled by Karma, or later as I got more comfortable I started using three card hands and ignoring difficulty as I discussed above.  Of course once the sword play got thick and fast, conflicts were all around.

:We discussed the suitability of the DD rules to the Ronin setting afterwards.  It seemed like the concept of Duty was not quite as much of a driver as the DD devil, and also seemed to be prone to "being completed", but on the other hand we speculated that a linked series of adventures might be done by having new Duty grow out of the old one as the original one was fulfilled.

:All in all, a good, and fairly thematic time was had by all.  For those that are interesed, I plan to put my Mah Jongg variant up on the web, as well as the Stone Hearts, Stone Memories scenario (once I have had a chance to do a little polishing).

:And if you were one of the players in the game, I'd love to hear your opinions about how it went as well, and how the system affected your experience (and was I being too controlling?)
; Player Thoughts
: 
; Additional GM Thoughts
:



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