The Warlock's Review: Cowboys and Aliens

Being a geek has its ups and downs.  For every Iron Man, The Dark Knight, or Captain America: The First Avenger that comes out, we also get a Green Lantern, a Batman and Robin or Elektra.  Excitement and enthusiasm can carry you so far, but at the end of the day, a filmmaker has to make a good film.

Let's get this straight from the outset:  Cowboys and Aliens is not a good film.


Cowboys and Aliens
Utterly generic, with massive flaws.

I had really high hopes for this one, tied primarily to my irrational Deadlands obsession in recent months.  But, even outside of my fanboy-ism, I had reason to be excited.  Daniel Craig's career has been on the rise, and he single-handedly rejuvenated the James Bond franchise with a stellar performance in Casino Royale.  Harrison Ford is...well, he's Harrison Ford!  If you don't know who he is, crawl out from under your rock!  Director Jon Favreau took Iron Man and made it into the gold-standard for comic-book movies.  Olivia Wilde provided eye candy for the otherwise-uninspired Tron: Legacy and made it watchable.  Where could we go wrong?

Oh, so many ways, as it turned out.

First off, let's talk about the plot.  It's razor-thin, and the characters ramble through it like they're lost.  Aliens are attempting to infiltrate the earth, looking for gold (we never do find out why, though).  They're abducting human specimens to find out our weaknesses, in preparation for a full invasion.  Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) is an amnesiac survivor of an abduction, with a metal death-ray shooting bracelet attached to his wrist.

As we find out within the first ten minutes--some amnesia, huh?--Lonergan is the leader of a gang of banditos who have robbed the local cattle baron Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford).  Both Lonergan and Dolarhyde's son get arrested after a brawl in town, but when the titular aliens raid the town, Lonergan is released to lead the town's survivors against the aliens.  For the next hour and a half, Lonergan, Dolarhyde and their motley crew of survivors wrangle Lonergan's banditos, some local Apache warriors, and anyone else they can find in a last-ditch battle against the invaders.

Character development is at an utter premium in Cowboys and Aliens.  No.  Scratch that.  Character development is a liability in this movie.  The most interesting character, by far, is the preacher who patches up Lonergan at the start of the movie, then joins the posse....but he dies less then a third of the way into the movie.  After his death, we meet Dolarhyde's ward--an Apache trail-guide and translator who looks at Dolarhyde as a father, even has Dolarhyde pushes him away.  He, too--the only major ethnic character, of course--dies. 

Olivia Wilde's only expression in "Cowboys and Aliens"
Also note the utter lack of lighting--the majority of the movie
is that dim, the entire way through.

Lonergan himself is meant to be an homage to Clint Eastwood's immortal Man With No Name, but his Craig's natural charisma is entirely wasted.  The PlatinumChick came away from the movie asking seriously whether Craig had more than 20 lines in the whole movie.  Harrison Ford--one of the greatest action stars of the modern era, seems more like an old man as he dodders through his scenes.  Olivia Wilde exudes no personality as the mystery woman, Ella, and she could have just as easily been playing her computer-program alter-ego from Tron: Legacy.  A small bright spot is found in the saloon-owner, played by Sam Rockwell, but his development arc is cut short when the aforementioned preacher is killed. 

Cinematography, in addition, suffers greatly.  For all of the time spent on CGI and the interesting design on the aliens, we see very little of them.  The lighting in Cowboys and Aliens and the speed at which the aliens' scenes are shot make them all but impossible to get a good look at.  Hell, most of the film is difficult to see, as the lighting is dimmed to the point of illegibility.  I understand that the movie is meant to be a "period authentic" piece, but if the audience can't see what's going on, what's the point?

As if all of this wasn't bad enough, the movie reeks of lazy, poorly designed storytelling.  As I mentioned earlier, nearly every character that evolved or developed through the course of the story ended up dead before their arc could be completed.  But, instead of developing these characters (or even keeping them around!), the writers replace any sense of genuine emotion or fondness for the characters with...a kid and a dog.

Congress just got blown up, but who cares...
...as long as the puppy survives!

This is lazy, sloppy writing.  We don't care about the kid or the dog as characters--we're utterly uninvested in them, outside of the fact that they're a kid or a dog.  This is the same poor writing that was bad 15 years ago, in Independence Day.  Rather than focusing on actual characters, the writers ride the simple fact that no one wants to watch the fluffy puppy die. 

Stepping out of the car last night--we saw Cowboys and Aliens at a drive-in, with some of the other WittKids--the only movie that I could compare Cowboys and Aliens to was Green Lantern.  Both were highly hyped, highly budgeted movies with star power, which both collapsed under their own pathetic writing, poor cinematography, and lack of character development.  Save your money, fellow gamers.  Don't even bother renting Cowboys and Aliens.  Watch the trailer two or three times, and you've seen all you need to see.  The Warrior's Way was a better offbeat Western movie than this.

In Which The Warlock Muses on Mechanics...

Since returning from our trip to Pennsylvania two weeks ago, I've been plugging away at Cold Steel Wardens to the tune of 3,000 words a day, on average.  Occasionally, I'll take a day off--usually to play in Will the ManMan's Deadlands game or to take in one of the summer blockbusters--but my 5,000-6,000 word-per-day spikes more than make up for those. 

Writing all of this from scratch has actually made me a little more respectful for the role-playing game authors who have come before.  The vast majority of modern games--D&D, for instance--has entire teams of writers on staff, which allows individuals to focus on individual sections, then exchange those sections for revision and editing.  That's precisely how things worked, with my fellow Cubicle 7 freelancers--after one of us finished a piece, it was uploaded to a private GoogleDocs group, for others to read and offer suggestions.

However, I don't have a team for Cold Steel Wardens.  It's just me.  And that's led to me to realize quite a few things:

• Writing equipment sucks.  In all seriousness, it's a giant table.  You'd figure that it'd be easy, right?  Wrong.  It's tedious, doesn't fit well in a Word document, and there's always some aspect of it that you're forgetting.  You want to offer enough options to keep "hardcore" gamers happy, but be streamlined enough to avoid the problems of a game like Stargate SG-1 d20, which has pages upon pages of equipment rules.
• Options create complexity.  The more options you have, the more complex the game becomes.  Makes sense, right?  Problem is, gamers want options.  Even in seemingly simple games like ICONS or even Call of Cthulhu, players crave the ability to have different abilities and different focuses.  After all, no one wants to play the same character time after time, right?  However, for every additional option that I input--for every Mastery that alters a Skill's use or Optional Effect for a base Power--things get more complex.  That makes writing difficult, to say the least.
• If I pull this off, I'm going to expand the rules-set into a "generic" system for investigation.  The MAFIANAP mechanics that I've created are really streamlined and hand-built to focus on low-powered, street-level supers, and criminal investigations.  A sourcebook, similar to the Savage Worlds--Explorers' Edition, would be spectacular in this regard--something to put out the mechanics, minus the setting info and the like, in a way that would be useful for games meant to emulate shows like 24, Burn Notice, and Leverage as well as comics like Sin City. 
• The biggest test for me is going to be a matter of replicating the characters that were an inspiration for this game:  Green Arrow and Black Canary, The Question, Huntress, Batman, Daredevil, Marv and Dwight from Sin City, Captain America, and several others.  If I can build them accurately with this system, I know I'll have done a great job.
• Balance is an illusion, until it hits play.  I've done my best, so far, to keep options balanced.  A Hero in CSW with no powers will have more points to spend on Vitals, Skills, and Masteries than a Hero with quite a few Powers.  However, I know that the real test of balance comes in playtesting.  I'm hoping to have the rules-set playable by the end of August, in time for an alpha-test campaign at Witt this semester...

But, it's all coming together, and that's what important!  Here's for hoping that someone wants to publish my little brainchild once it's done...

In Which The Warlock Nukes Catan!

So, at our New Year's party, I came upon the idea of a variant for a certain game that I typically can't stand--Settlers of Catan--to make it a little more "active" in terms of competition.  That's my biggest problem with Catan...there's very little active competition with other players.  Rather, you simply race to beat your competitors, occasionally hindering them by inflicting "The Robber" on them.

As such, I came up with the "Nuclear Option" for Catan.  Simply put, a character could spend 2 Stone and 2 Clay to build a Nuclear Missile, which would be launched immediately.  Launching a Nuclear Missile would perform one of three tasks:

• Destroy an opposing Settlement.
• Reduce an opposing City to a Settlement.
• Destroy any two adjoining Roads.

Advance the Doomsday Clock!

We also used a few limiting factors.  Players could not use a Nuclear Missile against a foe with only 2 Victory Points, and usage of a Nuclear Missile would add to the "Doomsday Clock".  Starting at 1:00, the Doomsday Clock increased by 1 hour with each Nuclear Missile launch.  If the clock struck Midnight, then Catan would officially become unliveable, covered in fallout and nuclear radiation.

With FridayNightWill, Chris II, and the PlatinumChick alongside me, we broke out this variant for the first time last night, and the results were...pretty impressive, really!

By and large, gameplay was unchanged.  Clay was a premium in our game, due to our utter inability to roll an 8 or a 10 on 2d6, but that didn't stop Chris II from unleashing a nuclear salvo at my roads!  After crippling my motion for several turns, he was able to jump out to an early lead, grabbing the Longest Road and tying with FridayNightWill for the lead.

However, I had some plutonium of my own to share!  After nuking some of Chris II's roads back to the Stone Age, I managed to slip in, and connect my two original settlements, thereby splitting the map and giving me both the Longest Road, and the victory.

Was it worth it?!

Now, while I said earlier that gameplay was "unchanged," I don't mean that totally.  Rather, an interesting conundrum was introduced.  You see, with Clay at a premium due to scarcity, an opportunity cost was required in order to build that Nuclear Missile--the ability to build either a Road, a City or even both, depending on the contents of the player's hands.  Was it worth it to tear down an opponent, or to spend those resources to catch up to them? 

Overall, I was very pleased with the results of this variant, and would be eager to play it again.  I can see some problems already, in terms of the various Catan expansions, but for the base game, it's a unique, PvP-centered expansion that adds a much more pleasing dimension to the game.  Try it!  You'll like it!

In Which The Warlock Stirs the Proverbial Campfire...

I've made no real secret of the fact that I've become a massive fan of Deadlands. But, what you may not know is the fact that I'm in not one, but two separate Deadlands campaign right now.



Our final destination?
Time will tell!



As I'd mentioned a few entries ago, Will the ManMan--also known as The Journeyman GM --has started running an updated version of the classic Deadlands trilogy known as "The Devil's Tower".  However, I've actually begun a second game on Friday nights, replacing our on-again, off-again Eberron game.  With ChaoticFrederick in California for a few months and CincinAdam still on the Appalachian Trail, I found it much easier to run a game like Deadlands over D&D 4e, which all but requires group balance, whereas Deadlands does not. 

Okay--full confession time.  Quite a while ago, the immortal game designer Robin Laws came up with a categorization for player motivations.  You might be familiar with some of these:  Power Gamer, Tactician, Storyteller, and the like.

As much as I like to think I'm a Tactician and Storyteller.  I'm not.  I'm absolutely an Instigator.  I thrive on conflict, and would much rather put my character at a significant disadvantage or the like, for the sake of dramatic development, than to "play it safe" and avoid such a conflict.  Sometimes things don't turn out as I plan, but that's not a problem in my book--that's just opportunity!

When generating characters for the ManMan's "Devil's Tower" game, then, my first question was "Are you going to allow Veteran of the Weird West?"  Veteran..., for those of you non-DL players out there, is an edge that can be taken, which grants the character "free" experience...with some unseen consequences.  Sometimes those consequences are negligible.  Other times, they can be all but crippling--maimed limbs, severe injuries or diseases, psychoses, or an utter betrayal by fate! 

Lose the mask and one arm,
add some magic, and you've got
Ramon Perez Francisco Villa-Nueva!

In building my swashbuckling Huckster, Ramon Perez Francisco Villa-Nueva, I was absolutely ready to roll the bones, even with Will warning us about his "new and improved" chart of doom...which ended up with Ramon having only one arm!  While this didn't change my character concept too much--one part Zorro, one part Highlander, and one part Inigo Montoya--it's definitely made Ramon's adventures a little more interesting, and difficult.  I've had to be exceptionally careful in monitoring what weapon is in my hands at any given time, as switching between Ramon's whip and his relic saber--the Cutlass of Estevanico--is a little harder than I'd like!

The PlatinumChick, similarly, decided to take Veteran..., but ended up with an entirely different set of problems!  Her steam-augmented "scrapper", Ruby 'Thunderbird' Spencer ended up with an infamous doppelganger, which provided some confusion for the rest of the party, while the PlatinumChick and I were out of town.

So, where does this leave us now?  Well, with my Friday night group about to start making their way across the Sierra Nevadas, in preparation for The Flood, it just so happens that Chris II decided to take Veteran of the Weird West for his hexslinger, Angus Cole.  I'd warned him that I was using Will the ManMan's special chart, but that extra experience was simply too tempting for him.  Twenty free experience points?  Who wouldn't be tempted?!

But, the devil's in the details...and I found a great irony in cards I pulled for Angus's "unforseeen circumstances".  One Black Ace, and one Red Eight. 

Now THERE'S a
Veteran of the Weird West!

While I'm not at liberty to tell exactly what those cards actually do yet--though, never fear!  I'll divulge the dirty details after Chris II's hexslinger finds out the hard way!--I've got to say, the results are pretty fitting...We'll just see how accurate the "Dead Man's Hand" really is!

It all goes to show that a little reward is all it takes to turn a normal player into another conflict-loving Instigator like me.  There's always a price to be paid, as Will the ManMan said in his own assessment of the situation, but when that price leads to some great moments of role-playing...that's a big win, right there!

In Which The Warlock Reveals the Fruits of His (and other's) Labor!

So, as I mentioned a few months ago, I'd been picked up by Cubicle 7 to work on an upcoming book for The Laundry--C7's rpg based on the novels and short stories of Charles Stross, which is something of a mash-up of traditional Call of Cthulhu, James Bond-style espionage, with just a touch of The Office for good measure.  I've been holding off on talking about my work there, because I wasn't sure when (or if!) the product would actually hit shelves. 

But then, one of my co-conspirators on the project revealed this:  newly installed at the Cubicle 7 store for pre-order!

The Laundry RPG--The Mythos Dossiers
the PlatinumWarlock's first-ever real RPG writing gig!

As I'd mentioned earlier, I was alerted to an open call for writers by C7 through Dread Pirate Tim, who dropped me a link on Facebook.  The 'audition' material was to write an in-character document, describing one of the "Great Race of Yith"--the conical beings from H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow out of Time.  A few days after submitting, I received word from Gareth--the project lead and staffer from C7--that I was on board.

The Mythos Dossiers is a really unique sort of book.  While one could call it the "Monster Manual" of the Laundry-verse, it's...not quite that simple.  Rather, all of the material in TMD is written up as a series of files sent to the head of the Laundry organization, compiled by various field agents.  As such, instead of just a series of stats or a generic description, the files include first-person sightings, autopsy reports, interviews, scientific reports and more.

Each of the authors--there were about 8 of us, all told!--were in charge of a specific monster (called Primaries), and would submit secondary documents for others' primaries.  Yours truly was made Primary for a classic Lovecraftian monster--the burrowing Cthonian!  I also submitted secondaries on serpent-people, ghouls, and shoggoths.  But, I managed to finish out my personal work early, and was even afforded the chance to work in an additional Primary:  Flying Polyps!

While I can't divulge too much about the book itself, outside of what I already have, it'll definitely be exciting to see it hit print!  Some of the ideas that made it in really take some of the Lovecraftian classics and turn them on their head.  I'm especially proud of the Flying Polyps...the mad scientist Dr. Juurian Groeningen will make for a fantastic NPC adversary for an entire campaign of his own!

Have a nice weekend, cats and kittens!  :D

In Which The Warlock Posts Some Random Thoughts in Bullet Point Form...

With all of the writing I've been doing (and the live-blogging from Origins!), I've been kind of remiss in some of my geekly duties.  But, since the PlatinumChick and I are headed out for my old stomping grounds for a few days, I figure that now is a pretty good time to catch up on some of those summertime thoughts that I haven't exactly gotten around to writing about yet!

• Green Lantern.  Boy, this one was a train wreck, wasn't it?  After such hype and so much cash spent on CGI effects, this movie really just fell apart due to poor writing and direction, an uninspired performance by lead Ryan Reynolds, and massive plot holes.  One of my non-gamer friends out here is a massive GL fanboy, and I've spent quite a bit of time trying to show him exactly why this movie failed so miserably, but he...disagrees.  *shakes head*  I keep hearing that the producers are trying to get a sequel green-lit, but I doubt that will ever happen.  This might have been DC's best shot to start a Marvel-esque "shared film universe" but that's gone out the window...
• Thor.  Whooo...how did I miss this one earlier?  While it's not quite as good as Iron Man, Kenneth Branagh brought a great amount of gravitas and depth to a movie that many--yours truly included--were worried about.  I mean, really, how do you make a hammer-wielding god-alien fit in with the super-science of Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Steve Rogers?  Somehow, Branagh made it believable, with SHIELD playing a significant role, complete with a cameo from a certain bow-wielding solo agent...
• Captain America.  Speaking of Steve, I'm really jazzed about this one.  The latest trailers have shown something that I suspected since the beginning--that the "icebound" reveal will actually take place during the film itself, and not during the traditional post-credits Marvel Skeletor.  I'm not as worried about this one as I was Thor, primarily because of the grounding that Cap has in super-science and Marvel lore.  It's a lot easier to tie Cap to Iron Man and the Hulk than it is to Thor, for aforementioned space-god reasons.  Plus, Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull?  Inspired casting...
• The DC Reboot!  Ugh.  The PlatinumChick was being pissed when she heard about this travesty.  For those of you non-comics fans, DC Comics made an overarching decision to restart many of their comics, complete with an art overhaul that eliminates some classic costumes and changes to major characters (like Barbara Gordon, in particular) that destroy some classic character development.  While I fall on the Marvel side of the fence in this, I can see exactly what the PlatinumChick is mad about--ignoring or trying to wipe away some of the greatest stories in comics, when that's what draws people in, is folly.  Plus, it means that somewhere in Britain, Alan Moore will be putting on his face-fucking boots...
• Other Comics!  Matt Fraction, while writing fantastically on "Invincible Iron Man" has really frustrated me with Bucky-Cap (Spoilers!).  At least the new Deadlands comic line appears to be selling well, and was really entertaining.  Hopefully the creators will be able to keep it up.  Plus,  Ghost Rider is finally back!  The last series, while trading hands several times, managed to maintain a neat feel that alternated between Biblical apocalypse and grindhouse movie, which was a blast to read.  It still doesn't hold a candle to Garth Ennis' run...
• More Movies!  Okay, so Pirates of the Caribbean 4 was kind of a disappointment.  While amusing, it felt like most of the characters were just going through the motions.  Frustrating, considering the source material they used was an actual novel this time, but with Gore Verbinski jumping ship (teehee...ship!), what could we really expect?  Next up on our slate is Cowboys vs. Aliens, which has been hyped up beyond belief.  I'm hoping that Jon Favreau does us right on this one...he hasn't steered us wrong before. 

I think that's about all for now.  Stay posted for some updates on our now two weekly Deadlands games this Saturday!  Cheers!

In Which The Warlock Ponders Parallelism...

It's no secret that I'm a writer.  I'm up to nearly 300 entries on this blog, to say nothing of my writing and editing within the gaming world.  But, even beyond that...I'm an English teacher full-time, with a full Bachelors' degree in English Literature.  What you may not know is that I got my start at revision while in undergraduate at Wittenberg.  As a member of the Wittenberg Writing Center, I worked part-time assisting other undergrads with their academic papers and the like.

As such, I had to be on top of my game.  One of the biggest offenses in most of their writing was something referred to as parallelism. 

Parallelism in math...
Parallelism in writing...

Any kid who's taken algebra or geometry should know what parallel lines are--two lines that continue on indefinitely through a two-dimensional plane, in such a way that they will never cross.  Parallelism in writing is similar, yet not quite so finite.

Under usual circumstances, parallelism comes on the individual sentence level.  To use the example from the Purdue Online Writing Lab,--one of the more pre-eminent writing centers in academia: 

Incorrect:
My degree, my work experience, and ability to complete complicated projects qualify me for the job.
Correct:
My degree, my work experience, and my ability to complete complicated projects qualify me for the job.

The 'correct' example uses the same structure throughout the sentence, which is more correct from a grammatical standpoint and is more appealing when read aloud.

Now, what does this have to do with gaming, you may ask?  Well, you see, while most RPG manuals are fairly well-edited, parallelism doesn't just stop at the sentence level.  Rather, it can (and should!) be continued on a paragraph and even on a piece-length scale.

But what about parallelism within actual game structure? 

4e D&D was unique for its verisimilitude between classes.  While each individual class received its own class abilities at level 1--Fighters got a Weapon Talent and Combat Challenge, Warlocks got Shadow Walk and Warlock's Curse--every class worked in the same manner:  2 At-Wills, Encounters on levels that ended with 3 and 7, Dailies on levels that ended on 5 or 9. 

Many gamers critized for 4e for this maneuver, saying that classes were "too similar", but from a written standpoint, the design was flawless.  But, it made me wonder whether parallelism in design could provide a driving force behind a game mechanic....which explains some of the reasoning behind my work on Cold Steel Wardens. 

Part of the "MAFIANAP" mechanic--the fundamental system that I'm writing to drive CSW is built on parallelism--players have 8 Vitals, four of which govern Mental faculties and four of which govern Physical ability.  The 25 skills are arranged into five groups of five--Physical, Investigative, Social, Knowledge, and Technical. 

But, what I'd like to consider the most crucial bit of parallelism to CSW is the "Strain" system.  Every hero can take a specific abount of Strain, before bad things begin happening to them.  This occurs in both the Physical realm (through fights, wounds, and physical exertioin), but also in the Mental realm (through stress, fear, and mental trauma). 

Don't reach your Breaking Point,
or you'll be taking a MAFIANAP!

In either case, every CSW Hero has a "Breaking Point" on each Strain track.  The Breaking Point represents a threshold, at which the Hero's resilience has finally broken down.  At the Physical Breaking Point, the Strain no longer represents"bumps and bruises", but rather broken bones, shattered ribs, and grievous bodily harm.  At the Mental Breaking Point, the Strain no longer represents everyday stress that can be wiped away with a good night's sleep, but rather damage to the Hero's psyche, resulting in psychoses or other mental disorders.

If CSW comes out as planned, the game should be streamlined and easy for newbies to understand, with mechanics that fade into the background during investigation and social encounters.  We'll see, though!  Next up:  Powers!

In Which The Warlock Muses on a New Project...Again...

One of the biggest residual benefits that I tend to pull from Origins is the "post-convention inspiration".  I find that, after our trips to major gaming conventions, I come back with a brain-ful of inspiration, ready to start writing.

This year, I was determined to channel that inspiration into my already-existing projects, and hopefully finish out either SunnyVale Acres or Dungeon Slam!, and possibly even get a playtestable version of Lumberjack Wars up and running.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still working on those, but they've taken a bit of a back burner to a new project...

Fantastic Four #1:
In the heart of the Silver Age

Running ICONS at Origins (and talking with Gareth-Michael Skarka, one of the creators!), I was really high on the ability for a simple game-system to emulate the Silver Age of Comics.  While light on the rules--really, one of the draws for me--the biggest benefit of ICONS is the way in which it fosters the "over the top" actions as a default.  Heroes are encouraged to take risks, try new power combinations, and lay the one-liners on thick and heavy, as they take down alliteratively named villains.

Many superheroes systems have done their best to provide a "generic" view of comics.  Mutants and Masterminds, particularly, does its best to appeal to all the eras of comics, providing a "kitchen sink" approach to design--from street-level to cosmic, you can potentially build any Hero in such a system...the system isn't particularly geared for any particular type of gaming.  They suffer from "d20 syndrome" in the fact that the system mechanics aren't geared towards supporting the setting.  As such, the mechanics become bland and the onus of telling the story resides only with the players and Game-Master, not the game as well.

But, then it struck me. While the Silver Age of Comics has its representation...what about the pinnacle of comics storytelling: the Iron Age?

Rorschach, a seminal
Iron Age anti-hero...

Not familiar with the Iron Age of Comics?  Yes, you are.  You just might not know it yet.  Seen Watchmen?  Alan Moore's magnum opus was the seminal work of the Iron Age.  Enjoyed The Dark Knight?  Yeah, based thematically on Iron Age comics series The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, and The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb.  Don't get me started on the lordly might of comics legend Denny O'Neil, and his character-defining runs on Iron Man, Green Arrow, and The Question. 

As such, I set a new goal for myself:  write a game based in the Iron Age--my favorite era of comics, and what may well be the greatest era of comics as a storytelling medium.  The Iron Age took superheroes away from dealing with fantastical threats, towards a more grounded, realistic series of conflicts.  Not satisfied with "villains of the week", Iron Age writers and artists sought to bring depth, experience, and poignancy to a medium often relegated to children.  And no role-playing game has dared to try to bring those stories to the forefront, despite the fact that they are perennial favorites of both comics-fans and laymen alike.

That leaves me where I am now:  about 20,000 words into what I'm calling Cold Steel Wardens:  Adventures in the Iron Age of Comics.  Working a typical "work-week"....oh, who am I kidding....working from about 7pm till about 4 am, I manage about 2,500 words a day, with occasional spikes into much higher word counts.  Hell, the first day I sat down to write, I pumped out about 9,000 words alone!  Plus, I've been able to maintain a feel suitable to the Iron Age--martial arts combat styles, a focus on investigation and human foes, and a visceral damage mechanic...I think I'm onto something here!

With a bit of luck and continued work, I should have a completed rules-set by the end of August, with a completed manuscript, ready for editing, by the end of the year!  I'll keep you posted, friends and neighbors!  There's more to come!

The Warlock's Origins 2011 (No Longer) Live Blog!--Post-Convention Wrap-Up!

Okay, I was remiss in my swag report!  As I was unpacking my backpack and other gaming materials, trying to get the game-room back in order, I stumbled upon the my bargain of the convention!  And, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't tell you about:

Innsmouth Escape!  While roaming through the Dealer Hall with the PlatinumChick on Sunday, we stumbled across the Twilight Creations booth, tucked away in the back right corner of the Hall.  I only really noticed them because they had copies of Dante's Inferno, a game that I picked up at Half Price Books (and still haven't played), and I hadn't seen it anywhere else.  Walking over, I was astounded to see that quite a few of their games--including Innsmouth Escape--were on clearance!  $5 a pop!

Hell's bells, what a deal!  Adventure Retail, who runs the Steve Jackson Games booth, was retailing Innsmouth Escape for $40!  I'll gladly take the game for 1/8th of retail price!  The minis alone are worth it:  Innsmouth Escape comes with 100 Deep One miniatures, in addition to everything else in the game...$5 for 100 minis!  Yes, let's!

A few other thoughts on this year's show, though:

• Running 6 rpg slots is tiring!  I realize that many other gamers ran and volunteered much more time than I did, but wow...six sessions of RPGs are quite a bit.  By the end of the convention, I was dragging!  Sunday afternoon, while waiting for ChaoticKarl to finish up his last Star Wars game--which ran an hour and a half over--I nearly passed out sitting up in the conference room!  While I enjoyed showing off my games and running for some really great gamers, I don't think I'll run this much again any time soon.
• Evaluation of the schedule is needed.  So, when L-Train put in the schedule for our games, the original intention was for the vast majority of our games to go off at 7pm, so that our games would all be in the same location.  However, we ended up scattered throughout the RPGs hallway, which made set-up and tear-down difficult.  Looking at the schedule from our good friends at Rogue Cthulhu, we may want to go with something more staggered, to ensure that we have a room to ourselves.  If we can manage 5 gamers in a slot, we'd have more than enough to ensure that we'd never have to tear down the banners, and could have a Witt-Guild "headquarters" all convention long.
• Gamers' generosity is really high.  I was personally astounded at the generosity of the numerous gamers who donated for the Hutchinson boys, as they prepare for the upcoming bone marrow transplant.  I'll be sending off two boxes of donations from both companies and individual gamers here in the next few weeks.  Spectacular!
• Attendance is up?  Where is everyone?  I'll readily admit that I wasn't around the main halls of the convention center for most of Origins, but while I was out, the halls felt particularly sparse.  Even on Friday and Saturday--the most crowded days of Origins--things felt empty.  However, the overall attendance (according to GAMA) was nearly 1,000 people over last year's!  I'm all right with--more people is good--but it seems a little odd that the convention seemed so sparse, even with more people.
• What to do next year?  I know already that I will not be attending Origins for the full-show next year.  I can't.  Plain and simple--can't do it.  Because of the impending date change, I'll be in my last week of work which, as a teacher, is finals week.  There's no way I could call off whatsoever.  As such, I'm not running games last year, which is a real shame, as my review cards were all overwhelmingly positive and I had several repeat players from prior years.  As of now, I'm probably going to get a full badge anyway--we get half-price badges through the Witt-Guild--then attend Friday night through Sunday.  We'll see, I suppose.
• The Date Change Looms...  The date change isn't just going to affect me.  Dayton Public and Cincinnati City Schools both are in finals week during Origins next year, as are most of their surrounding districts.  The Ohio State University and Columbus Public Schools will be in session until mid-June.  Looney Labs--one of the biggest event draws at Origins--has officially announced their inability to come next year, as the two heads of the group are both teachers.  It's been pretty well documented that public reaction to this date change has either been neutral ("Doesn't matter--I'll go to Origins whenever it is.") or extremely negative ("I cannot go now.  Thanks, guys...).  GAMA has gotten the message from our petition, though, and has set up a poll on their site regarding the date change:

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote to keep Origins' dates in late-June! 

Origins Future Dates Poll--GAMA Sponsored Poll!

The Warlock's Origins 2011 (No Longer) Live Blog!--Swag Report!

All righty!  Now we're back in action...back to the normal routine.  While Origins is always a blast, it's the sort of vacation that I have to recover from! 

But, that doesn't stop us at all.  Rather, it just keeps us coming back for more.  And, what's one of the best parts about a giant gamer convention complete with giant Dealer Hall?  The swag, that's what!  Let's take a look at this year's haul:

The PlatinumWarlock's swag from the 2011 Origins Game Fair!

• Deadlands: Hell on Earth--Wasted West Companion and Monsters, Muties and Misfits:  I've been pretty zealous about my fanboy-ism for Deadlands recently, in all its incarnations.  But, I'd been unable to find any copies of these in any of my friendly local game shops.  I even thought I was out of luck at Origins, until L-train and Will the ManMan pointed out that the Pinnacle Entertainment/Studio 2 booth had them!  Even better--I got my copies signed by Shane Lacy Hensley, head honcho behind Deadlands and Savage Worlds!
• Deadlands: The 1880 Smith & Robards Catalog:  Yeah, even more Deadlands.  Not only does it have all sorts of mechanical doo-dads that would make any Mad Scientist drool, it includes additional rules for Weird Science and how to build Scrappers--steampunk warriors, replete with ghost-rock powered cybernetics! 
• Savage Worlds Customizable GM Screen:  Truth be told, I already own a customizable GM screen.  You can even see it in some of my pictures from Origins, as I used it to show off the Guild Shield, as well as signs for my game..  It's a fantastic device, as it lets me fill in whatever inserts I need, and change them out for various systems.  My only caveat for my current GM screen was its height--it had 4 panels, all in portrait style, which made it difficult to look over.  While that's good for Call of Cthulhu and other horror games, a more cinematic game demands a more accessable screen!  I'm not getting rid of my old one, though--the PlatinumChick is getting that one!
• ICONS--The Villainomicon:  Okay, so totally geeked out with Gareth-Michael Skarka at the Cubicle 7 booth, talking about various ICONS games and the like.  I couldn't turn this one down.  More bad guys is always good, and the ones made for ICONS are always stylish, iconic, and interesting.  This was money well spent...and, besides, GMS signed my ICONS book!
• Reaper Minis--Mouslings:  The PlatinumChick is obsessed with these.  I got her a box of them for Christmas last year, and she's been hooked since then.  She's all about the cute little Mousling warriors--I'm kind of shocked she hasn't been playing MouseGuard, all told!  She managed to pick up some of the rarer Mouslings, only being offered at this year's convention season.  Excitement for her!
• Cyborg Commando and SpellJammer:  I picked up these from ChaoticKarl, as part of our yearly birthday exchange.  A professor at his university was selling off some of his older gaming materials, which he had ChaoticKarl put up at the Origins Auction.  But, I couldn't let these ones slip past--they're both spectacular!  I haven't gotten around to reading through them yet, but...well, I haven't read most of the stuff that I've bought yet!
• WEGS Ultimate Dungeon Party Deck:  Oh, yeah!  That product I worked on!  Yes, sirree, El Willy's UDP came out with a bang, to full demos all convention long.  It's a great little deck, full of neat tricks and skills for the advanced WEGS player.  I'm looking forward to throwing these down on our home table sometime really soon!

All righty, gang.  Almost done with Origins stuff for a while.  This Saturday, I'll toss in my post-convention thoughts, and even fill you in on my latest project....I've been busy already, friends and neighbors!

The PlatinumWarlock's Origins 2011 Live Blog--Sunday!

Exhaustion really does catch up with you, after a while.  After day after day of hot gaming action, and night after night of no sleep, I was set to drive ChaoticKarl to the airport at 4:30 this morning for his 6am flight.  Unfortunately, I passed out and he forgot to set his alarm, which meant that at 5:20, we were desperately rushing towards Dayton International, trying to get him on to the flight on time!  We made it, luckily, but it just goes to show what happens when you're running on empty!

The PlatinumChick and Rogue Rod
conspire in "Severed Seas"

Sunday was the one true day of Origins where I had no real responsibilities.  The PlatinumChick and I had one game--a Rogue Cthulhu game called "Severed Seas".  The big plus on this one was that we got to play with two of our favorite Rogues, Justine and Rod; we've never managed to get all four of us into one game before, so this was a real treat!  Playing high-society Brits (or, in my case, a Russian engineer), we were set to investigate the mysterious crash of the Russian ship Antonov.  And, as is the case with all good Cthulhu adventures, horrible things ensue...

While I loved the role-play between characters--though, admittedly, there were probably 2 more seats at the table than really necessary or comfortable--this was maybe the first Rogue game I wasn't particularly enamored of.  For the first half of the adventure, tension was high as we began exploring the Antonov and the atoll it had crashed on.  Something big had created a huge hole in the hull, and not a single crewmember was to be found.  However, as we made our way through the adventure, the GM unwittingly took the horror right out of his own adventure.  When a hideous beastie made an appearance, the initial reaction was fear...until he let it slip that they were simple Deep Ones.  At that point, the guns came out and bullets flew...and the horror went down the drain.  And, for the record, why did everyone have a gun?  Surely the physicist and the archaelogist shouldn't randomly be carrying a revolver and a double-barreled shotgun, respectively!

BoardGameKaren and L-Train in
front of the dealer hall...

After the game, the PlatinumChick and I made our way through the dealer hall one last time, to make some final purchases and to day goodbye to the mighty WEGSHogz.  On the plus side, I actually got to introduce the PlatinumChick to Angus Abranson, one of the head honchos at Cubicle 7.  We had spent quite a bit of time talking earlier about the plans for The Laundry RPG and the demo games at GenCon 2011, but I figured that if I'm going to be writing/running games for them for any extended amount of time, it's a great time to meet and greet! 

As I mentioned earlier, I'll post a little more about what I picked up from C7 and the other booths during my Wednesday entry: my swag report and post-con wrap-up.  Till then, I'm going to just relax!  It's sleepy-time, fellow gamers!

In the meantime, enjoy my pictures from Saturday and Sunday at my my Origins Facebook album!

The Warlock's Origins 2011 Live Blog--Saturday!

These 4 hour nights of sleep are killing me some and my calves are on fire but, all told, I'm still having a blast, here at Origins!

Today was kind of a unique day in the fact that I finally got to play some WEGS, throwing down at the Ultimate Dungeon Party with Willy the 2 and his minions.  Rare is the time where I actually get to sit down and play WEGS, as I'm often running demo games and the like at the Dayton area conventions.  Having a chance to sit on the other side of the minions for once--and to try out the new Arks that I've editing over and over--was a massive draw!  Plus, having the lovely PlatinumChick and ChaoticKarl along for the ride didn't hurt either!

With an abysmal series of stats, I ended up statting up a Dungeoneer:  a grizzled old Warrior ark, who had picked up a few Trickster skills along the way...and a starting 17 in Insanity!  The game itself went fairly well, with my Dungeoneer slashing his way through some trolls...only to go grab a drink from his Brew Cask, and find it empty!  "Oh noes!" said my gruff warrior, "Mah booze!"  Hilarity ensues, of course...

You know what's funnier, though.  "Hew" and "Jab", two of the Dungeoneer's skills, have become something of a joke between us WEGSHogz.  After going through El Willy's drafts 6 times, the two skills had never ended up the same way twice, with tiny changes being made each time:  a Spoint Fee here, a Skill-Free-Inning there, Cold Rolls or Prowess % attacks...it was a mess!  I told El Willy point-blank that, the next time he runs a game for me, I'm bringing a Dungoneer with nothing but "Hew" and "Jab", in all its various incarnations!

My actual GMing, though, didn't quite go to expectations today...not that that's a bad thing, mind you.  Everyone had fun, and I had some rave reviews for both games.  But, wow...totally different directions than I'd expected.

Today brought the second round of ICONS: "The Near-Orbit Mass-Driver Blues", but with a pretty massive change.  Early in the game, the PCs were asked to essentially choose between one of three NPCs to join them--Aftershock, a retired hero; Caldera, a wet-behind-the-ears newbie hero; and Lodestone, a villain incarcerated in Gramercy Island Superhuman Penitentiary.  Of course, who do they go for?  The villain!  And stealth to sneak off with an experimental spacecraft?  Absolutely not!  Why stealth when you can rip apart the off-the-books skunkworks with a magnetism controlling supervillain on your side!

Really, the game went spectacularly, but just not in the direction I intended.  The role-playing at the table was spectacular, even with only 3 players (I could have sworn I had more people pre-registered earlier!).  The repartee--and horrible puns--flew like Determination points.  One thing I would have liked to see was a little more Power Stunting, but I think I was spoiled by the prior group for that mechanic.  They're a hard act to follow!

Just the same, my final game of the night, "WEGSthulhu" brought a fantastic change of pace--not only did I get to GM with some of my favorite Rogues, Justine and Rod, but I had a full-table of newbie WEGSHogz ready to hear some Cold Roll Gospel. 

"WEGSthulhu" is a unique scenario.  At the start of the game, each character is given a face down playing card to determine what their "alignment" is.  A red card makes for a true Hero, while a black card means that the character is a degenerate Cultist in disguise.  Anyone with a Face card, meanwhile, is undecided and could pick either side whenever they reveal themselves.

Usually, players play their cards "close to the chest"--they fear exposure, whether Cultist or Hero.  This time, though?  Nooooo!  The cultists betrayed High Skolar Armitage and his crew as soon as they got back to Miskytoonic Academy, resulting in a huge brawl in the Special Collections between Cultists, Heroes and the Hounds of Tindalos!  Again, a fantastic ending, but not at all what I'm expecting.  But, that's the fun of it all...

I did manage to get some time in the Dealer Hall today with Will the ManMan, but I'll cover my purchases in my yearly Swag Report!  Suffice to say, there's a lot to be had, with some special "additions"!  Stay posted for that, my photos from Saturday and Sunday, and for my final live-blog report this coming week! 

The Warlock's Origins 2011 Live Blog--Friday!

Okay, so remember how I mentioned being exhausted yesterday?  Yeah, after an 18+ hour day of hardcore gaming, I am wiped out!!!  But, it's all worth it when you're really enjoying what you do.  Today was one of those days.

ChaoticKarl and I started the day off at an RPGA game:  "Secrets and Shadows".  After last year's mess and massacre, I was truly skeptical about going through another game.  I even went so far as to make the PlatinumChick and the Enigmatic Mr. Ebbs serve as witnesses that, should this game not go well, I would forswear the RPGA for good.

Karl and our RPGA GM share a laugh...

But, you know what?  I really had a good time today.  The scenario structure was particularly well-designed, and had significant variants that depended on various ongoing campaign rewards.  Further, the GM was flexible and well-versed in keeping players interested.  The game ran spectacularly, with tons of opportunity to actually role-play and interact with both NPCs and the other party members.  Further, the other gamers at the table were both interesting and engaged with the plot.  Truly, this game reaffirmed my faith that the RPGA isn't a lost cause of gaming.  Just like anywhere else, sometimes you get poor games and poor scenarios, and other times  you get gold.  This time, we got some real gold.

Making their way through the Wasted West....

Afterwards, I had to rush to get prepped for my first of two games: another session of "Westward on the San Juan Express."  This time around, though, I got a unique opportunity--I got to throw down with some actual, honest-to-god Deadlands players!  All of the little homages that I put into the scenario--the little references and details--made for a spectacular game.  Honestly:  more gold.  The game ran spectacularly, with the players taking a totally different route through the game than I had expected, and poor Sam Clemens almost getting taken out by one of the NPCs!  Plus, my old buddy Nigel Worthington-Smythe's dirty secret came out...I won't spoil it here, but it's a doozy!

The whole gang, at Buca di Beppo!

Today was another big dinner for us, this time at Buca di Beppo.  While most of our meals are all individual, this one is all about the family-style dining.  With four massive entrees, and three appetizers, we ended up with even more than our 10-strong gamer flock could manage!  Not that that's a problem...the Drury has a mini-fridge, which means that our leftovers won't go to waste!  In amongst all of the chaos of tomorrow, I'll actually be able to grab some lunch!

Minnesota Steve moves into position!

We needed to rush just a touch, but we managed to make it just in time for our games at 7pm, and my Origins debut of "WEGS+Cthulhu = WEGSthulhu!"  And, really, this scenario really blew me away.  while WEGS is a little on the light side in the way of role playing, this game really managed to take the cake.  One of my 4 new WEGSHogz, working their way through Miskytoonic Academy with Minnesota-Steve (a veteran WEGSHog!), ended up negotiating with High Scholar Armitage, to try to get a better deal for her church!  Fantastic!  Unfortunately for that player, the final encounter ended in a massive tragedy as both she came out of Ethereality right in the middle of Randolph Carter, causing both of them to fuse together into a Sanity-warping beastie!  Cthulhu emerged, and the few cultist players pulled out a triumph--Ia! Ia!

Today's been a lot of win, but finally, I managed the biggest win:  El Willy and his crew, and our WittKids have been trying to manage to wrangle a time to raise a glass together at the Big Bar on 2, in the Hyatt.  We've only managed it once, in 4 prior years, and we'd been trying unsuccessfully since Wednesday.  Tonight, we finally managed it--hence the late hour of this post!  And, you know what?  Just being able to sit around with some good friends, particularly ones so distant for most of the year, makes it all worthwhile.

Tomorrow brings some more WEGSing for us, as I'm jumping in on Willy the 2's "Ultimate Dungeon Party" demo game, then back to the GM screen for me, with a session of ICONS and another "WEGSthulhu!"  It's going to be a blast, and I'll keep you updated on all the carnage as it goes down!

To take a look at my pics from both Thursday and Friday, take a look at the Facebook album!

The Warlock's Origins 2011 Live Blog--Thursday!

Whew.  Just phew.  It's only Thursday--the first "real" day of Origins--and I'm already bushed. 

I didn't get much sleep last night, waking up due to a pop-up thunderstorm at 5:30 am, so I've been running on caffeine and pure adrenaline since then.  But, that won't stop me from posting for you, oh faithful readers, before I go crash.

After putting together my last few bits and bobs for today's game, Karl and I snagged some breakfast before finding even more of our errant WittKrew:  BoardGameKaren (and her boyfriend, Jocelyn), and the Inevitable BLoff.  Between the PlatinumChick, ChaoticKarl and I, we managed to get them situated before departing for our first games.  For me, that was "Steampunk Beatdown" from the North Coast Gamers.  And beatdown it truly was.

L-Train and EEE have had some experience with the North Coast Gamers, who specialize in homebrewed minis games.  In "Steampunk Beatdown", the players were cast as a team of tinker and assistant, scavenging parts from the various locales in a Victorian villa, then create automata and weaponry to blow the ever-loving-hell out of the competition.

At least, that was the idea.  Rather, I got my tin-plated keister handed to me from the get-go, as my assistant was wiped from the board by the third turn.  Further, my scavenging rolls were all but non-existent, often only pulling 1 or 2 parts from a location, while others picked up 7 to 9.  By the end game, I managed to muster my tools and put together some armor and weaponry...just in time to get smashed by another player.  Wow.  Heinous. 

The game itself was a lot of fun, and the enthusiasm of the GM really shone through, but this game was an exercise in frustration for me for one reason:  simple player courtesy.  The player to my left got up from the game for an extended period of time on no less than 6 separate occasions, bringing the game to an absolute halt.  In addition, he spent significant amounts of time on the phone, talking loudly, which made it difficult for anyone to hear the GM in the busy Minis Hall.  I suppose you can't ever get away from "that guy", who always manages to make their prescence known at an open gaming area, but still...some simple common courtesy would have made the game much more quality.

After a lunch at North Market--mmmm, pastrami!--I scurried over just in time to make it to a session of "Deadlands Reloaded: Clint's Rock", run by Pinnacle's own Chaos Steve.  A fun little intro scenario, the game was a pleasant diversion from "Steampunk Beatdown" in the fact that my dice were actually hot for once!  My "New Scientist" managed to flamethrower some mutant bears to the tune of 26 damage and 6 wounds!  Yowch! 

The afternoon also made itself busy for me as I scampered about the Dealer Hall--not to go shopping, mind you:  that comes on Friday, once I get paid!  But, rather, to take care of some correspondence I've been needing to finalize. 

One of the things I've kept somewhat quiet about is the efforts I've been putting forwards towards a gamer family, who are currently missing this year's Origins Game Fair due to some pretty intense health issues:  the eldest son requires a bone marrow transplant, and the donor is his younger brother.  The family had to cancel their badges and games, in order for the surgery to take place.  My heart immediately went out to them, and I knew I had to do something.  As such, I've spent much of my off-time this summer, organizing donations and the like from my various contacts in the gaming community.  While it's been rewarding and very positive so far from all involved--the outpouring of support for the Hutchinson family from Cubicle 7 alone was huge!--it's been a lot of work!

But, after contacting everyone I've been trying to track down, I still managed to have time to drool over the Deadlands: 1880 Smith and Robard's Catalog and a few other books, and make it to a brief seminar on game design.  While the seminar was entertaining, it wasn't particularly enlightening--the one hosted by Atlas Games a few years back was much more specific and focused.

After our annual trip to the Japanese Steak House of Columbus, I wasn't actually expecting to run game.  While I was schedule for my first session of ICONS:  "The Near Orbit Mass-Driver Blues", I had previously seen not a single soul sign up for my Thursday session!  Lo, and behold, three people signed up--including Mike, the organizer of DenCon, who recognized my name--and a fourth joined on generics. 

I've got to say:  switching this game to ICONS from Heroes Unlimited was a massive success.  The flexibility of ICONS and the sheer speed of the game allows for some great role-play opportunity, as well as fantastic avenues of creativity.  The power stunts alone at the table were spectacular!  Nano-bot dissassembler arrows, an EMP field surrounding a spaceship, Voodoo curses...fantastic stuff!

But, after nearly a full 24 hour day, I'm wiped!  ChaoticKarl and I have to be up early for our 8am RPGA game, and I'll be running games for 8 hours afterwards!  Yoi and double yoi! 

No pics tonight for you guys--I only snapped about 10-12 all day--but I'll have the full album for Thursday and Friday up tomorrow.  Till then, fellow gamers!

The Warlock's Origins 2011 Live Blog--Tuesday and Wednesday!

Ahoy, gamers!  Now that the WittKids are set up in the Drury, we have free wifi.  That means that I can actually keep you posted on all the action, as it happens!



Hausfrau Ebbs and Herr Thunderforge!

Yesterday wasn't so much gaming, but lots of geekdom indeed, as we spent the day driving up and getting settled.  However, we did manage to make it to Schmidt's Sausage Haus in Columbus' German Village.  While the "Autobahn" sausage buffet was a little overpriced, the quality was spectacular.  Our group of 8 was utterly stuffed, by the time we left.  And the cream puffs?  Oh, my...the cream puffs...

After the binge of sausage, we made our way up High Street to the theater to take in a showing of Green Lantern.  That was, to put it mildly, a pretty big mistake.  I'll post a full review of the movie after Origins ends, but suffice to say that this was no Iron Man or The Dark Knight.  Rather, this was more on the level of Daredevil, Blade, or Ghost Rider.  Pretty sad, all told, considering the $200 million budget, most of which went towards numerous overdone CGI effects. 

So you say you want some Revolution?

Today, though, began Origins proper with a classic SJGames board game: Revolution, complete with the Palace expansion.  Neither the PlatinumChick or I had played this one before, but it was somewhat reminiscent of Kingsburg, with each player attempting to bid for influence among a series of advisors, in the hopes to gain the most influence in the town.  With a little bit of luck (and a pretty crafty bait-and-switch, if I may say so!), yours truly managed to pull out a victory, by taking over the Fortress and the Town Hall, for a whopping 95 victory points.  My reward?  A copy of Spooks, an SJGames card game.  Woot!

"Sim, Sim, Sala-Bim!"

After a leisurely lunch down at North Market, the PlatinumChick and I set out for our first actual RPG of the con:  "Jonny Quest and the Secrets of Hanebau".  While neither of us were familiar with the Ubiquity system, it was particularly easy to catch onto, and our GM made the game exciting and true to the cartoon.  Playing Dr. Benton Quest, I must say--I took entirely too much pleasure in working some "SCIENCE!" into the game.  In the end, we escaped from Antarctica with the intact corpse of an alien creature--proof that alien life exists in the universe! 

"...Hanebau" was run by the one of the guys from Matinee Adventures and, after a few games with them over the years, they're swiftly rising in my eyes, in terms of quality.  While it's hard to top the games that Amorphous Blob or Rogue Cthulhu put forward, these guys give them a run for their money!

Nigel, the Professor and Ricky discuss
their options in "Westward..."

After a quick dinner with the PlatinumChick and ChaoticKarl, we made our way off to our first Witt-run games of the convention:  sessions of "Westward...", "Orcs Gone Wild" and "Lawfully Blonde", in addition to our other offerings.  I had made some changes to "Westward..." particularly in the addition of a new player in the chaotic travels of the San Juan Express.  Unfortunately, my new minion didn't last too long, as Ricky "One Armed Bandit" Parker flung him from the speeding train as it made its way towards Dodge City!  Still, the scenario went particularly well, with most of the players really getting into the feel of the characters.  The fellow playing Nigel, especially, was hilarious.

We still have some refining to do, regarding our convention procedure.  Setting up our banner took far too long, and we didn't manage to get our feedback sheets to every game.  Also, our dice didn't arrive on time, which means that while we were able to give out our bookmarks and Bell, Book and Comic pens, our engraved dice are somewhere in limbo.  Even still, we're managing!  Things are going well, and the feedback we're getting is really positive!

While we had intended to go grab a drink with El Willy after the games ended, plans once more fell through.  I'm almost getting used to that one--we never manage to raise that glass! 

Never fear, though, cats and kittens!  There's more gaming to be had...and maybe, just maybe, yours truly will be able to relax with his WEGS-ing boss-man!  For more pics, check out the pics on my Facebook album!

In Which The Warlock Preps for the Big O...

With Origins 2011 just around the corner, I'm taking this weekend off to get prepped for the occasion!

Next week, stay tuned for my nightly live-blogging...which will actually be live this time, as we'll have free wifi in the Drury!

Enjoy your weekend, and I'll keep you posted on all the hot gaming action as it comes!  See you there!

In Which The Warlock Takes Issue with the Old School...

I've often stated that I tend to straddle the fence between the feel and conventions of old-school gaming and the streamlined, unique mechanics of more modern games.  I tend to find bits and pieces of various games that I like, then toss them into other systems if I need a mechanic to fit a unique situation.  Players around my table often end up tossing WEGSified Cold Rolls and INI rolls in the midst of my D&D games, and I use Savage Worlds style initiative when playing ICONS. 

I don't have much real affinity for the mechanics of the original versions of D&D, and have been a fan of the mechanical innovations that both 3e and 4e have brought to the table.  With a healthy dose of skepticism, I've felt that much of the "Old School Revolution" is a matter of nostalgia--it's an attempt by gamers to recapture some misperceived "glory days" of gaming, when in all actuality, they're wanting simply that feeling of novelty that comes with the first time fighting a dragon, the first time crawling through a dungeon, the first time they pick up a Sword of Sharpness.

Mythmere Press's
"Swords and Wizardry"

So, up late last night and poking around online, I stumbled across an essay that frustrated me greatly.  Two years ago, Matthew Finch of Mythmere Games put forward The Quick Primer for Old School Gaming as a "newbie primer" for old school games.  And, I've gotta say...most of what he's putting forward is biased in a manner that's damaging to all games, reflecting an aura of nostalgia that's cancerous to the idea of an 'evolving' game.

Finch attempts to put forward a veneer of civility, by putting forward a disclaimer before his 4 Zen Moments, stating that the examples he intends to use are hyperbole.  But, the fundamental ideas being put forward are still unchecked swings with no focus.


Let's take his first example:  a Pit Trap, shown in a monotonous "modern style", and then a zesty, descriptive "old style".  The peril here is that of a logical fallacy:  either you narrate your way through the trap entirely (the "good" result) or you let it come down to a series of die rolls (the "bad" way).  No middle ground is mentioned or described.  A good GM or player can describe a unique trap disarmament in 4e, just as easily as a poor GM can let that same trap become an uninteresting series of die rolls in 1e.

Holy logical fallacy, Batman!

Further, the insinuation is misleading--more modern incarnations of D&D  and other games have included the same fundamental determination charts, but the mechanics of that determination are the elements currently evolving.  Earlier editions didn't change because there was or was not a trap-disarming chart; rather, they just changed the mechanics of doing so.  Instead of consulting Sub-Table 43d (which wasn't fun for anyone), Trapfinding was streamlined to a "Thievery" check.  That doesn't preclude or eliminate narration; it simply puts a different structure to it.

Finch continues, extolling the virtue of player skill over character abilities.  He decries skills such as Bluff and Spot as cop-outs, provided in-lieu of asking questions and providing a narrative between GM and Player.  That's a wonderful ideal, but it's just that...an ideal.  If you locked me in a dungeon room and told me that there was a secret door somewhere, I'm sure I could spend hours on end looking for it and never find it.  However, when that room is only being described to me, we're already in the realm of abstraction.  Expecting a player to search through rooms like that, time after time, not only borders on un-fun, but teeters towards GM-narcissism and unnecessary bookkeeping.  We end up sacrificing story and action for a focus on minutiae, when a balance of description and abstraction would serve better.

If what matters is the story, why are we putting additional obstacles towards telling it?

Finch further encourages the GM to throw balance out the window, and focus on the heroes as humanized figures.  Again, I find fault with this:  the fundamental idea behind a storytelling game is just that:  tell a story and be fun.  As I've ranted about earlier, sitting behind the fighter while you're out of spells is un-fun.  Playing the second-fiddle bodyguard to a powerful mage is un-fun.  Dragging 15 wild dogs through the dungeon with you, just so you can manage to survive a kobold skirmish is un-fun.  Yes, challenge is necessary, even vital--conflict is at the heart of any story.  But this?  This is excess.

Finch offers some quality GM advice at the end of his essay, particularly in his encouragement to add description to combat.  But, what he fails to take into account is that games like 4e already work to build this in.  A simple at-will power like Tide of Iron comes with pre-built descriptors, waiting for the GM or player to take advantage of them: 

How about this:  "You slam your shield into your foe's chest, driving him backwards." 
No shield?  No problem:  "You slash at your enemy's legs, then kick upwards, pushing him back a step."

Just because there are minis on the battlemat or power-cards in hand does not mean that narration becomes impossible or unlikely.  In fact, those are the hallmarks of good GMing.  But the fact that Finch ascribes these features only to old-school games is troubling, particularly when so many new games encourage this sort of behavior.

Since I've been on a Deadlands kick, it behooves me to bring up Savage Worlds.  The powers in Savage Worlds are specifically made to be generic and multi-purpose, with the player and GM coming to consensus on what exactly a "Bolt" looks like, and what effect it has. 

Even within the scope of the setting, I just yesterday put together a Deadlands Huckster specifically meant to defy traditional perceptions:  rather than visualize his Dealing with the Devil as a card game, he visualizes it as a fencing match.  Rather than cards appearing in his hand, he uses a Relic saber as an arcane focus, enhancing his spellcasting abilities.  Rather than a gambler, he's a student of the Destreza school of fencing, which was based around Greek philosophy and geometry.  All this, from just a simple series of generically-labeled powers:  Bolt, Quickness, Deflection, Smite, and Boost/Lower Trait.

Simply by adding description, even a decidedly modern and generic game like Savage Worlds brings forth creative, new ideas.  While Finch offers some good advice in his primer, his targeting is woefully off.  The problem doesn't lie with old-school vs. new-school gaming.  The problem lies with lazy GMs and players, unwilling to add in their own creative touches.  And those additions, my lovelies, are what takes a game from good to great.