WorldSong - A Dungeon World Setting

I've been ruminating on the game Dungeon World for my last couple of posts, and so it's no secret that I'm quite enamored by the game. It's got me a little sidetracked from writing my own game, in fact it's distracting me from finishing the work on my own game. Annoying, but a real strong sign that DW is not to be underestimated. 

I get to run a game at the end of this month, for the first time in several months, and it's been a big motivating factor to throw some setting information together. I wrote some of the basic concepts and themes I'm going for in my last post (My Own Private Dungeon World). I'm very clearly inspired by King Arthur, Merlin, and Camelot, and so I've decided to run with it and keep moving along with my favorite go-to version of King Arthur - the 1981 movie Excalibur. 

I must have watched this movie a dozen times in high school. I love the thick, heavy plate armor everyone wears, the yelling (everyone yells in this movie!), Mordred being a clearly creepy product of incest, and so forth. The movie feels like two separate films with the entire rise and fall of Arthur, from birth to death.

At the same time, I'm an unabashed Tolkien nerd, and the Silmarillion is one of my all-time favorite books. Excalibur could very easily be an early 80's rendition of one of the Silmarillion's chapters (but with MORE YELLING). So, I've taken two concepts for the creation of the world - one from each of these things I love - and combine them as opposing forces. 

WorldSong and World Dragon

On one hand, just like in Tolkien, the world was created in song. It was music that brought about creation, and as an extension, music and song have a very potent power when used by those wishing to add to the creation of the gods. This music is simply, and fittingly, titled "WorldSong" and is the foundation of everything. It's the force for good and creation. 

On the other, evil-er, hand, you have the force of destruction and chaos - entropy. Taken right out of Excalibur's version of King Arthur's legend, you get the omnipresent and oppressive force of the dragon. Many cults, wild things, and yes, bastard sons of kings lost in battle, worship the "World Dragon"

Queen Bethany Silver, heir of the deceased king, is a Sooth Singer of the highest order. Through observation of the WorldSong, her own sub-creations give her the power she needs to rally those formerly loyal to her father around her in her claim to the throne of the greatest city in the world, Tor Hoxia. Her grip on the city is questionable at best as her half-brother, Baron William of the East Warrens, has gathered those about him to support his claim for the throne. Whispers are spread throughout the kingdom of William's obsession with the World Dragon, though none would dare speak of it in his company.

I'll come up with more later, but I've at least got this much figured out. There's one more major force to fit into the greater scheme of things - the Fae Courts of the wild. I get the feeling that they don't go in for any of this WorldSong or World Dragon foolishness. They're outside of the conflict, probably because they're not from the world of WorldSong,but we shall see! There are of course other things in the world as well, things that are truly foreign to both man and elf and care for them as much as they care for birds in the sky or beast in the field. More on that to come too!

Jaws of Tamriel - PDQ Hack for Skyrim (Part 1)

I have the opportunity to play a game with my wife and niece in the next couple of days. We live a good two hours from our niece, so the visit for a couple of days is something we're both looking forward to. We've played Fiasco, and she's had some exposure to other rules without a lot of successful actual sessions under her belt, but the wife and I are ready to change that and allow her to be a true bad-ass. There's nothing like you're first real adventure, and so I want to make it awesome.

I also have been itching to try out the Jaws of the Six Serpents PDQ rule set from Silver Branch Games. The rules are very, very lite sword & sorcery, and while the setting does sound pretty awesome, I'd like to shift it to something I understand and know a bit better - Skyrim. Skyrim's my first elder scrolls game, and I've played hours and hours of the thing (which really has no end in sight). It has the added bonus of being almost completely unknown to my wife and niece.

With that in mind, I'm putting together a very simple hack of PDQ for Skyrim, which I have titled Jaws of Tamriel. What I love about PDQ is its simplicity and ability to sculpt into what you need. That being said, I haven't had to put much effort into changing much of the rules. You will need the Jaws of the Six Serpents or at least the Nugget rules (found for free on rpgnow.com) to use these for your own game. Between Jaws of the Six Serpents, the elder scrolls wiki, and the huge, impressive hardcover video game guide, I've got pretty much all I need for not just an epic adventure, but hopefully a huge campaign as well.

Below you can find the first part that I've worked on - replaced the peoples presented in Jaws of the Six Serpents for the ten player races open for players of Skyrim. I plan on posting most in the next week, specifically my magic rules, unique item rules, and potion rules. That's pretty much it for the hack. Enemies are just as easy to make up for Skyrim as they would for any other PDQ game, so I just need to look for the source material for inspiration.

Announcing The Threat of War fan expansion for The Lord of the Rings LCG

For a little over a month I've been playing around with the idea of developing a mini-expansion for one of my favorite games out there - The Lord of the Rings LCG from Fantasy Flight Games. I'm a huge Tolkien nerd, and not satisfied enough with monthly expansion releases, I decided to try my hand at designing some player cards. I wanted to challenge myself by designing a new card type for the game and settled on trying to figure out how to get the epic armies of Middle Earth into a Lord of the Rings game designed all around a small group of questing heroes.

To that extent, I've put together a first draft of the expansion weighing in at seven pages. That's two pages of rules for how to play Armies and five pages of new cards. In all, at the current time, there are 18 cards designed - four for each of the four factions and two neutral cards. I'm looking for some help in putting together some rough mock-ups of the cards and really would love to find some players to playtest what I do have designed in both solo and multiplayer cooperative play. If you're interesting in participating, please leave a comment to this post or you can email me at TheHopelessGamer@gmail.com. Anyone who helps out will be listed in the final pdf which I hope to publish here for free for everyone to play.

I've included below the introduction I wrote for the document so you can get a better idea of what I'm aiming for with this expansion as well as a little preview as to how Armies function in the overall game.

Introduction

Armies are a new card type for the LotR LCG from Fantasy Flight Games. This mini expansion is very much a work of a fan of the game and not meant to be considered as condoned by or really having any connection at all with Fantasy Flight Games or the Tolkien estate.

Through out the epic stories told by J.R.R. Tolkien, the heroes and champions of the free peoples feature heavily, and yet armies play a strong role as well. Without the mustering of Rohan, King Theoden could not have rode across the fields of Pelennor to defeat the king of the Haradrim in single combat. Aragorn alone could not have turned the tide of that same battle without the rangers of the Dunedain and armies from Southern Gondor. While Sam and Frodo courageously trekked across Mordor, King Elessar's army drew the gaze of Sauron away from the tiny hobbits and toward the threat at his front gate.

To this extent, Armies are not designed to replace the heroes and allies we know and love in our decks. Armies are distinctly not considered a character for example in the rules when it comes to ways the players can affect them. Also, you'll notice that Armies are useless when it comes to questing – exploration of the lands and pursuit of a quest will always be the work of bold individuals and small companies of heroes.

Armies are expensive in a number of ways, and whenever a hero has gathered such a sizable force to aid him, he lights a bright beacon that attracts Sauron to a potential rival that much quicker. Still, an Army can only be brought together under the leadership of the heroes. Will you lead the Armies of Middle Earth against hopeless odds and the limitless swarms of the Enemy?

Mechanics for Arabian Knights: Adventures in the City of Al-Haran

I've decided to start posting my ideas for my own homebrew game system. This is in conjunction both with my Arabian fantasy setting, tentatively named Arabian Knights that takes place in the gigantic ancient city of Al-Haran and with a space opera setting I've been working on for over a year. What you see below is meant to be the start of my own universal role-playing setting with examples specifically applying to Arabian Knights. This is just the first post about the rules, and you'll see that there's still more to go, but ultimately the system is actually designed to be quite simple and straight-forward, not needing more than a dozen or so pages to explain how it works. Anyway, please share your thoughts or concerns you might have, and be kind, this system has been evolving and changing over the course of the last year as I figure out exactly what combination of mechanics will make me happy. 


Basic Mechanic

Players roll a d6 pool made up of Function Rank + Specialty Ranks (if any are applicable) + Gear Ranks (if any are applicable) + Circumstance Ranks (if any are applicable) in either opposed rolls or versus a fix success number (based on three or four tiers of play). You only have to roll if there's a chance your character could fail or if failure could lead to something huge happening (e.g. if the stakes are big enough, even the simplest of tasks can be incredibly difficult). 

The City of Al-Haran - An all new setting and system is in the works!

I started developing an original seating to go along with a little homebrew system I've been working on. I started a thread over at rpg.net about it to give the system and setting a run for a play-by-post game. On Friday I'll be posting more information about the system itself. It's just a bit of a hobby production right now, but I've been working on this stuff in one form or another for a while now. Let me know what you think! 


They say one could walk the streets of the great Al-Haran their entire life and never cross the same path twice. The city is larger than any other of the former Belarn Empire, and since its downfall, the four houses have risen to the challenge of filling the power vacuum left behind in the dust of the Uprising of Al-Haran. While the revolt wasn't the sole cause of the fall of the Empire, it was a great spark that lit the powder keg of all those ruled by the Emperor.

At the center of the city sits the Seat of the Sultan. Emptied since the Emperor's governor was lynched in the in the streets by the city's people, it is now the coveted empty throne of the nobility. To the South of the Seat lays the Street of Spear where the Princess Areebah raises the armies and arms of Al-Haran. To the East of the Seat lays the Street of Sun where the Prince Jawad raises the crops and fine sand silk that allow the people of Al-Haran to eat and prosper. To the North lays the Street of Wind where Princess Yafiah leads the people of Al-Haran in their faith and reverence toward the one true Lord of the Desert. Finally, to the West lays the Street of Sand where Prince Yusuf leads the heretic tribe of Sandspeakers, those who master the wild chaotic magics of those things which otherwise go unseen in the dunes of the great desert. 

Preview #2 for Hopeless One-Shots: The Beast of Brisborough - Welcome to Town!

Last week I first discussed in a little more detail the adventure I've written for Dragon Age. It's my first shot at actually writing something, and I'm excited to say that today is going to be my first time running it and testing the actual structure of the thing. My intent is to write Dragon Age adventures that can be run in one sitting for a one-off story or as a con game. Next week I should have some feedback to post about what it was like running the adventure - where it succeeded and what fell flat - but this week I want to introduce you to one of the most important towns in all of Ferelden. Brisborough is actually quite small, but keep reading to explore what makes this town so vital to the country's economy as the king has called banners and the men muster to fight off the fifth Blight!

Note: if you plan on playing in this game at any point (AHEM - EVERYONE IN MY GROUP), you will likely want to skip reading into this post as this selection is pulled straight from the GM's background on the town.

Preview #1 for Hopeless One-Shots: The Beast of Brisborough - an upcoming adventure for Dragon Age

I've alluded to it several times in the past couple of weeks, but I'm finally proud to announce that the first draft of my fan-made (re: free and not at all a product of Green Ronin) adventure for Dragon Age using the A.G.E. game system was finished up this morning. The adventure as it stands right now sits at 13,881 words and covers 30 pages in the plain, unformatted google doc in which it was written. I imagine the number of pages will quickly shrink as we begin fiddling with columns and the size of stat blocks, but overall, the thing became just a bit heftier than my original concept for it.

Dragon Age Original NPC - Bann's Soldier

In writing my first Dragon Age adventure, I finally got to design my own NPC's, and I've decided to share my very first attempt with you all. How lucky for you! I'll not say whether this is an NPC that the PC's will have to battle or if it's there just to give them a little help if they need, but I had a lot of fun designing a very basic military-type NPC. Any feedback would be appreciated!

Bann’s Soldier
Ability (Focuses)

1	Communication
2	Constitution (Stamina)
1	Cunning (Military Lore)
2	Dexterity (Light Blades)
0	Magic
2	Perception
3	Strength (Spears)
2	Willpower (Faith)

Combat Ratings

Speed	Defense	Health	Armor
12	14	20	4

Attacks

Weapon	Attack	Damage
Short Spear	+5	1d6+6
Short Sword	+4	1d6+5

Powers
Favored Stunts: Defensive Stance and Pierce Armor
Quick Draw: The Bann’s Soldier may ready a weapon
as a free action on his turn.
Talents: Armor Training (Novice), Weapon and Shield
Style (Journeyman) - Perform Defensive Stance Stunt
for 1 SP instead of 2 SP.
Equipment: Heavy Leather, Medium Shield, Short
Sword, Short Spear

(Art by Derek Hand and found at the Warriors in Art blog)

Setting Riff: Bushido of the High Seas

I picked up the first hardcover collection of the Okko comic at c2e2 directly from Archaia Comics' booth on the cheap and just finally got a chance to read it. I've got mixed feelings on the story overall, but there's no denying that the art and coloring (two separate jobs in the world of comics) are gorgeous and down-right inspiring. Given the name of the first collection (The Cycle of Water), the first collection tells the story of how the group of characters get together and focuses on the adventures they have in pursuit of their quest across various islands and seas.

This got me thinking that, well there are several good samurai settings out there (Okko being one, but of course the granddaddy of them all is Legend of the Five Rings) to game in, I wanted to dream up a setting that focused exclusively on the concept of naval warfare in the world of the Samurai.

My first 24-hour RPG - The Strongest Link

The 24-hour RPG design challenge is something I've been itching to try since I first read PACE, itself a product of the challenge from Fred Hicks. I was intrigued with the concept of a sprint game design/writing session that could produce a game from scratch within a very short period of time. It's a lot like the flash fiction challenges I do every week posted up at Terrible Minds (and which you can find my entries for over at Paul Vogt Writes). I think the biggest appeal is that once you complete a challenge, WHAM! Instant game design credit you can claim for yourself.

So this time around I got in on the challenge early on. The rules are very simple. Write a game from start to finish within 24 hours with a theme using two of the four given words. The words for this time were: Amazons, Lust, Chains, and Queen. Obviously there's a lot of possibilities to be had in those four words, but I ultimately ended up going with Lust and Chains (it's not what you think) to develop and complete my first 24-hour RPG The Strongest Link.

Here's the blurb to go along with it over at 1KM1KT where they host all the games from the contest:

The Strongest Link is a game that examines how we make decisions in a group setting. Political in nature, the rules are simple (nine pages total) but work to recreate groups from government to movie studio executives to your average gaming group. 


You decide the setting, your individual character's motivation and direction he'd like to take the group, and then play with your friends through four rounds of debate and vote-casting to ultimately choose who has the best idea (or strongest motivation/force of will) for the group to execute.


It was a lot of fun putting the game together, and the best part is that while it's a very simple rule system, I feel like it offers a very complete play experience and prompts the discussion and theorizing about group decision-making processes that I set out to examine.

Cthulhu Nerf - You Won't Need Dice, But You May Need To Increase Your Dodge Skill

Last Friday Chuck ran a Call of Cthulhu game full of paranoia and crazy people. It was a great little one-shot scenario. The four of us were thrown into a room not knowing what our true natures were or why we were in the room. The scenario, appropriately titled In Media Res, made for a really fun night of playing the monsters. We didn't necessarily have to be the bad guys, but it was hard to imagine how we weren't someone's nightmare in the end.

But of course, I'm burying the lead here. While Chuck did a fantastic job of running another Call of Cthulhu session (the system I think he runs better than any other), The reason I'm writing about it would have to be the little experiment he ran in game mechanics. My headline was a tiny bit misleading. You see, we still rolled dice a little bit (although it was pretty much assumed we would succeed as we were largely alone in a big house and had some time to explore), but more than anything we were shooting off our arsenal of nerf guns to test how well we actually shot. Keep reading, and you can see more pictures of how it worked and my thoughts on it at the end.

Want a Harry Potter RPG? Look no further - Remember Your Wand!

In honor of the impending part 1 of epicness that is Harry Potter and the Deathly Somethings... Part 1, I'd like to remind everyone that they need not go without their very own Harry Potter RPG. You see, there isn't an official RPG for HP, and we find this to be just terrible. This is a repost from earlier this year (which you can find here) with a couple of things tweaked here and there. Consider it a more-polished version. Or it's just Remember Your Wand and the Deathly Dice Throwers... Part 2. You decide, it's an RPG!

Remember Your Wand

RYW is a re-skinning of the game Remember Tomorrow. You'll notice that some aspects of RT are carried over to RYW while others have changed to fit the setting. The game structure of controller is unchanged. Each player still creates a PC to hold and a Faction to share. What I have done here is take the structure of RT's mechanics and removed its cyberpunk flavor in favor of a setting set in the world of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series. That being said, my ideal was to place the setting in a more mature version of Rowling's world. My imagination was always captured by the adults in Harry's world. The Ministry of Magic is fascinating, and what about Aurors? Also awesome. Imagine a cadre of wizards hunting down the dragon from the Goblet of Fire or trying to run security outside Hogwarts while Death Eaters are trying to break in. These are the kinds of stories I'd love to see - so why not play them?

Below here is just a big list of recommendations, but Rowling's world has a lot of depth and I encourage you to include whatever you want beyond what I have below. I consider RYW just a good starting point.

Remember Your Wand

Remember Your Wand (RYW) is my first attempt at re-skinning Gregor Hutton's Remember Tomorrow (RT). For more information on RT, go check out my review of it I posted yesterday. As soon as I finished my first read through of the rules, I knew RT was ripe for spin-offs and modding. For some reason the first setting I would work on repurposing RT for had to be Harry Potter (HP). It may be because there aren't a whole lot of Harry Potter RPG's out there or it could be that I just marathoned the first four movies last weekend with my niece, but I'm in the HP mindset. Keep reading to see what I did with it and how much I screwed up Gregor's game.