Mastering The Game: Tools of the Trade

Hey, everyone! Time to get back on my soapbox and talk about running some RPGs!

So, I've been running games on and off for something like 20 years now and I've picked up some habits and opinions about what I need to run a game. Not only does that make this whole thing my opinion but it might seem a bit dated to newer players. That said, I hope people of all stripes find something useful.

Dice:

You can keep your random number generators, I prefer the real thing. I have about two pounds of dice. Yes, you read that right, POUNDS. Some of the games I play require fists full of dice, and I always seem to lose them, so I need a lot. And “dice hording” is a thing...

But, if you're running the same, you want a few sets. I suggest at least two for yourself and another set you can loan out as needed. I suggest making the loaner set something so terribly colored no one would want to claim as their own.

3x5 cards:

This is something you need for some games, but they're useful for just about every game. I use them a lot in it miniature gaming, but they're good for RPGs, too. What do I use them for? Well, they're great for stats and notes for monsters and NPCs. You can record their main stats and then commonly used powers/spells/skills/etc. I also make a note of the page numbers of the important stuff.

Even if you don't use them for characters and monsters, they're good for spells and powers and all that stuff I mentioned earlier. Making a little cheat sheet for the players' abilities is good, too.

If you still don't know what else to use them for, you can write down initiative or tuck them in a book to mark the pages you need. They're useful and they're cheap.

Pencils and erasers:

Since I'm “old school” and still use paper, I find having a large stash of pencils and erasers is a good thing. While some people have moved completely into the digital age (you people scare me, by the way), they'll still need something to write with when they play with me. So I always carry extras. I do prefer mechanical pencils over the old classics, I do use both. Pencil sharpeners are required if you're going really old school. I also buy some good erasers because most of the ones you get on your cheap pencils are cheap as well and make smudges and eventually you have to get a new character sheet... So, invest a bit of money for quality.

Graph paper:

As I've said, I'm old school. Plus, paper and pencil are easier to carry around and don't need an outlet. I draw a lot of maps for games and graph paper is a godsend for me. I recently found a pack of double sized graph paper and it's going to be so much fun to use. Now, the nice thing about graph paper is it's slightly high quality than your usual lined paper, making it a bit more durable.

But, let's say you're totally digital (you monster) and do all of you maps on the computer. Well, you can still use graph paper for rough drafts and the like.

Miniatures:

Some games can be run in the “realm of imagination” but not all of them can. Some, like Savage Worlds and D&D, really need to have things represented on the table. For this, you need to have miniatures or minis. There's a lot of companies that make them and the prices can vary. If you're just getting started, Reaper Miniatures has two excellent lines you can pick up at most stores or order online. The Dark Haven line comes prepainted, for those of you who don't want to paint them yourself. The Bones line comes unpainted but are slightly cheaper and have fantasy and sci-fi minis. I got the first Bones Kickstarter Vampire package and it's given me a ton of miniatures for games.

Even if you don't plan on running games, players can also pick up minis for their characters. It really adds to their investment in the game.

Gaming mat:

Now that we've talked about miniatures, we need to talk about what you use them on. I have a gaming mat I picked up a few years ago and I've gotten a lot of use out of it. They're a bit spendy and come in different sizes, but you'll probably want to buy the biggest one you can afford.

Once you buy the mat, you're going to need the pens. You can't use just any pens, so I have a small set of Vis-A-Vis pens that work perfectly. Most stores that sell mats will also sell pens, too. Just make sure you take good care of your mat, since you spent all that money.

Extra copies of books:

When I have a lot of games that I play regularly, I have a habit of picking up an extra copy of the core book or Player's Guide. Why? So I can have a copy behind the screen and the player's can have another to flip through. Not everyone can afford their own copy, so it's nice to have one provided for the group.

Since a lot of people use PDFs to run things, you might also want to print out some of the important pages (reference pages, commonly used tables, etc) so you don't have to jump around too much. If you have a physical copy of the book, make some photocopies.

I have double copies of the D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook, Deadlands: Weird West Player's Guide, the All Flesh Must Be Eaten core book, Big Eyes, Small Mouth 2^nd edition core book, the Savage Worlds core book and the Hunter: The Reckoning core book as they're very handy to have and I've played them a lot (except Hunter, haven't played that one yet).

Notebooks:

You can buy these for dirt cheap after the Back To School products are put on sale as the season wraps up. Not only can you use them for planning out the adventure between games, you can also use them to take down initiative, status effects, and the like during play.

I know some GM/DMs that will actually hand out notebooks to their players. I don't do this myself, but some of my players will bring their own. I do think it's a good idea in general, but if you're running a mystery or something similar, you should have a notebook someone can write in for the group.

Props and handouts:

I rarely use these. I know some people that love using them, but I've been making some for my Silent Hill game.

There are some who love these things. There are some who hate them. You're really going have to feel out your group before using them. And make sure that they've got a folder or notebook to store all of these things in.

I've never been a fan of props. That said, I do like having player's copies of maps and the like, as it makes it easier for me. Things for character creation, maps, and notes are great and keep things easier for you.

Well, I think that's about all I've got to say on this topic for now. If you want some more things you might find useful, let me know and I can come back to this topic.

Repairing Road Kill: A whole new world

I don't know if you remember this game. I know I barely did. Until recently, as I was looking through old projects and ideas and came across my notes for it.

In the time since I last worked on this idea, I picked up Supersystem, made by the same folks, West Wind Productions. And the rules are compatible...

You see, I like the idea of Road Kill. At the time, it was the only skirmish, post apocalypse miniatures game that I'd seen that also included rules for vehicles. Add in the horror element of vampires and werewolves, and it ticked a lot of boxes for me. I mean, werewolves and vampires on motorcycles, riding around the ruins of the world, fighting zombies and human survivors, is that not enough for you? Of course, the rule book was a mess, you'd have to buy some models to get the vehicles and stuff, and the system had some flaws. I've talked a lot about this in the original review, so I won't go over it again.

Now, I had this big plan of what I was going to do, how I was going fix everything and make it even better and... Yeah. And then some stuff came up in my life and I kind of quit a lot of tabletop gaming stuff. My models collected dust, I rarely gamed, and so on. No need to bog things down.

As I said, I've been looking for things to keep busy while everything is going crazy. Sure, I'm still working, but I'm not doing much else. I've been kind of gaming on Discord, but I do want to get back into other hobbies. So, here we are.

What I'm going to do is restart this project. But, I'm going to expand it. With the rules I found in SuperSystem, I can add more. I've been wanting to use some “closely resemble but are legally distinct” from The Terminator as well as some demons and devils, and a “bring any mini you want” type game is a perfect fit. I mean, it only adds to how messed up the world is.

And I'm going to work on the rules. Clean things up. Make it easier to read, easier to understand, fix the problems and make it easier to play. Which is, you know, the point of playing games. Because of the problems the book had, I could never get someone to play this game with me. And that sucks.

What am I going to change? A lot. Let's break it down:

The setting -

There's a lot of interesting ideas in here. But, if I'm going add stuff in, I have to make some changes in the background. First off, I'm adding in the demons and robots. Because I can. When it comes to the Shadow stuff, I'm probably going to change that. I'll try to keep some of it, but the premise behind the Shadow Bomb and the Vatican and all that always felt weak to me. Not really fleshed out. But, let's talk about the groups in the book. The Brotherhood and the Sisterhood are only okay, but make them a little more mysterious and I think they'll work. The vampires and werewolves in the book are very much tied to their locations, which doesn't quite make sense for a game that doesn't actually have a set location, so I'll change them a little bit. I'll probably throw out some ideas for major players in both races. As for the zombies, they felt... Tacked on. Like they said “oh, we should probably put zombies in there, they're popular.” That's not wrong, and the idea isn't bad, but it needs some more. The human factions are... I think it's very clear that these are Brits talking about America. It's a little too simple. But, salvageable.

As for the other characters, I'll probably keep most of them. They're fun and interesting. But we'll see.

The Rules -

I'm keeping the basics of the Goal 4 system, as it works. It is simple but also fun and fast. It works for what I need. There are some problems and I'm trying to solve them as best I can. The Initiative system is the first thing to change, I just don't know what I'm going to do yet. I'm thinking about using playing cards but keeping it simple. I'll figure it out.

I'm also going to add in a ton of Special Traits. Some from Supersystem and some from my own ideas. There's a lot to add because there's so few in the original game. Honestly, there was no reason to not take the most powerful and the best guns. I think by expanding them, it'll make people want to have each model have a focus. A purpose, I guess. Well, beyond the need to just have models on the board.

I'm going to tinker a little bit with the vehicle rules. I was already going to add in some ideas I had, but it's going to be tough to find balance. But, I think I've got it.

One thing that I'm really working towards is letting people take any mini they have, having them reflect what they want it to do, and have it stay balanced. Got a werewolf mini for your D&D game? We'll make it work. Want to drop down a squad of Space Marines? It'll be expensive, but I got it. I hope this makes sense.

I don't know if anyone cares about this. I'm mostly doing this for my own fun. And a distraction. When I'm done, I'll make a PDF and put it in the Links page, as a free download. Maybe you'll read it. Maybe you won't. And maybe I won't finish it at all. But at least you'll know why things are erratic again...

Blast From the Past: SuperSystem

Let's do some thrilling heroics!

SuperSystem is another game from West Wind Studios. The same people that did Road Kill. As such, the rules are almost exactly the same, just not as brutal. It's designed to be about heroes and villains duking it out in the streets of a city, not a gritty skirmish in the ruins of a wasted world.

As with all West Wind games, you can use any model you want, but they had a setting and rules based around ones they make (or had a partnership with another minis company). The setting of Supersystem is very simple, but weird. There's something about Atlantis and Lemuria, aliens, and weird radiation. There's also some weird kind of Soviet super team, even though the USSR ( or CCCP for my Russian readers) had collapsed long before this game's release. Does anyone under the age of 30 even know what the USSR was? Leave a comment if you do. They've got a super smart, super villain ape guy and his minions. A “legally distinct but closely resemble” X-Men team, with a dash of the Avengers, group. Some mercenaries are there. There's a government group that seems to be there to “solve problems” that crop up. And some terrorists that are connected to Atlantis. Or is it Lemuria? I don't remember.

As I mentioned, the system is the Goal 4 System (even though it doesn't use that name). You roll d6s equal to your stat plus any modifiers and each 4 or better is a Goal. The modifiers come from the many, many super powers. There's actually quite a few and are customizable enough that you can come up with a reasonable approximation of whatever you can think of. Want to fly? Got it. Be invisible? Done. Super strong? You know it. And the powers look appear balanced enough that there's no One Power Everyone Needs. However, if you don't plan right, there are some you can get royally screwed over if you're not prepared for. They also have rules for using street lights, Dumpsters, motorcycles, and other models as improvised weapons. You know it wouldn't be a good super hero game without that. There's also rules for making groups of henchmen that are... Okay? You make them like a hero, but their health is based on how many models you have in the group and if you want them to be even remotely survivable, you have to bring a lot of models. They also seem to come very close to messing up the rules because of how they work in the rules, as you can buy a group big enough to cover enough of the board that only fliers are going to be able to move or hit anything and the group would take forever to remove from the board using melee combat.

The game does want you to cap your stats and points per model, but you can ignore that if you want. If you want to have a Superman level one on one battle, you can go for it. I might actually do that for a one off fun game... But, the game wants you to have a team of 5 or 6, as well as a group of henchmen, to keep things balanced. I do agree with having a team of 6 or so, that way you can have a variety of models and powers on the board, but not too many to bog things down.

My sticking point with this game, as it seems to be with West Wind's games, is the initiative system. In Road Kill, you would draw a card. In Supersystem, you roll initiative for each individual model. Which is both time consuming and annoying. Most skirmish games try to make this easy and fast. West Wind does not. I've been kicking around a few ideas of how to fix it, but you should find one that works best for you and your group. You might want to borrow one from another game that actually works and doesn't take forever.

But what do you do with your forces, now that you're ready to play? Well, there's six scenarios they provide. Some are clearly better than others. There's a simple one, where you just go at each other in a city, an old classic. The mission I dislike the most is where one member of each team gets kidnapped by aliens. It really seems to require a third player, which you don't always have. Other missions require having a VIP mini that can be abducted, be ambushed, and so on. The missions aren't bad, they just require having being prepared for all of them, as they are randomly rolled and each has a random event table that also requires some extra models. I will say that it does give it a bit of longevity because you'll want to try them all with the variations. Or you could roll the same mission over and over again and get bored quickly. I would have liked something like “basic” missions and “advanced” missions, to let you get used to the game and then have more crazy stuff happen. I know you can just do what you want, but I tend to get distracted by things and want to do everything. So, I like it when the creators start slow then build to the cool stuff.

One of the things that kind of impresses me is the Experience System. It does seem fair,as every model gets some, win or lose. It does seem a little random about how you can “earn” new powers, but you can always just do what you want. I think it's important to have things be fair, as it always suck when you lose a lot (like me) and get quickly outpaced by your opponent by the second or third game. Of course, since XP increases the model's cost, you're going to need to make sure that the points limit for games start moving up, too... The point of the XP system is to give you a reason to start a campaign and keep playing, so you can get more XP and advance the narrative. It's based on comic books, remember?

One thing that doesn't impress me is the half-assed “Morality” system. Each model is a Hero, Villain, or Mercenary. Heroes don't kill KO'd models. Unless they want to? There's nothing in the system to punish heroes that kill. And if you want to be good but also be able to kill, you just make every model a Mercenary, and it doesn't matter. I would like to see an XP penalty for heroes who kill and for villains that kill too much. Since there's a post battle recovery system, having your model not be killed, just KO'd, is important. My thoughts are this: If you're going to put something in there about morality and heroes and all that stuff, you need to make sure that you have a mechanic that enforces it. For example, maybe if your villain has reached a high number of “Bad Karma” from killing every hero they can, then you have the army start shooting at him when he appears. By turn two or so, he has to avoid random shots from them. And if you have a Mercenary that's killing too much, they lose that morality and become a villain. Same if they do more good things than bad. It's all about balance, both in game and as part of the narrative. The game clearly wants to be a narrative game, not that it's a bad thing, but it has more of “Beer and Pretzels” feel without that mechanic.

When you get down to it, this game isn't a bad one. But, I wouldn't pay too much for it. It is much better edited than Road Kill and the book itself isn't as poorly made, it's actually decent quality. It is still available from West Wind Productions and even has two expansions. The first is about an alien invasion (very much “on brand” for comic books) and the second is called “Showdown!” but there's no information on their website about it. I picked up the core book for $5 used and it was worth it. If you check my Project List, you'll see that I have some super hero minis I'm working on. Of course, since Marvel and DC have launched some minis games (to get more sweet, sweet nerd money), you can use this game to have your dream crossover fight between the characters from both worlds.

Let's Review: The Morrow Project (4th edition)

What is it?:

The Morrow Project is a post apocalyptic RPG produced by Timeline LTD with a long history, having been created several decades ago.

The setting:

Starting in the mid 1970's, a man named Edward Morrow collected a group of business leaders to begin planning for how to deal with an impending apocalyptic event. In the previous editions, the end of the world happened in 1989. But, since geopolitical situation on earth has changed a lot since then, the apocalypse was moved to the far off year of 2017. The creators seem to really love putting the end of the world “30 minutes into the future.”

The Morrow Project, in the game, is build around trying to help the world rebuild after everything has gone up in smoke. The plan was to train people to survive who had the skills that would be needed to help in that rebuilding. The plan was that they would be put in suspended animation until a few months or years after The End and been woken up by Prime Base as needed. Teams were broken down into several groups, but the most common were Recon, MARS, and Science teams. But things went wrong.

The teams wake up, seemingly at random, centuries after The End. The world is utterly different. And, in many ways, their mission is already a failure. But can still be a success. Some areas are led by warlords and despots, while others are led by good people. And that leads to conflict. With their “advanced” technology and knowledge, the members of the Morrow Project can turn the tide in favor of rationality and decency.

There is a larger metaplot, involving the destruction of Prime Base and the Warriors of Kreel. However, since all that takes place in the Midwest (like a lot of old post apocalypse RPGs), you don't have to include it. Instead, using the information provided in the book, you can work on where the missiles landed in your area then work out what happened to the area afterwards.

So, the setting is very much in your Project Director's hands. Beyond the basics given in the book, you can go wherever you want. Or use many of the older and newer premade adventures that have been released over the years.

The system:

The system is almost exactly the same as the original 3^rd edition one, just with some clarifications and slight changes. Which means it's very complex. And it uses the metric system for everything. Not something many Americans are intimately familiar with.

The system uses percentile dice for skills and d6 for rolling stats. Beyond that, it's all d100's from then on. With this expansion in the rules, it does make it much more clear how and when skills are used, how your stats effect them, and how to improve them. Coming from reading 3^rd edition, it is really nice.

Beyond that, the system is hideously complex. After you figure out your stats and skills, you have to work out the Structure Points for your body and the Blood Points you have. Lose all the SP in your hand? It's gone. Lose too many BP? You're bleeding out and that's Very Bad. While these are much easier to figure out, having switched to a clear chart instead of having you do the math for each part of your body yourself, it does not make combat and damage easier to deal with.

The obsession with detail continues with the combat. Each turn is 3.6 seconds. Not just three, not three and a half, but 3.6... I'll have to stop there because the math makes me head hurt...

The enhancements to the system have also given us a much clearer Luck system (yet another throwback). And they have greatly expanded the Psionics system. It makes much more sense and actually looks pretty cool.

One thing I think they missed, given the high lethality of the world and the rules, is how to make someone from the world of the future. I wouldn't have minded a simple appendix in the back with some guidelines. It might be there and I just missed it. However, it's still a good idea. I think they intended you to find another team and use them to refill the party. Or have everyone make another character and keep them as NPCs until your first character drops. While I usually don't like to kill off characters, this system doesn't help me prevent it.

Is it worth it?:

If you've been playing earlier editions of The Morrow Project, I strongly suggest picking this new edition up. There's a nice little conversion sheet in the back of the ook you can use to update the characters and the NPCs.

If you're brand new to roleplaying and tabletop, this isn't a good choice. I've talked a lot about how complicated the game is to run and play, so I wouldn't recommend it as it could put you off of the whole thing. Plus, the book is $40 ($50 for hardback).

Now, if you've been around the block a few times, and like post apocalypse games, this might be a “maybe.” You can get a PDF version and can use that to harvest the ideas for a different system.

To add a bit of summary, I'm mildly disappointed in this. I really wish they had done a whole new system, which is why I waited so long to buy this new version. I do like how much easier it is to understand and how much they've expanded the information they provide. I'm very conflicted about this as I love the idea of the game but have real trouble with the system. Maybe I'll try to run it myself in the future and see what happens.

Mastering The Game: Canned Adventures

So, you've decided to run a game. Maybe you picked D&D or Shadowrun or Savage Worlds or something else that caught your fancy.

What now?

One of the easiest things to do is pick up and pre-written, or “canned,” adventure. Everything you need to right there and ready to use. They list out what level the party should be when you start, what monsters and NPCs they'll encounter, and give you the layout of what happens.

Before we go further, I need to point out that I'm a fan of canned adventures and use them myself. If you've been reading the adventures of Ferner Five, you can see that they're mostly canned adventures.

Why used canned adventures? In addition to what I've said above, they also tend to be much more epic in scale. The fate of nations can hang in the balance. The fate of the whole of existence can be on the line. And that's really fun for high level groups. It's also hard to think of challenges for high level groups, too. Or so I've found.

Canned adventures are great for when the DM doesn't know what to do next. Or needs a break from designing their own adventures. And you don't have to follow everything in the adventure as written. I've seen a few people discuss how they use them as a basis for their own adventures. And that's totally okay. And cool, if I'm being honest.

Low level adventures are great for getting your game started, as many of them will give a good reason for why the group gets together. That can avoid the “you all meet in a tavern” trope that exists for a reason. It's why I picked “Comin' Around The Mountain” for my Deadlands group. If you run it as written, each character can have their own reason for being on the train, letting them set up their backstories. There's also plenty of role playing opportunities for the players and the Marshal. There's a reason why I've run it three times now. I've tried others as an introduction (“Pass The Salt” and “This Harrowed Ground,” if you're familiar) and they don't work as well as that one.

I'm sure if you look around, you can find a good introduction adventure for the game you want to run. Many of the games out there will have one in the back of the game or the DM's book. If they don't have one, ask around and see what ones people recommend for getting started.

Inserting a canned adventure into a campaign that's already in progress might take a bit of doing, but shouldn't be impossible. I've done it here and there, and aside from some minor tweaks, it was pretty easy. You have to make sure that the adventure isn't too jarring for the group, that there's a smooth transition. Some gaming magazines (and websites now, I guess) would have “side tracks” which are just small encounters that you can just drop into a larger campaign. Something like an evil Druid that is using blood on a tree. A little backstory, some stats and tactics, and you have something unique and interesting to throw out there. Perfect if you're not prepared for the night's game.

One thing to keep in mind when getting ready to run a canned adventure, either to start things off or adding to a campaign already in progress, you have to remember the GM's Maxim: Expect The Unexpected.

Most canned adventures will give you several ways to go from section to section (assuming it isn't a dungeon), but some only give you one. And as we all know, players rarely go in the direction you can anticipate. So, if the adventure doesn't give you the options that the party picks, you need to roll with it. Don't try to force them to go the way the adventure wants them to, let them find their own way. If you don't know what to do when the jump the rails, take a break. Give yourself some time to think about what to do now. And if the party doesn't want to follow the adventure, I mean REALLY doesn't want, let them walk away. It's there choice. Don't be afraid to end the world because they gave up. Hey, you gave them the choice!

If you know the party isn't going to follow the hooks in the adventure, change them. Make them fit your party. For example, the adventure calls for the party to be motivated by goodness and you're running an evil (or morally gray) group, change the motivation that matches them. If you know the party is going to miss something or do the absolutely wrong thing, remove it or change it. The best thing to do is look at your players, their characters, and edit the adventure around them. If you know them well enough, and you should after a few games, you can anticipate them and how they'll react to what the adventure presents them.

Another thing you can do to really draw the characters in is to change the main bad guys in the adventure. Let's say you're running a D&D game and you have a recurring bad guy. For example, we'll go with the old stand by of the Evil Necromancer. Sure, why not? So, the party has been running up against this necromancer and his minions. You find an adventure that will give the players a new experience but it has another stock villain that doesn't quite fit the theme of your campaign. Everything else is perfect. So, change it. Either make the villain part of the Evil Necromancer's cabal or you can even make it the Evil Necromancer himself. Adjust it as you see fit. However, keep in mind that you might have to make more changes to the adventure itself the more you change the antagonist. You don't want your players to ask “why is our devil worshiping adversary suddenly using summoned demons?” It can break immersion. 

The nice thing about canned adventures is that they give you everything you need. Maps, monsters/enemies, and rewards. And what you need to do is make sure you know what's coming. The first thing you do with a canned adventure is read through it a few times. After the first or second read through, you'll want to make notes about what you want to change and what you're going to change it to. Then, you need to do some prep work. If you can, make a copy of the player's map. I knew a DM that would make a copy of the map and then cut it up so he could plop down the next area as the characters advance. You can also write down the stats, and page numbers, of the various enemies and have them ready to go. And you can make a note of which enemies will attack which character. You can look at the tactics the adventure provides and make it fit your party better. I'm not saying you always want to make it harder, because that's not okay. For example, when I ran the Ferner Five, I had to be careful about magic. Since none of the original posse had any real magic, I had to make sure there were other ways to get around or solve problems. Of course, I didn't really have to worry too much about them using magic to short circuit adventures. But, it was always on my mind when I was getting ready for the game. I didn't want to hit them with a major whammy because the adventure assumed that they had a Huckster in the posse, when I didn't. Remember what I said about making sure there's more than one way around problems and the way the enemies act.

Let's talk about what happens when you pick up a canned adventure and it just doesn't work for you. Maybe the monsters don't match your world or you don't like the layout or you just don't like it. What do you do now? That's the fun part. I've seen people take maps from an adventure and put in their own monsters and enemies. I've taken monsters from an adventure and plug them into something else. I've take plots and ideas from an adventure and put them in a game.

It's really hard not to find SOMETHING you can't use for something else. Maps are one of the hardest things to design on your own. There's a reason why people will just put out books of maps, not even adventures, and make good money from them. I have a 1,001 Dungeons collection from Kickstarter ages ago and, while I haven't used it yet, it gave me tons of ideas for games.

To wrap this up, don't listen to the Old Guard Of Gamers that say Real Men Don't Run Canned Adventures. It's total bullshit. Use what you want to use. And don't just ignore something because of what someone else says. Do what works best for you and your group. If you've never run a game before, ask around for opinions on what are some good adventures for new DM/GM and players. Many games will include a starter adventure in the back of their books. And you can ask around about what adventures are fun or interesting or hard or famous and give them a whirl. As they say:

It's your game.