If anyone is still interested in following me, I'm hoping to revive it and moving it over to WordPress. I think it's going to be able to do more of what I want and now that I'm gaming more I have more ideas I'd like to get out there to be critiqued.
Here's the link to my new home!
http://necrogames.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Andport: Factions Overview
Here are the short descriptions of the major factions of the city. It's at this point where I usually start to get a bit dissatisfied with my setting creation. Once you start taking theme and ideas and giving them form holes in logic become more possible. I start second-guessing myself and usually quit. What's that saying, "'perfect' is the enemy of 'done'"?
Anyhow, feel free to ask any questions or make any comments. It will help me shore up any inconsistencies, and it's my fear of inconsistency that paralyzes me from writing and running games.
Government
Lord Edric Carroy
Technically lord of the city but most of the power lies in the various guilds and organizations of the city. He's attracted to the allure of the political intrigue of the city and tries to insert himself into it. He's horrible at it, however, and is often used as a pawn. For Edric the title of Lord is little more than that. A more authoritarian successor would still find it incredibly difficult to wrest the practical power of the city back into the hands of the nobility.
The Arkanika
Dedicated to the proliferation of the Arkanik as a means to "improve" life in Andport, The Arkanika supplies men and organizations of means magical alternatives to achieve productivity. Their work is custom made to suit the needs of their customers. Although nobody knows their secrets, what is notoriously common knowledge is the faint purple glow of their devices.
House D'eatre
D'eatre is an old money house that has yet to be given official title. Their primary source of income/power is in private security forces. Though given no official sponsorship from the lordship, those serving D'eatre can often be seen (or not seen as the case often is) in parts of town where there is something that can't be trusted to the joke that is the city guard. Merchant ships will often hire D'eatre just to be afforded the luxury of flying the colors of the House. More than one pirate organization has come to a grizzly end after interfering with the business of those under D'eatre's protection.
Traders' Guild
Unlike in the northern part of the kingdom the traders of Andport have a strong say in their fate with their collective commonly referred to as the Guild. The Guild is quite protectionist, no merchant would think to set up shop in Andport without first joining. It's rare to even find a traveling merchant in the city that hasn't at least collected a temporary pass from the group first. At one point there were several guilds each one overseeing specific trades. Eventually the began merging as it became obvious the power the groups could have in the city if they were united.
The Jade Eye
The Jade Eye is the most prominent underworld organization in the city. Of course, nobody can prove its existence but you'll have a hard time finding anyone to call D'eatre liars for saying so. If it did exist though (and it totally does) they would specialize in the dirty jobs that people couldn't be caught doing themselves. Of course nobody from the Jade Eye has been caught either, but conventional wisdom says no job is too big for them, but they are above petty crimes.
Albionus' School for Gifted Youngsters
The name is a bit of a misnomer, people of all ages attend this school for those gifted enough to bend reality to their whim. Initially it was setup to help younger people cope with their abilities, but as time went by it was used to train the gifted in using their abilities for good. Despite this they are often maligned. More than one student has left the school practicing philosophies differing from those taught there.
The Thieves' Syndicate
While not nearly on par with the acts of the Jade Eye, the Syndicate does specialize in the criminal, specifically stealing. Everyone from the cutpurses to home robbers checks in with the Syndicate. They are particularly ruthless towards those who have not acquired passage to operate in the city.
Anyhow, feel free to ask any questions or make any comments. It will help me shore up any inconsistencies, and it's my fear of inconsistency that paralyzes me from writing and running games.
Government
Lord Edric Carroy
Technically lord of the city but most of the power lies in the various guilds and organizations of the city. He's attracted to the allure of the political intrigue of the city and tries to insert himself into it. He's horrible at it, however, and is often used as a pawn. For Edric the title of Lord is little more than that. A more authoritarian successor would still find it incredibly difficult to wrest the practical power of the city back into the hands of the nobility.
The Arkanika
Dedicated to the proliferation of the Arkanik as a means to "improve" life in Andport, The Arkanika supplies men and organizations of means magical alternatives to achieve productivity. Their work is custom made to suit the needs of their customers. Although nobody knows their secrets, what is notoriously common knowledge is the faint purple glow of their devices.
House D'eatre
D'eatre is an old money house that has yet to be given official title. Their primary source of income/power is in private security forces. Though given no official sponsorship from the lordship, those serving D'eatre can often be seen (or not seen as the case often is) in parts of town where there is something that can't be trusted to the joke that is the city guard. Merchant ships will often hire D'eatre just to be afforded the luxury of flying the colors of the House. More than one pirate organization has come to a grizzly end after interfering with the business of those under D'eatre's protection.
Traders' Guild
Unlike in the northern part of the kingdom the traders of Andport have a strong say in their fate with their collective commonly referred to as the Guild. The Guild is quite protectionist, no merchant would think to set up shop in Andport without first joining. It's rare to even find a traveling merchant in the city that hasn't at least collected a temporary pass from the group first. At one point there were several guilds each one overseeing specific trades. Eventually the began merging as it became obvious the power the groups could have in the city if they were united.
The Jade Eye
The Jade Eye is the most prominent underworld organization in the city. Of course, nobody can prove its existence but you'll have a hard time finding anyone to call D'eatre liars for saying so. If it did exist though (and it totally does) they would specialize in the dirty jobs that people couldn't be caught doing themselves. Of course nobody from the Jade Eye has been caught either, but conventional wisdom says no job is too big for them, but they are above petty crimes.
Albionus' School for Gifted Youngsters
The name is a bit of a misnomer, people of all ages attend this school for those gifted enough to bend reality to their whim. Initially it was setup to help younger people cope with their abilities, but as time went by it was used to train the gifted in using their abilities for good. Despite this they are often maligned. More than one student has left the school practicing philosophies differing from those taught there.
The Thieves' Syndicate
While not nearly on par with the acts of the Jade Eye, the Syndicate does specialize in the criminal, specifically stealing. Everyone from the cutpurses to home robbers checks in with the Syndicate. They are particularly ruthless towards those who have not acquired passage to operate in the city.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Andport: Savage Magic, Part II
So I got a comment about my previous article on what types of magic I'd be using for the Andport campaign. It caused me to consider something about Miracles that hadn't really crossed my mind. Based on the notion that I didn't have any concrete deities for my world yet, the suggestion was to allow the PCs to champion a cause and their faith in that cause or ideal would be sufficient to grant them the Arcane Background (AB) of Miracles.
I remember when I played 3.5 how clerics where allowed to be a believer in the cause of a domain without following a dogma, and I really like that idea. I like the story possibilities that could come with that. When people can have enough faith in an abstract concept that it provides them with the same amounts of power as those who are imbued by a deity, what message does that deliver to the laymen? It definitely calls into question the sovereignty of the gods. In a fantasy setting faith in gods isn't so much a requirement, they are proved to be real. You could argue that faith in a cause would be stronger because it can't be personified.
Which leads to another thing that was brought up in that reply. He referred to these Miracle-wielding idealists as "avatars". I think there is potential there, great potential. Being a voice on the material plane for your god is one thing. Embodying an ideal is something else entirely. I really, really like the idea but I think it gets a little too heady for what I'm going for with Andport. I do reserve the right to hold onto it though. Andport is part of a larger world, one that I intend to fill out with time and necessity.
I remember when I played 3.5 how clerics where allowed to be a believer in the cause of a domain without following a dogma, and I really like that idea. I like the story possibilities that could come with that. When people can have enough faith in an abstract concept that it provides them with the same amounts of power as those who are imbued by a deity, what message does that deliver to the laymen? It definitely calls into question the sovereignty of the gods. In a fantasy setting faith in gods isn't so much a requirement, they are proved to be real. You could argue that faith in a cause would be stronger because it can't be personified.
Which leads to another thing that was brought up in that reply. He referred to these Miracle-wielding idealists as "avatars". I think there is potential there, great potential. Being a voice on the material plane for your god is one thing. Embodying an ideal is something else entirely. I really, really like the idea but I think it gets a little too heady for what I'm going for with Andport. I do reserve the right to hold onto it though. Andport is part of a larger world, one that I intend to fill out with time and necessity.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Andport: Savage Magic
As I mentioned previously, I decided to use Savage Worlds for my Andport pbp. And if I didn't mention it previously I'm mentioning it now.
Like many "generic" RPGs out there Savage Worlds allows for modularity in what kinds of magic a GM will allow for his setting. Other games, like D&D for example, are written under the assumption that certain forms of magic are ubiquitous from setting to setting. The basic assumption of Savage Worlds is that all forms of magic will have access to the same list of powers on a meta-game level, but in the world these powers will take on different skins, or "trappings". The "armor" spell may appear in the form of the symbol of a priest's god when cast by someone with the Arcane Background: Miracles. That same "armor" spell may appear in the form of dead bone, muscle, and sinew when cast by a necromancer with the Arcane Background: Magic.
I came into setting creation with only two preconceptions of magic:
1) There would be some kind of divine magic. For some reason I just feel naked thinking about a fantasy world without divine magic. As of yet I don't have a list of deities that those native to Andport worship (and the other free cities it shares the peninsula with), so I'm not exactly sure how this is going to be expressed in the world. But Arcane Background: Miracles is definitely in.
2) Arcane magic cannot be learned. It's an idea that I'm kind of fascinated with, magic being something that's in you, a part of you. It's not that unlike the Jedi but their powers feeling more like fantasy magic and also without all of their philosophy. The innate magic found in Arcane Background: Sorcery (in the Fantasy Companion) was a perfect match for this.
Even after pinning down mechanics for those two ideals for magic I felt something missing. It was the phantom limb where you can usually find wizards in a setting. But with the rule of "arcane magic cannot be learned" there was some difficulty in filling that void. Well, in doing the basic overview write-ups for the factions it hit me. Gadgets.
I quickly decided that there is a rare element in the world, probably not even native, that can be manipulated and worked into devices that can emulate magical powers. Arcane Background: Weird Science, anyone?
This does a few things for me. First and most obvious, it brings back a theme of the wizard that with proper knowledge you can access a powerful supernatural effect. It differs from the wizard in that it's not true magic. Even the trained lose access to the powers if they can't access their devices. The second thing it does is create a new dynamic by introducing this powerful resource.
So with my forms of magic chosen I wrapped up the search. I actually settled on magic in the middle of coming up with factions for Andport. Which I did before even coming up with a map, contrary to pretty much every piece of advice I've read. I found that by doing it this way the city already has tons of character before it has form. I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses.
Like many "generic" RPGs out there Savage Worlds allows for modularity in what kinds of magic a GM will allow for his setting. Other games, like D&D for example, are written under the assumption that certain forms of magic are ubiquitous from setting to setting. The basic assumption of Savage Worlds is that all forms of magic will have access to the same list of powers on a meta-game level, but in the world these powers will take on different skins, or "trappings". The "armor" spell may appear in the form of the symbol of a priest's god when cast by someone with the Arcane Background: Miracles. That same "armor" spell may appear in the form of dead bone, muscle, and sinew when cast by a necromancer with the Arcane Background: Magic.
I came into setting creation with only two preconceptions of magic:
1) There would be some kind of divine magic. For some reason I just feel naked thinking about a fantasy world without divine magic. As of yet I don't have a list of deities that those native to Andport worship (and the other free cities it shares the peninsula with), so I'm not exactly sure how this is going to be expressed in the world. But Arcane Background: Miracles is definitely in.
2) Arcane magic cannot be learned. It's an idea that I'm kind of fascinated with, magic being something that's in you, a part of you. It's not that unlike the Jedi but their powers feeling more like fantasy magic and also without all of their philosophy. The innate magic found in Arcane Background: Sorcery (in the Fantasy Companion) was a perfect match for this.
Even after pinning down mechanics for those two ideals for magic I felt something missing. It was the phantom limb where you can usually find wizards in a setting. But with the rule of "arcane magic cannot be learned" there was some difficulty in filling that void. Well, in doing the basic overview write-ups for the factions it hit me. Gadgets.
I quickly decided that there is a rare element in the world, probably not even native, that can be manipulated and worked into devices that can emulate magical powers. Arcane Background: Weird Science, anyone?
This does a few things for me. First and most obvious, it brings back a theme of the wizard that with proper knowledge you can access a powerful supernatural effect. It differs from the wizard in that it's not true magic. Even the trained lose access to the powers if they can't access their devices. The second thing it does is create a new dynamic by introducing this powerful resource.
So with my forms of magic chosen I wrapped up the search. I actually settled on magic in the middle of coming up with factions for Andport. Which I did before even coming up with a map, contrary to pretty much every piece of advice I've read. I found that by doing it this way the city already has tons of character before it has form. I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses.
Andport: Establishing an Urban Campaign
So I've been doing prep for a campaign I'm going to run over both the table and some PbP. We decided early on that in order for it to really be viable as a PbP (at least the way we would want to see it) it needs to have a heavy sandbox element to it. There will be some sources of conflict inherent in the setting, but ultimately it will be up to the PCs to decide how, or even if, they want to address them.
I felt like having an urban setting would be the best for this kind of game for several reasons. With much of the game being held in PbP I want to encourage the idea that most of the play will be held in dialogue or in characters following their own individual pursuits, and not so much an "adventure". If the sandbox is confined to a single city that helps to give a finite geographical definition within which the characters concerns are located. I'm calling that city Andport.
Another reason for wanting to keep the game in a city was so that I can try something I've wanted to try for a while, which is to model a fantasy game after structures I found interesting in Vampire: The Requiem. I didn't want to model the feel and the themes of that game though. I wanted something distinctly fantasy.
What I did want to capture was the idea that there are all of these organizations in the city working to their own ends. Sometimes a faction will have an agenda that works at cross purposes to another faction (or factions). Other times, or maybe even simultaneously, that same faction will have other priorities that those same factions would be sympathetic to, or even outright support. This web of intrigue inherent to Vampire is what I wanted to emulate.
While everything important to this campaign will be in the city, not everything important to the city will be found within its walls. Due largely to my belief that fantasy roleplaying owes more to the myths of ancient Greece than it does to medieval European or Arthurian legend, I tend to favor borrowing more from that period for fantasy games. So Andport is part of a confederation of independent cities that occupy a peninsula in a particularly well-traveled sea.
Andport's incredibly defensible position has allowed for it to maintain its independence for many hundreds of years while providing a central location for honest traders and travelers. This has caused it to become something of a cultural mish-mash, with both the best and the worst of all peoples being represented. There's a chaotic sense of freedom in Andport which is about the extent of a unique identity for the city. With so many different races and cultures present it's really hard to pin down anything outside of dialect and accent that is distinctly Andportian.
This is, I hope, just the first in a series of articles with which I'll detail the city of Andport.
I felt like having an urban setting would be the best for this kind of game for several reasons. With much of the game being held in PbP I want to encourage the idea that most of the play will be held in dialogue or in characters following their own individual pursuits, and not so much an "adventure". If the sandbox is confined to a single city that helps to give a finite geographical definition within which the characters concerns are located. I'm calling that city Andport.
Another reason for wanting to keep the game in a city was so that I can try something I've wanted to try for a while, which is to model a fantasy game after structures I found interesting in Vampire: The Requiem. I didn't want to model the feel and the themes of that game though. I wanted something distinctly fantasy.
What I did want to capture was the idea that there are all of these organizations in the city working to their own ends. Sometimes a faction will have an agenda that works at cross purposes to another faction (or factions). Other times, or maybe even simultaneously, that same faction will have other priorities that those same factions would be sympathetic to, or even outright support. This web of intrigue inherent to Vampire is what I wanted to emulate.
While everything important to this campaign will be in the city, not everything important to the city will be found within its walls. Due largely to my belief that fantasy roleplaying owes more to the myths of ancient Greece than it does to medieval European or Arthurian legend, I tend to favor borrowing more from that period for fantasy games. So Andport is part of a confederation of independent cities that occupy a peninsula in a particularly well-traveled sea.
Andport's incredibly defensible position has allowed for it to maintain its independence for many hundreds of years while providing a central location for honest traders and travelers. This has caused it to become something of a cultural mish-mash, with both the best and the worst of all peoples being represented. There's a chaotic sense of freedom in Andport which is about the extent of a unique identity for the city. With so many different races and cultures present it's really hard to pin down anything outside of dialect and accent that is distinctly Andportian.
This is, I hope, just the first in a series of articles with which I'll detail the city of Andport.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
It's a troll with an explative bazooka!
So I got my first chance to use Captain Gunnbjorn in a game of Hordes MKII. He's one of the GenCon pre-release models. He really helps to fill a gap that the Trollbloods had from a lack of ranged support from a warlock.
His spell Guided Fire gives all models in his battlegroup an autoboost to ranged attack rolls. That's super sweet with a couple of Impalers who get a critical knockdown effect. It also gives Gunnbjorn the autoboost which is really sweet with the critical effect on his bazooka. It tosses anyone under its 3" AoE back a number of inches equal to a roll of a d6. It's great against infantry, which is exactly what my first oppenent was running the first time I played Gunnbjorn. Unfortunately attrition was his plan. I lost.
Anyhow, I bought this model primarily because it's a troll with a bazooka. The imagery is just awesome. I really like his spell list but his feat is gaysauce. The only other real complaint I have is that he has zero by way of melee support. He's a total one trick pony, but that one trick is so much fun.
His spell Guided Fire gives all models in his battlegroup an autoboost to ranged attack rolls. That's super sweet with a couple of Impalers who get a critical knockdown effect. It also gives Gunnbjorn the autoboost which is really sweet with the critical effect on his bazooka. It tosses anyone under its 3" AoE back a number of inches equal to a roll of a d6. It's great against infantry, which is exactly what my first oppenent was running the first time I played Gunnbjorn. Unfortunately attrition was his plan. I lost.
Anyhow, I bought this model primarily because it's a troll with a bazooka. The imagery is just awesome. I really like his spell list but his feat is gaysauce. The only other real complaint I have is that he has zero by way of melee support. He's a total one trick pony, but that one trick is so much fun.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
GenCon 2010: Part I
Well, GenCon has been over for almost a week now and I'm just getting around to writing about it. For me this year was balls to the wall from the word "go" and you know what, I loved every minute of it.
It started Wednesday evening as we met up with my friends over at Fear the Boot. We shared a hotel room with them so we got the keys and unloaded all of our stuff. Then we headed out to World Wide Wing Night (which I'm reasonably certain was only recognized in Indy). Our party was placed out on the patio where the Booters where occupying several tables even before we arrived. As luck would have it the rain began as soon as we got there. The wait staff was very accommodating and found us space in the restaurant in good time. Several of us went out to the bar after that. We didn't get back to the room until 3am. That would prove to be a theme of the week.
Thursday morning we woke up at 6am, not by choice but Chris, Chad, and Wayne wanted to get their GenCon press passes good and early so they could get into the dealer's hall before it opened to the public. Dave and I couldn't get back to sleep after that. So we putzed around the hotel room and with three hours of sleep I felt like total crap already. That's a great way to start the con.
Our first stop was the board game library where we played Memoir '44. I own BattleLore and Battle of Westeros (FFG's new BattleLore game based on A Song of Ice and Fire) so Memoir had tons of elements that were familiar to me. I think out of all three Command and Colors games that I've played I like BattleLore the best.
When we were done with that it was just about time for the dealer's hall to open and with that...so did my wallet. Within the first...I don't know, 20 minutes of my being in the hall I bought a ton of cool pastic terrain for Warmachine and then I made a beeline for Luke Crane's booth. I picked up the brand new Adventure Burner and the two printed BW settings, Jihad, and The Blossoms are Falling.
After lunch I got a hold of my fellow TOFtBCHs (The Official Fear the Boot Communications Hub), Dan (grungydan), and Christian (zeikecoppereyes) back in the dealer hall, where we made a far more thorough go of it. We stopped and talked to Bob Arens for a bit, who was organizing demos for Wildfire games. It didn't take much convincing for me to pick up Poo. It's the game of competitive monky-feces slinging. It's pretty fun, very light...very.
After a bit more walking around we found Arc Dream Publishing's booth where I chatted with Shane Ivey for a bit. I had spoken with him over email a bit earlier in the year. He was gracious enough to donate prize support to a contest I was working on with Fear the Boot for the March of Dimes (yes, this GenCon will be very FtB heavy). I picked up Reign from their booth. I wish I had picked up a couple of their other games as well.
Then I went to the Red Dragon Inn which is the restaurant/bar on the ground floor of the Marriot hotel. They retheme it for GenCon. I met up with Dan, Pat, and John G. for a while there. Dan and I went back to Arc Dream's booth to talk to Shane again only this time we were there for a lot longer. I can't call myself a fanboy (yet), but I dig the ideas they build their games off of and (again), Shane's a great guy. I hope this company does well.
Eventually we end up at dinner at Alcatraz steak house. It's comparable to Applebee's in menu selection, price, and quality. We head back to the room, play some Poo, and then my friends from Michigan (who had arrived in time for dinner) head back to their hotel room some 20 minutes out of downtown. At this point I head down to the FtB beer tasting where we more or less hung out until 3am again. Had a nice little chat about the state of the industry with Chad on the way back to the room. I go to bed...exhausted.
It started Wednesday evening as we met up with my friends over at Fear the Boot. We shared a hotel room with them so we got the keys and unloaded all of our stuff. Then we headed out to World Wide Wing Night (which I'm reasonably certain was only recognized in Indy). Our party was placed out on the patio where the Booters where occupying several tables even before we arrived. As luck would have it the rain began as soon as we got there. The wait staff was very accommodating and found us space in the restaurant in good time. Several of us went out to the bar after that. We didn't get back to the room until 3am. That would prove to be a theme of the week.
Thursday morning we woke up at 6am, not by choice but Chris, Chad, and Wayne wanted to get their GenCon press passes good and early so they could get into the dealer's hall before it opened to the public. Dave and I couldn't get back to sleep after that. So we putzed around the hotel room and with three hours of sleep I felt like total crap already. That's a great way to start the con.
Our first stop was the board game library where we played Memoir '44. I own BattleLore and Battle of Westeros (FFG's new BattleLore game based on A Song of Ice and Fire) so Memoir had tons of elements that were familiar to me. I think out of all three Command and Colors games that I've played I like BattleLore the best.
When we were done with that it was just about time for the dealer's hall to open and with that...so did my wallet. Within the first...I don't know, 20 minutes of my being in the hall I bought a ton of cool pastic terrain for Warmachine and then I made a beeline for Luke Crane's booth. I picked up the brand new Adventure Burner and the two printed BW settings, Jihad, and The Blossoms are Falling.
After lunch I got a hold of my fellow TOFtBCHs (The Official Fear the Boot Communications Hub), Dan (grungydan), and Christian (zeikecoppereyes) back in the dealer hall, where we made a far more thorough go of it. We stopped and talked to Bob Arens for a bit, who was organizing demos for Wildfire games. It didn't take much convincing for me to pick up Poo. It's the game of competitive monky-feces slinging. It's pretty fun, very light...very.
After a bit more walking around we found Arc Dream Publishing's booth where I chatted with Shane Ivey for a bit. I had spoken with him over email a bit earlier in the year. He was gracious enough to donate prize support to a contest I was working on with Fear the Boot for the March of Dimes (yes, this GenCon will be very FtB heavy). I picked up Reign from their booth. I wish I had picked up a couple of their other games as well.
Then I went to the Red Dragon Inn which is the restaurant/bar on the ground floor of the Marriot hotel. They retheme it for GenCon. I met up with Dan, Pat, and John G. for a while there. Dan and I went back to Arc Dream's booth to talk to Shane again only this time we were there for a lot longer. I can't call myself a fanboy (yet), but I dig the ideas they build their games off of and (again), Shane's a great guy. I hope this company does well.
Eventually we end up at dinner at Alcatraz steak house. It's comparable to Applebee's in menu selection, price, and quality. We head back to the room, play some Poo, and then my friends from Michigan (who had arrived in time for dinner) head back to their hotel room some 20 minutes out of downtown. At this point I head down to the FtB beer tasting where we more or less hung out until 3am again. Had a nice little chat about the state of the industry with Chad on the way back to the room. I go to bed...exhausted.
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