This Modern Death

This Modern Death
Episode 45 – Role vs. Role vs. Role
Running Time – 55:25

This is out horribly late, but it’s out and done. In this episode, we continue the discussion on character roles, only this time with the regular TMD crew.

Links of Note: Our Burning Syanthea game at Obsidian Portal, The Walking Eye Podcast, with Kevin Weiser, and The Independent Insurgency, with Robert Bohl.

• Actual People, Actual Play
• Nerd Bound

This show is a member of Goblin: The Gaming Broadcast Network.

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Website: http://www.thismoderndeath.com
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 Episode 45 - Role vs. Role vs. Role [55:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Feature Creep [2:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hi Kids! Did you miss us? I did.

Couple things first. We have a show recorded. Hopefully, if Shaun’s a good boy and gets his math homework done tonight, he can maybe get it edited tomorrow. We recorded it about a month ago now, so some of the info in our news section is a little outdated. Such as the song fight. I lost, but I did finish on the first page. Cool.

Also, I had promised audio of us world burning. I have it, although it cut out after two hours. It’s enough to get the idea out of, so when I get a chance to relax maybe I’ll try my hand at editing.

Mother Fucking News Time Bitches
A lot of people already know, but I figured I’d reiterate for anyone who A. Doesn’t know us personally and flesh-like (Lol…fleshlike) and B. Doesn’t follow my FANTASTIC twitter account, twitter.com/govneh.

Here’s what’s up:
A couple of months ago, a client walked up to me and said “Want a job?”. I laughed, haha, good joke. Okay, so I’d only had like 4 hours of sleep and couldn’t hear thanks to The Reverend Horton Heat rocking my sweet ass the night before.

So he persisted, even offering to fire someone for me. Finally, it occurred to me that he might be serious. So I asked “Are you serious?”. Good job, Kristin.

Long to short, I took the job. Shaun and I are looking for a house to rent in Sacramento currently, and have already packed our entire book collection (it took 4 boxes, and I’m still finding stragglers). I’ll be working in Woodland and Shaun will be going to school in Sac and running my company.

What this means for the show? Meh, who knows. We do have every intention of continuing it, hopefully more so then we’ve been doing lately. We are talking about either moving to a once-monthly show, or skyping Randy in from Chico. We’re not dying, just probably taking a break until we’re settled. Hopefully Shaun will get that episode out to tide you over until we can figure things out again.

Cool thing, though, is that we’ll be closer to Sean Nittner of Narrative Control and our mutual friend Mike Parker (Good Omens Episode), as well as all the Bay Area gamers we know. Unfortunately, we’ll probably have to switch our current BW game to once a month, but will probably play BE in Sac.

Also, we’ll have a house. Sweet.

Just wanted to drop a line and let people know what’s up. We’re not gone, we’re just a little delayed.

Boosh.

By: William Patrick

Theme: Every action has a consequence

Mood: Dark, grim, depravity

Here is a short synopsis of the game:

-First, the game is called Dystopian Misfits. It is a cyberpunk game set in and around 2100.

-It uses the Consequence System.

-There will not be ‘magic’ of any kind, the closest thing to magic are some psychonetic augments.

-The electronic internet system is called The Syphon.

-Every character has two traits. A Cyber trait and a Punk trait. Ex- The cyber trait could be Hacker and the Punk

trait could be Criminal.

-Cyber traits range from Meatcan (a person who keeps replacing flesh for metal) to Syons (people who are

completely at home in the Syphon’s syreality and I don’t know if Syreality is a good term, it needs a

better ring to it).

-The Punk trait is what kind of anti-hero your character is. Addict, fence, bandit, deserter, traitor, spy, criminal,

outcast, visionary, rebel, mercenary, dissenter, smuggler, and misfit are all examples of Punk traits.

-Traits determine the types of augmentations your character may choose.

-There are four types of augmentation: Natural, Bionetic, cybernetic, and psychonetic.

-Natural augmentations are learned things that come without enhancement from technology. Someone may

be really good at drive cars without being syphoned into the car or with bionetically enhanced reflexes,

though it helps.

-Bionetic augmentations range from cultured sinew and hearts to the modification and addition of existing

fleshy bits. Think replicants from Bladerunner or the premise of The Island.

-Cybernetic augmentations range from metal plating and reinforcement to the replacement of limbs and

organs with metal counterparts. Think the razorgirl Molly from neuromancer.

-Psychonetic augmentations deal with the human mind. Tweaking and probing until people can do things

that their flesh and/or metal cannot do. Doing anything extreme that a body cannot normally handle falls

under psychonetic augmentations. Psychonetic augments also covers psychokinesis such as

telekinetics and telepathy.

-There would not be any more ‘magic’ than this, and it is not an extensive separate system.

-Skills will be rated from 1 to 8, the number indicating the number of dice in the dice pool. a 6,7,8 is a success.

-Score more successes than the GM to get a better result.

-The Skill list includes close combat skills (body, steel, vibro), ballistic combat skills (non-lethal, slug, charge),

physical skills like parkour, leap, climb, dodge, and swim; social skills like deceive, seduce, and barter;

knowledge skills like Sewer-smart, street-smart, et cetra; syphon skills like hack, program, wall, virtual, and port.

-There are no ‘base attributes’

-Skill caps are based on the number of augments your character has.

-There is one level of success, and multiple levels of failure and consequences.

-Characters have karma(tokens of some sort) to use to lower the effect of consequences.

-Characters gain karma(tokens) by increasing the effect of consequences.

-Advancement is given for completing challenges and each player besides the GM gets nominated for awards.

-Awards give points that lead to purchasing an enhancement.

-Enhancement gives skill points and an augment.

That is the basics. I’m done about a fifth of the game so far.

Part 2
By: William Patrick

The Prophecy
We have our prophet, now we need our prophecy. The defining factor of the prophecy you as a GM have to decide is this: Is the prophecy true? Is the prophecy the divine (or demonic) revelation of the future, or is it a drug or insanity induced hallucination. Even better, is the prophecy a planned hoax to get the prophet something he wants, be it war, women, money, or fame and the prophet accidentally says something that turns out to be true. The validity of the prophecy decides the direct the players will take.

Where is the prophecy from? She might be reading it from an ancient text, hearing it in her head, or are ghosts telling her? This will help you form your prophecy. The words you choose will be different depending on where the prophecy is coming from and it will affect how the players gauge it. Roger the street preacher bellows, “Our savoir will come and kill Lord Samson.” That is different from: “Our most holy savoir will cometh forth from molten ground and with a mighty sweep of his sword he will execute the vile Lord Samson.”
Language makes the prophecy; Roger hears the word of the holiest messengers from the Lord of Earth’s Sons, and he makes it sound like that. Do some research and use some older language if the prophecy is found in a book. Heck, your prophet might be the magic talking book.

Next Time: Sample Prophecies

This Modern Death
Episode 44 – Not Roleplaying in RPGs, and Just What the Hell is Roleplaying, Anyway?
Running Time – 41:24

This episode is a little bit different. Shaun hopped on Skype with Kevin Weiser from The Walking Eye Podcast and Robert Bohl from The Independent Insurgency to talk about not roleplaying in roleplaying games, followed by a discussion on what roleplaying is. Also, a brief, impromptu review of Zombie Cinema.

This show is a member of Goblin: The Gaming Broadcast Network.

Creative Commons License

This Modern Death by http://www.thismoderndeath.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Website: http://www.thismoderndeath.com
Forum: http://forum.thismoderndeath.com
Email: thismoderndeath@gmail.com

 

 Episode 44 - Not Roleplaying in RPGs, and Just What the Hell is Roleplaying, Anyway? [41:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Part 1
By: William Patrick

We have all heard of the game where the players are thrust with the responsibility to save the world. Prophecies have been used in fantasy, fiction, and reality. All have been used for different effects. Whether it has been the too well known prophesy at the beginning of Lord Of The Rings or the end of the world has been told many times by many different religious mediums and scientific theories, prophecies are in our everyday lives. Therefore, prophecies are great for games because of the powerful plot hooks they can be. There are different ways for both players and game masters to use prophecies in games, and I’ll go over just a few of the ways that they can be used and more than a few questions to ask yourself.

The Prophet
First and foremost, who is the prophet? What does he do for a living? Is she a soothsayer or a preacher that yells at people as they walk by him on the street or is she an unsuspecting academic who succumbs to a holy (unholy?) vision in their university? The type of prophet and how they come about their prophecy is very important to how the world and your players see the prophet. If the players are supposed to believe the prophet, then the prophet should be believable in your setting. In the Holy Land of a Crusades style game, street preachers line the inside walls and shout the words of god, they will be ignored by most. If you are in a heavy religions game where anyone who is anyone is in the Church of Rezzek, then having someone who is not of this church prophesy will make the prophet laughed at or deemed a blasphemer. You are the best judge to who your characters will listen to, believe, or ignore and go running back to later.

For the prophet that the players need to listen to, make the prophet involved with the players and the characters. If you make the setting with your players (like you should be) then make the prophet someone their characters have a good relationship with. Making the prophet with the players could be the best thing for the prophecy. Making Roger the street preacher who has a nervous tick, yet a voice that captures attentions that used to be a swordsman in the mercenary group the players crusaded with makes the players want their characters to listen to Roger. In comparison, making a prophet that the characters are supposed to ignore is also fun to do with the players. Ask them what traits a prophet would have that would make them leave him alone and just walk by without a glance. The other players in the game are the greatest influence for the prophet. They may make prophets themselves.

Next Time: The Prophecy

This Modern Death
Episode 43 – Good Omens Con 3
Running Time – 01:31:33

We discuss, in a very untimely manner, our experiences at Omens Con 3. We also give reviews of the games we played there;Mutant City Blues, A Penny for My Thoughts, Houses of the Blooded,Mouse Guard, and Carl Rigney’s Don’t Rest Your Head Shadowrun hack called Don’t Lose Your Edge.

• This Just In from GenCon 2009
• The Great Debate

This show is a member of Goblin:

The Gaming Broadcast Network.

Creative Commons License

This Modern Death by http://www.thismoderndeath.com is licensed

under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Website: http://www.thismoderndeath.com
Forum: http://forum.thismoderndeath.com
Email: thismoderndeath@gmail.com

 

 Episode 43 - Good Omens Con 3 [91:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In reading this article, rest assured that the author is no Miss Manners. I have one of the filthiest mouths in gaming and am thus far unflappable no matter what the dark or taboo subject matter. Even where the roughest of us characters are concerned however, there are basic considerations that are expected where game space is concerned. These are things that, like some truths, should be self-evident but some of you gamers need a gentle nudge in the right direction. My goal is to lay out a basic set of behaviors that are expected from you, the gamer, at the table and we’ll leave topics like “hygiene” and “how to talk to girls” for later posts.

Golden Rule: Respect the space.

It would be unthinkable to go to your work/mother’s/girlfriend’s/fuck buddy’s space, damage things and leave your garbage and empty drinks everywhere; why would you do so at a gaming table? This applies to home games, games at a con or games run in a shared space, like a game store. Nothing is more frustrating than walking into a game at a con to find empty soda cans and candy wrappers on the table. I once was moving a kitchen chair and found something dark, sticky and disgusting (that I want to never know the origin of) wiped on the edge of a chair. I’ve encountered spills that were never soaked up; food on the floor, broken things left on the table…the list goes on and on. There are two simple rules to ensure no other gamer has to deal with similar occasions of “Scary Gamer Area”:

Rule #1: There shall be nothing at all left on the gaming table before you leave.

If everybody takes 30 seconds to remove garbage, put dishes away, pick up dice and tuck in chairs, the table will be spotless and the space clean enough for the next gaming group to come in/to please the person who would have to clean it otherwise.

Rule #2: If you spill something/make a mess, clean it up. If you do not know how or know where the cleaning supplies are kept, ask the host, GM or otherwise responsible body for assistance.

Trust me. Anyone in charge of these spaces would rather help you find cleaning supplies in a heartbeat than discover the mess 1 day/month/year later, when it’s 10 times harder to clean up. If you have teriyaki sauce/boogers on your finger, I would be delighted to dash to the bathroom and get a Kleenex instead of finding it under my chair.  I won’t even make fun of you. Promise.

I’d be hard pressed to find any gamer that would claim that would claim I ask too much of them. Not only would these rules make it nice for the gamers to follow you, but it prevents people from hesitating at letting gamers into their space. Just because it’s not dirty enough to bug you doesn’t mean it’s not dirty. Break the “dirty gamer” stereotype. Respect and clean the gaming area.

By William Patrick

You are in a dark cavern and a monster rises up ahead of you, looming over your petty stature. You reach for your sword and draw it from your sheath. This is the threshold between combat and everything else. Once you draw your sword, there will be blood, and it may be yours.

For new gamers who haven’t found their role-playing groove yet, even experienced gamers who want to add some more flare to their role-playing, you can always learn how to better your role-playing skills. Maybe you don’t want to use a funny accent, play your character in first person, or dress up as your character, but you could always add a bit more description to your actions. What better action is there than drawing your sword? It doesn’t have to be your sword; it could be your rifle, bow, bolas, or your extendable claws. For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to be writing about weapons with a hilt and a blade.

Let’s consider your weapon. What type of sword are you using? Knights wield broadswords, soldiers in the far-flung future carry laser swords, zombie slayers always have a katana, and street thugs probably have a knife somewhere. Choosing your weapon reflects a lot about your character. Claymores are vicious and imposing, rapiers are quick and cunning, and wakizashis are exotic and mysterious. If you are a Victorian musketeer and you wield a bastard sword, which explains that in addition to your swashbuckling swagger and wit you are both heavy-handed and adaptable. The musketeer might draw his sword with gusto and a flourish of his cape, before leveling it and gripping it with both hands.

Now that you have picked a sword for your character, create the description of your weapon. Decide what your blade is made of, and where it is made. Has the sword been used for years or was it forged and polished yesterday? Determine the little details of the hilt, including the cross-guard, grip, and pommel. There may be something distinguishing about your blade, such as the poison glistening on the point or the fire which clothes the blade when it is drawn from its sheath. Is the scabbard made of wood, leather, bronze, or steel? Does the sword scrape harshly against the scabbard or slide out with no more noise than a whisper? There are many questions that you can ask yourself to make your sword unique to you.

The next time your GM starts a combat and demands that initiative should be rolled, your first action will be drawing your sword. Begin your turn with your character wrapping his nimble fingers around the worn leather grip and wrenching his broadsword free from the scabbard. The iron blade chimes when it is drawn from the bronze sheath and he raises it above his head and brings it bear in front of him, point leveled at his foe.

This Modern Death
Episode 42 – Greaser Ghouls from Outer Space
Running Time – 01:16:06

In this very special episode, we write an entire goddamn game in an hour. Well, more like brainstorm an entire goddamn game. Whatever.

We also discuss what game our group’s planning on playing next, with some interesting discussion to go along with that.

Finally, a couple of reminders. GO Con is filled up, but come by if you want to try and get into a game. It’s at Endgame, in case we haven’t mentioned it enough. Also, we still have TMD T-shirts for sale. If you’d like one, send an email to Randy. They’re $20, including shipping.

• This Just In from GenCon 2009
• White Wolf Blogcast

This show is a member of Goblin: The Gaming Broadcast Network.

Creative Commons License

This Modern Death by http://www.thismoderndeath.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Website: http://www.thismoderndeath.com
Forum: http://forum.thismoderndeath.com
Email: thismoderndeath@gmail.com

 

 Episode 42 - Greaser Ghouls from Outer Space [76:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download