Tuesday Night Attempted Gaming

For the last few month I've been in a role-playing group every Tuesday evening after work. It started as my introduction to FATE 3.0 via Dreadnought and then on to my game based in the Dresden Files Universe version of Vancouver. Starting at seven players, my game swiftly dwindled to three regulars, then just those three, end of story.

I was kind of losing heart at this point, but one of our small number offered to run the FATE powered sci-fi game, Diaspora. I jumped at the chance to play rather than GM again, and we started character creation with five players. Before the first session, that dwindled to two players.

None-the-less, it has been an awesome amount of fun so far, but we've done nothing. We have brought a whole new meaning to the terms sidetracked, procrastinate and distractible. We only really get two hours on Tuesday evening to play, but that actually works out to less than an hour of playtime, with the remaining time made up of stories from our week, random stuff we read online, old TV shows, apt and hilarious quotations that then require explaining, discussions of what we're currently reading or playing and much, much more, all wrapped up in a tidy package of howling laughter.

We honestly get nothing done. In five weeks we've started one adventure, of which we have boarded a vessel, met the other passengers, found a ghost ship, went on board, investigated, had lunch, found something that shouldn't be. Only the last two points were performed yesterday.

I love it. I haven't had as much fun in a long time. Sometimes, gaming is just an excuse to meet up and hang out with people. Getting any progress in the story is secondary to the enjoyment of one anothers company.

Conflict And Consequences

Notice: As this is the final post in this series, why not catch up on the whole lot.
1 Writing The Dreadnought RPG
2 The Great And Terrible Engine
3 Mysteries And Machinations
4 Intrigue And Investigations

I arrived in the store at my usual early hour. In a break from tradition, I got food on the way as Claire went to a writing seminar on writing for video games in Downtown, so we didn't have dinner at home. I suppose we could have had an early dinner, but I was playing the Gears of War 3 Beta and food was not a priority.

For the final installment of the series we only had three available players. One of the missing was away on holidays and had informed me last week while the other was chipping away at a project he needed to finish. After the others arrived, there was a short discussion about the Gears of War series and Beta before we started into the big finale[1].

Skip to the end.

This week was almost entirely combat with roleplaying opportunities spread between bouts of conflict. I think I've mentioned before that combat is my weak point. I find it hard to make dice rolling exciting, which is why I tend to emphasize the roleplaying aspect of my games. But tonight worked out well. There was lots for people to do, and combat was brutal. I got to inflict a lot of damage on people, and cause quite a few Consequences.

By the end of the night the characters were all a little bloodied and beaten, the last secret of the Dreadnought remained a secret, and the various characters parted ways to continue their individual unwritten stories beyond the adventure.

One of the interesting features of this evenings game was that one of the players sent his character in a very different direction from the book, and almost got the character killed in the process. Last minute fortune kept peoples attention focused on bigger problems, but things could have been interesting. Afterwords, there was some discussion about Player versus Player conflict, and I was happy to find the while everyone was OK with the idea of it for a once-off, the upcoming campaign will not be suffering such difficulties[2].

I was glad to see that everyone enjoyed the extended combat. Next week we start the character generation for Dresden Files, and while I don't expect to be regularly dealing with combat scenarios involving the huge numbers of forces on both sides that tonight’s session included, it may well be something I might try as a "season finale", and I'm glad the players are comfortable with the idea.

After the game we all retired to a local bar that we've been enjoying after most of the sessions so far. I had to strongly resist the urge to head home and play the Beta, but I enjoy the conversations that we usually have when we're out, so I dropped my bags at home and headed out as well. This gave me an opportunity to inquire about what the players present liked and didn't like about the game. Thankfully, there was little to complain about, and the only major issue was  a lack of complete comfort with the character players were playing, something that I admitted I expected even before the game began. These were pre-generated characters, with little input for the players that were playing them. For my following campaign, the players will be creating their own characters and that shouldn't be an issue.

As combat dominated the session, there wasn't as many opportunities for favourite moments, thought we did end the session on a note of hope for the characters and their world. As the session ended, one of the Player Characters turned to one of the Non-Player Characters from an opposing faction and shook hands, commenting "I hope we don't meet again before this war is over", to which the NPC replied, with the help of one of the other players at the table "I agree, and hope to see you again, soon."

Next week we meet to create the city and characters for my upcoming Dresden Files RPG. I can't wait to see what the players create. The last four weeks have been a wonderful experience for me as their GM. I can only imagine the amazing characters and world they will create themselves.

[1] Thanks to the Gears Beta, I didn't really prepare a snappy "Previously in Dreadnought", or any kind of opening in fact. So I started the game with "You all know where we stand, let's do this" and I feel the session suffered for it. I think players got into the game a lot faster the previous week and I feel we had a lot more energy from the moment the first scene began. Lesson learned: Always have a snappy opening.
[2] I realize some games work with Player versus Player conflict, but there is a reason I don't play them. PvP is something I don't enjoy, both as a GM and player. I like my party to work together as a unit. I actively discourage players from creating characters that have strongly opposing views or goals that are exclusive of each other. PvP tension is enjoyable and can really add to a game, but not all out conflict in my opinion. 

Intrigue And Investigations

Notice: I've had an unexpected number of requests for more details on the events of the story itself, or the possibility of posting my notes somewhere[1]. As I've stated before, this is an RPG game for personal use based on the copyrighted works of Cherie Priest. In respect of her work, I am purposely avoiding revealing plot points from the story, instead focusing these Actual Play posts on the session gameplay itself. If you enjoy these posts, perhaps you should think of picking up Dreadnought or Boneshaker by Cherie Priest from your local book store, or at any number of locations online.

Once more I arrived at The Connection full on the fabulous foodening provided by my wonderful wife. I'm starting to see a trend in my meals before my GM sessions. Last week was pork mince with sloppy joe mix and salad on toasted buns, this week was the same mince mix and salad but in tacos. Next week I intend to try the same mix and salad combo in tortilla wraps! Nom-nom-nom.

One of the players actually beat me to the store this week, so we chatted and discussed our weekends as the rest of the gang arrived over the following 45 minutes. By 7pm we had the full table, the first game with five players present!

I opened the game a little differently this week, trying something humorous. I did a "Previously, in Dreadnought"[2] recap as if it was a TV show, throwing out a string of sound bites, dialogue from various characters, both PCs and NPCs, hitting all the major revelations and facts from the previous two sessions. I think it worked really well to focus the players on the game, and I loved doing it. Definitely something I'll use again.

The game opened with some opportunity for investigation, roleplay and interparty conversation that allowed the players figure out a little more of what was going on. It also was the first point in the story that I got to play with my train, losing some carriages and introducing one new piece, as in the original text. Great fun was had by all.

Then the train started out on the final leg of its journey.

Skip to the end.

Once again my players never cease to amaze me. There were many, many awesome moments, but if I had to pick just two, they would be as follows:

The first was right at the start, before they had even left the station, when one player decided to investigate one of the more interesting carriages of the train by approaching it in exactly the same manner as the same character in the novel. I awarded the player a FATE point for that, though I guess I should have awarded it to Cherie Priest for writing a character that follows her nature and acts exactly as she should in a given situation!

The other involved a great example of how Aspects can be used. The Aspect "I'm not here to fight you" was meant as a Trouble, allowing me to Compel him into not getting violent. Instead, the player suggested that he could use it to gain a bonus on his Gun skill as he was using it to disarm the opponent, not inflict damage. In other words, he was removing the opponent as a threat, thus not having to fight him. I totally loved this idea, and the player invoked the Aspect to get a +2 to a roll, giving him a success, shooting the gun from the NPCs hand, and removing him from combat without inflicting damage.

There was a brief moment where there was a very real threat that the party might get totally split up due to decisions made for the protection of the passengers. Luckily, it was decided at the eleventh hour to keep the civilians together and thus the party remained in the same general location. I'm not sure how I would have handled the endgame had the players actually decided to split themselves up, but thankfully it's not something I had to deal with tonight.

Suffice it to say, if the players had come up with a plausible explanation to split the party at this stage, I would be writing an angry letter to the author reclaiming my previously awarded FATE point and pointing out the massive plot hole in her story. However, the varied excuses of weather, raiders and a three-day delay for the passengers in getting to their connecting trains (a fate worse than the threat of death that accompanied remaining on board the Dreadnought, apparently) justified keeping everyone on the moving train.

While one of the trains two main secrets were revealed this week, the other remains under lock and key, mainly due to some fantastic gaming by the player in charge of said secret. We'll see if this comes to light before the end of our story next week, but I remain open to the possibility that it won't.

All in all, once again, a great game. My players are, each and every one of them, awesome. We have a great time, loads of laughs and some great gaming too. We're the only group in the store on a Tuesday evening, which is lucky. I think anyone else who could be there might get annoyed at the constant interruptions by howls of laughter every few minutes.

I thought two hours would be awfully short to play a story driven game, but at three sessions in, I'm noticing that we're all pretty focused on the game from the opening scenes. While there is still the usual tangential tales and side stories about the cute things we saw on YouTube this week, they take up less time than I've experienced with other groups. It seems to be working well so far. The only thing I can say is that it might end up making my upcoming Dresden Files games into a series of two-parters rather than the episodic style of one night, one story. That's not a problem, just an observation.

Next week, Dreadnought wraps up with a final massive combat session and then some! I aim to do some serious harm to my PCs. So far, these games have introduced the players to all the basics of FATE 3.0, from Fudge dice to FATE points, and Aspects to Stunts. Now it's time to teach them about pain and suffering, and the Consequences thereof!

[1] My notes were never meant to be read by anyone apart from myself anyway, so even if I did post them, they wouldn't be much use to anyone. Buy the book, bullet point the key events from the moment Mercy boards the Dreadnought to the moment she changes transport and you have what I wrote.
[2] I always loved hearing Goliath intone "Previous, in Gargoyles" at the start of an episode of the Disney cartoon from the 90's. Any time I hear or say "Previously, in..." I hear it in my head being said by Keith David. If I could get any celebrity to record my phone answering message, it would be him.

Mysteries And Machinations

Notice: This posting is about the second session of an RPG game for personal use based on the copyrighted works of Cherie Priest. The caveat from the first post continues to apply, namely that I will continue to avoid revealing plot points from the story, instead focusing this post on the gameplay itself. If you enjoy these Actual Play posts, perhaps you should think of picking up Dreadnought or Boneshaker by Cherie Priest from your local book store, or at any number of locations online.

I arrived at The Connection on Cambie nice and early to get set up. Thanks to my wonderful wife, I was full up on a delicious dinner and ready to game. Due to unavoidable circumstances, one of my players from last weeks game was absent. However, during the week, we picked up another player, so we had four regardless. Despite this, I played the missing players Player Character, and the new entry to our ranks was given a new PC.

The previous session had ended at the first station stop on the journey, and anyone who has read the books knows that a few new characters board the train at this point. So when another player told me he would be free and interested in joining, I honestly couldn't believe my luck. This was too perfect. He'd just play one of the new characters that would otherwise have been an Non-Player Character. Honestly, I couldn't have planned this if I had tried. That said, I would have preferred to not have one of the starting players miss the game, but nothing could be done, so we motored on regardless.

After our new player had a chance to read over his character, and some brief questions about FATE were asked, the game got going at around 7:15pm.

Where the first session opened with an opportunity for everyone to introduce themselves, this week opened with some conversations on the stations platform before the whistle blew and everyone boarded. After that, we had a long roleplaying session where mysteries were raised, everyone learned a little more about each others motivations, and uneasy allegiances were formed between Player Characters. This brought us right up to 8pm, and the next station.

A quick stop, some new passengers, a few more questions between players, and we had our combat of the evening. That ran up to and beyond 9pm, but the staff at the store are super awesome, and we were let run a little late to wrap things up. Combat over, one more revelation with an NPC, and I called it for the evening. My watch was just rolling on to 9:20pm.

So, how did the evening go? Pretty good, I think. Let's review.

It opened with some fantastic roleplaying from everyone. More silly accents, more hilarity, more intrigue. Facts were doled out in tiny bites, and players fished for clues in everything that was said. In fact, I was worried that it was too slow, and used my power lent to me as the controller of what had once been a PC to move things along once. I'm not sure if that was great idea, but I felt that we were tight on time, and some of the players had to spend more in the scene time listening than interacting due to the character, so I felt it was worth the risk. It's not something I wanted to do, as I love letting players converse back and forth with each other at leisure. Regardless, most of the facts were laid out by the end, which was the important thing.

Combat was once again the slow point for me. I think this is something I need to work on. For something that is supposed to represent a fast, frantic event, I find combat in most games to be slow and boring. I tried to liven it up with dramatic descriptions, but in the end, it's going to be "I rolled one Plus overall, giving me Great Guns", "They rolled only Fair on their Drive, so you do 2 Stress". Still, we had some fun moments, like one player spending a FATE Point to make a Declaration that the carriages were steam heated and so had bags of coal stored away somewhere, then using that coal to help take out an opponent! Or another player using Investigate to discover a weak point, making that a tagable Aspect.

The game ended with one last round of roleplay, and, just before everyone relaxed, the arrival of something far in the distance.

One of the things I'm enjoying from the game is watching how the players and dice cause the story to divert from the book. Upholding my self-imposed ban on spoilers, all I'll say is that, by now, in the book Mercy was aware of one of the major secrets the Dreadnought held. Try as I might, I could not force the events of the book to play out in the game. The dice constantly rolled against me. I love that! There is every chance this secret will never come to light, and if that is the resolution, then so be it. I'm not going to press the matter. It's my game, based on Cherie Priests work, but this version of it is the players story. Kind of like a Marvel "What If..." Except without the Watcher.

I still didn't really Compel any Aspects, unfortunately. That is really something I need to work on. It's a core mechanic of the system, and I'm pretty weak at it. Granted, combat didn't really need any, but there must have been a moment or two where I could have pressed the players one way or another during the earlier scenes.

So there we have it. More adventure, more mystery, and more interparty conflict! Next week may or may not wrap everything up. There is a chance that we'll run for a fourth week. Tune in again to find out!

The Great And Terrible Engine

Notice: This posting is about the first session of an RPG game for personal use based on the copyrighted works of Cherie Priest. The caveat from the previous post continues to apply, namely that I will continue to avoid revealing plot points from the story, instead focusing this post on the gameplay itself. If you enjoy these Actual Play posts, perhaps you should think of picking up Dreadnought or Boneshaker by Cherie Priest from your local book store, or at any number of locations online.

I arrived my local gaming store early to allow me to set out my bits and pieces, as well as giving me a few minutes to relax and center myself before the players showed up. I chose not to lay out the train in advance, as some of the characters would only just be arriving to the station. I left the character sheets face down in the center of the table, and placed the adventure notes to one side at the head of the table, where I would be sitting.

Once the players arrived, we chatted for a bit and I gave them my best "FATE 3.0 in a nutshell" speech. Of the four players, one has read Spirit of the Century, Starblazer Adventures and Diaspora, but has never played or GMed a game using the system, while the other three were completely new to Fudge and FATE. That took all of about fifteen to twenty minutes, questions included.

At this point it was just past 7pm. The store closes at 9pm, and one of the things I was interested in seeing was how much gaming we could get done within that given time. It's only two hours, and seems awfully short for a story driven game not based around one combat encounter after the next. Just like in the book, all the characters have their own motivations and stories, and they would need time to chat among themselves and get to know their travel companions. With time ticking by, I dived right in and sorted out the characters.

There are two male and two female Player Characters. One of the players requested a male, while the others didn't express a preference. With that sorted, I sat back for the next fifteen or so minutes as the players read over everything and asked questions about Aspects, Stunts or general descriptions. The Skill tree was only filled in from Great to Fair, giving everyone six Skills each. Everything else would be rolled at Mediocre, but the Average line was blank if players wanted to promote a Skill that they thought would be useful for the version of the character they were playing. Similarly, there was space in the Aspects for players to personalize the characters themselves.

With all that out of the way, the game began. By now it was 7:20pm. I had a little over 90 minutes.

As I described the station and the train, I laid out my little rectangles of acetate. The players were wonderful, jumping at the chance to talk about the unusual engine and the many cars it pulled, questioning station staff about some of the more unexpected elements, and finally boarding. Most of the players decided to all stay in one carriage (much to my relief), and the train chugged out of the station.

Skip to the end.

By nine o'clock we had gotten in a lot of revealing conversation, some clever and hilarious use of Aspects, aided by some equally hilarious roleplaying, an unending string of silly voices; started by me in the guise of the various NPCs, but picked up by all the players; and the first tentative spending of Fate Points. There was even a little hint of distrust among the PCs, something I didn't even have to encourage, but definitely hoped for! I never had the opportunity to invoke any obvious Compels, or I missed them if I did, but that's OK. It was only the first session, and I have a few bullet-points in my notes where some choice Compels will make things exciting later.

The game ended with everyone arriving at the first stop on the journey for an unexpected over-night stay and one of the characters uncovering yet another mystery.

All the players had a great time, and the feedback was jolly and positive. I had an absolute blast, and loved getting back into the GM seat after several months away. Everything ran smoothly, and the players claimed that they didn't feel too railroaded in their actions, pun entirely intended. While they were on board a train and reacting to outside forces on occasion, the freedom offered by the dependance on conversation and investigation offset any feelings that they didn't have control over where the story went to next.

I have two favorite moments from the first session.

The first happened shorty after boarding, one of the female PCs attempted to seduce one of the NPCs into revealing a little something about one of the mysteries on board. The player rolled well, but I miraculously rolled a full set of Pluses (I don't use GM screens, so the reaction from the players was immediate and comical)! The NPC coughed once, dragged his eyes from the heaving chest and returned to whatever he was doing at the time.

The second came later, just after a moment of excitement on board the train. Two of the Player Characters faced off against each other momentarily, each just making sure the other knew where they stood. As they relaxed, one turned to the other and said "I've got my eye on you, X", a line directly from the novel itself! And, while it was said in the novel by one of the other characters, in both cases it was said to the same character! I must have done something right in his description that the player played him just like the book writes him! I laughed out loud.

All in all, a great first session. We got a surprising amount done, and next week we'll have even longer, not losing out on the first half hour like we did this week due to reading over the characters. I can't think of anything that needs to be improved yet. This was was very much an introductory session, so things went smoothly. Maybe just keep a watchful eye out for those Compelling moments.

Writing The Dreadnought RPG

Notice: This posting is about the creation of an RPG game for personal use based on the copyrighted works of Cherie Priest. I do not have permission from the author, and as such I am taking some polite efforts to protect her works. I will avoid revealing actual details of the story, including most character names and specific outcomes of events portrayed in the novel Dreadnought. Most of what I do reveal is the stuff you could learn about by reading the blurb on the back of the book. Instead, this post is mainly concerned with the work I put into creating a game scenario based on a novel. If you are interested in learning the full story, I suggest asking your local book store to order it, or purchase it from any number of retailers online. I loved it. You probably will too.

Months ago I finally got my hands on Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest. A steampunk action adventure set in an alternate history Seattle I loved the setting and world created in the story, from the cool drilling machine of the title to the great walled city of Seattle. It was a world crying out to be expanded upon and realized through the joy of collaborative story-telling that is roleplaying games. More importantly, it was perfect for my favourite system, FATE 3.0. It had magnificent airships, heroic figures, dastardly villains and terrifying zombies. Awesome!

But building a whole game world is a daunting affair, especially when you're playing in another persons sandbox. Stay around Seattle and tell stories there? Explore further afield? Retell the adventure from the novel? The last option was favorable, if only because it was less work. But Boneshaker follows the adventures of Briar Wilkes and her son, mostly separated, and usually each alone. That does not a good RPG make.

And then along came Dreadnought. Also part of the Clockwork Century series, Dreadnought plays out most of its action on board a train pulled by the massive war-engine of the title. The start of the book follows the singular travels of the novels lead hero, Mrs. Mercy Lynch, as she travels to visit her sick father on the far side of the American continent. However, on reaching the Dreadnought, she is placed in an environment where she can repeatedly interact with a number of recurring characters, many of whom are fleshed out and developed over the course of the adventure[1].

My brain started firing on all cylinders! This was perfect. I could take Mercy and some of her traveling companions and make them the Player Characters. Some additional backgrounds might be needed for one or two, but most were well realized in the novel itself and needed very little additional work. In no time at all, I decided who would be good as PCs and who would work as important NPCs.

I laid out party of four Player Characters using the most recent iteration of the FATE 3.0 rules from The Dresden Files RPG. I had fun with the Aspects, taking quotes from the novel for some, and wording others in as humorous as manner as I could manage. Some examples include "Knowledge of the law... and lawless", "Blue or grey, they all bleed red", "I can be a hometown sweetheart... when it suits me" and "Competent officers are never given enough information to work with."[2]

As the train itself was an important character in the novel, I gave the Dreadnought her own set of Aspects, including my two favorite, "An armored tank, bound to the rails" and "Huge mass, unstoppable momentum".

Once I had the train speced up, I realized that she truly was important to the story. More than just a location for the action to happen on, she was even changing, and developed just like the named character aboard her. With this in mind I decided that I should have her represented on the game table. I drew each of the carriages on acetate, cutting them into separate cars so that over the course of the the game they can be removed, as in the story itself. The train ended up being huge, almost four feet in length! There are also a few mysteries on board, so I drew them onto separate acetates that I cut to allow me to drop onto the train as they become revealed[3].


Then I wrote up a total of five "At the mention of X, you recall the following" notes. These represent world knowledge that the characters have that the players themselves don't have. In particular, it is knowledge that would not make sense to have in the character descriptions without revealing a plot twist or interesting development. I also wrote a separate note for a telegraph one character accidentally reads.

With all that done, I then just needed to plot the adventure. Having read the book once, I went back and went through the story from the point that Mercy boards the Dreadnought pulled train. I made a bullet-point list of everything that happens, from subtle character development to the action set-pieces. NPCs were noted, and the important ones given a handful of Aspects and important Skills.

Finally, I printed out a map of the American States with their names, as well as a smaller map showing which states were with the Union and the Confederates during the Civil War. The latter may never be important, just adding knowledge and flavor but I used the labeled map to plot the journey of the characters, Indiana Jones style!

All the preparation was complete. The train was placed in one small envelope, while all the extra bits I didn't want the players to see right away were placed in the other. These two envelopes were then placed, along with the bullet-pointed adventure, the character sheets and backgrounds, the maps and any other bits I thought I might need, into a larger cardboard envelope for secure transport to my local gaming store.

And then I introduced Dreadnought to my players.

[1] Not that the supporting characters in Boneshaker weren't fleshed out, but few of them formed a party with either of the main characters for long enough that it was easy to decide who should be a Player Character.
[2] Pop quiz for those readers who have read Dreadnought: Which Aspect belongs to which character from the novel?
[3] My one mistake so far. I made the train out of acetate. It doesn't need to be transparent, in fact, it's harder to see because it is. The items to be placed on top later are perfect on an acetate, but the train should have been on white card. I think I'll get some modeling paint and paint the backs of the train acetates before next week.