Month: August 2015

Today’s topic is Favorite RPG You No Longer Play.

This will be a short entry from me — the truthful answer is “any of them,” because I have not had the chance to play or run an RPG in literally years. It’s something that I really need to do something about.

That depressing answer out of the way, let’s check in with Dave Chapman, with special guest Cat Tobin of Pelgrane Press, for today’s video entry:

Another odd one today: Favorite idea for merging two games into one.

The fuck?

I’m not sure I’ve ever thought of smashing together two games — settings, sure. I’ve done that tons of times. But merging two games? Aside from lifting the occasional cool mechanic from one game for use in another (I have a system for using FATE-style Aspects with Savage Worlds, for instance, which I’m considering releasing in a published product down the road), or playing a game with rules I like, using the setting from a game which has a less-than-stellar rules set, I can’t really envision doing it.

Actually… as I’ve been typing this, I’ve thought of a merger which would definitely interest me: Take the astoundingly complete (700+ pages) STARBLAZER ADVENTURES, the “rock-and-roll space opera adventure game”, which used the original version of the FATE rules with a license for a UK anthology comic series of the 70s/80s. I worked on that game, and I’m very familiar with it. The license has expired, so all of the comics-specific material would have to be excised, but the space opera mechanics for FATE were really excellent. I would take those, bring them in line with the newer FATE rules (perhaps some elements of FATE ACCELERATED, too), and come up with an original setting that reflects late 70s/early 80s space opera. That would be fun.

Would I consider that my “favorite idea”, though? Again, not sure I have a favorite.

Dave Chapman has some ideas…

Today’s entry asks the question, what is your Favorite Inspiration For Your Game?

Now, when I first saw the list of topics, I pretty much assumed that at this point, I’d probably be talking about the mix of genres that created FAR WEST. The short version of that: Once I noticed the similarities between Spaghetti Westerns and Chinese Wuxia, I couldn’t stop seeing the parallels. To this day, every time I encounter a plot element or trope from one, I immediately see how it is reflected in the other, and how I can find the midpoint for the FAR WEST setting.

But… The more I thought about it, the more I realized that as cool as that is, that’s not actually my favorite inspiration.

As cheesy as it sounds, my favorite inspiration is actually — players.

This is not some kumbaya, touchy-feely, “I love you guys” kind of tribute to the folks that I’ve played games with (although it certainly could be). No, this is a recognition of the actual nuts-and-bolts method that I’ve always used when running a game, which is to let the players define as much of what’s going on as possible, and then riff of what they’ve presented.

I codified this method in my game UnderWorld (15 years ago now), with a term that I called “Intuitive Continuity” — which was picked up by some of the indie story-gaming folks at The Forge website as part of their Big Model thesis of play. Basically, what I do is that I let the player’s actions, interests, and even their at-table suppositions amongst themselves, shape the actual reality and back-story of what’s occurring. The key to this, for me, was the realization that nothing exists until presented to the players — in other words, it doesn’t matter that I’d decided that the villain was actually planning X; if the players come up with a compelling case for the fact that he’s planning Y or Z, then I can juggle information behind the scenes to make that true, as long as it doesn’t violate anything I’ve presented to them already.

In the core rulebook of UnderWorld, I compared it to improvisational jazz — where I’m not entirely improvising — I know the key of the song, and I have a few practiced riffs that I’m good enough at that I can play automatically while my mind is focused a few bars ahead on composing something on-the-fly for when I reach that part. If I do it well enough, the whole thing is seamless.

That’s how I run my games, so in a very real way, my players are always my favorite inspiration.

Now, let’s check in with Dave Chapman, and special guest Andy Peregrine, for today’s video entry: