Reading, Prepping, and Playing Part II

Time passes, right? So, six months or so ago, I posted a list of what I'd been working on at that point.

Well, it's been six months or so. How about an update?

We Didn't Playtest This At All
This has become my pick-up and play game of choice. Well, this and Win, Lose or Banana. It's not a deep game, but it's some of the best filler I've ever played.

Dungeon Twister
The XBox game has been pushed back to ... January, at last check. That doesn't stop me from playing it.

Identik
I've been demoing this at several local game stores, and it always goes over well. It's a great game and is well worth the time to learn (and play).

Hex Hex
I've been playing Hex Hex XL, actually. I liked the original, and this is clearer and more accessible. I do love this game, though.

Dungeons & Dragons
I'm playing 4th Edition, and I'm still enjoying it. All of the complaints I've been seeing about the game are about things that ... aren't in the game. No, it's not 3rd Edition. Or 2nd. No, there aren't any real rules for "getting into character," or even effective guidelines. But that didn't stop us in 2nd or 3rd Edition - why are we holding 4th to a different standard? And yes, I'm serious.

Runequest II
I recently acquired this one because I saw Clockwork and Chivalry, which requires it. You see, several of my friends are hugely into Steampunk (which I need to discuss sometime). Part of the steampunk culture these days includes music, especially Abney Park. And there is an RPG coming that is based on their music. That RPG is being written by Cakebread & Walton - the two individuals who wrote Clockwork & Chivalry (which, by the way, I also ordered). That said, however, I like RuneQuest on its own, even though I can see its BRB roots.

Shadows of the Apt
One of the most dangerous things for me is Amazon's recommendations, because they ... well ... keep getting more accurate. When you combine that with the fact that I can very easily order books for my Kindle from anywhere, well, it's a dangerous thing. But I digress.

A few months ago, it suggested Empire in Black & Gold to me. I devoured it. It's sparking all kinds of game-related ideas. I think this setting could very easily be adapted to work in ... well ... RuneQuest would be easiest, I think. And it'd be a good fit.

Hamlet's Hit Points
I ordered it. Remember how I keep claiming that games and literature are two completely different things? In this book, Robin Laws reminds us that occasionally the twain shall meet. A solid grasp of literary theory can improve your game. While it's more useful for GM's, it's not a bad idea for players to have a glance at this one.

The Laundry RPG
I loved the novels (Start with The Atrocity Archives), and the RPG catches the flavor of the books very well. It's hard to do a book that is this funny without losing sight of the essential horror of the Cthulhu Mythos. It uses the BRP system (with some tweaks), but that makes it compatible with Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green.

Speaking of which, Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity has finally arrived after two and a half years of waiting. And it's good. Good enough that I'm seriously considering running a campaign (or a one-shot). It'd be liberally flavored with the Laundry, however. It'd pretty much have to be.

Diaspora
I love the FATE system. I make no bones about this. Where Starblazer Adventures is space opera, Diaspora has more realism as a goal. A hard SF FATE-based game ... wow. And there are lots of harvestable ideas in here.

Oh - and here's an idea my wife was shown in Portland that you might like: Add Aspects to D&D. One Aspect and one Fate Point per level. That way, your characters will grow personalities along with their increasing power level.

Here's one of the things I like about Diaspora: Characters don't increase their power levels significantly. It'll frustrate some players, it's true, but I like the way character advancement works. A lot.

Blood & Honor
I make no bones about being a fan of John Wick's work. I have a complete set of the first edition of the Legend of the Five Rings RPG. It has a few flaws here and there, but, for the most part, I love it. Orkworld, on the other hand, had a great setting with an almost completely unworkable system. Blood & Honor uses the same system as Houses of the Blooded, but it actually works on my Kindle without a 90-second delay between page turns. And it's a return to the Samurai genre of game that he loves so very much. And, before you ask, yes, he does continue the Adoration of the Katana.

Worth picking up? I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know when I've had a bit more time to read.

Advanced Feats: Secrets of the Alchemist
When the Open Design team offered to send a review copy of this one to me, I warned them that I'm not currently playing any Pathfinder games, so I might not be able to do it justice. I do have a friend who is a master at snooping out loopholes and broken things in games, so I asked him to take a look. After a few minutes on my Kindle, he handed it back to me. "Seems balanced," he said.

The PDF is only twelve pages long, but - even as a non-Pathfinder player - I can see how this one opens up the Alchemist class (and has answers that the base class is vague on). There are ideas in here that I can use in some of my Steampunk (and Clockpunk) gaming, but not as many as with a setting or concept book. There are Feats that can be tweaked into Aspects for FATE or adjusted into skills or specializations in other games, but it will take work.

While reading through it, I decided to estimate how much I'd be willing to pay for this. See, I received a download link without a price. My guess? $8. I'd be willing to pay $8 for it, if I were playing Pathfinder. Actual price? $3.95. Not a bad buy.

Johannes Cabal
There are now two Johannes Cabal books. The first, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, had me howling with laughter within the first two pages. Book two, Johannes Cabal the Detective is just as funny, and turns the steampunk elements up a bit, too. Two of the funniest books I've read in the last few years.

I have more pre-orders and print copies of various books enroute, too. I'm going to be very busy reading to stay caught up. Don't worry: I'll continue to share the best parts with you.

Making It Your Game: House Rules

When I mentioned a few weeks ago that my friend Wade had tweaked the rules to octaNe for our game, it never occurred to me that anyone would consider changing rules to fit your specific group or needs would be odd or unusual.

And that, alone, needs thought.

I don't know that I've ever played in an RPG where there wasn't a house rule somewhere. They're not necessarily rules that make huge differences - sometimes, they soften a particularly unforgiving part of the game. Sometimes, they clarify a vague rule. And they're another way to fight munchkinism. And, lastly, they set expectations under our Social Contract.

I played in a GURPS game a few years ago that had so many house rules that they called it "CURPS." Chris, the GM, had been running it for so long he knew which advantages and disadvantages caused problems and in what combinations. And with which players.

To counter this, he had a long handout that we got at character generation. No attributes higher than 15. If you choose X, you cannot have Y. These weren't set in stone for everyone - he knew that not all players were equal problems - but they provided good guidelines, and we could negotiate if there was something on the list that we desperately needed.

Occasionally, I run into house rules for board games. Bounty, for example. The rules have some .... issues. They're poorly-translated and don't cover all eventualities, which leaves players to determine what to do in certain situations. And the rule for buying a second ship broke the game. We house-ruled it to prevent the purchase of a second boat.

There are also House Rules which aren't game-specific:

Dice
If you cannot stack another die of the same type on top of a possibly-cocked die without tipping it over, it's cocked and should be re-rolled.
If the cocked die is part of a pool of dice, re-roll the entire pool, not just the cocked die.
Dice which fall off of the table (or other rolling surface) should be re-rolled.
Don't touch anyone else's dice without permission.
Don't roll dice unless it's your turn.

Seating
The GM gets whatever seat they want. The host gets second pick. Everyone else gets to fight for their seat.

Food
The GM should never bear the burden of providing food and beverages.
If the host is providing food, a list should be made available to everyone else with the understanding that players who want something else should provide their own.
If you're not bringing food (and are not the GM or the Host), bring a couple of bucks to chip in for the food. Or provide food next time.

Table Talk
Is acceptable, provided it doesn't get in the way of the game - unless the GM says otherwise.
Don't tell the current player what to do unless they ask for help or advice.

I don't think it's that odd, by the way, that there are so many dice-related rules. In fact, the relationship of gamers to dice led to a book I'll be ordering on my next payday: The Bones: Us and Our Dice. It's from the same team behind Things We Think About Games, which was brilliant.

And remember how I keep telling people that Your Game Is Not Literature? In the next few weeks, I will be ordering Hamlet's Hit Points. It's by Robin Laws, who brought us Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering and Feng Shui.

Want me to buy a book? Get him to write it.

Tonight, I have a potluck to attend. My weekly game group is celebrating eight years of gaming together. I think I have a lot to say about that - but not yet. It'll keep for another week or two. Meanwhile, here is a Geeklist I put together last year, which lists all the games played in the first year of game night.