Apathy Games

Accepting Failure

Last Friday I issued a challenge to call comers.  The result of which I would write about anything and relate it to gaming.  I’m going to keep the comments open for a week before closing them down.  So get in and send me whatever you got!

I’m hard pressed to accept failure, especially in a game like D&D. The cost of being a hero in a fantasy game is low. Yes there is a momentary value to failure (death specifically) but it’s offset by the fact that you can come back. In fact one of my most beloved characters died twice, and once came back as the undead, because of opportunity and my inability to accept his failure.

As a GM it’s a bit different. Without the chance of failure what are the odds that players will act in accordance to their characters? In a recent Iron Kingdoms campaign I started out telling the players that I’d be rolling in front of them and the dice would land as they would. I wouldn’t be botching it and I definitely would not be pulling the punches. The result? They were far more careful as adventurers. In the year and a half of play I experienced my first player death. Even I found a hard time watching the character die. Truth is, I probably took it harder than he did. I loved watching the characters grow and interact and it’s hard to watch one of them leave.

Cole of Singular Moments in Adventuring may accept failure as a part of his games, but I’m hard pressed to really accept it myself. As a GM I’m mostly talk. I want to pull my punches, keep the characters safe, but they are adventurers. Without the threat of danger, where is the glory? If at the beginning of the game I handed them all the treasure and experience they would ever receive, what would my players really do? They’d likely quit and roll up new characters.

Failure maybe a part of our games, maybe even our lives, but what fun is riches, fame, and immortality when it’s just handed to you? However, it was once said by a wise man, “Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyways.” So much like our characters before us, we only have so many rolls of the dice left in us. One day we’ll roll snake eyes and accept failure like so many of those before us.

A Story that shall live in Infamy

Last Friday I issued a challenge to call comers.  The result of which I would write about anything and relate it to gaming.  I’m going to keep the comments open for a week before closing them down.  So get in and send me whatever you got!

The Queen sat lightly on her throne. She was decked out in her finest royalty, covered in her crown jewels and the finest cloth. Looking down upon the adventurers in front of her she let out a small sigh and said, “Well, as we’re all here. Why don’t you tell me about yourself?” Her voice was posed and proper. Her posture fit of a queen; not even a hair out of place on her head.

“Well,” Grak the Dragon Rider said in all seriousness. “I like poop jokes.”

The group burst out laughing. We all eyed Brian who just busted that on us. Who sat there with a shit eating grin on his face. Paul, the GM, sat there with his palm planted firmly on his forehead giggling. After a while the group recovered and continued the game but the joke, and story, to this day, lives on.

Stories bring us together, but drama and jokes keep us hooked. Even jokes about poop still find there place into every game. Paul later told us that if he hadn’t been laughing so hard he would have killed Grak. It’s what the Queen would have done after all. Sometimes though, a well-placed one-liner is better than any saving throw.

What story lives on in your group after years of play? What are the celebratory moments of your games?

Your Mother is a Whore and Other Character Archetypes

Last Friday I issued a challenge to call comers.  The result of which I would write about anything and relate it to gaming.  I’m going to keep the comments open for a week before closing them down.  So get in and send me whatever you got!

In Sins of our Fathers I discussed the implications of our parents on our lives and specifically those on our characters.  When the challenge to write, “Your mother is a whore” came it got me thinking about characters that come from the streets or from impoverished areas and how they might become adventurers.

Common Thug

Tossed out shortly after the day they were born.  Growing up to be a bully he quickly outgrows everyone in the orphanage and shows a taste for terror.  He takes to adventuring to garner riches and become powerful so he can never feel neglected and lost again.  He shows no mercy in combat, is cross, and naturally distrustful.  He trusts no one and prefers his own company.

The Man of the Cloth

A child born of the streets his mother a common street walker, but she brought him up believing.  He took to his faith like no other.  Feeling called upon to spread the word and right the wrongs of the street.  A character with this background would likely cling to those around him, studying deep into religious texts and likely being quite scholarly in his own way.  He would be careful who they trusted but when granting the trust would do so completely.  His word is his bond.  He takes to adventuring to help people and spends his riches bettering those around him.

Hooker with a Heart of Gold

Walking in her mother’s footsteps this sex worker this girl is as innocent as they come.  She also happens to be well trained in the art of kicking butt.  Life on the streets is hard she’s done what she’s had to do to survive.  Now that she’s managed to escape she’s not going back.  This strong lass has taken to adventuring as a means of escape and no way in hell is she going back.

In each of these examples all the characters start in the same place but end up in vastly different areas.  Partly in the way their parents treat them and partly how the world has treated them.  Just because your mother is a whore doesn’t mean you can’t be an interesting character with a story to tell.

Savage Mondays – March 8th, 2010

It’s a Savage World out there, and Apathy Games provides the tools to survive it. First, check out our Savage Worlds Primer. Then if Portuguese is your native language, check out Retropunk.net’s translation. If you’re looking for more up to date news, here’s what’s happening now:

Pinnacle Entertainment Group

Showdown Meets Deadlands | Pinnacle Entertainment Group

The first scenario for Showdown, the Savage Worlds based wargame, is Raid on Fort 51.  Weird West War is awaiting your tabletop.

Help a Pinnacle Artist | Pinnacle Entertainment Group

Cheyenne Write is having some medical troubles, and Pinnacle is asking for help.  They’re offering two Savage Tales bundles, each including half of all their Savage Tales, for only $19.99.  The proceeds will go to helping Cheyenne.  Additionally, you can simply donate $5 to the cause.

Savage Worlds Licensees

Kristian Serrano Joins Reality Blurs | Reality Blurs

Kristain is responsible for The Dice of Life, one of our favorite gaming blogs.  It’s aimed at those of us with less time to game than we’d like.  So, we are greatly pleased to see him join one of the rising stars in the savage community.

New Runepunk PDF’s | Reality Blurs

Like pulp-style, steampunk flavored, science fiction?  RunePunk might just be for you.  The RunePunk Players Guide is now available as a PDF, and they have just released a set of paper figures for the setting.

Wellstone City Released | Silver Gryphon Games

Crime Noir is something we at Apathy can get behind.  It’s dark, gritty, and now available for Savage Worlds.

Free Hellfrost Supplement on Gem Magic | Triple Ace Games

Gems have always captivated us, with explains part of why they’re so expensive.  If you’re playing Hellfrost, they also have properties useful in hedge magic.

Savage Community

March Savage Sixth Posted | The Savage Sixth

While last month may have slipped past without a formal update, The Savage Sixth hits hard again this month with articles on building settings in a supers game, converting your favorite settings to Savage Worlds, and an article on bennies that links back to Apathy in a way that is most complementary.  They have our gratitude.

When Do You Shuffle? | PEGinc Forums

It’s not something that comes up often, but this discussion on when to shuffle your deck is interesting, and shows a few ways people go about keeping the game moving while having to shuffle.

Derelict Space Ship Adventure | PEGinc Forums

This thread goes into detail about, and has some wonderful ideas regarding running an adventure in a derelict space ship. Some of the advice could be quite useful in other contexts as well.

Do you like Savage News, but want it more than once a week? Subscribe to our Twitter. We won’t promise to drown you in a flood of news, but we won’t promise not to, either.  As always, if we missed something, let our readers know in the comments.

Take on all Comers

While writing Don’t Break the Chain I got to thinking of challenges I set for myself as a GM and as a writer. I find myself when writing blog posts to have the uncanny ability to write just about anything and somehow relate it to gaming.  I decided it’s time to level up my writing and creative thinking skills. So I issue this challenge:

Give me a topic, any topic, and I will then relate it to gaming and give you a blog post.

Now to issue a further challenge to myself I will try to focus on GM/Player advice. I will not take any shortcuts on any ideas and the post will make sense. I will write them in the order they have been received and it will dictate my posting schedule until this is done. For my sanity please include references to what your referring to so I can make sure I’m meeting the challenge. Please note these posts will not interrupt Savage Mondays or any special posts we currently have on schedule. You my dear viewers now control this mouth piece. Please, don’t be gentle.

Below will be the List. Every time I write a new post I’ll link to it here. Check back periodically to see my progress.

The Big List

• Your Mother is a Whore – Brian Williams
• Poop Jokes – Grak the Dragon Rider
• “Accepting Failure.” – Cole
• Robert’s Rules of Order – Will
• Ontology – Will
• Pokemon – Will
• Trees – Will
• Refinishing the dining room table to original spec. – kimberlyunger
• Mandelbrot Set – tehgeekmeister
• Diagnosing Your Pet’s Illness Through Inspection of its Fecal Matter – kinjikai
• Bob Uecker – kinjikai
• Statistics on divorce in the state of Wisconsin – kinjikai

What challenge can you issue yourself? Call everyone out and throw down the gauntlet. It’s time to see what your made of.

Don’t Break the Chain

Years ago I read an article at the amazing site Lifehacker called Jerry Seinfeld’s Productivity Secret. Simply put, when you start a project or goal you simply keep going at it as long and as hard as you can. His method involved getting a calendar and a red pen and marking an X every day he worked on his jokes. The goal, don’t break the chain. Do what you set out to do every day and don’t let anything stop you.

When we started the blog in November, I set out on a mission of not breaking the chain for any weekday. Monday through Friday of every week you’d heard from us. No matter how bad my grammar and spelling may be (and people have pointed it out to me), my words would be available to you. I think about gaming and what I can share with all of you every day (even the weekends) and work hard to get it out to you.

I’m not going to lie, blogging and game design is tough stuff. Personally I salute the fantastic Treasure Tables for having something up for every day of the week for two years. As we slowly march to our 100^th post and our six months of filling your brain with our nonsense, I know I have enough in me to beat his record. Some days are just going to be harder than others. Just don’t break the chain.

So I ask you, what can you do to not break the chain? Could your game be improved by a little time each day? Is there something you’ve always wanted to do and just never have? Learn a new language perhaps? Start your own business? I spend every day on mine to a greater or lesser extent. I couldn’t be happier. Ask yourself, what goal do I need to set? Then go.

Whatever you do, don’t break that chain.

How Valve Spins a Story

Recently the Internet has exploded about the Portal update. It got me thinking about how to keep a crowd interested in the gaming you’re creating. Valve is well known for their minimalistic story and refined style of play making for extremely enjoyable games. So what lessons can we take to our tabletop games?

Refine, Refine, Refine

I bought Orange Box when it came out and played Portal and Team Fortress 2 much like everyone else. While Portal was touted as the end all, be all, single player experience, but I found myself constantly coming back to TF2. Valve has been steadily releasing patches and class updates for the game refining the game since it came out. They’ve tweaked the classes gave them new styles of play and have kept their audience engaged in their game. As GMs we always want to tweak our games here and there. While this temptation should be allowed every once in a while pick your battles carefully. Make little changes at first and then play them out; then see where it takes you.

Go Big, just don’t tell anyone about it

One of the most intriguing things about the new Portal teaser is how quickly the fans begin to speculate. How quickly they craft the story around what they are seeing. The rumors build and build into a cascade of excitement. Use this to your advantage. Come up with an idea and tease at it in the background. Try not to give away more then you have to and let the players piece it together. If they are completely off base, run with it. It might turn into a grander tale then what you were looking to tell anyway.

Keep them Guessing

In recent play testing for our game I had a player that kept asking tons of questions about what was going on each bit more elaborate then the next. I played my cards close to my chest (we’ve seen this done before in previous testing) and let her go wild. The results were quite hysterical (they typically are). Valve does this by not answering questions about the story they are telling; it draws people in. Carefully keep your players on their toes and keep them guessing.

Who do you look to for story style inspiration?

Side Note: The Team Fortress 2 community is hilarious.  As show in this hilarious Spy & Pyro video.

Sins of our Fathers

Whether we like to admit it or not, our parents played a large role in forming us into the people we are today. Sons look to their fathers and daughters to their mothers. So why is it that we almost consistently put no thought into family when designing our characters? Why do we omit that glaring fact in our characters history? Even if we’ve gone to the trouble of putting some names on paper, how do we breathe some life into these people?

Pick Some Traits

Your characters’ parents have likely influenced them on some base level. Personally my father is a frugal man and instilled these values into me to the point of annoying my fiancée regularly about money. What traits does your character have that can be traced back to his roots?

Consider the Upbringing

I’ve heard loads of stories from people that were brought up in various churches. Their parents made them go every Sunday and were deeply religious people. These stories tend to come out one of two ways; the person is now vehemently opposed to everything even remotely religious, or is a stronger member of their faith. Was there a ritual your character had while growing up that they remember well? How does that affect them?

Sliding along the Axis

Always consider the upbringing of a character when choosing their alignment or general disposition. If, for example, you’re playing an evil character, what in their life may have caused them to choose the paths that they did? While we are talking about parents, they aren’t always to blame. Other family members have just as strong of an influence on us as our parents.

Have you ever designed a character with their family history in mind? What was the result of your work?

Savage Mondays – March 1st, 2010

It’s a Savage World out there, and Apathy Games provides the tools to survive it. First, check out our Savage Worlds Primer. Then if Portuguese is your native language, check out Retropunk.net’s translation. If you’re looking for more up to date news, here’s what’s happening now:

Savage Worlds Licensees

New Savage Licensees

Two new companies have given themselves over to the savage side and become licensees.  Silver Gryphon Games is working on adventures for Wellstone City, a modern noir setting.  Nevermet Press is a little different, working on using crowd sourcing to build community driven content.

A New Adventure in HellFrost | Triple Ace Games

A centuries old crime comes to light to affect the present in Sins of the Father.

Adamant Entertainment looking for Freelancers | Adamant Entertainment

The company appears to be expanding and is looking for freelancers for writing, art, graphics, programming, and animation.

Do you like Savage News, but want it more than once a week? Subscribe to our Twitter. We won’t promise to drown you in a flood of news, but we won’t promise not to, either. As always, if we missed something, let our readers know in the comments.

Heroes with Fuzzy Morality

I’m currently reading The Belgariad and I keep finding myself comparing the characters to a party of PCs and finding the similarities striking. Most notably, our heroes have a rather blurry moral compass, and that seems to hold true for almost every roleplaying game I’ve ever been a part of.

Killing, lying, stealing, and intentionally intimidating people are only a handful of the tricks players tend to play on NPCs in order to save the world. Perhaps the ends do justify the means, and perhaps roleplaying is just an escapist fantasy, but if I were to meet most player characters in the real world, I’d run in terror.

Not that this is a bad thing. The truth is, it’s fun to play this way. While we may not want to play someone who is downright evil, there is a desire to throw out some of the constraints thrown on us by reality and play sort of a Fuzzy Good. In fact, I’m officially adding that to the Alignment system.

Saving the World, My Way

Fuzzy Good characters actually make sense in the “Save the World” type scenario. The goal is what matters, and a party who can bend the rules is far more likely to succeed. I’ve played games, like Slipstream, where you’re expected to play the strong jawed hero of thirties sci-fi, but to make that work, they keep having to be attacked by things like space pirates, and have the plot come to them. There really isn’t any problem solving in that style of game.

On the other hand, Necessary Evil replaces Fuzzy Good with Fuzzy Evil. There, you play super-villains who have to save the world after all the heroes have been captured and destroyed. The only rule is that your party should probably work together, making Necessary Evil, perhaps, the most sincere RPG ever made.

In parting, I’d like to know. Have you ever played a character that wasn’t Fuzzy Good? If so, how did it turn out?