Saturday 30 August 2014

RPGaDay - Days 9, 10 and 11

#RPGaDay

I keep forgetting to say, but I’m intrigued by other people’s responses so please share a link to your own blog post or just reply in the comments. Husbit’s been shouting over my shoulder as I’ve prepped some of my answers and has finally done a full list here

To try and catch up a bit (and because Pathfinder tonight means I may slip further behind), I’m going to do 3 together.
 

Day Nine – Favourite Die/Dice Set

I have written fairly extensively about my dice collection (which has grown, with the addition of blue pearl D6’s cos I have a ShadowRun idea in mind) before, so am just going to link back to that and highlight the haematite dice therein. I don’t use them because I worry about damaging them/the table, but I love them. 


Day Ten – Favourite Tie-In Novel / Game Fiction

I, Strahd by P N Elrod. It gives the background to Ravenloft, Husbit’s favourite game, and is a wonderful, gothic tale. Well-written with a wonderfully rounded main character – despite an inevitable fall towards evil, he is incredibly sympathetic in the true vein of such fiction.

I haven’t actually played much old school D&D but it probably the game for which I’ve read the most fiction, also enjoying the Dragonlance novels (there’s a moment where one character recalls the death of another and it gets me every time). This is Husbit’s influence – he has played a lot of D&D in general and has many of the novels and novellas and books left lying around near me tend to get read…


Day Eleven – Weirdest Game

And again, going to cheat and just go with one played.

It was run by Monty using The Window system. I hadn’t come across the system before but really like it. The setting was a game Monty and Troll Luke had developed together - a floating island of criminals in a dystopic near future. The ‘island’ was made up of boats, cargo containers, anything that floats and could be lashed together, placed on top and live in. Parts of the island were underwater. It was run by (I believe) an AI but the group sort of fell to pieces before we got very far into it. Which was a shame, because it was fascinating and I liked my character. I’m hopeful one or other will write some novels set there so I can learn more.

My character, whose name escapes me, was a bit psychotic. She’d been born on the island – no idea who her father was so she’d make men old enough feel uncomfortable by calling them “Daddy” (this included Luke’s character). She had severe mental health problems, probably some form of sociopathy (I remember writing one of her stats as “would happily shoot a puppy in the face”). She liked explosives and knives. She was pretty horrible, but for me it was interesting to explore that side of human nature (in an extreme form) and the setting allowed me to do so. I know there was some pretty deep meta-plot going on, too, and really wish we could have explored more.

The system is lovely and I really like the way it’s driven by story and character rather than rules and numbers. I know a few players who would struggle with it, though.



With thanks again to Autocratik. His Day 9 is here (and I want the dice dispenser!), Day 10 here and Day 11 here

3 comments:

  1. Ahh yes, the Window game was in my "Dockyards" setting, a near-future off-shore illegal nation made from a combination of welded together ships and attempted artificial island creation. A hive of scum and villainy, it was a sort of anarchist nation which whilst internationally condemned by all governments, was secretly used by all of them, as well as terrorists, criminals and sick, evil people to do things that couldn't be done "on-the-books". The defacto leader of the Dockyards was an entity known only as "The Accountant", who no-one had ever seen, but was rumoured by some to be an AI setup to carefully maintain the anarchist nation so it didn't tear itself apart, whilst keeping the place running.

    You played Troubleshooters for the Dockyards, employed, blackmailed or indentured to the Accountant to deal with trouble, whatever form it might take, whilst trying to maintain your morals, sanity, and lives on an island where nothing was too depraved that it couldn't be bought and paid for.

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    1. That was it! I couldn't remember the detail, just the vivid imagery that comes to mind whenever I think of it. I have fairly definite opinions of how bits of it look - whether from descriptions in the game or just building on it in my mind afterwards. it really intrigued me - I think it's one of the most exciting game settings I've played in.

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    2. I happened to find all my old notes on Dockyards, including your character sheet - the name was Kismet:

      Kismet is pretty strong (d10)

      is very agile (d8)

      has very sharp perceptions (d8)

      has average knowledge (d12)

      has good health (d10)



      is a damn fine shot with a Colt 1911A (d6)

      is a very good shot with any pistol or similar type gun (d8)

      is a good shot with any gun (d10)

      is dangerous when handed knives (d10)

      enjoys playing with explosives (d10)

      keeps fit and athletic (d10)

      tends to recover quickly from illnesses (d10)

      often knows unexpected things (d12)

      has a slim grip on reality (d20)

      has difficulty relating to others (d20)

      when stable, is good at faking motives (d8)

      when unstable, has trouble resisting impulses (d20)



      Kismet was born on the Dockyards, to which her mother had fled as a young adult to avoid the legal repercussions of her lifestyle. Her mum now works in the hydroponics section, often growing and testing new strains of narcotic. They live together in one of the nicer remaining condos on the slab.

      Kismet is now 19. She has spent all her life on and around the Dockyards, not legally existing anywhere else. Her upbringing and early education was therefore unusual to say the least. By the age of 8, she owned her first pistol, and by the age of 10 had moved to a slightly larger gun, which remains her preference for satisfying her predilection for violence: the Colt 1911A. She now owns 2 of these, affectionately known as 'Silver Lady' and 'Mercury Twin'. Her mother thought she ought to know something of the wider world, so she has studied many books – the problem is, she doesn't always know which are fiction and which accurate accounts, but this wide reading does mean she often comes out with unexpected things (and quite often they're even true).

      A fairly solitary child, Kismet never had any friend for long. She wasn't particularly interested in friendships, but would occasionally have a younger child hero-worship her for a period. Acquiring lackeys in this manner only boosted her egocentricity and general disregard for other people. There is no specific turning point in her life at which one could say her grip on sanity loosened – the gradual process began before she was even born and she became the person she is today before she'd finished her teens.

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