Prodigal Son: The Campaign Trail

Part Twelve:

    As I am building up to run another game, this time introducing my fellow Dork’s wife to the hobby, I’m putting some thought into the immediate needs of the game, but also in what I might want to do in the near future.  The realities of adult life, which I’ve gone on about in previous postings, make the hobby of tabletop roleplaying something of a challenge. 

    So, I’m in the same pickle I’ve been in with gaming for a decade or so.  How do I manage to gather people together on a regular basis?  This comes down to several questions, and I’m sure I’m not thinking of half the important ones.  Obviously, what night of the week?  I prefer to game at night.  It’s like going to the movies for me.  Not that I don’t go during the day on occasion, but I simply prefer night visits.  When it comes to games, I don’t mind a board game or a video game during the day, but there’s something about that post-dinner time that feels better.  Perhaps it goes back to telling stories around a camp fire?  I don’t know.  But, what night of the week?  My personal choice is Sunday.  I’ve always found Sunday night to be one of the best for running a game.  Less people have to work Sunday nights, too, which helps.  But there’s a certain nameless factor that has always worked for me.  And, if I’m going to be running a game, I prefer not to do so after a day of work.  It’s just one of those things.  It’s hard to concentrate and bring my A-game while I’m trying to decompress from a stressful day on the job.  Not to mention, I haven’t had time for last minute adjustments or re-reading my notes for the night’s game. 

    Then you’ve got a group to assemble.  Not every game is for every gamer, and not every gamer is for ever group (and vice versa).  Personalities that would be fantastic for a game like Paranoia or Ghostbusters might be dreadful for Everyway or Empire of the Petal Thrown.  Someone who is scatter-brained and likes pranks or tomfoolery can work great in the right kind of game.  But they can be a distraction, and a downright detraction in another.  Someone who is very serious and rules conscious could be an excellent addition to a game of Ars Magica or Earthdawn.  But that same person might squirm in their seats or chafe under the free-formed mechanics of Everyway or Fudge. So having an idea of what game you might be running and who your group of players will be is a good idea. 

    Right now, I’ve got four serious possible players, but I don’t have a solid idea of how, or if, they might gel.  Nor do I really know what game might be best for the group, or some variation of it.  I have some ideas of things I’d like to run, but nothing set in stone.  And, I don’t know if said players would be able to get together on the same night, regularly or not.  And how regular should a game be?  I know of people who have done once a month (usually longer sessions).  But I frankly don’t like playing any less than every other week if it’s an ongoing game.  Even that’s pushing it, because if you miss a week, that can throw things off quite a bit.  But, it’s hard for people to commit to a regular night every week.  I’m not sure what the balance is.  I guess it depends on the group.  My thoughts right now come down to a few options.

    First, there’s simply trying to get together for a regular game night.  Perhaps every couple of weeks.  This would involve various games, from board games to video games, and perhaps the odd one-shot roleplaying game, probably something of the ‘beer and pretzel’ variety.  So called beer and pretzel games are the sort you don’t need to put a lot of thought or planning into, are mostly done just for a laugh, and completed in an evening.  Paranoia is probably the single greatest example of this sort of game.  Macho Women with Guns, Ghostbusters, and Tales from the Crypts are some others. 

    A second option would be a more traditional attempt to get players together either every week, or every other for the exclusive purpose of roleplaying.  This is most conducive to ongoing games, or to longer but still finite games, or mini-campaigns.  For a weekly game, I’d want a core group of no less than three and no more than six players who can be relatively sure of attendance.  And on those occasions when too many players, or the wrong ones are missing, the group can fall back on a board game, beer and pretzel game, or even something like watching a movie.  Making this an every other week game wouldn’t change things too much, except that missing a session could put as much as a month between games, which makes continuity more difficult.  And from experience, this always seems to happen at the most inopportune time, like on a cliffhanger or in the middle of something important. 

    A third option I’ve been thinking about lately is a bit odd for me, but might actually work.  That is, running a game every week, but with a revolving crew of players.  This would only work for certain games or style of games.  The most obvious choice for me is Ars Magica, a game designed around having a large cast of characters, many of whom don’t take part in every scenario.  So long as I could maintain 3 or for players every week, with as many as 10 or 12 people actually ‘playing’ the game, it could work.  I’ve seen it done.  In fact, one of the best games I was ever in was an Ars Magica game that had about 12 or 13 players at its height, though there were rarely more than 6 players on any given night.  And with a game like Ars Magica, having ‘guest’ players is easy as pie.  Ars Magica is not the only game that might work, simply the most obvious. 

    Of course, one of the most important things to do, or to worry about is keeping players wanting to show up.  People are less likely to have things “come up” if they’re really enjoying themselves and looking forward to the game.  I know when I’ve been in a really good game, I’ve skipped out on other obligations in order to go to the game.  But when I’ve been less interested, I’ve skipped sessions at the drop of a hat.  So, I think the trick is to get the players invested in the game, to get them fully engaged.  This can certainly be a challenge, but I think a worthy one.  I’ve tried, to varying degrees of success, several tricks over the years.  Again, using Ars Magica as an example, the ‘lab notebook’ always served as a way for me to stay involved in the game, even during the weeks between sessions.  I’d get out of a game on Sunday night, then spend part of my study hall each day for the rest of the week writing about what my magi was doing while not out adventuring.  I created whole subplots in my lab notebook, about various experiments and activities in and around the covenant that went on between myself and the gamemaster, occasionally coming into play during a regular game session.  I’ve tried to use journals in other games, but have found players extremely resistant to it.  Perhaps seeing it as some kind of homework, as opposed to a fun way to continue the game beyond the few hours of actual tabletop play.  A friend of mine ran a game where a player used to do a painting of something important from one session to bring in for the next.  Another player used to make authentic food.  I’ve heard of people composing songs, poetry, and even writing short stories.  I had suggested for one game (Fading Suns), that people bring in designs for ships, weapons, or creatures with brief explanations.  The ones I really liked would make it into the game. 

    There are countless ways to encourage player engagement, and I am always curious to hear more.  I don’t think you can have too much.  And some games are better designed for it than others, it seems.  The Pool (and the variation, The Puddle) for example, is a game where successful rolls actually allow the player to guide the story for a while.  To what degree could vary by game, but this can really make things interesting for both players and gamemasters, especially GMs more used to having a strict grip on the story.  But this gives the players not just a say in what their character do or say, but in the very progression of the story and shaping of the world.

    I recently acquired a science fiction game called Diaspora which uses the Fate system (which uses some elements Fudge).  In it, you not only make characters together but create the very setting you’ll be playing in.  Each player (you might not even know who the GM will be at this point), creates a star system within a ‘cluster.’  Then the group figures out how they’re all connected, not just physically by ‘slipstream’ routes, but by economics and culture as well.  Players taking an active part in creating the playing field their characters will be inhabiting.  I would think that would be pretty engaging and encourage them to become more invested in the game, their characters, and the future of the story and setting.  It’s an interesting idea, and I’m very interested in giving it a try.  It doesn’t hurt that Diaspora is in a nice semi-generic, Golden Age, mostly hard science fiction setting, along the lines of Asimov or Niven. 

    Instead of simply accruing experience points for stat boosting, I think taking an active role in creating better stories would be fantastic for players and GM.  As a gamemaster, I’ve always worked best with plenty of active feedback.  The worst games are the ones where people simply show up, go through some dice rolling exercises, then leave.  Did they enjoy it?  Did any of the work I put in really mean anything?  What reason do I have to put hours of work into the next session?  Games like that tend to not last very long.  What’s the point?

    So, in building a group of players for this return to gaming, I have many questions, and many challenges.  But, I know from the past that the hobby can be most rewarding.  I formed great friendships and great memories around those many tables, rolling dice, dreaming big, and telling great stories.  And I had a lot of fun. 

-Matt

Matt’s Week in Dork! (6/26-7/2)

    It’s been a busy and very weird week.  Honestly, the last few weeks have been kind of crappy for this Dork, but with plenty of silver lining.  Up first, the films of the week.

Megamind:  Clever, occasionally cute, and a good deal of fun, Megamind isn’t amazing, but it’s worth a watch.  The voice work is good.  It plays well with big comic book myths, especially the Superman type.  And I kind of like it’s meditation on the need of an adversary to define oneself.  Check it out. 

Doctor Who Revenge of the Cybermen:  The long awaited return of the Cybermen has the Doctor and Sarah Jane facing some troubling military types in the future, and some creepy, big headed aliens.  There’s a lot going on in this story, but it pretty quickly comes down to battling the Doctor’s other major enemy.  Not as iconic as the Daleks, they’re still pretty cool. 

Eastern Promises:  The Russian mob is up to no good in London and a local nurse learns more than is good for her.  Meanwhile, upwardly mobile thug Viggo Mortensen is ‘just driver.’  It’s a really good flick, and Viggo is pretty awesome.  And yes, that crazy bathhouse fight is pretty hardcore.  I hope Viggo and Cronenberg keep working together for years to come. 

Transformers: Dark of the Moon:  The girl is less awful than Megan Fox.  I didn’t notice any especially offensive ethnic stereotype robots.  And there are a couple cool stunts/shots.  Otherwise, this is more of the same generic crap.  Soulless, mindless pap from a purveyor of mediocrity.  A true heir to the thrown of James Cameron, Bay makes big, loud, and ultimately dumb films, and his best ideas are lifted from much better films.  And sadly, like a latter day Cameron, his movies lack a charm that would make you forgive their obvious shortcomings.  Like the previous films, I found the visual assault of CG to be a sort of sensory overload, making it hard to follow the action.  Half the time, I couldn’t tell what was flying debris and what was robot.  And in spite of being WAY over long, the movie felt spotty, like important scenes were left on the cutting room floor.  It’s a step up from Revenge of the Fallen in the same way Revenge of the Sith was a step up from Attack of the Clones.  Better than a steaming turd does not equal good.  

Don't know what you're looking at?  Neither did I.

Aquamarine:  Why did I watch this?  I honestly don’t know.  It’s pretty annoying, screechy, and pointless.  The leads are all mostly unlikable and the story pretty lame.  It’s not surprising that this film came and went with little fanfare or lasting interest. 

Making Splash look good.

Doctor Who: Planet of Evil:  A pretty good horror story set on a planet near the edge of the universe, this owes a great deal to one of my favorite movies, Forbidden Planet.  Some great sets and excellent guest actors keep it grounded while the Doctor faces off with another universe. 

Wait Until Dark:  After working pretty consistently since 1951, this 1967 film marked the beginning of a near ten year hiatus from film for star Audrey Hepburn.  Had it been her final film, it would have been a pretty good exit.  Tense, scary, and brimming with great performances from a very small but very talented cast.  Especially cool are the charming small-time hood Richard Crenna and the cold psycho Alan Arkin.  It plays like an attempt at a Hitchcock film, and while not to the level of Hitch’s best, it’s still quite good.  And I suspect that this movie informed a young Brian De Palma quite a bit, as I actually had to check to make sure he wasn’t in some way associated with it. 

    I also watched a few episodes of the 70s kids’ show Space Academy, which is fun, but not very good.  So far, of that batch of TV series (Jason of Star Command, Ark II, and some others), Space Academy is the lesser.  But oddly enough, Jonathan Harris isn’t that bad.  Usually I can’t stand that guy, but he’s OK here. 

    Also watched a little more Batman: The Brave and the Bold.  Dang that show is nutty.  Good stuff, though.

 
    Outside of watching some movies, I went with some friends to a local bar.  This is not my usual way to spend time and money, but I’m trying to do more new things.  The whole situation was a bit surreal.  After a long day at work, my roommate and I took a bus, with the intention of switching to another bus that would go right by the bar we were heading to.  After missing the intended first bus, we walked a little out of our way and got a second option.  OK, all’s well.  But ten minutes later, while waiting at a light, the loud motor behind us started to get louder.  Then it started making an awful sound, like the screaming of a thousand souls at the gates of hell.  And that’s when the smoke started.  Then the sound died, but the smoke kept up.  After the light finally turned green (dang but that intersection is poorly set up and timed), we got off at the next stop and got out of Dodge.  Blah.  After a good walk in the sun, which was actually fairly pleasant, we arrived at the bar, or pub, I can never tell.  A couple rum & Cokes later and we were on our way.  I just don’t get the bar atmosphere.  I never have.  I’ve been to a number of very different bars over the years, and I’ve always felt like an outsider.  At any moment, someone is going to ask me about the ‘big game’ or some such thing, and I’m gonna be like a spy in East Germany who doesn’t  have his papers.  Unable to answer and hoping for a quick death.  The actual bar itself seems set up to keep you from socializing, putting you all in a line like some feeding trough or cafeteria table.  But venturing out to the tables feels like you’re looking for trouble.  The crowd was a calm group of business types, with one group of Barbie Doll type college girls and a semi-butch lesbian couple.  Upon leaving, I said something thoroughly inappropriate, which someone interpreted as me being drunk.  But that’s just my sense of humor.  Another walk in the sun and we were home.   I keep wanting to expand my social circles and experience, but as much as everyone seems to sing their praises, I just don’t think bars are the place for me.  Even mellow ones where the pop-collar douche bags are absent.

 
    On the music front, I’m still enjoying quirky female vocalists.  This week, I’ve been especially in to St. Vincent.  And I’m finally giving Florence and the Machine a more serious try. 

    I read the next volume of the Conan comic series.  And I finally finished Reality is Broken.  Excellent book.  I’ll be writing up something more about it in the coming days.  In the meantime, go out and get a copy.  Read it.

    Really getting a hankering to do some more gaming, too.  Though I’ve got a specific idea for my next go round, what comes later is still up in the air.  A few options have been swirling around my noggin.  The standard option is to try to get a weekly or biweekly game with a regular crew of about 4 people.  It’s a nice option and can work very well.  But the reality of adult life can make this difficult.  Kids, jobs, and all sorts of other demands can make a regular game night very difficult.  But there are other options.   Maybe an Ars Magica campaign with a crew of 4 to 10 players, who can come or not without effecting the progress of the game.  I’ve seen it work before.  Or, simply playing various games every couple weeks.  Maybe some board games one night, and a one-shot RPG on another.  We’ll see. 

-Matt

Prodigal Son: My Sandbox or Yours?

Part Eleven:

    Using a well established universe for your game can be a blessing and a curse.  There have been media tie-in games for a long time.  Middle Earth, Call of Cthulhu, Ghostbusters, and Star Trek all the way up through Serenity, Buffy, and Battlestar Galactica and many more today.  Well loved settings that people are attracted to for one reason or another, they are obvious breeding ground for roleplaying stories.  They can be a great way to bring in people.  But they can also lead to frustration and disappointment.

    I’ve run many media tie-in games over the years.  Call of Cthulhu on several occasions.  Star Trek for one really fun, but painfully short mini-campaign.  Babylon 5 for a while.  And a few others.  And I’ve played in a bunch, as well.  Some Star Wars, Middle Earth, Star Trek and some others.  And I’ve had varied success both as a player and game master.

    There are several good things about trying media tie-in games, especially for a GM (game master).  The most obvious is familiarity.  If I say, “I want to run a game of Fading Suns,” many people will just look at me blankly.  Same for Whispering Vault, Ars Magica, Unknown Armies, and many of the other games I really like.  But if I say, “I’m putting together a Star Wars game,” people know what you’re talking about.  They may even have a character in mind already.

    Playing in someone else’s sandbox can be a lot of fun.  Star Wars and Middle Earth, for example, have a lot of background material that has been produced, beyond the movies or original novels.  There are different eras you might wish to play in, different regions or worlds.  All sorts of interesting character options and story types.  But all within a setting that is easy to approach and widely known.

    This can also be a source of trouble, though.  People who know these settings and might enjoy gaming in them also tend to have specific ideas about what they should be like and what sorts of things should happen.  I’ll use Star Wars as an example, because it’s a setting I’ve given some serious thought to using, but carries a great deal of baggage.  If I were to run Star Wars, I would have to decide right out of the gate what I would keep and what I would drop.  I don’t like the prequel trilogy, for example.  But, I also don’t think too highly of Return of the Jedi.  More than likely, I would set my game sometime around the time of the first film.  The so called ‘Rebellion Era.’  I also don’t like some stuff done with Vader as the films go on.  I preferred when he was simply a villain, and not Luke’s dad.  And I liked a snippet I read a long time ago that said something about Vader wearing the ‘uniform of a Sith’ implying that he was not the only one.  I always imagined the Sith were like the Gestapo, existing alongside, but outside of the normal Imperial military.  And Star Wars, at its heart, was a Flash Gordon style space opera with rocket ships and ray-guns.  That’s much more what I’d want to play up if I ran the game.  So, if I ran Star Wars, I’d be throwing out a LOT of what’s there.  Obviously, for a big fan of the films, especially a purist, this would be near blasphemy.

    You might ask, if I were going to throw out so much of the established universe, why run Star Wars at all.  It’s a good question.  Again, you must balance what you want to run with what your players might find accessible.  I ran a game of Fading Suns for quite some time.  It’s a science fiction game with a strong medieval European style, more than a dash of Dune, and a dose or two of Star Wars for good measure.  But I had more than one player who continued to have a hard time really getting into the game.  Even though the stories were stories I could have told within the context of Star Wars, the players had a difficult time getting into it, and largely because it wasn’t a setting they connected with.  Had I actually used Star Wars, this likely wouldn’t have been an issue.

    So, it’s a difficult choice that creates problems in either direction.  With a more ‘original’ setting, you always run the risk of players having difficulty connecting.    But with established media tie-in settings, you run the constant chance of disappointing players with different interpretation, selective inclusion and exclusion of ideas.

    To combat the disappointment, I try to get some problems out of the way straight away.  I like to be clear with my players.  Continuing the example of Star Wars, I would explain at the beginning what they might expect.  I often say something like, “OK, the events of the first film have happened.  You may have heard some rumor of them.  But, beyond those events, forget everything you know or think you know about what will happen.”  I might even set something up in an early scenario to really show that this game is taking things in a different direction than the films.  Perhaps they find out that rebel hero Skywalker was killed.  Or maybe Darth Vader is assassinated.  Something to let the players know the game isn’t set, and this is our story.

Things could have turned out differently.

    There isn’t a wrong choice here.  You just need to be aware of some of the issues that the choices bring.  I really enjoy the settings of some shows, books, comics, and movies.  And I’d love to run game in them, or play.  Some settings seem like they could be really good, like Battlestar Galactica, but I have absolutely no idea what story I’d want to tell.  Others, like Serenity practically write themselves.  I have a ton of stuff prepped for Star Trek, a weird desire to run a Middle Earth game, and with my love of Conan having coming back full strength lately, the idea of doing something in the Hyborian age is more than a little tempting.

    In the coming weeks, I’m going to try to run a follow-up to the Call of Cthulhu game I ran recently, introducing another new person to the hobby.  But, when that’s done, I’m not really sure where I’ll go from there.  Am I on the road to finally running the Ars Magica campaign I’ve been slowly researching and building for the last five or so years?  Or will I simply run occasional one-shots for a small group of friends?  Will it be a media tie-in, like Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, or Conan?  Or will it be an original game world like Space 1889 or Deadlands?  I really don’t know.  I’m not even sure just which option I’d prefer.

-Matt

Prodigal Son: Tipping Over the Edge

Part Ten:

    I said weeks ago that I would talk about Over the Edge, and finally, I’m ready to do that.  In way of a brief introduction, it was originally published by Atlas Games in 1992.  The setting is the semi-surreal Mediterranean island Al Amarja, which has something of the flavor of William S. Burroughs’ Interzone and the classic British series The Prisoner.  Filled with political intrigue, red tape, exotic pleasures and dangers, Al Amarja is like some sexually deviant variation of Mos Eisley.  Fugitive Nazis, rogue physicists, failed seekers and mystics, and anyone else you might imagine have washed up upon its shores.  What are you looking for?  A Greek edition of the Necronomicon?  A puzzle box to call a Cenobite?  Or maybe a vial containing the soul of a saint?  You never know what you might find, if only you’re willing to pay the price.

    It’s a fascinating and amazingly wide open setting, with a great deal of potential.  However, the setting is not what made me love the game.  It’s actually the game mechanic that impressed me the most.  As I’ve said in previous weeks, I don’t care much for complicated systems, charts, graphs, and a lot of number crunching.  I also don’t normally enjoy reading the parts of game books that relate to mechanics.  I love reading backgrounds and story ideas, but once it starts in on “multiply strength by 10 and divide by 2 to find the blah, blah, blah” I drift off.  But Over the Edge doesn’t spend too much time, because it doesn’t need to.  The system is simple, elegant, and amazingly versatile.

Did you calculate wind speed?

    I’m not going to go into it in too much depth, but the basic idea is this: You have four traits, one central, two tertiary, and a flaw.  Your central trait defines your character.  For example, in the Lord of the Rings, Legolas’ central trait would be “Elven Archer.”  In Star Wars, Han Solo would be a “Rogue Smuggler.”  On Star Trek, Spock would be a “Vulcan Science Officer.”  In the film Crank, Chev might be a “Badass.”  You might make a character with the central trait “Professor of Archeology,” or “Pugilist,” or even “Housewife.”  Whatever dice you use for that trait can be used for anything covered by it.  So, Han Solo’s career as a Rogue Smuggler would no doubt encompass the use of personal firearms, slight of hand, disguise, ship operations, fast talking, galactic customs, and many other things.  In addition to the central traits are the two tertiary.  These are much more like traditional skills.  Perhaps something like singing or computer operations.   And then the fourth and final trait is a flaw.  This is something important that effects you in a negative way.  Are you monstrously overweight?  Missing an arm?  Or do you have a dangerous enemy?  Again, using Han Solo as an example, he would certainly have Jabba as an enemy, which proved to be a great difficulty as the films unfolded.

I'm more than just a Science Officer.

    There are some other specifics, but that’s really about it.  About thirty pages, including some illustrations, copious examples, and a couple quick reference pages, and you’ve got the rules.  You could probably boil it all down to about three or four pages to cover everything you really need.  Nice.  So, with that simple, elegant system, I found something I’d been long in search of, a game mechanic that I could use for nearly anything I wanted to run, that didn’t require hours of explanation, tons of math, or continual consultation of charts.

    Now, Over the Edge is my go-to game system.  Unless a game’s mechanic is integral to playing it, like Ars Magica or Earthdawn, it’s the rule set I’d prefer to use.  Star Wars, Star Trek, Middle Earth, Space 1889, Super Heroes, Doctor Who,  Fading Suns, and so many more.

    I used it once before for a Star Trek game I ran a little over five years ago, and it worked quite well.  So, it was what I’d planned to use on the failed attempt at doing Star Trek a couple years ago, too.  And I’m thinking that if I run something else coming up, it’ll probably be what I use.  I doubt I can put together enough people with the interest to do an Ars Magica game, and Earthdawn just doesn’t tickle my fancy right now.

It'll be OK.

    If you’re looking for a simple, easy to learn and master game system, that can be used for nearly any kind of gaming, from fantasy to science fiction to supers and beyond, Over the Edge is a fine choice.  It’s also not really expensive, and though the Player’s Survival Guide is nice, it’s not necessary.

-Matt

Prodigal Son: Fresh Meat

Part Nine:

Hello.  Brad, here.  Matt thought it might be nice this week for you lovely people to hear my point of view on the RPG madness he's unleashed upon my life of late.  So, yeah, I'm not a real gamer and I don't really have the terminology at my control (NPC, that means something right?) so don't mock me too much, okay?  Appreciate it.

Matt and I have been buds for about three or four years now.  And in that time, I've had to sit through endless conversations regarding Role Playing and how this sport is the highest art of dorkdom.  I've always respected (and mostly enjoyed) his stories of The Game.  But I've never bothered with Role Playing and I've never really had an interest in it--a curiosity, sure, cuz it really does feel like it's own world outside of Film Buffs, Comic Nerds, Code Monkeys, and the like.  RPG is hardcore Nerd Behavior.  And I am in a constant state of achieving King Dork.

But, to me, it's always been a mystery.  I've never quite understood what goes on in the games or the game parlors.  I'd seen the D&D movie.  I seen the D&D jokes peppered through various pop referencey comedies like That 70s Show or Community.  But how do all those crazy dice work?  How do you compile these great adventures Matt's always talking about?  

So, it's that curiosity, that finally got me to break down and say to Matt, "Let's do this."  In the past, we had attempted a couple times to get a mini-group game going.  I'm a huge Trekkie so naturally we had talked about the possibility of doing a post-Motion Picture/pre-Wrath of Khan game.  I had even come up with a rather lame character to put aboard our outer rim vessel.  But for a variety of reasons, that game never got off the ground.

A year later, Matt and I finally just decided to do a one player game.  A test of the waters.  Would I dig it?  We've both been grooving on Lovecraft lately, so it wasn't too hard to decide on Call of Cthulhu as my introductory game.

The whole shindig took two days.

Day One:  Character Creation.  Again, I had no idea how these things went down.  Even having come up with a mini-biography for that failed Trek game I still was clueless on the creation process.  I understand that each game is different, but with Call of Cthulhu there's this character sheet that I had to complete using a little creativity and some funny shaped dice I came away with my characters' Education, Skill Sets, and even a little Personal History.  

I took my characters name Paul "Paulie" Connors from the Casablanca and Soylent Green posters hanging above the kitchen table, mashing actors Paul Henreid and Chuck Connors into one fine specimen.  I made him a Great War vet, a North Dakota farmhand--the strong silent type who's seen just enough hell to prepare him for the Mythos madness about to spill aboard the tramp steamer heading towards Innsmouth.  

Day Two:  The Story/Game

What I learned fairly quickly was that Role Playing was a serious creatively collaborative process.  For the game to really work it was going to require that I bring as much storytelling power to the table as game master Matt did.  More or less, we're writing a short story together.  Matt sets up the pieces and I with my protagonist push the narrative.

And I found that process to be incredibly frustrating.  Don't get me wrong, I had a great time.  But--I was just not prepared to write a story.  For some reason, even though I knew we weren't playing Monopoly or Sorry or the game of LIFE, I thought there were a lot more mechanics to the process.  I thought I was going to be rolling the dice every couple of seconds, move ten paces, stop MONSTER!, fight, move three space, etc...etc...I just didn't realize I was going to actively take on the roll of investigator.  That I was going to have to put on my thinking cap and solve this thing.  Who or what was killing the crew?  How was I gonna get off this boat?

In the end, Paulie Connors survived.  He killed a bunch of folks.  Cleaned up the blood.  Burned all the bad books.  And jumped overboard, swimming to shore.  Sigh.

It was fun.  But I never figured it out.  Heck, I never even quite understood how this story tied into the Cthulhu mythos.  The game was definitely entertaining, but also incredibly maddening.  Part of me thinks I played too safe.  Maybe I should have read more of the manuscripts or played around with the dark artifacts.  But I never quite felt comfortable enough with my character.  Was I playing him or was I playing me?  It was just tricky to get into that collaborative storyteller headspace.  I think I'd do better next time.

One thing is definite, Role Playing is fascinating.  I want to do more.  Particularly, I want to do more Call of Cthulhu with this plot Matt has cooked up.  I need answers.  And I want to bring my wife into it.  I think she could end up having loads of fun with this geek format.

And at the very least, I'm quite happy to have finally checked RPG off my dork bucket list.  Hmmm, is Cosplay next????

--Brad