The Player Starter-Pack

By Ben Scerri

Recently I've read a lot of articles pertaining to GM Binders. (For those interested, here are the best ones; Newbie DM, The Crafty DM, Roleplaying Tips Weekly, and RPG Blog II) But one thing keeps coming back to me:

The GM gets so much love, so much time to prep for his game, and so many resources to do so... But players don't get that same love. What about the players? What about a Player Binder?

Now, I encourage players to keep folders or binders of their characters/sheets, etc, but what I'm talking about is a goodie-bag full of stuff that the GM gives to their players before the campaign starts for them to get settled in. Consider it like a show bag...

The Player Starter-Pack

I am going to do this very thing as a test run with "The Sands of Athla". If it works, I will expand it to all my games. Here's what I'm going to do...

First of all, I'll need a folder, or something to put everything into. I recently had the chance to get my hands on a nice black cardboard folder and was informed that it was sourced from OfficeWorks. So, I guess I will be headed there for that resource. Something awesome and official looking that I can attach the campaign name to would be great.

Second, I need to fill it with stuff. Thinking on it heavily, I've decided the following things are most important for the style of campaign I am running (a hexcrawler):

• A campaign map, printed in colour on A3, folded up and slipped inside.
• A fresh character sheet, with a quick primer on the rules for character burning (this is Burning Wheel, after all).
• A campaign calendar, with slots for the days, months, and years, with enough room for the players to write important dates down.
• A small notepad, with room for the players to make notes during the campaign about rumours and things they'd like to look further into.
• A set of blank index cards for the players to write down loot items, NPC contacts and powers they gather for ease of reference.
• A short "travel" pamphlet on the setting, detailing on one A4 page the world, nation, and city they are in, as well as what surrounds the city, so they have some leads on where they might like to check out.
• A primer on the cultures and races of the world, all on one A4 page.
• And finally, a mechanical pencil and eraser.

All of this will snugly fit into the folder, and be at the player's finger tips when they need to reference something. Therefore, no longer will I have to root around for the campaign map, nor everyone crowd around to see what is going on. I wont have to remember every date in the campaign, for the players will record their own important happenings, and they will already know enough about the world before they make their characters to be informed enough.

Has anyone else ever done something like this? How did it turn out? What did you do differently? As a player, what would you want in there yourself?

Something is Coming to Melbourne and I'm Excited

By Ben Scerri

Or rather, something is coming back...

I had a rather interesting night last night - I crawled through the rain and much of Fitzroy to find myself at a little gaming bar that Melbournites will know, but potentially not love. You probably all love the idea behind it, but perhaps not the execution. I am talking, of course, about the Mana Bar.

Coming to Melbourne from Sydney, I was excited beyond belief that I could finally go to a Mana Bar, and experience the awesome that was games and drinks in one open and inviting space. I, like most, was very disappointed with what came about. I went a few times, but always had something to grumble about; it was to small, to cramped, uncomfortable, far away and expensive. Also, it was gimmicky - it wasn't somewhere I could see myself at during the day when I need a beer to think through a code problem, or where I could go in and have a chat to the staff, or, hell, just suggest to my friends without making it an 'outing'.

Nearly everyone I have asked about this has expressed identical problems, and this, in itself, is a problem. If it is a hassle to go, no one will go.

Luckily, though, those who run it currently are very aware of the situation.

So this brings me back to last night. I was called in, along side many fellow devs and the like, to act as a focus group for a new project being brewed upon the stove top of awesamity. It is to take the idea of a space where everyone can comfortably drink and play games (and for indie devs to showcase their games), like what the Mana Bar was supposed to be, but to get it right.

Like this, but with 100% less arm severing... Hopefully.

I can't express much about what is being planned, as it is all very hush hush, but I can say two things:

If this works, it will be HUGE for indie devs, gamers and the geek community in Melbourne, and,
it is going to need all of our support to get it going.

More can be found out at The Revenge of the Nerd, so go have a look.

This will not be the last I will mention of this topic.

Stay tuned for more!

*manages to keep a semi-tight lid on his excitement*

New Do

Well, I said I would do it, and thus I have.

I've finally gotten around to reworking the look of versamus so that it is a little neater, and everything is a bit easier to find. I am still looking for ways to improve the site, so if you have any suggestions, let me know!

Anyway, I will be posting my next instalment on the RPG Puzzles Post-Mortem series after next weeks game, so you can expect it probably on Tuesday.

In other news, the long-running RPG Actual Play Shadow of the Sun has finally been updated again, and I couldn't be happier.

My current long running campaign is finally coming to a close, with around 10 sessions left to it. This is a very exciting time as storylines are coming back up and things are being resolved. Characters are coming into their peaks and tensions are high! Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition ends, I think I might go back to a short Part-Time Gods game before starting "Into the Expanse", my next long running campaign using the Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader rulesets.

I am working on a side campaign that I will be running for my housemates called "The Sands of Athla", which is a Burning Wheel campaign set in a homebrew High Fantasy setting. I will be posting more about this as it develops and as I finish getting prepared for it.

Further, I have started playing in a campaign that one of my housemates is running called "Dr. Wolfgang's Experimentations" which is using the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e ruleset. Loving the game, but still the system rankles me... But at least I get to play Aliel Telarus, the annoying, sometimes doesn't play by the books, Cleric of Helm. So that's an interesting turn of events.

And finally, Qantm starts back up at the end of the week, so I will be back to work. I have already begun working on it again, but only in dribs and drabs, filling out a normal 18 hour week for it. Come next week I will be starting my internship at Wicked Witch Software in Melbourne, and will get a chance to work with some professional Games Developers - a prospect that I am very much looking forward to!

So, it seems like the next few months are going to be jam packed with games running, playing and making. I couldn't ask for more.

RPG Puzzles: A Post Mortem, Part 1

RPG Puzzles: A Post Mortem, Part 1

In my weekly Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition campaign, my players recently stumbled into a secret underground, Chaos-infused, giant magical lair. Yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds.

This lair had at its front a giant door with four keyholes, and the party had it explained to them that they needed to solve four separate puzzles to open each lock and progress.

When planning for this session, I wanted to make 4 separate and unique puzzles, each that will reward the players in a different way. Whilst we haven't finished all four of them yet, the players did complete the first two last night, and so I am going to break them down, go into what worked and what didn't work, and then analyse the results.

Puzzle #1: The Hall of Paintings

The Hall of Paintings was the first puzzle my players encountered. It consisted of a small room with 5 hooks on the walls, 5 empty and unique picture frames, and 5 unframed pictures. The players were given 8 clues between them, and 'control' over the clues they were given (I.e. they held the clue note, and chose where it went and how it applied).

The puzzle was essentially a logic puzzle, except that I printed out and created the frames and paintings for the players to actually hold and assemble as they saw fit. In retrospect, I think this is what sold the puzzle to them. Further, the clues were essentially riddles - short and to the point, which hinted at one aspect of each painting and each frame. The players had to determine if the clues referred to the placement order, or the framing, or what.

In my experience, puzzles such as this without the visual components, often become a situation of everyone sitting back bored whilst the one or two smartest puzzlers in the room figure it out on a sheet of paper. However, with the visual aids, everyone could see what was happening, and everyone could move the components around.

When I introduced a penalty for placing the wrong painting in the wrong frame, tensions rose and everyone around the table took it in turns to place one painting. You could have cut the suspense with a knife.

It was perfect!

Conclusion

Logic puzzles and riddles can work great, despite their general dislike in the RPG community, so long as the GM provides a visual aid for the players. Always have something that everyone can look at and get their hands on. Just like combat needs a battle map and miniatures, puzzles need puzzle pieces.

Feel free to download and try out the Puzzle for yourself! (Note, GMs only. If you want your GM to run this puzzle for you, ask your GM to download it, as it contains the solution and spoilers.)

Puzzle #2: The Hall of the Hydra

The Hall of the Hydra was the second puzzle encountered in the crazy lair/laboratory. This puzzle consisted of a Hydra with four different heads (one for each Lesser Daemon of each Chaos God, so there was a Bloodletter head, a Plaguebearer head, a Daemonette head and a Horror head), as well as a pattern sequence surrounding the Hydra, which had the four icons of the Chaos Gods in the following order:

Slaanesh, Nurgle, Khorne, Tzeentch.

The Hydra would attack the closest player to each head each round with their special abilities, until such a time as the players figured out the puzzle. I wont give away the puzzle here, for I intend to upload it so that other GMs can run it for their players, so...

WARNING: IF YOU ARE A PLAYER, AND YOUR GM MIGHT RUN THIS, PLEASE SKIP TO THE CONCLUSION SECTION.

The trick lies in the sequence with which the players kill the Hydra heads. If they kill a head out of order, it regrows and sprouts a twin. Thus, the players need to systematically kill each head in correct order, otherwise they will be knee deep in Hydra heads.

Every GM out there should be shaking their heads at how moronically simple this puzzle is, and how obvious it would be for the players, but it was surprisingly effective. The players enjoyed the ability to overcome the puzzle and figure it out. They took great pride in not spawning a single extra head throughout the entire battle, and I rightly congratulated them at the end for their cunning.

Conclusion

Simple, combat-based puzzles can work really well if they are based on a clever trick which doesn't take a genius to over come, but if failed, can really hamper the players. My players enjoyed this puzzle because it gave them a chance to all shine in combat whilst tactically defeating an enemy in a way they had never had to before (one after the other, instead of a mass murder-fest).

Never underestimate the power of praise and the joy people feel from understanding the rules and using them to success. It is the same reason board games and strategy games are so fun, so why wouldn't it apply to tabletop RPGs as well?

Feel free to download it and try it yourself!

Final Conclusion of Part 1

Puzzles tend to get a lot of flak in the RPG community, but, so long as they are used sparingly, and not the focus of every session, they can be a great set piece that the players will enjoy greatly and remember for a long time to come.

Just remember, though, that your puzzles can't be static - there has to be some limiter (wrong moves = penalties/a time limit/something trying to eat you, etc) otherwise it becomes boring, and you end up with one engaged player and the rest sitting bored and left out.

I hope you enjoy the puzzles, and I hope you make some of your own. If you do either, let me know how they go!

An Open Letter to the Internet, or, Why Fantasy is Important

When I tell people I play roleplaying games or that I am a Games Designer, people often look at me with that "Why don't you live in the real world" kind of look. I am made the outcast for doing something not considered real. At these points, I wonder what normal people talk about every day.

From asking those around me who are not into the niche things I do, the answer seems to be four main areas: politics, religion, work and sports. When I hear these things, I then think I should talk about them too, so that I am normal. Everyone always wants to fit in.

However, I find that when this occurs, problems arise. They always do. Politics and religion have always been considered the topics you shouldn't talk about at the dinner table, and for a very good reason. Whenever talking about these things, someone (myself included) will always say something inflammatory, and then it will escalate until everyone is unhappy. So both of them are off the cards.

Sports, I find, have the same effect. Most are happy to talk about it in a mutual respect sort of way, but someone will always come in who hates your team, or thinks something inflammatory about something you or someone else has said. Again, fights break out and someone ends up unhappy.

Work seems to be no different. Despite the fact I can't talk about it to normal people, due to the fact my work is weird and not in the real world, others tend to divert their talk about work into in-office politics, or teasing someone, or complaining about something. Generally, talk about work focuses on the negatives. Sometimes people talk about the good stuff, but it is usually everything bad about work that gets brought up. We don't want to do it. This thing is making it harder. We don't get paid enough. Etc. So, again, people focusing on being unhappy.

So when someone asks me why I don't live in the real world, I look at that "world" and see a whole lot of unhappiness.

That is why I don't live there.

That is why I live where if something isn't happy, you can change it. If you don't like how that thing looks in that game, make a new one. If you don't like this novel, pick up a different one. If you don't like your RPG character, create a new one and be someone you do like.

Sure, geeks argue about the finer points of their interests - more often than not, to be honest - but at least at the end of the day the majority of us can all shrug our shoulders and concede "Well, at least it isn't REAL". We can laugh at ourselves for getting heated over something that doesn't exist, and 9/10 times an argument about "Which race in 40k is the best" will result in the two parties sitting down and playing a game to find out, or having fun creating a new, third, BETTER race.

There are some geeks who take it too far, but they are the ones who have nothing BUT Fantasy. To them, the politics between the Empire and the Rebellion are real, and therefore not fun to argue about.

But the majority of us Fantasy lovers are not these people. We are those who have realised that the real world, in fact, sucks. That the reason we don't like talking about it is because obviously no one does, but everyone else is afraid to let go and be weird.

You can have your unhappiness, if you want. But I'd much prefer you come with me and enjoy the Fantasy. There is much to show you, and I'm sure you'll enjoy something.