The Lightest RPG Ruleset Ever

Don't worry, I'm still writing the next part of my recent series.  I haven't forgotten! This is just something I thought about on my way to work this morning...

The following is a ruleset for a light RPG you can play in any amount of time, even less than 30 minutes. Character generation takes 10 seconds, and combat (if you even have any) takes a single dice-pool per 'side'. It can be used for any setting, ever.

Each player chooses 3 things their character is good at. This could be anything, from Strength, to Running, to Talking People to Sleep.

Each player ranks these traits from +1, +2, and +3. You have to use each, and you can only use each once.

To make a test, a player rolls a d6. If they are testing an action against something that they have a trait in, they roll that many more dice and add all the results together.

The GM sets the Difficulty of an action (or in the case of a contested action, the other party rolls and compares the highest). Difficulty 4 is the base-line.

If a player rolls equal to or above the Difficulty, then they succeed. If they get equal to or more than twice the Difficulty, they have performed a Critical Success, and they can describe the extra awesome things they've done.

Combat is fought by both sides adding up all their dice and rolling it as a single dice-pool. The side with the highest total wins, and the other side loses. It is up to the GM and the players to decide what this means.

Weapons and armour, and other gear add more dice, or have cool effects determined in the moment.

Rules of Thumb: Don't be a dick. Play to have fun with everyone. Trust each other. Do these things and the system will work.

Have fun!

Emotion in Gaming 2.0 - Part #2 - Involving the Senses

This is Part #2 of a 5-part series. For the other 4 parts, go to these links: Part #1, Part #3, Part #4, and Part #5.

Since the beginning of versamus my writing and my GMing has grown considerably. As such, I felt it would be a good idea to re-write the first series I ever released on here - Emotion in Gaming (1, 2, 3, 4). This post is a revision of the second part: External Influences, which I am renaming Involving the Senses. I'm actually breaking this one into 2 different posts, as it was getting a little long!

This series is useful to GMs and players alike who want games that really stay in your memory, long after the session in which it was played has come and gone.

Emotion in Gaming 2.0 - Part #2 - Involving the Senses

Often the greatest barrier between your players and their emotions is, oddly enough, your game. Not the story, or the characters, or anything on that kind, but the fact that you're all sitting around a table and playing something. Whilst true immersion is impossible (and not even ideal), you do want your players invested in your game world. The best way to do this, I have found, is by influencing your players' senses.

As I touched on last time, we have more than the 5 senses that good ol' Pliny put down, but we can hardly include proprioception into a campaign. What we can do is influence Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, and Taste. Some of these tips are elsewhere, and last time I left them out if they were, but not this day.

Procrastination, always putting things off till another day.

Sight

Sight is the easiest and cheapest trick in a GM's book. A GM can go to really any length on this spectrum, from finding good image boards on Pinterest (of which there are many), and checking out the two Greatest Damn Art Resources(1, 2), to making PowerPoint presentations or AfterEffects clips showcasing the art, all the way to performing your own "holograms" like I described last time.

Really, anything can be mocked up easily for your players' benefit.

Not only is sight easy to trick, it is also quite effective at rallying your players behind a single mindset. A map is great to give a sense of scale to a journey, and a monster image will help build the epicness. But all of these techniques are surface deep.

The best use of sight I have ever done was in limiting it. By controlling the lighting in your sessions you can build fear and apprehension (much as I did, by making the corners of the room difficult to perceive). This can be done in any way from replacing electric light with candles (or those "electric candles" you can get from craft/homeware stores) to a dimmer switch.

Sound

Sound can be a great addition to the tabletop for building emotion, but it can be a distracting tool for the GM to use. Building playlists around themes may work for some, but I often find myself either ignoring the playlist completely, or tripping over it as the mood changes.

Luckily, fantastic alternatives now exist! Syrinscape, a subscription-based system enables you to more seamlessly integrate sound effects and music into your game. However, there is a lot there, and it might not be to everyone's taste. Therefore, a free alternative (though you really should donate!) is Tabletop Audio, a lovingly curated background ambience web-player. Check it out, if you haven't already.

Music should be played at low volume so that when only one person is talking (hopefully the GM, not players talking over each other) it can be heard in the background, but when everyone is getting into the spirit, it doesn't make you raise your voice. Sound works best to create emotion when you match the flow of your own voice to the music, so make sure to describe those dark caverns in a slow, deeper method than a pirate swinging from the riggings!

Smell

Smell is a very difficult sense to trick, especially so at the tabletop when you don't have anyone behind the senses. Whilst I used to think incense was a good idea at the tabletop, it can be very distracting if done incorrectly. Instead, I now advocate for mixing Smell with the other senses:

• If you're using candles for lighting, consider scented candles (or maybe even church candles if you want to get that waxy smell really strong),
• If you're cooking (see Taste next post), make sure you do it shortly before playing, so the house smells strongly of the food,
• If you're not directly cooking, put some spices in a pan for a few moments, or brew some coffee, or make fragrant tea,
• Spray a little perfume under the table at a pivotal moment,
• And so on...

Smells should be used sparingly. Not everything needs a physical smell, but you should always describe it at least. However, if you have a villain who always smells like sickly lavender, and you spray some under the table every time they appear, the next time your players smell it yet you've said nothing they will go into frenzy.

Next post will be about Touch and Taste, my two favourite senses at the tabletop!

Have you ever used sight, sound or smell at the tabletop to heighten the ambience, and create more memorable moments? Did it go well? Did it go poorly? Let me know!

Emotion in Gaming 2.0 - Part #1 - Group Dynamics

This is Part #1 of a 5-part series. For the other 4 parts, go to these links: Part #2, Part #3, Part #4, and Part #5.

Since the beginning of versamus my writing and my GMing has grown considerably. As such, I felt it would be a good idea to re-write the first series I ever released on here - Emotion in Gaming (1, 2, 3, 4). This post is a revision of the first part: Group Consensus, which I am renaming Group Dynamics.

This series is useful to GMs and players alike who want games that really stay in your memory, long after the session in which it was played has come and gone.

Emotion in Gaming 2.0 - Part #1 - Group Dynamics

Emotions play a massive role in tabletop gaming, whether it is the anger felt over someone building your route in Ticket to Ride, or the sense of conflict-camaraderie when you push back the Barbarians in Settlers of Catan: Cities & Knights. Whilst these experiences are fun, powerful and memorable, they do not hold a candle to those had during a roleplaying game... Our group still shares a few moments of silence when Saint Ghanima's name is mentioned.

Is it that I don't like Catan? Or that Catan doesn't like me?

These emotional responses create long-lasting memories for players. Everyone around your table will remember the time when the young innocent barmaid is sacrificed for the greater good, or the villain slays a party member who then miraculously (and dangerously) comes back to life. (I'm getting chills writing these examples, as they are all excerpts from my Praag campaign!) These events will create a shared narrative around the table, and represent the height of the GM's craft - you've created events so real to your players that they count as 'memories'.

However, this isn't for every group. I'm lucky in that my group trusts me to run damn near anything. I've scared the shit out of them with sadistic cultists of Khaine, and I've brought (at least a few of them) to tears when their gruff mentor himself broke down weeping. I've been lucky in that my group are happy to experience these greater emotions. Not that we don't play for fun, but we are far from a beer-and-pretzels game.

But not every game is this way. Along with your Standard Table Contract, you'll want to discuss what emotions and topics people don't want to explore, and which ones they do. Some people love horror, others hate it. Some want romance in their games, others are uncomfortable about it.

To go through this, I advise three levels of gradation with each topic and emotion: 

1. Green: The topic / emotion is completely fine. No issues with it being included.
2. Orange: The topic / emotion is fine thematically, but keep it 'off screen'.
3. Red: The topic / emotion is out-of-bounds. Keep it away from the game.

In the case of a Green topic, it's fine, just leave it, and let everyone know they can always flag it with Orange if they get uncomfortable. 

With Orange, discuss as a group how best to present it: "fade-to-black" is my personal favourite, where you say how it begins, and then allow the scene to explain itself in player imagination while you change the scene. 

With Red, just leave it out. If it is thematically necessary, discuss it with the group, but it is better to not have compromise. Nothing is worse than a player feeling out-of-character uncomfortable at your table.

Discussing these issues will help your game significantly, as it will allow your players an idea of the games you want to run, and the mindset that they should be coming to your game with, because at the end of the day, if the players don't want to feel a certain emotion, you're going to have a very difficult time making them...

Have you ever used a strong emotional response in your games? If so, let us all know! These tend to be the best stories from the tabletop, so keen to hear about them!

Versamus 30k: We Did It, Baby!

I'm very proud today. I'm proud because versamus has reached 30,000 page views!

That's pretty intense, I have to say... 30,000 is a lot more than I ever dreamed I would get way back when I started. My writing has changed a lot in the 3.5 years, and my life has changed a lot more. I've grown as an individual and, most importantly for this blog, as a Game Master.

This photo is a metaphor about how I've been standing still with my hands cupped in front of my for so long that a tree has started growing in them. It has no relevance to this blog. None. Nothing about Growth. I'm just bragging that I can no-hands photograph.

In the 3.5 years I've finished a major campaign, graduated university as a Games Designer, and begun working in the industry. I've even started freelancing! I helped release a WFRP 2e fan supplement, and began writing my own... It's been a busy few years.

To express the growth that has gone into this time, and to pay homage to the beginnings of versamus, I am going to rewrite, and re-release my first four articles on the site - Emotion in Gaming (1, 2, 3, 4).

Thank you to everyone who has ever read anything on this site. A second thank you to anyone who has ever commented! (I don't get many, so when I do, I get very excited!!) And a third and far-from-final thank you to those who have encouraged me along the way, shared my work, or let me know that anything I've written has actually been worth reading. You guys are the reason there are 30k views on this blog. Not me. I had very little to do with it...

Cheers, and I hope I'll be doing this for a lot longer :D

RECIPE: Fusion-ish San Choy Bao

I normally don't write recipes, but I do love to cook often, and I love to write, so I thought I might combine the two. Lets see how this goes.

San Choy Bao is a favourite of mine - I remember eating it as a child, and enjoyed the messiness of the little lettuce-wrapped parcels. This is a traditional Vietnamese dish, however as with a lot of what I cook it takes on a Japanese bent here, replacing sherry with sake, and switching up from the usually sweeter and lighter soy to Japanese soy, which is a bit more savoury.

This dish is relatively cheap - I bought everything from the supermarket for around $40 AUD - and feeds a lot of people. It's also quick and fun to make, as well as tasting great for very little work. Just cut everything up and add it in stages. No fancy techniques go into San Choy Bao, so anyone should be able to do it regardless of cooking skill.

I don't have a picture from last night, as I didn't have the foresight to take one. I also don't know the legality of posting someone else's picture here, so I'll just Google it for you.

Preparation Time: ~15 minutes.

Cooking Time: ~30 minutes.

Serves: 6-8*.

* I made this for dinner last night and fed 6; our house is a little odd, however, so this could probably feed more if you have small eaters.

Ingredients:

For Frying

2 tbs peanut oil

500g chicken mince

500g pork mince

1 small red chilli, finely diced and deseeded

2 heaped tsp minced garlic (I prefer pre-minced for dishes like this, as they have more juice)

2 handfuls oyster mushrooms, finely diced

6 shallots, finely sliced

2 cans water chestnuts (about 500g), finely diced

1 can bamboo shoots (about 250g), finely diced

3 tbs soy sauce

3 tbs oyster sauce

Sauce

6 tbs hoisin sauce

2 tbs Japanese soy sauce

2 tbs oyster sauce

2 tbs sweet chilli sauce

4 tbs sake

To Serve

Lettuce cups

Tortilla wraps

3 cups uncooked rice

Method:

1. In a large covered pan on medium-to-high heat, fry the oil, chilli and garlic until fragrant. Add in the chicken and pork mince, breaking it up and combining it. Cover with lid to keep moisture. Lift the lid and stir every minute or so to make it an even browning.
2. Mix together the sauce ingredients and set aside. Alongside, cook the rice in your preferred method (I advise using a rice cooker so that you don't have to keep an eye on it throughout).
3. Once the mince is browned, add the sauce, and the mushrooms, shallots, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots. Cover again for 5 minutes.
4. Stir throughly and add the remaining soy sauce and oyster sauce. Let this fry off a little, and serve hot.

Serving:

Traditionally, San Choy Bao is eaten without rice, wrapped in a small lettuce leaf and eaten whole. Personally, I prefer to eat it like a lettuce taco, topping it with rice (which also makes the meat go further, and makes it less salty). Some, my housemates included, prefer to eat it in a tortilla wrap with the lettuce on the inside like a burrito. Each to their own.

I advise you to set the table with the meat, lettuce, rice and wraps in the centre so that your guests can pick and choose how they want to make it themselves. You might also want to serve either red wine or spirits alongside this dish, as the deeper flavours will go well with the umami of the white meats and mushrooms.

Alternatives and Notes to the Picky Eater:

Normally San Choy Bao is made with a dry cooking sherry, or Chinese cooking wine. I chose sake, because I prefer the taste and I think it goes exceptionally well with chicken. However, if you want a richer flavour, try the original way the second time around, and let me know your thoughts on the differences!

If you're one to baulk at chilli, have no fear. My housemates (who loved this) dislike and don't tolerate chilli... They didn't comment on its inclusion, or complain that it was too hot, so you should be fine. If you like it hot, however, please add more (I would say no more than 4x the amount shown above, but you should know the tastes of your household to judge).

Lastly, you can also add in finely shredded cabbage and diced bean sprouts to increase the vegetables in this dish. If you do add these, give them the same proportions as the bamboo shoots size-(not weight-)wise.