Neighborhoods of Markaz

One thing that has fascinated me about every city I've ever visited is the proximity of diversity. In old cities and in cities that have seen rapid change, the style, look, and feel of each block can be different. Often, the difference is as varied as the number of buildings.

But it's not just cosmetic differences. In a huge city, within just a few blocks you can have completely different communities, different people, different social norms. Cities always have areas that are "off-limits" to certain groups and the difference of a few meters can be the difference between strangers and family. Cities are inherently high-context environments, and as such, they offer enormous opportunity for gaming scenarios.

I see my main city of Markaz as a scratchpad for all the amazing, awful, wonderful, horrible things that have fascinated me about cities. Here are some concepts for a few key areas in Markaz. I think these can serve as interesting locales for the PCs--at least initially--and others can be made up as needed.

Citadel

The northernmost part of Markaz is the original settlement, which eventually grew into a fortress. It remains a walled town that overlooks the rest of the city. Citadel is home to the Palace, the townhouses and walled estates of the city's elite, and a number of fancy shopping and dining districts. Thought the original city walls and gates still stand, they are mainly used by the elites to make sure that no one too unsuitable is able to wander freely up the hill.

The Empty Quarters
Long ago, when the goblins laid siege to Markaz, they breached a portion the southernmost walls and laid waste to some parts of the city. Since that time, those areas have been taboo and even the poorest of the city are loathe to live there. That does not mean the area is devoid of activity, though. A great deal of nefarious activity takes place in the Empty Quarters, and goblins still live like vermin in burrows between the abandoned buildings. It has become a lawless area, convenient for those who want to avoid attention.

Barracks
This neighborhood is positioned between the city's Eastern Gate and the hill that leads up to the Citadel. Not surprisingly, Barracks gets its name because the City Guard barracks are here. With so many young soldiers running around, it should also come as no surprise that many of the cities finest boozing, gambling, and whoring establishments are also here.

Plugs for Peeps!

It's been a crazy week, and I've barely been able to find time to write these 100 words.

But it's totally worth mentioning that a member of my gaming family has published a small module via Occult Moon! Occult Moon's Toys for the Sandbox series puts out sharp, compact, flexible scenarios that are completely system neutral, so they can be incorporated into any campaign.

Captain's Logs from the Sandbox 03: The Mining Colony on Elkos IV is one of these modules that can be dropped into any space opera campaign. Set on a mysterious ice planet, it lays out several different scenario options, complications, twists, and characters--plenty of fodder to help any GM plan her next game... or help out on those last minute, fly by your knickers nights.

Go download it from RPG Now - Now!

Prehistoric Fauna

There’s an art to using prehistoric animals as templates for beasties in a campaign. Unless you’re actually running a “Lost World” style adventure, you run the risk of diluting the theme of your own campaign. I’m all in favor of dino campaigns, but sometimes that’s not what you want. All you really want is a cool looking animal that makes your campaign exotic and unique without using a xorn or some other ultra-fantastic critter.

I bring it up because Jeff of gameblog fame pulls this off perfectly in his recent Doom of the Jaredites campaign. In an epic move, he casts chalicothere as the Jaredites’ cureloms, which he re-envisions as a kind of pack-ape—and everything about that is pretty freakin’ awesome. His entire campaign concept is downright inspired, I might add.

I’ve also looked to prehistoric animals to populate the wilderness of my campaign. My challenge is that Kimatarthi is a world that is only slowly coming to realize that it is a high-fantasy world. So while there are some built-in fantastic elements—like the edge of the world that drops off into mist—I want these to be modest enough that they could be dismissed as mundane—in other words, the Perfectly Normal Beast phenomenon. I want variety beyond wolves, lions, honey badgers, etc., but I don’t want wyverns, either. So the kinds of imaginary beasts I’m leaning towards are stirges, slives (from Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera), large spiders, an occasional roc – fictional, but non-magical beasties.

Prehistoric animals fit this bill, too… as long as they don’t look too prehistoric. Lots of prehistoric animals have a look that just screams “Lost World,” but that's not what I want. No saber-toothed cats for me—they’re too iconic. Instead, I like these guys.

Pakicetus: ancient whale, wandering monster (ArthurWeasley)

The pakicetus (which will have a different name) fits the bill. It has a unique look without being too Lost World. Even though these were probably amphibious in real life, I’ll make them into very clever pack hunters. The pic is just a cool way to add flavor. For additional coolness, this thing’s decedents evolved into whales! How awesome is that?

Patriofelis: rock-climbing dire otter (DiBgd)

I also like patriofelis because it looks like some kind of rock-climbing dire otter. This works well with all of the rocky regions that define Kimatarthi. It’s catlike, but definitely not a cat. Again, it’s the look and the flavor that appear to me.

At some point in the future, I’ll flesh these out with stats and give them a run. I’ll do the same with the slives, which are pretty badass.

The City of Mudun

Real life is still a bit hectic with a new addition to the family. I've only just made it back to the gaming table after hiatus of two and a half months. (There's a good write-up of our session here.) Hopefully, I'll get in more game time and more blog time. I've been asked to do some more posts that describe my world of Kimatarthi and lay off the mechanics for a bit. ...ok, so it was my lovely (but non-gaming) wife who made the request, but I thought it a wise suggestion anyhow. Hey - I have at least one regular reader!

The City of Mudun

Like most cities, Mudun was destroyed in the Goblin War. Anyone who didn’t flee met an unspeakably brutal end. The city was sacked, and only a vacant, crumbling shell was left. It remained like that for several decades until an exodus known as the Great Rebuilding. The overcrowding, disease, and poor quality of life in Markaz eventually began to create agitation and instability in the city. Desperate, the rulers organized a military campaign to retake Mudun and reestablish a human presence east of the Lowlands. It was the last great Bakdunis campaign against the goblins. After clearing the city and the surrounding area, thousands of civilians were sent to reestablish Mudun.

The original city sat on either side of a river, but the goblin threat is still very real and Mudun is a frontier town. To bolster the defenses, the rebuilt Mudun exists only to the  north of the river, and all but one bridge connecting the banks were destroyed. On the south side of the river is the scarred and crumbling ruins of the old civilization… and the vast majority of the region’s wealth.

Mudun was chosen as the first city to rebuild because of its proximity to arable land, pastures, and mineral resources. Yet the sheer number of goblins continues to make access to these resources perilous. Each day just before dawn the Bridge Gate is opened, and people flood across to do their work in goblin territory. Each evening at dusk the gate is locked again. It makes work life difficult, but it is the only way to preserve the city from the ever-present goblin danger, as those unfortunate souls who are occasionally stranded on the wrong side of the river would attest if only they could be found.

Hit Points and Consequences

Risus Monkey wrote recently about the utility of using consequences as a component of games. While he was talking specifically about Risus, it’s a useful tool that can be used in a wide variety of narrative games, and one that I’ve incorporated into my own “D6F” house rules.

 

The way I’ve chose to do it, however, is a bit of an experiment, so I’m excited to see how it flies in game play. While the standard options for gameplay are usually either use a stress scale with consequences or use hit points, I choose both. I want to have my hit points and eat them, too. Here’s how it’ll work:

All characters have hit points. But whenever a character takes damage, her player will have the option to take that damage as a consequence comparable to the amount of hit point damage, rather than as actual hit points. So, for example, she could opt for either “Stunned” or 3 points of damage, “Busted arm (Wounded)” or 7 points, “Incapacitated” or 20 points, etc.

Consequences are taken as a temporary Aspect, but the severity of the consequence determines how long the Aspect persists. I haven’t worked out an exact scale yet, but something like “Stunned” will only last a round or two, whereas “Incapacitated” could last several weeks or months of game time. It could even lead to a permanent Aspect, such as “Gammy leg” or "Hook" if it were serious enough.

Buster should have taken the damage...

I anticipate that players will choose to take light consequences early in the fight, since they will wear off quickly, and more serious consequences only when their characters are truly threatened with death. Effectively, this will give players a way to avoid death by a thousand paper cuts and hopefully lead to bigger, more dramatic climactic battles. At least that’s the idea.

There may very well be good reasons why system designers give the option to do either a scale or hit points. Maybe it gets too complicated during actual play. Who knows? The only way to find out is game testing. It seems totally manageable, though, and should bring some interesting, imaginative, and fun choices to the table.

On Points

As I discussed in my last post, I’ll be using an Open D6 + FATE rules combo (D6F) for my upcoming Kimatarthi campaign. One of the main points of convergence that I see is in the use of Character Points (or FATE points, as it were…). In both systems, points can be spent to gain bonuses, modify scenes, or otherwise moderately impact the game narrative.  As per the Open D6 rules, D6F will manifest the bonuses as an extra wild die added for each character point spent, and will also use Character Points for character development. As per FATE, spending a Character Point will be related to a character’s Aspects. Where D6 and FATE depart is in how the points are earned, so this gives me some room for tinkering.

In D6F, I see three ways to earn Character Points. The inclusion of Aspects, as per FATE, gives players the ability to earn character points when their Aspects are compelled or when they create in-game drama. Character Points will also be earned for successfully completing adventures and otherwise moving the story along. But the third way to earn points is ripped from a totally different source – Old School Hack.

Oh yes. In addition to normal rewards and compels, character points will also be distributed by the players, among the players like Awesome Points in OSH. Because who doesn’t love a bowlful of awesome? Our group loves OSH, and part of what makes the sessions so much fun is chucking candy rewards at each other for entertaining the rest of us.  Awesome points keep players engaged in the story, keep them striving to perform, and provide serious incentive for the players to work as a group. Too often in games, players tune out their comrades while planning out their next perfect, damage-dealing move – something that it impossible if you need to keep your teammates invested in your character to level up. Awesome Points are one of the crowning features of OSH, and I really think they will contribute to the fun factor of any campaign.

D6F - Playing to Disadvantages (and Advantages)

As noted in my previous post, I’ve decided to run my campaign with a base D6 rule set, but with some good stuff from FATE grafted on - a beast I like to call D6F. The main thing I’m taking from FATE is the use of Aspects, which describe what a character is like, and give bonuses for using them in relevant situations.

The D6 system does have a similar mechanic in its use of Advantages and Disadvantages, but I find it unsatisfying. There are a lot of systems that incorporate the idea of character flaws into the game, but do so for the purposes of character depth only. FATE, on the other hand, makes disadvantages a critical part of game play and players are rewarded with FATE points for making their lives more difficult. So there’s a payoff beyond plain game flavor.

Take, for example, my character in our GURPS Knights of the Astral Seas game. I took a handful of disadvantages in order to get a few more character creation points, but they basically mean nothing now. Honestly, I’m not even sure what they are off the top of my head because I don’t ever use them. There’s no penalty for not playing them, and when I have role-played to them, it has often felt like a forced non-sequitur.

To its credit, D6 does give the Advantages/Disadvantages rule set some real in game purpose, but at the end of the day, it's still just a matter of character depth. I’m a real believer that human behavior responds to incentives—both in the free market economy and in gaming.

So, by making the D6 Advantage/Disadvantages into FATE Aspects, the mechanic will become an active part of play. What does this mean? Well, FATE’s FATE Points easily become the D6 Character Points (note: don’t confuse FATE Points with the D6 system’s Fate Points – ugh.) Players in my D6F system will have to spend character points to invoke the advantage of an Aspect they have. Similarly, they will earn Character Points for invoking a disadvantage or by subjecting themselves to a compel.

But wait – there’s more! In the D6 system, Character Points are not only used for doing cool stuff during the game, they are the mechanism for character development. So by taking disadvantages and creating more trouble for themselves during play, the players will actually be earning points to build their skills and attributes.

So now, instead of simply having to play out a character’s “Misogynist” Aspect with periodic derisive comments, they can actually earn Character Points to buy new skills or do awesome stuff simply by reminding the GM that bartering with the lady shopkeep may not go as smoothly as anticipated.

I think this blend of the systems nicely captures the best mechanics of both. Naturally, there are a number of corollaries that follow from this marriage, so stay tuned!