Uncanny Navigation

There is far too much life going on this month and keeping me from blogging or doing much else in the way of relaxation. I finally was able to score a free minute to flip through this month's National Geographic. Fortunately, in my second paragraph of leisure reading this month, I came across this gem in a piece about exploration and human nature:

[Captain James] Cook granted [a Polynesian priest named] Tupaia a berth on the Endeavor in Tahiti. Soon after that, the Polynesian wowed the crew by navigating to an island unknown to Cook, some 300 miles south, without ever consulting compass, chart, clock, or sextant. In the weeks that followed, as he helped guide the Endeavor from one archipelago to another, Tupaia amazed the sailors by pointing on request, at any time, day or night, cloudy or clear, precisely toward Tahiti.

This blew my mind. I read a while back about a people who have a similar ability. The language of this people (I think it was an Amazon tribe) has no words for relative direction, such as left or right. Instead, everything is described in cardinal directions - Dan is sitting to the east of Steve, for example. Even inside buildings, they could always point north instantly.

It struck me that such an amazing human ability must be codified into gaming somehow. I always fond it exciting when I come across real world evidence that such a trait could actually exist. No doubt some games have such a thing, but I'm not about to go do any research. The closest thing that comes to mind is the Dungeoneering skill, but that falls short of this. So here's how I would describe it:

Uncanny Navigation

Because of the character's cultural familiarity with the terrain type, she simply cannot get lost. No matter where she travels, she will always be able to identify the direction to a known location. Drugs, magic or other unnatural inhibitors may temporarily disrupt it, however. The character must be from a culture that is defined by the terrain she can navigate. For example, an island people may choose the open ocean, Bedouins the desert, Dwarves underground, etc.

Inkwell Ideas Kickstarter

Not that I expect my army of bored readers to run out and support this project, but every little bit helps.

Inkwell Ideas, the folks behind Hexographer, Dungeonmorph Dice, and other goodness, have a bitchin' Kickstarter that deserves to be funded. Check it out here.

Frankly, it's an idea that should have been done years ago. I know we all get good at flipping through the monster books to find the stats of our favorite beasties, but wouldn't it be easier just to have a handy deck of cards. Not only can you carry them in your pocket (you know, to impress chicks on the subway), but you can easily cue them up ahead of your gaming session for quick reference.

Also, the fact that all the art this project sponsors will become stock art is a great boon to indie game publishers everywhere.

Spins on Elemental Magic

Many months ago, when I first brought up the issue of magic in the land of Kimatarthi, I mentioned that I wanted there to be multiple means to the same end. I would like players to have significant narrative power to use magic however they want to, even though there are existing ways to cast spells. So while the players will be able to tinker with various casting methods, I needed a base to start from. Enter the Classical Elements.

There are a ton of settings that use the Classical Elements as a basis for magic from D&D to GURPS to Codex Alera (which is past due to be made into a role-playing game). The cool thing is that, just as in real ancient history, there are different ways of interpreting the elements.

Classical Greek
The system that most people are familiar with are the Greek elements: Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. There are derivations from that, but it all comes down to the four. You can find this throughout Dungeons and Dragons and all of its spin-offs.

Classical Indian
Interestingly, classical Hindu mythology came to a similar conclusion, but added one more: Fire, Earth, Water, Air, and Ether. It's not so far off from the classical Greek quintessence, but including ether as a basic element should appeal to many (particularly our gang of Ethernauts). I could totally see how  or folks that want to mix a steampunk or weird science or pseudo-Enlightenment kind of vibe into a campaign might be drawn to an Ether element. Can you imagine summoning an Ether Elemental? What would that do?

What about Consciousness as an Element? Here it's represented as a King.

Classical Chinese
Another system that identifies five elements is Chinese: Fire, Earth, Water, Wood, Metal. I guess air was dropped, as it is not a substance. Interestingly enough, Jim Butcher throws Air back into the mix in Codex Alera. This kicks much ass.

Classical Bhuddism
There is a concept of seven centers of vital energy (chakras) in Bhuddism and Hinduism that is similar to the elements. These are identified as Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Ether/Sound, Light/Dark, Time/Space. This is a really cool concept. I can totally picture a Tech Level 11 Mage slinging around hexes that twist space-time.

That also brings up the point that in all of these mythologies, the elements are tied to different emotions, temperaments, body parts, planets, etc. My basic point is that there are so many different ways to parse our reality, why can't elemental magic draw upon any of those categories? What about a mage that draws upon actual elements? You know... a Carbon Mage.

Well they can. Play my game.

Kriegspiel Online

I wanted to point people to Kriegspiel.

It's not the one with a bunch of Prussians plotting how to kick assess across Europe. It's the one made by the French Marxist filmmaker. In many ways this makes it equally awesome.

It is a chess-like game, but more elaborate. You can read all about the concept and development of the game at the link above.  More importantly, you can download the software that will allow you to play without having to do lots of addition. It's a fun game and a great way to spend some hours playing against opponents online or just mucking about on your own.

Go download (it's free) and enjoy!

Life During Wartime

Every time I listen to "Life During Wartime" by the Talking Heads, I can't help but think that it would make an awesome movie, TV show, or (since I don't blog about those other things) role-playing game.



I love this song because it embodies the urban spirit that the Talking Heads capture so wonderfully in their music and it also evokes a vivid picture of the chaos of 1970s militancy. According to a book about the Talking Heads (fine - I found the quote on Wikipedia...), David Byrne was thinking about Baader-Meinhof (Red-Army Faction), Patty Hearst, and Tompkins Square in New York City when he wrote it. I don't think he'd object if I say that the song takes my imagination elsewhere, and that's where I think it would be awesome to run a campaign.

Whenever I listen to "Life During Wartime" I always think about the civil war in Lebanon and what would happen if something similar were imposed on the United States. It would be like West Beirut in an American context. If I were to run a campaign with this as the inspiration, the basic scenario would look like this:

In the near future, the United States is engulfed in a low-intensity civil war. Secessionists angry with Washington have taken up arms in their states and localities. While entire states have not seceded, local revolts have popped up in nearly every state. The country is divided along a spectrum, ranging from those who support independence for local areas to those who want to crush any disloyalty to the government. Incidents of terrorism and guerrilla warfare have become commonplace across the nation.

Democrats and Republicans are no more. Instead there are three new parties (As I've mentioned before, I love me some factions):

• The Democratic-Republican (National Unity) Party - Most political leaders have rallied together against the secessionists and are working to resolve the problem, though without much success.
• USA Whig (USA - Where Has It Gone?) Party - The new Whig party is the political wing of the secessionist movement. It works in Washington and in state capitals to directly further that cause and to obstruct policies that would otherwise bring about an end to the revolt.
• The Liberal Unionist Party - On the opposite end of the spectrum are those who believe in no compromise with the Whigs, no mercy for secessionists, and a strong, unchallenged federal government.

The campaign is set (or begins) in Washington, DC and the player characters are college students trying to live their lives amid the chaos, politics, and fighting that has engulfed the country. It doesn't really matter what system it gets played on, but I totally think that players should get bonuses for incorporating lyrics from the song into their characters (e.g. "Got a van that's loaded with weapons;" "Lived in a brownstone, lived in a ghetto;" "We've got computers, we're tappin' phone lines."). Any player who is David Byrne also gets a massive bonus.

Nothin' but a G-Thang (Gamer Thang), Baby

I'm becoming a terrible blogger. At the same time, I'm becoming a better gamer.

Ironically, I have not had as much time to write (or attend my regular gaming crew) because I've been busy at work designing games. I'm not quite sure why it took so long for me to bridge the gap between my career and my hobby of choice, but one day I realized that I should try to incorporate gaming into my job (or my job into gaming?), since I work with some of the greatest wargamers in the industry.

Granted war games are not my traditional mode, but designing them is a lot more interesting than writing papers -- especially when they also incorporate significant role-playing aspects. I didn't ever think that I would have professional conversations about GURPS or the analytic utility of dungeon crawls, but I have. I'm also learning a shit-metric-ton about game design, game development, and the American way of war. And.... I'm getting paid for it, so that's frickin' awesome.

Anyway, I aspire to update the blog whenever possible, and I intend to play games much, much more... since I can justify it as career development now. :) But since the gaming "world" is so huge, I'm not sure exactly where it will take me. Still, if you've read this far, you may very well tune in again [thumbs up, geek!]... and this is good since my wife is always impressed when someone who is not her logs in for a read.

A Spy In Isengard

Stop the presses!

Stop. The. Fracking. Presses.

I just found A Spy in Isengard online. What is this, you ask? I wasn't quite sure either. All I knew was that as a kid I played this the crap out of this book, and it was a critical link in my jump from Choose Your own Adventure to Dungeons and Dragons.

As I remember it, the book was basically a choose-your-own-adventure format, but with a few interesting advanced steps. You have to create a character in the beginning, there is a character sheet with inventory list at the back, and a random numbers table in case you don't have 2d6 lying around (or if you're squeezed in the back of a station wagon with two younger brothers on family vacation).

Middle Earth Quest Character Sheet: Awesomeness from the 80s.

By the magic of Google, I have come to learn more. A Spy in Isengard was a Middle Earth Quest (MEQ) book published by Iron Crown Enterprises, which also published Middle Earth Role Playing (MERP), a system based on Rolemaster. I'm guessing that this book was a way to publicize MERP or maybe even it was designed to be a gateway drug book to heavier MERP games. I'm still not sure, but I'm struck by a couple things.

One, it's a little baffling to me that one publisher could produce so much at that time. Rolemaster, MERP, MEQ, a few books, and I recall couple similar Sherlock Homes books produced around the same time. For one, it drives home just how much the gaming industry was producing in the 1980s. But how big of an operation was Iron Crown? Was it a couple guys working out of a garage? If so, how did they get wide enough market access to be successful? Was it a wing of some giant corporate conglomerate? If so, how did they fund enough staff? Did the really sell that many copies of Rolemaster and A Spy in Isengard to turn a profit? Is that why the MEQ system ceased to be?

Two, it hits on the importance of having proper introductions to games. Not long ago on Google+, some folks were having a discussion about how a game product should be properly introduced to a kid who just picks it up off the shelf. Rightly, the issue is that many kids like myself grab something cool (A Spy in Isengard) at a local store and have no way to tie it in to anything.

I remember wondering as a kid what MERP was, but I had no idea how to find it. The local library didn't have information on it. Not even the country library had any information in the whole card catalog! Even if I had found something, I was beholden to the preferences of our friendly neighborhood game shop, and to my mom's willingness to drive me there.We didn't even have a comic book store in my town until I was 14. As a result, A Spy in Isengard was the only MEQ product I ever purchased.

What I'm saying is that an awesome product like A Spy in Isengard produced today would come replete with links to a website where more information could be had and more products purchased. I see on the Iron Crown Enterprises website they have produced a Sherlock Holmes game app. This is great. Hopefully ICE will be able to continue making great gaming products and not lose potential customers because they can be linked in to the magic of the internets.

Meanwhile, I'm totally going to rip a copy of A Spy in Isengard from Scribd and print it on the work Xerox.