Jackercon Interlude: Microscope

Last night I ran a session of Microscope RPG for Jackercon (an online convention I've previously talked about here). This was an experiment in a number of ways.

Running table top RPGs online

Online is definitely not my first choice of venue for gaming. I'm very lucky to have a gaming group I run things for regularly, all of which I love to play with. And I'm very lucky to be able to regularly attend Strategicon, which runs 3x a year in LA, with some fantastic GMs, games, and players.

But occasionally you want to play with someone who is far away, or can't get a local game going. Or maybe you just want to play something someone else is offering and you can't get where you're at. So I get those reasons why you'd play.

But I don't want online gaming to be a lesser thing. I want it to be almost the same as playing with people at a table. Which is to say: interactive, fun, and without the distractions that the computer, in front of your face, provides. This is difficult. When I've been a player in online games I've found myself to easily distracted by the call of the web browser (similar to that modern complaint of players getting distracted by their phones at the table).

I've been an instructor, and I've had to teach online. And it's hard. You have to try to be as interactive as possible. You need to maintain a connection with the audience using all sorts of tools, be they Q&A, getting the audience to help you finish your statements and thoughts even if they are obvious, use a cadence in your voice, constantly get feedback to ensure the audience hasn't died, whatever.

So, on to the second online game I've run...

A request for Microscope

I played Microscope for the first time at GoPlayNW 2015 (as mentioned here). Much like The Quiet Year, Microscope is a GM-less story-based game that involves lots of world building. Unlike The Quiet Year, however, Microscope actually contains more than a bit of role-playing, which is one of its big draws.

The premise is that you (as a group) create the big picture for the game, the bookends which frame the history you will explore, and the palette which narrows the types of things we agree can and can't happen within that exploration. And then we make history. All of these are game terms, as defined by Microscope.

This is a game that can work well with a table full of non-gamers who are interested in playing something new, or a table full of GMs or thespian / creative type players. But it probably won't work well if you have folks who just want to sit back and be entertained, because everyone has to do the "heavy lifting" in this game (which is to say: create).

But specifically, I had some very motivated Jackers who were interested in playing...

History of the Zorthons

Players: Curt, Harry, Ronnie, Tomer

We started with the initial game setup. For those not familiar with the game, these steps are performed with some group discussion, as well as taking turns adding things to the palette. I ensured that the players understood that we want to play with any detailed ideas or planned concepts close to the chest, and this was really setting up the broad strokes and framework for the game. We ended up with:

• Big Picture: The prehistoric pre-humans create a civilization on Earth.
• Bookends: The Zorthon civilization begins to grow [Light] <-> Modern Humans open a Zorthon crypt in the 21st centry [Dark]
• Palette (YES): Saurian / lizardmen, science-based rational world, different species of Zorthon, massive underdark cave system
• Palette (NO): Time travel, global-spanning empires (nations OK)

A screenshot that shows some of the game setup, rules, and palette (as well as information about the 2 rounds of play, which came later)

After this, we each have a first pass, where we get to each create a Period or Event. In Microscope Periods are long swaths of time, Events are noticeable events that occur within a specific Period, and Scenes (used later) are individual moments within an Event.

We created a few of these, and already we started with interesting periods such as "Zorthons optimize crystal-based energy source", and events such as "The first of many terrible meteor showers brought the crystals to the earth". Within a few minutes, you start having meat to work with.

We played a round with me as the Lens (the controlling player, of sorts, for this set of creations). As the Lens I get to create the Focus for this round, that we all have to play off of. Although I had nothing to do with the idea of adding the crystals to the game, my focus was "Crystal-based energy source", because I found that intriguing. 

^ This, by the way, is one of the charming things about the game. Someone will add an ingredient or component, and others will just grab it and run in all sorts of interesting directions. All this compounds and makes a beautiful tapestry of a story that everyone is responsible for, and yet no one specifically.

We continued playing the round through, and then most of another, before Curt's internet connection - out in the remote tundra of Alaska - caught up with him. Or maybe it was Wendigo, or whatever they have up there.

Regardless, we got play a few Scenes, which are little role playing encounters where everyone is involved, and everyone agreed that these were probably the highlight of the session.

The four scenes we played out, including characters (players) and various notes

In the end, we ended up with a history that looks something like this (where yellow sticky notes have a "light" theme, and purple sticky notes are "dark", as defined by the players during the game):

What worked well.

Excellent players with great motivation to make a great story. Everyone was collaborative in the right ways, but kept ideas (if they had any) close to heart, so surprises were had by all. 

We used NoteApp as the tool to keep track of sticky notes, and although there were definitely problems (more below), it was great that it provided different colored notes. I used one color for the rules, one for light and one for dark period/event/scenes, and another for scene information that we wanted to track separately.

Hangouts was decent. I still wish I could use my video camera and screen share simultaneously, but hey, those are just limitations (apparently).

What didn't.

Being an online game, sometimes the connections aren't perfect, and so that is annoying. The inherent delay in voice communication over the internet is always an issue in a game where people are excited and want to chime in, which many RPGs fall prey to. However, I think everyone here was versed in online play, so we didn't run into too many problems there with people stomping on each others words and such.

Although NoteApp had its advantages, it only allows up to one other collaborator without paying for a license. To work around this, I maintained the entire cork board, and used screen sharing in Hangouts to show everyone what was what. 

Managing the "index" cards by yourself can be OK, in that everyone gets a consistent view of what they look like. In my game I did all the typing and organizing. That can be good if the person is organized, and horrible if they aren't. However I do like sharing that work, and in person, on a table with index cards that seems to be the de facto way it's done. That wasn't an option here.

When running a Hangout, you sometimes also have to be a DJ. For instance, if you watch the video you'll notice that the first minutes of play the video focus is on Harry (and his son Charlie). Why wasn't it going to the other speakers? How can you get it to focus on the NoteApp board regardless of who's speaking? Ah, you have to click on that player, as the one sharing NoteApp, and that probably is what gets recorded in the Hangout on Air, right? Maybe? And what if during a scene you want the video cameras on, and want the recording to go back and forth to whomever is speaking? Oh, you either have to click on whomever is speaking, or you have to "unclick" on the focused screenshare / camera and let Hangouts takeover with it's automatic audio focusing. OK, so that's a bit of work.

The Microscope RPG community

Before I run off, I would love to say that the Microscope RPG community on G+ has been excellent. If you have already purchased this and plan to run a game, but haven't done so already, get your questions answered there. Ben Robbins, the designer, is often found responding, and always appears genuinely interested in how people are playing the game.

When playing in person, people use index cards. However on the forums, I found a number of other suggestions for how to run this online. Suggestions included using Google docs, but also Google Drawings, where you can collaborate for free. Setup a few template objects for Periods, Events, and Scenes, and everyone can just copy and paste them and place them where needed.

What next?

Well, Microscope is a game where you aren't supposed to (for good reason) bring players in and out of the story in later sessions. But, if these players are down, I'm open to exploring this some more. It's always great when a game session leaves you feeling like you want more! (Even if we never play it again.)

Hangout on Air

Fallout Shelter: Vault 12

Fallout Shelter: What is it?

Currently out as iPhone app game (and Android now, so I hear) is Fallout Shelter. The website is here: http://www.falloutshelter.com/, and it comes with its own Fallout-flavored introduction video:

It's been my little game obsession for the past number of weeks, and although I'm not a big phone-game guy, man has it been enjoyable.

Vault 12

You start with choosing a vault number (from 000-999), and although I first went with 666 (a pretty popular option, I'd imagine), I gave up on that one and started anew with Vault 12.

The game basically leads you easily through the first set of actions: recruiting lost humans into productive dwellers, creating rooms to farm the various resources (power, food, water), sending dwellers out to loot the wastelands, and otherwise just making a comfortable  home. The intro lead-in is very intuitive, and makes it a real pleasure to learn the basic moves. I'm not sure if there is a way to avoid it, however. I've started 3 vaults in total, and each time I had to go through the various tutorial moves, which might be annoying if you want to just go at it on your own.

The early game

Learning to play is trivial, as the game leads you through the process of acquiring your first dozen dwellers, and your first few rooms. The game sets goals for you which lead you through the main elements of the game (resource management, weapon and clothes acquisition, game mechanics such as Rushing a room). Most of those goals reward you with Caps (i.e. bottle caps, the game's money economy). And occasionally, completing those goals wins you a lunchbox. A lunchbox with 4 random cards that give you things like food, power, and the occasional weapons, and dwellers.

But beware! There are hazards. In the first release of the game, these come in the form of large radioactive cockroaches (rad roaches), random fires, and raiders from the wasteland. That, and other concerns, such as running out of resources. Not enough water? Expect the dwellers to get radioactive poisoning which reduces their overall hit points.

One nice part of the game is the variations in scale. Zoom out and your playing vault management. But zoom in and you get lots of cute details, and get privy to the conversations of your various dwellers. Although the game starts with resources management, there is much more that starts making itself known. For example, each dweller has the 7 SPECIAL stats (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck). Each one plays its role in the dwellers effectiveness either in managing the various rooms, or in different aspects in surviving the Wasteland when scrounging for supplies. And you can build rooms to train these stats. Dwellers also have other motivations, such as happiness. 

Soon, you start to realize that there is definitely a bit of min-maxing that can be performed by training your dwellers, as well as outfitting them with specific uniforms that improve specific stats. Before long you notice that all your power plant workers are wearing military uniforms (that improve Strength, the relevant stat), and your med bay and science lab workers are wearing lab coats that improve their Intelligence. It starts to look like a little city. Jillian Werner writes a very good article called How To Improve Your Fallout Shelter SPECIAL Stats that goes into this in good detail.

As far as tips and such, not much needs to be said about the early part of the game... just follow the instructions and read the little tips and hints they provide when the game is loading, and you will get the gist of it.

The mid-game

Once you get thriving and start to crawl up towards 60 vault dwellers, you will have a full fledged complex. Soon, you'll be unlocking the larger (and much more expensive) rooms, such as Gardens, Water Treatment Plants, and Nuclear Reactors. And the glorious Nuka Cola plants, which provide both water and food resources in one!

My first Nuka Cola Bottlery!

There are already a few folks out in internet land have written about this part of the game, and provide excellent tips. I know because I also incorporated similar methods prior to finding the articles, and can vouch for their usefulness. Examples include:

• 11 TIPS FOR A THRIVING FALLOUT SHELTER by Will Fulton
• 15 Fallout Shelter Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Strategies by Josh Smith
• Fallout Shelter Tips & Tricks by Cammy Harbison

One thing to note is that the raiders and other annoyances get tougher as time goes on. They start carrying bigger weapons, and the radroaches and fires that break out in your complex become harder to fight.

These are some laser-toting punks! They start getting tough later in the game...

Once you start min-maxing the roles of dwellers so that your rooms run more efficiently, you will have additional dwellers that you can use for other tasks... exploring the wastelands.

It's important send out wasteland explorers more and more often, as they will start coming back with better weapons and suits. The initial set of suits are of the +3 variety, sometimes referred to as common uniforms. The total bonus is 3 points to your stats, whether that's to one stat (+3 Strength for Military Fatigues) or something with 2 stats (+2 Strength and +1 Agility for Combat Armor). You will immediately start hoarding the +3 suits and provide them to the workers for those particular rooms (+3 Strength for power workers, +3 Agility for food workers, +3 Perception for water workers, +3 Intelligence for medical and science workers).

Advanced suits provide 5 points of bonus, and can be referred to as rare. Examples include the Officer Fatigues with +5 Strength, the Ninja Outfit with +4 Agility and +1 Luck, and the Greaser Outfit with +2 Charisma, +2 Agility, and +1 Luck. Needless to say, these advanced suits are somewhat hard to find. I recommend outfitting your explorers with these suits (especially the +2/+2/+1 variety), and outfitting the worker bees with the +3, +4/+1, and +5 variety (which give you just the stat you need to run your job in your Vault room).

A line of colorful explorers coming home to roost.

Another min-maxing strategy is to start training in Luck as much as you can. It takes a while before you can build the Game Room (50+ dwellers). But once you have one, cycle various dwellers in there from all walks of life. The more luck you have, the more lucky bonus Caps you get when collecting resources from a room. The only stat these busy bee dwellers need is the one for their room, and Luck.

In my next Fallout Shelter post I'll write more about The Late Game strategies that I've found work, for larger vaults. And an amazingly detailed document on Fallout Shelter efficiency.

Triple Feature: No Escape, The Visit, Dope

Time for another edition of Tomes at the movies.

No Escape

No Escape is the story of an American family going to work overseas, and almost immediately getting caught in a coup. I knew it would be a bit of drama, but what was such a treat was all the attention to details. So much story is contained in there. Even in the beginning scenes, there is so much attention given to minor characters who set the theme, tone, and mood. The music is so good. I mean like Mad Max: Fury Road good. The slow motion scenes, which are peppered throughout, as well as those really tense moments where the sound just fades into the background, are so well done.

I had the exact same feeling as in Mad Max: Fury Road of suddenly realizing that all my muscles were tense and my hands clenched.

The story would make an excellent little RPG scenario twist, which is to say that a character, as a relatively innocent contractor, is a face for the "evil corporation" as seen by the revolution.

This also inspired me to add more social unrest in my RPGs. It would be great to have the PCs in a scenario wandering into a city, only to find their in the middle of a civil war they knew nothing about. Even better is throwing them hints and clues as they proceed which hints at the mounting tension and unrest.

The Visit

The Visit is a little horror movie, with that whole video cam thing. The cute twist here is that pretty much the main character is the girl who is into cinematography, so there are some double entendres of that nature during the movie. This is a great exploration of some of the natural oddities of getting old, combined with that creepy madness that is so effective in freaking you out ("sundowning"; so good). The grandma and grandpa (pop-pop) are so unbelievably good at glowing with crazy. And the movie has an excellent little twist at the end.

I think this could totally work as a Dread game where the characters are the children (you can play various siblings, different ages). I think the grandparents, combined with a few additional characters (like the movie, various visitors from town), are enough to flesh out the scenario. The incidental old-person maladies are enough to start creeping out the PCs without giving away anything about the end. Love the limited communication, such as no wifi, one dial-up plug that gets occasionally used, a remote farmstead, the parent estranged from the grandparents, and also off on a cruise with boyfriend. It all sets a great sense of disconnection from help.

Dope

Dope was dope. Seriously. Great soundtrack, old hip hop references abound, and a dramatic story with excellent humor. Characters were super relate-able. Best part was having 3 main characters, none of which you'd consider to have a "super star" look. Go geek!

Did inspire me to think of a PC party that are "geeks". I.e. no one is physically strong, with everyone playing "weak", skill-heavy roles. Could be modern (such as the movie) or just convert it into some other scenario.

Gateway 2015: Sunday and Monday

Sunday; a late start

After the late night, a nice late start. Got up, wandered, ate, and then family time! Met up J (my partner) and the kid. Swam at the pool, grubbed, and then headed for games.

Started with the obligatory family shot:

The family selfie tradition

Sunday 3pm: Battle Sheep 101

The Kid and I signed up to teach people Battle Sheep. It's an extremely simple which you can teach in a few minutes, similar to checkers. However it had more replayability (in my mind) that's more similar to Go (but not that much!) What's nice is that the board is different each game, since the pasture has a placement phase, where every player takes turn putting down one of their 4 boards. The game is fairly simple and is just a territory claiming and blocking game. We had a decent turn-out, and probably had about 10 different people play through.

Always great to meet more parent + small child travelers at the con!

Sunday 5pm: What the Food!? 101

I first played What the food!? a few cons back when the designers were demoing it (just after the kickstarter). It wasn't too meaty, but a fun little party game, and I bought it in anticipation of family game days. It has sat on the shelf until a few months ago when the kid played a few games. Great for that age when they're starting to read, because you can force them to read the food combos as part of the game ("Slimy Pigs in a Blanket covered in Boysenberry Jam").

Got a decent turnout of motivated food fighters, but damn, that first game went on forever. 

Sunday 7pm: King of Tokyo tournament

This was the kid’s second time playing in the King of Tokyo tournament. It's a really fun party game for all ages, and is basically a Godzilla and King Kong-themed push-your-luck dice game. Skill isn't all that important, but man is it thematically designed. 

Unlike the last time the kid played, when she almost got to the final game and got "most kills" in the first game, this time she was eliminated quickly (but it was so close; a brutal fight to the death between her and one other guy). Although disappointed, she handled it very well.

We did get to meet and re-familiarize ourselves with all the kids that were there the last time (pretty much all of which joined again), so it's nice to feel that community. And also: all the kids died off early, which is unusual for this game, but ended up causing a bunch of commiseration.

Monday and goodbyes

We played a few games in the morning. J and the kid played a round of battleship, and we learned some Dice Masters, a super-hero type dice pool-building game. It's kind of like Magic and Dominion, but instead of building a deck, you are building a pool of dice. Not my cup of tea (too much comparing numbers and such), but I can see the attraction from those who like Magic-type games.

The first ship sunk was the kid’s battleship.

This was also the first time we've stayed long enough to go and check out the Auction. We ran into Craig / whodo, and hung out with him a bit while they sold things. I highly recommend it. Craig came away with a copy of Apocalypse World and Dungeon World for the high price of $1 total.

And with that... back home. But not before another visit to Endorffeine.

Gateway 2015: Saturday

Saturday 9am-1:45pm: Happy Jacks Presents: Journey of the Savage Six

GM: Bill Roper
System: Legend of the Five Rings
Players included me, Howie, Bruce, Kris, Kurt, Michael H...

First off, some pretty mean presentation. The table was organized with mat, nice character sheets, the Code of the Bushido, a Japanese-style coin necklace and fan (both symbolic, and necessary in our horribly inconsistently air conditioned con).

Never played L5R, so really wanted to check it out. And besides which I've only played with Bill once, and it was ridiculously amusing. L5R is a setting that emulates a psuedo Japan culture, but with magic and "taint" (i.e. evil stuff). Bill described the setting as like a Japan with a Wall of Westeros in the south, beyond which is horribly bad Japan-demon stuff.

We were the Savage Six, an eclectic mix of bad asses that work for our daimyo. Oh ya, and Bill's setting had all of us be Orcs. Japanese fantasy Orcs. 

All said, it was a fun game, with a great mix of interesting personalities, and I got to see how the mechanics flowed. Probably not a go-to system for me, but I liked certain elements. Still don't know too much about how honor works and such, but it was a teaser.

The game ran a little late, and so 45 minutes past the hour gave us enough time to order a pizza for mid-game scarfing in the next session...

Friday 2pm-6:30pm: The Stellar Eagle

GM: Scott Martin
System: Kingdom
Players: me, Howie, Sinh, James (and Scott) 

This is my second time playing a game designed by Ben Robbins (the other being Microscope). I was very much looking forward to it, and was not disappointed. Scott was a great GM. He would refer to the book here and there, but it was mostly to ensure we were hitting everything in the correct order, and didn't detract from the pace. Additionally I'd highly recommend the system; it's of the GM-less variety (such as Microscope, The Quiet Year, and those by postworldgames).

Kingdom is played as an exploration of a large group of people. In our case we would explore The Stellar Eagle, Earth's first colonizing vessel. The year is 2032, resources are getting scarce, and we have just enough Rhenium (fuel) to make 3 jumps. There is one world we've sent probes to (but never living organisms), and one that we haven't (but it looks promising), and then maybe a last jump to make it back home. That sounds like a good, desperate start.

We start by defining our characters, their roles, wishes, fears, and issues. And also whether they are Power (deciding what the kingdom does), Perspective (foresee consequences), or Touchstone (reflects how the people feel). We get:

• James as Liam Thomas, the de facto spiritual leader [Touchstone]

• Sinh as Pablo Reynholme, the Chief Agriculturalist [Power]

• Howie as S.E.R.A., the only Genetically Modified Being (GMB) aboard. [Perspective]

• Tomer (me) as Nova Arenas, the Chief Psychology Officer, one of the only who can supersede the captain. [Perspective]

• Scott as Captain Bryce Miller, the captain of the ship. [Power]

Howie, Sinh, Scott, and James. Conflicts abound!

We then define places on the ship where scenes will occur:

• The Scout Bay (a crowded space with our only two scout ships)
  

• S.A.N.E. (the psychology bay)
  

• The Garden (higher level food production)
  

• The Food Vats (fecal recycling)
  

• The Spiritual Center (ad hoc space with an ad hoc minister)
  

• The Crypt (friendly nickname for the small capsule like beds)

The next hours was a great session that consisted of two Crossroads (dilemmas):

• There is an epidemic of what we refer to as Mindbreak, a series of psychological issues that appear to get even worse when quarantined. Should we quarantine the sick?

• There are production problems induced by bugs in the ship's code that threaten the amounts of food and radioactive meds. Fixing the problem may correlate with higher incidents of Mindbreak. Should we fix the bugs?

All in all, an excellent little game, with lots of intrigue and politics. I just love how everyone had all sorts of directions to take it, and the end results is just a fracturing of anything resembling order and sanity, but definitely resembling society and pressure. We didn't even get to the outside of the solar system to take our first jump, but there was already great mayhem, as Mindbreak started showing some violent side effects. Or maybe it was just the Twankie bars. Our archaeologist died, but a vote was taken, and player majority ruled that the ship would survive the riots. Oh, did I forget to mention that our GMB started reproducing with the human crew? I did remove Directive 12, which allowed it to interact with the crew, so I guess it was only a matter of time.

Some other players echoed the sentiment that I also feel: this is a game you'd like to play over a number of sessions, as there is just so much meat in it.

There are a number of big differences from Microscope, for those that have played. In this one you actually play a specific character. Also, the story is pretty much told sequentially, so everyone is somewhat on the same page, as far as the story line.

I don't know that I'd play it in a con again (except to teach it as a GM, which I would enjoy!). I just think it would work better if there was 10 hours to play. Not that there is anything wrong with starting a story that just has to end.

Friday 8pm-11:30pm: Saving Throw Presents The Death of Sally Strike

GM: Wes Otis
System: Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed.
Players:

• Denys Mordred as Dr. James Foxworth (my love interest)

• Howie as Harold Dean (FBI Specialist; the "Mulder" character), or as kpop33 on the paranormal forums

• me as Jordana Klein (FBI; the "Scully" character)

• Dimitri as Dallas Gasnet (P.I. and porn enthusiast)

• drop-in (forgot her name, but she was great) as Samantha See (Paranormal expert; or is that charlatan?)

• (damn, name?) as Jonny Davidson (NYPD)

Wes always runs a fun game. Everyone had a blast running around, getting on each others nerves (player or character, sometimes it's hard to tell!), and mismanaging the situation in such a great manner. We probably annoyed the shit out of the neighboring table (sometimes you are on the receiving end, sometimes you dish it out). Drinks were had, and in the end, the Mi-gos won and took over the world in one long blast of grey, oozy pudding.

"Ashley Jackson has shit on me. Literally." - Dimitri as Dallas Garnett (P.I.)

Saturday midnight - 3am: Dread: Mad Max Fury Road (the circus)

So, what's to do on Saturday night, when you know you won't make your Sunday morning game? PLAY MORE!

GM: me
System: Dread
Players: Man, there were so many! 8 players: Howie, Sinh, Dak, Sean, Mario, Dimitri, dude and girlfriend (crap, names!?)

• Howie as ? and ?

• Sinh as Pickel Bob and Bay Boy

• Dak as Jumbo and ?

• Sean as Tannish and Lango

• Mario as ? and ?

• Dimitri as I.R. (Irritated Rectum, aka Errr)

• Dude as Jonny and Galla

• Dudette as Gabriel and ?

8 is a lot of players. If you had asked me ahead of time if I'd imagine that, I'd have said there was no way. But it worked so well. I gave them each 2 characters, and we had a tribe of 16.

They decided to be nomads, who travel the wastes for spoils. But they do have hidden caches where they store gear. And oh shit, they have a huge circus carnival truck! I'm guessing it's something like this, but who knows what was in their heads:

They want a gun turret up on top, and some sort of mortar / grenade launcher. Well, pulls start happening all over the place... this stuff doesn't come cheap. And a few have their own little vehicles. A car here, a pair of bikes there. Well, the tower already falls early, and one of Dimitri's characters is on the chopping block. I don't take him just yet. What are the names of these lovely individuals? Something like Tomer's Travelling Circus. Thanks, you lovely bastards.

They have two unfriendly neighbors. One is the Skull Shiners, which are cannibals and to be avoided. The others wear masks and are called the Wheelers. 

And guess what? They just got back to one of their caches and someone ran off with their shit! They find a cracked mask, and also a cigarette butt (I guess there are still a few?) on the floor, and it's still smoking. And it was their old tribemate, Leroy, who betrayed them.

Looking out the cave they can see the culprits driving off in the distance. The tribe gets halfway down the hill, on the chase, when they hear an explosion behind them. Dimitri's character on the bike explodes. It was time to cash in that check.

They are consumed by the chase, take down some of the masked folk, but these are the stragglers on bikes. Far ahead they see the car with Leroy. They strap their one surviving prisoner to the top of the circus truck, and one of Howie's characters crawls up and starts torturing her for information. Turns out there is a trap ahead. A canyon with rocks up above to drop on pursuers.

They are starting to catch the car, but it's reached a huge peninsula that stretches for miles, and it's started climbing up the road that heads up the peninsula. That's mask territory. They book it, and start catching the car, but guns are blazing, and friends and foes fall. They can't catch it before they start into a canyon, and KABOOM, it's raining boulders. More fall, but it's all happy endings, as they catch Leroy and smash his car to bits.

What? 3am already? Damn.

Gateway 2015: Friday

The journey there

A long bus ride on a Thursday. The first bus, to my friend Jack's new cafe, Endorffeine in Chinatown (plug!). So, so good.

Then a second bus. A ride down Santa Monica for 1.5 hours that involved a good, long listen to the Mad Max soundtrack. This inspired me with a realization about being ready to run the late night game, that comes later.

One of my favorite parts coming into the con, is the Thursday night... off to have dinner with friends, and a very late night game of Splendor (in preparation for the tournament), with my friends Howie and Lisa.

Friday pre-games

Howie and I take off, and pick up some nutrients in the form of cold press green juice (because god knows there will be nothing green to eat during the weekend). And then off to the con for an early start... gotta sign up for them games!

We get there around 10:30am, and get in touch with Craig (aka whodo on the Happy Jacks forums), who is visiting from the UK. Just for the con... amazing. Chat around, eat at the Habit Burger (now a tradition pre-con), and then back for the sheets.

By then there is a crowd getting ready to riot. Fortunately, Jim Sandoval (the Generalissimo de RPG) steps up and cracks the whip! Three people can sign up at a time, when one is done, next in line can step up. Slow, but very effective, and fair. And we got our own taste of some Gencon line waiting!

Friday 1pm-7pm: Distress of Life Liner 928

GM: me. This is my Star Frontiers / Savage Worlds / Lego game, which I've talked about in a previous post. 

Players:

• Kurt (Lauer) as Cutter Parsons, Human Pilot
• Kody as Galius Sturk, Dralasite Engineer
• Brian as Verm, the Sathar Medic
• Bill from Arizona as Sarkin Rah, the Vrusk Captain

Character generation

Character generation always takes about 30 minutes, but it definitely works faster now. Instead of having them make the basic character, then starting the game, and then stopping to do equipment (which, really, made sense in my head when first making the game)... now we just do it all up at the front and get into it (thank you player feedback!). Per always, they come up with all sorts of fun, interesting combinations that I haven't seen before.

I can't state enough how much fun the players bring into this. But needless to say, I had a grand ol' time running it.

A picture of people taking pictures.

Friday 7pm-10pm: Splendor tournament

I was supposed to be in an RPG, but about 2 weeks back I found out they are running a Splendor tournament. The first, at Strategicon. I got in touch with Asmodee, the US distributor, and was able to secure 3 more sets of the game to the Game Library. Thanks Asmodee and Space Cowboys! Unfortunately the "prizes" that they sent wouldn't reach us in time. But hey, next con.

As it was, had a great time, and even got 3rd place. Was in the final game with my friend Howie, and it was brutal. It was what I term a "fast" game, with lots of high-value cards in the center and top rows. And everyone knew it. And it was cock-block city, with everyone hoarding gold coins, and other people's colors, and pointing of fingers. So, so good. Truly a cut-throat game, and I'm honored to have been a part of it.

My semi-final win. Killed it with 17 points.

After that we wandered about a bit, and I ran into Bob Quinterro's Xcom game, which included these cats (including Dimitri / radzap and Craig / whodo):

Not finding anything to play, it was time to pull out the big guns in my back pocket...

Friday 11pm-2am: Dread Mad Max Fury Road

GM: Me.

Players:

• Howie as Bwarez, Howard, and Russians
• Albert as Grog, Alice Spiderhands, and Mike the Midget Master
• Sinh as Shaggy Pig, Charlie Brown, and Cupcake Daisy
• Andy as Honkey, Vladimir (damn, I forget the rest! He took the scraps of paper!)

I stole this game. The idea. It was Andy M from Seattle: He ran this at GoPlayNW 2015, which I attended. Although he played in my game during that con, I didn't get to play in his, but heard the players talk about how amazing it was. Fortunately, conversations with both Andy himself, and another amazing fellow named Stras, illuminated much of what seemed to make it so cool.

And so I've planned to hijack the game for some time, but just really wasn't sure if it'd just implode in my face, since it's very ad hoc, and all improv. But on the bus ride to the con, I was listening to the Mad Max soundtrack, and was touched by the great arm of the RPG god herself... it was all so clear: Just follow where the music takes you.

And so with that, I took my three friends, and then poached a Werewolf GM (who also RPGs heavily; but I did steal him from his Werewolf duties!) We find a spot, setup a Jenga tower, and I start playing the soundtrack, and then:

I start by asking them what kind of game they want to play. It's what Andy M does, supposedly. And within the first few minutes, Sinh says "thunderdome". There is a groan or two, but wait, I exclaim. We are not playing thunderdome from back in the day... this will be thunderdome as re-imagined in Fury Road.

And hence we have The Pig Hunters. They are gladiators that have risen through the ranks, but are now hunters for new players in the gladiator pits. Which they poach from the wastelands. And have them fight. The losers become "pigs" and are eaten by the community. The winners keep playing. Until they lose. Or until they come up in the ranks, and join the tribe.

Now, sterility is a thing. And they need women. Or children. And there are some, but they are beyond the radioactive wastes. Good thing they have a plan. There was an old man who came from the wastes in a biohazard suit, not too long ago. He had a Geiger counter, and when he reached our land, he said it was clean. Before we tortured him and ate him. His helmet and the tatters of his suit still hang in the town square. But he did reveal one other thing: There is a facility out in the wastes with more suits, where he came from, and "please don't kill me. I'll show you where it is." Blah blah blah.

And if they get these suits, perhaps they can find a new place to live, and start their own thunderdome. The big men in charge are not fun to work for, keeping all the best spoils for themselves.

Now, they need vehicles. And gear. And that doesn't come cheap in this world. And blocks start getting pulled immediately. Howie wants a motorcycle with a side gattling gun, and an AK-47 and a mortar, and some more miscellaneous stuff. No worries! "Just pull 8 blocks. What was that? Just a harpoon and some barbed wire? OK, two blocks it is." And so it goes...

Everyone is armed, and out. It's 2 days to the great river that'll need to be crossed. First they have to get by the Amazons who live up in the hills. Men go there to die, but it is said that the Amazons let them die in a pleasant way. Before they are eaten. However, the Amazons live in a fortress of rocks and caves, and noone has ever been able to infiltrate their home turf.

They scrape by, but then find they are chased. Battle ensues. The tower grows, and falls, and grows again. The Amazons are defeated, and they capture a new bike.

And now it is time to camp. In the red rock wastelands. Where the large Ligerbeasts live. Supposedly they hunt in packs of 10 or 20, and drag off travelers at night, silently. They set up camp, and blocks are pulled. And a tower falls, and someone is dragged into the night. The party gives chase and is finally able to surround the beasts with a crazy maneuver, (and a tower falls) and another member is decapitated by a fleeing Ligerbeast. But the sun then rises.

They continue on to the river, and find a huge croc sun bathing at the sandbar. The one used for crossing. And one of Andy's characters runs down to sacrifice himself (tower pushed) by holding the croc's jaws open while his mates scurry across... and as the last car passes, the croc's jaws come snapping down.

And it's 2:30am and we decide it's time to call it a night. But shit was that an amazing ride.

And where did the story come from? The music, man. Just follow the music.

A tower, a speaker, and a dose of crazy.

Quest accepted: Strategicon Gateway 2015

A history with cons

Oh, the slowly mounting excitement of another game con. And this one will mark my 10th of the Strategicon family.

As mentioned in the past, I took a hiatus from gaming for over 15 years. And even back in those days of my youth, I only went to one convention, back in high school. It might have been a forerunner of Strategicon itself, in some fashion, since it was an LA convention. I can't even remember the name. My only memory is a horrible Axis and Allies game I jumped into with my friend Howie, with a bunch of old war gamers. We gave them a gamer horror story to tell, about the kids who pretended to know how to play, but didn't know a single rule, and just kept trying to fake it throughout the game.

But that's all ancient history now.

Strategicon Gateway 2012 opened my eyes to another facet of gaming I have enjoyed thoroughly. Sharing the sport with strangers. Finding new systems to play. Playing in board game tournaments. Late night Cthulhu games in hotel rooms. Even LARPs!

We are blessed here in the LA area, in that Strategicon itself runs not once, not twice, but THREE times a year, as Orccon in February, as Gamex in May, and Gateway in August/September. These magically always fall on the 3-day weekends enabled by President's Day, Veteran's Day, and Labor Day.

I ran my first game as a GM, after encouragement from my virtual friends at Happy Jacks RPG podcast and forums, at Orccon 2014, and have been GMing there since. My absolute favorite part is that contribution, back and forth, of getting to run something different for people, and getting to play in some many lovely, creative, interesting games (and the few horror stories in between).

I haven't missed one Strategicon yet (since that fateful Gateway 2012). I take those days off in my work's HR system 8 months in advance. I actually plan with my wife, mother-in-law, and various possible babysitters months ahead of time. And I have the most fortunate luck of having a wife that doesn't really put much stock into Valentine's Day, or at least not caring about the Feb 14 date itself, which often conflicts with the Orccons.

Gateway 2015

And so now, another con rears its beautifully draconic head.

I'll be running my Distress on Life Liner 928 game, Friday at 2pm, so looking forward to what the players bring to that game (it's always a very different experience!)

I was able to get in touch with the folks at Asmodee / Space Cowboys and secure 3 more sets of Splendor (my favorite board game) for the Strategicon game library, all for the Splendor tournament that is running on Friday evening. Although I have to drop out of one of my precious RPG slots, I must make the sacrifice. It's the first Splendor tournament at this convention, and hopefully one of many to come. 

Have some fun games lined up for Saturday, but I'll write more on the return.

Looking forward to playing in another game by JiB (a Happy Jacks RPG host) on Sunday morning. All Happy Jacks games are exceedingly difficult to get into, and after playing my first JiB game last con, I'm definitely down for more of that action.

And then J and the kid (the wife and daughter) show up on Sunday. The kid asked to do more of the game 101's, so we'll be teaching Battle Sheep and What the Food!? on Sunday afternoon. And then she'll play in her second King of Tokyo tournament. She didn't pretty great last time, and being the youngest in the tourney (at age 6), I was duly impressed as well. J and I will be cheering her on from the cheap seats.

Wish me luck and fun. Stories when I return.

RPGaDAY 2015: Days 29-31 / Wrap-up

Day 29: Favorite RPG website / blog

The Happy Jacks RPG forums. I spend a disturbing amount of time there.

But other than there, I recently been loving to read the AndryGM rants. They are wonderfully ranty, and a very excellent mixture of both frustrating and hilarious. And more importantly, contain a surprising amount of insight.

I want to be good about reading Gnome Stew, it looks awesome, but it's just my inherent laziness. Everything else is touch and go, and I haven't gone far down any path.

Day 30: Favorite RPG playing celebrity

I'm really liking Chris Hardwick. It's just that way he unapologeticly uses D&D references whenever. Also the TV show: At Midnight. Pretty fucken funny. It's a little pseudo game show with comedians on, where all the questions are riffs or comments on internet meme type stuff.

Day 31: Favorite non-RPG thing to come out of RPGing

I've heard great answers on this one... things like world building, and cartography, and research.

But mine's pretty shallow: T-shirts. I love my tees. It's your little advertisement to try and capture relevant parties during daily transit. A little opener. An invitation for conversation. And ever since I got back into gaming, I've added the relevant RPGness to my collection.

There are classic examples out there, such as the Choose Your Weapon shirt. There are also more esoteric designs, such as this lovely GoPlayNW con shirt (which also serves as such a great Seattle souvenir shirt).

However, in the end I've had to make some of my own. I would love to pay the artists for their designs, but unfortunately Larry Elmore or Erol Otus just aren't in the business of printing out shirts, and thus I've had to buy my own iron on transfers (specifically those ones that print on dark shirts such as this), and my own shirts from American Apparel (or wherever), and DIY. But man am I happy with my shirts.

Wrap up

And with that, the month ends. I did all these as a little test for myself, to see if I could journal through it all, and get in the habit of writing all this junk (for myself if nothing else). 

But I also started posting this on the Happy Jacks forums, and have found many cool responses from others. So, thank you, #RPGaDAY2015. Perhaps we'll see you next year.

RPGaDAY 2015: Days 25-28

Day 25: Favorite Revolutionary Game Mechanic

Gaining experience when failing a move (skill roll) in Dungeon World. 

Dungeon World and Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) games already want rolls to only be made when they mean something, but this mechanic gives a little more drive to the GM to make that happen. Otherwise players can abuse the situation by rolling for anything, and getting more failures = more xp. I'm serious. I've got a min-maxer who was ready to roll all the time, because he knew that for the most part he couldn't "lose". He knew SUCCESS = win and FAILURE = xp.

For me as GM it was another impetus to learn to only ask for the rolls when they mattered. And it helped me drive up my game with roll failures which were more than just "oh, you missed. take 5 damage."

A disadvantage of failing rolls in some games is, such as some traditional D&D, is that just means you "missed" and now have to wait for the table to cycle before you can do anything else. One of the great advantages to this PbtA mechanic, however, is that there is always a silver lining when you fail, as a player... you get an XP! And it's only like 8 or more xp to level. So that's big too.

Day 26: Favorite inspiration for your game

Music. The track Hyperspace by Faust and Shortee, which inspired me with the Star Frontiers game.

Actually, there are more than a few tracks on that album I like for gaming. I love looking for good tracks that work in the backgrounds, especially if they have a certain beat or cadence which inspires the mood for the scene (but without distracting from the conversations in the foreground).

Day 27: Favorite idea for merging two games into one

Some good choices here. 

It's been said before in some of the other RPGaDAY posts, but shit: Dread. Jenga + RPG = excellence.

In recent times, one of my favorites is the Star Frontiers conversion for Savage Worlds, just because it's taken a setting I wanted to use, and converted it into gaming "Esperanto" so that everyone can play it. It isn't really a merging of two games, but more of a conversion of one into the system of another, however check out the amazing job they've done with these:

• Player's manual: www.savageheroes.com/conversions/sfplayers.pdf
• Referee's manual: www.savageheroes.com/conversions/SFreferee.pdf

If you remember, or have, the original Star Frontiers rules, you'll see they basically took the book and layout, as is, and scraped out the text, and just replaced it with Savage Worlds-related text and mechanics. It's artfully done.

Day 28: Favorite game you no longer play

Probably Battletech, purely for the memories. I loved walking into a pond and having the heat sinks in my legs cool me down, and jump up in the air and shout "death from above!" But alas, no one I know really plays it. I did get to play a short skirmish at the local con last year, when someone helped my friend Howie and I run through a quick combat (I think they were trying to promote the re-released box set. Howie then went on to buy it, but we haven't played since. And to be honest, I want to play a mech pilot, but I don't really like war gaming in general (too crunchy).

And that's why I'm sort of excited for this game: ATLAS RECKONING by Stras Acimovic. I got chat with him up at GoPlayNW, and he showed me some tidbits... a character sheet / playbook here and there. And it looks awesome, like a little bundle of Robotech and Pacific Rim and G-Force and whatnot all rolled into one. Not sure if the link'll work, but here's what I got re details: plus.google.com/+StrasAcimovic/posts/dp26DHBzxFL.

So hopefully this will go from a favorite game I no longer play, converted into a newer game I do.

#RPGaDAY2015

RPGaDAY 2015: Day 24: Favorite House Rule

Day 24: Favorite House Rule

My house rule was in Savage Worlds, where I like to use bennies - in addition to the generic re-rolls and damage soaks - as a pseudo fate chip. You can use them to change the course of events in some (relatively minor, but possibly important) way.

In by Distress on Life Liner 928 (Star Frontiers / Savage Worlds) game, because the game often has to end due to time constraints, I have the players spend bennies, back and forth, to get their agendas met (or not met, depending on who's got more bennies). This allows the game to be tied up in minutes, since it becomes all narrative at that point, and has led to some fun player vs. player moments. It also means that players get to spend all their bennies by the time the game ends, so it never feels like you wasted them, which is an additional bonus.

End game: You can see Kurt (the Vrusk next to the right escape pod) has run out of bennies, but Julia (the Sathar next to the left escape pod) has 3 left. Guess who lands on the planet surrounded by Slither beasts? And guess who floats in orbit and is saved by her Sathar brethren?

RPGaDAY: Day 23: Perfect game for you

Whew... getting RPGaDAY fatigue at this point. Gotta... power... through...

Day 23: Perfect game for me

It starts at 8am. I wake up from a restful sleep. I walk from the hotel room down to the meal area, where they serve fluffy eggs, perfectly cooked thick smoked bacon slices, grill roasted tomato, and those farmer market fresh fruits that take me back 35 years.

I get a call from my wife telling me what a great time she's having with our daughter, and how I should have a great time.

After a pleasant breakfast with gamer buddies, bantering about things that only we would find interesting, I head to the convention game rooms. (Yes, a convention, because that means I'm not at home dealing with home shit.)

Some of us get together and play a fun GM-less game we've never played before, run by a the game designer, who's motivated, fun, and plays right along with us. No one outshines anyone else, laughs are had, and a great story is told.

Lunch time, as good as breakfast.

Afternoon game is a LARP, but one in which the planned session is half the fun, and what all of us players bring to the table is the other half, and makes it all worthwhile.

A nice break for dinner with good friends, drinks, and a pleasant walk in the cool air.

And then the night game. Something horror. With investigation. And competing character agendas. And madness. And more than a little drinking.

And then back to bed for a great nights sleep.

RPGaDAY: Day 22: Perfect gaming environment

Simple, the right set of people for the game in question.

RPGaDAY: Day 21: Favorite RPG Setting

Reading this heading, I'm somewhat at a loss. Most of the games I've run are for systems that are setting-less, for the most part. I'm more used to world building around the stories that we're going to tell. I also haven't read too much into existing settings, and again maybe that's because I traditionally created them myself. The biggest exception would probably be Star Frontiers, but even that we just sort of made up as we went. The recent game I've set based on this isn't very setting-dependent.

As far as favorite games, I've been leaning towards the GM-less and world building type games, recently, and those sometimes have a guiding concept (and sometimes not), however don't really have a setting.

So, with that said, I wouldn't say any of these are my favorite per se, just that I've enjoyed playing or exploring them, in the limited fashion I've done:

Paranoia

I've only played one game of Paranoia, at a local con (run by Ed Murphy at Strategicon), and it was excellent fun. It feels a little dated at times, and mostly that's a good thing as far as flavor. 

Want to feel the love? Watch some excellent Paranoia mission briefings on youtube. One of my favorites is Mister Bubbles Mission Briefing:

Another great is Paranoia DRK-DNG-NSS Sector (Jack-I-CHK-3 Wants You To Kill Commies!), created by Kurt of Jackercon fame for a game he ran online:

Dark Sun

The Dark Sun D&D setting is set on the world of Athas. The basic concept is that magic takes a toll on the surrounding environment (especially if you want to do it the easy way), and hence mages have ruined the world. The setting is dark, with various wastelands, the rule of sorcerer kings, and cannibal halflings (can't get darker than that, right?) I got to play a few games in a friends campaign, and absolutely love the concept, especially in the context of D&D, which traditionally had a very high fantasy feel for me. If I had to play D&D (which of course, I don't), I'd prefer playing in this world.

Shadowrun

Again, dark and gritty, but this time with a little magic and technology crossover, spiced with hackers and corporations. Never played, but recently have loved listening to the Neo-Anarchist Podcast, which takes you through a bit of history in the Shadowrun universe, in the local dialect

RPGaDAY 2015: Days 17-20

Day 17: Favorite Fantasy RPG

Dungeon World. This is the D&D-style adaptation of the Apocalypse World engine. Just so accessible and easy to run.

Day 18: Favorite SF RPG

Star Frontiers. Only cause it's the only one I've ever really run or played back in the day. I haven't played Traveller, or The Last Parsec, or others, so can't compare. I know that Star Frontiers as an original system sucks, but I just loved the setting (in all its somewhat pulpy glory). And because of the Savage Worlds conversion, you don't have to worry about fiddly early 80's d% mechanics and tables.

Day 19: Favorite Supers RPG

No opinion. I just haven't played much or any supers. Big gap in my gaming background. Fate is the closest I've come to this, and specifically a game of Atomic Robo, and it seems to work pretty great for it.

Day 20: Favorite Horror RPG

Dread. I love me some Cthulhu, but have just played so many good Dread games, and it really lends itself to some awesome PvP action in a way that works really well, since really, someone's gonna have to drop.

RPGaDAY 2015: Days 14-16

Day 14: Favorite RPG Accessory

Oh please... you know.

Day 15: Longest campaign played

Played? I don't think I've ever played in a campaign. Maybe 2 games in  a row, once or twice?

Shit, that's something I gotta fix.

Day 16: Longest game session played

It was Gateway 2012, my first game convention in roughly 20 years. We played 2 games on Friday, and we were on our third game on Saturday. My mind was beginning to be mush.

We were about to start an 8pm Cthulhu game. We get to the table. There are 7 of us playing. The GM was Robert Curtis. He starts with "So, the game is scheduled to run for 4 hours. However. I'm happy to go all night until we get it done." That sounds like a good start!

7 hours later, 3 am, we finally wrap up a very long and beautiful Cthulhu game. Longest game I've ever played.

RPGaDAY 2015: Day 13: Favorite RPG Podcast

Winner!

No doubt, by a parsec: Happy Jacks RPG Podcast, for which, not 2 weeks ago, I dedicated a happy birthday message (they turned 6!).

If I only had one RPG podcast to listen to for the rest of my days, this would be the one. Many compare it to hanging out (or more appropriately, drinking) with friends.

However, sometimes you just need something else... maybe for variety. Or more than likely because you've caught up on the voluminous backlog of HJRPG episodes.

Honorable mentions

So, let me give some honorable mentions:

• Savage Worlds GM Hangouts Podcast: Jerrod ‘Savage Daddy’ Gunning and crew meet weekly Wednesdays to discuss Savage Worlds specifically, but GM-ing issues generically as well. Mix of hosts, great mix of topics (and they stay very on-topic for most shows). Much more consistent length-wise, around 45 min to an hour, as opposed to the rambling size of the HJRPG 'casts.
• Fear The Boot:  Not too dissimilar to HJRPG, listening to these guys is listening to a bunch of people hanging out. The GM knowledge is vast, and the advice is often solid, and comes from a good mix of rotating hosts, so you get good variety as well.

I've listened to others, but they've have either fallen by the wayside, or are just occasionally used.

RPGaDAY 2015: Days 10-12

Day 10: Favorite RPG Publisher

I had a hard time with this one, cause I don't really have a favorite publisher. I feel like I'm a little too new on the scene, and also that the publishers that I do know, I don't really know. But then I have been starting to meet a few designers at a very few cons, and although exciting to see the different work that's coming out, I still have no favorites.

So with that, I went googling. And I like Stephanie's answer (which was Evil Hat Productions), so I'll leave it here for people to read.

Cause I got nothing right now.

Day 11: Favorite RPG Writer

Jim Pinto (just so I can sound even more like a fanboy). I like his writing style. It's a little abrasive, and has a little attitude. And he uses stellar fonts.

Day 12: Favorite RPG Illustration

Wow, this one is so very hard. I started with the Basic D&D red box that was graced by Erol Otus, and loved many of his other works:

How much time did I spend staring at this image?

And then of course I loved Larry Elmore's stuff, including this lovely Star Frontiers cover from it's box set:

I really wish he'd done a few with Vrusks and Dralasites, but they only got the black-and-white cheesy shit, in the manuals.

But if I had to choose one piece of art, it'd be the WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING (from the 1E MM):

That's some scary shit when you're 9 years old!

Jackercon VII: Distress on Life Liner 928

Jackercon

What is it? Jackercon is the free, online role-playing game convention that rears its beautiful head every couple of months, when a certain D.T. Pints (an active member of the Happy Jacks RPG forum community) gets motivated enough to whip it into shape. It's an extension of the rabid fan base of the Happy Jacks RPG podcast. 

To date, Jackercon usually appears about once every 3 months or so (sometimes with longer gaps). It is scheduled for roughly a week, and relies on the HJRPG forum members to just up and volunteer to schedule and run games using G+ and Google Hangouts.

The best place to get current information about Jackercon? Probably the G+ Jackercon community.

Attendance

Current attendance is not particularly high, and suffers from the usual problems whenever anything is both online and free. It is all too easy to "commit" to a game and then flake out (mostly as a player, but every so often as a GM). This happens with some amount of regularity, unfortunately.

But there have been Jackercons where the attendance was higher, and D.T. Pints has made it known that his mission is to get more participating (which is surely a simple task, as he works on an Alaskan fishing boat, and recently became a new father).

Themes

Each Jackercon has had a theme associated with it. Sometimes the theme is conspiracies, or TPKs, or space madness. For instance, some previous thematic titles include:

• JACKERCON VI: AND SO THIS IS DRIZZTMAS!

• JACKERCON V: "In Space No One Can Hear You..."

• JACKERCON 2013 PART DEUX: "WRATH OF THE PANTSLESS"

  ...and so forth. That said, adhering to the theme is hardly mandatory.

Jackercon VII

The 7th Jackercon in the series occurred the July 18-25 week of 2015. Although I've gotten to play in 3 Jackercon games in prior years, this was my first time running a game.

As far as con games go, the games I've run thus far are my Lego-driven Savage Worlds games, and I didn't really plan on going any different this time around. But how to run a game with lots of physical props using an online medium?

Running Distress on LL928, online

Distress on Life Liner 928 is a Star Frontiers / Savage Worlds / Lego mashup, which up until now I've run a half dozen times (at cons and for friends). This was the game I wanted to run for my fellows in the HJRPG community. 

Originally I was considering using tools like Roll20 (which plugs in very nicely into Google Hangouts) to create a space ship for my game, with suitable PC and NPC tokens.

I knew Roll20 allowed the use of audio tracks (which is also a big part of my game). Roll20's plug-in for music is connected to Soundcloud, which initially I thought might be a stumbling block, but I was able to work around it for the most part. (Although I couldn't upload all the tracks I wanted, and unfortunately it doesn't come out at all in the Google Hangouts On Air recordings, so you don't get that flavor in the actual play recording).

However Roll20 did have its downsides. I couldn't quickly figure out how to use the "fog of war" components to hide and reveal rooms, and I just didn't have the time prior to Jackercon to up-skill in the technical know-how.

So, I resigned to what I initially thought was a second-best course of action... and which turned out to be the best course of action: Use a web-cam to give the players almost the exact same view they would have in a physical game.

And so, for your viewing pleasure, here is the Hangouts on Air recording for Distress on LL928. I will warn that if you plan on ever playing this, don't view the whole thing, as there are spoilers. The first hour or so is character generation (which is definitely a little slower online than in person), and spoilers aren't really an issue. You can also skip around just to get the flavor of the game.

Special thanks goes out to Kurt (D.T.Pints) and Jules (kaitoujuliet) who played in the game, and definitely Kurt for making Jackercon happen, over and over again. I definitely hope to play in the next one, and maybe run some more goodness.

RPGaDAY 2015: Days 7-9

Day 7: Favorite Free RPG

Lasers and Feelings: onesevendesign.com/lasers_and_feelings_rpg.pdf

OK, I haven't actually played it yet, but I did listen to one actual play, and I've read the one page worth of rules.

It's not often you find a game with just one stat. And I love the scenario generation.

Day 8: Favorite appearance of RPGs in the Media

Whenever Chris Hardwick makes off-hand D&D comments in shows that aren't about RPGs. Like when he's talking about the Walking Dead to just normal people and mentions things like "alignment" or mentioning characters in the show as "The Paladin, The Fighter, and then here comes back the Ranger", as if everyone should just understand what those words mean.

Day 9: Favorite media you wish was an RPG

To be honest, kinda had a hard time with this one. Ghost Writer. From where this gem comes:

Seriously though, it's a bunch of young teenagers solving crime Scooby Doo style, but with a ghost that must be communicated with through writing, and which can help them. My daughters been watching it ad naseum, and it'd make a great kids RPG.

RPGaDAY 2015: Days 4-6

4. Most Surprising Game

I'll say a game I played at GoPlayNW: Forget Me Not by jim pinto. (No, I don't know why his name is always lowercase, but he's a level 20 Font Master, so maybe that has something to do with it.) It was the most surprising because I thought I wouldn't enjoy it, and it ended up being one of the most entertaining games I had played that weekend. So lovely I bought the card deck and plan to run it with friends, and maybe at the local con here.

5. Most recent RPG purchase

Got to be The Warren, as the Kickstarter just finished successfully a few days ago.

6. Most recent RPG played

I'm going to assume the word "played" is important here (as opposed to GM'd). For me, that'd be The Carcass, also by jim pinto. 

I was playing this with my usual gaming group, which includes my friend Howie, and we have a tendency to try and break jim's games, so we decided instead of running the game as intended (as members of a post-apocalyptic tribe where the leader has died), we'd run it right as the apocalypse was occurring. 

The premise: We are all members of the Caltech Spelunking Club, currently in some tunnels under Los Angeles, as the city is succumbing to some unknown apocalyptic situation after a large explosion. The neutral tribe: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The hostile tribe: The Mexican Cartel that has been using these tunnels to transport drugs and guns around the city. Started well enough, but collapsed under some player confusion and fatigue.