Normally I mostly do game aids for the games I run, but I'm playing in a Fate game (I do like the mechanics as they are pretty straightforward. I don't like character generation as it is very open-ended and mostly suggestions).
Playing in the 1930's New York pulp vigilante world, and my character is a cross between Catwoman and Batman: a gymnast who was orphaned while competing in Berlin Olympics.
Amazing what you can with Google Draw!
The Corsairs game had a fair amount of group world-building: from the Dwarven islands to the north and the fish-squeezers of the nearby floating isles, to the roaming rogues of the fields of Teboa, the players all contributed a bit to the world. We ended up with the crew having their own sky ship, and the warbling wanderer who appeared to like sleeping in fish barrels being the vocal Captain.
There is an article in the Hexagram 2 about allowing characters to create a few NPCs: allies, foes, family and just people they may have met. They get experience points based on the quality and quantity. I am thinking the next Fantasy Trip game I run we may do the same thing. We did this for the Fate game as that is part of the character creation. Mongoose and Cepheus Traveller do the same thing: you can get extra skills if you have contacts with the other players during character generation (a thing I forgot about as we were generating characters that last game I think! But I did do the group package).
It would be nice to get them from the basic 32 point character to a 33 point character - that 1 extra DX can really make a difference!
And I think we could do the same thing with towns and regions, expanding out where they came from perhaps.
Basically, you got 1 XP per family/growing up NPC you create. A simple sentence or two, along with a name, is all that is needed. There would have to be a maximum number you can have, or else we may end up having all our adventurers come from huge families!
You get XP for people you may have met over the years before your group comes together. Bonus points if you can work in the other players.
The article had a max of 50 XP, but he also ran some gladiator style combats with the characters, giving them another 50XP. So that these were no longer fresh-faced characters but had some experiences under their belts.
I know I keep trying to do this with so far little real success, but I did not think of tying in XP for these backgrounds. And I think, as when we do get back to TFT it will be at a table (the only good way to run a game!) I'll follow this plan.
First, bring in a giant sheet of paper. I have a lot of large sheets of paper. Put a compass rose on there, and let the players determine where they are from by drawing it on the map. Be it a mountain range, a desert, a coast, something on the map and the name of their home town. That would be 10XP. Plus we have the beginning of a shared map. Nothing needs to be connected, and I can plop it anywhere in my existing world, just somewhere off the edges of my current maps if need be.
Next, they give an outline of their family: parents, siblings, cousins, creche mates, whatever makes sense for them. Each name and how they are related, and how they feel about the character, is 4 points, up to 20 points max maybe?
Next, if they are on the road, friends they have met, foes they have fought, names and how those people feel about them. This would be up to 20 points as well. Bonus points up to another 20 if they can have had interactions with the other players.
This would bring us up to 70 points, not enough to get an updated stat. But, as each game you get 30-100XP based on what is happening, by the end of the 1st session there would be enough to let them level up. And I do give bonus XP for role playing.
Anyway, tying in some leveling up with character generation I think would go over well.
Not sure when I will be running a game next, either Traveller or The Fantasy Trip. I am in the enviable position that everyone in my current group also wants to run games. The Fate game has another 3-6 weeks, depending on the GM and what we do, then our newest player wants to run an anthropomorphic game (I am planning on playing a Centaur who can shapeshift to a sugar glider. So far that's the whole character concept, but I'll be expanding on that. He has given us the rules but I've yet to actually read them). After that game I may be able to run one, not sure if someone else is in the queue! And I also need to continue working on the Cowboys and Dinosaur game.
Playing in a FATE game, which thematically is a bit different than most RPGs. The FATE chips allow us a bit of an ability to redo things to better fit the narrative. We've managed to get all together, and the mechanic behind that is similar to the way Mongoose introduced connections (though as FATE probably came first, Mongoose may have adopted that). Regardless, we have to tell a story about first meeting other players. With four players, you have to meet at least two of the others. You tell a joint story and have some common phrasing that may be used later to help or hinder a scene.
I think the Schlock Mercenary RPG uses their RiPP (Role Playing Points I think) in the same manner: you can use them to change an outcome, and be given more from the game master. And our last d20 game had action points that worked in the same manner.
So what do I think about the ability to re-roll? If you view an RPG session as a shared story, which I do, I think it can be a good tool to have. And it also depends on the style of game being run. For Traveller, I would not use this, though the Mongoose v2 Boon/Bane mechanic could useful and can be a similar though not identical idea. I see this as more a less-used mechanic to help the game go forward. However: I think that it should not be depended on. The game should have repercussions if you make a choice that ends badly. In the vigilante game we're currently in, the GM has said that should we surrender, it could be that we're taken to the "big bad" per older, vigilante style stories. Yet we cruised on and managed to kill a number of Tong fighters, badly outnumbered. Of course, the biggest bruiser we had managed to take down part of a house that took out a good portion of them, yet the Grey Cat managed to kill of several and not even take a scratch. Part of that is the way combat is handled: she has a great athletics, so I tend to roll higher than the attacker and thus manage to avoid getting hit. I wish we were at a table so I could see the rolls and get a better feel for how the combat is actually working.
The other good/bad thing about the remote gaming is that sessions can be a lot longer as we are not getting kicked out of the store where we played. Bad news is I get up about 4:30 to get to the gym, so like to be in bed by 9 or so. But - I can stay up late at least 1 night a week for the fun and discussions. But I do get sleepy!
And speaking of discussions: we do get into some interesting and frankly vehement non-game related discussions. So far no hurt feelings as we're all adults, but we do have some quite different views. Which I am glad for as it also makes me question my assumptions. Sometimes. And that is another good thing about RPGs: they can ask interesting questions and pose moral dilemmas. My Paladin was seriously questioning his choice of adventuring party, pious person that he at least wanted to be. Grey Cat is a bit more flexible but I've yet to get into her skin, so to speak.
Here is her original write-up, but there are a few changes I think to her skills ladder. And she has a few stunts. Her athletics is great, meaning I add 4 to the 4 fate dice we roll. So she will never go negative and may get as high as 8 for most athletic checks. But I also have the acrobats bump and safe fall, meaning I tend to fall on my feet and take a lot less damage:
The character can skip effortlessly down sheer surfaces without harm, allowing him to safely fall great distances.When the character falls, but is near a solid surface, such as the wall of a shaft, or has sufficient other things like ropes to offset his fall, all falls are treated as two categories shorter (and may be reduced another step with Athletics as normal).
I'll be playing in a Fate Vigilante game that takes place in 1935 New York City. Never played Fate so this will be a bit of a challenge as the rules and game play is a bit different than what I am used to. In keeping with the pulp vigilante theme, I poked around my Lego characters and this one seemed to work for me:
This is actually Huntress (with Space Cat back there in the background) but, as I don't have any pulp era type of regular minis, and have an excessive number of Lego Minis, this is what I have. Of course, we're not at a table so I don't need a mini. I just like having one to help me focus when playing. And I like Lego :)
Note: I've made some updates to yesterday's character: I made a mistake in how many spells Groink could have! Links at the bottom of this post, or just scroll back in time.
So I needed a background, and this is what I've come up with:
Full name: Anna Lincoln
Age: 21
Strengths: amazing dexterity, money for the gadgets, socialite
Weaknesses: dubious sense of morality,
Story of your adolescence: grew up in a pampered home and was training to the 1932 Olympics in Berlin when her parents were taken hostage in a reverse kidnapping. She was forced out of the Olympics to save their lives but they were killed anyway. She took vengeance into her own hands with her custom cross bow and has not looked back since.
Where from? Upstate New York
From when? Born 1914 in New York
What was your start? After killing those who killed her parents and almost getting killed in the process she started fighting other criminals, gymnastic, martial arts and other training at her mansion via a variety of instructors.
Story of your adulthood: few have seen the extensive gymnasium added to the rear of the mansion she lives in, but Anna hosts lavish parties, living off her extensive inheritance. She also has a keen business sense and invests in a variety of companies. There is a pattern to her investments as she has ties to several dubious companies now.
Knowledge that was picked up? She has background information on several crime families as they pertain to some of her business holdings.
Skills learned? Skilled with the crossbow, she has also honed her fighting and gymnastics enough to take on someone twice her size.
Abilities acquired? Expert with the bow, amazingly dexterous and fights like a banshee out of hell.
Story of one of your first heroic ventures (before meeting the others):After her almost disastrous first act, she planned a bit better and cornered a rum runner who had killed a child who got in his way. She left him dead and the evidence on his body.
Where it took place? An alley behind a speakeasy in Manhattan.
When it took place? Early January, 1933
Evil Plot that was thwarted? None yet, but she has been building up a case through various companies against something big.
Villain that was bested? The crime-boss Migual Vincent. She managed to essentially take out most of his liquor suppliers as they became too scared to do much in NYC. And while Prohibition ended in 1933, the Mob and its various businesses became her next target.
Working in the Skill Ladder with the DM, and so far we have:
And one of the location posters and PDFs will work for her mansion. These are from 0-Hr and is one of my auto-back Kickstarters. And finally get to use one of the maps, though as we're not at a table, the posters stay rolled up :(
As this is a character I will be playing shortly, I did create a PDF to print out. I like to have paper in front of me when I play. And dice.
