Here's A Crazy Idea...

The past two months I've found it particularly difficult to post. 

While there are many factors involved it mostly boils down to:

• I am very busy with work.
• I keep starting posts and then changing my mind or losing interest.
• I have many things I'm interested in but nothing WOWing me. 

This should be taken with a grain of salt of course; I am really excited about the upcoming Discworld and Smurfs RPGs but until they're available [in their corebook formats] and I've played them some more I don't have much to discuss in regards to them. 

So I had this insane thought...I need something, a theme or a challenge in order to get re-light the creative fires. How about...

31 Questions For Barking Alien!

The idea is you out there in internet land send in TRPG questions - any question about anything RPG related - and I will pick 31 one of them and answer one a day for each day in December. 

You need only ask one question but I am happy to receive more. Whattaya say? Help a fellow gamer get his mojo back. If you don't wanna do it for me, do it for Barkley - look at him working his furry butt off up there in the blog's control room. Don't force him to create all the content himself. 

Anyway, I just think it would be a really fun idea and I always appreciate interactions with my readership.

Thank you in advance, hope you had a great Thanksgiving and Native Heritage Day and I look forward to hearing from you.

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Barking Alien

PS: Questions can be posted as Comments below or sent to barkingalienATgmailDOTcom. 

Command Crew to the Bridge

I thought it prudent to follow up my last post with the words of the players involved in our long standing Star Trek Adventures RPG campaign, Star Trek: Prosperity.

I posed to them the question, 'Why do you think Star Trek: Prosperity has lasted so long?"

Before I tell you what they said/wrote, I thought I'd give you all a brief, up-to-date rundown on our four Player Characters. 

Our Commanding Officer, Captain Ann Fletcher (played by Dan), went from young woman to watch to a well respected and regarded officer, a favorite of the Beta Quadrant's Starfleet Admiralty. Born and raised in the Sol System Asteroid Field, the Captain's teen and young adult years remain a bit of a mystery but definitely include some rough and tumbler years. She has a strong will, unflinching beliefs, and a goal of unifying every intelligent species in the galaxy in mutual friendship and respect.  

Commander Solok, our former First Officer and Chief Science Officer, published a number of papers on Precursor Science and Technology touted as ground-breaking by scientists across the UFP, particularly the Vulcan Science Academy. Mr. Solok has temporarily taken a leave of absense from Starfleet after marrying the Prosperity's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Margaret 'Maggie' Hanover. The player now plays the up-and-coming young Helmsman Charlie Wilder, a natural born pilot (Solok and Wilder played by Leo).

Commander Solok of Vulcan

Former First Officer and Chief Science Officer

The ship's Chief Engineer, Andorian officer Tha'ar Bhoth (played by Alex), was promoted to First Officer and now serves with both distinction and a constent feeling of having to live up to his predecessor. Bhoth is a man of two worlds, with his dedication to the UFP and Starfleet pulled and pushed by his relationship with the Andorian Imperial Guard, where his father serves as a well-respected General. 

Finally, last but not least, Lt. Commander Rhys Carr (played by Arthur) started out as our Chief Communications Officer, was transferred to Chief of Security, and finally promoted to Chief Science Officer. Earler in Carr's Starfleet career (prior to the start of the campaign) he served as a Crytanalyst and that played a big part in his role as Chief of Communications. He was able to decypher the iconographic language of the Precursors and developed an improved algorithm for Universal Translators that greatly enhanced First Contact operations for years to come. 

Now, on to the players' comments...

"A longstanding mutual commitment that come what may, by the end of the session, Star Trek wins." Dan - Captain Fletcher

 ​“ First, the opportunity to portray a character for years and having them evolve and change though game play. Star Trek is a unique RPG setting that encourages communication over conflict, compassion over cruelty, and exploration over exploitation. Even as the world seems to prefers the later over the former, it’s comforting to be able to listen to our better angels. ”  Leo - Commander Solok / Lt. Wilder

“A fanatical love of and desire to live in Star Trek. The satisfaction of contributing our own stories in said universe. Love of each other at the table...a damn good ship design!” Alex - Commander Bhoth

"First, I truly love Star Trek and heartily welcome the chance to live in that universe for even a few hours a month. Second, I don’t have the opportunity in any other medium to not be the 'main character' and flex a player character’s interpersonal skills muscles on an ongoing basis. (There is no “I” in team. Except in Klingon. And then it’s more of an “eye”.) Lastly, to quote Professor Higgins, I’ve grown accustomed to your faces." Arthur - Lt. Commander Carr

The crew has spoken! The Voyage Continues...

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Barking Alien

Why Star Trek: Prosperity Works

JB at B/X BLACKRAZOR wrote a post about 'Why D&D Works' in which he puts forth his own idea of what the secret ingredient is that makes the grandfather of all RPGs so popular to this day. His epiphany is...interesting. Check it out, it's well worth the read. 

It made me think about the fact that I am currently involved in two Star Trek Adventures campaigns, one as a player and one as a GM. As I mentioned not long ago, the one I am Gamemastering is my bi-weekly game Star Trek: Prosperity, is now in its 8th year.

Eight years* of the same campaign; the same players, same GM, [mostly] the same characters, same ship, same mission - explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and ancient civilizations, boldly go on one wild Sci-Fi adventure after another. 

What began as a convention one-shot of Last Unicorn Games' Star Trek RPG has become two hundred sessions covering nearly a hundred different missions using Modiphius Entertainment's excellent Star Trek Adventures. 

So I had to ask myself...Why does this campaign endure?

1st Session of Episode 5 run on 11/08/24

For starters, the players are all Star Trek fans. 

We each have our favorite incarnation of the franchise but we all like Star Trek. We decided on a particular era, largely informed by the one-shot I ran at a RECESS Game Event, and ran with it. Barring some minor details here and there, the entire group is on the same page when it comes to the setting and its tropes. This is a big part of why it works. 

The group shares a clear and unified vision of the setting

While I try very hard to create new and interesting scenarios to challenge the players and their PCs, the campaign as a whole is really about the Player Characters and not the Star Trek universe or the challenge of the week. They (the PCs) are the stars of this particular show. 

In each scenario I run them through, there is always an element that hits upon one or more of the Command Crew's interests, outlooks, or goals. The adventures are tied to the PCs and vice versa. As time goes on, this enables me (as the GM) to expand the setting while simultaneously allowing the players to further develop their characters.  

The campaign is character driven and the group loves their characters. 

In the Star Trek universe, characters are bit more 'enlightened' than your average PCs in other types of TRPGs. They aren't motivated by the acquisition of wealth or items (the Ferengi aside) and as such the motivations of the characters go beyond 'kill things and take their stuff'.

Somewhat linked to this is a reduced need to see the characters constantly improve; i.e. raise stats and skills, get new powers, etc. It just isn't a major component of the game. We do have character (and starship) improvement but it only occurs at the start of each new even numbered 'Season' (the ship improves at the beginning of odd numbered Seasons).

These two factors combine to allow the campaign to last longer. Player Characters aren't accumulating new weapons and equipment and are unlikely to suddenly or even eventually obtain anything that will 'unbalance encounters'. No one's going to randomly come across a +3 Phaser or a Tricorder of Perfect Scanning.

Likewise the PCs aren't going to grow resistant to Distruptor Fire or gain a Feat that lets them instantly win diplomatic negotiations. Power creep is extremely gradual and it could be argued it doesn't even exist in any practical sense. There certainly isn't anyone in the group looking to be more 'powerful'. 

PCs motivated by more than material gains are free to create their own 'victory conditions' and that works to keep the game going. 

A lack of Power Gaming, Item Hording, and Power Creep extends the life of the campaign. 

While the PCs face danger constently in their endeavors, no PC has died during the 8 year run* of the game. There are key reasons for this. 

First and foremost, in three seasons of the Original Series no member of the Bridge Crew of the Enterprise died. In staying true to the feel of a 1960s-70s Science Fiction TV show, the leads can't be randomly perish. Star Trek isn't about killing the main characters. It's about making their lives difficult while they try to protect the rest of their crew, the planet they're orbiting, or even the entire galaxy. 

New NPCs for Season 8

Instead I've found it quite impactful to kill a named NPC or say, 'Reporting a dozen casualties across Decks 7, 8, and 9 Captain. Another two dozen wounded". We often bring up the deaths of past NPCs we've lost in the line of duty. The PCs and their players feel responsible for every 'life' aboard the Prosperity. There are 271 NPCs counting on the Command Crew to get them home safely. The PCs can die but more often the campaign is about how they live with and handle loss. 

The players have asked that I up the stakes, feeling the campaign doesn't feel quite threatening enough sometimes. Understandable for those accustomed to more traditional RPGs. I have raised the body count in Season 8 and the guys seem to be loving it. Player input and GM/Player cooperation is another major factor in the game's longevity. 

Though the odds are in favor of PC survival, a sense of risk and loss keeps the players on their toes and coming back for more. 

Spacefaring Vessels of Season 8 (So far)

Let's summarize:

• Star Trek, specifically our version of Star Trek, is clear to all players.
• The campaign is character focused, with the PCs central to the adventures.
• PCs are driven by their motivations. which change and expand with the campaign.
• The game is challenging, the possibility of loss ever-present, but PC death is rare. 

This campaign has lasted so long* you'd think I must have discovered the RPG magic formula, some ultimate GM trick that guarantees me a successful, continuing game every time I set out to create that 'forever campaign'. Sadly, no. That's not how that works. 

This combination of approaches and elements works well with this group of players playing this setting with this particular GM (Me). This doesn't insure success in any other situation; if the players were different, if there were one more or one less, if the players were the same but the setting Post-TNG, or any number of other alterations to Star Trek: Prosperity's 'perfect storm' I don't know for certain that we'd still be playing it today. 

This works for this group. Star Trek: Prosperity is the right game for the right group that came about at the right time and (so far) continues to do so. 

What works for you?

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Barking Alien

Ventura Class based on the USS Ventura created by John Byrne and the Sentinel Class created by Bill Krause.

*Brace yourselves...

I have been operating off the belief that the Star Trek: Prosperity campaign is eight years old based on our 8 'Seasons' of play - 8 sets of 12 adventures (not sessions), referred to by the group as 'Episodes'. 

However...

According to campaign notes recently discovered by Dan, who plays the ship's Captain, the game may be even older. Specifically, Dan found some papers dating back to 2013. This would indicate that the campaign is at least 11 years old. The notes themselves are clearly early in the run but not the very beginning, so it's possible the game could be as much as 12 years old. 

Wow. I'm stunned. 

This post took nearly two weeks to finish.

The Quintessential Barking Alien Playlist

I've always been someone who enjoys trying out new RPGs.

The very act of experimenting with new systems is fun for me in and of itself, independent of whether or not I end up liking a particular game or other. It should go without saying that 'New' and 'Different' doesn't automatically equal 'Good' but you'll never know if you don't give it a try 

All this said, I definitely have a selection of tried and true games I tend to fall back on. These aren't necessarily my favorite games, although some are, but rather the RPGs that see the most play at my table for one reason or another and that's what this post is really about...

My friend Ray and I were discussing the games that have seen reoccurring  use over the years and noticed that some see more attention then others, while a few have never been played with my Mid-Week group at all. They simply haven't come up and I found that both surprising and interesting.

It made me wonder, 'What are the quintessential Adam games?'; the RPGs that I am known for running on the regular that are most likely to give players an expected enjoyable experience. 

Star Trek Adventures

This is the game that I play most often lately; running a bi-weekly campaign and playing in a [roughly] weekly one. In the past few years I've also played in and GMed a handful of one-shots and short campaigns. 

It's one of my favorite games covering one of my favorite entertainment franchise settings. It's far more likely that I will continue to play it as a main game rather than need to 'get back to it'. This isn't the game I go to in order to take a break from my usual game but instead the game I might be taking a break from if anything. 

Champions

I go back to this game and my buddy William's homebrew setting regularly, often at the behest of my players. Many of them love this game or at the very least the universe. Superheroes in general are also a favorite genre with many of my friends. Like Star Trek Adventures, Champions is a major candidate for an ongoing, long term campaign.

The only draw back is that sometimes I want to try something new when the players want to return to this. Actually, that's a common element of many of these entries but this one seems especially 'in demand'. 

Traveller (Classic/MegaTraveller)

This one is another staple. Maybe it's not an 'automatic win' every time but the choice to run and play a Traveller campaign is going to go over well with my groups and result in an enjoyable game.

After running a long and very successful campaign some years ago, most of our subsequent outings with Traveller have tended to be short but reasonably successful.

Ars Magica

Ah, Ars Magica. The one Fantasy TRPG I consistently love. Unlike Champions, which comes up because my players request it, this game gets run when I get a pang of nostalgia for it. Sometimes you're just in the mood for a series of pseudo-historical myth and folklore based adventures, ya'know? 

Star Wars (D6)

Maybe its because I've run so much Star Wars over the decades, maybe its because the source of inspiration for these games has been rather hit and miss lately, but it can be very tricky for me to get jazzed to run this nowadays. I still love Star Wars the concept and the D6 system is among my top five favorite RPGs but this one doesn't come around quite as often as it used to. 

Ghostbusters (My OG / InSpectres / ALIENS Homebrew)

As you might have noticed if you frequent this blog often (yeah, I'm talking to you three) I LOVE running Ghostbusters. I am quite proud of the homebrew/kitbash system I've created for doing so and the mix of Horror, Sci-Fi, and Comedy is just perfect as a campaign setting. 

First thing about this is...I'd rather run an ongoing campaign of Ghostbusters than take a break from whatever 'regular game' I'm running to play a short run of this. Second thing is that Ghostbusters is definitely something I'm waaay more into than most of my current players are so this gets to the table far less than I'd like.  

The Winghorn Guard/Aerth

As you probably know, I'm not a D&D fan. Even my own D&D, which isn't really D&D in the classic sense. Kinda sorta. The point is, although I do love Aerth and the Winghorn Guard setting, I don't often feel the desire to revisit it that often anymore. Once in a while I guess but not on the regular.

Been a while though...

Mecha (Various)

This is directed at the genre moreso then it is any particular game. From time to time the need to strut around in six story high humanoid robots is just undeniable. A fan of Mecha Anime going all the way back to my Junior High School/Middle School days, I do love me a great story with people, politics, adventure, and of course giant robots. 

My favorite Mecha setting/universe is Mobile Suit Gundam, specifically the classic 'Universal Century' and 'One Year War' timelines. Rules wise I tend to prefer using my homebrew Mecha System Variant mechanics. Other options (for both settings and rules) include Aura Battler Dunbine, Five Star Stories, Mekton (Original and II) Macross, and Wares Blade. 

With my current range of players, short campaigns of this one work best.

Superheroes (Various)

I periodically give other Superhero games (as in not Champions) a shot and have revisited such titles as Mutants and Masterminds and Villains and Vigilantes a handful of times in the past five years or so. I might take the Japanese TRPG Deadline Heroes out for a spin in the next few months and I'm hoping to play the Marvel Multiverse game at some point. 

This is a curiousity, not a priority. That are a number of other games I'd like to get to first/more.

Teenagers from Outer Space

Finally, here's a game that hasn't seen play at my table(s) in a very long while but which was, at one time, a go-to RPG for me for throughout the late 80s to the late 90s.  It was and remains one of my all time favorites, a game I've modified and used in the past to run a host of different campaigns. It's 'default' game conceit is that of Japanese Anime and Manga over-the-top Rom-Coms and was heavily influenced by the works of Rumiko Takahashi. 

I miss TFOS. I really do. My issue with bringing it back into active use is that only a few of my players across all my groups are big Anime fans. To be clear, MANY of my players like and watch Anime. However, only a handful of them are otaku; fans who would consider Anime and Manga as their major area of fandom interest.

I should really pull out a one-short or short campaign of this for my Mid-Week group. 

You might have noticed that the list is in the order of how often I get to run these games. From games currently being run to ones I've run short games or one-shots of and finally one it's been years since I've gotten the chance to play. 

What do these games have in common? Why do I keep going back to these again and again? Would I even do so given the opportunity to do something else? To put that last one another way, I would have to ask myself whether or not I'd prefer to return to a welocme favorite over trying out something I haven't before. 

Ah, who am I kidding? With rare exceptions I'd definitely want to go for something I've not yet played. Also, remember what I said in the beginning of this post: These are the games I regularly return to. They are not necessarily my all time favorite games. That is quite a different list.

All ideas I'd like to explore in the near future. 

See you then,

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Barking Alien