Forever Blue - Part 2

There are 105 known Smurfs according to Smurf 'canon'. That's 99 Smurfs plus Papa, Grandpa, Nanny, Baby, Smurfette and Sassette. At the same time, there are well over 1000 Smurf figurines. We've seen Cowboy Smurf, Judge Smurf, Supersmurf, Sports Smurfs of all sorts of sports and many, many more. How can this be?

Simple, yet something I only recently realized while researching the Smurf figures as an element of my studies into Smurfology:

This is Jokey Smurf... 

but so is this.

This is Brainy Smurf...

but so is this.

Many of the Smurf figurines are not actually separate characters but one of the well known Smurfs (or perhaps one of the general populace Smurfs) temporarily wearing a different outfit.

Inspired by the figurines and my rules for Costumes in my Muppets RPG, Smurf PCs can adopt 'Outfits' that temporarily give them different Knacks or add a bonus to their current knacks. If you want to start out with an Outfit you begin the game with only half your normal starting SMURF! Spacey Smurf is definitely going to do this as he needs his gear to be 'real' and not that he's just a 'Space Cadet' (so to speak).

I choose Rocket Ranger as his starting Outfit, giving him a +1 on his Flying and Ray Gun Knacks. A +1 added to a +1 Knack results in a +2 to the numbers he rolls on his dice (duh). However (not so duh after all!), a +1 added to a Knack that is +2 already becomes a whole additional die, i.e. +1D. A +1 added to a +1D Knack becomes 1D+1.

While I will give a more detailed and clearer explanation on this under die mechanics in an upcoming post, anyone who has played Star Wars D6 or similar dice pool systems will tell you that if you changed +1 and +2 to a combined +3 it's better than having a additional whole die so the rules of those types of games simply bump you up a die.

To obtain additional Outfits you must after character creation you must either find them, or earn them as part of Boons. That is, if you sent up a Boon where you owe someone something, be it a favor, item or service, you can make an Outfit the reward for the Boon. Consult with the Game Master (Smurf Master? Game Smurfer?) as to what is an appropriate trade for the type of Outfit you're looking for. If the Outfit grants you different Knacks it should be a bit harder to come by (harder task owed, trade item more difficult to obtain, etc.).

Note that when you put on an Outfit that gives you new Knacks, your regular Knacks disappear, although your Trait remains the same. For example, Sporty Smurf's Trait is 'Competitive'. He is wearing his Baseball Player Outfit but no one wants to play Baseball with him so he switches to Soccer. His Trait is still Competitive but his Baseball Knacks (Pitching, Batting and Running) switch to Soccer Knacks (Kicking, Block with My Head and Running). If any of these match his normal Knacks, that is, his Knacks without any Costume, he gets a +1 to that Knack.

Any questions? OK, onward and smurfward...

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Barking Alien

A Day of Celebration

So today is the actual day.

August 25th.

34 Years playing RPGs.

How have I been celebrating? Haven't really. Today was a work day like any other and I'm only just now relaxing at home and reflecting on what those 34 years mean to me.

Gaming is more than my hobby or even my favorite hobby. It's an outlet for all those creative and artistic elements bubbling around inside my head that, if I was unable to channel them in some way, would otherwise drive me quite mad I'm sure.

Celebrating 34 years of being relatively sane is nothing to sneeze at. In addition, gaming has afforded me some rare opportunities over the years. I have worked in various aspects of the industry, met some famous people who played, been on TV twice and made alot of friends who are my friends to this day, all because of RPGs.

So as I open a Yuengling Bock (a good beer if not my all time favorite*), I say 'cheers' to the all the years that have passed and all the ones to come. On this day I commemorate the best games, the worst games and the games yet to be played.

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Barking Alien

*That honor goes to either Dixie Blackened Voodoo or Abita Pecan Harvest Ale. I'm a stalwart Northerner with a Southern palate.

Forever Blue - Part 1

Bursts of inspiration (some would say madness) have changed my approach to the mechanics of my Smurfs RPG. Not massively mind you but significantly enough that it's no longer a Faery's Tale Deluxe variant. Not really anyway. It, like my Muppets RPG before it, is gaining an identity on to itself ("Alive... It's alive!..... IT'S ALIVE!!").

First things first, the updated character sheet:

 

We begin with a Smurf, its name and its Trait.

I'm a Sci-Fi fan so, inspired by Dreamy's daydream of becoming AstroSmurf (one of my favorite Smurf stories), I create a similarly inspired fellow named CosmoSmurf. Hmmm, no. Rocket Smurf? No. Spacey Smurf! Yes!

Spacey Smurf's Trait? He's Spacey. He is both fascinated by Outer Space and a guy with his head in the clouds. He's always thinking about the future, what it would be like to explore outer space and what aliens eat for breakfast but rarely paying attention to the here and now. Yeah, it's kind of close to Dreamy but a bit more focused. When performing any action that is related to his Trait, he gets to add two dice to his roll. +2D. Unless of course we decide that being Spacey is sort of a negative thing...

Smurf's with a Negative or Hindering Trait, like Grouchy, Lazy or Drunky (Heheh) may add +2D to any action or activity not related to their Trait by spending a SMURF!. If they can find a use for their Trait they can get the +2D without spending a SMURF! For example, if a PC Lazy Smurf wanted to sleep through a loud thunderstorm that was keeping everyone else in the village awake, he would get the plus 2 dice since that's an example of just how Lazy he is.

Like all Smurf's, Spacey Smurf starts the game with the stats of 2 in Mind, 2 in Body and 2 in Spirit. His Essence is double his Spirit. His starting SMURF! is Essence + Body.

The number indicates a number of 6-Sided Dice rolled when performing an action related to the stat in question. Mind for all mental activities (Knowledge of a subject, figuring out a device, speaking a language, etc.), Body for physical activities (Jumping, running, swimming, lifting, fighting, etc.) and Spirit for magic and more esoteric activities (Using willpower to resist eating your favorite treat, casting a magic spell, etc.).

Now, each character gets a +1D to put on any one of those stats (except Essence or SMURF!). Should the +1D be placed on Body or Spirit it does effect your final Essence and SMURF! numbers. I put the bonus +1D on Spacey's Mind. While often found Spacing Out, he is focused and informed about his chosen fields of interest, such as astronomy and aliens.

Now, I noticed that in many cases, Smurfs can do things outside of their distinctive Trait. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes subtle. This is where Knacks come in.

In the continuity of the original Peyo comics, Cook/Baker and Greedy were separate characters but in the Hanna Barbera animated series, Greedy is the Baker of the Smurf Village. So while his trait would be Greedy (a Negative Trait) he would have a Knack for Baking. Numerous Smurfs seem to be pictured being able to play musical instruments but that doesn't make them Harmony Smurf, who actually seems to sing and play badly. I'd give him the Hindering Trait 'Tone Deaf' or something but the Knacks 'Musician' and 'Singer'. As noted in an episode where he finds a magic horn/bugle, he knows how to play it but without the magic of the instrument it would sound terrible as he isn't good at it.

You start the game with three Knacks: One at +1, one at +2 and one at +1D. When I go over the die mechanics this will make a bit more sense but essentially, the +1 and +2 are added to the result of your dice roll, while the +1D is adding a full, additional die. Got it? Cool.

Spacey Smurf's Knacks are Flying (with his Rocket Pack), Ray Gun (Shooting a Ray Gun) and Mapmaking (not directly related to his Trait or theme but perfect for mapping alien worlds. At heart, he is an explorer, so it makes sense to him).

Note that I'm using Spacey Smurf as an example of character creation largely because it's pretty easy to define a character like him and because I am in love with how cool the drawing came out.

Personally, I don't know that I would use him in a Smurfs RPG campaign set in 13th century Flanders. On the other hand, the Smurfs are known for their anachronisms (Dreamy dreaming of being Astrosmurf, Brainy as SuperSmurf, some of Handy's devices, etc.).

End of Part 1...

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Barking Alien

Building A Better GM: My Approach

The fellow over at the Hill Cantons gameblog, inspired by another fellow named Beedo at another blog, came up with the following 'question/challenge':

"Active GMs worth their salt are constantly honing up, mulling over, tearing apart, and obsessing around what makes or breaks their home games. Why is the topic so under-represented in our writings? Why the strange disconnect?"

"something I'd like to see more bloggers discuss is their successful table techniques that translate into good games."

First, I don't know that we don't see this. I am trying to understand exactly what he means by the statement. Surely Jeff Rients, Zak S., Oddysey and many of the other blogs I follow do this regularly.

I have seen several responses to this post, ranging from interesting to helpful to 'great googley moogley! And people game with you??' It's this last one that prompted me to post this response of my own. See, I couldn't believe it when I read one fellow's 'best practices' and my first thought was that it was GM's like him that made me want to GM and not play.

I won't link the blog or name names, as that's not what this post is for. Likewise I will state that I do not believe this person's GM style to be wrong (boo, hiss) and mine to be right (heroic trumpet sound). Rather, it is wrong for me. It is not what I and my players like. At the same time it did get me thinking...

Here it is 2011 and there are those who stand by and promote a style I have found no fun for over 30 years. When asked to describe what you think makes for a better GM, this is the style being recommended. I was a bit bummed by this revelation, so I decided to put in my two cents. Alternate viewpoints come cheap don't they?

Let's see if I can answer the "Building A Better GM" questions without causing the OSR gang to require system shock rolls...

Name three “best practices” you possess as a GM. What techniques do you think you excel at

Three huh? Hmmm. Ok, got it! Improv, improv, improv!

Seriously though, improvisation is probably my strongest suit and it does a lot toward making my games feel fast paced and unique. I almost never look up a rule, never lack an explanation and never don't know what's in the chest/behind the door/causing the Warp Field Manifold to leak plasma.

NPC voices and personalities. My players love talking to my NPCs because they like interacting with characters who each have a unique style, voice, speech pattern or trait that makes them memorable. It helps the NPC feel alive, which in turn makes the world feel alive. You are not talking to stats. You are talking to a person (even if that person is an alien, robot, faerie, etc).

I practice certain voices repeatedly and listen to the voices of various actors and actresses to get different accents and techniques for creating cool sounding people.

Related to my improv in an odd way, I do massive amounts of research and development on my world that the players rarely see or even know about. The reason I can improv so easily is because I know what is happening in any given part of my campaign milieu and any given time. I read and re-read books, websites and other information sources on the genre/subject of my game to make sure what I say 'fits' the setting.

What makes those techniques work? Why do they “pop”?

Honestly, I am not sure how to answer this one. They do 'pop' but why do they 'pop'? Not sure. Because I care? Because, unlike a lot of GMs I have encountered, I am trying to entertain you. I am not only trying to entertain myself. I am also not trying to challenge you above entertaining you. I intend to do both but entertain is my priority.

How do you do it? What are the tricks you use? What replicable, nuts-and-bolts tips can you share?

Aside from what I have already said, I am not sure. A lot of my style comes from the gut and as such there are no nuts and bolts elements to impart. That said, the biggest pieces of advice I can give are...

Run the scenario or idea for the game you're going to run over and over in your head before game day. Do it with what you think the most likely responses from your players will be. Now do it with what the next likely responses would be. Now do it with unlikely responses. Now do it again with virtually random courses of action. Expect nothing. Be ready for anything and everything.

Know and listen to your players. Know and listen to yourself. Include elements in the game that they will enjoy and ones you will enjoy. Try to find things you both enjoy equally. Play those up. Remember it's a team sport. Work together.

Don't move so freaking slow. My gosh, most games I've been in as a player drag like a wounded, three legged mule with weights tied to its legs. Look up a rule, lose several seconds to a minute. Roll on a random chart for something you could come up with your dang self, loose several seconds to a minute. Get an egg timer or take the 5 minute hourglass out of your Boggle game and time how long it takes you to describe a room. Be descriptive but concise. Keep it moving.

I don't know if this really did what I wanted it to do but considering this month celebrates my 34th year playing RPGs, it was fun to post how I do what I do. Did I do myself any justice? Eh, who knows? Will I keep doing it? Yep. As long as my players and I are having fun.

Good Gaming,

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Barking Alien

Am I Blue?

Sorry for the delay in continuing my Smurf RPG. I've been reviewing what I have, adding new ideas and in the end, giving it something of an overhaul.

Since I had to cancel today's game at the Compleat Strategist (schedule conflicts with numerous members of the group), I figured I would take the time to really get this baby working the way I want it to.

Expect to see the heavily updated and improved version on Monday.

What's new? What's different? It's a surprise!

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Barking Alien