Approach Vectors

I don't know if I actually implied it or if it was merely the perception my last post gave off but the ever inspiring and cross-pollinating Blacksteel has noted an interest in a Star Trek themed month and by Andor I like it!

As August 25th is my 35th Gaming Anniversary and Star Trek gaming is my favorite pastime within a pastime, I do hereby decree that August is Star Trek RPG Month here at Barking Alien. All hands to battlestations!

 

Get up man! Didn't you hear? It's battlestations!

 Now before we get to our month of fun and phasers there are a couple of things I want to talk about first. Let's begin with system, atmosphere and the different approaches to gaming Star Trek.

Originally and certainly throughout most of my experiences with Star Trek RPG campaigns, there was a singular approach and while systems differed in mechanics, they shared the approach that your PC and his or her adventures took place in a fictional though functioning universe. This was not a simulation of TV Show. Within the confines of your game, the United Federation of Planets, Starfleet, Transporters and all the other Star Trek elements existed.

The versions of the Star Trek RPG created by FASA, Last Unicorn Games, Decipher and others support this kind of play. They tend to be a bit crunchier, paying more attention to the details many true Star Trek fans live for like phaser settings and their effects and specifics on starships.

In recent years however, especially in the time since there has been no official Star Trek RPG on the market, many games emulate Star Trek as the TV Show as opposed to an existing universe.

The excellent MicroliteD20 based Where No Man Has Gone Before is most definitely a Star Trek RPG but quite camp in many places. Its tongue planted firmly in its cheek, WNMHGB has a chart for TV Ratings Results that can saddle you with a monkey sidekick if the episode/adventure didn't go over so well with the Nielsens.

Now these are two very different approaches and can create very different feels to your game. For me, I've always played it more or less straight, our campaign assuming you are people who live in the universe depicted in the Star Trek shows and movies but clearly it is real to its inhabitants.

At the same time, I do have the Captain repeat the "Space, The Final Frontier..." speech after I intro the session's scenario and I do call each adventure an episode. I give bonuses to PC activities if other players hum the appropriate background music and other such things.

I suppose in someways I combine the two approaches I mention to some degree.

What do you do? Is your game occuring in some flesh and blood universe or does it take place on a set at the Paramount Studios? Do you feel the choice of system effects your thinking on the matter of the game's atmosphere?

More as we approach August...two days away at our present speed...

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Barking Alien

The Foreseeable Future

With no need to work on a campaign after our Champions game completes its run (just three more sessions really), I can finally work on some projects I really want to work on just for me.

OK, in truth, that too is a need and I think I've been holding off on it for one reason or another. Well no more! Time to get down to the working on the game I like the most...can you guess? Go on guess! Right! You guessed it...


When I started this blog I had intended on writing a lot more about science fiction gaming in general and Star Trek gaming specifically, yet somewhere along the line I migrated to more entries about Superheroes, Comedy and Ideas-Too-Crazy-To-Work-But-Do, like my Muppets and Smurfs RPGs.

Star Trek and Star Trek gaming, are, like Superhero Comic Books, something I've loved since before I ever saw an RPG book or funny shaped dice. While many kids played cops and robbers, my friends and I, plastic Phasers and Tricorders in hand, knock off Starfleet Uniform T-Shirts on our backs, pretended to explore strange new worlds and seek out new life forms.

The question now, which I previously never bothered to ask myself, is how shall I go about going where no one has gone before? With no official Star Trek RPG on the markets or even in the works it seems, what system and approach shall I take to develop a Star Trek campaign for when next I am given the opportunity to run one?

How you played Star Trek but not used an 'official' system? What do you use? Do you play in the canon Star Trek universe or a variant? Do you explore completely different Trek-like universe (as in Starships and Spacemen)?

I may just dedicate all of August to various posts on Star Trek gaming. Anyone interested?

Let me know. Hailing frequencies are open...

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Barking Alien

One Hundred And Fifty Percent Pure Awesome!

RECESS is on!

Yes, boys and girls my prayers have been answered! Er...ok...my psychic emissions have been acknowledged. Yeah, that sounds more like me.

I have submitted two RPG game entries, one for my ever popular Muppets RPG and one for a session of my homebrew Galaxy Quest game.

I will keep you posted on the results.

Yay! I am a happy camper!

Ooh...do you think I can convince my girlfriend to go to RECESS with me? Good grief, I am so excited I am vibrating all my molecules at superspeed. I need to relax or I'll phase through the fl...

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Barking Alien

Will Wonders Never Cease

A New Follower! Lots of Hits! Virtually No Comments!

Wait...huh?

Oh well...

A lot of things to touch upon this evening so let's get started shall we?

While walking by this small thrift store I pass by each and every work day, I decided to peek through the window at the used books. I do this one every week or two and though there has never been anything that caught my interest, I keep doing it just in case. Years ago I did the same thing at another such goodwill store near my old job downtown, periodically peering in from time to time and I came upon one of the Terra Trade Authority books. Ever since then I check out these kinds of stores in the off chance they'll have something cool.

Well luck was with me yesterday as I spotted two books I've been trying to get back ever since my copies were lost in the late eighties or early nineties. I found them both in hardcover and in very good condition for only $6.00 each!

'Flight of the Dragons' by Peter Dickinson is an oddly scientific look at dragons, with detailed theories on the pseudo-science that would enable such an animal to have actually existed in the real world. The book is full of neat illustrations, great stories and, although too science-y for my take on dragons, it is an excellent source for the kind of thoughts that go into world-building and alien creature design in RPGs. In addition, Dickinson gives scientific explanations for many of the legends attributed to dragons so, 'Ecology of the Dragon' anyone?

'Giants' by David Larkin is a book much more akin to one of my all time favorite books ever, 'Faeries' by Alan Lee and Brian Froud. Combining stories from myth and folklore with some fantastic illustrations, Giants is the perfect companion to Faeries, Gnomes and other such fantasy reference books. I am reading this one first and loving it. Very intriguing and giving me tons of fuel for an Ars Magica game (should I ever get to run one again).

Although I am not into D&D, Noisms has an excellent theory/concept of the how D&D style exploration and adventure might fit other historical eras better then it's default pseudo-medieval setting. I recommend checking it out.

It's official (although it will be officially announced at our regular Champions session this Saturday); I will not be running the next campaign my regular gaming group will be playing. Instead, one of my great players and good friends, Ray, will be running a campaign based on the Japanese Anime/Manga Hunter X Hunter. Should be a blast!

Happy Birthday to Lynda Carter! A wonder woman above and beyond her iconic role.

Sad to hear of the passing of Sherman Hemsley, gone at the age of 74. While I am not a religious man (and that is the understatement of the century), if I did believe in an afterlife I would imagine he'd be movin' on up.

Also, Rest In Peace Sally Ride, the first woman in space. A big inspiration to many in and out of the field of space science and a charming person in her own right, she leaves this Earth for the unknown frontier at the age of 61.

OK, lots more to come! Not having to work on a new campaign makes me feel so free. I have all this spare time. I think I'll...ooh, I know...I'll jot down some future campaign ideas...

Yeah, yeah I know. It's in my blood.

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Barking Alien

Take Me To The Other Side

As I approach my 35th anniversary in the hobby, I feel like I am at a strange crossroads. On the one hand, I am gaming more than I have in years and I am really inspired to finally self-publish...something...but I am simultaneously enjoying the overall experience of gamemastering somewhat less than I traditionally have.

Actually, that is only partially true. I am enjoying it quite a bit with the younger kids at the learning center I teach at on Sunday in Brooklyn. My regular group however, well, that's been a source of some frustration as you can surely tell from some of the posts in the recent past.

Now part of this is surely do to my lack of free time lately and not being able to prepare and develop the campaign as much as I'd like. Another element is my impatience with the idiosyncrasies of my current group. The third major factor however is that there are so many idiosyncrasies with this group and that element interferes with my traditionally smooth flowing style.

So, much as I generally dislike being on the other side of the table, I think I am going to pass the GM chair to one of my players for the group's next campaign.



My friend Ray has a cool idea for a campaign based off of an Anime/Manga series that I must confess was never a favorite of mine. In truth, after watching four episodes of the animated series I never saw another and simply forgot about the show. Ray noted that he feels the Manga to be superior to the Anime and that is what he is basing the game on.

Now, lets take a close look at this situation and see how my group and I differ...

It's a game based on a series I didn't care for.
I will be playing instead of GMing and I prefer to GM over playing 100 to 1.
My last two experiences as a player were not so hot.

So what does your ol'pal Adam say when Ray says he wants to run this thing and asks if I'd be down for it? Why, I say, "Yes!".

Unlike many members of my group who, "Played something like that once, years ago, and it wasn't good so I'm not interested", or, "That's different from my tightly defined view of the 5 genres that interest me", I am more likely to say, "That's different. I haven't tried that thing, quite that way, before this. Count me in!"

So...

BattleTech Reborn goes on the back burner with tons of other campaign ideas and game projects. It's getting awefully crowded back there.

Meanwhile, I think I am going to take this opportunity to work on ideas for an old school, Original Series style Star Trek campaign. I'll save it for just the right time with just the right group. Weee! I am excited now. I am smiling. Ahhh. The burden of trying to entertain these guys is now the domain of some other masochist...er...talented referee.

Heh.

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Barking Alien

View From The Observation Lounge

This weekend I noticed something while running RPGs for the two very different groups I game with each weekend. Here now, is what I noticed...





The first group is the one I work with at the Study Center and consists of about 8 kids between 3rd and 6th grade. It is a mix of boys and girls, all from Brooklyn.

The second group is my regular gaming group and consists of four guys, ranging from their mid-twenties to mid-thirties, from all over New York City.

Observation and Speculation

The mysteries I provide for each group are not all that different in complexitiy or depth. Though the groups are very (very) far apart in age, I don't dumb down my connundrums much for the younger group or create overly complex and nuanced ones for the older group. Perhaps a little more of the latter once in a while but not in a significant way.

The younger players take a lot of notes (or at least most of them do) and look at each clue or element and put together what's happening pretty quickly and easily.

The older group, especially one player in particular, tends to lean toward speculations after their observations. That is, they will look at the clues, identify what they know and then spend 20 minutes or so speculating on what else might be involved but there has been no evidence of. This quickly leads to unwarranted assumptions, missing other key details, confusion and often putting the players in a bigger pickle than they started in.

I've noted here on this blog before...or perhaps it was elsewhere (in the comments of a fellow blogger's blog post)...that I need not create terrible monsters or brilliant death traps to cause harm to the PCs created by this gaming group. All I need to do is place a cup of coffee on the floor in the middle of a room and within a hour they will be trying to kill each other or destroy the building that has the room in it in order to save the world from what they are certain is a deadly menace beyond all reason. It is instead, quite simply, a cup of coffee in a room.

So you can keep your dragons and spring loaded floor panels, your pits of acid and well-organized goblins. I can TPK four seasoned veterans of gaming with a hot cup of java.

This is the face of evil.

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Barking Alien

My Mind At Warp

Hmm...no responses to my previous post on the intro to my new BattleTech Reborn campaign are a bit discouraging. I was hoping someone out there would tell me if I was hot, luke warm or just plain cold with the lead in to the game's setting and main premise. -Sigh-

The problem with me is that sometimes, when I don't see any reaction or enthusiasm to my ideas, I start to get distracted and drift toward other ideas in hopes that they may wow where the previous one has perhaps failed.

This is especially true when other things are occupying my mind and double-plus-so if they were lurking in the gray matter before the current project even got started.

No, I am not dumping my BattleTech Reborn idea but I am in the 'lull before the season starts', not as excited about it as I was when I came up with it or as I will be when I am ready to start running it. And I will be excited when I am ready to go, of that you can be certain. Right now I am in a holding pattern, trying to complete our current Champions game and prepping for BR but not quite set to launch.

Other things bouncing around the padded room that is the inside of my noggin' are Star Trek-like games and Vegan Pancakes.

When I say Star Trek-like games, I include Star Trek itself of course but what I am really thinking of is Starships & Spacemen (especially E.T. Smith's variant, which I played at RECESS some time back) or my Galaxy Quest games or any number of other alternate 'Trek' themed settings, systems or campaign ideas. I recently read Redshirts by John Scalzi and while I didn't end up liking the book very much, I liked the initial premise and it definitely inspired me to start toying with a pet project I started a while back but haven't looked at again in a while.

I had this idea of mixing the aforementioned Starships & Spacemen game with the resource management elements of Meikyuu (Make You) Kingdom, the Japanese TRPG where you play the ruler and court of a small nation who go adventuring in dungeons to build up the coffers and expand your country.

One of the neat ideas in Meikyuu Kingdom is that each PC has a number of minions, little more than pips on his or her character sheet, that serve the sole purpose of adding bonuses to certain rolls the PC makes or dying in the PCs stead. For example, if you are attacked for 5 hit points you can put three of these minions in front of you and shave the damage done to 2.

Imagine that in a Star Trek-like setting. Each PC can beam down with a number of extras that are pretty much there just to die when the group is caught in a cave in or attacked by an Altairian Flint-Eel or whathaveyou. Perhaps a system could be put into place that differentiates them as Science Extras, Security Extras, etc. Maybe you can use your experience points to bump one up from Extra to Reoccurring Character and get a more useful henchman.

I really like this concept and I think I'm going to put some work into it on the side while I force myself to work on BattleTech Reborn...ooh...did I say that out loud? I didn't really mean it. I just...so...Vegan Pancakes...

By Vegan I don't mean the pancakes originate on a planet orbiting the star Vega. Those are much more difficult to make and digest if you are not a solinium based life form. No, see, my girlfriend is Vegan and I love to cook and I make awesome pancakes so now I want to make ones she can eat and enjoy. This may be a tougher task than getting my current gaming group to agree on a single course of action but then again I have never been one to take the easy route when it comes to creative problem solving.

Wish me luck...in all endeavours. Hey, if you're already wishing you might as well...

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Barking Alien

Preparing For War

In summarizing the setting for our upcoming, new campaign, 'BattleTech Reborn', I came up with this...


***

THE END OF THE SUCCESSION WARS, THE BEGINNING OF THE CLAN INVASIONS
THE HISTORY OF BATTLETECH REBORN





Comprised of many hundreds of worlds and overseen by the five Great Houses, the Inner Sphere of our galaxy's Orion-Cygnus Arm was once the home to the mighty Star League, an alliance of the Great Houses that achieved wonders no governing body had achieved before or since.

Following the collaspe of the Star League centuries ago, the galaxy has known virtually nothing but conflict and division. It was long believed that nothing could again unify the Inner Sphere, except the eventual victory of one of the Great Houses.

Unfortunately, the end of the many Succession Wars did not unify the Inner Sphere but instead shatter it into many smaller nations, with each of the Great Houses controlling a portion of the region.

What came next was as tragic as it was unexpected. The former Star League Defense Force, now broken up and reorganized into group known as The Clans, invaded the Inner Sphere looking for resources that were desperately few in the other star systems known as the Periphary.

As the the Clans began their guerilla raids and surprise attacks against an Inner Sphere exhausted from centuries of war, a retalitory strike against several Clan colonies resulted in enraging them to fevered levels. Now it was not only a quest for materials and food, it was a matter of honor. It was personal.

No military force of the Great Houses claimed responsibility for the attacks on the Clan colonies, which were largely civillian outposts and their destruction took many innocent lives. As the Great Houses and Clans clashed on planets all across the Orion Arm, the truly wise and observant asked the question, "Who really attacked the Clan colonies and why?"

Sadly, it was a question drowned out by the thunder of war on the fields of battle. The Clans blamed the Great Houses, the Houses shed no tears for their invaders' kin and ComStar ,the governing body that held control of Humanity's birth place, the Earth, claimed neutrality in the conflict but showed no desire to help any one party over another.

Now, in the year 3052 AD, our story truly begins. The Star League is gone. The Great Houses fight against invaders and each other. The Clans attack the Inner Sphere for resources and revenge. A mystery remains unsolved. The Succession Wars are over but the necessity for Battletech is reborn.

***

Well? How's that sound for starters?

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Barking Alien

Canons In Front of Me

Battletech's 'canon', like that of any long running series, be it a TV show, comic book, RPG or whathaveyou, has been developed over the long history of its production. With the first edition of the Battletech game having come out in 1984 (originally as a boardgame/wargame called Battledroids), we're looking at a good 28 years of material to sift through. There have been numerous splatbooks, Mechwarrior - The Battletech RPG, card games, video games, novels, etc. All in all, there's a freakin' lot of Battletech.

How am I going to make use of all of that?

Well, I'm not. Or at the very least, not right away.

A firm believer in the concept that less is more when initially introducing a group of players to a setting, I am working now to distill all that canon and history into an easy to digest summary. I want to focus my next campaign, BattleTech Reborn, on conflict between the Great Houses of the setting's 'Inner Sphere' of charted space (roughly 450-550 light years around Earth) and the Clans, the former military defense forces of the fallen Star League, who are returning from their self-imposed exile into what is known as the Periphery, a vast area of largely unexplored space some 500 more light years beyond the Inner Sphere.






Here is a preliminary design for the campaign map of known space. The colored borders indicate the areas of space ruled by the various interstellar government powers. I may be adding or taking away or simply shifting the position of some political entities but for the most part this is the way they will all sit next to each other.

The deep blue-grey-green circles indicate the regions of the Periphery and Deep Periphery. At the center of the map (well, a tad off center actually) you may note a small, white circle around a yellow star. That star is Sol and that represents the position of the Earth.

Now, I have not quite laid out all the details in my version of the Battletech universe's history, nor am I completely certain yet what event or events specifically set off the new state of conflict the PCs will find themselves in. The finishing touches in repainting and restoring this old jalopy are not complete by a long shot. In the meantime, here's another cool mech...





Great! Now quickly, while they're distracted...

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Barking Alien

God From The Machine

I've got quite a bit to cover this morning so let's get started...

I've finally decided what my next campaign is going to be.

It was a long, winding and none-too-smooth process to come up with this bad mamma jamma but I really think my group and I have a winner on our hands.

Over the course of our last few Champions sessions and several one-shot side games, I really tried to analyze what I was doing right, wrong, not as good as I could do and what elements I wanted to add in that I wasn't adding in and why.

I also paid close attention to my players, their likes, dislikes, personal styles and I had a pretty powerful Q&A with them in this regard a week ago and a report on my 'findings' a week later (this past Saturday).

To a small extent, there are definitely elements of our gaming techniques that are different enough to rub each other the wrong way on occasion. I am just as much at fault in this regard as anyone else (except my good buddy Dave, who we all agreed is the one person in the group whose approach to gaming sits well with everybody), if only in that I need to show a little more patience with those whose styles are most different or contrary to what I find fun. Honestly though, I certainly acknowledge that there are other elements of my style of GMing that may not be perfect for everbody.

With all of our sins laid bare (er, so to speak), I was able to begin putting together something that would appeal to everyone...even me.



While the concept for this game was surely the result of the efforts I mentioned above (as well as being the fulfillment of a long time pet project of mine), it was just as surely cemented by a conversation I had with my girlfriend this past weekend about atheism, spiritualism and quantum physics (Yes, she's THAT awesome. Yes.). In that conversation, which also discussed different approaches to the creative process and how communicating with someone passionate about their craft can inspire the desire to create in yourself, I realized that depending on ones perspective, the Art Film can be viewed as a Blockbuster and vice versa.

I wanted to create a game with a very unique atmosphere, a 'look' and 'feel' very different from what we've been playing over the last year or so. At the same time, I definitely didn't want something unregoinizable, where my slightly more conservative players would find themselves lost. I needed action, intrigue, grand vistas and awesome 'special effects' complete with my signature big explosions. I also needed and wanted there to be Human passions, philosophies and a perceived meaning behind it all. This campaign idea called for a grand epic across disputed stars, where survival of a people was at stake, not just a quest for fame and glory.

Sounds exciting, no?

The end result, is something I have been wanted to do for some time. I really like the Battletech universe, always have. It's Great Houses, Clans, various political, economic and social factions battling for control of a massively large space opera setting is the perfect backdrop of an action/adventure game with the potential for a bit more character depth. Plus, it has giant robots. Mecha are like bacon. Everything is better with mecha.

Except...Battletech mecha suck. They just one-hundred-percent-no-ifs-ands-or-buts suck the big wazoo. Slow. Limited in function. Ugly.

First things first. Replace all the images and designs with ones that are actually in the style of Japanese mecha and look cool.






Excellent. Moving on...

And the rules to Battletech and Mechwarrior? Clunky, wargamey and definitely not what I want. I want Battletech as if it were an modern Anime or Manga series. I want fast, kinetic with cool robot designs that can do what robots in Anime do.

Got it!

A little while back I brushed off my ol' Mekton book and my homebrewed alternate version of the free RPG Extended Mission and created a very fun kitbashed frankenstein of a game I call the Extended Mecha system. I have decided to clean that up a little and use it for this game. Essentially a simplified Mekton, the key difference is that weapons don't do points of damage, they do 'rolls' of damage. When you score a hit, the targets armor removes a numbers of rolls. If any rolls get through, the attack rolls on a chart to see what damage was done to the enemy mecha, vehicle, etc.

So let's say my Particle Cannon does 5 rolls. I hit my target, who has an armor of 3. I scored 2 rolls. I roll twice and get:

- Component Damaged. Operates at -2.
- System Offline. Skill action needed to restore.

Based on where we were in relation to each other and the way I worded my attack ("I am not letting him get aways again!"), the GM decides the Component Damaged was the Flight Jets in his left leg. The System that went down was the enemy mech's Enhanced Maneuver System and he can't really steer right now. The enemy pilot needs to rolls his Computer Skill or Mecha Engineering to get the system fixed and the system back up and running.

While I am normally not one for charts, I have used this system in the past to excellent effect so I am willing to go with it for this type of setting. By defining a mech's operational capacity as made up of Components (Physical Parts like Hands, Feets, Weapons, Rockets, etc.) and Systems (Functions programmed into or handled by the computer such as Communications, Targeting, Sensors, etc.), players get the feeling they are operating a robotic vehicle and not just a tower of numbers.

I have a lot more to say on the subject and rest assured I will be detailing the campaign elements and how it all plays out here on Barking Alien.

Oh before I go...almost forgot...

New summer session has begun at the learning center in Brooklyn where I run a combo Creative Writing/Storytelling/RPG Playing class on Sundays. We just started and it looks like it's going to be a blast. I am running a sort of humorous horror game based on the Japanese TRPG 'Peekaboo Horror' where the kids play Middle-School club of supernatural investigators who each have an otherworldly companion/side kick - played by another player! So each kid is playing two characters, their own club member and some other members 'Boo'. I am using InSpectres crossed with Monsters and Other Childish Things.

RIP Ernest Borgnine. Sad to see him go but he left us with a great body of work.

I'm sure I am forgetting something...oh well, I guess I'll just have to blog more. ;)

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Barking Alien

Bored On The Fourth of July

So yesterday was July 4th (Happy US Independence Day to my fellow Americans by the way) and I had originally planned on getting together with my group and running either a make up session of our normal Champions game (which I cancelled last Saturday to spend the day with my awesome girlfriend who is awesome. Have I mentioned how awesome she is?) or a one shot of something to gage interest in what to run once the Champions game ends.




As it turned out, I was late to our little get together due to putting the final touches on a scenario for Metal Head, a Japanese TRPG I've had in my collection for ages and I've really wanted to play again but haven't in years and years.

When I arrive, the guys are already there and we begin our usual ritual of pre-game bs and catching up when low and behold another of my players arrives who I thought was going to make it. So it's Dave, Marcus, Ray and myself. Not everyone but not bad. Champions is out because Lee wasn't able to attend and his PC and Ray's were involved in something big that it didn't feel right addressing without him there. Metal Head it was.

Only, it wasn't...

Before we could even get started making up characters, it was 4:00 pm or so and we somehow got into a conversation about D&D and the different editions and I should have known at that point everything was going to go to hell. Before I realized what was happening Dave was saying we should play my version of D&D because its so different from regular D&D, etc, etc. So what do we end up doing? Playing my D&D-But-Not game. I ran what was perhaps the lamest scenario I have ever run. I am almost a little embarrassed by it.




So after a good 5 hours of it, the adventure came to an end and I'm sure the look of relief was obvious on my face.

We spent the last half hour to forty-five minutes taking about what to run next after Champions and I confessed to the group that I was having difficulty deciding. I also brought up my feelings that I am in an Art Film mood and this group is a Blockbuster audience. They mostly agreed, with Marcus going so far as to say, "Sorry, I can't do deep".

In the end though I think I actually came up with a good idea and a result of that discussion. More on that later...

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Barking Alien

Barking Happily

No game this past Saturday as I spent the day with my girlfriend, which was 'The Awesome!' I might add. I managed to show her the Compleat Strategist, our FLGS here in New York City and she seemed quite intrigued which bodes well and gives me hope for the future. ^_^

Since I am off Wednesday for July 4th, I promised the guys we've do a make-up day but unfortunately I don't believe that they are all free. So, I may do a little experiment and try to run a one-shot (with an 'option to buy') of something a bit more indie.

We'll see.

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Barking Alien