What's Happening?

Whew! I've been gaming a lot.

A lot!

Well, a lot for me in comparison to last year at least. 

Most of it has been very fun too, and really, what more can you ask for?

At this point I figured I should update you all on what I'm doing, if for no other reason than to share the joy, and get some new content up on this blog for cripes sake! It's September 18th, and this is only my third post! Sheesh! 

Have no fear citizens, a meatier post is forthcoming. 

Most of the games I'm in, or running are bi-weekly, or monthly. Only the online Google Hangouts Kapow! Group (the one I am running DC Adventures for right now) meets every week.

Wait. That isn't exactly true. I meet with Dan's Group every Friday night (roughly), but we alternate games. 

Following our DC Adventures game, the Google Hangouts Kapow! Group will be doing a DC/Marvel Crossover, and then its back to our Kapow! campaign. 

Crisis on Earth G+

We've had three sessions so far, and everyone seems to be having a great time. I can tell you that I am. This mini-campaign is just my personal love letter to the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths, Silver/Bronze Age continuity of DC Comics. Getting the chance to do this is awesome, but knowing that my players appreciate the work I've put in is really icing on the cake. 

This week will feature the fourth part of our story, and a trip to World War II, and Golden Age DC! In addition to DC's WW II 'War Comics' heroes, such as Sgt. Rock, and Easy Company, G.I. Robot, and Jeb Stuart and The Haunted Tank, we'll get a guest appearance by the Earth-2 Justice Society of America! Woohoo! I can't wait.

Star Trek Adventures: Excalibur

Our new Google Hangouts group completed the adventure 'The Rescue at Xerxes IV' last week, and I must admit, it was really good. A fairly straight forward scenario, it was nonetheless an excellent introduction to the new Star Trek Adventures RPG. 

We are going forward with a mini-campaign, which may last no more than one additional adventure scenario, or it may continue onward. Lots of enthusiasm, but no pressure to commit to a tightly scheduled, long term game. 

We run this every two weeks, or so at a terribly late hour on Saturdays. 

The idea of using the Star Trek Adventures game to run a campaign based on 'The Orville' (which I touched on in my previous post) is one that keeps popping into my head. I am currently trying to rework the character sheets, and obtain as much information about the setting as possible, which isn't easy considering the series has only had two episodes at this point. 

My Hero Academia: American Ultra!

The Students of UA High School's Class 1-A

My Hero Academia

We've had three sessions of American Ultra, my homebrewed spin-off campaign based on the popular Japanese Anime/Manga series, My Hero Academia. 

So far it's been really great, with moments of WOW. It's some of the best GMing I've done in a long time, and I have the perfect group of players for it. Everyone, and everything just connects in a way that makes the game a pleasure to run, and the players have told me they love it.

The first two sessions had a nice mix of action, intrigue, humor, and world building. The third was much more focused on character development/role playing, investigation, and was a tad less funny, and action packed, but the players/PCs uncovered a bombshell reveal that had the team 'Holy Crap!'-ing all the way to the end. 

I'm pretty proud of that.

Next session is coming soon.

New Group - New Campaign - Villains & Vigilantes?

We played a super fun game of that Superhero RPG classic, Villains & Vigilantes last week, and are considering turning it into a campaign.

When I say we, I really mean myself, and two of my buddies. The third participant from our first foray won't be able to make it on a regular basis. Actually, it will be a rare occurrence if he can make it, which is too bad. He was a great guy to game with, and really rounded out the team.

While we had a great time, and I was flooded with nostalgia over the use of the very first Supers game I'd ever run, the loss of the third player and the fact that I am already running two Superhero campaigns has me wondering if this is a missed opportunity to run something else, like a Sci-Fi/Space Adventure game. 

More about this in my next post.

This group will also probably meet every two weeks, but I'm kind of running out of free days, and nights, so we'll play it by ear. 

Dan's Group - Alternating Games

Dan's Group meets at my friend Dan's house, and therefore we creatively refer to our entourage as 'Dan's Group'. Currently, Dan isn't GMing our Friday night games. That task is usually handled by my friend Alex, who is running a home-modified Powered by the Apocalypse 'Harry Potter/Hogwarts' game, or myself running...whatever. 

Whatever is a catch-all for the various games I start up with the group, run for a couple to several sessions, and then try to figure out what else might work better. Over the past year, or so this has included Ars Magica 3rd Ed., Champions 4th Ed., Marvel Heroic, Star Trek (LUG Version), and a number of others.

The problem is that games with the group never feel quite right to me. While we all get along and share similar interests, our playing and GMing styles are quite different, and even clash on occasion. The group is doing great with Alex's game, but every game I try feels either underwhelming, or annoying. 

I've yet to figure out what game works best with this assembly of gamers. 

I will keep trying of course. 

That's all for now. I have another post coming up very soon on some game ideas that have come to me of late. With any luck I can get this next entry out tonight.

Until then,

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Barking Alien

We Need No Longer Fear The Banana

September is shaping up to be a busy month, and it's just getting started.

In addition to the increase in business due to the change in seasons, I am also experiencing an unexpected increase in the number of gaming sessions I have been, and continue to be, involved with.

This is good, though the combination of real life and hobby activities to this degree can be exhausting. 

The reason for my post today is related to a game I recently played that, honestly, I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy, a TV show I thought I would, and did, and the odd relationship between the two.

Well over a year ago, Modiphius Entertainment announced they were releasing a brand new, official, Star Trek Role Playing Game, to be entitled Star Trek Adventures. 

I was extremely excited for a number of reasons, not the least of which was my love of gaming in the Star Trek universe. If that weren't enough, I found out a friend of mine had gotten a job with Modiphius, and a few of the people who'd worked on previous Star Trek RPGs would also be involved. 

Before long I was signed up for the play test, and in conversations with some of the fellows in charge of Star Trek Adventures about submitting some adventure proposals, or supplemental material. 

Then I read the rules.

I was crushed. I did not like the game. To be more precise, I didn't really understand how it worked. I got the basic mechanics, but there was all this other stuff that seemed confusing and unnecessary bolted on. I found some of the 'gamespeak' terminology hard to recall, and came away feeling like I would not be able to run it. 

Overall, I was very disappointed, and kept up with the product only because it is Star Trek-related.

Time has passed since then, and the game has been released. It is quite successful in fact, and the final product (which I have yet to purchase as of this writing) looks very slick, and impressive.

My friend Keith, the regular GM for our Google Hangouts group, had similar feelings about the game. As is often the case with Keith (much to our group's benefit), he can't give up on a when game he feels strongly that he should like it. 

A few weeks to a month ago, Keith revealed that he had a really cool idea for a Star Trek scenario, and wanted very much to run said scenario using the Star Trek Adventures game. I thought it was a great opportunity to play it as a player, and perhaps learn how it worked from someone who understood it's bells and whistles better than I.

We ended up making characters one week, and playing it the next. There were three players - Mark (as a Human Science Officer named Lt. Commander Sprigg), a really nice fellow from Germany named Frank (as Human Engineer Lt. Commander Bush), and myself as First Officer/XO (an Andorian Command officer with a Security background named Commander Ch'Halor Thel). 

While our ship was set to be the Constitution Class USS Excalibur (repaired following severe damage and the loss of all hands during a battle with the M-5 Computer equipped USS Enterprise in 'The Ultimate Computer'), we began with an adventure from the published materials in which our group crashes in a shuttle on route to rendezvousing with our vessel. 

RED ALERT - POSSIBLE SPOILERS - ALL HANDS TO BATTLESTATIONS!

From there we (the players and GM alike) had a rollicking good time, as we proceeded to respond to a distress call from a Starfleet Research Outpost, encountered what may have been devolved scientists, and dealt with the planet's treacherously rocky terrain. The combination of mystery solving, fighting opponents, and navigating through the environment gave as all a good idea of how the rules functioned. 

Combat was interesting, with some cool options once we figured out exactly what they were, and how they worked. This was a good example of how the wording in the book was a tad unclear. Thankfully Frank (who was more well versed with the Modiphius 2D20 System than the rest of us) was able to clarify the mechanics. Once I understood it, I liked it a lot.  

Frank was a great addition to the group, partially for his greater handle on the rules, and partly for his role-playing, and characterization style, which was simultaneously light-hearted yet he maintained the seriousness of the situations we were in. His portrayal of Lt. Commander Bush was often humorous, but never goofy, or over-the-top in a way that broke immersion. 

This got me to thinking...although I am unlikely (at the point as least) to use Star Trek Adventures to run Star Trek over my preferred LUG/ICON System version, I might use it to run another television project focused on adventure, and space exploration.

Namely...

I am waiting until at least the first three episodes air before I dedicate a thorough post to the show, but I did see the premiere of The Orville, and yes, I did like it. I liked it a lot. It was fun, it had some good characters, neat ideas, and awesome design work (you gotta love that ship!). 

Most importantly (to me at least), it got me thinking about running an Orville-style game. A Star Trek game with the setting safeties off, and an attitude more in line with...with...well, with the way most people play Star Trek-style SF games. Star Trek Adventures unique blend of setting appropriate abilities, but occasional 'it-works-like-the-TV-show' mechanics seem like a perfect fit for this type of game.

I am curious to investigate both the Star Trek Adventures game, and The Orville series a bit more. Who knows where this may lead?

Engage Quantum Drive!

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Barking Alien

The Fall of Superheroes

And by 'Fall' I mean Autumn of course!

Yes my fellow caped and cowled costumed crusaders, it's that time of the year again - The kids are back to school, the leaves are changing colors, and the Pumpkin Spice Lattes flow like river rapids through the streets of every major American city. 

As Summer departs, and the harvest season blows in, I find myself running a number of Superhero RPGs. More accurately, I am running Superhero games, and little else. All things considered, I'm enjoying it, and pretty happy with the results so far.

I am currently running:

My Hero Academia: American Ultra!

Our third session of this campaign is coming up this Sunday (September 10th). 

So far the game has been a delight, with a perfect mix of action, intrigue, humor, and characterization. The world building has also been a ton of fun, as I adapt ideas from the Manga, and Anime, but twist a few to show the differences between how things work in Japan, and how they work in the United States. 

This next episode with feature school orientation, meeting their homeroom teacher, and the first day of classes. I can hardly wait!

I really need to do some session recaps on here soon. 

DC Adventures - Crisis on Earth-G+!

We just had the second session of my part of our Ultra Mega Summer Super Crossover Event, which is obviously bleeding into the next season. Summer was not enough to contain it! 

Our story places us in 1984, in the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Comic universe, where the inevitable wave of anti-matter from Crisis is sure to eliminate our reality. However, a plot by a cabal of supervillains may actually have given the heroes, with the help of the New God Metron, a way to save existence!

Travelling through time, and space, the heroes of the Justice League of America, are attempting to gather various items of power from throughout DC history, and use them to repair the Worlogog, a map and transportation device that might keep Earth G+ around post-Crisis. 

One can only hope. 

Villains and Vigilantes - Unnamed Superhero Campaign

I have been tasked with the creation of a new Superhero game by two good friends of mine, and I have gladly excepted the challenge. 

I am contemplating using the new Villains and Vigilantes 3.0, or a hybrid of 3E, and 2E. A friend suggested the 'Revised Second Edition' maybe a good option. 

I have a lot of nostalgia for that game, and I created a universe for it that I'd love to revisit and update. I have a pretty clear idea of how it would work, but I need to get comfortable with a version of the rules before I go about really setting it down on paper.

OK, that's what's up at the moment. More to come very soon.

I'm really eager to run a few other things, namely Star Wars and Star Trek, but I have not idea when I'll find the time. 

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Barking Alien