31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 14

Smurf it all!

Excuse my Smurf but I'm totally smurfed by the fact that I can't figure out who smurfed me this question. If you supplied it or any smurf knows who did, please don't hesitate to smurf me. 

What upcoming RPG are you most excited for?

Whatever could it be?

The game I am anticipating above all others is Maestro Media's The Smurfs RPG, a Kickstarter that made over 135,000 dollars with over 1000 backers, resulting in a game that was about 1000% funded. Now that's impressive but it doesn't automatically make for a good game.

Luckily, it is a good game. Actually, it's a great game! 

Rules-lite? Check.

Not too rules-lite? Check.

Mechanics that reflect the Smurfs comics and cartoons? Check.

Base building rules? Check.

Say what now?

This game has rules for creating and fleshing out your very own Mushroom Cottage Smurf House! They didn't have to do that but WOW, they did it any and that's just so cool. 

With the addition of Smurfberries, Thorns, and Smurf Power, the Smurfs RPG does exactly what I want IP games to do: Create a link between the fluff and the crunch that reinforces the feel of the setting while still providing a fully functional gaming experience.

Add to all this my affection for the original Franco-Belgian Comics by Peyo, French and Belgian Folklore, and of course the comedic aspects and you have a game pretty much made for me.

I would also like to point out that I've rarely seen a publisher with such excellent customer communication and interaction. They have literally listened to the fan on more than one occasion and are sharing the game's design and production process with us as they go. Truly appreciated, inspiring, and of course smurfy. 

I look forward to smurfing around again in the very near future...

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31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 13

Whoa, Question 13 falls on a Friday the 13th? Sooo spooky! Except I don't have any specifically spooky questions. Bummer. Oh wait, I do have something awesome though...

Activate...The Omega 13!

Question #13 comes from Carl Stark, who Never Gives Up and Never Surrenders!

What RPG system would work best for a Galaxy Quest one-shot or campaign?

The YouTube channel RedLetterMedia recently featured Jack Quaid (Huey on THE BOYS and the voice of Boimler on Star Trek: Lower Decks) as a guest for a video discussing Galaxy Quest, which is apparently one of Jack's favorite films. It's very funny and if you're a fan of the movie, of Jack's, or RedLetterMedia's material I highly recommend checking it out.

It immediately got me reminiscing about the times I've run Galaxy Quest RPG games, including looking through my old notes. This question popped up in my email the next day. Kismet!

It's a hell of a thing.

On to the subject at hand...like Jack Quaid, I LOVE this movie. It is definitely one of my all time favorites and as I mentioned, I've run both a short campaign and a few one-shots of Galaxy Quest over the years and honestly it's some of my best work and the most fun I've had as a GM. The trifecta of Science Fiction + Comedy + Star Trek Parody/Homage is simply made for me. It's also an IP and I do love me some IP gaming. 

The system I've used in the past has been my modified version of Teenagers from Outer Space by R. Talsorian Games, which I refer to as 'Advanced TFOS'. The main difference is that I switched the D6 for a D10. Additionally, I added special abilities for each of the roles on the ship - Commander, Doctor, Engineer, Operations, Pilot, Science Officer, and Security/Extra - and character types such as Feature Alien (originally Token Alien), Background Alien, and Prodigy. I go into more detail on this homebrew in these three posts:

It's a Hell of a Thing

By Grabthar's Hammer, We Live to Tell the Tale

This Fine Ship, This Fine Crew

If I were going to run Galaxy Quest today, I might not use the same system (more on that in a moment) but I would definitely incorporate the special abilities I attributed to each 'Job' or ship's position. Those unique capabilities, such as the Commander's 'Overdramatis Persona' and Security's 'Glorified Extra', have been lauded by my players and blog readers alike as the key to making a Galaxy Quest game feel like the Galaxy Quest movie. 

What set of rules would I use if not my variant of TFOS? Well, there are actually a lot of options. I've considered using Starships and Spacemen, Far Trek, or even Star Trek Adventures.

While it may seem strange to suggest Star Trek Adventures, it being 'too close to the source material' as it were, keep in mind that STA has a published 'Lower Decks' supplement. It is certainly possible to use this system to facilitate a comedic campaign. I've used it to run a Lower Decks game as well as The Orville, so theoretically it would seem appropriate for Galaxy Quest. The role abilities I mentioned could become Talents I suppose and Momentum might be renamed 'Fanmail' or 'Star Power'. Threat can be 'Interference', as in interence from the studio execs. 

A note: When I've run Galaxy Quest previously, I've done so with the assumption that the PCs are characters living in the universe of the mock TV series. I don't directly incorporate the Meta nature of the characters being played by actors on a show but treat it the way most people treat playing a Star Trek or Star Wars RPG. 

However, outside of the events happening in-game the players and I have joked about the actors, episodes, writers, and the special effects budget for the series. I would describe it by saying that during 'Time Out's we are aware its a television program and during 'Time In' we are unaware of that and it's the 'real world' for the PCs. 

Honestly, after all this recent discussion about the film I decided to watch it again and damn it holds up perfectly. I'd really love to run it again if given the opportunity. 

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31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 12

This next question is hard for me to answer in any meaningful way as it addresses Modules and I don't really use Modules. I haven't in over 25 years, except in rare nostalgia moments. That said...

Question #12 comes from my pal Andrew Rodriguez one again.

What are the key factors of building a module?

 

I have no idea.

No seriously. I've had one or two game companies ask me to submit some manuscripts for RPG Modules and I simply couldn't do it. I don't use pre-made adventures and I certainly don't write any myself. Like most RPG hobbyists, I did use Modules when I first started gaming but even back then I would significantly modify them. 

The very idea of a Module, defined as a 'pre-made, often self-contained adventure scenario', isn't something I am particularly interested in or fond of. For one thing, it is usually designed with the idea that anyone can play it and that the adventure neither requires nor reflects the particulars of any specific campaign or characters. This is quite the opposite of many of my adventures, which are created with the players, their PCs, and the type of campaign we are running in mind. Since the creator of the Module doesn't know me, my players, or the game we've come up with, how are they to write a scenario that fits what we're doing? How can I write one for others when I also lack that sort of knowledge?

Simple, you write something that is bland and generic, generally applicable to anyone and everyone, which means it lacks anything that would get me excited to run or play it. That's not to say there haven't been some great Modules throughout the years but they are few and far between and much better suited for GMs early in their 'career' who don't have a handle on how to run adventures just yet. Additionally, I always customized the Module scenarios I ran, often heavily, added a main villain [if it lacked one], a reason for going into the adventure beyond getting rich, connections to one or more of the PCs, and usually a climactic battle location/set piece to finish off the whole thing. 

My favorite Modules of all time are therefore the one easiest to modify. Ones where there are openings for the GM to add or substract their own ideas and work the adventure into something more their own style. I suppose all Modules can work this way given enough effort but some are simpler more inspiring [to me] than others and therefore make me want to alter them as opposed to just ditching them and doing everything from scratch. 

Finally, there's the fact that as I've mentioned in the past, my own adventures are, generally speaking, for open-ended and flexible by nature. I have a thing happening, characters involved, and conditions created as a result but there is no 'way to go about it'. I have no idea how the PCs will solve the mystery, find the villain, or right the wrong. That's entirely up to the players. Hard to write that up as a Module.

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31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 11

Jonathan Linneman jacks into the 'net once again with Question #11

Do you find that some [technological] elements of your games are actually retro-futuristic at this point and if so, do you embrace that or try to keep modern tech in mind?

I view all genre fiction in the way one might imagine a piece of period fiction, it's simply that the period in question might be the present or the distant future. You wouldn't add cellphones to the era of the Vikings or give Victorian England streaming television now would you? Of course not. The attraction of playing in a different time and place is partially that it features the props of some other time and place. 

In my opinion, the worlds of ALIEN, Cyberpunk 2020, Star Trek, and Traveller are no different. They need not line up with our current, real world technological developments but rather they should be internally logical and consistent.

All too often I see writers and GMs trying to make their game settings 'realistic' even though they deal with elves and wizards, superheroes flying unaided across the sky, and fleets of FTL starships. Realism? Sorry Captain, that boat has sailed. The universes of Sci-Fi and Fantasy need not line up with ours but they must absolutely, positively line up with themselves. 

So yes, one could say the Star Trek TOS Communicator or the MUTH/R computer interface of ALIEN is anachronistic but only to us, to our knowledge of current technologies. To them, those in that setting, it's not just advanced but more importantly, perfectly normal.

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31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 10

My first late post for the month! That's pretty good actually. 

Question #10 comes to us from Timothy S. Brannan, a fellow who has been reading and responding to my posts here and elsewhere for quite a while. Really happy to have him supplying a question. And it's a doozy...

What was your introduction to RPGs like? What game(s) did you play and how did your growth change from that?

This is a story I've told before but I'm going to try and give it to you from a different perspective. Here goes...

On August 28th of 1977, an 8 year old Adam was introduced to Dungeons and Dragons through the Holmes Basic Box Set by 7 year old Thomas Zizzo. Being the go-to guy for any geek question ranging from a Phaser's settings to a Superhero's origin, there was no way I was going to pass on the opportunity to participate in a game Tom described as, "It's like playing out a comic book. You create a character, go on adventures, defeat villains, and save people!".

Now here's there rub...

It's interesting to me that in these very first moments you can see the seeds of what will follow. The game is framed like writing or creating a comic book, not like telling a story in a book. Character, Adventure, Villains, and the act of Saving Civilians are a focus, while Killing Monsters and Gaining Treasure isn't mentioned at all. 

Right from the very beginning our frame of reference for running and playing D&D (and therefore roleplaying games in general as far as we knew) was not the literature that Gygax, Arneson, and the other early creators of the game had in mind. For us it was comic books, film, and television, including animation, that formed the basis of how we saw an RPG adventure or campaign unfolding. 

I only played that original campaign for about a dozen sessions and it wouldn't be until June of the following year that I got to play D&D again. This time I was made designated DM and the experience had me itching to stay on that side of the screen. Between 1978 and 1982 I would play a lot of Dungeons & Dragons and eventually a lot of Advanced D&D. I would also play and run a number of other games during this period, most notably a stint of Gamma World/Metamorphosis Alpha, a once-in-a-lifetime-lightning-in-a-bottle campaign of Boot Hill, and a session of Traveller that left me with a rather negative opinion of the game. 

One constant in this era of my time in the hobby was that the more I played D&D under other DMs, the more I disliked doing so. The game itself was starting to bug me but not nearly as much as the attitude of those who ran it. The AD&D players and DMs I met were so rigid, so antagonistic towards each other that I rapidly fell out of love with the game that got me into RPGs in the first place. 

My growth following 1982 was heavily influenced by the games I discovered, played, and ran but also, moreso, a desire not to do what those D&D gamers were doing. My goal was to do things differently and so far, its worked out pretty well. 

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31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 9

Question #9 is another inquiry from my friend Andrew F. Rodriguez who asks...

Are there game settings that have yet to be explored?

Huh. Are there? Can there be? Honestly I'm not entirely sure, nor am I certain how one would know. Also, setting or genre? There will always be new settings so the answer there would automatically be yes. Genre is tougher.

I'm sure I haven't personally explored every possible setting that has ever been published, professionally or otherwise. A part of me, the part that originally powered my desire to try any and all new games as mentioned in my answer to Question 5, truly hopes so. 

For some reason I'm reminded of an observation I and others have made about Japanese Manga and Anime - none are unique but many are original.

Take Neon Genesis Evangelion for example. Basically when you boil it down its an 'Alien Invasion Mecha Show'. Aliens attack the Earth and we, the Humans, attempt to fight them off with giant robots built from confiscated/salvaged Alien technology. We've seen that a hundred times before and after Evangelion. Ideon, Macross, some of the Getta Robo series, and many more feature this premise. So why is NGE lauded as such an incredible series?

A) Because of the way the story is told.

B) because that's not what Evangelion is really about at all.

NGE is a study of character, consequences, and what lengths the Human mind will go to in order to deal with trauma. It is (as noted) not unique in its subject matter but original in the way it portrays it. It is a Mecha Anime setting but one very distinct from Mobile Suit Gundam, Five Star Stories, or Aura Battler Dunbine.

That right there is what I hope for when I check out a game setting I've never played before. I don't want yet another Fantasy Game setting that doesn't do anything interesting. I want a new or different take on a Fantasy RPG setting or one with a really distinct character.

All that said, here are some unusual RPG settings from Japan that aren't necessarily new (some are) but which you don't really see explored in the West. At the very least not all that often or that well.

Double Charger 44 is a futuristic racing game (America needs more cool racing games) akin to a roleplaying game set in the worlds of the F-Zero or WipeOut video game franchises. While not quite as expansive as my beloved Ōban Star-Racers, I could pulling a Space Opera racing game together without too much effort. 

Hallelujah Inferno is a game in which you play Demons in Hell trying to make the place a little more fun. Ignore that terrible reputation of eternal torture for your sins. It's great here! Go ahead and sin, we'll save you a seat at the casino's best blackjack table! Free all you can eat and drinks on the house! Very Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel. 

Kill Death Business (which I've mentioned before) has the PCs as contestants on Hell TV's most popular game show. Chase down truly wicked souls and renegade demons to win a spot in Heaven or even reincarnation back to the world of the living. 

Marshmellow Blood - A Cute & Violent RPG has to be one of the weirdest RPG concepts I've seen in a while. PCs are cartoon mascots similar to Japanese Moe characters or the practice of having Yuru-chara. They have 'The Jam', a little bit of evil in their hearts that enables them to pull pranks and make mischief in their otherwise peaceful, cutesy world. Unfortunately, some give in to their naughty aspects and start consuming more Jam to do bigger and badder things, eventually becoming monstrous Beasts. The PCs, who has just a little bit of bad in them, are the only ones who can stop the Beasts. The setting itself sounds a bit like a Studio Ghibli produced Adventure Time.

Star Rain Days in Meteor City is a game where the players play 'Observers', people who know the truth about their laid-back little city - it's actually a port for Alien travelers. A cozy, slice of life Science Fiction RPG. The setting has a very distinctive atmosphere, even though the GM and players are encouraged to build 'the city' as the campaign goes on. 

I'm postive there are a lot more settings to explore. I hope to discover as many as I can!

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31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 8

Space...The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of...well...ALOT of characters! No really! There have been 8 different live action shows, 3 animated series, and 13 separate movies. Wow. That is incredible when you think about it. What other franchise has even close to that? 

How do I rate these and how much do they affect my games?

Question #8 from Starfleet Commandant Miguel de Rojas.

How do you rate each Star Trek show and why? I can add a second part to better fit the theme: Which ones, or elements of them, are the greatest influences in your Star Trek games?

Ah Star Trek, my favorite setting in which to run a roleplaying game campaign. I've run more Star Trek TRPG sessions than those of any other kind of game. It all originated with my exposure to the franchise before it was a franchise and my purchase of Star Trek The Role Playing Game by FASA, the first RPG I bought purely by myself with my own money. . 

On to the mission at hand...

#1. Star Trek - The Original TV Series (1966-1969) Top Rated

It's hard to sum up why I love The Original Series so much. As a kid, it just pressed all the buttons I had governing my love of outer space, Science Fiction, and storytelling. It was a television series that featured people in uniforms belonging to an instituation (like my father, a policeman) that explored the galaxy (I was already an astronomy nut). What could be cooler? Plus, one of the crew members - one of the Good Guys - was an alien! Wow! Star Trek just opened up my world to all sorts of other books, comics, TV shows, and movies about space exploration and a positive future. 

I am going to place the TOS Star Trek Films - The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home, The Final Frontier, and The Undiscovered Country - and Star Trek: The Animated Series as part of Star Trek's Original Series. These are, to me at least, an extension of the first show and intrinsically connected to it in a way none of the other iterations of Star Trek are. 

Influence on my games: It's everything. I model my Star Trek campaigns on the original series; it is the template on which I build and customize what I am running for my players. I pick and chose bits and bobs from the others but The Original Series in the skeleton and musculature holding the whole thing up and keeping it together. 

#2. Deep Space Nice (1993-1999) Second Favorite

Deep Space Nice is my second favorite Star Trek series, though it rarely has much direct influence on my games (see below). This is because I appreciate the series for its excellent writing, acting, likeable characters, and incredible action, especially in its epic space battles. However, since the storyline of the Dominion War runs throughout most of the shows run, the series has little direct barring on my person view of and interest in Star Trek. I love Star Trek for its exploration, big ideas, and positive view of the future, which DS9 bends and twists quite a bit. Were the show not so well done, I likely would have hated it (*Cough-Discovery-Cough*).

Influence on my games: I have taken elements of DS9 such a species, ships, and some references to the events from the series and used them for narrative purposes but the overall themes and storylines presented in the show aren't ones I often want to focus on. You'll find this a fairly common approach by me going forward. 

#3. Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020-2024) Third Favorite

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love comedy. Humor to me is not only fun, its an artform. From the various comedies and comedians I've watched and read over the years I've developed skills in scene direction, timing, character development, and many other components of an entertaining story. 

Aside from loving this show's vibe, characters, designs, and many other elements, its given me new ways to interpret and express aspects of the Star Trek universe.

Influence on my games: While I would love to run a long term 'Lower Decks' campaign (we've done short campaigns and one-shots), I think all of my games benefit from the change in perspective that this series provides. I also like the starships and aliens. 

#4. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) Fourth Favorite

Now I know my placing Lowers Decks over The Next Generation is kind of odd. I get it. Lower Decks wouldn't, maybe couldn't, exist without TNG. True...but hear me out.

When TNG first came out it was...not great. Honestly it made no sense to me that they set it so far in the future from the point of the TOS Movies. They had all the sets, props, uniforms, etc. You could have just picked a new ship with a new crew and explored new stories (Ya'know, like a Star Trek RPG campaign). Then there was the characters who I couldn't get into, the stories which weren't that great, and yeah, it didn't do it for me.

Over time, The Next Generation grew on me. By the end of its run, I really liked it. Data and Picard are among my favorite Star Trek characters in the entire franchise.   

Influence on my games: Original Star Trek sees us encounter alien beings who are doing something harmful to themselves or others. We arrive and help them see a better way of doing things. TNG has us encounter aliens and see in them a flaw about ourselves. Sometimes the aliens and the Starfleet characters come to terms with this and other times they teach us a lesson. That's a key difference between old and new Star Trek. While I touch on the latter sometimes, my stories tend to lean more towards the former because my players have traditionally been good, open-minded, welcoming, positive people. 

Some of the aliens, worlds, starships, equipment, and ideas introduced in TNG are excellent and see use in my campaigns. All except the Galaxy Class, which is possibly my least favorite Star Trek ship design ever. 

#5. Star Trek: Prodigy (2021-2024) Fifth Favorite 

I joke about this with my friends all the time but Prodigy was sooo much better than it had any right to be. It was a 'kid's show' largely influenced by Star Trek: Voyager (see below). Like TNG, this took a little while to hook me but once it did, damn this series became fire (as the young people say). 

Influence on my games: Like Lower Decks, Prodigy gave me a different perspective on the Star Trek universe, what can be done with it, and how to pull it off. My games have definitely been enhanced by the lessons I've learned from this show. This is especially true in terms of action and personal combat. 

#6. Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005) Sixth Favorite

Oh Enterprise, what a wonderful show you could have been. Unfortunately, much of the potential of this series was wasted on storylines that went nowhere and trying too hard to connect it to the Next Generation time period (Ferengi, Borg, Klingons - OK, the latter Klingon material was pretty good). The show was pretty good in the very beginning and got downright excellent at the end but it was too little too late. 

It did give us a lot more stories and information about my favorite Star Trek species, the Andorians, with the incomparable Jeffery Combs as the feature character of Shran. For that, it has my eternal gratitude. 

Influence on my games: The main thing this show did for my Star Trek gaming was to show me how not to introduce and execute adventures. It also gave me ways to introduce and explore characters that both worked and didn't so I could get better at doing it myself. 

Very few ships, aliens, and other such elements from this series play any part in my campaigns. I wasn't a fan of the Suliban or Xindi and I prefer the look of the Daedalus Class and the ships of The Starfleet Museum more than those of an NX-01 style. 

#7. Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) was also a show.

Hmm. So...how about those Tribbles, huh? Yeah...Voyager.

I don't like Voyager. I do not activitely despise it the way I do STD and SNW but I really didn't enjoy watching it for the first three or four seasons, even though I did [watch it that is]. I remember my girlfriend (now ex-wife) saying to me after one particular episode, "Why do you watch this if it angers you so much?" She had a point and so eventually I stopped and we caught up on our Anime viewing.

Like Enterprise, the idea behind Voyager was sound. It definitely had possibilities. Unfortunately, I personally feel it never lived up to it. I never grew to like the characters (except the Doctor), didn't like how poorly handled the stories and dialogue were, the Intrepid Class USS Voyager is my second least favorite ship (Galaxy Class is still uglier), and ugh...just didn't like it. I went back and watched the seasons I didn't originally catch a few years later and it didn't help. 

Influence on my games: Very little. I have used the original 'Series Bible' version of Voyager, which was quite different from what we eventually got on screen. I found some of the ideas in 'proto-show' really interesting and so they made cool NPCs for a lost ship scenario. It took nearly the whole session before one of the players said, "Wait...is this Voyager? Did you base these guys on Voyager?" That was fun and the most I've gotten out of the show.

As you can see, I haven't included STD, SNW, Picard, or anything in the 'Kelvin Timeline/Abramsverse'. That's because I don't care for any of these series or films. I don't usually think about them at all. They have no influence on my games directly, though elements might appear such as the Kelpian species or a shuttlecraft design. Even those instances are rare.

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31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 7

Ah, so happy to receive a Ghostbusters question. There aren't enough Ghostbusters questions in the world. Or something. 

Question #7 from the focused, non-terminal, repeating Jonathan Linneman

What media would you put into your ideal singular Ghostbusters head canon? If you prefer a multiverse, how would you break that down?

I am weird about canon. Aren't we all? I mean, we all have our own head canon about our favorite settings, be they franchise/IPs or personal creations. When I run Ghostbusters - moreso than any other Intellectual Property I run as games - I have a very particular head canon in mind.

At the same time, I don't go into detail about this with my players. Part of what makes a licensed RPG work is that the participants can hear about specific elements and go, 'Oh yeah, I know what that is', because they've seen the movies, shows, read the book, etc. So even if I don't use a certain part of the Ghostbusters canon in my games, I don't specifically say it didn't happen or doesn't exist. This is what I call 'Passive Canon'. 

If one of my players wants to address or use a component of the franchise that I haven't addressed, they get to introduce it and now its in what I call 'Active Canon'. That said, I do have my own internal 'Ghostbusters Active Canon Bible' of what is and isn't part of my GB campaigns. 

With all that explained, here is my 'Ideal Singular Ghostbusters Head Canon'; what the world of my Ghostbusters RPG game consists of:

Ghostbusters (The original 1984 film) happened as is. No changes. 

Crossing the Proton Streams to Reverse the Particle Flow through The Transdimensional Gate created a Transdimensional Crossrip that permenantly damaged the barriers separating our universe from those beyond. From this point forward, more supernatural entities and events appear in on our plane of existence then ever have before due to it now being easier for them to do so. - Based on dialogue and ideas in The Real Ghostbusters Animated Series, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the fan canon of the Ghostbusters Fan Club 'Franchises', and elsewhere.

The Real Ghostbusters (The animated series that ran from 1986 to 1991) happened, though the exact nature of the events are apocryphal. I'm a huge fan of the original Ghostbusters animated series but make adjustments to some elements to translate them to 'real life' and to coincide with events from other Ghostbusters media. 

Sometime between 1987 and 1989 the level of Paranormal Activity dropped significantly. The four Ghostbusters take up other jobs to make ends meet. - Extrapolated from the dialogue and situations at the beginning of Ghostbusters II. 

Ghostbusters II (The second film in 1989) happened, though the exact nature of the events are apocryphal. I'm not a big fan of the film and pick and choose what elements of the movie I confirm to exist in my Active Canon.

Paranormal Activity spikes again and the Ghostbusters become active once more. The proliferation of reported supernatural phenomena is even greater than before and incidents are witnessed nationwide. GB franchises pop up across the United States and eventually in the UK, Japan, and Australia as well. - Background information based on the Ghostbusters Fan Club 'Franchises' and our own Ghostbusters campaigns.

Now here's where things get weird...

Our Ghostbusters: The Home Office campaign started in 1986 with the publishing of the Ghostbusters RPG by West End Games. In that campaign, the PCs are handpicked by the original four Ghostbusters from Franchises all across the US [and one guy from England] to replace them as the field operatives of the company while the OGs manage the corporation. 

This story was set roughly ten years in the future, roughly 1996. Remember that this was 1996 as seen from 1986; Ghostbusters II and everything that came after it (video games, comics, Afterlife, Frozen Empire) weren't a thing at the time. This means that The Home Office campaign is in its own continuity, a separate timeline if you will.

Going back to the question above, Jonathan notes 'If you prefer a multiverse' and the truth is, I don't. I love the idea in other settings but here it kind of puts me off. Not sure why but it just doesn't feel right. Even so, that is where we find ourselves when we run sessions in this campaign world.

Other campaigns I've run haven't addressed the classic Ghostbusters team or events except in the broadest sense. Essentially I approached these games with the mindset of 'You know what Ghostbusters is about right? Great! You guys are Ghostbusters...'. At the same time, I don't generally have 'The Home Office' team be the group back at the home office. In both our Ghostbusters Hoboken (GB NJ) and Ghostbusters Seattle campaigns, the New York team is thought to consist of Venkman, Spengler, Stantz, and Zeddemore. 

In the end, my ideal Ghostbusters Head Canon is somewhat amorphous and fluid. It generally assumes the first film is the cornerstone of a lot of stuff that may or may not have happened. In the meantime, I'm able to cherry pick from the four motion pictures, numerous seasons of cartoons, a host of video games, stacks of comics, and anything else that comes along. 

Yes, I said four films. There have only been four. 

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31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 6

My answer to this particular inquiry is very much unique to me I'd wager. Maybe not. It's possible that others share a similar opinion. We'll see. 

Question #6 from the ever excellent Tim Knight 

What do you consider to be the most ‘elegant’ (however you choose to define it) roleplaying system you have encountered?

First, let's define elegant shall we? At least how I am going to view it for the purpose of answering this question and just so we're all on the same page. According to an Oxford Dictionary search we have 'pleasingly graceful and stylish in appearance or manner'. Ooh. I like that. OK, so a stylish, graceful system, a good looking game, and one the runs smoothly and in a pleasing manner.  

The one that stands out to me is...

The ALIEN RPG by Free League Publishing is one of my all time favorite tabletop roleplaying games and its only five years old. It is definitely the most elegant and IMHO one of the easiest systems to learn, play, and run to come out during the last decade. It's elegance comes from an 'economy of rules'. It has what it needs, uses what it has well, and doesn't add unnecessary rules it doesn't need.

Utilizing a variant of Free League's 'Year Zero System' (aren't they all - variants that is), it wasn't a rules set new to me when I read the ALIEN corebook. This version of Year Zero clicked with me more than my previous experiences with the system had, for reasons I will go into later.  

The game has a largely traditional TRPG structure, simplified so as to run quickly and efficiently. The rules are reasonably easy to learn and understand. As I get older I find it difficult to grok the mechanics of many games just from reading them. Often these days I have to play the game to comprehend how the game is played. Not so with ALIEN. I read it and got it right away because honestly, it isn't hard to get. Plus, it's a Dice Pool system and I've played and enjoyed quite a few Dice Pool systems.

Added to the basic Dice Pool mechanic is a subsystem involving Stress and Panic. Even with a table to reference, the Stress/Panic rules are very smoothly integrated into the standard Action Roll. What results is a game that runs fairly effortlessly and creates an atmosphere perfectly in-line with the ALIEN setting. 

There are additional rules and mechanics but they all build off that base die resolution or interact with it in a way that never bogs down the flow of a session. Like I mentioned in a previous post, having a unified approach to all rule judgements is what I am after and what ALIEN delivers.

ALIEN does a particular thing and it does it well. It handles a fast-faced, cinematic action setting with a major horror component very nicely. Perhaps, in fact very likely, one reason I connected with this version of the game and its system moreso than other incarnations is the relationship between the rules and the ALIEN universe. This is also why I've used the basics of this version to create other games such as Red Dwarf and my homebrewed Ghostbusters kitbash. All these worlds are cinematic action settings with a horror [and humor] component, so they work for much the same reasons. 

If I had to award a runner-up or honorable mention I'd go with the new SMURFS RPG. Seriously. It is a great game that works really well, adding depth to a franchise you wouldn't think needs much depth. At the same time, it just makes for a really awesome system. The only reason I don't speak even higher of it is because its not out yet. I don't know all the rules, having only run the quickstart rules. We'll take a look at it again when it comes out in its full form. 

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31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 5

This one is tough because of my apparently bizarre personal history in the hobby. You'll know what I mean in a moment and it'll be especially clear if you've been to this blog more than a few times.

Question #5 from Gregg Gardell (Croaker)

What's a game that you only played once or twice and never played again, but you now think maybe it deserves another shot?  Maybe you and your fellow players were just young and didn't appreciate it?  Maybe the game was poorly run for some reason and would be better now with a more experienced hand at the helm?  Perhaps it was an early version with some faults, and newer versions have come out that seem more promising?

For me it was a system called Lords of Creation, from Avalon Hill.  We were all in high school, and I think the main reason we never played again was me as the young and very inexperienced gamemaster.  Luckily, I got better.

I have...sooo many of these. SOOO MANY. Though perhaps not for the reasons you mention.

I'm not sure the games I'd want to give another shot to after only one or two sessions were ones where I was too young, didn't appreciate it, where they didn't go well, or because I'm now more experienced.

It was more that the goal back in the day was to try out as many games as possible. I, and many of my friends, wanted to be able to say, "Yep, I've played that". If a game came out, someone in the group was interested and wanted to run it or play it.

I remember my old 'Camp Group' in particular were very much into experimenting with new games. If it was Espionage related, like James Bond or Top Secret, Martin was all over it. If it was weird and/or creepy, Rich would probably grab it - things like Gamma World and Call of Cthulhu. Science Fiction or Superheroes? Well, that was usually me but Martin would get in on these as well. 

I played dozens upon dozens upon dozens, if not hundreds and hundreds, of RPGs in my high school and college years. Most were one-shots. A single session, roughly 5-7 hours each, was all I would experience with most of these games. Around 1986 or 1988 I became aware of Japan's TRPG industry through imported, untranslated issues of Games Graphix and Dragon Magazine (Fujimi Shobo). This started a mini-obsession to read and/or play as many Japanese games as I could. I still have this obsession but I've got it under control. I can stop anytime I want, I just don't want to. 

Moving on...

The result of all this is that there were games I've never gotten back to because there were always more games to try. As time moved forward this slowed down and favorites developed but yeah, it still happens to this day.

Back in February I got to run the Japanese TRPG 'Space Ship Story' and it was very fun if a bit imperfect because I wasn't used to the rules. I would definitely want to play that again. SMURFS! I was able to run three sessions of it with one group and one session with another and I so badly want to run it some more. Around Halloween of this year I GMed the upcoming Discworld game and it went over really well. Love to revisit that game. 

I could rattle off a seemingly endless stream of one-shots that deserve to be revisited. My biggest obstacle is that these days my groups generally prefer to play ongoing campaigns. They'd rather keep playing what we're playing than take a coveted game day to try something new. It happens of course but its much rarer these days. 

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31 Questions For Barking Alien - Question 4

Here's one from my pal Andy, who actually sent me a few quite interesting inquiries. You all might know Andrew from his 31 Days/31 Characters entry, The Hyborian. 

Question #4 from Andrew F. Rodriguez

Where does the content provided from an official TTRPG (setting, story, game mechanics) begin and where does it end at the gaming table?

I am going to interpret this question as follows: 'At what point do you start to add to or divert from the official 'canon' and rules-as-written of a game that has its own established setting [and of course mechanics]. 

A funny thing about [tabletop roleplaying] games...I've often said that most are terribly overwritten. In an attempt to cover any and all actions a Player Character might take or situations they might find themelves in, a ton of extra rules and subsystems are added in, often turning a relatively workable system into a bloated mess. 

At the same time - and this is key - TRPGs, regardless of how choked with mechanics a game is, they NEVER cover everything that can and will happen in your campaign. It is literally impossible, since a virtually infinite number of possible actions and reactions is the very nature of roleplaying games. 

To me, the best RPGs have a base mechanic and everything you want to do is essentially figured out the same way. Want to rewire a hostile robot to be your ally? Roll a pool of D6s and beat a Difficulty. Want to convince the Maitre d' you were invited to the fancy shindig? Roll a pool of D6s and beat a Difficulty. Trying to slash a monster with your sword? You get the picture.

Once a default Judgement system is established, all the game needs to do is say, 'If you come up against something and you don't know how to adjudicate it...use the base mechanic in a way that makes sense.' Game Designers of the world, I just saved you a hundred plus pages and a crap ton of money in printing costs. You're welcome.

So, back to the question and how what I'm talking about relates...

Depending on the game, you're either going to get everything that could possibly happen in the setting or a general idea of how to run a game in 'this type of genre'. Some TRPGs are Shadowrun, some are mechanics for running a Cyberpunk game with Magical Elements. These two things are not the same. Battletech/Mechwarrior if a very different beast from Mekton. 

As a general rule, the 'official game' ends when and where you reach a point where the players or the GM want to do something with the story, setting, or mechanics not covered by the established parameters given by the game. For some games that can take a while since the corebook and supplements have crossed all the t's and dotted at the i's for you. For others, that can kick in right from the start since that's the whole point. The latter type of game is basically telling you, 'Add to this. Modify it. Please! That's what its for.'.

Speaking for myself, I usually prefer that latter kind of game. Unless you're creating a franchise/IP TRPG - I'd have to discuss that subject a bit differently - I'd rather you give me a straight forward, all encompassing rule mechanic, and the base components that make the game an RPG about X. Let me begin making my own stuff right off the bat. 

Incidentally, one of the things that always bothered me about D&D in my early days in the hobby was how the game gave you Classes, Monsters, Spells, etc., but not rules/mechanics for creating those things yourself.

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31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 3

This question comes from a friend of mine named Conrad, who I sadly haven't gotten the chance to game with in a very long time. 

Check out this 31 Days/31 Characters entry for his Mutants and Masterminds character Black Adder. 

Question #3 from Conrad Cleophat

If I'm creating a game world from scratch, what are some definite things I need to consider putting in?

The tried and true answer for this type of question is to start small and only build what you need. As your campaign expands and your needs grow you can create more of the world and add details. This is a very sensible approach and it does work.

That's not how I do it though.

I take a sort of painter's approach: Start with a blank canvas, cover it in gesso (primer), and then map out your world in broad strokes of color. Each swatch of color represents something about the milieu: Desert, Industry, Evil, etc. From there you can sketch out some generqal shapes of places, add in people, and layout other components that bring will your world to life. 

After all that, you can starting working in the fine details. 

I'm a 'big picture' type guy. When I start making a game world from scratch I automatically begin thinking about the whole world and not just the region the PCs are starting in. Since I don't know where the PCs are going to go and/or what they're to do, it behooves me to establish, at least for myself as the GM, areas beyond the location of the adventure. Instead of starting locally and slowly pulling the camera back to reveal a larger world, I create a larger world and then close up on the PCs, what they're getting up to, and where.

Now to be clear, the players don't know this necessarily. To them, it generally appears that the game opens with only the immediate area being of any importance to them. That's fine. I, as the GM, know its bigger but that isn't revealed to them right away. Usually however, someone wants to know what the next town over is called or what country the adventure takes place in and I can tell.them without skipping a beat. 

The world appears more 'real' this way, right from the get go.

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31 Questions For Barking Alien - Question 2

A fellow whose work I admire quite a lot even though we largely cover very different games is the one and only Kelvin Green. Kelvin has been good enough to participate with a question I was thinking might come up (or something like it)...

Question #2 from Kelvin Green 

You say often that D&D isn't for you (which is cool), but under what circumstances/modifications *would* D&D work for you, and would it still be recognisable as D&D?

The answer to this is both very easy and fairly involved. The short answer, focusing on the latter part first, is no - my version of D&D would probably not be recognizable as D&D. I could and have created a D&D that works for me relative to standard D&D. I usually refer to it as D&D AD or D&D-But-Not. This would be me running a game that tries to stick fairly close to the general elements of D&D and its mechanics - Classes, Levels, Hit Points, etc. - but which I can run without pulling my hair out.

Now, looking at the first part of the question, 'under what circumstances/modifications would D&D work for you' well...that is a wholly different beast. There are sooo many components of D&D that I really don't like that would require significantly modifiying the game for me to actually enjoy it. If I did this to even half of the parts that irk me I would likely create a brand new game.

Here are some examples:

Classes and Levels

I don't like Classes and Levels. I find them both limiting and not giving you anything special enough to warrant the limitations. D&D is a certain way, it has a particular feel and approach. All Player Characters should possess the abilities necessary to function in a D&D game effectively and as such they should start with a template that does those things. 

A great example of this is Star Trek; in Star Trek Adventures, every PC has Command, Con (Helm and Navigation), Security, Engineering, Science, and Medicine. They can all fly a ship, fire a Phaser, and apply First Aid. All the PCs in the game can do what needs to be done in the Star Trek universe. Some people are better at certain things than others of course. The Science Officer is likely better at using the ship's Sensors than the Security Officer is but the Security Officer can use the Sensors. 

D&D should be like this. Everyone should start as an 'Adventurer'. Adventurers should be able to Hide/Sneak, Fight, Steal, Climb, Repair their own gear, Cook a simple meal, and Heal the minor wounds of themselves and others. On top of this, each character could have a Profession or Career (perhaps more like Traveller, Alien, or Icon System's Overlays) that give them skills and talents specific to their chosen job.

Special, unusual abilities should be choosable or purchasable by anyone - it always bugged me that with D&D proper you can't easily create a character like Elric of Melnibone, Gray Mouser, or Fam from the Anime/Manga Ruin Explorers. Want to be a Thief or Warrior who casts Spells or a Magician/Swordfighter? Tough. Oh you can do it but we're gonna make it a real pain in the arse. Why? What if you, ya'know, didn't make it that way?

Combat

Where to start...Go faster please. Be more flexible please. I understand that many people like the tacital, boardgame-y nature of D&D combat but it is anathema to me the way that game handles it. As I've said before, the game feels like it was written by people who've never been in a fight. The system shows its War Game roots but most of the time we're not talking about war conditions. Most D&D encounters are closer to a street gang or bar fight. 

Add to this the fact that some of the characters have superhuman strength, resistance to various elements like fire or lightning, ranged weapons, and oh yeah, freakin' MAGIC, Fantasy fights should be waaay more interesting, fast paced, and creative. My mechanics would be much less 'what can I do in this fight' and much more 'what I wanna do is X' and then you figure out how to make it happen.

Magic

I...just...ugh...Ars Magica. Just use Ars Magica. Good grief D&D Magic. If not Ars Magica then just something, anything, that isn't D&D Magic. 

So let's take a look at what I have here...hmmm...is a D&D without Classes and Levels, more flexible, dynamic, and less war game-y Combat, and a completely different Magic System still D&D? What if I add Advantages and Disadvantages, a completely different way of handling Experience Points and Advancement, a Health Status instead of Hit Points, Armor that actually protects you from Damage, and....yeah.

The biggest issue I have with D&D and the one thing I can't really modify is the mindset of the people who make it. The overall approach Wizards of the Coast takes when developing and publishing D&D [and TSR before it] just rubs me the wrong way. It feels, to me, restrictive and overly legislated. Its not just that the mechanics seems somewhat inflexible but the approach to the creation of the game seems inflexible. The longer the game it exists, the more legislated and mechanics heavy it feels. 

At this point it's just easier for me to find or make a different game. 

Now if I only had the time to do that.

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