Overworked Overdue Overview

This past week has been rather busy. Scratch that. These past few weeks have been rather busy.

An increase in my work load and the preparation for and execution of two games for RECESS, combined with family and other obligations has significantly slowed my posting to the blog. A bummer, since I am more inspired and jazzed about gaming than I have been in some time.

Well, I never lose my love of gaming, I simply go through periods of liking it and loving it. The love is back and in full force I assure you.

Part of the reason for this is RECESS, which never failed to jumpstart my ideas and I'll admit my ego. There were twenty-six GMs at this particular event and I sincerely hope they all got the kind of feedback and experience I did.

Like, this happened...

I am in a conversation with jenskot/John, one of the fellows who runs the event, when a cute, young lady with glasses bounces up to us.

Cute, bouncing young lady: "Excuse me, Mr. Alien? You're Barking Alien right?"

Me: "Yes...I suppose I am." (I see her name tag - Emi - she looks familiar)

Emi: "My boyfriend was in a game of yours last RECESS and wants to know if you are running anything in the second slot this RECESS. Are you the one doing 'The Incredibles' game?"

Me: "Your boyfriend...? Will! Yes. Yes I am. I remember you now. You were in the Muppets game."

Emi: "Yes! Oh he will be so excited. He really wanted to play in one of your games again. He's very likely to get in. He has ticket #1!"

Will got in, did great and it was in one of the best one-shot games I've ever run. Seriously it was that fun. So fun in fact that Will and another player from that game named Ed (and possibly a third) are joining my once a month Traveller game. Also, people were standing around outside after the event finished and brokedown talking about it. Once again a bunch of people said how great it was right in front of two of the RECESS coordinators, John and Ryan. Hoody Hoo!

I want to talk about sooo many things. That game, the Fraggle Rock game before it and my upcoming Traveller game which is now nearing 11 players! Eleven! Holy Hivers!

A more detailed post will have to wait however, as I am currently off to run my Ars Magica game which has been on hiatus for a few weeks.

Good gaming to you all and talk to you soon,

AD
Barking Alien

PS: 151 Followers! Ha-cha-cha!

The Beginning Of A New Year...5613

While 2012 wasn't my best year for everything to be sure, it was a great year for gaming.

As I look ahead to my upcoming Traveller campaign, I can't help and look back at the games I ran or played in 2012.

Somehow, with only 52 weeks in which to enjoy my favorite past time and the fact that I work 6 days a week, I managed to get quite a lot of dice rolling in.

Games I Played In 2012

A few sessions of my friends Hunter X Hunter RPG Homebrew.

And...That's it.

That can't be right. I must've played something else as a player last year. Maybe at RECESS? No...I ran two sessions at each event. Hmmm.

Games I Ran In 2012

Ars Magica
Champions 4th Edition
DC Adventures (M&M 3E)
Dungeons & Dragons / AD&D 1E/ D&D 3E Homebrew Hybrid
Galaxy Quest The RPG / Homebrew
Marvel Heroic Role Playing
Mekton II / Homebrew Variant
Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition
Peek-A-Boo Horror / Japanese TRPG/InSpectres Hybrid
Smurfs Role Playing Game / Homebrew
Traveller / Original / MegaTraveller Hybrid
The Muppets RPG / Homebrew - Muppet Show and Sesame Street variations

Probably a few others I can't recall right now.

This year I will be skipping ahead a few dozen centuries to revisit the Third Galactic Imperium and the 'Canon-According-To-Me' universe of the classic Science Fiction RPG, Traveller. I've got to tell you, I'm really excited. I've been working up a lot of ideas and trying very hard to keep up the enthusiasm of the players, as the first session is still over a month away.

Character generation is the biggest hurtle for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that the majority of the players don't have a copy of the rulebook for creating a PC. We've been scheduling individual and small group character generation sessions and that has helped but it's slow going.

As I work on this, I am also working on my games for the next RECESS Game Day, which will occur on Janurary 19th. I will be running my first ever Fraggle Rock session of my Muppets RPG and playtesting my hope-to-publish-this-year Ghost Story RPG (fingers crossed).

The future is looking bright for gaming this year much like the last.

Now if I could only get the rest of my life working too...

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Barking Alien 









Madness Reigns

(Adam goes spinning through the flotsam and jetsam of multiple realities and alternate cosmoses...cosmosi...more than one cosmos. As he travels, various strange and wonderous realities and concepts float by, each more amazing and disturbing then the next...)

The Storyteller with Ars Magica
Do this. Watch all the Storyteller episodes and then play Ars Magica. You'll thank me.

Labyrinth with Changeling: The Dreaming
Is it just me or is this combination just so obvious?

The Dark Crystal
So many ways you can go. Erin Palette suggested Unknown Armies. I feel I could go with a modified Faery's Tale Deluxe. Most people would just as soon D&D it but I think that's like using a hammer to screw in a nail.

In Nomine
Do doo bee-do-doo
In Nomine
Do do-do-doo
In Nomine
Do doo bee-do-doo bee-do-doo bee-do-doo bee-do-do-doodle doo doo do-do-doo*

Sam and Friends
The first prime time television series to feature the Muppets was a Washington D.C. local show called Sam and Friends that ran twice a day for five minutes each episode. While most of its characters have faded into obscurity, the program did feature the earliest version of Kermit, then a lizard like creature.

I've often considered what a remake of this show would be like or how to make a cool Muppets campaign using the look and feel of Sam and Friends. Having aired from 1955 to 1961, the idea of giving the game a film noir or 'Mad Men' quality is very intriguing. As yet the concept is largely undeveloped.

The Hoobs, Mopatop's Shop and Bear in The Big Blue House
While 'Bear' is best served using a trimmed down version of the Sesame Street rules, the Hoobs and Mopatop are a little Sesame Street and a little Fraggle Rock in some ways. I may have to think on them a bit more to get a more definitive idea.

"OK, my friend, we see you need some help. Being the enlightened higher beings that we are, we're going to do you a solid."


"Thanks..um...Cosmic Fish."

"No problem my karmic castaway. You need to focus on something or someone who will act as an anchor in the reality you wish to go to."

"An anchor huh? Hmmm...wait...I'm got it. In regards to my last set of ideas, I may have to think more on them..."

To Be Concluded...

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Barking Alien

*Credit for the In Nomine joke goes to Pete Hernandez, a talented artist who I used to be good friends with and who I gamed with all throughout high school. This was the first thing that came out of his mouth when I told him about In Nomine. The title of this post refers to a proposed TV series featuring Tim Curry as the exiled ruler of a small fictional national, now forced to live in America (New York City to be precise). Both Human and Muppet characters represent members of his formerly royal family.

Down And Out In Fraggle Rock

"Dance your cares away, worry's for another day. Let the music play, Down at Fraggle Rock"

(Flash of light, loud pop echoing off the cavern walls, and a 'POOF' of smoke)

*THUD* (Adam falls to the floor of the cave from out of thin air)

"What the...? Where am I? This is definitely not Sesame Street and it isn't the Muppet Theater. Holy Moley...it looks like..."

...

"What do you think it is Gobo?"

"I'll tell you what it is. A herald of the end of days." 

"Don't be such a boober Boober. It's one of the Silly Creatures from Outer Space my Uncle Traveling Matt is always talking about. But how did he get here?"

"We should hide! No wait, we should talk to it. No, we should go see the Trash Heap and ask her what to do, yeah. Hiding still sounds good though."

"Wembley relax. I'm not afraid of any Silly Creature. I'm going to go see what it wants. (Gulp)."

...

"Um...Hi Silly Creature from Outer Space. I'm...(clears throat)...I'm Red Fraggle. Who are you and what do you want?"

"Red? Fraggle? This is Fraggle Rock! Wow. I'm a long way from the Muppet Theater. Listen Red, my name is Adam. Can you and your friends help me? You see...I'm lost and I kind of got here by magic and I need to get back to my friends...in Outer Space. Thing is...hmmm...Outer Space is big and I have no idea how far it is from Fraggle Rock to where I need to go."

"It's OK Silly Creature. We can help you. We'll go see the All Knowing Trash Heap and she'll know what to do."

...

If the Muppets have something akin to old school dungeon delving with that particularly peculiar Muppet twist, it's the amazing universe of Fraggle Rock. Jim Henson conceived the series as a world of bright colors and music that nonetheless functioned based on the somewhat complex symbiotic relationships between the different "races" of creatures that occupied the cavernous region of Fraggle Rock. While most certainly a program aimed at children, the show could entertain and amuse while seriously exploring complex issues of prejudice, spirituality, personal identity, environment, social conflict and death.

In some ways, I've always viewed Fraggle Rock as a bridge between Sesame Street and the Muppet Show. I used to watch it religiously with my younger sister (five years my junior) and we were at ages where we both understood the show but probably got different things out of it. My nephew has watched it and love it as well. I am actually a huge fan of Fraggle Rock and could easily do an entire week just on it alone but I'm going to try to condense my basic ideas here and save the rest for Muppet Mondays.

The website Muppet Mindset has an excellent article on why Fraggle Rock is even better to watch as an adult.

Fraggle Rock has many of the troupes and trappings of more magical settings and less of a modern or science fiction feel. There are mystic oracles, a race of large ogre/giant like creatures called Gorgs, mentions of treasure, magic potions and many other element that work to create a Muppets RPG campaign more in line with traditional gaming concepts. Also Fraggle Rock may be the only major Muppets production where it is implied that characters can die. This would definitely be reflected in the rules of a Fraggle Rock RPG variant.

I would think that scenes work but sketches and skits wouldn't really apply in the world of Fraggle Rock. As we watch the series and see the Fraggles go about their lives and adventures, there is a much less episodic nature to the series over all, with continuity of relationships and events progressing throughout the seasons.

For this reason, Upstaging, Stealing the Show and anything of that nature goes away. Though it may sound very odd, mechanically Fraggle Rock is more like the Land of Gorch crossed with the Sesame Street rules than it is like the Muppet Show.

Props are a definite (the Fraggle Horn, Love Potions, Peas of Power, Gorg Butter, etc.), Costumes rarely apply or matter (many Fraggles are unclothed or only wear a cloak or a scarf) and Playgrounds/Locations/Sets might work if treated a bit more like that building of a base, home or secret clubhouse.

First we rename.

Applause and Star Power become Appreciation and Spirit, reflecting the more spiritual and mystic nature of the show. The more you Appreciate the world you live in, the creatures that live in it with you and the more your fellow creatures learn to Appreciate you, the higher it raises your Spirit.

That right there is my basic philosophy for all game design. You should be able to read one or two lines and get the idea of the game, the mechanics and the atmosphere and still have all the words make sense.

Mini-rant...One of the reasons I'm not a fan of many old school games is very often you accumulate Experience (with you so far) to raise your Level (Level? Level of what?) in your Class (My class? Geometry? Or it is like social class? So my class and level improve from Lower Middle Class to Middle Class? Oh no wait, it's medieval. So I go from Peasant to Merchant or something?). Never understood that. ...Mini-rant over.

Shticks...could pretty much stay Shticks because of the wacky and often oddball nature of Fraggle thinking. In regards to combat, dangerous terrain and the like, all damage is considered to be 'Real'. Nothing is 'Staged' unless a PC or Director run NPC explicitly desires it to be so. Furthermore, if you lose all your Shtick dice due to damage, you lose one Spirit. If your character is at zero Spirit, he or she will be alive but unable to move for an addition 1D6 scenes plus the amount of Appreciation you have. If the other PCs give up five point of Appreciation it is enough to restore you to health and you will be fine for the next adventure. The PCs must be near you (physical contact range) to do this. If this is not done by the time allotted, the character is no more.

Remember too that Fraggle Rock has a bit more established canon than any of the other show's we've talked about so far. I highly recommend checking out the Muppet Wiki for information and of course, watching the show. A Fraggle Rock theatrical motion picture is said to be in the works as well.

...

"Are you guys sure about this. I'm starting to see where Boober is coming from?"

"Don't worry Silly Creature. The Trash Heap gave use very specific instructions. When I say go, tug on Wembley's tail while Mokey, you start singing. Red, you hop up and down on one foot while Boober reads the latest postcard from my Uncle Traveling Matt. Everybody ready?"

"Hold on. Every Fraggle knows it's unlucky to tug your tail. It will bring death and pestilence remember?" 

"Ready! Wha...Wait! Death and Pestilence?!"

(Wembley takes off running and Adam tugs his tail accidently to keep him from getting too far away)

"NO!"

(FLASH-BOOM-POOF!)

"He's gone..."

"I hope he went where he needed to go. He seemed like a nice Silly Creature."

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Barking Alien 

"Woof, woof!"

"Sprocket you funny dog. Get away from that hole. We've got tickets to the Muppet Theater tonight. I want to get there early and get popcorn. Come on, it's a 30 minute drive."