Too Many Ideas Syndrome

Too Many Ideas Syndrome. Apparently this is really a thing. It's sometimes called 'idea-ism'. Yeah, I've definitely got it bad right now. 

My lack of posting is not because I have nothing to talk about or show you all but rather the opposite; I have so many RPG concepts runninlg through my head I don't know where to begin. Adding to the problem is that many of them are only half finished and poorly organized. 

Let's start with a 'State of Gaming' update, shall we?

Currently as of this post...

I am playing Hogwarts: A Mystery

Now in its 6th or 7th year, the campaign follows students - currently 5th Years - in House Ravenclaw. It is full of teen angst and drama, setting based angst and drama, action, suspense, and other kinds of angst and drama. The GM is very into making children suffer. No, no...in a good way!

The game runs bi-weekly with my friend Alex as Gamemaster and four players including myself. My character, Francis 'Frank' Pellgrove, goes on the short list of all time favorite PCs I've ever had. The system is a homebrew extremely loosely based on Apocalypse World but really nothing like it at this point. 

I have been running SMURFS

Over the past month I've run a three session scenario and a one-shot scenario using the Quickstart Guide rules for the upcoming Smurfs officially licensed RPG by Maestro Media. I'm pretty much obsessed and I love the game. Getting people to play it may be the biggest challenge one faces with the game but based on my own experience most truly mature gamers will give it a try. After all, those are the people most comfortable with not taking the hobby too seriously. 

Upcoming posts will discuss the Player Characters from both games and later I'll talk about the adventures themselves. 

I am still running Star Trek: Prosperity

Our Original Series era Star Trek Adventures campaign is still going strong, with all the sessions so far this 'season' (Season 8 that is! Eight years of Star Trek: Prosperity! Woohoo!) being good and a few being great! We've had a couple of real bangers! Very much looking forward to the next three missions, the last ending in a 'Season Finale Cliffhanger'!  

This game is [usually] played bi-weekly. I am the Gamemaster and we have four players. It ranks as my longest running single campaign ever. 

Coming up...

I will be running Champions: UNITY again

My weekend group is returning to our Champions campaign after experimenting with a host of other concepts with mixed results. Our campaign is set in yet another version of my friend William Corpening's 'Age of Champions' setting, this time on Champions Earth-Alpha Delta-1A. The campaign is already three years old and the players are eager to get back to their characters and this universe. Actually, one player will be using a new character.

I have mixed feelings on this personally. I am not really feeling 'Superheroes' at the moment and I'm having trouble coming up with a new or interesting angle. Don't get me wrong, I have some ideas for villains and scenarions but I'm lacking...I don't know...that certain something, ya'know? 

I will largely be playing Star Trek: Copernicus

After the Smurfs my Midweek Group is going back to our Star Trek Adventures campaign, Star Trek: Copernicus. This game is...good...sometimes great...sometimes just OK. It's been a tad inconsistent and that's not surprising. We've been doing a 'Revolving GM' situation, with the four players each taking turns as the Narrator when they had a solid adventure idea. Going forward it seems that one of us will be the 'lead' Narrator, having quite a lot of ideas and enthusiasm for the game.

I like my character a lot and that goes a long way towards making the game fun. 

In the near future...

I would like to run Space:1999

A fan of the series and intrigued by the rules, I would love to run a short campaign of this, partially to see if it has legs. That is to say, I'd likely run a three session 'pilot' adventure and gage interest in doing more.

Halloween is coming and I have Spooky Games in mind

Obviously I would love to revisit Ghostbusters. My hope is I'll get to run at least a one-shot scenario with my A&D/'The Home Office' group sometime in October. With any luck I might also be able to set up a Ghostbusters: Tokyo Ghost Research adventure with my friends in Japan. 

On that note, I want to finish my recap of the 'I'm So Embarrassed! My Uncle is a Bullet Train!' game. I'll also post some general ideas for more Ghostbusters RPG paranormal activities (see what I did there?). 

Another one-shot [or maybe two-to-three-shot] I'd love to run is Peekaboo (aka Peekaboo Horror), The Neighborhood Ghost Story TRPG from Japan that I adore but rarely get to the table. I also have a recounting of my first time playing it coming up next month so be on the look out for that. 

Finally...

What should really be an entire post all on its own (and might be soon) is this nagging desire to run...hold on to socks...Fantasy. 

Specifically I am wanting to run Fantasy with an Anime twist. Like...imagine if what I did with Superhero gaming to create The Winghorn Guard and my world of Aerth was done with Anime/Manga tropes in mind. Although Aerth does have considerable Anime/Manga influences already. Hmm. 

I really want to do this but I keep running into two major snags: I just don't love Fantasy gaming for a variety of reasons and I can find a system I really like that does what I want. 

Arrgh! 

*Sigh* Oh well. I'm glad I got that off my chest. Let's finish up with the Smurfs RPG for now so I can move on to other discussions.

Thanks for letting me prattle on.

AD

Barking Alien 

I've been so busy with Real LifeTM that I've missed some very important acknowledgements.

 

On September 9th of this year the world lost an entertainment icon in the person of James Earl Jones. A multiple award winning pioneer of theatre and film, Jones was a fascinating man before and after his long career of acting and voice overs. While best known to fandom as the voice of Darth Vader and Conan's nemesis Thulsa Doom, I highly recommend looking into this fellow's life outside these roles if you haven't already. Epic. 

Rest in Peace Mister Jones. 

September 24th was the birthday of Muppets creator Jim Henson. I don't even know where to begin talking about my feelings regarding Jim, one of my all time heroes. I've discussed him many times in the past and if you're interested you can look back to previous posts on the man. Henson is another fellow I suggest reading up on for the incredible life he lead and the impact he had on generations of fans and creatives. A documentary about him entitled 'Jim Henson Idea Man' is currently available on Disney+ and while it was tough for me to watch I definitely suggest checking it out. 

September 25th, yesterday, was the birthday of the amazing Mark Hamill. Actor, voice actor, and vigilant, outspoken, opponent of stupidity, Mark is a gawd dang national treasure. Happy Birthday Mark!

Hunter X Hunter RPG - On A Roll

Before I begin with the regularly scheduled post, I just wanted to say a few words about a few subjects. Trust me, this won't take long at all...

Happy Birthday to Mark Hamill and the late Christopher Reeve, two gentlemen who each played one of my favorite heroes.

This last month or two (OK three) has been very tough financially. Business was especially weak this summer season. As a result, I may sell off some old game stuff I don't need (even though I'd really rather not). If I do, you'll be the first to know.

There is a new flavor of Oreo Cookie called Cookies N' Cream. Although they are available at my local supermarket, the only proof I could find on the internet was a package of the product on ebay. Ebay? What...The Hell? What an odd choice for a variation on the classic too. A Cookies N' Cream Oreo is a bit like tiny bits of lettuce between two pieces of lettuce, no?

Once more, not as many comments as I would like or as I would have expected on some of the subjects I posted about. Specifically, I am surprised by the low turn out on the last post about ideas for Marvel Heroic. No love for Marvel Heroic? No love for my ideas? Are you secretly a clone of Spiderman currently working for SHIELD and are afraid commenting on my blog is a conflict of interest. Well fine. You, that last guy, you're off the hook (I don't want you getting in trouble over it) but the rest of you have no excuse.

OK, down to business...

***

We had our second session of Hunter X Hunter this past Saturday with Amari (Dave), the Barber (Lee*) and Smiley McGee (aka Stan - played by me), joining hundreds of other Hunter wannabes in the attempt to overcome the first of many challenges on the way to getting our Hunter licenses. If we pass that is...and of course survive.

The opening challenge was a Ninja Warrior style obstacle course, modified by the GM (Ray) into D&D-like death traps. There were 10 traps in all. Most could be taken singularly, with a partner or as a team but some required you to go 'single file' with no assistance from anyone else.

We managed to get past them all with only one or two scary moments where a poor die roll seemed to hold the power of life and death over our characters' heads. I hate that.

There was a lot of die rolling this session. A. LOT. Now I must give Ray some props because it was never boring and didn't ever deteriorate to the point where I felt like having someone else roll for me while I went to read a book or play some video games because so much was based on random luck that I felt like I didn't need to be there.

I've been there and done that, didn't like it and told the GM what he could go do with the T-Shirt.

I have a love/hate relationship with rolling. I don't want to eliminate it and play some crazy diceless thing but I can't stand when GMs make you roll for every breath you take and every move you make (thank you Sting and The Police). I also hate it when, as a player, you come up with a reasonable reason why the die roll should be altered in your favor and it feels like it was rolled straight.

Case in point, one of my least favorite gaming moments of the last three years...

OK, using a system that is a homebrew variant of D&D 3.5, we set out into a homebrew medieval world that is described awesomely but feels like every other D&D game world I've ever gamed in. Its Lord of the Greyhawk Realms basically.  

I was playing a Gnome

We come to this odd valley, essentially a very large crater with shear cliff walls. We need to explore the incredibly dense forest down in this pit/canyon. First we need to climb down. Four or five of us, sheer cliff walls, everybody first level.

We have rope and we come up with a plan using iron spikes and a cheap pulley system (thanks to a nearby tree and rock) to lower us down more carefully. It's about 50 ft down I think, maybe more.

All I know is that the GM made us each roll our Climbing skill at least four times on the way down. Now lets do the math. Four players each rolling four times to climb down a wall. That's Sixteen rolls just to get to the woods. Why? For what reason? Are we getting bonuses on our rolls for the mountain climbing ingenuity we rigged up? Didn't feel like it. One guy fell a short distance and got stuck but the rest of us helped him down. One guy fell kind of far and got hurt but our Cleric healed him.

In the end it was so tedious, so boring and so dangerous to our characters that it drove the majority of us a little bonkers. Dude, if you are that determined to hurt somebody for no reason don't pretend. Just number the PCs, roll 1d4 and deliver 1D10 damage on that guy and move on. No. We had to sit through 16 goddamn rolls.

Luckily, Ray didn't go that far but it felt very much like it was threatening to go in that direction. It started out challenging, with each player/PC trying to figure out a way around the traps based on the predicament and our own unique abilities (or at least strong suits). Eventually at some point near the end we were just rolling dice and seeing if we made it.

It's a good game and I am looking forward to continuing but I will say it needs to kick up a notch on the excitement level. It is engaging. Yes, that is a good word. It is a very engaging game and yet I am hoping it turns into a 'Holy Crap! Wow!' game.

Time will tell. 

AD
Barking Alien

*I still can't remember his character's name even though he told me twice already. I think it starts with an N.