Breath of The F.A.R.M.

It's time to take a good, hard look at the system I want to use for my Anime/Manga themed Medieval Fantasy game. 

Here goes nothing...

While doing this deep dive into my efforts to run an Anime/Manga themed, Dungeons & Dragons inspired, Medieval Fantasy RPG, I came across the art of Misosile Busher (aka 'HIZIKI'), who did the illustrations for an interesting little game called F.A.R.M. Champions.

Cover Art By Misosile Bushner ( HIZIKI )

F.A.R.M. Champions is a Pay-What-You-Want, Rules-Lite, Indie game created and written by Matthew and Tim Bannock. Currently in its BETA stage, this game has the right feel and mechanics (generally speaking...but I'll get to that later) for the kind of game I'm going for.

There is a lot to like in F.A.R.M. Champions. It's a simple, 2D6 (Yay!) based game with a very easy Stat + Skill + Roll and beat a Difficulty Number action resolution. When going against a Difficulty Number set by the Gamemaster it is called a Test. When going against another character or condition actively trying to thwart you it is called a Contest. A Test would be unlocking a locked chest, swimming across a creek, or trying to recall some vital fact about a Monster. A Contest would be if the chest turned out to be a Mimic and tried to attack your PC and they tried to dodge.

It has a little extra crunch, specifically in the area of Settlements. 

In addition to Character Creation the players and the Gamemaster work together to establish the village from which the characters all hail. It is a conceit of the game that the PCs grew up together in the same town and that they continue to live and work in this town. The Settlement has its own Attributes which determine its nature, size, and that sort of thing. Stats cover things like:

Safety - how well protected it is from threats.

Resources - the availability of natural resources such as farms, metals, water, and wood. 

Solidarity - how civic minded are the citizens, It measures their ability to work together.

There are additional areas but you get the idea. Deciding what the Campaign Setting is and therefore where the Settlement is located effects the stats of a Settlement so for example: A Wilderness Settlement has a Safety of -1 but a Resources of +1. There is ample access to hunting, trees for timber and fruit, but there are also a large number of dangerous animals and strange beasts lurking in the forest. In some ways this reminds me of building your kingdom in the Japanese TRPG Meikyuu Kingdom.

When you go on Adventures you are generally doing so to aid the Settlement and its Community and the game provides random charts and ideas for generating Events and Threats that might force a brave and hardy band of locals to team up and go on a Quest to aid the village. There are mechanics for this and yet it's not at all complex.

A high stat in one of the Settlements attributes means it is likely to attract new denizens and allow local families to grow thanks to prosperity in whatever area has done so well. Likewise a low or zero score in one of the attributes is likely to require a journey to find something or someone who can improve the Settlements situation.

If Safety is at 0 perhaps a band of Goblins has moved into the area causing all sorts of mayhem and Adventurers must root them, chase them off, or slay them if they have to. If Resources are at 0 we might need to find out why the crops have all gone foul. Maybe we can find the legendary treasure from the nearby Dungeon and give in to the King in hopes he will reward the town or lend extra support.

Goblins 

Art By Misosile Bushner ( HIZIKI )

All in all, I am leaning heavily towards using this game for my Anime/Manga Medieval Fantasy campaign idea. With some minor adjustments...

OK, there are a few things I would need to expand and change.

The way they do Occupations is neat, giving each PC a job in the town in addition to an Adventuring Class. The Occupations contribute to the Settlements stats but don't seem to give the characters themselves any kind of ability or skill. I would add that in so your choice of Occupation directly effects play. I might have to look at Ryuutama again to see if anything there might be worth porting over. 

I think I'll expand Classes a bit as well. F.A.R.M. standards for Fighter - Acolyte (basically Cleric) - Rogue - Mage. Nice but I would put in a few additional Classes that are especially popular in Anime/Manga Western Fantasy such as the Ranger and Paladin.

Finally, I didn't go into it but another great feature of the game is the concept of a Health and Wellness system separate from Hit Points. It is some I am eager to use, inspired by Delicious in Dungeon's emphasis on eating well and resting as the keys to Dungeon survival. 

F.A.R.M. Champions does use Hit Points however and that is a major thing I wanted to do away with. I don't like the traditional Combat Systems of most Fantasy RPGs, with Hit Points, Damage, and Armor being my chief pet peeves. I think I can adapt the Combat System I planned on using for my Mecha game in with little difficulty. 

Well, that's all for now. I am very excited and curious to see where this goes next...

More to come...

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Barking Alien

My Mind At Warp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Barking Alien

After 35 Years, What's Next?

Recent posts by others on the blogosphere got me thinking about this...even though they weren't really all that related. Funny thing the mind.

I have a lot of RPGs in my collection.

While it's not anywhere near the height of dragon hoard infamy it once achieved, it's still a pretty impressive library if I do say so myself.

What is most impressive about it to me is not it's sheer volume but rather that the vast majority of it includes games I actually play and sourcebooks and supplements I actually use.

At present, I am running Champions and I am using the 4th Edition Rulebook, my 4th, 5th and 6th Edition Villain sourcebooks (with modifications of course) and a smattering of other supplemental materials and books as well.

When I ran Mutants & Masterminds 3E not long ago I used something from almost every book in the line including material from the previous editions.

My next campaign (it has been decided) will be Traveller and I am currently reading through a bunch of the original LBBs (Little Black Books), issues of the Journal of the Traveller Aid Society and various sourcebooks from Digest Group Publications' MegaTraveller material to products produced by the games' Japanese distributor.

Is there room in my collection for D&D Next?

Let's say it comes out and it's awesome, the perfect blend of the old and the new. Would it matter? Would it get played?

I rarely run Fantasy and when I do my players' first request is my D&D homebrew (25-30 years in the making). My own preference is to grab Ars Magica. Beyond those two RPGs there are a host of Japanese TRPGs I'd love to run (Make Your Kingdom, Dragon's Egg, etc.). If I am feeling more nostalgic (which is usually the only emotion or state of mind that drums up a desire for D&D), I still have my 1st Ed. AD&D books and all my 3.0 and 3.5 material.

So Next...it just doesn't interest me. As a long time RPG game hobbyist I am curious as to how it works and how it's release will effect the fan base but as an actual member of that fan base, a gamer who loves to game, it's of absolutely no concern. Of my current group of 4-6 regulars, only one seems to really be following Next's progression and then only because he works in a store that sells games. When he plays D&D (with me of course) he plays Pathfinder.

After 35 years of RPG gaming...what is D&D Next? Just another game. One of thousands that I will likely try once or read once to say I did and be able to engage in an informed conversation.

Want to get me excited about a game? When is the next official Star Trek RPG coming out?

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Barking Alien







 

This Should Be A Piece of Pie

I've kind of commited to running a few games in the new year and I just can't seem to drum up any enthusiasm for them. I'm drawing a creative blank. Actually, that's not completely true. I just can't seem to get excited about these particular ideas right now.

Part of it is that I'm a little down in the dumps in general, funds are short, bills are high and my insomnia is kicking into overdrive lately. Given those factors, I might be more focused on having fun if I could clear some of that stuff up.

At the same token, a new year always makes me think of games I've never run before, haven't run in a long time or that I think I can run better than the last time I did it. A new year means new possibilities, right? I hope so. 2010 sucked eggs. Someone get Clarke on the phone. He promised a lot of crap he didn't deliver. It wasn't full of stars, it was full of sh...

Moving right along...so what is on my mind?

Meikyuu Kingdom
Damn but I can't stop thinking about how freaking cool this game would be if only I really understood how to play to the point where I could run it. Some day...

Retro-Superhero Concept
I can see this idea fairly clearly but its hard to articulate. Imagine combining G-Men and Supermen and Witless Minions with the worlds of Megamind and The Incredibles. Period piece set in the late 60's into early 70's.

Star Trek
Yep. Got Star Trek on the brain again. Happens every year around this time. I'm as predictable as Vulcan Mating Season.

Those are my main ones. If I can just finalize some concepts so I could start working on a campaign it'd be awesome.

Anyway, gonna try to sleep. Wish me luck.

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Barking Alien

Ahead of the Game

My favorite comic book store in New York City, Jim Hanley's Universe, is having a really big sale so I popped in just to see what I've been missing thanks to my ultra-tight budget. Found five, count'em 5, issues of FASA's Stardate Magazine. Star Trek RPGaming gold mine baby! Each issue was cover priced $2-$4 dollars each. Snagged the whole thing for $10 thanks to the sale. Happy!

Ran a game that should have been awesome. It was not. I knew going in it wasn't going to be. I was right. Sad.

A friend of mine with connections in Japan is trying to find me a copy of Meikyuu Kingdom. Yay for friends with friends in Japan! Happy!

Saw 'Happy Birthday Robot' at my FLGS the Compleat Strategist (Happy) but couldn't afford it (Sad).

Got a haircut that looks good. Happy!

I count four Happys and two Sads. I am ahead of the game. Wee!

OK. Somebody's tired.

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Barking Alien

Putting Genius On Hold

I'm a bit depressed.




It seems I may have to put my pet project of building a simulacrum of the Japanese TRPG Meikyuu Kingdom on hold because, quite frankly, I just can't find enough info on how the original is supposed to work to construct my bizarro clone of it. I realized I would need to make up a much larger percentage of material than I had at first anticipated and while there's nothing wrong with that, its more like me creating my own game and not me running Meikyuu Kingdom. I certainly could do that but honestly I don't really want to. I want to play the 'real' game.

Its funny but I know a lot of guys who run D&D (Big D&D fans as it were!), 1st through 3rd Editions, and modify the hell out of the rules to the point of having a good 10 or more pages of house rules. My thinking is, if I have to add to, eliminate or change more than 50% of the core elements of an RPG to have it play the way I want it to I need to play a different RPG.

Now granted I love to fiddle and modify stuff and I will change the heck of things but what I won't do is pretend I am actually playing that original game. In the case of my personal modified version of D&D, it really isn't all that modified. Well, sort of. Its closest to AD&D 1st and Sword & Wizardry with one major addition in the form of a system of special abilities granted to players based on their species/race, background, class, etc. It is extremely simple, rule-lite for sure and doesn't directly effect the vast majority of the other basic rules. I've been told however, that this one edition makes it very, very different from traditional D&D. I concur. I never claim to be running D&D. I run D&D-for-those-people-who-don't-like-D&D.

Anyway, I really, really want to run Meikyuu Kingdom. What I don't want to do, at least at this time, is make up a game that is a cheap copy of Meikyuu Kingdom. That wouldn't feel right to me and it doesn't do the original justice. If I had more time, money, etc. I might consider such a project but not right now.

It really does make me sad though, hence my 'Sad Ogrekin' image at the top. Someone out there really needs to bring this game to the US. Like yesterday.

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Barking Alien

50 Sense

A couple quick notes...

First, I have 50 followers! Great Galactic Green Dog that's cool!

Thanks to everyone who has decided that reading my mad attempts at creativity and storytelling are some form of entertainment. Tell a friend.

Second, I've been trying to locate an out-of-print game for a while now and have been unable to do so. With 50 of you I'm thinking someone can find it. I'm speaking of course of Hunter Planet (either edition/version). Also, check out my Hunter Planet request and notes on the EN World post, Hunting for Hunter Planet.

Third, and lastly for now, I'm putting together a Meikyuu Kingdom inspired set of rules for my players and I. Not very accurate to the original by any means I am none the less trying to build something we can use to play a similar game on a regular basis. I am so in love with this idea it borders on my obession with cute, geeky, brunettes with glasses who...and I'm entering TMI space so I'll stop right there.

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Barking Alien

Make Your Kingdom

This...


May be the coolest RPG of all time.

I'm talking about the Japanese RPG by Hobby Base and Adventure Planning Service entitled Meikyuu Kingdom, which comes with the English phonetic subtitle 'Make You Kingdom'. The title is one of those multilingual puns the Japanese are so fond of as the word 'meikyuu' translates to 'labyrinth'. So essentially, its Labyrinth Kingdom, a reference to the Endless Labyrinth dungeons that permeate the world in the games setting (though setting may not be the right word).

As one of my players said upon hearing the games background and premise, "This game has one fluffy macguffin." He is so right.

Basically a magical 'genesis effect' called the 'Endless Dungeon Hazard' transformed all the underground places of the world (as well as some of the sea and the sky) into an interconnecting network of trap and monster filled dungeons. Think your megadungeon is big? Try a planet. Yeah baby.

The game plays like one part RPG, one part RTS game and one part crazy parody. The players play the ruler and members of court who venture into these dungeons that way Starfleet allows its command crew to beam down to hostile alien planets. Each character has a 'Class', such as Ruler, Knight, Ninja, Oracle, Servant or Priest (there are others). This gives them one skill at the start from a list of different abilities. The skills are more like special abilities or powers in some cases. They then get a 'job'. This is a more mundane (though not necessarily) occupation that come with only one skill each. Options include but are not limited to Cook, Doctor, Eunuch, Hunter, Thief and several more. Hunters have "Hunting" which enables them to find things your party needs to survive. Cook gives you "Apron", the ability to turn slain monster parts into food. Doctors can heal.

The players also create their home country of origin, determining how many people they have and a number of other elements. One of the most interesting is what they call 'Rooms', which are basically locations in one or more buildings in your Kingdom with special properties that can help (or in some rare cases hinder) the PC party before they venture into the Labyrinths.

Actually play is like a classic dungeon crawl with a resource management element as you bring followers with you into the dungeons. Followers are disposable NPC goons of various types that you can use to help fight monsters, set off traps or otherwise get red-shirted into oblivion. Note however that there are limitations and lots of dead followers means a smaller population for your fictional nation. Finding treasure can not only give your characters nifty new weapons and magic potions but can also make your country richer. Over a campaign the country with grow and get more rooms and people. Feels like Ogre Battle meets Suikoden meets classic D&D.

We had a blast trying it out recently but didn't have enough players to may it really shine. After the game I did some research on the 'net and realized the game has way more potential then I even thought of at first. Spin-offs include tactical card games (Meikyuu Conquest) and supplements designed to expand the role playing elements (Meikyuu Chronicle). Also, the standard approach to the game is to randomly roll everything, including ability and the name of your country. Be prepared to defend the sovereign nation of "The United States of Champion Land" or "St. Banana Kingdom".

I could write volumes more about this rules-lite piece of gaming genius but I'll let you do the research. I'm already thinking of some expanded elements, house rules and wondering why there is no Sci-Fi supplement where you land on alien planets with your crew since many aspects of the premise and rules remind me of Star Trek. Meikyuu Cosmos anyone?

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Barking Alien