31 Questions For Barking Alien - Phase II - Question 3

Our third question of the month comes from the jolly JB of B/X BLACKRAZOR fame/infamy. The question is simple enough that I could answer it was a Yes/No and if Yes a list of names but that doesn't make for engaging internet content. Funny enough, neither will this! 

Enjoy!

Do you ever attend (gaming) conventions out in your neck of the woods, and if so, which ones? 

I live in New York CIty and believe it or not, there aren't and haven't been a large number of Gaming Conventions in my home town. Now, not a lot of cons doesn't mean none. If you include the Greater Tri-State Area (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut - as well as Philadelphia) as my 'neck of the woods', you up the number of conventions considerably.

It's been a while since I've attended any cons but in the past I've been an [irregular] regular at Dexcon (NJ), Shorecon (NJ), and of course RECESS (NY). To my knowledge, all of these conventions are no longer in existence (though I'm not sure about Dexcon - that sometimes goes away for a while and then reappears). There was also a great one in Cherry Hill, NJ that the late, great Allen Halden invited me to a few times (can't recall the name). 

I've been lucky enough to find gaming going on at various Anime Conventions (local and beyond), where I have gotten the chance to play Japanese TRPGs; cons such as Katsucon (originally Virgina, Washington DC), Otakon (originally Baltimore), and several small NJ events.

As a final note: I've worked as a Retail Dealer at a number of conventions and as an Event Coordinator for a Convention Producer. Between those occupations and numerous industry friends and contacts I've attended a great many cons for free. Nowadays, having to pay to get in, I am much choosier about which ones I go to. 

That's another down and (hopefully) a lot more to go...

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Barking Alien. 

Why Join The Party?

Why do 'Adventurers' stick together?

Just the other night, the members of one of my gaming groups (for whom I am currently running Champions 4th Edition in my friend William's 'Age of Champions' universe) got into a discussion about Player Character groups or 'parties', why and how they form, and what are their reasons for remaining as a unit. 

It struck us as noteworthy that a lot of games (especially ones we play) have a built in conceit for this:

• Blades in the Dark PCs are a Crew, out to perform a heist or other criminal enterprise.
• Call of Cthulhu PCs may be from different walks of life but all are Investigators
• Star Trek PCs are all Starfleet Officers and the Crew of a Starfleet vessel on a mission.
• Star Wars PCs are often a Rebel cell, in the Grand Army of the Republic, or members of the Jedi Order
• Superheroes are all, well, Superheroes. Often they're part of a team or acting as one to fight evil. 

The list goes on and on. Of course someone out there is saying, "You don't have to be Starfleet Officers in a Star Trek game. You can be a bunch of Smugglers and Mercenaries just like in other Space Opera settings." Yes, you can. You can do whatever makes you happy. I am simply addressing the default assumptions of the games noted above and the majority of people who play them. 

My point is, you don't need to find a reason for your Superheroes to unite and battle crime and villainy. They are Superheroes. That's what Superheroes do. If you sat down to play Superheroes your reason for being part of the team is pretty much baked into the crust. Sure, each character might have their own inciting moment in their backstory, their own personal motive that drives them but since we've decided to play Supers, yeah, we've going to play Superheroes doing Superhero stuff. 

As always, the odd one out is the most popular one...Dungeons and Dragons. 

DM: "Alright, so with the map provided by the Inn Keeper, you set off to defeat the dragon Blorfog and obtain the Lost Treasure of Iron Smoke Mountain!"

Player 1: "I don't see why my character would go on this quest."

DM: "I'm sorry...what?"

Player 1: "Sure, I could use the treasure but I'm a Thief who is easily killed. My stats and such aren't great. It would make more sense to stay around the city and just pick pocket locals."

Player 2: "Yeah, and my character is a Ranger. I could see him leading the group to the mountain but then I'll probably just get paid for that and head back. My sworn enemy is Werewolves. I'm not really equipped or motivated to go against a dragon in tunnels under the ground."

DM: "Why would you make Adventurers who don't want to adventure together?"

Players (Together): "I'm just playing my character."

D&D, as well as all the D&D Clones and Cousins, aren't alone in this aspect. Traveller and other open universe, sandbox Space Adventure RPGs also see this sort of thing from time to time. Just as the default assumption of many modern games and IP settings is that the PCs are like-minded people who've formed a team from the start, older Sandbox games tend to default to a bunch of disconnected individuals who need to come up with a reason to join forces.

D&D Party Commission By ABD-Illustrates

Commissioned by  sinaasaappelsap

Thinking about this sent me down a rabbit hole of analyzing why these games are built this way, are they even built this way in reality, and why certain players feel it necessary to assert their defiant independence in what is clearly a group activity. 

When RPGs first emerged out of Wargaming, I don't believe a lot of thought was given to motivation, story, or any such concerns. It was, after all, just a game and while fun it hadn't yet evolved to be more than the sum of its parts. Your reason for going on a given adventure was that there was one and you wanted to play an RPG, ipso facto you joined a party of other players that wanted to do the same thing. 

Let's assume for just a moment that this is a truism. The idea here is that the creators of D&D, Traveller, and similar games of the era didn't expect the players to need motivations for their characters to go on dangerous journeys with others because that is simply what playing such games is about. A player plays an Adventurer and that is just what Adventurers do. 

Maybe that didn't come through clearly. Maybe that wasn't the point after all...

Eventually, quite organically I would imagine, someone added a bit more backstory to their character than was the norm at the time, taking the PC beyond a set of numbers representing game mechanics and into the realm of a protagonist in an emerging narrative that was developing at that very moment. 

So when exactly did the first player say to their Gamemaster that they needed a reason to go on the adventure presented outside of the fact that the adventure existed? Moreover, why did they themselves not try to provide a reason? 

Honestly, I don't know. I couldn't say. The ideas presented here are foreign to my thinking.

This is where I need all of you Old School Grognards to fill me in. This is one of those elements that fascinates and baffles me because my very first character had a motivation in my very first story driven adventure back in 1977. A reason to adventure was both provided by the players AND given by the Gamemaster since moment I entered the hobby. 

Follow that up with the fact that I enjoy and most often play/run games with the built in purpose I mentioned at the start and you can see why I have trouble comprehending this concept. 

To finish up I'll say this - As a player, find a way to motivate yourself. Give yourself a reason to adventure. Understand that you are joining other players and participating in a group event. Don't make the GM or other players have to cater to you and you alone. That's a violation of Rule Zero: Don't be a D**k.

GMs, keep in mind who your players are and who they are playing. Include elements of the PCs backstories and goals in your scenario and plot to give them something to latch on to. Making it more personal will make it more interesting and engaging. 

Work together and achieve more than you could in a vacuum.

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Barking Alien

The Manhattan Project

I have decided to make some serious changes in my life.

I will be moving soon, improving my dog walking business, and doing something that means a lot to me in my 40th year in the RPG hobby.

I've decided that a major change in my life is going to be that I stop being afraid of whether, or not I will succeed, or fail, and just do a thing.

Check this out from one of my favorite illustrators, Jake Parker:

I've been wanting to produce and sell a Role Playing Game product of my own design for, well, for forever now. It seems like my Questing Beast, a goal I'm perpetually chasing, but never able to the actual achieve.

That's over. I'm doing it now. I'm working on it even as I write this. I'm making an RPG for sale through DriveThruRPG.

Originally I wanted my first game to be Unfinished Business, my long overdue Ghost Story RPG, but I think that one still needs some work, and it's very niche for a first product. 

Another idea was my [as yet unnamed] Star Trek/Space Adventure Parody game, which I've used to run Galaxy Quest, and I am currently overhauling in hopes of using it to run a game set in the universe of 'The Orville'. I may make that a later product if this first one takes off.

Lastly, I've recently been toying with another attempt at an OSR Science Fiction/Space Opera game. Operating under the title Aliens & Astrobases, this is a very tricky project for me to pull off. I like the idea of creating such a game, but I am not a fan of those kinds of games. I feel like I might be able to make something fun to play, but I'm not as thoroughly motivated. It remains an idea on the back-burner (though it's probably the one that would sell to the largest audience. Sigh).

No, the choice for my first product is clear to me now, and really should have been all along. It took my good friend Dave Cotton to point out how to do it, but there is no question that it needs to get done, as it is my best work.

As InSpectres is not a Ghostbusters game and Starships and Spacemen is not a Star Trek game, this game I am making is in no way a revised and expanded edition of a certain RPG project I produced in March of 2011. With new original characters, new original settings based on some of my old campaigns, and all new art work, expect a fast and furious fountain of fun, felt, fur, and foam to come your way later this month.

Just look at the interest in it from those who don't even know what I am doing...

Four hundred and twenty-five positive responses!

Holy Heck!

I want to thank the Tabletop Role-Playing Games group on Facebook for being so supportive to a fellow gamer. I also want to thank everyone of my friends, and family for backing me up on this endeavor. 

Further announcements as we draw closer to release day.

The stage is set, and I am about to go on...

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Barking Alien

The Start of Something Special

No, it's not the A-to-Z Blog Challenge. Skipping that this year.

Rather, my monthly group, and I - The Barking Alien Group - have finally come to a verdict on our next campaign. 

TRAVELLER: THE HINTERWORLDS

We are returning to classic Traveller with a game set in the same 'universe' as our previous one, but 20 years later.

The PC founded company from our three year long prior campaign (which ended in December of last year), The Independents Incorporated, is sponsoring an exploratory mission into the no man's land frontier sector known as The Hinterworlds. This region is not currently claimed by any known political power.

The overarching purpose of the expedition is to seek out resources, potential colonial opportunities, potential security threats, or governments hostile to the Imperium, in hopes of further Imperial interests, as well as their own.

Although technically employees of the corporation, the new PCs are free to go about their mission in any way they choose. The deal is that the more they discover, and the more useful what they find turns out to be, the more money the company will pay them. 

We had a character creation session where we also discussed the relations between the old PCs and the new ones (if any), and what the individual motivations of each character are for going on this expedition. 

There is some good stuff here, and a lot of potential. We are toying with the idea of troupe play, wherein each player has two characters - one that remains with the ship, and another that goes on landing party/away missions. 

I'm pretty excited as I know Traveller works well for this group, those that were in the previous game loved it, and I have wanted to run an exploration game setting in The Hinterworlds for many years. 

I will keep you all posted.

In other news...

After reconnecting with a lot of my old friends from New Jersey, and Pennsylvania last week at the funeral for my dear friend Allen, we decided to meet for a big one shot get together sometime between now, and mid-summer. My ex-wife suggested that I run a game, and others concurred. I am deeply touched, and of course happy to do just that. 

I have several ideas already (because, ya'know, when don't I?), including a prequel of sorts to the above mentioned Traveller game. Other ideas (some from requests, and suggestions) were Galaxy Quest, Star Wars, and something with giant robots. 

Lastly (at least for the moment), I am planning a second (roughly) monthly game with some old NJ and NY friends that may also be set in the Traveller universe. We are considering playing another ship in the same sector competing with the first one. The result would make the overall narrative much larger in scope.

It is also possible we may opt for something else, but for now this is the prevailing idea.

Kind of a mini-'State of The Game' address, no? 

What have you got in the works?

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Barking Alien

Return of the Jedi

Just a quick update as I am pretty busy today, but I realize I haven't posted much this month. It's already the 7th of October, and this is only my second entry. Ugh.

As noted in my last post, I am gearing up for a new Star Wars campaign using the WEG D6 system with a gestalt group combining members of my old New York High School gang, my New Jersey gang, and one new edition who is a friend of a NJ player. Right now there are only four players, plus myself, but we'll see. Others may join later. 

I am astonished at how easy it's been to assemble this game. Even the creation of the campaign concept has gone smoothly. It's like magic. I suggested some ideas, people talked, one idea got mentioned both seriously, and jokingly a few times, and we all decided that if it caught our imaginations that fast then that's the winner.

Then characters - One fellow came up with a very basic idea, a Human Smuggler with a bigger, heavier freighter than the famous Millennium Falcon, and then he needed a co-pilot/partner - Who's that guy? What's his deal? Next thing you know we have an Ithorian Fixer, a social type of character who knows someone who can get you thing you want no matter where they go. 

The Vagabond

A Corellian Engineering Corp. YV-929 Armed Light Freighter

Design and Illustration by the incredible Jeff Carlisle

Colors by Me.

Background by NASA.

It's all falling into place so effortlessly. 

I can't wait to see what the remaining characters are like, and what they decide to do in the setting. I have a general idea of the campaign's theme, and some of the plots I'm scattering among the stars.

Super-excited! 

More to come, 

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Barking Alien

Bringing Balance To The Force

I have been in a strange state lately.

I feel The Force, or at least my place in it, is out of balance.

As I get closer, and closer to 2017 and my forty year anniversary in the gaming hobby, I feel I am enjoying my gaming less, and less

I should specify that I am referring to my time as a GM. I am having fun as a player more than ever before, but my preferred position of Gamemaster has been wearing on my nerves.

I have been 'off my game' for sometime now. Possibly as long as three years, or more, if truth be told.

Part of it is a feeling of incompatibility with my current gaming comrades.

Not a clash of personalities, as I love all these dudes, and dudettes dearly. These are solid folks; good people, no question about it.

Somehow though, our play styles and gaming philosophies don't exactly gel one hundred percent. It feels glitchy, and jury-rigged. I feel like a PC running Windows 10 - most everything works a good deal of the time, except when it randomly crashes without warning.

It occurred to me that I really need do something about this. I need to stop complaining about it, stop musing over the cards dealt, and take some real action. Much like my experience with trying to upgrade to Windows 10, what I need to do to move forward is go backward - a system restore to my default settings if you will. I need to reboot (but ya'know, in a good way).

Hopefully my solution will bring me peace of mind...and balance to The Force.

Let's hope it goes better than this.

Poor Ahsoka...

I went and made contact with a few of my friends from my old (and oft mentioned) New Jersey and New York groups.

We're talking about people I've known for over 20-30 years, but haven't seen more than a handful of times in the past five-to-ten. In addition, I added one new person who I met a few years back through one of my ol' Jersey crew.

The end result is a group of three, or four players (so far), and a plan to run a campaign with them one session a month, no set day due to the nature of schedules. Just a mutual promise of meeting for a session once a month.

The game? Star Wars, The Role Playing Game by West End Games.

I considered, and suggested a number of different game choices to the group, but we all got wrapped up in the nostalgia and symmetry of 2017 being 40 Years of Gaming and 40 Years of Star Wars. 

A date for the first session hasn't been set, though we are examining some possibilities at this time.

I'll be taking the time to work on some story ideas, NPCs, planets, and the like. 

I'm excited about this. Really excited. Recharged.

Not only am I looking forward to a campaign of one of my favorite games, with some of my favorite people, in my preferred play style, but I am also looking forward to feeling like...I am still good at this. I'm looking forward to feeling like my games rock again. 

If this works, maybe all my games will rock.

Maybe the balance of The Force will be restored.

We shall see,

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Barking Alien

Let Me Entertain You

This post is not directly related to the theme this month. Consider it a commercial break, or a 'word from our sponsor'.

I would like to point out, before I go any further, that this post is not referencing one of my current groups, or the other. It is about both.

Actually, what it's really about, is me.

It is not meant as a criticism to any party, but rather an 'inconvenient truth', to coin a phrase. Things are as they as are because I made the decision to have them be that way. I blame it on no one, but myself. Still, and all, I am questioning whether or not I made the right decision in how I went about presenting my game ideas. Might another approach be better?

***

One of the biggest differences between the way I game now, and the way I used to game (say, 10-15 years ago, and prior) is that I am now much more acutely aware of the particular interests, likes, and dislikes of my players, and I try to cater to those so that everyone has a much better experience overall.

And that sucks.

Hmmm. Perhaps some clarification is in order.

This is how I set up to run a new campaign, or even a one-shot nowadays:

I begin with a concept, genre, or specific game I want to run. It could be teens who are going to school to be superheroes, Anime Action/Romance Sitcom, or my particular Blast City Blues setting for Teenagers from Outer Space. How specific the idea is varies.

I pitch my idea to the group I want to run it with. I have to decide beforehand if the group would even be interested at all so that I don't waste anyone's time, including my own. Sometimes, I don't really know if it will go over until I ask. I usually do this few weeks, or even months before I intend to GM the first session. This way, if no one likes the idea I have time to come up with something else.

Depending on the group, I need a unanimous vote. I don't want to leave anyone out, especially the regulars. If I get a positive majority vote, with one, or two naysayers, I will do the following: If those who vote against are regulars, I'll drop the idea, and go for something else. If those who vote against the idea are not regulars, I'll either try to convince them to give it a shot, or hold the idea off until I can assemble those who liked the idea on their own.

This process right here eliminates the vast majority of my coolest game ideas from reaching the table. Getting four to six people to agree on a single concept is tough these days.

Next, the group asks me a few, OK a lot, of questions. Some are basic things about the story, setting, or what have you to make sure they are on the same page. They will largely ignore these answers come character generation time, but it's nice of them to ask. The rest of the questions will be in depth info that I either haven't developed yet, or things that would give away the major secrets of the campaign. I am usually able to dodge, or redirect these.

Without any further information, they immediately start making up characters. These characters often don't quite fit, and a process of adjusting them to the game, and the game to them, begins. Several incarnations of the characters follow, as well as scrapping the characters, and making completely new ones. This occurs an average of three, or four times prior to my running the first session per player.

Here's how it used to work:

I began with a concept, genre, or specific game I wanted to run. It could be teens who are going to school to be superheroes, Anime Action/Romance Sitcom, or my particular Blast City Blues setting for Teenagers from Outer Space.

I met up with my group, having told them only that I want to start a new campaign. I then pitched them the idea. Everyone would say, "Cool!", or "Great!", maybe even an "Awesome!"

We would immediately begin creating characters. Everyone would create a character that fit in perfectly with the basic idea.

Alternatively, I would announce the type of game I wanted to run a few days to a week before I'm going to see them, they would tell me the type of characters they wanted to play, and I would generate their characters for them. Then I would show up on our scheduled meeting day, hand out the characters, and we took about 15 minutes, or so modifying, and customizing them to exactly what everyone wanted.

Then we'd play (yep, that same day), for 6 hours or so, and see if everyone wanted to continue with the game as a campaign.

Comparing the results:

My modern approach has resulted in our Traveller - Operation: PALADIN campaign, which has been extremely successful.

It also created Pendragon: The Lion and The Sea, Bushido: Dark Cloud's at Land's End, Champions: REBIRTH, and Champions: ALL ACCESS, all of which were dismal failures.

The old method resulted in my Galaxy Quest RPG, Ghostbusters NJ, Star Wars: Tales from the Rim, Star Wars: Ever The Brave, Teenagers from Outer Space: Blast City Blues, Mekton: Distant Soldier Herakles, Mekton: Neo-Tokyo Crimebuster - Furiransu Keikan, Mekton: World Guard Tri-Gikura, Champions: Crusaders Vanguard, Traveller: The Corridor Chronicles, Traveller: Trojan Horses, and all my D&D-But-Not / World of Aerth campaigns.

Based solely on this track record, it would seem my new approach is not the best way to go about this process, wouldn't you say?

Ah, but if it were only that simple.

Perhaps it is, and I'm over-thinking it, even over-feeling it, but there are several factors that have lead me to arrive at developing a game the way I currently do these days.

Perhaps the most significant, at least in my mind, is (or rather was) the fact that I did not really know my current players before I started gaming with them.

In nearly all my old groups, we were friends before we gamed together. We either discovered gaming at the same time, introduced a given game to one another, or asked after a time, "So, do you game?"

Another key point is that I have two groups, both of whom I met, and started gaming with only 1-3 years ago. I have one friend in one of my groups who'd known me a bit before we started gaming together, but other than him these guys didn't know anything about me.

In my older groups, if I hadn't grown up right along side of my players, than I came recommended to the group by a mutual friend. My New Jersey group is a good example of this. My friend Nelson, who I'd first met when I was in Junior High, and he was in High School, gamed with me for years before introducing me to friends of his in NJ. The Jersey crew had heard from him, and others that I was a good GM, so they game me a shot.

Finally, my new groups are, hmmm, interesting in their familiarities, exposures, and preferences.

One of them had never seen Star Wars (or any of the Star Wars films for that matter). At least two in one group, and one in another group had not seriously ever read American comics. One of my groups is full of Anime/Manga fans, while the other seems to only have a smattering of Anime/Manga knowledge.

In my previous groups, we all read comics. We all read largely the same comics, or within two, or three degrees of separation from each other. We all watched Star Trek. We'd all seen all the Star Wars movies. We all loved Anime, and some had read Manga (I myself have watched a lot more Anime, than I have read Manga). We all loved Ghostbusters, Monty Python, The Marx Brothers, etc.

We had different favorites, but we liked A LOT of different things, and we were familiar with a comparatively broad spectrum of fandom from what I see among today's geek community.

So, I played it safe.

I took an easy, soft sell approach. I catered to my audience, or so I thought, instead of telling them to sit down, hold onto their seats, and just let me entertain them.

Am I sorry? Do I regret it? Well...

No, not 'regret'. That isn't the right word. We've had fun, created some great stories, and it seems like both groups are getting more experimental as time goes on.

Do I miss the old approach, and the gaming groups it worked with? Yes. I can't deny this. They were amazing gamers, and great friends. They helped me create stories so epic I continue to tell them to newcomers, as well as here on my blog.

Do I wish my new groups were more like my old groups? Sure, sometimes.

Who knows what the future will hold though, eh? New games, new players, new possibilities. I know I've not seen the last of my more avant garde ideas, nor the last of people who will try them.

It's all in the pitch.

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Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2015 - Day 8

I'm running a little behind, but for the best of reasons.

Friday night I had a date with my lady friend, and then on Saturday I walked 'Summer Streets' with my oh-so-awesome Mom.

For those unfamiliar with Summer Streets, New York City closes the incredibly busy Park Avenue, from 7:00 AM to 1:00 PM for three Saturdays in August each year, from the South End of Manhattan Island (near the Brooklyn Bridge), to 72nd Street on the Upper East Side.

My Mom, and I started right at the top, and walked all the way to the bottom, and then my Mother suggested walking over the Brooklyn Bridge to check out the park area below it on the Brooklyn side. When I was a young boy growing up in the county of Kings, that area was undeveloped, rocky shoreline. Now, it's a beautiful green space with walkways, fountains, places to sit, places to bicycle, and generally enjoy the view of the Manhattan skyline right across the water.

As a former Brooklynite who was always more enamored with Manhattan, I have to say I was pretty impressed.

Following that long trek, my Mom and I went our separate ways, and I got to hang out with my Barking Alien Gaming Group, debriefing them in greater detail on their time at Gen Con. We also got to play out the 31st session of our Traveller campaign. While it ended on a high note, and was really good overall, it had some stumbling moments that kind of bugged me. Why? The campaign is drawing to a close, with only 5 sessions left to go, and I feel like now is not the time to take your eyes off the prize.

We'll see how it goes.

My favorite appearance of RPGs in the Media? What...hmmm. OK, so my favorite time that gaming appeared in mass media like television, movies, and that sort of thing? Alright.

E.T.? I think one of my favorites would have to be the sequence in the film E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial where Elliot's older brother and his friends are playing what appears to be Dungeons and Dragons at their kitchen table late one evening.

The scene resonated with my friends, and I in such a way that it immediately made the world that Elliot, and his family lived in seem absolutely plausible, and instantly realistic. They were not just any family, or every family. They were just like us.

Also, for a while when D&D was getting a bad rap in the news media, most of the parents around my way ignored it. The attempts to smear gaming's reputation were waylaid by the fact that my friends, and I were able to say to our Moms, and Dads, "I'm going to my friends house to game. You know, like in E.T.."

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Barking Alien

His First Time

Thursday, July 30th, through Sunday, August 2nd, Indianapolis, Indiana was once again the host of what is touted as 'The Best Four Days In Gaming', the 48th annual gaming convention known as Gen Con.

According to the Gen Con website's Post Show Report, Gen Con 2015 set a new attendance record with a unique attendance of 61,423 and a turnstile attendance of 197,695.

Apparently, Gen Con has more than doubled in attendance since its 2010 show.
 
As someone who loves gaming, and is a fan of conventions of this nature, I have attended Gen Con in a personal, and professional capacity at least half-a-dozen to a dozen times. Each, and every time I had a great experience, and I look forward to going again in the future.

For many years now I've planned to go in 2017, come hell, or high water, as that August would mark my 40th year in the gaming hobby.

This year I was unable to go, but a few of the players in my Barking Alien Gaming Group went, including my friend Will. It was Will's first Gen Con. I was very excited to hear how his trip was, and what he thought of the show.

I met Will [as well as Hans, and Steve, two of my other players, and most of my other group - Dan's Group] at a local convention here in New York City called RECESS. Sadly, RECESS is not longer being run. A very sad, and unfortunate thing indeed.

Will was expecting, hoping, for RECESS on a grand scale.

Here is what he experienced.

***

 

Me: OK Will, give us your stats. Let's have your age, gender, place of origin, and how long you've been gaming for.

Will: I'm 32, Male, born and raised New Yorker, and I've been playing RPGs for 4 years, though I've been wanting to get into it since I was 10.

Me: How did you first learn about Gen Con?

Will: I learned about Gen Con from fellow RPG gamer friends (Ray and Steve).

Me: What made you decide to go?

Will: I had grown tired of going to conventions a few years ago, primarily from Otakon, Katsucon, and NY Comic-Con. I was hesitant to go again even when I found out so many of my friends were going, but then my wife said we were going, so I signed up.

(Incidentally his wife, Emi, is a lovely, funny, and all around awesome person who is totally not into table top RPGs. She likes computer/video games, computer/video RPGs, and board games. She is also into other aspects of fandom).

Me: What were your expectations (if any) going in?

Will: I was expecting a four-day long NYC RECESS, with a dealer's room like Comic-Con, and crowd levels like Otakon.

(Note a bad description actually).

Me: What were your first impressions when you arrived?

Will: My first impression was that it was just like Otakon in crowds, though far fewer people in costume. 

(Otakon is the largest, East Coast Anime, and Manga Convention. Last year's Otakon, its 21st annual event, had an attendance of 33,929 unique memberships, and an estimated turnstile attendance of 109,000. Gen Con is nearly double its size).

Me: What was your favorite experience while you were there?

Will: My favorite experience at Gen Con was at a late-night Zombie Escape the Train game where a father and his nine-year old son were part of the game. Not only was the game good, and I got to play my character and make some epic saves, it was heartening to see a father and son game and just get into it together. 

Me: What experience did you find most disappointing?

Will: My most disappointing experience was at a Champions game where I found myself the target of [another] player's awkward sexual harassment just because I was playing a female character. I don't care if he was playing in-character, it was jarring, and I felt very uncomfortable and didn't know what to say or do about it in the moment. I hadn't expected it, and hadn't ever experienced anything like it before.

(Suffice to say, this guy was an asshat, but so, in my opinion, was the GM of said game. If you don't see one of your players is harassing another, and ruining their enjoyment of the game, AT A PAID EVENT NO LESS, you yourself are a double asshat).

Me: How would you describe your overall experience?

Will: Overall, I was disappointed. I went in expecting RECESS, and instead I found half my games dominated by old, obese, men who played their games like assholes, and the other half dominated by GMs who didn't really know what they were doing. I am told by friends that it was in part my fault for my choice of games, and I guess it's true since I'm new to RPGing and have no idea which systems, and stories will attract which kinds of players and GMs.

(RECESS was extremely diverse, with gamers of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, genders, and interests. It was the entire melting pot of New York City, NY represented in a small get together of game fans.

Upon hearing about some of Will's choices, yeah, as a veteran of many games, and many conventions I probably could have steered him clear of some of his bad experiences. At the same time, I shouldn't have to. We should be doing everything in our power to make newcomers to the hobby welcome.)

Me: What is your biggest take away from your first Gen Con experience?

Will: My biggest take away is 2-fold. First, the people, both GMs and players, are more vital to the game than anything else. Second, veteran players seems to know which games attract which kinds of people, something I was very much not privy to ahead of time.

Me: What is the one thing you might do differently if you went again?

Will: If I could change one thing, it would be to let a veteran-player friend choose all my games for me. I chose based on my interests. What I needed was to choose based on what kind of people would attend each game.

Me: Would you go to another Gen Con?

Will: Honestly, I wouldn't attend Gen Con again even if I was paid to go, but my wife is likely going to want to go again, so, I'll probably go again while trying to make the most of it by employing my previous answer.

***

 

 

It is my hope that Will gives it another go. Further, I hope I get to go with him.

I have always really enjoyed Gen Con, and the overall feeling Will has for the show makes me very sad. I would very much like him to have at least as good a time at Gen Con as I've had in the past.

Thank you Will for allowing me to post this 'interview'.

Look forward to gaming with you soon.

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Barking Alien

Livin' la Vida Loca

Greetings All,

I want to talk to everybody for a moment about the status of Barking Alien - both the blog and it's proprietor, me. This is a personal post and a positive one in the end but it has nothing (or very little) to do with RPGs, Comic Books, Science Fiction, or other fandom related subjects. If you're here for those things thank you but check back with me on my next post.

If you're interested in what's been up with me and why I haven't posted or commented on others' blogs or generally been on the internet much in a while, well, here's the explanation. If you're a friend of the blog and I consider any visitor to this blog a friend in some capacity, this one's for you.

 

***

For sometime I have been experiencing financial difficulties resulting from my two jobs and my freelance, not quite covering my living costs. I knew I needed to find a less expensive place to live but didn't want to leave NYC because everything I have is here. My friends, my family, my businesses, and everything I love is located in the Big Apple.

Finally, my lease was up, and I had to move. Moving proved tricky, since my finances are tight, my credit isn't great (but it's not terrible), New York City is experiencing its lowest vacancy rates in decades (too many people, not enough available apartments), and time was of the essence.

I am happy to say, I found a place.

It was not easy however and it took me well over three weeks of searching, applying, getting rejected, searching again, getting approved, and finally moving.

My current apartment is a bit larger and a bit cheaper than my previous one, which saves me money. It is a little further North than I would've liked, which means I need to pay more in transportation (an increase in the occasional use of buses and trains).

I am located in New York's East Harlem section, sometimes colloquially referred to as 'Spanish Harlem'. While technically my last apartment was in East Harlem as well, I was really where it began and now I'm in the area proper.

I like it. It's taken me a few days, a couple of freak out moments, and a lot of physical work, but it's beginning to feel like home. Even my dog, who did not acclimate to the new apartment as easily as I'd hope, is finally relaxing, and settling in.

I just got my computer up, and running an hour prior to making to post. Before that, the machine was off since the late afternoon of June 30th. This, combined with the craziness of the past three weeks and change, has made it impossible to post or comment.

I want to apologize to Charles Atkins of DYVERS, who invited me to participate in an awesome project but my circumstances and mind set during the process have prevented me from getting my part done. I'm really sorry Charles. I wanted to be part of the project so badly. Is there still time?

As for the rest of my fans and followers, (yes, you too Hobo Joe), I intend for July to be fairly relaxed, so posts should build up again slowly. I am hoping to do something big for August, as it commemorates 38 years of my being in the RPG hobby.

Until then, sit back, chill out, enjoy the remainder of the Fourth of July Weekend (Happy Birthday America, and a Happy Illegal, Low-to-Medium Yield, Colorful Explosives Day to everyone!).

I hope to see you back here soon.

Peace, and Love,

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Barking Alien

Rough Winds Do Shake The Darling Buds of May

Portions of this post come from a text conversation I had with my friend Marcus, a phone conversation with my friend Rob, and an email conversation I am having with another friend, Dan. I have tried to use as much of the wording verbatim as possible, but some of it has been paraphrased, extrapolated, and of course added to.

 

Barkley always dresses up when I use

a Shakespeare quote for a post title.

I've been a bit discouraged and even bitter of late in regards to the games I've been a part of, with a few exceptions. I want to apologize to the GMs who work hard to make for an entertaining evening of dice slinging and story-telling while also suffering through having me as a player.

My frustration comes from my feelings toward my own gaming group, our difficulties in executing a long term campaign beyond our current one and the RPG campaign I intend to run with them once Traveller - Operation: PALADIN concludes.

 

Let me be perfectly clear about what I mean.

I love these guys. They're a great bunch of friends, and good, honest, solid Human beings.

 

Our Traveller game has been fantastic. Seriously one of my best campaigns ever, especially with regard to the depth of character and personality shown in the PCs. 100% Pure Awesome Sauce.

 

Anything else we try crashes and burns.

Now I'm sure a lot of it is me. I'm the Gamemaster after all and it's my responsibility to make sure it all works. Not without player assistance mind you, but in the end a campaign's failure weighs heavily on my brow because I see it as my fault it didn't take. Sometimes the players think it has taken but I don't like it or where I can see it going and I kill it 'too soon'. Again that's on me.

Bottom line is I'm the one who figures out how to make the magic happen and the one who wonders what I missed, what I could've done better, why the magic doesn't show or why it goes away.

It isn't all me either though. I've run many a great campaign over the last 37+ years. I've only had major difficulties in the last five years or so.

So what happened?

A major factor is that there are expectations, opinions, and ideas that each of us have that are so intrinsic to our natures, so ingrained, they can't be explained to others. If they can, perhaps they can not be easily understood. Very often, we aren't even aware that we think the way we do, as we've never had to look at it before.

Superheroes is this for me. I've been reading Superhero comic books since before I could read, watched innumerable cartoons, live-action TV shows, movies, and tried to use D&D to run an X-Men game before I knew there were Superhero RPGs. I went to art school hoping to become a comic book artist.

I can recommend a list of comics you should read to play in one of my Superhero games, tell you which Superhero RPGs I prefer (I've played practically every one ever made), and I can give my players a 20 page handout on what our campaign will be like...but none of that matters if you don't get Superheroes the way I do.
 

The conclusion I've come to after pondering this profusely and looking back on being a popular GM for so many of my friends for so many years is not going to be a popular one. It's one that any sane, creative person (an oxymoron?) will tell you to avoid like the plague.

Cater to your audience.
 

Fandom entertainment should, in my humble opinion, buck the tradition of giving the audience what the studio execs think the public wants and instead try giving the audience what it actually wants to see.

I fear, in violation of my own instincts and long years of experience, I have been playing the part of Hollywood and DC Comics. Emboldened by previous successes, I've focused on perceived potential rather than practicality, I have forgone listening to my own advice and someone has thankfully called me on it.

I came to this mad epiphany this past Friday while texting with my friend and player Marcus. I can't believe it but sometimes this dude has amazing insights.

He wrote:

"If you make the game about the game, not the PCs, but about the story, they [the group] are not going to like it."

Our [RPG group's] Traveller campaign works, not because they (the players) made characters for my game, or my story, but rather because I made a story based on their characters.

Every other game we've tried has failed because I am trying to get them to make characters for this game idea I have.

I realized today - No! No, no, no! That's all wrong. That doesn't work for this group. It doesn't work best for a lot of groups. I need to create a story I like based on the characters they make. It's the approach I've taken so many times in the past, but thought that I could get a little more experimental. A little more, dare I say, 'New Jersey Group'.

Now, it must still be a story I like. It must be a genre I enjoy. But as GM, I'm the host, the MC, the person there to entertain them. After all, don't we as GMs feel a rush when our players say what a great game we ran? On the other hand, if we have a ball, but they hated it, and never want to game with us as GM ever again, who suffers? Who wins?

Marcus warned me that, although this may be the key to creating another game as great as the Traveller one, it comes with a price...

"If you do it the other way...if you focus on the PCs first, and everything else second...you might have to deal with self-absorbed PCs."

Marcus is right again, but I feel like I'm going to have to deal with that anyway. It's the nature of many of the players in the group. I might as well get a good game out of it, right?

You see, I've got a few Plumbers in the group.

But that's a bit of business to be told on the 'morrow.

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Barking Alien





 

B is for Boot Hil, Should The Young Men Go West?

Prior to this post, I have only tagged Boot Hill, the 1975 Wild West Role Playing Game created by Brian Blume, and Gary Gygax, and published by TSR, only once before on this blog.

I may have mentioned it briefly a few other times.

That's just wrong.

Hmmm. Wrong might be too strong a word. I'll explain...

Hold it right there partner.

I plum reckon there maybe some clarifications in order.

Before I get into this in depth, I want to note that this is both a Thorough Thursdays entry, and the second installment in the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. As you can tell, I'm batting a thousand. I am a week late for both entries, which should have been posted Thursday, April 2nd.

Oh well, life goes on.

On a positive note, the albatross around my neck has finally been removed. I can afford to see a movie once in a while, take a day off, that sort of thing. Not too often of course, but compared to the past several months, it's going to feel like a vacation.

 

***

Now, in addition to having only one post tagged with Boot Hill, only three have ever been tagged with the words 'Wild West'. You'll also notice that there is only one previous entry for Deadlands (even though I may have mentioned it more than once in passing).

Truth be told, I am not a huge fan of Westerns. It's not that I really dislike them per se, I just don't list them among my top five favorite genres. I guess I would put them above D&D, Sword & Sorcery, smorgasbord Fantasy, but below Medieval Folklore Fantasy.

It just ain't my thing, the way my things are my thing.

Still and all, there was that one time I ran a Boot Hill campaign and it was awesome. So awesome in fact that I never even tried to do it again. 

Boot Hill was perhaps the second or third RPG I ever played. It is also possibly the second or third game I ever laid eyes on. This was back in the day when you could count the number of RPGs in print on your fingers.

Unlike Dungeons & Dragons I had an immediate frame of reference for Boot Hill, having already seen many a Western film and TV program by the age of 10. My maternal grandfather (who we called Pop or Poppy) and my Dad were huge fans of the genre. I ended up absorbing the tropes and atmosphere by osmosis. Thanks to my Pop's love of cinema and my father's fascination for old things, I learned to love the generation of John Wayne pictures as much as those of Clint Eastwood.

Add to the mix Wild West tales in the form I understood best, comic books. From DC's Jonah Hex, Batlash, and Pow-Wow Smith to Marvel's Kid Colt and the Rawhide Kid, Western comics were a staple part of my early collection. Actually, they were a staple of my cousin's collection, but I tended to read his comic books far more than he did.

All this exposure pooled together and helped me create one rootin' tootin', sure an' shootin' Wild West 'Boot Hill' campaign back in 1979.

Thirty-six years is a long time to wait for a sequel.

In my mind that means one of two things. Either, if I haven't made one yet that I don't need to make one. Some epics just don't need a '2'. That, or it's about time. Maybe even long overdue.

Sketch by Alan Robinson

 

As I toy around in my head with ideas for a new secondary campaign for my primary, New York group, the idea of a successor to my original Boot Hill campaign has crossed my thoughts more than a few times.

What do you think? Worth assembling a posse for, or should I just let the stage coach be on its way?

B is for Boot Hill

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Barking Alien