RPGaDay Challenge 2020 - EXPERIENCE

Experience.

Experience is the last of the prompts. 

As in, how was the experience of doing the RPGaDay Challenge this year? Kind of meh honestly.

I was really looking forward to the RPGaDay Challenge this time out because of how dreary and otherwise frustrating the real world has been. Unfortunately, the prompts this year were rather lackluster in my opinion. They simply didn't inspire me or instill me with excitement. With a few exceptions, they sparked neither memories nor creativity, feeling either too meta, too mundane, or both. 

I am hoping for a better next year...in more ways than one.

See you in September,

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Barking Alien

Lastly for the month of August

I've been wanting to come up with a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, the late actor who passed away recently at the age of 43 after an ongoing battle with colon cancer. Boseman was an extremely talented and prolific individual best known to us in the geek fandom community in the role of T'Challa, The Black Panther of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Words can not easily convey the sadness I felt at the new of his death, nor can they sum up what he was able to stand for and achieve professionally, personally, and as an iconic representation of our species at its best.

I would hope that you, my dear readers, friends, and fellow fans, will excuse my lack of a larger tribute in favor of this simple entry and share with me a moment of quiet contemplation and reflection for a life lived well but too shortly. 

Chadwick Boseman

1976-2020

Rest in Peace

RPGaDay Challenge 2020 - PORTAL

Portal.

Good grief! Can I organize your prompts next year? Why oh why wasn't this one of the first words? A portal is something that can lead to infinite possibilities. Wouldn't that be a great way to lead us into the RPGaDay event? Through a PORTAL maybe? 

*Seethes internally*

Portals are rarely a thing in and of themselves. It's where the portal leads that is the interesting bit. What can we do to make the portal itself interesting?

Here are some quick, off the cuff ideas: 

A Stargate-like archway consisting of two interlocking 'rings' that each have different symbols on them. The destination of the portal relies on which symbols line up together. Neat. Now what happens if you turn the dial so one of the rings comes up blank? Basically, a part of the ring between two symbols falls into place with the other rings showing symbols. What if two of them are 'betweens'? Does this send you outside of normal space-time? 

Picture a similar device but smaller, perhaps hand-held, with each individual holding what amounts to an old school telephone dial. 

In the novel series The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, travel to parallel Earths is possible by use of a relatively simple device known as a 'Stepper'; essentially a wooden box with copper wiring, a potato as a power source, and a single lever. One end of the top of the box is marked 'East' and the other end 'West'. Switching the lever to one of these two 'directions' sends you to another Earth.

A conceit in the books is that we in America tend to push and travel 'West', while those in Asia tend to go 'East'. It isn't until much later that someone considers the possibility of 'North' and 'South' directions. After completing the five book series I wondered about going North-East, South-West, and the like. 

What about Warp Gates or Jump Gates (the Tannhauser Gates of Blade Runner fame), massive structures that open artificial wormholes enabling ships to travel faster-than-light from one such portal to another. The Mass Relays of Mass Effect function this way.

Imagine if the sending relay or the receiving one is damaged due to a malfunction or exterior attack while your ship is in between gates. What happens? Are you lost, barreling forward through a hyper-luminal otherspace for all eternity? Perhaps instead you drop out of 'Gate Space' between your previous location and your target and must limp along to the nearest star system using conventional thrust or lesser FTL engines. Who built the Gates? Was it Humanity or some ancient, precursor species? How does such a technology, which might be far beyond our complete understanding, even suffer a malfunction? If it does, can anyone alive at this time repair it?

In my Winghorn Guard / D&D-But-Not universe, Circle Magic - the mystic art of drawing or etching magic circles and symbols for various effects - can be used to create portals of both the travel and summoning variety.

Like many aspects of magic on the Winghorn Guard world of Aerth, altering any portion of the mystic rotes or patterns can change the results of your magical endeavor, from helpful to surprising to absolutely catastrophic. What if you made the circle with sand, water, or some other element of the location you mean to travel to? That should make it easier or faster, no? What if you make the circle in the dirt with a stick (wand, staff, or rod) but then pour the blood, venom, or melted fat of a creature able to teleport into the grooves? The possibilities are endless!

That's it for now.

Last one coming up next...

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Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2020 - RIDE

Ride.

Here is another example of a prompt that should have appeared much, much earlier. I had an idea for it right away but my overall excitement for this year's challenge is way down at this point. I think my entry is pretty fun, yet I wonder how much better it would have been if I were really jazzed the whole month long. 

One of the often overlooked and unappreciated elements of PC equipment is the vehicle. I am excluding starships from this, although they would certainly qualify as 'rides'. I have written about such interstellar craft separately on a number of occasions, so I would prefer to open this up to other forms of travel. Here I am addressing more terrestrial, if sometimes unconventional, means of character conveyance.

Planes, trains, automobiles, and the like that are special both to the PCs and to their campaigns do not seem to be brought up as often as they once were. Have we lost our love affair with the super-car? I certainly hope not. I have fond memories as both a player and a Gamemaster of some very cool forms of PC transportation that have appeared in our games over the years.

The Crescent Moon (aka The Moon Flyer), from Champions: The Age of Chaos 

The personal vehicle of Night Force, the field leader of the New York City chapter of UNTIL's Project: UNITY, the Crescent Moon is one of the most advanced aerospace craft on Earth. Designed by Night Force himself using cutting edge technology both native and extraterrestrial, the 'Moon Flyer' (as it has been nicknamed) soars swiftly and absolutely silently on contra-gravity thrusters and specialty turbines. 

Painted with a unique material that enables the craft to absorb and manipulate light. The Moon Flyer can, for example, turn invisible or reflect light in a bright white, nearly blinding flash. From the ground below, the vehicle's underside can easily be mistaken for the actual moon in the night sky. 

The ship is largely automated and only requires a single pilot. It has room for perhaps one or two other people as the interior space of the craft is very limited. There is a small cargo area in the rear and a hatch on the bottom from which Night Force can descend [by ladder or leap]. 

The Crescent Moon has a number of weapons, defenses, and other gadgets, most of which are modular, enabling Night Force to switch them out for mission specific gear. 

Ecto-Plus (aka Ecto-1+), from Ghostbusters: The Home Office

With the original Ecto-1 used more for public appearances and PR, our team used a modern ambulance that had been heavily customized by the PCs. It included a Proton Particle Throwing Cannon mounted on a roof turret and operated from a gunner's seat in the back section of the vehicle.

Ghostbuster employee David Nelson kept advocating for an Ecto-Tank but Dr. Alex Thornton kept insisting the budget couldn't afford it. Apart from Dr. Ray Stantz's enthusiasm for the idea ("Just to see it happen!", he was quoted as saying), the team never got a clear Yea or Nay from Ghostbusters Central. 

Additional vehicles used by the team included a motorcycle with a detachable side car (Ecto-1c) and a converted Ice Cream truck (Ecto-1d) that had a miniature Containment Unit in place of it's refrigerator. These were only used on special occasions when the main vehicle was 'in the shop'. Additionally, the Ecto-1d was kind of experimental. 

The Metroliner, from Deeds Not Words: The Gods Wear Long Underwear 

One of my all time favorite RPG vehicles, the Metroliner was an independantly powered and operated subway train car owned by the street level superhero known as The Metropolitan. The Metroliner is highly modified and customized, capable of traveling through the New York City subway system at speeds far exceeding standard trains. It had a small control cabin, but as the rest of the car was of standard size, there was easily enough room for the rest of The Metropolitan's team and extra gear. 

Thanks to a specially designed navigation and override system, The Metropolitan can manipulate subway traffic to clear tracks and tunnels for a smoother, faster trip. He also has several secret stations and lengths of track that allow The Metroliner to disappear to make quick repairs. 

The engine of the Metroliner is extremely powerful and with the help of advanced magnetic cables, the vehicle can tow other forms of underground transportation up to and including a fully loaded subway train of a dozen cars or so. Other devices that the Metroliner is equipped with include fire extinguishers, mobile medical equipment, arc-welder/blowtorch, and a smoke screen ejector. A subway station headquarters/garage serves as the vehicle's housing and The Metropolitan's main base of operations. 

Blood, from The Legend of Boot Hill

While I have mentioned my Legend of Boot Hill game in the past, I can't seem to find a single post that references it in a way that would give this entry context. As such, if you're really interested in off beat Westerns, please feel free to search the blog using the Boot Hill or Wild West tags. That said...

There is a tall tale told by rancher, wrangler, and gunslinger alike, usually by a nighttime campfire and backed by the howling of unseen critters of the otherwise deserted regions of Texas, New Mexico, and Nevada, of an entity called The Red Rider and his horse, known simply as Blood.

It's body the color of cinnamon, covered from hoof to hind-quarters in brick-hued dust, with a mane and tail tinted a deep, dark rust, Blood is a horse like no other. Accounts of his size, speed, and strength vary and are probably exaggerated more with each telling.

All agree there is something unnatural about the beast and every description shares a nearly identical mention of the animal's eyes; large, glassy, black as pitch but surrounded by a red ring that almost seems to glow in the dark. Steam spews forth from its nose and mouth regardless of the temperature. Its hooves beat like thunder as it gallops but despite its size and weight, it can just as easily trot out of the shadows without even the slightest sound. 

The most disturbing thing about this creature is that, like its rider, it doesn't seem to die. Ever. For any reason. Witnesses have seen it shot by rifles, buried in a rockslide, and even gallop off a cliff as the Red Rider tried to get control of a runaway stage coach. Each time, the Red Rider and Blood reappear at some later place and time, appearing a bit worse for wear but alive and well...or whatever unholy state they're in that passes for such. 

In the decades that followed, as the locomotive, car, and other modern conveyances replaced the horse as our standard means of getting from one place to another, there were still stories told of a scarlet cowboy and his crimson steed that could be seen keeping pace with the great ironhorses of the Western rails.

Blood will always run.

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Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2020 - CLOSE

Close.

As an adjective it means being near to someone or something. 

As a verb it is the act of shutting something, such as a door or lid. 

So...we are close to closing the book on this year's RPGaDay Challenge.

Heh. I am so clever.

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Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2020 - FAVOR

Favor. 

Remember how in the the beginning of this year's RPGaDay event I mentioned that the early word prompts should be interesting and inspiring in order to get one motivated to continue on? This is a perfect example. Favor would have been a great week one or two word. A hundred times more intriguing and evocative than Thread, Couple, or Rest. 

Unfortunately we're now only a few days away from the end of August and I am so bored with this month's prompts I can barely generate any enthusiasm for this entry. Still, the show must go on...

I looked up the meaning of the word and found something curious; though it has multiple definitions, the numerous sources lead with what amounts to "a preference or partiality towards something." As in, you might be in favor of a particular idea or said idea might find favor with you and your friends. 

I immediately began to think of games I favor or which I am in favor of. My next thought was, 'Why do I favor these games?' I also wondered, 'Why am I using the word favor so much all of a sudden? Ah yes, the RPGaDay prompt."

Generally speaking, though there are certainly exceptions, my preference is for genres or settings I enjoy beyond gaming (meaning I also enjoy them in books, comics, films, TV shows, and other media), rules that don't get in the way of storytelling, and some element(s) of the game that feel right for what I am using it for. 

For example, the ALIEN RPG is relatively simple and to the point, with an interesting action economy and Panic system that reflects the combat in the ALIEN films and provides and effective mechanic for horror genre freak outs. 

All these elements also fit Red Dwarf perfectly, and as such the existence of the ALIEN game inspired me to run a Red Dwarf game, in spite of one being horror and one being comedy. Many of the concerns of those two types of stories overlap in ways I've discussed in the past. The main connection is that failure is the key to excitement, not success. At least, not initially. The threat of failure, especially catastrophic failure, it was enhances the successes when they are finally achieved. 

I also favor games where there aren't too many sub-systems branching off from or entangled with the main die mechanic. Basically, I like sub-systems I can drop. If something isn't working or slows the game down, I favor games that make modifying or dropping such systems a fairly easy task. As I have stated before, most games are over-written. Some of my favorite RPGs are only 50-75 pages in length and they're buried in books that are 250+ pages. 

I wish I had more to say but I think that is all for now. 

Luckily this challenge is almost at an end.

Have a great weekend if I don't see you!


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Barking Alien