Fantasy Versus Science Fiction...Total BS

The following post may have the possible side effect of making me somewhat unpopular, especially with those who can't tell my serious bits from my humorous ones. Luckily, I don't really care too much 'bout those people. I'm also not entirely sure where one ends and the other begins in this post to be honest...

To me, one of the major differences between Fantasy and Science-Fiction is the level of BS and how well it works in the setting you're creating. Perhaps level isn't quite the right word though. Nature? For instance...

In 9.9 out of 10 Fantasy settings I encounter, the bottom line answer for the why of all things is 'Magic'. Of course it is. It's Fantasy. At the same time it seems to me that very few writers and even fewer gamers determine what, if anything, magic is. I guess what I mean is, I feel you could put any word there and it would be just as valid (or invalid).

"How is it that these great and terrible winged lizards fly through the air and breath fire o' mighty and majestic master?", asked the young apprentice of Morbrood the Less-Dated.

"Why it's poop my boy", exclaimed the dateless Morbrood, "Everyone knows poop can do anything".

Now I know what you're thinking. Science-Fiction is the same thing. But it isn't to me.

In Science-Fiction, the BS needs consistency. It needs to make sense on close inspection, even if it's only internal sense in the setting. Just saying, "It's Science!" just doesn't cut it. In Fantasy, the cop-out is excepted, even expected. In Sci-Fi it comes off as lazy or poorly thought out.

Kind of a double standard. See, I think magic should mean something too. It should be something, even if that something is difficult to handle and impossible to fully understand. It should represent an idea or a concept on the nature of the nature of things and not simply be a word whose very definition is 'to hand wave; to not have a real answer. See also 'Full of crap.''

Not sure why this was on my mind but it was and so now, like an embarrassing youtube video of that party you went to last weekend, it's on the internet.

AD
Barking Alien

Mood Swing

My groups and I have been playing a lot of this...

...but some of my players are in the mood for this...

...while I find myself missing this...

Hmph. Mood swings.

AD

Barking Alien

MUPPET MONDAY ALERT!: Only 15 days until "The Muppets"! I think I'll watch it at least 3 times in the theaters. Maybe 5.

What We Don't Write About...

Noisms asks about...


Things Role Playing Bloggers Tend Not To Write About (And I try to answer why that may be...):

Book binding. (I can't be the only person who bemoans the way new rulebooks tend to fall apart like a sheaf of dry leaves after about 5 seconds of use).

Nearly all my books, dating back to my 1st Edition AD&D books, are in perfect condition with the exception of my 4th Edition Champions Hardbook which is huge and often read so it's not that odd to me.

Why don't we blog about it? I don't know. Don't feel like complaining about that sort of thing. 'Specially when you can get practically anything on PDF.

"Doing a voice". How many people "do voices"? Should they? How do you get better at "doing a voice" if that's your thing?
I do voices. Lots of voices. I have been practicing doing voices for years. I have read a number of articles and interviews with voice actors and obviously have a special connection to the puppeteers of Jim Henson's Muppets. I also make blasters sounds, explosion noises and my favorite, a hopefully unique 'CHUNG-Chi-Chung-Bang-Bang' sound of a malfunctioning Traveller jump drive.

I get better by practicing between games. I will say various things in a noted character's voice (a character who needs to appear more than once) repeatedly and/or in a variety of ways to get the sounds and style/personality right. I listen to sounds I need to use often (the Enterprise's Red Alert, Godzilla's roar, what-have-you) and try to repeat those as well.

Why don't we blog about it? No sure. Good subject.

Breaks. How often do you have breaks within sessions?

Eh. It's irregular. In a typical 8 hour session, I would say we break for snacks or bathroom for a few minutes at a time a few times a game.

Is this really a big thing? Most bloggers don't blog about it because...I don't know, I don't really care about this myself. Whatever works.

Description. Exactly how florid are your descriptions?
I'm a really visual guy, as are my players, so when I was younger I would be very descriptive and florrid, yet I and my players would also draw pictures of things. Eventually I realized that since I had pictures for a lot of things, I needed to waste less time describing those things.

I often think about what constitutes good descriptions and how much is too much.

Why don't we blog about it more? Not sure. We should.

Where do you strike the balance between "doing what your character would do" and "acting like a dickhead"?

Rarely comes up. I don't play with dickheads. What our characters do is not act like dickheads.

Why don't we blog about this more? I kind of think people blog about this too much. There are a lot of dickheads out there.

PC-on-PC violence. Do your players tend to avoid it, or do you ban it? Or does anything go?

Depends on the campaign. More often than not it just doesn't come up. We tend to all be on the same side.

Why don't we blog about it? Hmmm...I wish others would. I would be curious to read peoples opinions on this.

How do you explain what a role playing game is to a stranger who is also a non-player? (Real life example: my friends and I were playing in the local M:tG club space. A M:tG groupie teenage goth girl came over and asked, "What are you playing?" "[We answered.]" "Sounds kind of gay.")

I usually start by saying, "Ok, let's say you were going to the store and you saw a bright light in the sky. Really bright. Definitely not the sun. What would you do?"

After a few sentences back and forth I say, "Well, it's like that. That was role-playing. There are usually some die rolls involved."

Why don't we blog about this more? Well, most bloggers are old school guys who are preaching to the choir. Generally, they aren't talking to people who don't already play. So, maybe, they just don't think about it enough. Too bad. I think we should discuss it more.

Alchohol at the table?

Doesn't come up. Don't drink much or often.

Why don't we blog about this? Really? Don't know. Again, it doesn't come up for me.

What's acceptable to do to a PC whose player is absent from the session? Is whatever happens their fault for not being there, or are there some limits?

I try to reduce the level of activity of a PC missing their Player but I refuse to pretend they suddenly aren't where they were or don't exist. That is to say, if the Captain, First Officer, Doctor and Security Chief beam down to Beta Rotori IV and are still there at the end of the session, they are all there at the start of the next session even if Paul isn't there to play the Doc. The Doc becomes an NPC and I, as GM, will try to act as much in character as possible while also keeping him out of harm's way as much as possible.

Why don't we bog about this? We...wait. Sorry. What exactly is the subject? "What is acceptable to do to a PC whose player is absent". Do to? Ah. D&D thinking.

AD
Barking Alien

Empowered...More or Less

Ran the first of my Empowered based M&M 3E sessions and I have to say I am really unsure about how I feel about it.

First, I want to say the players were amazing. No, you don't understand. A-MAZE-ING! Huge kudos go to Erin Palette who all but stole the show as her character, party-hardy-goddess-of-having-a-good-time Debarchery.

Gwen, a new friend introduced through an old one (my good buddy, the often mentioned Dave) was excellent as Statuesque, a female, stone-skinned powerhouse.

Rounding out the group was Dave of course, whose character Grasshopper was played a bit too stiff and traditionally comic booky when compared to the other PCs and the setting. He certainly could have played it off as the straight man or focused on one of his character's key motivations (a strong disdain for the state of Superhero-as-celebrity that permeates the Empowered universe) but he didn't. I'll talk to Dave today and find out why.

In truth it was a ton of fun. So why as I feeling a bit bummed about it?

Well first, Skype sucked that night and we couldn't hear each other or the call was dropped for 75% of our session time. It was really annoying. It definitely slowed my pacing and threw off my GM mojo.

Second, I really, really missed not being there in front of the players. People in person rarely have any trouble hearing me. Also, I felt my energy level drain as I sat in my chair and looked at the computer screen. Boring. No watching people's reactions and expressions, no talking with my hands, no showing cool panels from the Empowered comic, no pointing to stuff to show distance. Bleh. I'll take playing at a table to playing online any day of the week.

Lastly, Dave put this bug in my head about getting back to my D&D-But-Not game world. I do love that world. I miss it periodically and now seems to be one of those times.

Anyway, a good game that could have been a great game. I will try to make it better each time.

Laters,

AD
Barking Alien

Fridays Are EMPOWERED!

Beginning this Friday, November 4th, I intend to run the first session of a new Mutants & Masterminds 3E RPG Campaign based in the universe (or one roughly parallel to it) of Adam Warren's sexy, superhero, action-packed comedic drama sitcom 'Empowered . 




For those unfamiliar with the Empowered 'American Manga' series from Dark Horse Comics, the book follows the adventures and very often misadventures of an aspiring young superheroine for whom the series is titled.

Empowered's superhuman abilities come from a 'hypermembrane' super suit that is tighter than skintight. We're talking 'painted on' in appearance. Unfortunately while the suit provides super strength, the ability to project energy blasts and a number of other minor abilities, it's ablative, with each hit that it takes protecting its wearer at the cost of it deteriorating. As it shreds, its power providing capacity diminishes. The end result is our spunky but highly self-conscious heroine bound and gagged by the villains or their minions and left for the rest of her team to find.

Despite the setbacks of her crappy super suit and it's unreliable abilities, major self-esteem issues and a lack of support from her teammates (who are largely a bunch of jerks), 'Emp' has triumphed on a number of occasions against major league villains. Also, her supporting cast, from her a-hole fellow 'Capes' to her female ninja best friend (Ninjette) and her former witless minion boyfriend (Thugboy), is absolutely awesome.

The key components of the series are it's humor, it's focus on realistic human emotions, failings and relationships and, IMHO, the world in which the Empowered stories take place.

Oddly, I would almost describe the Caped Community of the Empverse as being akin to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Sure, the Capes interact with the mundanes a bit more but they seem to have this whole other world that they run. Suprahumans are not answerable to anyone except other Suprahumans. In the past, this has caused some serious situations to unfold.

At the same time there is a Suprahuman cable news network with Suprahuman reporters, a Suprahuman Treatment Wing at the Purple Paladin Memorial Hospital with Super-Doctors and Uber-Nurses and a whole host of secrets only the other superheroes seem to know.

I highly recommend reading the series as both the art and the writing is superb. I love Empowered! Its currently my favorite superhero comic on the market today.

Over the next few days I will discuss my campaign concept, how it relates to the series and hopefully have a recap of the first adventure sometime Sunday evening.

Later,

AD
Barking Alien