As much as I love being an “improvise first” game master, I do fair bit of preparation ahead of planned game sessions.

At the very least, I have a decent diagram that shows me the different factions, events and locations.

For example, here's two graphs that I set up for a Dresden Files RPG session I did a while ago.

First off, there's a mindmap of the major players, objects and things they do.

And then, because it is a time loop adventure, I needed to make sure I grokked the timeline:

(Apologies to my non-german peeps – the text is all gobbledygok to you now :) )

Anyway, this sort of thing is nearly always part of my prepwork. Additionally, I of course set up at least rudimentary stat blocks and rules for the different NPCs and enemies, but how much I do here varies highly from game to game.

And when I run a Raiders of Arismyth game, which is very much focussed on battlemaps, 3D terrain and miniatures, I of course need to set those things up too. I prize myself for being a fast game master.

That means that I put a lot of effort in to prevent those moments where a player announces and action or asks me something, and I then need to look for the answer in a stack of paper for a few minutes, or where I'd fiddle with the music to get it juuust right, or having to fetch a miniature from the other room.

So I stole an awesome idea from Wyloch – The staging box: I have boxes that have shelves in them, where I can “stage” different parts of the adventure: Whole rooms, areas, corridors, encounters, and so on.

So when I need them, I can just reach into the right shelf and presto, the new dungeon set piece is on the table. Mine are actually a bit bigger though: That way I can use pre-arranged and decorated rooms, made from Dungeon Blocks. To make them nice I decorated the boxes with old RPG posters and illustrations, Mod Podge is good for that, and it makes the boxes even sturdier.

I do recommend doing prep, even if you're otherwise mostly improvising. #pnpen #preparation

Ok, story time kids. Once upon a time, I decided I needed a blog. That time was 1996 or so, and I hosted it on whatever I could, posting whatever came through my mind. The whole thing moved from hand coded html to hand coded active server pages, to hand coded php to Serendipity and eventually to WordPress.

It stayed a WordPress site for maybe 10, 15 years?

At some point it got hacked, I cleaned it up, then it got hacked again, so I cleaned it up again and sometime near the end of last year it got so thoroughly fucked that I took everything offline and looked into static site generation.

Hugo, eleventy and others got evaluated and I hated all of it. Eventually I settled on Grav, but it lacked things like interaction and was finicky in other parts.

So, this is my attempt with Write Freely, mostly because it does offer ActivityPub federation.

But while Write Freely can import markdown files, it isn't really good at doing so as a migration functionality. Metadata gets lost, most importantly posting dates.

I griped about it a while and eventually realised that I could import things via SQL. So the task became clear:

1. Export everything from my previous WordPress installation into a WordPress export XML file
2. let te WordPress Export to markdown tool loose on that file to generate a bunch of markdown files and download all the images that are linked in there.
3. ask Copilot to write a python script that converts those markdown files with frontmatter metadata into an SQL script
4. tweak that script until it actually works and produces SQL that doesn't clash with the WriteFreely database constraints
5. Then realise that a bunch of pictures are missing because the wordpress-to-markdown tool couldn't find them at their original path anymore. Hunt those down.
6. Realise that Write Freely doesn't really do pictures. Hah.
7. set up an extra web service on the NAS to serve those pictures.
8. Do regex search&replace to fix picture URLs
9. Import and test, repeat until everything works.
10. ...
11. Just kidding, there's no profit here!

If you're interested, here's the code I got from Copilot, slightly tweaked by me:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import os
import re
import yaml
import logging
import unicodedata
import random
import string
from datetime import datetime
from tqdm import tqdm

# ---------- CONFIG ----------
ROOT_DIR = "./output"   # folder containing your markdown hierarchy
OUTPUT_SQL = "writefreely_import.sql"
OWNER_ID = 1
COLLECTION_ID = 1
# ----------------------------

# 🔥 MUST be here — global slug registry
slug_registry = {}

logging.basicConfig(
    filename="conversion.log",
    level=logging.INFO,
    format="%(asctime)s [%(levelname)s] %(message)s"
)

def generate_post_id():
    """Generate a WriteFreely-style 16-char base62 ID."""
    alphabet = string.ascii_letters + string.digits
    return ''.join(random.choice(alphabet) for _ in range(16))

def slugify_unique(title):
    """Generate a slug and ensure uniqueness by adding numeric suffixes."""
    # Base slug
    base = unicodedata.normalize("NFKD", title)
    base = base.encode("ascii", "ignore").decode("ascii")
    base = re.sub(r"[^a-zA-Z0-9]+", "-", base).strip("-").lower()[:20]

    if base == "":
        base = "post"

    # Check for duplicates
    if base not in slug_registry:
        slug_registry[base] = 1
        return base

    # Collision → append suffix
    slug_registry[base] += 1
    new_slug = f"{base}-{slug_registry[base]}"

    logging.warning(f"Duplicate slug detected: '{base}' → using '{new_slug}'")

    return new_slug


def detect_language(text):
    german_chars = "äöüÄÖÜß"
    german_count = sum(text.count(c) for c in german_chars)

    return "de" if german_count > 2 else "en"

def normalize_taxonomy(value):
    """Ensure taxonomy fields are always lists, even if quoted or single."""
    if value is None:
        return []
    if isinstance(value, list):
        return [str(v).strip('"') for v in value]
    if isinstance(value, str):
        return [value.strip('"')]
    return []

def parse_markdown(path):
    with open(path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
        content = f.read()

    parts = content.split("---")
    if len(parts) < 3:
        raise ValueError(f"File {path} missing front matter")

    front_matter = yaml.safe_load(parts[1])
    body = "---".join(parts[2:]).strip()

    title = front_matter.get("title", "Untitled")
    date_raw = front_matter.get("date", "2000-01-01")

    # normalize date
    # dt = datetime.strptime(date_raw, "%Y-%M-%D")
    created = date_raw

    taxonomy = front_matter.get("taxonomy", {})
    categories = normalize_taxonomy(taxonomy.get("category"))
    tags = normalize_taxonomy(taxonomy.get("tag"))

    all_tags = list({t for t in categories + tags})

    language = detect_language(body)
    slug = slugify_unique(title)

    return {
        "title": title,
        "slug": slug,
        "created": created,
        "content": body,
        "language": language,
        "tags": all_tags
    }

def generate_sql(posts):
    sql_lines = []
    tag_lines = []

    for post in posts:
        post_id = generate_post_id()
        title_sql = post['title'].replace("'", "''")
        content_sql = post['content'].replace("'", "''")
        sql_lines.append(
            f"INSERT INTO posts "
            f"(id, slug, text_appearance, language, rtl,  view_count, privacy, owner_id, collection_id, "
            f"created, updated, title, content) VALUES ("
            f"'{post_id}', '{post['slug']}', 'norm', '{post['language']}', 0, 0, 0, "
            f"{OWNER_ID}, {COLLECTION_ID}, "
            f"'{post['created']}', '{post['created']}', "
            f"'{title_sql}', '{content_sql}');"
        )


        for tag in post["tags"]:
            tag_clean = tag.replace("'", "''")
            tag_lines.append(
                f"INSERT INTO post_tags (post_id, tag) VALUES ('{post_id}', '{tag_clean}');"
            )

    return "\n".join(sql_lines + tag_lines)

def main():
    posts = []
    md_files = []

    # Collect markdown files
    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(ROOT_DIR):
        for file in files:
            if file.endswith(".md"):
                md_files.append(os.path.join(root, file))

    logging.info(f"Found {len(md_files)} markdown files.")

    # Process with progress bar
    for path in tqdm(md_files, desc="Processing markdown files"):
        try:
            post = parse_markdown(path)
            posts.append(post)
            logging.info(f"Parsed: {path}")
        except Exception as e:
            logging.error(f"Error parsing {path}: {e}")

    sql = generate_sql(posts)

    with open(OUTPUT_SQL, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
        f.write(sql)

    logging.info(f"SQL written to {OUTPUT_SQL}")
    print(f"Done! SQL written to {OUTPUT_SQL}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Am Wochenende war Bastelstunde!

In meinem Spiel Raiders Of Arismyth ist jede Sitzung in sich abgeschlossen. Das bedeutet, dass alle Sitzungen zwar in einer fortlaufenden Geschichte und einer zusammenhängenden Welt stattfinden, die Gruppe sich jedoch nach der Sitzung auflöst und zu Beginn der nächsten Sitzung aus den regulären Charakteren neu gebildet wird. Im Allgemeinen handelt es sich um ein Spiel im West Marshes-Stil.

Schätze sind hier wichtig, da sie auch die Mechanik darstellen, mit der die Charaktere Fortschritte erzielen können. Um den Verwaltungsaufwand zu reduzieren, habe ich den Spielern bisher sofort mitgeteilt, wie viel ihre Schätze wert sind, wenn sie sie verkaufen. Und wenn in einem Szenario von „wertvollen Edelsteinen” die Rede ist, habe ich ein paar Würfel geworfen und so die konkrete Zahl ermittelt.

Dadurch wird uns allen das wunderbare/unangenehme Nebenspiel genommen, zu beurteilen, „ob es sich lohnt, dies mitzunehmen”. In der letzten Sitzung wurde dies noch deutlicher: Die Gerüchte, die sie vor dem Betreten des Ortes gehört hatten, besagten, dass eine bestimmte Sache sehr wertvoll sein könnte, aber in Wirklichkeit war sie völlig wertlos. Wenn ich ihnen das sage, sobald sie sie aufheben, zerstört das irgendwie diesen Teil.

In der tatsächlichen Spielsituation habe ich das irgendwie überspielt, und es war kein großes Problem, aber es hat mich enorm gestört: Wie kann ich den Verwaltungsaufwand reduzieren und gleichzeitig den Spielfluss interessant und schnell halten?

Hier kommen diese kleinen Schatzumschläge ins Spiel: Ich werde eine Reihe davon in verschiedenen Schatzgruppen (kleine Fische, mittelgroß, reich, phänomenal oder so ähnlich) vorab erstellen und dann diese einzelnen Stapel zum Verteilen bereithalten. Auf die Außenseite schreibe ich dann den Namen oder die Beschreibung des Gegenstands, und auf der Innenseite steht, was die Spieler dafür auf dem Markt bekommen.

Es wird auch eine Reihe von leeren Umschlägen geben, damit ich bestimmte Werte eintragen kann, und vielleicht werde ich mir noch ein paar zusätzliche Notizen ausdenken, wie „Wenn du versuchst, es zu verkaufen, alarmiert der Käufer die Stadtwache, da dieser Gegenstand als gestohlen gemeldet wurde“ oder so etwas in der Art :D

#pnpde

Am Wochenende haben wir mit unserer Stammgruppe mal zur Abwechslung nicht Pathfinder sondern einen Ftaghn One-Shot gespielt: Block B

Der Klappentext verspricht da einiges:

Dieses Szenario führt hinab in die tiefsten Abgründe der eigenen Seele und ist düsterer, als der lichtlose Raum deiner Einzelzelle. Du wirst dir wünschen, dass die Mörder nebenan dein geringstes Problem sind. Und dann wirst du dir wünschen, dass sie endlich aufhören zu schreien.

Die vorgefertigten Charaktere sind allesamt Insassen in genau diesem Block B. Als Straftäter haben sie natürlich alle eine dunkle Vergangenheit, und das Übernatürliche sorgt dafür, dass sie diese nicht einfach abschütteln können.

So zumindest der Plan, den das Abenteuer vorsieht.

Wir hatten alle Spaß damit, aber diese tiefsten Abgründe der Seele haben wir irgendwie nicht erreicht. Im Gegenteil, das Szenario bot sogar einem der Charaktere ungefragt ein Out aus einem moralischen Dilemma.

Zum Teil kann das sicherlich auch an unserer Gruppenkonstellation liegen: Wir kennen uns seit Jahrzehnten, und spielen im Grunde nie antagonistisch miteinander – und so wurde aus den Zellengenossen, die sich gegenseitig grob misstrauten zwar keine Freundegruppe, aber zumindest Schicksalsgenossen, die sich keine auch keine unbequemen Fragen stellten.

Aber generell lockt das Abenteuer zwar mit Anknüpfpunkten für Drama und Horror (ein Countdown zum eigenen Tod, eine unheimliche Gestalt, unerklärliche Ereignisse, Gangs, fiese Wärter), aber die Abläufe, der Abenteuerzeitraum von nur einigen Tagen und der geplante Tagesablauf sorgen dafür, dass man sich da gar nicht so richtig drauf einlässt.

Und ich persönlich finde ja, dass Ftaghn da an den völlig falschen Stellen mechanisch wird – der Horror stellte sich zumindest für mich nicht wirklich ein.

Zuletzt: Das Ende war mir eigentlich sofort klar, als der Nebenplot von dem einen Charakter aufgedeckt wurde – unser SL hat es im Rahmen des Abenteuers finde ich ziemlich gut umgesetzt, aber ich hätte es wohl anders geschrieben :)

Fazit: Ich glaube, da wäre mehr drin, aber trotz der paar Tippfehler im vorgefertigten Charakterbogen und der genretypischen Plotschienen ist es ein interessantes Szenario – und ich glaube nicht, dass es ein Zufall ist, dass es in Maine spielt, es ist sehr Stephen King :)

Let's talk about Cruise Ships. Due to a combination of my dads bucket list, my moms aversion to flying and the general wish of families to occasionally do things together, I've found myself on one of those, because the alternative was a very long road trip in a car, interspersed with a long ferry ride.

But the why isn't important, the experience of the Cruise itself is what I want to write about.

And while there is a lot of complaining in this post, I want to really drive home that the individuals we encountered are really pleasant and earned the hefty tips we gave them. We're having a great time all in all, but some things prevented us from having the best one, and they could have been easily avoided…

Cruise Ships are big hotels on the sea where they try to extract a lot of money from about 3000 people over two weeks. Some of these pay a lot up front and get a nice cabin with a view and perks, and some pay less money up front, get a dark hole in the bowels of the ship and less perks and pay for every extra.

I'm luckily in the former category right now. We have a “Suite”, a package deal that gets us most drinks and food free, extra ice cream and a butler. (Whose services we're not really using, because, uh, we don't need them?)

Still, there are a lot of small and big frustrations about the whole thing:

The ship is big

3000ish passengers, about a 1000 crew, 14 decks, 30ish lifts, corridors, shops, swimming pools, several restaurants, bars…

And it's a maze.

Not all decks allow you to get all the way from front to back of the ship, the corridors all look alike (although the artwork is very subtly of a different theme for each deck). There are of course no windows in the corridors, and there is no way to easily know if you're walking towards the front or the back, or on which side of the ship you are. It's mildly disorienting at best.

There is a constant uncertainty

Breakfast and dinner times vary. The information about what is and what isn't included in your package deal isn't clearly spelled out in one place. The website tells you to reserve a spot in the buffet restaurant even though the booked package allows you to go to the “premium” one whenever you want. You get a table assigned on your board card, but you can actually sit wherever you want.

You get day-to-day information that is hidden in marketing speak and when you ask for clarification, there are five different places you can ask for them, and only one of them actually knows the answer.

There is an app that you can use, but it only fully works when you're connected to the ship wifi, and not when you're out on an excursion on land. Also, the quality or precision of the available information varies quite a bit.

And did I mention that some of the restaurants and places have different names depending on time or occasion?

The Upsells

I understand that this ship is a money-extracting machine. And of course Spa treatments or fancy dinners or special drinks cost extra. But we're eating in the “fancy” restaurant, where you already get a variety of three course meals included in the package.

It feels pretty cheap when they then have someone walk around with an iPad showing a fancy lobster dinner that you can pre-book for the dinner in two days and ask at every table if they want to upgrade. And then come over with the expensive cocktail menu. Every. Fucking. Day.

On top of that there are lots of ship photographers who'll try to rope you in to staged and not so staged photography. The results you can buy on paper for a considerable sum for each photograph. In itself nice, but you still constantly find yourself saying no to people who get into your face.

That extends to the activities as well: They are opportunities to sell products.

The staged “experiences”

You know these bartenders that mix cocktails in a theatrical way, then serve them with a flourish? Or those dishes that get prepared to you at the table?

This cruise has a lot of that, except that the people doing it haven't come up with themselves. Instead, they are painstakingly, obviously, and painfully following a script given to them by someone from high up in the foodchain. And in the restaurant, there are even immediate supervisors who will actively take a hand in correcting or “helping” them.

Both of these things completely ruin the experience: The server is trying to do their job, having a smile on and trying to do the flourishes “just right”. And then the supervisor comes in and shows them how to cut the cheese.

Worse: You tell the server to please put the pork on a different plate of the group sampler, because food allergies, and then the supervisor swoops in and puts the salami right next to the falafel because “that's how it is supposed to look!”

People and the entertainment

I get it. Cruise ships are inherently for people-people. And especially for those who don't have a cabin with a view, entertainment on ship is a thing that is important to have. So there is. Except that all of it is loud and in your face.

Think Bingo nights, group dances, music in bars… all of that is aimed at extroverts and people who don't mind loud places.

We found one bar (thanks to the server in the Wine Bar, who recommended us to sample the Velvet Underground cocktail in the Sunset Bar) that was small, not too loud, and had interesting cocktails. She also made clear to us that this bar was also included in our particular package, despite what the app said. We had a drink, loved the place, and then head to leave again because our food was ready.

Next day, there was loud music and a person with a microphone cheering on and narrating in painful and scripted detail how one of the cocktails was mixed. Seriously, just turn the music down, and then the four people in the bar actually interested in that could hear the barkeep explain the thing by themselves. But no, corporate had decided that there was to be a script…

Dear cruise line, here's my recommendation

I'm absolutely aware that they aren't reading this blog. Maybe I'll send them a mail. But still, any cruise product manager, here's my suggestions based on what I experienced myself and have heard from others on this trip:

• Keep in mind the Cruise Newbies That means that they won't know how to navigate the dozens of bars and restaurants, they won't know what to do about the safety drill, and when there is rougher than usual seas and the PA system talks about knots, they have no idea if they are in danger or not.

• Have dedicated quiet areas. Yes, these cost valuable space, and can't be used for upsells. But you'll have more introvert customers. You know, those who pay money to be left alone, which is a pretty cheap thing to give to them.

• Don't bury information in niceties. I know, you want to be friendly and all corporate in your communications, but for the important bits, keep to the what, when, where, and who. Best in a bullet list format.

• Make port&starboard sides and stern&aft visually distinctive. Different carpet colours, different wallpaper, and so on. Make it easy to get a feel of a location. People shouldn't have to look for the next sign to have a feel of where they are. Especially in the interior corridors.

• Make the upsells more subtle. Especially for those that already have paid more than €4k Euros per person to be on the ship. They can probably afford the upsells, but they don't want to be annoyed over them.

• Make acting on information about food allergies a priority. This isn't directed at the individual staff people (who generally were good about that), but at the system that obviously isn't geared at keeping the information at hand. Especially when “stagecraft” trumps a servers discretion on how to best handle food for a table with known allergies.

• Either upgrade your stagecraft, or ditch it. Most of the service crew were really friendly and competent, but got hampered by the theatrics forced on them. And the interactions with them became a lot more pleasant and also effective, if they weren't obviously following a script.

• Work on your customer-facing website and app. It's a pain to log on, information is scattered all about and a lot of the questions my mom asked me weren't answered at all anywhere, or buried deep. (“Is there a hairdryer in the room” for example. “What exactly is included?” another.) And don't get me started on the fact that you cannot do certain things in the app if you aren't on board. And one day, I got logged out of the app, and when logging back in it informed me that my internal chat will be deleted, because the app was convinced I was on a new device…

• Again: Clear communication instead of flowery corpo speak please! At one point, I got a note that I was invited to link my credit card to my onboard card (which opens the cabin can also be used to pay for stuff onboard). What the note actually meant was “there are port fees you need to pay”, which my partner explained to me when I was about to not just follow the invitation.

• Get better at managing people flows. Generally, this was on point, but a lot of it was impromptu and haphazard. Fine in general, but very annoying if you mix self-confident assholes and polite people pleasers in the same line and expect them to sort things out by themselves. Not cool.

Conclusion

Again, this was all in all a very pleasant experience. But to be honest, my expectations weren't quite met. Of course it helped that we went to one of my favourite holiday destinations (Iceland), and, again, the staff we personally interacted with were pleasant, friendly and went to lengths trying to make our experience a nice one.

But as so often, systemic forces worked against that, and maybe someone will someday come up with a Cruise concept that will appeal to me :).

For a while now, I've been tinkering with my own roleplaying game, Raiders of Arismyth. One of the things I realised early on was that I need a good way lookup rules and other information quickly. Find the proper tables, skill descriptions and so on, and to be able to disseminate it to my players.

I briefly tried elventy, Hugo and similar frameworks, but found out that I'm not enough of a developer to actually enjoy doing that. But then, I've been using Obsidian for a while now to do random notetaking and to organize my campaign notes. Turns out, with the right plugins and other setup, this is pretty good!

So, what am I using, and how?

To start with, I've installed Obsidian, obviously. I'm storing the vault on my NAS, so I can access it via SMB share and webdav, regardless of where I am. I'm using the following plugins:

• Core plugins
  (These are mostly enabled by default anyway)

  • Backlinks

  • Command palette

  • File Recovery (just in case)

  • Note composer

  • Files

  • Graph view

  • Page preview

  • Quick switcher

  • Templates

• Community plugins

  • Dataview
    This enables queries to quickly add lists or tables composed from other notes, a godsend when it comes to compiling skill lists and such. The “News” section pseudo-blog is also compiled with this.

  • Dataview Serializer
    Dataview doesn't always play nice when exporting the whole vault to a website – the serializer plugin sorts that out by writing the result of the Dataview directly into the note.

  • Style Settings with the ITS Theme by SIRvb
    purely aesthetical, it makes the whole notebook look vaguely like a D&D book (I'm using WOTC/Beyond as TTRPG theme)

  • Virtual Linker / Glossary
    I find this super useful: I have a glossary folder, and whenever the plugin finds a glossary note title in any of the other notes, that becomes a link. And inside of Obsidian itself, the link even gets a hover-preview.

  • Webpage HTML Export
    This is what makes the site creation magic. The plugin grabs all notes and folders and files I tell it to grab, wraps them in some javascript and presto, you get something that can be uploaded to a webserver and provides a nice static site.

Whenever I want to update the site, I use the Command palette to trigger “Generate HTML Export using previous settings”. Obsidian itself doesn't upload the result, for that I use a WinSCP shortcut on my desktop. It is not the most streamlined or automated process, but easy enough. The downside is that I really need to have an installed Obsidian on a desktop device – I cannot edit the Vault from the web, nor can I trigger the website update that way.

On the upside, I don't need to worry overly about the website being hacked through unsafe PHP scripts, so there's that. :)

Ich war von Mittwoch bis Sonntag auf einer Klein-Con mit etwas über 50 Freunden und Freundesfreunden. Es wurde gegessen, getratscht, und vor allem natürlich: Gespielt.

Mittwoch: Troubleshooters – Der Geisterritter

Ihr kennt all die francobelgischen Comics die in den späten 60ern spielen und Agenten, Journalisten, Zeitreisende und andere wagemutigen Leute dabei begleiteten, wie sie mit viel Witz und Action Verschwörungen auf die Spur kommen?

Genau das ist das Troubleshooters Rollenspiel. Ich war Elektra Ambrosia, griechische Profi-Rallyfahrerin und Medienliebling. Und leider meinte meine Stimme direkt am Mittwochabend in den Urlaub zu gehen. So konnte ich nicht wie ursprünglich vorgehabt die enthusiastische junge quitschende Frau geben, sondern maximal einen heiseren kettenrauchenden New Yorker Gangsterboss. Dennoch, ein Abenteuer mit viel Spaß und Action.

Troubleshooters ist ein einfache und ruck-zuck erlerntes System, und kommt mit Beispielcharakteren die dann auch als Aufhänger und für die Illustrationen der Abenteuer benutzt werden – Handouts fühlen sich also gleich viel persönlicher an!

Donnerstag: Dresden Files – Rixdorf Roundup

Zum ersten Mal seit, uh… 12-15 Jahren oder so leite ich wieder selbst eine Runde Dresden Files. Die Spielergruppe ist quer durch Deutschland verstreut und spielt ca. 8x im Jahr mit altgeliebten und völlig übermächtigen Charakteren. (Sie haben einen 18er Refresh. Der Regelwerk Harry Dresden, ein durchaus kompetenter Zauberer und Held der Bücher hat 10…) Aber was solls, man nimmt sowas ja sportlich! (Auch wenn man schon merkt, dass das Spielsystem für diesen Powerlevel nicht ausgelegt ist, es knirschte immer wieder an allen Ecken und Enden.)

Worum ging es?

Ich habe wie üblich bei anderen Medien gewildert. In diesem Falle aus der Perry Rhodan Heftserie. Bei mir ist es nun die parasitische Stadt Allerorten, die sich immer wieder Teile anderer Städte einverleibt, sie ausnimmt, und dann in der nächsten Stadt zurücklässt. Vor 100 Jahren wurde so zum Beispiel Marzahn Teil Berlins – obwohl es ursprünglich eigentlich aus Bayern stammt!

Allerorten fälscht Erinnerungen, Urkunden, etc., damit die Leute glauben, die Stadtteile wären schon immer da gewesen, bzw. hätten nie existiert. Rixdorf gehörte früher in der Tat zu Böhmen, wurde kurzfristig aufgenommen, bot aber zu wenig und wurde zusammen mit Marzahn in Berlin ausgespuckt. Inzwischen hat Berlin es “fett” gemacht, und Allerorten hat jetzt doch Appetit…

Insgesamt ein fulminantes Abenteuer an dessen Ende die Heldengruppe die Wilde Jagd durch Allerorten wüten ließ und durch die ungeplante Vermischung des NeverNever mit dieser kosmischen Stadt letztere zerbrechen ließ.

Sehr schönes Spiel, und meine Verwendung eines sichtbaren Timers der die nächste Attacke auf Berlin ankündigte sorgte bei mehr als einem der Spieler stets für Nervosität. Generell hat sich meine Vorbereitung mit vielen Handouts ausgezahlt: Das Abenteuer besteht aus Listen von Orten, Leuten und Dingen, und dann hatte ich für alle dazu jeweils eine kleine Karte mit Bild und Name erstellt. Das hat mir bei der Vorbereitung enorm geholfen, weil ich so die Leute und Dinge auch direkt vor Augen hatte, und natürlich auch der Gruppe.

Teilweise hatte ich die dann ad hoc zweckentfremdet (aus einem Bauarbeiter wurde so ein Mitarbeiter der Müllverbrennungsanlage). Dazu hatte ich auch eine Eskalationsleiter festgelegt, und grobe Regeln für das Ringen der Städte um Rixdorf – alles in allem ein gut vorbereitetes und schön abgelaufenes Abenteuer.

Freitag: Rückkehr nach Khazad-dûm

Blechpirat schickte uns mit Trophy Dark mit Balin und seinem Troß in die Minen von Moria, auf das wir dort elendig umkommen und die Gefährten des Ringes unsere Leichen finden können…

Wir spielten also um zu verlieren, hoffentlich episch, auf jeden Fall aber tragisch.

Auch hier ein recht simples und evokatives System. Die Mechanik der Light und Dark Würfel, die einen immer mehr in den Ruin führen um das Ende auf Kosten der Gefährten immer noch mal kurz hinauszuzögern setzt eine schöne Stimmung. Allerdings muss man die eigene Figur auch aktiv auf diesen Ruin hinspielen, sonst überlebt man womöglich länger und besser als erwartet…

Samstag: Against the Cult of the Hippie Commune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er4nbvW_ZCE

Ein Dungeon Crawl Classics Funnel mit Leuten, die sonst keine Dungeon Crawls spielen.

Levi Núñez, aka Loot the Body hat hier ein fulminantes Einstiegsabenteuer hingelegt, dass 1967 einen Mob Kleinstädter auf eine Hippie Kommune hetzt. Wer Dungeon Crawl Classic Funnels nicht kennt: Hier treten alle am Tisch mit jeweils einem Zoo von 4 0-Level Charakteren an, und wer davon das Abenteuer überlebt, beginnt mit Level 1 die eigentliche Heldenreise.

Und ja, es wurde munter ausgesiebt. Man verlor den Gärtner an eine junge Hippie-Dame, der Bademeister wurde von einem Biker abgestochen, andere tranken die gepanschte Limonade, und beim Endkampf ging es dann so richtig rund.

Besonders spannend für mich war hier die Tatsache, dass die Gruppe mit ganz genreuntypischen Spielerwartungen herangegangen ist. Lange zweifelte man z.B., ob der Hippie-Kult tatsächlich gefährlich sei, und ob nicht der Auftraggeber die Gruppe hereingelegt hätte.

Und es ist positiv erstaunlich, was die Leute aus einem Haufen Zahlen und zufällig ausgewürfelten Alltags-Berufen an Charakter herausgeholt haben – da werden uns viele noch in Erinnerung bleiben. Das Modul ist schön gestaltet, hat einen eigenen Soundtrack (!) und natürlich eine Tabelle mit 100 passenden Hintergründen. An einigen Stellen ist es sehr auf Schienen, bzw. erwartet, dass die Gruppe einen bestimmten Weg nimmt, aber nichts davon stört wirklich.

Eines ist sicher: Da der Bösewicht entkommen konnte, wird es eine Fortsetzung für das Abenteuer geben.

Mit Hollowpoint als System.

Was passiert?

Baba Yaga, die coolste Sau der Kühnen Intrigierend Logistisch Lochmachenden Erwerbs Romantiker (K.I.L.L.E.R.) ist tot. Nun geht es um die Wurst: Wer wird Baba Yaga und kann diesen Shootout für sich gewinnen?

Was Ihr braucht:

Nix. Wer allerdings im kompletten schwarzen Anzug inklusive Krawatte auftaucht, bekommt eine Münze mehr.

Sicherheit

• Umstehende sind zu verschonen, und generell mit Rücksicht zu behandeln!

• Spielt fair und freundlich!

• Rennt niemanden um, springt nicht über Verkaufsstände etc.

• Es darf nur auf die Brust geschossen werden. Rücken, Kopf, Arme, Beine – all das zählt nicht.

• Triffst Du doch einen Kopf, musst Du der getroffenen Person (egal ob KILLER oder Umstehende) eine Deiner Münzen geben.

• Es dürfen nur ausgegebene bzw. vom Contin- err, von der Zombiecalypse mit Münzen erworbenen Blaster und Darts verwendet werden.

Allgemeines

• Verschossene Darts dürfen aufgesammelt werden. Wenn Ihr sie wiederfindet…

• Während der Jagd MUSS der Münzanstecker sichtbar an der Brust getragen werden

• Gejagt wird Samstags, von 12 bis 20 Uhr, auf dem ganzen Congelände!

• Das Continent- err, die Zombiecalypse, alle Toiletten, Rollenspiel- und Workshopräume, die Markthalle und die Mensa, sowie 3 Meter um die Eingänge zu diesen Orten sind Neutraler Boden. Dort darf niemand angegriffen werden. Wer vor solchen Orten als “Camper” erwischt wird, muss Blaster und alle Münzen abgeben.

Gegner erwischen

• Wer auf die Brust getroffen wird, muss eine Münze an den Schützen abgeben, und die Münzanstecker auf der Brust mit den Händen verdecken um zu signalisieren, dass man gerade aus dem Spiel ist, und entweder zur Zombiecalypse oder zur Mensa gehen.Von dort startet man mit den restlichen Münzen neu ins Spiel. Der Schütze darf nicht dahin folgen.

Check-In in der Signal-Gruppe

Es gibt eine Chatgruppe via der Signal App. Alle Teilnehmenden treten dieser bei und posten ein Selfie in die Gruppe. Das hilft, andere KILLER auf dem Con zu entdecken. Wer eine Münze ergattert hat, macht idealerweise ein Bild vom Opf- err, freundlichen Spender und sich selbst für die Gruppe. Lasst uns wissen, wie Euer Punktestand ist!

Zusätzlich können Regelfragen, Herausforderungen, und sonstige Meldungen über diese Gruppe gehen. Und nicht vergessen: Es ist immer möglich, dass das Continental Sonderaufgaben oder Challenges stellt, bei denen noch mehr Münzen winken.

Die Gruppe findet sich hier: https://signal.group/#CjQKIPHd0jY433v54JGeNHr0NtY_kmgnHLr4kfRKv-6TLF3JEhC4Mp36fOhWVLpoebrvYl_w

Was ist das mit den Münzen?

• Teilnehmende erhalten bei der Anmeldung drei Münzanstecker, 3 Darts, und einen Blaster.

• Alle Münzanstecker, die man hat, müssen auf der Brust getragen werden.

• Wer seine letzte Münze abgibt, scheidet aus dem Spiel aus. Kehrt zur Zombiecalypse zurück und gebt Euren Blaster in Austausch gegen einen Trostpreis ab.

• Bei der Zombiecalypse kann man Münzen gegen zusätzliche Darts und ggfs. andere Goodies eintauschen.

• Wer am Ende die meisten Münzen vorzeigen kann, gewinnt das Spiel

• Ihr könnt mit den Münzen ansonsten machen, was immer Ihr wollt: Handeln, verschenken, verleihen, verkaufen...

Neueinsteigen leicht gemacht

Alle volle Stunde öffnet das Continental die Tore für neue KILLER – vorausgesetzt, es ist schon jemand ausgeschieden. Die Neulinge erhalten Blaster und Münzen und stellen sich in der Chatgruppe vor.

Was ist, wenn ich weg muss?

Wer das Spiel vorzeitig beenden will oder muss, meldet sich bitte beim Continental ab. Ihr gebt Münzen und Blaster ab und erhaltet eine kleine Auszeichnung fürs Überleben. Gewinnen könnt Ihr dann aber nicht mehr. Seid fair, und verlasst nicht mit einem Dutzend Münzen Vorsprung das Congelände!

Es war mal wieder soweit, diesmal allerdings in anderer Zusammensetzung: Ein paar Dutzend Leute trafen sich und spielten. Insgesamt hat es bei mir zu drei Runden gereicht:

Raiders of Arismyth als Zufallsrunde

Ein Programmpunkt war das Rollenspiel-Blind-Date: Zufällig wurde so Gruppen zusammengestellt undu Spielleitungen zugeordnet. Als sich abzeichnete, dass die Runden teilweise etwas voll werden würden, und entweder jemand den lieben Blechpirat als 6. Spieler mit aufnehmen musste, oder wir noch jemanden zum Spielleiten verdonnern würden, opferte ich mich großherzig!

Zum Glück hatte ich von einem vorherigen Treffen in gleicher Location tatsächlich noch einige Geländeteile und ein Bossmonster im Haus Einschlingen gebunkert, so dass dem zünftigem Püppchenschubsen mit meiner Eigenproduktion Raiders of Arismyth nichts im Wege stand.

Vorbereitet hatte ich dennoch nichts, ich nutzte also die Zeit, in der die Runde sich aus dem Fundus der zahlreichen Minis aus meinem “Raiders SL Koffer” ihre Helden aussuchten, um zu sichten und etwas zu improvisieren. Dabei fand ich vor:

• eine Turmruine

• alle Einrichtung für eine Taverne (eigentlich für Barkeep of the Borderlands eingepackt, da aber nicht verwendet)

• einen “Demonic Prisoner“

• einen Baum

• diverse humanoide Monster, von Kobolden, Orcs, Schlangemenschen, Untoten, usw.

• ein wenig “Höhlengelände”

Das Abenteuer war daraus dann schnell gestrickt: Man findet sich in der einzigen Schänke von Tarkherheim ein, lernt sich kennen und wird dann direkt von einer Harpie und ihrem Fledermausschwarm besucht, welche den armen Wachmann in die besagte Schänke jagt.

Nachdem sie besiegt wurde (und alle das Kampfsystem grob verstanden haben), fand sich an der Harpie eine grobschlächtig gezeichnete Karte mit eingetragener Turmruine und einen Schlüssel. Da gibt es sicherlich einen Schatz, oder vielleicht auch nur eine Gefahr für Tarkherheim. Also hin da!

Auf dem Weg wurde in der Wildnis übernachtet, sich vor Wölfen gefürchtet, eine überwucherte Tempelruine mit darunterliegender Gruft gefunden und sich mit deren Bewohnern geprügelt. Als der Magier dann aus Versehen einen Blutschleimer erschuf, suchte man lieber das Weite und versiegelte die Gruft wieder. Das wird sicherlich niemanden irgendwann irgendwelche Probleme bereiten...

Schlußendlich fand man die Turmruine, die aber nur sehr ... zögerlich betreten wurde. Also, eigentlich gar nicht, schließlich drangen gar scheussliche Geräusche aus dem Inneren. Und als dann besagter dämonischer Gefangener aus dem Keller ausbrach, sahen sich alle bestätigt! Der folgende Kampf war knapp, aber der Magier nutzte geschickt seine Talente um die Ruine über dem Dämon zum Einsturz zu bringen, und man konnte immerhin einige Schätze nach Hause bringen um sie da direkt zu verprassen...

Für mich eine schöne Feedback Runde um das System weiter abzurunden, und eine noch schönere Improvisationsübung!

Als Stadtwache durch Ankh-Morpork

Im November ging ja der Discworld RPG Kickstarter zuende – ein Projekt, wo ich schwer versucht war, dann aber doch nicht mitmachte: Ich war und bin mir einfach nicht überzeugt, dass die Scheibenwelt ein dankbares Rollenspiel-Sujet abgibt. Aber man soll ja niemals nie sagen, und als jemand das Abenteuer aus dem Schnellstarter anbot, hab ich mich da direkt angemeldet!

Ich erhielt einen Gargoyle-Konstabler und alle zusammen machten wir uns auf, den Einbruch in das Sunshine Sanctuary for Swamp Dragons aufzuklären. Das Einstiegsabenteuer ist schön geradlinig und bietet viel Scheibenwelt-Flair – insofern hatten wir alle Spaß.

Allerdings, und das ist Meckern auf hohem Niveau, den Spaß hätten wir genausogut ohne die Scheibenwelt haben können. Ja, da lief mal CMOT Dibbler vorbei, ja, Captain Carrot hat uns den Auftrag geben, und so weiter. Aber das war halt Fan Service, der die Story nicht wirklich weiterbrachte, und gerade im Fall von Dibbler wenig Interaktion brachte: Gestandene Ankh-Morporker kaufen bei dem halt nichts. Ich glaube inzwischen fast, dass man die Scheibenwelt nur mit nicht-Scheibenwelt-Kennern bespielen sollte: Dann können die nämlich die Skurrilitäten alle frisch erleben.

Aber vielleicht sollte man denen dann nicht doch einfach nur die Bücher zum Lesen geben?

Barkeep of the Borderlands

Ein wunderbares Modul, einer der Ennie Gewinner 2023: Der Monarch wurde vergiftet, und das Heilmittel wurde anscheinend aus Versehen in eine der vielen Kneipen geliefert. Da die Narrentage ausgerufen wurden kann die Stadtwache nicht einfach einmal alles durchsuchen, und tapfere trinkfeste Abenteurer sind aufgefordert, den Monarchen zu retten!

Wir haben tatsächlich fast den ganzen ersten Tag des sechstägigen Pubcrawl geschafft, und einer der Spieler hatte auch als Gewinner des Dance-Offs fast den richtigen Wunsch geäußert um den Monarchen heilen zu können, aber sich dann doch von der Dämonenprinzessin verwirren lassen?

Alles in allem hatten alle bekundet sehr viel Spaß gehabt zu haben, aber ich stelle auch fest, dass es an einigen Stellen besser hätte laufen können:

• Ich dachte, ich hätte mir geschickt und ausreichend Tabellen etc. aus dem Modul rauskopiert, um keine unnötigen Nachschlagezeiten zu haben. War leider dann doch nicht so effizient. Das geht mit Lesezeichen etc. sicher besser.

• Das Abenteuer hat diverse Subsysteme fürs Trinken, Tanzen, etc. Es ist nicht immer ganz klar, wie die ineinandergreifen sollen, das muss ich fürs nächste Mal besser vorbereiten und abgleichen.

• Blechpirat hat zurecht angemerkt, dass ich Cairn nicht ganz richtig angewendet hab. Schande über mich, zumal ich die “korrekte” Variante ja eigentlich immer in Mail Order Apocalypse verwende.

• Generell hat das Abenteuer die Herausforderung, dass es Aktionen unterschiedlichster Komplexität und “Echtweltdauer” zu abstrakten “Turns” zusammenfässt. Das erzeugt ein sehr seltsames Zeitgefühl, dass man den Leuten gut erklären muss.

• Überhaupt, Zeitgefühl: Die konkrete Dringlichkeit und die Überlegung, wie viel Zeit man sich jetzt nehmen darf oder muss, um die Kneipen zu durchforsten sollte besser kommuniziert werden.

• In die gleiche Kerbe schlagen all die Vignetten und Gerüchte, die das Abenteuer liefert: Wie viel davon und wie will man wie den Leuten um die Ohren hauen? Und zwar ohne den Fokus zu verlieren?

Achtung: Das ist natürlich alles Jammern auf hohem Niveau. Ich fand den Abend sehr gelungen, aber ein Vorteil von solchen Treffen ist ja, dass man sich mehr Gedanken darüber machen kann, wie und was man in Zukunft besser macht!

Ich freue mich auf jeden Fall schon auf das nächste Mal Spielen in Bielefeld!

As you might have noticed, I've been busy in my free time with my completely self-written new roleplaying game “Raiders of Arismyth”.

Unlike “Mail Order Apocalypse”, which was me applying a wild hair setting idea to an existing ruleset, this project has a different background: I wanted to play in a particular style, and was lacking a game system for that. Not to say that there aren't systems that could work for this, but there would be compromises and homebrew rules and so on, so I might as well start from scratch!

It is now a bit over a year later, and I'm nearing the finish line. A good moment to take a look back: What design goals did I have in mind, what kind of fun did I want to capture, and do I think I succeeded?

The main drive was that I had accumulated a lot of painted and unpainted fantasy miniatures over the past 30-odd years I'm playing this sort of games. And most of the time, they have been sitting in display shelves or boxes, not being used at all. And I really wanted to use them!

So, I wanted a regular game where I could bring them to the table. And there is a fun in moving them around, counting squares and looking at possible tactics. The game I wanted should support this.

Wanting to have miniatures on the table also sort-of dictates what kind of scenarios and adventures you play: There is little sense of setting up miniatures for a court intrigue, or a detective adventure where the majority of the session involves talking to a bunch of people.

So, combat scenarios it is, and most often, this means dungeon crawling.

And that brought up the next requirement for my prospective new game: I didn't just collected miniatures over those 30-odd years. Of course I also have a library of adventures and scenarios. It's a hodge-podge of systems and settings, ranging from one page scenarios to sprawling megadungeons. I should be able to use those in the new game!

Let's make this a list:

• I want to use miniatures

• I want a dungeon/combat focused game

• I want to be able to easily drop in lots of different scenarios and adventures

Some other things are also important to me, regardless of the game system or setting I play: I like to play fast and player-centric. While I do enjoy the storytelling parts of being the dungeon master, I don't want to monologue. Instead, the players should be the ones who talk most and who drive the action as much as possible.

I'm most content if I can lean back and react to the players, instead of dragging or pushing them towards a goal of my own.

That also means that I don't want to be bogged down by too many complicated rules. Every time I have to stop the action and look something up, things get delayed too much in my opinion. So the rules should be very clear and concise, and allow me to come up with rulings on the fly that don't feel out of place.

So, let's add two more requirements:

• Have simple and consistent rules

• allow for as much player-empowerment and player-centric game as possible

That said, I wanted the game to be accessible to new players, but also provide mechanics and crunch for them to sink their teeth into. Videogames have these skill trees, where one can plan and map out a progression, looking forward to that juicy power at the far end of the tree.

That makes another two requirements:

• easy enough to start playing within 15-30 minutes of introduction

• deep enough so that experienced players can plan ahead and spend time “tinkering”.

And then I added one last requirement simply for personal taste:

• Certain tropes and “problematic” content should be left out. I always for example hated the pseudo-dilemma of “orc babies”.

Let's have a look at the individual requirements and how I tried to meet them in terms of game design:

I want to use miniatures

“Just put them on the table.” might be the most straightforward answer, but I also wanted the to be useful for the game. So squares-based floorplans, movement rules and other mechanics that are derived from miniatures were added. I didn't want to overcomplicate things, so I left out things like which way a miniature is facing and the like.

As a corollary to the use of miniatures, I wanted to make combat a very dynamic thing. Combatants should be moving around a lot, instead of just standing there and bashing at each other. I tried to help this by adding skills and rules that promote lots of movement, and penalized standing still.

I want a dungeon/combat focused game

This didn't need a lot of conscious effort to make it happen, but having it listed as a requirement did inform me a lot on what I could leave out of the game. There are no rules for social conflict, diplomacy, ruling fiefdoms or similar things. I left out rules for overland travel, or rules to keep track of consumables.

I want to be able to easily drop in lots of different scenarios and adventures

This led me to two things:

1. I needed to make the game world open and vague enough so that I can drop in a broad variety of other content into it with minimal fuss

2. Have some sort of idea of how to easily convert monster and NPC statistics into my own ruleset.

To be honest, I haven't really tackled the second part yet. Mostly because I didn't need to so far, but I think it won't need a lot of work. My monster stat blocks are usually short enough anyway, so adapting others should be easy.

For the first part, I found inspiration in the world setting of Earthdawn: The world gets rediscovered after the survivors of some cataclysm finally come back to the surface.

My worlds cataclysm was a war between an evil goddess and the rest of the world. In the end, she was defeated, but half of the continent became inaccessible for a thousand years. That made the south both known (from really old maps and books) but also unknown and dangerous (a lot could happen in those 1000 years).

The player characters are those brave adventurers who venture into the south to rediscover the lost parts of the world, and just maybe preventing that evil goddess from rising again.

All this really allows me to drop in nearly anything that is even remotely of the “fantastic” genre. The world in the south is mostly just the sketch of a map, leaving enough room for nearly anything.

Have simple and consistent rules

When writing “Mail Order Apocalypse” I really fell in love with the Into the Odd ruleset again. With just three stats and an “everything is a save” mechanism, one can easily find rulings for every situation.

Except, I don't really love-love stats. And I especially didn't want too much randomness for character creation. No randomness at all might even be best, at least for the core character bits.

Instead, I came up with the idea that “everything is a skill”. Those can be purchased with advancement points, and that's it. And each skill is a competency. You either are competent, or you're not. No “I'm 64% good at swimming”

Mechanically, I settled on a pool system, where you throw as many dice as you have skills connected to the task at hand, then count the successes – with each single dice having a 50:50 chance to be a success. Figuring out things usually simply involves sorting and counting dice. No complicated addition or subtraction needed.

That base mechanic is used throughout the game and it proved to be working well throughout playtesting. And I could easily adapt things to new situations on the fly: You get extra dice when something helps you, or you loose successes in certain circumstances.

Player-empowerment and player-centric game

This ended up being more a “how to run the game” philosophy than hard rules. This is not a story centric game where players have rules-encoded ways to create facts like in Fate. Instead, the rules are written in a way that explicitly leaves a lot of decision-making with the players, and only demands dice rolls when things are very unclear, otherwise favouring the “yes, that works” answer from the referee.

Easy enough to start playing fast

It is really important to me, that people can jump into the game pretty easily, if guided by a referee who knows the rules.

I prepared character sheets that have all the important bits as checkboxes and easy-to-fill forms, as well as a simple random table to populate ones inventory in one go.

All in all, creating a character takes only a few choices: What five advancements to take, how to distribute life points, and what to put into the inventory. Add a name and a quick description and you're good to go!

There is very little math involved in this, next to no dice rolling, and not too much agonizing over the skill choices: Five advancements is not a lot, and people tend to spend them fast.

Deep enough for experienced players

This is where the skill tree really starts to shine: People can explore and test and think about different combinations of skills and magic. There are a few obvious combinations, but also a lot that are not so obvious.

The skill tree really offers a lot of flexibility but also planning-ahead material.

Avoid “problematic” content and tropes

The classic thing I wanted to absolutely avoid are things that can be tinged with racism. In-game populations that are evil by birth just rubs me the wrong way, and it creates moral pseudo-dilemma like the “innocent orc baby that will absolutely grow up to be a bloodthirsty monster, so should you kill it right now?”

I scratched the whole notion of lots of different sentient “races” and instead ruled (inspired by this blogpost by Cavegirl) that there are no other sentient populations or “races” than humans. Of course, there are monsters that do monstrous things, but there are no civilizations of orcs that are jus there.

(In fact, in my game world, Orcs are human corpses brought back to beastly life by some otherworldly evil entity)

Similarly, there are no elves or dwarfs in the game world (although there are humans that might fit the stereotypes in some way). Getting this right while keeping to some “fantastic” vibe is still a work in progress, but I'm getting there.

Generally, the world is more and more borrowing from classic “medieval” tropes and clichés, so my players can expect a lot more monsters from that sort of place.

Conclusion

I think in terms of the rules mechanics, the game is done. Of course, there's always more spells and skills and abilities I could add, I should probably revise a few of the random tables a bit, write out more examples and have an editor have a go at the rules to make sure they are really as legible as I want them to be.

And then there is the world: It is evocative, but with only very broad strokes, leaving a lot of room for anything I might want to add later.

It very much supports a West Marshes Campaign style of gaming, where groups from a large stable of characters form and disband to explore different places and return home to report. I have managed to set up some sort of overarching thread and threats, but the player characters are still trying to get a grasp of what exactly these are.

I do wonder if I should write the background of these threads and threats into the gamebook, as inspiration for other referees, or if that would ruin the blank canvas and rob others of the chance to build their own world of the Kari. (Kari being the name of the human empire the game world is centered on)

I have a “Manual of Me” in my professional e-Mail signature for a while now. That describes when and how to reach me, and how I communicate or set tasks.

What it doesn't do in depth or any detail is describing what I'm really good at or what I'm bad at.

And that is something that no team should ever ask from its members. Forcing people to write down or reveal what they are good and bad at is… bad. For multiple reasons:

One reason is that a lot of times, people don't really know what their relevant weaknesses are. Or they don't like to face them. Or they know them, face them internally, but won't ever admit to them to their boss or coworkers. Because, let's face it, there is a real risk that this will be used against them.

In those cases, you'll end up with weaknesses as “too driven”, “too detail oriented”, “not taking breaks enough”, with the hopes that they'll look good.

The other thing is that what I might perceive as a big weakness might actually be insignificant in the team dynamic. Who cares if I can't do math in my head at the speed of thought, I have a calculator app and a spreadsheet available at all times anyway!

So instead, I recommend thinking and talking at length within a team about how one communicates, decides, and documents things. There are lots of differences on how this can happen, especially if you cross cultural borders by having a diverse multinational team. (see https://erinmeyer.com/books/the-culture-map/)

Putting those differences and preferences out into the open is really useful.

Things that are good to explain about oneself

Get your folks to explain themselves in these terms:

• what are their productive/waking hours? Are they night owls, early birds, or something in between?

• Do they prefer face-to-face, synchronous, asynchronous or just written communication?

• How do they like to separate documentation and decision-making?

• What is their instinct when it comes to looking for information? Which systems do they use, who do they ask (if they ask someone at all)?

• What are their notification etiquette? Are there times where you shouldn't try to call them, or is that something you don't need to worry about?

• How do they want to get tasks assigned and reviewed, how do they do this themselves?

• What are their preferred ways of addressing them? Honorific, nicknames, full names, pronouns, the works.

A tangent on leadership

I strongly advise that the team lead or most senior person of the group leads by example here. Don't put the onus on the others to find out what is appropriate to share or tell, don't let them guess what is necessary information. This is absolutely a managerial responsibility, to set the tone and expectations in a way that doesn't discourage people, or makes them write in supplicant answers, in the hope to not look bad.

Communication can and should be trained, but it needs to start honest and open. If your team thinks they cannot be that way, you won't get anywhere with them.

And power imbalances, even if you're the most approachable manager of all, are still a thing. Subordinates will always have the next firing/hiring/promotion round in the back of their minds. Individual members of your team might thus not only worry about how they are perceived by you, but also by their peers, who could gleefully exploit any (perceived) weaknesses of others in order to get that promotion for themselves, or to prevent being axed when the inevitable downsizing comes.

Back to self descriptions

Self descriptions are useful. They make unspoken assumptions visible and clear, they highlight the differences between individuals in a way that makes them useful instead of a source of conflicts.

And they provide the basis on which to improve communication and collaboration within a group of people.

These self descriptions are not an end to themselves, they are a tool to figure out future collaboration and communication. Ideally, you encourage everyone to revisit their and other people manuals every now and then too.

It is a few months since I finished Mail Order Apocalypse, and apparently, writing games is a tiny bit addictive: I'm already about 70 pages into writing the next game. (For comparison: MOA clocks in at 106 pages, a lot of them being random tables)

So, the next game, what is it?

The working title is Raiders of Arismyth, and it is supposed to be a modern dungeon crawler. Which is slightly unusual territory for me. My gaming shelf has lots of “story” games, with abstract mechanics, collaborative narration, player empowerment and so on.

But I also have collected a few hundred gaming miniatures over the years, and I wanted to use them again! I prefer games that are rules-light, easy to grok, and ideally have not too big character sheets. There are a few options of course, but none of them really appealed to me.

With Mail Order Apocalypse, I decided early on that I didn't want to reinvent a whole game system, and thus chose Into the Odd for the mechanics. For Raiders of Arismyth, I wanted something that feels similarly simple, but does offer more crunchiness on two fronts: Character generation and advancement, and combat. Especially the latter – it doesn't make sense to bring miniatures into the mix when distances and such isn't particularly relevant.

At the same time, I didn't want the system to be too mathematical. Choosing how to advance ones character shouldn't require too much in-depth system knowledge. Choices made today shouldn't completely block later choices.

In the end, I have settled on a few things:

• There are no attributes, just skills

• There is no vancian magic, and no mana points or similar either. You know a spell, feel free to cast it as often as you like!

• Dice are rolled in pools. Any result on a die that is greater than half the total value (ie. 4+ on a 6-sider, or 11+ on a 20-sider) is a success.

• Combat should be about movement. Those miniatures want to be moved around after all!

• The rules aren't just there as mechanical abstractions, they are there to form the game world and its metaphysics.

Sadly, all this means that where Mail Order Apocalypse managed to cram all the rules onto one single page, the core rules of Raiders of Arismyth need about 10 pages. Let's dive into how magic works a bit, so you can see what I meant with the last bullet point about the rules influencing the game world:

Magic spells are learned as skills. Learning a new spell skill allows you to perform the least powerful version of that spell with an uttered incantation plus necessary hand-movements using both hands. With additional advancements on that spells skill allows one to make it more powerful, extend the range, or be able to cast it without an incantation or moving the hands.

In order for this to work, the spell and the advancements are tattooed onto the skin of the magic user, anchoring the mystical energies. The positioning of these marks is important, especially if the mage still needs to touch it to perform the spell. One can learn a lot about a mage by looking what sigils are placed where. And of course, seeing someone who chose to spend their precious advancements in order to be able to perform a simple light spell without any hand movements or spoken incantations tells you something about them too...

I did a few test runs with the system already, and the results were quite promising: It played smooth and easy in turns of rules application, but also allowed for some a lot of interesting tactical choices during combat. The latter felt deadly enough to the players, but not overwhelmingly so.

A lot of things are of course still missing: The skill list needs to be finalised, I need to flesh out the example magic rituals, think about equipment, or at least rules on how to improvise weapon statistics in a coherent way, and the world wants some more fleshing out.

But overall, I am quite satisfied with this, and really think this is actually a more complete game than Mail Order Apocalypse (which is more of a setting than a game). You can buy the Ashcan preview edition for a buck at DriveThruRPG if you're curious. But please, let me know your feedback!

…so many people over the past few days again, it was delicious. It was that time again, where a plethora of nerds descended upon the non-existent town of Bielefeld and gathered to eat, drink, be merry – and play games!

The food was delicious, the drinks came in just the right amounts and potency, the merriment filled the days but I guess what you really want to hear about are the games. Let me indulge you. I've been…

…a progressive alien species, trying to gain control of the galaxy during its second dawn. Alas, I could not make use of my extraordinary powers of research, as every attempt to expand my realm was thwarted by the vicious robotic remnants of the Ancients fleets. During most of the game I just held on to my meager three sectors, eking out some technological progress. Only once I managed to assemble a fleet and watched it get annihilated by the Ancients in a short but brutal fight. (Eclipse, Second Dawn of the Galaxy)

…a successful Unicorn Breeder, filling my stable with the most wondrous of creatures, scheming and plotting to bring misery to my fellow Unicorn enthusiasts, trying to be the first to fill all slots in my stable. A hilarious game, full of puns, innuendo, and most of all, unicorns! (Unstable Unicorns)

…a sailor, a pirate, no, a cultist, trying to direct the course of our ship to the chosen location. Covert collaborations with fellow pirates or cultists, mutinies, bluffing, and the occasional surreptitious changes to the logbooks steered our proud ship. And never did it reach the safe harbor of Bluewater Bay, but instead got fed to the Kraken or entered the dreaded pirate island… (Feed the Kraken)

…a greedy innkeeper, luring adventurers into a near-certain deathtrap. My cunning plan was to feed them to the naked-bear-thing I had chained to the dungeon below my humble establishment. But the motley crew of ne'er-do-wells and murder hobos managed to not only dispatch my minions and beasts, nay, they made off with all of my ill-gotten-riches and escape through the undersea on a magical obsidian rowboat. (The Undertavern, run with Into the Odd rules)

…Loddar, the DIY-King of YouTube, hiking through the black forest as part of a streamed challenge, with four other more or less well-known internet celebrities. Loddar, a cabinetmaker in retirement, gained internet-fame when his grandson filmed his antics testing how well the new rip-stop trousers would protect him against a chainsaw. Clueless about technology he now got thrust into a gaggle of youngsters who film themselves doing weird and (to Loddar) incomprehensible things for the sake of something called “Likes”, which he didn't quite got. But his grandson said this was good stuff, and the likes would translate into income somehow, and Kevin knew computers after all. What followed was deliciously silly, full of drama and eventually even action, with high speed car chases and bullets flying everywhere! (a custom adventure with a d100 FATE derivative)

…an english industrial baron of the 19th century, building factories and transport links all across the Black Country, vying for domination through two distinct eras of early industrialization, seeing train tracks started to displace the narrow boat channels. A brainy but accessible game with glorious artwork and theme. (Brass Birmingham)

…Peter Rath, the holy sinner and bearer of the tome of 99 demons. A moderately famous fiction author, secretly a vampire of the White Court, Peter spent the past few years very privately, minding family and his own affairs. But the recent devastation of Berlin and the retirement of his sister from her office as head of the paranormal investigation unit drew him out of hiding once more. He joined a small task force trying to figure out what eerie things were responsible for recent oddities around the local cemeteries. Weird Pterodactydemons were fought, ancient religions uncovered and a long-term plan on keeping these forces of evil at bay became implemented. After an inspired lecture, Peter found himself the head of a new holy catholic order, secretly blessing places to protect them, and doing who-knows what else! (Dresden Files RPG)

…a middle-aged summer camp guide in the Midwest. She desperately needed a job, and found a lot more than expected, when she walked into the lone guy who squatted in one of the camp huts, hastily shoving something into a freezer. A few hours of increasingly bloody and campy fun and drama, topped by two women chainsawing a Wendigo into sausages. (Fiasko)

All in all an excellent few days, a fun NYE party and a welcome reminder of good friendships.

If you have followed this blog for a while, you know that I do a lot of crowdfunding as a backer. Kickstarter alone lists over 200 projects that I have backed in some way.

Well, now it is time for me to jump into the other end of the pool: I have just launched the Zine Quest 4 campaign for Mail Order Apocalypse! Follow this link to the campaign:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jollyorc/zine-quest-mail-order-apocalypse/

What is it about?

Mail Order Apocalypse (or MOA for short) is a dark future roleplaying game, where capitalism eventually shut all humans out. Paradise is within humanity's reach, but our ancestors made sure we cannot afford it.

This may look to be a game about survival, figuring out how to eke out an existence when the machines have claimed everything worth anything. But that isn't entirely true. This is a game about daring heists and robberies!

See, the machines don't hate us. They don't actually want to kill anyone, but the laws humanity put into their programming don't allow them to give us anything for free. And we don't have currency to pay with. So survival takes the form of trying to make a living in the wastelands, trying to farm algae, or to recycle the scraps we find.

But the more efficient and much more fun way is to trick or rob the machines:

We hijack their communication network, set up a pretend address and then have a drone deliver your order while the fake credit score is still good. Or you hold up one of those post trains that link the factories, overcome the guard machines, and live richly!

Some have learned how to infiltrate the automated farms. One can live well there, provided the machines don't recognise you as the pest you are.

Of course, there are also those who live on the work of others, who raid settlements for their own gain. Maybe you are one of them?

Dies ist ein Beitrag zum Thema dieses Monats im Karneval der Rollenspielblogs: Reisen.

Timberwere wirft im Eingangsbeitrag die Theorie auf, dass Reisen ja meist nur Mittel zum Zweck ist um den nächsten Schauplatz einzuleiten. Ich versuche hier mal, Methoden und Ansätze vorzustellen, die Reisen zum zentralen Ding machen.

Dazu ein paar Annahmen und Behauptungen vorweg:

1. Das Spannende an einer Reise sind die neuen Eindrücke, die man sammelt. “Wenn einer eine Reise macht, dann kann er was erleben”.
2. Gleichzeitig ist es langweilig, wenn diese Eindrücke nur nacheinander beschrieben werden – die Erlebnisse müssen also interaktiv sein.

Erlebnisse während einer Reise lassen sich grob in zwei Kategorien unterteilen:

1. Begegnungen am Wegesrand – dies sind Dinge und Personen die den eigenen Weg kreuzen oder an denen man vorbei reist. Sie sind so interessant, oder wichtig, dass man sie sich anschaut und mit ihnen interagiert bevor man weiterreist. Das kann ein Überfall, ein Zwischenstopp um Proviant aufzufrischen, oder einfach nur eine Nacht im Gasthaus sein.
2. Interaktionen innerhalb der Reisegruppe – wenn man z.B. auf einem Schiff unterwegs ist, bildet dieses während der Reise einen geschlossenen Raum voller Personen und Dinge.

Bei beiden Varianten können die Ereignisse im Grunde völlig losgelöst von der Reise stattfinden. Ob zum Beispiel ein Mord in einem Gasthaus, auf einem Schloß oder auf einem Schiff stattfindet ist doch im Grunde egal – es ist und bleibt ein Whodunnit-Murder-Mystery. Das ist auf gleichzeitig frustrierend und praktisch.

Frustrierend, weil es dadurch so gut wie keine puren “Reise”-Abenteuer gibt, sie sind alle Derivate von anderen Formen. Praktisch insofern, das man sich hemmungslos an anderen Materialien und Ideen bedienen kann. Es gilt nur, den Rahmen so anzupassen, dass das Geschehen in die geplante Reise passt.

Also, plündert das Regal, die nächste Reise wird sicher nicht langweilig!