Near future wor*fare

When mum came back from the war her skin was on inside out and she was crapping through a hatch in her belly button. That was nothing. Last time she'd coughed her lungs up and if not for the nanopills we'd have needed to stuff them back in ourselves. Like we did with aunt Claire's. Hanging down her front like a forked bib they were. *Yeugh.*

We did laugh though.

But this time it was the baddies came off worse. She had a vid to play us and it was a case of your tote destruxor. She took out two bungalows and the playground beside the old folks home, and Mrs Moggins vaped the brick flats on Mill Street. They pulled everyone back when the 'topes came in.

'Topes? No snopes. We never opened the windows anyway these days, what with the smell from next door. All just piled up out there they were. Good neighbours. Plain bad luck...

Bzzz...

Who's in charge here? (2)

Two more cards for the deck of leader types, as well as a piece of flash fiction to tie in, for last week's Expansion Joints; Jennie's back and busy, and this week's is already up. The word to use last time was present and the narrative has to be 15 words max.

"On your feet, scum! An officer's present."

"No, sir, you're past. We voted you out."

The cards are aimed at capturing the flavour of traditional and radical without suggesting any specific method being used by the leader. The traditional is assumed to be low-key, but relatively safe, working against extremes, with the radical more explosive and riskier, but the assumption being made that both can be learnt by other parties if dramatic.

More importantly, the traditionalism and radicalism are not necessarily in conflict, don't simply cancel each other, and can be complementary, even overlap. Just like in real life.

The suggested use of the deck is in the first post. A new concept introduced with this pair is 'area of influence', which I'm assuming to mean the area over which leadership extends in mechanical terms in-game, perhaps to a single unit in the case of a squad leader, a given radius in the case of a hero, or an entire force in the case of a general.

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The withering

A moment of potential horror. It's inspired more than anything by Trey's unsettling post on an imprisoned General Brant and Sir Timothy of Kent's rules for character ageing.

It also ties in with the mention of Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim here and the speed of light here, the arrival of autumn, and some of the events reported over the past few days.

I lock myself away, cut every cable, but it bleeds under doors, leeches through walls. Creeps up, washes over me, cracks my face. It's time.

It's for Flash Fearsday of course, a piece of flash fiction in 140 characters, open to all.

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Mary, Mary, quite contrary...

This is the first of two loosely linked posts, inspired by other blogs, real world events and Ms Shelley. This post has the short forms and the next will have some ideas for gaming.

Number one is for this week's Flash Fearsday, an attempt at horror in 140 characters.

Orchards, greenhouses and potting sheds; warm earths and leafy beds... 

As they stalk freezer drawers, of what do Frankenstein foods dream..?

The second is for the last Expansion Joints, which is 15 words, one of them shock.

Shock! Sparks fly; a monster born. Doomed to destruction!

But how if made of men?

It could be taken as scathing commentary, but if The Telegraph got there first, is it..?

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Shockwaves and drifting

This ties in with three posts - on modelling minefields, the mutant burstworm and space battle drift markers - as well as wider events. It has fiction and some counters.

First the fiction, for Expansion Joints. It has to be 15 words, one of them opening.

Opportunity? Well, it's an opening... But blasted through soft tissues, memories and dreams, chances taken?

In a lot of gaming explosions are taken for granted. As a man in demolition recently put it regarding the Oslo attack "men and boys are interested in gunpowder and bullets and fast cars". The RPG blog Compromise and Conceit has strong thoughts on that insanity.

Of course, the forces in gaming could go beyond outright destruction. On to magnetism maybe, or gravity making a slope more or less easy to climb. There can also be flows, like the water in a river that needs to be forded or the air rushing in a shaft or tunnel.

Recording this might be easier with counters. These have direction of course, and the box means a number can be marked too, predetermined maybe or the result of a roll.

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Myth, the universe and sucking

I finally got around to the first Myth-Marked Merchandising. This is something Jennie set up at Nine Worlds, Ten Thousand Things. The idea in the first is to use a group of words suggestive of Twilight, but avoid vampires and werewolves. Here are the words:

bestial, bloodlust, breaking dawn, eclipse, fanged, new moon, phoenix, sparkle, swan, transformation, twilight

Man it's tough. I've skirted the limits by using the suggestions as if explaining unfamiliar concepts. It's 140 words, the number C'nor suggests for Flash Fearsday. I've also tied it in with the ongoing Worldboat project at NetherWerks, building on this post especially.

Your universe has a sparkle, a twinkle. It is youth, a breaking dawn over the forests of the cosmos. It is a new moon; its tides bring a spawning in the seas of being. 

These words are a transformation, in order that you might understand, a translation not unlike ours from the laws of one universe to another. We were once swan - composed, sleek - but are reborn in this outlandish form. Not quite phoenix - more bestial. We are fanged you might say. But who does this reflect? We are not ourselves here. Is bloodlust not what the entropy of your universe demands? 

The stable paths were collapsing and we fled. Flee. But what? That is hard to translate. An eclipse perhaps, a twilight in existence. 

And we will be found here. 

We may herald your noon, afternoon, evening and night.

The Worldboat project is young too, and collaborative with it, and more than big enough for different interpretations. Who does this speaker speak for? We just don't know.

You can read more entries here, even add one. Expansion Joints is due tomorrow.

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Brain drain

Today's Flash Fearsday, inspired by a report of a 12m sinkhole appearing under a bed.

Rush of air? More a stream of consciousness. Seems a flow of info eroded a fundamental tenet. Nearly lost my mind. A thinkhole they call it.

It's exactly 140 characters, but there's a 140 word option too. If you have a few minutes to spare, I say have a go. It's hosted every week by C'nor over at Lunching on Lamias.

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Blooper reels and bonus features

A gaming idea and the latest piece of flash fiction for Jennie's Expansion Joints. The idea with EJ is to write a narrative in 15 words, with one given; this week the word is cut. And a it's cruel cut... 

   "Cut!" 

   "A star! World at my feet. Celluloid queen..." 

   "... enthroned on the cutting room floor."

The gaming idea is propluristemic, meaning it's intended for use in various systems and settings assuming some adaptation, and it's inspired by the cinema-themed take on roleplaying in the Advanced Fighting Fantasy system. Given the styling, it's likely not useable as is, but will hopefully trigger one or two ideas that might suit a given gaming group better.

The cutting room floor

Once per game or session each player or party may choose to either a) exclude at first appearance the use of any one character, unit, vehicle or other protagonist or group of protagonists, b) skip any one encounter, c) resolve any one combat as if the player or party rolled the best possible result on each die or d) remove a number of turns equal to no more than one quarter of the standard or average game or session length.

Any one of these elements may be spliced back once into any future game or session by any other player, or by the GM/DM or equivalent, even in breach of usual restrictions.

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Drunk and new orderly

A quick post with links to new ideas for gaming, a set of counters and a little fiction.

The fiction is for Flash Fearsday, which I forgot yesterday. The idea is to write a short and hopefully scary narrative. I've gone with game-related and the usual 140 characters.

"Smith! That was out of character." 

"They made me. They're drunk." 

"They?" 

"One's a master, but the others... Our world - to them it's a game!"

If only characters knew what players can put them through. Maybe they do? You can join in at Lunching on Lamias, here, and probably write something scarier than that.

On the subject of keeping a game focused, check out two posts from the top blogroll, one at Unofficial Games and the other at Campaign Mastery. Both suggest kinds of objective, for XP in the latter. Also in the top roll, Vaults of Nagoh has a related tale.

If you're running something in which events matter, these counters might help. Place them on the table or map to record key moments. They're numbered to show order.

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'Geddon on it (3) - 31 Days

Here's the complete run of fiction for the Heroes of Armageddon Charity Project, originally posted more or less daily throughout May.

If you haven't been following it, HoA is a plan to raise money for the charity Doctors Without Borders by painting and raffling miniatures. You can donate, enter and get inspired at the site.

It makes sense to have all of the instalments in one place and in order, as with the 26 A-Z Challenge entries. This should make it easier to read of course, but also easier to refer to with the statting of protagonists I plan to do. The first set of stats is already up, for the civilians depicted on Days 3, 11-15 and 27.

There are 31 stories in all, each with 31 words. Together they form a larger narrative, which could be linked to the Armageddon setting if that's how you choose to read it.

Pulp sounds (4)

The slow wander after a soundtrack to gaming goes on. Here's another piece which manages mystery and militarism, but which doesn't seem limited to any one genre despite being part of a well-known sci-fi score, to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Interesting film, and interesting that it seems to grow in the memory over time. Star Trek is a funny old thing. I wrote a recent post here on the radical in the franchise, and later read this enjoyable post at The Secret Sun with a different focus. It goes deep.

I'm pretty sure there was discussion of The Wrath of Khan somewhere else recently as well, but I can't remember the place. Damien G. Walter mentioned it today too.

Inspired by the film, a response to Jennie's Expansion Joints this week. The idea is to write a narrative in 15 words, with one word given; this time the word is free. For some discussion of the nature of stories and how short they can be see the last post here .

Free! But free's a crowd, of choices...

We strike out; by our decisions close caskets.

If you write your own 15-worder, you can leave it or link to it here. And have a listen.

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'Geddon on it (4.1) - Citizens

This post has two parts linked by theme. First some short flash fiction then stats for gaming.

The flash fiction is for Jennie's fun Expansion Joints. Anyone can join in. The idea is to tell as much of a story as possible in 15 words, but using a word Jennie provides, this week lines.

Lines drawn. They meet at barricades. 

In front. Behind. 

And those lines run through hearts.

The link is that torn loyalty, the many difficulties in standing free. Now for the gaming.

It's been a while since I did anything ruleswise re the Heroes of Armageddon Charity Project, a plan to raise money for charity Doctors Without Borders through gaming. Last was the homebrew approach to playing 40K inside hives and very close terrain.

Today I'm going to build on the series of linked 31-word stories I ran through May, which could be tied in to the Armageddon setting if that's how you choose to read them. I want to see if the protagonists can be statted up for 40K, to have them playable in games.

First up are the people of the City. If you don't remember, you might want to read Day 3 for a beginning, Days 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 for battle, and Day 27 for a result.

I've tried to work the story into the rules. The unit is designed to be used with the hive interior approach, as the residents of a given urban area. There's a statline for the model, and below that one for a new weapon - the improv - plus a special rule. Range isn't needed in the interiors of course. Citizens may not look much, but they can dig deep.

TROOPS

Citizens

Cost: 3 points per Citizen (?)   Type: Infantry   Size: 10-30 Citizens

   Citizen    2  2  2  2  1  2  1   6   -

Weapons: Improv   Special rules: Fabric of Society, The Idea Lives On

- - - - - -

Improv: Improvs are firearms fashioned from everyday items, production machinery and other material salvaged as the opportunity arises, as well as antique, ceremonial or recreational devices adapted for use in combat.

   Improv    (6”)   2   -   Assault 1 

Fabric of Society: Units of Citizens command a range of skills. Before each game, roll a D6 once on the following table for each in the force.

1.  Schematics  The player controlling this unit may modify the rolls for movement of all friendly units, including reserves, by an additional 1 point.
2.  Barricades  This unit and all friendly units in its initial location are assumed to be in cover with a 5+ save, each until it moves for any reason.
3.  Control  The player controlling this unit may each turn force any opposing player to reroll one reserves roll and reroll one of his or her own.
4.  Access  This Improvs this unit carries become S3 for the entire game.
5.  Expertise  This unit gains 1 point of WS, BS, I or Ld for the entire game, the characterisic chosen now by the player controlling the unit.
6.  Sacrifice  For every full five models this unit loses for whatever reason it is able to ignore up to 1 wound in each subsequent turn of the game.

The Idea Lives On: If a unit of Citizens drops below five models, it may be removed by the controlling player in one of its movement phases with no gain to an opponent in kill or victory points.

Any feedback is welcome on this of course, especially on points cost. To allow for the variation in unit size I've made sure the random benefits favour large units and small. The Idea Lives On may seem powerful, but it shouldn't be for the victory conditions used with the interior approach. Have a read if you haven't yet as it's a different kind of game.

Check out the Heroes of Armageddon project at the website too and consider chipping in, even have a think about what you could do to draw attention to this or other causes, the LiveStrong Wargaming Project for example. Everything makes a difference.
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Well met

A look at bonds with flash fiction, with a simple propluristemic tool for relationships in gaming.

- - - - - -

First the weekly flash fiction challenges, a joint entry for both Jennie's Expansion Joints and Succinctly Yours over at Grandma's Goulash.

The first should have 15 words, one of them tie, and the second needs 140 characters, has to be based on this image of a detective-like figure and may use the word fabricate. Tough task.

Will they match up?

Undeniable connection.

A tie indiscernible, apparently fragile. Nevertheless, immensely strong.

Impossible to fabricate - proof.

Elementary.

It's inspired by Jennie's intro for this week. So how about that gaming tool then?

Well met

This is a simple system for setting up random relationships between characters. It's aimed at sandbox roleplaying, but could work in wargaming too; more on that later. It builds on the idea of minus level characters and finds another use for the basic scarcity system I've been developing for the ever-growing Hogintu supplement.

The basic mechanism is a die roll. I'll assume a D6, but you can use any. When a character or party meets another person, roll the die. The result is the distance from the current location that this person is from, geographically and/or socially; the higher the number, the further away the character has his or her associations.

The GM or players can interpret this. A 1 may be a character from this exact neck of the woods, a 5 from the edge of the region. An instant foundation for the encounter, and perhaps even immediately obvious to the characters from equipment or accent.

If you roll a maximum, the person is from a degree further afield. Roll again and add the second result to the first. Keep rolling and adding for each extra maximum.

All well and good, but here's the important bit. When creating a new character, each player should go through the same process, and record the total. This number represents their origins. You can fudge to suit character concept of course, and a well-travelled character could have multiple rolls, use a larger die or be given a range.

Every time the player character or party as a whole changes location, you could add or subtract a degree, here 6, from the player character numbers to represent distance travelled. If you want more you could even set up a matrix for extra dimensions.

And the point? If when two characters meet, the numbers match, they know each other, or at least know of each other. You could roll a one-off die for how well, with a 1 being close family and a 6 a friend of a friend or distant acquaintance. This has clear potential. Strong bonds, shared secrets, memories unlocked, even new loyalties.

And for wargaming? To take just one well-known historical example, when Poland was partitioned, Poles could find themselves facing each other in the armed forces of one of the three occupying empires, either the Prussian, Austrian or Russian. For a Romantic patriot and keeper of the flame, that must have been painful.

Why not roll for units when related factions meet on the battlefield? They may do their nominal duty, but could instead choose to hold back, refuse to fight, even find common cause. A plan or force might collapse as supposed opponents join together and rise up.

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Very odd jobs

People in made-up disciplines wanted at Burning Zeppelin Experience. I've gone with K. A. Boom, parameteorologist, but that only skims the surface of spooky atmospheres.

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True fog of war

Another attempt at gamer horror in 140 characters, for Flash Fearsday. Rules below.

The gaming table is empty. A true fog of war.

Disorders are issued and resistance unmet; a non-zero sum game.

But -

What else do we not see?

You can join in - it's just 140 - and leave the narrative or a link at Lunching on Lamias.

Here are those rules then, some propluristemic content, for many, maybe all games.

True fog of war

You will not need: character sheets, maps, miniatures, counters, terrain or a board. All dice may be used, unless you are taking the optional higher random approach. Play.

Tip: Be sure you're at the right table, and not a piece on any other, in a stranger game.

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Paths in heavens or hells

This week I'm on the ball with Jennie's Expansion Joints, in more than just timing terms. You know how we roll: a narrative in 15 words, with one word given; this week it's rush.

"... it moves."

The world turns. And we turn with it. Beat the rush!

Turn away.

For all the depth it might have, it also leads in to this post at Frontline Gamer, a look at the new Warpath from Mantic Games and its place in the sci-fi wargaming firmament.

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Minus level characters

We've seen some intense rolling discussions this past week. For anyone not following events in the D&D OSR, Stuart has a summary up here.

The topics were shields, nihilism, heroism, gory art, oddly familiar art and level zero characters.

For the last of these I have a small suggestion to make, hopefully useful in more than one OSR.

But first a late entry for last week's Saturday Centus at Jenny Matlock's blog, 25 words plus the phrase the end. It was hard to resist writing it then and the theme seems to fit now.

It is never the end, never the beginning. The story has no pages. There is no book. Perhaps there is retelling. And thus we may live on.

That could be an approach. Level zero is an interesting concept, and ckutalik looked at it here at Hill Cantons a while back. The trigger now is the Dungeon Crawl Classics Beta Rules release from Goodman Games. Starting characters are weak; it's worth learning names, but you might not need to remember long with these guys.

So what to do if you love the level zero idea, but not the execution so to speak? One thing we've been reminded this week is that gaming can be a very different thing to each of us; we may be at the table for very different reasons. That said, I'd guess many of us are there for a shared fiction, a story collaboratively created.

A story of course is usually a piece of the possible cut out and marked as complete enough to tell. Away from those apparently shapeless possibilities, the story seems to have a form, a linearity, a point, and the events will naturally seem to be leading to that.

This is sounding familiar to the fundamental laws idea, right? Well, yes.

I'm not talking railroad, but expectations. If a friend, parent, master or associate is killed another friend, child, pupil or associate may act.  He or she may seek revenge, or see succession. There may be unfinished business, or myth calling. A sense of honour, or maybe a deal waiting to be done, a power vacuum, a tipping point close, a revolution to be set in motion, nothing left to lose. A powerful purpose, reason to jump in.

How about each level zero character having a simple ability, one-off or not? A destiny, an intimation of greatness, a push or a pull. Play it at a critical moment to barely scrape through, fulfil those expectations, reflect that framing. It may just be enough.

If it isn't, have the NPC standing alongside raise the standard, or see a once-in-a-lifetime chance appear ahead, or have something click in a character out of shot, as yet unmet. There's the next guy you roll up. No emotional investment need be fully lost. The world can keep turning, the fire burning, perhaps only on new ground, with new fuel.

Why not in wargames too? The last member of unit has a lot on his or her shoulders. And think of the auxiliaries, trainees, support staff, friends and family, passersby.

I'm not saying this is how you should do it - of course - or even that it needs to be done. There are good reasons for a high attrition rate in a gaming. We all have our own cups of tea, even if made with the same essential liquid. There are many implementations, more elegance. This is just an option, another experiment in fun, more of that exploration.
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Do they believe in us?

Look at what Harald is doing with magic in his house rules for World of Darkness.

And how about those concepts in making a polycosmos work? The idea belief makes a thing more possible and disbelief less is a way overlapping planes could be separated.

The take on ghosts as the dead who don't accept is familiar, so how about the idea of ghosts as beings who do? They want to believe we're here and so, increasingly, we are.

Could that be a horror story for Flash Fearsday? Here's my 140-character effort.

I woke. They stood there. Aliens? 

They looked me over, smiled. "You are real," they said. "We made you. And all you know." 

"No!" 

"Let us play."

Is it more of that gamer horror? You can try at Lunching on Lamias too. I still haven't written anything for Jennie's Expansion Joints this week, but I'm getting there. You?
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Flash Fearsdelayed

Here's this week's Flash Fearsday. I'm late. It's a writing challenge hosted at Lunching on Lamias, an attempt at horror in 140 characters exactly, line breaks counting one.

Last week I tried my hand at gamer horror, and this is perhaps a little more.

They don't make me do things, but they make me want to.

They encourage me.

Oh, those logos...

My mind - it's branded!

Like a head of cattle.

Yikes. Would any of us let that happen? Thought not.

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Flash Fearsdelayed & taken over - Higher random

It's Friday the thirteenth, and Blogger's been down, not to mention all the usual horror. But yesterday was Thursday and that means Flash Fearsday at Lunching on Lamias.

Join in; write a terrifying tale in 140 characters. A new genre this week, gamer horror...

He rolled the die, very well. It skipped, danced. Six. 

"Four," I said. "Two," came the reply. 

We settled on one.

And thus it became serious.

How about a bit of propluristemic content to go with it? Propluristemic content is a rule for adaptation to various systems and settings, for this context any dice-using system.

Higher random

It's very simple: roll the die; decide you like another result more.
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