Mad Brew Labs

Better Gaming by Design

24 Hour RPG: Traits I

Posted by Mad Brew On September - 24 - 2011ADD COMMENTS

The following is the first part of the Traits that are available in the Legends of the West, a 24 Hour RPG.

ROLL YER MAKINGS

This section presents the tools necessary for players to create Legends of the West. It describes the Traits common between all characters, explains their mechanical function, and details how to assign ranks to them during character creation and while adventuring in the West That Never Was.

Legends of the West does not employ levels or classes; all characters are built Trait by Trait from the ground up. The currency by which these Traits are increased is called Experience (XP). The Judge will hand out Experience whenever she sees fit, either individually or to the group.

LEGEND

The closest approximate to a level in Legends of the West is your Legend rank. Your Legend sets the upper bounds of every other Trait. Beyond its function as a power limiter, Legend is also a gauge of a character’s fame, or notoriety, depending on your perspective. This means characters of greater Legend in a posse of mixed ranks of Legend will have a target painted on their back when drawing down on rivals. With a high enough Legend, the government may even be pursuing your character. Whether it’s to put you down or to recruit you depends on your past deeds.

Most cowpunchers and settlers have a rank of zero in Legend, but all player characters start out with one rank in it. Ten is the official maximum rank, but Judges may impose limitations on purchasing ranks. The maximum rank of any purchased Trait for a character with no ranks in Legend is five. For every additional rank in Legend, the maximum rank for other Traits increased by one.

Cost: New Rank x 25

Maximum Rank: 10

Showdowns

Showdowns are what amounts to random, non-wilderness, encounters in Legends of the West. A Judge can take them or leave them, depending on what works best for her adventure. Whenever a character rides into town, every day spent there is a cumulative chance that there’s some fellow shows up wanting to test her luck against a Legend. How the upstart goes about challenging the character is variable and can either be determined randomly or left up to the Judge’s discretion for whatever best fits the story.

Calculate the character’s Showdown DR (see below) then make an Action Roll against the Difficulty Rating and add a +1 modifier for every day the character has been in town. Swap in Legend Dice if the character is Wanted (see Reputation) or if a Quality applies to the situation.

Showdown DR = 20 – (2 x Legend) + Reputation

If the roll exceeds the Difficulty Rating, then roll a d6 and see how the rascal plays it out. The Showdown Challenges are sparse, so feel free to add your own.

Showdown ChallengeTable:

Roll d6

Challenge

1

Drink!

2

Gamble!

3-5

Draw Iron!

6

Bushwhacked!

MEASURE

Legends of the West uses two Facets comprising of three Attributes a piece to take the Measure of a character. The Facets, Body and Mind, each have a Finesse, Power, and Resistance Attributes. Every Ability or Action has a Key Attribute and its value is added to Action Rolls involving them. The minimum rank one can have in an Attribute is negative five while the maximum rank, like all other Traits, is five plus the character’s Legend rank. Should a character ever be reduced beyond negative five in an Attribute, that character falls helpless and cannot take actions.

Cost: (10 + New Rank) x 4

Maximum Rank: 5 + Legend

Body Finesse

The Finesse Attribute of a character’s Body (BF) covers characteristics such as dexterity, agility, and fine motor skills. This Attribute is most important for targeting opponents, acrobatic feats, maintain your balance, and for avoiding mishaps and area affects.

Body Power

The Power Attribute of a character’s Body (BP) measures brawn and and shear physical might. This Attribute is crucial for inflicting injuring on foes during brawls and for lifting and carry weight, especially while climbing or jumping.

Body Resistance

The Resilience Attribute of a character’s Body (BR) represents physical endurance, stamina, and the ability to fend against disease and sickness. This Attribute is essential for surviving poison, avoiding Consumption, and being able to take a blow.

Mind Finesse

The Finesse Attribute of a character’s Mind (MF) describes the ability to think on your feet and quick wit. This Attribute is necessary for situational awareness and helps a character react to social situations or to danger in combat.

Mind Power

The Power Attribute of a character’s Mind (MP) denotes critical thinking, the ability to learn, and breadth of knowledge. This Attribute is significant whenever information retention is required and for applying knowledge in craft.

Mind Resistance

The Resilience Attribute of a character’s Mind (MR) reflects will and determination as well as the ability to shrug off mind crushing events. This Attribute is key for  resisting insanity, mental fatigue from sleep deprivation, and sustaining a battle of wills.

SAND

A character’s Sand represents her defensive capabilities. How quick can she evade that stick of dynamite, whether he’ll survive that scorpion’s sting, or even if she can keep her wits after chewing on some peyote. Your Sand will determine if you can survive the many perils of the frontier. Unlike the previous Traits, ranks in Sand cannot be purchased; they are derived from your other Traits or may be modified by Knacks and Quirks.

Reaction

A character’s Reaction score reflects the capability for evasion and responding to threats. It’s your reflexes and requires both mental and physical agility, thus the Body Finesse and Mind Finesse Attributes are used in its calculation.

Reaction = BF + MF

Resilience

A character’s Resilience score represents the resistance to fatigue, poison, and disease. It’s your fortitude and is composed of both the Body’s Power and Resistance Attributes.

Resilience = BP + BR

Resolve

A character’s Resolve score measures one’s strength of will. It’s your willpower and the Mind’s Power and Resistance Attributes are used in its calculation.

Resolve = MP + MR

Wild West Weeks

Listening to: Hans Zimmer – Rango OST – Stuck in Guacamole
Design & Development

24 Hour RPG: Core Mechanics

Posted by Mad Brew On September - 24 - 2011ADD COMMENTS

I’ve nominally decided to call this 24 Hour RPG, Legends of the West. In this post I’ve cooked up a core mechanic that seeds normal distribution (bell curve of success) with the ability for any action to succeed, albeit with slim probability. Later, I’ll add ways to improve chances with additional mechanics.

THE MOTHER LODE

This section explains the principal mechanics that power Legends of the West. Understanding how things operate should help players build characters that can effectively fill the concepts they want to explore. Optional rules are presented in sidebars, but just because this manual doesn’t consider a core rule optional doesn’t mean the players cannot change or ignore something that does not meet their needs. With that in mind, consider all the rules optional.

ADJUDICATION

Legends of the West requires at least one player to be the Judge. The Judge’s role is to provide seeds of adventure for players’ characters to act upon and then facilitate conflict resolution once those character end up in hot water. It is a mighty responsibility to become the Judge, but it is the most important role at the table. Just remember, a Hanging Judge is just as likely to find himself swinging from the end of a noose as is her victims.

THE CORE MECHANIC

Most daring-do that a Legends of the West character attempts is determined by an Action Roll. Choose the Ability that governs the action that is being attempted and note any modifiers. The Judge may also impose additional circumstantial modifiers. Now, roll three six-sided dice (3d6), add any modifiers, and then compare the result to the Difficulty Rating (DR). If the total result meets or exceeds the DR, the action is a success. Other rolls, such as Effect Rolls or Damage Rolls may be required upon success as determined by the Ability’s description.

Not every little nuance a character does needs to be resolved with an Action Roll. Unless the action is critical to the telling of the tale, the Judge should just let it happen. So there’s no need to roll to see if a character can put her boots on or make a fire to cook a meal, unless failure would add to the drama. Like if lighting the fire means surviving a cold winter’s night in the mountains.

Legend Dice

Legend Dice provide a twist on the conventional Action Roll. A Legend Dice has the ability to explode. This means that whenever a Legend Die resolves at that its highest possible value (i.e. a 6 on a d6), then that die is rolled again and the results are added to the total. Legend Dice continue to explode until a result other than the highest value is rolled.

Legend Dice replace normal dice in the Action Roll, so a player never rolls more than three dice. Legend Dice can be used under three different circumstances:

  • Specialization: The character is specialized in the action
  • Grit: A character spends one Grit
  • Quality: The scene relates to a character’s Quality

No more than one Legend Die may be used in an Action Roll for each circumstance. For example, if more than one Specialization applies to an action, the character still only receives a single Legend Die. However, it is possible to have every die be Legend Dice in an Action Roll if all three circumstances apply.

Difficulty Rating

DR is either determined by the Judge, from an Opposed Roll, or  by the Ability being used, in which case the Difficulty Rating will be found in its description. For Action Rolls without a defined DR, consult the table below to determine how hard an action is to accomplish.

Difficulty Rating Table:

Difficulty Rating
Very Easy 5
Easy 10
Moderate 15
Difficult 20
Very Difficult 25
Insanely Difficult 30
Legendary 40

Ones & Sixes

Automatic success and failure is not present in Legends of the West by default. This means that there are some tasks that some character cannot ever achieve from a vanilla Action Roll. Spending Grit for a Legend Die might give a character a snowball’s chance in hell, but it’s very slim. The West ain’t for the faint of heart, kiddos.

Even so, interesting things do happen when a player rolls the maximum or minimum values of the dice on an Action Roll. When a trinity of sixes appear when all three dice are rolled ( not on individual Legend Die rolls), it’s called the Devil’s Mark and the character gains one point of Grit. When a trio of ones are rolled, that called a Weird, and the character gains three Grit. Achieving rock bottom failure has a way of hardening a man. These results may also have other consequences dependent on the scene.

Variance of Success & Failure

The potential effectiveness, or impotence, of an action is determined by the Variance of an Action Roll. Variance is calculated by finding the difference between the Action Roll and the Difficulty Rating. Every increment of five the Action Roll exceeds or falls short of the DR counts as a Variance of Success or Failure, respectively.

For example, if the total result of an Action Roll is twenty-four and the DR was fifteen, that action would have a Success Variance of one. Variance can mathematically be calculated by subtracting the DR from the Action Roll total and then dividing the difference by five, always rounding down.

The mechanical effects Variance is detailed in the description of an Ability. However, not every action or Ability will take Variance into consideration, but the Judge and players should feel free to improvise for effect when as the situation dictates.

Optional Rule: Critical Success & Failure

Whenever a Devil’s Mark is rolled, that action automatically succeeds even if the result does not meet or exceed the DR. If the result does meet or exceed the DR, the Devil’s Mark counts as an additional Variance of Success.

Whenever a Weird is rolled, that action automatically fails even if the result meets or exceeds the DR. If the result would already be considered a failure, the Weird counts as an additional Variance of Failure.
Design & Development

24 Hour RPG Live Blog

Posted by Mad Brew On September - 24 - 20112 COMMENTS
24 Hour RPG

24 Hour RPG

Today, I’m kicking off a 24 hour challenge where I develop a entire RPG, starting now (noon) and ending tomorrow at noon (EST). The rules of the challenge:

  • Must complete within 24 hours
  • All work must be done by me
  • No pre-work, but can be based on pre-existing ideas
So, while I cannot help but to have thought about what I want to explore, I have yet to write anything down. The rules I want to create will be suitable for roleplaying in the historical Old West, but easily expanded to include elements of Fantasy, Horror, and Weird. If I have time, I’ll explore those concepts as part of the challenge, but they are not necessary for my goal.
I want to try a bottom up approach, where I create a core system skeleton upon which I add fiddly bit that hopefully enable the themes of the game. Since I’ve had a particular style of system burning a hole in my mind, I’m going to use those ideas to get the ball rolling.
I don’t expect this project to be groundbreaking or revolutionary, but there are some dice mechanics such as normal distribution and use of exploding dice that I would like to explore. So this challenge will be more of a cathartic experience where I test these ideas and purge them from my system so I can move on to other ideas.
If this endeavor is successful, I might expand and revise the rules or even do another 24 Hour RPG where I approach the design from a different angle, possibly top-down, where I think of the Old West as a character and explore creating a system that supports that concept.

Design Goals

Before I begin diving into the writing of this game, I want to put some goals down to sort of form an outline of where I want to go. Hopefully, this outline will give me direction and keep focused on the prize so I can actually complete the challenge.
  • Modular
  • Skill/Ability based (classless)
  • Buck the rules light trend (mild complexity)
  • Attempt to integrate free-form RP mechanics
  • Normal distribution (3 or dice for resolution)
  • Things are improbable, but not impossible
  • Reward failure
  • Different but familiar
With those high level design goals in place, I think I’ll go ahead and post this and start on part 2!
Listening to: Pantera – Cowboys from Hell – Cowboys from Hell
Design & Development

Red Dead Redemption

Posted by Mad Brew On September - 23 - 2011ADD COMMENTS
Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption[1] is an action-adventure 3rd person shooter that is set in the late (1911-1914) Old West. While it’s set in the Old West, the open game world locations and people are actually fictitious. Red Dead Redemption (RDR) is the spiritual successor to the PS2 game, Red Dead Revolver, but doesn’t share any common characters in the story lines (though you can unlock Revolver models for online play).

Plot

I’ll try to keep from spoilers, but the primary storyline for RDR follows former outlaw, John Marston, who is strong-armed into tracking down and killing his former gang members when the newly formed FBI kidnaps his wife and son.

Marston must obtain allies (by rendering services for them) in the Territory of New Austin and the Mexican province of Nuevo Paraiso in order to track down and incapacitate his former friends. Then Marston must face the law that shanghaied his life.

The voice acting is superb and the story and dialog do an excellent job of illustrating the underlying themes exemplified by the Old West. Civilization conquering the Wild. Law subverting Freedom and all the little grey areas between. The plot handles the moral and ethical ambiguity rooted in the myth of the American Frontier very well.

For a more complete synopsis of the plot (as well as detailed information about every part of the game), I highly recommend the walk-through provided by the Red Dead Wiki.[2]

Gameplay

Red Dead Redemption is built on RAGE (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine), so it shares a lot technology with Rockstar’s other game built with the same engine, Grand Theft Auto IV, such as a sandbox game world and the third person shooter perspective.

Travel

Transportation across the open world is done primarily with a horse (along with carts, wagons, or stagecoaches if you steal one) or train, but once a place has been “unlocked” you can travel there instantly when you’ve set up camp or when you’re at a save location. You can always travel to waypoints you can place on the world map using this method. Some online games and story chapters have unique modes of transportation such as by river raft or automobile.

Combat

The controls (at least for the PS3 version) are pretty intuitive and easy to master. Firing a weapon consists of pressing and holding the aim button and then firing with another. You have three modes of aiming: Casual, Normal, and Expert. The difference between Casual and Normal are not that obvious at first, but they both snap-to-target (with Normal you have to be near the target for auto-aim to work). Casual aiming also increases heal speed. Expert removes all auto-aiming features (and gives an XP bonus in multi-player).

Damage is represented by blood splatter and red transparency that overlays the screen. Health is regenerative, and once you quit taking damage you quickly heal. However, it is still possible to be sniped in one-shot, especially in multi-player.

Weapons

The RDR team did a healthy bit of research for the weaponry found in the game. While some of the specs are inaccurate (Henry rifles held 16 rounds, not 12; original Evans repeating rifles held 34 rounds, not 22; Mauser pistols were not fully auto until after WWI), I think they were modified for game balance. Below is a list of available weapons and links to their real-world counterpart:

Weapon List:

My only real gripe is that the infamous LeMat revolver wasn’t able to fire the grapeshot center barrel the Confederate sidearm was famous for. Other than these small inconsistencies, I think the weaponry is dead-on for this western shooter. Indeed, I think the weapons used may have actually determined the timeline the story is set in.

Breaking Horses

Horse breaking is a mini-game in Red Dead Redemption. You can either break horses at one of the ranches or break horses in the wild. There are several breeds of horse that can be obtained (Welsh Mountain, Quarter Horse, & American Standard-bred being but a few), each with different qualities. Attributes for mounts include Speed, Stamina, and Health and each has a rating of 1 to 4 stars. Most of the breeds must be found and broken in game.

Gambling Mini-Games

There are several gambling mini-games available to play in both single-player and multi-player. Each mini-game has its own unique mechanics and/or controls. You can lock hands in Arm Wrestling, try not to exceed 21 in Blackjack, slice up your hand in Five Finger Fillet, test your luck in Horseshoes, prevaricate about faces in Liar’s Dice, or bluff your way to the pot in Poker.

Other Activities

Some other activities available in Red Dead Redemption include Bounty Hunting, Cattle Herding, watching newfangled film at the Cinema, commit Crimes & Murder, Drinking, Herb Collecting, Hunting & Skinning, and Train Robbing. There are also random mini-missions that you can accept like preventing hangings, escorting strangers, getting ambushed, dueling, and intervening with suicides.

There are also Gang Hideouts sprinkled across the map that bandits will repeatedly take over, but you can clear them out.

Multi-player

The single-player element of RDR could stand-alone as great game without adding online play, but Rockstar pulled out all the stops and included multi-player. There is no conventional lobby to enter the various types of multi-player games; instead you can select everything from Free Roam.

Free Roam

Free Roam is basically an online instance of the entire open game world of Red Dead Redemption that supports up to 16 players. Many of the activities available in single-player are available in Free Roam, the major exception is that you no longer have an inventory or economy (ammo can be obtained from slain players/NPCs or quasi-random ammo boxes that appear throughout the map).

Free Roam comes in three flavors: Normal, Hardcore, and Friendly. Player killing is available in Normal and Hardcore, but is removed in Friendly (though you can blow yourself up with dynamite and take nearby players with you or stun them long enough for enemies to kill them). In Hardcore, you must use Expert aiming.

There is also a Private instance where only invited players may join, but many of the achievements and challenges can only be accomplished in the above public Free Roams.

From Free Roam, you can form posses of up to 8 players and clear gang hideouts or just generally wreak havoc. Posses also allow you to stay together when entering one of the many game modes: competitive or cooperative.

The competitive game modes always begin with a Showdown, either a Mexican Standoff (free-for-all) or a Face-Off (gangs matches), and support 2-8 players. The Liars & Cheats DLC also allows you to play Poker and Liar’s Dice in multi-player.

Cooperative Missions

The cooperative game mode is available with the Outlaws to the End DLC and includes 6 coop missions that have both normal and advanced versions. Players can choose “classes” (classes merely define the beginning weapon loadout) and attempt to complete the missions in groups of 2 to 4 players.

Gang Shootout

A team deathmatch where the team with the most kills wins.

Gold Rush

The game randomly spawns bags of gold and you must capture more than the other players to win. The more gold you carry, the slower you move.

Grab Bag

Is much like capture the flag, but there is only one flag and it spawns in quasi-random locations as a bag of gold.

Hold Your Own

A classic capture the flag scenario.

Horse Racing {Liars & Cheats}

Players race against each other with mounted combat.

Land Grab {Undead Nightmare DLC}

This is like a free-for-all version of Stronghold below. Players fight to maintain control over sections of a town.

Shootout

A classic free-for-all deathmatch where the person with the most kills wins.

Stronghold {Liars & Cheats DLC}

For those familiar with the Warfare mode from Unreal Tournament 3[3], Stronghold is very similar. One team tries to prevent the other team from capturing nodes on the map. Both teams take turns attacking and defending, and the team with the best score wins.

Undead Overrun {Undead Nightmare DLC}

This is a cooperative game that supports 2-4 players. Players are confronted with wave after wave of undead hordes and are scored by how many waves they survive.

Levels & Unlocks

Unlike the single-player game, multi-player has levels. A player may level from 1 to 50 (and do it again up to 5 more times to unlock Legendary stuff). A player’s level and how many times he’s passed into legend (i.e. started over at level 1) determine which mounts, weapons, character skins are available to him. Clearing gang hideouts, general killing, and participating in the multi-player game modes earns players experience.

Occasionally, Rockstar announces double and triple experience events on holidays and weekends. In order to be aware of when these things happen you have to follow them on Facebook[4] or Twitter[5] or catch the event on the Social Club.[6]

Achievements & Challenges

The achievement & challenge system is an addiction for me. I simply cannot rest until I’ve unlocked every trophy (what is awarded on the PS3 for obtaining achievements) and beat every challenge. It makes the achiever in me forgo sleep in order to mark a single challenge off the list.

There are two similar systems at play in Red Dead Redemption. Achievements (or Trophies on the PS3) are usually tied to the storyline or with single impressive feats. If you complete the story, you end up with a lot of Trophies. Challenges are not tied to the story, and you could probably go through the entire game without completing one.

Most of the challenges exist in multi-player and there are so many of them (especially when you add the DLCs), that it could keep everyone but the most hardcore/unemployed busy for more than a year. Completing challenges always unlocks something like outfits, titles, or things like golden weapon skins.

Expansions (DLC)

There are five expansions, or downloadable content, available for Red Dead Redemption: Outlaws to the End, Legends & Killers, Liars & Cheats, Hunting & Trading, and Undead Nightmare. Except for Hunting & Trading, all of the DLC is premium content, which means you need to pay extra for it. However, they bundle four premiums together as the Undead Nightmare Collection and retails for $19.99.

I won’t go into the minutia, but the DLCs add new challenges, achievements, usually a weapon or new outfits, titles, character skins, and online game modes. Undead Nightmare is unique in that it adds an entire new single player campaign that takes place in between final events of the main storyline. An undead plague turns people into flesh eating zombies and Marston needs to recover an ancient Aztec artifact to stop it.

Just last week, Rockstar released another free DLC pack entitled Myths & Mavericks. It releases some popular single player characters for multiplayer as well as adding a bunch of multiplayer maps.

Awards

Since its release on May 18th, 2010, Red Dead Redemption has collected an impressive array of critical acclaim and awards. Metacritic[7] reports an aggregate score of 95, making it the 4th best ranked PS3 game of all time according to them. The only reputable review I could find that scored RDR less than in the 90th percentile was from Eurogamer[8] and they gave an 8/10.

At the only video game awards I monitor, the Game Developers Choice Awards, Red Dead Redemption was nominated for 6 categories (out of 7 it could be eligible for) and walked away with 4 awards including Best Audio, Best Technology, Best Game Design, and Game of the Year.[9]

RDR has also claimed numerous Game of the Year awards from the media, including: Computer & Video Games, GameSpot, GameSpy, Good Game, and Machinima. The game has also been recognized for its music by GameSpot, Machinima, and SpikeTV; for its downloadable content by G4 TV, Game Revolution, and SpikeTV; and for its graphics at the Korean Games Conference.[10]

Soundtracks

The two soundtracks available, Red Dead Redemption[11] and Undead Nightmare,[12] are simply phenomenal. The atmosphere and ambiance is perfectly captured by the game’s audio. These soundtracks would be an excellent tool to set the mood for any Western tabletop game. The music for both albums were composed by Bill Elm and Woody Jackson, current and former members, respectively, of the instrumental/post rock band Friends of Dean Martinez.[13]

Verdict

This game is my current favorite video game and I think it is certainly the best 2010 had to offer. Red Dead Redemption has all the Bartle player types[14] covered. Explorers have an expansive open world to discover and roam. Achievers have countless Achievements and Challenges to complete. Killers can slay everything they meet. Socializers can form Posses and voice-chat or do whatever they like to do, I guess.

The only way I can envision this game being better is if they released it on PC and along with an editor and supported user generated content. I’d love to make stuff for this game!

From the characters to the plot, the locations and side-missions, and even the soundtrack, this game has all sorts of elements just waiting to be mined for a tabletop game. Play this game for just ten minutes and you’ll be ready to write a scene for the Wild West roleplaying game of your choice!

Wild West Weeks

Listening to: Red Dead Redemption – Undead Nightmare OST – Get Back in that Hole, Partner

References


[1] The official Red Dead Redemption website by Rockstar Games.
[2] The Red Dead Wiki, an exhaustive resource for all things Red Dead.
[3] Unreal Tournament 3 is a first-person shooter by Epic Games.
[4] Rockstar Games on Facebook.
[5] Rockstar Games on Twitter.
[6] Rockstar Games Social Club Events.
[7] Red Dead review aggregation on Metacritic.
[8] Red Dead Review from Eurogamer.
[9] Red Dead Redemption sweeps the Game Developers Choice Awards.
[10] RDR awards listed on Wikipedia.
[11] Red Dead Redemption YouTube playlist.
[12] Undead Nightmare YouTube playlist.
[13] Friends of Dean Martinez mySpace page.
[14] Dr. Richard Bartle’s Players Who Suit MUDs.

Reviews

Aces & Eights: A Shattered Frontier RPG

Posted by Mad Brew On September - 22 - 20114 COMMENTS
Aces & Eights: Shattered Frontier

Aces & Eights: Shattered Frontier

True Grit

True Grit. That is exactly what you’ll find in the Aces & Eights: Shattered Frontier RPG by Kenzer & Company. When I first saw the beautifully tooled leather-bound tome at GenCon 2008[1], I was very much intrigued by the concept of an Old/Wild West roleplaying game, but unfortunately passed on the opportunity to purchase it. So, I’m borrowing a gently used copy.

Leather-tooled Hardcover

Leather-tooled Hardcover

It is a massive book. It has a thick, leather-style cover tooled with a Western design and comes with a 400 page count. The cover reminds me a lot of the Time Life Old West series of books published beginning in 1979, and I’m sure that’s intentional.  I only have one roleplaying game book[2] that dwarfs it. Contained within this one book is everything one needs to play the Aces & Eights game from the basic (quickstart) rules to the advanced rules, mini-games, and even A&8’s alt-history campaign setting.

The historical elements of the game are pretty dead on. The firearms are correct for the period (though, I feel I need to correct them on the fact that a Henry rifle had a 16 round capacity instead of 15) and the price of goods are pretty accurate for the period. Their alt-history, “The West that Never Was,” setting is very believable and they have realistically extrapolated the outcome of history had a few key choices/events been slightly different.

The presentation is phenomenal. The period perfect paintings (many painted by the legend Charles “Kid” Russell), prints, and photographs really capture the Old West atmosphere. The rules are actually written in a conversational tone in a style that pays homage (yet is not overwhelming) to way people spoke during the period. In fact, I think Kenzer needs to hire Sam Elliott[3] (or a similar gravelly voiced cowpoke) to narrate an audiobook version of the rules (it’s the voice my mind read the rules with and it rocked!).

Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo

Character Creation

For not having a class system, the Aces & Eights RPG has a ton of rules. The character stats and generation are obviously heavily influenced by Hackmaster, Kenzer Company’s other RPG. You roll 3d6 in order as well as d100 fractional scores (percentages) for each ability score (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Looks, and Charisma).

Dexterity and Intelligence help determine Accuracy while Dexterity and Wisdom decide Speed. A characters Reputation and Fame are calculated using Looks and Charisma. Everything but Looks can be adjusted during creation either through sacrificing scores or with Build Points.

There are random generation tables for about every facet of character creation (age, place of birth, handedness, height, body mass/weight, starting cash, reasons to go west, quirks & flaws, even your skill mastery is random in some sense). There is an entire appendix for detailed character backgrounds that has 24 tables to randomly generate your family history and back-story.

Personally, I’m not a fan of random stat generation, but it would be very easy to house rule a point buy mechanic. The random background generation sounds intriguing. It would have very little impact on mechanics, but would allow for a ton of interesting roleplaying opportunities.

I did find the use of fractional scores almost completely useless. It felt like it was more of a carry-over from Hackmaster than as a meaningful element to the A&8 rules.

Scrapes (Combat)

Shotclock

Shotclock

The combat resolution mechanic used in Aces & Eights is pretty novel and I’ve only ever seen one other game use a similar mechanic[4]. A&8 uses a system of silhouettes targets combined with a transparent overlay. You find a silhouette that reflects the position & stance of your target, add any necessary cover (boulders, doors, barrels, etc.) and then place the shot clock overlay where you’re aiming at.

You then roll a d20 and add any modifiers. If you get a 25 or greater, you get a bullseye. Below a 15 is miss (but there are optional extrapolation rules). Any result in between means you draw a card from a standard poker deck to see where you’re deviated on the clock. You then roll damage and consult the wound charts for additional effects.

It makes for a very realistic combat encounter since you could accidentally kill someone you were only meaning to scare. The wound charts also mean that a character can effectively die from a single shot even though the damage did not exceed his hit points.

There are no rounds in Aces & Eights, only a Count Up. Every action costs a certain number of counts and movement can be tracked separately from shooting actions. Since there isn’t necessarily an action every count and combat is very deadly, the combat sequence actually plays out very quickly.

Supplemental Rules

The rules are built in a modular fashion which means you only need to add complexity as your game demands it. You can actually play simple showdown shootouts without out ever needing to dip into actual character creation. A few rolls and you’re ready to skin those smoke wagons!

Mini-games are a big portion of the supplemental rules. The designers did not a single resolution mechanic approach these elements. Some of the mini-games include cattle drives, gambling, bar brawls, chases, and convincing a jury you’re don’t need to be on the receiving end of a sudden drop with a short stop.

There are so many rules packed into this book, that I’d rather not cover them here, so I plan on doing some short supplemental reviews that cover some of these other aspects and touches on the rules in depth.

Unforgiven

The hardcover core rulebook has seen two printings, but is now currently out of print. It costs a fistful of dollars with a list price of $59.99 as of the second print. For a few dollars more (read: a LOT more), you can grab it from Amazon or eBay. According to what I have read on the Kenzer forums and from commentary across the web, I guess both runs suffered from a significant (but not overwhelming) number of books with poor binding.

The second printing updated the rules with errata and clarifications, but a font issue rendered several tables undecipherable but Kenzer did release a download for fixed tables. There wasn’t space for an index in print, but Kenzer also released a download for that.

However, most of these issues are negligible to me; it’s fact that I didn’t acquire a copy of Shattered Frontier before it went OOP that is truly unforgiven. Now, I am in full swing of a Wild West Revival[5] and I can only get my hands on a borrowed copy! [EDIT: Kenzer just released the core rulebook in PDF form for $24.99, rather expensive for digital if you ask me).

For those interested in giving Aces & Eights a spin, you can grab a print edition of the Aces & Eights: Shattered Frontiers Player’s Guide for $29.99 or grab a PDF copy of the Aces & Eights: Showdown rules for $9.99. Or wait until later this year, Jolly R. Blackburn recently mentioned that A&7 will go to the printers for a third run.[6]

Wild West Weeks

Listening to: Ennio Morricone – The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly OST – The Ecstasy of Gold

How the West Was Won


[1] While the A&8 game was made available for purchase early 2007, it did not appear on my radar until 2008 when it was nominated by the ENnies for Best Game, Best Production Values, Best Rules, and Product of Year. It ended up winning the Silver Award for Best Game as well as winning Best Roleplaying Game earlier in 2008 at Origins. Aces & Eights definitely has a pedigree.

[2] The Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook.

[3] The quintessential cowboy movie star; you might know him as The Stranger from The Big Lebowski.

[4] Millennium’s End RPG (sic), a modern spy game by Chameleon Eclectic.

[5] This year it was my turn to decide the destination for our family vacation. I picked Yellowstone National Park. Having visited the park twice when I was much younger, I was taken by nostalgia that has rekindled my early childhood attraction with the Wild West. This coupled with being completely taken and engrossed by the Red Dead Redemption video game has led me to deep immersion in all things Western (Old, Weird, or Wild).

[6] Jolly R. Blackburn was interviewed by the Role Playing Public Radio podcast in February.

Reviews

Deadlands Reloaded

Posted by Mad Brew On September - 21 - 2011ADD COMMENTS
Deadlands Reloaded

Deadlands Reloaded

Deadlands first debuted back in 1996 as a Western-Horror-Steampunk mash-up (before the term was as ubiquitous as it is today), a setting billed as the Weird West. The rules would eventually evolve into the current Savage Worlds roleplaying game (along with the Deadlands miniature battle spin-off rules, The Great Rail Wars). Deadlands is why Savage Worlds uses poker chips, playing cards, and exploding dice mechanics (referred to as “Aces” and “Raises”) as those items helped give DL its Western flavor.

A Reckoning

Harrowed Gunslinger by Brom

Harrowed Gunslinger by Brom

The setting for Deadlands is an alt-history North America that begins in 1879. As with the Shattered Frontier setting of Aces & Eights, you will find a country divided where the Confederacy retained their independence after the Civil War. Also like A&8, the Mormons actually founded their nation of Deseret and the native population have not one, but two territories they control. Unlike A&8, the Republic of Texas is not a separate entity, though their famed Texas Rangers have become a federal level secret service for the Confederate States of America.

A lack of coal and iron led to the stalemate in the War Between States, which allowed the Mormons, the native Sioux Nations in the Dakotas, and the Coyote Confederation in the Southwest to found their own independent states. Though the Union and the Confederates still consider much of the west theirs, the current halt of the warmachine keeps them from doing anything about it.

But what puts the Weird into Deadlands’ West is the Reckoning. See, a long time ago a cadre of Native American shamans, called the Old Ones, fought the evil spirits, known as manitous, in the spirit lands, named the Hunting Grounds, in order to protect our reality from their influence. A deal was brokered, and as long as the Old Ones remained in the Hunting Grounds the manitous could not gain a foothold in our world.

Well, that is, until the Reckoning, when a rebel Sioux shaman committed some atrocities in order to drive the white man out of America. See, he completes a nasty ritual that culminated in the murders of the Old Ones, thus releasing the bindings keeping the manitous in the Hunting Grounds. With the deal broken, the most powerful of the manitous, the Reckoners were able to directly influence the world.

And so all the monsters, magic, and generally Weird stuff is usually created by the manitous in order to spread fear throughout the land. The Reckoners, who have assumed the mantles of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, feed off of fear and once terror reaches a certain limit, the Reckoners can enter the world, making it their own. By the way, their domain in the Hunting Grounds is called the Deadlands, now you know how the setting gets its name.

Make Yer Dudes

Player's Guide

Player's Guide

So, in a roundabout way, heroes of Deadlands are trying to save the world by reducing the level of fear via daring do and recounting their legendary tales. The type of characters you can play in Deadlands is pretty open, since Savage Worlds doesn’t have classes, per se. However, depending on your Edges and Skills, various themes rise to the top.

DL characters are only allowed to take a single Arcane Background, which defines whether or not you’re a Blessed/Voodooist, a Huckster, a Shaman, a Chi-channeling Martial Artist, or Mad Scientist. Everything is pretty self-explanatory except for the Huckster. Hucksters enter a test of wills with the manitous to channel magic from the Hunting Grounds. Since the progenitor of Hucksters is Hoyle (like the cards), this battle of will takes on the form of a poker game, and when Huckster cast their spells, spiritual cards appear in their hand.

Of course, this review wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the Harrowed. These bad hombres are sentient walking dead. Harrowed are reborn, or at least reanimated, when one of the manitous takes up residence in a corpse. The Harrowed retain their personalities and memories, to begin with at least. The dark spirit within will try to take over the host at the worst times, to wreak havoc all while wearing your face. Players can have Harrowed characters, but it’s rare to begin play as one.

Ante Up

Marshal's Handbook

Marshal's Handbook

Deadlands Reloaded uses the Savage Worlds core rules which are spawned. The basics of Savage Worlds is a character has five Attributes (Agility, Smarts, Spirit, Strength, & Vigor) and a range of Skills, all of which have a die rating ranging from d4 to d12 (well, actually d12+2, but that’s with Edges). Skills have linked Attributes, and it’s more costly to purchase a Skill with a greater rating than it’s linked Attribute.

There are several derived stats (Pace, Parry, Charisma, & Toughness), which are calculated from Attributes or Skills and modified by Race and Edges. Edges are similar to Feats or Merits from the d20 and Storytelling Systems, respectively. The opposite of Edges are Hindrances, which are similar to Flaws or Drawbacks.

For resolution, a player rolls either the Attribute or Skill that’s related to the action along with their Wild Die (a d6 by default, but can be modified by Edges or Hindrances) against the Target Number of 4. Then take the better result between the Trait and Wild dice and add any circumstance modifiers. If it beats the TN, it’s a success.

What more, Savage Worlds incorporate exploding dice, called Aces, which are open-ended rolls. So, every time the maximum value of the die is rolled, you roll it again and add the result. This continues until a result lower than the maximum value is rolled. Both Trait and Wild dice are subject to Aces.

For every 4 points you exceed the Target Number, you get a Raise. Raises are critical successes and can influence the final result of an action. However, on the flip side, if both the Trait and Wild dice roll ones, that’s Snake Eyes and is considered a critical failure.

Savage Worlds also have Bennies, which are similar to Fate or Action Points. Bennies can be spent to re-roll any Trait Test and you can spend as many as you wish and take the best result. They may also be used to keep your character from dying. Settings usually modify these rules, and Deadlands is a prime example. In Deadlands, there are three types, and when some of them are spent, it actually puts a Bennie in the hands of the Marshal (the Deadland’s name for GameMaster), to be spent against the players.

Initiative is handled with playing cards. At the beginning of an encounter, the deck is shuffled and each round the player draws a card. Then a countdown from Ace to Deuce is made with ties resolved in reverse alphabetical suit order (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs). So an Ace of Spades trumps an Ace of Diamonds. Jokers are wild and mean that character can choose whenever they want to act, even interrupting another character’s action. Oh, and they get a +2 bonus to damage rolls too! Whenever a Joker is dealt, the deck is shuffled.

Wounds are handled by comparing the damage rolled versus the target’s Toughness. If the damage is less than his Toughness, there is no game affect (read: glancing blow). If it meets or exceeds Toughness, the target is Shaken (can move half speed, but do no other actions). Each Raise above Toughness on the damage roll causes a wound. Each character has three wound levels and for each wound the character takes a cumulative -1 to Pace and Trait Tests.

If a character receives another Shaken result while still Shaken, it is instead a wound (and a wounded character becomes Shaken if not already). A character can recover from being Shaken on his turn with a Spirit Test.

If a character with three wounds is wounded again, or if the wounds received exceed three, then a Knockout Blow has been received and the players must consult a table to see what happens. A Bennie may be spent to take a Soak Roll and for a success and every raise, the character reduces the damage dealt by one.

Royal Flush

Deadlands is the flagship setting for a solid rules system, so if you like the fast, furious, fun style of Savage Worlds and want to stake a claim in the Weird West, I highly suggest you give Deadlands a spin. You’ll need the Savage Worlds Core Rulebook, which was just revised, as well as the Marshal’s Handbook and the Player’s Guide. Well, you might even be able to get by with just the Test Drive rules for Savage Worlds instead of the core book, but you’re on own then, pardner.

Wild West Weeks

Listening to: Deadlands – Weird Wailin’s Soundtrack – Into the Deadlands
Reviews

Into the Far West

Posted by Mad Brew On September - 20 - 20111 COMMENT
Far West RPG

Far West RPG

The Far West is a transmedia project conceived by Gareth-Michael Sharka and his compatriots at Adamant Entertainment. As a transmedia project, it will eventually provide several points of access for audiences including novels, comics, web series, and a tabletop roleplaying game. The roleplaying game was recently funded via Kickstarter and broke the previous hobby game funding record after acquiring over seven hundred backers and amassing nearly fifty thousand dollars!

You’ve Got Shaw Brothers in My Sergio Leone

The setting blends the elements of the Chinese Wuxia and Spaghetti Western genres. Add a completely fictitious setting (this is not the American West or the a Ming Dynasty era China) and some steampunk elements and you’ve got an idea where Adamant Entertainment, the publisher of Far West, is taking the setting.

From the website[1]:

A fantasy world that’s The Gunslinger meets Storm Riders meets Deadwood meets Afro Samurai meets The Wild Wild West meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Django meets Brisco County meets House of Flying Daggers and more.

A fantasy world that’s explored through a constantly-updated website, a tabletop role-playing game, a web series, artwork, fiction, comics and much, much, more. A fantasy world that is shaped by its own fan community.

From what I’ve gleaned from the fabulous vignettes and development articles on the website, the setting consists of the Empire, a heavily developed urban area with very little wild, empty spaces. The heart of the Empire rests on the eastern shore of the Eastern Ocean. As you move farther west, the wild becomes more dominant as law and civilization become more sparse. This, of course, is keeping with its American Frontier influences.

Beyond the core Empire, you have the Periphery, which are Imperial Territories. In the recent past, most of the Periphery rebelled in what is known as the Succession Wars. It wasn’t a concerted effort, and slowly the Empire quelled each territory. Beyond the Periphery is the Frontier, and beyond the Frontier you’re in the Far West.

Odyssey System

Odyssey System

The FATE of d20 on this Odyssey

There hasn’t been much discussion about what rules would be powering the Far West. However, I did find buried on the website a single post[2] explaining at a conceptual level what direction the rules were heading in.

The rules will officially be known as the Odyssey System, which, at its basic level is an integration of FATE[3] Aspects mechanics into the d20 framework. Of particular note are the modifications of the basic d20 system, which actually reminds me a lot of Mutants & Masterminds[4] or True20[5]:

  • Classless
    - Mechanics called Backgrounds and Occupations actually give you Areas of Knowledge
  • Abilities
    - Ability scores are simply represented as the bonus (i.e. -1, +2, etc.)
    - Spirit is a points pool determined by Wisdom that power Kung Fu and the like
    - Any Ability may have a saving throw… such as a Social saving thrown for Charisma
  • Aspects
    - Imported from FATE
    - Based on the traditional Xia virtues: Altruism, Justice, Individualism, Loyalty, Courage, Glory, Poverty
  • Skills
    - Eliminated and governed by straight Ability checks
    - Backgrounds, Occupations, and Edges give bonuses
  • Edges
    - Combines Feats and Class Talents
  • Kung Fu
    - Sort of an expanded Edge
    - Powered by Spirit
    - Purchased with a points-buy system
  • Combat
    - Swaps Hit Points for a Toughness system (similar to M&M)
    - Would levels with penalties
    - Initiative bonus is an average of Wisdom and Dexterity
    - Strength applies to melee defense (blocking)
    - Stunt system powered by critical successes

Seasoned Wanderer of the Dust Road

Since I pledged as a backer of the Far West Kickstarter[6], I’ll be able to follow along with the development of the setting as well as receive a copy of the rules once they are sent to print. So check back here, or visit the official website, for more details if you’re interested in this fantastic mash-up. The work so far really makes me think that Far West will be more than a sum of its parts and will probably be able to stand on its own as a very well done world and game.

Wild West Weeks

Listening to: Yoshida Brothers – Tsugaru Shamisen – Morricone

References


[1] Into The Far West website
[2] The Odyssey System
[3] FATE website
[4] Mutants & Masterminds
[5] True20
[6] Far West Kickstarter

Reviews

Wild West RPGs

Posted by Mad Brew On September - 19 - 20114 COMMENTS
Wild West Weeks

Wild West Weeks

Until I began my research for Wild West Weeks, I did not realize how much had been published for the Western genre in the world of tabletop gaming. I was aware of the many wargame and skirmish rules published for the genre, but there are also numerous titles available for roleplaying. There are several different levels of Western RPG source-books. There are splat-book style supplements for established games, core rulebooks that re-purpose existing systems, and finally there are systems designed specifically for the genre. What choice is right for you (assuming you are entertaining the prospect of gaming in the Old West) depends on your level of commitment and how much (time or money) you and your groups is willing to invest on buy-in. Below I have identified different levels of buy-in as well as highlighting example RPG source material.

One-Shot

For gamers interested in a simple distraction from their primary campaigns, a simple skirmish ruleset may be a better alternative than using a full-blown roleplaying game. However, it might be possible to work a one-shot style mini-adventure into an existing campaign (can always apply time/dimension/planar/dream travel). A good choice for this level of buy-in is to find cheap supplements for your current roleplaying system. Use the rules your group are most comfortable with that help reinforce the genre and kick the rest to the curb.

Example 1

System: Weird West RPG

Type:Rules Light Robertson Games’ Wierd West RPG can fit onto a single page and is probably the one of the easiest Weird West roleplaying games you can find. It literally only takes about 10 minutes to begin play.

Example 2

System: Gutshot

Type:Skirmish A pretty simple miniature skirmish game, Gutshot may be the right choice for a group to get right into some Old West shoot-out fun. It’s quick and easy, but does unfortunately doesn’t come in full electronic form.

Side-Trek

The side-trek is a story arc or adventure that resides within a larger campaign. A group would typically invest between two to four sessions experiencing an Old West adventure set within the context of an on-going campaign.

Example 1

System: Savage Worlds + Deadlands

Concept:Time-traveling Pulp If you’re pulp or fantasy heroes happen to travel through time or dimensions and you’re using Savage Worlds, a quick dip into Deadlands might be a cool side-trek into the Weird West.

Example 2

System: Werewolf: the Apocalypse + Werewolf: the Wild West

Concept: Haunting Past The pack pursues an enemy Black Spiral Dancer to Arizona where it takes refuge at an abandoned cairn in a hidden box canyon. Time has forgotten an ancient evil (perhaps related to the Ananasi… which sounds very similar to Anasazi) there and a ghost pack requires the player’s help.

Alt-Campaign

An alt-campaign an alternate game run by the same group. Alt-campaigns are often run by a different GM than the primary campaign to provide breaks and breathing room for preparation. They tend to light in content and rules, so it also provides a respite for players as well. One of two approaches are recommended for alt-campaigns. Use either a very light rules system or use a setting that built on the same system as the primary campaign. This keeps the buy-in and frustration of switching between rules to a minimum.

Example 1

System: Weird West RPG

Type:Rules Light Once again, I’ll suggest Robertson Games’ Weird West RPG. It’s light, but has enough substance to support a full campaign. It could be the refreshing alternative your group needs.

Example 2

System: OGL Wild West

Type:d20 Variant If you’re current playing Pathfinder RPG or some other d20 variant, slipping in a campaign using Mongoose’s OGL Wild West should be rather easy to do. You’ll find all the familiar d20 mechanics and traits which should keep buy-in minimal.

Dedicated Campaign

For a dedicated campaign, I recommend that the group chooses a game that best fits the genre and their play style. The buy-in can be fairly steep, since this is going to be the primary game for many, if not all of, the players. The decision on which game to use is probably most important for a dedicated campaign, you’re going to be stuck with it for a long time, hopefully, or the campaign will die before it even builds up a full head of steam.

Wild West Game DB

I’ve compiled a small Google spreadsheet to use as a database of all the Old/Wild West RPGs I could find decent information on. I will be reviewing a few of these during Wild West Weeks.

Wild West Weeks

Listening to: Ghoutown – Life After Sundown – Drink With the Living Dead
Reviews

Welcome to Wild West Weeks

Posted by Mad Brew On September - 19 - 2011ADD COMMENTS
Wild West Weeks

Wild West Weeks

Wild West Weeks

Over the next two weeks, Mad Brew Labs is hosting Wild West Weeks. For the following fortnight, I will be showcasing tabletop games, video games, miniatures, movies, music and other tools gamers can utilize to travel back in time and experience the freedom and grit of the Old West. The American Frontier is a setting rife with opportunities to be exploited at the game table.

The American Old West is more than a period of history; it has transcended mere historical record and become a mythology ingrained in American culture. Indeed, much of how our collective memory remembers the Old West is more legend than truth. While the frontier was dangerous and unforgiving, the violence and gunplay of the Wild West was exaggerated by the dime novels and media of the period (similar sensationalism is present in journalism today) and then perpetuated by Hollywood.

Yet, regardless of the embellishment of violence, the crucible of frontier life forged key ideals and aesthetics that comprise what many consider to be core American values. The American Dream was born in the wild and perilous frontier where there was seemingly infinite opportunity for those willing to wear the mantle of the pioneer.

Also, the Wild West represents end of the American frontier as the Anglo-American civilization conquers the wild hinterland and indigenous cultures. The encroachment of the government spells the end of some liberty as they impose law and no longer can a man keep all his wealth and earnings under the burden of taxes.

I think these themes of liberty versus safety, law against anarchy, independence opposed to conformity, risk over reward, and man versus wild provide a great atmosphere for roleplaying opportunities. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be reviewing several roleplaying games targeted at playing in the American West as well as provide useful resources for players and game masters in Old West campaigns.

I’ve also decided to try my hand at a 24 Hour RPG[1] targeting Old West gaming this Saturday. A 24 Hour RPG is a design meme where an author only has 24 hours to produce a fully functional game within twenty-four hours. No prep work or help from external parties.

I’ll begin the game on Saturday at noon (Eastern Standard Time) and will put my pen down at noon on Sunday. I plan to live-blog the entire process, as I will write the entire thing in chunks on this blog and publish them as I finish up related sections. Whether or not I finish, I’ll release what I have under a Creative Commons license.[2]

Listening to: Yoshida Brothers – Tsugaru Shamisen – Morricone

References

[1] 24 Hour RPG

[2] Creative Commons License

Culture, Featured

Fantasy Grounds Pathfinder Edition?

Posted by Mad Brew On August - 8 - 2011ADD COMMENTS
Fantasy Grounds VTT

Fantasy Grounds VTT

I think we may be seeing a virtual table-top integrated with Pathfinder in the near future. While at GenCon, I spied some of SmiteWorks’ people speaking with various Paizo luminaries as well as Lisa Stevens herself intensely demoing something at the SmiteWorks booth Saturday. For those unfamiliar with SmiteWorks, they are the producers of the Fantasy Grounds VTT.

 

iCrit

iCrit

During the Future of Paizo seminar at this year’s PaizoCon, Eric Mona and Lisa Stevens touched on integrating Pathfinder in technology. They of course mentioned the iFumble and iCrit (I abhor the iPrefix) iPhone apps that basically digitize their Critical Hit & Fumble card decks. They also mentioned their deal with HeroLab for character generation (my own VentureCaptain.com offers a free, unofficial character generator).

During the seminar, Lisa actually says:

We know there’s a lot of virtual tabletops out there, and this is something that, you know, we even have people in our office that are purposely doing games on virtual tabletops to learn what that’s like and what kind of limitations are there. What things they’d like to see and stuff like that.

There will be sometime in the future, there’ll be a way, or maybe multiple ways, to play Pathfinder games on a virtual tabletop in an official sort of way… We’ve been exploring, and talking to people… There’s a lot of questions. We’re actively exploring those questions, and when I mean actively… it’s a very high priority thing for the company to be looking at this question.

The Purple Golem Meets SmiteWorks?

It’s all speculation on my part, and d20Pro has a long standing relationship with Paizo, so maybe we’ll see more than one VTT integrate Pathfinder in a more official capacity.

Listening to: Gama Bomb – Tales from the Grave in Space – Slam Anthem

 

News, Technology & Games

VIDEO

TAG CLOUD

RECENT

Affliations