Walk on by

Posted on April 27, 2024 by First Age

 Yesterday I got a particularly severe bout of ‘I am never going to be able to play this game again’. Time and opportunity are the main culprits, but I thought it interesting as to which games sprung to mind, and which ones didn’t.

Yesterday’s eternal regrets include:

  • 13th Age – maybe the second edition will pull me back, or will Shadow of the Weird Wizard finish it off?
  • Conan 2D20 – a superb, now almost legacy 2D20 implementation
  • Degenesis – brief convention play. Want more.
  • Fading Suns
  • Faith
  • FGU games
  • Forbidden Lands – Dragonbane has a lot to answer for.
  • Lone Wolf – briefest of play with my youngest. A Dragonbane return?
  • Numenera (plus any other Cypher)
  • Qin, Yggdrasil, Keltia – I have enjoyed th first two never played the third.
  • Shadows of Esteren (I’ve just Kickstarted the next book…)
My ‘surprised I haven’t accepted the inevitable’ include:
  • A shed tonne of PbtA/FitD games that I wibble over every time Revelation is coming up) 
  • Baroque Space Opera – I never played it and I clearly still want to.
  • Heavy Gear (especially now that I want to try 4e)
  • Symbaroum – or maybe I’ll run it all for three years? Nah..
  • True20 – Dragonbane has a lot to answer for.
YES! I really think I will play these dragons again:
  • D&D 4e – I think this is simply my super hero fantasy RPG.
  • DragonQuest – I think that is what Grogmeet is for?
  • Dragon Age
There is, of course a malaise of others that swirl about hopefully, impatient for some actual play. As much as I could endlessly edit the above lists with many a more, I’m better leaving them as a point in time remorse, which I can return to from time to time. A shrine of lost experiences, sacrificed to the glory of others.
That leaves many that I haven’t even questioned the possibility of not playing. I continue to fool myself more deeply with them.
And you have to remember that I am always playing BRP in my head.

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Cosmic Fated Chronicles of Future Earth

Posted on April 17, 2024 by First Age

I suppose I hadn’t expected to return to Fate. If you were to base your expected game development time on the games played at conventions, you might sidle up to some Free League, Modiphius 2D20, or Forged in the Dark coolness. You would be entirely forgiven for forgetting about Fate, a game engine that felt to be in rude health and driving a lot of play, perhaps about five years ago. It has since vanished from the convention circuit, with a few choice exceptions.

It was great to get some actual play in via Pete Atkinson, who reliably runs fun and engaging convention games. At Seven Hills this year he ran some Fate Core Jadepunk, which I signed up for in a heartbeat. We played a hover train heist against a syndicate of low life ne’er do wells, and in Pete’s capable hands the story flowed with the Fate Point currency in full and vibrant exchange. I really enjoyed the game, and it reminded me how much I like the Fate system.

In many ways Fate is a very simple skill based game, perhaps slightly obscured with some unique language and terms that I’m conscious can switch off a swathe of the gaming community. The number of times that I read ‘I can’t really get my head around Fate’ are beyond the counting. The reason for this relates to one of the strengths of the system: a flexible and creative use of descriptive phrases that helps lean into the story, whilst mechanically affecting the outcome of scenes.

Although a front and centre ‘game economy’ is no longer that unusual, not least thanks to the aforementioned popular 2D20 system, the open and creative nature of ‘Aspects’ in Fate can leave players uncertain how to actually play the game, beyond the standard use of skills.  Aspects are short phrases that can describe many things in the game, including exploitable facets of characters that are leveraged to effect in play. The ensuing to and fro of ‘Fate Points’ to power these Aspects, and to access +2 bonuses after the skill roll, or enable Fate dice re-rolls, or incorporate new story details, really gives a Fate game an interactive story building flavour, bringing in game, scene, equipment, and character aspects. There is also a sense that your PC only really fails if they are not prepared to give enough of themselves to succeed. On top of that, it’s additionally worth noting that Fate characters are very capable individuals from the get go, with Skills and Stunts (game breaking cool things) that place them well above the average.

I have played all three flavours of Fate and enjoyed all of them. My history goes back many years, prior to the current Fate Core version, having written and published the ‘Age of Arthur’ RPG with Paul Mitchener. This was mechanically based on the rules chassis presented by the Diaspora RPG, another fine game that I wonder if I will ever play again?! What fun we had with our Arthurian game, which I think still holds up today and continues to have occasional sales every month. Returning to it would only involve a slight tidy up and closer adoption of current Fate thinking.

Up to very recently, if I were to run a Fate game myself, then I would use either Core or Condensed versions. Now however there is a new version, Cosmic Fate, an iteration of Fate Core that is detailed in Sarah Newton’s just released Chronicles of Future Earth RPG. What an amazing game that is! This has shunted me onto the Fate track for convention RPGs that I will run.

My Chronicles of Future Earth game, pretty much good to go!

Cosmic Fate is a very particular blend of the Fate toolkit, with some key innovations. Perhaps most significant is the introduction of a Bonus Cap that limits how much you can tag after the skill roll, and based on the level of the skill that you are using. More skilled individuals can use more Aspects. I sense that Cosmic Fate, with its swingier D6-D6 core dice roll, provides a slightly grittier experience with a shade less certainty in outcomes. This particular take on Fate enthuses me, and I hope to see how I can use it more broadly than Chronicles.

I should have anticipated at the beginning of the year that Fate would re-emerge as a front running game system.  In a limited capacity, I am providing some ad-hoc support to Typhon Games, the new company that now has Sarah and her games portfolio, along with other games in development. It’s great to see Chronicles out there, and look forward to lots of fun play.

When running Fate, I always struggle slightly with the return flow of Fate points to the players. I think the key bit that I miss is encouraging player ‘self compels’ of their character’s aspects, or just ‘playing to your character’ as we more usually call it. Being alive to this and frequently rewarding the players with Fate Points is something I need to get better at. As a backstop I am stealing Pete’s method of giving out a Fate Point to everyone on the hour. It will take the pressure off me a bit and help to ensure that there is a good flow of the Fate Point currency back to the players.

Cosmic Fated! 

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Earthdawn: The Age of Legends

Posted on March 5, 2024 by First Age

I’m a big fan of Nathan Russell’s Freeform Universal RPG rules, especially as found in the draft 2nd edition and found expression in a range of games such as: Neon City Overdrive, Tomorrow City and others. Neat D6 dice pool with positive and negative dice cancelling, built on descriptive tags, with a Forged in the Dark result range on the highest uncancelled positive die. It’s a weathered eye, intuitive appreciation, that may see some actual play at Seven Hills very soon.

When I woke up to the realisation that Earthdawn – The Age of Legend was a light narrative take on this great fantasy game, and based on FU, and that there was a DrivethruRPG GM sale going on, well the confluence of portents summoned me to action and acquisition!

The physical book is on its way, in an intriguiing 8×8 size format. I went Hardback and standard colour as a compromise due to cost, but I think it will work out great.

The PDF comes in a couple of flavours. There is both a book reproduction and also a more traditional sized, no art, optimised version for screen reading. I have coursed through the optimised version and have liked what I have found.
The game has significantly tweaked FU, whilst keeping the lightness of touch. Decomposing the design, with its Karma points, Tiers of power and lists of Talents and spells, left me thinking that I would do as they actually suggest: run the game straight with Nathan’s FU, drawing on the copious lists of cool options as ‘ready for the character sheet’ text.
Pick your race and discipline (yes, of course I want to be a sky raider), unlock your Talent list, tag yourself up with cool phrases and throw yourself in, though not overboard, into the world of Earthdawn.
I kept a wary eye for the extra rules weight that I would have to excise, but it never really emerged. The game is very light on its feet, designed with short campaigns in mind. In actuality, if you are thoughtful about advancement, and reflect on how you might blend in the four ascending ‘Circles of Mastery’ to provide some additional mechanical effect to your hero’s journey, then you have plenty of expansion space for a longer form game, should you so wish.
As someone new to Earthdawn, I felt I got enough to light my way for a deeper exploration. You get a succinct and direct primer as to what Earthdawn is all about. The text is resplendent with categories and tags that themselves say something about the unique setting. A dedicated section on Airships and Riverboats will get you about the place in some style. I liked the guidance on setting up your start environment for play, with a fully fleshed out example.
To fully explore the wonders of Earthdawn, I think you could do with dipping into the sizable corpus of legacy tomes, all of which are listed at the back of the book. I appear to have ‘bundled’ a sizable collection of Earthdawn 4e books, which provide a recent iteration of the more traditional Earthdawn Step system. Perhaps a few of the old PDFs might sidle over to my cavernous cloud vaults for Foundry VTT enthronement?
Ah yes, and I see that there is a 4e Foundry system. Hmm. I do wonder though, if I should just keep with FU, use my own simple custom sheet on Foundry, and sail off into the stormy waters of adventure in The Age of Legend!

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Heroic Fantasy 2nd Edition

Posted on February 25, 2024 by First Age

 After some protracted print proof tennis, the update to Heroic Fantasy, in PDF and softback book, has been published on DrivethruRPG here: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/461381/heroic-fantasy-2nd-edition.

The second edition is resplendent with new art, layout, and expanded with new kin, archetypes, magic and monsters. The game has new rules that use the ‘dice ladder’ throughout. Armour now absorbs damage.

The game provides an all-in-one package to play heroic fantasy games of wild combat, fiendish monsters and powerful magic. It uses simple and accessible rules that blend traditional and indie flavours into an appetising experience.

Find within:

  • Smooth game rules based on The Black Hack, reordered and polished with additional explanation and descriptions
  • Choose from the eight kin, each with their own flavour
  • Choose from ten archetypes, full of special abilities and magic
  • Personalise your characters with signature knowledge and skills to give you an advantage
  • Face the intervention of Fate – rolling equal to your ability creates special narrative intervention
  • Enchant your own items of power. Magic item creation rules
  • Hold against the Hordes of enemies. Rules to manage many adversaries attacking one PC
  • Never forget that the gods still breathe. Follow a god and choose morality
  • Ready for when friend becomes foe. Guidance on PVP action
  • Some new Monsters to supplement the big list
  • A short adventure location: The Sorcerer’s Lair
  • A fast play and accessible roleplaying game, with everything needed for the beginner and more experienced player alike. Long and shorter form play supported.

The book is graced with full colour pages of Paul Tomes‘ fantastic art.

Templates to play Heroic Fantasy in Foundry VTT are available from the FAE website.

I’m running the game at Airecon this year, but would like to get a few fantasy adventures underway on Foundry too if at all possible. 

I feel that with this book properly out, I can start to think about the next one. So many options!

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Linux Adventures – A new start

Posted on January 29, 2024 by First Age

Well, I have gone and done it, and switched operating systems on my main PC, moving from Windows 10 to the Fedora 39 Workstation Linux distribution. There is that moment, when you look at the disk partitions, and hover over the ‘remove’ option. Took a deep breath and away went Windows.

Preparation has involved a number of slow forming things. My cheap second hand laptop has had Fedora since it arrived, allowing me to get re-acquainted to the lovely Gnome desktop environment and some of the apps that are a few clicks away. I go back to 1995, when you had to hack config files to get the monitor to display something, so it is safe to say that the desktop Linux world has moved on. It’s a really smooth experience now, with a library of apps that I wouldn’t be without.
I threw some money at the move, doubling my RAM up to 32 Gbs of DDR4 and 1TB of M2 storage. A small investment into the little tower that my son built for me a few years ago. The system should see me right for years ahead.
The switch felt a good option for me, and now I discover the joys and, no doubt, some of the wrinkles and problems.

Data that was not already Cloud based was shoveled onto a portable disk, for a considered return when the new system was up and running. The Fedora Media Writer makes it very easy for you to create a bootable USB drive with the operating system poised within to launch and install. A quick hack of the BioS to enable the correct boot order and there it was. The only tricky piece came when I moved to create a Virtual Machine using Boxes to run Windows 10 inside the Linux distribution itself. When I got a ‘no KVM’ error, some smart googling was needed to find the BIOS setting on the motherbord that enabled virtul machines, lost in the depths of CPU frequencies. I fancied myself an apprentice sorcerer who was delving into blasphemous and dangerous lore, in which I could so easily lose my soul.
So, I now just need some fonts and some patience as I acclimatise, but it feels really good and will prove to be an enduring productive base.
I have, already, had my first gotcha. I play with a tabletop roleplaying game online streaming group, where the GM has very particular display requirements for his Roll20 VTT sessions. For technically inexplicable reasons, he doesn’t seem to be able to get what he wants with Chrome based browsers so we use Firefox. I ran a test of my new Linux system using Firefox and everything looked great, only to find, when we were all online, that no-one else could see my webcam, though I could see everyone else. I had to scuttle off to a back-up option. I’ll keep trying, but that might just be one that I have to let go. I’m hopeful that a Chromium based browser in Foundry is OK…
More to come.
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Gods RPG

Posted on January 13, 2024 by First Age

Arkhane Asylum’s Gods RPG has finally landed, lost in Kickstarter sludge for a number of years (I think). The game has a Quickstart on DrivethruRPG, and will become more generally available in February.

An early, first pass read, looks very promising. It’s a D10 dice pool game with varying difficulties and thresholds for success (called ‘Handicap’ in the translation, which will need a rename, such as ‘Complication’). Trait, Skill and a possible speciality, provide your base pool. Skill provides both a bonus to the pool and a potential re-roll of one or more dice.  You also have some more resources that you can spend, including Nerve (extra dice into a pool, capped by the level of the trait you are using), and Grit (extra re-rolls, similarly capped). The group also have access to somethnig called a ‘Party Pool’ (yeah I have the same image – will rename to Group or Company), which provides bonus dice for shared actions depending on the morale of the group as a whole.

There are other factors, drawing on the core theme of the game, which is the journey that each hero has as they become a trusted chosen of their god. Pools of Humanity and Divinity can be used, Shards of power and Divine Favours from your god.

Combat looks fun, with you picking the difficulty of your attack (depending on your weapon expertise), setting the opponent’s difficulty for defence. Damage is increased by unopposed successes and absorbed by armour. Damage that gets through needs to beat one of three ascending thresholds to deliver one of three types of wound.

NPCs use a simplified structure for fast play.

This mechanical quick look doesn’t touch on the rich sword and sorcery world that the game is set in. The Wildlands look lush and packed with adventure potential.

I have constructed a simple Foundry VTT dice roller for online play. Once again, I’m using the Custom System Builder to create simple functional sheets, that at least work, if nothing like as pretty as a properly developed system.

Here’s an example monster, using the NPC Template. The stats are simlified to ‘attack’ and ‘action’ and action using identified specialities. They will be quick to deploy in sizable numbers!

I have some more reading to do, diving into the Wildlands, where the game is set. There are ready to face antagonists, not least from the Empire of Lox, who will stand in your way as you act as a ‘Chosen One’, a unique avatar of one of the old gods, who are seeking to return. I’ll certainly post more as I get up to speed.

I think the fevered development of a practical way to play the game online, using the core of Foundry’s capabilities, reflects an excited rush to get some actual play in. It would be fair to say that I have overdone the VTT preparation, as you could easily play the game with paper sheets, maybe a dice roller, and (preferable for me) webcams. Well, there we are and it is done now, at least to a level that my rudimentary skills in the Custom System Builder module will allow. I’m happy to share the templates with anyone who might find them interesting. You might also improve on them and share back!

More to come as I develop some sessions on Foundry and play the game.

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More Foundry Shenanigans

Posted on January 6, 2024 by First Age

Catapulted into action by wise words, I spent some time yesterday redoubling my efforts to get a workable character sheet onto Foundry VTT. There is a VTT for all online gamers, including ‘just some webcams will do’, and Foundry seems to be one that I have got to know, and pay, with subscriptions for hosting and a Patreon for the LiveKit module developer. In the mould of the big ‘map and token’ VTTs, I prefer it immeasurably to Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds, with the option to dial back its features, should I wish, simply to have great AV, some nice pictures, and fun dice rolls.

Some of my games do not have a system on Foundry, so I muck about with lighter VTTs with different design aesthetics. Role, Alchemy and Quest Portal all have a different vibe and, in theory a quick uptake for actual play. Reality intrudes to tell me that I spend a bit too much time on game setup, whichever one I have elected to use. I am no coder, so the Custom System Builder on Foundry gives me a fighting chance to get something running. Even here, I glaze over at some of the functions available, and am acutely conscious of my limitations, but perseverance has paid off a little.
Here’s a sheet I have now prepared for Heroic Fantasy 2e, the game that is my next book, soon to be released, print proof allowing. It is a game that I have realised that I would like to play more of in 2024.
The main tab

Second of five tabs

I know. drab and functional, but I think it will enable shared interactive play on the platform, and I can throw pretty pictures about to hide the utilitarian sheets. Maybe with this success, I can focus on one VTT for now?

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Bloodwood

Posted on January 2, 2024 by First Age

A few sessions of fantasy gaming on offer. Streamed to YouTube.

Heroic Fantasy 2nd Edition (The Black Hack based)

3-4 sessions
Fortnightly Thursday 14:00 GMT
Session Zero: Thursday, February 8th, 14:00 GMT

Your adventurous company are travelling North to Redstone, protecting Atticus, or more specifically, his trade wagon of goods.

You have already heard strange stories of the village, a place that is falling into ruin due to the aggressively encroaching Bloodwood forest. There are no routes through this dense forest, effectively sealing any further passage.  Lord Vasco, protector of the nearby lands, is missing.

  • A mystery for your company to solve.
  • Dangers to face
  • A village to save

The game will be played on AlchemyRPG VTT and streamed on YouTube (as a bit of a test for me and a showcase). Internet connection, webcams and audio. Characters will be created and everything is provided.

Let me know if you’d like to play?

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A Role VTT Alternative

Posted on December 28, 2023 by First Age

I have a continuing need for a lightweight VTT that enables some custom sheet design, integrated video, and a pleasant interface. Essentially, this is for games I want to run where Foundry VTT does not have a system. I have fiddled around with the Foundry Custom System Builder module, and although I can make something work, the sheets look ugly, and will continue to be so, beyond my CSS skills. This VTT requirement has been ably taken up by Role, but with the loss of webcams and audio I have decided to look elsewhere, at least for now.

If I want an integrated audio visual interface with simple to add custom sheets, then I think there is only one other game in town at the moment, and that looks to be Alchemy VTT. So, for an afternoon, I have been playing with it to see if it could fill the gap. So far, it seems to be a tentative ‘yes’. Here’s me on the webcam bar with the beginnings of a custom game of Heroic Fantasy 2e using the Bloodwood adventure.

Although I am less than certain about some of the Alchemy UI decisions, I can get a game up and running, attractively, in a few of hours. The user experience is all integrated in the one place and I think it could be fun. The free version comes with a relatively modest allowance for assets, so the jump to a year’s subscription, for unlimited, could be a few steps away. This decision has been confounded and encouraged by a currently running Humble Bundle, chock full of map assets and a bundled 6 months of Alchemy thrown in for less than £20. Timing, temptation.

I have enough to start loading Bloodwood into Alchemy for some actual play, which will garner me some player opinions. I expect it will play just fine, with my only uncertainty being the robustness of the audio and webcams. We shall just have to see…

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Role VTT loses webcams and audio

Posted on December 23, 2023 by First Age

The Role virtual tabletop was my favourite place to game. The early product vision placed people at the heart of the design through very good video conferencing integration. This really set Role apart and gave it an intriguing USP that set it apart, and drew me in early. I realy loved the way that video was centre, that there were tools for creating your own playsheets, to the extent that I skirted around the paucity of features for maps and tokens. It came at a great time, with the lock downs adding to the need for something, somewhere, comfortable to play, with face to face being so difficult.

The end of year update for Role VTT wasn’t what I was expecting, and possibly wasn’t what the Role team had envisaged either. With development absent for almost half a year, there was growing  concern that the VTT might actually have been abandoned. With some contacts I knew this wasn’t the case, but equally I had little idea what the future might hold.

The Role team have now provided their close of 2023 update. They are to integrate with Owlbear Rodeo 2.1 for maps, which had been anticipated. This will greatly improve the map functionality. However, the update kicked off with the bombshell; their audio visual third party, Twilio, are to drop their communication platform as a service in December 2024. Role have taken the decision to withdraw their sound and video services at the end of this year, I assume to release them from an annual charge. They have also decided to open source the product, leaving some hope that someone might fill the void and integrate new services that deliver at least as much as the exiting Twilio.

One of the co-owners, Elle, has posted on the community Discord:

We tried to take an honest look at how various groups use Role. And while it might sound surprising, we actually found that many rooms play without video at all, and instead use our basic map tools or just use the middle area for imagery. We recognize that some games are very video-centric, but we also want to focus our limited resources on a path that benefits the widest range of play groups. Our hope is that developers within the community will likely make various video plugins that will allow video-centric groups to choose their favorite option for play. Video integration and optimization is time consuming, and we don’t want that to block people’s ability to create with Role. We’ll have many more details on Open Source early next year. In the meantime, we hope you’ll use Discord or other video chat tools to augment your games.

I’m a little surprised by this, though I’m not going to argue the data. I wish the Role team every success and hope their move to open source helps to springboard more rapid development of the platform. I have reflected since the announcement, to the conclusion that it is time for me to move on from Role. I will continue to watch and support, but for now I think my gaming will be found elsewhere.

This took me back to my other gaming play space, Foundry VTT, to see if I could create my own sheets there. The Custom System Builder module gives me some options, though the outputs will be functional and utilitarian.

Beginning of an Action Tales! sheet

Ah well, it has been a great journey. I am not very quietly hopeful that my sojourn away from Role will be short lived, and that the 2024 developments will entice me back soon.

A cursory look at the VTT landscape took me to the Icelandic Quest Portal. This feels early stages in places, but already has simple fog of war in its rudimentary map and token system. The AI assistant and art is likely to put off a large swathe of people, but I find myself drawn to this as a possible light supplement to Foundry, much as Role has been. Scene creation and sound look good, with a custom sheet builder that has broader dice functions than Role, if not as yet integrated with the sheet values themselves. 

Quest Portal

Webcams have yet to be added to the platform, so I would still be left with a gap that I’d need to fill with something like Discord or Jitsi. 

Ah well, the work on building a custom sheet in Foundry was a nice distraction for the day, and made it feel like I was doing something to shake off my disappointment with Role. Foundry will continue to be a key VTT, for those games that have systems on that platform. I may even get to the point where I can offer my own Foundry custom sheets, if I stick at it.

Bah humbug, and Merry Xmas!

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