OpenQuest: Stagsqatch

Stagsqatch
In upper Michigan, near the town of Clio, a horrid monster prowls the forests. Local lores says it's a Native American shaman who was corrupted by dealing with spirits that served the Great Old Ones. Several tribes from the area speak of Keewoenotay, the Traitor. The creature is hairy like the Sasquatch, but has antlers and the skull visage of a stag with six glowing red eyes.

Characteristics
STR 5D6+12 (29) 
DEX 2D6+6 (12) 
CON 3D6+6 (16) 
SIZ 3D6+6 (16) 
INT 3D6 (11) 
POW 3D6 (11) 
CHA 1D6 (4)

Attributes
Hit Points 16
Major Wound 8Damage Modifier +1D6Movement Rate 20m
Armour Tough hide (AP 3) 
Plunder Factor 1

Skills
Resistances
Dodge 40%, Persistence 30%, Resilience 30% 
Knowledge
Nature Lore 50%
Practical
Athletics 60%
Perception 45%
Combat
Unarmed Combat 60%
Antlers (1D6+1D6)
Fist (1d4+1d6)

Monte Cook Game's Consent In Gaming

Today Monte Cook Games released a free product called Consent In Gaming, you can download it for free on their site or on DriveThruRPG. It's thirteen pages long and has a checklist at the end.

My group and I don't need this and I'm really glad for that. We hang out, we laugh, we blow off steam, and we roll dice for three to four hours. Our group is mature enough to talk about stuff before it becomes an issue. I'm really lucky to play with them. There is no one in the group that is afraid of communicating their preferences or explosive in their reactions. If there is a problem (very rarely) it's tackled openly and solved. We all respect each other. 

Having said that, I'm not going to tell you how to play your game, just like I'm not going to react positively to being told how to play at our table. That's my personal opinion.

On a purely personal level this checklist is a solution looking for a problem and thirteen pages is ridiculous to me. And I suspect that MCG is reaching out to a market section that has both attacked and supported them in the past. Maybe that market is bigger than I suspect, but MCG succeeds on crowdsourcing and that is a very different fish to traditionally distributed RPGs. Yes, their products are distributed, but like Paizo they have maximized their profit by working directly with the bulk of their customer base, meaning they extract a far greater mark up to a dedicated group and can be smaller than typically required for a successful product line. Unfortunately, this eventually bit Hero Games in the behind and basically sunk their company to a part-time endeavor, at best.

However, as a professional who coordinates and plans in-store gaming at two locations, I'm studying this product to see if it could be a tool to communicate what I will and will not tolerate from new RPG groups in my stores. The reason for this is that we had an issue, several years ago, with a NPC in a game that was a pedophile while there was a mom and her 10-year old son at the table. Additionally, in the same group, there was a couple that talked about tentacle porn way too much. They were cool to move the game out of the store when I explained that those two things were not working and might even still be playing together. In fact, I hope they are, they were good people who just were comfortable with things I wasn't in my store.

I want as many people as possible to play RPGs in the hobby and my store. I'd like people from all walks of life, age groups, and backgrounds to play RPGs. The reality is that RPGs are far more accessible than they were even three years ago and are now even kind of cool.

There are many new players trying RPGs with expectations of replicating Critical Role, which for most groups will be a let down on some level if they don't realize that a group of longtime friends who are voice actors is tough thing to replicate.

What I do worry about is scaring people off by showing them the checklist. I think RPGs are a great hobby and can even be cathartic for those facing various challenges, but I also think there can be a fear of revealing too much of yourself to near strangers. Yes, it is "make believe" with rules, it can be hard for adults to embrace something that we may have been told is immature. For many adults, daydreaming and pursuing those dreams are often criticized.

I will freely admit I have been in and a part of some toxic groups. It took me two decades to realize that no gaming is better than bad gaming AND that I am at least 50% of any conflict that I am in. Everyone has their own journey and if they are in my stores, I owe it to them to provide the best community I can. Obviously, not every group is the right fit for my store and that is okay. I need a group in my store to be open to anyone who walks in the door. And this checklist offer a resource to help communicate my expectations of those playing in my store.

I guess if I went to more conventions, I can see this helping some people choose a game. I'm lucky that in all the Gen Con and Origins events that I've played, I've never had situations that caused me stress. Additionally, when I read about all of the alleged abuse at gaming and comic cons I was shocked. I've been a vendor at countless comic shows and never had any of the interactions that have been alleged. However, I don't socialize on these trips. We are there to make money, so we come in and set up, work the day, grab a meal, and then get some sleep. Most of my interactions are with a table between me and the crowd.

To be honest, in a perfect world I'd just scoff at this checklist and ignore it completely. But not everyone is comfortable confronting issues that disturb them. I've encountered many bullies in this hobby and I've been a bully in my much younger days, I'm sad to admit. RPGs, in my opinion, attract people who can be socially immature and/or vulnerable. And again, in my experience, that creates some weird social dynamics where those that have been bullied end up bullying others in their RPG group because they find that they can easily prey on those who are more vulnerable than they are. And I've witnessed everyone involved not willing stand up for themselves because they don't have a lot of friends and can't bear to think about losing some. 

Review: Talisman Adventures Fantasy RPG Playtest Guide

I've always enjoyed the Talisman board game and I was excited to discover that Pegasus Spiele had licensed it from Games Workshop to create the playtest guide for their upcoming Talisman Adventures Fantasy Role Playing Game.

Full disclosure: I received a free PDF for the playtest guide for review purposes.

Talisman Adventures playtest guide is 82 pages and full color. It opens with a history of the Realm and a glossary to ease you into the setting.

Creating a Character follows and starts with the six Ancestries of the Realm. They are Human, Dwarf, Elf, Ghoul, Sprite, and Troll. I was really glad to see three uncommon starting Ancestries. The Ghoul can create an undead, the Sprite can speak to plants and trees, and the Troll can hear the voices of the stones and things, yes things, that dwell below them. Each Ancestry gives a choice of three backgrounds (that are rolled on 1d6), a cap to Aspects (they are Strength and Craft and each has three Abilities they encompass), a bonus Skill, certain Restrictions, and Special Abilities unique to each one. 

Creating a Character continues with Classes. They are Assassin, Druid, Minstrel, Priest, Prophet, Sorcerer, Warrior, and Wizard. Each Class sets a character's Strength and Craft (which is then modified by Ancestry), the Life total (Hit Points), Spell Points if applicable, Skills pertinent to it, Special Abilities, and finally a choice of one or more Advancements.  For instance, all Minstrels start with Strength 3 and Craft 3, Life of 12 + Mettle or Resolve, Spell Points equal to Craft, four skills and a choice between tow other skills, and a choice of a Skill Focus (which grants a +2 bonus). Prophets are spellcasters that can see the future, Sorcerers have a familiar and are spellcasters, and Wizards are either a Student of the Cauldron (think alchemy) or the Staff (allows the possibility of attacking a second target when using Psychic Assault.

The next step is to choose Alignment and the options are Good, Neutral, and Evil (with a sidebar about playing them).

At this point you add 1 point to either Strength or Craft and then assign Strength x2 to Brawn, Agility, and Mettle and assign Craft x2 to Insight, Wits, and Resolve.

The final steps are adding 2 additional Skills or Focuses, figuring your Max Load (Strength x3), determining Speed (10+Agility), and your Physical Damage Modifier (Strength) and Psychic Damage Modifier (Craft). There are also lists of equipment to pick from.

The system is 3d6 + Skill + Bonus if Applicable against a Difficulty that ranges from 8 to 23+. However, one of the 3 dice needs to be a different color and is called the Kismet Die. Beating the Difficulty is a Standard Success, Beating it with 2 dice that match is a Great Success, Beating with 3 dice that match is an Extraordinary Success (I really like the way this works). Additionally, if a 6 is rolled on the Kismet Die you gain Light Fate, but if a 1 is rolled you gain Dark Fate. Light Fate is used on the Player side, while Dark Fate is used on the Game Master side. Interestingly, there are times a Player cannot spend Fate on a roll (if it fails) and when a GM cannot spend it either (Player gets a Great or Extraordinary Success). Fate is used to activate special abilities, add a Bonus die (roll 4d6 take the best 3), increase the level of a Success, activate an item, and to pass a death test.

A few notable features: Amour in this game reduces damage, when an NPC attacks the Player makes a defense roll (the game is player facing), when you use a shield that you have equipped it will negate all damage but you must roll a d6 and a result of 1-4 means it is destroyed, one of the actions you can take is Recover action if it is successful you regain 1 or 2d6 Life, and when you are reduced to 0 Life you check the Wound Box, which imposes a -2 penalty to all actions and you can have multiple Wounds with a cumulative penalty (you can take Wounds equal to Mettle or Resolve--which is higher before you pass out). If you are unconscious you make a Mettle or Resolve roll each round against a Difficulty of 8 and if you succeed on the roll and the Kismet die is a 6, you awaken with 1 Life point.

The book also includes an adventure the Corpse Watchers, which I am eager to run and it includes 7 pregenerated characters.

The book ends with questions to be answered about your Playtest experience and a section of Designer Notes that explains the team's goal in Talsiman Adventures.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game. It feels like Talisman and is an excellent game for new players and veterans alike. I heartily recommend it and am happy to use the Playtest until the full game is released, which I will purchase immediately.

D100: Forget Me Not

Our regular DM wasn't available this week, so I volunteered to run a one-shot. Most of the week I was torn between a Cypher System Supers game or using an adventure for Call of Cthulhu with my homebrewed d100 game.

I chose the D100 game.

I had four players and character creation took 10-15 minutes. I ended up using a Vampire: the Masquerade character sheet for it's Abilities list and for three Attributes (Physical, Mental, Social).

The core mechanic is that the Game Master sets a Difficulty for a task, anywhere from 1% to 99% (a roll of 100 is always a failure), then the Player adds the appropriate Ability bonus, if any, and they must roll that amount or lowers on percentile dice. If Lee is researching folklore of Michigan the Difficulty is set at 30% and if he has a Academics bonus of +15% then he has a 45% to succeed.
If doubles are rolled on a success, it becomes a critical success. And if doubles are rolled on a failure, it becomes a critical failure.

Each player assigned one Ability at +30%, two Abilities at +25%, three Abilities at +20%, four Abilities at +15%, and five Abilities at +10%.

Then three points were assigned between the three Attributes however the player preferred. Each point could be used for an automatic success of the appropriate type, a player is trying to fast-talk a security guard, they would normally have to make a Subterfuge roll, but if they had unspent points in Social, they could spend one point to automatically succeed. They are designed to refresh after 7 hours of sleep.

Finally each player started with 12+1d6 Hit Points and 40+4d10 Sanity.

That's it.

I was running an adventure that was recommended to me by the Call of Cthulhu Facebook Group, Forget Me Not within the pages of The Thing We Leave Behind supplement.

The players were fantastic and the adventure is excellent. The rundown is that they all wake up, coated in mud, in a van that has run off the road, in a raging thunderstorm. They figure out who they are by their I.D.s and determine they are part of a TV show called the The Supernatural Files. By using Google, they find some episodes for Season 3 and learn that Lee is a Researcher, Agnela is the Producer and married to the Lead Investigator, Peter. The Director is a man named Clint and they realize they have a Tech Specialist named Susan who is not among them. Additionally, each has a key from the nearby Hathaway Inn, Peter and Angela have Room1, Clint has Room 3, Lee has Room 4. They search their equipment and some of it is missing and they find out they were filming Episode 6 of Season 4, A Creepy Thing Happened at the Cooper House in Clio, MI. 

A married couple driving by find them, after the group has called AAA, and offer for them to stay with them at their house just down the road. After arriving there and drying off, eating, and warming up, the AAA tow truck driver calls and says a nearby bridge is washed out and he doesn't know how long it will take him to arrive. 
They then call the Hathaway Inn and find out that a blond woman did arrive with them and she left with them and has not returned.

Angela asks the couple if they know anything about the Cooper house and notices that Aarron says "No", but his body language says "Yes".  The team split the couple up and Peter gets Aarron to reveal that as a young teenager he and some of his buddies went there on a dare. They moved through the bottom floor of the old home and while they were in the kitchen, Aarron says a mouth literally opened out of nowhere and a giant, horned silhouette stepped out of it. All of the kids booked it out of the kitchen door, but Aarron fell down and saw that the monster had six red eyes.

After a bit, the group decides to call the Sheriff and report that Susan is missing. The Sheriff says they have to wait 48 hours, but Clint points out that isn't true and they force the Sheriff to open an investigation and he promises to send over his Deputy.

Deputy Sharon Brooks arrives and reveals she's amateur cryptozoologist and a huge fan of the show. Since the rain has abated Clint steps outside and Angela follows him. He reveals that he has some intimate texts and photos of Susan and assumes they were in a relationship. He then notices a strange shape about 200 yards away on a low hill. Angela gets a video camera and zooms into see it using the ultraviolet setting. She clearly sees a large figure with cloven hooves, a muscular body with dark fur and the head of stag with a huge rack of antlers and six red eyes. At this point her camera catches fire and she burns her hand saving it's SD card. When she and Clint look again it is gone.

The go inside and are glad the couple has an SD card reader and show the footage off to the rest of the group. Angela goes to treat her burns while Lee plays the footage. When it zooms in on the creature's face, all six eyes glow red even though the footage is in the green of the UV mode.

It's at this point that everyone in the room is filled with a sour, rotting stench and a strange sound of something scraping on the ceiling. Everyone turns around and the six-eyed monster is amongst them and immediately grabs Deputy Brooks and rips her head from her body with blood fountaining everywhere.  Aarron confronted by his worst fear faints. Clint and Lee, who have handguns, open up and while their bullets stagger the monster, it doesn't leave any visible wounds. Peter just loses it and runs out of the room. Angel, hearing the screams runs to the doorway and uses a protective rite she had learned and is amazed to see the monster disappear from the room after its use.

The group is stunned and Lee has the good sense to call the Sheriff and report Brooks' murder and request more law enforcement and an ambulance. The Sheriff says he'll be right there, but the local Hospital is 35 miles away and it will take some time.

And that's where we left things for the evening. Unfortunately, my one-shots seem to take two sessions and hopefully our DM won't mind me finishing the adventure next week.

Counter Culture: Wizards of the Coast is At It Again

Today, Wizards of the Coast released a Trailer for their upcoming expansion to Magic: the Gathering, Throne of Eldraine.  The trailer is pretty darn cool.

However, there are two problems I have with the Trailer. 

One, at the end it very specifically advertises Magic: the Gathering Arena. Two, you can start playing with the cards in the Brawl format on Arena right now even though they don't release to us until the end of the month.

It truly seems that in the last few years, Wizards of the Coast's M:tG department has it in for local game stores. You know the guys that have kept the game going in the dark days between Fallen Empires and Lorwyn. They stopped distributing to us to focus on distributing to Amazon, Target, and Walmart.  They abolished MSRP so the big box stores can charge whatever they want. On top of that, they seem to be focusing on M:tG Arena, their new digital platform. 

What doesn't make sense to me is that for nearly two decades Magic: the Gathering Online shared the MSRP as the physical product, they wisely didn't discount their own product as a digital investment. That was ingenious. They didn't compete against us and their singles market often had very different prices than the physical singles market. It had to be a win-win for WotC. People come into my tournaments every week and meanwhile, if they can't sleep, they jump online and play there at the same price points.

I hear quite a bit about e-sports from WotC's new CEO. I understand it's a growth market, I do. But what has driven down Magic: the Gathering's attendance at tournaments of all levels has more to do with the health of the current economy (many new and returning players started up during the Great Recession because they were foolish enough to think it was an inexpensive hobby) where people are spending their money in different ways again. Other factors include poor quality control, poor playtesting, a really weird replacement for Pro-Tour Qualifiers, and a phase where WotC encouraged new stores to open in an existing markets. Generally speaking, players are either willing to play everywhere or play at only one store. WotC's been around long enough to remember that new stores might bring in 5 to 15% of new customers, however, those new stores break up the diehard players into smaller chunks and the whole market in an area collapses, with hopefully one or two stores surviving the process. They have seen this before and I guess just think they are smarter now, but they are not, these lessons are pretty clear to anyone doing this stuff long enough.

Another problem is a new tournament software that lets players at home run sanctioned tournaments without all the hoop-jumping that brick and mortar retailers go through to run do the same thing.

All of  these problems are impacted by the fact that WotC seems to resent the singles market because they don't get a slice of that pie. But a healthy singles market is necessary for a successful trading car game and they know this. They know this.

I'm sure Arena is solid profit center, there is no physical production costs and they get all the money. I'm a capitalist, I get it. But WotC isn't Blizzard and M:tG isn't Hearthstone. I'm sure their player bases overlap, but that doesn't make much difference. The culture of each product has been shaped for different customer expectations.

Then WotC breaks it's own street date while the retailers that support tournament play how can they not expect to have retailer dissatisfaction? Understand, Target and Walmart are renowned for breaking street dates but we have no recourse for that and now does it really matter if the manufacturer is doing it themselves?

For a few months I've been trying to figure out who they expect to run tournaments and I've come to realize they don't care about that because they have Arena and their physical players can buy their cards in the mass-market and they don't need us anymore because of the new tournament app. And that is okay, because I've been doing this long enough to plan for things like this. I don't have to fully support Magic: the Gathering for my stores to survive, I do that for my customers. Now I'm preparing for the day where they are not necessary for us, mostly because they already are preparing they day where we aren't necessary for them.

However, I think they underestimate the social value for their players. The Great Recession seemed like a good value for your money. You paid anywhere from $4 to $16 and you hung out with like-minded people for 3-5 hours every week. It was as cheap or cheaper than a movie and the players built relationships.

The path that WotC is taking won't end well for them, but this time they might not have their direct market to lean on when things go sideways.

Review: Old School Class: The Necromancer.

The Old School Class: The Necromancer is written by Chuck Rice and published by Apocalyptic Games, it presents a very well-done version of a Necromancer for OSRIC.

For the record, I was presented a PDF copy of the class for review purposes. There are also affiliate links so I can continue to buy stuff I like from DriveThruRPG.

I've never been very happy with how Necromancers work in most editions of Dungeons and Dragons and it's many Retroclones. You can multiclass as a Magic-User/Cleric, but it not very satisfying in my opinion. I'm glad to say that I really like the Class presented in this supplement and I'm anxious to give it a spin.

The PDF is 24 pages including the cover and Open Gaming License.

It opens with a fiction piece that sets the mood.

The Necromancer itself is cleanly presented and easy to follow. At 1st level Necromancers have a bonus on their roll to learn Necromancy spells. At 5th level, they learn embalming secrets that preserve a corpse for later reanimation. Finally, at 10th level, a Necromancer has complete protection form lower level undead, while higher level undead must make a Saving Throw in order to attack them.

The Class table is very cleanly laid out and can rise to 24th level.

The Necromancer's spell list comes next and features at least 7 spells per level from 1st to 7th level. Additionally, 37 new spells are presented here for the Necromancer to learn. I was very glad to see Turn Undead and Cause Wounds (that cannot be reversed) on the Necromancer's spell list. The Necromancer presented here has the proper spells to really shine as a single class and has been what I've been looking to play for years.

The spells presented really capture the feel of the class and include Boil Blood, Arsenal of the Dead, and Empty Hell.

I've been a fan of Chuck's RPG products for years and I cannot wait to make a Necromancer based on this excellent product. Even though it's designed for OSRIC, it would be extremely easy to convert to your favorite Retroclone or any edition of DnD prior to 3rd Edition.

I really cannot recommend Old School Class: The Necromancer enough. For DM's it adds some nasty features and spells to add to your villains repertoire.

It is, in my opinion, a Must-Buy!

As the World of Darkness Turns: Solomon Taft

One of my best friends, David, has been running a Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition game for almost a year. I didn't join in on the game immediately, but was a part of it by it's second month. I created a Tremere named Solomon Taft. The game is set in Cincinnati, OH, about 15 minutes from where we all live.

I didn't have a full grasp on who I wanted Solomon to be and due to some of my mental health issues, was always a very passive player. Early on, David made me a courier for the Tremere Primogen and asked if I peaked into what I was carrying and I said , "No". So I knew Solomon was loyal.

We eventually had a case in Europe for our Prince where we needed to disprove that a french Vampire had a claim to a position our Prince was to hold. During the affair, we met the Prince of Paris, a rude Malkavian, who tried to pin some ghoul disappearances on our Coterie. We did find our Prince's rival and easily disproved his claim. The only fallout for him was social exile though.

After this case I was promoted to Primogen of the Tremere and my former boss went to Europe.

Over the last two months of real time I've begun feeling better than I have in maybe as long as two years.

Around this time, the Prince of Cincinnati, after much deliberation, allowed a group of Garou to reclaim ancestral territory outside the city.

Solomon didn't like this. He's got a very high Occult skill and had faced a single Garou that killed the city's Sheriff and sent an ally, Riff Raff, into topor for a couple of weeks. When arguing against the plan he cited that very few giving counsel had faced any Garou and didn't know what they were dealing with. 

He began strengthening the defenses at the Tremere stronghold in the city and courting alliances with the local Nosferatu to create refuges for his clan in the city's underground.

Solomon also pursued a relationship with a member of Cincinnati's Church. He wanted allies if the Garou became a problem. 

Next we discovered that our Prince had a collection of ancient vampires in torpor in Europe and some of them were destroyed by the Church. Our coterie met with the Prince and brainstormed some retributions. 

We soon discovered that our Prince was enacting ALL of them. One of them was to air drop a Methusela into the Church's HQ while the entire group's leadership was meeting. We didn't find out how many died and we didn't kill the Chruch's leader, but we struck a major blow.

Even though I'd been a passive player I was always listening. I decided it was time to act because I didn't want Cincinnati or the Tremere destroyed because I had a hand in what was happening.

Solomon then decided to rig the Tremere HQ to blow up if the Church came after him. He'd go out in a blaze of glory.

While work on the house was being done, he had his Clanmates meet at one of the boltholes in the sewers and went over some of the things that the city was facing.

Solomon then used his Church contact to send the Church's wrath to Paris, to eliminate that Prince and the Poser they had dealt with claiming they were behind the attack to the Church's leadership.

Solmon then went to his Coterie and asked if anyone wanted to be Prince if ours was lost. It turns out Riff Raff wanted the job if it became open and Solomon honestly explained he wasn't sure if he wanted it.

He also listened to a theory of Riff Raff's that their Prince had a double. It seemed intriguing.

Solomon then went and met with the Garou leaders to see if they had connections in Europe to cause further disarray. It was a possibility, but not certain.

He then set up a meeting with the Prince, where they all learned of the attacks on Paris. He revealed it was his move, that he wanted to throw off the Church and that he was tired of cowering in the shadows. He mentioned that the Garou could be helpful in removing Vampire enemies of the Prince's.

Finally, Solomon explained that he had some control over where the Church got information and that is was the Prince's move now.

It was rewarding to figure out who Solomon was after so many months and I hope things work out for him.