Monthly Archives: June 2016

Ideas upon ideas…

So, I’ve been having ideas over the last couple of years and figured I’d detail them, both in the hope that I’ll actually get started, and to possibly spark other people’s creativity.

Deadlands – It’s a western, but with magic and all manner of horrible gribblies. I had some notes about a riverboat cruise combined with a poker tournament (Yes, I’ve seen Maverick), but factor in intrigue between the rail companies, poker players (And those trying to steal the pot) and several gunfighters on a trip and there’s an idea which should make it past the after party. Some system would be needed for magic, but as for combat, if you can hit the other person with a Nerf dart, then you’ve wounded them. Plain and simple.

Ghost Hunters International – 1 goup of players is the investigators, the other are a mix of the local experts and the ghosts.You could take that further in a Cthulhu mythos direction, or the PC’s could be trainees of Ghostbusters International. There’s certainly interest in that given the new movie, though I’d set it in the new movie universe, just to annoy any whining man-babies. You wouldn’t be restricted to Ghostbusters, you could have the client, journalists and reps from head office checking how the trainees are doing etc.

Star Trek – The idea’s not mine on this one, but I’m part of the planning crew. Two ships (Federation and Klingon?) have been damaged/stuck somewhere, but can communicate through viewscreens (Ipads connected though wifi). The plan was a make it a con game.

Shadowrun – Along with Fallout, I love the universe , though haven’t spent much time in it. Either way, something post apocalyptic would be a nice change. I’d also be open to a retro-future style Cyberpunk 2020 style game. Or perhaps some sort of cross between The Running Man and Escape from New York?

Conan – I did some prep work on this a couple of years ago. The idea was a 1-shot set in a tavern in Arenjun, city of thieves. Someone has stolen an important thing and come to make the exchange. Others want the thing, or to stop others from getting the thing. Mercenaries looking for work, fences looking to make the exchange etc. Either way, put a load of people who aren’t trust worthy in any way, add in a pile of coin and an expensive magic thing and stir.

Adventurer School – This one snowballed somewhat. What began as Adventurer College: 10 Year Reunion: The Freeform morphed into a series of games where we see the characters start Adventurer School, then games based around the first day of high school, formal and college. Maybe another LARP that’s their athletics carnival?

Star Wars – a planned (2-3 sessions) game set in the Old Republic era. Probably set on Nar Shadda to allow for agents of both sides (Jedi and Sith) to appear. Perhaps some sort of negotiations at opening, but I haven’t had a plot for this one, just the idea.

So yes. At some point I should actually put something together, as opposed to the one I’ve actually said I’ll run, which is as follows:
Star Wars: A Small Disturbance in the Force.The PC’s are a group of Jedi trainees in the Old Republic era, but the twist is they’re all the smaller races – Jawas, Chadra-Fan, Squibs etc. Oh, and one Wookiee. True, they aren’t small, but you try telling Massive Q no… 🙂

 

A Public Service Announcement

Ahem. Recently I ran a convention game entitled Fair and Balanced. For those who didn’t play it, it involved Fox News anchors saving America from Obama’s ‘socialist tyranny’. (Before anyone says anything, it was a parody, though several groups of players hadn’t realised the PC’s were both A: real people and B: their flavour text quotes were genuine.)

It seemed to go rather well, judging from the reactions. Several groups started fist fights with Obama (With one player disguising themselves as Stephen Colbert), some launched attacks on the 200ft tall statue of Obama made from melted guns while one group used home made napalm to paint a giant burning cross on the front lawn of the White House. (Feeling that America has forgotten about religion and needing a reminder..) This has led to numerous people asking for a sequel, with a working title of FAIR AND BALANCED 2: THE TRUMPOCALYPSE. 

So, will I run a sequel? I’m here to answer that question now: NO.Nope. Nay. Nein. I’m not touching that with a 10 foot pole.Not for all the tea in China or all the dice in GenCon.Thor can speak for me further:2344222-2040381-thorsay_thee_nay_3

Writing the first one was hellish enough  -keeping track of, let alone making heroes out of people whose every utternace I find loathsome and abhorrent (Megyn Kelly’s needling of Donald Trump aside) and people want me to delve back into that cesspit? What the hell do you think I am?

PS: I’m not running another Ewok game either – once was enough for that. The only sequel I’m contemplating is one to Operation Aquarius, as in the canon version of that game SHIELD, and by extension HYDRA, now have access to Dalek technology. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

 

More Zedtown thoughts

So, a few more thoughts on the recent Zedtown, slightly more critical than previous: the QR code readers not working at the start was irritating, and the territory mechanic wasn’t really explained. Knowing that we had to start a quest at a point to use the code, as opposed to just being there would also have helped. I’m happy to give them leeway, as this stuff has to be tested, but explaining the process would have helped. Also, some indication of where the bases where at the start of the game, or an organised convoy to take us there like at Outbreak (Last year’s game at Olympic Park) would have been nice. Given we had 5 minutes before zombies could start tagging people, there was some pressure. I don’t want to sound like I’m ripping on the game all of a sudden, as I had a hell of a lot of fun, but now that the initial adrenaline has faded, there were some issues. Nothing that majorly detracted from the game, more stuff that will hopefully be corrected in future events.

I also regret not congratulating Jordon Raskopolous when I saw her in the queue. Well, congratulating’s the wrong word, more giving a quick note of support. But every time I saw her she was either in conversation or looked busy and I don’t want to interrupt. Besides, I have a bad record of interaction with geek celebs – I’m still embarrassed about the idiot I made of myself when I met Richard Biggs (Dr Franklin from Babylon 5).

Other costume ideas that have been suggested (Not all are mine, I’m just listing ones I’ve heard):
Two people in a pantomime horse outfit. They’d get tagged early, but then two part ZOMBIE HORSE.

Judges. I assume you know what sort I mean. Because why the drokk not?

Original Series Star Trek crew. Bonus points for using mobile phones like comunicaters, acting as if they’re an away team and ripping their shirts when they become zombies.
As the counterpoint – a group of Klingons, or, the crew of the NSEA Protecter. I can picture it now, as a comrade get’s tagged, one of the crew grabs them (striking a dramatic pose) and quietly whispers ‘By Grabthar’s Hammer, by the suns of Warven, you shall be avenged…’ and then is promptly swarmed by the other zombies. Fuckin’ zombies – no respect for good drama.

Kurt Russell. I’ve already called dibs on Snake Plissken, but given time I can beard up like John Ruth from The Hateful Eight. Or, if you need variety, expand that to John Carpenter movies. You still have Snake Plissken and Jack Burton, but with bonus Rowdy Roddy Piper!

Colonial Marines. Because who hasn’t held up a Nerf rifle and quoted Aliens?

I’d also love to see some more roleplay put into it. I get it, it’s been 5 hours or running, you’re cold and tense and can’t be arsed getting back into character, but that’s some of the best time to. Given the atmosphere of the game and the paranoia it encourages, there’s a solid framework for this, and that’s without going into the faction based racism. It seems disturbingly natural as within minutes other players move from fellow survivors to “They aren’t us? Fuck those guys.” It’s only late game when the zombies have multiplied drastically that any sort of human solidarity starts to emergere, and even then any alliances are tense. Mind you, the Reds moving away from the would-be evac point during the late game countdown seemed kinda odd, but given the cold I can’t really blame them for not thinking.

Now, looking to future loadout changes:
Given the success of the Hammershot and the beauty of the holsters we bought the plan is to go two pistol, possibly with a Slingfire rifle as backup. Outide of the sheer awesome of the western theme, the Hammershots can put enough darts in the air to (hopefully) give most zombies pause and are quick on the reload to boot. How time flies – I remember when the Maverick was the height of Nerf weapons technology…

As I posted previusly, the Slingfire is a fine weapon (I’m a sucker for lever action blasters, even the terrible ones BuzzBee did a few years ago with the shells), but it doesn’t fire fast enough, which has led me to the Rapid Strike. I’d talk about how accuracy is needed, but it’s a toy dart gun and you aren’t going to get it. Since you can’t really get that it’s down to varying amounts of spray and pray. Most blasters will put the dart roughly in front of the barrel at a decent speed, but it’s how quickly you can get that next dart out that really matters. As for spray and pray, it goes against everything I hold dear when playing laser tag (Where I’ve been described as a cold blooded sniper), but the Rapid Strike does put a lot of darts out there.  Normally I go by the Rule of Cool, but I figure next event is time to experiment.Besides, I have one of them (Thank you Kmart $15 sale!), so why not use the thing? As for the annoucement of the next event, well I have two words:

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(Looking back on this, I’m sure if you told 14 year old me I’d be doing this at 36, he’d have laughed. Oh, what a wonderful geek happy world we live in. ..)