Tabletop Tales: BESM

I've played many different tabletop RPGs in my time.

I've spoken of several of said games here in this very blog.

However, I've yet to talk about BESM.

BESM (Big Eyes, Small Mouth), in the simplest of terms, is THE anime RPG. While other existing games may portray certain types of anime better (mech-based games, for example), BESM is the catch all anime RPG. It's system encompasses, more or less, all anime genres into one game.

You can play anything from a magical girl like Sailor Moon...
 

Moon Fanservice Power!!

...to a mech pilot like in Gundam...

The plot is irrelevant when robots are exploding

...to even a regular student like in some animes!

There's a rape joke here somewhere...

This was an interesting setup in that it allowed GMs and players to run any sort of anime setting in a game, without switching systems to do it. Furthermore, the system allowed fully customizable characters with their extensive "Attributes" section (essentially, all the cool anime powers and abilities).

All in all, it was a very fun system to play. I've enjoyed 99% of all BESM games I've either run as the moderator or played in. We...won't talk about the 1%.

I'm thinking back on the various BESM games I've played in. I distinctly recall my creation of the Atari 1,000,000, a fully functional, autonomously thinking, giant mech. And, when I say "giant" mech, I'm not talking as big as your house. Oh no no, I built that character to be as big as skyscrapers!

Think...a Godzilla-sized robot. That the other players lived inside of.

THAT'S the kind of crazy shit you can do in BESM.

Suddenly, Japan.

You want that cool, ridiculously over-sized, ridiculously powerful sword to eviscerate all foes with? BESM can do that.

You want a legion of admirers following you around and doing your bidding? BESM can do that.

You want, both, the power to burrow and the power to stretch, for no good goddamn reason?!? BESM can do that.

There isn't a lot that BESM left out of character creation/the Attributes section, and even if they did, the book discusses how to add in additional Attributes that may have been left out.

Sadly, I don't have many interesting stories to tell involving BESM games. The games and sessions were fun but nothing story-worthy occurred (except one instance, but that will never be spoken of...). I just wanted to share this game with all of you readers in hopes that you learned about a new game and will give it a try.

Excelsior!

Tabletop Tales: Jason Willard - Ruiner of Games

I haven't done one of these in a while, but recent developments have given me a relatively good story to share.

Let's delve into the world of Dungeons and Dragons!

Yes, yes...the original nerd game. The granddaddy of roleplaying games (not really, but whatever). It is the one game that put roleplaying on the map and was, on average, the first roleplaying game of most gamers. It encompasses the standard fantasy epic adventure, allowing players to step into the shows of mighty warriors and powerful wizards, fighting monsters and collecting treasure.

Really standard stuff, as far as roleplaying shit was concerning.

For me, personally, D&D was the first roleplaying that I had ever played. It was, quite literally, the gateway game that opened up my interest in other RPG's. Because of D&D, I'm the gamer that I am now.

This all being said, I haven't played a 3.5 edition (my preferred edition) D&D game in quite some time. When my roommates friend, Dan, offered to run a game, I obviously jumped at the opportunity. I made a barbarian/sorcerer for the express purpose of playing a prestige class (that's a specialized, bonus class, for you uninitiated) called a rage mage. The whole point of my build was to be the strongest member of the party and hit things really hard.

I couldn't find an appropriate picture, so here's a kitten!

The party was tasked with capturing, preferably alive, this wizard that would know something about what was happening with the weather and seasons. Pretty standard "go here, do this" kind of adventure. We set out, made it to the wizard's tower, scaled it without much effort, and proceeded to confront the spellcaster we were after.

Before I continue, I must paint the picture of the scene for you.

We kick in the door to the topmost level of the tower and enter into the wizard's study. He's sitting there behind a desk. Floating above the desk is this "powerful-looking orb". Behind the desk and wizard is a window. We exchange some words, something like this:

Us - "We were sent to bring you back."
Wizard - "I'm not going."
Us - "We're taking you with us whether you want to or not."
Wizard - "Fuck you, here are some golems to fight."

So the stubborn fucker summons four golems to fight us, two on either side of him. I noticed that the desk in front of the wizard and the wizard himself were completely unprotected from the front.

An idea started to brew.

A CRAZY idea.

I win initiative for combat. My character, who is already juiced up on magical strength spells and whatnot, decides he's going to do try and end the fight immediately. Now listen closely because this is exactly what his/my plan was: He was going to charge/bull rush the wizard's desk, knocking it, and the wizard, back several feet into the window with enough force to knock him out but not enough force to break the window. Additionally, if the window DID break and he fell out, we had people who could fly and catch him. No biggie.

However, this is what ACTUALLY happened as per the DM's description: My character charges/bull rushes the desk, the desk shatters upon impact, the powerful-looking orb shatters on impact, and the wizard gets pushed through the window.

Great.

The DM, unaware of what my intentions were, decided that the orb that was integral to the plot of his whole game, was shattered by my character's actions. After it occurred, he ranted and raved for about half an hour about how I ruined his story and he needed an extended break to think of where to go with it.

When the group reconvened after a few cigarettes and more ranting on the DM's part, he thus gifted me with the title of "Ruiner of Games". Everyone else had mixed reactions.

 I thought it was the funniest damned thing.

Tabletop Character Theme Songs!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm back! I know it's been MONTHS (fucking MONTHS, for fuck's sake!) since I posted but I'm back now and hopefully will be putting up new content on a slightly more consistent basis!

My punishment will be swift

All of that being said, this particular article was inspired by a late night evening with my roomie and best buddy Wes. I was keeping Wes up with talks of the various roleplaying games that we were in at the time or previously. This conversation, as per usual, led to a discussion of our favorite characters. This, in turn, led to a discussion about what the theme songs for our characters would be.

Me, being the type of gamer that I am, had already picked out theme songs for some of my favorite characters. This is a brief list of theme songs that I had chosen for my own characters or my friends characters.

Should be fun, right?

• The Shaper - (Amber)

If any of you are long-time readers of mine (I use the term "long-time" loosely, in this case) than you may recall my mentioning of Amber and my characters from them. Specifically, my Shaper character. A quick recap of the character - the Shaper was me with the power to turn into any living thing. Specifically, my specialty was the form of the feathered serpent. The downside to this was, of course, losing myself in the animal mind and giving in to darker, more primal urges.

Therefore, the song I choose for this character is:

• The Monster (pre-angel) - (Amber)

Going along the same Amber train of thought, I figured I'd do pre-angel Monster me. This character was Shaper me at a later time with a different power. I had acquired the terrible destructive power of the Monster, but hadn't chosen a form yet. The downside to this power was this terrible hunger inside of myself that kept gnawing at me if I didn't feed it. Humans tended to satiate it the best.

Therefore, I believe this song choice is best. Sidenote - Wes actually picked this one. I approve of his selecting abilities:

• The Monster (post-angel) - (Amber)

Okay, okay...this is my last Amber entry until later. This is the same character as above, but I had chosen the form of a rakasha, an unbound angel. I did so so that I could use the power responsibly without compromising my morals.

This in mind, I chose this song:

• Pak-cha - (Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 ed)

I can't recall if I've ever mentioned Pak-cha before in my blog, which is strange because he's my favorite character that I ever breathed fictional life into. Ah, well. Pak-cha was part of an evil party of evil goddess worshippers. He started out as a mindless bodyguard and, by the end of the campaign, had worked his way up to becoming his goddess's champion. He was lethal, brutal, and almost unbeatable in one-on-one melee combat. He was LITERALLY the heavy-hitter and he heavy-hitted often.

I believe this song does him the justice he deserves:

 Before I continue, I feel the need to share the theme songs for the remaining members of this campaign's party. We each actually picked our own themes and I recorded all of theme. I won't go into detail about each specific character, but I'm sure you can get a general idea of the tone from the collection.

Xeahvyn’s Theme  – Animal I Have Become (totally ripped this off from her, I admit)

Bruce’s Theme – Bat Out of Hell

Tsiona’s Theme – Devil’s Daughter

Tailoc’s Theme – Bard’s Song

Greth’s Theme – Bodies

Korn’s Theme – Headstrong

Razgriz’s Theme – Go Into the Water

Kee’ari-Uh’s Theme – Master of Puppets

Darkmane’s Theme – Castratikron

• Wires - (Shadowrun)

Wires was another of my all-time favorite characters. He was an all-powerful technomancer (re. magic hacker) in a world almost entirely run by data and electronics. He was an essential asset to the shadowrunning (re. mercenary) team that he was a part of and could do almost anything in his niche without fail. Even the other players marveled at how ridiculously effective this character was. This all being said, he was essentially useless in the real world. However, that never stopped him from doing his job and putting his life on the line to get his part done for the team.

It actually took me a while to find this song, but I believe it's the most fitting:

• Bones - (Shadowrun)

Now, we've finally left my own characters (egotistical asshole that I am) and have moved onto my friends' characters. Bones, Wes's character, was an orc-oni adept (re. Japanese demon orc physical-mage) in the same game that Wires from above was in. Both characters were completely different from each other. Where Wires was serious, Bones was carefree. Where Wires was physically weak, Bones was physically powerful. Where Wires was vastly intelligent, Bones was...lacking. However, Bones was the heaviest hitter of our shadowrunning team and proved it on a number of occasions.

Because of his Japanese origin, carefree and upbeat attitude, and general badassery, I chose this song for Bones (Wes approved):

• Lei Sheng - (Shadowrun)

ONE more Shadowrun character for the list...list one, again, is from the same game as Bones and Wires. This character belonged to our friend Jim and was a Chinese combat mage that knew kungfu. I don't believe I need to say more than that.

Here's the song:

I'm sure I could think of songs for more of my own characters or characters belonging to other friends of mine, but I'm mainly sticking to ones that jumped out at me. Or ones that I'd had in my head for a while.

Okay, I'm just lazy.

However, I did come up with a few group theme songs. Here we go!

• Shadowrunning Team Theme

This was chosen by Wes and myself for our team in the Shadowrun game. We felt it appropriate seeing how both we viewed our team/characters and our characters viewed the team as unbeatable. Up to that point in the campaign, we might as well have been. Nothing had stopped us and nothing had slowed us down.

Therefore, the clear choice was:

• Amber Party Theme

This one is actually a funny story. Julia, my now ex, was playing in our Amber game at the time and she was an artist/animator. She had this idea that her and I would surprise the party with an animated "opening" to the Amber game, as if it were an animated show. I loved the idea and worked with her toward it. Unfortunately, her and I parted ways before the project was completed but NOT before I picked out the music we were to use.

I give you...that music:

And that's all I have for now, intrepid readers! If I come up with more, I might do another of these for my own amusement. For now, however, this is a pretty comprehensive list covering my favorite characters and games. 

I hope you enjoyed reading it and promise to work on bringing new material back to the blog!

Why Nobody Can (re: should) Take Game Stores Seriously

My friend Dan, who can be a pretty funny guy when he doesn't have his head up his ass, posted this. I thought I'd share.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Game stores are weird places as an outsider. You develop preconceived notions about what "gamers" are like, and in turn try to shy away or enter only with those stereotypes. Or, at least, I thought they were stereotypes. However, when I started to step back and try to just observe things, I noticed just how pathetic gamers are--myself included--when you get us in to "our stores." Don't believe me? Let's break down the many major flavors of gamer. No subgroups, all generalizations. It's for science, people. ....Well, if "science" suddenly means "making fun of ourselves."

Miniatures Gamers
For many, these are the first guys you notice in a store because they--and their shit--are freaking everywhere. They take up massive amounts of table (and sometimes floor) space, they converse and play loudly, and half the time they're pulling so many miniatures out of their massive "army carriers" (They're purses, guys. Purses.) that all you can think is "Well, no wonder he drives a shitty car. He's spent more money on plastic than the entire Las Vegas stripper industry." Well, Ok, a lot of the "good" miniatures are metal, but I stick with my previous joke. Once their mini fridge-sized bags have been emptied and left on otherwise perfectly good tables, they get down to actual game play. Long, arduous, argument-filled game play where they seem to take nearly an hour to resolve a battle that would actually take about three minutes in real, flowing combat. It's as if they've never heard of, oh, say, Heroes of Might and Magic, which does all the calculation for them. It's almost as bad as D&D, but we'll get to that later. The strangest part of this behavior is they seem to want to take up as much space and time as they can without being astrophysicists. Somehow to them, the more freaking space they take up and the longer they hold down a table, the more prestigious they feel. As such, they will always be there, lurking in the....well...wherever they can put their crap.

Yu-Gi-Oh Players
Because Pokemon kids apparently grow up--but only slightly--the Yu-Gi-Oh craze spreads like wildfire. I'll admit I have no problem with the game itself. It actually seems fascinating mechanically. However, the goddamn players make me want to remove all things Yu-Go-To-Hell from the face of the planet. I thought it was just the players at my shop, but no, apparently all over it's the same behavior Come in large groups; buy little to nothing new; seat way too many people at a table, even blocking aisles; scream and yell like every card played is either a gunshot to the nuts or the greatest triumph of Man. Oh, and don't get me started on the hygiene. Apparently they're so busy looking like they're headed to a rave afterward (or a Justin Bieber look-alike contest) that they forget to shower. It goes beyond swamp ass, my friends. If they smell like a Red Lobster and you're not in a seafood joint, it's sort of a clue they are not fans of soap. Still, even with their loud, rude, and stinky behavior, you will always see them in a game store. Why? Because game stores are there to make money, and on the fateful days when new cards come out, these kids spend their parents' money like sailors on shore leave in Thailand. Complain about them all you want, but so long as they keep making large purchases (after lulls of no purchases at all), they will never be driven off. Capitalism assures that.

Magic: The Gathering Players ("My people.")
While many of us would like to think we're "the upper echelon of card games players," we're really no better than the Yu-Gi-Oh kids. Sad but true. Sure, many of us are far more courteous and clean-smelling, but we're no less space-consuming and annoying to the people around us. The fun part is that many of our "little" cabal don't even seem to register how much we annoy other people, Magic players or non-Magic players alike. We just seem to go about our business, babbling on about cards and tactics (and "RTFC" moments), hoping to get in a "good" game or two, but gauging our interpretations of "good" and "bad" not based on how much fun we had but rather on whether we won or lost. Well, some of us. I'm more of a "have fun" guy, but all around me people seem to be driven solely to win. This drive spreads like a plague until suddenly it seems to be all we think about, scouring through boxes upon boxes of cards, bugging people for their trade binders, checking web sites fervently, chomping at the bit to get in as many games as possible in hopes that "this deck" is the one that brings ultimate victory. Not fun. Victory. And as such, when we're so focused on winning, we all really just become a large collection of losers. In many ways.

Tabletop Roleplayers
"Tabletop," "PnP," "old-fashioned," call it what you will. I'm talking the D&D players; the Amber players; the Whatthefuckever players. Sure, I've played many of these games, but frankly they will always look bad in game shops. Why? Because of the players in game shops. Either you have the guys who get waaaay to in to their game, becoming oblivious to the world around them until they "are interrupted" and become belligerent, or you get the guys who want to turn a roleplaying game in to a miniatures game and just don't admit it. I've witnessed both. There's the parties so focused on their stories they become oblivious to everyone around them until something nearly pulls them away from their game, at which point they become cranky as all hell. In the other corner, there's the guys with so many books, charts, and reference sheets strewn about that you'd think it was a product demo and not an actual game session. You know "those guys." The ones who jump from combat encounter to combat encounter, taking hours to drop a guy in "twenty seconds," and call nearly every game "best session ever." All the while, both of these varieties should nearly be pitied because "it's so loud in here"...although they're usually the ones yelling, making everyone else yell over them in some sort of decibel arms race. Still, they come night after night, play their games, and wind up having the most fun out of everyone. Why? Because they realize no matter how they play it they're still just playing a game.

Board-Gamers
Despite the fact that game shops still sell the games they play and enjoy, this is actually a rare breed around here except on rare occasions. Perhaps it's because they need a smaller number of people to play their games and thus take up less space. Perhaps they go to stores at different times from the other gamers. Who knows? Still, this small caste of gamer seems to make appearances on my radar very rarely. So rarely, in fact, that I have little to work with about them, unless we group them in with the fair-weather...

Late-Nighters
Yeah, you've seen these guys. The ones who seem to only make appearances when stores are either open until the wee hours of the morning or holding special all-night events. Nobody really knows why they come. Maybe they work late jobs. Maybe their parents/roommates/spouses just want them to shut up so they can sleep. Still they come in with their friends and home-brought games in tow, waltzing right in like regulars while nobody (sometimes even the store staff) has any clue who the hell they are. Still, they're nice enough if you can get past the clique-based behavior. They are more than happy to keep to themselves if they are not approached, and sometimes they even bring their own food and drinks, pissing off the merchants while also making the bold statement "Yeah, I'm gonna be here a while." Still, the nagging thought remains in your head of "Who are these guys?" while they swear up and down that they "come in here all the time." Sure. Sure you do. Weirdos. Ummm...welcome?

Video Gamers
It's pretty uncommon for a traditional game shop to have a place to play video and computer games, but as "my" shop does, I cannot help but view the cyber cafe as an entirely different planet. On this planet, its denizens keep to the shadows, avoiding any source of light other than the glows of their screens as if it would instantly kill them. They stew in their own butt sweat, stinking up the place as they sit for hours on end contracting the ever-fatal Onemorelevelitis, or the even more detrimental Onemoreroundiswear Syndrome. Both of these diseases seem to stem from a pre-existing condition we can observe all too well, however: stupidity. After all, when these beings spend 4 to 5 days on the surface of their world and spend anywhere from $5 to $10 per day to do as such, one cannot help but wonder why they do not just keep the estimated $1,000 to $2,500 a year and buy themselves nice computers/consoles & TVs as well as the games to play on them, and then stay at home and save their money. Truly an odd group of beings.

"The Penultimate Gamer"
Every game shop has at least one guy like this, and if you can't spot him, chances are you are him. Still, you know this guy when you see him. He's the one who always comes in bragging that he "plays everything" and boasts about heightened skill in almost every form of game you can think of, but yet when you play with him (or even watch him play) it becomes quickly apparent that he's full of shit. His skills are usually so mediocre you wonder if he's even played the game before, and you find yourself very quickly excusing yourself so you can go laugh at him elsewhere rather than hurting his feelings by doing so in his face. He is by all means the ultimate joke of the store, and he doesn't even know it. In fact, he is so delusional that he never will. Still, it's good to see the Jack of All Trades alive and well, because at least you know you'll always have someone to play with....and beat.

So yeah, these are the groups I observe at their most general interpretations. When you sit back and read this--and then think about it for yourselves--I'm sure a lot of this is what you've seen before. If not, chances are now you'll start seeing it because you are aware. Either way, I only hope you can laugh as much as I can, because honestly they're just games.

Top 10 Reasons Why I'm the Meatshield in the Saturday Amber Game

Everyone has heard me mention the Friday and Saturday Amber games, run by Mikey and Pete respectively, before. I believe it bears repeating that the Amber games are a good test of mental acuity and lateral thinking, considering that there are no dice involved and anything you want to do you have to explain precisely how you want to do it...or face the consequences.

Of the two GMs, Pete is by far the tougher. By tougher, I mean that he expects more from the players "mental components" (sequences of thought and action that make our powers work). If you don't remember a detail out-of-game, you won't remember it IN-game. If you've slipped by on doing a simple power and forget how to do the mental component, and Pete asks you how its done, than you're fucked.

Now, there ARE stats in Amber. Those are basically how the GMs decide who the victor is in a particular conflict (though, other factors are taken into consideration). Each "power" grants its user a different set of stat boosts, basically optimizing the character for a particular role within the party. For example, Mages primarily get higher bonuses to their mental stats, making them (duh) suited for spellcasting and mental combat. Shapers and Monsters, on the other hand, primarily get higher bonuses to their strength and endurance. This makes them equipped to give and take a lot of close-combat damage.

SO...being only Monster in the party (and being the only Shaper before that), I take and have taken the most damage out of anyone in the party. And, for some inexplicable reason, I still haven't died from any of it.

With all that said, I think it would be fun to count off the top ten instances where I took the most damage, be it through combat or my own silliness. Here we go!

10. The time in which I transformed from a small-sized being into a larger-sized being, causing Ethiopian-ism

This one goes way back to my early Shaper days. I was experimenting with size, scaling and transformation at the time, and I wondered how quickly I could go from a small-ish sized creature (specifically, the size of a snake) to a large-ish sized creature (specifically, a human). What I discovered, much to my dismay was that such an exercise was POSSIBLE, but not practical. Upon completing the transformation, I found myself completely drained of energy which physically manifested in the form of being sickly thin. I was so weak that the other party members had to feed me like a child until I had regained enough energy to do it myself. Embarrassing and informative, to say the least.

Damage Factor: 3/10
Trauma Factor: 2/10
Pain Factor: 3/10

9. The time in which I went from a fully spiritual being into a fully physical being, causing Ethiopian-ism, and then eating myself

This instance is similar to the last one, but different for one crucial reason. We'll get to that in a moment.

To set the stage, I found myself engaged with various spirits that were looking to take my head. Obviously, I felt rather attached to my head, so I decided to fight back. However, spirits can't be attacked by the physical (unless they themselves were manifesting physically...which they weren't). However, as a Shaper, I had the ability to touch spiritual things as if they were physical. However, I either had forgotten this or wasn't aware yet. No no...instead I decided to shed my body like it was an out-of-style coat and turn into a completely spiritual creature to fight off the attacking spirits. I was successful, don't get me wrong, but when I turned back into a physical creature, the same sickly thin effect occurred. This time, however, I had a ready food supply: my previously discarded body.

Yes, that's right, I ate myself to get back some of the energy lost. Sometimes I sicken myself.

Damage Factor: 3/10
Trauma Factor: 4/10
Pain Factor: 3/10

8. The time in which I pushed a spaceship into a concentrated laser beam, going into the laser beam myself

This one is kinda fun.

We were attempting to free an imprisoned group of psychics from a coalition of various enemies including low men, stormtroopers, and can-toi. The stormtroopers, however, called in reinforcements in the form of a large starship above the town. One of the party members, aptly nicknamed Black Mike, had what was essentially a Green Lantern ring as his power and used it to generate a high intensity laser beam focused on the ship. I, meanwhile, had flown up there to engage it directly and saw this as a (clearly) perfect opportunity to be badass and push the damn ship clean through the laser beam. The one problem I came to discover was that I, myself, am not immune to laser beams. Fortunately, the warform that I was using was built to not feel pain, so I was essentially melting my entire body without feeling a lick of it.

Yet.

Oh...I felt it later...

Damage Factor: 4/10
Trauma Factor: 3/10
Pain Factor: 5/10

7. The time in which I tried to fix a powerful psychic that has a brain aneurysm, accidentally getting turned into a shoggoth

This actually took place prior to the above spaceship incident.

We were in a nearby cave planning our assault with some NPC psychics from the prison town. One of the psychics was both very powerful and very mentally handicapped. A combination of the two caused severe damage to his brain...damage that was killing him with every use of his powers. I, being the healer of the party as well as the meatshield, decided that I should fix him and make everyone happy. However, one quickly discovers that the feedback of a powerful psychic into a shapeshifter unexpectedly causes that shapeshifter to lose control and become, essentially, a rampaging shoggoth.

If you don't know what a shoggoth is, go look it up.

Anyway, I attacked the entire party, not knowing what I was doing, and managed to be saved by Mikey the mage.

Damage Factor: 2/10
Trauma Factor: 10/10
Pain Factor: 1/10

6. The time I rammed my head into the bottom of a ship while going Mach 1000

Ah, this is the first of the more recent incidences. Currently, I take the chosen form of an angel. On top of that, I have the ability to craft and cast spells. One spell I crafted was a speed-increasing spell that physically manifested as jetpack wings on my angelic form! It...was...AWESOME!

For those of you old-school cinema fans, I went plaid.

Anyway, I aimed my Mach Ridiculous attack at a nearby Logrus master and succeeded in exploding him into little chunks through the immense impact. However, I also found myself generally out of control due to a series of unfortunate...er...piloting missteps. Luckily, I have an Amberite on my side that can probability shift that I'll make it out okay, right?

Nope.

He dictates that I'll probably ram into that enemy ship sinking it. Which I do. And my neck breaks from doing it. Dick.

Damage Factor: 6/10
Trauma Factor: 5/10
Pain Factor: 3/10

5. The time in which I had to carry a box of explosives to the bottom of the sea while being assaulted by an Amberite

This one was toward the end of the first season arc.

We were on our way back to Amber to begin the final stretch of battles and adventures that would lead to the ultimate climax. However, we had to GET to Amber first. One particular obstacle stood in our way: Rebma.

Rebma is the underwater reflected city of Amber. The Amberite in charge of Rebma, Llewella, decides to send her forces against us. To counter this, we happen to have a box full of sodium (I think it was sodium...), which happens to explode violently when exposed to water. And we were fighting an underwater battle.

Hmm....so a plan is hatched where I would carry the box down to the Rebman base of operations while being protected by the other party members from the surface. The plan was to Trump (magical means of communication and transportation) me out when I delivered the package.

The plan worked, but not without me getting my ass handed to me constantly by Llewella the whoooole way down.

Damage Factor: 7/10
Trauma Factor: 3/10
Pain Factor: 7/10

4. The time in which I was exploded by Gepetto

This one is actually rather tame when compared to other things on this list. It wasn't particularly painful nor did it take a very long time to occur.

No, the reason this incident is on this list and at the number four slot is because of one simple reason: this was the only time that my physical body was outright destroyed against my will. It was the first and ONLY instance I can recall where my entire physical form was utterly annihilated. Fortunately, I discovered my reflexive escape route when that happened in that my spirit returned to its home world, the Garden, from which I was able to return.

However, that was the first time I feared dying in Pete's game.

Damage Factor: 10/10
Trauma Factor: 8/10
Pain Factor: 1/10

3. The time in which I accidentally exited the atmosphere and then re-entered it, forgetting about re-entry heat

Ah, this one is the most recent of the occurrences.

Fighting a trio of Logrus masters who were trying to summon an army of Chaosians through a Black Road they had formed, we decided that they couldn't be allowed to continue living. So, we assaulted them. One of the Logrus masters was creating a bridge between where they were and one of the world's moons. I honestly had no idea what she was trying to accomplish with this, but I've had bad experiences in the past where moons were dropped on me.

I decided I should sever whatever it was that she was doing.

So, I aimed for what, in my angel vision, appeared to be a ladder extending to the moon. Except that I was heading FOR the moon...a fact I did not realize until after I was out of the atmosphere. I decided this was a bad idea and that I should get back. Upon re-entering the atmosphere, I discover that the laws of re-entry still apply to me. Fortunately, I still had my handy angelic shield to act as a heat shield, right? Wrong. My shield...my metal ANGELIC shield...melted upon re-entry.

This whole incident left my angelic form scarred and my human body without skin.

Yum.

Damage Factor: 9/10
Trauma Factor: 6/10
Pain Factor: 7/10

2. The time in which I was impaled by Leviathan

Ah Leviathan...my other half.

Throughout the game, Leviathan has always been my enemy and/or rival. He has the same power as I do, but does it better. It's infuriating, I tell you. Back when we were enemies, Leviathan attacked Amber.

I saw this as an opportunity to finally prove myself the better and vanquish him once and for all. At that point, Gerard and everyone else had been wailing on Leviathan rather thoroughly, forcing the terrible beast to retreat. I, however, wasn't about to let that happen as I proceeded to jump onto his back and wail into him.

I wanted Leviathan dead because a) I was jealous that he was considered the better and b) he kept BOTHERING us. Seriously, everywhere we turned another of the evil cabal was there. It was getting tiresome and annoying. However, Leviathan had other plans than to let himself be skewered by the bird-snake as he proceeded to take his tail, which the end of which roughly the size of a giant boat anchor, and run me through. Normally, this would hurt me but not be enough to stop me.

No no...it was when he proceeded to rip his tail out through my side (with some assistance from me, of course) that I was down for the count.

Fortunately, I healed up, as I always do, and was back to battle a while later.

Damage Factor: 10/10
Trauma Factor: 8/10
Pain Factor: 9/10

1. The time in which a Logrus monster chewed my body and spirit to pieces, and then being "rescued" by teleportation through the realm of the dead

And we come to the final point.

The big one.

The one incident in all of Pete's Amber game that was the most damaging, the most incapacitating, the most traumatizing of all the experiences I've been through. This instance was so harmful to my character that I literally had to spend experience to undo the trauma, which I've never had to do before.

Here's what happened:

Our party was stationed in a city which we were defending from an incoming invasion of Chaosians. In the city's harbor was a Logrus master (the one mentioned above in the rocket angel entry) that was attacking the city with a giant Chaos squid thing. This being the most prevalent opponent at the time, I decided to take him on mano-e-mano. Flying out there, I quickly discovered that he was faster than me. Obviously, the solution to this was to make myself faster so I decided to do so...by crafting a spell in the middle of combat. Crafting a spell essentially makes me as vulnerable as a coma victim and the Chaos squid proceeded to rip me apart, eat me, chew me, etc etc.

Fortunately, my darling lady Julia, who plays a Necromancer, rescued me by teleporting me to safety....teleporting me THROUGH the realm of the dead to safety. Now, just saying that doesn't quite convey the sheer horror and disgusting nature of such a teleportation. You're essentially ripped through the land of the dead and your body, decayed and rotting and maggotty, REVERSE decays back to its whole form. And you FEEL all of it. So not only was my body and spirit rent asunder, but I was rescued in the most uncomfortable, horrifying, and grotesque fashion possible.

I spent only one experience point to repair the trauma I suffered from this incident, but even Pete admitted that I should've probably had to pay more.

Damage Factor: 10/10
Trauma Factor: 10/10
Pain Factor: 10/10

The things I do for my fellow party members...

Personal Projects: Order of the Stick Amber Characters Part 3

And me in Pete's game!

Personal Projects: Order of the Stick Amber Characters Part 2

Here's Andy from Mikey's game!

Personal Projects: Order of the Stick Amber Characters

Because my GMs in both Amber games (Mikey in one and Pete in the other) award bonus XP for additions into their games, I figured I'd turn our characters into Order of the Stick characters. I will now upload each as I complete them for the enjoyment of all!

The first is my character in Mikey's game.

What is a line?: A followup on wards and tactical nuclear powers

So, we're back to lines.



Another session of Mikey's Amber game has come and gone since our first experimentation with our powers. We have since had more chances to try out certain ideas we've had. I, myself, have discovered several very important facts yet still have more puzzling questions.

I suppose the first of the two biggest facts I learned about my power is that when I was told that "lines" were the basis of my power, it really meant "wards". Wards, in the Amber games (and probably most other formats), are barriers of varying design that are created to block various things. In the Amber games, they're used to block physical action, mental, spiritual, perception, etc.

So! Knowing this now, I plan on attempting to integrate "ward" into my mental components to see if they work more effectively. In my brief experimentation last session, I was able to create a physical barrier to protect against harm. I was pleased with this, despite it being broken so easily.

We'll work on that.

The other important fact that I discovered is that I'm able to utilize my power as a "tactical nuclear strike" as we call it, meaning I can use it to cause massive amounts of devastation.

I do this by using my power on the Broken Pattern lines we see when we travel using the Broken Pattern. It was an accidental discovery as Pete wanted me to use those lines to bar the pursuing Amberites from following us. I didn't quite do the mental component properly, causing the lines to crack and schism, releasing the ridiculously large amounts of Chaos creatures on the worlds that the lines connect to.

Oops.

Essentially, I doomed/murdered about 30-40 billion people with that snafu. I felt bad, but appreciated knowing I had the ability for future use. Brand (mentioned earlier) was pleased with the result.

Though, I'm not so sure that's a good thing.

However, now that I've learned these facts, I must proceed forward. Experimentation is key to discover if a line can be metaphorical and symbolic to use my power, or if it requires the line be a physical line or object that I'm calling a line. Can lines I not see also be utilized, like the "lines" on a brain? How can I use this power to its greatest effect?

So many questions and so little time to try. Maybe Mikey will be open to having lunch sometime.

What is a line?: A philosophical discussion about a roleplaying game power

Those out there that actually keep up with this little blog of mine will know that I oftentimes reference the roleplaying game of Amber. Those that are just joining us are most-likely unaware of what Amber is so here's a brief summary:

Amber is a diceless roleplaying game. A roleplaying game is a game in which the player takes on the role of a character they created and plays a part in the story the gamemaster (or GM) tells. Most roleplaying games require dice to determine the success of the players actions, but Amber doesn't use dice, but instead a system of numerical value comparisons to determine the victor in a conflict.

It's better explained in my previous articles so...go read those.

Anyway, Mikey, started up his own Amber game on Fridays (mentioned here) and we, the players, have just been given our new, Great Race-equivalent powers.

We had the following to choose from:

• A summoner-type power
• A pyromantic power
• A hydromantic power
• An airomantic power
• An earthomantic power
• The "power of the Unicorn" which, I can only guess, includes healing and whatnot
• The Cyclops power, which I believe is creation and inspiration
• A regular archmage-type power
• The Logrus, which is a chaos power. This one was only available to Wes
• And the Doomgazer power

 In short, Wes took Logrus, Pete took the archmage, Julia took the Cyclops power, and I took the Doomgazer power.

Upon receiving our powers, we each got clues and hints at how to use our various powers. Some clues were fairly obvious, while others were incredibly vague and difficult to puzzle out and define. Such is the way of Mikey and Pete Amber games.

Case in point, the clue I received about how my power works and what I can influence was essentially this exchange:

Mikey: Okay, you get injected with some strange mercurial liquid, and you go unconscious.
Me: Awesome. And ow.
Mikey: You have a dream/vision of a world. It's earth. You're looking at it as if from space. The strange thing is that the lines of latitude and longitude and the political borders that separate countries, but don't actually exist? You can see them.
Me: ...okay...
Mikey: You then know your power has to do with those lines.
Me: Okay. My power involves lines. Got it. What's next?
Mikey: You wake back up at the castle.
Me: Wait...that's IT?!

So...lines. My power has to do with LINES. It wasn't the most direct explanation, but it was all I had to go off of. So, I decided to begin with figuring out what a line can represent. A border, a boundary, or a barrier, right? Good good...that's a start. But how do I manipulate that?  Does the line have to physically exist to utilize my power? Will I have to make the line myself? Or does it include the metaphorical and symbolic lines, like longitude and latitude, that don't really exist but represent something?

Then I began to ponder what actually constituted a line. Does a line LITERALLY mean an extent of length between two predetermined point? Or can I use any plane that can be viewed as a line from a certain perspective? For example, can a plane of clothing or a sheet of paper be considered a line? Can a wall be considered a line? Or a road? What parameters am I allowed to work with?

Well, after some basic experimentation, I came to find that the definition of "line" is quite liberal in Mikey's realm. Walls, clothes, geographical boundaries, all of these fall within my purview as a Doomgazer. I'm thinking it may even extend as far as the lines on a brain or the lines of ancestry, though I haven't experimented with those avenues yet.

I was able to, in my initial use of my power, define the border of the island as a boundary and a barrier against the outside world and anything FROM the outside world that may be trying to get inside. Instantly, my power manifested and shut off everyone else's powers.The explanation behind this was that everyone else was drawing upon the outside sources that their powers came from, and when I made the determination that outside forces were powerless to enter, their power sources were severed.

My next experiment was on a smaller scale, using Pete's clothes as the focal point. I made the assertion that his clothes were a barrier between him and the outside world. The goal of this test was to see if I could shut off an individual's power using just their clothes. The results were...slight different. I was
  successful in using the clothes as a focal point, but I pushed the power too far, making it so that light, air, etc. were not allowed to penetrate.

Pete nearly died because of that one.

It's actually a very fascinating power to have...fascinating to work with. I can't wait to see what I can REALLY do with it.

Tabletop Tales: Monastic Order Project!

I'm actually pretty proud of this one.

Normally, this sort of elaborate and in-depth work is left to guys like Mikey and Pete who literally design entire games around this sorta shit. But it was my turn to give it a shot.

Not create a game, mind you. Oh no no that would be far too tough for me to attempt at this time. No no, I worked to create a philosophic belief system to be the foundation for a monastic order of monks I was attempting to establish in Mikey's Friday night Amber game.

Wait wait...I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's back up.

I don't recall if I'd mentioned Mikey's game previously in my blog or not, but a quick recap. Mikey started his own mini Amber game with Wes, myself, Pete, and later on my girlfriend Julia just for funsies. We all had such a good time that we made it a weekly thing. Within the game, we got cool powers from Brand of Amber (go look it up, you lazy bastards), and went about on our merry adventures. The adventures eventually led us to set up shop in the Dragonlance world of Krynn.

While in Krynn, we got to bear witness to the apocalyptic backlash of the gods upon the world because of everyone's arrogance, and we're left to help humanity build itself back up for the huge resurgence of evil that we're told will be coming in a few hundred years.

No big deal, right?

Anyway, one of our plans to help humanity is to introduce the idea of unarmed combat and self-reliance and introspection to the people. Essentially, we're introducing what a "monk" is to a bunch of people who have no concept of "monk".

With this in mind, I craft THIS:

It's difficult to see, I know, but I literally crafted that design and the accompanying 12 point virtue/bane system from scratch in Microsoft Word. Damn thing took me hours to make, but it all paid off when I impressed Pete, Mikey, Wes, Julia, anyone else I showed.

And the design isn't just for show either! Oh no, the way it's shaped correlates to how everything relates to each other. It would take FAR to long to explain everything here, especially without a readable version of the design available, but simply put:

I have my awesome moments. And this was one!

Tabletop Tales: My Necromancer Girlfriend!

So...it finally happened.

My Amber group (specifically GM Pete and Mikey) convinced my girlfriend to join the game. I was encouraging this to happen, of course, because I knew she would have a good time, but I didn't expect any of what followed.

Oh no, faithful readers...what followed was pure ridiculousness.

Let's start off by explaining the powers in the Amber universe...

*ahem* Within the Amber universe (or Pete's version for the sake of clarity), there exist 13 (possibly 15) Great Race powers that govern the balance and nature of the multiverse in its entirety. Eight of the thirteen powers are dichotomous of each other. Four of the remaining five are different branches of a single "power" and the very last power is standalone.

Okay! Let's begin!

• Amberite - a person with the Amberite power has the ability to travel through Shadow (different worlds...think Sliders), alter probability, and other cool things. 

• Warlock - the Warlock power utilizes one of the four (possibly six) elements.
• Air
• Water
• Earth
• Fire

• Shaper - the shapeshifting beings that work through cooperation amongst the creatures and ecosystem
• Monster - the shapeshifting beings that work through domination of other living things and spirits

• Loremaster - the master of all knowledge currently present in a world
• Doomgazer - the master of' all dead knowledge in a world

• Artificer - a master craftsman of trumps and amazing magical items
• Breaker - master destroyer of magical items and...pretty much anything else

• Mage - utilizing spirits and spells for various effects
• Necromancer - utilizing death and the dead for spells and various effects

WHEW! Okay...that's all of the known powers within Pete's Amber game. Those were basic descriptions of each, meaning that all of them have much more in-depth descriptions, but we'll save that for another time. I keep mentioning two more unnamed powers because several of us theorize that the Warlock power also extends to include a Light' Warlock and a Darkness Warlock. But, we have no evidence of this...yet.

Anyway, the guys finally convince Julia to join the game. The amusing thing was that I was away talking to some other folks when they accomplished this feat, so I didn't get to hear what happened. What DID happen was the following:

Me - *comes back to the gaming circle* "Hey guys, what happened?"
Mikey - "Julia's joining the game."
Me - "Really?? That's great! Finally! What's she playing?"
Mikey - "A necromancer."
Me - "....what?"

It's true, loyal readers, that my girlfriend willingly CHOSE to be a horrible death spellcaster. Why? Because, and I quote this from Mikey, she thought it would be "fun". I'm not sure whether to be horrified or horribly aroused by this.

Anyway, Pete finishes his sidebar with Julia and brings her back, introducing the party to her, in-game. She suddenly appears, being spat out by a horrible, gaping maw of hell and screaming. Necromancer? Naaah...couldn't be.

The amusing thing is that WE, the in-game versions of ourselves (we're playing ourselves if you haven't read any of my previous entries), don't know who she is. She, however, knows who WE are. How is this possible? Well, take a look at this...

[ ]

This box represents the point in and out of game that I started playing the game. What happens from this point is this...
 ___________
 |
[ ]
 |
 ---------------

The solid line represents the time line from my characters perspective. In that timeline, I had left my old life on Earth behind to become a Shaper. The dotted line represents the real life timeline where I continue to play games, go to work, etc.
 __________________
 |
[ ]
 |
 ---------------( )-------

Now, the circle on the real life timeline represents the period where I met and started dating my girlfriend, Julia. The issue is that in the Amber game timeline, I NEVER MET HER. So, as I stated earlier, she remembers ME and us dating, but I, and everyone else in the party, don't know her.

So what horrible solution to this does Pete concoct? Simple, to obtain her terrible necromancy powers, she sees her world's version of me get run over and is offered the power to "save me". She agrees, becomes a necromancer, takes possession of the spirit of that world's me, and shows up where we are. And then she's coaxed by powers unseen to GIVE me, the horrible spirit devouring Monster, the spirit to eat without knowing what it is.

So I eat it. Obviously.

And, wouldn't you know it, the entire real life timeline and Amber timeline merge into my head as two separate, but equally normal-feeling, sets of memories.

Sometimes Pete is a right bastard, y'know?

Tabletop Tales: Cubegeddon

It was all an accident, I swear!

So there we are, playing Amber (isn't it hilarious how a lot of my best stories come from that game?), and I had left off last session attempting to handle a D&D-esque dungeon all by myself, without telling the rest of the party where I was or what I was doing.

Not the smartest move on my part, no, but I am known for my impulsive nature.

Anyway, this last session began with my first encounters in the "crawl". Nothing too major...a trap here, some goblins there. Basically, nothing I couldn't handle. Then, it happens...

I encounter a gelatinous cube.

Gelatinous Cube

For those of you non-D&D players out there, a gelatinous cube is literally a solid cube of a terribly acidic substance that engulfs and dissolves anything it can. It lives in cold, dark dungeons and hunts by heat. Typically, the remains of adventurers (nifty treasures and gold!) can be found within it.

Normally, something like this wouldn't pose a challenge for me, as I would typically rip its soul out and eat it, rendering the thing into harmless dust, but that wasn't the case here. You see, to actually rip a thing's soul out, I had to connect with it in some way (normally, I'd connect to the thing's fear from being ripped to shreds by a terrible monster i.e. me) to perform the soul extraction, but the cube, being of alien-mind, wasn't susceptible to my normal methods.

My fellow player, Mikey, suggested that I connect with its hunger (since I'm always hungry as a monster...see my older entry) to perform the soul extraction. I found this to be a sound idea and went ahead with it. The following dialogue is exactly how it went:

Me - "Okay, Pete, I have an idea."
Pete - "Okay."
Me - "Because the thing doesn't think like a human or normal creature, and because I've eaten a small bit of it and understand its nature, I want to tap into the things hunger and use that connection between its hunger and my hunger to rip its soul out."
Pete - "Okay, so you want to shut everything off except your hunger to do this?"
Me - "....for only a moment, yes?"
Pete - "I'll get back to you."

Typically, when Pete says "I'll get back to you", it means you screwed up in a way that means your character can't act for an extended period of time. I wasn't pleased. Oh, but it got worse.

Jump ahead three days, in-game time. The others are going about their various activities within the realm of the city we were staying at, unaware of what happened to me. Suddenly, one player, Black Mike, spots something strange coming his direction. Upon closer examination, he discovers it to be not a 10x10x10 gelatinous cube...oh no, he sees a 7 STORY TALL GELATINOUS CUBE WREAKING HAVOC THROUGH THE CITY.

Y'see what happened was, shutting off everything but my hunger TURNED me into a gelatinous cube. BUT I was not just an ordinary gelatinous cube...I was a gelatinous cube with Monster powers. Oh fuck. So, as Pete explained it, I, as the horrible gelatinous cube, cleared out the entirety of the dungeon and, with nothing left to eat down there, proceeded to the surface to find new food. Because a gelatinous cube hunts and senses by heat, I was blind to everything on the surface except the sun. So, in trying to reach the sun to eat it, I happened to trample all over the city killing many.

Great. There goes morality.

Fortunately, the party is quick to fix me and wake my man-mind up. We manage to cover up the fact that it was me by pretending I was one of the survivors from the cube attack.

So...horrible destruction wrought by a monstrous gelatinous cube aside, we head back to the dungeon to claim the loot that was rightfully mine (I technically DID clear the dungeon as I meant to do...). However, we get intercepted by the king and his posse who question us.

Guy - *activates a lie-detecting spell* "You there! Aren't you the one that entered the dungeon a few days ago?"
Me - "Yes. Yes I am."
Guy - "And you went by yourself?"
Me - "Yes, I did."
Guy - "How did you escape?"
Me - *motioning toward the huge swath of destuction* "Clearly, I didn't."

Never underestimate my ability to tell honest lies. Unfortunately, the interrogation didn't continue. I wish it had considering I had more truthful lies to answer with. Something like this:

Guy - "What happened to you down there?"
Me - "Well, I cleared the dungeon (which is true, since I did so as the gelatinous cube) and was carried out by the gelatinous cube (which is also true considering the gelatinous cube "mind" carried me along)."
Guy - "How did you survive?"
Me - "With the grace of luck and the assistance of my companions once the cube exited the dungeon (which are both true)."

The incident was thenceforth referred to by party as Cubegeddon (except Mikey who refused to call it that on account of "stupidity"). Not one of my best sessions, but at least it wasn't as bad as the horrible artifact we found after the incident...

Tabletop Tales: The Morality of Being a Monster

When you think "monster" you may think of...

Why does the Count look like he just saw something shocking right off-camera?

Or maybe you think more along the lines of...

Or maybe you're completely off the wall and actually think of...

But, whatever your idea of a "monster" is, one thing is for sure: being a monster is HARD. Let me explain...

In my Saturday Amber game, we, the players, were given the opportunity to choose new powers for our characters. Among the normal powers that were already available, four "opposite" versions of the existing powers opened up as well as four new elemental powers.

Me, being the curious-but-still-cautious type that I am, decided to switch from the Shaper power that I already had to its opposite: the Monster power. Now, the "opposite" powers aren't necessarily EVIL per se...they're just based in actions that are oftentimes morally questionable.

To explain, using the Monster power as an example, it seems that the Shaper power works off of cooperation with your environment and yourself. The Monster power, inversely, works off of domination instead of cooperation. This essentially translates to, instead of manipulating the surrounding environment to do what I need, I now eat everything.

I'm not certain, but I think this guy is a Monster

I'm sure you fast-learning readers out there can understand the dilemma this presents when you're attempting to be part of a morally good group of adventurers.

"But wait," the more inquisitive of you may be asking, "Can't you just eat animals and plants and stuff? You don't necessarily have to eat PEOPLE right?"

Well, we think along the same lines. However, I quickly learned from the GM, Pete (as many of you may recall from previous entries), that creatures of intelligence give me more energy to use than things of lesser or no intelligence. So, eating people is far more useful than, say, eating that snail.

But there's the moral dilemma. I, personally, don't WANT to eat people. At least, not innocent people. I've made the declaration to myself and my party-mates that I will refrain from eating people that don't deserve it. So far, I've been doing well, but then the NATURE of the Monster power kicks in.

What is the nature, you say? Well, first and foremost, I'm ALWAYS hungry.

And no, not the kind of hungry that an all-you-can-eat buffet would satisfy. No, I hunger for living things. Things that will give me the aforementioned energy to use my powers. And, as I stated, people "fill" me the most AND give me the most energy.

And therein lies the dilemma. It's a classic case of nature vs. nurture. My nature as a Monster demands that I eat to receive the greatest energy while I, as a person, don't want to harm innocents. Plus, my own teammates would have a problem with it.

So what do I do? I go the route of any "good" vampire cliche and eat only animals and bad people. But the question of whether my hunger will one day overpower me still looms in the forefront of my character's mind, a nagging question of whether my own teammates will have to kill me to save themselves.

It's a hard life, but some monster's gotta do it.

Tabletop Tales: Cheating and Diceless Games

Now, I'll admit that I've flubbed a few dice rolls in my day.

 

Every gamer has done it at some point. You might find yourself in a situation that you REALLY want to succeed in, the dice may just be refusing to roll in your favor, or maybe you did it to pull off something really cool looking and impress the other players. 

Whatever the reason, everyone has cheated or will cheat at some point in their gaming career. I'm not saying it's all right to do this, but I do believe it's acceptable to turn the other cheek in most cases.

MOST cases. 

This being said, there is a limit to what is acceptable. Fibbing about a dice roll once in a blue moon is okay in my book, both as the player doing it and as the gamemaster being lied to about the roll. Fibbing about dice rolls all the time...that's another story.

Heh...get it? "Loaded" dice

My gaming friends and I know of a certain individual (who shall remain nameless) that constantly cheats at his dice rolls. Is there proof of this? Not in the sense that someone has video evidence of him doing it, no. However, if his dice rolls are legitimate, he is the luckiest man on the face of the earth and should play the lottery immediately. 

Why does he constantly lie about his dice rolls? Well, I can't say for certain (not being him, and all), but I believe it's because he wants to always be the best in whatever game he's playing. And that's just selfish gamer behavior right there. 

It's understandable that any player will want their character to excel and be powerful, skillful, impressive, etc., but one should do that through skill in building the character and playing them creatively. NOT, as this article suggests, through the use of underhanded out-of-game tactics. 

 

The constant cheating in such cases gets so bad that it forces the gamemaster to take drastic measures in correcting it. In most situations, they would simply tell all their players that the dice rolls have to be done in the open where everyone can witness the result. However, the issue with this is that it detracts the amount of trust between the gamemaster and the players, specifically those that AREN'T cheating. On the other side of the coin, allowing the cheating to continue detracts from the honest players' enjoyment as well.

No matter the decision made, the outcome is lose-lose for everybody. 

This is why, when I hear stories about persistently untrustworthy gamers, I become irritated. There's no excuse for that type of behavior, as often as they're doing it. In my humble opinion, a game can be enjoyed without resorting to cheating to have the "best" character. Gaming is a communal activity and that sort of behavior completely contradicts that. Many games encourage teamwork and I, personally, feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment when the players start working together in a consistently effective manner.

This is why I enjoy diceless games, such as Amber.

What better way to eliminate the possibility of cheating than to get rid of the dice altogether. In diceless games, conflicts are typically decided through who has the higher appropriate stat or stats. For example, an arm-wrestling match is decided simply by who has the higher Strength. A more in-depth example may be a contest of who can solve a Rubiks Cube faster, determined by who has the higher Intelligence (for solving the pattern portion of the puzzle) and Dexterity (for twisting the puzzle into completion).

There is simply NO way a player can cheat in a diceless game. Yes, a player can find loopholes and use lateral thinking to make their character more powerful, but that all involves figuring things out in the game, and not actually using the aforementioned underhanded out-of-game tactics. 

But, unfortunately, most games aren't diceless, and therefore this solution is limited to the few that are. 

Honestly, when I run a game, I typically try to select players that I know will honestly play and enjoy the overall experience instead of trying to ruin it. However, you can't always predict people's behaviors so here's a short list of my ways to deal with cheaters (as the GM). 

• Before you even start playing your game, gather all your players together and tell them that you don't condone cheating of any kind. This upfront discourages most people from even considering it.
• If you suspect a player of cheating, don't call him out in front of everyone. Take him aside privately when the session is over and talk to him. This way, they aren't humiliated in front of everyone else and you can give them a warning. I personally like to use the three strikes rule, since I'm a patient person, but other GMs may prefer the one warning. 
• If you're a player and you notice another player cheating, don't call them out on it either. Bring your concerns to the GM privately so that he may deal with it accordingly.
• If it continues, even after you've issued the required number of warnings, you have two choices left. You can either resort to having everyone roll openly, as stated earlier, or ask the player to leave the game. Neither option is very fun to implement, but one must done if you want the cheating to stop. 

Hopefully, this will help in correcting any issues you may be facing within your gaming group. Being the GM and having to deal with a situation like this isn't an easy thing to do, but remember this: the honest players are looking to you to keep the game enjoyable. If you fail to address a problem like this, you're basically failing at doing your job.

Tabletop Tales: The On-Going Legend

I have to admit, it must be one of the indications that you're a good storyteller/character creator when others begin using your characters in their games as NPCs.

And I don't just mean a game that's based in the same world as your original character in which that campagin's events take place chronologically AFTER the events your character was part of. No...I'm talking about a completely different timeline, different world, and even a different game system altogether!


Let me explain.


One of my favorite (and in my opinion, one of my greatest) creations I ever made was a Dungeons and Dragons character named Pak-cha. I won't go into too much detail about what Pak-cha is, so I'll simply say he's a 7-foot-tall five armed praying mantis creature that's REALLY strong. I mean really REALLY strong. 


Anyway, I made this character for the D&D campaign I was playing, played it through, and retired the character from play at the campaign's end. After it was over, I thought nothing more of it than how awesome the character had been.


Then, Pak-cha appeared in the sequel to the campaign he was a character in as an NPC. Nothing major...he just showed up as a deus ex machina once or twice. Don't get me wrong...him being there gave me a lofty sense of pride, but it was a normal progression for him to be there.


But this is where it gets ridiculous....ridiculously AWESOME.


I had told many of my gaming buddies about Pak-cha and his many exploits (and his exploits are AMAZING btw). My friends found him to be pretty amazing as well, thanks to my expertly told narratives detailing his encounters and conflicts. Again, I thought nothing of me doing this. I just assumed it was one gamer sharing with other gamers his amazing creation.


It wasn't until a few months ago that my buddy called me up about a BESM (BESM is an anime/manga themed roleplaying game) campaign he was going to run and if he could use Pak-cha as a villain. I was taken aback by this but happily consented to the use of my creation.


Then, ANOTHER friend asked if he could us Pak-cha in his Exalted game! It was as if my character had taken on other parallel lives of its own, being reincarnated for further glory in other worlds and other scenarios. A testament and example to good character craftsmanship, Pak-cha continued to live on well after I had completed my playing of him.


I am so proud.


And furthermore, it seems Wizard of the Coast decided to take my idea and steal it for themselves. Don't believe me? Look here at some of their 4e material.


Pak'Cha? REALLY? You guys are thieving bastard.


The mechanics are obviously different, but that name was taken from me. I simply know it to be true. How do I know? I created Pak-cha long before 4e came out back in the days of 3.5. Wizards of the Coast can suck it.

EDIT: I also remember another buddy that used Pak-cha, again as a villain, in his D&D game. Man, my praying mantis gets around a lot :D

Tabletop Tales: A Different Kind of Shadowrun

So...my friend Jim (one of the players of our "regular" Shadowrun game) decided he wanted to run a side game using the Shadowrun system. However, he wanted to veer away from the typical Shadowrun setting (2072 Earth) and try something a little different...

Welcome to Shadowrun: Ancient Earth!

Jim basically took the Shadowrun system, tweaked the skills, weapons, etc., and put it all into a romanticized ancient Earth setting.

So far, the Ancient Earth group has played two sessions, but I'm REALLY enjoying it. Essentially, we're all members of a hunter/gatherer tribe of primitive Native American-esque people.

Now, going into this game, I had to think about a concept that would FIT, but would also be something different from what the other players were making. What they were making, you may ask? Well...

• Adam created a skilled hunter character that specialized in using the spear. 
• Amy created a shamanistic type character that specialized in herbology
• Wes created an almost purely artisan-type character that could make nearly anything needed (given the materials)
• And Eric created a huge, lumbering, child-minded beast-like individual that preferred using rocks as weapons

So, what is missing from this party? Two things: a talker, and a scientist. Well...I use the term "scientist" loosely but an intelligence based, logically-thinking, cause-and-effect studying individual.

And thus, Aune was born! Aune is the talker and the thinker of the party (though, as I've found out in this last session, that the thinking is all a team effort). Aune is a Charisma heavy creature, having nearly every social skill available. He lies, he negotiates, he soothes, he scares, and in time, he will inspire. In addition to that, I'm going to have Aune grow into a science-like medium, studying new substances and plants to find out hidden properties that can be exploited.

His current scientific endeavors? Fire arrows and smoke pellets. The fire arrows were simple once I worked out a rudimentary design based on the materials I had available. I'm hoping to improve upon it over time, but what I've come up with will do. The smoke pellets, however, are a bit trickier.

My idea is to craft a small clay pot. Maybe something...a bit smaller than a tennis ball. Inside the pot will be placed the first of two substances. A clay barrier will be fashioned and fit into the pot to separate the first substance from the rest of pot. In the second half of the pot will be placed a second substance. Than, the pot will be sealed with a clay cover, creating a breakable sphere-ish device. The trick is that the two substances, whatever they turn out to be, will create a smoke-heavy reaction when combined. When the pot is thrown and breaks, the two substances will combine, react, and create the smoke screen.

Now, all of these ideas are handy no matter what we're facing. Aune's motivation, at the start of the game, was to discover new and usable materials. After it was determined, in-game, that our party would be heading into the unknown southern lands where "demons" supposedly dwell, his motivation changed to proving the "demons" were nothing more than stories.

Tonight's session, however, caused his motivation to shift one final time. Our party came upon a situation that outright PROVES demons DO exist, thus destroying Aune's motivation. So what is his motivation now? Fighting the supernatural....with science!

What better motivation to tie into his abilities than fighting back supernatural evil using his brain and the natural world as weapons against them?

Well...I thought it was cool.

Tabletop Tales: My First Gaming Experience

How does one get into gaming?

And I'm not asking how one enters a particular game. No, I'm asking how does one enter GAMING as a culture and interest.

Well, my entrance into this geeky world came nearly ten years ago at the young age of 14. I'll explain.

When I was 14, I was working at a Boy Scout summer camp for the very first time as a counselor-in-training. I really didn't know anyone at the camp in which I was working, so I had to do my best to make friends.

One evening, I was walking through the camp, bored out of my mind, when I came upon some of the older counselors huddled around one of many picnic tables strewn about the camp. Upon the table rested tomes upon tomes of books about something called "Dungeons and Dragons".

Now, I was aware of Dungeons and Dragons, but didn't know anything beyond the fact that it was a game where you played a character and rolled dice. Being the bored and curious young man that I was, I asked the elder counselors what they were doing and they replied that they were building characters for a D&D campaign they were going to play.

I nervously asked if I could join, they jokingly ran me through the ringer for my inexperience, and sat me down to show me how a character is built.

Now, normally building a D&D character is difficult (for a newcomer, anyway), and I was no exception. Fortunately, the premise of the game made character creation easier than normal. Here's why:

We were playing a group of kobolds that, at the beginning of the campaign, were just hatched from their eggs. We were LITERALLY birthed at the very beginning of the very first session. Our personalities, stats, equipment, etc were all determined by the actions we took shortly  after our emergence into the world.

After being born, our kobold team got into a combat with some...creatures, I believe. Me, being the inexperienced player that I was, decided to attack the creatures with reckless abandon. The leader of the party (a role he took for himself, since he had the strongest out-of-game personality), gave each of us names and dubbed me Rath (get it?).

Unfortunately, our first session was our last, but the impact the incident had on me made a lasting impression that gaming was enjoyable and that I wanted to do more of it. Nearly ten years later, I'm still gaming and probably still will be ten years from now.