After Hours

This story is set in the Mind's Eye Society's Accord game, in which the various supernatural entities in the World of Darkness are working together in secret to combat an extra dimensional threat. My character, Rhys, is a Mage of Fate and Time who can speak to city's, in particular New York. This was a writing exercise to test his influences: his allies and contacts. How did he know them, how did their relationships work, what hooks did they have in him? All information in this story is Out of Character unless given permission by me or the Storyteller. All characters and actions are fictitious, no similarities intended. Hope you enjoy. - C

Quarter to four and the last song was singing sweetly into the club. I made it a slow one, a good one, to let the people come out of their adrenaline haze of dancing and partying. It was a signature song of mine to end off with.

Destiny turned her face
Nightmares and fallen shapes
State of dreaming has left me numb

Blue eyes and wandering lips
True lies with fingertips
Hidden tales of forbidden
Love...you left me miserable, miserable, miserable, miserable...

I finished my can of Coke, placing it next to its three other fallen comrades. It was my first gig as a DJ after the Halloween rush. I made it a policy to give myself a month or so off after having to play at so many places, and when I did go back to work, goth venues were off the list until well after the New Year. There is such a thing as overload, and I don't do music that I'm not in the mood to play. And ever since I started actually working with Dylis, Wolf Filth's music leaves a bitter taste in my mouth on the best of days.

Maybe we're just sleepwalkin'.
Maybe we're just sleepwalkin'...

The music faded away, like a dream. "And that's all there is to it tonight, folks. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here." A call of jeers for the lame pun. "Suffer, mortals. I love you all, now go home and enjoy your hangovers."

Crowds dispersed, as they often did. I grabbed my gear, which thanks to this club actually having a stable DJs booth was merely my playlist laptop. I slapped on my back pack and started making my goodbyes.

"Rhys!"
A lanky man with long blonde hair and a face nearly as long came running up to me. "Rhys!" He repeated. His Scottish burr rolling my name, making it sound more like the traditional Rice and not the anglicized Reese that I preferred.

"Hi Alain," I said. I tried to match the man's enthusiasm. However, the set took it out of me and there was never really any way to match Alain's gleeful charm. "What's up?"
He smiled, he did that a lot. "Some of the guys wanted to know if you wanted to come hang with us. We're planning a ritual and thought you'd make a good match."

I shook my head, "Too pooped to pop." Alain and his buddies were part of the occult fringe. I'd been a part of their rituals before, which were essentially five person raves where they danced, fucked and smoked their ways into perpetual oblivion to alter their perceptions of reality, and therefore the waking world. I liked them, but my ritual orgy days faded when I got a boyfriend...at least until he gave permission.

Alain, clearly disappointed, nodded. "You still working on that book?"

That book was my treatise on urban magic. My blog, the small little thing on the occult as it manifests in cities, had some small following, mostly by people like Alain. "Dribs and drabs here, a few projects got in the way." I ignored the flash of memories of armies of dead things fighting each other on the behest of a bored little godling. "I'll let you know when I finish it."

"Cool," he said. "Oh, remember those guys who came by the pad a while back? The fringe CUT guys?" I nodded. "No one's been able to find them any where."

I resisted a smile. "Church probably got to them, then. Put them in the L. Ron Hubbard 5000 brainwasher and put them back to work." It was an easy lie. Much easier than 'my friends, a werewolf and a half-demon, ripped their faces off and closed off the tear in reality and sanity they opened up.' We don't tell these kinds of things to friends and loved ones.

The occultist laughed, "you know it. I'll tell you if I hear anything."

I nodded and watched my friend part. I repositioned my bag and moved over to the bar. "Whatever soda thing you have back there, I need the caffeine."

"Diet or regular?" the bartender asked.

I eyed him, "Do I look like I'm on a diet?"

He said nothing, and hit the draft for regular soda. I downed it, tasting the sugar and caffeine shoot through. "Ah," I said. "Gracias."

"House," he replied, shaking me off as I grabbed my wallet. "You don't drink much during sets. No point in hitting you up for the driver drinks."

"Appreciated," I said. A few of the bouncers moved in the corner of my eye. I followed them to a booth where a girl had been passed out. If she looked underage, that probably meant she was underage.

"You got a phone back there?" I asked the bartender. He produced a landline from behind the bar. Checking back, the bouncers were talking to the girl, who was answering their questions. Hopefully, her address would be one of them. I punched in the phone number of an old friend. "Hey Tom, it's Rhys. I got a girl here who needs a ride home. Can you get someone you can trust to get her there? I'll consider it pay back for the stick up a while ago."

A few minutes of negotiating with Tom and conferring with the bouncers, and the ride was secured for the disheveled young partygoer. I trusted Tom to not bring in someone who couldn't be trusted in handling the situation like a human being. I also trust him to know what would happen if I found out.

I left shortly after the car pulled away, the girl leaving a lot more relieved and a hell of a lot more sober than before. How did I know that she would be okay?

I asked, of course. Asking about the immediate future of a girl trying to get home was small, but it was important, at least for her and at the most for me.

As I stepped out in to the cold winter of New York City, I felt a sense of satisfaction that was only in part from me. Explaining my connection to the City is difficult. It's instinctive, the City throws you something and you need to make up your mind what that means. That the cab that took the girl hit every green light until they made the turn meant to me that it was going to be okay. If they hit a red light, it may mean nothing, may mean something. May mean everything. New York didn't spoon-feed answers, and it expected those who could speak to it not to be spoon fed.

I walked up through the Village, a part of the City that always felt at war with itself about remaining posh but never too posh. Like you wanted to be a part of it but couldn't, and in many ways shouldn't. My walk lead me into the more real residential spaces of Chelsea, the bars finally closing and the bartenders, bouncers and dancers all going to after hours clubs in some of the seedier holes in the ground. Some went home to sleep before they had to wake up for their second or third jobs.

My footsteps lead me into a diner. It was an older place that didn't even make the attempt to hide that it was a greasy spoon. Fluorescent lighting and too bright paint made it glaring against the orange hue of the streetlit exterior. I took a seat at the counter, noticing a group of brightly dressed people in a corner booth. A further look told me that they were brightly dressed, but barely dressed at that.  Streetworkers on their lunch breaks.
They kept to themselves, and talked together. They looked like a private group. Considering what they did, that wasn't surprising. They were the only ones who knew the things they had to do and were expected of them. They were the only ones who shared in their pain.

As I waited for my pancakes, the door swung open. Four cops, in heavy winter coats, came walking in. The room got still, but not a still as the booth in the corner. The hookers kept their heads down, not even wanting to give probable cause to the police. The police, in turn, didn't seem to notice or care and took a booth in the front.

I didn't pay them much mind, I flipped on my headphones and started playing some music. My pancakes, runny with syrup, didn't last long. If I had my way, I'd have circled them from above and swooped down. I didn't do that, on the grounds that I didn't want to be kicked out of yet another diner.

With my food gone, I threw a few bills down on the counter. The waitress eyed me something fierce. It was clearly too much.

"Next round of coffee for that booth," I gestured to the cops. "And that booth," I gestured to the hookers. "Are on me." Somewhere, I sensed almost a dozen set of eyes hit the back of my neck. They knew I had just gestured about them. It wasn't that large of a diner.

The waitress eyed me, but took the money. I sat there, finishing the remains of a milk shake while blasting my music, while the waitress went off to do another coffee rounds. I kept my back to all of them, but kept my eyes in line to the door.

After a few minutes, the hookers filed out. Most of them looked to me for a second, as if they were waiting for me to say and do anything. When I didn't answer back, they slunk back out into the night. A little while later, the cops followed suit, nodding to me when they left.

I grabbed my things, and fished out another twenty for the tip. The waitress again eyed me. "Why?"

 I shrugged, "We're all New Yorkers."

"That's not an answer." She said.

"It is." I said with a smile. "We're a part of this really great dream that is New York. A shining City where everyone and anything can happen. It's merciless, unforgiving, but also protective of its own. My job, or at least my hobby, is to try and help the City and the people in it."

"And a cup of coffee is supposed to help?" She asked.
I shrugged, "Does it hurt?"


She didn't answer that, she didn't have to. I smiled and walked out. No, it doesn't hurt. It felt good to help, to make the City a bit better. If some day those little bits of luck pay back, I'll take what I get. If not, I'll keep walking. Like the twenty I left on the counter. The blessing I put on it and the diner isn't much, will barely last a day. Maybe it will help out the waitress and maybe the waitress will remember me the next time I come by.

Lyrics from Sleepwalking, by the Chain Gang of 1974

Wyrdcon Companion 2014

Hey guys, I know I've been pretty silent the past two months. Life got really crazy. Of such life-crazy making things is that I've been writing fiction for a website called Enigma Life, a website that caters to those who enjoy art, culture and mystery. So far one story, based on David and Goliath, has been published on their site and another is in the works! So yeah, I'm getting published. I've found writing works better when someone offers to pay you for it. Maybe if people start throwing cash my way, I can finish that goddamned novel I've been working on!

This week marks the 2014 release of the Wyrdcon Companion, an annual academic journal dedicated to role play in its various forms. Last year I got to meet the large core of the editors behind Wyrdcon's yearly journal at the Living Games Conference, namely Aaron Vanek and Sarah Lynne Bowman, both of whom are amazing human beings. During the conference, I got to have a really indepth sit down with Sarah, which included everything from discussions on Carl Jung, academia on the whole, and a shared love/hate relationship with certain theater larp games. In short, if I ever have a spirit journey, the form my guide will take will probably be Sarah...or she'll just show up herself.

During these conversations, I got into the discussion of one of my favorite topics: Mythology. I've loved myths ever since I was a kid. We had talked about larping and how we as regular (well, nominally regular) people are creating myths on a regular basis. I had written about it previously...almost two years ago...jesus. So one thought lead to another and with some heavy prompting by both Sarah and Shoshana Kessock, I started writing Playing In Myth for the Companion.

I had used my previous article as the inspiration, but other than that the paper was it's own creature. A lot of the writing was based on Mythic Imagination, a book written by Joseph Campbell's student, Steven Larsen. Larsen, during his studies of humans creating personal myths for themselves in contemporary times, actually visited and talked to an early 90's larp group about their experiences and what goes in to making their world and the experiences their characters and players go through. I read through the entire book and said "this makes perfect sense and...holy crap, he outright sees larping as a tool of mythmaking, and mythmaking as a tool of developing human psyches".

Now, for those of you who don't know me, allow me to confess something: I hate, with a violent passion, academic papers. I hate them on such a deepseated level that there is a chance my children will have a hatred of them instilled, and so will their children and so on and so forth. Research papers are so effing dry and inanely put together that the only people who can read them are the people who wrote them. It doesn't help that my style of writing, which is so much built on narrative, is anathema to research papers. I have been told, at three different schools, by three different professors for three different projects, that I have a wonderful narrative voice...which is why my paper assignments failed.

So, with that in mind, working on this article for Wyrdcon represented a challenge. My work wasn't going to be peer-reviewed (ie; viciously circled by academics and picked apart to make sure it was accurate in it's measurments) which is a major relief because Sarah and Whitney Beltran are the leading voices for mythology/Jungian aspects in role play and I did not wish to be under the microscope on my first time out. Sarah helped me out along the way, up to and including walking me through places where my biggest weakness: passive voice, kept cropping up. My friend, Sara (yes, this did get confusing) helped be my sounding board and editor for this when I needed it.

Now, it's published, and I'm looking at the document right now and it's surreal seeing words I wrote in a journal I've been reading for two years now. The hell do I do with this?

Celebrate, that's what I'm going to do.

Reading through the document itself, I gravitated straight away to Kevin Burns article on Larp and Psychotherapy. He touched a lot of points that I've experienced myself and also hit some of my favorite theories and practices I picked up in internship. Also, Pete Woodworth's discussion on the subculture of misogyny that has become inflamed in gaming. He speaks to his fellow male gamers eloquently and with experience...which I am grateful for, because every time I try to write something on the subject, I keep devolving into this.
In the end, I don't know where this will take me. I have another idea for next year's journal. Right now, this is tremendous moment for me personally, and I'm just going to celebrate it.

Later,

C


The Wyrdcon Companion Page, including all released copies in .pdf format.

Metatopia 2014

This weekend I went to Metatopia, a Double Exposure convention aimed at professionals and playtesters. I was invited by Phoenix Outlaw Productions, lead by Shoshana Kessock and Josh Harrison, and got to room with them over the weekend. The convention is aimed towards giving games some testing and development with the help of the visiting convention goers. It's designers helping each other out and fans of games getting an early taste of what people are doing. More importantly though, it's game designers hanging out, talking and networking. 

I went to Metatopia for a few reasons. The first was that, if I was going to start developing games and selling my skills as a writer (as well as the reviewing section of this blog) then I needed to get out of there. I wanted to get to know the faces of the people at the core of this thing and for them to get to know me. I also wanted to learn about the culture of the convention, how things played out and what the attitude was going in. One of the reasons I didn't present a game for a Focus Group was because I didn't want to be anxious about the convention AND the games. Now I can just have a freakout about the games next time.

Most importantly, I went because I needed to de-stress. Times are tough here, the outside world was getting to me and I needed to take the time to leave my normal world for some me time. I got that during this convention. It was by far one of the most chilled out and casual conventions I've gone to. Much of this has to do with the fact that everyone who was there wasn't there to necessarily put on a show, as is sometimes the case during big gaming conventions, but to help one another work with one another in developing good games. The energy was different, more relaxed and less full of pretension.

I got the chance to test out three games. The first of this was Aftermath (now referred to after the session as simply 'After...'), a zombie apocalypse larp developed by Ericka Skirpan of In the Moment Productions. It's a great concept, set in WWII where no one won the war and zombies now invade. I've known Ericka for several years, with her being my in and out of character mentor for Mage the Awakening. She and I have similar beliefs when it comes to role play, in that it's an experience with game rules attached. She's also a storyteller for the Massachusetts branch of Dystopia Rising, she knows how to evoke pathos in a larp. I'll be looking forward to what this becomes in the future.

My next game was Dreamdiver, a Fate Core game developed by Josh Harrison of Phoenix Outlaw Productions. It focused on the ability for people to dive into dreams and a conflict between two different groups over the future of the collective unconscious. It was my first time playing a Fate Core game. The game has potential for epic scenes, terrifying visions, and absurd moments that all make sense in the game world. I also have an idea for how this could be spun into a larp, but that's neither here nor there.

The next game was Smoke and Glass, a steampunk fantasy Fate Core game designed by Abigail Corfman of Phoenix Outlaw Production. Smoke and Glass recently had a successful Kickstarter campaign, and production is scheduled for some time in February. We spoke mainly of some of the expansion settings, trying to develop some aspects. It was fun to work on creating settings and creating characters, which is something I'd very much like to do as a freelancer for game companies. I'm looking forward to Smoke and Glass when it comes out, I know of at least one game that will be played in New York when it comes out.

The rest of the weekend was spent on panels. Most of them focused on worldbuilding and creation, picking up small tips and tricks and being surprised that I knew and agreed with a lot of what was being said there. I attended a panel on harassment in gaming lead by Shoshana Kessock and Elsa Henry of Phoenix and Avonelle Wing, one of the heads of Double Exposure itself. While the discussion was focused on the demented 500 pound gorilla that is the Gamergate community (Hello boys, I still think you're scum), it also focused on ableism, and the steps the community wishes to take to combat these problems.

I also went to a panel discussing taboos in gaming, things we aren't comfortable with playing out in gaming, like sex, extreme violence and especially neither of those aimed at children. This lead to a discussion on Sex in general, which is often seen as a taboo whether it is regarded in a positive or negative light. This in turn lead to a discussion about Emma Wieslander's Ars Amandi technique to simulate intimacy between characters during a larp.

The final panel that I went to was a focus on Indie Games and Indie publishing, hosted by Shoshana, Tim Rodriguez and Fred Hicks of Evil Hat Productions. They talked about the struggle of building up your production companies, including having to learn business, working with friends, and the balance of creative and corporate responsibilities and duties. Watching this panel made me realize that I don't want to make my own production company any time soon. I'll be quite happy and quite comfortable freelancing myself until someone wants to adopt a geek.

This panel also marked the first time I've gotten to meet Fred Hicks. I've known of him since I first started reading Jim Butcher books as he's part of Jim's Beta Reader asylum, several of whom I've known for years. Considering the odd coincidences that is my life in regards to larping and the Dresden Files, meeting Fred was definitely something on my geek bucket list.

Most of what I remember though was sitting at the bar or lobby with a bunch of the chairs smushed together and just listening to people talk. It was nice to talk to people when they weren't busy selling themselves or their product or coming down from a post larp high. This was people looking to improve the craft they were in. I like the thought that this community is really looking to improve everyone's game, and not just their own. There aren't many communities that do that, though that may be the cool-aid talking.

I got to speak to the folks at Eschaton Media about their upcoming games for their Chronos line, including Ex Arcana, which focuses on Mages and the resurgence of magic as well as New Dorado, which focuses on dieselpunk Shamans. I am thoroughly excited for both games, and I'm looking forward to the release party for Ex Arcana later this month, which I will be reviewing.

Metatopia helped me to nail down some of the fine points on games, as well as come up with a few others. I'm working on the notes for a Fate Core based game set in Space and focusing on Bounty Hunters. I've the setting down, now to write out the material. I've also come up with a more freeform larp in the style of the Battlestar Galactica larp I saw last July. It's based around a hospital that caters to the supernatural.

Then of course, there is Kensei. People were telling me to bring it up as a focus group. To be honest, I'm at the point where I need it to go through a clinic to get it fleshed out. There is something here that can be fun, that could be something run at conventions. I didn't because I wasn't prepared to. I wanted to know more about Metatopia and the overall vibe of the convention space. If I'm going to have a panic attack, it's going to be about having a panic attack about my game, and not about the convention itself.  I've come to the point where I'm not going to rush the development of Kensei. Kensei is doing a lot, it needs time. When it's done, I want it to come out kicking ass on a literal and figurative level.

So yes, next year I'll be presenting at least one game at Metatopia, possibly more. You'll hear more about em as the time comes. And to close off...

Later,

C

The Larp Census

I recently spoke to Aaron Vanek, founder and developer of Seekers Unlimited, which develops educational larps (or edu-larps) for the purpose of teaching groups of various ages and sizes. I met Aaron at the Living Games Conference this past March where he spoke on Seekers Unlimited. It was during that time he also spoke on another undertaking. Aaron and Ryan Paddy have developed and released The Larp Census. It's goal is simple, to begin to get an understanding of just how many people are in this hobby that we share.

The realm of Larp Academia is an up and coming field, with the likes of Aaron, Sarah Lynne Bowman, and Whitney Beltran being some of the frontrunners I've had the honor to meet here in the United States. One of the questions that keeps coming up is "how many of us are there?" With a definition as fluid as 'live action role play' and with groups that can crop up independently and without any form of notice, it becomes difficult to decide exactly how much of the population considers this activity an aspect of their life. The Census looks to combat that, though they admit that they can't reach everyone. If they succeed, they'll have come up with a fair estimate of how many people larp.

That is one of the key goals, and both Aaron and Ryan believe (as do I) that the answer may surprise people. Larp is has been perceived as an odd hobby, the bottom most level on the geek hierarchy. But that seems to be fading away, as more and more people are trying it out. They also wish to map out what kinds of larps are popular and where they are. Is boffer larping more prevalent in the North Eastern United States while Jeepform larps are more popular on the West Coast? This will help academics in mapping trends, styles that can help in research.

This can also help those burgeoning groups whose businesses are to develop larps to have something to sell to investors and other businesses. It's easy to dismiss something when there are no numbers to back it up. This could help give the community a fair shake in terms of recognition as an art form, a business, and as points of research in fields such as sociology and psychology.

Speaking with Aaron, he states that the Census is currently using 14 different languages to give as many populations the opportunity to take the Census. The results of the census will be shared under Creative Commons. All results will be anonymized to protect the privacy of the individuals taking it. Having taken the Census myself, I can see that Aaron and Ryan have put a lot of thought and consideration into the writing of this material. One of my major problems with censuses is that some of their questions presume a lot of information about the person taking it, their gender, nationality, identifiers. The Census is pretty open and has many 'please give us your description' boxes instead, so while they are looking at information, they want people to comfortably identify themselves instead of having to fit into a box to tick off.

To conclude, if you're reading this, and you haven't taken the Larp Census yet, please do so. Spread the word. This could help the community and culture of larping in many different ways. While we may not see any affect in a while (research takes time) getting started on the right foot will help give us an idea of where we are and where we're going.

Here's the link for the Census: http://larpcensus.org/

Sociopathic Characters in Larps

There was a discussion recently about the portrayal of Sociopathic Characters in larps. The discussion brought about an intense and very well thought out discussion into what the term "Sociopath" means, what the myths and facts are, it's appropriateness in larps, and it's portrayal. I wanted to share my thoughts on the subject, as I think I have a somewhat unique view on the matter.

For the record, the term "Sociopath" is not recognized in most diagnostic circles. The correct term for it is Antisocial Personality Disorder. The disorder is part of a cluster of personality disorders that are often referred to as "Dramatic" or "Emotional" that is marked with a form of egocentrism, where the person suffering from the disorder is unable to put themselves in someone else's position. They perceive the world only through their own mindset and needs. With Narcissism, there is a sense of grandiose thinking of oneself, and a lack of empathy for others, Histrionic have a sense of being the center of attention and will act out in unusual and often excessive ways to seek out that attention, Borderline patients have a black and white view on things, which leads to erratic relationships with others as well as themselves.

Antisocial Personality disorder is, in short, the lack of empathy for other people. There's a degree of narcissism, but not to the same degree as it's own disorder. Those who suffer from ASPD are prone to lying, or manipulation. Many people in the field talk of ASPD sufferers as 'putting on a mask' to get what they need out of the situation. This makes them difficult to treat because 1) most therapies involve building a rapport that they can't bridge most of the time, 2) They will often put on a mask to give the therapist what they want to see and hear and 3) most of those suffering from ASPD can't admit there is something wrong with them. Not won't, but can't. Personality Disorders are a systemic problem with the way that a person perceives themselves and the world around them.

In my time as an intern for a psych ward, I ran into one person who I would consider to have ASPD. They were emotionally cold, had a high opinion of themselves and a low opinion of others, they insulted everyone and lashed out verbally when resisted. It was the lack of caring that they were hurting the other patients that made it so difficult, and it almost became our job to mitigate the damage he was doing to the other patients. They were 14, which put them legally into Conduct Disorder, but the signs were there. This person could not care or be made to care about anyone else but themselves.

It should be noted that this is describing those who are suffering from severe conditions and are not able to function in normal settings. Those who suffer from ASPD and are functioning tend to have a very strong sense of Ethics. They don't act out because they know that it is looked down upon by society and that will be detrimental to them. Unfortunately, Ethics are something that is learned and cultivated, making it difficult for individuals with the disorder to develop.

In fiction, we've seen varying forms of Sociopaths. The grand high example of them all is Hannibal Lector, in both the Anthony Hopkins and Mads Mikkelsen interpretations. Genius Savant with a magnetic personality, charm, and zero empathy for the lives of others. He kills people because they offend him, and their only worth is as food. A Heroic example of a Sociopath is Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes. While many interpretations of Holmes have him as a socially inept savant, but they've played it up to having being unable to understand the position of others, making his need to solve cases (and his methods of solving them) as a means of solving problems.

His counterpart Moriarty, played by Andrew Scott, mimics this and takes it even further by giving him no compunction to kill people just to taunt Sherlock. Watching these two interact is actually a compelling look at two different people suffering from the same disorder. Sherlock has something of an ethical core, while Moriarty will and can act in a callous and seemingly impulsive manner.

There was a mention of Jayne Cobb from Firefly, played by Adam Baldwin, as being a Sociopath. He is always looking out for himself, willing to harm and sell out others for his needs. I don't think he's a sociopath, though. There are moments throughout the show where he legitimately cares about others. When Kaylee is in the med center holding on to life, he's outside cradling himself worried. He sends money from his jobs to his mother and siblings. He shows regret when Mal confronts him on his back dealings with the Alliance. Jayne isn't a sociopath, he's a mercenary. His concerns are primarily focused on him and his next job. For him, that means being willing and able to hurt and harm. There is a moral core going on with him.

The three examples I mentioned above: Lector, Sherlock, and Moriarty, all have something in common. I kept using the word Savant. Savant syndrome is defined as having high capabilities above and beyond normality but have certain mental deficits. This is often depicted in media as being highly intelligent, but with no morality.

So, the question becomes: "How does this type of character work in a larp?"  Larps are all about collaboration. We're in this together, exchanging our talents and stories with one another. Sociopathic PCs are, by definition, are unable to meet that level of collaboration effectively. Either due to their lack of empathy, their lack of regard for the well being of others, or their penchant for lying and manipulation. Most larps are set in situations where the players are part of a community of some sorts working together for a common goal. Placing someone who is unable to care about the motivations of those around them will most likely put them at odds with the group, possibly coming off as antagonistic. This becomes more exasperated if the PC in question's lack of empathy also includes the use of violence to get what they want. They run the risk of being antagonistic to the other PCs.

Two examples of this. In our Accord game, there were two PCs that could be classified in the Sociopath role. The first of them was a man possessed with a Demon of Wrath. He was a creature of want, need and lashing out when it suited him. He had developed a fixation with one of the other PCs, and while he couldn't do...all that he wanted to do with the PC, he purposefully sought out people who looked like the PC to enact his fantasies. He then displayed this to his infatuation. This is one of a litany of things this PC had done. He was subsequently murdered by other PCs, which despite the rule of "Thou shalt not kill other members of the Accord" it was generally agreed that not a single tear would be shed by most of the people present for his death.

In contrast, there is a Vampire PC currently in play. Highly polite and heavy on the protocol, but is very clearly someone who will kill and has killed graphically and without compunction if he deems it suitable. There's no sense of guilt here, it makes perfect and practical sense that people need to die. The only reason why none of us are killing him in the face is because, as a member of the Accord, he acknowledges that that would be something looked down upon and would be detrimental to his own needs and wants. Highly Ethical, Zero Moral. It's generally agreed that this man is, without a doubt, a sociopath. For the time being though, he's our sociopath.

This brings me to another point. Sociopathic PCs work in games where Sociopathic PCs can be considered protagonists. White Wolf's line of World of Darkness games, both Classic and New lines, are geared towards a dark and cynical world where no matter how bad things are in our current timeline, the Worlds of Darkness are infiinitely worse. Think of a perpetual New York City in the 70's and 80's, or Tim Burton's Gotham City. Everything is polluted, disgusting and cynical. In a dark setting like that, it's conceivably alright to play someone who isn't able to care for the well being of others.

There are, however, some things that should be considered when playing Sociopaths in games. This is not a definitive list, but consider:

Even if it's appropriate in setting, it may not be for the group. You're still working with people, even if there is an antagonistic/non traditional relationship going on. Some people and groups may not want to explore the darker aspects of the world. Discuss this with your STs and groups before introducing this character to game.

Communication At All Times. Considering the manipulative and callous nature sociopathic characters tend to exhibit, it should be clear to all players involved that these scenes may be very dark and distorted. By playing a character that doesn't hold themselves responsible to anyone or any morals, you have to be responsible for not hurting other players. Bleed is a thing, bleed can happen, communicate and check in with all parties out of character to make sure everyone is cool.

Prepare to be the bad guy. You're playing a character that, in a sane and rational world, would be either in jail, seeking medical treatment, or killed. You run the risk of being an Antagonistic PC if not playing one outright. Every person playing an Antagonistic PC should be prepared to accept that their PCs will most likely never see the end of the campaign.

The player of the Possessed PC from earlier knew his character wouldn't make it out, not if anyone was playing anyone with a shred of moral decency. The player of the Vampire PC has made his situation a bit bearable by being a "necessary evil" kind of character, in that we all know that he's a vicious monster, but is productive and helpful. Most of us are aware though that there may come a day where he too will have to attain his karmic retribution.

Don't make this a joke. This is more of my bias than anything else. I'm not a fan of playing mental illness for comedic effect. Personality Disorders are serious. This isn't something that can be turned on or off for them, it can only be managed and control. It's not funny to them, or those who have to live or work with them, don't treat it as such. As the Unwritten Rules of the Camarilla once said, a player can tell a joke, but a player shouldn't be a joke.

This is not for everyone. I'm leaving this for last because I want to put this forward. Playing a character such as this is difficult. How do you play someone who isn't capable of expressing genuine emotions with others? How do you form a frame of reference to be able to do that, being an emotional and empathic being?

I can only speak for myself on this matter. My character, Owen Asteria, was meant to be a sociopathic character. His ethics formed primarily around keeping his family protected and safe (oft times from themselves). Everything else was on the table. He has murdered, lied, and stolen. There is at least one story where he sexually assaulted a rapist. It was left ambiguous why he did this, either because the victim was assaulted in his territory and he found it entirely informal, or because he found the notion of predating the predator to be deeply ironic. It's probably safe to say he did it for both, and because he could.

That was all written, with no role play involved. Role Playing as Owen, though, he has shown a much more moralistic center than he was ever intended to. He has shown mercy to people and has been rather generous. This has more to do with the fact that Craig is responding to these a bit more than Owen. Craig likes people to have a good time role play, whereas Owen would probably kill someone. I've literally had an argument with myself where several PCs have earned the ire of Owen wanting to kill someone and Craig having to go "I'm not big on making people roll new sheets unless they've really had to. Have they really had to?"

So keep that in mind, playing this means committing yourself to some of the darker aspects of whatever game you're playing. It also means that you, as the player, need to be responsible to the people you're playing with. This is about having a fun time, and playing something that can be easily demonized and the closest thing therapists would qualify as 'Evil' is risky. So be cautious and mindful.

**Note: most of the descriptions and definitions here are generalizations for the sake of brevity. The wikipedia articles on Personality Disorders, Antisocial Personality Disorders and Sociopathy are great resources to give an overview of what ASPD and Sociopathy. Research is your friend, larp responsibly.

C

Enough Rope

This last weekend was another game of Vampire The Requiem, where Owen Asteria (played by me) held Court for the Vampires of New York. Wine was served, jokes were made, deals were done and monsters were monsters. Owen's despondency (it's a character played by me, so it's kind of a given) has grown increasingly as more and more people are clearly being manipulated/working with his Avus (vampiric Mentor) and overall Archnemesis in the Liam Neeson Ra's Al Ghul way, Erik Destler (and NPC). Owen has been tortured, mentally and physically by this man in the hopes to train him. Every time Erik's name has been mentioned, Owen goes from sociable to...well...

It's not pretty. The problem was that Destler kept coming in to play, which removed him as a shadowy threat that Owen's been playing counter to the entire time. Owen is Prince to fight Destler's Macciavelli-was-a-Simp machinations. The more his name gets dropped, the more it removes the distant threat. So this month I was convinced that Owen as either going to have to deal with yet one more instance of his Avus. It never happened, or if it did, Owen was never made aware of it. Instead, a rash of art thievery came to a head when one of the thieves was captured. Owen, who himself used to be of the illegal acquistion profession before he was made a Vampire, showed leniency to the thief, which lead to another piece of his past bite him in the ass.

The point of this anecdote is two-fold: Brandon my Storyteller, friend, and writing partner, is a bastard. The second point is that these elements of my story keep coming up because this was stuff I had written into his back story or worked on previously with Brandon. My character keeps getting tortured and prodded mentally and physically because I set the stage for him to be so.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Brandon and I both come from a similar school of writing and characterization: give the characters as much rope as they need to hang themselves with, and then sit back and watch them try to get out. I think we get this from reading Jim Butcher a lot, whose protagonists (hello Harry Dresden) tend to get themselves into trouble through past associations or because of some stupid concept of heroism or assholishness and then have to spend just as much time digging himself out of the hole he was digging to bury the original problem. We both believe that a protagonist that coasts by brings very little tension or drama in to a situation. What's the point of engaging with the character when there is really nothing to make you want to read more?

And that works for me, because I'm someone who needs to be engaged. I'm not the kind of larper who likes to use it as a means of being social. Some people do, and if it works by them, power to em. I tried it and I felt like a tourist. As a native New Yorker, I don't do tourism that well.

Lately, since I've been spamming Star Trek: The Next Generation, I've been thinking about larp in terms of the Holdoeck, especially when people started doing those long simulations like The Big Goodbye, or the Wild West, or some pulpy space opera, or talking to DaVinci in his workshop. Those were larps. And there were a few kinds of way people experienced the way they were in the holodeck. Some people were content with just riding out the ride, like Riker in a juke-joint, just sitting back and enjoying himself. Picard could play Dixon Hill all he wanted and get a kick out of it because he loved following the clues of a mystery and see where it lead, then you have Date who has read all of Arthur Conan Doyle's material and can end a round of Sherlock in seconds the moment the correct prompt is presented...much to the chagrin of everyone else.

I'm a Picard-kind of player. I follow a thread and see where it goes and hope it leads me to a satisfactory ending and not a permanent ending. This thought is why I think I enjoy playing a Fate Mage so much in Awakening. We don't get all of the answers, and while we can affect a lot of things, we still have to deal with the consequences. We take a thread and we follow it and see where it leads and sometimes we have to be clever to follow it and some times to get out of it and figure out where it ends and how it ends.

This was something I had mentioned when I signed up for Rise of Tiburon. I mentioned to Josh Jaffe that I'm the kinda player who needs to be engaged in something or else my brain wanders off and I lose the character. Give my PC something to do and a reason to do something and I can keep character until I collapse. He did this, and I worked my ass off to build a robot with a bunch of other equally engaged lunatics.

My conversation with Brandon on this style of play lead to this discussion: We're playing in a fictional world, and we get to be heroes, monsters, and citizens. Give yourself something to do, give yourself ties and an excuse to go off on your own adventures and drag others with you. Give yourself an excuse to get yourself in trouble and have to deal with the consequences of it. It's not for everyone, some players may not be up for it. Some storytellers may not be up for it either, instead focusing more on just straight up challenges or focus on just the 'tourism' becoming something more. Conversations and encounters by those there to be social will get with one another. Play to your strengths, find storytellers that allow for your strengths.

Meanwhile, I'm sizing up the noose I have for Owen and going "now, how the hell do I get out of this one?"

Later,

C

Dear Neckbeards

To the members of the vocal male gamer contingent,

We have never met before, probably because I value things like hygiene, the open air, and the desire to have conversations in meat space except for on TeH InTERWEBS!!! Regardless of our lack of introduction, I have heard quite a deal of you, and from you, and you. You're really loud, and obnoxious. And Loudly obnoxious and obnoxiously loud.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing you this letter is to convey this message as a fellow member of the gamer community who identifies as male:

Who The Fuck Do You Think You Are?

Over the past few days, I've heard reports from the great Gamer Grapevine about members of the community and slut shaming, fat shaming, disability shaming. I've heard about bullying, insults, trolling, and death threats. Oddly enough, most of this is aimed towards female identifying members of the gaming world. I know! It's weird, right? How dare women do things in our fields, why they should just act like the crumbly rubber dolls in your bedrooms, you lonely fucks.

Listen, I'm not one to beat about the bush, especially that hedge you call a beard. Dude, those things actually go on the chin and cheeks...you're too technologically savvy to think the Amish are in chic. So as someone from the same demographic as you, allow me to say that it makes me sick to my stomach that I am part of the same demographic as you feculent toe jams. Who in the flying fuck declared you the moral police of the gaming world? I don't remember a vote being called. I don't recall putting the sanctity of our community into your Cheetos encrusted hands. Nobody sent up the white smoke and if they did they should have shared that crap. So what fucking right do you have to bash these people down!?

Now, your first reply will be this: Who the fuck am I to moralize over your decisions. To put it simply, for your simple little minds, I'm a member of the community, I'm someone who enjoys discussing games, of playing games. I enjoy going to conventions and seeing something that six years ago I wouldn't imagine: people who shared the same desires I have. Not geeks, not nerds. People. These are people who are making these games in the hopes of making a meager life entertaining their fellow gamers. These are people who are trying to improve the quality of games and the gaming community. And yes, some of them are Women. I know, I was shocked when I first found out. And you know what I did afterwards? Got the fuck over it, especially since it meant seeing something, anything, other than you. These people you are bashing for your amusement are my friends You know the drill, friends are at a premium for those of us who are socially disinclined. My friends are as close to me as family.

And some of you have been openly attacking my family. There are two women I know who have been taunted, bullied and outright had their lives threatened.. I've always seen this community, the Geek Community, the Gaming Community as a gathering of people who never really fit right in growing up. Awkward, enthused, eccentric. This community has been a haven for some of us who never really knew what it felt like to be accepted.

And you're fucking it up for the rest of us. Threats? Harassment?  When did you start thinking the jocks and preppy assholes who tormented you in school had a good model for treating others? Huh? When did calling someone a slut or fat become a way of advancing your status or argument, of being cool in your small, pointless cliques? When did you become the bullies?

I don't fucking get it. Maybe it's because I didn't grow up identifying as a geek until I was out of college when I could find outlets for my geeky self. Maybe it's because ever since I started gaming I have, from the Jedi and Ren Faire circuit, the the Mind's Eye Society; Dystopia Rising and all points around, been surrounded by bold, brilliant and beautiful women. Not girls, not chicks, Women. Oh, I know that word scares you, you feeble minded fanboy. Right now your bowels are in an uproar over how these fake gamer girls this, and how dare that girl at sunday afternoon larp didn't date you that. Maybe if you took some fiber, you'd be able to flush that irritable bowel. Or maybe you'd just be kind enough to flush yourselves.

Honestly, you would think that you'd be happy that the geek world was populated more by women, if nothing else than to dispel that we're all just a bunch of zit having virgins. But maybe that's the problem, that despite the fact that women are here and you still are a virgin that you've got this anger, and you want to lash out. You're in denial, so much so that your feet are soaked through and you are seeing the fucking Pyramids. So much so that when a woman makes an acclaimed game, you have to drag her sexlife -real or perceived- to discredit her. Does it matter if it's a game worthy of the acclaim? You're in so much denial that you would attach someone who are trying to make games accessible to people of disabilities. It's fine if you disagree with them, but at what point does shaming their disabilities -real or perceived- become the point of the argument?

Boys, you're in denial, and it's time to go into the other phases of Grief. You're douchebags. Similar to the preppy jock elitist scum we all dealt with in school, I call them Guy Dudebros, because they all look dress and act alike and in the end are as generic as you can get. You, my misogynistic meatheads,  have henceforth been dubbed Neckbeard Dudebros. You are the unwashed (in some cases, literally. Ew.) masses of the gamer community. You're that cyst on the neck of gamer life that smells of rancid offal and causes harmless yet annoying pain. You contribute nothing, you dedicate your pointless lives in tearing others down from your safe, crusty seats and congratulate yourself like you actually did something. You've done nothing. You've wasted your time and the times of others. Some of us have shit to do, some of which, whether you realize it or not, you actually benefit from.

And, I hate to tell you this, but quite a few of them that do these things aren't men...and I'll tell you a little bit more for free. Most of them...and maybe even all of them, don't frankly care whether you live or die. Maybe if you changed your attitude...or bathed. What smells like onions?

 You need to understand that we as a Communty are up and moving in a new direction. All of us. Gamers everywhere. The internet's got us all connected and people have more access to various forms of gaming and media than they've ever been able to have. We've gone beyond the dungeon crawls in your parents den. We're playing Cards Against Humanity on Google Hangout, doing Panel Discussions in New York with panelists piping in from Denmark on Skype. We've got brilliant developers coming up with game after game and getting them published and moving through Kickstarter and Patreon.

And somewhere, you're not celebrating this. Does it threaten you? Does it scare you that your notions of what it means to be a gamer are wrong?

Good.

Because quite frankly, I'm tired of having to live by your image of being a  male gamer, of being a Male Anything. I'm tired of having to witness grown men leering at teen girls at conventions and shaming them when they don't appreciate their advances. I'm tired of men shaming others as a means of discrediting their work. I don't want to live in your closed minded world. I want the barn door open and all manner of things to fly loose. If you don't want to accept that people -man, woman and all points therein and without- are out there doing things you don't like, than do the world a favor, you mouthbreathing turds. Go back to your lonely little basements and Stay There. 

Some of us just want to play games, you're the ones sucking the fun out of it. 

The Quest

So I found out at the last minute (read: an hour and a half before it's premiere) that ABC was debuting a new Reality Series called "The Quest". It was shown as like The Amazing Race, but in a medieval fantasy world. Regular men and women from our side of reality are cast and put into the roles of heroes and are set on a quest to save the realm. Fast reading through some of the reviews, everyone is calling this a form of Live Action Role Play. Everyone but the showrunners.

After three episodes, here's my take on it.

A lot of the reasons why larping is such a hard hobby to describe to people outside of larping is because larps are about everyone being the performance. It's not something you can easily show to a passive audience. The only way it's worked in the past is through documentary, interspersing the action that is going on with comments from the players. Reality Shows also follow this pattern of showing you the action while having one of the folks in the scene comment on it while separated from it.

And that's how they did it here.

So, okay, the premise so far. 12 people from 'our world' were chosen by the Three Fates to become Paladins on a quest to save the fantastical kingdom of Everrealm from the oncoming Verlox. Each Paladin was given a piece of The Sunspear, an ancient weapon to fight back the dark. Only by overcoming challenges with and between each other can the one True Hero emerge to wield the Sunspear restored against Verlox. From Sanctum, the Capital of Everrealm, the 12 paladins live together and a constantly moving world world (aided by actors from around Austria, where the castle they are staying in really is).

The Fates are The Judges, The Sunspear the Reward.

Watching the first episode, I saw a lot of familiar tropes going on that many people who've ever done a fantasy role play have ever experienced. The players, still in their normal street garb, are transported across an underground river where they are met by the Fates, who guide them to their main contact. They're representing the threshold into game space, from here on in, no one is going to be in Kansas anymore. They enter and recover the fragments of the sunspear while meeting their contact, Crio. Crio leads them to the castle through a dark forest. Just as they're making their way, an Ogre appears and kills Crio's friend. Everyone bails, but as soon as the danger is over they reassess what just happened, which leads to one of the Paladins going "Okay, from here on out we NEVER Let that happen again".

They make it to Sanctum, and are then immediately put into jail by the obligatorily smarmy Vizier. It's at this point that the players get a chance to converse and talk. So you have a "You all meet in Jail" scenario, which allows the players to get to know each other and to establish themselves. Some talk about climbing the walls to escape, whilst others try to rationalize this and wait for Crio to try and spring them. After a while, they do get sprung, and it becomes clear that they will be housed in the castle and trained to defend themselves and the realm.

The format of the show is really simple. Plot happens in the first ten or fifteen minutes of the show, then comes the challenge of the day. In the first episode it was learning to fire ballistas into dummy soldier, the second involved archery and accuracy with a spear, and the third required a puzzle to get ingredients to an antidote. At the end of each challenge, the three Paladins who do the worst must complete a second challenge before the Fates. If they win, they are excused, the two who did not win risk Banishment from the world as voted on by their fellow Paladins. They then continue the plot which leads to the next episode. It's a simple plot, but there is a lot going on here.

The main thing is this: This entire premise stands out because they are interacting with a fully fleshed out world. There is a lot going on, and it's clear we're only getting the highlights. These players are immersed in the world and treat it as if it's really happening. This is aided and abetted by the NPCs that are moving about, either as citizens or as named NPCs who guide and interact with them.

What makes this whole thing special is that it's a reality show with a plot. The Reality comes from the players while everything around them is part of the show and scripted. This sometimes leads to them all huddled together as the plot happens around them, watching as the actors take part. I also have the feeling that the filming of this was done in days and not in weeks. Something about the pacing makes me think that each day is a challenge. One, because of the production value put into the show, Two, because the actors go home every day while the Paladins sleep in the castle. I would love to see this be done with a more controllable town where, if the players wished to, could go out and see people interacting and playing with one another and the players. It'd give more a sense of depth to the world.

The show reminds me of another reality show. It was called "Murder in Small Town X" it was aired in 2001, it focused on murder in a fictional town in Maine, with the players being the investigators brought in to find the killer. There was a very David Lynchian aspect to the show, with The town was entirely populated with actors whom interacted with one another around the players and with the players. There was a story and a world to explore It was at the time very ambitious, and marked with Tragedy as the winner of the show was a New York Firefighter who died during 9/11 just one week after the finale aired.

One of my major hang ups with 'Reality TV' is that it's not Reality. It's artifice, of people duking it out for fame and for money. That sets a horrible precedent. The players of the Quest aren't playing for the money, there is no money. They are playing purely for the experience, for the story. I think this enhances it for the players, as their voting of the other players removal is more emotional. There is no sense of greed, but many of them are trying to figure out a way to achieve the goal of saving the world. Many of them have said during the voting process 'They may be the One True Hero, they may not. I'm voting for them because they will help us get to that end". I think this also allows for the viewers to sit and enjoy, because there are consequences to the world around these guys. They aren't in a bubble, and their actions have consequences and there is a definite end along the way.

As a Writer, I have to help but to laugh at some of the things I see on the show. It's truly a "Fantasy Role Play Trope 101" course with generic names for locations and using common character types. The sneering Vizier, the Faithful Steward, the Unimpressed Hardass Combat Instructor, all of them are at the heart of this game and many more. The dialogue that is not exposition can almost be quoted five seconds before they say it. This does not take away from the experience, because you're watching a group of people getting to live the life of a fantasy role play protagonist.

The Quest has become a popular show, hitting many TV Watch Lists. This shows to me that people are more amenable for people to do something as outrageous as this, to follow a fantastical notion and accept that these relatively normal people are willing to do something that is as undeniably geeky and undeniably cool as living out the dream as being a hero in a fantasy novel. To quote a few of my friends, it's Larp Light. This gives me hope that people may be more accepting of the fact that we, as larpers, try to do similar. Of course, I'm a closet idealist.

Also interesting to note is that several of the players in the game are friends of my friends in the geek field. Christian is a staple of the Renfaire Circuit and Adria is a larper and Cammie herself. I'm always amazed at how small the community is, and yet how isolated we sometimes can be with one another. It will be interesting to see what the show has to offer and maybe one day I'll be able to meet some of the players and get to ask some questions.

In short, watch the Quest. It's a fun adventure, for the players, and for the audience. It gives a fairly good account of what a larp can be to those who view it from the outside, a rarity in our communiity.  For those of us who larp, this is a dream come true. And I hope that it is the first of many seasons.

Later,

C

Here's a Link to The Quest's Hulu Page: Watch Here

For the sake of Nostalgia: here's a Youtube Playlist of all of Murder in Small Town X's episodes: Watch Here

If you like this blog, and wish to make a donation, consider supporting me on my Patreon Account. It allows me to continue doing games and conventions and you'll get special prizes. You'll never be charged for reading, but any support is appreciated. Thanks

Chronos Universal Larp System

I wrote last month about my experience playing in Rise of Tiburon, an amazing larp run by Nerdy City. The game used a version of the debuting Chronos card system as it's interface for actions in the game. I'd heard about it a year back just as it was entering it's Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of interaction with the system. This by no means lessened the experience of the game, but I made myself a small and silent vow to make up for the deficit and buy the corebook.

My copy of Chronos came in today. It's not a large book, only 70 pages in total. There is, however, a lot of information going on here. The book is designed almost in a 'Book of Five Rings' format, with each chapter taking on one of the four classical elements which in turn feeds into the theme of their corresponding chapter. Interspersed throughout the book are four short vignettes from four different worlds, three of which appear to be focused around a specific game set on these rules: Ex-Arcana, Dreamless, and Devil Days. The fourth was an assassination set in a contemporary setting focusing on an assassination in the middle of a gaming convention. Writing what you know, huh guys?

Chronos is a card based mechanic system. You build a deck consisting of a core card, and supplemental skills, specialties and augment cards. This deck is for all intents and purposes your character sheet, but reads more or less like a Tarot spread. This makes it very easy to transition from a Tabletop -which they refer to as Narrative Play, more on that later- and larps. The Core card has the standard stats such as Health, Focus, Speed and so on, but also has several skill stats such as Brawn, Dexterity, Acumen, Resolve. There are two sets of these numbers on each card, one for action and one for defense. Challenges are done by adding up the action and adding up the defense, the one with the higher number wins the action. 

When combat is declared, the entire scene is taken into Chronos Time. All physical actions are slowed down, and all combat must be (safely) acted out in that time. Combat rounds last 30-60 seconds, and anyone who doesn't do an action in that time has not acted for that round. This means that, if everyone knows what to do and knows what cards they are using, the roleplay doesn't stop just because someone wants to fight someone else. This also means that instead of sitting there deliberately thinking of what to do, you have to respond to what is actually going on. This also means that combat is going to end soon. There is an entire conversation/rant that I'd like to give on this concept but it would detract from the review. Follow ups to come.

So having a card based role play system leads to some other interesting concepts. Along with the core deck, there will also be cards based on specific games in the line, expansions and other such things. This is actually ingenious from a business stand point, as you're selling both the games and the cards. However, it's weakness is that, for the most part, you're limited to by however many cards you have. This can be augmented by printing out pdf copies, but if someone just has the core deck printed out to him, then they reach limits. I'd recommend buying the pdf and the deck just as a backup, it's 10 dollars more, but it's a long term investment. 

The book goes into description of the Universe of Chronos, or more appropriately, Multiverse. Each game of Chronos is related by one thing: Aether. Aether is an energy source from outside Space/Time that allows for marvelous advances to occur. How it manifests depends on the world it's in, as is the way it's harvested. The general concept shows that Aether appears at some point in history, and from there time splits off into an alternate realm. So this is how Steampunk Mages may come about, how Devils can roam about in the 1950's and fight for the souls of boring squares and how the Fae can make it's deals. All of these worlds exist both separately and yet connected by the Aether. This allows for a potential overarching story, both by whatever game runner wishes to take it on and by Eschaton themselves. It gives me an idea for a story/character concept I'd love to attempt one day (guys, if you're listening...)

The other two chapters focus on more practical matters. One talks about running a Chronos game, but some sections talks about logistical concerns that any gamerunner should consider. Most fascinating though is the discussion defining what, as far as the Chronos system is concerned, is the intent of play for these games. They speak of safety, consent, and an understanding that these products that they are making and running are a form of play and play should be paramount. The goal, they say, is to make an immersive world that goes beyond rules and costumes and for the time being feels real.

In the brief time I got to hold a set of Chronos cards for Rise of Tiburon, I never once felt the need to use them. They told me of what I could do, at what at the core of my character I was. My character had a childlike glee for building fighting machines. When we were handed out our decks, I was expecting a core card that described to me something along the lines of the Innocent, with a lot of Acumen and Resolve but low on Dexterity and Brawn. I had found he was a Trickster, prone to obfuscating and keeping things secret. His cards also had a hardy bit of Brawn to them. That informed me a lot of my character and his play. I never had to use them, but they told me what he could do.

And that's the least, and in some ways the most this system can do. The Chronos system is an ambitious effort, both mechanically and as a business venture. I think the overarching universe of Chronos is something that can lead to a lot of variations, homebrewed games, and interesting crossovers that would make for fun encounters. I'm personally interested in Ex Arcana, which shouldn't be a surprise considering my love of all things Mage. It will be interesting to see where the Chronos Universe goes, both through Eschaton and the gaming community.

Later

C

If you like this blog, and wish to make a donation, consider supporting me on my Patreon Account. It allows me to continue doing games and conventions and you'll get special prizes. You'll never be charged for reading, but any support is appreciated. Thanks

What Changed But the Name

So as some of you will be noticing, we're no longer running under the banner of "Confessions of a Wrathful Larper". There are reasons behind that, the first is simple: I'm not that Wrathful. Ranty, sure. Pedantic, oh yeah. But I'm not Wrathful. I'm not going on this site and going "Yeah? That guy? Eff that guy!"

Unless they're powergaming douchenozzles who think that LARPs and Role Play are all about proving how much of a numbers crunching badass you are. Congrats! You passed Algebra. You're the guy! NOW GO AWAY AND LEAVE ME TO MY MAKE BELIEVE.

As I was saying, I'm also changing it because I'm also aware of the fact that people are reading this (which is actually kinda terrifying) and that they too have some opinion about the profession, or moreso are making their lives around the profession (which is also just as terrifying). I'm now looking for support for my larp addiction through Patreon. In short, I'm trying to be professional in my presentation.

Alright, fine. Professional-ish...

And in the end "Confessions of a Wrathful Blogger" while snarky and sounds like the title of a book that would one day be turned into a movie starring Jay Burchel (my god...that could work...), it also doesn't draw the right kind of attention.

Some of you may be asking me why I chose the new title "Other Worlds Than These". I chose it because it's a Stephen King reference. In The Gunslinger Jake Chambers, reality hopping surrogate son of perennial badass Roland Deschain, says this at a pivotal point of the book. 'Go Then, for there are other worlds than these" and that line changes the rules quite a lot shortly thereafter. I also chose it because this is really what we're discussing in this blog, the exploration of different worlds, different mindsets, different ways of performing and creating those worlds. Even in regards to larp community itself, which is sometimes a world in and of itself, separate but linked to the real world.

So, nothing's changed. I'm still me, the site is the same, but hopefully this is a nice step forward towards improving the site and getting my voice out there.

Later,

C

PS: Also, this came in the mail today

Babies First Dice!

Playing with FATE

After Dexcon, Shoshana gave me one task when it came to working with Phoenix Outlaw:

"Read the Fate Corebook. Read It, Learn It, Love It."

And, I did just that.

So let's get real for a second, my table top gaming experience is pretty shallow. Aside from White Wolf's New World of Darkness and three games (individual games, not campaigns) of D&D, I have no experience with tabletop games. I'm the kind of larper who looks at the system last, rather wishing to explore the world, themes and character types that can be played. I'm a Narrativist, surprise! Talking about systems and mechanics, which invariably leads to the talk about numbers, bores me to no end. When I want to hear about your character, I don't want to hear about the math, I want to hear about your character.

As someone who is desperately trying to develop his own psychotic Larp Project, the most difficult thing I've discovered is trying to build a system that works for the world. Game mechanics exist as an interface for the world we're playing in, more often than not as a means of doing in the game what we cannot physically do in reality. Some games eschew this and favor a "what you see is what you get" style of play, which I rather prefer. But in some games, especially Salon/Theater style games, you need a means of interfacing with a world that you cannot readily duplicate.

I'm of the mind that in a Tabletop game, which is all narration and discussion, you need a system to interact with the world in some way. But it's far too easy to get focused on the math, and soon you're forgetting about the Role Play and focusing about the Game, how to get the best results and how to get the best gear to get the best results. For those of you just tuning in, I do not like Min Maxing and Munchkining on general principles unless the game is literally just a smash and grab game.

So for me to get giddy about a game system means something pretty significant to me.

The Fate system is a narrative driven game system. Where most games are slavishly focused on the system of the game and emphasize rules, exceptions to the rules and the enforcement of the rules, Fate outright states it's Golden Rule as: Figure what you want to do, then consult the rules to help you do it. This is enforced further by the system's Silver Rule: Never let the rules get in the way of what makes narrative sense. These statements sort of go in the opposite direction of the way I've seen most larps be handled, where the rules are meant to keep everyone, both the players and the gamerunners, honest with one another. This makes it clear that, under no circumstances, that the story trumps the rules, and that this is a collaborative effort between the players and gamerunners.

The character creation for the game is set in primarily Four different sections: Aspects, Skills, Stunts and Stress. Aspects make up the Core of a Character, what makes them matter. These are in the form of specific phrases that are broken down in to subjects: High Concept, which denotes who they are and what they do; Their Trouble Aspect is what complicates their life. This may be seen as a negative thing, and it does stand the chance to bite the character in the ass, but there is a benefit to it; Then there are minor Aspects that can describe character relations, background events, and other things that add depth of character, often put into the context of a one sentence phrase. White Wolf does this on their sheets under Character Concept, except the Aspects are mechanically beneficial as they can potentially help aid characters in relevant actions. Importantly, most of those Aspects are developed by players building ties with one another and the ST, creating past events and ties that connect them and add bonds.

The games Skill system believes in broad strokes. Where most games rely on numbers to describe a quantitative aspects, Fate relies more on the Qualitative. Skill ratings tell how good you are in something and action pulls/rolls (if you're using cards or die) tell just how well you did a thing. The Fate System assumes that every PC is a competent individual. At the very least, PCs are mediocre and don't get bonus' to their pulls, whereas in other systems they get minuses for not paying in to a skill. They leave it mostly to chance in Fate, which is something of a point. It is blind towards equipment modifiers, someone with a gun can do just as well with a sword or even with their fists. We'll get to why in a bit. While there is a set placement of skills like Notice, Deceive, Shoot, Fight, Physique and Crafts, the system allows for customization and additions. The Dresden Files Larp has Discipline for most Supernatural actions.

Now, in most systems, certain purchases of skills means you're able to take specific actions. With Fate, that is up to Narration. In the Dresden Larp I ran, someone used Fire Magic to absorb an attacking creature made of Flame. There was nothing on his sheet specifying that he could do that, but there was a logical reason that he could, conceivably do that action. So we did the appropriate pull and, low and behold, absorbed said infernal beastie like a Ghost in a Trap.

Specific Skills come in the form of Stunts. Stunts are special actions that the players can use sparingly throughout games. Need a quick boost of a skill? Or are you capable of performing the functions of one skill with another? Do you have something that, in normal circumstances, just wouldn't be possible? Those are Stunts. They aren't always on, but they are spectacular. The Key thing to keep in mind about Stunts is that they are made entirely by the player with the Storyteller's help and approval. The books give examples of stunts, but they are only meant to give an understanding of what can be done.

Finally, we have Stress. Stress replaces the concept of health damage. First off, there are two forms of Stress: Physical and Mental. Stress alone doesn't mark how much damage you've taken, but how prone you are to take damage. When your Stress bars fill up, you go into Stress Out, which removes you from the combat completely. The only way to get back in is to take a Consequence. Consequence is where the real damage is, where Stress goes away after every combat scene. Consequences are like Aspects, in that they are small phrases, but those that denote the damage you've taken. From a gash over the eyes, induced into paranoia, to Blinded or I can't feel my legs. Gaining Consequences keeps you in the fight, but gain enough of them and your character dies.

At the Heart of this entire system are Fate Points. Fate Points are granted to the players depending on their stunt spread, more with lesser stunts and less with more. They form a sort of economy as Fate Points allow you to invoke your Aspects to aid in pulls or roleplay, to activate Stunts and to add something to the story being told. You get Fate back by accepting the ST compelling your Aspects, creating drama and story to happen to you, or by conceding a conflict. It's an entirely Meta-level economy, having relatively no basis in the game, and it's telling that the only way to gain back points is by allowing potentially bad things to happen to your character.

So the pros for the Fate System is that it focuses on and rewards a Narrative based game. A lot of my tabletop friends have made several comments though about some of it's cons. It doesn't take into account the use of weapons (the newest edition of the core book addresses this, but it also notes that focusing on better Armor/Better Weapons is the path towards Loot Hunts). This makes a little less sense when you consider that the Stress isn't actual damage, and Merely the measuring stick for what gets you the Consequences, which is the real damage, has their own negative and long lasting effects. Even then, it's still all primarily for the benefit of telling a Story over playing a game.

I think a lot of the hang ups seem based on the fact that this is a system that isn't based on the standard D&D model of thinking. It's an entirely different Operating System that relies on  This means that the concepts of class and stats are put to the back. In a fight, a social character can potentially do more damage than a combat character if they use their aspects right or if the cards are fortunate. It puts it more firmly in the hands of chance...or Fate, to be honest.

A friend of mine, who is a veteran table top player. Said that as a table top system he didn't like Fate, but after having played it in a Larp, he felt it was more appropriate. This comment reminded me of my usual rant about Role Playing Games and Live Action Role Play, and how the "G" isn't present in LARP for damn good reason. I think that people focus on the Game aspect, and assume that that means the need to win and avoidance of losing. I tend to focus more on the Role Play, and emphasize the Play. It's make believe, and the rules are there to give us the frame of the sandbox, they aren't the game entirely.

I think the Fate System agrees with this.

The comment also brings about a good point about translating systems to meet different requirements for different forms of play. The White Wolf systems are still primarily used for the Larps, pared down a bit to make some adjustments for the focus on role play...but it's still very clearly based on a tabletop. This comes out all the more when combat or a scene that requires mechanics to function need to be done. All of the roleplay and action stops and it literally becomes a table top game again. The Fate system lends itself and it's emphasis on the RP side of RPG that it works as a tool for Larps.

This is especially true since, through many of it's guides and directions, it evokes the notion that Larps are communal projects and require cross cultivation between each other. In table tops, you can rely on your sheet at the least. In a larp, where you are physically playing your character, you require the players around you to fill in the blanks in the world and with each others ties. Fate runs heavily on that concept.

Fate is, to me, a system that I as someone who looks more to character factors and background than dots and points as system I can get behind and utilize for some of my projects. This has actually gotten me interested in making a Tabletop game for friends, and possibly a theater larp. This system is NOT for everyone, but I welcome it as a system that lends itself to what I look for in a game and that can be customized to suit the needs of the game and translated into various formats of Play. If you prefer the traditional methods, then this simply isn't the system for you.

Later


If you like this blog, and wish to make a donation, consider supporting me on my Patreon Account. It allows me to continue doing games and conventions and you'll get special prizes. Thanks

Review: Rise of Tiburon

At Dexcon, I was given the honor and pleasure to take part in one of the most anticipated Larps at Dexcon 2014. The game was Pacific Rim: The Rise of Tiburon. Based on the immensely popular 2013 Guillermo Del Toro movie, Rise of Tiburon was a high production larp created by Nerdy City. It was also one of the first games to utilize the Chronos Universal Larp System in their game play.

For those of you who haven't seen Pacific Rim, I'll give you a synopses of the world. In an alternate 2013, a giant rift in space and time opens up in the pacific ocean, unleashing a giant reptiloid-esque monster. Within the span of days, San Francisco and several other Coastal Cities are levelled before the monster is killed. Then, eventually, more came. In response, the nations of the world banded together to create weapons capable of killing what were then being called Kaiju. These weapons were called Jaegers, giant humanoid mech suits piloted by two pilots (called Rangers) who link up together and with the Jaeger to move in an effective unit. They think together, they move together, they are together. The pilots, and the machine both have to be compatible to enter what is called the Drift which links them as one.

Rise of Tiburon is set in 2023, two years before the main events of the movie, inside the Seattle Shatterbase where the Jaegars are housed. It was the original house of Mark I Jaegar codenamed Echo Thunderhead. Echo was an awesome hitter, but after years of use and the growth of larger Kaiju, he was phased out and put into disrepair. Housing a rotating cast of visiting Jaegars, the Seattle Shatterbase is the home for a colorful cast of characters that help to cancel the impending apocalypse.

When I registered, I spoke with Josh, one of the gamerunners, about what kind of character I wanted to play. In the movie, there was a scientist character who was unabashedly an admirer of the Kaiju from a scientific stand point. I asked him if it was possible to play that, but for the Jaegers. I was blessed with a childhood where every show that had the word Gundam in it, and every Power Ranger Zord to come across the screen. In short, I wanted to play someone whose love of watching Giant Robots go to town fueled his brilliance and his desire to work on the things when they became a viable reality. No sooner had I said that did Josh present to me a list of options which included exactly that.

And thus, Dr. Himura was given to me. Dr. Himura (whose first name was omitted as to allow anyone to play them. I named him Akira) had a full page dossier, including blood type, family members, and enough of a description to give me a feel for him. I'm used to larps where people come in with PCs they themselves have built, and the level of detail they put into these characters was astounding intricate. And they wrote 75 of them, each with their own agendas, history, wants and connections. In short, they could write a book simply on this game alone and still have some leftover on the cutting room floor.

I may have been drunk when that photo was taken, don't judge me

It also says something of the source material. Del Toro wrote an entire world that never showed up on the screen. Histories and Jaegers and Kaiju, the way the world reacted (which is alluded to as nearing Dystopic levels) and the rise of Kaiju Worshipping. The gamerunners clearly did their homework and used that to their advantage to build on it, extrapolating and creating a world that while there is a lot of their stuff it makes sense to the heart and soul of the core material.

Finally, game day comes, and we're given a briefing on the game, Chronos and the sections we'd be playing in. Himura was a member of J-Tech, the technicians who build and repair the Jaegars. Each character was fully fleshed out, from Chief Engineers, to neuroscience experts, to computer programmers and robotics experts (that'd be me) and munitions experts that believed More Dakka was not ever enough Dakka. Each group had their own Storyteller, ours was Miles, who played Punk-Grunge frontman Quartermaster Eli Jeong. Miles wins the award for costuming, clearly playing a native of Seattle in the "Grunge didn't die, it just got upgrades" attire. He, more than anything, sold the setting for me. Plus the band's name was Baby Seal Club, which I spent a lot of time giggling madly about (I'm a sick individual, sue me)

Speaking of the selling the setting. The production that Nerdy City put into making gamespace REAL was a masterstroke. Most of my experience was in J-Tech, a work shop with desks, a row of computers and a giant robot hand that belonged once to Echo Thunderhead...

'Sup?

There were also posters scattered throughout the spaces, some were posters straight from the movie merchandise list and some were handmade. Notices from administration, posters of some of the more fictitious Jaegers, ads for apartments in the City and flyers for Jeong's band show. J-tech was littered with paraphernalia, circuits and tools, including a diecast mini version of Dath Maul's lightsaber staff, which I immediately began twirling in my fingers, and most of the Pacific Rim Jaeger action figures, which when I saw them, I (and/or Himura) exclaimed "Ah! that's where my work station is.

This was all before game. And the moment we went in we started to work, interacting with one another, clashing ideas and reminiscing about the glory days of Echo Thunderhead. Then the sirens went off, and the screen in the room showed us look at the Seattle Skyline as Bedlam Armada, Echo's Replacement from Canada, took to the bay to meet with the incoming Tiburon, the first of the Category IV Kaiju. It was sleek, it was fast, and it dropped into the bay like a sack of titanium alloy potatoes.

With only hours before Tiburon touched down onto the coast, everyone in J-tech looked at each other, then the large giant hand in the room. A few minutes of Aikidoing Command and Echo Thunderhead was to be recommissioned for one last fight.

That was when the game really began. Repairs and rebuilds were represented by interesting minigames doled out by Miles. Computer reprogramming took the form of transferring cyphers, calibrations were done using an app that simulated the little handheld games that required you to move all the ball bearings into little divets at the same time. In order to reformat the model software, I and a team of three built a small sculpture of Echo using modelling sand that was collapsing in my hand. I enjoyed this section as it actually reflected the hardwork that we would be doing.

It was aided by the fact that certain challenges required certain proficiencies that no one person had. Himura was Great at Robotoics, and Decent in bio-tech and computers. If he was given a task that required robotics and mechanical engineering, he needed to find someone(s) to work together. This part upheld the theme to Pacific Rim, the need to work together, to compliment each other's skills. Rangers needed to be compatible to drift with the Jaeger, the crews needed to be compatible to make the Jaegers work.

After several hours of work, and a few interactions that cemented the team further, we got the job done. We were treated to watching the fight on screen, piped in live from one of the other rooms as Echo Thunderhead made it to the bay and took on Tiburon in a fight that nearly destroyed Seattle but saved millions of lives. It was interesting, watching the better part of 75 players sitting together and cheering on something that we all felt like we worked together to build.

I remember after game feeling giddy about the experience. It didn't help that each room seemed to have the Pacific Rim soundtrack playing, which is geared towards the epic and badass, and in keeping with the J-Tech Grunge, a good chunk of Black Sabbath and other bands were playing. It was a fun experience, and an immersive game all around. It kept us in J-tech busy enough that we didn't break out of character even while doing the minigames. Whoever thought of them was a genius, and regardless of who did, Miles deserves props for being an awesome ST.

My one negative is that, as a member of the J-tech Minigame squad, I did not get to use the Chronos Cards. At All. They did serve as an effective reminder of what my character could do, but there was nothing present in the environment that allowed himto do so. So as much as I'd love to do a work up of Chronos--I'll get to it eventually--it'll have to wait until my review of  FATE is done. That being said, I loved the minigames as it actually felt relevant and representative of the actions we were taking part in and was something that was actively active as opposed to turn based systems, which can take you very much out of a scene.

Other than that, Rise of Tiburon was one of those games that, as a fan of larps and a up and coming builder of larps, set the bar high for what theater larps can be. With the right amount of creativity, madness (which may be one and the same), support and funding (important, that last one) you can achieve a lot. Clearly though it can't be run by the faint of heart, and that certainly doesn't include the folks at Nerdy City. I know that many people were asking for the next run almost immediately after game, and there have been some rumors. But until then, let the guys decompress. They ran an awesome game. And not unlike the movie it was based on, we can always hope-and receive-the sequel it deserves.

Later,

Just hit Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vU7XqToZso

If you like this blog, and wish to contribute, consider supporting me on my Patreon Account. It allows me to continue doing games and conventions and you'll get special prizes. Thanks

Dresden Lives

I've mentioned before that I've been honored with a position with Phoenix Outlaw Productions, a larp development company run by my friends Shoshana Kessock and Josh Harrison. While I'm more or less a general staff member, my primary focus is directed towards storytelling for Dresden Lives. Dresden Lives is the live action role play adaptation of Evil Hat's Dresden Files RPG, a developed by Phoenix Outlaw and produced by Evil Hat.

For those of you that don't know, the Dresden Files is an urban-fantasy noir series written by Jim Butcher. The series is narrated by Harry Dresden, Professional Wizard (seriously, he's in the Chicago Yellow Pages, under 'Wizard'). He finds lost items, helps the fledgling magic users as much as he can to hone their craft, and is sometimes contracted to consult with the Chicago Police Department's Special Investigations office when something that can't be easily written into a report is presented before them. Fifteen books in, and Harry has defeated countless bad guys and made allegiances and rivalries with some of the most powerful moral and supernatural forces in the modern world. There's magic, creatures of great beauty and terror, and enough sarcasm and wit to make it all very humble and self deprecating.

Dresden Lives is an expansion of Harry's World, where the supernatural forces deal in the dark places while Wizards and the few mortals in the Know get embroiled in each others schemes and plots. Depending on the gamerunners, the actions of Harry and Chicago (especially in some of the later books) may affect the storylines of those games. The players and characters get to explore the themes of the Dresden Files: Order Versus Chaos, Temptation, Predation, Faith, Hope, Love and the balance between Humanity and something Other.

I've mentioned before that I've been a long time fan of the Dresden Files series, was a main fixture of the Jim Butcher forum for a long while (under the name Uilos, in case anyone is asking), was blessed with being friends Priscilla Spencer and Richard Shealy, two of Jim's beta readers and Matthew Merbeck, who is the star and driving force for the Dresden Files Fan Films. So working with making the Dresdenverse a living thing for others to explore and play in is a major and amazing thing. So when I was given the chance to do a playtest for Phoenix Outlaw and Evil Hat, I jumped to do it.

The system for the game is based on the Fate system by Evil Hat. It is, by it's very core, a narrative experience that values role play over dice rolls. Character creation involves giving your character some flavor (it even helps in dice rolls) and by listing a very basic skills like Physique (physical strength and endurance) Shoot, Fight, Will and Discipline to name a few others. You can do magic with a straight Discipline pull, and then narrate the action with the rest of the group to respond to. This is in contrast where every magical power in the White Wolf games has clearly spelled out powers. My copy of the Fate corebook is currently in the mail, and I intend to do a full review on it. The short gist is that you and the storytellers and other players are in a game where collaboration and role play aren't just suggestions, they're kinda the central core concepts of play.

So I gathered a handful of players, got them to read the beta-test material, make some characters while I made up a setting and got a studio in the City and played a game. It's actually not that difficult to find studio space for a larp game in New York? Potentially expensive as all hell, but worth it if you have enough support from your friends and players. The game itself was set around an auction, and the various parties and factions in New York sent delegates (the players) to bid on the items. Not everyone there was what they seem, and not everything there was what it seemed either.

I've been storytelling for the MES games for nearly three years in some capacity or another. Dresden lives was hands down the most fun I've had doing it. I'll admit, I was in a room full of people I knew and trusted and who understood what the core of the game was about. But I got to do a combat scene, which I never get to do, and got to do a good one that put some people down and gave them consequences. I got to do a story that, by the end of it, had the characters eyeing each other suspiciously and having a full on conflict pop off. The general consensus was that the book needed to be more clear on a few things as to what they can do. It's an odd paradox when the choices are left open to a player. It's like the book has to spell out "no, really, you can create these on your own". 6 of the 8 were White Wolf/MES veterans. 1 was a new larper and 1 has actually played in the Dresden Larps that Dresden Lives is built on. So a lot of the issues with mechanics were just unlearning what we've spent years doing. I've had several players wanting to play more games and I've had at least one person who hadn't read the series (I wanted some people to focus on the game and not the series) tell me they were now going to read the book.

I consider that a victory.

After the playtest, I was hired on by Phoenix Outlaw to help narrate for their future Dexcon games. Dresden Lives, which started as an unofficial larp based on the RPG and is now gaining legitimacy and publication, has grown in size. We had well over 50 participants at Dexcon this year, playing everything for Wizards, to Sorcerers, to Fae and their Changeling counterparts and White Court Vampires tempting emotions on which to feed. The game was set in medias res, requiring the players and characters to figure out what the hell had happened before they got to that point, leading them to a dark hospital that carried dark secrets. In the end, I got to play a Warden, the soldiers and cops of the Wizard government, and things got very interesting very quick.

The game was played in the conference center's learning annex, where some of the rooms were transformed into the evil Hospital (which let me tell you, took a while to build it right) and the Night Market, an area of St. Marks where the magical can congregate and purchase whatever they need. There was also the Cold Room, a space in the annex where the ventilation is nil but the AC is blasting, making it a perfectly chilly space. Turn off the lights and this is the area where characters who are so inclined to talk to Spirits or Gods or Powers get the chance to talk to them.

Watching the game from a detached perspective of a narrator allowed me to watch the spirit of the game. The players were responding to the world around them, creating ties with each other and the world they were in, including an antagonist that hadn't gone off yet. This lead to a series of comments between Shoshana and I where she finally went "Wait...they haven't KILLED him yet!?" They wanted to see where it went.

Which leads to a critique of the game itself, a lot of the information the players were basing their actions on were based on the books over the game they were in. The books are told from the perspective on one man who consistently has his notions of things rocked. It's also a perspective that has experienced a lot of things out of the norm and therefore knows more about the ground game of the supernatural, most people don't speak across the aisles, making known information about groups and types of people all the more difficult. The next game, I think that there should be a general announcement going "Focus on what your character would know. Harry's casefiles aren't public knowledge and he's just one poor shmuck from Chicago whose mouth gets him into more trouble than is worth."

That's what's the problem with games based around published media. You run the risk of playing what you've read and not what your character should know. This is true of the White Wolf games, which have all of the antagonists and histories written out. One of the things that we, as storytellers and game runners have to do is note what the limits of knowledge are, or else where is the discovery in a thing? Some people have argued that that gets rid of the suspense but telling us we don't know there's something out there. Suspense isn't being revealed a bomb, suspense is knowing there's a bomb and waiting for it to go off.

But now that I've seen the games, worked through their system and seen people play it. My next question is "Well, when do I get started?" There are ideas I have forming in my head for what I'd like to do, modules and NPCs I'd like to introduce and some side plots to give some of the characters. Oh, I have ideas. Right now, my copies of the Fate corebook and the Dresden RPG are on their way, and I'll be thumbing through them to get my foundation going. I intend to do a full review of Fate once I'm done with the book, there's talks of doing something by the autumn for another game and then we'll have a few more things set up.

Until then, Later, and Dresden Lives.