Ambiguous RPG Setting

Would you ever pick up a book without any cover art or even title and just start reading from page 1?  Or would you ever begin watching a movie without having looked at the DVD case, front or back, and without even knowing the film's name?  I suspect you wouldn't, and neither would I.  The risk of time wasted on a bad story is just too great.

Still, one thing I've always wanted to try was a role-playing campaign that starts with an ambiguous setting.  I imagine a game where the players know nothing of the setting, where the PCs are simply normal everyday people.  All the players know is that their characters will experience something fantastic (after all, RPGs are about fantasy and escapism right?) and the "normal" world will be turned upside down.  Exactly how the game-world gets changed depends on the GM's whim.  Perhaps the PCs will all be bathed in cosmic rays and develop super-powers, segueing into a super-hero game.  Or maybe the PCs will inadvertently uncover some unspeakable cosmic horror and be thrust into the Cthulhu Mythos.  Maybe the PCs get abducted by aliens or time travelers and find adventures among the stars, or perhaps instead become embroiled in a cloak-and-dagger espionage conspiracy here on "regular" old earth.  Or our PCs can simply drift off to sleep, and in their dreams find a portal to a magical land of beasts and kings, wizards and elves.  The point is I think it would be a blast starting out a campaign and having no clue exactly what kind of game I would end up playing.

Attempting such a radical role-playing experiment would require a solid role-playing group, with a lot of trust.  Constant moving due to my job has left me without any group for decades, let alone one with the implicit trust to go for such schemes.  Luckily however I discovered the Mythic Game Master Emulator (GME) which allows one to role-play without a group (or GM).  Sometimes solo-gaming has its advantages and this freedom to experiment is one.

Using the Mythic GME I've decided to start build a game setting.  I have no clue where it will end up, whether it will be traditional fantasy, sci-fi, horror, crime, spy, pulp or any other genre.  Since the initial start of the setting is the real-world modern day, I've chosen FU, the Free Universal Role-Playing Game as my system for task resolution.  Basically my idea is to simply start with scene one of an adventure.  Obviously there will have to be a notional "PC" or group of PCs to focus the action around, but these may not last more than a few scenes.  Therefore, the PC(s) will not have any game statistics at the beginning; such characteristics will be generated on the fly by asking the Fate Chart and rolling dice.  For example, muggers confront a character, who so far appears to be a graduate student type.  I would ask "does the character have any hand-to-hand combat skills" and assign the odds as Very Unlikely.  If I got a "yes" then I would have to change my idea of exactly who this character is.  Perhaps the character is a veteran, or an ex-collegiate wrestler.  An extreme answer may actually indicate an Edge (using the FU system).  

As stated above however, the characters serve only to focus the scenes, and may not last.  Think of them as characters in the opening scenes of a movie.  Perhaps these are the main protagonists of the film, but maybe their actions just introduce the conflict, and as the story develops they fade into the background.  R2D2 and C-3PO in the first (1977) Star Wars movie are a perfect example of what I'm talking about.

OK, so this task would be impossible without some basis to start.  In order to prompt my imagination and define both the starting place/time (geography, season) and starting characters, I generated five random dictionary words:

KIRGYZ

BOISE

HINNY

SNEER

MEASLES

I was amazed at how quick a little story popped into my head.  What I went with for the opening scene was Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, February 2013.  The characters are a group of zoology researchers from Boise State University, traveling to the central Asian country to investigate a genetic anomaly: a cluster of consistently fecund horse-donkey hybrids.  I wasn't sure how to work in "sneer" or "measles", but I rolled to set up the scene, as per Mythic, and got an action/subject of "dominate/technology".  I used the "sneer" and "measles" dictionary words to interpret the event further.  Scene 1's location starts at the International Airport, where one of the research group gets singled out by Customs officials for improper immunization records (measles).  This turns out to be a ruse by the officials to pilfer the unfortunate American's expensive electronics equipment (dominate/technology).  I then rolled, per Mythic rules, to see if the scene was altered or interrupted.  I got an interrupt, with a focus of "close thread" and action/subject of "gratify/illness".  I decided since the only thread was arriving and getting to the research site, closing the thread meant a total detour.  So instead the scene starts with the single character, on a jet-liner leaving Bishkek for Hong-Kong (thus closing the thread of researching)!  How did he get there?  When he (I rolled the character is male) confronted the corrupt officials, they laugh and tell him he's powerless (sneer).  The resulting altercation (I rolled that he loses his temper) left the American in a cell, where he was bailed out by the US State Department, and promptly put on an outbound plane to avoid an international incident.  So the scene starts with a single male character with a scientific background but fiery temper, sulking in an airline seat.  But what about the "gratify/illness"?  Well, what the character doesn't know is that the senior pilot of the Russian airliner suffers from the illness of alcoholism, and as the co-pilot sleeps the plane's captain indulges.  It's going to be a bumpy ride...              

Solo FU using Chartless Mythic

It's been a while since I've done any solo roleplaying using the Mythic GME.  Most of my attempts resulted in a lot of great fun and I've really liked the GME and its results.  The one thing I've always found lacking however was my chosen "core" RPG rules set used for task resolution.  Instead of using the full Mythic RPG mechanics, or a commercial set appropriate to the specific genre (AD&D, West End Game's Star Wars, etc.) I utilized homebrew rules.  My system proved too incomplete and thus hampered the fun and flow of the solo adventure.

With these experiences in mind I've been very keen to try the Free Universal Role Playing System, or FU.  Although I wonder about the ability of this system to handle diverse power levels such as advanced technology and magic, FU seems incredibly well-suited for solo gaming.  I see FU interacting with the Mythic GME smoothly because the six possible FU results provide a more specific direction to the line of questioning than just the standard "Yes/No" offered by Mythic.   FU can therefore be used both as the GME in place of the Mythic Fate Table, and as the task resolution mechanism.  These observations have already been made over on The Convenient Skill's blog; it was actually through his posts that I first discovered FU.  

Over on the FU Yahoo Group there has been a lot of discussion over alternate methods of dice rolling to generate the six FU results.  As a review those six results are: "Yes, And...", "Yes", "Yes, But...", "No, But...", "No", "No, And...".  Group member Light Castle decoupled these six results from the six-sided die by making the brilliant observation that each result could be considered one of six discrete states.  If one rolls or flips any kind of binary indicator (a die with equal numbers of odd and even sides, a coin, etc), one will get one of two states.  Rolling (or flipping) five of these indicators and totaling the number of one of the two states on each results in six possible states.  To make it a lot more clear, consider flipping five pennies and asking how many heads results come up?  If all five pennies land tails side up that is one state.  There can obviously be five more states, one where a single coin shows heads and the rest show tails, another where two coins show heads and three tails etc.  If we substitute the even and odd numbers on a polyhedral die for the heads and tails of a coin we can generate these six states using any type of dice we want, as long as we roll five of them.

My addition to the all the fine work by these other gentlemen is to eliminate the Fate Chart in Mythic by integrating the Chaos Rank into the dice roll mentioned above.  Let's first take an example of a FU roll using the five dice method and d10s as our dice type.  I decide to count evens for all rolls and when it's time for my first question I roll five dice, getting a 2, 3, 3, 8, 8.  If the result was all odd numbers it would be a "No, And..." and a result of all five even would be a "Yes, And...".  Our example however lies in-between and with three even dice scores the result is a "Yes, But...".  Simple.  Now, let's say instead of using even/odd as our discriminator on whether we count one of the five dice, we use a target number.  If we count all numbers which exceed this target, then it's obvious that the larger this number becomes the more "no" results we have.  This becomes the opposite of the Chaos Rank of the Mythic GME Fate Chart, but serves the same purpose: to skew a known (assumed) set of odds based on the phase of the story.  In fact, this is more in line with the modification some Mythic users employ, which is to change the Chaos Rank in the opposite direction at the end of each scene, to prevent the "absurdity-spiral" that seems to develop in the Mythic GME rules-as-written.

So my proposal would be to use a handful of d10, all of the same color except one.  Set up the first scene using the standard Mythic GME rules and 2d10 out of the pile.  Utilize Chaos Rank, which starts at 5, as normal for determining altered/interrupted scenes.  The Order Rank is 10 minus the Chaos Rank.  Alternatively, in order to keep track of only one number simply record the Order Rank and roll greater than to determine altered and interrupted scenes.

When asking questions, as per Mythic ask questions which result in more chaotic results upon "yes" results.  Roll 5d10 if the odds are determined as "50/50".  If the odds are "slightly likely", "likely", "very likely", "near certain", or "certain" then roll 6d10, 7d10, 8d10, 9d10, or 10d10 respectively.  If the odds are "slightly unlikely", "unlikely", "very unlikely", "near impossible", or "impossible" then also roll 6d10, 7d10, 8d10, 9d10, or 10d10 respectively.  If the odds were "slightly likely" or better, resulting in more than five dice rolled, discard the die with the lowest score and continue this process until only five remain.  If the odds were "slightly unlikely" or worse, resulting in more than five dice rolled, discard the die with the highest score and continue this process until only five remain.  In all cases if none of the remaining five dice scores exceed the Order Rank, the result of the question is "No,  And…".   If only one of the five dice scores exceeds the Order Rank, the result of the question is "No".  If two of the five dice scores exceed the Order Rank, the result of the question is "No,  But…".  If three of the five dice scores exceed the Order Rank, the result of the question is "Yes,  But…".  If four of the five dice scores exceed the Order Rank, the result of the question is "Yes".  Finally, if all of the dice scores exceed the Order Rank, the result of the question is "Yes, And…".

Always include the off-colored die in any GM emulation rolls in order to determine unpredictable events.  If a "1" is rolled on the other-colored die, a random even takes place, even if the die ends up being discarded.

When a character needs to resolve an action, roll the 5d10 plus any net bonus or penalty dice assigned due to conditions as per normal FU.  The six results are derived the same way, but the target number is always 5 (no different than even/odd).

I'm swamped at work so I don't know when I'll get to give this a try.  The big consideration here is that "Yes" isn't necessarily good in all cases.  When a question is asked to define the setting or the adventure (a GM emulation roll), "yes" actually results in more chaos for the PCs, as per Mythic.  During task resolution however "Yes" is definitely positive.          

The Absorbed Worlds RPG Setting

I played a lot of great RPGs in the 80's and 90's and one of my first and all time favorites was TSR's Gamma World.  The rules might not have been so hot, but the setting was what really made the game.  Post-apocalyptic is cool in itself, but with the fantastic mutations and lost super-science it almost qualified as a multi-genre setting without the lameness of Rifts or TORG.  Oh yeah, and it was a refreshingly zombie-less apocalypse I might add.  Anyways, playing Gamma World always made me think of my favorite post-apocalyptic setting, the subterranean worlds of the cartoon Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea.

I would force myself to wake up at 0430 when I was in grade-school, just to catch Spartakus on Nickelodeon.  The cartoon was like nothing I'd ever seen before, with its surreal imagery and sophisticated story.  The show featured an artificial woman with telekinetic and matter manipulation powers traveling in an intelligent spaceship through the crust of the earth, searching for a way to prevent her people's artificial underground sun from exploding.  Her travel companions were the titular gladiator Spartakus, as well as two surface children and two weird animal-creatures who may have been artificial themselves.  The best part of the show was the fact that the group traveled through different "strata" in the crust of the earth, and in each encountered people and creatures from different times. The laws of physics also sometimes seemed to be altered in this underground nexus of realities.  The show therefore had no limits; one week the heroes were in an ancient China analog, and the next they were in space.  The show was set after a Great Cataclysm, and for decades now I've thought that it would make the ultimate RPG setting.  Player characters would have but to step through a cavern and they could face anything, yet there was still an underlying if tenuous back-story, so an RPG set in Spartakus' world wouldn't feel like a generic multi-genre campaign.

The cartoon was originally released in France, under the title Les Mondes Engloutis.  I've found translations of this title listed as "The Absorbed Worlds" and "The Engulfed Worlds".  I don't speak french but my research leads me to believe the most literal translation of the original title is: "The Swallowed Worlds".  I prefer the first translation, even if it might be technically incorrect, so I'm using that to describe the setting.  I'm currently using this setting for a solo RPG campaign using the Mythic GM Emulator.  So far I've completed one adventure, which I plan to share in a future post.  I really hope I can sit down and summarize the adventure so I can highlight the Mythic GM Emulator; I love this tool!  After literally decades I can again enjoy the fun of seeing a story unfold like only a RPG can provide.

Solo Space Campaign Set-up 1

OK, I'm two days from getting back to my table and scratchbuilding stuff, so I'll kick this campaign off and document it to illustrate my method.

I just shuffled two decks very thoroughly and drew a Queen of Diamonds and 6 of Clubs from the red deck (I'll call them Side A for now until I flesh this setting out).  A crappy low draw.  I could take a Size Class 2 ship due to the two suits, but at the Obsolete technology level only ship designs with 4 Systems boxes are available.  I could do that but it would waste two boxes, so I decide Side A gets two Size Class 1 ships (3 Systems boxes each).  Side B (blue deck) draws a King of Diamonds and 8 of Clubs.  Weird!  Almost identical draw.  So I assign two frigates to Side B (4 Systems boxes each).

I thought this would be a quick redraw but since these forces are so closely matched (difference of only 2 Systems boxes), the odds on my Mythic Fate Chart don't change at all.  So I ask "will this encounter have an impact on the war?" with the odds of a "Yes" at "Has to be".  Chaos Rank of 5 means a 95 for a "Yes"... I roll a 94.  Holy crap these are some weird draws and dice rolls!  So this tiny little skirmish actually has an impact on the war.  Perhaps this is some diplomatic incident that touches off the war?  When I get back I'll grab some miniatures and fight it out.

The smaller ships aren't as fun to sculpt, but this actually works out perfect.  I hope to have my space mat modified with hexes before the weekend is out and this little four ship fight will be a quick test of the hex-based variant of my rules.  Stay tuned for the battle report.

Solo Space Campaign with Mythic GME

I imagine the solo wargame crowd being pretty small, and the subset using the Mythic GME even smaller.  And those who've actually read my game War In Space... well that's a miniscule number.  So to all but a select few (probably just me), this post will read pretty esoteric.  Like a non-gamer wandering into a D&D conversation and trying to decipher THAC0, hit dice, and save vs. rods.

Anyway, I plan on combining my solo campaign rules with the Mythic GME to run a space war.  I'll flip playing cards as my rules describe, generating two opposing space forces.  Then I'll ask the question: "will this encounter have a significant impact on the war?" and roll on the Mythic Fate Chart.

As per Mythic rules, four results exist: "Exceptional No", "No", "Yes", and "Exceptional Yes".  "Exceptional No" means the encounter has absolutely no impact on the war; I won't bother fighting it out.  Instead, I'll flip more cards and generate another two forces, repeating the process.

If the Mythic result is "No" the battle has a negligible impact on the war, but if the cards reveal an interesting mix of ships I may just fight it out.  Regardless of which side wins, neither card deck will change as a result of the battle. More likely if I get a "No" result I won't fight the battle but I'll randomly generate a few dictionary words and come up with the seeds to a role-playing adventure involving the space battle (even if only peripherally).  That's what a "No" on the Mythic Fate Chart will indicate for me: idea seeds that either serve as an "anthology" type RPG, or as set-ups to later wargame scenarios.  For example, I roll up a "No" result but then roll "teetotaler" and "question-mark" from the dictionary.  I wrack my brain and decide maybe a certain taskforce commander prohibits the junior officers in his formation from drinking booze, but perhaps one of his patrol boat captains, a lieutenant, is running a lucrative alcohol smuggling operation.  The lieutenant's operation brings his little ship in contact with a supposed "enemy" ship on a regular basis; liquor pays much better than fighting.  There's a lot of ideas to springboard off of there; the wayward Lt. is a secret intelligence agent (straight RPG adventure), or the smugglers get caught during a shore leave, causing a shoot-out with authorities (set-up for next scenario). 

A "Yes" to the question posed above means I'll fight the battle normally, and the winning force gets to lose a face card from their deck, as detailed in my campaign rules.  Lose a card?  What the hell am I talking about?  Download and read it!  I'll usually use the dictionary method above not for an RPG adventure, but to set up a scenario for the actual battle.

An "Exceptional Yes" indicates a potential turning point in the war: a sinking of the Bismark, a Coral Sea, a Midway, etc.  I'll fight the battle but in this case the winner will get to discard two face cards: a decided advantage in the overall campaign.  Maybe I'll integrate it into a ground miniature game, like a space D-Day.

OK, so how will I decide the odds for the Mythic Fate Chart?  I'll assume the odds of a "Yes" answer to the question "will this encounter have a significant impact on the war?" are "Has to be" if the forces are equal.  My logic is that for the big, pivotal events of a war, the opposing sides will try to bring all their resources to bear and generally will field similar forces.  So I'll take the difference in the sizes of forces (in terms of Systems boxes) and use this to reduce the odds of a "Yes".  For a difference of every 4 Systems boxes, I will drop the odds of a "Yes" one level.  Example: I draw a small force for Side A which totals 14 Systems boxes, and a larger one for Side B with 47 boxes.  The difference of 33 boxes drops the odds eight levels, all the way down to "Very Unlikely" that the encounter matters to the war.  If I still roll a "Yes" in this case, well I'll just have to come up with a solid scenario to make the battle worth playing despite the disparity.

The final element of the Mythic Fate Chart, the Chaos Rank, starts at 5 for the first card draw of the campaign.  When a numerically inferior force wins an engagement, the Chaos Rank increases 1.  When a numerically superior force wins, the Chaos Rank drops 1.  Otherwise, the Chaos Rank will remain where it is. 

I'll track certain ships' crews, build a star map and slowly build a little RPG universe set during a space war while getting in some good miniatures battles in the meantime.  Hurray for Mythic!  Despite my initial trepidation I'm falling in love with this system.
           

Mythic GME Review

As a solo-gamer I'm always looking for a way to give my "opponent" more independence.  Artificial intelligence would be nice, but I'm a wargaming geek, not a computer nerd.  I've heard of the Mythic Game Master Emulator quite a bit on the solo forums, so I finally broke down and bought the .pdf download.  I resisted for the longest time, since I was concerned the system would essentially be a pen-and-paper version of the "Magic 8-Ball" toy.  Then I paid $22.00 for breakfast with my girlfriend this Sunday and realized, yeah I can afford to spend $6.95 on what may be a helpful product.

The system essentially just assigns a numeric percentage chance score to an event; rolling under this score results in a "yes" answer to a yes or no question asked by the player.  For example if you decide that a yes answer to a question should be "very likely", then the score, according to the chart provided in Mythic, is about an 85; so an 85% chance of a yes.  The score changes depending on a Chaos Rank.  The Chaos Rank also lets you set up scenes, and might change your scenes in ways you don't expect.  I think these random events are the best part of the Mythic system, but I would probably generate my own random words vice the 200 options in the book.  Most of the book is just examples of how to use this simple, but effective system.  My mind wasn't blown as some other internet reviews promised, but the Mythic system presents a nice, codified way of introducing randomness into your game.

The artwork greatly detracts from the book.  It sucks.  The artwork consists almost entirely of "hot chicks with swords/guns", a lame concept made even lamer by poor execution (the ladies aren't that "hot").  I love the indie look of pen-and-ink line drawings in small press games, and I prefer my artwork a little rough, a la the original AD&D Monster Manual.  But when every picture is from some prepubescent boy's fantasy, I can't be bothered.

I recommend this product for roleplayers and solo wargamers despite the dreadful art and the fact that if you've been gaming for a long time, you've probably developed a similar system yourself.