Thousand Year Old Vampire (25-04-21)

 

A beautifully produced solo, journaling RPG, a real artifact. I'm not sure where I first heard mention of it but I know that it was reading a review in Wyrd Science and then coming across The Magus which is clearly (and admittedly) inspired by it, that made me take the plunge and shell out (I think the postal costs alone might have been $20!).

First up - I did not finish it, I spent 3 sessions playing and guiltily abandoned it last night - I did enjoy it though, the ideas are great and the execution beautiful.

It is a clever game, with the fiction, theme and rules beautifully intertwined. Like The Magus you roll 2 dice subtracting one from the other (d6 from d10) then move back or forwards that many passages and deal with what you find, creating an experience from your interpretation of it. That experience is written into one of 5 memories - each of which can hold 3 experiences, the idea being that a memory is a sort of themed set of experiences. You can have a diary to retain one extra memory, but otherwise you have to erase a remembered experience to accommodate a new one. This is such a brilliant idea that cuts straight to the heart of much that is really interesting about vampires; guilt and immortality.

The other rules are fairly simple. You start out by defining your character with a number of formative experiences each tied to 3 mortals, resources and skills which you also define. The passages will tell you to gain and lose from among these traits and all ends badly for you if you reach a point and have nothing more to lose. And that is essentially that, it’s pretty elegant.

Initially I had the same minor gripe as I have with English Eerie and The Magus too, namely that I would have liked some random tables or something to give me a hand create a character, spark some ideas to get me going. In the end I did like my flavourful local character (a Monk at the run down St Pauls, Jarrow, 1048AD) but I still had that is-this-good-enough/am-i-doing-it-right anxiety.

So why did I stop? Too much work, too much history I don’t know. Making up stuff which is going to be remotely correct across a long stretch of time is just intimidating. I really enjoyed the start of my story in England, but once I’m heading into 12th Century Uzbekistan, what then? I should probably just not get too hung up and go for it, but knowing its still early days and how lacking my historical knowledge is until we hit the 18th Century, and that mostly just Europe is just, jeez. 

I may well go back to it sometime, although writing this reminds me how much I enjoyed The Magus - which is less demanding and easier to get to grips with, the whole random words to create your spells from was an easily engaging proposition. The other thing is the passage of time. I did not really have a feel for how much time should be passing and this again was a cause of anxiety, some strong pointers on this would have helped a lot, giving me more license to invent.

The official website is here.

Whitehack (17-04-21)

This is another game I got due to Questing Beast - specifically him showing the beautiful 3rd edition, its almost like an opposite to Mork Borg, clinical and austere, and with the practical attention to detail that Ben Milton reveres.

Out of the OSR rules systems I have read so far this might be my favourite, although admittedly I do have  a tendency to think that the last thing I read is the best. It seems like a great combination of rules and fiction, with everything being kept as elegantly simple as possible. 

It features the usual Attributes, rolled on 3d6. There are only 3 Character Classes: the Deft, the Strong & the Wise, which cover the obvious key archetypes. Each has ‘slots’ to fill, essentially abilities which get chosen at each level, for the Wise this is spells, the Deft its bonuses of sorts etc.
 

It is a roll under system. There are no skills as such, but once Class is chosen you pick a Species, Vocation and Affiliation, i.e. Elf, Wizard, Devout to Arioch, or whatever. On one hand these are the key fictional details that define your character, on the other, you write each beside an attribute - whenever you are rolling for a task that is relevant to that Group you roll 2d20 and pick the best.


In addition to the 6 attributes each character also has an Attack Value and a Saving Throw specified by their class. To attack you need to roll under your attack value and over the target’s Armour Class. This sounds super elegant and smart. A similar logic is applied to skill contests, where its the character who rolls the highest (but also under their relevant stat) who wins.


Magic is fairly freeform, in that the players get to design their own spells and the DM assigns them a hp cost - using magic depletes your hp, but Wise characters recover hp fairly fast.


The one rule I didn’t really get when I first read it was the concept of ‘Auctions’ the idea being that these should be used for extended contests where the outcome would not be lethal. In a way these are kind of like what I was thinking of as the Scene System for Skippy (working title of a cancelled video game). The example given is of a chase sequence. All parties involved roll a d6 in secret, then bid on their roll, i.e. they say 'I will roll over n and still succeed on my attribute roll'. Whoever bids highest rolls first, so they have to roll over their bid and under the relevant attribute plus the secret d6 roll. Whoever succeeds first wins the ‘Auction’, with the idea being that each player should dress their bid with appropriate fiction (‘I take a shortcut only known to members of the thieves guild’ etc).


The writing is a lot like the presentation - it is very spare and exact. He tells you only the minimum. Most rules require some thought before you have the moment of click - ah, I get why its like this… Perhaps that's partly why it has impressed me so much, because I had to think about it, I experienced that satisfaction of understanding, of discovery.


I hope the book for his setting ‘White Curse’ comes out soon, I’d like to see the content he creates. I would really love to try this system.

You can get Whitehack 3e from it's website here.

Troika! (21-03-21)

I picked this up as I kept seeing references to it via various OSR peeps, then spotted a review on Amazon saying that the book itself was a beautiful artifact and that was the clincher. It is a pretty enough book, smaller than I imagined, but a solid, well presented little hard back. It is a lot like Electric Bastionland which i suspect it predates, in fact it seems even more hardcore than Bastionland; there are no passages presenting lore at all, the setting is entirely evoked in specific content, which kind of reminds me of UVG too - you play to find out (as Apocalypse World would have it), the GM is flying by the seat of their pants, past golden sky barges piloted by robotic mandrills (why do all trippy games feature monkeys!).


The rule system is very light, in fact its basically Fighting Fantasy - you roll Skill, Stamina and Luck, then a d66 to decide one of 36 character Backgrounds which provide some unique flavour, skills and maybe some equipment. The range is fairly nuts, from Chaos Champion to Sceptical Lamassu. 

Skill tests are roll under (on 2d6, everything is done with d6), though roll highest versus tests are used for combat, rolling on individual weapon based look-up tables for damage. Luck tests can be made to get damage bonuses or avoid death in combat and is reduced by one every time it is tested. 

The most striking mechanic is its initiative system - each character has a number of initiative tokens (usually 2), these are drawn at random from a bag to decide who goes when, with the inclusion of an end round token adding more random drama to the mix. When i first read this I thought it a case of being different from the sake of it, but then I heard Blythy on the Grognard Files podcast praising the way it brought tension and simplicity (no comparing numbers or having to remember order) to every combat round.

The book is split between Rules, Character Backgrounds, Enemies, Spells and a starting adventure. The enemies provided (about 40 in all) are almost as exotic as the character backgrounds and each features it's own d6 Mien table to set its attitude when encountered which is a great way of making enemies distinct at the table.

The starting adventure sees the characters arrive in the city of Troika and go check in to the Blancmange & Thistle hotel, but there is some big party event in progress so only one room is available and that's right by the party on the top floor and the players have to travel up via stairs or elevator. I suppose it's a deconstructed dungeon of sorts with trippy encounters all the way to the top rather than the bottom.

It is a lovely book and much as I admire the whole - there's just exactly what you need to know and no more. I would find it intimidating to run as each of the character classes and enemies is so unique it would difficult to develop a holistic grasp; everything would need to be handled on the fly and there's nowhere near the number of helpful tables as in UVG. It does feel very much like an art house rpg or proper indie comic book even though the system itself is fairly conventional.

It can be purchased on Amazon, but also directly from the publisher's website.

UVG (21-03-21)

 

Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City, Psychedelic Metal Roleplaying - to give it its full title, is not so much a trippy adventure game as a whole campaign, rule system and aesthetic template all in one. The layout of the book speaks volumes, there is a brief intro then 130 pages defining all the locations on the map for the eponymous setting, starting at the Violet city and getting stranger with every step east to the Black City at the edge of the world/universe/campaign. Then there's 50 pages or so of rules at the back.


The actual rules are fairly OSR, using a Difficulty Target with a d20 + Stat + Skill roll over system. Stats are simply the bonus they provide (like Knave), you get 7 points to spread across the 6. Skills are just things you are very good at, with the bonus they provide being dictated by character level (so all skills provide the same bonus). Hit Points (called Health) are a flat amount, also set by level. There are no classes as such and races range from cats, through humans and elves to robots and ghosts! The whole thing has a really great tone, its all very much about the play experience and has that OSR ethic of providing systems and tables rather than definitive, authoritative encounters. He does say explicitly that he is very anti-cannon. The game should belong to each group. History for example is rolled from a bunch of big tables of random facts - the lore is what you make of it, which bits you choose to run with. It provides rules and tables for all its key aspects, with plenty on caravans as traveling from a to b is basically the whole game.


I did not read the actual world stuff much - I read the rules, the starting location, the end location and then dipped into bits and pieces in between. There is such a wealth of material in the book and the writer’s love for it comes through loud and clear. It is simply bursting with maps, illustrations and table after table. I think i would have really loved this if it had been around when i was in my early 20s, I'd have been dying to play it. 

I’m not sure what first lead me to it, except that I discovered it on Itch.io and was blown away by everything about the aesthetic. Luka Rejec - the designer and writer did it all - i.e. including all the many awesome pieces of art that it contains - there is something about the clean airy line style that reminds me of Moebius, it's great stuff though not quite up to the god tier draftsmanship of the master! I wish I had caught the kickstarter, it would have been nice to get a proper fancy version of the book, the POD version I have (at least I assume thats what it is) is not up to the prestige quality the material deserves.

Theres lots of great samples of the art and tables on Luka's Itch page where you can order the pdf and find links to physical sales too.

The Wretched (21-03-21)

 

Another solo journaling game, this one was recommended to me by an old work colleague when i told him during a twitter convo that I had bought (but at that time not yet played) English Eerie. It is by Chris Bisette who’s blog I’ve enjoyed since I discovered it (Loot the Room - he was doing a weekly post where he rolled up a character in a system he hadn’t played).
 

The Wretched is the name of a spaceship you are stranded on, this is basically Alien and its really good. You are advised to do the journaling as audio logs using a microphone. I did and actually decided to save after playing as they sounded pretty cool, but only really because I was playing the soundtrack that comes with the game and the jump cuts between each log create sudden mood changes and give the whole thing a great atmosphere.

I have to say I did not enjoy the actual journaling process as much as I did with English Eerie due to the performative nature of it - the fear of getting something wrong while recording and trying to make up details on the fly ‘in the sub station below engineering’ etc. I found that a bit stressful and not in a way that was germane to the game.

The game system however worked really well. It’s played with a Jenga set, a deck of cards, a d6, and 10 tokens. You roll a d6 at the start and remove that many blocks from Jenga tower - this is a representation of the damage to the ship (you were both hit by an asteroid and have a deadly xenomorph on board). 

Each day you roll a d6 and draw that many cards. There is a look up table for each card, broadly Hearts concerns the ship systems, Diamonds its structures, Clubs the crew and Spades the alien. Each card presents the outline of a task or experience you have that day. Many stipulate removing a block from the Jenga tower, should the tower fall it's game over man!

The most exciting card result was one which told me I had got the distress beacon working; now I should place 10 tokens on the card. Each day roll a d6 and on a 6 remove one token. When there are no tokens remaining a rescue ship shows up, remove one final block from the tower and if you manage that, happy ending, hurrah!

On day 14 some other event demanded I remove a block and my tower came tumbling down. At that point I had not managed to remove a single token...

Yeah I really enjoyed it. It only took about an hour to play. I think next time I’d make more of an effort to set up the right atmosphere like i did with English Eerie. I think a map of the ship may have improved the experience for me, maybe given me a more concrete way to imagine it all and more confidence in making up details on the fly.

You can order a print + pdf copy from his website here.

The Magus (14-03-21)

 This is another solo journaling game, a very recent one which i got because some ttrpg person i follow tweeted about it, not so much because they were super impressed by it (which they were) as the fact that it sounded relevant to my videogame side-project 'Seasons of the Tower'. It is beautifully presented - a pdf made of powerpoint slides with Mork Borg like handling of font and brilliant use of AI generated images and public domain paintings as backgrounds. It took me about 3 hours to play.

The game reminded a bit of My Life with Master, only here you play Master. After playing  English Eerie I had actually been thinking that MLWM might make a fine solo game as the system is there to shape a story. 

You start by deciding some background details about the world and who you are, then the game progresses by way of Events, of which 17 are provided in sequence. Each event involves either learning a new Spell or gaining a new Bond (relationship with another person). After resolving the event you roll 1d4 and 1d6, subtract the lowest from the highest and jump that many events ahead. The game ends after 7 events, or when a Calamity occurs, whichever comes first.
 

In terms of character stats there is Focus, Power, Control and you can accumulate ‘Scars’, evocative tags relating to event outcomes.

Focus is gained from positive event outcomes, lost from negative ones, can be spent to re-roll dice, and 3 can be exchanged for a point of Power (I only got one during the whole game and I think I was quite lucky with my rolls).

Power determines what dice you roll when resolving a Spell Event (i.e. a d10, d12 & d20), with each event dictating a Difficulty (they get increasingly higher). Every die roll equal to or greater than the difficulty counts as a success, the more successes the better the outcome, this essentially creates the cost of learning the new spell. 

You can increase your Power by sacrificing a Bond. I did not do this, I only had one bond throughout my entire game and I had to sacrifice that (a frog familiar) to gain a spell. Max Power is 3, at 1 you roll a d8, d10 & d12.   

Control has 3 levels; Perfect, Cracked and Broken. Once you've reached Cracked you have to start rolling a d8 Risk die with every future roll, should it come up 1 a Calamity occurs and the game ends. At Broken the risk die becomes a d4. I went from perfect to broken over the last 2 events of my game (as I had nothing else to spend to stave off the failed spell rolls).

Each Spell Event presents a table of adjectives to roll on, and from this you decide the details of the spell that you are trying to learn. 

I really enjoyed the game, it is very evocative. I would have liked some pointers at the start for creating my character - there are some, but a random table for ‘who you are’ would have got things off to a faster start. I decided my character began as an undertaker which definitely gave the whole game a dark cast from the outset.
 

The only bond I got during the whole thing was the first one, which I feel did likely rob my game of some intensity; I did not get to make the choice of sacrificing Bonds for Power which is kind of what the game is about - like Ron Edwards seminal Sorcerer it asks what are you willing to sacrifice in the pursuit of power? This does make me wonder if playing cards might be better for progressing through events than dice rolls, though the specific dice roll mechanic, subtracting one from the other somehow feels resonant with the theme (and I realize now is inspired by Thousand Year Old Vampire).


I bought The Magus on itch.io 

And my play through (I couldn't really call it a journal) is recorded in a google doc here

Electric Bastionland (06-03-21)

 

This is another game I was led to by Ben Milton of Knave & Questing Beast fame and the last one I read (just for the record, right now I’m almost finished reading Knock a really impressive OSR zine and UVG will be up next). It’s an OSR ruleset but the setting is *much* more like Over The Edge than D&D, in fact it is OTE that it reminds me of the most. It's also a sequel to Chris McDowall's previous game Into the Odd which I have not read.

The system is very stripped down and all the rules are explained in 4 pages - the vast majority of the rest of the book being taken up with Failed Careers (character classes). So the rules - there are only 3 ability scores, Strength, Dexterity & Charisma, all rolled on 3d6. Saves are made on a d20 roll under basis. Combat is fairly radical - there is no roll to hit, you simply roll damage and deduct that from the opponent’s HP - Hit Protection, once you reach 0 HP you are wounded and further damage is removed from your Strength score. Each wound inflicted requires a Critical Damage save (against Strength!), failing this means you are incapacitated and will die within the hour if unattended. There's a Scar Table to roll on if you reach 0 HP, which interestingly is the only opportunity a character gets to improve their stats, there is otherwise no leveling system ("5 Bloody Mess - You need stitches. You are DEPRIVED until its done by a Specialist. Reroll your Maximum HP on 2d6 and keep the result if higher"). Disputed initiative is determined by Dexterity saves. 

The 300+ page book is laid out so that you can start playing immediately and learn what you need as you go. Most of the world flavour comes from the player characters Failed Careers, out of 100 or so: Cryptohistorian; Student of history that never was, or  Inseparable Twins; There are two of you, identical in most ways. Your career is determined from a look up table where you cross reference your lowest and highest ability scores. These give you some random piece of equipment and the answers to two questions specific to your background (“How are you messed up by experimenting with time?”, “What does the elder twin get?”), serving to balance out the roll of the dice with the power of starting equipment/abilities. And to make sure the game has direction from the outset, the failed career of the youngest player determines who the group as a whole owe £10,000 to (The Hot Slab, Morgue and Social Club:Take shared ownership of a case of 12 bottles of Highly Carbonated Formaldehyde. It can be drunk without harm for a mild buzz, but causes foul-smelling trapped wind).

A key difference between this and OTE is that where OTE gives you maybe hundreds of pages about the denizens, gangs and zones of its city, Bastionland just gives you some tables and rules for how to make up what the players will find there. There is something really engaging, vital and incredibly efficient about this. In the words of it's creator Chris McDowall; “This is a game to be played, not a textbook to be studied. It’s designed for the game table, not the library.” That's me told.

Physical and digital copies of Electric Bastionland can be ordered from the creator's website.