The Venger Satanis Method of TTRPGs and Game Mastering

"Consciousness is the phenomenon whereby the universe's very existence is made known." ~ Roger Penrose

Here it is, my narrative manifesto.  It's a revolution, y'all. 

While the narrative part is just that, part of the greater whole, it's usually the sticking point for many old-school, OSR, and traditional gamers... supposedly the VENGER CON crowd.  

Some bad GMs decided to write an awful fantasy novel and now the players are trapped in that Hell, their PCs moved around like pawns and told exactly what to do and how to do it.  No thanks!

And there are some who bristle at the idea of roleplaying games being both a game and story, where the game is about collaboratively creating the story that's lived, rather than simply watched as a spectator.  Those damn theater kids - get off my battle-maps!

After many, many rounds of argumentation on social media (lots of great tweets where I use Star Wars and The Matrix, among other things, to defend my positions), I've decided to clarify and codify my approach to the TTRPG hobby, in terms of running the game.  

While there are instruction manuals for Game Masters, the rule-books give you generalized advice and a few "best practices," but it's all fairly subjective.  This, too, is subjective.  I'm telling you what works for me based on what I want out of the game.  If you want to do something different, even the opposite, cool - go for it.  I wish you luck, hoss!

And what do I want out of the game?  That's the million-dollar question, because if you don't know what you want, how are you going to get it?  For most of us, you know it when you see it... and when you do see it, you grab hold, gaze, ponder, dissect, try to recreate, fail, try again, and somehow fashion exactly what you want.  Then, you have to be careful it doesn't get corrupted or thrown in the trash on the way to exalt the shiny new thing full of promise, hope, and novelty...

"You've had the entire universe explained to you and you're bored with it.  So now you want cheap thrills and plenty of them, and it don't matter how tawdry or vacuous they are as long as it's new, as long as it's new, as long as it flashes and fuckin' bleeps in forty fuckin' different colors." (Naked, 1993)

I want to simulate, emulate, and immerse myself in a - allow me to bold and all-cap this description so there's no subtly, no obfuscation, no hiding the ball whatsoever - PULP-FANTASY SWORD & SORCERY ADVENTURE.

The kind found in literature, TV, and movies.  Allow me to help you visualize - it's going to include plenty of action (Arnold as Conan decapitating people), skulking around temples and tombs (Indiana Jones seeking golden idols), and amusing banter (epitomized by the "jam scene" in live-action Aladdin).  Bottom line, that's what I'm looking for.  

Without further ado, let's proceed...

What am I calling this?  I can't think of a name or term that wouldn't require an in-depth explanation.  I was thinking about holistic gaming, then leaned towards esoteric; prior to this week I'd been using storygame-adjacent.  Also, people have liked narrative approach or narrative shift.  Maybe it's just the Venger Satanis method?  I don't know.  Yes, we're off to a rocky start.  Not great.  Hopefully, this is just a hiccup on the way to gold, glory, and great big... tracts of land!

Here are the following tenets of my Game Mastering philosophy according to the Venger Satanis method (sure, why not?)...

The Venger Satanis Method

"A Game Master can feel the force flow through him."

"You mean it controls your actions?"

"Partially, but it also obeys your commands." ~ Obi-wan and Luke Skywalker discussion on Game Mastering

1) Living World and Living Story - The Living World involves everything physical and mater-of-fact.  The Living Story focuses on the meaning and purpose behind what's there - emotion; how it feels.  Living Story deals with the anima mundi or soul of the world, the animating spirit that breathes life into the campaign setting.  It's like the force, "a mystical, invisible energy field created by all living things which binds the universe together." 

The TL;DR version is this - the Living World is the body; the Living Story is the soul.  Body and soul.  One without the other is like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without either the peanut butter or jelly.

2) Narrative Structure - This is not a script, nor a railroad.  Nothing is set in stone; everything is malleable.  Surprises will inevitably happen.  However, the GM should have plot-points helping to guide the player-determined path towards something gameable that makes sense in terms of the story.  The story is happening as it's being created, moment to moment, encounter to encounter.  GMs should also be concerned with all manner of narrative tools such as pacing, Chekov's gun, the rule of 3 (including clues), call-backs, dramatic irony, comedy relief, characters talking about their emotions, spotlighting the PCs, montage, negative space (breathing room), climax, and so many things!

I wasn't sure where to include Unifying Theme because it could stand on its own, or be included in either the Living Story or Aesthetic-Keys, but since stories have themes, I'll put it here.  Vibes, basically.  What's the game about, the central idea?  If you can't say anything about the tone, atmosphere or mood, the motif, then you probably don't have a unifying theme, yet. 

3) Aesthetic-Keys - What's the genre?  What are the conventions, expectations, and tropes appropriate to that genre... the milieu-nodes?  Furthermore, pay attention to what makes this campaign setting, the one you're using, special, unlike the others.  Why Cha'alt and not World of the Last Sun or Forgotten Realms?  I like to call them aesthetic-keys.  If the GM isn't constantly pinging the world's milieu-nodes (if you don't have a specific campaign setting, these are even more important) and aesthetic-keys throughout campaign, then why bother having a campaign setting at all?

The 8 aesthetic-keys for Cha'alt are eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalypse, humor, sleaze, pop-culture, and grindhouse exploitation.  Each one is like a slice of eclectic pie that makes up the whole.  If I'm neglecting a player's favorite aesthetic-key, they can nudge the GM by stimulating a Cha'alt X-Card.

4) Demonize Masculinity - I hesitated to include this one, but we're no longer in the 20th century. We were spoiled in the 70s and 80s with pop-culture entertainment.  If we keep fighting back, those days shall return!   

Men have been robbed.  In the times we're living in, you can see it plain as day.  All the stuff that was made by men for men has been feminized, softened, weakened... sharp edges sanded down, adapted for modern audiences.  Everything that's inappropriate, problematic, and way too gory, pornographic, offensive, horrific, sexist, funny, etc. has been removed until all that's left is pink, plastic mush with child-safety locks, ensuring nothing awesome ever happens at the table.  

Well, fuck all that!  Cha'alt is a middle-finger to the woke scolds who'd love to parent-teacher conference our hobby after letting a DEI committee of sensitivity readers decide how much raw masculinity we're allowed to have?  Spoiler alert - none!  Reject modernity; embrace tradition.  

Not only should we create for the male gaze, but adventures should focus on the masculine experience because this is a hobby for men (of course, women who like what we like are more than welcome to join us, assuming they aren't doing so in order to change TTRPGs from within).  If your session has more shopping than exploring, start cramming sizzling gypsies, tentacle-wrestling competitions, fighting cosmic battles for supremacy, and journeying to strange lands to conquer them!  

Celebrate your masculinity, don't shrink from it.  "There is a beast in man that should be exercised, not exorcized." ~ Anton Szandor LaVey

____________________

Well, there you have it.  4 tenets of the Venger Satanis method.  While I'm not the first to incorporate these principles into their Game Mastering, perhaps the way I put all of it together is unique.

Regardless, now they're here.  I can point to them... or, more likely, post a link to this blog post, and let people know my play-style before they try ripping it to shreds.  While I've been GMing since 1982 with the Erol Otus / Tom Moldvay "magenta box" set of Basic D&D, the full extent of my TTRPG philosophy or school of thought hadn't coalesced until 2018.

Thanks for reading, critiquing, supporting, sharing, commenting, and all that good stuff!

VS

p.s.  Yes, weekend badges are now available for July 2026's VENGER CON V: The Will To Power.  Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!  

Where Were You?

 

This is the first thing going in the new book.  

But that won't be for a while.  I've decided to take a year-long break from any crowdfunding or release of a project that's more than a six or seven-page PDF.  

I would release this all by itself, but it's too short for even a PDF release; just perfect for a blog post, or a one-page explanation in the appendix of the aforementioned new book.  So, what is it?  Let me elucidate, hoss...

If a player has been absent for more than one session in a row, he's likely fallen behind in terms of XP.  While it's all fine and dandy if that absent PC is at a lower level than everyone else, it can be a hassle for both his fellow players and the GM.  Specifically, the lower-level PC will be in greater danger while also being of less help in an emergency, which then puts the rest of the party at risk, or influences the GM to make the adventure less strenuous... and possibly less rewarding.

You know how GMs hate the multi-page backstory of a fresh player-character that's just starting out?  Well, I'm turning that idea on its head by asking that absent player to write-up and then verbally present a fleshed-out bullet-point list of at least 7 things that PC experienced while they weren't with the party.  

This can be made-up of things they did, saw, survived, prevented, rigged, ran away from, broke, fixed, heard about, fought against, killed, looted, saved, found in a crevasse, pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, and numbered.

Now, this particular path diverges in the desert, as it were.  There are two schools of thought...  

First, the PC can explain his absence from the party and what he's been up to in-character.  So, this is now what the other adventurers are hearing and they can make of that what they will, also in-character.  If the missing PC found a magic ring, where is this ring, now?

Second, this option is storygame-adjacent.  As the GM and players listen to everything, they are free to make suggestions... adding, subtracting, twisting, turning, coloring, and embellishing.  This is a way of collectively crafting the narrative.  Not every item on the list needs to be tweaked.  Some or maybe even most can stand-alone just as they are presented.  However, the occasional item might be improved with feedback and suggestions, like a writer's room.  After all, the other players know the PC in question well, one hopes, and should be able to provide insight based on that knowledge. 

The GM has the final say on what's actually canon.  Again, a discrepancy between the story told by the absent adventurer and what really happened might be glaringly apparent.  

What do they get for their trouble?  A singular level-up.  They might still be behind, but at least not as much.

Now, what to do with PCs who find themselves laden with magic rings and the like?  In this case, it's important to have balance.  Acquire a magic ring?  Ok, then something equally bad should also happen to even things out, like the PC also sprained his ankle.  Now, if the magic ring was found and then lost, the ankle could have been sprained and now it's better.  But if he still has it in his pocketses, perhaps the sprained ankle persists... which means he can't run.  At best, he's hobbling away like Johnny at the end of Mike Leigh's Naked (1993).  Thus, restoring the balance.

What this does is...

1. Explain what happened during the PC's absence.
2. Gets that PC up-to-speed so they don't fall behind.
3. Adds to the campaign setting by coming at world-building from a surprisingly new angle.
4. Gives the GM more to work with as he facilitates the Living World and Living Story.

Ok, there might be a chance to use this if one of our players returns tomorrow (jury's still out).  Regardless, I feel like this is a neat addition to the table, and if you like it, I hope you use it, too, and tell me how it went.

Enjoy,

VS

p.s.  Yes, weekend badges are now available for July 2026's VENGER CON V: The Will To Power.  Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!  

PSYCHOCOSM, Visceral Non-Mechanics, & Running Non-D&D

 

It's been awhile since I blogged about something other than session reports or the announcement of a new PDF, book, convention, or whatever.

As the title of this post would suggest, I'll be diving deeply into advanced immersion, opting-out of standard RPG mechanics, and what you need to start GMing stuff that's not D&D (aka stuff I wish I knew back in the day).

There's gonna be some theory, but not a ton of jargon, and all my theorizing should have a practical application.  I don't just theorize to hear myself type. 

Faith Alone

First off, I want to talk about PSYCHOCOSM, recently mentioned here.  This is the blending of reality and fantasy in the minds of Game Master and players alike.  As I've been describing and discussing, PSYCHOCOSM is one step beyond immersion.  Immersion being the passive feeling like you're surrounded or ensconced in the world, your character, the genre, and current situation (this will come up later).

PSYCHOCOSM, on the other tentacle, is an active move towards blurring those fantasy and reality lines.  You're supposed to use your imagination to go further into the fantasy, making it seem real by taking the game seriously (though, you don't have to be serious), visualizing what's happening with focus and concentration, and believing that in the imagination (both individual and collective), what's happening is real, having its own reality.

What exactly do I mean by each of these?

   *  Taking it seriously: Attend sessions when possible, show up ready to play, leave outside BS outside, pay attention during the game, etc.

   *  Visualization: Don't just let the details fall from the sky onto your head and lay on the ground next to your feet like so many dead pigeons.  Catch them as they fall or at the very least pick them up when they land... examine them, interact with them, breathe life into them (just as the GM does for his campaign setting), fold them into an origami unicorn - use what's provided to create future details that enrich the ongoing narrative.  If you don't use 'em, you lose 'em.  "All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in the rain."

   *  Make-believe: Same thing as willful suspension of disbelief.  You must decide that it's true, in the context of our imagination, and act accordingly.  Only you can make that leap of faith.

When you intentionally do all 3 of these things, you enter what I call a magical state.  If that's too "out there," then let's just say it's an optimized flow-state where all things are possible.  

The only barrier?  You've got to realize the potential is there, you've got to want it, and you have to go after it.  If you can do that, your active immersion has been self-actualized to the level of PSYCHOCOSM, which is the true and final goal of roleplaying games.

Visceral Style of Play

This came from messaging back and forth from a friend and supporter of Kort'thalis Publishing, particularly The Outer Presence.  My stuff is minimalist, and my approach to game design is rules-light or don't even bother with a system at all, I'll just wing it (describing stuff, asking what the PCs are doing, and then describe what happens next).

He mentioned that approach or play-style favors a visceral experience rooted in immediate and cinematic results with zero book-keeping.  Don't look at your character sheet or consult the rulebook.  Describe the situation with "making a strong impression" on your mind.  If the success or failure of the attempted action is up in the air, roll a die, but then give a fast, decisive, and impactful resolution that has significant consequences.  You know, something visceral.  

If someone has a gun pointed at your head, I don't want the player, his character, or me (the GM) calculating the hit-point to damage ratio.  I want them worried they're going to have their head blown-off.  This situation doesn't call for mechanics, it calls for removing mechanics so you only have the situation.  

When discussing this on X, I said it reminded me of Obi-Wan telling Luke to turn off his targeting computer and just feel the force.  We don't want more automation, we want less.  Manually handle the situation as you might describe the sequence of events happening in a movie, taking the game aspects out of it.  That's right, no mechanics (or at least minimal mechanics).  Trust your instincts and just figure out what happens viscerally.

In fact, if you saved the energy by ignoring mechanics and instead spent that on coming up with something awesome, you'll almost always be farther ahead. 

Rather than "if this doesn't go your way, you die," what I'm looking for in my own gaming is "if you don't do something proactive right now, you will die."  That puts the ball in their court (the player) while giving you a clear conscience to put the dice and rules and system away.  The mechanics are there to help the GM adjudicate outcomes so adventurers aren't dying left and right simply because the monsters got lucky.  As long as the PCs aren't choosing to jump into a swarm of swirling blades, they aren't going to die when I go visceral (unless it's a fairly dark one-shot).  Jumping into swirling blades is example I've used so many times it should become a meme at this point.

Running Non-D&D

I was reading a post in the Dead Games group on FB, and someone was asking about the FASA Doctor Who RPG from the 80s with Tom Baker as The Doctor and Leela on the cover (one of my favorite pairings in the entire series).  

From the day I bought it, I loved that boxed-set.  I read through it constantly over the years, only managing to create a slew of weird alien species via all the random tables included.  Even with its introductory scenes (I won't call it an actual adventure), I never really understood how to use it.  And this was after I'd discovered D&D and learned to play.

How do you Game Master an idea, a genre, or bunch of tropes and aesthetics?  I ran into similar roadblocks with other RPGs during my formative years, like CYBERSPACE.  I loved cyberpunk and knew what it was about, same with Doctor Who (I can still remember our 5th grade teacher asking all of us individually, going around the room, what our favorite TV show was and I said Doctor Who, but she misheard me and incredulously asked if I really that into "Doctor Ruth" and everyone laughed). Yes, Doctor Who was, indeed, my favorite show.  

What introductory scenarios did was become a helpful crutch to start walking (or playing in this analogy), giving you an idea of what roleplaying this particular thing should be like.  What non-D&D roleplaying games needed to do was clue us in to what RPG sessions were really about - laying down the foundation for a story that involved aspects related to the type of RPG we were supposed to run.  

If I had known that I needed to craft the beginning of a narrative that started out with a location, characters, vibe, and situation that would soon become a full-blown scenario when the PCs intersected with it, I could have started coming up with my own adventures.  But since I didn't know about that stuff when I was young, my mind defaulted to the adventuring loop of D&D (have a reason to explore, go explore, encounter people and monsters, talk to the people, defeat the monsters, loot the treasure, and repeat) or it just went blank - leaving me with no idea how to start playing Doctor Who, CYBERSPACE, and all the many RPGs I bought over the years but never played.  

Dear Skyrealms of Jorune, "work at becoming a citizen" might be the initial reason for adventuring, but it is not, in fact, a viable scenario!!! 

Now that I know this stuff, it's still tricky to come up with an appropriate adventure for something like Rocky & Bullwinkle, but at least I have the framework - location, characters, vibe, and situation - the very same thing a Doctor Who story needs to engage viewers.  

Thanks for reading, comments encouraged!

VS

p.s.  Yes, weekend badges are now available for July 2026's VENGER CON V: The Will To Power.  Want a great new TTRPG community where you can hang out with other gamers, get ideas, advice, and training in order to improve?  Look no further than the fastest-growing group on X - it's the Kult of Kort'thalis.  Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!  

Mysterious Qada'ath [Second Cha'alt Campaign]: The Pilot

 

We're finally back in campaign mode.  It's weird, I thought that after the first Cha'alt campaign ended that I'd be relieved to go back to one-shots and mini-campaigns involving other RPGs... but nope.  Turns out I really missed both Cha'alt and the joys of campaign-style play.

So, back we are.  I really want to invest in this new campaign and use the material gathered during Mysterious Qada'ath in book 4 of the Cha'alt trilogy (which is why I've postponed kickstarting the 4th book until December of NEXT year).  

I spent the last 3 weeks compiling my thoughts, notes, random tables, lists, sub-systems, crude drawings, and mechanics into a fancy spiral-bound sketchbook that I got cheap at either Michael's or Hobby Lobby.  I'll be honest, I felt a little bit silly at the start, when I only had 3 pages of this giant blank book completed.  Like, why on earth would I need 160 pages?  That's so overkill.

But now, I've got about 20 - 25 pages filled and one session in, it makes sense.  If this sketchbook is going to be my campaign bible, I'm probably going to need at least 100 pages of it so I have everything all in one place.  The disparate in-game notes, adventure summaries, random tables, explanatory lore, and just all of it spread out over several notebooks, loose pieces of paper, and written on the back of envelopes was insane.  Everything pertaining to the Mysterious Qada'ath campaign is going in this sketchbook.

Anyway, where were we?  Oh yeah, session one, which Colin and I almost immediately started referring to as "the pilot."  

Even though I invited all 6 players, two last-minute cancelations got us down to 4... which I feel a little bad about only because another guy from my gaming past (and he played in exactly 2 of the previous campaign's 17 sessions) asked if he could join us for yesterday's game (with the caveat that he probably couldn't make it most Saturdays - I think because he has his kid(s) on the weekend) but I told him the table was full.  Which it was, until... yeah.  

Call it self-indulgence of the Game Mastering variety, but for whatever reason I wanted to tie the previous investigative horror two-shot into this new Cha'alt campaign.  So, there was a strange and possibly awkward segue from 1929 Chicago detectives to Cha'alt natives.  I'm actually going to incorporate that into the campaign later, so there's a method to the madness.  But from the players' perspective, it probably just seemed like a long way to go for the veneer of showy transitional competence.  

While the Two Jacks Detective Agency employees were enjoying a nice dinner at their favorite Chinese restaurant, the Golden Palace or something like that, they got a phone call telling them they'd been accepted into a coveted spot of this enigmatic game.  Meet at Swan Point Cemetery that very night.

The PC investigators went and saw a chartreuse effulgence [Venger reluctantly puts the thesaurus down] in a crumbling mausoleum.  They go in and see masked diggers breaking through the floor into a subterranean tunnel.  A masked overseer urges them down through the tunnel to an attendant maintaining some giant machine with built-in chairs in the middle of this cave.  The attendant serves them each a vial of glowing chartreuse liquid.  He hooks them up to the machine and then weird lights and sounds go off until everything went black and the PCs wake up in the desert under a fuchsia sky with twin suns.  Not as themselves, but other people... individuals who the players generated before we actually started playing.

So, 4 players and the 4 basic classes in Advanced Crimson Dragon Slayer.  Groups don't always take one of each when faced with such a choice, but they usually do.  And this case was no exception...

• Drogan - half-orc priest
• Nix - demon thief
• Talis - droid warrior
• Ha'agly Morningwood - pixie-fairy sorcerer

This session report is already running long, so I'm going to get right to it.

The new PCs are wandering the desert and soon come to a barrier, something like the Great Wall of China, except more high-tech.  I didn't actually plan for that, that just sort of came to me during play.  But I like it.  I mean, how else would the Federation get to have checkpoints where they could ask for your papers, frisk you, question, hassle, and insult you, and probably solicit a bribe?

I needed a pejorative slang word or phrase that the Federation would have for Cha'alt natives and didn't have anything at the tip of my mind, so I asked around the table.  Drogan's player came up with "sandies" which I really liked, so we went with it.  I'll need more before too long and was considering possibilities earlier today while shoveling snow off our driveway.  I was thinking about Police Academy and Mahoney being called "dirt-bag" by one or more assholes.  Then I came up with "silt-bag."  Sand-bag didn't seem to work, plus I'm already using sand for sandies.  So, now I've got two good ones for when Federation soldiers want to be offensive.

I assume woke SJW GMs and players don't spend time coming up with in-game offensive terms, but they should.  They really, really should.  Being purposefully offensive is part of the human experience.

Anyway, the Federation checkpoint was nearby.  The party's pixie sorcerer flew over the wall to survey the area.  Just a couple of workers on a lunchbreak, two Federation guards and a third in a sand-speeder about 100' away.

Two other NPCs were in front of the party, being subjected to Federation scrutiny.  Eventually, they went through, after one of the soldiers took the NPC's crystal-rimmed jaccard (everyone laughed at the in-joke because such a weird device surfaced multiple times in the previous Cha'alt campaign).

Next, it was the PCs, minus the pixie-fairy who was still flying out of sight.  The Federation were about to confiscate the assassin-droid's retractable vibro-blade when the droid instinctively decided to blast the shit out of him, instead.  After seeing that violence was the way to go, Nix took his twin-daggers and stabbed the other Federation soldier in the back, killing him.  

The third was in their sand-speeder, but the droid aimed and took his shot at Disadvantage because of distance.  He managed to hit and did quite a bit of damage, so all three were dead before the second round.  They gathered up blasters and valuables, got in the sand-speeder, asked the two NPCs if they wanted to come along for the ride (they did), and started heading south to the mysterious city of Qada'ath.

Before reaching Qada'ath, they arrived at a settlement filled with tents and adobe-like structures.  They parked and searched around for answers, local intel, and a cool drink.  I believe one of the NPCs mentioned that getting inside the city would be tricky since it was surrounded by something called the orange labyrinth.

The PCs found a cantina and put the word out that they were looking for work.  The bartender put them in touch with someone at the outer settlement's Quick Stop convenience store who had a job for the adventurers.  Assassinate a politico from Qada'ath who was making life hard for the outer settlements and who was only going to be here for a limited time.

While Talis did the lion's share of finding gainful employment, Nix eavesdropped on cantina patrons to see what was happening.  Turns out that a swanky caravan had just slithered into town in order to pick up some purple.  "Purple... what's that?" Nix inquired.  He found out that the outer settlements was famous for it's manufacture of something called Tyrian purple - a unique shade of purple fiercely desired by lords, ladies, aristocrats, nobles, sorcerers, royalty, and priests.  For many, Tyrian purple was worth more than gold!

Meanwhile, more Federation troops moved into the outer settlements area where the PCs parked their sand-speeder.  Some thief had taken the communicator belonging to one of the dead Federation soldiers.  So, Feds were questioning people, getting leads, rounding up the usual suspects, putting up wanted posters, etc.

At the Quick Stop, the two NPCs thanked the adventurers for their help and hoped they'd all eventually meet up again in Qada'ath but decided they couldn't follow them down this path of assassination-for-hire.  They were going to find their own way into the city.

Nix already used his natural demon ability of persuading people to do things in his best interest for the day, but I ruled (and this is going to carry forward henceforth in the campaign... and beyond) that a point of Divine Favor can also be spent to (re)use a limited special ability that had already been expended.

So, the PCs are between going in and blasting this little pink squidgy guy named Kra'ang or convince him to hire the PCs to be his new bodyguard / entourage, thus getting them into the city and living on easy street.  

Nix uses his persuasion to get past the guard and into the administrative building, which they do.  They barge in and start talking to Kra'ang who rides around in a "convertible dalek" surrounded by bodyguards.  Talis does his best to convince Kra'ang that he's the best assassin droid this side of the galaxy.  And Kra'ang says, "Prove it."  So, Talis shoots Kra'ang in the face, nearly killing him.

It was such a perfect set-up that no one, even Kra'ang looking back on the situation, could hate on the assassin droid for taking the shot.

As the PCs dealt with the bodyguards, they heard a flushing sound (wondering aloud if someone had been in the restroom the entire time).  Talis distracted one of Kra'ang's goons to get a free shot, but missed.  All three other PCs killed a bodyguard, and the last one left was on Drogan, but he missed, and had already used his Divine Favor.  So, he had a choice (assuming he didn't want to just wait another round)... he could Fuchsia Burn or stimulate a Cha'alt X-Card.

He chose the "HUMOR" Cha'alt X-Card and stimulated it, suggesting something with the toilet flushing since that had already been established and would be ripe for additional humor.

I could have said, "Ok, let's put that on the back burner while I deal with the combat at hand."  As you can see, the GM isn't forced to create something in that specific moment when a Cha'alt X-Card is stimulated... he's well within his rights to take his bloody time and let the Cha'altian trope inspire him on his own terms - something which many critics don't take into consideration.

However, whenever possible, I like to combine the various story strings together, tying them into a narrative knot of interconnection.

So, Drogan uppercuts the last bodyguard who slipped on the neon-pink toilet water where Kra'ang was sitting in his convertible dalek.  Boom, cracked skull!  But that flushing sound had been Kra'ang escaping somewhere.  Only one person in the party was small enough to fit down there - Morningwood the pixie-fairy.  So, he went down on the urging of the PCs.  I had him roll to not drown in the neon-pink toilet water, but the rolls were not kind.  After exhausting the last Divine Favor, the other players convinced Morningwood's player to roll a die corresponding to the lavender moons of destiny.  

"This is exactly why the infernal destiny dice were invented," Colin stated.  And I could not disagree.  So he rolled with one of my specialty custom-painted dice that I had on hand for such occasions, and rolled a motherfucking SIX!  He made it through, landing inside a low-ceilinged smooth black pod; Kra'ang at the miniature controls.  Being a pixie-fairy sorcerer, his bow and arrow only did one point of damage, so I had him roll a d4 to determine how many times he shot him before Kra'ang managed to press the eject button and send Morningwood flying out of the ship.  FOUR!

After being ejected, Kra'ang's black ship went over the orange labyrinth and into the city, just below the hovering Great Old One that covered Qada'ath.  Now, because those moments in a character's life are meant to reverberate (creating outward ripples that keep going), I have something special planned between Kra'ang and Morningwood, based on that critical-success of the destiny die.  But that won't be revealed until next session.

Before the end, the other PCs ransacked the administrative building and then went into hiding among the outer settlements.

Now, there was one last thing to do.  I came up with something for downtime between sessions over here, and wanted to give it a go.  Below is what each PC chose...

• Nix wanted to find a secret way into the city, which he had overheard was a possibility.
• Drogan sought understanding of high-tech medicine used my the Federation [after the last fight and Talis was wounded, we learned/decided that priests using their supernatural gifts can't heal droids].
• Talis wants to hunt the hunters, taking the seek-and-destroy to the Federation, instead of waiting for the Federation to get the PCs.
• Ha'agly Morningwood also wanted to keep an eye on the Federation and find an alternative into the city... so, basically assisting Nix.

At the beginning of next session in 2 weeks, I'll roll to see how well everyone did, which will push the story forward.  As Roger suggested in a comment on that blog post, it's a way of making narrative sense why a certain PC isn't around if that player can't show up for whatever reason.  Let's say that Nix's player can't make it.  Well, his search for that hidden way into Qada'ath is a perfect reason why he's not with the rest of the group for the subsequent adventure.

At the end of the day, we should ask ourselves... was PSYCHOCOSM achieved?  And if the answer is yes, the game was demonstrably successful because immersion is key to roleplaying games and PSYCHOCOSM, the willed blurring of lines between fantasy and reality, is key to immersion.  It's a process you can plan for, hope for, set yourself up for success, but first and foremost, it's about you.  PSYCHOCOSM is in your tender hands... or tentacles; manifested by your willpower.

That's all, folks!  It did feel like the pilot episode for a new TV show - airing now on skin-a-maxxx!  So, I'm looking forward to seeing how everything develops.  So far, all the groundwork put into the ruleset (Advanced Crimson Dragon Slayer) and world (all 3 Cha'alt books + the previous campaign) and new stuff (all my sketchbook stuff, downtime thing, etc.).

I do want to take the time right now to WARN MYSELF OF POTENTIAL IMPENDING DOOM if I have too many wild threads loose and going all over the place.  I have a tendency to do that, I've noticed, so want to consciously reduce the amount of threads and tie up some loose ends (at least to the point where I know where they are, where they're going, and closure is within reach) before introducing a whole new bundle of open-ended, anything goes story threads.  It's fun to pile on more (like buying new miniatures before you've painted the ones you already own), but I won't allow myself to be reckless about it.

Now, we put it all together and see what works.  We're running this campaign on a session by session basis, but also per campaign-length stride.  It's not about anything as abstract and unattainable as "perfection" but what kind of remarkable juice we can get out of each momentary squeeze. 

Thanks for reading,

VS

p.s. Still a few more days to take advantage of our BLACK FRIDAY SALE - details here.  Don't have your weekend badge for VENGER CON III: Revenge of the OSR yet?  What are you waiting for, hoss?  Game with the best!  info and badge acquisition here.

"Prophecy Mine" [Cha'alt one-shot session report]

 

I'm so glad that I ended my Crystals of Chaos, 9-month and 17-session Cha'alt campaign before leaving for vacation.  After 3 weeks, I come back to only two players being available... which wouldn't have worked.  And not sure about next week, either, but I'm going to schedule a session.

Between inertia and analysis paralysis, I chose to run more Cha'alt, which upon reflection, just seems stupid.  That's like being on a cheesecake diet for most of the year and then when you're off the diet, you decide to eat cheesecake.

I mean, there's literally dozens of RPGs I own that I could have run, that I probably should have run.  On the other hand, I do love cheesecake... and Cha'alt.  So, here we are.  Another Cha'alt one-shot, but this time in-person (as opposed to the virtual one-shots I run once or twice a month on Roll20).

Oh yeah, a small but deciding factor was my custom, hand-made Cha'alt X-Cards [YouTube video showing all 8 of the finished cards] which would be finished by game time (Saturday afternoon).  We ended up only using 2 of the 8, but that playtest experiment was fruitful, as I believe you will see by the end of this session report.

Ok, my two players started the session with new 3rd level characters - Nix the salty and crusty, chaotic, ambidextrous demon thief and Ha'arumph the half-orc, also chaotic, always positive but a bit dim warrior with a giant spoon-shaped weapon named Soulnier the Castrator in which Ha'arumph can project his smoldering, volcanic intensity.  Once the half-orc's player, Steve, started voicing the character, I saw him as an orcish Simple Jack from one of my favorite comedies, Tropic Thunder!

Both PCs lived in Kra'adumek and had been day laborers, recently promoted to troubleshooters by the Purple Priests of that city-state.  This halfling with a gimpy leg ushered them to the Great Temple where they were blessed and told of their mission - explore an old crystal mine.  All the crystals were gone, but signs and portents indicated that something strange may be happening in the caves and tunnels of that old mine.  

While in the temple of the Purple Priests, they noticed a "holy water" font filled with zoth and a familiar saying carved just below one of many Lovecraftian Gods - "Where there's fuchsia, chartreuse cannot be far behind."  This is something the PCs had heard throughout their lives.

The adventurers hired a couple of reptilian riding spiders which cut their time in half.  I don't roll for it often, but decided to check and see if the Fuchsia Putrescence (borrowed and slightly altered from The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence) would be seen overhead.  Sure enough, it was.  

The PCs narrowly avoided getting scooped up by a tentacle and devoured by the gargantuan floating thing above.

Shortly after, they made it to the mouth of the cave.  It soon forked, and the thief scouted ahead, noticing 3 humanoids who were using advanced technology (a sort of ultra-vibrational tuning fork device) to pry a particularly large and hard to get at purple crystal from the wall.  

Just before the PCs made their presence known, everyone heard a female cry for help coming from the other tunnel.  The PCs hid, hoping the humanoids would pass by without noticing them.  Sure enough (since I rolled a 1 for the NPCs' perception check), they didn't see shit.

That's when the PCs decided to dig that ostrich-egg sized purple crystal the rest of the way out, using the warrior's sharpened spoon weapon that he could heat up.  It eventually popped out just as they heard even more insistent screams from a woman.

Taking the crystal with them, the PCs checked it out.  They found a woman stuck halfway in a smaller tunnel.  And the 3 humanoids had pulled the female's pants down (she was still wearing her underwear) and who knows what would have transpired if not for their timely intervention.

With a quip and flashing blades, the battle commenced.  Wounds were taken on each side, but Nix and Ha'arumph easily prevailed.  Then, they unstuck the woman and got to hear what she was about... a recently escaped slave who noticed a glowing banana about 9-feet inside a smaller tunnel.

Using the smaller Nix and the spoon weapon, they fished out a novelty, banana-shaped crystal rimmed jaccard.  Nix took that, being a thief [it's so unbelievably useful that a crystal rimmed jaccard grants the thief using it Advantage when employing the tools of his trade], and gave the woman, Parev, the 40 talons they took off the dead NPCs.  Parev wanted to join their little band, hoping strength in numbers would allow her to survive.

On their way to check out her screams, the PCs had bypassed another tunnel to the north.  So, they backtracked to see what was down there.  A slumbering creature covered in tentacles!  They left it alone, proceeding to other areas.

They found a pool of zoth with several humanoids (the slavers who Parev escaped from, in fact) around it.  The leader, Blood Beard, about to plunge his sword into the zoth in order to enchant it with ichor of the Great Old Ones.  The PCs went in another direction before engaging with them.  They found a petrified worm and just around the corner two braziers making the entire area fragrant with peach incense.  That system of tunnels and caves terminated with a fuchsia door. 

Nix and Ha'arumph spent a decent amount of time on that door, trying various ways to open it.  Some techniques were so ingenious, I almost caved, but there was a specific way of getting that fuchsia door open.

Eventually, they guessed... or at least assumed that zoth might open the fuchsia door.  Not wanting a direct confrontation with the humanoids in the zoth pool cave, they devised a plan.  One of them would lure the humanoids out, and the other would draw the sleeping Lovecraftian creature down the tunnel so the two would intersect.  

I had each PC roll a d6.  If a 1 was rolled, their plan would breakdown at some point leading to potential disaster.  Steve, usually the worst roller at our table, did not disappoint.  He rolled a 1, but I reminded him that if he tapped one of the Cha'alt X-Cards, that would yield a point of Divine Favor so he could re-roll.  He pulled the eldritch card, and rolled a 3 to counteract the critical failure.

I described how the sleeping tentacled thing's psionic-shadow rose and followed him as the half-orc attempted to mind-meld with it. Then, as planned, the two factions made contact.  I wasn't sure how to adjudicate the battle between mythos spawn and NPC slavers; so, I had each player roll a d20.  Nix's player rolled slightly higher.  I described the head-slaver, Blood Beard, as the sole survivor, withdrawing his glowing magical blade from the shadow thing.

It only took a couple rounds for the PCs to dispatch Blood Beard, since he had been wounded by the creature.  Then, they looted the bodies.  Aside from some gold and a set of miniature thieves tools, there was a cerulean ring, it's jewel dancing in the faint light of torches and mystic crystals.  The PCs didn't have a sorcerer, nor time to discover it's magical nature, but it makes water taste like fine worm wine to the ring-wearer.

Having the overgrown spoon weapon dripping with zoth, Ha'arumph hit the fuchsia door again, and this time zoth droplets were visibly absorbed into the door, it shimmered, and opened.  Inside, all was blackness.  

They walked through and found themselves exiting a nearly identical door into a nearly identical cave which they'd just left.  However, this door was chartreuse.  And instead of peach incense, the braziers issued a citrus lemon-lime fragrance.  Oh, and the petrified sandworm was no longer petrified.  Wisely, the PCs decided to creep past it with ludicrous success - to the point where we all speculated if the worm might be blind.

Realizing this was some kind of parallel universe, the adventures retread their steps to see what else was different.  Their first inclination was to see if another crystal was there.  It was, but this time, it was a fuchsia crystal.  So, they liberated that and kept going north to find a couple of cultists guarding a malevolent entity summoned by their High Priest.  For now, the monstrous demonic creature was trapped inside a magic circle.

Nix and Ha'arumph surprised the cultists, but had difficulty finishing them off, mostly due to Steve's infamously terrible rolling.  I suggested maybe drawing another Cha'alt X-Card from the pile, and he obliged.  This time he drew sleaze and described how Ha'arumph quickly stripped Parev's clothes and pushed her into the cultist - who was so shocked that he involuntarily grabbed her naked breasts and proceeded to motorboat them as the half-orc warrior hacked into him from behind.

Not wanting to be left out of the sleaze-making, I described how the summoned creature's tentacle went through the backside of a distracted cultist standing near it... into his ass and out his mouth.  It took a round to shake the dead cultist from its tentacle.  If Colin had been there, I know I could have wrangled a "gross" out of him.  ;)

Realizing how formidable the summoned creature probably was, the PCs made an expeditious retreat.  The cultists pursued the PCs all the way back to the chartreuse door... where the sandworm was waiting.  They discretely snuck past (they originally rolled so well - two natural 20s and a 19, so I had no problem letting them sidestep the worm).  However, the High Priest and his cultist companion weren't so fortunate.  The sandworm ate the High Priest and I believe Ha'arumph decapitated the cultist.  

Oh yeah, either just before or during the PCs' retreat, the half-orc used the purple and fuchsia crystals to mind-meld with the demonic thing trying to break out of the magic circle.  Steve rolled a 19 (in 17 sessions, no one had ever seen him roll anything higher than that), so not only did he repel the demon's psychic force (that I was fully prepared to let a disastrous roll crush the half-orc's already simple mind), but also glean an insight as to how they might get home, in case it wasn't obvious.

By now, I would hope that several of you might have guessed the solution - hold the fuchsia crystal up to the chartreuse door.  That's what the half-orc did, and the door opened, allowing them to return to their own universe.

Getting back and being "home free" was pretty much the ending.  I didn't have anything beyond that planned.  We got a late start, so that was a three-hour session.

Delving into the Cha'alt X-Cards some more, instead of earning a point of Divine Favor (which appeared from that session's vantage point to be "the middle man")... the end result was diverting failure into a more prosperous direction.  Both times Steve played a Cha'alt card, he attempted to turn a bad roll (or result) around.  As it should be.  Sure, an anti-climax may be possible, but shouldn't that be the exception, not the rule (all things being equal, at 3rd level, most straight-up rolls are 50/50).  

Essentially, if we decided to continue along that route (doing away with the Divine Favor's re-roll), the "cost" of finding a silver lining to the current situation's cloud was coming up with a way to make the game more eldritch, sleazy, etc.  

After all, what is Divine Favor if not the gods of Cha'alt nudging reality in a way that's favorable to the adventurer implementing it?  Since I, as Game Master, step-in to the role of Cha'alt gods, it's ultimately up to me to decide just how much help to give the PCs and what that looks like when the smoke clears.

Just the way it was organically used in the session took Cha'alt X-Cards in that direction.  I'm excited to see what happens the next time we use them.  Now that I'm aware of that possibility, I'd be happy to forgo Divine Favor (and the resultant re-roll) instead of offering a celestial offramp that mitigates whatever failure that PC is currently wallowing in.

Basically, what I'm trying to say (at least partly) is that even if a Divine Favor reroll was unsuccessful, an aspect of my GMness feels bound to give the PC a leg-up.  And if that's the case, then the Divine Favor is rather superfluous.  It may not be what the PC or player intended, but something good will no doubt come from altering the fabric of reality via Cha'alt card narrative influence.

Hey, at least I'm consciously aware of my bias.  Favoritism, like privilege, isn't a dirty word.  And neither is "design."  As in, this is the way I've designed my game, my adventure, my campaign, the way I Game Master.  It's tailored to my specifications.

I feel like so many GMs are pushed and pulled, swayed this way and that by their unconscious mind... unaware of why they make the rulings they do.  Oh sure, we all have dice to fall back on, but if I may quote another favorite movie John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness... "He lives in the smallest parts of it.  In the atoms... smaller... invisible... he lives in all of it."

By that I mean, even with clearly defined parameters and success or failure determined by rolling, the GM has too much power, too much control to remain absolutely neutral.  Over time, absolute neutrality is an impossibility.  

In fact, I would caution GMs from clinging to the falsehood of neutrality in favor of consciously helping to create the type of experience they'd like to see.  We're not the sole author (don't forget the players are there, too).  However, it is our story.  In this case, I feel the need to clarify that "our" means GMs take an active part in it, and are most likely the prime creator - but that doesn't mean the GM owns it fully or that other narrative contributions are meaningless.

Did someone say PSYCHOCOSM?!?

Even though I would have liked a break from Cha'alt, I'm happy we went back there, into that world.  But I can almost guarantee that the next time we play, it'll be a different game.  No matter how much I love cheesecake, I still crave other desserts - and this week, it's apple-cider donuts!

Thanks for reading,

VS

p.s. Do you have your weekend badge for VENGER CON III: Revenge of the OSR yet?  If not, don't wait.  You do NOT want to miss an entire weekend of non-woke gaming with some of the most outrageous, controversial, and awesome gamers in the hobby today!  Additionally, I've still got Cha'alt hardcovers for sale - details right over here.

Shaking The Cobwebs Loose

 

I think it had been at least 3 weeks since I'd sat behind the screen.  For me, that seems like an eternity without Game Mastering...

Which, now that I think about it, makes me wonder how long it's been since I was a player.  Wow, it's been years, maybe 4 or 5 years.  That seems incredible to me.

Even though I want to GM as much as I possibly can in about 3 weeks from now... VENGER CON, baby!  I still want to play.  Would love to experience Cha'alt from the other side of the screen.  Hopefully, I'll get that opportunity.

Anyway, last night's game was fantastic (as per usual).  5 players, which is ideal for a virtual table.  This time I expanded the session to TWO WHOLE HOURS!!!  I know, your mind must be absolutely blown.  I'll wait while you scrape up the more solid bits and scoop it back into your brain-hole.

The usual pondering Kort'thalis meta-sigil occurred.  Remember this?  And I listened to this and this.  I like some dark ambient in the background, no matter if it's live or virtual.

The session was new.  I went with a technique which suits me when it's just a casual online session.  I had a bunch of notes and then just winged-it the rest of the time.  A lot of people don't like text only, but in a virtual game, I prefer it.  Since people usually think out what they want to say before typing it out, I get a minute or two before players respond to what I've said.  That extra time is all I need to come up with 3 or 4 options, and then I just pick the best and go with it.

Eventually, I'll turn all these little scenarios into bite-sized, one-shot PDFs, and then include them in book 4 of the Cha'alt trilogy.  But that won't be until the 4th quarter of 2023 (at the earliest).

Anyway, subterranean temple the PCs spotted after wading into the final moments of a pitched battle between two opposing forces.  One dressed in blue, the other orange.

I can't say anymore, except that everyone but the cleric was knocked unconscious at one point, yet no one died (which is nice).  Also, I borrowed liberally from a 1985 American scifi TV show that never made it to the finale of season one.  It's called Otherworld.

Yes, I have "bad" taste in movies and television (not really, but that's what a lot of my haters say) and I haven't aged beyond 12 or 14 when it comes to what I think is cool (Ok, that's true.  You got me there).

I will, however, post noteworthy lines from the session, along with a bit of commentary...

• "The rules are only a guideline, anyway." It's fine if players ask me, "Should I have died?" or "Don't I need to roll for that?" But don't be surprised when I let the game happen.  Flow stems from immersion, I find.  The more the game feels real, the more flexibility you have.  It's a GMing vibe I'm going to start calling PSYCHOCOSM.  Yes, I'm going to just start saying "psychocosm" in casual RPG conversations like people should know WTF I'm talking about.  Lol, hilarious!
• "Greige is chartreuse for color-phobes." 
• "Down the hatch." I don't know why, but that makes me laugh every time I read it.
• "Real adventurers don't ask, they just do." Don't worry, this wasn't about sex. One PC asked another PC if he should go topside and investigate the dead body they found several minutes ago.  And I'm like, don't ask; go do it! The player said he did that for in-game / character reasons, which is fine... nevertheless, my point still stand.
• "Baja Blast, clearly the true treasure."  You just had to be there, man.

Well, thanks for reading.  If you have any questions, just ask.  Hope to see many of you at VENGER CON.  It's so close now, I can almost taste it...

VS

p.s. If you haven't grabbed my latest Cha'alt one-shot adventure, it's available direct from me - only $3.  Details here.

Negative Karma Pools

 

I try to go through life with my senses open.  

Do za'akier have antennae?  Probably. 

When I read or hear a certain word or phrase, it sometimes triggers my pineal gland, giving fruit to inspiration.

Today's post was inspired by a video by The OG GM's Adventures, specifically this one over here.

He mentioned negative karma pools, and that jarred something in me... and now I'm blogging about it. 

It took me a few minutes to decide what "negative karma pools" might mean.  And this is what I came up with... 

Extra GM dice for when the players take direct action deemed culturally, ethically, or morally egregious, according to the campaign setting.  

This could be anything from naming your character Bob, throwing personal artifacts contained in a mausoleum on the ground so you can bone an attractive woman (Just watched Broken Lizard's Club Dread), shitting in a S'kbah oasis, or stabbing a faithful guide in the back just to save a few gold pieces.

The first time it happens, the GM earns a bonus d4 to use as he will against the PCs.  The second occurrence earns him a d6.  The third, a d8.  Then a d10, d12, and finally d20 [edit: these dice are cumulative, that's why it's called a pool]. GMs don't need to spend these bonus dice; they may reserve them for a later date.  Whatever result is rolled may be added to any dice the GM rolls, such as to-hit, damage, NPC or monster saving throw, etc. 

Let me know what you think of this idea, if you have suggestions, questions, or comments... I want to know.  Give me feedback, hoss!

VS

p.s. For a limited time, Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows is 25% off.  Also, I've sold 20 out of 100 tickets to this July's VENGER CON in Madison, WI.  Get yours before they sell out!

Cinema Verite

 

Ok, I've been talking about this a bit on my YouTube channel.  Now, it's time to blog.

What is cinema verite and how does it apply to roleplaying games?

Basically, it's presenting life in a truthful or realistic way.  Instead of focusing on story, plot, or points of interest (like sandboxes do), verite or "truth" creates a space for characters to just be themselves, hanging out, wandering around, interacting with who or what's out there, etc.  Maybe the characters get into trouble, maybe they learn about where they are, or maybe they're curious about what's over the next sand dune?

It's experimental / documentary style filmmaking or gaming that allows for stylized setups and interaction between subjects.  The GM is encouraged to provoke the various elements or ingredients, including the PCs.  Story is minimal or limited, but it doesn't come from the GM.  Whatever flimsy excuse for a story there is springs directly from the PCs and what they make of things.

With cinema verite or whatever you apply verite to, you try to capture the reality of life without any artificial drama or artistic embellishments.  It focuses on the everyday lives of characters and relatable situations.  Obviously, this is a stretch with the RPG genres we know and love (fantasy, scifi, horror, etc.), but it can still be done.

Many sessions are unscripted, but how many feel like a slice of life or fly on the wall, akin to the reality tv format?  Has anyone codified a style of gaming that, like Seinfeld, was essentially about nothing?  Even Seinfeld questioned itself, if you remember the pitch meeting with George and Jerry.  George maintained that it should be a show about nothing.  Nothing happens!  However, Jerry hedged that it wasn't absolutely nothing, you still have some dramatic elements to keep people interested and entertained.  

Personally, I think that interplay is fascinating and provides food for thought.  How much nothing can a session have before it's not the least bit entertaining or worth playing?  If it has too little nothing, can it still be called verite?  I'm sure there's a balance that comes with those actually engaging in it.  Certain individuals will want less while others want more.  So it goes...

I've seen plenty of hybrids where there's some kind of story happening, but also a hands-off GMing style that lets PCs goof off, follow their nose, or do whatever - without shuttling them to the next location or NPC or monster.  I've run a lot of games like that.

And this style doesn't mean the characters are without goals.  They should be motivated by something.  We're not talking about using lifeless mannequins as our roleplaying avatars.  But maybe their goal is so far removed from the present that it's not a consideration, such as wanting to meet a leprechaun, or it is a consideration but more of an internal struggle, like trying to be a good person or live up to his family's expectations, rather than storm a castle to save the princess.  

What about hooks?  Keeping the borderlands safe because of one reason or another would constitute a hook, but not a story or plot.  I'm sure my thinking on all this will evolve over time and I'll be better able to codify it down the road.  

At the moment, I'm most interested in diving into pure (or more distilled) verite sesssions which I've dabbled with several times over the past few years, without realizing what I was doing.  I just never thought of it in those terms.  But it seems to me like a style that's different enough to be recognized and have its own name.  

And before anyone asks, there's no inherently right or wrong way to do RPGs.  This verite style isn't better or worse, just like impressionism isn't better or worse than expressionism.  They're two different categories of art.

I've got a poll up on Twitter right now for what this category or style of gaming should be called... verite, adventures about nothing, anti-story (perhaps minimal story is closer, actually), or slice of life.  I'm going to settle on a name in a couple days and blog / vlog about this more.

In the meantime, here is a video of me explaining cinema verite in this context.  This is a video where I explain the difference between verite and sandbox style gaming.

Your feedback is appreciated, so comment away!

VS

p.s. The Xma'as special for gorgeous hardcover Cha'alt books is still happening!  $90 for both Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise books and PDFs (that includes shipping inside the USA; outside add $40).  Hardcovers are numbered, signed, and personalized by me.  

3-Sentence Opener Contest

 

I'm running a tasty little contest from now until midnight of H.P. Lovecraft's birthday, August 20th.  That gives you seven days!

Ok, how do you play / win?  First, let me dribble unto thee with some unsolicited Game Mastering advice.

You don't need much to start off an RPG session.  In fact, you shouldn't have much at all.  

What you should have is a tight three-sentence opener that 1) grabs the players attention, 2) motivates the characters to get off their asses to do something, and 3) involves some kind of worldbuilding, genre emphasis, and/or foreshadowing of what's about to happen.

No easy task!

In my opinion, every GM worth his essential salts should have a few of these in his back-pocket... just in case the opportunity should arise yet inspiration falls short.

THE RULES

Comment below with one or more of your own openers (feel free to post as many as you want).  They have to be exactly three sentences, and you should be mindful of the above criteria.

Your opener does NOT have to be setting or world specific, so don't feel like you have to make yours fit Cha'alt.  However, I AM partial to the eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, and post-apocalypse...

I'm the only judge (but feel free to comment with your own hot-take), and the contest closes at midnight on August 20th.

THE PRIZES

First Prize will receive both gorgeous Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise hardcovers [USA residents don't have to pay shipping.  Canadian residents must pay $30; other international residents must pay $45... or they can choose to take the 2nd place prize, instead.]

Second Prize will receive every Cha'alt PDF.

Third Prize will receive any one Kort'thalis Publishing PDF of their choosing.

THE FINE PRINT

I may compile the submitted entries into a FREE PDF sometime down the road.  Your submission grants me the right to include it, but you can also freely use your submission yourself at any point in the future.  Credit will be given if accompanied with the author's name or pseudonym.  

____

Good luck and thanks for playing!

VS

p.s. Yes, I'm still selling the aforementioned luxury hardcovers.  Ordering details can be found here.  If you haven't secured your ticket to next July's VENGER CON, do it now!

Why OSR Leans Conservative

Now, this is, of course, a generalization.  Old school D&D play-styles tend towards a more conservative perspective. 

But why, some of you are asking?  Well, I've had trouble putting my finger on it... always dancing around the issue and never quite getting to the core, the essence.  That is, until today when I watched Ben Shapiro's Sunday Special with George Will. 

It's around the 6:45 mark that things became clear to me: either the exhilaration of an open world or planning things from above.  Those are the two options, or perhaps a mix of both.

Those who prefer old school D&D (and other games) like the inherent uncontrolled chaos, spontaneity, and vast opportunity available with a sandbox style campaign.  It's exciting because anything could happen.  You could get killed in the first encounter... or eventually wind up as King!

Those preferring newer RPGs and play-styles want everything decided ahead of time, equitable, balanced, fair, and more or less predictable.  It's safe, but everyone should get more or less what they expect. 

As in games, so in life.  No wonder there's a culture war going on within the RPG hobby, industry, and community. 

Later, Mr. Will talks about some of the founding fathers of America and framers of he U.S. Constitution, describing them as deists.  I haven't thought about deism for some time, but have always seen the wisdom in that concept. 

"The Deist God is like a rich aunt in Australia... benevolent, but rarely heard from."

Who thinks that GMing is a bit like Deism?  He sets the scene and then just floats away until maybe towards the end, adjudicating from afar.

It's The Dungeon Master style of GMing that I talked about here.

Anyway, I found the entire discussion to be worth listening to.  Perhaps you will, too.

VS

p.s. I still have Cha'alt hardcovers.  Click this link for details!

Shades of Amber

Patrick Stuart's False Machine review of Amber: Diceless Role-Playing brought up a lot of great memories.  I haven't played Amber since High School in the early 90's, and haven't read the core rulebook in over a decade, yet Wujcik's wisdom seems burned into my psyche.

I just re-read his review, and while I can't pinpoint the exact sentence getting to the heart of this blog post, it's in there somewhere.  Allow me to plunge my warlock hands into the primordial soup and see what I can yank out...

As a designer of RPGs myself, my foundation seems to be context.  In any interaction, there are a number of variables, each having their own weight, pushing and pulling the odds of success, failure, or something in-between hither and yon. 

For me personally, needing to hit a target number of 14, rolling a 15, and saying, "Yeah, you hit," or rolling a 13 and saying, "Nope, you miss," just doesn't satisfy me like it did when I started out playing Basic D&D in grade school. 

After years of gaming, I realized how much I preferred subtlety, nuance, interpretation, the dice as oracle and I, Game Master, as the one who speaks for them.  I want the dice to give me a range, a degree of good, bad, and ugly where I'm able to refine the raw material... shades of gray, rather than just rolling to see if the outcome is either black or white.

That's why I came up with VSd6, a system using d6 dice pools.  The result allowing GMs to know which way the wind is blowing so they can narrate the actual outcome... their outcome, rather than something hypothetical and polarized.  In this way, the dice results are like potential energy, awaiting the GM's ultimate determination.

Where Amber expects the GM to do all the factoring in his head, the RPGs of Kort'thalis Publishing (Alpha Blue, Crimson Dragon Slayer, The Outer Presence, and Blood Dark Thirst) provide tools cutting out much of the guesswork. 

The GM as final arbiter; rules merely a framework for GM and players to immerse themselves in virtual reality - is the very definition of old school.  That's why I believe both Amber: Diceless and my own RPGs are essentially OSR.

VS