Internville

This was going to be for Crosstoberfest (remember that?) last year, combining the Hollow Tooth Diaries and Workshop Tomorrow. I was going to wait until next month to publish it in Crosstoberfest Redux. Today, Friend Kris threw down the gauntlet, challenging me to write a one-page RPG, done by tonight. I'd been musing on this one for almost a year, so I figured I may as well put it down on e-paper.

With that, I present to you, Internville.

Update Update Update

Not much content lately. I apologize to all three of my readers (that might be an ambitious estimate). I've been working on secret projects.

For some quick content, isn't it cool when RPGs are written with a distinct style? It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's delightful. Some examples:

• The conversational (Trail of Cthulhu)
• The darkly comedic (Deadlands, Paranoia)
• The poetically academic (Houses of the Blooded)
• Whatever the heck Nobilis is

Some other styles a prospective author probably shouldn't use:

• The belligerent ("Of course you can't combine ability modifiers on a single challenge roll! What the hell is your problem?")
• The Ye Olde Harde Core ("Like the noble warriors of old would honour their weapons, honour thy dice. They are your sword and shield against the foul terrors of the dark!")
• The critical theorist ("Attribute is the linguistic container used to collect a number of different 'truths' or 'rules' that can, in the collective idea-space, affect the shared hallucination between the players/performers.)

Imagine your own terribly inappropriate game writing styles! Collective fun!

The Worst Game in the World Award!

It's been far too long since I complained about games on the Internet. To rectify this grievous breach of proper online conduct, I present to you the Worst Game in the World Award! Celebrating the most misguided blunders in the name of personal amusement, a recipient of the WGITWA needs to fail so comprehensively that it is not only uninteresting, but actively infuriating.

The results are in! Imagine a drumroll, then click “Read More” once you are sufficiently excited.

Spectrum Cosmos: Meet the Factions

In order to populate a miniatures game in the modern style from the MIRACLES OF TOMORROW features, some extrapolation is necessary. First, most pieces full-fledged characters, and not 'generic' squads and soldiers. Additionally, MIRACLES was not an attempt to build a consistent setting in the model of a modern science fiction series. Any continuity between stories is as likely a product of plagiarism as it is a product of methodical world-building.

So while many of the characters, names, inventions and concepts come from Osterhagen's writers, the unifying setting framework is largely my own design. Some of the information in this framework may contradict details from the original texts, but I am striving to keep the spirit of the originals intact while developing a 'sourcebook' for the Spectrum Cosmos universe. I intend to post this sourcebook (with references, of course) in ad hoc instalments on the blog here. Look for the “Sourcebook Corner” tag.

Of course, all this work is in service to the Spectrum Cosmos game, so let's begin with something at the heart of an appealing miniatures game – the factions! To fully represent the Spectrum Cosmos setting, there would be no fewer than seven (maybe eight) distinct factions and a robust roster of mercenary forces. In brief, they are:

Spectrum Cosmos - The Basics Concluded

Okay, you didn't read all of that. I didn't read all of that. It's not as bad as it looks, I swear. Here's the cheat sheet.

The Turn

1. Beginning Phase – Effects that begin, end, or trigger at the beginning of the turn do so.
2. Activation Phase – Players activate their units one at a time. During a unit's activation, it may move its speed and then do one of the following:

• Perform a Simple action on the unit's profile. If the modified Skill on the Simple action is at least 1, it is successful. One Command Card of the appropriate suit may be played, adding its value to the unit's Skill. If successful, resolve the action's effects immediately.
• Perform a contested action on the unit's profile, declaring an enemy unit as the target. The target must immediately declare a reaction. It can use a Default reaction, or play a Command Card to use the corresponding reaction with a bonus. The acting unit cannot improve its Skill with a Command Card. Assuming both action and reaction are valid, compare the Skill values of the action and the reaction. Only the ability with the higher Skill takes effect. The acting player wins ties. The successful ability is resolved immediately.
• Play a Command Card face down, declaring an enemy unit as the target. The target may play a Command Card in response or declare a Default reaction.
• Take no action.

3. Resolution Phase – Once all the active player's units have activated, the Resolution Phase begins. One at a time, the active player chooses a face-down Command Card to reveal. Actions are resolved in the same fashion as in the Activation Phase. This time, Command Card values are added to acting units' Skill ratings.
4. End Phase – Effects that begin, end, or trigger at the end of the turn do so.

Of course, those are just the basics. Spectrum Cosmos includes all the exceptions, contradictions, rulebreaking, and ambiguity we expect from a miniatures game.

Next Time: Meet the factions, and actual unit stats! 

Spectrum Cosmos - The Basics Illustrated

Let's put it all together. Remember the Guy?

Unit Name: Guy

Keywords: Human, Living, Generic

Speed: 6

Resolve: 3

Armour: 0

Wounds: 2

Sun (Victory)	Gun – Attack: Range 12, Skill 3. Damage 1.	Evade – Default: Skill 3.
Moon (Psychology)	Scare – Skill 2. Fear 1.	Rally – Skill 3. Gain one Edge.
Mercury (Maneuver)	Hustle – Simple: Skill 3. Move 6”.	Flee – Skill 3. Retreat 6”.
Venus (Special)	Wild [+CC]	Dodge – Skill 5.
Mars (Savagery)	Fist – Attack: Range M, Skill 2. Damage 0.	Return Fire – Attack: Range 12, Skill 2. Damage 1.

Qualities:

Imagine two Guys facing each other down across an empty field. Each of their controlling players (Hadrian and Ruby) has a hand full of cards. For the sake of this example, let's say their hand size is 3. It is Hadrian's first turn. Hadrian activates his Guy, moves him up to his Speed (6) in inches, then has a choice. He can immediately resolve an action with no bonus, or secretly play a Command Card to be resolved at the end of the turn. Hadrian's hand is a Venus 1, a Mercury 2, and a Mars 1.

Be warned. This one is also way too long.

Spectrum Cosmos - The Basics Continued

Last time we looked at basic play structure, activating units, declaring and resolving actions and reactions. Below is a more concrete example.

First, let's make an example unit profile. Again, this is a structure I've condensed from Lawson's dense, longhand descriptions of unit abilities. This is a generic unit that nevertheless includes many of the game's core features.

Unit Name: Guy

Keywords: Human, Living, Generic

Speed: 6

Resolve: 3

Armour: 0

Wounds: 2

(In the final product, I'd likely include balancing mechanisms, such as point cost and maximum allowance up here)

Sun (Victory)	Gun – Attack: Range 12, Skill 3. Damage 1.	Evade – Default: Skill 3.
Moon (Psychology)	Scare – Skill 2. Fear 1.	Rally – Skill 3. Gain one Edge.
Mercury (Maneuver)	Hustle – Simple: Skill 3. Move 6”.	Flee – Skill 3. Retreat 6”.
Venus (Special)	Wild [+CC]	Dodge – Skill 5.
Mars (Savagery)	Fist – Attack: Range M, Skill 2. Damage 0.	Return Fire – Attack: Range 12, Skill 2. Damage 1.

Qualities:

My Life's Work, Explained

A few years ago, some friends and I were discussing what our issues were with 7th Sea. Wouldn't it be great, we mused, if it was more like Legend of the Five Rings, where you could actually gain ranks in your fighting styles before your gaming group was sick of the game and ready to move on to something else? In our imaginations, there was a glorious rewrite, where all the schools had five levels, sorcerers could actually accomplish anything, and Swordsman Schools didn't have abilities that outright sucked. Descending from the clouds of fancy, we realized how enormous and impractical a project this would be.

A little while later, I started on it anyway.

I called it the 7th Sea Overhaul, a title which quickly changed to the largely-nonsensical 7th Sea Keelhaul, because, you see, pirates. My loyal readers know well that I take on over-ambitious grand projects and never finish them, and this one is no exception. I've worked on it off and on over the years, at times seized with creative passion, at other times leaving it dormant for months on end.

I figure on days when I don't have anything else to write about, I'll throw up a school and a bit of commentary on what I was trying to do. It'll be good motivation to acutally edit and revise some of my clunkier additions.

Spectrum Cosmos - The Basics

Alright, enough background. Let's get to the game.

Spectrum Cosmos is a diceless miniatures game that uses cards and secrecy as its random element. If I had to compare it to modern games, I'd say it has elements of Warmachine, Infinity, Malifaux, and the board game Fury of Dracula.

Read the details below.

Found Plot Seeds: Around the Internet Edition

Just this.

Actually, just the headline. Reading the article spoils the magic.

Found Plot Seeds - Cheetah Gate

"Due to unforseen circumcstances, Cheetah Gate has been closed permanently. Please enter and exit only through the main gate. We apologize for the inconvenience."

Spectrum Cosmos - An Explanation

A while back, I decided that I wanted to develop a ruleset for a miniatures skirmish game. As it turns out, I didn't have to.

During my layover in London, I found an old stash of MIRACLES OF TOMORROW MAGAZINE for sale in a street market. I picked it up on a whim, and, well, you can see from my last few posts what I discovered.  I'd been reading them (carefully!) off and on for the past week when I stumbled across this note from publisher Max Osterhagen. I dug through my collection to find the previous issue he referenced, which included this introduction by author James Nathaniel Lawson, who apparently invented a miniatures wargame back in 1933. Such a find prompted me to do some research.

Author's Note from MIRACLES OF TOMORROW MAGAZINE Vol 7, No 3, July, 1933

Dearest Readers,

By now you have finished reading my little fable. As I wrote it, Sergeant Bronzewood and her brave frontiersmen managed to fight off the Faceless Men from beyond Jupiter, saving the lives of the colonists of Star-Fort Alpha. But what if the battle had transpired differently?

Publisher's Note from MIRACLES OF TOMORROW MAGAZINE Vol 7, No 4, October, 1933

To All Loyal Future-Minded Readers of MIRACLES OF TOMORROW MAGAZINE:

ADAPT OR PERISH! Those are the words to live by in this, our modern age. Every day, new MIRACLES OF SCIENCE burst out of our nation's workshops and laboratories.

In our lifetimes, wireless telegraphy has begun to transmit news around the world at the speed of lightning, man has unlocked the secrets of flight, and with electrical lights we can reclaim our world from that savage conqueror Night. In earlier centuries, but one of these discoveries would define an era. But today, SCIENCE CONTINUES ITS FORWARD MARCH.

The only question that remains: WILL YOU JOIN THE FUTURE, OR BE LEFT BEHIND?

I Fixed 7th Sea Some More

I love 7th Sea, but it wasn't very good. So I rewrote it. My list of 'house rules' changes the character advancement system to be more like Legend of the Five Rings 3rd Edition, hopefully addressing some of the underdeveloped or poorly thought-out system aspects in the process. I

t currently runs to about 20,000 words. If you want a copy, let me know.

Anyway, I picked it up again this week, for no reason whatsoever, and added a new thing that I think helps an underused aspect of the system get some play. Active Defences (a topic I intend to write a bit about in a more generic sense later) in 7th Sea suck and are hard to do. So I added this:

Weapon Speed (Weapon). Advanced Knack for all Weapon Skills with that already have Parry. For the purposes of Active Defence with the noted weapon, you may treat Action Dice as if they rolled an amount lower equal to your Rank in this Knack.

Your maximum Rank in this Knack depends on the weapon: Heavy Weapons and Hand Axes cap at 1; Fencing at 2; Improvised at 2 or 3 (haven't decided, but Improvised Weapons need all the help they can get); Knives, Panzerhands, Polearms, and Staves are 3; Cloaks, Shields, and Bucklers at 4. I also can't remember if you can Parry with whips or not. If so, probably cap at 3.

'Nonstandard' Athlete Knacks (basically everything but Footwork, because I love nerfing Footwork) automatically have Weapon Speed equal to the character's Rank in the Knack.

I've tried to integrate it with some existing (and new) Swordsman Schools granting bonus Ranks and increased maximums.

Any thoughts? Specifically, any thoughts from my 7th Sea group? It feels weird to just drop it in like that, but Knacks aren't exactly hard for you guys to pick up.

If you don't care about this game, then I apologize for everything you just read.

ZSP Has Begun a Great Work!

It has the working title Pentad.

It is a universal conflict system that was conceived for mass combat, but works alright on individual, social, and biplane dogfight scales. Also, eerily good for spaceships.

It is preventing me from serving my country to the best of my ability.

Workshop Yesterday: Playmobattle Creator's Commentary

Let me explain. Three years ago, I worked at a toy store.

That store sold the popular European toy line Playmobil. When I was young, I considered Playmobil to be Lego for chumps and babies - an opinion I hold to this day. The store organized its Playmobil along a massive shelf that constantly needed adjusting, front-facing, and aligning.

Playmobil is identified by a four-digit serial number in a coloured lozenge. The colour roughly corresponded to the theme of the toy. I saw a grid of modular pieces with printed information. I saw a pre-built resource system - the price tags. I saw an excuse for employees to keep going over there. I saw a game.

The previous post is the complete text, unedited from the product of that one fevered evening three years ago when I banged this out.

I played once, but it proved too difficult to manipulate the pieces on the shelves without rearranging everything. It was also too hard to identify which pieces were whose. It kinda choked and died - like most of my first playtests - and we never returned to it.

I note now, on reviewing the piece, that no victory condition is included. I assume it's when a player destroys all his opponents' pieces, but I should have wrote that down. I also should have defined a few terms. I present it here, in lieu of original content, for posterity's sake.

In an ideal world, where no one minds Post-It notes on their toys, I think this could have been an awesome game.

Workshop Yesterday: Playmobattle

playmobattle
First Draft
The once-tranquil town of Playmoville has been torn asunder. Rents through time and reality have turned the quaint metropolis into a warzone. By now, previous allegiances mean nothing; emergency workers, warriors from across history, and common citizens fight side by side to determine who will control the Playmoville of the future. But at this time, there is only playmobattle.

The Rules
Playmobattle is a simple strategy game using shelves of Playmobil as pieces and board. There is one rule that deserves mention above all others: THIS GAME CANNOT AND WILL NOT EVER EVER EVER INTERFERE WITH THE OPERATION OF THE STORE. DO NOT PERMIT THE GAME TO DISTRACT FROM YOUR JOBS! This is so incredibly important that I will elaborate further. If there are customers in the store, cleaning or restocking to be done, or if closing is within one hour, the game is done and forgotten. As an extension of this, no part of the game can upset the organization or neatness of the shelves. Failure to follow this, Rule One, will result in immediate and permanent cessation of the game and all future games. Understand?

Beginning the Game
Players begin the game with an agreed-upon sum of money. Games using less of the shelf should begin with less money. Randomly determine a player to make the first purchase. Players take turns purchasing units until all players pass consecutively. Then the first round begins.

The Round
1. Refresh all units- Remove activation markers from all units.
2. Determine first player- The first player is the player with the most money in reserve in this step. Play proceeds in alphabetical order by last name.
3. Perform Tactical actions with Locked units- Starting with the first player, all players may perform one Tactical action with each of their Locked units in any order. This does not grant an activation marker.
4. Unit actions- Starting with the first player, players activate units one at a time. Activated units may perform up to one Tactical Action and up to one Attack action with the active unit. Play progresses to the next player in the turn order, who may activate a unit or pass. Once all players pass consecutively, the recruitment phase begins.
5. Recruitment- Starting with the player with the least reserve money, players may take turns purchasing new neutral units. Only neutral units adjacent to friendly units may be purchased. Once all players pass consecutively, the round ends. Repeat from Step One.

Actions
Each of the four digits of the part number is a statistic. In order: Influence, Combat, Agility, and Willpower. Each statistic has an associated Tactical and Attack action. Attack actions require a “Test”. A Test is successful if the acting unit’s relevant stat is higher than that of the target unit.

1. Influence is a unit’s social power and pull in the world of Playmobattle. The Influence actions are Collect and Manipulate: “Tactical: Collect this unit’s Influence in dollars”, and “Attack: Influence test: If successful, place an Activation Marker on an adjacent unit.
2. Combat is a unit’s capability to survive and succeed at physical violence. Combat actions are Guard and Strike: “Tactical: Give an adjacent unit this unit’s combat value for the purposes of resisting Combat checks”, and “Attack: Combat test: If successful, deal this unit’s Combat in damage to the target.”
3. Agility is a unit’s speed, wits, and maneuverability. It can be used to Move and Evade: “Tactical: Make one valid move with this unit to a space within (Agility) spaces”, and “Attack: Agility Test: Move the target a number of spaces equal to the amount the Test succeeds by.”
4. Willpower is a unit’s strength of spirit, and conviction. Willpower actions are Focus and Intimidate: “Tactical: Distribute a number of points equal to this unit’s Willpower among this unit’s statistics”, and “Attack: Willpower Test: Reduce the target’s statistics by a total number of points equal to this unit’s Willpower, distributed as you choose.

Additional Rules

Adjacency: Units are adjacent if they touch at points along the sides at any point. Units touching exactly at corners are not considered adjacent.
Movement: Movement results in exchanging with the unit in the target space. This cannot break Rule One. If either the moving unit or the unit in the target space does not fit in the intended space, the move is invalid. Movement paths may only be drawn across adjacent spaces. Movement paths may not cross themselves or backtrack. If a path results in unusable movement points, the acting player may choose to Lock the moving unit.
Hit Points: A unit’s hit points are equal to its cost in dollars. They cannot be recovered.
Locked Units: Locked units may not perform or be targeted by Agility actions. At the beginning of each round, all Locked units may perform one Tactical action. This does not require activation.
Specials: Specials are considered adjacent to all units. Any Attack action targeting a Special returns them to Neutral status.
Mercenaries: Units on sale cost their sale price, but have hit points equal to their regular price. In subsequent recruitment phases, other players may attempt to outbid the unit’s current owner. The unit will switch sides only if the owner’s bid is beat by $5 or more.
Large Units: Large units on the top shelf are considered adjacent to all units directly underneath them. Large units are permanently considered Locked for all purposes, but may not ever move or be moved, even by a Red unit’s Authority ability. Large Units may perform two Tactical actions when activated.
Customer Activity: Units moved by customers count as moved. An honour system is the only mechanism for ensuring that when shelves are cleaned, a player will not twist positions to his or her advantage. Units purchased by customers are considered casualties and are gone for good.

Special Unit Abilities: A unit’s colour determines its original intent, and grants it a special bonus.
1. Red units are often emergency personnel or other legitimate installations. They have the power of Authority, allowing them to use Evade actions on Locked units normally. Locked units that would become Locked again are destroyed and become neutral.
2. Orange units are construction vehicles. They have the power of Fortification; they are always considered Locked, no matter where they are. They may be affected by a Red unit’s Authority power. Furthermore, Orange units have an additional Tactical action: “Tactical: Lock or unlock an adjacent friendly unit”.
3. Yellow units are equipped with rapid vehicles, capable of the power of Mobility. This grants an additional Tactical action: “Tactical for the remainder of this turn, this unit may use Attack actions against units two spaces away instead of one.”
4. Green units are masters of the outdoors: farmers, forest rangers, even wild animals. Their mastery of resource management expresses itself in the Logistics ability. When a Green unit uses the Focus Tactical Action, the bonus points may be spread among adjacent units as well as the acting unit.
5. Purple units are the fiercest warriors history has to offer: pirates, knights, Napoleonic legions, and Roman legionnaires. They have the Ferocity power; they are always counted as having Combat 9 for the purposes of Combat Tests only. This ability does not enhance damage or the Guard action.
6. Pink units are the aristocrats of Playmoville. Their wealth and holdings ensure that their power remains undiminished in the era of Playmobattle. A Pink unit’s Resources power allows it to earn $10 each time it uses the Collect Tactical Action.
7. Grey units are the blue-collar workers and possess the majority of the industrial resources in Playmoville. Their Infrastructure power reduces the cost of purchasing adjacent units by the Grey’s Influence rating. Multiple Greys can discount the same unit, but the minimum cost is always $1.
8. Blue units are the common folk of Playmoville, mobilized in an effort to cleanse the chaos from their beloved home. Though seemingly weak, their spirits are strong. Through their Solidarity power, they add one to the difficulty of Attack actions targeting them, plus an additional one for each adjacent friendly unit.

Things Get Worse Wednesdays - Spycraft

It should have been amazing.

A game based on espionage should not make it as difficult as it is in Spycraft for Things to Get Worse. You're spies. If they already knew how bad Things were, why would they send people whose job it is to find stuff out?

Spycraft is a well-made game, if you're into that sort of thing - namely lots of planning, preparation, and a system for everything. It even resolves the classic modern action game problem of gear. How do you have a wealth system that reflects lifestyle? Put another way, how do you stop the first level rich doctor spending all his starting cash on a Blackhawk helicopter with attached minigun while still making it possible to get one of those when it's appropriate?

Spycraft solves this problem quite handily - you have a small amount of gear as personal possessions and fancier stuff you can requisition if the mission's severity warrants it. The problem is when you don't know how severe the mission is until you get there. And what spy mission, I ask you, what spy mission worth a damn goes exactly as planned? Need to get a thing? It's missing, it's not what you thought it was, the person you're supposed to get it from is dead. Need to talk to someone? That someone is not who they appear to be, kidnapped, or dead. This is basic stuff. Regrettably, you have to get that briefcase full of anthrax from that rogue KGB splinter faction with the same Walther PPK and set of lockpicks you were issued when you thought you just had to pick up Mission Control's drycleaning.

Spycraft does allow for requisitioning gear in the middle of a mission, but it still can't exceed the threat level of the mission and, if I remember correctly, is prohibitively difficult and time-consuming. Changing threat level in the middle of a mission only works if players have the time to reequip somewhere and if they don't abuse their privileges by burning up all their ammunition and limited-use items knowing that a reequip was on the way.

Another possible workaround is story-based. If the hook is "Some anthrax is missing. We need you to find the anthrax", then you can get away with one threat level. But you can't phrase all your missions like that. At least, and not have the game stay fun. It's a damn shame that a solidly built game like Spycraft has in-built, systematic opposition to Things Getting Worse. Especially as an espionage game.

Five Interesting Places - Snooty Sounding Words!

The esplanade.

The opera house.

The plaza.

The veranda.

The vestibule.