So, I tried to play-test Project Sunburn a few days ago. It sucked REALLY hard. But, at least I know what I did wrong.
One- the mechanics were a big jumble. It was tough to tell what could be used where, and when characters had to roll for water.
Two- the character sheets didn't have enough information. Just the skills wasn't enough- they needed dedicated inventories, water trackers, ammo trackers, and a better way to manage weight.
Stylistically, it worked, and it had about the right pace I was looking for. Excellent. Fabulous. But, maybe that's because I wasn't orating to actual players. Yeah. That'll need a change. So, I'm going to dial things back a lot. I'm going to start simple, then work my way up from there. Just a couple of stats, simple rolls, and only a few items.
I had a dream last night. Not quite sure what it was about, but I'm still filling in the details. I'm planning on spinning a plot, then making a quick romp through a game engine out of it. It seemed compelling enough, whatever it was.
Beaten, not broken.
May 25, 2013
May 19, 2013
Good news & NPC tips
I've started testing Sunburn. It's going well so far, but there's a whole slew of issues I need to address, mostly combat. I haven't decided how I want people to be able to position themselves, so I'm doing it final fantasy style- everyone lines up (with any available cover, loose approximation), then dukes it out. Not the most realistic rules ever, but it works for a functional test.
So far, everything's falling into place, but it's too easy. I'm planning on slashing the beginning XP to make it challenging enough to be worth anything.
Also, here's a tip for other GM's out there- NPC posture is important.
The GM's posture means a lot. Either sitting back and not blinking ("Come on, take the bait..."), leaning forward and smiling dervishly ("They've fallen into place, perfect!"), or remaining still and silent ("Oh shit, they figured it out too soon"). But, posture is also important for NPCs.
In an earlier post, I pitched an idea for listing notable behaviors of the NPC in question. One thing I should add is posture- otherwise, the GM is exactly the same, save for accent and content. Have a distinguishable "post" for each character, and keep it simple. A few I've come up with are:
So far, everything's falling into place, but it's too easy. I'm planning on slashing the beginning XP to make it challenging enough to be worth anything.
Also, here's a tip for other GM's out there- NPC posture is important.
The GM's posture means a lot. Either sitting back and not blinking ("Come on, take the bait..."), leaning forward and smiling dervishly ("They've fallen into place, perfect!"), or remaining still and silent ("Oh shit, they figured it out too soon"). But, posture is also important for NPCs.
In an earlier post, I pitched an idea for listing notable behaviors of the NPC in question. One thing I should add is posture- otherwise, the GM is exactly the same, save for accent and content. Have a distinguishable "post" for each character, and keep it simple. A few I've come up with are:
- Lean as far back as possible (The Slacker)
- Keep your right hand next to your head at all times (The Merchant)
- Get more manic in speech and lean forward. Then, deflate your voice, and lean all the way back. Rinse, repeat. (The Psycho)
- Look down, sag your shoulders, and leave your mouth hanging open slightly (The Brain Damage)
Obviously, there's only so many of these postures possible, so use them only on important characters (anyone with a name and significant plot purpose).
Just a clever idea. Speaking of which, Sunburn 2 got much more interesting. Instead of being a dark, dreary crawl through an underground complex, there will be ninjas, robots, and ninja robots. Also some message about honor and duty. Until then, I'm going to keep testing SB1, and post a couple field reports.
May 17, 2013
Again with Viscerality
The combat takes up too many of the rules, and too many item slots. The descriptions of guns are 50 words, whereas water is only 5 or 10. What gives, man?
I think a lot of it comes from my experience with D&D 3.5. As I've mentioned before, D&D is a pulp fantasy simulator- meaning a huge focus on combat. 3.5 edition did away with the pulpiness, but still kept the combat focus. Notice how all D&D player's stories are about combat encounters?
So, I've tried to re-think the challenge dynamic in an RPG. I asked myself- what are the solutions to various challenges? Here's my list.
Very obvious. By far the most overused solution to a problem. The gameplay is to drain the opposition's health, without losing your own. This could be an entire game. I've been thinking about future editions of the EE, and this is going to be the most prone to change.
Stealth:
My main inspiration was one of the Splinter Cell games. Using light, sound, and also smell, you could create a very compelling set of stealth rules. Much more focus on tension, rather than intensity. I like stealth because it is just as failure-prone as combat, and much more believable.
Speech:
Again, one thing I wanted to add to the EE. Let reputation and believability be the HP bars, and just run the encounter as people talking. By Sunburn 3, this is definitely going to be a feature. Obviously, it'll take some time, but it's a mechanic which I think is missing from most RPGs, and even video games.
Resources:
Overlooked in most games is the mercantilist answer. In a lot of cases, just having enough money or the right items can solve a problem in itself. Not just buying the meat shield a bigger gun, but having something designed specifically for the problem you're solving. What I try to do is model a system whereby a character can survive just by money management, and lots of bribes.
Devices:
A bit trickier. Having worked in industry, I can attest to the complexity of certain machinery. Some of it is complex enough to warrant more than one check for operation. It would be cool to make an "encounter" out of picking a lock, or disarming a trap. The problem would be, what "attacks" would you be making? Pounding it with a hammer? Manipulating it with lockpicks? Dunking it in acid? If it works, great! Otherwise, this might be a dud.
Exploration:
Not just in the geographical sense. Escape-the-room games are a good example of this mechanic, because you win by looking everywhere. I mostly think of it in a Bethesda Games sense- go here, find this, do this thing. I believe a pure exploration game would be impossible to pull off (though, playing as Lewis and Clark would be rather entertaining). But, as an added feature, I think it's great. There's going to be some content in Spectrum hidden away near the edges of maps, to encourage exploration of the world.
I like exploration as an experience, but it's pretty hard to make challenging or engaging.
Puzzle:
This one, as well as Roleplaying, are very difficult to describe in perfect detail. The purpose of a puzzle is to challenge the players through their characters. I might hand them something in real life, or describe the problem orally. Visual aids help tremendously.
Roleplaying:
By far the hardest to describe on the list. You could make an argument that it's another category in disguise, but I like to think of it like manifest destiny, or self-actualization.
The concept behind it is accumulation of knowledge, usually gained through exploration (or puzzles. All three could be lumped together as "stuff the power player doesn't care about"). Then, the application of that knowledge. It doesn't rely on the character's stats, it instead relies on the player. Immersing yourself in the lore of the world to manipulate presented events is something I really think everyone should do at least once. For some games, this is a viable technique. I can't think of very many, there are many more examples of the opposite. Think of all the games where it doesn't make a difference how much you care about the world.
Being drawn into a fictional world is an amazing experience. It makes everything so real for the players, but only if they're willing to go under the surface. If I ever devise a good example of problem solving by Roleplaying, I will definitely post it here. For now, it's a little voice in the back of my head.
~
See how many alternatives there are to combat-based gameplay? As long as there's a solid mechanic behind all of these (except the last two), almost anything could be compelling. I could make an interesting campaign out of a boring day at the post office.
I think a lot of it comes from my experience with D&D 3.5. As I've mentioned before, D&D is a pulp fantasy simulator- meaning a huge focus on combat. 3.5 edition did away with the pulpiness, but still kept the combat focus. Notice how all D&D player's stories are about combat encounters?
So, I've tried to re-think the challenge dynamic in an RPG. I asked myself- what are the solutions to various challenges? Here's my list.
- Combat
- Stealth
- Speech
- Resources
- Devices
- Exploration
- Puzzle
- Roleplay
Very obvious. By far the most overused solution to a problem. The gameplay is to drain the opposition's health, without losing your own. This could be an entire game. I've been thinking about future editions of the EE, and this is going to be the most prone to change.
Stealth:
My main inspiration was one of the Splinter Cell games. Using light, sound, and also smell, you could create a very compelling set of stealth rules. Much more focus on tension, rather than intensity. I like stealth because it is just as failure-prone as combat, and much more believable.
Speech:
Again, one thing I wanted to add to the EE. Let reputation and believability be the HP bars, and just run the encounter as people talking. By Sunburn 3, this is definitely going to be a feature. Obviously, it'll take some time, but it's a mechanic which I think is missing from most RPGs, and even video games.
Resources:
Overlooked in most games is the mercantilist answer. In a lot of cases, just having enough money or the right items can solve a problem in itself. Not just buying the meat shield a bigger gun, but having something designed specifically for the problem you're solving. What I try to do is model a system whereby a character can survive just by money management, and lots of bribes.
Devices:
A bit trickier. Having worked in industry, I can attest to the complexity of certain machinery. Some of it is complex enough to warrant more than one check for operation. It would be cool to make an "encounter" out of picking a lock, or disarming a trap. The problem would be, what "attacks" would you be making? Pounding it with a hammer? Manipulating it with lockpicks? Dunking it in acid? If it works, great! Otherwise, this might be a dud.
Exploration:
Not just in the geographical sense. Escape-the-room games are a good example of this mechanic, because you win by looking everywhere. I mostly think of it in a Bethesda Games sense- go here, find this, do this thing. I believe a pure exploration game would be impossible to pull off (though, playing as Lewis and Clark would be rather entertaining). But, as an added feature, I think it's great. There's going to be some content in Spectrum hidden away near the edges of maps, to encourage exploration of the world.
I like exploration as an experience, but it's pretty hard to make challenging or engaging.
Puzzle:
This one, as well as Roleplaying, are very difficult to describe in perfect detail. The purpose of a puzzle is to challenge the players through their characters. I might hand them something in real life, or describe the problem orally. Visual aids help tremendously.
Roleplaying:
By far the hardest to describe on the list. You could make an argument that it's another category in disguise, but I like to think of it like manifest destiny, or self-actualization.
The concept behind it is accumulation of knowledge, usually gained through exploration (or puzzles. All three could be lumped together as "stuff the power player doesn't care about"). Then, the application of that knowledge. It doesn't rely on the character's stats, it instead relies on the player. Immersing yourself in the lore of the world to manipulate presented events is something I really think everyone should do at least once. For some games, this is a viable technique. I can't think of very many, there are many more examples of the opposite. Think of all the games where it doesn't make a difference how much you care about the world.
Being drawn into a fictional world is an amazing experience. It makes everything so real for the players, but only if they're willing to go under the surface. If I ever devise a good example of problem solving by Roleplaying, I will definitely post it here. For now, it's a little voice in the back of my head.
~
See how many alternatives there are to combat-based gameplay? As long as there's a solid mechanic behind all of these (except the last two), almost anything could be compelling. I could make an interesting campaign out of a boring day at the post office.
May 12, 2013
Last-minute Panic
One advantage of procrastination is having a lot of time to ruminate my works. For an example, I think I need to change out a character from Sunburn- Wheel.
Is there any reason, whatsoever, to have it talk? All it has to do is have a noticeably missing piece, and act as a final choice: Leave the planet and doom the locals, or stay on the ground. I'm considering an altar of some kind, or possibly tablets. See how much this has changed? I still remember when I was calling it "The Burning Wheel."
Now that I've had some time to think about this, I realize just how silly it is. Sunburn is a functional test of the EE; a diagnostic, you could say. And I'm worrying about the story? This is either an exceptional devotion to roleplaying, or stupidity of the highest caliber. Could be a mix, too.
Either way, I'm not making the same mistake twice. The other Sunburns, as well as all future RPGs, are going to be designed to have more characters. I feel like the desolate environment might be a bit of a turn-off. Wonder why?
Is there any reason, whatsoever, to have it talk? All it has to do is have a noticeably missing piece, and act as a final choice: Leave the planet and doom the locals, or stay on the ground. I'm considering an altar of some kind, or possibly tablets. See how much this has changed? I still remember when I was calling it "The Burning Wheel."
Now that I've had some time to think about this, I realize just how silly it is. Sunburn is a functional test of the EE; a diagnostic, you could say. And I'm worrying about the story? This is either an exceptional devotion to roleplaying, or stupidity of the highest caliber. Could be a mix, too.
Either way, I'm not making the same mistake twice. The other Sunburns, as well as all future RPGs, are going to be designed to have more characters. I feel like the desolate environment might be a bit of a turn-off. Wonder why?
May 10, 2013
Bite-sized thoughts 6
-Puzzle-based gameplay
When presenting players with a puzzle, the difficult part is how much to describe. My technique is to give the bare-bones description (the room, anyone inside of it, noticeable objects, etc), then illustrate more as the players look around. It gives a needed amount of life to the environment, without dredging the literary muck-pits for every detail possible.
-Musical ambiance
One thing I've been meaning to do for a while now is play music during RPG sessions. Mostly soundtracks from video games (Unreal and Fallout are some of my favorites), but I'll probably add occasional pieces from the "epic" musical movement.
Video game OSTs are very nice because they're designed to be background music. Almost always non-lyrical, and never too distracting. I've also noticed that, somehow, the game always syncs up with the tune playing, sometimes to hilarious effect.
Of course, the big issue is going to be whose music is playing. I imagine it will be very little time at all until another member of the group wants to put his tunes through- thus creating a small power struggle. In the end, there will be balance. Hopefully with as little kicking and screaming as possible.
-Anything should be engaging
Too many games are combat-focused. There's a myriad of rules for fighting, but only a few for, say, haggling. One thing I'm trying to do with the EE is keep virtually every action under the same mechanic. I considered going as far as having a repertoire of techniques for working devices. Problem is, that's a LOT of paper per character sheet.
So, the answer may be to work backwards. If the combat is too complicated, I may just scale it back for more of a universal experience, instead of combat and everything else.
I'm still thinking about an Elvis Impersonator campaign.
When presenting players with a puzzle, the difficult part is how much to describe. My technique is to give the bare-bones description (the room, anyone inside of it, noticeable objects, etc), then illustrate more as the players look around. It gives a needed amount of life to the environment, without dredging the literary muck-pits for every detail possible.
-Musical ambiance
One thing I've been meaning to do for a while now is play music during RPG sessions. Mostly soundtracks from video games (Unreal and Fallout are some of my favorites), but I'll probably add occasional pieces from the "epic" musical movement.
Video game OSTs are very nice because they're designed to be background music. Almost always non-lyrical, and never too distracting. I've also noticed that, somehow, the game always syncs up with the tune playing, sometimes to hilarious effect.
Of course, the big issue is going to be whose music is playing. I imagine it will be very little time at all until another member of the group wants to put his tunes through- thus creating a small power struggle. In the end, there will be balance. Hopefully with as little kicking and screaming as possible.
-Anything should be engaging
Too many games are combat-focused. There's a myriad of rules for fighting, but only a few for, say, haggling. One thing I'm trying to do with the EE is keep virtually every action under the same mechanic. I considered going as far as having a repertoire of techniques for working devices. Problem is, that's a LOT of paper per character sheet.
So, the answer may be to work backwards. If the combat is too complicated, I may just scale it back for more of a universal experience, instead of combat and everything else.
I'm still thinking about an Elvis Impersonator campaign.
May 5, 2013
Another Story
The other day, I was inspired by something. I realized that love is an amazing power, and it inspires me to new heights. So, I wrote a romantic short story.
~
I want More
By Mark Hermanson
Cal swears under his breath, and listens to the engine thrum in front of him. Everything had gone so perfectly at first- too perfectly. Maybe that should have tipped him off. “Going to pull his head off, and…”
He knows he is going to lose his cool, so he starts re-hashing the events of the day. That morning he had pancakes, bacon, and coffee. The service was sub-par, so no tip. He had enough money problems as it was. Outside the café, he bought some hollow-point bullets from a wandering vending machine.
By noon, he was on the base floor of the bank, shattered glass around him, waving his wrist-gun in the air. Robbery was such an ugly word- he preferred to call it wealth acquisition. He had some class, after all.
The faces of terrified customers always made him smile a little bit. It was a bad habit- his usual technique of pointing guns at people, barking like a mad dog, and breaking things was his secret to success. It got him past the front counters, to the vault, and almost into an accountant’s pants. He was busy, and didn’t want anyone spoiling the operation, so he compromised by getting her number and giving her a kiss on the cheek, until later.
Cal is a big man. He has enough nano-steroids and artificial bones to carry the contents of the vault out on his shoulders. Granted, it’s one hundred eighty pounds of currency chips, but it’s still heavy.
He was slightly relieved to find half of the chips missing, with a large hole in the back of the vault, leading to his exit. Thirty seconds later, he had the currency chips in his bag, and went out the new door. He got into the parking lot to see a ground-car peeling out of town, just like he was about to. A guard of some kind tried to stop him, but didn’t survive being hit in the face with ninety pounds of E-pesos.
All this brings Cal back to the present. He wants the other 90 pounds enough to warrant a chase. The speedometer says he is doing twice the speed limit- almost to his high score from last week. A hundred yards ahead is another ground car- electric, not gas- doing slightly less speed. Unquestionably, it was his new target. Some jackass with long hair, and the wrong tires for a country road.
Cal loads his wrist-gun with armor piercing bullets. He calmly rolls his window down, rests his elbow on the door-frame, and opens his fingers to give the muzzle a clear shot from the center of his palm. The safety turns on when you close your fingers- it’s a good feature to avoid blasting your digits off.
Aiming is quite simple. Cal got the optional optics package, which puts a holo-projector in his left pointer and thumb fingertips. When his left hand opens all the way, with the wrist pulled back slightly, the L created by his hand lights up with aiming calculations. Any other day, it would be set to aim for the crotch.
A flurry of bullets erupts from his left arm, and pierces the rear of the car ahead of him. Ground-cars are less vulnerable than their airborne counterparts, but not invincible. Thank goodness whoever this is didn’t buy one with armored treads.
The electric car in front of him swerves, skids out of control, then goes over the side of the road into a large field. Battery acid spews into the air from a punctured power cell, and Cal smiles with satisfaction. “Damn, I’m good.”
He puts on the brake, and undoes his seat belt. Safety first, especially if people are shooting at you. He keeps his left hand aimed at the disabled car, and grabs an empty sack with his right. Now that he’s out of hands, he kicks the door to his car open from the inside. It makes a “chunk” as the hinges reach their maximum turning radius, and there’s a slight whistle from the serrated blades he had welded to the door. The sound reminds him that he hasn’t used them in a while.
It’s a clear, sunny day. The asphalt shimmers with mirages, and the cracks stretch across it in all directions. Since the advent of affordable flying cars, no one really cares about anything other than parking lots.
Cal surveys his prey. It’s been immobile for six seconds, but he can still see movement in the driver’s seat. It looks like a nerd car: rubber tires riddled with holes, obvious electrical powertrain underneath, and several antennas sticking out of the top.
“Hey asshole!” Cal yells, keeping his reticle on the car. “You got something for me?”
Something about the size of a baseball jumps through the sun-roof, and explodes in brilliant light. Cal forgot to put on his special sunglasses, so he’s blinded by the flash-flare. A rookie mistake, to be sure; his car has twelve of them, to confuse air-to-surface missiles.
When his vision returns a half-second later, he sees a blurry shape combat-roll from the driver’s side. As more color and fidelity returns, he sees it’s a woman holding a semi-auto pistol at him.
For a few seconds, both of them stand still, surveying each other. He has artificial muscle, a synthetic jumpsuit, and a wrist-gun loaded with AP bullets. She has a hoodie, blue jeans, and who knows what else in the car.
His face is hard, and angry- it’s his game face. She looks tired, and possibly scared. She yells, not very loud, “Put the gun down, jackass!”
“No thanks- I kind of like it here.” The optics are training his gun on the left side of her chest- the recoil will drag each successive shot sideways across her torso.
“Come on! Let’s just take what we’ve got and leave. No one has to get buried.” Her gun is trained at his head. No scope, no fancy holo-optics, just iron sights. It looks like a piece of crap bought from a garage sale.
“Are you kidding me? My robbery, my loot. Ninety pounds isn’t enough to buy a tank with a USMC authenticity sticker on it.” Cal actually has dreams about it.
“And it also isn’t enough to buy a house with a basement full of French wine and computers. But we’re here now, each with half the loot.” She sounds hurt, but still capable. Cal admires that.
“So you’re classy? Big deal. But, explain this to me- how’d you get into the vault?” Genuine curiosity touches the meathead’s voice. He might be able to do it himself, whatever it is.
“My ‘robo. It’s equipped with a chemical saw and an expensive nano-solvent to make a nice hole into the vault. An hour before that, I hired a few punks to screw with the security system.” She flaunts her technique. It’s nothing new, but she pulled it off nicely. “Pity the robot isn’t a heavy lifter. I might’ve been able to take everything and be gone while you were still punching desks in the lobby.”
Cal smiles. “Bravo, then. Where’s the robot now?”
“Trunk.” She doesn’t glance over, but she knows Cal filled it full of holes when he shot at the car. “It should be out here, spraying you with solvent, and turning you into dog food.”
Cal laughs. She’s got teeth; baby teeth, but still something to admire. “I suppose I’ve got a proposition, then.” His aim is starting to waver as his arm gets tired.
“Eat dirt and die?” She suggests with a smile.
“No, actually- let’s team up.”
She’s a little bit stunned. This, coming from the man who’s pointing a wrist-gun at her? “Explain. And don’t screw with me- I can read you like a book.”
“We’re both good enough to make away with one hundred eighty pounds of pesos. Imagine how much we could do together? With your automation doing the heavy lifting, and me running interference, we’re a hell of a team.”
The wind blows through her hair, carrying the scent of cut grass with it. “Nice pitch- but what’s the insurance? We just met at gunpoint.”
Cal thinks for a bit. She does have a point. He speaks plainly. “I really like money. So much, I’m willing to work with someone else to boost profits.”
“I almost believe you.” Her hands are getting tired from holding the gun. She does have more flash-flares, though.
“You said I’m transparent, right?” He closes his fingers, and lowers his .45 caliber hand.
She stares at him briefly, then pockets the gun. It doesn’t have any bullets, anyway. “Just two things I need to know first.”
“Yeah?” Cal looks over his shoulder to see if his car has killed anything in his absence.
“What’s your name, and can a pretty girl get a ride?” She grins, and opens up the trunk of her now-derelict car. She likes this guy, and thinks their friendship will be very… profitable.
~
I want More
By Mark Hermanson
Cal swears under his breath, and listens to the engine thrum in front of him. Everything had gone so perfectly at first- too perfectly. Maybe that should have tipped him off. “Going to pull his head off, and…”
He knows he is going to lose his cool, so he starts re-hashing the events of the day. That morning he had pancakes, bacon, and coffee. The service was sub-par, so no tip. He had enough money problems as it was. Outside the café, he bought some hollow-point bullets from a wandering vending machine.
By noon, he was on the base floor of the bank, shattered glass around him, waving his wrist-gun in the air. Robbery was such an ugly word- he preferred to call it wealth acquisition. He had some class, after all.
The faces of terrified customers always made him smile a little bit. It was a bad habit- his usual technique of pointing guns at people, barking like a mad dog, and breaking things was his secret to success. It got him past the front counters, to the vault, and almost into an accountant’s pants. He was busy, and didn’t want anyone spoiling the operation, so he compromised by getting her number and giving her a kiss on the cheek, until later.
Cal is a big man. He has enough nano-steroids and artificial bones to carry the contents of the vault out on his shoulders. Granted, it’s one hundred eighty pounds of currency chips, but it’s still heavy.
He was slightly relieved to find half of the chips missing, with a large hole in the back of the vault, leading to his exit. Thirty seconds later, he had the currency chips in his bag, and went out the new door. He got into the parking lot to see a ground-car peeling out of town, just like he was about to. A guard of some kind tried to stop him, but didn’t survive being hit in the face with ninety pounds of E-pesos.
All this brings Cal back to the present. He wants the other 90 pounds enough to warrant a chase. The speedometer says he is doing twice the speed limit- almost to his high score from last week. A hundred yards ahead is another ground car- electric, not gas- doing slightly less speed. Unquestionably, it was his new target. Some jackass with long hair, and the wrong tires for a country road.
Cal loads his wrist-gun with armor piercing bullets. He calmly rolls his window down, rests his elbow on the door-frame, and opens his fingers to give the muzzle a clear shot from the center of his palm. The safety turns on when you close your fingers- it’s a good feature to avoid blasting your digits off.
Aiming is quite simple. Cal got the optional optics package, which puts a holo-projector in his left pointer and thumb fingertips. When his left hand opens all the way, with the wrist pulled back slightly, the L created by his hand lights up with aiming calculations. Any other day, it would be set to aim for the crotch.
A flurry of bullets erupts from his left arm, and pierces the rear of the car ahead of him. Ground-cars are less vulnerable than their airborne counterparts, but not invincible. Thank goodness whoever this is didn’t buy one with armored treads.
The electric car in front of him swerves, skids out of control, then goes over the side of the road into a large field. Battery acid spews into the air from a punctured power cell, and Cal smiles with satisfaction. “Damn, I’m good.”
He puts on the brake, and undoes his seat belt. Safety first, especially if people are shooting at you. He keeps his left hand aimed at the disabled car, and grabs an empty sack with his right. Now that he’s out of hands, he kicks the door to his car open from the inside. It makes a “chunk” as the hinges reach their maximum turning radius, and there’s a slight whistle from the serrated blades he had welded to the door. The sound reminds him that he hasn’t used them in a while.
It’s a clear, sunny day. The asphalt shimmers with mirages, and the cracks stretch across it in all directions. Since the advent of affordable flying cars, no one really cares about anything other than parking lots.
Cal surveys his prey. It’s been immobile for six seconds, but he can still see movement in the driver’s seat. It looks like a nerd car: rubber tires riddled with holes, obvious electrical powertrain underneath, and several antennas sticking out of the top.
“Hey asshole!” Cal yells, keeping his reticle on the car. “You got something for me?”
Something about the size of a baseball jumps through the sun-roof, and explodes in brilliant light. Cal forgot to put on his special sunglasses, so he’s blinded by the flash-flare. A rookie mistake, to be sure; his car has twelve of them, to confuse air-to-surface missiles.
When his vision returns a half-second later, he sees a blurry shape combat-roll from the driver’s side. As more color and fidelity returns, he sees it’s a woman holding a semi-auto pistol at him.
For a few seconds, both of them stand still, surveying each other. He has artificial muscle, a synthetic jumpsuit, and a wrist-gun loaded with AP bullets. She has a hoodie, blue jeans, and who knows what else in the car.
His face is hard, and angry- it’s his game face. She looks tired, and possibly scared. She yells, not very loud, “Put the gun down, jackass!”
“No thanks- I kind of like it here.” The optics are training his gun on the left side of her chest- the recoil will drag each successive shot sideways across her torso.
“Come on! Let’s just take what we’ve got and leave. No one has to get buried.” Her gun is trained at his head. No scope, no fancy holo-optics, just iron sights. It looks like a piece of crap bought from a garage sale.
“Are you kidding me? My robbery, my loot. Ninety pounds isn’t enough to buy a tank with a USMC authenticity sticker on it.” Cal actually has dreams about it.
“And it also isn’t enough to buy a house with a basement full of French wine and computers. But we’re here now, each with half the loot.” She sounds hurt, but still capable. Cal admires that.
“So you’re classy? Big deal. But, explain this to me- how’d you get into the vault?” Genuine curiosity touches the meathead’s voice. He might be able to do it himself, whatever it is.
“My ‘robo. It’s equipped with a chemical saw and an expensive nano-solvent to make a nice hole into the vault. An hour before that, I hired a few punks to screw with the security system.” She flaunts her technique. It’s nothing new, but she pulled it off nicely. “Pity the robot isn’t a heavy lifter. I might’ve been able to take everything and be gone while you were still punching desks in the lobby.”
Cal smiles. “Bravo, then. Where’s the robot now?”
“Trunk.” She doesn’t glance over, but she knows Cal filled it full of holes when he shot at the car. “It should be out here, spraying you with solvent, and turning you into dog food.”
Cal laughs. She’s got teeth; baby teeth, but still something to admire. “I suppose I’ve got a proposition, then.” His aim is starting to waver as his arm gets tired.
“Eat dirt and die?” She suggests with a smile.
“No, actually- let’s team up.”
She’s a little bit stunned. This, coming from the man who’s pointing a wrist-gun at her? “Explain. And don’t screw with me- I can read you like a book.”
“We’re both good enough to make away with one hundred eighty pounds of pesos. Imagine how much we could do together? With your automation doing the heavy lifting, and me running interference, we’re a hell of a team.”
The wind blows through her hair, carrying the scent of cut grass with it. “Nice pitch- but what’s the insurance? We just met at gunpoint.”
Cal thinks for a bit. She does have a point. He speaks plainly. “I really like money. So much, I’m willing to work with someone else to boost profits.”
“I almost believe you.” Her hands are getting tired from holding the gun. She does have more flash-flares, though.
“You said I’m transparent, right?” He closes his fingers, and lowers his .45 caliber hand.
She stares at him briefly, then pockets the gun. It doesn’t have any bullets, anyway. “Just two things I need to know first.”
“Yeah?” Cal looks over his shoulder to see if his car has killed anything in his absence.
“What’s your name, and can a pretty girl get a ride?” She grins, and opens up the trunk of her now-derelict car. She likes this guy, and thinks their friendship will be very… profitable.
Fallout and the three-act Story
Guys, eventually I'm also going to get tired of tying Fallout into things. Until then, here's more. This post is going to be pretty lengthy, so I'm breaking out the tildes as a reminder to refill your popcorn.
~
The three-act story is a writing model. The story is divided into three parts, each with definitive transitions.
Act one: Everything is fine. The characters are introduced, and their world is introduced. This is their everyday life. It's not necessarily pleasant, but it's just how they've lived their lives until the events depicted. Act one ends with an incident, putting the events of the story into motion. This is anywhere from mom running out of sugar, to a large-scale nuclear exchange. Or both.
Act two: The protagonist(s) has/have been drawn into the central conflict, from which there can be no return*. Times get tough, etc etc. This is where 90% of character development happens. Either someone is stripped down to their very base character, or they're built up into something better. Or they just get progressively bigger guns, as with any FPS.
Act three: The conflict, introduced at the end of act one, is resolved. Armed with sugar for mom's cookies, and a self-aiming personality-enhanced emplaced weapon (hey, guess what I'm putting in Sunburn 2?), they... do whatever it is they set out to do in the beginning. After a suitably thrilling climax (pull out all the stops, guys), the falling action takes place. The protagonist(s), with his/her/its/their/our character development mostly locked in, ride off into the sunset. Roll credits.
*Some disagreement with Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. More on this one later.
~
Now, what am I getting at? Think of the last video game you played, or movie you watched. How much time was spent on act one? Five minutes? Five seconds? Was it just thrown at you?
This also comes up in tabletop RPGs, and even in a lot of the RPs I do with friends. Nothing against them, but very few (especially mine, I'm really bad at this) have no act one. There's no time to get in sync with your characters. A remedy appeared to me in the form of- yeah, I know- Fallout 3.
Fallout: New Vegas doesn't have act one. None whatsoever. Spoilers, connect the dots at your own risk.
.
~
The three-act story is a writing model. The story is divided into three parts, each with definitive transitions.
Act one: Everything is fine. The characters are introduced, and their world is introduced. This is their everyday life. It's not necessarily pleasant, but it's just how they've lived their lives until the events depicted. Act one ends with an incident, putting the events of the story into motion. This is anywhere from mom running out of sugar, to a large-scale nuclear exchange. Or both.
Act two: The protagonist(s) has/have been drawn into the central conflict, from which there can be no return*. Times get tough, etc etc. This is where 90% of character development happens. Either someone is stripped down to their very base character, or they're built up into something better. Or they just get progressively bigger guns, as with any FPS.
Act three: The conflict, introduced at the end of act one, is resolved. Armed with sugar for mom's cookies, and a self-aiming personality-enhanced emplaced weapon (hey, guess what I'm putting in Sunburn 2?), they... do whatever it is they set out to do in the beginning. After a suitably thrilling climax (pull out all the stops, guys), the falling action takes place. The protagonist(s), with his/her/its/their/our character development mostly locked in, ride off into the sunset. Roll credits.
*Some disagreement with Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. More on this one later.
~
Now, what am I getting at? Think of the last video game you played, or movie you watched. How much time was spent on act one? Five minutes? Five seconds? Was it just thrown at you?
This also comes up in tabletop RPGs, and even in a lot of the RPs I do with friends. Nothing against them, but very few (especially mine, I'm really bad at this) have no act one. There's no time to get in sync with your characters. A remedy appeared to me in the form of- yeah, I know- Fallout 3.
Fallout: New Vegas doesn't have act one. None whatsoever. Spoilers, connect the dots at your own risk.
.
Apparently you detonated a nuke in the middle of a city once.
Just thought you should know.
.
Fallout 3, however, gives you one through gameplay. It shows your character through various periods of their life. Escaping the play pen as a baby, your tenth birthday, and dealing with some bullies in underground nuclear shelter high-school. For about five to twenty minutes, you wonder if you got the wrong game. Then, you wake up (expecting a nice day of reading, for example) and find out act two has started. It was a brilliant piece of work, and highly immersive until the pop-up at the very end.
So, where's the application?
For Spectrum, I've been considering implementing something similar. It'll be less personal because it's four people, but I have faith in it as a creation concept. It's a little bit Freudian in a way, but I'm never one to pass up an excuse to foreshadow a LOT of things. Virtually every second of the "childhood" segment is going to be referencing something from an RP, or something they'll see as adults. I was considering not even telling the players they were making characters, and just assigning stat choices to various actions. But that seems out of place, and I want the players to have definitive knowledge of what they're getting into. For now.
It's a really great way to put a character from concept to paper, and it will give the characters a good reason to be very familiar with each other. And, only just now I realize Sunburn has no act one. Bad GM, no dice for you.
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