Haven’t You Always Wanted to be a Badass?

Every great action movie with a compilation cast does something that we strive to do in tabletop RPGs: everyone gets face time. Each major character has one or more moments where they get to just be their badass selves. We try to do that in tabletop RPGs, but it’s not always easy. We don’t always go into a game session (or even campaign) thinking about how we can highlight the actions of the other players. Even the best-intentioned GM can forget about a player’s individual plotline.

Enter: EPIC BADASSES

What it is

EPIC BADASSES is a new game idea that I came up with today on a drive home. It takes the Simple Six system and modifies it to help a group run a short-term campaign wherein everyone plays an EPIC BADASS. It’s GMless, and each campaign will last for one more session than there are players in the group. Here’s how it breaks down.

The group sits down and decides on a genre of action movie. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Modern, Wild West, etc. As far as I can see, you could do any action movie genre with this idea. Then each person makes an EPIC BADASS. The characters are made much like they are for One Shot: each character has a Name, an Expertise, and three Tags. Instead of Relationships, each player makes a number of Antagonists equal to the people at the table minus one. Antagonists can be individuals, groups of faceless mooks, environmental hazards, whatever as long as overcoming the Antagonist will be done in a badass manner. The Antagonists should also feed into the overall plot. The group needs to decide what this plot will be. What threat is the group going to take down? What’s the point of this action movie? Lastly, the group makes an ULTIMATE THREAT.

How It Plays

Each session of play focuses on a specific EPIC BADASS. The other players put aside their own EPIC BADASS and take on the roles of the Antagonists for the player who is the focus character for that session. The Antagonists all work together to come up with a segment of the movie wherein the focus EPIC BADASS defeats them. The session should include awesome action sequences, badass romance or sex, the near-defeat of the EPIC BADASS, and the subsequent victory of the EPIC BADASS over their Antagonists. Also, the EPIC BADASS who’s in focus may call in help from other EPIC BADASSES, but they never take the focus away from the character of the moment.

And that’s how each session goes, except for the last one. The last session takes place after each EPIC BADASS has been the focus of a session. The EPIC BADASSES all work together to overcome their ULTIMATE THREAT. The group works together, sharing the narrative to create awesome moments of epic awesomeness as they overcome the ULTIMATE THREAT.

Why?

Because I thought it was a cool idea, that’s why? I love GMless games, and I love epic action. I also think that working collaboratively is absolute best way to play a tabletop RPG. The other two Simple Six games (School Daze and One Shot) focus on story first and foremost. The system does nothing to drive play and that’s intentional. The group needs to drive the play. If they don’t want to do that, then there’s no amount of system stuff that can make that happen. Player and character motivation are the ultimate drivers. I also wanted to take Simple Six in a slightly different direction and I think this game could do that.

I also think that this game has some (albeit minor) transmedia opportunities. I’d love to see the game book for this be done in the style of a graphic novel. I’d also love for there to be an accompanying graphic novel that details the epic badassery of a group as they play through their campaign. I think that with the right artist, I could write a pretty fun graphic novel.

Timeframe

No idea. I’m going to be launching the Sveidsdottir Kickstarter within the next few weeks, and the actual writing of the book will start even sooner. However, I know that there’s only going to be so much mental space that I can devote to Sveidsdottir. If I have space for it in my brain meats, I’ll be working on EPIC BADASSES.

And yes, I love it being all capitalized.

If I do say so myself. And I do.

I guess we need to start this line of questioning by touching on what constitutes discrimination. For my purposes, the dictionary definition works well:

treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit. 

That covers a lot of areas. You can draw lines around groups of people very easily. What I’m wondering is this: can you be evil without it?

How Far Do You Go?

Obviously, we can have villains who aren’t overtly discriminatory. I mean, you can avoid the “I hate all elves” type tropes pretty easily. Same goes for avoiding religious crusades and the like. Those are broad-strokes categories, and if they make you uncomfortable, it’s easy enough to pass them by.

What happens when you’ve got the stereotypical power-hungry villain, though? The evil dictator who feels only they are fit to rule? The mage who covets nothing but more and more power? Those villians might not discriminate overtly, but isn’t their willingness to overlook the abilities and merits, or even basic personhood of other people a kind of discrimination? We’re talking about people that draw a very sharp line: me, then everyone else.

Maybe that’s taking the concept of discrimination too far, but it still meets the basic criteria set out in the definition. And this question isn’t meant to solve a problem: if you want to avoid overt discrimination in your games, it’s easy enough to do so. I was more curious as to the depths the discrimination goes. Maybe it comes down to splitting hairs… or maybe all villains really do discriminate, one way or another.

What are your thoughts?

Take is away, Ruth!

School Daze: SAT Perps

It is April of your players’ Junior year of high school, a time of love and college applications. All of your players took the SAT* in the Fall, but, for one reason or another, none of them (or, perhaps, their parents) are happy with their scores. Their college-minded parents are pushing them to retake the SATs this weekend. This is their last chance before applying for scholarships, early decisions, etc.

I chose to use a group session with the guidance counselor to introduce the characters to each other. As the guidance counselor, I asked each student to introduce themselves to the group, talk a bit about their favorite subject and college goals, told them what SAT score they had gotten in the fall (see below in characters), and then told them what SAT score they would need in order to have a good chance at those goals. I handed these out as small post-it notes which the players could stick to their character sheets.

The game begins on Thursday morning, two days before the test is due to be administered. During the pre-class rounding, one of your students is told they must answer nature’s call and overhears a two members of administration talking in the bathroom. The SAT test book shipment came early. It’s been locked in a closet in Administration. This is totally against College Board protocols, and the administration is mildly scandalized. They hope the students won’t find out. Perhaps they shouldn’t have discussed it in the ladies’ (men’s) room. (If it’s the men’s room, use Mr. Bald & Dean Dean. If it’s the ladies’ room, use Ms. Edwina Cerna and Katie Zupan.)

Your students have had homeroom together throughout high school, so they vaguely know each other even if they’re not friends and may not even get along. The student who overheard the conversation shows up at homeroom with this information and it’s up to them who to share it with. However, as they’ve all been in the same meeting with the guidance counselor, they may have more reason to work together.

When playing the game, the characters went in some directions I hadn’t anticipated at all, although they didn’t go the study-group route, which I’d realized was a possibility. At the end, I had them narrate their experience of taking the SAT, based on their gameplay, and then handed out sticky-notes with their score on them. We used an “innovative computer-based SAT” (yes, with booklets) so that they could get their scores right away.

*I’ve based the numbers in this game around the SAT 1600 because of the age group with which I played it. We all related to these numbers. If you want to change it to the SAT 2400 or ACT, go for it.

Characters

Rather than create specific pre-gen characters, I used three archetypes to shape the game a bit while giving players the chance to own their characters. Two were achievers (but slightly different ranks), one was a slacker, and the others were characters whose main focus, for whatever reason, wasn’t core academics. I’ve outlined the character types below with the handouts I gave each player.

Core Characters:

Achiever 1

Favorite subject: Ideally Math/Science. Overall well-rounded academically.

Rank 1: Rank

Ranks 2 & 3: Chosen by player.

Motivation: To get a full-ride to [insert prestigious college/university]

Fall SAT Score: 1520

GPA: 4.2

Achiever 2

Favorite subject: Ideally Math/English/Science/History-based. Well-rounded academically.

Rank 1: Wank

Ranks 2 & 3: Chosen by player, but not Rank.

Motivation: To get a full-ride to [insert prestigious college/university]

Fall SAT Score: 1490

GPA: 4.0

Slacker

Favorite subject: Is lunch a subject?

Ranks: (can’t be rank or wank. Anything else is on the table, but this student isn’t driven either by academics or things like athletics/drama/art. You might want to be popular, work on some totally non-academic hobby like gaming, or just do drugs behind the bleachers. It’s up to you.)

Motivation: To get accepted to a college. Because your parents will make your life sucky if you don’t.

Fall SAT Score: 900

GPA: 2.0

Additional characters:

2-3 more characters.

All have SAT scores ranging from 1150-1250. Ideally each of them has an subject passion that they’re proud of and want to pursue in college, but their passion is something other than math/science/english/language. Think sports, art, drama, music, etc. Decent GPA (say, around a 2.8-3.3). Their chances of getting into plenty of colleges for their subject are good, but they each have a program they’re set on and want a higher SAT score to guarantee acceptance and scholarships. This will come out a bit in the guidance session above.

I told them this and gave them each a sticky note handout that said:

Favorite subject: Anything non-core, art/drama/music/sports/tech/yearbook/journalism/etc.

GPA: [I choose between 2.8 and 3.3 here]

Fall SAT: [I chose between 1150 and 1250]

You have a strong portfolio in your favorite subject.

Twists

1) Achiever 2 has more of a moral compass than Achiever 1, even if he or she is the one who came up with the plan. At some point in the game, this moral compass may poke its head out a little or even force Achiever 2 into deciding that this endeavor is wrong and shouldn’t be done. But is it too late to drop out? Does the character want their friends to get in trouble?

I privately informed Achiever 2 of this problem during character creation. I told the player that I was leaving it entirely up to him if and how he wanted to play this, but that his character was a more moral achiever than Achiever 1, who would do anything to be on top.

2) If everyone in this group scores a 1600, someone will get wise to their cheating. How will they decide who’s getting what kind of score without making anyone in the group angry?

3) How will you sneak in the notes? I had each player narrate their plans.

Fun Facts

Some fun facts about mid-2000s Harvard and Yale admission.

Harvard:

Harvard’s 2006 admission percentages of 14.3% for the school of business, 4.5% for public health, 12.5% for engineering, 11.3% for law, 14.6% for education, and 4.9% for medicine.

Average SAT/ACT score: 1350-1560

Freshmen in top 10% of class: 87%

Yale:

Average SAT/ACT score: 1400-1580

Freshmen in top 10% of class: 95%

10% acceptance

Editor: Amanda Valentine

First up is my editor, Amanda Valentine. Amanda has done a bunch of great work in the RPG industry, and I trust her implicitly. I also feel that for a project like Sveidsdottir, it’s going to be important to have a female perspective. Amanda bring that perspective and great editing chops. You can find her at http://www.ayvalentine.com

Cover: Ravven Kitsune

Next up is my cover artist. I was turned on to her work by some folks on Twitter, and I’m delighted that I found her. Ravven Kitsune will be working on my cover. I checked out her gallery (http://ravven78.deviantart.com/gallery/), and loved what I saw. I think she’ll be able to bring the combination of grit, strength, and femininity that I want on the cover.

The project is shaping up! I’m still devising tiers for the KSer, looking at pricing and such, and getting my marketing language set. Will be a few weeks until launch; I want to make sure I’m doing this properly. I’m seeing a lot of excitement when I talk about this project online, so I’m hoping that this will be my most successful project to-date.

I like the idea of Iron Edda fiction. Fiction is a market that I’ve been interested in for a long time. Like, most of my life. I’m passionate about this setting, and I think it had a lot to offer. To that end, I’ve made a decision: before I tackle a game based on the setting, I’m going to write a novel about the setting.

Sveidsdottir

Sveid was a Valkyrie from Norse myth. The Valkyries are amazing symbols of femininity and power. The novel is going to be about a woman who carries a part of the spirit of Sveid within her: Sigurd Sveidsdottir. I want the story to be about Svied and what she learns about life and about herself. To do that, I’m going to break the novel into nine separate vignettes where Sigurd interacts with a variety of other women who all reflect or represent the same spirit of the Valkyrie. Each vignette will reveal more about Sigurd to both the reader and herself.

I plan to Kickstart the writing of this novel, starting at the beginning of May. I’ve got the arcs of five of the vignettes sketched out, and I’m deliberately leaving the other four blank. As part of the Kickstarter, I want to offer the backers a chance to influence the direction of the novel. I’ll offer a set of options for each of the later vignettes, and as stretch goals are met, the people who are current backers will be able to vote on the characters they want to see. This is in addition to tier options like creating minor (or even major) characters apart from the focuses of the vignettes.

Right now, I’m building the Kickstarter, and am searching for the right people to work with in terms of editing and cover art. I want this project to be the best thing that I’ve done. I rushed my previous project, and I won’t be making the same mistake with this one.

The Start of Something

I think that Iron Edda has a lot to offer as a setting, and Sveidsdottir is only the beginning. Look for more details as I have them to offer.

1. If I were to write some fiction (think a novel or collections of short stories), what would you want to see me write?

2. What about for games? What would you want to see me write?

3. What are you missing in your fiction reading or gaming life? What holes do you see in either market that you think need to be filled?

Responses can go in the comments. I really appreciate it.

I’ve also got some more posts for this space coming up. I’ve got some more thoughts on School Daze, some words about doing research for a project, writing, tone, etc. My mind if starting to churn again, which means you all get posts. I hope you both enjoy and find them useful.

Iron Edda Ongoing Draft

Iron Edda

When I came up with the idea for Bones of the Earth, it would not leave me alone. I had visions of dwarven-built metal monstrosities clashing ona vast landscape with necromantically animated giant’s bones. I imagined Viking-like raiding parties sailing down rivers into foreign lands, pillaging and looting until ambushed by a large force, at which point their bone longship is revealed to be an animated giant. I dreamed of Viking culture, and all of the other cultures that would be analagous to medieval Europe, all dealing with the dwarven threat. Of elves walking through twilight forests, their tree companion striding by their sides. And of giants, livid at everyone for the mockery made of their forms.

So, yeah, I’ve been thinking about this for a while. TerrorForm wasn’t coming together for me (which isn’t to say that project is dead) and I wanted something else. On the advice of my wife, I took some time and didn’t just dive into my next project. I took time and ruminated. Iron Edda is the result of that rumination. The name comes from the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson. The Poetic Edda especially is rich with myth and imagery that I’m using as a basis for the kinds of stories I want to tell with Iron Edda.

What’s Going to be in the Game

I’ve decided some particulars about the game, and they are as follows:

Powered by Fate Core

Bones of the Earth is based on Fate (obviously), and I think that Fate is a great system to use to express the kind of game I’m looking for. I want to be able to have big stompy mechs fighting alongside ground troops, and I want the system used for those conflicts to the be same as the system that would be used for negotiating a trade agreement with the Jarl in the next valley over. Fate does that and does it well.

Group Investment in Setting

The setting with have good information for any group to use for play, but I want things to go deeper. Each time a new campaign starts, everyone in the group will roll on a set of tables, which will result in some information about their part of the world, and give them some questions to answer. With the answering of those questions, the GM gets story hooks. As well, that player will then add something to a map of the setting. As each player rolls and answers questions, the locality of the campaign is further defined. If you’re familiar with The Quiet Year by Joe McDonaldo, it’s a similar concept.

Troupe-Style Play

In addition to a Bone-Bonded warrior (yeah, the warriors are spiritually bound to their giant’s bones), everyone will create a secondary or even tertiary character that they will occasionally play. This will allow the story to be told on multiple levels. It’s not all giant stompy mechs, it’s also the people who farm, the thralls who serve Jarls and merchants, and the shieldmaidens that fight on the ground. Zooming from one level of the story to another on a session-by-session basis will give the story much more depth.

Rich Cultures and Vibrant Setting

I love medieval Europe from a historical perspective. I also love Norse Mythology. Combining the two and adding giant constructs of war seems like a pretty amazing combination. Having a diverse set of cultures, such as analogues for the falling Roman Empire, Native America (skraelings, anyone?), the Celts, the Rus, the Huns, the Byzantine Empire… well, as you can see, there are a lot of options. I’ve not fully decided which cultures will be represented, but I want those that are there to be a diverse lot, with a diverse set of viewpoints.

Inclusivity

Race, gender, sexual orientation, lifestyle, it’s all on the table. I don’t want to limit options when it comes to those things, and I hope to write the text in a way that reflects such inclusivity.

And Away We Go!

I don’t have a timeframe for publication yet, but work is beginning. My day job gives me a lot more free time during the summer, so expect to see more and more content as time goes on. Until then, I hope you find the idea cool. I’ll leave you with this, a snippet from the actual Iron Edda:

Long had the Dwarves, | forgers of iron and metal,

Kept to the ground | holding in their homes

The secrets of the world | long left hidden.

Their dark hands darker | with the blood of the earth

They crafted in secret; | would you yet know more?

Rising from the ground | Yggdrasil’s blood giving power,

The humans and elves | were caught unawares.

Mighty warriors blunted | their spears and axes

On the surface of the | dwarf-forged giants.

Where hammers wrought | the deaths of the brave,

Flowers grew to show | their blood-marked passing.

Hope faded and desperation | etched every face.

Eyes to the heavens turned | pleading for aid

From the Aesir, the gods | of the old long held.

The gods, knowing their fate | held back action, no aid given.

All save Loki, chaos-sower, grief-giver; | would you yet know more?