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August 08, 2011

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Post Apocalyptic in a Savage World

My gaming group is moving into a new setting, one that we plan to stick with for awhile. We're really liking the Savage Worlds rule set and are looking forward to how this will play out over a longer campaign. After a brainstorming session, we agreed to play a post-apocalyptic world setting (with aliens thrown in for good measure). And the aliens have psionics. It all makes perfect sense when you read the back story we developed. We'll draft new characters in our next session, and I'm stoked. I found that the Darwin's World setting (released recently for Savage Worlds) comes fairly close to the setting we developed, so we'll be using that supplement with some tweaks. Here's the write up I did, based on our brainstorm. I'm calling the setting, "Scrap." Aliens from Gessel, a moon of Jupiter, invaded Earth. Toward the end, the allied forces of Earth were able to destroy the invading ships and Gesselin land troops with nuclear weapons and che...

RPG: Storytelling or Simulation

All role-playing games (RPGs) are not created equal. There exists a distinct spectrum - with the storytelling games on one end and those built for reality simulation on the other. Spirit of the Century is an excellent example of the rules-light, story-heavy focus of a storytelling game, whereas GURPS is a great example of a simulate-every-minute-detail-of-combat game. Where exactly do you fall? It's probably not an easy question to answer for most. As a fiction writer, I absolutely appreciate the storytelling side of the coin, but I would be lying if I said I didn't crave a little old-fashioned combat simulation (as long as it doesn't drag down the story). In fact, if the combat feels a tad realistic, I think it lends a little credibility to the world, and hence the story.

What Makes the RPG So Amazing?

A good RPG is basically unfettered storytelling imagination with rules. Huh? Isn't that a paradox? Well, sort of. Giving your fantasy world a set of guidelines in the form of rules and dice rolls, gives the GM and the players permission to experiment. Looking at it another way, suppose there were no rules. "Guys, this is just a free-flowing story session. Go. Say anything." It's sort of like trying to start an oyster with no grain of sand. There's nothing to latch on to. There is no context. And more to the point, you're operating in a world that doesn't feel realistic. (Realism vs. fantasy in an RPG, whole other topic.) Now, we could have a whole discussion around how many rules . And it would be a good discussion. But idea of rules is essential. There's also the question of dice in an RPG. That random factor. The unpredictability of life. There's always a chance, isn't there? The chance of success. The chance of failure. You can stack t...

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