Origins schedule

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Okay, who needs sanity? Here's what I've got scheduled so far:

Thursday, Jun 29:

8 am CoC Shuggoth Tournament Qualifier

I've never played in a CoC tournament, and I'd like to see how it goes.

8 pm Everway larp: Piper's Court, run by Kat Miller.

mnemex played in this at Dreamation, and it's been expanded since, I belive.

Plenty of time for shopping between the two games.

Friday, Jun 30:

8 am With Great Power: A League of Their Own, run by Kat Miller.

I've played WGP when Michael Miller, who wrote it, ran the session, and he says that Kat runs it better than he does. I know that Kat and I like a lot of the same things in rpgs, so I want to see how she runs it.

1 pm The Swing: Blood of Dionysus

I don't know a lot about this one, but I wanted to try something new.

11 pm CoC Milk and Cookies

Much time in between, and if I make the Shuggoth semi-finals, this is the logical place to schedule that. The All Batman larp is booked, alas. I am tempted to take a friend's advice and just show up, costumed as Batman, but I'd want to ask the gms first if I decided to get serious about it.

Saturday, Jul 1

9 am Strange Arcana: 1776 Demo run by Richard Iorio

I think this uses Savage Worlds, which I want to see in practice, and I know Richard and would like to game with him. If I actually make the Shuggoth tournament finals, though, this is the slot I'll do them in, and I will have to cancel this demo. I think that odds are against it, though.

The rest of the day is the Todd Furler section of my schedule:

Noon Unknown Armies: Overboard

6 pm octane: The Town Eater

8 pm Inspectres: No Shreiking After 10 pm

Alas, the larp Priceless is booked. It starts at 10 pm.

Sunday, Jul 2

9 am Pendragon: Some Enchanted Evening


Spirits of '76, a CoC game set at the World's Fair, is booked.

I may try to cram in a Weapons of the Gods game.

I'd love to try Kat's game-in-progress after hours, if she's willing.

Sleep? Who needs sleep at a convention?

Origins schedule

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Okay, who needs sanity? Here's what I've got scheduled so far:

Thursday, Jun 29:

8 am CoC Shuggoth Tournament Qualifier

I've never played in a CoC tournament, and I'd like to see how it goes.

8 pm Everway larp: Piper's Court, run by Kat Miller.

mnemex played in this at Dreamation, and it's been expanded since, I belive.

Plenty of time for shopping between the two games.

Friday, Jun 30:

8 am With Great Power: A League of Their Own, run by Kat Miller.

I've played WGP when Michael Miller, who wrote it, ran the session, and he says that Kat runs it better than he does. I know that Kat and I like a lot of the same things in rpgs, so I want to see how she runs it.

1 pm The Swing: Blood of Dionysus

I don't know a lot about this one, but I wanted to try something new.

11 pm CoC Milk and Cookies

Much time in between, and if I make the Shuggoth semi-finals, this is the logical place to schedule that. The All Batman larp is booked, alas. I am tempted to take a friend's advice and just show up, costumed as Batman, but I'd want to ask the gms first if I decided to get serious about it.

Saturday, Jul 1

9 am Strange Arcana: 1776 Demo run by Richard Iorio

I think this uses Savage Worlds, which I want to see in practice, and I know Richard and would like to game with him. If I actually make the Shuggoth tournament finals, though, this is the slot I'll do them in, and I will have to cancel this demo. I think that odds are against it, though.

The rest of the day is the Todd Furler section of my schedule:

Noon Unknown Armies: Overboard

6 pm octane: The Town Eater

8 pm Inspectres: No Shreiking After 10 pm

Alas, the larp Priceless is booked. It starts at 10 pm.

Sunday, Jul 2

9 am Pendragon: Some Enchanted Evening


Spirits of '76, a CoC game set at the World's Fair, is booked.

I may try to cram in a Weapons of the Gods game.

I'd love to try Kat's game-in-progress after hours, if she's willing.

Sleep? Who needs sleep at a convention?

Noir, Dresden. and Inverted Plots

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

I've read three of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden novels, in a rather odd order. I read the 4th one first, which was the best for me to start with, as I liked the particular plot he was doing. I did find it moved at dizzying speeds, and I was annoyed that, at the cost of a %$_*& paperback, the ink smeared, but that's not Butcher's fault.

Then, I read the 2nd, which is a good follower, as it introduces characters who reappear in the 4th. Next, the 6th, which is both good and a bit wearing, but that's another tangent. I'm currently working on the 3rd.

So, I went through the 4th and 2nd again, sketching out the Relationship Maps. The R-Map basically is the plot in the 4th, probably no small part of why I liked it. Both looked like I could borrow the plots for Cthulhupunk sessions, and I tried with the 2nd book, running it for ebartley. It worked well, with some interesting changes.

Noir can be a very moral genre, and this is the case for the Dresden books. It's part of what gives them their strength. I remember a panel on fantasy noir at Noreascon 4, and I'm sure Butcher was on the panel and that this is where I first heard of the Dresden books.

This type of noir has as the stakes the soul of the hero. Corrupt forces want to buy it. This is an interesting power fantasy, as many of us may wish we had that kind of temptation to face, but folks just aren't interested in buying our souls at a high rate. But, I digress.

So, fantasy noir can make that literal, but doesn't have to, and one of the many good scenes in the 2nd book involves a very non-literal attempt to buy the hero's soul.

This isn't likely to happen in an rpg unless everyone is on the same page, firmly. I mean, here I am, the gm, playing the guy who wants to buy your PC. If you do not really want to play out this kind of temptation, it's not a very interesting scene.

So, first thing I did was to figure that's likely the case. No big. And, that's what there are NPCs for. Some of them can be tempted, come to the PCs for advice, and find the strength to resist temptation. Some can fall, letting the PCs do cool stuff in reaction to that.

That's probably an inversion of the usual pattern.

Another inversion has to do with power. Harry Dresden is a powerful wizard, but he's in a world where most folks don't believe in magic, and where his bills pile up, and where he's a perpetual outsider in the world he would protect. Here, the PC was not any kind of wizard. He had people to do that for him. Money was not a problem. Just about everyone knew that the supernatural existed. He's got a firm place in his chosen community.

Obviously, I changed a lot of things from the book. I actually kept all the factions, except for the hero's -- and, it could be argued that another faction that ebartley's PC was concerned about served that function. But, I added some of the NPCs that were already part of the game world, and that changed the dynamics. I also tied one element that is deliberately not explained in the book into some stuff I'd done before and some stuff I'm planning to do in the future, if things last so long.

And, the adventure worked just fine. But, it was not the kind of adventure Butcher would have written. And, that's fine, too. Different media, different expectations.

Noir, Dresden. and Inverted Plots

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

I've read three of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden novels, in a rather odd order. I read the 4th one first, which was the best for me to start with, as I liked the particular plot he was doing. I did find it moved at dizzying speeds, and I was annoyed that, at the cost of a %$_*& paperback, the ink smeared, but that's not Butcher's fault.

Then, I read the 2nd, which is a good follower, as it introduces characters who reappear in the 4th. Next, the 6th, which is both good and a bit wearing, but that's another tangent. I'm currently working on the 3rd.

So, I went through the 4th and 2nd again, sketching out the Relationship Maps. The R-Map basically is the plot in the 4th, probably no small part of why I liked it. Both looked like I could borrow the plots for Cthulhupunk sessions, and I tried with the 2nd book, running it for ebartley. It worked well, with some interesting changes.

Noir can be a very moral genre, and this is the case for the Dresden books. It's part of what gives them their strength. I remember a panel on fantasy noir at Noreascon 4, and I'm sure Butcher was on the panel and that this is where I first heard of the Dresden books.

This type of noir has as the stakes the soul of the hero. Corrupt forces want to buy it. This is an interesting power fantasy, as many of us may wish we had that kind of temptation to face, but folks just aren't interested in buying our souls at a high rate. But, I digress.

So, fantasy noir can make that literal, but doesn't have to, and one of the many good scenes in the 2nd book involves a very non-literal attempt to buy the hero's soul.

This isn't likely to happen in an rpg unless everyone is on the same page, firmly. I mean, here I am, the gm, playing the guy who wants to buy your PC. If you do not really want to play out this kind of temptation, it's not a very interesting scene.

So, first thing I did was to figure that's likely the case. No big. And, that's what there are NPCs for. Some of them can be tempted, come to the PCs for advice, and find the strength to resist temptation. Some can fall, letting the PCs do cool stuff in reaction to that.

That's probably an inversion of the usual pattern.

Another inversion has to do with power. Harry Dresden is a powerful wizard, but he's in a world where most folks don't believe in magic, and where his bills pile up, and where he's a perpetual outsider in the world he would protect. Here, the PC was not any kind of wizard. He had people to do that for him. Money was not a problem. Just about everyone knew that the supernatural existed. He's got a firm place in his chosen community.

Obviously, I changed a lot of things from the book. I actually kept all the factions, except for the hero's -- and, it could be argued that another faction that ebartley's PC was concerned about served that function. But, I added some of the NPCs that were already part of the game world, and that changed the dynamics. I also tied one element that is deliberately not explained in the book into some stuff I'd done before and some stuff I'm planning to do in the future, if things last so long.

And, the adventure worked just fine. But, it was not the kind of adventure Butcher would have written. And, that's fine, too. Different media, different expectations.