Quantum Ogre Sighting

I have some spare time tonight. Rare, lately. Lots of things going on in my personal life that I don't want to get into right now, which is largely why I've been fairly quiet online these past couple of weeks.

Anyhoo, I sometimes try to read gaming blogs and listen to gaming podcasts. Especially when my real life becomes stressful. I really, really appreciate a good episode of Save for Half on days like these.

Today I read Hack & Slash's post on GNS and OSR. That post was tagged "illusionism", which lead me down a rabbit hole of reading up on all the old illusionism and quantum ogre posts (which I largely missed when they were fresh). Upon reading the bits about how making damn sure the PCs encounter your planned encounter regardless of their choices is kind of a dick DM move, I was reminded of an episode of Roll For Initiative (at least I think it was that show... it had DM Vince on it). On that particular episode one of the hosts says that if he preps rooms A-D in a dungeon and the players instead go to E-H he just moves all the content of A-D to E-H. Problem solved.

It really struck me ill when I heard it. It felt like a way to force your own GM vision upon the players. It felt like a major invalidation of the players' choices. It felt like a lie. And yeah, I know, it's just a fuckin' game. It really doesn't matter that much. But still. If you're gonna do a thing, do it right. Right?

Of course the host didn't mean it that way at all. They were just offering advice on how to run a game and how to deal with the problem of the players running around your prep. It's understandable, and common. I've done it a million times, I'm sure. But it kinda sucks, doesn't it? Especially if you're running a sandboxy kind of game where player choice is the primary driver.

So let's say you're running your D&D game and you have this awesome ogre lair all prepped out for when the players take the bait and go down into the valley. But then they don't go down into the god damned valley. They go up on the mountain. You could just move the lair to the mountain, sure. And hell, if there was no hint of the lair already given, no expectation in the players' choice that going to the mountain would allow them to avoid what they suspected was in the valley... then maybe moving the lair to the mountain is OK. I mean, why not? In that case you aren't robbing them of agency in any sense that I can think of. Whereas if you already hinted at the ogre lair in the valley and they make the choice to avoid it and then you move it... that's a dick move. Don't do that.

Secondly, you can just chop that sumbich up. Say there are 5 cool elements of the lair. What if you just peppered those 5 elements throughout other places that the PCs explore? Like if there was a lost spellbook lying in a hidden corner of the lair maybe that same spellbook is instead found on the mountain in a gully where a poor bastard of a wizard fell to their death.

I mean, that's how I tend to do it. I prep shit, the players don't take the bait, and I re-purpose the various elements across the adventure or campaign.

/random thoughts post

Big Swords

One thing I forgot to mention when I talked about Dungeon World in this post was that the way Moves are described and named reminded me of some game designs I had in the notes folder back in 2002-2005. Specifically I had this idea for a game I was calling "Big Swords: Badass Fantasy" (working title only!), which was one of the many attempts I made to emulate my beloved old school D&D. This was way before I even knew there was a slowly growing DIY D&D trend happening that would eventually take on the name "OSR". If I had been clued in to this trend I think it would have been a revelation for me.

Big Swords worked like this. Characters had a couple of stats, such as Power, and then they had a series of traits that I called FX. The FX were related to a Way (class). Then individual PCs would have SFX... which were invented by the players. Stuff like this:

Break Face
Strike a Terrifying Pose
Summon a Salty Devil
Blow a Kiss
Why Does This Keep Happening To Me?

And so forth.

Each of these FX basically gave you some + to your d20 roll, which was an opposed roll. They were very specific, as the names imply. They were like Dungeon World's Moves, in a sense. And I think these kinds of ideas were rampant in RPG design during that time and beyond. Hell, D&D 3e had already started exploring this territory with Feats (back off! I'm not saying Feats and Moves are the same). And D&D 4e certainly explored it more with all the various Powers that characters could use x times per day/encounter.

What I mean by that is Moves were not an entirely new idea and my use of a similar concept in the un-fulfilled Big Swords game idea was certainly not a new idea. The specific implementation of these ideas was clearly unique in each case, but RPG design was just kinda going that that way in general, wasn't it?

BTW, here's the opening spicy text for Big Swords. And no, I have zero plans to actually develop this game, though the setting concept as described below lives on in my work-in-progress Dead Wizards:

Civilization. Labrynthine, sprawling, decadent, and lecherous.

Theirs is a world of corpulent priests who cry doomsday to their sheep-eyed masses while sycophants skitter at their sandaled feet. Theirs is a world wherein tyrants rule from white towers and slave-masters crack their whips in the street. Theirs is not a real world.

Your world lies beyond splendor and squalor. Your world is a place of reality where a man or a woman can carve a name in the very landscape and drench it red with blood or wine. Your world is a place where enemies wear the faces of conjurers, demons, and lusty deceivers whose fingers slip into your purse while yours are still having their pleasure.

This has been yet another rando post spilling out of my brainpan half-formed and ill-conceived.

The Great and Powerful Illusion of Block

One of the many Random Order Comics I drew between 2001-2002.

When I was in Mexico for a recent work trip, alone in the hotel one night, I discovered Alexa Donne's YouTube channel. Now I'll be totally honest here... I clicked on her video because she's super fucking cute. I'm just like that.

But I watched a few of her vids while drawing a Troika! character sheet and I really enjoyed her. She's honest and solid in her advice. I have no idea if she's a good writer or not, but she's good at telling you like it is.

One of her comments was that writer's block isn't real. It's an illusion. You'll know it's not real when you stop whining about it and just make yourself write. Soon the words flow and the "block" is lifted. I get what she's trying to say here and I generally agree. But it's not quite right to say that writer's block isn't a thing. Because it totally is a thing.

Calm down, Donnettes*, let me explain.

Writer's block is not a thing in the sense that there's this one, monolithic problem that prevents you from writing. But if you are a writer and you can't seem to write, then there's something blocking you. That's really all writer's block means, isn't it? For example, maybe my favorite gay uncle just married a woman and I'm existentially confused about it, causing me to lose my mojo and be unable to write for some time. That's a block.

Alexa is talking to YOU, dumbass.

The trick is that these aren't impenetrable blocks. Very few blocks would be legit impenetrable. But they can absolutely feel god damned impenetrable. And of course I'm not just talking about writing books here. This idea applies to all creativity.

Speaking for myself, creativity usually strikes me hard when I have a free block of time and I'm not physically in pain. I can sit at my desk and - usually - accomplish something. But there are times when that doesn't happen. I can tell you that right now at this moment I'm in a little bit of a psychological tailspin and it is definitely affecting my creative time. Maybe that's why I'm blogging about writer's block instead of working on one of my projects or commissions.

Writer's block isn't a thing in the sense that it's objectively real. Writer's block is a thing in the sense that when you fail to write (and you're a writer) then something is blocking you. Unblocking is not always easy.

*I made that up. Cute, huh? If you like Alexa Donne you're a Donnette.

Supercalla Character Sheet

Here is a Supercalla character sheet... for my Troika! RPG setting book of the same name. Space fantasy with a totally route 66 sort of vibe. I'm trying to keep this thing to 48 pages so I'm not including everything that might fit that theme, but it's got a lot of spark in it, I hope.

I handed the text to my sorcerous layout guy (Matt Hildebrand) after Andy Solberg took a scrutinizing gaze with his Monocle of Editing. I hope to have this sumbich shot out to the wilds by Xmas. It is not an elaborate endeavor, just a simple, fun little romp-kit.

And for some reason, motorcylces. I'm not even a cycle guy. Not sure how that happened but there are multiple biker backgrounds in this thing. In space, of course.

Supercalla!

Rick and Morty vs. D&D

I only bought this on a whim because it was cheap on pre-order, I'm a sucker for 64 page rulebooks, I like R&M, and I'm also a sucker for cool box sets.

The box is an entirely playable game. You can literally run D&D from this box for many sessions without buying anything else. You can be creative with the contents, make up your own adventures, and never buy anything else. You got your core rules, dice, four character classes through level 5, a bunch of races, a very cool DM screen, and a dungeon to play through.

The rules are presented coherently with Rick's rickness helping you understand what the hell you're reading. Which is fun.

But I don't LOVE this. Here's why I don't LOVE it.

It's literally just vanilla 5e D&D. It is absolutely NOT Rick and Morty D&D. It's vanilla milktoast Dungeons & Dragons with Rick and Morty kind of sprinkled on top as they offer meta-commentary. The adventure that comes in the box, The Lost Dungeon of Rickedness: Big Rick Energy, seems like a fun romp with plenty of juvenile humor (buttless zombies?) that feels like Rick and Morty. But at the core: just plain D&D.

There are no descriptions of portal guns, laser guns, or anything sci-fi that would be in the theme of R&M. This is because the box set is JUST D&D as (Rick sees it). It is Rick and Morty explaining how to play D&D. It is not playing D&D in the Rick and Morty universe... which is kinda what I was hoping for.

Hell, we even get the same blah passages on rules we get from the 5e books along with some of the same extremely boring artwork.

But yes, we also get tons of fun R&M cartoon art and lots of R&M commentary. Just no god damn portal guns.

(If I'm missing something, let me know.)

Is it worth the price? YES.

Why? Because if you want to play basic D&D 5e and you don't want to spent $150 doing it, you get ALL YOU NEED right here. In a fun package. Just don't expect high level hijinks (it goes through level 5 and D&D is more-or-less a 20-level game). And for god's sake don't expect space ships and laser pistols because they ain't in here. The price on the box is $29.99 but you can probably still score it for $20.

If you are trying to learn D&D or want to give D&D to some snot-nosed teen this is your cheap ticket in.

RIG

The Troika! setting book I'm working on, Supercalla, has a lot of sci-fantasy weapons and some of them bear the name "Rig". This name goes way, way back for me. It's just a name I slapped on a gun in a drawing years ago and it kinda stuck.

Weapon doodles.

This is part of how world-building works in my head. I get these little images and ideas over time and they build up a setting that is distinct (in my head, again) as an entity but not really very clear or detailed. Then when I start trying to develop the idea for an actual thing to be published I realize just how loose and nebulous these ideas are.

For example, what is "Rig"? It's the name on a laser gun. But that's about all I know. Based on how often it comes up in my sci-fantasy stuff, Rig seems to be a very popular brand of personal weaponry. So now I know a couple of things: Rig is a brand of weapons and it is very popular. Also, the style of Rig blasters is rounded and almost has a bit of steampunk vibes built into it.

Here's an example of an old, old drawing where Rig comes up.

First use of Rig in a drawing? Maybe. 2001ish.

Project Updates, Black Pudding, etc.

A lot of people have asked me about the schedule for Black Pudding #6 and I have replied with pithy or vague comments such as "someday" or "when I'm finished" or "SOON". Here's where I'm at on that and other projects, in order of importance.

Commissions

I always treat my paid work as primary. I am actively working on or slated to start work on art for Barbarians of the Ruined Earth, Fight This Mutant, Leopard Women of Venus, and an upcoming project for which I don't have a name or website to point to (but I do have money in the bank so it's a lock for sure). These projects get first treatment, within the range of their due dates. As this type of work is basically ongoing, I sprinkle my personal stuff between due dates as I can.

Supercalla

This book is on the front burner. It's a Troika! setting that will come in at about 48 pages, saddle
stitched for the print run, in color. The writing is 98% finished (heading into the edit phase, as well as actual play or "playtesting" as they sometimes call it). 90% of the art is completed, though I will probably add more as needed to flesh it out. My goal is to try to get this knocked out and published by end of the year, but that really depends on the layout guy's schedule (the ubiquitous and sorcerous Matt Hildebrand), which I am not sure about. At any rate, my goal is to give Matt all the stuff he needs by end of November.

Black Pudding #6

This one is probably next. And I simply cannot put a date to it. My process for creating the zine has always been to wing that mother. I don't plan these things out. I create pages as inspiration strikes and when I get 24 inspired pages plus covers I roll with it.

I checked the folder for issue 6 and it looks like I have 12 completed pages... halfway there! I also have a cover, which I drew months ago and will probably be the one I go with. I wanted this issue to have several more highly detailed pages so some of the ones I worked on were very time consuming. I hope it is worth the wait.

I am in a Troika! mood lately so it's a little harder to think about B/X stuff. But I don't want to muddle the content of the zine with other game systems. If it had been a mix of old school games from the beginning I'd be OK with it, but the thing has been almost laser-focused on B/X style content. I want to maintain that focus, at least through issue #6. I have no idea what will come next. I don't have any reason to think I'll end the series but it might go on de facto* hiatus as a result of me doing other things for a while. Dunno.

*Is that the correct use of "de facto"? If not, I've been using it wrong my whole damn life.

Rabbits & Rangers

This is always, always, always on my heated backburner. Technically I don't have to ever touch it again because it's already published as a Labyrinth Lord supplement. I can walk away. But I can't walk away because I want to do more with it. Either a standalone game or a follow-up LL supplement. I'm still not sure which. But eventually I'll get it figured out and deliver something cool that will hopefully scratch that itch. And it might be after Black Pudding #6. Maybe.

Holy shit I had about ten typos in this post. I really need to slow down when I write.

Background: Scoundrel Wanted in 1d6 Systems

Here's a Troika! background for Supercalla. It's a nice guy type.

Scoundrel Wanted in 1d6 Sunrealms

Your mama cried the day you were born and your daddy's only words to you were "I regret makin’ you." People tend to avoid you, except the Law... the Law is always looking for you. And bounty hunters.

Possessions:
-RIG 77
-Knife
-Small book of dad jokes
-Pack of Astroknotty
-Coordinates for a big score

Advanced Skills:
2 Pistol
2 Fist Fighting
1 Sneak
1 Run
2 Spotting The Law

Special:
Each time you enter a new place roll 1d6. On a roll of 1, the Law is notified of your whereabouts. On a roll of 2, a bounty hunter spots you.

Background: Private Eye

A background for Troika!

This one got cut from the Supercalla setting book because it didn't quite fit the theme. Maybe it'll show up in a later book.

Private Eye

The dame was on fire when she crawled into the room. Not figuratively, but literally. She was a fire worm. She lost a lover and she wanted you to find them. How could you say no to a dame like that? You looked at her long and hard with your one eye and said "I'll do it. Now please get out before you burn the joint down."

Possessions:
-Skinsuit (trenchcoat, armor 1)
-1d6 fake badges and IDs
-Revolver
-Emergency cozmask (1 hour use)
-Lockpick tools
-Eye drops

Advanced Skills:
3 Awareness
1 Locks
1 Disguise
1 Sneak
1 Pistol
1 Fist fighting

The Wonderful & Terrible Things That Effervesced in the OSR Scene, Part 5

Time to stick a fokkin' fork in this fokker. It's been a rambling mess, hasn't it?

Truth is I wrote like thousands of words about this and deleted them all. Nobody wants to read about the various OSR controversies from the past few years. It's old news, right? We know the birds who are bad seeds, generally, and I think many of us just kind of avoid/ignore them. Some people would see that as a failing... we should be kicking the bad seeds' asses. But I'm not a militant sort of guy and I don't own the hobby nor do I own OSR.

There will be bad seeds. We can ignore, avoid, and/or criticize them. We cannot kill a motherfucker, you know? Nor should we want to. Fuck that noise. You can take your violent ideations and shove them up your ass. I came here to make art, games, and to play. I don't tolerate assholery very well, so don't be an asshole. 'K?

An example of assholery in game design, just to be motherfuckin' clear:

Making it a point to state that your game is explicitly not PC. You might think that reads as "my game is not bullshit" but what it truly says is "hey, I'm a giant dickhead who is so threatened by socially-conscious young people I have to lash out at them impotently from the pages of my nerd book." It's a really nasty look and you should avoid it at all costs.

Think of it this way. Nobody walked into your RPG and demanded that you acknowledge the existence of other kinds of people. Why would you go out of your way to lash out at other kinds of people in the game they didn't walk into and demand anything? Don't be a dick.

And that kinda wraps this up. To quote Gump, I have completed my statements on the matter.

Next: more Troika!

EDIT: Also, here's what I was thinking about the OSR about a year ago. I still feel this way, though, as I've said, I don't feel any necessity to use the term all the time. I use it when I'm making or thinking about stuff under that umbrella, but at other times it just doesn't come up. Peace.