Slipstream Trifolds Part 2!

Did I say no post this week? You know I couldn't stay away.

It's finally done, the second sheet of Slipstream Trifolds!

I finished out the races, but there wasn't much left to do. The page wasn't filled so I included two Mudmen and two Raptormen per sheet. I also added two big monsters: the Rastagar and the Kriplixx. Stat them up as you see fit.

I admit that doing all that drawing was wearing on me. I had to re-do the Rurite Female because the first drawing was terrible, boring, ugghhh. By the time I got to the big monsters, I was just slapping quick pencil and ink strokes down. They also came out pretty good. It seems I do better with gesture art than I do while taking my time. Maybe I should stretch that out and see if I can come up with an art style from it.

But I ramble.

Next week I'm going back to looking at how I handle starship design. I've reviewed the Vehicle Conversion guide that was put up on Pinnacle's website. I was also looking at the vehicles in the SWDEX and how they were converted. It seems that some designs are wrong (at least as far as wiki is concerned). I also looked at other sources of real world vehicles converted to Savage Worlds rules, such as those found in Thrilling Tales by Adamant Entertainment. It turns out that they didn't follow the SWDEX design either (of course the printing predated the SWDEX).

So while I have been racking my brain to make something consistent with vehicles in the SWDEX, I find that it's not really possible, nor is it necessary. Internal consistency is key. I can create whatever conversion rules I want as long as all of the vehicles in my setting follow the same design rules.

That was a liberating thought.

Adventure... or Deliver Cargo?

I've asked several groups of players "What type of character would you play in a sci-fi setting?" Invariably they say they want to be smugglers or traders. But the answer is misleading. What they really want is to be free of obligation or allegiance. They want to go wherever the wind takes them.

They don't want to spend each game making transport contracts, balancing the books, and studying which ports need what commodities.... all the things that preoccupy the minds of real cargo haulers.

Sure, cargo deliveries can be a source of plot hooks. You have...

• Deliver dangerous cargo
• Deliver cargo that other people don't want delivered
• Deliver cargo that other people want to steal
• Steal the cargo, then deliver it

And of course there is the ever popular plot twist "The client betrayed you!", which every player sees coming.

But lets face it, cargo delivery can be a bit monotonous. The real adventures that the heroes will be involved with are going to be illegal, personal, or outside the bounds of simple cargo runs. The Sci-Fi Companion has rules for trade, logistics, wages, and etc if you really find number crunching interesting. I would prefer another way, and Interludes may offer me a solution.

Think of the show Firefly. Non-consequential cargo runs conducted between planets (the jobs that get the heroes to the start of the adventure) are run off screen between episodes. We see them just finishing up a job when things start getting interesting.

So in that vein, at the beginning of each game we might assume that the heroes have made a cargo run that has taken them to the new planet. 

First, roll for the payday...

3d6 x $100 That's the profit the heroes earn after ship logistics are paid for (fuel, food, maintenance). This ought to keep the bookkeeping down.

One person can take the roll of negotiator (no cooperative rolls) for haggling the deal. For every Raise they score on the Streetwise roll, they increase the amount by $200. A Success leaves the payday unchanged. A Failure reduces the payday by $200.

Then Draw an Interlude card for the ship...

The card draw determines how things went for the crew.

Clubs

Something bad went wrong with the job. Rather than earning a payday they now owe the amount. They can either pay up, get hunted, or do a favor to whoever holds the lien (plot hook).

Diamonds

The job went smooth and everyone got paid. Each crew member gets a cut.

Hearts

The job broke even (no extra cash beyond the logistics fees), but the heroes gained some information or favors. Each crew member gains an extra benny for the adventure.

Spades

The job went even better than expected. Not only does the crew earn its payday but they also gain vital information or inspiration for the next adventure (+1 benny/ each).

So what do you think? Poll on the right hand side of the page.

Toughness vs Hit Points

I have seen some debates on this. Typically someone is asking which is more realistic.

The answer: Neither.

If you want realism in your game, then you'd have a hit location chart with severe consequences depending on where you got hit. The number of push ups you do that morning or your healthy diet won't make a lick of difference to a bullet that impacts your cranium.

The argument stems from the misconception that these systems are trying to model realism, when they are really trying to model fiction (literary, comic book, pulp). Why? Because they bend the laws of the universe to give the hero a chance. And because it is a game.

In a real firefight there is a very good chance that the hero will be killed or permanently disabled with a single bullet. That wouldn't be much of a story. What would Star Wars be if Luke had suffered major brain damage from the Tusken Raider's attack? I bet Obi Wan would have wished he had started training him earlier then. Besides, Reality is just the cage we build for ourselves.

The current RPG damage systems give you a second chance. Wham! A shotgun blasts you in the chest, but your still alive and can change tactics (or roll better). Why? Because it is a game. Because checkmate in one move is boring for both the players and the audience. Because the Quiddich ball game is pointless if catching the Snitch is all you have to do to win... oh.... umm...

So which is better? Depends on how they are handled, and personal taste.

I dislike D&D style hit points because your character gets healthier with higher levels. In fact, going form 1st to second level doubles your hit points. And don't try to give me some BS about it reflecting your fighting ability because we already have armor class and Dexterity isn't adding in to hit points, Constitution is.

I prefer games where the hero's general health doesn't increase unless he's done something to earn it like changing his diet and exercise (attribute bumps). Even then, the increase should only be minimal.
It's one reason I like Savage Worlds Toughness but I have also seen it done with Hit Points in Cortex Classic (Serenity, Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural RPGs).

I also dislike games that offer no penalties for injuries. In D&D I fight at full potential until I reach 0 Hit Points. Then I guess I suffer a heart attack or something. Gee, I looked so healthy and virile, having a good time... and then I just stopped.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, why bother modeling a game on reality if you have to use your imagination to play it? Go outside. I hear that Outside is chock full of Reality, in an expansive 3D multi-player world. Just be careful, I hear the player base is full of Trolls and the tech support is crap.


BTW sorry for the late post. E3 is coming up so I'm pulling 11 hour work days. It's cramping my free time.

Wow! And a Personal Note.

According to my site traffic, the Slipstream Trifolds are a huge hit. Maybe I should do more designs after I finish Slipstream. Whatdaya think? Any feedback would be helpful.

And on a personal note, my divorce was finalized today. I feel a great weight lifted from my shoulders. You never realize how soul crushing a bad marriage can be until you are free from it.

And May the Fourth Be With You.

The First Round of Slipstream Trifolds

Are Here.

Male and female versions of Akwasians, Antelopos, Aridians, Borealians, Charadonos, Crystaloosians, Drell, Equines, Frigim, Lill, and Magrozites.

How Miniaturization Covers My Crappy Inking

I tried my hand at inking with a brush pen when I started doing the Slipstream figure flats. Actually I was doing them as concepts of what the other aliens looked like and it occurred to me that they would be prefect for figure flats. Anyway I decided to do the quick and dirty, Saturday morning cartoon style. After all there is a lot of art to do.

My inking sucks. What's more, the Faber-Castell brush pen wore out its tip quick. Suddenly I couldn't do fine lines. I thought it was just my lack of brush control. Considering I was working on a mini sketchbook (5.5 x 8.5) I thought I was going to really need that finer point. Anyhoo, my inking got steadily worse as the pen wore out and all of my characters were made up of these thick lines.

Well yesterday I started to shrink them and put them into a tri-fold document. Given that the Slipstream flats are 1.25" tall, these things got majorly shrunk. They're so tiny, that I'm glad they have thick lines. finer detail would just get lost. here's an example of an Aridian in both full size and flat size. I hope this shows up right.

So my crappy inking was a blessing. The moral of the story is that thick lines are necessary if your going to shrink the image a lot. I'll keep going with the brushpen but I bought some Micron pens for practicing detail work on other art. My inking is coming along well and my proportions and posing are getting much better. I got five female alien versions done today. Hopefully I'll be able to put together the figure flats sheet before the end of the month.

Cheers.

PS> If you want to see more of my crappy inking, the other figure flats are posted in this thread.

Short Games

So I've been playing D&D 5E Encounters on Wednesday nights. For those who don't know, D&D Encounters are, well.. this is from their website...

D&D Encounters is our weekly Wednesday play program, geared for a casual play audience with short sessions each week. It serves as a great introduction to our main storyline events, and uses material right from published adventure product. Each session only takes 1-2 hours to play, so it’s easy to fit your game in after school or work. And each week there’s a new and exciting challenge. Jump in anytime!

It sounds like a cool idea, but I'm having some problems with it. I don't know if the source is the GM, or if this is how they really intend it to go.

One to two hours is not a very long time to game. It might work fine if heroes are given clear problems with quick resolutions every week, such as "You come across a an empty wagon the has been attacked by dire wolves." You fight the stragglers then learn that the wolves have taken the children back to their den for feeding later. You fight the Dire Wolves in their den and rescue the kids. It's quick, it's clear, and it has a resolution.

But that's not how we are playing. We are playing the game like any normal game, with a long quest involving many battles, rping, etc, but we are doing it in 2 hour snippets. The result is we lose the game's momentum every time we stop, long bouts of role playing often leave us with little progress, and sometimes crucial party members are absent for a game.

I've played for 3 sessions now and I still haven't a good idea of how the game flows.

Lastly, my experience at my FLGS with D&D 5E hasn't been the best (although this is a criticism of the group at this FLGS and not the game itself). When I went to join, I was told that all of the tables were full with regular groups. I was finally shoe-horned into a group whose players didn't show up on a regular basis. In short, I felt like I was being treated as an outsider during an event that was designed to advertise the game to people who weren't already playing it.

The North West Pathfinder Society gets mad props on this one. If you walk in and the tables are full, the organizers will draft a gm to start a new table. They will make room for you. Although there are regular players, there are no regular groups. In my experience, I think NWPFS has the advantage since their games are longer and scenarios get resolved that day. No "To be continued".

So what has all of this to do with Savage Worlds?

Well it's good to get out there and play new games. See what is working for the big boys and steal/adapt it for your own game. My take away from this experience is that if you want to run a long campaign, it might be advisable to break it into manageable chunks so that in each sitting a chunk of the plot can be resolved.

Example: 

The overarching plot is that the characters must hunt down a madman who is gathering the power to destroy and reshape the world. However, each night I run this game I will only have about 4 hours before I have to get back to real life responsibilities.

So one scenario might be "The players must retrieve a stone tablet from an illegal art collector that might hold clues as to what the madman is planning." A little roleplay, a raid, and the resolution is getting the tablet.

Next scenario is "to hunt down and find a lost historian who can decipher the tablet." A bit of travel, a fight against cannibal kobolds, and a resolution where they free the historian and get the translation.

This stuff may sound basic, but I've played too many games where the goal for the night is unclear, the party gets sidelined with role play shopping, and by the end of the night the story hasn't budged an inch. The players go home feeling like nothing was accomplished and the drive to resolve the main campaign conflict starts to wither and die.

So be careful with your short games. Don't try to play them like 8 hour games. If you try to stretch the plot told in short games with too much minutiae or off campaign distractions then your going to lose player interest. Short games need to be tight, focused, and move the plot along, even if it's just an inch.