Dungeon: A D&D Stageplay

Hey, readers!

I was brainstorming some topics to cover in the tabletop RPG realm for this blog when I was swiftly reminded of a project I undertook in college. As you may or may not be able to tell, I like to consider myself  a pretty creative person. My two major fields of creativity are through writing and acting, two things I've kept up with ever since I was a child. What's rather cool is that they can be combined in the art of play-writing, which is an art-form I absolutely adore.

My first play was a musical based off of Green Day's "21st Century Breakdown" album that was aimed to discover the narrative of the rock opera and create something that was a little deeper and more satisfying than the musical created for "American Idiot." Those that read it really rather enjoyed it, though looking at it now, there's not much I can do with it and the dialogue is in sore need of updating and revising.

Anyway, back to role-playing, I actually wrote a play in college based around a group playing Dungeons and Dragons. It is one of the most personal things I have ever written, projecting some of my ideas about the stereotypes and opinions about the hobby and injecting a lot of my own experiences into little nuanced bits and pieces. Every character is a splinter of me in some way, shape or form, some taken to extremes, some explored at a different angle, some completely reversed. It's basically a love letter from me to the hobby, dripping with the blood of my soul.

Graphic, right?

For those of you who would like to read it and tell me what you think, I'll put a link on this post to a place where you can look it over. I'm not really doing this to be self-promoting, nor am I really looking for any hard criticism. I just want to share a labor of love that may even ring a few bells in your own role-playing experience or make you think about certain things a little more.

Click me to read "Dungeon"

If you don't want to go through the process of reading through a college-level, fifty-odd paged play, I will put up some notes from my outline here for your perusal and hopefully you can glean some of the guts of the play from that.

"Dungeon" Outline:

Thesis: Dungeons and Dragons is a game of masks. Everyone gets one. By wearing them, one can see into a world of fantasy composed entirely of the thoughts, desires, and dreams of those playing. When the masks are taken away and reality seeps back in, those involved are forced to ask the question: “Which world is the dungeon?”

World: The world that explores this thesis is the basement of a teenage boy. Though never shown, it is smack-dab in the middle of a seemingly exemplary suburbia. Outside of this space, the world appears to be perfect, and have perfect inhabitants. Beyond appearances, it is actually the opposite, a land where one is not able to be themselves fully, a place that needs escape. In this basement, that world is broken temporarily, allowing another world to be witnessed, inhabited by the ghosts of “What I Want to Be” or “Who I Really Am” or “Where I Want to Be.” These ghosts cannot exist or move without characters from the first world giving them life, and die immediately when they leave.

Inhabitants:

(AN: Keep in mind this is all artistic metaphor and stuff.) 

Issac Silverman – In the outside world, Issac Silverman is a puppy held on a tight leash. However, this puppy isn't energetic, yippy, free. He's held tightly by his collar, and has been for far too many years, never allowing the puppy to become a man. When he enters the space of the play, he's let off of the collar and seeks to be the master of those he finds, but must constantly wrestle with the call of his own master and the fact that he isn't fully grown, despite pretending he is.

Josh Williams – In the outside world, Josh is a golden statue on a high pedestal. His pose constantly changes, depicting a star athlete, a great student, the perfect boyfriend. There are many who admire this statue, watching him closely, almost too closely. Some search for a stain, others try to make sure that he remains unblemished. When he enters the space of the play, he steps off of the pedestal, sheds the golden skin, and is allowed to breathe and live. However, he brings one of his onlookers with him, who is forcing him to wear that golden skin in a place of escape.

Francis Jones – In the outside world, Francis is a boy. His hair is short. His clothes are masculine. He has a penis. He likes girls. He likes sports. He likes blood, guts, dirt. The world has told him that he is a man. The world has shown him what a man is supposed to be, and he has obeyed. When he enters the space of the play, Francis is a woman. She has cast off everything that the world has told her to be, and has become what she's always wanted to be. She has a vagina. She likes boys. However, she is constantly reminded that the world, and the audience, sees her as a man, and defines her as such.

Kimberly Whisp – In the outside world, Kimberly is a ghost. People seem to see her, sometimes, but she's almost always faded from view. She doesn't walk like people do; she floats along with whatever occurs in the space around her. Sometimes she's heard, but always she squeaks. Squeaking is how ghosts speak in the outside world. It is all that's expected from them. Though they are alive, they are images of the people that died sometime in their youth, but yet live. In the space of the play, Kimberly is alive and ready to embrace all of the beauty of living, of freeing the girl that died years before. However, everyone in the outside world still sees her as a ghost, and treats her as such.

Mrs. Silverman – Mrs. Silverman is not allowed to enter the space of the play. Rather, she is a constant dwelling force in the outside world that is a reminder that the space of the play is a separate place. Once upon a time, Mrs. Silverman was a puppy on a leash, but that puppy eventually became a dog on a leash, and had puppies of her own. She doesn't know any different, and never got to experience any world beside the one outside. Therefore, she tries to control and drag back any who have tried to break the boundary. She is Cerberus.

Jade – In the outside world, Jade is a gem. She's green with jealousy of all of those that surround her, and therefore, must be adorned with all of the gold possible because she cannot recognize that she is a gem on her own. Only by looking into a reflection of gold can she see herself as a gem. Therefore, she has attached herself to the golden statue. She is a visitor to the space of the play and is able to see the strange ghosts that inhabit that place, but she is overly concerned with looking back into the outside world and into that golden reflection to see the gem. She is Lot's Wife and Job's Wife combined.

Brock – In the outside world, Brock is an infection. He is able to spread to whatever type of victim he desires, through words, through looks, through violence, through manipulation. Once the infection hits, it starts to consume, taking everything for itself, multiplying, and living through the bodies of others. Eventually, it leaves one body and jumps to another, leaving the victim beaten, bloodied, bruised, and irreparable. Unfortunately, this type of infection is incredibly attracted to ghosts. Brock enters the space of the play to take what is slowly being dragged away from him, evolving from an invisible virus to a behemoth. Brock is Bill Sikes.

Outline:

Act 1: Paradise

The first act will establish both worlds and those who inhabit each and walk the line between them. We will meet Issac Silverman, who is running a game of Dungeons and Dragons for his friends: Josh Williams, Francis Jones, and Kimberly Whisp. Josh brings Jade, his girlfriend, to the game, showing her what it is like. We will also meet the ghosts, the characters of the three players of the game, who represent “Who I Want to Be” for Kimberly, “Who I Really Am” for Francis, and “Where I Want to Be” for Josh.

Things proceed well, for a while, but the outside world keeps trying to seep in and interrupt. Eventually, Jade, a member of the outside world, breaks away due to disgust, followed by Josh, and the group takes a break from the game.

Act 2: Imprisonment or Freedom?

The second act will show how sinister the outside world can be, and the reaction of our characters to the confrontations presented. Issac will break his leash. Josh will melt down the statue. Francis will embrace his identity. Kimberly will solidify, and fight off the infection. Through this process of change, the outside world bears down evermore. The characters must then choose which world they want to inhabit for eternity after.

End of Outline Excerpt

I hope you guys enjoyed this look into a creative project that I'm really proud of. Let me know what you think if you read it! If you didn't enjoy any of this stuff, here's a funny picture.

-Wes

Wolverine's Post M-Day Journal - Entry 1

((Hey, readers!

Being an aspiring writer and a huge nerd, I've decided to supplement my Civil War summary posts with in-character journal entries. Have fun!))

Entry 1:

I really shouldn't be doin' this.

It ain't smart puttin' personal information in an easily compromised place, especially when you've made as many enemies as I have over the years. The wrong guy gets a hold of it and they can make your life into a living Hell.

'Cept, I ain't too worried about Hell, so fuck it. After I got all my memories back by some quirk of chance after Wanda had her way with reality, I've been pretty paranoid of losin' 'em again. If I keep track of what's been goin' on and keep it safe, maybe, in the future if Weapon X drags me back and wipes my mind away, I'll have a way to remember.

But who'd want to remember this?

Wanda Maximoff fucked up all of reality, makin' it so mutants are now an endangered species with millions of us losin' our powers. Now instead of fightin' to save those who hate us, they've got us all cooped up on a reservation guarded by fuckin' Sentinels. Summers doesn't have the spine to do anythin' about it. Sometimes I don't blame him, but lookin' out the window and seeing those bastards keepin' us from leavin' sets my blood to boilin'.

Guess I've got a perverted kind of luck. Still got my powers, otherwise I'd be dead. And, unlike the rest of 'em, my status with the Avengers gets me a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card from the mansion whenever I'd like. I've taken the trip from Westchester to New York more times than I can count in the last six months. Stark owes me gas money.

They're a decent bunch. Put up with me, so that's somethin'. Cap and I go way back, pretty literally. Web-head and I have teamed up more than I'd like to admit, and we work well off each other. When Ben's not hangin' with F-Troop, he's a good drinkin' partner. Same with the God of Thunder. Haven't worked much with Tigra in the past, but I've got to admire a woman with the kind of feral ferocity she's got bubblin' under the surface. Banner's a good guy, when he's not green. Some of 'em get under my skin, though. I don't trust Jessica. Don't like her smell. Always got those pheremones floatin' around, makes my nose burn and my head spin. And a guy could respect Knight's self-righteous quest for vengeance, but the man won't shut his yap. Stark owes me gas money.

So, the minute I stumble into the tower after a long drive from the Mansion, it's time for work. And not the kind of work I like. Bill Foster was sick and goin' on a rampage in the middle of the city and we had to knock him down a peg.  Wasn't too hard, just had to knock some sense in to 'im. That was mostly Stark's job, blastin' the guy with a fully-charged blast after bluffin'. Then the press shows up, which was my cue to leave. Took care of it with all the grace and civility the team has come to expect.

Told 'em to fuck off.

I didn't go straight back to the tower after that. Wasn't interested in watchin' the smart guys poke and prod a giant, and wasn't exactly willing to sit around the Tower watching TV and drinkin'. I was willin' to sit around a bar that smells like piss to drink adn watch TV, however. Took my bike to one of my favorite dives in the area and blew off some steam. I know the 'tender, usually gives me a decent price. Beer isn't bad. Place is quiet enough.

Thought a little bit about whether I really belonged on the Avengers. I ain't used to being a public face of heroism, hence why I avoid the press any chance I can. Bein' the only mutant on the team, I'm representing all of mutant-kind, and that's a responsibility I never asked for. Can't change who I am, but I'll be the first to admit, flipping off reporters and slinging curses on camera ain't the way to change the world's opinion of us.

But, I figure if Daredevil and Moon Knight belong here, maybe the standards of membership have been taken down a few notches.

Eventually, I made my way back to the tower just in time to see the team come back from a lab bust. Banner went on another rampage, which I've come to expect. We can only keep a leash on that monster for so long, which is probably one of the reasons I'm still kept around. Not many people have gone toe-to-toe with Jolly Green more than I have. All the evidence was destroyed, and Iron Man had taken off for a bit.

Hell, don't blame him.

Before the night was over, we loaded up on the Quinjet and took off to Oklahoma to be security detail for some landing site. I've been there once or twice in my long life, never for long or for a good reason. Gonna have to chalk this trip up to that list. Note to self: borrow the Blackbird and show up Ben Grimm at the next available opportunity.

Maria Hill decided to take an interest in our activities of the evening. That woman puts a sour taste in my mouth, and she owes me. I could have ended her life, and I had every good justification to do so. Somethin' held me back, the little voice of reason in the back of my head that reminds me that I ain't an animal. Sometimes it's Jeanie. Sometimes it's Chuck. Sometimes it's even fuckin' Slim. I don't always listen, but that night I did, and Hill better thank whatever God she believes in that I did.

Wouldn't you know it that shortly after we arrive, seein' a giant sword that fell out of the sky, Victor Von Doom and an army of his toys flood the field. After a night of self-doubt and bad moods, that was exactly what I needed. Rather than take Doom head on, I charged the field of Doombots and went to work. Nothin' beats the feelin' of taking down an army, seein' the bodies fall, hearing the sparks crackle and die as your claws tear the material to pieces. Thor was havin' even more fun than I was, probably for the same reasons. Seein' something from your old life sittin' out there as plain as day, ripped back into your consciousness, makes you want to beat somethin'.

Before you know it, the whole force of Avengers is attackin' the man in charge. Murdock took a hard hit, losin' his sense for a moment or two. Still, Doom was distracted by all of the elements at play coming at him from every direction, in every way possible. Even a genius of his level can lose focus, and I took the opportunity. In the midst of the chaos, I was a ghost in the night, tracing shadows, eyes following his, nose keeping track of his stress. At the absolute moment when he was lost, a split second or more, I darted and dug my claws into his back.

By that point, he was gone. A Doombot stood in his place, mechanical and cold as I tore out it's spine and wired entrails. And I was mad.

Before we left, Thor and Moon Knight tried to claim the twisted sword as their own. They failed. It crossed my mind that a samurai like myself would do well with a sword, and that my force of personality and appetite for destruction were more than enough to keep a harbinger of the end of the world at bay.

Nah.

Adamantium claws trump Asgardian weapons any day of the week, especially in my hands.

I spent the rest of the night fixin' up the bike, and that night I dreamed of Itsu. And Jeanie.

Billy Joel said it best. Only the good die young.

-Logan

 

Marvel Heroic Civil War - Session 1 Report

Hey, readers!

Well, the Civil War has begun, so to speak. The campaign, anyway, not any sort of national divide or something of that ilk. Our first session ran for almost four hours yesterday evening, and if you'd like to view it in its entirety, you can do so here.

(Hulk Smash!)

For those of you not in the know, I'll go over the cast list as is before delving into the summary and my reactions afterwards.

Oh, and... I may be doing in-character journal stuff too. 'Cause I like to write and I'm a nerd and stuff.

Iron Man and Thor played by Dylan. Daredevil and Hulk played by Christopher. The Thing and Yellowjacket played by Charles. Tigra played by Kathryn. Moon Knight played by Ryan. Spider-Man and Dr. Strange played by Bill. Captain America and Luke Cage played by Steve (Who was not at this session due to tech problems). Wolverine and Spider-Woman played by yours truly.

Session Summary:

It all began on a fateful day like no other!... Because, y'know, all the Avengers were just kind of sitting around the tower doing God-knows-what when Iron Man, who has taken up monitor duty, gets a call about Bill Foster, better known as the size-growing hero Goliath, walking down the street in a stupor and destroying things. Immediately, the Avengers spring into action!

What followed was an interesting collaboration of trying to get Goliath to settle down or beat the sense back into him. There was an amusing bit with Moon Knight literally standing on the shoulder of a giant and whispering to him about if he doesn't settle down, all of the cabbies in New York are going to be pissed at him. Then Goliath threw him at Spider-Man. Tigra slashed at his knees. Wolverine yelled and threatened stuff. Y'know, good stuff. Finally, Bill was knocked back into his senses when Tony faked out some sympathy and hit him with a fully armed uni-beam.

You know what's even worse than a drugged up Goliath?

The press and the media.

And, oh God, this is where the session got good.

Rather than relay what happened directly, let me pull some direct quotes from some post-game postings.

"Tonight from the Channel 4 News desk, are your underpants poisoning you? Then, exotic dancers caught in a dog-fighting sting! Later, we'll find out what Tigra's making for dinner and who the vigilante Moon Knight is dating."

Rumors abound that Moon Knight was spotted outside a Justin Bieber concert.

"Wall Crawling menace drives former hero into tragic rampage."

"Spider-Man steals antique book in Oklahoma."

"Wall Crawler admits to Bieber Fever."

And my own personal touch:

So, after doing funny things to the press and telling them repeatedly to 'Fuck Off', we all move back to the Avengers Tower with Bill in tow to inspect him. Tigra goes on monitor duty and the brainy types, including Banner who just slid in, try to figure out what was up with Bill. They revive him and figure out that he was working with a company who was involved with Mutant Growth Hormone or something to that effect, and he blacked out. We get the location on a lab, just about the time we get a call that something landed in Broxton, Oklahoma and they need extra guard detail.

We tackle the lab and do a little changing of the guard. I swap out Wolvie for Spider-Woman under the logic that she was a private detective for a long time and would be good for an investigation (Yet she doesn't have the Crime speciality?). Daredevil is swapped out for Banner, and Thing is swapped out for Yellowjacket.

Spider-Woman starts this one off by sneaking in and getting a preliminary look at the place. What she finds is the illustrious members of the Serpent Society guarding the place, at which point she calls in the rest of the Avengers who crash through the skylight and begin slashing, truncheon-ing, moon-gadgeting, and finally, blasting what hadn't fallen by then with lasers. Unfortunately, Spidey and Yellowjacket didn't get their punches in before the Hulk smashed the lab to pieces and left for parts unknown.

Then began another highlight of the night as Moon Knight began a very brutal interrogation by slashing Diamondback's windpipe and threatening to do the same to Cobra. Iron Man took issue with this, and the two of them had a shouting match that caused Tony to leave the scene due to being mentally stressed out by the Avatar of Vengeance.

So, already we have some hero against hero plus bad news coverage. This is Civil War, alright.

Our final scene of the evening was playing guard duty over in Broxton, Oklahoma, which seems to be a dumping ground for anything Asgardian. Property there must be really cheap. Everyone went back to their characters from the beginning of the session, except for the fact that Thor stepped in instead of Iron Man for obvious reasons. There was some good banter on the jet and some back and forth with Maria Hill as we made our way over. Upon arriving, we were immediately shown what landed, which was a giant sword. The Twilight Sword, if my Marvel lore is as good as I remember it being, which is a herald of Ragnarok.

Isn't mystic mumbo jumbo fun?

Thor obviously wants to claim the sword and protect it from those who would use it for evil. Speaking of those people, Dr. Doom and his army of robotic minions arrives right on schedule! You'd think someone as smart as Doom would wait until the heroes had left, or attacked before they arrived? And wasn't the whole plot of the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for Doom to get the Twilight Sword and steal Odin's power with it? Man, this would save him so much time and effort.

Anyhow, Thing goes straight for Doom, like he should. Thor, Tigra, and Wolverine have some fun smashing up the army of Doom Bots, which was as satisfying as it ought to be, really. Spider-Man stole the spellbook that Doom was using and taunted him to great effect. Moon Knight shouted at Doom a little. Oh, and Doom screwed up Daredevil's senses, but he managed to club the good Doctor over the head anyway. It was a pretty dramatic battle, lots of fun stuff going on, which finally ended with Wolverine gutting Doom... Only to find out her was a Doombot.

How many times can you use the word Doom in one paragraph?

We ended by Thor and Moon Knight trying to claim the Twilight Sword as their own by taming it, but neither succeeded.

My Reactions:

Overall, it was a good session. No question about that fact whatsoever. We had a lot of fun and memorable moments, and everyone seemed to be having a good time, laughing the night away at bad jokes and other such things.

For me, the highlights were two scenes in particular that really felt authentic and played beautifully. That would be the scene dealing with the press after Goliath was put down, and the battle with Dr. Doom. All of our characters really showed through when dealing with something almost everyone hates: the press and the media. Additionally, the Doom battle was satisfying even when there were about eight people involved.

The players are also a great bunch. Some are more soft-spoken then others, but I believe we really gel well and all contribute to the story in interesting ways. Our GM is clever and solid as I expected him to be, and he really seems to have fun running the game. Makes me long to GM again, really.

Still, the session wasn't perfect. Nothing's perfect, obviously. The start was a bit awkward, with no one really saying what their character was doing, myself included. I suppose it's part of being the first time we were all together (Except Steve) and the normal sort of hesitation and shyness that goes along with that. Even after that, there were a lot of moments of pause and a pretty jarring disconnect between some of the scenes, at least for me. The flow was off, but sometimes you can't help that.

Also, part of me thinks that Marvel Heroic isn't really designed for groups of this size. Just a personal gut feeling, considering the ease we went through some of our encounters. I mean, stress was pretty minimal across the board on our side, everything considered. I've even had trouble presenting a decent challenge to a group of four, much less a group twice that size. And, when you have eight heroes wailing on the bad guy, it's rather easy to see how the conflict could be taken care of before some people got a turn. In a game like this where action seems to take precedent overall, this can pose to be a real issue. It wasn't an issue for me, but the dice were on my side, and I got to go every round.

Those things aside, really looking forward to the next session!

Hope you enjoyed the recap! If not, here's a funny picture.

-Wes

First Sessions

Hey, readers!

With a first session of a campaign coming up this week, and a few that I'll be running within the month, my mind has been meditating on beginnings. Beginnings of campaigns in particular, but also beginnings in general.

Everything has a starting point, not only works of fiction, but life, stages of life, relationships, projects. The list goes on. Sometimes the starting point is buried in the dust, forgotten, or seemingly insignificant, but it is always the most important piece. Without it, nothing would be.

I don't mean to get weirdly philosophical on an RP blog, but it's something to knock around the noggin a little bit.

So, let's take a look at the beginnings of campaigns. How do first sessions usually go? Where do they start? What sorts of opening scenes work best? Is there criteria for judging whether or not it should be continued for another session?

Stuff like that.

From my personal experience, where a campaign starts really depends on the group's preparation before hand. Is everyone coming in with characters they created on their own or with the GM? Has this group met before hand to discuss anything? Have they even met before? Did the GM set any sort of guidelines? These are the variables that determine really where you can jump in.

Most groups, I've noticed, are cobbled together from whatever characters the individuals wanted to play with little connection to one another that are thrown together as a consequence of circumstance or because of one common link. Therefore, a beginning session's first job in this sort of scenario is to find a way to force these potentially dissonant characters together to do something, usually follow the plot-train that the GM has set tracks for. Either that, or the group is thrown under a common banner, 'Adventure Party', 'Mercenary Band', what have you, and you work under the assumption that you all just work together. To adventure. Or make money. Or something.

The beginnings to this kind of campaigns are usually rather classic and quaint. An old man in the tavern gives your adventure party a quest or mission to find the macguffin, save the macguffin, or defeat Lord MacGuffin the Scotsman. You are all in prison, and there's a prison riot or break and you can only escape by working together. The transport you all are riding is under attack and you are the only able-bodied, combat-ready people in the area. There's a bank robbery and you are the only superheroes in the area because the main ones are in space.

(We've all met this guy)

You get the idea.

And, if this sounds like every campaign you've ever been in, that's fine!

But, there is another way. In my opinion, it's a better way, but that wholly depends on preference, your group, and the game you are running, of course.

My favorite RP podcast is called 'Fear the Boot', and they have come up with something called the 'Group Template.' This is a basic document that outlines clearly what the group is, who they are, how they are connected, and what their goals are. They fill this document out before every campaign, and they create their characters together. If I remember right, they don't come to the table with solid concepts in mind. The GM sets some guidelines, and the group creates and envisions their characters together while creating connections along the way and setting up a reason for being together and goals.

I will tell you from experience, this radically changes the quality of every first session I have ever ran.

Like, literally, day and night.

Now a GM is not confined to slapping together characters that don't work following a plot train that may not even be suited for the group. You can have any beginning you can think of without having to rely on cliches in order to bring the party together. Sure, there are plenty of cliches that can still be used, such as the group summon by an important figure, but you can think outside the box a little. Say the group template is a bunch of professional thieves, each having their own specialty. You can start the campaign in the middle of a heist! Set up some parameters, and the characters will do their own thing because they have goals and the skills to meet them. Maybe something goes wrong, an inciting incident of sorts, and the characters will be motivated to follow up on it because it had to do with something they were striving for on their own initiative, not because some important NPC said that they should care.

Just something to think about.

So, whether the group is cobbled together or nitpickingly planned to the last detail, the first session is here. How to begin? What is Act 1: Scene: 1?

Again, there seems to be a split in tactics, one I prefer and one I like a little less. It usually boils down to whether it starts with action or starts with drama.

Since I like the X-Men so much, let's use them as an example.

Does the campaign start with a Danger Room session, or a scene where they are debating mutant rights before congress? Is someone attacking the mansion after the Danger Room, or assaulting the congressional meeting? Does someone's powers freak out at the wrong time and cause something terrible to happen?
These are all ways an X-Men campaign could start, potentially.

Is it better to start out with action or drama? Both?

I can see great justifications for both, which I elaborate on here.

Start out with an action scene if the group is not completely familiar or comfortable with the rules. Since most of the rules cover how to handle moments of action, this is a great place to clear up any misconceptions and make sure everyone knows how to play. It could also engage players who are more combat inclined and get them interested from the get-go as opposed to having them set through dialogue, which they'd rather not do. Inciting incidents are also great in the middle of action scenes, and it's a wonderful way to give everyone a little glimmer of spotlight before the plot train begins moving.

However, start out with drama if you want your players to be comfortable in their own character's skins and create inter-group relationships early on. It doesn't even have to be anything terribly dramatic. Hell, I love starting campaigns at a point where it's a party. How does your character interact in a surprise party for another character? Or a fancy dinner? This gives the players a chance to get a feel for how their character acts, interacts, talks, feels, etc. It can also be a great place to set up themes, tones, motifs, and other things that will make sense or be significant later on. However, don't linger too long if you have player's who are action minded, or else they will probably be terribly bored.

You can probably tell that I favor the second option, but that's just because of how I run games and how I like to play.

And there's no reason you can't mix the two, a little drama before the action, a little action after the drama. In fact, that is usually the best way to please everybody involved.

So, first scene is over, we're in the thick of the inciting incident, and the session is going to wrap up soon. What sorts of things are you as the GM going to be looking for? What are you as a player expecting by the time the dice are collected and everyone shuffles into the driveway or goes to play video games?

As a GM, I would look for the following things to see if the first session was a success:

-Did everyone get a moment to shine?
-Does everyone understand the setting?
-Does everyone understand their character?
-Was there enough to leave them wanting to come back for more?

And most importantly...

-Did we have fun?

As a player, I would consider the following things to see whether I'd play again:

-Did I like the other players? (Because, if you didn't, you probably shouldn't game with 'em)
-Did the GM try his best? (Because no one's perfect, but sometimes you've just got a bad apple)
-Am I engaged/interested at all in what's going on in the plot, or in the characters? (Because, if not, that should be fixed)

And most importantly...

-Did I have fun?

You can debate all you'd like on that criteria, but that is what I usually mentally go through after a first session, and that's important, because first sessions can sometimes make or break a campaign. Sure, you should give it another few sessions or so (time allowing) before making any sort of serious judgement, but sometimes an unresolved issue from session one can bite you in the ass down the road and tank a campaign.

Just sayin'.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on first sessions. It is an interesting beast, to be sure, but like I said in the beginning, they are necessary for gaming to exist. Why not think about 'em a little bit? Maybe try something different?

I hope you liked my thoughts! If not, here's a funny picture.

-Wes

 

Marvel Origins: A Campaign/Experiment Idea

Hey, readers!

It's no secret, if you've been following this blog, that I'm a superhero fan. In fact, the vast majority of the posts on here have been about superheroes in relations to RPGs, particularly Marvel Heroic. I suppose it's just the sort of season of mind that I'm in right now. I mean, I've played Sci-Fi and Fantasy roleplaying games for years, and now I'm getting to explore one of my favorite genres when before, the groups I was in wasn't really into the whole superhero-shtick.

Here's another confession.

While I love to play in them, superhero games are one of the hardest things for me to GM.

In fact, if you look at my track record, (Well, you can't really look at it since it isn't completely written out), you would see that most of the games that I've started and failed were superhero games. While my first group wasn't terribly fond of the genre, I did try a few campaigns using Mutants and Masterminds to limited success. I just had trouble wrapping my head around the reactionary story-telling without making it seem railroady.

The only superhero campaign that I've run well is my Teen Titans game that I've elaborated on quite a bit during the life of this blog (Which well hopefully be starting up again before the month is out). This was a combination between a system that worked for the genre (Marvel Heroic) and a new sort of ideology on running games which I've also explained.  I mentally had to break away from certain tropes of the genre in order to make that work while also zeroing in on the tropes that make the genre what it is.

I know, confusing.

What may be more confusing is what any of this has to do with the topic.

Back in "What I'm Running," I mentioned an idea I had about a campaign I'd like to start to sort of give back to the Marvel Heroic community that has been so kind to me and has allowed me to play more in the past year than I ever have in my entire gaming career. I mean, life is a give and take, right? It's only right that I can put my five-plus years of GM expertise to use by providing some gaming for others.

What I had in mind was a re-envisioning of the Marvel Universe, much like the Ultimate series did. However, this re-envisioning would be collaborative between myself as the 'Watcher' and the players. The campaign would be 80% game, 20% universe building. Through this process, our group will create a version of the Marvel Universe that is unique to us, a combination of all of our ideas, and can be used by ourselves in other games or others that are interested. One of the great things about this idea is that we will create our own continuity that, if it extends beyond our game, will be canon and effect other games that come out of this creation.

This is somewhat based off of a concept elaborated in the book "Play Dirty" by John Wick. This is a fantastic book, and if any of you GMs out there have not read it yet, please do so. I have gleaned so much of my personal GM philosophy from this man and his methods. Anyway, there is a chapter entitled "The Living City" where he describes how he and his players created a setting that felt real together for a Vampire game. He let them build parts of the world and even allowed them to play NPCs. It's a fantastic idea, but one I was always hesitant to implement, but I think now might be a good time.

I call this experiment/game Marvel Origin. What I would need are four or five willing players that have two important qualities that would work best for this idea and for my own personal GM style.

-A creative mind and desire to create a new spin on the Marvel Universe and get to be one of the first to play in it.

-A desire for a game that is story-focused where character interactions are an important part of the game.

When I've assembled some players, we would decide on a schedule for gaming and pick what corner of the Marvel Universe they'd want to tackle. If they are willing, we could design the entire universe, but for the sake of time, I think it would be interesting to pick one group and start branching things off from there. An example would be "Fantastic Four Origins" or "X-Men Origins" or "Avengers Origins".

This is all very 'in-my-head' right now, but I think this would be an interesting and fun gaming experiment that could produce a game and campaign world that we are attached to deeply, care about, and that we'll be proud to tell others of.

If you are interested in participating in this, drop me a line, comment, or Google+ message, and we'll see about getting this jumpstarted! Since my main reading base are those I've played with on Google+, I'm giving you guys first dibs, mostly as a thank-you for being so completely awesome.

I hope you enjoyed this post about my weird experiment idea! If you didn't, hear's a funny picture.

-Wes

Marvel Heroic Stress Test: Report

Hey, readers!

Earlier in my "What I'm Playing Now" post, I mentioned the Marvel Civil War game that I'm going to be involved with starting next week. I have a few updates to what I said there.

-My second character is Spider-Woman now. I like her quite a bit as a character, even if she's technically the Skrull Queen in the mainstream universe during this point in time. Now, I don't know what our GM's opinion is on that, but I'd prefer it if she was, y'know, Jessica Drew. Like, legit Jess. I mean, if she was the Skrull Queen, I'd have to play it at a whole 'nother angle, and stuff.

-My misgivings about having such a large group have been put slightly at ease due to the practice session that I will report on here. The internet connection didn't go out in the two or so hours that we played, and the game seemed to run smoothly enough, at least on my end.

That being said, our group had a 'Stress Test' to make sure the point above would be stable. You can actually watch the whole session if you're so inclined, but I will summarize what happened here if you'd rather not sit through two hilarious hours of a bunch of guys playin' superheroes.

(I'm in the Screenshot!)

Session Summary:

So, our session was based on an Avengers Assemble comic from last summer involving a collection of cosmic weaponry and those who are looking to get it.

Our team consisted of Thor, Bruce Banner (Hulk), the Thing, Moon Knight, Wonder Man, and myself as Wolverine. Apparently, our team had been travelling around the world collecting cosmic artifacts like the Cosmic Cube, the Ultimate Nullifier, and other such paraphernalia you likely have sitting around your basement. We have been hounded by Zodiac, which is a team of twelve recently cosmically imbued former henchmen that are all modeled after the twelve signs of the Zodiac.

So, our assembled Avengers team is hanging out on the SHIELD helicarrier. Thor has a keg of ale that he's drinking from, which Logan is sharing. Then, out of nowhere, a huge hole is blown in the side of the Helicarrier and we are attacked by the entire group of the Zodiac. Wonder Man tried to negotiate using his star power, which didn't go so hot. Banner tried too, but the return insults made him so mad he Hulked out. The rest of us more martial powers went to town, gutting, slicing, and punching whoever got in our way. Moon Knight was kinda doing he solo thing, hanging out in the shadows and hitting stuff with moon-based weaponry.

Needless to say, with such a large group, a blow-by-blow account would be difficult to map out, however, I can show off the highlights. The Hulk resisted an attack by roaring and slamming the ground to scare those assaulting him. Thor threw a guy who had burned out and took out most of the opposing team while saying something about Asgardian kittens. And, y'know, Wolverine gutted and sliced people, which is always cool, since I was playing him. And stuff.

Once the Zodiac was defeated, Thor and Wolverine went back to drinking, until Thanos crashed into the Helicarrier, demanding the Cosmic stuff. When we said no, he did a cosmic attack that knocked out everyone, except Thor, who was invulnerable, the Thing, who left for a date before Thanos arrived, and Moon Knight, who escaped via the Moon Copter. Thor and Thanos had a pretty epic duel, involving a lot of grappling and throwing around cosmic might before Maria Hill activated the self destruction sequence on her ship and blew it all sky-high.

My Reaction:

First of all, I have to say, it was great seeing and playing with these guys again. They're a great bunch, and the new guys that I haven't met before were also cool. Everyone did a great job staying to character and there was a lot of creativity going on.

The Doom Pool got pretty huge this session, which makes sense, considering there were six players and a mob consisting of twelve d10, which is pretty insane in of itself. However, it made a lot more sense than stating out each individual villain, and made things run much more smoothly. Well, smooth enough. Thanos was likewise very powerful, and backed by the mighty Doom Pool, he was virtually unstoppable, which makes sense, since in this comic, the Guardians of the Galaxy popped in to help at this particular point.

Other than that, I wasn't expecting much since this was a stress test, and had a good time! Looking forward to next Monday when Civil War proper will begin.

Hope you enjoyed my post about this stress test! If not, here's a funny picture.

-Wes

Marvel Heroic X-Men: Session 2 Report

Hey, readers!

One of my new groups that I'm playing with just had a session of X-Men the other night, and for my benefit and yours, I'm going to summarize and rant and stuff. I was thinking of possibly doing these as in-character journal entries, but we'll see.

Anyway, the team is currently Beast, Mr. Immortal (a probationary X-Men member on leave from his team 'The Great Lake Avengers'), and myself as Rogue with Ms. Marvel's powers. This was the first session where we actually had the entire team assembled, so that was cool to see the dynamics and how everything functioned.

We're playing through an old Marvel TSR module (FASERIP as I like to call it, 'cause, y'know, ripping off faces is creepy and cool) which is called 'Breeder Bombs.' I somewhat wish that he didn't mention it was a module because I have a terrible habit of looking stuff up and spoiling things for myself, which I kinda did. I only skimmed, but still!...

Session Summary:

Anyway, the session began where the last one left off, which was Rogue and Mr. Immortal in the Danger Room going through an exercise when things start to go haywire and someone is attacking the mansion. Come to find out it was Mr. Fixer who crashed into the kitchen to confront Beast, yelling about how he killed his partner and was here for REVENGE!

So, combat begins, of course. Mr. Immortal tried to slam into him, but was easily repelled and flung out the giant hole in the wall. Then Beast tried to distract the villain by juggling rubble, which was.. Interesting! Nicely enough, it slapped a d12 complication on the guy, which allowed me to piledrive Mr. Fixer and knock him out in one shot. Usually, I'm not too fond of Rogue when she has Ms. Marvel's powers, as I feel it cheapens the super-awesome power stealing stuff, but I must admit, it makes her a heavy hitter and a great asset to the team. The way I'm playing her is that the whole Ms. Marvel incident was fairly recent, so she's still getting used to the fact that she can punch guys fifty-feet away in one hit.

With that done, we picked the villain up and brought him over to the infirmary so that we could question him. The Professor probed his mind and found a video in his equipment that showed a rooftop battle where Beast was fighting Mentallo and apparently killed him. Beast had no memory of this, and spent a day scanning the video for errors or idiosyncrasies. He discovers that it was in a warehouse in New York, so he decides that we need to go take care of it. Unfortunately, Scott and his A-Team have the Blackbird, so we have to settle for Mr. Immortal's 'Quinnjetta' car. Rogue rode shotgun, changed the station to country and broke the knob.

Yeehaw!

The team made it to the warehouse and spent a good amount of time examining the crime scene. Not finding much evidence, we decided to enter the warehouse and see if anything was going on inside. Come to find out, there's Mentallo in a vegetative state hooked up to a weird machine! We trip a laser-wire and two laser guns pop out of the floor. Beast tries his best to wrestle one to death, not doing so well. Rogue threw a crate at one, and when it tried to shoot her, she dodged, causing the laser to hit a metal crate and somehow reflect back and destroy it.

Isn't comic-logic great?

As the team tried to work on the second turret, two figures break through the wall! It's Beast and Mentallo, somehow! Beast, enraged by the prospect of this doppleganger who tried to implicate him for murder, assaults his double, but manages to get slammed into a pile of crates and knocked out. Mentallo shot his laser pistol at Mr. Immortal, wounding him slightly. However, using his hurt pride to propel his attack, Mr. Immortal did a crazed flying crotch kick of some kind that I couldn't even visualize, sending Mentallo into d12 stress and revealing that he was a robot! Rogue then picked up Mentallo and slammed him against this force-field that appeared around the strange machine, smashing him to pieces.

The remaining laser battery shot at the two remaining heroes, but Rogue was able to absorb the energy and use it to amplify her strength. In a final move, Rogue used her enhanced strength to rip the laser cannon from the ground, spin around, and send it flying into the Beast robot, destroying both in one move.

So, yeah. Rogue is awesome. But we knew that.

The force-field went down, and we peeled the real Mentallo from the strange machine. In an attempt to bring a little deeper story, and play with the Rogue-angst that I love so much, I decided that Rogue would try to touch the villain and get his memories to see how this all happened, despite Beast's protest. Unfortunately, I failed the roll, but I do plan to factor in the scattered pieces of Mentallo's psyche into Rogue's in the future.

We wrapped up by heading back to the mansion, each of us trying to work on a different piece of the puzzle. Rogue and the Professor worked on the vegetative Mentallo. Mr. Immortal healed up in the infirmary and was bragging to the others about their experiences. Beast was working on the severed heads of the two robots, trying to get more information. What he found was a map to several locations across the world and a video feed revealing the supposed culprit: Magneto!

My Reactions:

So far, I'm having a good time with this group. I'm the 'senior Marvel Heroic player' it seems, which is funny, considering I'm the youngest. The other players are so far doing a great job portraying their characters. Our Beast has the character down to a 'T', dialogue and all. Mr. Immortal's player has actually made a seemingly useless hero useful in a team, which is a great accomplishment on its own, not to mention his good jokes and ideas. Our GM is pretty good too, though sometimes he's a little scatterbrained or jokes a bit too much, but it's all in good fun, and he's doing very well with both moving the story along and making sure things run smoothly.

The only major issue I'm having, which I've had in a lot of other online groups in the past, is this... Weird... Thing. I'm not exactly sure how to explain it, other than it has to do with what's in character and what's out of character sometimes. See, like, most people use their normal voice to portray the character they are playing, since not many roleplayers are actors. I like to throw some theater into it since that's my background, using a more feminine voice if I'm playing a woman or tossing in an accent or way of speaking to differentiate my character speech from my regular speech. However, sometimes someone will say something in-character that sounds out-of-character, or make a joke out-of-character that's kinda in character. Or, even worse, someone will say something in-character, and someone will make a joke, interrupting the flow of conversation. This prevents me from getting into character a lot, which means I'm usually quiet or preface my in-character dialogue with, 'My character says, "-" '

And this is a real shame, since most of my enjoyment in roleplaying games is being in-character and interacting with NPCs and the other players. Hell, the best sessions I've ever had usually had very little combat and a lot of talking, emotions, and character growth due to stuff that's going on. I can get this in my Teen Titans game, but that's different, since I'm running it as opposed to playing. With a lot of these online groups, this sort of thing is harder to get since there's a degree of unfamiliarity with each other at first, and the best way to get comfortable is to make jokes and seem likable, and sometimes that doesn't stop.

Maybe one day I'll get this kind of thing in a 'pick-up group', and I've come close with a few groups, but that's a personal thing. I do get some fun out of beating the snot out of villains and making quips, but like a Disney Princess, I can't help but want...

More.

Other than that rant, there was a rule clarification that I was happy to get. It had to deal with exceptional successes in regard to counter-attacks, which I wasn't totally clear on. Apparently, if you do the option to counter attack and you exceed the attacker's total by five or more, it is treated as an exceptional success. This is good to know, as it can make villains just a hair more dangerous, especially if they are supported by a huge doom pool. The unfortunate recipient of this action, Beast, was a bit put-off by the potential power that it gives the GM, but I think it's completely fair, given what the players are able to do, such as one-shotting Mr. Fixer.

Overall, I'm enjoying myself, and I do hope that this doesn't come into conflict with my Civil War game that is coming up next week. We'll see how that goes. Either way, hope you enjoyed my rant! (I would love some comments on my IC/OOC rant to see how other people feel.) If you didn't, here's a funny picture.

-Wes