Dinosaurs...In Space!

Game Premise

There's a big, bold cosmos out there.

We've always suspected that we aren't alone in the universe and while humanity is often wrong about a lot of things in this instance we're oh so right. Aliens have been messing around with Earth here and there for the past few thousand years and this can be seen everywhere from the Easter Island heads to the fact that there are now a bunch of Aztecs with their own space empire. Also, Thetans. Thetans everywhere.

Things really started hotting up in WW2 when the individualism-championing Greys and the stability-seeking Cherraspids decided to get their hands dirty in our politics, secretly backing the Allies and Axis respectively and giving us the secret of space travel. It's now the 1950s and humanity is making its first steps towards the stars, if only to take down that secret Nazi base on the moon. Oh, thanks to them we can do time travel and alternate dimensions, so if throwing a spanner into the works of intergalactic politics isn't enough for you then why not meddle in the time stream or multiverse as well?

Game Overview

Combining satirical, light-hearted 50s sci-fi with rules-light, diceless and narrative driven rules, Dinosaurs...In Spaaace! is a fleshing out, settingwise, of Greg Stolze's free rpg In Spaaace!, which can be found on the same page as the above link. It's melting pot of wacky sci-fi, namely inscrutable aliens with offbeat agendas, time travel, Nazis and of course dinosaurs. The rules of the game take up about 15 pages (with the odd sidebar or two elsewhere), with the rest dedicated to the cosmos, its inhabitants, the consequences and history of time travel and a T-Rex ranch in our asteroid belt. You know, the usual.

As well as the familiar concepts, you've also got a whole bunch of really cool, unique ideas. The Cherraspids, the other major alien race besides the Greys, are the stand-outs. They're sort of buglike and semi-inhabit multiple dimensions at the same time. They also have limited precognition, thanks to their ability to perceive multiple outcomes of every choice they make. Unfortunately this leads to them being incredibly indecisive and valuing stability and conformity in all things, which is why they backed the Nazis. A fair chunk of the book is devoted to explaining how they work but it's an awesome concept. The Sky Aztecs, the descendants of Aztec priests and kings who beat up the peaceful aliens who happened across their empire millennia ago and co-opted their tech to extend their reach to the stars above, are another of my favourites.

Dinosaurs makes use of the Token Effort system, a bidding resolution mechanic. Each player and the GM has a certain number of Plot Points. Whenever you get in a conflict or want to alter the facts of a scenario, you bid tokens. Whoever bids the most wins and gets to determine the outcome, though the GM may require a minimum Ante depending on the plausibility of the scenario. The loser, GM or player, then takes one token from the winner, as well as the ante being paid to the GM if the player won (in the case of a tie, the player gets to narrate but the GM gets all the tokens used). There's also Rule Zero, which is when somebody, player or GM, makes you laugh, you owe that person a token. Humour and light-hearted antics are the name of the game after all.

I have one quibble with this game's setting. It tackles all of the best alien conspiracy theories, from the Easter Island heads to the Greys to Scientology to Aztec 'sky gods'. Yet, no reptoids or anything similar. Look, I understand too many cooks can spoil the broth, but what kind of xenoicious (That's my word, by the way, you can't have it) world do we live in where sinister, cold-blooded shapeshifters from outer space aren't trying to infiltrate our governments? For shame, Mr Stolze, for shame.

The Character

Step 1) Distribute Points Among Traits

Characters in Dinosaurs have exactly one stat, Traits. A trait, which can go no higher than 5, allows you to increase your bid for free when applied to a relevant contest. If I have the trait Cryptographer 3 and I have to decipher some ancient alien inscriptions found in a lost temple I automatically have a bid equal to 3 and can add tokens if I want to be super-sure of success.

I get 4 points to spread across traits, with no starting trait higher than 3 points. And you know what? I'm going to create Elvis Presley.

OK, he's not quite our Elvis Presley. See, the idea I have here is that in an escapade involving aliens from the future a whole bunch of Elvises from alternate universes were brought here and this particular one decided to stay on our Earth to give us a hand. This version of Elvis decided to become a fighter pilot instead of the King and joined his Earth's version of Project MAGNIFICAT (America's primary defense against space threats).

The first trait I'm going to create is Pilot Starships which I'm going to sink 3 points into. If you need a man to get you to Tismo and do a barrel roll on the way then Captain Presley is your man. The second trait I'm going to make is He's Still Elvis and it's going to be a Broad trait. Whereas average traits cover one specific thing, broad traits can cover three general and more broadly useful areas. In this case, despite the fact he's from another timeline, this Elvis can still sing like a leather-jacketed angel, perform mad kung-fu and eat more deep fried mars bars or what have you than a T-Rex on steroids.

That's pretty much it. I might get some Temporary Traits from stuff like Gear later on, but I'm ready to hit the stars.

The Finished Product

Captain Elvis Presley

He's Still Elvis 1

Pilot Starships 3

How I'd Run It

I actually kind of want to run a 'League of Extraordinary Elvises' game now, I think it would make an awesome one-shot. The real question isn't why aliens would gather the King from acorss the multiverse (I have about three different plots in mind for that), it's whether a goatee would suit Evil Elvis or should he have a Fu Manchu or something?

One other thing that really grabbed me as an awesome basis for a campaign is the description of Grey Haven, a possible future Earth where the Grey's plans for us have been fully realised. Thanks to mass advancements in communication, transport and other technological areas in 2151 we've become an overpopulated transhumanist paradise. I envision it as a slightly more optimistic Transmetropolitan. Its focus on gene splicing, one of my favourite aspects of trasnhumanist sci-fi, only endears it to me more. While you could do a few things with such a setting a police procedural game set in a world where the definitions of what is human are blurred at best could be great for a short campaign.

Apocalypse World

Game Premise

There is something wrong with the world and I don't know what it is.

50 years ago, everything went to hell. Why? How the fuck would I know, do I look that old? One minute, things were great. Food was everywhere, people didn't stab each other over a blanket and I hear some old guys saying they had goddamn boats to put their planes on. Those days are over. Nowadays everyone is cold, starving and pissed off and anyone with a bunch of guns and some walls can call themselves king. Everything has a price and there's always someone who is willing to pay.

And then there's the maelstrom. What is it? Apparently some smart guy said a thing about abysses and how if you look at them, they're going to start looking back at you. The maelstrom is that. Some people use it to get info, some weirdos even worship the damn thing. Mostly it just sits there at the edge of your perceptions like a leaky tap and makes everyone just that little bit crazier.

Maybe things could be better? I don't know, you look like someone who might be able to make something out of this shithole world we now live in. Things weren't always this bad, so maybe we could fix it. So what are you going to do about it?

Game Overview

Apocalypse World, from the twisted and brilliant mind of Vincent Baker, is my new favourite game. Excuse me for being overenthusiastic for a moment, but if I had to describe the game in one word it would be evocative. Everything from the art to the rules to the examples are simple and bare bones yet brimming with ideas and potential. It's one of those games that really emphasises letting the players loose and seeing what happens. The way I'd describe the game in terms of tone and setting is if Sons of Anarchy became the apocalypse out of Book of Eli by way of Children of Men. By which I mean to say that everything is bleak and brutal, but it's done in such an awesome fashion that you don't care.

The game's core mechanic requires two six-sided dice. When using a Move (any action requiring a mechanical resolution) , roll, add or subtract modifiers and find the total. A 10+ means you've succeeded, congrats! A 7-9 is still a success, but often not as good and usually with strings attached. A 6 or less is a miss, which might not necessarily mean you've failed but there will certainly be consequences you have to deal with.

The game really places a lot of focus on the cost of your actions. While everything is more than a little bit bleak, what with the end of civilisation and all, the PCs can make things better. Heck, Retire to Safety is one of the goals you can achieve over the sessions. However, pretty much everything, including pretty much every successful action, has a trade-off. It's not an adversarial game, it's one where the Master of Ceremonies is told to say “Yes, but...” a lot.

I also can't talk about Apocalypse World without mentioning the Playbooks. Part character creation guidelines, part character sheet. They're printed out in a sort of brochure form, called Tri-Form, and have all the info you need to make your character and even have an awesome picture on the front. As well as the 11 found in the book, there are a whole bunch of supplementary ones, some from Vincent Baker and some made by the fan community. Some you can get by backing RPG projects, others trading with fellow fans and some will give them in exchange for tasks, like swapping the Faceless for a photo of you wearing a mask or the Grotesque for doing an act of charity. And hey, if you're a player, you're in luck! Leave a comment on this page or another with your email address and I'll send you a playbook out of my repertoire (I have all the official ones plus a few of the fan made ones like the Juggernaut, Tribal, Witch, Spectacle and so on).

The Character

Step 1) Select a Playbook

In Apocalypse World, each character belongs to a fairly strong archetype, whether they're the guy who is really good at shooting things dead (Gunlugger), the person who runs shit (Hardholder), the person who gets shit done (Operator), the creepy dude with psychic powers (Brainer) and so on. These are the Playbooks that I described above. They contain all the info required to create your character and double as a handy and awesome looking character sheet. Only one member of each playbook can be present in a game.

I'm going to be creating a Savvyhead. Savvyheads are the tinkerers, gadgeteers and tech genius. They're all quite odd people, but in a world where everything is on the verge of breaking all the damn time you're going to want one around.

Step 2) Pick a Name

When I said they contain all the info required to create your character, I wasn't joking. Each playbook has a list of Names you can pick from. If, like me, you're someone who struggles to come up with names for your characters, this is a real godsend. There's obviously nothing stopping you from coming up with your own name, but when you have options like Sundown, Proust and Ada Loveless, why the heck would you want to?

So, looking over the Savvyhead's list of names, I'm going to go with Lemieux. It's French, awesome sounding and has a first name as last name thing going on, which I like.

Step 3) Choose Your Look

They also have a list of things to describe how your character looks! Some of the features depend on the playbook, but there are generally a couple of common characteristics.

First, there's your Gender. What I like about this bit is that Transgressing and Ambiguous are options for all characters. I'm going to be boring, however, and pick Female. Lemieux is going to be a crazy old French lady who is good at fixing things. Well, crazy and middle aged, but looking a lot older than she should.

Next up is her Fashion and I'm picking Utility Wear Plus Tech. Lemieux can never been seen without a harness and baggy overalls with shitloads of pockets.

She also has an Open Face and Calm Eyes, always looking fairly serene for a person living in a post apocalyptic wasteland. She can often be seen staring off into the distance, as if she's not quite there. Don't worry, she's incredibly perceptive and is definitely paying attention to everything around her.

Finally, her body is wiry. She's not particularly muscular, but she doesn't seem to need help lugging her equipment around, despite having the general appearance of a 60-year-old. Her somewhat baggy clothing and plethora of tools can often obscure this.

Step 4) Pick Your Stats

Apocalypse World has five Stats, which are modifiers you use when performing Moves, the game's basic actions. Each stat has one or two moves linked to it. Cool is what you use when Acting Under Fire, which includes performing actions like sneaking into an enemy camp, having a conversation without undesirables overhearing or defusing a bomb. Getting a 7-9 means you either succeed at what you're doing or get away with it, but not both. Hard is what you use when Going Aggro, which is getting people to do what you want by threatening violence (and importantly following through with said threat if they don't do it) and Seize By Force, which is when there's no time for threats and you just want to kill/beat the shit out of/conquer your opponents. Sharp is used for Reading a Sitch and Reading a Person. In both cases, you roll and a success lets you ask the Master of Ceremonies a question from a list about the person or situation like 'What is my enemy's true position?' or 'What does this person really want?'. Hot is what you use to Seduce or Manipulate someone, which means getting them to do something with strings attached. Finally, there's Weird, which you use to Open Your Brain, specifically to the psychic maelstrom. This can provide you insight and new information about the current situation, but it also lets the GM ask you questions that can later come back to haunt you.

Each playbook has an array of four stat combinations, with one stat generally being +2 (the one they're most likely to use) and the rest ranging from +2 to -2. For Lemieux I'm going to pick the following: Cool +1, Hard +1, Hot -1, Sharp =0, Weird +2. All Savvyheads are a little bit weird.

Step 5) Pick Your Moves

The moves I mentioned above are the Basic Moves that every character gets access to. Each playbook also has its own moves, some being simple stat bonuses, others letting you do cool things like read minds, give other characters XP for helping you, having just the right tool for the job or leading a bikie gang.

I get to choose two Savvyhead Moves for Lemieux. The first one is going to be Oftener Right. She's a wise lady and when people come to her for advice and then take said advice, they take +1 Forward, which means they get a +1 bonus to a move later. The second will be Reality's Fraying Edge. A part of her workspace is an antenna to the world's psychic maelstrom and lets her use the Augury ability, available to a few characters. You roll, adding weird and a success can then let you manipulate the maelstrom, pulling, isolating or inserting information. It can backfire quite nastily if you're not careful.

Step 6) Select Your Gear

Every character has a list of Gear they get to pick from. Everyone will have a few Oddments of Barter, bits and pieces of scrounged goods and stuff that serves as an abstract currency. It might be a few pieces of jewellery, some batteries, a bushel of food, pretty much anything you can trade. 1 Barter is about a month's living expenses and usually the going rate for a playbook appropriate job, such as a week's maintenance of fiddly and delicate tech in my case. Lemieux starts off with 3 Barter worth of stuff.

I also get to dictate my personal fashion, which I outlined about in the Look step. Some characters get to have fashion worth 1 or 2 Armour, which obviously reduces damage by the listed amount. 1 armour could be a heavy jacket, armoured corset or anything sturdy, but 2 armour is quite decidedly armour, even if it's made of old street signs. Unfortunately, I don't get any.

I also get to pick three pieces of ordinary gear, specifically weapons. Taking a look at the list, I'm going to grab a Crowbar, which does 2 harm, is a Hand weapon and has the Messy tag, a non-mechanical descriptor meaning it makes a lot of racket and might cause some collateral damage. I'll also pick up a Shotgun, which does 3 harm, is Close in range and also messy.

Step 7) Details

Most characters have some bits and bobs that define them other than their moves and other stuff The Hocus has their cult, the Battlebabe her custom weapons, the Operator a bunch of gigs and so on.

My Savvyhead has a Workspace, which I can use to make new and exciting things. I think I'll set it in the burned out remains of an old mechanic's called Wrenne's Fixins. The way it works is that I tell the Master of Ceremonies what I want to make and they say 'Yes, but...” and create conditions, which could be everything from 'It will be expensive to make' to 'You'll need x character's help' to 'the best you'll be able to make is an unreliable, crappy version'. I also get to select three features of my workspace. The first two are going to be Machining Tools and a Junkyard of Raw Materials. The final feature, A Controlled Growing Environment will be special. It's Lemieux's antenna to the psychic maelstrom, a room that's full of mutated wheat and covered in potted plants. When she walks through it, her hands running over the plants, she can access the maelstrom.

I guess this section would be a good point to mention the Special, a move that every playbook has that involves sleeping with someone, be it NPCs or another character. Everyone gets a different benefit (or in some cases penalty), from the Chopper giving people a greater understanding of who they are to the Driver suffering penalties until they prove they haven't been, like, tied down man. I know some people are leery of this element, but I figure if the actual act is dealt with in a 'fade to black' manner the moves themselves are a great source of story potential, In the Savvyhead's case, she gets to emulate a Savvyhead move Things Speak, which normally works on objects, when she sleeps with someone, PC or NPC. This lets me ask three questions, including what emotions they're feeling and certain elements of their past. Incredibly handy and also good for drama.

Step 8) Work out Hx and Highlight Stats

Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to do this step properly since I would need a group for this. The idea is that all the characters, even if they're not friends, have at least worked together. The Hx stat (it stands for History) determines how well you know another character. Not necessarily like, but know. You can then roll Hx whenever you're trying to help or interfere with that character, giving them a +1 or -2 to their roll respectively if you succeed. Note, that Hx scores can differ between the same characters. I might have a +3 with my friend's Gunlugger, but they might have a -1 with me. These numbers can fluctuate throughout play for a number of reasons, primarily healing or harming the other PCs, both of which gives them a +1 on their Hx towards you (remember, it's not how much they like you, it's how well they know you).

Most characters will probably have a -1 to Hx with Lemieux because she's a bit odd. I also have -1 to whatever anyone else tells me my Hx with them is because Savvyheads are also fairly self-absorbed, the exception being whoever I think is the biggest potential problem with whom I get +1 to whatever number they tell me.

Once you've determined everyone's Hx, you then pick the player of the character with the highest Hx on your sheet and ask them to highlight one of the five stats. You then ask the Master of Ceremonies to highlight another. Whenever you roll either of those stats, you mark experience and when you've marked experience five times you get to choose a new benefit, which includes improving your stats, getting a gang or holding or new moves. This is the main way by which you advance, alongside your Hx with another character reaching + or -4, while some playbooks have moves that help you or others do so as well.

The Finished Product

Lemieux

Cool +1, Hard +1, Hot -1, Sharp =0, Weird +2

Oftener Right, Reality's Fraying Edge

3 Barter, Crowbar (2 harm, Hand, Messy), Shotgun (3 harm, Close, Messy)

Wrenne's Fixins (A Junkyard of Old Materials, Controlled Growing Environment, Machining Tools)

How I'd Run It

I'm hoping to run a campaign of this in the very near future! I'm not doing too much planning because, as I said before, the idea is to come up with a couple of basic ideas, let the players go wild and then run with it.

New Year's Resolutions

No, this isn't a post on a game about the New Years, although I'm sure there's potential there for a story game (that or a great basis for a session of Baron Munchausen). It's now 2012, I've been at this for a few months and I've looked back at what I've achieved so far. I'm pleasantly surprised with the readership the blog has had, even if you set aside my Song of Ice and Fire entry that a friend linked on Reddit which accumulated several hundred views. For those of you that have commented, thank you so much for your feedback and support. Once again, if you have any criticisms, suggestions, queries or requests, do not hesitate to bring them up.

I have been a bit lax of late. I only managed to get one entry done in the whole month of December and while it was certainly a busy period for me I'd like to prevent that happening again. I also want to try and make things just a teensy bit more polished in general.

With that in mind, here are a few resolutions for Light of Play for the year ahead:

1) At least one new post per week (don't worry, this one doesn't count).
2) Put some kind of link to more information on the game I'm covering in the post. I've retroactively done this for all my past entries.
3) Work on my writing. Glancing back at my work so far I do a fair bit of wincing at some of the errors and redundancies I've missed.


Once again, thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful year of gaming ahead!

Fortune's Fool

Game Premise

Your fate is in the cards.

Finally, the European dark ages are being pushed back by the light of reason and knowledge in an age that would later become known as the Renaissance. From the canals of Venice to the British Isles to the cold plains of Muscovy to the court of the Goblin Sultan in the Middle East, a new thirst for knowledge has taken hold of the continent (or at least a thirst for knowledge how best to defeat your opponent on the battlefield). With the widespread adoption of the firearm destroying the supremacy of the knight on horseback and the new, burgeoning middle-class taking advantage of theirearned monetary power and influence, the medieval social order is falling by the wayside. Even religion isn't immune, with the halfling cleric Martin Luther nailing his famous 95 Theses on the door of a church in Wuttenburg leading to the Protestant Reformation.

However, in this day and age it is not steel, knowledge, sorcery or coin that is the most powerful force, but fortune. Its fickle whims rule all, merchant or noble, commoner or king, priest or sorceror. No matter where you begin in life, you could be destined for greatness or cast aside and forgotten.

Game Overview

Fortune's Fool is a game of Renaissance fantasy set in a Europe filled with fantasy races and just a hint of magic. Despite these changes, history has panned out pretty much the same as in our world, with the one pretty major exception being the sinking of the Greek Peninsula after the Persian Wars (Xerxes was a sore loser). However, while the setting and background are one of the game's two defining features, in this case it's not necessarily the most important one. For mechanical resolution, Fortune's Fool uses a tarot deck instead of dice.

There are several games that use non-die methods of mechanical resolution instead of dice, but as far as I know Fortune's Fool is the first one to use a tarot deck (it's not going to be the only one for long. House of Cards is slated to be coming out this year). The following explanation of the core mechanic is going to be a bit hard if you don't know the ways a tarot deck is different from an ordinary deck of cards, so follow the link for a good explanation. So, the way it works is that you'll have a numerical rating in a skill, let's say 6. You can then succeed in a couple of ways. First, you can draw a Minor Arcana with a number less than or equal to the skill. The suit of the card is very important. If it's one of your Fortune Smiles suits, then you succeed quite solidly. If, on the other hand it's a suit where Fortune Frowns, you only succeed by the skin of your teeth. Then there's the major arcana. Each of these are designated for you as either Fortune Shines or Fortune Weeps. Draw the former, succeed magnificently, draw the latter and you fail with equal magnificence. The cards Tower, Death, Fortune's Wheel and The Fool all have their own special effects.

The one issue I have with this game is that it treads a very fine line in some cases. Pretty much exactly as I expected the stereotypically savage races, the orcs and goblins, are all from the East, originally hailing from Russia and the Middle East respectively. It's also one of the few modern games with gender given a mechanical weighting, with men having slightly better social status but women being more perceptive and lucky. Maybe it's a knee-jerk reaction but I'm always a little leery of gender mechanics.

The Character

Step 1) Choose Your Character's Race

Fortune's Fool's version of Europe is heavily populated by fantasy races. Humans still dominate and the Renaissance is specifically noted as being the age marking their rise after the Empires of the elves (everything went a bit bad for them after an elven governor put this Jewish rabble-rouser to death and a few days later every elf went sterile forever), but dwarves, elves, halflings, goblins and orcs can still be found all over Europe. Race determines your base stats as well as a few starting skills and your religion choices later on.

I'm actually really inspired by the Page of Swords picture on pg 68, so the concept I have in mind is a halfling highlander, large for a person of his kind, big sword in hand. Therefore, my race is going to be Halfling.

Let's take a look at what halflings get. Their base scores are as follows, keeping in mind a 5 is human average: Agility (Reflex/Hand-eye coordination) 6, Body (Physical Strength) 4, Heart (will and discipline) 6, Perception (five senses and insight) 7, Status (Respect within society) 4, Martial (Combat Ability) 0. Don't worry about the low Martial score, it's ranked differently with the maximum possible score being 7 (other abilities can go up to 12) and all races starting out from 0-2.

My race also determines which suits of cards benefit me or ruin me. Fortune Smiles whenever I draw Cups or Swords and Fortune Frowns when I draw Pentacles or Wands.

Next up, time to pick from a list of Skills. Skills give you access to areas of competency. Some will even give you bonuses to later things in the character creation system like determining your wealth. I'm going to pick Culinary Skills, because what good halfling doesn't know their stuff about food, even ones from the British Isles? It's a Heart skill, which means whenever I want to do something using the skill I draw from the deck and hope I beat my Heart score (currently 6).

Apparently halflings have -1 Movement for foot speed purposes only, so I'll note that down.

Step 2) Choose Your Character's Gender

Like I said before, in Fortune's Fool a character's gender has mechanical effects with men having higher Status but women being luckier. My highlander is going to be Male, which right off the bat gives me +1 Status. It also gives me a choice of a skill, I'm going to take Running, which has the side benefit of +1 Movement for foot speed, making me fast for a halfling.

Step 3) Choose Your Character's Size

Now we have a step where our character's Size, relative to the average height of their race, gives us mechanical advantages and disadvantages. I think the relative aspect is a nice touch. Smaller characters are comparatively faster and luckier, with larger characters being stronger. Since my halfling is supposed to be a burly warrior by the standards of his race, I think I'll make him Large, which for a halfling probably puts him somewhere close to 4.5 ft. This reduces my Agility by -1, but also increases my Body by +1. It also gives me my first Fortune Shines arcana. Whenever I make a test, drawing Emperor or Strength is now a good thing for me.

Step 4) Choose Your Character's Age

Once again, Age is a relative stat, what with some races living hundreds of years and others lucky to make it a few decades (elves skip this step, since they're ageless). This step alters our stats, gives out a few fortune shines and also gives a few freebie skills to pick from. I think I want my hafling highlander to have been around for a bit, so I'm making him Middle Aged. This reduces his Agility and Perception by -1 each, but gives him a +1 to Body and Heart and a +2 to Status. I get an additional fortune shines in the form of the Hierophant and later on I'll get 4 Skill Expertise Points to spend.

Step 5) Choose Your Character's Birthright

The Renaissance was a time where the order of your birth had a major effect on the direction you would be pushed in life. Elder siblings got pushed into taking over the family business (whether that was a trade or title), while younger siblings were pushed towards advantageous marriages and diversified jobs like the military or clergy. Being orphaned or a bastard made things incredibly difficult, making you something of a social pariah by default no matter how lordly your origins. I'm going to make my halfling the Eldest Child of five siblings. He gets a +1 to Heart and Martial as well as a +2 to Status, but a -1 to Perception for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. I also get a pick of two skills. The first will be Language (French), picked up from time as a mercenary (although he speaks with an atrocious accent) and the second will be Intimidation. He may be a short man but he's a short man with a lot of presence.

Step 6) Choose Your Character's Native Environment

People tended to stay put those many centuries ago and the kind of environment you grew up in helped determine what kind of skills you possessed. The Scottish highlands sound like the Country to me, which nets me another +1 to Body, the Hermit, Sun and Judgement as fortune shines and the pick of another skill. I'm going to make an unusual pick and go with Demolitions, because a halfling highlander who knows a bit about destroying fortifications with gratuitous amounts of gunpowder could only make the game more fun, right?

Step 7) Choose Your Character's Social Class

Physical mobility was not the only form of mobility that was restricted. If you were rich, you'd stay rich, if you were poor, you were even more certain to stay poor. However, we do see the beginnings of the middle class, skilled professionals who carve out a place in society with cold hard cash. No social glory for me, however, my country halfling hails from the Peasantry. This gives him a +1 to Body but also a -2 to Status. I get fortune shines with The Hanged Man and I'd have also gotten the sun and strength but I already have those. I now get four skill picks. From the first group I'm going to take Driver (can handle a team of horse or oxen) and Swimming and from the second group Climbing and Tracking, a good set of physical skills.

At this stage I think I'll pick a name, since there's no formal step. I dub my highlander Cade McThorngage, a nice Scottish twist on my favourite halfling name from Dungeons and Dragons. The Thorngages have been warriors ever since they raided their way onto the British mainland from Ireland centuries ago.

Step 8) Choose Your Character's Religion

The final big societal pillar of this period was religion. What you worshipped and how could greatly affect your relations with others. This was a time of great religious upheaval thanks to the Protestant reformation and Christianity and Islam are still glaring angrily at each other across the Aegean. Each race has a list of religions they get to pick from and as a halfling I can be Catholic, Jewish, Pagan or Protestant. I'm going to pick the last one because it's the dominant religion of Scotland in the era and also popular with halflings (Martin Luther was one, after all). While other religions give you stat or skill bonuses, all being Protestant gives you is a large number of Fate Twists, four specifically, which I will explain in their own step.

Since I can't get any more fortune shines, I should note at this point everything that isn't a fortune shines is now a fortune weeps for me, which counts for just over half the major arcana.

Step 9) Increase One Selected Primary Statistic

A simple step here, take one of my primary stats and increase by +1 (with the exception of Martial). I'm tempted to increase my Body here, but that's already quite high and my Agility has taken a beating throughout the process, so I'm going to add +1 to that.

Since this is the last step for modifying stats, I'm going to tally up the changes and see what I've ended up with. Agility 5; Body 8; Heart 8; Perception 5; Status 7; Martial 1. A fairly solid array, I'm quite sturdy both physically and mentally, even beyond halfling standards. It's a shame increasing Martial is so difficult.

Step 10) Determine Secondary Statistics

Now, using our primary statistics, we can determine our secondary stats. Dodge (avoiding attacks), is equal to Agility for 5. Hand Attack is equal to half Body plus Martial for 5 and similarly Ranged Attack is half Perception plus Martial (rounded down) for 3. Movement (in this game it represent an abstract number of 'strides') is average of Body and Agility for 6 . Initiative and Stealth are both average of Agility and Perception for 5. Finally, Hit Points are Body tripled plus Heart, giving me a nice, solid total of 32.

Step 11) Calculate Skill Draws and Spend Skill Expertise

This is the bit where I calculate the number I need to draw to succeed of the skills I have picked in the previous steps and then spend the Skill Expertise points I gained back in Step 4 to give bonuses to those skills. I'm not going to bore you with calculating every single skill individually here, so if you want you can just skip ahead to the end to see the values. Most skill draws are either equal to a stat or an average of two stats, so for example my Culinary skill is equal to my Heart score of 8.

Spending my Skill Expertise gives me a +1 to draws per point I sink in. You know what, I'm just going to dump all four points into Demolitions, raising it from 5 (it's based on Perception) to a massive 9. I'm really good with explosives!

Step 12) Determine Your Character Wealth Level

I get to use the Tarot deck for this one! Your Wealth Level is an abstract quality divided into tiers ranging from Destitute to Absurd. Goods and services fit into each of these tiers and if your wealth level is at least that high you can easily afford it. If you're one level lower you might still be able to get it, but not as good a quality.

The way wealth level is determined is by figuring out Cade's modified Status and comparing it to the table. First, we take my Status score of 7. I unfortunately lack any skills that give me a bonus to my wealth level like Forgery, Sailing or Merchant. I then make a Fate test. If I get a fortune smiles or shines, I'll get a bonus, a fortune frowns will stay the same and a fortune weeps will give me a penalty. I draw a 5 of Wands, which is sadly a fortune frowns, so I get no bonus, but on the upside no penalty. With a modified Status of 7, this means Cade's wealth level is Middle Class.

Step 13) Select Martial Skills

I now have to pick a number of Martial Skills equal to my Martial score, bonuses and maneuvers that can be used in combat. Since that's one I only get to pick one. I want to use a Broadsword, but it needs a minimum Martial score of 2 to use effectively. Thus, I'm going to put my skill into Basic Weapon Training (Broadsword), which lets me use it without penalty. I'm a bit sad I can't pick any of the cooler stuff, but that's what I get for picking a race that isn't martially inclined.

Step 14) Determine Your Character's Fate Twists and Starting Fate Pool

Fate Twists are ways I can alter the drawing of the deck during the game. I spend a Fate Point and can then use a number of tricks. The way I determine what twists I have is I draw a number of cards from the deck equal to the fate twists I get from my religion, 4, and if I draw a fortune shines I get to draw an extra one.

My first draw is The Empress, which gives me the fate twist which gives me House of Motherhood, allowing me to spend a fate point, pick either the Empress or High Priestess and have the GM find them and shuffle them into the top five cards. Won't help me, but could be useful for an ally. Next up is the Page of Swords, giving me Ill Omen, which has a similar effect to the previous twist except with the Death card and the top three in the deck. Death is one of the four special cards and when it shows up generally someone is going to meet their maker. 9 of Pentacles is my next draw, giving me Deja Vu, forcing the GM to grab the last discarded card and shuffle it into the top five. Sadly, I also draw the 9 of Cups, netting me no extra twists.

My starting Fate Pool is equal to the number of Fate Twists I was able to draw, in my case 4.

Step 15) Pick Your Character's Gear

Now using my Middle Class wealth level I pick relevant adventuring gear for Cade. He's considered to have the standard trappings and clothing befitting his station. I'm going to grab him a Broadsword and a High Quality Lantern, but apart from that nothing in the equipment section really draws my attention. Shame they have no explosives kit.

Interesting sidenote! If you use equipment from beyond your wealth level, even if it's a gift, all your draws using it become Black Double Draws, meaning you draw two cards and pick the worse one. Fate doesn't like it when you have ideas above your station, it seems.

Step 16) Customise Fortune Structure (Optional)

This one lets me reduce me fate pool to draw new twists and various other things, but I'm happy with all that, so I'll skip this step. And with that we're done!

The Finished Product

Cade McThorngage

Large Male Halfling

Age: Middle Aged

Birthright: Firstborn

Environment: Country

Social Class: Peasantry

Religion: Protestant

Wealth Level: Middle Class

Primary Statistics: Agility 5; Body 8; Heart 8; Perception 5; Status 7; Martial 1

Secondary Statistics: Dodge 5; Hand Attack 5; Ranged Attack 3; Movement 6; Intiative 5; Stealth 5; Hit Points 32

Fortune Smiles: Cups, Swords

Fortune Frowns: Pentacles, Wands

Fortune Shines: Emperor, Hierophant, Hanged Man, Judgement, Hermit, Strength, Sun

Skills: Climbing 7, Culinary 8, Demolitions 9, Driver 6, Intimidation 7, Swimming 7, Tracking 5

Languages: English, French

Literate? No

Fate Twists: Deja Vu, House of Motherhood, Ill Omen

Fate Pool: 4

Gear: Broadsword, High Quality Lantern

How I'd Run It

The game suggests two broad ways to run Fortune's Fool. The first is cleaving to a specific point in history, examining the ramifications of fantastic elements on the Renaissance period. The second is treating it as a big anachronistic melting pot, hi-fiving Shakespeare one session and tagging along for a roadtrip to Jerusalem to beat up the heathens the next. I have to admit, despite history being a thing I know rather well I'm inclined to go with the second option, because all the strongly thematic aspects of this period tend to get represented in quite an ahistorical fashion anyway.

Monsters and Other Childish Things

Game Premise

A distressingly fun roleplaying game about kids and the relationship-devouring horrors from beyond time and space who love them.

Remember when you were little and had a best friend in the whole wide world? No, not those other kids. I mean unicorns from other dimensions, the unspeakable thing living in the closet or under the bed or invisible aliens from outer space. Good news, turns out those friends are real and are totally kickass. OK, sometimes they are a bit clingy. You also would probably get sent to counselling if you drew a picture of them and showed an adult. And there have been one or two incidents where they tried to 'help', like trashing the teacher's car after they gave you a bad grade or eating that kid who picks on you at lunchtime.

But most of the time you couldn't ask for a better friend. And guess what, you know other people with monster friends too! Sometimes you go on adventures to the meat dimension, explore the world of dreams or break into Area 51 (“That thing? Oh that's totally a Saturnian Urinal”). Other times you'll just watch as your monster friends beat up other kids' monster friends. After all, yours are totally more awesome.

Game Overview

Monsters and Other Childish Things is a game about childhood and that vital component of every sane child's world, their imaginary friend (mine didn't have a name but it lived inside the walls and shadows of my old house in Japan. I left it behind when I left the house). It is slightly darker than your average childhood fantasy, really emphasising the monster part of the title. Think Calvin and Hobbes meets Call of Cthulhu. Kids get up to all kinds of crazy shenanigans with their imaginations and what better way to help enable them than a drooling slime-beast with a stupid grin from the 5^th layer of Tartarus. 'Darkly comical' is how I'd describe the game, in that the action that takes place is light hearted but your partner in crime is quite willing to resolve all of your problems in quite a messy fashion if you don't keep them under control.

Monsters uses the ORE system which I first explained the basics of in Godlike. Quick recap, roll a pool of up to 10 dice, look for matches (eg, pair of threes), the more dice in the set and the higher the number, the better you've succeeded. There aren't any special die types in this iteration, but you do have a few familiar ability modifiers with different names (Go First becomes Wicked Fast and so on). It's one of the few games where you control two characters (although sometimes your monster friend gets controlled by the GM, particularly when they are up to no good).

Monsters is great not just for its accessible premise and use of the ORE ruleset but also for the fantastic way in which it is written. It's a bit hard to explain, but there's a whole lot of exuberant light-heartedness and everything from discussing the base system to the NPC section is humorous, weird and awesome. Despite this, it can be used to run darker games that tackle issues involving the vulnerability of childhood with the caveat of having friends that can hit back. So, it's quite versatile. Also, it has the distinction of being the only RPG that's made me tear up, specifically with the piece of game fiction on page 61.

The Character

Step 1) Name and Stuff

This is where we come up with my character's general concept. I think I want to go back to an Australian character, a young girl who once lived in regional Australia only to move to Sydney with her aunt and uncle at the insistence of her parents, for educational reasons. First up, we have Name. I'm going to go with Angela Macarthur. Next up is Age. Characters need to be under 18 because their Bond with their monsters disintegrate upon entering adulthood. I think I want my character to be young, but not too young, so I'm assigning her age as 11. Now we have Favourite Thing, pretty self explanatory, and for Angela I've decided it's Climbing. She used to love scaling the trees at her old property, climbing to the tallest branches and staring at the sky for ages.

Now we have A Good Thing You Did and A Bad Thing You Did, again, pretty self explanatory. For her good thing, she once Helped a Stranded Driver stuck out near her property on the motorway, running back to her house to fetch her dad and a working phone. For the bad thing, I think that when she was told she'd be moving away to live with her aunt and uncle, she Smashed Mum's Favourite Family Portrait while having a tantrum.

Step 2) Stats

Monsters has five different stats, each point in them giving a die you can roll when using the stat. I start off with 1 in each and have 10 more dice to split between them. I've established that she's a bit of an outdoorsy sort, so I'm going to go straight ahead and put 3 dice in Feet, the stat for being able to move generally, giving her a total of 4. I think I'll also put 3 in Guts, the stat governing both physical and mental toughness. 2 will go into Hands, which covers anything you'd use your hands for and also for Brains, the skill for thinking because she's both clever and practical. That leaves me with no dice for Face, this game's version of charisma, for a total of 1, probably because she's a bit of a loner and standoffish.

Step 3) Skills

Each stat has three Skills tied to it and I have 15 dice to put wherever I want. Straight off the bat I'm going to put 4 of those in P.E. (physical education, of course), because she's an athletic sort and loves climbing. 2 each will go into Courage, Dodge and Wind (fitness), because those are also strong areas for her. 2 each will also go to Remember and Out-think, because while she's no nerd she's quite a bright young girl. Finally, 1 point will go into Kick, because she tends to lash out with her feet when she's angry.

Step 4) Relationships

Relationships are one of the more innovative mechanics of this iteration of ORE. The idea is that you have a certain number of points in a relationships with a person, thing or occasionally an idea and when you're making a roll that relates to them you get to add those points are dice to your roll. So, if I have 2 points in a relationship with my Mother and the local bully is making fun of her, I get two extra dice to my roll to punch him in the face. You can even lend your monsters this bonus, thanks to your Bond with them.

There can be downsides to using a relationship, though. If you still fail, they can take damage, giving reduced temporary bonuses or even being reduced permanently unless you spend some Quality Time with the subject of the relationship.

I get six points to divide into relationships. I'm going to start off by putting two dice in Aunt and Uncle, the folks who now take care of Angela. Two more dice are going to go into Ms Bligh, the Maths Teacher, who thinks that Angela has a real talent for the subject and is always happy to encourage her or lend a kind ear (she's also one of those rare maths teachers who can actually teach). The final two dice will go into Memories of the Old Property, the home she grew up on, had many adventures on and misses dearly. She also has a Bond with her monster, which I'll get to in a bit.

Step 5) The Monster

Yay, the fun part! Your monster is your best friend, protector and resident trouble maker. They can automatically detect other monsters, even while hidden and can survive mundane harm up to and including atom bombs. They aren't invincible, however, and not only can they take damage from supernatural effects but any damage, physical or emotional, that is inflicted on you also gets inflicted on your monster friend.

So, what's my monster going to be. Well, one evening while Angie was sitting atop a tree, gazing at the stars, she saw what seemed to be a falling star shooting towards her with a curious rainbow streak. To her surprise it landed nearby, creating a small and shockingly quiet crater. Going down to investigate, she discovered a strange being there. It seemed to be a feline being, the size of a horse and with a big, multicoloured, doughy mass in the middle. The thing seemed to be weak and hungry, so Angela gave it the chocolate she had in her pocket. The thing quickly became friends with her. It explained that it was called Tacnayn and was the last survivor of its kind from far beyond the stars. Its kind were hunted for their delicious, edible bodies. The two became friends and when Angela moved to Sydney, Tacnayn went with her. No prizes for guessing what it's a reference to.

Here's the basic mechanical deal with monsters. Each monster is composed of Hit Locations, which are a bit like an ordinary person's, covering 1-10. The difference is of course that if you're a squamous fungoid from the 19^th dimension you don't have legs or a head. Instead, you'd have something like Lashing Pseudopods, Mounds of Green Slime and 4-Dimensional Maw. Each of these locations has a Quality that describes what it can do, Attacks (body part can be used to hut someone), Defends (body part can be used to defend) and Useful (everything else). Each location starts off with one of these qualities, but can have extra qualities as modifiers, which I'll get to soon.

So, I have 10 hit location numbers, each with five dice that have to be assigned to at least four locations. I'm going to start with assigning 1-2 as Dripping, Sugary Maw. This location is going to have the attacks quality and because it takes up two locations, starts off with 10 dice. These are the number of dice I would use when using the maw to attack someone. However, I want to make it a bit more interesting and that's where Extras come in. Extras are certain bonuses that require you to sacrifice dice. I'm going to give the maw 2 points in the Gnarly extra, which means it deals 2 extra points of damage on attacks (by default, attacks deal a number of damage equal to the dice in the set -1). I'm also going to give it 1 point in Wicked Fast, which increases its position in the turn order by +1 (normally, actions are determined by who rolled the set with the biggest number of dice). So now it's a 7 dice quality with 2xGnarly and 1xWicked Fast.

Next up will be Angular Nose, which will take up locations 3-4. This one will have the quality Useful (Sniff Out Dimensional Gateways, Secrets and Sugar products), which is a little on the broad side for a useful quality but should be fine. I'm going to give it two points in the Awesome extra. One point would let me set one of my dice to a specific number before I rolled, while two points lets me set one after, which guarantees a match. Tacnayn can sniff out these things quite effectively at a range of 1,280 yards, as determined by the Monster Might table.

Now there's the Delicious Multicoloured Body, which will have 5-7 for a total of 15. This location will have the quality Useful (Regenerates Edible, Sweet Flesh) which seems gross but it actually comes off quite easily and tastes oddly of poptarts. I'm also going to sacrifice 1 dice to give it the quality Defends. Since I can have a maximum of 10 dice in a pool, I'm going to need to find 4 more dice worth of extras. I'm going to settle for 4 points in Tough, which reduces damage done by 1 point each, making it a formidable location indeed.

Finally, 8-10 will be Flying Rainbow Feet. These will have the quality Useful (Rainbow Flight), allowing Tacnayn to sail along, the skies, leaving a trail of rainbows behind it. I'm also giving it the quality Defends, representing his ability to dodge while flying. For extras, I'll give the location 2 points of Awesome and 2 points of Wicked Fast. That still leaves it with 10 dice. Tacnayn can fly at up to 1,024 mph or carry up to 12.8 tonnes while flying (he can sacrifice one to improve the other).

Now just a few fluff details and we're done! We've already scoped out Appearance, he's a horse-sized cat, grey with a greenish tinge with a bulging, soft, multicoloured mass in the middle. He's slightly sweet-smelling. For Personality, I'm going to go with Curious. Tacnayn loves to explore new places, whether they be a different classroom or another dimension (which he's quite capable of sniffing out). For Way To Hide (after all, monsters can't just be waltzing around in front of adult and the general public), Tacnayn can Turn Into a Tiny Kitten, one small enough to fit into a large jacket pocket, albeit an somewhat oddly green kitten. For Favourite Thing, I'm going with Sugar. He absolutely loves sugar. Mostly Angela keeps him fed on chocolate and skittle packets but god have mercy on us all if he ever discovers a factory of the stuff. Monsters aren't known for their restraint.

The Finished Product

Angela Macarthur

Feet 4 (Dodging +2, Kicking +1, P.E. +4)

Guts 4 (Courage +2, Wind +2, Wrestling +0)

Hands 3 (Blocking +0, Punching +0, Shop +0)

Brains 3 (Notice +0, Out-Think +2, Remember +2)

Face 1 (Charm +0, Connive +0, Put-Down +0)

Relationships

Aunt and Uncle 2, Memories of the Old Property, Ms Bligh the Maths Teacher 2 , Tacnayn

Angela's Monster: Tacnayn

Locations 1-2: Dripping, Sugary Maw (7 dice, Attacks, Gnarly x2, Wicked Fast x1)

Locations 2-4: Angular Nose (8 dice, Useful (Sniff Out Dimensional Gateways, Secrets and Sugar), Awesome x2)

Locations 5-7: Delicious Multicoloured Body (10 dice, Useful (Regenerates Edible, Sweet Flesh), Defends, Tough x4)

Location 8-10: Flying Rainbow Feet (10 Dice, Useful (Rainbow Flight), Defends, Awesome x2, Wicked Fast x2)

How I'd Run It

I tried running a one shot of this a while back at a university event. Unfortunately it wasn't very successful due to lack of time and the fact that I had a whole bunch of other things to take care of, which is a shame because I love this game.

I definitely want to run the campaign Road Trip someday, a game about travelling across the States with your monster buddy in order to save the world. However, were I to run it I'd totally set it in the past like the book suggests as a possibility, specifically in the 50s. Cruising along in a Cadillac, stopping off at milk bars with Elvis on the jukebox, your ancient Native America demon pal deciding it's taken a liking to Greaser culture? Sounds like a good recipe for shenanigans.