Archive for January, 2005

January 30, 2005: 9:58 pm: Game systems

In case you hadn’t heard, Ken Hite has awarded Dogs in the Vineyard the Best New Game of 2004 Outie.

: 9:22 pm: Game systems

Last year my friend Lou was kind enough to pick me up copies of Matt Snyder’s Dust Devils and the newly released Nine Worlds at Gencon.

I read Dust Devils through not long after and was pretty darned impressed with it, which wasn’t all that big a surprise, considering all of the good things I’d read about it.

Then I went to tackle Nine Worlds and….well, it kind of stumped me. The text was rather dense, it was definitely in need of a good copyedit (probably because Matt rushed to get it finished in time for Gencon), and it just didn’t click for me. I was disappointed, because I could tell that there was something there worth understanding, and I just wasn’t getting it.

Well, there’s a thread called [Nine Worlds] Pop-Greek sci-fantasy, plus murder and sex over at The Forge where Ron “Sorcerer” Edwards talks about Nine Worlds, and now I think I’ve definitely got a better understanding of what’s going on in the game. Actually, I’m thinking that with a few minor tweaks it might make an interesting system for running an Amber campaign, though that would mean tossing out all of Matt’s excellent world building.

January 16, 2005: 8:54 pm: Game systems

Delta Green meets Dogs in the Vineyard in this thread over on The Forge.

What an excellent idea!

: 4:56 pm: Game theory (or close enough)

In this post over on Anyway, Vincent Baker shares an excellent little fortune-in-the-middle resolution mechanic. Things sure have been hopping over there lately, between Vincent’s posts and some excellent discussion in the comments. I only wish he had an RSS feed.
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January 14, 2005: 7:31 pm: Cons

Both of the games I’ll be running at ACUS 2005 got submitted this week. The first is a new Victorian-influenced mystery that Jenn and I will be co-GMing in Slot 3 (Friday afternoon) Slot 5 (Saturday morning). It might end up being the first in a series.

The Mysterious Affair
Number of Players: 3-6 (pregens)

The Metropolitan Police Force of Amber City are the enforcers of
justice of which all others are but shadow. Together with the Crown
Prosecution Service (CPS), they target criminal activity to keep the
streets safe. The officers of the Special Section of Amber’s Criminal
Investigation Division are called in on those cases requiring elite
skills and delicate handling.

Lady Margaret Chantris is known to be one of the premiere hostesses
of Amber’s polite society. Admired by all, envied by some — not in
the least for her dashing and handsome husband William, the third son
of the noble house — it comes as a great shock when she is found
murdered at the Red Lion public house in what appears to be a crime
of passion. As it happens, Police Commissioner Victor FitzJames is an
old school chum of Lord William’s, and he taps a few members of
Special Section to handle the case.

Then in Slot 6 (Saturday evening) Slot 3 (Friday afternoon), I’ll be running the kill puppies for satan scenario I ran at TBR this past year.

Nine Losers in Akron
Number of Players: 4-8 (pregens)

f***. looks like one of the f***ers who hates dad finally decided to do something about it. granddad says he was down at the 7-11 last night buying his f***ing lameass porno mags, when he saw a couple of big guys dragging your dad into some beat-up panel van and driving off. a**holes. you could call the cops, but those f***ers don’t really like anybody in your loser family, so they probably won’t f***ing do anything. f***. looks like it’s up to you to get dad back.

[This is a kill puppies for satan game centering around a family made up of recast Amber Elders. Rules will be taught, but taking the time to check out the kpfs site before you sign up is strongly recommended. The game involves far too much foul language and plenty of things that are very wrong (like, you know, the puppy killing part), so consider yourself warned.]

I’m hoping the new game goes well, and the kpfs re-run ends up being just as fun for all involved as it was the first time around.

Looking ahead to TBR 2005, I plan on running a new kpfs scenario (which will be a sequel of sorts), Jenn and I will likely run “The Mysterious Affair” again (or another game in the series), and…. well, I need to come up with a third game. Right now I’m leaning toward something that mixes Amber and The Mountain Witch.

[Edit: Changed slots for both games, though those changes are still awaiting Kris’s approval.]