Family & Fury!

Hey! There's a new Fast & Furious move out. Hot damn, do I love those movies. I haven't had a chance to see Fast X yet, but it's on my schedule for next weekend!

Anyway, I wrote this a couple months ago, but I've been sitting on it until the new movie came out. 

Family and Fury! is a one-page RPG designed to let you play all the family drama and high-octane action that make those movies so fun. It's a hack of John Harper's Lasers & Feelings. I'm having a lot of fun making L&S hacks. It's a nice little creative refresher before i move onto my next big project. 

You can check out a JPG of the game below. The PDF is pay-what-you-want on both DriveThru and Itch.io. Give it a look! It's all about family!

Family and Fury! on DriveThruRPG

Family and Fury! on Itch.io

The Games I Play

I play a lot of RPGS these days, more than I ever expected to play at one time. Skype and Google Hangouts have been both a blessing in a curse. I've never been involved in so many games at once, but now it's pretty much all I do. RPGs take up almost all my free time. It's kind of an interesting problem to have. I love all my games, but I might be getting close to some sort of "critical mass." I'm not entirely sure how sustainable this is.

So here's what my RPG life looks like right now. These are just my regular games, too. It doesn't count things like the irregular Pathfinder game I'm in.

Monkey Took My Jetpack Podcast - I play every week as part of this podcast. It's my longest-running online group, and we meet every week over Skype. We just finished an excellent Dresden Files game and have just started a new Talislanta campaign.

Porcelain Llama Theater Podcast - I also play every week as part of the Porcelain Llama Theater podcast, run by Trilobite (also from MTMJ). This game also uses Skype. I should point out that these Skype games don't use any kind of virtual table-top, and all the dice rolls are on the honor system. It's never been a problem. We just wrapped up a "Epidemic Thriller" campaign using Fate Accelerated (Machines of Loving Grace), and are brainstorming our next game.

Carcosa By the Numbers - +Doyle Tavener runs this excellent Carcosa hexcrawl every-other week in Google Hangouts. He uses Lamentations of the Flame Princess with all the funny dice rules from Carcosa. Our group of escaped slaves started the game naked, hungry, and penniless, and we've had to fight and struggle for every iron knife and dried mushroom. It's awesome. This game tweaks all my OSR buttons for exploration, resource management, and straight-up weird shit.

The Defiants - +Stacy Forsythe runs this Smallville game every other week over Hangouts, and so far it's been a lot of fun. We play a group of high school students in Defiance, Ohio who have just gained superpowers in a world where that kind of thing doesn't usually exist. My guy, Jacob Mead (AKA Bee Major) has the power to summon and control bees. We have a lot of fun playing up to the tropes of petty teenagers with all the adolescent drama and bickering that comes with that.

Isle of Abaddon - This is the Labyrinth Lord (with a lot of LotFP and house rules) game that I run every other week over Hangouts. The island of Abaddon disappeared three hundred years ago. Three years ago it returned from parts unknown with mysteries to be unlocked and fortunes to be won. I've enjoyed runnign this game, and it's let me use a lot of things I've developed for this blog.

My Sunday Home Game - This is my one regular game session that actually meets in my home with face-to-face players. My wife and I play with a group of our friends every week. Right now I'm running "Dresden 1888," a Dresden Files campaign set in Victorian London. I'm also setting up to run a Star Wars: The Old Republic game using Fate Core. My wife has also set up a Fables game using Fate Accelerated. Lots of stuff going on there!

Steampunkery (A Pocketmod Mini-RPG)

Over on Google Plus, +Matthew Bannock is having an Steampunk RPG deigns contest.

"The main objective is to create a table top role playing game with a distinctively steampunk feel. 
The bonus objectives include using a deck of cards, and having an optional Pocket Mod format."

These are the kinds of challenges I like, and limitations often lead to creativity. I've been brainstorming this idea for a couple of weeks, and I now I'm going to squeak in on the next to last day with my card-based pocketmod steampunk RPG, Steampunkery.

Download the Pocketmod PDF of STEAMPUNKERY Here!

The complete text is directly below. If I get enough interest, I might expand on it later. 

Enjoy! "Rock out with your cogs out!"


STEAMPUNKERY
By Joshua LH Burnett

About the game
You play a sexy-dangerous badass in Faux-Britannia, a world of high-romance, adventure, and crazy steam-powered supertech.

What you need

This booklet, a deck of cards without jokers (for the players), some tokens (for the GM), paper and pencils.

Your Character

Concept

Describe your character in just a couple of words. Your high concept is what you “do” in the world. It's your job, your character class, your archetype.

Examples: Steam Knight, Dandy Scientist, Debutante Adventurer, Dirigible Pirate

Suits

There are four Suits that describe the techniques, skills, and approaches you use to overcome challenges. You will have a Strong Suit, which you are very good with, and a Weak Suit, that you're not very good with at all. Each Suit corresponds to a suit in the card deck. 

Steam (Diamonds)

Use Steam when you solve a problem using science and technology, especially crazy steam-powered retro-romantic technology.

Examples: Shooting a steam rifle, flying an ornithopter, reprogramming a difference engine

Punk (Spades)

Use Punk when you solve a problem using direct, aggressive, physical action. 

Examples: Leaping a chasm, punching a guy, wrestling a bear

Grace (Hearts)

Use Grace when you solve a problem subtlety, charm, guile, and charisma. 

Examples: Seducing a guard, sneaking into a building, impressing the Queen

Wit (Clubs)

Use Wit when you solve a problem using brains, occupational training, and education. 

Examples: Identifying a poison, breaking a code, performing surgery

Choose one of these Suits as your Strong Suit and mark it with a star. You will be extra-competent with your Strong Suit. Chose another as your Weak Suit and put a line through it. You will never be able to take actions related to your Weak Suit. 

Name

Come up with a name and write it down. Make it fancy, heroic, and/or distinctive!

Examples: Lady Felicia Merriweather-Smythe, Doctor Thaddeus Q. Pneumatic, Brigadier Henry Lloyd Abernathy III

That's it!

Seriously, that's it.

Playing the Game

Roleplaying is a conversation between the GM and the players. The GM describes what is going on and asks the players how they respond. The GM describes what happens as a result of the players' actions, and the conversation continues. Dungeon World, Apocalypse World, and Monsterhearts, describe this in detail. Check out those games.

At the start of every adventure, the players will draw a hand of 5 cards from the deck. This hand size might grow or shrink as your character suffers failures and achieve successes. If the players go through all the cards in the deck, reshuffle the discards. The GM never uses cards. 

Occasionally a character (PC or NPC) will do something that another character doesn't want to happen. When that happens we have a  Challenge. 

Challenges

Depending on how difficult the challenge is, the GM will draw 1-8 Challenge Tokens

The GM describes the scene and what is happening and asks the players “What do you do?”

One or more players describe what actions their characters are taking, and what Suit they are using. 

The player plays cards from his hand, trying to get a total of 11.

If they character's Concept would help them with this action, they can discard and redraw as many cards from their hand as they'd like, all at once, before playing their cards. 

Aces count as 1.

Face cards count as 11.

If your action falls under your Strong Suit, you can play cards from any suit (even your Weak one), as long as you play at least one card from your Strong Suit. 

If your action falls under a Suit that is neither Strong or Weak, you can only play cards from that specific suit. 

You cannot undertake actions that fall under your Weak Suit. You'll have to find another way to overcome the Challenge. 

If you make 11 with...

1 card: You succeed with exceptional style. The GM looses 2 Challenge Tokens. If you used your Strong Suit with this action, your hand size increases by 1.

2 cards: You succeed and get closer to your goal. The GM looses 1 challenge token. 

3 or more cards: You succeed at cost. The GM loses a Challenge Token, and you reduce your hand size by 1.

If you cannot make 11 at all: You suffer failure. The GM doesn't lose any Challenge Tokens, and you reduce your hand size by 1. Discard your entire hand.

Draw cards from the deck to refill your hand after each play. 

If the GM looses all their Challenge Tokens, then the PCs have overcome the challenge. 

If a PC's hand size is reduced to 0, they are out of the game―dead, comatose, captured, or too depressed to continue.

Molemen & Missives [2011]

I've been busy with art commissions all week, so I haven't had a chance to post much (much less post anything about gnomes). To fill the gap, I'm reposting something from my old blog.

Back in 2011, Ryan Macklin started a 500-word RPG challenge. "Molemen & Missives" was my contribution. It doesn't have gnomes, but molemen are kinda-sorta-not-really similar, right?

Activate the Waybac, Sherman...


Ryan Macklin recently set a  "Flash Game Design Friday" challenge. To quote:

I’m going to give you three mechanical ingredients. You use at least two:

• Two dice that you don’t add together
• A single token that sometimes is and sometimes isn’t on your character sheet/possessed by the player
• a countdown mechanic (whatever the hell that means)

Write a game that takes 500 words or less to explain, which should include a hint of setting.

I chose the first two ingredients and took some inspiration from More Information than You Require to create... 

Molemen & Missives

By Joshua LH Burnett

with apologies to John Hodgman

You are a Moleman, a disgusting yet refined denizen of the Deep Down Dark. You have sharp claws and teeth, acidic saliva, and luminescent mucus. You also have a great love of social philosophy, powdered wigs, and pantaloons. You are part of a committee dedicated to solving problems affecting your hideous community.

The Mole Master

This is what we call the GM in this game, just because.

The Making of a Moleman

Give yourself a Name. Typical Molemanic names include Theopolis, Henrietta, and Hsss'kkk'thiix.

Write down your Vocation, which is your job in the community. Examples include: Fungus Wrangler, Mucus Sculptor, or Grub Knight.

Take 10 points and divide them between the four core Values of the Molemen.

Industry for tasks that involve creation or hard labor.

Learnedness for tasks that requires education or study.

Vigilance for tasks that involve forethought or the defense of your community.

Refinement for tasks that require charisma or style.

You have a Resolve score equal to the sum of your two highest Values. You lose Resolve when you lose Debates. Resolve refreshes at the beginning of each game.

The Wig

Molemen love to talk. Within a committee, it would be quite easy for each Moleman to to try to talk over his fellows, and nothing would get done. Hence, the Wig. Each committee has one wig. Only the Moleman wearing the wig may talk. Once he was spoken, he must give the wig to another committee member. It is considered rude to ask for the wig next instead of patiently waiting your turn. Wigless Molemen can still communicate through sign language or charades, but this is considered gauche. Written communication in the form of long, passionate missives, letters, and pamphlets are quite acceptable and actively encouraged!

Debates

Molemen characters are free to do whatever they want until someone tells them they can't. When there's a conflict of interests between two parties, we got ourselves a Debate. Resolve debates as such:

1) Set the stakes.

2) Each side describes what they are doing and gathers a number of d10 equal to the relevant Value.

3) If the opposing side is the Molemaster, he will chose 1d10 to 7d10, depending upon the difficulty.

4) Roll!

5) If you have multiples of the same number, add 1 to the result for each extra die. (If you rolled three 6s, your result would be 8.)

6) If your action involved your Vocation, you can gather some of your dice and reroll them once.

7) The highest result wins!

8) The defeated side loses a point of Resolve, plus 1 more for each multiple the opposition rolled.

9) A Moleman with 0 resolve is out of the game. He's too dejected, depressed, or devoured to continue.

10) Other Committee members can help you in debates. They describe how they are helping you and add 1d10 to your pool. If you lose, your helpers lose resolve too!

I've also made a swanky PDF of the game!