Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #408
Near Future Campaign Settings
Contents:
This Week's Tips Summarized
Near Future Campaign Settings
- Innovation And Degeneration
- Familiar And Unfamiliar Realities
- Alternate Present
- Campaign Scenarios
- Potential References And Resources
Monthly Musing of the Chatty DM
Readers' Tips Summarized
- City Descriptor Macro
- Vault Of The Wiglord Playtest
- GM Binder
- More One Sentence NPC Contest Entries
Johnn Four's GM Guide Books
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A Brief Word From Johnn
Expression Engine Knowledge?
By chance, does anyone have experience working with
Expression Engine CMS by EllisLab? I'm converting the
Roleplaying Tips site over to it, and am getting stuck on a
couple of issues. If you are familiar with it, please ping
me. Thanks!
Should GMs Charge Money?
Gnome Stew has posted an article that asks, "Under what
circumstances would you deem it okay to charge money to run
a regular gaming group? Do you currently charge (or pay to
play) and, if so, what are your circumstances?"
I have never charged my players, unless you consider putting
up with bad puns a "price to be paid." One argument is that
GMs bear the burden of cost for books and materials.
However, to GM, you just need the core rules, and there are
many free games you can get online legally, so technically,
you just need shelter. I buy lots of RPG stuff, but that's
my choice, and it's not a requirement to play, and certainly
not an obligation.
I have participated in clubs and campaigns with a per-
session or annual fee to cover meals, snacks, or facilities
costs. Never paid a GM for their time or their RPG purchases
though.
How about you? What's your answer to Gnome Stew's query?
One Sentence NPCs Contest Closes Soon
Thanks to all who have entered the contest to date. The
contest ends July 13, so there's still a little time left to
enter. For new subscribers or folks who are just catching
up, here's the scoop:
Contest Entry
E-mail me [[email protected]] one sentence NPCs that
generally use the tips outlined in issue #406: three traits,
one conflict or contradiction, interesting. Any and all one
sentence NPCs are eligible however, so don't let writer's
block or my formula stop you from entering.
Alternatively, you can post your NPCs at Chatty DM's blog.
Each NPC counts as one entry, and you are welcome to submit
as many one sentence NPCs as you like to increase your odds
of winning, or, just because they're fun to write. :)
Contest is open now. Contest ends July 13. Winners will be
drawn soon after contest close, and will be drawn at random,
so don't worry about writing skills. One NPC = one entry and
one chance to win. Entries will be edited and then given
back to everyone in the e-zine.
Note that I reserve the right to void entries judged
inappropriate/nonsensical for the contest.
Prizes
Each NPC entry gives you a chance to win any of the following:
From Expeditious Retreat Press:1 print or PDF version (your choice) of the following:
- 1 on 1 Adventures #9: Legacy of Darkness
- 1 on 1 Adventures #10: Vengeance of Olindor
- 1 on 1 Adventures #11: Unbound Adventures
- Advanced Adventures #4: Prison of Meneptah
- Advanced Adventures #5: Flaming Footprints of Jilanth
From Goodman Games
- 3 x GM Gems book (print or PDF - your choice)
From Wolfgang Baur
- 3 x Kobold Quarterly #4 issues (print or PDF - your choice)
- 1 Standard Patron Open Design account (value $30)
- 1 Senior Patron Open Design account (value $100)
From Hero Lab
- 4 x Hero Lab 2.0 licenses (character creation software for
multiple game systems)
From Paizo (care of Chatty DM)
Softcover copies of:
- Pathfinder #7: Edge of Anarchy
- Pathfinder #8: Seven Days to the Grave
- Pathfinder #9: Escape from Old Korvosa
From MenWithPens
- 1 x White Wolf's World of Darkness
- 1 ebook: How to Get what you Want Out of RolePlaying
- 1 ebook: How to Create a Believable Character
Thanks very much to the generous prize sponsors.
Have a great week.
Cheers,
Johnn Four,
johnn@roleplayingtips.com
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Summer Ad Sale
If you have RPG related products, or services, this space
could be yours. E-mail me for rates and to ask any questions
you might have. For a limited time, rates are reduced.
Advertise for Gen Con, PAX, or to spread the word about your
newest release. Bloggers are also welcome to advertise.
johnn@roleplayingtips.com
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Near Future Campaign Settings
by Kate Manchester
There are many types of campaign worlds, mostly falling into
the genres of fantasy, modern and science fiction. Skating
the fine line between the modern age and science fiction
genres is what can be described as the near future.
The near future is a time period that one could potentially
live to see: about 110 years or less in the future. Given
that more people are living past 100, and the oldest living
person is over 120 years old, it is theoretically possible
for a person born in 1970 to see the passage of 2070, the
current year in the most recent Shadowrun edition.
The near future setting can also be considered an "alternate
reality," because many of the game's historical events occur
in real-time years that have already come and gone. With a
game set in the far flung future, the possibilities and
technologies are limited only to your own imagination.
The near future setting mixes current reality with distinct
possibility and fiction, making world-building a bit more
challenging. Hopefully these tips can give you some insight
into running a game within such a setting.
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1. Innovation And Degeneration
The near future setting for a game world always seems to be
a dark one. Disasters, both technological and ecological,
play a major role in the world's past, present, and/or
future.
Pandemics can threaten the burgeoning world population, and
resources of all sorts, especially food, are harder to come
by. Governments tend toward benevolent dictatorships (if
you're lucky), dystopias (if you're not), or something more
exotic (corporate owned/controlled governments). Weapons
kill faster and designer street drugs are far more addictive
and dangerous than their modern counterparts.
While a good story is nothing without conflict, it also
needs some hope. The future offers light in the darkness via
technological advancements: replacement limbs/organs improve
performance, medical marvels lengthen life expectancies, and
new items of all sorts offer a better quality of life.
Thus, creating this sort of setting can be a matter of
balancing the bad with the good.
And, just as the common vocabulary of 2008 is significantly
different than that of 1948, the vocabulary of the near
future would likely have undergone a similar evolution, with
the addition of new words and phrases, or the blending of
several languages. For example, Blade Runner's "CitySpeak"
is a mish-mash of Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, French, German
and Hungarian.
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2. Familiar And Unfamiliar Realities
In addition to stark divergences from our reality, the near
future setting should offer some semblance of familiarity to
the player.
Many buildings in our modern cities could certainly have
survived to see the near future. Seattle's famous Space
Needle, for example, still exists in Shadowrun's Seattle of
2070. Modern artifacts often still exist as either junk or
collector's items, replaced by newer, cheaper, and hopefully
better technology.
The near future is not necessarily limited to the scope of
the physical world. There is also the digital world, where
computers, rather than physical laws, hold sway. In
addition, information of all sorts is readily available for
those who know how and where to look.
Some game systems also have the magical realm - an astral
plane that magicians, adepts, spirits and other creatures
can travel. These other realms offer additional
possibilities for campaign design and adventure, and GMs
running game systems offering these options should take
advantage of them.
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3. Alternate Present
Alternate histories, prevalent in science fiction stories
and games, can work just as well in a near future setting.
What if recent elections had gone differently, or certain
natural disasters had been handled in a different manner?
Countries now at peace could be at war, or vice versa.
Technology in an alternate near future could be heading in a
very different direction from the way it's going in our
world, depending on the input of key political and industry
leaders.
Changing important recent events and then projecting their
consequences a few decades into the future can make it easier
to create more plausible utopias and dystopias. Everyone has
their own theories as to what would have happened if certain
events had gone differently, and these ideas are often great
inspiration for games.
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4. Campaign Scenarios
As far as themes and possible scenarios, the near future
campaign has a lot of potential. Games can include the
acquisition, destruction or consequences of new technology,
struggling for survival after some sort of disaster,
political intrigue, paranoia (Big Brother is watching), fear
of some unknown but very possible scenario, or a major shift
in the current social or evolutionary structure (as in the
X-Men comics). Mystery can also be involved, as the PCs
could be hired to stop a vicious serial killer.
There are a fair amount of possible materials available for
help and inspiration. Game sourcebooks are an obvious
choice, but ideas can also be found in books, movies,
magazines, and on the internet.
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5. Potential References And Resources
Online:
On screen:
Too many near future/sci-fi movies to list, but it includes:
Johnny Mnemonic, They Live, Blade Runner, Dark City, the
Terminator series, Soylent Green, the Matrix series, the Mad
Max series, Demolition Man and The Running Man.
Noir films, even the ones set in the past, can offer dark
and gritty themes and settings suitable for a near future
campaign. The movie Blade Runner is sometimes described as
"Future Noir."
Television shows: X-Men animated series, Heroes, Sliders,
Quantum Leap, and Jericho are just a few that come readily
to mind.
In print:
- Omni Magazine - no longer published, but it offered
science fact, science fiction, and glimpses into the future.
- Popular Science Magazine - doesn't offer fiction, but does
make predictions on the next technological advances.
http://ppx.popsci.com/
- Cyberpunk novels, especially those by William Gibson, the
creator of the cyberpunk genre.
- Dystopia novels, including Huxley's Brave New World and
Orwell's 1984, but also Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale and
Burgess' Clockwork Orange.
- Science fiction novels set in a time frame where much of
the modern world's innovations still exist. These can
include (but aren't limited to) Philip K. Dick's Do Androids
Dream of Electric Sheep?, Lucius Shepard's Life During
Wartime, John Brunner's The Sheep Look Up, Robert Reed's
Black Milk, B.A. Chepaitis' The Fear Principle, and
Frederick Pohl's The Space Merchants.
- Game System novels - Shadowrun has quite a few, spanning
publishers and editions.
- Fodor's Maps - these offer excellent maps and information
on various world cities. In fact, some gaming source books
use this format for their own city settings.
- The science section that appears in some newspapers, which
offers glimpses of possible technologies. For example, one
article in my local paper dealt with developing a substance
similar to what gecko lizards use to climb walls. Shadowrun
actually has a similar item called gecko tape gloves used
for the same purpose.
* * *
The near future is closer than we think. While the feel of
the genre can't be easily captured or defined, it is
certainly not outside the realm of possibility for a clever
and creative GM.
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Monthly Musing of the Chatty DM
Teaching An RPG To New Players
Introduction
Unless you have been living under a rock, you likely know
there is a new edition of D&D out. I thought this would be a
perfect opportunity to share my thoughts on teaching a new
RPG (D&D or otherwise) to new players. I'll assume that you
already have players that have accepted to give the new game
a shot. I'll also assume that one game session is enough to
demonstrate the essential aspects of a game.
My goal here is to help you hook these players to this new
game with a few tips.
Keep it Simple
You need to dive into the adventure you chose/created for
this demonstration game as soon as possible. I don't
advocate showing the games' core rules "as you go along,"
because this risks breaking any kind of story/game momentum
you may build as you step in and out of the game to explain
concepts. However, you need to keep the rules lecture to
minimum so your players' eyes don't glaze over.
While each system has its own level of complexity, I suggest
you keep the presentation of the basic rules of the game to
10-15 minutes. For this, I strongly suggest you completely
skip character generation, and provide players with pre-
generated PCs.
Present the rules in basically the same order the rules book
does. Go over attributes, basic task resolutions mechanism,
combat and related statistics (Health/Hit points, wounds and
dying rules). Keep examples and options to the bare minimum.
You need to focus on the game's most basic rules that allow
capturing what you want to share with your players. Keep
everything else for later sessions, or to fuel future
discussions of the game with players if interest is
sustained.
I strongly suggest not using house rules in the
demonstration game unless such rules are necessary to make
the game enjoyable to new players. If such is the case, make
sure house rules are part of the initial presentation. While
making house rules is one of the great fun of RPGs, they are
usually not crucial for teaching the game.
Take a few more minutes to go through the pre-generated PC
sheets with the players. Attribute them as you see fit
(randomly, by player preference, etc.) and go over each one
in a few key sentences. If you have some players who have
already played the game and/or have read the rules, ask them
to help you explain what each PC can do.
Once you are done with the rules and PCs presentation, take
the time to answer questions your players may have. Be
careful to reign in your enthusiasm for the game and keep
your answers as short and to the point as possible. Your
goal is to make your players secure with the new rules set,
not awe (or more likely confuse) them with all the cool
things that you can do with some of the more esoteric
options/powers/variants of the game. If things go well,
they'll discover them when reading the rules while eagerly
waiting for you to start a new campaign.
Keep it Short
Once players are satisfied with your answers, it's time to
dive in the adventure. Focus on capturing what got you
interested/excited in the game, and infuse all parts of the
adventure with those elements.
Since the goal is to demonstrate what the game is about, you
should jump right into what the game does best. If your game
is an action-driven RPG like D&D, start in media res with an
action scene, such as an ambush or a chase. If the game is
more geared toward storytelling, set a scene based on the
narrative elements that make the game shine, such as a role-
playing conflict.
In either case, inform players that it is assumed they know
each other and are used to working together.
When starting the adventure, avoid elements that force new
players to take initiative. They are dealing with a new
system and are probably going to prefer reacting than
planning.
While you should go with your natural style, avoid having a
long background-heavy introduction to your adventure.
Remember, you already spent 15 minutes going over the rules,
and possibly the same amount going over the characters.
For the same reasons, if you chose a game or adventure that
relies heavily on investigation type challenges, make sure
that finding clues and ways to progress are relatively easy.
The last thing you want is frustrated players stuck because
they missed one clue, bringing the game to a jarring stop.
You should also pick/create an adventure that will be
completed within the time planned for the demonstration
session. I can't say enough praise for the 5-room/scene
model where you set up a whole adventure in 5 scenes or
less, including introduction and resolution. If you play a
more classic exploration-based" kill and loot" game, those 5
scenes can be an area (a dungeon) made up of 5 significant
rooms (plus a few empty ones) including the entry, guards,
and the area's 'boss'.
Use The Five Room Model.
Keep it Open
You should open up all the numbers of the game so that
players can understand the "why" and the "how" of the rules
faster. That means putting the GM screen away and laying
down the numbers as you crunch them during the game.
Slowly go through each task resolution, each skill roll, and
combat rolls with the full numbers. You tell the players how
hard it is to hit an opponent in combat, how skilled an NPC
is they want to best, and how dangerous it is to try to jump
over a snake-filled pit. Inform them that this is for demo
purposes only this session, and that you are sacrificing
some of surprise/fog of war effects for their benefit.
Thus, players get a complete picture of how the game plays
from both sides of the table and they get to see what goes
under the game's hood. If this sets your teeth on edge, I
invite you to rationalize this by seeing your role as more
of a salesperson than a game master. You want the potential
client to understand and embrace the product.
Since you are playing your own dice in the open, this means
you won't be able to fudge dice and statistics. If this goes
against your usual play style, I suggest you make an
exception, and just mention you usually keep such rolls and
numbers on your side to provide the best possible playing
experience.
Take the time to answer questions and explain, more than
once if necessary, how you came up with the target numbers
that players must roll. Informed players are more likely to
be satisfied with their experience and base their evaluation
of the game on the merits of its rules and your
interpretation of them (plus your awesome narrative skills,
of course!).
Keep it Fun
First impressions are vital, and your demonstration game is
the equivalent of a job interview. You need to keep things
moving as much as possible. You need to do everything in
your power to eliminate downtime. If you are new to the game
yourself, make sure you've read the rules that you need to
use a few times. Make sure you are familiar with the
adventure you use.
Keep rules discussions to a minimum unless it's necessary to
satisfy a player's need for understanding. If any rules
discussions threaten to break the pace of the adventure,
invite the player(s) to discuss it after the game, or call a
pause at the next logical point and continue the discussion.
During the game, especially during combats, don't be a
killer GM. Play opponents in a fair and believable way, but
give more than enough chances for the PCs to shine. You want
to leave an impression of satisfaction and pleasure in your
players, not a face full of deaths and failure.
Keep it Up!
All this is a lot to rest on your already burdened GM
shoulders, but know that you should be proud of yourself. By
teaching a game to new players, you are doing the role
playing games hobby a great service by bringing new players
to it, or expanding the horizons of existing RPG gamers. If
you make the experience fun and you manage to communicate
your enthusiasm, chances are you'll have sold the new game,
and you'll have takers for that campaign idea you have been
working on.
* * *
You liked this article? Head over to Chatty DM's blog for
more RPG posts on a wide variety of subjects. He's got
plenty to say!
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Johnn Recommends GM Aid: The Adventures of TinTin: 3 in 1 Series
TinTin is an awesome comic series. Do you remember reading
them in school? I've collected the series because the books
are inexpensive these days, and I have been reading and
enjoying them all over again.
What struck me this time around is how inspiring they are
for GMing.
- The characters are always varied and interesting - you can
drop them straight into your games.
- Recurring characters are common - notice how Herge re-
introduces them in each story, and how some characters
change over time.
- Locations are always different and interesting, visually
and from a gaming/interactive perspective. Keep on borrowing
those ideas!
- The action never stops and it flows well. Look at any
single page. Notice how the location changes at least once,
how the story moves along briskly, how several characters
are always present amongst the panels. There's no 10' x 10'
empty room syndrome here.
I was amazed at how little the comics cost now. At Amazon,
you can get the 3 Books in 1 series for about $12 per
volume, which is only $4 and change per TinTin title.
I'm having a great time reading these books, and I know I'll
start from the beginning all over again in the future.
Here's the scoop on the TinTin 3 in 1 series @ Amazon
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Readers' Tips Of The Week:
Have some GM advice you'd like to share? E-mail it to johnn@roleplayingtips.com - thanks!
1. City Descriptor Macro
From: ColeOnyx Online
I wrote a program for OpenOffice Calc called City Descriptor
Macro that helps DMs give more flavor to a city.
The whole macro is based on the information available on the
Maze Masters Guide, with a few modifications of my own to
help fit my D&D games a little better. You can read about
those modifications on my blog post entitled "A Detailed
Explanation About The City Descriptor Macro."
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2. Vault of the Wiglord Playtest
From: Ken McCutchen
Hi Johnn,
Thanks for making Vault of the Wiglord available in 5 Room
Dungeons - Volume 14!
Here are links to pictures of the actual playtest. The d10
is a paladin and the d12 is a rogue, LOL! I also enjoy
building RPG scenery with Hirst Arts molds.
Room One: Entrance and Guardian
Entrance to the Tomb
Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge
Crypt of the Fallen
Room Three: Trick or Setback
The Portcullis and the Ooze
Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict
Minions Of The Wiglord
Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist
The Wiglord's Guardian
Here's the Hirst Arts molds website,
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3. GM Binder
From: Leah W.
When I started GMing, I made my own GM screen with some
cardboard, bias tape, and rubber cement (plus photocopier
access).
I used a coated cardboard, about the weight of poster board.
If you get your dress shirts laundered and folded, some
laundries will fold the shirt over a roughly 8"x11" piece of
cardboard. I used some of this. Poster board cut to size
would also work.
Brush some rubber cement down one long edge of the first
piece of cardboard, flatten out the bias tape, and stick one
edge to the cardboard. Once it sets, rubber cement another
sheet of cardboard on top of the first, so the bias tape is
sandwiched between them.
Then, take another piece of cardboard and cement the other
edge of the bias tape to it, leaving about a quarter inch
between the two boards.
If you're making a two panel screen, go ahead and cement
another board on top; if you're making a three panel you'll
need to cement another strip of bias tape to the other long
edge before putting the top board of the "sandwich" on.
Once the screen is assembled, photocopy the charts you need,
trim to size and glue them on. This actually worked better
for me than the official GM screen because I was using some
optional rules.
If you're looking at the screen end-on, it would be
something like this:
cardboard cardboard cardboard
bias tape bias tape
cardboard cardboard cardboard
Bias tape is available anywhere that carries sewing notions,
which around here includes most pharmacies and at least half
of the grocery stores.
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4. More One Sentence NPC Contest Entries
A cantankerous, blind sage who has come to hate the search
for knowledge that has ruined his eyes and life.
The seller of "quaint, curious, and forgotten lore" is a
benign(?) lich in disguise, seeking to fund its own esoteric
research interests.
A retired hero of remarkable strength who is now extremely
obese, but set on regaining his physical fitness and glory
of old.
An outcast mage, cursed by his guild so that he thinks he is
a duck, but who still knows the home base of those he once
called brethren.
Cursed with two different personalities, he is a jester who
sometimes believes he is a paladin, but he has been blessed
with epic agility and speed.
A barrel maker by trade, he secretly hides and smuggles
runaway slaves with the dream of becoming a great slave
leader one day.
Mannix is an old ex-alchemist, bent on vengeance, who suffers
amnesia and is afraid of fire due to a rival noble who
burned down his lab with him in it.
Always trying to break free of his parents' strict rules,
young Conner Brewer left his small hometown to seek
adventure, only to end up in the hands of gnoll slavemasters
who would torture him if he did not produce the fine ale
learned from his fathers' brewery.
A cleric who follows the ways of law to the strictest
letter, rarely showing emotion, choosing the correct path
unerringly regardless of fallout, but who will wilt to his
mother's wishes in a moment's notice.
A big, strong youth whose father has plans for him to follow
in his path and choose the way of the sword, but his talents
lie in the magical arts.
Driven by money and willing to do everything to accumulate
it, though he will pay a high price for good stories and
poems.
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Johnn Four's GM Guide Books
In addition to writing and publishing this e-zine, I have
written several GM tips and advice books to inspire your
games and to make GMing easier and fun:
How to design, map, and GM fresh encounters for RPG's most
popular locales. Includes campaign and NPC advice as well,
plus several generators and tables
Advice and tips for designing compelling holidays that not
only expand your game world but provide endless natural
encounter, adventure, and campaign hooks.
Critically acclaimed and multiple award-winning guide to
crafting, roleplaying, and GMing three dimensional NPCs for
any game system and genre. This book will make a difference
to your GMing.
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