John WS Marvin Interview Part II
Lex Starwalker, of Game Master Journey podcast fame, released the second half of his interview with me. We talk about Instant Adventures (here's my Part I and Part II) and other support for improv adventures, Gods and Icons for 13th Age, intrigue in 13th Age, The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady, and more. Give it a listen.
You can hear part one of the interview here, where we talk about montages, fronts, and The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady.
ThanksCypherGiving Sale!
ThanksCypherGiving Sale! Dread Unicorn Games Numenera titles: 40% off on electronic versions, including The Sun Below bundle! 20% off on Sleeping Lady Print!
Sale runs for the rest of November.
Major Hobnobbing on Game Master's Journey
Lex Starwalker and I chew the fat on his most excellent podcast: Game Master's Journey. Give it a listen!
We talk about Numenera, The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady, The Sun Below: City on the Edge, (electronic versions of both are on sale now for 40% off!!!) 13th Age Organized Play, how the run an RPG Montage, using Fronts in your own adventures (and fronts in The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady), and more.
And this is just part one of a two part podcast!
Sleeping Lady Extras: Horror Mode
As promised, the third extra for The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady is up, and it's all about using Horror Mode during the adventure. If you want to get your Horror Mode on from the Cypher System book while running Sleeping Lady, check it out. (GM's only, spoilers for players.)
What's Horror Mode? It's the tabletop rpg equivalent of the spooky music ramping up in a horror movie. Read about it here.
Print Version of The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady Available Now!
It's here! The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady in print.
The print version is available now.
Customers who bought the electronic version (which includes not just the PDF, but the eBook as well!) look for a special discount offer on the print version from DriveThruRPG.
Sorry, Deschutes Jubelale not included.
Talk to the Fish: Instant Adventure -- Part II
Last time in Planning to Improv: Make Your Own Instant Adventure, Part I, we looked at what goes into an Instant Adventure. In Part III, we look at GM Intrusions for your Instant Adventures.
Here's the example using Numenera. 
Notes:
Ignore the references to mooks in Numenera unless you have Dread Unicorn Game's The Sun Below: City on the Edge, or The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady. If you don't know how to run an rpg montage, see the Sun Below adventures, or the Blogger’s Roundtable of Doom: The Montage.
Summary
Liskal is a stunted machine intelligence that would like to repair itself. Its mind is truncated by being forced to exist in our dimension. In the past its mind was transdimensional, but that was a long time ago. Liskal needs a sphere from Le Temple De Toadue to start to reclaim its own mind. It can’t go itself, but it can teleport people. Which is where the players come in.
Details
- Liskal wants the sphere of night.
- The sphere is at Le Temple De Toadue.
- The Toad King regards this sphere as a prized possession. The Toad King can’t remember his own name.
- Klaru, a Nibovian Wife is in the temple. The Toad King fell for her tricks once, not again. Yet he lets her stay.
- There are 3 Toad Queens. Queens Deepi, Onea, and Sloomah.
- Sloomah wants the moon pool fixed. If the PCs do that, she can help convince The Toad King to give up the sphere of night.
Starting Point
The PCs have heard of the giant stone fish, high in the mountains. As they approach, they see blinking lights inside the mouth. Inside is a busted up synth column with 2 shins per PC strewn about.
Wrap Up
The PCs acquire the sphere of night, either through force of arms or by enlisting Queen Sloomah’s help. They bring it back to Liskal, who awards them each 15 shins and a cypher.
Future adventures: If you like, Liskal is not done, and you can use the machine mind to teleport the PCs all over the ninth world and beyond as it slowly builds itself up, piece by hard to get piece.
Keys
- Toadling servant of Queen Sloomah. Will try to take PCs to the Queen.
- Moon Pool Power device. It’s a head-sized green gelatinous egg that glows.
- Dead explorer with a detonation (desiccating) cypher. Journal’s last entry: “I got away from the Toad King, now I just have to survive his damned poison.” If found in the fish, it will mention teleporting on “a fool’s errand for a machine.”
Making Instant Adventure Notes:
Each node should have a way for the PCs to interact with it. A person is either at a place or will find the PCs. A location should have something to do there.
What Not To Do
I ran an Instant Adventure using 13th Age rules, and had three "people" (a nasty cultist and two devils) that could find the PCs. And an item that could summon a really nasty devil as a key. I put all four in the secret temple location, and it was a mess. Not every person who wants to find the PCs has to show up at the same time. Doh!
Planning to Improv: Make Your Own Instant Adventure, Part I
Monte Cook Games has been talking a lot recently about their Instant Adventures. You can even purchase Weird Discoveries: Ten Instant Adventures for Numenera.
The idea of an instant adventure is you have just enough prepared to let you improv your way to a good game session. Instead of an item, clue, or other plot point attached to place (under the rug is a hidden map), plot points are fluid and can be placed in whatever scene fits your session's pacing. GUMSHOE GMs will note the similarities with floating core clues.
So, what can we steal to make our own instant adventure? In this post I'll look at the building blocks of an instant adventure. In the next, I'll make my own.
Instant adventures can work not just in Numenera, but in any system.
First you have a list of bullet points about what is really going on. The characters won't have a clue about this information at the start of the session. For example, an ancient machine has awoken and is capturing people and "improving" them in tragic ways.
Then a hook (starting point): The guide the PCs are counting on has vanished, as have a number of people.
And and ending (wrap-up): The PCs stop the machine and maybe have rescued a few of the people, including the guide.
Next you come up with two to four floating plot points, or keys. A key can be a clue, knowledge, evidence (say in a murder mystery), an item, or something that "summons" a creature. A person who knows where the vanished people went. A device that will fix a sparking sphere. An item that makes the machine think the PCs don't need improvement.
Next, seven to twelve nodes. These are people or places. You can sketch a graph or map that shows all the nodes and which keys might be at any node. Any key could show up at a number of nodes. In play, the GM picks one based on the session, pacing, and what has hooked the player's interest. The players really really like this stupid rock in front of the glowing house? Then it's not a stupid rock, it's a key!
People can have information or items. They can sometimes be opponents. Places can have items, clues, weird numenera, and/or creatures.
Note which key(s) might be with this node. Nodes can point to other nodes. Some nodes can be bottlenecks, the PCs must get past this node to continue the session.
Example node: A deep well with a sparking sphere at the bottom. Next to the sphere is a door that leads to the rest of the session, but won't open until the PCs repair the sphere. If the item that makes the machine think they don't need improvement is here, the PCs must remove it from the sphere and take it with them. Past the door is the dancing reptile woman.
You can tie your instant adventure into your campaign as extra credit if you with.
Then run and enjoy. Let the keys show up when it feels right for the pacing and whatever lunacy your players are up to.
Next time I'll build a tiny instant adventure.
Icon Options: Learning from Organized Play
At my FLGS, I'm GMing 13th Age Organized Play, second season, set in the Dragon Empire of the core book. My home campaign is 13th Age with my own setting. For my day job, I'm working on Gods and Icons. 13th Age immersion therapy!
If you're a 13th Age GM, I encourage you to sign up for this program. I'm finding a lot of cool things in the Organized Play, including Icon Options. (Have you heard the rumors of Organized Play for Numenera? I have, and I want to believe!)
Icon Options are bits of background that only come into play if some of the players have a relationship with that icon. They don't have to roll a 5 or a 6, they just need a relationship.
For example, in the first adventure, Night of Deadly Stars, the players are hired by Hosford Merrywife. She changes based on what relationships the players have with the icons. Relationship with the Archmage? Hosford's a failed wizard who can give +1 to skill checks that use magical solutions. Elfqueen? Hosford's part elf. Not half, just a bit, but she can give the party +1 to spot things.
When the party runs into bandits, if they have a relationship with the Empeor, the bandits are imperial deserters. Knowing imperial tactics gives the PCs +1 to attacks. If the Diabolist is important (defined by having PCs have a relationship with her), then the bandits are planning a sacrifice to appease a demon. The PCs would do fine...
The adventure never lists options for all 13 icons, but moves around, so most will be hit. After listing a few with interesting ideas, it's often followed by "Icon Option: Other Icons." Back to the bandit example, the bandits have looted a caravan that belonged to servants of the other icon. They might have fine elven threads, dwarven ale, and so on.
I love this concept. The players are adventuring in a world where the icons they picked are the important ones. And not just on a 5 or a 6.
I am so stealing this.
Going Horror Mode in the Cypher System
For Halloween, I tried out the horror mode rule from the Cypher System. I ran a horror Numenera game down at my Friendly Local Game Shop (Modern Boardshop), where I reskinned an adventure for horror. I used The Nightmare Switch, from the original Numenera Kickstarter, which worked well.
Horror mode changes the way the players' die rolls can create GM Intrusions. Instead of only on a 1, you start off at a 1 or 2, and keep adding to the threat range for the GM Intrusion. Once we got it up to 8, and with six players rolling dice, we had a huge number or GM Intrusions.
The Cypher System book has all the details, but the idea is that GM Intrusions bring on the horror. Once the PCs beat a local horror, or successfully flee from it, you set it back to normal (only a 1 gives a free GM Intrusion).
To help create the right mood, I took a huge red d20, and slapped it down on the table with the 2 up. Then I explained the rule. Every time I upped the chance to get a GM Intrusion, I picked it up and slapped it down with the new number up. I may have chuckled evilly.
So what about when you want the horror to show up? Easy. Just use a normal GM Intrusion, hand out the 2 xp. And add one to the horror die. Slap!
How did it work? It worked great. The players focused on their die rolls, constantly glancing at the big red die in, well, horror.
I'm coming to appreciate when a game designer like Monte Cook uses a core component (GM Intrusions) of their existing system in a new way. This reminds me of why I like how 13th Age designers have come up with new ways to use the escalation die and icon relationship roles. I find this so much better than the old way of slapping on a new mechanic to the side of an existing game. Eventually the system is defined by a collection of non-related mechanics that have been shoved into the game until I find it unplayable.
I can totally see adding horror mode to any cypher system game where I have a horror component. In fact, it would work great in The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady, which has a strong eldritch horror vibe.
I think I know what my next Sleeping Lady Extra will be...
Halloween Sale for The Sun Below
Today is my birthday! To celebrate, let's have a sale! Numenera adventures The Sun Below: City on the Edge, and The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady pdfs are now on sale for 30% until November 1st!
Happy Halloween!
New Sleeping Lady Extra: Running the Tootsie Frootsie Man
A little advice for the GM in running Pinky, the dh'lann "Tootsie Frootsie" man in Bursang. Inverting the Channeling the Marx Brothers post to let the GM channel her inner Chico.
Channeling the Marx Brothers
Have you ever had a player, or even all your players, sit down at your table with a strong desire to do mischief? They want to insult authority figures, behave inappropriately, and cause as much chaos as possible.
Kind of like a Marx Brothers movie.
Which might be great if you're running a comedy campaign. Or a comedy one-shot adventure. As a GM channel your inner Margaret Dumont, act snooty and outraged, yet never stop the players from making ever bigger fools of everyone.
But what about when you have a more serious campaign in mind? Must the rogue try to steal the crown off the kings head in full view of his guards? Must the pilot flush the starship's sewage over the coronation procession? Can't they just try and get the plot hook from the NPC instead of trying to convince her to marry the party's goat?
Part of what the players are reacting to is they never are supposed to be inappropriate in social situations. Kill the monsters, but always play nice in town.
If you let them have their fun once in a while, they are more likely to treat the rest of the campaign with the seriousness you wish. Well, you can hope.
Example: Ruin the Feast
The characters meet an NPC who will reward them if they agree to ruin the Imperial Feast. The Emperor has sent a young lord to the city state, with instructions to throw a fantastic feast, everyone invited. Free food! Free drink! Surely everyone will think highly of the Emperor after such a feast. (And maybe when the Empire moves to annex the city state, people won't get too worried.)
The party's job is to make the feast fail. Go around the table "What do you do to make people really remember this feast?"
The players will come with all sorts of interesting ideas. If it's not a slam dunk, have them role dice to see how great their idea worked. Fail forward, but if they role bad, they are seen by the young lord's servants.
At this point your trouble makers will be in heaven. "I tell the knight that his lady is sleeping with the young lord." "I hallucinate cockroaches and giant centipedes crawling out of the food, then use my powers to share my hallucination with others." "I'm dressed in my holy robes and I fire my halo up. Then I go behind people and push and kick at them. When they turn, I accuse others to cause fights." "'Poison!' I yell. 'They've poisoned the wine!'" "I animate the roast chickens and have them march up and down the tables. Roast chicken zombies!"
You can bring the scene to a close with guards forcing everyone to leave, people screaming, and the odd tomato getting chucked at the young lord.
Note that this is a visiting lord who is getting the Marx Brothers treatment, not the PC's patron. Factions are great for this. Every faction has it's pompous leaders who are the perfect foils for PCs going wild.
Give the players a moment to laugh, then in a more serious tone open your next scene. If you need to focus the group, go ahead and be transparent. Tell them "This is a more serious scene. The stakes are high and you might not survive if you don't concentrate. Don't worry, if you liked the feast, we'll have similar scenes as the campaign progresses."
The First Sleeping Lady Extra is up.
GMs, head on over to the Sleeping Lady Extra's page and check it out.
Prisoner of Golthnor!
Players, chill. ;)
We're Number Two! :)
I just love this screencap. The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady is the 2nd hottest Cypher System seller right now on DriveThru. And the Sun Below bundle with City on the Edge is the featured product.
OK, enough reveling in my 15 nanoseconds of 2nd place fame, back to work.
The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady Available Now!
The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady adventure for Numenera is available now!
49 page adventure for all tiers, 16 page bestiary, new numenera, dozens of GM Intrusions, and player handouts.
Who is the Sleeping Lady? What's in the numenera mines? What is knock, knock, knocking at the door? Hang onto your minds and bodies, because secrets of Orb Mountain are about to be revealed!
Bundle
The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady is also available as part of The Sun Below Bundle.
PDF Poll Followup: What format is best for you?
The standard format (Wizards of the Coast, Monte Cook Games, Pelgrane Press, ...) is portrait orientation with two columns. IMHO, this is great for print. But what about when viewing on your laptop/tablet/neural implant? [polldaddy poll=9096262]
[polldaddy poll=9096285]
[polldaddy poll=9096290]
Poll: How do you use rpg PDFs?
[polldaddy poll=9087464]
If you use a tablet, laptop, or both, the next poll asks how do you like your rpg material formatted?
Sleeping Lady, In Layout (Spoiler)
Spoiler Alert! GMs Only!
The current status of The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady is "In Layout." What the heck does In Layout mean, anyway? Well, it means this:
Here is the work in progress. If this picture goes there, this text must follow with it. Oops, I inserted some text, and now the picture is on the wrong page. And don't ask about those callouts on the sides of the pages...
One more screen capture:
I enjoy layout, but I'm ready for it to be over. Once I get the PDF download laid out, then I get to re-layout the product for print. Yay!
Just how big of a Sleeping Lady?
First of all, I want to say Dread Unicorn fans are the best fans in the world. Thank you for making this so enjoyable! Today I got some email from a fan in Greece, which is very exciting to me in my townhouse in Bend, Oregon.
Apos wanted to know about The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady. When I told him it's in layout right now, he asked, "How many pages?"
I don't know yet, but it's big. I only poured it into InDesign last night, and with no images and not much formatting, it's 48 pages. The Sun Below: City on the Edge came in at 60 pages once it was laid out. And since City on the Edge had 37k words, and Sleeping Lady has 45k words, I'm pretty darned sure we're looking at a 70ish page book.
But we'll see.
To tide you over, here's a scene by the amazing Justin Wyatt.
Gaming at WorldCon 2015
This year's WorldCon was in Spokane, Washington. Or, as it became know because of the many forest fires blazing in the Northwest, "Smokeane."
WorldCon is where the Hugos were handed out, and the Alfies too. And I did almost spill my coffee on George RR Martin. Best Martin joke: "Why can't George RR Martin tweet?" "He killed off all 140 characters." :)
But what about gaming? There was a healthy gaming contingent, with games running till 11 most nights. The Dungeons and Dragons Adventurers League was out in force. Lots of pickup games. I ran two games myself.
Numenera
On Thursday I ran Numenera as a Monte Cook Games Asset. Makes me sound like a spy! I set out the Numenera play mat from the boxed set, had printed out the pre-gens from Weird Discoveries, put out my Numenera dice, and welcomed five players, four of which had never played Numenera or any Cypher System game.
I ran Inside the Pyramid from Weird Discoveries. Great con game. I had them hunting for a power source to save their home village from the Iron Wind, and find a way out. I think we hit almost every room, and the players quickly got the system. I used a portable whiteboard to sketch out the rooms.
<Spoiler> I did not do a great job selling the "Open the Valve" come on. Next time I'm going to be more subtle. Maybe "Welcome to the pyramid, can I help you?" And whatever they ask for, I'll say "Not a problem. Open that valve for your answer."
I decided it would be fun to have the Living Conduit teleport single characters around the pyramid, and that worked well. Especially when the steel spiders slid down on the jack's head. </Spoiler>
One of the players told me, "I liked a lot of games here, but I've fallen in love with Numenera."
13th Age
On Friday I did an official 13th Age demo with help from Pelgrane Press. They sent me a PDF of the 2015 GenCon adventure "Swords Against Hell." The PreGens included the 13 Icons on the back which made picking Icon Relationships easy. They even sent me cardboard minis for the PCs (which I let my players keep.) Heck, they even sent me a 13th Age Game Master T-shirt that says "Tell me about your One Unique Thing" on the back!
All four players were new to 13th Age. One player picked the Hellsinger class. Those of you who know 13th Age know there is no such class, but it was a simple Barbarian/Bard multiclass that worked great. And not having a shape-shifting druid in my home game, it was fun having one at the demo.
The adventure had a lot of non-combat challenges and a lot of room for the players go wander on a wilderness map I printed out.
They quickly got the Escalation Die and had a string of rolling either 1s or 20s. I had a bunch of dwarven forge plastic imps and Pathfinder pawns for the minis. We had a lively table with plenty of cheering and groaning and cheering again. Everyone told me how much they liked 13th Age.