C-U Run Club '07 Update

Looks like Stuart, Dave, Kathleen, and Doug have expressed some interest in the Run Club concept. So I went ahead and started a group blog for coordinating our activities. I'm emailing invites to everyone I've got an addy for. Kathleen, if you could send me an email to jrients at the gmail to the dot com, I can get you an invite.

Since the idea was for the group to have four to six members, we theoretically have room for one more participant.

Don't forget...

Today is National Throw the Fuckers* Out Day! Vote early! If you live in the greater Chicago area, don't forget to vote often!

Also, stock up on liquor. If the election is stolen (*cough*again*cough*) I recommend that we all booze up and riot.

Funnily enough, I voted for more Republicans than ever this year. But that's only because state politics in Illinois are so utterly corrupt that I can't bring myself to vote for some incumbents no matter what their party affiliation. Also, the two local candidates I selected based solely on actual qualifications happen to be Repubs. Crazy, I know.

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*The word choice here was actually a source of some consideration. "Bums" is traditional, but didn't seem strong enough. I considered "bastards", but since I'm adopted and the probability that I was born a bastard is absurdly high, I don't usually go with that one unless I'm being ironic. "Fuckers" was my third choice. As I type this I'm thinking maybe I should have gone with "assholes". I dunno.

On scapegoating the munchkins.

When folks criticize an rpg system it sometimes happens that a fan of the game will reply "That would only be trouble if you're playing with munchkins." There are two implications at work here that everyone needs to understand. First, the guy who brought up the munchkin defense is implying that the critic is or plays with some sort of abusive player. The defender of the system might as well be saying "Oh, my group NEVER has that problem, because we're such superior players. Unlike you and your posse." Blaming mechanical flaws on the people playing the game won't make the game better and it sure as hell won't make you any friends.

But there's a deeper issue at work here as well. The designer very often should be catching some heck for rules that are easily abused. In the real world there is often little difference between a hardcore munchkin and a player who intelligently maximizes his interaction with the rules for optimal performance. The primary thing that distinguishes the two is that the latter understands that the game has a gentlemen's agreement in play, some sort of unstated code like "You the players won't bend the system until it breaks and I the DM will play fair." The munchkin either fails to recognize or doesn't understand that unstated code. And the usual reason for this disconnect is precisely because the gentlemen's agreement is all-too-often taken as a given. Don't leave the agreement unstated. Some people can't pick up on the subtle cues necessary to grok the existence of a gentlemen's agreement.

C-U Run Club '07?

I got this from Treasure Tables (thanks, Martin!). Last month on ars luddi Ben Robbins blogged about a concept he calls Run Club. I've been talking about something similar on and off for years now, a round robin series of one-shots with rotating GMs. Veteran GMs would get to play (a rarity for some) and have the freedom to bust out something experimental. Novice GMs would get to a chance to run something in a friendly, open environment and would get the push of being required to run something. The maniacal Dave Hoover was interested in this idea last time I brought it up and coeli has mentioned getting together for another one-shot like the Blue Rose test run we did a while back. Now, I don't have room on my schedule for even another monthly game right now, but do y'all think we could plan a quarterly or every other month thing and make it work?

So let me out line my proposal in full: The Run Club would be composed of four to six people, all of whom are committed to GMing at least once in '07. We meet either every other month or every third month. No part of a meeting is spent in character generation. Each GM either pregenerates characters or provides detailed chargen instructions or otherwise works out characters ahead of time. GMs have sole discretion when picking their game, but are advised that the point of the exercise is not to test folks' comfort zones. (e.g. If you want to run FATAL to try out the basic engine that might work, but I ain't rolling on any Wandering Rape Charts or anything like that.) I'd be happy to host all the meetings, but if someone else wanted to take a turn playing host that would be okay too. The commitment to participate would be for the year 2007 and we'd schedule enough meetings so that everyone would run at least once. A groupblog or yahoo group or somesuch would be used to coordinate the club and for general discussion of the games.

Any takers? Anything I'm missing?

Summon George

Here's one of my favorite Arduin passages.

It seems a lot of people like Power Swords, Force Blades, Energy Sabres, Monomolecular Filament Edged Swords and the like. Well, I guess I am as guilty as anyone else on this account, because a couple of years ago I gave out a Sword that had an edge of Mu Mesons which cut across the magnetic lines of force that bind atoms together. George, the character that received the damn thing, then went on his nonchalant way, wreaking utter havoc wherever he went, on friends as well as foes. One DM after another saw his most cherished Ugly blown away without even a faretheewell! And more than one friend was sliced neatly in two as George's sword lopped off the attacking ugly's arm and his arm/sword continued around its arc right through anyone standing near him! It got to be so that nearly no DM or player in the area wanted to see George headed his way. It was obviously not a good situation, but as it turned out one of my fellow DMs had the answer. George was sent on a terrible quest by his patron god: he must fight his way down thirteen Levels to the very bottom of a dread and feared dungeon. If he survived, he would be enlisted into the ranks of demigods that surround all the more mighty of the gods, and if he failed , well, that would be that. To everyone's surprise, George succeeded and is now among the rank of the demigods. There are also a couple of scrolls that Summon George and the possessors of them are rightly feared by all! George is happy, the DMs are happy, and I think I learned my lesson. Now where'd I put my light saber...?

--Dave Hargrave's Welcome to Skull Tower: The Arduin Grimoire vol. II (1978)

Indiana Zombie Rampage!

Firsthand report of the midwest undead uprising!

Linky courtesy the good Doctor Rotwang!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... QUEEN!

Princes of the Universe

Here we are, born to be kings
We're the princes of the universe
Here we belong, fighting to survive
In a world with the darkest powers

Hey...
And here we are
We're the princes of the universe
Here we belong, fighting for survival
We've come to be the rulers of your world

Oh!
I am immortal
I have inside me blood of kings (Yeah, yeah!)
I have no rival
No man can be my equal
Take me to the future of new earth

Born to be kings, princes of the universe
Fighting and free, got your world in my hand
I'm here for your love and I'll make my stand
We were born to be princes of the universe
No man could understand
My power is in my own hand

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
People talk about you
People say you've had your day
I'm a man that will go far
Fly the moon and reach for the stars
With my sword and head held high
Got to pass the test first time, yeah
I know that people talk about me
I hear it every day
But I can prove them wrong 'cause I'm right first time
Yeah yeah

Alright, let's go, let's go
Haha!
Yeh...watch this man fly
Bring on the girls
C'mon C'mon C'mon!

Here we are (here we are)
Born to be kings, we're princes of the universe
Here will we belong

Born to be kings, princes of the universe
Fighting and free, got your world in my hand
I'm here for your love and I'll make my stand
We were born to be princes of the universe