Saturday, December 27, 2014

Actual Play: Catthulhu Dark



Well, this is kind of a subversion. A few Actual Plays ago I posted a game where Scott and I derailed The Fall Without End, run by my good friend @mousekins (Susan). Now I'm posting the results of my very own first-ever GMing rage-quit, where I got fed up with players acting like setting-breaking jerks and stopped talking. The game I quit was a Cthulhu Dark, and players kept trying to push each other into the cold atlantic waters of go-fuck-yourself, Ireland.

Then I collected myself, took a deep breath, and ran a Catthulhu Dark completely off the cuff.

I don't remember things ending prematurely in that one, so there's that for a win I suppose.

There's probably a lesson here for me. That I should be more flexible towards my players' idiosyncrasies or something. Fuck that. If my players are going to break the flow of the game by trying to beat each other up, they can play Super Mario 3D World.

Instead, the lesson you should all take from this Actual Play is that if your players are acting like children with ADHD, stop the game you're running, and run Cattthulhu Dark, and fucking bombard them with shiny shit to run after.

*drops mic*

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Actual Play: IKRPG Fools Rush In (Quick-Start Scenario)



Golly Gee Willikers folks it's been a Holy Guacamole Batman long time since I've posted anything to this fucking this. It's also Christmas Eve, and knowing that, I suppose it means I should be a little less selfish and actually blog or something, instead of going to Albertsons and picking up a handle of Bailey's Irish Cream and getting really lactose-intolerant drunk.

Also, I'm lactose intolerant. I'll never drink Bailey's Irish Cream again. Holy shit, this has been a weird year.

IN ANY CASE.

Hey everyone, how's it going? I swear to god I've actually been gaming these past two months; I've even been recording shit, but I've fallen under the sway of a Wii U...and Hyrule Warriors. And Smash Bros.

Dear god I keep getting sidetracked. What was I here to talk about? Oh yeah, Actual Play. Iron Kingdoms RPG. New Thursday group. Etc, etc.

Well, long story short, we were introducing some new players to the system/setting of IKRPG, and like a jolly green dumbass I decided to run Fools Rush In instead of making my own intro game like a person who doesn't have brain damage or chronic laziness would do. Either that or I just wanted to run a game that featured all the characters from Murder in Corvis.

Did I mention that I've been reading IKRPG supplemental novellas pretty much non-stop since Thanksgiving? It's probably kind of a big deal. Probably. Anyway- those are another blog post's problem.

So, Fools Rush In...it's not a terrible module. As I mentioned in my podcast this week, introductory scenarios are tasked with the problem of introducing potential novice players to new settings, new mechanics, and new methods of storytelling, so it's understandable if the balance is a little bit off. Unfortunately for Fools Rush In, it's super way off in favor of combat, to the detriment of off-the-cuff roleplaying whatsoever. We're talking railroading. We're talking static plot. And honestly, that's perfectly fine for an intro game. I guess I'm just picky when it comes to new stuff. The players in question seemed to have a blast, even if that last combat turned into what was probably an hour-long slog. So much grind...

Either way, I'm hoping that that last drag-out fight didn't sour the players on the setting, because my other group had a lot of fun roleplaying in Western Immoren, especially with a great GM like @mousekins at the helm.

I think I've rambled on long enough, so here's the game:

Iron Kingdoms RPG - Fools Rush In

GM - David Schimpff

Players - Scott, Aidan, Shane, Russell.

Enjoy!