Archive for September, 2009

Adventure: A Light in the Heart; Part 1

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart”
- Kahlil Gibran

In a rural area on the bank of the Auric River, lies the small, fishing village of Wildenbank. The Auric River is a calm body of water that twists and turns, then pours over a waterfall and fills the Greemire with its yellow, brown water. The Auric River is shallow and limits what boats can travel it, and Wildenbank gets few, if any, merchants. The fishermen of the village regularly travel upstream to Alddowns Keep, where they trade their fish and whatever wares the people of Wildenbank create. Little of importance happens here. It is a small, calm village where the people live their daily lives, untroubled by the woes of the outside world.

While Wildenbank sounds rather dull, it is in a very vibrant village. Each week, the surrounding farmers bring what they couldn’t transport upriver to sell and share in the town square. The market day is a popular event characterized by music, drinking, boys trying to impress the village girls in games of skill, and general celebration. Even in the winter months, the townspeople make an effort to gather for warm company and good food. The village’s annual festivals are an amplified version of the market day, filled with bright banners and vivacious celebration. The people of Wildenbank live a happy and simple life.

Down the river, in a cave under the waterfall lives a troll named Hor’ug. Hor’ug is a brutal and ugly beast who gathers fish, muck and animal carcasses to feed upon. He lives a solitary life and avoids contact with all living beings, especially other trolls. He often wanders to the edge of the village where he watches the “sweat meat’s” celebrations with jealousy and ire. There are times when his rage boils up in him, and the townspeople hear roars in the night.

The only thing which soothes this savage is the sight of Anna, the prettiest girl in the village. She is sought as the prize wife by all the young men, even the mayor’s son. When Hor’ug sees her, his rage changes to a smooth forest pond that even a raging wind could not disturb. At times when his rage is quelled, he sings strange and beautiful songs, which trolls never do. On some nights, Anna sits up enraptured by the serenade and unaware of the monster who sings those songs, thinking it is one of the village boys. In the morning, she wakes to meadow flowers on her window sill.

Some nights, the farmers see a forms moving in the forest and find an animal slaughtered and gutted the next day. The hunters find tracks in the woods, and feel burning eyes watching. The fisherman talk of large, dark shapes moving under the water, and curse the bad luck of their cut nets and how long it will take to mend them. The mayor and the town council worry about the roams the forest, and station watches when they hear the howls in the night. Wilhelm, an old man who wandered the world for a while with blade and shield, speaks of monsters, but the town writes him off as a little unbalanced even though they all know it to be the truth.

Deep in the Greenmire, lies something ancient and dark. Something made of shadow and fury. It whispers to the lizardmen who live there and stokes their savagery. It calls on them to worship, and they respond with blood and sacrifice. It is trapped there against its will, and rages against its bonds. Through its influence, the lizardmen have pushed further and further out of the Greenmire onto the banks of the Auric River, and it has set its eye on Wildenbank.

Posted in Adventures & Writing | No Comments »

Reflecting Group Morale in Military RPG’s

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Talking with active military personnel and veterans, something that I constantly hear is how much unit morale can effect the battlefield performance of combat troops. Many games regularly wander into the realm of military operations, whether it is a collection of adventurers or cybernetic special forces. Very few games actually attempt to model the effects of morale though. I suspect many people avoid it because “loosing your shit” in battle isn’t really fun, and there is that feeling of screwing your team’s morale. In a good military game, the drama comes not from the action of the combat, but how the characters respond to, and deal with the trauma of combat.

Little things make a difference to soldiers: fresh food, a phone call home, etc. Big things make a difference too, and all of those things should be reflected to create a mechanical reward for trying to effect unit morale, and to remind players the cost of actions that hinder the group. What I propose is a system that does just this.

The original idea comes from running Heavy Gear, which is a die pool system, but I think it could easily be adapted to all sorts of systems. In Heavy Gear, Psyche represents a character’s outlook on life and their general attitude. A low Psyche represents someone that is generally negative, while a positive Psyche represents someone with a positive outlook on life. At the start of the game, players put a number of dice into the Morale Pool equal to their Psyche. So, players with a positive Psyche add dice to the Morale Pool, players with a zero Psyche at none, and a player with a negative Psyche removes dice from the Morale Pool.

During play, things that improves morale, such as trading your favorite MRE with your buddy, carrying your buddy’s pack, drawing sniper fire for your teammates, playing with local kids during downtime, R&R, and similar activities add a die to the Morale Pool. If a player does something selfish that counters unit morale, the GM removes dice from the pool. Things which negatively effect morale include refusing a direct order, hording a sought after item (i.e. food, cigarettes, etc.), stealing, cowardice, and similar actions subtract a die from the Morale Pool.

Throughout the game, players may draw from the Morale Pool to improve rolls. With Heavy Gear as an example, a player might need to make sure he hits that enemy, so the player can take any number of dice from the Morale Pool to improve their roll. This mechanic could easily be adjusted for other systems. In D&D, for example, the players would put a number of colored beads into the Morale Pool equal to their Charisma modifier. Each point spent from the Morale pool could provide a +2 bonus to the next roll. Obviously, this system could be subtlety modified to reflect the mechanics of the system.

Tags: ,
Posted in Game Mechanics | No Comments »