What I want my son to learn by playing D&D

I recently started playing BECMI Dungeons & Dragons with my 11-year-old son. I'm trying to give him the whole “Redbox” experience—searching room after room by torch-light, mapping as you go, listening for skeletons and goblins. I want Bargle to piss him off as much as he did me.

Perhaps more importantly, there are several life lessons I want the boy to learn through D&D.

Math!

This is the obvious one, but it's still true. I'm no calculus whiz, but nothing taught me to add and subtract columns of number quickly and accurately like shopping for equipment for my D&D characters. That's not even touching on the math and geometry required for combat and miniatures movement.

Be a Gracious Winner and a Good Loser

Sportsmanship is a difficult lesson to learn these days. We live in a poor section of town, so there's not much in the way of organized sports, nor does his school offer much. And let's face it, I'm a D&D nerd, I'm not big on sports anyway. But even when I was a kid, I had Sports Billy, Fat Albert, and other shows to teach me about good sportsmanship.

No so much any more. I've heard the banter on Xbox live. I've been on Ventrillo on failed raids in WoW. Sportsmanship, grace, and humility are rare traits.

So, I'm hoping to teach the boy those qualities through D&D. When you succeed, good job! You should be proud, but don't brag (unless, you know, you're roleplaying a braggart, but one thing at a time, okay?). Pride leads to hubris, which leads to failure. And when you DO fail, you get up and try again. Don't brood, don't sulk, don't get angry. It's a game. Your elf was eaten by an ochre jelly? Roll up a dwarf and try again. The fun in in the playing.

Fun is independent of Success or Failure

This goes along with the above lesson. It doesn't matter if you saved the princess and slew the minotaur, or if your party got wiped out by the first batch of kobolds. What matters is that you had fun. More often than not, massive failures make for better stories than victories. This is the “Call of Cthulhu Corollary.”

The Impermanence of Things

This is the “Rust Monster Rule.” Nothing lasts forever. Sometimes you're going to loose things you love. You have to learn to let go of material things. Sure that +5 Vorpal Sword is nice, but one magical armadillo can destroy it forever in six rounds. You gotta just let it go.

Experience is The Most Important Thing

Sure, gold is nice, but when it comes right down to it, it's the experience and the things you learn that let you grow as a person.

The Rumor Mill -- Using rumors to develop new PCs.

I've recently started playing a retro-clone game called “Adventurer Conqueror King” from Autarch. It's a great new take on old-style D&D, and I'll review it more in-depth later. Right now I want to share something I did in our first session as an example of what you can do to quickly build depth into new characters, only five-minutes into the game.

So we've got a shiny new group of adventurers. They area all currently live and work in the same geographic location (in this instance, a small town) and, if not friends, they have at least heard of each other. I take all the PC names and write them on slips of paper. I shuffle the names up and pass them pack to the players. I have the players look at the names but don't show anyone else. Any player who get's the name of his own PC should swap with the player next to him until everyone has the name of a PC that isn't theirs.

Now we go around the table. I look to Destiny's player.

GM: “Whose name do you have Destiny?”

Destiny's player: “Valmar's”

Valmar is a Neutral Human Mage.

GM: “Tell me a rumor that everyone has heard about Valmar.”

Destiny smiles; Valmar looks nervous.

Destiny: “Back when he was a teenager, Valmar killed his uncle with black magic.”

Now this rumor is established! People have heard this rumor, it exists, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. But, we turn to Valmar's player.

GM: “Valmar, is this rumor true? And if not, what's the true story?”

Valmar (lighting up): “I DID kill my uncle with magic, but what nobody knows is that he was killed then resurrected by an evil necromancer. He was a zombie when I blasted him!”

Excellent! Now, not only do we know a bit more about Valmar's past, we have an idea about what the community thinks about him, plus we have the seeds for a new NPC, an evil Necromancer with ties to Valmar's family.

I reward both players. Destiny gets 250xp for creating the rumor. Valmar gets 250 for accepting and/or clarifying the rumor. If they were higher level, I'd give them more XP. If we were playing QAGS, I'd give them Yum Yums. If FATE, Fate Chips. Reward your players in whatever currency works best for your game.

We continue around the table this way. Eventually every player should be rewarded twice. Once for creating a rumor, and once again for clarifying a rumor about their own character.

This worked great for my group, and within 5 minutes, before the game had even started, we had personality quirks and vague background stories already established for a fresh batch of PCs.

Give this technique a try with your own groups and let me know how it works!

Themysciran Heritage for the Smallville RPG

My game group has been quite enjoying the Smallville RPG from Margaret Weis Productions. After a couple sessions, my wife has become enamored of the idea of playing a Themysciran. Themyscira, of course, is the native home of Wonder Woman. I like the idea, too, so I banged out a new Heritage Distinction. Give it a look-see!

Themysciran Heritage

Themyscira (also known as Paradise Island) is an island nation in the Mediterranean Sea. Its all-female population is descended from the Greek gods and are known in legend as the Amazons. Thousands of years ago, the Amazons grew tired of the corrupt and warlike nature of “Man's World” and hid their nation with powerful magics and weird science. After centuries of isolation, Themyscira has recently begun to send emissaries to the outside world, curious to discover if the world is ready for Amazonian enlightenment. Divine ancestry and specialized training have given Themyscirans powers that rival Kryptonians and Martians, but they lose their powers if tied up or otherwise bound.

d4: Earn a Plot Point whenever you Choose to show open disdain for or ignorance of “Man's World.”

d8: Add a d6 to the Trouble pool to use a Special Effect from a connected ability you do not have.

d12: Spend a Plot Point to increase your Insecure or Injured Stress pool.

Connected Abilities: Flight, Regeneration, Super Senses, Super Speed, Super Strength

Limits: Binding

"New and Magic land" -- an RPG about pioneers

I started this RPG last year, then forgot about it. The 500 Word RPG Challenge last week reminded me of it, and I decided to dig it out again. I spent the day polishing it up. It's not done yet, but this document covers all the mechanics pretty well and should be more than sufficient for playtesting. Check it out, and tell me what you think!

PDF at Google

New and Magic Land

By Joshua LH Burnett (c) 2011

New and Magic Land is a story game that follows the lives of a group of settlers as they struggle to survive their first year in the frontier. By default, the game is set in the American frontier sometime in the 19^th century, but there is no reason the game cannot be set in a different time and place. The settlers could be exiled elves trying to eke out an existence in the orcish wastelands, star-faring colonists terraforming a savage new planet, or any other setting where a small group must carve out an existence in hostile territory.

One player will serve as the Gamemaster (GM), and the other players take on the rolls of settlers. The PCs are not the only settlers in the story. There are numerous other settlers with them. Some NPC will form important relationships with the PCs, others will remain nameless extras. The PCs, however, are the most narratively “important” settlers in the group. They are the stars of the show.

Lemurian Commission

Behold!  A dangerous Lemurian warrior complete with armor and sonic pole-arm!
Commissioned for Thunderstep's gonzo steampunk campaign.
Fun commission. I liked how the colors turned out on this one. Enjoy!

Molemen & Missives (a 500 word RPG)

Ryan Macklin recently set a  "Flash Game Design Friday" challenge. To quote:

I’m going to give you three mechanical ingredients. You use at least two:

• Two dice that you don’t add together
• A single token that sometimes is and sometimes isn’t on your character sheet/possessed by the player
• a countdown mechanic (whatever the hell that means)

Write a game that takes 500 words or less to explain, which should include a hint of setting.

I chose the first two ingredients and took some inspiration from More Information than You Require to create... 

Molemen & Missives

By Joshua LH Burnett

with apologies to John Hodgman

You are a Moleman, a disgusting yet refined denizen of the Deep Down Dark. You have sharp claws and teeth, acidic saliva, and luminescent mucus. You also have a great love of social philosophy, powdered wigs, and pantaloons. You are part of a committee dedicated to solving problems affecting your hideous community.

The Mole Master

This is what we call the GM in this game, just because.

The Making of a Moleman

Give yourself a Name. Typical Molemanic names include Theopolis, Henrietta, and Hsss'kkk'thiix.

Write down your Vocation, which is your job in the community. Examples include: Fungus Wrangler, Mucus Sculptor, or Grub Knight.

Take 10 points and divide them between the four core Values of the Molemen.

Industry for tasks that involve creation or hard labor.

Learnedness for tasks that requires education or study.

Vigilance for tasks that involve forethought or the defense of your community.

Refinement for tasks that require charisma or style.

You have a Resolve score equal to the sum of your two highest Values. You lose Resolve when you lose Debates. Resolve refreshes at the beginning of each game.

The Wig

Molemen love to talk. Within a committee, it would be quite easy for each Moleman to to try to talk over his fellows, and nothing would get done. Hence, the Wig. Each committee has one wig. Only the Moleman wearing the wig may talk. Once he was spoken, he must give the wig to another committee member. It is considered rude to ask for the wig next instead of patiently waiting your turn. Wigless Molemen can still communicate through sign language or charades, but this is considered gauche. Written communication in the form of long, passionate missives, letters, and pamphlets are quite acceptable and actively encouraged!

Debates

Molemen characters are free to do whatever they want until someone tells them they can't. When there's a conflict of interests between two parties, we got ourselves a Debate. Resolve debates as such:

1) Set the stakes.

2) Each side describes what they are doing and gathers a number of d10 equal to the relevant Value.

3) If the opposing side is the Molemaster, he will chose 1d10 to 7d10, depending upon the difficulty.

4) Roll!

5) If you have multiples of the same number, add 1 to the result for each extra die. (If you rolled three 6s, your result would be 8.)

6) If your action involved your Vocation, you can gather some of your dice and reroll them once.

7) The highest result wins!

8) The defeated side loses a point of Resolve, plus 1 more for each multiple the opposition rolled.

9) A Moleman with 0 resolve is out of the game. He's too dejected, depressed, or devoured to continue.

10) Other Committee members can help you in debates. They describe how they are helping you and add 1d10 to your pool. If you lose, your helpers lose resolve too!

I've also made a swanky PDF of the game!

The Tale of Gencon 2011 -- Part the Second

My morning game is “Leopard Women of Venus.” You may have heard me mention this game once or twice or thirty times in the past. I have six players, seven pre-gen characters, and no one chose to play the eponymous Leopard Woman. This isn't a problem, but it is surprising. Come to think of it, this might have been the game that Revmindi played in. It's all kind of a blur. Anyway, that game went off pretty smooth, too, and included an awesome off-screen battle between a brigade of Leopard Women and a Lovecraftian Cthonic Thing. All this time, I am also hearing amazing things happen over at Steve's “All Stars” game and Ian's “Happilyeverafter” table.

It's now 2PM and Leighton “Laser Ponies” Connor frantically bustles into the con, just in time to run his “Mythic Action League” game. I wanted to sit in on his game, but he's got a full table and a limited number of pregens, so I decide to leave him to it. Instead I go tot he dealers' room. I've got several hours to kill and it's one of the few times I'll be able to go by myself and not worry about boring people as I narrowly scrutinize obscure indie-games.

I already picked up Cosmic Patrol on Thursday for Blindgeek. Today I'm determined to look at The One Ring, the new Lord of the Rings RPG from Cubicle 7. I wasn't sure of this was the game for me, but after talking to the designer for about 15 or 20 minutes, I gladly shell out the 60 bucks for the beautiful slipcased set. If I get up the gumption, I'll write a full review of the game later. I also ventured over tot he Indie Press Revolution booth. After dithering on whether or not to pick up Dungeon World (an Apocalypse World hack for elf & dwarf fantasy) I pick up the Fiasco companion instead. The guy at the IPR booth was also kind enough to direct me to the “Games on Demand” room where they're running a lot of indie games. That's my next stop.

The Games on Demand room is alllllll the way on the other side of the con in Union Station, but I have time, so I make the march. It turns out the Games on Demand area isn't as “on demand” as I imagined. In my head, I pictured a bug room where occasionally someone would stand up on a table and shout “Hey, who wants to play Dogs in the Vineyard over here?” No, in fact the room is quite organized, with scheduled slots and a rotating roster of games. All the tables are full and nothings starting for another 90 minutes or so. Oh well. I return to the JW Marriot and the Hex Games room where I plop down and browse The One Ring until 7 o'clock.

At 7, Steve, Leighton, and I have a three hour block of seminars to run. Our first is “Sword & Sorcery: You're Doing it Wrong,” which was well attended. I feel like I contributed to it well, even if I inadvertantly shilled a few non-Hex games. This marketing thing isn't a strong suit for me. Anyway, it was a fun panel and I think we did well to demonstrate the Sword & Sorcery beats the shit out of wimpy little High Fantasy. After that was “Unconventional Characters, Unconventional Worlds,” which was also a packed room. I don't remember a lot about this seminar, and I don't thikn I had much to contribute other than pointing out that “a human Fighter with a longsword and medium shield is actually pretty unconventional these days.” Our last seminar was “Hobos: the New Pirates?” where we hook up once more with Ian. I went in thinking I didn't know a lot about hobos, but apparently I've picked up a lot by osmosis. The last half-hour was pretty much a solid pitch session for Hobomancer. I can confidently say that magical hobos saving the soul of America is a concept that people can get behind!

Also, I have repeatedly made fun of Leighton for using the world “zeitgeist” in the seminars. It's a fine word, but I think he uses it more than is tasteful.

After the seminars, we're all delirious with hunger, so we retire to Denny's then back to the hotel room. As is custom, our conversation devolves into the “late-night bantering of stupid ideas that turn out to be awesome.” It was Laser Ponies in the past. This time it's Jesus Hobo Christ. Imagine an alternate history where the Roman Empire invents steam power and hooks up the empire with rail roads. Jesus and pals are hobos, traveling the rails, helping people and fighting evil. A greta idea, and Jesus comes out of it looking pretty good. Win!

Saturday morning comes pretty quickly. We load up on breakfast then jam back to town for our 10 AM games. I sit in on Leighton's Hobomancer game (“The Man Who Hated Freedom”). I'm the ringer, since he has nothing prepared and needs me to bounce ideas off of. It's also “SLU Saturday” and Rob is running three Sex, Lies & Ultrapsies games today. I can only assume that he's crazy. At noon, Mark runs “QAGS in a Bag,” his signature game. I talked to some of Mark's players later that day, and they had a blast. Mark says it was the best QAGS game he'd ever run.

My Hobomancer game starts at 2 PM, and I'm excited. I've never run Hobomancer before, and I think I have a great adventure planned. Most of the players at my table are all people who played in Ian's games this weekend, and they seem like great players. I am not disappointed. They all have solid character ideas, they riff off each other with great skill, and the game goes off without a hitch. There's a train-tunnel to Hell, an evil hoodoo man, a magic marker with cartoon powers, a song-and-dance number, and a couple large explosions. Huzzah!

It's now time for dinner, and the Hex Crew heads off tot he Ram brewery. I guzzle a 24 ounce mug of Ragnar's Fury on an empty stomach. This may have been a bad idea. I fill that stomach with a wonderful swiss & shroom burger and another 24 oz beer—Black Pirate Ghost Ale or somesuch. This puts me in a pretty good mood to go to the Gamers Media Meet & Greet.

I've been looking forward to the Meet & Greet all weekend, a get together for RPG bloggers and podcasters. The event is held at “The House” a bar in the basement of Union Station. More beer for Josh. This might be a bad idea.

It's actually not as bad as that. I get a bit happy, but just enough to overcome my normally crippling shyness (it's not like Archon!). I get a chance to chat with Thunderstep, another fan of Monkeys Took My Jetpack and QAGS. We kibitzed about games and Warcraft for a good long tim e befor ehe needs to skip off to another event. Good guy. I also got to talk to one of Leightons “Mythic League” players who happens to be a puppeteer. Everyone knows I love puppets. I also-also finally get to meet Mark Kinney and the rest of the “All Games Considered” cast. Our podcasts only have one degree of seperation, and it was neat to finally be able to meet and talk to them in person. I also spend some time chatting with the guys from the Undergopher podcast. They played in Mark's QAGS in a Bag game and confirm that yes, indeed, the adventure was awesome. Big fun all around! I head out after a couple of hours and hook back up with the Hex Gang.

Sunday morning comes, and it's my last day at Gencon. Mark Kinney and I had decided to try and get a morning Fiasco game together, but outrageous fortune conspired against these plans and the game falls through. Still, I get a chance to talk with Mark some more ina quieter setting, and that's pretty cool.

My voice is pretty shot at this time, so sitting in on any other QAGS games is pretty much out of the question (might be just as well that Fiasco tanked). Steve is running “Six Gun Seven” and Leighton is running “Leopard Women.” It looks like both of them are going off quite well. Instead, I make one finally walk-thru of the Dealers' room where I find a just-released leela action figure (Doctor Who, not Futurama), a copy of Scott McCloud's “Creating Comics,” and a box of gorilla miniatures wearing battle armor.

And this, my Gencon ends. I eventually meet up with the guys I drove up with and get ready to leave. Hopefully I can get together with the rest of the Hexers pretty soon, either for Hexcon or Archon. I need to hang out with them more.

PARTING REMARKS...

Game wise, Gencon wasn't really lot different for me than Origins. But I got more networking done, and Gencon is certainly the wiser business choice.

All the Hex games were held in room 207 of the JW Marriott. I barely left this room for most of the con.

Because all our games were so physically close to each other, and because QAGS gamers are a notoriously noisy breed, recording any of my games was out of the question.

Raising Gencon money by doing character sketch commissions was a great idea. Thanks again to all that helped!

I will certainly be at Gencon next year!