Beginnings

There are many ways to begin your RPG campaign. Many of these methods draw from other forms of fiction: older and more established forms. There are many tropes that come from movies and books. Sometimes, those work well for RPGs, but not always.

RPGs are their own medium, and borrowing tropes and ideas from other media doesn't always work. The interactive, collaborative nature of RPGs clashes with many of these traditional tropes. You cannot dictate your players' actions (or their characters' actions) once the game has begun, not without their approval and buy-in, anyway. So, any narration or opening action has to take place before the game actually begins. The idea here is that if you want the game to begin with a prison riot, don't start it three days before the riot and expect the players to sit on their hands; start the game as the riot begins.

More than just setting the game up before it begins, you cannot narrate the PCs actions beyond one or two simple ideas. Saying "you arrive in Sunshine City and decide to join the Adventurer's Guild; your guildmaster orders you to join the first mission that comes up" sets out several actions that you decided for someone else's character. That might not be what they feel their character would have done after entering Sunshine City, or even after joining the Adventurer's Guild.

Instead, use ideas like "You're on your first mission for the Adventurer's Guild of Sunshine City." The end result is the same, but now the players have more agency to decide what led to this opening. It lets them explain how they came to be there, rather than you telling them. Not only that, but you can jump immediately into the action (or at least into the player-driven narrative) with less GM exposition up front.

Here are some ideas that take the above concept to an extreme. They will help you, your players, and their characters jump straight into the action of a new adventure.

Beginnings (in media res)

1. At the entrance to the Tomb of Princess Titania, the spirit guardian bids you enter and wishes you good fortune. The map should be reliable, at least the half of it that you have.
2. As the port disappears over the horizon behind you, you find yourself wondering whether the legends of spectral pirates and ravenous sea serpents are true.
3. The masked woman leads you through the destroyed prison wall, back out into the city, which is burning in many places. She says, "The creatures came at sundown, as was foretold."
4. The escape pod hits the ground with a jarring impact amidst the bluish vegetation, and the last emergency distress signal from the orbiting cruiser cuts off with a burst of static.
5. The words of the Queen of the Vernal Court still echo in your mind, "The medusae hunt you; your only refuge is in the Dreamworld."
6. The subway screeches to a halt. "End of the line," tumbles from the crackling speakers. This is by far the worst part of town, but the email definitely said 1:00 am. It also said some other things, things that you'd pay dearly to keep secret.

More High-Tech Weapons

I've got a short post today that's a sequel to this one from February. I had another burst of inspiration for high-tech weapons, and thought I'd share a few more ideas.

More High-Tech Weapons

1. Superheated plasma magna-lance
2. Matter entropy inductor rifle
3. Ambient sonic amplifier
4. Instant transducer cannon with DNA-coded targeting
5. High-cycle energized particle cannon
6. Anti-proton grenade ("p-bar grenade")

Modern Monsters

I'm a fan of the urban fantasy and modern horror genres. That would include (in my book) shows like Supernatural and books like Inner City: Gargoyles. If you're a fan of that kind of work in those genres, today's table is for you. And even if you're not a fan, you can always drop a monster into your modern espionage game for a Halloween session* or tweak it a bit and add it to your fantasy setting.

Spring-Heeled Jack: A leaping legend from suburban London, the spring-heeled jack is so named for his incredible jumping ability. This figure is often described as wearing a dark coat or cloak, or even as having black wings. Some legends give him sharp claws, glowing red eyes, and even the ability to breath fire. Other legends mark him as much more human, saying that (other than his hideous wings) he looked very gentlemanly or that he could speak proper English. In the early twentieth century, spring-heeled jack made the leap from the England to New England as rumors spread of sightings along the north Atlantic coast.

This creature could make an appearance in an urban fantasy campaign as an antagonist who leaps into the second or third stories of homes and terrifies inhabitants before leaping out again. Perhaps it feeds on fear or even simple mischief, since there are few accounts of spring-heeled jack doing anything truly monstrous.

Servant of Sobek: Sobek was a god of fertility, kings, and charms in ancient Egypt, but he still influences the modern world through his servants. Sobek often took the form of a man with a crocodile head, and his servants take the full form of crocodiles. Every year there are sightings of alligators in the sewers of large cities; to the untrained eye, an alligator and a crocodile can look similar, and, indeed alligators are native to North America, where most of the sightings take place. Really, though, these are the servants of Sobek, using the sewers to move from place to place with ease as they go about the tasks set for them by their god.

The servants of Sobek work best in an urban fantasy campaign that features other mythological deities, especially other ancient Egyptian gods. The servants of Sobek follow the mysterious orders of their god, but they occasionally attack a lone human wandering in the utilities system. Rarely, these creatures may even enter a home through the sewage system, if their master so commands it.

Vulpine Spirit: These ghostly foxes are native to North America and are quite different from the kitsune spirits of China and Japan. A common figure among sleepwalkers, lucid dreamers, and those with seemingly prophetic dreams is the appearance of a shadowy foxlike spirit. The vulpine spirits are not violent themselves, but they are frequently a portent of impending danger. Sightings of vulpine spirits are virtually impossible to confirm because those who claim to have seen it are usually dead within a week.

The vulpine spirits fit into urban fantasy campaigns with other ghostly spirits, but they could also make an interesting detour from physical monster hunting. If the vulpine spirits themselves are not dangerous, why do they portend death? Perhaps they are themselves fleeing a more powerful and dangerous devouring spirit, and they appear to dreamers either to plead for help or to offer sacrifices as a distraction to the devouring spirit that chases them.


*Yes, I know I'm writing this in May, but it'll be Halloween once a year, every year, for as long as this site exists.

Positive MacGuffins

How often in modern RPG settings (and in movies and books, for that matter) are the MacGuffins and plot devices weapons of war? And if, by some miracle, they aren't nuclear codes, missile schematics, super-soldier serums, or plain old guns, they're financial algorithms, political blackmail, or computer viruses.

Those can make great plot devices, and but there's no positive follow-up from that. Those nuclear codes and blackmail go back into secrecy, and the guns and algorithms just go to someone else (usually). I call these negative MacGuffins, because their default state is neutral, and they can only become dangerous (negative).

What I want is for the PCs' actions to make a real difference in their world. I want them to recover something that will make the world a better place, and soon. So, I came up with these positive MacGuffins. Their default state is positive, so as soon as they're recovered, they immediately start having a positive impact on the world. A few weeks after the PCs recover these, they'll be hearing about them on the news. And some of these MacGuffins might even be making a difference in the setting by the end of their next adventure.

So, even if these particular plot devices don't strike a chord with you, think about the ways that you can incorporate positive MacGuffins into your own games and let your players make a positive change in the setting.

Positive MacGuffins

1. Voracious grass seed that absorbs a tremendous amount of CO2.
2. Rice packed with a week's worth of vitamins and minerals.
3. Inexpensive soy loaded with compressed proteins that unpack during digestion, providing energy for a couple of days.
4. Water-efficient millet engineered with as much protein and iron as a steak, with a fraction of the calories and cost.
5. A nanoscopic implant that monitors vitals, including white blood cell count and various enzyme levels, and provides immediate feedback in the case of a medical emergency.
6. Fast-growing tree that absorbs potent amounts of heat and produces a thick sap that can be used for biofuel.

Modern Minions

You may recall that I pulled out the Modern Henchman from the mook box about a month ago. That's a great minion for the sort of default supervillain, criminal mastermind, or evil busisnesswoman, but it can certainly become repetitive. And besides repetition, there are plenty of modern villains for whom Uzi-toting suits would make no sense. Furthermore, giving your present-day baddie a more distinct group of underlings makes her stand out more to your players.

In that light, I present a table of various types of modern minions (including a few suggested pieces of gear).

Modern henchmen

1. Teenage street gangsters (wad of $5 bills, cheap revolver, smart phone)
2. Ex-black ops mercenaries (M4 rifle with thermal scope, black Kevlar vest, radio earpiece)
3. Corporate flunkies (TASER, walkie-talkie, security ID badge)
4. Professional bodyguards (handgun, radio earpiece, sunglasses)
5. Foreign hackers (encrypted laptop, fake ID, unencrypted USB loaded with a virus)
6. Semi-professional MMA fighters (brass knuckles, leather jacket, matchbook from local bar)
7. Redneck "good ol' boys" (shotgun, bottle of moonshine, keys to a pick-up truck)
8. Escaped convicts (knife, cheap cell phone, stolen wallet)
9. Rent-a-cop security guards (pepper spray, baton, walkie-talkie)
10. Misguided angry mob (shovels, ropes, brooms)

Random Encounters: Modern Jungle

Today's random encounter tables take us deep into the jungle. Myth and superstition have no place in the modern world, but that doesn't mean that danger can't lurk in the shadows.

Creature

1. Armed revolutionaries
2. Panther on the hunt
3. Zoologic expedition
4. Gigantic constrictor snake
5. A massive swarm of hungry mosquitos
6. A lone nature documentary filmmaker

Environment feature

1. A raging river crashes through a rocky ravine
2. The entrance to an unexplored temple
3. Long, low-hanging vines fill the area
4. A muddy sinkhole
5. Poachers' traps are hidden everywhere
6. The trees are so thick the whole area is drenched in shadow

Surprise

1. Crashing sounds announce the arrival of a massive logging truck
2. Government soldiers arrive in banged-up jeeps
3. Thunder shakes the trees as a hurricane blows in
4. Poison dart frogs start leaping past in huge numbers
5. The keening sound of an injured animal echoes from nearby
6. An American black ops team arrives in a sleek black helicopter

Even More Adventure Sites

I am still enjoying creating adventure sites, small areas ripe for conflict and containing something of value to the PCs. These are generally pretty straightforward locations where the PCs can storm in, kill some obvious bad guys, and make off with the treasure.

If your players are going off the beaten path, shunning your intricately prepared situations and dynamic NPCs in favor of action and black-and-white morality, these adventure sites are for you.

Tombs and Crypts

Hall of the Deepfather (high fantasy)

Location: An old stone pillar indicates the entrance is 2 miles west of the old dwarf road
Areas: The entrance, the hall of tales, the entombment
NPCs: Glower (stone guardian)
Obstacles: Glower lets no one pass the entrance without a tributary poem to the Deepfather, the hall of tales is filled with enchanted tapestries that draw onlookers into a series of dangerous magical reenactments of the Deepfather's dangerous adventures (each with its own obstacles)
Rewards: The Deepfather's Wisdom (an enchanted hammer) lies atop his stone form in the entombment, behind the tale-telling tapestries in the hall of tales are small caches of gems and coins
Hook: A pair travelers standing in the middle of the road are discussing whether or not they have time to visit the Hall of the Deepfather and try to claim its glorious treasure.

The Vault (science fiction)

Location: Orbiting a small, unobtrusive moon in an uninhabited system
Areas: The cryostasis prison chamber, the cryogenerator, the internal monitor station
NPCs: Alteph (ancient guard), Alkrek (ancient criminal)
Obstacles: The Vault's external airlock has complex security (though it is very, very old), the cryogenerator room is venting energy and is deadly cold, Alkrek is an ingenious trickster and a murderer who has escaped his stasis pod since the cryogenerator started malfunctioning
Rewards: Only Alkrek knows where his ancient stash of loot is, the portable power core in the cryogenerator room is intact and valuable
Hook: The Vault has a begun venting energy, giving it a very visible signature on any ship's nav system.

The McIntosh Mausoleum (urban fantasy)

Location: In the new part of the city's largest cemetery
Areas: The outer mausoleum, the burial chamber, the cave
NPCs: The Shadow (magical deal-maker)
Obstacles: Ghouls (the corpses of deceased McIntosh clan members) lurk in the outer mausoleum, a ward against iron and steel separates the outer mausoleum from the burial chamber, the Ravenous One dwells in the dark of the cave (accessed through the burial chamber)
Rewards: The Shadow can basically grant any wish (for a sinister price), the McIntosh ghouls are adorned with jewelry
Hook: A message appears from the Shadow claiming he can solve all of the PCs' woes.

The Sunken Barrow (low fantasy)

Location: In the center of the Willow Marshes

Areas: The stairs, the flooded corridor, the king's tomb, the treasure room
NPCs: Maladwin of Hillhold (wealthy merchant)
Obstacles: The stone stairs are crumbling and may collapse beneath the weight of explorers, the flooded corridor slowly descends into water and is slick, the king's tomb is home to a school of large carnivorous fish
Rewards: The treasure room holds a rotted wooden chest of silver pieces, an unrusted (and still sharp) steel sword is buried with the king himself
Hook: Maladwin of Hillhold is scouring the nearby settlements looking for someone to enter the barrow and recover the treasure she believes it holds, for a cut.

DynaCorp Subbasement* (post-apocalypse)

Location: The ruins of the DynaCorp building are visible for miles.
Areas: The access shaft, the cubefarm, the break room
NPCs: Sze Xian (trapped scavenger)
Obstacles: The access shaft is dangerously prone to collapse, the cubefarm is home to dozens of irradiated zombies
Rewards: Sze Xian (unarmed) is holed up in the break room along with a valuable data disk, several of the zombies carry valuables, a rifle and ammunition lying at the top of the access shaft
Hook: There were reports of screaming from the DynaCorp ruins last night.

*This one is kind of a cheat, but I figured with so many dead ex-DynaCorp employees, it might as well be a tomb in its own right.

Mook Box IV: Modern Henchman

From within the depths of the mook box, we uncover another common enemy: the modern henchman. This encompasses everyone from 1920s gangsters to 1980s corporate goons to near-future dystopic mall security guards.

Modern henchman

D20 System

HP: 20 | Ref: +0 | Fort: +2 | Will: +0
AC: 13 (Flatfooted: 13 | Touch: 10)
Speed: 30 ft.
Submachine gun +1 atk | 2d6 dmg | 30 ft.
- Bullet blast (Ref DC 13 or 3d6 dmg; must reload after use)
Punch +3 atk | 1d6+2 dmg
Powers: call for backup (25% success, summons 1d4+1 modern henchmen)
Skills: listen -2, spot +2
Treasure: wallet containing money (1d4-1 x 100 units of currency), security ID badge, and radio earpiece

Risus

Individual Clichés

Amateur bird-watcher (1), Pupil of the “spray ‘n’ pray” firing methodology (2), Bouncer-turned-henchman (3)

Grunt Squad Cliché

Armed, angry crowd with really bad aim (4)

Wushu

Mooks

Threat Rating: 12

Hits per Round: 1

Nemesis

Chi: 3

Traits: Call for Backup (5), Tough Guy (4), Hail of Bullets (3)

The Window

The modern henchman has…

… average Strength (d12)
… average Agility (d12)
… above average Endurance (d10)
… simple Knowledge (d20)
… experienced Perception (d10)
The modern henchman is…
… not a good shot (d20)
… reliable in a brawl (d10)
… loyal to the big boss (d8)
The modern henchman carries…
… submachine gun and ammo
… security ID badge
… radio earpiece
… cash

Random Encounters V: Urban Fantasy Slums

This is part of my new random encounters series in which I create three tables that you mix and match to create a random encounter for a specific genre in a specific environment. This one is for urban fantasy games, and specifically for the slums of a large city.

Creature

1. A ravenous wolfman (not a werewolf) digging through a trash bin
2. Mischievous fairies disguised as street urchins
3. A hoodoo shaman selling talismans and charms from the shadows
4. A glowing will-o'-the-wisp
5. Three vampire mind slaves armed with baseball bats
6. A djinn bound to a plastic Coke bottle

Environment feature

1. The street lights here flicker on and off during the encounter
2. The pavement is slick with rain and rotting garbage
3. Two ley lines cross here, boosting magical powers
4. Unfinished construction work has left an open pit into the sewers
5. The ground is littered with shattered glass
6. Abandoned cars provide cover

Surprise

1. A car of lizard-skinned gang members does a drive-by
2. A mortal beat cop arrives and demands to know what's going on
3. The creature draws a knife that glows with deadly runes
4. An anti-magic task force descends with spotlights and riot gear
5. A winged devil appears to sell its services to the highest bidder
6. A shadow darkens the area as a dragon begins to circle overhead

One-Line Rewards: Modern Magic II

I've discussed modern magical items before, and in that post I said that one option was to turn ordinary objects magical.  But I also mentioned a second option (which I called the Warehouse 13 method, though it fits the bill for "Beethoven was an alien spy") in which you take famous early-modern people and make the items around them magical.  The examples I gave were Jesse James's gun, Houdini's wand, and John Lennon's glasses.

Today, those are exactly the kind of magic items I'm going to present.  Roll on the table below, add an arcane historian NPC or a neo-templar secret society, have your players create some men and women in black sunglasses, and you're ready to play!

One-Line Rewards

1. Calamity: A battered Winchester rifle that belonged to Calamity Jane. Bullets fired from this gun can kill skinwalkers.
2. Irreversible Watch: A brass pocketwatch worn by Winston Churchill. The owner can go forward in time (but not back) by up to 12 hours.
3. Inkling Pen: A black fountain pen used by Tolkien and Lewis. Spells written with this pen can be invoked by anyone.
4. Scarface Coin: The coin used by actor George Raft in Scarface (1932). Flipping this coin can reverse any just-made decision.
5. Blackstone Wand: A black, white-tipped wand made and used by Harry Blackstone, Sr. The wand can move objects by levitation.
6. The Blessed Bat: A signed baseball bat used by Jackie Robinson. The bat is imbued with runes of banishment and destruction.

High-Tech Weapons

Back in 2012, I played a tabletop game called Mechaton (now called Mobile Frame: Zero).  Mechaton, in short, is a miniatures wargame about mechs, but the mechs are built out of LEGO bricks.  It was the first tabletop wargame I'd ever played, and I was able to merge LEGO into my tabletop gaming.

Aside from the visceral pleasure of building fighting robots with LEGO pieces, the thing I enjoyed most was coming up with descriptions for the various pieces of equipment with which I outfitted my LEGO robots.

It could be the abundance of complex adjectives (I'm an English major), or it could be that I never got into gritty science fiction.  Whatever the cause, phrases like "85mm Anti-Materiel Rifle" and "Broad-Spectrum Frequency Disruptors" really sparked my imagination

I don't usually run sci-fi or modern games, but on the few occasions that I have, working these kind of weapons into the game has given my players the same kind of light in their eyes that I had.

If you're running a sci-fi game, you might find these weapons (a mix of near-future and space opera) interesting for either your players or your NPCs.

High-Tech Weapons

1. Reversible Ion Projector ("Ripper") 2. Collapsible high-carbon-steel sword 3. Pneumatic brass knuckles 4. Laser-channeled plasma pulse rifle 5. Full-auto chain-fed magnum pistols with armor-piercing tracer rounds 6. Compact, heavy-draw crossbow with thermite-tipped bolts 7. Tesla whip 8. Particle-grenade launcher 9. Automatic 12-gage three-barreled shotgun with dragonsbreath slugs 10. High-spectrum contained-projection blade

And if you're running a modern or near-future game, you can still include these kind of weapons without too much discomfort. Just give out one and call it a military prototype. For extra fun, give the project that developed the prototype weapon a cool name.

Secret Military Project Code Name

1. Black Dragon, Mk II 2. Operation FENIX 3. Hyperion project 4. Gupta-Smith device

One-Line Rewards: Modern Magic

Although we don't usually equate modern RPG settings with magic items, there are plenty of examples.  From magical realism to myth-made-real, magical items can make a good reward in modern setting, especially if they exist as standalone relics in an otherwise nonmagical setting.

You could go the route of Warehouse 13: pick items associated with famous and exemplary individuals and give them magical properties.  Maybe Houdini had a magic wand or gloves, perhaps Jesse James had a revolver blessed by a shaman, or it could be that John Lennon's glasses allowed him to see into the spirit world.  If you go that route, I suggest picking people that died violently, mysteriously, or both, and incorporate that into the item's lore.

Or you could go another route, and pick seemingly normal, everyday objects and enchant them to suit your needs and/or wants.  That's what I've done with the list below.

One-Line Rewards

Armored Tee: A black tshirt with an image of a blue shield. The wearer is protected as though wearing a steel cuirass.

Hoodie of Illusion: An unremarkable grey hooded sweatshirt. The wearer is invisible as long as her hands are both in the front pocket.

Bus Pass to Anywhere: A blank paper ticket. The holder can board the Immaterial Express and travel anywhere in 10 minutes.

Illuminati Rifle: A gold and black ‘50s-era sniper rifle. It never misses, but anyone who fires it is destined to be killed by it.

Intelligent Phone: A clunky flip-phone with a brain logo. This phone is sentient, and communicates to its owner via text.

Swiss Army Sword: A red penknife with a white cross inside a white triangle. When the blade is opened, it becomes a steel broadsword.

Company and CEO Names

Names can be a tricky subject. As a game master, world builder, and/or adventure designer, you've probably made your way through a big list of fantasy names already. You've reused, borrowed, and modified names from history, mythology, books, and film.

What's that, you say?  You're running a modern, post-modern, or futuristic game?  And you don't want to just steal names from the real world?  Well, then, have I got a trio of tables for you.

If you're running a modern or futuristic game, your players are much more likely to have dealings with tech and security companies than with any other type of company, at least in my experience.  And your players won't be content to deal with underlings, they'll want to take the actions straight to the top: the CEO.  In that light, here are three tables to help you generate those names on the fly, or to inspire you to create names of your own.

Tech Company Names

1. Dynamic Circuitry Innovations

2. B&W Production (Boards and Wires)

3. Dyson-Calvin Computing

4. ITS (International Technical Solutions)

Security Company Names

1. Secutron Ltd.
2. Uberwatch Security
3. Stack Security Services Inc.
4. Surety Security
5. Vanguard & Co.
6. Castle and Moat Protection Agency

CEO Names

1. Zhang Min

2. Anees Dahm-Rahmani
3. Blythe Bankworth

4. Ruben Rodriguez

5. Maurice Zadeh

6. Carmen Stojkovic

7. Alistair Edgeston

8. Janavi Motirimani

I hope you weren't expecting anything St. Valentine's Day themed today.

Mook Box I

Merriam-Webster defines a mook as a "foolish, insignificant, or contemptible person."

I define a mook as an enemy that serves as a buffer between the PCs and the antagonist they care about.

Call them minions, henchmen, cannon fodder.  Whatever you call them, any action game needs them.  Since I myself run through them so often, I decided to create a stock box of mooks that I could pull from, no matter what system I was running.

I've only set up four systems to start, but it's not like I'm generally running a dozen different game systems at the same time, anyway.

Ninja

d20 System

HP: 14 | Ref: +5 | Fort: -1 | Will: +1
AC: 15 (Flatfooted: 12 | Touch: 13)
Speed: 30 ft. (Climb: 15 ft.)
Wakizashi +5 atk | 1d6+1 dmg | 19-20x2
- Deathvine sap poison (injury, 1d10+1 dmg vs. Fort DC 13)
Throwing stars +2/+2 atk | 1d4+1 dmg | 15 ft.
Powers: Smoke pellet (50% conceal for 1 round)
Skills: hide +4, move silently +6, jump +6, balance +4, tumble +6
Treasure: 1d6 pp, 1 dose of deathvine sap poison, and an assassin’s contract

Risus

Individual Cliches: Bouncy-trouncy acrobatics (3), LOVES throwing poison shuriken (3)

Grunt Squad: Ineffective team which attacks one by one (2)

Wushu Open

Threat Rating: 20
Hits per Round: 1

As a Nemesis
Chi: 2
Trait: Shadowy Assassin (4), Acrobatic Thief (5), Wire-Fu Warrior (3)

The Window

Ninja has…
… average Strength (d12)
… impressive Agility (d8)
… below average Health (d20)
… average Knowledge (d12)
… above average Perception (d10)
Ninja is…
… very stealthy (d8)
… a deadly assassin (d10)
… unnerving in conversation (d20)
Ninja carries…
… a wakizashi
… many shuriken
… deathvine sap poison
… a contract