Introduction: new RPG group playing INTO THE ODD
Introduction:
This virus pandemic has proved to be a major game-blocker. My usual weekly sessions of DCC-RPG at the friendly local game store have been seriously disrupted. We've played a few sessions online using Roll20, but I find it less than ideal. In particular, Roll20 tends to accentuate the very things that I find least enjoyable in RPGs, such as tabletop maps/minis, measuring distance and positioning, complex initiative, many combat rounds, etc. The voice-only interface also encourages player distraction which hampers immersion all around. It's better than nothing, but still fails to satisfy.
I had the idea to start up a new online RPG group, using live video conferencing without a virtual tabletop. I invited 7 friends to play, of varying degrees of experience (from beginner, to lapsed high-school 3.5 player, to experienced GM and game-designer). My idea is to set a time at least once a week to meet up online and play. As long as 3 players show up, we will roll. Anyone can jump in and out each session and we will just figure out ways to have their PCs drop in and out, or be passive during a session, or die and re-spawn a new PC, or whatever. I want the group to be totally low-key and easy for both players and GM.
When it comes to RPGs, I am most interested in the OSR style of play. The OSR scene coalesced around the Google+ boards but has morphed since G+ went away. Now the term is more nebulous, but lets just say that it is a style of play which is decidedly not like that of WotC's D&D or Pathfinder, but it also does not embrace "storygaming" either.
Here are the tenets which define my own personal OSR style of play:
- Character generation should be fast and easy.
- A fairly high mortality rate. But, PC death is not a big deal -- just quickly roll up another.
- Some tropes of D&D are involved, such as "dungeon" incursions, mapping, treasure, traps, etc.
- The game should feature a balance of three modes: exploration, combat, and social interaction. Ideally each session should include at least one meaty encounter of each type.
- The setting should be heavy on flavor, but light on specific lore. Histories, timelines, and maps of the fictional world, the PC/NPC backstories, and the plot direction of the campaign must all emerge naturally during play, as a collaboration between players and GM. This would be the opposite approach to that of the old White Wolf World of Darkness or a traditional box-set campaign setting.
System:
I am basing our game on Chris McDowall's Into the Odd rules system, with a few minor hacks. ItO is definitely rules-light which I love. It is super easy for players to learn. I don't even ask them to read the rules. PC generation is quick and easy, and the starting equipment packages are full of flavor and inspiration for character and setting. The implied setting is industrial revolution with firearms and a huge city/megadungeon called Bastion, with its Dark Satanic Mills... There's a ton of good setting info on McDowall's blog.
I first heard of ItO on the GGNORE podcast/YouTube, which to date is the only actual-play podcast series I've been able to tolerate for more than one episode.
Chris McD recently wrote Electric Bastionland, which is an updated/expanded game based on the same ItO rules (with a few tweaks), and with a more early-20th century setting. I have the kickstarter PDF but I'm going to wait for the hardbound fulfillment before I really read through it and give it a full go. I am using a few bits and rules tweaks in our game, but otherwise keeping to the original ItO.
I'm going to begin our game group with the dungeon and hexcrawl provided in the ItO core book. They are quick with a few short keyed maps, and should be good for several sessions. I will do minimal prep, just reading the book and winging it as we go.
After that, my plan is to grab various other modules or scenarios and just re-skin them for our custom ItO hack rules. We may do mini-campaigns with different PCs; who knows? Modules from Lamentations of the Flame Princess will definitely fit in well with the setting. I will likely run some Zine scenarios (e.g. Vacant Ritual Assembly, Through Ultan's Door, and The Undercroft). If I get ambitious and we seem to have some campaign traction, I would like to attempt a longer multi-session game using Deep Carbon Observatory or Maze of the Blue Medusa. Other options would include branching out into a post-apocalyptic setting with Death is the New Pink (ItO rules-based), and using that to run a sandbox campaign of Ultraviolet Grasslands.
This virus pandemic has proved to be a major game-blocker. My usual weekly sessions of DCC-RPG at the friendly local game store have been seriously disrupted. We've played a few sessions online using Roll20, but I find it less than ideal. In particular, Roll20 tends to accentuate the very things that I find least enjoyable in RPGs, such as tabletop maps/minis, measuring distance and positioning, complex initiative, many combat rounds, etc. The voice-only interface also encourages player distraction which hampers immersion all around. It's better than nothing, but still fails to satisfy.
I had the idea to start up a new online RPG group, using live video conferencing without a virtual tabletop. I invited 7 friends to play, of varying degrees of experience (from beginner, to lapsed high-school 3.5 player, to experienced GM and game-designer). My idea is to set a time at least once a week to meet up online and play. As long as 3 players show up, we will roll. Anyone can jump in and out each session and we will just figure out ways to have their PCs drop in and out, or be passive during a session, or die and re-spawn a new PC, or whatever. I want the group to be totally low-key and easy for both players and GM.
When it comes to RPGs, I am most interested in the OSR style of play. The OSR scene coalesced around the Google+ boards but has morphed since G+ went away. Now the term is more nebulous, but lets just say that it is a style of play which is decidedly not like that of WotC's D&D or Pathfinder, but it also does not embrace "storygaming" either.
Here are the tenets which define my own personal OSR style of play:
- Character generation should be fast and easy.
- A fairly high mortality rate. But, PC death is not a big deal -- just quickly roll up another.
- Some tropes of D&D are involved, such as "dungeon" incursions, mapping, treasure, traps, etc.
- The game should feature a balance of three modes: exploration, combat, and social interaction. Ideally each session should include at least one meaty encounter of each type.
- The setting should be heavy on flavor, but light on specific lore. Histories, timelines, and maps of the fictional world, the PC/NPC backstories, and the plot direction of the campaign must all emerge naturally during play, as a collaboration between players and GM. This would be the opposite approach to that of the old White Wolf World of Darkness or a traditional box-set campaign setting.
System:
I am basing our game on Chris McDowall's Into the Odd rules system, with a few minor hacks. ItO is definitely rules-light which I love. It is super easy for players to learn. I don't even ask them to read the rules. PC generation is quick and easy, and the starting equipment packages are full of flavor and inspiration for character and setting. The implied setting is industrial revolution with firearms and a huge city/megadungeon called Bastion, with its Dark Satanic Mills... There's a ton of good setting info on McDowall's blog.
I first heard of ItO on the GGNORE podcast/YouTube, which to date is the only actual-play podcast series I've been able to tolerate for more than one episode.
Chris McD recently wrote Electric Bastionland, which is an updated/expanded game based on the same ItO rules (with a few tweaks), and with a more early-20th century setting. I have the kickstarter PDF but I'm going to wait for the hardbound fulfillment before I really read through it and give it a full go. I am using a few bits and rules tweaks in our game, but otherwise keeping to the original ItO.
I'm going to begin our game group with the dungeon and hexcrawl provided in the ItO core book. They are quick with a few short keyed maps, and should be good for several sessions. I will do minimal prep, just reading the book and winging it as we go.
After that, my plan is to grab various other modules or scenarios and just re-skin them for our custom ItO hack rules. We may do mini-campaigns with different PCs; who knows? Modules from Lamentations of the Flame Princess will definitely fit in well with the setting. I will likely run some Zine scenarios (e.g. Vacant Ritual Assembly, Through Ultan's Door, and The Undercroft). If I get ambitious and we seem to have some campaign traction, I would like to attempt a longer multi-session game using Deep Carbon Observatory or Maze of the Blue Medusa. Other options would include branching out into a post-apocalyptic setting with Death is the New Pink (ItO rules-based), and using that to run a sandbox campaign of Ultraviolet Grasslands.
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