Coins & Scrolls Reminder

Someone was asking me about OSR random tables that were all the rage in the 2010s. Reminded me of this blog, which has some incredible content (eating dungeon monsters table is my fave and a must for any fantasy campaign).

Happy reading!

Coyote & Crow gaming in Vancouver

 So yesterday (Sunday), I ran my homebrew Adventure for Coyote & Crow, Initiation Day.

It was a blast!

Here’s a tip for game masters. Always get players to make something for the game. It engages them and you can use it later as a prop. Players made this great art when we did a review of the setting at the start, but then it was used by NPCs as a projection in history lesson later in the adventure.

Here is an honest self appraisal of the game.

The good

The story was solid and players brought their best game. They were actually a table of people who had played together and so their acting in collaboration was top-notch, and I gave them lots to work with in an adventure about young Suyata or superpowered marshals coming to the big city to be initiated. I found the adventure that came with the Coyote & Crow book a bit lacking, and so I thought this would be a far more fitting adventure. And it was, with them being engaged with several NPC’s, making their way through a big action set piece, using their superpowers to help in investigation, and having a good showdown at the end, all followed by a cliffhanger surprise that came out of left field. 

(I will be publishing this with the Coyote & Crow publisher program in future, so no spoilers!)

The bad

Although my game mastering in terms of acting and prompting was some of my best, my mastery of the game system was lacking. My printer didn’t work the night before so I had to just come with everything on the laptop, and the rules are quite unique and complex, so I ruled several things on the fly or negotiated solutions with players. Luckily, they were very forgiving and open to learning and being more creative with how rules were applied. 

The ugly

Nothing really stands out. I think if I was a younger man with lots of free time, I would’ve mastered the game better but the textbook is admittedly a wealth of information and I didn’t want to wait until I had mastered all of it. I decided to jump in and learn as I went and invited the players to come along and do the same thing. And we all put in the work and had a great time.

And there was some talk of me running the game again for an organization they knew, so we’ll cross our fingers and see where that goes.

Now back to Nuna, thanks to the great feedback from my fellow Chaosium contest winners, and the amazing Welsh play testers, it will be a lean and mean psychedelic indigenous role-playing Quickstart.

Quickstart will be out in time for summer gaming, full rules will be out in time for Christmas gifts.

This next few months are gonna be fun.

NUNA External Playtest Report

The intrepid band of playtesters in the UK have had their way with NUNA.

This is the initial response.

THE GOOD

"We had a lot of fun!

The feedback on the scenario was super positive, the overall setting too.

I'll have a more detailed report for you in the next couple of days, but rest assured, they really loved the setting and scenario."

The Chaosium contest confirmed that the setting had legs, and my last playtest at Rain City showed me the type of play or scenario was also appealing. I had one player gasp in disgust at one of the adversaries, so glad that some of this made it through even with a different GM.

THE BAD

"It was a bit 'choppy' but we're through it.

The choppy part was more around some of the rules, missing damages, and finding the right elements in the quick start book when needed."

Again, no surprise. If I waited till it was perfect it would never get done. So glad to have some feedback that will help me get it ready for the world. When I ran the game, I could rely on my memory and improv ability to fill any holes and keep the game going. Now I have to provide an airtight garage of tools and vehicles to get players and GMs through the game without confusion.

My work is cut out for me. And this is only the Quickstart!

THE UGLY

Now I have to finish the darned thing. But right now I am making more art and taking a little break from writing. And prepping for my Coyote and Crow session!

Coyote & Crow Game Session & NUNA Update

I'll be running Coyote & Crow at Rain City games in Vancouver on May 3rd. Hurry, seats are going QUICK!

Also, NUNA being playtested this weekend in the UK!

The Latest Elric Ripoff

 Welcome to the party, Diviner!

The Moorcock (Elric) Revival?

 

Seems like we are in the midst of an Elric revival.

The number of videos explaining the character for younger generations is up.

The Doomed History of Elric of Melniboné

As are videos explaining how Moorcock's character has been shamelessly ripped off over the years.

The Witcher & Plagiarism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UOzgxUcFzE&t=973s

The Witcher vs Elric: Popular Plagiarism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkiP64adGjY

And some interesting stuff on its place in popular culture.

Moorcock & Freud Walk Into A Bar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBFI3kzJepE

Then there is the Ebay sales of Stormbringer RPG, which have doubled in prices since when I was looking.

If there is a TV adaptation or movie in the works, I hope China does it. Would be delicious.

Coyote & Crow Review #3.8 CAHOKIAN LIFE & COME PLAY WITH ME!!

If I were younger, I feel I would blast through this Setting chapter, as it is an exciting read. Being a working single dad, it takes me time to get through it. Still, it is a great comprehensive guide to the world of Makasing, and a great inspiration for making the gameworld of Coyote & Crow come alive on the table.

I told a student about Coyote & Crow and especially the purple tint of the Adehnahdi powers and she said "It sounds like Jo Jo" and now I can't unsee it...

POPULATION & LONGEVITY

Maximum lifespan in Makasing is over 100, with 140 as the oldest. This beats our world, and is a subtle validation of indigenous modes of life over our factory farms and processed food. The growing conundrum of what to do with the increase in older members of the population again echoes Japan and its aging society. A hats off to writers for the comment that the youth are afraid of their elders gaining power over them, which is a dark mirroring of our world, where the young are disenfranchised from home ownership and are sent off to wars to protect the investments of older generations.

The fact that the world of Makasing has just come back from the brink of extinction of Awis (the mystical meteor strike that tipped off an ice age), which erased 50% of the population, means that the approach to death is very different from our world.

Adventure Seed #1 - “The Family.”
During the ice age, many peoples were scattered and lost. One was a lost group of families who have become a hidden cabal of inbred, mutated cannibals. Think the Donner Party and the X-Files episode Home. Only for grimdark campaigns, though.

In many places in Makasing, euthanasia is an accepted means of taking one’s burden off the tribe, which reflects traditional Inuit stories of senicide during tough times, and the similar event in the Japanese film Ballad of Naruyama. There are also tinges of indigenous-futurism with planned death and Soylent Green send offs. Additionally, people can travel freely to other city states to get medical treatment that more suits their needs and moral outlook.

I dig it.

Adventure Seed #2 - “A Good Death.” PCs are charged to help gather a dozen things or find people for a good death ceremony for their mentor. They may have to get a feather from a giant Adahnehdi powered eagle, track down an estranged cousin, recover an artifact from a flooded village, or a half dozen other wistful things.

WOMEN & CHILDREN

The writers neatly evade any questions of conception in Makasing by leaving things in women’s hands. On one hand, it echoes pre-colonialism matriarchal society, on the other it is a What if? projection of a society that values a woman’s body autonomy more than our world does.

The text also stresses the unimportance of biological parents, and greater respect for upbringers regardless of blood relations. It reminds me of a Canadian friend who lived up North here and brought up the children of the two indigenous women he loved as if they were his own.

I also dig the following comment on divorce.

While divorce is a thing, there are not really parallel concepts of stepparents. Nor do children 'lose' parents to divorce. They simply have more than one and all parents involved interact with their children as fits that specific relationship. Children with split parents often live freely between two or more homes. Still, divorce is uncommon due to the less restrictive nature of marriage. Additionally, a maternal uncle is often as strong a parental figure. (72)

This means most people will have huge extended families, which could be a great network of information and aid for PCs trying to solve a mystery. I also like the tough moral choices around the Adahnehdi technology that the authors present, an element of high technology that is glossed over in most other superpower media.

For example, if an infant is likely to die shortly after birth, is it acceptable to experimentally give them the Adanadi-based drugs to attempt to keep them alive or cure them? If an infant is born deaf, is it moral to give them cybernetic implants at birth? None of these kinds of questions have clear answers yet. (72-73)

The tension between Adanadi technology and traditional values seems a central theme of the gameworld, and it is all the more compelling for it.

Adventure Seed #3 - “The Lost Children.”
In our world, there is an African proverb that states, “A child not embraced by his village will burn it down to feel warmth.” A ragtag group of Makasing exiles are just such ‘lost children’, and have started working on forbidden technology, specifically cyberpunk style mechanical enhancements. They may kidnap an Inventor for help, and could create some great setpiece combat between the PCs and cybernetically enhanced bad guys who just need to be welcomed back into society. 

NO TRIBES BUT REAL ONES

The writer’s reticence to write about specific tribes and advice to allow members of those tribes to write about themselves is refreshing. This is the opposite of RPGs about farway places, such as Japan, which  are often written with an Orientalist lens that exoticizes them without touching on their complex reality. This is why I am writing my Giri-Ninjo RPG, as an antidote to the plethora of ‘D&D in funny hats’ Japan rpgs, and I am glad to see the Coyote & Crow team be so considerate of realworld indigenous identity. The focus on nations instead of tribes is a welcome patch for this issue. Identity is thus based on a combination of allegiance to Nation, Makasing Citizenship, Path or Family. This more complex formation than tribe is in accordance with Rogers Brubaker’s sociological work on identity.

Tribes certainly still dominate certain geographic regions, and often claim control or authority over that area. But in places like Cahokia, it's understood that to partake as a citizen, citizens have to partition their tribal identity and accept that they have more than a single label. For many, this is easy to do. But some tribes have long histories of confrontation and struggles and those aren't as easily overcome. (74)

I also dig the caveat for non-indigenous to avoid tribal identity, but rather focus on this triad of citizenship, family, and path. Paths are an allegiance to one of 15 animals reflecting their Adehnahdi powers, and I agree this is much more useful than focusing on tribal allegiance.

LIFESTYLES OF THE CAHOKIAN FAMOUS

This is a meaty section, which begins with the similarities of life with our world - work, taxes, love, politics. But the differences carry delicious implications. There is no standard 40 hour workweek, with no stigmata for those working less. People are involved and knowledgeable about politics, something our world could use more of. No culture wars on gender rage, there is universal healthcare for all, and companies that exist but do not dominate life. The authors ground this reality by reminding us that this has all come at a price.

All of this might sound pretty easy and straightforward, but it was a long road to get here for the citizens of Cahokia, and doesn't mean they live perfect lives in a utopia. (75)

More than anything this is what I dig about Makasing. It is not a utopian fantasy or world of indigenous Mary Sues with kewl powers. It is a society that does right some of things we don’t, such as universal housing and healthcare, but has its own problems of balancing mystic powers and steampunk technology with traditional morals and values.

COME PLAY WITH ME!

I’m in talks with Rain City in downtown Vancouver to run a game of Coyote & Crow next month! Check their website for details, and come down for Initiation Day, my homebrew adventure where you start as young heroes on their first day on the job where things go terribly wrong. Can you turn your Initiation Day around?