Japanese Treasures – Omikuji fortunes

 It has been a month straight from hell. Making and giving semester-end tests, now grading, with a PhD deadline looming over my head in 10 days and smouldering homefires. I expect to crank out a few more posts and (gasp!) actually get out to a game soonish, so hopefully that will take the pressure off.

Here's a little bauble to get me back in the groove and shake up your Japan-themed game.

OMIKUJI FORTUNES

Every shrine and temple in Japan sells ‘omikuji’, fortunes or predictions written on pieces of sacred paper. You go to the temple wicket, pay a coin, then a monk hands you a carved wood cylinder with a pinhole at the top. You give the cylinder a good shake, then turn it upside down until one metal rod of the many inside slides out of the pinhole. The rod has markings on it, which the monk inspects, then he turns to a great cabinet of boxes behind him, opens the appropriate drawer, and hands you the rolled up omikuji. After reading your omikuji, tie it to a tree or line strung between trees on the temple grounds and pray that it either comes true if good, or that it doesn’t affect you too much if bad.

The omikuji first explains your general luck, with each level giving a different effect for the remainder of the day, session, or adventure as the DM sees fit. The following are suggestions, and DMs should feel free to tailor the bonuses or penalties to match the game as they run it.

OMIKUJI RESULTS (Roll 3d6)

3 大吉 - Daikichi - Excellent luck (Immediately go gamble and buy lottery tickets)

The character rolls two dice for all rolls and takes the best result. The character can also have one Save vs. Death against a normally unavoidable misfortune. Alternately, one ‘lucky’ thing may happen to further the plot of the adventure.

4 吉 - Kichi - Good luck

The character rolls two dice for all rolls and takes the best result.

3 中吉 - Chukichi - Fair luck

The character gets + 1 to all rolls.

4 小吉 - Syokichi - A little luck

The character gets + 1d4 to one roll type of his choice. Examples include attack, damage, saves, or skill rolls.

5-6 半吉 - Hankichi - Semi-good luck

The character gets + 1 to a roll of her choice. Examples include an attack, one weapon damage, one type of save, OR a certain skill roll.

7-8 末吉 - Suekichi - Uncertain luck

The character can reroll one failure, but does not have to take the new roll.

9-10 末小吉 - Suekokichi - Uncertain but a little luck

The character can reroll one failure, but has to take the new roll.

11-12 凶 - Kyou - Bad luck (Misfortune)

The character gets – 1d4 to a roll chosen randomly. Examples include an attack, one weapon damage, one type of save, OR a certain skill roll.

13-14 小凶 - Syokyou - A little misfortune

The character gets – 1 to a roll of the DM’s choice.

15-16 半凶 - Hankyou - semi-misfortunate

The character gets – 1 to all rolls.

17 末凶 - Suekyou - Uncertain misfortune

The character rolls two dice for any rolls and takes the worst result.

18 大凶 - Daikyou - Certain disaster (consider buying a karmic life insurance policy)

The character rolls two dice for any rolls and takes the worst result. The character must also make one Save vs. Death to avoid one random dangerous or deadly event. Alternately, one ‘jinxed’ thing may happen to obstruct or derail the plot of the adventure.

SPECIFIC FORTUNE RESULTS (Roll 1d10)

Besides general luck, an omikuji also gives you a specific detail of your fortune. Note that good effects apply only to the owner of a good omikuji, while bad apply to the ENTIRE party in addition to the owner. This will result in the character being called a厄病神Yakubyoukami (jinx or literally Plague God) and sometimes shunned or chased from the group until their luck turns.

1 方角 - Hougaku – Direction

If good, the character may never be lost. If bad, they move in a random direction until the omikuji wears off.

2 失物 - Shitsubutsu - Lost Things (いでがたし)

If good, the character may find an item they need at just the right moment. If bad, they will lose an important item exactly when they need it most.

3 緑談 – Endan -  Love  Marriage

If good, the character will encounter someone who would be a good mate or spouse for them. If bad, they will be the focus of attention for an obsessive and annoying suitor.

4 旅立 - Tabidashi - Starting a trip

If good, the character may arrive at their destination without random encounters or other traveling misfortune. If bad, they will have such encounters and detours at every opportunity.

5 商売 - Shobai - Business

If good, the character will have a bonus when selling items and a discount buying them, plus have access to just about anything they want. If bad, they will find what little items available either at insane prices or far beyond their means.

6 待人 - Machihito - Waiting for person

If good, the character will meet an NPC who can help them achieve their goal. If bad, they will either be unable to meet the person they seek or encounter a scoundrel who keeps them from their objective.

7 病気 - Byouki - Illness

If good, the character will have a bonus to resist the effects of disease, including those that usually do not offer saves. If bad, they inevitably catch whatever is going around.

8 建家 - Tateya - Building

If good, the character will have a bonus to find architectural secrets, or avoid traps. If bad, they will not find the former and inevitably trip the latter.

9 勝負事 - Shoubugoto - Gambling Luck (Gonna lose)

If good, the character may gamble with no or little chance of losing. If bad, they will certainly lose, and to a large degree.

10 学習 – Gakushu – Study.

If good, the character may get a bonus to experience or skill improvement rolls. If bad, they get a penalty.

Old School OSR

Remember the OSR when it started?

When it was nameless?

When you copied and pasted every cool idea or table because you’d be afraid it’d all disappear?

When there were a few cobbled together D&D hacks but no true retro-clones yet?

When the Society of Torch, Pole, and Rope or Chogwiz were your daily reads?

Before anybody had made a dime off the thing?

When people who disliked 4e were considered lame or behind the times?

When rpg.net was still readable?

Before Pathfinder existed?

When Gary and Dave were still alive?

When people wrote as much about Traveler or Stormbringer or GURPS as they did about D&D?

When people fretted about the OGL and what WotC would do?

Not saying anything is better or worse, just remembering a time, like an old fragrance that is lost.

Is it too early to be nostalgic about a movement based on nostalgia?

Obligatory 5e Thoughts

Downloaded it, haven’t read it. May never considering my lifestyle, or may get to it when degree ends/new job is found/child goes to college/7e comes out. It joins the untouched treasures on  my hard drive. This post is merely for traffic and contains little news, just some late night mumblings followed by futon crash for a few hours before 6am Japanese train rush hour.

Lots of internet stink about this thing. Goes both ways:

HOORAH!!

The big corporate gaming monster listened to the OSR and dialed back from 4e, then gave it out free!

BOO!!

The big corporate gaming monster has mesmerized the OSR with its own tricks, and the ‘game’ is incomplete. (I know about the updates, just stating current events)

HOORAH!!

WotC put in an ohmyglob actual reference to LGBT gamers and ushered in an era of explicit gender issue acceptance in gaming. Having seen LGBT friends go through the shitty wringer our society puts them through, this makes me more interested in 5e than I would have been otherwise.

BOO!!

Homophobe trolls are beating collective chest about ‘gayed up’ game (see response to AiCN’s review for typical example), which essentially amounts to a choice that gaming groups have been making for 40 years. Anonymous douchenozzle bigots are getting far more attention than they deserve.

BOO!!

Some internet meanies have taken the opportunity to beat up on Zak S, who consulted on 5e, and has the very LA habit of speaking his mind in the most confrontational/condescending way possible.

HOORAH!!

Half the OSR has rushed to his defense, ironic for a pundit who doesn’t particularly need it.

HOORAH!!

Hopefully the impending success of 5e will breathe life into some other old games the deserve a major revival.

BOO!

Fat chance.

Oyasumi nasai.

Holmes, Nessie and Cthulhu

Just finished watching The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970). Great film for expanding the mythology of Holmes into Victorian political life, also great inspiration for random events in a Cthulhu session set in Scotland.

1.        The sound of demon bagpipes resonating in the hills with no discernible source of origin.

2.        Trappist monks with vows of silence and obscure plans

3.        A French demoiselle in distress who is actually a Prussian spy with designs

4.        Historical preservation societies who don’t know much about history

5.        A letter from the foe telling you to drop the investigation

6.        Foggy nights on a loch in a rowboat

7.        A fake monster built to take attention away from the real abomination

8.        The appearance of the Queen and retinue

9.        A disappeared scientific expert you must find

10.    Silent folk with physical oddities masquerading as other than they are

11.    Locals always with a story of what truly happened that only muddy the waters further

12.    A silent clansman in kilt who scares you off with two growling mastiffs on chains

13.    A Scotsman with a loaded pistol in his sporran

14.    Children who throw rocks

15.    Dead or deranged animals who tip you off to what is really happening

16.    Cycling around the countryside

17.    A London secret society who offers you membership on success of your mission

18.    A London secret society who tries to thwart your mission.

19.    A British government agent following you.

20.    A hotel staff member who surprises you by knowing all about your mission.

The 8 Dirtiest and Most Dangerous Jobs in Space

Now there are dirty jobs out there in the universe - garbage scow, xeno-coroner, warp engine lube technician. Likewise, any soldier or space merchant faces his share of danger. But there are also jobs that are both insanely dirty AND dangerous, and which only get done because of the small chance of a large payoff they offer. Here are the most notorious ‘Double D’ jobs in space:

Ordinance Recovery

When local pisspot baronies start an interplanetary shootout, there are those who see it is a chance to turn a profit. Missiles or rockets fail in a number of ways – software glitch, fuel leak, chaff or jamming. Unexploded ordinance such as missiles are worth a nice bit on the black market, but are also highly illegal to resell. Some scavengers go in ‘hot’ and sweep in while the battle rages, clamp onto a juicy piece of ordinance and jet out before they become a target themselves, fingers crossed that their cargo doesn’t go supernova. Others go in ‘cold’, picking through debris after the war is won, carefully defusing and disassembling the rockets and their payload before safely storing them and moving on. Either way has an equal chance of making you rich or dead.

Bountyhunting

Space is so unimaginably huge that anyone not looking to be found can easily and effectively do so if they stay on the move. Cops are usually limited to peace keeping and beating down the locals, while mobile criminals cross jurisdictional lines and make things messy for the law. That is why most places either sign on to the bounty hunter treaty or else turn a blind eye to their activities. The big problem is the restriction against lethal force unless fired upon, which means that you better either get the drop on your prize with whatever netgun or stunner you’re using, or else hope they miss once before you gun them down. It doesn’t make it any easier that the most dangerous and most rewarding bounties are wanted alive.

Bughunt

There are all kinds of treaties protecting indigenous life, but for an unscrupulous corporation or a desperate group of refugees looking for a new home, extermination of local flora and fauna might be the only option. The sounds good on paper, but life has a way of carrying on, or at least taking a lot of other lives with it into oblivion. Then there’s the advanced life that can send killers right back at their employers…

Wildlife Transport

As hard as it is just killing off alien life, imagine the challenges of capturing and carrying it somewhere. That tame-looking spacecat you’ve lured into your hold doesn’t seem so cute when it grows tentacles then starts teleporting around the ship eating crew like ruffled potato chips. Add to that your violation of numerous space treaties and local laws in transporting or delivering the critter and you’ve got a galaxy strength headache to deal with.

Test Piloting

As dangerous as test piloting was back in the day of simple aeronautics, with the reality-warping engines used nowadays, things get a whole lot weirder. Pilots can return before their departure, or come back mad from an eternity in the warp lanes, or else sound crazy claiming that the world is the same except for one detail like the color of the skies or that people don’t have forked tongues like they used to. Maybe the ones that just disappear are luckier.

Rat Catching

Imagine an abandoned spaceport the size of a moon needing to be cleared out in two weeks. Now imagine the number of hiding places in such a structure. The rats in the walls could be any number of things, from disgruntled employees, to squatters, activists for some cause, alien critters, rogue AI, or even ghosts. Since most of these jobs are on a timetable, your chance of going home empty handed are higher than those of going home in a box – but not by much.

Artifact Transport

Just like the Fermi Paradox told us, other intelligences rose and fell long before humanity spread out into the cosmos, and from time to time we find their relics, and even their junk. The problem is that we’re still in diapers in terms of technology, and can’t tell if we’ve picked up the cure for cancer or a loaded gun. Artifact transporters are subject to spontaneous mutations, space-time distortions, and whatever malevolent designs the defunct creators of the artifact set in motion. Add to this that on the off-chance you do get a useful artifact AND figure out how to use it, every space pirate, scavenger, and spacy frigate you encounter will be aiming to take it from you.

Space Anomaly Survey Team

Space is just plain weird at times, filled with anomalies that don’t follow any of the laws of physics, and thumb their nose at reality. Shrinking black holes, anti-matter planetoids, heavy midget planets, and gas or liquid mega-giants without the gravity they’d need to exist are all out there for the finding. They can make your hull disappear, crush you like a tin can, or have you reliving moments from your childhood. Figuring out what makes these anomalies tick, or better yet finding a way to use them for profit, can make the effort and risk pay off in spades.

If you and your crew are in need of a quick payoff or a huge push towards the good life, these jobs are for you. Just remember that they won’t be easy, clean or safe. You were warned.

DMing Derivations - Terror & Information Control

PART ONE – The Thing & Splitting the Party

Since fantasy gaming was the progenitive genre of roleplaying games, it is no wonder that the fantasy storytelling mode has come to dominate game mastery across all genres. The DM is the quintessential storyteller, with the screen as his tome and players as questioning children listening to the tale unfold, who also take on the parallel imaginary role of knights around a physical round table questing together for a goal. The Princess Bride, with its framing device of Peter Falk as a grandfather narrating to the young boy and improvising on the fly, is a perfect example of this pattern. The movie even has Rats of Unusual Size, a D&D staple if ever there was one.

This storytelling mode implicates an open style of information control and dissemination. The DM’s descriptions are carefully chosen to allow players to visualize the world but not see it wholly omnipotently. This supports old school fantasy gaming, where the DM had to describe enough that players could make informed choices but not see all the dangers and traps that lay in their path. DMing advice was a staple of early D&D, but has decreased in later games as the tropes and techniques fossilized and became an unquestioned and unquestionable modus operandi of roleplaying. This style has gone unchallenged save for some story games like Fiasco, which succeeds at breaking the mold of traditional DMing by delegating narrative responsibility to players, yet sacrifices the demands of certain genres such as horror for a one-size-fits-all DMing paradigm shift that ignores subtleties of genres.

This open style of information access works well in fantasy gaming, as well as adventuring scifi sandboxes like Traveler, but breaks down in other genres of games, especially terror and horror, where it is precisely the unknown nature of the threat that is the point of the game. In such genres, information is missing or incomplete, and finding it out or piecing it together is one of the driving forces of characters in the genre.

As thought exercises, I will take two of my favorite scary movies, 1982’s The Thing as an example of terror, and 2000’s Battle Royale for horror, and attempt to see how information dissemination can be changed from the standard fantasy format to better emulate the genres of these game settings. In this session I will concentrate on The Thing and save Battle Royale for next time.

THE THING

There is a The Thing RPG out there, an unofficial d20 product called Who Goes There? 

in homage to the original novel upon which the story is based. There is also a Phoenix Command adaptation of the material, but which focuses more on tactical simulation and the grittiness of the scenario

Although both rpgs stat out the monsters, paradoxically they give no extra DMing advice on a genre that is supposed to be based on paranoia, mistrust, and existential terror. From a quick read one can tell that the standard paradigm of ‘tell us a story’ they employ fails to support genre themes in any satisfying way here.

One could argue that a simple change of system could make terror more playable, for example from a high hit point system to a more lethal one like BRP or GURPS. This is probably what motivated the adaptation to Phoenix Command. Indeed, although it is hard to feel terrified for the fate of one’s character with d20’s high hit points and lack of damage effects (see d20 Call of Cthulhu for an example of this systemic failure to support genre), a change to a lethal system increases mortal terror but fails to address the problem of open information access in a closed information genre.

Instead, the incisive criticism of the film available in Rob Ager’s YouTube videos gives many hints as to what makes the film work, and thus imply what an rpg would need to emulate it. Ager notes that the depiction of intelligence and counter-intelligence between the humans and their alien foe is the main theme of the film, as symbolized by MacReady’s chess game against a ‘cheating bitch’ computer at the start of the film.

How can we emulate this chess game theme in an rpg? One way is to emulate the move structure of the game. By breaking the day into several segments, such as morning, afternoon, and night in which players must declare their character actions, the DM can control information and keep actions of his antagonist hidden. This method necessitates that the traditional ‘roundtable’ environment of the role-playing game would also need to be overturned, except in Scooby Doo Mystery style games where the characters largely stay together aside for some chase scenes.

For example, a map of Outpost 31 could be provided so that players could decide their characters’ location and actions for a giving time segment. Players would announce intent publically, the DM would note each PC’s action and location (i.e. “Joe’s character Childs will be in the radio room trying to fix the damage done this evening, along with Radio.”), then pair off with each player in turn and resolve each action and possible encounters/consequences one by one. The DM would then resolve the action and indicate whether the PC was assimilated by the thing or not (so far as they know), record any plans they wish to keep from the others, and importantly what their motivation would be if they were turned into creatures. Perhaps such an unfamiliar style would require a shift to PBEM (play by Email) or some other staggered time format, but although players weaned on fantasy gaming might balk at first, aficionados of terror tales would relish the paranoia of such a paradigm as well as the power of keeping secrets.

Obviously, this closed information style of DMing and separated PC action violates the first rule of fantasy gaming – Never Split the Party! However, since the powerlessness of terror is the antithesis of the power fantasy of gaming, I feel that such a change in paradigm would be liberating and satisfying for players and DM alike. In a few fantasy games I played where characters were split, the anxiety of separation was palpable and well worth the hassle of staggered action resolution.

I am currently working on a BRP adaptation of The Thing, and feel that pairing this closed information DMing paradigm with a change to a high lethality system would make roleplaying in a world of terror like The Thing both enjoyable and rewarding.

Next time - BATTLE ROYALE

Words That Don't Exist in Common

Whew, what a month it’s been! In addition to teaching full time for a uni that thinks instructors are free as birds to do extracurricular activities of dubious educational merit, I’ve settled into the 4 hour daily commute and somehow finished the 80 page third chapter of my thesis. All the while being a loving husband and father, but admittedly my baby boy’s smile and the wife’s support were the only things that kept me going.

And I’m spent!

Not looking forward to the final deadline for the 300+ page opus in November, but it’s got to get done.

Now it’s time to blow out the cobwebs, read some good novels (starting with Hugh Howey’s ‘WOOL’), write some fiction and gaming stuff, and hopefully do some gaming (if you’re there Sunglasses Jerk, make it happen!).

Without further ado here is my first post back in the saddle for your fantasy game.

Words That Don’t Exist In Common

DWARVISH

Fraubarbicon – The moment when your wife’s beard intertwines with your own.

“I missed the departure because of a frubarbicon, but luckily I caught up with the party just as the goblins started their ambush and bushwhacked those bushwackers!”

ELVISH

Nuquerna Laisi – Deciding to change to a radically opposite alignment and/or class due to boredom with centuries of championing the same cause.

“You think I, Alyahs the Necromancer, killed Shayla the Championess of Isis? Foolish mortals! I WAS Shayla of Isis!”

ORCISH

Chubash chubash – A leader that is inept but is loved for their commitment towards violence and hasty ill-conceived action.

“Our charge on the knights broke our ranks and killed half our soldiers, as well as Chieftess Grokilla. She was true chubash chubash –never see the like again!”

HALFLING

Firdidlong – A day spent smoking pipeweed and drinking beer in a field while getting paid to do so. Considered a high cultural ideal.

“I had always successfully avoided work with the town militia or guards until one day my uncle Figtoe volunteered me. I was right angry at first, until I learned our mission was a complete firdidlong!”

TROLL

Urk flam dang iya! – Taking so much regenerated damaged that you would have preferred the fire.

“Men women dwarf elf wizard in rain, dark. Jump down smash bash. Rain rain no torch. Stab stabbity crush crush, arrow arrow arrow missile. Thinks Urk flam dang iya!”

HUMAN

Demiposer – Inferiority complex to demihumans, resulting in weird haircuts that mimic long ears, ill fitting clothes or incongruous lifestyle choices to emulate them

“The way he cut little triangles in his hair above the ears and starved himself all the time – what a demiposer…”

THRI KEEN

T’chik chik BLAT – A human(oid) so infuriating you wish you wore shoes so you could squish them.

“Mmmmm, human female cleric, chattik, heal humans not me, chattik, screams at giant insects, insulting and lose surprise, chattik. T’chik chik BLAT.”

NEO-OTYUGH

Burble urp de livre – The euphoric feeling of bathing in liquefied feces all day while reading a good book.

“Burble urp de livre is nice work if you can get it, but most privies under castles nowadays offer only the hardest rain of excrement pellets and at best a few soiled pages of the Farmer’s Almanac.”