As I mentioned a while ago I'm working on an entirely new campaign, and as I have some time on my hands I want to really dig at some of the foundational assumptions I have about role-playing and gaming. I think it's an effort to find something new and energising, and also some life changes, mostly good, mean that I am able to change direction. So I am going to be posting some thoughts about what a good role playing game is like. Thoughts are a little chaotic, but that's the way I do things.

One of my basic ideas is good role playing is not about losing your self in a character (PC), but becoming good at playing the PC in the context of the play. PCs aren't real, so losing them is no real loss. I'll take more about this in another post in a couple of days.

But first thing I wanted to discuss and ask about was experience points and levelling up. This in the games I grew up with experience (XP) is extremely important for combat, which is a core game within a session. Most every game I play has had a progression mechanic for PCs, and it shows most in combat. And it's always been a pain.

@clash_bowley kindly gave me a copy of StarCluster4 (SC4) where, in my reading, progression (and regression) occur simply as a question of age (p.59). Time also applies in RM, but is less important than than experience from adventuring. SC4 provides an elegant way of simplifying XP to time tracking - as PCs age their situation changes. Seems nice. But as I thought about this, I realised 2 things:

1) While I don't really care about PCs levelling up in a physical way for the combat game (HPs as improved bodies), it seems to me the PCs should improve, not in so much a physical way as much as becoming better at combat, and then as the PC ages, they should become worse at it. Violent combat is not a solution that can be maintained over a campaign. After all, while old age and deceit almost always defeat youth and skill, youth always wins in the end, even if it is only through the passage of time. RM has a nice way of tracking this (actual vs potential stats), but it is fiddly and paperwork. I want to play in the session. Don't mind paperwork around the session, but it has to be less onerous than the fun it generates.

That said, I do want to play with PCs levelling up in the area of social standing, which includes the social and communal effects of memory and history in the game as PCs become known in their life-paths. This would include titles, like in early D&D, and also social obligation and the conflicts that creates. So I still want to keep track of XP from play sessions, and I want my players to value that.

2) Also, I want the players (not the PCs) to have a sense that through experience they are becoming better at playing the game. I want to avoid "grinding" through stuff that should have become easy, but I'd like this to reflect the players actually improving, not just paying their dues. Also, as the players become better at playing the challenges for the PCs need to increase, so some kind of mechanical improvement needs to be noted. It's encouraging for everyone.

Anyway, a bit of a mess. Any comments or ideas?

Thanks, BC

https://aeon.co/essays/why-is-pop-culture-obsessed-with-battles-between-good-and-evil

This essay does a good job of that articulating some of issues I have with both rpgs and books as they are currently set up. Briefly, it argues that plots (the articles calls them myths) have changed in the last couple of hundred years to promote a good - evil axis over an older (a)morality.

I see the crossover in the way that rpgs and rpg modules / adventures are meant to be satisfying to read in order to boost sales, despite this actually making them less useful at the table. I read an article where it seems that one of the lead designers for Pathfinder actually said this. I'd be curious in hearing both what people think of the argument, and whether they recognise this in practice.

Thanks.

I'm not a fan of Zoom etc., but I guess it is now necessary to consider what will replace the kitchen (or other room) for play, and what to do when seeking other people to play with, and other new challenges. I'd like to hear how have people dealt with this, or suggestions, or just commiseration whatever.

Best, BC

https://rlyehreviews.blogspot.com/2021/04/miskatonic-monday-63-full-fathom-five.html

The setting concept is only loosely based on reality, but nevertheless...

Kraken Mare is the largest sea on Titan, a surface sea of liquid hydrocarbons (perhaps?). I'm not sure if there's any oxygen on Titan - is there? Would a hydrocarbon sea be inflammable? Is there anything about a 'hydrocarbon sea' that makes it chemically interesting? Any implications for life?

Titan is tidally locked to Saturn, I believe. But does Kraken Mare face toward Saturn, or away from it? What would a day/season cycle look like from this location?

Any help from the Book Club's Space Aces would be much appreciated!

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/deepmind-sets-ai-loose-on-diplomacy-board-game-and-collaboration-is-key/

and thought that some might be interested. Basically, the Deepmind team have been considering how to move their AI system from two player games (chess, Go etc) at which remarkable success has been achieved, towards multiplayer games involving cooperation as well as competition. So Diplomacy has been chosen, largely because of the complexity of player interactions, the changing role of said interactions as gameplay continues, and the constant need to evaluate alliances with other players.

It's an area that in my own vision of the near future, I imagine to have been solved, so it's interesting to see the progress in current research.

I particularly enjoyed this comment towards the end "Teaching an [AI] agent to utilize other players as collaborative pawns to ensure victory does bring up a series of concerns..."

Here’s the situation: The PCs are heading upriver in a magic god-boat full of soldiers they rescued from captivity. The lands around are war torn. Before they get too far there will be a lot of other river traffic, mainly related to military supplies - food, clothing, weapons, siege equipment, all heading upriver. Ahead of them is a small city on the left bank, and a little further past that a Fort, garrisoned by the people they consider the enemy. The Fort is a transshipment point from river to caravan. To the west, raiding bands, enemies of the garrison. To the east farmlands hastily being harvested with grain heading to the Fort. Here there is a general that the PCs would like to recruit to their own cause (basically one of rebellion)

Before they find the general, I’d like to have a situation at either the town or the Fort. They are under the same king, but theres no specific relation between them.

D&D 5e Solitary Play
https://jeuxdredi.blogspot.com

Who wants to play? I want to play. I'll tweak the dungeon levels into three different threatening sites to explore for my purposes (which may be smaller dungeons, but I want to move away from D&Disms) but it's inspirational stuff.

I miss Ray from the club.

My iPhone is tapped on the arm of an articulated lamp.

Please use this topic to share interesting new products that you think book club members might be interested in.

But what if things had evolved differently? What if there was no distinction between religious power and secular power? What if the monasteries didnt just influence power, but were the centres of power? The Abbot would become defacto king. Would monks then be warriors? Who else might be important? I am assuming various religious houses would rival one another - over political matters, but also matters of the heart and of the soul.

Let's divorce this from history and imagine a setting, perhaps one like Earthsea with multiple islands, where the Monasteries ruled. These would be ready-made organizations (such as one finds in Outremer and other Flying Mice games). Who would the players be? Does this suggest troupe-stype play like Ars Magica, or can people play fixed roles. What kinds of things are these monastic kings interested in fighting over? What are the points of rivalry with other monasteries? What about leadership and succession? What role do the laity perform? Who are the player characters?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Haven't decided yet if I will back this project. It would certainly be a welcome change from the medieval European default.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aurelienlaine/the-koryo-hall-of-adventures-5e-compatible-campaig/updates

Background:

Our three characters live in an outlying city in the kingdom of Eshnunna. A year ago, Eshnunna was captured by the King of nighbouring Elam. During the invasion, the first cities to be invaded were destroyed to set an example, and so later cities in the kingdom fell mostly by capitulation. Our characters from from a city that capitulated, called Kakkulatum.

They are currently heading to Eshnunna, the capital city. They bring with them a semi-comatose governor of Kakkulatum, an appointee of the invaders, who has been poisoned. The Elamites sent a second governor to replace this sick one, but that governor never arrived. So the PCs plan to return the sick governor with the argument that these are signs the god Ninazu (who is both the city god of Kakkulatum and of Eshnunna) has rejected, and will continue to reject, the placement of a governor in Kakkulatum. I don't think the PCs care too much about the outcome of thi - it's mostly a screen for their real mission, which is to gather information for the resistance.

Over the past year since the invasion, things in the heartland of the kingdom of Eshnunna have settled down and somewhat gone back to normal. However, the Elamites are still fighting in the north. and things have been heating up between the Elamites and Hammurabi of Babylon, who rules just to the west. Elam and Babylon were previously allies in the invasion of Eshnunna, but now it seems they are about to head into open conflict. So there are armies mobilizing in the region, and they are gathering supplies (grain, boats, donkeys) for the war effort - all of which the PCs have.

They have managed to sneak through the country by barge up to now, taking canals through farmland. Recently, they were able to free a respected Eshnunnan general named Silli-Sin from captivity, and they hope to set him up as the person who will lead the Eshnunnas loyalists in rebellion. Silli-Sin has gone into hiding, and the PCs are now heading to Eshnunna to gather information. They need to find out which other generals are still loyal, and where they might be. They need to find our what happened to the old royal family (presumed all dead at this point). And they need to speak to a priest in the Temple of Ninazu about a prophecy.

To complicate matters, one of the characters is a native of Eshnunna, but hasn't been home since the invasion. He'll be wanting to find out about his family.

Situation Report: Eshnunna

In Eshnunna, they'll find that the male members of the royal family were killed (or mostly killed - is someone still alive?). They'll find that the city is under the direct rule of one of the Kings of Elam, and the Elamite army is the local authority. But the city is largely unharmed, except for the city wall. The local infra-structure is intact, and the local administration and judges/legal system as well. Most people appear to support the Elamites, or at least accept them. Within the city at all levels there will be people who are loyal to Elam (preferring them to the previous king) and people who are secretly against Elam. It will be hard to tell the two apart. So, there's plenty of scope for intrigue in the palace.

Important people will be:
The Elamite king and his personal Elamite flunkies
Elamite generals (who may rival one another)
The old Eshnunnan bureaucrats, who probably include the old Vizier and other high level functionaries, still needed to keep the kingdom running.
One or more diplomats from neighbouring kingdoms - Babylon and Mari as the big ones, and maybe also some petty kingdoms.
Messengers of all kinds running around.
The Elamite has probably married the wives of the old king, but not necessarily.
Priests of the Temple of Ninazu, the main city cult. Another cult to the Storm God, Teshshub, is also important.
Some regiments of the army of Eshnunna are still intact and are now fighting for the Elamites - mostly on the front lines in the north. But there may be some Eshnunna officers or attaches here in the city.

The PCs

I'd like to see the PCs drawn into this mix, somehow. The PCs are:
1. A healer from the temple of Ninazu in Kakkulatum (who will have connections at the temple, but doesn't know the local high priestess, perhaps because she's new.)
2. A soldier (scout) from the army of Eshnunna who has been convalescing in Kakkulatum for the past year and may be presumed dead here in Eshnunna.
3. Another soldier (a mercenary infantryman) who had been working for Eshnunna at the time of his invasion but has since been cut off from his mercenary band (who have probably returned to their distant home).

When the PCs enter Eshnunna, they will either:
1. Go straight to the palace to deal with their sick governor situation, or
2. Be intercepted before they get to the palace by someone who will be on their side, perhaps by someone who runs into them in the street, or because the decide to go to the scout's home or to the temple first.
3. Be intercepted before they get to the palace by someone opposed to them - like someone arresting the scout for desertion? I'm leaning away from this one, but maybe someone has a strong case for it.

That's quite a lot to work with, and I'm in analysis paralysis mode. I'd like to present the PCs with a conundrum of sorts, some hard decision for them to make. Does anything jump to your mind?

Thanks!

I particularly liked this paragraph
[Walter Crist] said. Games were "kind of a uniquely human thing, kind of an abstraction — moving stones in blank spaces on the ground has no real effect on your daily life, except for the fact that it helps you interact with another person. So, a game is a tool for interaction, kind of like language — a shared way of being able to interact with people."

After some research I found a Sword & Soul RPG called Ki Khanga but it was a KS, which I don't back anymore. The product is now up for direct sale by the authors (see link below). Has anyone read the rpg ? What were your impressions about the system?

https://www.kikhangarpg.com/product-page/ki-khanga-sword-and-soul-role-playing-game-basic-rules?fbclid=IwAR0WCVDaobvxFsJO6MblJ72Itm8yqL1BnJf-oIUL0dN50356UTzWs9ZA9FI

Second question : Are you aware of other RPGs by Afroamerican authors or African authors?