Exalted – Batjutsu

Warrior’s Fist 4 Street Fighter Translation

I have continued my work of translating Punho do Guerreiro, a Brazilian fanzine for Street Fighter RPG (SFRPG). Issue 1 is here, plus an explanation of why I am doing this.

Another wonderful issue: Alternative rules for how to handle Experience Points in the Storyteller system, Demonic Heritage, more on Developing your own Maneuvers, examination of Firearms, Gun Kata, Cyber Ninjas, as well as Stunts from Exalted. Plus Kabuki Town continues to grow more detailed, and suggestions for how to handle Mega Attributes from the Aberrant RPG (now Trinity Continuum); another of my favourite RPGs.

Issue 4 – The Punho do Guerreiro team has redesigned Mega Attributes and added the variant system of Power Scale. Interstingly the new Aberrant for Trinity Continuum has something similar with its Storypath system and Scale.

SFRPG: Punho do Guerreiro and Translations

Punho do Guerreiro is brilliant and I agreed to translate it! Sorry, I am getting ahead of myself … Following on from the articles I recently uploaded about my influences, From Way of the Exploding Fist to Street Fighter RPG a 3 part series. Over the years I always return to playing Street Fighter RPG (SFRPG); despite some of its flaws, I still consider it an RPG gem. I’ve played several gaming sessions of SFRPG in 2018 and 2019. I’ve been playing about with old and new crossover designs for SFRPG and various games, in particular the World of Darkness’s Mage: the Ascension. In my Mage the Podcast Review I touched on the fact that it is nice that some people are still invested in the game, as well as the idea of crossovers.

Since leaving my old games job I made a point of minimising my time spent on RPG forums, Reddit and Facebook groups; I knew I’d spend too much time on them and I’d generally rather read a new book and play. I’m one of those people that loves too many games, as well as any excuse to research things; endlessly researching and not doing things is typically not a good use of one’s time 😉 One of the SFRPG sites I keep an eye on is http://sfrpg.com/, I recently took the plunge and joined https://www.facebook.com/groups/sfstg/. For a while I’ve been meaning to check out the strong Brazilian SFRPG community, so I re-examined my priorities and then explored http://www.sfrpg.com.br/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/sfrpgbr/. This led me to reading the brilliant SFRPG magazine: Punho do Guerreiro. It is edited by Eric Souza and Odmir Fortes, with many other contributors. Eric very kindly sent me a copy of the word document, so I could translate it easier than the PDF.

With the various translation tools available these days, I was able to read the magazine with surprising ease. Punho do Guerreiro (Warrior’s Fist) has a wealth of interesting ideas.

New Maneuvers: Split Punch, Barrier Kick, Clairvoyance, Shapeshift, Gun Kata, Second Skin, Potence, Sense Magic, Drunking Feet, Ice Clone, Iron Body, One Inch Punch, and many more.
Examining the System and New Rules: Power Ratings, Glory, Inexperienced Fighters, Sports, Motor Racing, Pro Wrestling, Social Combat, Merits & Flaws, V5 Skill Kits, and so much more.
Characters / Circuit Legends: Rickson Gracie, Anderson Silva, Frank Dux, Mistress of Pain, etc. Histories, role-playing notes and character sheets and list of maneuvers.
Kabuki Town setting: New locations to visits, details, plot hooks, plus arenas.
Arena Rules and Maps: various dojos, bamboo raft, abandoned metro, demon cave, Garou Caern, Yacht, Muddy arena, and many more.

Extra exciting to me is the wealth of different crossovers explored: World of Darkness (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Changeling), Exalted, Marvel vs Capcom, Doctor Strange, and recently The Last Airbender. I do love expanding my #RPGMentalToolKit.

I posted a thank you to Eric and the team for the magazine. Eric said he’d like to see the fanzine in English and I decided to give it a go. I appreciate that even with modern tools and a lot of thinking, my translations may have subtle errors and emphasis difference. Since it is doubtful a professional would translate these for free and perfect auto translation is still a long way off, I thought something is better than nothing. Unsurprisingly translating is time consuming, in part because it also involves tweaking the layout of each issue, as well as text on any artwork needs changing. I do at least benefit from the extra effort it takes, since I get to deeply think about rules and how to describe things, since the translations are sometimes nonsensical. Another aspect of the translating process I had to remind myself of, is to stay as true as possible to the original writing, my opinions are irrelevant and I can always blog them later.

It has been years since I professional wrote rules or game explanations, so it has been fun to challenge myself. I made sure to return to balance scrutinising the work, but with a deadline, so I don’t endlessly procrastinate. This process has also helped give me even more appreciation for the quality of the work Eric Souza and Odmir Fortes and their team. Obviously if I was translating into Brazilian Portuguese I would be useless at this, but I think I’ve managed an adequate job of translating into English. If somebody at a later date has the translation expertise, then they are welcome to my notes 🙂

You can now read the English version: Warrior’s Fist Issue 01.

Bleak Spirit: Lost Lore + Adversaries

At the time of writing the RPG Kickstarter for Bleak Spirit has just over two days left to go. It is already funded, demonstrating the game has a market. I have several ideas about this game, both by itself, but also as an aid to other games. Before I talk about my plans, here is a quick overview:

“Bleak Spirit is a tabletop roleplaying game inspired by the empty, haunted worlds of video games like Dark Souls, Hollow Knight, and Salt and Sanctuary. Using a rotating role system, two or more players collaborate to create the story of how a wanderer comes to a strange place, and leaves it forever changed in their wake.”

The game follows in the style of the collaborative storytelling game Lovecraftesque, a game that is inspired by Stealing Cthulhu (single player writing RPG). As noted in the quote above, players take in turns to play:

The World describes the scene, which can be a danger, interaction, or feature scene. The tone of the game is that of melancholy, mystery, and faded glory. Lore is introduced, which in addition to providing a chance to explore the setting, also can be building towards the final Adversary.
The Wanderer explores the scene, decides what action to take, uncovering lore as they travel. The person playing the Wanderer that turn chooses their actions, taking care to avoid describing the wanderer’s internal monologue.
If there are more than 2 players than there is also a Chorus supporting the World. The Chorus can elaborate on events, suggest prices during danger scenes, or play a character that has been introduced.

The game is broken down into 3 sections (part 1 of 5 scenes, part 2 of between 1 to 3 scenes), allowing the wanderer to find lore and building the game towards part 3 and the story’s main Adversary. There are a set number of scenes classed as Interaction, Danger and Feature. The game has special cards that can be played altering the course of a scene. The cards do more than just mix things up, they can also add extra tension. You can read more about mechanics at the Kickstarter, such as why Leaping to Conclusions is part of the fun of the game 🙂

The wanderer is a stranger in a strange land, generally visiting bleak, run down locations. Other characters are eccentric, elusive and cryptic. Bleak Spirits approach allows for players to discover depth and complexity, without preloading the world, capturing for example how Dark Souls series achieves this. I think the method of alternating roles supports the game’s intent.

Bleak Spirit also strips away many of the common RPG mechanics and tropes, allowing for freer flowing storytelling. Also the power of a veteran Dark Soul’s player shines, with the exception of the final Adversary, the Wanderer can survive most encounters without issue. The interesting aspect is how the Wanderer moves forward/survives, what price is paid?

After a game, players may wish to discuss things about what occurred, their plans and Conclusion Leaps; maybe even add extra context. During play, the lack of information should be embraced. More gaming session could be set in the same story world, building up the setting lore. A long campaign could result in a very detailed world, so keeping things vague is likely the best way to proceed after each game.

Truth & Ambiguity

I’ll emphasis what is intriguing to me is that quintessentially Bleak Spirit, that it seeks to avoid setting clarity; there is no Truth^TM, even about the Wanderer themselves. Whilst there are many RPGs that are easy for new players to access, particularly games set in modern day real world, many RPGs have a lot to learn upfront, particularly for the DM/GM. Even the massively popular D&D settings like Forgotten Realms have a lot of maps, lore and proper nouns to learn. Granted you can ignore everything, but I think a big part of what makes characters interesting in RPGs is figuring out how they fit in their world, as well as exploring social implications. Movie amnesia is one work around, but I think the fact Bleak Spirit intentionally integrates the lack of knowledge is great, the character’s lack of memory is not important. I think this further helps support the setting’s tone of faded glory.

This year I’ve blogged about two other Kickstarters that explore the subject of characters and memory, One Child’s Heart and Afterlife: Wandering Souls. I’ve been working on my own RPG settings and different fiction that explore my long-time obsession with memories and identity, as well as what those mean to characters in RPGs. Bleak Spirit is taking a different approach to those games, as well as my own, so I was very pleased to come across this project.

Aiding other games & #RPGMentalToolkit

I like to mention expanding my RPG Mental Toolkit in several of my RPG posts, so please indulge my thought process with this. Since I think Bleak Spirit manages to capture an important dilemma in RPGs: creating collaborative eerie cryptic complexity, without a lot of reading or preparation. Therefore I think it can be switched to as a mini-session for other games, when something unusual needs to be created, Bleak Spirit could be a more surreal and esoteric way to do so.

As a veteran gamer of many systems, I am aware that no matter the game system, a group of good players can discuss things, set a tone and embrace hidden depth. Whilst some role-players take the idea of a DMGM/Storyteller/etc. as meaning only they can decide what a setting’s contents are, plenty of other gamers allow any players to contribute. In addition players can use the Blue-booking or Play-by-mail (PBM/PBeM) methods to explore/build something away from a table session, but not everyone uses those methods.

Imagine one of the many RPGs that are out there, gaining from having a mini-session of Bleak Spirit. I think the mystery and melancholy of this game will excel when players want to explore something personal in an esoteric way in another game/setting. Particularly with any game that has weird lore (civilisations, magic, dreams, etc.). Here is a non-exhaustive list of games that includes a strange aspect to its reality, from different planes of existence to ways of altering/exploring mental states:

Any Cthulhu game, particularly if the Dreamlands are involved. The various different types of Umbra in the World of Darkness (in particular Mage, but also Wraith, Changeling, Werewolf, Vampire), similarly the Chronicles of Darkness, Unknown Armies, Kult, Exalted, D&D (explore more exotic places/planes and unknown societies in: Planescape, Scarred Lands, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Forgotten Realms, Spell Jammer, etc.), Legend of the 5 Rings, GURPS, Warhammer Fantasy or 40k, et cetera.

Bleak Spirit could also be a way for a group to help players learn how to take the lead in a scene. An important baby step towards learning to be a GM and to gain confidence. Other collaborative storytelling games like Fiasco are worth exploring for this reason.

I had arranged a playtest game, but due to my ill health and busy friends those plans fell through. My plan was to offer either a totally unknown setting, the default for Bleak Spirit, or to explore a Realms of Chaos Champion within the Warhammer setting. However, you can check out another blog post about Bleak Spirit that also has an actual play:

https://allthethings123.blogspot.com/2019/06/bleak-spirit.html

https://allthethings123.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-war-sessions-zero-and-one.html

Check out the Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/179941520/bleak-spirit/

#RPGaDay 19

If you are not familiar with #RPGaDay, then please read this page first. For the 19^th day of #RPGaDay the question is:

Which RPG features the best writing?

My tweeted answer is: #RPGaDay 19, #RPG, for me #L5R, more shout-outs at:

Like many others answering this, I’ve decided to go overboard in regards to special shout-outs.

Shout-outs

In Nomine, Dogs in the Vineyard, Fading Suns, various GURPS sourcebooks, Exalted, Witchcraft, Cyberpunk’s Night City Sourcebook, Unknown Armies. Maybe even something like H.o.L. 😉

‘Old School’

As a kid I thought Manual of the Planes 1^st ed. by Jeff Grubb was the greatest sourcebook. Even to this day that series is still one of my favourite RPG supplements. The writing sets the ideas out well, providing enough metaphysics for the reader to make great games from. Besides his other work, Jeff joined Guild Wars to work on Nightfall and continued to work with ANet leading towards the splendour of Guild Wars 2. Interestingly Jeff co-wrote the Ghosts of Ascalon, a Guild Wars 2 novel with another RPG standout, Matt Forbeck notable for working on Deadlands, amongst other work.

Educational

I really like the way Cryptomancer was written. A key design goal was to explain concepts like hacking, security and privacy concepts. I found Chad Walker’s explanations to be well explained.

Bronze

I love the writing and diversity of the classic World of Darkness games. From the simple rules, the numerous examples, the amount of short stories and in-character overviews in the various sourcebooks, to the totally in-character books like the Book of Nod or Fragile Path. I have so many choices from this setting, and of special note Orpheus.

Silver

I really enjoyed reading Aberrant. The old Trinity Verse has some exquisite writing, but Aberrant really stands out to me. Besides liking the rules explanation, I particular loved the in-character pieces that made up the first 100 pages of the book. The whole product was superb.

Gold

L5R won out for me. The first book presented the massive amounts of cultural detail well. Whilst many other RPGs are great, I feel that L5R went that extra mile. I also found the rules to be quite clear, as I mentioned for Day 16.

Also of note for L5R is the L5R City of Lies boxset, by Greg Stolze. I was part of Greg’s playtest for his game Reign, so I got to see different iterations of that game, and thus Greg’s writing. I find Greg’s work to be enjoyable and accessible, and he has quite a diverse range of games and fiction.

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Sunglar’s blog has a great write-up, and I nearly made the same choice, I’ll not spoil it, and I recommend checking it out.

A good breakdown by Runeslinger at Casting Shadows.

Another RPG I’d considered is discussed by Nolinquisitor. A great explanation about why he made his choice: