Trinity – Page 2

#RPGaDay 22

If you are not familiar with #RPGaDay, then please read this page first. For the 22^nd day of #RPGaDay the question is:

Which RPGs are the easiest for you to run?

My tweeted answer is: #RPGaDay 22, #RPG, simple answer #DnD #Cyberpunk #WoD, more at:

Today’s question is another one that is difficult for me to answer, due to how many different directions it invited me. Like many others, there are lots of games I love and find easy to run. Unlike the questions for day 8 and 9, this question cannot be answered with all systems. I recognise that even with a few systems that I love, I lack substantial game time running them. Thus it would be daft of me to claim that everything would be equally easy for me.

Please indulge me as I examine some different layers with today’s question. Part of the fun of RPGaDay is exploring a question from multiple perspectives, whilst keeping the positive spirit in mind.

My System Experience

I have many systems that I have run so much that I would be comfortable running them, as is, for long sessions, even without preparation. Such as: D&D, Storyteller (cWoD, Trinity, Street Fighter, et cetera), Cyberpunk, L5R, Witchcraft, Suzerain, or Reign. Maybe I could claim a few more systems, but I suspect there would be moments of mental uncertainty about their particular rules, and thus they wouldn’t be the easiest for me.

Player Knowledge

I appreciate that besides my own understanding of a game’s setting, there is also the consideration of each player’s knowledge, which can affect how a game flows. Obviously a new player is not guaranteed to disrupt anything, whether because they bring a lot of transferable skills/knowledge, or maybe the type of character they are playing means they don’t need to know much OOC.

Having run L5R sessions that included players that were new to that setting, they asked a lot more questions than when they had previously been introduced to the classic World of Darkness. This highlights how research is a factor in making things easier for everyone. I’ve also had players who were able to join in L5R without any issues; as always I try to keep in mind that each individual is an individual 😉

Investment and Mood

I think all the factors listed above, combine with each individual’s general mood, to determine how easy it is to run a game. I include myself in regards to mood, since I have experienced sessions when I lacked my normal enthusiasm.

I would prefer to try out a system I barely know with an enthusiastic group, than to struggle running a game I know really well with indifferent players.

Conclusion

Reflecting upon the many different games I have played, and forcing myself to pick one game, then my answer is Cyberpunk. I nearly choose the World of Darkness, since the design of that setting utilises the real world, with added supernatural layers that many people are familiar with. The reason I choose Cyberpunk is because even at 14 years of age, myself and my fellow players had enough movie and book references, so the setting made sense, helped by it being the near future. The brutal mechanics fitted the style of game, and despite loving the game, I really dislike the mechanics. Years later, I still find Cyberpunk easy to run.

I did ponder and write some other things, but I felt I was getting too indulgent. The wonder of exploring subjective opinions, as well as why we each have our own.

#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:

#RPGaDay 12

If you are not familiar with #RPGaDay, then please read this page first. For the 12^th day of #RPGaDay the question is:

Which RPG has the most inspiring interior art?

My tweeted answer is: #RPGaDay 12 #RPG, #Aberrant #Trinity #Adventure due to the wonderful IC pages.

I had so many initial thoughts about this question, and sadly despite the list of honourable shout-outs I have provided, I know I am missing off to many noteworthy games. Many old games came to mind, in part because they had been part of my formative RPing years. Whether staring at the old Monster Manuals for AD&D 1^st ed over and over again, or the Warhammer artwork emphasising the dark setting. When I started playing Cyberpunk, the artwork helped to differentiate itself from the fantasy games I had previously played; a game with both style and substance 😉

I considered Tales from the Loop, which was built upon a wonderful collection of art. This is also a great example of how modern RPGs can have amazing artwork, and how we can keep being surprised.

L5R is one of my favourite games, in part due to its incredible artwork; I tend to buy all the books for a game I like, but at least that means more artwork. Given the game’s emphasis on culture, and how important appearance is in that setting, with so many pieces of art showing character interaction and attire, it was quite easy to show players an example to help inspire them.

I nearly choose Changeling: The Dreaming, I adore that game; I wrote about one of my Changeling campaigns for Day 7. I shouldn’t really single out any of the classic World of Darkness (cWoD) games, as a whole the interior art was diverse and gripping; the walls of my old flats were covered in mostly WoD artwork. The artwork for Wraith really helped to inspire that game’s setting and mood, although I know a few players that were too disturbed by that game to even try it. Changeling’s lovely artwork helped to make that game stand out, and with the diverse races (kith) the pictures felt like a nod at the older games like D&D, whilst being noticeable different to them.

A special shout-out to Palladium’s: Ninjas & Superspies and Mystic China; whilst I am it, also for Nightbane. Like so many of Palladium books, there is a good mix of artwork. In a hobby dominated by fantasy, then Sci Fi, and then probably Supers, I really appreciated any martial arts artwork.

Although Street Fighter is a big IP, and thus it’s a bit unfair to compare it to non-major-IP games, as I mentioned on Day 5, the artwork was very inspiring. Overall the artwork was vibrant and fitted the style of the game. I’ll admit that anything martial arts related gets a bonus from me, but I really love that game for taking a beat’em up and turning in to something special.

As mentioned above, I finally settled on the books for the Trinity Universe, and in particular Aberrant. Having so many In Character (IC) pages really helped to get the setting across. They were easy to show new players, especially the pages that were comics. Thus the interior art was more than just artwork, they were IC game props. Although the old White Wolf company had done this sort of thing before with the cWoD books, it was taken to a new level with books for the Trinity Universe. Between the timeline, the IC news articles, interviews, wrestling shows, and profiles, the whole collection was both inspiring and highly informative.

As I mentioned yesterday, Onyx Path Publishing are working on rebooting this setting as the Trinity Continuum. Clearly with such a rich heritage to build upon, and the great work and experience of Onyx, Trinity Continuum is obviously going to be amazing. I’d only be surprised if the game was less than stunning to look at. Check out the Trinity Continuum pages.

#RPGaDay 11

If you are not familiar with #RPGaDay, then please read this page first. For the 11^th day of #RPGaDay the question is:

Which ‘dead game’ would you like to see reborn?

My tweeted answer is: #RPGaDay 11 #RPG, #Dune and #TrinityContinuum #Æon #Trinity #Aberrant #Adventure

I am eagerly anticipating the return of the Trinity Verse, now called Trinity Continuum. Onyx Path Publishing are working on rebooting this setting, and the tweaks are sounding great. Whilst it is rare to hear about a tabletop RPGs in development being cancelled, it could still happen, so it’s not done till it’s done 😉

I have been running a Trinity Verse campaign for over ten years. Overall it’s been a great campaign, with many engrossing sessions. I started the setting before Slider being murdered, and since the party really mixed things up she wasn’t killed, but of course things still got messy in different ways. All of the PCs partially focused on Mega Intelligence whilst individuals also explored their powers. The groups goal became about researching how to manage taint. They also looked in to different types of energy, brain structure. They used the research to network with many different groups, and over the years moving towards global social engineering; and of course then handling the different fallouts from such work.

Due to the PCs detailed orientated approach to the game, the game’s complexity really escalated. I made a databases to track what 100s of key Novas were up to, as well as there previous actions. I also have extensive notes as Adventure era characters discovered mysteries that tied back to the Nova age, as well as affected the alternate future Trinity timeline. One of my player knows the setting very well, and they appreciated that they got to play something different.

This campaign has been great to run, in part because the party often spent time talking to each other, allowing many moments when the players effectively ran entire sessions between themselves. Partly due to how complex things became I took a break from running the game. Since we heard about the reboot the group agreed to wait to see what is done. I recommend checking out the latest Trinity information, .

Since I choose a setting that is in the process of being rebooted, then I’ll add a 2^nd choice: Dune. My own setting and mechanics that I have been working on for years, has a strong psychology and spiritual emphasis, and this is something that I would love to see in an official Dune RPG. Years ago I did briefly play around with making a Dune game, lot most role-players taking bits from all sorts of game. Add in some Mage: The Ascension, and we get the Dune: The Sleeper Must Awaken 😉