Tag Archives: dev diary

Dev Diary: Agents of SWING

Posted by grimachu on

SWING is designed to replicate the spy-fi and adventure series of the 1960s and 70s but the default time-setting is 1967. The book contains a primer on the key events of the 1960s and 70s – though not ones specific to the background of the game or agency, that will come later – and an example of the information is given below. This isn’t hugely detailed – that would take up way too much of a book – and it isn’t very specific but it does give an overall feel to the political and social climate of the time which games can either address, or be an escape from.

Nineteen Sixty-Seven

Dev Diary: Agents of SWING

Posted by grimachu on
I reckon Agents of SWING in its final incarnation will run between 200 and 250 pages. What follows is a very rough outline of the probable organisation of the book which is intended to be supported with expanded material going into the various villainous organisations and sections of SWING in greater detail.

What you can – probably – expect.

Call of Chavthulu Developer’s Notes – Ian Warner

Posted by grimachu on

 

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Hello again Shadow World fans. Since I presented my notes for Bloodsucker: The Batshit I thought it only fair to give you a look behind the scenes of Call of Chavthullu as well. So here’s a little preview along with some insight into the inspiration behind it.

Introduction

Much like all my other Introductions this sets out what’s to come and provides a glossary of new terminology.

Chapter 1: New Credoz

Unlike their Bloodsucker equivalents these new Credoz are not a separate scene just rarer breeds. You are free to include them or ignore them as you like.

The new Credoz are

  • Beastz: Feral animalistic Chavs with an appreciation for what little animal life there is in a city. These were the first new Credo I came up with. Essentially I thought why not give the Chavs a transforming nature lover archetype?
  • Gopnikz: Eastern European Chav aristocracy. These were a late addition to the rules when I dumped a poorly thought out Credo. Someone on the White Wolf forums gave me the Russian for Chav and I used it to create these monstrosities.
  • Menacez: A cult within the Chav scene that worships the ‘Prophet Dennis.’ Like Jimmy Saville Dennis the Menace is a proto Chav so it seemed only fair to give him his own Credo especially one that worships him as a kind of messiah figure.
  • Lard Arsez: Embodiments of excessive Sloth the Lard Arsez are great hulking lumps of gristle that refuse to be moved in anything other than a dire emergency. There are obvious similarities to the Mafioso Fatsos. Both were inspired by the obesity epidemic. Mafioso Fatsos however have none of the slothfulness of these critters.
  • Rapperz: Music is a key component of the Chav scene and these lyrical chaps are its bards. Possessing amazing powers of rhyme these skilled musicians wield a great deal of power amongst Chav society. This Credo just had to be made sometime!
  • Skinheadz: Oh dear Lord what have I done! Although the Chav scene is considerably more multicultural than many others they are thug types so it seemed right to add in a group of racist outcasts. Naturally these guys won’t get on well with almost all of the other Credoz but they are a perfect antagonist.
  • Taggerz: Finally we come to the Taggerz. Like the music the artwork is a key component of the Chav scene. It seems only fair to create a Credo dedicated to it and here they are. They even have a secret language in their art that facilitates secret communication and through it intrigue and double dealing.

New Life Templates

This chapter is a rewrite of all the Templates presented so far for use by Chavs. Community Support officer is obviously left out as no Chav would work for the Police but all the other life templates presented in Bloodsucker: The Juice and Bloodsucker: The Batshit. I have included the Batshit ones as I have no plans for a second Chav supplement. Without an antagonist faction there is no need for one after this.

 

New Talentz

Presented herein are several new Talentz for use and abuse by your Chavs.

  • Bash: Enhances your Chav’s fighting ability with blunt weapons. Don’t know why I left this out of the Core but its here now.
  • Beatz: The Talent associated with the Rapperz for wielding the power of music.
  • Corpulence: The Talent the Lard Arsez use to take advantage of their humongous nature.
  • Cossack Kick: The Talent Gopnikz use to kick hard and fast.
  • Cuss: A Talent for using bad language to inflict pain. Most commonly used by the Skinheadz.
  • Morph: The Beastz’ Talent for shape shifting into animals.
  • Tag: The Taggerz’ Talent for animating and merging with their creations.

I was quite happy with all of these after a bit of tweaking. I’m sure you will all enjoy using and abusing them.

New Bells and Whistles

I struggled with this section. I was unsure what advanced systems to add to the game as the Core seemed quite comprehensive.

The first thing that came to mind was a systematic representation of Chavs’ cowardliness and reliance on being in groups. This manifested itself in the ganging up bonus. Now you gain Bile for outnumbering your enemy.

Secondly I was inspired by Geist and Promethean to include a method of mystically bonding the Crews. This further emphasises the importance of the Crew in the game and provides a mechanical bonus beyond merely being chummy.

Finally and following on from the bonding system I created the Tacticz system. This allows the Boss of a Crew to enhance his orders supernaturally with Bile and allows his Crew to act in various ways outside of the normal initiative order.

 

New Fluff and Advice

This section gives you advice on constructing characters in Chav Society, advice on high powered games and some more polite terms for the Credoz.

New Opposition

As well as a reprinting of Cults and Constructs this chapter presents the ever present threat of Bouncers.

Other Goodies

More God awful fiction is included in the style of that Certain Other Roleplaying Game.

Conclusion

The Call of Chavthullu expands the world of Chav in much the same way as Juice and Batshit expanded the Bloodsucker world. You could play Chav with the core book alone but the goodies displayed in this expansion should tempt you to give it a shot.

Bloodsucker: The Batshit, developers notes

Posted by grimachu on

 

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Bloodsucker: The Batshit Developer’s Notes

Hello Shadow World fans. A little treat for you. Here is a quick look behind the scenes of the upcoming Bloodsucker: The Batshit: In it I will be previewing the product and giving you all some insight into the inspiration behind it.

Introduction

Like the Introduction to the other supplement the Introduction to Batshit lays out why we are writing yet another supplement for Bloodsucker and what you can expect in the book to come. It also contains a glossary of new terminology.

Chapter 1: The True Cliques

The first step on our journey into the world of the Batshit is the chapter on True Cliques. Much like the antagonist faction of that Certain Other Roleplaying Game we present a selection of the existing factions reimagined for their role within a community of wannabe monsters as opposed to the usual whiney woe is me types.

I had great fun doing this section: Taking the existing concepts and giving them a monstrous twist. It could be fairly said that this was just an exercise in rehashing. However it did not feel like rehashing. Though true to their Mainstream brothers’ core concepts the True Cliques looked and felt to me like entirely new entities. I’ll leave you to make your own judgements though.

Chapter 2: New Cliques

As well as the True Cliques we have added 3 entirely new Cliques unique to the Batshit.

The Grizzlies share mechanical similarities with the Outcasts however this is the complete extent of the similarity between these Cliques. Whereas the Outcasts are hopeless wannabes the Grizzlies are rugged individualists, perusing the Batshit virtue of carving your own path. Parallels can be seen with that Certain Other Roleplaying game even down to the bear inspired names. I’m particularly proud of the Grizzly weakness. It inhibits Grizzlies from getting along with each other and thus comically reinforces the Individualist concept.

Shoddies are your conspiracy theorists tin foil hats and all. They are desperately afraid of being under the control of some nefarious entity and thus turn into the sort of controlling nefarious entity they’re so frightened of. They typically compete with the True Gothistocrats for leadership positions at least as much as a rabble like the Batshit can be led.

Sick Puppies were the hardest of the Cliques to develop. The main problem arose in how to make that Certain Incredibly Cheesy and Broken Vampire Faction funny. After several re writes I was happy with what I had come up with. The Sick Puppies are thus monstrous fashion divas with the power to manipulate clothing. This is almost as gross as the Certain Incredibly Cheesy and Broken Vampire Faction’s signature power but most importantly it’s actually funny.

Chapter 3: New Life Templates

This chapter came about when I realised I left Pimp out of Bloodsucker: The Juice. I had a player in my University gaming group who would always play a Pimp regardless of the system, plot or anything else so I felt duty bound to include the Pimp in the Shadow World system. Naturally it would look a bit silly with just one new Life Template so I came up with a wide variety of sufficiently monstrous occupations for your Batshit characters to engage in. These include Dentist, Director, Fashion Designer, Management Consultant, Lawyer, Pimp, Politician, Prison Warder, Spin Doctor, Squadie, Teacher, Traffic Warden and Used Car Salesman. Your character doesn’t have to be Batshit to be one of these but it does help!

Chapter 4: New Powers

Naturally with new Cliques there is need of new powers. In addition I have included a slightly more universal ability that was left out of Angst and Juice.

Cloth Crafting is the Sick Puppies’ special ability. It allows the user to manipulate an opponent’s clothing to a monstrous and often hilarious effect.

Shadow Play is the Shoddies’ special ability. It allows them to manipulate Shadows in various strange and often broken ways.

Soul Sight is a new Power available to the more mystical Cliques. It is an interrogation aid that reveals your opponent’s darkest secrets: Particularly useful for detecting Munchers.

Chapter 5: The Diabolical Act of Munching

An element of that Certain Other Roleplaying game involved the Vampires consuming each other body and soul. This wasn’t particularly funny so it was left out of the original rules set. Now a full system for consuming another Bloodsucker body and soul is presented. With the monstrous nature of the Batshit I reckon you expect nothing less.

Chapter 6: Batshit Society

The book is completed with an in depth discussion of Batshit society and the game systems that support it.

The Batshit are organised into Prides. Much like Chav Crews these Prides have a separate Cool rating based on their notoriety and accomplishments.

Prides are bound together by a shared Juice Crush called the Circle Jerk. This needs to be renewed regularly to work unlike a regular Juice Crush.

Prides are led by Alphas who are appointed by the Pride usually by means of violence.

The Batshit have Head Honchos instead of Lords but they function in much the same way.

In times of emergency the Head Honchos appoint a Triple H (Head Head Honcho) to lead all the Batshit in an area. This is a temporary position but one of enormous power.

Essentially I structured Batshit society to be more anarchic. Systems have been taken from Chav because Chavs are just as anarchic if not more so.

Other Goodies

Like Chav I have included incidental fiction in the piece. It is however set directly after the events in Bloodsucker: The Play so best avoid it if you don’t want plot spoilers. The first and last fiction pieces are particularly notable. They are my entries for the Worst Sex in Literature award!

Conclusion

Bloodsucker: The Batshit has been a lot of fun to develop. I hope you have as much fun playing with all these new bells and whistles in your game as I had writing them up.

Happy Gaming

Ian Warner

Obsidian Twilight

Posted by grimachu on

I’m working on a new setting for Pathfinder with LPJ Design, the race previews for the setting Obsidian Twilight (a dark, dark, nasty but heroic fantasy world) will be trickling through, here’s the first. You can follow Obsidian Twilight developments HERE.

Chav: The Knifing – Cover preview

Posted by grimachu on
Click image to embiggen
On the way as I snatch time between other projects to do layout!

Agents of SWING character example

Posted by grimachu on
As you can see, the scrapped skill pyramid doesn’t seem to have been too detrimental, though I suspect the characters for SWING may need more than the typical number of skill points. Some stunts can be decoupled from their governing abilities successfully, others are going to be more of a challenge, but this should be OK for a Playtest:
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Player:

Character: James Ryde

Department: 12 (Espionage)

Past: Military Intelligence

Cover: City Businessman

Refresh: 6

 

Aspects:

Department: The notorious Spy, James Ryde.

Past: Won the Military Cross for bravery

Cover: I do love my expensive toys.

Impeccably dressed at all times.

Known for my dry, sarcastic wit.

I went to Eton with that chap.

A sophisticated English Gentleman

A refined (and expensive) palate.

 

Great (+3) Skills: Weapons, Social Standing.

Fair (+2) Skills: Driving, Fists, Guns, Investigation.

Average (+1) Skills: Alertness, Athletics, Burglary, Contacts, Pilot.

 

Stunts

Linguist: Knows French, German, Italian, Spanish and Latin.

Ready for Anything: Alertness counted one higher for initiative.

Danger Sense: When ambushed you may take a full defensive action at +2, whether surprised or not.

Close at Hand: Never takes a supplementary action penalty for drawing his weapon.

 

Gadgets:

Saville Row Suit: +1 Shift to appropriate interactions.

Sword-Brolly: +2, concealed weapon.

Bowler Hat: Counts as light armour (-1), Medium armour (-2) if used in a defensive actions, can be thrown one zone as a +1 weapon.

Fate Points: 6

Physical Stress: OOOOO

Composure Stress: OOOOO

Social Stress: OOOOOOO

Dev Diary: Agents of SWING

Posted by grimachu on
This is, obviously, on the back burner as I need to get various projects out of the door swiftly, but I hope to have some sort of playable, demo scenario and rules set cobbled together with duct tape and rubber bands  by Indiecon. Meanwhile, here’s some preliminary thoughts from going through Starblazer Adventures, whose version of FATE I’ll be using as my jumping off point as it has all sorts of bells and whistles that will be terribly useful and translate over to Agents of SWING nicely.1. Savagely Edit the Rules Descriptions.
Spirit of the Century and Starblazer Adventures are both weighty, weighty tomes in their respective sizes and while FATE is – ostensibly – a simple, narrative oriented system but sprawls like a demented monster over a huge number of pages. I’m a guy that likes to concentrate on background and feel and rules bogging down a book too much just isn’t on. I’m going to assume that my readers have a passing familiarity with RPGs and so won’t be quite so explicit and long-winded in explanations. I’ll also try to avoid repetition.

2. Less Illustration, More Typography
I want Agents of SWING to be a stylish product, but also quite minimalist, a wipe-clean, plastic-fantastic, white formica, 60s future-vision. So I’m going to cut back on the illustration and use a lot of silhouette/flag/pop art imagery and work harder on the presentation and layout of the text, using that to greater effect. There will be illustrations for the example character dossiers though.

3. Streamline Character Creation
I think there’ll be less emphasis on character advancement and characters need to be reasonable powerful at the start, roughly equivalent to the Standard Campaign level in Starblazer Adventures. I’ll also drag some of the character generation options back towards a more traditional RPG role, less group creation, we already have our group-hook in the game setting and other than a few teams and partnerships, many of the heroes in the source material were skilled loners. If people want to play the IM Force or The Champions or whatever, players can do that anyway. It doesn’t need to be worked into character generation here.

Important elements of a character would be:

  • Career – Prior to joining SWING
  • Cover – Their cover identity
  • Section – The section of SWING they’re attached to.
4. Decouple Stunts from Skills
At least as much as possible. The cross referencing in SOTC and SB can be a bit of a son of a bitch, a few stunts – obviously – need to be related to a skill, but others don’t necessarily and getting rid of the need would free things up and make referencing easier.5. More Stress?
You’ve got physical stress and composure, but perhaps add something in for social standing? 60s Britain (the default) is still a class concious society, more so than today, and scandals had more power then to harm than they do now. An ill regarded agent could be in trouble in many situations and this is distinct enough from composure to warrant its own treatment I think.

6. Gadgets
These need a big treatment, both for Bondian style gadgets and for the potential widgetry of villains.

7. Rationalise Skill Descriptions
Slim them down, they’re very long right now and could be covered in much less space IMO.

8. Separate Out Special Rules
Special rules for car chases etc need to be in their own sections, not intermingled, muddling things up a bit.

9. Allow the Attacker to Choose Consequences?
Might be a little harsh, but allowing the victim to choose the type of consequence and the attacker to choose the actual consequence pushes narrative control more interestingly I think.

10. Skills Pyramid?
I don’t particularly see the need to stick to the Pyramid arrangement for skills, it kind of got in the way of making Doc Savage-alikes and I don’t particularly see why it should be kept.

11. Psi/Super Abilities
Essential to replicate some of the material from the time but I don’t want to overemphasise it. Perhaps a few examples and expand on the material later in another book? Same could be done with gadgets.

12. Organisations?
Villainous organisations need to be detailed as do the various sections of SWING and the rest of the conventional intelligence community, a few examples perhaps and then expand on the rules in a separate book.

13. Clue Based Plot Structure?
I’d like to mix in some of the plot stress ideas in SB with some of the ideas from Gumshoe, perhaps plot stress advancement from section to section, splitting up adventures into investigative sections, interrogations etc which yield points of ‘plot stress’ that advance the game towards its conclusion.

14. Profit.