tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-275842292011-07-30T22:17:52.511ZMadcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-39750780025580384182011-07-20T07:26:00.003Z2011-07-20T07:28:43.692Z

More writting done - didn't spend Sunday writing as intended (Curse you, County show)Working on the random encounter tables atm; One of them leads to a different table - I'm undecided on whether to split that table up into paragraphs too, or keep it all in one paragraph.Also, I like designing and planning far more than I like writing.

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-46957809947042287892011-07-16T11:36:00.005Z2011-07-16T11:45:58.112Z

Done a little bit of writting, but intend to concentrate on that tomorrow.Here's what's going on so far:Introduction and rulesUn-randomized paragraphs so farAnd finally, the rough outline - yes, there are a couple of unfinished branches atm, this will obviously be dealt with.

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-74004099151268607882011-07-15T08:07:00.000Z2011-07-15T08:08:45.433Z

Started writing.Decided to nick the key word system from Fabled Lands.Intention is to do a writing burn on Sunday.

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-89286427724469593712011-07-14T07:22:00.003Z2011-07-14T07:26:23.738Z

Basic outline complete.It needs to be refined a bit, but otherwise I have enough of the framework down to start properly writing the adventure.To-do- Writing-- Paragraphs-- Random encounter tables-- Cool name- Testing-- Find play testers

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-9937790241839554502011-07-13T06:40:00.004Z2011-07-13T06:44:19.287Z

More outlining, need to come up with two random encounter tables, maybe a puzzle.

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-51940892386720391752011-07-12T09:03:00.001Z2011-07-12T09:06:41.495Z

System decided - it's basically a hybrid between Fighting Fantasy and the d6 system.Starting section fully outlined, system for future randomisation of paragraphs set up.

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-69857298056089983562011-07-11T07:00:00.005Z2011-07-11T07:07:13.777Z

So, as a new and completable project (rather than all the ones which were abandoned) I'm going to write a short adventure game book. The aim is to have it published in PDF form by this time next month.I'm not aiming for any great re-definition of the genre, this is just going to be a simple little dungeon crawl, based on the 5 Room Dungeon adventure framework from the old Roleplaying tips

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-65991224052513379532009-07-30T23:07:00.013Z2009-08-21T18:25:34.087Z

Amelia BlazeTwo-fisted pilot who was raised by cheetahs.Other characters in the same continuity are: Eva LangleyChildhoodDaughter of Eleanor and Henry Blaze, pioneering aviators, young Amelia was a passenger in her parents plane when they crashed in a remote part of Africa. The only survivor, young Amelia was, oddly enough, adopted by a family of cheetahs.Born to flyRaised by cheetahsThe Great

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-44318001167830611072009-07-23T12:42:00.002Z2009-07-23T12:50:32.804Z

The first of three (?) long awaited Warhammer 40k RPGs, Dark Heresy has the players taking the roles of an Inquisitor's retinue.The system is based on WHFRP, which in turn built on the system used in the wargame.Character generation allows for a purely random method, so that's what we'll be doing.First I roll to see what sort of planet my guy came from, getting a 71 - he's been born on an

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-88059631237664317032009-07-17T16:27:00.006Z2009-07-19T10:26:12.723Z

Mouse Guard is a RPG based on the comics of the same name by David Petersen.You're playing mice. Intelligent mice with swords, but basically, still mice. They're small, furry and pretty much everything wants to eat them. Unlike other talking animal worlds there are few sapient species, just Mice, Weasels (and weasel like beasties) and hares. Owls and Bats too maybe, but again, unlike other

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-61930109101838252742009-07-15T10:07:00.008Z2009-07-16T15:13:26.449Z

Savage worlds uses a stripped down version of the system that was first seen in Deadlands.It bills itself as Fast! Furious! Fun!I've used it in the past to run a game set in the City of Villains world and found it worked reasonably well, though the granularity of the system and the limited resources you have to create characters with led to very specialised characters. They couldn't really be

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-11667353823377749042008-12-09T11:51:00.006Z2008-12-11T19:31:54.403Z

Published by the Wicked Dead Brewing company, Cat is billed as a Little Game about Little heroes. You play a cat who protects people from evil spirits - Boggins. They can do this because they can see Boggins and enter the world of dreams. The Cats are obligated to protect humans because Cats have won The Contest for the past 9000 years or so, whilst humans have come last. (Winning the contest

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-20285167956056849222008-05-02T07:14:00.000Z2008-05-02T07:15:37.504Z

...and another one bites the dust...Really stupid death - I know the Frost Gate bonus is a pain at these levels, and I still tried to do it. Got so caught up taking down the Doylak riders that I ignored the warriors.Orpheus Dethanos-You were a Necromancer/Ranger-You got to level 11 and earnt 50,920 experience-You had 351 gold-Your equipment and loot was worth 724 gold-You were killed by a Stone

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-31087416181284935522008-04-22T13:58:00.003Z2008-04-22T14:02:44.456Z

Orpheus is still alive, currently level 10 with a level 9 Melandru's Stalker.At the Nolani Academy mission - have completed the bonus, but lag meant that Rurik got toasted leading to mission failure, but fortunately no death count.Current build is Blood, Curses, and Beast mastery with Soul Reaping for energy management.I and other Demon internet users are suffering form horrendus lag in GW

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-60694101943494271862008-04-14T22:24:00.003Z2008-04-14T22:26:26.184Z

Bad start.Character classes chosen randomly.Loke the Fox-You were a Mesmer/Monk-You survived for 26 minutes-You got to level 2 and earnt 2,578 experience-You had 10 gold-You were killed by a Skeleton Raider in the fields outside Ashford Abbey-You completed 0 missions-You knew 8 skills-You were wielding a Starter Cane-You were wearing Dilettante's armor-You had found one red iris flowerWell, so

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-54467566336611815882008-04-14T22:03:00.004Z2008-04-14T22:24:02.550Z

What?To complete a Guildwars campaign playing in the spirit of a Roguelike game.What's that then?Guildwars is a semi-MMO from Arenanet, published by PlayNC. It's very pretty and quite difficult if you don't know what you're doing.Roguelikes are a class of game known for using ASCII graphics, random dungeons and not allowing saves. The thinking man's Hardcore Diablo.What are the rules?- Your

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-32290094509372162472008-03-17T11:18:00.003Z2008-03-17T11:37:29.843Z

My next step was supposed to be an outline of the classes, but when thinking about them I decided that I need a way to make each class better at whatever it's supposed to do, therefore I needed to revisit the Task Resolution.When we last saw the Task Resolution system, it was based on a d% roll against a success number derived from the character's base attributes.Many rolls that the characters

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-67546491328804848252008-03-12T12:24:00.002Z2008-03-12T12:36:30.867Z

Yesterday I decided on my attribute generation system and basic task resolution, today it’s time to work on the races.HumansThe most common race, humans very adaptable. Most of the human Kingdoms have only been in existence for a few hundred years at most, the land previously having been under the rule of the Elven Empire.- One attribute of the player’s choice is Favoured.Half-KinHalf-kin are

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-67865873355942793122008-03-11T10:47:00.006Z2008-03-12T13:19:44.840Z

I've decided that I want a character's race to affect his attributes, therefore, before I can design the races I need to work out my attribute generation system, and related to that, the task resolution system.AttributesI quite like D&D's attribute range of 3-18, so we'll go with that, however I don't like the idea of races providing a flat bonus to attributes, so we need a new way of adjusting

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-61575229786244228272008-03-10T08:48:00.001Z2008-03-10T10:00:14.786Z

OutlineRacesHumans- Because you need humansHalf-kin- Not sure what these are yet. Thinking that they're the offspring of the main evil race and any of the others. We'll need to define the evil race at some point.Elves- One of the staples of fantasy.Dwarves- As with elves, one of the staples of fantasy. I think that my Dwarves are going to have sonar, like a bat, rather than darkvision. It

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-36076332212817775642008-03-10T08:28:00.003Z2008-03-10T08:48:05.970Z

Ron Edwards, creator of the Sorcerer RPG, suggests that everyone should write a Fantasy Heartbreaker - a way to get it out of their system.What is a Fantasy Heartbreaker?In short, a game that sets out to be D&D, but cooler. For a more indepth analysis, see these two essays from Ron Edwards.Fantasy HeartbreakersMore Fantasy HeartbeakersThe latter essay contains the suggestion that everyone should

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-87673312126965312822008-03-04T21:07:00.003Z2008-03-04T22:26:02.912Z

E. Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons and one of the founding fathers of the RPG hobby died today.In his honour I will be creating a 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons character.This will be done entirely by the book, no houseruling unless a rule is unclear.First we have to generate our attributes. These will be generated using Method 1 - roll 4d6, drop the lowest.Strength: 6

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-16354570930968077732007-09-30T14:50:00.000Z2007-10-01T09:31:45.597Z

I know I said that my next post on this topic would be the barebones of a system, but I've been pondering other things.One of the issues with this sort of system is knowing when its time for the adventure to end, and keeping track of left over plot elements for the next one.Two basic options are a counter - when it hits a certain value, it's time to head towards the final scene as soon as

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-34358360605686951662007-08-14T15:00:00.000Z2007-08-14T15:02:24.722Z

Ars Magica is set in what it terms Mythic Europe. Players take the roles of Magi of the Order of Hermes, their companions and servants. One of the interesting features of Ars Magica is that it promotes the concept of Troupe style play. That is, each player will have several characters, typically a Magi and a few Companions and servants, and would rotate those characters as required by the

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-51688849109456242782007-08-07T12:05:00.000Z2007-08-07T13:26:30.197Z

"The meek have inherited the earth. Poor bastards."The End is a biblical post-apocalyptic game, set after the world has ended as per the book of Revelations. The evil have been dragged down to hell, the good have gone to heaven, and almost everyone else has died.You play one of the Meek – those who were neither good nor bad, and had turned their back on faith. (Exact faith doesn’t matter – the

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-20604386050408187192007-08-02T17:42:00.000Z2007-08-02T19:21:23.309Z

Published in 1990 by Stellar Games, Nightlife bills itself as ‘The Role Playing Game of Urban Horror’ on the cover and as Splatterpunk inside.The cover depicts an eighties-new wave vampire holding a scantily clad woman on the tracks of a graffiti covered underground station, whilst werewolves crawl out of the tunnel and from under the platform.The internal art is sketchy but fits the subject

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-74499353388606090752007-08-01T23:50:00.000Z2007-08-01T23:51:39.573Z

I’ll be frank. I detest Call of Cthuthlu (CoC), it’s one of the games I refuse to play. Why this hatred?The premise of CoC is that your hapless characters investigate the Cthuthulu mythos, go insane and die. Maybe not in that adventure, but they will. And they never ever have even the slightest glimmer of hope that their lives and deaths will have meant something or had a positive impact on

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-32312817111635806332007-08-01T09:49:00.000Z2007-08-01T10:25:24.048Z

You may recall that during the creation of my Fifth Cycle character, I had a bit of a go at the system for having different points costs for various skills, but that I allow GURPS to do the same thing with no comment.In fact, many RPGs use differing points costs for skills, such as GURPS which bases the cost on difficulty, or BESM which uses genre utility to set the costs. The difference between

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-64799809122913908962007-07-31T12:20:00.000Z2007-07-31T12:40:11.695Z

Yet another British RPG from the mid-nineties and part of the ‘it only cost a quid’ collection, Tales of Gargentihr (ToG) is more impressive than the usual small-press offering. A 340 page perfect bound book with a large number of relatively well done illustrations (even though they seem to have been scanned at too low a resolution; there are pixels everywhere), the book is pleasant to read

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-91623518089786150422007-07-29T10:25:00.000Z2007-07-29T12:53:13.417Z

Rejoice O readers, for today I am looking at a game that more than a handful of people will have heard of, GURPS from Steve Jackson Games.The first real RPG I bought was a very second hand copy of the GURPS 3rd basic set when I was about 13 or so. I remember being amazed by the idea that I could stat out anything with it.I’ve only played GURPS a couple of times; a doomed IOU campaign when I was

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-11795300989427627422007-07-28T14:00:00.000Z2007-07-28T14:30:02.205Z

I came across this post on the Braindump blog and it got me to thinking about GMless games.I've heard of the product he mentions before and have been vaguely intrigued by it in the past, though still not enough to plonk down any money for it.Back when I was little, I used to run solo Tunnels and Trolls dungeon crawls for my character, using a set of tables to generate the dungeon, though I can't

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-38280924273728104032007-07-28T10:01:00.000Z2007-07-28T13:32:53.518Z

Whoops, missed a few days. Blame those dreadful Rikti for invading Paragon City.Today’s character is from Fifth Cycle, another fantasy heartbreaker, but as mentioned at the end of the last character, not one from the ‘It only cost a quid’ collection. Not only do I have the main book for Fifth Cycle, I also have one of its supplements and an adventure. However my character will be created using

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-6310721481830841922007-07-24T09:16:00.000Z2007-07-24T14:47:40.530Z

Another day, another game from the ‘it only cost a quid’ collection.Dandanon, published by Wythchlight, is a British RPG published sometime in the mid nineties. The cover of the book is in black with an arcane diagram and the game’s name on it. It certainly looks nice, and promises an RPG with a strong occult theme.The back cover is less enticing; it makes the usual fantasy heartbreaker

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-79266187466584824852007-07-23T13:23:00.000Z2007-07-23T22:30:19.407Z

Another one from the 'It only cost a quid' collection, DL is a fantasy heartbreaker. In short form, a RPG that attempts to improve on D&D, is obviously a labour of love by its writers and has a few neat features, but which ultimately fails to introduce anything new, and usually falls far short of the promises made to the players.From the back of DarkUrthe Legends:As the shadows of evil stretch

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-52349653376726603302007-07-23T08:02:00.000Z2007-07-23T08:27:06.241Z

World of Synnibarr has been long regarded as the king of gonzo ‘everything and the kitchen sink’ and ‘WTF were they smoking?’ game design.It’s one of the games that people joke about running, but don’t.It has two types of bear with laser beam eyes: the Sea bear and the Giant flying grizzly bear. (Potential players will be pleased to know that the Giant Sunstone, Midnight Sunstone and plain

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-22696946342603459072007-07-22T21:53:00.000Z2007-07-22T22:04:26.898Z

Well, it's not so much a challenge, more a reason to have a look at some of the games I've bought over the years.Inspired by this thread on RPGnet, I'm going to be making one character for every RPG that I own.Where character generation is random, the dice will be obeyed. Where it is not, or choices are allowed, the goal will be to make some sort of Warrior-scholar type.Where different editions

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-1156667408428034842006-08-27T08:23:00.000Z2007-07-22T22:01:54.825Z

No, really, do.Those orange lights on the side of your vehicle? They're there to tell other road users what you intend to do. Before you do it. Not as you do it.See that nice twisty road with a perfect camber? It is not there to be trembled along at 30 miles an hour.See that motorbike behind you? It cannot reverse uphill. If pointing down a hill, do not try to reverse when there is a

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-1155747307121995372006-08-16T16:45:00.000Z2007-07-22T22:02:40.854Z

Or, it's not littering if it's not on the floor, is it?There's a set of cash machines in the Broadgate passage at London Liverpool Street that, apart from rarely having any money in them, also act as a dumping ground for cups of coffee and those promotional mini-cans of fizzy drinks.There will be things perched on every available surface, including the little fire alarm boxes.But not on the

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-1155746706651728102006-08-16T16:40:00.000Z2007-07-22T22:03:48.631Z

What is it with them?Is there a competition to see who can cause the most disruption to other road users?The other day I was late to work because there was a tractor ahead of me. Not satisfied with the convoy building up behind him (several cars and me on my motorbike), the driver, when faced with a passing point in the road choose to attempt a three point turn rather than pulling over and

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27584229.post-1147691131900578482006-05-15T10:39:00.000Z2006-08-16T16:39:45.976Z

Blah, blah, social revolution, blah blah blogosphere blah.This post was originally much longer. It was also pretentious waffle, so I deleted it.There were no comments, so I'm going to assume that no-one I know online or IRL stumbled across it either.Toodle pip, chocks away and all that.

Madcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03094974847094832358noreply@blogger.com0