Going Ape

Oh, how the winds of change blow...

Sometimes (in this little hobby of ours) a game or product gets announced by a designer or company that, sight unseen, simply fires the imagination; consider White Star, which got considerable hype even before it was available. I've been on the receiving end of such attention myself, back when I was first working on my B/X Companion, and while it can make one a little anxious (hoping to live up to expectations), I generally think such anticipation is a good thing. Not only does it get one much needed publicity, but it confirms that you're not the only person interested in the project (sometimes designers have self-doubts that can lead to slowdowns and roadblocks) and the "communal excitement" can light a fire under one's ass to get things done.

Two words: Sheer Awesomeness

So it is, that I want to mention the (announced) upcoming release from Dan Proctor and Goblinoid Games, APES VICTORIOUS. Proctor was, of course, the guy responsible for Labyrinth Lord, one of the favorite retroclones of the OSR, and Goblinoid has brought us a number of B/X-compatible games, including Mutant Future and Startships & Spacemen. Personally, I'm not a believer in the "one-size-fits-all" theory of Unified Gaming (GURPS cured me of that abused notion years ago), but it does allow folks who want to model cross-genre mash-ups a way to do so with ease...and some systems (like B/X) do lend themselves rather well to multiple genres.

So...Apes Victorious. Proctor's latest greatest (currently in the play-testing stage with an intended release date of summer...well, summer if you live in the northern hemisphere) is a fairly obvious homage to the Planet of the Apes film franchise. We're not talking the most recent reboots (Rise of, Dawn of, etc.) chronicling the chronological evolution of Earth into "Ape World;" no this belongs squarely in the realm of "astronaut-travels-through-time-and-finds-a-hideous-future-ruled-by-monkeys," typified in the original French book (I read a translation years ago), the first two movies, and two abbreviated television series in the 1970s (one of which was animated).

This isn't the first time a Planet of the Apes-inspired product has hit the market. Terra Primate from C.J. Carella is a "setting-less" RPG that provides a toolbox for creating a number of different campaigns involving intelligent monkeys using the Carella's Unisystem. While I've owned Terra Primate for more than a decade (I purchased it when it first came out), I've never had the chance to use it...haven't even read the thing in years. I don't find the Unisystem particularly inspiring.

Not like those Albedo games.

However, the reason I picked it up...and the reason I'm so excited about Apes Victorious...is that I am a huge Planet of the Apes fan. Being born in '73, I'm too young to have seen the original film...or any of its sequels...in the theater, but my first exposure to Apes was the Heston classic on television, sometime circa 1979 or '80. Which, for those keeping score, means prior to my introduction to Dungeons & Dragons. Planet of the Apes left a profound and indelible impression on my young mind...one that, growing up in the years of Reagan's "new" Cold War, engendered a love of post-apocalyptic fiction, even if also struck the Fear of the Bomb in my heart. Later, with the advent of cheap VHS machines and video rental stores, I was able to watch the entire series of features and later (one glorious summer, probably in '84 or '85) the made-for-television live-action series over a special week-long re-broadcast. I should also probably mention that my uncles (teenagers during the 60s and 70s) had left behind various PotA merchandising paraphernalia at my grandmother's house (drinking cups with Urko's image and whatnot), that I took great interest in during our twice annual trips to Montana.

I've always found myself inspired and interested by the Planet of the Apes franchise. I can remember reading the novelization of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (long before I ever watched the film) and being astounded at the color-coded clothing worn by the ape servants, and how that had (down the centuries) translated into the traditional species-specific garb worn by the Heston film simians; a little bit of silly sic-fi pseudo-anthropology that made me felt like some crypto-archaeologist making "discoveries." I remember the Ape Nation comic in the 90s (a mash up of two 20th Century Fox franchises: PotA and the James Caan film Alien Nation), and how (despite its ridiculous absurdity) it suggested all sorts of possibilities: Planet of the Apes meets Predator or Planet of the Apes meets Terminator (Dark Horse started publishing its various film crossover titles shortly after the release of Ape Nation).

[I should note I always though Ape Nation as a title was both clever AND hilarious]

But even though I've watched...and enjoyed...the recent reboots of the franchise (even the Tim Burton film to a lesser degree), I don't find them nearly as inspiring as the original stuff. Even if the "apes" don't look much like real apes, I don't find the original films to feel terribly dated. And for whatever reason (nostalgia? scarring of the childhood psyche?) I find many of the images from the original series to be incredibly powerful, emotionally. Maybe it's just the tragedy with which every one of the films ends? Perhaps.

Cool...but I prefer my apes with pants.

So now we have Apes Victorious, which I will probably buy. I find myself excited for a Goblinoid Games release in a way I haven't been since...well, ever, really. And not because I find myself interested in running a mixed party of gorillas through a dungeon or something. For me, there's the possibility of doing something like Gamma World (or rather, Mutant Future) but in a way that is much more focused. Yes, talking apes and psychic mutants are pretty "gonzo" but by limiting...by directing it...one can play (and run) a post-apocalyptic campaign in a way that offers more engagement, than your average laser-breathing toad RPG.

In my opinion, of course.

Plus, look at that cover! That may be the coolest RPG cover art I've seen since Vampire the Masquerade. I'd pick this up in hardcover just to have it sitting on my shelf. I'm hoping that option is available when the thing is finally released.

You see, it's projects and products like this that make it very hard for me to stay "monogamous" to a single RPG system or setting. I love the idea of stranded astronauts in a primitive PA world being hunted by gun-toting gorillas and trying to use their wits to survive, thrive, and possibly rebuild some semblance of a "human society." I know there are folks who share my enthusiasm for the subject matter. Just figured it was worth giving a shout out on Ye Old Blog.
: )

Mutants Rule

Earlier this week (Monday? maybe) my son and I finished watching the last episode of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes animated series. Ye Old Netflix suggested another show we might like to watch: Wolverine and the X-Men animated series. As it is (like Avengers) rated TV7 and (also like The Avengers) lacks the "FV" ("fantasy violence" tag) I figured we could give it a shot. My son understands superheroes and cartoons are just fiction, after all.

Welp, we haven't been disappointed. The boy digs it (he now says the X-Men have been added to his favorite superhero teams which previously only included the Avengers and "the Superfriends"). He does continue to refer to it as "The Mutants" ('Papa, can we watch The Mutants while we eat lunch?') which would probably have been a more apt title, if (perhaps) not one with the same cache.

[though "cache" is a relative term...I see the name "Wolverine" in a title these days and I'm pretty immediately disinterested. I reached my saturation point with little, furry guy some years back]

Anyway, the show's not bad, if a bit disjointed and grabass, story-wise (compared to tight story arcs of The Avengers). At least the characters and plots are recognizable to Yours Truly. And in addition to be a good model for teamwork, there's a nice message of tolerating others and their differences which allows me to justify my child's exposure of the program.

And from a gaming perspective, it's starting to percolate some inspiration in my brain.

The "gamers ADD" thing is a tired subject for blog posting, but it's no revelation to long-time readers of this blog that "game designer ADD" is a much more serious topic...in that flitting from project to project is a sure recipe for not getting shit done. Now, if I was a big company with a staff of writers and designers, this wouldn't be an issue: I'd hand off ideas and concepts to staffers and just oversee the development of "products" [anyone see my recent post about "entering a new phase" as a publisher? This is a taste of the direction I'm ruminating on]. But at this point I'm not a "company;" and multiple inspirations are dangerous de-railings when it comes to completing projects.

It is what it is.

The part that's got me thinking is the whole post-apoc, (anti-)mutant war, sentinel-filled future those X-Men folks always seem bent on preventing. The idea of such a future was a good and interesting one when it first came out in the comics...taking the mutant analogy for the Civil Rights movement (and general history of prejudice and intolerance in this country) and ramping it up in combination with the themes one finds in the 1984 film The Terminator (dudes from the future traveling back in time to prevent a war with "the machines"). Actually, the Days of Future Past storyline predates Terminator (1981), but the later storyline involving Nimrod and Rachel Summers physically traveling back in time was in 1985 and feels a bit derivative (to me). ANYway...

That's a lot go giant robots.

In 1987, TSR published MX1: Nightmares of Futures Past for the Advanced Marvel Superheroes RPG. MX1 isn't really an adventure module; instead, it's an entire campaign setting placing PCs in the dystopian future where the machines (the sentinels) have taken over. Most of its 36 pages contains information on the world, the sentinels, equipment, antagonists, procedures for searches, and a sample internment camp, as well as special (new) rules regarding popularity and karma use in the setting. Only the last 4 or 5 pages contain adventure ideas and possible scenarios. It's really a toolbox to run your own guerrilla war against giant robots in a dystopian future setting. Later TSR offerings MX2 and MX3 were straight "adventure modules," but ones set in the same campaign setting.

MX1 is interesting and has lots of good, useful information but, in my opinion, doesn't do enough to tweak the original MSH rules for compatibility with the rather dark and gritty setting. For example, there's no changes in character creation to insure appropriateness (i.e. a tightly themed setting could easily devolve into an ordinary cosmic weirdness/kitchen sink game MSH is prone to do). Normally, "appropriateness" isn't an issue as MSH does a great job of modeling the exact same weirdness found in the Marvel universe circa the early to mid-80s...but MX1 would probably work best in a "standard" MSH campaign wherein a PC hero group makes a (temporary) foray into the future to save a blighted alternate timeline.

A more manageable take on the "mutant hunted apocalypse" was suggested by Dennis Laffey in his recent Gamma World/Marvel mash-up campaign that uses Mutant Future as its base system. Dennis has been busy of late with a new baby and his ongoing Chanbara project, so I'm not sure if the campaign is still up and running, but the idea of using the Gamma World system (or, rather, the BX version of the GW system) is a much better starting point for grim-dark future than superheroic, narrative re-writing, nobody-can-die system that is MSH. Still not a perfect fit for the original concept of the setting (the war machines of GW far outclass the mutations)...but then, Dennis isn't trying to do the original concept. His campaign's apocalypse is inspired by the concept, but the campaign world is a far more primitive one (I use the term in a good way), more akin to the easy savagery and general weirdness found in Thundarr the Barbarian.

B/X is a good choice for gritty...I wish Dennis would publish his house rules for the campaign. But it's not quite what I want. A civilization that's already fallen (the default setting for GW) is one that's more about heroic survival in the wilderness and building a new community/civilization. I want a heroic quest to SAVE the civilization BEFORE it falls. But I still want gritty. Hence the need for a new game.

See? This is why I'm a fan of multiple game systems rather than the proponent of the "one-size-fits-all" universal RPG. If I actually pursue this inspiration (and start writing up notes), it will be the THIRD superhero RPG I've started since May. Well, third for which I've done substantial work...one was already a "work in progress." But all have different themes, settings, and styles of play. My street level game (heavily inspired by the Daredevil net series and my favorite Marvel small-timers) utilizes some narrative mechanics, explores a "closed system" (with a definitive endgame), and also attempts to run GM-less. My "hero team" game draws its inspiration from the Avengers, Justice League, etc., makes use of my updated DMI system (previously demo'd as Legendary Might), and focuses on cinematic supers action, as opposed to the comic book style and tropes.

But this would be something different. You're not harnessing your rage (a big theme in my low powered game) to "clean up the streets." You're not blowing up buildings in an attempt to save the Earth from alien empires and high-tech terrorist organizations bent on world domination. Instead, you're battling a World Gone Bad, in which humans have turned on each other (and continue to turn on each other) under the sight of their gigantic robot overlords. I kind of like the idea of different character classes (limited to, say, mutants, cyborgs, normals, and genetic experiments) with separate power suites and leveling to represent how experienced your resistance fighter is.

"I eat mutants like you for lunch."

On the other hand, how much mileage can you get out of fighting giant robots again and again and again? Would anyone be interested in playing a Terminator-style RPG fighting against the machines and "Skynet?" It feels more like a board game...or perhaps a video game...in which there'd be an actual objective, "get-to-the-end" target to obtain. Wipe out the bad mecha, return to normalcy (or, at least, the possibility of rebuilding the world that was lost). Is that enough for an ongoing RPG?

Maybe not.

[see the game Bliss Stage for ideas of running an RPG that focuses on the relationships and mental stability of survivors fighting a war of resistance against hopeless odds in a post apoc future; similar mechanics could probably be adapted if you wanted a more character exploration-style version of this concept]

Anyway, I don't really have time to start another project, so the question is probably moot (though one I'll continue to mull over). Too many other things to work on, including the post-apoc revamp of Cry Dark Future (which will NOT be turned into a supers game, thank you very much). Then again, if I had the right collaborator....

More on this later. I've got to put the kid down for his nap.

Rifts - Duh, Duh, DUH

Let's hate on something different for just a minute.

It's 2am, and I'm having a 2nd glass of wine (after many beers today). O World Cup, you really haven't disappointed this year, what with the 7-1 smack down of Brazil (whom I dislike) by Germany (which is the team I always root for after the U.S. and Mexico are inevitably kicked from the tournament). The wife is out o town (with the baby) and D is asleep and I've just been surfing the blogs and whatnot for the last 90 minutes or so (Bikini Armor Battle Damage on tumblr is pretty funny...and depressing as well).

Rifts...you old son of a bitch.

I was thinking about it this evening, and I have probably spent more of my hard-earned money on Rifts than any other game system in my entire life, including Dungeons & Dragons. One thing about D&D, many of my TSR books were acquired as gifts when I was a youngster (from friends and family for birthdays and Christmas and whatnot), and while I did acquire the 3rd edition core and several of the "splat" (class) books, I really never invested heavily into its other stuff, and a lot of older edition stuff I've picked up was purchased used, or been indefinitely lent by folks.

Rifts on the other hand...well, that's stuff I tend to buy new. And then sell of in disgust. And then re-buy new. Because I have some sort of problem with Palladium games. Really...Palladium is like crack: a cheap high that doesn't last long and is O-So-Bad for you, with nothing really to redeem it. Hell, it ain't even all hard cover and glossy like White Wolf's stuff (I spent a ton of money on Vampire back in the 90's, but things were cheaper than and I never did the sell/re-buy thing)...there's no glamor in a softcover with B&W interior that curls up at the edges.

Palladium system is the ghetto RPG.

It's also the kind of shady drug you don't like to tell people about. I mean, you run into players often enough (Palladium's sold well enough to stay in business this long) but Palladium people always seem a little embarrassed to admit their enjoyment of the game. Fact of the matter is, I've found it hard to even PLAY Palladium games...all the Rifts "campaigns" I've started have invariably  ended after a single session, and I've never known ANY gamers who could really "stick with it"...at least not since high school (and I'm talking freshman/sophomore year high school).

[man...I sure did write a lot of Palladium-related posts back in 2009]

ANYway...

[*pause*]

Sorry...fell asleep. AND woke up late. What was I saying?

Here's the thing...this is what I was trying to get to last night/this morning...here's The Thing: I almost wish (almost!) that Palladium would fold and the game fall from the realms of print so that folks could start "cloning" the hell out of it. Cloning it without the threat of lawsuits.

Of course I do NOT wish the failure of a business on anyone, especially not Mr. Siembieda who has produced so much creative, inspirational work over the decades. This isn't really about hating on Palladium or its policies or its Head Honcho. But, man o man: if Rifts was available for cloning? To take the setting and run it with a system that's a bit more coherent? It would be so damn easy!

I mean, it already has a class/level structure (because Palladium was originally a D&D knock-off/heartbreaker...you're not going to convince me otherwise). It already has D20 combat (if overly complex combat) and hit points and whatnot. The ability scores and adjustments not terribly dissimilar from what you'd find in D&D (duh); tightening the game would be a piece of easy.

Of course, I'm sure a lot of independent publishers were licking their chops at this very prospect during the heyday of D20 and the OGL.

The obvious workaround is the usual one, I suppose...file the "serial numbers" off everything and publish it without using the trademarked IP or copyrighted material. Yeah, easy enough: that's pretty much what I did with Cry Dark Future after all (a cyberpunk-B/X mash-up heavily "reminiscent" of Shadowrun). It's what Bezio's X-Plorers appears to be (with its heavy resemblance of Star Frontiers...though minus the vrusk and dralasites).

But you know, one of the reasons why CDF hasn't actually found its way to publication yet is the sheer degree by which it resembles Shadowrun...and I want it to be a little more different. I mean, it IS different (*sheesh* I have some original ideas...). Yes, I was able to simply and elegantly (I feel) 'port the chargen system (circa 3rd edition SR) into a B/X chassis, but that carries with it the major flaw of the SR chargen system, i.e. the time taken to kit out characters with a high priority in resources (money)...not to mention the all-too-often accounting errors.

And besides: shouldn't a B/X style system really include halflings? Halflings with machine guns (or rocket launchers or bionic limbs) just sound awesome. And much as I like the orc and troll options, aren't those guys supposed to be "monsters?"

Maybe, maybe not. I just haven't had time (or rather taken the time) to work out an original setting for the game...it is nearly entirely derivative from its inspiration. I'm not certain I'm entirely on board with all that 5th World jazz.

And I don't want to make the same mistake again. There is a lot of dumb-dumb stuff in Rifts (or a Rifts-like game). Even adapting Mutant Future (itself almost derivative of its Gamma World source material) doesn't seem right, with its species-specific classes. Not that I object to race-as-class, mind you (and Rifts, too, has RCCs, i.e. "racial character classes")...but the fact that it divides adventurers into Men of Arms (various types), Men of Magic (various types), Scholars & Adventurers (various types), makes the thing just scream for a more traditional D&D type treatment.

Really like the air-powered spear guns.

A long, loooong while ago I was considering the idea of a post-apocalyptic world setting of the type found in the psychedelic PA art of the 60s and 70s. Things like Bakshi's Wizards and Heavy Metal Magazine. Something weird without being gonzo...where "mutant" is an epithet, not a source of X-Man-style superpowers. Dyson Logos did a great series on the (first) animated film, Heavy Metal, and how its disparate stories could be shuffled together to create a coherent and exciting setting for a Mutant Future/Gamma World campaign, and it provided a big push of inspiration...but at the time, I was more concerned with getting my B/X Companion book completed. The idea got dropped along with a lot of other "neat" ones.

[it doesn't help that I get side-tracked by cyborgs...and creating cool game mechanics for cyborgs...every time I get within spitting distance of their possible inclusion. Is my "borg love" a subconscious thing caused by my childhood fandom of the Six Million Dollar Man? No clue]

Now, the idea is back...but Palladium is still there, looming with its massive pile of Rifts "stuff" (ideas, concepts). Ready to pounce with a pack of lawyers at the very whiff of treading on their trademarked toes. Hogging all the post-apoc, mutant-magic mash-up potential.

Except, of course, the concept of such a setting isn't original to Siembieda and Rifts. Post-apocalyptic settings that include both can be found in sword & sorcery fiction. It even found a home on Saturday morning television with Thundarr the Barbarian, my absolute favorite cartoon of all-time (yes, yes, I was a big fan of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon back in the day). I know that Thundarr was adapted to at least one game system ("Under a Broken Moon," using the mechanics from Over the Edge), and maybe Savage Worlds, too. I suppose that a big difference between something like Thundarr and Rifts (besides the obvious) is that Thundarr and its ilk offers no explanation for the emergence of magic in its post-apocalyptic world, while Rifts goes out of its way to create an elaborate justification for the presence of the supernatural...even though the latter proceeds to go all wonky and inconsistent with its various different styles of magic (to make no mention of psychics).

What I probably need to do, instead of filing the serial numbers off Rifts or producing a different spin on Mutant Future, is create my own class/level game set in to post-apoc world. But, dammit, hasn't that already been done before? That's the whole reason why I wrote MDR (not yet available) using the DMI system...because I wanted a post-apoc system that had some heart and something different from the same old, same old fantasy adventurer tropes.

But, man do I love my fantasy adventure tropes.

Ugh. Round and round and round it goes. Maybe what I REALLY need to do, is make a list of all the things I HATE in existing post-apocalyptic games, and then write something that doesn't include those. Hmmm...

Yeah...that's the ticket. Sorry to all my readers that had to wade through the dross of my stream-o-consciousness rambling. I now have a mission.
: )

[congrats to Argentina, BTW...see you in the final]

Wizards Future

I’ve been putting off picking up Mutant Future for awhile now (sorry, Dan!) for a number of reasons.

The first is a bit selfish: I’ve been working on my own Gamma World re-imagining off and on for two years now (mainly “off” recently); why would I want to purchase something when I’m making my own.

The second reason is pure laziness: I still have the 2nd edition GW rules (my favorite version) in PDF format; if necessary, I can run a game using them with a few house rules I like.

The third reason (and main reason) is one of principle: I don’t believe every genre of game can or should be run with the same system. Gamma World is not D&D, and why would I want to play a version based off the Labyrinth Lord (i.e. B/X) rules system? This was miserable for the D20 version of GW…why repeat the same mistake with a retro-clone?

However, I’m starting to come around to the idea, and NOT just because I want to run a cross-genre game a la Ralph Bakshi’s film Wizards (though such would be immensely cool, I’m certain!).

Thing is, one of the reasons Gamma World always worked well (and was popular) for TSR is that structurally it is very similar to D&D. And by structure, I am talking about setting and procedure, not system. Just as in D&D you have a party of diverse types, banded together, and going on adventures in a hostile environment. The world itself is hostile (with monsters and robots and plants). Artifacts (“magic items”) can be found, lost cities are discovered, and underground installations (“dungeons”) get explored. Hopefully the characters rise in prestige and prominence within their community because of their heroic actions.

It is VERY D&D-esque, just set in a different genre. Unlike Star Frontiers, Boot Hill, or Top Secret, the concept of “what to do” in Gamma World is remarkably easy for the average D&D player (as usual, I include the DM as a “player,” too) to grasp.

Of course it IS different: no Vancian magic, add in mutations, radiation is a vicious sub-sytem. And do post-apocalyptic people really want to trade in irradiated gold coins? Wasn’t that a nefarious plot from a James Bond film?

Still, LL (and B/X) are simple enough systems that I can see it working. One reason I was disgusted with the D20 Gamma World was the same old advancement scheme with skills and feats. What skill does a mutant beaver possess anyway? Give me a frickin’ break. As I mentioned before, GW characters are going to need to know the rudiments of survival…and part of the fun is figuring out if a plant is going to try eating you.

In LL, as in B/X there are no skills. Give it a + for that.

And once you see THAT, then you see how minor the tweaking necessary to play a GW game with a B/X system. Saving throws versus poison, radiation, and mental mutations. A method of discovering artifacts’ functions (even if only narrating what the character does). Abstract combat.

I actually prefer the original GW combat system (weapon class versus armor class) as I feel it better models the post-apocalyptic world. These natives aren’t in a state of constant training to be warriors! They’re all equally good with a spear (if they weren’t, they’d be going hungry) and armor offers a certain degree of protection against said spear.

But I can get on board with heroic advancement by “level” for some forms of post-apocalyptic gaming. Again, Wizards is a good example…you have certain “classes” of people (elves, mutants, hit-robots, wizards) that have certain types of training based on their occupation. As they “adventure” through the P.A. world they get better at certain aspects (like fighting) of adventuring life.

This is different from the original GW concept of savages surviving and exploring a “changed” world. But it’s certainly a worthy sub-set of the P.A. genre.

Anyway, Dyson’s posts about Mutant Future and my own musings are leading me to break down and buy the game. Chock up another sale, Dan-O!

; )