While I had a specific example for the great art, I want to talk in general about great writing. I’ve noticed a trend with some RPG publications, especially those based on popular franchises. I’d like to remind all of the writers and publishers of one reason that your customers buy your product.
“Your customers are buying a game book, not a guide to the source material. Let me repeat that. Your customers are buying a game book, not a guide to the source material.”
-Me
I have purchased publications because in the first few pages of the book, it gives me the basic concept of the system that will be used in the game. This helps me explain to my friends how the game is played and why we should play it. When I see an RPG based of a specific IP, I worry that the first 20-80 pages will be “Well let’s tell you about the source material this game is based upon, once upon a time…”. I can read the title. I know what the source material is based on. A fan of the source material already knows this, instead they wonder how they can play the game. A fan of RPGs will be looking for the system, not the source material. Publishers are doing a dis-service to both possible customers by not getting to the point. Yes, there should be some explanation of the source material. But that can be in the later half of the book, not the first half.
Game system first, game universe second.
Now primarily this is for the core rulebooks. Adventures and most supplements tend to get to the point fairly quickly. I’ve started adding “Character creation rules start on page XX” when I write up my mini-reviews for the Character Creation Challenge to show how quickly readers will get into the meat and potatoes of the game. I know it’s not much, but I want to try.
So am I on the right track? Or do you think I’m off-base on this writing point-of-view? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of August 5h through August 11th. Coming soon to Bluesky once we can find a scheduler option.
“Once again, the magic of science prevails! Too much?” Hemmer- The Elysian Kingdom, Stardate: 2341.6 #StarTrek #StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
August 6 Happy Birthday to Michelle Yeoh. @michelle_yeoh https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Michelle_Yeoh #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #StarTrekShortTreks #StarTrekSection31 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
“No, that is the easy way, and I know how that story ends. You die, I die, or both. But as of this moment, our future is unwritten. Let’s make it count, shall we?” Mirror Georgiou- Terra Firma, Part 1, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
“I really like this classical band called The Monkees. Ever heard of ’em?” Barnes “Let’s just say ‘I’m a Believer.'” Rutherford- Second Contact, Stardate: 57436.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
“We work to better ourselves and the rest of Humanity.” Jake Sisko “What does that mean exactly?” Nog “It means… it means we don’t need money!” Jake Sisko- In the Cards, Stardate: 50929.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
“You’re growing and adapting.” Hologram Janeway “Eh, what can I say? Resistance is futile.” Dal- Let Sleeping Borg Lie, Stardate: 61284.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekProdigy #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
August 8 “Use every scrap of knowledge and logic you have to save the ship. But temper your judgment with intuitive insight.” Kirk- The Tholian Web #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
“What are your orders?” Ayel “We wait. We wait for the one who allowed our home to be destroyed, as we’ve been doing for twenty-five years.” Nero- Star Trek (2009), Stardate: 2233.04 #StarTrek #StarTrekFilm #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
“I have bound myself to Picard as qalankhkai. Anyone who threatens him will be choosing to die!” Elnor- Absolute Candor, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekPicard #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
August 11 “I may be a walking encyclopedia but even I don’t know everything.” The Doctor- Nothing Human, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.
Here we are at day four of the RPGaDAY 2024 challenge and our topic is “RPG with great art.” Being the father of an artist who is trying to break into the business, this is a big topic for me. Lately there has been a rash of AI renderings (I refuse to call them art) that has been used in RPG publications. Yes they are cheap, but the old saying is “You get what you pay for”. AI renderings look plastic and uninspiring. I remember when creating a character for Vintage Space in the last Character Creation Challenge and I noted how bad the AI renderings were. They didn’t have any uniformity and just seemed to be a random jumble of bad images that didn’t fit together.
So I’m going to talk about an RPG product that I purchased specifically for the art. It was the X-Treme Dungeon Master 2nd Edition that I picked up from Kickstarter and did a review when it arrived. The book was written by Tracy & Curtis Hickman, but the artist is Howard Tayler. I’ve talked about him before on my blog when he did some personalized art for me. Howard ran a webcomic called Schlock Mercenary and was able to keep it running for twenty years. As a loyal reader, I got use to his art style. The art he created for the XDM 2nd edition book had his style, but not once did I think “oh it’s Schlock Mercenary”. He was able to make it unique, make it his, but also make it new. There were a few color pieces on the cover and just inside the front cover, but the black and white art on the inside flowed along with the subject matter being discussed. There was also a little “flip book” art at the bottom of each page. I really liked the piece where the GM is using the “theater of the mind” to describe the scene. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few photos of the book that I took just for this blog post.
Additional things about the challenge. I’ve appreciated the feedback that readers have given me on my first couple of posts. I’ve had questions about comparing different Star Trek RPG systems. I’ve also enjoyed looking up #RPGaDAY2024 on BlueSky and finding a lot of other interesting gamers to follow. If you’ve followed me back, thank you.
Is there an RPG product that you thought had really good artwork in it? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
So I’m going to tilt this subject on it’s side slightly. Most often RPG that I’ve GMed. Back in the mid 2000’s. The Star Trek Roleplaying Game by Decipher was the first Star Trek RPG that I played with my local Star Trek club. I was even able to GM a few sessions. I had a group of young Ensigns (the player characters) lead by an NPC Lieutenant as the CO, head to a shipyard to recover the USS Crockett for refitting just after the end of the Dominion War. Starfleet needed to pull some older, but still serviceable ships out of mothballs to rebuild the fleet and get back to the primary duty of exploring. Because the PCs got kicked off the station managing the shipyard, the team left with the Crockett before making sure the ship was ready to go. There was a very large nest of Talarian Hook Spiders that woke up from hibernation when the environmentals warmed up. As the crew tried to re-take back the ship, one of the PCs accidentally set the Lieutenant on fire who then fell in the turboshaft that they were traversing through. Luckily he survived despite being very injured. After the players recovered the ship and got to their destination, the poor Lieutenant was placed on a medical leave and eventually retired somewhere far away from the PCs. The Ensigns were assigned to the USS Crockett to investigate an unknown signal coming from an unexplored sector of space. There they encountered a band of rogue Kzintis, a planet of robots and more. One of the PCs being diplomatic with a Gorn captain gave him the impression that the word “Dude” was a universal greeting in the Human language.
What is the RPG that you’ve played the most? Was there a game that you GMed for quite a while? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Well this is going to be a disappointing entry for me. For Day 2 of RPGaDAY 2024 challenge the topic is “most recent game played”. If things had gone the way I had hoped, I would be talking about the session zero of the new Castles and Crusades game that I had been invited to. The Castle Keeper wanted to start us on a weekly long term campaign. It would have been my first game on The Foundry VTT and my first C&C game. I’ve been wanting to play in a C&C campaign after creating a character for it in a past Character Creation Challenge. But real life popped up with the dreaded scheduling curse. Too many players had dropped out due to real life issues and there wasn’t enough players to justify a game. So, hopefully a C&C campaign will start up soon.
But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been active with my RPGs. Yes I’ve been playing and GMing at SaltCON, but that wasn’t the latest. My local Star Trek fan club had a Star Trek Game Night at a local gaming store in June. I finally had a chance to run the Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition Quickstart game. I had run a few STA games previously, but I wouldn’t call myself an expert. I did alter the scenario slightly and I noticed that the group got more out of the alteration that I did than the other listed events. I think I need to get more experience with running STA as I saw where some of my GM rust was still present. Now that I have the new 2nd Edition in PDF (physical book and it’s review coming soon), I’ll have to give it some serious thought.
What was your latest RPG game? Were you a player or a GM? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Welcome to Day 1 of the RPGaDAY 2024 challenge. The first topic for today is “First RPG bought this year.” I elected to give two answers to this.
According to my records, I purchased a Bundle of Holding for Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition at the start of January. This came with quite a few books including the Starter Set, the Vehicle Handbook, the High Guard Update and a few other items. I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet as I had picked it up right in the middle of the last Character Creation Challenge. But I should be using it for the 2025 Character Creation Challenge.
The physical purchase was a dead tree version of the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire core rulebook that I had picked up at SaltCON-Spring. I was grateful that I had found it at a bargain price. Every time that I found a core rulebook, it was mega expensive. I think that’s because it has the name “Star Wars” on the cover. I’m planning to also use this for the upcoming Character Creation Challenge.
What was your latest RPG purchase? Was it a full game or a supplement? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of July 29th through August 4th. Coming soon to Bluesky once we can find a scheduler option.
July 29 Happy Birthday to Wil Wheaton. @wilw https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Wil_Wheaton #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #StarTrekFilm #StarTrekReadyRoom #StarTrekPicard #StarTrekLowerDecks #StarTrekProdigy #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
“And you are…?” Kore Soong “That’s a very long and very complicated story.” Wesley “Honestly, I’ve got nothing pressing.” Kore Soong “OK. A long time ago, I was known as Wesley Crusher. But now, I am a traveler of all of space and time.” Wesley- Farewell, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekPicard #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
“I love feeling feelings.” Tilly- Choose Your Pain, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
July 31 “She seems harmless enough.” Dr. McCoy “The sand-bats of Manark Four appear to be inanimate rock crystals, Doctor, until they attack.” Spock- The Empath, Stardate: 5121.0 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
August 1 “He couldn’t find a cup of water if you dropped him in a lake but, even if he is an idiot, he’s still my brother.” Quark- Invasive Procedures, Stardate: 47182.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
“Why would you need someone who speaks a few languages on a ship that can translate all of them?” Gwyn “Ah. But language is more than translation; it is interpretation.” Zero- Kobayashi, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekProdigy #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
August 3 “What you’re doing isn’t self-defense. It’s the exploitation of another species for your own benefit. My people decided a long time ago that that was unacceptable, even in the name of scientific progress.” Janeway- Scientific Method, Stardate: 51244.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
August 4 “Even Freud said “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” Troi- Phantasms, Stardate: 47225.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.
August is quickly approaching and I’m electing to participate in the new #RPGaDAY2024 campaign. I’ve participated this challenge for the past three years as I think it helps me as a writer/blogger. I know I need to do more for this blog. Not only do I get a good feeling from creativity, but I’ve loved the interaction that I’ve experienced with the RPG community. Just recently I got a big thrill from discovering that the artist at Dyson Logos reads my blog. While watching a recent Twitch stream where he draws his maps (and plays some damn good music) he buzzed me in the chat to ask me about my recent review of the Shadow Ops espionage RPG. Needless to say, I was jacked. This isn’t the first time someone has reached out to me (or even talked to me in person) about how they have enjoyed reading my blog posts. So, I’m trying to get more posts put up for the geek community. Thank you for sticking with me during my dry/busy times.
Starting on August 1st there will be 31 days of RPG posts based upon various suggestions as seen in the image above. There were two different options for daily subjects this year, but I’ve elected to stick with the standard listing. It will also be an additional challenge because I’ve also been invited to a weekly Castles and Crusades campaign. I’m excited to be in a long term campaign again.
While I will be posting my entries here on this blog, I will be posting links on social media with the hashtag #RPGaDay2024. I also plan to post entries on the RPG.net message boards. I’m looking forward to seeing what I type up.
Do you have any interest in participating in this challenge? Does the list inspire you? Is there anything you want me to focus on during the challenge? Let’s have some fun. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of July 22nd through July 28th. Coming soon to Bluesky once we can find a scheduler option.
“I was in a Cardassian prison camp for five years, and I can remember each and every beating I suffered. And while you had your weapons to protect you, all I had was my faith… and my courage.” Winn- Rapture, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
“Faster, Doctor. We risk being consumed by their trajectorial decay.” Spock “Damn back seat driver.” Dr. McCoy- Star Trek Beyond, Stardate: 2263.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekFilm #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
July 23 “You cannot explain away a wantonly immoral act because you think that it is connected to some higher purpose!” Picard- Man of the People, Stardate: 46071.6 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
July 24 “In…accepting the inevitable, one finds peace.” Tuvok “If that’s another Vulcan saying, Tuvok, I’ll stick with ‘Live Long and Prosper’.” Paris- Once Upon a Time, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
July 25 “Those are P-51s! I’ve seen them at air shows!” Mayweather “I don’t think this is an air show.” Tucker- Storm Front, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
“There’s an old saying on Bajor. The land and the people are one.” Kira- The Storyteller, Stardate: 46729.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
July 27 “I only want what you have the luxury of taking for granted—freedom.” Moriarty- Ship in a Bottle, Stardate: 46424.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
July 28 “My love has wings. Slender, feathered things with grace in upswept curve and tapered tip.” Mitchell- Where No Man Has Gone Before, Stardate: 1312.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote
What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.
I don’t recall how I found out about the Shadow Ops Kickstarter. Most likely it was a post on one of the RPG message boards that I read. I’m always a sucker for espionage roleplaying games. I’m also someone who is willing to pack a project that isn’t mega expen$ive. Too many times I see an interesting Kickstarter campaign, but when I look at the pledge prices I wonder where they are pulling the numbers from? Unless I really know about the people involved (which has happened on a few Kickstarters) I’m a little wary about backing something. But if the price is reasonable (and not hitting at a bad time), I’ll chuck in a few bucks to see how it comes out. In the case of Shadow Ops, the prices were right for both a physical book and a PDF of the game.
Well my physical book arrived so I decided to do a quick review of the game in a look see. I had received the PDF last month, but as I’ve mentioned before, I really like learning a bout a game with the physical book in my hands.
Shadow Ops: A Game of Cinematic Espionage Action was written by Christopher Peter (it is not known if this is a cover name) and published by Divine Madness Press. I picked up a softcover copy of the rules that was delivered by POD via DriveThruRPG. I’ve previously reviewed some POD products that DriveThruRPG has sent me in the past and this matched the same level of quality that I have received before. The book is 214 pages in length and contains black and white images throughout. It wasn’t identified as an ISBN number, but there is a barcode with 2 370020 914112 on the back which might be one. There is an introduction, ten chapters and an appendix with the last two pages being the character sheet.
Each of the chapters are listed on the side of the pages like file folders. My oldest daughter really liked this when she was looking at the book.
Example of the chapter guides on the right side of the page.
The introduction gives two very interesting points. It states that this is not a beginners RPG. Not that it’s complicated or crunchy, but that the author assumes that the reader already knows what roleplaying games are. The second is that Shadow Ops is an emulator, not a simulator. With the full title containing “cinematic espionage action”, I believe this is the type of game that I would be interested in playing. When I’m watching espionage shows, I want to see some over-the-top scenes and action that have come from James Bond or Mission Impossible. Getting bogged down in rules that are trying to add real-life simulation to what is supposed to be an action genre, that would turn me off playing.
Chapter one is The Core Mechanics. Let me just say, thank you for getting to this right away. As I’ve mentioned before, I hate having to slog through 20-50 pages of background material before I see the basics of the RPG. It’s an RPG book, not a reference guide. For those of you who are curious, Every time your character completes a task, you roll three dice (which range from d4 to d12). A die for the attribute, a die for the skill and a stress die. The number that is the middle value of the three die becomes your Result Die to see if you fail or succeed that task. If something makes the task more difficult, you would count the lowest rolled as your Result Die and an easier task would take the higher result. There are other additional items that could have you roll a higher sided dice, but rolling the three dice are the basics of the system.
The second chapter is called Agent Recruiting and it deals with the character creation process. I’m certain that I’ll be taking a deeper dive into this when I use this game for the 2025 Character Creation Challenge. The attributes are Insight, Intellect, Personality, Coordination, Endurance and Strength. There are also skills, fortes (special talents) and abilities. The skill descriptions are found in chapter three and are broken down by skill sets (IT, infiltrator, tactical leader, etc.)
Chapter four goes into tradecraft. How do you handle things like stealth, disguise, forgery and the like. Chapter five, called Tricks of the Trade, gets deeper into the description and uses of the character’s fortes.
The equipment that characters may be able to use is brought up in chapter six, Tools of the Trade. How to obtain mission gear, enhancing equipment, resources available, assets and gadgets.
I like how the stock images are used in this publication.
Hunting Packs is the title of chapter seven and it covers the team stealthily following a mark, or being followed themselves. I didn’t get a chance to go to deep into the system, but it uses a standard set of 52 playing cards with values and suites. For those wondering about chases (by foot or vehicle), that also uses the playing cards and is covered in chapter eight “Fast and Furious”.
When the stealthy or speedy sides of the espionage game goes wrong, it can turn into the subject of chapter nine, Firefights and Fistfights. This covers the combat system for Shadow Ops.
The GMs section starts with chapter ten called Mission Briefings. It covers the session zero, the types of campaigns and designing missions.
In the appendix there is a listing of the inspirations (boo, Archer wasn’t listed), and something I thought could be useful, Player aids covering the basics that could be printed out and left on the table.
An example of the player aids.
Overall this looks like Shadow Ops is a well thought out game. It’s built towards more of a Mission Impossible group of players instead of a single James Bond style campaign. I can’t wait to make a character for it in January. I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to actually play this game, but overall I’m very happy that I backed this Kickstarter campaign. Oh, one last thing that I thought was kewl, the author thanked the backers of the campaign in the back of the book.
One of these names looks familiar. I just can’t put my finger on it.
Have you received any Kickstarter rewards lately? Are there any campaigns that you have wanted to back. Tell me about them. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.
