I Question Their Sanity.

This is my recollection from an old game. It's pretty accurate and brief.

Introductory Games

I have no clue what Flatpack is about. I picked up an intro scenario because it sounded interesting. Civilization with Earthbound? You had me at hello.

Talon Journal Entry for 11-18-11

Upon making it back to the Mando commander we learn that the hut Delora killed wasn't really Jabba and that there were lightsaber marks on the corpse (meaning that we not only missed our target, we also didn't make it look like an imperial assassination). The commander is very displeased and considers our conduct to be very sloppy. Effective immediately we're to undergo training without our clothing or gear. Since Kall is the assumed leader of our group he receives thirty lashes.

Zombies!

So on the Wreck Age forums a user had asked about zombies. They also went into different ways of including them. But of course zombies don't fit into every game. This is of course despite people trying to shove them into every game, which I am not a fan of. In fact I even responded in the negative opinion on this matter. Zombies are played out and have no place in a lot of games. Wreck Age is one of them. Almost.

Wreck Age First Impressions and Intro Game

This week we decided to try a different game called 'Wreck Age' and played a little bit into the intro. The setting is a post-apocalyptic world where the wealthy and powerful took as much technology and resources as they could and left the world in a terrible state. The time is hundreds of years after their departure.
We play as a group of 'Drifters' who are basically nomads and follow a strict tribal code. We have four members: Edinson, Melky (who is played by me), Yata and Emaly.

The Misadventure went as follows:

Wreck Age Results

First off my initial reaction to this is it's a miniatures game with an RPG tacked on. I see nothing of a skill system in the introduction and combat is fast and deadly (like moose meat and Swedish women). I have been told there will be skills and more in the actual rules.

I had to do a bit of prep work, running this on the fly would not be a good idea since they leave a lot of stuff up to the GM (not a bad thing). They also have a lot of options for the players to do different things, which is a pleasant change of pace.

Wreck Age RPG Introductory Adventure.

So here it is. I have on my computer a copy of the Wreck Age introductory adventure.
I've looked it over and so far it sounds like a fun start. These guys did their job. Naturally I'll post something more useful after we try it out.
Some changes that maybe can be made is to include actual character sheets instead of one sheet for all characters. Good for saving space, but it did have a bit of a "I want this character, he's the best!" in my group.
More later when we actually play.

Talon Journal Entry for 11-11-11

Our rescuers have to make a stop at Tatooine and on the way we're flanked by several vessels. We're boarded by the Mandalorian Protectorate. Since these are Kall's people we let him do the negotiating and after a brief conversation we go with them. Our group is led into a briefing room where they're planning an attack on a large Star Destroyer named 'The Executor' (which is also the 501st's staging vessel). The first order of business is regarding trouble with one of the financiers funding their operations. We decide to accept the mission since we're fairly poor, have no ship and no place to really call home. Our mission is of the assassination type and has to be correct. We're to kill a Hut by the name of Jabba while making it look like the imperials did it. Our target will be on a sail barge. The Mandos give us a lambda shuttle to take down planet-side and we already have imperial uniforms with the exception of Jang who will be posing as a guide.

Once on the surface we take a speeder out to the barge and are intercepted by skiff full of grenade throwing hillbillies. They nearly take us out with stun grenades and stop their attack after some negotiating. The tow us to the barge since the speeder's lift mechanism is malfunctioning due to the deep desert. Three of us are led to a bar/leisure room while Delora is taken to the Hut since she offered certain 'services'. We're very sure she'll 'butter' him up, har har. After a short while Delora emerges from his chambers with a flushed, angry look and she smells like butter. With the Hut discretely dead we depart without incident and make it back to the ship.

Wreck Age RPG

Just a quick post today to share my excitement.
It's coming. I've been talking to the two guys responsible for this and I can't wait for the playtest version to come out. It should be soon (if it's not posted already). We'll take a day off of Star Wars to play it when we have a chance. I'll report more back about it here.
When I learn more about the RPG I have some plans that I'll be posting as a fan development.

UPDATE: Next few days on the RPG playtest.

Payday: The Heist

Our group has ventured to the game Payday: The Heist. This game, in my opinion, is pretty awesome. The graphics are good, the music is great, most importantly it plays great.
Quite a bit from a straight up FPS this game has RPG progression mixed in with the equipment unlocks. Three trees with a total of 144 levels to unlock.
The four player co-op experience is a must as the AI is lacking in certain areas. The AI won't do objectives, won't carry objects. The will however help you up, cover you and follow you. Unfortunately those things can't be expected from human players all the time.
If you can, I would recommend picking this up in a four pack for you and your friends.

Talon Journal Entry for 10-28-11

Since the guest of honor is not there yet Kall and I mingle with some of the guests. We meet an anti-social, ugly-ass twi'lek who goes by the name of Jang. Reandda shows up at the party and we have a discussion with her. With a little help from me Kall and I convince her to join the rebellion. Kall and Reandda disappear from the party just as I start doing jello shots. They also have bacon! Mmmm, bacon. The evening fades into a blur and I wake up the next morning on a couch. Kall staggers in from another room complaining that he cannot find his pants. Jang, to his own unknowing peril, decides to join our group. We contact the rebellion and our debt is cleared. We're also notified that the airspace over that ground installation is clear. Just as we're ready to depart kall's pants floats in front of our ship. I just have to wonder why there are blaster marks and blood on them, and they're out in space!

We set a course for Narshada. Upon landing we're met by a Twi'lek who is under the employ of Zorba. This time we're going to bomb the installation instead of attempting to infiltrate it. We talk with the Twi'lek about our options and we go with the escape pod ordinance surprise package. We also purchase a droid to guide the pod down to our intended target. Very clever since most wouldn't shoot down an escape pod broadcasting a distress signal. By time we're done the total cost is 13,000cr.

With the purchase and installation of our care package complete we set a course for the enemy base. After two jumps we arrive in orbit and are immediately engaged by two tie prototypes. I manage to tap into the force and annihilate one of the ties. We quickly launch the pod and jump out, mission successful.

After coming out of hyperspace two we immediately notice that two ties have also followed us. We take a couple of bad hits and we make a blind jump. Something goes wrong as we graze a black hole and dense cluster of stars. The ship and my fighter have both take structural damage. Our hyperdrive is not repairable, is glowing blue and there is also blue smoke coming from it. We use our back-up drive to jump to Alderaan, which takes 48 days! During the course of the jump Kall has developed a hatred of aliens and partially blames Jang for the failure of the hyperspace jump.

Upon coming out of hyperspace we find out that Alderaan is now in pieces. With nothing here we jump to Narshada. After some investigation our nav computer calculates that we have jumped about 12 years into the future. A YT-545 named the Midnight Star docks with us and three figures emerge. A red-headed woman named Kalah, a Duros named Nuuk-kuur or something and a human male named Edward. We hide our ship in a nearby asteroid field and they take us.

Talon Journal Entry for 10-21-11

After fleeing we decide to try a different mission involving an Imperial Space Station. We quickly fall into trouble and have to negotiate our way out of being destroyed. We need a Jedi or Jedi look-a-like so we offer up the Zabrak in cuffs and I plant one of my lightsabers on him. With the trade complete we quickly flee and I mourn the loss of a good lightsaber… They execute him before we make it back inside our ship, like an animal. On our way out from the station we notice a grappling hook and upon further investigation we find the Zabrak corpse attached to the other end. We cut it loose and Delora sends her regards.

We learn that the cost of screwing up the mission is 15,000cr, woohoo. Our employer gives us an opportunity to waive the fees if we can convince a certain person to join the rebellion. Our target's name is Reandda. Intel states that she is retiring from her career in shipping and the best way to approach her would be at her retirement party. We arrive at the station where it will be held the following day. As we're walking down a corridor we discover a suitcase that just seemed to appear out of nowhere containing formal clothing. Kall and I talk with the party planner and after some careful negotiating we're allowed to attend the party.

On the Horizon

After Star Wars I've told the players we'll be giving Pendragon a full go. We played a single adventure in it once before, and I enjoyed the story and the set up. The game involves a generational game play, that is when your character dies or retires, you are able to take up arms as a family member and continue play. The game takes place over roughly 80 years, so one character will hardly be able to do it all.
After that I'm working on a World of Darkness game as well as a Warhammer 40,000 game.
The World of Darkness game will basically be a romp in a fictionalized Chicago. Players will start play as human characters, but will be able to become vampires. Other supernaturals will be included and offered as a "buy up" from previous characters.
The Warhammer 40k game will use at least the four games currently published and will include playing on both sides of the fence. We have Dark Heresy characters already started for this. They will be joined shortly after the start by Rogue Trader characters, followed by Deathwatch characters. Naturally as the power escalates so will the dangers.
Also in the planning stages is a Legend of the Five Rings game.

Rewards

A problem has always plagued me. Several game masters I have known have accepted payments to alter the game. In my mind this corrupted the integrity of the game in most, but not all, cases. Some games were just one on one games, so trades were made from game to game. Some where just short fun games with little integrity to begin with.
The problem seemed to be that it gave players an unfair advantage because they have money to spend. It overshadows a players hard work put into the character and effort in the game. After all, why bother when you can buy your way to the top?
Then comes the conflict. Buying gaming books and materials is expensive. Plus the situation where a player can negotiate something better is an unique and interesting one.
My solution is to create a system for barter, rewarding players for putting in the extra effort, cleaning up their area after the game and other things. The goal is to keep it low powered enough that I won't worry about players abusing it or it derailing the game, however keep it rewarding enough to keep it interesting.
The design goals are fairly straight forward from here. I want players to be rewarded for good role playing and being good guests in my home. I want players to feel they can use it to get things that are obtainable but not normally in the scope of what they'd see. I want players falling behind with other incentive programs ("homework", blog posts, etc.) to feel like they have other means of catching up. I want players that miss sessions to be able to catch up in more ways than one. Finally, I need to be able to tweak it so I can use it easily across multiple game systems.
Most of the remainder of it is just writing it out and letting the balance be found.

A Change of Pace

Part of what I'm doing in this Star Wars game is allowing a lot of freedom. The players are picking their allies and enemies. Often they're given large sums of cash (from 10,000 to 100,000 so far). They've gotten great equipment (from Mando armor to a starship). I've given them a clear path to the dark side, or the choice to stay on the light.
Part of this freedom is letting them play their characters how they want to and at a unique pace. I give them many opportunities for extra experience. These usually take place as "homework" where I ask for a written response to a question or such. Past examples are a back story, a sketch, character goals, reactions to the situation they were just in. I'm going to have to hunt down some more ideas so I can do this regularly.
Recently I started up the idea of playing short competitive games for bonuses. The first game we played was a card game called "Loot" and I offered a reward of experience points and later as a bonus prize for in the game instead of the experience. The player naturally took the bonus instead of the experience and then went on to enjoy it greatly. The second game was another card game. This one had a larger experience reward for winning, or if I won, it would be a split pot between the players.
I hope they enjoyed it. I certainly enjoyed it and thought it broke up the monotony of playing a single game for so long. It also helped ease us into gaming (which as a social group, can be hard).