Author: David Rothfeder

Posting now so I don’t forget about it later, but here’s the link for session 1 of Seco Creek.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIzW95vs-fU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIzW95vs-fU

The thing about dnd wizards is they have enough in common with Unknown Armies Adepts that they might be one. The difference is that in UA when a person is breaking into the zoo to steal buckets full of bat shit, everybody is surprised and freaked out when the intervening police get their asses fireballed.

Due to shenanigans, myself and +Lu Quade ended up doing a playtest of my two player game Wizard X Sorcerer.

Lu was playing a wizard named Kamal who used his faith in Hinduism to immigrate to Victorian London. There he lived in near poverty with a racist land lady, Mrs. McGuilacutty who threatened to kick him out for touching her feet while grovelling, and was a low ranking supervisor at a textile factory. Kamal was spineless to everybody except those he was in charge of whom he tended to lash out against. His boss, the factory owner, was a far greater monster who blamed him for ruined cotton that occurred when a worker had their hand mangled. Kamal was told the exaggerated cost of the cloth would be deducted from his paycheck. Kamal, when back on the floor, found himself praying to the gods for help, which we determined was illegal in this version of England. When the constables showed up the factory, Kamal ran for it and was able to make it home, wishing he owned the factory.

Enter my sorcerer, an impossibly tall and thin fellow that appears as a proper English gentleman. He also is an incarnation of Justice, and Justice is the only thing he knew before coming here. The last time he arrived to this world, he discovered this interesting concept called temperature and became quite enamored with warmth. Unfortunately it was a cold winter in London and Kamal’s room was not insulated well and had no fire going, so Justice went downstairs where he was doing strange things over a source of heat. They chatted a bit, and while confused, McGuilacutty tried to be a gracious host for the obviously important man. She offered Justice tea, who was willing to try. Justice drank the tea in one gulp, burning his tongue which was strange. Then one of McGuilacutty’s other tenants, Elise, knocked on the door and explained that she couldn’t make the rent anymore, which McGuilacutty had no patience for and inform her that her and her children were evicted. Justice handed out cards (that just said Justice) and interjected in the conversation. Since rent was paid for in advance, Justice thought that this was the proper action, but didn’t understand the concepts of Elise not having anywhere to go or freezing to death. Elise snapped and attacked McGuilacutty, and well Justice did a similar amount of damage back to Elise by pouring hot tea over her face (yeah, that was pretty awful), causing Elise’s child to bite Justice’s ankle. The constables showed up and one of them recognized Justice as the person who beat him with their walking stick the last time Justice was int he world. Justice was walking away when the police officer hit him in the knee, so Justice used magic to bend the constables joints the other way around.

So Kamal woke up in his bed, which was now the master bedroom of the house, sleeping next to the former Mrs. McGuilacutty. Kamal attempted to be tender to his now wife, who wanted nothing to do with him. He dressed and went down stairs to find Elise (without burns, that now happened to somebody else) was now his housekeeper making him a healthy breakfast of Corned Beef Hash (which Kamal could not eat since it included beef). Elise did not understand the issue and quickly excused herself. Kamal went to work where he found a man waiting for him. Turns out this man was Russel Kressel, his accountant, informing him that the factory was in dire straights and that Kamal was supposed to secure a Lord as an investor but hasn’t come through. Searching through the notes in his desk, he found that in addition to being in debt, he owed loan sharks substantial amounts of money and that every potential investor already hated him. Kamal went home to make it so that he was respected and supported by influential people in the Empire.

Justice found himself now in a closet and discovered a book on religion in one of the numerous boxes. Flipping through it, Justice determined that the book got too many things wrong and ripped out the offending pages. Looking to do something useful with them, he found the fire in the kitchen and burned the book for added warmth. Elise and the former McGuilacutty offered to make Justice lunch, which he hoped would be more pleasant than tea (the burnt tongue, biting children, and rude constable were not quite to his liking). Elise accidentally breaks an heirloom servicing dish causing McGuilacutty to freak out. Justice believes that they must now break something of equal value to Elise, and when McGuilacutty says Elise owns nothing, Justice starts asking quick body part would be equivalent to a gravy boat. Elise runs and Justice, being Justice, chases her down. When a car runs over Elise, crushing her legs, Justice catches up, crushes her hand which he determined was of equivalent size, then turned his walking stick into a burning sword and cut off the driver’s legs.

Kamal wakes up again, finding his bedroom much the same, but now his closet is full of British Royal Navy uniforms. Going downstairs for breakfast (corned beef hash again) Kamal reads in the paper that the glorious British Empire has declared war on the barbarous China over the destruction of property (yes, this was the Opium Wars). A valet then knocks on the door and he was summoned to the residence of Duke Ellington, 4th in line to the crown and Admiral of the BRN. When there, Kamal finds that the Duke has had their legs recently chopped off and that Kamal gained his position by betraying the resistance in India, but hey, at least his debts had been paid off by the Duke. Kamal was informed that he WOULD be travelling to China as a spy to identify high value targets for the British. It was obvious that prospects of returning back alive were slim, and his boat was leaving for India at 3 pm today. Kamal decided that he was being punished for his greed and accepted that further attempts to alter reality would just add to his misery.

If you want to read about the game rules I posted the link below (proof reading edits are still needed).

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B511-yaR3CdxYUlmNTlNOE1lRkE

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B511-yaR3CdxYUlmNTlNOE1lRkE

Did a playtest with Ellen Saxon of Wizard X Sorcerer in case anybody is interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfyRzqO6p3U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfyRzqO6p3U

Originally shared by David Rothfeder

So the game still needs work; editing I’m sure, but I also need to work out what the principles should be. Still, the heart of the game is done and typed and could probably be play tested, which means it’s ready for other’s to give some thoughts.

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, this is a two player game about a small stakes super hero who works on solving community problems as opposed to world destroying evil.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B511-yaR3CdxdjJ0NGhURGhzelU

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B511-yaR3CdxdjJ0NGhURGhzelU

New game pitch:

“The world is full of heroes. Society depends on people, or not quite people, who throw monsters into the sun, geniuses who find the doomsday device and deactivate it with seconds left, and idols who route the alien invasions before they reach the ground. You can depend on these would be gods to ensure the world continues, the country thrives, and the cities stay standing. But those assholes never have the time to fix what’s already wrong.

When a person is committed to preventing the worst from consuming the planet, they don’t have time to heal a sick community. That’s where you come in. Maybe you’re just a blue collared worker tired of the neighborhood you grew up in suffering. Maybe you have a cosmic level power but prefer to act locally. Probably you’re somewhere in between, but it doesn’t matter. The point is that you don’t play those life and death games, but you are here to help.

Small Stakes is a two player role playing game where one player takes on the role of a Hero trying to do right by their community, and the other plays the community which has a problem it cannot or does not want to solve.”

I created a thing based on a FB thread from Adam Dray. I think it might be of interest to Oli Jeffery.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B511-yaR3CdxYUlmNTlNOE1lRkE

Edit: I know the formatting needs a lot of work.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B511-yaR3CdxYUlmNTlNOE1lRkE

So I’ve finished up the playable my current RPG project, which I decided to use a working title (subject to change) of “The Airs and Audacity of Inner Words”. Here’s the elevator pitch:

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to have near unlimited power at the tip of your tongue? Well here’s your chance. You get to play a person who discovered their inner magic able to have nearly any effect. The down side, plenty of other people have done the same and expect you to cooperate with them. That and the fact that your power comes from burning off pieces of your soul, but that’s not a big deal, right?

Let me know what people think.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B511-yaR3CdxTlhKNXVCVVNrS0U

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B511-yaR3CdxTlhKNXVCVVNrS0U