Short RPG Games in 2015

In the time since I last wrote this blog, I've got 2 active D&D groups, with 2 more groups in the forming stage. Now I love D&D and the fantasy setting but I believe a good gamer should have more game experiences then good old D&D, so for 2015 I'm putting together some short games using other systems. These will last from 1-3 sessions and hopefully people will enjoy them. I'll be posting these on different RPG web communities in the Philippines and interest in them will determine in which order I run these games.

Most of these are Fate system games,which is a testimony to how versatile the system is.  Where applicable, the background information for each setting have been copy pasted from the PDFs of each book that I own.

1. Apotheosis Drive X

What's it like: Science fiction giant robot war drama, primarily inspired by the Gundam 00 and Gundam Wing anime series.

System: Fate Core

Background:

Humanity lives on colonies in the stars, they have built super soldiers, clones, and giant machines of war, called Titans. They war with these machines in the mistaken opinion that there “isn’t enough” for everyone, despite the huge solar relay in the atmosphere that powers all of the Earth cleanly and endlessly.

The Great Clone War has ended, with the clones returning to their colonies off planet, earth ‘united’ under the One Earth Accord. Malcontents form the People’s Collective and demand attention and independence from the Accord. The Nation of Oya, genetically altered super humans and scientists, attempt to live as neutral peacekeepers despite political heat. And everyone, everyone wants to be the first to come up with the next big leap in Titan technology. The faction with the next advancement in Drive technology, will become the dominant faction.

Adventure Scenario: "Against the Ghost Titans"

In the aftermath of the Great Clone War, the four great factions of the Earth Sphere created a secret peacekeeping force code-named Radiant Helix. Captain Cornelia Black, formerly of Radiant Helix has gone rogue and it's up to the PCs to deal with her and her squad of rogue mechs called the Ghost Titans.

2. Angel's Song - The Infinite Symphony

What it's like - It's an anime themed urban fantasy like "the Matrix" meets Arkham Horror with a touch of psychological drama. This game setting is my original creation.

System: Fate Core

Background:

This story is set in the World of the Great Work, in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, which resembles modern day Earth except that magic is real and hidden from day to day view. This is because in reality this Earth is like a fortress under siege.

Invaders enter the cracks in the walls, some are benign but most are malicious. An organization of mortals known as the Symphony, wields magic and the world's built in defenses to contain and combat the invaders and repair the damage that they cause.

The Symphony is composed of two orders of magic users: The Cantors, who wield the elemental powers of reality, and the Icons, who have the ability to make mental concepts real. Their powers complement each other to protect reality

.

However in the last Great War, the Icons were corrupted. Most were killed and the Cantors now manage the magical defenses alone, but are having a difficult time doing it. The Icons are slowly returning, their spirits finding new humans to bless with power, but it is tainted power, and the Icons must fight not only the enemies without, but their own emerging selfishness, knowing that if they give in to it, they will birth one of the very monsters they are fighting to preserve the world from, a Wyrm.

You are playing an Icon, a member of the Infinite Symphony, you and your rag-tag group of fellow Icons have banded together to fight a guerrilla war against the invaders while avoiding the Cantors, who see your group as a dangerous threat.

Adventure Scenario: "Tears for the magical girl."

The PC's former leader, Ageha, aka "Silver Feather" has been assimilated by a powerful Wyrm and is using her in its siege of Shibuya. Can the PCs save her before she is taken out by the Cantors and stop the Wyrm from corrupting Shibuya?

3. Angel's Song - The Eternal Symphony

What it’s like – Men-In-Black meets the X Men with a healthy dose of anime tropes. This game setting is my original creation.

System: Fate Core

Background:

This game is also set in the World of the Great Work in the Shibuya District of Tokyo. You are playing a Cantor, a member of Squad 9-2 of the East Asia Bureau of the Eternal Symphony. You have newly graduated from the Academy and with your fellow new recruits, have been assigned to patrol the greater Kanto area with 2 other squads against supernatural threats.

Among the threats you are monitoring are the Reavers, fallen Cantors who possess and consume the bodies of innocent people in order to work their magic. Though their very existence is an affront to the Eternal Symphony, they are left alone for now since other threats exist and the Reavers also help protect the world, but eventually the Symphony will deal with them since the Reaver idea of helping mortals is by dominating them.

Adventure Scenario: "Only Mother."

A young boy develops the power to rewrite reality, abused the power and has hidden in the territory of the Reavers. The players must find him before he creates more orphans from the families of the city. But the Reavers will not take the invasion of their territory lightly, so the players must deal with the political ramifications of their mission.

4. Mindjammer

What it’s like – The Firefly TV show, but with posthuman elements (sentient starships, bioengineered humans etc)

System: Fate Core

Background

Mindjammer is set in the New Commonality of Humankind, a vast interstellar civilisation centred on Old Earth. Following the invention of faster-than-light travel only two centuries ago, the Commonality is expanding to the stars, contacting lost worlds colonised in the distant past. The Expansionary Era is a time of turmoil; as the Commonality discovers and assimilates these lost colonies, it finds itself getting “colonised right back”, its cultures and stability shaken to the core. Agents of the Commonality battle constantly against cultural contamination, and everywhere the frontier flares in conflict and war.

Adventure Scenario: "Rim Justice"

The PCs are the crew of the sentient trading starship Windrunner. After a deal between a corporacy and a colony goes horribly wrong the PCs must transport key witnesses to the octant capital for trial. But in the lawless edge of civilized space, anything can happen and it's up to the players to ensure that the key witness survives to see his court appointment.

5. The Strange

What’s it like – Dr. Who or Quantum Leap, involving inter-dimensional travel and adventures within. In each new world, you become another “You” that can be very different from the world you came from!

System: Cypher System

STRANGE PRIMER

The Strange is a network created by aliens several billion years ago. Estate researchers believe the Strange was built to allow intergalactic travel. It’s unknown at this time what went wrong, but the builders lost control of their creation.

In the course of passing aeons, the Strange became something wild, chaotic, and without rules or laws (which is why we also call it the Chaosphere).

NATURE OF THE STRANGE

Think of the Strange as its own boundless realm—as a separate universe underlying our own. The Chaosphere has no direct relationship to matter and space as we understand it: There is no up or down, there is no ground beneath a visitor’s feet in most places, and merely gazing into its lawless void damages the human brain (“alienation” is the preferred term for the pain and derangement most operatives experience upon visiting the Strange).

RECURSIONS IN THE STRANGE

Stable regions called recursions exist within the Strange. Recursions are like tiny, self-contained universes. Each one operates under a particular set of rules, which means that planetovores have almost as difficult a time entering a recursion as they do entering Earth. In fact, a recursion can act as a barrier for preventing a planetovore from getting to Earth, thanks to the presence of the recursion’s rules.

Earth and the visible universe operate under a familiar set of rules, called Standard Physics. But different recursions often operate under alternate sets of rules.

The Estate has classified the following additional laws under which recursions operate:

Magic, Mad Science, Psionics, Substandard Physics, and [redacted].

Adventure Scenario: "The Curious Case of Tom Mallard"

The PCs work for the Estate, an agency that protects the Earth from the threat of alternate universes. Assigned to trail a certain Tom Mallard, to make sure that he isn't doing anything to undermine Earth's security, they soon discover that he is not what he seems.

6. Jadepunk - Tales from Kausao City

What it’s like – Wuxia meets Steampunk set in a huge corrupt city.

System: Fate Core

Background:

The world of Jadepunk is one of danger and wonder. Jade, a natural resource that takes on mystical properties once refined, grants near-modern technology while still keeping that old-world feel. With the help of white jade, ships (and even some cities) sail through the sky. Red jade explosives are used in construction, while the strength of green jade shores up skyscrapers.

Kausao City is the center of the economic world. Black jade, rare and once thought merely a legend, was found in the region in abundance. Now the city is a melting pot of different cultures, all vying to exploit the area’s rich veins of jade.

But despite the glamorous stories of the fabled city, all is not well within its high walls. The current governor of the Kausao region backs evil corporations, feeding off low-level workers who are perceived to be, at best, expendable. The rich care for nothing but personal gain, and the poor have had enough.

A rebellion has begun. The Jianghu, a loose society of warriors and Jadetech engineers, have risen up against the governor in open conflict to better the position of the people and free Kausao City from the clutches of evil officials.

The adventure in this setting is yet to be designed.

Why I am an Ally

I can actually care about fashion... and scents!

I am an ally because being straight is not a choice.

I'm a straight guy. I'm probably the last person you'd think who'll support the LGBT movement. I mean most of the "traditional" gender beliefs are biased towards my gender and orientation. Why should I support it?

It's because that I see there are benefits even to a straight guy like me.

Firstly, it's made me more confident in my own sexuality. Just like being gay isn't a choice, being straight isn't a choice either. There is absolutely zero chance of me turning gay by associating with gay people because... I can't turn gay!

This counteracts a fear of "contagion" that had been ingrained into my boyhood beliefs by my conservative society. This has allowed me to become comfortable with and empathize with the non-heteronormative orientations. It's like there's a whole class of people with different life experiences that I no longer feel fearful about.

Secondly, because of this, I can explore parts of my personality that lean away from heteronormativity. Like, for example, feeling more conscious about how I look and what clothes match with what, and men's grooming products, things that are not traditionally associated with "manly" concerns. I've also learned to be comfortable in finding men attractive. I'm not attracted to them sexually (I am straight after all) but I do appreciate them in an aesthetic manner and I've grown comfortable with the parts of me that enjoy looking.

Finally, it has really opened my eyes to the fact that the world is simply more complex then we ever imagined. There aren't just two genders, there's a whole spectrum of sexuality and it's very complicated and lots of people live in that spectrum. But despite all that, these are all PEOPLE and all deserving of love and respect regardless of who they are attracted to (or not attracted to). There is beauty in diversity that exists in harmony. An ideal world for me is a world that accepts this diversity.

This is why I am an Ally and why I support the rights of LGBT people to marry those they love, to live with dignity and to not suffer from discrimination. Straight people have nothing to fear from these people because being straight is not a choice.

Pipay and her Palanquin

Manila is not a very friendly place for dogs.

No dog parks exist here. In fact it's against the law to have your dog out in public without a leash due to a national rabies control law. Many establishments don't allow dogs to enter. Many condominiums forbid dogs to live there.

I can't really blame them. The reason why this city is so dog-unfriendly is because of a lot of irresponsible dog owners.

I have seen dog owners who allow their pets to "go" in public places and not pick up after them. I have seen them just letting their dogs roam wild out in the street, to harass whomever passes. But mostly I believe this is because most dog owners aren't really aware of the responsibility that owning a dog really entails. They just think that they have a friendly animal that they feed, will come when called and stay out of sight when not needed. They are not aware that pets need companionship, proper nutrition, healthcare, exercise, stimulation... almost as much as a small child.

Fortunately things are getting better for dogs. With the advent of the internet and exposure to foreign dog care shows such as the Dog Whisperer, there's a growing awareness of the responsibilities that one has to a dog and increasing tolerance for dogs who have owners that are responsible enough to make sure that they aren't nuisances to other people. I'm actually quite grateful that this country's largest mall chain SM tolerates dogs inside their malls... provided they come in proper "packaging".

Hence my dog Pipay has her "palanquin"; a dog stroller. I actually bought her dog stroller for another reason, but inadvertently I realized that it had a side effect: it allowed us to get into shopping malls where normally dogs on leash are forbidden. I wonder if there's some kind of class thing going on because usually it's the well to do people that can afford a dog stroller, and it's usually those kinds of people who are aware of their social obligations when bringing their pet out in public.

In any case, despite the pet-unfriendly nature of the city, things are looking up. It definitely isn't up to first world standards but I think with time things will get there. In the meantime Pipay and I will just have to deal with the challenges of pet ownership in Manila.

Commuting

If only our trains looked like the Chicago ones...

When you say "Commuting" here in the Philippines, we don't mean hopping into a car and driving to work. We mean leaving your car behind and hopping into several forms of public transportation to get to work. Because cars are prohibitively expensive (in real terms, a decent mid-sized sedan costs 2 years of my salary to acquire) and parking an expensive pain in the posterior (when you can find parking at all!) I prefer to take public transportation.

When taking public transportation there are three considerations: Time, Comfort, Low Cost. and you can only pick two.

Time + Low Cost = The MRT3 - The cheapest and fastest way to get around Metro Manila. Unfortunately you will be packed into a car with the other human cattle and end up having to fight for your breathing space. Comfort is sacrificed.

Time + Comfort = Uber Black. - If you want to go around in a luxury car like some oligarch politician, you can hire a luxury sedan or SUV from Uber using it's premium Uber Black service. Thing is it's not cheap. Low Cost is sacrificed.

Comfort + Low Cost = Airconditioned Buses - If you can get the modern buses with wide seats, and are able to actually get seats. (In this country, buses are allowed to cram people into the aisle between seats.) you can actually get a comfortable, reasonably priced ride to the office. Thing is since Buses must pay a "boundary" (meaning if they net below a certain amount they get no salary) they must stop at each and every bus stop, and make improptu bus stops to herd as many people as possible into their buses to hit the boundary which means you'll get to your destination... eventually. Time is sacrificed.

This madhouse commuting system is compounded by the fact that our president initiated no public infrastructure projects for the first 4 years of his 6 year term, and is catching up by initiating them ALL AT ONCE.

Is it any wonder why lots of my countrymen dread the daily commute?

Angel's Song: The Conceit

Today, I present to you the conceit of my Tabletop RPG/Manga/Visual Novel "Angel's Song"

Super powered manga characters!

You are a Cantor. A member of one of the four Supernatural Clades of humanity. You know that things have been hidden from the everyday world. Magic, supernatural beings, not-so-human beings exist and our world is constantly under threat by monsters from other worlds. All of these things have been hidden from mundane view by a great Reality Veil that resets reality every night at midnight in an attempt to repair any damage done to it and prevent monsters from getting through.

Of course, with reality around here damaged as it is, things get through. Mean things, nasty things. Things that want to use this raucous and chaotic city as their base of operations to eventually conquer reality.

Our job is to stop them.

 

You can probably channel and shape fire, air, water, earth or some other exotic elemental force like Order or Spacetime. You were born with it. A gift from your parents, or your grandparents, kept secret from you until you’re ready. Now you know what it’s for.

They call us Cantors because we hear a voice singing a single note every time we draw the energy of the Worldwell, the force of creation. When the magic fills us up, we hear that note in our heads, and when we channel the energy into the world, everyone around us hears it too. And for those things we hunt, it's the last thing they hear. Yes. We're weapons.

 

We don't do this alone though.

 

Together we're the Eternal Symphony. Most of us anyway. It's an old, old, old institution. It used to be monolithic, like the Church, but today, things are more progressive in the sense that we're more diverse and free now. Some say too progressive as some of us have some positively stupid ideas about how to protect reality.

 

The Eternal Symphony used to just be just "The Symphony". We had our partners, those who could bring the ideas of the world to life just as we could channel its raw elemental power. They were called Icons and in the Symphony they were known as the Infinite Symphony.

 

What happened to the Icons? They all went mad. Or will be mad.

 

During the Great War, some idiot had this crazy idea to use the power of the chaos between the worlds to buffer the Earth's defenses. The device backfired and tainted the Mindforge, where the Icons draw their power. Now it’s driving them all crazy.

 

Yeah not all of them are crazy yet. Granted some of them are pretty stable. But eventually, they'll snap. They can't help it. Their power source is tainted. Eventually we'll have to put them down. But not while they're still useful. They help as best they can, but we'll always have a wary eye on them, and put them out of their misery when they finally lose their humanity.

 

The Icons aren't the only ones of our brethren to fall. They're just the latest ones. The first ones are still out there, and still a thorn in our sides. They're called Reavers and they are monsters. They feed off the life energy humans and other supernatural beings to fuel their own destructive abilities and they enjoy it. Literally they do. Their brains release endorphins when they sense pain coming from a victim. They claim that the best way to "protect" everyone is to rule over them as their secret masters. We've been at war with them ever since. But still they do protect reality in a way. I remember once in an encounter, we would stop fighting to go kill a monster that had entered our territory. Though they think of themselves as dark heroes I think they're just sadist hedonists with a messiah complex.

 

Of course, our ancient enemies have always been the primal, malicious forces that enter the world to corrupt it. We collectively call them the Wyrm. They come from the chaos between realities. Like viruses seeking to invade a healthy cell, they slip into our Reality, and begin multiplying. Yes. Multiplying. Wyrms have the ability to infect other people and places with their reality, transforming those things into versions of themselves. They've been trying to get at us since time immemorial. And the sad thing is, this is what a Tainted Icon eventually becomes... which is why we end up killing them. The Wyrm do not reason, they do not negotiate. They only exist to propagate. Never forget that no matter what lies they put in front of you to seduce you to follow them. 

Gadgets

The PC on the left is Meloy's. The one on the right is mine.

I've got a lot of gadgets.

I've always been fascinated with technology. As a young child growing up in the early 80s, I was fully expecting to live in a futuristic high tower, have a flying car and eventually take vacations on the Moon.

Well I got the high tower part right.

Growing up I toys, after puberty, I had gadgets. The first gadget that I really attributed as mine was my state of the art desktop. At the time I bought it (circa 1991) the thing was the cutting edge available in the Philippines. It had an top tier Intel 386-DX  processor running at an amazing 33-mhz, and equipped with a mind blowing 4 megabytes of ram. I felt so awesome owning the most high tech device.

For a long time my PC was the only device I really associated with as a gadget. I got my first mobile phone in college, in 1998 and it was the classic Nokia 5110. Soon after I also was able to buy my first mobile console, the PlayStation. So from one device, I had three.

Recently with the maturing of mobile technology, my gadget list has exploded. For a time I would just want to buy gadgets willy-nilly. But now, I realized that each gadget must fulfill a certain niche... or "Use Case" as my colleagues in the software testing industry say. Or I just might be getting older and less susceptible to impulse buys.

Currently I have:
1. A Convertible Laptop - Use case: Content creation (writing/drawing), light gaming, OTG browsing (in tablet mode)
2. My mobile phone - Use case: Light browsing / Audiobook and music device / Wireless hotspot / Navigation and Quick Updates (Twitter, Wayze, Google maps, etc)
3. an xbox360 console - Use case: Exercise (Kinect), Streaming video display (netflix)
4. A Desktop PC - Use case: PC games, but currently idle, since I find myself not playing PC games so often. Plus it's out of warranty video card finally gave out. I'll need to replace it before I can play games on it.
5. A 7 inch Nexus 7 android tablet - Ebooks, some video streaming.
6. The Peripherals:

1. A laser printer that can print on both sides of the page. (Yes, for printing RPG PDFs)
2. A Factory flashed DD-WRT router (So I can get a US IP, share it with all devices in the house and continue watching Netflix)
3. 11000mAH Power Bank (because phones run out of power too quickly)
4. Wireless keyboard - This is a legacy device that I had when I was trying to use my Nexus 7 as a content creation device. Right now it's pretty much idle.

I find myself unable to buy a gadget nowdays unless I can figure out it's use case first. Which is a good thing since gadgets are so expensive! 

Humidity

Metro Manila is humid.

I fully did not appreciate how humid this city is until I lived in temperate climes for three of the four Seasons.

Because it is so humid, food spoils quickly when left out of the refrigerator. A cold drink is always wet with condensation. And clothes rake forever to dry.

Also because it is so humid you can smell all the rotting garbage that anyone leaves anywhere outside.
Also due to inadequate infrastructure, common folk like to pee on cement walls. There's a walled street adjacent to a Jeepney terminal that turns into a giant urinal in the morning. And if there's no shower to wash away the smell... It positively reeks to pass by.  I imagine that it's what a medieval city would've smelled like. Since plumbing was not a thing back then.

Still there are positive effects to the humidity. I never need moisturizer. My lips don't chafe. I sweat buckets when I exercise outside.
I take the humidity for granted. I've learned to accept it's omnipresence in the city. And generally don't mind it. After all if it really bothered me, well...  That's what the air conditioning is for.  :)

Anime and Manga and my changing tastes

Random ComiPo art since I can't draw well (yet)

I was introduced to anime and manga in my 4th year of high school. The art club was screening a "Japanese Cartoon" called Bubblegum Crisis, with English subtitles. After watching some episodes, I was hooked.

I became a huge anime fan in the late 90s. My tastes in shows reflected my aspirations at that point in my life: I was fascinated with the idea of love and romance, but had yet to experience it myself in any major way. So the shows that I watched and liked reflected the aspirations I had for my future relationship. I loved the poised and elegant way Belldandy of Oh My Goddess cared for her human boyfriend, and the sheer tenacity of Ukyou Kuonji of Ranma 1/2 in pursuing her man. I loved stories wherein after suffering hardship and challenges, the main guy and the main girl ended up together. I wanted something like that, which is why I also ranked Fushigi Yuugi as one of my favorite anime's of the 90s, despite the fact that it was a reverse harem.

I lapsed out of my "hardcore" anime and manga fandom phase in the early 2000s. I consider myself a dabbler now, occasionally watching shows but not really paying much attention to them or fanboying over them.  With my trip to the US I was able to binge watch a lot of "modern" shows, and I discovered something interesting: my tastes had changed.

Today I am not a stranger to love and relationships anymore, unlike when I started watching Anime and Manga. I *have* my life partner at this point. Inadvertently it started to affect my tastes. Harem shows, which I enjoyed a lot in the 90s I started to find annoying. I guess since I have been in romantic relationships, the simplified and contrived relationships presented by the harem shows break any suspension of disbelief that I have for the show. I also pay closer attention to how the characters develop a relationship with each other. I guess in my heart I'm still a romantic. I just want it more realistic and less contrived this time.

Relaunching!

I've tried to blog about stuff in the past, and failed miserably. Now, in aid of my writing habit formation, I'm going to blog again.

But unlike before where there'll be just fiction snippets. I'll add other things here too. Stuff that until recently, could only be seen on my Facebook feeds. So you'll see an eclectic range of topics here from politics to news to technology to fiction and general geekery.

The view outside my window. Yes, Manila traffic.

I'll post something every day, or at least try to. Welcome to the Beacon!