ComedySystem (Part Two)

Let's assume that our hypothetical ComedySystem is going to look a lot like DramaSystem through a different lens.

A lot of the character creation stuff would probably look the same as standard DramaSystem, with maybe a little tweak in the language here and there. Instead of a long-arc Desire that drives the characters, which probably isn't going to work in a setup that's essentially (static) situation comedy, we probably need each character to have a "Bit". That is, the part of the comedic glue they provide to the ensemble. Going back to our Brooklyn Nine Nine example, Boyle's primary function is as the loyal (even doting) sidekick to Jake, our cocky leading man, and by extension he's the nice guy who gets pushed around by pretty much everyone. We might call his Bit "Enthusiastic Pushover". Rosa might be a "Tough Girl with a Heart", Santiago is the "By the Book People Pleaser", and Captain Holt is the "Incredibly Serious Commanding Officer".

ComedySystem (Part One)

Yeah, it's been a while. The last month or so I've been heavily invested in the Canadian election, which took a toll on my mental health, but at long last it's over. Our shithead government of the last decade is no more, and a handsome new government has taken its place. We'll see whether they live up to the hype.

But let's get back to talking about some games, shall we?

I've recently been going through a phase where I've been thinking about future games to run again, some of which have started to gel in ways that I know will lead to good gaming. Something I've had a real hunger for is to run something from my bucket list: a straight-up comedy game. There are lighter games, where the joking is part of the fun, and games where jokes help to defuse the tension, but playing a comedy game where comedy is the intention of play can be a hard sell with players. Sure, they say, we make jokes all the time during game play, but setting out to tell jokes and make each other laugh? That's doomed to failure!

My Better Half (Part Two)

Megan during a podcast recording session.

When I realized that I wanted to push my game a little further into dramatic territory, my wife Megan was the first person I tried to "sell" on the idea. I remember being hesitant about it, even though she's a drama nerd from way back, because she had bought into the idea of RPGs as monster-ass-kick-a-thons as much as I ever had in my teenage years. Her character Rosa, who had begun life in that long ago ANGEL campaign, was a combat monster.

My Better Half (Part One)

Today is my 11th anniversary. 

Yeah.

Me (with much redder hair) and my lovely bride Megan.

More Eberron by Gaslight

Sorry for the gap. Where were we?

Oh yes.

Last time, I talked about the history of this Victorian setting embracing Eberron going back to the reign of Elizabeth I. One of the things I seized on when I was leafing through the original Eberron campaign book was the section on cosmology, where different planes would align with the game world (including the realm of the dead, the plane of the monstrous Quori, and Xoriat - the realm of madness). That seemed too interesting to lose. I began imagining a world where the Dal Quor, the home realm of the Quori, was going to align with our world and unleash a massive Quori invasion. To defend their territory, Elizabeth I and Titania strike an alliance that is made manifest in their very bodies - they join together to form a new being, Gloriana. Good Queen Glory.

Campaign Workshop: Eberron by Gaslight

I mentioned this last week as the "mash up" I was currently crushing on. To be fair, since then I've realized that a lot of this idea can probably be traced directly back to Benjamin Baugh's superlative THE KERBEROS CLUB, but what the hey. And if you haven't read that one, you should - if you have any love at all for Victoriana, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, WILD TALENTS, or just stunningly good RPG sourcebooks, it's the bee's knees. 

A couple of years ago I wrapped up my long-running Victorian vampire hunter game, SUNSET EMPIRE (and as some of you know, I often still mourn its loss in these pages - alas!). The concept for that game could be described, in broad strokes, as Victorian adventure in a world where the fantastic existed secretly below the surface. Like THE KERBEROS CLUB, as my game went on, the world got weirder and weirder until the vampires had conquered London with a magical weapon and German werewolves in silver-bullet-proof armor raced to the rescue. OK, it wasn't a subtle game.

RPGaDay2015: Big Set Piece Finale With Lots of Explosions and Special Effects

29. Favourite RPG website / blog?

Once upon a time, I was a big reader of forums like RPG.net, but over time there's been less and less there for me. I still drop by once in a while to dip my toes in the pool, but it's been a while since I've actively participated. To be honest, although I often enjoyed the discussions there, despite the occasional tendency toward absurd flamewars (now I have Twitter for that!), I often found that it was hard to actually participate in any discussions. The real chatter was among the guys who seemed to be there 24/7, and if you only dropped by once a day, you weren't worth their attention. No one would engage. Insider baseball.