Category: News

Electric Gods at BrisCon

I’m working hard on a new setting release, Electric Gods, set on a run away generation star ship overrun by self concerned A.I.

And I will be running a session for up to 6 players at Bris Con at the end of April.

The people have lived in this jungle place, between the Sapphire, the river of birth, and the Jade, the river of death, for thirty years. The local god ForSevOran has cared for the people, keeping the tribal enclave clear and plentiful of food. The great god NeThronSev has avatars among the people and sees far and wisely.

It seems that the supply of AcSticks grows thin and so ForSevOran’s power wanes, and territory shrinks. It sees the dreadful Bat People, servants of ThreatThreSevTo, multiply and begin to raid out of The Past. A crisis brews.

Do the people seek to move into The Future, beyond ForSevOran’s protection? Do they counter raid the Bat People Enclaves? One family, the Kelmin, urge a move across the Jade, into the realm of SevixNinonfi, for ancient treasures lie in the land of the dead. The Macrons, under the Mind Touched Marta, say the jungle beckons across the Sapphire, where the god ThroneTwifa seeks to breach the walls of heaven.

You listen to the council of the elders, and the Seven Voice of NeThronSev. You are the young ones, some expert humans, some born as physical or mental sports, and you glance one to the other thinking the fellowship must choose a path themselves, and the adults will follow if they are wise.

Note: It is helpful if players have a browser on their phone or device and can open https://util-space-one.w3spaces.com/augdiceroller-v5.html. This is a dice roller javascript app that knows the rules and handles the results for you, which makes for easier gameplay.

Game Master: Danny Stevens
Session 3: Sunday 29th April 10am – 2pm
System: All Us Gamers
Genre: Post ApocalypseUp to 6 players for this session

Bris Con Game Entry


Look forward to it.

Also the Cosmic Horror rules have been getting a good work out so they will be coming out in sections in the near future.

State of Play – 1.1

Considerable play testing on several parallel releases leads to the creation of version 1.1 of the core. Here is the new set of core books being released over the next few months and numbering rules. Genre extensions undergoing final play tests. Settings still in progress, how they are faring.

The new 1.1 core collection

Development is still under way for Zombies Day Zero, the Horror genre extension and the Magic genre extension. Play testing has led to a lot of feedback and adjusting in the core which has led to a need for version 1.1 of the core materials.

The most notable change is the extraction of various rules into a new core book : “Operations”. Operations collects the concepts for complex actions, and sequences of actions into a cohesive method for handling multi-step tasks.

Additionally the mechanisms for cooperative action have been moved into the Inner Core and reworked to make it easier to run and to understand.
The Operations book and revised Inner Core have been released. A revised On Aptitude should be out shortly, and then revised Book of Struggles and Combat Toolkit shortly after that.

The Numbering System

The core books are given version numbers in the for X.Y.Z (e.g. 1.1.0).

X : The first number is the core major version (currently there is only version one). This should only change if there is a major change in mechanism, making rules from one major version generally incompatible with rules from a different major version.

Y : The core minor version (currently version 0 or version 1) indicates that, given both rules modules have the same major version, then there may be some compatibility issues that you will need to resolve. When resolving such issues the rules from the higher version number should overrule those from lower version numbers.

Z : The document errata version. This indicates, if the major and minor version numbers are the same, that the document has been edited somewhat without changing the rules provided. There may be format fixes, clearer explanations, added examples and so forth.

The Genre Extensions

Currently being developed are the Horror and Magic genre extensions. These provide generic support for any home brew game you wish to build in those areas, and they can be combined if desired. In both cases the aim is to keep rules light, and to support clear narrative flow with broad mechanical support to avoid improvisation overload.

The Settings

Zombies Day Zero is nearing completion. It is not reliant on any genre extensions and should be easy to play with just the core and the Combat Toolkit.

Mists Of The Carpathians, set in the time of Vlad Tepes (Dracula) and allowing the magical mythology of the region to be real, continues development and play test as a labor of love. It requires a more fully developed magic genre extension so it will be a while before an initial release is ready.

Time Paths (a time travel campaign with faxed routes between time space coordinates) and Shadows Over the Galaxy (a human dominated galaxy with plenty of political intrigue and something lurking in the dark spaces) are both advancing slowly, but at a lower priority while all the other fronts are tackled.

Magic n Zombies

Hello to all the new followers of this site and welcome.

The magic play test has had a bit of a hiatus as I sort out what is “structure” vs what is “too much detail”. Play tests have gone back and forth a bit with a number of different opinions offered. I’m closing in on the sweet spot.

To give myself a fun break I have gone back to producing one of my earlier product ideas for AUG, the Zombie Apocalypse Campaign. Its taking shape pretty well. A bit harder to play test because it really needs new players each time. Its getting there though.

Here is the introduction:

Just a normal day. On a walk to work. A woman comes running down the street yelling “He’s after me!” Behind her a young man in jeans and a torn T-Shirt, covered in blood, walks forward with malevolent intent on his face. You call to the policeman shuffling across the road, then notice his left arm is just a bloody, torn stump. “What on Earth?” you think “This is like some zombie movie!” Just then a car comes screaming around a corner, a crazy woman clinging to the roof. The car runs down the policeman and zooms on. This isn’t a movie.

Day Zero : Zombie Apocalypse Campaign is a role playing adventure set in a modern day town as the Zombie Apocalypse is just beginning. The players create regular folks as their characters and plot out how they would go about their day if nothing were happening. The game master then notes where in the city the zombies first appear, and tracks the apocalypse hour by hour until it intersects with the adventure player’s characters.

Then all hell breaks loose.

The players try to keep their characters and loved ones alive until the following dawn, and perhaps save some others. The world around them is rapidly falling apart, and characters that are run by the game master are trying to respond to what is going on, some with competent, and some with foolish methods. The adventurers may try and make common cause with them, or may find they are a complication to the goal of surviving.

How will you survive Day Zero?

Zombie Apocalypse Campaign : Day Zero

Its been a lot of fun. Massive encounter tables and interactions between the city alert level, zombie presence level and panicking survivor groups.

The Adventure Cycle is Released!

A framework to run a network of open table fantasy games. Each game master has one or more villages and each player has one or more characters that go on adventures across different game master’s tables.

Characters have their abilities, reputations, social rank and possessions that follow them from one game master’s village to another.

In each village they have their relationships with the local characters, and the tribes and factions in the lands around. They have quests, property and hidden treasure that are specific to a village.

Prior to a Session the Game Master for the session
will do some prep on the villagers, the adventure
region and encounterable situations.
An Open Table Session consists of the following
distinct steps:
1) Session Set Up Sequence: Any character creation
and existing character tidy up, including closed quest
effects.
2) One or more Adventure Cycles as follows:


adventure cycle step 1: Village Episodes Sequence.

  • Focus Recovery.
  • pay taxes
  • Max 8 episodes per character (up to 2 may be reserved for step 3).

An episode always involves a single activity of a
specific type. The episodes types a character may
enact are:
• Buy a Cottage
• Buy or Sell Equipment
• Buy or Sell Gems / Jewels / Art objects
• Enroll Adventure Hirelings
• Gain A Companion
• Philanthropy
• Secure Your Treasure
• Seek a Quest
• Seek the Right to Buy a Cottage
• Socialise
• Spend Growth Points
• Train a Skill
• Work a Profession

adventure cycle step 2: The Adventure Sequence.

  • Focus Recovery.
  • Determine quest active for each character.
  • Play out the adventure
  • Note acts of renown and infamy

adventure cycle step 3: Village Return Sequence.

  • Heal characters
  • Gain growth points for the adventure.
  • Gain growth points for quests closed.
  • Test reputations for changes.
  • Split treasure.
  • Village episodes. (Max 2 reserved from earlier)


Adventure Cycle Steps 1 and 3, in the Village, are
designed to be highly structured to handle adventure
“down time”, and generally contain few opportunities
for full depth role play. They do, however, provide the
context, motivation, and rewards for what goes on in
the adventure. The adventure itself is where all the
exciting role play happens.

Here is how everything hangs together now.

The adventure cycle provides a play structure that uses the core rules and toolkits to provide character action and development mechanics.

There has been a lot of play testing of the Adventure Cycle, at its peak 2 game masters and 16 players in 4 session streams each week. A lot of extra stuff has been developed in draft form, such as a magic system and dungeon crawl details. These will get polished up and provided later as Adventure Cycle Plugins.

The Adventure Cycle is available now as a “Pay What You Like” PDF, 58 pages, at DriveThruRPG.

Ploughing Past The Obstacles

As I hit the home stretch on The Adventure Cycle I am also preparing to release a new play aid. A pdf with quick reference for building characters and a screen for helping remember the core rules and combat toolkit during play.

As often happens fate throws obstacles in the path. Power outages at inconvenient moments for example. The latest happened when I was trying to set up printed play aids to use for a photo to go with the release at Drive Thru. The printer died.

After a few moments of railing at the wyrds of fate I found another way to get the image I needed.

Here it is.

Thank you Daz3D.

And now the reference sheets are available at DriveThru!

The Open Table Chassis

Having thrown together an old school style of play for running the Combat Toolkit play tests, and having 15 players regularly continuing with open table play, it seems like time to make the game structures for this type of open table into a product.

For those interested in some detailed philosophy of open table play I recommend the Open Table Manifesto.

Just as an aside, the Stealth and Investigation Toolkits are also being worked on. As with the Combat Toolkit they will be a mix of mechanics and ruling guides. We are using the Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition) RPG as a framework for play test, obviously with the AUG mechanics swapped in for the Basic Role Play mechanics.

The Open Table Chassis is a set of rules structures to allow groups of multiple players, with multiple characters to casually play with multiple game masters, potentially each with multiple home regions in a single game setting.

For this to work each play session has a single GM, using one of her home regions, and whoever is available to play, each using only one of their player characters. A fairly “board game like” rules structure is used to break an adventure down into a cycle of 3 parts.

Prep

The players have episodes in their home location where they do things covered by fairly mechanical rules: go shopping, do training, spend growth points to grow a skill, hire people to guard treasures or accompany the group on an adventure, socialize, build reputations, acquire companions and gain quests.

Adventure

The players go off to role play in a world slightly artificially structured into areas of increasing risk, and with treasures to be gained, hazards to be faced, and factions to be dealt with.

Wind Down

The players return home, gain growth points for the adventure based on treasure gained, risks and difficulties, and for quests completed based on commitment of time, risks overall and encounters braved.

In a given session of play there will be one or more complete adventure cycles. Any adventure in progress when a session runs out of time comes to an abrupt end and the wind down is flicked through.

The chassis comes with some simple book keeping, tracking which characters are the primary quest bearers for which home town, and what the character reputations are there, and tracking things that may be transferred between GM home regions, like magic items, pieces of technology, or global rank.

The first Chassis will have a baked in fantasy genre. Its treasures will be coins, gems, jewels and works of art. There will be some generic sorcery and mysticism rules (aimed at eventually being used for Mists of the Carpathians) and a collection of play structures for dungeon, wilderness, ocean and city adventuring.

A second Chassis under development will have a baked in space opera genre, with aliens, high and low tech worlds, space ships, interstellar corporations and nations and super tech artifacts left behind by “the ancients”. This will be used to lay some ground work for the Shadow Over The Galaxy setting.

Fun times!

Combat Toolkit Released

Combat struggles have risk for characters who must brave death, or serious injury, to fight through the enemy in order to rescue prisoners, hold a rear guard action to let friends escape, blast away in savage firefights to defend an important position, or fire missiles to disable a deadly orbital space station.


This toolkit expands the mechanisms of The Book of Struggles to add some detailed support for combat. It provides rules extensions for managing injuries and how they heal, the method by which a combat struggle can apply injuries to characters, and the mechanisms for medical intervention.

The toolkit also supplies a set of guides for handling different situations such as brawling, close combat and firefights. Additionally you are given sets of possible non injury complications that might arise commonly in those combat situations.

This toolkit builds on the All Us Gamers RPG core rules:

Core Books and Toolkits Integration

So what’s next?

Time to begin the journey into print with the first setting. The dungeon setting created for play testing the combat toolkit has become quite popular, despite being very raw, so that is going to get all the attention. Stay tuned for a kickstarter on this.

At the same time there are other toolkits to develop. The next most useful one is going to be the Stealth Toolkit, which will cover sneaking around, and trying to catch sneaks in the act.

Here is the backlog of projects for a more complete picture:

Toolkits

  • Stealth
  • Espionage
  • Chase and Race

Settings

  • Open Table Retro series – Dungeon, Wilderness, City, High Seas
  • Mists of the Carpathians
  • When the Plague Came
  • Shadow over the Galaxy
  • Timepaths

Combat Toolkit Nears Completion

Having just a bit more crunch than the core rules the Combat Toolkit has needed a bit more testing and tuning than the earlier rule segments. Can’t wait to start writing the Stealth Toolkit.

To play test the Combat Toolkit I created a throw together, old school dungeon crawl system. Such adventure style is sure to pit the players into combat situations, and it kills two birds with one stone, as some of its novel mechanics are needed for Mists of the Carpathians.

However the dungeon adventures, as an open table, have been popular. There are now multiple player groups delving into the dungeon every week or so. So the next product to work on in earnest is going to be an open table dungeon crawl. This will probably be our first foray into print, rather than pdf only, so this is going to be exciting.

Much in the Way of Combat and Dungeons

I’m play testing the Combat Toolkit and trying to ensure that the way it gets used is explained clearly. Its difficult because of the dominance of the wargame style of the big mainstream game. I attack, I get a hit, you take hit points, you attack, you miss, I attack etc etc.

Here is a write up of a brawl from one of the play tests of All Us Gamers, I have added some “mechanics” and “fiction” labels to highlight the interplay. The Book of Struggles has most of the key mechanics in it other than the injury and healing rules:

Mechanics:

Player Characters

Mike – Doctor with aptitude 4, combat aptitude 0

Daph – Martial artist with combat aptitude 4

Frank – Ex military Private Investigator, combat aptitude 5

(average combat aptitude 3)

Game Master Characters – Gang

2 gang thugs, combat aptitude 3

Gang tough, combat aptitude 5

(average combat aptitude 3)

Game Master Character – Non Participant

Keith, bar keeper. Has a baseball bat behind the bar and his friend Dave the policeman on speed dial.

Fiction:

The players annoyed the gang earlier but moved on. They are in Keith’s bar, discussing their next step in the mystery they are unraveling. The gang members have decided to rush in and give the players a good pounding to “teach them a lesson”, then leave.

GM: The front door to the pub burst opens and the gang you were having words with earlier rush in with obvious intent to attack, no weapons visible. This is a struggle with two action groups, they have surprise giving them the advantage. What is your operation?

Mechanics:

(GM notes to herself that the thugs operation is to match up one on one and start clobbering, so they press the advantage my running at each player swinging fists hard and yelling, -2DN to them (10), +1DN to the players (13) )

Mike: I don’t want to fight, I will duck behind the bar.

Frank: Fair enough, we’ll screen Mike.

Daph: I’ll sweep up my chair as a shield.

GM: Mike, your still in the struggle unless your side advances. Weak link for group results on both sides.

The GM rolls for the thugs, its a poor result given the advantage and aptitudes:

Gang tough: Success, Thug 1: Failure, Thug 2: Dismal Failure

Success point pool 2, failure point pool 5. Group result is Dismal Failure.

The players do OK:

Mike: Failure, Frank: Success, Daph: Success. Success point pool 4, failure point pool 2. Group result is Success.

The players side advances.

Fiction:

GM: Ok, Mike freezes for a moment but then dives sideways behind the bar. Daph has grabbed the chair and swung it in front of the two young thugs, making them flinch back. Frank, you have got into it with the older beardy guy.

Mike: What’s the guy behind the bar doing?

GM: He has stood back away from the fight with an annoyed look on his face.

Mechanics:

GM: The attackers have used up their advantage, its on the table. Mike is not in a struggle, Frank is in a struggle with beardy guy, and Daph you are in a struggle with thug one and thug two. Daph, what is your operation?

Daph: I want to smash Thug one out of the way, holding off thug two.

Frank: And I’m going to gut kick the beardy guy so I can help Daph.

GM: OK, Mike what are you doing?

Mike: I’ll look up at the bartender and hassle him to call the police.

Daph vs Thugs

Thug one: Extra Success, Thug Two: Success. Equates to Extra Success.

Daph: Incredible Success

GM: Its a Hot Struggle. Daph, you swing hard with the chair. It shatters on Thug two, sending him reeling toward the bar with a bloody nose, Thug one gets a hit in giving you a minor wound but you strike back giving him one too. You have the advantage now, how would you describe it?

Daph: I’m free to be in fighting stance for a good kick and balanced to easily deflect thuggish blows and turn them against my opponents.

Frank vs Gang Tough

Gang Tough gets Extra Success.

Frank Gets success.

GM: Another hot struggle. You lay into each other and each get a minor wound, but the tough pushes you back over your chair and you fall prone. He now has the advantage.

GM: Mike, the bartender hasn’t called the police, but he has tossed you a baseball bat.

Daph: Mike, take a swing at Thug Two and keep him off my back.

Mike: Alright.

GM: Ok, Mike and Thug Two are a new struggle. Thug Two is dazed with a serious wound. (Thug two’s operation is to rejoin the attack on Daph from behind, unaware of Mike)

Mike: I’ll just swing for his head and knock him out.

GM: Thug one appears to be trying to push you back toward Thug Two Daph, what’s your op?

Daph: I’ll press the advantage to take his momentum and throw him to the floor with it.

GM: Frank? (The tough’s op is to press the advantage and kick Frank hard while he is down)

Frank: I’ll roll to my left and stand up.

Mike vs Thug Two

Thug Two: (aptitude loss from injury, -1) Failure

Mike: Extra Success

GM: The thug needs to save against the attack, he gets a miserable failure. That’s a knock out and a serious injury. As he is already seriously injured it escalates to incapacitated.

Mike: Oops. Barkeep, maybe an ambulance?

Daph vs Thug One

Thug One: Failure

Daph: Failure

GM: A cold struggle – Thug one rushes in, Daph grabs him to throw down but Thug One pulls Daph down with him. Your both on the floor in a grapple.

Frank vs Gang Tough

Gang Tough: Failure

Frank: Failure, uses a focus which results in Extra Success

GM: Frank the beardy guy tries for a kick, but your roll avoids him and your up on your feet facing him. You have him off guard and gain advantage.

Fiction:

GM: The guy at the bar is on the phone, talking to ‘Dave’ and suggesting an ambulance might be a good idea.

Mike: I’m a bit worried about the guy I brained, I’ll check on him using my medical aptitude.

Daph vs Thug One

Daph: My operation is to get the guy face down in an arm lock.

GM: Ok the Thug’s operation is to push you off and stand up.

Frank vs Gang Tough

GM: The beardy guy looks like going for some kind of kick.

Frank: I’ll press my advantage and go for a straight punch at his jaw.

Mechanics:

Thug One: Failure

Daph: Failure

GM: Cold struggle – you’re both rolling about on the floor trying to get at each other. The thug has a black eye, Daph your jacket is pushed up over your chin and getting in the way.

Gang Tough: Failure

Frank: Success

GM: You land a blow Frank, the beardy guy needs a save. A minor wound. He already has one so it escalates to painful.

Fiction:

GM: Frank, you can see he has been knocked about and is in some pain. He looks like he is going to run for it. Mike, your guy looks concussed. You start doing some first aid to keep him ok until the ambulance arrives. Daph and Thug One are still struggling on the floor under the table now.

Frank: if he runs for it I’ll let the main guy go and help Daph.

GM: The beardy guy backs off, and when he sees you aren’t following he runs for it out the door.

Frank: Daph, need a hand?

Daph: I’ve got this.

GM: The Thug seems to be trying to break off now, what’s your operation Daph?

Daph: I want to slam his head into the floor and knock him out.

Mechanics:

Thug One: Miserable Failure

Daph: Failure, uses a focus but it stays a failure.

GM: you both are banged about a bit, getting caught up in your own clothes, smacking into table legs with your shins.

Fiction:

Frank: I’ll tap the thug with my foot and yell “Oi! Time to give up!”

GM: You can hear a siren in the distance. The Thug scrambles away from Daph.

Daph: No way! I grab him and keep wrestling.

Mechanics:

Thug: Failure

Daph: Success

Fiction:

GM: Daph, you grab the thug as he rolls away and push him face down to the ground, and climb on top of him pinning him down. He is yelling incoherently.

Frank: I lean down and say “Stop struggling buddy, or she might break something”

At this point the combat struggle is over. Daph and Frank both have minor wounds. Thug one has a serious wound. Thug two has an incapacitating wound, but the approaching ambulance means he will be ok. Mike has another beer.

So anyway, we’ve been play testing this sort of battle, another we have is some guys charging into a room with swords to take on a slightly larger force, and it just occurred to me there and then. Classic Dungeon.

So I am revisiting the truly classic dungeon crawl with a new game mechanism. The nearby town is a menu for purchases and quests, and the place to return to after each delve. The dungeon is a vast maze, with levels that are harder to deal with as they get lower underground. Intelligent denizens have little fiefdoms and conflict with one another. Unintelligent beasts wander the corridors. And there are traps. Yes, old school traps, only the game rules make them interesting.

I’ve been designing it to help combat play tests but I think I will polish it up and put it out there.

Combat Toolkit Enters Playtest Phase

The Book of Struggles gives a complete mechanism for handling character to character conflicts. However its possible to have more detailed rule extensions for specific situations, and extended examples of using the struggle rules in those specific situations. Hence the value of the Toolkits.

The Combat Toolkit gives examples of the struggle mechanism in use for Brawling, Close Combat, Firefights and Rearguard Actions. It explains conditions that might be pertinent and complication examples.

In addition to the combat situations being fleshed out it provides some extended mechanics for handling injury and death, natural healing and medical intervention. The injury levels are Minor, Serious, Incapacitated, Critical and Mortal. Each injury level has a natural healing cycle during which the injury may worsen or improve. The medical interventions are defined as First Aid, Field Care, Hospital Care, and Surgery. Characters use their related aptitudes to carry out the interventions and if done well will improve the healing process.

This extension can add a mild layer of complexity onto combat struggles. The play testing is focusing on ensuring that these things hang together well with the narrative style of play and can be operated smoothly during the session when used.