Home Brew Rules

03 Wednesday Apr 2019

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I’ve been roleplaying since the dim and distant days of the early/mid-80s. It wasn’t too long after I started that I found myself making tweaks to published rulesets and not too many years after that I started to venture into writing my own rules.

In the early 90s I bought a supplement for Rolemaster RPG called ‘At Rapier’s Point’, for gaming in the 17th Century Europe of the Three Musketeers. Rolemaster was, in my opinion, a pretty wretched set of rules, but I really wanted to run a game set in this historical period. Even though I had a copy of Rolemaster, I wanted a more approachable system, but at that time I didn’t have anything that would work with the swashbuckling game I had in mind. I did have Middle-Earth RPG (also known as MERP) from the same company (Iron Crown Enterprises), which had a system that could be called ‘basic’ Rolemaster, and that I thought would allow me to use – at least in some form – the new rules presented in the At Rapier’s Point supplement. I quickly realised, however, that in order to make the MERP system support the concept I had for At Rapier’s Point, I had a fair bit of work on my hands. I ended up having to rewrite a good chunk of the character generation rules: ditching the fantasy races and replacing them with social backgrounds;  coming up with new skill categories and skills; designing a whole new set of character professions; etc.

Over the years I’ve been running At Rapier’s Point, the parts of the MERP system that I didn’t initially discard have – bit by bit – been replaced to the point where there’s nothing left of it and I have my own set of rules. These have been used – with amendments – for other genres and settings, so have proved incredibly useful.

So, have any of you designed your own rules, whether it’s for an entirely new game, or to replace an existing set of rules that you didn’t like? Or maybe you’ve simply hacked an existing ruleset to make it work ‘better’ for you and your players? If you haven’t done either of these things, have you considered doing it, or are you more than happy with the rules in the published games you already have?

 

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Games for the Spring Quarter 2019

14 Thursday Mar 2019

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Hello everyone.

We’re three weeks away from the end of the current quarter and so far the following games have been offered up:

1) Firefly (referee: Stewart). This is part 3 of an ongoing adventure. There may be a place available in this game: please post in the Slack workspace if you haven’t previously played in this adventure, but are interested in doing so.

2) DnD 5E- Kasora Oriental Campaign (referee: Snowy). Please speak to or message Snowy for more details.

3) Who You Gonna Call (referee: Cy). Ghostbusters themed game. Please speak to or message Cy for more details. **Update** After chatting with Cy last night, I can confirm that he would like to run the original Ghostbusters RPG from West End Games (1986). He is looking for three players, with a fourth slot available for new players.

4) At Rapier’s Point (referee: Matt). This is part 2 of an ongoing adventure, which will probably run for the next two quarters. The game is now full, although I am keeping a slot open for new players (only).

If anyone else is intending – or would like – to run a game next quarter, please post the details on the Slack workspace.

If you have any other queries, either grab me at the Club or message me.

Cheers,

Matt

 

Review Time

09 Tuesday Oct 2018

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Hello everyone,

I think the time has come for a review of how (and perhaps how often) we start new games. After another slightly painful first quarter game selection, I’ve come to the conclusion that the ‘beauty parade’ approach is not a particularly good way to determine which games will run. Part of the problem is the lack of certainty on the part of both referees and players: prospective referees will undoubtedly spend time preparing to run a game, only to find there’s a lack of interest; likewise, players gear up to play in a game only to find that it doesn’t run, or it’s oversubscribed.

I don’t think that there’s a perfect solution to this problem: we have a lot of players – some regulars, some less so – and it’s difficult to determine in advance of a new quarter who will be available and, even if they are, whether there will be a game they want to play in.

The question, therefore, is how do we get more certainly? One suggestion I’ve had is that games are offered up four weeks out from the start of a new quarter and a final decision regarding the games that will run and who’s in each game, is made in the final week of the quarter. It will be the responsibility of each referee to advertise their game and secure players by the final week. This is similar to the Survey Monkey approach we used for a little while, but puts the emphasis on referees and players to arrange things directly.

Another (possibly throwaway) suggestion, was to switch from quarters to ‘trimesters’, so that there are only three sessions in a year, reducing the amount of messing around and increasing the opportunity for longer games.

Now I may be the only one that thinks changes are needed. If so, we can carry on as before. However, if I’m not and anyone else has any ideas for improving things, leave a comment.

Cheers,

Matt

 

 

 

Sins Campaign Q4

25 Tuesday Sep 2018

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From Cy

Hi all just a quick note to say I am playing to make an offering to the Next quarter. Still trying to iron out a few things but as it stands.

System: sins. no knowledge of the system is required and role play over rules.

Style: horror, very dark souls/bloodborn esk

Setting: a alternate 1650 ish (post english civil war) with fantastical elements. a muskets and right of kings sort of thing

Kasora Campaign q4

15 Saturday Sep 2018

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System DnD 5E

“It is currently a bare bones Oriental/Wuxia setting with several floating islands making up the continent of Kasora. I will focus on one country that has a more Japanese feel to it. I intend it to be DnD on Hard mode. There will be some horror elements to the campaign and I will leave the area largely as a sandbox. There are stories and problems players can find, but if left they can potentially become more difficult and problematic.”

New Games – Q4 2018 – Insight

15 Saturday Sep 2018

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Using the 2014 (I know, very contemporary for me) generic Insight RPG system from Norway.

This is a d10 ability/skill based system, with skill combination options and an interesting take on combat movement.

A medium fantasy setting with a vaguely Nordic feel to it – yes there will be Trolls.

The player characters have been accepted as volunteer auxiliaries in one of the smaller Guilds. Their role is to help out when things get busy. Guess what, things just got busy!

Players – 3 to 4

New Quarter Game: Cataclysm

10 Monday Sep 2018

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GM: Nick Green
Players: 4
System: Based on the recently released “Modern AGE” (by the producers of “Dragon AGE” and “Fantasy AGE”) but with some tweaks

Set in a near modern time when mankind’s supremacy on Earth is challenged by the arrival of supernatural monsters. You and your team are all that stands between a small town and the demonic forces of darkness. It’s a damn good thing you brought your powered armour and rail guns…

The campaign will be centered around a small scientific research facility in France near the border with Switzerland. You will be members of a team that has been hired by a secretive European organisation to demonstrate the capabilities of a new set of equipment designed for “urban defence and rescue”. Your diverse backgrounds will be based in policing, fire rescue and metropolitan search and rescue. Each of you have been involved in the design, testing and now demonstration of a unit and show time is approaching. If the backers of this project don’t like what they see, the last two years of your life will be an interesting but pointless footnote. The rest of the universe however had other plans and the world changes around you quickly, irrevocably, brutally. Left with no other choice, you will have to negotiate the parameters of your lives with a new world where humanity no-longer calls the shots, and our species is only one among many.

Tone: dark, serious, desperate
Magic: very low, mostly just creatures that don’t exist today
Science: today’s level or less, with some exceptions
Violence: high
Drama/conflict: high
Realism: medium/pulpy
Mystery/investigation: low

A Few Thoughts

13 Monday Aug 2018

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Hello everyone,

When I first moved the Club website to WordPress about 5 years ago, it was my intention to contribute regular blog posts on a variety of – primarily – roleplaying related topics. Having just gone back through my posts, I can see that my early optimism was misplaced, with the majority of the posts being simply a call for games in advance of a new quarter, or confirmation of the games being run for that quarter. Now, this may have been something to do with the birth of my daughter about four months prior to the website move, when I still had some lingering memory of having what now feels like all the free-time in the world. Happy days!

What does this mean? Well, I’m not going to commit to a sudden regular stream of blog posts. This isn’t because I haven’t got any free time, but because I’d rather be gaming (whether creating, running, or playing) than writing about gaming. Having said that, I would like to post more often than I have been doing.

What would be good is if other club members could contribute as well. Posts don’t have to be War & Peace: a paragraph or a few sentences is often more than enough to make a point and get a conversation started on a particular topic.

So if you have something to say about roleplaying – or gaming more generally – feel free to jot something down here.

Cheers,

Matt