Of Gods and Relics for Dungeon World

I just ran my Wednesday night group through the 1st session of Dungeon World (http://www.dungeon-world.com/) using Malaforcia as a backdrop.  Malaforcia is, of course, the world I created for my Power of 12 game, Of Gods and Relics.  Dungeon World is, of course, the indie RPG system that is rising in popularity!

I placed them in the situation of being on the Island of Artis as part of the Oscillian war effort to conquer all lands.  this is roughly 500 years prior to the events in Of Gods and Relics: Vendai (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/91059/Of-Gods-and-Relics-Vendai).

They have been tasked with protecting the rest of the army as it makes a valiant and strategic retreat.

They discover that their assignment is tantamount to death.  Once all the ships have left they will be stranded there!  You see, the ship promised to them has been partially used to build defenses around the camp.  Wooden defenses made from planks of wood.  So, our ship, while it sits in the harbor, is missing more than a few planks from its hull.  Not good.

Now the players strive to gather supplies (without being noticed) while they plan their survival and exit from this no-win situation.  Having been caught only one of them suffers 10 lashes… I feel bad.

Oh, the enemy they face?  The Artis.  Tribes of humanoid reptilians who the characters have no quarrel with.  You see, most of them were conscripted into the Oscillian army.  Those few who volunteered… well… they had their burning reasons.

Regardless, now they are between a rock and a hard place.

Their only ally seems to be a very dimwitted Oscillian Lieutenant who has a “thing” for Shadow (a female Slovenian Theif).

The cast:

Lore, a male Chartayan Bard

Shadow, a female Slovenian Thief

Centurian, a male Oscillian Wizard

GAH I forget the rest of the names… sure I should have written them down, but it was character creation night and I was too caught up in the fun…

An Auchmach male Druid

An Aagmir male Ranger

and a male Cleric of a race I FORGET!

I’ll toss another entry here in a few days when I can recall all this.

But I must say, what  blast Dungeon World is to play and run.  I love the Move and Consequence system.

It leads to a good amount of role-play and on-the-fly world building, which I like even though I have a very developed world already.  But on the micro level we can determine as we go how the players will triumph over each obstacle.

Anyway, just a tidbit of the set up.

The Philosophy behind ‘Player Death is Optional’

Those of you who have enjoyed “Of Gods and Relics: Vendai” or “Deniable Asset: Hiding in the Mosque” will have become acquainted with the concept. Simply put, if you don’t want your character to leave the story, that is your choice. There are consequences (Macula, flaws) that you must suffer as a result. But in the end, the decision is the player’s: simple in explanation. The reasons behind it are far more in depth.

1. Story
2. Shared Story Building
3. Role-Playing

It’s all about the Story

This is a story building system. Characters are built around what motivates them. Actions are performed based on what motivates the character to perform that action, be it “why” or “how”. Adventures and missions are conducted based on what characters want to, need to, or must do. This is set up by the GM. This is supported and altered by the players. “Sorry, we don’t have a thief, we can’t open this lock. Therefore, we will never get that clue and we’ll never know what to do next.” How do gamers even get caught in that kind of thinking? Because the history of RPGs is embedded in the table top miniature gaming industry. RPGs began as a spin off, an extra dimension of miniature battle games. I love those games. Do not bother to count the number of figures in cases that I have painted and lined up on the field of battle: you’ll need a team. However, a good table top miniature battle game does not an RPG make. There, rules trump story. There, rules stop you. There, rules limit you. There, rules say “no”. In the Power of 12, rules are there to inspire, “yes.” What about this “player death is optional” thing?” We are getting there.

Shared Story Building

Players contribute as much as the GM to the story. Even a story built by some 3rd party off in the corporate distance somewhere. If not then you aren’t in a role-playing game. If you are just asking where to put your figure and what you need to roll to hit, then you aren’t, in my opinion, in a role-playing game. I understand this is not an original thought. I wanted the Power of 12 Roleplaying System games to be about role-playing. And since the players usually comprise 66% or more of the group around the table, for goodness sake, they should have some input! To that end, among many other things, “death is optional” was put in place. Simply put, the player decides when his character is defeated for the final time, when he leaves the story for good. The player decides when to set that sheet aside and conjure up a new character, a new persona through which to experience the make believe: player choice, shared story building.

Role-Playing

Haven’t beaten this one to death yet? You can never say enough about role-playing. My games are built around it, they insist on it, they require it. Role-playing often requires props. But props are just that: props. What drives Power of 12 characters are personal motivations (Foci) or classic, signature methods of accomplishing what you need to do (Modus Operandi). Nothing trumps role-playing. I only need one example. At the bridge of Khazad dum, why did the demon of the ancient world roar, snap his whip and “wait” for Gandolf to utter the words, “You! Shall not! Pass! “ It was Gandolf’s turn to Role-play. And he did a fine job.

I leave you with a pleasant and somewhat related quote from Walden Pond, by Henry David Thoreau:

“One inconvenience I sometimes experienced in so small a house, the difficulty of getting to a sufficient distance from my guest when we began to utter the big thoughts in big words. You want room for your thoughts to get into sailing trim and run a course or two before they make their port. The bullet of your thought must have overcome its lateral and ricochet motion and fallen into its last and steady course before it reaches the ear of the hearer, else it may plow out again through the side of his head. Also, our sentences wanted room to unfold and form their columns in the interval. Individuals, like nations, must have suitable broad and natural boundaries, even a considerable neutral ground, between them. I have found it a singular luxury to talk across the pond to a companion on the opposite side. In my house we were so near that we could not begin to hear — we could not speak low enough to be heard; as when you throw two stones into calm water so near that they break each other’s undulations. If we are merely loquacious and loud talkers, then we can afford to stand very near together, cheek by jowl, and feel each other’s breath; but if we speak reservedly and thoughtfully, we want to be farther apart, that all animal heat and moisture may have a chance to evaporate.”

So, gather around the table, get some dice, and raise your role-playing sails. But like Hank suggests, just make sure that it’s big enough… the table that is.

A Few Insights into the Power of 12 Roleplaying System

The Power of 12 Roleplaying System has been designed from the ground up to encourage and facilitate role-play. To that end, many of the common paradigms from other RPGs are blatantly not present. New paradigms have replaced them.

Choice of dice:

The Power of 12 Roleplaying System utilizes the 12-sided die. I chose the 12-sider because, truly, it hardly ever gets used. It didn’t take long before the gaming store I frequented and the friends I had there associated me with the 12-sided die. Eventually it became a rallying cry for my endeavor to design a Role-playing game that actually helped me role-play, rather than forced me to role-play “against” the mechanics of the game. I do not claim that the D12 has some magic within it that facilitates role-play. But, it felt that way as I built the system.

Opposed Dice Rolls:

The Power of 12 Roleplaying System is an opposed dice rolling system. This is not new. With a few exceptions (initiative being one of them), if you are rolling dice, someone is rolling dice against you. That became a core concept: If you are going to roll dice then you are taking a risk. Where this works exceptionally well is in combination with Foci.

What are Foci:

Attributes and Skills, common in many games, are replaced with Foci. What this really means is that the miniature-game stat block that virtually all RPGs use as the basis for a character is replaced with a much smaller set of “stats” that reflect how the character is to be role-played. For example: In the Power of 12 (Po12) There is no “Dexterity” or “Intelligence” score. There is no “Two-Handed Weapon” fighting skill. There is no “Stealth” skill. Your character gets a much smaller list of Foci (the plural of Focus) that represent his or her motivation for acting. A Focus might be “Courage”, “Honor”, or “Deception”. There is a score associated with each Focus, chosen by the player, that determine that Focus’s relative strength compared to the character’s other Foci.

Classes:

Classes aren’t new either. How we do classes is. A class in Po12 is defined by one basic ability that differs from the other classes. Not a huge array of statistical modifiers and adjustments. Just one ability, one concept that, for example, makes the “Warrior” class different from the “Skald” class. By this we avoid the, “We can’t play this week, Bill isn’t here with his Rogue. How are we going to detect traps?” That kind of rock-paper-scissors character class design is a direct descendant of table top miniature games. And when I play table top miniature games, I love it. But not in my RPG. You should feel special as your “class”, not hamstrung because you brought the Phillips screw driver but forgot the flat-head.

Role-Playing:

Everything up to this point encourages and facilitates role-play. I am a Vendai Warrior. My Foci are Joy, Dogma, Courage, and Honor (Try finding “Joy” as a stat in most any RPG). When my Vendai Warrior swings his weapon, the dice he rolls, how powerful his swing is, how much damage he can do is based on his motivation for swinging that sword in the first place. Is he showing great Courage? Is he defending his Honor or that of his companions? Is he standing up for what he believes in (Dogma)? Or is he mired in some violent circumstance that threatens his happy-go-lucky state of being?

And you don’t simply say, “I swing my sword with, (yawn), courage, at my foe.” Well, you can. That’s up to you. Limit yourself if you chose. Or you can role-play… “He tasks me and I shall have him. He has made a grave mistake, questioning my courage. Feel the wrath of the Vendai Warrior!”

It’s hard to role-play when you are trying to add up your strength bonus, your magic long sword bonus, the higher ground bonus, the favored enemy bonus, and the friends in combat bonus.

What about my equipment?:

Equipment, per se, is not in the system. You can use a two-handed claymore, a tiny dagger, or razor sharp wit. You can wear mighty plate armor, or a simple leather jerkin. Imagine your character how he should be, not chock full of unrelated “stuff” that happens to have the best bonuses. In ANY heroic novel or movie, the stuff NEVER matters. Only the hero. The stuff is flavor. Use it the way it was intended.

Now, there are Relics. Mighty heirlooms of the Gods. Excalibur was a Relic. Odin’s spear, Gungnir was a Relic. Those will have meaning. Those will have Foci of their own. Those we proudly put on the character sheet. Your coin purse? Really?

Wait, did I say razor sharp wit after the dagger and two handed sword? Yes I did.

Yes.
I.
Did.

Man, there is so much more. But, that’s what the book, “Of Gods and Relics Vendai” is for.

I’d like to thank “d.” for asking me to post something of the Po12 Roleplaying System.

p.s. I am still working on free to download adventure. I got a bit sidetracked adding more background and history to continents outside the present game world. Outside it for now. How the world came to be, how the races developed, what motivates the Gods to create Relics and to ask those worthy to risk their lives is so important to the game. This is, after all a game about “Why.”

Free Adventure/Story Coming Soon

I am working on a Story that will be available as a free download in our E-Store. It will introduce gamers to the new age of legends in Of Gods and Relics and illustrate the opportunities for choice and role-play in the game. I’ll keep you updated!

OGAR is at the E-Store!

Of Gods and Relics Vendai is available now at the E-Store (see our web site at http://randomencounters.net for more details). It has been a long time coming. I started this project back in 2004. I’ll post some history on that soon. What do you think of the front cover?

Of Gods and Relics Vendai

Character Sheets will be added as a free download!

Soon we will be adding character sheets to our e-store as a free download. These will be 8.5 x 11 with more room for Potestas and Macula (perks and flaws) and suitable for framing (framing is, of course, optional).