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Recreatia: Roleplaying Games:
ARCHIVES
This page catalogs some Usenet discussion highlights, miscellaneous user submissions, and any other info I can find about games, game info, gamers, and gaming culture, both serious and not-so-serious.
Here's what we have so far:
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 Back to the Gaming Realm page.
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Game Master Burnout - Some Helpful Hints
From: lab4@dana.ucc.nau.edu (Lee A Blankenship)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Game Master Burn Out!
Organization: Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ, USAGROOT (jghache@ican.net) wrote:
:HELP! My mind is a blank, I have sapped the last bit of creativity and
: imagination out of my head.
: I've been a GM for many, many years now. It used to be so easy. I could
: run a game conpleatly blind, that is to say that I could run a realy fun
: and exciting game right off the top of my head with absolutly no prep
: time. But over the last year or so I have come to realise that I'm not
: as good as I used to be. My plots are becoming too simalar, and the
: games tend to slow down after the first few hours. The first session
: will go realy well, but after that it gets bogged down and I tend to
: loose interest because my players show very little enthusiasm. I have
: been playing with the same group of players for about eight years now,
: maby I need a change of players.
: Has anyone experienced the same sort of burn out as me? Or am I alone in
: this cold, helpless reality that we call RPG?
YES! I've been a GM since 1980. Burnt out a few times. Here is a short list of what I have done.
- Get drunk.
- Kill all the P.C.s in horrible ways, preferably by herd animals.
- Drink more and offer some to your players who by this time are rolling up new characters.
- Have bards and storytellers lie about their dead characters. Outrageous lies involving farm animals are best.
- Introduce napalm to your fantasy campaign. Drink more.
- At a bar or tavern encounter, make the players drink to match their characters' actions. (most should get drunk by now)
- Introduce exploding mice to your fantasy campaign. Drink more.
- Make a list of random words that act as wishes. Give each PC 1d6 of them secretly. Pervert their meanings.
- Start yelling incoherently and pass out at the table.
- Next week, learn a whole new game system.
Hope this helps.
Lee
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Stupid RPG Suggestions
A thread started in "rec.frp.misc" recently about funny suggestions for new RPGs. Here are some of the highlights (with author cited).
From: robstoll@aol.com (RobStoll)
It seems like bad obscure TV shows like "Cop Rock" provide lots of inspiration for RPGs. I already suggested mining "Lancelot Link: SecretChimp" for ideas, and others have suggested their own favorite shows as well. Here are a few more:
- The Green Slime (spaghetti-SF film about a space station getting overrunby little guys in (Isweartagawd!) slime suits. The main inspiration forthe excellent boardgame "The Awful Green Things From Outer Space.")
- Reptilicus! (Denmark's only giant rubber monster movie. See it, and you'll understand why.)
- Quark (No, not the Ferengi in Deep Space 9, the old Richard Benjamin as space garbage scow captain TV show)
- any Quinn Martin TV show [Mannix, Cannon, etc.] (The GM has to introduce each segment of the scenario: "Tonight's Episode: 'Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill to Fetch a Pail of MURDER.' ... 'Act I: Jack be Nimble, Jack be DEAD.'")
- Happy Days (with "spin off" games, Laverne and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, and everyone's favorite, Joanie Loves Chachi)
- Thunderbirds Are Go! (OK, someone else already mentioned this one, but I just LOVE that super marionation!)
- The Love Boat RPG (Yikes!)
- Fantasy Island (You can't do one without the other, as far as I'm concerned.
- Kindred: The Embraced (Wow, this would be a really cool RPG ... oh, wait a minute ...)
- Johnny Quest (IMO, Hanna Barbera's finest. Check out the cover of the theme song done by the Rev. Horton Heat (as a medley with "Stop ThatPigeon") on the "Saturday Morning" CD)
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Tals From The Floating Vagabond...MIA?
Games designer Lee Garvin wrote this reply on Usenet not too long ago in response to a TFTFV question, mentioning the current status of this cult-classic game.
From: leegarv@pop.erols.com (Lee Garvin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Floating Vagabond: Help.
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 20:33:33 GMT
Organization: Reality Cheque
sirgray@clark.net (Harry Flashman) wrote: Hi. Used to play TFFV long time back. Lost my 1st ed. rules. Picked up the 2nd ed. rules. then I noticed that the OOPS! Points formula was way different. My old characters have OOPS! like 12-16, but hte second ed. rules say OOPS! = (strength + luck)/2. This yields OOPS! like 3-5?!?! Does any one have the 1st ed. rules and can mail me the OOPS! formula? I swear I'll buy you a drink in the FV next time I see you there. :)
Every time I see this, it just makes me angrier and angrier. Angry enough to load up a Thumpgun with Cutedeath Grenades and go down to the mall.
The second printing (not second edition) was released without my knowledge, and included a few of the most agregious typos in the world. The Oops! Point formula is suppossed to read: Strength + Luck + 2d6
It is a bit annoying to have characters who could be beaten up by any Space Nazi Goon in a bad mood.
On the Floating Vagabond newsfront, Avalon Hill and I are currently in a legal battle over the rights. Our contract says it belongs to me now-- they are quibbling, claiming that they want to sell all of their back stock. They could have done that a while ago, if they had promoted the damn thing!
I have given them a very generous offer to sooth the ruffled feathers, but they have refused. Rather than sell a large number of products with no cost to themselves, they'd rather let it sit in their warehouse and take up space.
When this whole mess is cleared up, I will begin production on _Tales From the Floating Vagabond: Newly Remodled_, through my own company, Reality Cheque. The new edition has cleaner mechanics and even MORE DICE, as well as more detailed information on the Floating Vagabond and the universe it resides in.
Lee Garvin
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I first saw this years ago in an old gaming magazine, during the days when Gamma World and other post-nuke games had come into vogue. It's written by noted game designer and author Greg Costikyan (Toon).
Nuclear WinterThe Realistic After-the-Holocaust GameCreditsDesign: Greg Costikyan Development: Joe Balkoski, John M. Ford, and Nick Quane (1.0) The 90-Minute War Table- 1-4 You survive the first strike; roll on table 2.0.
- 5-6 You are killed in the fireball.
(2.0) Fallout Table- 1-5 You survive the fallout with only minor radiation sickness; roll on table 3.0.
- 6 You are killed by the radiation.
(3.0) Collapse of Civilization Table- 1-3 You survive the collapse of the food distribution network, the marauding bands, etc.; roll on table 4.0.
- 4-6 You die at the hands of looters, from starvation, etc.
(4.0) Nuclear Winter Table- 1-6 A cloud of dust encircles the globe. Global temperatures drop by several degrees. Most plant life dies because it does not receive enough light. The glaciers advance. All animals larger than the rat become extinct. You die.
(5.0) Optional New Jersey RuleIf you life in New Jersey, add one to all die-rolls. (6.0) Optional Breathing RuleEach time you take a breath, mark off one breath box. When all six boxes have been marked off, you are dead. Designer's NotesFor some reason, after-the-holocaust games seem real popular right now. Why is beyond me; I can think of few more depressing environments in which to live. In addition, most such games are patently ludicrous; a few years after a full-scale nuclear exchange, nothing will be left by the rats and the roaches. However, I might as well cash in on the trend, too.
Coming Soon from Costikyan Publishing EmpireRAT AND ROACH WARThe sequel to Nuclear Winter
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