#table_talk

[thebooksociety]

쿠알라룸푸르 예술가 공동체 RAP 토크 및 개더링

일시: 2019년 4월 26일 금요일 9:00pm~ 장소: 더 북 소사이어티 통의동 강연자: 얍 사우 빈(Yap Sau Bin) 참가비: 무료 내일 늦은 저녁 9시, 말레이시아 쿠알라룸푸르 기반의 예술가 공동체 RAP(Rumah Air Panas Art Society)의 활동을 소개하는 자리가 있을 예정입니다. RAP의 설립 멤버 얍 사우빈은 1997년 자신의 작업실 공간에서 전시와 프로그램을 스스로 조직하다가 2006년부터 좀 더 다양한 곳에서 예술 관련 토크와 프로젝트를 기획해왔습니다. 이번 토크에서는 RAP의 지난 활동을 비롯해 도시와 지역을 넘어 액티비즘, 구술사, 매핑, 연구, 아카이브, 레지던시 등을 통해 협업한 일부 사례들을 살펴보려고 합니다. 관심 있는 분들은 편하게 오셔서 함께 이야기 나누시면 좋겠습니다. * 본 토크는 손혜민 작가의 소개로 진행됩니다. 

Image Caption: Unresolved Business: Installation by Ho Yuhang (2015) curated by RAP for the UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Conference on Krishen Jit's Performance Practice and Contemporary Malaysian Theatre

사우빈 얍은 RAP의 설립 멤버이자 사이버자야 멀티미디어 대학교 (Multimedia University)에서 매체이론과 문화 인류학, 미학 등 가르치고 있.습니다 얍은 RAP를 시작으로 개념적인 작업, 설치미술, 퍼포먼스, 매핑, 큐레이팅 등 다양한 예술실천을 펼쳐 왔고, 『Narratives in Malaysian Art』 (2016)의 편집도 진행한 바 있습니다.

Turun Padang / Masuk Gelanggang: Some Artist Initiatives in KL, and more…

This presentation will give a brief introduction to the past project and activity by Rumah Air Panas, an artist collective based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. RAP began in 1997 as a studio space with occasional D.I.Y. exhibition and programme. The collective was later formed in 2003 to organise and work as an art society. After quitting the space in 2006, RAP had organised art talk and project at various venues besides supporting artist exhibitions. Some past projects include Space[s] Dialogue + Exhibition (2003), Walk In or Walk Out (2007), CAIS:Contemporary Arts in School(2008), Majujaya Community Playground Workshop (2011), Wasteland Twinning Network (2012), UNRESOLVED BUSINESS:An Installation by Ho Yuhang(2015). Besides its own projects, RAP and the members had worked in different capacity, as a group or individuals to support or work with other spaces and groups in the city or the region. The second part of the presentation will be a cursory look at this network of camaraderie, fellow art initiative, collective and art space with different approach and ways of collaboration to engage with artist, audience, neighbourhood, communities, whether via activism, oral history and mapping, research and archival initiative to experimentation laboratory and residency hosting, in the city and beyond. Past activities of RAP can be access here: http://www.rap.twofishy.net/

Yap Sau Bin is an artist based in Kuala Lumpur and is visiting Korea to travel with the Rice Brewing Sisters Club and catch up with the How To Move The House Project. Yap teaches at the Faculty of Creative Multimedia, Multimedia University and is a member of Rumah Air Panas (RAP), an artist initiative based in Kuala Lumpur. His practice encompasses conceptual work, installations, performance, mapping and curation with RAP. Yap has also worked on the Narratives in Malaysian Art volumes published by Rogue Art. He has served on the jury panel for the Young Contemporary Arts Award (2013); as nominator for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize (2014 - 2016), Arts Maebashi AIR Programme (2016-2018) and the Hugo Boss Asia Art award (2017). Other collaboration includes Wasteland Twinning Network in Berlin 2011; Operasi Cassava in the Media / Art Kitchen exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, 2013 and Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) in 2014. Recent curatorial project includes ESCAPE from the SEA organized by the Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur in 2017.

[thebooksociety]

A guiding dog for a blind dog 시각장애견을 위한 안내견 @ 더 북 소사이어티

일시: 2019년 4월 26일 금요일 오후 7시

장소: 더 북 소사이어티 통의동 (서울시 종로구 자하문로10길 22 2층)

참여방법: 아래 구글 링크를 통해서 신청하시면 됩니다. (선착순 30명)

https://forms.gle/wHNmZYUafVXaSMRH7

참여자: 루카스 호프만 (큐레이터, 작가)

Date and time: April 26 2019, 7 PM

Address: 2F, Jahamunro-10gil 22, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea

How to participate: Apply through the Google link below. (First 30 people)

https://forms.gle/wHNmZYUafVXaSMRH7

Guest: Lukas Hofmann (curator, artist)

  l  이번 토크는 영어로 진행됩니다. 따로 통역이 지원되지 않습니다.

l  심야책방의 일환으로 진행되는 행사로 이날은 11시까지 서점이 운영됩니다.

l  This talk is in English. It will not be translated into Korean. 

l  This is an event that will be held as part of late-night bookstore.

  그 뉴스들은 때때로 가짜고 지평선과 관련이 있다. 플랫어스 운동은 사람들이 경쟁적인 드론 경주를 하고 바다에 주거지를 건설하는 동안 번성한다. 우리는 예술 작업으로 사우나에서 강연을 하기 시작했지만, 여전히 은행가들이 구입하는 것은 그림이다. 정상성은 항상 이해당사자들과 당사자들에 의해 조건 지어져 왔고, 무엇이 비정상적이고 비현실적인지를 표시하기 위한 깨지기 쉬운 도구를 만들었다. 그러나, 그 단어가 놓인 팔찌는 그물, 액체로 되어 있다. 그것은 모호하다. 안정된 경계선을 지정하자마자 경계선이 꿈틀거리고 거품처럼 갈라진다. 아직 마르지 않은 문지방에서 안내견이 걷는다. 

이 책은 2018년 프라하의 현대미술센터 후투라(Futura) 센터에서 열렸던 전시 《시각장애견을 위한 안내견》을 위해 만들어진 카탈로그로, 작가와의 대화, 시 등이 수록되어 있다. 그 즐거운 이미지를 통해 들여다보고 있는 것은 낫 마르쿠스의 작품인데, 그는 이 작품의 구체적인 작품들과 개별적으로 연관되어 있다. 종종, 그 관계는 난해하고 비밀스럽게 보일 수 있다. 그의 글은 시나 산문처럼 읽힐 수도 있고, 길거리에서 발견되는 찢겨진 신문을 흉내 내거나, 학술적인 내용의 발췌문처럼 보일 수도 있다. 아마 그 의도는 전시 공간 안이나 전시 공간 없이도, 이 많은 것들을 담기 위한 하나의 물건으로, 책 혹은 진수성찬의 접시가 되기 위함일 것이다.

저자 소개 낫 마르쿠스는 베를린에 거주하는 시인이자 언론인이다. 2014년 Zoe Darsee와 함께 TABLOID Press를 설립했다. TABLOID의 활동은 미술 및 시 출판물의 출판물로서의 역할 외에도 책 디자인, 문서화 및 시 워크숍을 포함한다. 032C, 베를린 아트 링크, Novembre 매거진, 디스, 텔레콤 일렉트로닉 비트 등에 기고했다.

참여자 소개 루카스 호프만은 큐레이터이자 작가이다. 2018년 진드리히 찰루페키 상(Jindrich Chalupecky Award)을 받았다. 덴마크 국립 갤러리(Copenhagen, DK), 갤러리 프란구얀(Paris, FR), 플라톤(Ostava, CZ), 슈니켈 파빌리언(Berlin, DE), 모더니즘 무세, 카바레 볼레타(Maniffesta)에서 작품을 선보였다. 이 작업들은 의식화된 놀이, 열린 협업과 오늘날 감각적 자폐증에 대한 격렬한 저항의 스타일링에 초점을 맞춘 것의 다른 측면을 보여준다.

  The news is fake sometimes and the horizon’s relative. The Flat Earth movement thrives while people are investing in competitive drone racing and building dwellings in the ocean; we started delivering lectures in saunas as works of art, but it's still paintings that bankers buy. Normality has always been crafted into a condition by the interested powers and parties, made a brittle instrument to mark what’s abnormal, unreal. The brace the word sits on, however, is of mesh, liquid. It’s nebulous. As soon as it designates a stable boundary, the demarcation jiggles and splits like foam. In from this wet threshold walks a guiding dog.

  The volume stands as a collection of dialogues with artists, poetic texts, and a catalogue for the exhibition A guiding dog for a blind dog, held at Centre for Contemporary Art Futura in Prague in 2018. Weaving into and through its delightful imagery are Nat Marcus’s written works, in which he individually relates to the concrete pieces in the exhibition. More often than not, the relation may seem arcane and cryptic. His texts may read like a poem or a piece of prose; they may simulate a newspaper tearout found on the street, or present an excerpt of an academic text. Perhaps its intention could be that of a book of incantations or a platter of delicatessen, as an object to contain this multitude within and without the exhibition space.

  About authors

Nat Marcus is a poet and journalist based in Berlin. In 2014, he co-founded TABLOID Press with Zoe Darsee. TABLOID's activities encompass book design, documentation, and poetry workshops, in addition to its role as a press for art and poetry publications. Marcus' writing has been featured on 032c, Berlin Art Link, Novembre Magazine, dis, and Telekom Electronic Beats.

 Lukas Hofmann is a curator and an artist. He has recently been awarded the Jindrich Chalupecky Award. His art performances were held at Danish National Gallery (Copenhagen, DK), Galerie Frangulyan (Paris, FR),at a 5000 sqm cleared out Bauhaus hobby market for Plato (Ostrava, CZ), at the National Gallery (Prague, CZ), the Schinkel Pavillion (Berlin, DE), Moderna Museet and at Cabaret Voltaire, for the closing of Manifesta 11 (Zurich, CH). Each shows a different side to Hofmann’s focus on ritualised play, open collaboration, and the styling of a vigorous resistance to today’s sensory autopilotism.

[tabletalkrpg]

Table Talk Review: X-Ploring the Farthest Stars

 Ensign's Blog: Star Date 11-8-2013. 

"Space. The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Star Ship Enterprise. On a five year mission to explore strange new worlds and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!" -- The opening narration of the original Star Trek television series, from the late 1960s.

Science fiction is one of those genres that has typically been tricky in a role playing game. Thanks to Traveller (at least one version of which I will likely need to review at a later date), there has been an apparent requirement for these games to be incredibly complicated because of a strong focus on realism. Of course, it's easy to just say "Sci Fi gaming is so convoluted because it's not really science fiction unless it's realistic."

What about Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers? Well, yeah, those were kids' comics and probably closer to Space Fantasy than the hard stuff, but Space Fantasy and Space Opera are still a form of science fiction. And let's face it, the most influential science fiction series, Star Trek, hasn't exactly loaded its fans with the actual science behind its fantastic elements; merely kept them consistent enough to provide some veneer of plausibility. As a matter of fact, Issac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, well known authors of hard science fiction, have taken some pretty far-fetched (even for their contemporaries) scientific liberties in favor of a good story. And sadly, science fiction games have this tendency to come across as being exclusively for people who collect hard scientific doctorates as a hobby.

I finally found a game that actually can be played by the casual SF fan, the guy who looks out to the stars and dreams of a future like Star Trek. One that doesn't need degrees in umpteen different sciences.And that game is called X-Plorers.

The Product

X-Plorers is a 40 page old school science fiction role playing game. It is also a deliberate throwback to the science fiction of the 1970s, which was rather strongly influenced not only by the literature of the time, but by television shows such as Star Trek (which was actually from the late 1960s, but close enough). The chapters tend to run close together, even going so far as to have a chapter end and the next chapter start on the same page. The game was first released in 2009 and is a product of Gray Area Games. The front cover shows a classic rocketship lowering some kind of roving vehicle on surface of a barren, rocky planet. On the back cover, you have a red-shirt about to be eaten by a Grue. Well, okay, I don't know the Zork ore well enough to know what a Grue looks like, but it does look like the red-shirt is blissfully unaware of a scaly, possibly amphibious alien monster that's about to kill him. Both of these cover illustrations are in full color. The interior illustrations are in black and white and look fairly retro as well.

Page One

Yes, the game kinda starts on the very first page. In addition to the credits, you have two forwards.

The first one, written by Dave Bezio, the author of the game, explains that this is a "what if?" kind of game. Basically, what if the very first role playing game was not about fantasy (as in, not Dungeons & Dragons) but about space exploration instead? There's also a warning that much of the content in this book is going to seem outdated. Not just because of the rules, but because it sticks to the state of science fiction as per the 1970s. As such, no cyberpunk. None of the latest innovations in Hollywood special effects. This is science fiction as old school as the mechanics.

The second forward is written by John Adams of Brave Halfling Publishing, who has stated that there were tweaks to the original text to promote grater clarity, but otherwise nothing has been changed and the rules remain completely intact. Also, it was an honor to publish this game.

After that, there's a table of contents on page two and then the introduction.

Introduction

The introduction to the game starts out with a couple of paragraphs that boil down to "monster attacks, the doctor says it light just be a misunderstanding, half my team is dead and I already pulled the trigger." It's a nice touch of flavor, but it's really just that. Flavor. Next up is a description of the United Corporate Nations (UCN), a colection of worlds and colonies that fund space exploration, provide various goods and enlist the help of galactic troubleshooters known as X-Plorers to deal with problems on various worlds as well as exploring worlds beyond their tiny portion of the Galaxy. Needless to say, that's where your characters come in.

Next up, there is a brief description of what a role playing game is. Then a description of what is needed to play, an explanation of what dice you need (one twenty-sided die per player, and a least three six sided dice per player). Then you get a mention that this rulebook is intended to be a reference guide, but not something you absolutely need to have handy at all times, since the rules are actually fairly simple and easy to memorize for the most part. Finally, the most important rule in the game is that if your group doesn't like a rule, or finds something lacking, then by all means change it, "Just like in the good old days."

Chapter One: Character Creation

Character creation in X-Plorers is very simple. First of, you roll 3d6 (three six-sided dice) and ad them together four times, writing the totals in order for the following stats:

Agility (How quick you are)

Intelligence (how smart you are)

Physique (How strong you are)

Presence (How socially capable and strong-willed you are)

From there, you reference a fairly intuitive chart for modifiers, pick one of four classes, record some bonuses, roll 1d6 for your starting hit points and buy 300 to 1800 credits worth of equipment. Then you're ready to play.

For the record, those classes are:

Scientist (An expert at computers, medicine, science and sociology. Like a wizard or cleric without any magic.)

Soldier (Expert at demolitions, martial arts, survival and can favor one particular weapon of choice. He's basically a fighter.)

Scout (an expert at piloting, security, sleight of hand and stealth. Effectively a rogue.)

Technician (The engineer who is an expert at computers, mechanics, piloting and robotics.)

Also during this chapter, they tell you how you do things. Every character has a target number called a "Saving Throw." Basically, you roll the d20 (your twenty sided die), add modifiers from your stats and try to beat that target number whenever you try to do anything that the referee thinks warrants such a roll. The same principle is applied to most skills. There is also an option that exists for multiclassing, which basically means you can pick up another skill and you have to improve that one skill individually at an incredibly inflated cost. Why? Because this is an entirely new field for you to get into, rather than something more intuitive like your class skills. Furthermore, skill costs add directly to the cost of raising your character's level.

Chapter Two: Equipment

The next chapter is a guide to all the available equipment in the game. Nothing too special, it's just a bit sparse in an effort to keep things nice and simple. Adventuring gear that serves various purposes, armor that makes you harder to hit (old school. This was an abstraction), weapons that deal out more damage, a sampling of vehicles, some rules for space ships, robots and ways to modify them, all fairly sparse but all fairly complete in the rules for what they give you. Not bad.

Chapter Three: Playing the Game

So, now comes the part where the game rules are explained. Here, they give you more information on skill rolls and saving throws, before going into Experience points.

Experience is like this. Basically, if the player shows up, that's 100 experience points. More experience comes from defeating monsters and enemies and more still comes from meeting mission objectives. Quite simple. If, at the end of the session, the character gets enough experience to level up, they level up. The points do not go away, though. Rather, the character simply has to rack up more experience points before meeting another level.

Next up is time. Unless the referee thinks that time is crucial, it isn't. Then comes time. In a single combat round, unless the character is weighed down (Referee's call), the character can move 4 meters plus his Agility modifier. If the character is weighed down, then only 2 meters are possible. A day's trekking goes 15 kilometers on foot, unless weighed down to going through troublesome terrein, in which case it's only 8 kilometers.

Then comes combat.

Combat for individuals has initiative being rolled for a whole side first, individual order is determined by the side that has the chance to act. Characters take their actions on their turns and effects take place.

To make an attack, the attacker rolls a d20, adds modifiers for wither Agility (ranged) or Physique (close) and tries to beat a target number called Armor Class (based on Agility and Armor). If you meet or beat that target, you roll damage and that gets deducted from the defender's hit points. All fairly basic stuff, nice and simple.

There's also mention that a Presence based Saving Throw can help to avoid combat altogether if the group is outnumbered and the enemies not too hostile.

When a monster's Hit Points drop to zero, it's death. When a major character, such as one controlled by a player, hits 0 HP, the result is a critical hit. A character could die instantly, die within 1 to 6 rounds, merely go unconscious, not be affected otherwise, or even get an adrenaline surge and keep fighting (but fall unconscious after the fight) depending on a roll of 1d6. Of course, your chances of getting lucky are a bit slim and getting another critical hit means another 1d6 roll with an added penalty.

Healing requires the Medicine skill or rest. If resting, it's 1d6 HP per day or all your HP after a week. This, by the way, means no adventuring while you rest up.

Chapter Four: Space

What's a space exploration game without rules on going to space? Not really a space exploration game.

Okay. At first, you likely are not going to afford your own ship. Those things cost many millions of credits. A starfighter costs 15,000,000 credits. And that's the cheapest! Riding someone else's ship usually requires a payment for the trip, especialy if it's one that's particularly dangerous.

As far as travel times go, Jump drives can make it from point A to point B in mere moments. The nature of the jump is unexplained, as Faster Than Light travel is just a convenience. The course is pre-charted usually with little need to fuss around.

There are six ship classes, which detail the size of the ship. There's a chandy chart for telling you how many pilots and navigators you need, how skilled NPC crewmen are, and how much damage they can dish out or take in a space battle. You also have rules for hiring a starship crew and following that is space combat.

Space battles are more about relative distances and have four phases in action, one for the Navigator, the Engineer, the Pilot and the Gunner, to allow the whole party something to do rather than twiddling their thumbs while the pilot does it all. Past that, it's a bit more like standard combat, which is nice and simple.

Of course, ships have a different set of critical hits results.

Chapter Five: Referee's Guide

This chapter is pretty much all advice. When to call for a check, what makes up a mission, what your job entails, all very stock stuff. There's also advice for random encounters, where to get ideas, and advice that explicitly says that when you create galaxies and planets, don't worry too much about realism. The story comes first.

This is pretty refreshing advice. Especially since the people who write guides on how to write science fiction pretty much say that the science needs to come first, not the story. And the same thing applies to aliens too.

Chapter Six: Creating Creatures and NPCs

Exactly what the title says. First, it has you creating creatures by asking a series of questions which affect its stats, which are simplified from the information needed for a character. This is then followed by a list of abilities and then a list of standard creatures. To be more referee-friendly, there is also a list of stock NPCs as well, followed by many stock aliens.

Then you get a glossary of terms coming from X-Plorers and measurement conversions from customary (American) to metric and back.

Following that, there is a 1-page example of the game as it is played. This example is reserved in most games for the introduction, so placing it here seems just a bit confusing by this point.

Chapter X: The Grey

This chapter simply describes an option for the classic Roswell aliens, some history and statistics.

Chapter Y: Psionics and Other Wierdness

Here are optional rules for having Psionics.

If your Presence is 13 or more, you roll 1d20 and add your Presence modifier. If you roll an 18 or better, you get a psionic power. The options are as follows:

Awareness: The power to influence some of your own bodily processes, usually to heal, boost and action or to put yourself in a trance.

Clairvoyance: Classic Extra Sensory Perception.

Telekinesis: Manipulation of objects with the mind.

Telepathy: Mental communication, mostly, but Rivan Tam can also "kill you with my mind" with this thanks to an offensive power with this.

Visions: Glimpses of the future that cannot be controlled. The referee can basically use this as a plot device.

Symbiotic Entity: The character has an alien symbiote that serves as a secondary NPC attached to the character, but with its own mind and personality.

What's Left?

Following that, there is a character sheet, Space Combat strips and flay paper counters for the ship (it's recommended that you photocopy this page), some ship plans, copyright info and the Open Game License, due to the game being loosely based off the D20 system used in the third edition of D&D and the many retro remakes derived from it.

My Opinion

I love that X-Plorers is incredibly simple, and that it aims for an old school approach. I also recognize that this is not a game for everyone. After all, simple here can seem "simplistic" to a player who wants a more realistic game. Realism takes a back seat to fun. But if this review has piqued your interest, here are a couple of links.

Full version: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/93802/X-plorers-RPG?term=X-Plorers

Free no-Art version: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/93797/X-plorers-RPG-(FREE-No-Art-Version)?term=X-Plorers

Ensign's Blog Supplemental: Alien and Robot Class Design

Well, before I end this review, i would like to also point out a PDF Only supplement to X-Plorers for anyone who want to play somebody like Mister Spock from Star Trek or TWKE from the 1970s Buck Rogers series.

Alien and Robot Class design is a collection of random charts which enable the player to come up with all sorts of alien species and more than a few unique robots. The intended use is to roll these all up on charts, but a lenient Referee can easily allow players to choose from them. Though it seems pretty clear that these two supplements were originally planned to be separate, as there are two open game licenses.

This is a great supplement to allow for more characters in X-Plorers, and it only costs $1.50. If you're buying the main rules, go ahead and add this little gem in.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/118926/Alien-%26-Robot-Class-Design

In conclusion: X-Plorers is a real treat for fans of old school gaming and science fiction, without being so complex and mathematicall/scientifically intensive that casual science fiction fans feel alienated (no pun intended.)

So, here's hoping you find a game that's right for you and have fun!

End Blog.

[tabletalkrpg]

Annoying Tabletop Game Tropes, Part 1

Tropes, whether you love them or hate them, can be found in literally everything. Even the most innovative works will rely on tropes in some form. After all, everything we do has an influence somewhere, and everything seems to already be done. South Park is The Simpsons with made more offensive, Same with Family Guy. Even The Lord Of The Rings has mythical influences. As such, not all of these things are bad. But some tropes will annoy certain audiences. We all met the guy who hates it that the modern Batman constantly decides against killing The Joker. We all heard that Inuyasha was better when it was Fushigi Yuugi. Hell, I confess that there are some tropes I think are pretty bad.

I want to keep these limited to Tabletop games. Furthermore, these tropes are about mechanics rather than storylines. In addition, this is no top ten list. I don'y do that. This is just a list of opinions on certain things I feel are mostly bad ideas. Finally, if you like a given trope, that's fine. It's all opinion here. I'm sure there are some tropes I love but which really piss you off. We are all entitled to our own opinions.

Annoying Trope 1: Cyborg Soulfood

If you're as old as I am and have been into gaming as long as I have, you have probably come across the idea that cybernetics make you a worse person overall. This tends to be represented by some sort of "humanity stat." And it never really made sense to me.

This most often shows up in games of the "Cyberpunk" genre and has its origins in the original Cyberpunk RPG by Mike Pondsmith, which claims to be faithful to the works of authors like William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. (Look them up on Wikipedia.) However, these guys never wrote about cyberware destroying your morality; simply about how high technology enables more of humanity's worst aspects. Of course, in the Cyberpunk RPG, this trope came in not to emulate the genre, but to be a play balance mechanism. Basically, by loading up on more and more cybernetic augmentations, you lose points in Humanity (which serves a a morality stat). As you lose Humanity, you also lose Presence, which measures your social aptitude (and implies self-confidence).This can get pretty silly as I am about to illustrate below with ponies. (I have some bronies in the audience, and it's not a bad show. Don't worry, I won't proselytize about it to the non-fans, though.)

This is the ever-nervous Fluttershy: Very low presence, no confidence. No Cyberware EVER!

(Image taken from the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic wiki. http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Fluttershy).

This is the glamorous Rarity. Confident, stylish, high presence. THE PERFECT FUTURE DEATH MACHINE!

(Image also taken from the MLP: FiM wiki: http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Rarity).

So, that bit of silliness aside, let's get to the real problem.

Of course, once your humanity sinks to 0, well, you can no longer play your character because he has become a being a pure evil. That's right. If you're just some kid who stepped on a landmine and needed a prosthetic, then you're one more step closer to being a mass murderer, rapist, or the next Adolf Hitler.

(Anyone cracking Godwin's Law jokes about Nazi Amputees should save me the trouble and kick their own asses.)

I think you can see why I don't like this trope now. If not, let me put it this way. Congratulations, cyberpunk RPG genre, you just created another excuse for people to to be prejudiced against the disabled.

But, three more points. Where can there be said to be a real source, how can this trope work without such unfortunate implications and how can you address the balance issues?

Well, the first one has no origins in the Cyberpunk Genre save for the games. But the idea itself can be argues to start in children's literature, in a magical land called Oz.

Wait, There's no cyberware in Oz! Well, it's never called such, but if an arm, leg or even your head or body gets hacked apart horribly, you can, in fact, get an artificial replacement. That's why the Tin Woodsman is as he is (his limbs were all cacked off, as was his head, and then his body was split in two, all by the Wicked Witch of the West. The Wizard of Oz is a surprisingly gory book compared to the movie we all know). And what did he want from the Wizard? A Heart, to be loving and compassionate. Of course, he kinda had those emotions all along, but that there seems like the most logical origin point for any cyborg or robot who also wishes to have a heart or a soul, or who feels like he has lost those.

As for a way to make it work without offensive implications, I say you best look to Shadowrun. Shadowrun is a cyberpunk RPG with elemments for fantasy as well, and here, the loss is not of your morality or human decency, but of your ability to use magic and your life force due to interference. Too much cyberware? You die and then John was a zombie, thus you can call the story of this trope Shadowrun: Repercussions of Cybernetics!

Or, as an alternative, you can incorporate cybernetics into an overall emotion or angst mechanic, where the loss of self-worth/acquisition of angst stems from the trauma of having parts of you amputated, and as you add up these points of trauma, you pick up psychological problems because you feel less like a human, rather than because you supposedly are less human. Sure, this implies that amputees are depressed, but better sad than bad.Not to mention that therapy can help to cope.

As for alternatives, I can actually see having to invest points into skills relating to the ability to control your cyberware. After all, it can't be easy adjusting to an artificial replacement body part. You gotta learn how to walk again if you get a prosthetic leg, and if your arm gets replaced, you need to learn how to use that. Humans don't exactly plug and play right away. The HARP SF game does a good job with that and is worth studying for that reason (though you will need to buy its companion book, HARP SF Xtreme as well).

Annoying Trope 2: Pokemon Publishing

Thankfully, this is not too common among Tabletop RPGs, but it does pose a problem. Well, maybe I should explain it first.

As video game fans know, the Pokemon franchise has one game coming out on two cartidges every "generation." You can argue that this is because there are so many critters that you need multiple games. Especially if you gotta catch 'em all. And it continues, and I'm willing to say it's because of technocal limitations, but I can easily see where others will call it a cash grab.

Pokemon Publishing for tabletop games is basically when your core rules are split up into multiple books. In the more merciful cases, you have an indication about this in that one will be called a Player's Handbook and the other is called a Game Master's Guide. There might even be a third Monster Manual (or a roster book for some games). Of course, you'll need them all if you want to play the game.

GURPS and Hero system do this in their current editions by having one book dedicated to character creation while the other is dedicated to all the rules for play itself. But those at least also include a chapter giving a very basic set of play rules to start you off with, which is even more merciful.

This still makes it incredibly expensive just to get all the rules with which you can truly feel like you have all you need.

This actually has has its start when tabletop RPGs were first sold in boxed sets. You had all the books you would need in just one box, printed as multiple books stapled together. And you even has a comvenient place to put everything, including your character sheets. There were also dice most of the time and the game came fairly complete..Those were awesome days. ^.^

However, nowadays, it's for the reallly complex games because a book weighing in at 500-600+ pages is intimidating and heavy to lug around. Trust me, Pathfinder and Traveller 5 are the kinds of books that you could use to kill people with in melee combat! And there's a video where the developers of the revised fifth edition of Hero System (with all the rules in one book) actually shot at a copy of that book and it stopped some of the lower caliber bullets. This was before the 6th edition split the rules into two books and provided a third, less intimidating rulebook that stripped out all the optional stuff for players to purchase (while the GM had to cough up $80 for the main books weighting in over 600 pages in total).

However, this also means that there are things you may find yourself missing if you only get a single book out of the two or three you need, and if you can't find them both together at the game store, then woe is you! So I guess while it's annoying, it does have its practical reasons, and it's not such a horrible thing. I just find it a bit annoying.

And yes, HARP SF does this too, with the main rules in the core book, and Xtreme having the rules for cybernetics, starships, AIs and robots.

Annoying Trope 3: Symbol Dice Excess

Oh this one is going to get a little ragey. I am sorry.

Okay. First off, I'm okay with rolling simple dice and needing to be familiar with only a couple of symbols. Fudge dice are good for this. Rolling fancy dice is not a bad thing in and of itself. However...

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire by Fantasy Flight Games has turned this idea into a maggot-ridden, festering pile of bullshit! And to be honest, this kkinda started from these guys with the latest edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Now that I let out my anger, I want to explain what my problem is.

Imagine, if you will, not nust rolling a bunch of dice and examing them individually. That's common in Dice Pool based games like Exalted and the World of Darkness games, and you're trying to pick out which dice meet or beat a certain target number. That's simple so far.

Now imagine that you're tracking symbols for your success instead of target numbers. This still makes sense.

Now, let's say you are tracking seven or eight symbols. Some cancel each other out, but you're still trying to track these things. Also, this means if you're doing something, you are rolling not only for your actions, but the difficulty. And sure, it's not a pass/fail thing, but you also want to see a critical result (accomplished in sane games by rolling within a certain range of success) and you want to see if you can add any affects that can be advantageous if you miss too. (Okay, this is a nice, innovative touch, but...).

Excessive much?

Now, let's compare to Fudge Dice. In Fudge and Fate mechanics, you are taking a word within your stats, rolling these dice to see if you get a better or worse word along a ladder. A Fudge die has two sides with a + symbol, which get you one word better, two sides with a - symbol, which makes it one word worse, and two blank sides which are neutral. Much simpler, more or less pass/fail, and if you roll a better word than what you need, that's what handles better results. Much simpler and the only thing missing is your ability to still create an advantage if you fail, which a generous GM might decide is a good choice for certain resources made available during character creation. You only need to track two symbols.

So yeah. Star Wars: Edge of the Empire. Yes, I singled out one game because of this, but it still pisses me off because it makes what could have been a good game utterly unplayable for me.

Well, that's enough annoyance for now. Let's cheer up with some kitties.

(Image from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seawren/2369679859/)

(Image also from Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/35395127@N02/3282324550/)

Well, and a dog who knows my plight at times. :-p (Image from The Dungeoneering Dad. http://thedungeoneeringdad.blogspot.com/2012/02/dungeon-master-dog.html)

See you next time. Good Day and Have some Fun.

[tabletalkrpg]

Table Talk: I Would've Gotten Away With It Too If It Weren't For You Meddling Kids!

[Note: I did some grammatical editing and expanded on a point or two.]

Hello, everyone. Today, Table Talk tackles its very first RPG review. As this is an introduction to my style of game reviews, it's only fair that I review a game that is meant to be an introduction to tabletop role playing. What would that game be? A little 2004 title known as Meddling Kids by Pandahead Production.

The title alone should tell you what genre this game is about, unless you have never seen an episode of Scooby Doo. For reference, I am reviewing the game in PDF form. There was a hard copy version, but I think it is otherwise out of print. At the end of this review, I'll give you a link to where you can legally purchase and download the PDF. It's currently around 6 dollars with a normal 10 dollar price.

About the Book

The PDF consists of 98 8.5” by 5.5” pages, including the covers. If you had a print version, your little kid wannabe gamer could pass this off as a novella in public, theoretically. The game itself is aimed at ages 7 and up, the point where children are literate and capable of understanding at least a few concepts for any game more complex than Candyland. It also calls itself Stage One of the Starter System. As much as I would love to see future stages, the fact that this is Pandahead Production's only product within nine years is casting this hope into doubt.

If you don't know the whole deal with the genre of Meddling Kids and Scooby Doo, then I might as well explain it to you. It's not to call you stupid, but rather, we all need to refresh our memories once in a while.

So, back in the 1960s and 1970s, there was this cartoon called Scooby Doo: Where Are You. It was about a group of teenagers (who looked suspiciously like adults; maybe if they kept to their schoolwork and let the grownups solve the mysteries, they wouldn't be taking High School classes in their 20s) and their dog bumming around in their flower-patterned van and solving mysteries. For some reason this show became popular and even nowadays, Scooby Doo is something of a household name thanks to modern merchandising. Hanna Barbera, the same production company which gave us Scooby Doo, proceeded to give us all manner of self-plagiarism including The Funky Phantom, Speed Buggy, Josie and the Pussycats (which was actually adapted from an Archie Comics series) and Jabberjaw, just to name a few.

Based on this, Meddling Kids is built around this concept of a group of teenagers who, with the assistance of a Wild Card character (like Scooby or Speed Buggy), solve mysteries. It's a simple premise and it has worked for one franchise for over 40 years. It even translates well to role playing. Sure, it's not as combat-packed as your standard fantasy dungeon crawl, but there is a clear framework when it comes to solving mysteries, getting chased by a monster and eventually capturing the monster so that you can reveal Old Man Withers and his money-laundering racket. And it's a framework that makes the players use their heads in some manner other than as a bludgeon (inside joke), which is sometimes a good thing in games as long as it's done in a manner where being smart genuinely helps!

The art within the book does accomplish a cartoony aesthetic, but not quite the aesthetic of the classic cartoons. But they do give the kids some nice black and white pictures (by their standards) to look at.

Introduction

The game begins, after the cover and the title page (both of which show a typical wrap-up of a mystery; the same image to be exact. That's not lazy, it's typical), with a page of credits which shows that there have not been many people working on this, which is understandable as it's a small press game. They also give a necessary warning that kids should not be going out to solve real world mysteries on their own, but rather such a thing should be done by trained adults such as police officers. Let's face it, when you're 7 years old, you're not all that bright and without a parent, guardian or some other authority figure to stop you from doing something stupid, you would probably be dead by now. And also, in today's litigious society, where people can sue you because they claim they were inspired by you to do something stupid and had to experience the consequences, you sometimes have to cover your keister and tell them not to do what you are showing. This is especially the case when your medium (Role Playing Games) has had to deal with moral panics in the past.

I kid you not (no pun intended). Dungeons & Dragons, a tabletop game where you play as warriors, wizards and other fantastic adventurers who fight monsters and slay demons to save people and earn treasure, was just as controversial in the 1980s and early 1990s as Mortal Kombat and the Grand Theft Auto video games in the 1990s and early-to mid 2000s. If Noah Antwiler, "the Spoony One", is anyone to be beleived, schools could suspend kids for "gambling" and threaten expulsion if they continue bringing their RPG books with them. (Check out his review of the Mazes & Monsters movie on youtube if you don't believe me.) For now, let's get back on topic.

Beyond that and the Table of Contents, you get the Introduction. You start with a brief history of cartoons, starting with the origins of cartoons, Emile Reynaud's three short films “A Good Beer,” “Poor Pierrot” and “Clowns and Dogs.” Emile then moved on to more “adult” things. Others have not. Then they skip forward to the 1960s and television cartoons, describing how saturday morning cartoons got started until Fred Silverman, a CBS executive, decided that maybe cartoons for kids should show fun things that kids are doing, like having adventures and such. This quick introduction is actually pretty neat. This is the first point where I have ever heard of Emile Reynaud, and that alone earns it some credit given that I am a bit of an animation fan myself.

Next comes the question of what an RPG is. Starting with the usual “Let's Pretend With Rules” explanation, they give a little explanation of how pen and paper (or as I call them, “tabletop”) RPGs differ from computer RPGs. Then there is an unnecessary discussion of Live Action Role Playing. Meddling Kids is, naturally, a Pen and Paper game. No costumes. No technology. You just need pencils, paper, some six-sided dice and the rulebook. Also, an imagination, but if you play tabletop RPGs, or are a kid who has yet to have their imagination taken out of them by the American educational syatem, you already have that. Even if it's only to visualize the action that's going on.

You then get an explanation that Meddling Kids is set in our own world, an explanation of the Game Master, some reasoning behind rules and a quick explanation of the Wild Card character. It all works nicely for explaining what role playing is to someone who has never played these games.

Chapter 1: Character Creation

Next comes character creation. Here, I will explain the rules, but I won't give you everything. Feel free to buy this game if I do make you curious, however.

They start with a fairly long-winded explanation of how you can develop your character's backstory and description, which works for a little kid, but is pretty dull for an adult who would know about this stuff already. But, given its target niche, this is fine. It probably gives the parent who is reading this to their kid a set of ideas to discuss. Once the concept gets hammered down, there comes the next step.

Next, you get to choose one of seven different archetypes. These are essentially “baby's first character classes.”. They are as follows:

The Jock: You're the muscle of the group. You excel in physical actions. Arguably this would fit Fred Jones.

The Fluff: Daphne Blake. Basically, you're the attractive one.

The Brain: You're the smart person. Think Velma Dinkley.

The Goof: You're the Comic relief. This would be Norville “Shaggy” Rogers.

The Temper: You're emotional and have a knack for influencing others emotionally.

The Sidekick: Mister (or Miss) Dependable, you're always here to help others.

The Innocent: You're the optimist, no matter what.

Oh, and you only get one archetype. It'll be explained why later.

And now we start with the numbers. Every character gets four stats: Strength, Moves (your agility), Smarts and Health. You also get 24 points to spend on these four stats, ranging from 1 to 10, with 6 being average. They cannot total more than 24 points. The scale is fairly simple. They recommend giving your character strengths and weaknesses in these to make him or her more interesting.

Next up, you get abilities. These are like your skills, but in a more “binary” manner: you have the ability or you do not. Abilities are there to assign bonuses in certain situations. Remember Shaggy's ability to eat some of the more revolting meals and not get sick? That's an ability.

Your archetype gives you one free ability (hence the "One Archetype" rule). After that, you get to spend 26 points to buy more abilities. You may find that you have some points left over. They're lost. Oh, and each ability has a different cost, in a manner similar to Hero System or GURPS, only with moderately fixed benefits and a firmly fixed point cost. They're also put into a different part of the book: right at the end.

Once you get your abilities chosen, you're ready to play. Well, actually, we need to see things from the GM's end.

Chapter 2: The Game Master

So, the game first gives an explanation of what the Game Master does. This takes just a bit over a page and actually has one pretty amusing point from my perspective. Basically, the Game Master is the guy who does the world building, adventure design and other things like that. It's challenging, but potentially rewarding as well.

Then they tell you to skip to the next chapter, the rules, and come back later.

Chapter 3: The Rules

Okay. Rules are the meat and potatoes of any RPG, and this game also has them. So let's dive in and let me explain them to you.

When you want to do something, the Game Master tells you which stat to use. You take that stat, a bonus from an ability that is appropriate, and add the roll of three six-sided dice. This is then compared to a GM-set target number ranging from 4 (why even roll?) to 34 (plainly impossible). 17 is the “I don't know” go-to difficulty value. The trick is to roll equal to or higher than the target number.

Conflicts are a little trickier and represent things like chase scenes and competitions more than an actual fight. The GM determines which stat to use. Players pick an ability, and then everyone rolls the dice. Highest roll wins. On a tie, stats are compared. If those tie, roll again. It's effectively a prolonged sequence from one of those cartoons. Actually, it isn't all that tricky.

What about injury? Well, it is possible that you can get “bonked” in the game.* Each character has a set of Health Points equal to his Health stat. A character who falls loses one die of Health points per 10 feet fallen. If you get hit, that loss is the attacker's Strength stat + one die. For every point below 0, you are out of the action for one minute, either in real time or game time. That's what getting Bonked means.

Needless to say, be careful. The average teenager has a Health of 6, so it doesn't take much to be bonked for a few minutes.

What about Traps? Well, Fred, there are rules for traps. For starters, since monsters do not get bonked by normal means, traps are what you need to use. You start with an idea for what the trap will be. The tougher the monster, the tougher a trap you need. The target number is based on the Monster's strength and health.

The roll for your trap is based on taking the trap's complexity (which itself cannot be higher than the trapper's Smarts, or if trapping as a group, the highest Smarts in the group +1), and then add two dice. The complexity itself is base 0, +1 per step. If a trap fails, then you need to start over again with an entirely new trap. The monster's not stupid enough to fall for the same tricks twice. If it succeeds, then it's time to call the cops and unmask the monster, who “would have gotten away....” Oh you know the line!

There are some optional rules as seen below.

Kid points: If you want to emphasize teamwwork, the whole group gets a single point pool which can be spent to improve the rolls of your friends, provided they're spent BEFORE the roll and not asked for.

Chase Scenes: When you first see the monster, make a Smarts roll (with a high target number the first time. It gradually shrinks) and if you fail, you get scared. The monster will give chase. You've seen this situation a million times in Scooby Doo. To get out of a chase, the pursued needs to come up with some ability/stat roll and beat the monster's Smarts +10.

Next, there is some advice. Be polite, ask questions, seeing is believing, take notes, stuff like that. Next up is Experience.

At the end of a mystery, characters get 1 to 4 experience points based on how well the mystery has been solved. The usual reward is 2 or 3. New abilities are bought at the same cost as you would pay during character creation. Improved stats would cost five times the current value to go up one level. Wild Cards get only half the experience points, due to being Game Master characters.And speaking of the Game Master, let's get to Chapter Two.

Chapter 2: The Game Master (Again)

Okay. Rule 1: Don't stress over all the rules. Rule 2: Sometimes, there are no rules. This is fairly basic stuff, but it's important for EVERY Game Master. They go into some detail about how you should apply your judgment. This might be dull for experienced adults, but it is important for kids and newbies. Nothing is more discouraging than something being too stressful.

Furthermore, there is some advice on how a GM should treat his/her players. Be fair, and be a guide rather than a punisher. And then they get to the stuff about how to prepare an adventure.

They tell you to start with the big six: Who, what, where, when, why and how. These will give you a good basis for the story. Also, “write what you know.” Use your own experiences as a guide for your adventures. Beyond that, work on creating non-player characters and the Wild Card. And finally, your most important tool will be a notebook to keep track of things like ideas for your game.

And then we get to the Wild Card.

The Wild Card is your Scooby Doo and your Speed Buggy. He's your Captain Caveman and Jabberjaw. He's the talkative boxing kangaroo, flying toaster, alien rapper or pacifistic Terminator unit from the future that helps your normal teenagers while being a bit of a goofball. And he gets made much like a teenager with some exceptions.

Wild Cards get 24 points for stats as normal, up to a limit of ten in any stat. 26 points for Abilities like normal, but with a special list of abilities to choose from exclusive to the Wild Card.

This does not mean that the Wild Card cannot take normal teen abilities. They're available, but cost one extra point and can add one more point to the roll than they normally would.

Wild Cards also get a quirk: an odd behavior that affects their role playing. Scooby Doo is always hungry. Goober of the Ghost Chasers always turned invisible when scared. Cap'n Bingo (the game's sample wild card) is a gorilla who cannot resist anything relating to bananas (as if his delusions of being a sea pirate were not quirky enough).

When it comes to experience, Wild Cards get only half the experience points.

And from there, they talk about how playing the game works.

Chapter 4: Sample Adventure: The Dragon's Eye

And there's a sample adventure. A page dedicated to explaining how these adventures work, and then you get the adventure itself, which I will avoid spoiling for you. If you wanna play it though, and they do have a sample clique, buy the book!

Epilogue & Appendices

One page is the epilogue which gives you a little note about how the game doesn't have to end, but you still have a real life to live, so try to have fun there too. Is it sappy? A bit, but that works for kids. They haven't developed the cynicism that makes us grown people (or, for that matter, even real teenagers) think we're above such things.

Then we have the appendices. You start with a glossary of terms. This is followed by a list of character abilities, Wild Card abilities and then some sample characters you can use to play The Dragon's Eye. Then you get NPCs (Non-Player characters) for the adventure, some additional sample villains and monsters, and what may well be the best index ever. Not only does this sort out what is on what page, but does this by category. And I can't believe this is the only RPG I have seen that does that! And from there, you have the back cover. Shame they don't have a character sheet, but you can probably hash one out on a word processor with no trouble, or maybe a notebook of your own.

Overall

Overall, I would say that Meddling Kids is a pretty good game for introducing beginners to tabletop role playing, but it's not exactly a deep experience. It might work best with the Narrative Agenda, with some slight nods to the Simulation agenda for die-hard Scooby Doo fans. Sure, you don't get any stats for the Scooby Gang, but you can surely put those together yourself if you're that dedicated.

I heartily recommend that any gaming parent who wants to teach their children how to play should pick this up, and as a PDF, it's only 6 dollars. The link is this: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/83837/Meddling-Kids

Now, go out and have some fun!Maybe solve an imaginary mystery or two. The bad guys will keep getting away with their crimes without you Meddling Kids.