Prime-time TV Tabletop

This fall I've actually been keeping up with a few prime-time TV shows -- something I don't often do -- for a very particular reason: tabletop ideas. There is no better application for consumable media than gaming, I say, and there are some shows ripe for the picking. Since these shows are still on-going I won't be giving away any spoilers -- meaning this post will be vague. What should be here, though, is a bit of a spotlight for three shows to watch or look into (all of which you're likely already watching, if you've made your way here).

First up is Sleepy Hollow on Fox, which is going to be back on air in a few days. I will say that I enjoy the show quite a bit, but it does have a somewhat silly over-arching storyline. The real meat to dig into here, I feel, is the individual baddies or situations that occur each week. Most any of them that have occurred, so far, can be ported over to your favorite system as-is and they often have some interesting abilities or quirks that would allow for a nice, lengthy adventure (or more).

Second is Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC. This is a program that, I think, quite a few tabletop gamers and geeks are keeping up with, so it should be one of the more familiar titles on this post. One of the great aspects of it is how the shows plays out as a typical tabletop game experience. The team of agents feel quite similar to a band of PCs and the different episodes and events are reminiscent of adventures -- with the over-arching storyline being the central storyline of a campaign. What could be pulled from it? Just about anything, really. Though, I will say that I don't feel too strongly about any individual part -- they just kind of work as a whole.

Lastly, The Tomorrow People, on CW. This is likely the lesser-known show of the post, and, of the three, my least favorite so far. That said, it does have an interesting and useable setting and premise -- people being born with the potential for psychic abilities and a shady organization that hunts them. That might seem quite basic and familiar, but the details (possibly spoilery, so I won't mention them) in the show do help to flesh it out and make it more unique. It does have the fewest episodes out of the three, so I'm hoping the show will start to pick up more soon and pique my interest more.

And that's that. I'll likely have a more in-depth post about these series -- and the ideas they spawn -- in the future, when the shows have finished their seasons and I can feel better about being more spoilery. Until then, I definitely recommend checking them out -- you should be able to catch episodes, for free, on their network's websites. So, not much reason to miss them, really.

Steven Strange - The Strange(st) Scientist

Last Friday kicked off the start of +Stacy Dellorfano 's Perfect Dark hangout game. I went into it completely ignorant of the game or setting and, I have to say, it was quite easy to pick up. The character I cobbled together was Steven Strange -- a farmer and an academic. He lives to study the Strange -- some weird gas that, possibly, is a living entity.

From Wikimedia

To back up Steven, and keep him company/sane, is his cougar companion, Kane. One of the coolest parts of character creation, I felt, was the option to create a pet. And, by 'create', I do mean create -- the pets, should you invest enough points into them, have their own mini-character creation that
allows you to select various mutations and skills for them. Much like your own character has. This means that Kane is no ordinary cougar. Oh, no. Kane is a tentacled, web-spinning, sonar-using, sentient cougar that can also brew his own booze. Yeah, he's awesome.

But, enough of the cool cat and back to Steven. What went into his creation? What ideas inspired me? Honestly, since I knew so little about the setting at his creation, I just went with a farmer because it sounded entertaining. The initial idea of farming Strange snowballed into Steven being a hardcore researcher of the stuff. Completely dedicated to it, to an almost fanatical degree. This also plays well into his personality (which each character chooses, from a list) as he is The Creepy One. And what's creepier than an overly fanatical scientist, right?

Steven is still evolving, still coming into his own, as the game is just starting to get underway. The game play is actually quite fresh for me, as it lends itself to being pretty nonviolent (so far, at least). If I could describe it, I would consider it almost like Minecraft -- there is a lot of exploration, adventure, and resource gathering for what (I assume) will be a lot of crafting. Or building up of our little society. Either way, it's pretty darn awesome.

I'll toss on some more posts as the adventure continues and we see more of the rules. And more Strange. Always more Strange.

(To note: Perfect Dark is still in the development stage, so it will likely change.)

Skyrim and Hexcrawls

Recently, I've hopped back into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to do some adventuring and have some fun. Like most Elder Scrolls games, Skyrim lets you really dig in and explore -- go completely off the rails and do whatever you feel like, within the limitations of the engine. And that's why I love it and the series, in general. Playing it, though, is bringing to mind another type of gaming that I also love -- hexcrawl adventures.

Overlooking Solstheim in Skyrim.

For those unfamiliar, a hexcrawl is a tabletop RPG campaign that has few, if any, strict storyline limits or focuses. It generally takes place in a sizable world that the GM has already roughly (or thoroughly) mapped out and placed various bits of content in. A lot like Skyrim, basically. The appeal of such game play, to me at least, is the exploration into the unknown and the discovery of what lies within it. Freedom of choice also plays a big part, as there is no (obvious) railroading adventure that you are forced to follow. Skyrim does differ in that aspect, as there is still a central storyline to the game, but that storyline is also easily ignored.

So, explanations out of the way, what does all of this have to do with anything? Well, while lightly pondering the subject I started to apply different aspects of Skyrim to a hexcrawl. Nothing terribly in-depth or detailed, as most of my ideas tend to be, but still potentially ripe for further ideas and picking.

One of the most important aspects that I believe both types of games share is that of exploration. In a hexcrawl you might bring your band of adventurers into an unexplored hex and be given a rough outline of what is there -- typically the geography, maybe some major land marks or towns -- and then require further searching (and maybe some skill checks) to root out the more exotic points of interest. While in Skyrim you have a compass that displays icons of nearby locations and a map of the world that highlights the geography, as well as major cities and any locations you have discovered.

The point here to highlight, and think about in a tabletop sense, is Skyrim's handling of nearby locations. This could be easily done on the tabletop by just having the party determine which direction they are heading in and then give them a rough description of locations within a certain radius -- possibly dependent on visibility. I really like the feel that such a style of exploration gives off. Not just heading in a random direction and going until they hit something, or just heading straight for a known city and picking up quests at the tavern, but really exploring out into the wilds and seeing what the world has to offer -- then deciding on what to check out.

Of course, tabletop has one more aspect that really helps with building immersion for the exploration -- the drawing of personal maps. Since Skyrim tends to handle all of the mapping for you, you don't really get to enjoy that aspect. On the tabletop, I would love to have a blown-up, simple map of the hex being crawled, allowing the party to then trace their current route and make their own icons and marks of potential sites to explore. It really does add to the experience.

There is one major downside, potentially, in the attempt to marry Skyrim-style exploration and hexcrawls. Work. Skyrim had a large team of developers and years of full-time work on it. Not many, if any, GM's have that type of manpower behind their campaigns. Coming up with enough locations to fill in each hex would take quite a bit of time and energy -- probably too much. But, with some of the random generation tables that some RPGs -- like the Adventurer Conqueror King System -- and some standalone products have, it may not be too difficult.

Definitely something to think about further.

What can Tabletop RPGs take from SolForge?

SolForge is a digital collectible card game. Pretty far away from an RPG, right? Well, it still involves monsters, spells and plenty of combat -- all things an RPGer should be familiar with. And, where there are familiar concepts, there are ideas to steal.

To start with we have a concept that is not entirely unique to SolForge -- the deck. Decks and deck-building is a staple in many card games and provides one of the biggest strategic considerations for those games. Why not bring that to RPGs?

Don't harsh on my freedom of choice, man! I hear you say. We aren't playing card games, we're playing RPGs! I know, I know -- freedom to do whatever, even 'I swing my sword' over and over, is a major part of RPGs, but I feel there is a place for a deck and a decent in-game reason for it.

To start with, combat is a heat of the moment kind of thing, supposedly. Characters are trying to read their opponents, act on their training and other sorts of things. Card decks duplicate that. Especially when done in the way that SolForge draws cards. You see, SolForge draws a full hand of five cards every turn -- you use two cards and the rest go to the discard pile, a new hand drawn for your next turn. This is quite similar to how many RPGs work right now -- you get two actions per turn. The cards you draw would be the potential actions your character is thinking about, that their reflexes are straining to perform. They act in the flow of combat, not sitting around taking their time, wondering if they want to strike with their sword or their axe. I feel this flow would work quite nicely in an RPG.

Of course, it's not just about the speed of combat but the deck-building, as well. Figuring out the type of build -- or training regime -- you want your character to have, the strategy that goes into it, is very interesting. To me, at least. And it creates a fun little activity to do outside of game night. How this could be done is fairly simple. Is your character a magic-user? Do they have certain spells? Add the spells to cards -- the number of which would be determined by their levels and spells slots -- and blam! Instant start to a deck. Toss in some other actions -- drinking potions, swinging the staff, running away (typical mage things) and you'll have a full deck in no time. And, as with many digital game to tabletop ideas, this would likely work best with 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. Bet you didn't see that coming, right? Right?

The deck isn't everything, though, not in SolForge, at least. There is one more element that the game has that actually does relate to many tabletop RPGs -- a playing field. The field of SolForge consists of two rows of five spaces -- or lanes -- that players place their creatures into. You can think of it in a similar fashion to a battlemat for RPGs. The players then utilize their creatures and spells to try and gain board control -- much like players of RPGs might use their tactics to try and gain control of an encounter. It's a fairly similar concept, so you might be wondering what there is to pilfer from it. Simple: simplicity.

Having such a small, basic playing field is actually a nice boon to play. There are still elements of strategy in play -- the ability to manipulate creatures to different spots, area of effect spells or abilities, etc -- but everything is slimmed down to help speed up play. At the moment, your average, miniature-using RPG has loads of tactical placement and options that can really bog down a combat. Taking SolForge's method would provide a light option to that, while still keeping some of the features.

And those are just two little ideas from SolForge. I could go on, and I just might in a future post, but that is all for now. I would recommend checking SolForge out if you are interested in card games, at all, as it does provide quite a bit of fun and some nice light strategy.