So - moving along with High Strung! I have chargen finished. Here's an example character:
Attributes
Assign one each of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, and 5 to an Attribute.
VOIS (Voice) 8
FNGR (Fingers) 10
DANS (Dance) 5
ENRG (Energy) 7
CUTE (Cuteness) 9
SMRT (Smarts) 6
Age
Choose your age, apply modifiers.
24 -25
(Hippie)
You’ve been at this a while, haven’t you? Your chops have
never been better, but why does there have to be such crap? You have a
Decent Job, and the Real World is looking tempting.
Base Hope: 12
Attribute Mods: CUTE+1, ENRG+1, FNGR+1, VOIS+2
Skills: Apportion 13 Skill Points from your Training Skills
Training
Up to age 24, you are limited to one Training. Over 24, you may choose two Trainings.
Training 1 - Relentless Gigging
You
played for a pop cover band. Skills are Play Instrument, Sing,
Choreograph, Banter, Groupies. Your Style is Pop, and you gain +1 to
ENRG
Training 2 - Art Schooler
You were an art major who
slipped into music somehow. Skills are Graphics, Flash, Play Instrument,
Sing, Promote. Your Style is Progressive, and you gain +1 to CUTE
Styles: Styles are your preferred style of music, and when you
perform in that style, things just go better. You gain 2
Small Bonuses whenever you play a song in your Style.
How Skills Work
Skills are capped at a rank of +2. in order to go beyond +2, you must specialize.
Specialization
Anything
can be a Specialization, if the GM agrees. Three possible
specializations for each skill are included in the table above.
Instruments
Unlike other skills, Play Instrument is immediately separated into
type - Strings, Keyboards, Beat, Reeds, and Brass. This is because the
mechanics of playing each Type of instrument are very different. After
+2, they are further specialized like all Skills. Play Instrument would
be noted thus - Skill: Subskill (Specialization).
Example - Play
Instrument: Reed (Baritone Sax) +4, playing Baritone Sax, Skill Check is
at +4, playing Alto Sax, Skill Check is at +2.
Example Character: Shelly (Chili) Burns
VOIS (Voice) 8 + 2 = 10
FNGR (Fingers) 10 +1 = 11
DANS (Dance) 5
ENRG (Energy) 7 + 1 + 1 = 9
CUTE (Cuteness) 9 +1 +1 = 11
SMRT (Smarts) 6
Base Hope: 12
Styles: Progressive and Pop
Job: Decent
Skills:
Graphics +2
Flash +1
Play Instrument: Strings +2 (Guitar+3)
Sing +2 (Smoky+4)
Promote +1
Choreograph +0
Banter +1
Groupies +1
Friday, December 27, 2013
Monday, December 23, 2013
Political Map of Earth for Lowell Was Right! Campaign
Here is the political map of our campaign Earth, for the year 2014 in LWR!
The world is divided among eight Great Powers - an Isolationist USA, which has combined with Mexico and Canada, A South American Confederation - with some Central American and Caribbean buffer states - owns the Panama Canal.
The Ottoman Empire has overrun most of Europe, with only the UK, Eire, and Scandanavia still free. A Pan Arab Caliphate rules from Morocco to Iraq, the Tsars own the north from Belarus and Finland to Kamchatka. The Manchus and the Japan-led Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere had been fighting, but now they are competitive Facist buddies. Australasia brings up the south, ruling from New Zealand to Malaya. Right smack in the middle are The Stans, a battleground between all the old world Powers in Proxy Wars. Africa South of the Sahara is mostly a sea of smaller nations, none of them Great Powers.
This campaign world was created by the players, by either nomination - South American Confederation, Tsarist Russia, Isolationist USA - or random roll. It's a nasty world, full of strife and war. Few of the Powers are speaking to each other. The players mean to be out in the solar system somewhere, though the Association is as yet un-created, so I'm not sure yet just how, where, or why. Probably the reason is to escape the horrid state of the Earth! :D
The Ottoman Empire has overrun most of Europe, with only the UK, Eire, and Scandanavia still free. A Pan Arab Caliphate rules from Morocco to Iraq, the Tsars own the north from Belarus and Finland to Kamchatka. The Manchus and the Japan-led Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere had been fighting, but now they are competitive Facist buddies. Australasia brings up the south, ruling from New Zealand to Malaya. Right smack in the middle are The Stans, a battleground between all the old world Powers in Proxy Wars. Africa South of the Sahara is mostly a sea of smaller nations, none of them Great Powers.
This campaign world was created by the players, by either nomination - South American Confederation, Tsarist Russia, Isolationist USA - or random roll. It's a nasty world, full of strife and war. Few of the Powers are speaking to each other. The players mean to be out in the solar system somewhere, though the Association is as yet un-created, so I'm not sure yet just how, where, or why. Probably the reason is to escape the horrid state of the Earth! :D
Monday, December 16, 2013
Sunday's IRC Game
Ran the last In Harm's Way: Napoleonic Naval game of the year yesterday.
It ended in epic fashion, with a small group infiltrating - via a creek
and canoes - the palace at Bluefields, and saving five year old King
George from death by Poison Dart Frog toxin, as his uncle Stephen's
poisoner and four other lackeys were killed in the fray, along with
several guards.
Out front, between Bluefields and the palace, the confrontation between would-be-King Stephen and his advisor the Admiral's forces, and the forces of General Robinson and the British Flotilla was stopped with a parlay. During the parlay, one of Stephen's Assassins attempted to kill Princess Emma with a thrown poisoned knife, but Lt. Bobby Cooper interposed her body - Bobby is a woman disguised as a man - and took the blade in her shoulder, knowing it was probably poisoned.
At this violation of the laws of Parlay, Bosun Grim leaped at Stephen and severed his arm, which was holding a knife, at the shoulder. Stephen bled out as Lord Alexander Sinclaire shot the assassin as he ran from the parlay. Emma saved Lt. Cooper's life by sucking out the poison, at some cost to herself - Poison Dart Frog toxin is equally poisonous orally or insinuated into the bloodstream, unlike - say - rattlesnake venom.
So the Miskito Kingdom was saved, both the King and his older sister surviving, and Princess Emma made regent for young George.
I have been running this annually game for eight years now, since 2006, and we have gone from 1793 to 1802. This Miskito Kingdom Scenario is based on real events in 1801 and 1802, when Stephen poisoned King George, and General Robinson prevented him from doing likewise to young George. Emma was an invented character, but not impossible... :D
-clash
Out front, between Bluefields and the palace, the confrontation between would-be-King Stephen and his advisor the Admiral's forces, and the forces of General Robinson and the British Flotilla was stopped with a parlay. During the parlay, one of Stephen's Assassins attempted to kill Princess Emma with a thrown poisoned knife, but Lt. Bobby Cooper interposed her body - Bobby is a woman disguised as a man - and took the blade in her shoulder, knowing it was probably poisoned.
At this violation of the laws of Parlay, Bosun Grim leaped at Stephen and severed his arm, which was holding a knife, at the shoulder. Stephen bled out as Lord Alexander Sinclaire shot the assassin as he ran from the parlay. Emma saved Lt. Cooper's life by sucking out the poison, at some cost to herself - Poison Dart Frog toxin is equally poisonous orally or insinuated into the bloodstream, unlike - say - rattlesnake venom.
So the Miskito Kingdom was saved, both the King and his older sister surviving, and Princess Emma made regent for young George.
I have been running this annually game for eight years now, since 2006, and we have gone from 1793 to 1802. This Miskito Kingdom Scenario is based on real events in 1801 and 1802, when Stephen poisoned King George, and General Robinson prevented him from doing likewise to young George. Emma was an invented character, but not impossible... :D
-clash
Sunday, November 24, 2013
High Strung and Ecce Homicide
Usually, when I am writing one game, I am also writing another as well, so that when one game is released, there is another partially written game taking its place immediately. For the first time in a decade, I had no secondary game going while writing Lowell Was Right!. Now that it is in Beta Playtest, I find myself at a loss.
So, I took some suggestions from folks on G+, then went my own way. Lord forbid I should write a game someone actually WANTS! I came up with two games, which I am starting simultaneously. One or the other will at some point start clicking and pull ahead, but at this point it could be either.
One game is called High Strung - thanks for the name Ray Otus! - which is about being a rock musician in the mid-to-late 70s trying to make it big with original music. Why the seventies? Well, I lived this game, and know it very very well. Besides, it was a time of change and ferment in music, and lots of new things were being tried out. If I can make an RPG about baseball, I can do this!
The other is called Ecce Homicide. Yes, it's a police procedural game. People are always telling me that this is very difficult to do, but I have run procedurals in a dozen different games over the years, and they are fun and easy to do. Every time I see someone write about how they tried to do this, I think they are doing it backwards.I will design this game the way I do it. :D
-clash
So, I took some suggestions from folks on G+, then went my own way. Lord forbid I should write a game someone actually WANTS! I came up with two games, which I am starting simultaneously. One or the other will at some point start clicking and pull ahead, but at this point it could be either.
One game is called High Strung - thanks for the name Ray Otus! - which is about being a rock musician in the mid-to-late 70s trying to make it big with original music. Why the seventies? Well, I lived this game, and know it very very well. Besides, it was a time of change and ferment in music, and lots of new things were being tried out. If I can make an RPG about baseball, I can do this!
The other is called Ecce Homicide. Yes, it's a police procedural game. People are always telling me that this is very difficult to do, but I have run procedurals in a dozen different games over the years, and they are fun and easy to do. Every time I see someone write about how they tried to do this, I think they are doing it backwards.I will design this game the way I do it. :D
-clash
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Look! Up In The Sky News
So, some *Look! Up In The Sky!* news!
I'm taking advantage of the wait to get some feedback from *Lowell Was Right!* Beta Playtesters, and doing some editing for Klax' supers, game, *LUITS!*. Klax has sent me some examples for power restrictions, and I am inserting them under each power description. You can take a power restriction to reduce the cost of a power - or the reverse, technically, though it isn't common, and one of the "restriction" examples actually increases the cost.
After that is done, Klax thinks that an example character - with some restrictions - could demonstrate things nicely. When that is done, it will be ready for Beta Testing. We have had an immense amount of fun with LUITS! over the last year or so of Alpha testing, and I can't wait to get it out there!
I'm taking advantage of the wait to get some feedback from *Lowell Was Right!* Beta Playtesters, and doing some editing for Klax' supers, game, *LUITS!*. Klax has sent me some examples for power restrictions, and I am inserting them under each power description. You can take a power restriction to reduce the cost of a power - or the reverse, technically, though it isn't common, and one of the "restriction" examples actually increases the cost.
After that is done, Klax thinks that an example character - with some restrictions - could demonstrate things nicely. When that is done, it will be ready for Beta Testing. We have had an immense amount of fun with LUITS! over the last year or so of Alpha testing, and I can't wait to get it out there!
Monday, November 18, 2013
Lowell Was Right! Now Available for Beta Testing!
Lowell Was Right! is now available for Beta testing. I am
interested in both play and non-play testing - in other words reading -
as I believe both are helpful in different ways. If you would be willing
to give some feedback, please contact me via email at
clashUNDERSCOREbowleyATyahooDOTcom and I will send you LWR! via return
email.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
The Uranus System in Lowell Was Right!
Uranus
Uranus is quite cool, with little heat left from gravitational collapse. Minor differences in heating occasionally start weak storm systems in its atmosphere. There is no heating of the surrounding moons except through tidal interactions. None of Uranus’ moons is massive enough to retain a significant atmosphere.
Ariel
The moon Ariel seems to be an anomaly. It is significantly larger than its small mass would indicate, suggesting a hollowed structure rather than solid. It also has a lower albedo than most moons. This was discovered fairly recently from telescopic observations from the Saturn system.
Uranus is quite cool, with little heat left from gravitational collapse. Minor differences in heating occasionally start weak storm systems in its atmosphere. There is no heating of the surrounding moons except through tidal interactions. None of Uranus’ moons is massive enough to retain a significant atmosphere.
Ariel
The moon Ariel seems to be an anomaly. It is significantly larger than its small mass would indicate, suggesting a hollowed structure rather than solid. It also has a lower albedo than most moons. This was discovered fairly recently from telescopic observations from the Saturn system.
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