Music critics show up at a gig on a d20 roll with a result of 1. They can show up at any club at any time, and it's hard to notice them among the band's following, casual strangers, and bar-hopping groupies. Music critics look like any other person - they don't dress in a suit and tie or little black dress. They might have tats, or piercings, or strange hair, just like any other patron, and can be of any gender, race, and orientation. For every gig, roll a second d20. On a roll of 1, someone in the band will 'see' the critic, whether or not a critic is actually there. If they *do* roll a 1, and a critic is there, the critic will be properly identified. Otherwise, they are deluding themselves.
If a critic is in the audience, they will write a review, so take the raw Performance and Show scores for each aspect of the gig. For every 3 scored, the critic will write something positive, and for every 1 or 0 scored, they will pan that aspect in their review. If there are more positives than negatives, the overall review will be positive, and the band will gain 40 points of Notice, and each member will gain a Hope. If the negatives outweigh the positives, the overall review will be negative, and the band will lose 40 points of Notice, and each member will lose a Hope.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Sunday, October 5, 2014
High Strung out for Beta Testing
I've sent High Strung out to the first Beta Testers today. I think it's all basically there, it all works, and now I need reaction to how it is worded and explained. This should be out finally by the end of the year!
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Princess Doodad and Barf Dribble review High Strung (Podcast Transcript)
(Barf Dribble) Tonight we are doing a playtest review of High Strung by Flying Mice Games.
(Princess Doodad) Right Barf! We ran a game with Chicken Eatza, Macho Pizza, and Earthworm Jim - and me of course - taking the parts of the various characters. Barf was the Game Master, and came up with the scenario.
(BD) Yeah... they guy who wrote this piece of crap didn't bother writing an adventure.
(PD) So I made this awesome character, Stephie Dildo, who is like 17 and really cute. She plays like this guitar shaped like an axe, and made of steel. Her costume is this awesome black leather armor with lots of spikes. Her Race is Jail Bait, Jail Baits get +2 to Cute, and her Class is Headbanger.
(BD) Chick made a Beatnik Soulman named Bob Chick, Machie made a Elderly Funkmaster! named Fred, and Jim made a Hippy Blues Brother named Sunshine Moon, cause he's this hippy. The Races and Classes in this game are totally stupid! Like who wants to be Elderly? But you randomly Roll your Race, so we played it RAW.
(PD) (Giggles) I liked MY character! Stephie was ultra awesome!
(BD) So anyway, Bob Chick's weapon was a bass guitar shaped like a sword, Fred had two drumstick wands that he used to cast his songs, and Jim played a tabla, which is some kind of Hippy drum.
In this game, the idiot who designed it makes you draw Hit Points and Magic Points from the same pool, called Hope...
(PD) Yeah, like they have anything to do with each other!
(BD)... which is another thing that bothered me, along with the no module thing. The designer keeps naming stuff wierdly. Like the Race names are weird, the Class names are weird, and the stat names are just fucked! Like VOIS for casting Songs, or FNGR for fighting. Just stupid!
(PD) I liked CUTE for, y'know, being cute!
(BD) Well, one outa... a lot isn't too good, Princess! Why do designers always gotta change names for stuff that already has perfectly good names? I just don't get it, and it irritated me.
(PD) I think I liked the game more than you, Barf!
(BD) Aaaanyways, The party was, like, totally poor. A total Zero to Hero trip! We had Crap Jobs, Crap Clothes, and Crap weapons... I mean Instruments. See? Why change the name? I had to ask them all these stupid questions about their families and shit. Nothing at all about fighting. I suggested everyone just be orphans who just quit their crap jobs, and everyone was cool with that.
(PD) Remember, the Hippie and the Elderly guy had decent stuff!
(BD) Yeah, but the Hippie sold his stuff for weed, and the Elderly dude was old so he forgot he was rich or something. What kinda stuff you got was tied into your age for some reason, so the guys who couldn't do anything got all the decent swag!
(PD) Yeah, right! I made Stephie's costume, though, so that was cool!
(BD) Yeah - she had the most useful skill there, making costumes!
(PD) She made +2 Costumes!
(BD) Pretty swank for a Jail Bait!
(PD) Thanks, Barf!
(BD) So anyway, you gotta get a gig. A gig is like an adventure...
(PD) And you lose HP between adventures, and gain HP from doing them.
(BD) Totally numb! Why? It doesn't say. I just said you guys all have wounds that didn't heal good.
(PD) Which made sense. That was some sweet GMing there, Barf!
(BD) Ya gotta know when to improvise, Princess! The designer just forgot to explain it, so I had ta improvise.
(PD) So Barf came up with an aawesome gig!
(BD) (Laughs) Yeah! Totally! They went to the tavern and were like dicking around with their weapons, and I had this old geezer...
(PD) ...He had the most awesome songs!
(BD) ... come in and say WHO HERE DARETH TO CHALLENGETH THE MIGHTETH OF GORTHAR?
(PD) Then when the Party jumped to their feet, the bottom of the tavern like opened up and we slid into a pit! Us and all our groupies too!
(BD) Groupies are what this dickhead calls henchmen.
(PD) Stephie had like the most hen... groupies...
(BD) See what I mean?
(PD) ... cause she was so ultra cute!
(BD) And she had the Groupies skill too!
(PD) So we fight the orcs in the pit, and found a door that openend into the dungeon! Oh! There was treasure too! New +1 instruments and armo... i mean costumes.
(BD) Yeah - there was no treasure even mentioned anywhere! I just made it all up!
(PD) So we fought these undead, and like we were wailing with out weapons, and Fred cast a Song. We all had to sacrifice HP to power the song, which was awesomely dark! I was imagining Steffie cutting open a vein to let out the blood! Cool idea!
(BD) But there was no actual songs! We looked through the book and found squat! It's like they dicked around with the formatting and lost like half the rules, and didn't notice! So I made shit up again! Gotta keep the game moving! We allrolled our skill dice, like the RAW says...
(PD) And we rolled AWESOME! We all almost maxed out!
(BD) So I looked up the result on the charts - I'm doing this completely RAW, like I said before - and the party gets some treasure deal with multi albums and creative control. I was like what the fuck? Then it says game over. GAME OVER? REALLY? Totally LAME! LAME OVER I say!
(PD) Yeah! That was weird!
(BD) I fugured multi-albums was like the games gold pieces, and creative control meant something like controlling other people like zombies, but why was the game over? We had jusr STARTED!
(PD) I really liked Steffie too!
(BD) What's the use of getting treasure when you can't use it because the FREAKING GAME'S OVER? That was just NUMB! So I just had the gang make characters for D&D 5, and we started that. So, my verdict? PIECE OF CRAP! Stay away from this insane dogpile of a game! It was incomplete, confusing, and just pretentious as shit!
(PD) I liked it better than Barf, but I still don't know why it ended!
(BD) Talk to you next week, when we'll review another new game!
(PD) See ya!
(Princess Doodad) Right Barf! We ran a game with Chicken Eatza, Macho Pizza, and Earthworm Jim - and me of course - taking the parts of the various characters. Barf was the Game Master, and came up with the scenario.
(BD) Yeah... they guy who wrote this piece of crap didn't bother writing an adventure.
(PD) So I made this awesome character, Stephie Dildo, who is like 17 and really cute. She plays like this guitar shaped like an axe, and made of steel. Her costume is this awesome black leather armor with lots of spikes. Her Race is Jail Bait, Jail Baits get +2 to Cute, and her Class is Headbanger.
(BD) Chick made a Beatnik Soulman named Bob Chick, Machie made a Elderly Funkmaster! named Fred, and Jim made a Hippy Blues Brother named Sunshine Moon, cause he's this hippy. The Races and Classes in this game are totally stupid! Like who wants to be Elderly? But you randomly Roll your Race, so we played it RAW.
(PD) (Giggles) I liked MY character! Stephie was ultra awesome!
(BD) So anyway, Bob Chick's weapon was a bass guitar shaped like a sword, Fred had two drumstick wands that he used to cast his songs, and Jim played a tabla, which is some kind of Hippy drum.
In this game, the idiot who designed it makes you draw Hit Points and Magic Points from the same pool, called Hope...
(PD) Yeah, like they have anything to do with each other!
(BD)... which is another thing that bothered me, along with the no module thing. The designer keeps naming stuff wierdly. Like the Race names are weird, the Class names are weird, and the stat names are just fucked! Like VOIS for casting Songs, or FNGR for fighting. Just stupid!
(PD) I liked CUTE for, y'know, being cute!
(BD) Well, one outa... a lot isn't too good, Princess! Why do designers always gotta change names for stuff that already has perfectly good names? I just don't get it, and it irritated me.
(PD) I think I liked the game more than you, Barf!
(BD) Aaaanyways, The party was, like, totally poor. A total Zero to Hero trip! We had Crap Jobs, Crap Clothes, and Crap weapons... I mean Instruments. See? Why change the name? I had to ask them all these stupid questions about their families and shit. Nothing at all about fighting. I suggested everyone just be orphans who just quit their crap jobs, and everyone was cool with that.
(PD) Remember, the Hippie and the Elderly guy had decent stuff!
(BD) Yeah, but the Hippie sold his stuff for weed, and the Elderly dude was old so he forgot he was rich or something. What kinda stuff you got was tied into your age for some reason, so the guys who couldn't do anything got all the decent swag!
(PD) Yeah, right! I made Stephie's costume, though, so that was cool!
(BD) Yeah - she had the most useful skill there, making costumes!
(PD) She made +2 Costumes!
(BD) Pretty swank for a Jail Bait!
(PD) Thanks, Barf!
(BD) So anyway, you gotta get a gig. A gig is like an adventure...
(PD) And you lose HP between adventures, and gain HP from doing them.
(BD) Totally numb! Why? It doesn't say. I just said you guys all have wounds that didn't heal good.
(PD) Which made sense. That was some sweet GMing there, Barf!
(BD) Ya gotta know when to improvise, Princess! The designer just forgot to explain it, so I had ta improvise.
(PD) So Barf came up with an aawesome gig!
(BD) (Laughs) Yeah! Totally! They went to the tavern and were like dicking around with their weapons, and I had this old geezer...
(PD) ...He had the most awesome songs!
(BD) ... come in and say WHO HERE DARETH TO CHALLENGETH THE MIGHTETH OF GORTHAR?
(PD) Then when the Party jumped to their feet, the bottom of the tavern like opened up and we slid into a pit! Us and all our groupies too!
(BD) Groupies are what this dickhead calls henchmen.
(PD) Stephie had like the most hen... groupies...
(BD) See what I mean?
(PD) ... cause she was so ultra cute!
(BD) And she had the Groupies skill too!
(PD) So we fight the orcs in the pit, and found a door that openend into the dungeon! Oh! There was treasure too! New +1 instruments and armo... i mean costumes.
(BD) Yeah - there was no treasure even mentioned anywhere! I just made it all up!
(PD) So we fought these undead, and like we were wailing with out weapons, and Fred cast a Song. We all had to sacrifice HP to power the song, which was awesomely dark! I was imagining Steffie cutting open a vein to let out the blood! Cool idea!
(BD) But there was no actual songs! We looked through the book and found squat! It's like they dicked around with the formatting and lost like half the rules, and didn't notice! So I made shit up again! Gotta keep the game moving! We allrolled our skill dice, like the RAW says...
(PD) And we rolled AWESOME! We all almost maxed out!
(BD) So I looked up the result on the charts - I'm doing this completely RAW, like I said before - and the party gets some treasure deal with multi albums and creative control. I was like what the fuck? Then it says game over. GAME OVER? REALLY? Totally LAME! LAME OVER I say!
(PD) Yeah! That was weird!
(BD) I fugured multi-albums was like the games gold pieces, and creative control meant something like controlling other people like zombies, but why was the game over? We had jusr STARTED!
(PD) I really liked Steffie too!
(BD) What's the use of getting treasure when you can't use it because the FREAKING GAME'S OVER? That was just NUMB! So I just had the gang make characters for D&D 5, and we started that. So, my verdict? PIECE OF CRAP! Stay away from this insane dogpile of a game! It was incomplete, confusing, and just pretentious as shit!
(PD) I liked it better than Barf, but I still don't know why it ended!
(BD) Talk to you next week, when we'll review another new game!
(PD) See ya!
Monday, September 29, 2014
Current Campaigns
My Saturday High Strung playtest #1 game ended in a win for the PCs.
Jazzy's BF Reggie told her she should write a gospel song to please her
dad, who is a nationally syndicated TV preacher. She decided she was
going to go one better and make it a love song as well. She poured in
Hope, and the band premiered it on the Reverend Johnson's TV service.
The premiere went very well, and the group decided to record it as a
Demo. They absolutely nailed their performances, and ended up scoring a
multi-album major label deal with creative freedom. This band was
created under the old rules, wherein you chose the age of the character.
High Strung playtest #2 - which we play only when James can make it - is just starting out, really. This one should give me a much better handle on how well the new rules work.
When James isn't there, we'll be playing a kitbash of In Harm's Way: StarCluster and IHW: Aces And Angels, where the PCs are airborne paratroopers in WWII. We'll be starting in early 1942, and going through the whole war eventually. Klax and I hammered out a new chargen which really suits the way they did it in the war, rather than the way they do it now. It looks awesome so far! We'll be starting in three weekends.
High Strung playtest #2 - which we play only when James can make it - is just starting out, really. This one should give me a much better handle on how well the new rules work.
When James isn't there, we'll be playing a kitbash of In Harm's Way: StarCluster and IHW: Aces And Angels, where the PCs are airborne paratroopers in WWII. We'll be starting in early 1942, and going through the whole war eventually. Klax and I hammered out a new chargen which really suits the way they did it in the war, rather than the way they do it now. It looks awesome so far! We'll be starting in three weekends.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Economics and Interstellar Transport in StarCluster
In StarCluster, generally speaking, there are few things which are worth the cost of interstellar transport. Generally speaking, a system will be able to manufacture anything it needs internally, but there are exceptions:
Works of Art
Artists are not rare, but great works of art may be worth enough to transport from one system to another.
Luxury Goods
If people on Humbolt have a taste for Hammerklavier wine, then prices will rise high enough to justify importing it.
News
News is always salable, and takes up little space.
Intellectual Property
Licenses for designs need transportation. Low mass, high value.
Samples and Prototypes
Samples and prototypes may be sent from system to system for a potential licensee to judge applicability preparatory to signing the license.
Crafts
People on Ginger in their high tech world are not going to spend hundreds of hours hand-crafting a rug, but the poor people of Hatrack do, and handcrafted rugs are sooo in!
Fashion
Speaking of what is 'in', Fashion always is!
High Tech Devices
The companies and government of Shasta cannot make the tools that make Locust's robot, but they can pay for the robots themselves, in some cases! remember, each tech level difference is a factor of ten in cost.
Data
Another low-mass, high value cargo! Always, the Data Must Flow!
People
Pretty obvious, actually.
Works of Art
Artists are not rare, but great works of art may be worth enough to transport from one system to another.
Luxury Goods
If people on Humbolt have a taste for Hammerklavier wine, then prices will rise high enough to justify importing it.
News
News is always salable, and takes up little space.
Intellectual Property
Licenses for designs need transportation. Low mass, high value.
Samples and Prototypes
Samples and prototypes may be sent from system to system for a potential licensee to judge applicability preparatory to signing the license.
Crafts
People on Ginger in their high tech world are not going to spend hundreds of hours hand-crafting a rug, but the poor people of Hatrack do, and handcrafted rugs are sooo in!
Fashion
Speaking of what is 'in', Fashion always is!
High Tech Devices
The companies and government of Shasta cannot make the tools that make Locust's robot, but they can pay for the robots themselves, in some cases! remember, each tech level difference is a factor of ten in cost.
Data
Another low-mass, high value cargo! Always, the Data Must Flow!
People
Pretty obvious, actually.
The Necklace
My next product will be a
setting for StarCluster 3, with Klaxon and Albert Bailey. It will be The
Necklace - a natural/artificial construct gas torus a la Niven's
Integral Trees/Smoke Ring. The natural part is the torus itself - an
oxy/nitro ring around a neutron star, which is itself in a goldilocks
zone orbit around a normal star, with the gas tidally ripped from a gas
giant within the ring, and transformed by the abundant free-fall plant
life, orbiting the neutron star. It's a gravity free but livable
environment. It has been artificially enhanced with an asteroid belt,
and The River.
The River is a ribbon of water which loops around the torus perpetually, captured and propelled by artificial gravity, and designed to actively avoid the gas giant, Mister Doom. The River is navigable by ship and boat, and provides both transport and gravity to those sailing it. The gravity gradient of The River is shallow, and easily broken, so you can fly off from it.
The asteroid belt is green - covered by plant life - and there are cities and towns built on them, using artificial gravity. This makes mini-worlds like in the Little Prince, swimming through the gas torus. Each green asteroid would have its own society, Transport between asteroids would be by aircraft and/or by The River. There are also nomadic societies which ply The River forever, and people who live in the free fall areas, among the plants and animals adapted to that zone.
The Necklace was built by a disappeared alien species, and is currently inhabited by humans, human offshoots, uplifted animals, and a few aliens, in typical StarCluster fashion. There would be example asteroids and societies in the game book, but also there would be lots of setting creation tools to create your own. There would also be setting specific professions and backgrounds, and the full StarCluster ruleset, as that's not a lot of overhead, and you wouldn't need StarCluster to play it.
I am about to get real serious on this very soon, once I put High Strung out for beta testing. If you are interested and have some ideas, comment away!
The River is a ribbon of water which loops around the torus perpetually, captured and propelled by artificial gravity, and designed to actively avoid the gas giant, Mister Doom. The River is navigable by ship and boat, and provides both transport and gravity to those sailing it. The gravity gradient of The River is shallow, and easily broken, so you can fly off from it.
The asteroid belt is green - covered by plant life - and there are cities and towns built on them, using artificial gravity. This makes mini-worlds like in the Little Prince, swimming through the gas torus. Each green asteroid would have its own society, Transport between asteroids would be by aircraft and/or by The River. There are also nomadic societies which ply The River forever, and people who live in the free fall areas, among the plants and animals adapted to that zone.
The Necklace was built by a disappeared alien species, and is currently inhabited by humans, human offshoots, uplifted animals, and a few aliens, in typical StarCluster fashion. There would be example asteroids and societies in the game book, but also there would be lots of setting creation tools to create your own. There would also be setting specific professions and backgrounds, and the full StarCluster ruleset, as that's not a lot of overhead, and you wouldn't need StarCluster to play it.
I am about to get real serious on this very soon, once I put High Strung out for beta testing. If you are interested and have some ideas, comment away!
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Agents and Band Managers in High Strung
Agents
Agents can help you get gigs. Your agent is played by the GM. The GM rolls 3d20 vs a TN which varies by the quality of the Agent for each club. The number of successes rolled is the Agent’s “in” for that club, and is added to the TN for that club when rolling for gigs. The players do not know the Agent’s “in” and must take it on faith, though they should be able to see the results over time and judge accordingly. The players can drop their Agent at any time to get a new one. Agents can also have an “in” with a recording studio. Roll 1d20 vs their TN to see if the Agent has an in. If so, the band has a +1 to their TNs when recording a demo.
Agent Quality
Agents vary in quality - and bands can hire as good an Agent as they want to hire. The better the Agent, the higher the Agent’s TN, and the more they take for their services. Agents are paid in Hope by the band after every gig or Demo Recording - the Hope coming from the band mambers, however they want to apportion the cost.
Agent Quality Pay in Hope TN
Poor 1 7
Fair 2 9
Good 3 11
Excellent 4 13
Band Managers
The band can also hire a Band Manager, like the Agent, paid in Hope after each gig by the band. Band Managers run the roadies at a gig, and take care of the Draw - Promote, Graphics, and Organize. Band Managers have 4 dice in each of the three skills, and their TN - as well as the amount of Hope they demand - varies with their Quality.
Band Manager Quality Pay in Hope TN
Poor 1 7
Fair 2 9
Good 3 11
Excellent 4 13
Stiffing the Agent or Band Manager
If you end up not paying - stiffing - your Agent or Band Manager, that Agent or Band Manager will immediately drop your band and spread the word you can't be trusted - stiffed Agents to other Agents, and stiffed Band Managers to other Band Managers. After word gets out, hiring an Agent or Band Manager increases the cost by 1 for each time you stiff one - if you stiff two, cost goes up by two.
Agents can help you get gigs. Your agent is played by the GM. The GM rolls 3d20 vs a TN which varies by the quality of the Agent for each club. The number of successes rolled is the Agent’s “in” for that club, and is added to the TN for that club when rolling for gigs. The players do not know the Agent’s “in” and must take it on faith, though they should be able to see the results over time and judge accordingly. The players can drop their Agent at any time to get a new one. Agents can also have an “in” with a recording studio. Roll 1d20 vs their TN to see if the Agent has an in. If so, the band has a +1 to their TNs when recording a demo.
Agent Quality
Agents vary in quality - and bands can hire as good an Agent as they want to hire. The better the Agent, the higher the Agent’s TN, and the more they take for their services. Agents are paid in Hope by the band after every gig or Demo Recording - the Hope coming from the band mambers, however they want to apportion the cost.
Agent Quality Pay in Hope TN
Poor 1 7
Fair 2 9
Good 3 11
Excellent 4 13
Band Managers
The band can also hire a Band Manager, like the Agent, paid in Hope after each gig by the band. Band Managers run the roadies at a gig, and take care of the Draw - Promote, Graphics, and Organize. Band Managers have 4 dice in each of the three skills, and their TN - as well as the amount of Hope they demand - varies with their Quality.
Band Manager Quality Pay in Hope TN
Poor 1 7
Fair 2 9
Good 3 11
Excellent 4 13
Stiffing the Agent or Band Manager
If you end up not paying - stiffing - your Agent or Band Manager, that Agent or Band Manager will immediately drop your band and spread the word you can't be trusted - stiffed Agents to other Agents, and stiffed Band Managers to other Band Managers. After word gets out, hiring an Agent or Band Manager increases the cost by 1 for each time you stiff one - if you stiff two, cost goes up by two.
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