How I Made D&D Cooler Part 1: The Basics

In planning to run my current D&D game, I had a few things in mind.

1. I didn't want to spend more time preparing for the game than playing the game in a given week.

2. I didn't want to spend multiple sessions teaching the players how to play their characters effectively.

3. I didn't want to use a battle mat or miniatures, but wanted action to flow quickly while still retaining some tactical detail.

4. I wanted there to be special abilities for things aside from combat, like movement and social interactions and information-finding (much like we've working into Heroes of Karia Vitalus)

In achieving what amount to game-design goals working with the skeleton of D&D, I decided to do a few general things and then work each until the details became clear. The first and most complicated of these was simplification - taking the rules and simplifying them, tossing out the necessity of a battle mat and miniatures, and boiling down the hundred-thousand variations on the rules into a few general principles.

The second, easier process was diversification- taking what I'd simplified down and working on it so that it represented what each of the players wanted to play and do with their characters.

Here's what I mean.

Simplification
The first think I decided was that there would be two kinds of abilities: trained and untrained. Trained abilities would be level + attribute modifier + other modifiers, +10 is it was a passive ability and + d20 if it was an active ability. Untrained abilities would be 1/2 level, but the rest would be the same. This counts for spells, saves, defenses, attack rolls, skills, everything.

I dropped Armor Class entirely and just used Reflex Defense in its place, adding 1 for a small shield and 2 for a large shield, and factoring in armor penalties from the 4th Edition PHB. The effect armor would have would be to reduce all incoming damage in the amount of 1/2 the armor's listed AC bonus + any magic modifier.

I wanted to add character level to all damage rolls as well - I've found that in 4th Edition in particular, but in any high-level D&D, characters and monsters can pound on each other for hours while they whittle down Hit Points with no discernible in-game effect.

Healing Surges became just Surges, and they were melded with Action Points (allowing adding 1d6 to a d20 roll). I also added an indie game twist stolen from Mouse Guard - you can spend a Surge to succeed with some kind of consequence chosen by the GM. I've gotten a lot of fun and mileage from this already, and like the rule a lot.

I kept At-will, Encounter, Utility and Daily powers from D&D 4E but changed what they meant. At-will powers cost nothing, and include skills, basic weapon attacks and some basic feats. Encounter powers cost 1 Surge to activate and include basic spells, class or racial abilities, second-tier feats (with one pre-requisite, say). Utility powers require 2 Surges to activate and include a lot of movement, social and information-gathering abilities, as well as abilities related to traveling more quickly than usual. Daily powers cost 3 Surges to activate and represent more advanced spells, feats with many pre-requisites, and other powerful abilities.

For abilities I just made up, I used as a rule of thumb 2d6 damage for an Encounter ability and 3d6 for a Daily ability, though I might change this so that it is higher.

Characters start a session with level + 2 Surges and can earn further Surges from the DM by doing interesting things in-game.

I decided to give spells attack rolls like in 4E against the appropriate defense. I also split melee and missile proficiency, since I liked the idea that some classes would be better in one or the other. Fighters, Rangers and Rogues are trained in both melee and missile. Barbarians, Clerics, Druids, Paladins and Monks are trained only in melee. I made it so that Bards could choose to be trained in either melee or missile, but not both, and Sorcerers and Wizards are untrained in both. I also added spellcasting as a trained or untrained ability, to represent pure casters and hybrid casters. Paladins and Rangers are untrained but can still cast spells. As usual, Barbarians, Fighters and Rogues cannot cast spells at all. Bards, Clerics, Druids, Sorcerers and Wizards are trained of course. This means that Paladins and Rangers will be able to use support abilities, but won't be able to make attacks with pure spellcasting most of the time except against weak opponents - this made sense to me.

I gave each character a healing rate (or "stitch" rate for the one undead PC) that is equal to their level + Constitution modifier. This is the amount they heal when they take a "second wind" (which costs 1 Surge) in combat or when they have a night's rest. They heal double that amount when they have a full-day's rest (which of course never happens in D&D). Healing spells like Cure Moderate Wounds use this system - Cure Moderate Wounds heals 2x a character's healing rate + any bonuses the character has to healing spells.

I kept the Bloodied condition because I like the idea, and decided that similar to Vitality and Wounds from Unearthed Arcana 3E, when you became Bloodied you would be Fatigued or, if already Fatigued, Exhausted, until you received some kind of healing (even if it doesn't bring you back up over Bloodied).

Diversification
In this particular game, I had a few unusual characters (which is part of what I enjoy). One of them is an intelligent Ghoul. Another is a Ogre Barbarian, and a third is a Human Bard who has a number of social powers but none that are really useful in combat (the kiss of death in most D&D games).

I also had some more "normal" characters like a Halfling mage-thief, an Orc Cleric and a Human Necromancer. These were a lot closer to what you find in the various books and supplements, and were relatively easy to come up with.

The most interesting for me was the Ghoul, and I think that'll be my first example in this series. Her name is "Mr. Scram" (I'm not sure why this female Ghoul is a "Mr" but oh well) and she is actually the Human Necromancer's mother - he raised her out of loneliness but she turned out to be more intelligent and willful than he wanted, and now nags him from beyond the grave.

I decided that the Ghoul would be like a zombie from Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days Later, fast and grabby and bitey and really hard to bring down. It didn't make sense that she'd wear armor, so I gave her d12 hit dice and a high Cconstitution as well as a trained Fortitude defense and melee attack. I made her claws and infectious bite (3E MM) At-will powers, along with trained Endurance, Intimidation and Stealth. Her Encounter power has been her Paralyzing Stench (3E MM again). Her Utility power is Creep, which I invented. Basically, it lets her crawl along walls and ceilings in a freakish way like critters do in horror movies. Her Daily powers are Devour Flesh, which I invented (she eats living flesh and heals 3 "stitches" as well as cancelling ongoing negative effects) and Bilious Blood, also made up for her (when hit for an encounter, she deals 5 acid damage to her attacker).

Conclusion for Now
This is definitely a way of running D&D that is a lot of fun (more fun than "real" D&D as far as I am concerned, and the players seem to feel similarly) but I couldn't actually write up in a book or something. This is very much my project achieving my design goals - the best thing these posts can be is a sort of rough blueprint for other people whose friends want to play D&D but who don't like how much D&D bogs you down.

Next up: Using the Ghoul as an example character and looking at some more details.

What's Cool About D&D?

I've been running a D&D game for a couple of sessions now. About half of the players requested D&D, but honestly I think that D&D is too much damn work to teach and prepare for when dealing with relatively new players. I pictured session after session of pawing through the books and looking at power cards (if I dropped the cash to buy them that is, or printed them or whatever) and for a game that'll only span a half-dozen sessions, that was an apalling thought.

So what I did is I tried to boil D&D down to what I like about it, a simple enough system to teach quickly and easily, mixing what I liked about 3.x and 4e with some of my own additions. Frankly, I think this game might ruin some of the players on D&D forever, because in a session we get through a lot more play than is usual in D&D - and we don't need to use a battle mat or miniatures.

I want to talk about what I've been doing for this game, in case anyone else wants most of the coolness of D&D with about 30% of the work. To begin, I want to think about what is cool about D&D, at least to me, that I had in mind when I designed my hack/drift. When thinking about this coolness, I have in mind my own experiences playing D&D, AD&D, D&D 3e, D&D 3.5, D&D 4e, and any number of computer RPGs based on D&D since VGA graphics were cutting-edge.


What's cool about the Races?

I don't think much has to be said here. We all have, firmly implanted in our minds by any number of "high fantasy" games and books and movies out there, what the stereotypical races are like. The alcoholic Dwarf; the aloof Elf; the semi-trickster Halfling. And so on.



What's cool about the Classes?

I think 4e had a number of chances to get this right, and they did sporadically. I'm going to stick to the 'classic' 3.5 classes for this, though, looking at what I like. I also mention pitfalls I've seen over and over again associated with each class - what players do with them that, frankly, sucks.

What's cool about the Barbarian is being an angry heavy-hitter, crashing your way through foes, almost impossible to bring down even though you're peppered with arrows. Its also fun to be the primal character from the wilds, scowling at the comforts of civilization.

Barbarian pitfall: Some players take the "Rage" ability as their sole roleplaying hint, and that can get pretty damn tedious.

The Bard is cool, when the Bard is cool, for being a support class. The Bard makes others more powerful. The Bard has always been the most versatile class - some spell abilities from divine and some from arcane casters, some musical abilities, a few Rogue skills thrown in. Lastly, on the rare occasional when social skills matter, the Bard is king (or queen).

Bard pitfall: Players who sing everything and act like douches. Also, with the Bard, its hard not to end up as the guy who does everything, but doesn't do anything better than the other PCs.

The Cleric has always been cool for the powergamer. Clerics have always been overpowered, and every group needs one. Clerics lay the smackdown on undead and are basically impossible to kill.

Cleric pitfall: Like I said, the Cleric has always been overpowered. 4e tried to solve this by making the Cleric uninteresting, and this was not quite a win I'm afraid. Its also sort of hard to justify the highest experssion of a religion being plate armor and a blood-stained mace.

A Druid is cool by being the caster version of the Barbarian - the interloper from the wilds, but this time with more teeth. The Druid is a ferocious act of nature, and very versatile with shapechanging, spellcasting, and their animal companion.

Druid pitfall: The Druid has a similar pitfall to the Cleric, though some restrictions on their armor and weaponry help. Druid players also often end up having their characters never set foot in a city, meaning they are pouting whenever the party goes to the city to do the usual tavern-wenching-and-buying-stuff.

Ok, the Fighter's claim to cool is easy. The Fighter is the indomidable force on the battlefield. It is cool to play a fighter, to have an opponent throw everything he has at you, and when the smoke clears, you're still standing.

Fighter pitfall: the Fighter is often the new player's starter character, named Fi-tor or something (with thanks to Fear the Boot), who sulks in the corner until there's a fight, then stomps around and makes basic attacks.

If you can't see how the Monk is cool, you're a lost cause. If Jet Li and Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh are cool, then the Monk is cool. It is cool to leap across the room and plant your foot in someone's face. It is cool to slip unarmored and untouched through the battlefield.

Monk pitfall: often, monks haven't kicked enough ass. I've played plenty of Monks who just didn't stand up in combat. They have other cool skills, but also tend to have low hit points, since they need Strength, Dexterity and Wisdom to get by. We'll see if 4e fixes this.

Ah, holy Paladin. The Paladin is cool for kicking the asses of evil critters everywhere. It matches with ides of the mounted chivalric hero. But there's a big pitfall to go with that.

Paladin pitfall: a lot of players play Paladins as complete self-righteous douchebags. I think we have "classic" D&D to blame for this, with the Lawful Good restriction, but honestly, I think that the Paladin just attracts dick players. Just my experience.

The Ranger is cool on the trail of his quarry, hunting something down and filling it with arrows, then finishing it off with some two-weapon work. For some reason, I think of Last of the Mohicans when I think of the Ranger.

Ranger pitfall: I'm not sure there is one. The Ranger is what it is.

In many ways, the Rogue exudes cool. Slick, invisible, agile, and deadly. Good times.

Rogue pitfall: there's something about the Rogue that encourages players to steal from other player-characters. That is aggravating as fuck. Stop it.

Sorcerers are cool as an alternative to Wizards for people who don't want quite as much book-keeping but who still want the fun of the arcane-casting powerhouse.

Sorcerer pitfall: again, not sure there is one here. Most Sorcerer-types I've seen played are pretty cool.

Wizards are cool - they got game like Gandalf. I think that, generally speaking, D&D's magic system has always been apallingly bad, but given that, the Wizard is the geek of high fantasy.

Wizard pitfall: page-leafing. The book-keeping for a Wizard player is astronomical, and you really need to be the kind of person who likes that. To me, t hat's what makes the Sorcerer so key.


What's cool about the Magic?

If you can shut down your frontal cortex and accept D&D magic overall, the only real cool thing about it is that it is like a toolbox. It doesn't require much creativity or invention at all - you look at the spell lists like a menu and pick what looks cool to you.

In my experience, this means that 90% of the spell lists in even the basic PHB are never touched. 4e has addressed this to some degree...by cutting 90% of the spells and then expanding iterations of the ones that were left.



What's cool about the System?

The best the system does is when you treat it like a miniatures wargame. If you like sliding around a checkered map, D&D is obviously the game for you. If you want to do anything else, you need to drift the rules - in 3e drift a little, in 4e drift a lot. You can check out my other posts on this topic to get more of my views.

For a roleplaying game, you will probably spend the most time in D&D doing things you don't want to do, or checking out because it isn't your turnin combat. My last session, there were three conversations going on and two players were playing with a dog during the big combat finale. This is not changed at all in 4e - at last not in the first half-dozen sessions or so.

What I like about the rules is the places where it attempts to simulate, in detail, combat situations. It does so, and has always done so, inelegantly and with dizzying complexity of jargon and rules, but I respect the attempt.


So, that's that. What do you think is cool about D&D?

Next up, what I did to change it, and why.

Horror RPG Module Challenge!

What we have at the core of Horror! is a really, really simple system of comparing numbers. The higher number wins. The lower number loses, and then the character with that number gets some kind of penalty for losing - Fear, Pain, a setback, or just lost time against the ever-looming Countdown.

This is why I think it is easy to make modules for Horror!, even when they will require a lot of improvisation and quick thinking, and even when what you're mostly interested in is coming up with background and fluff and story.

Attributes range from 1 to 5, and Traits, on average, will add +1 or +2 in rarer cases to that number. Y ou can assume that a given character, after the beginning of the game, will have at least a little Fear and Pain, meaning the penalties from those (-1 or -2) will often cancel out the Trait bonus the player might be able to come up with, leaving the 1-5 range again.

Basically, just create a flow-chart of how hard you want the session to be based on that range. So...

Don't do anything that is a target of 1

A target of 2 is a throwaway, should be the minimum you'd ever set for anything that's worth calling a test

A target of 3 should be standard for someone doing what they do for a living, but still isn't much of a challenge

A target of 4 is a bit of a challenge

A target of 5 will require that most characters go looking for help, either in the environment or from another character

A target of 6 is a way of saying "don't do this" - any character will need to call on help, Adrenaline or Virtue, a Trait, something to even the score, especially if they have already gotten some Fear and/or Pain. The 6 is "big bad" territory, because on average, characters will go down unless very well prepared.

A target of 7 is a good maximum. That's what a healthy character using their Attribute of 5 and doubling a Feat or Influence with an Adrenaline or Virtue respectively can hit

As always, feel free to just say "you can't do that, try something else". Horror! is not a game about "say yes or roll the dice" - and not just because there are no dice.

So what did I do?
I used the target numbers as a pacing mechanic. Like the countdown, they should escalate as the game progresses, so things become harder and more threatening as time goes on.

The scenario I'd sketched out in my mind placed the PCs in a secret installation beneath Tibet, a huge particle accelerator built by the Chinese government, designed to crack open quantum theory and prove or disprove string theory. What happens is that the first experiment is a success - and the PCs are part of a group splintered off into an alternate mini-dimension, forever disconnected from the "real" world - set adrift.

Everything begins to become unhinged - mechanical and digital systems, the characters' memory and sanity, even gravity near the end, as this splinter dimension 'forgets' how it is supposed to function and spins down rapidly to entropy. Others on the station have figured this out and are overcome with despair and begin killing each other and themselves. Each of the PCs comes to, suddenly having a moment of clarity in the midst of either committing suicide or killing someone else. They briefly 'reset', forgetting some of what has happened but also being able to think clearly. So each of the characters start in the midst of something awful and then go on to figure out what is going on from there, while the clock is ticking and everything is going apeshit around them.

In the beginning the targets are around 2. One PC comes to locked in mortal combat with a crazed old man trying to drive a syringe into his eye; another in the midst of hanging himself, a third locked in her room being suffocated in her bed. They get out pretty easily, begin to get a handle on the system, etc. This is kind of like the Prelude.

Act One has mostly target numbers of 3 or 4. This includes seeing the first dead bodies, or people dying, in horrible but relatively 'mundane' ways, as well as changing locks and that kind of thing. Stuff that a skilled professional can do, or someone with a strong stomach can tolerate (humorously, two player characters had Conviction as their dump-stat of 1 and got Fear from everything).

Act Two, in my mind, starts involving the really messed up shit that is at the heart of everything - they find out much more about the awful situation they're all in, they see the piles of bodies, etc. This is where targets of 5 and even 6 come into play, where everything starts to hit the fan. The Countdown should be low at this point, and ideally everyone is sweating bullets.

Act Three is when the Ace of Spades comes off the table and things escalate before the inevitable end. These target 5 and 6 tests come at you one after another, and even a 7 here and there to push people in the right direction and let them know that even if they work together and have some Traits, they can still fail.

For each of the Acts, I had what I called a Pressure Menu (yeah, I know, I need a better name). On this menu, I just listed bad things that I can have happen to push things forward. A guy jumps out of a doorway screaming and leaps on one of the PCs. They find out X scary information. They find a trail of blood leading to a person who is in the last moments of suicide - someone they know, care about. Etc. Then, if I feel myself getting bored, or antsy, I have one of these things happen and slap a couple of numbers on it appropriate to the approximate "Act" I'm in .

What if the players skip ahead in my story?
Take off a card and escalate things to the next Act. Do the exact things you'd already planned, but increase the target number by 1 or 2. Presto! Drama and fear ensue.

What if it takes too long?
Same answer as above. When in doubt, escalate.

What if I set the Countdown wrong?
It only has to be as regular as you want it to be.

What if they go off the rails entirely?
Take a moment to look at the obstacles you've set up to put in their path. Which ones can just be moved to the new location? Zombies and security doors and so on can come up whenever, frankly.

Then find the things that won't fit and change the fluff, leaving the obstacle there and about as bad as it was. If it was one named NPC, make it another named NPC. If it was a physical threat, make it another kind of physical threat.

Plan everything so that the PCs die horribly.
Put enough tests in there to wear them down entirely. Balance things against them. Make the Countdown account for about 1/2 to 2/3 of the expected length of the session. Escalate things early and capriciously.

The players are signing up to see their characters die and go insane in delicious ways. That's what this is all about. It is not about triumph (though sometimes the PCs may do just that). It is about doing terrible things to each other's characters and enjoying every minute of it. By the time the last card comes up off the Countdown and the game ends, the players should be on the verge of getting out alive, or have some hope still glimmering, and then you stifle it forever.

That's horror.

Fear Rating
Most psychological tests, involving Conviction, will occur when a PC encounters something awful. Just set a number for these tests like you would any other - and make sure to include some 5s and 6s to that everyone can enjoy the fun...
2 Seeing something very frightening but within your normal experience - like watching a car accident
3 Something possibly a little traumatizing, like seeing a car accident when someone is thrown through their windshield
4 This is bad, bad stuff, like seeing someone killed and their severed head falls in your lap, staring up at you, and blinks at you before all of the blood drains out
5 Heinous crimes at the limits of what you can imagine a person doing - like being caught in the The Cell or seeing the Wolf Creek guy at work on a loved one or two
6 You really are a sick fuck. Nice job.

Horror RPG Feedback

As I mentioned before, I recently ran a playtest of our Horror! rpg, and I wanted to go through the feedback I got from the players and then talk a bit about what I'm going to do with it. Hopefully my previous post about the basics of the system will help a reader follow along, but this is also just a chance for me to put my thoughts out there (and maybe get some discussion if there are interested readers).

I'm focusing on negative and critical feedback here. The vast majority of what I heard was "this game is awesome!", but the critical stuff is what will be most helpful going forward, as anyone could expect.

Notes from looking at the character sheets

One thing I was sure to do was save the character sheets, and to look at what parts the players used most, what they wrote on them as notes to themselves, that kind of thing.

Overall, the character sheets, though basic, were used the way I intended. The Traits section wasn't used very much or very well detailed out, but that I connect with the fact that we're not so clear on it either. One player drew arrows between the descriptions of Adrenaline and Virtue connecting them to Feats and Influences, respectively. So these need to be closer together (and there need to be headings on the character sheet for each section that coincide with the headings on a book). I also notice that when a lot of Traits are chosen in one category, people run out of space to write quickly.

My notes as GM

I also took notes for my own use. The first thing I did was flip over my typed up scenario notes and sketch out a mini character sheet for each of the players on the back. I realized I'd need to know their Attributes, and also added their characer names and archetypes with player names at the bottom.

Under each of these mini character sheets, I also listed NPCs connected to each character - just name and a couple of words were all I needed. At the bottom of this while page (which was what I most often looked at during the game as I recall) I wrote "needs to be a reward for awesome!" There were cool things that one player expeciall did that didn't really fit under Adrenaline or Virtue. Maybe a random card dealt to them? But I'd like there to be some kind of reward, and what we have didn't quite fit.

I made a note to myself that every card on the countdown should represent about 15 minutes of game-time. The way it turned out, by the way, was about 150% of that estimate, and this might be a normal thing - we'll have to find out with more playtests.

Player feedback during character creation

One player used a Feat to resist things like intimidation, since it made sense to them...and it sort of made sense to me, since Adrenaline would help you resist being bullied. So maybe Feats should be broader than just physical...

There was confusion about the main attribute for each archetype, and I'm ok with dropping it, or just having it as a suggestion. Everyone expected it to have an in-game effect, and when it didn't, it seemed like a wasted idea.

Player feedback during the game

The players reacted strongly every time a card was taken away from the Countdown. I think I should draw more attention to the event, though, and the phrase I saw to help escalate things, since a couple of times it was actually missed, and a player said "Wait, we lost a card when I wasn't looking!" I want it to be a "gulp" moment, not a "huh" moment.

One player had the cool idea to give their own character a level of Fear in exchange for some kind of temporary benefit. This came up when a player was frightened and sickened and wanted their character to be frightened as well. Wow! I want to reward that kind of thinking! So maybe an Adrenaline when you give yourself a level of Fear and a Virtue when you give yourself a level of Pain. Actually...nice.

Player feedback at the end debriefing

Organized by the questions that I asked:

Were you ever scared? Anxious? Nervous? When?

FUCK YES! Player creepiness helped, th GM's vivid descriptions of creepy things, and when there was no solution or no way out in a tight situation

Were you entertained?

Yes!

What was the coolest thing a player did?

One player had his character throw down his gun when he finally found one. Another player was totally nonplussed by most of the horrors going on around her (this creeped me out a bit as well). Lastly, players physically role-played some of their characers' actions - and this is something else I want to reward somehow.

What do you wish your character could have done?

It was hard for some to figure out how to use the Traits in-game. I hope this won't be the case when we work them out more clearly in the future.

Where were you most bored or disinterested?

Some people got caught up in cross-talk, and missed details. They didn't like something that is my personal style, which is getting one scene running along via player interaction and then turning to another scene to engage the other players. The vote seemed like the players in this game would prefer a clearer situation where if the group splits (and in a horror game they should) and some of the players become the audience, and then the focus returns to them. That way, no one misses anything.

What was your favorite aspect of the system?

Everyone loved the Countdown mechanic and the cards for character creation. They also liked the open-ended definition for Traits and having physical cards on the table and in their hands representing their Adrenaline and Virtue.

What on your character did you never use?

Feats, Contacts and NPCs that they were connected to in character creation (my fault, honestly), and Hopes - which guided the players' idea of their character and how to play them, but didn't come directly into the game system-wise.

Anything else?

Some of the players said that this game needs a good GM to go well, that it relies too much on improvisation and wouldn't be possible to run from a module. (This led to the challenge I took on that I'll sketch out in a future post)

The players also felt there wasn't enough use of Virtue - the idea came up to have rules written in small print on the character sheet, which really helped when I ran Mouse Guard (thanks Luke Crane for creating a game that can almost fit on two pages!) so I think it is definitely worth a try.

Lastly, the players wanted it to be clear whether they would be basically collaborative or basically antagonistic. It wasn't clear at the beginning, and it led to some confusion with some players assume they should be suspicious of the others and other players trying to work together to get out alive. This might need to be something that is laid o ut clearly at the beginning of the session, since Horror! can definitely handle PvP.

The Basics of Our Horror RPG

Before I start talking about this thing, I need to give the basics of the system, which is pretty easy to do. The system has no dice. You just compare the number representing your character's salient ability to the number assigned to how difficult the thing you're trying to do is, and if you're over, you win. If you're under, you lose. If you tie, then there is either a stalemate, or you both win and lose, whichever is more interesting.

You start by choosing your Archetype and your Subtype. The archetypes are taken from our thinking about horror as a genre - what kinds of people get caught up in a horror story? we came up with the Innocent, the Foolhardy, the Jaded and the Victim. Your archetype is important because it determines how many Hopes and Scars you start off with, as well as how much Virtue and Adrenaline one starting Virtue per Hope that you have, one starting Adrenaline per Scar you have. Hopes are things you Hope for, Scars are bad things that happened to you that still hurt you.

There are four subtypes under each archetype, and each subtype has one once-a-session ability that only they can use. This ability will hurt a PC in some way but benefit your character or your player agenda in some way. They are all different, and are still in rough form, but that's the idea behind them.

There are four Attributes in this game - Might, Precision, Appeal and Conviction. Might helps you pass physical tests; Precision helps you pass technical tests; Appeal helps you pass social tests; Conviction helps you pass psychological tests. Physical tests are usually about avoiding or inflicting Pain. Technical tests are about overcoming obstacles in the fiction. Social tests are about getting NPCs (and PCs if you go PvP) to do what you want. Conviction is about resisting social influences from others and about resisting Fear.

Fear and Pain are what destroy your character. If you accumulate 4 of either, you go for a side talk with the GM and your character is subsumed by the horror, whatever it happens to be - or possibly just insane or dead.

Adrenaline, mentioned above, helps you resist your own Fear and Pain (which impose penalties). Virtue lets one character remove another character's Fear or Pain - nothing else in the game does that. You get Adrenaline for kicking ass and Virtue for putting yourself in danger on behalf of others and that kind of thing.

Lastly, there are Traits. You have six kinds of traits, and they modify your Attributes in a test, usually by +1. Feats are physical abilities that you have, ways you can push your body to do amazing things. Influences are social abilities you have, as well as friends or allies or contacts you have that you want to be part of the game. Items are things you have with you when the game starts - they are a contract with the GM, because if it isn't on your character sheet, there is no guarantee that you'll be able to use it in the game. Knowledges are areas of expertise. Once per scene, you can ask the GM a question in your area of experties (if in the game you have the opportunity to sit and reflect, do a little research, use a lab, etc.) and the GM has to give you an honest answer. Mysteries are the wild card Traits in the game that we are still working out - things like ESP or telekinesis, knowledge of alien abductions and conspiracy theories, or occult abilities. Mysteries are very versatile, but when you call upon one, you risk increasing your own Fear. Last are Skills, which are just like skills in every other rpg.

Each Trait functions differently, but they're all pretty simple. They either let you do something, let you introduce something into the game, or give you about a +1 on specific kinds of tests. That's about it.

What drives this all is the Countdown. The Countdown is represented by some cards on the table (right now) and it functions to keep the pressure on the PCs. As cards are taken away from the center, they know that death and disaster is looming closer, but they don't necessarily know why. The Countdown can represent anything - time until the full moon, how much air is left to breathe, cultists completing a ritual to summon a dread deity, how many campers the slasher goes through before he gets to the PCs - anything. It is the screws that you put to the player's thumbs. The only ways to buy time are 1. take a risk once you've figured out what the Countdown represents or 2. do something awful to someone else - push another camper in front of the slasher, suffocate someone so they don't breathe your air anymore, kill one of the cultists in cold blood, etc.

That's the basics. Now some analysis.

Dual Posting: A New Discipline; A New Escape

I recently posted a new discipline I'm taking on - I'm going to try to write one poem per day in the next couple of months or so, totaling 60 poems in all. Then I'll reflect on the experience and decide if it is something I want to do long-term.

Fair warning, I cannot guarantee any kind of quality if I'm writing one a day. Frankly, most of them are likely to suck. But if you want to follow along, I'm posting them all here, and might dual post some of them on this blog as well. I don't post about it often, but creative writing, prose and poetry, are both big escapes for me, and always have been, so it might be a nice little change from so much game design talk.

Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled game design talk.

Horror!: Fantastic Playtest

I am so happy and giddy right now. I just finished a playtest of Horror! including character creation and then about a two-hour scenario sketched out ahead of time and then improvised. I went in with a premise but not knowing what kinds of characters the players would create.

Character creation went really well - a little slow in parts, but I didn't print enough rules handouts for the group, and that didn't help at all. I want to write a post in a few days about what went well, and some feedback I got in the character creation department.

The session also went well. They were actually frightened, disgusted, and felt despair. Hooray! That is exactly what this game is shooting for, and it delivered.

The big challenges now:

Integrating the feedback (which was wonderful and very helpful) on character creation, the game system, and how I the GM applied the game system. I'll sketch this out in the next post.

Writing into the game what I do, what another GM might do - particularly my friend Arnold's challenge - how to make a scenario like this into a module, when so much of it hinged on improvisation? I think that the Horror! system works specifically well at doing just that, but now I have to prove it. So at least one post will posit this idea of a meta-module for horror games using our system. We'll see if it works...

Mouse Guard Rules!

I just finished running a session of Mouse Guard for Free RPG day at my Friendly Local Game Store, and it was one of the most fun times I've ever had running a game. Mouse Guard is clearly the culmination of all of that work Luke Crane put into Burning Wheel and Burning Empires, and it surpasses both in every way in my opinion (well, not in complexity, but in every other way).

The Scenario and Actual Play Impressions
The scenario was pretty simple. The players polished off their Guards by writing Beliefs, Goals and Instincts, and filling in a single Wise that I gave each of them but left blank. (One chose Weasel-wise which was hugely helpful later). It was winter, and the four Guards were called out of R&R to find out what happened to a pair of Guards who were sent west from Sprucetuck with important messages some time ago. They never returned, and the worst is assumed.

After getting into a scrape with an owl and learning some details, they arrive at a small new settlement near the eaves of the Darkheather. There they get into a social conflict with the head mouse of the settlement, who wants them to stay with them all winter and protect them from weasels. The Guard, however, knows that a terrible winter storm has been predicted by the sciencemice of Sprucetuck, and they have to convince the settlers to return east with them and winter in Sprucetuck - or they'll likely freeze to death.

The PCs win, but with a big compromise - the settlers want proof that the local weasels are dead before they'll move. The PC Guardmice set up an ambush for the weasels and completely own them. By Action 2, the weasels are dead. Nice job!

The last conflict is between the Guardmice, who are leading the settlers through the snow, and the onrush of the first part of the predicted winter storm. So I, the GM, get to play as winter and try to freeze them all to death. That was a lot of fun.

One of the most fun parts of the game, for me, was when the players would shoo me away from the table so they could strategize and then call me back when they were ready. I really love player empowerment.

As winter, I win with a major compromise, so I killed one Guard and a third of the settlers, but the rest arrived in Sprucetuck Hungry and Thirsty and Sick.

Every one of us had a great time for almost 100% of the session, which with RPGs is largely unheard-of. Well done, Luke. Well done.

From the GM's Point of View
This five-hour scenario for four new players took me all of three or four hours to prepare last night - usually the best ratio I get is one-to-one for games that require prep, and if you were willing to leaf through the book more and were more familiar with the rules, I bet you could do with a lot less. This is my first time running, remember.

Comparing it to my first time running Burning Wheel, this was 1000x easier to learn, prepare for, and teach to new players. I didn't have to change anything about the game to run it the first time. We took about the 30 minutes I predicted to explain the character sheets, basic rules and conflict sheets, and then we dove right in.

I had a lot of fun in the argument conflict playing the leader of these settlers trying to wheedle and coerce the Guard into staying to protect them, and I had a lot of fun playing winter and figuring out what a "Maneuver" action was when you are playing a season. But I loved the image of winter as a character in the story actively trying to kill the mice - that is very dramatic, and made me think of the blizzard on Caradhras in the Fellowship of the Ring. I've never seen a system that replicates that kind of experience, and it is probably the thing I am most greenly jealous of as a game designer. Again, well done.

"4th Edition Burning Wheel" Wins
I give this game a 5 out of 5 in every category I can think of. It is hands-down one of the best systems I have ever played. My only consolation is that it took Luke Crane four tries to get to this point with the Burning Wheel system.

It is cold comfort...but a hot, hot, hot game.

Turning Game Experiences Into Game Design

As a religious functionary, manufacturing experiences is one of the things I'm supposed to be good at. That's sort of what's behind sacraments, for example, or any kind of ritual really. They are guided processes intended to evoke a particular quality of experience in the participants.

That's also what game design is, though don't worry, I'm not going to get into some kind of wankery about how gaming is ritual (though I guess it sometimes is, in small parts).

I've been thinking and struggling a lot looking at how to better design games so that they evoke predictalbe experiences in the players. The specific concern here is my write-up of Heroes of Karia Vitalus. The game was a heavily-modded version of BESM - so modded, in fact, that all of the cool things about the system had nothing to do with BESM. It occurred to us that 1. our experience playing Karia was amazing and 2. it amounted to its own game system by the end of the storyline.

Rather than just releasing a hack of BESM, I wanted to come up with a system for Karia that was its own animal, cutting out the vestiges of BESM that were still in the system and replacing them with some other set of ubiquitous dice mechanices or whatever.

The problem I'm running into is that I shy away from what feels like 'over-designing' the game, since I'm the kind of guy who likes to mod. On the other hand, the experience we had was amazing and what is fueling this attempt is my desire to propagate this experience to others.

What are some good examples of games that produce similar experiences in everyone who plays them? Mortal Coil comes to mind, in my opinion, as does Dogs in the Vineyard. Anything else? Ever found a game you thought was over-designed? Way under-designed?

Snowflake Part Three: Orchid

Here's a link to the whole series so far in case you were wondering...

Orchid

Summary: Orchid is the moral center of the story, the bright light who is snuffed out.

Motivation: Orchid is motivated by the same thing that motivates the other orphans - a fear of death and a desire to get out of their training intact. She ends up doing small things to help the other orphans, however, and is marred, in the eyes of Master Iron, by compassion.

Goal: Orchid's goal is to survive the situation intact until she can find some way to escape. She makers her plan with Glimmer, seeing that he is another 'gifted' orphan.

Conflict: Orchid's conflicts might need to be internal. She wants to help the weaker orphans, but is afraid of Master Iron like any of them. Ultimately, she's only a kid - a strong, sensitive kid, but a kid nontheless. An interesting hard choice could be between Turtle and Glimmer - maybe she can only arrange for one of them to be with her. She knows that Turtle is less likely to survive the training to the end, but Glimmer will be more useful in the actual escape attempt.

Epiphany: Orchid's epiphany is the darkest one in the story. She has the realization of who she is and who Glimmer is, at heart, but it is too late.

Storyline Paragraph: Orchid is purchased directly from her parents by Sister Grey Sky. Her parents are a disgraced noble family who are forced to sell their youngest daughter to the Emperor - or at least to his assassin school. Orchid's family split over joining the rebellion of Prince Akko (this is another part of the story happening elsewhere in the setting), and she might be worth a great deal because of her possible supernatural origin. Regardless, Orchid is, compared to the other orphans, both strong and benevolent in the small ways she can manage. This makes her a target, but Master Iron is aware of the rumor that she is favored by members of the court, who expect big things from her. The turn in Glimmer's life comes when she is killed, and it should be as disturbing a scene as I can manage.

Other Characters
Turtle

R.I.P. Dave Arneson 1947-2009

Dave Arneson, co-creator of D&D died last night. Now both of the luminaries who invented my favorite hobby have passed on. Arneson probably won't get as much hoopla in death as Gygax did, just as it was in life. He was forever the less famous of the two. The Garfunkle to Gygax' Simon. But Bridge Over Troubled Water wouldn't be nearly as beautiful without Garfunkle's warbly vocal, and D&D wouldn't be what it is without Arneson's contribution. Indeed, I find it incredibly poignant that my fundamentally social hobby was born out of a friendship - the only way it could have been. D&D, and roleplaying in general, will always grow and improve only in the context of a gathering of friends.

Rest in Peace Dave.

10 Most-Played (Digital) Games

Following up this previous post, here are my most-played digital games as far as I can tell. I didn't have a console of any kind until recently, so most of these are computer games. I've also grouped some games together into sets of related games. These are in order of most played to least played.

1. World of Warcraft

This one is a no-brainer. I play this game like it's my third job. I have characters on five different servers as I create more and more to play with friends scattered all over the place. My main characters are mostly on Earthen Ring server in the Gamescape Northerners guild, and my highest character is Silisethleen, a restoration Druid turned toward balance for a while.

2. Everquest

Before World of Warcraft, there was Evercrack. Evercrack is the definition of insanity, because despite the things about that game which were objetively not at all fun, I kept playing and playing, night and day.

3. Quest for Glory I, II, III, IV and V

The Quest for Glory series is one of the best game series ever in my opinion, back when Sierra was putting out loads of quality, fun games. They were well-written (ok, for games) and funny and consistently interesting.

4. Diablo I and II

Before I got caught up in Evercrack, it was Diablo runs almost every weekend in college. I would sit next to my roommate, both of us on our computers playing Diablo II with the Expansion.

5. Elder Scrolls: Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion

The Elder Scrolls series might be the most award-winning computer game series ever. I think ever single one of their games won multiple awards in the industry. I think that the game-world in Daggerfall was the size of Pangaea, and if you really wanted to, you could walk across it in character.

6. Civilization I, II, III and IV

Civ is awesome. I dare anyone to disagree. These games are always very well-designed and horrifically addictive.

7. Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn, Dark Queen of Krynn

Long ago, in the age of VGA graphics, there came a trinity of computer games based on Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and the Krynn setting. Before I could get my hands on D&D books, I used the game rulebooks as references for running D&D for my friends - they were detailed enough to basically replace the Player's Handbook - if you're 11 years old at least.

8. Master of Magic

I just got caught up in this game. It was an empire-building game set in a fantasy world that was mostly stock races with a few additions like insect-riders and turtle-riding lizardfolk. It was a fun, well-designed game with some interesting nuance. I've played it recently on an emulator, and it was actually still pretty fun, even in a world with games like Civilization IV.

9. Red Baron

A World War I flight simulator that led me to wear out my first joystick (this was before puberty, so not that joystick). You would fly missions throughout the first World War, fighting to become a flying ace. I never had an experience where the Red Baron himself didn't hand me my ass.

10. Test Drive

I'm talking the original Test Drive. This game really reinforced my obsession with sportscars that continues to this day in much-attenuated form. I remember that the Corvette was crap to steer, and the Lotus was my favorite, since I found that cornering quickly was a key to victory on the more difficult tracks.

D&D 4th Edition: from Healing Surges to simply Surges

I think that healing surges in D&D 4th Edition are too limited as they are written. Putting my thoughts about having them overall aside (which I talked about in a previous post) if we must have them, I wish they did more. Part of this is from my experience of running D&D 4th Edition where all of the characters ended the action-packed session with most of their healing surges unspent - except for the defender, who had used all but 4 of his. I also like fiddling with systems to make them more fun for me to play and run.

It is implied that a healing surge represents a bit of extra effort - one recommendation in the DMG is that you have failed skill challenges in the wild cost healing surges, representing the party getting banged up and having to spend some of their reserves recovering. I'd like to go further, however, and shoe-horn in a but of the Action Points of the previous edition. I like systems that give the players a way to give one roll more "weight" than another - a way to say "as a player, I want this roll to be more likely to succeed, or to e more baddass if it does succeed". This gives players some say in creating drama when they want it, even in a traditional game like D&D where the DM comes with a bag-full of "story" which is unloaded on the players, who function as a participatory audience.

So, instead of healing surges, let's just call them "surges" - they could be surges of adrenaline, or surges of inspiration, or surges of willpower, or whatever. You get the same number of them per day as is listed for healing surges in the PHB, but there's more you can do with them. What a surge represents is extra oomph, extra effort, loaded into an action. In combat, these surges can be used to catch a second wind just as written. Some powers require that they be spent or lost in order for the character to benefit from them. All that remains the same as written for healing surges.

In addition, (1) you can spend a surge to add a d6 to any d20 roll you make. You have to choose before you make the roll, but it can give you just the little edge you need. (2) You can also spend a surge to add one die to a damage roll of the same type you're rolling anyway - just like the first use, this is a little extra oomph, and you can spend this surge after you know whether the attack roll succeeds or not. Lastly, (3) you can spend a surge to "fail forward". If you fail a roll that means catastrophe for your character, you can spend the surge and move the bad news one step back. Instead of dead, your character is unconscious from damage. Instead of in a horrible spot, your character is dangling by their fingertips. The requirement here is that your character must require outside assistance to get out of their predicament. This solves the problem of succeed-or-die skill rolls, and also pulls at least one other player-character into the fun you're having...

Snowflake Step Three: Glimmer

I stopped pasting the instructions for the Snowflake Method in each post, but here are the rest of the posts for your reference...

Glimmer

Summary: Glimmer is the main character of the story, an orphan made into an assassin who kills the cruel man who made him who he is.

Motivation: Glimmer is motivated by an intense fear of death - it is this that drives him to be very dangerous, and which also makes him a sub-par assassin in the eyes of Master Iron.

Goal: Glimmer's goal changes over the course of the story. First, it is simply to survive the brutality of his training. Then, it is to forumlate a plan to escape with Orchid. Finally, it is to kill Master Iron regardless of the risk to himself. Behind it is always the choice to live at any cost.

Conflict: From the first night of his training, Glimmer's conflict is with Master Iron. The two of them are two poles of the story, and I want to foreshadow from the beginning that one of them has to go down. I'd also like to present the conflicts that result in Glimmer's empathy withering. He finds that he has opportunities to help others, but feels that it might threaten his own survival, and so he chooses to do nothing. This is important because later in his story, I want him to have a strong moral sense that he's just been ignoring.

Epiphany: First, Glimmer thinks that he can just survive the training and do what Master Iron wants. He realizes that he can never get out, that he's just being used, or perhaps that he hates what he is becoming, so he tries to escape. His epiphany is that no matter what, he can never leave while Master Iron is still alive. He sees that as his only real hope for escape.

Storyline Paragraph: Glimmer is purchased by Sister Grey Sky from an orphanage in one of the large cities of the Empire and is shipped off to the assassin school. He is dragged out of the cart, unhooded, and immediately is chosen as the first one to pick on because he is small for his age and looks frightened. Despite himself, a friendship grows with Orchid, who is a little better than him at everything, including acting out of her empathy for others. The two of them use the cover of their last test to escape their training entirely, and she is killed by Master Iron. Glimmer leaves the story after he has taken revenge on Master Iron.


Other Characters
Orchid
Turtle

Mouse Guard, AKA Burning Wheel Fourth Edition

I had a whole post planned out to talk about Burning Wheel - how I think it is a wonderful, well-designed game, but why I think it is not an elegant game. But then I picked up a copy of Mouse Guard - which I'm thinking of as Burning Wheel Fourth Edition. (First Edition would be Burning Wheel "Classic", Second Edition is Burning Wheel Revised, Third Edition is Burning Empires, and Fourth Edition is Mouse Guard)

Mouse Guard is an elegant game. It is the direct descendent of both Burning Wheel and Burning Empires, and it is better than either one. It is better written, better presented, better designed. It is clear that Luke Crane continues to learn as he goes, with each game better than the next. (This fact makes me more excited about Free Market)

I've seen other gamers pick up Burning Wheel, and then sort of get bogged down and paralyzed because it is such a complicated game. The problem is that Burning Wheel Revised is about a dozen systems under one roof. They work together, but they're like an internal-combustion engine in that way - you raise the hood and its a bewhildering amalgam of movement and noise, and it takes some training to become familiar with all that is going on. I read the base books twice each, and ran the game twice for different groups, and each time, I realize something I ran a bit wrong, or missed entirely, or misinterpreted.

Burning Empires builds complexity onto Burning Wheel rather than removing it, but introduces defined turns and more information on how and when to frame scenes. Those two things are brought into Mouse Guard, but they are slimmed down and simplified.

Reading Mouse Guard, I felt a sense of elation. Its like I got to sit down with Luke Crane and tell him what I thought he should change about Burning Wheel. Most of what I would have told him made it in. All conflicts now look like the Duel of Wits. Conflict Scripting is more versatile and standardized, with only four maneuver types to choose from. The test-tracking system for advancement is much simpler and more logical by far (hint: no huge chart necessary to figure out what's going on). The attributes are simplified, and learning new skills is as well. There are no massive lists of interconnected lifepaths to navigate in character creation. There's no confusing wheel to track wounds, no special weapon system to make the brain hurt. I could go on, but you get the picture.

I say all of these things as a person who loves Burning Wheel, who has a lot of fun running and playing it. But Mouse Guard is better in every way. It is clear, concise, well-written...elegant. It is one of the best games I have ever read, and I look forward to playing it.

Snowflake Step Three: Sister Grey Sky

I stopped pasting the instructions for the Snowflake Method in each post, but here are the rest of the posts for your reference...

Sister Grey Sky

Summary: Sister Grey Sky is the grim woman who is charged with finding orphaned children who will be molded into killers for the empire.

Motivation: Sister Grey Sky believes she is a monster out of necessity - that the empire is full of bitter enemies who threaten peace and order, and that extreme measures must be taken so that others can sleep safely.

Goal: Sister Grey Sky's goal is to follow Master Iron as the head instructor of young assassins. She believes she could do a better job, that his passion gets in the way of his reason and discipline.

Conflict: Despite herself, Sister Grey Sky finds that she likes Orchid. The little orphan girl is tough, brave and smart - there is just something about her that stands out among the other orphans SGS has seen so far in her life.

Epiphany: It starts when Orchid is killed by Master Iron. It ends when Master Iron is killed, and Sister Grey Sky becomes Mistress Grey Sky. She realizes that all they are doing is creating monsters and destroying children. Her epiphany is the hope in the story that this situation might change someday.
Storyline Paragraph: Sister Grey Sky begins and ends the story. She is the first character introduced, when she comes to the orphanage where she finds Glimmer and Orchid and Turtle and the next batch of assassins-to-be. She is looking for healthy, strong and hesitates with Glimmer because he is a runt and something about him bothers her. She chooses him at last, however, thinking that Master Iron can use him as an object lesson. She is struck by Orchid, and follows her progress with pride until she is killed. By the time the gets the nerve to confront Master Iron, she's the one that finds him dead. She cleans up the mess and assumes his position at the school.

Other Characters

Glimmer

Orchid

Turtle

10 Most-Played (Analog) Games

Apparently this is going around, so I thought I'd put in my two cents (thanks Mike Mearls!)

Here are my 10 most-played analog games with a little bit about how and when I played them.

1. GURPS
Through middle school and a big chunk of high school, I ran GURPS games for a couple of my friends. I also ran one in the high school cafeteria during my senior year. Yeah, big freaking dork. So sue me. Most recently, I helped work out and then played in an adaptation of GURPS to the Midnight setting.

2. Dungeons and Dragons
This is what I started out with, in middle school, playing in the Dragonlance setting. Then I stopped for years, because Advanced Dungeons & Dragons sucks as a game. But then 3rd edition came out from WotC and my interest in D&D was rehabilitated in one fell swoop. A terrible game had become a workable game, and my gaming group picked it up and ran with it. I also ran a year-long game set in Eberron that was a lot of fun a lot more recently.

3. Chess
Chess is the one game where, for some reason, I get really competitive. My aggression just comes out. Even when a coworker taught me Chinese Chess recently, I ended up taking the game more seriously than she had in mind.

4. Vampire the Masquerade
This is me in college. At least once a week. I don't give a crap if you're an indie game designer and you hate this game. I love it. This is one of the two games I've been willing to play over AIM for crap's sake. Maybe I just got lucky and had a fantastic group of friends for the past ten years, I dunno, but I've had a lot of my best gaming moments playing Vampire.

5. Mage the Ascension
Given the choice, I'd actually play this game before Vampire. Mage is awesome. I have a huge load of house rules for running it that my friends have basically adopted. Its probably become its own game at this point, but still, the book we use has Mage: the Ascension on the cover. This is the other game that I've been willing to play over AIM.

6. Changeling the Dreaming
I've been in a couple of Changeling games and I've run one as well. Changeling is a fun system, once you break it and remake it so that it makes sense. But once you do that, it can be pretty fun.

7. Heroes of Karia Vitalus
This started out as a hack of Big Eyes Small Mouth and grew into its own system that we're now working on getting a playtest version together for. This game is awesome. It is better than your game. I guarantee it.

8. Poker
Poke is awesome. It is a great combination of aggression and deception - a fantastic release for all those things that are immoral when used outside the context of the game. You attack, defend, deceive, threaten and then move in for the kill when the time is right. No matter how good you get, there is someone else better than you. I guess this is the other game where my competitiveness comes out.

9. Settlers of Catan
This is the main game I play with my friends who live near me at seminary. We play it a lot. Most of the time, I lose, but occasionally I don't. I really like Settlers because it is simple but effective. Its an elegant game (which reminds me to work on that post about elegance in game design...) and it brings together hardcore players like myself and much more casual players like my friend's wife.

10. Canasta
This makes the list because of a summer I spent living with my mom in the apartment complex where I live now. I was a lot younger (about 12) and she was a student at the seminary where I am now a student. We played canasta and she kicked my ass. I got it into my head to play until I could beat her, and it took all summer, playing many times a day every day. But when I finally did, by a wide margin no less, God almighty was that sweet...

***

Feel free to post in the comments section your own top ten games - no need to limit them to analog if you don't want to (I just did because it makes things simpler - maybe a digital one can come up next)

Snowflake Step Three: Master Iron

Step 3) For each of your major characters, take an hour and write a one-page summary sheet that tells:

• The character's name
• A one-sentence summary of the character's storyline
• The character's motivation (what does he/she want abstractly?)
• The character's goal (what does he/she want concretely?)
• The character's conflict (what prevents him/her from reaching this goal?)
• The character's epiphany (what will he/she learn, how will he/she change?
• A one-paragraph summary of the character's storyline

An important point: You may find that you need to go back and revise your one-sentence summary and/or your one-paragraph summary. Go ahead! This is good--it means your characters are teaching you things about your story. It's always okay at any stage of the design process to go back and revise earlier stages. In fact, it's not just okay--it's inevitable. And it's good. Any revisions you make now are revisions you won't need to make later on to a clunky 400 page manuscript.

Another important point: It doesn't have to be perfect. The purpose of each step in the design process is to advance you to the next step. Keep your forward momentum! You can always come back later and fix it when you understand the story better. You will do this too, unless you're a lot smarter than I am.

Now, technically, with the Snowflake Method, you are supposed to have done more specific brainstorming than I have at this point. I come to this step and realize that I need to spend more time fleshing out important characters - the main instructor, who plays the part of the villain of the story for all intents and purposes, and the other orphan-slaves learning to kill.

I will look to the advice "It doesn't have to be perfect", however, and will forge ahead! What do I need?...

Master Iron

Summary: Master Iron, the main instructor the orphans interact with, trained in the Temple of Mind, is the focus of the orphans' hatred but also their only ticket out of the hell-hole of the school.

Motivation: Master Iron has entirely given himself over to the Emperor's service. He actually washed out of the Temple of Mind because he was too vicious and had a petty streak. What he wants is to infuse his pupils with strength, and he sees this as a process of winnowing away the weak ones and torturing the strong ones until they are like him...iron.

Goal: Master Iron wants to create the perfect weapon for the Emperor. He sees Glimmer as having that potential, and is therefore especially cruel to him.

Conflict: His conflict is with Glimmer in the story - the story is about the two of them, really, and the others around them who get hurt and killed while they work out their differences. I also want a secondary conflict with the reader - I want Master Iron to really bother the reader with his justifications for what he does to these orphans.

Epiphany: Master Iron's epiphany is a cruel one in its own right, because it comes too late. He realizes that, despite his fear of death, Glimmer is a very talented student, and that Iron has given the orphan every possible motivation to kill him.

Storyline Paragraph: Master Iron begins the story when the orphans arrive at the 'school' in the middle of the night, having been purchased from orphanages in the city and brought there with hoods on so they don't know where they are. The first thing he does is he chooses the biggest child and the smallest child (Glimmer) and provokes them into a fight. As the story progresses he escalates until the first orphan death, making it clear that things like a place to sleep and food have to be earned. Master Iron decides to give Glimmer and Last Girl a chance to 'graduate' by sending them to kill someone in the school compound. When they try to escape, he kills Last Girl, and is in turn killed by Glimmer.

Other Characters

Sister Grey Sky

Glimmer

Orchid

Turtle

Snowflake Step Two

Step 2) Take another hour and expand that sentence to a full paragraph describing the story setup, major disasters, and ending of the novel. This is the analog of the second stage of the snowflake. I like to structure a story as "three disasters plus an ending". Each of the disasters takes a quarter of the book to develop and the ending takes the final quarter. I don't know if this is the ideal structure, it's just my personal taste.

You can also use this paragraph in your proposal. Ideally, your paragraph will have about five sentences. One sentence to give me the backdrop and story setup. Then one sentence each for your three disasters. Then one more sentence to tell the ending. If this sounds suspiciously like back-cover copy, it's because . . . that's what it is and that's where it's going to appear someday.

Ok, I'll give it a shot and then take the hour to consider. (And let me just say that it is incredibly hard to put up first thoughts without editing them, but I want to show how the process works for me - or doesn't.)

"In the Empire, there are those who purchase orphan children in order to train them to be killers. One of these children, a boy named Glimmer, first shows his talent for the work when he is forced to kill a fellow student as part of his training. As training progresses and more orphans die, Glimmer forms a secret friendship with another student, named Last Girl, and the two of them try to escape the school. When they are caught and he is offered a choice, Glimmer chooses Last Girl to die instead of himself, and wracked by guilt, he decides to take revenge on his teacher. When Glimmer kills his teacher, he 'graduates' early, and enters into the Emperor's service; his teacher is replaced with a woman just as cruel as the last."

Not wedded to the character names yet - I have images of them but not solid names yet. The naming convention I want to use is not to have names in a particular language, but to just have the translations of the names. So, for example, as Douglas, my name with this convention might be Dark River, because if someone who spoke Gaelic heard the name Douglas, they'd hear "Black River". For names outside the point-of-view culture, I'll use the usual strange-sounding words you find in fantasy stories all the time.

Anyway, now for an hour, and then some reflection.

***

What I have doesn't fit the Step 2 instructions exactly - there aren't technically three disasters, for example, but there are, in my opinion, three climaxes - Glimmer's first kill (of a child, as a child - pretty awful stuff), Glimmer and Last Girl's escape attempt which ends with a cliffhanger (if the story is long enough for chapters or other breaks), and Glimmer killing his teacher. The denouement is that Glimmer survives, is scarred forever, becomes part of the system that destroyed much of his life, and nothing about that system changes. Good times, eh? :)

But, we get the...glimmer...of what kind of character he will be, what his struggles will be as he develops, and something of the brutal underbelly of the Empire, and the kind of evil required to maintain the Emperor's power.

In the snowflake method, you're encouraged to go back and revise these steps, so I'll probably do that, but for now, I'm ok with the paragraph.

Snowflake Step One

Step 1) Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your novel. Something like this: "A rogue physicist travels back in time to kill the apostle Paul." (This is the summary for my first novel, Transgression.) The sentence will serve you forever as a ten-second selling tool. This is the big picture, the analog of that big starting triangle in the snowflake picture.

Some hints on what makes a good sentence:

• Shorter is better. Try for fewer than 15 words.
• No character names, please! Better to say "a handicapped trapeze artist" than "Jane Doe".
• Tie together the big picture and the personal picture. Which character has the most to lose in this story? Now tell me what he or she wants to win.
• Read the one-line blurbs on the New York Times Bestseller list to learn how to do this. Writing a one-sentence description is an art form.

In this case, replace the word "novel" with the word "story" since I'm not quite going for a novel-length idea here (though it might become that - there's more to this character than this story).

"As he comes of age and learns to kill, an orphan also learns what it is to hate and suffer loss."

At a glance, that is 21 words - too many according to the Method. I could just cut parts of it, but I'm not sure what I'd want to cut. What are the key things to get across about the story, as it exists now in my mind?

The main character is an orphan and slave. He is coming of age as he learns to be an Imperial assassin in a horrifying situation. He falls in love. His love dies because of a selfish act on his part, killed by his teacher as an object lesson. It sets up a big confrontation which will end his training one way or another.

"An orphan learning to kill finds a reason to when his teacher murders his love."

That seems a little hotter to me, a little more raw. And, at 15 words, its within the limitations set out. I'm having trouble thinking of a better version, so this'll stand for now.