Collective Endeavour - All Discussions Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:26:16 +1300 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/ Lussumo Vanilla 1.1.8 You'll need to sign up again, I'm afraid http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=4 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=4 Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:21:40 +1300 Matt
right, this appears to be working fine. Let me know if you see any bugs...

So here's the thing. We had a chat about what to do when we moved to Vanilla. We figured what with a slight refocus of the site, hopefully to be clearer about what we do, it might be a good time for people to ask: what am I doing here and is it still useful to me? If you still want to chat about our games, conventions, actual play, design and stuff. Cool! We still want to chat about that stuff. As always sign up with your real name and we're away.

All old stuff has not been lost! It's stored, and I'll be putting up an archive in a bit...

P.S. Sorry for the sudden-ness, but I wanted to do this Pre-Dragonmeet and real-life stuff has meant it crept up on me.]]> UK/European Short-run Printers http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=48 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=48 Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:45:15 +1300 Malcolm Craig
Setting aside Lulu and Lightning Source, are there any printers which people have used and could recommend? Or, even that they have heard are reliable and produce a quality product for a reasonable price?

Cheers
Malcolm]]> Hot War: the Masquerade http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=47 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=47 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:49:27 +1300 Rich Stokes
Basically, it's the same rules as a regular Hot War game with a couple of tweaks. The main thing is Disciplines:

Characters will start play with access to your their three Clan disciplines. Write down what they are. You start with three points in one of them and one point each in the other two. Basically, you pick which one you want to be really good at, and then two others to dabble at. If you really want, (and everyone agrees that it's OK) you can swap one of your one-point disciplines for another freely-available discipline which it makes sense for a character of your sect and Clan to have learned.

For your one-point disciplines, you get access to the first two of the discipline's abilities. You get access to the first 5 powers of the discipline you have 3 points in, so you sort of get the equivalent of 9 points of disciplines. A character with one point in Protean, for example will be able to use Eyes of the Beast and Feral Claws, while a character with five points in Dementation will be able to use the Passion, Haunting, Eyes of Chaos, Voice of Madness and Total Insanity powers.

When a character wants to use a Discipline in a conflict, simply add a number of dice to that character's dice pool equal to the rating of the discipline being used, and colour the narration accordingly. The player also marks that Discipline as Exhausted, meaning that it cannot be used again until it is re-charged. A character can only gain dice from one Discipline in any given Conflict.

Players can also include the use of a Discipline at any time outside of a conflict as colour to the narration, or use them in the narration of conflicts without gaining the extra dice from them. If they do this, they do not Exhaust the Discipline.

Basically, you must Exhaust a discipline to gain dice from it during a conflict.

For example, Abraham is trying to convince a group of gang members to leave the area. It's a fairly straightforward Influence conflict, with both sides bringing in relevant Traits, Relationships and Agendas to increase their dice pools. The player can narrate Abraham using his Presence, and everyone agrees that it will be helpful in this conflict. Which is handy because he has 3 points in it, so adds 3 dice to his dice pool and Exhausts Abraham's Presence.

Another example. Maria is an urban Gangrel who uses her high Protean to assume the form of a fox (This seems more appropriate than a wolf for a character living in London, and since everyone agrees, that's how it works for her). She's trying to sneak into an old bus station without being spotted. Her player narrates Maria transforming into a fox, but since her Protean Discipline is already exhausted from an earlier scene she won't get any extra dice for it. Instead, she opts to Exhaust her Obfuscate for a bonus die, which is a pretty obvious Discipline to use anyway.

Yet another example. Julia is a Nosferatu and looking to visit a mortal who she wants to question. Obviously she'll be using her Obfuscate power Mask of a Thousand Faces while she talks to him, otherwise he'll run a mile. She doesn't need to exhaust her obfuscate, since her looking like a normal person isn't a conflict.

A character can recharge an exhausted discipline by spending a single point of consequences after a conflict, provided the outcome of that conflict might result in them feeding. You can recharge as many disciplines as you have consequences to spend. If a character wants to explicitly feed, you should frame a scene where they attempt to feed and run a conflict. They can spend consequences to recharge their Disciplines. In other circumstances, a character will explicitly feed as part of a scene or part of another conflict. In these cases the GM should decide whether the vampire's Disciplines recharge or not (basically, if they just drink a bit of blood, no, if they drink a lot, then yes).

You can find a more thorough write up of the conversion here:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhhck6pw_35g2vpmwdf

Comments and feedback appreciated!

Rich]]> Concrete Cow 10 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=20 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=20 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:31:44 +1300 Neil Smith
WHO?
We're Milton Keynes RPG Club. Find out more about us at http://www.mk-rpg.org.uk.

WHEN?
Saturday 20 March 2010. Doors open at 9.00am, first games start at 10.00am. We'll finish at 11.00pm.

WHAT?
Any roleplaying or board game. You want to play it, bring it along and run it. Previously we've had on offer 3:16, Amber, Call of Cthulhu, Cold City, Dead of Night, Dogs in the Vineyard, GURPS, Gwenthia, HeroQuest, Hollow Earth Expedition, Hot War, Landston, Mouse Guard, Mythic Russia, Primetime Adventures, Savage Worlds, Spycraft, Tekumel, Trail of Cthulhu, Transhuman Space, True20, Vampire, and some more that I've forgotten. Latest updates will be posted on the Concrete Cow website.

A full list of games on offer is on the Concrete Cow games page.

WHO'LL BE THERE?
Dave Blewer of Triple Ace Games will be a Guest of Honouor. Dave is a freelance writer with nearly 30 years of role-playing experience and creator of Sundered Skies. He has been a published author since 2000 and has written for Atlas Games, Arcdream Publishing, Oriflam, and Pinnacle Entertainment. Dave lives in on the edge of a dank marsh in the East of England. His three kids are a constant source of wonder and horror.

Robin Elliott, Production Editor of Triple Ace Games, should also be attending. We'll chain them to a table to run games of Savage Worlds-based fast, furious, and fun games!

There should be at least one more Guest of Honour in the pipeline, so stay tuned for further announcements.

We will have three excellent traders at the event: the Collective Endeavour, Leisure Games, and Reaper's Revenge. Bring along lots of money to give to the people with the shiny merchandise!

Members of the Concrete Cowncil, MKRPG's convention gaming arm, will be in attendance to run all sorts of funky games.

And, of course, there's all the fantastic games you'll bring along and run. If you let us know what you're planning to run, we'll put it on the Concrete Cow games page.

(Note that for child protection reasons, under-16s will need to be accompanied by an adult at Concrete Cow.)

WHERE?

The Old Bath House, Wolverton, in the north-west corner of Milton Keynes. The full address is

The Old Bath House
205 Stratford Road
Wolverton
Milton Keynes
MK12 5RL

Maps are available on MK Web, Google Maps, and Streetmap.co.uk.

Directions for drivers are on the directions page.

Regular trains to Milton Keynes run from London Euston station. The nearest station to the con is Wolverton (one stop north of Milton Keynes Central), about five minutes' walk away.

HOW MUCH?
£5.00, payable on the door. This'll cover the cost of hiring the hall.

For more information, visit our Yahoo group, email concrete-cow-owner@yahoogroups.com, or ask here!


Hope to see you all in March!

Neil.]]> Continuum 2010 [Image Heavy Thread] http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=42 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=42 Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:14:58 +1300 Darran
I'm delighted to announce that, with effect from tomorrow, 15th November, Continuum 2010 is open for registrations.

The event is to be held at John Foster Hall, University of Leicester, from Friday 2nd July 2010, until Monday 5th July 2010. The registration pricing is as follows:

Early Bird Registration (15th November 2009 - 1st April): £20
Standard Reg (1st April onwards): £25
En-Suite Room per night: £45
En-Suite for 3 Nights: £120


There are two ways to register:

Via Paypal. Our email address for Paypal payments is payment@continuum.uk.net. Please include the following:

Your name
Address
Number of nights accommodation required, and the nights you'll be staying
Any special rooming requirements (ie, I want be next door to X, Y or Z)

Don't forget that, in addition to the room cost you need to include your registration fee. Thus, a single night would cost £20+£45 = £65. Registration is a fixed fee for the whole weekend - so you don't need to pay a registration fee for each night you need.

Twin rooms are very limited in numbers, but en-suite rooms - and all single rooms are en-suite - are plentiful and comfortable.

If you wish to register by snail mail, a registration form will be made available shortly and we will accept cheque payments. The address to send a paper registration to is:

Continuum
53 Stepping Lane
Derby
DE1 1GL

We look forward to welcoming you to Continuum 2010 - The Year the Con Made Contact!]]> [Hell for Leather] A video tutorial http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=44 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=44 Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:29:09 +1300 Sebastian Hickey
Over on the Forge, Gregor, you asked about die sizes and circle diameters. I've just cooked up a 1 minute video tutorial here. It explains the die mechanic pretty quickly.

I'm looking forward to meeting some of you guys at Conpulsion this year. I'm facilitating a game of HfL on the Saturday afternoon, if anyone's interested.

Gregor, I've got some layout queries for you. I'm particularly interested in figuring out how much text I should be exhibiting in a page. As in, how often to pepper the text with imagery. I'll do up a sample PDF next week, to illustrate my concerns. Maybe you or one of the other guys could take a look.

Joe, can we play your H4L at Conpulsion?

Sebastian.]]> [Contested Ground Studios] Pricing Changes http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=46 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=46 Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:55:46 +1300 Malcolm Craig
For information, I've included our press release below. If anyone would like to discuss the implications of these changes and how they might apply to us all, then feel free to speak up. I'm certainly keen to keep everyone updated with how this goes and how it affectes sales.

Cheers
Malc

---------------------------

In light of developments in the role-playing games market, Contested Ground Studios have undertaken a thorough review of our sales policy. So what does that mean for you, our customers?

Well, the major change is that when you buy the hardcopy version of any of our products, you get the PDF of that product for free. This means that you get print and electronic versions for exactly the same price as the print version alone.

In order to get your free PDF, you'll need to purchase from our own online shop, Indie Press Revolution (by buying the 'Print & PDF Bundle' of any given product), or from the Collective Endeavour booth at various UK conventions. Unfortunately, we cannot offer the free PDF service for customers at non-UK conventions or those purchasing our products through brick and mortar games stores. We are looking into ways round this problem, but at the moment there are several logistical barriers.

The prices of our products have also been reviewed and all of our books, including the critically acclaimed Cold City and Hot War, are now priced at £15/$28US. If you are buying PDFs on a stand-alone basis, you'll also notice some changes. All main rulebooks are now $10US from Indie Press Revolution and Drive-thru RPG. All supplements are now $5US from Indie Press Revolution and Drive-thru RPG.

We think you'll agree that this represents a clearer pricing structure and a better deal for customers. If you would like to check out any of our products before spending your hard earned money, you can check out a whole load of free previews and supplemental materials at the Contested Ground Studios website.]]> Con-Quest: The Midlands Show [Image Heavy thread] http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=23 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=23 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:45:02 +1300 Darran




Con-Quest Lives !

Con-Quest: The Midlands Show is a new gaming convention taking place at the Derby Assembly Rooms on Saturday 10th April 2010.

Formerly known as ‘Dragonmeet Midlands’, Con-Quest is a one day show packed with all manner of gaming activities and trade stands. Whether it’s role playing games, board and card games or miniature wargames, Con-Quest has them all, as well as trade stands offering everything from the very latest releases to collectables and hard to find items. Whatever your gaming needs Con-Quest aims to deliver!

The event will be taking over the majority of the Derby Assembly Rooms, offering numerous areas for demonstration and participation games, artist displays, game manufacturers and designers, trade stands and areas to simply meet up with friends and catch-up on one of the bars or cafes on site.

The event is family friendly and welcomes both veteran gamers as well as those just wanting to find out more about the gaming hobby.

Tickets are on sale now from the Assembly Room box office - http://www.derbylive.co.uk and keep checking back to the Con-Quest web site at http://www.con-quest.co.uk for the latest updates.

For trade enquiries please contact darransims@gmail.com

Long live Con-Quest!

Tickets are on sale from the Derby LIVE Assembly Rooms Box Office.
http://www.derbylive.co.uk
Telephone: 01332 255800

Advance price £6.00 [£7.00 on the door on the day].]]> Stuff to Watch March 2010 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=45 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=45 Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:17:06 +1300 Matt ebook and book design useful if you're considering ipad or whatever other reader as a delivery channel.

More of the same in this video from Wired on their new emag design]]> [European] RPG Conventions listing http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=43 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=43 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:58:04 +1300 Darran Carnage Among the Tribes thread on RPGNet http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=16 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=16 Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:37:22 +1300 Carl C. raping their way across the landscape", and now everyone's (well, one annoying guy is) hemorrhaging vital fluids from all orifices that a lovely little game about genocide would include anything as unwholesome as rape in it.

If you wish to spread information and soothe rumpled brows, it is still on the front page as of this writing.]]> Running a small con http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=39 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=39 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:23:37 +1300 Neil Smith Concrete Cow 10 thread, Malc asked to pick my brains about running small cons like Concrete Cow. He asked:

how to make a small con a success?


I don't know. Really. All that we do, to make things happen, is provide a time and a venue for gamers to arrive and have fun. It's the attendees that bring the awesome, not anything imposed by the organisers. The only way we can really help that to happen is to get the word out about the con, and keep getting it out, so plenty of people attend. If you have enough gamers in one place, someone will be doing something you'll want to try.

Our collected wisdom on running the event is on the Concrete Cow Howto page.

Also, it's not just me. Scott Dorward and James Mullen do a lot to make things happen, such as corralling Guests of Honour. Other members of the MK RPG club help out with bits and pieces, such as collecting entrance money.

what are the strengths and weaknesses of the format?


The feedback we've got is somewhat biased, because the people who talk to us are the people who attend the day. What people like is that the day is small and friendly, and it's quite easy to fit into a busy family life. A weekend con is typically four days out, which is quite an undertaking. The downside is that the catchment area is smaller: people are more prepared to travel a long way for a full weekend of gaming.

Also, doing a one-day event is a lot less hassle to organise. The venue is cheap to hire, so we don't have worries about covering those costs should the day go badly. That also means we don't need to get money in advance through bookings, so we don't have to worry about tracking it all. We also don't need to find accommodation, bars, and the like. Organising a weekend event is a lot more work, and would probably require us to get organised to do it!

how do you manage relations with participants, games companies, other interested groups such as CE?


Generally, by sending them emails and asking nicely. Really. Most people are only too willing to help when and where they can: everyone's engaged with RPGs because they love it, not to make a fast buck.

We talk to participants via various web forums, and by distributing flyers at all the cons we can get to; we distribute flyers for other cons if people ask. The hardest people to reach are the non-con-going, non-internet-using majority of local gamers. We put up posters in local shops, try to get announcements in local papers, but we've not cracked that one yet.

Traders have generally approached us first. We were wary of having traders along, purely because we weren't sure there would be enough business to make the day worthwhile to them. The traders who do come, Leisure Games and Reaper's Revenge, know the score and are happy with the money they make on the day.

We also look up game company demo teams and ask them to attend.

We get CE participation by badgering them mercilessly.

do you see CC as a template for other local conventions?


Yes, and I hope people will organise similar events. The demand seems to be there, and there are a few similar events cropping up in the calendar. I think there's space for both the large, 3-4 day cons and the small, local, one-day events.

If you have more questions, ask away!

Neil.]]> Play as you Read http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=41 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=41 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:16:12 +1300 Iain McAllister Reel Adventures. I ran a couple of sessions at Conception and they convinced me that the game is finally done. What I need now is some pointers as to the layout and style of the final text.

Since Reel Adventures is meant to be very light, I want to write the game such that it can be read and played at the same time. I picked up a copy of Penny for my Thoughts at Conception, and it has a nice way of doing this. Basically there are Read Aloud bits of text that are written as if a doctor is explaining the procedure to the patients (players). I think the read aloud text is good, but I am not sure if the narrative style of 'Penny for my Thoughts' will work with Reel Adventures.

So, if you were to design a game such that it can be played as you read, how would you do it? Are there any books you would recommend I look at? I am looking at boardgame rules as well to see how they do things, but many of them feel like you have to read the whole thing first before beginning play.

Once I have some examples of what I am working on I will post them up.

Cheers

Iain]]> [Covenant] Revolver - a variation http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=38 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=38 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:57:17 +1300 Malcolm Craig Covenant game engine. Re-reading those notes, it seems that there is the core of something there. What follows is essentially a transcription of thise notes.

The game is about forcing change, through revolution, action, or whatever. The characters are all part of a cell attempting to take action of some kind. According to the notes, this all takes place in a kind of 'steampunk'* 1880s Glasgow. There are some notes about characters, such as:

How are they alienated from people, production, etc?
How determined are they to enact change?
What are their goals and motivations?
How do they react under stress?
How do they relate to the world?
Who do they relate to?

Replacing the Covenant crucible in the centre of the character sheet, we would have the four forms of alienation as described by Marx - people, places and institutions should be placed on or between these forms of alienation: alienation from humanity; alienation among workers; alienation from product; alienation from the means of production (as a sidenote, I'm not sure if this would work particularly well, but I'll persist for now). There are some further notes on the alienation idea, which I'll quote verbatim:

"Resist/succumb to alienation, like resolving truisms?
Have things/people/groups associated with each kind of alienation?
When resolved/alienated, gain edges that relate to the form?
Also, if succumbed, that 'thing' is removed from characters life?
Crucible is represented by a cog?"

Truisms from Covenant would become goals/aims in Revolver, edges would remain the same. The cell should have beliefs, goals, and methods. The characters would be attempting to resolve their goals/aims and the goals/aims of their cell.

Anyway, these are all vague, barely comprehensible musings at the moment and I thought I would simply note them here as something of an aide memoire. If anyone would like to comment or suggest things, then please do feel free.

Edit: I am put in mind here of the way Umlaut began life as a variant on Contenders. I can see this evolving from the Covenant model in a similar way. Perhaps.

Additionally, there was a 2 page RPG created a few years ago called Satanic Mills that might be of relevance to this discussion. You can check it out here.

Cheers
Malc

*Not really. Alternative history Victorian is probably a better term.]]> Stuff to Watch February 2010 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=40 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=40 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:53:41 +1300 Andrew Kenrick Adam Jury blogs about the misconception that all gamers are internet-savvy, trawl forums and engage with publishers. I think this is something that we've come to realise from meeting people at conventions, but it's easy to forget.]]> [Cogs, Cakes and Swordsticks] Free steampunk rpg http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=34 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=34 Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:19:52 +1300 Lynne H
http://sites.google.com/site/cogscakesandswordsticks/

Over the next few months, I will be writing the full for-sale version, which will include much more detail on the setting and some tweaks to the basic rules. However, any feedback would be gratefully received.

I'll also be demo-ing the game at Conpulsion in March, so if you're going to be there, please drop by and see us (there will be free paper copies available to everyone who takes part).

Thank you!]]> Other People's Stuff http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=28 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=28 Sat, 23 Jan 2010 02:14:54 +1300 Gary Bowerbank
Is there much (any) value in writing things for other people? Given the prevalence and strength of independent publishing, is it worth contributing to others writing requests, getting odds and ends published - or should one concentrate on producing their own material for their own benefit?

For example, people like Triple Ace Games have called out for writers before now and would no doubt reward mostly for efforts - but could (should) one not look into self publishing Savage licenced material, if they have their own strong ideas?

An established publisher will no doubt have their own writing guides, ways of doing things and other guidance. But being your own boss means you're free to make your own mistakes.

What sort of effort do current small press pubishers put into getting someone else to read / preoff read / edit their wares? What's the minimum acceptable level?

Will having a licence like the Savage logo sell more games regardless of the writer's credentials? RPG writers are hardly the Rock Stars of the written word.

Food for thought

Gaz]]> [Hell 4 Leather] Django's Fate http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=32 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=32 Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:37:34 +1300 Joe Prince
This was only the second time the game has been played, meaning it was brand new to everyone except Gregor and yours truly. We were using a Mage: The Ascension Tarot deck – the modern/supernatural imagery worked really well.

Malc was dealt The Fool, meaning he would play The Rider on his undead quest for vengeance. Malc set the scene for Django (though he was only named later on), having him released from prison after making countless enemies and cutting them up on the inside (REALLY INSIDE). I'll refrain from going completely into the gory details – suffice to say black comedy and extreme violence set the tone!

Gregor flipped over death and narrated how a drugged and bound Django was lowered back over the prison wall…

Jo had The Devil so it was down to her to describe Django's journey to Hell. She came up with an interesting twist – Satan wanted to retire and was testing Django to see if he would make a suitable replacement.

Play opened up at Django's funeral attended only by his elderly Grandmother in a backwater town of Smile Nevada. I'll resist posting the entire narrative, but here's some highlights.

- Niko cheating death sliding his Japanese superbike under a crashing tanker of nitro-glycerine.

- The revelation that my Elvis styled gang-leader had got Stacy, his girlfriend's daughter pregnant!

- Niko's Grandpappy Ol' Nick McGraw chained to his bike but looking like he was going to escape Django by jumping Devil's canyon for the second time ever – only to be intercepted by a winged angel of death.

- Raven's sudden conversion to Christianity when confronted by an angry Manitou (not manatee as Matt first thought)!

- Stacy's mom going after King's nuts with a sledgehammer. I used the minor conflict resolution mechanics here for the first time. Fortunately for King, Raven saved him from a nasty pelvic fracture.

- Django's final horrific execution of King – drowning him in a barrel of faeces.

Malc was pretty unlucky at picking out the Death card (unlike Gregor who was freakishly accurate during the first game and *always* knew where the Death card was in this game…) Despite this Malc still managed to off half the gang, not quite enough to appease Satan but not a bad result.

Overall I was really pleased with how the game played out, from nothing to all over in about an hour and a half. Everyone seemed to have a blast playing. I'm loving the elegant minimalism – no character sheets, no need to record anything (OK I wrote 5 names on Rich's cheat sheet) simple mechanics, really nice flow. I usually like a good deal of crunch in games but H4L is so freeing, it's fun to run amok with narrative descriptions and pure role-playing.

I'm looking forward to getting this bad boy published – maybe as a full colour pamphlet. I'm keen to keep it under 10 pages.

I've got an updated version up – a few minor things clarified and bullet points with scene examples. Take a look if you'd care, or even better run a game!

Prince of Darkness Games]]> Hot a|state City http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=33 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=33 Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:44:36 +1300 Malcolm Craig
Attributes would stay the same as they are, as would traits, relationships, and tools. The thing that would need to change would be the game creation tools and the hidden agendas.

Game Creation

The thing that a|state was always implicitly about was hope in a dark place. So, the characters should be doing something hopeful, something inspiring, something that makes peoples lives that little bit better. Game creation would need to be explicitly about this: why are the characters together? what are they doing? why are they doing it? Many of the existing stages of game creation could remain as they are, other would need to change or be added: the reason why the grup is together is an example.

Hidden Agendas

Rather than agendas, it seems to me that these would need to change into character goals. Akin to Duty & Honour, where characters have military missions and missions of personal importance, one of them would need to be an overarching goal, the other more personal. I think the overarching goal would need to be related to the specifics of what the characters are doing - perhaps with each character having a part of the overall goal that is specific to them?

These are just vague thoughts at the moment, something that popped in to my head. Any feedback, suggestions, or thoughts would be great.

Cheers
Malcolm]]> [Hell 4 Leather] Playtesting http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=37 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=37 Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:06:56 +1300 Gregor Hutton the Forge for anyone interested.

Basically we tried out some obtuse/extreme ways of playing: one where you hold on to your Boons resisting the (I think, natural) urge to use them, and the other where we played them to maximize the chances of overall group survival.

I think it's unlikely that either of these scenarios would ever happen with a real gaming group. We could see that when playing through -- at points in the game you could see where the temptation to use a Boon was writ large! And in the other case you could see where you might think about saving your "own" character's hide rather than someone else's! (And I also like the incentive the game throws up to have more than 1 character. Basically, it increases your chances of having one of your characters survive.)

Anyway, the two extreme ways of playing don't break the game down or result in uninteresting play, which was great to check.

The great thing about the game is that if you pick Death (a hell-given talent for a player!) you don't need Boons, but even loaded with Boons you still need to find Death to kill everyone. Though targetting a subset of the whole pack of Leathers is a valid choice for the Fool, as he can get those ones definitely killed. But in return you have to let the others go and accept incomplete revenge.

I think the balance is really nice.

As I said on the Forge we talked a bit about how to present the rules and we have some plans on that front. More to follow!]]> Ikosa.net interview with Contested Ground Studios http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=36 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=36 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:58:50 +1300 Paul Ikosa.net recently interviewed Malcolm and Paul about all things Hot War and CGS in general. The interview is available in French aswell as an English translation. If you want to take a look, you can read the interview here.

Cheers

Paul]]> [CGS] Q4 2009 and 2009 Total Sales http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=35 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=35 Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:24:07 +1300 Malcolm Craig
Q4 2009 Sales

Sales of Cold City and Hot War were boosted during Q4 by our Cold War Sale, set to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

a|state

IPR: 4
Direct: 3
Con: 1
PDF: 5

Total: 13
Lifetime Total: N/A

Cold City

IPR: 19
Direct: 26
Con: 4
PDF: 29

Total: 78
Lifetime Total: 1546

Hot War

IPR: 33
Direct: 46 (20 hardback)
Con: 11 (7 hardback)
PDF: 28

Total: 118
Lifetime Total: 910

2009 Total Sales

One thing to remember about the total sales for 2009 is that there was a significant downturn in the amount of marketing activity we undertook. This was mainly due to my being in NZ and concentrating heavily on my thesis. However, this does demonstrate that with a strong brand build over a number of years, a small drip feed of promotional activity, and the continued and enthusiastic support of the Collective Endeavour (and stalwarts such as Scott Dorward) in the UK, sales can be sustained at a very reasonable level.

a|state

IPR: 28
Direct: 8
Con: 3
PDF: 28

Total: 67

Cold City

IPR: 98
Direct: 73
Con: 24
PDF: 88

Total: 283

Hot War

IPR: 160
Direct: 96
Con: 48
PDF: 111

Total: 415]]> What are you currently working on? http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=26 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=26 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:20:00 +1300 Newt Newport
Me first.

Monkey: this is the game that will probably interest you lot the most. Its my slim & focused 70 page take on the Chinese Classic Journey to the West, better known as MONKEY! over here (thanks to the Japanese TV series that aired in the 80s). Players play errant immortals chucked out of Heaven and the adventures revolve around them trying to earn enough virtue to re-enter Paradise despite their weakness and failings. A simple card mechanic models the action, which is fast furious and comedic while ultimately enlightening. Literally 2 pages away from completion, then a bit of polish, editing, layout and out Feb/March (at the very latest).

The Savage North: Last year I released a game called OpenQuest. I took the bull by the horns and produced a totally Open Content game from the Mongoose RuneQuest OGL SRD, which reflects how I like to play D100 (BRP, RQ ) these days, i.e in a very streamlined storytelling manner. The Savage North is a collection of four scenarios set in a Conan like setting. Very trad dungeon bashing/wilderness trekking from the glory days of White Dwarf in the early 80s. A fun little project which I've got to work with my mate John Ossoway (author of Cthulhu Rising) who wrote the adventures (for a RQ3 Conan campaign originally), did the copious number of maps and all the art. I've been responsible for writing a setting, converting it to OpenQuest and generally gluing together what was initially just a quick fun write up for John's home group.

Wordplay: The Big Five This is Graham Spearing's D6 dice pool narrative game. Think HeroQuest and Burning Wheel in the front, with a few indie games and WEG's Star Wars D6 in the back, all in a car crash. Put back together by a games designer with an eye for simplicity and common sense. When Graham initially started the game he put a call out for people to write mini-settings called Themes for inclusion in the book. Four authors, my self included, answered the call. Graham published a plain text version , which included his Epic Fantasy theme, last year. His plan was to do a fully illustrated version with the remaining four themes. Unfortunately he hasn't got time to do this due to other commitments, so I'm picking up publishing this. As well as Graham's theme it will have; The Cold Crusade by Mark Galeotti (De Vinci code meets Heroes), Flashpoint by me (think Traveller redone as a story telling game), Infinite War (gonzo time travelling game, part satire of current war on terror, influenced by Jerry Cornelius and Fritz Leiber's The Big Time), Keep Portland Weird by Charles Green (Charles calls it Urban Fantasy, but I think its very much World of Darkness done right with a lovely bit of surreal social commentary running in the back ground). "But Newt I notice only three authors there in your list" you cry. That's right, Dom Mooney was originally going to be submitting 'Singularities', an epic Hard Sci-fi theme in the tradition of Iain Banks, Alistair Reynolds and a host of other modern writers, but is now developing it as a standalone Wordplay game. Apart from quickly writing Flashpoint, which is the replacement for Singularities, this is very much a quick layout job. I've already got alot of free/lo cost art from my regular stable of artists :) Release then April.

Dark Corners of the Empire: This is my own fantasy heartbreaker, written using Wordplay. Take the adventure and setting from OpenQuest and mash it up with the Wordplay system and see what comes out the other end.
Its really intended for people who want to try Wordplay out, but are put off by its 'hey make everything up yourself' approach or just want to play it in a familiar fantasy setting. Release?? This one is coming together very quickly, so could be March or Feb.

Hearts in Glorantha & Gloranthan Adventures: HiG was my starting point as a small press publisher almost two years ago. Its done me proud, providing me with a basic cash flow to pay for art for other projects. As a commited Gloranthaphile I'm still chugging away putting togehter the twice yearly HiG (issue 4 is being worked on now) and Gloranthan Adventures is an irregular spin off publication brought about by the realisation that I still have alot of my own material (which is mainly adventures) that is too big to fit in HiG.

This is the tip of the ice burg, since I'm a hyperactive sort whose creativity has been well and truly been liberated by self-publishing via lulu, but this is stuff I definitely know is going to get released in the next six months.

There's a bit more info on my website including some covers and other bits of preview material d101games.co.uk]]> [Hot War] Humanising Monsters, part 2 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=31 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=31 Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:05:18 +1300 Malcolm Craig this thread, looking at improved ways of creating monsters in Hot War (and by extension, Cold City). After a bit of noodling around, I've settled on the following setup. Obviously, this is very open to change and will have its flaws, I'm sure.

Preliminary Questions

What does the monster do?
What are it's goals? Does it need to feed, breed, control, assimilate, collect?
How does it achieve these goals?
Is it controlled or independent?
Does it know what it is or was?
What does it look like?

Attributes

Can it does something(s) exceptionally well in the physical realm? Is it very large, incredibly tough, amazingly agile, outstandingly fast? If it is, then assign an Action of 7+.

Can it does something(s) very well in the physical realm? If it can, then assign an Action between 4 and 6.

Is it not very physically adept? If it is, then assign an Action of 1 to 3.


Can it does something(s) exceptionally well in the intellectual realm? Is it exceptionally smart, cunning, farsighted, intelligent? If it is, then assign an Insight of 7+.

Can it does something(s) very well in the intellectual realm? If it can, then assign an Insight between 4 and 6.

Is it not very intellectually adept? If it is, then assign an Insight of 1 to 3.


Can it does something(s) exceptionally well in the influential realm? Is it exceptional at manipulating, dissembling, controlling? If it is, then assign an Influence of 7+.

Can it does something(s) very well in the influential realm? If it can, then assign an Influence between 4 and 6.

Is it not very influentially adept? If it is, then assign an Influence of 1 to 3.

Traits

Pick three notable characteristics about the monster and assign these as positive traits.
Pick two notable characteristics about the monster and assign these as negative traits.

Is the monster new to the world? If so, then no other traits are available.

Has the monster been around for all or most of the war? If it has been, then pick another positive and another negative trait.

Has the monster been around since before the war? If it has, then pick another two positive and two negative traits.

Relationships

Is the monster able to form relationships of any kind? Even if this is simply on the level of a dog relating to its owner, then that counts.

If it is adept at forming relationships, then there are eight points available to assign. At least three of these must be assigned to negative relationships.

If it is average at forming relationships, then there are between four and six points available to assign. At least one of these must be assigned to negative relationships.

If it is poor at forming relationships, then there are between one and three points available to assign.

If it is unable to form relationships, then there are no points available to assign.

Tools

Does the monster use tools? If it does, then write down a handful of items that it uses or might use.


That's it really. Are there things missing which would enhance the monster creation process? Are there details which improve the end result? As always, feedback is appreciated.

Cheers
Malc]]> Wolfpack http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=30 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=30 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:54:47 +1300 Christopher Davies
Wolfpack would be a resource based role-play game in which a group of players embark on an epic quest in which their characters must face countless dangers in the pursuit of glory. Each player would take on the role of a Norseman within Sigurd The Lucky's Wolfpack. As well as controlling their characters the players could also influence the epic chronicle by deciding to cast their Viking Runes (Players to decide on the amount of castings that can be made per game). Using a set of rules based upon Norse Runes utilizing a traditional: Three Rune Method of casting that allows you to cast and consult your Runes giving you past, present and future the meaning of which are gained through the symbolic meanings of the Runes which would allow the Runecaster to influence and progress the chronicle, controlling any non player characters in sense giving the player the GM role for part of the scene before handing back to the GM. For combat and actions I’m sorting something along the lines of Marvels stone system I’m just trying to work out the kinks.

So my question is would it be wise to allow a player to take control from the GM even for a short space of time or would this just create chaos and GM meltdown? and would removing dice in place for a system based on Runes kill the game stone dead (no pun intended) before someone even looked at it........]]> WWID? http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=29 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=29 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:15:11 +1300 James Mullen • Small index cards or pieces of paper
• Pencils or pens
• Table and chairs
• At least four players
• A coin

Whoever has brought the game to the table gets it started by naming a character after themselves, e.g. if the name of the game provider is Joe Bloggs, then the character’s name is also Joe Bloggs.

The First Round
The game provider describes a scene that the character is in; this scene should not take longer than 2 or 3 minutes to describe. This scene will be the starting point for the story that follows, so should introduce or foreshadow the events to come. Once the game provider has described this, every other player, in clockwise order from the provider, adds one further detail to the scene. Note that all description is about the scene that the character is in, it does not describe the character’s thoughts, words, deeds, emotions or memories. The character is a blank slate at this point, an actor on a stage without a script, watching the set be built around him while other characters come & go.

Once the scene is set, all players except the provider should write down the character’s response to the scene; if a conflict is inherent in the scene, the response should relate to that. If there is no apparent conflict or challenge, responses can take any form. Responses should be short but clear and should not prefigure the outcome of taking that response: a response is only what the character tries to do, not what they actually achieve.
When all the responses have been written, the provider takes them all in, reads them and chooses one; they then describe the character’s attempt to take that action and toss a coin.
Heads: the action succeeds, the provider narrates how and what the outcome is.
Tails: the action fails, the provider narrates how and what the outcome is.

The provider keeps the card on which the action was written, adding to it a statement about the character based on the action and its outcome. For example, if the action involved running and was successful, the provider might write down ‘Fast’ or ‘Quick to react’ as a statement; if running had failed, they might write down ‘Slow’ or ‘Frozen by fear’.

All Subsequent Rounds
The player whose action was chosen in the previous round becomes the Actor for this round; whoever chose that action (e.g. the previous Actor) becomes the Reader for this round. Only in the first round is the game provider both Reader and Actor, in all subsequent rounds, these duties are divided between two players.
The order of business is:
• The Actor describes the scene.
• All other players, including the Reader, add a detail to that scene.
• Everyone apart from the Reader and the Actor writes down an action and passes them to the Reader.
• The Reader reads out the actions and the Actor chooses one.
• The Actor tosses a coin, determining the success or failure of the chosen action, and writes a statement upon the chosen action card related to that outcome, which describes the character.
• The player whose action was chosen becomes the Actor for the next round, whilst the Actor becomes the Reader in the next round; in this way, no-one may be the Actor or Reader more than once in any three rounds.

The End Game
The game ends when any player collects three positive or three negative statements about the character; therefore, on any player’s fifth turn as the Actor at the very latest, but possibly sooner.
• If the game ends with three positive statements about the character, all turns out well for them and they get a happy ending.
• If the game ends with three negative statements about the character, things turn sour and they meet a bad fate.
• The true social outcome of the game is to give the players a chance to comment on the game provider through the avatar of their namesake, the character.]]> Get in the VAN! http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=27 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=27 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:25:07 +1300 Newt Newport
Conquest (Apr 10th), Games Expo, Continuum and possibly Game 10 are all lined up for attendance for the D101 machine to sell books at.

So once I've booked my stall, got my mate Steve to drive me and the stock down, what other bits should I be taking with me apart from a big smile and a cash tin?

Also what top tips do people who have previously run a stall have for this newbie?]]> [Hell for Leather] Beta & Layout advice http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=25 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=25 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:44:12 +1300 Sebastian Hickey broadcast the release of the beta version of Hell for Leather on the Forge, Praxis and RPG Net.

So, a couple of questions. First, should I post this news anywhere else?

Second, on the subject of layout, I'm looking for some advice. I've popped my layout cherry. This effort, for me, is as good as it gets. I've never read anything on the subject. It's all guesswork and copying from other people's works.

So, if anyone has any time, could you have goo at the layout for me? I'm trying to figure out if the body font and spacing is okay, and whether or not I need to adjust the justification (or should I leave it the way it is).

Right. Not a very specific set of questions. Sorry. You see, I'm in the predicament that because I know so little, I don't even know what to ask about. Frustrating. How about we start with the body text? Is it the right size? Is there enough white space? Is it easy on your peepers?

Thoughts welcome.

Love Sebastian.]]> New Site Comments and Requests http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=12 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=12 Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:34:37 +1300 Rich Stokes
If you have any idea or requests for new features or different ways to do things, this is where you can post them.

Absolutely no guarantees that anything you ask for will get done, but if you have ideas, we'd love to hear them.

Thanks,

Rich]]> Contested Ground Studios News http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=24 http://collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=24 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:37:08 +1300 Paul Contested Ground Studios Shop

Also there is a great new Cold City podcast read review by the nice people over at All Games Considered. The podcast is about 19 minutes long and well worth a listen if you are interested in all things Cold City. To listen to the podcast click here.

cheers

Paul]]>