Blazing a Trail: a BETA review of the Spark RPG

This is Calcifer, incredibly dismayed by my terrible pun. That's not important, though! I'm here to conduct a concise review of a roleplaying game called Spark RPG, currently winding up a pretty successful Kickstarter--but there's still time to get in on it. I suppose you'll want some explanation why? Well, let's see...

How to Win an RPG: the GM's Side

Before reading this, you probably want to read the preceding post, which is about the same topic, but from the player's side. I'm continuing from there, outlining what Tenra Bansho Zero has to say about winning the game on the GM's side. It's a bit of a different objective list, and it combines lethally (in a good way) with the players' objectives.

Ninjas, Cyborgs, and Hulked-Out Samurai!

When I saw this Kickstarter, I knew that I had to back it. And, since it only has a few days left to expand its funding base, I figured I'd spread the word as best as I could! I'm talking about Tenra Bansho Zero, a native Japanese RPG that came out in 1997, a full fifteen years ago.

Light. Bulb.

You know, it's funny how good ideas come: at the strangest times, from the most unexpected places. Brainstorming can be one of the most informative exercises a writer engages in, resulting in plenty of "I never would have thought of that!" moments. It's immensely important to keep your ideas fresh, and when it comes to roleplaying games, those ideas can come from a place that's rather in line with this blog: the players.

Paper Empires: Stability

The Roman Empire fell because of internal squabbling and invaders from the outside. The British Empire, once spanning the whole globe in some capacity, was hugely diminished as their colonies rose up against them. The stability of your own empire is of critical importance in Paper Empires. Each province, from the start, begins to generate Unrest, and you must also keep building your Dynasty's strength up.

Raise Dead! Raise Dead!

Ahem. I really, really hope that nobody got spoilered by that picture. But, honestly, if you're gonna be playing fantasy RPGs (which I assume pretty much all of you are), and you didn't know about *points up*, you deserved to be spoiled.

I suppose, by way of note, I should add that I am a full-fledged Roman Catholic, and so I will be speaking on religious topics with no apology. ;) Not to mention, it just seemed terribly apropos...I finally figured out a good post topic for something going up around Easter. Okay, okay, maybe it's a little cliché, but oh well. Here's to nothing.

Paper Empires: Building a Dynasty

Okay! This is the first post in my rebuild of Paper Empires, and I'm going to do two things. First, I'm going to explain (to the newcomers) exactly how Cortex+ works. Then, I'm going to outline how the concept of Dynasties will apply to this game, because Dynasties are a core component of this new edition, which I'm still trying to figure out a good name for. At the moment, Paper Empires+, Paper Empires 2E, and some totally unrelated title are my best options. Any input there?

Paper Empires: the Revival!

Here it is, folks! Like I mentioned last week, I've had a bit of an RPG-tinkering idea. This time, I'm revisiting the game Paper Empires, a sort of "Civilization meets RPGs" combo that, while an interesting concept, had some real problems. I'd sort of left it by the wayside, but now I think I've stumbled across the perfect way to reboot it. It's a system that's flexible, has a lot of moving parts to tinker with, and it's a system with a strong narrative focus...

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Cortex+, the game powering the Smallville, Leverage, and (most recently) Marvel Heroic roleplaying games.

Got Heraldry?

So, I'm running a play-by-post RPG, with the premise that Gondor of the Fourth Age has started devolving into a political situation akin to Westeros from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Therefore, having cool heraldry is basically a must for this game. But that can be a lot of work. Until I found a totally awesome tool...

Inkwell Ideas' Coat-of-Arms Creator is a free online tool with an inexpensive offline version. It's quite simple to use, and it whips up really cool-looking heraldry that can be completely customized. It's definitely something that deserves to be noticed, promoted, and supported! It could also come in handy for a number of RPG scenarios in pseudo-medieval settings...

Paper Empires Alpha Release!

Download From Here
Licensed under the Open Gaming License

Well, folks, it's here! I've finally gotten together the Alpha of Dangerous Tides, the initial setting for Paper Empires. You'll notice that it went through some changes since the other posts I've made about it.

Late Again??

Oops. Well, folk, I've been a tad busy, getting ready to move back to college, visiting with an old friend, that sort of stuff. So, I'll keep things brief by offering a little something for all of you to peruse. I'll be running a campaign next semester, and I've got a little page up about it.

Obsidian Portal for Spark of Fae

There's not a whole lot there (Races and info on the power sources is just about all that I've got viewable to all so far), because I'm working on a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff, which will all be made visible shortly enough. But yes, you may want to have a peruse. I'm aiming to make a fun setting that's a good deal simpler than the standard cosmology and such.

Also, keep an eye open as I begin the campaign and give session recaps...

On the Naming of Monsters and Critters

An Enlightening Blog Post

Well, like no more than a few other posts, this (somewhat late) post started as an inspiration from another blog post. It caught my attention because it was amusing and incredibly true. There's a bit of a dearth of creativity when it comes to a lot of RPG critter naming. If you will, it's a trope gone wrong. Too much of a good thing. Unfortunately, it's all too common. Even I myself find that it's a tempting option.

I Dinnae Kenning!
Back in the day, names such as "Shadowfell" and "Bloodspire" were known by a term called "kenning", sort of. A kenning was a metaphorical phrase which combined two words in order to convey a meaning that went beyond both. A whale could be a "sea-lord", a flower could be a "field-maid", and a sword might be a "blood-spike". All that fantasy naming did was take out the dash...and become a little less poetic and inventive.

A huge part of what made kennings work, besides their uniqueness, was an understanding of poetry, and also of that thing which they were attempting to convey. A kenning required clever thought, a use of words in a very out-of-the-box way. Kennings can still be used for fantasy names, but try and inject some uniqueness into them. A battleaxe that enrages the user, drawing on a primal power to strengthen them? Instead of calling it The Bloodaxe, what about naming it Heartclouder? It puts a new cast on the weapon, beyond the obvious.

My Kingdom for a Name!
The other approach to finding a good name is a lot more involved, and it takes far more research. It's to make a name whole-cloth, or at least from existing inspirations. There is no set formula for this, only that you need to do lots of research. Know your culture, and know the language associated with that culture. Also know how word-sounds change and can be changed. Then, improvise from there.

Let's take a sample. Say we're making a Fae creature, it lives as an attachment to a person's shadow, feeding off of them and swallowing their sounds, causing them to be incredibly stealthy. Looking up in a Gaelic dictionary which I found online, I see that "scáth" translates to "shadow", also "dread" and "protection". With some linguistic translator, "scáth" changes to "skaeth", and you have some additional flavor to add to the creature: fear and guarding. The Skaeth is a Fae creature that lives in shadows, granting its living host protection, in exchange for feeding him with his very essence. The presence of the Skaeth, however, causes others to dread and feel repulsed by the host. (Don't forget to Google any names you come up with)

My Personal Picks
There's always those creature names which I do approve of. Here's a small handful, and the reasons why I like them...

Spriggan: My sole experience with these guys was the 4th Edition versions, little dudes that punt people around. They popped into an encounter, somewhat randomly, and I thought it was hilarious, particularly when our huge warforged barbarian got magically punted into hazardous terrain. After the encounter, I found out their name, and I thought it fit perfectly.

Shadar-Kai: Though technically they're a race, the name of the shadar-kai is a good mix. "Shadar" suggests, sound-wise, an affinity with shadow and shade and darkness, which provides an iconic view of the race. The "-kai" on the end...that adds an exotic sort of flair, a foreignness to the name. And the Shadar-Kai, being outsiders, are definitely exotic.

Eladrin: I'll admit, this one comes from my inner Tolkien geek. Whether the naming was intentional or not in this regard, I couldn't help but notice the linguistic morphing of "Eldar", Tolkien's term referring to the elves. That, I thought it was pretty cool.

So, then, blogreaders, go forth and fantasythink about those fancynames for coolcritters!