12 May 2010
Today’s Tabbloid
PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
ROGUE FEED
[SS&S;] A useful tool
MAY 11, 2010 08:54P.M.
Click for a larger versionJames is going through the manuscript one
more time, and then the two of us will talk through a few problem areas
we’ve held off addressing, and then Shadow, Sword & Spell is done.
How’s that for an opening?
Anyway, work has gone a little slower than we thought, but we are on
target and things are humming. Shadow, Sword & Spell has been
worked on for so long, that we’ve reached the point where we think it will
never be done.
One of the things that is done, is the character sheet for the game. You
can see it over there on the right. The sheet is something James and I use
to not spend a lot of time on. Why? We never saw the need.
We come of the school of thought that a blank sheet of paper, and your
own handwriting serves the purpose of a character sheet. Gladly this
thought changed quickly, and we’ve spent a lot of time rethinking what a
good character sheet needs. We are also fortunate that we have a good
graphic artist (Colin Conn) working with us, who takes the time to tailor
make each sheet to fit the game.
Though our games are not rules heavy, and the sheets are very straight
forward, each game has a look that we try to maintian. The look of the
game is important. When you think of Colonial Gothic, the word cuts
and period art on creme paper fits the period, where as with Thousand
Suns a more modern look was called for (wait till you see the redesign
1
format Adam Jury is working on). With Shadow, Sword & Spell I
had a much more distinct look in mind, and it is one that James shares
as well.
The look?
A homage to 1930s Art Deco.
Yeah, not something you’d equate to pulp fantasy. Why this look and
feel? A lot of the writers and stories which influenced the design of the
game were published during this period. We wanted something that
looked a little older, but did not ape the style of the pulps. Plus, the style,
does not get in the way.
ROGUE FEED
Traveller on Minis
MAY 11, 2010 04:57P.M.
Book 1 of the 1977 edition of Traveller simply lists under “Optional
Materials” for the game “Miniature Figures (persons, beasts, aliens and
spaceships).” The only other explicit reference to miniatures I could find
in Book 1 — please correct me if I’m mistaken — is in the Personal
Combat chapter, where it’s noted that
Because the effects of range are so important, and because
the ranges between specific characters can vary greatly, it is
suggested that the complex combats be mapped out on a line
grid (as shown in the diagram). Ordinary lined paper serves
this purpose quite well. The grid consists of broad bands in
which the characters are placed (use cardboard markers or
cast metal miniatures to represent the characters).
As you can see, miniatures are reduced to the role of mere markers on a
range grid rather than anything more elaborate.
Book 2 is a different matter altogether. The chapter devoted to Starship
Combat begins thusly:
When starships encounter in space, they may be forced to do
battle as a result of desire or of circumstance. In such
situations, starship battles may be resolved using miniature
spaceship combat in accordance with the following rules.
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
The implication here is that, unlike personal combat, which is natively
much more abstract, starship combat is inherently a miniatures-based
affair. This is supported further when, while describing the “Basic
Parameters” of such combats, the chapter discusses “Space” and “Units:”
2. Space: A playing surface is required, representing space as
a two dimensional surface at a scale of 1:63360000, or, in
more familiar terms, one inch equals one thousand miles.
The term inches and thousands of miles are used
interchangeably in these rules, and refer to distance.
Planetary templates may be made as discs on this scale also.
...
4. Units: Starships and space vehicles are individually
represented by spacecraft miniatures, or (if necessary) by
counters or markers. Because spacecraft miniatures are
almost certainly oversize when compared to the scale in use,
each such craft should be marked with a spot to designate the
exact true nature of the ships in play.
Throughout Book 2, the term “miniatures combat” is repeatedly used as
a synonym for “starship combat,” suggesting that, as original conceived,
starship combat was in fact a kind of “sub-game” within Traveller and a
miniatures-focused one at that.
ROGUE FEED
Chaosium on Minis
MAY 11, 2010 12:09P.M.
My 1980 printing of Basic Role-Playing (which is 16 pages long) includes
the following section, entitled “Figures and Focus:”
Basic Role-Playing can be played as a strictly verbal game, as
you can see from the example about the farmer’s child
coming to the big city. But many games go farther than this,
and play with miniature figures and a battleboard.
Focus is always useful, for all the players can then weave their
imaginations into the framework. For instance, setting up a
marching order for a party of Adventurers to travel overland
shows which characters will be in a position to speak to each;
this may be significant if a character must choose one person
out of many to aid.
Aiding rules interpretations is an excellent reason for using
figures. When the figures are on the table, it is possible to see
that your friends are blocking the field of fire your bow might
have, or it will show which characters are first assailed by
giant wasps striking from the flank, or how long it will take
for one character to aid another. With figures, measurement
provides answers to “My guy was supposed to be here,” and
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12 May 2010
“Where is the elephant?”
Even a few props will provide drama. A large ruin can be
constructed with childrens’ plastic construction blocks. A bit
of scrounging unearths railroad props, cake decorations,
weird things from hardware bins, and so on. Styrofoam
packaging can be carved to different shapes. A few HO trees,
some toy fences, and a large rock will turn an otherwise
lifeless melee setting into intriguing opportunities for
deployment and use of special skills.
Figures are commonly 1” high led miniatures. These may be
purchased at many game and hobby stores or ordered
through the mail. Some manufacturers have published
attractive cardboard figures, and many people make good use
of the cheaper and more readily available plastic toy figures.
Preferences and pocketbooks have a large influence on what
is used. Remember that no one is likely to have every varied
monster or person type called for in a game, and that it is
common to substitute something. In any case, figures are
recommended.
With some variations to the quoted text, this section has appeared in
every edition of Call of Cthulhu since 1981, including the current edition
for sale from Chaosium.
The second edition of RuneQuest, meanwhile, includes a very brief
discussion of minis under the heading “Other Playing Aids” and says
simply:
TIN/LEAD OR PLASTIC FIGURINES (These are optional,
but give the play some focus and help settle arguments over
who was where. We recommend 25 mm miniatures as the
best all around size.)
Section 1.4.3 of Stormbringer is entitled “Use of Miniatures” and says
this:
There are an enormous number of fantasy miniatures (small
figures cast from lead) available in the game and hobby
stores. Many FRP players choose to paint one or more
miniatures to represent their characters, and to use these
figures to get a picture of where the characters are in
relationship to each other. Some GMs are so prepared that
they have miniatures of the monsters ready for the combats.
Use of miniatures adds color and an added degree of realism
to the game, but requires quite an additional investment in
time and money by the player. Whether you use miniatures
or not is your choice (Ken St. Andre doesn’t; Steve Perrin
does.). It is likely that a line of Stormbringer miniatures will
appear sooner or later.
Ringworld follows RuneQuest in having only a small section devoted to
minis under the title of “Play Aids.”
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
Metal figures are frequently used to represent explorers and
other characters. If you lack metal figures, the box includes a
sheet of paper explorers in various poses.
This is interesting, because, once upon a time, most Chaosium boxed
games included a sheet or two of paper cut-out “minis,” with additional
ones being included in referee’s screens and other products. The first
edition of Call of Cthulhu certainly did, as did the first edition of
Stormbringer. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen such things for RQ but I
could simply have overlooked them. Regardless, I think it’s intriguing to
note that Chaosium’s RPGs throughout the 70s and 80s were all
extremely friendly to the use of miniatures, including games like Call of
Cthulhu, which isn’t a RPG one normally thinks of as having much
connection to the wargaming roots of the hobby (though, to be fair, there
have always been CoC minis available for the game — I even have
some).
ROGUE FEED
When Players Attack
MAY 11, 2010 10:24A.M.
I think by now it’s pretty well established that, in a sandbox-style
campaign, referees need to be prepared for players wandering off to do
something or go somewhere you hadn’t expected. Judicious use of
random tables, swiping ideas from pre-made modules, and good old
fashioned quick thinking all help in this regard, as does jotting down
germs of ideas to which you can turn for inspiration all help in this
regard. I’ve used all of these techniques in my Dwimmermount campaign
and there are many others too, depending on how much preparation the
referee is prepared to put into his campaign. (I veer toward a very low-
prep style, so nearly everything my players do unexpectedly is met with
an extemporaneous response rather than something I’d thought deeply
about beforehand, though there are exceptions)
A question I don’t often see discussed, though, is how to deal with
players who show complete disinterest in what you’ve placed before
them. Even diligent, well-prepared sandbox referees (i.e. not me) have
limits to how many lairs, encounters, clues, rumors, treasure maps, and
hooks they can place before the players. After a certain point, a referee is
being reasonable to expect that at least one of the things he’s created will
generate some interest in his players and thus provide a segue to
adventure.
I suppose I’ve been lucky in that I’ve never encountered such
intransigence from my players, but I have observed it in action several
times. In most cases, the players are not so much disinterested in the
obvious options placed before them but rather unhappy that the options
placed before them all seem to take them to the same place. In my
experience, players dig in their heels when it looks like the all their
choices are false ones intended to lead them back toward something the
referee really wants them to do see or do. I recall one memorable failed
campaign where the characters became so unhappy with an NPC whose
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12 May 2010
answers were so clearly designed to get them to take up a course of
action they didn’t like that they trapped him, along with many other
innocent bystanders, in an inn and burned the place down. So great was
the players’ unhappiness that even the player of the paladin looked the
other way while his comrades committed mass murder.
In the Dwimmermount campaign, there was only one thing I planned
extensively beforehand and that was the mystery behind the cult of
Turms Termax. In planning the game, I’d hit upon an idea I really like
and thought would make a great MacGuffin, something that would
encourage the players, through their characters, to delve more deeply
into both the dungeon and the world of which it’s a part. To my pleasure,
it’s largely worked and, while I continue to add and subtract elements
from my original idea in response to events in our sessions, the core idea
has remained the same.
Now, if the players had not responded as I’d hoped they might, what
would I have done? I can’t say for sure, because, as I’ve said, I’ve never
experienced a case where the players wholly rejected what I set before
them. I’d like to think, though, that I’d either have reworked my idea so
that it’d have become more attractive to the players (this is a practice I’ve
used before) or that, if they really demonstrated an utter disregard for
the mystery of Turms Termax, I’d have dropped it and found something
else to engage their interest.
The willingness to drop elements from a campaign (or at least diminish
their importance) is, I think, an important trait in running a successful
old school sandbox campaign. No matter how good I think my ideas are,
it’s ultimately the opinions of my players that matter most. If they’re not
interested, there’s little to be gained — and much to be lost — by forcing
something on them. I try to remember that ideas are cheap, but player
interest is often priceless. For some, it can be a hard lesson to learn, but,
once understood, it more than repays the time and effort spent acquiring
it.
ROGUE FEED
A Personal Favorite
MAY 11, 2010 07:22A.M.
I’m sure everyone has a favorite Frank Frazetta painting, the vast
majority of which I’ll wager depict Conan. I’ll be honest and admit that
I’m actually not a huge fan of Frazetta’s Conan pieces, which is why my
personal favorite is one I’ve posted here before — his A Princess of Mars.
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 12 May 2010

I’d make a very poor art critic, so I can’t go on at length about the
technical brilliance of this illustration and why it makes it worthy of
approbation. I can only say that I like this painting, which nicely
captures the essence of Burroughs’s characters and stories in a way that
appeals to me. In the same way that a lot of people think of Frazetta’s
Conan when they imagine the Cimmerian, I think of Frazetta’s John
Carter and Dejah Thoris when I think of these characters. No other
illustration transports me to my childhood adventures on Barsoom the
way this one does and that’s my sole criterion for my appreciation of it.