Far Away Land Tome of Awesome Arrives

I like the size of this tome. I've read most of the rules and have enjoyed them. 

I look forward to showing the boys to see what they think.

Fun times

Far Away Land - Son's Opinion

I asked my 13 year old what he thought of our first Far Away Land adventure and he said, "Ok."

From faruniverse.com

"I liked the Star Wars we did. There was more stuff going on and we went from place to place to place. There was talking and action."

Nice evaluation. And more on how I ran it and not the game mechanics. In yesterday's post I'd forgotten that I'd run a one off session of the beginner box set adventure with him...and his little brother helping out. I just ran it as written. I need to get back to that here. Don't be so creative sometimes.

Isle of the Rat Wizard Far Away Land RPG AAR 1

1st Session Notes 4-19-15

Nimiel a bow-hunter and Quickshadow a reluctant ninja are ship wrecked on an island. They’ve told the islanders they were on their way to North ‘Merica. (We need to work on this.) They are taken in by the citizens of the only town on the island. The town is Hallo.

Marilanne Jonas Anne Smith, bearded female town nurse, is taking care of them when they wake up two days later. My son draws her out quickly and appears in the drawing to be about 10-12’ tall. I ran with it. She’s supposed to be human though.

Bor is the leader of the village and is a loud gregarious fellow. He’s immediately thrown for a loop when Nimiel accuses him of collaborating with the Rat King. This throws Bor into a fit and outrage and he storms out of the room where he’d been visiting the recovering young heroes.

Marilanne leaves the room as well and immediately Quickshadow wants to steal something. But before they can do it, Marilanne comes back into the room. Bor returns, having calmed down. However, Nimiel reveals that he accused Bor because he’d had dreams on the boat of Bor and the Rat King talking and collaborating. Nimiel notices some poison and truth serum and asks if he can have some. He also asks for his weapons.

Needless to say, Bor starts to get worked up a bit. Quickshadow, seeing that this line of conversation wasn’t going to help them, talks Bor down and says that they’ll fight for them. Bor makes them an offer. Capture a ratling, bring it back and question it on the best way to make it to the Rat King and this will prove to Bor that the heroes are not there to threaten him.

Nimiel and Quickshadow head out that night to capture a ratling. As they’re walking they hear some rustling and Quickshadow dashes off into the trees to flank what they believe to be a ratling. Nimiel stays on the trail, almost as bait, and prepares his bow by tying a rope on the end. His goal, as the ratling nears, shoot the arrow, bounce it off a tree on one side of the ratling sending it across the ratling’s path to trip it.

Using a target number of 5, he rolls a 7. In addition, as he shoots the ratling is distracted because he smells something in Quickshadow’s direction. Nimiel hits a tree, and another and starts to wrap the ratling in a maze of rope. Quickshadow jumps into action and successfully ties and binds the rattling up.

As the 60 minute session ends they are heading off to the village with the ratling prisoner.

I won’t write this detailed of session reports in the future, I’m just trying to remember all that happened. And to think of improvements for next time.

This is Far Away Land a new RPG I discovered and dig because the artwork is cool, the creator seems to have some brainwaves that I understand, the game is pretty simple (just my speed), and the world is wacky. I'm mixed on how wacky it is, because there are also consequences, characters can die and heavy things can happen.

Pacing: Need to work on this a bit. I’m slow as i learn the rules and as they throw loops for me, but I felt like it drug on a bit.

I’ve only played 2 year long campaigns plus a couple of one offs. Only GMed my boys a couple of times for quick sessions. They neither one has any experience with role playing, except for the couple of times with me. So, we’re all a little tight with it. The tightness comes from me because I’m trying to play with the rules and make it fun and fair for them.

Because we’re all new to this, i need to step back and give them some meta advice occasionally. For example, give them some ideas on what to do in a situation. They’ll talk through things and I’m not sure if they’re talking as their character or as players. I just want to make sure everyone is clear on what is happening and what they’re deciding to do. I may have this nurse be a guide for them. 

More FAL factoids:

Webisodes on Miribel the human

FNA Podcast

Far Away Land Google+ page

Save Game - Part 1

GMed part of a Fate Core Game with my son - he's playing Steve and he and Flappy Bird are supposed to find out who kidnapped the Lemon Head Pixons.

They survived,barely a gaping rift being torn into the ground.

On approaching Good's Mile Hospital Flappy Bird intimidated the Gurd with some impressive pipe flying/avoidance skills.

Once entering the hospital a very demanding office lady demanded they fill out insurance forms to see DR Chompa. They left and came back in disguised as a sick pixon. They barely made it.

Their last encounter with the Plague Clouds ended by destroying them and getting a coin (Fate Point).

So many bad rolls those "-" sides came up a bunch.

Game Master Virgin Pt 2

I posted a couple days ago about attempting a FAE game.

First, I can't believe how difficult it is to get a few minutes with both boys at the same time in order to try this out. Finally I found a moment during Labor Day when we took a trip to our "local" Trader Joes (30 minute drive). My wife drove and I sat in the back with one of the boys and the other in the front.

Eleven yr old Connor (my youngest) had decided that he wanted to create his own character. I had shared with him a few days earlier the FAE Firefly characters (a hack that I don't have the link for at the moment). He liked them but immediately wanted to create his own because this is what he likes to do in many things. So he came up with a 325 year old shapeshifter. Does it necessarily fit the fiction as I understand it in Bulldogs...but guess what, it's a sandbox, let's go for it.

Interesting side note. I was showing him aspects and basically told him simply that it was a description of the character's personality/history/outlook. Before saying anything else, he said, "They could be either good or bad for the character." Blam - yes, that is in fact one of the most important parts of aspects. Double-edged. Very cool that he could see that without me saying any more than that.

I started telling the story and Aaron (13 year old) piqued up and asked if he could participate. I handed him the sheets and he chose Malcolm Reynolds.

The highlights:

• I put my 13 yr old in an awkward position to have Mal flirt and talk with a woman of the town/planet Constance to get information. He's about to be threatened from the town bully because he's talking "his woman."
• Connor, made a fun tie-in with his character's past and a "scary" sector of space the crew needed to deliver the goods. This could help add some depth to the plot.
• My wife even piped in. She saw the boys making some unusual decisions and we all said she had to be a character to play. We assigned her Zoe Washborne. She is not a role player and has little to no interest in learning. Though, using characters and a genre familiar to her  certainly helped the cause. I like her participating because she brings some logic to the equation and it was fun seeing her and the boys work together to make something happen.
• I need to compel them and look at their aspects.
• I need to remember how a video game involves them and what elements get them excited. For example Connor plays Portal, Shadow, Minecraft. I need to ask him what he does in those games to figure out what to do next.
• Come to the next session with a quick recap (standard I know) remembering to: 
• Tell them the main objective, delivering the shipment to the myth Iron Prophet.
• I felt awkward and overall "clunky" telling the story and relaying what was happening.  A little self-conscious.

Now to find a few minutes to continue the adventure. They ended with a group of thugs/bullies approaching them.

Game Master Virgin Pt 1

I'm currently going through, as a player, my 3rd campaign. I've had 2 Pathfinder and 1 D&D. In addition, I've played in a couple of Cthulu one shots. As I've played, I am coming to the realization that I enjoy the roleplaying part of RPGing more than the combat part.  In addition, I'm not fan at all of planning characters and leveling. No. Fan. At. All. In fact, one of the other players is levelling my character for me. Thank you Marshall.

So I started looking around for a simpler RPG to do some one shots or small adventures with my boys. My boys who have no experience with RPGing. Through much reading and searching I ran across Evil Hat and their remodeling of FATE. More precisely, I found their very inexpensive (in fact free) entry level version of FATE called FAE or Fate Accelerated Edition.

Go to DriveThruRPG to get the Pay What You Want version of FAE.

FAE and FATE is fairly easy and also made to make adventures on the fly. There are a few hacks/modifications of other RPG worlds. However, there are very few pre-written adventures out there for FAE. And every beginning GM advice says to run a simple pre-written adventure. My biggest fear of GMing - story. This is something I struggle with. So I've searched and searched for short adventures that I could either adapt or play straight.

In my search, I discovered Bulldogs an older edition FATE space adventure (I think of Firefly) RPG. Fortunately, they've created a series of short adventures for free on DriveThruRPG. Go check em out. Because they're written for FATE, it translates easily to FAE.

In addition, I found someone's FAE character sheets of a few of the Firefly characters that I thought I would let my kids play so they wouldn't have to worry about character creation. My 13yr old took Malcolm Reynolds. My 11 year old couldn't resist and had to create his own character. He's Seth Matheson a 325 year shape-shifter escapee from The Experiment (don't ask because I don't know yet).

I decided to start with the Bulldogs adventure Ghost Pirates of the Bandeth Sector. The crew has picked up a cargo of crates that are addressed to The Iron Prophet, who turns out to be a myth. So how will the crew handle their first adventure delivering product to a myth?

I'll continue with how the first session went in the next post.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/114902/Fate-Accelerated-Edition?term=Fate+accel

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/97044/Ghost-Pirates-of-the-Bandeth-Sector-A-Bulldogs-Adventure-Scenario

Pathfinder Accelerated

Yes, I've been looking at running a FATE or FAE game with my boys when I ran into this website that has converted Pathfinder adventures into FATE. The one thing I'm struggling with FATE, the lack of pre-written adventures. I'm a newb and need a little help.

http://www.killershrike.com/Fate/Fae/Pathfinder/Menu.aspx

Handling Operation Overlord in Fate by Ryan Macklin

If I ever get into Fate, handling WWII adventures could be fun. Maybe Sgt Rock Style. Or Combat!

http://ryanmacklin.com/2014/06/handling-overlord-fate/

Holey Spark in my Fate Core

Working on a possible FAE (Fate Accelerated) game with my boys. So, on a car ride my 11 yr old and and I used "A Spark In Fate Core" (can't add links to this - google it) to start coming up with a world.

I've never GMed before and only played in a handful of pathfinder, D&D, and Cthulu games. Gotta start sometime.

There's a lot missing here. It was fun going through it though and learning what he likes about Portal and Minecraft. Samurai Jack is mine.

Media

Portal, samurai jack, minecraft

Inspirations

Portal

Puzzles in portal

Futuristic

Science

Robots

Actions

Logic of portals

Backstory

Rebellion

Samurai Jack

Aku - big baddie running the world 

Diversity of worlds (dogs that talk, Scottish dude)

There's a backstory

Sense of a journey

Art/drawing

Arc

Minecraft

Game never stops

Realistic - right size and scale

You can craft stuff by combining materials

Different modes

Build anything

There's a boss you can make

Genre and descriptor

Modern futuristic high adventures (alternate realities)

Scale

Small yet huge

Facts

Big baddie runs most of the worlds because he rebelled against the other overlords.

There are robots who do the bidding of the big baddie. They can be reprogrammed.

Why are the portals so important?

Because it is the only way to get to the other worlds?

How come the different worlds are so diverse?

Because they all provide an element (like periodic table of elements) to the makeup of the world.

Why do people not seem to mind that the big baddie is in control?

Most of the people who were left in power where swayed by the big baddie somehow. And big baddie held some of people that knew he was bad in prison.

Why is the big baddie "bad"? If all the portals are open at the same time

An evil serpent convinced him that if every portal was open at the same time he would gain the power of a thousand lords.

Title - possibilities 

A Hole in Our Life

Wholly Hole

Elements

Hole in Our Element 

Elemental Hole

Alternate Reality High Adventure

(Sub title - High Adventure in Alternate Realities)

Still to come, issues, faces and places. One thing my son wants in this story - secret government base (or lab), "I like stories that have those in them." Score for dad learning another thing about his son.

These characters probably work in this lab or are connected somehow. After thinking on this, I thought of Eureka...I'm also thinking of Stargate.

I also envision us either playing a 2-5 session miniseries or episodic adventures. For the sake if attention and completion.

It was bed time when we reached this point. This "serpent" I think is the man behind the curtain. He wants the big baddie to gather all these portals to open at the same time so that he'll get the ultimate power, not the big baddie.

I'm starting to think the big baddie believes he's working for the good of the worlds (don't they all?).

What I'm Unsettled on: how the portals open, how these "elements" keep everything working together and what the big currency is - what drives all these different realities...

Any thoughts on these ideas? Any inspirations you'd be willing to throw our way?  I need to read the FAE book again to see how this might merge into that book, 'cause this 16 page Spark book was designed with Fate Core in mind.

Pathfinder Mini Project

So it's not all RPing. I've decided to paint my own character. I mean if I'm going to play with minis I should paint my own guy, Ichiro. I bought Reaper, 03062, Darnath, Male Elf Thief. Can't see his ears so it'll do. There are some others I would like to buy but my FLGS, miniature market didn't have them so I got this guy.

Marshall, one of the other players is going to help me kit bash a long spear into his hand and take out the sword/dagger.

I also bough Reaper 60086, Ameiko Kaijitsu, one of the major NPCs in our adventure. I stumbled upon this mini and Ichiro has a crush on her so I thought I would paint her up.

Thing is, she comes like this and this size:

But could look like this (from the Reaper site, painted by Derek Shubert)

In the Pathfinder book she looks like this:

What have I gotten myself into? Marshall said, "You shouldn't look at the work of the Master Painters..." I know, blast.

Robin's Laws of Gaming

 And my score on Robin's Laws


Take it here and let me know your results I would like to see/hear them.



You Scored as Specialist
You favor a particular character type that you play in most campaigns you're involved in. Ninjas are quite popular. You want the rules to support your favorite kind of character, but otherwise, it's not a big deal. And, you want to be able to do your cool things in a game, like climbing on walls.

Specialist

83%

Tactician

75%

Storyteller

50%

Power Gamer

50%

Casual Gamer

42%

Butt-Kicker

42%

Method Actor

42%

Pathfinder - first session Goblin Attack

Ichiro survives the first session - a Goblin attack on Sandpoint.

However, my first two combat rolls:
1 a critical miss
Confirming roll - 2
Fatigued for the rest of the the day. Fortunately one of the other characters heals me of this very soon after.

2nd combat roll:
1 - critical miss
Confirming roll - 2
This time blinded for a couple of rounds.

Moving on, it was fun. The GM is trying something where each of the players get to have and set up a scene. It's like improv. I can determine a lot where the story goes. And the then the next player riffs off of that.

It's nerve wracking coming up with what I want to happen next - but is was also interesting.

The secret goal was to find the head of the Goblin attack. We did right at quitting time. Next time will probably be interrogation time.

Pathfinder Character Creation

Here was my first pass -
Pathfinder
Rise of the Runelords Pt 1

Character Creation - Ichiro (Aka The second, Aka Again, Aka Another half-baked origin story attempt) (After all is said and done I'm leaning toward Ranger then Rogue)

Contradictory personalities seem to exist in 17 year old Ichiro. On one hand a caring brother for his younger half-siblings, especially the youngest half-sister, Aiko, 4. On the other hand a reclusive boy who seems focused on bringing tension to his father’s house with lawless behaviors. With this kind of beginning, I should’ve just begun the paragraph with, “Ichiro was born on a dark and stormy night.”

Around the time he turned 13, Ichiro looked to escape the frustrations of his home. His father, Takeru had begun talk of him going back to the old country, Tian Xia, to learn the ways of (insert name of Samurai in this world) because political tensions were growing in his father’s place of birth. Ichiro was in no hurry to leave his home of Sandpoint his friends were here and as far as he could tell, the old land hadn’t been very kind to his family. As he had said in one eloquent pre-teen outburst, “If it was so great, why did you leave in the first place!” Followed by a dramatic storming out of the house.

In addition, his older brother Daichi had recently returned from his 4 year stay in the highlands at the foot of the Qiang Tan mountains learning the ways of tea farming and of the tea merchant business. Normally the return of your brother after a four year absence would be a reason for celebration. However, for Ichiro is only the return of one of his biggest adversaries. Since the day of Ichiro’s birth, Daichi blames him for their mother’s death and has never let Ichiro forget about it.

Finally, to make his 13th year even more unbearable, his oldest sister, and the eldest sibling, Kasumi was getting married and moving to the other side of the town with her new husband x, to join his family's sea merchant business. Of course this meant she would be going to sea with him sometime in the near future. Kasumi was just the opposite of the Daichi and had always cared for Ichiro. She was his sister and like the mother Ichiro lost. Their bonds were deep. He also envied her skills in the martial arts.

Below is a brief timeline of the Yamato family.

4707 - Ichiro is 17 when the story begins.
4703 - At 13 Ichiro begins running around with local gangs (I want to make them vigilante gangs. Or, challenging each other trying to break into the homes and “mansions” of the powerful to take some items of note.)
4703 - Ichiro’s half-sister, Aiko is born.
4702 - At 12 Ichiro’s father begins talk of sending Ichiro back to Tian Xia to learn the ways of the Samurai
4699 - Kenji (STC), Ichiro’s second half-brother is born.
4697 - Isamu, Ichiro’s first half-sibling, a boy, is born.
4696 - At 6 Ichiro begins taking lessons in the martial arts of ? (I’m sure there’s a name in this world.)
4695 - Takeru marries another Tian Xia immigrant, Shizuka.
4694 - Takeru opens his Tea House and Merchant business.
4693 - Yamatos arrive to Sandpoint
4693 - As the Yamatos enter Varisia a group of goblins (name which faction) partnered with horse riders raid the travelling party and take several prisoners, all of which were found dead the next morning not far from where the ambush had taken place. The Yamato twins, age 8 at the time, however were not found. To this day, their whereabouts are unknown. Needless to say, Goblins have always been a focus of rage for the family. However, the horse riders are still a mystery.
4690 - Ichiro born. Mami, Ichiro’s mother, dies during his birth. For reasons yet unclear, the Yamato family again must take the nomadic life. However, this time they must leave the land of Tian Xia and find a home elsewhere. They journey to the north and skirt in and out of the frozen Crown of the North.
4685 - The twins, Hroko (f - STC) and Jiro (m - STC)
4682 - Daichu(m) born
4680 - Kasumi(f) born
4679 - Takeru and Mai married
4678 - Takeru settles in with Tea Farmers in the highlands at the base of the Qiang Tan mountains.
4678 - Takeru flees the turmoil of his homeland. (I believe he his a Samurai in training - need to research this a bit. His clan loses in a major battle - by some kind of harsh betrayal, of course, and he is forced to flee his home in the Islands (part of the Minkai empire) of the coast of Tian Xia. Further research is required.
4664 - Mai born (Ichiro’s mom)
4661 - Takeru Yamato born (Ichiro’s dad)

I don't have the source material so I'm fudging some of the origin. But I'm trying make them more Japanese in origin.

But now, I need to focus on Ichiro and his connections to the current time, 4707.

Map below comes from a source that I will have to find later.

Pathfinder Rise of the What Am I Getting Into?

From www.paizo.com

I've only roleplayed twice. Once in a one year long campaign in DnD 4. And a one off Call of Cathullu Game. Now, a very dear and close friend that ran the DnD campaign has asked if I would join them again. There are a few reasons I didn't return to the group after the last campaign. I've worked through many of those and I really enjoy hanging with this friend.

But now it is beginning - character creation in the Adventure Path called Rise of the Runelords. Apparently the first AP created by the Paizo team 5 years ago. I'm considering recreating my character name and type from the first game - but I'm not sure. But I'm leaning heavily in this direction - Kind of like a bad hollywood remake of an origin story.

Haven't we done this before?

I'm going to give some of my character details in another post.

Question for my readers - would you be interested at all in reading something about this game as I progress along?

I'll title all of them Pathfinder xyz so you'll know it's about the RPG.

Let me know.