Game: Show me your characters

So, here's a game I decided to suggest on a forum...and then I asked myself, why would I confine it just to a forum?

Find a character generator online (preferably a lifepath generator, but hey, who am I to judge your system preferences)?

Roll up one or more characters.

Write a short story including one or more of them.

Post it on your blog (and link here in the comments) and/or in the thread on that forum.

Ready?

Here's who I rolled (I'm sure nobody's surprised I used Traveller - I used two generators, however, including a generator for MegaTraveller and a CT generator). And here's the story.

"What follows are a series of confidential-level dispatches, published by the Freedom Of Meaningless Information Law.

By: XX [REDACTED] dTon Imperial Navy craft "Starhawk", class [REDACTED], Imperial Year [REDACTED]

"Following previous instructions, we visited the planet [REDACTED] named "New Callisto", previous information showing that Merchant 3rd Officer can be found there after the crash of her ship, assumed to be the only survivor. It is unknown what was her situation since the crash.

Survey from orbit showed TL was inconsistent: TL 2 for personal combat, TL 6 for communication, some transportation equipment and medicine showed traces of TL 10+!

Following the procedure for extraction, Captain Ivan Morris assigned to the retreival operation Scout Trisha Abe 8B79A4 and her superior Scout Darpana Chen E59647, leader of the operation, under the designated protection of Marine Diego Tamm 846973. Operation beginning."

Report by Scout Trisha Abe to Navy Captain Ivan Morris, commander-in-chief of XX [REDACTED] dTon Imperial Navy craft "Starhawk", class [REDACTED], Imperial Year [REDACTED-circa 60 hours later]

"After finding Merchant 3rd Officer Quinn in her quarters, she refused outright to be saved, stating she prefers the primitive society she was found in, quote, "I prefer to be free and honest here and live with a sword in hand, than to coddle every day Imperial aristocrats, paying them bribes to not interfere with what is good for their subjects", unnquote. Scout Trisha Abe noticed that the jewellery observed on the body and head of Merchant 3rd Officer Quinn and the presence of the sword on her hip were consistent with high status among the locals and attempted to communicate the significance of said fact to Scout Darpana Chen. Scout Darpana Chen refused to listen and stated, quote, "I'm not letting you among these savages, you must need personality reassignment, girl", unquote, after which she proceeded to grab Merchant 3rd Officer and use her significant strength advantage as vice-champion of the Scout Corps in powerlifting to drag her along.

Merchant 3rd Officer was offering only passive resistence until a local came to investigate the noise. Upon seeing the grappling between Merchant 3rd officer and Scout Chen, he acted threateningly, and tried to pull a blade hanging on his hip while issuing some kind of challenge. Following procedure, Marine Diego Tamm shot him in the head, which earned him a commendation for good shooting from Scout Chen, leader of the mission.

Upon seeing that, Merchant 3rd Officer Quinn pulled her own sword and proceeded to inflict life-threatening thigh wound on Scout Chen, which almost fell. Marine Tamm tried to shoot her, but his aim was obstructed by the wounded body of Scout Chen. Marine 3rd Officer Quinn then proceeded to disarm him from his rifle, using her sword. Upon him trying to break distance and grasping for his gun, Marine 3rd Officer Quinn followed him and stabbed him in the neck, killing him instantly.

During this time, Scout Abe was unable to put her gun to use due to the proximity in which the bodies were found, and due to being overwhelmed by surprise at the extraction subject assaulting the extraction team.

Upon seeing the wounds of Scout Chen and Marine Tamm, Scout Abe decided to negotiate instead of trying to disable Merchant 3rd Officer Quinn. Merchant 3rd Officer acquisced to the terms of her offer - to call it all a misunderstanding with lethal weapons and that Scout Abe would deliver medical help to all the wounded - but insisted that the local should be healed first.

Scout Abe was only able to pronounce the man dead, but during this time Scout Chen had expired, too, due to bloodloss.

It must be noted that Scout Abe has no special training for close-quarters battle and was, at this time, in legitimate fear for her life. Her participation in the expedition was predicated on her ability to pilot schuttles, which were similar enough to aircraft the locals were using.

Upon seeing the losses inflicted by the sword of Merchant 3rd Officer Quinn, Scout Abe decided to disregard protocol and to retract to the XX [REDACTED] dTon Imperial Navy craft "Starhawk", class [REDACTED] in order to present her report to Captain Ivan Morris.

Captain Ivan Morris accepted the report and decided to abstain from a court martial over Scout Abe. He did, however, officially recommend to the Scout Service to not renew her contract."

Decisions of the council of officers of XX [REDACTED] dTon Imperial Navy craft "Starhawk", class [REDACTED] on the possible forceful extraction and/or punishment of Merchant 3rd officer Sophia Quinn and/or punishment of the locals of [REDACTED], a.k.a. "New Callisto".

"Following the report of Scout Trisha Abe, the following decisions were taken:

1. Merchant 3rd Officer Sophia Quinn is considered to have voluntarily, albeit implicitly, refused to renew her contract with the Merchant Service. Her actions were considered indication enough that no confirmation was required.

2. Merchant 3rd Officer Quinn's insurance policy, requiring that upon her involvement in a crash, "every possible effort" should be made to recover either her person, or her body, is to be considered fulfilled successfully.

3. No other actions on retrieving and/or punishing Merchant 3rd officer Quinn are to be taken. It was decided that such actions are neither warranted nor practical against the locals, either, given that the locals were probably unaware of Merchant 3rd Officer Quinn's insurance and might have considered the extraction attempt an attempted kidnapping.

4. The Council makes formal Captain Morris's recommendation to the Scout Service to not renew Scout Trisha Abe's employment for another term of service."

Scout Service, HR department. Regarding: The recommendation made by the Council of Officers of XX [REDACTED] dTon Imperial Navy craft "Starhawk", class [REDACTED] concerning the employment of Scout Trisha Abe.

"We have received your recommendation. Regretfully, we must regretfully inform you that it was not sent for consideration to the Head of the Department, because Scout Trisha Abe didn't apply for renewing her contract for another term. After serving her second term, on Imperial Year [REDACTED] she took her retirement benefits and booked High passage on Free Trader "Space Maiden", requiring an unusual point of delivery: planet [REDACTED] named "New Callisto". As the planet doesn't have a Class A-D Starport, standard rules regarding former members of the Scout Corps in unaccessible locations apply.

Please accept our considerations!"

Edited for publication: Assistant Manager Ema Naqamurra"

Merchant 3rd Officer Sophia Quinn 863676 Age 26 2 terms Cr41,000 Skills: Bribery-1, Steward-1, Sword-1Service History: Attempted to enlist in Merchants. Enlistment accepted. Commissioned during first term of service as 4th Officer. Promoted to 3rd Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Chose not to reenlist after second term.

Scout Trisha Abe 8B79A4 Age 26 2 terms Cr70,000 Skills: Air/Raft-1, Jack-o-T-2, Mechanical-1, Pilot-1

Service History: Attempted to enlist in Scouts. Enlistment accepted. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Chose not to reenlist after second term.

Assistant Manager Ema Naqamurra

UPP:7BD697

HomeWorld:

StarPort=B, Size=Small, Atmos=Thin, Hydro=Dry

Population=Med, Law=Moderate, Tech=Early Stellar

Age:

34

Terms:

4

Career:

Bureaucrat

Rank:

Asst. Manager (Rank 3)

Skills:

Handgun-3, Admin-2, Brawling-1, Carousing-1, Grav Vehicle-1, Instruction-1, Liaison-1, Neural Weapons-1, Computer-0, Wheeled Vehicle-0

Cash:

80000 Cr

Pension:

0 Cr/Year

Skills/Experience:

11 / 15

Benefits:

Low Passage, Middle Passage, High Passage

hide detailed history

Rolled UPP = 7BC687

homeworld skill: Computer-0

homeworld skill: Wheeled Vehicle-0

Spoiler: NPCs

† Scout Darpana Chen E59647 Age 38 5 terms Service History: Attempted to enlist in Scouts. Enlistment accepted. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fifth term. Death in service.

† Marine Diego Tamm 846973 Age 22 1 term Service History: Attempted to enlist in Marines. Enlistment accepted. Death in service.

OK, it's final! "Schools" are more misleading than useful.

I was just wondering what games I like, whether I prefer old school or new school, or something in-between.
After some deliberation, I was surprised at the number of OSR and old school games that are among my favourites.
Scarlet Heroes and DCC take the lead. Then we follow, probably, with Spears of the Dawn, ACKS, Epées et Sorcellerie, Spellcraft and Swordplay, Backswords and Bucklers, Stars Without Numbers, and arguably even Crimson Blades and Lamentations of the Flame Princess should be there.
If we include old-school games in general, we add Grunts (Fantasy Fucking Vietnam minus the fantasy part) and 43 AD/Warband/Zenobia right next to Scarlet Heroes. And arguably any edition of Traveller, BRP, Flashing Blades and Dogtown should be right there as well. And Dragon Warriors, which I happen to like, even if the system could be improved.

And then we go forFates Worse Than Death and Hoodoo Blues, which are old-school in a good way. And my wife is younger than Pendragon, so the game definitely counts as old-school to me, as far as games go!

Okay, maybe I'm an old-school guy, reading the above...
Except I love WotG and LotW, Sorcerer, Apocalypse World, Monsterhearts, Gods of Gondwane, TBZ, Houses of the Blooded, Enemy Gods, Fate and Shahida just as much, all of them being New School par excellence!
But I also like GURPS, RQ6, Savage Worlds, Artesia, Volant, TRoS, Seeker and Blue Planet, which are some kind of a middle-school. And Celestial Warriors, which is new-school in a different way. And post-GMC nWoD, which is also "middle school" in its own way...

In theory, I'm either the happy guy that can play everything (hah! Good luck getting me to play PF, just to name the example I turn down most often)...
...or we can conclude the distinction between "schools" to be absolute BS. In theory, my tastes should clash with at least some of these games, just on virtue of liking their polar opposites!
In practice, I like each of them for what they do well.
So, this is my conclusion for today. Find a game that does well whatever it does. Play it in a way that would make it shine. Laugh heartily at the idea that games come in "generations". Seriously, there is no difference, except in what was modern at the time!

Surprising myself, or just buying what I haven't got yet?

Okay, I just made an unexpected observation about myself.
Most of my latest purchases have been either OSR games (DCC, Scarlet Heroes) or narrativist games (Fate-based, but also High Valour and Beast Hunter. And Circle of Hands, if that counts). And I'm considering more OSR games, mainly the Red Tide setting and ACKS (and if Kiero comes to develop his historical setting for ACKS, this one as well).
If it wasn't for Esteren's KS, Tékumel's KS and Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane, I wouldn't have purchased a proper* simulationist game for over a month!

*Proper here means "meant to be simulationist". I find many so-called story-games to have better simulation than some so-called sim games. But they're not meant as such, and that's another topic.

Seems like I'll be playing narrative games for a while...

I just realised that when reviewing the list of games our group is planning to run...
Nights of the Crusades is the closest we're planning to get to a simulationist game. Most of the others are explicitly story-games. FATE Core/Tianxia and Kausao, Cat, Blood&Honor (maybe, and re-skinned if we do), Sorcerer.
Nothing weird, it just struck me as something I didn't expect.


End of tonight's update.

Reading Sorcerer RPG: does it work as a manual for simulationist GMs?

I purchased recently Sorcerer RPG by +Ron Edwards from Adept press. It was in a Bundle of Holding, or I might not have bothered.
Then I started reading and went "wow" (not as in the notorious MMORPG - it was more of "wow, that's what I'm trying to tell my friends - the ones I'm teaching GMing"). Because, well, that's what I call Simulationist play. As in, "pretend to be the character to the point that you only bother with what the character is thinking - no story arcs, no pre-planned plots, no nothing".
And that's almost word-for-word what +Ron Edwards is advising you to do as part of his "Narrativist" game. Even more, that's THE game for narrativist players - AFAICT, storygames started with it!
Still, so far, I only disagree with one sentence in his advice. "Don't play the setting". Well, no, you can't do that if you need to play the NPCs...because the setting is an NPC, too (just like any other organisation)! But that's ONE sentence.
I usually disagree with half the GMing chapter in "traditional" games. Seriously, guys... ONE sentence? That might as well be written by me (no, I'm NOT claiming credit-I discovered my current GMing style long after Sorcerer has been written. I just haven't read it, for various reasons that are kinda besides the point).
And then I remembered that the OSR advice has similar points, where I'm nodding my head in agreement.
The only other games where I agree with the GMing chapter to such an extent? Atomic Highway, Fates Worse Than Death, Crimson Exodus/Fantasy Dice RPG, Legends of the Wulin, Apocalypse World/Monsterhearts. Runequest 6 also comes close. But that's not even 10% of the games I own...
Still, all of these games are from wildly differing "schools". Seems like good GMing is good GMing, no matter who's doing it. (Well, if it's "open-ended" GMing, at least. I've run games that were going against this, and the players were still happy. So it might be called "good" GMing - although I'd consider my current style to be far superior both in terms of simulation and in terms of story - but it would be wildly different).
Just food for thought.

And in the meantime, I purchased the Sorcerer supplements, and I'm looking into other games by the same author, too. He's got a KS campaign for his "S/Lay w/ Me" game (which I discovered the day after buying the PDF). Of course, I'm now a backer.
The only other KS I'm currently backing is the one by +Levi Kornelsen for his zombie apocalypse game. But that's another story and should be told in another blog post.