Presenting Tabletop RPGs to the general public - on TV

All I can say is, it was cool!

So, without further ado, here's me presenting the tabletop RPG on a Bulgarian TV. Look at the first clip on the linked page. I'm the guy whose name begins with the green and brown shirt, whose name begins with "A". That letter is the same in Cyrillic alphabet, so you should recognize it.

http://www.bitelevision.com/playgasm-na-21-dekemvri-rolevite-igri-hobi-za-dobra-kompaniya-i-uyutna-atmosfera-pogled-otvatre-na-eskejp-staya-i-koi-sa-top-3-pri-natsionalnite-otbori-vav-fifa-18/

Sorry, no translation is actually available. But that show was the first time I was sorry for not owning a deadtree edition of Traveller!

Presenting (tabletop) RPGs to the general gaming public

I was on a gaming show (called Gamegasm) today. We were invited to publish RPGs to the general gaming public.
Overall, I believe it went well. We showed some gaming books. A friend brought Pathfinder and Dark Heresy. I'd brought Eclipse Phase, Under the moons of Zoon, Low Fantasy, Crimson Blades, and Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk - as well as three out of the four Bulgarian gaming titles ever published. (The one I didn't bring, "Adventuring with sword and magic", is actually the one I like best and have played the most - but it turned out I don't have an intact copy of it).
That's the first time I was sorry I'm (mostly) a PDF-only guy. I wish I had a Tekumel sourcebook, and Exalted corebook, and a Traveller book to show! And maybe Kuro RPG, while I'm at it?
But I didn't, and since I learned about it on Thursday, and we were invited for Saturday, well...I don't think even Amazon could have brought one of those to my door fast enough!
Ah well. You do what you can with what you've got at the moment! And that's what we did.

Was it enough? We'll see! What I do know is, we were invited for a follow-up. And the guy wants to record a gaming session, and air parts of it on the TV.
I said "only if you yourself participate". His answer: "of course, it wouldn't be fair otherwise!" We have an agreement, and exchanged FB coordinates.
Overall, I'd say that's a success.


*Fun fact: before the show the host came to us to ask us to give more detailed answers. In his defense seems he's had negative experiences with an Youtuber who answered too much with "yes, it's exactly like this" or "no, it isn't".
Just remember: we were three guys with experience in GMing. I simply cut him short and said "there's many questions where you'll get a different answer from each of us, in turn, and they will all be correct - so don't worry".
We kept our word. He later admitted he felt like he's been interrupting us (and was right, but we didn't mind - we all knew the time constraints).

*Practice, practice, practice: Well, we inverted that one, out of necessity. In fact, we didn't have almost any time to practice our performance...except we took a cab, and worked a bit while travelling. We reached the conclusion that we can easily explain that...if the public is into geek/nerd jargon. Conclusion: we needed refining our pitch! (I have pitched PRGs a lot to new players, often successfully - but I always tailored the pitch to the specific group, after observing them. On TV, you don't get to do that).
So, while waiting for our turn, we used the other guests - we were waiting in a kind of lounge - as "test subjects", with their permission. We tried to explain to them what RPGs are, and refined the explanation until they got it. Then we used a version of this explanation on the show.

*Note: 25 minutes is what we had. We wanted to show an RPG session, too...but in that timespan, it would have been kinda difficult.
Then again, we were invited to do a follow-up. We'll see what we can do.

*Questions: I wonder how it's going to work when we shoot a session. I mean, how much can you show in 25 minutes? (Well, that one is easy: exactly a 25-minutes worth of material. Compared to a 4 hours+ session. Riiight).
Should I use something fast, like an indie one-shot title? Or should we do the trick of all Youtube sessions, and shoot a whole session, but edit it to an acceptable length by only showing the important moments?

*When is it going to be aired? Well, the show would be aired on 23rd, I think. They usually upload it to Youtube afterwards.

Traveller PCs

Sometimes you roll a character for fun.
And then you realize you've just learned the protagonist for the next "Fast and Furious"...

Name: Wan An Xia
Age: 42
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Characteristics:
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 12
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 13
Education: 9
Social: 4
Skills:
Computers-0
Streetwise-1
Language-0
Medic-0
Drive(wheeled)-3
Flyer(winged)-0
Melee(Blade)-1
Steward-0
Trade-0
Melee (unarmed)-5
Admin-1
Flyer (rotor)-1
Athletics(strength)-0
Gun Combat(slug throwers)-3
Recon-1
Vacc Suit-1
Persuade-1
Mechanic-1
Career History:
Career: Citizen = Terms: 3
Career: Army = Terms: 2
Career: Merchants = Terms: 1
Rank History:
Career: Citizen = Rank: 2
Career: Army = Rank: 2
Career: Merchants = Rank: 1
Event History:(characteristic, skill and benefit effects are applied automatically)
Life Event: You`ve gained a new Contact
Citizen Event: Your business expands, your corporation grows, or the colony thrives.
Citizen Event: You befriend a superior in the corporation or the colony.
Citizen Mishap: Hard times caused by a lack of interstellar trade costs you your job.
Army Event: You are given advanced training in a specialist field.
Army Event: You are assigned to a planet with a hostile or wild environment.
Merchant Event: You are given advanced training in a specialist field.
Age Event: At the age of 42 your Endurance and Strength were reduced by 1 point

Benefits:(characteristic, skill and benefit effects are applied automatically)
Cr 50000

Revolver
Ally: Corporate Executive
Weapon: Monoblade
Combat Implant: Subdermal armour
Free Trader

Got to wonder, what kind of a catch did the Free Trader come with?

Situation and skill

I found a post on Tales to Astound that talks about something that has been bugging me for a while now.
(OK, I apologise for taking it out of context a bit - the author is actually talking about impartial Refereeing. But I've got that part down, and am more interested in his intro...)

In older games (Classic Traveller, OD&D, according to the author of Tales to Astound), a roll of the dice answers the question "is your solution going to work, given the situation, with the situation including character skills".

When you move to skill-based systems with the skill roll being central (pretty much all other versions of Traveller, Runequest, GURPS...) the same question becomes "is your character skilled enough to deal with the situation".

I agree with the author that the differences are subtle, but potentially important. One of this approaches is all about the situation, the other is mostly about your skill, with the situation providing bonuses and penalties.

Are we giving too much "weight" to skills and attributes (and other "who the character is" bits on the character sheet)? When you pull someone's legs from under him, you don't need to roll Athletics to see the result. He falls. He might even manage to make a handstand, but keeping his balance is out of the question, unless you really had no idea how to do that move.
You can roll Athletics to see how bad the fall is...but if the other guy is manipulating your legs, it depends mostly on the other guy, and what the floor is covered with (admittedly, the "depends on the other guy" part could be subsumed in the dice of the Athletics roll...)
In short: are today's system trying to make it seem like more depends on factors we can control, and lessening the role of luck and the environment? (I'm honestly not sure).

Then again, there are enough situations where skill is the deciding factor. How do you model that?

Questions, questions. If you've got answers, tell me!

What I know is this: tonight, I played Call of Chthulhu 7e, and the game actually worked just fine based on the situation.
The evil sorcerer went down when my dilettante (no special skill with guns) just went next to him, while the anthropologist in the group was distracting him with a rapier cane. The evil sorcerer and his zombie were attacking the poor anthropologist.
Me: Tell me where I am at the beginning of next round (no battle mat).
Keeper: You're 4 meters from the sorcerer, and 9 meters from the anthropologist who's trying to free the sacrificial victim while the zombie is attacking him.
Me: I shoot the psycho mesmerist in the face at almost point-blank.
The Keeper gave me two bonus dice (new mechanic in CoC7e), with which my skill was enough to pull up the shot. All because I didn't shoot from a distance, but waited to close in.
Then I killed the zombie by toppling a pile of crates on it, and while it was pinned down, I shot it behind the ear. Until it stopped moving, which wasn't on the first shot.

It worked just fine. Granted, that's due to me making sure to improve my odds...but basically, an untrained character who would have Skill-0 in Traveller, pulled off winning the fight quickly and decisively - by acting while the enemy was being distracted, and using the environment.
To me, it made sense things would work like that. And they did, which was nice.
Was that a good balance between skill and situation? I don't know enough about guns to tell, but it seemed to be.

Friday Night Fight 2e: The Third Match, First TKO

The first round against Edgar Garcia began as I'd planned it. I outboxedhim with long flickers, which he didn't expect, then I blocked a straight and put a hook in his ribs and an uppercut in his gut, pushing him to the ropes. Then I bashed him in the face with power hooks, again and again, and again.
The last one put him on the canvas, in the first minute. He got up on the count of 8, but obviously didn't want to get hit again, and his eye was swelling.
Well, too bad, boy, 'cuz you're going to get some right away!
I got on him right after the Referee said "Fight!", bashing him with a straight right from the bat. He tried to punch me, but I was fine with eating a few and paying back. And right now, he had no head for technical dodging, so payback was a bitch. I could tell by his face.
Then came my left swivel hook, but he managed to escape the close fight. I landed another hook into his body, then he gave me a stiff jab in the face. I managed a cross-counter on the next jab, surprising everyone - myself included - but he threw his head in the other direction, and danced away again.
No luck. Now was my time, and I almost shoulder-charged him. Yes, I ate a jab on the way in, but I pushed him to the ropes, and after a quick combo, just as he was trying to strike left, I just met him with a forward-leaning straight right, throwing him back in the corner with a swollen lip.
In the corner, I unleashed a barrage of strikes to his head. His brow started bleading, and he fell down, at 2:32.
Just as I was wondering whether he'd get up, the Referee stopped the fight. Win by TKO!
I didn't bother to ask the judge's records. But I looked at the trainer, and made a gesture like a cross counter. He grinned.
The bastard had managed to drill it into me, after all, although it wasn't the decisive blow. But the next time...who knows?
What matters is, my skills were indeed improving.

Next opponent: Hector Soto! The guy is slow and doesn't like training as much as he should...and yet he's got a better ratings than me with the bookies?
Screw that noise! I'm going to plaster him on the ground.

Friday Night Fight 2e: The Second Match

The match with Lamar Hart before the trainer had stopped shouting at me. At least he'd stop doing that during the match!
Too bad it's another Smoker...only three rounds of silence!

First round:
I began by closing with a hook that he defended. He met me with a jab that I admit I felt. Then another.
And then I dived under the damn jabs and hit him in the ribs, and again, and then I clocked him in the kisser, and on the ear, pushing him back to the ropes.
Then I kept bashing him, finding his eye, which started to swell. I swear the referee was considering a standing KO, but the guy raised his gloves, no problem, and even hit back.
Then I started going for his head. Hit him with a good left hook, then a right. I bet his ears were ringing!
So I continued with an uppercut to the jaw, of course. I thought he was only holding because of the ropes! 
And then he managed to cover up while I was trying to give him a big swing, and managed a clinch. Lucky bastard.
Well, we were still in the first part of the round...

I closed fast, but he met me with a right straight, putting me on the ropes. I tried to lean back and hook, and somehow the nooks of our elbows met in the air, and we got into a clinch. I guess he'd had the same idea.
We both used the time until the end to recover as much as possible, and then he managed to clinch me a couple more times, because we both knew him to be in worse shape. But it was an unanimous 10:9 for me.

Second Round
The less one says about the second round, the better. If it wasn't for the first round, I'd be sorry for not delivering the blood the public had come to see.
I mean, I clocked him once or twice, but not nearly enough to be decisive. The judges decided that the round was 10-10, the motherwhorin' bastards.


The Third Round was 10-10 again. He got a jab or two on me, and I got a left hook in, but it didn't connect well.
Too bad he wasn't a chick. The mudwrestling might have had a point, then.
Sure, given the first round, I'm the winner. But the trainer's going to beat me sore with the pads!

Well, I got some fame out of it, or should I say, notoriety.


Next opponent is Egar Garcia, said the trainer. Classical swarmer, not much of a punch, but steady and has quick reflexes.
I wondered whether he's scared already?
He'd better be. I'll give him all the reasons he might need.

Friday Night Fight 2e:

This post is about the actual play of a wargame, for a change. Namely, it's Friday Night Fight 2e by Two-Hour Wargames (interesting name for a company, I'll admit).

Now, you'd ask, what happened? Why is Asen playing a boxing ("skirmish"?) wargame, and solo?
Well, I was bored. And I was looking for another of their games, Red Streets Blue Mats, which is about playing a NHB-style fight by yourself.
Didn't find it in the Wargaming Vault, though. So I bought this one, and resolved to see if it can do Rocky, or Hajime no Ippo.
Judge for yourself. I'll only give you an account of the match from the point of view of "my boxer".


Luke Zabiewski was born to fight, they said. Often, while spilling out their teeth.
He was never slow to punch, and seemed eager to hurt people.

I had a lot riding on that match. But Jack Wilingham didn't exactly worry me. He had no weak spots, some said.
I preferred to think of it as "he had no strong spots".
A shortsighted brawler...heh. I intended to do short work of him.
I hoped he'd see my face well before the lights go out for him, but we had a 3-rounds Smoker to resolve. 

(Stats-wise, Luke is an average skill, with aggression that's totally noteworthy).


1st round:
Gained a point during the stalking part. However, all I achieved in the first part, was a clinch. Or rather, several clinches. Screw that guy! Who stalls for time in the first round?
It kinda repeated itself...meaning, I actually landed a jab, and went on to slugging it out. Well, at least this time I scored another point, and was trying to press my advantage. I tried my best shots...and the bastard clinched me again. WTF?
I think he's really scared. I mean, I know most of my rivals are - I have a reputation - but I expected better of this guy!
Still, I'm winning on points...
Points! Hah, that's a joke!

2nd round
I started the next round by aggressively smiling - showing my teeth, really - and a flurry of attacks, which netted me a point.
But then the bastard went on me like a madman, bashing me in the kisser and taking me to the ropes.
Well, that's what we're talking about! Yeah, baby, let's start an exchange!
...except we ended in a clinch. Bastard hits harder than he looks!
After the referee broke us up, I tried to clear my head, but the ringing in my eyes still prevented me from hearing the public. Probably for the better.
The fight was slow in the second half of the round. And I've got no doubts the scorecards gave him that round, after he outboxed me.
I'll show you outboxing, you mother...ahem!

3rd Round
Didn't manage to recover fully, but I still want to bash him! He went into attack mode, again.
Instead, however, I gave him a good jab, and he danced away. Or he tried to - I followed him with another couple jabs, and leaft hook. Sure, I gained points, but more importantly - this time, it was his turn to go to the ropes!
He tried to cover up, sure. And I kept bashing him, through and around his guard, from all possible angles, splitting his lip and chasing him to the corner.
After that, I kept bashing, ringing his ears, swelling his eye, and hooking him in the body. He tried to counter, but I swayed back and landed another shot on his nose, instead.
It was maybe luck, and maybe my trainer's advice had worked. But this made me thinking that it was time to focus on his head...So I did, and after a couple tries going for his temple the point of his jaw, I slipped a shot to the side of the jaw instead. He felt down with a satisfying thump, let me tell ya!
He did manage to get up, however. I knew it wasn't a good enough shot, but hoped he'd stay down.
Didn't matter. He had no head for boxing, not now. He was trying to hang up to the end, and we both knew it. I was on him like stink on shit, hitting him with a jab on the way in, and kept attacking him.
We ended the round in the clinch. Was that his specialty or what? He should try wrasslin' at this rate!
But it was clear who had won, right? I mean, he'd just got knocked down.
Sure enough, the judges gave me the win. It was even an unanimous decision!
I looked at my enemy. He hadn't fallen. Should I bash him again?
He looked startled, as if he'd felt what I'm thinking, somehow. So I turned my back to him, and went to my corner.
I was going to get an earful for not finishing him, and I deserved it.

My next enemy was going to be some Lamar Hart. Better boxer than WJ or me, they said, but he forgets himself when he thinks he's ahead. Add to it that he doesn't like being punched...
I didn't expect to see much issues with him, not once I got to punch him.
The trick was going to be to land those first punches.

So, that's it for today...and for a couple days more, I suspect. But it was hugely entertaining, so I'd expect to play it again!