We didn't have anything on the plate last night, so we dabbled in some RPG stuff. We're planning to run through a D&D 4e campaign, so we worked on our characters a bit. Then, we decided to break out Zombie Cinema and give it a go. Zombie Cinema is a small, rules-light, "storytelling" RPG, where the players are survivors of some sort of zombie breakout, in the vein of Night of the Living Dead or any of its stylistic descendants.

The aren't a lot of components, and they are packed into a black VCR tape case!

The main piece is a zombie track, which dictates the amount of involvement zombies are allowed to have in the story. Initially, there are only rumors of zombies, without any direct interaction. As the black zombie pawn advances, they appear more often, more violently and in more places, until civilization melts down at the end of the track. Each player has a pawn on this track, too. At the end of the track, just past the zombpocalypse, is the survivor's escape. Once they move their pawn off the track, they have survived. If the zombie pawn is ever in their own space, they are eaten by zombies.

That's the primary mechanic. The active player sets the scene, and then all players freely narrate the actions of their character and any secondary characters. After a few minutes, a conflict between player interests is developed. The players roll a d6 against each other. The winner gets to essentially be GM for the conflict of the resolution, and players on the winning side have their pawns advance towards the end of the zombie track. The losing side have their pawns dropped backwards towards the zombies. In the event of a tie, the conflict is unresolved as the zombies interrupt, and the zombie pawn moves forward.

It also includes three decks of character idea cards that you can use to get ideas for your characters. I drew the following: Dependent, Mental Problems, and Injured! Thus, I said I would be playing a crippled crazy person currently in a mental institution-- the best of both Timmy and Jimmy, so to speak. Mik drew Officer, Loved Ones, and Temper, playing an angry cop trying to protect his family. Chris M. got Independent Woman, Naive, and You Are Special, and played a Scully-style FBI agent.

The action opened in my mental institution. Mik was dropping off a patient, while Chris was working on connecting network equipment to tie into the FBI's database of the criminally insane. I had somehow made it out of my room, and, bashing on orderly on the head with my crutches, made a break for the front door, escaping. However, the angry Mik sets his K-9 unit after me, and then takes his time about getting it back off before returning me to the institution. Chris later tours the institution to check on my injuries. I use his distraction to try and palm keys off the orderly, whereby I'm seen by Mik, who breaks my arm getting me back into the cell.

At this point, I realize that, since this is so free form, it's not like I have to mechanically escape. I open the next scene several hours later at the hospital, getting my broken arm treated. A distraught mother has brought her sick child, bitten by a supposed homeless man, into the waiting room. Mik is there with his HR rep to file a report on his use of excessive violence on me. Chris is in the morgue investigating the recent outbreak, when a corpse appears to wake up. He blazes away at it with his gun, as the kid in the waiting room turns violent. In the chaos Mik and Chris flee the hospital and I hide myself.

Mik opens his second scene at his house a week later, where he is loading his family into the station wagon to get out of town. I show up in the neighborhood and hobble over to him, asking to be taken along so the zombies don't get me. Mik tries to stop me, but his wife and kids are sympathetic and don't want to leave the crazy cripple to be killed. However, in the conflict, there's a tie, and the zombies show up. Mik blazes away at them and tells his wife to drive off, meeting him later at their vacation house.

Chris and his fellow FBI agents show up, and in the melee, their car gets busted. They stop Mik's family and try to commandeer their car. Mik and I try to stop them-- but there is another tie, and the zombie pawn catches up to me. As I'm trying to fight off the FBI agents, the zombies catch up to us, and attack me as I'm sprawled on the hood of the family's car.

I turn into a zombie, and start to attack the family. Mik forces me away, and gets into the car with his family and drives off. Mik's pawn is off the board at this point, so he and his family survive this crisis. Chris and the only other surviving FBI agent attempt to hold off the zombies, but as his fellow agent goes down under a feeding frenzy, Chris makes a break for it.

A couple of weeks later, Chris has fallen in with a group of survivors trying to get to the nearest big city to seek a refuge camp. Along the way, a redneck takes exception to her being such an independent woman, and while they are away from the others, disarms her and tries to kill her. She escapes into the woods.

The next day, hungry and thirsty, she finds an abandoned service station. As she approaches, a zombie deer charges her, and a shot from a hunting rifle rings out. The bullet doesn't down the deer, but drives it away. Chris meets the hunter, an older woman.

Later, they are both holed up in a remote cabin in the woods, living off the land. While there, a rogue National Guard squad comes into the area. They see them murder a survivor. The huntress begins to pick them off with her rifle as Chris barricades the house. One busts in, and Chris blasts him with a shotgun.

They team up with a couple of Guard survivors, and their guns and Humvee. They head north, hoping the cold will kill, or at least slow down the zombies. Along the way, the Humvee stalls, and they struggle to get it started as shambling shapes appear in the distance. Eventually, Chris and the huntress grab supplies and leave the Humvee, as the soldiers try to get it started again. In the distance, Chris hears their screams.

Chris and the huntress are in the cold now, but the zombies don't appear to be affected by it. They are trying to cross a lake covered in thin ice, when the zombies spot them. More and more zombies begin to follow them, all of them adding to the weight on the ice. When it becomes clear to Chris that they aren't going to make it, she throws a grenade at the zombies, shattering the ice and dropping them into the freezing lake. The huntress falls through as well and dies, and Chris freezes to death trapped on drift ice.

We've had a couple of sessions of our Dark Heresy game so far, and I've really enjoyed it. Here is my completed character model. I still haven't had a chance to actually pick up the sword yet, but I've gathered enough money to grab it once I have the chance. Assuming I stay alive long enough...I tried jumping out of a second story building and wound up darn near killing myself...

I know what you're thinking, "A Sci-Fi guy? With a flintlock rifle and pistol???" Oh, yeah, that's rediculous(ly fun)! That's why I shoot once and then switch to the big hammer. ;-)

It looks like we will be doing a Dark Heresy role playing game. We rolled up characters the other night, and it looks promising. I whipped up a conversion of my feral world Imperial Guard character, replete with flintlock rifle, pistol, explosive collar and (hoped for) mono-edged great sword. I will probably add some wild hair to him.

Sounds like we may be playing a little Dark Heresy...I ordered the core rulebook today.

I heard about Agora on the Master Plan podcast, and thought it sounded interesting. You're actually simulating the construction of a society from one of several colonies on a distant planet. It's framed that you're roleplaying the ideologue leader of your faction, but it looks like it's more faction than personally focused. I haven't looked at it too closely, but it reminded me of a Sci-Fi version Dawn of Worlds, although it looks more complicated.

Updates have obviously trickled dry after a nice little run as life caught up with me. I have three kids, the youngest of which just turned one, and they can be quite a handful. In the last month since my last post, I managed to play in a game of Red November, which I found fun. I thought the rules were a bit ambiguous in places, but probably with a few plays through to sort that out, it would make for a quick, fun game. I got in a couple of games of our monthly 3.5 D&D game, as well as the online GURPS game I participate in (I'm Tonim). I even ran a game of Spirit of the Century. I also finished the Dan Abnett Ravenor trilogy. Looking at that, I guess my gaming life hasn't been the wasteland it's felt the last couple months. I mean, it's almost May, and I've only painted just 14-15 figures, less than four figures a month!!

A little something for your next bathroom break when you're the GM...

The latest D&D Podcast is an all-star session, featuring Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade, Scott Kurtz of PvP and Wil Wheaton with line developer Chris Perkins as DM. Despite this geek-celeb lineup, it is strangely comforting to see that their sessions are absolutely no different than ours-- the GM struggling to wrangle the characters who mock each other, cut jokes, quote movies and TV shows, use obscenities and make suggestive comments. This is role-playing!

I just discovered the Game Designo & Development forum on RPGnet. The focus is generally on role-playing games, but there's a lot of general info in there, especially in the sticky Games Designers' Resource Thread.

Dark Reign, a Dark Heresy RPG site, hosts several 40k themed comics-- three out of four of which are clearly Order of the Stick inspired...but Servants of the Imperium was pretty good.

By request: Eevee, Flareon, Jolteon and Umbreon (I'm detecting a pattern here).

Eevee

Type: Normal
ATK: Fair
DEF: Fair
S.ATK: Fair
S.DEF: Fair
SPD: Fair
Health: (HP 2) Scratch Scratch Hurt VHurt Incap

Gifts/Abilities
Run Away: Always able to escape wild Pokemon unless another ablitiy; e.g., Mean Look, prevents such.

Adaptability: Gains an additional +50% to STAB bonus for total of 100%

Moves
Tackle
Tail Whip
Helping Hand
Sand-Attack
Growl
Quick Attack
Bite
Baton Pass
Take Down
Last Resort
Trump Card

Flareon

Type: Fire
ATK: Great
DEF: Fair
S.ATK: Good
S.DEF: Good
SPD: Fair
Health: (HP 2) Scratch Scratch Hurt VHurt Incap

Gifts/Abilities
Flash Fire: If this pokemon is hit by a Fire type move, or is Burned, it takes no damage but all its Fire attacks gain +1 ODF until the end of the combat.

Moves
Tackle
Tail Whip
Helping Hand
Sand-Attack
Ember
Quick Attack
Bite
Fire Spin
Fire Fang
Last Resort
Smog
Scary Face
Fire Blast

Jolteon

Type: Electric
ATK: Fair
DEF: Fair
S.ATK: Great
S.DEF: Good
SPD: Superb
Health: (HP 2) Scratch Scratch Hurt VHurt Incap

Gifts/Abilities
Volt Absorb: When struck by an Electric type attack, this pokemon's lowest damage is removed.

Moves
Tackle
Tail Whip
Helping Hand
Sand-Attack
Thundershock
Quick Attack
Double Kick
Pin Missle
Thunder Fang
Last Resort
Thunder Wave
Agility
Thunder

Umbreon

Type: Dark
ATK: Fair
DEF: Good
S.ATK: Fair
S.DEF: Great
SPD: Fair
Health: (HP 3) Scratch Scratch Scratch Hurt VHurt Incap

Gifts/Abilities
Synchronize: If this pokemon is hit by a Move which causes a Status Problem other than Sleep or Frozen, the originating pokemon receives the same Status Problem. Outside of combat, increases the chance of meeting wild pokemon of same Nature.

Moves
Tackle
Tail Whip
Helping Hand
Sand-Attack
Pursuit
Quick Attack
Confuse Ray
Faint Attack
Assurance
Last Resort
Mean Look
Screech
Moonlight

Moves

Helping Hand
Type: Normal
Class: Status
ODF: n/a
ACC: +4
PP: 5
Range: One Ally
DA: No
Effect: Ally's move gets +50% rounded down ODF.

Tackle
Type: Normal
Class: Physical
ODF: +1
ACC: +3
PP: 8
Range: Normal
DA: Yes

Tail Whip
Type: Normal
Class: Status
ODF: n/a
ACC: +4
PP: 7
Range: Two enemies.
DA: No
Effect: Target gets -1 DEF

Sand-Attack
Type: Ground
Class: Status
ODF: n/a
ACC: +4
PP: 4
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: Opponent gets -1 ACC to all moves.

Pursuit
Type: Dark
Class: Physical
ODF: +2
ACC: +4
PP: 5
Range: Normal
DA: Yes
Effect: The Move does double damage if opponent is withdrawn this combat turn.

ThunderShock
Type: Electric
Class: Special
ODF: +2
ACC: +4
PP: 8
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: If 4dF roll is +3 or +4, opponent is Paralyzed.

Ember
Type: Fire
Class: Special
ODF: +2
ACC: +4
PP: 6
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: If opponent is Frozen, Ember melts the ice. If 4dF roll is +3 or +4, opponent is Burning.

Growl
Type: Normal
Class: Status
ODF: n/a
ACC: +4
PP: 10
Range: Two enemies.
DA: No
Effect: Target gets -1 ATK

Quick Attack
Type: Normal
Class: Physical
ODF: +2
ACC: +4
PP: 7
Range: Normal
DA: Yes
Effect: Quick Attack always strikes first. If two or more pokemon are using Quick Attack, they strike in the order of a SPD roll.

Bite
Type: Dark
Class: Physical
ODF: +3
ACC: +4
PP: 6
Range: Normal
DA: Yes
Effect: Target pokemon flinches on +2 or better.

Baton Pass
Type: Normal
Class: Status
ODF: n/a
ACC: n/a
PP: 10
Range: Self
DA: No
Effect: When switching pokemon, the new pokemon inherits all the stat changes from the previous pokemon.

Take Down
Type: Normal
Class: Physical
ODF: +4
ACC: +2
PP: 5
Range: Normal
DA: Yes
Effect: Pokemon using this move takes 1/4 the damage points the target takes. If user does any damage to target, he takes at least a Scratch.

Last Resort
Type: Normal
Class: Physical
ODF: +6
ACC: +4
PP: 2
Range: Normal
DA: Yes
Effect: Only hits after every other move has been used at least once.

Trump Card
Type: Normal
Class: Special
ODF: n/a
ACC: n/a
PP: 2
Range: Normal
DA: Yes
Effect: Automatic +6 ODF hit at 2 PP, +9 ODF hit at 1 PP. +4 ODF at 3+ PP.

Fire Spin
Type: Fire
Class: Special
ODF: +1
ACC: +2
PP: 4
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: Melts ice if opponent frozen. Opponent may not flee for 2-5 turns (roll d4, come up with dF later)

Fire Fang
Type: Normal
Class: Physical
ODF: +3
ACC: +3
PP: 4
Range: Normal
DA: Yes
Effect: Melts ice if opponent frozen. On a damage roll of +3 or +4, causes Burning or Flinching-- need mechanism to determine which one or both.

Smog
Type: Poison
Class: Special
ODF: +1
ACC: +1
PP: 5
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: On a damage roll of +1 or better, target pokemon is Poisoned.

Scary Face
Type: Normal
Class: Status
ODF: n/a
ACC: +3
PP: 3
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: -1 SPD to opponent.

Fire Blast
Type: Fire
Class: Special
ODF: +6
ACC: +2
PP: 2
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: Melts ice if opponent frozen. On a damage roll of +3 or better, target pokemon is Burning.

Double Kick
Type: Fighting
Class: Physical
ODF: +1
ACC: +4
PP: 7
Range: Normal
DA: Yes
Effect: Attacks two consecutive times in one turn.

Pin Missle
Type: Bug
Class: Physical
ODF: +1
ACC: +2
PP: 5
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: Attacks 2-5 (roll d4+1) consecutive times in one turn.

Thunder Fang
Type: Electric
Class: Physical
ODF: +3
ACC: +3
PP: 4
Range: Normal
DA: Yes
Effect: On a damage roll of +3 or +4, causes Paralyzed or Flinching-- need mechanism to determine which one or both.

Thunder Wave
Type: Electric
Class: Status
ODF: n/a
ACC: +4
PP: 5
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: Opponent is Paralyzed.

Agility
Type: Psychic
Class: Status
ODF: n/a
ACC: n/a
PP: 7
Range: Self
DA: No
Effect: +1 SPD

Thunder
Type: Electric
Class: Special
ODF: +6
ACC: +1
PP: 3
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: On an damage roll or +2 or better, opponent in Paralyzed.

Confuse Ray
Type: Ghost
Class: Status
ODF: n/a
ACC: +4
PP: 3
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: Opponent is Confused.

Faint[sic] Attack
Type: Dark
Class: Physical
ODF: +3
ACC: na
PP: 5
Range: Normal
DA: Yes
Effect: Target is distracted, then hit automatically.

Assurance
Type: Dark
Class: Physical
ODF: +2
ACC: +4
PP: 3
Range: Normal
DA: Yes
Effect: This attack gets double ODF if target has already been damaged this turn.

Mean Look
Type: Normal
Class: Status
ODF: n/a
ACC: n/a
PP: 2
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: Prevents target from fleeing or being swapped out.

Screech
Type: Normal
Class: Status
ODF: n/a
ACC: +2
PP: 10
Range: Normal
DA: No
Effect: -1 DEF

Moonlight
Type: Normal
Class: Status
ODF: n/a
ACC: n/a
PP: 2
Range: Self
DA: No
Effect: Recovers Hurt or better damage. When Sunny, recovers Very Hurt or better damage. When Rain, Sandstorm, Hail or Deep Fog, restores Scratch.

Okay, so I've been working on this a bit. I love GURPS, but I stopped using it for this. While I wanted some mechanics in my kids' first RPG, GURPS was just too much. For one thing, the mechanics were more rigid that I wanted, and I felt that by throwing out so much of the rules and home ruling so much, I was probably just using the wrong system.

We've been looking at Spirit of the Century lately. While my group seems lukewarm on actually playing it, I really liked the FATE system. However, I wasn't sure about the use of Aspects and how that would go over in an introductory game. So, I back tracked a little bit and investigated Fudge, the basis for FATE.

I remember when Fudge was being developed and kind of kicked myself for not really looking at it until now. I like the system-- although it's probably fairer to call in a framework than a complete system. Not being given any Attributes to start, three different combat systems, two different character creations systems-- it's is kind of daunting. I can see how FATE developed out of it, especially given articles like this and this from Fred Hicks.

Anyway, I found a guy, Knaight, on the Fudge Forums, who already had an aborted attempt to translate Pokemon into Fudge. You can see most of my work and his comments in this thread. He had obviously already put some thought into the translation, and his comments have really helped me out. I'd say right now, it's just about ready to run. I think the combat really captures the flavor of the games (which my kids have played a fair bit of), although it might be a little too complicated still. I'll have to work a bit more on it. I will possibly add FATE points and develop the characters via Aspects...we'll see.

I found some Pokemon CCG League badges-- real pins you can put on your clothes-- cheap on eBay. Once the kids beat a trainer in the game, I will give them each a real badge to wear! What a prop! I think they'll be impressed.

I also picked up some mics and a mixer, and will take a stab at recording the games. I don't know if I'll post it, but I think it would be kind of cool to have your first RPG campaign you ever played recorded!

Yes folks, I have taken definite steps in my plans to run GURPS: Pokemon for my children.

The figures are from Four Color Figures Superfigs civilians-- the "Professor" (I need a tree species that starts with X...) and two Pokemon Trainers (the PCs). The "Pokemon" proxies are Reaper familiars, from left to right: Meowth, Aron, Torchic, Treeko (an iguana), Mudkip (the colors match well), Poochyena/Zigzagoon, and a Zubat.

Naturally, it won't be GURPS with all the knobs turned on, it will be a very light, very Cinematic GURPS...

I finished up GMing our Pulp Africa game last night, and took some pics of the final battle. It has dinosaurs!

The Other Nice Man is a d20 Modern blog, which contains nicely formatted errata and FAQ.

Pulp Adventures looks pretty similar to the Pulp d20 Modern rules that appeared in Dragon/Polyhedron magazine. I'll have to follow up with them later and check them out.

Burning Void has a number of very nice RPG articles and gamemaster tips.

It's news to me: Johnn Four of Roleplayingtips.com has a very interesting looking publication, NPC Essentials.