Saga Destiny System Alternative

Destiny Awaits by William Silvers

Concept:
Treat the Destiny system in the Star Wars: Saga Edition RPG more like the invoking/compelling mechanics of the FATE system, i.e. grant more narrative control by treating each Destiny type like an Aspect in FATE.

Overview:
Unfortunately the benefits that 'destiny points' currently grant are general mechanical effects that can be used in any situation, regardless of whether or not the usage directly helped the character take action toward fulfilling their destiny.

I propose, in leu of choosing one of the listed mechanical benefits from spending a Destiny Point; the player may invoke his character's destiny to gain a small degree of narrative control, if the GM agrees that it's in line with their particular destiny.

E.g. A character with the Rescue Destiny may spend a Destiny Point to grant his character narrative control for a short time. The player may then claim that dispite the detention centre computer terminals having become locked-down and hostile after an earlier failed attempt to improve access, the careless warden had left his code cylinder on his desk as he fled. With access granted from the misplaced cylinder the character is able cease the lock-down and release the prisoner his group has been searching for.

Any mechanical effects replicated by narrative control should not exceed anything that could be granted by any of the other listed benefits, but could perhaps create a similar effects.

E.g. Automatically suceeding on a skill check, though not on the list of benefits, roughly equals automatically scoring a critical hit.

There is a game mechanic that is already in place when a character accomplishes a goal or performs a task that clearly moves him or her closer to fulfilling their destiny (GM's determination); they gain a short-term benefit for 24 in-game hours. Perhaps include the option of in place of gaining the short-term benefit, they may gain a Destiny Point instead. This would allow the players the chance to earn more Destiny Points outside of the usual single point gained each new level.

In addition to the narrative control benefit granted to the players, the GM can use the character's destinies narratively as well. Anytime a player wishes their character to preform something or make a choice that the GM would consider to be a step away from his/her destiny, the GM may 'impel' (or have the character 'confront') their destiny, enticing the player to reconsider their action and perhaps embrace their destiny. Each time a character's Destiny creates a complication or disadvantage for the character and the player chooses for their character to act in accordance with their Destiny, the GM should reward them with a Destiny Point.

E.g. A player with a character with the Discovery Destiny wishes to refrain from opening a mysterious piece of cargo he is transporting on behalf of a powerful Hutt, who explicitly warned him not to open it. The GM believes the knowledge the character may gain from opening the cargo will help him take one step closer to fulfilling his destiny. GM then may say to the player that their character is impelled by his Destiny to open the cargo. The player then must reconsider: does he follow the GM's suggestion, open the crate, dispite the consquinces and earn a Destiny Point? Or does he stick to his original, and possibly safer, choice?

Sample Narrative Destiny Uses:

• Champion - Impress a smuggling cartel to joining your cause by a winning game of sabacc.
• Corruption - Uncover a sector governor's weakness to manipulate for your own gains.
• Creation - Unlock a hidden vault to acquire a rare schematic for a new starfighter.
• Destruction - Slice a terminal to analyse the plans for the weakness in a new hypermatter core.
• Discovery - An old navicomp turns out to contain astrogation data for a unknown planet.
• Education - Find a clue to the location of a lost Jedi Holocron containing forgotten teachings.
• Legacy - Calling upon a life debt a character's ancestor shared with your own family.
• Liberation - Become elected a representative of an oppressed planet by discrediting your opponent.  
• Redemption - Locate and unlock a secret entrance to the Sith Academy your brother joined.
• Rescue - Accidentally get in the way of the assassin's attack on a senator's life.
• We've Been Through A Lot - Initiate a risky hyperspace jump to safety with a damaged navicomp.

Finn's Almanac - Mid Spring 1153

Weather: Cold Spring Rain
Wind: Strong South Westerly Gusts
Sky: Overcast
Lore: If a circle forms ‘round the moon, ‘twill rain or snow soon.


...I'm happy to report I'm at my parents' villa here in my hometown of Port Sumac. The month following our arrival in Darkwater and the failed rescue mission has been rather quiet aside from minor jobs. Kole has been working in the local smithy, setting about equipping the locals with the means to defend themselves if necessary from any predators that may threaten the town. Once we had agreed that Kole could manage any concerns that might arise while I am away, I set sail for Port Sumac on a merchant's knarr. I believe Kole has proven himself a capable Guard Mouse and trust him to serve and protect the mice of Darkwater.


The crossing was pleasant, if a little rough; I didn't realize how much I missed sailing until I was upon the open sea. Port Sumac has changed little since I last saw it over a year or so ago, but it still remains a busy little seaside town. My parents were delighted to see me, as I was to them; they appear to be in good health and still ply their trade as expert boatcrafters. I've often considered if I had not joined the Guard, it'd be happy and content working my family's trade. During my visit I saw many a mouse I grew up with, including unfortunately Vidar. I still hold a grudge against that bully from childhood, and I think he hates me even more now that I've been accepted into the ranks of the Guard. That wharf rat of a mouse can go eat sand for all I care, just as long as he stays away from my family. I'm going to try to forget I came across him in the tavern and just enjoy my visit.

-F

...Just received a missive from Lockhaven. I am to travel to Wolfepointe and check on the locals. Oh well, at least I got to enjoy a few weeks with my kin, I'm going to miss them. Mom's packing me some food for the journey, she's always looking out for me. I leave tomorrow by the east route.

-F

Weather: Spring Storm
Wind: Moderate Gale ranging from the South to West
Sky: Thunderheads
Lore: A coming storm your shooting corns presage, And aches will throb, your hollow tooth will rage.


...Today was a trying day. After a few days of rough journey from Port Sumac to Wolfepointe in stormy weather, I arrived at the outskirts to the most eastern settlement in the Territories. As I approached the town, I came upon two other Guard members who we're also in the process of arriving: Ulf and Kaylyn. Ulf I knew well from a patrol we both plied in last year, he is a clever, ashen-furred guardmouse who wears a strikingly ugly ochre-coloured cloak. The other mouse I wasn't familiar with; her name was Kaylyn, a grey tenderpaw under tutelage to Ulf. She is a quiet young mouse, yet I sense a degree of brooding behind her stoicism, though that might be attributed to the fact all three of us were soaked to the bone from the storm. Ulf and Kaylyn had been dis-batched from Lonepine to Wolfepointe, and their journey was as long and tiresome as my own.


Before we made our way into the hamlet, my new companions informed me the waters of the river that ran from the north-east of the town were flooded. Believing this to be of possible concern to the folk of Wolfepointe, we investigated further. It seemed despite a levee having been installed to prevent flooding of the river, it was not enough to contain the exceedingly high waters brought about by this storm as the downrush was beginning to lap over the edges of the embankment. The storm showed no sign of abating, so we decided swift measures must be taken to protect the town.


Ulf and Kaylyn headed into town in search of tools and assistance, and found both in the form of spades and empty grain sacks, and townsmice and a rather robust guard mouse I did not recognise. Having tools and hands, we executed our plan: With the large guard mouse's help, I jumped the river and began to cut breaches with the shovel in the far bank levee to bleed off the channel, whilst the other mice filled the grainsacks with sand and re-enforced the townside embankment.


Our undertaking appeared to be successful in lessening the threat of the deluge when suddenly a huge wave came hurdling downstream. Although a brief cry of warning to brace against it was given, one of the townsmice was swept away by this surge. Ulf took off like a bolt along the stream following the mouse, with Kaylyn and the broad mouse close behind. By the time they had returned, the brook waters had receded to safe levels and I was informed despite the valiant efforts of Ulf and Kaylyn to save him, the poor townsmouse had drowned. The unfortunate price paid to ensure security of the villagers and their homesteads.


My companions and I turned-in to the guard post, dried ourselves in front of a warm fire whilst we ate and drank, and discussed our plans for the following day before laying down to sleep. We decided to hold a forum with the townsfolk to address our concerns about the security of Wolfepointe, as the lack of forethought appears to be what brought about this potential catastrophe.


...After we broke our fast, we proceeded to the townhall to find the majority of the folk already there; apparently in times of crisis they occupy the building for security. We opened dialogue with everyone there, addressing our concerns to the flash flood the night prior and the general security of the settlement. It was mentioned that a number of weasel sightings had occurred over the past year, but they had caused no trouble to the townsfolk; the mayor, Guy, adamantly insisted that the mustelidae did not present any threat to the livelihood of Wolfepointe's citizens and we should concern ourselves with other matters. He also blatantly accused the three of us of causing the flash flood to present the Guard more favourably for donations.


I quickly decided that this foolish mouse was going to put his citizens in danger with his brazen disregard for their concerns. We then asked the public if could perform the duties of town improvement and security on their collective behalf and after much dialogue a large majority sided with our pledge to the safety of Wolfepointe, much to the chagrin of the major and his lackeys.


After the meet, my fellow Guardsmice and I set to work grouping the volunteering townsmice and assigning them tasks; such as removing the barricades from homes (which the folk had build against threat of flood.), reinforcing the levee, renewing the militia, erecting a palisade, and others of the like. I wish we had Kole here to assist us in this, he is suited to much of this work. We soon learned that many of the mice were hesitant to perform these tasks, despite being supportive to our cause. Deeper inquiry into the nature of this aversion brought forth a unsettling revelation: 


It seemed that many of the mice who went about making changes of the like over the past few years had mysteriously disappeared, with no remains ever found. Each departure was recorded in the town hall along the births and deaths of the locals. After a brief convene on this disconcerting information with the other Guardsmice, Ulf left urgently to consult the records but was denied entry to the hall by Guy.


Through cunning use of words Ulf caused the mayor, who initially denied knowledge of any missing mice, to accidentally admit that such records pertaining to the absent do exist. He then became further tight-lipped upon realizing his error. We made this revelation known to the locals whose support we further garnered, and eventually won access to the annals after Guy backed down from the overwhelming advocacy from the town.


A thorough, live-reading of the register did indeed turn up vast number of discrepancies: Though overall deaths related to predations over the past few years were unusually low for any mouse settlement, let alone one so isolated; the amount of missing cases was abnormally high. Even if half of the cases were caused by predators or accidents in the wild, the lack of any evidence of remains is troublesome.


As of now, having become suspect to something sinister in nature, the folk of Wolfepointe contained the mayor to the town hall. Ulf, Kaylyn, and myself have been discussing the turn of events. Since the Guard itself has no power or legitimacy to govern a settlement, we have decided to facilitate the town's inevitable change of office that we feel is going to occur, including it in our current task of helping the mice of this settlement. I write this as the sun lowers west, and the sky begins to darken. Ulf and I have decided to patrol the town this eve; more time to ponder the fate of Wolfepointe.

-Finn

Tropes as Aspects

I was perusing TV Tropes today (which in itself can be a potentially dangerous thing) when I had a thought: Many of the tropes, idioms, conventions, and devices that are listed in creative works could be used as Aspects in any FATE-based RPG where they would be appropriate. Consider the following few examples:

• Sinister Minister
• Bee Bee Gun
• Too Dumb to Fool
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot
• Applied Phlebotinum
• Xanatos Gambit (Great for villains!)
• Our Wights Are Different
• Power Copying
• Ax Crazy
• Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught

So if you're ever trying to find just the right Aspect for something/someone, try looking for something appropriate on TV Tropes. :)

Finn's Almanac - Early Spring 1153

Weather: Calm/Spring Rain

Wind: Faint Westerly Breeze

Sky: Cloudy Gibbous Moon
Lore: Spring comes in with adders' heads and goes out with pheasants' tails.

...After a long yet comfortable stay here in Lockhaven this bitter winter, it warms my heart to hear that spring has finally arrived and Gwendolyn has begun assigning orders to patrols. Though I do not regret having spent the cold season here in the headquarters of the Mouse Guard, I lack skill in one of the common trades to feel useful throughout my tenure here during the long, dark months. Menial tasks such as organizing post and pouring over the old maps I know by heart did little to relieve the monotony. How I longed to be out in the wilds again.

But I shall dwell upon that no longer now at last the season has begun to turn fair and Gwendolyn has tasked myself and another guardmouse by the name of Kole a simple but vital mission. We are to carry a load of correspondence from Lockhaven to it's recipients in the settlement of Darkwater and help the micefolk in any task they require the Guards' assistance on. Upon hearing our destination was one of the major port towns of the north sea, I, (perhaps too eagerly) made request upon the condition that the mice of Darkwater had any needs fulfilled, I may set sail for Port Sumac with the intention to see my kin. Gwendolyn was quite generous to accept my impromptu proposal, though I am now admonishing myself for stepping out of place making such a postulation to our leader. The prospect of seeing my family so soon coupled with anticipation of setting forth from Lockhaven overwhelmed my better judgement, so I am to make doubly sure the folk of Darkwater are secure and content before I set paw upon a boat to Port Sumac. I've allowed myself a this brief period to write this journal entry before I pack my gear: Walking staff, Paper, Ink, Quills, Scrollcase, Pipe, and my Bow and a dozen arrows.  

...My companion and I left Lockhaven in good weather; clear, though with a slight chill. Reading these signs for fair travelling, we departed swiftly. Kole is an interesting, though not practical mouse. Although I packed lightly for our journey, Kole seems to have decided to carry with him the contents of his workshoppe. Aside from wearing a shirt of armour and bearing a great shield along with a spear, he has insisted on toting a collection of smithy and mining tools! His impedimenta has left me to carry the sack of post, which does not hinder me at all; in fact I'm forced to slow my pace so he can keep up with me. This delay I fear caused us to be caught in a heavy downpour after a third of our journey. We have just crossed a brook swollen by the rain, and are now settling in for the night in a small root grotto. I hope our luck or the weather changes for the better soon, as I don't wish to continue this lumbering pace in the rain.

...The weather chose not to change for the better until we had just reached outskirts of Darkwater, perhaps this means our luck is to improve as well? Kole and myself are exhausted after our slogging trek. We've dropped off the mail and have checked into the guard post where I'm making this note. Apparently a local down-harvester by the name of Skelly has been missing for several days, and we're about to talk with his wife Agwene and then meet with the mayor and his sons to search for the lost mouse. As much I as wish to rest, duty calls.

...After some concerning developments, Kole and I discovered what became of the harvester. Our search party arrived at the pond where the missing mouse frequently gathered down from geese nests upon a small islet. The owners of the nests were currently frequenting the far side of the pond, so we left the locals to wait at the shore as we traveled to the islet using one of two boats and a series of wooden piles to the far bank. Upon landing, we began to scour the islet for evidence to the lost mouse's whereabouts and came across not only his tracks and those of the resident geese, but a pair belonging to a member of the Mustelidae. We were quick to guess a weasel, though I do not rule out mink given the aquatic terrain they are known to frequently to habit. Together the tracks revealed to us their story: When the waterfowl briefly departed their nests, Skelly approached to gather fallen feathers and down. He then apparently became aware of the mustelid's approach from the west, fleeing eastward. The mustelid then raided the nests, and soon after left the direction it came. The mouse appeared to drop his sack of down before attempting to hide in the shallow waters of the pond. 

Whilst Kole and I investigated the shore for signs of the harvester, we were beset by a large and hungry bullfrog that emerged from the waters. Fearing our quarry fell to the predations of this batrachian glutton, we quickly decided we must affirm this foul notion and met the eager bullfrog in combat. To his great merit, Kole skilfully wielded his shield, deflecting the lunging attacks from our foe, as I manoeuvred for position and send volley after volley at it. After a tiring battle, we emerged victorious over the bullfrog, Kole landing the killing blow using a knife found already stuck-fast in the beast's rugose hide. This knife, as our suspicions were later confirmed, belonged to the late Skelly we sought, and further evidence of his untimely demise were made evident as we gutted the beast to inspect it's most recent meals. Such a horrible end for a mouse, surely nature is cruel as it is generous to us.

Angered and further exhausted from the fight and the days previous, we returned with the remainder of our search party to Darkwater, breaking the tragic news to his wife Agwene and to the rest of town. Writing this account has alleviated my anger somewhat at this unfortunate situation, though am still troubled and do not know if I will easily gain the respite my body craves tonight. The mustlid tracks have made us wary, and we have issued warning to the micefolk of the town to avoid venturing out in that direction.

-Finn, Patrol Leader of the Mouse Guard

Updates

I totally forgot to mention a couple of other things of note that occurred over the past few months, like a few of my weekly RPG sessions:

If I recall correctly we bounced around from a couple systems, never making headway far past a few sessions due to lack of enthusiasm or scheduling conflicts. Among the games we briefly toyed with, we played:

• an alternate-future GURPS game. (Still not really a fan of this system. Way too general and rules heavy without a good premise/background to support it.)
• an attempted L5R resurrection with a whole bunch of additional players. (I think we had 8 people, which is the most I think I've ever played with. It was really fun while it lasted.)
• another attempt to break into Eclipse Phase. (I'm determined that something can be done with this game, it just takes an interesting hook/planning on part of the GM. There's tons of great material to work with in the game world, but without direction we as the player's seemed to find ourselves at a loss in both character creation and gameplay.)
• a rather successful series of sessions playing Heavy Gear as a special forces squad that saw action inside and outside of our gears. (Not too much to say about the system, but seems to work well with a little house-ruling. Effective mechanics for transitioning between human and mechs. We might return to Heavy Gear once we take a break from Mouse Guard.)

One of the other important events that I failed to mention pertains to Star Wars: The Old Republic and the guild I started: Aegis Company. I knew from the beginning it was a big experiment having an MMO newbie like myself creating a guild. I was fuelled by a combination of enthusiasm, rabid fanboyism, ignorance, and a good amount of aloofness. I created the guild purely for fun, and in the hopes that other's could share in that fun. And I'm not saying I don't think it accomplished that goal. But, I just grew less interested in the affairs of the guild and even SWTOR itself. The last time I had an major sway in the guild I believe was back in March, and soon after I wasn't playing at all, and then after that I cancelled my subscription.

Part of me was and still is kinda disappointed in a few ways: I'd been closely following the development of SWTOR since it first began, being such a huge Star Wars fan; here I thought this was going to be the game that'd get me into MMO's. That turned out not to be true and it settled it for good on my stance of MMO's: sure they can be fun but they're too repetitive to keep me interested and even though the story's there to help alleviate that, I just don't have the time or interest to grind through all the meaningless levelling in that pursuit. Some could say then why do I play tabletop RPGs then, since they're essentially the same idea of levelling up? Most are, some aren't. But tabletop RPGs I find much more engaging because they're so much more dynamic and social in a way that even the best ventrillo or RP servers lack. I don't play RPGs solely to kill monsters, get loot, and level up. (Though that can be fun in of itself, looking back at some RPGs like old school D&D, 4e, and modern retro-clones.) I play for the social aspect of the game, as I'm sure the majority of those whole play do.

Anyway, I decided that SWTOR just wasn't worth my time and money, so I let the game and the guild slide into obscurity. I do feel bad about having a created this guild and bringing in all these members only to let it fall into neglect, and hope that I haven't truly disappointed any members. I haven't heard anything about it from the members I do know in real life actually, so I guess that's a good sign. I know the game was losing momentum after launch, that guilds themselves rise and fall quickly, and I'm sure that everyone has moved on.

In other news I've gone through all my RPG stuff and complied a list of which I currently own and/or played; which I should put up in a future post.

I came across this gem quite some time ago, courtesy of Inkwell Ideas.

It would be a lifelong endeavour to play every listed RPG at least once. Even more so if you include all the RPGs not listed on the chart.

On a related note, I'm working on an up-datable list of the RPGs I own, have played, and/or am looking to play/own; as I have become quite the collector.

I Live... Again...

Howdy All!

It's been a while since I posted last December so let's have a short recap of noteworthy events since then to the best of my recollection:

January

Nothing major other than visiting family and playing Star Wars: The Old Republic.

February

I finally got to attend Victoria's local gaming convention: GottaCon. I had a blast spending the majority of it playing RPG's. I got to play Pathfinder, FantasyCraft, Cthulhu Dark Ages, Savage Worlds, and my friends homebrew system Ul-Zaorith for the first time. I'm a veteran of 3.5 D&D so I found Pathfinder an excellent conversion, plus the multi-table/multi-system 'Midnight Madness' game was a hoot. Our party was entirely made up of lawful evil types who were working in concert with four other bands of heroes (the other tables) to save all of cosmos from destruction. My pre-gen character was Ratling Ranger whom was a crack shot with his bow.

FantasyCraft is another game based of the d20 system, but it just didn't seem to do it as well IMHO, but perhaps the GM just wasn't able to present it in a favourable light. An odd murder mystery that kinda turned weird/derailed. My pre-gen was very much like the protagonist from Assassin's Creed in appearance and abilities.

The Cthulhu Dark Ages game my friends and I played in used a simplified version of Chaosium's BRP percentile system that effectively got the job done; the GM pulled out all the stops in his presentation and theatrics, brilliantly using minis and a huge set of Heroscape tiles to depict the marshland our intrepid adventurers quested through. Even though the game ended in an accidental TPK (Total Party Kill for those uninitiated) by a single catastrophically poor choice by my companion Fraser, I'm pretty sure everyone had a terrific time playing and I think it was one of my highlights at GottaCon. I liked the idea that all 'classes' had access to some magic. My character was Halfling Thief who rode on the solders of Fraser's fighter Hans.

The Savage Worlds demo we attended gave us a good introduction to the game and although I wasn't really impressed, I'm still looking to pick up the system for other reasons (more on this later). Paladin with a flintlock gun I was.

Finally Ul-Zaorith was run by my friends Astra and Steve. First of I'll say that Astra is a professional writer and her creation of the world Ul-Zaorith and the many races that inhabit it is incredibly rich in design. Steve handled the mechanics and Astra provided narration, description, and background. The adventure was simple and fun, essentially us gaining access to a floating temple with the intention to raid it. I played a Tirivahni, a race with prehensile tails and a penchants for being magical tricksters, with the ability to assume a large ape form a la Dragon Ball. I didn't get to dive deep into the system, but it looked to be very crunchy and detailed based off of the shear amount of abilities and spells my character had (my character sheet was 3-4 pages long!); I'll wager I didn't even use over a sixth of what I had access to.

Also at GottaCon I picked up a copy of the zombie RPG All Flesh Must Be Eaten main rulebook revised edition from a vendor and a copy the CoC supplemental book Goatswood from the silent auction. All in all I look forward to GottaCon again, perhaps as a volunteer and/or GM.

My birthday was in February and as I gift to myself I purchased a new bike and have been riding it and loving it ever since. So much in fact I have finally received my first flat tire and must remember to fix it after this post!

March

The Missus's birthday followed my own, and that combined with our room-mate's had a three weekend stretch of birthday parties. Fun times were had. My Friday Dresden Files gaming group did me the honour of indulging me in running a game in All Flesh Must Be Eaten. The premise was simple as it was local: A Zombie Outbreak occurs on a BC Ferry. I had a fun time running it and I believe they mostly enjoyed it as well, although it was my first time running the Unisystem, which I found a little clunky at times but pretty good. I liked the zombie customisability.

April

Preparing for and attending Victoria Steam Expo III took up the majority of April. The missus and I volunteered this year, and myself and a few other volunteer's talked about running a Steampunk RPG at the Expo, possibly Airship Pirates as Captain Robert Brown and Kristina Erickson from Abney Park fame were attending. Kevin was more comfortable running something using Savage Worlds, so I started working on something that I could run in Airship Pirates if there was time and interest at the event. Again my Friday group took a break from Dresden Files and I ran the in-book adventure with a few modifications with pre-gen characters, and eventually a bunch of friends and volunteers assembled together at my place to playtest both games, which went well. Both plays allowed me the chance to finally see how the basic mechanics of Airship Pirates work, though we didn't get into many advanced mechanics like Airship Combat. Sadly I didn't have enough time at the Expo between volunteering to get to run it, but it has definitely got my interest vested to do so for next VSE along with perhaps a few other steampunk RPGs... 

The Expo was fantastic and everyone was really impressed with my costume: Dr. Corvus, Victorian Sawbones and Plague Empiric. Also as a reward for volunteering, Marion and I received tickets to the ballet to see Svengali. It was quite fun.

May

Steampunk fever still ran high after the Expo, further supporting our preparations and participation in Tweed Ride Victoria 2012. T'was a jolly good time with bikes, hats, tea, friends, and tweed. The early 20th century attitudes and mannerisms shifted my interests back to the Lovecraftian with a copy of Cthulhu by Gaslight I picked up from my FLGS and a won contest copy of a small ebook of weird fiction by a local acquaintance. I also discovered the really cool interactive fiction game Anchorhead. Also the Stalker RPG.

June

Interest in collecting and playing RPGs in full force this month. I'd known about Mouse Guard for some time, but only till my friend Fraser got the RPG boxed set and finally brought it over so we could play it after much convincing did I get to experience it. I was so impressed by the whole thing I went out and got my own copy of the corebook. Based off of the excellent comic series and using a simplified version of The Burning Wheel system, Mouse Guard is brilliant in both theme and mechanics. I've played in and run several games and must say I find the idea of using the same mechanics for resolving any kind conflict simple but clever. I highly recommend this game, it ranks up there with the FATE system in bringing the role back into roleplaying.

My RPG collection further grew with a few steampunk additions: My ordered copies Unhallowed Metropolis Revised system, Space 1889: Red Sands and Deadlands Reloaded Player's Guide & Marshal's Handbook for Savage Worlds arrived. And in between life, work, Mouse Guard, and everything else I've been reading through these books. I still need to get a copy of either the Explorer or Deluxe Savage Worlds corebook to fully grasp the mechanics of Deadlands and Red Sands, but I purchased it mostly because my interest in steampunk RPGs and the worlds themselves.

That leaves us to our current month, which I'll detail in another post as this one's gotten rather long. :)