GM Focused Playtesting

That's right. When you run a playtest it's not about those parasitic players. You're the one who should be under the microscope.

Not exclusively, and I talked about player feedback from playtests before, but I want to stress the importance of examining your own experience as the person running the game.

I'm looking out for two things:

Unfulfilled Wishes
Those mid-game GM moments when you think:

• "I wish I'd prepared X"

• "a random table of Y would be so useful right now"

• "I wish I could just roll a die whenever Z happens to see how it goes"

A lot of the random generators in Mythic came from this, and the broad guidelines for Exploration Actions, which were introduced as a replacement to a rigid set of actions (set up camp etc).

Glimmers of Gold
I like to note cool moments that happen in the game, even if I feel like they emerged from outside of the rulebook, and think "how can I make stuff like that happen more often?"

In an early version of Mythic, each player had their own set of quests, and it was fun when they lightly contradicted each other. The Oath ended up being a better way to give the knights a set of objectives that occasionally felt mutually exclusive and forced interesting choices.

The Link
The link here is that I'm often testing for content as much as I'm testing the rules. Yeah, numbers will need tweaking, mechanics can get tweaked or stripped back, but I'm just as interested in everything else that goes in the book, and how that gets used in preparation and play.

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Toolfeel

Sometimes it matters which tool we pick up.

It's 1981. The Roland TB-303 is a new bass synthesiser. It was designed to act as a substitute for a bass guitar player, much like a drum machine for a drummer. In 1984, after poor sales, it was taken out of production. The way you programmed sequences of notes was counterintuitive and arranging a proper multi-section song on this thing was a frustrating experience. More vitally, the sound was more angry toad than bass guitar, and many of knob settings could produce sounds so extreme that they wouldn't fit in any genre.

Some years after its discontinuation, people found a use for it doing this. The cybernetic meow sound was embraced. Short, hypnotic dance loops bypassed the need for long sequences of notes and even then the fiddly programming served a purpose, nudging towards simple single note sequences with a few accents or octave leaps or untamed basslines keyed in at random and taken for their imperfections. Those wild sweeping knob settings could now be tweaked gradually or impulsively, giving long form movement to those looped sequences.

I bought one of the more affordable clones of this machine last year, and when I sit down to use it I create very differently than I do with other tools.

Yes, you can plug in an external keyboard or sequencer to bypass the annoying programming. You can sculpt a wider range of sounds than you might think, especially using external effects. Hey, you can even bypass the inconvenient machinery entirely and use one of the dozens of software clones, bending the virtual device entirely to your will. Even with just the basic device, you can learn the ways of its sequencing to make complex tracks, and hone its settings to find hidden sweet spots of subtle melodic sounds.

But I generally don't. When I plug it in, I smash in a few random bars of notes, blindly apply accents, glides, and octaves, and let it loop while I twist the knobs going BAAOW WAPPA BAPPA BOWA BOOOOWAPA BA BA BA WA.

It's not a sound I would have chosen on a more flexible device, or in the creative infinity of a digital workstation, but when I have that machine in front of me I'm drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

I'm the same with RPGs. Sit me down with Traveller or 2400 and I'll run you a sci fi game, but the feel of each of those sets of tools pushes me in a slightly different direction. Of course I bring my own way of preparing and running a game, whatever the system, but the toolfeel is still there.  

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Intergalactic Skills

Oh, you thought your job on the ship would give you skills?

As if. Only life can give you skills, and that's something you don't get much choice in.

When rolling an Intergalactic character, roll d12 and d6 and consult the list of systems (the d12) and worlds (d6 in that system). This will give you three most important worlds to you.

The first is where you were born, and what sort of... being you are.

The second is where you were made. The world where you fully established yourself.

The third is where you were broken. How it all went wrong.

Each of these grants you a Skill and some extra stuff. Roll d6+d12 for each Skill to get its rating, working very must like an Electric Ability Score or a Mythic Virtue.

So let's do an example, limiting ourselves to the first few worlds because they're the most fleshed out right now.

Born [1 / 3] - Heap

You grew up in the crannies of the salvage heaps. Sometimes working, sometimes hiding.
Skill: Salvage.
You can smell and identify most non-organic materials as if they were hot food.

Made [1 / 1] - Ziggurat Works

You roved the neon jungle, managing populations of the most dangerous life.
Skill: Creatures.
Nano Rifle (2d6 erode, long), machete (d6 pierce)

Broken [1 / 2] - Wolf Pit

You did bookkeeping for a cybersurgeon before stealing their mistreated pet.
Skill: Administration.
Cyber Critter (Electronics 12, Scuttering 7, 4gd, d6 burn electo-bite)

So our character has their three skills, and we roll d6+d12 for each and of course d6 Guard, giving us:

Salvage 8, Creatures 8, Administration 17, 2gd
Can smell and identify non-organic materials.
Nano Rifle (2d6 erode, long), machete (d6 pierce)
Cyber Critter (Electronics 12, Scuttering 7, 4gd, d6 burn electro-bite)

Using Skills

Although similar to Ability Scores/Virtues in other Bastionland games, there are a few subtle differences.

• Because everyone has their own unique skills, sometimes just having a skill is enough to do the job. Got Surgery 5? You can do surgery under normal circumstances, but you'll need to roll if you're doing it under some sort of pressure. These are still called Saves, not Skill Rolls, after all.

• Skills can give you +d6 to an attack when relevant. Got Explosives 10 and you're throwing a grenade? Take an extra d6.

• Skills generally don't get reduced and restored. Injuries and other long-term harm are handled slightly differently here.

And what if you don't have a useful skill at all? Roll using the closest skill at half it's normal value. If none of them fit at all then use the lowest.

Need to fly a shuttle through an asteroid field and your skills are Dancing 12, Intimidation 14, and Burning 5? I'd be making the argument that my Dancing skill lets me focus on spatial awareness and control... rolling with a score of 6. If that doesn't feel right, I'd be halving that Burning 5 down to 2 I guess. Look, is there really nobody else who can fly this thing?

Scary, I know, and my alarm bells also start ringing, imagining the game deteriorating into debates about how applicable the Horticulture skill is when fighting a cactus beast, but I'd like to give it a try and see if I can give enough guidance to make it work.

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Fragging Out

Intergalactic work continues.

I'm constantly reminding myself that the first Mythic Bastionland playtests (then Primeval Bastionland) were based on an extremely rough document, with vastly different rules to how the game turned out, especially in terms of the structure of myths, omens, and hexcrawling the realm.

Even with such a patchy version of the game, those initial playtests were incredibly useful in working out what I wanted the game to be, and how I was going to get there.

So I'm trying to get Intergalactic to that point, knowing that anything I put in place for initial testing is ripe for the chopping block. A means to an end that may have little resemblance to these untested ideas.

Here's a grab bag of stuff that's currently in the mix.

Fragging Out
Most crew aim to cash in their record of service for a payout of Frags, enough to retire. Characters track this in as a Record score, starting at 0 and modified by the following events.

Year of Service (Hand): +1 Record
Half Year of Service (Head): +1 Record
Month of Service (Officer): +1 Record
Reward: +1 Record
Reprimand: - 1 Record
Early Payout of 10 Frags: -1 Record

20 Record is enough for a humble retirement.
50 is comfortable, or enough to captain a Boat.
100 is luxurious, or enough to captain a Frigate.

Becoming a ship captain is beyond a life’s honest work.

Incidents
For journeys of multiple days, roll d20. If this is equal or lower than the journey’s length then there is a mid-journey incident. If required, the d20 roll dictates how many days into the journey the event occurs.

Roll d6 to discover its nature.

1: Detour. The stars alter your course. If travelling between stars, roll a random world on any star. If travelling between worlds, roll a random world in that system.
2-3: Ship Incident. Consult a random world page.
4-6: Crew Incident. Consult a random world page.

Incidents may present an ongoing problem that will get worse if not managed.

At the end of a transit or cooldown period of multiple days, roll for each unresolved incident.

1: It reaches immediate crisis point, and will now be resolved one way or another.
2-3: It Gets Worse. The stakes are raised, presenting greater consequences if it cannot be resolved.
4-6: No Change. Things hold steady for now.

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Transit

Setting a Bearing
Before casting off, the ship must set its bearing to an agreed destination. This requires a meeting of the Bearing Council, which consists of the captain and their officers.

The Bearing Council acts as a microcosm of a Captain’s authority on their ship. Yes, the Captain has the power to assign, dismiss, reward, and reprimand their officers, but the ship’s destination is always subject to a vote. Even the Captain is just one vote, with ties broken by the Commander-at-the-Helm.

Captains technically have a veto, but using it is a surefire way to incur a mutiny.

Not every officer really cares where the ship is headed, so they’ll throw their support behind another in return for a promised favour.

Duties
There’s nothing worse than idle crew, so every Officers begin a transit meeting with their Heads and assigning duties, most being self-sufficient enough to continue their ongoing responsibilities. The Heads then delegate to their Hands accordingly.

Reprimands
Whether for a dereliction of duty, misbehaviour at port, or general insubordination, punishments are usually administered during transit. The most common are:

1. Night Labour - You’re given sleep suppressants and forced to work through the nights.
2. Beating - Good old fashioned violence.
3. Public Rebuke - A stern talking down in front of, and involving, your peers.
4. The Grey Cell - A sensory void, where even a few days can feel like a life sentence.
5. Demotion - There’s always a lower rank you can be bumped down to.
6. Debugging - Your mind is at the mercy of the Peoples Executive and their corrective methods.

Traditions

• Any brand new crew members are welcomed to the bridge for casting off from port.
• Officers have the first meal of a transit with their Heads.
• Stowaways are not punished the first time, but punished harshly if caught a second time.
• The Ship’s Song is sung before the first meal past the midpoint of transit.
• Those who die in transit are cast to the void.
• The Captain has the final meal of a transit with their Officers.

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This post was originally sent as a reward to all Patreon supporters, and is released freely on this site the week after its original publication.

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Bastionland Podcast Series 6

That's a wrap on another series of the Bastionland Podcast! If you haven't been following for long, here's the line up who each discussed three games that are important to them:

Episode 1 - LUKE STRATTON
If you ever meet a BORG-like sceptic, point them towards everything Luke has done with Pirate Borg. Always a pleasure to hear him talk about the pirate life with such passion. 

Episode 2 - AMANDA LEE FRANCK
One of the greatest artists in the scene right now and winner of the first guest of this series to make me go out and buy one of her choices.

Episode 3 - COLE WEHRLE
Continuing my theory that you can ask just about anybody to come on your podcast, even the biggest legends of game design, and they might just say yes. 

Episode 4 - GEORGE BICKERS
Creator of the buzz-magnet Mappa Mundi, the first brave soul of this series to bring a videogame choice. 

Episode 5 - BRAD KERR
Brad requires no blurb.
Brad transcends blurbs.

Episode 6 - MARK DIAZ TRUMAN
I feel like I could fill a whole series with just Mark talking about games. I'm hesitant to dig up the questionable OSR/Storygame divide, but if you've never ventured into the latter then listen to Mark talk about his picks. 

It was also a lot of fun making a piece of music for this podcast, returning to the hobby after almost twenty years away. 

If you're inclined to hear more then I'm challenging myself to actually upload stuff on soundcloud and over here with some cutting edge turn of the millennium visuals.

Decks and Compartments

Getting around a ship can sometimes be worse than getting around the galaxy. Any point on a ship is defined by its Deck and Compartment numbers. 

Decks
Standard-sized ships have twelve decks which, beyond the reach of traditional gravity, are rarely lined up like neat storeys in a tower block. 

Like this but worse

Compartments
Each deck is broken down into twelve compartments, each a self-contained room, bay or complex. 

Need a random specific place on the ship? Roll 2d12 on the big list at the bottom of this post. 

Transporters
Powered movers get you around the ship in the most convenient way, but breakdowns and re-routings are pretty common. 

Getting Around
Getting around on a single deck is straightforward enough, but if you need to get between locations on different decks roll d6. Roll even if you’ve already been there before: 

1: No obvious way to even get to that deck, you’ll need to go to a neighbouring deck and find a way from there. 
2-3: Foot access only, so you’ll be passing through a room on each deck on the way. 
4-5: You can get a transporter to a random compartment on that deck but then you’re on your own. 
6: There’s a transporter that goes straight from here to there! 

Ship Variation
Not every ship follows this precise layout, so roll d6 if you want to know the state of a particular compartment.

1: Nope, we’re coping without one of those.
2-3: It’s limited or in a bad state.
4-5: Yeah we’ve got one of them. 
6: It’s state of the art, big, or otherwise impressive.

Decks and Compartments

1. Command Deck
1. Bridge
2. Briefing Room
3. War Room
4. Captain’s Quarters
5. Comm Bay
6. Scanning Array
7. Study
8. Panic Room
9. Ballroom
10. Guest Quarters
11. Express Shuttle
12. Escape Pods
2. Wet Deck
1. Biolab
2. Hospital
3. Surgery
4. Well
5. Protein Vat
6. Pharmacy
7. Morgue
8. Arboretum
9. Algae Tanks
10. Air Cycle
11. Holistics
12. Filter
3. Cargo Deck
1. Main Hold
2. Bulk Hold
3. Small Hold
4. Vault
5. Hazmat
6. Loading
7. Freight
8. Pantry
9. Carriage
10. Inventory
11. Transporter Bay
12. Data Bank
4. Gun Deck
1. Port Guns
2. Starboard Guns
3. Turrets
4. Prow Gun
5. Point Defence
6. Magazine
7. Simulator
8. Generator
9. Targeting
10. Explosives
11. Flushing
12. Grease
5. Office Deck
1. Filing
2. Code Bureau
3. Payroll
4. Tally Office
5. Conference Hall
6. Private Offices
7. General Registry
8. Permit Office
9. Data Processing
10. Data Assessment
11. Break Room
12. Governance Suite
6. Security Deck
1. Arsenal
2. Armour Store
3. Brig
4. Court
5. Surveillance
6. Interrogation
7. Rapid Deployment
8. System Override
9. Boarding Bay
10. Access Control
11. Combat Ring
12. The Hole
7. Logistics Deck
1. Large Transporter Bay
2. Personal Transporter Bay
3. Pump Room
4. Recycling
5. Landfill
6. Sewage
7. Corridor Services
8. Commissary 
9. Ventilation
10. Lander Bay
11. Docking
12. Evacuation Room
8. Information Deck
1. Presentation Room
2. Training Suite
3. Chart Gallery
4. Counselling
5. Logs
6. Research Lab
7. Queries
8. Viewing Port
9. Deep Filing
10. Deliberation Tank
11. Lecture Hall
12. Secure Archive
9. Drive Deck
1. Cooldown Vents
2. Jump Drive
3. Cruise Drive
4. Manoeuvre Drives
5. Exhaust Recycling
6. Monitoring
7. Emergency Shutdown
8. Manual Steering
9. Manual Thrust
10. Intake
11. Valve Control
12. Emergency Brake
10. Commons Deck
1. Mess Hall
2. Tall Quarters
3. Walking Yard
4. Gymnasium
5. Bulk Quarters
6. Cinema
7. Hygiene 
8. Trophy Room
9. Vending Hall
10. Promenade
11. Memorial
12. Low Quarters
11. Reactor Deck
1. Wiring
2. Heat Control
3. Inner Core
4. Backup Generators
5. Power Grid
6. Gravity Generator
7. Main Clock
8. Frag Collider
9. Frag Condenser 
10. Fuse Array
11. Main Output
12. Extinguisher
12. Work Deck
1. Repair Shop
2. Union Office
3. Cleaning
4. Fittings
5. Hull Maintenance
6. Manufacture
7. Refinery
8. Brewery
9. Bar
10. Galley
11. Job Assignment
12. Machine Lounge

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This post was originally sent as a reward to all Patreon supporters, and is released freely on this site the week after its original publication.

If you want to support my blog, podcasts, and video content then head over to my Patreon.