Amazing! Warehouse, Part 2

Rules of the Game

Title: “The Crow Has a Question” by Journeyman

A Writer’s Problems: First, a busy couple of weeks as I switched jobs. Also, I promised character creation rules, but as I was writing them, I felt that I had to revisit the earlier rules that I had set down, and present those first, so that character creation made sense. So first, how to do things and plan things, and then character creation next week.

PS. Some of what you will read below will seem familiar, but I have made some edits.

Planning the Season

You’ve got to know what you’re getting yourself into before you make a character, so read Part 1 first, and then let’s talk some more.

Your group has to plan its season, what other games call “campaigns.”

If you’ve never played a roleplaying game, imagine planning a season of a television show. The game moderator (GM) is like the show runner and head writer, and the other players are like actors or writers or both.

Unlike a television show, planning doesn’t mean pre-determining what will happen. It means deciding the kinds of things you want your characters to do as well as how much time you want to spend on the entire season, how many sessions you want to have, how often you want to play, and how long you want to play at each session.

Deciding what you want your characters to do and how long you have to do it is important because those two factors will greatly influence character creation.

Each of you will have your own version of the Amazing! Warehouse, and in each warehouse, many different stories are possible.

Some groups may want to play a game of blood, glory, and tragedy in which animals and workers together overthrow Oz and destroy the warehouse.

Others may want to play a game of mazes and treasure, in which a scouting party of animals raids the best parts of the warehouse, avoids traps, and perhaps fights guard dogs.

Still others may want to play a cozier game of little missions, alliances with kindly workers, helping those workers when they get in trouble, and so on.

Another group might envision a three-season trilogy, starting with something cozy, moving on to mazes and treasure, and ending with the overthrow of Oz and destruction of the warehouse.

Me, I’ve seen it all, done it all, had good times and bad times, so any of those choices make sense to me. They each tell a truth about the warehouse, and that’s the important thing. What I’m really curious about is whether you come up with something different.

Before the First Game Session

Someone, let’s say the GM¹ — the game moderator or game master — has an idea for a season of play, anywhere from 6 to 20 sessions of play, taking a few weeks to the better part of a year. The GM calls or messages people, usually friends, and invites them to play.

The GM emails everyone with details about the game, character creation, and so on.

The gaming group gets together, maybe online, maybe at someone’s house, maybe at a pub or gaming café. They have a Session Zero, in which they discuss the game, their characters, scheduling, and any concerns they might have. Sometimes they play a short introductory scenario, sometimes not. The game begins in earnest the next session.

Planning a Game Session

Running a game session as a GM begins with planning the game. This is the homework that the GM does. Some GMs like to prepare greatly, others not at all. I would suggest that you know your main antagonists well. Prepare their overall plans and know how they would react to the actions of the players’ characters. Also prepare anything you might be bad at improvising. For instance, I’m bad at coming up with names on the spot, so I make a list of names for any game I run. Prepare anything tricky as well, whether that is a likely combat scene, a villain’s complex scheme, and anything else that might give you trouble. Also, prepare anything you like to prepare. This kind of preparation shouldn’t take too long, maybe one to two hours per session.

Finally, don’t get precious about anything you’ve prepared. Players have a way of wrecking your plans. Cheer them on!

What kind of planning should a player do? Some just show up, and that’s fine. Others like to make plans, either from the point of view of their character or with their “GM” hat on. Both are fine too. Share your plans with each other and with the GM so that you can build off each other’s ideas.

Playing a Game Session

If you’re doing this in person, it’s a party. A bit subdued compared to other parties, but a party nonetheless. There’s food, friends, and a good time. Do something kind for the host if the party is at someone’s house, pay for the GM (if you can afford it) if you are at a gaming café, chit chat a little bit, catch up with your friends, wait for anyone who’s late (within reason), but make sure to move to actually play.

Once you’re settled, the GM starts the conversation of the game, often with a recap of the previous session or of the setting if this is Session 1.

One of the challenges of a game session is who gets to do what. Some players are reticent to act without prompting, either because they are introverted or new. Other players are comfortable acting on their own, and some may take over a game if they and the GM are not careful.

GMs should balance the amount of time and attention each player receives. It can be tempting to ignore the reticent player, assuming that their silence means they are having fun, and to let the player who seeks the spotlight take it and keep it since that involves less work for the GM.

Both temptations are wrong. A GM should only ignore a player who definitely states that they just want to be ignored. You may, of course, have a private conversation regarding that. Some people do have fun just being in the room. But you should never assume that is the case.

Letting a spotlight seeker take and keep the spotlight is dangerous. I have found it tempting in the past because those players are often a lot of fun, but if you focus on them too much, you are taking away attention from the other players.

These group dynamics are not just the responsibility of the GM. As a player, at least, you should be responsible for yourself. Consider what you can to highlight your strengths and make the game fun for yourself and others.

The Conversation of the Game

A roleplaying game is basically a conversation game.

The conversation usually starts with GM describing the scene:

The dragons (guard dogs) are patrolling the area around a new shipment that smells wonderful. Fresh meat, you think. What do you do?

To attempt a task, you describe what you are trying to do. This description can be a single sentence:

I try to sneak past the guard dogs.

I sniff the air for a scent of the guard dogs.

In halting human speak, I ask a worker, “Where dogs?”

And so on.

You might want more detail before you do anything, so you ask the GM questions like:

How many dragons are there?

Can you sketch the area for us?

Are there human workers in the area who might help us or hinder us?

Either you or the GM can elaborate on the description of your task. Describing your action will help you and the GM decide what traits and modifiers (see below for both) apply to the task. In addition, the more descriptive either of you are, the more that should be at stake.

Check in with each other when you do describe the task or your actions. Ask questions such as

Is this important?

How dangerous is this?

How much do you want this?

Or just outright state that this task is important to your character or tell the player that their character is attempting something dangerous or even outright deadly.

Once you have a clear idea of what you are attempting and what is at stake (more on stakes below), move on to resolution.

Resolution

The basic rule of resolution is that you compare a trait +/- modifiers to a difficulty number. If you meet or beat that number, you have succeeded. Otherwise, you fail. The interpretation of success and failure depend on what is at stake.

Stakes

Sometimes all that is at stake is the success or failure of a single task, such as whether your raccoon scholar can decipher the human writing he has found or whether your black racer scout can sneak past the dragons guarding the assistant manager’s office.

Even in those cases, it’s important to understand what is at stake. For instance, the human writing could simply be a workplace memo, so failure carries with it no particular penalty. On the other hand, it could be a page from an arcane manuscript, and failure could damage the psyche of the raccoon scholar.

Similarly, perhaps the black racer attempts to sneak in through an air duct, so that even if she is spotted, the dragons will have a hard time getting to her, and she can easily escape.

But suppose the situation is dire, and the black racer has to sneak past them on the ground. In this case, failure will likely lead to a fight.

Stakes matter a lot in combat. If the fight is even, then each combatant chooses the stakes they are fighting for. Some common stakes include delaying the opponent, restraining the opponent, avoiding the opponent, hitting the opponent first, drawing blood first, disarming the opponent, or injuring the opponent.

In an ambush, only the attacker gets to choose the stakes.

Sometimes an attacker has a tactical advantage, such as having a ranged weapon while their opponent has none. In that case, the opponent’s stakes are limited to mostly defensive maneuvers and perhaps closing the distance to the attacker, if possible.

Deadly Stakes

It is possible for stakes to be deadly, but most fights don’t start that way, even with the dragons. But once you fight for deadly stakes, especially if you succeed, your enemies will likely start doing the same. You won’t have to leave the table if your character dies, and even if your character “dies,” they might be transformed rather than killed. However, being on the receiving end of a deadly attack is still traumatic, even if your character survives, and the same is true for your opponents.

Save the deadly stakes for the end of the season or for those dramatic moments when you are going against a hated foe.

Traits

Traits are rated on a scale of 0 to 4, with 0 being low and 4 being high. Anything that is part of a character — skills, contacts, powers, wealth, and sheer talent — can be measured on this scale. We’ll get into more detail with traits in character creation, but, for now, know that each character has a trait called “Danger” rated at 2 (sometimes higher, rarely lower). The Danger trait covers the dangerous stuff that your characters might get into in the setting: breaking and entering, climbing, sneaking, fighting, cheating, dodging, lying, and so on.

Difficulty

Just like traits, difficulty is measured on a 0 to 4 scale. When you are opposed by an intelligent being, the difficulty is equal to a relevant trait that being possesses (or 0, if they possess no relevant trait). Otherwise, use the chart below.

Difficulty Description

0 Easy

1 Normal

2 Moderate

3 Hard

4 Extreme

Most difficulties should be 1 or 2.

Sometimes the difficulty of a task is clear, sometimes you just have to try and hope for the best.

Modifiers

If you don’t like your odds, shift them in your favor. Take more time to complete a task, get some help from a friend, ambush an opponent, and, in general, be clever, and you can gain up to a +3 modifier to your trait for a particular task.

On the other hand, sometimes your opponents are wily, and they ambush you. Or the environment turns against you, and what was an easy wall to climb is now slickened with oil. In general, clever opposition or bad luck or poor planning on your part can give you up to a -3 modifier to your trait for a particular task.

Push

In addition to the situational modifiers above, you can Push a trait to help you succeed. When you Push a trait, you lose one point from that trait. If that trait is directly relevant to the task, such as Pushing your Dirty Fighter trait to knock out a huge bruiser, you automatically succeed.

If that trait is not directly relevant to the task, but by some stretch of the imagination it could help, such as using your Wicked Gossiper trait to unsettle the bruiser with some personal gossip, you still gain a +1 modifier, and your modifier can go as high as +4 rather than +3.

If two players attempt opposing, mutually exclusive tasks and they both Push relevant traits, then everyone should take a deep breath and discuss the situation, and the GM should allow one or both to change their minds since this will not end well.

If both are intent on Pushing relevant traits in opposition to each other, then resolve as if they had not Pushed their traits, except that they still each lose 1 from their relevant trait.

1. Sometimes I have an idea for a game, and I create the premise and the rules, but I have another friend run it.