The finally-digital magazine of the University of Kent Adventure Gaming Society
- By Skimble
I recently had the pleasure of writing and running a one-off World of Darkness scenario called “Fresh Meat” for a weekly meeting. While I was working on the game I spent quite a bit of time thinking about the general process of writing a one-off scenario.
This article is the result of that thinking. Hopefully you will find it useful if you’re interested in running a one-off game, especially if you’ve never done so before.
By James Galloway
This short story is set in the same universe as my Monday night GURPS Monster Hunters/Cyberpunk campaign, a dark future where the lowlifes and mega-corporations aren’t the only dangers lurking in the shadows. Here a group of freelance corporate espionage agents find out that the simple job they thought they were taking on wasn’t so easy after all…
Cross checked over his pistol manually, just to be sure. The cybernetic linkup through his palm should notify him of any problems, but it never hurt to take a second look. Not that he was expecting tonight to be troublesome; he and his associates had been hired to appropriate a Eurere Biotech transport truck and drop it off on the outskirts of St Louis, a relatively simple snatch and grab.
By Ian Warner
Introduction
What the fuck? What the flying fuck? GW have shat on the Inquisition and focused their attention on their Chuck Norris Clone gimps in shiny armour?
Yes I know it’s a shock and will cue the nerd rage that once again the Inquisition has been forced to take a backseat in the wargame despite being the best thing about the Imperium. Especially as the goody two shoes Knights now have centre stage.
It appears at first that once again us Radicals have been betrayed in favour of our bone headed Puritan cousins.
However fear not this is not a betrayal. In fact it is a call to arms for Radicals and Inquisitor fans everywhere.
How? Well let’s have a look.
By Andrew “Rannos” Moran
Here is a Fiction Piece from my Changeling: the Lost LARP character.
Apologies for my poor grammar [What poor grammar? This blog has an editor for a reason, you know! - Ed.] and to Laura for putting my words into her character’s mouth. Hopefully she won’t disapprove.
I stared hard and warily at my ice skates. They looked almost impossible to balance on, having only small slivers of metal to connect me to the ground. I don’t really like the ice, not that I’ll admit it. Ice is harsh, unending and freezing, but worst of all Ice reminds me of when I escaped and was lost. Sighing slightly I started to remove my boots, doing so slowly in the hopes that the inevitable would not happen.
By Andrew “Rannos” Moran
One of the often underused attributes in any RPG is that of language. Most believable worlds are vast and have characteristics similar to our own and when your epic heroes travel further away it makes sense that they encounter people who can’t speak the same language as them, I need only to take a small boat ride to France to encounter a totally different primary language.
By Andrew “Rannos” Moran
There are many types of gamer in the world. To some roleplaying is their life, to others it’s just a casual hobby. So who are you?
By Skimble
Characterisation is one of the most useful skills that a roleplayer can learn. Done well it adds immeasurably to the gaming experience for both players and GMs, providing memorable characters and moments that people will still be talking about many years later.
Conversely, cookie-cutter NPCs and recycled characters can drag a game down, making it feel stale and forgettable.
The aim of this article is to give you a toolbox for building and portraying memorable, interesting characters who seem real (or at least verisimilar) to the other players. For the purposes of this article, “character” is used to refer to both Player Characters and Non-Player Characters.
If you have any tips or tricks you’d like to contribute that I haven’t mentioned, please tell us about them in the comments!
By Ian Warner
Introduction
Meddling Kids is, in all but name, the Scooby Doo roleplaying game. The players are cast as a group of kids who solve mysteries with the aid of the Games Master controlled Wild Card which is usually an anthropomorphic animal but can also be a sentient inanimate object. A flying toaster is included as an idea. The game was originally released in 2004 but had a poor critical reception. Recently it has been rereleased in PDF which is how I came to hear about it. My thanks to Pandahead Productions for selling me an original print run hardcopy though. I do hate reading PDFs for anything more than a quick glance. Anyway let us begin with a look at this baby. Continue reading ‘Review: Meddling Kids’ »
- By Skimble
Many of you will be facing the challenge of becoming a productive member of a new or existing roleplaying group in the coming weeks. This can be a daunting task, especially if you have been used to gaming with people who were already friends up until now. This is doubly true if you are joining a game which which you are not familiar.
So what can you do to make the process easier and more successful? Here are a few tips from my experience.
By Ian Warner
Introduction
To say the Monkey Roleplaying Game was hotly anticipated is something of an understatement. Frequenters of the Mongoose forums will be aware of the 100+ page thread begging for a Monkey Roleplaying Game. Well your request has finally been answered but not by Mongoose. D101 Games is a small outfit much like Postmortem and it is they who have published this long sought after Holy Grail of Roleplaying Games. Something of a coup that is sure to do well for them. Curses! Beaten to it! Ahem…. anyway here is my totally unbiased review of Monkey: The Storytelling Game of the Journey to the West.
Continue reading ‘Monkey: The Storytelling Game of the Journey to the West’ »
by Azrael
With Edge of Midnight Monday coming to an end, as Shadowrun Saturday did before it, I’d like to quickly canvas opinion on whether or not the readers of this ‘blog (if indeed there are any) enjoyed a weekly dose of RPG write-up/fiction.
Continue reading ‘Weekly Fiction’ »
by Azrael
31st October, 1949
And now, for the thrilling finale in The Death of Harry Fontaine, read on …
Continue reading ‘Edge of Midnight Monday: The Unmasking of Mr. G’ »
