Role-Playing Game Design and Publishing
SEP has published a few lines that may be of interest, and you can find a page devoted to each.
Centurion: Legionaries of Rome has characters serving under the eagles of Rome in her famous legions.
Nefertiti Overdrive is about high-octane, wire-fu action set in Ancient Egypt and includes a series of adventures that tell a longer story.
Sword’s Edge is a generic system for which multiple adventures in different genres are available.
A State of Play discussing SEP is available at Sword’s Edge.
My sound and fury signifying nothing has arrived.
A black ops team returns home to find that the tyranny they thought they were fighting abroad has taken root in their own home. These are patriots but to a concept of the nation that is inclusive, equitable, and lawful. That’s not what they see. What they see is encroaching fascism. They see a tyrant taking root. When a trusted friend and ally disappears, the team investigates, only to learn that it was their own government. And their own handlers and government contacts? They don’t see a problem. But there is a problem. And the team knows the answer. Sic Semper Tyrannis. Note: This is a work of dystopian fiction, but it ain’t that far from stuff we’ve been seeing in Western “democratic” countries. If you—the reader—feel affronted because you think it’s pointing to you and your beliefs as reprehensible . . . I don’t know what to tell you. The actions of the antagonists in this story are indeed reprehensible. Have you seen the skit from The Mitchell and Webb Look called ‘Are We the Baddies?’ If you feel personally attacked, maybe find that video, think about its message, and then have a good, hard look in the mirror. Note the Second: This product is free because it hasn’t gone through all the components of publishing that cost real money—like editing and layout. If you think it can be improved, tell me how. Leave a comment where you found this and let me know what you suggest.
This is just me screaming into the void, but hopefully it has some intrinsic value.
The final adventure in the Fall of the House of Kashta series—which is a fictional chronicle of the Assyrian invasion that capped off Ancient Egypt’s 25th Dynasty, as told from the POV of action heroes—is now available on itch.io.
Far from Kush, in the city of Abydos, enemies surround and hunt the Princess and the heroes of the Kushite Dynasty. They must cross Upper Egypt, a land the dynasty once ruled but is now the domain for the Assyrians and their local proxy, the Saite Dynast—the new pharaoh by right of conquest. Using wits, iron, and the love the people still harbour, the heroes seek to return to their home in Kush, to join their king and their kin, and to foil the plans of their enemies. A mere handful versus thousands. No problem.
The March Up Country is one translation for Anabasis, Xenophon’s story of 10,000 Greek mercenaries trapped deep in Persia. This adventure echoes that theme. It is the latest in a collection of adventures for Neferiti Overdrive 2.0 set during the fall of the 25th Dynasty of Pharaonic Egypt which started in Proof of Death and continued in Judged, Get Netiqret, and the Icon of Amun-ra. While designed for Nefertiti Overdrive 2.0, this adventure can be used with the first edition.
Two more adventures are in the pipeline. The first will be Daughter of the Sun, an update of the post-King Tut adventure that focused on the fate of his wide/half-sister. After that will come In A Sea Of Dunes, which pits a group of veterans against the authorities as one of their own because the target of a greedy governor.
As with all SEP games, this system requires cooperation at the table and a shared goal of telling a great story. It is the premise of SEP systems that the game experience should be fun for everyone and no player should be made uncomfortable unless that is a part of the experience of which they were informed and to which they agree. Shared respect and consideration among all participants are key to achieving a satisfying and enjoyable game for everyone at the table. If you disagree, this system and SEP games more widely are not going to meet your expectations or complement your play style.
Just letting you know that SEP has released a free game called F#ck ‘Em Up. You can find it here.
Things are f– . . . messed up. Really messed up. Violence is everywhere. Order is nowhere. The only good people are the ones without weapons. You’re not a good person. You have a weapon . . . well, probably more than one. Or maybe you’re the weapon. It doesn’t matter: you’re not a good person but you are out there helping those that are. Why are you doing that? Who the heck knows? Do you? Probably not. So, there you are—you and your crew—all alone against the world. In F#ck ‘Em Up, you play part of a crew opposing the status quo and protecting the innocents from the purveyors of brutality. Characters need to work together to gain the greatest advantage. The violence they apply can be physical, mental, or social as they seek to evoke change. There is no specific setting, but the struggle is against an oppressive status quo in support of those who are doing no harm.
As with all SEP games, this system requires cooperation at the table and a shared goal of telling a great story. It is the premise of SEP systems that the game experience should be fun for everyone and no player should be made uncomfortable unless that is a part of the experience of which they were informed and to which they agree. Shared respect and consideration among all participants are key to achieving a satisfying and enjoyable game for everyone at the table. If you disagree, this system and SEP games more widely are not going to meet your expectations or complement your play style.
While the movie Borderlands might have been a blight on the concept of civilization, the games are awesome. I’ve already kind of created my version of a Borderlands adventure, but what about something closer to the actual game and its actual plot? It’s relic-hunting in a post-apocalyptic dystopia. In this case, it’s getting a key and a map, setting you up for the further adventure
What brought the team together. Who cares? The team is together and they are looking to get rich. On this POS planet, that means finding The Bunker—a warehouse of riches and armoury of the highest of tech weapons. This planet was the sight of a war, the scars of it are everywhere. It’s just that it happened before people came here, and the civilizations that were part of the conflict were also consumed by it. Is the legend real? Let’s hope, because that’s your chance to make it out of indentured servitude to BAC Corporation.
(more…)Smuggling has a long history, and a lot of it is not exactly what you would expect. While now smuggling might make you think of drugs or people, smuggling has generally been a means to avoid taxation rather than a prohibition—though Canadian breweries and distilleries made a mint through smuggling during the US Prohibition-era, when alcohol was banned. Did the tea smugglers or the salt smugglers of the day face a criminal underworld like those that inhabit the drug smuggling world of today? Almost certainly. These were not cooking enthusiasts who just wanted to get ingredients to their favourite chefs! Smugglers did undertake some jobs we might think of as humanitarian—and some probably still do—but they were in it for the money, and not looking to better humanity.
But that would make a boring story.
(more…)I’ve been away, but now I’m back. More one-pagers on deck. This time, it’s a bit of a murder mystery. I usually do something like mystery box stories for my campaigns—there’s a question the PCs need to resolve, and it generally has many layers and red herrings. That’s not something you can really do in a one-pager as it tends to be too complex. It’s also very different from a murder mystery. In a murder mystery, you generally know the answer and work back from there to find out what kind of clues might be left. In a mystery box game, there often isn’t a single answer and the clues themselves are often doorways to greater mysteries. A lot of times, events or items in my games that aren’t intended to be mysteries become mysteries because of how the PCs interact with them, creating greater complexity—I’m also a fan of improv game mastering. Rather than increasing complexity, as the story moves forward in a murder mystery, complexity is reduced—the number of possible answers reduces to one.
(more…)The intent is for this to be set in the modern or near modern period. With the focus on a pirate radio station, it wouldn’t make much sense to have it set before the 1960s. Radio will probably continue to have a role in culture and communications for the next few decades, but already many are turning to online sources for the same purposes as my generation engaged with radio. In a cyberpunk setting, this might be a specialized streaming service. With corporations having so much power, misusing corporate IP and possibly siphoning off even the tiniest modicum of their profits, would likely not end well. The geographic setting of neither the city nor the origin of the radio pirates is specified. This is on purpose and hopefully will allow you to better implement the story for maximum impact with your players and maximum integration into your game. As will become evident, a diaspora is a key part of the story. Not providing specificity is not to imply that every geopolitical crisis that displaces populations is interchangeable, or that the populations themselves are interchangeable, just that many of the strategic factors are similar.
(more…)No one’s entirely good and no one’s entirely bad, and sometimes, bad people do good things. Usually, we’re all just normal people with failings who make mistakes. Sometimes we talk about redemption—but what are we redeeming? Most religions accept that people won’t be able to live up the tenets.
And it’s just fun sometimes to subvert expectations. The hero isn’t an anti-hero, just a person who made a mistake. This isn’t redemption, they’re not a bad person trying to atone, they’re just a person who can’t ignore suffering when they have the means to alleviate it.
(more…)Right now—in the 2020s—it’s K-Pop. Before that—at least in Asia—it was J-Pop. While there might be superficial similarities to manufactured pop stars and boy- and girl-bands in North America and Europe, the term Idol has particular significance when applied to the star system in Korea and Japan. These stars are not only trained in music and dance performance, but cultivate an image of accessibility and even connection—an intentional para-social relationship that is based on the idea that the Idol is just like you, they are your avatar in the world of superstardom, and that they rely on you to support and protect them. That probably isn’t true of every Idol and Idol group, nor is it necessarily intentional, but it kind of helps identify and categorize a particular approach and style.
And this is definitely not intended to denigrate the Idols. They are amazing performers—singers, dancers, and actors all in one. They work insanely hard and undergo incredible stress in pursuit of their art. Maybe they are doing it for the money or the adulation, but aren’t we all? Pick any singer-songwriter of note. They could have stayed in the coffeeshop or the club but they instead sought the limelight. We want to share our art with the world (man, can I relate to that!) and maybe bring some joy. I would expect that most Idols are no different. Money is how the world shows it cares.
(more…)
