I’ve finished translating another issue of Punho do Guerreiro, a Brazilian fanzine for Street Fighter RPG (SFRPG). Thank you to the original team for their hard work. 🙂
This issue brings us the adventure: Blood Ore. Circuit Legend Inspector Lee from Rush Hour, plus Circuit Prospect Victoria. The Maneuver of the Month: Double Hook Kick, and details about Creating New Weapons.
Here is another translation of Punho do Guerreiro, a Brazilian fanzine for Street Fighter RPG (SFRPG).
This issue is full of legends! Avatar the Last Airbender, Chuck Norris & Bruce Lee, and the Circuit Legend is Jon Jones! Simplifying Tests, plus a look at Emerging Narrative. Kabuki Town is expanded with details on the Jorōgumo Clan and their Arena Abandoned Mine. Also the U.S.S. Saratoga. The Maneuver of the Month is Transcendence.
This is the English translation of the Brazilian Circuit Guide by Eric “Musashi” Souza and Gabriel Tabatcheik, plus professions revised by: Odmir Fortes; the team behind Punho do Guerreiro (Warrior’s Fist). I think this is an excellent resource for any SFRPG game, check out this summary:
Circuit Guide is a supplement that covers characters of all styles at various levels of development, becoming an essential resource for Storytellers! Circuit Guide contains:
Statistics for fighters of all styles in low, medium and high ranks to be used in campaigns!
Rules for creating Animal Companions!
Animal Companions sheets and miniatures for action scenes!
This supplement should be used alongside Street Fighter: The RPG Game.
One of the important things role-players share is our own personal experiences, both within a game, as well as our personal life. Even when playing in a shared campaign and exploring the same adventures, like with D&D Living Environment, Savage Suzerain, etc., our experiences will be different. All the different games we play all help to build up our own personal library of references and ideas. The same with the different experiences and skill sets enhancing the hobby, particularly as more and more people join-in.
This is one of the reasons I strive to read/watch as many #RPGaDay posts as I can. Even if I personally feel that one post is dull or even negative, the next day the same participant can share something I find creative and/or clear. I also appreciate the positivity most have with this event each year, even when coming across a few negative comments; people have complex lives. I also appreciate that I tend to write a page or two, what I write about might be of little interest to a reader, or they’ve read similar before, etc.
Amusingly, initially I could only think of a few dull answers for this prompt, and then suddenly I had an interesting idea for my memory game about nonlinear experiences. After several hours of writing I now return to this document, and the topic of the role-playing experiences. I think this somewhat obvious post highlights that the RPGaDay experience has worked great for me.
So ends another month of thought-provoking ideas and participants sharing creative answers. I look forward to next year. 🙂
Street Fighter RPG
From talking to numerous players about SFRPG over the years, one of the games old problems was the lack of easy ways to make lots of NPC fighters. In particular the issue of Combat Cards, a core part of what makes the game work so well for many also results in a lot of work for groups, and usually the Storyteller. This is further exacerbated by the different XP and Ranks. If the game was being developed these days, I think embracing technological solutions would help the game overcome this problem. Fortunately these problems have been somewhat mitigated by the community. Such as Warrior’s Fist Special 3 (Punho do Guerreiro 3) providing a system for different XP & Rank ratings. Likewise the excellent Combat Chart Generator at: https://sfrpg.com/sfchartgen/
These tools and other community improvements have helped this game flow better and provide a better experience. 🙂 Imagine what a team with a bit of money could do. 😉
— Leojenicek #BlackLivesMatter (@D_and_DHaiku) August 31, 2020
#RPGaDay2020 Day 31: Experience. I gained a lot experience and understanding for my setting in using the daily notes, and I have already a few new ideas for "Cathedral". Hopefully, I will finish it one day!
#31 Experience "Clarissa, it's just a goat…" "Exactly! You don't know what they're capable of, I had many encounters with death and they were always there!" "Mind you, I had a literal death experience…" "But not with goats!"#RPGaDay2020#ttrpg#dnd#pathfinderpic.twitter.com/hXoFhQvwju
This is a non-exhaustive list; I still have many posts to read today, so I might be adding more links. I’d recommend searching the hashtag and judge those great answers for yourself: #RPGaDay2020, some people use #RPGaDay.
As someone that loves fusing games, portals are an easy tool to use, but a tool used badly can ruin things. Some of the multiverses of various comic settings are examples of things losing value/meaning when not handled with care; Marvel’s Incursion storyline, realities colliding and one being destroyed, can be considered a literal example of the danger of connecting two points that are not normally connected. The implications of Portals are explored in many popular settings, such as Farscape and Babylon 5 (in particular Thirdspace).
In a recent session of Mage the Ascension, (WoD: Sliders) a player that has slowly been learning the setting, is playing an Orphan trying to get to grips with their awakening. The Chronicle is a complex beast, the players’ clue file is currently up to 30 pages of notes, but they have learned that events in the area are connecting different times, spaces and possibly realities in strange ways. One day the party are talking with Hermetics, discussing clues and the Orphan’s visions about ancient Egyptian Gods, the next they have stepped through a Stargate and arrived upon a Technocractic space station. The player was giggling with joy at the vast differences in paradigms and realities, from the ancient world to being in the distant future. Then things got weirder, they were uploaded to the Digital Web, a sector with a Tron aesthetic. They are heading to the Spy’s Demise in tonight’s session. 🙂
All in all I had been worried it would result in genre whiplash, but the player said they loved it; the veteran Mage player did as well, but it’s all normal to them. 😉 I think it was helped by things having been foreshadowed, plus other weirdness building up. Another key factor was that ‘dynamic reality’ was one of the things discussed before even session 0. Likewise with my Fateful Memories D&D PBEM game I’m running, when preparing the game the player was happy to do something a bit different. The character is currently in Sigil. 🙂
Street Fighter RPG
Of course SFRPG already has teleporting ninjas, plus Warrior’s Fist Special 5 (Punho do Guerreiro 5) introduced a Portal Warp power. An empowered version of Elemental Stride, allowing for a team to pass through. 🙂
For my chronicle that was inspired by Mortal Kombat: Conquest, the PCs never developed access to reality portal generation, that power was kept with the Gods and a few divinely empowered items. I didn’t play a ton of Palladium Rifts, as a teenager it was a zany and Mega-Cool (yes, pun intended) game. The player that was introducing me to it was explaining about his plan to play a Juicer that was going to steal a Glitter Boy suit. That is the sort of thing I wanted to avoid with SFRPG game, well unless a group really wanted to play a game that allowed for Mechas performing Dragon Punches. Nope, I have too many games on the go to entertain this! 😉
#30 Portal "… this isn't what I had in mind when I said we needed a new portal for the bakery's entrance." "Y-yeah, I agree it's a bit early to start growing our business on an interplanar scale."#RPGaDay2020#ttrpg#dnd#pathfinderpic.twitter.com/v6NU7QcBKZ
#RPGaDay2020 Day 30: Portal. Portals always lead to adventure, whether that’s the Red Portals of Midgard, the many gates in Sigil, City of Doors, or a moss covered stone archway in the forest leading into the Fey Roads😀 pic.twitter.com/1tUm8xFP2j
#rpgaday2020 PORTAL is a really evocative word. The doors of Martin Silenus’ house in Hyperion lead to rooms on different planets. The Sandman draws a rectangle in the air which flares and becomes a portal to The Dreaming. The Astral Plane has colour pools to reach other worlds
#RPGaDay2020 – DAY 30 – PORTALS – I remember a group of GMs running a series of linked games at s convention across the weekend. The games were linked via portals, using versions of the same characters in each game. The characters entered portals which led to the next game.
This is a non-exhaustive list; I still have many posts to read today, so I might be adding more links. I’d recommend searching the hashtag and judge those great answers for yourself: #RPGaDay2020, some people use #RPGaDay.
I love when the entire group rides the wave of a great gaming session, like surfers finding a legendary wave, harmonising with the energy. One of my favourite campaigns was a Changeling road trip, as mentioned for day 24. One of the PCs was an Eshu who was a driver for the circus and a trained pilot. Because of their Eshu Birthright: Spirit Pathways, the character would often take detours on the trip. Many sessions felt like I was a passenger on party’s ride, whole scenes requiring no GM/ST feedback/comments.
Street Fighter RPG
In real-life the ability to ride out a flurry of strikes, or when riding the aggressive wave of a strong grappler, is a fascinating combination of perseverance and strategy; I miss training. 😦 When SFRPG first came out several players and I discussed how we could enhance riding out situations in the game. Some of the possibilities suggested were energy systems, freshness modifiers, comparison tables, strategy modifiers, but the conclusion became: this is unnecessary complexity for little gain. As we played and learned more about the system, we felt it did in fact capture these real-life experiences, whilst not interfering with early blitzing.
When preparing for this event I had planned to publish my mechanics for Wraith: the Oblivion and skin-riding in SFRPG. Punho do Guerreiro has Vampires, Werewolves, Mages and Changelings, but Wraith is a game I’d like to play more of, so of course I got talking with a player about a fusion game. Those rules still need a ton of playtesting, but if the mini-campaign goes well I hope to submit to the community for feedback. Maybe be published in Punho do Guerreiro 🙂 The player adores Wraith and SF, so the idea is to play some mini-sessions, exploring a Risen seeking revenge; The Crow but in Street Fighter; we have also briefly discussed Bryan Fury from Tekken.
#29 Ride "You, uh… you don't wanna go for a ride, do you?" "Are you kidding!? After you flew it while literally blind as we fled from that beholder, I was wondering when we'd do it again!" "We could get out of the bakery, see the– what!?"#RPGaDay2020#ttrpg#dnd#pathfinderpic.twitter.com/fSlQikYaop
One of my favorite Rpg sessions ever was a Wacky Racers session in a fantasy campaign. A hag the PCs had along ripped out the heart of a halfling engineer to empower the cart w/ blood magic. An old PC returned from the dead to haunt them. Good times.
— Joel Salda runs The Big Tabletop (@Saldamandar) August 29, 2020
#RPGaDay2020 – 29 – Ride. I’m not widely read in #TTRPGs but I’ve played a few and self published a couple. Thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve come across a game where the rules for riding a mount or travelling on a vehicle or magical construct were anything more than “meh”. pic.twitter.com/26PJW6vWXX
– Proper Carriage: A mount's tack/harness now fits with maximum comfort, 6 hrs – Grey Invitation: Allow a deceased soul to inhabit you, sharing skills – Irisride: Reach out to the spirit of an extant rainbow and be carried to any place the bow extends over#RPGaDay2020
Ride into the sunset: Do you have an epilogue for your campaign? Give players a moment to reminisce about their adventures, mourn friends lost, take in the changes (good or bad) they brought. Closure and a final time to bond is important.#TTRPG
This is a non-exhaustive list; I still have many posts to read today, so I might be adding more links. I’d recommend searching the hashtag and judge those great answers for yourself: #RPGaDay2020, some people use #RPGaDay.
The fun of a tense situation, characters close to losing but persevering and risking it all. When the stakes are even higher, no resources are left and the characters are close to death, what can the party do? The Desperation Attack, it is a trope that exists in some games. In my long running Legend of the Five Rings campaign, a PC Shugenja had used up all their spell slots and the player was haggling for extra spells. In the history of Rokugan there are tales of individuals sacrificing themselves (plus maybe their soul) to power incredible magic, so this option was presented to the player. Interestingly, the player choose not to do so, in part because they didn’t think it truly was the final moment for the party, but also because it set up a conflict for the character: Were they a coward for not doing so, or wise for saving themselves for a truly desperate moment?
Earlier in that same L5R campaign, a new player had joined the game and created a classic arrogant Crane duelist, but they had Dark Fate and Great Destiny. During a trip into the Shadowlands to destroy the Anvil of Despair, the Rokugan equivalent of Lord of the Rings, the party were being pursued by a powerful Oni. The Crane duelist dramatically revealed that this was their destiny, that all their haunting nightmares had led to this, why they were even on this suicide mission, but they could make a difference and save the others. The PC gave an impressive speech, revealed a prepared Haiku, and then waited to fight and die. We had not planned this; the player and I had agreed to keep the fate open, just a few nightmares about dark generic things, so I was almost as surprised as the rest of the party. As the party ran, the duelist stepped forward, becoming a Kensei (sword saint) and faced the Oni. The party survived, they later discussed the amazing honourable and glorious action of someone that they had disliked. Had his arrogance been a way to cope with his nightmares, living under the pressure and an attempt to psyche themselves up for the losing one’s soul?!
These memories additionally stand out to me in regards to this prompt because the player and I also discussed what happened next. How this was them closing their character’s arc. Whether the character was close to their ancestors, as well as ending their cursed ancestor’s legacy by defeating the Oni that resulted from their corruption. During the fight the character was closer to both themselves as a person, their duty to their family, Clan, and Rokugan, plus their sword technique was closing in on perfection. As the fight progressed their attacks became more focused, the Oni’s more desperate, until finally as the Oni killed them, their final action was to kill the Oni. They became close in death.
Street Fighter RPG
Street Fighter stands out amongst most RPGs due to the stakes of the standard arena fight not being death, but a chance to win and rise in the ranks of the circuit. Afterwards any normal damage suffered naturally regenerates after a 10 minute rest. Outside of the ring, the stakes can be just like any other setting, deadly!
For my campaign inspired by Mortal Kombat: Conquest, the PCs were empowered since the stakes were so high; the fate of the Mortal Realm. A PC could utilise Sacrifice but only if they sacrificed themselves in defence of the Mortal Realm. Remain active for up to 5 extra turns, even if dropped below 0 Health, however, if the damage takes them to -XX health (with XX being their normal full health), or all of the damage received is aggravated, then the drop down dead. This was an interesting idea, like the L5R one above, but sadly it never happened in game. Hopefully it can be explored and tinkered with in a future game.
#rpgaday2020 Day 28 Keep your friends *close*, but your enemies closer. PCs often forget that, but GM shouldn’t. Antagonists can be helpful for PCs, in the beginning they can genuinely like them, because they don’t see the threat. Just give PCs enough clues to recognize them 😉
#28 Close "Sorry, we're closed now. You can come back after my nap– err, in 15 minutes, though." "What? Again? But I came here an hour ago and you said the same thing!" "Why yes, this is a close-quarters bakery, y'know?"#RPGaDay2020#ttrpg#dnd#pathfinderpic.twitter.com/b6My7QSO6J
PCs expect closed doors they need to unlock, break down or circumvent. But what if a gate is suddenly wide open? What if the townspeople they were warned about are super friendly (are they)? Play with their expectations to keep them on their toes.#TTRPGs
How do you like to close a #ttrpg#story? Is there a full session dedicated to an epilogue or do the characters ride off into the sunset (presuming they were successful and still alive).
This is a non-exhaustive list; I still have many posts to read today, so I might be adding more links. I’d recommend searching the hashtag and judge those great answers for yourself: #RPGaDay2020, some people use #RPGaDay.
Extra busy day, so I’ll add to my answer for Day 2 Change. For my alternate SFRPG that was similar to the TV show Mortal Kombat: Conquest, characters could receive Blessings and Curses.
One favour a PC could have was the power to choose to reroll any failed test once, however, the God could then require a later important successful test to be rerolled. Until the God required the reroll, this blessing could not be used. It added some interesting tension for the PC, also it presented the puzzle: is the God basing it upon what is important to them, or the character? The uncertainty helped emphasis the Blessing and Curse nature of this Favour.
"…and as a token of appreciation, we shall concede our royal flavour to you." "Um… excuse me your highness, I guess you meant 'favour', right?" "No! We're exporting fairy sugar to you, how is it not conceding flavour!?"#RPGaDay2020#ttrpg#dnd#pathfinderpic.twitter.com/mSkC2izjQd
#RPGaDay2020 Day 27: Favour. It is said that some of the nobles living in the Stones are connected with the Singlarit and even owe them some favours. Nobody knows whether this is just rumour or maybe the truth. And hopefully, nobody will ever find out.
This is a non-exhaustive list; I still have many posts to read today, so I might be adding more links. I’d recommend searching the hashtag and judge those great answers for yourself: #RPGaDay2020, some people use #RPGaDay.
I particularly love games that have areas to explore the bizarre, but how to present those things in new and strange ways? How we present information goes a long way to emphasising the strange, differentiating things from the mundane. For games that are inherently strange, the peculiar can become mundane, because so much is weird; the classic advice of juxtaposing the strange with the mundane is something I find useful. Consider how time and space is a strange thing, and how our brains interpret them to make sense of all the noise, which is partly why it is easy for people to miss an anomaly when one occurs. Here is a great exploration of how film can explore the strange, Tony Zhou’s Every Frame a Painting video about Satoshi Kon and his strange use of editing:
Street Fighter RPG
Street Fighter has a strange setting, on the one hand it seems to be almost the real world, but then there are a few people using mystical abilities to hit each other!? So far the designing of my adventure Game of Death meets Twin Peaks has been a fun and strange experience, but I’m also aware I need to be careful in regards to not overwhelming things. The setting of Kabuki Town, presented in Punho do Guerreiro (Warrior’s Fist), is already an interesting place, so adding the Red Room from Twin Peaks might be a step too far for some. I’ll not put any spoilers here, but I wanted to highlight that Twin Peaks itself includes the idea of punching a supernatural entity, so why not take it a step further and make it a Dragon Punch?!
The Red Room as an arena?! Just think of the strange arena effects that could be in play. Can mortals even fight in that place?
"Aw, come on! We fought against dozens of monsters and literal tentacled cosmic horrors, and you get to call MY cake 'strange'!?" "B-but of course! It just means my opinion is more than qualified about the subject!"#RPGaDay2020#ttrpg#dnd#pathfinderpic.twitter.com/KPVip7IVPQ
Lily-Bulb Conveying: There are those who know how to place a message of no more than five breaths into a star lily; and since these lilies spread by great thin runners, and spawn many bulbs, the word can creep.
This is a non-exhaustive list; I still have many posts to read today, so I might be adding more links. I’d recommend searching the hashtag and judge those great answers for yourself: #RPGaDay2020, some people use #RPGaDay.
One of my favourite chronicles was a Changeling: the Dreaming game, each session generally had from 7 to 9 players, most of them also played LARP, so there were used to staying IC for hours at a time and chatting. Changeling can easily bounce between a wonderful mix of colourful fun and dark sadness, often intercut with humour that matches the mood. Part of the secret to the fun for that campaign was, after the PCs resolved a bunch of problems I didn’t rush to introduce new plot threads, because they had shown a desire to dig into each other’s history, so. Several sessions later the PCs had a long journey to undertake, instead of redlining (Indiana Jones) or a random encounter to break the trip up and ‘prove’ it was a dangerous trip, instead it was a dysfunctional group road trip; lots of minibus dialogue and herding cat toilet breaks. Sadly most of the players moved away over the years, so were got to play another chronicle, but one of those PCs is still active.
Amongst my old various groups, three of those Changeling players were known for their comedy prowess. How they would sometimes frame their character actions and attire, the little details they would add, in addition to what they said, that did so much of the comedic heavy lifting. Over the decades chatting with those players in particular helped me appreciate more comedic RP, and how to change how I framed a game moment, to try and have more than a one-liner. I generally have to prepare a comedy scene in advance, still not an area that comes easy to me, but with practice I’ve improved a bit. Helpfully Tony Zhou made an Every Frame a Painting video explaining the power of visual comedy vs a one-line presented in a flat way:
Partly inspired by that chronicle, years ago I pondered having LT LARP character of many years become a stand-up comic. I tested some of the material and got a reasonable amount of laughter, granted in part because of how awful a few of the jokes intentionally were. I’d played this character on and off over 13 years by the time I considered it, the character had changed a lot, going from confused human, to part Sluagh, part Fate Elemental. Those plans got postponed as many things happened in game. My current Orion Sphere LARP character is sort of a joke, but I decided against trying to be a galactic comedian; maybe if this character dies… but they are fun to play, so I am not in a rush 😉
Street Fighter RPG
All the groups I’ve played with liked the optional rules for Activation Words. How we use breath is a major factor in exercise, and thus fighting. Grunts and other sound exertions have also been shown to be a factor, but that is a complex topic in real life. Back to SFRPG, character’s channelling their breath into particular sounds during special maneuvers is not too far from reality, for super powered individuals. 😉
The usefulness of energetic yells, kiai in Japanese, is itself a fascinating area of study. Whilst practicing various martial arts over the years I’ve come across a few novel shouts. I was told about my favourite kiai by a friend, one of their Taekwondo partners who would quickly shout “Get away!” whilst doing a front kick, although more like a Muay Thai teep; the speed and anger in that “Get away!” declaration was apparently shocking.
In my experience, Activation Words are generally seen as a fun comedic addition to the game. This is maybe why some of the players I’ve played with have used the old Batman TV series words, or utilised random generators to either use a gibberish word outright, or to modify real words.
Using different maneuver names and tweaking them with random syllables was one method I’ve used. For example the old Warhammer Slaves to Darkness (Realms of Chaos) random daemon name generator was one method I used in the past to make up nonsensical words: rhoouuy phaoq’ wailash ulaa http://www.paper-dragon.com/fantasyland/daemon.html
I’m tempted to make a decent generator, but that will likely be a bit of work; I guess not a productive use of time. Besides some players are happy with a dull but slightly silly, “No!” for Block, which has been chosen by several groups I’ve played with. Whilst one creative player had all sorts of words, like “Waadooy!” for a fast/springy maneuver, like Jump or Kippup. I shall ask the SFRPG community as maybe someone has already made a list, or even a generator.
Nanba's Icepick: A decrepit-looking thing, its cherrywood grip scratched and pockmarked and the actual pick freckled with tiny rust spots, the tip slightly out of true. But with a touch to one's skin, one learns just how to break any ice with goodwill.#RPGaDay2020
I enjoy creating goofy, quirky characters and NPCs. Like this candy bot with a gambling problem from #KaleidoscopeRPG. He's banned from every casino (for obvious reasons) but can challenge the GM to a rolloff to affect certain outcomes. #TTRPGs#RPGpic.twitter.com/iz3wB5QV4W
This is a non-exhaustive list; I still have many posts to read today, so I might be adding more links. I’d recommend searching the hashtag and judge those great answers for yourself: #RPGaDay2020, some people use #RPGaDay.
Batjutsu 