Jessie's Prints - Episode 39 - Index Card RPG Card Back Stamps

This week, I are mostly been printing... Stamps!!

ICRPG CARD BACK STAMPS - Thing 6545499

My recent foray into the Index Card RPG system (ICRPG) involved a lot of DIY card making, which I love.

However, during play this presented a problem in that all my card backs where blank and indistinguishable from each other.  What I needed was a simple stamp which I could apply to my card backs.  

I find it useful to categorise my cards into one of 4 types:

• People - NPCs, Villains, Bio-forms
  
• Places - Locations, buildings, Landscapes 
  
• Objects - Things, weapons, loot, traps and trinkets
  
• Monsters - Stuff that wants to kill you
  

This would help me to keep my ICRPG cards organized and reduce seek times to a minimum and thereby make me look like a great DM.

Tinker Cad to the Rescue

My experiments making a plaque for my Cowboy Bebop Swordfish II model taught me that this was going to be easily achieved.  

Step 1 - Make a black and white image in GIMP where black is what you want stamped and white is what you don't want to stamp.  This image is then reversed and saved as a JPG or PNG.

Step 2 - Use convertio.co to convert your JPG or PNG into an SVG which can then be imported into Tinkercad.

Step 3 - Import your SVG into Tinkercad and scale it to fit inside your stamp pad.  Make sure that the stamp is at least 4mm high and that you create a backing plate at least 1mm high to connect all the pieces of your stamp together.  Position the stamp so that it intersects with the backing plate and then group the objects together.  Export this as an STL for your 3D printer.  

Step 4 - Make a wooden backing plate and handle for each of your stamps.  If you get into ICRPG you are going to be making a lot of cards and doing a lot of stamping so this step is essential for long lasting stamps.  I made mine out of some scraps of hardboard I had laying around and I glued some pieces of old broom handle onto the backing plates before supergluing my stamps together.  

You could of course model the whole thing in Tinkercad.

 

Step 5 - Stamp Away!! - I bought some cheap stamp pads from AliExpress less than £1.50 each and they have lots of different colours to choose from so you can have a different colour for each card type.

 

Buy Me a Coffee

I have shared the stamp patterns on Thingiverse, so if you like them, download them and print your own card backs.  Support the channel and please leave a tip in the jar or use the paypal tip link.   

Gold is Really Heavy

Well this week at work I had an interesting encounter with a gold bar...

I can't say too much about it but suffice to say it was really heavy and really expensive, £700,000 expensive to be exact.

This really was a bucketlist type experience.  Like when I heald a snake, the mind conjurs up an expectation of what that experience is going to be like which is at odds with reality.

I had an expectation that this was going to be heavy, but this was informed by holding other heavy things like lead or other metals.  Gold is much denser and therefore 80% heavier than lead.

Funnily at least two people I have showed this photo to thought I was holding a block of cheese...

Am I Too Late to Join the Index Card RPG Party?

I have been loosely following the exploits of Runehammer for a couple of years on YouTube and I had been intrigued by the concept of the Index Card RPG (ICRPG) but was always too scared to dip my toes in the water until now

First Impressions of ICRPG

As a no-prep DM, I am always looking for something that I can get to the table in as little time as possible.  Character gen needs to be trivial and the system should be easy to pick up with a few basic concepts and a comfortable familiarity for those players of other systems. In addition the system needs to lean towards narrative play whilst having enough mechanical aspects that hte inevitable combat and magic flow smoothly and consistently.  

ICRPG seems to have all of this but we will need to see how it plays and how easy it is for me to DM. 

Do It Yourself RPG

At the core of the game (it's in the title) and one of the biggest attractions is the index card concept. Brandon Gillam, the man behind Runehammer is of course a consumate artist and has drawn many of these flash card images which are used in play and you are encouraged to draw your own to fit your own game concept or storyline.

 

I'm no artist so the first order of the day is to assemble a stack of index cards with images from ICRPG Volumes 1 & 2 pasted onto them.  This took a few hours which I am sure to get back when actually playing the game.  

 

I'm going to sort these into 3 specific decks; Props, Places & Monsters ahead of my first game.  

 

(DM From the Future: Keeping these decks secret from the players is quite the challenge when all the cardbacks are white.  Watch this space for an ICRPG Card Stamp set.

First Play

I played this for the first time at our recent Dragons Keep Games Day to a small bunch of players of varying skill levels.  The objective wass to run through a few scenarios and see how the players took to the system and how much time I spent looking through the rulebook.

I thought about pre-genning some characters to get us off to a flying start, but time was not on my side.  I underestimated how long it would take to glue 100 pictures to index cards in the few evenings I had before Game Day.  I must find a way of printing directly onto the card or perhaps use stickers.  

However, on the day character gen took about 15 minutes. I need to create a quick flowchart for those not familiar with the standard fantasy or sci-fi RPG character tropes and having multiple copies of the starter character loot table and weapons is also a must.

The players chose their minis and, after a brief explanation of how the target numbers for encounters worked, we were off to the races.  

Generating The Plot

As I mentioned, I want this game to run for no-prep pickup, so I used the cards to generate the plot.  Ths is where ICRPG really shines as a picture says a thousand words and sparks the players imagination far more than any long description can.  For those playing along at home, everything in BOLD is an index card.

 

It wouldn't have been a fantasy RPG if it didn't start in a tavern so I layed out one of the village building cards that looked tavern like and then surrounded these with four other cards North, South, East and West.  This represented the rumours of adventure that they learned from the locals whilst they were enjoying their drinks.  They didn't fancy the desert of desolation, the barrier keep or the necromancers tower so headed off East to the mountains to kill a dragon.  "Now that's what I call worldbuilding!!"

Encounter 1

Heading out along the windy road through the low hills they encountered an abandoned cart with a broken wheel.  As they pondered where the owner and horse were I slapped down a Target 10 card and asked them all to roll their WIS for a passive perception check to detect the two animated plants that were about to ambush them.

They quickly got into the action and I explained how the range system worked.  

 

DM mistake number one was not reading up on the very limited magic system in ICRPG.  Mages start with a magic missile but the mage in the party decided he wanted to dehydrate the first plant.  As he had a spell book from his starting equipment, I said role a D8 and you can have that many spells written in your book.  Even if I had read the spell list I would probably have opted for something similar in any case.

 

Meanwhile another club member walked in so I threw him the rule book and a blank character sheet and explained the basics of character gen.  Combat was swift and decisive and it was not long before our new member of the party was discovered entangled behind a nearby bush.  He went off in search of his horse dobby accompanied by the elf ranger whilst the others set about mending his wagon.

Following a trail of foot prints I slapped down the cave mouth with teeth.  They approached cautiously as I really played up the jagged teeth vibe and they found dobby the horse inside.  At the back of the cave they found a rusty portcullis and a lever on the otherside.  The ranger ran back to the others to get help. 

 

The mage decided that casting a shrink/grow spell on one of the characters was the way to go and so a tiny halfling walked easily through to the other side.  This was another spell for the mage's book and we determined on the roll of a D8 how many minutes the spell would last for.  He rolled a 6, but I made a DM Decision that one of his other spells was a dispell.  The rogue was instantled restored back to his original size and with a critical hit pull of the lever the ancient mechanism shuddered to life and the portcullis rose.

 

Beyond the portcullis they discovered some Corridors and Stairs and I made the elf wizard roll a DEX check as he triggered a trap.  Looking above he saw a Dangling Stone Weight about to crush him.  He used up one of his spells, to stone shape the weight and the pressure plate thereby disabling the trap.  At the next corridor I told them that the corridor was bathed in a greasy red light.  I thought that they would pick up on the fact that they had essentially triggered the dungeons alarm system but sadly no.

Encounter 2

In the next encounter they walked into a huge circular room with a golden skull on a pedastal at its center.  Down went the 16 Target Card and a WIS check revealed the sleeping  floating high in the ceiling. 

 

A haste spell was cast and most of the party ran towards the pedastal but they were not stealthy and the beholder awoke firing off a couple of blasts.  DM mistake number two was not having read the monster description for the beholder which would have made it slightly less taxing to dream up some eye beam effects, "but this is not my first rodeo..."  

There was some really inventive spell play from Jason the mage and a lot of channeling of Indiana Jones.  The final encounter was quite cool as several players got blasted by various eyebeams and the players experienced the death mechanic, which was useful to know.

Eventually they discovered that the gold skull was actually The Skull of Calderon and they used its power to dispatch the beholder and grabbed some well earned loot.

All in all a very fun experience for all and a very cheap and easy way to get into RPGs or as a primer to running your very first game as a DM.

What ICRPG isn't

If you are looking for a system which has layers of complexity where you can build your character from a low level up to some mythical epic hero then ICRPG is not for you.  Character progression is in there but it will be fairly short due to the condensed nature of the game and it's simplicity.

What I Bought

• Index Card RPG Core (2nd Edn) rules - a soft back copy (surprisingly expensive in the UK) from eBay for £23.69 delivered
  

• Index Card RPG Vol 1 - 100 Cards depicting Props, Places and Monsters for fantasy games such as the Runehammer Alfheim setting.  Many of the cards in the first two sets are found as illustrations in the core rulebook.
  
  
• Index Card RPG Vol 2 - 100 Cards depicting Props, Places and Monsters for dungeon games.
  
  
• Index Card RPG Vol 3 - 100 Cards depicting Props, Places and Monsters for Sci-Fi games such as the Runehammer Warp Shell setting.  Cool powerloader image!!
  
  
• Index Card RPG Vol 4 - 100 Cards depicting Props, Places and Monsters for the Wild West Horror inspired Weird West Setting.
  
  
• ICRPG Target Cards - a set of numbered Target cards showing the easy (-3) and difficult (+3) target numbers.
  
  
• ICRPG Character Sheet - a basic character sheet which I printed at half size to create a booklet format with plenty of space for players to scribble their notes.
  
  
• 1000 Blank Record Card Cards (6"x4") - I needed to restock in any case as I use record cards a lot in my games.

Other Useful Resources

ICRPG Character Generator - like DnD Beyond for your ICRPG character and it spits out a nice PDF.

Is Obsidian Portal Any Good?

I am a big fan of session blogging and I try my best to log each of the games I run here on my blog or if i am a player over at the Dragons Keep Roleplay Club website.  I stumbled across Obsidian Portal as an alternative to creating my own wiki/campaign website and thought I'd check it out. 

What is Obsidian Portal?

It's essentially a campaign logging tool which allows you to keep track and share your adventures, characters and NPCs, locations and maps.

What I like 

It's Free - anything which requires a subscription has really got to provide me with something special which I can't easily get elsewhere.

It's Easy - If you can use a webpage and are familiar with how hyperlinks work, then you can create your own campaign wiki.   

Google Maps Integration - The ability to quickly and easily generate your own campaign maps and populate them with markers which link to wiki entries is fantastic.  The interface is a little clunky but it works.  I can see this coming in very useful as my players explore their surroundings.

Campaign of the month - The Obsidian Portal official blog Words in the Dark regularly awards creators and it's a great way to showcase some of the excellent work which people are doing for their players.

What I Don't Like

Limited Functionality -  Many of the advanced features are understandably kept behind a paywall.  I understand that this is part of their business model and if you gave away the crown jewels for free you would limit your ability to generate revenue. 

Limited Formatting - I am not a fan of the markdown engine it uses which has difficulty with basic items such as italics and there is no ability to add tables.

Summary

This is a very early review of this tool as I am still getting to grips with it and populating my own campaigns for Judge Dredd.  It's value will only become apparent for me when I begin to use it in anger as a wiki during play.

Check out my Obsidian Portal Campaign page for Meanwhile in Mega City One and follow, favourite or just give it a thumbs up.

Session Blogging - Why I Bother Recapping my RPG Sessions

I have mentioned before that I have been the defacto session writer for our group at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club for some time now.  It takes up a good portion of my weekend but here are a few reasons why I do it.

5 Reasons Why I Write Session Reports

1. It Engages Me - Yes, that's right, if I am scribbling notes througout the game I am completely focussed on what is happening at the table.  I've been roleplaying on and off for 40 years and it's easy to become blase and become distracted by the joking, camaraderie and snacking that usually fills up at least 50% of the game.

2. It Helps the GM - Most sessions begin with a recap of what happened in the previous week.  I have witnessed several instances of the GM logging onto the last session and skimming through their own game and pulling out the salient points.  It helps their worldbuilding consistency as there's always a reference to NPCs we have interacted with (especially those created on the fly).  It helps them to remember the important details of who said what and to whom.  

When I am the GM the session report is formed from my game notes and I get the players to read the report before we start the next session.  That way I don't have to do as much of a recap to the previous session and we start playing faster.

3. It Helps Players - Real-life happens and it is a more common occurence as we get older that we have to forgoe our game night to deal with other priorities.  Having a session blog helps missing players to pick up where they left and still feel like a valued member of the group.

4. Player Engagement - Players like to read about their exploits every week.  I know of at least one player in our group who loves to see their quotes in print.  They know that they can always send me an update or an amendment if they want to highlight something or heaven forbid if I got it wrong

5. Free Content for my Blog - A selfish reason, I know, but it hardly makes me a monster.  I love the fact that I have weeks worth of sessions on my blog which I reminisce about in my dotage.  I've also published session reports on RPGGeek, so if you are a member send me a gamebuddy request.

Why Don't You? 

It's surprisingly easy, why don't you have a go yourself, you just might like it.  If you are already blogging your sessions, stick a link in the comments below as I would love to share them with my readers.

The Scribe, by George Cattermole - Art UK

One Year On - Dragons Keep Roleplay Club

It's 2022 and the COVID-19 debacle rages on.  One of the casualties of the Coronavirus pandemic was my old club.  The pandemic was a catalyst for division and greatly reduced attendance as fear and panic spread across the membership, it ceased to function in any meaningful way.

Pulling the Plug

This club had been founded on the principles of democracy, every member having an equal say in how the club was run.  Unfortunately this led to internal politics when most members just wanted to turn up, play games and have fun.  Running that club became a constant battle of personalities, skullduggery and in-fighting.  The pandemic was a cover story for usurpers to spread rumour, lies and deceit in private channels in order to facilitate a popular uprising.  

Unfortunately, the patient was considered to be unsaveable and the tough decision to pull the plug had to be made.  This enabled the membership to ultimately make their own decisions about how they wanted to roleplay going forward.  The club was dead, long live the new club.

Sacrifice

Running a club is a thankless task and I have played my small part in helping to run numerous roleplaying clubs over the last 30 years.  The problems are diverse but mainly revolve around organising games so that everyone has something to play.  Clubs evolve organically, expanding and retreating as the winds of fortune blow and the real-life priorities of members compete for their valuable time and energy.

It takes a certain amount of sacrifice to run a club and a management team that can commit to doing what the club needs rather than what they need as a player or a games master for the good of the group.

I have learned a hard lesson in that a club is not a democracy.  Democracy empowers people with a voice and a platform upon which to speak their opinions.  However, without effective rules, governance and constitutional principles it can easily turn to Anarchy.  For a club to thrive it has to have strong leadership and direction, it has to have doers and not talkers, because ideas are ten a penny and talk is cheap.  A thriving club is one where everyone is engaged and they want to come to enjoy themselve and not to talk about politics or how they could run things better if only they had a chance.

Green Shoots of Recovery 

January of 2021 saw the birth of a new club, Dragons Keep Roleplay Club, founded by a small group of 6 people with the core principle of "being excellent to each other" and fostering engagement.    The management team run things for the benefit of members and the members only duty is to make sure that they and their fellow players are engaged and enjoying themselves.
 

One Year Later

I am happy to say that we have exploded in size and the membership has swelled to  around 25 members and every one of them turning up every Friday night.  We have gone from an online only existence, playing our first games during lockdown via Zoom and Roll20 to being once again an IRL club with 5 different games on offer.

We hosted our first Games Day and Christmas Party which was very well attended by members and a huge amount of games were played, turkey consumed and sprouts scowled at.  

 

 

We have produced a stable funding platform to guarantee our future.  We now have a merch store so that members can digitally pay their subs and help to fund the club through their purchases, a website which punches well above it's weight, a management team who understands what the members want and actively make that happen.

 

I am proud to say that we have created a space where people can put their work-a-day worries aside and for 4 hours escape to worlds of wonder safe in the knowledge that the people around them have their best intentions at heart. 

However, the most important thing is that this club is full of excellent people who are the most engaged bunch of players and gamesmasters that I have ever had the pleasure to call my friends.  Here is a toast to the future and the roads we will journey together.

Fellow Dragons... Live long and prosper.  

Secret Damage, Wound States and Initiative Cards

This post might be controversial but when I am running my games I don't like my players knowing how many hitpoints they have left.  I know, crazy right... 

(shuts curtains and ignores baying horde of players brandishing pitch forks and flaming torches)

The Initiative Card

The core concept behind this is my use of 5x3 Record Cards as a sort of mini character sheet to record each character's current Initiative, Hit Points and any interesting side effects they may experience in combat.  Each character has one, but so do each of the monsters or NPCs that are engaged in the combat.

A used Initiative card will look something like this

Roll for Initiative

When the combat ensues the players write their initiative in the corner of their Initiative card and hand it to me.  I roll for the monsters and do the same.  These cards are then sorted into descending numerical order and the combat begins.  My role as DM is then to tell each player when their characters card comes up and they can resolve their action.  when they take damage I roll and record the result and then tell them how wounded they are.

In the Real World there are no Health Bars

In real life, if you become injured you don't know how close to death you might actually be.  Beyond the sensation of pain or a physical cut, stab wound or a broken leg you really have no idea if you are about to shuffle off this mortal coil or bleed out in 10 hours.  Cut to the RPG and we've all had the experience of taking the fight to the enemy even when we are on our last hit point.  Does that seem like the action of a hero to you?  It's the not knowing if you are going to make it which makes the self sacrifice heroic.

Enter the concept of Wound States these are simple subdivisions of your characters hit points into one of 4 wound states:

• Bruised - less than 75% (3 quarters) of your Hit Points left.
  
• Bloodied - less than 50% (half) of your Hit Points left. 
  
• Battered - less than 25% (1 quarter) of your Hit Points left.
  
• Unconcious - 0 Hit Points left.
  

When you get damaged by an opponents attack that moves your character into a new wound state then I will update you.  Armed with this knowledge It is your decision to push your luck and to continue to fight or not.

The inspiration for this push your luck mechanism was in the video game Driver 2 (correct me if I am wrong) in which you had to hazard a guess at how physically injured you were by the increasingly laboured way the character walked.

Passing Other Secret Info

I don't know about your players but some of mine are want to loot bodies and stash those special items before announcing that they didn't find anything.  Sometimes I want to drop a hint that they might have discovered something during combat that they don't realise is important until after the fight is done. The initiative card system allows me to do this effortlessley without breaking out of combat unnecessarily or telling the world and their wife what only the character should know.   

Am I still Crazy?

Now that you've heard about it, what do you think?  Am I still a madman or is this a technique you'd like to inject into your games?  Answers in the comments below.

The Self Insert. Is this valid roleplay or just bad roleplay?

I came across this term whilst browsing YouTube and I have to confess that I hadn't heard of it before.  It would seem to originate from the world of academia and specifically media studies.  As the Urban Dictionary puts it:

  "When an author or writer puts themselves into a story they have written as a character."

I can see where this literary concept might be fun for the author and a hidden easter egg for the reader,  but does it translate to roleplaying games.

Who is the Author in an RPG?

Technically speaking it is the Games Master, they write the plot and the players inhabit characters within that plot.  That said, the players are collaboratively creating the story within the boundaries of the plot and could also be considered authors.  They certainly have free creative rein when it comes to their own character and how that character impacts on the world that they share with the other players.

I have witnessed that inexperienced players, or dare I say the less imaginative players, will naturally want to put themselves in the game rather than playing their character.  I think that this is a by-product of how we are exposed to fantasy and science fiction tropes these days and how they are born.

The creators of most RPGs drew their inspiration from the media of their day, the great fiction writers of the day who were collectively read by a large part of the RPG fandom.  We all read the same books so we had a shared understanding and acceptance of the concepts we consumed.  The characters were largely the work of one person, maybe two and often spanned epic cycles like scandanavian sagas.

A lot of the media we consume today is watched and not read and is the creative endeavour of many people from Directors to screenwriters to producers, each one has their own vision of what should happen and where the story should go.  These stories are then fed into the studio screening system where analysts record audience reaction in a minute detail.

The danger with this system is that we are forced to watch the current crop of Hollywood stars essentially play themselves in whichever cinematic masterpiece they are currently attached to.  You know the ones, Arnie, Sly, Statham, and Johnson.  They aren't being paid to be someone else they are being paid to play themselves.  This isn't the exclusive preserve of the action genre there are plenty of talented actors out there who can't help but play themselves, even the likes of method actors such as Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Lawrence have their moments of phoning it in.   

I always try to encourage my players not to inject their personality or knowledge into their PC in order to inhabit the character.  If you were playing a Mega City One Judge you would play up the harsh and brutal nature of the job despite what your personal thoughts are about the crime and punishment.  Similarly if you are playing in a fantasy campaign it would be anachronistic to use modern understanding of science to Macguyver your way out of a situation.       

Your Character is not You

The challenge, nay the fun of roleplay is the opportunity to play someone other than yourself.  That might mean you are a 6 foot tall one legged retired pirate who pretends to be a Dwarf or a 85 year old art historian named Gertrude with a penchant for the hurdy gurdy.  These are not extensions of your own persona they are persona's all of their own.  

Your character sheet, stats, backstory and ephemera that you create to describe the person you are playing are all tools to help you to portray that person.  The art of roleplaying a character is to get inside your characters head and to come up with a believable and convincing portrayal.

Inserting yourself into your character is easy because your motivations and feelings are second nature.  If you are playing a streetwise orphan in a sprawling fantasy undercity your middle class sensibilities are going to seem out of place in a dog eat dog world where you have to survive on your wits and be prepared to do whatever it takes otherwise you don't eat tonight. 

Representation

I have heard it said that roleplaying games need to be more inclusive and representative.  The crux being that unless people see themselves represented in RPGs that they don't feel like it is "for them".  

I'm not so sure I get this argument which it would seem stems from traditional media such as books, movies, TV and even video games.  These media are traditionally consumed, the reader / player has limited agency with regards to the direction of the story or the major NPC characters encountered.  Even with video games where you might have some input in what your character looks like, if the options aren't programmed into the game then it doesn't appear.

Roleplaying has never suffered from these issues because you, the GM and the other players make the game what it is.  Important NPCs are often pulled directly from your back story, your species and their cultures have always been yours to houserule to your hearts content.  

This should not be confused with the goal of increasing diversity within the RPG Industry.  This is absolutely to be encouraged so that we get more diverse ideas and inspiration for the stories we continue to enjoy. 

What the designers of the latest D&D edition may put in their book may or may not make it to the table in my games and there's no way that anyone can "police" how I use the content once I've bought the books.  What flys at the table is that which the group collectively agree is acceptable.  If I want to include a story arc that has the heroes being enslaved by the villains so that they can bring the whole evil practice to a permanent end then I should be able to. The classic Heroes Journey as they confront absolute evil has to be a challenge otherwise it becomes insignificant.  Barely an inconvenience.  

Similarly If I want to outlaw the +1 wheelchair of dungeoneering in place of a house rule magical armature of mobility then so be it.  I might want all my drow to be evil to allow a player to be the mythical rebellious "Good" drow, then that's fine too.  In fact the whole concept of evil bad guys and good rebels throwing off their cultural heritage falls apart if these tropes don't exist. 

Okay which one of you is a rebel sympathiser?

Which is why I am a little bemused by the whole narrative that seems to swirl around the internet these days which states

"I can only feel comfortable and safe if I can see myself represented in the game and you are a bad person for not understanding my feelings".  

I thought the express purpose of roleplaying games was not to be yourself and to have fun being challenged with making decisions you might not personally agree with safe in the knowledge that this isn't real life, it's just makebelieve.  To demand that the industry makes RPGs some kind of non-triggering safe place by design removes that quintissential element of challenge and seems like the presumptuous demands of a self insert to me.

If the imaginary world you inhabit is safe and non threatening, why do we need heroes?

Zone Maps - Map Making for the Lazy Games Master

I am a big fan of any technique which can minimize the amount of time I spend prepping a game and maximise the utility during play.

What is a Zone Map?

Put simply these are maps which don't try to show things like distance or scale in favour of the relationships that the different elements have with one another.  This is a concept popularized in the game fate and its descendants.  

My own exposure came in the form of Starblazer Adventures (Cubicle 7) which is a monstrous tome but my go to Space Opera systemand I have even adapted it for a Fate Judge Dredd Campaign.

The beauty of a Zone Map is that you don't need any kind of cartographic skills in order to produce them.  You just need to know what the relationships are between the zones.  They also don't pay any particular respect to scale or distance and so they can be used to represent anything from a building to a galaxy.

Show and Tell

Its easier to show rather than to tell so here are a couple of maps from one of my Judge Dredd games to illustrate a few of the different styles I use.

The examples above are sketched onto 5"x 3" Index Cards which is incidentally my favourite method for initiative tracking in RPGs but I will talk about that in another post.

Zone Map Resources

• Show Me Your Fate Style Zone Maps - A great Reddit thread with a lot of inspiration  
• Fate Zone Map Pack - If you prefer a flowchart design try these from DriveThruRPG
• Fate Zone Maps Tumbler - A bunch of different maps including a jungle map I might steal... 
• Using Abstract Maps in D&D - A look at how you can use the zone map in your D&D game

Show Me Yours

Have You used zone maps in your games? Share your experience in the comments section below.

The Perfect Gamer Notebook?

I have recently taken up the mantle as session reporter in the Savage Worlds Hellfrost game which is run every Friday night at my game group Dragons Keep Roleplay Club, in Chislehurst, South East London.

I've been using a less than practical A6 sized filofax style notebook that I bought as part of my Random Wish Roleplay Stuff challenge.  This got me thinking about...

What Should the Perfect Gamer Notebook Look Like?

The criteria are simple.  It needs to be:

• Sturdy and Secure - Your notebook will get tossed into a bag and rattle around with all of your other Roleplay gear so a sturdy cover is essential.  An elastic ribbon or similar to keep it all closed up would be double handy too.
  
  
• Good for Mapping - Having squared paper is essential when you get tasked with being the map scribe for the night.
  
  
• Lined for Legibility - My penmanship is not great at the best of times so having lined paper is an essential to keep your notes in check
  
  
• Good for Sketches - Sometimes you just need a space to sketch.  Maybe it's a character portrait, maybe an object or a symbol.  Having an unlined plain white background is useful if you want to digitise the image
  
  
• Session Info - A space where you can write that all important session info like date or session number.  Very helpful when you are playing multiple different games.
  
  
• Loose Pages - Having ring bound pages is a great way to keep your campaign notes organised.
  
  
• Compact and Bijoux - Let's face it by the time you have your rulebooks, character sheet, pencils, dice and tray, snacks and a drink on the table there's not much room left.  Having a large A4 sized notebook is probably a step too far, A5 is about the maximum size for the cramped playspace and still be a useable size.

Have you seen a great notebook.  If so pop a comment in the box below.

Why a Canonical D&D is the Only Way Forward for WotC

ComicBook.com reported recently that Principal D&D designer Jeremy Crawford offered clarity on the subject of what is canon in the Dungeons and Dragons RPG world.

Crawford said.

"Basically, our stance is that if it has not appeared in a book since 2014 [the year that Dungeons & Dragons' Fifth Edition core rulebooks came out], we don’t consider it canonical for the games."

Typically this got a fractured response from the RPG community who are typically divided into two camps, those who slavishly follow the product/story lines of D&D and everybody else.

Why a D&D Canon is Important to WotC

Wizards of the Coast is a business owned by toy making giant Hasbro.  Dungeons & Dragons is just one of its properties, not the most profitable one but it is the most recognised brand in the Tabletop Role Playing Game (TTRPG) sector.  Each edition of D&D has its own life span.  At the time of writing 5th edition is 7 years old and as with any games system the bulk of its sales will always come initially from the sale of its core rulebooks and as the edition ages these are overtaken by supplemental materials such as adventures, settings, campaigns and other entertainment properties.  

Older gamers like myself have seen this pattern repeat itself over many editions of many games systems.  It's similar to the way that movie and tv franchises like Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica have been rebooted multiple times over many decades.

The rise in popularity of streamed D&D game channels such as Critical Role or Acquisitions Incorporated has changed the audience dynamic,  For some their only experience of D&D is watching it being played by people on Twitch, YouTube etc.  They passively consume the content in exactly the same way as you would a movie.  It is a story from beginning to end and a history of play emerges which becomes canonized episode by episode.

When this audience wants to begin playing their own sessions their desire is to emulate what they have watched, after all it is their only frame of reference.  WotC needs to take this into account and provide a world and a shared canonical history which they can control in order to feed the various different projects that they have planned for this edition of D&D such as movies, books, TV series and merch, merch, merch. 

It's not personal it's just business - The Godfather

If WotC D&D is to make more money then they have to sell more than just rule books.  They have to control their universe to make other properties easy to write and to enable their consumption as passive entertainment.  Good luck to them I say.

So why are some people getting upset about this?

Older players might view this as just one more betrayal in a long list where WotC is taking their beloved franchise and turning it into something else entirely.  We've seen this happen across all of the rebooted movie and TV franchises in recent times but I don't think we are going to see the same voracity or backlash in D&D.

But stop, calm down, put down the keyboard and step away from the monitor...

Everyone's D&D Experience is Different.

Playing D&D is not like watching a movie, reading a book or watching a twitch stream of internet celebrities playing a game of D&D.

When we play D&D we do not play the same game, the choices we make during the game change the story and our experience becomes unique.   How the Dungeon Master brings the story to the table, the characters in the adventure, how the rolls go, how players react to events, everything becomes a unique experience.

With the best will in the world, once those books leave the store, WotC has lost all control of how they are used, interpreted, played, written about, podcasted and most importantly experienced.  Your D&D experience is a product of all the choices and decisions made around your table regardless of what the author, designer, WotC or Hasbro might say.

The D&D Expanded Universe (DDEU) vs My Exapanded Universe (MEU)

WotC is carving out it's DDEU so that it can continue to make products for the coming years.  To me this signals that 5e is here to stay for many years.  It wants to homologate these products into a framework of historical canon which helps its many writers and designers to navigate the confusing and inconsistent waters of a property that has existed across many different editions over the last 5 decades. 

Good for them.

My Epanded Universe will continue to beg, borrow and steal it's material from anything which I have read or watched in my 5 decades.  WotC can't police what I'm doing with it's product, it doesn't dictate what can happen in my games, my players do. 

Good for them.

The Only Thing that Matters is Having Fun

The concept of control strikes at the heart of the recent "Culture Wars" that are ongoing in every hobby and every social or political structure at the moment.  The incessant labelling of ist, ism and phobe being bandied about on the cesspool of social justice that is social media (mostly twitter) is a mask worn by those without imagination and creativity. 

These people play the person and not the ball because they cannot win (control) the argument.  The only way to win the argument is to not play the game by their rules.  The recent debacle with the relaunched TSR is a case in point.

What happens in your game, what rules you specify for the alignment or moral choices made by orcs and dark elves or what frameworks you implement to ensure that your games are internally consistent (or wheelchair accessible) are for you and your players to decide.        

WotC and the horde of blue check mark allies can shout all they want and try to define what is and what isn't D&D.  I am not forced to use what WotC is selling to still play D&D, those books walked out of the store many years ago.  If they sell something I like I might buy it.  If they don't I won't.

In summary the only voices I hear are the ones around my table.  If they don't like something they'll tell me.  If they like something, they will be laughing and having fun.

And that my friends, is all that matters.

It's Games Master Appreciation Day

March 4th is Games Master Appreciation Day so show some love to those people who make your game happen.

 
I've been a Games Master on and off for well over 35 years and whilst it is a heck of a lot of work it is one of the most rewarding experiences in the hobby. I do it because:

1. I have stories that are begging to be told.  Sometimes it's a funny idea I dreamed of in the shower, sometimes it is a puzzle I want to put in front of my friends to solve.  Often it's just an interesting story idea that I want my players to enjoy.
   
   
2. I enjoy the collaboration.  I feel that GMs who don't feed off the ideas that their players generate are missing a trick.  Tabletop RPGs are a collaborative experience and that comes down to the plot and the storyline.  Many times I am stunned by the creativity of my players.  They will often come up with alternative ways to resolve encounters that I never imagined or they will ruminate on a possible scenario which is may more interesting than I could dream up.
   
   
3. I enjoy the pressure.  GMing can be hard at times, you are juggling a lot of balls most of the time whilst trying to keep your players engaged. 
   
   
4. I enjoy learning from my mistakes.  Even after 30+ years behing the Dungeonmasters Screen I'll admit that I get it wrong.  I love when my players tell me that I did a good job but even more, I look forward to them telling me when I did something that didn't make sense to them.  This gives me an opportunity to try something different.
   
   
5. I enjoy Seeing players laugh and smile.  At the end of the day this is why we are Games Masters.  It's having fun with your friends and getting them to put their ordinary lives into the background for a few hours and just have some fun. 

Check out some of the other Appreciation Days I have added to my Geeks & Gamers Social Media Calendar.  Have a date you think we should celebrate or a story you want to share with the community then pop a comment in the box below.

Judge Dredd Random Crime Drop Table

I wouldn't be much of a fan of the Old School Rennaisance (OSR) of Roleplaying if I didn't love making a drop table every now and then.

How To Use the Judge Dredd Random Crime Drop Table

• Download it and print it out.  
  
• Grab some dice 
• Roll up some Crimes
  

SAMPLE CRIMES & SENTENCES

Armed Robbery - As the Judges pass by the Bank / Shop / Truck an alarm sounds and a group of balaclava wearing perps start blazing away with their spit guns.  SENTENCE: 18 to 30 years.

Arson - An eagle eyed judge spots a perp running away from a smoking building / vehicle / vending machine - SENTENCE: Life

Assault - A fight breaks out between some citizens and the PCs need to break it up.  SENTENCE: 1 to 5 years for brawling,  3 to 10 years if anyone is seriously injured.  10 years if someone injurs a Judge or a public figure.

Boinging in Public - The tranquility is broken by screams as a giant bouncing ball careens through the crowd.  SENTENCE: 20 years.

Coercion to Suicide - A Judge spots a citizen about to take a dive and a crowd is urging them to jump.  SENTENCE: 10 to 15 years.

Comic Book Smuggling - A comic book smuggler is peddling his filth to you impressionable juves.  SENTENCE: 6 months for possession, 5 to 18 years for trading.  10 to 25 years for manufacture or smuggling.

Criminal Damage - Venting your spleen against a Building / Car / Vending Machine / Robot / Street Furniture is no way for a citizen to behave.  SENTENCE: 2 to 6 years.

Disorderly Conduct - Covers a wide range of minor public order crimes including queue jumping, being drunk or homeless, begging.  SENTENCE: 1 to 5 years.

Dunking - An alert Judge spots a dunker with their hand in someone else's pocket.  SENTENCE: 2 to 7 years.    

Forgery - Despite advances in modern crypto technology there is still a brisk trade in illegal documents and counterfeit cred sticks.  Your Judges might stop someone for a minor traffic violation and their Drivers License doesn't pass the sniff test.  SENTENCE: Posession 2 to 8 years, Forgery 8 to 15 years.  

Illegal Gambling - There are plenty of sanctioned venues such as Robo-Fighting, Slot Parlours and Bingo Halls but that doesn't stop citizens from indulging in this most destructive of vices. 
Be it a pedwalk game of 3 Shells or a friendly side bet at the Shuggy table your average citizen will bet on just about anything, anywhere, anywhen.  SENTENCE: Attendance at an illegal event 2 to 6 years, organising 10 to 15 years.

Illegal Trading - Many citizens turn entrepreneur to make a few extra credits on top of their welfare checks.  Trading without a license or trading in a proscribed location is illegal.  SENTENCE: 2 to 5 years.  

Jay Walking - Walking on a highway (or in a designated running zone, or running in a walking zone) is an offence.  Better to nip it in the bud Judge.  SENTENCE: 3 to 12 months.

Jimping - There's something funny about those Judges over there.  Their uniforms aren't regulation spec.  Judge Impersonation (or known perp impersonation) is no joke, especially at halloween, comic-cons (because comics are illegal remember) and dinner parties.  SENTENCE: 1-5 years for defamation.  10 years if committing another crime.

Littering (and Spitting) - Statistically speaking one of the most common gateway crimes.  Despite a zero tolerance policy and stiff sentencing millions of citizens every year start out on the long downward slope into progressively more serious criminality.  Criminologists have suggested that once a perp enters into the Justice System that it is the system itself which brutalises and criminalises citizens.  Needless to say those criminologists are behind bars.  SENTENCE: 3 to 6 months.

Parking Violation - There's no excuse for bad parking especially when the cars can do it for you.  SENTENCE: 1000 C Fine or 1 Year.

Rioting - Mega City One is a powderkeg and it doesn't take much disruption to a citizen's life for them to go nuts and start rioting.  Thankfully the Justice Department has an arsenal full of non-lethal weaponry to quell even the most peacefull protests including stumm gas, riot foam and sonic cannon.  SENTENCE: 2 to 10 years

Robot Tampering - Robots are an everyday thing in Mega City One.  They serve you breakfast, clean your apartment, vend your food and many other mundane every day tasks leaving you plenty of time to enjoy your unemployment.  Some Citizens however take to robot tampering either as some form of political statement or as a means to make money.  Sometimes this tampering can have deadly consequences.  SENTENCE: 10 years to Life depending on the severity. 

Robbery - Be it burglary or theft from a vehicle or person, robbery is one crime which never goes out of style.  Usually the preserve of street punks or gentlemen thieves its all the same to the Law.  SENTENCE: 5 to 12 years.

Scrawling - The modern form of grafitti, it is usually the preserve of the young bored juve, scrawling offers a degree of notoriety or infamy for those who can get their tag in the most outrageous or prominent location.  However, it is also a popular way for gangs to mark their territory.  Judges should always be vigilant for gang signs whenever they encounter the work of scrawlers.  SENTENCE: 3 months to 3 years.   

Shoplifting - Low level criminality needs to be treated with a short sharp shock or a day stick to the face.  SENTENCE: 2 to 7 years.

Smoking in Public - Despite tobbacco being a heavily regulated substance and nicotine having long been removed from cigars and cigarettes smoking or vaping is a popular passtime among citizens.  The Justice Department outlawed public smoking many years ago and regulated smokatoriums sprang up in every sector.  SENTENCE: 10 minutes in a smokatorium without a helmet.

Sponting - Spontaneous Confessors aren't really criminals they just like to waste Judges time and resources by confessing to crimes they haven't committed.  The Justice Department being the caring and considerate organisation that it is made Sponting a crime.  Now everyone is happy.  SENTENCE: 3 to 6 months

Tapping - Street mugging or tapping is an all two common crime of violence.  SENTENCE: 5 to 15 years.

Unlicensed Miming - Whilst clowning around is perfectly legal miming is not.  Unless of course you are carrying a permit and operating with the designated miming zone outside Mitterand Maisons in Sector 55.  SENTENCE: 5 years.

Judge Dredd Random Crime Drop Table - Click to Download

How Do I Find a Tabletop RPG Group Near Me?

Finding a tabletop RPG group near me has always been a challenge and I've ended up creating more than one club to satisfy my passion.  

I know others out there find it very difficult to find clubs or groups to play their favourite roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons near where they live too. 

Are you looking for a group of friends like this?

Local Tabletop RPG Groups Need Committed Members Like You

My club is on a recruitment drive at the moment and we are looking forward to resuming our normal Friday night sessions in our community hall in Chislehurst, South East London.

We try to host 3 games each week and to ensure lots of variety and prevent Games Master burnout we like to rotate the GMs in and out of GMing and playing 3 times a year.  Our typical game rotation is about 17 weeks long so we are actively looking for members who are going to turn up every week and take an active role in an entire campaign session.  We do string sessions back to back and I for one have run at least one campaign which ran for 60+ consecutive sessions.

That's a heck of a committment from GMs and so we try to recruit members from towns within easy reach of our venue such as Bexley, Bromley, Eltham, Lewisham, Orpington and Sidcup.  This makes travel to club easy on public transport especially when our games finish at 11pm and it's a cold dark wet October night.  This is the UK after all.

How Do I Find a Roleplay Club Near Me?

Obviously our club is just not going to be a viable option if you are living in North London, but the internet has a bunch of resources to help you find the right club for you.

1. Google - I know it sounds obvious but many Tabletop RPG clubs have websites which they use as their primary advertising mechanism when they are looking for players.  The most popular search terms are "Tabletop RPG near me", "DnD near me" and "Dungeons and Dragons near me" but also consider using terms which include "in (your town name)" for a more local search result. Avoid the term "Roleplay" as this tends to throw up adult orientated or early years educational resources.
   
   
2. Meetup - Is a useful listing service which many clubs (my own included) pay to use.  However, remember that RPGs are typically are a long term time commitment so if you are looking for more casual drop-in play or if your other real-life commitments such as work or home take precedent then consider looking for the boardgame or online game groups.
   
   
3. Reddit - The homepage of the internet has a thriving roleplaying community and many subreddits dedicated to specific systems or genres of tabletop RPGs.  Three places I would look are:
• r/rpg (1.3M members) - a sub for Tabletop RPGs of all flavours
  
• r/DnD (2.3M members) - a dedicated sub for fans of Dungeons and Dragons
• r/lfg (155K players) - a sub for those people looking for a group.  Post a message and see who replies.
  
  
4. Your Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS) - Will usually have a clubs register or a notice board where people can advertise their clubs or groups.  Talk to the staff as well as they may know of some themselves.  Check their website too as they may offer free advertising for clubs.  My FLGS is Orcs Nest in Central London and my club is on its listings page.
   
   
   • Orcsnest - list of UK gaming clubs
   • Gamessesh - list of affiliated gaming groups
     
   
   
5. Register with Tabletop Wizard's Tabletop Finder - This is a relatively new worldwide personals ad space dedicated to the needs of Roleplayers, Boardgamers and Wargames looking for a game either face to face or online.  It's got a growing community with just under 40,000 members.
   
   
6. Check with Forums - There are a few big tabletop game forums out there and meny have dedicated threads for players seeking games and game group announcements.
   
   
   • RPG.net -
     
   • Board Game Geek Guilds - List of UK Guilds 
   • ENWorld - RPG Clubs in the UK    

Be Patient, but Be You

Roleplaying is a social contract between people and you might not fit in with the first group you appraoach.  Many things can influence a game; GM play style, age, experience and exposure to pop-culture tropes.  

Don't get disheartened if you don't gel with the first group you try.  In my experience new groups tend to be a bit reserved with new players and likewise people new to a group.  Everyone is on their on their best behaviour until they work out exactly who you are.  

My advice is to be you and engage with everyone.  This gives the group the best opportunity to get to know you and work out if you are going to be a good fit for their group.

More Advice for Players Looking for a Tabletop RPG Group

If you have any useful advice, tips or tricks which have worked for you then please share in the comments below.

A Gift from the Gods

Gifts of the Gods is the theme for this month's RPG Blog Carnival kindly hosted by the Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal.

A Clash of Titans

Whenever I think about divine artifacts I am reminded of Clash of the Titans (1981) where Perseus is gifted:

• A helmet of invisibility - given to him by his father Zeus
• A magic sword - gifted by Aphrodite
  
• A magic shield - given by Hera

This trio of powerful magic items would make most PCs wet themselves, particularly if given to a relatively low level character as in Perseus case.  However, what we must also recognise is that Perseus is a demi-god.  I very much doubt that this sort of largess would be shown to a mere mortal so why should you do the same for your PCs?

Clash of the Titans (1981) - Release The Kraken

A Pawn of the Gods

The Gods play games from their lofty home of Olympus.  In the movie Zeus is bound to honour the laws of Olympus which means he must allow Andromeda to be sacrificed to the Kraken but he does not have to play the game fairly.  We mere mortals cannot fathom the machinations of Gods, but we do know that Perseus is his pawn in that game.

When contemplating granting a PCs a gift of the Gods, it should definitely come with strings attached.  A great evil must be defeated, a quest achieved which benefits the Gods in some way.  It could even be a wager between two Gods.  Whose champion will be first to succeed the trials and rescue the maiden?

Have a warlock in your party?  Well in order to receive their power they need to have made a compact with an eldritch power.  The PC is a manifestation of that power and must obey the whims of their master.  Power does not come without consequence so exercise some consequence now and then.  

These could all be great epic story arcs in themselves and would certainly add flavour to any mythical campaign.

Single use Deus Ex Machina

Another way to resolve the dilemma of giving PCs uber powerful magic items and turning them into OP Murder Hobos is to make them single use.  It is not unusual for an item to be crafted with a sole purpose in mind and once that purpose is achieved it is destroyed or loses its magical properties.    

The Gift of Information

Information can often be the most powerful weapon of all and having a God visit you in your dreams or answer your prayers with knowledge can be a blessing.  When faced with insurmountable odds or an impenetrable fortress, the knowledge of a secret entrance to the big bad guy's inner sanctum would be just as effective as hiding inside a wooden horse.

Blessings and Curses

Having a God backing your cause can be a real boost.  In fact why not give your PCs temporary stat increases or something visible to others like a glowing aura, a halo or give them perfect hair.  If your game is set in a quasi medieval world where everything is caked in a layer of grime, make your blessed PCs stand out from the crowd by mud literally not sticking to them.

"By The Gods..." is a popular invocation among PCs.  How about you actually give PCs the power of minor curse.  Alternatively, you could bestow the power of curse reflection upon your characters which could lead to some interesting interactions with local NPCs.   

By the Power of the Pantheon

Of course playing with Divine Items requires you to have at least one God or better still a Pantheon as part of your setting.  If your games are set in one of the many published settings like Forgotten Realms you have a cavalcade of Gods to choose from.

Otherwise treat this as an opportunity for some world building with your pious PCs.  If like me you are a fan of Terry Pratchett, you may have read Small Gods, a satire upon religion and politics.  The power of the Gods is directly related to the size of their congregation. In the book Om is a once powerful God stuck in the body of a small turtle and the novice acolyte Brutha is his one and only true believer.  What better personal mission for the party's Cleric than to spread the word of their God and convert believers as they move from town to town.

Plot and Personal Quests Breeds Engagement

I have always been a firm believer in incorporating elements of PC backgrounds into my plots to give every player around the table a real tangible reason to be engaged in the story.  If players include a deity in that background then why not use it.  Your players will feel rewarded when part of the background that they have created becomes a central motif to the weeks play. 

How Do you Deal with Divine Gifts in your Game?  

I don't have all the answers (that would be omniscience) and to the point of writing these blogs is to share ideas.  If you have any cool examples of how you gifted a player a divine artifact then please leave a comment in the box below.

Pacing and Player Decision Making

When you are beginning your journey as a GM you have a lot to juggle.  

You have to keep track of your NPCs, deliver descriptions of the world, drop hints and rumours, bookeep, keep one step ahead of the players... Frankly it can be exhausting at times and it is easy to forget about pacing.

Pacing and Prioritisation in Player Decision Making

In real life we have to make decisions in real time and often those decisions are made under time pressure with imperfect information.  Naturally we prioritise those decisions to select the most urgent tasks first and this should be no different for players in your RPG.

Ask yourself how many times your party has meticulously planned a combat encounter.  The planning (or more likely the arguing) can often take longer than the combat itself and this can suck the life out of the game.

Putting your players under time pressure when planning will result in them throwing out many of their wilder options and selecting between two or three based on what they know.  I've seen many parties get bogged down in analysis paralysis because they just have too many options on the table or too many voices.

How you pace a game also affects the engagement levels of players.  If there are too many long discussions it can sap the will to live from some players particularly if there character's share of the decision making is uneven.  You only have to look at the Avengers to see how disengaged Hulk can be when the others strategise about attack plans.  Hulk just wants to smash like your typical tank PC.

Pacing also raises the stakes for players.  Rushed decision making increases the risk of failure and the players feel that there are consequences to that failure.  The tension rises, the action becomes more visceral.  Success following a tense battle is always sweeter and mixed with relief.

I said make the action "Intense" - Image credit Diary of a Croation Larper

Encounter by Encounter - A Nodal Design View of a Campaign

Nodal Design suits my way of scenario writing and I have explained the concept in articles before but maybe what I have left on the table is a real world example.  

In 2019 I ran a Judge Dredd campaign "Tales from Mega City" for a small group of 4 Street Judges using the Starblazer Adventures game system.  The campaign spanned 11 sessions and whilst everyone had a passing familiarity with the two Judge Dredd movies that was about all they knew about Mega City 1.  In this example each encounter is a node with multiple paths or options to their next encounter. 

Session 1 - Encounter 1 - Sector House Briefing

The first encounter does a number of things.  It establishes some characters (namely Judge Belloch) some world lore (weather control, sector 55) a location (Loop Plaza) and two future events (the super duper loop unveiling, the fidget spinner race) which the PCs should be aware of.

The players get to choose which of these events they want to pursue.  Which one they decide to follow is immaterial as whilst they are on their way there they will experience the next encounter.  Whilst some might misconstrue this forced encounter as a form of Railroading, when done in a sidetrek style, the GM has not removed any player agency just introduced another immediate encounter.  In D&D this would probably take the form of a wandering monster encounter or a sidequest.  

Session 1 - Encounter 2 - Roadblock

Whilst heading towards their chosen destination via Megway 5535 (location) they observe 2 Judges who have set up a temporary roadblock.  The PCs decide to stop and chat with them but could easily have passed them by.  The PCs all make observation checks but fail and get back on their bikes and continue on to loop plaza.  This was an opportunity for players to make their first skill check and learn a little bit about the game system.  In my experience if you let players go too long without rolling some dice they become disengaged. 

Further down the road they players all get to make another skill check, this time it a Law check.  Judge Holmes passes and gets rewarded with the info that Judge White's left knee pad was on upside down.  Once again it is up to the players what they do with that information.  Holmes decides it warrants further investigation and they return to the scene of the roadblock.  

Session 1 - Encounter 3 - The Security Guards

When they arrive at the scene the Judges are gone but their Lawmasters remain. Two security guards flag the Judges down and tell them that the Judges White and Greene requisitioned their van and sped away up the off-ramp to Meg 5527.  The guards also mention that they forgot to tell the Judges that they were carrying an explosive cargo which is sensitive to shocks.  This introduces a sense of urgency to the proceedings.   

The players also make a successful Law roll which gets them the hint that this feels like a case of Judge Impersonation and Road Piracy, both serious crimes.  However, the Judges bikes are the real deal which means that there are two Judges to be found and that could be the far more serious crime of Judge Homicide.

This is a lot of exposition but it is vital information which might influence the choices that players make now the are faced with multiple options.  Do they protect the public and chase down the van?  Do they try to find the real White and Greene? Or do they take the bold step of splitting up and doing both at the same time?  

One player asks if they can put out an All Points Bulletin (APB) on the van and is rewarded with a solid YES.  They can now focus on the immediate task of finding White and Greene.

Session 1 - Encounter 4 - The Tyre Tracks

A cursory search of the nearby roadside shows a set of tyre tracks leaving the road and entering an overgrown patch of vegetation.  Buried in the undergrowth, out of sight, is a small town car.  Muffled cries can be heard from inside the trunk.  Opening the trunk reveals Judges White and Green bound, gagged and stripped down to their regulation underwear.  The Judges reveal that they were taken by suprise by 2 assailants and knocked unconcious.  

Meanwhile one of the PCs investigating the undergrowth spots a rustling in the bushes and goes to investigate.  Parting the branches of a shrub they briefly spot a flash of yellow but the area behind the bush is empty.  This mini event is a piece of foreshadowing and introduces a potential sidetrek involving Pokemon which that PC might choose to investigate at a later date.  Giving individual players their own sidetreks is a useful way of keeping them engaged in the game especially in a "Detective" style scenario where one or two players may be actively questioning Non Player Characters and others are just standing around.

The encounter ends with a call from Sector HQ informing the players that the van has been spotted entering a Through-Way near Thatcher Towers.  With Judges White and Greene found the GMs job is now to get the players back into urgency mode and on the trail of the Jimps and the explosives.  Keeping the players "on plot" by using things such as radio comms or telephone calls is a perfectly legitimate way of reminding them that events they had the choice of following up are still unfolding and now need their attention.

Session 1 - Encounter 5 - The Throughway and Thatcher Towers

When the players arrive they find the van parked awkwardly on the roadside.  The cargo hold is empty apart from 2 Judge uniforms.  Successful observation checks from the players (it's been a while since they rolled some dice) reveals 4 CCTV cams belonging to Thatcher Towers block with good views of the van.  This naturally leads them to make their way to the block security station and the CCTV recordings. 

When they enter the block at level 250 (GM: establishing the scale of Mega City buildings) they encounter the BREXIT political rally and that there is someone called Nigel.  This is another piece of foreshadowing of the real plot to the scenario but it is intentionally glossed over as just a bit of scene setting.  If the players get involved and try to break up the rally then I would have let them do so. 

When the players get to the security station and demand the tapes, the security guard tells them that they weren't covering the through-way because they were focusing on the BREXIT rally.  Whilst this is the GM effectively saying "No" to the players, it is the first time and it is backed up with a solid reason.  This is also an example of an event which Must Happen.  The trail of the missing explosives must go cold at Thatcher Towers because their recovery and the possible arrest of the Jimps might lead to future events in the plot timeline not happening. 

Before any of the players can react to this Judge Belloch's voice shouts at them through their radios demanding that they get to Loop Plaza pronto.  This ends the session nicely but also reinforces the idea that events are going on around them which don't stop happening because of the choices that they make.  These Timeline Events are always going to be experienced from the perspective of the PCs so you will need to be either flexible about when they happen or the way in which the PCs experience them.  This might in real time, via a news report or in third hand witness statements.  The event still happens irrespective of the players actions.  Similarly if the players had chosen to patrol the Fidget Spinner Race then the message from Sector HQ would have been to attend the race.    

When all put together the nodemap for this session looks a bit like this:

When designing the scenario from scratch you may go through this process multiple times as you focus in on what is important for each session. In fact having a node map at the macro level is useful.  What I like about this particular style of scenario design is that you only need to do the detail work for the encounters that are highly likely to happen.

For example, I knew that there could be a potential shoot out if the PCs chose to "chase the van" and so would need a stretch of Megway battlemap and a few vehicles.  However, this didn't take place so there wasn't much effort wasted and I could always reuse that battlemap another time in another session.