When players misbehave - Apocalyptia Play Report

Last night we ran through another round of Apocalyptia. I was terribly unprepared, I had ideas for what I wanted to happen when the players finished their current story arch, but nothing much for what would happen after the last game.  I consider myself fairly decent winging story and thankfully the players that showed up early to the game (my wife, brother, and his girlfriend) seem to really enjoy just exploring ruins which makes my job easy. The group had looted a bunch of buildings returned home to find their home settlement destroyed by slavers.  So they started decking out semi trucks like some sort of mad max fever dream preparing to take the survivors on some grand exodus.

I was fearing I wasn't throwing enough at the players.  My first experience with Apocalyptia was fast paced and brutal, seems there was always raiders or zombies being tossed at us.  That was a game run at Gencon 2014 and the guy running the game just tossed obstacles at us until we got ourselves killed. Fast, brutal, fun. I think I get a little gun shy when it comes to throwing encounters at my players I think I have this fear if I throw to much at the players and wind up with a TPK my campaign goes kaput and I'll never be allowed to run Apocalyptia again.

Ofcourse one player showed up late and let me know the players will due a decent job of killing themselves even if I don't throw hoards of flesh eating undead their way.  You can always tell there's some shady backstabbing silliness afoot when players start handing you folded up hand written notes like you're their middle school crush.

I suppose I could have drawn that myself, not just slap something from a Google image search in paint.  Either way, my player that shows up late starts passing me notes that look alot like what is pictured above.  The tardy player starts rigging traps up to the mad max semi while he was supposed to be watching the group's camp site. Wakes up an NPC and murders him while trying to steal some gear then attempts to run away with the semi.

Now this behavior is not only self destructive but it puts the entire group at risk, and more importantly my campaign. If I wasn't hand holding my party through the first few sessions they would know they have to work together to survive in this game.  So this brings us to our next lessons in Game Mastering. 

How do we handle players behaving badly?  In my groups we've always kind of allowed player in fighting, it takes pressure of the GMs and the players get to mess with each other which seems to make them happy (sometimes).  Parties working against each other and hatching various schemes and conspiracies against each other can pretty much make the GM's job location description. Now granted my group mostly plays World of Darkness games which aren't as hyper lethal and have alot more built in for political back stabbing.  However the post apocalyptic wasteland is no place for such shenanigans.

What do we do with players trying to earn that TPK for you?  Does the GM jump in, hand of God intervenes? I certainly attempted to put some road blocks in the way and let the dice fall where they may but I really didn't feel like letting NPCs kill the rouge player.  In my mind justice for player betrayals need to be meted out by the players themselves. Intervening to keep party cohesion sets a bad precedence and leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.  Sure put some road blocks up, make the player deal with the world's natural reaction to their jackassery but when the hammer really needs to come down, let the players get the blood on their hands. 

Randomization Charts for the unprepared

Anyone who has ever had the audacity to write plot for group of role players should know that 9 times out of 10 this is a fool's errand.  I've been a part of plenty of games where our game master wrote some Shakespearean narrative, beautiful wordy descriptions of neon cities, and lush verdant rolling hills.  Then we, as players, said screw you and your plot we're going in the complete opposite direction and no one can stop us.

Totes a real conversation

GM: "You have to defeat the dragon, its the only way to save Miami."

Players: "Naw, we're going to Orlando."

GM: "You can't be serious."

Players: "Yeah screw you and screw that dragon."

Now this is not to say you shouldn't plan, you absolutely should, if you don't do some level of planning your game won't get very far.  The trick, at least in my experience, is to have enough planning done where if the the players aren't creating plot on their own you have something for them to do that feels substantial.  One the major difficulties is having something ready to roll when your players go off the rail. When they abandon the dragons and greater demons you've planned for them to fuck off to god knows what kind of silly shenanigans they dreamed up you have to have something ready to go.

One of the things I'm thinking about doing for my Apocalyptia games is designing a small program that randomizes certain events and NPCs for me.  The rule book has some charts that do this but I don't feel they provide enough variety for my style.  Bellow I've included a sample screenshot of some randomization tables for post apocalyptic suburbs.  

Enjoy.

Apocalyptia Campaign Settings - Joys of MS paint and Campaign Setting Info

So I've decided to start pumping out some content for post apocalyptic settings.  Most of my material will be with Apocalyptia in mind for the rule set but I'll try and keep things simple enough so it can be used with other rule sets with only minor adjustments.
I'll keep posting stuff here then when I have enough I'll compile the setting into a PDF and upload it here.

I've started putting together some setting information together for where my games will be taking place. I've decided to start the game in the midwest and as the players discover more I'll be taking maps and updating them with what the players have discovered.  I don't want to give them too much information to begin with, its the apocalypse they don't have access to huffington post so don't know much about current events outside their immediate area.

Below is a map of what they know so far.

Just a few minutes with google image search and MS paint you can whip up some neat game aids.




Apocalyptia Campaign setting

Time:  5 years after nuclear/biological world war, zombie apocalypse followed.  Five years later zombie populations are beginning to become sparser as their food supply dwindles.  So far no central government has cropped up and survivors have begun carving out their own territories and forming their own “states”.

Cities

New Buffalo Thunder City

Location – Upper North West Michigan (Travers City Area)
Faction – None
Government – Democratic
Current Leader – Kurt Elliot – former city councilman

New Buffalo Thunder City is a hotel, casino, and family Fun Park converted into a stronghold.  Population is right around 50 survivors.  Nestled in northern Michigan close to where Traverse City once stood.  Most of the surrounding areas are sparse mostly rural with smatterings of campgrounds, wineries, and high end summer homes as prewar this was a summer attraction being on the shore of Lake Michigan.
New Buffalo Thunder is a relatively safe territory and currently there are no other organized gangs in this area although there have been roving bands of raiders or scavengers that sometimes pose threats to the citizens of New Buffalo Thunder.

Fort Watterson

Location – Middle Indiana (north of Indianapolis)
Faction – Indiana Constitutional Restoration Militia (ICRM)
Government – Military Dictatorship
Current Leader – James Yost – Former Guitar Teacher/militia member

Fort Watterson is built into what was once Grissom Air force base in Indiana.  The base had received heavy damage during the war but many structures where salvageable.  The territory for the Indiana Constitution Restoration Militia controls quite a bit of territory but their two main power sources are Fort Watterson and a nearby prison. The area surrounding these are claimed but they have some difficulty actually policing such a large radius.




Factions

Indiana Constitutional Restoration Militia (IRCM)

The ICRM has an Army roughly 100 men one of their main focuses is expanding territory which they police in order to guarantee the safety of anyone who reside under their banner.  They attempt to recruit soldiers by promising safety and food but will gang press when they feel necessary.  Another favorite recruitment method of the IRCM is to attack slaver caravans then force the slaves into enlistment to pay for their new freedom.

The Cretins

The Cretins are a gang whose territory lies toward the Michigan/Indiana border.  Their known operations include collecting tolls, extortion, drug manufacturing and trafficking, and slave trading.  Their force is somewhere around fifty strong.

Apocalyptia Play Report - Bonus item

I first learned about Apocalyptia during GenCon 2014 at a playtest event run by Jordan Fannin, who wrote the game.  I really love this game, I can't state that enough.  The rules aren't overly complicated, character creation is a breeze, combat is brutal, and the game has plenty of charts to help randomize events for woefully unprepared GMs like myself.  Best of all the game is free and as Jordan puts it, open source, meaning he's not only giving it away he's actively encouraging people to make adjustments and tinker with it.

Apocalyptia pay what you want on DriveThruRPG

I ran the game tonight for a small group, my wife, my brother and his girlfriend, and my buddy Rob. The game went exceedingly well and I'm planning on making some content this game.  My next few posts will likely be adventures, scenarios, settings, and play reports.  Download the game for free and play along at home.  The game really deserves a look.

Play Report

My four players took on the role of citizens of New Buffalo Thunder City, a hotel and casino converted into a stronghold five years after a nuclear and zombie apocalypse in northern Michigan. The players were sent on a trade mission to an air force base converted into another stronghold in mid Indiana to trade food supplies in exchange for replacement parts for New Buffalo Thunder's various mechanical equipment.

The group set off on the highway south after failing to secure a map.  There was only enough gas to make the trip about half way so the party decided to first scavenge for gas.  One player was gathering gas.  One of the players decided to loot the nearby hardware store despite the other players cautioning against it. After breaking into the hardware store he found a zombie and discovered killing it wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. Two of the other players joined in and through some lucky rolls no one but the zombie got killed.  The players looted the gas station and the hardware store then continued on their merry way. The players also looted a burned out farm house where they met a preacher looking for food.  After some discussion they agree to transport the preacher down air force base with them so he can spread the good word.

Next the players game across a blockade along the highway forcing them off an exit ramp where a gang called "The Cretins" were collecting tolls.  The players being ever so brave sent the preacher to go negotiate the terms of their toll.  After a little discussion the group gave up an extra gun in exchange for passage or entrance to city for bartering.  The group decided to pass by the town and continue down the highway.

Right before sunset the group was forced off the highway into a small town called Brixton.  The group decided to do a little looting while there and once again split into two groups.  One group went to raid a pharmacy the other went to loot the fire station. The group in the fire station found a lone raider who they got into a shoot out with and managed to kill and only sustain minor wounds themselves.

The group at the pharmacy met a scavenger who was willing to peacefully walk away but my wife decided to kill him and take his stuff.

As the two groups made their way back to the RV they discovered four raiders wearing Cretin gang gear were looting the RV and had murdered the preacher.  The group ambushed the raiders and through some extremely lucky rolls managed to kill the raiders before the raiders could even fire a shot. At this point we wrapped up for the night.

As an added bonus for reading about our adventure I'll throw in a bonus item that isn't book.

Snake Skin Jacket
Armour Rating 2/2 Cold Rating 2 Fire Rating 1 Covers torso and arms and provides a +1 bonus to Leadership, Socialize, and Entertain rolls because it is a symbol of your individuality and belief in personal freedom. Below Nicholas Cage will explain.

Dystopian Toy Story Hellscape

Today has been a rough day for me.  Trying to quit smoking with a toddler running around raising all sorts of toddler related hell is tough task.  My strategy has been simple just spend most the day reading and ignoring the crashes coming from my son's room.

I've spent the better part of today looking through the wide variety of games being offered for cheap or free on Drive ThruRPG today and I've found several gems.

One of these gems is Toypocalypse, a game by Trevor Christensen.  The game was originally written for a 24 hour RPG writing contest in 2011. The game describes itself as being a cross between Lord of the Flies and Toy Story, a combination that has no room to be anything but awesome. The game seems to be light on the rules front, which after reading the 18 page PDF rulebook I think is to the benefit of the game.  Simple rules make it easy to pick up play and get new players up and running quickly. I really like rules lite systems for short burst games while your group's normal GM refreshes their creative batteries.

Players take on the role of children's toys that come to life suddenly to find all of their human masters mysterious absent. Now with the toys left as inheritors of the planet they have to keeping themselves filled with stuffing and batteries while dodging wild dogs and toys who have started oppressive regimes to control their territory.

Character's have four attributes which are rated by different modified dice rolls: Average attributes will give the player a 1d12 to roll, next rank up the player will get 1d10 +2, next 1D8 +4, and finally pinnacle of toy achievement gets 1D6 +6.  So you can see the better your attribute rank the less that is left up to random dice rolls on any skill checks.

Characters also get to pick from a list of various toy traits such as what kind of mobility your toy has, what kind of condition it is in, do other toys resent it for being a hot item over the Christmas shopping season, and magic toy powers.

Most dice rolls in the game involve the GM naming an ability to roll on and a number that must be rolled over for whatever that task is to succeed.

One thing I notice is there isn't much room for advancing character stats, the author even warns against giving players anymore then the initial ranks in abilities for character creation.  With their only being four ranks for four abilities it wouldn't take much to make a character pretty much bad ass at everything.  With no additional skills or merit systems there isn't really anyway for player characters to improve over the course of a long campaign, which could turn off some players.

All in all the game has everything you need to run a great game but I don't know if the system has enough meat to hold player's attention for more than a handful of game sessions.  The game is free and interesting enough to merit a download.  I'm already planning on running this for my group.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/94301/Toypocalypse

World of Darkness Dark Eras Kickstarter

I don't usually go out for kickstarter projects. Occasionally I'll browse it see what people are working on but that's usually the end of it. Today there is a kickstarter project I can get behind. Not only will this be the first kickstarter project I spend money on but this book will easily be the most expensive source book in my collection.

Dark Eras will be breaking down which each of the various creatures that inhabit the World of Darkness setting were doing through various points of history.  Great Depression, 1970s New York City, Age of Enlightenment, and others.  The project is already over it's funding goal and they have some pretty cool stuff for backers.

When the project is finished the book will be available on DriveThruRPG.

Its worth checking out if you're a World of Darkness fan and are hungry for some new material.