Anybody up for casual pulp/victorian SciFi gaming?

[Robert]

Elliot and I recently tried out the Mythic GM emulator with a
Victorian SciFi minis game, about a month ago.

Results were fun, with teddy Roosevelt and assorted pals crashed on
the dinosaur and lizardmen infested jungles of Venus ( Space 1889
setting).

I'd like to run some more stuff like this, as largely casual pick up
games on Saturday or Sunday morning/early afternoon gaming.

Experience isn't necessary, but willingness to use minis ( very
casual* ) and use make-it-up as you go techniques and silly
characterization are definite plusses.

If folks are interested, please reply to this thread, and I can post a
few different ideas for a scenario set-ups, based on materials I have
on hand.



* By casual, I mean that we won't be using strict wargaming
measurements and so on. It's more of a grown up version of imaginative
toy play than a tactical wargame. I have an embarassingly large
collection of stuff, so no need to worry about jumping into a
sometimes pricey hobby that you aren't sure about.

[Andrew Standfield]

Definitely interested. Where would it be held?

Andrew Standfield

"E natura, reverentia."

[rekzkarz]

Where do I get to type "Heck yeah" into this thread???

Count me in and bounce me an email for the next encounter!

This weekend (10/25) busy working on a short film to get out pre-
election.
Next weekend is Halloween, but might have a free day then.

Lemme know what works?

Ari in Bkly

[Robert]

Well, because it involves minis, I tend to favor playing at EndGame,
as they have excellent terrain available and plenty of table space.

Right now, off hand I could do:
Something Transylvanian-ish ( Classic monsters, Evil Nazis, so on)

Possibly some good-old backwoods New England Coastal community stuff,
involving deep ones or other lovecraftian beasties.

Mars or Venus for Space 1889.

Egyptian setting pulp-y stuff.

Old West settings.

A haunted mansion + ghoulish graveyard ( mixed 2-d and 3-d stuff).

Elder Things, a Shoggoth, and Antarctic explorers.

Gorillas and yetis.

Anyway, there are plenty of jungle explorers, diletantes, gangsters,
Tommies, some Germans, Mad ( and not) scientists, robots, a plane or
two and some cars, dinosaurs, a whole herd of cats....

About the only thing really not much of an option is heavily urban
type stuff, although possibly even that could be covered with some
warning.

> > sometimes pricey hobby that you aren't sure about.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Elliot Wilen]

I'll put in a good word for this--our game was a lot of fun...I'm
hoping to write up a more substantial after-action-report. I just
don't have time right now to play, it seems.

The essence of Mythic is that you use common sense and a modicum of
narrative framing to move from scene to scene within an adventure,
while the game mechanics allow you to decide uncertain outcomes based
on your sense of relative probabilities in plain English. But in the
latter case, it offers tools for keeping things consistent (e.g., you
can assign fixed strengths to characters and other elements of the
scenario, and then use those to compute probabilities), and while also
offering a sort of feedback system that modifies the probabilities
situationally, based on how "out of control" the situation has
become. As well there are elements to the procedures--sort of an
oracular random event system--that can move the action into unexpected
lines of development.

The game is very much what the players make of it and I believe it can
operate well either with a GM or via group consensus--but it should be
understood that consensus is a property of the group: you need to be
ready to give and take on throwing out ideas and assigning
probabilities. The game itself isn't going to mediate between wildly
different tastes or interests.

--Elliot

[Brian Mays]

That sounds like it could be really fun.  And Saturdays/Sundays work best for me.  Give me a shout.

Brian

 

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"It is said--and it is true--that just before we are born
a cavern angel puts his finger to our lips and says,
'Hush, don't tell what you know'.
This is why we are born with a cleft on our upper lips
and remembering nothing of where we come from."

 -- Roderick MacLeish  - Prince Ombra

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[Robert]

Well, okay, here's what I'm thinking:

I'll put together a "kit", basically a bunch of sorta related stuff,
plus some extras that might be interesting to work in.

This is essentially what I did when I met with Elliot for the Venusian
game. I'll let people know ahead the general mix of minis stuff, so
they can formulate their own ideas of things they might like to see.

Then, I mickey Elliot and make sure he's there for the session.
Honestly, Elliot really is the keeper of the mechanics at a much more
reliable level than myself.

Does anyone have preference for the first "kit" I put together? I
mean, setting, period, terrain, etc?

Let's narrow it down to these few:
1) Another Lost World or Venus Romp or Darkest Afrikan Jungle romp.

2) Old West with either Horror or Steampunk/VSF elements.

3) Oooh- spooky Transylvania with or without Weird War Two elements,
as you'd like.

4) A small Canal Martian settlement, way out in the boonies, in an
area contested by both the British and the native martian city-states.

[Andrew Standfield]

Oooh... pretty much all of those sound awesome :) I guess my
preference would be Lost World or Martian Canal; but it really
wouldn't matter.

I have to go to Sacramento this Saturday, my mom is in the hospital up
there. I should be free on the weekends after that, though. Early
afternoons or mornings are best for me.

Andrew Standfield
vert...@gmail.com

"E natura, reverentia."

[Robert]

Well, how is early november for everyone? tha would give me some time
to pull everything together and get some input on what folks would
like to mess around with.

On Oct 23, 1:37 pm, Andrew Standfield <vertig...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Oooh... pretty much all of those sound awesome :) I guess my  
> preference would be Lost World or Martian Canal; but it really  
> wouldn't matter.
>
> I have to go to Sacramento this Saturday, my mom is in the hospital up  
> there. I should be free on the weekends after that, though. Early  
> afternoons or mornings are best for me.
>
> Andrew Standfield

> vertig...@gmail.com

> >> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Andrew Standfield]

Good for me!

This is sounding incredibly awesome. I've heard good things about
Mythic, and can't wait to try it out.

Andrew Standfield
vert...@gmail.com

"E natura, reverentia."

[Trevor]

Hey, I'm interested too! Weekends are usually good for me.

[Robert]

Well, okay, it sounds like we've got some good interest going. I'll
have to actually look at a calendar ans see what date Saturdays in
early November fall on.
Does Mid-Day work for everyone?

I guess from the interest shown I'll go with a Space 1889 set up. The
area is a small trade town between the British Colony and The Martian
City of Shatapsh. Shatapsh is in revolt against the British at this
time. Although near a minor canal, the city itself is on a landlocked
caravan route, surrounded by rough, arid Hill Martian country.

The collection of minis will include various human victorian
adventurers, martian civilians, some critters of various types ( Star
Wars and D&D plastic minis), a variety of more fighty martian types
and possibly a few Fenians and Germans.

We won't likely use all of that by any stretch, but it will allow us
to have some open options on where to take things as events develop.

Beyond that, I'm open to all kinds of suggestions for stuff. Mars in
Space 1889 has all sorts of ruins and tombs out in the back-country,
so things could be very Indian-Jonesish as well.

If anyone is interested but doesn't feel like they have a grounding in
the setting, I'd say peek at the wikipedia entry on the game. It will
give you a pretty good overview. Barring that, consider renting The
Man Would be King, The Four Feathers, or some similar Victorian
setting movie, then imagine it crossed with a bit of old Flash Gordon
type stuff.

[rekzkarz]

Robert,

1) Another Lost World or Venus Romp or Darkest Afrikan Jungle romp.

-- I vote no to anything on this but "Another Lost World" <-- except
in space

2) Old West with either Horror or Steampunk/VSF elements.

-- I vote no on that

3) Oooh- spooky Transylvania with or without Weird War Two elements,
as you'd like.

-- Strange and interesting, but is this on Earth? Is this a Zombie/
Alien attack?
-- has plusses and minuses, but I could work with this one. :)

4) A small Canal Martian settlement, way out in the boonies, in an
area contested by both the British and the native martian city-
states.

-- Sounds like has opportunities for political game stuff, fighting
stuff, monsters, and exploration.
-- not sure why it'd be 'British' vs world or NATO or multinationals,
etc.
-- I'd say we're beyond British empire at that point, unless that's
part of the 'plot hook'.

Three is my fav of the bunch, I think.
I own ZERO figurines, but I just ordered the Mythic GM Emulator book
off LuLu press. Don't have it yet.
I'd be interested in seeing someone's copy of the pdf...!

Lemme know when this is happening? Nov is ok.

PEACE - Ari

[Wilson]

Hello all. I found this group just searching randomly. I'm not sure if
you are looking for new players or not (the level of organization here
seems to be at a fairly unique level), but Space 1889 sounds like a
ton of fun, and I'd love to play. Weekend days in November work for
me.

[rekzkarz]

I guess you mean this wikipedia entry, right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space:_1889

Funny, I wasn't sure I'd like this, but I can see some upside.

What kinds of roles can we take, ie can we be alien PC's, must we be
English or white characters, are there any psychics on Mars, etc?
Should I seek answers to these questions on the Wiki? Don't see them.

I was a fan of 'Jon Carter - Warlord of Mars' books. Any cross-over
potential there?

Looking good!

Ari

[Trevor]

MMmm. Martians. Mouth-watering, and now available in your grocer's
dairy section!

Speaking of cross-over potential with the pulps, I'd love to visit the
Vaults of Yoh-Vombis!

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/231/the-vaults-of-yoh-vombis

Too much in the horror vein for a Space 1889 campaign?

[Elliot Wilen]

I don't know the setting very well but I think I can safely say that
regardless of how the original game was structured, there will not be
any harm in having a Martian (or other alien, such as a Venusian
lizardman), or a non-European character.

There's a lot of stuff about the game on the web; this looks like a
particularly good intro to the setting:
http://mateengreenway.com/steampunk/Space1889.htm

This review might also be worth a look:
http://robertdushay.home.mindspring.com/Victorian/Space1889review.html

--Elliot

[Robert]

I would be concerned about some poor lizardman stuck on Mars! Poor
Devil! Evolved on a steaming jungle world, lost in a near barren
desert!

As for some of the other questions, I'll post a bit about what the
game Elliot and I played was like, to give everyone a clearer
impression of what I'll be shooting for in terms of play style, and
how participants can choose to go with things. In brief, it's pretty
fast and loose, with particpants having options to either stick pretty
much to their prefered character (usually developed as the game goes
on), or to jump around suggesting stuff to include, more the way a GM
usually is responsible for ( except not permanently).

> > Ari- Hide quoted text -

[Wilson]

Two quick questions
1) Is there anything I can do to help get this off the ground?
2) Is there a time frame shaping up for people?

[Robert]

How is next Saturday for folks? I think this could fly with four solid
yes responses.

> > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Wayne Coburn]

Isn't that the day of the Endgame 7th Anniversary Party?
-Wayne

--
http://www.coburn-family.net/

[Robert]

Hmmmm. That could be a problem...

> --http://www.coburn-family.net/- Hide quoted text -

[Andrew Standfield]

I'm good for any and all Saturdays.

Also.. willing to go all the way to Berkeley for this :) It sounds like way too much fun!

Andrew Standfield

vert...@gmail.com

"E natura, reverentia."

[Wilson]

I can do saturday as well

On Nov 3, 11:28 am, Andrew Standfield <vertig...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm good for any and all Saturdays.
>
> Also.. willing to go all the way to Berkeley for this :) It sounds  
> like way too much fun!
>
> Andrew Standfield

> vertig...@gmail.com

>
> "E natura, reverentia."
>
> On Nov 2, 2008, at 8:38 PM, Wayne Coburn wrote:
>
> > Isn't that the day of the Endgame 7th Anniversary Party?
> > -Wayne
>

[Robert]

Okay, well, I'm a bit embarassed by the positive responses. Does
anyone have a hook-up with G-o-B if EndGame is busy? Or an alternate
place to play?

> > >http://www.coburn-family.net/- Hide quoted text -