Thursday Night Punctuated Equilibrium

The Hereticwerks blog was the host for January's RPG Blog Carnival. The theme this month was Transitions, whether in games, campaigns, or gaming groups. My regular Twin Cities Thursday night group has experienced plenty of transitions in the past couple of years, and we are looking forward to a great new transition starting next week.

More on that in a bit.

Transitions in our gaming group tend to follow a sort of punctuated equilibrium: we'll play a short campaign or multisession scenario, followed by a number of one shots of various Indie RPGs and storygames.

Recent campaigns/scenarios have included:

• A Blade & Crown campaign run by Eric Gilbertson; this is the first B&C campaign I have played in that wasn't run by the game's designer, Rachel Kronick. I think she had as much fun as I did finally getting to play her own game. I played my Eric Stoltz-inspired assassin, Stabber, with great gusto in that campaign.
• The Alwyn Campaign, an episodic campaign I ran using Fate Accelerated Edition. The setting was the future ruined Earth of the Babylon 5 universe. We could come back to this campaign at some point. It was fun researching locations in the Twin Cities, and then extrapolating how they would look as far future ruins.
• A playtest of a scenario for my forthcoming Fate product series, Project Generations which will be published by Modiphius Productions. We used Starblazer Adventures for the playtest!
• Rachel Kronick ran a playtest of a forthcoming scenario for Blade & Crown. I had a lot of fun running a callow, brutal young mage in that one!
• A playtest of Fate of Tekumel (TM) scenario that I will be publishing professionally some time in the next year. This will be a Tekumel Foundation-licensed Approved for Tekumel product, with wonderful art by Juan Ochoa.

Interspersed between these scenarios/mini-campaigns were numerous one shot games using a plethora of different systems including:

• OG, Robin Laws' caveman game. We did a few different one-shots of this game
• Lost Days of Memories and Madness, which our group calls the "elf memory game"
• The Quiet Year, a wonderful storygame involving mapping a community and what happens to it during its final year before the Frost Shepherds come.  
• Monsterhearts, your friendly neighborhood angsty let's all play high school monsters RPG. 
• Heirs to the Lost World, Chad Davidson's wonderful alternate history RPG with pirates, Mayans, Aztecs, and more in the 17th Century Caribbean.
• Durance, Jason Morningstar's "Botany Bay in space" storygame.

There's probably several more one-shots that I am missing.

So where are we headed in 2014? 

Next up is a campaign of Night's Black Agents, Ken Hite's RPG of espionage and vampire conspiracies. It should be pretty cool, as the GM is running the game in Eastern Europe, where he worked in the Foreign Service. We'll be doing a test drive of this GUMSHOE system RPG next week, and the campaign-proper will launch as soon as we all recover from Con of the North, where we're collectively running numerous games, as the House of Indie Games! 

Whew!

Deck Of Fridays 13: No Way Out

http://sepha.deviantart.com/art/The-Lament-Configuration-39597789

Welcome back to DECK OF FRIDAYS, our weekly feature here at FATE SF. We make a draw from the Deck of Fate, RPG Inspiration Cards, or another Aspect-generative randomizer. Then we do something interesting with it, using the Aspect as inspiration for a campaign or scenario seed, a situation, scene, location, NPC, thingie, etc.

This week's draw from the Deck of Fate is a card with the Aspect: No Way Out. That is a pretty negative sounding Aspect (and the card it's on is valued as a -3 on a 4DF roll), but we have something special in mind for it. Anime fans may recall a certain maze trap spell used in Doomed Megalopolis. That anime was one of the first ones I ever watched, and the spell has stuck with me for almost 20 years. So it's time to put it on paper.

The spell is called a Kimon Tonkou, and its historical inspiration is described in detail here. We'll provide a brief overview. The Kimon Tonkou is derived from the Chinese Taoist divination practice called Qimen Dunjia, or Strange Demon Gate Escaping Technique. Although the spell has had different attributes and effects at different times, for our purposes, it is a spell which traps a demon in a pattern-trap, allowing the caster to escape via teleportation.

It's a very useful spell. There's No Way Out for the demon, while the spell is in effect. But the caster has a ready means of escape.

What follows is a version of the Kimon Tonkou for FATE SF's Galactic Grimoire using the Fate Freeport Companion's excellent mechanics for creating discrete spells.

***

Strange Demon Gate Escaping Technique (Divination/Planes, Cost, Scene, Once Per Scenario, Requires one Divination or Planar spell, and one Evocation spell): This spell is used to trap a demon. It is most useful when the caster is aware of the demon's imminent arrival. Strange Demon Gate Escaping Technique is frequently used to interrupt rituals used to summon demons, diverting they into a prearranged pattern-trap. 

Once the demon is within the trap: 

• A Banish spell may be used to dispel the demon, and/or
• The caster may teleport away to safety to a location of their choice

The spell's ritual begins with the preparation and placement of a pattern-trap. The trap is created by forming a pattern of stones, gems, tiles, or other materials. It must be placed within a few zones of where the demon is likely to materialize. The caster traces a particular path through the pattern; this action "charges" the labyrinth with a pattern of energy with many confusing eddies and flows. The shifting currents of energy constrain the demon's attempts to escape the pattern-trap. 

Once the demon materializes, it is diverted into the pattern-trap and must puzzle its way through to the trap's exit. As soon as the demon materializes in the trap, the caster may either teleport away to a specific location of their choice, or tarry a bit to first cast Banish.

When the caster teleports away, the demon will not be able to perceive the location to which they have teleported. The demon is thereafter unable to perceive the caster or divine their location until the two are again within physical proximity of each other (i.e., within the same zone). Observers outside the pattern-trap have no such restrictions. 

Pattern-traps can also be placed near an interdimensional gate or Nexus Point to capture a creature as it exits the portal. With this use of the spell, any creature passing through the portal is captured by the pattern-trap and must similarly figure its way out.

The spell is discharged at the end of the scene; in most cases, the demon will then be able to exit the pattern-trap.

There are potent variants of Strange Demon Gate Escaping Technique which use Evocation to manifest a pattern-trap at the moment the demon materializes. These traps take the form of three-dimensional puzzles with moving segments. Because of their uncanny similarity to the much smaller Lemarchand's Box, some scholars believe that these manifested pattern-traps are the inverse form or negative image of Lemarchand's demon-gate key puzzle boxes.  

The Sword of Alexander

The Sword of Alexander (Abjuration/Curses, Cost, Per Scenario, Requires The Eye of the Nexus, Corrupting):  Slipknots are pure imminences that suture together different locations in space-time. Nexialists use The Sword of Alexander to collapse a slipknot for a determinate period of time.

The formula can be used either defensively (to close a slipknot "behind" a ship exiting a slipknot) or offensively, to collapse the space-time suture around a vessel at the exact moment the ship enters the slipknot. The latter use causes a mishap for the ship entering the slipknot. Such a use of the formula is invariably Corrupting.

To cast The Sword of Alexander, the caster makes a WIS roll: at +2, the suture closes for one day. For each additional increment of effort past +2, use The Time Table to determine the duration of time for which the slipknot is closed.

It goes without saying that the use of this formula is frowned upon by the authorities. It can cause severe economic damage - even loss of life - to systems dependent on the slipknot network for their economic well-being. On more than one occasion, local closures have led to spontaneous pogroms against members of the Nexialist Order. The Order itself is extremely circumspect in teaching this formula to its members. Only the most faithful and trustworthy Nexialists have the opportunity to learn it.

Instantiate Entelechy

FLCL

Instantiate Entelechy (Evocation, Cost, Permanent, Requires "Greater Pass Turing Test"): Nexialists use this formula to create an intelligent automaton from various machine parts, monitors, equipment, tools, cruft, and metallic trash in their immediate zone. Such items simply converge into a junk vortex where the entelechy manifests. The most common version of the formula manifests an assemblage with a roughly humanoid form. Variants of the formula exist which produce other types of assemblages (e.g., Echinoderms, Arthropods, Cerberi). The entelechy will obey the commands of its instantiator.

The entelechy starts with a base Fair (+2) quality, and is enhanced using the rules for summoned creatures on pages 31-32 of the Fate Freeport Companion. The entelechy always manifests with the Disadvantage Shambling.

Possible new Advantages that the instantiator may select in addition to those listed in the Fate Freeport Companion include:

• Natural Ranged Weapon: Take +2 to Dexterity to Attack using a built in ranged weapon: energy beam, projectile weapon, junk hurler, etc.
• Junk Dipole: The entelechy can Create an Advantage by shifting its size unpredictably by absorbing or shedding metal-containing junk in its immediate environment.
• Meld: The entelechy can surround the instantiator as if it is a powered armor suit. This provides the instantiator with a two (2) Blue Dice substitution for armor, as described in the Fate System Toolkit.

Nexialist Public Lectures Table

Yesterday's FATE SF post discussed the public face, activities, and services offered through a Nexialist Institute's Reading Room. Today we have a quick 1D6-1D6 table to determine the most common public lectures offered by any Nexialist Institute.

Lectures are almost always free. They are typically delivered by one of the Nexialist Foundation's Integrators assigned to the Institute's Reading Room. One or more replicant Librarians will also be in attendance to assist patrons attending the lecture and ensure the event runs smoothly.

The table position items in relation to how often those lecture topics are offered; the more an item hugs the center of the table, the greater its frequency of presentation. 

Nexialist Public Lectures Table

Roll 1D6-1D6 and consult the corresponding results below.

-5: The Truth About the "Nexialist Revolt" 

-4: A Fresh Look at _________________ (a complex scientific controversy is illuminated using Nexialism's integrated, multidisciplinary approach)

-2: Nexialism: Common Myths and Misconceptions

-1: The Five Elements of Nexialism

0: Nexialism and YOU: An Introduction

+1: A Guided Tour of the Reading Room (an interactive tour of Reading Room amenities, resources and services)

+2: How to Break Bad Patterns and Create Good Ones

+3: Mind Games Are GOOD For You! (an interactive introduction to the Luminous Exercises)

+4: Does Human Potential Have Limits? (an exploration of psionics and related Nexialist parasciences)

+5:  Does Nexialism Improve Individuals or Society? 

The Nexialists' Public Face

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Kara_(Eymorg)

Every world with a Nexialist Institute - with the possible exception of a few remote research outposts and secret facilities - has a public Reading Room operated by the Nexialist Foundation. A Reading Room is the public face of a Nexialist Institute, and is open around the clock. For the convenience of patrons, Reading Rooms are always attended by 1-3 replicant Librarians who are ready to assist inquiring minds with a variety of research and educational tasks and self-improvement activities.

Patrons may use Reading Rooms to research a variety of historical, social, and physical sciences using the space's dedicated library system. The public is also invited to attend lectures and classes on a variety of integrative scientific topics held in the Reading Room's Auditorium. A schedule of lectures and classes is always available in a Reading Room's lobby.

Patrons are also invited to play a variety of Mind Games on site, the so-called Luminous Exercises, which are said to be based on neuroscience, and promise to improve memory and cognitive performance. (Mind Games are also available on a subscription basis outside the Reading Rooms.) As a matter of policy, the Nexialists neither confirm nor deny that these games are screening tools capable of detecting psionic abilities...

Reading Rooms meet people where they are at culturally. On worlds where the written/printed word is the dominant means of recording and sharing scientific information, the Reading Rooms will be stocked with numerous books, journals, and scrolls produced by the Reading Room's very efficient print-on-demand technology. On worlds more reliant on digital media, the Reading Room's library system offers patrons direct access to digital media. Print-on-demand resources are still available for a nominal fee.

Nexialist Reading Rooms also provide access to Instructional Machines, exceptionally advanced devices which impart both the theoretical knowledge and practical skills required for individuals to excel in a number of different fields. Knowledge acquisition and skill transfer takes place in just a few moments. In order to ensure patrons are not harmed by this advanced technology, potential Instructees are first qualified on Mind Games, and then screened by an Integrator, a Nexialist adept trained in a variety of psychometric assessments and skill retention therapies. Integrators are available daily by appointment during a Reading Room's peak hours of operation.

The knowledge and skill retention effected by Instructional Machines varies greatly among individuals. A normal human Instructee will retain the information and abilities transferred from an Instructional Machine for at most a few hours. With Instructional Machines, there is always a small risk of an accompanying "Charly affect" in which the Instructee experiences a generalized and precipitous cognitive decline. This is why this technology should only used by trained Integrators.

However, the skill retention therapies facilitated by Integrators often help people retain their new capacities indefinitely. Treatment begins with daily sessions using a Pattern Enhancer. Within a few weeks - usually in less than a month - less "time in the chair" is required, as new neuronal patterns are stabilized and reinforced through redundant neural repatterning.

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Neural_neutralizer

Together, the Nexialists' Five Essential Elements - the Reading Room, Mind Games, Instructional Machine, Integrator, and Pattern Enhancer - form the public cornerstone of their project for human improvement.

Digital Intrusion

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/yagkoska.htm

Digital Intrusion (Planar/Evocation, Cost, Per Scene, Persistent, Requires "Eye of the Nexus"): This Nexialist formula manifests as a detached, floating physical hand in the same plane as the caster, or in a planar adjacency in view of the caster. The hand is intended for subtle, dexterous manipulation of physical objects. It can also be used to grasp and retrieve an object, and has the caster's STR and DEX.

The hand is able to move about under the caster's conscious control for up to a distance of three zones away from the caster. The hand remains under the caster's conscious control as long as it remains in physical sight, or within the subtle vision provided using Eye of the Nexus. If the hand leaves sight of the caster, Digital Intrusion is immediately dispelled.

Many variants of this spell exist, manifesting the "hand" as tentacles, fungal fibers, long strands of hair, or even the proboscis of a Ganeshoid alien.