Official news and announcements from base113 Games.
Russell Smeaton has revealed a stretch goal I helped out with – a set of handouts to help complete your Innsmouth experience.
The project is ending in a few hours, so check it out if your interested in some cool stuff with the Innsmouth look.
Building from my collection of mythos-related games and book, as well as my interest in integrating props into tabletop games, I’ve gradually developed a fondness for displaying my collection. In some areas it’s modest, in other areas less so. I have dubbed this constantly evolving display my Shelf of Madness.
And I’ve recently taken to creating some props and display pieces of my own.
I’ve posted pictures of some of these items here and there, and I’ve gotten a few requests for a more detailed description of some items, where they are from, etc. So I figured I could start posting some of that here as well. That way when I post some new acquisition or creation and someone sees something in the background, I’ll have a place where I can point them to check out what’s in the collection.
You can see all the posts describing the Shelf of Madness here.
I’ve back quite a few Kickstarter projects, almost all of them either tabletop gaming or mythos related. Recently I backed a project producing some really cool Innsmouth postcards from Russel Smeaton. The project is still ongoing with some more stretch goals to hit – and perhaps a couple more to be announced. *wink, wink*
Really hoping we can hit all the stretch goals for this one, so check it out.
Work continues on Our Terrible Fate. Here’s an overview of what I’ve been working on lately.
I’ve got an outline of a sanity system. That might sound like a small thing, but with the way it will integrate into the system, it doesn’t require a lot of additional detailed rules. I think it will yield gameplay results similar to CoC, with characters occasionally going mad and turning on their compatriots or waking up in strange places covered in blood and strange markings. At the same time, it should be less complicated – don’t need to make three rolls because you saw a monster and hopefully no flow charts required – by leaning into Fate a bit.
Underlying insanity is easily handled with consequences. The Keeper can use these to justify certain events, like hallucinations or dreams, and can compel them when they really create problems. And of course, players are encouraged to roleplay things like phobias, which can easily be used for self-compels to get some fate points.
Certain situations will automatically trigger a bout of madness, and the Keeper can offer a compel to trigger a bout as well. One thing I’m considering is possible ways to incentivize players to really play into a bout when doing so would cause them to take action against the other investigators. This is a common idea in CoC that produces some especially memorable moments in play, but it’s not really driven by the system.
Another area I’m tinkering with is character advancement and progression. I’ve never been a big fan of the default character advancement in Fate. It’s a little too removed from the fiction and gameplay, with progression essentially happening based on the end of a session or scenario. It’s also easy for players to get into the habit of making choices in advancing their character that aren’t necessarily based on what their character has done to this point.
I’ve long been a fan of skill progression being tied to actual skill use, but that can sometimes involve a LOT of bookkeeping that bogs down play. I also like the character advancement approach taken in Invisible Sun. Basically, it lets the player choose a type of goal from among several categories, flesh it out with specifics, and then gradually complete steps in support of that goal As they complete steps, they are able to make small advancements, with more significant advancement upon completion of the goal. This also works well for goals outside of strict character advancement, such as gaining membership in a group, advancing in rank within an organization, developing relationships, etc.
I’d like to incorporate something like this along with guidelines for Keepers to integrate steps for these goals into existing scenarios. I’m hoping this will not only provide a character advancement system that’s driven by the investigators’ actions, but also make it easy for Keepers to better tie scenarios into investigator backstories.
And the other major thing I’ve been working on is a draft of a scenario to use with the system. Applying the system to actual situations while writing a scenario is a useful way to identify things that need more work prior to actual playtesting. Plus I am putting a lot of effort into how scenarios are written and presented to the Keeper. One key element of the game is the ability to play out any given situation using different methods, depending on the needs of the scenario and your table at that time. This isn’t just about giving the Keeper a couple of different options and saying “pick one,” but also about explaining why one option might be preferable over another.
I’m also including a lot of guidance for building and maintaining tension and fear over the course of the scenario. First at the beginning to give the Keeper an idea of where the climax is and how tension should (or can) flow during the game, and then with additional guidance in each scene. More than once I’ve seen Keepers complain that their games like any real sense of fear, while they also spend 30+ minutes with their players acting out detailed conversations with a completely irrelevant NPC.
Rather than expend energy to develop a new scenario from scratch, I’m just re-writing a classic CoC scenario. The NPCs and overall structure of the scenario is unchanged, but it’s being rewritten to use Our Terrible Fate and provide lots of additional guidance for the Keeper. It’s also being setup with an eye towards making it easier to use at the table. Layout that’s easy to follow, layers to support printing with less ink/toner, and space on the page the Keeper can use for note.
Finally, a tackled one other project over the past few days. It’s not directly tied to developing OTF, but I hope to use it as a prop in a future game. But that’s a separate post…
Keith Mageau aka Modoc of Rolling Boxcars has posted a great review of the Investigator Passports.
This is the first public review like this of any base113 Games project, and I could not be happier!
I actually only learned of this because of a Facebook notification that base113 Games was mentioned. Thanks to Keith for the thorough and well-written review!
https://rollingboxcars.com/2021/02/25/so-you-want-to-be-a-world-travel-investigator-passports/
I’ve reached a point where I feel comfortable posting some of the actual game text I’ve written in the hopes of getting some useful feedback. I’ve got a fair bit written, so there should be enough to get some first impressions and thoughts on presentation. I’ve updated the draft content posted to this point to using a knowledge base system, which should make it easier to read through.
For the time being I am calling this work-in-progress game of mine Our Terrible Fate. That may change down the road, but for now it will do.
There’s a lot of background and detailed explanation elsewhere on the site, but here is where I am going to post some of the actual draft text.
I’m always appreciative of feedback – be it criticism, comment, or questions. You can post feedback on the base113 Games subreddit.
Update: A PDF of the first chapter is now available as well. While there’s not much art, the layout should be much easier for many to read. Just click the link through to the draft text, and you should see a link to the PDF version along with an example image of the layout.
Available excerpts of this dark text currently include what is essentially the first chapter of the book, which will serve two purposes:
Links to the current draft content and our subreddit (to post feedback) are provided below:
I continue to be amazed at the reception my Investigator Passports have received, and now they have been included in Yog-Sothoth’s November newsletter!
If you haven’t ever checked out Yog-Sothoth, you should definitely give it a look. You’ll find a large and active community dedicated to exploring Lovecraftian worlds of all types. The site does require you to register to access most of the site, but doing so is free.
I’ve spent some time over the last day or so making some small updates to the website. Most of this is just maintenance and backend updates to the theme or plugins. However, I’ve also added a couple of things. A separate project page is now dedicated to gaming tools and props – including the Investigator Handouts – and I’ve added a section on the Community page that links to projects that others in the Mythos community are working on or have already published.
I recently posted photos of passports I created for my investigators – which then unfold to reveal their character sheet. The response I received was quite positive, and some people asked if they were available for purchase or via Kickstarter. These are actually very easy to make at home using the template I’ve created.
These passports are very simple and have no impact on gameplay – they’re just props to add a little immersion. Using the form-fillable PDF, you enter the details for the character, then scroll through the pages of the document. Each page shows the information you provided on the passport for a different country. Pick which one you want and print that page on your color printer. Fold the page into quarters, trim off the white edges, and you have your very own investigator passport. If you print it on the back of your character sheet, then simply unfold the passport to reveal the passport for play.
These are based on real-world passports from the 1920s and 1930s. A little artistic license was taken to make things simple, but otherwise I tried to make these look as authentic as possible. The template produces passports from the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, and India.
The PDF is quite large, nearly 48 MB, but that may be unavoidable without compromising the image quality and form fields. I’ve decided to make the template available through DriveThruRPG. (I’ve had a publisher account for years, but never used it for much.) The main reasons for this are to ensure people can access the file without relying on my web admin skills and to get updates if I post new versions in the future. As suggested to me after I posted the photos, the template is posted as a Pay What You Want product. I’m not looking to make money on these, but evidently there are those that would be willing to pay for them. A few extra dollars never hurts, and maybe it will enable me to offer more in the future.
If you have any feedback on how to improve the passports or the PDF, please post it here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/base113Games/comments/duhi8y/feedback_on_investigator_passports/
Chaosium is honoring their late founder, Greg Stafford, by encouraging fans and gamers around the world to play a game between October 10 and October 31. Greg influenced a great many games, including Call of Cthulhu, and he died on October 10th, 2018. Chaosium is calling this event We Are All Us and is encouraging everyone to share word of it far and wide.
It is fitting that, to honor his life and contributions to our hobby, Chaosium is not only encouraging people to play games in his memory, but they are also providing a variety of free scenarios to enable us to do so. Chaosium has released scenarios for Pendragon, 7th Sea, Runequest, Heroquest Glorantha, and Call of Cthulhu. The Call of Cthulhu scenario is named The Lightless Beacon and is available, alongside the other scenarios, at Chaosium’s We Are All Us – Free Adventures.
“Even though a year has passed since Greg went on his last shamanic journey, we often feel his absence. We want to thank all of the many, many people who have reached out to us via email, online, and in person, often at the conventions we attend, to let us know how much he impacted their lives. As we continue crafting our games it is hard not to think of him; each and every Chaosium game line was impacted by his creative touch.
Greg’s spirit remains with us, his words echo loudly, and we are honored to be the keepers of his legacy. As part of that we, the Chaosium, want to memorialize him with the first “We are all us” series of events – playing games, meeting new people, and experiencing something new.”
Rick Meints, Chaosium President
Have even a passing interest in investigative roleplaying or the Mythos?
Drop by the base113 Subreddit to comment, ask questions, or just check out how you might apply some of the ideas discussed to your own games.
Works-in-progress and notes are often posted on the Subreddit, as are more general discussions related to Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, Delta Green and Fate gameplay.
