Play report: Copper GLOG Session 1

On a longish car ride (your definition of what constitutes a long car ride may greatly vary), my older son and I played a session of Copper GLOG, as invented by my favourite ttrpg-blogger of all times, Arnold K. For our randomizer we used even/uneven licence plate end numbers (foreign ones didn't count even if they did end in a number) of cars we passed or that passed us, depending on what came first.

My son chose a ratling warrior as his character class – Fighter level 1, good skill sneaking, special equipment: Bow and arrow. He was sent by his clan to rescue the princess of his clan, the forest ratlings. She had been kidnapped by goblins, presumably for some higher-up ruler, and dragged to the Discarded Giant's Boot, a one-index-card-dungeon I had made up sometime last year. The nameless ratling hero started before the gaping maw of the enormous boot (the entrance into it is about half a kilometer wide), a mountain cave made out of leather of an ancient beast of titanic proportions.

The ratling managed to sneak into the boot's shaft, which contained the hovels of a goblin village. Listening to two of the greenskins converse in one of the huts he found out that the princess had been brought into the boot's tip. He left the goblin village, going deeper into the boot. There was little light coming from holes rotted into the thick leather roof, otherwise it was a detritus-strewn dark cave. A random encounter got our hero his first fight: A giant flea (Level 1) attacked. The ratling managed to fend it off but got hurt in the fight, losing one of his two HP.

He decided to take lunch and move on, triggering another random encounter, this time with a herd of fleas herded by goblin herdsmen, who were driving their disgusting flock towards the village. A successful stealth check meant that the ratling was undiscovered but listening to the goblins only revealed dirty songs the goblin herdsmen were singing.

Delving deeper into the boot, the hero found himself with the choice of going left towards the boot's tip or into a hole gnawed into the heel, where the goblins presumably were mining leather. He decided to explore the leather mine first, went inside and found himself in a hollowed-out area with a big mushroom surrounded by slime on the floor, out of which half-finished goblins were growing. This was their mothershroom, the place where the goblins of the village spawned. On the far end, he could make out cages.

He decided to investigate, sneaking around the half-grown goblins and reaching the caves. One contained five of the fleas, one contained a desiccated skeleton, one a live ratling who begged to be released. The hero freed the prisoner and gave him his bow and arrow, making a Friend for the rest of the adventure. The two of them, however, failed to sneak out – and had to fight their way through four half-grown goblins (Level 0). They succeeded after a long and somewhat tedious battle, losing no HP in the process.

Despite the freed prisoner's fear of the deeper areas of the boot, they pressed onwards towards the tip. They managed to sneak past a giant earwig (Level 2) and saw the lit entrance of a wooden house at the end of the cavernous boot-cave. The house was larger than human-sized (enormous for two ratlings, who stand about a meter tall in our world) and guarded by two goblins. One of them was asleep, the other was picking his nose – the Friend killed both with well-placed arrows.

The two ratlings had to stand on top of each other in order to reach the doorknob. They did and went into the house. On the ground floor, the first door lead into a room full of cages. Six of them contained princesses: The ratling princess, an orc princess, a human princess, an aelph princess, a beetle princess and a kobold princess. The princesses told the two ratlings that the keys to their prison were in the posession of the Orgre (Level 3, two attacks) whose house this was. He was planning to make a Princess Stew, the recipe of which demanded for eight different types of princess.

The two ratlings snuk up the stairs to confront the monster. The orgre had been lying on his bed but smelled the two newcomers enter his bedroom. Grabbing two huge butcher-knives from the nightstand, he got up and a healthbar grew on the bottom of the screen and boss-music started. The two Level-1-ratlings had a difficult time with this boss monster but in the end were successful. The nameless hero slew the ogre with one HP left and the resusciated his Friend who was at 0 HP. He'd have to stay in the back, shooting arrows, from now on.

The two heroes freed all six princesses from their cages – and then armed them with oversized kitchen utensils. They princesses counted as a Swarm of Princesses (Level 6, fights as level 0 single creature but has Lvl HP). The group left the house and went back towards the heel of the boot.

On the way a random encounter delivered an agressive giant earwig their way. The ratling hero attacked in close combat, the princesses did too and the Friend fired arrows. In the end, the hero had to be patched up after the battle (0 HP) but the group succeeded. This marked the occasion of the hero leveling up (10x current level in XP; Defeating monsters results in Monster-Lvl XP). Now level 2 he'd be a better fighter still but do not gain an additional HP yet.

At the leather mine into the heel, the ratlings decided that a large-scale distraction was needed if the group was to get through the goblin village and leave the boot. They snuk past the mothershroom and freed the captive giant fleas which fled into the larger cave, spooking the herds of fleas the goblins were keeping and causing widespread chaos, pandemonium and destruction.

A failed stealth-roll led to the princesses each having to do a roll on their survival. Luckily, only two of them didn't make it out: The human princess and the beetle princess died upon trying to get through the chaos of the goblin village. Five rescued prisoners brought our hero another five XP. He had also accomplished the mission (rescue the ratling princess) and made some valuable new allies. With the ogre dead, the goblins would soon be subject to a new ruler and we decided it would make sense for the orc princess to return with a retinue of her warriors to now become ruling queen of the discarded giant's boot.

The whole thing took about three hours of play time, which we spent with some interruptions, whenever I had to concentrate on more complicated parts of the road. The simple resolution system makes for an easy way of playing hands-free and the minimal bookkeeping helps as well. You can only use a simple dungeon if you want to keep it all in your head – I did cheat in that by placing one dungeon (the ogre's house) inside another dungeon (the giant's boot). But keep it simple and this works just fine. Thanks,Arnold!

The Epic Adventures of Paul the Nice Thief, part 1

 During our quarantine, I started a role playing campaign with my older son, who turned six this summer. I hesitate to call it “pen and paper” because as my player can’t read yet, there is hardly any pen&papering involved. After the first session I did write down the basic facts for his character though, so I guess it qualifies. The system is almost purely narrative-based. As we started playing while walking in circles in our backyard, pushing the stroller with our sleeping toddler, there are not dice involved.

The character is just a scant few points of data: Name, class, health points, experience points, skills (three to begin with) and equipment. I guided my son through the character creation process by asking him if he wanted to be a warrior, a thief, an archer or a wizard. Of course, he chose to be a thief (his favorite in Heroica as well as Pixel Dungeon). I gave him 4 HP for that, as well as the starting skills sneaking, climbing and reading tracks. Then he got to choose a weapon and a starting item of power. He chose a set of three throwing knives and a disguising cape that could render you invisible while immobile and holding your breath.

I decided to start my son’s adventuring career with a classic premise: The dungeon run. A wizard named Xerax has a tomb that is rumored to be guarded by traps and foul creatures. It is located a day’s march from a nearby village and Paul, our thief, has heard of it. Next up: Paul’s first adventure. I will write it up straight-faced – my son playing a grown-up (as he thinks what that would be like) leads to some Vincent-Adultman-situations which are great fun for me. And perhaps for you as well, my fives of readers.

I have created a monster

 

I’ve recently introduced my son, 6, to roleplaying. While we were in quarantine, walking tight circles in our small garden, trampling what was left of the grass into the ground, we talked. And I said something along the lines of “Let’s play a game. I tell the story, you tell me what the main character does. It’s what I do with my friends when we talk on the computer. Let’s start by creating your character.”

My son was doubtful for about two minutes, then he was hooked. He’s been demanding more and more adventures every day, more than I can feasibly make up between working, keeping up with the family, and two children. But that’s another story. This one is about my son becoming something terrifying: A would-be Skaven-player of Warhammer Fantasy.

How did that happen? Well, the other weekend he asked me what my favorite monster was in the now almost daily roleplaying sessions. “Ratling,” I said, “that’s why they are in almost every game I develop or lead.” My son wasn’t convinced and told me he liked skeletons. I said I prefer zombies because I kind of see how they could feasibly function (one of the drags about being an adult: Weaker suspension of disbelief). We agreed to disagree.

Then the kid asked me if I had invented ratlings myself. I told him no, they’ve been around in some form or the other. Skaven from Warhammer for example. I followed up with a short, child-friendly description of what a tabletop-strategy game is. Then I whipped out the phone, googled some images of Skaven armies. “Did you play them?” “No, they were too expensive for me. I had evil elves.” “Can we play this game with my toys? Legos?” “Sure, why do you think there are still mechs left over in the Legos that you inherited from me?” The conversation drifted elsewhere.

Then, while getting ready for bed later, he talked to my wife. She came to me “He’s been talking about saving all his money to buy an army to defeat you with rats?” the mother of my children asked me, knowing full well that this was about some form of nerdery by her men that her normie-brain couldn’t possibly understand. “Fuck,” I thought, this wasn’t going where I had hoped. I gave a her a quick-rundown of what tabletop-strategy games are, then of my youth with hundreds of Marks wasted on the stuff. “I will defeat you with the army you never had, Papa!” my son called from upstairs. “No!” I fathered back, “You are not going to get into Warhammer before you’re at least 13 or 14!” Then to my wife who was standing closer to me: “It’s definetly note made for kids.” “But he wants to save up for it.” “And he can and if he does, he’ll have enough money for a Skaven army by the time he is 14.”

The story doesn’t end there.

The next day, he was in preschool. Quarantine had ended in the meantime. When he came back, he had two Eurocents in his pocket that he didn’t have when he left: He had told his peers about his plan to defeat his father with a ratling army. And one boy had actually pitched a coin he had on him into this quest. My son had started crowd-funding his way to a Warhammer-army.

I never wanted for him to get into what my former roommate and friend Justin calls “plastic crack”. I have created a monster. Should I curate stories of my younger years more? I don’t know but it feels like I succeeded as a nerd and failed as a father. Not good. Oh well. I don’t even know if I still have my dark elves. If so, they must have been gathering dust somewhere at my dad’s place for almost two decades. I’ll have to clean them up. Well. I guess I have eight years to get them into fighting shape.

My son as a game master

As a gift for Easter, I produced a Heroica Fanfiction Audioplay for my older son. Fifty minutes of fantasy-action, just for him, including the bosses and monsters he and I made up. I even gave his favorite characters the best moments. This, after repeated listenings over the holidays, inspired a creative frenzy in my son. While I was doing things like household chores, he was upstairs in his room, labouring away with the boxes of Legos that he inherited from me. Then he presented me with an adventure of his own making. He'd play the bad guys, I'd play the heroes. He was going to be my game master (although he doesn't know the term, this has happened totally organically).

His idea of a great adventure was that the Goblin Kings (The Twins, we usually call them, as we have two of them and they together form a boss encounter) have gathered all the monsters in their keep. Except for the Spitting Snake and the Giant Spider, all bosses are there as well. The goblin fortress is seperated from the human village by the bridge. In it there is the main hall full of horrors and troops, as well as three side wings. In one there is first the Kraken, then the Hydra, its den serving as a treasure chamber full of gold, potions, and a key. One is the throne room with the two Goblin Kings. The last one is another side wing. It features two hidden keys and a secret door that leads to another land.

That other land is the goal of the quest, as my son informed me. The kidnapped king of Heroica, father to Prince Alrik, leader of the heroes, is held there – but the heroes don't know that yet. I was allowed to have four active heroes at the time, the other four waiting as backup at the village tavern.

Mathematically, my team was very unlikely to defeat the massed foes in the main hall. My first strike team consisted of the Prince, the Knight, the Priest and the Thief. I had a plan: The team would head straight for the treasure chamber, where the Knight would hold the monsters from the hall off while the other three dealt with the Kraken and the Hydra. Then everyone would retreat with the loot to the village, where the treasure would allow them to heal and gear up.

The plan went reasonably well. While I lost the Knight and the Thief, the Priest and the Prince got out with the treasures. I filled the ranks with the Archer and the Druid and started back to the Goblin Fortress. That's when things got even more RPGish.

My son had used the turns I had spent buying stuff in the village: He had set an ambush with werewolves on the bridge. That failed to stop my heroes. When a single Level 1 goblin came out of the fortress, I decided to negotiate. I told it/my son that he didn't have a chance as a single goblin against four heavily armed heroes. My son conceided. The goblin decided to become a good citizen and went onto the big ship to take a nap. Later, while my heroes were entering the fortress again, he would go to the village oak to nibble on its big branch. As my son explained, goblins love meat and wood. He was the smartest of the goblins and thus decided to be a good guy.

Inside the fortress, my heroes encountered another wave of enemies in the form of miscelaneous smallish monsters and the Dark Druid. Then the remaining goblin forces surrendered – under the condition that my heroes leave the throne room and their kings alone. I decided that these were acceptable terms for Prince Alrik, after he had learned that the goblins didn't have his dad. The heroes went into the wing with the magic door undisturbed and we decided to call it a night and continue the adventure/campaign in my son's other land another day.

It was only half way through that game of Heroica that I realized that I was in fact playing a roleplaying campaign designed by my son. He is only five and can't read or write but the graspable little character sheets made from Lego combined with the simple tactics of the dice rolls and loot system enabled him to become a game master. I am astonished and proud that he put thought into things.

He even heeded my advice from an earlier game and gave me a good reason to go into a dead end full of boss monsters (all the treasure and a mission-relevant key). During my last assault he even realized that his guys should try to kill my healer (the Priest) but after that failed, he figured the smart thing for the goblins would be to give up. I'm glad he isn't one of the bloodthirsty kids that assume that murder is the only way to play this. And I'm very very curious what the land beyond the magical door has in store for my quartet of heroes.

More Heroica Bosses

My older son and I made some more boss enemies for Heroica. It's basically a continuation of this post. It's easier to make boss enemies than regular foes. The regular beasties require tiny figurines and are, rules-wise, rather boring. So, here's three new bosses and their rules:

The Chained Snake: My son made this boss and its rules. It has 3 HP and can not only fight in close combat, but also attack a specific field in the corridor leading up to it by spitting acid there. If a character ends on that squre, you roll a combat die but cannot harm the snake. Shield: You deal one damage to the snake. Sword or sword/skull: You lose one HP. Skull: You lose three HP. A tough monster to fight.

The Sewer Kraken: This boss has a setpiece. You gotta get past its tentacles before attacking it from a square behind it. On the dark grey squares, it can attempt to grab you with an attack roll. If it hits, you get into the appropriate tentacle. On your next turn it hands you over to the next tentacle and you roll another combat roll. On sword or shield, you get free, on skull, you lose another HP. That way, the Kraken will make you run the parcours again. Once you're behind it, you can actually hurt it. It has 3 HP.

The Hydra: With as much as 6 HP, the Hydra is very hard to kill. For every two HP you take off of it, it loses one of its three heads. Combat rolls function normally, the Hydra deals damage equal to its remaining heads. So it's basically a more defensive version of the Giant Bat.

So our new bosses include our first experiments with bosses that have ranged attacks. Also, the Kraken can, like the Giant Spider, manipulate the heroes and their positioning. This makes for a far more dynamic battle and is balanced out with the low damage output of this boss. The Hydra is, in my opinion, the coolest looking of the trio but also mechanically the most boring one as it is just a straight-up fight.

In the future I will likely design more set-piece-fights like the one against the Kraken. That one is, by the way, ideal to be placed in the sewers, reinfocing the Monsters in the depths.

Megaman

Lately I've been, for the first time in ever, dabbling in something one might consider to be fan fiction. I've always despised using other people's characters but my son made a wish for Easter: Dad, make me a megaman Tonie. Tonies are, for those without a young child in their life, figurines with an rfid-chip that can access cloud-based audio when placed on the appropriate speaker box. The makers offer some figures with ready-made audio plays (my son is listening the The Little Prince right now as I am typing this). And ones you can freely upload stuff for.

My son never played a Megaman game. My son never saw the 90s cartoon with its terrible soundtrack. His peers have no idea who or what Megaman is. He only knows what he heard then I explained to him that I was going to a concert by the Protomen this fall. And what he saw in fan-made music videos to their work. That was enough for him to wish for a Megaman action figure for christmas, which he likes to play with in conjunction with landscapes made out of Lego Duplo.

And now he wanted a Tonie. There is no Megaman Tonie. There isn't even an audio play I could use. And the cartoon show is terrible. I needed to improvise and create stuff myself, just like when he asked me to make a PJ Masks Tonie. At least he accepted that I'd drill into his Megaman action figure to install the chip from a butchered Tonie.

So the main reason why I haven't been blogging during the past weeks hasn't been the virus or a lack of creativity. It's rather that for three weeks, every minute of my free time was consumed by creating an audio play about Megaman. 32 Minutes of it, with music in the background, robot voices and lots of Pew-Pew-soundeffekts and explosions. One hell of a lot of work that the public will never know because I have no rights to any of the stuff in the play except my text.

It's magnificient. It's epic. It's just for one little boy who, I know that, will religiously listen to it five times back to back this Easter.

Heroica: Our Houserules

My son and I have been playing Heroica about every other evening these days. To make it more interesting and fun, I have made some minor rule changes, pretty much all of them regarding characters and boss monsters. Let's delve into them.

Play Report: Heroica with my son

My first-born and I cleaned up his little childreen's desk and assembled all of the Heroica we have into one big land full of danger and adventure. I knew that this campaign against four bosses and their minions spanning several different regions would take a long while (it wasn't our first big campaign, but the first one involving stuff we had designed and built ourselves). It would replace a chunk of goodnight-reading for a couple of evenings. What we have looks like this:

Our Heroica land is ready to be adventured in.

To the left you see the village with the graveyard. It is connected to the grassy lawn which leads into the secret tunnel (both are my son's work), the forest and the catacombs. Beyond the forest there is the goblin fortress. The four bosses are distributed over the lands, each in their own boss room and guarded by patrolling minions. Each of us got two characters, one to play and one spare. The other heroes were hanging out in the inn, with the exceptions of the king and the red mage, who were imprisoned in the cells connecting the catacombs and the goblin fortress. We play with permadeath to characters, by the way.

Thoughts on Heroica

My first-born and I have been playing Heroica every once in a while now. When Lego released this little board game with a dash of fantasy-rpg mixed in there, I was stoked but quickly disappointed when I actually read the rules of the one set I bought. Now, years later and as a father of two sons, I see where its target audience lies. And I know that hacking this is part of the design.

We've been lucky enough to acquire a few additional sets from a friend of mine at an okay price (the full sets have become somewhat expensive since they're out of production). We do not play in competition but in cooperation. That means, the monsters barely stand a chance. We do have permadeath for characters but each of us usually has two characters spare waiting for the first one to die.

Our current landscape. (c) 2020 Me on my Blog.

My son with his five years loves the thing. A usual run through all the lands we have usually takes us around 45 minutes, a good time for a kid his age. He generally spends the next thirty to sixty minutes after that playing with no rules and making his own stories into that world. It's really rather excellent and something I totally didn't account for when I bought the game as a university student with no offspring in sight.

Some things need to be changed about the monsters in order to make them more different from each other. The Goblin King in our game usually has that helmet-thingy and thus an additional HP. The Vampire can, of course, replace himself upon his death with the Giant Bat which has four HP and a damage rating equal to its HP – it is out of the box the most interesting beast in the game. Still trying to figure out how to make the Druid and the Golem Lord more interesting without breaking the game.

I also intend to make the game bigger and perhaps even add come characters. This will cost me some money and I need to scour BrickLink for some items but I think it could work. Perhaps a central village and one or two new landscapes with enemies like spiders and rats can be done without too much trouble. Also some female heroes are totally in order. When I get around to all that. Perhaps, when my second son becomes old enough to join us.

Labyrinthmaschine in action

A game is not truly tested until someone other than the designer has played it. Now I have in the past been somewhat careful about letting others even touch the Labyrinthmaschine – I was scared it could break. By now my fears have been alleviated and a small handful of others have been allowed into that particular dungeon of mine. Today, my older son wanted a go – and I let him.