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Arcane Crimes Division launched on Kickstarter

Arcane Crimes Division brings light-hearted buddy-cop style action to a fantasy city bursting with magic and thick with scheming villains and ruthless scoundrels. The focus of the game is the relationship between detectives, as they crack cases, engage in thrilling chases, and confront criminal masterminds.

Back it now on Kickstarter and you'll immediately receive A History of Magic, the Arcane Crimes Division Quickstart, which contains all the rules needed to play the game and a full scenario to explore the setting and system.

The full game will include:

• Twelve-character backgrounds that each offer a unique high-fantasy concept and special abilities, allowing for a very light-touch character creation process so you can get to the action right away.
• A streamlined rules system for Cases, Chases and Conflicts that allows action resolution with a single dice roll, but which also allows players to boost their outcomes in unique and interesting ways
• A detailed setting, including detailed district maps of Polarity, so you can track chases across the city, and Polarity's Most Wanted, profiling the most infamous of criminals.
• Advice on how to facilitate the game including suggestions to help ensure that everyone has a great time.
• Detailed scenarios, each presenting a case that can be resolved in a single session and suitable for up to three different partner-pairings to work simultaneously.
• Tabletop materials to help make the game easy to run, including one-page summaries of the key rules
• Beautiful, evocative, full colour art from Thomas Boatwright and Karina Moreno.

Join the Arcane Crimes Division today on Kickstarter.

Arcane Crimes Division Kickstarter Launching Soon

Are you ready to crack intriguing cases filled with magic and mystery?

...Navigate twisting city streets, back-alleys and rooftops in thrilling chases?

...Unleash devastating powers and matchless skills to bring villains to justice?

Arcane Crimes Division is a new roleplaying game that takes the buddy-cop genre, adds a massive dose of fantasy, and brings it to your tabletop with a straightforward, entertaining, game system.  

The Kickstarter campaign launches on February 14, 2023. Sign up today!

Sign up now to be notified when shit gets real!

Sneak Peek: Arcane Crimes Division

You are a detective assigned to the Arcane Crimes Division in the sprawling, fantasy, city of Polarity. Together with your partner, you investigate magic and supernatural crimes, engage in thrilling chases and confront monsters and scoundrels. All while trying to keep your Captain’s blood-pressure from boiling over and consigning you to paperwork hell.

Detectives in the Arcane Crimes Division have exceptional skills and abilities; born from battle, scarred by magic, or drawn from long criminal experience. These abilities provide detectives with unique advantages when working a case, conducting a chase, or resolving a conflict. During each shift, teams of detectives battle the clock, pursuing leads across the city to unravel crimes, and bring the guilty to justice, before it’s too late.

Play as a Siege Automaton, powered by magic and steam; a Spell-Runner, skilled at navigating deadly dungeons, a Crimson Court Vampire, ageless and unnaturally attractive; a Blade, acrobatic and fearless and many more. More details soon.

Pav Award Winner!

Instruments of the Chrysanthemum Throne has won a Pav Award in the category of Excellence in Narrative (The Poetic Serving).  The Pav Awards are a celebration of New Zealand's best and boldest game development achievement and it's a real honour to win this award for a tabletop roleplaying game.

Thank you to everyone who helped playtest this game, contributed  thoughts or their art and helped make it a reality. 

Happy Matariki

 

Pav Awards Finalist

Instruments of the Chrysanthemum Throne, has been named as a finalist for two categories of the Aotearoa New Zealand Pav Awards.  This includes the category of Excellence in Narrative (The Poetic Serving) and Excellence in Physical Games (The Tactile Taste).

The Pavs are a celebration of ANZ’s best and boldest game development achievements. From digital to tabletop, we aim to the put a spotlight on local games that have gone the extra mile to immerse, entertain and tantalise. The Pavs finalists go in the running for a coveted trophy and are featured in NZGF’s week-long games exhibition.

This is a huge honour and the celebrate, the game is on sale with 50% off until the Awards Ceremony on 16 July.  If you'd like to read more about Instruments you can download this one-page explainer.

A Slice of Heaven

For a limited time you can pick up a special game bundle, created to celebrate #KiwiRPG week. Straight from the South Pacific, these games are presented by Kēmu Whakatau O Aotearoa (a collective of game designers from Aotearoa New Zealand). The bundle features 11 products by 8 designers, showcasing a range of Kiwi content.

• It’s family-friendly (and gamer-friendly) mayhem with DINOSAUR PRINCESSES! 
• Blades in the Dark cartographic excitement with the DOSKVOL MAPS! 
  
• The barbarian within the city in NOD! 
• Deeply-imagined spacefaring in F-SPACE! 
• Mindbending 70s SF weirdness with LEFTCOAST! 
• 
  Top-rope wrestling in SOARING LIONS! 
• Mean girl brutality in HIGH SCHOOL PRINCESS! 
• Bloody sword-and-sorcery in ON MIGHTY THEWS! 
• Exploring new worlds in THE NATURAL PHILOSOPHERS! 
• Existential bookery in QUIET DAY IN THE LIBRARY! 
• And bring cats to the cyberpunk sprawl in CYBERKITTENS: PROJECT BAKENOKO! 
  

Pick it up today!

Children of the Storm Released

Children of the Storm is a free introductory scenario for the Instruments of the Chrysanthemum Throne Roleplaying Game. This is a complete, stand-alone, scenario set in mythical Japan 

All the rules necessary to run the game are included with this scenario.

The players take the role of a small group of children who are given an important task on behalf of their village and entrusted with Tsukumogami (sentient objects) to help them accomplish it. Against the backdrop of a raging storm, the children must contend with both supernatural and physical challenges if they are to save their village as the New Year begins.

Four pre-generated primary characters are provided, along with four pre-generated Tsukumogami; cantankerous secondary characters who may boss the children around should they become too reliant on their power. Complete rules for resolving all the Tasks described this scenario are also included, along with a summary for the GM to aid facilitation.

Game Trailer for Instruments of the Chrysanthemum Throne

 

Instruments of the Chrysanthemum Throne Released

Explore a world of myth and magic where you must balance the terrible evil of the sentient object you carry, with the enormous power it grants.

Japan is in turmoil. The balance between the natural elements has been shattered; natural disasters ravage the land and monsters from legend terrorise the people.

The greatest heroes of the age have tried and failed to overcome this supernatural catastrophe. Now, in desperation, the Emperor reluctantly unleashes the most potent magical force at his disposal.

The Instruments of the Chrysanthemum Throne are a collection of powerful Tsukumogami, sentient objects that possess remarkable magical powers. They have been locked away for generations because of their abiding malice and hatred of people.

Who will be brave, or desperate, enough to risk their life and sanity by taking up an Instrument and using its power in the service of the Chrysanthemum Throne?

Instruments of the Chrysanthemum Throne is a complete tabletop roleplaying game intended for 3-6 players.

Tuning Instruments - Designing a game about cursed objects

Instruments of the Chrysanthemum Throne is a new dark fantasy tabletop roleplaying game due to be released later this week.  This post explores some of the key design decisions as the game evolved from concept to reality. 

Back in 2016 I was part of a conversation on Google Plus about how we should aspire to make tabletop roleplaying games more accessible. I was struck by the notion that a one-page game could help encourage people who'd never gamed before, to give it a go.

A game on a page

I know there are already a ton of great one-page games out there. My first idea was that you make something immediately visually appealing. A game so interesting and simple that someone who has never heard of tabletop roleplaying might try. Something that would work as a paper tray-mat of the sort you might find at a fast-food restaurant and could use the shared meal-time as a catalyst for also sharing a short story.

Such a game might pick up on the traditional RPG experience of 'pick a character, travel around a mythical place and have some adventures'. To work as intended, it would have to have extremely high visual appeal and a very short handful of rules.

Rather than create a new fantasy map, Japan, with its rich historical vein of myth and monsters, could be a good backdrop. By using some real places, there is an opportunity to mix some authentic legends, with real geography and perhaps increase interest in people finding out more about Japan, or about roleplaying.

The first (incomplete) conception of the game from 2016 is pictured below, featuring an amazing map by Karl Vesterebrg. The game would have 4 pre-generated characters (designed to be perforated, detached and handed out). Each character would begin in a different map location and carry a different item that afforded them a unique power. Encounters would be resolved by four outcome cards, also detached and then randomly selected.

The first version of the game (unfinished) was intended to be played on a single page

Needless to say, the combined challenges of simplicity and accessibility in a product that the target audience never actually asked for, are not to be underestimated and this idea ran out of steam before even getting to a testing phase.

Taking it to the next level

Rather than abandon the project entirely I decided to turn it into a more typical tabletop roleplaying product designed for a GM and group.

As I read about the myth and legends of Japan I came across the myth of Tsukumogami (objects that have achieved sentience after 99 years) and the idea that an object like this might play a trick on its owner if it was ill-treated was particularly appealing. It's always easier to blame an inanimate object for something going wrong, than accept your own culpability.

I'd really liked the concept of Wield by John Wick and Donna Giltrap had crafted a clever scenario along similar lines for the Kapcon Scenario Design Competition back in 2005. I wondered if there might be a way to build on the idea of Tsukumogami and create something darker that would create an interesting tabletop roleplaying experience. That’s how the Instruments were born.

Wicked Choices

The heart of the game would be a battle between the character and a powerful sentient object (the Instrument) for control. The Instrument would allow the character to have supernatural powers, but at a cost. As time went on the Instrument would strengthen its hold over the character, until eventually it could contest the free will of its user.

Navigating this balance would be the heart of the game, with the idea that their characters are working to perform good deeds across Japan, by restoring the balance between natural elements using their Instruments, but also paying the price personally for these deeds. They are as much Instruments of the Chrysanthemum Throne as the objects they carry.

To bring this to life, the game needed to embed this wicked choice through the system. The below sheet gives you an idea of all the different things that this version of the game was trying to incorporate – far too many things as it turned out.

The next version of the game was a little... busy

Refining the system

While the game needed to be much more streamlined, playtesting did reveal that a core game mechanic, borrowed from Chō-Han (a traditional Japanese dice gambling game, where players pick whether a dice roll will be EVEN or ODD before revealing the dice), was a fresh and interesting way to resolve actions. This was further tweaked to create just four possible outcome for each action.

Another element that tested well was giving the Instrument a physical presence at the table, by allocating it one of the two dice rolled. Although this was further refined to better reflect the insidious temptation that is the key game experience.

Some of the other elements – the role of the natural elements and different approaches to resolving challenges were shifted to become a part of the scenarios. The Instruments themselves changed from having a purely story focus, to allowing characters to further boost their chances of success, and also risk further chances of corruption.

Packaging it up

A game set in another place and time needs support to be as accessible as possible for the reader. This includes notes that will help the players engage with the setting. In my view this should be presented as details that can be incorporated by a GM as appropriate to their interest and style, without overwhelming a reader with too much dry information.

A game like Instruments, which has a focus on the temptation of power, also needs to provide the characters with the necessary context and motivation to make decisions about how much power to draw and when. This takes the form of eight structured scenarios which help breathe life into the game world. The inspiration for these scenarios was drawn from the myriad of traditional Japanese myth and legends, with a decent helping of creative license applied.

The final character sheet

The value of playtesting

In addition to writing the setting and scenario details, there was yet more playtesting to be done. Because the core game experience is about the wicked choices of the characters, the scenarios are presented in a relatively linear fashion, rather than as sandbox style experiences. Success at each stage of a given scenario is likely, but the cost to the character is entirely determined by the individual and collective decisions of the players.

Further feedback from playtesters was to build a political aspect into the largely supernatural challenges that the characters face, and thus the full campaign arc allows the characters to move from the role of mere instruments, to potential masters of the Chrysanthemum Throne.

An additional piece of feedback was that allowing the players to take a secondary role, giving voice to the Instrument of another character, would make the game richer and lift some burden from the GM.

Five years later

Instruments wasn’t a continuous labour over the last five years, but it was a game that I picked up and put down again many times. On each occasion I think that the perspectives of others helped to continually refine and shape the game into its final form. Thank you to everyone who helped along the way.

Instruments of the Chrysanthemum Throne will be available from DriveThruRPG later this week.

Soaring Lions: No Mercy Released

Are you ready to raise the stakes and take your pro-wrestling games to a whole new level? Soaring Lions: No Mercy is an expansion to the award-nominated Soaring Lions roleplaying game, providing you with new rules, resources and game options.

Soaring Lions: No Mercy includes:

• Match Stipulations that raise the stakes for Regular and Special Matches alike.
• Rules to allow new characters to enter the Big Show as Rookies, Professionals or Experts.
• A new Big Series Finale option; the Elimination Series.
• Pre-generated League Commissioners, to put their own personal stamp on proceedings.
• Pre-generated Sidekicks, to back your character in the ring.
• Pre-generated Supporters, to cause mayhem ringside.
• Random match location tables.
• A new streamlined character sheet and other game materials to support seamless facilitation.

Diceratops presents... Soaring Lions

 Check out the hugely talented Diceratops crew as they head ringside to play a game of Soaring Lions:

Soaring Lions up for a Pav Award

Soaring Lions has been named a finalist for the 2021 Pavs Awards in the category of Excellence in Physical Games.  The Pavs  are to recognize the amazing work within NZ’s game developer community. Achieving excellence with concept, execution, innovation, and creativity are all aspects worthy of that recognition.  To celebrate Soaring Lions is half-price until awards night on 24 April!

Playing Games Online

COVID-19 has meant that a reasonably large number of people aren't allowed to interact in person without following strict health protocols.  That means for many of us, tabletop RPG's are not happening in-person for a while. Online video calls are a possible solution.

Gaming over video calls can be challenging because the audio connection cuts out when people speak over each other, which is fairly common in most tabletop games. It can also be hard to transition from an in-person campaign where you are used to having side-conversations or interacting with NPC's as a group, to an online-campaign which requires one person to speak (and act) at a time. 

I'd like to draw your attention to some one-shot Imaginary Empire games that can work fairly well over an online video chat and that might provide some light relief until we can meet in-person again:

• In Soaring Lions only one player acts at a time, describing their actions inside and outside a professional wrestling arena. Randomised tables for speedy character creation can be entertaining and you'll be amazed just how much drama comes with the dice rolls made to execute wrestling moves. To play online ideally each player can see a copy of the Character Sheet, which has all the key rules for the game and one player keeps a track of the Lineup (order of character actions) and possible Special Matches using a Big Show summary sheet.  I suggest using a shared online dice generator like the excellent like Rolz so everyone can see the 'dice' as they roll. Character & Big Show Sheets can be downloaded here for free.

• Death of Legends (and the sequel First Kingdoms) also use a turn-based sequence for characters to act, reducing audio overlap.  As with Soaring Lions the Character Sheets summarise the key game rules and an online dice generator keeps everyone involved in the action. The game would work best if one player is willing to act as facilitator, tracking the Enemy Returns reference sheet, assigning the Final Act cards during the game interlude (via email) and keeping track of the map crossing out territories (an online whiteboard function or screen-share works well for this).  The Game Materials can be downloaded here for free.

Diceratops Interview

I recently had the privilege to be interviewed about roleplaying games as part of the Diceratalks podcast series (presented by Diceratops, a local live-event fusion between roleplaying, comedy and theatre).  

In this podcast the talented Morgan Davie and I talked about newly released professional wrestling game Soaring Lions and many of the other games produced by Imaginary Empire, as well as the nuances of running games at roleplaying conventions. 

Check it out via https://diceratops-presents.pinecast.co

Soaring Lions Released

Since pulling together the first draft of Soaring Lions for the Pro Wrestling Game Slam, the game has been playtested, refined and expanded.  The full version of the game has now been published, along with Soaring Lions: Throwdown, a free sample version.

Soaring Lions brings the drama, theatre and pageantry of professional wrestling to tabletop roleplaying. Players take the role of amazing heroes and despicable villains in a fast-paced, winner-takes-all, competition.

This game is about getting to the action quickly and building your wrestler’s story through a mix of matches and backstage drama. Character creation is simple; wrestlers are built from basic elements which you can create yourself, or roll randomly using the Legend Machine.

In a single session (or Big Show), you’ll build your character’s acclaim as you compete in matches, form alliances with other wrestlers and grab the mic to call others out. You can cash in your acclaim to generate extra effort in a match, book special matches and claim titles to seize glory.

Do you crave more action, more glory and an even bigger stage? If so, playing a Big Series allows you to build a character’s storyline over a longer period, linking several Big Shows. Between shows you spend glory points to upgrade your character to do things like developing a devastating special move, attaining celebrity status or adding devoted followers to your retinue.

The Big Series concludes with a winner-takes-all Battle Royale match that features all of the characters competing for the ultimate prize.

This is a complete game for 2 or more players - there’s no need for anyone to take the role of facilitator or Game Master (GM), but if you’d rather have an offstage role, off-stage options are included to amplify the drama and help bring the characters to life.

Ten percent of the proceeds from the sale of this product are being donated to financially assist those in the wrestling industry that have fallen on hard times via the Cauliflower Alley Club.

Support for Black Lives Matter

The folks at OneBookShelf have set up three new bundles of PDF products raising funds for Black Lives Matter, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Police Accountability Project and have created a spotlight on titles by Black creatives.

EPOCH: Shadows of Yesterday is included in a bundle supporting Black Lives Matter.

"#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes."

Please consider picking up one of these bundles today.

More support to fight COVID-19

The folks at OneBookShelf have set up three new bundles of PDF products to support different charities working to fight COVID-19.  All the proceeds from these bundles go to the specified charities.

EPOCH: The Experiment Continues is included in the bundle supporting Doctors Without Borders.  This bundle has a usual sale price of $653 but it's yours for a $20 donation.  

"Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971.

Today, MSF provides independent, impartial assistance to those most in need in more than 60 countries."

Please consider picking up one of these bundles today.