Canon Puncture 74: Jerks at the Table and Their Looong Backstories
By Mick Bradley on Jul 27, 2009 in Featured, The Canon Puncture Show
Rich is joined by Judd Karlman to discuss jerky players, overblown backstories, and 4th Edition hacking that does not involve slashing.
Notes available after the cut:
Notes:
- Nerd Watching: Ejecting Jerks via Dungeon Mastering by Nicholas
- Character Development Happens In-Game via Life and Times of a Phillipine Gamer
- Rich uses his write-up for Milos in our S7S game as an example of the kind of back-story he likes.
- Rich uses his write-up for Milos in our S7S game as an example of the kind of back-story he likes.
- Ryan Macklin’s hack for Montages in 4E.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:42 — 36.7MB)
Our pleasure, dude. It sparked one of the few recent discussions we’ve had where both the participants had a slightly different take on things.
Mick Bradley | Jul 28, 2009 | Reply
Pickles, but this was a fun ep to listen to! Good stuff guys! If I were able to be a cohost on any podcast in the universe, I’d want it to be Canon Puncture!
Mick Bradley | Jul 28, 2009 | Reply
I love the bit about Drow Sociology being irrelevant to how you act as a player. I think you should blow that sentiment into another whole show.
It bears re-visiting.
Arnold | Jul 28, 2009 | Reply
You’re right Arnold, I’d love to blow that into a topic, I could jump all over it.
However, I think that when it comes down to it, Judd’s statement “We control the fiction, the fiction does not control us” is about as elegant and to the point as anything could be. It’d be tough to top that even by digging into it more deeply.
Mick Bradley | Jul 28, 2009 | Reply
Or the flip side… the orphan characters that come to the table with no family, no friends, no connections whatsoever, and insist on being an untouchable island.
Arnold | Jul 29, 2009 | Reply
Yeah, now you’re just tempting me to tee up and smash the snot out of that one with a big “Not at MY table!” rant.
Mick Bradley | Jul 29, 2009 | Reply
Great ep, guys. Not too rambly, not too short.
On the note of games that address backstory in an interesting way, there is the Reign incarnation of the ORE, where you can roll up your character’s background (on 11d10, IIRC), and the results are expressed as experiences. These experiences are of course reflected in your character’s stats and abilities, but they also provide a good sense of where the character comes from, while leaving enough room to flavor to taste.
Dave (aka Nev the Deranged) | Jul 29, 2009 | Reply
That’s a cool concept, Dave. I’d love to get a look at Reign and dig into that more deeply.
Mick Bradley | Jul 30, 2009 | Reply
Back in the _day_ we used to play first edition Mutant Chronicles, and that rolled up your character history as well.
You would go through a number of (mostly player optioned) Career Rotations. You would age two years, pick up some skills, and have two random things happen to you.
Makes great back-stories really quickly. Alas, not very narrative. The events didn’t always have big handles for the GM to use later on.
Arnold | Jul 30, 2009 | Reply
Sounds like Traveller to me. It’s like Burning Wheel life paths, except you just pick the “setting”, roll to qualify (if you fail you get a “drifter” or “outcast” setting), roll for your life path within the setting, roll for an event in the setting, and repeat that for a number of times.
In a way I like it better than Burning Wheel because in Burning Wheel we did a lot of back and forth reading in the life paths, trying to get to a specific result, and I didn’t enjoy that part of character generation.
Alex Schröder | Aug 4, 2009 | Reply
Your talk about character backstory was some nice synchronicity with my running a two night Dust Devils game. Above all else what stood out about the game was the very rich meaty characters with very playable backstories that were made from 5 datapoints: 2 traits, a past, a present, and the Devil. As you make a character these points coalesce and suggest an entire history. I made 8 NPCs in about 15 minutes and every of them is a character I would love to play.
Keep up the good work.
mountzionryan | Aug 6, 2009 | Reply
Another game came to mind, Duty and Honour, which a random chargen history that is suggestive/evocative without forcing you into a history you don’t want. At the end of chargen you have a well rounded character with a precis of his history. In all honesty Duty and Honour is the best game no one is talking about for many reasons.
mountzionryan | Aug 6, 2009 | Reply
@mountzionryan – I’ve never tried Dust Devils, but heard good things. Isn’t it unavailable for sale now? Also, I’ve never heard of Duty and Honour before, where/what is that?
Orklord | Aug 6, 2009 | Reply
Dust Devils is still available at IPR:
http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16705&cat=0&page=1
I know Matt talked about stopping altogether so I don’t know if this is backlog or what.
Duty and Honour can be found here: http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/
A Naval version is slated for October.
mountzionryan | Aug 6, 2009 | Reply