Mythic Index Topic 17: Setting Creation Elements

Sometimes if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. Well, sometimes if you want to play the game of your dreams, you aren't going to find it on a shelf. Many Mythic players think nothing of making a character, generating a random scene, and jumping right in. I do that sometimes myself, but I am a long time GM, and the pleasure of making cities, countries, and whole worlds (not to mention the occasional multiverse) is too hard to resist. 

If you share that passion for creating on the large scale, the articles below will probably be a big help.

Setting Creation Elements

• “Randomized Location Crafting”
• MM Vol. 2, pg. 8
• “Random Dungeon Crawl Generation”
• MM Vol. 3, pg. 12
• “Generating Dark Woods And Wild Places”
• MM Vol. 5, pg. 12
• “Randomized Starship Generation”
• MM Vol. 7, pg. 13
• “Creature Crafter Simplified”
• MM Vol. 13, pg. 14
• “Randomized Worlds Generation”
• MM Vol. 15, pg. 3
• “Location Crafting Random Cities”
• MM Vol. 16, pg. 3
• “Turn Any Show, Movie, Or Book Into A Solo Adventure”
• MM Vol. 20, pg. 17
• “The Mythic Magic System”
• MM Vol. 21, pg. 9
• “Creating Complicated Campaigns”
• MM Vol. 23, pg. 3
• “Running Solo Procedural Dramas”
• MM Vol. 26, pg. 3
• “Giving Mythic A Personality”
• MM Vol. 27, pg. 3
• “Never-Ending Adventures”
• MM Vol. 28, pg. 3
• “One-Page Location Crafter”
• MM Vol. 31, pg. 3
• “Open World, Sandbox Solo Play”
• MM Vol. 33, pg. 3
• “One-Page Character Crafter”
• MM Vol. 45, pg. 3
• “RPGs As Inspiration For Mythic Adventures”
• MM Vol. 35, pg. 3
• “News Feeds”
• MM Vol. 35, pg. 22
• “Location Based Adventures”
• MM Vol. 36, pg. 3
• “Solo Setting & World Creation System”
• MM Vol. 38, pg. 3
• “Make Your Own Elements Meaning Tables”
• MM, Vol. 38, pg. 26
• “NPC Evolving Motivation Rules”
• MM Vol. 39, pg. 3
• “Rules & Tools For Science Fiction Adventures” 
• MM Vol. 41, pg. 16
• “The Villain Crafter”
• MM Vol. 41, pg. 3
• “Magical Tradition Generator”
• MM Vol. 45, pg. 18
• "Cozy Solo"
• MM Vol. 48, pg. 3
• "The Society Crafter"
• MM Vol. 49, pg. 3

Wizard Dad: Locations and Objects that can be found in a second hand smugglers Starship.

So, imagine it. Here you are trapped on a backwater moon orbiting a gas giant no one is interested in. Sure it has been terraformed and is livable, but would you call gas mining a living? You want out. Out there! Amid the stars. Well kid, do I have a deal for you.

Locations

1. Gangway and loading dock (Are they clean? In good repair? scorched with blaster marks? painted with a symbol or graffiti?)
2. Primary airlock (is everything bolted down correctly? is the pressure indicator cracked? are there odd stains that defy easy explanation?)
3. Medical station (Does it have basic supplies? Is there a vid screen for medical instructions? Do the automated surgical arms look well upkept?)
4. Captains quarters (Is this still filled with the mementos of the prior owner? Does it smell bad or good in here? is there a badly hidden "secret" panel?) 
5. Crew quarters: double bed (is there a lingering scent of old socks? does it have an in suite shower? are the mattresses just thin plastic covered foam? Is there anything under the beds?
6. Cockpit (is there old chewing gum stuck under the seat? are there obvious signs that some equipment has recently been replaced? Is there a sticky dried substance inside of the life support control panel?)
7. Engineering room (Is there a liquor still hidden in one of the lockers? Are all of the tools clean and ready to use? is there a rusty red patch on the ceiling that appears to have been missed by the cleaning crew?)
8. Mess hall/ kitchen (is there a lingering smell of past meals? It there a table but no chairs? An old fashioned paper cookbook? The shadowy image of something in the oven?)
9. Rec room (is it cramped with exercise equipment? Empty except for an old dart board? Have a large screen monitor and a tangle of old fashioned VR gear?)
10. Cargo bay (full of empty crates? Smells like a herd of goats? Suspiciously sparkling clean?, greasy like an old garage?)

Objects 

1. weapons locker (biometrically locked? empty accept for a quasi legal fractal knife with a duct taped grip? Has a grenade taped to the back panel with the pin laying next to it?)
2. false panels (very well made and would be invisible if not slightly opened? Hanging by 1 hinge? Only has a roll of electricians tape inside?)
3. portable info tech devices (tablets synced to the ships data base? An old cell phone from a provider that doesn't even exist in this system, a cyber-deck with a broken data jack cable attached?)
4. tools (a full and well labeled toolbox? A crazy expensive liquid nano smart tool? A single rusty hammer with a wooden handle?)
5. an old service jacket (military issue with some ballistic armor sewn in? a courier jacket with a dozen access patches? a restraint suit top?)
6. space suits (oft patched and antique? Modern but with a cracked visor? silvery military issue with laser reflective qualities?)
7. drugs (old fashioned glass bottle of whiskey?, medical derms, ? an old pill bottle labeled as a universal antipsychotic?)
8. good luck charms (a rabbits foot- probably cloned? A feng shui mirror?, an ace of spades taped to something important?)
9. translation lenses (goggles? A thin transparent sheet? A hand lense stuck on some strange pictographs setting?)
10. a stone egg, slightly warm to the touch (a hand warmer with low battery? An old gag gift with a company logo on the bottom? A stone egg with a hairline crack which emits heat)

Wizard Dad's Workshop: A Pocket Game with the Mythic GME Mobile (for Android) , Part 2: Tags, Making Inspiration into Gameable Content

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While in the end this project is going to become untethered from the MM31 article, we are not there yet. Specifically we will be using the Ranks chart from page 15 to change descriptions into Tags with Ranks and numeric values. 

Let's take our Moorcock pastiche from part 1. We are going to boil each statement down into something that can be used either for or against the character. 

• They are outsiders
• They are masterful warriors
• They live with a depressing sense doom
• They wield some terrible weapon
• They have at talent for leadership
• They tend to lose friends and loved ones with a disturbing frequency

Moorcock wrote a wide variety of books about his Eternal Champion, but they tended to fall into the Sword and Sorcery or Sword and Planet genres (broadly speaking). As an outsider in those settings a lot of distrust can fall on a character that is from an unknown somewhere else. So we can define him as:

• Outsider (social) Low -2

What this means is in a social situation in which he is an unknown factor his Outsider nature drags down any Fate Check by -2. 

Masterful Warrior is a fine description. It is broad, but that fits here. While Masterful isn't named in the Ranks list, Incredible is. 

• Warrior Incredible +4

As is true with any character who knows he is at the whims of a terrible fate, our Champion can get quite depressed over it.  This could manifest in many ways, but I am seeing a Resigned Lassitude so lets use it.

• Resigned Lassitude Low -2

(When in this state all non action situations are dulled by his sense of doom. Episodes could be triggered by a loss or as part of an Interrupt scene)

Moorcock's Champion usually is wielding some terrible life sapping sword, in which he has to have a battle of wills to keep in check. He fails those with some frequency, but sometimes he wins. It looks like we have a couple of traits to describe here. 

• The Black Sword Incredible +4 (This bonus will become a number that works against the Champion when he is trying to resist the will of the sword. Lets also add the caveat that the sword cannot make a non wounding attack)
• Iron Will High +2

(Maybe as he grows more experienced in resisting the sword he will be able to raise that score up a bit more)

In the various Eternal Champion books his primary calling is to protect humanity from some immediate threat. To do that we know he has a talent for leadership. Not everyone falls in line with him though so this isn't going to be an exceptionally high score.

• Leadership High +2

We have saved the hardest for last. The Champion loses friends and lovers, sometimes even to his own black hearted sword. This seems to be part of his curse. This Tag will represent the amount of peril that an Interrupt could place his loved ones in. Usually the closest loved one to hand. We don't want this dominating every encounter but doom is part of the character so lets make it a bit challenging to save them. 

• Doom of Loss Weak -3 (this doom is a modifier played against his attempts to rescue or save them, thus it is a negative number)

With a little effort and imagination every aspect of the character has been converted into a Tag, and we have worked out their mechanical effects. 

Mythic Index Topic 16: Genre Focus Fantasy

I can speak with some surety, having watched RPGs as a hobby grow over the years, that probably the single most popular genre is Fantasy. Well Mythic Magazine will not let you down for options. 

Below are many articles that are clearly fantasy focused, but there are also articles on structure, creature creation, and campaign management, that seem especially good for a great fantasy experience. 

Genre Focus Fantasy 

• “Using Mythic With Published Adventures”
• MM Vol. 3, pg. 4
• “Random Dungeon Crawl Generation”
• MM Vol. 3, pg. 12
• “Generating Dark Woods And Wild Places”
• MM Vol. 5, pg. 12
• “Control Your Adventure With Keyed Scenes”
• MM Vol. 10, pg. 12
• “Solo Adventure Modules”
• MM Vol. 11, pg. 12
• “Creature Crafter Simplified”
• MM Vol. 13, pg. 14
• “Emotional Quest Adventures”
• MM Vol. 14, pg. 3
• “Randomized Worlds Generation”
• MM Vol. 15, pg. 3
• “Location Crafting Random Cities”
• MM Vol. 16, pg. 3
• “The Big Collection Of Big Examples”
• MM Vol. 17, pg. 28
• “Adapting The Event Focus Table To Your RPG”
• MM Vol. 18, pg. 3
• “Turn Any Show, Movie, Or Book Into A Solo Adventure”
• MM Vol. 20, pg. 17
• “The Mythic Magic System”
• MM Vol. 21, pg. 9
• “Journey To The Isle Of Kitra”
• MM Vol. 22, pg. 11
• “Creating Complicated Campaigns”
• MM Vol. 23, pg. 3
• “Generating Adventure Puzzles”
• MM Vol. 23, pg. 18
• “The Event Crafter”
• MM Vol. 24, pg. 3
• “Handling Long Journeys In Solo Play”
• MM Vol. 25, pg. 10
• “Never-Ending Adventures”
• MM Vol. 28, pg. 3
• “Mythic RPG Narrative Combat”
• MM Vol. 28, pg. 10
• “Swords & Towers”
• MM Vol. 29, pg. 12
• “Open World, Sandbox Solo Play”
• MM Vol. 33, pg. 3
• “Mythic Mass Combat System”
• MM Vol. 33, pg. 12
• “One-Page Creature Crafter”
• MM Vol. 34, pg. 3
• “Fluid Scene Structure”
• MM Vol. 34, pg. 10
• “RPGs As Inspiration For Mythic Adventures”
• MM Vol. 35, pg. 3
• “Location Based Adventures”
• MM Vol. 36, pg. 3
• “Troupe Style Solo Adventures”
• MM Vol. 37, pg. 3
• “Solo Roleplay In Video Games”
• MM Vol. 37, pg. 16
• “Solo Setting & World Creation System”
• MM Vol. 38, pg. 3
• “The Villain Crafter”
• MM Vol. 41, pg. 3
• “Mythic as a Player Emulator”
• MM Vol. 41, pg. 18
• “Creating Game Loops In Solo Play”
• MM Vol. 43, pg. 3
• “The Crypts of Krozen Crest”
• MM Vol. 44, pg. 3
• “Magical Tradition Generator”
• MM Vol. 45, pg. 18
• "The Society Crafter"
• MM Vol. 49, pg. 3

Mythic Location 3: Mad Libs Locations For Location Crafter RPG supplement, Small Spaceship

Today, I splurged and bought yet another sci-fi game. It has been a while since I indulged in picking up a truly new (to me) product, so I jumped in. Well, I am not going to have a self declared space opera and no way to get around in it, so it is time to build a space craft. A fairly cozy one, I hope, but we will see how it goes. 

This spaceship is brought to you today by Mythic Magazine #7. 

We are going to hold off on the Story Description Table for this template. When we play through it later on the context of the game or a random roll will fill us in quick enough.

The Starship Region Description table we can hold off on as well. The two of them are for context, which either the game will provide or it will be easy enough to roll when I set off to explore the ship.

[Editor note. The progress points on each line are one ahead of that line because I find it easier to glance up a line rather than write it in before I need it. Hope that doesn't lead to confusion - W.D]

1. Location Expected PP1, Objects None PP1, Encounter Expected PP1, Connection Simple Hallway

2. Location Expected PP2, Objects Expected PP1, Encounter Random (Aromatic/Energy), Connection Simple Hallway

3. Location Random (familiar/important) PP3, Objects Known or Random (reassuring/damaged)  PP3, Encounter Random (Curious/Hidden) PP3, Connection Short flight of stairs or ramp going down.

4. Location Expected PP4, Objects None PP4, Encounter Expected PP4, Connection A simple or common doorway to pass through.

5. Location Random (simple/official) PP5, Objects Expected PP5, Encounter Random (Happy/Exotic) PP5, Connection A simple or common doorway to pass through.

6. Location Known, or Random (new/cute) PP6, Objects Known, or Special (THIS IS BAD: Known) PP6, Encounter Expected PP6, Same, with a curve or turn

7. Location Known, or Special (COMMON GROUND: Expected -3PP) PP4, Objects Random (
Majestic/Official) PP7, Encounter Expected PP7, Connection Same

8.  Location Random (Negative/Mundane ) PP5, Objects Random (Resourceful/Warm) PP8, Encounter Expected PP8, Connection Leads Directly into Other Area

9. Location Expected PP6, Objects Expected PP3, Encounter Expected PP9, Connection Same with Curve or Turn.

10. Location Random (Festive/Fancy) PP7, Objects Expected PP4, Encounter Expected PP5, Connection Expected

11. Location Random (Echo/Drab) PP8, Objects Expected PP5, Encounter Known, or Special (THIS IS BAD: Expected, PP6, Connection A simple or common doorway to pass through.

12. Location Random (Magnificent/Helpful) PP9, Objects Random (Bright/Damaged) PP4, Encounter Random (watery/inactive) PP7, Connection A simple or common doorway to pass through.

13. Location Expected PP 5, Objects Expected PP5, Encounters Random (Powerful/Modern) PP8, Connection Leads directly to another Area

14. Location Expected PP6, Objects Expected PP6, Encounters Expected PP9, Connection Same

15. Location Random (Meaningful/Rustic) PP7, Objects Known, or Special (SUPERSIZE: Known) PP7, Encounters Random (Helpless/Beautiful) PP10, Connection same

16. Location Known  PP8, Objects Expected PP8, Encounters Known, or Random (Loyal/Frightening) PP11, Connection Same

17. Location Expected PP 2, Objects Random (Bright/Magnificent) PP9, Encounters Expected PP5, Connection Same with Intersection

18. Location Expected PP 3, Objects Expected PP10, Encounters Random (Disgusting/Official) PP6, Connection Same

19. Location Random (Important/Mysterious) PP 4, Objects Expected PP 5, Encounters Expected PP7, Connection Expected

20. Location Complete . Objects Random (Faded/Modern) or Expected , Encounters None or Expected PP, Connection None or Exit

For a small Starship this is pretty hefty.  There was a long space of  connections being Leads to another Area. This suggest a storage bay or hanger. 

Lets just see how it goes when I have it in context!

W.D. 

Wizard Dad's Workshop: A Pocket Game with the Mythic GME Mobile (for Android) , Part 1; The Inspiration

A few days ago I, that is me and the elves here at the workshop,  have announced a New Years project.

 Wizard Dad's Workshop: The New Years Project. (At the bottom of that article you will also find the index to all the articles in this project.) 

A quick review of that post coverers the mission statement pretty well, and it gave a list of design goals.

"It will cover concepts like character creation, hierarchy of abilities, character advancement, keeping NPC simple (because who doesn't like monsters and sidekicks), organizing Lists, ways to build special abilities that feel special, how to start the game at various power levels, and I am sure a host of other topics. 

The goal is to use the app, and a simple notebook function found on almost all portable devices, to play the entire game, but to have enough crunch to satisfy a feeling of an organized system, even on the go"

Before I go much further, lets have a look at the tools that I plan to work with. 

The first is actually a magazine article, from Mythic Magazine #31, pg.12, titled, "Mythic RPG as a Rules Lite RPG". I highly recommend reading this article, as it will give you the core concepts to toss this project aside and jump right in, today, with using MGME2 as your core game engine for strongly narrative games. I admit, that long before considering this project and right up until yesterday, I have been using the article, as it, to play some pretty sweeping campaigns to full satisfaction. The second tool is Mythic GME Mobile for Android, but lets focus on the magazine article for now. 

I am not going to recap the full article here, because that would be an injustice to the author, who put in so much work. I would neither pick her pocket nor butcher her prose, but I will focus in on some parts that are important to my current endeavor.

• Character creation: two options are given for character creation. 
• The first is for the play who already has a character in mind. Let's say for example you are a fan of Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series, and want to make a character of that sort, but your own version. This will give you some strong ideas of how to start. Stick to a few key points and describe the character in wide brush strokes focusing on the qualities you want to see come to the surface in the first few sessions. You can always build on that later. I know from reading many of these novels over they years that most of the "Champions" have some common qualities.
• They are outsiders
• They are masterful warriors
• They live with a depressing sense doom
• They wield some terrible weapon
• They have at talent for leadership
• They tend to lose friends and loved ones with a disturbing frequency
• With this level of description alone you can go on to design a character.
• The second method involves using the myriad of descriptive tables available in the Mythic GME2,or any other source you like to come up with inspirational word pairs and the expand in to simple sentences that give the same levels of description found above. 
• Escape Legal
• The Character is on the run from the law
• Deliberately Reassuring
• The character is a silver tongue con man
• Professional passive
• The character has retired from a life of conning (though he still has those skills)
• Domestic Strange
• The Character is hiding in a pleasant but very strange town
• Cute New
• For reasons to be ascertained later the character owns a puppy
• The details above give us a pretty good idea who we are dealing with. It covers some central skills, a difficult situation, and a puppy (what story isn't made better with a puppy).

Also keep in mind that you can use both methods. If you know you want to play a weird reincarnating warrior, but also want a few surprises going in, first jot down all you know then roll on a few tables to get some inspiration into other aspects of the characters life.

I caution against making the lists to long in the beginning, as you play you will be put in circumstances that you didn't' cover in character creation, and what you either instinctively know, can extrapolate from your earlier descriptions, or randomly determine on the spot, can fill in those holes. The goal here at the beginning is to know who the character is, a central idea of what they can do, and perhaps as a bonus some sort of situation they are in. 

In Part 2 we will will take the inspiration found here and turn it into gameable elements.

W.D.

P.S.
Right now I am going over the tools as written. I will end up tinkering with them, as I go.
I hope to done with the project by Christmas time next year. There will be a lot of trying out variations before I feel I get it right, but by the end I am hoping that there will be a fun product with an instructions only a couple pages long that will make it easy to game on the go. 

W.D.

Variation 14: Using Adventure Crafter With Mythic

Using Adventure Crafter with Mythic (MGME2 pgs. 171 - 175)

Return to ToC

The final essay to be found in Variations is one of the longest, and one of the most useful. The Adventure Crafter is a great tool, when paired with an open mind and a good understanding of your games context, for adding a lot of richness and depth to an adventure. I use the Adventure Crafter card deck with nearly every game I start. 

This variation shows you how to use this tool to full effect in your solo Mythic adventures, to launch games with a first scene, or make an interrupt even more impactful. I found the additional system to become intuitive very quickly. 

There is a Mythic Magazine article where this variation got its start, but there are other magazine articles that also discuss starting games, and adding richness to scenes. Lets have a look at some of them.

The natural starting point would be the article that first introduced the idea. Though all of this is covered in the variation, seeing things worded a bit differently could spark off a different set of insights on the topic. 

• “Combining Mythic With The Adventure Crafter”
• MM Vol. 5, pg. 4

Other useful tools along the same theme of making richer scenes and stronger starts can be found in several other articles.

• “Making The Most Of Altered Scenes”
• MM Vol. 2, pg. 4
• “Customizing A Solo Adventure Before You Begin”
• MM Vol. 7, pg. 4
• “Generating Compelling Backstories”
• MM Vol. 8, pg. 11
• “Control Your Adventure With Keyed Scenes”
• MM Vol. 10, pg. 12
• “Creative List Tips & Tricks”
• MM Vol. 17, pg. 3
• “Creating Complicated Campaigns”
• MM Vol. 23, pg. 3

And while we are mentioning beginnings and middles lets not forget the importance of endings.

• “Conclusive Adventure Conclusions”
• MM Vol. 20, pg. 3