Ronin Round Table: Conversion Experience

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PendantImagePart of the experience of creating the forthcoming new edition of Blue Rose, following our successful Kickstarter, is the process of taking the original rules of the game, which were the first iteration of what became the True20 System and converting them over to the Fantasy AGE System. Game system certainly does matter when it comes to game experience, so we wanted to make sure Blue Rose both took full advantage of the best qualities of the AGE System and that the rules adapted, as needed, to fit the world of Aldea and the romantic fantasy style of Blue Rose.

Some things were easy: Fantasy AGE character creation is based off of three classes: Mage, Rogue, and Warrior. Blue Rose character creation was also based off three classes: Adept, Expert, and Warrior. The three mapped almost exactly. On the other hand, Blue Rose adepts are not quite Fantasy AGE mages. Indeed, Blue Rose needed a whole new system of arcana to reflect the more psychic-based style of magic found in the setting. Similarly, the expert class needed additional breadth to handle many more socially-focused characters in Blue Rose, in addition to the sneaks, scouts, and swashbucklers.

Likewise, Blue Rose called for new races and backgrounds, since the world of Aldea doesn’t feature the same fantasy races found in Fantasy AGE, and its cultures have different backgrounds. Whereas Fantasy AGE devoted a fair amount of space to detailing the various kinds of equipment and gear adventures outfit themselves with, Blue Rose doesn’t focus so much on such things, so we needed to condense and simplify the rules for weapons, armor, and miscellaneous gear of all kinds.

The original edition of the game was heavily driven by Feats, individual special abilities characters acquired both at creation and as they advanced. Fantasy AGE, on the other hand, is largely driven by Talent, three-tiered sets of abilities which improve as characters advance, similar to many of the feat-chains or advancement paths set forth in the Blue Rose Companion. We had to consider in many cases whether or not a particular feat needed to become part of a Talent (or get expanded out into an entire Talent unto itself), become a Focus, or perhaps a class power or even arcanum (as most of the supernatural feats became).

The core of the game remains very much the same, with the same abilities, the use of focuses (although there are some new ones associated with the setting), and the use of tests and the stunts that may result from them. There are some new stunts, naturally, and a new way of generating stunt points from the intensity of characters’ relationships, perfect for that needed-right-now stunt to save a hero’s beloved, or strike down a hated enemy. There are also new persona mechanics to determine a character’s Calling as well as their Destiny and their Fate, their “highest” and “lowest” expressions of their nature, the good and bad impulses that exist within us all that help to drive characters.

One of the best results of the conversion experience is the opportunity for players of Fantasy AGE to take and adapt what has been built for Blue Rose and fold it back into their own games. Even if you’re not playing in the world of Aldea, there’s nothing saying you can’t use the new backgrounds, talents, specializations, arcana, or game mechanics like relationships or persona. They make Blue Rose a big Fantasy AGE add-on sourcebook unto itself!

We’re looking forward to getting Blue Rose into production and into your hands this summer so you can see for yourselves the results of our efforts and either return to the world of Aldea or visit anew to create your own adventures.

Ronin Round Table: Hero High Introduction

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Welcome! In this week’s Ronin Round Table, we’re showing off the cover to the revised and updated edition of Hero High for Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition! Plus introducing you to the heroes in the latest lineup of the Next-Gen! We’ll cut right to important stuff and show off the cover first!

HeroHighFinal01This is the cover image before we add any other graphic elements such as the Hero High title and logos, but it’s great to see this come to life!

This image was born from a discussion between M&M game designer Steve Kenson and me. I sent him a paragraph about two different ideas, one in which the characters were standing on some bleachers with a defeated enemy on the gym floor in front of them and the second idea was them standing on a giant defeated robot. Clearly, the ideas were combined Voltron-like into the above image, which shows the heroes standing on a defeated robot (a Probot from the Terminus, also featured on the cover to the Gadget Guides) in front of outdoor bleachers!

Seven of the eight members of the Next-Gen from the updated Hero High are shown on this image. We couldn’t squeeze Blue Bolt on the cover, but he’s featured in the Mutants & Masterminds Quick-Start that’s currently in the works. Blue Bolt was featured in a couple of Power Profiles and we liked the character design Sean Izaakse came up with so much we decided to use him as a character in Hero High!

Because the Next-Gen is a team made up of students at the Claremont Academy, its lineup changes frequently. The members of the team featured in the original Hero High are now out in the real world, dealing with challenges all their own. (You’ll hear more about them in Freedom City when it’s released later this year.) Now, let’s meet the new lineup of the Next-Gen so you can be prepared for them when Hero High is released in a couple of months. (We’re commissioning the interior art now, but the cover and text is finished!)

Blue Bolt is Jae Murphy, a Korean-American kid from Irvine, California. He’s a half-human/half-alien with the ability to generate and sense electricity, cause blackouts, and make quick jumps in the form of living lightning. He’s a thrillseeker who’s in love with the idea of being a superhero.

Catalyst is Reena Sarin, the daughter of Indian immigrants and is from Florida. She’s a very smart, impulsive girl whose body produces incredible amounts of excess bio-energy. Initially she could only generate a powerful energy blast that exhausted her when she used it, but she built herself a control rod that stores and allows her to control her energy to create a wide variety of effects. She’s determined to prove herself a valuable member of the team, but her unluckiness and destructive powers make that difficult for her.

Elflight is Alea Arlissan, a half-elven girl from Tuatha, the realm of Faerie. She came to the Claremont Academy at the suggestion of Seven, who she helped on a recent quest that took her to Tuatha. Elflight wields the powers sword known as Whitestar, has mastered a few spells, and is accompanied on Earth-Prime by her dragonling familiar Phoros. She is motivated to be a force for good in the world–and to hunt down and deal with supernatural threats.

Junior is Wally Thompson, Jr. and he’s actually a young sasquatch from the Cryptid Clans found in the wilderness around Emerald City. Abandoned by his parents on the doorstep of an isolated farm, Junior was adopted and raised as a human child. As a young sasquatch, he still looks mostly human, but is incredibly strong, has a connection to the natural world, and possesses a supernatural ability to hide from view. Junior was raised right and believes he should try to make the world a better place.

Miss Kitty is Amelia Cero. Her family owns CeroSoft, a software manufacturing company in Chicago. Her grandmother gave her a beautiful Egyptian cat statuette which was a family heirloom. The statuette came to life in the moonlight and explained Amelia was the next in line to be granted powers by Bastet and act as her emissary on Earth. Calling herself Miss Kitty, Amelia became a hero, but as soon as her parents discovered what she was up to, they sent her to Claremont Academy. Despite her youth–she’s 14–Miss Kitty is one of the most experienced heroes on the team.

NGM is Martin Conte, grandson of Leroy Conte, the Civil Rights-era hero known as the Golden Marvel. When Leroy was released from Buckner Ridge, better known as Lockdown, and he saw the difficulties Martin was having, he decided to pass on the golden light he possessed in the hopes it would give the boy a purpose and prove he could make a difference. Now, Martin, as NGM, is a powerful, overconfident, and angry young man. He wants to do good and he especially wants to be recognized for doing good.

Silver Eagle is Nina Cruz, the daughter of two AEGIS agents, one of whom was exposed to large doses of interdimensional energies during the Terminus Invasion. Since birth, Nina has possessed “argent energy” she can use to fly, enhance her already considerable strength, protect herself, create objects from the energy, and generate destructive blasts. Silver Eagle was trained by AEGIS for a number of years and is a patriot through and through. She’s also the most responsible of the students and has been at the school for years.

Wraith is Luke Dixon, the son of a scientist for the Foundry. When he learned what his father did, he ran … right into a war zone where he was blown to bits. Rather than let his son die, Malcolm Dixon rebuilt him using the “living cybernetics” he was experimenting with for the Foundry. Unlike so many before him, Luke survived and was rescued during an AEGIS raid. Now recovered from his transformation, Luke feels less than human despite his enhanced strength, speed, and toughness. Wraith believes he should make the best of his abilities and feels it’s his responsibility to use them to help others.

The Next-Gen are designed as PL8 heroes, which is the recommended power level for teen heroes in Hero High, so you and your friends can use them as player characters if you want to get started playing right away. Be on the lookout for more information on the Next-Gen and Hero High in the coming weeks!

Ronin Round Table: Freeport Creature Encounters

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creatures_covA lot of GMs drawn to Freeport: City of Adventure are relatively new to the Pathfinder RPG, and many who aren’t new to Pathfinder are new to running adventures in a city focused on pirates and cults to elder horrors and serpentfolk. A great deal of advice for both groups is available, much of it in Freeport: City of Adventure, and the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. But especially given how well Freeport allows a GM to draw in options and monsters from any setting, I thought it might be useful to go over a few oft-overlooked basics on building creature encounters in Freeport.

Change It Up

It’s easy to think a pirate-and-cultists setting like Freeport should focus primarily on humanoid foes, but that can be a mistake. First, it gets boring to face nothing but more warriors and the occasional ranger or sorcerer. Second, PCs are much more likely to identify NPC abilities when they are drawn from the character classes the players can also choose from. And third, it means a weapon that is bane against magical beasts isn’t very useful to the player who wields it.

There’s nothing wrong with having lots of humanoid foes, but it’s also easy to add a few animal and magic beast pets or allies, have cultists accidentally summon outsiders, have aberrations lurk beneath cult strongholds, have one of the main pirates happen to answer to a sea dragon, and so on. Freeport draws its inspiration from stories that primarily focus on human foes, but as a fantasy game there’s no reason not to figure out how chuul and hangman trees figure into local adventures. Read more →

Ronin Round Table: Powers AGE

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By guest blogger Brian Poel

Over a holiday drink, I was talking with the good folks at Green Ronin about my recent escapades in hacking the Fantasy AGE system into a modern-day superpowers game. Nicole asked me if I’d like to do a write-up for the web site outlining some of my changes. Of course I would!

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Ronin Round Table: What is Best in Life?

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gCRtnbVzidrPwv2VLfFTQ7W0aafBy Guest Bloggers Arnold T. Blumberg & Scott Alan Woodard

It all started at the horror store Dark Delicacies in Burbank, California back around 2011 or so. Arnold T. Blumberg (The “Doctor of the Dead”) was doing a signing for his guide book to zombie cinema, Zombiemania, when friend and fellow writer Scott Alan Woodard (The Sixth Gun Roleplaying Game, Doctor Who: The Juggernauts) discovered a copy of the Deathstalker II soundtrack in the store. Both of them noted how much fun it would be to write a book similar to Zombiemania but focused on their mutual love for the sword and sorcery genre. And the rest is history…ancient history, foretold in legends and destined to send the two men on the quest of a lifetime!

What would become the 400-plus page Cinema & Sorcery: The Guide to Fantasy Films began as a massive research project that involved choosing fifty feature films to cover with in-depth chapters packed with information on plot, production, soundtrack, and detailed ruminations and reviews; the chapters would also provide features on how to adapt characters, creatures, artifacts and more from the films to the reader’s game table. The rest of the book would catalog every other existing sword and sorcery feature film from the birth of cinema to 2015, cross-listed with alternate titles. No small feat, but a worthy adventure for two dedicated cinemaphiles!

The biggest challenge in working on the book was that since Arnold and Scott were 3,000 miles apart (Scott is based in Portland, OR, while Arnold lives in Baltimore, MD), they were denied the opportunity to sit together while plowing through the best and the worst of the genre. Fortunately, the era of social media and online communication enabled them to overcome the obstacle, and there was at least one occasion where a shared convention experience afforded them a bit of downtime to see one film at the same time. And what a film, a veritable conquest of all logic and sanity!

The sprawling sword and sorcery genre index would not have been possible without the book’s “secret weapon” – our third author, Rochelle Blumberg. And if the name looks familiar, it should, because Rochelle is Arnold’s mother! A powerhouse researcher in her own right, and a champion of list-making and attention to detail, Rochelle worked on compiling the index of all sword and sorcery films according to Arnold and Scott’s criteria in the same way that she had assembled the index way back when for Zombiemania. And lo, the quest was completed!

For the authors, the joy of working on this kind of project comes down to sharing a passion for film with fellow fans, and hoping that the next time readers revisit a favorite film, they check the book to see what they had to say about it. It’s the next best thing to Scott and Arnold sitting there and watching with you!

You can also hear Scott and Arnold chat about the book’s origins and features in a special episode of their G2V Podcast, which you can find here.

Ronin Round Table: Generational Games in A Song of Ice & Fire Roleplaying

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BalerionA Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying tends to have a distinct focus on families and legacies. It’s not surprising – the powers of Westeros are its Houses, and while they maintain their hold through economics and military, they establish their alliances and continue their legacies through family.

As such, there is a sense of importance to the families of the characters in a SIFRP campaign. So, it is perhaps no surprise that a particularly enjoyable style has come out of that sort of focus on the family: generational play.

With generational campaigns, the chronicle is less about individual characters, and more about the great legend that is one of the Houses. Wars and trials by combat meet on equal ground with intrigues to establish alliances – especially marriages – between the Houses, and most of the story is told through “flashpoints.” These are important moments in which the House’s legacy is imperiled, whether because it is endangered in some way, or because it has an opportunity to make itself great (although at what cost?). Read more →

Ronin Round Table: The Art of Art Direction

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beastfolk

By Hal Mangold

Today’s Ronin Round Table draws back the curtain on some of the behind-the-scenes parts of creating our products. Art is an essential part of the look and feel of most games, and it’s the role of the art director (that’s me) to make sure all that art gets created. To give you all a little insight into the job, we’re going to answer a few common questions about what being an art director is all about.  

What does the art director do?

As the art director, my responsibility is to make sure that all of the art that goes into Green Ronin’s games and publications is up to the standard we’ve tried to set over the years. I select the artists, assign and approve the art, and herd cats to make sure it all comes into our hands by the deadline necessary for publication.  

How does the art direction process work?

It all starts for me with scouting out the artists who have the right style to fit the project. Games like Mutants & Masterminds have a radically different art style than Dragon Age or A Song of Ice & Fire. I contact the artists I want on the project, see if they are available during the timeframe I need them, and get them contracted if they’re interested in working on the project. Ideally, this is done about 4-5 months ahead of time, but circumstances often compress this a bit.  

The art order or brief comes next. This is a description or set of descriptions for the piece of art needed for the product. These can be written either by me or, more often, by the developer of the product, with my role being more to tweak or jazz up those basic descriptions. Sometimes the descriptions are general, sometimes really specific, and different artists work well with each type. In general, I try to art direct with a light touch when I can. I’m hiring the artist for their talents and inspiration, after all. I try to give them as much room to improvise as I can.   

The next step is to take that art order transfer it to the artist or artists. For a cover piece, this part is simple. For interior work with multiple artists, it’s a bit more involved of a process. The art assignments get broken up between the artists, taking into consideration both spreading the artists throughout the book for a unified look, and assigning the right pieces to the right artists based on their relative strengths.

Next the artists submit their sketches for the assignments. I review them to make sure the composition is as strong as it should be, that the basic look is right, that any characters depicted have the correct look, and so on. If revised sketches are needed, the artist submits them, and once everyone is happy with where the piece are going, the artist takes the piece to its final state.

If the project is for a licensed property, there’s one extra step: approval by the licensor. Most licensors require us to submit all of the original art we commission to them so they can make sure it depicts their world and characters properly. Some licensors want to see sketches, and some just care about the final result.

There was a time when there was another step: the artists physically shipping their work to us for scanning. Fortunately almost all artists today (even those working in non-digital mediums) submit digital files. Considering the international nature of the artists we work with, that’s especially fortunate today, with international shipping costs being what they are.  

Once all the art is approved, the art director gives it a look to ensure it’s in the proper color and file format, and that it will reproduce properly when actually printed. After that, the image file is handed off to layout for insertion into the product. The art director’s work is done.

Where do you find artists?

Anywhere and everywhere! The Internet is a fantastic source, of course. Sites like DeviantArt, Artstation and DrawCrowd give artists a place to put their portfolios, and I browse around on them quite often. Sites like Tumblr and Pinterest are also fantastic art resources, both for finding new artists, and building “mood boards” for how I want a particular project to look. It sometimes takes a little internet detective work to find out who created an image found that way, however. Not everyone is great about tagging sources for what they post.

Conventions are another great source for artists. Whether it’s a comic, gaming, anime or just overall sci-fi show, I always keep an eye out for creators whose style might work with one of our games. If we’re actually displaying at a show (like GenCon, for instance), portfolio reviews are another great source for me.

And finally, email submissions come in all the time, and have provided me with some great people I might not have noticed before.

Can I submit my art to Green Ronin?

Absolutely! Anyone is welcome to submit their work (or a link to an online portfolio, preferably), to art@greenronin.com.

Ronin Round Table: Blue Rose Development

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Blue Rose cover by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

Blue Rose cover by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

Welcome! In this week’s Ronin Round Table, we’re taking a look at the development of the new edition of Blue Rose Fantasy Roleplaying following last year’s successful Kickstarter, along with a preview of some of the ways Blue Rose uses and modifies material from the AGE (Adventure Game Engine) System rules found in Fantasy AGE.

Right now, Blue Rose is poised between the development and editing stages of the process: draft text is in, with AGE System Developer Jack Norris and I going over our respective sections of the book: Jack primarily on the game system material and me primarily on the setting and story material, although there’s some crossover on both our parts. The drafts we have include all of the stretch goals funded by the Kickstarter and the hero and villain submissions by our Kickstarter backers for inclusion in the world of Aldea.

We have Lynne Hardy on-board as editor (or “benevolent editorial tyrant” as we have chosen to call it), empowered to smooth the sometimes rough road of our text so you can enjoy your journey through Aldea. She’s working with the setting material that makes up the first third or so of the book, detailing the world, it’s history, mythology, and the current state of its nations and peoples, roughly a decade since the time described in the original edition of Blue Rose.

There have been some changes! Queen Jaellin of Aldis is married (and not all are in favor of her choice of consort) and has won a stunning victory over the dark kingdom of Kern. Aldis is regaining its equilibrium following that recent conflict, and hopes are high for renewed peace and prosperity, but there are still many challenges for the Sovereign’s Finest throughout the land. The forces of Shadow do not rest and their reach is wide and deep. The nation is still very much in need of heroes to aid the cause of the Light.

Preview: Personas

We also have a special preview of the Blue Rose material in the works (hopefully the first of several such previews).

In this case, it is a draft of the Persona section of the game rules, discussing the qualitative traits of characters: their good and bad qualities (embodied in their Destiny and Fate), their goals and overarching place in the world, the looming specter of corruption and its effects on the spirit, and—most especially—their relationships, the deep emotional bonds that define the characters and help to drive them, not only in the context of the story, but providing clear game system effects when the players focus on those relationships and how they motivate their characters.

Download the preview PDF and take a look! Keep in mind that this is fairly raw text, still going through the development process. Nonetheless, we think if offers a pretty good look at where we’re going. If you have feedback for us, visit the Fantasy AGE forum on Roninarmy.com and let us know!

 

 

Ronin Round Table: We Could Be Heroes…

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If just for one game.

2523On January 10th, 2016 David Robert Jones, known to the world as David Bowie, passed away after a private and protracted battle with cancer. He was a singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and many many more things and his influence was felt far and wide.

He was not, to my knowledge, a gamer.

But he was totally a role player.

From his personas of Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke and various acting roles and constant innovation and re-invention, Bowie was great at making and playing characters. He communicated concepts and ideas not just with evocative music and lyrics, but with performance. Even his battle with cancer is depicted metaphorically through his last album, putting him it a category of unique works that range from Warren Zevon’s The Wind to John Wayne’s The Shootist.

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Green Ronin in 2016

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By Chris Pramas

Happy New Year, gaming comrades! I hope you all had a good holiday, and got some quality gaming in with friends and family. As has become a tradition here at GR, I’m here to spill the beans on our plans for the coming year. Last year was a bit awkward because in January I could not yet announce Titansgrave or the fact that we were designing D&D books for Wizards of the Coast. This year will be much less cryptic! So what’s have we got in store for you? Rather a lot, actually!

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