Kickstarter: Fate Core Part 3

So the Fate Core Kickstarter ended last night with a whopping $433,365. This makes it the second most successful RPG kickstarter to date after Numenera. Considering they only asked for $3,000 to help pay for some art and do some more playtesting it's an amazing sum.

Kickstarter: Fate Core Part 2

So a while I go I blogged about the successes the Fate Core Kickstarter has seen (post is here.) Well now we're three days away from the end and the success has been phenomenal so far. At the time of writing fellow role-players have pledged $346,857. This completely blows away the previous second place holder Traveller 5 which gained a very respectable $297K. It's highly unlikely that it will equal the top spot holder, Monte Cook's Numenera at over $517K.

Anyway, back to Fate Core. Due to its extreme success this Kickstarter has generated a ridiculous amount of stretch goals, which means that for a very low price you can get a ridiculous amount of gaming material for your buck.

For instance, for a low low pledge of $10 you get a massive number of PDF format supplements. There's too many to easily list, so I'll just show you the infographic from the Kickstarter that indicates what each pledge level gets (at time of writing.)

So if the Fate system interests you, head over to the Kickstarter and put your money down. Heck even if the system doesn't interest you, the number of supplements you get for that $10 basic pledge will make anyone happy even if they don't use the rules.

NPCs: Patches a Shadowrun Fixer

Like many GMs I've built a collection of NPCs over the years that the players have found memorable and thought I'd share them with the community at large. You never know when you are going to get inspiration, and the more you read the more something will come up when you're searching for ideas. One reason I like reading other people's campaign logs.

Anyway here is an NPC I created as a one off for Shadowrun that ended up being the groups normal fixer thereby far outgrowing what I'd originally created for him. There are no stats, I generally don't do statistics for my NPCs unless there is a good reason for them (needed in combat etc.)

------------------------------------

Patches is a relatively well known fixer for the Seattle underworld. Intelligent, well connected and generally well regarded by those who work for him. All a good job really, because Patches isn't a very well rounded character.

Born into a rich corporate family in Japan, Kanimoro Kaneda was the heir to a small B level corporation. Rich, well educated and treated with respect, by a young age he was on the fast track for board membership and was considered a made man. Diminutive he grew slowly, but was no less respected for it. Due to his slow growth he hit puberty late, and that was when it all changed. At 16, the man tipped to become the next chairman, goblinized into an orc.

Suddenly finding himself shunned by those who had respected him just weeks earlier, Kaneda was forced to flee for his life. He managed to take some small funds with him and fled on the first flight out of the country. He found himself in Seattle.

Using his money and corporate secrets he was able to get himself hidden within the shadows of Seattle's underworld. His intelligence hadn't left him, and he found himself able to easily make contacts and find out secrets in his new environment. Very quickly he was able to build a web of knowledge round himself as he carved out his new life.

Unfortunately his upbringing and sudden goblinization have had an impact on his psyche and he is no longer quite sane. Obsessed with fitting in and gaining acceptance, he has twisted his views of normalcy and become what some consider as more than slightly deranged. Most of his income now goes on surgeries, surgeries that he believes will restore his former acceptance.

Today Patches has gained his name from his rather odd appearance. Unless you know what you're looking for it is hard to determine that he is an orc. The goblinization has filled out his build from the weak young boy to only slightly heavier built than the average human male. His appearance is rather unorthodox though. His face is a mixture of difference races and lineage. In his attempt at determining human norms he has changed his appearance into that of stereotypical pre-goblinization races. The top right side of his face appears to be that of a male from India, the top left that of a Scandanavian blond. The bottom left seems like that of an African male while the bottom right that of what his idea would be of a Japanese male.

These pieces of his face have been obtained through surgery and grafts, and taken in isolation are near perfect renditions of the human races represented. Eye surgery, lip surgery, every step needed to reproduce the desired effect. Where they meet is a slightly ragged line that upon closer inspection is tattooed stitches over mild scar tissue.

His body is no different with his arms and legs all being of different skin colours, with differing levels of hair covering. How far his surgeries have gone beyond what is immediately visible is not known, but it is suspected that he has gone much further than what is shown.

Other than his eccentricities Patches is a valuable contact. He is a rare breed, trustworthy. His own abandonment has led him to never turning on his contracts, and always trying to make things right. He had gained the respect of many groups for his fairness and honesty, and should a threat be taken against him there are many who are willing to stand up for him.

-----------------------------------

I've always wanted to try and do an illustration for him, but though I'm relatively creative, true art eludes me when it comes to drawing. 

Buying Spree - Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition

It's been a while since I posted, but I've still been active in the RPG area. I've been buying up all the Warhammer 3rd Edition items I can find with the aim of running it shortly. If you're in the market for it, and live in Canada, then order from Meeplemart, they're currently selling a load of it cheap, and I mean cheap. Outside of the main box set, I think pretty much everything is 60% off. So I now have everything except the new Enemy Within campaign.

I know the 3rd edition has come under a lot of fire for being more boardgamey and less of an RPG, but reading through it and looking at all the items I have to disagree with this. It's most definitely an RPG. All 3rd edition has done is turn the rules into components to have at the table rather than bury them in rulebooks. Want to know how to perform a particular combat manoeuvre or what damage a particular spell does, instead of spending time looking it up you just reference the card that you already have available by your character sheet. Yes there are a lot of components to it, but not all are necessary.

(there is an unboxing of the main game here which shows some of these components.)

I'll let you know how it actually plays, but I'm looking forward to trying it out. I recall WFRP from the early days back in the 80s when I got into role-playing and really enjoyed it.

Happy New Year and Resolutions

So I haven't posted anything over the holiday period, I've been busy with various things in real life. Organize a party for a few friends, get my pilot license currency back and the worst one, the Steam holiday sale. Seriously I've logged about 4 full days playing PC games over the last couple of weeks, all on games I bought over the sale (damn you Borderlands.)

Anyway I also managed to pick up a load of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd edition supplements cheap at a local store called Meeplemart. Looks like I'll be popping over there at some point to get the rest of the supplements I'm missing. Right now I'm really digging the 3rd edition game. It's well produced, the cards and components add a nice edge to it that while a little clunky become a game in themselves and make it easy to keep track of things.

So New Year resolutions. Well I've been trying to get back into gaming properly for a long time, that means not just reading and collecting but playing and GMing as well. So to that end I've made a new years resolution.

In January I must run or play in one gaming session.

In February I must run or play in one gaming session.

In March I must run or play in at least two gaming sessions.

By April I must be involved, if possible, in a regular game.

Should be attainable, but it's already the 4th and I've made no progress towards the first one other than thinking maybe I should try running Warhammer 3rd edition.

Any gaming new years resolutions out there?