PAX AUS 2022 - Cataclyzm

 This year I went to PAX, I was invited to run my game (as an Indie Australian Designer) and so I went.

Running Cataclyzm, for Strangers

This is a mini document on how, after running 5 sessions, I felt that running Catacylzm works best.

First, Lets discuss how I went into this, I had an idea of an approximate session length, PAX Aus was 2 hours, so I planned for 3 phases. The first being an Introductionary sequence, such as a mini combat, because almost all RPGs have some kind of combat system. Second I wanted to show off one of the three other variants of the game, Social conflict, Trade or the Powers that be. Lastly, I wanted a final showdown, the players now using their gained knowledge to take on something bigger, maybe something too big, so I could show off the 'size' rules.

This didn't go according to plan, of course.

PAX 2 hours, is more like 90 minutes. Players don't always turn up on time, so you kinda need to give players 10 minutes to get to your table. so you end up explaining the game 2-3 times as each player(s) arrived. holding off, means your existing players are bored. 

To combat this, the first players get their character templates first, and based on what they choose, I start to explain the world from THEIR perspective. 

Templates? 

Yes, at a Convention, you do not have the time to go through swathes of choices, even if a player knows exactly what they want, there are choices on HOW they want it. 

Sorry players, not happening. 

So instead I have pre-written characters that has the generic sets of skills & stats based on what they are likely to be doing.

For Catacylzm, I had Warrior, Ranger (with knives), Scout (with sling) and Shaman (with Herbs.. more on this later)

The rest might likely have spoiled the game. The Shaman was a mix of Mage, Priest, Academic and Trader, which took care of those roles where needed. The Scout was both Rogue, Trader and Ranger, while the Ranger was actually less about Range, and tad more about combat, while the Warrior was a Barbarian. just hit things.

So there wasn't really a need for Healer, Smith, Noble or the dedicated Priest, Monk, Mage or Academic, and Trader was only a subset for this world.. (for the moment)

I had intended to make up laminated level up cards, and let players start with one of them, I wish I had in the end, It would have saved a chunk of time, less need for specific character sheets, oh, white board markers would have been better too.. I have them somewhere..

So also, Games kinda needed to end 5-10 minutes early so players could get to their next event. Some players actually left after an hour, we had to 'poetically' write them out of the quest.

So, As often as not, I'd explain Cataclyzm from the lifestyle chosen, then a new player would arrive, I'd explain it further from their point of view, and so on, until I had a player count max, or it was 10 minutes in and we should start. 

Once the players were settled, I'd explain the flood, the situation and how, as young teenagers they were sneaking off, as a group, properly for the first time. (Their Parents knew what was going on, but sadly, they also knew this world was harsh, food was scarce, either they'd return with food, or not return and less mouths to feed)

being a Con, I didn't want to go down all the political choices of Cannibalism, or Cremation, 

The Players would choose a direction, as each session changed the 'known' map, each subsequent group had more information to choose a different direction. 

I rolled dice against the chart of things, modified by the distance from the village, and IF it was travelled before, and got some interesting things.

There were some small creatures to fight, or remains of other adventurers, or a crazy trader who was dangerous, til eventually the players crossed..

The Threshold

At a distance, beyond the collective dreams of the village, nightmares latch onto the thoughts of travelers. I asked my players questions.

If you were to think of a creature, what part would make it more :

Fearsome, Scary, Comical, Dangerous

What defines its:

Strengths, Weaknesses, strangeness.

The Players would give answers, I'd write them down, and formulate a creature from this.

Our Creature for these 5 session? The Jabber-wocky-cat? kinda?

Between the descriptions of Teeth, Spines, Claws, Spittle, were also, Hairless cat, Blue purple Fur Shoulders, Two Heads, Laser Beam eyes, extreme Long Leg bones, impervious to steel, but vulnerable to fire, it was a calm creature, yet vicious when damaged. 

Reminder, the first group described only 4 of these traits, the next, added 2 more, and then a further 2, then the last two groups, added 7 each (larger groups on Sunday)

The reason to do it this was, is to have survivors, return to the Village and 'describe' what they saw, how it fought, and while the later traits might be as obvious, they were not noticed 'at the time'

If players defeat the creature, they skin it there on the field, bring back key items, the creature was too large to bring it all home, so they choose a 'part' each.

Had we more time, I would have focused the last 15 minutes on improving the village each time, crafting something from the returned materials, improving the game for the next group.

Surprisingly to me, we had no TPKs, the groups managed to figure out enough of what was going on, fast enough to take down the creature. We had some losses, an arm here, some legs there,

The Last group went way of track, and I had to reinvent everything over for them, so we ended up in a limestone spillway, with glow in the dark fish, a huge barracuda and some dimension warp bats. 

What next..

I'll likely draw up the map for that Village, add it to my documents, their region being a plain of stone for the Jabber-cat, and some caves of timewarp bats. It'll create a new 'encounter' list, for some future session. 

What I'd like to do next, is somehow make it a live document, and allow those players to return, make some choices, guide the village further, then at a future con, we come back for an Ultimate showdown. 

Lets wait and see

DD12 Cataclyzm Playtest Diary II

I've been playtesting Cataclyzm to get a feel for how the game flows well, as its not a traditional roleplay and has moments where even I as GM get fazed and left wondering if I'm making a fun game or forcing an idea. So I decided to blog my thoughts..

DD12 Cataclyzm Playtest Diary #2

The Bleak Rocky Landscape of Cataclyzm

Ok, So this week was a bit of a bummer..

A) With a two something week hiatus from Christmas and New Years, we all sorta forgot where we left things.

B) We were down 50% of the group, Normally I would cancel if I know that 50% are not coming, its the threshold, too many decisions are left unanswered with half the group being mute torch bearers.

So, when half your group is going to miss out on XP, plot, mapping, adventure.. how can you continue? Side-Quests!

except.. and this is probably where Cataclyzm is lacking right now..

In a bleak, rocky, dark, nothing terrain, there are no side quests.. yet..

Normally I have a backstory for the world, whats going on in nearby villages, what things are problematic for the locals. I've had brave peasants ask the very high level heroes to dispatch goblin camps, for a few gold they managed to scrape together. Or on the other end, I've had lower level characters asked if they feel up to taking out the evil wizard that has set up a lair in the mountains, complete with crypts, graveyards and some giant undead dragon guarding the front door.

Its up to the players to gather the information and make an informed decision on if they want to take on a side quest.

But here I was, 3 players, ready to play, I have zero side quests. Nothing..

So, my fall-back.. character development.. While camping between travel, what do your characters talk about? Who ARE you? This was a little lacking, as 3 players down, meant we'd have to repeat all this again next week.

So what else could I focus the plot on? Starvation..

Cataclyzm is supposed to start getting your characters thinking about where they are, what they are doing.. walking around looking for food is the draw card to get players to move, look around, find stuff. sometimes horrid stuff..

They went back to the Turtle thing from the previous week, poked it with a stick, got some flesh from the carcas, but then promptly discarded it when they realised it'd likely be off.. They tried to clear some of it, so they could use the shell as a huge shield or something, but that acid blood kept them at bay (the idea, not any actual acid blood)

Eventually, they decided to carve their bone clubs into weapons.. Now, I was thinking, this is where it'll get interesting.. cept it didn't really..

The Skills system in DD12 is more static than full Dungeonworld, and as a result, crafting rules are less creative and more 'roll=>pass=>apply modifier', I'm thinking, at the very least, DD12 Cataclyzm would need the full crafting rules..

Thats an aspect of the differences that I've been working for..

Lets say your players LOVE combat, combat stats, working the numbers.. so they start with DD12, then add the DW-combat system into it, the rest of the rules on all other stats and skills are DD12, nice, simple, clean, easy.. but combat, uses all the bells and whistles..

Eventually when all 12 rule sets are structured, it'll all work nicely, but until its all built. its a mishmash of rules and broken mechanics.. work needs to be done, play-testing needs to be done.. and it all takes time.

The Encounter rolls were interesting.. first they found a fellow human, I rolled aggression and got way above 20, so this 'thing' was an insane leftover warrior.. he'd lost his tribe, gone nutz and was just eating anything and anyone he fought.. I adjusted his health to account for the battles he'd gone through, even still, he fought a good fight before going down. The group gained some battle scarred weapons and armour, that'll likely help them for a fight or two.


Next was a Wraith.. The point to rolling up things that are impossible to battle, is to show how the world works.. The Wraith had no life-force, its very existance was eating away at itself, exertion, of any kind, just drained itself away to nothing.. the players managed to startle the thing into moving, which caused 8 of its last 10 HP to blurr away into nothing.. the players figured it out, but decided to try a different approach, and they used their crystals. One player now has a red "wraith infused" crystal.

While I was GMing, I was asking myself.. what would other GMs do? How can I make sure Cataclyzm is playable by other GMs with less experience, less creativity?

I'm thinking of making several random charts, with random effects, but after playing a few games with decks of cards, I feel the aesthetic of drawing a card from a deck, so players get a sense of what it is they are facing too, is very pleasing and adds to the game play.

Roll on a chart for a base monster.. ok you got a Wraith, its 7th level, the group is 3rd, so draw two flaw cards, the 1st?: Slow.. ok cool.. and 2nd? dying.. niiice, ok, so my players now have a chance to defeat it, and I don't have to re-roll. 

DD12 Cataclyzm Playtest Diary

I've been playtesting Cataclyzm to get a feel for how the game flows well, as its not a traditional roleplay and has moments where even I as GM get fazed and left wondering if I'm making a fun game or forcing an idea. So I decided to blog my thoughts..

DD12 Cataclyzm Playtest Diary #1

A Typical Afternoon in Cataclyzm.

Cataclyzm has alot of great ideas, but alot of crummy ones too, so I've decided to play test them out, and see what works and what sucks.

First Characteristics: Most games start with long sessions to create characters, but the draw back is, long character creation = far less desire for players to lose their character. Also, rolling vs choosing, both have their draw backs, but what about situational voting?

So what we do in Cataclyzm is give the group the choice.. Here is the situation.. who is going to volunteer to solve it, why are you volunteering, because you're the best at it, group votes if they should be "the best" or "just good", if they are "the best" they should also choose something their 'not so good at' to balance..

i.e. The Players awoke in darkness, tore the membrane/cloth that covered their face and looked around, the first thing they saw was some insane crossbred horse/turtle with a mouth of teeth. The first to get up and go towards it, would likely be the most courageous, the group votes him "most" courageous, a 21 is assigned as his courage score, and he steps forward to the beast.

As play progresses, We discover who our archer/ranger is because one of them decides he wants to throw a rock, and he wants to be good at it. We discover who our warriors are, because the grab rocks and start stabbing at the thing, one is a fast warrior, the other strong.. again, because the group voted yes to each of them being 'good' at it.

Imagine its dark, that head is twice as large and 7 ft tall!

When One of the group got bitten, the question was.. Do you have enough health to survive this? why? do you have any skills that might mitigate this situation?

As the turtles neck spun around in his direction, our warrior quickly turned his body away at an angle, the bite was harsh, but escaped being deadly as his bones halted the crushing jaws of the beast, just long enough for him to pull free.. a gaping wound, but one that could be survived.

Of course, We can't all be heroes in all ways possible. eventually most players had 3 defining stats of 21, 19 and 17, with 3 counter stats of 4, 5 and 6, while other players had more averaged 18, 16 and 14, with a 6, 7 and 8, the rest of the numbers were in the 10-11 range..

Play testing, I had allowed players to 'spend' the spare points to round out their characters, but they of course min-maxed a few stats, for the future I'll ensure the rule is 'average' out the remaining points.

Skills:

At first I was all "Oh you can be anything you want, are you a medieval peasant, or a caveman or a guy from present day earth or someone from star wars or warhammer 40k", the caveat is, they have to take skills relevant to their character, not the situation.. Also, their characters all have amnesia to begin with, "who am I" so their skill list is empty.. the problem is, they take skills as they need them anyway, not skills that are character relevant, but situationally useless, I'm going to have to bring in some kind of lists and have them roll or something, players could later invent their own lists and hand them to the GM.. they know what skills they 'might' get, but not when they will 'remember', or they could even not remember anything and just learn their skills from the GM never really knowing who they are until weeks into the campaign.

Again, this is to get the game flowing fast, decisions in character creation slow people down, take away the choice and direct their agency into interpreting the situation, gives players creative freedom with creative barriers, often best used when you're not sure whats best.

As the character settled down for the night, lost as to their place in the universe, the pondered their existence. They chewed on their uncooked turtle-horse leg meat, tended their acid wounds, and kept watch.. for the endless night sky and vague silhouettes in the lichen-glow suggested any manner of nasties, ready to devour them.

Ok, so lose the trees, the sunset, the glowing tents, pretty much all light.. so.. nothing like this photo.