[Adventures] The Cabinet

 I got the most interesting client this week. Certainly the most interesting for my whole career. Before I even attended the first lesson I had to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement, I remember it had a 10 year clause, for the generics, but a lifetime on specifics. So in interest of that NDA, I'll be light on some details.

I had to attend a meeting with an official at the Russian DUMA to get signed off. I approached this imposing building. All squares in shape for my recollection. big columns outside. I approached the front 'desk' which was a cabinet of soldiers? wood. slots for papers & passports. They wanted mine, but I was in a quandry.

Australians are instructed not to let out passports out of our hands. Its our only 'link' to the outside world. If we lose it, or its stolen, we are stuck in the country for months, and if your visa expires in that time, you are doubly stuck that you MUST leave, its  a catch 22 you do NOT want to get stuck in. I have once, and I never want to again.

So when asked to hand over my passport, I could not, without it, they could not let me enter. catch 22 again.

Russians all have this 'internal passport' like a licence really, you hand it over, show it off. its a pain in the ass to get a replacement, so its LIKE a passport, but at the same time, not such a hassle, so people hand them over to these goons at the desk, and they get a 'pass' to go in.

I ring my student contact. I can't get in. they ring back, wait there. For a small time I'm staring at the ceiling, the stairs, watching officials come and go, its fascinating. Eventually a small demure girl of 20 comes to talk to the goons,. long story short I left them with a photocopy of my passport.

I go up the stairs in some side wall, then through some corridors to another building, whose floor is not aligned with the first, so the doors are all skewed by a few feet, and some steps. 

Then I walk down this beige + orange corridor, passing wooden doors. its strange, like in those 70s movies, but this is real life. 

We come to a door. she has one of those old lock&key style keys, a slot in the door, the turn of this 3 inch metal rod, and the door puckers, as the leather 'seal' inside gives way. We enter this tiny little office. a desk, a laptop, a cupboard, a chair. none of it quite fits. its not meant to be a secretary room, or wait room, its only meant to be a cupboard for your coats. I'm sitting on a chair, INSIDE a cupboard, with a secretary, and her desk and chair, and laptop. inside a cupboard for coats. insane.

Soon enough, the door to the next room opens, and my student stands there, motions me in. I'm a little in shock, I was not told the position of this man, but I recognize him. I know who he is. BUT I'm a good teacher, it doesn't matter. I teach movie stars and ministers of finance, I can teach anyone, and ignore their position in life. I'm there to teach English.

He knows enough English, we discuss his needs, his level his practice. He's heard of me from some of the cabinet, and I'm unknown enough to be anyone. I signed an NDA remember. its all good.

For the next 6 months, I entered that chamber and spoke to him about a wide range of topics, and at one point, he advised me that it'd be in my best interests to return to Australia. that was 2011. I know now what he meant.

I'll go into more detail in my book, but I wanted to start writing some small parts out as marketing. get some interest and then publish.

I did alot of strange and interesting things in Russia. many of them far stranger than the above, 100x stranger. living in sheds in the snow, to 'test' my resolve. Digging ice tunnels. drinking Vodka with a man about to kill me. watching Explosions in Chechniya, and being told by my govt I needed to leave, after 80+ foreigners were bombed in a theatre. OH and I got to see paul McCartney Live in moscow. 

I did alot. and I think its time to write it all down, before I forget and so my kids can read it when they're old enough. 

Three lives

 A throwback to Nostalgia, a concept I was playing with, but recently with my neck injury, came to a focus point:

The Three Lives System:

Maybe you're a bit young for this, and you've not experienced it in computer games, but back in the day when we paid a coin to play a game. it gave us 3 lives. 3 attempts. Three Strikes your Out! You could learn enough in a life or two on how to play, and then attempt to complete the level with the last life. It allowed for simple mistakes, something out of the ordinary or a misstep.

The FATE system, gives a player a single one of these. death cheat code. Something extreme happened, you died, and you can 'wake up' on a beach nearby, having escaped the entire ordeal to return at a later time.

The LUCK system, gives you micro changes. You botched a single dice roll, or you want to buff that damage roll, or you just need better odds at something.

But it always worried me about the middle ground. What if you copped a blow of some decent damage, something harrowing, a broken arm, or leg or spleen. The damage dice modifier from luck is only 1 dice, its usually enough, but what if you fell 12 metres for a 6d6 damage roll. game wise, you can burn through your luck, to survive the roll, but story wise, maybe it doesn't make much sense, or character wise, you've now used up all your luck. its too expensive to spend fate. 

So it got me thinking, 

As a young man, I have been in a scrape or two, and survived. Things that now, as an older man, I have some more pressing issues. how is it that my body can take the same damage, the same severity, and then I was ok within a few days, and now, I'm laid up in bed for 2 weeks.

DNA and all that aside, I don't want to have some kind of 'age system' where you need to track time and then consult tables (Dungeon World does that) It needed a simpler system.

So, the Three lives, popped into my head. How about if all players have 3 'lives'. When they take some serious injury, they can negate the permanent effects by spending a life.

1. Players become aware of the possibility of permanent damage, and how it will, in effect, knock a few levels worth of points from their character.

2. It allows for logical progression of the story, allows for some cool story telling points. rather than retroactively taking back the event, it just allows the event to exist without ruining game play.

3. It gives players a micro sense of dread. Gaining or Losing extra lives becomes a way for players to identify their characters fallibility, it creates tension.

4. The character, in effect, has a lifespan. Certain mechanics such as resurrections might rely on lives too. Players can only 'rev' their character so many times before that character is dust. Making it all the harder to actually rise to legendary levels, giving players that do, a real sense of accomplishment.

This, would be the DD12 simple format for the Age & Health rules. Using actual Age rules would likely negate this, as it already uses a permanent damage rules and negation system. though I might tweak that to somewhat match this.  

ORCs, Evil or just Opposition?

You may remember this discussion from a while ago, and in an effort to not disrupt things I held back my thoughts, now that its all settled (agree to disagree) The underlying issue with the Orc question seems to be, can evil be normal, or is it something else?

How can Evil Exist?

If Evil is a thing, a force, it is surely destruction. the desire to destroy for no other reason. there can be justified reasons when the need for one thing is greater than the need for a second thing and the first cannot exist without the destruction of the second, yet is that evil?

Laziness, maybe.

If there is a plot of land. 10m x 10m in Soviet Russia known as a sotka. It can cope with a house, a garden enough to grow food for one person for a year, and nothing else. if you need some of that land for a driveway and a carport for your car, you will need to destroy the garden. but do you?

You can move some of the soil needed for the garden into raised beds, ones that use 'vertical space' so the garden 'space' is not destroyed, just moved. 

When You want to replace a very old house that has started to rot, you could take it apart plank by plank, discover all the reusable parts and store them for later use, maybe even in this new house, but the time cost to do that is greater than you can afford, so you employ a demolisher who rips down the house quickly, and throws away all the old wood. Destruction yes.. evil? hmm

If someone has not been trained to understand the cost of both sides, the benefit to store and keep the old wood, and the cost of time to take it apart, they have been trained only to demolish, this is not evil, its just a lack of choice. they know no other.

As a result, often, cultures that understand the choice, and come to other cultures that know no other choices, will likely expect them to learn of the choice, understand that destruction is evil, and creation is good. and so, choose creation.

Yet, if that culture, understanding that loss occurs with destruction, but instead of wanting to grow, wants all others to shrink, through destruction.. is that evil? well surely yes.

Orks are Evil.

This is my world is the evil of the Ork. They may wear armour they have scavenged from their enemies dead, as it afford them more time to destroy more of their enemy, and this is a good idea, but to take the time to create the armour? the cost for them is the time that could have been more destruction, would 10 years of creating armour create more destruction, no, because ultimately, the armour itself must also be destroyed, 

even the destruction of themselves, through scarring, tattoos, piercings is considered a good way to participate in destruction. Old age is not considered good, If the amount of food they consume equates to 100kg of destruction, yet a younger man with the same food produces 200kg of destruction, and there is only one serve of food. the younger will get it, they will use the energy to destroy and the net output of destruction is served. as such, elderly orcs will often sacrifice themselves to the horde. their knowledge will only lead to more creation, 

Humans have both capacities, can be trained in both capacities, and the path of creation leads to more creation, while the path to destruction always ends somewhere. the benefit of destruction is only to an evil god who wants more 'destruction', the 'food' they live on is destruction. So while some humans left with little choice, understanding, or training will resolve to destroy, as they know, no other way, or are too stubborn to change, the orc even when presented with the opportunity to learn it all, will only choose destruction. 

Some scholarly magi, imprisoned some Orks and only gave them the choice to create, with magic, all destroyed items healed and destruction was no a choice, the Orcs slowly grew into what seemed like 'normal' intelligent beings, yet the minute they left the confines of the magical box that always healed everything, and destruction became a choice once more, they reverted almost instantly, and within months were not just savage, but moreso, their knowledge on how to destroy more effectively lead to entire tribes of Orks wiping out civilisations, until such time the chieftains died, their knowledge gone with them, the squabbling tribes after fell into old ways and were soon, destroyed, but not before wiping out continents of humans. 

The Orks are not evil? well, I beg to differ. 

Playing as an Ork, expect your campaign to end violently

If a Player wants to play as an Ork. Sure, it'll be an interesting thought experiment, as long as they, at every choice, can destroy something. it'll be true to the Ork nature.

Arrive at a door, smash it down, enter a house, any furniture? smash it out of the way, fireplace? chuck everything in the fire so the place burns. people? kill them, why not? oh because my friends will block me? can I kill them? so I can kill the others? yes? ok, do it. no? oh, then I need to get more muscle, steal a deadlier weapon, then kill them, anyone who blocks an Ork from being able to destroy something needs to be so obviously stronger else the Ork will try to kill them. the only blocker is 'fear' that the other Ork wants to destroy it first, and by killing them, less destruction will happen.

An Ork player will need to always be 3rd in rank or lower, always seeking a way to survive long enough to eventually overthrow the leader, and make the choices.

A female Ork, giving birth to an Ork will know that their child will destroy more, will raise their little carnage beast with the expectation to destroy others. 

A Half Ork female will likely kill their offspring, as the capacity for any other race to destroy is less than an Ork, instinctively, so the child will not live. Only human females, having been forced, by an Ork that satiates its lust, and failed to kill the mother, will be born. Human females, unable to destroy that which they have themselves created, even if it is less than it should/could be, will raise the child as best they can. 

Players should determine how much 'destruction' they have in them based on their wisdom, charisma and Peity.

The Ork Gods won't like half Orks running around, and the more Pious the half breed is, the god will get their 'claws' into them. The GM can just 'influence' all Ork related encounters to be a little harder, deadlier or more often when a Half Ork becomes Pious.

Playing as an ORC on the other hand...

Remember that DD12 allows for races of other worlds to bleed through, so Orcs (note the spelling) might come through from another dimension. As I am to understand, these Orcs might have some form of hair growing from their skulls, they might communicate rather than decimate. They might not even BE Evil?! 

Players be warned

A non-evil Orc is not easy to play, while your in game friends may not communicate outright hatred or distrust, the GM should always be feeding your lines about how people will glance in your direction nervously, your comrades should accidentally make racist remarks, or concepts the might hurt your feelings are actually meant to, Orks are not Orcs.

But, this is ROLEPLAY, you're meant to be dealing with other worldly situations that put you in discomfort, so you as a player can expand your mind and abilities in the real world.

Have at it. Smash, Bash, Crunch and Grind, an Ork Life is full of FUN!   

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

Red pill, $10mil, Blue Pill $10 a click - Meme Math

 

1 month to hit 10 mill.. I’ve done the math, Blue pill, every single instance, here’s why:

Google 200bpm playlist.

https://jog.fm/popular-workout-songs?bpm=200 as an example.

You’ll find hundreds of songs you can click your fingers to, and you’ll barely notice you’re doing it.

2 hands, 200bpm = 400 clicks. I just did one as a test and could click in the ‘off beat’ just as easy without any issue, but lets stick to average folk.

400 click = $4k 10 songs, 3 minutes each, 30mins of listening to the playlist and clicking, and you’re up $120k

do this in the morning as you get ready, and in the night before bed, and 20mins for lunch, and that $10mil? will only be a month.

A MONTH!

Hang on, that's a lot of clicking right?

Lets tone it down.. you get ready in the morning, put on one of these songs and just click away for an hour, but you’re not always clicking, and not to every song, so lets say you only clicked one hand, and for only half the songs.

85 days.. or 3 months.. and you’ve got 10 mil.

Lets be realistic, you don’t need 10 mil right now,

Ok, ok, lets be more realistic

the Taxman is going to catch onto your magic powers, and if you took $10mil, good luck trying to prove its yours. 

What do you need, a down payment on a home loan? proof of income for 2 months? a car to get around, and general bills

So, put on Black Eyed Peas Hey Mama, 3 minutes at 200 bpm, you've just pocketed $6 grand.

Pay off your bills, take your partner out for dinner, relax. 

Set up a cash business, you need to create a 'means' by which you're getting this money.

Something that will bring in a half mil a year, without blinking.

Something you can be 'clicking' along to a song, and no-one will care.

A "thrift" store. Antiques, curios, exotic object de art. 

Go buy a bunch of random $10 items from other thrift stores, just 'click' your fingers a few times to pay for them, bring them to your location as 'donated' items. 

Put 2 prices on everything, one in red, one in blue.

When people ask, the red price, at 1/3rd the blue price, is for 'members'. Membership is $1000, unless you are referred, then its $100, cash.

Nice people come in? offer them the referral price, but put it in the books at normal price, and click your fingers to a Beatles song while they fill in the books.

All your books are blue prices, All your customers pay red prices.

You can even set up the system, so employees will follow the rules, your books look correct, you pay tax correctly, you have a very decent income, no-one misses out (you even pay taxes on the 'full' amount. Why would the Taxman even come looking if it appears you're paying full tax on it all.  

All set! 

Monty Haul Paradox

 Something ha s been bothering me about the Monty haul Paradox, and maybe I'm still wrong yet, I think I figured it out.

The Monty Haul Paradox - Paradox?

What is the Monty Haul Problem:

A Man at a Game Show is presented with 3 doors, behind one is a car, and behind the other 2 are goats. The contestant wants the car. He is instructed to pick a door. Once chosen the presenter opens a door and shows a goat, and then gives the contestant the chance to change. Should he.

The Average non mathematician will consider that the choice is 50/50 as there are now 2 doors, one with a goat, one with a car. 

Mathematicians though, insist that the chance is now 66.6% to swap. The reasoning is, the original theorem of the 3 doors. having one revealed when you had a 1/3rd chance, means statistically the door you have chosen was likely a goat. 

The graphs makes it 'clearer' there are 3 red end points, vs 6 green end points, so 6 of 9 choices or 2/3rds chance you'll be getting the car. right?

Now I can follow the logic of this, you can google it yourself to see the logic, and I guess its kinda makes more sense from that point of view, if you change it to 10 doors, where you choose 1 door, the presenter reveals 8 goats, and now you have 2 doors, do you want to change, but I spotted a flaw.

The Presenter, chose a goat door. of 2 possible goat doors, If you HAD chosen the car, he has 2 choices of goats to choose from, and if you had NOT chosen the car, he can only choose the 'other' goat.

Negating the presenters choice from the math, of course shows it to skew towards 66%, but if you spread out all choices with the presenter included, we return to 50/50.

In the chart above, we looked at 3 red vs 6 green. but forgot, that each red shows 2 choices. include them, and we're back to 6 vs 6 = 50/50. I don't have 3 dimensional excel to show it, so I need to split it out like this: 

Lord Tax: (a lost art) Peasants and their Heroes

 In days gone by, the King taxed the lords, not the people.

A Medieval tax system (that could work today)

a Lord was a land owner, and the lord paid a tax on the earnings of the land potential, not its actual. So the lord would need to downplay his lands worth, rocky terrain, forested ridges, valleys and peaks, all un workable land, then get as much profit from the land with as many serfs as he could afford to feed.

Fantasy Roleplay, puts our adventurer outside this system. or as children of the system, who have revolted against such a system. They go off, land and lordless, to gain riches, and in theory become lords themselves if they are successful or die trying.

But how should you roleplay the serfs? Do they look at heroes as... 'super heroes'? or as 'lawless thugs'. Well this would depend on what's happened before.

Maybe the Lord has hired the characters to deal with some issues with monsters, and they are treated as heroes, or maybe the characters failed to do their duty, or messed it up so badly, the monster had its revenge, and the townsfolk suffered, so the town blames the 'heroes' as good for nothing murder hobos. Given the success rates of some games, I'd suggest each town will have a % chance of the two variants, and will have, over the years, built up a love or hatred of heroes in general.

So how would you set this up to play?

If you are randomly determining each town & their past experience, I'd have a % roll of people who believe in the hero & % of those who distrust the hero, making for an interesting dynamic when there is a cross over of people who 'understand' that heroes are super human, yet still flawed humans.

Belief roll for the populace:

<10% little to no experience of heroes doing good deeds, so no discounts, no special attentions, 

10-25% low experience, maybe a lone person might see them for who they are and ask about their deeds from boredom.

25-50% average experience, will pay respects in taverns, maybe 5% discount on large orders, +1 to comeliness checks.

50-75% higher experience, folks will tip their hat in the street, greet with respect, base 10% discount and +d4 comeliness checks. 

75-90% very high experience, expect to see several other heroes in this town, people will treat the hero as a friend, 15% base discount and +d4+1 comeliness checks

90%+ some previous heroes saved the town so well, the expectation for the heroes will be overt, any failure to be a high ranking or powerful hero will backlash and the heroes will be specifically treated like +25% anger chart. If they manage to keep calm and cope with the adoration & expectation (15th+ hero skills) they will be praised, 20% base discount, +2d4 comeliness checks.

Anger roll for the populace:

<10% little to no experience of heroes doing bad deeds, so no discounts, no special attentions, 

10-25% low experience, maybe a lone person might see them for what they are and yell insults.

25-50% poor experience, will avoid in taverns, maybe 5% surcharge if the barkeep thinks he can get away with it, +1 to comeliness checks +1 to barbrawl chance.

50-75% v.poor experience, folks will walk around in the street, or if ranked high enough challenge openly, -10% to an discount checks, +1 comeliness checks & +d4 to barbrawl chance. 

75-90% hatred, expect to be accosted by the guards for minor infractions, plus all the above, townsfolk will openly (yet in groups) jeer at the heroes, telling them to go home. 

90%+ upon entering the town, expect the heroes to be stalked by a small crowd, as the crowd swells, they'll throw rotten fruit and give chase, chasing the heroes out of town, "We don't want your kind here".

Interesting Mixes

If you roll above 30% on one roll and under 30% on another its fairly easy to see what kind of town this will be, yet if you roll very high on both, the town itself will likely be divided, like a football team or political parties, there will be common brawls over if a hero group was loved or hated for its prior actions. the loved will focus on the good deeds, but the hated will focus on the costs of those deeds, and as GM you'll need to figure out whose side is stronger based on the rolls and the direction of your plot.

If your players suffer a massive defeat and are feeling down, maybe the next town they come across will raise their spirits and give them a reason to go on, Or, if your players are getting a bit cocky, maybe raise the anger scale, bring their humility down a few notches. Also, its not a terribly bad chart to use when your own players are staying for a while. each good deed adds another 2d6 %, but each misstep (failed or perceived to have failed) will add to the anger by d6. you can track them, maybe -1% every 3 months from both tracks, so players feel like they're earning their reputation, without needing to use the full reputation rules from the HUB book. 

Side Note:

Modern Taxes, why is it that the poor pay both a tax to the govt, and a tax to the land lord (rent) Have we gone backwards since medieval times? Surely we should have figured this out by now, that only land owners pay tax.

Some Magic Items, are not cursed, just.. expensive..

Looking at some of the movies and the artefacts they give us, can influence or create ideas:

StormBreaker: the Cursed Axe

Our Hero, finds this massive axe, finding he has the strength to wield it, he enters battle, and mid fight, when the player rolls a double 12, the GM determines that this "double bad" can mean the discovery of the "curse" of the axe.

The GM asks the player, you know this is bad, so I'll get you to roll a d6, but I'll let you add a number to it of your choice, which will affect the power of this axe. The Player chooses 10, and rolls a 5. 

The Axe flies from his hands, lightning crackles from its metallic sheen, the axe embeds itself into the opponent, taking 225 damage, yet microseconds later, the opponent disintegrates the axe slowed, still continues its arc into the ground, and within a 15ft radius, all creatures take 15 damage, they are mostly killed.

The character though, our hero, is drained by 15 magic points, magic he doesn't fully have, this, according to magic rules, causes some physical damage, and severely hampers his ability to regain magic (the negative modifier cancels out any natural regeneration rate, and % chance to learn)

Stormbreaker is just a regular axe, mostly. It only becomes dangerous when you try to actually channel power through it.

Captain America was able to swing it, when needed, as a plain axe, no lightning going off.

Thor understood that the Axe would drain off power, to cause its effect and thought "their bodies would crumble and their minds collapse" 

Mjolnir, has its own, internal MP to enact its powers, but Stormbreaker conjures lightning bolts and open portals, siphoning off your own power.

If you have no MP to give Stormbreaker, you’d be literally draining your lifeforce (blood magic). Your very natural essence would be drained away, and you would die.

For a god like Thor, or anyone else who has loads of energy stored inside of them, that’s no problem. The weapon would just amplify and project whatever power you normally produce without it.

But for non magic users, it’s very dangerous.

This gives GMs a whole set of 'effects' that create magic items, that act like curses. Draining the life force of a person, causing negative effects, where else have I seen that?

Harry Potter, carrying the Horcrux, he and his companions, magic users at least, were being constantly drained, and an effect of it was a poisonous effect on their mind. Doesn't need to be a 'curse' effect that is laid upon a player, instead its a result of the negative MP score. 

The story might have a magic item, something like a bracelet, that makes the player 'feel more powerful' maybe bestowing a +1 STR value, BUT each time the STR component might be needed, the GM imposes a -1MP modifier, the object is draining the players magic to 'cause' it to work. if the player is not a magic user, the effect is recorded by the GM but the affected hero would feel the results.

any Strength task that is at least half of the STR value of the character, would trigger, minus a MP from them, and slowly, be draining their life as per blood magic rules.

The player would only get informed of the modifier once they reached the -1 effect to their character sheet. Taking the bracelet off won't affect the drain, since the drain is on the character, The player might think they are cursed, go to a shaman or healer, and have the curse lifted. no effect. the player, unaware or unsure, but put the bracelet back on. 

Only if they put the bracelet on a magic user, who then uses their strength to perform an action will notice the subtle change, the MP cost, and realise, the 'cursed' character is actually just magic drained.

The Beauty of this, the players have discovered a negative, they search out the negative, and if they experiment with the bracelet, they'll stumble on the clue and realise what's happened. The MP can be restored with rest & channeling from the mage, the players all learn something about the rules of magic, the players figure it out for themselves, instead of the GM force-feeding them the knowledge, and it can last several sessions, the 'fighter' being "ill" for several sessions, not knowing how / why, but in effect being a whole level worth of stats lower than usual, forcing the group to rethink their game plan for several sessions. 

Game Idea: Dice Bag Upgrade Decisions game

Concepts:
Dice bag builder

Decision Game

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You start with some dice, that give you basic abilities, somewhat like a deck builder.

You can buy more dice to add to the bag, you can sell dice to remove them from the bag. you can increase the number of dice you roll from the bag, you can pre-roll a dice and have it 'always' come up, or just repeat.

You start with a bag of 7 dice (arbitrary) and you 'push out' 5. instead of drawing them, because you could in theory feel the dice and knowingly draw what you want.

You roll the dice you drew (or maybe you roll them as they come from the bag)

The dice tell you what your action choices are. maybe you get boots, and can move, maybe swords and can attack, maybe magic to cast a spell, maybe specific magic icons = specific spells. 

Maybe its a roleplay game, you use the rolls of the dice as your action, and when you go to town, you are able to buy/sell dice then?

Maybe its a town builder, where your resources are put into place to enact choices, if you add a 'warrior' dice to the bag, you can use a warrior IF there is a monster, but if there is not, you can't. 

Just some thoughts.

FOMO, Buying Board games and Decisions

 I wandered past a board game shop the other day and they had a game I've wanted on sale on the front window.

Classic Dungeon Crawler, nice range of minis, some new features that make it a little unique.

I was tempted to buy it. I wanted to have it. It was on special, the only questions I ask myself are, do I want it? And, is it just going to become junk I have to get rid of at some point?

On the first point, I found myself answering with a full-throated ‘yes’. I saw it, and I saw myself playing it every weekend for weeks, painting the miniatures, playing with friends and family.

I loved that vision.

But what I’ve learnt, as someone who has bought many Dungeon Crawlers and Narrative based big box games, only to have them sit, on the shelf, unplayed for years, is that you can’t trust that vision.

Because that vision is only a brief moment in time, and doesn’t capture the full experience of owning a board game.

I mean, it’s been a long time since I could get 6 friends together, regularly, every weekend. So that vision of me playing is primarily built on many years of playing with friends, after school, on weekends and school holidays.

The vision of arranging friends, ringing the group, ensuring snacks were covered, arrival times sorted, was definitely not inspiring.

I’ve got better things to do with my weekend.

And there’s also the reality that I’ve got a family, 2 jobs, and a house that needs constant cleaning and some repairs. There’s a very VERY good chance that while intentions are good, It'd be blocked by life events and peter out.

That’s not particularly inspiring either.

And so when I caught myself and took a look at the full reality of owning a board game, I realised I wasn’t really into it.

As much as I loved the ideal vision – as appealing as that was – I just wasn’t up for the reality of making it happen.

This is a trick a lot of us fall into.

Like, we want to become ballerinas because we love the idea of looking breathlessly beautiful on stage while Tchaikovsky gently plays, but very few of us are up for years of toe-torture and training.

Or we want to tree-change and move to some rural acreage because we love the idea of sitting on the back verandah watching the sun setting through the gums.

But then we get there and realise that that vision involves endless whipper-snippering and helping cows give birth.

We get drawn to moments. We get seduced by moments. But moments only exist in long journeys that lead us to them.

And while we might love the idea of a particular moment, when we’re setting our life’s goals (or deciding what toy to buy next) we have to look at the journey.

And the big implication here is for goal setting. When you’re setting your life goals, don’t fixate on moments. Lock on to journeys and ways of being.

These should be the stars that guide you.