Ever Shambling Onwards...

Lately, on my morning commutes, I've been thinking about the games I had lined up which suddenly got eaten by a combination of new job (and new commute) and a resurgence of theatre-stuff. I still plan to run "Scare" at some point, which was always going to be a one off... but my chances of getting Transhuman Space off the ground in its current were looking increasingly slim.

So, this is the official "I've made up my mind" announcement.

I'm going to re-cast my Transhuman Space ideas into a different format. Gone is the idea of an eight session ongoing arc, and in comes the idea of an eight hour one-shot. Obviously, this new format comes with some changes. So what would be different:

Tighter, Leaner Plot - This would mean stripping out a couple of troublesome minor plot threads I had in mind. All the big stuff will still be there, and will be pulled to centre stage much sooner. I don't need as many introductory, scene setting plots - I can jump straight in.

Less commitment requirement - We might well be able to reclaim some of the players who weren't able to commit to an ongoing game, and perhaps pull in a couple of new folks too.

Broader Venue Choice - When you don't need to secure a regular venue, it's easier to find a good one. I'm not looking for anything fancy, but something less "cosy" than the social hall would be great. Ideas welcome - must be a fairly neutral, flexible space, but have a feel that could fit with an SF game. Carpets and nice velvet curtains don't quite cut it. That school drama room that was used for a dark ages game a while back could suit. Or any similar drama room, for that matter.

Feedback & thoughts welcome!

Right - I am still going to be around tonight. If you want to come round and chat about characters or flesh them out or actually stat them up, you can do so. This isn't going to be a big organised session, but I'm free if people want to get something sorted.

I'm looking at a big session on either Wednesday 27th June (7pm) or Sunday 1st July (2pm OR 6pm). This will be another "discuss things, talk setting and establish elements of gameworld" deal. I won't be making chilli this time, but I suspect that a massed ordering of pizza or chinese might happen. Which one we use will be based on who can actually make the dates. If nobody lets me know, then I can't guarantee that either will happen.

As ever, comments about this should go on the forum. If you want to get updated about new forum posts, you can get email subscriptions whenever somebody posts there about Transhuman Space (or in general). There's also an RSS feed or an Atom feed that you can pull into your feed-reader of choice - you could probably even pull it in to LJ as a syndicated feed if you wanted to and get the posts to appear in your friends list.

Oh, as an aside... my website's forum is back up and running again. I'm trying to stir up some Transhuman Space LARP discussion over there, so go login and post. You should be aware that the forum uses a different login to the rest of the site... I hope to change that, but need to rebuild a few bits of the site first... or at least come up with a system to sync the two together.

There's also a forum category for discussions relating to thankyoukindly's Exalted LARP. As soon as you're signed up for the forum, you should be able to join all of the discussions...

For reference, the forum can be found here!

My "big thing" at the moment is to try and get folks to go there and let me know availability for Transhuman Space shaped things... If you're interested in this particular LARP, go post stuff!

Here's a checklist of the current state of play with my upcoming Transhuman Space LARP:
Plot issues - I've managed to tidy up the majority of the lingering problems, and anything that's left is loose ends, and will probably get sorted when I can add characters into the mix.

System - I'll be using a system based on FATE. I've found a decent way to simulate fudge dice using a deck of just 18 cards. If I can print off a bunch of appropriate symbols and a get a bunch of self laminating card pouches (or non self laminating ones and a laminator), then we'll use cards. Until that point, four quickfire rounds of RPS works nicely for four 0/+1/-1 dice. We will also need a method of tracking FATE points. I suggest either just counting and using trust, or using tokens of some form. I'll post a quick guide to how stuff works at some point - it might be daunting at first, but it's actually quite simple when it comes down to it.

Characters - Yes, we'll probably need some. I know a few folks have character concepts already and I've spoken to a few others about it. What I need to have by the end of the character gen process is a character sheet for your character. One of the good things about FATE is that it draws significant parts of your background in and works them into the character gen process. I'll accept a little bit of supplemental background as well, but if it's not covered in the character gen process then it's only ever going to be minor details. Anything I get beyond what goes into character gen is going to need to be in the form of quick bullet points for easy reference.

Occasionals / NPCs - I have a couple of characters that might well only be occasional. If you think you'll maybe make half of the games... I may have character options for you. As for NPCs - I am quite likely to need some from time to time.

Cost - I'll need to find out how much it costs to book the upstairs room of the social hall, and find somebody to assist with the organisational side of making sure it's booked and all that. I'm a bit rubbish at such things, so I prefer to devolve the responsibility if possible.

Time - I'm thinking of using the afternoon of the Sunday after the Exalted game, because that reduces travel requirements for non-local players. Other options can be considered, but that's where my thoughts are right now. When will it start? Depends what characters I end up with, as I'll be tailoring plot elements to the characters... so will need some characters...

Character Gen Session - Now, it'll probably take a bunch of these sessions... but I'd like to start getting some statted characters together so that I can pull the last plot details in line and actually get things started. Suggestions of who can do when might well be useful.

More? - There's almost certainly a bunch more that I should info-dump as well, but I can't think of it right now. Feel free to ask me questions about the game.

So, last night I finished off chapter one of my Transhuman Space game. It will now be on hiatus for a few weeks, returning when all of the players are around and I've worked out the next batch of plot...

However, I am amused.

I now preside over a party of itinerant space lepers.

Alas, now I must go back to work - things to finish before 5pm...

...I will be mostly running a game of Transhuman Space, but using FATE instead of GURPS. Players are those who live there and majic13. Everybody will need 4d6... I have a small bunch of them, and I'm sure others do as well. Ideally I'll get some Fudge dice soon, but I can't find them for mail order in the UK, which is more than a little awkward.

In the meantime, I'll need people to pretend normal dice are fudge dice... which means remembering the following:
1-2 = -1
3-4 = 0
5-6 = +1

Folks should already have seen the (in some cases, slightly tailored) pregens, so you should have some idea of the kind of character you're playing already...

I'm going to aim to get started by 7:00 - 7:30, so we get a reasonable amount of game time before majic13 has to leave.

Are there any plans for tonight?

I'm planning to run Transhuman Space starting in a couple of weeks (sorry - no slots left - I had five, and they went to HoP residents and majic13, who kindly loaned me some of the rulebooks I need), but I don't know if there are plans for the the next couple of mondays.

Any guesses?