Guest Post: Daniel Sell

My recent post on Fighting Fantasy was prompted by the role-playing game Troika!, which incorporates some Fighting Fantasy game mechanics.  However, Troika is not a retroclone.  It includes interesting rules for initiative.  Also, a d66 is used to determine a character's background.  (Optionally, a background may be chosen.)  Example backgrounds include 'Sorcerer of the Academy of Doors', 'Poorly Made Dwarf', and 'Sceptical Lammasu'.  An “artless edition” of Troika is available on a pay-what-you-want basis at RPGNow.

Anyway, I asked author Daniel Sell to write a guest post about Troika.  I suggested he might want to address the creative decisions he made regarding the game.  What follows is his submission:

Troika is the inevitable hospice of a tired mind. Exhausted from having to opine and comprehend, the mind rests in a comfortable bed in a room full of doors and corridors and trap doors and other doors but no windows. From the vantage point of the bed it watches orderlies come and go with food and care; it does not know where they come from, where they go to, why they never see the same one twice, how they got here and if they will ever leave. This creates a purple haze of confusion, lavender smelling, old and comfortable but bewildering at once.  On the edge of sleep it imagines what happens beyond the doors by running its day dreams together. That is Troika.

It was built as a strongly worded objection to the vogue of transparency and usefulness. It still holds immediacy, since anyone can play the game in a matter of hours if they want. They just need to go limp and enjoy a state of comfortable confusion. The book doesn’t need to tell people that it expects them to decide what is happening for themselves since it offers few answers and the answers present are contradictory.

Planescape was a hundred times better when I was a child who only owned a box set and no context or rules. A single book hinted at places just beyond the horizon, a teasing joy in incomplete knowledge. But then you get older and realise you can just get up and walk, read all the books and know all the secrets, only to learn that they were banal, soggy-minded. The illusion was better and more useful than the words on paper telling you exactly how Lawful Good these allegedly complex but somehow easily and briefly explained people and places are. Information kills knowledge.

Troika will never tell the truth. It will tell many truths, all of which are true and exist and invalidate everything else. If you can comprehend the structure of a fantastic universe while having no clue about the basic functioning of our own then there is nothing fantastic about it. So to create that same complexity of feeling without actually going to the trouble of reinventing reality you just induce the sensations associated with it. I want to look up at the imaginary stars with the same wonder as the real ones.

That being said, the book of Troika is limited. The current state is several steps from where it should be, but it’s following a pneumatic process. The next time the book emerges it will be larger, offering more truth than what is currently provided. Multiple books, the artefact must be large to strengthen the polite bewilderment, where a reader can wander in and out having not followed the same path twice. Except for the core of the thing it should be thick and sweet like treacle.

The game couldn’t afford to be as strange as it wants to be without that tiny solid core. However that core still plays into the lavender cloud by sweeping away the default dungeons and dragons and it’s N. People coming into contact with it might be familiar with its fighting fantasy routes, have shared my upbringing, and experience the feeling of having come home to find all the furniture rearranged; there is familiarity but mostly disquiet. For others they will be out on their ear experiencing a world that equally could have been if things were different. They can be as lost as their characters are.

I’m lost in explaining things. Troika is named for specific reasons, everything in it is considered and concrete. None of it will be explained for fear of ruining the tingly tension, the spark that Planescape stamped out. What we have is just the beginning of an outpouring. Whether it’s loved or hated, rich or poor, it will unravel to completion. I hope people like it, but it is what it is and there’s nothing you or I can do to change that.

My Amazing High Fantasy Adventure (Part 2 of 2)

My Amazing High Fantasy Adventure
Part 2

by

Jeffrey C. Dillow

The next part of my amazing High Fantasy adventure might be hard to believe by most of you. It certainly is hard for me to tell. To get through it, I will rely more heavily on RPG terms. This way you will instantly understand what I am saying and I can move the story along more quickly. You should also know that my character's name when I role-played was Eru, a high level warrior, and my wife's character name was Enchantra. I know, Enchantra....really! It is a name I have long been stuck with using in my books no matter how much I dislike it.

This part of the adventure involves two vast armies, a High Dark Lord, treason and treachery that expands over decades, and a Glamour so strange and powerful it baffles science today. You don't believe me, do you? I don't blame you. It is all true and not just in High Fantasy. It is true in real life. My life. So fantasy gamers, be of stout heart because at the end of this story you will believe.

The year is 1984 and my friend Paul and I are traveling back on a train from New York City. We just had one of the most unbelievable experiences in both of our lives. Earlier that month, we sent a copy of one of my books to be reviewed at a company called Rankin and Bass. This group had done a lot of animation work on Tolkien's "The Hobbit" and more recently The Last Unicorn. Rankin and Bass both agreed to meet with us. The meeting went very well and they told us they were willing to work with us to create an interactive movie. They said they would put up a million dollars if RCA would match it and use NBC to move the product. We were stunned. We had just shook hands on a deal that our "Fellows" in the lab would have to like. It was exactly what we had all been working towards. We were going to make the first interactive video for RCA and it came with outside funding!

We could not have been more wrong. From the beginning, we were met with a lukewarm reception. Our bosses went off to huddle and talk about it. Weeks passed, then months went by while upper management talked it over. In the meantime, my fellow wizards were making "Point of View" bobsled videos, detective videos, and more. I finally pushed for an answer and was told "no!" Not "why", just "no." I was devastated. This was the first time in my adventure when I had met such an obstacle. I quickly became despondent and started consorting with the wizards to try and resolve this impasse. I became so consumed with getting the permissions to make the first High Fantasy interactive movies that I completely missed the two dark armies that were marching against us and the vast destruction they were leaving in their path.

The first army advanced on my publisher, Prentice-Hall. It was called Gulf-Western and at first seemed innocent enough, but things began to change rapidly with my publisher in Reston. Again, I was too consumed and isolated in the comfort of my own lab to pay much attention to what was going on in the outside world. All I knew at the time was that my William Morris agent and my editor could not provide much help in working on a deal. Editors began leaving or resigning at Prentice-Hall. It became very clear Gulf-Western was interested in Prentice-Hall for their textbook publishing. Textbooks were sold by the millions - millions and millions, steadily every year. Computer books and vanity projects like High Fantasy were sold by the tens of thousands. A few short months later, Reston Publishing was gone. It was sacked by the first army and burnt to the ground.

I did not see the second army, headed by the High Dark Lord, approach either. This army and its Prince were well-known, but their movements were more secretive. You see, just a few months after Reston Publishing was sacked, the King of RCA betrayed his kingdom for a few pieces of gold.

To understand this part of the adventure you need to know that the founder of RCA, David Sarnoff, broke away from a company called General Electric decades before. RCA was GE's major competitor in America for consumer electronics. Sarnoff had spent his life fighting off GE and winning.

In a clandestine meeting, Thornton Bradshaw, our King, lowered the drawbridge and opened the gates to a large invading army headed by a High Dark Lord known in those days as Neutron Jack. He went by the name of Jack Welch and earned his reputation for eliminating people while leaving only the buildings standing after acquiring a company. RCA's long sworn enemy marched through the gates without a fight.

Just months apart, both kingdoms were sacked and the wizards in the labs knew they would be coming for us soon.

Two armies and a Dark Prince as promised at the beginning of this blog. Did you forget about the Glamour?

At exactly this time (we are still talking about 1985) Enchantra was stricken by an "unconceivable glamour". Her left side became completely paralyzed. The Great War wizard was stricken and she was going down fast. Multiple sclerosis was wreaking havoc on her nervous system.

Hold on now, fellow gamers. We all have read enough fantasy to know what fantasy gamers do in these bleak situations.

Eru draws his sword. We fight!

The great wizards at the RCA labs flee. These "True Ones" were working on digital codecs to compress video into a digital signal that could be pushed through wires. This is before the internet. These types of magics will not be needed for years! GE had wizards, but their focus was forced on making cheaper toaster ovens. There would be no place for wizards like the "True Ones" at GE.

I grab Enchantra, who has three babies clinging to her robe, and fight my way out. I hack my way from Princeton and head north. There, I find another enclave of wizards in Morristown. These were not as high a level of wizards as the ones in Princeton, but they were willing to take us in and shelter us for a brief time. At that time, I worked for AT&T Electronic Education and Training. These wizards had an idea that the computer might someday play a role in education. They called their magic "Distance Learning."

My focus shifted from fantasy to survival. Day by day, we survived. Days turned to months and then years. I could not stay at AT&T for long. After a while, I ventured out on my own as a "Sellsword".

The greatest medical scientists of our time know almost nothing about MS. There are no potions or elixirs to remove this glamour. But did I mention that Enchantra is a war wizard?

Slowly, the eye patch was put away for good. Feeling and sensation started to come back. The cane, "Shefast" her wizard's staff, still hangs ready if the need arises. Today, for the most part, "Shefast" remains in the mud room.

Everyone is safe again. We are all alright. This is after all, "My most amazing High Fantasy Adventure." In my world, everything works out.

So that at least partially explains what happened and why it has been over 30 years since I have even thought about fantasy. As I am sure we all can agree, "stuff happens". I am sure stuff has happened to you too.

So why now?

Surely I am forgotten; a tiny footnote somewhere.

Well, those clinging babies are grownups now. Now they are starting to ask questions. They got on the internet and started finding references about me. Amazon has an author's webpage that lists some of my books. My daughter, who is a better writer than I ever was, wants to write. The others want to help.

I grabbed some of the old charred manuscripts and began to rewrite. Jennifer, my daughter, has added her voice to this adventure by writing a Young Adult novel.

So here we are back at the beginning. I am, once again, making all of the artwork. "Can't someone help me find that lost Steranko?" I think we can all agree; however, that my covers are a lot better this time. Many of the early RPG developers are gone. It might be time now to take a look back. We plan on releasing two books this month. It might be time to take a deep breath, to dream for a little while and let our imaginations go.

My Amazing High Fantasy Adventure (Part 1 of 2)

My Amazing High Fantasy Adventure

by

Jeffrey C. Dillow

I will be releasing two new books this month from the world of High Fantasy. But before I talk about those books, I would like to give you a few highlights about my most amazing adventure with the role-playing game, High Fantasy. I hope you will find most of this story interesting and very familiar to your own RPG experience. One thing that I have noticed since writing the game in 1974; however, is that "trolls" sure have gotten a lot bigger since then.

My adventure begins in 1974 at Indiana University and then continues today in New Jersey where I have spent most of my life. You see, I am a Hoosier at heart wrapped in the attitude of a Jersey Boy.

Like most of you, I picked up the first publication of Dungeons and Dragons and tried to play it. I found it to be a beautiful concept, but very flawed and nearly unplayable. Now we are talking about the original edition. Slow down "trolls", this is not meant to be disparaging of the well thought out and fun game Advanced Dungeons and Dragons that came later.

In high school, I played every board game available. I also created games, including a world social event game that was taught in my high school as a social studies elective. So, when I picked up the first edition of D&D, it seemed unfair and out of balance. In game theory there needs to be a balance and a fairness for the players. One of the things I saw early on was that the Wizard character was more powerful and not equal in gaming terms with the other characters. Weapons were not historically accurate in their abilities, ranges, etc. Again, these were flaws I noticed among others and as we all know, were fixed in later editions.

I wrote my own set of rules at Indiana and played and tested them with friends at the school's gaming clubs. I had no intention of ever publishing.

After graduating college, two of my closest friends and avid High Fantasy players passed away suddenly in a boating accident. My wife and I took the game to the local copy business and printed up 100 copies with a beautiful orange cover where I drew the artwork. There are two amazing facts in that last sentence; one, I never drew anything in my life until then and the cover looks like it; and two, my wife was one of the earliest RPG female game players. So there non-believers. There were actually good looking women playing RPG right from the beginning.

We took our game around to conventions where we set up a large gaming table filled with handmade castles. We had complete working models of all of the adventures that were published later. We took the money made from sales and reinvested to print more booklets. We started to get noticed. We started to have lines waiting at our booth to play the game.

I think we got up to about 1,000 copies sold when we got our first big break. An Indianapolis company called Twinn K saw us and wanted to diversify their chain of products. Who was Twinn K you ask? Twinn K was the largest distributer of racing tires and accessories in the world. I guess I should also mention I am talking about "slot cars". As slot cars were vanishing, they needed to diversify. Most importantly, through the kindness of the owner we went from selling products locally to suddenly being distributed to every hobby store in America over night! We ditched my hand drawings, went to black and white, and then quickly moved to glorious full color.

Now we were selling! Now we could take those adventure stories we had been playing and publish those, also in glorious color. (Fortress Ellendar and Moorguard)

If you stayed with this story so far hang on because it is about to take off.

Reston Publishing noticed we were selling about 5,000 copies with each printing and offered to take over our publishing. Who is Reston Publishing you ask? Reston Publishing is Prentice Hall. At that time and maybe still today, Prentice Hall was one of the biggest publishing houses in the world. We had no choice but to leave the very good and kind folks at Twinn K and move our publishing. With Reston Publishing in charge, we went from every Hobby Store in America to every Book Store the next day.

That is about the time D&D, who was now being distributed by Random House, took notice. Arneson had left TSR and was suing his co-authors company. This was tough. Random House distribution did not like Prentice Hall distributers and there was a lot of discussion with Book Stores about where and how our books should be displayed compared to AD&D.

Are you still with me? Now the adventure becomes fantastic. At this point in my life my wife and I are still in Indianapolis. We were now making a meager living publishing and expanding our line of books. From my original hand drawn cover we were now starting to commission Jim Steranko for cover art. He did our "Wizards and Warriors" cover and posters. He also did a second commission, but it was stolen from the offices of Reston right before "Goldchester" was published. That is a fantastic story onto itself. I will tell it later.

So a guild of wizards noticed my books in the bookstores. These wizards lived in New Jersey and worked for the David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton. Wait a minute. I am mixing up my gaming terms with real life. These wizards were actually referred to as "Fellows" and research scientists in real life. What is the David Sarnoff Research Center you ask? It was the premier "think tank" in America for consumer electronics owned by the RCA Corporation.

Why were these wizards...I mean scientists interested in me? Well, if you look through the old reviews of my line of books, I almost always get high praise for my adventures. One of these adventures in particular, "Murder in Irliss," had caught their eye. This is a play-your-own adventure. Unlike other adventures, it is very complex in its making. Even more important than that, I had written another adventure called "Circle of Truth" that was about to be published. It is incredibly complex in its structure. I did not know it at the time, but one of the scientists told me I based the structure of the book on "State Event Processing" whatever that is supposed to mean. All I know is that I wrote it and it was perfect for "Interactive Movie" making. And interactive movies and advancing digital media is what all the wizards were interested in at that time.

My wife and I moved our little family to the Princeton area and went to work on advance uses of interactive media. So what happened? Why did I disappear for thirty years? Why am I releasing a new book now?

It has been over thirty years and I did not even know anyone remembered my books until my grown children found blogs and references on the internet. If there really is any interest I will publish the answers in part two of this blog. I promise I won't wait another thirty years to answer your questions.

In the meantime, dare to start a new adventure by checking out our website at www.highfantasybooks.com and remember to like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/highfantasybooks. Our new books are set to be released on August 25th and will be available on Amazon.

Zerzura

Obtained from here

Last New Year's Day, Thoul's Paradise enjoyed its first guest post.  Your humble host thought he might start a tradition of guest posts at the start of each year.  For today's post, I asked James Hutchings to supply commentary on a topic of his choosing. He asked if it needed to be exclusive and I replied that it did not.

Zerzura, or the City of Little Birds, is a city supposed to exist in the Sahara. It may have been first mentioned in Herodotus, who describes it as dedicated to Dionysus. Despite this association with the god of wine and revelry, the inhabitants of the city are supposed to be ascetic and stoic in character. Some sources say that the city was founded by Roman legionaries. Other sources claim that the founders were knights returning from the Crusades. The Kitab al Kanuz, or Book of Hidden Treasures, states that the city is guarded by black giants, who prevent anyone from entering or leaving.

In 1481, a camel driver named Hamid Keila reported to the emir of Benghazi (now in Libya), that he had gotten lost in the desert, after the rest of his party was killed in a sandstorm. Keila stated that he was found by a group of fair men, who wore straight swords rather than scimitars. They took him to a city of white marble, filled with palms, springs, and pools. The main entrance to the city was crowned by a carving of a strange bird. The inhabitants of Zerzura, who called themselves 'El Suri', spoke a form of Arabic.

The emir asked Keila how he had come to Benghazi. The latter became uncomfortable with the questioning, and said that he had escaped one night. The emir asked why it was necessary for him to escape from a city where he had been treated kindly. Receiving no satisfactory answer, the emir had Keila searched by his guards, who found that he carried a large ruby set in a gold ring. Keila could not explain how he came by the ruby. Deciding that he must have stolen the ruby from Zerzura, the emir had Keila taken to the desert and his hands cut off.

The emir later mounted an expedition to search for Zerzura, but was unable to find it.

The repeated failure of expeditions over many centuries to find the city suggests to me that it does not lie in our world at all. It seems to me that Zerzura is most likely a distorted account of the City of the Amazons. The martial nature of the Amazons could explain the association with Romans or crusaders. The 'black giants' may refer to the Amazons' god, Daba, who guards the city in a metaphorical sense. Herodotus seems more likely to be referring to another isolated settlement, that of the Mountain of the Father of Wine.

Raven Speaks!

It is with unabashed exuberance that your humble host presents the first guest post on Thoul's Paradise.  What follows comes from the keyboard of Raven c.s. McCracken – complete and unedited – for you to peruse and treasure.

Hello everyone, I’m here to talk about the newest version of the World of Synnibarr.

Developed in the late 70s, Synnibarr was the first science fiction fantasy role playing game and my first product.

In this version, entitled Synnibarr: Invicta, we completely redesigned the game engine.

We simplified many of the rules and created a new series of mechanics that dispense with the old fashioned static level adjustments and ability scores, for a dynamic system based on merit that allows for continuous expansion, customization and character individuality.

The streamlined mechanics are constructed to form a foundation that models a wide range of situations. The detailed guidelines fluid enough to be accommodating, yet precise enough to define the variables that allow one to play everything from trench warfare with spells and firearms, to starship combat.

In this system, in many aspects, there are no limitations save those of the player’s imaginations.

Some of the changes: virtually every dice roll a player must make may be changed for the better through the use of Constitution.

We have added “Flashback” guidelines that replace roll-playing with role-playing. The storytelling aspect removes the dice-roll and eliminates the random factor with a role-player’s characterization of the situation. When the dice fail, we can flashback.

Fate has been empowered in this version, unlike previous editions, and is no longer subject to being “called.”

The convoluted algorithms, while still very much a part of the game, have been streamlined and simplified wherever possible.

Now, with some of that out of the way, allow me to introduce some of the new game mechanics.

First off, it must be said that this version of the game is based solely on a single formula: Con x merit = cogency. I like that word…cogency, it means…wait for it…power!

This formula can also be used for technology: EGs x merit = cogency. Now if you think about this, what has been done is a unification of the mystic and the physic.

With constitution being the power source for metaphysics and EGs the power source for physics. Now we move on to merit.

Each tech item or spell/ability has a merit value/cost. A 10 merit ability powered by 1 constitution point is treated like this: 1 con x 10 merit = 10 cogency. Tough math: one number multiplied by another. This formula is applied to tech as well: 1 EG x 10 merit = ….wait for it…10. Lol..

Now…the value of cogency: 1 point of cogency inflicts 1 point of damage or blocks one point of damage or telekinetically lifts and or transforms 1 kilogram of mass. That’s it…

Now…think about this in gaming terms… transform/lift covers a wide range of possibilities… from metamorph to teleport, telekinesis to flight at light speed, from time travel to immortality… all at 1kg of mass per cogency point.

The damage or blocking with any ability /spell /energy weapon/ shield, is covered by this as well. The primary limiters are energy (EGs) and the merit of the item. Now we can have lasers, force fields, EMP’s, etc and all balance out against each other and the mystic.

And now to the meat…The constitution a character burns into any ability/spell is regulated by the character’s Con Gate: which starts out at 5. You may burn up to 5 con points in a single second of combat. The EG gate is technology’s control. Through merit one can adjust both the character’s con gate or the devices EG gate.

Merit: every item/spell aspect of the system can be gaged in merit. Merit is what is rewarded for experiences and accomplishing tasks. This rewarded merit may be allocated to an ability/spell. In the case of technology, merit is added to the device through money.

Now with the addition of merit the calculation is drastically altered!!

For example: Tamijin, the mage allocated 40 merit to a 10 merit spell, Now the spell is 50 merit and 1 con xs 50 = 50 points of damage/defense; or better yet, 5 con, the limit of the gate, x 50, for 250 cogency!

There is the foundation of the system. The base that allows us to extrapolate forever; with this matrix, one can eventually play out character’s as fantastic as our green skinned friend with, “breathtaking anger management issues” wearing powerarmor and throwing a few spells for good measure.

With this foundation, we have a handle on some of the more ambiguous factors such as time, light and gravity!

Now to the prime mechanic: keep in mind that all dice rolls may be altered with the use of constitution. 1 con point adds +5 to the roll on the percentile dice. Any dice roll above 100, reduces the opposing dice roll by the above 100. For instance, if you burn 5 con points for a +25 on the shot roll, the max the roll could be is 125 and in this instance you would reduce the opposing Fate roll by 25.

That’s it…roll above 100 and reduce the opposing roll by that amount.

This prime mechanic is applied to skills and combat. In the case of skills we use the terms AIM and DEED in combat we use SHOT and FATE. Aims reduce deeds and Shots reduce Fate…sometimes..lol. keep in mind that Fate rolls may be adjusted by Constitution as well.

Synnibarr employed this mechanic in a few instances in the older versions; however, now the system has been based on this simple mechanic.

Constitution: with a clear understanding that one can burn constitution for adjusting the dice rolls and that it must be used for any abilities/spells, one can see the value of the 5 con points allowed each second.

Now to Combat: Just as in the old versions of the game, combat is played out in three second turns. Players power-up with constitution up to 5 only, at the start of every second within the turn, draining the 5 from the 100 con point awarded to every character to start in most cases. When the 100 con points are gone the character is out of power for abilities and adjustments until they rest and so forth…

Basic combat: Players roll advantage, (d10) the highest roll starts combat AND the player gets TWO actions on this starting segment of combat 1st. Players then go in order of advantage. Once all players have taken their action(s) we move onto the next second and power up.

Actions: players almost always roll a shot, in an effort to reduce the defender’s Fate roll per the prime mechanic; some attacks, such as swinging a sword are considered normal attacks and some actions -such as using a firearm or spell -are called beam or blind attacks. Of course there are also wide beam attacks and area effects; which in general, are a bit more difficult to evade… (Dark chuckle)

Based on the action, the defender usually has five defense choices: Block, Disarm, Dodge, Grapple, Sacrifice. These are also divided into B.A. (beam or blind attack) Fates.

The defender rolls the fate for the situation and if successful we determine the outcome. For a simple Fate dodge the outcome is obvious… the character dodges.

So there you have it: combat is Advantage, Shot and Fate.

These three fundamental aspects, the prime mechanic, the calculation for cogency and the combat system, form the heart of the game engine. With these elements, we can play out virtually anything and if I have my way we will.

Synnibarr was made to push the limits; we have been working hard to create a solid framework in which the players are not only presented with a Worldship to explore, but a Centiverse of adventure in which godhood and beyond is a possibility. The new guidelines take advantage of these basic factors and through them define a game like no other.

Thank you all for your interest; may you always make your fate!

Raven c.s. McCracken.