Infinite Worlds Reborn

Following on from my post last week about Group Dynamics, this week I wanted to bring you an update about what we did as a group last night. What we didn't do, however, is start a new mission.

During the week, using two online surveys, we found out quite a few things about what the group enjoys (and doesn't), allowing me as GM to suggest that we returned to the Infinite Worlds campaign using GURPS.

As we sat down last night, we were able to take part in a series of creative activities which were aimed to fulfill one of the key messages from the survey, leading us to some group decisions about altering the style of the campaign missions and the power level of the game (ever-so-slightly).

After one night of reasonably entertaining discussion and thinking I feel ready to GM the campaign with new gusto. Here's why...

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Group Dynamics

Whilst it would be lots of fun to share with you the trip-down-memory-lane I took this weekend while reading the MasterBook stuff, the shadow that has loomed largest for our group has been the question of who wants to play, why they want to play, and what they want to play.


When a disagreement bursts forth at Friday Night Roleplay, as it inevitably does from time to time, it usually does so out-of-session and by email. This week's problem was no exception. It started with one person having the honesty to express a long-held frustration from our gaming table and, when others were asked about it, proved to be a more wide-spread issue.

Strangely, though, when frustrations are aired they usually begin with a moan about something to do with the game... and this later proves to be a smoke-screen for other issues. The roleplayers at my table seem reluctant to make complaint about another person and unaware of the issues that surround playing style.

If you've found yourself uncomfy at the table, and not entirely sure why, then my tip is to fess up and talk to the others.

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Powering Up

This week has been a brain-frying but intellectually stimulating delve into the question of campaign power levels. Utilising the Hero System 6E rules, and discussing matters relating to my Serene Dawn campaign setting, I've been trying to figure out how best to set up the various elements that make a setting feel right.

No Default

Most RPGs come with "power levels" already defined. There is a kind of default set of parameters which tells you what to expect... and we rarely think about it unless it ends up feeling wrong.

What's this "power level" thingy, though, I hear you ask. As it's not normally very clearly discussed in most game systems, and tends to be a feature of generic systems which try to be flexible enough to model any setting you desire, most of us are oblivious to the kinds of things we are talking about.

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Of Heroes & Lego

This weekend I've been tinkering further with characterisation for my New Haven setting within the Serene Dawn SF campaign. Two innovations to my gaming are being experimented with.

Firstly, I've been using my dusty but complete set of Hero System 6E rules to begin to quantify the way I want the setting to feel and work mechanically. That's not to say I'll ever play using Hero, given that only one of my players have ever tried the game, but it has been allowing me to make things "feel" right.

Secondly, my wife bought me a Lego City truck model and it inspired a whole raft of ideas for using Lego to play out the action scenes on the table top. For some reason Lego has become so cool in my head that I want to replace my card printed miniatures for little plastic dudes.


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Inspiring a New Dawn

You'd imagine that running two fantasy campaigns, using the same rules system, would be enough to keep a GM focused on writing and creating stories for his players. If you're like me, however, you'd be wrong.

Alongside the really enjoyable experience of running a Pathfinder campaign in Golarion for the school group and a Mykovnia campaign for the Friday Roleplay group, I've been dreaming of New Haven... but in a new way.

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