Have you ever played Player Vs. Player in an RPG?

I'm asking mainly if anyone out there in the blogosphere has experience actually playing player v. player RPG session (or campaign?). I know that there's a few games out there with rules and such, but I'm just conducting a little research...using anecdotal evidence of course. I've peeked in a few forums, but I thought I'd ask my peeps.

So, anyone? Bueller? Comments please!

The Secret History of Spelljammer and a Question

Former TSR game wizard Jeff Grubb has done a another "secret history of" post on his blog, this time about Spelljammer--a game near and dear to his heart--that I think is fascinating. There's a lot to love/learn from his post, but some of the best is the fact that the game was inspired by a single image:

One of the things that I came into the pitch session with was the idea that I wanted to push the envelope on what D&D fantasy was. Yeah, we had done FR and DL, but those had been written down as typical fantasy worlds. Vanilla fantasy. Default fantasy. Background static. Here was a chance to go out on more of a limb and push the envelope. So this was the chance to do D&D in space. I’m sorry – Innnnn Spaaaaaaace!

He goes on to describe that image:

A knight standing on the deck of a ship in space. He doesn’t freeze. He doesn’t blow up. He doesn’t float away. Everything that follows comes out of that one image, which is captured (with more to it as well) on the final cover Jeff Easley did. All what people have called “Grubbian Physics” with its air envelopes and its gravity planes, comes from creating a universe where that image is true.

If that's not the definition of weird science fantasy, I don't know what is. Sure it seems wacky at first, but it led to a whole new way of thinking in the game and opened a really imaginative approach to the genre (which he talks more about in his post).

Fair disclosure: I'm not even a fan of Spelljammer. Always thought it was a little too out there, which is my own fault for not giving it a chance. But I'm willing to admit what a fool I've been! Anyway, I'm just getting to the good part, which is:

For the boxed sets at that time, we had a format – two 96-page books, 4 big color maps, and a bunch of light cardboard sheets. Our task was to fill that space. Sometimes the format worked, sometimes it was less successful. For Spelljammer, we used them to create the ship stat cards and standups. So that worked out pretty well.

A Challenge!
So, here you have a template:

• 1 box, 
• 2 books
• 4 maps
• Some cardboard sheets

Make a game. Take an image--real or imagined--and base an entire game on it. Think what the cover would look like, what the books would cover, and most intriguingly, what do you do with those cardboard sheets?

Using the same items and format, what type of game do you come up with? To the comments my friends!

Webcomic: KILL ALL MONSTERS!

What if Godzilla's family came over for dinner and never left? What would happen to humanity if they'd won the planet and we took runner-up in the food chain? Why we'd build giant robots to take the planet back! This is the premise of KILL ALL MONSTERS! a recently launched web comic set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, after the kaiju have divided and conquered us puny humans.

The creative team is made up of Twin Cities comic writer Michael May (who I've had the pleasure of meeting several times) and Jason Copland (art) and Ed Brisson (lettering).

From May's blog:

In Kill All Monsters! the giants have already won. It's a post-apocalyptic setting in which the world has been completely overrun by giant monsters. Pockets of humanity are hiding and surviving as best they can, but no one's found an effective way to defeat the beasts...until now. Operating out of a hidden temple deep in the jungle, the African Defense Force has created a small until of giant mechs, operated by an international team of the best pilots humanity has to offer. The story begins with the unit's first trip out of their home continent as they try to assess some of the damage done to Europe. What they learn there is even more terrifying than they imagined.

In keeping with the post-apoc genre, KAM is more than just big baddies trading punches. May also promises "...mutant animal-people, barbarians, and secret societies of mad scientists...". As a lover of massive collateral carnage and content in the gamma strain, this is right up my alley--especially since I've been on a Gamma World tear for a while now. It's exactly the kind of stuff that gets my Megathrusters going!

While it's got plenty of panel-breaking action, the base storyline about the human characters is solid and well plotted. It's great to see a really fun idea well executed. The online version publishes a page-at-a-time format employed by many web series, but printed copies aren't far behind. This is pure inspiration for a game, but I can't help but think it'd make for an even more spectacular MOVIE! I particularly love the way the landscape is used as more than just a backdrop...

I can dream can't I?

Linkage

• KILL ALL MONSTERS! web comic
• KAM blog 

Kumumgah: Tatooine's Precursor Society

Apparently, in addition to Sandcrawlers, Jawas also have fortresses? Image: Wookiepedia

Seems like very epic fantasy or sci-fi franchise out there has some sort of post-apocalyptic society embedded in the backstory. According to Wookieepedia, Star Wars is no exception. The Kumumgah were a humanoid species that lived on the once lush Tatooine. After pissing off the (pre-Republic) ruling authorities, they saw their homeworld's orbit nudged.

Tatooine became a desert.

As a result the Kumumgah adapted and their descendants diverged along two separate evolutionary paths: Jawas and Sand People.

Traditional Tusken handshake

Now this is all "expanded universe" of course, and I'm partial to ignoring it as anything canon in Star Wars, but it does make for quite a nifty background in a greater sci-fi universe, dontcha' think?

Careful on those links, they're chocked full of spoilers and pics of Tuskens without their masks. I'm one to think that they should never be unmasked. Why take the mystery out of something so fun? Also, while the idea of Tatooine being a "once lush" world appeals to me now, there's a stubborn kid inside me who refuses to accept that notion. Part of me is equally perplexed at the frequent use of "rodent-like" in describing Jawas on Wookieepedia. I'd like to think that they're something different and unearthly and we don't need to fall back on terrestrial biology to explain everything. I'm partial to my own make believe anyway.

Regardless, it's still kind of awesome to learn that some big bully didn't like the Kumumgah and splintered their existence by hurling them closer to the twin suns. Makes me think that Khan guy got off easy!

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet Trailer Invades Your Visual Cortex

Just a quick note to let you know I'm still alive, though a massive project for work has taken over my life for the last month. I really can't even describe how invasive it's been on my personal time--but I can, perhaps, illustrate my point thanks to this incredible video game (yes VIDEO game!) trailer featuring jaw-droppingly cool visuals from Michel Gagne.

It's called Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, and it drips wicked awesomeness from its slithery black tendrils.

Enjoy!