[Atomic Robo] Robotoberfest

Well, it's the last day of Sept, so you know what that means: It's almost time for Atomictoberobofest!

That's right -- Atomic Robo comes to your town, if you live in Tampa Bay, FL or Fresno, CA or Oakland, CA.

First up is Necronomicon in the Sunshine State, where John Campbell will be running some sort of ARRPG game. That's happening next weekend, October 9-11, so if you're around there or are willing to make the trip, go check it out.

Then I'll be at ZappCon in beautiful Fresno -- where the city motto is "You can get there from here!" -- running some sort of ARRPG game on the morning of Saturday the 17th. The blurb's super-vague, so maybe it'll be a Majestic 12 game, maybe it'll be "Atomic Robo and the Invaders from Mars," maybe it'll be a Robo Force game, I dunno. There's no way to know.

I'll also be part of a panel on Sunday the 18th at 2:00 pm about family gaming. Because ARRPG won a Silver ENnie for Best Family Game at GenCon this year, so it's only logical that I'd be able to speak about family gaming at some length, right? Please come to that panel and see if that's at all a reasonable assumption.

And if you can't make it to Fresno that weekend but you can make it to Oakland for some reason, it better be because you're going to Big Bad Con.

UPDATE: Though I can't find them on the schedule itself, there is apparently at least one Atomic Robo game happening at Big Bad Con on Sunday the 18th, as well as Morgan Ellis running Shadow of the Century, and also there'll be other Fate games, although I see exactly one on the schedule, so I dunno what the story is there. 

[Atomic Robo] The Robo Has Landed

Pictured: Atomic Robo, existing as a physical product
you can hold in your hands and everything. 

Has your copy of Atomic Robo: The Roleplaying Game arrived yet? Well did you preorder it? Of course, at this point you could just buy it, because it's out and in stores. You are running out of excuses, in other words.

In all seriousness, it's been extremely gratifying to see ARRPG getting such a great reception from people online. I spent more than two years neck-deep in this game, so it's really rewarding to see tweets like this, or this, or this thing here, or this other bit over here plus this frankly embarrassing praise, and so on. I guess what I'm saying is that the approval of strangers is very important to me, and then on top of that I'm obviously not able to be one-hundred percent sincere about any of this because it's so genuinely affecting. All of this boldfacing is actually part of a defense mechanism against emotional vulnerability. So... thanks!

Anyway, if you're still waiting for yours to show up in the mail, or even if you aren't, you can while away the empty, meaningless hours listening to a couple recent Robo-oriented (Roboriented!) podcasts.

Late last month I was on Useless Drivel talking with Rob and Matt about a bunch of stuff, including but not limited to:

• A radio show I had in college (that apparently had a MySpace page)
• The Thrilling Adventure Hour
• GI Joe, sorta
• The Heroes of Three Crossings
• Crimson Skies
• The Shieldwall minis wargame and the War of Ashes RPG
• The Kerberos Club
• Jadepunk
• OSS 117
• Luchadores
• Atomic Robo
• Legends of Anglerre (sad face)
• The not-at-all-secret origin story of the Atomic Robo RPG
• Why this blog is called "Spirit of the Blank"
• Living the dream

(I mention on this podcast that I'm going to make those Crimson Skies Fate dogfighting rules available, and that's still my intent, but they're not up yet. End of line.)

And just a couple weeks ago, Atomic Robo scribe Brian Clevinger talked Robo and the Technocracy with Ryan Macklin on Master Plan. The focus of the conversation is RPG licensing from the licensor's point of view, and also Brian corroborates my ARRPG origin story, which is kind of a relief.

On a related note, Ryan and Tim Rodriguez are running a Kickstarter right this very moment for Backstory Cards, so go get in on that.

BONUS PODCAST RECOMMENDATION: The last episode of Nearly Enough Dice (episode 141, for future generations) has a very nice, unapologetically glowing review/unpaid endorsement of ARRPG. The episode isn't completely Robo-centric or anything, and neither I nor Brian are interviewed on it, but still, it's good. Especially if you're like "ARRPG sounds pretty cool, but I dunno, I need someone with a Scottish accent to convince me," then this is -- it's the podcast for you. It's almost eerie how precisely they've tailored this episode to suit your exact needs. You'd be foolish not to listen.

[Atomic Robo] Various Updates

How I feel lately.

Man, it's been a while, right? I've just been too busy and/or tired to talk to you. You know how it is. But let's have a few updates to keep you in the loop.

What's Up With ARRPG?
I don't know why I was so excited that the edit punch-list was so short when it only takes three words to say "Rewrite this chapter."

To that end, I've enlisted the aid of Brian Engard to help get these Jeremy Keller-edited chapters revised and back to Jeremy Keller. Brian, of course, is part of the Fate Core team, so I have every confidence etc.

A big -- really big -- part of the revision process has been reformatting all of the examples in the book to align with the new aesthetic. We're still using panels from the pages of Atomic Robo to illustrate rules concepts and provide examples, which is great, but instead of just showing panels with captions (like the one above), we're providing a running dialogue between the GM and the players, all of whom happen to be Action Scientists. It's been a ton of work, I'll be honest with you, but the results are really satisfying, and it's going to result in a more engaging experience for the reader.

So, to sum up, it's coming along, and soon it will be out of my hands entirely, at which point we can talk about things like printer and shipping delays.

How Was Gamex?
Great! Two of the three games I ran were a lot of fun. The one that wasn't was an ambitious endeavor that didn't really come together the way I'd imagined.

I'm running the ARRPG scenario, "Robo Force," at GenCon. Wanna see the character sheets? Here.

I also ran a D&D-like Fate Core-based (based!) game called "Return to the Expedition to the Sinister Temple of the Reptile Cult on the Borderlands." There were blaster pistols and a froghemoth. Wanna see those character sheets? Look upon them and be confused!

As for the games I got to play, Morgan Ellis's really wacky way-out-there TMNT Fate Core game didn't involve any teenagers, ninjas, or turtles, although we did have a super-evolved marmot, a walrus from Ancient Egypt, a sentient hadrosaur from another dimension, and my character, Oreo Futurebaby, P.I. It was... pretty silly. And a lot of fun.

Respected TV critic and not-really-my-RPG-protege Todd VanDerWerff ran another Fate Core game based on the TV series Vikings. It was... well, look, there were some problems with the game, but still, it was gratifying to see Todd, a mere year and a bit after I introduced him to RPGs, running a game that I'd helped write. That was awesome. And I sure like that Vikings show. He promised me I'd have a chance to play Athelstan, and he did not lie about that, more or less.

Isn't San Diego Comic-Con Coming Up?
It is, yeah, and I'll be running ARRPG there, too, on Thursday at 2:00. I don't think the gaming schedule's up yet, but when it is, I'll be on it. (I'm also scheduled for a Saturday game, but I'll tell you right now, I'm going to have to bail on it to see this.) I'm also probably going to run a game at Gam3rcon that weekend, as is tradition, sort of.

[Gamex 2013] Fate Core Games A-Poppin'

Robo Force in action.

We still have a couple days to go before Gamex this weekend, and there are a bunch of Fate Core games on the skedge (that's short for "schedule" -- like I said, only a couple days left, so I don't have time to type out "schedule"), so let's break 'em down.

Friday 2:00 pm: "Death of an Aristocrat" (GM: Brian Allred)

Someone must really want this guy dead. Sounds easy, but for 20k nuyen, 

there must be a catch somewhere...

I've known Brian for years -- we spent most of those years playing in a couple of weekly D&D campaigns -- but I have no idea what this game is about. Sounds cyberpunky. Nuyen... isn't that a Shadowrun thing? Regardless, I'm sure he knows what he's doing.

Friday 8:00 pm: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness" (GM: Morgan Ellis)

It's 1984 and the City is overrun by crime and corruption, the gangs control the streets, terrorism is rampant, corporations fueled by greed seek power and control, and Ninja clans lurk in the shadows. Only a small group of Mutant Animals born of some Strange Encounter, or created by Science, 

and trained in the ways of the Ninja can clean up the City. Let's play some TMNT&OS using Fate Core.

First of all, this is how you write a blurb for a convention game: evocative but totally open-ended and vague. I can only assume Morgan wrote it that way for the same reason that I write 'em that way: because holy crap, the deadline to submit games is this Friday and I have no idea what I'm going to do, but I know I'd like to run a game of whatever, so here's something compelling without going into specifics. Textbook. Anyway, I'm in this game.

Saturday 9:00 am: "Robo Force" (GM: Me!)

Robo Force is the codename for the UN's league of highly trained Action Science Commandos. Their purpose: to defend human freedom against Baron Helsingard, a ruthless megalomaniac determined to rule the world at any cost. Led by the daring Atomic Robo and armed with cutting-edge science, Robo Force never gives up the fight! Rohhh-BO!

I ran a session of this at a Dead Gamers' Society meet-up back in March, and it went pretty well, so now I've put more effort and thought into it [read: I've been watching GI Joe] with the idea that it can go even better. It's also a chance to shine it up a bit in preparation for GenCon.

Saturday 2:00 pm: "Shadowpunk - Tailchaser" (GM: Seth Halbeisen)

Backstabbing and betrayal. Business as usual. But now it's happened to you. Well, you and your team. Now you've got a crap ton of marked data and no where to sell it too. No paycheck, and it looks like the target corp wants vengeance. Just another day in paradise.

I still don't know Seth Halbeisen! I believe we're connected via Google+ or something, but that's it. He's the most prolific Strategicon Fate GM I've never met. But he keeps running these games, and players keep signing up, so that's gotta be good.

Saturday 8:00 pm: "Vikings IN Vikings: Among the Vikings" (GM: Todd VanDerWerff)
America's love affair with Vikings continues, in this brand new adventure of seafaring Norsemen. Ride out to find strange lands off somewhere in the far West, lands filled with unusual men and fearsome beasts. Characters will be provided, or you can make your own Viking.

I'm not in a position to give out awards for best game titles -- but if I were, Todd would at least be in contention. I'm really looking forward to this game, not only because Vikings and Fate Core, but because I have this weird sense of... I dunno... pride? I introduced Todd to RPGs last year when I talked him into attending OrcCon, and now here he is, running a game I helped write! (He's also running Cat and Prime Time Adventures, a game he's supremely qualified to run on account of him being a TV critic and all.) But really, the fact that he's GMing multiple indie games per Strategicon has almost nothing to do with me and almost everything to do with Todd being a natural at this stuff.

Saturday 9:00 pm: "Spirit of Hyboria"

Come adventure in a land of ruthless warriors, vengeful barbarians and dark sorcerers. Where magic is a curse, and things man was not meant to know walk the land. Where the gods are watching, so be bold and live well. All this and swords too!

Obviously, if I weren't playing in Todd's Vikings game, I'd be in this game, guaranteed. I especially appreciate the "Spirit of" construction -- it feels old-timey at this point, which I like.

Sunday 2:00 pm: "F3: Return to the Expedition to the Sinister Temple of the Reptile Cult on the Borderlands" (GM: Me!)

OMG you guys, there are totally some more problems that only a party of adventurers can solve! This ode to AD&D (via Fate Core) is a sequel to a couple games I ran at the last OrcCon. If you played in those games, come reclaim your character! If not, come claim a character before those returning players beat you to it! Experience with Fate Core not required.

More of this nonsense. It was fun at OrcCon, so I'm going to see if we can keep it going. Because if we can, I'll run one of these at every Strategicon using the same PCs. Just like before, I'm using this game as an excuse to playtest something new I've been working on, so the PCs will look a little different than they did last time.

So there you go! A lot of great Fate games, just like I said. I did not lie. If I get a chance before the con, I'll post the Robo Force and D&D-ish characters.

[ARRPG] Tabletop Day and Fate Core

Tomorrow, as part of like three things (International Tabletop Day, the Indie RPG Project, and the Dead Gamers Society), I'm running a game of Atomic Robo at Cal State Fullerton. Click here for further details on the when and where.

The whole event is all about Fate, so there'll also be David Hill and Filamena Young running Apotheosis Drive X and White Picket Witches, respectively, and someone I don't think I know will be running Spirit of the Century, which now feels like a real blast from the past even though it came out, like, less than seven years ago. Fate Fate Fate!

As for the ARRPG game, you can probably guess from the picture up top that it's inspired by the old Robo Force cartoon from the '80s. If you're anything like me -- by which I mean "an old person" -- you watched Robo Force just about every day after school without really noticing just how utterly ridiculous it was. (Remember the episode when Robo breakdances? Yeah, that happened.) I still have the action-science figures.

Anyway, most of that show was reputedly based on Tesladyne's real-life clashes with dissociated Department Zero branches and DELPHI cells -- and not Baron Helsingard, like it was in the show, although that'd explain why the main badguy's named General Nul -- so we're going to play a game of that. I've been watching way too much Robo Force on YouTube lately, so please, come on out and make that sacrifice worthwhile.

Ro-BO!