Universalis as a Pre-RPG Setting Maker (Sort of)

[Judd]

This is a spin-off of Andy's thread which is a spin-off of Ralph's thread on RPG.net.  I didn't want to hi-jack Andy's thread with my tale of woe.

I was all set to play The Riddle of Steel with two brothers who I have gamed with since I was 13.  I was introducing the system to 'em and I was going to use Universalis as an engine to make the one-shot setting.

Problem #1 - I had just moved and I couldn't find Universalis (and what's worse, I still can't).

Problem #1.5 - I have a shitty head for systems until I play them and even then it is an effort to keep things straight in my head.

So, I showed up with this vague concept of going around the table with chits, one chit to add an element to the fantasy city we would be playing in and another to add an element to someone else's element.  

I set forth that I wanted the city to be vaguely inspired by the Renaissance Italy's city-states.

The three of us went around the table and ended up with a wonderfully deep city-state with dramatic noble politics, dark and dangerous magicks and most importantly, players who were excited to play there.

Problem #2 - The brothers have a history of squabbling, sniping and outright fighting with each other.

We were set to play and then the brothers snapped at one another.  They got into a nasty arguement and one stomped off and the other yelled at him for being a jerk.

Problem #3 - I wasn't prepared properly.

Honestly, I couldn't post this without mentioning that I hadn't run the Riddle in a long while and had forgotten way more than I would like to admit.  I should've gone over the rules way more carefully than I did...and I didn't.  It added to the overall stress and fanned the fires of their fraternal tension.

I sat there, looking at the notes for this wonderful city, that one of the brothers, pre-argument, had even gone on-line and gotten this wonderful Italian name for.

Eventually, I will use that method of setting creation again and eventually, I might even get to play the setting we all make up.  Eventually, I will find Universalis, or buy another copy and actually use the system, rather than some watered down, vaguely inspired/remembered bastard child of the system.

Riddle and Universalis are both wonderful games.  I've run the Riddle before with great success but I had taken great care to know the system, use the computer battle sim to freshen up on the rules and had a table of players who were passing-familiar and excited to try something new.

That was a long time ago and this table was quite different.

This was Brother A - an actor who loves new systems and is willing to try just about anything.

and Brother B - a mostly d20 and sometimes White Wolf gamer who was nervous at a new system and uncomfortable that "game balance" didn't appear to be as much of a concern in the system's creation as he would like.  Keep in mind that this guy took to Sorcerer like a duck to water.  

One night a year or so ago we played Sorcerer one evening and the next day we played d20 and he commented on how he missed the game I had run the night before.

I should've known my shit, gone over the Riddle.

Since running that game I have read Ron's Art Deco thread and next time will:

Know my shit before sitting down.

Have player hand-outs - I think when creating a setting it would be really neat to have images of the real cities from which I'd like to draw inspiration from.  It would be neat to have players looking at a hand-out of pictures and even some quotes to get the juices flowing.

And a rules hand-out wouldn't be bad either.

Conclusions and Lessons Learned:

1 - Pack books carefully when moving, particularly gaming books.

2 - When introducing a game to volatile brothers, make sure you know the system well.  Lack of confidence in the GM adds tremendously to the overall stress of any table-top situation.

3 - There is something to be learned by busted-ass games that never happen as glorious, happy, cuddly games of wonder and imagination.

4 - Universalis will make for a brilliant setting generator and I can't wait to really use it and use it in a game I'll get to play.  When I do and when it works, I'll post about it here, a success story to go along with this tale of a busted game.

Thanks for listening, sorry for the anti-climax.