Category: Houses of the Blooded

If you playtested HotB or know someone who did, e-mail me at john@wicked-dead.com IMMEDIATELY so I can write your name in the credits.

It’s almost June, folks.

Daniel — I should have the layout details by tomorrow morning.

The Sons of Kryos played Houses again last Friday. Here’s a quick report.

Damn, they’re having fun with my game. 🙂

When I run Houses at conventions, I bring a few notes with me, but in general, I allow the players to define the terms. Here’s how I do it.

First, we go through the process of making characters. I encourage the players to make characters with connections. I even go so far—when I have time—to write up a Blood Contract and make them sign it. When I don’t have time, I give them a pre-written Contract to sign. I also bring a box of matches, just in case.

Second, I give them the outline of the story. For “Roses & Thorns,” I tell them this:

Young, beautiful and dangerous. Shara Yvarai’s coming out party is an opportunity for Romance, trade, Contracts… and murder. Your Count (or Countess) wants a Contract with Shara. Convince the young baroness to sign a Contract of servitude.

Then, I have everyone make a Wisdom risk. This is a contested risk, so only the victor gets to use all his wagers. If I feel merciful (the ven word translates to “weak”), I give those with a Wisdom weakness a free wager. The result of the risk is “What do you know about the circumstances of the story?”

For “Roses & Thorns,” the question usually hinges on Shara, her party, the Count (or Countess). Because I do not determine the identity of the Count/Countess, the players can use their wagers to determine the gender/identity of the character and his/her motivations.

I’m not trying to be clever with the ambiguity of gender. By not identifying the PCs’ superior in any way, they are free to say anything they want. The wagers they make give them that opportunity.

Because the players define the important elements of the story, every time I run the game, it is a completely different game. To show you what I mean, here are a few examples of how wagers determined different circumstances for both stories.

Defining Circumstances

I gave the players this information:

·        Shara is throwing a party.

·        She’s Blooded of the Fox, but her mother was a Wolf.

·        Your Count/Countess wants Shara as a vassal.

The players gave me this information (each point is a different wager):

·        Our Countess is blind

·        Shara is the one who blinded her

·        Our Countess is Blooded of the Wolf

·        Our Countess has many enemies

·        Our Countess is cruel

·        Our Countess is fair

·        Shara is unmarried

·        Our Countess gives generous gifts, but always at a price

With these facts in mind, the players embarked to woo Lady Shara. A relationship had already been established with the wagers, making their job difficult (I gave two Style to the player who made the job so hard).

Another group came up with this situation for the same adventure:

·        Our Countess is a Serpent

·        Her Name is Wren Thorne which means “to serve the servants”

·        If we can’t recruit Shara, our Countess wants her killed

·        Our Countess is a sorcerer

·        But she keeps that a secret

·        She knows the Ritual to make twins

·        She has a reputation as a lush

·        But she isn’t

·        She keeps a close eye on her barons

·        She has a financial obligation involving the sorcerer

·        Hush money for using the Twins Ritual

Again, by defining the Countess, the party came up with a completely different circumstance for the adventure.

Finally, a third group:

·        Our Count is fond of the Sea

·        He is a Wolf

·        His name is Marco which means “Captain of the Seas.”

·        He is most fond of Bejorak, Shara’s uncle

·        Bejorak is also the father of one of the PCs (making Shara a cousin)

·        Bejorak owes one of the PCs a favor

·        Our Count’s wife is dead

·        And he’s looking to make Shara into his wife

·        Our Count has a daughter

·        “And she likes me best!”

·        Our Count sent a painting as a gift for Shara

By defining the Count/Countess, the players also defined their own goals. Kill Shara, win her favor, get her to fall in love with our Count. All of these are distinctly different goals. I particularly liked the mixed goal of the first group. They couldn’t decide if they wanted to win Shara’s favor or kill her for blinding their Countess. The conflict made for great story and I rewarded them with Style.

The Art of Revenge
Friday 3:00 & 8:00 PM
Sunday 3:00 PM
Injury and Insult. Sharp words and a sharper knife. Your sister was left in a pool of blood and tears… and it is time for the sacred and holy Art of Revenge.

A one-shot story for up to six players. Leave your mercy at home.

Roses and Thorns
Saturday 3:00 & 8:00 PM
Sunday 8:00 PM
Young, beautiful and dangerous. Lady Shara Yvarai’s coming out party will draw handsome young nobles from all across Shanri. An opportunity for trade, for Romance… and murder.

Roses and Thorns is a one-shot story for up to six players. Bring your wit, your charm, and your favorite hidden dagger.

The second draft of the Houses of the Blooded character sheet is up and it rocks.

The third draft–forgive me, Daniel–is forthcoming.

You can hear the second part of the interview here.

Starting Feb 1, I will begin writing the Houses of the Blooded novel.

I’ll be drawing inspiration from all three of the popular forms–pillow book, opera, and theater–to create something… very different. This will not be your typical fantasy novel.

The book will have an Overture and four Acts; structured like an opera rather than a novel. Choruses, stanzas, the whole lot. I’ll be using the Seven Fools and the Servant characters. Part of ven opera is guessing which characters fill those iconic roles. Is Lady Shara playing The Rake or the Swordsman? Clues for both answers until the truth is revealed. And once you know the truth, you know how it will all end.

Planning from now until February 1, then I start writing. The goal will be 3,000 words a day for thirty days (official last day of writing will be March 1), giving me 90,000 words. A good chunk.

I’m also using Stanley Kubrick’s Non-Submersible Units to outline the book, Elmore Leonard’s Hooptedoodle for the voice and Chuck Palaniuk’s egg timer to keep me writing.

I’ll keep you updated as we go.

Ten more days. I’ve got most of it plotted. Just a matter of cleaning up the outline before we begin. And having someone out there waiting for the words keeps me honest.

I’ll probably fall behind. I’m counting on that. But a stated, public goal reminds me of what Harlan Ellison said about the secret of great writing.

“Keep writing!”

A tyrant of a game. A demon of a game. A ruthless bastard that demands blood. You must slit your wrist and give it what it wants. Demanding sacrifice every time you open the box.

Diplomacy is a game you should never play with your friends. It requires a level of mistrust most people are uncomfortable with, calling for degrees of betrayal any sane person would find reprehensible.

A game every serious gamer should play at least once. At least. Because this is where grown-ups play.

There is a curse on the game. I’m serious about this. No hyperbole, no exaggeration. No metaphor to illustrate my point. I mean, there is a real curse on the game. It destroys friendships. Wrecks marriages. Disrupts offices who decide to play it “on the side.”

You cannot play Diplomacy “on the side.” It consumes your every waking moment. Pushes you beyond your ethical and moral limits.

You must win.
You must win.
YOU MUST WIN!!!

Because of all this, I refuse to play Diplomacy with my friends. I love my friends and despite what I would like to believe, I know The Curse is stronger than any friendship. Stronger than any manmade bond. It laughs at my hubris and shows me, with ruthless precision, how wrong I am.

I will not play Diplomacy with my friends.

Now… as to how all this relates to Houses of the Blooded…

I think games like Vampire, L5R, and Houses fall under the shadow of the Curse. Because the games require a level of mistrust, most gamers just aren’t comfortable with that. Gamers already have an inbred quality of insecurity (no matter how small), and games like these pick at that. They find it like a chigger find the soft part of your skin and it just starts digging. And it won’t stop until it finds blood.

So, as a player, I must warn you. Houses is a game that feeds on your insecurity and mistrust. You may not be comfortable with that. You may not have the Courage to face it.

You have been warned.

The first half of a loooooooooooooong discussion with Sam Chupp on lots of different stuff including Cat, D&D, narrative control and Houses of the Blooded.

Check it out!

Nothing annoys me more than game designers hammering words into their game. You know. The guys who use “Viritlity” instead of Strength. Who use “Adroitness” instead of “Dexterity.”

It ain’t Verdure, it’s Strength. It ain’t Circumspection, it’s Wisdom. It ain’t Luminosity, it’s Intelligence.

Now, I took some liberties with 7th Sea, but I felt “Brawn,” “Wits,” and “Panache” were pretty good fits for a swashbuckling world. You read ’em, you know exactly what they are.

Nobody knows what “verdure” is except that asshole over there masturbating with his thesaurus.

Meanwhile, I’m over here with Houses of the Blooded trying to find a different word for “success.” Trying to find a different word while I stay away from the crazy man in the corner.

See, in Houses, you don’t ever “succeed” at a roll. Well, I mean, if you roll 10 or higher, you “succeed.” You succeed in that you get to say whether your character succeeded or not. If you “fail,” (roll nine or less) the GM says whether your character succeeds or fails.

So, calling this “success” and “failure” is not only wrong, it’s misleading. I needed a new term for it.

Going through my edits for the Risks chapter, I came across a word that fit exactly what I needed. Now, the Risks chapter says this:

“If the sum of your roll is equal to or greater than ten, you have Privilege. You determine if your character succeeds or fails.
If the sum of your roll is less than ten, the GM has Privilege. He determines if your character succeeds or fails.”

I love it when a plan comes together.