tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83940217025971096522024-03-09T01:00:05.858+01:00The Atomic Gearwhere i would like to share my thoughts with youTazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-35707594541304729972012-12-14T15:01:00.000+01:002012-12-14T15:01:44.363+01:00:Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well, months of silence passed again and Beyond the Mirror is in its layout stage, thanks to the great help of <a href="http://marcovaltriani.blogspot.it/">Marco Valtriani</a>. I think I should be able to publish the game by the quarter of the next year, hopefully. I hope there'll still be people interested in this project by then.<br />
The many incidents and delays in the realization of the game gave me time to adjust the mechanics and the writing further, and also to do some additional artwork, so I hope that will result in a better product!</div>
Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-18761872975707021542012-08-16T14:19:00.003+02:002012-08-16T14:20:25.201+02:00:Eternal Contenders!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Soon Joe J Prince's Eternal Contenders will be ready for its publication, and what a pleasure for me, I must say, as I had the honor of taking care of the artwork, including the cover. A dream come true for me, to be able to provide artwork for an author whose games I've been loving. You may know Joe for his Contenders. This new game expands on the concept and sets the game in a dark fantasy world.<br />
<a href="http://psiplayhouse.com/eternal_contenders">More about the game here!</a></div>
Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-36207945076723055022012-07-11T11:40:00.003+02:002012-07-12T12:49:50.194+02:00:Beyond the Mirror Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Thanks to Isabel Kunkle who kindly took care of the editing process, Beyond the Mirror is currently in its layout phase! The day is coming near and I feel like sharing something here as well: some of the art of this game!<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/232/1/5/beyond_the_mirror_art_preview_by_sunamori-d477hyx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/232/1/5/beyond_the_mirror_art_preview_by_sunamori-d477hyx.jpg" width="230" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/046/3/d/3df88f814fe7e4c94d7fb4f5b5a1e1fd-d48z2m3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/046/3/d/3df88f814fe7e4c94d7fb4f5b5a1e1fd-d48z2m3.jpg" width="230" /></a></div>
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The above images are (C) Tazio Bettin, all rights reserved. For use please contact me!</div>Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-67830762741518782692012-04-26T22:55:00.002+02:002012-04-26T22:55:56.888+02:00:Positioning.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I remember having had a conversation with Vincent Baker, Gregor Vuga, Daniel Berg and other people about this technical term, and I'd like to keep track of it for future use, so here's basically what was told in that thread on Story Games.<br />
<br />
<i>From The Forge's provisional glossary.</i><br />
<div style="color: #b45f06;">
<b>Positioning </b><br />A Character Component. Behavioral, social, and
contextual statements about a character. Formerly (and confusingly)
called Metagame.</div>
<br />
So what are we talking about.<br />
Vincent replied to me in a nanosecond:<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #b45f06;">
<i>"From Shock:Human Contact character creation last night: I wrote on my
character sheet "I'm a child soldier in Kumeh Hydraulics' assault
force." This is a piece of my character's positioning - a behavioral,
social, and/or contextual statement about my character's position in the
setting"</i></div>
<br />
So why is this important and how can it be a problem? And more specifically, why are traditional roleplayers obsessed with avoiding what they call metagaming but, according to Ron Edwards should be called 'positioning'? Because the problem arises when 'what the character knows' and 'what the player knows' clash causing a shortcircuit.<br />
Again, Vincent saved the day with a perfectly clear explanation.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #b45f06;">
Here's sort of the typical setup with positioning and effectiveness:<br /><br /><b>I'm a knight. Knights get +2 to hit. I get +2 to hit!</b><br /><br />"Knights get +2 to hit" is a <i>currency</i> rule: it establishes a relationship between one component of a character ("I'm a knight," <i>positioning</i>) and another ("I get +2 to hit," <i>effectiveness</i>).<br /><br />Here's how knowing something can work, and can cause problems:<br /><br /><b>My
knight knows that the beast of Dunford Ridge is vulnerable to silver,
so he loads his musket with a silver ball. He inflicts double damage!</b><br /><br />"My
knight knows that the beast of Dunford Ridge is vulnerable to silver,
so he loads his musket with a silver ball" is, yes, positioning. There's
a currency rule in play - "if you attack something with a material it's
vulnerable to, you do double damage" - so this small detail of
positioning becomes increased effectiveness, the double damage. So far
so good.<br /><br />But what about this?<br /><br /><b>As a player, I know that
the beast of Dunford Ridge is vulnerable to silver, but my knight
character doesn't. Nevertheless, he loads his musket with a silver ball.
He inflicts double damage!</b><br /><br />Here I've short-circuited the
currency rule, which is supposed to turn character knowledge into
increased effectiveness. All my friends shout at me that I'm cheating!<br /><br />The
real culprit isn't "metagaming," but the combination of two factors.
Factor 1 is the currency rule, "if you attack something with a material
it's vulnerable to, you do double damage." Factor 2 is the circumstance
where I, as a player, happen to already know that the beast of Dunford
Ridge is vulnerable to silver, before my character knows it. Together,
they create a conflict of interest for me as a player: I want to do
double damage, and I want to have my character act with internal
integrity, but now I have to choose between the two.<br /><br />You can
attack the problem two ways, then: you can take on the problem of
player's vs character's knowledge, or you can take on the problem of the
currency rule. There's no single ideal solution; there are a million
solutions (one per game design) and you choose the one that best suits
your precise needs. The fights start when someone takes one solution,
like "make sure that the player doesn't know anything the character
doesn't know," and insists that it IS the single ideal solution, or else
that it's NEVER a suitable solution. </div>
<br />
One further interesting thought comes from David Berg:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">I'm guessing Vincent covered your quandary. For thoroughness' sake,
though, I'll add that Positioning covers some in-game stuff that never
makes it to the level of interacting with any currencies, such as:</span><br style="color: #b45f06;" /><br style="color: #b45f06;" /><span style="color: #b45f06;">A noble NPC tells the characters he'd be grateful to them for ridding his lands of a monster.</span><br style="color: #b45f06;" /><span style="color: #b45f06;">They do it.</span><br style="color: #b45f06;" /><span style="color: #b45f06;">Now
they've got a rich dude who likes them. Depending on how the GM
interprets that relationship, that could mean they have access to all
sorts of cool stuff like maps, writs, money, horses, armor, and other
rich dudes.</span><br style="color: #b45f06;" /><span style="color: #b45f06;">It may seem a little odd to think of "friends with noble" as a character component, but that's Positioning to a tee.</span><br style="color: #b45f06;" /><br style="color: #b45f06;" /><span style="color: #b45f06;">(Nerdy aside: That example still affects currencies, they're just</span><i style="color: #b45f06;"> in-fiction </i><span style="color: #b45f06;">currencies like "influence in the gameworld", rather than capital-C </span><i style="color: #b45f06;">game</i><span style="color: #b45f06;">
Currencies, which effect mechanical adjustments. And if you invent a
stat for "influence in the gameworld", then the former just became the
latter!)
</span><br />
<br />
Yet more insight on Vincent's site here:<br />
http://www.lumpley.com/comment.php?entry=606<br />
<br />
The original discussion on Story Games:<br />
http://story-games.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=13393</div>Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-70600439369477874942011-09-28T19:31:00.005+02:002011-09-28T19:42:34.113+02:00:encouraging comments about Beyond the Mirror"I super-like this game. Playing it feels like a creeped out 70s SF story about what it means to be human in a world where being human doesn't matter.<br /><br />A lot of games, I like them but I play them maybe once. Beyond the Mirror is a game I have and will play again and again."<br /><br />-<a href="http://www.tao-games.com/">Ben Lehman</a>, of Polaris, Bliss Stage, and The Drifter's Escape<br /><br />"<span dir="ltr" id=":vc">An exploration of what it is to be human, in the grand tradition of Blade Runner. A game that puts you in the shoes of the hunted, while keeping you guessing all the while whether you are the predator or the prey."<br /><br />-<a href="http://www.blackgreengames.com/">Emily Care Boss</a>, author of Breaking the Ice, Shooting the Moon, and Under My Skin<br /><br /><br />Whenever I re-read these comments I just feel great! Thanks for the encouragement guys!<br /></span>Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-84463179420043808952011-09-13T00:21:00.004+02:002011-09-13T00:27:42.664+02:00:GnoccoCON 2011GnoccoCON.<br />Somewhere in the deep wild farmlands (believe me. You see them, it makes sense) of Reggio Emilia, September 2011.<br /><br />I love cons. I love meeting old time friends and new people. I find it especially enriching when people come from the US or UK and join our little events here in Italy, as they always bring new and different points of view.<br />This time I had the pleasure to meet Gregor Hutton, author of <a href="http://boxninja.com/">3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars, Remember Tomorrow and Best Friends</a> with whom I had some nice talk.<br />And it was yet another great occasion to playtest my game, Beyond the Mirror. I must say, I felt deeply touched by the enthusiasm people showed for this project, and their insight and suggestions were simply great.<br />So thank you to Mauro, Luca, Stefano, Francesco, Barbara, Alessio and Alberto for playing!<br />The day I finish this game doesn't feel so far away after all...Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-22789914808764887622011-09-03T12:25:00.003+02:002011-09-03T12:37:34.508+02:00:A major cleanup and a new siteI'm proud to announce that my game, Beyond the Mirror, has finally reached its final stage, and apart from some polishing up of the text and preparation of the graphic side of the project, the game itself is finished.
<br />I created a website for my creations, where you'll find more info about Beyond the Mirror and other upcoming project, and you can access it by clicking the link below:
<br />
<br /><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/thechiseledgear/">The Chiseled Gear Homepage</a>
<br />
<br />I'll keep on posting here for updates, events and other cool stuff!
<br />Cheers
<br />TazioTazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-63787606168913900082010-12-06T18:56:00.000+01:002010-12-06T19:01:51.424+01:00:still alive, Beyond the MirrorIt is nearly one year since my last post here. So much has changed. Steamdance is currently under a development break, while Beyond the Mirror has been developing almost by itself, and is now through an intensive, exerting and very encouraging betatest stage.<br />Since this blog is lost in the waves of the internet sea, I've been presenting this project elsewhere, where it might have some more visibility: http://story-games.com/praxis/comments.php?DiscussionID=389<br /><br />I'm very grateful to the guys who playtested the game, helped me seeing what does and what doesn't work. All in all, the situation is very positive and encouraging. Unlike Steamdance, the direction is rather clear, and the game probably won't need extensive, radical changes in its setup like Steamdance still does.<br /><br />Cheers<br />TazioTazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-35284532360790872932010-01-24T03:01:00.002+01:002011-09-03T13:50:52.248+02:00:Still WIPSteamdance is currently in standby. I realize that all I had been calling betatest version weren't even deserving the title. Now the game still does not work, so for the time being, I'll let the ideas for this title aside for a while and concentrate on another project that came to my mind during a lazy day at work. The new project is called Beyond the Mirror, and deals with the authenticity of memories. You'll hear about it from now on. Suffice say that the main inspiration comes from Ridley Scott's masterpiece Blade Runner.Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-23336382275205758782009-12-10T23:45:00.001+01:002009-12-10T23:51:04.288+01:00:Silence, work in progressI apologize to my two readers for the recent silence.<br />Seems like by enriching the character sheet with resources and eliminating the figure of the game moderator, I managed to make Steam Dance much more playable than before. I'm still adding and modifying stuff, but the recent playtest session was very encouraging.<br />I must be honest, the previous playtests hadn't been as positive as I hoped, and I had kind of lost my faith in this endeavor, but now it's back and enriched, so I'll be working on the game and playtesting it as often as possible.<br />I'll be working on something that really does look like a beta (the previous releases didn't even deserve being called that way) and playtest it toroughly before publishing it. I'll also keep my other projects for the future for now, until I get some cool idea for the crunch.<br />Anyways, I say! The Gamist CA is really demanding. Kudos to John Harper who managed to make such a cool game as Agon is...<br />Will get back at you soon!Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-68989750737040430982009-10-15T00:41:00.003+02:002009-10-15T00:48:14.939+02:00:playtest ver. 1.4 upAfter some playtesting, I've changed some rules, especially in conflict resolution.<br />You can find the update version of Steamdance here: <a href='http://download220.mediafire.com/qdmcmxyjictg/oyjvtiikjjt/steamdance1dot4.pdf'>Steamdance</a><br />Enjoy!Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-77833890198512690872009-10-08T17:35:00.001+02:002009-10-08T17:37:19.447+02:00:Camp Century, GreenlandWow.<br />Now <a href="http://gombessa.tripod.com/scienceleadstheway/id9.html">this </a> is quite awesome!<br />Think of running a game with such a setting, be it a horror or investigation rpg...<br />pretty awesome, isn't it?Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-49017025222265260622009-10-08T15:57:00.003+02:002009-10-08T16:13:18.914+02:00:a monster cooking gameWhile Steamdance is under playtest, and I'm waiting to have enough data to prepare a more complete manuscript, I'm writing down some game ideas I've been having lately. I'd like to talk about one of them. <br />I'll call the project "Monster Cooking" for now, just to have a name to refer to. It's a game about warrior cooks who hunt rare monster in order to cook their meat in the perfect way and become the most famous chef in the Empire.<br />The main source of inspiration comes from Monster Hunter, a splendid game by Capcom. Another one was actually a phrase in Eero Tuovinen's <strong>Solar System</strong>, where he was speaking about the importance of abilities that are in harmony with theme and setting of the game, so for instance, in a campaign where cooking is significant, an ability like "cooking" would be appropriate in a character sheet. And... "wait... what? Wow... why not??"<br />Hence the idea of creating a game centered on that.<br />Imagine a fantasy world where legendary, rare and magnificent monsters roam the land, and the warrior-cooks who hunt for them and cook their rare, exquisite meat in order to prepare the perfect dish and gain fame and glory as the best cook in the Empire!<br />Vegetarians, please avoid playing this game.Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-91575500660860096562009-09-27T22:02:00.003+02:002009-09-28T23:32:33.427+02:00:playtest ver. 1.3 upSo finally I've translated in English the playtest ver. 1.3 of Steamdance.<br />You can find it here: <a href='http://www.mediafire.com/?5kwyih0mtzn'>Steamdance</a><br />It's still under development and I'm adding many things as I develop the game, so you may consider this as the skeleton of the game's crunch.<br />I don't even consider it a beta yet, but if you like to check it and let me know what you think of the mechanics (by possibly playtesting them), I'd love to hear your feedback.<br />Cheers<br />SunaTazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-89072851649439729512009-09-25T11:23:00.000+02:002009-09-25T14:57:20.558+02:00:talking about Steamdance<div align="justify">I hope my English wasn’t too bad in my previous post.<br />So back on topic, let us speak a little more about <strong>Steamdance</strong>. The idea came during a sleepless night, after a long, long period in which I had been working on some game concepts. And like all sleepless nights’ ideas, it was totally unrelated to any previous idea I had been having.<br />The idea is that of a competitive roleplaying game, one where players are against one another in the pursue of a goal. I recognize, the first flash of insight came from a card from the splendid boardgame <strong>Mission Red Planet</strong> by the french authors Bruno Cathala and Bruno Faidutti (<a href="http://www.asmodee-us.com/games/mission-red-planet/mission-red-planet.php">http://www.asmodee-us.com/games/mission-red-planet/mission-red-planet.php</a>). It’s a wonderful steampunk game, and I was especially inspired by the character card “the Spy”. Hmmm. Steampunk spies. How about a game about them?<br />Now, this wouldn’t be the first game ever written on the subject. Not at all. Even just considering the indie rpg world, there is Ron Edward’s <strong>Spione</strong>, and Jared Sorensen’s <strong>Lacuna</strong> could be easily drifted into a spy game. But both lacked, in my opinion, that competitive element I wanted to see in a game about spies.<br />I wanted to center the focus of the game on that, rather than the external elements of conflict the characters might encounter. The result is a highly competitive game, player vs. player. I also did not take the realistic stance Spione has, rather focusing my attention on romantic spies and thieves of fiction.<br />During a steampunk industrial revolution, spies and thieves compete among each other in order to make industrial espionage, steal plans, inventions and discoveries for a ruthless, powerful master who employs them.<br />Considering the focus of the game, it’s not important where the action takes place. It can be anywhere from an ucronistic european city to a completely fantasy setting. Things don’t change much, as rules don’t, either. So now I’m also developing a part of the manual in which I’ll give guidelines on how to create one’s setting.<br />This is going to inspire a discussion on settings in roleplaying games, which I’ll do in a separate post.<br />So that’s all for now.</div><div align="justify">Cheers</div><div align="justify">Suna</div>Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394021702597109652.post-61938008872928791272009-09-25T00:22:00.000+02:002009-09-25T13:29:53.516+02:00:ForewordHello everyone, and welcome to my humble blog.<br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">I have decided to create it in order to discuss and share my thoughts about the everchanging world of roleplaying games. I am also going to dedicate this blog to my game designing efforts.<br />I've been cultivating the hobby of roleplaying games since I was a small kid, and now I have come to a point in which I feel ready to start the enterprise of creating and publishing my own games under the name of The Chiseled Gear. This is a small hommage to the steampunk genre, possibly my favorite one.<br />So thank you for passing by and reading this welcome message.<br />In my next post, I'll start discussing the project I'm currently involved in, which goes by the provisional name of <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Steamdance</span>.<br /><br />As-Salamu Alaykum!</div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Suna</div>Tazio Bettinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08787163622198886309noreply@blogger.com0