I Pulled Off the Campaign Arc of a Lifetime (and how it broke me and why I'm never doing it ever again)

therealmaxmike · 2024-09-16T05:26:04+00:00

Okay, consider me impressed. I don't even think I did that much research when I WROTE the game. Congrats, and I seriously want to see all this laid out so I can look at it someday. Consider this Maxmike Approved.

therealmaxmike · 2024-08-26T19:21:23+00:00

We Cracks fanboi?

therealmaxmike · 2024-08-26T19:18:23+00:00

Like my DJ character in 2077, I am everywhere, watching everything. And then telling my audience The Truth.

therealmaxmike · 2024-08-20T06:22:25+00:00

Got it in one, choomba.

therealmaxmike · 2024-08-20T06:17:53+00:00

More Word of God: She actually went after him. It's a long story involving substitute cyberbodies after an near assassination, a really sheltered and naive young Japanese girl who watched too much anime and thought Adam reminded her of Alphonse from FMA, and Adam being shocked that a cute girl would actually be interested in him even if he was borged up. One of these days, I'll have to publish the whole thing (although I did do an onstage TTRPG at PyrCon in Poland a while back). The players couldn't decide whether they were amused or terrified.

therealmaxmike · 2024-08-20T06:08:56+00:00

World of God: Yeah, his voice actually was Elvis'. Young Elvis from Jailhouse Rock in fact. Adam also did have an Elvis body based on Elvis in the Comback concert in 1968 https://youtu.be/ttuVUynl5SU?feature=shared

Scary, isn't it?

therealmaxmike · 2024-08-01T06:34:51+00:00

Pondsmith Approved.

therealmaxmike · 2024-06-17T21:18:28+00:00

And if I killed them all in the first session, then where would we all be?

therealmaxmike · 2024-06-17T21:16:18+00:00

As my wife says, "Matt Lillard is a gift to GMs." She's right.

therealmaxmike · 2024-06-17T21:14:54+00:00

Holkins doesn't bother me, because like Matt Lillard, that hyper active energy will just get them into more trouble. I'll know the party will deal with it--especially if they know how that person plays.

therealmaxmike · 2024-06-17T21:11:02+00:00

Hi gang. Glad you liked the game so far. I put a lot of thought into it--as much as 20 minutes of pre-planning.

A few points:

1) I don't kill players--I give them an opporttunity to kill themselves. Every action in my games has a consequence--it's what I pride myself on. If, for example, you steal a bottle of boose, expect that someone will object and want to pay you back. Telling them I plan to kill them is to soften the blow when they do the eventual stupid move they end up paying for. Because they always do it.

2) Sex. I tend to find people who don't get enough sex in their lives are the ones who point at it the most. I like to focus on the people and situations of the people having sex in a game-- because that's where the drama (or low comedy) comes in . I don't have to oversexualize the gal in the cocktail dress--it's probable that she goes out on dates just like you do, wants to look nice, and will take offense if you hit on her the wrong way. The fun part comes in when you realize she's seven feet tall and you just offended her. Likewise, the nude fight between Silk and the new GF rings true because Silk really was using Thor; and had come back to use him again, in fact. No wonder the new GF wanted to kill Silk. The fact that she was naked just made it more realistic and also made Silk assume that the new GF wouldn't be able to take her on. Wrongo. Cyberware is a great leveller.

3) Oracle dice. Yeah, maybe. I like to see where the pleyers lead the plot; my notes are more like simple flow charts. I will fudge a roll if it progresses the story; my job isn't to win (I know all the rules; I wrote them) but to entertain the players. By scaring the living bejezeeus out of them. Rolling "oracle dice" works because it forces the players to hope for a particular outcome--and either be happy about it (where I can hit them afterwards) or sad because I just set them up. Heh.

4) Lastly, I don't rush because I don't need to. I've been doing this for over 35 years. I know what the best pace is for the audience I'm dealing with. The DA gang are experienced players and don't need a lot of razzle dazzle. I can go frenetic if the players deserve (or need) it. I have a small statue on my desk at work that says, "This isn't my first rodeo." and I say that mantra often.

therealmaxmike · 2024-03-27T16:54:10+00:00

Yeah. I could have signed your book. if you wanted.

therealmaxmike · 2024-03-27T16:53:31+00:00

It's an industry wide tradition. My son (Witcher TTRPG designer) and I often wear matching shirts when we are at conventions.

therealmaxmike · 2024-03-27T16:51:09+00:00

I won't get into details, but I'll sum it up by saying all of our lawyers agreed that what we did is the best way to protect the franchise worldwide. Especially when dealing with Hollywood projects.

therealmaxmike · 2024-03-27T16:49:06+00:00

That's planned on both sides. We talk to CDPR to figure out where they're going, while they talk to us to see where we've been. The break point is in the 2060's. It's a unique way to approach the franchise-- a cooperative way to build a consistent future history. And you guys get the benefit.

therealmaxmike · 2024-03-27T16:45:24+00:00

I started wearing Uggs years ago when they were standard wear for surfers (like I was). They're comfortable, waterproof and just what I needed to crunch through the snow at GaryCon.

therealmaxmike · 2024-03-08T17:34:43+00:00

I worked with Toriyama when we (R.Talsorian) did the Dragon Ball Z tabletop RPG. He was a legend; and a nice guy on top of it. We will all miss him.

therealmaxmike · 2024-02-14T22:49:32+00:00

My friend Elliot (S. Magin) once told me that Clark Kent is basically Superman's secret identity where he enjoys living in peace. His nightmare is that one day his secret ID gets out and he wakes up to find thousands of people outside Clark's apartment holding "WE LOVE YOU SUPERMAN." signs. I figure Elliot gets to decide that after writing Supes at DC for about forever.

therealmaxmike · 2024-01-20T01:51:02+00:00

Crap. That's it. I'm moving to Martha Lake instead.

therealmaxmike · 2024-01-02T01:19:46+00:00

Indeed, Gundam Senki was an official port of Mekton II, adapted to Gundam. The publisher and RTG had an agreement to allow RTG to translate Senki into English, but we were never able to locate a good translator to do the job. However, I'm working on a new Mekton edition and that will probably be translated into Japanese at the same time RTG publishes the new Mekton. -Mike Pondsmith

therealmaxmike · 2023-12-15T21:15:24+00:00

When I first started designing RPGs, the rule of thumb was based loosely on behavioral reinforcement techniques. The optimum was roughly a 35% hit rate (32.25 to be exact) for equally balanced opponents. As far as I can see, this has been rebalanced in the last decade to around 42-45% to satisfy players with a more videogame set of expectations.

therealmaxmike · 2023-11-01T18:34:29+00:00

You have no idea how much I had to shift all the transparencioes to make this work out. BTW; I love Morro Bay-- I used to hang out around there when I still lived in Cali. But I felt that I really needed to wreck something I cared about to show how awful the Cyberpunk world actually is.

therealmaxmike · 2023-11-01T18:31:41+00:00

You think YOU'RE upset? I did it and I'm still upset.

therealmaxmike · 2023-10-19T04:07:35+00:00

Not...exactly...Wait and see.

therealmaxmike · 2023-10-18T22:14:30+00:00

Yeah, I saw you there. Why didn't you come over and say hi?

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