I just realized I’d never shared my podcast here!

I just realized I’d never shared my podcast here!

I just realized I’d never shared my podcast here!

Are you seeking thrilling tales of Adventure and Super-Heroics?

Do you crave the weekly drama of Teenage Hijinks and High School Angst?

Don’t miss the next episode of PROTEAN CITY COMICS!

Protean City Comics (http://proteancity.com/ or Protean City Comics on your podcatcher) is a weekly Masks campaign designed to capture the feel of team based comics within a larger comic book universe. We play with rotating players and GMs, target diversity as one of our greatest goals, and try to make listening feel like picking up a single run that intersects with other ongoing comics.

There are 61 episodes, but don’t let that intimidate you! When new characters are introduced we have a brief 5-10 minute episode that explains who they are, gives a little backstory, and shows some of their mechanics. This allows us to have them jump onto the page when the actual game starts and feel like they have existed in their own comic run!

If you’re listening from the beginning, I strongly recommend listening to those character introductions, but feel free to skip worldbuilding. It’s pretty long and honestly just not required reading, but more intended for people who love Protean City and want to know more of the world!

http://proteancity.com/

Time for a (slightly) overdue Play Report!

Time for a (slightly) overdue Play Report!

Time for a (slightly) overdue Play Report!

Dreamation 2018, Saturday R336 if I ever need to look it up again!

This was a wild one for a number of reasons. The first is that it was my first game at Dreamation and I was raring to go. The second was an absolutely brilliant table top to bottom that included two players who had played the game previously. The third is that for some reason that I will never truly understand, I decided to put Daddy Yankee into the game.

This one was called La Perla de las Bahia (feat Daddy Yankee) and was at the outset a story of betrayal and jockeying for position for control of a casino. This was the first test of both the Passion mechanic (which mostly worked) and the idea of Playsets (which kind of blew my away). The vibe I was going for was kind of a dark, smokey casino with lots of showsmanship and ambiance. I don’t know if I had a single scene where somebody didn’t refer to smoke or a cigarette/cigar and there was a musical performance so I think that came through. The prop list helped with that, as part of the playset all playbooks had new props (some of which will be replacing the core props because.. well… they’re better)

Oh, it also tested out the Daddy Yankee Mechanic which probably needs a different name but is a great little way to shake things up from the top.

So here’s the setup.

Todo Comienza en la Disco (Wisin, Yandel, and the all important Daddy Yankee) plays in our intro where we meet (people tagged if I’ve got them! Apologies if I don’t! I’ll happily tag you in if we G+ connect and I’ll endeavor to do so! I hate how G+ handles tagging.)

Carmina Valdez: La Doña played by Valeria in a delightfully cunning and self-serving way that is making me re-imagine La Doña in some ways!. Carmina is the widow of Sr. Valdez who used to run the casino until he tragically drove off a cliff in a car with cut breaks into the sea.

Federico Valdez: El Jefe played possibly in the most sympathetic way I’ve seen by Vincent Eaton. Federico is the son of Sr. Valdez and has inherited his estate, much to the chagrin of his step-mother Carmina.

Domingo: El Caballero played by Adrian Stein with the sultry passionate voice that only he can manage. He’s here to investigate things with the disappearance… and because he’s got a bone to pick with Federico.

Diego: El Gemelo played by Patrick forming approximately three beautiful love triangles branching off of him. He’s living in the attic of the casino and angling to take revenge on his brother and get his.

And finally Soraya: La Belleza played by Andrea with every line delivering either venom or honey. She’s a lounge singer trying to get her big hit by performing with Daddy Yankee and moving to the states.

Oh yeah, and guest starring Daddy Yankee, famed reggaeton performer and deadly assassin who SOMEBODY has hired to kill SOMEONE. Everyone had a card with a piece of information about Daddy Yankee, including ‘You hired him as an assassin.’

Play started out relatively calm, Domingo spoke with Carmina about plans to investigate Federico, Soraya and Federico plotted to replace Carmina or elevate Soraya, Diego talked with Carmina MOMENTS after Domingo to state his desire to get into some trouble.

The beginning moved through with a slightly gentle pace with a LOT of hints and whispers, but not quite hitting the big action points. There were definitely some moves kicking off, but the Flashback mechanics seemed a little out of reach, definitely.

We established that Domingo was working with some sort of American Agency and took out one of Federico’s thugs, then had some VERY close face talking which is something I cannot recommend enough. Just snarling anger at the table, of course with the two players furthest away from each other.

Things really turned up when Soraya attempted to seduce Daddy Yankee and he fled from her, leaving her in his dressing room. She found at that point his gun and a picture of Carmina!

She went after Carmina and shut her the hell down, claiming ownership of her panther and renaming him. From that point on, Soraya was strutting around with a panther at her side which was fierce as hell. But we also found that Carmina had originally held control over Daddy Yankee. Until…

Domingo processed his feelings outloud. This is a cool move and I love when it happens, because the audience is SO involved in it. Everyone loves Domingo, so he rolls well and is able to uncover information from the audience! Part of this is that Daddy Yankee is no longer working for Carmina-

We followed that a bit and Domingo was able to discern that Federico was the one who hired Daddy Yankee, though not necessarily for murder. At this point we also revealed that Sr. Valdez was NOT indeed dead, but rather had faked his death and was disguised as Daddy Yankee meaning there are two Daddy Yankees running around.

Then LITERALLY everything below happens all at the same time.

Carmina and Federico clash in the casino, shouting and snarling at each other, Carmina is broken and sad and angry when she calls in Diego… And tells him to kill Federico. They make passionate love and a DEA Agent bursts in having found the truck of illegal drugs Federico put out as bait in order to frame Carmina. Things get awkward, but will be followed up more on the following episode.

Soraya makes an enormous performance WITHOUT Daddy Yankee (where could he be?!) and has more or less convinced his producers to sign her when a body falls from the sky, Daddy Yankee (or Sr. Valdez) dead before her feet. The video goes viral.

Up in the catwalk, Domingo confronts Federico and Sr. Valdez who have captured Daddy Yankee and have him tied up. Federico does a face-turn and goes to Domingo’s side, enraging Sr. Valdez who attempts to shoot his son. Domingo grabs his arm and wrestles him to the edge of the railing, trying to fight him. The gun is pointed into Domingo’s stomach and he Faces Certain Death. He rolls well enough to choose his own poison, someone saves him! Who is it?

FEDERICO! FULL FACE TURN!

He stabs his father who is going to topple off the edge of the railing soon, but first… the gun levels… and Federico is shot! He falls back and rolls, well enough to choose his own fate! He chooses ‘Come Back As A Twisted Evil Version of Yourself’ (Woah, next episode is gonna be HARSH!)

And, of course, Sr. Valdez’s body falls and crashes into the ground.

Domingo goes to Federico, terrified he will bleed out… and the episode ends.

It was such an incredible delight. Thank you so much everyone!

Good news!

Good news!

Good news!

If you’ve been waiting for a copy of Pasión de las Pasiones that you can carry around conventions or leave starring hungrily at your players (or if you just prefer a physical version!) it is now back in stock!

http://www.magpiegames.com/product/pasion-de-las-pasiones-ashcan-edition-print/

http://www.magpiegames.com/product/pasion-de-las-pasiones-ashcan-edition-print/

Are you going to be at Dreamation 2018?

Are you going to be at Dreamation 2018?

Are you going to be at Dreamation 2018? I will be, but unfortunately only Saturday and Sunday with a couple of podcast things I also need to take care of.

I’ll be running two sessions of Pasión de las Pasiones there. In the interest of hitting the ground running with it quickly, there will be partial pregens and some setting things in place. Here are the games!

In episode 68 of the wildly popular telenovela El Sabor de Amor things have started to get really heated! The Domingo family is a family of born cooks from Abuelo down to little Ricky! As flames get high in the kitchens, passions are heating up as well as an interested (and wildly handsome) buyer threatens the future of La Rosa Nautica! Not to mention that the discovery that of a skull in one of the trash cans has lead to a full fledged investigation! Wow! Talk about a telenovela! Light, romantic, and hopefully a little uplifting El Sabor de Amor will hopefully end with a perfectly seasoned kiss!

Followed by…

In episode 73 of the famous telenovela La Perla de la Bahía, the Valdez family is on the verge of rupture after the disappearance of the family patriarch and owner of the Valdez Casino in Havana, Cuba. Will Sr. Valdez’s heir step into their rightful place or will a pair of dark smoky lips singing pumping heartfelt bachata steal them away from their responsibilities? Will the now possibly widowed Sra. Valdez spending the life insurance on guest performances bankrupt the Casino or bring it back from the brink of ruin? Find out on… La Perla de la Bahía!

Also, if you see me there let me know!

Okay, Intimacy Moves:

Okay, Intimacy Moves:

Okay, Intimacy Moves:

This is one of those things that I’d been planning from the beginning but just wasn’t able to get into a place that I really liked how they were working. They need to be different from Apocalypse World or Monsterhearts moves because this is MORE about Intimacy than either of those games. Here’s my latest brainstorm. Needless to say, these are ideas that I’m playing with; nothing is set in stone.

Players have a new resource called Tension or Spark or something. It may replace Leverage, but I’m not positive yet. It is generated through the Express Your Love Passionately move and probably through some kind of Audience move (possibly an End of Session or Commercial Break move?). It is a shared resource; Amada and Carlos have 3 Tension between them regardless of source.

When you share a moment of intimacy (what this means will depend upon the rating of your telenovela), you empty your Tension back to zero and trigger each player’s Intimacy Move. Here’s what that looks like:

-Players read their Intimacy Move to make sure that it doesn’t change things (Maybe La Empleada keeps 1 Tension even after a moment of intimacy?)

-Lower Tension from wherever it is to Zero.

-For each point of Tension lowered, each player gets one statement (probably a sentence or two) to describe the intimacy and the surrounding scene. The two(+?) players trade off back and forth until all of the Tension has been spent.

-The consequences of the Intimacy Move of each player are completed

Play resumes.

So how does this differ from just regular play? That sounds like it’s just tying the hands of the players!

First off, the players have this moment. Nobody else gets to interrupt it (except maybe for cheering… Maybe the Audience can grant an extra Tension during the moment if we get enough?) This includes the GM! No sneaky, terrible, horrible things until after the kiss is done!

But after? Well, the GM gets to make a move once the moment of Intimacy is completed. If you want your characters to have their True Love’s Kiss, you’re going to need to build up intimacy to make sure the moment is just right.

Thoughts?

Note: A big part of this brainstorm came from me seeing an episode of one of my favorite telenovelas where two characters FINALLY came together after something like 20 episodes of dancing around each other. It also owes some definite roots to Nathan Paoletta’s World Wide Wrestling’s Heat mechanic.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!

You can now play Pasión de las Pasiones in the comfort of your beautiful mansion looking over the sea, the very sea that your handsome love disappeared into so long- Sorry, back on track.

I want to be fully clear on what’s going on!

The ashcan of the game is done!

An ashcan is like a ‘demo’ of the game that comes out before the final version gets it’s Kickstarter. This one has 6 of the playbooks rather than the 8+ that the final version will have. It has enough to play a one shot or a handful of episodes, but doesn’t have all of the campaign support the game will eventually have! It’s a little way to get a peek inside, see the process and what’s going on with it, and offer input into it as it is built! And, of course, it’s fully playable, so you can get some passionate play in.

The pdf of the ashcan is available currently for $5 on Drivethru RPG at:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/227009/Pasion-de-las-Pasiones-Ashcan-Edition

I’m not sure if that reduced price is just for the Black Friday sale or if it’s going to stick around for multiple days!

Also, there’s a print edition that’s currently out of stock available here

http://www.magpiegames.com/product/pasion-de-las-pasiones-ashcan-edition-print/

This one is $10 and it’s a delightful thing to carry around with you because… well, look at that cover.

The playbooks in a full on printable format are available here as well:

http://www.magpiegames.com/our-games/ashcans/#pasion

Thank you all for all of the support you’ve all given so far. Know that there will be more information coming as soon as I’m able to bring it AND I’m going to be DESPERATE for play reports or APs or just feedback!

http://www.magpiegames.com/product/pasion-de-las-pasiones-ashcan-edition-print/

Been having more Con-Crash/Crud than I expected… Those play-reports will be coming in soon.

Been having more Con-Crash/Crud than I expected… Those play-reports will be coming in soon.

Been having more Con-Crash/Crud than I expected… Those play-reports will be coming in soon.

That said… I have heard through the grapeline that a couple of people (including Magpie Games’s Brendan Conway and Kevin Petker) have gotten their hands on ashcans! So more news coming soon hopefully!!!

Bienvenidos, mi amores a Pasión de las Pasiones…

Bienvenidos, mi amores a Pasión de las Pasiones…

Bienvenidos, mi amores a Pasión de las Pasiones…

With another Metatopia come and gone, there’s a whole bunch of new data from playtesting! Thank you to all of the playtesters, designers chatterers, and people enthusiastic about this little game! There is no joy like having someone come up and declare in a dramatic voice, “I heard you’re the telenovela guy… I want to be in your game.” Thank you one and all.

I had 5 playtests and in the style of telenovelas, I’m thinking I’ll try to release them over the next week!

I know that at Metatopia there were a lot of questions about the ashcan, availability of play materials, and future plans for Pasión! I’m going to have that information together as quickly as I can!

Now that I’ve really ripped the heart out of Pasión de las Pasiones and replaced it with a new better heart, I’m also going to be trying to work out more playtests. I’m not sure the best way to figure them out yet, but if you are interested DEFINITELY get in touch with me!

Additionally, if you were in one of my playtests and want to send more thoughts, ideas, or critiques my way, hit me up!

The Doomed: Doom vs Nemesis

The Doomed: Doom vs Nemesis

The Doomed: Doom vs Nemesis

Hello Masks!

I’m currently running a game that has a Doomed in it who stole powers from an old ancient power (The Great Old Trickster) who is planning on erasing him from history and all memory (and/or maybe kill him?) We’ve established pretty clearly that is his Doom which will happen when he takes the advance or finishes filling his doom track the requisite number of times.

We originally thought that his Nemesis was the Great Old Trickster, but are increasingly wondering if we’re doing this right. Should the Nemesis be tied in that tightly to the Doom? I know the Nemesis is meant to be a constant push that makes you do your powers, so does it not make sense for the creature that is hunting you to be the nemesis as well?

We were playing with an agent of the Great Old Trickster or a human-form of it or something, but are increasingly concerned we’re going the wrong direction!

In this episode of Pasión de las Pasiones…

In this episode of Pasión de las Pasiones…

In this episode of Pasión de las Pasiones…

El Vividor: Guillermo Hernandez (Taylor LaBresh)

El Gemelo: Gustavo Hernancez (SJ)

La Pirata: Ezmerelda (Cole)

Los Hernandez Twins (Guillermo and Gustavo) are the sons of a successful lawyer, but Guillermo has gotten himself involved with a troubling element, a pirate (Ezmerelda) with incredible grace, finesse, and possibly an eye for Guillermo. Gustavo catches Guillermo and Ezmerelda in the act as they rob a jewel encrusted pin from a museum. Ashamed by his brother’s actions, he leaves them to it, not knowing that Ezmerelda tranquilized Guillermo and left him on the museum roof.

Gustavo returns home and speaks with his father asking for advice, Senor Hernandez tells him he must confront his brother. Sidelong glances are exchanged with Maria, the Hernandez’s maid, who used to date Guillermo and had a trist with Gustavo that made her resent the Hernandez family.

At the Club, Ezmerelda and Gustavo meet where it is revealed that Ezmerelda somehow didn’t have the pin (though she had other parts of the haul which she exchanged for a briefcase of money). Guillermo sees Gustavo and Ezmerelda talking and clearly intends to approach them.

At the quinceañera of Los Hernandez’s sister Alejandra, Ezmerelda and Guillermo discuss the loss of the pin and the need to find it to get fully paid. Gustavo talks with Maria, expressing his love and kissing her before she sends him to confront his brother, but after the kiss he finds that Ezmerelda and Guillermo have disappeared.

Guillermo finds the pin that apparently Maria had stolen from him (explained Next Time On?). He opens up to Gustavo, telling him that Diego, an enormous loan shark with a big scar and more muscles than anyone needs, needs to receive the pin or he will be killed. Gustavo agrees to give the pin to Diego who is also at the quinceañera (presumably to find Guillermo.

Not knowing this, Ezmerelda speaks with Diego and sends him after Gustavo so that she and Guillermo can continue to plot and get paid. Diego goes after Gustavo and corners him in a hallway of the estate. Gustavo hands over the pin, which Diego immediately recognizes as fake and crushes, killing Gustavo and throwing him from the mansion (his body isn’t found and he’ll return in later episodes with an eyepatch instead of his signature glasses).

Guillermo and Ezmerelda meet back out in the garden and Guillermo pulls out the real pin, which he’d swapped to give to his twin. The two embrace, kiss, and disappear bringing the episode to an end.