I’ve recently started using a 5.5×8.5″ binder from Staples to organize my RPG notes for Savage Worlds and other games.

These binders are truly something special — Staples has produced a binder which has a rugged rubber edge. As such it won’t crack and wear out as easily.

They come in several colors — I like white and black the best.

More importantly though, it gives a certain weight to the binder which makes it sit snugly on the game table with little chance of tipping over accidently. Below you can see it in action sitting nicely in front of the GM (me!).

From the player’s side, the clear covers allow you to insert a picture — making it a sort of mini-GM screen. The small form factor means it doesn’t get in your way. It gives the feel of running without a GM screen with the convenience of having what amounts to a full 8.5×11″ page of content visible.

In the inside, the left flap lets you insert some documents — I like to stick 4×6 notecards with my NPC stats there. For dividers, I create my own using a paper cutter to cut heavyweight paper to 5.5×8.5″ size, and use Avery tabs on them. You can buy commercial tab dividers at this size if you prefer though.

Below is a screenshot of an OpenOffice template I use to write up my adventures. I then print them out double-sided, and cut off the extra space and hole punch it to fit the divider. I’ve developed a template to support RPG scenes, box text, and character stats blocks.

Download the OpenOffice 5.5×8.5 RPG Planner Template here. OpenOffice is available for free download. To get it to look just like my layout, you’ll need some free fonts: Open Sans and SF Fedora.

Has Savage Worlds replaced GURPS as the generic RPG system of choice for this decade? ICV2 columnist Scott Thorne says this:

With the release of Beasts and Barbarians, a fantasy supplement from Gramel Publishing, Savage Worlds moved one step closer towards its apparent goal of replacing GURPS as, well, a gurps.  By my count, so far, Savage Worlds has a horror supplement, a couple of fantasy supplements, a superheroic supplement, two versions of Martian high adventure,  science fiction horror, a zombie outbreak supplement and, oh yeah, let’s not forget Deadlands.  While certainly not as comprehensive as Steve Jackson Games’ GURPS (especially the Third Edition, GURPS Robin Hood anyone?), Savage Worlds is the only print RPG I have seen making use of its core system to expand into other genres, as Chaosium has its Basic Role Playing System but hasn’t expanded it much beyond Call of Cthulhu and, during the last presentation from them I caught, Steve Jackson Games didn’t even mention the fact that they publish what was at one time one of the top selling RPGs. Source

With GURPS moving to a PDF only model for more new materials and Savage Worlds being under very active development (including several recent Kickstarters) it seems that Steve Jackson games has ceded the generic RPG market to Savage Worlds, choosing instead to focus on more profitable efforts like Ogre and Munchkin.

While I have no doubt GURPS will remain entrenched for some time (note how popular it remains at Con games), I’m seeing a shift to Savage Worlds which will only continue in the near future.

What do you think?

I usually like a bit of backstory for my player characters. Player backstories can provide powerful game ideas for the GM.

I partucularly like the idea in Mouseguard of having ‘enemies’ so that in the players’ turn (the sandbox portion of a Mouseguard game) you have something to springboard off of.

Backstories have some problems though:

• As a GM though, I don’t usually have time to read the long (2 pages or more) backstories some people write.
• Not all players like to write long backstories.
• Some players can’t devote time outside of the game to create backstories.
• Without backstories, background information like ‘how did we meet’ is often lacking.

To remedy these issues I’ve developed what I call the Three Sentence Backstory™.

The first sentence is the character concept — this may include the character’s background, archetype, class or other information which quickly gives other players a simple summary of who the character is.

The second sentence defines the character’s connections. At the gametable I like to roll a d6 — if the results are odd, players must come up with some sort of connection between their character and the player character to their right. If the result is even, then the connection is to their left. If doing this by email before a game session, I have player’s make the connection alphabetically (a player with last name Smith makes a character background connection with the player Thoreau). I do this at the first game of a new campaign, and incrementally do it for new players who join later.

The third sentence lists the player’s biggest enemy — usually this is an NPC or perhaps a gang, mob or something else which the GM can bring into the game as a foil to your character.

Here’s an example of the Three Sentence Backstory™  in action, using Mal Reynolds from Firefly:

Sentence 1: Concept

Mal fought for the losing side in the Unification War and now finds ways to keep his ship flying while taking pot shots at the Alliance.

Sentence 2: Connections

His current crewmember Zoe served with him in the war, and fought in one of the war’s bloodiest battles, Serenity Valley.

Sentence 3: Enemies

Taking barely legal odd-jobs to stay out of poverty, Mal has had multiple run-ins with the sadistic crime lord Adelai Niska who remains Mal’s chief enemy.

On the character sheet, I may run the sentences together, so the final result would look like this:

Backstory: Mal fought for the losing side in the Unification War and now finds ways to keep his ship flying while taking pot shots at the Alliance. His current crewmember Zoe served with him in the war, and fought in one of the war’s bloodiest battles, Serenity Valley. Taking barely legal odd-jobs to stay out of poverty, Mal has had multiple run-ins with the sadistic crime lord Adelai Niska who remains Mal’s chief enemy.

Just enough to give the GM what he or she needs to spin a compelling story, limit the overly long backstory some write, give the players a shared history, and is something you can knock out in less than 15 minutes at the start of a game.  Happily, this is something you can use across a variety of games regardless of setting or ruleset.

The next time I create a character sheet template I’m considering including three lines — Concept, Connections and Enemies — to support this idea.

What do you think? Would this be useful in your games?

Will tabletop RPGs of the future look more like Lady Blackbird?

Here’s what Ryan Dancy said on this topic at Enworld:

I think that commercially successful TRPGs of the future will be constructed more like a family game – something that can be unpacked, learned quickly, and played with little prep work. These games will give people a lot of the same joy of “roleplaying” and narrative control that they get from today’s Hobby Game TRPGs but with a fraction of the time investment. Wizards is already experimenting with this format, as is Fantasy Flight Games. It seems like a good bet that there is a substantially profitable business down this line of evolution.

Sounds a lot like a Lady Blackbird style game to me.

I think it can be a nice touch to set player expectations (especially if it is a multi-session campaign you are planning) about the nature and tone of the game you’ll be running. One nice tool for this is GM Merit Badges which serve as a great check list of things to consider telling your players about your GM’ing style.

Here is my GM’ing style (at least, when running Savage Worlds, my system de jour) as defined by GM Merit Badges:

 My games will tell an interesting Story

 My games focus on interesting Characters and Drama

 Characters in my games are Destined for greatness, not random death [1. Which is not to say I won’t let characters die, but if won’t be a ‘rocks fall, everyone dies’ event which feels outside player control when it happens.]

My games use a pre-made Map and pre-scripted content

My games rely on a lot of Improvisation rather than pre-scripted content [2. I use what seem to be self-contradictory methods — “pre-scripted content” and “Improvisation”. I use both — pre-scripted content which forms the backbone of a larger plot, but about 25-50% of gameplay is Sandbox improvisation — characters go off the rails and take the story in new directions, have character-initiated sub-quests and the like. I use essentially the Mouseguard-style Players Turn and GM’s Turn with both methods in play.]

I roll Dice in the open and don’t fudge the results in my games

My game has Shared GMing responsibility with the other players [3. By this I mean a house rule where players “nominate” other players for bennies (though not themselves.)]

My games are more of the Social, Fun and “Beer & Pretzels” style

Here is my take on a typical ‘Old School DM’ approach for example (which is different than how I’m running Savage Worlds at the moment):

• I frequently Tinker with the rules of the game
• Players in my game should be prepared to Run when the odds are against them
• My games rely on a lot of Improvisation rather than pre scripted content 
• Players characters Death is a likely event in my games
• My games are more of the Social, Fun and “Beer & Pretzels” style
• The GM is In Charge in my games and “rule-zero” is in effect

Here is a full listing of the ‘GM Merit Badge’ attributes which you can tell players about (in addition to system rules and house rules):

• Tactics are an important part of my games
• My games will tell an interesting Story
• My games will be Scary
• My games focuses on Exploration & Mystery
• There will be Player vs Player combat allowed in my games
• My games are Safe and you don’t need to worry about content or character death 
• I will Mirror back player ideas I think are interesting in the game
• My games use a pre-made Map and pre scripted content 
• My games rely on a lot of Improvisation rather than pre scripted content 
• My games are Gonzo and can include a lot of strangeness
• Characters in my games are Destined for greatness, not random death
• I roll Dice in the open and don’t fudge the results in my games
• My games include Disturbing content
• My games focus on interesting Characters and Drama 
• Players characters Death is a likely event in my games
• I play By-The-Book and “rule-zero” is not being used to alter existing rules
• My games are more of the Social, Fun and “Beer & Pretzels” style
• My game is primarily Non-Combat in nature
• Players in my game should be prepared to Run when the odds are against them
• My game has Shared GMing responsibility with the other players
• I frequently Tinker with the rules of the game
• My game focuses on Player Skill rather than character abilities