Bryan Hansel

Iliamna Unknown

Saturday, December 23rd, 2006

Having launched Undead, a successful game, the software engineers take vacation in Alaska. They travel up the Kvichak River in winter to Lake Iliamna. On the lake, they set up camp and search for the Iliamna monster, nessy of the north. Unknown to the engineers, the code in Undead has opened a tunnel to the spirit world. There is no going back.

This short two page game is Bryan Hansel’s entry for the Undead Software Engineers in Alaska Challenge. In addition to using Undead Software Engineers, it also uses the Iliamna lake monster and the Denaina Athabascan language.

And everything is resolved via the Hand Game, a traditional native game from the area the game is set. What more do you need in a game?

My Secret Waitress

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

http://www.momentarylapsepress.com

This game is a game of adventure and a game of uncovering lies. In it, the players take on the role of an undercover agent disguised as a waitress that has infiltrated into positions of trust, and then they use the trust to gain evidence against their marks. While obtaining the evidence, the marks will ask the characters to perform objectionable actions that conflict with the waitress agent’s sense of duty, but by performing these actions, the characters will find more evidence. Slowly, the guilt of violating duty can overcome a character, so it’s a race to bring down or be brought down. And it’s about the ends justifying the means.

Comic Introduction

Man in Trench Coat

(Black coat, leaning up against a wall)

Welcome, to the Agent training course. Here you’ll learn about being an operative before heading off in the dangerous field.

Man In Trench Coat

The first step of your training involves is physical conditioning. All agents must be strong and fit in order to catch the bad guys.

Corner Box

For this training, each player takes three six-sided dice.

Man In Trench Coat

Okay, now that you’ve changed into running uniforms and shoes, let’s see you race. The goal is to come in first. Ready. Set. Go.

Corner Box

This is called a Conflict. The goal is to win the race. Roll the dice. The player who rolls the most ones wins, and the winning player gets to narrate the results. If there is a tie, then the players who tied roll one dice over and over until a one is rolled. The first player to roll a one wins.

Man In Trench Coat

Great job, ladies! Now let’s try something a little different. Let’s move into combat training. For this event, pair off and before you fight, and I want to know how you want the fight to turn out if you win this event.

Corner Box

A winning player’s intentions dictate how any conflict will turn out after the dice are rolled. So, before the dice are even rolled, a player must state in theopen what they want to happen if they win the roll. In any Conflict that doesn’trelate to the mechanics of stats, all sides must declare what they want to happen before the roll.

Man In Trench Coat

Consider the bell rung. Fight time.

Corner Box

Each player in the fight rolls his or her three dice. The one who rolls the most ones wins and then gets to narrate how the conflict happened.

Woman Agent One

I jump kick into the air and land a foot straight into the stomach of my opponent. She falls to the ground and I put my foot on her throat.

Man In Trench Coat

Good. I see that you are learning fast. Let’s try something a little different. I have a written test for you to take. You need to pass this test if you’re going to advance to the next part of training.

Corner Box

This is also a conflict. Anything that may have an effect on the future of play or the story must be rolled on. But don’t get crazy; you don’t have to roll for everyday actions. Here the agents have to pass the test. If they don’t, then what happens? During the game, one player, usually the person to the left will decide what happens if an agent fails. So, have each player state what will happen if they succeed in the roll, and the person to the left describe what will happen if the roller fails. Then roll. If a one is rolled then the roller describes the outcome. If no ones are rolled then the player to the left describes.

Man In Trench Coat

I hate tests just as much as you do, so I’m glad that that’s over. Now, I want to give you some tools that will help you succeed. But first, why don’t you reflect on your past. I want you to tell me a little about your family, what you did before we recruited you, and what motivated you to come and work for us.

Corner Box

Each player has one specific agent character that he or she will be responsible for during the game. During character creation, each player must write a back-story for this character. It doesn’t have to be long. One hundred words are plenty.

Man In Trench Coat

See girls, we recruited you because of your sense of duty and motivation to expose these evildoer crooks for what they are. Now that you’ve thought about your background, tell me what motivates you.

Corner Box

Each player should write his or her motivation on the agent’s character sheet.

Man In Trench Coat

Good work! This spying stuff is hard work isn’t it. We even work nights and weekend. Now, think about your background, the connections you’ve made, or the skills you’ve learned.

Corner Box

Each player should pick out two Adornments for their character. An Adornment is a skill or connection that the character learned or has from his or her background that the player will use during play to help their character succeed.

Man In Trench Coat

Good, now that you know what motivates you and what you’re good at, you can apply these connections, skills, or motivation while you’re out taking down the bad guys.

Corner Box

Motivations and Adornments add dice to the player’s conflict rolls, so, for example, if an Adornment was a Fast Runner +1, then the player would have rolled four dice instead of three in the above race.

Man In Trench Coat

Well, ladies, I tell this to all my recruits. I love you, but you’ve learned everything I can teach you. If you need something from me, I’m available. And let me give you some warnings.

Man In Trench Coat

You’ll be in deep cover and asked to do some dastardly favors for these corrupt bastards we’ll be exposing. You’ll also be paid pretty well with dirty money. Just keep your chin up, because I don’t need you to feel too guilty. Too many agents burn out when the guilt over comes duty.

Man In Trench Coat

By the way, we’re looking to do some promoting. One for you ladies will get my job and all the perks?I mean all the perks that come with it.

Pinnacle Empty Quiver

Tuesday, March 14th, 2006

Pinnacle Empty Quiver – The first Game Chef 26 Submission!

Situation Pinnacle: A terror organization has infiltrated an overseas military base in an occupied country, secured a nuke, and has taken hostages. The military base is the home base of an elite anti-terror squad and the hostages are loved ones. The nuke can be prevented from exploding or the hostages can be saved. There is no other outcome. If the nuke goes off a city of 1, will be destroyed. No other citizens of the player’s country will die in the explosion. Your mission: Disarm the nuke, or will you go rogue and rescue your loved ones?

Steel is a resource representing the weapons, guns, equipment that a character uses during the game. These are used up to move the game forward towards resolution. Teamwork is rewarded in the game through better retention of Steel, but it makes the mission harder. Going solo makes the mission easier, but the player loses Steel more quickly. The characters are a member of a special forces group that specializes in restoring Law and Order, and as the Threat level of the game moves towards fulfillment it is a representation of Law being restored on the base. Also, players can utilize Laying Down the Law during combat to combat any GM hording of Steel until end game. In addition, the Laws of The Black Box dictate that if a nuclear countdown is aborted, those injected with poison capsules will die or if those injected with poison capsule are moved, the nuke will blow. There can be no other outcome. Also, the situation involves a law about nuclear security and transport, which was violated and created this situation.

All traits, skills, and equipment are taken from recruiting pamphlets for British or American Special Forces or from wikipedia entries about these organizations. Everything in the squad set up is based on American Army Special Forces, except for Squad Specialties, which is based on British Forces. The Threat Track and Mission Breakdown is a descendant of Metal Opera or InSpectres and spiced up by separating resolution from story advancement to give the players some more choices but also to make it slightly more difficult to resolve, and hopefully this will help keep the game slightly more serious. The combat is system was inspired by Wushu, but dreamed up while watching Lord of the Rings. The event system just popped in my head when I got the idea of a televised hostage forced to say something against their will.

NecroSticknomicon

Wednesday, January 18th, 2006

NecroSticknomicon is a horror supplement for StickGuy, the Roleplaying Game. In this supplement, the Sticks head out over the Bridge to spend a nice weekend in a cabin. When they get there, they find a tape recorder, which when played releases the evil power of the NecroSticknomicon, the Book of the Stick Dead. And after that, all hell breaks lose, and what are the Sticks to do, except fight the evil or become part of it.

Introduction

The floor boards rattled and tossed their nails straight out of the nail holes, and the deer head on the wall twisted and turned with the ugly look of terror in it?s eyes. The group, stickguys and their stickgirlfriends had retreated to this cabin in the woods outside of Sticktown for a quick weekend getaway from the turmoil in town. The weekend had been relaxing until Sticky slid the lever on the reel-to-reel player to play. Then over the tiny stickspeakers, someone claiming to be an archeologist began to speak of a book so evil that it had been hidden for a thousand years until he found it on a dig. The tape spoke of the translation and the transformation of his wife from kind loving stickwoman to ugly crazy stickzombie…