Elthos Imagination Machine

As some of you know I've been working on the Elthos Project for quite a long time now.  A really good long time.  It's been great.  I'm finally at the point now where I feel comfortable opening up the system to a wider audience than my few play testers.   Having done a bit of poking around I'm leaning towards "The Elthos Imagination Machine" as a working title for the system.  The Elthos RPG is located at http://www.Elthos.com in case you care to take a preemptive peek at the thing.   Don't be shy. 

Anyway, for those who have a kind of geeky interest in the history and intention of the thing here's a quick chronology of my progress thus far with the project:

1978	Created Elthos Prime Rules based on OD&D
1994	Began programming the Elthos Prime Rules in QBasic & Visual Basic
1995	Professional Gamesmastering (Elthos RPG at local Community Center) (made $600 in 6 weeks!)
1996	Joined International Game Developers Association (wrote articles on RPGing for their Magazine)
1997	Began working as a programmer / analyst and working on Elthos as my nighttime hobby-job
2000	Finished the Elthos Prime application in Visual Basic.
2004	Professional Gamesmastering - Hamfest - Weasel King Campaign (made $1360 in 12 weeks!)
2006	Founded the Literary Role Playing Game Society (LRPGSW)
2007	Created the Elthos One Die System (ODS) to run mini-games for the LRPGSW
2008	Completed PDF
2009	Completed Elthos RPG Web Application V1.0 in ASP.Net - Closed Beta
2009	Game Testing - Hamfest - The Rescue of Lord Beltane Campaign  - Revisions to 1.2
2010	Game Testing - Hamfest - The Bellowick Campaign - Revisions to 1.3
2011	Game Testing - Hobbington - The Hagglesmith Campaign - Revisions to 1.4
2012	Game Testing - Hobbington - The Dragon Stone Campaign - Revisions to 1.5
2013	Completed Elthos ODS RPG Web Application - Prepping for Open Beta in 2014
2013	Completed work as a Programmer / Analyst and switched to Business Mode for Elthos.

OK... I'm a slow poke... don't rush me.  It's been a lot of fun though, actually.  And a great learning experience.  In fact I built my programming career around working on this game system.  At this point both the rules and the web application are stable.   I'm pretty excited about it.  I'm going to open the system up for general beta testing in 2014, and will be publishing the related materials at the same time.  I hope people will find it both enjoyable and useful for managing their RPG Worlds.

The ODS is a rules light system that adheres to the traditional OD&D tropes.  Sure I know a lot of people have moved on from that and are using all kinds of fancy newfangled RPG innovations, and that a lot of folks are looking for alternative mechanics.  There's lots and lots of RPGs with innovative mechanics, most notably among the Indie Revolution which I believe is still going strong.

Elthos, however, has gone the other way.  Its intention has been to clarify, simplify and consolidate the traditional system and make it a cleaner, easier system to run.   I've always been fond of the traditional take on the game, and still am.  I like Levels, Hit Points, Classes and stuff.   It works for me both as a player and as a Gamesmaster.  I also am lead to believe that it also continues to work for many other people and is the foundation of what I think is being called the Retro Movement..., and so my hope is that in it's own Retro way, Elthos will appeal to people who are looking for a traditional light weight system.  One that comes with Substantial Computer Support.   Not just a little bit, either.

The Elthos ODS Web Application's most generally useful features will probably be found in the World Weaver's Development Studio.  It allows Gamemasters to create their own worlds, by importing a default world with a selection of default fantasy genre items (weapons, armors, equipment, classes, etc).  They can also elect to create a "Minimalist World" which only has one item in each category as an example, and from there the GM can create whatever their hearts desire.  Everything created ties into the systems calculation engine so that everything the GM creates for their worlds integrates smoothly.   The nice thing about the World Weaver's Development Studio is that it stores everything about people's Worlds online where you can get at it from anywhere, and not lose stuff over time ... which always used to happen to me.   Where did those notebooks go to?   Bah.   Not anymore.  :)

The other side of the coin is the Gamesmaster's Toolbox that allows Players to manage their Characters online, and lets the Gamesmaster run all kinds of functions that are helpful during the course of a game.  The Toolbox rolls characters, or randomly generates adventure groups.  It allows Players to interact with their Characters online to select their skills and powers when they go up in Levels, and manage their Character's description, history, and equipment.

Between the two sides of the coin, and I'm only giving a light weight description here, it's about as comprehensive a system as I've seen out there so far.  Of course it fills it's own niche so it doesn't do things that other systems such as Roll20 do, though Elthos could be used in conjunction with those other systems on the back end, so to say.  That's how I intend to use it myself.   I think it will be ideal for use with Google Hangouts and Roll20, actually.  I'm planning to try that out soon.

Anyway, the upshot is, lots of progress has been made, and I'm now ready, finally, to go to Phase II of the project.  And that involves opening it up to the public for use and feedback.   When it goes Open Beta I will make an announcement on this blog.

So at this point I want to say ... Many many many thanks to all of the people who have play tested, and helped me with the rules system and programming along the way!   Thank you!!!

"Festina lente."
- Augustus Caesar

There's No Place Like Home...

This month's RPG Carnival is about 'Spooky Spots' ...

http://ofdiceanddragons.com/october-2013-blog-carnival-spooky-spots/

First, thanks to Scot Newbury for hosting this month and the interesting topic!  Reading the post reminded me of a really spooky experience I had one night ... at home.  Very spooky.

I grew up in an upper class neighborhood about sixty miles north of New York City.  We had been living there for about five years by the time this occured, and nothing in particular ever struck me as spooky in the least.   Oh there was the copperhead snake in the front yard one time, but that's just scary, not spooky. 

One night I was sitting in my bedroom.  I wasn't doing anything memorable, just some studying for a math exam coming up later in the week.  I looked up at the window in front of my desk.  It was reflecting the light from my desk lamp.   Beyond was darkness, as the sun had set about an hour earlier.   I recall a very faint dark blue line sillouetting the treeline on the road that passed in front of my house, and the road itself was obscured by shadows and trees but I could dimly make it out as a dark gray line.  It was, as I recall, a clear night and windless. 

As I gazed at the window for some reason I began to get the impression that there was something out on the road; a darker than shadow shape perhaps, standing, or squating there across from my window.  It gave me the impression of being rather large, the size of bear maybe?  I turned out my light.  But nothing stirred. I couldn't actually see anything.  It seemed to be squating on the road and remained motionless except for what I thought was a slight swaying.  It gave me the distinct feeling that it was watching me.   Staring into my bedroom.  I had no idea how long it had been there.  I suddenly got very tense.

Then for some reason I can't explain I got the impression it wasn't a bear at all.  Or a person.  Or anything I'd ever encountered before.  Perhaps there was a faint sound that came from the road, I don't know.  Suddenly all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end, and I got goosebumps over my whole body.  Whatever it was on the road in front of my house was far larger than a bear.  I have no idea why but I felt that it had droped down from the sky.  I would have sworn that it had wings.  Again, perhaps because I heard something that sounded like the slow flapping sound of giant wings, the way a bird on the ground might do to steady itself against a wind.  But there was no wind.  A sweat broke out on my neck and head.  I began having trouble breathing.  I stared as hard as I could into the darkness.  I couldn't see anything.  Only that sound coming in through the bottom of the window.  And the feeling, that horrible feeling, that something very large, and very old and very, very evil was standing on the road with it's eyes directly on me.  I had the impression that it had come with the specific intent to land in front of my house on Silver Lane and stare at me.  For some ... horrible reason.

Then, as suddenly as that, it vanished.  I didn't see any movement on the road, or hear whoosh of air, but the sound was no more and the darker than dark patch that seemed to move slightly from side to side returned to a normal patch of shadow on the road.

It was one of the most frightenning experiences I've ever had.  It turned my normal, safe and cozy family home into one of the spookiest places I'd ever known.   For one short dreadful moment that night.  After that it never happened again, and my home returned once more to it's cozy normal state, although I don't think I slept a wink for several days afterwards.   I never sensed whatever it was again ... except once, many years distant when I was hiking in the mountains of California nestled around a campfire with an old wizardish friend of mine.  But that's fare for another story, another time.   Right now I have to go shake off this memory and have a drink.

When Science Catches Up With Your World

I got a bit of a thrill today when I found an article in Daily Science that validated something that I've done a few times in my world.   The story ... our Heroes had been shrunk down to tiny size and were riding on the backs of aphids through a tangle of vines on the wall of an old ruined tower in order to escape the deadly attack of a wolf-wizard and his shadow-dogs.   Whenever they got within range of a human they noticed that their gigantic opponent seemed to move much more slowly than in 'real life', and they were able to spring away in time to escape.

As it happens my sci-fi conjecture for my world turns out to be exactly how insects escape from human attacks!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130916102006.htm

Neat.  :)  How cool is that?  Ever have that experience with your world?

A New World - The Present

The Vigilantes

The next phase of the Closed Beta Test has been running since August and it's been going great.  One of my play testers, Chris, has GM'd a lot of worlds and systems and is giving Elthos ODS a whirl.   We're playing in his world named "The Present" and we're playing costumed vigilantes on a mission to protect the citizens from criminals while the police spend their time waddling around the local Duncan Donuts.

We've got four Vigilantes - Pericles the Mexican Wrestler and Saint of Luche, Scotty the wild roughian, The Paladin the religious zealot on a mission from God, and Black Out, a kid with technical savvy and a hyped up sense of idealism.   And a mysterious benefactor, named The Patron.

So far we've had three adventures.   The first one was our introduction where we met the Patron and setup our HQ in an old warehouse on the edge of town.   The second was where we investigated an attack on a local Synagogue by Skin Heads.  The third where we were setting up cameras around a nearby Synagogue and wound up in a violent confrontation with the Skin Heads.   Luche was the first to attack, but it was definitely Scotty who had the most impact on the villains.  Three of them died.  One by Scotty backing up their own van (white) over one, and the other two who died when Scotting backed the van up the stairs into the doorway of the then burning Synagogue.   The rats had thrown Molotov cocktails into the place, and Scotty, well, got his revenge, though he didn't intend to actually kill them.   The next adventure was the escape, which didn't go as well as I'd hoped.  Black Out wound up being caught by the police, but because he's under age, and pretended not to know anything, they let him go.  He got a real ear chewing from his mom.  And that's when he decided to leave home, and go live at the HQ so he could pursue his Vigilante goals.   All the while questioning whether or not Vigilantism is truly noble, or not.

It's been really fun, and really interesting!   What do you think of Costumed Vigilantes?  A noble cause in a time of Chaos - or a can of worms destined to turn?

Credit:  The above drawing was done by one of the Play Testers, Milo Barasorda (playing Pericles), a phenomenal RPGer, and artist!  Thanks Milo!

How Tolkien Leads the Digital Revolution

I ran across this article today... hmmm... rather interesting how Tolkien's awesomeness has influenced the world, isn't it?

How Tolkien Leads the Digital Revolution

New Feature - Group Cloning

Pistachio Nut Shell Pieces, yes.  :)

Things are coming along well with the game testing, and the modifications to the Elthos Web Application are making steady, albeit museum-speed, progress.  The latest game tests were a bit disrupted by the fact that the web application can auto-generate adventure groups, and I created two groups of six fighters each for the tactical board game - however, my players, who tend to be more observant than I, noticed right away that the two groups were different.  Very different.   The Adventure Group Generator randomizes the rolling of Characters within the group.  So while you can create two Adventure Groups defined as six fighters of maximum 3rd Level, you can't get it to generate two groups that are exactly the same.  In this case, Adventure Group A was far heftier in terms of bonuses from higher Requisites than Group B.   So whoever got Group B was kinda under the gun in a big way.  I thought that was kind of cool and random.  But my players pointed out - it unbalanced the test results.   We're testing combat tactics in the board game aspect.  Ok ok!   Off to the salt mines!   So.... I needed to clone Group A.   But I have no Clone Adventure Group feature on the web app.   Correction:  I had no Clone Group Feature.  Now I do.  And it works marvelously!  :)

What Are Clerics Good For Anyway?

I read recently John Four's brief comment on the fact that Clerics tend to be thought of in some RPGs as Heal-Bots.  I was thinking about this earlier today, actually, while reading a book on ancient religions.  It does seem that in a lot of games I've seen that Clerics do tend to be type-cast in the Adventure Party as the quiet guys who stick to the rear so that when the fighting class Characters are wounded they can step up and pronounce the mystic mumbo-jumbo for healing, and that's that.  Their mission accomplished they return to the rear and wait for their next chance to perform their useful function.

Occasionally I've seen one or two get involved in some philosophic debate about the alignment of an item, and once in a blue moon, set the party direction based on their Deity's perceived Will, usually guessed at by the cleric and based on some half-vague description of the Deity's nature from some dubious source like the GM. Roughly speaking that's how things have gone, more or less, with a few notable exceptions.

For my world, I want to change all of that.

Here's a sample of what I mean.

Elthos is played in the Age of Heroes of my world. Civilizations themselves are not entirely new creations, but some are older than others, and some have already vanished beneath the sands of time. The Elkron, the Deities, hover enigmatically in the distance with their All-Seeing Eyes trained mostly on one another, or on the top of their enormous temples located at the centers of the huge metropolises dedicated to each Elkron. One day the King of one such city, after many decades of wars in the name of his Elkron, and after years of prayers in the Ante-Chamber of the Holy Chamber requesting to be allowed to build a new Temple for his Great and Mighty Sovereign (the idea of which came to him in a dream in his youth), receives word in a vision: "Now is the time. You have been chosen by the Elkron to build the new Temple of Palamir."

The King, overwhelmed with joy, wakes up. He immediately goes to his High Priest, and tells the vision. He is told to wait by the High Priest, who also had a dream regarding a New Temple. The next month, the King has a second dream-vision. In this one he is shown sacred symbols, which are related to the construction of the Temple, it's location, orientation according to specific stars, and the date on which construction should begin. Yet the dream is confusing. The King does not know the symbols. He goes immediately to the High Priest. Together they pray and meditate and the High Priest researches every aspect of the dream calling upon his acolytes (ie - a Player Character), to find certain books in the House of Sacred Texts, and bring them forth. These texts reveal that the combination of symbols and dates provides extensive detailed information regarding the topics of the dream. But the King is still confused. He does not feel capable to build the Temple, as the vision he received showed a structure so immense and complex that he could not imagine how to instruct his people build it.

Another dream comes to him in which the Elkron appears in his Glory to explain that the King shall indeed build the Temple, and it will be done according to the Plans created by two Young Elkron who will arrive from the East with special knowledge, tools, and instructions, and that they will help the King in every detail. "With the Temple completed, the prosperity of the land will increase two fold, the waters will fill the canals in due season, the crops will yield a double harvest yearly, the sheep will produce double their folds, and beneath the earth silver and gold will be revealed in plenitude." Now the King is satisfied. He feels he is able to proceed because the Elkron is going to guide him in every detail of the work.

From that point on missions are sent out under religious auspices for many things. Workers must be organized and ceremonially purified. Grievances and legal sentences must be resolved and the people brought into a state of divine favor. The entire Nation must contribute so that the blessings of the new Temple will flow everywhere evenly. The priests must all conduct services and ceremonies. 

Not to mention that Devils must be cast out. Demons must be slain. Beasts and Monsters must be hunted down and destroyed.  The most dangerous of these Adventures will often be carried out by the King and his Knights personally.

But also, materials from other nations must be brought from afar for the construction of the Temple according to the Elkron's plan. Therefore Clerical Emissaries must be sent forth in Divine Regalia to the other Nations, and tributes received.

All of which creates conditions for a huge outpouring of Clerical activity.  And so the Player Character Clerics will have plenty to do. And during those times, not be relegated to the role of Heal-Bots alone.