Hey Man, well this is Babylon

This weekend’s convention was pretty stellar, at least as Motobushido game play is concerned. The “pretty much final” version of the rules was tested in full, and stood pretty damn solidly. But there’s one cool thing that I really want to take a moment and talk about. Towards the end of one of the sessions, a player said to me something that I’d never really quantified in words, but had been otherwise trying to get across in different manners since the early days of this game.

To paraphrase him: “Motobushido is a game that has both motorcycles and samurai in it, but isn’t at all about either one of those two things.”

This is something of a secret, and totally true. While there are samurai mechanics, and motorcycle mechanics, and samurai fights on the backs of motorcycles, the true core of the game boils down to a sentence which involves neither: Motobushido is a game about brotherhood, reputation, and fatalistic action. Motobushido is a game about not discovering your own limits until after you’ve pushed them too far.

In pretty much every game I run, once the players finally grasp the mechanic (which – not to toot my horn here – is completely different from anything they’ve ever played before), their faces always show this “Ohhhhhhhh I get it” moment when they realize the truth of the game’s focus. And for me, that moment is always, always a wonderful thing to see in action.

Anyway, I’m spending this afternoon and evening mostly working on the final playtest draft. I had intended on releasing it today, but I’ve just got too much post-con administrivia to handle, so they’ll likely be up tomorrow, or Wednesday morning at the latest.

After a period of exclusive access to the project backers, the version 6 Playtest Pack is now out for everyone else. Check it out and tell me what you think!

Download Here

Hey everyone! I’ve now opened up the store pages to allow pre-orders of the upcoming RPG, Motobushido. These pre-orders will hopefully give me a bit of extra padding for my initial print run, and help justify my potentially springing for a larger initial batch of books. There are four different versions available for pre-order:

• The standard full-color edition: $40 plus shipping
• The black-and-white “whitebook” edition: $20 plus shipping
• The full-color Digital edition: $15 with bookmarks and search
• The “frugal digital edition” for ease of rules finding: $10 with bookmarks and search

Each pre-order will help me boost the initial print run, and a significant amount could even enhance the book with additional art and content beyond what I’m already intending.

PRE-ORDER FAQ:

How do these pre-order books compare to the products from your recent Kickstarter run?

These pre-orders are for the specific books, and just that. They do not include any of the extras or bonus rewards from the Kickstarter backer tiers.

What are the differences between the different versions

The $20 whitebook is meant to be a more or less “cheap” print. It’s intended to be a rules reference and little more. It will have the same dimensions as the full-color book, just black and white, basic quality.

The $40 full-color print edition is the full product, in full glorious color. It’s the one that will be on the shelves at your FLGS after it is finally published.

The $15 PDF is the full-color indexed digital version of the full-color book. The $10 PDF is just the rules, no art, indexed for use with e-readers, and formatted for economy printing.

Why are these so expensive?

I don’t think they’re expensive at all. The art is gorgeous, for one thing, and for another a whole lot of effort has been put into this game. I’m sorry if you find it to be on the pricey side, but these are the prices I have to present if I want to have any wish of one day, possibly, maybe, hopefully breaking even on this project. I hope the game’s concept is good enough to sell itself.

I missed out on the Kickstarter! Are any of the special backer rewards still available?

A few are, yes. The custom-forged swords and kiridashi are still available, for one, and I have a few extra First Founder Patches available as well. Hoodies and Shirts can be arranged, too. If you are interested in anything, please contact me privately, and we can probably work something out.

Today I decided to call and close my Zipcar account, entirely for the reason that there just aren’t any zipcar spots near my house, and thus the membership isn’t convenient for me to maintain anymore. Their service has been good… until today. When I called today, I politely informed the first service agent that I wanted to close my account. He cheerfully told me to wait as he had to transfer me to people with power to do that, and then hung up on me. Not cool.

The second time I called, I again politely (but with a frustrated edge) told the lady that I wanted to close my account. She told me she had to transfer me to people with the power to do that, and I cut her off, saying, “No, the previous rep said that and then hung up on me. If I have to call back a third time, I will be doing so with my lawyer on the line with me.” She then had my account closed in less than 15 seconds, without need for any transfer at all.

This shows me that Zipcar is lying to its customers who wish to close their accounts. I will not be recommending this service to anyone. I’m tempted to start a new Twitter account just so I can vent to them on there, but then I’d have to deal with Twitter again, and… no.

I didn’t even know it, until just now. The Fighting Man’s Frying Pan.

Thanks, Combat Kitchenware, for existing.

Next up: Battle Loofahs?

As part of the special “Yojimbo” backer level of my soon-to-conclude Kickstarter project, I’m currently re-writing my Jedi game conversion of the Motobushido rules. This all began a middling time ago in a basement very close at hand, in which we decided that one of our next playtest sessions would be about Jedi escaping the “Order 66″ Jedi Purge.

When I first ran that scenario, the Bikes mechanics weren’t fully implemented, so we just replaced Bikes with The Force. It was that very act of element substitution that actually went on to define how I would implement the Bike mechanics in the first place. It has always been my intention to utilize the Code of the Highway as a representation of spiritual elements in at least some quantity, and as of recent revisions that intention has manifested quite totally.

With the original Jedi conversion, instead of picking specific Bikes and riding styles, the characters picked specific Force Powers to specialize in. It ended up working out very well, and now, looking back over my old notes, I’ve come to understand that the Bike aspect of Motobushido characters is probably the most “driftable” for future game hacks. In the core game, your dedication to the Code of the Highway affects all things spiritual about your character. It sets your Ki, affects its restoration, and can even call your character out on that one last Sunset Ride, never for her to be seen again. It connects to your Bike extension, and investing in its mastery unlocks new Stunts that you can attempt in and out of Duels and Battle.

Swapping that out with Force Powers is so simple, I don’t know why it wasn’t so obvious to me in the first place. What’s next, I wonder? How would this work as a Wizard’s Academy hack? A Thundercats hack? Sailor Moon? Voltron? Airbenders, etc?

Or dare I even hope, nay, pray for a future Space Stallions hack?

Duels are first and foremost a battle between two opposing duelists. However, each side can name a Second, which is a position of both great personal honor and significant mechanical advantage. Your Second can be any of your allies who accepts your respectable offer.

Before the duel actually begins, you can hold council with your chosen Second, and exchange cards. During the Duel, your Second can step in and say “I got this,” playing one of their cards in your stead. Depending upon the narrative restrictions of the duel, this could represent him actually moving in and making a strike of his own, or instead symbolically providing a moment of inspiration and emotional support which drives the duelist onward.

Serving Second is both an act of respect and honor, and a risky endeavor. A dutiful Second exposes himself to the same backlash as the acting duelist, should the fight be lost. Should the loss be significant enough to claim life, the Second’s own life can also be on the line.

The rule of Seconds is the only standard method for multiple participants on the same side of a Duel. For more that two participants on a side, I suggest you use the Pack Warfare rules instead.

Been really damn busy the last week, followed by two days of illness, so many apologies for the delays in updates. Let’s do a weekly recap!

• I was recently on a couple of podcasts. Check them out here.
• Check out the Modest Medusa Scooter-Samurai Tshirt on offer!
• Including a last-minute promotional Character Pack offer, the One Shot RPG got funded. Yay!
• Character Pack #1 Unlocked! Act now to get the Nomad, the ATV, and the Beat-Down Style!
• The contents of the next Stretch Goal have been revealed!

In other news, I’ve gotten the Playtest Packs mostly assembled. I’ve gotta put some finishing touches on them, which I hope to do this weekend. Converting my own digital shorthand to a format understandable by my fellow human has been amusing at times, to say the least.

And to the lone biker I saw this morning on my commute, I apologize for not waving back. My hand was frozen to the handlebar! Next time, I promise!

That’s all for now. Keep the Rubber Side Down, friends!

- NPC

Last night I found an ancient (in internet years, at least) picture dump that I had until now thought I had lost forever. It contained all the photos from our LARP days at the Streetwise game, at Dragoncon (2001-2004).

This one picture is by far my favorite of the entire bunch. It sums up everything that was awesome about the Vegas year.