What Is The Point of This Conversation?

Most Humans love to talk. Sadly, fewer love to listen.

It is could also be said that while people love to speak, they don't always have something to say.

The games I run and play feature a lot of roleplaying in the form of dialogue between the Players and the Gamemaster or, less often, between one Player and one or more others. 

Something I've noticed over the years is that these discourses don't always seem to serve a purpose. Instead, a player - through their PC - tries to convince an NPC of something and the NPC is unconvinced. This is often because of reasons the NPC has hinted at or outright explained but which the PC and player have ignored. In other cases, the PC is hoping to get information from an NPC and that NPC simply doesn't want to reveal anything and so they don't really. I've witnessed discussions taking 20 minutes or more of real time between PCs and NPCs - so one or more Players and their Gamemaster - that ends exactly as it started and moves nothing forward.

In one particular game I'm in, this happens alot. A LOT. A Player/PC parlays with a GM run NPC. The PC fails to change the NPC's mind while simultaneously not understanding the mindset of the NPC [and why the PC's argument isn't working on them]. The GM fails here as well, perhaps because the Player didn't pick up on how the NPC thinks or because the GM has decided NPC 'X' acts 'THIS WAY' and has set their attitude and outlook in proverbial stone.

Sure, sometimes a PC asks an NPC for advice and does get something useful; real, actionable recommendation that the Player(s) need. Unfortunately, those conversations are often more plot driven than character driven. Still, its better than nothing. 

Every time I go into an in-game conversation as both a Player and as a GM, my first thought is, 'What is the point of this conversation?'.Why does my PC or a given NPC want to communicate with this other character. Do they want to? What is the PC trying to achieve? What am I, as GM, trying to accomplish?

I noticed in a recent session that when other Players got into conversations, those discussion just went on and on and on and little ground was gained by either side. On the other hand, when my PC got into a conversation with another PC and a group of friendly NPCs, I purposely allowed for my character to take in what they were suggesting to me. From this discourse, I came up with an approach to my PC's personal family issues subplot that incorporated the dialogue we'd had.

The PCs/Player and NPCs/GM had an in-character conversation. I saw a way to integrate what they were trying to say into what I wanted/needed to do. This also allowed me to shorten the length of the back-and-forth. Instead of having it go on forever, I had my PC repeat what one of the NPCs said, asked another PC a question, and then indicated to the GM I was taking an action. Boom!

• First, ask yourself 'What is the point of this conversation?'
• Enter the in-game character conversations with a goal. Know what your PC wants to say.
• As a GM or Player, decide if you are trying to inform, convince, learn, or entertain. 
• Say what you want to say but listen to the other Player or the Gamemaster. 
• Analyze not just what they are saying but how they are saying it. 
• Try to understand the opposing point of view and the mindset of the other character. 
• Allow yourself to say AND mean, "Maybe I'm wrong", "OK, I see your point", "I don't agree but I get where you're coming from", "You know, I never thought of it that way", "Do you get where I'm coming from", "Is there any chance I'm getting through and maybe you agree with me?", or any number of other phrases that show you're flexible enough to have a true exchange of ideas. 

The bottom line - I love listening to Players talking and interacting in character. I love when GM's do it with NPCs as well. I especially like when it reveals something about their characters and shows that they are 'people' in a living, breathing universe. I love when people say funny things. I like when they explain what drives them. 

I do not like rambling conversations that last 20+ minutes and start and end at the bottom of a  mountain words that get neither side any closer to the top.

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Barking Alien

Eight Ball In The Corner Pocket?

Could the 'holy grail' in my quest for a Medieval Fantasy TRPG have been sitting right in front of me for some time now?

Could Space Opera Heroes work as 'High Fantasy Heroes'?

"Thou hast been left with Good Leave! Dost thou surrender?"

"Bite me Mage Boy."

Let's go back to my post 'Magic Eight Ball', a response to Tim Knight's 8 Factors I'm Looking for in My Holy Grail Fantasy RPG and see if a Fantasy hack of Space Opera Heroes fits the bill. 

1. A single die type. Preferably D6s.

Check. Space Opera Heroes uses only D6s and often you're only rolling one. The die 'explodes' on a 6, meaning you roll it again and again with each 6 until you get a result that isn't a 6.

 
Sometimes you may be rolling additional D6s in situations involving an Advantage or Disadvantage.

2. Armor reduces the Damage a Character or Monster takes.

Check. Armor increases your Durability and Durability decreases the amount of damage you take. Heavier Armor applies penalties to a character's Evasion, making them easier to hit [but usually harder to hurt]. 

He's a Knight who's hard to hurt. She's a thief who's hard to hit.

Together THEY FIGHT CRIME BRIGANDS!

3. DM able to summarise all relevant information on any and all aspects of the game quickly and easily.

I'd say Check for the most part. I was able to sum up the basics in roughly 10 pages for one of my groups.

4. Archetypes/Templates instead of Race and Class.

Check! One of my favorite aspects of Space Opera Heroes and one easily translated into a Fantasy game. Want to play an Elf Wizard? Pick the Elf Wizard Archetype. Interested in being a Hairfoot Thief? Here you go, the Hairfoot Thief Archetype. 

Couldn't be simpler and it's quite easy to modify Archetypes and make new ones.

Choose your Archetype!

5. Contingent Advancement. No Levels. Maybe no XP.

Hmm. Ok, this is the first area where the 'Rules As Written' don't match what I'm looking for. Space Opera Heroes definitely uses Experience Points, which are spent to improve abilities and skills as well as purchase modifications for ones robot or spaceship.

All that said, changing this to a Contingent Improvement system is a cinch. PCs might raise one or two skills at the end of an Adventure or when they accomplish a particular goal. 
I could also just stick with the XP system as I don't find it to be a big issue or anything. It's certainly not a dealbreaker.

6. Flexible Magic of different types that comes with a cost.

Flexible Magic? Check. Different types. Hmm. Maybe. Sure. Comes with a cost? Occasionally. 

While I definitely have some thoughts regarding how Magic would work in this game, I don't have a completely fleshed out idea of how the Magic system would work. For now, here are my initial thoughts:

 
Basically it would function the same way Psychic Powers do in Space Opera Heroes: Magically gifted Player Characters would have an additional Ability Score called Magic Ability and one or more Magical Skills.

The more powerful and/or complicated the Magical Spell or Effect is that the PC is trying to achieve, the higher the Target Difficulty Number would be when attempting to Succeed in their Action Check.

As far as types, I don't want to get too granular but I might steal a page from my Aerth/Winghorn Guard setting. There, Magic falls into broad categories based on how it is performed and/or what it does. There's Alchemy, Spellcasting, Summoning, Runes, Miracles or 'Holy Magic', and Shamanism or 'Spirit Magic'. There are others but you get the idea.

 
When you use Magic you make an Action Check as you would for any skill use but here, if you fail the Magic doesn't work or have the desired effect and there is a negative consequence. Something goes very, very wrong.

That did not go as planned. 

If the player spends a Hero Point they Succeed with a Consequence but one somewhat less severe. Obviously a Success works the way the player intended and if you rolled high enough there will be additional effects or bonuses. 

More thoughts on this in a future post.

7. Speed & Simplicity of play

Super Duper Check! I taught a group of five people how to play and their were only a few of rule questions in the first session and really only one clarification in the second. 

8. Regardless of the PCs' degrees of power and skill, they should always feel challenged.

Check. 

One of the things I really dislike is when mastery of a game's mechanics is the key to overcoming challenges in the game. Games where the in-game narrative is less important to overcoming the challenge than having the 'right build' or knowing what the rules are in order to have some in game advantage completely turns me off to that RPG. 

Space Opera Heroes doesn't have that kind of dynamic. It's designed with a totally different mindset. The game remains challenging because the challenge doesn't come from the rules of the game. Many of the game's rules are actually designed to prevent things like permanent PC death for example. Instead, there are consequences in the story, for your gear, starship, robots, allies, friends, and the world around you. 

IMHO, this is far more engaging then losing my 1st level collection of random rolls to a pack of giant rats. 

'High Fantasy Heroes'?

The more I think about this, the better it fits. 

Expect to see more High Fantasy Hero in the near future. 

For now, Later Days,

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Barking Alien

Been A Long Time Since We Smurfed and Rolled!

It's been a long time,

Been a long time,
Been a long smurfy, smurfy,smurfy, smurfy, smurfy time!

Feels like it's been a Smurf's age since I've talked about one of my all time favorite Fantasy Tabletop RPGs - The Smurfs Roleplaying Game. 

Thankfully, I got to run AND play it yesterday (Saturday, September 19th 2026) and it was absolutely SMURFY! Did I say Run and Play? I did! It was awesome! Here's how it went down...

The session was split into two parts, each part being two hours long. Following the first half there was a small break inbetween and then we did the second half. I was Narrator Smurf (the GM) for Part 1 and I played Smurfcornflower for Part 2, which was run by Smurfs fan extraordinaire Stephen, the Storyteller for The Smurfs and The Palace of the Silver Princess and The Smurfs and The Bluebird of Happiness, as well as the player of Gamer Smurf in The Nightmare Before Smurfmas. 

OK...let's get to the good smurf...

BARKING ALIEN

PROUDLY PRESENTS...

The SMURFS

and

The Spectacular Smurf Day Snafu!

 

Part 1: A Foraging We Will Smurf! 

Narrator Smurf: Adam (Me!)

Players and Player Characters: Andrew as Apathy Smurf, Bob as Helpful Smurf, Heather as Smurfhoneysuckle, Julia as Smurfamaryllis, and Stephen as Gamer Smurf. 

The image above has them in the following order: Amaryllis, Gamer, Honeysuckle, Cornflower, Apathy, and Helpful. 

The Adventure: It's almost Smurf Day! The smurfiest day of the year! This year, among the many festivities planned, Baker is making the most amazing Smurf Day Cake any Smurf has ever made! The reason this cake will be so extra smurfy is that Baker isn't making it alone. He's working with Smurfcornflower for in order to give the cake some extremely exciting additions. 

Unfortunately...Smurfcornflower is out of some key ingredients! Smurf Day is tomorrow and she needs to brew a uniquely smurfy potion before Baker begins making his cake. Panicking, Cornflower asks her best friends Apathy and Honeysuckle to get some Smurfs together and go collect the needed components. Helpful Smurf, Smurfamaryllis, and Gamer Smurf see the others heading out and offer to come with them to help. Each for this own reasons:

Helpful felt he wasn't being helpful enough (after listing a dozen Smurfs he'd already helped).

Amaryllis wasn't getting enough praise or attention, so she wanted to do something notable.

Gamer said no one wanted to play with him. They were all so busy with Smurf Day.

Maybe not everysmurf had the most noble motivations but nonetheless their assistance was welcomed by Honeysuckle. Apathy was fine with them coming as well. 

What came next was a series of challenges to obtain a shopping list of silly and strange berries, herbs, and other elements. The Smurfs were confronted by difficult terrain, severe weather, hungry Growlers, and of course Gargamel and Azrael.  The PCs overcame these obstacles with character, cleverness, and comedy.

The group managed to assemble all the ingredients though not without Amaryllis and Helpful taking some serious bumps and bruises. 

Part 2: Bubble, Bubble Smurfs in Trouble! 

Narrator Smurf: Stephen

Players and Player Characters: Andrew as Apathy Smurf, Adam (Me!) as Smurfcornflower, Bob as Helpful Smurf, Heather as Smurfhoneysuckle, and Julia as Smurfamaryllis.

The Adventure: Having returned with the resources they were looking for, everysmurf met with Smurfcornflower at her Mushroom Cottage in Smurfy Grove so they could help her with making your super smurfy Smurf Day Spectacular Potion. Gamer Smurf left for Smurf Village to stall Baker Smurf, allowing Smurfcornflower and her team time to finish her concoction. 

Stephen ran this section of the story as a combination of puzzles and varying physical challenges revolving around the brewing of a very difficult elixir. It was fun, extremely funny, and very different from what we'd done in the past. For example, at one point we had to add frozen berries to boiling water. The challenge dealt with mathematics and if the numbers didn't line up, the potion would explode! Thank goodness for Andrew/Apathy and Bob/Helpful. My math skills absolutely suck! Once we got the temperatures right, we had to crush some mint into powder and that was more physical and accomplished by Honeysuckle and Amaryllis. Meanwhile, I needed to keep track of time (using an 5-minute timer) and how many stirs in which direction Cornflower was making. Our game time frame of two hours was treated as the in-game time frame as well. 

My favorite part was towards the end when we had to sing to the potion to get it just right! I got to make up an impromtu song and we had the advantage of Heather/Honeysuckle who is an amazing singer. It was ridiculous and hilarious. 

Conclusion: The final potion was poured into the cake mix of flour, eggs, milk, and other traditional components with wonderfully proposterous results! Each time the cake was cut or bitten into it sparked colorful fireworks (mostly blue, red, and purple) that tickled the tongue and tasted like Smurfberries. It was basically Smurfberry Pop-rocks with harmless, magical bursts of light! 

WHAT FUN! Honestly the entire thing was a total blast (no pun intended but totally welcome). 

Honestly the best part was getting to play with these charming, humorous, and very creative people once again. I had so much fun gaming with Bob and Julia once more but being joined by Andrew and Heather was truly a treat. Stephen, as always, brought the magic and remains one of the best Gamemasters I've played with. 

Hopefully I'll get to smurf again soon. 

Smurf you later!

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Barking Alien

Keep Your Distance But Don't Look Like You're Trying to Keep Your Distance

STAR WARS VISIONS - HEROES

PRESENTS...

The Adventures of Bani and Easy!

now with Gilikak!

Before making the jump to lightspeed, the team of Bani, Easy, and Gilikak collectively decided to re-enter normal space far out from 363-Grek III so they'd have time to find  the optimal approach and prepare themselves for dealing with the Imperial Forces. They based their jump coordinates on Bani and Easy's scans of system, with Easy assisting Gilikak on the final calculations.

Mechanically, Bani spent an Action Point to roll her Spaceship Navigation of 3 plus her Intellect of 1 and of course, her Exploding Die. Easy and Gilikak also spent one Action Point each to assist Bani, so she gets 2 bonus Advantage Dice. 

Normally this wouldn't be too difficult - it's just a normal Hyperspace jump and they're been there before - but they're trying to be very precise and avoid Imperial sensor scans. I'd say it's Difficult, a 10. My rolls on the 3D6 were 6, 6, and 4. That first 6 explodes so I rolled again and got a 2. My Action Check total was 12. Success! Not by much but good enough.

Shortly after entering Hyperspace, Bani and Gilikak sat down to go over Bani's survey data in greater detail. Even with a Class 3 Survey by a pro, there were only so many areas on an entire planet a single person could explore and scan. The two scouts focused on the regions Bani didn't get to look at in depth, surmissing that whatever the Galactic Empire was doing on 363-Grek III, their attention might be concentrated in one of those places. 

This is where I ran into my first snag of the campaign. I wanted to randomly roll the locations, terrain, and possible points of interest of three areas on the planet but Sci-Fi Random Tables are generally really lame for this sort of thing. It's one of the reasons I don't use random tables very much (hardly ever really). I can also always create something cooler than I'd generate with random rolls. 

That said, I want to be surprised/inspired - it is a Solo game after all. I decided to combine the results of rolls using Planets of the Galaxy Volume One, a 1991 supplement for West End Games' Star Wars Roleplaying Game with some general ideas I had about the planet.

The results were:

The duo narrowed it down to three likely planetary features.

Feature #1 - The Trench Canyons: In the Northeastern hemisphere was were three massive trenches that all met at their Southern most points. Bani had found them fascinating and if she hadn't been on a job with a schedule she would've spent more time checking them out. It was an especially warm water region thanks to numerous thermal vents and a host of unusual creatures were living there. What would the Imperial want with that? It was too deep and too far from land to provide power to an outpost. 

Feature #2 - The Long Archipelago: There were a string of small islands that crossed the equator North to South, an archipelago where Bani had detected radioactive minerals. There wasn't a large quantity but maybe the Empire wanted to mine them because the minerals had specific properties they needed. 

Feature #3 - The Shallow Sea Wreckage: Set centrally in the Southern hemisphere. there exists a shallow sea with higher than normal salt content. Sitting in this shallow sea is a crashed starship, possibly a Corvette or other small military vessel. A passing scan revealed it to be very old, with little structural integrity left. Could it have carried some cargo the Empire thought to be of value? 

Gilikak spends an Action Point so he can make a Check against his Intellect 3 and Science: Archeolgy 2. He's focusing on the data and images of Feature #3 - The Shallow Sea Wreckage. Hmm. Archeology isn't exactly the right Skill but its close enough for what we are trying to determine, the age of the wreck. I'll set the Difficulty at Difficult 10. I roll 1D6 and get...Holy Moly! A 6, another 6, and a 1. Gilikak's total is 18! That's an Effective Success, +5 points more than the Target Number. Gilikak gain 1 Situation Benefit. 

Gilikak stared silently at the images and information for what felt like forever. Bani was staring at him nearly as long, neither moving in the slightest. RB-EZ1 entered the room, looked at the two of them and got caught up in the effect as well. 

Bani's nose twitched. Her ears wiggled. She closed her eyes, held her breath, but just couldn't take it any longer, "WELL?!?" Gilikak and Easy were so startled they jumped. "Did you figure out anything?", Bani asked with a smidgen of exasperation. 

"Sort of", Gilikak began, "I think we can rule out the shipwreck. Based on the data you obtained, the ship and any cargo it may have had have all but disintegrated. The age seems extreme, salt corosion is high, and a coral growth appears to have formed over everything. There is nothing salvageable there." Gilikak tapped a button a few times that changed the screen image from scans of the Shallow Sea Wreckage to scans of the Long Archipelago.

 

Spending his Situation Benefit, he gains insight into Feature #2. Radioactivity from the minerals there a not particularly strong or unique. 

"Take a look at this", Gilikak said while pointing to the scans on the Datapad. "I don't think their target is the Long Archipelago either. It just isn't worth it. These readings don't warrant a Victory Class Star Destroyer protecting that site. That is a lot of firepower for very little payoff."

Bani nodded. Easy gave a low whistle of agreement. 

Bani stood up, stretched her arms over her head, and then rested her hands on her hips. "OK, I have some idea but its probably best to take a quick nap first. We'll take turns just in case. Do you need to recharge, Easy?" Easy gave a simple, sharp beep. Nope, he was good. 

Gilikak gave Bani the top bunk and pointed out the charging station to EZ1 should he need it. Once she laid herself down and seemed comfortable, Gilikak headed back to the cockpit to make sure everything was going smoothly. About three hours or so later, they switched, though Gilikak used the bottom bunk. Time passed, snacks were eaten, a few adjustments were made on the Sea Skimmer in the cargo area, and after a while the NavComputer alerted the group they were approaching re-entry to normal space. 

Gilikak got into the pilot seat, Bani sat at Navigation, and Easy plugged in behind them. 

ZHHHH-POOM! The Always Searching dropped out of Hyperspace pretty much exactly where they wanted to be. Out the front viewports, which were large by comparison to the overall size of the vessel, a massive green and yellow gas giant with rings and a dozen small moons spun ever so slowly before them.

 

"363-Grek V", Bani said absentmindedly. 

Gilikak and Easy immediately starting scanning, doing everything they could to get as accurate a picture of their surroundings as possible. It seemed the 'coast was clear' for now. This told Gilikak that whatever was happening in the system, it was very much focused on the third planet. There were large fleet movements, no system wide patrols, nothing but the distant blip of a Victory Class Star Destroyer and, hmm, a few other smaller vessels. Considerably smaller in fact. Gilikak pointed this out to Bani, whose familiarity with starship classes was considerably greater than his own.

"Gozantis would be my guess. Fairly standard to bring them in as transports for personnel, fighters, ground vehicles, or whathaveyou. They're classified as cruisers even though they're used as transports. Gozantis let you move a lot of people and stuff quickly", Bani said, not realizing she was speaking very quietly, as if the Imperials might hear her.

Gilikak leaned back in his pilot seat and took a deep, slow breath. They needed to get closer but very, very carefully. With the flick of his thumb, Gilikak activated his vessel's 'Stealth Mode'; not an actually cloaking device of course but a shield that deflects the vast majority of sensors. At best - for the Empire - the Always Searching might show as a sensor ghost or shadow; an inconsistent blur that they'd find extremely difficult to lock onto. It wasn't so great against fighters, whose pilots could simply look out the window and see the A-24 Sleuth Class Scout Ship zipping by. Still, better to have it than not. 

"Alright Bani...Easy...I'm taking us further into the inner system. Stealth Mode is on and that should help a lot but...just be ready for anything", Gilikak said, his voice serious and even. Bani nodded and Easy did the droid equivalent. 

With that, they were off...

To be continued...

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Barking Alien

Hosts of Freaky Ghosts

Happy 40th Birthday to The Real Ghostbusters! The animated series that kept Ghostbusters alive between the original two films and one of my all time favorite American animated cartoons, The Real Ghostbusters was an exceptionally well written and well executed show.

September 13th, 1986 to September 13th, 2026

I had originally intended to publish an original, system-agnostic, Ghostbusters-esque RPG sourcebook this October but as I am currently working on another paid tabletop roleplaying game project, I am afraid I don't have the time or bandwidth to complete the book I intended to make within my self-imposed timeframe. So instead...you're getting it for free!

Throughout the month of October 2026 I will be posting 31 Ghosts for use with my Ghostbusters AD homebrew system, which is relatively easy to retrofit to the original Ghostbusters RPG by West End Games, InSpectres by Memento Mori, Spooktacular by Ewen Cluney/Yaruki Zero Games, or any other tabletop game of paranormal investigations and eliminations. 

I will be setting it firmly in the [non-canon] Ghostbusters universe of my own campaigns but you're welcome, encouraged really, to adapt it to your own setting. This is in no way official; it's a fun fan endeavor by a TRPG gamer who loves Ghostbusters. That's it.

I hope you enjoy it. 

Look for this series of posts to begin with the spooky season on October 1st.

Scare you later, 

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Barking Alien