I’m currently working on editing a new episode of Dice Monkey Radio, where I interview Cam Banks, the creator of the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game. In the meantime, MWP has released a four-page preview of their Operations Manual, the rulebook that features the basic rules of the game.

The preview looks fantastic. The four pages give the basic mechanics for the game, and present them in a really straight-forward manner. Additionally, there’s a blue bar along the side of the page, which contains cross-referencing materials. If you see a term you aren’t familiar with, you can see exactly where to turn to get that information. That’s amazing! I’ve never seen an RPG do that.

A lot of people complain about RPGs not having an index, and this is a giant step above. The only way it could be easier to find the information you need is for the book to read your mind and automatically turn the pages for you.

I’m getting more and more excited for this game as time goes on.

Today, we’re chatting with the creator of Tweet RPG, Sam Richards.

Glad to talk with you. To start with, what is Tweet RPG?

Tweet RPG is an online story creation project, using Twitter to provide a new way to enjoy role-playing adventures. All you need to join in is a Twitter account and an imagination! Players vote twice daily to decide which direction the story takes, but there are opportunities for individual players to shape the story on their own. In short, Tweet RPG is about fun, free, follower-defined adventures!

I tried to run my own RPG via Twitter, and it fell apart after about a week due to some players not responding. Do you think that the method in which you’re running the game makes it easier for you to keep it going?

I think a ‘no pressure’ approach is a good way to run a RPG on Twitter, especially when you’re running a story with people from all across the globe. You have to accept that some players will be available for every decision, and others will only be able to contribute every now and again. I’ve found it best to keep things as simple as possible, so that as many people as possible can get onboard. However, if you’re running a small exclusive game with familiar people, there could be room for a higher level of complexity and a deeper expectation of commitment.

How many stories have you told so far?

The first Tweet RPG adventure was a fantasy story called ‘King Slayer’, inspired by ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ The hero was a royal assassin from a small nation, tasked with the mission of killing the ruler of the invading Skavakian army. This was a fairly simple quest in most respects, a good way to test-run the project. The second story was the first part of a science fiction epic called ‘Starfall’. Inspired by things like ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Zone of the Enders’, this adventure placed the players at the helm of a towering battlemech and forced to fight in an intergalactic combat tournament. I’m currently running a neo noir narrative called ‘Time to Die’, a futuristic detective mystery.

Any genres you’d like to tackle in the future?

Lots! One of the great things about Tweet RPG is it gives me the opportunity to mess about with all sorts of ideas. I’d like to run a superhero adventure at some point – can see it being a challenge to make it original and work out how to balance the hero’s abilities and weaknesses. The horror genre would also be fun to try, although I think I might avoid supernatural and undead horror, as those themes have been ‘done to death’ recently, if you’ll excuse the pun! Other possible genres are historical, cyberpunk and maybe a meta-narrative – an RPG about playing RPGs!

How often do you check in on the game, and how do you keep on top of everything?

When I started Tweet RPG, I was checking in on the votes all the time! My wife would threaten to throw my phone out of the window sometimes to stop me checking it every five seconds. I do have a bit of an addictive personality, so I’ve had to rein myself in and be realistic with how much time I can/should spend on Tweet RPG. As the first three adventures have progressed, I’ve streamlined the processes and worked out what’s a realistic commitment for me to make. One tool I find really useful for running Tweet RPG is ‘Hootsuite’, as it allows me to schedule tweets for the future. This lets me plan vote reminders at regular intervals, so that I run Tweet RPG and it doesn’t run me.

Are you currently in any tabletop games? What’s going on there?

I always squirm in my boots when I get asked this question! I guess I must be one of the only GMs with no experience of tabletop gaming – I don’t have many friends who share my interest in RPGs (get the violins out!), but I’m sure I would enjoy some DnD if I got the chance! My experience of role-playing comes from gamebooks and video-games like the ‘Final Fantasy’ series. These forms of entertainment developed my love for being able to shape stories, and writing adventures for Tweet RPG gives me the opportunity to do this on a daily basis.

Thanks for all your responses, Sam. I appreciate it.

If you’d like to read up on Tweet RPG, you can visit the site, or go directly to the game on Twitter at @tw33t_rpg.

Wow, this one took a long time to put out. I recorded this episode with Tracy back in November, and it took a long, long time to get it out there due to Christmas, college, children, and lots of other factors.

This episode, we talked about realism in games. Is realism a good thing? A trivial thing?

I just recorded another episode last night, and hope to have it up soon. Keep your eyes open for Dice Monkey Radio Episode 4.

Interested in being a co-host in the future? Let me know. I’m always looking for new blood.

I’m really, really getting excited for this thing to come out on February 28th.

On the 28th, you can pick up the core book, and in the coming months there are a host of other books coming.

Marvel announced their MARVEL HEROES Events here. Basically, the Events are adventures to the basic game, but come in a variety of books, depending on what you need.

Essential Editions are full color casebound hardcovers priced at 29.99 and include a full MARVEL HEROES campaign, with character rosters, locations, and expanded rules. Best value for those who already have the Operations Manual from the MARVEL HEROES Basic Game.

Basically, these will have the campaign, extra rules, and characters. Excellent. You have the Operations Manual? You get this one.

Premium Editions are full color prestige hardcovers priced at 39.99 and include all the Essentials Edition content plus the Operations Manual and additional resources.

This one’s more expensive, but it includes the full rules for the game. This is great for having all the rules in one place. I like this idea.

Event Supplements are full color perfect bound softcovers priced at 19.99 and expand or build on the storylines and character.

It seems like this is an addition to the other two books, with more adventure to expand on what’s in the books. You’ve played the adventure, and want to keep going? Here it is. At least, that’s what it looks like to me.

Here’s what really gets me excited. Every few months these books are coming out, with major events in the Marvel Universe.

March: CIVIL WAR
The Civil War was a major event in the Marvel Universe, pitting hero against hero, as the Superhuman Registration Act became law. Some heroes were for registration (led by Iron Man), some were against (led by Capt. America). The results were massive, leading to Captain America’s death (which later got reversed), and contributed to the ability of the Skrulls to later invade the planet. The repercussions of the Civil War ended up echoing for years following the plot.

I own most of the TPB for this (there were about 20), so I’m looking forward to this one coming right on the heels of the core game.

June: ANNIHILATION
This was a major event in the galactic side of the Marvel Universe. If you like your massive space wars, this is the one for you. It involved most of the cosmic entities in Marvel, including Thanos, the Beyonder, Galactus, Silver Surfer, Annihilus, and my favorite, Ronan the Accuser.

The Skrulls are involved, there’s a massive intergalactic fleet, and everything goes very, very wrong. This series doesn’t feel like Marvel, in the sense of superheroes fighting one another. Instead, it’s more like everything badass you’ve ever imagined about Sci-Fi. I’m looking forward to this one.

September: AGE OF APOCALYPSE 
This storyline takes place in an alternate Marvel Universe, in which Xavier is killed, and Magneto takes up the mantle of peaceful coexistence with humans. With Xavier’s death, Apocalypse decides to take over the world, which shouldn’t have happened for another 10 years. As a result, the world isn’t ready, and becomes enslaved to one of the most powerful foes the Marvel Universe has ever seen. Every once in a while, Marvel goes back and looks at the Age of Apocalypse, and I know a lot of people really, really enjoy that alternate universe.

Again, I’m really looking forward to all this, and can’t wait to give the game a try. I’ll keep updating the blog as new updates come out.

You can now take a look at what heroes in the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game are going to look like! Marvel has released previews of both Captain America as well as The Savage Land. The Savage Land is part of the adventure in the first book. It all looks very, very slick.

 What’s the first thing the heroes face? (Spoilers!) A T-Rex and Raptors! That’s a way to get off to a good start.

The character sheet for Cap is really good looking. All his stats are on one page (in keeping with the Cortex rules), while his history and abilities are on the back side, as well as a fantastic picture.

I’m really looking forward to giving the game a try, and am considering running a session of this at my FLGS once it’s released.

My Kingmaker Pathfinder campaign began on Saturday. Two players failed to show, so it was Jack, Josh and myself. We were initially thinking we’d just talk about the campaign, but I was begged into running “Something, anything!”

So here was the session.

Ransom, a dwarf rogue, was making his way down the road, traveling from Restov, where he was tasked with exploring the Greenbelt, a section of the Stolen Lands to the west of the city. He recieved the job through a contact in Brevoy, and was told he would be able to meet up with the rest of his group at Oleg’s Trading Post in the Northern Greenbelt.

Riding his great ram, Ransom found the day to be bright and clear. It was nearing midday, and he estimated he was within a half hour of the trading post, when he saw movement in the forest to his left.

Pausing, he noted that the two shapes were moving at his pace, keeping back within the trees. To his right, there was a large rock outcropping, so he decided to move that way, in order to see if the shapes would continue along. Before he even made it to the rocks, an arrow whizzed by his head.

He turned, leaping from his ram, as a bandit burst from the woods, sword drawn. More arrows shot past him, avoiding actually hitting him.

Ransom drew his hand-axes, and advanced toward the bandit.

Suddenly, the whole forest went dark.

Looking around, he realized the darkness appeared to be centered on him. Being a dwarf, he was able to see perfectly, though the bandits weren’t so lucky. They began to stumble about aimlessly, trying to find the dwarf in the darkness.

Not understanding the purpose of the deep shadows, but never one to give up an opportunity, Ransom charged, striking down the first of the bandits. The other, deep in the forest turned to run, only to find himself standing before a glowing form of a man. He panicked, and turned the other way, stumbling through the undergrowth.

Ransom rushed him, cutting him down almost as quickly. Has he moved forward to attack the bandit, however, he noticed a shadowy shape rush past him, then vanish again into the forest. As the last of the two bandits fell, the darkness evaporated. The sky was clear and sunny.

Ransom looked around. The shadowy figure was nowhere to be seen.

“Spirit of the forest!” he shouted into the woods, “Are you friend or foe?”

Along the ground, a glowing question mark appeared, then vanished. He tried to call out again, but recieved no answer.

He waited a while, then moved to the bandits. Leaning their bodies up against a tree facing the road, he carved “BANDIT” into the chestpieces of their leather armor, as a warning to any others who came down this way. He then mounted his ram, and continued toward the trading post.

It was a good first session, and taught my two players how MapTool worked. They enjoyed it, and look forward to this upcoming Saturday, where we’ll hopefully have the full group.

You can follow our adventures, as well as see the character sheets here at our Kingmaker site.

Here’s something I haven’t experienced much in-game: Player Characters dating either Non-Player Characters or other Player Characters.

About four years ago, on deployment, we briefly began to play Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, and my Cleric almost ended up in a relationship with an NPC, but the game sort of fell apart before that ever came to fruition.

In my current online Star Wars game, my character is a simple mechanic, just wanting to get home to his family on Alderaan.

Other than that, I’ve never really experienced relationships in game, either as a DM or as a player.

So, how does one handle this? What happens when a husband and wife are at the table, and the husband’s character begins flirting with the barmaid? How about when the wife’s character begins dating one of the PCs? How would one handle that?

I think that you need to set some ground rules if you’re going to be introducing relationships into the game.

1. Ask your players. If you’ve got a great idea for a romance between your NPC and a PC, ask them if they’re cool with that. Ask the others at the table if they’re comfortable with romance being addressed in-game. Some players hate it. Check.
2. Establish ground rules. I understand it could get a bit uncomfortable to watch two heterosexual guys making eyes at each other across the table as the DM discribes the flirting between the barmaid and the PC. Find out what the players are comfortable with before going forward.
3. If anyone’s getting uncomfortable, back off. You’re RPing some great ineractions between the PC and the barmaid. You look up, and his wife is looking upset. Stop, make sure everything’s okay. It may spoil the mood of the scene, but it never hurts to make sure all of your players are having a good time.

Those are the three tips I have. Keep things mature and friendly, and everyone will enjoy themselves.

Within the next week or so, I’ll be a part of the 5Mind, playtesting D&DNext, so I won’t really be talking about the next edition, as I don’t want to let something slip.

However, there’s plenty else to talk about!

My 4e game is going great, though it looks like the Heroes of the Godfell Stone will have to take a break. It’s not definite, as I’m still seeing how well I’m able to balance it, but I’m in my last semester of college, and I’ve got a ton of classes. If I’m having trouble maintaining balance, I’ll be passing the group off to one of the players to run until March when I’m done.

The Marvel RPG is coming out at the end of February, so I’ll be preordering that, and waiting patiently for it to arrive. I’m a big ol’ Marvel fanboy, so I can’t wait to give it a try. I’ll probably be talking about Marvel stuff in the time leading up to it.

In addition, I’ll be playtesting (hopefully) something my brother has in the works that’s being sold to a game company. I know some vague details, but nothing to really talk about at this point.

I’ve also got the Pathfinder online game I’m running, starting next week, so I’ll be able to talk about that too!

I had initially planned on just talking about why I wouldn’t be talking about the new D&D on here, but realized there’s still a lot I can talk about.

Keep rolling 20′s!

Run, don’t walk, over to the latest episode of Dice Monkey Radio.

This episode is a bit different than the last two: A bonus episode with no news, no editing, and 6 hosts!

The hosts are: Tim from Dice, Food, Lodging, Jenn of Jennisodes, Michael of Online Dungeon Master, Michael of The Id DM, Gary of GMSarli Games, and of course, myself.

I know! It’s like a cornucopia of superstars!

I was really excited to record this episode. Note that I normally spend weeks editing a single episode, and spent next to no time editing this one, so you may hear some strange noises, awkward pauses, and other things here and there. Enjoy!