UncleBear Media

We have four (4) supporting characters that we can rename. Those characters could be named after you. They could be named after someone you love. They can be named after someone you hate. But the point is, for a $100 pledge YOU get to name the supporting character anything you want. How cool is that? We’ll even add a line in the credits, “CHARACTER NAME named by BACKER NAME”. Except, you know, with the actual names. And since you already get your name in the credits for being a backer, this means you get your name in the credits TWICE. Yeah. For reals.

But we only have four slots for this. Donate now, so you don’t miss out.

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All backers who pledge to support us with $25 or more will get a copy of the shooting script autographed by the principal cast members. We’ll send these out after the Kickstarter project activates, so you’ll get to read the script before we even start shooting! It’s the ultimate insider package! Gain internet cred by leaking it to your favorite internet movie site! You can be the person that spoilers it for everyone! Plus, when we get rich and famous you can hock the autographed script on eBay for ridiculous amounts of money? What could possibly go wrong!?!

Become a Backer now at Kickstarter

About The Damage Patrol
Based on a true story, The Damage Patrol is about a group of friends who reunite after 15 years to make the geeky comedy show they always dreamed of. As they get reacquainted, they discover that they all desperately need a creative outlet. With family responsibilities, soul-crushing jobs, painful divorces, and other mundane disasters engulfing them, they long for the carefree days when life was about bad movies, comic books, and video games. Funny, heartwarming, and weird, it’s about true friendship, and what it means to be an aging fanboy.

The script is written and the cast is assembled. We’ve got folks who’ve worked on Breaking Bad, In Plain Sight, No Country For Old Men, and a number of independent films on this project. What we have in expertise we lack in hardware; we need a camera, sound equipment, and other basic nuts-and-bolts stuff. The Damage Patrol will be released for free on the internet in serialized format, 10 episodes of approximately 7 minutes each.

Become a Backer now at Kickstarter

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In going over the production schedule and our non-existent budget, the producers have come to the conclusion that doing episode 8, “Where We Blew This Season’s Budget”, isn’t viable. Well, it is, if we want to hold up the release of the show until around 2013.

Episode 8, for those just tuning in, was going to be the animated episode. We were going to do the whole thing in old 8-bit video game animation. There are free tools that exist that would let us do this ourselves, but it would take a very long time to do so.

Instead, I’ve made a few tweaks to the script and we’re just going to shoot it live action. It’s mostly the same, but instead of video game animation we’ll get to see Cameron being chased down halls by his coworkers, eating mushrooms, leaping to grab gold coins dangling from the ceiling, and jumping over barrels. While the novelty of doing an “animated episode” filled me with glee, I think doing it live action will be a lot funnier. We’ll get to point out some ridiculous physics and gaming tropes… with nothing but love, of course.

The title of the episode has been changed to “Fantasy Heartbreaker”, to reflect that we’re really not breaking the budget any more.

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Based on a true story, The Damage Patrol is about a group of friends who reunite after 15 years to make the geeky comedy show they always dreamed of. As they get reacquainted, they discover that they all desperately need a creative outlet. With family responsibilities, soul-crushing jobs, painful divorces, and other mundane disasters engulfing them, they long for the carefree days when life was about bad movies, comic books, and video games. Funny, heartwarming, and weird, it’s about true friendship, and what it means to be an aging fanboy.

The script is written and the cast is assembled. We’ve got folks who’ve worked on Breaking Bad, In Plain Sight, No Country For Old Men, and a number of independent films on this project. What we have in expertise we lack in hardware; we need a camera, sound equipment, and other basic nuts-and-bolts stuff. The Damage Patrol will be released for free on the internet in serialized format, 10 episodes of approximately 7 minutes each.

You can back this project now at Kickstarter

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In looking at the structure of superteams, both in comics and in roleplaying games, I think there are some missed opportunities for character bits that arise from the basic logistics. Like law enforcement officers and military personnel, full-time supers should have some kind of support system. Other than, you know, the occasional butler, talking computer, or robot servant. The whole idea of teams is to pool resources, which usually means vehicles and a headquarters, but there’s a need for so much more.

Superhero Medic
Sure, a lot of supers are invulnerable, or heal quickly, or just don’t get hurt for various reasons. But some do. Having some kind of medical staff, who can deal with issues of superhero anatomy as well as specialized privacy issues, would be a boon. And it’s an NPC (or even a player character!) with something important to do.

Superhero Shrink
Modern supers see some pretty horrific stuff. They have to deal with that. How many storylines have we seen where heroes crack under the strain? The whole Marvel Age of Comics is built in supers with problems. There should be someone who handles the mental health and fitness of superheroes. Again, entrusted with secrets, this could be an important character and a roleplaying opportunity.

Superhero Chaplain
I’ve always wanted to deal with the concept of religion in superhero universes, especially since there are not only characters with godlike powers but often mythological gods themselves running around. What’s the impact on faith? What role does faith play in the lives of the heroes? A chaplain can fill the same sort of role as a shrink, giving troubled heroes someone to talk to.

Superhero Quartermaster
Do you seriously want me to believe that heroes have enough down time to build, maintain, and repair their own gear? Who built the mundane stuff — costumes, guns, cars — in the first place? Say they don’t. The non-flying characters stay behind because they haven’t had time to repair the jet. One of the characters smells like gasoline, because he had to fuel up the car. Someone runs out of that specialized ammo. The whole team looks shabby because no one’s mending (or making new) uniforms. You need people for this.

Superhero Secret Identity Problems
This is the real issue. The more of a support staff you need, the more likely the whole concept of the secret identity goes out the window. Too many people. How to handle that? Well, it’s not necessary for all of the staff to know who they work for. They know their jobs, they get paid, they’re doing good and helping the cause.

Superhero Finances
The next question is, how do you pay these people? Billionaire philanthropists? Government agencies? Video game rights? Supers gotta pay the bills. This introduces a lot of plot hooks and roleplaying opportunities. Maybe your team opens a Fundable account or holds a telethon.

Superhero Espionage
Another consequence of having a larger staff is the possibility for espionage. Supervillains, foreign governments, your own government, even other superhero teams want intel on your gear, as well as personal information to use against you. A whole other can of worms to open here.

Superhero Team Problems
I’m really looking at the Marvel Age “heroes with problems” paradigm writ large. It’s not just personal problems; these are team problems, that players will need to work out together, argue about, delegate responsibility for.

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While I’m really looking forward to Hamlet’s Hit Points by Robin D. Laws, which breaks down the beats of stories down for use in roleplaying games, it’s something I’ve been doing for a while. That we have products like Bandit Run and REDSHIFT on the UncleBear Media production schedule should attest to that. He’s analyzing the emotional ebb and flow to help you better structure your RPG stories; I’m more looking at adapting the storylines into roleplaying adventures. Until we get a look at how Robin does it, here’s what I’ve been doing.

Go Scene By Scene
If you have a script, great! If not, go scene by scene and take notes. If I have a script (I recommend Drew’s Script-o-Rama), I first strip out the dialogue, and number each scene. If I’m doing it from scratch, I just start noting each scene. Make note of where it takes place, who’s in the scene, and what actually happens.

Flesh Out Each Scene
Figure out what happens in the scene, in terms of information being communicated by supporting characters to lead characters, and skills and abilities the lead characters use. This lets you know what really happens in roleplaying terms. You can start to stat out villain abilities, monsters, traps, skill difficulties, and so forth. You also know what dialogue is essential to move the plot forward, in terms of what your NPCs will need to tell the player characters.

Look for Exits
Players characters don’t follow scripts. There need to be compelling reasons for them to take the next steps in the adventure and not wander off on tangents. I hate railroading, but I always like to have both a carrot and a stick handy. If they don’t follow the carrot, hit them with the stick and do something that lands them where they need to be next, without resorting to a deus ex machina.

Look for Synergies
Player characters don’t have to follow the film’s scenes in order. If there’s a place where you can handle two plot points at once, like learning two bits of info or dealing with two loose ends, and the game is running long, run with it. Do it then. Figure out what the characters need to do, without feeling they have to do it in the same order it’s presented in the movie.

Have a Timeline
That said, some things are going to happen at certain times and in a certain order regardless of what the player characters do. Have a timeline. Let things go off-script, and use your own to explore the “what ifs”.

File Off the Serial Numbers
Bandit Run and REDSHIFT are mashups for reasons beyond copyright. If players know you’re running a plot lifted from a movie, they’ll expect things to play out the same as the movie, and many times will be disappointed if they don’t. Change names, settings, macguffins, whatever you need to. The plots will still work. Even if the players know what you’ve borrowed from, making it obvious that things are a bit different from the start will give them the freedom to do their own thing and feel comfortable about it. It will give them a chance to use their own creativity and explore the “what ifs”

You Mileage May Vary
This isn’t so much a formula as it is a guideline. If you drop a movie plot into your setting, adapt it to the strengths of your setting. Be sure to play off of the strengths of your player characters. Do what needs to be done, and always, always look at the movie as a loose guideline, rather than a rigid structure, to be followed. The goal isn’t to emulate the movie precisely, but to create an enjoyable roleplaying game experience.

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Doing genre mashups can be challenging, which is why I love it. One of the big creative challenges in Bandit Run was figuring out how to convert car chase stunts to the context of spaceships. How does one jump a river when the bridge is out when you’re in space? You need two things: a river (duh), and gravity. Here’s what I came up with.

There’s a ring around the planet, and it’s composed of big chunks of ice. Miners gather the ice for water, as part of terraforming efforts. Not to terraform the planet below; that’s got its own water. They want to haul the water to other planets, and even use it on space stations. Plus, there are always entrepreneurs who want to bottle the water and sell it as something special, or use it to brew beer and other alcoholic beverages citing its purity and/or special mineral qualities. Either way, they’re harvesting water from the ring of ice chunks.

To save the expense of hauling ice chunks elsewhere, there are processing plants in orbit. They melt the ice, and then capture the water right out in open space. But the water will float off, so they’ve set up ring-shaped satellites the generate artificial gravity. Through this series of rings, the water flows through space to the filtering and processing plants. In short, there’s a river in orbit around the planet.

Because the rings generate gravitational fields passing ships, especially smaller cargo vessels, can get sucked in and swept along with the river. This is bad. It’s a navigational hazard, and can cause damage to both the ships and the water mining operation. To deal with this, there are bridges. Flat platforms, equidistant between two gravity rings, that project a field that nullifies the gravity effect. The water flows below, ships pass safely above.

The bridge across the river is out. Speed across it, and strong-arm the control yoke to keep from getting sucked into the river.

Yes, it’s a lot of BS pseudoscience and takes a lot of logical liberties to make it work. This isn’t hard science fiction. I hope you expected no less. It’s an awful lot of background to work out for one skill challenge. But that’s what’s going to make Bandit Run worthwhile. Not only do you get a one-shot adventure with pregenerated characters and all the rules, you get setting bits that can be dropped into your own space western or other science fiction campaign and re-used.

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Volume 2 of Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs is now available. Buy many copies, for yourself and all your gaming friends. If it influences you to make the purchase, I was one of the editors. If that doesn’t sway you, it’s full of great articles. The best writing on roleplaying from the best of roleplaying game bloggers. While you’re there, pick up some more copies of Volume 1 as well — it has four articles by me, including a guest post I did for the ChattyDM.

Foreword by Justin Achilli. Through the combined efforts of over 70 authors, artists, editors, and fans of RPG blogs – Open Game Table is back! Inside you will find timeless interviews with Dave Arneson on the roots of roleplaying games, Robin D. Laws on RPG theory and game play, and Jonathan Roberts on his career as a master cartographer. Included in Volume 2 are 65 articles that serve as the perfect complement to Volume 1: GM and player advice on character and campaign design, sandboxing, story pacing, play styles, gaming with your kids, and much much more. WIRED.com’s GeekDad blog says Volume 1 is “… a treasure trove. A tome worth killing a few orcs for.” and “The kind of brain stimulus role players need, diverse and quality content.” Bards & Sages Fantasy Review says “Open Game Table, Volume 1 is the reference guide equivalent of a Deck of Many Things, … you can draw from it again and again.” Open Game Table, Volume 2 brings that same level of excellence back to the table, and never misses a roll.

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There’s one simple goal for players of Bandit Run: get the cargo to its destination on time. One of the challenges in designing the scenario was figuring out to quantify that. Do you set a time limit on the game itself? That doesn’t seem fair, as it cheats the players and the gamemaster of opportunities to describe elaborate stunts. That was another design goal, to get players to take risks and be outrageous.

The answer I came up with combines the two. In each scene, the crew has a chance to collect Victory Points. At the end of the scenario, if they’ve managed to accumulate 100 Victory Points, they get their on time. If they have over 100, they get there early (and I’m considering an “unlockable” bonus scene, if they get over 100). If they fall short, they get there late, and lose.

There are 20 scenes in Bandit Run. Each is worth 5 points. If they do nothing special and achieve the goal of each scene, they’ll win. Some of the scenes are hard, though, and each scene gets progressively harder. If you do nothing special, and lose one scene, you’ve fallen behind and have lost time, and you’ll lose. To make up time, you have to take risks. You have to do crazy things, and perform stunts.

Bandit Run uses a modified version of Imagination’s Toybox, so tasks are rated from 1 to 10, with 1 being simple, 5 average, and 10 nigh impossible. Victory points are awarded for the highest task rating you succeed at. Again, if you do average stuff, with a difficulty of 5, you get 5 points. If you take risks and try something with a 7, you get 7 Victory Points. It helps make up time, but requires more risk.

Victory Points also double as Hero Points. Failed that roll? You can spend Victory Points to improve a roll. Spending Victory Points means you lose time, but you don’t crash and end the game right there, either. You can also spend Victory Points to set up a stunt; it may be worth spending 5 if you can pull off a stunt that earns the crew 7 or 8.

To keep it from being just a tactical chase game, each of the pregenerated characters has a personal goal, with earns them personal Victory Points. This lets them take some risks without dipping into the crew’s overall Victory Point total, but also adds to the overall total in the end. One character has the personal goal of being a showoff, and gets person points for doing stunts and drawing attention to himself. Another has the goal of keeping a secret, and gets points for each scene she manages to do that. One character has the goal of timekeeper, nagging people to not get sidetracked, and gets personal points for each scene where the crew meets the scene’s goal.

Bandit Run is meant to be playable in about 4 hours, as a one-shot. It promises to be a lot of fun. I think there’s a good balance of things for everyone.

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As you’ve probably noticed, I like games with hero points and similar mechanics. This goes back to the legacy system DoubleZero is based on and the Mayfair Games version of DC Heroes, and continues up through Mutants & Masterminds, Savage Worlds, and Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space. Over time I’ve tweaked the bits I like best about each of them, and collectively they’ll form the hero point system in Imagination’s Toybox.

One of my favorite uses of hero points is what I call the pre-game warmup. First, I go around the table and ask each player how many points that have going into this session. I keep tallies at the end of each session and check against that total, not to try to catch players lying but to make sure they’re not shorting themselves. I’m also keeping notes on whether players are using more or less than I’m giving out, so I can adjust awards as needed. As they player tells me their total, I pass out poker chips or other tokens to them.

Next, I go around the table again and ask each player to summarize, in 30 seconds, what happened in the last game session from their character’s point of view. I keep notes on this. Whether on purpose (intentionally skewing the recap to fit a character’s perspective) or through faulty memory, what the character/player thinks they saw could be a story hook for me. For each player who can articulate at least one thing, I give them an additional hero point.

Finally, I go around the table a third time asking each player what their character’s goal is in this session. This also carries an “in 30 seconds or less” caveat. It might be as simple as kicking the bad guy’s ass. It might be some personal, roleplaying-oriented goal like getting home to family. I write all of this down. If it’s a brand new goal being introduced for the first time, and based on something in the last session, I give them a hero point on the spot. I try to incorporate session goals into the game, to give the player what they want. They have to work toward it, to, and in that context I have to throw in obstacles. When they achieve that session goal, I give them a hero point.

The pre-game serves a few purposes, obviously. It helps people get in character, and think about what they’ve done and what they’re going to do next. It focuses the group, as people tend to listen to the personalized recaps and other characters’ goals. And it gives people a chance to get a extra hero point or two before the real action starts.

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