Sukiyaki Western Django Part 2!

One of the things I wanted to talk about in Sukiyaki Western Django was the last fight. It's a huge fight involving multiple factions and even people you wouldn't think would become involved do so with a huge cost to the town and all of the people that the viewer has been introduced to.

But it's also a long fight.

With the gunslingers, there are several moments when they are forced to seek shelter and reload and gather new weapons.

How would that work in a game like 4e?

In 4e, this could be done as a series of combat encounters and skill checks. The combat encounters should be fairly simple. The GM would allow several groups of enemies access to the players untill they are overcome or the players retreat. The GM can allow the players the ability to retreat earlier by introducing a skill check.

In this last big fight, the leader of the red gang is running around with a chain machine gun and a heavy suit of armor that protects him from non-specifically aimed shots. If the players want to move out, they can make a skill check to avoid the chain gun and allow the chain gun fool to shoot into the other enemies.

Now that may seem like a cop out, but it's actually something used with some frequency. For example, in the Dungeon Siege 2 game, when fighting the big bad, there is actually no way to damage him outside of activating an ancient technology that does damage to him. Would that be attacking the big bad or a skill check? Probably skill check.

The other problem becomes the mapping. The GM should have several generic maps set up of the battlefield ahead of time and be ready to run those maps over and over and provide variety by changing the positions of the maps by reversing them or holding them upside down. The only exceptions to this should be specific monuments or other unique locations in the town.

A long running battle can be exhausting to run and can take a lot of time but with 4e, the characters innate ability to recover their abilities, outside of their dailies, makes it more worth looking into than in previous editions where most characters with special abilities like spells, are not going to benefit from a fifteen minute rest.

Sukiyaki Western Django

Sukiyaki Western Django is another example of taking an existing story or plot and reinventing it for a new audience. In this case, the film has homages to Shakespeare's old War of the Roses, the western Django, and most obviously in its man with no name theme, Yojimbo, which itself has a more direct homage in Last Man Standing.

For those who've never seen Yojimbo or Last Man Standing, the premesis is that a stranger comes to town with a skill set in high demand. The stranger tries to play off both sides until things blow up in his face and the big battle occurs.

Sometimes that happens very quickly, such as in this movie. Others, like in the original Yojimbo take time to expose the double delaing that the stranger is doing.

In a role playing game, if one powerful character could tip the balance of power between different factions, imagine how a gorup of them could do so? In some instances, the players might become their own faction, forcing the other two to gang up against the players.  In other instances, the players may try to steer clear of all offers of alliance by either side only to wind up being attacked by each side in turn as they cannot have such a powerful force in the town.

A set up of this nature tends to work best in smaller locals. Its hard to picture a city like Waterdeep being under two gangs thumbs as opposed to a small town in the dales or in the far north.

Outside of its retelling of a classic stories roots though, the movie has several other things going for it.

Style. While this can be something difficult for players to appreciate through a verbal medium as the Dungeon Master must explain everything as, it can help to set the stage. Many if not all of the character here, have very distinct and visual apperances despite the 'gang colors' that each faction wears.

Individuality: Many of the characters, in addition to their unique apperance, also have many quirks. The leader of the 'white' gang is like a titan among mortals weeping that he has no worlds left to overcome. His skill is so great, that in the end, the duel between the man with no name and the leader of the white garbed clan isn't gun against gun, but rather, gun against sword in a battle similiar to the ending of Cowboy Bebop. The leader of the red gang on the other hand, comes across as slightly crazy and opportunistic using dirty tricks left and right to try and win the war.

Hidden Characters: In some ways, the fact that one of the characters here is an old gun fighter isn't that big of a surprise. The specific character is referenced and there is some flash back. In a small group, this adding of legends and then introducing the player as someone already there under a different life, should work well. In some cases, the other players may be there to pick up the player and take them out of retirement for one big adventure.

If you're looking for a highly stylistic movie that pays homage to several genres with a great visual mash up between Western and Samurai sensibilities, Sukiyaki Western Django is the way to go.

Ghostwalker by Erik Scott de Bie

Ghostwalker is a fantasy take on one of the old classics; the wronged man out for revenge.

The comic the Crow lead to a movie, novels, more comics, and a whole host of other media tie ins. A dead man whose been wronged comes back for revenge.

Sound familiar? How about in a western like Hang 'Em High?

The wronged man is a strong theme. Everyone wants to take some revenge when they feel wronged. If anyone has cut you off in traffic, ignored a traffic signal, cut in front of you at the store or other mundane matters, you might have a quick revenge fantasy but it goes out the window quickly. These minor things aren't worth the trouble they'd bring about.

But in a fantasy setting? One in which the character you're playing is wronged in a massive way up to an including death? Yeah, things can get messy.

The real trick in such a character though, is he has to work with the group. Ghost Rider, a Marvel Comic character is known as the Spirit of Vengance and he is generally a solo worker. The character in this novel, Walker, is usually a solo styled fighter. In a group focused activity like role playing, or most role playing games default assumptions, you might have to broaden the scope of the wrongs done to the character so that it includes the other party members or is something that all of the characters are in agreement on. It could be a personalized reason why the character adventurers in the first place.

When wathcing movies or televsion and the plots seem familiar, don't be surprised. Rather, think of how you can use it in your own campaign. After all, the trappings may be different, but if the action and the reactions from the players are those of enjoyement and go get 'em, the everything is working.

Final Gate by Rich Baker

The Final Gate by Rich Baker is the third and final volume of the Last Mythal.

1. High Level artifacts in play? Check. The stakes in the game go beyond Myth Drannor itself as there is a nexus or master series of portals that a demon lord is trying to gain control of in order to massively expand his influence.

2. Sacrifices? Check. Not all of the characters have made it through all three books alive and most of them have not made it out unscarred or unchanged.

3. Epic Villains? It seems that each of the Monster Manuals for 4th edition picked a big bad to lead the cover and I'm assuming as a big boss for the final encounter.  Here we have much the same with an exiled demon lord branded by the High Elf pantheon leader himself coming to blows with many of the characters here in one way or another.

4. Trying it all together? The book relies on an artifact introduced in the first book and does a nice job of trying up various lose ends brought about by various factions and their actions in earlier books.

Final Gate makes the enemies foes that we want to see get their just deserts. They attack on a personal level and insure that the battle is not just one of good versus evil or right versus wrong but rather an event where there is a bit of payback desired.

It brings together events and characters from previous books in a way that flows organically and allows the reader to follow along on even some of the larger expeditions taken without losing the reader. Overcomplicating a plot can be the death of a good adventure. When its broken down into bite sized chunks, even if those chunks are quite large in and of themselves, as long as its defined, the party should be able to grasp it.

Its epic in scope. While the elves making a so called Return to the mainland is huge, the Nexus beyond that is an even bigger potential threat to everyone's way of life. The stakes have been raised in each book going from what might be the end of a Paragon campaign all the way through an Epic one.

Rich Baker does a great job of bringing numerous elements that at first appear to have nothing to do with one another, and indeed until this series was written, may never had had anything to do with one another, and shows the reader that the wider the setting, the larger the net and the greater the potential payoff.

Farthest Reaches by Rich Baker

For some campaigns, the source material may be almost limitless. There may be fiction lines, comic lines, numerous gaming source books, various editions to wade through and other material that only a true devotee would want to see acknowledged like terrible movies or nostalgic carton television shows.

The Forgotten Realms hits many of those points and in The Last Mythal Book II, Rich Baker takes us to a few spots that are out and about in search of lost lore and lost history.

In your own campaign, do you have places that you always mean to add to the campaign but never get around to it? Do you have numerous locations that you'd like to have set pieces in but time is against you?

Work against those standards by building the events and the important characters that will be interacting with the party. There is no need to detail the whole of Thay if the party is going to perform a quick jail break after gathering some first hand information from a few contacts and well wishers.

Have the party explore the Ruins underneath the Shades in Anauroch and snub their noses at the shadow lords.

Have the party search out sunk ships off lost islands in the Sea of Fallen Stars with appropriate guides and captains and enemies of those allies coming after them.

The size of the campaign, both in terms of years and in terms of sheer scope, can sometimes seem overwhelming.

Break it down into tasks that need to be accomplished and reminders that the players don't necessarily have to see all of the setting, meet all of the Non-Player Characters and fight all of the unique monsters of each region to have them stick out in their mind.

In addition to taking his characters all over the Realms in this novel, Rich also show cases one of the problems with dealing with high level magic and power. The consquences of power can often bring about a physical change in a character. In this case, the High Mage earns himself the essence of an immortal eledarin. I know the naming can be confusing for those just getting started with 4e, but in brief, to cast high magic, the caster must have some type of immortal life force augmenting his own. For his foes, their choice was simple; demon essence.

By taking on the essence of the eladrin, the High Mage avoids the obvious pit trap and earns the power he seeks but at the same time, the essence of the immortal is not that of the high elves and it causes the character to undergo some physical changes.

Physical changes are often seen as a price of power. After all, doesn't everyone know Railisitn by his Time Glass Eyes? Is Elric not known for his black blade in addition to his albinoism? Such features are popular and a quick way to showcase the unique nature of the character.

When writing up such side effects, unless there is some actual game advance to them, the GM should not beat the players over the head with numerous penalties and bonuses. The thing is to make the player feel that his character is special and to have the cast of the setting treat them that way. If as a GM you must do this with game mechanics, you might be going about it the wrong way to begin with because at that point, it becomes another tool for players to attempt to min-max.

Use the campaign to the fullest or just use the parts you want but never worry about how you're going to do it. Just do it one piece at a time like the old Johnny Cash song.

The Make Up Of the Epic Party

Last time I mentioned that some games might be better off starting at a higher level.

But what types of characters can make up such a party?

Long Lived Races or Races that Reincarnate: Depending on what edition of the game you are running, the rules for aging on the dwarves and elves allow a very long life span. In the various books that make up the Last Mythal, the elves within are often over five hundred years of age.

Heroes from the past: One of the things that surprised me about the series is that one of the main characters is an elf hero from the original battle of Myth Drannor. Resurrection actually used in a gaming novel! Other possibilities include a hero trapped in ice or in status or in a different state of being such as a stone statue. In some instances, the hero may sleep away the ages such as the original Druid in the Shanarra series.

Legacy Heroes: This series boasts a couple of different types. First, we have an apprentice of one of the original character's friends showing up. Next we have a former student of the same character show up. the Druids of the Shanarra series work well here as well since when one falls, another often crops up to take his place.

Children: Similair to legacy heroes, but with a direct tie or link to the heroes that may have walked the land previously.

Experienced adventurers: If you look at Rand from the Wheel of Time at the start of the series and Rand at the latter books, it is a comparission of completely different power levels. This is true in books like Raymond Feist's Magician series as well as a host of others where the character initially starts off small but gains vast power. Running the campaign when the character is at this vast power level is by far the more challenging aspect of the game.

When making it epic, don't forget to bring a little something extra to the character creation process as well.

Forsaken House by Rich Baker

So now that the end of the second quarter and the month of June is behind me, I can stop working 60+ hours a week and read a book. The Forgotten Realms line often has what I call 'popcorn' books that are quick to read and often entertaining. Since I usually run a FR game, I also take a few odd ends and notes here and there.

Rich Baker's book has many a good idea for inspriation in gaming. The scopes of this series are epic and high involving the return of many of the elves to the mainland of the Forgotten Realms campaign. Almost an anti-retreat as it were.

The first thing I'd note, is that the main character is tossing spells like prismatic spray and disintegrate about as main spells and not as some last minute hoarded magic. With that in mind, if you haven't run a game in a while and have a definitive campaign arc, start your next game off at the cust of epic level. Use those often unusued books and get some milage out of them. The old basic sets even had rules for immortals.

The second thing is that there is a huge swathe of history in the Forgotten Realms. Does it make sense all the time? Probably not. But much like say, the Green Lantern series from DC comics, it does allow the GM to literally pull things from out of the backside and say, "Yeah, it's been here all along its just that you didn't know it." and often when such events happen, it's because a higher power was supposed to be keeping track of things. In this case, it's the demonfay, a group of elves that have given in to the temptation of demon alliances.

The third thing, is hit them at home. In the Goodman Game adventure, Dragora's Dungeon, the players start the adventure off under assault at their own home. In this book, as the main character enjoys the scenic beauty of his home, it comes under assault. Few things will get a body as motivated as possible as getting an attack in their own house.

Note this can be grossly abused though and shouldn't be taken out all that often. If you punish the players by continuously assaulting them in their own house, even if they make real efforts to safe guard their home, this might be seen in some circles as 'dick DMing'. The point isn't to punish the players but to get the game moving with some action.

Fourth thing, the magic items! Here we have a series of gems that have a wide range of uses. In 4e, this wouldn't necessarily be possible and indeed, in many editions, weapons and magic items often have powers that just run outside the game. As long as the GM is controlling when access to those abilities is possible, it shouldn't be a campaign breaker. Sure, the item can do Y, but it only does it when the GM wants. Now on the other hand, if the players come to rely on that ability, then the GM is either allowing that ability to manifest too often, building that ability into his campaign to be used too often, or the players are trying to abuse the in-house system the GM has set up.

Fith thing, epic scope. The elves returning to the mainland is an epic thing. Are there similiar efforts in your own campaign that could be made by the players? Can they restore one of the fallen empires? Can they bring forth a new age? Can they create a demi-plane where the dragonborn's ancient empire lives again?

Sixth thing, keep the variety up. While the main thrust of the book deals with the elves and their corrupted cousins, there are other elements afoot. For example, demons and devils and mercenary outer planar fiends. Past those though, the adventurers still encounter a few random beasts on the road. Past that even, the enemey armies they face often have vile mercenary races working with them that fall into the standard forces of evil; orcs, ogres, trolls. By allowing a center enemy to take stage, the GM shouldn't forget all of the other wonders that the system has within it.

Indeed, in a game like 4e that doesn't necessarily rely on the players fighting one big bad at a time as was often the case in the previous editions, it almost encourages the GM to come up with reasons why a wide vareity of forces such as this would be gathered together. Strong leadership, bribes, alliances and outright enslavement of the others is as good a cause as any in this case.

Seven thing, end clean but leave plenty of room for further adventurers. I've read a few books that end on a cliffhanger. I hate that. I much rather prefer an ending where the book is finished, the reader knows that there are other elements that will be coming down the line, and other conflicts that will be taken up and the reader has more to look forward to then "how the hell is the main character getting out of this."

Rich Baker is a solid writer and his books have many ideas perfect for stealing for that high level campaign you've always wanted to try out.