Highmoon's Ponderings

Long story short, Vegas After Midnight has changed considerably in form since the last time I wrote about it here back in 2007. Back in those days, VAM was to be based on the FATE System, the same engine under the hood of Spirit of the Century, but it was discovered (via playtest that included the one I did at Gen Con 2008) that the side effect of that system’s close association with the Pulp genre yielded VAM games that were way too high on the crazy/wacky scale and very low on the horror/desperation dept.

After some fine-tuning, VAM was re-imagined using Don’t Rest Your Head as the driving engine; same company, different system, very different play experience. DRYH is a game of psychological horror and nightmares given form, perfect for the idea of the Madness in VAM. Creator Mick Bradley and co-designer David Moore have been working on translating the idea of VAM to the new language that is DRYH and the results so far look fantastic. Along the way, Mick has also reworked and updated the imagery of the game, and this has allowed him to have the art support the new premise of the game.

As these small-press projects go, VAM will be ready when it’s ready and not a moment sooner than that, but in the meantime, Mick maintains a window into the design process firmly open for anyone wanting to peek inside the workshop. Updates are fairly regular, and comments are welcomed and encouraged, as they help the process of creation.

Understand that, while I remain one of the periphery people most related to VAM (and possibly still its eventual publisher via Highmoon Games), I’ve not had a direct hand in the design in months. My involvement has been more of the Greek Chorus type to Mick’s posts, just offering feedback on whatever new glimpse is offered. But the thing is, I am very much a fan of the game as well, and fans want to be a part of that which they like. So when Mick posted the draft of what will be the Introduction to the book, a piece of in-character speech from the game’s guide, a DJ broadcasting from the top of the Stratosphere named Picchiatello Jack, I got the idea to record the dialogue in my best approximation of what Jack sounded like based on the conversation in the comments.

Go check out [VAM] A Voice in the Wilderness and listen to the audio. Leave Mick some feedback as well if you’re so inclined. Get in the Game.

A week coming, but I needed it to be able to fully digest all that happened. Buckle up, cause it’s gonna be a long one.

I arrived in Indy Wednesday, Aug. 13, by mid-afternoon and because I had to wait for David Moore (The Game Master Show) to add my name to the room’s record, I left the bags at the Embassy Suites and went out walking thinking I’d pick up my badge.

Along the way I ran into Ed Healy (Kobold Quarterly/Atomic Array) as he arrived at his hotel, and seeing he also had to wait for his roommate to arrive and square some things, we went to get our badges and check out Indy. Gen Con Trade Day was in full swing and almost done for the day, and while Ed got his Exhibitor badge, I picked up my Trade Day pass (I get one as a member of the Press) and Trade Day swag bag. We eventually started seeing more and more of the see-them-once-a-year friends, many of them podcasters, and Ed went off to do some work on the Exhibit Hall while I went with David, Mario Dongu and the rest of The Game Master Show crew to the Red Eye Cafe. Except the Red Eye was closed as they were now doing some weird new hours. So we dipped into the Claddagh Irish Pub for some drinks and food for the rest. There we were eventually met up by Mick Bradley (TGTMB), meaning that aside from Josh, who’d be arriving the next day, my roommates were all here. A round of Guinness was had in that honor.

At the Claddagh I also saw briefly Chris Hanrahan (2d6 Feet in a Random Direction/Endgame) who introduced me equally briefly to D&D 4e Lead Developer Mike Mearls. Chris and I confirmed our panel the next day and we all went to our respective food and drinks. After the pub we went back to the Embassy; given that Press badges would be given out on Thursday morning I had nothing else to do, so we went to the lobby of the Embassy, took over three tables, and played the scenario of Vegas After Midnight that Mick and David would be running four times during the con.

L to R: Mario Dongu, David Moore, Mick Bradley & Me. Photo by Clay Karwan.

The game went extremely well and we all had a lot of fun. We were joined by Rich Rogers, Chris Norwood and Chris Perrin (Canon Puncture) and proceeded to have about three hours of awesome, campy, Vegas fun. After that we went up to our room and just talked about VAM for a while, trying to figure out the kinks and how to fix them. By then it was time to sleep, so I took a shower and then managed to fall asleep (with the help of my iPod) in the midst of a veritable snoring war between two one-night visitors, Mark Kinney (All Games Considered) and Clay Karwan (The Rolemonkeys).

It was later than I had originally planned to go to bed, but what the heck. Gen Con hadn’t officially started and I had already gotten in some gaming! Totally worth it. And that was just Wednesday.

Back in 1999, I was working at a local music store at the mall. Opening boxes of DVDs to shelf, I came across this one movie, an independent film of the kind that was so popular in the late 90s. On the cover stood this guy, dressed like Buddy Holly, that is if Buddy Holly had survived his plane crash, crawled up from hell and through the wasteland, picking up martial arts and swordfighting mojo along the way. The movie was Six-String Samurai; it was cheap, I had a really good discount, and it looked just weird enough to appeal to me, so I bought it. I saw it that night, and I thought it was a hoot; I mean, it was one of those movies where the bad acting was such a natural part of the overall melodrama, and the whole rock-n-roll mythology was so over the top, that you just had to laugh and love it for what it was. I shelved the movie with the rest of my collection, and though I saw it once again with a friend, I pretty much forgot about it after that.

That was 1999, and in 2006, it all came back to me.

Early last year I started listening to podcasts, and one of them was the Harping Monkey’s Misfit Brew, along with occasional episodes of The Round Table, hosted by Mick Bradley, among others. In some of these episodes, Mick started to talk about something called “Vegas After Midnight,” this roleplaying game he had been working on, put aside and now come back to. I sort of caught the idea behind it–big cataclysmic thing happened, Vegas is the remaining beacon of civilization (you figure out whatever that says about society at large), and Mad Max-like post-apocalyptic cool stuff thrown around–enough to think it was neat and make a mental note to keep an eye out for it. In the meantime Mick put it aside again, I kept listening to podcasts and working on my own games, and eventually starting my own podcast.

Early this year, Mick decided he was going back to Vegas, this time with a different game system to fuel his car, and a lot of bravado to fuel him through the design process. By now I’d met Mick through various forums and mailing lists, and knew a bit more about the behind-the-scenes process of the game design, but since I was busy myself with my own company, and my own podcast, I basically just kept an eye out, deciding to exercise restraint instead of offering my help, as I normally would have done. That lasted all of a month. Mick revamped the Vegas After Midnight (VAM) website and told people to drop by and take a look; so I did. Next thing I know, Mick had granted me backstage privileges, and I was able to see the forum where some of the design talk was being conducted. I was a little fish and those forums were a well-baited hook; I bit, and I bit hard.

Next thing I know I had jumped in on some of the ongoign conversations, dropping my two cents here and there like some sort of Johnny Pennyseed, and what’s more, Mick and David (Mick’s new partner in crime for VAM) liked what I’d said! So against my better judgment I continued to post, throwing some random ideas here and there, telling myself I was only visiting and saying a few things here and there just to help out, nothing more. I still tell myself that.

And Six-String Samurai? Still a cheesy-cool movie, and very much in the style of what VAM is going to be; except VAM is darker, a lot darker, yet retaining some of the rock-n-roll myth and humor. I’ve never been to Vegas, never really cared to go there, and yet here I am, being dragged to it by this cool little game I am (I keep telling myself) not helping to design, just talking about it with some buddies.

Vegas rocks, baby. Just not quite how you may think.

Next time I’ll tell you about my playtest character for this game I am not designing. He’s cool, he’s dark, he does the horah. Think about that.