INDIE SUPPLEMENT OF THE YEAR, 2017: Itras by: Menagerie

This Sub-Award honors the best supplement for an existing Independent RPG. It is judged on the same standards as the Indie Game of the Year, but applies to game supplements rather than games themselves. This can include additional rules, setting information, or anything that enhances an existing game. The supplement may be for purchase or free.

The Indie Supplement of the Year FOR 2017 IS...

Itras By: The Menagerieby Ole Peder Giaver et al. / with 21 points

Whooo hoooo!
So happy to be part of this project!

More (AUTHOR)ities updates!

Was very happy to have had the chance to run Itras By: Menagerie during the (AUTHOR)ities event this April 2018. My good friend Mark (dressed in blue with stripes) played a bookstore owner who awoke in Imperia Manila with no clear memory of how long he has been there. With him was Shop, the embodiment of his bookstore given human form.

We were having so much fun that I totally forgot to try taking any pictures of us.  Thankfully, my dear friends Maita and Magsi passed by the table to say hello. Maita had taken some pictures which meant I now have two pics of me at the TAG Sessions table for the day 1 of (AUTHOR)ities

Day 2 was a very busy day. While I had to handle things alone on day 1, Day 2 had my partner Rocky at my side to help me juggle the affairs of the day. Beyond just the table tasks of introducing role-playing games to the people (with the most common inquiry being, "Do I need a computer to play that?"), I was also tasked to moderate two talks that day. The first talk was all about Book to Game adaptations and the second was on Interactive Storybooks.

We tried to feature as many games as possible at our table. Josh T. Jordan's Heroine got a LOT of interested eyeballs on them, with people asking if they could purchase the books. I had to regretfully tell them that I had no stock with me and that they were more than welcome to order it online.

Many also marvelled at the beauty that was Itras By: Menagerie, loving the book's heft and artwork. I wish I had a physical copy of the first book too, but I only owned that one  in PDF format.

I also tried to showcase some of my PDF only games. That Night Out, Sickening Queens, and Bad Timing also had some display time.  Some people who approached were very happy to see our Pride Flag, which I insisted I have on display because we all deserve equality, no matter what bigoted government people may say.

All in all, (AUTHOR)ities was a tremendously wonderful event. I do hope to get copies of the photos taken by the CCP people and I realy hope that we will be invited again to return in the coming years!

TAG Sessions features Itras By Menagerie at the 9th Philippine International Literary Festival

We are very honored to have been invited to take part in the 9th Philippine International Literary Festival!  The event is called (AUTHOR)ities and is a two-day event with talks, workshops, demos, and film-screenings. 

We will be attending to feature Itras By: Menagerie to introduce people and give them a chance to try the freeform surreal tabletop role-playing game.  I will admit, it feels fantastic to know that tabletop role-playing games is getting a bit more visibility. Even more awesome, I'm not alone in doing so! 

The mythical Tadhana role-playing game will be running demos as well!

As will the Talinhaga word game which throws a fantastic spin on the word game genre.

And of course, Darna at ang Nawawalang Bato will also be there, ready to challenge players to find the missing stone.

I'm curious to learn more about the two-player Tala Offline game which I shall admit is the first time I've heard of it. It is a card game spin-off of the Janus Silang comics. 

In addition, I've been tapped to moderate two talks as well. 

The first is all about Book-To-Game Adaptations.
The speakers for this are Ria Lu, Alvin Juban, and Shelly Kero
This is on April 20, 2018 at 1:15pm to 2:30pm at the Tanghalang Huseng Batute  (1st Floor)

The second talk will be about Multimedia Storybooks
The speaker will be James Palabay
This is on April 20, 2018 at 2:35pm to 3:35pm at the Tanghalang Amado Hernanez (Ground Floor)

Hope you all can attend!
For more information, visit their facebook page today!

Surreal ‘Itras By’ RPG expands with Philippine-inspired realm

Thank you again for the feature, GMA!   It was truly a wonderful experience writing for Itras By and being given the opportunity to add a dash of Filipino mythology to its surreal landscape. I do hope people find the story seeds I've inserted in there to their liking.

An excerpt:

“I will admit to having a soft spot for the Manananggal Titas,” he said. “The idea of them as social butterflies just strikes me as something so close to home and yet so visually unique. But my favorite would have to be Inang Bai, who was inspired by Carlo Vergara and his fantastic creation, Zsazsa Zaturnnah. Inang Bai was a lonely woman in Imperia Manila who could not find love until a star fell from the sky and embedded into her forehead. I do hope he liked that homage.”

The incorporation of Imperia Manila into “Itras By” is likely to give rise to plenty of interesting scenarios.

“I'm hoping to hear from people who have tried exploring Imperia Manila,” said Tobie. “I’ve already read one review which celebrated the setting as the most interesting since he noticed they were drawn also from old pre-Spanish myths. I’m excited to hear from others who might try the setting and find other ways the stories within relate or connect with them.”

Grab the book here:
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/214386/Itras-By-The-Menagerie-English

Read the full article here:
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/scitech/technology/629011/surreal-itras-by-rpg-expands-with-philippine-inspired-realm/story/

Now available: Itras By: The Menagerie

Itras By: The Menagerie is a cabinet of curiosities: new scenarios, setting elements, short games, tools, cards, articles to help your group fine-tune the game for your purposes. An optional card deck is also available.

The book is presented to you by an international team of 40 creators, representing LARP and OSR, professionals and hobbyists, scholars and artists. All share a passion for roleplaying and the strange.

Emily Care Boss from the foreword (abbreviated):
“The game captured something for me. A period, a mind-set, a feeling. Surrealism, German expressionism, dada, modernism, poetry, dreams. All these were there. But also, a slipping feeling, where the ground beneath you becomes sand. The solid pillars of reality pass through your hands like smoke. Meaning comes into question. The realm of creative play in role playing games harnessed to embody that feeling. And yet keep us grounded in the shared story. With the Menagerie, we revisit this ground with new tour guides. They give us tools as players to embrace the surreal in our game, flexing our imaginations and abilities to encompass the unknown. The authors even lead us to look sideways at our own world. Raising prickly questions about the arbitrary nature of what exactly we all may believe to be real and true.”

This wonderful cabinet of curiosities contains stuff such as:
MANILA MYTHOLOGY | RADIO STARS | SEX WORK | CAPYBARAS WITH HATS | FRINGE SCIENCE | NEW CARDS | GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM | A FRENCH CONNECTION | SURREALIST GAMES | MAPPING THE UNREAL | GRIMASQUES | SUBDUERS/THE DARKNESS | DRESS TO IMPRESS | SAYING NØ | AUTISTIC ITRA | RIGHT TOOLS FOR A WEIRD TRADE

The companion book is perfect in enhancing your Itras By sessions.
But can also be used as tools for any other game.

I'm proud to have contributed Imperia Manila, which reimagines many Philippine mythological concepts to fit in the surreal world of Itras By.  For those who check it out, do let me know if you recognize the easter eggs I left in there.

Grab it today:
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/214386/Itras-By-The-Menagerie-English

Two great things in one day! And 7th Sea update

So, today I learned that the very kind Sean Patrick Fannon of Eagle Beagle Games has agreed to feature my game, A Single Moment, as his Sean's Pick for May 9, 2016.  Sean wrote for the Champions RPG and was the continuity director for the game and has worked on many other games including videogames and now is one of the authors on the Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars line.    He had very kind words to say about A Single Moment.

Thank you so much, Sean!
And thank you so much, Eloy!

The second awesome thing today is related to Itras By. I wrote a review for it some time back and I still feel it is one of the most intriguing and evocative games out there.  Not that many games challenge the player to be a better player. Anyway, so I got an email from Ole Peder Giæver and while  I can't really say much yet but I can mention that it was nice to know that Tagsessions is slowly gaining momentum.  Here's hoping it does lead to even more insane news soon!

On and I'm still writing my 7th Sea stuff and editing what I can.  Deadlines are looming, but it is uplifting to know how positive the feedback has been on the ideas I have presented and what I've written for the game so far.  I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say the new edition of 7th Sea has truly expanded the scope of things in a wonderful way.

Hmmm?

And I get to handle a whole frigging chapter!
Life is good.

Review: Itras By

Review: Itras By by Martin Bull Gudmundsen and Ole Peder Giæver
Vagrant Workshop
Rating: ★★★★

Man oh man, this game.  This game is such a marvel.  I cannot really explain how much I am impressed with this book, given how you have 80 plus pages of setting notes, story seeds and a lovely cast of non-playing characters, followed by something like barely ten pages of actual rules, then the remainder of the book is lovely notes and tips on how to approach gaming, surrealism, and narrative.

This book is incredible.

I heard about Itras By on Google Plus, when I chanced upon someone talking about the game being available on Drive Thru RPG.  The words Surreal were part of the statement, which quite frankly caught my eye.  It is not often one finds a game that willingly embraces the term surreal.  And if any of you readers out there are Adventure Time fans like me, the idea of a surreal rpg being enticing should make perfect sense.

So What Is This Game?

Living Fiction.  I know, it sounds like an attempt to sound like high-art, but bear with me for this review and read on.  The game seeks to be living fiction, where players are co-writers of the narrative.  And while many games have approached their systems with that in mind (from John Wick's Houses of the Blooded, to Pelgrane Press' Gumshoe where its no longer a question of finding clues, but interpreting them), this game REALLY uses a system where giving the players narrative control means leaving them to interpret or give things a spin on things.    And since the game is set in the surreal city, you have a strange juxtaposition of 20s fashion sense with supernatural aspects that are taken almost without any oddness at all.  A close description perhaps would be Terry Prachett's Discworld having a lovechild with Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere after being inspired by The Prisoner and Terry Gilliam movies.

Sounds Strange.  What makes it Awesome Strange?
Too many things.  First you have an absolutely rich setting.  From locations such as Friday Street, which turns up north of a certain tower, but cannot ever be found on any other day but Friday, to concepts such as the Morphiciary, which believes "everyone should lead lives which one could tell stories and sing songs about, lives which are exciting adventures" to characters having dramatic qualities such as a dog's head, or a character whom Death visits from time to time (usually when you're about to die) but does not claim you, instead joins you for tea and a game of chess.

Crazy?  No, not crazy.
Surreal cool.

So, it is just the cool world...

Heaven's no!  The system even gets cooler.  Gamists and Simulationists will readily decry this game to be an incomplete and horrible one, but given how a character sheet has NO actual numbers or stats save for descriptive sections the player fills out, the system relies on two types of cards to handle resolutions and twists.

 
Characters are created with the following sections to be filled out.
1) Idea
2) Background
3) Dramatic Qualities
4) Personality
5) Intrigue Magnets
6) Supporting Characters
7) The other characters
8) Other details.

The game very openly allows the player to come up with dramatically powerful qualities if they so desire.  "This need not be a problem; it will only lead to them facing equally great challenges."  This mindset is one that I have always embraced in my games.  Hence I can have a player portraying a god-like Gentry while others are just Lost in a Changeling the Lost campaign.   Not having numbers means the players will have to narrate for themselves appropriate resolutions and challenges that they feel will be fun to explore as well.

Intrigue Magnets are an awesome concept.  They're basically a list of short, long and simple goals the character has which can become wonderful tools in tying players together.  Characters as part of character creation is another staple I've done in my games (I've always asked players to name "One person the character loves, cares for, or cannot live without.") and its good to see it here as well.

You were saying, two kinds of Cards.

Ah yes, the cards.  There are Resolution Cards and Chance Cards.
Resolution cards determine if you succeed in a task.  Unlike dice in most rpgs, players are expected to draw a resolution card only when you feel they are needed to add excitement to a scene.  While most games have dice rolls made repeatedly to build tension or drama, in Itras By, you are expected to only draw a card when you want a big random element to twist the events.

Why?  Cause rather than just saying you succeed or fail, a Resolution card can throw requirements or prerequisites for the result to happen.  For example, one card might read, "Yes, but... " and explain that you succeed but something unrelated goes wrong for the character, or someone the character cares much about. Another card might say, "Help is Needed" which explains the character understands she will need help from someone who is not in the current scene.   The cards become narrative catalysts that further the story along, and impose upon players a means to reflect the result in the ongoing narrative as well.

Sounds rather... random?  Well, they are, but at the same time, since they're not expected to be drawn for each and every action your character does, they're meant to be high points in the scene.  You don't draw a card just to fight an opponent in the scene, for example.  But rather, you narrate the battle, with its shifting tides, and when you finally want the climactic finish, that's when you draw a card.  Typically, only ONE Resolution card is drawn in a scene, and only if the previous Resolution card has already been resolved.

Chance Cards on the other hand, are the game changers.
Or rather, the scene stealers if one thinks about it even more.   All players can draw a Chance Card during a session.  Now, only ONE Chance Card can be played during a session, with the person who draws it being in charge of clarifying or interpreting the effect.  Chance Cards further support the surreal feel of the game setting.   Here's an example of a Chance Card:  Masquerade! For the rest of this scene, all players swap characters.  This includes the gamemaster.  Give your character sheet to the player at your right.

Now, this is the point I stop for a few seconds to let that sink in.   Yes.  You read that right.
And many other cards are even more awesome.   The rules also outright state that if the Chance Card turns out to be something the players don't enjoy, they can remove it from the deck for future sessions.

So the game... is crazy?
Surreal.   Creatively alive.  And players are encouraged to relish in this freedom.  And if ever as gamers you aren't certain of how to approach this game, a very generous list of Further Inspirations are even listed in the back.

A sample scenario: No.13, is included, giving players a quick taste of how Itras By can be like and to be quite honest, I'm already very excited to get a chance to run this game.  I feel it is a stunning achievement in creating a game that captures a surreal feel, without being a rules mess that distracts rather than encourages creativity (unlike a certain Fair Folk game that had so much promise but was so painful to grasp.)


Rating Breakdown:

Concept: Inspiring!  Disturbing! Intriguing!   While I'm sure there would be those who won't like such a surreal landscape and gaming approach, I definitely was one of those who did.
Crunch: Barely there.  And for certain, that will scare some people.  Two types of cards, with one played once a scene, and the other an optional card to play in a game.  But the liteness of the crunch is, in my opinion, a huge feature, and not an issue.
Layout: For a game that embraces the surreal, the book is very well organized.  Each chapter nicely flows to the next.  And my gosh, such a generous Appendix.
My favorite part: Chance Cards.  Yeah, I'm a sucker for role-playing challenges.  This won me over even more than the Resolution Cards.  I foresee allowing more than one Chance Card in a session.
What I wish was better: Dramatic Qualities.  I wish they had a longer extensive list.  Given they were including a scenario in Part Three, I could have done away with one or two of the sample characters, and instead had that many more pages worth of examples of Dramatic Qualities.    I know players are encouraged to come up with their own, but I would have loved to see a list of more, plain and simple.

Dive into a surreal game today.
Available at Drivethru RPG.