Making your Appendix N table ready.

As part of Prismatic Wasteland's Appendicitis N blogwagon, I got to thinking about my appendix N and how one implementation worked really really well. So here's a few pointers on how I try to bring in an inspiration. 

1. Define how important the media is to the tone and vibe of the game. 

When you create your campaign, having some inspirational media can really help. When you add a piece of media to your touchstones, how important is it? Do you want to have it only be a small part of the vibe or is it a big part of the game? One touchstone I used for a campaign was Vampire Survivors, an action roguelike bullet hell. I didn't want to simulate the themes, I wanted to emulate the tone of progression where each advancement adds a new dimension to your gameplay. Sure, the numbers could become massive but instead they change how damage is delivered. This is done by adding more projectiles, allowing some weapons to pass through enemies or even add elemental effects. That's what I wanted player advancement to feel like. 

From poncle

2. Think about how you want to implement your inspiration.

Do you want to represent your inspiration in a purely diagetic way? Do you use mechanics and procedures to show what aspects are you using from your source media? Do you want to do a mix of both? How I implemented vampire survivors was in a mechanical sense. I made a few starting abilities based on my players and then thought of 2-3 ways it could get more dynamic. For instance, one player wanted to be a warrior type and they got a disarm move. How that progressed was that it gave extra movement on a disarm or it pinned the target to the ground. So the warrior could be a fast, dynamic skirmisher or a big, intimidating grappler. I didn't think farther than 4 levels which is a far cry from the practically infinite leveling of vampire survivors. 

3. What are you removing to make the inspiration fit?

99% of media can't make a perfect 1 to 1 tabletop conversion. So, you will have to ask yourself what you are leaving behind. For instance, I had to leave behind the weapon and character customisation as the sheer amount of weapons and evolution would take months to convert. Also I didn't want to throw a brick of a book at my players. Things like themes or tone translate well but particular setting pieces or finer details will need more thought before placing them in a campaign. If you have to change something that's okay, it makes your campaign more distinct and makes it yours. 

4. MAKE SURE your players also find your inspiration fitting to the game. 

From Lamus Dworski
If you are starting a new campaign, include it in your pitch to new players so that they know what they are signing up for. If you want to add it to a pre existing campaign, talk with your players (a good idea no matter the scenario) about including elements of a particular media in your on going game. No one wants to have a campaign radically shift on them into something they don't like. The best case scenario is when a player asks for elements from media you both like. For instance one campaign had a player who was a big fan of Slavic mythology. I did some research and I really liked what I saw so I added in as a touchstone and told my players about it.  

5. Deploy. 

Add it in. If it's vibes and themes, go ahead, prep with it in mind. If you are adding mechanics, keep the system you are using in mind as you create new mechanics. Bring in players (or not if you are playing solo) and enjoy. 

Clickables

Forlorn reveal that retired adventurers long for the dungeon 

Count Loonard displays a new GURPS combat style inspired by Metal Gear Solid 

Dungeon Doll unsheathes a new magic sword 

To Be Resolved examines the idea of hit points and their evolutions 

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