Review of Mythic: Game Master Emulator

PREFACE

It seems that I did not do such a hot job of reviewing Mythic Role Playing the first time. It looks as though I had left gamers confused as to how its mechanics works. Luckily, Mythic has provided me a second chance to rectify my screw up by giving me Mythic Game Master Emulator to review.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Let me get this out of the way right now. Mythic Game Master Emulator is not a complete game. It is a supplement to be played with your other role-playing games. The game master emulation rules are also found in Mythic Role Playing, which contains both the emulation rules and a full universal role playing game. Mythic Game Master Emulator is for those who do not want the universal role-playing rules. However, as suggested in Mythic Game Master Emulator book, you could use it to run a very rules-lite game if you wanted.

I have to note this here because when I first played with the Mythic Game Master Emulator I did not like how the adventures were going for my characters. Mythic Game Master Emulator can be broken. If you have a player that does not want to have fun and does not want to be entertained by a great story then the system can be violated. Ask the wrong questions in a certain way and you will get your wish. The book covers this topic and has suggestions to deal with this type of player. Play maturely, enjoy a great tale, and do not waste your own time by manipulating the system.

SUMMARY

This is a review of the PDF version of Mythic Game Master Emulator. You can purchase the PDF book for $6.95 which is a reduced price compared to $8.95 for Mythic Role Playing. You may get this product in print for $10.99 from the official web site Word Mill Games. The PDF is 5.2MB and contains 54 pages (52 if you do not count the front and back cover.) The chapter breakdown is as follows:

1 table of contents

Introduction 1 page

Chapter 1: Mythic Adventures 2pages
In this chapter you find out the numerous ways to utilize Mythic Game Master Emulator. Two central concepts, logic & interpretation, to using Mythic Game Master Emulator are discussed here along with improvisation.

Chapter 2: The Fate Chart 5 pages
This is the beating heart of Mythic, the Fate Chart. Most everything you do with Mythic uses a1D100 or 2d10 dice (percentile dice), the fate chart, yes/no questions, logic and interpretation. The fate chart is a large grid with acting ranks along the side and difficulty ranks along the bottom. Interpret the result and then fit it logically into your adventure.

Chapter 3: Randomness 7 pages
This chapter is about randomness or surprise curve balls Mythic throws into your adventures. Randomness comes in two places: at the start of a scene or when a question is asked on the fate chart. Discussion on how to add random events, what they mean (interpreting the event), and how to resolve the event is here. There is even a "I don't know" rule for those times when a random event leaves you scratching your head. There is a table with unlimited possible events to be added to your adventure.

Chapter 4: The Adventure 12 pages
The structure for running a Mythic Game Master Emulator adventure is found here. This includes guidelines for setting the scene; topic of discussion on cinematic versus simulation play; how to use and maintain the adventure summary sheet; the chaos factor explained (which fluctuates up or down to allow more or less random events to occur and let the adventure get settled down or out of control); and how random events may modify the scene into altered or interrupted scenes.

Chapter 5: GM Emulation 5 pages
This chapter will discuss suggestions that might make the adventure run smoother.

Chapter 6: World Creation 2 pages
Here is the place to help you create your world as simple or complex as you want it. You (or your group) can come to a session unprepared but leave with a full adventure under your belt when the night is through.

Chapter 7: Notes & Suggestions 3pages
Questions and their answers about Mythic Game Master Emulator. A few topics covered are things like: “Can this really be played without a GM?”, “There isn’t enough detail. Without a prepared adventure, how can you tell what’s in a particular room, etc.?”, “I hate freestyle games. Will I hate Mytic?”, “This isn’t 20 Questions’ ”, “The fine art of interpretation”, & more topics.

Chapter 8: Extended Example 5 pages
A nice example of play from beginning to end.

3 pages of reference material

1 index page

The art is taken from the Mythic Role Playing book and is pretty sparse (which I believe gives you more content instead of eye-candy). It has a full color cover with black & white interior illustrations.

Mythic Game Master Emulator generates dynamic on the fly adventures to be used with your own group's role-playing or miniature system. The system takes the place of the Game Master (GM) but your preferred RPG or miniature system handles character creation, combat, task resolution, and its other regular mechanics. Mythic Game Master Emulator handles the questions that players would ask the GM. It manages the fun stuff, the adventure.

You can do away with the GM or Mythic Game Master Emulator can be used to make the game master’s job of running the adventure a lot easier. Game preparation can be as little as a few minutes. Mythic Game Master Emulator is sort of an artificial intelligence. It is designed to use simple rules of logic to answer any yes/no questions.

There are various ways to use Mythic Game Master Emulator

• No GM, multiple players.
• No GM, one player (solo).
• One GM, any number of players.
• Even use it as a writing tool.

THE CRUNCY PIECES

Mythic Game Master Emulator is designed to be a kind of pen-and-paper artificial intelligence, using simple logical rules to answer yes/no questions. So, it acts like a GM itself. That means a GM can use it, and generate an adventure in a flash. You can even play without a GM and have players ask questions to the system directly. The entire system hinges on using simple LOGIC and INTERPRETATION to move everything along, with the 3 main charts throwing randomness into it and several mechanics that generates unexpected plot twists.

You will use the following tools to create your adventures:

• Scenes = Just like the movies, a scene is staged. You create adventures with numerous scenes. A scene is what you expect to happen, resolve any conflicts, and move on to the next scene.
• LOGIC = You use this to find out what will happen next based on what has already occurred in the adventure. What is most logical is what is expected to happen…but fate is fickle.
• Improvisation = Player(s) ask questions and the answers will propel the adventure forward.
• FATE CHART = After you have formed a yes/no question then the player(s) figure out the ODDS (“Impossible” all the way up to “Has to be”) , cross-reference the CHAOS FACTOR, roll the dice and find out the answer (The results are either “yes”, “no”, “exceptionally yes”, or “exceptionally no”.)
• CHAOS FACTOR = This provides a shift to every question towards the “yes” outcome. This has the effect of "mixing things up." The CHAOS FACTOR is tracked throughout the adventure to represent how out of control situations are becoming.
• Event Focus & Event Meaning = There are times (many times) when designing scenes and using the FATE CHART that you will have a random event pop up. These events could be good or bad for player characters or the adventure depending on the Event Focus Table and the Event Meaning Tables and your LOGICAL INTEPRETATION of those meanings.
• INTERPRETATION = Many times you will have to decipher the answers you get from the FATE CHART, Event Focus, & Event Meaning to fit LOGICALLY into the adventure.

Basically you ask a yes/no question. The LOGIC of that question is then applied to the FATE CHART, which gives a percentage probability of a “yes” answer. Roll 1D100 (or 2D10). The results are one of four answers. The player(s) then INTERPRET the result to fit LOGICALLY into the adventure. Traditionally you ask the GM questions such as: “do I see anyone in the room,” “do I hear anything behind the door,” “is there a town up ahead,” “does that crowd of orcs look angry.” Anything you would ask a GM you can ask the FATE CHART as long as it is in the form of a yes/no question (Mythic: Variations book provides mechanics for complex questions). Everything branches off from there. It is no different from playing a game with a living breathing GM. As a player, you have thoughts and expectations of what the adventure is about, what is going to happen next, what is in that room, who the bad guy really is, etc. Mythic Game Master Emulator just reverse engineers this process; instead of your expectations trying to guess what the GM is thinking, your expectations shape the games reality. You assumptions might be wrong, just like in a standard game.

EXAMPLE I sit down to a solitary role-playing game using my preferred wild-west system, PIG’s Coyote Trail: Wild West Adventures at Precis Intermedia Gaming. I use the PIG’s game to design my character, a town marshal. I then begin. I have no idea what the adventure is going to be about. I could take a few minutes to think of a starting seed but I decide to roll a random starting seed. I roll for a random event on the Event Focus Table and get “NPC Action.” Next, I roll on the Event Meaning: Action Table and get “Disrupt” and then roll on the Event Meaning: Subject Table and get “Plans”. I think what can I do logically to have these words fit into a western? Instantly I interpret it as “Someone is robbing the bank.” I record the starting CHAOS FACTOR. I add to the Character List “bank robbers” and my first Thread “stop the bank robbery.” In less than a minute the adventure gets rolling. I think for a minute of the starting scene set up. “A young lady runs into my office yelling the Funky Bunch is robbing the bank. I grab my shotgun and run to the bank.” I roll to see if the scene is modified (something that happens after every scene setup and could be “Altered”, “Interrupted”, or “Stay as is”.) I roll “interrupted” meaning something happens to preempt the scene and I have to generate a random event. Already, Mythic Game Master Emulator has thrown me a curve ball. I go through the steps like I did for the starting seed and get “Move away from a thread”, “Ruin”, & “Environment.” I INTERPRET this as “The livery has caught on fire (I suspect this fire was set as a diversion). The whole town could go up in flames if it is not extinguished.” It looks like the Funky Bunch will be successful in robbing the bank as I have to go and organize a fire-brigade. I use PIG’s “Coyote Trail” mechanics to organize a group to fight the fire. I ask a question to the FATE CHART also, “Does the fire-brigade contain the fire to the barn?” I figure the ODDS are 50/50 and cross reference the CHAOS FACTOR to find out what I need to roll. I roll and get an “Exceptional Yes”. We contain the fire plus put it out. That is a good place to end the scene. Scene 2: I have to update the CHAOS FACTOR and the previous scene was a bit out of exciting so I up the CHAOS FACTOR one level. I cross out “bank robbers” and add “Funky Bunch gang” “young lady”, and “town folk” to the Character List. I add to the Tread list “Apprehend the Funky Bunch” (since they got away while I was fighting the fire) and cross out the Thread “stop the bank robbery.” Now for the scene set up, “I gather a posse and head out after the gang.” I roll to see if the scene is modified, which it is not. So I play out my anticipated scene. I could use PIG’s Coyote Trail to see if I get people to join the posse but I decide to ask a question to the FATE CHART to speed things along since it is the town folk’s money and they would want it back. I ask, “Do I gather a posse of 10 people?” The ODDS I figure as “Very Likely” cross reference the CHAOS FACTOR and roll the dice. I get “No”. Hmmm. To clarify the question I ask another, “Is it less than 10?” The ODDS I figure is 50/50, cross reference the CHAOS FACTOR, roll the dice I get doubles “55” a random event since I rolled the doubles and it is less than the CHAOS FACTOR but the answer to my question was “Yes”. I decide myself that I roll 1D8 to see how many people join the posse then I take care of the Random Event. I get “Introduce a new NPC”, “Assist”, and “Allies” and I INTERPRET this as one of the 4 posse members happens to be the legendary county sheriff Pat Garrett. That will help a lot since most of the town is cowards it seems. “The posse and I head out of town in the direction the Funk Bunch went”, ending the scene. I prepare to start a new scene and update my lists by lowing the CHAOS FACTOR since it was a calm and under control scene. I add “posse” and “Pat Garrett” to my character list. No new threads were created so my main goal is to “Apprehend the Funky Bunch.”

WINDING DOWN

A few people have a question about combat. You use your other system’s rules to handle the mechanics and ask any necessary questions to the FATE CHART to clarify any incidentals. Some say combat could get messy with a lot of “question asking.” It does not have to be that way at all. Use that LOGIC.

Three RPGnet forum members had suggestions to handle enemies in combat.

• Scurvy_Platypus had the following to say about combat:
  If I'm using Mythic as a replacement for GMing, then I'd just let combat happen using the native system. As for tactical movement of critters, I'd be inclined to "round robin" the control of it. Meaning, each combat round, a different player gets to control the critter, and try and whack someone.

  A critter doesn't have to fight to the death (unless everyone at the table _wants_ it to), and it seems to me that the "important" questions to be asking would be things like "Does the goblin try and escape?" "Does he summon reinforcements?" and that kind of thing.

  Disclaimer: I do like rules-lighter games, and am more inclined to go with what makes a good game/story than following a strict "dice for it" approach. So I personally don't feel that there's a need to roll for every single little thing a critter might do.

• GarrettPLC input:
  While it doesn't seem like it would be particularly a good idea to use the system to determine moment-by-moment the actions of said goblin, the talk about logic + interpretation leads me to believe the author was assuming you'd use logic there, with player agreement as necessary. For example, if there is an obvious choice---the character nearest the goblin, since he is both close and, conveniently, his back is turned, for example---then you assume the goblin chooses the most apparently useful attack form it can and ask "Does he hit?" if you are using Mythic by itself. If you're using it as the GM + another system for the action, you could use Mythic each round, once: "Does the goblin attack?" to determine if it continues or runs away, and then switch to the other system to resolve the action.

• Finally, DainXB had this information to share:
  What Garrett said is correct. It's possible to ask an ever-regressing series of questions -- 'Does the goblin attack?' If no, then 'Does the goblin stand still?' If no, then 'Does the goblin run away?', if yes, then 'Does the goblin run to get more goblins?', etc. That is not the Emulator's intent. You are encouraged to use logic, and limit the nesting of questions to at most two or three.

  For round-to-round tactical decisions in a combat scene, in D&D for example, a typical GM will decide on an overall strategy for his forces, and then follow it through logically. Use the Emulator to do the same thing. 'Do the goblins attack?' If the answer is yes, then assume that goblins with bows will do the logical thing -- hang back and fire from cover if there is any cover, and that goblins with hand weapons will do the logical thing -- move into melee. You don't need to ask questions like 'Does goblin #7 shoot his bow' and then chain down a tree of possible targets: 'Does he shoot at the Cleric?', 'Does he shoot at the Paladin?', 'Does he shoot at the wall?' etc.

  If you run into a situation where logic doesn't cover it, then ask a question. Logically, goblin archers not being stupid, magic-using characters are priority targets. Clerics and anybody who can heal people are priority targets. Warrior-types wearing armor so heavy that the goblin's arrows aren't going to do much damage are low-priority targets. Where does that leave the Paladin who has healing ability? Now ask the question: 'Do the goblin archers realize that the Paladin is a major threat?' If yes, then there is no need for a follow-up 'Do the goblin archers fire at the Paladin?' because logic says that they will fire at a major threat. If the answer is no, then we now know that these goblins are a bit naive when it comes to what different PC character classes are able to do. We can use that knowledge to inform our logical decisions about their actions later, and save some more questions.

  Extrapolating logically from the questions is an important part of the Emulator. In the book, there's an example involving the PCs meeting a guard. It seems inane to use the Emulator to ask 'Does the guard say hello?', but suppose that you do it anyway, and that the answer is no. What does that tell you about the guard? Maybe he's surly and gruff all the time, maybe he's having a bad day today, or maybe he just doesn't like the way the PCs smell. Whatever -- but now you can take that into account when you decide the odds on other questions. Later, the PCs try to get information from the guard. 'Does the guard tell them what they want to know?' has a much lower chance of being true with this particular guard, since we already know he's foul-tempered and doesn't like the PCs. That's how you use logic to expand on the yes/no/extraordinary yes/extraordinary no answers from the chart.

  Do not sit and ask question after question after question. Ask a few “necessary important” questions but use LOGIC and INTERPRETATION even more to move the game along.

  SUMMATION OF THE CRUNCY BITS

  To boil it all down, the player(s) decide what they expect to happen and check to see if it happens. If the player(s) are correct you continue to play out the scene. If the player(s) are incorrect the system tells the player(s) so and gives ideas on what happened instead. You use LOGIC as to what you expect to happen, ask yes/no question(s) to the FATE CHART, roll 2D10, and then you INTERPRET the answer with everything you know has happened up to this point. The Mythic Game Master Emulator will throw you a loop, sometimes, sending your adventure in an unexpected journey.

  MY OPINION

  Why did I give it a 3/5? Style of 3 because Mythic Game Master Emulator has the same art as Mythic Role Playing. A few new pieces would have been nice. On the other hand the book is easy to navigate with a “table of content” and an “index” plus the PDF is book-marked. The imparting of information is easy to read and understand. Substance of 5 because it gives you a lot of information in those 52 pages and nice examples as well. Substance of 5 because it does not complicate role-playing games, it assists game play. A 5 simply because it is amazing, there is no rating above 5, and I love it!

  Any genre any system, Mythic Game Master Emulator can handle it. It works great with miniature war-gaming as people have found out. The money spent on this book is well worth the price. It has quality multiple uses and a genuinely new approach to gaming.

  My sister has given Mythic Game Master Emulator a whirl with her book writing. It has taken her story in directions she had not even thought of, given her ideas, and given her muse a shot of inspiration from time to time.

  Mythic Game Master Emulator is the best thing to come to role-playing games in a very long time. The mechanics are quick and simple to use and does not get in the way of gaming. With little to no preparation, with or without a GM, with a group or gaming solo, This product works and you will be amazed at how the adventures just roll themselves out with ease. It takes a load of work off a GM, allowing a GM to take a night off and participate in adventuring, and it allows the GM and the players to concentrate on the story.

  Mythic: Game Master Emulator really does do what it says on the cover.