Since this year I’m turning 21, that is, this is my 21st straight year of attending Dragon Con, I decided it was time for me to learn more about what gaming is all about. After years of passing by rooms of persons totally engrossed in gaming sessions, I have finally found a guide infinitely more conversant in gaming than I will ever be. Meet Dave Silva of HouseDok.com, whose game Fractured Kingdom has caught my fancy with its background tale of a dark future where one must be Lucid to survive.
Daily Drag
on (DD): My game experience has been limited to brisk games of backgammon and an occasional round of chess. Tell me about Fractured Kingdom and how it can turn even a novice like me into a devoted gamer.
Dave Silva (DS): (If you’re a tabletop gamer, you can skip these first two paragraphs) Before I talk about Fractured Kingdom, I should probably back up a bit and talk about gaming in general. While both backgammon and pen and paper role-playing games are played at a table, it is kind of like they come from the same Family but belong to a different Genus. Tabletop RPGs are a way of collectively telling a story with each participant taking on one of more roles in the narrative.
Fractured Kingdom is a fully contained game, meaning it provides both a setting and a set of rules to help guide players through the story telling process. The setting provides a common ground for people to tell stories, like Middle Earth or Narnia. The rules provide the framework for conflict resolution. This is essentially a way of preventing the age old; I got you, nuh-uh, circular argument.
DD: Okay, I think I’ve got the basics. Tell me more about Fractured Kingdom and how I can play the game.
DS: The world of Fractured Kingdom is similar to our own. It takes our timeline line and moves it forward a few years, to 2202 actually. In this future setting, humanity is recovering from the last Great War which decimated the planet. People have fled to the relative protection of the cities as humanity tries to rebuild itself. At the same time, reality has begun to fray around the edges allowing the supernatural to slip through.
That’s where you come in. In Fractured Kingdom, you take on the role of a Lucid, someone touched by supernatural forces and have been changed by them. And, while this change may have left you with the ability to slip through the shadows or speak to the dead, the Lucid have moved into a larger world, one where people really are out to get them and the same powers that set them apart from humanity make them a beacon for much more terrifying forces.
Fractured Kingdom allows you to explore supernatural action and horror and the price it takes from you as a person. If you, as a Lucid, even see yourself as human anymore.
DD: I’d really like to try Fractured Kingdom. How do I sign up and when can I play?
DS: Non-Campaign RPGs are hosted at the Hilton (Second Floor, Grand Salon). Online gaming registration is now closed. Onsite gaming registration will be in the Galleria on the H
ilton’s lower level, one floor below the main lobby. It will be in the northwest corner of the hall. Onsite gaming registration only accepts cash!
DD:When will Fractured Kingdom be played?
DS There are six scheduled games. Game times:
- Fri 1PM (Session 2)
- Fri 6PM (Session 3)
- Sat 1PM (Session 6)
- Sat 6PM (Session 7)
- Sun 1PM (Session 10)
- Sun 6PM (Session 11)
Each session is allotted four hours.
DD: How far in advance of a session must I register in order to play?
DS: If you can, give yourself at least twenty minutes. If you are short on time, you can get generic tickets on site.
DD: Is there any limit to how many can sign up for a session and is there a cost per session?
DS: There are fourteen sessions over the course of the con starting at Fri 9AM. You can sign up for any number of sessions. Scheduled events are three dollars. This is collected onsite in cash at the time you purchase your tickets for a game. There is also an open gaming area where people can join pickup games.
DD: Can I play more than one session?
DS: There is no limit and with all the options in the Non-Campaign area, there are many different games to try. For those looking to try Fractured Kingdom, there will be a number of different demos to try, so if you enjoy one session, you can always come back and experience a different adventure.
Thank you, Dave Silva! For more information, visit Fractured Kingdom.
