Friday, June 28, 2013

Artifacts: Micronauts RPG






Micronauts certainly weren’t the greatest action figures, but they had a bit more articulation than the Star Wars figures of the time. The vehicles and sets didn’t smoothly accommodate the figures, but that was fairly typically of the time. What the Micronauts had was a certain enigmatic mystique. The toys themselves came with virtually no backstory, just an eye-catching design and some imaginative naming.

The comic book that Marvel produced later was somewhat interesting, but likely had little in common with most kid’s imaginings about the toys. I only owned a couple of Time Traveler figures, a Photon Sled, a Giant Acroyear, and a Pharoid (out of all the figures, that one was truly thematically whimsical). I had a lucky friend who owned a Battle Cruiser. And I’ve never seen one in person, but I’ve always had a toy-lust for that Astro Station. I also bought the first issue of the comic and still think that it’s gorgeous to look at, along with a few other issues.

Little wonder I one day in High School decided to try and make up an RPG about the Micronauts. As far as I got was a listing of the figures and vehicles. It’s a curious mixing of various toy, comic book, and original elements. The next step would have been to have actually put stats to the weapons and armor. I’m not sure what derailed this. It might have been the setting. I only ever had a handful of issues, and the later ones had seriously soured me on the concept. Who knows?

I thought about trying to re-start it, since nobody else seems to have done a Micronauts game, but I’m not that into it. Shoot, I couldn’t even motivate myself to type out the pages. Further, I’d really want to re-do the setting into something more evocative, more like the toys themselves than the comic book. Maybe somebody else would like to pick this up and run with it.

KFN Man mentioned at the top of page one is a reference to another rules set I had made up called, “Kung Fu Ninja Man.” You can guess what that game was about. Nothing survives of it today. No loss. The bizarre Hamster Vice note refers to a Black & White comic from the 80’s. Weird fun stuff. And there at the bottom of page two are the names of the Micronauts characters that never got rolled up: Battler the Acroyear, Zap the Time Traveler, Shaft the Galactic Warrior, and Argus the Space Glider.

Baseball Journal 6-23-13 Opinion-National and Regional Broadcasts


I’ve heard Bud Selig trumpet the regional ratings of Major League Baseball teams, and then lament MLB’s drop off in playoff ratings. I’ve heard snarky sports talk hosts refer to baseball as a regional sport. Then I heard one host mention that the MLB was actively discouraging national broadcasts of Cubs and White Sox games on WGN. This started me thinking.

I can remember a time when the Braves, Mets, Dodgers, and Giants were on national cable on a daily basis. (And local broadcasts of the Padres and the Rockies at different times in my area.) I’ve heard that the Braves were only on TBS to begin with because Ted Turner wanted to be able to see his team while he was anywhere in the country. When the network changed ownership, I heard that they dropped the Braves, to focus on scripted television (though they broadcast the NBA and most of the baseball playoffs still).

What the MLB seems to want is all of the teams to just be broadcast on their own regional networks daily. They only want national games to be spotlight games on their own network (sometimes their own production, sometimes they pick up a team’s feed), Fox, and ESPN. Why would they not want more daily national coverage like on WGN? It’s the only way you’re going to create nationally popular teams. Otherwise, the league will be fragmented into only regionally popular teams, except for the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, and Dodgers. This will of course impact playoff ratings, unless those particular teams are playing. Little wonder they expanded the playoffs. They have to ensure a better chance of those teams making it. MLB will never push for NFL-like parity, as that might disrupt the ability of the nationally popular Yankees or Dodgers to overspend to on their teams.

So what’s the plan? As near as I can figure, MLB wants to keep daily baseball broadcasts regional so that they can sell website and satellite packages for people wanting daily, out of market games. National broadcasts will essentially only showcase the more popular teams, which have the best possibility of getting ratings. Is this a good plan? It’s not bad in the short-term at least.

However it is perpetuating the popularity of a handful of teams at the expense of the rest and this may be permanent. Let’s say the Kansas City Royals gain an owner who wants to win, money no object. Even if they match payroll with the Yankees (which is unlikely to be a good business move) and start winning, the Royals still would not have the Yankees’ popularity and Kansas City is not the media market that New York is. The NFL doesn’t have these considerations. Green Bay competes with New York equally.

I worry more about growing the fan base. Driving fans to subscription services seems to smack of soaking existing fans more than getting new fans. They did the same thing in the 90’s. For a couple of years, you could get team radio broadcasts by stations that streamed over the Internet for free. MLB shut that down and put all that on their website, available by subscription. Good business, but I don’t know if they made any new fans that way.

Like I said in the beginning, there used to be several nationally broadcast teams that were available daily. Now, it’s WGN, MLB network, and your regional team. WGN is on everyone’s cable, but it’s only one station shared by two teams and not every day. MLB is a three digit station where I am and part of an enhanced package and they don’t show games constantly either. I hope you like your regional team (mine is the Diamondbacks, who I do like), because that’s your main daily option.

I latched on to the Dodgers, Giants, Cubs, and Braves largely because of their national broadcasts. (The Braves national exposure gained baseball a legion of Chipper Jones loving female fans.) I could flip on the TV (back when I had access to cable) and always find one of them if I wanted a game. You could be a casual fan pretty easily. Now I keep a schedule of the teams I like and keep track of when they’re on. Not something a casual fan would do.

It seems to me that baseball should want to make their product as ubiquitous as possible, regardless of the teams. Hey, can you find a football game on Saturdays and Sundays in the fall? That kind of easy access. Baseball is a daily soap opera, not a weekly event. You want people to run into games on frequent basis and hopefully get involved with them and want to watch more. A lot of places in the country aren’t blessed with good teams, and under the current system it may be hard for them to get better. Having a bunch of teams, available nationally on a daily basis, would seem to increase the possibility of a casual fan to find one they might like to follow.

This advocacy for more games is fairly self-serving on my part. I want more games to choose from without having to pay extra for them. Given the dearth of original programming during the summer and the sheer volume of ball games being played, I think it’s in baseball’s best interests to increase the amount of national daily broadcasting. It would serve them better in the long-term to grow the fanbase, even at the expense of possible short-term profits gained by restricting access.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Artifacts: Motherboard




I’m not sure if I got the idea before or after watching Tron, but I had this notion to make up an RPG based on life inside of a computer. This was during high school, so frankly I don’t remember the exact origin. The setting revolved around transporting data from the outside to the Nucleus, where it was carefully processed, and then transported out. All the while the data had to be guarded and kept secure.

The map is labeled, starting at the 12:00 position and moving clockwise, we have an Input Wire, Access, an Output Wire, Junction, Ring City, Binary, Matrix, Cluster, Dead Zone, Melt-Town, and Nucleus in the center. Buffer stations are located at the end of each wire.  The red areas that some towns have are high-glitch rate fields.

There were three types of beings (character classes) living on the Motherboard. There were the Electronians: small, speedy data bit couriers, who had an electric charge. There were the Protonians: large, security personnel, with gravitational powers. And finally, there were the Neutronians: large, data manipulators, with mental powers. They lived in Data Stores (cities) and sometimes held data for later sale there. There were even recreational activities, such as Electronian racing, Protonian wrestling, and Neutronian chess.

I don’t actually still have any of the notes, just the map. What I can remember is that most of the material involved how the data trading market worked. Little wonder I didn’t develop this further. I remember writing a little bit of fan-fiction to go with it, probably trying to figure out how any adventuring happened in the setting. It starred a little Electronian, trying to make his way in the world. There were natural hazards on the board, like random warp zones, and plenty of dangerous, unscrupulous competition for the data.

All in all, I think I’d rather have a Tron RPG.

I found my old notes.
Fan Fiction 1, Fan Fiction 2, Definitions, RPG Notes

Sports Journal 6-23-13 A Pleasant Little NBA Season Recap


For me the highlight of the NBA season, which I didn’t watch, was the coach of the Indiana Pacers being asked if he had any regrets about eliminating New York Knicks from the playoffs. You see, the Knicks play for a much larger media market, so it would be better for the Association if they were the ones going deeper into the playoffs. As near as I could tell, it was an earnest question, not a gag.

Yes, of course I heard it on ESPN Radio. Who else would ask that question? Fox Sports Radio isn’t much better in that regard. I heard one host wringing his hands over the possibility of having to promote a Memphis Grizzlies-Indiana Pacers series. “How am I supposed to sell that?”

What if Lebron James had not made it into the finals? (I suppose technically, the Miami Heat would have to be there with him, mostly to take the blame if he lost.) There is always this sense of inevitability to the NBA season. Much like the PGA, it’s a single storyline league. How’s Tiger doing in the tournament? Let’s constantly watch what Tiger is doing, even if he’s not contending. What? Tiger isn’t at this tournament? Well, we’ll talk about him anyway and how we think he’ll do at his next tournament. (If you’ve watched any golf coverage, you know I’m not kidding here.)

There’s only been two stories in the NBA this season. Will the troubled Lakers make the playoffs, and will Lebron win his second championship? That’s it. Nothing else really mattered. If both storylines had fallen through, they would have still sat there and talked about Lebron and the Lakers as much, if not more than, anything else going on. Don’t worry, that was never going to happen though.

I’m tying this all together here. You see, match ups, ratings, and storylines are becoming the most important topics in commenting on certain sports on sportstalk radio. For better or worse, sportstalk radio is the voice of sports. TV shows like Sports Center are important, but they’re mostly one-way communication. Every time a listener calls in (or uses some form of electronic media) and announces a belief in a conspiracy theory by a league to engineer a match up or a storyline for ratings, the hosts snicker long and hard at them. But where do the listeners get these ideas? From hearing hosts talk about match ups and storylines being beneficial or not beneficial to the league and their ratings.

Sports that don’t lend themselves well to single storylines, like the MLB or the NFL, still get shoehorned into them. How does a sub-500 Angels team keep ending up as a game of the week? The storyline of the last few World Series has been how bad the matchups have been in terms of potential ratings. There’s always a controversy or some weird storyline that gets hyped up for the Superbowl. I personally find it hard to look at Instant Replay in football and not think it’s there to ensure the game is rigged. Like maybe a popular team wins the Superbowl over a much less popular one, but somehow doesn’t cover the betting points spread. That’s only happened twice recently.

See how easy it is to believe in conspiracies? I look at the NBA as the eventual model for all sports. Over-hyped individuals pushed in storylines, leading to inevitable confrontations in the playoffs. Perhaps, eventually there could be a two-tiered playoff system, where small market teams play for their own championship, while large market teams play for the real one, thus ensuring better ratings.

Glad I got this all off my chest, but I feel dirty now. I’m going to go take a shower.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Artifacts: Robotech Maps


Fokker Base



 Invid Lab
 Macross City
 Macross Salvage Area
 Monument City
 Rocky Mt. Rebel Base


I briefly considered posting my Robotech RPG game rules based on the Palladium rules. A quick search on the Internet later, and I discovered that Palladium was still in business and publishing a Robotech game. Imagine my surprise. If it’s the same game I once had, it’s seriously broken, hence my adaptation. If they ever fold, I’m putting them up.

Let’s see what we have here. Fokker Base is loosely based on Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque. The Rocky Mountain Rebel Base is distinctly Empire Strikes Back inspired. Monument City is based on my own hometown of Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Invid Lab is obviously somebody’s country house. Finally, the Macross City map is actually a subdivision map, copied over.

What’s great about Robotech is that you can reuse these maps for different eras. The Macross map can be used in the Zentraedi era as a ship, and later as a scary dungeon-like area under the mounds in the Masters and Invid eras. Monument City and Fokker Base are key areas against the Masters. After the war, I have these places ruled by a gang of well-armed Invid sympathizers.



I made an outline of a setting for the Invid Invasion era as well.  FOL is of course Flower of Life.  The EVE simulator is from Megazone 23 (and the ill-fated Robotech movie), I think.  Zee refers to Zentraedi.  This list also mixes in some stuff from the Sentinels, which would not strictly belong in the setting.  

Sports Journal 6-23-13 “I’m the champion!”


That’s right Lebron. You sure are. Seldom has accomplishment met eloquence more profoundly than in your NBA championship victory speech. And it was so succinctly accurate too. You are the champion. Your team was irrelevant to your victory. Hell, the Spurs, the rest of the league, and frankly every player that came before you, don’t matter, because you are THE Champion. Then mentioning your two rings and a shot of profanity at your detractors was just the cherry on top. You certainly earned that and put everyone in their place, because you are THE CHAMPION!

Lebron, you’ve won not one, but two championships. But will you win more? I don’t know, because I don’t think you can count any higher. Your excellent basketball abilities have more than made up for your few crude language skills and lack of any social graces. Congratulations.

Coca-Cola was running a “Meet Lebron James” contest. I was entering furiously, just on the possibility I’d win. I’d go up him, fake a handshake, kick him in nuts, and scream “Cleveland Rocks!” over him. “You’ll never be a Jordan. You’ll never be a Shaq! Hell, you’re not even a Kobe!” There’s something to be said for being likeable (or at least not a total jerk), even if you’re rich, and famous, and a champion. Namely, you don’t get rude posts like this written about you. And you don’t feel compelled to take time away from your victory celebration to give a shout out to your legion of anti-fans.



Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Retro Post: Took It Too Far

From 5-21-12

[Holy crap! I wrote two of these blogs on the same day. I must have been positively constipated with opinion for some reason.]

White Wolf took the role-playing too far (still not sure how, since it’s really only the setting and not the rules that somehow demands it). It didn’t last, thankfully.

Dragonlance took the story aspect of adventures too far and legitimized railroading.

Pathfinder is doing well with their story adventures, but Pathfinder is almost a complete system (setting integrated with rules), which they have taken too far.

Forgotten Realms took setting too far. Tekumel did it first, but so few people have actually seen it or understand it, that it’s no where near the same level of influence. The boxed setting, supplements, adventures, novels, and comics (franchises within franchises), all created in such a way that (at least theoretically) all connects and is integral and impenetrable to new comers.

4e took the combat system too far and turned D&D into a tactical mini’s game with video game-like cut scenes (the role-playing and story stuff).

3e took character creation and enhancement and stat block creation too far to the point of fetish. The purpose of an adventure wasn’t to have an adventure, but to provide opportunities for XP to level up and play with your character build. Statting out monsters is the bane of many a DM. Then each encounter becomes a tiresome, battle of the stat blocks, becoming ever more onerous with each increasing level.

Planescape took the multiplicity of settings to the extreme by actually being a setting of other settings.

Old School took character creation and enhancement too far to the opposite extreme. Your character isn’t what you want, it’s what you roll. [Actually Old School took mega-dungeons, sandboxes, and blogs too far.]

Any of these extremes is distasteful to many players, but also enticing to maybe just as many. It perhaps all has to do with when you entered the hobby.

[I think I just ran out of room on the page that this was hand-written on, and wanted a quick conclusion. RPG’s may still be evolving and thus extremes in play styles are developed. Will it be a good thing, or a bad thing when these wild swings finally die down? D&D Next seems more like a step backward, or at best an accommodation of these different styles, rather than an innovation. This version may truly answer the question of whether RPG's have become a mature stable game or not.]



Baseball Journal 6-23-13


In the bottom of 8th, Alcides Escobar came to the plate for the Royals with the bases loaded and two outs. Opposing him, Jesse Crain of the White Sox could scarcely contain the pressure. It had been a hard fought, long game with the Sox getting the better of Royals’ ace James Shields for four runs early, courtesy of Adam Dunn. The home team had come back to tie it, but the visitors had gone ahead again by two runs, 6-4 Sox.

The 8th had been nothing but labor for Crain. Hits and his own error had loaded the bases. The statistics on the screen said that Sox pitchers were 100% likely to give up a run with bases loaded and nobody out. Then a strikeout, then another. Crain’s scoreless 29-inning streak might stand. But statistics don’t lie. A walk drove in a run without a play. 6-5 Sox. Then Escobar came to the plate. A sharply hit ground ball to Alexei Ramirez to end the game. . . bounces right through the wickets. Two runs score, unearned, but they still count. Royals win 7-6. This was one of the more entertaining games I’ve seen all season.

“Houston Street has come to dead end.” Why do I just know that Charley Steiner had been waiting to use that line for the entire series? It was appropriate nonetheless. I tuned in late to the game, but seemed to catch all the action. A scoreless game between the Dodgers and the Padres was broken up in the 7th by both teams getting a run. In the 9th, Street struck out Puig and apparently forgot that some of his teammates could hit as well. For example, Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez, who both came up and hit home runs. The seemingly overwhelmingly pro-Dodger crowd there in San Diego roared in approval. (I felt terribly sorry for the Padres. I guess they don’t get any home games against the Dodgers.) Kenly Jansen somehow managed to lock down this save without too much dramatics.

Somewhere after 9:00 my time, the Ranger-Cardinal game started. It’s after 10:00 in St. Louis. Most of the crowd left after the three-hour delay, but those there are loudly enthusiastic. I think I heard that both teams have an off day tomorrow. Somebody really wanted this game played tonight for some reason.

Eric Nadel and Matt Hicks on the Rangers’ broadcast discussed their disrupted New York travel plans. Matt mentioned he was going to be going out to dinner with friends there. Ah, it was just like old times listening to Matt discuss his meals on Diablo broadcasts with his partner.

The teams played like they were sleepwalking. The first run wasn’t scored until the 6th with Matt Carpenter’s home run for Cards. The Rangers would come back the next inning with two runs. That was all of the scoring, though not all the drama. Nathan came out for the fourth day in a row for a save. With two on and one out, the game ended on a caught line drive and a doubled off baserunner. Well, I was pleased at the Rangers 2-1 victory, but it was after midnight. I can only imagine the disappointment in Busch Stadium after 1:00am and a lackluster loss and a series sweep. At least they got to see a great fireworks show afterward. Just kidding, although that has happened.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Retro Post: Mainstream


From 5-21-12

Pathfinder may have the right idea, just badly executed because they had to be backward compatible to 3e. They have an RPG that totally integrates rules, setting, adventures, and fictional properties and licensing into a cohesive whole. This set up might really have some mainstream appeal and be a consistent source of income beyond just selling rulebooks. The problem is that the rules are written for hobbyists (extreme ones at that) as opposed to people. [I seem to remember posting something close to this comment in somebody’s blog. They resented not being counted as people. Upon reflection, I stand behind my original statement.]

The Adventure Path adventures aren’t designed to be played quickly or over a long season. (Again, the rules wouldn’t support quick, easy play anyway.) There is the leveling aspect where certain abilities and skills are increased amongst a plethora of choices. Good for the hobbyist. Bad for casual players. Seemingly all adult players complain that they want to play, but the lack the time to do so. Coordinating session times and dates seem to be the biggest culprits. Hand-in-hand with that is simply the time it takes to play and how little gets accomplished in a single session.

Adventure creation is the biggest time sink, and one person is expected to do the work. A prepackaged adventure, written in a quickly comprehended and manageable fashion, would be ideal (especially for the publishers). Character creation, enhancement, and XP calculation are the time sinks for the players, and simply the time and scheduling it takes to play.

Imagine a simple, flexible set of rules. Characters start as strong archetypes, easily upgraded if campaign-style play is desired. Prepackaged scenarios that are playable in a night (with optional encounters for longer play). These could be part of a series or standalone as one shots. There are novels and setting books for wonks, but everything is playable with only the core rules. There is no library of splatbooks. Opportunities are there for hobbyists to make their own extensions, but they are their own.

[Not sure what brought this banal piece on, or why. I’ll sum it up. Why can’t there be a mainstream RPG? Why does it have to be a hobby? People routinely have fun, making fools of themselves playing any number of other party/family games. There’s casual Monopoly and there’s competitive Monopoly, while still being the same game.]



Baseball Journal 6-22-13


It’s Prison Day at Wrigley Field. Yes, they’ve apparently invited a group of convicts to watch the game. . . Oh, wait. Those are the Astros. They’re wearing uniforms that are a pair of gray pants away from being mistaken for orange jumpsuits. Does anybody run these fashion decisions past somebody outside the organization?

Now that this is an Interleague matchup, instead of a divisional one, here’s a great stat from the game: Cubs Pitchers 22 RBI’s this season, Astros DH’s 25 RBI’s. I think that says everything about the Astros right now. It was a large, but fairly quiet crowd in Chicago. I think they showed up expecting a win, just based on that RBI stat alone.

The Cubs had a 3-0, until Travis Wood gave up a three-run homer that cleared the stadium. Otherwise reliable, Kevin Gregg came into the tie game in the 9th and gave up the lead. Probably wasn’t a good idea to use him in a non-save situation. With two outs in the bottom of the 9th, Len mentioned that Marmol would have to come out for the save if the Cubs tied it. “Go ahead and lose it now!” I shouted at the TV. And they did, 4-3 Astros.

During the game there was a close play at first base. After looking at it several times with inconclusive results, Len and JD lamented that the umps have to make immediate calls. Yeah, don’t worry. Expanded replay will fix all this, no matter how many viewings it takes. I did like JD’s observation, “Just once after a close play, I’d like to see an ump shrug his shoulders and throw up his hands.”

The Fox game turned out to be a game and a half. With rain in St. Louis, we got bonus coverage of the Diamondbacks vs. the Reds. I was very pleased to hear Bob Brenly again on a national broadcast. During the hour delay, I got to see about half the game. One 1-2-3 inning after another. The bulk of the scoring would happen after the coverage left. In the battle of the blown saves, 4-3 Dbacks.

Finally, a Fox game matchup I was happy to see, Rangers vs. Cardinals. Joe and Tim only slightly annoyed me with their commentary, so that was a bonus. On paper, the Cardinals should have easily won this, especially since I pronounced the Ranger season over last weekend. I blame the redbirds 4-2 loss on their unattractive alternate uniforms. Otherwise, I’m at a loss to explain why the Rangers are five out of their last six games, all against two teams better in the standings than they are. Perhaps it’s Ian Kinsler coming back. The weather was still threatening overhead, which might explain the speedy two and a half hour game. Pretty enjoyable evening.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Retro Post: Why the Cleric?


[If you wondered by the Paladin class replaced the Cleric in Fantasy Core, here’s why.]


Seriously. Unlike the other D&D classes, this one has no real historical or fictional archetype upon which it is based. A crusader? The Paladin would fill that role, as he would that of agent of the Inquisition and demon hunter. An Exorcist? Friar Tuck? I’m just not seeing a mace-wielding, armored dude, flinging spells.

The Cleric has been around D&D since the beginning, but is seemingly just a pure invention of game mechanics. He is there to cast healing spells on the Fighter, protect the Wizard, and turn undead.

No wonder nobody wants to play the Cleric. There’s no mental image outside of the game to match the character, and he’s not a class, he’s a game function. While armored, his weapon selection and ability to fight are limited. May as well be a fighter. He casts spells, but they suck, except for raising the dead. Go ahead and roll up a Wizard. Fighting the undead? Turning doesn’t work well against the powerful ones anyway.

Pathfinder gave the Cleric a favored weapon, some of which are better than maces. Unfortunately, they also combined healing and turning into one crappy ability. I’m told this is great for the character, but I’m not seeing it, and it makes it even more of a game function. Even 4e has virtually done away the Cleric via healing surges and fighter defensive maneuvers.

So what to replace them with, since the game function is still needed? Make healing potions pervasive. Make natural healing more potent. Give flagons of ale healing abilities. Give the Paladin the Cleric’s healing and protection spells and ability to turn undead at level one. Do the same with the Druid. (Historically, we don’t really know anything about Druids, except second hand, but they did at least exist.) Give healing and protection spells to the Wizard. Allow holy symbols, plus high Wisdom, plus a good alignment a possibility to turn undead.

I could spot you getting rid of the Thief class, as some Old Schoolers are want. I can see the point. Not only do thieves fill an even more specific party role than the Cleric, but they potentially reduce actual player gaming, with only a die roll. Take a high dexterity fighter, give them leather armor, take away the shield and two-handed weapons. Let them have the backstab, a better chance at thieving skills than regular fighters, or anybody else, and there you go. Anytime they want to slip on chainmail and take up the bastard sword, they lose the thief bonus, but incur no other penalties.



Thursday, June 20, 2013

Retro Post: DM’ing Versus Scripting


[Submitted for your approval, this trip into the Twilight Zone. There is no beginning and no end, only random mumbling.]


There’s no right way to play the game, as long as the group is having fun. If the pendulum swings widely in either direction, it’s okay, as long as everyone goes along with it. Where it goes wrong is when the DM or the players start to pull the game away from where they’re all happy.

“It’s what my character would do!” Or, role-playing versus acting. There’s a question of where the character begins and the player ends. At worst, you have the min-max’ing, power gaming, rules lawyering, munchkin, who refuses to recognize that it’s just game, and game is not Monopoly. Unfortunately, the other side of the spectrum isn’t much better: players who make dumb decisions or sabotage the group because of their class or alignment. Dealing with the first sort is easy: the DM says, “No you can’t. Shut up and play!” The power gamer will keep quiet, while they search out other ways of getting an edge on the rules. The frustrated actor, on the other hand, genuinely believes that they’re doing the right thing and will become a frustrated player if not allowed to play their character the way they want.

The game itself sets up these dichotomies. The rules do say to have fun and the DM is the final arbitrator of the rules at the table. No where within does it say, “Don’t be a dick.” The power gamer is definitely created by the rules. D&D utterly caters to them. Starting I suppose with 2e and character kits, moving to 3e feats and skills, and now 4e’s assortment of powers, the player doesn’t just have more choices than 1e and Rules Cyclopedia, they are actively forced to make decisions. Though 4e makes a severe effort at class balancing, there are bad decisions that can be made in character building. Hell, just look at the terminology. You used to roll up a character, now you have to build them. Essentials seems to be D&D’s acknowledgement of that. (And it’s still too complex.)

This is purely a business decision on D&D’s part. They’re book publishers and they need to sell books. Eventually, you’re going to run out of audience for the core books. Power gamers are willing to shell out for a book that might give them an advantage in character building. The decision to be a power gamer is a basic function of the rules. It is the leveling process that makes players play the game and not their characters. Just surviving the dungeon is way too Old School. You want to thrive and grow and hit the end game, whatever that is.

I have to think that this is antithetical to the original intention of D&D. Yes, your character can improve over time from adventuring. But no, the point of the improvement was to allow the characters to face greater challenges, not just to max out the advancement tables as quickly as possible. It’s not like this is a new thing. Monty Haul DM’s did this all the time in 1e games. In 4e, with treasure parcels and such, it’s now a matter of mathematical formula how often the characters should advance.

Let’s not forget though, killer DM’s also created the power gamer. As long as it was written down in an official rulebook, players could do something to check a sadistic DM in check. Old School typically seems to view characters as faceless minions. They are there to die quickly and cruelly, but for clever, prudent player actions. If they somehow survive a few levels, it is then that the player regrets not giving them a better name. Is it any wonder the power gamer was created? How many anonymous first level characters do you want to go through before you get a winner? How many dungeons do you want to fearfully creep around, hitting everything with a 10’ pole, never touching any levers, running away from giant rats, and fleeing to town after the first couple of rooms with one hp?

Following versions of the game have progressively helped the players more and more against the DM. Though the DM’s creatures have access to the same rules, it is the players who will fully exploit feats, skills, and spells. Finally with 4e, beginning characters are pretty hard to kill. Given the large number of choices in character creation and time taken to do so, they’d better be. Who would spend so much time on a character that could die pretty easily in their first encounter? So the problem is recursive. Near arbitrary character death at the hands of the DM is a no-no given the investment by the player in creating them. Thus, more powerful characters are needed. Thus, more challenging encounters are needed. Thus, 26 hp first level Orcs. Thus, more powerful characters are needed.

The sad fact is that there may not be a happy medium. In order for the game to be challenging, the characters have to be imperiled. As long as there are levels to be had, players will be working towards attaining them. And as long as there are greater challenges to be had, the characters will need those levels to face them.

[Was there a point in this somewhere? I assure you I found this funny for the same reason you did, “WTF was that about!”]

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Reto Post: Alignment


[I don’t like alignment personally. It’s lazy role-playing and lazy Ref’ing. So why not pointlessly rant about it?]

“Low abilities are an opportunity to role-play.” The funny thing is that there are players who actually take that line seriously. There are players who think alignment is somehow a dictum on their character’s behavior. Okay, you might be able to classify the people in your life by alignment, but none of them stick to it all the time. Certainly people will take actions against their own stated alignment. So why should characters act in a dogmatic fashion? “It’s what my character would do.”

I have problems with D&D and succeeding versions have often perpetuating those problems, rather than fix them. I put alignment right up there with things that never should have been in the game. 1e characters are totally disposable and their only goal is to level up. Where does alignment fit into this scenario? It’s there, but there’s no rules or incentives for playing to it. The closest thing is that there are penalties for Paladins and Clerics for violating their codes (no rewards beyond your basic powers), but what about the other classes? Are codes of conduct even the same as alignment?

At best, alignment could be considered a sort of shorthand for DM’s as to how to play certain monsters and NPC’s. Even then, does it really make a difference in motivation between a band of Chaotic Evil Orcs or Lawful Evil Hobgoblins when they see the characters tramping around their lairs? This stuff should have never been applied to player characters. They can make up their own minds as to how they’re going to behave based on the situation. Character personalities will come about, like it or not, based on class abilities, past die rolls, and experience.

So what we have is this odd rule, tossed in for little apparent reason, with no mechanics to support it. Regrettably, unlike the weapon speed versus armor table, the story doesn’t end there. While power gamers ignored alignment since it didn’t pay XP, some players choose an alignment and decided to play it. Thus begins the role-play in RPG’s.

So?

Well, this is where RPG’s cease to be a free-form game and now become an activity considered alarming by parents. You see, up to the point of “my character,” this was just an odd war game with the pieces named (or perhaps even lacking the board). Sure there’s talking to NPC’s and other character-like bits, but there’s nothing in game to make you get in character. Even though Paladins and Clerics need to obey certain restrictions, it’s game related with game related consequences. But without alignment, there’s no esoteric, vague behavior system guiding your character play.

Simply, you wouldn’t get in character except for alignment. It wouldn’t occur to you to play to your ability scores, if there hadn’t been alignment rules. Your class would have been a function, not an imperative to ham it up. This is just supposition. I could be totally wrong about this. We’ll never know. All I can say is that somewhere between wargame and RPG is where the concept of “my character” was invented, where it had not existed before.

No alignment. No role play. Oh, but this would have been a terrible loss to the future of RPG’s! Oh, the hand-wringing humanity! Other games would have come along later, perhaps quickly, that would have filled that gap. Frustrated actors would have found their outlet at the gaming table. Unfortunately, D&D was the first game, the pioneer, and the template for everything that followed. Thus when parents watched a young Tom Hanks in the TV movie adaptation of “Mazes and Monsters,” the whole of RPG’s was painted with the same brush and there was a freak out.

Was it for the best in the short run? In the long run? Who knows? What we’re left with now is a game where players either play the game as something to beat, or players trying to be a character in a story.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Retro Post: The Perfect Game Continued


Previously.

[Let's keep going with this theme and make a few wild allegations as well.]

Hard core gamers all fall into two categories: power gamers and drama queens. Everyone in-between that is either a new gamer or a casual gamer.

You will know when 4e has gone too far to be called a tabletop RPG anymore, when you feel the same way about your character as you do about your last saved game in a first person shooter. When the character simply becomes a vehicle to get to the end game and “win,” it’s time for D&D to go all digital.

You really can’t blame the players for being power gamers or drama queens. If you’re playing 3e or 4e, you’re pretty much forced into the role of power gamer, as both systems cater to that type of player. (Why not? They buy the books.) Given the number of options in creating a character, choices have to be made. Even with 4e’s emphasis on character balance, some builds are better than others, so discretion has to be used. With all of these edges, the system teaches you how to optimize your character and how to exploit those advantages. Teamwork is achieved by combining those advantages. But they all boil down to picking a power, rolling dice, and adding modifiers. Like chess or Monopoly, there's good strategies and best practices to be used in order to be successful.

The Old School ideal involves making a fairly generic character with a very limited skill set. They start off pretty weak and must be played very thoughtfully and cautiously if they are to survive and rise in level. As the character has few resources and encounters aren’t necessarily play balanced for character success, it is the player’s intelligence and imagination, which will have to give them an edge. In Old School, the character’s intelligence doesn’t dictate their life span, the player’s does. In reality, Old School players actually fall back on best practices (hitting everything with a 10’ pole and never touching levers) and running away. There’s little imagination involved. If a DM sets up a problem with a solution provided, there’s virtually going to have to be a sign and directions to go with it. And still the players won’t try it (mistrusting the DM), until there’s no other option.

Character is created for most players from play experience, the character is the sum of what they’ve done. In 4e, play has been so mechanically abstracted, your concept of character may be based on your most memorable die rolls. In any case, until the character does something notable, it’s just a bunch of stats and an archetype.

Some players may start off with the character concept and build the actual character around it. Perhaps they have a grand background and deep personal motivations. This stuff will be disregarded and irrelevant after the first session.

Regardless of the system, a character is more than just stats and abilities. This is where you see the divergence from wargames. This isn’t just a piece in a game; it’s your alter ego in the DM’s imaginary world. The relationship may be short. Emotional detachment may even start while rolling up abilities.

[Was there more to this?  It just sort of ends.  Probably just as well.  Go ahead and draw your own conclusions on this subject.]

Monday, June 17, 2013

Retro Post: The Perfect Game

[No date.  Dated material.  Rambling post.  Check, check, and check.] 

It’s out there. The only problem is that it’s not the same game for everyone. It depends on what you want out of an RPG.

Power gamers want lots of options and complex character builds. Ease of play is totally secondary to creating and enhancing their characters. Game companies love these guys. They buy all the books. So, you’ve got plenty of choice in choosing a system. The downside of catering to the power gamer is that it’s your entire market. Everyone else is pretty much shut out, including potential new gamers. Without a basic, simplified version of the rules to learn from, it’s going to be hard to expand beyond the base. Of course, present day marketers hate this kind of brand confusion, and the designers of power games aren’t the people to go to for an easier, teachable game.

For the frustrated actor, there needs to be built in emotional attachments to their characters and to the group. There need to be directorial hooks in the character to cue performance. Rewards and advancement are more narrative based than character based. Conflict is more about drama and intense character interaction. Unfortunately, there’s no mainstream RPG that provides this that any other type of player would want to play. Oh, there’s plenty of disconnected, irrelevant mechanics in most games to rift off of to annoy the other gamers, but nothing cohesive or integral to the game. There are highly praised, low selling indy RPG’s that specialize in theatrical play.

For Old School players, the good news is that there’s plenty of choices for D&D-ish systems. The bad news is that no two groups are playing the same game. An Old School game has to be less complex than the power gamer’s, because the more detailed, complex, and definitive the rules, the less room there is for house ruling them. The point of the Old School game is the ability to modify it to the group’s liking. Negotiation between player and DM is part of the game. Modern professional game designers hate that. They make games with “simple, but elegant mechanics” or “a high degree of crunchiness.” They don’t produce games with the tag, “Some assembly required,” or “Build to taste.” Other than competing against free games and trying to sell them to gamers who want their own specific version of the rules, I can’t imagine why more game companies aren’t marketing to this group.

What about the DM’s? Well, the systems that were DM centric were pre-3e. After that, the players had too much of an edge and the rules were too sharply defined for the DM to be the final arbiter of events. How could you arbitrarily kill a new character that it took the player an hour to build or create a backstory for? It cuts both ways though. Given the amount of time it takes to create a 3e or 4e encounter and the improbability of improvised or random ones, the characters are going to have little choice of action. So much for DM’ing by the seat of your pants. A frustrated novelist, control freak, railroading DM might do well here, except that the DM is as constrained by the rules and setting as the players. Certainly no one would want an adventure blown up by a failed spot check or skill check. Would a dungeon full of whimsical tricks and traps even work in this setting, or would the set up be too arduous for most DM’s to bother with?

Finally, what about new players and casual players? Their perfect system needs to be quick to learn, simple to master, and easy to remember. Unfortunately, there’s a reason why tabletop RPG’s are called a hobby. They’re just not like board games kept up in the closet. It takes time and tutelage to learn most of them. Anything simple will eventually bore most players after a few sessions without more character options or more emotional involvement. A simple RPG will also require a fairly nimble, clever DM to keep things running smoothly in the absence of concrete rules. That’s a pretty tall task for a novice or part-time player. But without new user-friendly versions of the game, not written for power gamers or drama queens, how does the game grow?

It doesn’t.

Continued.

Baseball Journal 6-16-13


Well, this has been a sad weekend. I hadn’t been able to watch or listen to much baseball last week. I was vaguely aware that the Rangers haven’t been winning, but other than that, I haven’t been paying attention. Saturday afternoon, lacking a game on, I was forced to watch a NASCAR Nationwide race. Didn’t I say I wasn’t going to watch any more Nationwide races? Quick check. Yes, at least twice. It threatened to rain for the entire race, but Daryl Waltrip’s old “vortex effect,” actually worked and kept it away from the track. (Cars driving fast in a circle creates an updraft, which diverts the rainfall. That’s DW’s theory whenever looks like rain. This is the only time I’ve seen it work.) Some dude won. I hope that wasn’t too much detail for you non-racing fans.

Later, there were a couple of games on the radio. I picked the Dodgers-Pirates game. The Rangers were getting blown out by the Blue Jays and that station had a weaker signal. The night before, I’d heard it mentioned on a sportstalk show that the Dodgers media guide no longer listed the bullpen ERA. Millions for position players and starting pitchers and the human equivalent of a batting tee for relief pitching. Kershaw goes seven innings and gives up one run to the Pirates. Dodgers 3-1 in the 8th and bullpen gives up a run. 3-2 in the 9th, Jansen comes out to serve up a home run, thus leading to extra innings. The Dodgers got the lead back, but the Pirates had their chances, including having the tying runs in scoring position when the game ended.

Next up was the Fox Angel game of the week. Oh boy. What followed was a truly shameful moment for me as a baseball fan. I was rooting for the Yankees. (Hangs head.) I never realized how much I hated the other LA team until this week. And they didn’t even win! You stupid Yankees! Go back to buying championships, you’ll never earn one.

It only got worse Sunday. Things were going so well for Cubs against the Mets. They’d already won the first two games of the series. They scored early today and Matt Garza looked good. The Mets even gifted the Cubs a couple of runs off a couple of errors on the same play. The Cubs had two runners on as a grounder was hit to third. Len was actually complimenting David Wright’s smooth fielding just before he airmailed it over first base. A run scored. Daniel Murphy at first then airmailed the ball over the catcher. Another run scored. The ball was flinged around again without finding a fielder, but Soriano was already at third by that time, no further errors were charged. It was a true Little League caliber play. Start the circus music. Bring out the dancing bears.

So the Cubs were leading 3-0 in the bottom of the 9th. Their current closer, Kevin Gregg, was unavailable. Carlos Marmol comes out to finish. He’s had some problems, but how hard could this be? Solo home run, walk, single, sacrifice moved the runners up, three-run homer. Game over. Mets win. I sat there in stunned shock for several minutes. No, no, no! It had all happened so fast. I actually sat through the commercials hoping maybe the score would change when they came back. No. Dad was completely non-pulsed. He’s seen Marmol blow so many saves at this point, he oblivious. If Marmol comes out in the 9th, dad just caulks it up as loss and moves on.

I trudged back home, haunted by the stinging defeat (and even more by the New York style pizza they showed being made during the game) and flipped on the Ranger game on the radio. I was sure they’d win today. No doubt about it and I was going to be there to hear it. Unfortunately, the team did not share my confidence and got their asses kicked. Six losses in a row.

I’m looking forward to seeing the Rangers and Cardinals for the next Fox game of the week, but I’m wondering if the Rangers will show up to play. Beyond their depleted injured starting pitching, I’m wondering they’re still experiencing a hangover from that 18 inning game last week and maybe even that Memorial Day double-header fiasco before that. The Pirates have literally had their back broken the last two years in a row from playing in extra long games in the middle of the season. Could the Ranger’s season be over already?

Friday, June 14, 2013

Retro Post: The Party Game Continued


Previously.

[I'm not sure if I wrote this post before or after the previous one, so it's a bit dated. Anyway, no major breakthrough on how to create this fictional game unfortunately, but I still think it's a good idea. It's probably going to take some mainstream game designers like at Hasbro to figure out how to do it correctly.]

My local Barnes & Noble recently remodeled. They've cleared out a large swath in the center of the store and installed a selection of games. These are kid's, family, and party type games with a broad appeal. Where's D&D in the store you might wonder. It sits on one shelf in the Fantasy Vampire/Sci-Fi Vampire/Vampire novel bookcases. The selection was almost entirely 4e, though without a Players Handbook 1 or a Dungeon Masters Guide 1. No Basic Essential Box Sets either.

What I take away from this is that D&D and other RPG's are purely hobby games for dedicated RPG players. 4e has some appeal outside of this group, which is solely due to the hooks within the game that appeal to collectible card game players, WOW players, and miniatures gamers (not Napoleonic, I mean superhero "clickies"). (Not just a WOTC invention, an early playtest version of Paizo's Pathfinder actually did attempt to put video game like combo moves into the game. The players revolted.) So 4e's outreach to non-pen and paper RPGer's was just to other obsessive gamers.

I believe that RPG's could have more appeal than this. Ironically, the RPG computer games that were inspired by the analogue RPG games make the concept easy enough to grasp for just about everyone. Certainly D&D has been around long enough that best practice rules for easy comprehension could be written. Old School had the play style and the simplified play right. 3e brought in the D20 mechanic and got rid of the matrix tables. 4e removed Vancian magic and brought in a fairly good method for resolving non-standard combat and non-combat maneuvers.

What each version also brought was baggage. Old School is ripe with piles of little wonky rules for events that never happen, and no rules to handle things that often do. D20 is a simple mechanic buried under a preponderance of 3e effluvia of skills and feats. 4e? I'm convinced WOTC attempted to literally merge D&D with Magic the Gathering before cooler heads prevailed (for now). For every rule 4e streamlined or clarified, they added other elements that seemed to demand a control pad and infinite patience, such as whittling down a base goblin with 29 hit points.

Why can't a version of D&D be written with easy to learn, consistent rules? Further, where is it written that Basic boxed RPG sets have to be crippled versions of the full game? Why can't there be full advancement in a 64-page booklet?

My ideal Box set features a character booklet with rules and a full range of classes and races going up to 20th level. Advancement rules would be very simple, with the additional option of generating characters of specific levels. Necessarily, their powers will be simplified (especially magic users). Under these circumstances, maybe playability won't predictably break down at higher levels. There's a monster and magic items book, similarly cut down in stats. Finally, there's an adventure book. There's a sample adventure, but the main value of the book would be several large random tables and geomorphs for generating dungeons, traps, wildernesses, towns, and plots. Adventure and character generation should only take a matter of minutes. (Perhaps there could be a website companion for this.) Utility items, such as graph paper, tokens, dice, and a wipe sheet and marker (not that the rules should demand exact placement of combatants), should also be included.

The point is that this would be a complete game, not even easily compatible with the main line. This almost seems to cry out for a licensing tie-in. Conan has plenty of recognition and is low magic (no massive spell lists) to boot. Character, monster, adventure, and setting supplements could be produced, but won't be necessary for continuing the game.

Ideally, the box set sits up in the closet with Monopoly and other board games. It can be taken out, set up, and taught within 15 minutes. Play could last from an hour to however long you could stand it. Maybe the players play again tomorrow or next week with the same characters. Maybe it goes back in the closet for a few months and they play again new characters.

Hobbyists will always have their game (and even their preferred version of their game). Why can't there be a version for the casual player too?

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Retro Post: The Party Game


I kind of stumbled on this link a little while ago, and it reminded me that I'd written about the notion of making a D&D party game a couple of years ago. I posted something on the Paizo messageboard, and they did not think well of the idea (yeah, 3e grognards enbracing a simpler game).


Pathfinder RPG: The Party Game

I just got back from a low-key, work-related party, which featured a party game.  I just suddenly had the thought, "Would it be possible to make an RPG party game?"

Okay, after everyone finishes spewing their Mountain Dew on their computer screen.

Really though. I haven't thought all this out (obviously) and may post more later, but I thought throw this out now and try to get some ideas.

Please don't post, "Go play 4e!"

The party game would need really quick, easy character creation, but with plenty of choices and some character variation. Combat would also have to be really simple, quick, concise, and definitive. It would also likely need to work without miniatures and a grid map, so heavy battlefield tactics would be discouraged. There would need to be character social interaction rules, but they should be quickly resolvable with a dice roll, on the assumption that people at a party are not going to want to heavily get into character (unless they've been drinking heavily).

Actually, these rules need to be learnable and playable by people who may be half-drunk, so also all record keeping for characters, monsters, and NPC's needs to pretty simple as well. In a similar vein, characters will probably need some "fate-like" points that can be played, in case they do something dumb in the first encounter that would otherwise get them killed.

I haven't played or seen any of the Pathfinder Society scenarios, but from what I've heard, this might be the kind of adventures that might work in this kind of setting. Something that could play inside of four hours, give the players a more than reasonable chance of success, no "shopping at the bazaar" during the adventure, just straight-up adventuring (fighting, parleying, puzzle solving), and a clear objective. Consider all these games to be one-shots, no leveling up.

Characters would be created at the appropriate power level for the adventure. Perhaps the idea of levels could be dispensed with altogether in some fashion.

Bottom line. Paizo creates "Pathfinder RPG: The Party Game" edition, a small softcover book. And then sells lots of easy to run, scenario pdf's for the game on their website. They make lots of money and RPG's become a mainstream, fad rage at parties everywhere.

[Boy, was that a weak ending.  I deserved whatever derision I got just for that last paragraph.]

To be continued.


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Retro Post: 4e Might Be Right Continued


Previously.

[If you're actually reading these Retro posts, you are truly hardcore.  I salute you (and question your tastes).]

3e set the tone. The D20 mechanic really is an improvement in playability over older versions. Right up until you add in a bunch of modifiers, which are very hard to keep track of. Skills and feats are the ultimate in customizability and useless time wasting in character creation, advancement, and actual play. The worst aspect is that the player now plays a China Doll. After all the time that the player has put into creation and maintenance, the DM dare not kill them out of hand.

Bang, you’re dead! That’s Old School. You know what, it’s wrong. People get into this to indulge in an heroic fantasy, not an historical one. You play dumb and get your character killed, too bad. Your character goes down in a pitched battle with the big villain or protecting the helpless from a hoard of Orcs, you can write a ballad about it. “Ooops. The random encounter with the giant rats has overwhelmed the entire party. TPK. Okay, everybody roll up new characters.” Nobody plays the game for that thrill, not even the most sadistic DM.

The reliance on minis and mats, the craftsmanship involved in making up a character, and the unwieldy nature of creating and using NPC’s and some monsters has had a largely unrecognized effect on the 3e and 4e game. DM improvisation, players taking adventures of the rails, and random encounters are almost play styles of the past. Encounters have to be set up and planned to some extent in any version. 3e and 4e encounters require so much set up, that even the players understand that if they go “rogue” in an adventure, there may not be any encounters. Both version have made some attempt at making encounters “easier” to create and more “play balanced” for the party. The amount of effort expended in following those formulas and in playing them out, ensures that there will be few of them and they will be virtually mandatory if there'’ going to be any adventure.

Since characters are had to replace, if the dice have fated that they’ll die, it’s got to be meaningful. So no random encounters. That’s okay. As established, encounters are hard enough to make and mandated to the point that players can’t do whatever and DM’s can’t BS encounters in reaction. This sort of short circuits the current en vogue play style of Old School, the sandbox. This is where the DM does large amounts of prep work for an adventure setting and then the players immediately head straight off the map. How is this different than any other Old School game? In a larger sense, there isn’t any. For all the extra work, even if the players go along, the DM will still be improvising the whole session and each succeeding one. Over prep and under prep, the worst of both worlds. The properly run sandbox is essentially the DM playing by himself in a setting without the characters when the players aren’t looking.

As stated before, in 4e player choices amount to either engaging the DM’s planned encounters, or not having any encounters. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The typical low level, nearly helpless Old School characters getting wiped out by random encounters, while trying to figure out where to play in the sandbox, isn’t fun for anyone except the most cautious (and tedious or lucky) players. People are exhorted to be cautious in real life enough. Time to find some glory!

By contrast, low level 4e characters are nearly indestructible, assuming the recommended play balanced encounters. They’re not going to be able to take out Orcus, but it’s going to take a couple of rounds for him to kill them. The encounters and adventure will be mapped out well in advance. Player decisions will basically be all tactical. But they will look good and probably feel pretty superheroic cleaving through their opponents. Of course the trade off for this are fight scenes that play out like an epic paper cut death match. There might be a few too many hit points in 4e.

4e has also done away with having to stock the dungeon with treasure. By giving the characters whatever they want as long as it’s level appropriate. This strikes me a singularly lazy or alternately an almost complete dismissal of the DM and his role. May as well go play a board game or a computer game and finish the deal. Skill challenges essentially abrogate the role of the player, their thinking and role playing.

Collectible card gaming is slowly being worked into 4e, prototyped in Gamma World and now an optional accessory. Between that and the heavy emphasis on combat rules with battle mats and minis, official D&D seems more like a tactical strategy game than an RPG. Along with the lack of improvisation and simple character creation, little wonder fans of previous versions of the game don’t consider it real D&D. Even with some similarity to 3e, Pathfinder fans find 4e taken to too much of an extreme, without the game flexibility benefit.

But 4e gets it right in some areas. Powers and monsters are precisely defined (even if those powers all seem to involve moving pieces on a board like chess). Characters are built to heroic proportions. Adventures are designed to let them shine and eliminate nonsense and filler encounters.

Hard (not vague) rules that are easy to use. Characters that are tough and simple to create, play, and advance. Adventures that force the players to think and make decisions, but are free of fluff encounters. Settings that start small and grow via adventures played, not giant pre-made constructs. It’s hard to say if RPG’s are getting closer to something more mainstream acceptable. Or if the next official version of D&D will be a hobby fetish mess mandating minis, cards, and online content. Ooops. Already there. WOTC’s made their choice with the IP. We’ll see where Old School and Paizo take their games.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Retro Post: 4e Might Be Right


[No dancing around it.  This sucker rambles on for a while (and on to another post).  Not sure when I wrote this one either.  Again, I think it still has some (albeit dated) value.]

Notice how most people who don’t play 4e, don’t call it D&D? The brand may start to disintegrate into tribalized factions: 4e, Pathfinder, Old School. All of them D&D. None of them the true heir. What I mean is that the market has never matured. (Some of the players have, though perhaps not emotionally.) RPG’s are still more hobby than game. Meaning, you can’t just take the box down from the closet and play it on a rainy afternoon.

Players might take this as a feature rather than a bug. I would never advocate for doing away with DM’s and players producing reams of useless background material for adventures as long as people are enjoying themselves. What I’m talking about is people who don’t want to spend large amounts of their free time preparing for the game. Certainly D&D has been around long enough and been popularized by online RPG’s to the point that most non-tabletop players implicitly get the concept.

Why isn’t there a mainstream version of the game? Something along the lines of having pre-made or mix and match powers characters with pre-made adventures (with multiple options for encounters) that can be played in two to three hours. The rules would have to be rock solid and simple to learn (that is they keep the math to a minimum, like only one modifier per roll). There can still be a hobby version. More options and details, with about the same rules.

Characters can advance from adventure to adventure by a simple general enhancement or new characters could be used just for each adventure. Adventures can be modules, made up by the DM, or even randomly rolled. (Imagine a book of pre-made encounters and options.)

4e has taken D&D the closest to this possibility. The rules of the game are as clearly defined as they’ve ever been (except for skill challenges). It has only fallen down in that the game exclusively appeals to hobbyists. It is still filled with a bewildering array of character choices and options. That’s for the RPG’er, but a hard sell to the non-gamer. Would you play Monopoly if you had to spend any time rolling up and building your piece?

To play 4e you need at least three hardbacks. It is somewhat implied you need the others, along with minis, mats, and other physical pieces. Essentials trims to two softback books (maybe three), along with minis, mats, and other physical pieces. Either way it’s a substantial investment for someone who isn’t already a player.

Essentials was an attempt at building a simpler game. However, it’s still totally compatible with the full version, therefore making it functionally just as complex. While it makes characters easier to build and play, they still work and progress in the same fashion as regular characters. In short, I don’t know who this version of the game was written for. It’s less options for the gamer, while still too complex for the non-gamer.

Perhaps Essentials was only a further gouge of the hard core gamer, who is buying it for the rules update. And there are two more reasons for the non-gamer not to buy into D&D: constant mandatory updates (and the always impending threat of the new version) and having to pay for them. This segues into the worst problem of 4e in terms of new players, having to buy a subscription to the website. Oh no, it’s certainly not mandatory. You can make up a new character by hand. You don’t have to have the rules updates. Sort of. That experienced players turn to the character builder to create and advance their characters is a pretty harsh indictment. Essentials may make it easier to create, but not so much advance. The rules updates are for geeks, who you’re inevitably going to run into when you’re playing (or you are one). Since they have the rules to back them up, everyone has to go along with them.

As an aside, this is something of an improvement over 3e. You had to do your math yourself there. If there was a bunch of rules updates you’d have to buy a whole new set of books called (.5). It’s hard to fault WOTC for exploiting gamers, given their willingness to shell out for half-ass new versions of the game.

Continued.

Baseball Journal 6-9-13


The Chicago Chamber of Commerce is clearly in charge of the weather this weekend. The blimp refuses to the leave the city and continues to orbit over sporting events. Today, it was the Cubs playing the Pirates. Len and JD spent the early innings talking about New Hampshire baseball players and Edwin Jackson’s new shoes. They were wondering how long a pair of shoes lasts for a major leaguer these days. I’d say given the amount of time most players spend on the DL, probably an entire season. There was a fight in the stands between two little kids, older brother and younger brother. It seemed to end with both of them being annoyed at one another.

The other early game highlight was the commercials. There was an unexpected part two to a chip commercial from the previous day. I wonder where this is going? I already want to try the chips. Then there was an extremely glamorous Kia commercial. Great looking car (not to mention to the model driving it), but I’m standoffish on the name, Cadenza. Sounds like a piece of furniture, a piece of furniture which I will likely never own.

Around the 5th inning, the guys noticed that Pirate pitcher, Jeff Locke, had a no-hitter going. It was easy to miss that, since he’d also walked seven and was around 100 pitches, just about evenly divided between balls and strikes. In the 6th, he gave up a run without surrendering a hit. Dioneer Navarro came up with a single later in the inning and put a graceful, merciful end to Locke’s outing, as he was taken out immediately afterward.

Ah, happy totals from Toronto, as the Rangers win 6-4. None the worse for wear from yesterday’s ordeal, other than they had to put a couple more starting pitchers on the Disabled List. I listened to a couple of innings before going to watch the Cubs game. It was a little funny listening to players being announced as going 3 for 8 yesterday.

Back in Chicago, Cody Ransom went from being the goat for getting picked off Second early in the game, to taking an extra base and scoring later and then hitting a three-run homer. Nice recovery. Cubs win 4-1. Edwin Jackson’s new shoes paid off. I got to hear the victory song for what seems like the first time this season. And yet another gorgeous girl in the stands between home plate and the Cubs’ dugout. No wonder I keep thinking Cubs’ fans are better looking than White Sox fans.

The Dodgers were on the radio when I returned home. They were getting the hell beat out of them by the Braves, 8-1 final. JD was mentioning during the Cubs broadcast about the Dodgers having about $150M in payroll on the DL. The Dodgers announcers were doing the same. Unlike the Angels, I’m actually feeling somewhat sorry for the Dodgers. Even the otherwise solid, Adrian Gonzalez, is having a sub-par year at First Base. About the only good thing about the Dodgers this season has been the bumper music the broadcasts use between innings.

But that’s all changed this week. The Dodgers didn’t need to add hundreds of millions to their payroll, they just needed a rookie Cuban defector, Yasiel Puig. In addition to his video game-like accomplishments this week (supersonic speed, great fielding, hitting .464, four home runs with a grand slam), he went 3 for 5 today (batting about .445) in an otherwise futile effort by the team. If this kid’s going to be a star, the first mandatory thing that must happen is, he’s got to get a nickname. “Puiggggg!” is just not a great rallying cry. However the name thing goes, we’ll keep an eye on him.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Retro Post: In the Beginning


[While I was frustrated and locked out of the blog, I kept writing anyway.  So this is dated (not quite sure when), but perhaps somewhat interesting.] 


Old School D&D: The characters are all generic and fragile. Environments are big dungeons filled with monsters and treasure. Characters survived by caution, wits, and luck. The rules were vague and houseruled for each group. Player choices involved picking which dungeon passage to go down next. It’s the DM’s world. Role-playing happened, even though unsupported by the rules.

Around Second Edition: Characters are more personalized. The rules were better organized, more concise, with more options. The environment consists of pre-plotted story adventures. There is heavy Role-playing, though still unsupported by the rules. (Even Gygax penned an article in Dungeon once about “pushing the pendulum the other way” on getting too into character.) Characters survived by following the script. Not a whole lot of player choices as it’s even more the DM’s world.

Third Edition: The rules are now really detailed and complex in practice. Characters are no longer rolled, but built. Complex, highly personalized, and tougher. Of course, so are the monsters and NPC’s. Characters survived by being built well. Role-playing happened between encounters, with story linking the encounters. Player choices are very involved insofar as character creation and advancement. In game, either face the DM’s pre-planned encounters or get railroaded into them. It’s still the DM’s world, but he seems terribly overworked building encounters. Random encounters and improvisation are a thing of the past.

Indy games: Perhaps in reaction, or as an alternative, or perhaps finally to create an RPG where the Role-playing is supported by the rules, non-D&D games flourish (critically, not financially). Highly character centered. Conflict is more personality oriented than martially. The motivations, build up, and hype is more important than the fight itself. The players dictate the adventure.

Fourth Edition: Characters have more options than ever and are now indestructible. It is a computer encouraged (if not demanded) environment for creation. The game centers on tactical combat encounters. Survival is not really a problem. The rules are precise. Houserules are dead. Role-playing is there solely to kill time while setting up the next combat encounter. Players now willingly submit to the DM’s world, otherwise there’s no adventure. The DM is now more of an observer and a programmer of sorts.

Pathfinder: It’s Third Edition with better grappling rules. Cool default game world with interesting Adventure Paths, though.

OSR: Much like Old School, but the rules are better organized and streamlined. Sandbox play is encouraged to give players the maximum choice in adventuring. (Though I suspect this is not really used in practice. Settings are actually built through improvisation and actual play.)

The Future?: Fifth Edition features Pokemon-style gladiator-like tournaments in game stores using computers, minis, and collectible cards. The D&D name may even be scrapped at some point, since it has so much negative baggage attached to it. Pathfinder’s rules will crush under their own weight due to too many supplements. They will be forced to come out with a new edition and death spiral will begin. Indy? Are they still publishing? OSR fades into the background until it is rediscovered again. Perhaps the D&D name is bought by some company who comes out with a nice, simple, open-ended fantasy game that everyone, hobbyist and casual player, can enjoy.

[Don't laugh about that Fifth Edition prediction crack.  It came damn close to coming true.  4th edition (and even Pathfinder) were experimenting with making collectible cards and on-line content part of the game just before the new edition was announced.  I don't know what brought them back from the edge, but thank heavens.]

Baseball Journal 6-8-13


On Friday, Len and JD were calling the Cubs-Pirate game from the Budweiser Bleacher section of Wrigley Field. I know management is trying to promote these like they’re Green Monster seats at Fenway, but frankly they’re the worst seats in the ballpark that aren’t obstructed by a girder. They’re tucked in the corner in the deepest part of the stadium in the well in Right Field. I doubt anybody in that section is there for baseball. (I assume you get a deal on the beer there.) The guys made the best of it. JD did briefly heckle the Pirate outfielders. The blimp provided beautiful aerial shots of Wrigleyville and probably had a closer view of the field than the announcers. The Pirates won and unfortunately that’s all I know about the game as I was only able to watch a couple of innings.

Saturday morning, I caught a very quick and crisply played game between the Rangers and Blue Jays. In the top of the 9th, the Rangers tied the score at 3-3. With an odd sense of prescience, I decided to go ahead and go to my parents’ apartment to watch the White Sox-A’s game. I just had a bad feeling.

Another lovely day in Chicago. The blimp relocated to the Southside and provided excellent views of the parking lots and freeways surrounding the ballpark. The game settled into a 1-1 tie for most of the afternoon. It wasn’t a good sign that Hawk and Stone kept giving updates of the Rangers-Jays game, which had yet to be resolved. In the bottom of the 9th, after the Sox took a 4-1 lead in the top of the frame on the way to the win, they finally announced that the Blue Jays had just won, 4-3 in the 18th. Damn. Let’s play two the hard way. Thank goodness I didn’t stay till the end of that one.

Meanwhile in New York City, the Marlins and Mets laughed, “You lazy bums,” and kept playing in their 20-inning game. 2-1 Marlins in the end. It’s funny that earlier in the week, my dad had called me as he watching that White Sox-Mariners game last week that went scoreless for 14 innings. He was determined to see the end of it, sort of an endurance contest. I know that the otherwise reliable Addison Reed blew a five-run lead that extended the game another two innings. He was out there for three innings and got the win in 16, 7-5 Sox. He may have also been the only pitcher left for the Sox in the bullpen. In his appearance Saturday, Addison hadn’t seemed to have suffered any ill effects.

Right before the end of the game, we caught the horse race. One of those big ones. I forgot which one it was. I’ve been to a horse race once and enjoyed it (translation: I won money). In my mind, if you’re going to bet on sports, do it with the ponies. It’s entertaining without getting you emotionally involved in a team. While the horses were parading before the race, one of the commentators was going on about how one of the jockeys had been arrested for domestic abuse and was in court-mandated counseling. First, waaaay too much information there, for either entertainment or betting purposes. Second, what kind of home life do expect out of a guy who whips horses for a living?

My regional Fox game of the week that evening was yet another Angels game. Yay. I’m almost beyond questioning their scheduling now and am resigned to my fate this season. “Big Game” CJ Wilson was on the mound again for the loser Halos. Yes, he’s handsome and personable, and is generally a good pitcher, but he’s a marshmallow. All he needs is some chocolate and a graham cracker, and I’ll upgrade him to Smore. My biggest irritation with him is his constant throws to bases with runners on. Not only is it OCD, he couldn’t pick off a runner that’s fallen down with his move. While I’m on a roll, if the Right Fielder wasn’t named Josh Hamilton and owed tens of millions of dollars, he’d be playing in Triple-A by now. And Al? He’s bravely playing through an injury to his foot. He tripped over a pile of money lying around his mansion and hasn’t been the same since. At least I got the satisfaction of watching them lose to the Red Sox, 7-2.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Expedition to the Doomed Peaks--Original Maps

Fantasy Core RPG
© Jerry Harris 2013
Published here as Open Game Content.
(This link will take you to the Fantasy Core Index.)

Adventure Index

ORIGINAL MAPS

These are the original, unaltered maps I got from the unknown book

UPDATE: Found the book: The Handbook for Space Pioneers.

Residential Deck



Residential Apt First Level



Residential Apt Second Level



Crew Deck



Crew Deck Apt



Computer Deck



Command Deck



Hope you enjoyed this little mash up.  While it's a dangerous adventure in places, I'd definitely play up most of the encounters for laughs.  The setting certainly lends itself to humor.

Up next, they're out of date, they're old, they're musty, they never should have seen the light of day, but here they are: the Retro-Blogs. 

Fear.







Thursday, June 6, 2013

Expedition to the Doomed Peaks--Extra Adventurers Part 2


Fantasy Core RPG
© Jerry Harris 2013
Published here as Open Game Content.
(This link will take you to the Fantasy Core Index.)

Adventure Index


Extra Adventurers
Part Two


Ranger
+3 Str, Con, and Dex bonus
7th level (80 XP), Hp 53, AC 16 +1 Leather, AC 14 vs firearms
Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +2
Melee: Longsword +10 to hit 1d8+3, (Parry 1st missed melee, Dagger +6 to hit 1d4+3)
Ranged: +2 Longbow, 2 att, +12/+8 to hit 1d8+2, 20 arrows

Skills: First Aid, Stealth +7, Detection +6, Track +6


Thief
+3 Dex, +2 Wis, Cha, and Int bonus
7th level (80 XP), Hp 32, AC 16 +1 Leather, AC 14 vs firearms
Fort +2, Ref +8, Will +4
Melee: +1 Short Sword +5 to hit 1d6+1 (Backstab 14 dam, Sneak 7 dam)
Ranged: +1 Short Bow +11 to hit 1d6+1

Skills:
+6 Detection (Traps, ambushes), Detection (Trapped items), Disarm Traps, Find (Secret doors and items)
+7 Stealth (Hiding, sneaking), Pick Locks, Escape Artist, Forgery, Pick Pockets
+6 Acrobatics (Balancing, jumping), Climb
+6 Fast Talk, Haggle, Disguise, Intimidate (Psychologically), Charm
+5 Intimidate (Physically)


Wizard
+4 Int bonus
7th level (80 XP), Hp 24, AC 14 Leather and +2 Ring, AC 12 vs. firearms
Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +5
Melee: +1 Dagger +3 to hit 1d4+1
Ranged: Ice Blast Wand 1d8x4 (DC 16 Ref Sv), 10 charges

Spells: +8 to cast, 3 failures per turn/encounter

1st level, DC 13
-Comprehend Languages: You understand all spoken and written languages. 1 turn/level (7).
- Hold Portal: Holds door shut. 1 turn/level (7).
- Magic Missile: 1d6 per ½ level (4d6) magic damage. RS
- Shield: Invisible disc gives + 4 to AC, blocks magic missiles. Encounter.
- True Strike: +20 on your next attack roll (may be cast on another).

2nd level, DC 14
- Acid Arrow: 1d8 per ½ level (4d8) acid damage. RS
- Arcane Lock: Magically locks a portal or chest. Permanent. CC
- Blur: Successful attacks miss subject 25% of the time. Encounter.
- Glitterdust: Blinds creatures, outlines invisible creatures. Fills confined area or 20' sq. Encounter. RS
- Knock: Opens locked or magically sealed door. CC
- Web: Fills 20-ft.-radius spread with sticky spiderwebs. Entangled 1 rd + ½ level (5 rds). RS to avoid. DC 18 Str to break or Escape Artist skill.

3rd level, DC 15
- Clairaudience/Clairvoyance: Hear or see at a distance for 1 rd./level (7). Line of sight, through 1 wall.
- Fireball: 1d8 per ½ level (4d8) fire damage per level, 20-ft. radius. RS ½ dam.
- Fly: Subject flies at speed of 60 ft./rd, 1 turn/level (7).
- Gaseous Form: Subject becomes insubstantial and can fly slowly. 1 turn/level (7).
- Lightning Bolt: Electricity deals 1d8 per ½ level (4d8) damage. RS ½ dam.
- Magic Weapon, Greater: +1 per two levels (+3). Encounter.
- Summon Monster III: Calls 3HD extraplanar creature to fight for you. Encounter. Forbidden spell. Ceremony Spell. (3HD, Hp 24, +3 BAB, AC 13, damage 1d6+3)
- Tongues: Speak any language. 1 turn/level (7).