Professor Pope

Why Less is More -- My Pathfinder Character Dilemma

2012-01-26T15:07:00.002-05:00

I'm currently playing in the serpent's skull adventure path and having a lot of fun. My group is solid, the adventure is a nice blend of mystery, exploration, and combat, and the DM does a great job. We've just completed the first book of the AP and are currently gearing up for a trek into the Mwangi Expanse. Now, let me tell you about my character. . .

Really, what I want is some help with this guy. Culver Farwalker is an adventurer's adventurer. He's motivated by finding lost ruins, discovering new knowledge, and, yes, gaining some loot in the process. One of his major goals is to become a member of the Pathfinder Society. He's mostly heroic when it comes to his friends, but is certainly more motivated by uncovering relics than any sort of greater good. Indiana Jones is certainly an inspiration.

Is this slight of hand? But then how do I get weapon specialization: whip?

All of this is great and I feel pretty comfortable with Culver now after some initial misgivings. But notice something about the above description -- it has nothing to do with class or abilities. He could be anything! So I am having trouble figuring out what he should be. Technically, he's a bard, but I don't feel terribly comfortable with that choice. I've been given permission to "reskin" him into a different class. This leads me with a problem and some observations.

Problem: What should I do with him, class wise? The party has a fighter, cleric, paladin, and a wizard. The wizard's player isn't very experienced, so doesn't make the best choices regarding spell choice and use. He also misses some games due to work. Thus we have a 30% wizard. What can he be that will help the party, be fun to play, and not, well, suck?

Observations:

I can't help but think that, in Old School sorts of games, this dilemma wouldn't be an issue. That is, the choice of race/class wouldn't matter as much because of all the things we know about old school gaming (no skills, player skill matters a lot, party balance and composition not as important, etc). But these things DO matter a lot in Pathfinder, so I can't help but engage in some sort of character optimization.
Boy, Pathfinder has a lot of options. Just in the SRD, there are core classes and base classes. Each one of those, in turn, has archetypes! Some, like the sorcerer, have further options like bloodlines. I know many people see this as a feature, but I can't help but be struck by option paralysis as I try to see how all those things could be combined to fit the concept. I want Culver to know things about history, ancient cults, and the peoples of Golarion. So do I need to take a class that has a lot of skill points so that he can put some into various knowledge skills? But just knowing things makes for a somewhat crappy character in a game where one fights monsters and runs into traps, so how do I get some combat ability out of this guy while still allowing him to do the things that no one else in the party can do -- like disarm traps?
The above, especially, has led me to the conclusion that comprehensive skill lists are much more of a hindrance than a help and I vastly prefer systems with few or no skills.

Since I can't make Culver into a fighting-man, what am I to do?

"How to Prepare" - -Mentzer Reflections, Part 15

2012-01-24T16:53:00.002-05:00

This continues my series chronically a close examination of the Mentzer Basic Player's Manual. My central thesis here is that Mentzer was tasked with creating a self-teaching system from the basic Moldvay rules. In so doing, certain implicit or default assumptions about play were made into "rules." Today's section certainly supports that thesis.

"How to Prepare" spans pages 53-55 of the Player's Manual. It deals with player mechanics and roles around the table, speaking little of character abilities or rules. It starts with what to read (the PM) and what to bring to the table. Of course, the most important thing a player needs is a Dungeon Master! Other than that, you need characters, dice, pencils, paper, and likely refreshments. You may also need retainers if you only have two or three players.

This section also sees the famous "mapper" and "caller" player roles spelled out, with Mentzer placing considerable emphasis on mapping skill:

Mapping is an important part of imagining where your characters are. . . If you play often, take turns at mapping; it is an important and useful skill to learn.

Mentzer also urges the players to think about the characters a bit before play with some who, why, where, when, and what questions. This, to me, really signals a move toward less "disposable" characters. Though character creation is still 3d6 in order, paying attention to this level of motivation prior to the first dungeon foray doesn't 100% fit with the 2 hit point fighter who will likely die in the first room. It's a fine line to draw, as one wants more than just numbers on a page, but one also doesn't want to spend too much effort too early on when survival is very difficult.

The section also contains a rudimentary guide to tactics -- put the fighter up front and the magic user in the middle, let high CHA characters do the talking, etc. I remember following these to a "T".

I found the sample method for dividing treasure, also included here, to be interesting, though I cannot recall ever using it. Permanent magic items count as one share. Temporary magic items count as 1/2 of a share. Add coins up, divide into shares, pick/assign accordingly. It's straightforward and simple, but we always just tried to get the magic items in the hands of those who could use them. I don't really remember fighting about treasure that much, irnocally, until 3rd Edition. But that was a player, not a system issue.

That aside, I see this section as laying out some ways to play the game that really influenced how I, as a player, played. I'd wager it's the same for a fair amount of others.

Thoughts on the Player Driven Campaign

2012-01-23T16:18:00.001-05:00

Al over at Beyond the Black Gate has an interesting post today about The Player Driven Campaign. There, he posits that most players aren't as involved in a game's development as the DM. He also wonders if there is a way to quantify what makes the best sort of players. There's also the question of if, through any attempt at quantification, one might stifle a player's creativity or turn a player off the game.

As a DM, I want player involvement, but often it's hard to get beyond the minimal involvement a player has during his turn while fighting some monsters.

Maybe there are three levels of player interactivity:
1. The character level -- where the player makes up some personality and background for her character.
2. The campaign level -- where the player actively engages in making choices that drive the game forward, advancing her character's agenda within the game world.
3. The world level -- where the player actively participates in world-building (often through #1 and #2).

In my experience, #1 is fairly easy to come by, even if it's just a few sentences about their character. 2 & 3 are harder, because they require a bit larger scope. The player may also wonder about stepping on the DM's toes.

I also think I am a better player than DM. Here are some semi-random thoughts about what makes a good player:

Honesty
A minimal familiarity with the rule set
Creativity
Communication skills
Problem-solving skills

I am sure there are more, but that's what immediately comes to mind.

Thanks, Al, for the interesting post.

Mystara Love

2012-01-20T13:41:00.002-05:00

Reinforcing my desire to run a Mystara campaign is a recent spate of blog posts about the setting:

There is Beedo's "Ode to Mystara" at Dreams in the Lich House.

Age of Ravens has reviews of The Principalities of Galantri, The Emirates of Ylarum, and The Grand Duchy of Karmeikos.

And I just discovered Darva Shriver's Stocking the Dungeon, which is all about Mystara and BECMI D&D. It's an awesome blog!

Gaming and blogging in 2012 (part 1)

2012-01-20T08:37:00.000-05:00

The lack of recent posts has not (only) been the result of some hectic moments at work, but also due to some background thinking on my part about my gaming and blogging in the new year. I am trying to figure out what I want to accomplish. I've reached the point where some decisions need to be made, so I am throwing my thoughts up here for some feedback.

I really want to game more. While I still play in the bi-monthly Pathfinder Serpent's Skull game, I definitely want to expand beyond that. I think I have the time and I know I have the desire. So, I've concluded I want to try and run a somewhat regular game via Google Hangout, drawing in a few of my former gaming friends who are now scattered about. Additional choices need to be made here, about who else to include, how best to facilitate the game, what sort of schedule I can sustain, etc, but the decision to DO IT has been made.

That leaves me with another choice that hasn't been made yet -- what sort of game to run. For rules, I am likely going to go with some sort of BECMI/Lamentations of the Flame Princesses mash-up (I really like the specialist from LotFP), with final decisions there to be made in consultation with the core players. It's the setting I am really trying to figure out; I have two basic choices.

1. I've been going on and on for a long time about a desert setting, something like Arabian Nights meets ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia meets the Old West. My recent hand-drawn map sprung from this idea. I have scattered notes about the setting elements and a list of things to look at for inspiration. But that's really the extent of the development here. Thus, there is a lot of work to do. Playing in such a setting would "force" me to do more work. Such work would be fun in and of itself, but would certainly consume some time and creative energy. Such work would also be very good blog fodder.

2. Use Mystara/The Known World from the BECMI series, including some published adventures. I really do like this setting, not just because of it's nostalgia value, but because it strikes a nice balance between gonzo/kitchen sink fun and coherence. I have a lot of material for Mystara, including most of the Gazetteers and a lot of adventures. I also think it would be an interesting experiment to drop the LotFP rules into this setting and see what happens. Prep work would be lighter, but I don't get the satisfaction of some collaborative world building and moving forward on a long-discussed gaming project.

All of this relates to other things, like blogging and some work things I want to accomplish this year. I'll talk about those in the next post. Any thoughts or feedback about the above are appreciated. Thanks for reading!

"Missions" and Sandbox Play

2012-01-13T13:20:00.000-05:00

What role does the "mission" have in sandbox play?

By mission I mean an in-game objective which the characters seek to achieve, arising out of their own motives or due to their taking on a task given to them by another. I'll give a few examples to show what I mean:

1. In the brief Stonehell Dungeon game I ran, the party captured some goblins trying to sneak out of Stonehell. They learned of the goblins' conflict against the orcs and decided to help the goblins out, mainly so they could use the goblins as fodder against the stronger orcs. The mission: eradicate the orcs on the first level of Stonehell. (Voluntary, wholly player driven).

2. In the lengthy and fun 2E game in which I played while I was in grad school, our party had some downtime in a big city during a festival. During that time, we were approached by a few different sorts of people, each of which wanted us to do, find, or recover something and get some sort of reward in return. We elected to help this magic-user named Rinver travel to a ruined temple of Oghma in exchange for payment and a big share of any treasure. The mission: get the magic-user safely into the ruined temple. (Voluntary, somewhat player driven. That is, we were given a choice of missions and took one instead of just saying "let's see what's in this hex over there").

3. In the same game, my character became cursed. Well, it was mostly his own fault, but that's another story. The point was, to remove his curse he had to travel to the distant desert of his youth and recover an artifact. The mission: travel to the distant desert land and recover an artifact. (Involuntary -- my character would have Bad Things happen unless he did this thing. Not very player driven -- the curse was a consequence of my PC's actions, but the manner of the curse and its removal was not).

I'd submit that the mission has a vital role in sandbox/old-school play. I believe all three types listed above can fit, if posed properly. Missions that are offered as actual choices and/or consequences of PC's actions can fit quite well. In #2, we could have turned down Rinver and accepted an alternative offer. In #3, while I did not know my PC's actions would lead directly to a curse that would then necessitate a mission, I had a good idea that Bad Things could happen by continuing on the present path, yet I persisted. The problem comes when missions are presented as meta-game imperatives, as in "You have to take this wizard's offer or we have no adventure tonight."

Thoughts? Does the mission have a place in sandbox play?

The Joy of Books

2012-01-10T12:25:00.002-05:00

This just makes me very happy.

This should have been written yesterday.

2012-01-06T10:14:00.001-05:00

This should have been written yesterday, but seven hours worth of meetings prevented it:

Today, ten years ago, I was lucky enough to marry the woman I loved. It was a beautiful day; I will always remember how she looked, standing at the end of the church's center aisle, entering into our marriage. I am blessed to have had her love and support over the past ten years and I look forward to many, many more years to come.

And, since this is a gaming-related blog, here's a gaming-related story about my non-gamer wife that shows how much she loves and puts up with me:

I was still living in Texas, where I met her; we had been dating about a year. I had been up-front about my geekery from the start. She knew I collected comic books and that, almost every Friday night, I got together with a bunch of other geeks to roll dice and pretend to kill things and take their stuff. She wasn't interested in the activity -- I am not sure she even really understood it -- but she liked me and was happy to see me happy. Often, I'd call her as the game was wrapping up. This was before cell phones, so I'd say something like 'We'll be done in half an hour. Do you want to come over?" She'd meet me at my house and we'd hang out.

I had done this same this night, calling her as I thought things were finishing up, but then things began to run long. The final combat took awhile, there was some group squabbling afterwards, some further discussion about what to do with the squabblers even after that in the parking lot of the apartment complex, and then I realized in had been an hour and a half since I called my girlfriend and said I'd meet her in thirty minutes. Crap.

I rushed back to my house and saw her car parked in the driveway. That was good. There were no lights on in the house, however, and my roommate wasn't home. That was not good. As I parked and got out, I saw she was still in the car. She had been waiting for an hour! I got closer and realized she was asleep. That's right, this girl had come to meet me and had fallen asleep in the car, waiting on me to finish killing orcs. I was, and am, a lucky, lucky man.

Happy Anniversary!

Starting Back Up

2012-01-04T15:05:00.001-05:00

Winter break is over. We made it to and from Texas with minimal hassle. I am back at work, already caught up in the frenzy of an impending semester (I am all but finished with the syllabus for the class on comic books I am co-teaching this semester), and have already managed to clutter up my desk.

Gaming (the Pathfinder adventure path) will start back up next week. I'm looking forward to that, as well as to some other projects on the horizon. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's.

Travelling for the Holidays

2011-12-21T11:15:00.000-05:00

The family and I are leaving tomorrow for a Christmas visit to my in-laws in Texas. Blog posting will, correspondingly, be light to non-existent for the next week.

Have a great Christmas or whatever sort of winter holiday you celebrate. Be merry, safe, and generous!

I Made a Map!

2011-12-20T16:13:00.000-05:00

Above is the small version of the map I made for the "Make Something" project I assigned in my class. I used pencil to sketch the landforms, then went back and traced the coastline with a fine point black Sharpie. I traced the rivers with a fine point blue Sharpie. The water is colored with a mixture of colored pencil and crayon, while the land color is all colored pencil. Part of the reason I drew a small version first was to practice with technique and color, hence the hodgepodge of color and materials. If it's not apparent, this is a desert region -- one I hope to develop into a campaign setting one day.

The larger version is about 18" x 24". It's on a different type and color of paper, which really changed the way the colors turned out. On the larger version, I ended up not coloring in all of the land, leaving large spots "blank". I am not sure if it looks better to color everything (as above) or just color in the landforms that are particular (like deserts, jungles, etc).

What do you think?

A Response to "Kiddie D&D"

2011-12-20T13:19:00.000-05:00

This is a lengthy reply to two posts James wrote at Grognardia last week.

The first is a review/reflection on an old Dragon Magazine article, written by Frank Mentzer, that introduces the (then) new Red Box Basic set. James sees this as a large shift in D&D, a shift mainly from a hobby into which one is initiated by "experts" to one which one can join and learn on one's own through reading the Basic books.

I think James is right here. As I've argued before, in my Mentzer reflections, the Basic set is an explicit teaching tool, designed to gradually bring a solo player into the game. As James notes, this makes sense from a business perspective; TSR wanted as many people to buy the game as possible. It also makes sense from an "expanding the hobby" perspective. If you have a fun thing, you want to share it with as many people as possible. You want to make it easy for people to "get", in both senses of the word. You want to make it easy for people to put their hands on it. And you want to make it easy for people to understand what it's about.

Of course, doing so carries with it consequences. In earlier iterations of the game, you had to be brought into the tribe by an existing member. One needed to be taught the game by another person, since the game didn't do a good job of teaching itself. This created immediate personal contact within the tribe; you knew people. Thus, a sense of community was created, as one depended on others to learn the game. This also created more room for customization. Because everyone learned the game from somone else, rather than directly from the same book, there was inevitable differences between games in the form of house rules, rules interpretations, and styles of play. These differences certainly did not dissappear with Mentzer Basic, but one could see how they could become muted, as individuals learned the game not from a variety of ideosyncratic misfits, but from a nice red book with Elmore and Easley art.

James is clear he doesn't necesarily think the shift was some horrible development, but is clear that there was a change and it had consequences. As someone from rural South Carolina who began playing with Mentzer, I have different touchstones for the hobby. There was no tribe for me to join; there was only a red box. I learned the game from the box, then created my group from my assortment of 11 year old friends. It worked for me, since there was no one around to teach me how to play.

The other thing that James discusses in the Mentzer post and a subsequent photo is the how the game skewed younger after Mentzer. Again, he's correct. The age range on the boxes changed. There were the toys and the cartoon. The expansion of the hobby to a younger age set is something that James' younger gaming self found deplorable; D&D was becoming a "kiddie game" which is something no self respecting teenageer/early adult wants to be assoicated with.

But look at the comments to James' post about the D&D figures. Most of them say "cool" or some other form of positive feedback. I had the same reaction -- those look cool! I think this points to something I've been struggling with for some time -- the blurring of the line between childhood (and it's associated accpetable activities) and adulthood.

I think that the current list of what's acceptable for a kid to do and an adult NOT to do has shrunk considerably here in the 21st Century. The reasons for this are undoubtedly complex, but I'd pin in mostly on constant media saturation and the ascendency of "geek culture" in that media. It's not just geek stuff, however; I have friends that play in a kickball league.

There are certainly postives to this blurring of acceptable activities. Playing D&D as an adult and being upfront about it is one of those positives. And, while I am upfront about my hobby with most of the people I work and hang out with, there is still a difference in reaction depending on age. People my age, even those who are not gamers, don't particularly care. People older raise eyebrows. The lines between adult and kid are bolder for people who are older than I am by a generation or so.

Generational differences aside, I am generally for people doing whatever they are enthusiastic about that doesn't hurt other people. D&D, poker, fastasy football, kickball -- whatever makes you happy. But I am also not sure that this blurring of adult/childhood lines is entirely positive. I see a lot of supposed adults acting like children in terms of failing to resolve disputes between themselves, often as a result of being unable to back away from something that they are passionate about. And, as father, I see a lot of things that are offered to/for children that (I think) are unacceptable for children to be engaged in. I don't think I am being overly prudish here.

I wonder how much "kiddie stuff" really remains out there and whether or not that's a good thing.

Thanks, James, for some provocative posts.

Glories of the Grid -- An Ode to Graph Paper (Deja Vu Blogfest)

2011-12-16T14:40:00.000-05:00

I just found out about the Deja Vu blogfest this morning from Mythopoeic Rambling. Apparently, it originated with DL Hammons back in November. I thought it was a good idea, so I am jumping on the bandwagon, albeit very late.

The following is a post from waaay back in 2007, before this blog was a "gaming blog." I think it stands as a nice piece of reflection on my own gaming past. I'm interested to hear your thoughts!

An Ode to Graph Paper

I sometimes wonder why I keep a notebook AND a blog. It seems a little redundant. Granted, I can write things in a notebook I don't want to put out into the world. A notebook is portable (although I could twitter from my phone if I really wanted to). But one of the big reasons, I think, is that the notebook inspires me in ways the blog does not.

I started a new notebook today after filling up my Moleskin Pocket notebook last week. I've had this new one for awhile, ever since my 29th birthday/dissertation defense party. It was a gift, but I am sorry to say I forget from whom (the Moleskin was a gift, too. I think I received four notebooks/journals at that party. All of which have been used). This new notebook is thick, perhaps 200 pages, with a leather cover that is flexible and soft. It reminds me of the black King James Bible that seemed a staple of the churches I attended in my youth. In what is a first for me, it's neither lined nor blank; it's gridded.

The fact that I have a notebook full of graph paper leads me to think it was a gift from one of my gaming group friends. I remember someone saying "Hey, graph paper! You can use it to plan some D&D adventures."

I am not sure a page full of tiny squares has significance to any group of people the way it does to those of us who grew up in the 1980's playing Dungeons and Dragons. Graph paper meant dungeons (hex paper meant wilderness). I bought, collected, and hoarded graph paper. It was necessary equipment, like 50 ft of rope or a large sack. I had so many dungeons I needed to draw, I could never have enough graph paper. I'd ask for an extra sheet in algebra class, then take it to my dad's office after school and make copies, storing them in a red folder on the shelf with my D&D books. But this copied graph paper was always inferior to the green or blue lined paper you could buy. I preferred the green lines. That was the good stuff, because your pencil lines always showed up easier on the green paper. It was harder for me to get a hold of, so I was very pleased when my cousin gave me a big pad of green graph paper and a nice automatic pencil for my birthday. She worked at a bookstore and was well acquainted with my love for D&D. I immediately wrote on the front of this pad, in a 13 year old's feeble attempt at medieval script: "You are now in the realm of Dungeons and Dragons!", thus marking the pad for its designated purpose. It was for drawing dungeons.

Dungeoncrafting was some sort of esoteric science that was part art, a mixture of alchemy and cartography. There was a special vocabulary of symbols to master, special signs for secret doors, doors that opened only one way, pit traps, crossbow traps, stairs that went up, stairs that went down, and stairs that collapsed on the unwary adventurer. There was always a compass rose, so you'd know that "the corridor stretches 50 feet to the north before ending in a stout looking wooden door." As a dungeon master, I'd do my best to communicate these directions, dimensions, and secrets to the players who, armed with their own graph paper (hopefully with green lines), would attempt to map the dungeon. This never, ever worked. Invariably, something went awry. Corridors didn't match up. Stairs ran into rooms. Dimensions didn't make sense ("uh, it's a magical room!"). So we'd spend what seemed like hours pouring over the player's map, trying to figure out if they had added 10 feet to a corridor or I'd forgotten to mention the side passage halfway down.

In high school, my friends and I played in a game set in Undermountain -- a giant, giant dungeon under a city. I cheated and didn't make it all up. I just bought the $25.00 boxed set with the four poster sized maps and the two books that detailed the place. I had the pre-made posters, which I copied in sections so I could keep them hidden behind my DM's screen, but I made the players draw their own map. It really didn't take that much convincing. They started with a 10x10 room at the center of a sheet of the green lined paper -- the well in the common room of the Yawning Portal Inn -- and expanded from there. Soon, the dungeon ran off the edge of that first sheet of paper, so they'd add others, labeling each new sheet "A, B, C" and so on. I think we got to K by the time I went to college. These guys would tape the new sheets to the old ones, being careful to allow enough room between the pages so that they could be folded and put away. At the beginning of each new session, they would take out the map and carefully unfold it, laying it gently on the green felt of the pool table that served as our gaming table. (We ruined that table for pool, by the way, with our pencil marks, drink spills, and tears in the felt). The group would tell me which unfinished corridor they wanted to explore next, and off we'd go, lanterns at the ready, carefully marking of 10 foot increments of stony corridor on a little grid of green lines.

We were exploring the unknown, fighting the evil that threatened to plunge the city above into chaos. The graph paper helped us keep track of it all. Otherwise, we would have been lost.

Mentzer on Alignment -- Mentzer Reflections Part 14

2011-12-15T13:56:00.002-05:00

For this next entry in my Mentzer reflection series, I am skipping around in the Basic Red Book to discuss alignment. It's mentioned early on, as you work through the sample adventure as the fighter. It comes up again on page 52, when Mentzer notes that even though one's character is chaotic, the player doesn't need to act wildly. The principle discussion of alignment occupies about one-half of page 55.

Let me preface this with a few things. First, I am not one of those players who hates alignment or thinks it has no place in the game. I think it is useful to have an in game reminder of what constrains a character's actions. And I think it's useful to be able to establish a character or monster's connection to cosmic/supernatural/primeval forces. Second, I really do not like alignment debates. I find few things as tedious as "would the paladin really kill the fleeing orc women" discussion. Finally, this is also an area where my non-gaming/professional interests get in the way a bit, as I've taught and written about moral philosophy.

With all that throat clearing, let me begin with my initial interpretation of how alignment is presented in Mentzer -- as moral philosophy. As presented, the alignments express essential moral beliefs and the consequent prescriptons for behavior. Lawful is belief in order and following rules is natural; one should keep her promises and think about the good of the group. Chaotic is the belief in a lack of order; one should act on impulse and whim, which does not entail group cohesion. Neutral is the belief in balance between the two above forces; individuals and groups must work togehter.

I don't want to spend too much time picking these things apart. They each get a paragraph. This is a game for 12 year olds, not The Metaphysics of Morals. Yet even 12 year olds can likely see that there's no direct relation between a balance between law and chaos (as the central beliefs of neutral are described) and someone "who is most interested in personal survival." That sounds close to what chaotic individuals beleive, actually -- "the individual is the most important of all things." If one thinks about this very much, it all gets tangled up into a big, non-helpful mess. This is one way in which the alignment axes in AD&D is vastly superior, imho.

But maybe we're not really supposed think about this very much. The text equaltes Lawful with good, chaotic with evil, and neutral with some sort of situational ethic (which doesn't make a lot of sense, either). Why couldn't we just have "good", "evil", and "animal" and be done with it?

I am rapidly coming around to the view that the best interpretation of the three alignment system is that it expresses a being's orientation to some greater cosmic order? There are literal forces of law and chaos out there; one's alignment expresses which "team" one is on. That also gives some creedence to the idea of alignment languages; one's cosmic orientation is expressed in how one moves and gestures. Otherwise, I've got nothing to account for those things! There's not much of this "embodiment of cosmic forces" interpretation in Mentzer, however

On Dungeon Design and The Big Room

2011-12-14T16:13:00.000-05:00

I am a regular reader of Gnome Stew. They generally give good GM advice over there; I've found a number of tips and ideas from their regularly-updated columns.

That being said, something about today's "Playing in the Big Room" article rubed me the wrong way. The central argument of the piece is that you should start your dungeon design with The Big Room and work your way outward from there. The Big Room is, literally, a Big Room -- the large room at the center of the dungeon. Here, larger monsters can be placed, mounds of treasure can be stashed, and The Big Fight can happen. Here, you can put that crazy monster you've always wanted to place in a game. You should also dress the room up with cool terrain, NPC's, and atmosphere.

This sounds great, right? What's my problem with this?

My problem isn't with the order one puts the dungeon rooms on a page. I don't think that matters. Nor is it with the desire to work in cool ideas, interesting terrain, or fun encounters. My issue is with the assumption, explicit early in the article, that the dungeon should be designed for the players.

"There should be something to challenge each party member’s specialty ability or skill set, as well as something to amaze, to amuse, to frighten and perhaps something it would be best to evade or avoid."

The Big Room then becomes:

"the centerpiece of the dungeon level. It often is where the PCs encounter the big bad evil dude, dudette or monster. It can be — but not necessarily is — the climatic point of the adventure. Which means, hopefully, the Big Reward is somewhere nearby." (typos in original)

No big room here.

I don't think dungeons need a centerpiece. Nor do they need a Big Bad. They do need things to fight. And they do need things that are best to avoid, given the party's condition at any given time. And I hope they have amazing, amusing, and frightening things. I am also all for cramming fun and interesting things in your dungeon in whatever way you want. I just think that should be done independently of any concerns about an adventuring party.

There are two reasons for this. First, it's not as if whomever "actually designed" the dungeon in your fantasy world did so for the sake of murder-hobos out for loot (unless they did, which is cool). They did it to keep prisoners in, or to keep the goblins out, or as a place where they could store their mad magical creations before setting them loose on the outside world. Or maybe it's all just slightly acidic water eroding soft limestone. This is not a plea for hyper-realism. We're talking about mega-dungeons, after all. It's simply to point out that, in making a dungeon, a logical approach to take is to assume the perspective of whomever would actually make the dungeon. Whomever that is is not making the dungeon as a scaling series of challenges for an approproiate level party.

Secondly, I think assuming party composition in dungeon design limits creativity. Now, instead of thinking about what's cool, scary, or interesting, one is worrying about having enough traps to challenge the rogue while not hamstringing the fighter, while creating enough big open spaces so the evoker can actually use all those spells he's prepared. "Do what thou wilt" should be the mantra of dungeon design. Maybe you don't need or want a big room. Maybe there is no big bad evil guy. I actually think that's what the Gnome Stew article is getting at with it's advice about The Big Room and the sharks with laser beams moment. Sharks with laser beams don't care about party composition. I just think that's contravened by this earlier assumption about overall dungeon design. Designing with the party in mind contravenes the idea of tactical infinity, insofar as bulding challenges specific to certain party specilizations often limits solutions to those challenges to the invocation of those specializations.

There's also the very real possibility that when you're designing a dungeon, you don't have a party to design for. That is, you're not making the dungeon as part of some exisiting set of adventures, you're making the dungeon because you have some free time and it's fun to do.

Of course, you could roll on some tables and randomly generate all of it, in which case this is all moot.

My point here isn't really that The Big Room idea is a bad one, it's just that the article somewhat contradicts itself by 1)encouraging gonzo ideas in construction of the big room while 2)beginning with the assumption that design needs to proceed from party composition.

Heroes and Dragons -- A Friendly, Non-Local, Game Store

2011-12-12T16:09:00.000-05:00

We headed out of town this past weekend to visit my family in Conway, South Carolina. On our way back, we made a pit stop in Columbia for lunch; I talked the wife into letting me swing by Heroes and Dragons, an FLGS I had visited a long time ago. Though they had moved across the street, we found them with a minimum of hassle.

I had great plans of taking some pics and posting a quasi-walk through, but then my (tired) four year old had a minor meltdown over a fairy statue and we had to cut our visit short. (It did not matter that I had secret plans of buying her the fairy for Christmas as soon as she and her mom went back to the car. She had to Have. It. Now. And now I can't even get it for her because she threw a fit about it and I don't want to reward that behavior. And, yes, I am still bitter). Anyway, where was I?

Oh, yeah. Heroes and Dragons is a cool store. It's huge! They have separate sections for comics, toys/collectibles, games (RPG's, miniatures, and board games), used books, and game tables. Everything was clean and well lit. They had a large selection of high-quality used sci-fi and fantasy books, which skewed to newer stuff, though I did see some interesting Edgar Rice Burroughs volumes. They also had a decent selection of pulp novels, though I saw more adventure books than fantasy pulps. The game selection was good, with a glass display case with some older materials -- I saw a number of 1E D&D adventures in there, including Beyond the Magic Mirror. There were maybe 8 tables set up for gaming in another section of the store. My daughter seemed particularly fascinated by the terrain that was set up on and under them.

I ended up not getting anything, due to the aforementioned meltdown, but I definitely want to check the store out again next time I am down that way.

Here's their commercial:

Character Creation -- Mentzer Reflections Part 14

2011-12-09T10:43:00.001-05:00

After listing all the possible character classes, Mentzer takes us through the 10 steps necessary to create one from scratch. Reading this again, I wasn't struck by much. That is, it seemed to jive with my memory and my re-emergent old school sensibilities. Again, one of the things I am after here is to figure out how the game ought to be, given what the text says.

For the stats, one rolls 3d6 in order. There are provisions for rerolling an entire set of stats if the highest ability is less than 9 or if two or more scores are less than 6. This is rationalized on the basis of "suitability." The said character likely isn't suitable for dangerous dungeon crawling. I don't want to read too much into that, but it does give some credence to the "characters are extraordinary" stance that D&D evolved into. Stats come before choice of class, of course, with the reminder to look at a class's prime requisite and compare it to the stats before choosing.

One then has the ability to alter the rolled stats through what seems to be to be an overly complex process.
You raise your prime requisite by 1 for every 2 points you lower another score. You can only raise your prime requisite. You can't lower your dexterity, constitution, and charisma. This means you only have strength, intelligence, and wisdom to play around with. And you cannot lower any score below 9. Was this some recognition of the potential to min/max? Was this all done to prevent charisma from being a dump stat? This whole system puzzles me.

The remainder of the character creation process was straightforward, with the standard roll for hit points, write your saving throws down, figure your armor class, etc list. One thing made me smile was in the "buy equipment" section, however. There, we get this line: "Be careful shopping!" What this means, based on the text that follows, is that one should select one's adventuring materials carefully, because you don't want to be in the dungeon and really need something and not have it. It also speaks to the resource management aspect of the game, especially at the beginning stages. It made me smile, however, because I pictured my newly made character getting ambushed and killed while selecting equipment, dying before he ever made it to the actual adventure, a la some other systems.

Two art pieces on these pages. One is an Elmore drawing of a female elf, sitting on a log listening, with a look of forbearance, to a male halfling while a dwarf stands by rolling his eyes. The other is another Elmore sketch and more interesting. It's of a hand rolling dice. We can see a pencil and character stats on a piece of paper (so far, the player has a 14 strength and a 9 intelligence, with a blank by wisdom). I think it's interesting because it depcits the process of making a character and is not at all fantasy art. I don't recall any other art in D&D that depicts a player or the process of playing rather than characters or fantastic elements within the game. Can anyone help me out with other examples of the former?

Next in the series, I am going to talk about Alignment, which is already making my head hurt. But we'll get to that next week.

What Was Made

2011-12-07T11:01:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago, I posted about the final project I assigned my class -- to make something. I just returned from that class; they presented their final projects today and discussed the process of their making.

I was blown away. These things were incredible. One student tried to replicate her grandmother's biscuit recipe because her grandmother has Alzheimer's and can't pass the recipe on to others. She brought the results to class. Another student stitched a stuffed animal that was the "daughter" of a favorite stuffed animal from childhood. Another student illustrated a chapter from his fantasy-novel-in-progress. Yet another student made a bento box and filled it with homemade traditional Japanese bento dishes (triangle rice balls, cucumber sushi). She did all this in her dorm room! The project that may have the most interest to this blog's audience was a student's work based on A Game of You. First, she made a three-dimensional art project that used panels from the graphic novel, but arranged them in a new sequence. She added dialogue in a creative way to illustrate themes of the course. It looked awesome. Then, she also made the Porpentine! And gave it to me! I am wearing it around my neck right now. If it's not apparent, I am extraordinarily proud of my students and jazzed about it all right now.

I made a map. More about that soon.

Boy, this sucks -- computer update

2011-12-06T13:06:00.001-05:00

Just found out the hard drive on the old laptop is toast, with the only chance for recovery being expensive "we extract data from banks that tried to hide their money laundering and then burned their hard drives" companies. Big thing gone is a ton of family photos, but there was some work stuff and gaming stuff on there as well. We have some backups, but not an especially recent one. I know, yell at me later.

Back up everything, kids. Early and often.

Anyway, a new computer is in the future for us. The dead machine is a MacBook, which I really liked, but I am not an Apple snob. I am intrigued by the idea of building my own PC, but wonder if I have the skills and the time.

Awesome Friday

2011-12-02T09:36:00.001-05:00

Friday is typically a light posting day for most folks. I thought I'd keep it light today by just sharing a few things that I think are awesome.

1. These GIF'ed up classic comic book covers by Kerry Callen: (hat tip to Andre Pope who posted this on G+)

Not animated here, but click on the link above!

2. The fact that the barristas at the Starbucks here on campus know what tea I drink and have it ready for me when I make it to the counter after waiting in line.

3. The fact that we have some old, battered piano in the big classroom across from my office. Random people just sit and play it sometimes and often they are quite good.

Just a few awesome things this morning. I know I am forgetting many other things.

Edit to add one other awesome thing:

4. A band I really like, The Steel Wheels, has been performing new material that will appear on their new album that's supposed to come out in March:

Computer Problems!

2011-12-01T16:27:00.001-05:00

Computer problems today led me to all sorts of troubleshooting when I wasn't reading student rough drafts. Unpleasant. The problems, anyway. Most of the drafts were pretty good.

Public thanks to Cthulhu's Librarian and his tech support.

Basic Halflings -- Mentzer Reflections Part 13

2011-11-30T13:18:00.001-05:00

I am probably not alone in the fact that my entry into gaming roughly coincided with my discovery of Tolkien. Both happened in the 6th grade for me, as I discovered The Hobbit on my English teacher's bookshelf and Ricky Terzo started telling me about Dungeons and Dragons. That has certainly colored my interpretations of game elements; it's very hard for me to read the halfling description in the Mentzer red box without thinking it's all about Bilbo.

The halfling's abilities seemingly come from being small. They get a substantial chance to hide (90% in the woods, 2 in 6 in the dungeon)(1). They have a bonus to their Armor Class against larger opponents (larger than man-sized, anyway). These abilities make me think of Bilbo, always unnoticed, sneaking around in the elf-palace, hiding from the spiders, or going unnoticed in the Battle of the Five Armies.(2) Halflings also receive a bonus to initiative and are good with missile weapons. To me, this sounds like Bilbo throwing rocks at the spiders.

Then, there's the personality and implied setting material given in the description: "They are outgoing but not unusually brave, seeking out treasure to obtain the comforts of home, which they so dearly love. Halflings are woodland folk, and usually get along well with elves" (p47). Hello Bag End! This sentence seems lifted from the first chapter of The Hobbit. I can see some halfling looking in his larder and noticing that he's running a bit low on good cheese and decent wine. He then strolls down to the local inn and talks some burly fighter and itinerant cleric into a venture into the local megadungeon of death, mainly so he can find coin to buy a jar of gourmet mustard and new wool slippers.

It's ridiculous, in a way. It's also endearing and funny, with plenty of possibility for character personality.

The picture of the halfling helps this perception. It's an Easley drawing of a halfling and and elf in a misty wood. While they are "posing for the camera," we still get a good sense of what each of these people is about. The elf is of indeterminate sex, with flowing blond hair and a serious look on his? face. The halfling, meanwhile, has a scared or surprised expression. His belly hangs over his belt; he clearly has not missed many second breakfasts.

(1)Which makes me wonder how or if the hide in the woods ability ever got used, given the basic rules focus exclusively on dungeon exploration.
(2) I know he had a magic ring to help him here. But Bilbo (and, later, the other hobbits) always seemed good at hiding; indeed, it was expected of them.

The Basic Elf -- Mentzer Reflections Part 12

2011-11-28T12:37:00.001-05:00

Sorry about the unannounced Thanksgiving break. I hope everyone had a great holiday.

Like the dwarf, the elf is presented as a version of another class. In this case, it's the fighter and magic-user. While this downplays the "cultural uniqueness" of the elves and other demi-humans, it makes them easier to learn to play. This makes sense, given my argument that the Menzter sets are essentially the Moldvay rules presented in such a way as to allow someone to learn to play D&D by him or her self.

Mechanically, there's not a lot outstanding about the elf character descrption in the Basic book. They have infravision. They can cast spells. They can speak gnoll, hobgoblin, and orc. They can detect secret or hidden doors better than others. They are also immune to ghoul paralysis. Not a whiff of explanation is given for the later two abilities, however, so we learn nothing there about the nature and character of elves.

We do get a bit of what it means to be an elf in the introduction to the class, along with some implied setting elements. Elves "prefer to spend their time feasting and frolicking in wooden glades." They seem to have little contact with humans. They also love magic, especially magic that's aesthetically pleasing; elves "never grow tired of collecting spells and magic items, especially if the items are beautifully crafted" (46). The average elf day seems to be eating a decadent breakfast, hanging out in her magic library flipping through beautifully illustrated folios of spells, then going for some dancing after dinner.

This sounds, to me anyway, very Tolkien. These elves are the elves of Rivendell, the one's who tease Bilbo and the dwarves, but also help them by giving them information and magical advice.

Interestingly, there's no illustration of an elf. The closest we get is on the next page, where and elf and a halfling pose for a sketch.

The Basic Dwarf -- Mentzer Reflections Part 11

2011-11-22T10:39:00.001-05:00

Dwarves are essentially short fighters. Mentzer says so: "Although the dwarf class is different from the fighter class in many ways, their tasks are the same." They share the same level titles and the same hit die (d8). Their XP progression is very similar, with dwarves needing only 200 more XP to advance to second level. Considering how good the dwarf's saving throws are, the dwarf makes much more sense, mechanically speaking, to play than the fighter. That advantage goes away as one progresses through the BECM sets, though, once things like level limits are considered.

Which brings up an interesting question: if you bought the colored boxes in order (where you didn't buy the Expert set until you advanced to level 3) and played a demi-human, would you feel robbed once you discovered level limits? "No one told me my dwarf could only go to level 12!"

Of course, 13 year olds aren't necessarily focused on mechanics. It's as much about flavor as anything else; we had plenty of fighters back in my youth with the red box. In my current examination of Mentzer, I am as much interested in the setting and flavor elements implied by these class descrptions as anything else.

Outside of the physical descrption, we really only get two sentences about dwarf culture from Mentzer. Dwarves are stubbon, practical, and like good food and drink. They love gold and value craftsmanship. Not a lot to go on here, which is probably why all our Basic dwarves were essentially the dwarves from The Hobbit with the pathological treasure-fever toned down.

Dwarves have infravision to 60 ft. I think a lot of confusion could have been eliminated if the descrption of how one sees things (cold as blue, warm as red) was just left out. Sure, infravision is the ability to see heat. But dwarves can also see things that don't give off heat (a table or skeleton) and there's nothing to suggest that intense heat would "blind" the dwarf. How about just letting them see in the dark up to 60 ft?

Dwarves also get additional langages: gnome, goblin, kobold. This implies that dwarves come into contact with these other races enough to learn their langages. Hmmm. . .

"All dwarves are experts at mining" (45). This gives them their detection abilities for traps, sliding walls, sloping corridors, and new constructions. I know there's some discontinutity between mining and, say, a snare trap. I wonder how this larger affinity with traps (and new construction) could be explained as a racial ability via mining. Maybe one could think of it as "affinity with stone and things of the earth" where the stones literally talk to the dwarf, telling him how old they are and how they've been rearranged.

I also love the drawf illustration by Elmore here. He's holding his axe forward, but has this sad and tired look in his eyes. It's almost a "son, don't make me use this" look. Good stuff.

Pathfinder Game Update

2011-11-21T15:04:00.001-05:00

We gathered yesterday for our monthly Sunday session of Pathfinder. We're still working our way through book one of The Serpent's Skull Adventure Path. Here's a quick rundown of what's happened so far, with a focus on yesterday's session.

PC's:
Jack -- Human Cleric
Lukka -- Human Fighter
Culver -- Half-Elven Bard (my character)
Lanliss -- Eleven Wizard
Sir Godric -- Human Paladin

The very short summary of previous adventures:
We had been shipwrecked on a small island in mysterious cricumstances. The ship was clearly wrecked, but we and all our gear had been carried to the beach. After spending some time scavenging for supplies and fighting some indegenous wildlife (crabs!), we set off through the jungle toward a mysterious lighthouse. En route, members of our band were captured by the local cannibal tribe. A rescue attempt resulted in a ferocious battle. We defeated the cannibal chief and most of the warriors, kept a warrior around to give us the lay of the land, and let everyone else go. The captured warrior told us about the tribe's terrifying "mother" who lived in a cave underneath the lighthouse, accepting human sacrifices. We explored the lighthouse a bit, gathering clues that the cannibals were orriginally a shipwrecked crew. For years, they had been feeding on (or adding to their numbers) with other shipwrecked sailors.

We were also struggling to piece together what had happened to our own ship. The captain and his lover, a mysterious stranger taken aboard early in our voyage, were still unaccounted for.

Searching for futher clues and a way off this rock, we ventured into the caves under the lighthouse. Here we were confronted with disgusting, pus-filled zombies -- spawns of the "mother" who turned out to be some bestial serpent-human hybrid. A hit and run fight with her ensued, but we managed to bring her down. We also found the captian, who had been brought her by his lover and given to the Mother. He graciously took the time to scrawl the tale of his betrayal in blood as he was being transformed into a pus-zombie. As it turns out, his companion was also a serpent creature, who was on the island looking for the Red Mountain and the secrets that lay within. We discovered a temple to some forgotten snake god in the Mother's caves, a temple that had clearly been searched just some days prior. The bas-reliefs showed snake-people using magical rituals to smash ships. Figuring the captain's former friend had headed for the Red Mountain, we set off, hoping to find her and some way off the island.

While crossing a rope bridge over a ravine, we were set upon by some flying dinosaur, which promptly knocked Lukka into the ravine and then rended Lanliss. We drove it off, then marched on to the Red Mountain.

The Mountain was the lair of the flyind dionsaur, which attacked us again that night. We finally killed it, scaling the mountain at dawn to find it's lair. We uncovered some magical loot.

At the base of the Mountain was a circle of stones, carved with more snake motifs, around a small altar-looking stone. We remembered the wall carvings in Mother's lair! Using sea water and blood, we activated some ritual that drained the lagoon and revealed a (now open) stone doorway. We walked on the sandbar out to the door, pausing to inspect a shipwreck. Inside this mostly rotten hulk was a strange gnome who thought we were members of his crew. He urged us to "get back to work," so we left him and ventured into the seaweed covered door. Someone else had recently entered as well, but we ended the session before we could find out who.

A great session -- one of the best of the game so far.

Solo Gaming With Wrath of Ashardalon

2011-11-18T11:02:00.001-05:00

It's solo gaming month and, like most of us, I don't game as much as I'd like. So I thought I'd make an effort to engage in some solo gaming before the month was over. An easy option was available right in my closet -- The Wrath of Ashardalon board game from Wizards of the Coast. Though I have played the game before, I did it with some friends. We skipped over the first scenario, as it was designed for one player. Last night, the wife was out with some friends, so I grabbed the box after I put the kids to bed and started the solo adventure.

I chose the dwarf fighter. I remembered being poisoned a lot in our previous Ashardalon game, so the dwarf's +5 to poison saves looked appealing. The solo scenario is, essentially, "you fall down a hole into a dungeon and try to find your way out." That's, well, as ridiculous as it sounds. Do we even need an "in-game rationale" for these sorts of scenarios, especially when the victory conditions always involve killing the monster at the end?

I laid things out -- no easy task given all the cards, miniatures, tiles, jots, tittles, and whogangs present in these board games -- and got started. Things soon went south.

The thing I both love and hate about these recent WOTC board games is that something happens every turn. Either you place a new tile, which brings out a new monster, or you draw an encounter, which is always Bad. More monsters, traps, walls turning into magma -- these are all encounters. It keeps the action flowing, but it also makes it really easy to become overrun, especially when you're playing solo. In no time at all I was darting from tile to tile, trying to whittle down the existing horde of monsters and praying the encounter cards I drew didn't cause a block of stone to fall on my dwarf's head. (It didn't, but the walls did turn to magma). Finally, I arrived at this (sorry about the blurry cell phone pic):

That's the end board, complete with the staircase exit from the dungeon. Notice all of my daily powers are expended (face down there on the right) and the long line of monster cards at the edge of the table.

And then this happened:

That's my poor dwarf, dead a midst the no doubt gleeful throng of monsters that did her in. If you're counting, that's a kobold Villian, two Orc Smashers, a Grell, a Gibbering Mouther, a kobold skirmisher, and three (yes, three!) frakking cave bears. My only solace was that the cave bears likely ate all the other monsters once my dwarf died.

I died and was disappointed. I also cursed more in this game that I have in a long time; it's a good thing my kids were in bed. (Example: "Another &#^#% cave bear?! You've got to be *&^%# kidding me!. I am so @#$%#*. One thing I will say about these D&D board games is that, every time I've ever played one (three times now), it's come down to the wire. The design, while occasionally frustrating, seems to eliminate the forgone outcome. Though I died in the dungeon this time (will my poor dwarf's parents ever know what happened to her?), I had a good hour and a half of solo gaming.

What D&D Character Am I?

2011-11-17T12:37:00.001-05:00

A little surprised at this actually. I think if I would have done this 10 years ago things would be different.

And only 5th level! I need to earn some more XP!

I Am A: Lawful Good Human Cleric (5th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-10
Dexterity-11
Constitution-10
Intelligence-16
Wisdom-12
Charisma-12

Alignment:
Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment when it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron's vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity's domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric's Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

The Thief as Player Challenge: Mentzer Reflections Part 10

2011-11-16T09:02:00.001-05:00

If the Basic magic-user sucks, the Thief is difficult to play. Again, it says so right in the text: "The task of staying alive by sneaking and using your wits, instead of just fighting, can be an exciting game challenge." Thus, if blog posts about games I played when I was 13 have theses, mine here is that the Thief, more than any other class at this level of play, requires player skill. Some of that skill is tactical, in-game sort of skill. But a substantial part of that skill is interpersonal skill. In order to play a Basic thief successfully, you have to know how to talk to the other players and, especially, the DM.

Like the magic-user, the thief is a very "weak" class. Only leather armor, d4 hit points, limited weapon selection, etc all make the thief sneaky and combat averse. Menzter gives this advice directly: "when an encounter occurs, stay out of the way." The thief, then, falls back on her Special Abilities (interestingly, this is always capitalized in the text)(1). But these are horrible, at least in terms of chance of success: 10% chance to find or remove traps (separate abilities here, though the percentages are the same), 10% chance to hide, 20% chance to pick pockets. . . The thief does have an 87% chance to climb walls, though. If you are going to fail 9 times out of 10 in performing your special abilities, you not only have to have some restraint and patience, but you also have to be creative in ways your character can contribute to the party's success when your abilities fail (as they will most of the time). The XP curve is a lot nicer for thieves, however. The thief is at 3rd level well before anyone else. The thief player, then, needs to be able to figure out how to use her abilities as best she can, as well as contribute and not get smashed by ogres until things get better for her, which it will soon.

I think a lot of the player skill, though, will need to come in interpersonal skill with the players and DM. The character is a thief, after all. She steals stuff, though only "rarely" from other party members. This can take some delicate balancing, depending on party composition. I am beginning to think that the party is not a bunch of "murderous hobos" by default in Menzter, so the thief occupies a unique sort of grey moral area. This is certainly true when the Guild is factored in. The class description states that all thieves are part of a Guild, all thieves learn "The Arts" from a Guild teacher, and all towns have a Guild Hall! This is a fascinating bit of world-setting, with potentially significant campaign implications! Leaving that aside for the moment, it also potentially places more demands on the thief's player in terms of role playing and sorting out her role in the party without being an ass to the other players by stealing their stuff. (2)

There also has to be good player-DM communication for the thief. The default is that the DM rolls for all the thief's ~~skill~~ Ability use, so the player has to be comfortable not rolling her own dice and trust that the DM is being fair and honest. There's also so much ambiguity in the ability descriptions that player/DM communication and consistency is a must. How much shadow is needed for hiding? Should the fact that the fighter is distracting the hired cleric give the theif a bonus to pick his pocket? Then, there's the backstab. What does it take to be noticed? Menzter tells us "no roll is made; it depends on the situation and the DM's judgment." So, having a good plan, communicating it to the DM, and trusting that she understood and adjuicates it fairly is a vital part of backstabbing success!

I hope I am not sounding critical of all this. I personally prefer some player/DM back and forth over all of this than six pages of modifiers. The former is a major tenet of Old School gaming, I think. I just think it's interesting how much the way the class is set up implies that the player of the class will be able to do certain things around the table.

(1) I find it interesting that they are called "Special Abilities" and not "Skills". That certainly implies that they are unique to the class, much like Turning Undead is to clerics, and not something that fighters should or could be doing.
(2) The Easley illustration of the thief certainly does not help the class's trustworthiness. The example is not a fresh-faced young adventurer, but a middle-aged man with a cowl and a sneer, who is looking back over his shoulder, presumably to both check he's not being followed and to gloat at the dead body of his fighter "friend" who is now busy getting eaten by fire beetles while the thief absconds with a sack full of silver and electrum pieces.

The Magic User as Delayed Gratification: Mentzer Reflections Part 9

2011-11-14T13:27:00.001-05:00

I continue to work my way through the Mentzer Basic set. The previous entry can be found here.

Magic-users suck. And the book tells you how much they suck: "Other Ability Scores are often low;" "Magic-users greatly fear damage;" all other classes can wear armor but "magic-users can only wear their robes;" "they are easy to hit;" "they have few hit points;" "one surprise could kill you;" "be sure to call for help if you get into a battle;" "Beware of other magic-users;" "never try to fight a monster hand-to-hand" (italics in original).

There's not much going for magic-users in the Basic set. Really, you get two things. First, the promise of further awesome power: "Magic-users start as the weakest characters, but can become the most powerful!" Lightning bolts are mentioned, but we have to wait for the Expert Set for them. The second thing you get is the sleep spell, which is a pretty good encounter-ender for the Basic level encounters. So, in at least one encounter, the magic-user will be awesome. Other than that one encounter, however, the magic-user is just biding her time and hiding behind the fighter.

I was struck by how up front the Basic book is about the power curve of the magic-user. They do not compare to other classes for the first few levels. Implicitly, then, they are not for everyone. As a player, then, you have to be patient, skillful, and in this for a longer haul if you want to have your magic-user doing a whole lot. I think this asks a lot of 13 year-olds and is a marked difference from not only 4E, but even from 3E, where wizards get crossbows. It's almost as if the Basic text is saying to the magic-user's player: "Patience, child. . . bide your time. . . let them do all the dirty work. . . then one day . . .one day you will make them all pay for their weakling jokes and snide comments with your FIREBALL . . . mwahahahahahaha!"

Or maybe that's just how I played my magic-user.

It also further justifies demi-human level limits, I think. If the magic-user doesn't eventually grossly outstrip the elf in terms of magical power, then why bother to play the magic-user?

The rules for magic that follow are also very interesting. Highlights:

The DM is in complete control over what spells the magic-user has.
Spell books are big and not really designed for adventuring. Later in the magic section, magic-users are advised to bring a mule on adventures that last more than one day to haul the spell book.
All magic-users of less than 7th level have teachers, who give the magic-user her spells when she levels up. The text notes "they will not affect most games." I found this fascinating! A built-in NPC patron! How can that not affect the game? In addition to the "go get this McGuffin" and "I can certainly answer your questions, young pupil" aspects, I can just see some PC magic-user getting fed up that the only spells he's getting from his teacher are Floating Disc and Locate Object and hatching a plot to off his teacher and steal his spellbook, which sounds awesome.
"Any magic-user can cast a spell found on a scroll as if it were memorized, regardless of the level of the spell." Whoah! A first level magic-user can use any scroll! There's a way to get rid of that pesky teacher right there! While she can cast a spell from a scroll, she can't put it in her spell book until she can cast spells of that level. That's another interesting lesson in delayed gratification, as well as creating an interesting resource allocation dilemma.
Magic missiles do not instantaneously shoot from the magic-user's fingers. Instead, a glowing arrow follows her around for the duration of the spell or until she decides to shoot it. Of course, the duration of the spell is only one round, so I am not sure how that really differs from being instantaneous.

Reading through the other spell descriptions was interesting as well, but nothing jumped out at me quite as much as the magic missile, since that's the spell that gets used over and over again.

I (re)learned lots of interesting things about the Basic magic-user. Sure, they suck and are likely to die a lot at first. But make friends with the fighter and cross your fingers for a few scrolls in the treasure horde, and your magic-user could be well on her way to becoming a Conjurer!

Alcohol at the Gaming Table

2011-11-11T13:28:00.001-05:00

This is a short post in response to one of the TRPBTNTWA from Monsters and Manuals. I know, it's only one thing. I'll get around to the others.

In my current gaming group, we always have alcohol at the table. There's always wine and frequently beer. The wine is there because our hosts are also amateur vintners. They are always breaking out a recently made bottle of red to share around the gaming table. They also always cook. I am working on a post about the food, which is ridiculous! A far cry from Mountain Dew and Cheetos.

I am not a big drinker myself. I was a straight-edge kid though college and have never really acquired the taste for beer or wine, which seems to be developed mostly by drinking lots of crappy stuff to get drunk, then graduating to moderation and taste. I do enjoy hard cider -- especially the dry, English style brew -- but I usually don't drink any when we're gaming on Wednesday nights. I am typically worn out from work, so the cider makes me sleepy. Yes, I am a lightweight.

The group I gamed with when I lived in Texas had a strict "no alcohol" policy set by the DM. Apparently, there was some Mysterious Incident in the past due to drinking around the table, so he flat-out forbid it. Maybe he was the reason Black Leaf died.

What Should I Make?

2011-11-08T13:35:00.000-05:00

I gave my class the assignment for their final project last week via email. Today was the first time I've seen them since the assignment; there were blank stares and a palpable feeling of anxiety when I asked them if there were any questions about the project. Note: you can read the entire assignment description here, but the gist of it is they have to make Something.

I was honest with them; I told them I knew the assignment was hard and that I was nervous about it, too, but I was going to make Something as well. I am trying to stretch all of us, here, especially these honors students who likely don't do a lot of work with their hands. I certainly fit that category, so I am defintely challenging myself.

So, what should I make? It needs to be a physical object (so I can't "make" an essay about making things). I'd like for it to be something useful and/or gaming related.

My first inclination is to hand draw and color a map, but there's a part of me that wants to make something more substantial. Maybe some terrain (though I don't really use miniatures) or something else.

Suggestions are appreciated. Any and all are welcome. I don't have a lot of tools and can't afford to buy a lot between now and when this project is due, so that eliminates what I REALLY want to make, which are some bookshelves.

What should I make?

Proud of the Wife!

2011-11-07T10:01:00.003-05:00

My wife finished her half-marathon on Saturday with a personal best time of 2 hours, 6 minutes, and something like 34 seconds. I'm very proud!

We missed her actually crossing the finish line. Wrangling two kids, coordinating the drive in from Tybee Island with two other couples (and two more kids), parking, then navigating through the Savannah streets was a challenge. There were something like 20,000 runners in the field and everything was a little crazy. But we eventually found her and all gave her big hugs.

It was our first time out on Tybee Island, which is a cool place. Savannah is always fun.

Run!

2011-11-04T09:26:00.003-04:00

We're off to Savannah, Georgia today, leaving right after lunch. My wife is running in a Rock and Roll Half-Marathon. There are 23,000 other people running as well, so Savannah should be a hot mess this weekend. But there are bands all over the city, playing as the runners jog past. I'll be waiting at the finish line with the kids. I am very proud of my wife!

Tentpole Megadungeon Design Question

2011-11-03T11:42:00.001-04:00

I'm trying very hard to move the fantasy zombie apocalypse idea toward something more tangible than an idea I just talk about on my blog. I thought a good (and fun) place to start would be the dungeon that serves as the game's beginning and "home base."

I'm going to sketch out some rooms and such tonight, but as I am gearing up, I am wondering if the dungeon needs a history. So here's my question for all you dungeon designers:

How important is a history or some sort of rationale for your megadungeon?

One of the things I really like about Stonehell is that it has a reason for existence that's both simple and that makes sense: it was a series of caves made into a prison and left it it's own devices.

Just trying to get some thoughts on this as I sketch out some rooms and corridors.

The Basic Fighter: Mentzer Reflections Part 8

2011-10-31T21:47:00.003-04:00

Looking over the fighter in the Mentzer Red Box, it's clear that the fighter is the base or standard class. Mentzer notes that every group should contain one or more fighters and that fighters serve to protect the weaker characters. They can survive alone in the dungeon, even if they have to solve problems with brute strength. They neither have, nor need, special abilities to make it.

Their saving throws are a straight progression (12-16) and their experience progression works in 2,000 point increments (at least from levels 1-3).

I wasn't surprised by the centrality of the fighter to basic play. What I did find most interesting here, however, was the fighter's level titles. At first level, the fighter is a "veteran". I don't want to read too much into the choice of these particular titles, but that suggests that, even at first level, the fighter is fairly competent and has seen combat. This fits well with the solo adventure, where the sample fighter was portrayed as someone who, while new to the dungeon, already knew his way around the end of a broadsword.

The fighter picture is a stern-looking fellow with chainmail, staring at the reader while resting his hands on the hilt of a sword. It's a Jeff Easley drawing.

A dungeon in reverse

2011-10-31T21:22:00.001-04:00

One of the cool ideas I want to play with in the zombie apocalypse game is the idea of a dungeon in reverse. What I mean is using the dungeon not as the dangerous area where people explore to gain loot, but rather as a haven, where characters return to after forays into the outside world. I know this could be done with the "monsters as characters" trope, but I'd like to do it with a traditional adventuring party.

The way I envision it, the adventuring party is part of a group that has fled to a dungeon or nearby series of caves in order to shelter from an impending disaster. They've brought some supplies, willing to risk the uncertainty of the dangerous dungeon rather than whatever is happening in the outside world. Eventually, they venture forth to see what awaits them, but the dungeon remains as a place where they return to take shelter. Of course, areas of the caves are unexplored and dangerous, spawning monsters to menace the party upon occasion.

I just think it would be cool to reverse the gaming standards of "safe zone" and "dangerous dungeon."

New Blog Template?

2011-10-28T17:18:00.000-04:00

I am trying one of the new Dynamic Views template on Blogger. This one is called Magazine. What does everyone think?

Apparently, with the dynamic view, you can choose the way you view the blog, which is pretty cool. Not really sure how to log into my own blog while in the default view, though, since the "sign in" link that was there at the top is now gone.

The Basic Cleric: Mentzer Reflections

2011-10-28T13:10:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to resurrect my section by section of the Mentzer Red Box Basic set. You can read my earlier entries here:

Prologue, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Before I get to the cleric, which is the first class covered in the Basic book, there's a one page introduction to the "Characters" section. Up until this point, there's been plenty of solo play as introduction to the game. The introduction to this section mentions two other modules (M1 Blizzard Pass and M2 The Riddling Minotaur) that you can play by yourself, but focuses on playing in a group. In a group "fighters are always needed" and mention is made of trying to include most of the character classes if there are enough players.

The introduction also covers the Prime Requisite. I found it interesting that the penalties and bonuses are not symmetrical. The penalties are -20% and -10%, while the bonuses are +5% (for scores of 13-15) and +10% (16-18). This would really serve to drive players to play classes that suit the rolled ability scores, I would imagine.

Turning the page to the cleric, the first thing one reads is an explanation for the clerics power. In Basic, clerics get their power from serving "a great and worthy cause" which is usually the cleric's Alignment. The next paragrpah takes pains to remove any ethical or theological beliefs from the game: "This game does not deal with those beliefs" (emphasis in original). No gods, no temples, no religion at all. I can only assume this was done to sanitize the game a bit. As an introduction designed to bring new players into the game, talking openly about polytheistic deities could have been seen as risky. That's understandable, even if a bit dissapointing. What it could do, however, is reorient the cleric (and the game's theistic frame) to Law vs. Chaos. The cleric channels those primal forces to power her abilities.

The next bit deals with saves, experience, and other class features. Though there is no theology present, the class titles are clearly religious (you're a priest at third level!). Advancement would seem to be rapid, with second level gained at 1500 XP.

The next section details the cleric's special abilities -- turning undead and casting spells. Turning undead is the 2d6, check the chart, then 2d6 of hit die system. And, lest there is any confusion about how to use this ability, there is this helpful paragraph:

"When you want your cleric to try to Turn Undead, just tell your Dungeon Master 'I'll turn the Undead.'"

Umm. . . yeah.

For the spells, a cleric doesn't get to cast any until second level. She meditates to learn the spell, choosing what she wants to learn at the beginning of the adventure. There's a tacit assumption that the cleric will leave her home, go on an adventure, and then head back for a good night's sleep, as she only gets one spell per adventure at 2nd level, though there is a note that in "advanced games" where adventures can last for more than a day, she gets new spells each morning. Only eight spells are given; none of them are remotely offensive. They certainly emphasize protection, detection, and healing.

The cleric's role as a secondary monster-fighter and a caster of supporting spells is pretty clearly laid out here, even if the religious nature of the class is shoved way to the background.

I also like the Elmore illustration of the female cleric, running and brandishing her mace. Wither her winged, feathered helmet and dark hair, I get an Eastern European vibe from her.

Why the zombie apocalypse?

2011-10-27T08:48:00.002-04:00

In a fantasy world, the rise of the zombies would need to be, well, fantastic. Given the literal "dead walking the earth" thing, an event of tremendous magical magnitude seems appropriate. A super-necromancer might have finally succeded in his arcane ritual. Maybe a party of adventurers failed in their attempts to prevent it and evil has (temporarily) won. The players in this game wouldn't know about this, however. This set up wouldn't necessarily radically alter any game mechancics. It gives a BBEG to fight against, if the PC's make it that far.

Although this is beginning to remind me, a bit, of the Midnight setting for 3E, which I did not care for.

Another alternative is something more akin to the Cataclysm in the Dragonlance setting. The gods up and left, creating all sorts of havoc. The principal consequence of the abdication of the pantheon is the dead rise. Another serious consequence is the lack of any divine or clerical power. No cure spells! No turning undead! This really ramps up the survival horror aspect of such a game, as traditional means of overcoming environmental hazards, especially injury, are now gone. The denial of turn undead seems pretty harsh in an undead-centric game, but it also makes sense. This gampaign frame seems a bit more open than the one above. The PC's can try to figure out why the gods left and what, if anything, can be done to resore clerical power. Or they can loot the now vacant churches. Either way, they have plenty to do.

Cannibals are better deep fried. (Pathfinder Update)

2011-10-26T09:31:00.001-04:00

My character's name is Culver, by the way. I know that was keeping all of you up at night.

Monday's session was very, very fun -- maybe the most fun I've had in the Pathfinder game yet. It was essentially one long combat, as we tried to escape/were rescued from the cannibals. Culver and the paladin managed to work free from their bonds and take a couple of guards from behind while the rest of the party drew off the bulk of the cannibals. The cleric then led that group into an ambush by the rest of the party. After the initial batch was dealt with, we reequipped, hid in the village, and ambushed another group of cannibals as they returned from the jungle. Big nasty cannibal chief was with this group. He proved to be pretty tough, but the fighter eventually took him down after we peppered him with arrows. We ended up with one captured cannibal, who told us about the evil witch who lived in a hut outside the village and the wives of the chief who lived in the lighthouse.

In retrospect, it's hard to believe no one died. There were something like 20 cannibals, plus the chief (who had in excess of 40 hit points). In addition to a fair amount of luck, I'd like to say good tactics won the day. We managed to separate the cannibals into smaller groups, drawing some away so we didn't have to face them all at once. We used our spells to good effect -- ray of enfeeblement on the chief, increased speed from a domain power on the cleric to draw some of the cannibals away. I also took a page from Cthulhu's Librarian and used grease to slow a bunch of the cannibals down as they charged us. Not only did it buy us an extra round or two for missile fire, but then the paladin set the grease on fire, causing some cannibals to become deep fried.

Good times! I still don't feel like I really know who Culver is yet, nor how he feels about being on this island. But I still had a good time.

Pathfinder Update

2011-10-24T13:33:00.001-04:00

We're playing our Pathfinder game again tonight, after what seems like an extended hiatus, though it's only been two weeks.

The group itself is good. They are fun and smart people.

The adventure, thus far, is solid. It's the Serpent's Skull adventure path. We're the victims of a mysterious shipwreck. Currently, we're making our way across the island to a mysterious lighthouse, which we hope will give us clues about how we ended up here and provide us with a way off the island. There's an interesting group of NPC's tagging along with us. All in all, it reminds me a lot of Lost, which is a good thing. Of course, last session two PC's (including mine) and two NPC's were captured by cannibals; we'll see if we can make it out of this without being the main course!

I will admit to not feeling my bard/archaeologist character, though. In all honestly, I can't tell you his name right now without going to the character sheet to look it up. Granted, we're only four or so sessions in, so he and I might get closer as things progress, but I won't shed a tear if he gets eaten tonight. I am not really sure why this is. Maybe it's because he's sort of a generic support character who's not really good at any particular thing. Maybe I haven't thought enough about his story and personality. Maybe it's his 9 strength. That -1 really gets in the way of a lot of rolls. I'm not sure. We'll see what happens tonight and I'll get back to you.

The University, Red in Tooth and Claw

2011-10-21T11:25:00.000-04:00

A red-tailed hawk keeps the campus here as part of his territory (though I am not sure where he nests). I spotted him this morning as I was leaving the library. Actually, I heard him first -- the clatter of his talons on the metal lampshade. I looked up and there he was, enjoying a breakfast of some at this point unidentifiable meat. My money would be on squirrel. I snapped a quick photo with my phone. I can't exactly say why, but catching him looking at me was very cool.

A beautiful fall day here. Unless you're a squirrel, I suppose.

Seriousness in RPG's

2011-10-20T16:40:00.002-04:00

This is thought that deserves more attention, but all I have got is this for now:

I think RPGs, as a form, are capable of exploring some of the various aspects of the human condition like fear, love, tragedy, revenge, death, longing, etc.

These are games that would be more "serious" than others. (1)

I'd like to play/run games that do the above, at least sometimes.

But that never really happens. I am not sure why,

(1) I am not implying that these sorts of games are better -- in any sense of the word -- than other sorts of games. I am just trying to differentiate the tone of said games from others. Also, I would imagine, there would be fewer jokes about bodily fluids and/or Monty Python references.

The Character Funnel and Zombies

2011-10-19T13:48:00.000-04:00

Continuing with the zombie theme, here's my latest brainstorm. Granted, it's almost certainly been done before. Also granted, I likely won't get very far with the idea.

A sword and sorcery post-apocolyptic zombie horror campaign.

This summer, I commented on my brief Dungeon Crawl Classics experience; I was critical of the character funnel idea. I thought it was artificial in several ways, but would make sense given certain initial campaign scenarios. Well, zombie apocolypse is one of those scenarios. Imagine that the initial party of 14-20 PC's are all that's left in a town after some Event happens that turns almost everyone else into zombies. Viola! Medieval zombie horror, where PC attirition is expected, resource management becomes key, and "heroes" emerge.

As an added twist, you could keep the true zombie-nature of the game from the PC's. Game play begins in the dungeon. The 14-20 person party has fled their village into nearby caves in order wait out the Event. They've been stuck there for days/weeks/months, but finally have to venture out. Part One of the adventure, then, becomes exiting the dungenon. The party faces traditional dungeon monsters and hazards, with maybe a few more zombies than usual. Those who survive stumble back into their village only to find it overrun by zombies, including friends and family who are now the undead. In a nice reversal of tropes, the dungeon (which is at least partially cleared of monsters and hazards) becomes the safe space that the party can retreat to, while the vilage and most of the outside world becomes the "dungeon".

Next: other scenarios and possible rules modifications.

Image from tricketitrick on DeviantArt

Zombies in Your Games?

2011-10-17T14:01:00.001-04:00

My new favorite show is, certainly, The Walking Dead. I missed it on it's first run, but I've watched the first season on Netflix and caught the season two premire last night. More about the series later; now, it's got me thinking about zombies and gaming.

I know they are out there, but I've never really played in any sort of zombie-horror game, with any rule set. With the exception of smashing and turning zombies in D&D, zombies have never really been a big part of any game in which I've participated.

So, how many of you folks have had games in which zombies have been a big deal?

What had happened was. . .

2011-10-17T10:31:00.000-04:00

So, six weeks without posting. Um, yeah.

Work, blah, blah. . . family, blah, blah, . . . perceived lack of gaming things to talk about, blah, blah. . . Google + will change everything blah, blah. . .

All of it, and none of it, but the simple fact is I like blogging (on my own schedule) and like interacting with the few folks who read and post here (and whom I follow and post on their blogs). So expect more posts soon.

The Pathfinder Character

2011-09-06T16:30:00.001-04:00

The group got together last Thursday to roll characters and talk about backgrounds. I was all about playing a fighter-type, with a straight up fighter as my preference and a ranger as backup.

I am now playing a bard. So you see what planning does for you.

As we went around the table talking about preferences, it became clear that most folks were sticking pretty close to their comfort zone with character choice -- a fighter and a wizard were chosen almost immediately. I had no desire to play a cleric, as my last Pathfinder character was a cleric. I loved that character, but wanted something different. Someone else picked a paladin (an odd choice for this player), giving us two melee characters. Another player said he really did NOT want to play a rogue, so he took the cleric. Every party needs a cleric. Now, I was character-less and the party was rogue-less. And I've always been a stickler for a balanced party, unless we all decided to play the same class in a game designed around that concept (which I've always thought would be cool, but have never done). So I said I'd play a rogue.

We then worked out a pretty nice group backstory that both unites (most of) us and creates some intra-party tension. I'll talk about this in another post. That story got me sold on the character, but not on the class. The Pathfinder rogue is as much about sneaky, backstabbing combat as he is stealing things and disarming traps. My concept fit the later well, but not the former. So I went home with an empty character sheet.

I thought for a couple of days about my character's role in the party and my role in the group. Having played a lot of Pathfinder, I know the rules and the setting better than the other players, so likely I was going to take a leadership and support role both in and out of character. I hadn't thought of a bard at all, but then I stumbled across the archaeologist -- a bard archetype that's apparently in Pathfinder Ultimate Combat. Fortunately, it's also in the Pathfinder SRD (hooray for the OGL and Paizo's willingness to make so much of it's stuff available for free!). The archaeologist swaps the bard's music abilities for some rogue abilities like trap-finding. He also gets some extra luck in the form of a bonus to all rolls that lasts for a few rounds per day. This sounded a lot more like my concept! He'll know a lot about the world, have motivation to explore it, be competent at ranged combat, be good at tracking and trap finding, and have some spells as a reserve/support character.

I still haven't crunched the numbers or come up with a name, but I feel a lot better about this half-elf than I did at the table last Thursday.

Here's some more!

2011-09-02T16:52:00.000-04:00

I've read with great interest three recent blog posts about old school gaming and blogging. Two from ckutalik at Hill Cantons and one from Mythmere. The theme that connects them, if I read them right, is that the OSR blogsphere has reached something of a turning point, moving away from the production (or reproduction) of old school content and to something else. What that "else" is is still vague, but it could be more about the practice of gaming itself rather than producing content for gaming.

To perhaps put it another way: the blogsphere has produced a lot of content, but it's also produced a community, and that community is now pretty busy playing games. Google + facilitates games across the miles, and the ties built via the internet has also resulted in a fair amount of face to face gaming via mini-cons and the like.

I'll freely admit to being both a tiny speck of the community and fairly late to the OSR party. I'll also admit to frequent navel-gazing about my blog, my own gaming, and what they mean to my overall life and work. I've been anxious about my own lack of, well, creative output (particularly physical creative output). I've gone for long stretches without posting and felt bad about it.

But at one level -- the level, I think my blog sits at most of the time, it's pretty simple:

1. I like to talk about gaming.
2. I like to make things related to gaming.
3. I like to game.

I admit I am not so great at #2 (random cupcake table aside), but would like to get better. I'd certainly like to do a lot more of #3, but job and family and the like keep me from doing much more than the every other week thing with the local folks. That leaves #1. I don't get to do as much of that as I'd like, but the blog lets me do more of it than I would otherwise.

Fundamentally, I think all three of those things are important for the creation and maintenance of a community.

(To be all philosophical about it for a minute, you could call them criticism, production, and practice).

Golarion Love

2011-09-02T10:50:00.000-04:00

The upcoming Pathfinder game has rekindled my love of the developed setting for the game -- Golarion. I bought the Gazetteer ages ago and dug it out for last night's character creation session. It's marvelous; I don't think I've really liked a published setting this much since I bought the Forgotten Realms grey box in 9th grade.

The setting is such a glorious pastiche of history, fantasy tropes, and gaming homages. Anything and everything is there -- decadent devil empires (Cheliax), pirate fleets (The Shackles and the Hurricane King), Norse-ish Barbarians (Lands of the Linnorm Kings), and tons of other stuff (gothic horror, proto-democracy, pharaohs, ape-kings, etc). Listing it like that, it almost looks silly. There's no way all this can be crammed into one game setting and not result in a terrible, terrible mess.

But it all works! At least for me. Adventure possibilities leap off of every page of the Gazetteer, as does potential socio-political conflict (if one chooses to include that in a game). As sketched out, Golarion can accommodate almost every conceivable character background, drive for adventure, and adventure setting.

I know there are 478 published supplements that further detail areas of Golarion, including a larger hardback overview of the entire world, but I'm going to try and resist them. The Gazetteer is just so fun!

Plus "Gazetteer" is a cool word in and of itself.

The Pathfinder Character

2011-08-31T17:14:00.000-04:00

Inspired by the recent, forgettable, Conan film, I'd like to play a fighter type in this Pathfinder game. I want to punch and hack things. I also don't want to worry about spell-managment, nor am I really feeling very roguish.

Barbarian? Ranger? Or straight-up fighter? The party will likely need a wilderness-type, so if no one else is feeling it, I can play a ranger. I think my preference, however, lies with a straight-up fighter.

Except there's no such thing! This is the blessing and curse of systems like Pathfinder. So many choices, so many ways to customize, which can often create option-paralysis. In an old school game, you could just make a fighter. If he wanted to bash things with a shield, cool. If she wanted to use a net and trident, cool. Minimal mechanical difference between the two, if any. But now I'll have to think about feats and the interplay of mechanics, flavor, and concept. There's a bit of stress there.

So, Pathfinder

2011-08-30T21:21:00.000-04:00

Gaming had been on the rocks for me since June, with vacations and the beginning of the semester getting in the way of the group getting together. There were also some communication issues (as always); I'd put out an email or Facebook post saying "let's schedule some games" and would not hear anything. Meanwhile, so and so would tell me that someone else "really wanted to play again." I was frustrated. So two Fridays ago I managed to gather the core members of the group at my house. We played some Ticket to Ride and talked about what we wanted to do. The result of that conversation was a Pathfinder game -- specifically an Adventure Path. Very specifically, The Serpent's Skull.

I know there are some old schoolers who sneer at Adventure Paths, but this seems like a great solution to some problems with our group. It reduces the amount of prep dramatically, which is always good for us busy folks. It also has some built-in plot structure (though it's all fairly open ended and, in some instances sandbox-y), which satisfies the more story-oriented in our group. The chapters of the path give us logical break points and, more importantly, accomplishment milestones to serve as nice positive reinforcement. Our goal is to complete one book per semester and play out the whole thing. We're also going to try rotating DM's, with at least one other person and myself switching up with each book in the path.

While Pathfinder would not have been my first choice (even though I like it), it fits well with a few group members who really came of gaming age with 3.0. They like feats. Really, I like the system well enough and the setting a lot.

All in all, I am looking forward to rolling the dice again. Character creation is this Thursday.

Still here!

2011-08-25T16:36:00.000-04:00

It's been ten very hectic days since my last post. The semester has begun! I'm teaching one more class than I was originally scheduled for, due to a last minute faculty vacancy. While the extra work isn't fun, this group of students seems to be really great -- they are honors kids, so they at least do all the reading. I'm also the guy who gives overrides and makes schedule changes for two different classes, so a lot of my time this week has been spent saying things like "I'm sorry, wanting to go home every Friday isn't a legitimate reason for me to change your schedule" and "No, you really will graduate on time even though you cannot get into this class. How do I know? Because you are a freshman and have four more years to take this class."

Haven't had much time or space to think about gaming, much less write about it. But I did have the core element of the gaming group over to the house last Friday for some board gaming (Ticket to Ride, with the wife and daughter) and we discussed the future. Looks like we're going to try and play through one of the Pathfinder adventure paths. More on which one and the thought process behind that decidedly not Old School decision later.

Hope everyone is doing well! I haven't really read any blogs in the past two weeks either, as the 594 items in Google Reader will attest.

Chaos at the beginning

2011-08-15T16:37:00.000-04:00

Classes start Saturday here. Given my own teaching load and administrative duties, that means these next two weeks are going to be nuts. That means not a lot of posting on the blog. It also means not any gaming, or even thinking about gaming, as I try to get off to as strong of an academic-year start as possible.

Pretty much decided on using A Game of You and Persepopolis in class this semester. Thought hard about Maus, but just not as familiar with it as I am the other two.

Comics in Class?

2011-08-11T11:18:00.002-04:00

It looks like I'll be teaching a section of our Human Experience class this semester (a general liberal arts/critical thinking class for first year students). I really want to assign a graphic novel. I'm thinking about "A Game of You" (the Sandman series) to spark discussions about gender, stories, growing up, and identity. But I'm also open to suggestions. Anyone read anything that would fit in my class?

Trail of Cthulhu and Clue Finding

2011-08-10T10:59:00.000-04:00

I've been rereading Trail of Cthulhu lately. I think I want to use it as the system for the 1930's pulp/Weird War 2 game I can't get out of my head. As I've been rereading it, I've been reminded that I owe this game a debt for making me realize something that now seems obvious but, at the time, blew me away.

Trail of Cthulhu (ToC) is based on the Gumshoe system. I honestly don't know much about the system outside of ToC, but it's built for investigative/mystery solving sorts of games and revolves around a simple premise: PC's are meant to find clues in these games, so they auotmatically find them. No role needed.

That was the revelatory part, embarrasingly enough. But it blew me away because it struck at the heart of a significant issue I had with D&D since 3.0 came out. With such a robust skill system in place, D&D 3.0 and it's spawn (3.5, Pathfinder, and on into 4.0) invites us to make skills an integral part of the game, especially to give skill focused characters like the thief, er rogue, some spotlight time. That, in turn, poses a problem for adventure design. On one hand, if skills, skill checks, and those who rely on them as class lynchpins are to be meaningful, there needs to be some game heft beind them -- there needs to be consequences for failure and rewards for success. Yet, often the reward for success is "continue with the adventure" or "find something really important." Which brings me to the other side of the problem. If there are to be stakes at all, there needs to be a chance for failure. If failure occurrs, then the reward for success doesn't happen. If that reward doesn't happen, often the adventure grinds to a halt. At the very least, significant frustration results.

I saw this all the time, as the party needed a skill check to open a door/remove a trap/sneak around some bad guys and would botch the roll. This would not be such a bad thing in certain cases. Maybe they would just have to fight the monster instead of sneaking by it, or maybe they would just hack down the door instead of picking the lock. But in other cases, especially when they needed a bit of info to make the adventure continue (or at least be more meaningful and/or more fun), this really sucked.

Hence, the genuis of ToC. It's a game built for solving mysteries and confronting the nastiness that made the mystery in the first place. Clues are needed to solve mysteries. Hence, these clues get found. Otherwise, there's no adventure. Players know this and, ideally, buy into the idea. The accept the fact that the why and how of getting the clues is just as important as the brute fact of getting them.

Like I said, this seems obvious now. But it took a new system to point out to me an issue with most of the other games I was playing and running.

Geek Dad Column

2011-08-09T13:29:00.000-04:00

Today's Geek Dad column is less of a Gen-Con report, and more of a happy meditation on the positive aspects of face to face, tabletop gaming in all it's forms. It also mentions Old School Hack.

Good stuff, Ethan.

The ruined church

2011-08-08T16:07:00.001-04:00

Who knows what takes place in this ruin, situated just off the Old Swamp Road, in the inky darkness?

A quick, but heartfelt, congrats to Old School Hack!

2011-08-08T14:49:00.000-04:00

Big, big congratulations to Kirin and Old School Hack. This past weekend at GenCon, OSH won a Gold Ennie for Best Free Product.

I love Old School Hack. It looks good. It's innovative while still invoking old school flavor. And, most importantly it's fun as hell. Oh, it's also free. So there's no reason whatsoever you shouldn't download a copy and play a game or seven.

Congrats Kirin!

Enough whining. Now, a question about small-town Nazi Cthulhu Cultists.

2011-08-04T17:07:00.000-04:00

I've been kicking around this 1930's Weird War II game for months and months now, in which fine art and Nazis feature prominently. I don't know when or if it will ever get off the ground, but thoughts have returned to it lately. Prompted by such things as Christian's Pathfinder "game in a city block" setting in Lovitar, and Michael Curtis' Haunted House adventure, I've started to think small. As in small town. As in, "if this game ever gets started, where will it start?"

There's a lot of rationale for beginning the game in a big city, especially given that fine art would be a big part of the game. But I also like the idea of beginning small, in a smaller town. It's more manageable for me as a GM. And there's something to be said for knowing your neighbors, even if they turn out to be Nazis and/or Cthulhu cultists.

So, any suggestions? Some scenic European (or American) hamlet chock full of 1930's weirdness?

A post that needs some cheese

2011-08-04T10:50:00.000-04:00

Warning: This post may come across as whiny. I am frustrated.

I had a nice little gaming group and a nice little Labyrinth Lord game going on. We had a decent player pool of 4-7 people, had an every-other Wednesday night schedule, and had gone through an entire academic-year with some degree of consistency. Characters had died, but others had gained levels. Plot threads had started to develop from player actions and characteristics, which made me happy.

Then, we took a break. It was as much my doing as anyone else's. I was travelling a lot in July, as were others, so I proposed we take July off and pick things back up in August.

You see where this is going.

Not only have we not scheduled anything, but I can't even get folks to respond to my emails and other messages. That's the really frustrating part -- the lack of communication. I have talked to one of my core players and he's expressed enthusiasm for continuing or restarting, but I am not sure what else I can do to wrangle everyone/anyone else back into a game.

I have a lot of admiration (and more than a little jealousy) for all of you who are able to get consistent, long term games going. Can I play?

Anyway, sorry to be so whiny.

Game of Thrones, Pre-Dance With Dragons

2011-08-02T09:23:00.000-04:00

Although I bought Dance with Dragons the day it came out (snagging the third-to-last copy in the store!), I just started it last night. I had wanted to finish my re-read of the rest of the series before diving into the long-awaited next book. I am glad I did. The re-read certainly helped me become immersed in Martin's world again. I noticed a few things this time around that I hadn't noticed before. Perhaps most importantly, I liked Feast for Crows this time around, whereas before it left a bad taste in my mouth. Here are a few more specific thoughts, mostly from Feast. Spoilers for that below.

I liked the Brienne chapters in Feast a lot more this time. I remember thinking before that her story just seemed so aimless and wandering. I felt like I knew what Martin was trying to do there, but also didn't have a lot of patience for it. This time, though, I dug it a lot more. Her story wraps up some loose ends (with the Brave Companions), has some nice points of intersection with other parts of the series (returning to the Inn at the Crossroads, meeting the Septon on the road who becomes important in Kings Landing), and really shows Brienne as a character.
Cersi is nuts. I think the disadvantage of giving her a POV in Feast is that she looses so much as a result. When I were viewing her thorough Jamie, Tyrion, Ned, and others, I certainly disliked her, but also admired her scheming and intellect as well as felt a little sympathy for her situation. All that is blown away by the self-deception, ego, and general incompetence she displays in Feast.
Somewhere, there is serious academic work to be mined from the series' treatment of gender and/or parental issues. Do you hear me, English Ph.D. students?!
There was actually a lot less Arya in Feast than I remember.
This book we see the distinct move from character driven POV's to "I need this person to narrate what's going on in this part of the world for the reader." This is explicit and why we get chapters like "The Captain of Guards". It's not like we're really meant to care that much about Hotah. He's just giving us a slice of what's happening in Dorne. I am not sure I like this move on Martin's part.
Speaking of Dorne, I am glad we get to see it, even though I think it's a big reason we've gotten so much book bloat and delay. I like desert stuff. I like Prince Doran and his gouty deliberateness. And wasn't that the big reveal of Feast -- that Dorne was working with the exiled Targaryens (and, I guess, Varys and Illyrio) all along! And now Quentyn is off to find Dany to woo her?
Final, small, semi-random note -- Tom o'Sevens is hanging out at Riverrun with the new Frey Lord of the castle. This can't bode well for the Freys, can it?

I'm glad I can finally read Dance, now. I am only a few pages in. Tyrion has just passed out in Illiriyo's garden.

Inking some dice

2011-07-31T15:40:00.000-04:00

I took a tiny (and geeky) step forward in my "find something to do with my hands" project today and finished inking some new Game Science dice. Cthulhu's Librarian ordered them for me a month or so ago when he placed an order. I started inking them while we were at the beach and finished them this afternoon.

The set itself is a 12-piece set, with the standard seven plus a d3, d5, d14, d16, and d24. It's the "Diamond" color which, as near as I can tell, is clear. I inked them with an ultra-fine blue Sharpie. I think they look alright, especially given that it was my first time inking dice since my Mentzer Red Box and the white crayon.

It wasn't a big project; I spent all of 15 minutes finishing the dice. But it felt really good to do something with my hands. Toward the end, my daughter climbed in my lap and asked me what I was doing, so she got to help me ink a couple of numbers on the d8.

Hiatus, Fallow, and Funk

2011-07-28T16:49:00.000-04:00

We've been travelling a lot lately, which throws me off in multiple ways. Best laid plans to do, well, anything, get knocked awry. It's the kids, really. Running around the country with two of them is difficult, even though they are really good travelers and I really, really think travel is important for their learning. How much they learn at this point (other than how to sleep really well in a car seat), is still a matter for debate.

One our long drive back from Texas, I was struck with an epiphany of sorts, connected to a general funk I've been feeling lately. More an aimless feeling than a funk, I guess. The epiphany sparked an almost physical reaction, but I keep that in check since I was riding shotgun in our new mini-van and didn't want to freak out my wife and endanger our children.

I really need to engage in some sort of creative activity -- some sort of making -- with my hands.

This reaction was so pointed, so immediate, that I began to think of things I could do and things that would allow me to do it. I generally suck at a lot of these sorts of activities, however. In many ways, I am just not "handy." Which is doubly problematic because I come from a family of people who make, grow, and fix things. What do I do? What do I like to do, most of the time?

I am fortunate enough that what I do (for a living) and what I like to do (for fun as well as spiritual sustenance) presents a high degree of overlap:

I like to read books and talk about them.

That's what I spent my youth doing, it's why I went into the major I did in college, it's why I went on to grad school. It's what I wish I could do more of as a professor (even though I know that's not what most of my students need -- the last thing higher ed needs is yet another someone who mistakes their own interests and likes for the needs of their students).

So I have this dilemma where a substantial part of my personal and professional life is built on reading and talking (or writing), yet this desire to physically create has reached a nigh-fever pitch.

Note: gaming, while very creative, is also primarily about reading books and talking. Although I could paint minis, or make cool plaster-of-paris dungeons.

I thought about putting the blog on hiatus until I figured this out, but have come down from that ledge a bit. Even as I see today, that's almost exactly what Christian did. And good for him. Because his zine is one of those physically creative acts that I am talking about. I was so happy to get in in the mail Monday.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

The prophet and the bracelet (From the Road)

2011-07-18T14:48:00.000-04:00

I sat in with my windows down in the Mississippi heat, waiting for the food. The family, thankfully, was back at the hotel, bathing and waiting on me to return with dinner. I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel. Then I saw the prophet.

He ambled up the road into the Chili's parking lot, two bags slung over his shoulders. A worn army-surplus coat over filthy jeans. He saw me looking and started for the van.

"Shit," I muttered. A dilemma confronted me. Keep the window down and endure the inevitable sob story and begging, or roll it up and, well, be one of those people I try not to be. It stayed down and he walked up.

"Hey man! I was walkin down the street and was praying I'd find a hunred dollas!"

"Sorry. I can't help you," I quickly said, amazed at his audacity. A hundred dollars was a lot to ask from a guy in a van.

"Naw. It's not like that. I was prayin I'd find a hunred dollas cause I needed it to get back to my grammaw and I was just walkin up the skreet there and I saw you and"

"Man, I'm really sorry, but I can't help you." Where was that Chili's guy?

"Naw! God answer my prayers, man! I was walking and look what I found!" He pulled a bracelet from his dirty jeans and held it out to me in his palm. My first thought was how I was going to refuse him when he asked me to buy this crappy jewelry, but then I took a closer look. The thing looked like cheap brass, with some indiscernible scroll pattern around most of the top. There were some obviously fake pearls set into the scrollwork, with empty spaces where more of the gems had fallen out or been removed. I dismissed it, but my gaze stood fixed on the bauble. Then it began to glow...

He closed his palm, but I kept staring at where the bracelet hand been.

"I just wanted to witness, man. To let you know that God answers prayers. You know that He answers prayers, right?"

"uh, yeah, I stammered. "I know."

I looked up at his face as he backed way from the van. He smiled.

"Jesus" was tattooed on his forehead.

Tattooed Christian Prophet (4)
Homeless Wanderer (3)
Collector of trinkets and baubles (2)
Item: Magic Bracelet (3)

From the Road

2011-07-17T08:54:00.000-04:00

July is certainly a month of travels. I'm back in Texas again, reunited with my family who has been staying with my wife's parents for a couple of weeks. I've got a conference starting today. After that's over, we'll drive back east.

I've hit upon the idea of a series of posts taking things I see, places we visit, or people I meet or observe and putting them into "game terms" -- describing them like an NPC or an interesting locale. My inspiration here is really Christian's posts, which I find very entertaining and inspiring. His posts are often statted out in World of Darkness terms, which is ideal for this sort of project. Unfortunately, I haven't played any of the White Wolf games since college, so that won't work for me. I might stat them up in Risus and throw in a random table or two where appropriate, but it's the narrative I want to practice and the ideas I want to save.

Hmm. . . statless narrative and description of an alternative-yet-familiar reality are exactly what Trey is up to. I can only hope my stuff is 10% the quality of his.

Test Post

2011-07-16T10:31:00.001-04:00

Testing email posting

Actual Play Report -- Ravenloft

2011-07-15T12:01:00.000-04:00

Another game we tried during our geeky guys weekend was the WOTC board game Ravenloft. Essentailly, you play a simplified 4E character who battles monsters and traps in an ever-expanding dungeon. The game is built on scearios, each with a certain goal. I cannot remember the exact name of the scenario we played, but our goal was to recover an artifact from the holy altar in Castle Ravenloft.

I was excited to play this game, as I had heard a lot about it. Many had remarked that this seemed like what 4E was made for -- a board game with RPG elements. I've played 4E a little and can see how the system lends itself to a cool board game.

My excitement dissapaited during the set up. None of us had ever played the game before (Cthulhu's Librarian had just bought it), so this was time-consuming and more than a little confusing. And when I say "set-up" I really mean just "taking the stuff out of the box". There are cards, tiles, tokens, and plastic minis. We had stuff piled up all over the table, not knowing which we would need and which we would not. Adding to the confusion was the fact that certain game elements (monsters, encounters) had both tiles and card and the minis had no color coding whatsoever, so we spent considerable time figuring out what was called for in the various elements of the set-up. This could easily have been newbie issues; I could see things going a lot quicker next time, but some clarity in the rules regarding what elements are what would help , I think.

We began play with an Eladrin Wizard, a human ranger, and a human rogue. On any given turn, you first move and/or attack any monsters on the board, then "explore" by placing a new dungeon tile. These new tiles may (almost always) bring new monsters into play and often bring new "encounters". The encounters we faced were traps, environmental effects, or NPC's. The later two always had some game effect, often some sort of forced movement or position switching. Cautious at first, we were very deliberate about placing new tiles so that we only had one monster on the board at a time. Most monsters took one hit to eliminate, with a few of the stronger ones taking two. Each monster had unique attacks listed on its card, with different attacks applying in different situations depending on the relative position of the PC's. We fought skeletons, zombies, gargoyles, kobolds, a spider, some wolves and some ghouls. Our cautious approach soon gave way to more open playing as we realized it was actually more fun to fight more things at once. Since the goal of the scenario was to find a particular room, the faster placement of tiles via exploration sped the game up considerably. Whereas the game initually played very slowly, the end was quick and tension-filled. Traps were falling all around, we fought a running battle with the last few monsters, and all the healing surges were used. Our success literally came down to the last turn.

I'd certainly play this again. I think it would be a lot more fun the next time around, since I could manage the set up better and could strike a better balance between cautious dungeon exploring and a faster pace. I'd also shuffle the encounter cards better so we wouldn't draw five traps in a row ;)

Two Character Funnel Scenarios

2011-07-14T11:29:00.000-04:00

One of the things that bugged me about our DCC play experience was the artificiality of the character funnel. I get that the game wants to emphasize very humble beginnings to non-heroic characters -- essentially the radish farmer trading his chicken for a life of perilous adventure where death is more likely than not. I think that works nicely as a conceit for individual characters. Where it strains to the point of breaking for me is when you put 16 of those radish farmers together and herd them into a dungeon, especially a dungeon that seems designed to eliminate 10 of them to form a potential adventuring party.

I think a lot of that could be eliminated with some creative set up, something that gives the radish farmers a reason to "adventure" and, for those that survive, nudges them toward further exploits. When thinking about DCC, two immediately come to mind:

1. An orc invasion! An orc (or other sort of humanoid or human force) invades the character's lands. The first DCC adventure can take place immediately after the PC's village is sacked. The PC's are the only survivors and must venture into the nearby dungeon to acquire resources to survive, since everything else has been destroyed. An alternative is that the PC's go and hide out in the dungeon to avoid being overrun by the advancing army and a few decide (or are forced to) explore the caverns. The later scenario is something like "what all the average Joe's of Rohan did at Helm's Deep while the army was fighting above".

2. Shipwreck! I've always wanted to do a shipwreck game, where the PC's begin play stranded on an unknown piece of land, with only the jungle and ship detritus to use as play begins. The character funnel works perfectly for this set-up, as the band of castaways begin to explore their surroundings. Some meet untimely ends, others end up gaining in experience, riches, and power. All you would need to do would be to change the occupations table a bit to give it a more nautical theme. It's a wonderful set up for a hex-crawl, and would even work well for a West Marches sort of game with a large band of rotating players. This is the D&D version of Lost, which makes it even more appealing for me.

Actual Play Report-- Dungeon Crawl Classics

2011-07-13T09:10:00.000-04:00

Dungeon Crawl Classics was high on our list of games to play during our geeky guys weekend. In fact, it was the only game we explicitly said "we're going to play". We were reading the rules on the car ride down, talking about all the quirks and tables. Cthulhu's Librarian even ordered some Zocchi dice for me! We were all excited about the game, but after playing it a bit using the Free RPG day adventure, my excitement is now considerably muted, though not completely abandoned.

Our first night, we all rolled up a stable of characters. There were only three of us, with Cthulhu's Librarian agreeing to GM, so that left RM and I to come up with the fifteen or so characters required to play the adventure. We dove in to the random generation of scores, occupations, and equipment. I found this part quite fun, actually. Sure, some of the characters had horrible stats, but it was always interesting to see how they were all going to turn out. I ended up with, among others, a noble and two squires -- so the noble immediately had two people to carry his stuff around. Cthulhu's Librarian also rolled up a few characters, so by the end we had a party of 22.

My initial thoughts about the character creation process was that it's fun, but there's some degree of tedium involved. By the time character 8 rolled around, things were getting a little stale. I think the party had a total of four squires and five farmers. There were only three demi-humans, while we also had three grave-diggers. The rules certainly say you can choose professions, so this is easily avoided. Really, I think we were all just disappointed no one rolled the privy-cleaner and his complementary bag of poop.

We put our characters aside for the evening and dove into the adventure the next day, beginning the "character funnel" by which the giant party is winnowed down to a more manageable size of adventurers who will go on to be first level. This aspect of the game has potential, but it was one of my least favorite parts of play. I was effectively playing 14 characters at the beginning, so my play experience was atypical and certainly colored by that. First, without a proper in-game set up, having all these random commoners head into the dungeon was hard to rationalize. "Hey! We're poor and want adventure. Let's all head into the mysterious magical gate to see what's there" just didn't work for us, especially when we began to consider how these folks would act in the dungeon itself. Do they stick together? Follow a leader? Shove others forward into the doorway that's almost certainly trapped? Wait, do they know it's trapped or is that just my meta-game knowledge creeping in? This is aside from the fact that it's just hard to play that many characters with any degree of skill.

That last point -- meta-gaming -- was actually something we struggled with quite a bit. Even if you take out the role-playing problems the character funnel created, there was still the gamey problem of resource (i.e. character and party) optimization. Within our party, there were clearly some folks who were more competent than others, based on the random stat rolls. There were clearly some who were tougher, with substantially more hit points -- if you consider 4 hit points to be substantially more than 1. How do you play that, from a tactical level? The characters who are "better" are the ones that give the party as a whole the best chance of survival, but they are also the ones you want to survive because they will make better 1st level characters. Do you then send your 1 hit point gravedigger with an 8 agility ahead to scout, even though you know he won't find anything or be of any use except by dying to alert the rest of the party of the monster or trap? We really struggled with this.

For the record, we did not finish the adventure. It got late and we got tired. I lost a total of five of my fourteen characters in the time we did play, with the first dying seventeen minutes into the game. That was too be expected, but the constant death simply got old, especially when it's almost a given that ANY hits to a character will result in his or her death.

We didn't get to try out many of the aspects of the game I was looking forward to -- the magic system, especially. It's probably more accurate to say we playtested the character funnel concept. Generally, I found that lacking, though I can imagine a couple of scenarios where the level-zero start with a large number of characters would make sense and provide a very interesting beginning for a game.

Geeky Guys Weekend

2011-07-12T12:27:00.000-04:00

Cthulhu's Librarian, Risus Monkey, and I all used to live in the same town and play in the same gaming group. Now, we try to get together at least once a year. Abandoning home, family, and jobs for at least a few days, we hang out. Although we haven't set forth any official criteria for what we do, the following have emerged by default:

Gaming!
Some form of outdoor activity, often hiking.
Visit some National Park, National Monument, or something similar. (I have a National Park Passport. It's silly, but I love getting those stamps!).

This year, we went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I got my Passport stamped at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, part of the Hatteras National Seashore. We did a short hike at the Pea Island Wildlife Sanctuary, until we were ambushed by bugs and forced to flee. We also played Microscope, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and the new Ravenloft board game from Wizards of the Coast.

Since this is a gaming blog, primarily, I'll try to do some play reports of those three games in upcoming posts.

Travel Misadventure

2011-07-07T10:55:00.000-04:00

When the family and I hit the road last Friday, I had the best of blogging intentions. I set up the "post from email" widget on the blog, fully intending to post interesting things I saw or heard or thought of that were gaming related and/or inspirational. Obviously, that didn't happen, largely due to some travel misadventure that took days to resolve and left me merely glad to get to our destination safely. But we all did arrive safely, if later than we intended, which is the important thing. I may share a bit more if I have some time soon.

Now I am back home for all of five hours before hitting the road again. This time, it's for a geeky guys weekend that will hopefully be considerably calmer than the previous trip.

Female Armor Sucks

2011-06-30T10:25:00.000-04:00

I found this amusing.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if all things were this bad?

2011-06-28T16:56:00.001-04:00

Background, part 1: I used to be a huge fan of internet sports columnist Bill Simmons. I am a sports fan, particularly college football and professional baseball, and I found Simmon's mash-up of popular culture and sports funny and occasionally insightful. He even almost got me to care about the NBA. My interest has waned a bit (too much NBA, the pop-culture shtick sometimes became sophomoric), but recently picked back up considerably with Simmon's launch of Grantland. His new ESPN affiliated website talks about sports and pop culture, occasionally at the same time.

Background, part 2: I occasionally enjoy reading Chuck Klosterman. He knows a lot about rock music and is often funny. But, like many late-30-something writers who embrace pop culture, he can seem like he's trying to hard sometimes. Many of the essays in Sex, Drugs and Coco Puffs are great, but there are more than a few where I picture Klosterman giving himself a 'wow, I'm cool!" pat on the back after writing them. Anyway, Klosterman now writes for Grantland.

Klosterman's recent column is a "second by second" analysis of Led Zeppelin's "In the Evening". Sure, parts of it are smarmy, but in it Klosterman is often funny and displays a considerable amount of music knowledge. Now, read or scroll down to the last paragraph of the Klosterman piece.

I was particularly struck by this part:

For any piece of art, this is a compliment of the highest order — whenever something's nonessential elements are still compelling enough to generate new meanings for swathes of creative people who have yet to be born, you're totally riding the dog. Details that have been lost to social memory can still thrive within the context of modern products, even if no one recalls who made them up or what deserves the credit; while we're always predisposed to credit the progenitors of certain ideas, it's those who normalize the concepts that define what our social experience is.

Then there is the wonderful last line:

This is Led Zeppelin when they sucked. And wouldn't it be wonderful if all things were this bad?

I think there's something about gaming in there, particularly about the OSR. But it's late in the day and I am pretty tired, so I can't quite put my finger on it. I'll take a stab at some points, though:

You can read the above as, say looking backwards at Appendix N and other material circa D&D 1978 OR you can read it as contemporary commercial geekdom looking back at D&D.
What "normalized" the concepts that define our social experience of D&D? Moldvay? Certainly it was Mentzer for me. . .
Is crappy D&D still better than most other things? You may hate 4th Edition, but is playing 4th Edition still better than other forms of entertainment?

Maybe I'll be able to flesh this out a bit later, assuming my children let me sleep for more than two hours at a stretch tonight.

Curious George Escapes the Nazis

2011-06-27T16:31:00.000-04:00

I haven't written any of my Weird War 2 profiles in awhile, but back in May, the family and I made a detour on a family trip to Norfolk, Virginia and the Chrysler Museum's hosting of "Curious George Saves the Day", and exhibition of original artwork and memorabelia of H.A. and Margaret Rey. The exhibit was great; I had no idea about the interesting lives of the Rey's, including a cross-country bycyle trek to escape the Nazi occupation of Paris. Thus. . .

They Rey's, H.A. and Margaret, are best known as the creators of Curious George. All told, they published seven Curious George books, not counting the monkey's orginial appearance in Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys. Although the families of the two were acquainted in Hamburrg, Germany, they met and were married in Brazil. There, H.A. Rey was selling bathtubs and sinks along the Amazon. They headed for Paris in 1936. There, they soon became concerned about the Nazi threat, as both were Jews. In 1940, as the Germans marched on paris, Hans hastily cobbled together two bicycles from spare parts; the two rode from the city two days before the Germans entered. Their flight had them ride 75 miles in three days, take a train to Lisbon, then sail back to Brazil, then onto New York. Curious George was published in 1941, with six more books to follow. Rey also published a new cartoon-ish guide to the constelations in 1952 titled The Stars: A New Way to See Them.

For a Wierd War 2 game, this is all too good to pass up. The PC's may be called upon to help the Reys escape Paris. Why? During his time in the Amazon, Hans Rey undoubtedly stumbled upon some secret in the rain forest. Perhaps it was a secret Nazi hideout (a staging area for Nazi space opperations!) or an ancient astrological clock. They Rey's didn't know what to make of it at first, but their art backgroud and collaboration led them to unlocking the secret several years later in France. They immediately became targets for the Abwehr and escaped, brought to the U.S., where their knowledge of crypto-astronomy became central to the covert war effort.

What else is Awesome?

2011-06-24T12:39:00.000-04:00

People like Greg Christopher who make things like this:

Thanks so much, Greg!

Best Use of Awesome Point Ever?

2011-06-23T17:05:00.000-04:00

I intended to post a full write up of the happenings in our Labryinth Lord campaign today, but a short (and amusing) segment will have to suffice.

I'm using the moathouse castle and dungeon from The Village of Hommlet, with some elements changed to suit our ongoing game. The party defeated a group of hobgoblins taking up residence on the surface level, but two of the things had fled into the dungeon. The party opted not to pursue right away. I rolled for the hobgoblins who, failing the roll, ran afoul of the green slime waiting at the bottom of the stairs. The party did not hear the hobgoblin screams as the creatures were slowly digested from the outside-in.

After a bit, the party was ready for the dungeon and noticed the slime-covered remains of the hobgoblins at the bottom of the stairs. What they did not know was how to deal with green slime. Then, this exchange happened:

Pithia's Player: "It says we can use an Awesome Point to find a small item close at hand."
Me: "Yep"
Pithia: "I spend an Awesome Point to find a pamphlet about green slime."
Me: ". . . Awesome!"

Did you know that 8 out of 10 dungeons have a problem with slime?

We then decided the pamphlet looked like they would hand out in the high school guidance office in the 1950's, complete with smiling father in a grey suit and pearled and aproned mom. The cover would feature a puddle of slime, with dad looking stern and mom's hand covering a mouth that had gone "O" with distaste. Inside, little John and Suzie would be taking cover under a school desk while slime dripped down from the ceiling The pamphlet detailed the habits of slime and how to get rid of it (I read the monster's description). Also, the presence of slime was blamed on Communists and beatniks.

Julie Andrews Stomps Nazis

2011-06-22T12:58:00.000-04:00

You know, it's hard to explain how clicking on links leads you to something awesome, but I'll try.

Checking my RSS feeds while eating some leftover chicken parm (thanks to the wife for making it), had me catching up with Rob Lang's Free RPG Blog, specifically this post about the 24-hour movie mash-up RPG contest run by 1000 Monkeys, 1000 Typewriters. Wow -- all of the mash ups sound interesting, but there are two I really want to check out. All the Kings Men is a mash up of Apocalypse Now and Robin Hood, where you play some of the Sherrif's men in a descent into the heart of Sherwood. Creepy! And then there is The Droog Family Songbook, a mash up of The Sound of Music and Clockwork Orange. Yes, The Sound of Music and Clockwork Orange. Just. Wow.

The Droog Family Songbook's designer, Nathan Russell, runs Peril Planet and has many other games. Two that look cool are The Beast of Limfjord -- an RPG inspired by Beowulf and Norse sagas-- and Come With Me If You Want To Live -- a board game of saving humanity from the apocalypse.

So many fun-looking games out there!

Wallwisher vs. Corkboard

2011-06-21T16:26:00.000-04:00

A few months ago, Risus Monkey turned me on to Corkboard. I haven't used it for gaming yet, but have been using it to keep track of some research notes on a book I am reading. Today I discovered Wallwisher. It's a lot like Corkboard, except you can customize the look of the board and can easily post photos, audio, or video (though when I posted a link to a YouTube video it didn't work). There's a character limit (160) on the Wallwisher notes, which gives Corkboard a big edge in my book, but Wallwisher does have more multimedia posting options. It also lets you customize the web address of your board, unlike Corkboard.

Mentzer Reflections, Part 7 "Into the Caves"

2011-06-21T14:36:00.000-04:00

Fair warning -- what follows contains some vivid descriptions of intense situations. Things may get pretty crazy, folks, so be warned. If you're squamish, you may want to skip this one. ;)

Armed with his new plate mail, Ragnar ventures into the caves outside of town in an effort to avenge the death of Aleena and collect some treasure. It did not go well. Apparently, I was better at this game when I was 12.

The next section of the Basic Player's Manual is a choose-your-own adventure section, where you make choices which send you to various numbered paragraphs. I decided that Ragnar, being on his own and still stinging from his recent loss, took a cautious approach. He listened in the first room and heard squeeking. He searched the first room and found a note: "RATS EAST! GOBLINS NORTH! BEWARE WEST!" Figuring he could take care of some rats, he went east. He tried to frighten the rats away, but still had to fight two of them. No problem. Collecting some copper and silver pieces from the rats, he ventured into a strange room where a giant mouth posed him a riddle which, if answered successfully, would double his treasure. What's next in the sequence: O-T-T-F-F-S-S?

I don't want to spoil it for you by giving away the answer. Let's just say a Ph.D. is good for something, because I got it right and Ragnar got richer. He then wandered into the goblin chambers where, it a move I will always regret, he opted to talk to the goblins. One ran away, while the other stayed to chat. Soon, though, Ragnar "got the feeling the goblin doesn't like you". Eff that, goblin! So Ragnar attacked, only to be confronted by the other goblin and his snide goblin buddy coming back from another chamber. Ragnar vs. three goblins! He held is own, getting whacked early on for 3 points of damage (he has 8 and lost one to the rats), but then killing two of the goblins. That last one, though -- that snide bastard who acted all nice to me even though he secretly hated Ragar -- that one jabbed me with his crappy rusty sword, did 5 points of damage, and laughed as Ragnar slumped to the floor, crimson blood spilling on clawed goblin feet. . .

Once I picked my head up from the table and dried my eyes, I thought about this section as an exercise in how to play the game. I think it reveals a lot about how to play. It's a good basic tutorial, but it also shows what's rewarded and expected. Running away was always an option, one that Ragnar never used (because I thought I could take three goblins!). Preparation was rewarded, as I gained knowledge about future challenges when I stopped to listen or search. There was also the interesting riddle room, showing that those sorts of things are a big part of the game. That room is presented as is -- there's no backstory, no narrative justification for the mouth, riddle, or strange magic that doubles or steals your treasure, no stat block that says what sort of spells went into the crafting of the mouth -- it's just there.

I mapped what bit of the dungeon Ragnar made it through. I'll try to scan it and post it, so everyone remembers what happened there. RIP, Ragnar.

Game of Thrones: Series Thoughts

2011-06-20T16:58:00.000-04:00

I stopped trying to post regular recaps and thoughts on individual Game of Thrones episodes largely because there were so many other excellent ones out there. I didn't know what else I could contribute, given what else was being said. Some of my favorites are at Gestalt Mash, which also has a very nice series of posts where a veteran GoT reader and a newbie trade chapter-by-chapter reviews. I am also surprised at how much mainstream press the series is getting, but that shows I just live in my own little geeky cave; it's a giant budget HBO series with big stars, of course it's going to get mainstream press.

I couldn't let the series finish, however, without some small comment. Although I have some small quibbles with some of the pacing and structure (this will be the last time I mention Lost-style character centered episodes), I really, really liked the series. It was well done. It looked excellent. And the acting was, by and large, wonderful. The show actually deepened my interest in a few characters that, just in my readings, I hadn't cared for, such as:

Sansa -- I always thought Sansa was a spoiled, naive girl who, well, sucked. Her romantic naivete got others in trouble (Ned!) and became extraordinarily annoying for this reader. On the show, however, I appreciated her situation a bit more, especially in the final episode. Joffrey is such a little monster that it's hard not to have some empathy for Sansa when her dreams of queenhood turn out all wrong. The look on Sansa's face as she glanced from Joffrey, to the head of her father on the wall, then to the stones beneath the bridge, weighing the choice between jumping herself and shoving the king, was enough to make me like her a little more.
Robert -- Mark Addy did such a great job here. I gained a lot more understanding and a little more sympathy for Robert as a result of the show. Robert is that guy from college -- your loud, drunken friend who never really grew out of all the partying, whom you still try to be friends with based on a shared past, despite his destructive behavior.

The show has also gotten me thinking about gaming in a similar setting again. Not necessarily Westeros itself, though I played Green Ronin's A Song of Ice and Fire RPG at North Carolina Game Day a few years ago and had a great time, but a game where killing monsters and finding treasure wasn't the main focus. No, this would be something where relationships and politics and social contests were just as important as combat. I've never really played or run a game like that, but it seems like it could be a lot of work and require the right sort of players.

Mentzer Reflections, Part 6: "Town Business" & "Battles"

2011-06-17T09:37:00.000-04:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been two months since my last post about the Mentzer Red Box. My apologies for the gap; I suppose it was principally caused by the choose-your-own-adventure style of the next part of the Player's Manual. I guess I never felt like I had the time to play through it with my fighter Ragnar. But I am committed to this project, so let it continue!

You can read the earlier parts: Prologue, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

The next section of the Player's Manual is a solo adventure, but before you get to the "go east? turn to number 34!" section of things, there are two parts designed to get you further aquainted with important aspects of the game.

Part one is "Town Buiness" which is really all about shopping for new armor. It's a simple narrative, with no choices involved for your character. You visit the town blacksmith. He tells you about plate mail. You trade in your chain mail and then haggle with him, eventually paying only 30 gp for a new suit of plate mail! You then have to wait around town for a few days for the plate mail before heading out to the caves on the edge of town for more adventure.

I thought the "Town Business" section was interesting because of the implied setting elements it presents. First, your fighter knows the blacksmith already. He remembers you from your boyhood, stealing apples from the tree in his yard. This really emphasizes the local nature of adventuring -- you start in your hometown where you know everyone -- as well as the "from humble beginnings" trope. You're not some special warrior chosen by the gods for a great destiny. You're a young guy who'd rather hunt for forgotten gold than get a real job. The fact that shopping is also the first step in the solo adventure also reinforces the resource management aspect of the game. You use gold to upgrade your equipment, but such upgrades are also a trade off. The heaviness of the plate mail is mentioned several times in the section, but it's supposedly worth it because of the better protection.

The next section is called "Battles". It gives the basic rules for combat, slightly elevating the complexity of the rules from the very basic presentation of them in the first solo adventure. We learn that we actually should role for damage instead of all hits doing 1 point automatically. We only roll a d6 for damage, but monsters may roll other types of dice.

As somewhat of an aside, let me say how liberating I find non-variable weapon damage. All weapons do d6 damage in my current game. One player keeps narrating complex two-handed attacks, which is awesome, but non-variable damage keeps me from having to worry about two handed weapon penalties or game balance.

Anyway, there in also a section on "getting killed" in the "Battles" section. I think it's interesting that it's there. That indicates that getting killed is a fairly normal part of the game. As the text says, getting killed "is the end of the adventure. But it's not the end of the game!" This section also had a few paragraphs on mapping (One square equals 10 feet, by the way, in Mentzer). I had a nice chuckle at the line "If you don't make a map as you go, you will probably get confused." So true, so true.

Next time, Ragnar ventures into the caves. And we won't have to wait two months. I promise!

Action Points in Labyrinth Lord

2011-06-16T17:33:00.000-04:00

I've been fiddling with a way to incorporate Awesome Points (from Old School Hack) into my Labyrinth Lord game. Here's what I've come up with:

The Stack and The Bowl stay the same. I'll put in 2.5 times the number of players worth of awesome points into The Bowl at the beginning of each session. Players should still award one another Awesome Points from The Bowl for doing Awesome things. The GM can award Awesome points directly to an individual player from The Stack.

Here, though, I need to make some adjustments, because some of those automatic GM Awesome point awards (like surviving a fight with no armor) make a little less sense in Labyrinth Lord.

The GM still adds points to The Bowl when he wants to bend the narrative in a way that disadvantages the players. This is a little harder to do in Labyrinth Lord, at least with low level characters. I can't just add damage inflicted by monsters, because then the odds of those monsters just killing everyone goes way up. Although maybe that's mitigated by . . .

Some ways you might end up spending your awesome points:

It costs one point to:
Adding 1d6 to an attack roll
Have something handy nearby or within reach
Add a cool effect to an attack roll

It costs two points to:
Add 1d6 to a damage roll
Add 1d6 to a saving throw roll
Create an NPC you have a relationship with

It costs three points to:
Reuse a first level spell that's already been cast
Heal 1d4 points of damage

I am not sure about all of this. Thoughts?

Inspiration -- Sailing to Sarantium

2011-06-14T13:32:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I wrapped up Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay. As I have mentioned before, I am a big Kay fan, and Sailing is one of his better efforts. Rather than simply review the book, I'll try to give some reasons why I think gamers should read Kay and Sailing to Sarantium in particular, even though they are not typical fantasy fare and, onstensibly, seem as if won't translate well to gaming.

1. Character -- Kay's protagonists are often artists of some sort. The main character in Sailing is Crispin, a mosaisist who is summoned to the great city of Sarantium to help design the mosaic for the dome of the great sanctuary. Kay paints him, and the supporting characters as well, with complex colors. The depth of character can serve as inspiration itself, or manerisms and backgrounds can be lifted and grafted onto PC's or NPC's. Crispin, for example, is a religious man who is still getting over the death of his family from the plague. He's also quick-witted and foul-mouthed. Both of the later were lifed for my recent NPC of Revus, while the former reminds me to try and avoid single things (death of a family, desire for gold) to define characters.

2. Setting -- Sarantium is a low-fantasy Byzantium. Almost all of Kay's works take place in a fantasy version of the Mediteranean, with alternate takes on the (fallen) Roman empire, medieval Spain, Greece, and Arabia. One book (the Last Light of the Sun) extends the world north by giving us analogs of Scandinavia, England, Wales, Ireland, and France. I have a lot of fun just trying to figure out what real world nation or culture inspired Kay's version. Crispin is Rhodian (or Roman/Italian) but lives in a kingdom ruled by the Antae -- a blond haired people who helped bring about the fall of Rhodia. So they are a Germanic people, who now rule over what we would say is Northern Italy. There are no maps in Sailing, which bummed me out a little, mainly because I like maps. Regardless, I think Kay's work is an excellent example of how to fantiasize real-world history and culture without using the polythestic religious method of Thor versus Zeus to do it. Speaking of Thor. . .

3. Religion -- Kay shows a GM a way to do monotheism that would still alow for some signficant variety in clerics. Again, it mirrors real-world religions while being different enoungh to be interesting and (I guess) inofensive. The dominant religion in Sarantium is Jaddism, worshiping Jad, God of the Sun. There are significant paralells between the Church of Jad and the Roman/Byzantine Catholic church, including a "son" of Jad that some regard as a heresy and some regard as an essential component of the faith. There are also the Kindath, a scattered people who worship the two moons and paralell the Jews. While not mentioned in Sailing, there are also the Asherites -- desert dwelling people who worship the stars. Given their cultural background and religious practices, there is clearly an Islamic paralell happening there. So, you have the three great monotheistic faiths represented in a fantasy world in a way that's familiar yet different. Sailing also adds another layer to the world's religion, by giving us a glimpse into the pagan practices of the pre-Jaddite cultures that are still carried on in corners of the Empire. Human sacrifice on a Day of the Dead, totemic animals, dark forests inhabited by spirits -- that's there too.

4. Magic -- Magic is present in Kay's works, but it's of the subtle and mysterious variety. In Sailing, Crispin meets an alchemist who has mechanical birds that talk and have personalities. The chariot racers (hey, did I mention there's chariot racing. It's awesome!) buy wards against spells. Chieromancers are repeatedly mentioned, but we never get to meet one or really find out what they can do. Interestingly, magic is also somewhat normal. No one is out to burn the known alchemist who lives on the edge of town and everyone in Sarantium seems to buy wards and charms to increase their favorite charioteer's chances of winning the big race. I guess the best way to put it is magic is mysterious, but not dark (well, most of the time anyway).

5. Dialogue and intrique -- There's a chapter in Sailing where Crispin is presented to the Emperor. What follows is the best example of courtly intrigue through dialogue that I've ever read. Through Crispin's eyes, we see the power dynamics of the court played out through how the nobles and Emperor interact, with Crispin joining in. I loved this chapter and found myself wishing I could replicate similar dynamics in a game. I don't know how I could, however, as I'm simply not that verbally nimble. Even if I found players that were interested and able, I doubt I could keep up.

I think it's obvious that I liked the book. I'd love to run a game set in Kay's world one day. Although it's not swords and sorcery by any means, Kay is prominent in my own Appendix N.

On the verge of incoherence

2011-06-13T15:39:00.000-04:00

It's Monday afternoon and I'm staring at the computer, finding it difficult to focus and get anything productive done -- not work, not gaming, not even a coherent blog post. I've been battling this for a week or so now, this lethargy. It's fairly problematic, because June needs to be a productive month for me, given what we have planned for July.

The cause doesn't matter so much; what matters is I change it. But I think some of it has to do with trying to find a new rhythm. As an academic, my life has largely been dictated by the fall/spring/summer cycle of the academic year, with the summer being a lull in both workload and productivity. That was fine, really, as I am the sort of person who needs a certain level of eustress to really get things going. But with the recent promotion also comes a move to a 12 month calendar of work, laid on top of the traditional academic calendar. I can't just not come into the office because I don't feel like it. That, I think, is more of a significant change for me than I realized.

I hope I am not coming across as whining here. I am just trying to understand the current glaze that seems to be coating my brain.

Who is this guy?

2011-06-09T12:44:00.001-04:00

We had a fun game session last night, even if two players were not able to make it and we started late. The gist of the adventure was simple. The Nameless cleric had been bitten by rats and contracted a disease last session, so she needed to be taken to the city of Weyland to be properly cured. The party chose the longer but ostensibly safer route along the road, rather than head cross-country and close to some monster-infested ruins. En route they got very wet (it rained the whole way), fought some small bands of orcs and hobgoblins, and encountered the drunken giant from my random encounter table, which they killed.

As the game unfolded, I decided they needed to encounter someone on the road that wasn't some sort of obvious monster. I came up with the idea of a man cursing vehemently at his wagon that was stuck in the mud and thus Revus was born.

As is usual for me, my winging-it roleplaying got way ahead of my overall adventure planning and NPC plotting. Which is where you come in. Who is Revus and what does he want? Help me out!

Here's what we know, due to me ~~pulling stuff out of my butt~~, stellar improvising during last night's game:

Revus is a foul-mouthed man, capable of launching forth an impressive and very creative stream of invective at anyone and anything. This is interesting considering. . .
Revus is a cleric, who openly converses with his god, typically in a "Why did you do this to me?" tone of wry amusement and put-upon tolerance.
Revus is physically capable. He has a two handed mace and is broad-shoudered.
Revus is journeying to Weyland to visit the city's Patriarch. He is obviously not happy about this, nor does he have a high opinion of said Patriarch or Weyland in general. The phrase "maggot-riddled dung heap of waste left by a dying manticore" was uttered several times, though it was not clear if he was referring to the city or the Patriarch.
Although we do not know his origin, he has journeyed hundreds of miles through monster-infested territory. By himself. On a donkey-cart full of boxes and barrels of unknown contents.
He's not too sure about the Nameless Cleric. He's not hostile to her, but has given her disapproving glances.

So, who is this guy? What church does he belong to? Who is his God? How has he made it through the wilderness alone? What's in his cart? I initially described him as sort of like Sean Connery in the Name of the Rose, but with a sailor's mouth. To which a player replied "so like Sean Connery in SNL Jeopardy?" which works pretty well.

"Suck it, Trebek!"

Weyland and Environs Map

2011-06-08T14:52:00.000-04:00

I created this map today on my lunch break using Hexographer. It's the region of my current Labyrinth Lord campaign, with the small region detailed in Knowledge Illuminates occupying the bottom right corner. (See the "Lascon Thickets")?

Somewhere in those mountains is a ruined city and a megadungeon. I am just not sure where yet.

Why System Matters and Gamer ADD

2011-06-07T14:33:00.000-04:00

A Paladin in Citadel's post today about Why System Matters is just spot-on. It captures what I have been thinking very succinctly and clearly. Excellent work!

The last paragraph in particular stuck a chord. I think Paladin is right -- that the quest for the One True System is futile, because no system is ever going to adequately capture all those competing demands he mentions. Add to that something he doesn't mention -- genre emulation (1) -- and I think he makes a convincing argument that systems are tools and that some necessarily are better suited for some jobs rather than others. I also concur that seeing systems this way is a blessing. It takes the pressure off one thing to be everything. And it reminds us that if system X isn't working out for you, then Y might. You may just need to be clearer about what sort of job you want your system to do.

Here's where the systems as tools argument (2) gets tricky. It's much easier to see that the hammer isn't going to work very well for painting, mainly because we have a good, shared idea about what painting is and what tools are necessary to paint well. We are clear about what tools are needed to paint a wall, because we have a pretty good idea about the desired outcome -- our wall will be a new color. I think what's tricky about systems as tools is that desired outcome can be widely varied among individuals within a gaming group and, painfully enough, even within an individual. That individual variance can come both from daily mood due to circumstance (when the hard day at work makes you just want to go Kill Things and Take Their Stuff and not hatch long term political plots or worry about character nuance) and the dreaded Gamer ADD (when you just get tired of fantasy and want to run a horror game, but no one else seems to buy into it).

Seeing systems as tools is helpful, at least in part because it forces us to reflect on our own gaming goals. What do we want? What tool will help us get the job done? One of the problematic (and also wonderful) things about the hobby is that those goals are constantly in negotiation. Gaming is social, so it's in negotiation between all of us who play. It's also personal, and fun, and idiosyncratic -- so it's always in negotiation within ourselves as well.

(1) Sure, I know that genre emulation ties directly into the competing concerns Paladin lists. Certain genres fall better into "grit" than "grandiloquence" for example.
(2) Notice I didn't say "metaphor" because I think that systems are not just like tools, they are tools. They are tools for facilitating a certain sort of experience

Emergent Elements -- Part 2

2011-06-06T12:27:00.000-04:00

Obviously, it's not tomorrow. I am going to have to try very hard to meet my goal of posts this month. But onward!

Last post, I mentioned there were two interesting setting elements that emerged from seemingly random, around-the-table play elements. The first was the Confectioner's Box, coming from a player's use of an Awesome Point to make cupcakes appear. The second is still in formation, but it involves a new religion.

Last session, we had a new person around the table, the "date" (I only put that in quotes because I am not sure if it's entirely accurate) of a regular player. She had never played an RPG before, but proved to be a quick study and a remarkably good sport, diving in with enthusiasm. One of the other players had made her a character beforehand, with the "4d6" in order method we use resulting in a high wisdom and, thus, a cleric. The experienced player did not give the cleric a name. The new player never really came up with one that she liked, so the new party member was called "Nameless" and "Nameless Cleric" a lot.

After the game, the idea came to be that the lack of a name could be part of some sort of religious vows. What if you gave up your given name when you joined the order? You earned or found your "true" name, the one given to you by the god. This order lacked even a name for their own god, believing simple mortal words were insufficient in the face of infinite divinity. Maybe the entire order was based on the power of names; learning the divine or true names for things being one of the order's principle secrets, revealed only to those who have demonstrated sufficient piety or experience, and the source (somehow) of the cleric's power.

None of the above is really fleshed out yet, but I am working on it. I love how this sort of thing (forging in-game pieces from random elements) is encourgaged by old-school play.

The other mechanical bit I mentioned last time is actually tied to the funny part I also mentioned. The party had run afoul of some traps in the dungeon, after the thief (shockingly!) did not make his F/RT roll (of 14%). This really made me rethink the thief, either doing away with the class altogether or stealing some sort of alternate skills system for him. As a result of the theif's failure and the party's new-found fear of traps, they returned to the scene of an earlier battle, gathered up two zombie-corpses, stuck them on the end of spears, and made the zombies "point men" as they continued. They avoided at least one trap this way, as the corpses triggered a pit. Maybe you don't need a theif after all!

We play again this Wednesday, but at least two folks won't be there.

Emergent Elements -- Part 1

2011-06-02T17:24:00.000-04:00

At my last gaming session (last Wednesday) a number of interesting things happened which I think are worth sharing. Two provided interesting setting elements. Two are making me rethink some mechanical issues. The last was simply funny.

I'll talk about one of the mechanical issues first, as it directly led to some of the other things. In an effort to capitalize on the general zaniness of the group, I tried out the Awesome Points mechanic from Old School Hack. I hoped this group would buy into the idea immediately and wholeheartedly, but it actually took awhile for us all to get the hang of them. The point of Awesome Points is to encourage players to do dramatic, awesome stuff. They get rewarded for it (via more points) and they get a cushion against poor die rolls if (okay, when) things go awry. The players were actually a little cautious about using them and, when they were used, it was usually to avoid something that could have been dangerous (and therefore, awesome). They are designed to give the players a bit more control over the narrative, but the players are supposed to buy into the idea that they should use that control to complicate the narrative rather than avoiding complications (at least sometimes). I certainly will continue to use them, but next time I think I will provide everyone of examples of how they can be used, modifying the examples slightly from the ones given in Old School Hack.

I'd also like to adapt the OSH model of using awesome points for character advancement, but that begins to get pretty far away from the Labryinth Lord ruleset. At some point down that road, we should just play Old School Hack. But I am not sure the players would be willing to convert to another system.

One use of an Awesome Point did lead to the Confectioner's Box and Random Cupcake Table. At the end of the adventure, when the PC's were opening the Big Chest o' Treasure, Pithia's player tosses in an AP and says "It would be awesome if there were some cupcakes in that chest." I replied that it would, indeed, be awesome if there were cupcakes in the chest. Instead of a bunch of cupcakes, though, I thought it would be cooler if there were a magic item that made cupcakes! Like all magic, though, it had its limitations -- hence the idea of a magic box that produces one randomly flavored cupcake per day. The party was a little bummed they all didn't get cupcakes, but Pithia was pretty happy she now has a magical cupcake dispenser. None of them know the item's background, so finding that out could produce some fun adventure possibilities.

So that's one setting element (the confectioner's box and it's background) and one mechanical element (Awesome Points in Labryinth Lord). I'll tackle the rest of the stuff tomorrow.

The Confectioner's Box

2011-06-01T09:13:00.000-04:00

This is why you need a random cupcake table.

The following is designated Open Game Content.

The famed city of Abbas, home of the Second Caliphate and now virtually unknown in the east, was noted for many things. Central to its fame was the presence of magic, which penetrated into many aspects of the city's life. Minor magical trickets and items were found in almost every wealthy household. Few of these items were as coveted as the collaborative creations of the magic-user Qabus and a mysterious baker. This baker, whose name has been forgotten or hidden, was rumored to be an easterner, or perhaps from a locale even more exotic. He likely was routinely offered a prominent spot in the Caliph's own household, but none of the records has his name. Despite this mystery, it is known that the baker and Qabus (himself a friend to the Caliph), collaborated to construct several magic items that would produce fine baked goods. Frosting wands have been found, as well as spoons that give anything they stir a sweet, light flavor (these are especially desired by beverage-makers). There are also boxes, often given to children, that produce a small sweet treat once per day. Boxes have been found that produce cupcakes, small pieces of candy, and loaves of bread. These items are highly valued, both for their practical food produciton (though one cannot live by cupcakes alone!) and their historical and magical significance. The secret of making such items, especially such items that produce such delicious confections, has likely been lost.

Qabus' Cupcake Box

This is a small (5"x5"x5") ebony box, hinged at the back. Carved in the top is a small bow, often inset with semi-precious stones. The inside is covered with soft, dark velvet. Each morning, a cupcake of a random type (see random cupcake table), can be found in the box. The cupcake is always fresh and tasty. Once the cupcake in taken out, the box remains empty until the following morning. Only one cupcake per day can be produced.

Cleaning House and Setting Goals

2011-05-31T13:18:00.000-04:00

I'm in the office on the last day of May with a surprisingly short list of things on my daily To Do List. All of those things involve cleaning and organizing. The most important thing on that list is "Make List of June Goals". (I realize it may be a bit perverse to have, essentially, "make a list" on your list, but that's how I roll).

I'm transitioning into a new job (Assistant Dean) this summer. It entails more responsibility, to be sure, so I want to make sure I do the job well. Making a list of things I need to get done next month will help me with that. But the (still developing) June Goals list isn't just about work. There are things on there that have to do with the house ("Fill in screw holes in living room wall so wife can repaint spot"), personal goals ("Run three miles without stopping"), as well as gaming and blogging goals.

My blogging goals are simple but ambitious: I want to have 22 posts. Since restarting this blog as (mostly) a gaming blog, my monthly best in terms of posts has been 21. I think setting the bar one higher than my previous best is pretty good. I hope I can keep all of those posts to some sort of respectable quality.

My gaming goals aren't quite as simple; I am still formulating them, actually. I want to capitalize on the momentum built from our previous session last week, which means writing or finding some adventures that fit with our play style and that we can use to weave a fun campaign. I need to flesh out a bit more of the world. And I need to see if we really need to modify any of the rules to fit our group. (I used Awesome Points from Old School Hack last session, for example). I am going to try and make these more concrete today and post them here -- likely as the first of my 22 June posts!

Thanks to everyone who reads and comments here.

Random Cupcake Table

2011-05-26T12:55:00.000-04:00

This would have actually come in handy in last night's game, so I made one for future use. It's designated Open Game Content, but please give me credit for my cupcake creativity. Cupcakes on this table were drawn from and inspired by the cupcake offerings at The Blushing Bakeshop. I'll explain why it would have been handy in a future post.

Random Cupcake Table. Roll 2d12:

Roll Type of Cupcake
2 No cupcake :(
3 Vanilla Cake, filled with Custard, topped with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
4 Chocolate Cupcake, filled with Raspberry, topped with Raspberry Buttercream
5 Chocolate Walnut and Carrot Cupcake, topped with Cinnamon Sprinkeled Vanilla Buttercream
6 Chocolate Cupcake topped with Coconut Sprinkled Vanilla Buttercream
7 Mango Cupcake topped with Mango Buttercream
8 Peach Cupcake topped with Vanilla Buttercream
9 Almond and Carrot Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting
10 Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting
11 Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting
12 Buttery Yellow cake with Chocolate Frosting
13 Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
14 Chocolate Cake with light Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
15 Devil's Food with Cream Cheese Frosting
16 Strawberry Cupcake with Strawberry Frosting
17 Orange Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
18 Vanilla Cupcake with Lemon Buttercream Frosting
19 Almond Cupcake topped with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
20 Chocolate Cupcake, filled with Caramel, topped with Caramel Buttercream
21 Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Mint Buttercream Frosting
22 Banana Cupcake with Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting
23 Vanilla Cake, filled with Key Lime curd, with Key Lime/Cream Cheese Frosting
24 Magic Cupcake! (roll again on this table and once on the minor potions table. Cupcake has property of rolled potion).

Enter the Dragon -- D&D Documentary

2011-05-24T15:01:00.000-04:00

Found this short, interesting, well-done documentary about playing D&D on wilwheaton.net:

Quick thoughts:

1. 4E requires a lot of physical gear to play!
2. I think there's a bit too much of the "wish-fulfillment through my character" and "nerds are people too" vibes happening in the film. I get that wish-fulfillment is a part of RPGing, but I think the film overstates it as a rationale. Similarly, I think most of us -- jocks and geeks alike :) -- have gotten beyond bagging on anyone else's hobby.
3. I think it gets the communal fun aspect of gaming just right!

On the road

2011-05-20T09:08:00.000-04:00

Traveling for the next few days. In Norfolk this morning to visit the H.A. Rey exhibit at theChrysler Museum, then to Baltimore. Should be able to compose a better post there. But Curious George awaits!

Hooray for Colonialism!

2011-05-18T16:12:00.000-04:00

Or what happens when you look at a textbook from 1917.

I was forced to rapidly pack up and move my office today. It was for good reasons (a promotion), but I thought I'd have a couple of weeks to leisurely move a box at a time. According to the painters, however, I had to get out today.

In a rush of packing, I not only recycled a ton of paper (and thought of a nice post about going paperless!) but also came across some books I'd forgotten about. One of these books was given to me by my father, who retrieved in from my grandparent's house when things were being sorted out after both grandparents had passed away. It's my grandmother's geography textbook, printed in 1917 -- Maury's New Elements Geography, South Carolina Edition.

This book is fascinating, showing us what the average American student was taught about the rest of the world in the early 20th Century and showing what at least some of the world was like in the 1910's.

I know the scan is hard to read, but it features places like "Belgian Kongo", "British East Africa" and "Rhodesia."

Speaking of Africa: "most of the natives are savages. Many of them used to be constantly fighting and making slaves of one another. European nations are stopping this." Umm. . .

Did you know that Damascus (which is near Africa) "is the oldest city in the world. It looks beautiful at a distance." Too bad it is actually "dirty and ruinous."

And there is the chapter on "Races of Men." You know what's coming here. I'll stay away from the really cringe-worthy stuff and go to the classifications of civilization, from lowest to highest:

1. Savages
2. Barbarous (they can at least grow crops!)
3. "We will now visit some people who live very much better than the barbarous people. They are the Chinese, who go to bed at about the time we arise." They, by the way, are half civilized.
4. Of course, we white people are enlightened. Go us!

And, of course, "many Mohammedans are but half-civilized". Hindus don't even rank as a full religion and are simply lumped in with all the other pagans. Come to think of it, that's pretty cringe-worthy, too.

When I think about it as a gaming resource, it makes much of the stuff in it a little less scary. The book is a perfect background for the haughty colonialist in your next 1920's pulp game. The starched shirt British officer, dedicated to moving the native peoples of the Empire up the scale of civilization: "Dammit, Johnson! If we could just gets these barbarous people out of their tents and into real buildings, we could at least get them half-civilized! Make them quarry more stone. And go ahead and smash their pagan idols while you're at it. I am sure all that talk of a curse is just rubbish!"

And, of course, Cthulhu eats the enlightened and the barbarous alike. :)

Game of Thrones: The Wolf and the Lion

2011-05-17T16:40:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to watching A Game of Thrones last night, as my daughter went to bed at a reasonable 8:15 instead of 9:30. I am glad I did, because I think it was the best episode yet.

I think it was the best episode yet for a number of reasons. The largest, by far, was the episode's focus. The majority of the action was in King's Landing, with a small bit at the Eyrie and an even smaller (almost unnecessary) bit at Winterfell. We saw no Dothraki and no Jon Snow. This was a good thing; the tigher focus made the pace quicker and the tension even tighter. Even the Eyrie scenes were directly connected to the events at King's Landing, as Jamie goes after Ned because Catelyn has taken Tyrion. I've urged Lost-like, character-centric epiosdes before, but this episode made me realize you could have location-centered episodes just as easy.

The second thing I loved about this episode was the things that were NOT in the book. The fairly immediate and forthright reveal of Renly and Loras' relationship went over much better than the three books worth of hints Martin has given us. It also served to make relationships even more complex, as Loras urges Renly to actively seek the crown. The other added scene I thoroughly enjoyed was the Robert/Cersi conversation. Mark Addy is just dead-on as Robert, brining life into a character I never really "got" in the novels. And Cersi in the show is much more multi-dimensional than in the books. In the books, she goes from incestuous schemer to crazy woman. Lena Hedley's Cersi has a lot more depth. Come to think of it, there's not a lot of Jamie/Cersi love happening in the show.

The Ned/Jamie fight was awesome. The other fights, especially the ambush on the road to the Eyrie, not so much. The facial expressions on Ned and Jamie nicely mirrored their earlier conversation by the Iron Throne. I let out an audible "Urk!" when Ned gets taken down by the Lannister man, and smiled when Jamie punches him out. That action shows both how amoral Jamie can be and sets up his transition nicely. We may not get Jamie reading the White Book later on, but if we do, we can see his own self-reflection reaching back to this moment.

There were lots of other little bits I liked. I liked Loras' armor (and the fact that Renly commented on it later). I liked Barristan noticably putting on the White Cloak. I liked the Sky Cells. I liked how freaking creepy and crazy Lysa seemed. I liked that we get to see Bronn. I liked the nicely choreographed bit where the Hound kneels to his king and the Mountain swings where his head used to be.

Best episode yet.

Starks and Lannisters Defeated by Preschool Girl

2011-05-16T15:18:00.000-04:00

with help from infant boy.

It was a long, but fun weekend, as we drove to Conway, South Carolina for a Bluegrass and BBQ Festival; my brother's team was competing in the BBQ part. They did well, we ate lots of BBQ, and my daughter played in the river. Sunday we hung around for a baby shower, then headed back home.

I was cautiously optimistic that I'd make Game of Thrones. We arrived back at the house by 8:00 and the kids still needed to be fed and bathed before 9:00. My optimism was spurred on by my awesome wife, who promised to put the kids to bed so I could watch the show, as long as I helped out beforehand. Despite all this good will, things simply did not cooperate. My daughter has to have things just so, and her bedtime routine takes awhile. Add to that the fact that my son was thrown off schedule by the travel and I didn't get out of the kid-bedtime zone until 9:15. I turned on Game of Thrones anyway, planning on watching the rest of the episode, then watching the first 15 minutes when they showed the episode again on another HBO channel at 10:00. But no rebroadcast was scheduled for 10:00, and my daughter came out of her bedroom just as Theon was trying to strangle Ros, which prompted me to turn off the TV in haste. After getting her back in bed -- damn excitable Zhu-Zhu Pets -- I just gave up. I'll try to watch it tonight if it's on.

Random Encounter Table -- Rotter's Road/Lascon Thickets

2011-05-10T21:01:00.000-04:00

One of my tasks for building my sandbox is to make a few random encounter tables. Here's the first, based on some of the locations presented in Tim Short's Knowledge Illuminates.

Random Encounters: Rotter's Road/Lascon Thickets

1. 1d10 goblins -- weak, hungry, and ill-equipped. Fleeing mountain holes to avoid being enslaved by hobgoblins.
2. 1d8 human bandits -- ruffians from surrounding towns and villages who have turned to banditry out of poverty and hunger
3. Heavily armed and guarded caravan traveling west, from Aldejas or other eastern population center to Weyland (and possibly beyond)
4. Ankheg
5. Wild boar
6. 2d8 human bandits -- organized, professional thieves.
7. Human pilgrims in search of sites sacred to Malichia/Delaquain/Xena. 50% chance have a cleric of at least second level with them.
8. 1d4 Wandering minor undead (roll or choose specific type)
9. One lost and addled hill giant. This giant is obviously very confused, mistaking rocks for cows and occasionally laying down to rest at random intervals. This confusion may be due to a head wound, drunkenness, magical effect, or some strange disease. This giant is easily provoked into a fight, but is not a particularly effective fighter (-4 to all attacks) because of his condition.
10. Lightly guarded caravan of a few wagons, headed east from Weyland and surrounding villages to Aldejas to sell foodstuffs and other wares.
11. 1d8 orcs. Savage and bloodthirsty.
12. 2d6 hobgoblins. Organized scouting party. Shields/standards decorated with stylized, colored eye. (Roll randomly for color. Each group encountered may have different colored eye symbol).

This is my first homemade random encounter table, so any thoughts are welcome!

Game of Thrones Episode 4: "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things"

2011-05-09T12:02:00.000-04:00

I'm going to try and make Monday posts about the previous night's Game of Thrones episode. They will NOT be spoiler-free, so be warned. They also won't be full-on recaps. Westeros does that much, much better than I ever could. I also find myself inevitably comparing GoT to the last show I followed and wrote about -- Lost.

My initial reaction to last night's episode was that it set up a lot of things, but not much really happened. I've backed off from that initial sentiment. Plenty of things did happen -- especially in terms of character introduction and development. But I think the show struggles with balancing those elements with general back-story and forward plot movement. I think that struggle is inevitable, given the source material and format they've chosen for the show.

The scene I liked least about the episode was probably the one between Ned and Cersi. It felt a bit necessary; I think we get Ned's in over his head a bit down in King's Landing and we get (or will get, soon enough) that he and Cersi aren't terribly fond of one another. I was also a bit disappointed by the joust. The whole set just seemed like the thing they do at the local Renaissance Faire, minus the blood spurting.

Certainly my favorite scene was at The Inn of the Crossing. We get more great acting from Dinklage, we learn a bit about the feudal system of Westeros, and get a very nice dramatic moment as all the bannermen draw their swords on Tyrion. Thinking forward a bit, it's this moment, almost more than anything else, that sets the future war between Stark and Lannister in motion.

Other really nice parts included the scene at the door between Jamie and Jory and the introduction of Sam. For the later, I like how Sam comes across as both pathetic and likable. I never really liked Sam much in the books: I pited him. But this Sam has a sense of humor and even makes fun of Jon a bit. And I half-expected him to bust out the "tracts of land" line as he asked questions about Ros the Redhead. The former was nice for a number of reasons. Jory comes across as instantly likable. Jamie still goes back and forth between smug self-importance (with a touch of self-loathing) and aiming for something better. In the books, the later aspect of Jamie doesn't come out for quite awhile; he's generally loathsome in the first book. But they have to speed things up a bit and I think they are doing it well.

Across the Narrow Sea, things played out fairly normally. Viserys is still an ass, to his sister and his love slave (though we get a nice bit of dragon backstory from the later). And Daenerys gets more confident as queen while realizing her brother is a complete tool.

Again, I think they really should have done a "character episode" model. This one could have been Jon, where we would have gotten Sam, the Thorne speech, and maybe moved all the way up to his Night's Watch induction. It could have been Ned, where we could have gotten all the King's Landing stuff, including the complete tournament. It could even have been Tyrion, where we would have gotten Robb & Bran at Winterfell, his capture at the Inn, and then on into the mountains toward the Eyrie, where we'd meet Bron and those nasty mountain clan guys. Next week would have been a Daenerys episode, containing all of this weeks stuff, plus 'flash-acrosses" to Robert saying she must be killed, and maybe ending with the Crown of Gold.

My .02, anyway.

Gaming, Experience, and Aesthetics

2011-05-06T12:02:00.000-04:00

I promised a response to 'What the Old School Reformation is Fighting For and Against" some time ago. I'm still working on it, or rather working through it, as the post promoted one of those rare moments where my academic, political, and personal lives all come together in a big snarling ball of thoughtful awesomeness that I am still sorting out.

I try not to academicize my RPG hobby too much, as I am somewhat afraid that doing so will both distract me from other, work related things (writing, teaching, reading) that lead to (other) necessary work things (publishing, teaching, promotion, etc) and dampen my enjoyment of the hobby. Sometimes, I just want to kill orcs. I am still wary, but drawing upon my experience with comics -- I've begun to read and write and present about them in a professional way -- engaging with RPG's in an academic way has the potential to enhance both my hobby and professional life, especially now that the tenure hurdle has been crossed and I don't have to worry so much about being opportunistic with my research.

Tavis' post generated two "a-ha's!" for me. I'll lay these out now, briefly talk about them here, and probably return to them in the future for longer posts.

1. The OSR has a political component. By political, I don't mean Republican or Democrat. I mean there are, I think, values embedded in the OSR that speak to how people ought to do things with and for each other -- certain ways of living are better than others. Tavis gets directly at this with his idea about fighting against transmedia and comodification of imagination by offering an alternative gaming culture and table-top experience facilitated by Old School sorts of games.

2. Table-top RPGing as a unique aesthetic component. As such, they can be looked at in an aesethic way. We talk all the time about the unique sort of "experience" provided by TTRPG's in general and Old School RPG's in particular. As a social experience facilitated through the presentation of a particular medium (the game itself), that experience can be looked at with the language and concepts that are applied to other art media. One of my academic interests is American Pragmatism and, in particular, John Dewey's aesthetics. He focuses on experience, particularly the idea of "an experience", which is experiences that stands out and stands alone. It has it's own rhythm and comes to it's own end (as opposed to most experience, which is fractured and scattered by all of the demands of life). There is, I think, and nice marriage here: using the idea of "an experience" to talk about games, gaming, and the sorts of experiences they facilitate.

Just some initial thoughts about Tavis' great post. I'm sure there will be more.