Good afternoon everyone! Last week the Resources article got passed over, but I could not let that happen twice in a row. Today I have three reference books for you from my personal library that wouldn't be bad editions to your shelf. In fact, you might find these to be amazing books for your shelf even if you aren't a GM. Two of them are sort of a pair, but concern enough differences that I didn't want to lump them as one reference. The other heads towards the science fiction end of the spectrum, but only in original setting.
Star Wars: The Essential Guide To Alien Species (Ann Margaret Lewis): This is a fantastic book for any Star Wars nerd, especially one interested in creatures and races. The one I have on my shelf is from 2001 and is the first edition of this book to be printed. Obviously, there have been some additions since the Phantom Menace. Nevertheless, this book is of great use. If you are playing a Star Wars game, this book is almost essential because of how much data there is to it. As good as FFG's rule books are they can just not compare to the detail in books like this one. There are others in the series such as characters, weapons, droid, and planets. Alien species is the most universally useful one, however. Not that you need this book to make a rancor for your D&D game, but every page has something new you may not be aware of. Take the Amanin, for example. You get one shot in, Jabba's Palace (?), and an action figure. This takes it further describing the hunter-gatherers and just enough info for you to make a race from. They are slow, unless swinging from trees or, of course, rolling up into a ball and rolling at you. What an odd people to find in a D&D jungle. Give shamans some spells and you got a crazy NPC race of neutral tribesman. Yes, if you seek fleshed out creatures and races to spice up your table, this is a perfect book for you!
Diablo III: Book of Cain (Flint Dille): This book, and the next, are recent additions to my shelf thanks to Christmas gift cards and I love them. To be fair I am in love with the Diablo world and the mythos that Blizzard has given it over the years. The battle between good and evil is amazing and takes interesting turns on the world of Sanctuary. The Book of Cain reads like part fantasy world reference book, part history book, and part journal. That's because it is a representation of the in game object of the same name. In it the last Horadrim, Deckard Cain, tells the tale of how his order has fought evil over the centuries. It tells of the Lords of Hell, the Angiris Council, the Hells, the High Heavens, and more. The history of human-kind and the world are detailed here, as are some details from before Diablo III. Add this to a set of D&D books and do some work on monster stats and you could play quite the adventure in the Diablo world, even without ever having played it.
Diablo III: Book of Tyrael (Matt Burns & Doug Alexander): Yes, another Diablo book. Surprise! Tyrael is one of my favorite characters in the series because of his purpose in the story. He represents a lot to that story: humanity, justice, learning a different point of view, change. If the Book of Cain is the must have to run a Sanctuary adventure, then this is the must have for a prolonged campaign. Much of what is in here you can learn about in the game if you play it and if you looks for and listen to all the journals. This book provides it in a manner usable at the game table, though. Not only that, but it gives so much more. There is a timeline and a section on the various regions, orders, and people that exist in the world. If you aren't looking for a way to play a Diablo campaign, this books is still a great source of inspiration. Steal NPCs or orders for your game, or take notes on how they interact with their world. And, when it comes down to it, you need these two books if you love the Diablo series.
Showing posts with label Players. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Players. Show all posts
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Monday, February 13, 2017
Review: Cat By John Wick
Have you ever wondered why cats are such loving creatures, but also appear to be sadistic self-proclaimed overlords? I'm sure there are a lot of answers out there, like because they protect us from the dangers of ancient Egyptian undead. Anyways, John Wick has provided us a way to explore the answer to that question in the form of the role-playing game Cat: A Little Game About Little Heroes.
Now, Cat is not a new game as the edition I have was published in 2014 and that certainly isn't the first. In fact, the first edition of this game was finished in 1999! As a smaller, indie game it is one of those that you don't see popping up everywhere. You probably won't see it at most local game shops and you definitely won't find it at Barnes & Noble. Nevertheless, it is still being published and still worth your time to at least get a preview here. If you are intrigued and want to know what it is like to play you can also check out our one-shot adventure on Untamed Dice. The playlist for that can be found here.
The Mechanics
Let's begin here, because the mechanics of a game can turn a lot of people off of it. On the other hand, an interesting set of mechanics could be the reason you pick up the game. Either way, Cat is a very simple one. You may not enjoy simplicity, and if you need some heavy complexity, mechanics, and math turn away now. The GM, or Narrator, will probably just reach out and push your stuff off the table anyways.
Personally, I enjoyed the simplicity of the game and thought it left a lot of room for the important part of the game: playing. Don't get me wrong I love D&D and other complex games for what they do, but I don't need a ton of rules to know that a cat is an asshole, but its a lovable asshole. They do things, for REASONS, and then pretend they didn't. In the game there are certain difficulties set by the Narrator which determine the number of needed successes (1-5). Then you roll however many dice you have in a stat (3-5). Evens succeed and odds do not. Got it? Good, because that is all there is too it.
The only exceptions to this is that there are limits to what cats can and cannot do. There are also specific ways around those limitations. Magic is straightforward and based on the tail stat. Spells are specific, require a certain tail score and may ask you to roll. There aren't a lot, you don't have to choose them, and you just have them or you don't (again based on tail). There are a few other bits like what you are good at might add a dice and scars which temporarily reduce your scores because you're hurt, but these are simple +/- a dice functions. What it comes down to are that the mechanics are very simple, easy to learn, and meant to create drama. They are not there to create a complex world, that is up to your imagination.
The Story
Spoiler alert: cats are here to protect us from the boggins and other nasty things. The idea behind Cat is that cats are here to protect humans. There are reasons for this, mostly because they won the Contest and we lost. They get to rule the world, but have to protect the losers. That is how the Contest works, after all. I don't want to go too heavily into the story, because you can read John Wick's short at the beginning of the book if you get it. The story is good and really puts the game, its intent, and its purpose all into perspective.
The story of the game at your table? Now, that we can talk a little about. As Narrator and players the basics are the same, no matter what: monsters are real, cats rule the world, cats protect people from monsters. But the genres and stories that include cats, all the ways you could work with cats, those are quite varied and many are mentioned in this book. Wick provides you with folklore about cats that is true, and facts about cats that are false. He also provides context for running a game which includes the various bogeymen that might have to be dealt with to where cats might come from (Ulthar perhaps?). There is plenty there for a group to sink their teeth into.
Playing It
When playing this game, the Narrator has the job of providing an enemy, a goal, and creating drama throughout. Because there are not a lot of mechanics this is easy in some ways, mostly not having to look much up or figure out various things when the players decide to try something crazy. The difficulty comes in with creatively responding. It is on your shoulders to do it, do it well, and not take too much time.
The weight of the game, the story, and how it unfolds is much more in the hands of the players, or at least it seemed so. It is really hard to tell with Cat. It is a game that really lends itself to acting almost as if you are just telling a story with each of you jumping in for a turn. Of course that's what RPGs are, but the few mechanics and the fun of the setting make you lost to that fact. It's a great feeling and tons of fun. There is a lack of structure to the game, but because you're cats the story easily comes around to something happening that causes you to get back on track. The game just lends itself to happening without effort and without pause.
Presentation
I have mixed feelings about the presentation of the book. It is not a large game and it certainly doesn't need to be. The book is quite small, but could actually be made smaller. The font isn't huge, but the spacing is generous. The table of contents is fantastically laid out, but some boarder or chapter number on the corner or page edge would make quick look ups a lot easier. Instead, there is a paw print motif that runs up the side of pages. Well, some of them...randomly. It isn't a terrible look, or even distracting, but it is a bit random. There are plenty of good cat pictures and silhouettes of cats throughout, but I would have liked to see more art like the cover with a cat protecting its human from unknowable monsters. To me, that would have added to the feel of the setting a little more.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Cat is an amazing game. It is a ton of fun to play and takes virtually no thought process to learn. You can sit there and have plenty of silly fun mixed in with epic misadventures and get plenty of laughs doing it. No, it isn't super complex. Yes, it is made for adults AND kids. But those things are why I like it. You probably won't play a giant campaign from it, but that's not the goal of the game either, At John Wick Presents you can find it in print and PDF for just $15 and it is well worth the cost, in my opinion. Sure the production value of the book is low compared to the giant hardcover, full-art games like D&D but it isn't a book that will make you go, "why did I spend money on this?" It gives you exactly what it says it will, and you shouldn't expect more. Cat is a gateway to a fun time, and John Wick is very obviously passionate and committed to this game as a part of his design career. I won't play this game all the time, probably not even that often, but I know that I will play it, have fun, and I am glad I own it.
Now, Cat is not a new game as the edition I have was published in 2014 and that certainly isn't the first. In fact, the first edition of this game was finished in 1999! As a smaller, indie game it is one of those that you don't see popping up everywhere. You probably won't see it at most local game shops and you definitely won't find it at Barnes & Noble. Nevertheless, it is still being published and still worth your time to at least get a preview here. If you are intrigued and want to know what it is like to play you can also check out our one-shot adventure on Untamed Dice. The playlist for that can be found here.
The Mechanics
Let's begin here, because the mechanics of a game can turn a lot of people off of it. On the other hand, an interesting set of mechanics could be the reason you pick up the game. Either way, Cat is a very simple one. You may not enjoy simplicity, and if you need some heavy complexity, mechanics, and math turn away now. The GM, or Narrator, will probably just reach out and push your stuff off the table anyways.
Personally, I enjoyed the simplicity of the game and thought it left a lot of room for the important part of the game: playing. Don't get me wrong I love D&D and other complex games for what they do, but I don't need a ton of rules to know that a cat is an asshole, but its a lovable asshole. They do things, for REASONS, and then pretend they didn't. In the game there are certain difficulties set by the Narrator which determine the number of needed successes (1-5). Then you roll however many dice you have in a stat (3-5). Evens succeed and odds do not. Got it? Good, because that is all there is too it.
The only exceptions to this is that there are limits to what cats can and cannot do. There are also specific ways around those limitations. Magic is straightforward and based on the tail stat. Spells are specific, require a certain tail score and may ask you to roll. There aren't a lot, you don't have to choose them, and you just have them or you don't (again based on tail). There are a few other bits like what you are good at might add a dice and scars which temporarily reduce your scores because you're hurt, but these are simple +/- a dice functions. What it comes down to are that the mechanics are very simple, easy to learn, and meant to create drama. They are not there to create a complex world, that is up to your imagination.
The Story
Spoiler alert: cats are here to protect us from the boggins and other nasty things. The idea behind Cat is that cats are here to protect humans. There are reasons for this, mostly because they won the Contest and we lost. They get to rule the world, but have to protect the losers. That is how the Contest works, after all. I don't want to go too heavily into the story, because you can read John Wick's short at the beginning of the book if you get it. The story is good and really puts the game, its intent, and its purpose all into perspective.
The story of the game at your table? Now, that we can talk a little about. As Narrator and players the basics are the same, no matter what: monsters are real, cats rule the world, cats protect people from monsters. But the genres and stories that include cats, all the ways you could work with cats, those are quite varied and many are mentioned in this book. Wick provides you with folklore about cats that is true, and facts about cats that are false. He also provides context for running a game which includes the various bogeymen that might have to be dealt with to where cats might come from (Ulthar perhaps?). There is plenty there for a group to sink their teeth into.
Playing It
When playing this game, the Narrator has the job of providing an enemy, a goal, and creating drama throughout. Because there are not a lot of mechanics this is easy in some ways, mostly not having to look much up or figure out various things when the players decide to try something crazy. The difficulty comes in with creatively responding. It is on your shoulders to do it, do it well, and not take too much time.
The weight of the game, the story, and how it unfolds is much more in the hands of the players, or at least it seemed so. It is really hard to tell with Cat. It is a game that really lends itself to acting almost as if you are just telling a story with each of you jumping in for a turn. Of course that's what RPGs are, but the few mechanics and the fun of the setting make you lost to that fact. It's a great feeling and tons of fun. There is a lack of structure to the game, but because you're cats the story easily comes around to something happening that causes you to get back on track. The game just lends itself to happening without effort and without pause.
Presentation
I have mixed feelings about the presentation of the book. It is not a large game and it certainly doesn't need to be. The book is quite small, but could actually be made smaller. The font isn't huge, but the spacing is generous. The table of contents is fantastically laid out, but some boarder or chapter number on the corner or page edge would make quick look ups a lot easier. Instead, there is a paw print motif that runs up the side of pages. Well, some of them...randomly. It isn't a terrible look, or even distracting, but it is a bit random. There are plenty of good cat pictures and silhouettes of cats throughout, but I would have liked to see more art like the cover with a cat protecting its human from unknowable monsters. To me, that would have added to the feel of the setting a little more.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Cat is an amazing game. It is a ton of fun to play and takes virtually no thought process to learn. You can sit there and have plenty of silly fun mixed in with epic misadventures and get plenty of laughs doing it. No, it isn't super complex. Yes, it is made for adults AND kids. But those things are why I like it. You probably won't play a giant campaign from it, but that's not the goal of the game either, At John Wick Presents you can find it in print and PDF for just $15 and it is well worth the cost, in my opinion. Sure the production value of the book is low compared to the giant hardcover, full-art games like D&D but it isn't a book that will make you go, "why did I spend money on this?" It gives you exactly what it says it will, and you shouldn't expect more. Cat is a gateway to a fun time, and John Wick is very obviously passionate and committed to this game as a part of his design career. I won't play this game all the time, probably not even that often, but I know that I will play it, have fun, and I am glad I own it.
Monday, January 30, 2017
The Good Of D&D Streams & Podcasts
A few weeks ago there was a surge in the discussion (on Twitter) about RPG streams and podcasts. The major start to this discussion was from the blog post by Goblin Stomper about Critical Role, and you can find that here. Another large piece of input to that discussion came from Terminally Nerdy's vlog about the subject which you can find here. The conversation derived from the initial Tweet is here and there are other conversations that popped up, with folks adding their own input. I decided I should insert my take on the situation and what that media has done for me.
Before that I want to say that these folks all make good points, many of which I don't even disagree with. However, I do believe that a lot of it is perception and expectations, but then again so is a lot of life.
Acquisitions Incorporated & Critical Role
Lets start here, because this was my first exposure to the idea of an actual play podcast or stream of some type. It began in 2007 if I remember correctly, the Fall before the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons came out, as a way to help push the new edition. At the time I had not played much D&D, and those experiences were mixed. It had been a couple years since I had stepped back from the DM's chair. While 4th Edition had peaked my interests as an edition that was easier for me to manipulate as a DM, I was fairly uncertain still. Listening to this show turned that all around.
At once I was ready to play D&D again, and not just play but Dungeon Master. I was more excited for D&D than I had been in a long time. Part of it was the rules that I heard get used, part of it was the articles I was reading about the system, and part of it was the fun of listening to those low level characters get into trouble. Over the next couple years, especially during my stint working the overnight stocking job, I proceeded to discover and listen to other podcasts like Flagons & Dragons and the Strand Gamers. Each of these made me excited to play D&D, gave me ideas on things I could do in my stories, revealed truths to how the rules could be manipulated, and generally were great fun to enjoy. Needless to say, I was on board the instant Geek & Sundry announced Critical Role.
Almost ten years after I began listening to actual play podcasts and took back my DM's chair, I discovered D&D streaming via Critical Role. Since then I have watched Titan's Grave, Force Grey, and the Waffle Crew, all of them big names and big groups in the D&D world. But the fun I had with Critical Role, the inspiration I got working on my own campaigns while tuning into the show, the letters they got from others about how they started playing or they just appreciated sharing that with them - these were awesome things, and it inspired me to finally say, "Hey, let's start a podcast. For real."
What It Meant For Me
We are almost 13 months out from my foray into podcasting our games and it has been lots of fun doing it. Untamed Dice doesn't have a ton of listeners (yet!) and we certainly are no Critical Role, but that has never harmed our table or our expectations. To be fair even our new players didn't watch Critical Role until after we introduced them to D&D. All I can say is that podcasts and streams inspired me to play, to DM, to create, to share, and to podcast. Without Acq. Inc. and Critical Role this article, this blog, and our podcast might not exist.
I will grant, I was eased into it with the first Acq. Inc. adventures and some of the "small-time" podcasts of 6-10 years ago. Perhaps that made everything more reasonable and changed my expectations. Maybe it made those expectations more realistic. I know I will never be a voice actor leading other voice actors in a campaign world I have created that well, but that won't stop me from trying. And frankly, those shows help inspire me to do more. They make me want to share my experiences with you, even if only some of you listen.
What It Means For Others
Here's the thing though, those other guys, they have some great advice and insight. First-timers cannot expect to run a Matt Mercer or Chris Perkins level game. Nor can the players expect that kind of intensity, drama, or comedy. That takes time, practice, experience, and some skills you may not possess. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try, however.
These folks make their own mistakes. Recently, Chris Perkins admitted that he had probably used a number of ever-changing crit rules for the Waffle Crew. He works for Wizards and he still isn't necessarily consistent or all-knowing. What he is, is experienced and skilled at keeping the game flowing. As for Critical Role, that group sits there for hours without peeing or eating much except during their break, which lasts for 15 minutes. All the big-time shows have a production value of some sort and your table, well, it won't.
Other podcasts aren't for everyone either. They won't live up to the productions of Acquisitions Incorporated or Titan's Grave. They might not have the equipment, editing know-how, or a table talk you enjoy. But you still might find one that you do enjoy. It might entertain you, inspire you, or teach you. Hopefully all of the above! Just don't listen to every podcast expecting it to be Critical Role. I like horror movies, most of them anyways, but it doesn't mean I expect them all to be of incredible story-telling quality or have production values of things like Marvel movies. It doesn't mean I skip them either.
Podcasts and streams are good, in my opinion, for the hobby. It is a sharing of creative work, of happiness, of enjoyment. It is a place to find inspiration and learn a thing or two while being entertained. Take cues from these great entertainers and learn from what they do. If you want to share what you do, do it. There is great joy in sharing your work, even if not everyone enjoys it. Aspire to be the next Critical Role, but don't expect it. There is plenty of room for us little guys and plenty of good to come from it.
Before that I want to say that these folks all make good points, many of which I don't even disagree with. However, I do believe that a lot of it is perception and expectations, but then again so is a lot of life.
Acquisitions Incorporated & Critical Role
Lets start here, because this was my first exposure to the idea of an actual play podcast or stream of some type. It began in 2007 if I remember correctly, the Fall before the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons came out, as a way to help push the new edition. At the time I had not played much D&D, and those experiences were mixed. It had been a couple years since I had stepped back from the DM's chair. While 4th Edition had peaked my interests as an edition that was easier for me to manipulate as a DM, I was fairly uncertain still. Listening to this show turned that all around.
At once I was ready to play D&D again, and not just play but Dungeon Master. I was more excited for D&D than I had been in a long time. Part of it was the rules that I heard get used, part of it was the articles I was reading about the system, and part of it was the fun of listening to those low level characters get into trouble. Over the next couple years, especially during my stint working the overnight stocking job, I proceeded to discover and listen to other podcasts like Flagons & Dragons and the Strand Gamers. Each of these made me excited to play D&D, gave me ideas on things I could do in my stories, revealed truths to how the rules could be manipulated, and generally were great fun to enjoy. Needless to say, I was on board the instant Geek & Sundry announced Critical Role.
Almost ten years after I began listening to actual play podcasts and took back my DM's chair, I discovered D&D streaming via Critical Role. Since then I have watched Titan's Grave, Force Grey, and the Waffle Crew, all of them big names and big groups in the D&D world. But the fun I had with Critical Role, the inspiration I got working on my own campaigns while tuning into the show, the letters they got from others about how they started playing or they just appreciated sharing that with them - these were awesome things, and it inspired me to finally say, "Hey, let's start a podcast. For real."
What It Meant For Me
We are almost 13 months out from my foray into podcasting our games and it has been lots of fun doing it. Untamed Dice doesn't have a ton of listeners (yet!) and we certainly are no Critical Role, but that has never harmed our table or our expectations. To be fair even our new players didn't watch Critical Role until after we introduced them to D&D. All I can say is that podcasts and streams inspired me to play, to DM, to create, to share, and to podcast. Without Acq. Inc. and Critical Role this article, this blog, and our podcast might not exist.
I will grant, I was eased into it with the first Acq. Inc. adventures and some of the "small-time" podcasts of 6-10 years ago. Perhaps that made everything more reasonable and changed my expectations. Maybe it made those expectations more realistic. I know I will never be a voice actor leading other voice actors in a campaign world I have created that well, but that won't stop me from trying. And frankly, those shows help inspire me to do more. They make me want to share my experiences with you, even if only some of you listen.
What It Means For Others
Here's the thing though, those other guys, they have some great advice and insight. First-timers cannot expect to run a Matt Mercer or Chris Perkins level game. Nor can the players expect that kind of intensity, drama, or comedy. That takes time, practice, experience, and some skills you may not possess. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try, however.
These folks make their own mistakes. Recently, Chris Perkins admitted that he had probably used a number of ever-changing crit rules for the Waffle Crew. He works for Wizards and he still isn't necessarily consistent or all-knowing. What he is, is experienced and skilled at keeping the game flowing. As for Critical Role, that group sits there for hours without peeing or eating much except during their break, which lasts for 15 minutes. All the big-time shows have a production value of some sort and your table, well, it won't.
Other podcasts aren't for everyone either. They won't live up to the productions of Acquisitions Incorporated or Titan's Grave. They might not have the equipment, editing know-how, or a table talk you enjoy. But you still might find one that you do enjoy. It might entertain you, inspire you, or teach you. Hopefully all of the above! Just don't listen to every podcast expecting it to be Critical Role. I like horror movies, most of them anyways, but it doesn't mean I expect them all to be of incredible story-telling quality or have production values of things like Marvel movies. It doesn't mean I skip them either.
Podcasts and streams are good, in my opinion, for the hobby. It is a sharing of creative work, of happiness, of enjoyment. It is a place to find inspiration and learn a thing or two while being entertained. Take cues from these great entertainers and learn from what they do. If you want to share what you do, do it. There is great joy in sharing your work, even if not everyone enjoys it. Aspire to be the next Critical Role, but don't expect it. There is plenty of room for us little guys and plenty of good to come from it.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Resources For Every GM: New Years 2016
Happy New Year all! If you are reading this you survived 2016, congratulations! Yesterday I looked back at last year's list and discovered I hadn't bought any of the games I meant to, but I did manage to play four out of the six I wanted to. Today I want to make a new list of games to try to play this year. Like the last one this will be a mix of games I have played before, haven't yet played, and still need to obtain!
Play Again
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness: This was an obvious pick to move from still haven't played to play again. It was a bunch of fun and the party was pretty fantastic. After playing a one-session adventure, we have a decent grasp on the rules and how rough a fight can be. Knowing that, it will definitely lend itself to a multi-session adventure. I will probably do some kind of retrospective-review-thing for TMNT when the session airs on Untamed Dice, but for now I can say that the game feels pretty good. The way the system works combat is fairly loose and seems like it could take a long time, but it passes by quicker than you'd expect. Chances are this game will make it back to the table before the year is even half over.
Monster of the Week: I really enjoyed this Powered by the Apocalypse game but I didn't get to play as much of it has I would have liked. Tackling it again would be awesome for Untamed Dice, or just to play in general. The system was interesting enough for me, that I want to look into the other PbtA games out there, but for now I think I can settle for some awesome supernatural mysteries. Of course, the game isn't restricted to the supernatural. You can do an X-Files style game if you wanted, the game just represents that genre of weekly TV show. Just making the characters gives you a good feel for that. Hopefully, this makes it back to the table soon.
Cypher System: A new discovery for me in 2016 was the Cypher System. I had heard of Numenera and The Strange but never looked into them. When I finally did I discovered Cypher System, though I did not have the time or money to delve into another universal system. Then I found their Kickstarter for worlds of Cypher System. It was all over then and right before I received Gods of the Fall I picked up the core book. We had a great time playing it (that game is the origin of ceiling buffalo we occasionally joke about) and all want to play it again. For me, I would like to start fresh (we only did one session many, many weeks ago) and dive into Predation when it arrives at my door. As soon as that happens you can expect to see an adventure coming to Untamed Dice!
Honorable Mentions: Cats, End of the World, Kobolds Ate My Baby, Star Wars, Shadowrun, Mouse Guard
Still Haven't Played
Our Last Best Hope: Purchased alongside Wield and Cats during PAX East last year, this game sits next to its companion book which I purchased later in the year. Sadly, neither has been used yet. The thing about this game is that it is GM-free. To me, this game feels like a hybrid between a board game and a TTRPG. It isn't the only one that could make this claim, but it was one of the only ones I have see that approaches this from the RPG side of things. For those who don't know this game, it represents a whole campaign in one sitting. What kind of campaign? The disaster movie. Giant monster, sudden ice age, killer asteroids, that kind of thing. I really hope we make the time for this game to hit our table, and it shouldn't be hard to pick just one night.
Kult: This one makes the list though I don't technically have it yet. I no fairly little about this game still, but I do know I love horror. When this Kickstarter popped up on my feed one day i had to check it out and the trailer immediately caught my attention. It's the kind of game where everything is dark a gritty and the world is nothing that you think it is. To me the game seems very Lovecraftian in many ways, but without going full cosmic horror and tentacles. Instead it is more of a dark, supernatural feel to it where the world is very different and way scarier than we ever thought. Recently the released the quick start guide to us backers and I am excited to dig into it and hopefully get a game in soon.
Star Trek Adventures: I had to include a second game that isn't technically out yet, because I am just so excited about it. The qualifier for this one is that beta testing is out and I haven't managed to run it for our group. We signed up, excited to take part in a play test where our adventures can influence the released product. Sadly the initial play testing documents came out about a month ago and, as you know, December was really busy. While we won't be sharing it on Untamed Dice, this game is one I am really excited to get onto the table and I really hope the game (and I) can share the awesomeness of the Star Trek universe with my uninitiated friends.
Honorable Mentions: Torchbearer, Wield, CthlhuTech, Call of Cthulhu, All Outta Bubblegum, Dread, Open Legend
Games To Buy
Ryuutama: I NEED this game. OK so, again, I know little details about the game or the system. Once again, however, I also know what I like and I love the idea of this game. Explained to me as a cross between Oregon Trail and a Miyazaki movie, I instantly picked the game up. Flipping through the book I was also greeted with art that gave me a nice relaxing but incredibly fun feeling as I recalled similar art in old Harvest Moon games. I was so drawn to the game that I almost bought it instead of the three games I did buy at PAX East. I also specifically didn't read too much of that book otherwise I may have done just that. Not that it would have been a bad decision, per se, but three games trumped one. If I see the hardcover at PAX this year, I will be picking it up.
Masks: Last year a different superhero game took a spot on this list. I never ended up getting it and, though I still want it, this one has replaced it in my list of priorities. Every time I heard about this game I heard Young Justice mentioned. The more I heard this the more I wanted to play Masks. Now, I haven't yet played it at all, but I've been looking for a good supers RPG for a while now. If this system makes for a good Young Justice or Teen Titans adventure, then I have to have it. Such a game style would be perfect to get the group into a supers RPG.
N.E.W.: This is just half of a new RPG pair, the other being O.L.D. The headline for the system is What's Old Is New and I like that idea. N.E.W. is the sci-fi half of this system and O.L.D. is the fantasy half. The idea is different from most games that come out these days, as far as I can tell. Instead of being rules light and narrative, it is very crunchy. Lots to dig your teeth into, but a toolbox to let you do virtually anything you want. The concept intrigues me and I am interested to look into playing something with more old school crunch.
Honorable Mentions: Tales of Arcana, Icons, Dungeon World, Paranoia, Titansgrave
Play Again
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness: This was an obvious pick to move from still haven't played to play again. It was a bunch of fun and the party was pretty fantastic. After playing a one-session adventure, we have a decent grasp on the rules and how rough a fight can be. Knowing that, it will definitely lend itself to a multi-session adventure. I will probably do some kind of retrospective-review-thing for TMNT when the session airs on Untamed Dice, but for now I can say that the game feels pretty good. The way the system works combat is fairly loose and seems like it could take a long time, but it passes by quicker than you'd expect. Chances are this game will make it back to the table before the year is even half over.
Monster of the Week: I really enjoyed this Powered by the Apocalypse game but I didn't get to play as much of it has I would have liked. Tackling it again would be awesome for Untamed Dice, or just to play in general. The system was interesting enough for me, that I want to look into the other PbtA games out there, but for now I think I can settle for some awesome supernatural mysteries. Of course, the game isn't restricted to the supernatural. You can do an X-Files style game if you wanted, the game just represents that genre of weekly TV show. Just making the characters gives you a good feel for that. Hopefully, this makes it back to the table soon.
Cypher System: A new discovery for me in 2016 was the Cypher System. I had heard of Numenera and The Strange but never looked into them. When I finally did I discovered Cypher System, though I did not have the time or money to delve into another universal system. Then I found their Kickstarter for worlds of Cypher System. It was all over then and right before I received Gods of the Fall I picked up the core book. We had a great time playing it (that game is the origin of ceiling buffalo we occasionally joke about) and all want to play it again. For me, I would like to start fresh (we only did one session many, many weeks ago) and dive into Predation when it arrives at my door. As soon as that happens you can expect to see an adventure coming to Untamed Dice!
Honorable Mentions: Cats, End of the World, Kobolds Ate My Baby, Star Wars, Shadowrun, Mouse Guard
Still Haven't Played
Our Last Best Hope: Purchased alongside Wield and Cats during PAX East last year, this game sits next to its companion book which I purchased later in the year. Sadly, neither has been used yet. The thing about this game is that it is GM-free. To me, this game feels like a hybrid between a board game and a TTRPG. It isn't the only one that could make this claim, but it was one of the only ones I have see that approaches this from the RPG side of things. For those who don't know this game, it represents a whole campaign in one sitting. What kind of campaign? The disaster movie. Giant monster, sudden ice age, killer asteroids, that kind of thing. I really hope we make the time for this game to hit our table, and it shouldn't be hard to pick just one night.
Kult: This one makes the list though I don't technically have it yet. I no fairly little about this game still, but I do know I love horror. When this Kickstarter popped up on my feed one day i had to check it out and the trailer immediately caught my attention. It's the kind of game where everything is dark a gritty and the world is nothing that you think it is. To me the game seems very Lovecraftian in many ways, but without going full cosmic horror and tentacles. Instead it is more of a dark, supernatural feel to it where the world is very different and way scarier than we ever thought. Recently the released the quick start guide to us backers and I am excited to dig into it and hopefully get a game in soon.
Star Trek Adventures: I had to include a second game that isn't technically out yet, because I am just so excited about it. The qualifier for this one is that beta testing is out and I haven't managed to run it for our group. We signed up, excited to take part in a play test where our adventures can influence the released product. Sadly the initial play testing documents came out about a month ago and, as you know, December was really busy. While we won't be sharing it on Untamed Dice, this game is one I am really excited to get onto the table and I really hope the game (and I) can share the awesomeness of the Star Trek universe with my uninitiated friends.
Honorable Mentions: Torchbearer, Wield, CthlhuTech, Call of Cthulhu, All Outta Bubblegum, Dread, Open Legend
Games To Buy
Ryuutama: I NEED this game. OK so, again, I know little details about the game or the system. Once again, however, I also know what I like and I love the idea of this game. Explained to me as a cross between Oregon Trail and a Miyazaki movie, I instantly picked the game up. Flipping through the book I was also greeted with art that gave me a nice relaxing but incredibly fun feeling as I recalled similar art in old Harvest Moon games. I was so drawn to the game that I almost bought it instead of the three games I did buy at PAX East. I also specifically didn't read too much of that book otherwise I may have done just that. Not that it would have been a bad decision, per se, but three games trumped one. If I see the hardcover at PAX this year, I will be picking it up.
Masks: Last year a different superhero game took a spot on this list. I never ended up getting it and, though I still want it, this one has replaced it in my list of priorities. Every time I heard about this game I heard Young Justice mentioned. The more I heard this the more I wanted to play Masks. Now, I haven't yet played it at all, but I've been looking for a good supers RPG for a while now. If this system makes for a good Young Justice or Teen Titans adventure, then I have to have it. Such a game style would be perfect to get the group into a supers RPG.
N.E.W.: This is just half of a new RPG pair, the other being O.L.D. The headline for the system is What's Old Is New and I like that idea. N.E.W. is the sci-fi half of this system and O.L.D. is the fantasy half. The idea is different from most games that come out these days, as far as I can tell. Instead of being rules light and narrative, it is very crunchy. Lots to dig your teeth into, but a toolbox to let you do virtually anything you want. The concept intrigues me and I am interested to look into playing something with more old school crunch.
Honorable Mentions: Tales of Arcana, Icons, Dungeon World, Paranoia, Titansgrave
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Latest Untamed Rant!
Good morning everyone! Thursday saw our release of the third episode of the Untamed Rant. If you haven't already caught it, this one is about thaumaturgy and the way 5th Edition changed up how cantrips were tackled. Stay tuned because later today I'll also have episode 2 of the Luxarrah game!!!
Saturday, December 3, 2016
Resources For Every GM: Settings Part 2
Ok, so for this week's resource article I really wanted to share some of the settings that have been inspiring me to work on some of my worlds recently. They are unique worlds that have a lot to offer in both general inspiration or as entire settings from which to run a game.
Mutant New York (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles): Honestly how could you not love the idea of this kind of game. It crosses the lines of so many different genres / subgenres that it isn't even funny. The TMNT could, in various adventures, qualify for any number of games. You have intrigue, you have super-heroics, science fiction, martial arts, and all around action movie action. TMNT is incredibly diverse but everyone knows it when they see it. Ninja turtles. The only other place you get that is in something trying to emulate the Ninja Turtles. If you see the Foot Clan or Utroms or mousers, you know what you are in for. In fact, I would bet anthropomorphic triceratops would lead a lot of people back to TMNT. I mean who doesn't love some space triceratops people!? Not only do you get all this from the TMNT, but there are a number of eras from which you can play or take influence from. The original comics, the IDW reboot, the 90s cartoon, the 2000s cartoon, the most recent cartoon, or either of the movie series. There is so much flexibility without loosing what makes this setting unique: mutants and martial arts. Personally I cannot wait to play the TMNT one shot next weekend, and hope to play it again in the future.
Robot Future (Mega Man Universe): I love Mega Man. I cannot actually describe how infatuated I am with the Mega Man franchise. Now, to be fair I don't own all the games, nor do I own the comics. However, I watched the cartoon growing up and I played days worth of hours worth of Mega Man X. I have also dabbled in wikis. It is just the entire concept of the basic Mega Man universe and all the concepts that build out of it. Its an indeterminate future with lots of advancements, and yet not quite so many. It is almost entirely robotics based. We have a robot for everything. And that, of course, means robots for evil, or turned evil, or corrupted in some way. But the idea that there are sentient robots and some of them are "alive" and some of them don't seem to be and there are a handful which can borrow the abilities of others? It is so cool. I forget what forum I read it on, but the person argued it very well and I agree, Mega Man is within the super hero genre and it exists there in a very specific unique way. That's one of the reasons I love it. It's not just a fun platformer franchise, it is also a marvelously developed world. If you want even more reason to love it look up The Megas, specifically their Get Equipped album. Beautiful. Anyways, this setting has inspired an entire setting of my own. If there was a Mega Man RPG I would play it, but I am almost as excited to share the world inspired by it.
Slumberland (Little Nemo Universe): This universe will either be completely familiar to you, hugely nostalgia inspiring, or something you have never heard of. My first introduction to it was in the NES game Little Nemo: The Dream Master. I remember two things about this game. First it is an incredibly interesting idea that includes a crazy world and the ability to feed certain animals candy and, in return, you ride them and gain special abilities. It was rather difficult and I admit to utilizing a Game Genie to surpass a tree climbing portion which involved, I believe, a difficult to make jump and an angry buzzard. Later I was introduced to Little Nemo: Adventures In Slumber Land, many years later. This was a terrific anime movie that informs you much more about the world and how interesting it is. Both of these things are based on a comic strip from 1905. Yeah going to the way back machine here, but that is because of the unique style of this setting. Sure dream-based worlds have existed in the decades before the adaptations, but not like this. As such it made a good game, a great movie, and wonderful setting. I am using it to influence the Fae realm of Luxarrah and it alone would make for some terrific adventures.
Mutant New York (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles): Honestly how could you not love the idea of this kind of game. It crosses the lines of so many different genres / subgenres that it isn't even funny. The TMNT could, in various adventures, qualify for any number of games. You have intrigue, you have super-heroics, science fiction, martial arts, and all around action movie action. TMNT is incredibly diverse but everyone knows it when they see it. Ninja turtles. The only other place you get that is in something trying to emulate the Ninja Turtles. If you see the Foot Clan or Utroms or mousers, you know what you are in for. In fact, I would bet anthropomorphic triceratops would lead a lot of people back to TMNT. I mean who doesn't love some space triceratops people!? Not only do you get all this from the TMNT, but there are a number of eras from which you can play or take influence from. The original comics, the IDW reboot, the 90s cartoon, the 2000s cartoon, the most recent cartoon, or either of the movie series. There is so much flexibility without loosing what makes this setting unique: mutants and martial arts. Personally I cannot wait to play the TMNT one shot next weekend, and hope to play it again in the future.
Robot Future (Mega Man Universe): I love Mega Man. I cannot actually describe how infatuated I am with the Mega Man franchise. Now, to be fair I don't own all the games, nor do I own the comics. However, I watched the cartoon growing up and I played days worth of hours worth of Mega Man X. I have also dabbled in wikis. It is just the entire concept of the basic Mega Man universe and all the concepts that build out of it. Its an indeterminate future with lots of advancements, and yet not quite so many. It is almost entirely robotics based. We have a robot for everything. And that, of course, means robots for evil, or turned evil, or corrupted in some way. But the idea that there are sentient robots and some of them are "alive" and some of them don't seem to be and there are a handful which can borrow the abilities of others? It is so cool. I forget what forum I read it on, but the person argued it very well and I agree, Mega Man is within the super hero genre and it exists there in a very specific unique way. That's one of the reasons I love it. It's not just a fun platformer franchise, it is also a marvelously developed world. If you want even more reason to love it look up The Megas, specifically their Get Equipped album. Beautiful. Anyways, this setting has inspired an entire setting of my own. If there was a Mega Man RPG I would play it, but I am almost as excited to share the world inspired by it.
Slumberland (Little Nemo Universe): This universe will either be completely familiar to you, hugely nostalgia inspiring, or something you have never heard of. My first introduction to it was in the NES game Little Nemo: The Dream Master. I remember two things about this game. First it is an incredibly interesting idea that includes a crazy world and the ability to feed certain animals candy and, in return, you ride them and gain special abilities. It was rather difficult and I admit to utilizing a Game Genie to surpass a tree climbing portion which involved, I believe, a difficult to make jump and an angry buzzard. Later I was introduced to Little Nemo: Adventures In Slumber Land, many years later. This was a terrific anime movie that informs you much more about the world and how interesting it is. Both of these things are based on a comic strip from 1905. Yeah going to the way back machine here, but that is because of the unique style of this setting. Sure dream-based worlds have existed in the decades before the adaptations, but not like this. As such it made a good game, a great movie, and wonderful setting. I am using it to influence the Fae realm of Luxarrah and it alone would make for some terrific adventures.
Friday, November 25, 2016
Resources For Every GM: Internet Part 7
Hey everyone, today I wanted to expand your bookmarks once again!
Campaign Crawler: This website is new to me, and pretty new to the internet. Campaign Crawler is a database of table top role playing game campaigns. As various campaigns become ever-more numerous, it helps to have a place where you can search or browse them. Now, this is a new site so there is a limited number of campaigns. Hundreds are there, mind you, but most of the database features 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons material including Wizards, other publishers' products, and a lot of DMs Guild material. Browsing it I have also found some Call of Cthulhu and AGE entries in the database, so there is a lot of potential for this database to become something huge. It will require interest and visitors though! If you need a little more pushing to go to the site, the entries already there are well done. They include varying amount of summary but have rule-sets, authors, page numbers, settings, and more associated with them. Additionally the page will lead you to similar products and link you to where you can purchase the product.
Kobold Fight Club: A web tool to make any Dungeon Master's life a whole hell of a lot easier comes in the form of Kobold Fight Club. This tool allows you to enter your party size and level in order to determine the difficulty of various creatures based on Challenge Rating. In addition the entries include size, type, alignment and source of the entry. The entries can be filtered be these, by level range, environment, and search. If this wasn't helpful enough, you can build and save encounters to use in your game and figure out how difficult those encounters will be. These encounters can be saved and accessed later to create a place to keep and run them from with ease. As of right now, there are over a dozen sources that can be included in any searches or encounters, but it will be up to the DM to have access to the stats of those creatures.
Matthew Colville's YouTube Channel: I can't say enough about this channel. While the channel isn't new, Matt Colville has begun adding a significant number of TTRPG videos. To be fair, most of these are D&D directed, but there is so much information presented in these that is great for players (or potential players) of any game. The Running The Game series, is perhaps the one I would suggest most as Matt shares much of his experience and hints on how to go about things at the table. Random encounters, making characters, why we play, and dead ends are all topics that can be found. He addresses the topics carefully and well-spoken. Do yourself a favor and take advantage of an experienced DM's advice!
Campaign Crawler: This website is new to me, and pretty new to the internet. Campaign Crawler is a database of table top role playing game campaigns. As various campaigns become ever-more numerous, it helps to have a place where you can search or browse them. Now, this is a new site so there is a limited number of campaigns. Hundreds are there, mind you, but most of the database features 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons material including Wizards, other publishers' products, and a lot of DMs Guild material. Browsing it I have also found some Call of Cthulhu and AGE entries in the database, so there is a lot of potential for this database to become something huge. It will require interest and visitors though! If you need a little more pushing to go to the site, the entries already there are well done. They include varying amount of summary but have rule-sets, authors, page numbers, settings, and more associated with them. Additionally the page will lead you to similar products and link you to where you can purchase the product.
Kobold Fight Club: A web tool to make any Dungeon Master's life a whole hell of a lot easier comes in the form of Kobold Fight Club. This tool allows you to enter your party size and level in order to determine the difficulty of various creatures based on Challenge Rating. In addition the entries include size, type, alignment and source of the entry. The entries can be filtered be these, by level range, environment, and search. If this wasn't helpful enough, you can build and save encounters to use in your game and figure out how difficult those encounters will be. These encounters can be saved and accessed later to create a place to keep and run them from with ease. As of right now, there are over a dozen sources that can be included in any searches or encounters, but it will be up to the DM to have access to the stats of those creatures.
Matthew Colville's YouTube Channel: I can't say enough about this channel. While the channel isn't new, Matt Colville has begun adding a significant number of TTRPG videos. To be fair, most of these are D&D directed, but there is so much information presented in these that is great for players (or potential players) of any game. The Running The Game series, is perhaps the one I would suggest most as Matt shares much of his experience and hints on how to go about things at the table. Random encounters, making characters, why we play, and dead ends are all topics that can be found. He addresses the topics carefully and well-spoken. Do yourself a favor and take advantage of an experienced DM's advice!
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Untamed Rant: Resurrection
Hello everyone and welcome to our first new episode of D&Donuts, now called the Untamed Rant! In this episode we talk about the changes to resurrection and similar spells throughout the years of Dungeons & Dragons, and we get into the importance and occurrence of character death in the game.
In the next episode we will be discussing Cthulhu, as voted on by our followers on Twitter. If you would like to vote on the third episode's topic follow @42nd_Alchemist and @untamedscribe. If you enjoy the show, want to help us out, or just get it two weeks before everyone else become a patron over on our Patreon page! And don't worry about our current goals or reward levels, those are undergoing revision for November and any pledge you make will get you early access to this podcast and our Cracks of the Rift story!
In the next episode we will be discussing Cthulhu, as voted on by our followers on Twitter. If you would like to vote on the third episode's topic follow @42nd_Alchemist and @untamedscribe. If you enjoy the show, want to help us out, or just get it two weeks before everyone else become a patron over on our Patreon page! And don't worry about our current goals or reward levels, those are undergoing revision for November and any pledge you make will get you early access to this podcast and our Cracks of the Rift story!
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
...And Throwing It Out The Window
Last week I talked about optimizing your character in a role-playing game. I got some good responses from people and those made it clear that the first part of this was a bit polarizing in what it tried to state and came under certain unclear assumptions. So, let's start by getting into what I was talking about last week. When you make a character one of the things you generally need to do is set it down to paper. There are stats or abilities or some other things that apply the mechanics of the game to your character.
Or perhaps it is better to say they make your character apply to the mechanics of the game. Because, as some of you mentioned, it isn't about optimizing at all for many people. It is about creating a fun, interesting, and deep character to take into another world. That comes with as many flaws and downfalls as it does above average to superhuman abilities. Nevertheless, games tend to have mechanics to drive it forward, focus play, reward players, and advance characters. Some games are more heavy on these rules than others. Some rely on them more than others.
The point I made (or attempted?) last week is that there is a lot of optimization there to be had. Especially when it comes to a rules heavy game like D&D or Pathfinder. This optimization, or lack thereof, can make or break your experience with the character you dreamed up. Hell, if it breaks your experience there may be a better way of doing things or a different game system to fit your play style, but that's beyond the scope of this article.
Right now I want to talk about taking that optimization and the work and potential number crunching and put it aside. Maybe even throw it out with the bath water. See, there is a difference between optimizing your character strictly by number and optimizing your PC to be the character you wanted it to be. If you are into min-maxing, a heavy number cruncher, a in-depth theory-crafter of builds, or something similar then what I am about to say is probably not for you. If you already throw your cares for being the best you can be (mechanically) out the window, then you know what I am going to talk about.
You see, putting good scores into strength and constitution as a fighter is a great thing to do. Dumping intelligence because you have a wizard and most saves are Wisdom is a smart idea. It could be considered optimal. But now you are treading where I would suggest shutting the door on optimization. Seriously, do you want to be just another strong, dumb warrior who tanks for the party?
If you do then that's great, but just because its the best choice statistics-wise shouldn't drive your decisions. Be slow, or dense, or un-charismatic. These are all options for the so-called dump stat. Don't just choose the soldier background to get those bonus proficiencies in fighter-like skills. Personally, I love seeing characters that are maximized to a vision rather than a statistic and in order to do that you really do have to go and throw optimization out the window.
For games like D&D, it is still good to do a little bit, but you will not be following the numbers to their best outcomes if you want a half-orc ex-soldier turned warlock. Or if you decide to go with a gnomish barbarian. But these can make some great characters. Despite half-orcs being dumb fighters or barbarians a bit too often, perhaps yours was a tactical leader with great Charisma and with a good Intelligence but bad Wisdom. Smart people can make dumb choices for noble reasons, and perhaps that is what this character did. Maybe you won't have the best skill load-out, but you will have a fairly versatile one. At this point you could think about going pact of the blade. Maybe multiclass into eldritch knight. A long road to combat magic, and you may be spread thin in abilities for a while, but it could be a very rewarding character.
I use this example because it seems like a good compromise between optimization and throwing that crap out the window. It's how I like to make my characters. I like to have an idea in mind, and then anchor parts of that idea within the mechanics. Sometimes things, like multiclassing in that example, come from the potential of the stat layout. But of course some of you may be screaming about how eldritch knight isn't a Charisma caster. You're absolutely right, and that's part of throwing optimal choices out the window. It might be better choice to just go straight warlock and be that surprisingly strong and intimidating caster.
Or perhaps you talk to the DM and work something out so that your eldritch knight uses charisma. I never said optimization couldn't happen on the rules side. Tweaking them a bit to get the character you want is a solution for some things. The moral of the story here isn't that you should optimize by the numbers if you want to be strong. It isn't that you should ignore the rules completely if you want to enact your vision. The idea is that you go in with an understanding of what the game system you will be using is going to ask of you and what to expect from it. The GM and other players too, for that matter. Work with the rules, bend the rules, and work with the GM to make sure you get to play the character you want whether its a min-maxed PC or an off-the-wall, full of oddities and flaws PC.
What I'm trying to say, and kind of beating around the bush getting to, is optimize your experience and your fun above all else. This might mean sitting around the table and doing some co-operative story telling, no game systems involved. Or it may mean the careful planning of a character whose flaws and ability choices work out to something rich and fulfilling. In all likelihood you stand somewhere in a great grey area of wanting a games that feels good to play, lets you role-play the way you hope, and make characters you enjoy.
So, now that the optimization is out the window and in a puddle of bath water outside, go mop some of it up. Use it differently that those min-maxers. If you haven't already use it to find the right game for you and your group. Decide what rules are missing or need to be removed and take care of them. It may be that optimizing your character is all about playing a game or with a group where mechanics is at the bottom of your concerns-list. But that might just mean that you've already optimized your experience by getting rid of that word and enjoying the game for what it is: hanging out in another world with a bunch of friends. Optimizing has its place, but don't overdo it!
Or perhaps it is better to say they make your character apply to the mechanics of the game. Because, as some of you mentioned, it isn't about optimizing at all for many people. It is about creating a fun, interesting, and deep character to take into another world. That comes with as many flaws and downfalls as it does above average to superhuman abilities. Nevertheless, games tend to have mechanics to drive it forward, focus play, reward players, and advance characters. Some games are more heavy on these rules than others. Some rely on them more than others.
The point I made (or attempted?) last week is that there is a lot of optimization there to be had. Especially when it comes to a rules heavy game like D&D or Pathfinder. This optimization, or lack thereof, can make or break your experience with the character you dreamed up. Hell, if it breaks your experience there may be a better way of doing things or a different game system to fit your play style, but that's beyond the scope of this article.
Right now I want to talk about taking that optimization and the work and potential number crunching and put it aside. Maybe even throw it out with the bath water. See, there is a difference between optimizing your character strictly by number and optimizing your PC to be the character you wanted it to be. If you are into min-maxing, a heavy number cruncher, a in-depth theory-crafter of builds, or something similar then what I am about to say is probably not for you. If you already throw your cares for being the best you can be (mechanically) out the window, then you know what I am going to talk about.
You see, putting good scores into strength and constitution as a fighter is a great thing to do. Dumping intelligence because you have a wizard and most saves are Wisdom is a smart idea. It could be considered optimal. But now you are treading where I would suggest shutting the door on optimization. Seriously, do you want to be just another strong, dumb warrior who tanks for the party?
If you do then that's great, but just because its the best choice statistics-wise shouldn't drive your decisions. Be slow, or dense, or un-charismatic. These are all options for the so-called dump stat. Don't just choose the soldier background to get those bonus proficiencies in fighter-like skills. Personally, I love seeing characters that are maximized to a vision rather than a statistic and in order to do that you really do have to go and throw optimization out the window.
For games like D&D, it is still good to do a little bit, but you will not be following the numbers to their best outcomes if you want a half-orc ex-soldier turned warlock. Or if you decide to go with a gnomish barbarian. But these can make some great characters. Despite half-orcs being dumb fighters or barbarians a bit too often, perhaps yours was a tactical leader with great Charisma and with a good Intelligence but bad Wisdom. Smart people can make dumb choices for noble reasons, and perhaps that is what this character did. Maybe you won't have the best skill load-out, but you will have a fairly versatile one. At this point you could think about going pact of the blade. Maybe multiclass into eldritch knight. A long road to combat magic, and you may be spread thin in abilities for a while, but it could be a very rewarding character.
I use this example because it seems like a good compromise between optimization and throwing that crap out the window. It's how I like to make my characters. I like to have an idea in mind, and then anchor parts of that idea within the mechanics. Sometimes things, like multiclassing in that example, come from the potential of the stat layout. But of course some of you may be screaming about how eldritch knight isn't a Charisma caster. You're absolutely right, and that's part of throwing optimal choices out the window. It might be better choice to just go straight warlock and be that surprisingly strong and intimidating caster.
Or perhaps you talk to the DM and work something out so that your eldritch knight uses charisma. I never said optimization couldn't happen on the rules side. Tweaking them a bit to get the character you want is a solution for some things. The moral of the story here isn't that you should optimize by the numbers if you want to be strong. It isn't that you should ignore the rules completely if you want to enact your vision. The idea is that you go in with an understanding of what the game system you will be using is going to ask of you and what to expect from it. The GM and other players too, for that matter. Work with the rules, bend the rules, and work with the GM to make sure you get to play the character you want whether its a min-maxed PC or an off-the-wall, full of oddities and flaws PC.
What I'm trying to say, and kind of beating around the bush getting to, is optimize your experience and your fun above all else. This might mean sitting around the table and doing some co-operative story telling, no game systems involved. Or it may mean the careful planning of a character whose flaws and ability choices work out to something rich and fulfilling. In all likelihood you stand somewhere in a great grey area of wanting a games that feels good to play, lets you role-play the way you hope, and make characters you enjoy.
So, now that the optimization is out the window and in a puddle of bath water outside, go mop some of it up. Use it differently that those min-maxers. If you haven't already use it to find the right game for you and your group. Decide what rules are missing or need to be removed and take care of them. It may be that optimizing your character is all about playing a game or with a group where mechanics is at the bottom of your concerns-list. But that might just mean that you've already optimized your experience by getting rid of that word and enjoying the game for what it is: hanging out in another world with a bunch of friends. Optimizing has its place, but don't overdo it!
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Character Optimization...
If there is anything that everyone sitting at the table does when they make a new character, it is definitely optimization. It doesn't matter whether you are a fighter or a wizard or a rogue. And it doesn't matter if your specialty is knives or bows, evocations or divinations. Each person, on some level, is trying to make their character better at what they are supposed to do. Optimizing is how we get closer and closer to the best we can be with what is available. Of course there is such a thing as going too far, but we will talk about that later.
*note: my examples reference D&D, but the principles should be applicable to most systems
There are some very basic ways to optimize a character for the job at hand. The very first step in doing this, is to decide what it is you want to do exactly. Decide on what is most important for your character and their role. Are they going to be dealing the highest damage of the group? Are they going to be able to manipulate the battlefield? Are you a tank, or perhaps a healer? Do you like versatility? These are the questions everyone should be asking themselves. Not everyone does though, coming up with a cool idea and getting it in their head that they know exactly how that will play out.
But part of optimization is knowing how you want to play, as much as knowing what you want to play. If you want to be the damage dealer but hate tracking spells, then sorcerer is definitely not for you. That is an obvious example, though. What if you do want to cast spells, but you want to be right up in melee combat? Sorcerer is still, probably, the wrong choice. An arcane trickster and an eldritch knight are both good choices. Don't stop there! Would you prefer being an unwavering wall of magical swordsmanship or a agile dealer of surprising magical attacks?
Differentiating between the role you want to fill and how you want to fill that role is just the start to optimization. It's the part that gets you into doing what you want in a way that you will enjoy. Or it may be a way of getting you into the role the party needs in a way you would enjoy filling that hole. Beyond that you have to go into the more common form of optimizing: the numbers.
Giving yourself the right stats and picking the right features are the most important part of optimizing your character mechanically. It doesn't matter how good your weapon is or how deep into assassin you are, if you didn't give yourself a dexterity score over 11, you are going to have a bad time. Now, that is an obvious example of just making the necessary choice for your character. But what about when you have to choose between giving one important stat the best score and another the second best? Should my tank have more strength or more constitution?
There is a very easy way to figure this out, at least when you are talking optimization. Is damage or survival more important to you? That's a good place to start. Then just look at other stats. Strength is actually involved in skills. It is also used for melee attacks, throwing things, grappling, and literal feats of strength. Constitution would give you more HP, better healing, survival of long term threats like poison or disease, and allow you to have good endurance for strenuous situations. Mechanically, in a game like D&D, strength is the better choice.
It may depend on racial bonuses as well. You might be able to get two good scores out of those, or you could get one decent score and one really good score. At that point it is up to preference and whether your intention is offensive or defensive. There are other choices to make as well to optimize aside the explicit numbers. Getting the best armor you can to boost your AC, making sure you pick the right fighting style, getting a shield to make up for putting extra into strength instead of constitution, and more can help you make your character the best it can be.
Optimization continues on throughout play as well. Choosing the right gear to buy or simply wearing the right items for the right situation will become regular choices to make. Whenever you level or spend XP, you will want to choose the right feature, spell, or ability. As you learn how you play the character and what you tend to do more often, pick the things that will enhance that. Take note of situations you have trouble with and find items or ways of negating those issues.
Beyond that, picking the race that will give you appropriate stat bonuses is a good idea. Or one that has some racial features that will compliment what you intend to do is also a good choice. Picking the right background or similar aspect to a character can boost the role-playing and skill-based aspects of the character as well. Soldier, for example, is a great choice for a tank and sage is perfect for spell casters.
Be careful though, there is a way to take optimization too far. I have known some people who would do it. As good as those ideas may be on paper and in the numbers, they tend to have problems. As helpful as optimization is, these games aren't video games and getting the best numbers and MOST optimal build is not going to make you "better" at D&D. When it comes down to it, there will be a time when you just need to throw optimization out the window, but we'll talk more on that next week.
*note: my examples reference D&D, but the principles should be applicable to most systems
There are some very basic ways to optimize a character for the job at hand. The very first step in doing this, is to decide what it is you want to do exactly. Decide on what is most important for your character and their role. Are they going to be dealing the highest damage of the group? Are they going to be able to manipulate the battlefield? Are you a tank, or perhaps a healer? Do you like versatility? These are the questions everyone should be asking themselves. Not everyone does though, coming up with a cool idea and getting it in their head that they know exactly how that will play out.
But part of optimization is knowing how you want to play, as much as knowing what you want to play. If you want to be the damage dealer but hate tracking spells, then sorcerer is definitely not for you. That is an obvious example, though. What if you do want to cast spells, but you want to be right up in melee combat? Sorcerer is still, probably, the wrong choice. An arcane trickster and an eldritch knight are both good choices. Don't stop there! Would you prefer being an unwavering wall of magical swordsmanship or a agile dealer of surprising magical attacks?
Differentiating between the role you want to fill and how you want to fill that role is just the start to optimization. It's the part that gets you into doing what you want in a way that you will enjoy. Or it may be a way of getting you into the role the party needs in a way you would enjoy filling that hole. Beyond that you have to go into the more common form of optimizing: the numbers.
Giving yourself the right stats and picking the right features are the most important part of optimizing your character mechanically. It doesn't matter how good your weapon is or how deep into assassin you are, if you didn't give yourself a dexterity score over 11, you are going to have a bad time. Now, that is an obvious example of just making the necessary choice for your character. But what about when you have to choose between giving one important stat the best score and another the second best? Should my tank have more strength or more constitution?
There is a very easy way to figure this out, at least when you are talking optimization. Is damage or survival more important to you? That's a good place to start. Then just look at other stats. Strength is actually involved in skills. It is also used for melee attacks, throwing things, grappling, and literal feats of strength. Constitution would give you more HP, better healing, survival of long term threats like poison or disease, and allow you to have good endurance for strenuous situations. Mechanically, in a game like D&D, strength is the better choice.
It may depend on racial bonuses as well. You might be able to get two good scores out of those, or you could get one decent score and one really good score. At that point it is up to preference and whether your intention is offensive or defensive. There are other choices to make as well to optimize aside the explicit numbers. Getting the best armor you can to boost your AC, making sure you pick the right fighting style, getting a shield to make up for putting extra into strength instead of constitution, and more can help you make your character the best it can be.
Optimization continues on throughout play as well. Choosing the right gear to buy or simply wearing the right items for the right situation will become regular choices to make. Whenever you level or spend XP, you will want to choose the right feature, spell, or ability. As you learn how you play the character and what you tend to do more often, pick the things that will enhance that. Take note of situations you have trouble with and find items or ways of negating those issues.
Beyond that, picking the race that will give you appropriate stat bonuses is a good idea. Or one that has some racial features that will compliment what you intend to do is also a good choice. Picking the right background or similar aspect to a character can boost the role-playing and skill-based aspects of the character as well. Soldier, for example, is a great choice for a tank and sage is perfect for spell casters.
Be careful though, there is a way to take optimization too far. I have known some people who would do it. As good as those ideas may be on paper and in the numbers, they tend to have problems. As helpful as optimization is, these games aren't video games and getting the best numbers and MOST optimal build is not going to make you "better" at D&D. When it comes down to it, there will be a time when you just need to throw optimization out the window, but we'll talk more on that next week.
Friday, August 19, 2016
Resources For Every GM: Internet Part 6
Hey everyone! I hadn't planned on doing another set of internet resources, but when I was perusing the internet the other day I managed to find a couple of things that I needed to share. So, without much preamble, are three more cool resources I found just this week!
The Same Page Tool (Deeper In The Game): This is a tool which good help out a lot of groups and concerns a topic that comes up pretty regularly within the community. The problem many groups run into is the type of game they are playing versus what they want to play and who is ok with what. What it comes down to, is everyone on the same page. To a point things are flexible, especially long term groups, but even those can get mired down in unfulfilled expectations. The tool is much more of a guideline questionnaire. It is not something that everyone should fill out, nor is it something that the GM should decide upon himself. The tool seems best use as a group and addressing what a campaign is going to be like. Or, more appropriately, what the game / system is going to expect from you, as some of them are made for certain styles of play. All in all, this tool directly addresses questions about what will be happening that don't usually get asked so explicitly. Given the article itself, I will be absolutely sure to check out more of the site!
Learn Tabletop RPGs: I have only started diving into what is available on this site, but I already love it. From what I have seen, I think I can share enough to get you to check it out yourselves. First off is a page similar to the article from Deeper in the Game called Level Up. Where the goal of the former was to address the expectations of the game system or campaign style, this page focused on making a great game by balancing the desires of everyone at the table. In many ways, this is the opposite of what the last article about, but it is just the other side of the coin. In fact, they link you to the tool to get started and make sure everyone knows what the game is before players get involved. It goes further to discuss player agendas, rules complexities, and provide a great number of useful links. If that isn't enough to get you to visit, they also have a list that currently sits at 54 table top RPGs. Each one includes a brief overview, some reasons it stands out, and links to communities and places to buy them. The site is fantastic for exploring new games, if nothing else!
Who The Fuck Is My Character: Someone linked this on Twitter recently and I instantly fell in love. A simple random generator, that provides you with an idea for making a character. Load the page and you get a random character with race, class, and history. It is obvious this is designed for D&D, but the potential inspiration is endless. Here is just an example of what you may see: I'm going to roll the stats for a fucking...frank half-orc fighter from a sheltered upbringing who just wants their money back. Go on, give it a try!
The Same Page Tool (Deeper In The Game): This is a tool which good help out a lot of groups and concerns a topic that comes up pretty regularly within the community. The problem many groups run into is the type of game they are playing versus what they want to play and who is ok with what. What it comes down to, is everyone on the same page. To a point things are flexible, especially long term groups, but even those can get mired down in unfulfilled expectations. The tool is much more of a guideline questionnaire. It is not something that everyone should fill out, nor is it something that the GM should decide upon himself. The tool seems best use as a group and addressing what a campaign is going to be like. Or, more appropriately, what the game / system is going to expect from you, as some of them are made for certain styles of play. All in all, this tool directly addresses questions about what will be happening that don't usually get asked so explicitly. Given the article itself, I will be absolutely sure to check out more of the site!
Learn Tabletop RPGs: I have only started diving into what is available on this site, but I already love it. From what I have seen, I think I can share enough to get you to check it out yourselves. First off is a page similar to the article from Deeper in the Game called Level Up. Where the goal of the former was to address the expectations of the game system or campaign style, this page focused on making a great game by balancing the desires of everyone at the table. In many ways, this is the opposite of what the last article about, but it is just the other side of the coin. In fact, they link you to the tool to get started and make sure everyone knows what the game is before players get involved. It goes further to discuss player agendas, rules complexities, and provide a great number of useful links. If that isn't enough to get you to visit, they also have a list that currently sits at 54 table top RPGs. Each one includes a brief overview, some reasons it stands out, and links to communities and places to buy them. The site is fantastic for exploring new games, if nothing else!
Who The Fuck Is My Character: Someone linked this on Twitter recently and I instantly fell in love. A simple random generator, that provides you with an idea for making a character. Load the page and you get a random character with race, class, and history. It is obvious this is designed for D&D, but the potential inspiration is endless. Here is just an example of what you may see: I'm going to roll the stats for a fucking...frank half-orc fighter from a sheltered upbringing who just wants their money back. Go on, give it a try!
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Re-skinning: Changing A Recipe's Flavor
Have you every seen yourself as the group's healer and enjoying the cleric class, but wanting to be more of a druid-like character? Or perhaps you see yourself as the group's tank but loathe the idea of being just another sword and board in plate. Well, perhaps you can play by the rules without playing by the rules. In fact I am here to tell you that is exactly what you can do. That is the whole point of D&D, after all. To exist in a world where anything is possible and there are no programming restrictions on the choices you make. All subject to DM approval and nerf-hammers, of course.
Today I want to talk about re-skinning the things that sit within a rule book to make them work for you. Such things find themselves to be problems only in mechanics heavy games like Dungeons & Dragons. Other games may have a rule for literally anything, being even more mechanically heavy like earlier forms of D&D. Or they may be universal systems where you get better at something and can skin how that works virtually any way you want.
For 5th Edition, Wizards cut back the fat on the rules in some ways. In 3rd Edition there were so many rules, feats, bonus, penalties, spells, builds, tacked on mechanics, and situational circumstances it was hard to build the character you envisioned without doing a thesis on the idea first. Then came 4th Edition and we got streamlined set of rules that worked similarly across the board (for most of the edition's life anyway). Now all you had to do was decide to build your defender with the defense feats and defensive abilities. Don't want a shield, just make sure not to pick those ones. Want to dual-wield? Grab a couple of those powers to beef that aspect up.
Now, to be fair 4th Edition became as laden with options as 3rd, though they we more easily indexed. And you were limited in the number of "cool moves" you could have at any one time, since leveling had you replace one with another eventually. This was especially true as they released regular supplements, some of which entirely focused on one set of characters (such as martial or divine). In some ways, all of these options are great and many powers are super cool. Hell fighters became a more easily enjoyable option (you can do a lot with 3E feats but, boy, is that some planning and bonus/penalty paperwork). But, when it comes down to it, 5th Edition has become a nice blend of streamlined and unique mechanics. Only certain classes/archetypes get extra attack for example.
And now, two years later, we are still working off of the core books. There have been adventures, one Sword Coast supplement, and Unearthed Arcana articles, but all in all we are working from the Player's Handbook. That doesn't have to limit us and I will use my two original examples as to why.
First off, who says playing a druid has to mean you actually have to take levels in druid? I mean mechanically at their core is shape-shifting and certain spells. But thematically, a druid is a protector of nature. Perhaps you would like the opportunity to expunge shape-shifting for more spell-related abilities. My suggestion to you is to play a cleric of nature (or even life or tempest). Already you are themed toward being druidic. Next, simply forgo claiming any god to worship or call to and refer to yourself as a druid. The final step is, perhaps the most important, and needs to be approved by your DM. In my opinion, however, it is pretty non-issue. Simply use the druid spell list instead of the cleric one. Simple as that. That means no saying, "but I am technically a cleric so can I prepare this just once." And no swapping out cleric spells you don't mind losing for the druid spells you hate to lose. Just do the full switch.
Of course, you may have other problems with this like how do the cleric abilities mesh with a "druid". Let's start with turning undead. That is fairly easy since undead are, often, anathema to druids. Fits right in. Choosing the right domain is another key factor, of course. But perhaps it is divine intervention which you have trouble getting around. Well, why does it have to be divine? Perhaps the druid uses that ability and pulls a Moses parting a sea for refugees to get across. Or, maybe a powerful spirit of nature or ancient fey answers the call of such a powerful druid. Even better the druid may have such command of the elements in that brief moment that nature itself listens to her need. Don't let ability names limit you!
How about for my second example though? A shield-less defender. We actually did this in a recent game. I built my friend the crusader type character he wanted. A wall at the front line, forward defense if you will. He used a polearm. I allowed him the defender fighting style, simply replacing the requirement of shield with polearm. As long as he had that he could still utilize that class feature, but would be unable to do it should he choose or need to take up a shield instead.
Everything else about a paladin works out for the way he wanted to play his character. And none of it really affected that one swap. To make him even more polearm mastered, though, we gave him the feat. Being able to threaten at reach was imperative. Because this feat is a commitment of "build resources" I also allowed it to synergize with that defensive tactic ability. There's no real reason not to. Is it going to break the game to give him that defensive ground? Probably not, since he takes a hit to his AC from not wielding a shield as a tank instead. And frankly, that was the crux of his character idea and having fun is the most important part of the game.
When it comes down to it, both of these examples are simple things that require nothing but a single mechanical swap and a lot of flavoring. There are many ways this could be done and very little reason not to. If it won't break your game and will give someone the opportunity to play the character they want with building a whole new class or looking for one online, just do it!
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
RPG Blog Carnival: Trinkets From Space!
The theme of this month's RPG Blog Carnival is super science and sorcery, a topic that hits home for what I try to work into a lot of my games. The melding of science, technology, and magic can result in a lot of awesome things. From clockwork and steam powered gnomish devices to spell slinging pistols, the possibilities are endless. Daemons & Deathrays is hosting the Carnival this month and I cannot wait to get a moment to check out what others have shared. You can click the link above to check out their post on this and find links from other participants!
For my part in this carnival I wanted to go with something fairly simple, but something that will hopefully have a lot of potential for fun at the table. Below is a table of trinkets for your games that blend science and magic. These trinkets are treated to be something like those found in the 5th Edition Player's Handbook. Something that has little meaning, but could be a great talking piece and, who knows, something of great importance.
I have found these, and similar trinkets, to be awesome ideas and provide some levity, some curiosity, and some inspiration. The list can be used for any system, since they are minor items free of mechanics. How you use some of these is up to you, but consider dropping some of them in your next fantasy dungeon as an interesting twist!
| D10 | Science-Fantasy Trinket |
|---|---|
| 1 | This small book-like object, made of a light but sturdy material and metal, features the phrase "Don't Panic!" on the cover. When opened there are not pages, but if asked about a subject the "book" will provide a brief piece of knowledge. This information, however, tends to have not useful relation to situation at hand or reveals information you may already have learned the hard way. |
| 2 | This round glass vial appears to have been created without opening. Nevertheless, it is hollow and the contents visible. Within is some kind of sludge or growth that sits inert and unmoving. Shaking the container causes it to solidify temporarily. Staring at it long enough a single eye may appear to look back at you. |
| 3 | You have a multi-colored, light-weight cube of some unknown material. Each side appears to be made up of smaller squares, each small face is a different color. You count six colors and nine faces of each color. The device can be twisted to rearrange rows of the small squares. What happens when different colors align to each face is a mystery. |
| 4 | The small stone cube is inlaid with golden lines and runes of some kind creating an interesting, if odd, decoration. The barest of seams can be felt along the faces, calling you to attempt to manipulate the object into different forms, but none of the changes you makes seem to do anything. If left alone, the cube resets itself, but you eventually get the urge to try re-configuring the puzzle again. |
| 5 | Within this black metal box sits a single red gem that glows with inner intelligence. If addressed, the light pulses and a monotone voice will answer. The voice claims to know much and will refer to itself as Mal, if asked. No matter what else someone requests to know, however, the object will simply answer, "I cannot do that Dave." |
| 6 | This object is the size and shape of a human heart, and appears to be one for all intent and purpose. However, it is made cleverly overlapped metal plates that have begun to rust. If you listen closely you imagine you can here the slow, creaking beat of the metallic organ. |
| 7 | You have what appears to be a metal eye-patch with no loop to old it on your head, and nowhere to attach one. When pressed you your eye the patch will remain in place, and you can sense a slight buzz or tingle. You get used to the feeling after a couple hours and there are no apparent side effects to wearing it. |
| 8 | This glass tube is closed off on both ends by hefty metal caps that can be screwed on and off. Despite a pair of metal braces running from one end to the other on opposite sides of the cylinder, the glass cracked at some point making it useless as a container. A dull, glowing green film that dried on the inside of the container can be noticed in darkness. |
| 9 | Hanging from a length of leather this strange mummified worm-like creature sits as if it used its incredibly sharp teeth to burst from your chest. |
| 10 | The small hourglass is housed in a single piece of intricately carved crystal with three clawed toes holding it up from one side. The sand within it travels up into the empty portion above, rather than down, when tapped lightly. A small depression on the top can be pressed, causing the sand to disappear in a shimmer of light, reappearing back in the bottom. |
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Resources For Every GM: Internet Part 5
Hello everyone, today I have three more resources from across the internet! There is so much online, that it can be difficult to even track what you are using. The resources I want to share with you today are some of the ones I have found more recently and immediately bookmarked. Inspiration, ideas, stats, and more can be found within the pages of these sites!
Mithril & Mages: I first happened upon this site when I clicked on a link that led me to their treasure generator page. The tool allows you to generate the coins carried by enemies, as level appropriate, for your party to loot. Add on top of that the ability to generate a level-appropriate hoard of gold and items and you have a great utility for running D&D games. That is why I bookmarked the page, but in addition to that they offer quite a bit. There are name generators like those for motels, businesses, natural terrain, and taverns. You can also find a dice roller, job title generator, esoteric creature generator, and a bare bones adventure idea generator. All of these tools can be useful, and while some are edition / game specific there are more than enough that are not to add this to your growing list of bookmarks.
RandomGen: There is one major reason I am including this in resources you need, but I will get to that. Among the other things created by Orteil, this site features a number of random generators and help in making your own as well. Included in these generators are things like a name generator, a creature generator, and a dungeon loot generator. What is great about these is that they are absolutely not really set with anything particular in mind (at least system-wise). The things generated have lists or descriptions and occasionally make little sense, but they are full of ideas from which to draw if you are having a lot of trouble coming up with something. Do take care with the insult generator. That one is definitely rated R and should only be used if nasty verbage and word use doesn't offend you. It is, of course, called an insult generator for a reason. The main reason I have this page bookmarked though, is the unique fantasy generator that led me to the site: the random kobold generator. Like I said, you can get help and make your own generator here, and someone did so for kobolds. I included the link because it is fantastic. If you want to feature kobolds heavily in your game and like having unique indivduals even for low level characters bookmark that generator!
A Point Of Inspiration: I found some of this site's authors' work in the 5E Homebrew Tumblr. Luckily I followed the sources back to their main site, because they have some great stuff. As of right now the only download is the Grimm Dark, but it is a 44 page quality piece of work. If they had their own art to use, they could certainly get great backing and support on these projects to put up on places like DriveThru RPG or even print editions. I would certainly pay for a print edition. They are currently working on their second book and have a number of ideas for down the line. I have not yet joined their Facebook page, but certainly plan on it, and you need to go download the Grimm Dark. Not only is it free, but it is one of the best faerie / faerie tale resources I have seen and it is for 5th Edition D&D, though it is not specified to any one setting.
Mithril & Mages: I first happened upon this site when I clicked on a link that led me to their treasure generator page. The tool allows you to generate the coins carried by enemies, as level appropriate, for your party to loot. Add on top of that the ability to generate a level-appropriate hoard of gold and items and you have a great utility for running D&D games. That is why I bookmarked the page, but in addition to that they offer quite a bit. There are name generators like those for motels, businesses, natural terrain, and taverns. You can also find a dice roller, job title generator, esoteric creature generator, and a bare bones adventure idea generator. All of these tools can be useful, and while some are edition / game specific there are more than enough that are not to add this to your growing list of bookmarks.
RandomGen: There is one major reason I am including this in resources you need, but I will get to that. Among the other things created by Orteil, this site features a number of random generators and help in making your own as well. Included in these generators are things like a name generator, a creature generator, and a dungeon loot generator. What is great about these is that they are absolutely not really set with anything particular in mind (at least system-wise). The things generated have lists or descriptions and occasionally make little sense, but they are full of ideas from which to draw if you are having a lot of trouble coming up with something. Do take care with the insult generator. That one is definitely rated R and should only be used if nasty verbage and word use doesn't offend you. It is, of course, called an insult generator for a reason. The main reason I have this page bookmarked though, is the unique fantasy generator that led me to the site: the random kobold generator. Like I said, you can get help and make your own generator here, and someone did so for kobolds. I included the link because it is fantastic. If you want to feature kobolds heavily in your game and like having unique indivduals even for low level characters bookmark that generator!
A Point Of Inspiration: I found some of this site's authors' work in the 5E Homebrew Tumblr. Luckily I followed the sources back to their main site, because they have some great stuff. As of right now the only download is the Grimm Dark, but it is a 44 page quality piece of work. If they had their own art to use, they could certainly get great backing and support on these projects to put up on places like DriveThru RPG or even print editions. I would certainly pay for a print edition. They are currently working on their second book and have a number of ideas for down the line. I have not yet joined their Facebook page, but certainly plan on it, and you need to go download the Grimm Dark. Not only is it free, but it is one of the best faerie / faerie tale resources I have seen and it is for 5th Edition D&D, though it is not specified to any one setting.
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Player Review: Monster of the Week
This spring, when we went to PAX East, I planned on seeking out the tables that were showing off and / or selling indie RPGs instead of looking for board games to add to the collection. I was not disappointed and found a great number of games to choose from. Some I had eyed before and others I had never heard of. Of those I had already heard of, Monster of the Week jumped out as not just one I wanted to play, but one I knew Untamed Scribe would be great as GM for. After a few texts I circled back and bought it (along with Cats, Wield, and Our Last Best Hope).
This month we finally tried it out. You may have caught some of my tweets and I have certainly mentioned it on here before. Not to worry, you guys will get to listen to it soon enough. Well, as soon as we can get the last session in. This review is different from my Death House review and from most reviews I will do because, fair warning, I have no GM-side knowledge. I know only what I have experienced in those two sessions and what little I have seen online. As such, this review is a player review.
Monster of the Week is based on the Apocalypse World RPG system and published by Evil Hat. You can find it over here. The idea behind the system is a fantastic and classic one and it is the source of the game's name. In television many shows are written so that you can see one self contained episode each week. Sometimes you get a double-episode thrown at you with a to be continued. Essentially you are looking at similar stories as can be found within the X-Files, Buffy, Scooby-do, and Supernatural. Thus has been born the monster of the week trope.
Monster of the Week manages to do this all in spades. It is a very simple system based around rolling 2d6 and adding a simple bonus. Regardless of action being attempted, you can come to know exactly what to expect from your roll. Low enough and you botch but gain very precious XP, higher and you might succeed at a cost, even higher and you succeed, or get a 12 and you go beyond even your own hopes. To figure out the results of rolls it is as simple as rolling and adding somewhere between +0 and +3 and that is it! From there is is just a matter of understanding the workings of how a monster of the week runs.
For me, this was both the greatest strength and the greatest weakness of the game. You see, running a game the same way in which any of the previously mentioned shows, or other similar ones, requires you to act within the expectations of such entertainment. You have a group of characters that inevitably get split up and run into problems. By design the game seems to seek out the same thing. In a show these things are fairly easy. We can be so caught up in a scene that we don't even wonder where the hell the others are until that moment when things change and the tension is released just as the others show up. Great timing guys...
That is much easier to do on TV though. In the game things can naturally flow that way, especially in a smaller group, but don't always. For us it did in the first session where we split into two pairs each covering half of a situation. Well, I am sure there were other options, but you get my point. The more people added to such a game the harder it becomes and the more important it is for the GM to split teams and keep them split for dramatically appropriate times. The problems I mention in Tuesdays article are the same problems that TV shows tend not to see because, well, TV shows that are monster of the week tend to have only 2-3 major characters (PCs) in an episode.
However, if you have a group that gets into the game and the genre and, in some ways, hams it up then you have a fantastic thing going. Monster of the Week excels at hamming it up and making that work for your group. It feels just like you are playing a character in an episode of your favorite show in the genre and you can do anything. Not only that but the characters are incredibly diverse. First there are many "classes" to choose from. Second, each one has a number of choices that they can be built to make each new character unique. Third the game limits you to one character of each type while also making sure you have interlaced backstories. Because of this, your group will be diverse, different each time, and everyone will feel that they had a stake in the creation of the group as a while.
The problems of Monster of the Week, however, reveal themselves when you have a group used to something a lot more rigid and initiative based rather than something scene based. Time is incredibly fluid when it comes to a monster of the week show, especially when you consider time-tight dramatic sequences. It almost like that one character was just sitting there waiting for the worst moment to jump in, right? In games like D&D you all go on an initiative and splitting the party is a death sentence. In Monster of the Week it is not only common but just the way things work out. Without care scenes can become entangles and complicated to run and play in. As a player that was the most frustrating aspect and one not easily solvable without going through those tribulations yourself.
The other problem with Monster of the Week is the difference between a success and a total success. In the short, a success grants you a question or two from a list depending on what was happening and what skill you were using. A very specific list. A roll of 12 or higher is what gets you access to ANY question asked. At least in rules as written. My problem with this is, rather than there being a fine line between rules as written and rules as intended, there is a rather large leap. During the course of the game you may want to investigate and a question may not quite fit the criteria presented as choices. In fact it probably won't. For example I was investigating a library on fire and looking for people to help. The questions presented were not really fitting to such an occurrence, and I had to word them properly even though the GM (Untamed Scribe) was willingly flexible in this regard. That ambiguous grey area of reality was a wall that needed addressing and consistent watching to keep the game running smoothly because it was a cornerstone of how the mechanic work. When does my question leave the confines of a certain tier roll and become the next? What is asking too much? Am I not asking enough?
All in all, though, Monster of the Week is an incredible game. It takes story archetype (monster of the week) and turns it into a game, one which can be played in a variety of genres. It gives you a simple, flexible rule system from which to run the game and allows you to run it in a variety of eras and genres. The replay-ability seems endless. The way it runs is akin to those television shows and feels great. You are not just allowed to draw on great tropes and occasionally over the top events, but encouraged to do so. Press your luck, doom your character, save the world for another day!
The problems I saw in the game could come from anywhere. Not having read the book I can't tell you where specifically. It is most likely a combination of a few factors: being used to D&D, being new to the game, etc. None of the problems I saw are things which cannot be overcome. However, they are something which should be addressed in the book. I hope they are, or that they are in future editions. I look forward to playing this again and urge you to try it. I do warn you, however, to put yourself in the mindset of a TV show character first and treat the game as if your watching what happens on TV. Time does not work as you might expect.
This is one of my first forays into a smaller, tighter, more narrative game and it was fun. I have learned a lot from playing it and love the style. Don't be afraid to try new things, and if you want to run a game in the vein of Supernatural, Buffy, Scooby-do, Doctor Who, X-Files, or anything similar then I would definitely point you towards Evil Hat's Monster of the Week!
For me, this was both the greatest strength and the greatest weakness of the game. You see, running a game the same way in which any of the previously mentioned shows, or other similar ones, requires you to act within the expectations of such entertainment. You have a group of characters that inevitably get split up and run into problems. By design the game seems to seek out the same thing. In a show these things are fairly easy. We can be so caught up in a scene that we don't even wonder where the hell the others are until that moment when things change and the tension is released just as the others show up. Great timing guys...
That is much easier to do on TV though. In the game things can naturally flow that way, especially in a smaller group, but don't always. For us it did in the first session where we split into two pairs each covering half of a situation. Well, I am sure there were other options, but you get my point. The more people added to such a game the harder it becomes and the more important it is for the GM to split teams and keep them split for dramatically appropriate times. The problems I mention in Tuesdays article are the same problems that TV shows tend not to see because, well, TV shows that are monster of the week tend to have only 2-3 major characters (PCs) in an episode.
However, if you have a group that gets into the game and the genre and, in some ways, hams it up then you have a fantastic thing going. Monster of the Week excels at hamming it up and making that work for your group. It feels just like you are playing a character in an episode of your favorite show in the genre and you can do anything. Not only that but the characters are incredibly diverse. First there are many "classes" to choose from. Second, each one has a number of choices that they can be built to make each new character unique. Third the game limits you to one character of each type while also making sure you have interlaced backstories. Because of this, your group will be diverse, different each time, and everyone will feel that they had a stake in the creation of the group as a while.
The problems of Monster of the Week, however, reveal themselves when you have a group used to something a lot more rigid and initiative based rather than something scene based. Time is incredibly fluid when it comes to a monster of the week show, especially when you consider time-tight dramatic sequences. It almost like that one character was just sitting there waiting for the worst moment to jump in, right? In games like D&D you all go on an initiative and splitting the party is a death sentence. In Monster of the Week it is not only common but just the way things work out. Without care scenes can become entangles and complicated to run and play in. As a player that was the most frustrating aspect and one not easily solvable without going through those tribulations yourself.
The other problem with Monster of the Week is the difference between a success and a total success. In the short, a success grants you a question or two from a list depending on what was happening and what skill you were using. A very specific list. A roll of 12 or higher is what gets you access to ANY question asked. At least in rules as written. My problem with this is, rather than there being a fine line between rules as written and rules as intended, there is a rather large leap. During the course of the game you may want to investigate and a question may not quite fit the criteria presented as choices. In fact it probably won't. For example I was investigating a library on fire and looking for people to help. The questions presented were not really fitting to such an occurrence, and I had to word them properly even though the GM (Untamed Scribe) was willingly flexible in this regard. That ambiguous grey area of reality was a wall that needed addressing and consistent watching to keep the game running smoothly because it was a cornerstone of how the mechanic work. When does my question leave the confines of a certain tier roll and become the next? What is asking too much? Am I not asking enough?
All in all, though, Monster of the Week is an incredible game. It takes story archetype (monster of the week) and turns it into a game, one which can be played in a variety of genres. It gives you a simple, flexible rule system from which to run the game and allows you to run it in a variety of eras and genres. The replay-ability seems endless. The way it runs is akin to those television shows and feels great. You are not just allowed to draw on great tropes and occasionally over the top events, but encouraged to do so. Press your luck, doom your character, save the world for another day!
The problems I saw in the game could come from anywhere. Not having read the book I can't tell you where specifically. It is most likely a combination of a few factors: being used to D&D, being new to the game, etc. None of the problems I saw are things which cannot be overcome. However, they are something which should be addressed in the book. I hope they are, or that they are in future editions. I look forward to playing this again and urge you to try it. I do warn you, however, to put yourself in the mindset of a TV show character first and treat the game as if your watching what happens on TV. Time does not work as you might expect.
This is one of my first forays into a smaller, tighter, more narrative game and it was fun. I have learned a lot from playing it and love the style. Don't be afraid to try new things, and if you want to run a game in the vein of Supernatural, Buffy, Scooby-do, Doctor Who, X-Files, or anything similar then I would definitely point you towards Evil Hat's Monster of the Week!
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Re-skinning: New "Classes"
There are a lot of options for characters these days. Seriously. A LOT of options. Many games don't even have classes, allowing you to build your character free form. Sometimes there are archetypes to work within, but sometimes there aren't even those. Even in games with classes like D&D and Pathfinder have plenty of options without buying additional books. Start to buy those and forget about it. You could pour over the options for days. Nevertheless, there are times when the classes and archetypes available aren't doing what you want. There's a class out there that you just can't find the right equivalent. That's where some creative re-skinning can come in handy.
Today I want to go over how to go about doing such a thing with an example I have thrown out to a few people in the past year or two. For this example we will be using 5th Edition D&D, because it has a good amount of options, but not overwhelmingly so. You have magic users, combat experts, and all kinds of things in between. What doesn't the 5th Edition Player's Handbook have? Witch doctors.
The voodoo priest / witch doctor is an archetype that is not covered very often for players. Pathfinder does have a version of it in the voodoo oracle build. 5th Edition D&D does not have anything that really matches it though. There are, however, a number of classes with features that would belong with a witch doctor. Now you can go ahead and develop your own class from a mix of features, but that requires design and testing. The easier method is by using what is already there in the right way.
To start let's list some of the things that make a voodoo priest stand out. And before that I want to mention that I am going with the more pop culture aspects rather than getting into the technical differences between voodoo, hoodoo, and other related practices.
- nature is a big deal
- aspects of nature are deified
- death is very important
- zombies are a thing
- live in forests, swamps, graveyards
- herbalist medicine
- strange magic
Now that we have a could starting place, let's look at what we can use to fill in these aspects of the witch doctor. We can start by listing some obvious choices. For the nature-related things we could go with druid, nature cleric, or perhaps ranger. For the zombies and death we could go with necromancer or death cleric. All of these include magic, but we should probably remove ranger because, despite the high nature relation, there is very little magic and a bit too much combat focus.
That narrows it down to some form of druid, wizard, or cleric. If you ask me, the best way to create such a character where you need a mix of abilities is to multiclass. Of course you need to be careful with multiclassing. While 5th edition has some very beneficial methodology here, especially with spell slot figuring, it overloading in class number degrades your abilities over time. For those who don't understand why there are two reasons. The first is that the more classes you take the longer it will take to advance to the powerful features of any given one, and less likely you'll achieve any of those. Secondly, because ability improvements or feats are given by class level (not character level) it will require more time to get any one of those compared to a single class character. In the end I suggest 2 classes for multiclass characters and, for those who are clever and willing, 3.
Where does that leave us for the witch doctor? Personally, get cleric our of there. There is a bit too much basic religion involved in clerics. Churches, the classic idea of gods and goddesses, and organized ways of thinking. These don't fit a much more loosely defined, personally acting, witch doctor. Let us take the druid and the wizard. The second of these is the easiest to work with. Simply choose necromancer as your school of magic. The first, I feel, is also fairly easy. Don't go with the shapeshifting build, that doesn't fit properly with what we are building. Instead go with the Circle of the Land. Then choose swamp. Not only does swamp fit the dark atmosphere of witch doctors, it also has bonus spells that fit in nicely. You may say that those bonus spells can be obtained with wizard, well so can many of the ones from other lands. However, the wizard aspect of the build is meant to focus on necromancy, so this helps free up choices when selecting wizard spells.
Finally, we can fit in even more of the feel of a witch doctor by selecting the Hermit background. This will grant you proficiencies in medicine and religion which both work well for the witch doctor. Not only that, it also grants you a proficiency in the artisan tool herbalism kit. As for the background feature the discovery can involve information about the forces of nature, specifically looking at the concept of Loa. I would even use the troll's religions in the Warcraft universe as a great magical fantasy example.
From this we have the nature, herbalistic medicine, strange religion, and necromancy of your classic witch doctor. The key to keeping your character skinned as a witch doctor at this point is you. Role-playing will be key, as will spell preparation choices. Most druid spells work just fine and you can focus on whatever aspect here you went through your daily preparation. As for wizard there are a lot of things that may not seem like a classic choice. Make that part of your personality and character development. Focus on choosing necromancy spells and others that fit the feel of your witch doctor. Perhaps you can even work with your GM to remove some spells from the spell list to add in a couple from other lists. Hex and witch bolt from the warlock list would be fantastic choices and giving up mage armor and some other classic wizard spell may be a fair trade. For already available choices stick with spells like: ray of sickness, tasha's hideous laughter, melf's acid arrow, and fear. As a final note I suggest a fetish (like a voodoo doll or bird skull of some kind) to be used as a focus instead of the standard druid ones. This is all flavor so most GMs won't have issue with it.
As you can see, there is a ton that can be done with that one book. There is flexibility built into the classes too, and no reason not to get creative. Think about multiclassing the eldritch knight and ranger to get an arcane archer. Maybe you can combine an elemental monk with druid or sorcerer to really get the Airbender feel going for you. You could even combine assassin with the avenger paladin for a hitman of the gods. The possibilities are endless!
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Resources For Every GM: Authors Part 3
Hey everyone, today is the final day of celebrating the first year of blogging! We end it with the fifth giant-sized Resources article and we come again to inspirations. There have been a lot of Resources for Every GM centered around the topic of inspiration, but is there really a better way to become a better role-player and GM? I don’t think so. Inspiration it what gives you ideas and makes you want to tell your own stories. That is the thing that really makes a GM, and a player for that matter. Today’s inspiration comes in the form of 6 authors that are personal favorites of mine and probably familiar to you. Nevertheless, I share them because each tells a different story and relates to adventure in a different way.
Douglas Adams: You may or may not recognize this name unless you have actually read more than one of his tales or read one a few times. At least some of you may be scratching your head saying, “I know this name.” Or probably not, if you’re reading this you probably recognize all the names. Douglas Adams is the author of the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy trilogy. A trilogy with more than 3 books. Douglas Adams, as legend has it, came up with the idea during a night drinking while looking up at the stars atop a hill. He then completely forgot about it for a few years before ever writing it. Frankly I don’t care how much truth there is to the story, it just shows the kind of thing you should expect in his stories.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide books are a ton of fun. I don’t know how you couldn’t enjoy them. They are silly, weird, and sometimes just plain preposterous. They explore insane what-ifs about the universe in a very real and relate-able way, while being all-together ridiculous. Mattresses killed and harvested in swamps...really? Why not? The thing about Adams is that he addresses a very real concern of humanity amidst all that dry humor: are we really so unique and important. The answer, given by the books is 42. No wait, more specifically, the answer is no. There are dozen upon dozens of intelligent and powerful species out there and some of them quite willing to blow up the planet for the sake of a space freeway. But Douglas Adams reveals this in a funny, almost comforting way. In large part he says that everyone is the same, when you get down to it, and while being the last of your species sounds bad, it really happens all the time and unlikely events like finding another aren’t quite as unlikely as they should be. What he does is reveal how relate-able almost anything can be made to be, how useful the most ridiculous information is in certain moments, and how to have nothing but fun with a story that is full of seriousness.
H.P. Lovecraft: Inspiration is probably one of the last words you would use to describe anything written by H.P. Lovecraft. Long before you got to that word you would get to words like: horror, frightening, twisted, strange, etc. While Lovecraft may not tell an inspirational story, he and his works were and continue to be inspirations for writers and creators, especially those who love horror. He really was the pioneer in addressing our significance in the cosmos in a story. In this he created the foundation of what other authors would develop and add on to, to create the Cthulhu Mythos.
When I urge you to read Lovecraft, it isn’t just his Cthulhu style stories like Mountains of Madness. I want you to look into is other horror. In fact, if you haven’t already read it go find Rats in the Walls (is it Wall or Walls?). Despite my earlier introduction to the Mythos, this story is what really got me into Lovecraft and his works. It is frightening and visceral. You may even begin to jump at the tiny noises around you if you don’t take care when you read it. Let Lovecraft inspire the bleak, dark, worried aspects of your soul to create some very interesting stories at the table. You know, as long as you are into horror.
Ian Fleming: This is an author who wrote novels that are pretty much out of my general view. I stick to fantasy and science fiction pretty much all the time. It’s what I enjoy. However, I did eventually find the first few of the Bond set together for a good price and, always enjoying the movies, I decided to pick them up. I ate them up. I think a big reason I enjoyed them so much was that, despite being based in reality, everything was so over the top. So much of it was so unrealistic, while at the same time plausible. Combine that with the adventures 007 goes on, the danger he gets into, and the people he meets and it gets pretty wild.
Fleming is a very important author to look at if you want or need inspiration for spy thrillers. The novels are from a different generation, a different world really, but he created many of the tropes we see today. We have a ton of 007 movies set in contemporary times, we have spy games, and we get shows like Archer because of what Fleming wrote. For you GMs, the tropes involved in the spy thriller and the way Fleming weaves together secrets, organizations, politics, espionage, and adventure is something that could add to a lot of games!
Michael Crichton: This is an author that really did something I love: take science and make it science fiction. Or maybe he took science fiction and made it science. What it comes down to, is that his stories are those where the line between those two things is so unbelievably blurred its not funny. Ok sure, there are stories about shrinking and stories about living dinosaurs and so on, but if you read the work, it is frightening how simply such things might happen. Honestly, the science is so well founded, theorized, and explained that all you can do is ask yourself why not? What if we take that one step?
Some of his work seems likely quite far off, or even impossible. Time travel is one that is tough to work with in a real scientific sense, and shrinking is too. Of course, they were written earlier than you might expect some of them to have been written. Keep that in mind when you read them too, because some people laughed at the idea of Jurassic Park, but we’ve activated genes in chickens to give them teeth and tails. We are closer than you may realize to something like Jurassic Park. Then take modern genetics and micro-computing and take a look at Prey, but only if you want nightmares, because a biologically built, semi-organic, nano-bot swarm / hive mind? Hello apocalypse!
Jules Verne: I could not leave on of the pioneers of science fiction off this list, even if his works are a bit older than the other members of the list. The reason for this is that, Jules Verne is inspiring in his own right, and not just in the “give a GM ideas” sense. He helped instill an awe and wonder for possibility that lead to the creation of things he wrote about long before their time. The Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea? Incredible. He didn’t just seem to think it was possible, or even dream of what could be one day, he wrote as if it were a certainty. In that story alone we find that he goes on and on about the resources of the ocean and the number of fish in it, how much of it we haven’t seen. And all those things continue to be a topic of modern wonder and exploration. Add into that mixture of ideas before their time a heaping dose of modern fantasy where there are things like gnomes who create steam-powered feats of engineering regularly? Well, I think Jules Verne is the perfect inspiration. Have NPCs in your world that push the edge of what is possible and do so in ways unheard of, just like the characters in his books.
J.R.R. Tolkien: I know, I know, you are probably saying that this was too obvious a choice for the list and that is kind of why I saved him for last. To be honest, you cannot exclude Tolkien even if you wanted to. He had too much actual influence into the gaming world. We might not have Dungeons & Dragons, and everything that came from or because of it, without Tolkien. Mythology and lore abound in our world. From elves to dwarves to goblins there are many ways of seeing them. What Tolkien did though was create a new mythos from the pieces we had scattered through various other real-world ones. He set his world and the way it worked in stone, creating a very real fantasy world for readers.
Tolkien did this with linguistics, writing and creating language just for this world. He did it with history, deities, and tales within the tales. He had to have been a mythology buff at heart because of the way he writes his stories. The Hobbit, is a children’s tale and one that reads much like a fairy tale where the impossible happens and magic is found, full of lessons learned and warnings of danger. The Silmarillion is, if nothing else, epic. It has lists upon lists of names and events and can seem all muddled up, but it is essentially a grand oral tale of the history of Middle Earth like would be told around a campfire in spurts and pieces. The Lord of the Rings, though. That is an adventure and grand tale of adventurers and heroes saving the world. That is the kind of story that inspired D&D and continues to inspire people to play fantasy RPGs!
Douglas Adams: You may or may not recognize this name unless you have actually read more than one of his tales or read one a few times. At least some of you may be scratching your head saying, “I know this name.” Or probably not, if you’re reading this you probably recognize all the names. Douglas Adams is the author of the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy trilogy. A trilogy with more than 3 books. Douglas Adams, as legend has it, came up with the idea during a night drinking while looking up at the stars atop a hill. He then completely forgot about it for a few years before ever writing it. Frankly I don’t care how much truth there is to the story, it just shows the kind of thing you should expect in his stories.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide books are a ton of fun. I don’t know how you couldn’t enjoy them. They are silly, weird, and sometimes just plain preposterous. They explore insane what-ifs about the universe in a very real and relate-able way, while being all-together ridiculous. Mattresses killed and harvested in swamps...really? Why not? The thing about Adams is that he addresses a very real concern of humanity amidst all that dry humor: are we really so unique and important. The answer, given by the books is 42. No wait, more specifically, the answer is no. There are dozen upon dozens of intelligent and powerful species out there and some of them quite willing to blow up the planet for the sake of a space freeway. But Douglas Adams reveals this in a funny, almost comforting way. In large part he says that everyone is the same, when you get down to it, and while being the last of your species sounds bad, it really happens all the time and unlikely events like finding another aren’t quite as unlikely as they should be. What he does is reveal how relate-able almost anything can be made to be, how useful the most ridiculous information is in certain moments, and how to have nothing but fun with a story that is full of seriousness.
H.P. Lovecraft: Inspiration is probably one of the last words you would use to describe anything written by H.P. Lovecraft. Long before you got to that word you would get to words like: horror, frightening, twisted, strange, etc. While Lovecraft may not tell an inspirational story, he and his works were and continue to be inspirations for writers and creators, especially those who love horror. He really was the pioneer in addressing our significance in the cosmos in a story. In this he created the foundation of what other authors would develop and add on to, to create the Cthulhu Mythos.
When I urge you to read Lovecraft, it isn’t just his Cthulhu style stories like Mountains of Madness. I want you to look into is other horror. In fact, if you haven’t already read it go find Rats in the Walls (is it Wall or Walls?). Despite my earlier introduction to the Mythos, this story is what really got me into Lovecraft and his works. It is frightening and visceral. You may even begin to jump at the tiny noises around you if you don’t take care when you read it. Let Lovecraft inspire the bleak, dark, worried aspects of your soul to create some very interesting stories at the table. You know, as long as you are into horror.
Ian Fleming: This is an author who wrote novels that are pretty much out of my general view. I stick to fantasy and science fiction pretty much all the time. It’s what I enjoy. However, I did eventually find the first few of the Bond set together for a good price and, always enjoying the movies, I decided to pick them up. I ate them up. I think a big reason I enjoyed them so much was that, despite being based in reality, everything was so over the top. So much of it was so unrealistic, while at the same time plausible. Combine that with the adventures 007 goes on, the danger he gets into, and the people he meets and it gets pretty wild.
Fleming is a very important author to look at if you want or need inspiration for spy thrillers. The novels are from a different generation, a different world really, but he created many of the tropes we see today. We have a ton of 007 movies set in contemporary times, we have spy games, and we get shows like Archer because of what Fleming wrote. For you GMs, the tropes involved in the spy thriller and the way Fleming weaves together secrets, organizations, politics, espionage, and adventure is something that could add to a lot of games!
Michael Crichton: This is an author that really did something I love: take science and make it science fiction. Or maybe he took science fiction and made it science. What it comes down to, is that his stories are those where the line between those two things is so unbelievably blurred its not funny. Ok sure, there are stories about shrinking and stories about living dinosaurs and so on, but if you read the work, it is frightening how simply such things might happen. Honestly, the science is so well founded, theorized, and explained that all you can do is ask yourself why not? What if we take that one step?
Some of his work seems likely quite far off, or even impossible. Time travel is one that is tough to work with in a real scientific sense, and shrinking is too. Of course, they were written earlier than you might expect some of them to have been written. Keep that in mind when you read them too, because some people laughed at the idea of Jurassic Park, but we’ve activated genes in chickens to give them teeth and tails. We are closer than you may realize to something like Jurassic Park. Then take modern genetics and micro-computing and take a look at Prey, but only if you want nightmares, because a biologically built, semi-organic, nano-bot swarm / hive mind? Hello apocalypse!
Jules Verne: I could not leave on of the pioneers of science fiction off this list, even if his works are a bit older than the other members of the list. The reason for this is that, Jules Verne is inspiring in his own right, and not just in the “give a GM ideas” sense. He helped instill an awe and wonder for possibility that lead to the creation of things he wrote about long before their time. The Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea? Incredible. He didn’t just seem to think it was possible, or even dream of what could be one day, he wrote as if it were a certainty. In that story alone we find that he goes on and on about the resources of the ocean and the number of fish in it, how much of it we haven’t seen. And all those things continue to be a topic of modern wonder and exploration. Add into that mixture of ideas before their time a heaping dose of modern fantasy where there are things like gnomes who create steam-powered feats of engineering regularly? Well, I think Jules Verne is the perfect inspiration. Have NPCs in your world that push the edge of what is possible and do so in ways unheard of, just like the characters in his books.
J.R.R. Tolkien: I know, I know, you are probably saying that this was too obvious a choice for the list and that is kind of why I saved him for last. To be honest, you cannot exclude Tolkien even if you wanted to. He had too much actual influence into the gaming world. We might not have Dungeons & Dragons, and everything that came from or because of it, without Tolkien. Mythology and lore abound in our world. From elves to dwarves to goblins there are many ways of seeing them. What Tolkien did though was create a new mythos from the pieces we had scattered through various other real-world ones. He set his world and the way it worked in stone, creating a very real fantasy world for readers.
Tolkien did this with linguistics, writing and creating language just for this world. He did it with history, deities, and tales within the tales. He had to have been a mythology buff at heart because of the way he writes his stories. The Hobbit, is a children’s tale and one that reads much like a fairy tale where the impossible happens and magic is found, full of lessons learned and warnings of danger. The Silmarillion is, if nothing else, epic. It has lists upon lists of names and events and can seem all muddled up, but it is essentially a grand oral tale of the history of Middle Earth like would be told around a campfire in spurts and pieces. The Lord of the Rings, though. That is an adventure and grand tale of adventurers and heroes saving the world. That is the kind of story that inspired D&D and continues to inspire people to play fantasy RPGs!
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Trying New Things
In the world of table top role playing games there are a few names which stick out above the rest. These are the games that people on the street who have never played one would recognize. Dungeons & Dragons is probably the most recognizable of these. D&D is what I tell people my hobby is, though at this point it represents only a fraction of that hobby for me these days. It get's the point across without having to explain things or going full geek on a non-geek. Saying well tonight we're playing Torchbearer. Oh what is that? It's a game, like a light version of Burning Wheel which is a pretty cool system. No not like video games, its a universal system like Savage Worlds or FATE but really hones down on the old school dungeon crawl. No not like creeping through a haunted basement......It's D&D, Dungeons & Dragons. That's what we're playing.
I save time and just say D&D. If questions are asked at least thats a recognizable starting point and hell, maybe they will be interested enough to try it out. Even if sci-fi is their forte you may be able to pull the uninitiated in by calling Edge of the Empire: D&D but Star Wars. However, I try to be more cautious of this in a setting where people are geeks, because let's be honest, we all need to try new things and we all know that there are a variety of things, especially when it comes to games. You wouldn't mind mentioning Catan by name to someone familiar with Monopoly and Clue, instead of saying board game, so why not say Our Last Best Hope instead of D&D or RPG?
But this is all just leading to the point of today's article: trying new things. Sure, sure, non-gamers shouldn't knock 'em before they try 'em. And we should call out our indie games by name when we're talking to other nerds. But as an individual, or as a gaming group, we should explore outside our boxes. If you are into card games, great! Try a board game. Or vice versa. Into D&D? Try out Shadowrun! Been playing Burning Wheel for years with occasional forays into D&D? Why not try Monster of the Week? Hell, is Catan your go-to board game for game night? Why not grab Munchkin or Elder Sign instead? Or maybe Pandemic?
The thing is we tend to love what we love, and for that reason we listen to certain artists more than others, watch certain shows more often, and eat certain foods regularly. But this doesn't (or shouldn't) stop us from listening to a new band, watching a different show, or trying a new restaurant. And for those gamers who have been playing the same RPG game for years on end, it shouldn't prevent us from trying out a different one. Especially now!
Why especially now? Right now? Because we are in a great time to be geeks. There are lots of systems that can be your go-to, long time, epic campaign-creating system right now. Many of them have been around longer than some of us realize too. Dungeons & Dragons (whatever edition), Pathfinder, Burning Wheel, Savage Worlds, FATE, Cypher, and Shadowrun just to name a few. Anyone of these could entertain you for lifetimes. But what about other games like CthulhuTech, Mouseguard, Wield, TMNT & Other Strangeness, Dread, All Outta Bubblegum, or Paranoia?
There are dozens upon dozens of RPG games, worlds, and systems that are made to fill certain niches. Many of them are designed around shorter lived adventures and stories, with a replay-ability in what could happen and what you can do with them. Our Last Best Hope provides 3 doomsday scenarios to work with and you could play out hundreds of different "movies" with that book alone. None of them would likely take more than one night, and something new would always happen. Add in the expansion book and you still have less pages than you D&D Player's Handbook, in smaller books, and another half-dozen or more base scenarios.
Now, I am not telling you to give up the games you love, the campaigns you have built, or the characters you are emotionally attached to. I want you to just grab a different game and try it out or a night / week / month. Run an adventure in another world or with different dice. Tell a new story in a new way. It provides you with so much entertainment and a great deal can be learned about how you play by doing it. Lessons to be taken back to the game you usually play.
Besides that the whole point of RPGs is to have fun right? We can forget that in long term campaigns sometimes. Especially where things are getting serious or dark. You can always take a break and play something else (like Catan). But if you still want to role-play you can still role-play. Go google Snakes on a Plane RPG, find the reddit page with the rules, and get to playing a great session where you may not mind being reckless, loosing characters, or getting ridiculous.
It is so easy to get bogged down in what you know you like. What you are familiar with. What you know the rules for. But don't let that stop you from trying new things. You didn't always know all the rules for Burning Wheel did you? No, you learned them over time and made some things up as you went along. Want some suggestions on what to play? The internet has plenty and you can even scroll back up, click on Resources for Every GM, and find a growing list of games there.
Variety and change can be great things, though people often fear both. But sometimes you have direct control over this. One of those times is your game table. So give it a go there and invigorate your gaming group!
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