RPG's and RMS - Part the First

I have been playing RPG's on and off since I was about 10.  So 26 years. Uhg.  I've also been working for a company that makes RMS (record management software) for about 6 years now.  I've also been an observer, and occasional participant in the Edition Wars during that time.

Coincidentally, our company has released a major conversion/new edition of our software not too long after 4e came out, and I noticed that the reactions of clients to our upgrade were eerily similar to many of the edition wars complaints that I read online.  This caused me to do additional thinking about the parallels between what I do at work and what WotC does with DnD.

Since many people have opinions about this which I feel are not informed by reality, I thought it might be interesting to discuss my experiences in "new editions" using the software that I work with as an example.

Part 1 - Reasons for a new edition.

Something I hear a lot from some of my clients is "why create a new version - the old version worked just fine?"

It's a valid concern, too.  These clients have been doing the same things the same way for many years - they are happy how things work and they see no reason for things to change.  Ever.

But this person is the guy who drives the same road to work everyday and gets upset if the road gets changed around.  They are looking at a much bigger thing - a city road network, a piece of software, or an RPG line, only from the perspective of how they use/interact with it.  And as developers, or urban planners (last road analogy, I promise), or game companies, we cannot do that.  We have to look at the big picture - all of our current users and potential future users, and make decisions that we feel will benefit the largest number of them.  AND we have to consider the financial ramifications of the decisions as well - we have families to feed.

So here are some of the WHY's that we considered with our new software edition.  Similar ones, I'm willing to bet, to what WotC considers when thinking about a new version.

WHY ONE:  You want to implement new features that your existing infrastructure cannot support.

In our software, this was turning the program from a simple database into a client/server application - this would add a lot of flexibility for clients to use the software in different ways and locations, and also have a lot  of other beneficial effects.

In 4e, one example of this was trying to ease the burden on the DM in terms of prep-time and making the numbers of the game more consistent, logical and easy to design for.  Whatever merits 3e had as a system, that was not one of them.

Major changes like this are often a big part of the reason for a new version.  Sometimes they come with a new designer/programmer, but often they are the result of spending years supporting and designing new features for an existing product.  You see where the limitations and rough bits are very clearly, and want to get rid of them.

WHY TWO:  Cruft Cleanup.

I'm not a programmer, but Cruft is a programming term often used to describe useless code that accumulates over time within software.  This issue is fairly common if you are actively updating or changing your software, and especially if you have short intervals between updates or limited testing time.  Things usually still work, but the stuff builds up and often slows down the program or makes it harder to make new changes without breaking something else.

In DnD, cruft is usually called "splatbooks" or "supplements".  By adding new features, rules and options, you increase the critical mass of the game to the point where it's difficult and slow to find many of the rules - slowing down the game and making it more difficult to run.   The rationale for releasing the splatbooks to begin with is something I'll get into later.

New versions are a great way to clear away a lot of this mass.  Of course, there are always some clients who are using each part of it, so you often have to get right back on the treadmill and re-create them for the new version.  But hopefully you also made changes in WHY ONE that make this easier.

WHY THREE:  Interface Design

User interfaces are things that evolve over time.  Unless you are working with a very solid design document and have a clear vision of how you want your interface to work, you can end up with a kludgey mess as you add new features.  Also, interfaces that looked really good 10 years ago can end up looking awfully dated.

For our software, changing the UI also meant giving clients a lot of new tools that they could use to more easily find information, generate reports and keep their information organized.

For an RPG, the UI is things like artwork, book layout, index and general organization.  And this stuff can get dated-looking just like software UI.  Not as fast, luckily, but it can happen.  So for both software and RPG's, the new edition can be an opportunity to reorganize, facelift with new art and graphics, to clean up those areas that are inconsistent or have been bothering you.

Ultimately, these first three why's feed into WHY FOUR:  Sales.

In order to be in business, you need to have a product that you can sell.  For actual money.  This isn't as bad an issue for our company as it is for WotC, because we make a lot of income on service/support contracts.  Which is basically what they are trying with DnD Insider.  But our service contracts cost thousands of dollars annually - sales are basically profit for us.

Sales for WotC are much more critical.  They have to sell books, and they have to keep selling them, because they have to pay staff and keep the lights on and buy supplies to publish more books and soforth.  All the reasons for creating a new version or edition ultimately flow back into one overriding concern - we want to make something that more people will want to buy.

For our company, we also need to do a lot of working making sure it's something that people want to continue to use, and that's important to WotC too - DDi is a solid idea, but it's a tougher sell for a primarily DIY hobby like RPGs.

So that's WHY.  Next I'll get onto the fun stuff - Part 2: How your clients react to new versions.

GM Questionnaire

From Zac at Playing D&D with Porn Stars.  Best D&D blog for several years running.


1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?

The abandoned underground parkade, filled with old departments store mannequins from when the store that used to be above it went out of business.  A modern-day terracotta army and a very creepy place. 

2. When was the last time you GMed?

A couple of months ago.

3. When was the last time you played?

A couple of months ago.

4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.

Characters stuck in a hostile country in the middle of a war with very little in the way of supplies or equipment.  Must escape to a safer location while pursued by powerful enemies. 

5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?

Ask them "What are you going to do? Check my notes."

6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?

We used to break for dinner, but now we play on Skype, so I don't eat much.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?

Absolutely.

8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?

Talked my way into a guarded fortress to steal a magical gem doohickey instead of sneaking in through the sewers like the adventure called for.

9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?

Of course - it's the nature of smart people.

10. What do you do with goblins?

Tribal equivalent of hyaenas - dangerous in groups or if you are sick or injured.  Lots of mutations and horrible magic.  Closer to Warhammer.

11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?

A map of the american southwest.

12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?

The group making a decision and saying "That's the plan."  and one character wailing "That isn't a plan.  There is NO PLAN. The plan is that there is NO PLAN".

13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?

The Victoriana rule book.  I've been reading a lot of Steampunk lately, and a lot of Victorian-era fiction, so I wanted to check it out.

14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?

John Buscema.  Frank Frazetta.

15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?

Concerned for the physical safety of their character, yes, genuinely scared, no.

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)

Ravenloft in elementary school.  We went way off-script of the game and had a ton of fun.

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?

The big table that we use for board games at my buddies house.  Looks out over an amazing lake and glacier.  If I need inspiration, I just look out the window.

18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?

Munchkin and the Black Dog line for Vampire the Masquerade.

19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?

Viking Mythology and Star Trek

20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?

One who has read the rules, is interested in their character and the game world, and who follows Wil Wheaton's rule.

21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?

Hiking/climbing on glaciers, camping in the wilderness, living near wild animals.

22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?

TMNT rpg done by somebody who is actually capable of organizing and designing a playable RPG.  So, not Kevin Siembieda.

23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?

Occasionally I talk about games with my wife.  She doesn't play, but she used to host gaming sessions a lot, so she knows what it's about.  Mostly it's just funny stories about the people playing the game, though, not stories about the game itself.