The Blingdenstone adventure that is packaged with the DnD Next playtest is quite good, conceptually speaking. It's sandbox-y, providing 6 short adventures that can be accomplished in any order, with a combination of combat, dungeon-crawl, exploration and role-playing. There are also a number of places to add extra adventure hooks that can allow things to spin off into a larger campaign - which is what I may do if it holds our interest.
That being said, there are a number of weak points, too. The maps in particular are lacking, notably the Town Center map in adventure 3. The overall cavern map is pretty sparse, too - but it fits with the sandbox ethos in that it lets you develop quite a few of the details as you see fit. The encounter and tunnel maps are a nice shout-out (well, copied from, to be honest) to the old blue maps - these ones come from Vault of the Drow, I think.
The adventure has quite a bit of material in it, and the organization isn't that great. The occupied sections of the ruins aren't presented first, but are interspersed with other caverns, and random encounters for specific caverns are only detailed in their entries, which are all scattered in the first 5 or 6 pages of the module, so the first thing I did to make it easier to run was write myself out a couple of reference pages. These will allow me to track events in Blingdenstone more easily and keep me from having to constantly flip through the adventure to reference things. Having this kind of cheat sheet is essential to running a sandbox, I find - if only because it allows me to respond almost instantly to things the group wants to do.
Ultimately, I put together 3 reference sheets.
Blingdenstone Summary Sheet
Orc Summary
Gnome Summary
The orc summary is basically just compiled information from the adventure - crib notes, essentially, where I can track how many have been killed and look them up.
The Gnome and Blingdenstone Summary are a bit more interesting. The whole idea behind this adventure is the reclamation and rebuilding of Blingdenstone, so what I wanted to do was set up a system where the gnomish position, and the gnomes themselves, get stronger as the different adventures are completed, or get weaker if the characters dawdle too much, fail to complete adventures or certain random events happen.
The main thing here is stats for individual gnomes, because curiously enough, other than the stats for the guide to the Wormwrithings in Adventure 2, there are no stats provided for the gnomes anywhere in the module. In some cases, the gnomes can be expected to fight alongside the PC's (such as when orc raiders attack the barricades), so having stats for them is important. I'm also tracking the number of healthy/injured gnomes in Blingdenstone, the same way I'm tracking the number of orcs.
As you can see from the sheet, successfully completing some adventures causes additional gnomes to arrive, or the gnomes to get better equipment or more HP and morale. This is a bit more bookkeeping, but it makes the impact of the party more obvious and concrete. I'll also stat out the major NPC's for use in the events, but for the moment, I'll treat them like normal gnomes.
I also added a couple of cool things to the summary - enlarged Blingdenstone and Underdark encounter tables and a random major event table which can alter things in the city in a major way.
Other things I'm doing that I'll detail more later:
Stat out the major NPC's.
Rework the Wormwrithings (Chapter 2) encounters to reduce repetition.
Add more adventure hooks to Mantol-Derith (Chapter 6)
Reduce XP values of monsters substantially (20% of current, approx)
Rework the pregens, add a couple of new ones.
Enemy activity page for the drow chick.
Update Town Center Map for digital tools.
Modify Journal notes to make them more interesting.
Add Cult of Urlden adventure hooks
Change encounters in Chapter 3 (more zombies, more skeletons, wight from drow to gnome king).
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Some Thoughts on our D&D Next Playtest
I've gone off 4E. And I've also played Rules Compendium, 2e and (VERY briefly) whatever the frack it is the Alexis over at Tao of D&D runs. Plus Warhammer Fantasy and TMNT.
And they are NOT DOING IT FOR ME.
I like pieces of each of them. As a DM, I like encounter building in 4e. I feel like I can create cool and challenging combats very easily in that system - so much so that I'm having a LOT of trouble with something like TMNT which basically has NO rules for building encounters or monsters.
I like the faster combat in Rules Compendium, but the character building is just uninteresting. I don't need 3e or Pathfinder complexity, but Rules Compendium is a bit too bare-bones. Warhammer Fantasy is good - gritty, fairly lethal - not too hard to make encounters... but I'm not used to that system, so it's a challenge to run for the moment.
2e is a bit of a sweet spot for me, as it's what I spent most of my earlier DM years running, and to some extent, that's what the DnD Next Playtest feels like. Some might think that's a bad thing, but it's 2e with the rough stuff filed off, and cracks plastered over with lessons learned from 2 subsequent editions. It isn't spotless yet, but I had more fun running it than I have in quite a while.
That being said, it's obviously a playtest version. Some things definitely could use more thought, but the foundations seem really solid to me.
Pros:
Unified, easy-to-remember mechanics. Tying everything to modified checks using stats is really smart. Clean, flexible and easy-to-remember. A couple of characters wanted to vault a rubble barricade. DC 13 Dex check, please. No fuss, no bother.
Saving throws as checks tied to stats. Yaay. I have always hated saving throws. Simple - easy to remember and flexible enough that I can on-the-fly them. WotC, I salute you.
I'm a bit less in favor of Contested checks. They can end up with a LOT of rolling - like trying to sneak around a number of enemies seems to require contested checks against each. Not going to do that. But the basic premise is sound and fits well mechanically with the rest of the rules.
Combat is quick, dangerous (sorta) and doesn't encourage the 3-minute adventuring day. In our game, I played a PC in addition to DMing, and each player had 2 PCs, for a total of 5 - and they STEAMROLLERED the encounters - but limited HP and healing made the hits they took feel consequential.
Reclaiming Blingdenstone. This is a really good adventure. Miles better than Railroad to the Shadowfell. If it is indicative of the settings/adventures that WotC is working on for this edition, I'll start buying modules again. In fact, I'd forgotten how much I like using a good sandbox module. There are plenty of good adventure hooks, a real feeling of progression and some nice variety in things to do. Best module I've seen since reading the Pathfinder Adventure Paths.
Character creation is easy and interesting with neat background ideas and lots of good stuff for roleplaying, hooks for DMing and generally neat stuff. I handwaved most initial equipment purchases, so I'm not sure if the money system actually works. My suspicion is that it don't.
Cons:
Monsters need all kinds of work. They are boring. And xp value is WAY out of whack. 460 XP for an orc? 200 XP for a zombie. With 9 hp, 20 spd and one attack for d6+2? What the what what?
I threw 1600 XP worth of zombies at the party in an "undead rise from the ruins all around you" ambush. They took 7 hp damage total. 2 encounters (one with 3 orcs, the other with the zombies) and some rp'ing awards and the entire party of 5 characters leveled...
I heard that Zak from DnD with Pornstars is consulting on DnD Next. Mearls - please deposit the entire stack of monsters on his desk (not that he has a desk) and tell him to "turn this heaping turd pile into metal awesomesauce, and do it forthwith". Him or scrap princess from Monster Manual Sewn from Pants. Or BOTH! Oh god I just had a small monster-manual induced orgasm at that though. Too much? Too much.
Light and Vision needs some attention... I don't like the whole darkness/shadows garbage, and I don't like low-light vs darkvision and that shite. Simplify this down and use the cover mechanics or something. Also, the pregen halfling rogue has no low-light or darkvision. So he's stealthy but USELESS as a scout in dark areas. Like the Underdark. Where the first adventure is set. Focus WotC. Focus.
In fact, the whole rogue class needs work. 3 skills is insufficient for what has traditionally been the skill-based class. AND WHY DOES THE PREGEN HALFLING ROGUE HAVE NO SLING? Easy to fix, though. Still, weird.
Town Center Map from Blingdenstone. WTF? How hard would it have been to just come up with something that looks like it could actually be used for town centering? (Do gnomes vote? Do they have voter ID laws? Can you tell them apart on photo ID?) I'm all for a mini-crawl, but c'mon, let's at least try to build a map that represents an actual building that somebody would use. Plus the scale is wrong - everything in this game uses 5 ft squares, and all the tiles here are 10 ft. So clearly recycled that it's annoying, but I'll use it and grit my teeth.
Summary:
Obviously a playtest, but miles better than the first one. I like the core rules, I like the modular nature and how the Backgrounds and Specialties slot together to make interesting characters.
Some bits need work, but checks, cover, saves and basic combat seem to hang together OK. Monsters are super-thin, but that's OK for the moment.
Good adventure, some rough bits to it, but interesting to DM and a major, positive change in adventure direction for WotC. Successful night, fun game. I'll be playing this again.
And they are NOT DOING IT FOR ME.
I like pieces of each of them. As a DM, I like encounter building in 4e. I feel like I can create cool and challenging combats very easily in that system - so much so that I'm having a LOT of trouble with something like TMNT which basically has NO rules for building encounters or monsters.
I like the faster combat in Rules Compendium, but the character building is just uninteresting. I don't need 3e or Pathfinder complexity, but Rules Compendium is a bit too bare-bones. Warhammer Fantasy is good - gritty, fairly lethal - not too hard to make encounters... but I'm not used to that system, so it's a challenge to run for the moment.
2e is a bit of a sweet spot for me, as it's what I spent most of my earlier DM years running, and to some extent, that's what the DnD Next Playtest feels like. Some might think that's a bad thing, but it's 2e with the rough stuff filed off, and cracks plastered over with lessons learned from 2 subsequent editions. It isn't spotless yet, but I had more fun running it than I have in quite a while.
That being said, it's obviously a playtest version. Some things definitely could use more thought, but the foundations seem really solid to me.
Pros:
Unified, easy-to-remember mechanics. Tying everything to modified checks using stats is really smart. Clean, flexible and easy-to-remember. A couple of characters wanted to vault a rubble barricade. DC 13 Dex check, please. No fuss, no bother.
Saving throws as checks tied to stats. Yaay. I have always hated saving throws. Simple - easy to remember and flexible enough that I can on-the-fly them. WotC, I salute you.
I'm a bit less in favor of Contested checks. They can end up with a LOT of rolling - like trying to sneak around a number of enemies seems to require contested checks against each. Not going to do that. But the basic premise is sound and fits well mechanically with the rest of the rules.
Combat is quick, dangerous (sorta) and doesn't encourage the 3-minute adventuring day. In our game, I played a PC in addition to DMing, and each player had 2 PCs, for a total of 5 - and they STEAMROLLERED the encounters - but limited HP and healing made the hits they took feel consequential.
Reclaiming Blingdenstone. This is a really good adventure. Miles better than Railroad to the Shadowfell. If it is indicative of the settings/adventures that WotC is working on for this edition, I'll start buying modules again. In fact, I'd forgotten how much I like using a good sandbox module. There are plenty of good adventure hooks, a real feeling of progression and some nice variety in things to do. Best module I've seen since reading the Pathfinder Adventure Paths.
Character creation is easy and interesting with neat background ideas and lots of good stuff for roleplaying, hooks for DMing and generally neat stuff. I handwaved most initial equipment purchases, so I'm not sure if the money system actually works. My suspicion is that it don't.
Cons:
Monsters need all kinds of work. They are boring. And xp value is WAY out of whack. 460 XP for an orc? 200 XP for a zombie. With 9 hp, 20 spd and one attack for d6+2? What the what what?
I threw 1600 XP worth of zombies at the party in an "undead rise from the ruins all around you" ambush. They took 7 hp damage total. 2 encounters (one with 3 orcs, the other with the zombies) and some rp'ing awards and the entire party of 5 characters leveled...
I heard that Zak from DnD with Pornstars is consulting on DnD Next. Mearls - please deposit the entire stack of monsters on his desk (not that he has a desk) and tell him to "turn this heaping turd pile into metal awesomesauce, and do it forthwith". Him or scrap princess from Monster Manual Sewn from Pants. Or BOTH! Oh god I just had a small monster-manual induced orgasm at that though. Too much? Too much.
Light and Vision needs some attention... I don't like the whole darkness/shadows garbage, and I don't like low-light vs darkvision and that shite. Simplify this down and use the cover mechanics or something. Also, the pregen halfling rogue has no low-light or darkvision. So he's stealthy but USELESS as a scout in dark areas. Like the Underdark. Where the first adventure is set. Focus WotC. Focus.
In fact, the whole rogue class needs work. 3 skills is insufficient for what has traditionally been the skill-based class. AND WHY DOES THE PREGEN HALFLING ROGUE HAVE NO SLING? Easy to fix, though. Still, weird.
Town Center Map from Blingdenstone. WTF? How hard would it have been to just come up with something that looks like it could actually be used for town centering? (Do gnomes vote? Do they have voter ID laws? Can you tell them apart on photo ID?) I'm all for a mini-crawl, but c'mon, let's at least try to build a map that represents an actual building that somebody would use. Plus the scale is wrong - everything in this game uses 5 ft squares, and all the tiles here are 10 ft. So clearly recycled that it's annoying, but I'll use it and grit my teeth.
Summary:
Obviously a playtest, but miles better than the first one. I like the core rules, I like the modular nature and how the Backgrounds and Specialties slot together to make interesting characters.
Some bits need work, but checks, cover, saves and basic combat seem to hang together OK. Monsters are super-thin, but that's OK for the moment.
Good adventure, some rough bits to it, but interesting to DM and a major, positive change in adventure direction for WotC. Successful night, fun game. I'll be playing this again.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Warhammer Session 1
Play Summary:
After only 45 minutes of technical wrangling, we had everyone on Skype, connected to the Maptools server and basically playing. A new record for a first session!
Thank you Hamachi for that.
Playing ended up being pretty smooth, thanks to the very good Maptools Warhammer 2e Campaign template I downloaded. We still had some rules lookups, but compared to the first session in other games, it seemed to go pretty well.
The party consists of:
Otto Delschaft (James) - Human Protagonist. All I could think of when I read the character sheet was "Lucius Vorenus". James seemed to agree, although a critical success on a fellowship roll allowed his crude advances to be interpreted as lovable gruffness. I'm not convinced, though.
Elise Reitsmann (Russ) - Human Bounty Hunter. Handy with a crossbow and pretty lucky. Her father sent her out into the world with the immortal advice "try not to get killed, and if you become a whore, don't come back to town." Nice guy, her Dad.
Felix Pallenburg (Mark) - Human Barber/Surgeon. Drives the wagon, swings a mean club, and may possibly be able to patch you up if you are hurt.
Gotrek Durginson (Perry) - Dwarf Rat Catcher. Seems to think he's a warrior, but appears to be a thief on paper. Owns small vicious dog named "Rat". Possible latent death wish.
Flacwise (Greg) - Halfling Layabout - proficient with sling. Not martially inclined but sneaky and seems knowledgeable. In stark contrast to Elise, his Mom sent him out into the world with a pat on the head and a bag full of pies.
Session Summary:
While spending another uneventful evening in the farming village of Gattenburg (population: who cares?) by propping up the local bar with their heads, something interesting actually happens.
A mysterious elven woman named Talline arrived at the inn and informed the shocked innkeeper that the Road was once again open.
Jorg, the innkeeper at the Two Stones, seemed impressed and excited, and explained to the party that his Uncle used to be a trader on the ancient road passing through town that goes to.. other places. He explained that the road had been closed or broken for many years, but that it used to bring strange travelers and wealth to the village.
He explains that Talline needs an escort to the end of the road, and that he's also very interested in reopening trade and exploration. He offers to provide some supplies and equipment, in exchange for information about the road and the right to resell anything that the party brings back.
Rather than enjoy life in Gattenburg, the group agrees. Jorg supplies them with a wagon, some supplies and a couple of draft horses and in the morning they set off down the road with Talline.
A long day's travel sees them across the river and entering the forest. With night falling, they elect to press on, finally reaching the standing stones that mark the end of what Talline calls "This section of the road" by midnight.
When they arrive, Talline explains that there are several ways to open the gates and shows the party a magical ritual which seems to transform the space between the stone pillars into a rippling horizontal pool of water. Before the group can pass though, they are interrupted by a horseman who comes out of the woods.
The armed and armored Elf seems to know Talline, explaining that he's been looking for her. After a brief exchange which confirms that they are brother and sister, Talline invokes some kind of protection agreement, seemingly based on the fact that she is travelling with the party, who are travelling on the road. It seems flimsy, but it appears to work - her brother grudgingly agrees that he cannot attack her directly. He then disappears into the forest, but seems to summon a host of staggering zombie bandits as he vanishes.
Lumbering forward, the zombies encounter a hail of sling and crossbow fire from the party, felling several of them, but the rest press on, led by a massive, hulking specimen. Gotrek and Otto form a battle line, and Felix defends the wagon, with Elise and Flac falling back to continue firing. Talline stands by - seemingly paralyzed by fright.
After a close battle which sees Gotrek, Otto and Flac injured and more zombies emerging from the woods on both sides, Talline begins hurling magical missiles and the party manages to destroy the undead.
Talline thanks the party for their assistance and explains that she is going to use a more powerful spell to temporarily link the gate to a different location than usual - someplace called the "White Palace". She gives the party a reward of 50 gold coins and a scroll with details about the magical ritual used to open the gates. She also explains that each gate opens on a particular stretch of road - usually an area that is visually spectacular or which contains an isolated town or inn that travellers can use.
With that, Talline steps through the gate and disappears, leaving a slightly battered party in the woods at night, staring into a magical gate.
On the Game System:
Pretty straightforward. One of the advantages of WHFRP is that
it's pretty simple. Russ did take the time to read the rules, so things
like Fortune Points, parrying and reload times were brought up. It's the
first time any of us have played that system, but the Maptools Campaign
template I downloaded from http://www.gitzmansgallery.com made things a
lot easier.
I did forget to make fear checks when everyone was fighting the zombies
- that would have probably made a difference. Also, for speed of play I
didn't bother with critical hits for monsters - 0 wounds meant dead. I
may adjust that in the future. No players got crit'ed, but if they had,
this tool is really neat: http://gonensworld.com/crits/wimp/index.php?t=Bullet.
On the Technology:
Skype had a lot of feedback - maybe we'll try Googe+ hangout next time.
Maptools worked pretty well when combined with Hamachi. The port
forwarding is a pain in the ass otherwise. I went so far as to spend 20$ for a
32-person license for Hamachi, as the free 5-person one wouldn't work for our
6-person setup. As I mentioned above, the Maptools template was great,
and the monster pack with stats that I also got from the Gitzman's site made
DMing a ton easier because I didn't have to look up monster stats.
Overall: Good session - bit of role-playing and setup, bit of
wilderness travel, bit of combat. I think WHFRP 2e is a good choice for
the game I want to run.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Flash Fiction Challenge: Operation Legendary Eyetooth
- Operation Mountain Troll
- Operation Legendary Eyetooth
- Operation Shitting Mob
- Operation Irate Hajj
- Operation Prepare to Be Destroyed by Our Bullet
"You dick.
Remind me again why you're sitting the warm car while I'm soaking wet
under a fracking bridge?"
Even over the sound of
the water rushing by inches from his feet, Aaron could hear Travis snickering
through the phone.
"C'mon man,"
Travis replied, obviously fighting to keep from laughing in Aaron's ear,
"think of it as a mission in one of those crap shooters you always play.
Operation Duty of Warfare or something."
"Besides," he
continued, "somebody has to keep an eye on the road to make sure he
doesn't come back while you're inside. We played for it, and you lost,
fair and square. Your 'good old rock, nothing beats rock' technique needs
work, though."
Aaron heard a truck
start inside the compound, and his stomach clenched
up, adrenaline tightening his whole body. "Shut up,"
he hissed into the cell, covering the screen with his hand, "he's coming
out."
The truck came closer,
and Aaron could see the headlights illuminate the bushes on either side of the
wooden bridge, throwing bars of light down through the planks of the
bridge and striping the muddy creek.
Then he heard the gate above start to squeek open, pulled on rusty
wheels by some sort of humming motor.
Then the truck rumbled
overhead. Aaron held his breath,
listening to the bridge groan from the weight of the truck.
‘Embarrassing way to
die,’ he thought to himself. ‘Crushed by
shit-ass bridge built by stoned dope grower’.
But the bridge held, and
the truck rumbled away down the twisting logging road. Gritting his teeth, Aaron pulled himself out
from under the bridge, scrambled onto the gravel road and trotted through the
gate, ducking to the side as soon as he got inside the fence.
The gate itself was
already rolling closed as he got to the shadows. “Hope Travis is right about being able to
open it from the inside,” he thought, trying to fight down the nausea brought
on by mingled terror and excitement.
Standing in the
darkness, Aaron let his eyes adjust for a few seconds. When he could make out
the shapes of the surrounding trees and rocks and see the brighter line of the
logging road he shrugged his backpack up a bit and started walking quickly up
the road.
“I’m inside,” he said
quietly into the cell phone. “Is he
gone?”
“Yeah, he’s gone,”
replied Travis, the laughter gone from his voice now. “Hurry it up, though.”
“I’m fucking hurrying.”
The road climbed
steadily for a couple hundred feet, then flattened off as it broke out of the trees. The flat area was obviously an old
clear-cut. Even in the darkness Aaron
could make out tangles of stumps and old slash that hadn’t been properly
burned. Alongside the road up ahead was
his destination, an old trailer tucked alongside the trees and hung over with camouflage
tarps.
Speeding up to a trot
hustled to the trailer, going up the rickety wooden steps in a bound. The lights were off, but he could hear the
hum of a generator from the woods behind the trailer. Standing in the dark, he listened carefully,
straining to hear any noise from within the building.
Nothing. Nodding, he slowly turned the doorknob and
was more than a little surprised when the door clicked open. Pulling his flashlight from the front pocket
of his hoodie, he clicked it on and slowly opened the door, keeping the light
aimed at the ground.
Inside, he could make
out a dirty floor, boots and pieces of garbage lying around. Still listening carefully he slid in the
door, shining the light around to see more.
The old living room was full of large white buckets, filthy and piled
together, but all empty.
Frowning, Aaron played
the flashlight left, towards the kitchen area.
The beam lit up a confusing tangle of glass flasks, pipes and plastic chemical bottles covering the entire kitchen counter. The stench of chemicals burned Aaron's nose as he slid further into the trailer.
Reaching into his pocket, he flipped the cell back open and pressed redial. Travis answered on the first ring. "Man, what the fuck?" whispered Aaron, "There's no plants in here, you asshole. Just a bunch of chemicals and beakers and shit."
"He keeps them all in big white buckets, the place should be full of them," replied Travis, sounding confused.
"The buckets are here, but they're all empty." snarled Aaron, trying to let his anger out without making too much noise.
"Fuuuckkk... maybe he harvested. Look around - the dope should be all in big wrapped bundles."
"You said.." squawked Aaron, his voice rising to a near-shout before he managed to bring his voice back down. "Alright, I'll look around."
Moving carefully, Aaron headed towards the back of the trailer, sweeping his flashlight back and forth to light up the grubby hallway. The door at the back end of the trailer was open a crack and he nudged it open with the toe of his boot.
The back room had a big table and under the table was the jackpot - square bales in saran wrap. Unslinging his pack, Aaron moved forward quickly, crouching and stuffing the first brick into the bag. He was about to stuff in another when a slight sound made him glance up.
His eyes locked with the red reflections in the eyes of the huge rottweiler as rose from the dog bed in the corner behind the desk.
"Holy SHIIIITTTTTT!!!!" Screaming, Aaron clutched the bag to his chest and bolted out of the room, hearing the clatter of the dog's claws at it tore down the hall behind him. Realizing he wouldn't get to the door in time, he deked left as he got to the kitchen.
The massive dog slid sideways as it tried to follow, then leapt at him. Still shrieking, Aaron dove forward, clearing the kitchen sink and sailing over the counter into the living room. The dog didn't quite clear the junk on the counter and bounced back into the kitchen, smashing glass and scattering bleach and chemical bottles.
Rolling to his feet, Aaron hurled himself out the door, trying to slam it behind him. The dog was too quick, jamming its head between the door and frame, snapping wildly at him. Aaron pulled desperately on the door as the dog's jaws closed on him and it began to thrash it's head from side to side.
For a horrible moment, Aaron was tossed from side to side. He clung to the door, waiting for the pain to hit, until he realized the dog had the backpack, not his flesh in its teeth. Raising his arm, he smashed his elbow down on the dog's snout. Hammering once, twice, until the dog sagged back slightly.
Wrenching himself back, he lashed out with his heavy hiking boot, knocking the snarling dog back through the door, then slamming it shut, seconds before the dog hit the door with a shattering crash.
Sitting on his ass on the porch, Aaron stared at the door, listening to the dog snarl hurl itself at the door. Then the animal hit so hard the whole door shuddered, bending outwards. That got him moving again.
He crossed the clearcut at a sprint, hearing the door give way just as he got to the treeline. He flew down the road with the barking getting louder behind him. Angling to the side of the road, he hurled the backpack over the fence, then hit the chain link without slowing down.
Halfway up the dog hit the fence below him, almost throwing him off. He felt its teeth close on the back of his boot and shrieked again, kicking desperately to throw it off before the weight of it pulled him off the fence. For a horrible second he strained, then the sole of his boot gave way and the dog fell off.
He ripped his hands and pants on the top of the fence, but didn't notice until later. Landing on the other side of the fence, he looked up to see headlights. For a horrible moment he thought he was caught, but then he saw Travis waving from the driver seat of his shit Chevette.
"Holy shit man!" Travis yelled as Aaron threw the pack into the car and jumped in after it. "That was LEGENDARY. You left your phone on. I heard the whole thing."
Too exhausted to talk, Aaron leaned his head back and took deep, shuddering breaths. He barely heard Travis' excited chatter as he turned the car around for the drive out of the bush. One thing caused him to look over. "What do you mean, what is that?" he asked, as Travis stared at the backpack.
It took him a second to recognize the massive tooth stuck in the pack - a canine's canine, he thought, almost drunkenly. Then he leaned his head back again. Just like one of the wargames... Operation Legendary Eyetooth...
Reaching into his pocket, he flipped the cell back open and pressed redial. Travis answered on the first ring. "Man, what the fuck?" whispered Aaron, "There's no plants in here, you asshole. Just a bunch of chemicals and beakers and shit."
"He keeps them all in big white buckets, the place should be full of them," replied Travis, sounding confused.
"The buckets are here, but they're all empty." snarled Aaron, trying to let his anger out without making too much noise.
"Fuuuckkk... maybe he harvested. Look around - the dope should be all in big wrapped bundles."
"You said.." squawked Aaron, his voice rising to a near-shout before he managed to bring his voice back down. "Alright, I'll look around."
Moving carefully, Aaron headed towards the back of the trailer, sweeping his flashlight back and forth to light up the grubby hallway. The door at the back end of the trailer was open a crack and he nudged it open with the toe of his boot.
The back room had a big table and under the table was the jackpot - square bales in saran wrap. Unslinging his pack, Aaron moved forward quickly, crouching and stuffing the first brick into the bag. He was about to stuff in another when a slight sound made him glance up.
His eyes locked with the red reflections in the eyes of the huge rottweiler as rose from the dog bed in the corner behind the desk.
"Holy SHIIIITTTTTT!!!!" Screaming, Aaron clutched the bag to his chest and bolted out of the room, hearing the clatter of the dog's claws at it tore down the hall behind him. Realizing he wouldn't get to the door in time, he deked left as he got to the kitchen.
The massive dog slid sideways as it tried to follow, then leapt at him. Still shrieking, Aaron dove forward, clearing the kitchen sink and sailing over the counter into the living room. The dog didn't quite clear the junk on the counter and bounced back into the kitchen, smashing glass and scattering bleach and chemical bottles.
Rolling to his feet, Aaron hurled himself out the door, trying to slam it behind him. The dog was too quick, jamming its head between the door and frame, snapping wildly at him. Aaron pulled desperately on the door as the dog's jaws closed on him and it began to thrash it's head from side to side.
For a horrible moment, Aaron was tossed from side to side. He clung to the door, waiting for the pain to hit, until he realized the dog had the backpack, not his flesh in its teeth. Raising his arm, he smashed his elbow down on the dog's snout. Hammering once, twice, until the dog sagged back slightly.
Wrenching himself back, he lashed out with his heavy hiking boot, knocking the snarling dog back through the door, then slamming it shut, seconds before the dog hit the door with a shattering crash.
Sitting on his ass on the porch, Aaron stared at the door, listening to the dog snarl hurl itself at the door. Then the animal hit so hard the whole door shuddered, bending outwards. That got him moving again.
He crossed the clearcut at a sprint, hearing the door give way just as he got to the treeline. He flew down the road with the barking getting louder behind him. Angling to the side of the road, he hurled the backpack over the fence, then hit the chain link without slowing down.
Halfway up the dog hit the fence below him, almost throwing him off. He felt its teeth close on the back of his boot and shrieked again, kicking desperately to throw it off before the weight of it pulled him off the fence. For a horrible second he strained, then the sole of his boot gave way and the dog fell off.
He ripped his hands and pants on the top of the fence, but didn't notice until later. Landing on the other side of the fence, he looked up to see headlights. For a horrible moment he thought he was caught, but then he saw Travis waving from the driver seat of his shit Chevette.
"Holy shit man!" Travis yelled as Aaron threw the pack into the car and jumped in after it. "That was LEGENDARY. You left your phone on. I heard the whole thing."
Too exhausted to talk, Aaron leaned his head back and took deep, shuddering breaths. He barely heard Travis' excited chatter as he turned the car around for the drive out of the bush. One thing caused him to look over. "What do you mean, what is that?" he asked, as Travis stared at the backpack.
It took him a second to recognize the massive tooth stuck in the pack - a canine's canine, he thought, almost drunkenly. Then he leaned his head back again. Just like one of the wargames... Operation Legendary Eyetooth...
Thursday, January 26, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
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?
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.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold
Yes, many people are writing about this trailer. I'm going to do it too - this clip goes almost directly to the reasons that I role-play and that I write this blog. Heck, it's the reason for the name of the blog. Well, that and the fact that I live in the interior of British Columbia, which has more misty mountains than Tolkien ever saw in his life.
I should say first off that I've been looking forward to this film, del Toro or no del Toro, I loves me the Hobbit. In many ways it's a classic gaming story - inexperienced fellow leaves home with a pack of disreputable ruffians. Group runs across a number of hazards which they are able, often through blind luck or quick thinking, to overcome. Group finds some treasure, some of which is appropriate for inexperienced fellow, who quickly becomes more experienced.
Allies are gained, confidence grows and eventually the group degenerates into infighting and bickering over treasure, only to temporarily join forces once again when more serious threats appear. After a certain point, group play gives way to armies, lordships and the death of characters, and the inexperienced fellow goes home older, wiser and saddled with a cursed magic item that he got on a random roll in some dungeon corridor that's too useful for him to get rid of.
So basically, D&D Type 1 as the OSR would have you play it. For all the chattering about old-school being based on pulp literature, the Hobbit sure reads like role-playing to me.
Better yet, they sing Over the Misty Mountains! I have ALWAYS loved that song, it captures both the heart of the Tolkien experience, and the essence of the themes I like in fantasy role-playing. And they totally nail the song, with the dwarves chanting it sonorously and slowly rising to their feet as they sing it.
See, to the dwarves, the song is both a lament and a promise - a lament for the glories of the Kingdom under the Mountain, which glories passed away in fire and horror upon the coming of Smaug, and a promise that they will one day return, to reclaim what is rightfully theirs and rebuild their fallen birthright. It's as close to religion as the dwarves have, and they capture it pitch-perfectly. I could watch that trailer 20 times in a row.
Complain about the singing if you want to, but to my mind, it just confirms that you either haven't read the Hobbit, or didn't understand it when you did read it. The singing is perfect - it makes me shiver the same shiver of joy as I get when Aragorn tells the hobbits, speaking of Amon Sul, "It is told that Elendil stood there watching for the coming of Gil-galad out of the West, in the days of the Last Alliance." It's a certain kind of music that catches me just right. Perfect.
I'm sure the movie will have a few warts and blemishes - but this trailer does more to reassure me about what we can expect from this movie than anything else I've seen or read. Now if we just didn't have to wait a WHOLE YEAR...
I should say first off that I've been looking forward to this film, del Toro or no del Toro, I loves me the Hobbit. In many ways it's a classic gaming story - inexperienced fellow leaves home with a pack of disreputable ruffians. Group runs across a number of hazards which they are able, often through blind luck or quick thinking, to overcome. Group finds some treasure, some of which is appropriate for inexperienced fellow, who quickly becomes more experienced.
Allies are gained, confidence grows and eventually the group degenerates into infighting and bickering over treasure, only to temporarily join forces once again when more serious threats appear. After a certain point, group play gives way to armies, lordships and the death of characters, and the inexperienced fellow goes home older, wiser and saddled with a cursed magic item that he got on a random roll in some dungeon corridor that's too useful for him to get rid of.
So basically, D&D Type 1 as the OSR would have you play it. For all the chattering about old-school being based on pulp literature, the Hobbit sure reads like role-playing to me.
Better yet, they sing Over the Misty Mountains! I have ALWAYS loved that song, it captures both the heart of the Tolkien experience, and the essence of the themes I like in fantasy role-playing. And they totally nail the song, with the dwarves chanting it sonorously and slowly rising to their feet as they sing it.
See, to the dwarves, the song is both a lament and a promise - a lament for the glories of the Kingdom under the Mountain, which glories passed away in fire and horror upon the coming of Smaug, and a promise that they will one day return, to reclaim what is rightfully theirs and rebuild their fallen birthright. It's as close to religion as the dwarves have, and they capture it pitch-perfectly. I could watch that trailer 20 times in a row.
Complain about the singing if you want to, but to my mind, it just confirms that you either haven't read the Hobbit, or didn't understand it when you did read it. The singing is perfect - it makes me shiver the same shiver of joy as I get when Aragorn tells the hobbits, speaking of Amon Sul, "It is told that Elendil stood there watching for the coming of Gil-galad out of the West, in the days of the Last Alliance." It's a certain kind of music that catches me just right. Perfect.
I'm sure the movie will have a few warts and blemishes - but this trailer does more to reassure me about what we can expect from this movie than anything else I've seen or read. Now if we just didn't have to wait a WHOLE YEAR...
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