Monday, February 28, 2005
Greetings, gamers, adventurers, geeks and other extraordinary creatures out there in the ethernet.
My gaming side was taking a bit of a beating recently, and I think the GM in me was in a rather foul mood. Quite frankly, I was starting to get annoyed with Dungeons & Dragons in general. Really, I think everything was starting to bug me about the game -- the crunchiness of the rules, the dungeon crawls, the style of play and the simple knowledge that I'll be stuck running Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil for quite some time.
Perhaps it was the GM version of cold feet, or maybe it was just a sudden desire for something different, but I think, either way, it's more or less passed now. I think I can be content running RttToEE to thebitter end. I can still hope that end is within the foreseeable future so as to avoid intense boredom and monotony, but I'm pretty sure I'll be good to go for the coming months.
My gaming side was taking a bit of a beating recently, and I think the GM in me was in a rather foul mood. Quite frankly, I was starting to get annoyed with Dungeons & Dragons in general. Really, I think everything was starting to bug me about the game -- the crunchiness of the rules, the dungeon crawls, the style of play and the simple knowledge that I'll be stuck running Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil for quite some time.
Perhaps it was the GM version of cold feet, or maybe it was just a sudden desire for something different, but I think, either way, it's more or less passed now. I think I can be content running RttToEE to the
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Play Paranoia or I'll shoot this author
Certain members of my gaming group have been bitten by the Paranoia bug. This Gamegrene article explains why it's fun to play. Enjoy.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Tron guy
Over the last few weeks, I've been reading Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. Unfortunately, it's been slow-going. Stephenson wrote the book in third-person present tense, which I find rather jarring. Most novels are in third-person past tense, so that's what I'm used to. Present tense is just bizarre.
Still, I do like the characters and the story, so I'm going to try to read through it a bit faster. I aim to get finished in the next couple of weeks or so.
Still, I do like the characters and the story, so I'm going to try to read through it a bit faster. I aim to get finished in the next couple of weeks or so.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
I ran my Greyhawk campaign on Sunday, and we're just about finished with Hommlet for awhile. The party took out the group of cultists hiding out underneath the flourmill, and they managed to capture the leader (although they haven't yet found out they got the leader -- I'm sure they have an inkling of this, though).
Things are going to take some time. I did some simple addition today, and if the party hits every single combat encounter, they'll have a total of 241 combat encounters. Note that this is excluding non-combat encounters like traps and roleplaying situations. So far, they've had (drum roll please) fifteen combat encounters, although they did miss four battles at the moathouse.
I expect the pace to pick up a bit once they hit the next dungeon, which so happens contains the majority of the 200-odd encounters left. There's very little roleplaying involved in the big dungeon, just exploration and fighting. Many of the encounters are stupidly easy, though. Y'know, just typical cannon fodder. I'm thinking there might be a way to even speed through those much more quickly so as to avoid wasting time. Not sure what that way is, though.
Things are going to take some time. I did some simple addition today, and if the party hits every single combat encounter, they'll have a total of 241 combat encounters. Note that this is excluding non-combat encounters like traps and roleplaying situations. So far, they've had (drum roll please) fifteen combat encounters, although they did miss four battles at the moathouse.
I expect the pace to pick up a bit once they hit the next dungeon, which so happens contains the majority of the 200-odd encounters left. There's very little roleplaying involved in the big dungeon, just exploration and fighting. Many of the encounters are stupidly easy, though. Y'know, just typical cannon fodder. I'm thinking there might be a way to even speed through those much more quickly so as to avoid wasting time. Not sure what that way is, though.
Monday, February 21, 2005
I finished reading the Cat PDF, and it's not only well-written, but the mechanics are pretty cool, too. In fact, reading through the book, I was struck by several ideas that could fit into a short- or long-term Cat campaign.
Now if only I could find the time to run a Cat campaign. It'll have to wait until after Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. After RttToEE, I want to take a break from D&D, anyway.
Now if only I could find the time to run a Cat campaign. It'll have to wait until after Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. After RttToEE, I want to take a break from D&D, anyway.
Friday, February 18, 2005
So many games, too little time
It's a dangerous thing to start planning for RPG campaigns when you're still upwards of a year or more away from finishing your current campaign. We've barely scratched the surface on Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, and I haven't even started preparing for my Mechamorphosis campaign, but I'm already thinking ahead. And there are some games I'm dying to run.
Like what, you may ask? I just can't wait to dig into All Flesh Must Be Eaten. I'm even thinking something more than a one-shot would be cool. Why not a full-blown campaign that starts with the rise of the zombies and ends sometime during some post-apocalyptic setting where zombies run wild across the landscape and what remains of humanity is shut up in fortresses just trying to survive?
As bizarre as it sounds, Cat. I recently bought the PDF of the game from Wicked Dead, and without even really reading through the PDF, I'm already thinking about how I could turn it into it a campaign (either a short one or a long one).
Like what, you may ask? I just can't wait to dig into All Flesh Must Be Eaten. I'm even thinking something more than a one-shot would be cool. Why not a full-blown campaign that starts with the rise of the zombies and ends sometime during some post-apocalyptic setting where zombies run wild across the landscape and what remains of humanity is shut up in fortresses just trying to survive?
As bizarre as it sounds, Cat. I recently bought the PDF of the game from Wicked Dead, and without even really reading through the PDF, I'm already thinking about how I could turn it into it a campaign (either a short one or a long one).
Do not under any circumstances Super Size Me
With Jacquie out last night, I finally sat down to watch Super Size Me. Even though it was a great movie, it really did kind of creep me out. It's made me think twice about ever eating fast food again ... so I guess Morgan Spurlock did his job.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
On Palladium, Part Four
A little late is better than never, eh? My last little anti-Palladium rant was back on January 31st, and even then, I really only attacked the use of word "system" rather than the Palladium games themselves.
So back to why I think Palladium has shit for brains ... er ... games...
What's the one thing that every single RPG on the market has? Simple enough: Rules for combat.
Combat in RPGs dates back to the original Dungeons & Dragons ruleset, which of course takes much of its rules from Chainmail, which of course is based on several ideas around war games. Like it or lump it, RPGs started with "run the dungeon, kill the monster, steal its loot," and while they've progressed a bit, combat is still a central part of the games themselves.
Using Palladium's Rifts as the example again, I'll just come out and say that the way all Palladium games do combat is a serious problem. It just doesn't function worth a shit without houseruling it to death. For the most part, combat looks a lot like any other game. Iniatives are rolled. Attackers roll to strike. Damage is done.
One interesting thing Palladium tried to do is make combat a little more dynamic. In D&D, the rolls are static. You roll versus the AC. If you get equal or more, bingo! Roll for damage, please. There's no dodging, parrying or what-have-you. This irks some people -- not me, but I'm not everybody.
Palladium has dodge, parry, the ability to roll with punches to take less damage. Neat stuff, I say. It might even work if it wasn't for a couple of concepts in the game that aren't explained enough to actually make sense. Those are "automatic dodge" and "attacks per melee."
Dodging is pretty simple. You roll a d20, add your dodge bonus and try to score higher than the person trying to hit you. By dodging, according to the rules, you automatically lose your next turn (i.e. you just lost an attack per melee). However, some characters have automatic dodge.
Unfortunately, automatic dodge isn't really defined anywhere (if someone can find it for me, go to it and leave a comment). And the phrase itself could mean several different things. "You shoot. I automatically dodge you because I have automatic dodge." Probably not. Just dumb, and no game designer is that dumb. "You attack me. I can automatically roll to dodge." Duh. Everybody can do that. Perhaps the definition that makes the most sense would be: "You attack. I roll to dodge, but it doesn't cost me an attack per melee." That would make sense, but I've never seen that spelled out anywhere.
Attacks per melee is a neat idea. A lot of games have this, but Palladium went way too far. It's not abnormal for a character to have half a dozen or more attacks per melee. The problem is in how those attacks work, though.
So take two characters. One has five attacks per melee and another has two. According to Rifts, they exchange blows equally for the first two attacks. PC #1 attacks, then PC #2, then PC #1, then PC #2 (assuming PC #1 has the highest initiative). Then what happens is whoever has extra attacks just makes them. In this case, PC #1 hits PC #2 three more times in a row.
I don't know about anybody else, but that just screams "broken rule" to me. It just doesn't make sense. Back in my teenage days, when we played TMNT&OS a lot, I tried to fix this. In a way, it kind of worked like what I understand the Hero System phased initiative works like. I tried to even it up so that you weren't make a bunch of attacks at the end. So in this case, PC #1 might attack twice, then PC #2 attacks once, then PC #1 twice, then PC #2 once, then PC #1 once. Try doing that on the fly every single round, though -- because in all Palladium games, you determine a new initiative at the end of every round. Let's just say it didn't work.
So with combat as such an essential part of RPGs, Palladium's games have some severe problems that make combat either not fun, not playable ... or both.
So back to why I think Palladium has shit for brains ... er ... games...
What's the one thing that every single RPG on the market has? Simple enough: Rules for combat.
Combat in RPGs dates back to the original Dungeons & Dragons ruleset, which of course takes much of its rules from Chainmail, which of course is based on several ideas around war games. Like it or lump it, RPGs started with "run the dungeon, kill the monster, steal its loot," and while they've progressed a bit, combat is still a central part of the games themselves.
Using Palladium's Rifts as the example again, I'll just come out and say that the way all Palladium games do combat is a serious problem. It just doesn't function worth a shit without houseruling it to death. For the most part, combat looks a lot like any other game. Iniatives are rolled. Attackers roll to strike. Damage is done.
One interesting thing Palladium tried to do is make combat a little more dynamic. In D&D, the rolls are static. You roll versus the AC. If you get equal or more, bingo! Roll for damage, please. There's no dodging, parrying or what-have-you. This irks some people -- not me, but I'm not everybody.
Palladium has dodge, parry, the ability to roll with punches to take less damage. Neat stuff, I say. It might even work if it wasn't for a couple of concepts in the game that aren't explained enough to actually make sense. Those are "automatic dodge" and "attacks per melee."
Dodging is pretty simple. You roll a d20, add your dodge bonus and try to score higher than the person trying to hit you. By dodging, according to the rules, you automatically lose your next turn (i.e. you just lost an attack per melee). However, some characters have automatic dodge.
Unfortunately, automatic dodge isn't really defined anywhere (if someone can find it for me, go to it and leave a comment). And the phrase itself could mean several different things. "You shoot. I automatically dodge you because I have automatic dodge." Probably not. Just dumb, and no game designer is that dumb. "You attack me. I can automatically roll to dodge." Duh. Everybody can do that. Perhaps the definition that makes the most sense would be: "You attack. I roll to dodge, but it doesn't cost me an attack per melee." That would make sense, but I've never seen that spelled out anywhere.
Attacks per melee is a neat idea. A lot of games have this, but Palladium went way too far. It's not abnormal for a character to have half a dozen or more attacks per melee. The problem is in how those attacks work, though.
So take two characters. One has five attacks per melee and another has two. According to Rifts, they exchange blows equally for the first two attacks. PC #1 attacks, then PC #2, then PC #1, then PC #2 (assuming PC #1 has the highest initiative). Then what happens is whoever has extra attacks just makes them. In this case, PC #1 hits PC #2 three more times in a row.
I don't know about anybody else, but that just screams "broken rule" to me. It just doesn't make sense. Back in my teenage days, when we played TMNT&OS a lot, I tried to fix this. In a way, it kind of worked like what I understand the Hero System phased initiative works like. I tried to even it up so that you weren't make a bunch of attacks at the end. So in this case, PC #1 might attack twice, then PC #2 attacks once, then PC #1 twice, then PC #2 once, then PC #1 once. Try doing that on the fly every single round, though -- because in all Palladium games, you determine a new initiative at the end of every round. Let's just say it didn't work.
So with combat as such an essential part of RPGs, Palladium's games have some severe problems that make combat either not fun, not playable ... or both.
Monday, February 14, 2005
The post-Christophermas round-up
So Saturday turned out to be a fairly good, albeit easy-going, day. Around mid-day, Rich, Logan and I ventured out to Wyldstar to meet up with Stephen, who Rich and I met last Tuesday. We arrived about half an hour later than expected, but Stephen was still waiting for us when we finally got there. Unfortunately, not much was waiting for us, product-wise, at Wyldstar. It seems Dave, the guy who owns the place, had had some distribution problems and didn't get his weekly Wednesday shipment of comic books. So new titles for us. Oh well. Next week.
After that, Rich dropped me off at Logan's place. Logan fed me and we watched some anime. Specifically, we watched the first disc (four episodes) of Paranoia Agent. Definitely a bizarre anime. I'll be interested to see what happens next.
After we finished off lunch and anime, Logan dropped me off at home. Jacquie and I hung out for awhile, and then we met up with my parents, her parents and Sean at The Gryphon in Whitby. For my birthday dinner, I just wanted something simple, but it had to be a place I could get a half-decent beer.
Dinner and drinks ended, and then we headed back to Rick's and Pauline's place for some chit-chat, some more beer and a few rounds of Sequence. For those that don't know, Sequence is a board game that uses cards. The gist is you play a card, find the matching space (i.e. King of Hearts) on the board and place your marker. Get five in a row and you win the round (for six players, anyway -- for less, it's two rows).
The only unfortunate thing is all the food and drink in my belly didn't sit well. I woke up at one o'clock with -- I must be getting old -- heartburn. Heartburn! I couldn't believe it. I never have heartburn. Perhaps my poor ticker is not dealing with spicy foods as well as it used to.
And that was what I did on my twenty-ninth birthday.
After that, Rich dropped me off at Logan's place. Logan fed me and we watched some anime. Specifically, we watched the first disc (four episodes) of Paranoia Agent. Definitely a bizarre anime. I'll be interested to see what happens next.
After we finished off lunch and anime, Logan dropped me off at home. Jacquie and I hung out for awhile, and then we met up with my parents, her parents and Sean at The Gryphon in Whitby. For my birthday dinner, I just wanted something simple, but it had to be a place I could get a half-decent beer.
Dinner and drinks ended, and then we headed back to Rick's and Pauline's place for some chit-chat, some more beer and a few rounds of Sequence. For those that don't know, Sequence is a board game that uses cards. The gist is you play a card, find the matching space (i.e. King of Hearts) on the board and place your marker. Get five in a row and you win the round (for six players, anyway -- for less, it's two rows).
The only unfortunate thing is all the food and drink in my belly didn't sit well. I woke up at one o'clock with -- I must be getting old -- heartburn. Heartburn! I couldn't believe it. I never have heartburn. Perhaps my poor ticker is not dealing with spicy foods as well as it used to.
And that was what I did on my twenty-ninth birthday.
Friday, February 11, 2005
To use a Lawism, tomorrow is Christophermas. I tried to convince The Law it was Chrismas, but he said that just sounded stupid. He's probably right. And I don't want to get my big day mixed up with that other day of much lesser importance, after all.
What are my plans for the day? A trip to Wyldstar and Worlds Collide in Oshawa, dinner and drinks out a pub with the parental units, Jacquie, Jacquie's parental units and Monkeyboy (aka my brother Sean). I was supposed to find a pub with live music, but I haven't had time. It's just been a busy week. So maybe we'll just end up at The Wallace Arms or something. Outside of that, I'll probably just chill.
What are my plans for the day? A trip to Wyldstar and Worlds Collide in Oshawa, dinner and drinks out a pub with the parental units, Jacquie, Jacquie's parental units and Monkeyboy (aka my brother Sean). I was supposed to find a pub with live music, but I haven't had time. It's just been a busy week. So maybe we'll just end up at The Wallace Arms or something. Outside of that, I'll probably just chill.
Somehow over the last three weeks, I've been sucked into watching several episodes of C.S.I.. So much for my claims of never watching cable. As an aside, I've also been watching CP24's six o'clock news, but y'know, at least that's sometimes informative.
So on Thursday nights, I've found myself bored and sitting in the living room watching a DVD, reading a book or listening to music. In comes Jacquie. She flips on the television, and the next thing you know, there's three hours of C.S.I. on. Out of boredom and laziness, I've stayed.
I must say I can smell the bullshit from the basement when C.S.I. is on. The characters are interesting and all, but the way the audience is talked down to and the simple fact that crime scene investigators wouldn't do detective work just makes me cringe. But I still find myself watching it with Jacquie.
Oh well. Survivor starts next week, and that will interrupt the C.S.I. episodes on Thursday. I can't even tolerate so-called "reality TV," so I know I'll be getting off my lazy and finding something else to do on Thursday evenings. That should get me away from C.S.I., too, thankfully.
So on Thursday nights, I've found myself bored and sitting in the living room watching a DVD, reading a book or listening to music. In comes Jacquie. She flips on the television, and the next thing you know, there's three hours of C.S.I. on. Out of boredom and laziness, I've stayed.
I must say I can smell the bullshit from the basement when C.S.I. is on. The characters are interesting and all, but the way the audience is talked down to and the simple fact that crime scene investigators wouldn't do detective work just makes me cringe. But I still find myself watching it with Jacquie.
Oh well. Survivor starts next week, and that will interrupt the C.S.I. episodes on Thursday. I can't even tolerate so-called "reality TV," so I know I'll be getting off my lazy and finding something else to do on Thursday evenings. That should get me away from C.S.I., too, thankfully.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
When the geek side of the brain goes too far...
Talking to The Law, I remembered a truly uber-geeky idea I had last year that never went anywhere. For good or for bad, this idea will truly show just how stupidly geeky I can be...
The idea was quite simple, and it can be summed up in just a few words: Dungeons & Dragons Poker night. Some of you reading are probably already catching on. The gist is it would be a Poker night, but every participant would be someone from my D&D group. They'd be playing the role of their character at a Poker table. Gambling would be for the player character's wealth, not real money.
So we'd sit around the table gambling away pretend gold pieces. I, as the DM, would either take the role of a local NPC personality or perhaps a high roller with a few hundred gp to gamble away. Unless I had an unusual lucky streak, chances are I'd be putting some gold into the characters' coffers.
Uber-geeky? Hell, yeah. Potentially fun? Yes, I think so. Did I ever do anything about it? Nope.
The idea was quite simple, and it can be summed up in just a few words: Dungeons & Dragons Poker night. Some of you reading are probably already catching on. The gist is it would be a Poker night, but every participant would be someone from my D&D group. They'd be playing the role of their character at a Poker table. Gambling would be for the player character's wealth, not real money.
So we'd sit around the table gambling away pretend gold pieces. I, as the DM, would either take the role of a local NPC personality or perhaps a high roller with a few hundred gp to gamble away. Unless I had an unusual lucky streak, chances are I'd be putting some gold into the characters' coffers.
Uber-geeky? Hell, yeah. Potentially fun? Yes, I think so. Did I ever do anything about it? Nope.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Anakin, you whiny bitch!
Weren't satisfied with the teaser trailer for Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith?
No? Really?
Excellent.
Then you'll love the trailer for Star Wars: Episode III -- A Lost Hope. See Anakin whine like the little bitch he is. See how Jar Jar gets what's coming to him. See Mace Windu complain about being the token black guy on the Jedi Council. See Yoda chug a brew. See Obi-Wan as the drunken slob he becomes in A New Hope.
Click the link. You know you want to.
Obey the Force and click the fucking link!
No? Really?
Excellent.
Then you'll love the trailer for Star Wars: Episode III -- A Lost Hope. See Anakin whine like the little bitch he is. See how Jar Jar gets what's coming to him. See Mace Windu complain about being the token black guy on the Jedi Council. See Yoda chug a brew. See Obi-Wan as the drunken slob he becomes in A New Hope.
Click the link. You know you want to.
Obey the Force and click the fucking link!
Monday, February 07, 2005
The obligatory anti-d20 rant
I was talking to The Law this morning, and both of us are getting a bit tired of the d20 scene. We both agree that what made d20 the perfect solution to give the RPG industry a boost is the same thing that is now killing it. Everybody does d20 now. At first, it opened up a lot of opportunities for new players to enter the scene, and the market got flooded with d20. Unfortunately, now even the big players have opted to work with d20. And now there are so many products for d20 that many of them are just rehashes of the same old, same old. Honestly, how many OGL books on the fighter class do we need, for example?
I think if it wasn't for starting the Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil module in my D&D group, I'd be moving away from Dungeons & Dragons and d20 games altogether. That said, the only tabletop campaigns I'm involved in right now are d20-based. The D&D game continues. Mechamorphosis will begin in March. And I'm playing in The Law's Mutants & Masterminds campaign.
It's deja vu all over again. Back when I was in late high school or early college, I dragged my gaming group into Steve Jackson Games' GURPS for a year or two. By the end of it, I was GURPSed out. I've never played the game since. I haven't bought a GURPS supplement since. If I never roll 3D6 with the intention of rolling under a stat's score again, I'll be a happy man. This is what I'm starting to feel about d20.
Now The Law says he'll probably move away from d20 sometime in the future, and he'll probably move toward more crunchy (i.e. mechanically crunchy, meaning more rules) games like GURPS or the old Time Lords game.
Me, I'm looking at less crunchy. The Unisystem, found in games like All Flesh Must Be Eaten and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (amongst others), is more rules lite, and I like the way it looks. It looks fun. Heck, y'know, I'd even probably consider going toward diceless gaming (go ahead, Law, flame away in the comments), which is a style of game that I used to think of as taboo.
Now I'm thinking diceless might be the way to go for some of my gaming fun. I sincerely doubt my gaming group will go along with that, but it's something I would consider doing if there were enough interested parties.
I think if it wasn't for starting the Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil module in my D&D group, I'd be moving away from Dungeons & Dragons and d20 games altogether. That said, the only tabletop campaigns I'm involved in right now are d20-based. The D&D game continues. Mechamorphosis will begin in March. And I'm playing in The Law's Mutants & Masterminds campaign.
It's deja vu all over again. Back when I was in late high school or early college, I dragged my gaming group into Steve Jackson Games' GURPS for a year or two. By the end of it, I was GURPSed out. I've never played the game since. I haven't bought a GURPS supplement since. If I never roll 3D6 with the intention of rolling under a stat's score again, I'll be a happy man. This is what I'm starting to feel about d20.
Now The Law says he'll probably move away from d20 sometime in the future, and he'll probably move toward more crunchy (i.e. mechanically crunchy, meaning more rules) games like GURPS or the old Time Lords game.
Me, I'm looking at less crunchy. The Unisystem, found in games like All Flesh Must Be Eaten and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (amongst others), is more rules lite, and I like the way it looks. It looks fun. Heck, y'know, I'd even probably consider going toward diceless gaming (go ahead, Law, flame away in the comments), which is a style of game that I used to think of as taboo.
Now I'm thinking diceless might be the way to go for some of my gaming fun. I sincerely doubt my gaming group will go along with that, but it's something I would consider doing if there were enough interested parties.
Friday, February 04, 2005
"I mean, my Charisma is, like, eighteen double-zero!"
Oh yeah. That's the stuff. D&D made it into Get Fuzzy today.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Some gamers have too much free time
Like the subject line says: Some gamers have too much free time. Here's a Shadowrun to Hero conversion. Yikes!
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Ah, so it looks like my D&D game planned for this Sunday will be cancelled. One player is unavailable, and the rest don't seem too keen on playing without him.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
It's a bit of a busy day today, but I needed a break. I took maybe twenty minutes for lunch. While waiting for my mini pizzas to cook, I read through a couple of comic books I bought over the weekend.
I'm running D&D this Sunday. We should be finishing up with Hommlet for awhile after Sunday. Then the characters should be off to the next plot point. Yay! Still a long ways to go in Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, though.
I'm running D&D this Sunday. We should be finishing up with Hommlet for awhile after Sunday. Then the characters should be off to the next plot point. Yay! Still a long ways to go in Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, though.
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