Deck of Many Things

Number of Green Lantern t-shirts seen today: 2.

I’ve played Dungeons & Dragons most of my life. I remember my best friend Peter and I playing while his older brother Rob was DM at the age of 4 or 5. Calling it 5 for good measure, I am fast approaching 32 years of elves, dwarves, dungeons, and dragons occupying a part of my life. I’ve done a lot when it comes to gaming in general; played in many Monty Hall games, played in diceless RPGs (R.I.P. Erick), played RPGs where you needed a calculator to make a character, played RPGs where you needed Excel to make a character, played miniatures games, played war games, played card games, played dice games, and I even made a career out of computer RPGs.

When Wizards of the Coast announced Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons last August, I was excited to see what they were going to do to the game. Don’t get me wrong, 3.5 is a great system, built upon the solid foundation that was the third edition of the game. I still play in a 3.5 game that is trying to wrap up before the group moves to 4e. But 3.5 has flaws, flaws that 4e recognizes and attempts to fix.

I’ve played a few games of 4e now, and have run a session as well, so I have a good grasp of what they did. One thing that strikes me right off the bat is how balanced the game seems to be. It seems that math, averages, and statistics were not afterthoughts in this edition, but incorporated from the very beginning. Sure there are some “optimal” choices and min-maxing that can be done, but in the end a lot of things balance out. To illustrate this, we can look at the Rogue.

When I was rolling up my rogue for John’s Keep on the Shadowfell game I kept seeing powers that keyed off of “light blade”. I checked the weapon list for the best light blade I could use, and it appeared to be the trusty Dagger. Doing 1d4 damage, it has an inherent +3 to hit if you are trained to use it (all Rogues are). The Sickle on the other hand, is a light blade doing 1d6 damage. It does not have the +3 to hit, it is only +2. What it does trade that extra +1 for a larger damage die. That is pretty balanced right out of the box, but we need to start applying some of the bonuses Rogues get to clarify the picture. In the hands of a rogue, daggers are +1 to hit. Now the +3 is a +4, a marked improvement. In addition, they increase the damage die from 1d4 to 1d6. Now daggers are superior to sickles when wielded by a rogue. They are essentially +2 to hit better, while doing the same damage. Rogues and daggers fit together nicely.

Then I noticed the Rapier, way down on the Superior Melee Weapon List. Whoa. They do 1d8 damage, and are +3 when you are proficient with them, what does it take to get proficient with them? A feat: Weapon Proficiency- Rapier. So now a rogue, by spending a feat can essentially trade the +1 to hit that the Dagger gets for a larger damage die (average damage will be +1 over the smaller die). Kinda like a mini-always-on Power Attack.

I liked that. It gave my rogue options, even when trying to be “optimal” there was no clear path. I really like the sense of math behind a lot of these choices. It doesn’t feel that anything is arbitrary for the sake of being different. Each weapon on the weapon list brings something to the table.

There was a lot of talk over the past couple months about how 4e was turning D&D into an MMO. They took a lot of terminology from MMOs, and even some core concepts. I agree with their designers take on how MMOs were based on paper and pencil RPGs and improved upon them. Now is the time to cherry pick the better ideas that MMOs brought to the table and incorporate them back into the paper game. Ideas like Damage over Time, defined “roles” for classes, Elite monsters that were overall better than your typical specimen, etc. I think overall they make the game more entertaining, and more accessible to the masses of MMO players who may find an easier time transitioning to the tabletop when they realize Encounter powers are simply powers with a slow recharge, and Daily powers are powers that are kind of the “once per session” powers that have really long recharge timers.

Right now I am really liking 4e over 3.5. It simplifies the system into fewer die rolls and more engaging combats. I like it.

Oh, and Andy, it’s Sly Flourish, not Sky Flourish. lrn2read n00b.

* the paper and pencil kind.

Wow. I almost forgot to write this blog post after I reminded myself and everything. Anyway, with the approach of 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons a scant 46 days away, I’ve gotten to thinking about the systems that RPGs use.

I classify RPG players into two kinds of groups: Those that need a map, and those that don’t. The “Mappers” are the more tactically minded players, they want to know every nuance about thier character, where they can go, and more importantly, what they can do. The “Minders” are more cerebral, theater-of-the-mind types. These guys don’t play around the kitchen table, they play in the living room sprawled on couches, loveseats, and recliners. They don’t have a miniature for their character, and they don’t take feats that give you a bonus when flanking.

I’ve been a Mapper most of my life. I’ve dabbled in Minder gameplay on occassion. Several of the d6 Star Wars games were run Minder-style. The Amber game that Sean Fish and I were in together was full on Minder, never once was a map even sketched to illustrate a point. When I moved down to LA, I ended up with a gaming group that was almost all Minders. It was a unique kind of torture for a Mapper, to suddenly lose that visual dimension that the map brings, but these guys made it work.

I went back down to LA recently, and wanted to play and/or run for the Minder group again. I had picked the scenario I wanted to run for them, and they all started discussing what system to use for it. I was amused, because I already had a “system” in mind. In my opinion (your’s may vary) if you aren’t going to bother with a map, why bother with stats, skills, feats, hit points, those sort of things. You’ve boiled off the mapping from your game, trying to get to the essence, so I just boiled things down even further into a thick sauce.

Last June, at the game Auden ran over my birthday, Randy (of Ask Randy) was running a “Zombie Apocalypse” game in-between rounds of Auden’s game for a couple people at the table. He was using a single die to resolve anything. High=Good, Low=Bad. I saw this and was enlightened. This is the perfect distillation of “rules” for a Minder game. I inquired about the system and was told this:

“Assuming Matt was talking about what I think he was talking about, you don’t really have any concrete rules or character sheets or anything- based on discussion with the players, the GM has an idea what the player characters are good at and what they aren’t. When a task needs resolving, the player rolls a d10, higher being better. Based on the GM’s perception of the character, he decides on the spot whether the roll succeeded or not, and to what degree.”

and this:

“I rolled a D10 with a base outcome (5 or below, 6 and above) for the success of the action.
The farther away from the number you are deteremines how much you succeeded or botched.
 
Ex.:  Tina(my NPC) is walking across a ladder from rooftop to rooftop.  I figure it takes at least a five to do this.  I roll a 1, she fails but fails the worse possible; she fall, breaks her neck and is dead. ”

That was the perfect Minder system. I ran the game, everyone had a blast. The rules, er rule, never got in the way of fun. I had a good idea on what the characters could “do” based on their backgrounds, and so they tried to play to type. Minder games are not for powergamers, munchkins, or monty hauls*. They are more cerebral games that a mature player can get into, and when you are that cerebral, I don’t need to know EXACTLY what skills you have, or EXACTLY how many Hit Points you rolled. I just need to know “are you any good at what you are trying to do? Ok, roll a die, and we’ll see how much you succeed/fail at it.”

Now if I was running this for a different group, a Mapper group, things would have been FAR different. A system would have been chosen, miniatures procured, and the game would have probably taken twice as long, but just as much fun. I don’t discount either type of game, each has strengths and weaknesses, but I was happy that my experiment with a Minder game being reduced down to the core essence of the experience, worked.

*Apparently this needs a definition for some people: Monty Haul was the host of Lets Make a Deal, and his name became synonomous with overpowered characters in the 1980’s. When DMs would shower their players with +5 Vorpal Defenders while the players took the Dieties and Demigods book as a catalog of “who to go kill today”… that was a Monty Haul game.

Mobility: Dex 15 and two feats.

Provoking 5 Attacks of Opportunity: One Move Action

Telling the DM you have an Armor Class of 37: Priceless.

Got it for Christmas (had to stop buying stuff so people would have stuff to buy me).
 
I thought this game was great, if only for reasons that mean something to me.
 
First, I made a character and didn’t go back and remake them one or two hours into the game. This has NEVER happened to me in an RPG. I always find some flaw or some nbs thing I did that makes me want to reroll. In ME, the story pulled me in so much that I hadn’t even realized that I levelled past the point of no return.
 
Second, this is the first game I have played that actually made Sniper Rifles FUN. I found myself enjoying the combat more and more as I leveled up my trusty SR skill. When I pulled off the “Saving Private Ryan” scene (where a guy runs from one piece of cover to another and I picked him off mid stride, and his buddy, counting on my reload time and aim being off tries to make the same run, only to find that I wrote his name on the next bullet), I dropped my controller in my lap from sheer awesomeness. The fact is this. Combats have a tendancy to start at pretty long ranges, and the enemies tend to use cover a lot, which makes the sheer joy of kneecaping the three pixels of a guy’s leg that are sticking out from behind the crate all the much more enjoyable.
 
Third, I finished it. This is something I can NOT say for KOTOR, KOTOR II, NWN 2, or nearly all other RPGs. Usually there comes a point where I tire of the game, save and never pick it up again. That never happened. Well it almost did. After “going rogue” myself (and yet the alliance was more then willing to ask for my help a dozen or more times), I found myself tiring of exploring planet after planet, driving around in the Super Mario Bus (rocket jumping FTW). I was getting bored, fast. So I decided to put the end game into motion and head to Ilos. Had a blast with the Endgame. Loved making Saren suicide himself (omfg, I can skip a boss fight by Role-Playing? What is the world coming to?)
 
Finally, a game that does justice to Achievements. Getting the Sniper Rifle achievement allowed me to start a new character with Sniper Rifles, no matter what the class they were was. Now my second playthrough is an Adept with Sniper Rifles (and a total Renegade, as opposed to the total Paragon I played the first time through). Playing on Hardcore is making the game a lot more challenging.

Ah, that time of year again. When the snow blankets the yards, the kids get snow-days, and the daytime high never breaks 30 degrees.

Oh wait, I live in the Bay Area. It’s just cold and wet. No snow (unless you drive east a couple hours), just bad traffic. Yes, the ability for a Californian to drive is water soluable.

We’ve completed our office move, so my commute is 20 minutes shorter in the morning, and yet remains the same 45 minute commute coming home. Stupid Oracle. I had an office for like the past 9 years, so moving back to a cube was a shock… to the amount of stuff I had accumulated over the years. My cube is full of games, toys, and statues. To paraphrase a great movie: “It looks like a really rich four year-old works here.”

I am looking forward to Christmas, even though my five year-old son asked for a toy made for eighteen month-olds. It was the ONLY thing he asked Santa for when he was on his lap, and he asked for it in GREAT DETAIL, explaining to the jolly fat man exactly what every part did and how awesome it would be to get. My wife and I are understandng and have plenty of other presents that are more age appropriate for him, but we got him the kiddie toy anyway. Can’t shatter the illusion just yet.

After Christmas I have a Warhammer 40,000: Apocalype game scheduled with a few guys from my old office. My Tau army has been bolstered by another Crisis suit and a Tigershark AX-1-0. I can’t wait to unload a 10″ template on my enemies next week.

One of the cool things the company did was put a bunch of swag up for auction for the Child’s Play charity. When I last checked we had one item bidding over $700. Holy crap! I think that next year we are going to have some awesome stuff for the charity auction, because giving to those in need really does make you feel more like a human being. It proves that we are capable of thinking of more than just ourselves. In the “me me me” world we live in, I get a warm feeling in my heart when I see things like Child’s Play succeed.

I, along with the rest of the western hemisphere, picked up Bioshock. This is a really cool and atmospheric game, but I don’t need to tell you that, since you’ve probably already finished it (I am taking a break so I can get some other gaming completed).

That other gaming includes Stranglehold, the videogame sequel to the greatest action movie of all time: John Woo’s Hard Boiled. This game is awesome, and everything I wanted in a game since I first played Action Quake a zillion years ago. Two-fisted gun-fu action, slow-mo dives, and “kill everything in the room, while doves fly around you” special moves. While this game is short, I still find it a ton of fun. And I like short games, because then there is a chance in hell I will finish them.

World in Conflict is the RTS version of the movie Red Dawn. Not really, but that’s my nutshell description. It’s 1989, and we’re at war in Europe with the commies. So much of our resources are tied up there that the USSR decides to invade mainland U.S., starting with Seattle. The story is great, the narration by Alec Baldwin is perfect, and the game itself is awesome and very pretty to look at. Apparently multiplayer is da bomb. Once I finish the Single Player game I might have to check that out.

As I grow older, with a wife and a 4 year old kid, I have a lot less “free time” than I had back when I was a bachelor living with a bunch of other guys on Easy Street (literally). Now my time has value, so my activities that I consume with that time need to give me something in return. I need validation from my hobbies.

Spending time with my wife and kid auto-validates itself. I get something out of it every second I am with them. Watching (good) television and movies also bring with them some sort of validation, because I can usually discuss the finer points of the media with others who have watched the same.

Videogames inherently had no validation. That was before MMOs. With an MMO, I get validation for every monster I kill or quest I complete in the form of XP and rewards. Those are (permanent) parts of my character, my character is the living embodiment of my time validated. When Microsoft included Gamerpoints as part of Xbox 360’s backbone at first I was non-plussed. But then I realized that Gamerpoints validate my time in non-MMO’s. I can show off the fact that I got 100% complete in Lego Star Wars II, or that I got 1000/1000 points in Oblivion. I love Gamerpoints.

Role-Playing Games semi-validate my time in the comradere factor, but in the RPGA I get reward points for playing and GMing games. That totally validates my time, as those points earn me rewards to use with future RPGA games.

So I guess what I am saying is that if you want me to partake in your hobby, make it worth my time by giving me back something in return.

I haven’t posted in a while, so I might as well diatribe a bit.

• I’ve had some stuff going on with Andre and his school that’s been weighing on my mind.
• I’ve found that most of my normal escape mechanisms to get away from the toils of the day are no longer appealing.

That said there are some bright points:

• My wife and I have a new methodology on doing the dishes that has kept the sink (mostly) clean for over a month now.
• 4th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons was announced. This was pretty huge, as I really got into the info-drip that was the 2nd Ed to 3rd Ed change over. Now I get to relive the info drip all over again, only now I am older and more mature (yeah, right).
• Bioshock is cool. I played a bunch, but am still nowhere near the end. Everyone I know is finished or finishing. I will probably finish around December.
• Stranglehold is coming out today. I got the “now shipped” email from EBGames.com, so I have that to look forward to this weekend.
• Oh, and if you didn’t know the Xbox 360 kicks ass solely for the fact that they have Gamerpoints. I should write a blog entry about “validating my time”.

Since most of the blockbusters have come out, and I finally had a summer where I got to see many of them, I guess it’s time for my reviews:

Spider-Man 3: Uhg. What a mess. Uninspired actors + director forced to put in a villain he didn’t like = one bad movie. Had this movie been Sandman and the Vulture as Raimi had originally envisioned, it would have been awesome, because the stuff with Sandman was great. Everything with Venom, however, was horrible, with the possible exception of Topher Grace’s pre-venom Eddie Brock.

Pirates of the Carribean - At World’s End: Yes, this movie is long, and yes there are long parts of no-action, BUT if you are a fan of the first two (I mean like a REAL fan), then you won’t be disappointed. If you “just liked” the first two, you will find this one to be slow and boring. Characters get developed in ways you wouldn’t expect, and seeing the character development was cool for me.

Fantastic Four 2 - Rise of the Silver Surfer: Had you said that “Fantastic Four will be the best Marvel movie of 2007″ I would have thought you were kidding me. After Spider-Man 3, however, this was entirely watchable. Galactus was a HUGE disappointment, but I liked that Dr. Doom was very Doom-y.

Live Free or Die Hard: Awesome. Simply awesome. Bruce Willis still has it, and he has it in PG-13. If you like Die Hard movies, you will not be disappointed. I waited 12 years for this and loved it. It got a little nerdy in places, which I think made it a better movie for geeks. Just ignore the part where they put the contents of a server room onto one hard drive.

Transformers: Again with the awesomeness. I will preface my review with “I love Michael Bay movies”. So it was nearly impossible for me not to like this. I remember watching Transformers when I was younger, but I wasn’t really “into them” like others (I was more G.I. Joe myself). This movie was cool, lots of style and Megan Fox was nice to look at when the robots were not on the screen.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: I liked this a lot. I liked this more than the past couple Harry Potter movies. The end of the movie was done a heck of a lot better than the book too. They did an excellent job editing the book down to the nitty gritty. You absolutely HAVE to know what has gone on in previous books/movies or you will be super-lost. There is no hand-holding of who characters are and what their background is, and I liked that a lot.