One of the biggest problems with combat in the Dungeons and Dragons game was the mental visualization of combat. Characters have an immense amount of hit points, which allows them to take large amounts of damage. In our mind’s eye, we tend to think of the combat as these large blows that are exchanged back and forth. But when attempting to add a sense of reality to the game, we know these visions can’t possibly make sense.
How can a fighter take a battle axe to the face for 22 points of damage and stay fighting, but then suddenly collapses when the bard hits him with a dagger for 2 points of damage. It’s really all about timing, but makes for a difficult time describing the action. Since the launch of 3rd edition, the gaming community has been pretty vocal in expressing the viewpoint of combat being a series of faints and jabs, with a killing blow being a one-time occasion. This line of thought works well until someone scores a critical hit. The idea of a critical hit is that massive amounts of damage have just been inflicted, but describing it as a “glancing blow” takes some of the excitement out of the ever elusive “nat 20″.
Part of this is our long standing thought around “hit points”. It even has the word “hit” in it, which gives us an image of blasting through someone’s defenses and smashing them in the mouth for damage. THe introduction of 4th edition further muddied the waters by introducing the “Bloodied” status, which means you’re at half your maximum hit points. In reality you’re not really “bloodied” though are you? Going on WotC’s description of combat being a series of faints and blows, wouldn’t it be more accurate to simply rename hit points to something like “defense points”. I know it’s a simple change but the power of the mind’s preconceptions on something can have a huge impact in the way people envision it.
Imagine now that these “defense points” describe’s someone’s remaining strength to defend against attacks. Hard blows are even harder to parry. As you joust back and forth your opponents defenses weaken. Each character could have a small number of true hit points, lets say no more than 10 or 15. These points represent those true fatal blows that make contact with the enemy. That way people know when an opponent is truly getting near the end. The back and forth of the combat now has ore context.
The rule system could be very easy to implement as well. You simply subtract 10 or 15 from each player’s total hit points. The new number becomes your “defense points” while the 10 or 15 you subtracted becomes your new hit point value. For the sake of our mind we can rename “Bloodied” to “Exhausted”. I know these seem like minor changes, but when you’re playing a fantasy game, how your mind perceives and interprets things is of the upmost important. How many times have you been in a D&D game when someone lays a really awesome critical hit down, but then is bummed that no additional effects were incurred or that the target didn’t reel back in total agony?
That’s because your players have a specific vision of what a “hit” against “hit points” looks like. Changing the terminology might be an easy fix to making the visualization of combat easier.
We tend to look down on people who make excessive amounts of money. Our reasons vary, but it usually boils down to the jaded belief that runaway success can’t come without selling a piece of your soul or taking some big risks. Wall Street has illustrated this point to us clearly during their fiscal mismanagement which has left some of you available during the weekday to read this post. But none of us should be surprised by the brash behavior of an elite few. Most of us spent years playing Mario Brothers, and that’s really the only life lesson we need.
Super Mario Brothers has always been an incredibly accurate barometer for greed. People of all ages have spent a disheartening amount of time going after that last big coin in the upper right portion of the screen. Don’t act all indignant about it now, because you know exactly what the hell I’m talking about. How many lives did you waste, trying to climb some fucking beanstalk, just so you could recover that last coin. Did you need that coin? Not at all! You already had 98 coins, two more and you get another life. But you’ve already got 47 lives and you’ll NEVER burn through them all.
So why take the risk? Is it for the high? Or just the satisfaction of knowing you could do it. It’s a challenge, dangled in front of your face. That prick Yoshi was just egging you on, telling you how HE could have gotten it if he really wanted to. Your next door neighbor is bragging about how his high score has gotten to the point where it’s flipping back to zeros because 8 sorry ass bits weren’t enough to accurately track his awesome. Challenges, by their nature, are made to be answered.
I don’t know about you, but there was no room for “safety” in my Mario Bros game play. Go big or go home, those were the only rules to live by. I didn’t have time for things like “risk analysis”. I saw some shit and I went after it, that’s how the fat stay fat with coins and mushrooms. Whatever your reasons were, I’m not hear to judge you. I was right there with you, struggling for that last piece of digital gold. I’m just saying that even at a young age, characters like Sonic and Mario are feeding into our desire to want more, no matter the cost.
I was reading an article on one of my beloved sites in regards to race creation in RPGS. It got me thinking about something in a sort of goofy way. Does D&D promote the concepts and fundamentals of sterotyping?
Lets think about it for a moment. Races get specific bonuses to different stats. A Tiefling receives a +2 bonus to intelligence. Is this the real world equivilant of “Asians are good at math”? For a long time some races received negatives to certain ability scores, indicating that the race was inferior at a subset of tasks. Kind of scary, but the fun doesn’t stop there.
Most source books will detail a racial trait or attitude. It’s basically a stereotype that Dwarves are grumpy, Elves are snobby and Humans are really the only truly balanced group of the bunch. Again in real world examples is this Blacks are aggressive (but athletic), Jews are cheap (but great with money) and the Chinese are rude? (but hardworking)
I say this all in jest. I know the game developers didn’t have anything like this in mind when they developed the game. But as I get older and I begin thinking of having a family of my own, I think about the dorky things that I do which I would want to share with my children. With that in mind this post was born. How old should the kids be before I introduce them to a simulated world where things try to mimic reality but also giveway to game mechanics?
At what age are kids actually able to separate the game from the real world? I doubt D&D will ever make a child a full-fledge racist, but does it lay the ground work for the type of thinking that would lead someone there? I can’t say yes or no with any certainty, but it’s definitely a question I thought I’d never hear myself asking.
The life of a dungeon master is never easy. Players show up and they get to enjoy themselves, hang out, eat food and bask in the entertainment that is produced as the result of blood, sweat and tears from the DM. I try to keep my games as organized as possible, but as our meeting frequency begins to have ever growing gaps, I need to be just a bit more diligent.
With that in mind I’ve been trying to come up with a system in which I can store all of my relevant adventure information and campaign information in a single place. I’m sort of a tools guy and prefer to have a specific tool for a specific task. Alas, my search has come up with no specific tool for managing my adventures, so what are my options?
1. Bento — Bento is to Mac as Access is to Windows, only better. Sounds crazy right? But Bento could provide me with everything I need. A small database to manage NPCs, information tidbits I’ve shared as well as treasure loot note taking. It’s a database, with a very slick form designer tool.
Pros:Contains everything I need in one neat package. Cons:It’s a LOT of work on the front end and is not portable.
2. Word — Everyone’s favorite text editor. Pros:Portable across Windows and Mac. I already own it. Cons:Organizationally it sucks. One long running document. Boo.
3. Excel — Everyone’s favorite Spread Sheet.
Pros: Also portable, I own it and sheets allows me some organization to it. Not to mention I’ll have the power of formulas. Cons: Without a lot of work, it’s going to be extremely unintuitive interface wise. It will also remind me of work, which is not cool during D&D time.
4. OmniOutliner — An outline tool for the Mac.
Pros: The term “outline” really doesn’t do this application justice. It’s got some power to it, flexible, great support for embeded documents. Cons: Not the greatest tool for quick data entry. It can be a wee-bit troublesome to navigate when you’re getting complex with your tasks.
I could also use Google Docs to replace any of the Office suggested solutions. That’s extremely nice because not only is it portable, but it’s accessible anywhere and always backed up thanks to Google’s revision history feature. (And by the fact it sits on the cloud)
What are you guys out there using to organize your games? I need to be able to access storyline elements, monsters, NPC information and to be able to easily take notes about a particular event, encounter or situation. Also I often have to introduce a character spur of the moment. I have a list of names to pick from, but once their selected I need to jot down information about them. It’s just too much for my little paper notebook to handle.
With 2009 coming to a close, November 22nd of next year will mark the 5 year anniversary of the launch of the Xbox 360. The shelf life for most gaming consoles has hovered around the 5 year mark for all of the consoles in recent memory. 2010 should be the year that we hear talks from Microsoft, Sony and maybe even Nintendo, about the incredible advances in the industry and what it means in terms of feeding our wireless controlled addictions. But do we need it?
The XBOX 360 and the PS3 are of course the most powerful of consoles ever produced. (We won’t count the Wii, innovative, but not next generation) I’m still in awe at some of the graphical presentations that these games are putting out. Playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 can immerse you in the action to a level that is simply not matched by other forms of entertainment. As I ran through arctic snow storms, sniping unsuspecting watch guards, I though to myself how impressed I am with the 360 as a whole. It’s Internet gaming experience seems to be the easiest if you want to hop right into some action or arrange a death match with friends. Graphics and audio presentation are still up to snuff. The system has even earned a key component in the living room for many, streaming Netflix movies, buying content from the XBOX Live marketplace and serving as a DVD player. In fact the XBOX’s major flaw right now is its lack of a blu-ray player, which I’m sure will be remedied soon now that the blu-ray format is starting to gain a little traction.
What is the next generation of consoles going to look like? They’ll probably be solving problems we’re not even aware we have yet. But will the need to move us forward ultimately cripple us? The first thing I think of is downloadable games. Will next gen consoles even have optical drives? I would hope so for a few reasons.
While downloads seem to be the wave of the future, that future is still uncertain with bandwidth caps beginning to creep into our cable bills. Nothing like waiting until the 13th so your download limit resets before you buy that new shooter
I’m not sure about you, but when I download something big and it starts to choke the Internet connection, my roommate gets a little ticked because he starts to lag in WoW. If I can choke it with a 16mb/s down speed, I’m sure there are plenty of families who will strangle their 5mb/s line.
Downloading games will force us to create a new term. “Delayed Instant Gratification”. It’s an oxymoron, but I live pretty close to a game store. I can get to it and back faster than it takes to finish a 4 gig download. (Which might be generous. DVD’s hold 9.7gb and their already hard pressed to fit all their content on a single DVD)
Hard drives for the next gen system will need to be interchangeable (like the xbox 360) and a hell of a lot cheaper than today’s hard drives. And let’s be clear, it is simple price gouging by Microsoft. Hard drives are NOT that expensive.
What would downloaded games do to the trade-in market? There’s something great about being able to purchase a used game or to trade in an old game for store credit. I don’t see that working in the world of digital downloads. Good for business, bad for consumers
These are just a handful of the problems I see with the future leaning towards digital downloads. We’re already starting to see some of these issues with the PSP Go! units. While I don’t want to stand in the way of progress, I’m finding myself clinging to the old world with a sense of fanactcism. Aside from the traditional graphics and power pumps, I can’t imagine what other innovations might be coming. Enhanced web presence? Social networking? Tighter integration into the living room experience?
The age old battle rages on as teams from both camps give their pros and cons on the other. But honestly with the advancement of consoles the lines are becoming ever more blurred. A recent article from Ars Technica drives the two even closer together. Modern Warfare 2 has decided to do away with dedicated servers for their popular first person shooter. The article details the difference between a dedicated server and the new approach being taken, but the bottom line boils down to flexibility.
On PC Consoles, multi-player games have a ton of flexibility, due to the control of the server owner. It opens up a world of possibilities such as custom rules, map modifications etc. It also opens a world of hurt with cheaters galore. While server ops have an array of tools to keep the assholes out, it’s a war that will last as long as the conflict in the middle east. But the flexibility of the PC as a platform has often been the center of the argument for PC gaming. You can’t do custom maps on the XBOX360 or PS3. The rules for the game are a set of predefined options you can turn on or off, but that’s as flexible as it gets.
I’m not here to debate the merits of one vs the other, but I think the decision by Infinity Ward maybe a sign of the times. Will PC game companies begin following the way of the console in favor of a less flexible system? If that is the case, what’s the future of PC Gaming? It could be reduced to a large list of flight simulators and MMORPGs.
I should probably preface this by saying “In My Humble Opinion” but the reality is this blog is nothing more than a collection of opinions. But I guess I’ve already done the preface thing so I’m just going to hop into it.
I remember when I first started in the MMO space with Everquest, I had high hopes for the game to be a computer version of Dungeons & Dragons the table top game. In a lot of ways I was pleasantly pleased, but in the one area that was more important to me than any other I was disappointed. The role playing aspect.
The thing I like about video games, role playing games, films and books is the feeling of total immersion. Out of all of these mediums of entertainment, table top role playing games seem to have the highest potential for immersion. You can literally do anything, say anything. (Provided a decent game master) You are only limited by your imagination. I loved spending hours being the sneaky rogue trying to con the mayor of the town into my nefarious plan. Or being the paladin pleading with the church to evacuate the town before the dragon shows up. Beyond the skill checks and the combat sequences, role playing is where the game truly began to unfold and become memorable.
With Everquest (and even World of Warcraft) I was a bit naive in my thinking that more people would be like minded. I signed up for the role playing server thinking that gamers would remain in character and it would literally be like another world. Instead my hopes were shattered as people approached me and said “Hey dude, let’s group. More XP and loot”. Now I know there are different levels of role playing, but come on lets give it a chance? And I guess it bothers me even more because these people have CHOSEN the role playing server to play on and then refuse to do it. To me this is the biggest thing holding back MMO’s from being the absolute king dog in the entertainment business. (In reality it’s probably already close but stick with me for the sake of argument)
There is no realistic way to enforce role playing on servers. I’ve tried to think and think of different solutions and so far the only thing I can think of is a complaint system. If enough people were role playing on a server and complaints were followed up on then most gamers who are not interested in role playing will simply move to different servers. It would honestly be too cumbersome for them to communicate with players. Let’s look at a possible exchange.
“help?”
“Sure lad..Do I know you?”
“need help with Sven quest”
“Ah yes, I know Sven. Good lad but he gets in quite a bit of trouble don’t you think?”
“Can u help? too low lvl”
“Aye lad…but I’m waiting for a group of my friends.”
“Group”
“I don’t know that I understand you.”
“invite pls. thx”
This exchange goes on more than most of you care to admit. Now if this type of interaction was common for the person who DOESN’T want to role play then I imagine it won’t be long before they move servers just for the sake of brevity. I should also be more specific. I’m not looking to rate the quality of role players, but I’m looking for people to at least try it and keep the game’s “meta” information out of casual pubic chat channels. Don’t tell me you’re too low level, tell me you’ve never been there or you don’t think you’re skills are adequate. For just about every in game situation there are a million and one ways to communicate the information without using the detailed terms of the game itself.
My friend Nic says it’s kind of elitist and I can see his point. But I’m not looking for it to be this way on all servers, just on the servers flagged as role playing or even come up with a new classification. All I’m saying is that it isn’t unreasonable to allow people who want to experience the game a certain way an easy opportunity to do so.
Everything in my life is pretty much digital. I’ve abandoned the pen and the pad for the iPhone notes program and my laptop. We were playing pen and paper D&D one day and it occurred to me how much was missing from the game, as we moved figures across a boringly brown mat. I drew some horrible circle that was supposed to represent a tree, and another rectangle to represent a lake of fire.
Imagination is good, but it can only take you so far. I decided that maybe we should try out one of those virtual table tops that I keep hearing about. It’s basically a battle mat on the computer. I floated it to the group and they were all in agreement with at least trying it out. So far we’ve had mixed results, but it has showed some promise.
Our first hurdle was to find something that was cross-platform. Not everyone in my group is wise enough to own a Mac, so compatability was key. We also didn’t want the system to enforce a set of rules on us. We really just wanted it to be a battle mat and nothing more. We finally settled on a program called Battlegrounds. The application met our two major requirements and was fairly inexpensive.
This is less of a review on the actual application and more just talking about the pros and cons of a virtual table top. A review of the specific application will come at a later date when we’ve got some more hours on it.
Pros
You can visualize the entire battle scene and put all the little details into it that you want
Prepare your encounters ahead of time, leading to a lot less setup time per encounter
You can have your monsters look JUST like the monsters they’re fighting by looking for some JPEG images
As a DM, you can easily hide and track monsters, keeping them invisible from other players
The players now have an easy method for communicating without the GM seeing or knowing. This works vice versa for the GM as well.
Your players don’t actually have to physically be there if you need to play in a pinch or if you’ve moved away from your gaming group
Cons
It’s another distraction at the table
Technical issues can REALLY disrupt the game. A kitchen table never performs illegal memory operations
Less space at the table. People have some pretty big laptops these days
Is your group computer literate? I’m lucky in that mine is, but if yours isn’t, be very careful
There is an upfront cost associated with it, purchasing the software and making sure everyone has a computer. If not you can get a projector or big monitor for everyone to see and use
I think these basic pros and cons hold true for all virtual tabletop systems. Of course some will perform better than others, but a lot of the things I’ve talked about our specifically people or spacial issues. I must say though I’m excited about the types of encounters I can create now, bringing them fully to life. There is a vibrant community out there who are building maps, building character avatars and helping each other.
This is technically our first time using the tool. Our first attempt was marred with technical issues, but the software’s creator was very helpful and responsive. So we’ll know a little bit more in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more info.
I’ve received a number of e-mails regarding my Airport Extreme/XBOX Live post. It tends to get popular in waves. So I did a quick video tutorial as best I could on how to set it up. I hope this helps some of you who have e-mailed me looking for more detailed instructions.
Also because I no longer have DSL, I couldn’t screen capture that setup. Check out www.dslreports.com and do a search for “Bridged Ethernet Mode” and the model of your router for those specific instructions.
Another gaming session where one of our players couldn’t make it. So we decided to try the iChat video client. We’ve got an iBook with a iSight camera pointed at the tactical map and then my macbook pro is being used to communicate with our remote gamer Paul.
Everything in my life is pretty much digital. I’ve abandoned the pen and the pad for the iPhone notes program and my laptop. We were playing pen and paper D&D one day and it occurred to me how much was missing from the game, as we moved figures across a boringly brown mat. I drew some horrible circle that was supposed to represent a tree, and another rectangle to represent a lake of fire.
