You Don't Have To Run 5E

People just don't believe me (I guess). 

Over and over again I hear the same complaint; it generally goes something like this:

Man, I'd love to run an [old edition] D&D game, but I've had to bite the bullet and run 5E. That's the only game players seem to want (or know how) to play. 

Let me be perfectly crystal clear here: no, you NEVER have to run 5E (nor any other version of the world's greatest RPG) for anyone. 

Nope. Zero. 

These folks that are complaining are missing an important dynamic here: the Dungeon Master holds all the power.

"But-but-but...without players to DM, what IS a Dungeon Master? I must please my players or they will leave and there will be no game! I'll be left all aloooooone...!"

It is this kind of thinking that keeps you in chains.

Look: forget (for a second) that there is this internet thing that allows us to connect with (and find) players all over the world. Ignore that...forget about it.  Okay? Got it? Moving on:

Is anyone forcing you to be a Dungeon Master?

Seriously...blink twice if you are being forced to run D&D against your will; we'll send the cops to free you from your kidnappers. 

For the vast majority (if not 100%) of cases, we are choosing to be the Dungeon Master. For any number of reasons!  But "Dungeon Master" is not a profession (yes, yes...I know there are some people who earn money DMing...just keep wit my thread). You are not dependent on running D&D to earn your daily bread...something else is putting food in your mouth and a roof over your head. Being a DM ain't that thing...it's not like you will starve to death and become homeless if you stop being the DM.

We CHOOSE to be DMs to run a D&D game. No one is putting a gun to our heads. And just as we have the free will to choose to run D&D, we have the free will to choose which version of D&D we want to run. In fact, if you plan on taking up the mantle of a DM it is your responsibility to choose a version of D&D that you want to run, that is most comfortable for you to run.

Because if you don't, your game will suck.

That's the truth of the matter: a DM cannot be fully invested in their own game if it isn't a game they want to run. Instead, you'll end up frustrated, regretful, and resentful. You will grow fatigued when it comes to the act of creation, rather than inspired and energized. Your games will suffer, you will lose enthusiasm, you will draw out a long, slow, death and constantly looking forward to the time when the campaign finally, mercifully ends.  You may be a competent DM for the duration, but you will definitely NOT be the best DM you could be.  How could you be? When you hate coming to work every day, you either drag your feet (perhaps subconsciously hoping you'll get fired) or build up a smoldering ball of anger inside that kills all the joy you should feel at this pastime you've CHOSEN to do.

You MUST have joy in the act of being a Dungeon Master: not only of running the game, but of crafting the world and writing adventure scenarios. If you do not, your game will suck and your players will sense it no matter how good a job you do at hiding it (unless, I suppose, they're really obtuse players). Running a campaign is WORK. You must enjoy that work or you will not give it your best effort. True...you MAY be able to "steel yourself" and still put up a heck of a game. But it will NOT have the excitement and joyfulness it could have. And will, thus, suffer for it. 

"But-but-but...all my players are my FRIENDS!  It's not just about wanting to play D&D, it's about wanting to play D&D with THESE PARTICULAR PEOPLE. And they ONLY want to play 5E!  If I refuse to run 5E, my long time gaming group will disappear!"

Just what kind of slave are you?  Or, perhaps a better question, what kind of friends are these? 

I have friends. Most of them I've never gamed with. NONE of them are folks I currently game with. That doesn't stop us from being friends. And if they invited me to join their table and play a session of 5E with them, I might give it a whirl...if I didn't have any other pressing engagements that particular evening. 

But I wouldn't run 5E for them. I would not run a 5E campaign for them. 

And if they wanted me to run a D&D campaign for them...or ANY kind of campaign for them (that is an incredibly imposition, just by the way: hey, will you our Dungeon Master?)...and IF I had the time and the bandwidth to do so, it would be under MY TERMS.

Because I am the Dungeon Master.

I used to run a weekly game at a local bar every Thursday night. For the most part, the game I was running was B/X. For the most part, most of the players that would show up to the game were people I had never met before they sat down at my gaming table. Over time, the number of players grew to double-digit numbers. Then I stopped running a B/X game and instead started play-testing other things. The number of players shrunk. But new players comtinued to show up...people who had read about my game on my blog or who had heard about the game from a friend or someone who was bringing their significant other to the table. 

The game ended because I moved to Paraguay for three years. The game only ended because I ended it.

In my youth, I stopped running games because I stopped running games. It's not because "all my players left me." So what? You can always find players. People like to play games and people are (usually) pretty lazy...as long as all they have to do is show up and roll dice, well gee, that's pretty easy.  Hell, most players these days can't even be bothered to read the rule books! 

[damn illiterate culture we're sliding into]

The only person doing REAL WORK here, is the guy or gal sitting in the Dungeon Master's chair. So guess what? THAT's the person who's calling the shots on what game gets run at the table. There's not even the excuse (only semi-valid 10 years ago) that the old books are out-of-print. You can get all the 1E stuff now, print-on-demand! Or PDF if you want to go cheap and digital!

[sure, buddy...like you're really going to read the book]

Don't let would-be players manipulate you. "But 1E isn't supported with on-line tools like 5E," they whine. Yeah, because it doesn't need "support;" there aren't any 'character builds' in 1E. "But 1E was written by racist old white dudes." So what? Lots of games were. Does it stop other people from enjoying them? Have you ever looked at the guys who built the NBA, the NFL, the MLB, etc.?  "But 1E is all about killing people and robbing them!"  Look, I thought you wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons. The game is about finding treasure in a violent, action packed world. If you don't want to play that kind of game...that's OKAY. But that's the game I run.

[and please tell me, just by the way, is it somehow better to play a game that still involves murder but without the robbery? Because you're murdering for "altruistic" reasons? Just WTF does THAT say about our cultural norms these days?]

There are some people who disagree with, or dislike, the premise of the D&D game. And that is fine...D&D is probably not the game for them. But if you (like me) are okay with that premise and want to run a game of Dungeons & Dragons, then do so. And do so in the manner...and with the system...that YOU find most comfortable and that best suits your needs.  Maybe that IS 5th edition. Or 2nd. Or B/X or one of its many clones. That's fine...YOU are the Dungeon Master. You call the shots.

But don't bitch and moan about it. Don't say you have to run 5th edition. That's a damned lie. No one HAS TO run 5E (save, perhaps, for WotC employees who have it stipulated as pat of their contract). One of the perks of being the Dungeon Master is that you're the honcho in charge...stop giving away your power!

Dungeon Masters, sorry to say, are a premium commodity: there aren't enough of them to go around. And if you don't have a DM and want one...that can be tough. Like it or not, you might very well end up in a 5E game if that's the only thing available in your area. And that's sad because 5E (especially its latest incarnation) ain't great. 

But if you're a competent and willing Dungeon Master? You're good to go. Just run the game you want to run, regardless of any demands of the players. If the game/system you're running is one YOU are enthused about, the players who are interested in that type of gaming will be fully engaged and committed. If they're not, they'll walk...and that's okay. Because the alternative is going to be ending up with a game that sucks.

Grow a backbone. Stop whining. Run the game you want to run.

Old Friends

Last night, I attended Josh's 50th birthday bash.

Damn. Who's Josh? some folks are asking. Well, waaaaay back at the start of last decade (i.e. 2010), Josh was one of my regular Thursday Night gaming group down at the Baranof in Greenwood. Even though it's been a decade plus since that group ended (I moved to Paraguay in 2014, remember?) I've kept in touch with Josh...even been out to see his bar band a couple times in the last year. Our family exchanges Christmas cards. He's good people.

ANYway...for his birthday he had an "adult pizza party" (i.e. they rented out a loft of a nearby pizza parlor and served a lot of beer...). Like Josh himself, the affair was low-key and causal: no cake, candles, or singing, and the invitees were an assortment of work buddies, band members, and old friends plus a few wives/girlfriends. A fairly small gathering all told...maybe a couple dozen people?

But several of those people were the old gaming crew: Matthew was there with his wife, and Matt, and also Randy (the youngest of our original group, now turned 40). Guys I haven't see in over a decade for the most part. 

And, man, it was good to see and talk to them. Yeah, we're all looking older now: fatter, grayer (or straight-up bald). But damn, at least everyone was positive. Stress levels seem fairly low, attitudes were pretty upbeat. Maybe it was the festive atmosphere, or the reason we'd gathered, or just that folks felt the same as me...just good to catch up with old friends in a casual environment. Or maybe, it's just that Josh attracts "good people" as friends. 

Or maybe it has something to do with us all leaving our kids at home. I do hang out with adults...often!...at various events, but they almost always involve a passel of kids (school, sports, a funeral I attended Friday, etc.) And around kids (our own or other folks) we always seem to be slightly on edge and/or uptight. We have to watch what we're saying; we have to model proper behavior, etc. It's not that Josh's party saw a lot of people cutting loose and getting crazy...as I said it was low-key and dignified. But still: that slight stress of little eyes watching and little ears listening and little minds learning...that stress was lifted. And that was nice.

SO, funny enough, there ended up being a LOT of D&D talk at the gathering. Not just with the old crew, but with new people I'd never met. Apparently, even though I don't hang with those guys anymore, they still talk about me. And about our old games. And so I got introduced around as the old Dungeon Master guy and they wanted to know what I was up to and yadda-yadda-yadda.  Spent quite a bit of time in four different conversations explaining 1st edition AD&D and how and why I run my games the way I do.

[just so folks know, I did spend time in OTHER conversations, too: about kids and school and weather and soccer and Paraguay and politics and earthquakes and bands and food and all that other 'casual party conversation' jazz...I'm not a TOTAL nerd, even if (these days) I am an unrepentant one]

One guy, slightly older than me, was talking about his newfound love of DMing (he boldly stated that when he retires, DMing is the main thing he plans on doing). He runs all sorts of games, but goes more for the "rules light" stuff these days (he talked about enjoying his Mothership game). Me being ntroduced to the guy as a "good DM" by Josh, he wanted to pick my brain for my thoughts on why people consider my games "good" or (I assume) enjoyable. I was not trying to convert the guy over to "my side" or anything (that kind of preachy-ness is something I reserve for the blog), but even so, I think I might have changed his perspective a little bit. Here's a guy who's been running regular games with regular (adult) people for the last four years, and all of a sudden I could see him opening his eyes (or, rather, his mind) to the possibility of running D&D as a true game, rather than as this role-playing thing (which he's not as big into anyway).

Randy and Matt and Matthew also, it turns out, are still gaming together, doing a regular Thursday night thing along with another old Baranof crony, Heron (aka the Iron Goat). They are running 5E these days, but I didn't give them a hard time about it...instead we talked about the various things they liked (playing D&D with good friends, generally) and the things they didn't (differences in play styles, min-maxing versus role-playing, lack of player agency because of story based rewards, length/complication of combat encounters, etc.). Again...and this is important!...I did NOT make any attempt to criticize or rain on their parade with eulogies about "what they're doing wrong" or anything like that; I save that kind of dickishness for Ye Old Blog. I just wanted to listen and explained my own, current, perspective on the D&D game (short version: I've found the robustness of 1E to be more conducive to long-term campaign play, and focus more on the world building than previously).  It would seem that currently their characters are around 9th level and they are getting ready to take on a god and so (perhaps) they're campaign is starting to wind down a bit(?). "Sounds like you're having a good time," is about all I said to that.

But I did offer some of my perspective on the "min-maxer" v. "role-player" thing. Matt was the one being offered up as the example of the former (he complained to me a bit...in a side conversation...about how his character, a rogue, has become an "advantage junkie," needing to gain his backstab bonus damage just to feel like he's contributing to the group; meanwhile, Matthew was the one being roasted for his penchant for "role-playing," making sub-optimal decisions or getting caught up in tangential ideas. Having DMed both these guys before, my labels for them would be a little different: Matt is more task focused and Matthew enjoys the escapism of a fantasy world. The fix for both players is pretty much the same...run a 1E game...but I didn't say that (well, not exactly or explicitly). But I did try to share how world building and offering players more agency in how they interact with the world  could assuage or mitigate these tendencies (currently viewed as idiosyncratic if not problematic). 

Or, at least, that's what I tried to do. It's fine; they're having fun. Matt said he even 'bit the bullet' and purchased/downloaded the new 2024 PHB (though I didn't hear a whole lot of enthusiasm for One D&D...). As I said, I really was NOT trying to convert anyone to anything.

There will come a time, in the not-so-distant future, when I will finally get off my ass and start running a regular game for adults again (I've even picked out the bar I want to run at and, no, it is NOT the Baranof). Even then, when that happens, I don't plan on being some sort of evangelist preaching the "Gospel of AD&D." I'm jut going to run the game. Having seen the power of 1E in action, I expect the players will end up converting themselves into "true believers" (as often happens).  To which I'll strive to give the proper response: I just run the game. I'm only using this ruleset because it works for the kind of game I want to run...The End. 

Anyhoo. It was nice seeing the boys again. It was nice talking D&D shop with nerds my age. It was nice that Randy expressed his appreciation for me introducing him to the game (a game he's now been DMing for 10 years). It was nice to be remembered fondly. Hell, it was nice Josh's drummer invited me to karaoke to show off my vocal chops (I politely declined). It was just a nice evening.

After a long Saturday of soccer games and running around with the family it was nice to have a break. I'm really glad I went.

Staycation

Welp, it's not quite martial law out here in the ol' Pacific Northwest, but things aren't all sunny and roses either. And if you're talking about the local economy, things are looking downright grim. Well, probably not for Amazon (I'm sure business is booming with the on-line shopping economy), but for retail and restaurants? Oh, boy.

It's enough to make me wish I hadn't given up alcohol for Lent...how can I do my part when I can't even spend money on beer?

To the kids, being out of school till the end of April just feels like an extended "staycation" rather than house arrest (though we will be starting remote learning next week). I won't be getting much time to myself (we'll see how that grump-ifies my already grumpy demeanor), but it perhaps helps that we'll be saving on gas and driving time (baseball, basketball, and soccer have all been cancelled for the foreseeable future). Hell, the Archdiocese has even suspended Mass and Friday stations of the Cross (what this means for Easter, I don't know...). Thank goodness the Fred Meyer across the street is still open and stocked (of everything except disinfecting wipes). We're not living The Stand, yet.

[will the Baranof survive the sudden loss in business? The place has been unsinkable for decades. But even with the anxiety-fueled need to drink, are people still willing to part with their petty cash in a time of possible economic crisis? We'll see...]

At least I have Dungeons & Dragons. Our game yesterday (new player) went quite well. Another foray into The Keep on the Borderlands (my son's first) as well as a gruesome character death (my son's first). The rather short adventure went something like this:

"Dave" (1st level fighter with huge strength and a tremendous amount of gold) paired up with "Azina" the 1st level elf. Caro decided to penny pinch a bit, buying only leather armor and a shield (ballsy move) and chose ventriloquism as her starting spell (after also considering protection from evil). This is the first time I've ever seen a person choose that spell.

While there were three mercenaries available at the Keep's tavern, Dave decided that the price to hire them (one gold piece per day each) was too expensive for their operation (he was sitting on 41 extra coins). Azina was looking for female hirelings, and random dice produced a 2nd level elf who was willing to join the party for a 25% share of any treasure found (per the module). After some debate over the NPC's name, we settled on calling her "Ari."

At the Caves of Chaos, Azina was hesitant to do any exploration until they'd set up a decent camp and secured a good quantity of dead wood and "other resources;" Dave, on the other hand, was anxious to get down to spelunking and treasure hunting. Choosing one of the lower caves, they lassoed a still living tree branch and climbed the sloping canyon wall to its entrance.

Lantern light revealed what appeared to be a sleeping bear and the party members cautiously sneaked up to it and stabbed it with their swords, only to find it was a skinned carcass stretched over a pile of branches and debris.

It was at this point that an argument arose over the fact that no one had bothered to bring a bow and that maybe they should have at least purchased a crossbow, as Azina started feeling nervous about the prospect of engaging everything in hand-to-hand combat. Talks of returning to the Keep broke down when no agreement could be reached on who would be doing the actual purchase of a missile weapon and while the players were dissuaded (by the DM) from attacking one another, the party decided to split: Dave was determined to press on, and Azina would return to the camp below. As Ari had signed up for a share of treasure found "and 25% of nothing is nothing" she decided to follow Dave in his exploration.

A short tunnel opened into a second cavern, where a hulking form gnawed at a huge leg of mutton. Neither group was surprised and the creature asked (in goblin, the lingua franca of the region) "What the heck are you doing in my house?" Dave's answer was to shout a few pointed barbs (he spoke goblin) and charge with his two-handed sword.

Whereupon he was clubbed to death with a single swipe of the ogre's dinner (11 points of damage). Initiative had been automatically lost due to his use of a two-handed weapon (B/X).

Weapon

Ari broke morale and fled, though she was struck from behind as she tried to escape. Scrambling down the rope she yelled frantically for help as the ogre pursued. She was about halfway down when the monster kicked the tree branch loose with a mighty stomp and she fell the last ten feet to the ground, only narrowly avoiding death. "And stay out!" he yelled before returning to his cave.

Azina, having observed this from the base of the cliff, quickly moved to help the wounded elf, then decided it was her duty to try and retrieve Dave (if alive) or recover his body (if not). Using her own rope to lasso a stone outcropping (that had been established previously) she climbed up to the mouth of the cave. Once there, and before entering, she used her ventriloquism spell to throw her own voice from deeper inside the cave, saying "Hey, I'm still alive! Come get me!" in goblin language (which the elf also spoke).

She thus drew off the ogre, deeper into his own lair, using no light source to give away her position and simply following him (slowly). Eventually, she heard a grinding of stone on stone as the ogre, confused and curious, decided to move the boulder to his secret exit in pursuit of the phantom voice, thinking it must be coming from the goblin caves. Azina was then able to recover both Dave's corpse and the ogre's great leather bag (which held his treasure), dragging both to the entrance and dropping them over the edge. The elf then tugged the rope until it released, and joined the wounded Ari in camp.

The next morning Azina buried Dave's body, perused the ogre's treasure, and cooked breakfast for herself and her companion (using rations and a healthy amount of the ogre's wheel of cheese) before studying her spell book to regain her ventriloquism spell. The two remaining party members then crafted a litter from the dead wood gathered previously, so that they could drag the huge sack of treasure back to the Keep. While Ari went to the chapel in search of healing, Azina (delighted in her new wealth) purchased a riding horse, tack and saddle, and saddle bags for herself.

Needless to say, Caro had a lot of fun and now wants to try her hand at being a dungeon master.
: )

(Lack of) Patience

I have been a damn grouch lately. My apologies for that, especially if I happen to have written something mean and nasty on your blog the last few days or so.

I am not a patient man. Lazy at times, sure. Prone to inertia, of course. Easily sidetracked into procrastination and time-wasting, obviously. But patient? No...and I imagine I've written that more than once once on this blog (after a couple thousand posts, the occasional repeated thought is perhaps inevitable).

And I tend to be grouchy when I get impatient. Right now, I'm going through a phase where I'm running up against my own impatience in two separate areas, both having to do with some very exciting developments in my "publishing empire:" I've got two books nearing completion. One is waiting on art; the second is waiting on art, formatting, and a slight amount of rewriting.

The art (and this is the really exciting part) is coming. I've commissioned work from two different artists (one for each book) and both appear to be on the ball...I've received preliminary illustrations from both in the last few days. For me, that is excellent news. It is exciting news. The artwork is always the last piece for my books, seeing that (to this date) I have been unable to rely on my own inadequate drawing skills. Seeing illustrations get done...it's like smelling something delicious cooking in the oven and knowing that the feast will be ready in a very short time.

And more than that, seeing the work from an artist is a validation of sorts. Sure, I am paying them, but the fact that they're doing the work and following my art direction and that the results are good...well, it makes me feel like a real live book publisher or something. Many are the times that I've felt like a big fraud...not just with the writing/design thing, but with other areas of my life. Just second guessing my choices, second guessing my motives, second guessing my authenticity. Probably because I believe I should have more to show for my life up to this point...which is pretty damn ridiculous when I actually take stock of myself.

[what can I say? People expected great things of me when I was younger. Writing the occasional RPG book every five years for an audience of a few hundred feels like pretty small potatoes]

[but still...ridiculous. I look up at the TV from my table (I'm drinking coffee at the Baranof...again) and see the immensely talented Wayne Brady is now hosting "Let's Make a Deal" on daytime television, sporting a gigantic lycra turban. I'm sure he's making a good living, but if I was in his shoes, I would probably be having the same misgivings (regarding my entertainment career) that I've been having this morning. Probably more...is the beard symbolic of his feelings? Does he day drink more than he once did?]

*AHEM* So, anyway...the waiting. I hate the waiting. We are at the "watching the pot boil" stage of things and there's no way to hasten the process. I've never been a pregnant woman (duh) but I'd liken the mental stress at this point to be around the 7th or 8th month range. Not just in wanting things to be done, but in preparing for what comes after.

No, scratch that. It doesn't really approach expecting a child...much more stress (especially regarding the "after" bit) with that, even as a father. Poor analogy. Point is, the waiting can't be helped. I want the books to have illustrations, I want the art from the artists I've commissioned, and I don't want the project botched or rushed. Well...maybe rushed a little.

Now...the OTHER bit of impatience: the second book that is ALSO getting artwork, but that requires a bit more work is Cry Dark Future. Yep, really. It is going to be published in the form that it was when originally play tested: all the gripes and grumps I've had the last few years about it being derivative trash, etc.? Don't care anymore. Yeah, it's derivative. And I'm a hack. I'm content to own both those facts so long as I can get the thing out the door.

Here's a thought: it's hard to really come up with an original idea. Few people can do it (or do it on a regular basis). I can't: I'm good at tweaking and polishing and reworking other people's stuff, but originating awesomeness? Eh...not so much. And is that so bad? Star Wars is mainly Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress colored by Flash Gordon with some WW2 fighter plane action spliced in, and it's entertained a whole bunch of people over the years (as has the film's incredibly self-derivative sequels). And while I wouldn't expect CDF to meet the same sort of fanfare, I know some people will enjoy running it. After all, I did...and the Shadowrun concept doesn't fire my pistons nearly as much as it did when I was a young teenager.

As for the rules not being "simple" or "streamlined" enough: the fact is, they're simple enough. And just as I've gained a newfound appreciation for the "complexity" of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, I've decided there's no reason to fear the fiddly. Look here: the systems are still more intuitive and straightforward than, say, the dice pools of Shadowrun, the asymmetrical systems provide interesting twists, and the internal consistency feels far more "realistic" than trying to push all the crunch into a universal or "one roll" system (which I was never going to do anyway).

And do I really need to do a game with another Vancian magic system? No, I do not.

But I'm digressing (as usual): the thing that tries my patience here is the reviewing, rewriting, and formatting, all of which takes time. Time, that most precious of commodities, and the one so often in shortest supply...at least for me. Finding the time to do what needs to be done with all the other pressing concerns in my life makes the reworks so...darn...slooooooow.  And things are just going to get crazier as I start a new part-time gig (next month), and have kids joining basketball and baseball teams. Plus there's the daughter's birthday, the wedding anniversary, the school auction, the last two months of soccer (three games last weekend...sheesh!), volunteer stuff, home improvements (need gravel for the driveway).

[thank goodness the Seahawks got bumped from the playoffs. One less distraction]

Finding the time to make progress is tough, and thus progress is slow...which makes me grumpy as hell, even though I still have to wait (anyway) on art. It doesn't help that I had to upgrade my MS Word to work with the new Mac OS (Catalina) and the damn thing looks different from the way it was the last, oh, 15 years or so.  Grrrrrr...

Time. Patience. I wish I had more of both. I know I should try cultivating more of both (I'll stress less and live longer)...but knowing and doing are two different things, as I'm sure my astute readers are all aware.

ANYway...I wish I had some zinger to wrap this post up with, but I don't. Just wanted to check in with folks, if briefly (while firing down a couple pots of coffee). Right now, I've got to get back to work.

Later, folks.

Childish Things

Saturday night I managed to lose my wallet, which is at least as embarrassing as it is inconvenient. There's little in it that couldn't be replaced (aside from the punch cards for my local bierhaus), but still...it's a pain in the ass.

One of the major ways it's a pain is the hindrance to my ability to drive. Oh, I could still drive (one needs a vehicle to drive, after all, not a license), but I just replaced one tail light bulb and I know it's only a matter of time before the other needs a similar treatment...and do I really want to risk getting pulled over for something silly and getting a giant ticket for not having a license on me?

No. I have better ways to spend my money.

Unfortunately, Department of Licensing offices are few and far between these days (government cutbacks), and they're closed on Sundays. And also, apparently, on Mondays (did I mention government cutbacks?). You can get a temporary license on-line (and print it at home)...but you need a bank card to do so. And my bank card was in my wallet.

*sigh*

So, I'm on bicycle, at least till tomorrow. Which is fine, probably good for me (I have a trailer to haul my kids to and from school, so no worries there). I've been biking a LOT lately, something I haven't really done since high school. The wife was in town the last three weeks and her office was doing some sort of "bike month" contest, which (because she's my wife) she was ultra-competitive about winning. We ended up riding nearly 16 miles yesterday before she hopped on a plane for South America.

My "car" this week.

Like I said, it's probably good for me. My muscle tone's been coming back, though that's at least in part due to changes I've made to my diet. Well, not today...this morning I'm down at the Baranof eating biscuits and gravy and hash browns and eggs and bacon (hey, I'll be biking later!). But MOSTLY I've been trying to eat more grains and raw vegetables and less of the crap that I usually do.

[still drinking too much, though. Exhibit A: misplaced wallet]

Spending a lot of time on my bike means firing up old muscle memories and, of course, that means waxing nostalgic about gaming, especially Dungeons & Dragons. Back when I used my bike as my main mode of transportation, the places I was going were (usually) gaming related: I was going to my friends' houses (to game) or we were riding to and from school (talking about our games) or we were riding to some book store or other (to buy games and game-related product). And just humming along at a leisurely pace, my mind drifts into imaginative brainstorming, thinking about things I'd like to do in-game...

But even if that wasn't enough to (naturally) get me thinking about D&D, it doesn't hurt that the dude who owns the local bike shop (where we picked up some fittings for our bikes) is a big ol' D&D player/DM and hangs out with other D&D DMs (at the shop) shooting the breeze about the hobby. This is all news to me, though totally unsurprising. The D&D hobby seems to enjoy a healthy following in the Greenwood 'hood, even though I've never before made the acquaintance of any of these people. I am either incredibly anti-social or incredibly self-involved. Probably both.

Anyway, had a decent conversation with these folks in passing though (as usual) I spent more time simply asking questions and listening and zero time expounding on my thoughts on the game (don't like to scare people). Interesting tidbits: these guys have played for looooong periods of time. They run separate games (they're not all in the same group). They have kids the same age (or a little older) than mine and have recently been introducing youngsters to the game (at the request of others). For this, they're using 5E, though with heavy edits ("cuts") due to accessibility/teaching issues.

[asked about older editions, one guy said his preferred edition was "3.5" but felt that was waaaay out of reach for most kids...or adults. The other guy joked he'd wanted to make his kids play through every edition of D&D in chronological order, starting at 0E. I'm not sure that's a terrible idea, actually...]

These things, these thoughts, have made me wonder what ever happened to the gaming companions of my youth. I mean, I know where they are (Facebook, yeah?) and a bit about their lives: spouses, kids, jobs, etc. But have they really quit gaming? Have they found other creative outlets for their imaginations? Or has that part of themselves really just withered and died over the last several decades?

It hasn't for me, though Lord knows why not. Even when I'm not gaming, I'm thinking about gaming (or how things relate...or how they could relate...to gaming). I think my parents assumed I'd "grow out of it" (my father probably thinks I did...). My non-gamer wife hoped I'd give it up sometime, though I think she's resigned herself to my hobby at this point.

[gaming is my "porn"...sneaking old editions into the house or looking at PDFs when she's not around or using my book profits as a "slush fund" for buying game product without leaving a paper trail in our bank records. Sorry, sweetie. I'm not dishonest with my wife, but Scorpios have secrets (as she well knows, being one herself)]

'Course it might just be that I've had too easy a life. My old buddy Kris ("the Doctor" or "Doc," as I like to call him) has returned to Seattle after living down in Oregon for nearly two decades. Visited him the other day, and man, he is doing awful. Looks to be in his mid-70s despite being only a couple years older than me. Has a hard time talking because his dentures are all broken; has a hard time moving because his back is all screwed up. He's been on Social Security Disability for the last 25 years and the pills he takes for his bi-polar disorder have him all fucked up...can't use his hands anymore to paint or play guitar (and he used to be badass at both). His parents are dead, he has no one who can look after him, he was homeless in Oregon for a couple years and he's now living with MY fucked up brother in a house owned by our mutual friend who's fallen back into his heroin addiction. Just a f'd up mess. And he hates it. Hates it. But what can he do? You can't find a place to rent in Seattle for the $500 month he has in housing allowance.

Another old gaming buddy of mine (this one from high school) has just decided to move east of the mountains, where the cost of living is 40% of Seattle. That's understandable enough...except that the guy was born and raised in the heart of this town and has lived here his whole life (with the exception of his time at University of Chicago). But despite being untethered to a family or mortgage, he just can't make it here (i.e. survive) as an artist...and art is his raison d'être.

Maybe if I lived in a "survival mode" of scrambling just to feed and shelter myself I'd have zero time for gaming. Maybe...though I suspect I'd need the solace of escapism that gaming provides even more than I already do. Maybe I'm just an asshole.

All right...this is a weird, wandering post that doesn't seem to have much point, so I think I'm going to cut it off. I've got a couple half-finished drafts on the old blogger that'll probably make more sense; I'll try to get them finished and posted over the next couple days. When I'm not busy biking and whatnot.

Later, Gators.

Our Last Best Hope

One thing I'd like to get back to one of these days is the dozen-or-so, half-finished drafts sitting in my blog's memory. I mean some of them are still pertinent. However, for the sake of "just doing something" (baby steps, right?) I'll write about something more current:

The last month or so, I've been dipping my toes back into the Magic: The Gathering world. The reason for this is pretty simple: my son has discovered Magic cards. Back in June, he be can collecting and trading Pokemon cards, and was gifted with a huge stack of the things from an older kid (11? 12 years old?) who'd moved onto MtG. While we played these earlier in the year, what's become a big part of the fun for my first grader is trading cards on the playground (before and after school), and Magic cards became the currency of choice sometime around the 2nd week of September.

I have a fairly substantial collection of MtG cards, most of which were purchased off an old roommate back in 1999 or 2000. We...myself and my housemates of the time, including my spouse (before we were married)...found the cards enjoyable for casual play, especially down at the Baranof, over breakfast, while nursing our tremendous hangovers (ah...wasted youth). But casual play was all we ever did with them. While it was fun to build decks and tweak them with the nickel cards you could pick up at Gary's (back in the day), none of us wanted to invest substantial amounts of money in them. For us, it was just a cool substitute for Rummy or Cribbage...something fun to play while relaxing with a beer (or whatever) in the evening.

While I did end up amassing a couple thousand cards, they got boxed up and (mostly) forgotten sometime around 2000 or 2001...after my wife and I moved out of that house and "grew up;" getting married, buying cars, and houses, etc. But as with many of my gaming products, I kept the cards (still in shoeboxes), figuring some day they'd get brought out again. And now they have.

[just in case anyone's wondering: I am a packrat, but I wouldn't call myself a hoarder. I have been known to part with things, even things of substantial nostalgic or symbolic value (my old electric guitar, for example). And some things...like my 2nd Edition AD&D books...I found exceedingly easy to discard. I don't hang onto EVERYthing, folks!]

However, after a couple-four weeks of deck building and playing and attending one local, MtG competition (at a local shop with a substantially younger crowd), I find myself kind of sour on Magic, again. The cards are still neat and I really dig on the newest series (it's all inspired by South American-flavored pulp: lost world dinosaurs, Aztec-ish vampires and conquistadors, plus various South Seas pirates)...but I don't want to invest in a paper product that disintegrates in water, and certainly not to the extent that I could compete in a competitive environment. And just beating up on my six year old is kind of a dumb exercise in gaming. At least when we play Rummy he can win a hand or two.

But the boy still likes the cards and I picked him up a booster pack for him this weekend, as well as a new RPG for yours truly: Our Last Best Hope, a GM-less story-game by Mark Diaz Truman, inspired by the disaster movies of recent years that focus on world-threatening melodrama. Films like Armageddon, Interstellar, The Core, The Day After Tomorrow, and any of various zombie-apocalypse films that have graced the screen...stories where a small band of heroes must work together and overcome various obstacles to save the human race from extinction.

It's a well-known trope these days, and I'm kind of surprised at how familiar I am with it, considering these types of films bore the shit out of me. I mean, the formula's pretty tired, the drama pretty contrived...and yet these stories remain popular and (probably because there are so many of them) I've seen more than my fair share of them. Heck, some of 'em (like Armageddon) are a lot of fun, even...or especially...when they are at their most ridiculous. Regardless, the game is exceptionally well-crafted, and playing within such a recognizable genre gives players a real chance to ham things and have a great time.

Underrated classic

Hell, you could use it to model a lot of high stakes, crisis-type situations. Something like the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage...which I just re-watched with my kids a couple weeks ago (despite its age, I still find it a great film)...would be perfect for Our Last Best Hope. Even though humanity isn't on the brink of destruction, The Fate of the Free World is!
: )

I won't get into the specifics of the rules here except to say that compared to other "Story-Now" indie-games, it's very concise and focused with excellent practical in-game resources and a lot of new-tech support (including QR codes throughout the book that you can scan with a phone app for video examples of specific rules). But for me, it shows that there ARE real reasons for playing other RPGs, and other systems. You could not use (for example) the D20/Pathfinder system to emulate the large-scale disaster drama with the same kind of laser-focus that Truman brings with Our Last Best Hope.

It really warms my heart. Damn, there are some designers doing good work out there.

Anyway, Diego's not old enough to play (he's still a little young, even for D&D), so it'll probably be a while before I get a chance to try Our Last Best Hope. But it's definitely worth keeping on the shelf for some future, rainy day. Unlike the Magic cards, I doubt it'll take sixteen years for me to find an excuse to play it.
; )

Another Thursday, Another Cup o Coffee

Plenty of musings the last couple weeks (as well as one near-finished post about *mumble*mumble* paladins sitting on the draft board), leading me to my usual predicament: too much to say and little hope of putting together a coherent blog post.

But as I'm at the Baranof, fairly coffee'd up, and out of blogs and sports news to read (I mean, do I really care the Mariners have picked up a player for their godawful bullpen? They've only been above .500 once this season!), I might as well write something. Writing something is better than writing nothing. In fact, it's a LOT better: I almost always feel better after doing so.

Like I'm getting something accomplished or something.

Watching Ye Old Television the other day (late at night) I was struck again by the thought of how many gaming geeks must have fallen into the business of producing, scripting, and directing business.  Caught a bit of some Transformers sequel (don't ask me which. I watched the first one in the theater when it came out years ago and have since tapped out), and could not help but think THIS is what Siembieda is trying to convey with the whole S.D.C. versus M.D.C. thing. THIS is Rifts (or Robotech or whatever): giant alien un-killable monsters that snap their fingers and inflict huge amounts of property damage. Clearly the creators of this series used to play Palladium around the cafeteria table in high school, same as me and my old buddies.

Watching the new Game of Thrones season kick-off I was again struck by the thought of how much it looks like someone's old school D&D campaign, just bashed together with house rules and shoot-from-the-hip historic analogues thrown in. How does an assassin use their disguise ability? Like this: some magical latex mask that you can whip out of your pocket at the drop of a hat (I went back and reread my old PHB and DMG and could find nothing that would contradict the way a "faceless man's" ability is portrayed in the show). Who needs fake beards and padded clothes? Not these guys.

[there is quite a bit more in the books on the manufacture of poisons, but nothing that would preclude the kinds of mass assassination...with as little explanation...as what we see in GoT]

Same holds true for the undead (someone likes their wights!), or rangers, or...well, you get the point. Game of Thrones the show (I haven't read more than a couple of the novels) feels a lot like an OD&D campaign run by some curmudgeonly Old Schooler who said, "We're going to get rid of humanoids and just cannibal hill people," and "We're really going to dial back on the availability of magic in the game" while still retaining out-and-out gonzo elements.

[actually, reminds me a bit of Gus over at Dungeon of Signs]

You still have your plate-armor wearing dudes in a world without gunpowder. You still have your magic weapons ("Valerian steel"). You still have "raise dead" though on a much smaller (and darker) scale. Heck, you still have dragons...but these are much more of the Chainmail type (and used in the same way) than the latter-day McCaffery-color-based creatures.

Anyway...

What other bits of gaming geekery did I spot on the screen recently? Hmm...something, but it's escaping me at the moment. I know I see all sorts of moments in the superhero genre that seems to have been influenced by gaming...but then, as superhero games have been influenced by the comic book genre, it's possible that I'm just confusing the origin of the tropes.

One show that inspired gaming (rather than the other way around) was the old Robotech TV-series (translated and re-branded from an even older Japanese series. Well, three series, but whatever...). The kids and I finally finished watching the first season of that (the "Macross saga") on Netflix last week. It was still a lot of fun (I haven't seen it in decades), and even Minmei's music, while grating, was bearable. Of course, my children are now singing her songs all the time...

Still lurking in some bargain bins...

Of course, we had to go out and look for a copy of Palladium's old Robotech RPG so that we could play. And fortunately we were able to pick up a used copy for $10. Man, I haven't played or run that game for...well, for decades. I had a trio of gaming buddies in high school (Michael, Mike, and Ben) who LOVED anime and comics and we're huge Robotech players...they were my introduction to the game (as well as Heroes Unlimited), and I had a chance to borrow their books and play it with them on one or two occasions.

Funny enough, now owning my own copy, it's pretty much what I remember: a mess of a game which uses the Palladium system in a manner that makes it really, really difficult to capture the feel or themes of the show. Not even via the combat system (which is Palladium's emphasis). *sigh*

[I'll have to write more about my high school gaming sometime. Those guys introduced me to the extended Palladium catalogue...I'd only ever played TMNT prior...and I introduced them to Stormbringer, BattleTech, and Vampire the Masquerade. This was during the twilight years of TSR and we NEVER played "those games." At least not together...]

Diego REALLY wanted to play Robotech (of course), but just running the chargen is So Damn Boring And Slow (all those useless skills...) that we quickly gave up and decided to write our own, streamlined game. I've got a couple-three pages of notes for the thing so far, and if I can get my kid to draw some robot pictures maybe I'll publish it as an e-book or something. I'm pretty happy with what I've got so far, but I'd still like to work in various Robotech-isms to make the game something other than a map-less war-game. We'll see, we'll see...fortunately, it's a pretty lightweight project so I might be able to bang it out in a week or so (Ha! I've said that before!) if I can find some time between the playdates and summertime chores (yard sale this Saturday...).

Let's see what else have I been up to...? A lot of game-related, post-apocalyptic stuff (infer what you will). But that's a subject for another post (waaaaaay too long). Oh, I met someone who's known and worked with Mike Mearls and we had an interesting conversation about him (nothing bad). Picked up a new RPG that has perhaps the coolest presentation ever...hoping to run that one in August (when my family is out-o-town). What else, what else...

Eh. That's enough for now. I need to finish this coffee and make a run to the post-office. For those who bothered to read my ramblings, thank you! It feels good to get some of this clutter out of my noggin (perhaps my next post will meander less).

Oh, By The Way: print copies of my B/X Companion are about 60-70% sold. If you've been wanting to order a copy, I wouldn't wait too long...not sure when I'll get around to doing another print run.

Stuck In A Rut

It is a terrible thing (well, subjectively speaking) that putting off blogging for long periods of time actually makes the act of blogging harder, not easier. One might not think this is the case...after all, in the time between my last post and this one I've had half a dozen (or more) ideas for good, solid posts that I wanted to write. But the sad fact is, the more those ideas "pile up" in the head, the harder it is to actually write them down. After all, which one do you start with? Does it make sense without the context of the earlier (non-posted) ideas that led to it? Is it still timely?

So...fuck. That's where I find myself at the moment. And rather than simply put off posting yet again, I've decided to put something down just to take a swing at blogging. Maybe this will help open the flood gates for yours truly.

The surprising success of my B/X Companion re-print (I've sold more than a quarter of the run already) has really made me want to get back to (i.e. finish up) one of the several writing projects that sit on my laptop. Seriously, I've got two or three books that range from 85% to 98% written, and I just can't seem to pull the trigger on them. One (Cry Dark Future) is actually done (except for artwork)...proofed and edited even...and I just want to blow the whole thing up because it's not good enough. I'm pretty sure I've written about that before (oh, yeah: right here), and the sad fact is nothing's changed since the last time I complained about it, eighteen months ago or whatever. Nothing's changed, except that I've started other projects that are near completion but have stalled, and that I've built up my own personal resentment for my own work.

AAAaaargghhHH!!!

So here I sit in the Baranoff, drinking decaf and going through my laptop docs and wondering just which one I should crank out. Because I WANT to crank something out. Really. Really really really. And I think it's going to be Cry Dark Future, I really do, and I THINK I can get it up and ready to print and I even have a couple-three people who I can task for artwork, BUT...

...I have a problem.

The magic system. It blows chunks.

Cry Dark Future was originally imagined as a B/X version of Shadowrun. Converting the latter system to the former (back when that was my main objective) was surprisingly simple, even with regard to the non-Vancian magic system.  However, upon years of reflection, I find I dislike the non-Vancian magic system. In fact, I'm getting pretty darn sick of magic systems in ALL of these RPGs I'm designing. I need a different paradigm.

Recently...like, a week or two ago...I started thinking that MAYBE I should build a game BEGINNING with the magic system. I've actually been reading a lot of different, older RPGs looking at approaches that were taken by others back in Ye Old Formative Days of RPG design: Chivalry & Sorcery, Ars Magica, Fantasy Wargaming, etc. There are things I like, things I don't but there's nothing I can really polish and mold and re-purpose...which is kind of my forte when it comes to game design. I'm good at refining ideas, but I seldom have full blown creative spurts that spring from my noggin like Athena from Zeus.

More's the pity.

That's why this post is titled as it is. Yes, I'm stuck in a rut with regard to my blogging, but with my designing as well. I'm nearly on the verge of adapting a straight Vancian system (spells by level, fire and forget, etc.) system to Cry Dark Future because it's less fiddly than worrying about success rolls and mana burn and whatnot...not to mention I prefer a system that's dissimilar from other systems in the game (combat, for example). That's part of the beauty of original D&D...it has all these mini-systems that work in different ways, but are all uber-simple to grok and remember. Cry Dark Future should be like that...interesting to use while being easy to learn so you can spend your time playing and exploring the setting of the game.

*sigh*

Hmm.

Huh. I just remembered something...a different game I wanted to examine (not an "old school" game) that might give me an idea or two. Oh...wait. No that was for something else.

Aaargh! You see? Too many ideas fighting for space in my brain!

My six year old really, REALLY wants to play Dungeons & Dragons with me, just by the way. I don't really feel up to it this week...but maybe I'll write up a short adventure for him. That might help my brain to clear this fog.

The decaf certainly isn't helping (duh).

"Bittersweet"

That's the word that comes to mind as my time in SeaTown dwindles: bittersweet. Come Saturday morning, I'll be once again winging my way to Paraguay, 25 hours of travel time (door-to-door) ahead of me. The return has been wonderful, but just not long enough. My poor son loves this town, and has been so happy the last week and a half, despite lacking toys and costumes and the usual kids he'd play with. He'll be very sad to leave...as will I and my wife.

Just not enough time to DO all that we want...but then, what we want requires living here, really. We've soaked in what we could: breakfasts out, good seafood, corned beef reubens and tasty beers.

[maybe not as many holiday martinis as I'd like, but at least they tasted like gin martinis are supposed to taste]

Lot of effort from Coop on that TD.

The weather has been beautiful (to my taste), and I made it to a Seahawks game (against the Cardinals...a good win against a tough defense)...I have been informed by folks that watched that my brother and I even showed up on the television broadcast, which is cool. I got to the dentist and I got my haircut. Tomorrow I get my favorite holiday feast (though we aren't cooking this year...just too much to do and too little time), plus a host of great football games to watch. I managed to make it to a game store and shoot the shit about gaming...something I haven't been able to do in months.

But we just haven't been able to see and visit and hang out with as many people as we would have liked. Family, yes, a little. Friends? Very, very few. In fact, if we hadn't run into a couple at local stores, I'm not sure we would've had the chance to see any of 'em. Nice as it is to spend time with folks during the holidays, most everyone is busy with their families. And having two young children, a wife who's under the weather, and no available childcare has meant it's...well, pretty much impossible even to take a buddy up on an offer of a beer.

So, yeah...bittersweet. This time next week I'll be back in the 90 degree weather and thunderstorms of Asuncion. I'll (hopefully) have a bit more time to write, which will be nice, but I'll sure be missing my hometown. Keeping things terribly positive might be tough if there's any lingering depression (or travel fatigue). Then again, maybe this short jaunt will be the kind of "battery recharge" I need to get me through the Paraguayan summer. Still, I know I'll be looking forward to our end o the year trip to Mexico when we'll again be surrounded by family, excellent food, and pretty good weather.

[and this year, the in-laws should find my Spanish remarkably improved!]

To all my friends and gamer buddies that I haven't had a chance to see this trip...Greg, Heron, Josh, Kayce, Matthew, Randy, Tim, Will (and Ashley), etc....hopefully I'll have a chance to see you folks in a couple-three months (when I'm supposed to make a short trip back). Otherwise, I'll do my best to hook up with you all when we're back in June.

Hope everyone has a happy holiday!
: )

[by the way, spent the last few days reading Alexis Smolensk's book, How to Run, just finishing it yesterday morning. I plan to post a detailed reviewing the next couple-few days (when time allows), but right now I'm still composing/digesting my thoughts on it]

Fiasco

A quick side note: I received a new laptop from my wife for Christmas, due to my old one being fairly out-o-date (I think I got it back in 2007 or 2008), the expected emphasis on my “writing career” (ha!) while unemployed, and the difficulty with finding quality hardware (for reasonable price…even American-brand toys manufactured in China are two or three times as expensive as they are in the USA, and I don’t even shop at WalMart!).

On my old Mac, I had copies of MSOffice for Mac so that I could use programs like Word and Excel. The reason for this was two-fold:

MS programs like Word and Excel are the ones I’m familiar and proficient in, due to using them for years on my (prior) job’s PC computer.

As a person who sometimes found time (or made time) to work on personal projects ar my (prior) job, I needed the ability to work in the same software both at home and office.

Mac’s equivalent programs (Pages and Numbers) can “translate” Word and Excel documents, but the process is only really one-way, and I learned early on during the book writing thang what a pain in the ass it was to try working in two different systems…plus my lack of familiarity with the Mac software made me uncomfortable (that’s putting it mildly). Sure, “Mac Word” isn’t an exact duplicate of MS Word (there were issues with missing fonts and margin limitations), but the differences were small enough that I could work with them with only minor frustration.

However, when we got the new laptop, I decided NOT to get the corresponding MS programs loaded on my computer. My thought was that I needed to learn how to use Pages, etc. and I would never do that with the MS programs…plus, since I’m not actually working anywhere besides my personal computer, there’s no reason or requirement for me to have PC compatibility. I figured by the time I got back to the USA, I’d be fully proficient (or at least competent) in my Mac programs and all my writing/publishing/whatever would be handled in the Mac programs.

Of course, I completely forgot that ALL my documents (including all my books, published and non-) are still in MS Word format. Trying to edit them for typos, or get them ready for upload (I was planning on making The Complete B/X Adventurer available for sale as a PDF), has turned into a giant clusterf**k. Crap on a stick.

But that’s not the “fiasco” to which the title of this post refers. That refers to Jason Morningstar’s excellent and award winning game, of which I’d never heard…up until December.

Bully Pulpit Games first released Fiasco back in January 2010…back around the time I was trying to figure out how to make a cardboard box for my B/X Companion book. Gosh, only four years ago? Comparing Mr. Morningstar’s work to my over over the last few years is an exercise in envy (on my part)…not only has he won multiple awards and sold thousands and thousands of books, the guy seems to design nothing but GM-less RPGs, of the kind I’m only now starting to really explore.  It’s really enough to make you feel like an antiquated schlub.

PVP Action? Yes!

*sigh*

I was introduced to Fiasco through a friend of one of my semi-infrequent, drop-in gamers. I mentioned (back in November or early December) of my interest in checking out a collaborative RPG or two (I’d previous had some experience, as mentioned with games like Capes and Pantheon) and Jon (Redbeard) suggested Fiasco. His buddy and his buddy’s wife (really don’t remember their names at the moment…sorry!) showed up to the Baranof one Thursday night, and we ran Fiasco with my brother, AB.

[my brother has recently returned to Seattle in October and has since been attempting to reenter “normal society” after a couple years of homeless wanderings and mental illness in the Hawaiian Islands. He’s not what one would call an “indie gamer” by any stretch of the imagination. In a conversation about game design, he once espoused that a game could not be a “real” role-playing game without a combat system and some method of character advancement. He is (or rather was) also a big fan of World of Warcraft…]

Fiasco is a great game. Very fun, very interesting and a real collaborative challenge to craft a good story. We all enjoyed ourselves…even my brother, who was extremely hesitant to try such a game. Usually, AB is the type of gamer who will poke fun at/derail games that he doesn’t understand or doesn’t appreciate or that I am taking “too seriously.” He doesn’t do this to be malicious…it’s just how he is, that “little brother” annoying prerogative. However, he actually had a good time and was able to get into the spirit of the game quite nicely, making for a satisfying, Story Now gaming experience.

For people who aren’t familiar with Fiasco, the idea is for 3-5 players (though I’ve been assured four is the optimal number) create characters from a number of random narrative elements (rolled on tables) that define what they have in common with each other. It’s quite simple in practice, and negotiating how the distributed elements interact (i.e. what they signify) both creates the characters at the table and creates an idea of the story at hand. Game play consists of players taking turns to create scenes with negotiation and dice rolls helping determine how those scenes play out. The game session is divided into acts with twists (or “tilts”) that help the story slide in unforeseen ways until you have some climactic resolution (that’s “climax” in the narrative sense…it’s not necessarily a big, blow ‘em up kind of event).

The original game setting is built on the “crime caper gone horribly wrong” premise…the film Fargo is the often cited sample inspiration (not to mention all those British films by Madonna’s ex-husband). However, what makes Fiasco so playable (and commercially viable) is the ability to change and customize the setting to all sorts of different “plans-gone-wrong” ideas; Bully Pulpit Games was issuing a “playset” of the month (with new random element tables and “tilts” specific to each new setting) and many fans of the game have contributed their own playsets. For our game, we used a “high fantasy” setting…D&D-esque…based on my brother’s request, though we could have done Renaissance or Elizabethan England or Old West or whatever. The folks who ran the game (why am I blanking on his name? Kevin? Phil?) has a whole folder full of  possible playlets he’d printed.

The fantasy setting was a concession to my brother, but the story was nothing like a dungeon crawl. “Phil” played a the daughter of the local thieves guild master, who masqueraded as a man, my character was an elven princess who was his betrothed (the guild master’s plot being to move up into “high (elven) society” or possibly blackmail the elven nobility by the scandal), my brother was the princess’s bodyguard/master-of-arms/champion (who also happened to be female AND a werewolf), and “Sarah” (“Phil’s” wife) was the wolf that AB’s character sometimes turned into…she was kind of like the Dark Side of the PC’s consciousness (or her “kill ‘em all” id) while AB was the honorable, duty-bound warrior-woman.

[why did all the guys end up with female characters? It just worked out that way based on the elements that came up and what would make for a good and coherent story…I don’t remember anything requiring that any of us had to be specifically female and (at least between my brother and I) we aren’t ones to play “gender-bended” characters in RPGs. We all remarked it was a little weird, but as said, it made for a better story/adventure/session and we all did our best to play our characters in serious fashion]

Anyhoo, it made for a good night’s play, though I can’t recall exactly what happened (this was back in early December and, as usual, there was a lot of drinking involved). At one point, my princess led a big battle charge against an orc village, and there was a lot of discussion about the “wolf fighting style” that she needed to learn to be a true leader of her people. I think the characters did actually end up getting married and being “unhappy ever after,” but I don’t really remember. Like I said, it was an enjoyable and satisfying, story creating experience, and another good foray (for me) into the world of collaborative role-playing.

That being said, Fiasco felt much more like a parlor game to me (albeit a very fun parlor game that did involve role-playing and characterization). It’s not really designed for long-term or serial play, and thus lacks the development over time (and subsequent character identification and attachment) that I enjoy. There were also some difficulties with the “choose to set the scene or choose to resolve the scene” mechanic that is inherent in the game. Either Phil and Sarah didn’t explain this succinctly enough, or I was too drunk to understand, or it’s as murky in the rules as it was at our gaming table (having never read the rules, I can’t say). Whatever it was, at some points it felt like we were just negotiating what happened and kind of “winging it” depending on A) the needs of the story, and B) the dice rolls. And in that regard, Fiasco was was a little loosey-goosey for my taste.

I tried to get hold of a (print) copy of the game before I came down to Paraguay to study up on it, but was unable to do so. Fiasco’s a good one to have on-hand if you’ve got enough players and nothing else planned for the evening.

Fantasy Objectives (Part 3)

Ugh. I know no one cares particularly about my problems, but yesterday was a real mess. Hell, most of the week has been less than ideal. I won’t go into detail (especially about work-related stuff that won’t matter to most) but for those readers who know him, my brother blew back into town Saturday night and I and my family have been dealing with that train wreck ever since.  It’s been enough to put me off my game…literally. Last night I went to the bar completely unprepared, even forgetting my beans at home, and ended up doing little in the way of playing or testing because AB was down at the bar and I had to handle his shit. Ugh.

Which is pretty sad because I had two new players who were really down to get on some gaming. And by “new” I meant really and truly new…they’ve never played RPGs, other than a couple computer versions and they were really excited to play “real Dungeons & Dragons with a real Dungeon Master.” Well, the girl was very excited…her boyfriend seemed to be more supportive and curious than “really excited.”

So it was unfortunate that we didn’t get started till 10 or so, and then I spent a whole passel of time explaining what an RPG is and how it works in the simplest terms. By the time we got through that and character creation (and the general rules overview which is decidedly simple compared to “actual” Dungeons & Dragons), it was close enough to midnight that I really had to call it. I still had to drive my brother back to Shoreline after all. But they were both enthusiastic to return next Thursday…the girl more so than the guy.

Age of the Newbies: 28 (female) and 38 (male).

Even though the game itself was a wreck, I still got some good ideas for tweaks to the game just from the character generation process. Remember, I’m trying to write a game for non-(RPG)gamers, and this would have been an excellent test…if we (I) hadn’t been distracted by my brother’s antics.

We’ll see if they actually show up next week. Fortunately, they live close by.

Regardless, I need to start “getting it together.” Now, part of that is getting back to my objectives series. The point of the last two posts, by the way, may have been lost on some folks…I was trying to lay a little groundwork for my thought process when I turn to designing a fantasy adventure game with different goals than D&D. Here are the things I’d hope people would take away from the last two posts:

1. Having an objective of play is part of what makes a game a game.
2. D&D had an objective of play (finding treasure), that was later subjugated (in priority) to a secondary feature of play not necessarily conceptualized by the designers originally: role-playing.
3. Role-playing (of which I’ve written before) is the thing that makes RPGs unique in gaming and as such this aspect has taken priority in RPG design since the advent of the medium.
4. Unfortunately, this has led to a loss of the thing that made RPGs “games” in the first place, namely an objective of play. Instead, emphasis on the play itself has supplanted objective leading to games only being playable when A) objective is added by pre-existing suppositions, and/or B) when players “in the know” can create pastiche of specific IP. Some (emphasis on that word!) indie-games in recent years have incorporated objectives, though the motive for this may be different from my own (i.e. making a game a “game”) and may lack broad appeal because of the type of objectives being included.

Now let me throw in a slight, amended disclaimer here and now: these RPGs I’m calling “unfortunate” or “flawed” or lacking in “broad appeal” are not necessarily BAD pastimes. There’s nothing inherently “wrong” with creating Firefly pastiche with Traveller, for example, or Neuromancer with Cyberpunk. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying GURPS role-playing because you like the system better than D&D, even though you want to do the same thing with the game (explore adventure sites, find treasure, etc.). If you are a veteran gamer, and you like the genre and system and are willing to put in the necessary work to make it functional, something like Starblazers may be right up your alley…and dammit, I’m not trying to tell you you’re doing it wrong, or you need to stop playing, or you should spit on these games or their designers. Likewise, there ain’t nothing wrong with playing an indie game like, say, Nicotine Girls if you’re feeling like that’s going to be a fun time that particular evening…certainly it’s cool to experiment and enjoy different things, and we can learn about ourselves stepping outside out comfort zone.

I was just kidding about the stomping, okay? Jeez.

Here’s the deal:

• I want to write a game that is fantasy without a wargamey or kill-and-loot basis to it (i.e. a game with different objectives from Old School D&D). Not because D&D is wrong, but because sometimes you want to eat an apple instead of an orange.
• I want to write a game that is accessible to non-veteran gamers, especially young ones. And one of the strategies to doing this means making the game more “game-like” by providing an objective of play. “What’s the object of the game? What are we working towards in-play?” The game should be able to answer this question, preferably on page one and in an explicit fashion.
• At the same time, the game should be loose enough in structure to still allow and encourage imaginary role-playing because THAT is the main stand-out feature of RPGs or (as I like to call them) “fantasy adventure games.” It’s the thing the medium offers that other games cannot.
• Finally, I (personally) would like the game to be serial in nature…not a one-off story like so many Story Now games…because I feel there is a benefit to extended play, character identification, and gradual (not slow!) development.

Now I wrote the first two posts on this topic before I ever bothered to check Wikipedia on the subject of game; the stuff I wrote was coming straight off the top of my head. However, I did take the time to look up the subject yesterday and found nothing terribly contradictory with my definition of “game” (specifically as to having an object of play). What was more interesting to me was what the Wikipedia had to say about role-playing games as a sub-category: there was a lot written on the way the game is played (duh) and very little on the general objectives of play. The text appears to suggest that the RPGs are “collaborative story-telling games” which implies the object is to create a story…definitely an object of many indie-games but really hard to do with your average commercial RPGs. I suppose the point can be debated (the ease of creating “story,” whatever that means, with a non-story focused RPG)…but regardless I have not known many players – certainly not a majority – that sit down the RPG table saying, “Let’s create a story tonight.”

And with regard specifically to table-top RPGs, we find this text:

During a typical game session, the GM will introduce a goal for the players to achieve through the actions of their characters…the goal may be made clear to the players at the outset, or may become clear to them during the course of the game.

To me, this just emphasizes what I’ve been writing about: there isn’t an objective to this thing called a “game” except what the participants bring to it. In which case one might ask is this really a game? Or is this it just “play” with some rules tacked on? For that matter, if the GM can change the rules and goal at a whim, doesn’t that move it farther from game and closer to play anyway? A free-for-all controlled by one egomaniacal participant?

Hopefully that’s not the usual case: after all, plenty of these games counsel the GM to be fair and even-handed when dealing with players. On the other hand, several RPGs also imply GMs should use their authority to manipulate the system and players in order to get a “fun game” (and who’s standard is used as the judge of fun?).

Whatever…that’s enough beating of the dead horse. People do have reasons for playing RPGs over other games, even without objectives, and here’s what they are, as far as I can tell:

Escapism from reality: first and foremost, imagining yourself in the fantasy world, taking on the persona of someone other than yourself: a wizard, a superhero, a gunslinger, a secret agent, whatever. The RPG medium provides structured play for pretending to be a particular “not me” person.

Exploration of the unknown: playing an imaginary character allows a person to experience (in their imagination) things they never would (or would never want to) in real life. High speed ar chases. Hyper-space travel. Fighting dragons. Fighting anything. Getting killed.

And that’s about it.

In-game achievement, collaborative story-telling, one-upping your buddy…these are things one can do without a role-playing game. Same with exploring a favorite genre: read a book or watch a movie. Same with kibitzing with buddies. Same with having “fun.” There are other games and pastimes that will satisfy these entertainment needs.

Immersive gaming, or so I've been told.

Now video games can provide this exploration and escapism…especially as vid technology improves to create a more immersive game experience. If I want to escape daily life and explore the criminal underworld, I can pick up a copy of Grand Theft Auto V and go to town. If I want to experience the horrors of war without enlisting in the army I can play Call of Duty or whatever the coolest army game is these days. But I’d argue there are a couple-three things that RPGs have up on video games, even leaving aside any social benefits from interacting in person or educational benefits from forcing players to read and do their own math. Those things include:

1. Freedom of action: a video game can only allow you to do what the game has been programmed to do. An RPG is as wide-open as the participants imagination allows.
2. Speed of update: video games can add additional content to increase replay-ability and/or extend normal gameplay experience. But an RPG can be updated easily and constantly – on-the-fly as necessary – and “bugs” and “patches” easily removed by the participants at the table. In the past, Dragon and similar publications made a business of ideas for additional, optional content that gamers could throw in their game. Again there are little limitations when the game resides in the minds and imaginations of the players (as opposed to requiring hard-wired programming).
3. I’d argue that the trained imagination provides a more powerful experience in play than a video game…the video game (generally) removes the player from the experience. But some folks might debate this depending on the game; “first person” games are especially effective in providing an immersive experience and generating emotional response.

The point being: there’s still a reason to play…and in some cases to prefer…table-top role-playing games. They’re still relevant form of entertainment, even in our 21^st century. But to compete with other forms of entertainment requires an ease and accessibility to non-gamers that I think is conspicuously absent in a lot of game design.

All right, in my next post on this subject (which I may or may not get to this weekend), I’ll try to bring this discussion “home” in terms of the game I’m working on. However, I want to take a look at a couple RPGs that I haven’t played/read, especially Barbarians of Lemuria. From the reviews I’ve read on-line, its system seems remarkably similar to the one I’ve been developing/testing.

[to be continued]