The Problem with "Heroes"

Everyone wants to be the star of their own show. I think that’s what it boils down to.

Even me. ESPECIALLY me. But I don’t get to do that ‘cause I’m the Dungeon Master…which is great by the way, because then I get to be the master author/playwright/director and exercise my control-fetish over the game.

But the players? These days they seem to be a bunch of prima donnas…albeit without the chops, generally speaking.

Okay, folks are asking what the F are you talking about (if you’re asking “where the F is this coming from; just keep in mind it’s been a long time brewing).

IN GENERAL (I’m speaking in generalities right now) RPGs are about fantasy…whether the fantasy of slaying dragons or being a super-spy or flying a space ship it’s all fantasy NOT reality. And players who love RPGs love that fantasy and want to live in that fantasy…at least for a short while around the gaming table. And in peoples’ fantasies? Well, of course we are the heroic star of the show!

Few people WANT to play the bit part character actor. As a guy whose did a lot of acting in my early years (that’s one of my university degrees actually), I’ve had a chance to play both stars and bit parts. And as any actor can tell you, playing a bit part is a blast! It takes just as much commitment to the character but you have more leeway and less pressure and (depending on the role) just as much stage time (sometimes great QUALITY stage time) even with fewer lines. But no one tries out for the bit parts. You audition for the star role and get called back for the role the director things you’re best suited.

In a role-playing GAME (acting is role-playing too!) players have much more control over the part they play, assuming they get to create their own character. Which is kind of F’d in and of itself if you hope to create some semblance of a coherent tale from your “adventure” (I’ll explain why in a second). Much more control, I said, but not TOTAL control. Depending on the game being played.

FOR EXAMPLE: in AD&D one is constrained by the classes available (under the rules) and the results of one’s random die rolls for ability scores. In a way, this is much like a real life audition for stage. If I don’t have the pipes, there’s no way I’m going to get cast as the Phantom of the Opera, no matter how dashing a figure I cut in a cape and mask. In the same way, if a player can’t roll a helluva’ bunch of good rolls, there’s no way he’s going to get to play a paladin. That’s too bad…but you can still (in AD&D) play a fighter as long as your Strength is at least a 9…and you can role-play the hell out of him, making him a young paladin-in-training or a very ethical fighter, etc. Hell, if you really missed the spells and such make him a cleric; holy avenger swords are few and far between anyway.

But MAYBE you’re part of a group where Player Joe always plays a cleric and Player Sal always plays a dwarf fighter. If it’s the accepted practice of your group (your “troupe”) then allow the players to rearrange those random rolls so that they can play the character they want. Guess what, though: you’ve been type-cast!

HOWEVER most RPGs written since the 90s have moved far and away from this type of “role-playing game” (as in, a game of role-playing) by allowing extreme character customization at the hands of the player. To what end? Well, ostensibly it was to either A) provide “variety,” or B) allow players to re-create favorite characters of fiction. In practice, it simply allows players to create the maximum badass possible.

No, I am not talking about min-max hardcore gamists who are use break points, feats, and merits/flaws to push game rules towards their shatterpoint (and sometimes beyond). I am talking about the ability to customize an “ultra-kewl character” no matter what stands for “kewl” in YOUR brain, in order to star in your own personal fantasy.

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

This is what really makes me throw up my hands and say, “why the F bother?”

And why should I bother to play a game where everyone is simply dancing around with their own fantasy masturbation exercise? If I want to daydream, I can do that without any books or games at all. If I want to tell a story about a heroic persona, I can write a damn short story for my own amusement…hell, I can write a whole string of stories about my favorite character and publish a blog about it.

But of course, many folks aren’t interested in this kind of “work.” They’d rather put together their tall, dark badass (or quirky-yet-powerful badass) and strut him or her about at someone’s game table. And boy howdy, whadya’ know…everyone else is doing the same damn thing, so I guess it’s ok, right?

Three to five prima donnas is what you get, hoping to massacre a bunch of random opponents. “Tactical exercise?” Sure. “Requires more imagination and social interaction than World of Warcraft?” Absolutely. But are you role-playing? Not in my opinion.

Sure you are “playing a role,” the badass fighter or beefy barbarian for example. But only as a means to a single metagame goal: fulfilling your own fantasy. Not in aid of manufacturing a story (except perhaps in your own head) and probably not in exploring the story/world created by the GM/game setting (that only matters as to how it relates to “your guy”).

I used to own an Xbox (before it burned out) and I would play games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on it. This allowed you to create a badass Jedi character and customize him (or her) with looks, feats, skills, and force powers…all the while kicking ass and exploring the story line that the game designers had programmed (and that you paid to purchase).

That’s not an RPG. That is living one’s solo fantasy.

To play that way at a table with others is, frankly, madness. Or masochism (if you’re the DM). No one’s paying to play (except the folks that bought their own books). Yet all are expecting the limelight. It’s supposed to be interactive. It’s supposed to be exploratory. It ain’t supposed to be Twister (figuring out which character fits best where, i.e. “tactical”)…at least not as the major impetus to play. At least not if it’s being billed as a Role-Playing Game.

Where is this rant coming from? I don’t know…I’ve felt pretty ranty lately. Last night I was perusing my old copy of Werewolf: the Apocalypse, thinking of giving it another try. God I desperately wanted to like that game (werewolves being one of my all-time favorite monsters of film, lit, or comics). It starts out with a cool premise (you’re a werewolf!) and then quickly degenerates into the dumbest RPG ever invented. You are a big, hairy, ass-kicker in a tribe with other big, hairy ass-kickers. Your powers make you a great fighter. Being in fights makes you more powerful. Blah blah blah.

Yes, I suppose you could create a weakling Werewolf character. Who would then get upstaged by the others of the group (because the game is all about fighting “the Wyrm,” dontcha’ know?). Or you could play one-on-one (one player, one Storyteller)…but again, that is living one’s solo fantasy, not role-playing.

This afternoon I ran across some notes from back in my 3^rd edition days. I had done the math necessary to creating highest hit point character possible under the 3.0 rules. It ended up being a gnomish barbarian/fighter. This is the stupidest thing ever. There’s no way I could have ever justified playing a character like that. I think he had over 800 hit points at 20^th level (when raging).

All the characters I created under the D20 rules were dumb. I mean, some were cool, many were fantastic and most (besides my gnomish barbarian) were NOT min-maxed. But they’re all dumb. Because all they did was allow me to play out private fantasies…whether my Halfling ninja, my Dwarvish duelist, or my half-elf ranger/bard/assassin. Sure…I could give them justifying back-stories (for my own amusement), I could play them (until they got upstaged by someone else with an even cheaper-ass character and no back-story). But hell, it’s more fun to make them than to play with ‘em.

THAT is not role-playing either. Just thinking about it made me depressed earlier today…in fact it was the last straw that touched off this little piece o crap prose.

Older games (and by older I pretty much mean pre-1991, though certainly some older games diverge into the realm of “make your badass”…Champions, for example) are far more likely to facilitate role-playing and exploration than wish fulfillment simply by dint of their more randomized character creation models.

Look, metaphysically speaking I DO believe that we all choose the time, place, and body of our incarnation here on this Earth…that’s something I take on faith, though. From my human perspective it just seems random chance that I was born the guy I am and not a linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks (good thing, too, as then I’d probably be sitting out the season with some painful injury like the rest of ‘em). Random character creation mimics this human perspective of our birth and life…not everyone is born a badass, that’s just the way it is. When we play RPGs, we sit down to play a GAME, we are not sitting down to write a novel or screenplay of our favorite monster-killing wizard. Forcing players to invest hours of time into crafting a super-cool avatar is antithetical to what role-playing IS, at least in my opinion.

Anyway, that’s my perspective. I’ve ranted here and other places about why I don’t like elaborate chargen systems. This is something new. From now on, unless I’m creating a game that facilitates a narratavist agenda (where shared narration/”screen time” is part of the game design objective), any system I write is going to be heavy on the random chance factor. Certainly this won’t appeal to everyone…too f’ing bad. There are ways to balance RPGs without giving players the option of crafting their characters from the ground up.

Don’t believe me? Exhibit A: Marvel Superheroes.

First Character Death (Sort Of)

Yet another thing I realize I haven't mentioned (jeez...where's my head been at lately? maybe preoccupied with the health of my home team quarterback; Hasselbeck will be playing with two broken ribs today...at least we're playing at home) IS the play report from my most recent B/X D&D session with my teenage nephews.

Just by the way, they love D&D, though perhaps not their favorite of the ones I own. They REALLY like Warhammer. For Z, this is because he loves the "army construction" part and because he enjoys the tactile nature of miniature wargaming (if I used miniatures in our D&D games, I think it might bump WH into 2nd place). For S, he likes WH because it is the one game where he routinely beats his older brother...he also gets really excited when he's rolling handfuls of dice.

Regarding the latter, at times it DOES feel anti-climactic (to me anyway) to roll singular dice in D&D. "Everything comes down to this roll" again and again and again...and regardless of probability it feels as random as flipping a coin at times (especially when the roll comes up a "1"). At least with multiple dice you get a feeling of the "degree of goodness or badness;" which is probably part of the appeal of games like Shadowrun and White Wolf games.

[that's a note to self regarding game design folks; I know it was purposeful in Ron Edwards' Sorcerer game]

ANYWAY, we played a couple sessions of the old solo module M1: Blizzard Pass, which I love for a variety of reasons. As I've mentioned at least a couple times, I really dig any kind of arctic environment for an adventure...and a snow-capped mountain pass is as good as a lost city on a polar icecap for this purpose. Describing the cold, the snow, the blizzard itself (which is part of the adventure background) is all great fun and really helps to set the players' perceptions of the game. Although it served no game purpose, they were always making sure to use blankets (available in the Labyrinth Lord equipment list) and build fires when they set-up camp.

Because there were only two players (they begged and pleaded with my wife to play with them, but c'est la vie...), I allowed each to create and control two PCs. Attributes were rolled in standard fashion (3D6 in order) and created surprisingly viable characters, all sporting at least one or two 13s or 16s. I gave them the choice of playing two 2nd level characters or a 1st and 3rd level character. Z opted for the former and started with a a 2nd level elf and a 2nd level thief. S went for Option B and had a 3rd level cleric and 1st level dwarf.

Another note to self...playing one-off games like this with new characters of low-level, no one has any interest in playing a magic-user. Until 10th level, an elf has the exact same magical ability and is otherwise superior in every way to the MU. The "more XP needed to level" doesn't matter when the characters are changing each adventure OR when the rate of XP gain is so slow (that really is a topic that deserves its own post). But as it stands, if one is playing B/X D&D or LL at low levels, there is absolutely no incentive to play a magic-user. Which is kind of sad, in my opinion...certainly it needs some further review/thought/discussion.

The thief was actually a chip off the old Conan as thief block...he had a 16 strength and a 13 dexterity, and I purposefully described him as burly. Z loved the whole idea...and since he was 2nd level (and ended up with 7 hit points) he didn't feel like some sort of weenie urban scoundrel. 'Course he still fought with two-fisted daggers (Z's idea) so the Conan image wasn't totally the same.

Once again S. went for the cleric option...he really liked playing one earlier and once he had the option of playing two characters (so that he could try out one new type o guy) he jumped at the opportunity to play once. It didn't hurt that he had a high wisdom, too.

This time we also got into the discussion of what weapons a cleric can use (as I use my own alternate damage by class rules) as they understood clerics only use blunt weapons. It turns out Z and S HAVE been playing Labyrinth Lord at their house (when I'm not around), but they prefer to play with me as the DM. And NOT because Z (whose been acting as DM) is terrible. It's because it's more fun to play with more people and is not as much fun playing the one DM/one player paradigm. I asked why they didn't include some of their other friends in the game, but they just said their friends didn't play these types of games.

The thing is, for all my "cool uncle" status, the kids still attach the "nerd" stigma to most of this stuff. These are cool kids, fairly popular in school (especially Z who's acquired a bit of the "lady magnet" rep over the last couple years); when they're with me and my wife (or at home by themselves) they feel free to indulge in their "inner nerdiness," but they don't feel this same kind of freedom when they're with their peers.

Which I understand, having lived through that myself, but dammit! I've been trying to cure them of this particular perception. I mean, I can see how there's nothing inherently nerdy about having good harmless fun while you're a kid. I know how little the BS of your school days will really impact your life down the line (at least in my experience: not very much at all). I understand that life is too short to not be true to yourself and that reading books for godsakes is kind of a practical thing compared to say, shooting people in Halo 3.

And I have communicated this to them, and they ARE bright and they DO get it...but it's just difficult for them...ah, well.

SO, back to the game: the brothers did both better and worse than I expected they would and one character died in a heated battle with a hated racial enemy. By getting the drop on the ogre door man (a good surprise roll) they were able to Charm an ally to help them, and the first major battle with wolves in fighters was tough, but winnable, despite neglecting to fire off their Sleep spell. The elf got very much into his role as a combat machine as a plate, shield, and a high dexterity meant he was almost never wounded in battle. But others were (the ogre was gnawed to death by wolves) and the party decided to retreat from the cave.

S. as cleric had once again prayed for non-curing spells and once again found himself wishing he hadn't. At these low levels, cure light wounds is just the most useful clerical spell...more than anything else in the spell book. Sleep and Cure Light Wounds...it's amazing how they so out-weigh their counterparts.

It was the second entry into the caves that led to one party death. This time, attacked by goblins and a single fighter, the party remember its Sleep spell and knocked out the majority of the opposition. However, it still left a 3rd level fighter and a goblin war chief to contend with.

The dwarf and goblin chief went toe-to-toe and the goblin smote the dwarf...poor Gimli!...before the rest of the party could take down the monster. This was a very exciting part of the battle, as I really played up the dwarf-goblin rivalry (Gimli the dwarf was the only character that spoke goblin language so they were yelling back and forth at each other). But he was only 1st level and the goblin chief had three hit dice...it was a tough fight despite his 9 hit points and plate mail.

S. took his first character death pretty well. Surely, having a 2nd character helped...but he was also pleased with HOW the dwarf died; his death felt meaningful. The party did bury the dwarf with his enemies weapons (after slaying all the sleeping goblins I might add) outside the cave, leaving his axe as a grave marker. I think if his cleric had fallen instead, S. might have been more upset (but that didn't happen so it's hard to say).

Anyway, that's pretty much where we left off and we didn't return to the adventure, being preoccupied with other fun games. But there was certainly things to take away and incorporate into future game sessions.

: )

What Goes Around...

Forgot to mention I picked up a copy of Paranoia 2nd Edition the other day (not surprising really, as I'm sure there's a number of things I've forgotten/neglected to mention). $4 used...quite a steal really. This is the only edition of the game I've ever played and one I've never owned, though I remember it well, especially the great Jim Holloway illustrations.

When I played it before it was circa 1990...I was in high school and a member of the cast of my school production of Bye-Bye Birdie. One of my fellow cast members (an acquaintance though a "non-gamer" person) got the game and we played it back-stage while waiting for our time to "go on" (though only during the rehearsals...not the actual performances!). I recall all of us that played had a lot of fun and laughing a lot, though I don't recall my own particular character (we used the pre-gen ones from the rule book) nor any details of the plot/adventure scenario.

I've actually been wanting to get a copy of the game for some time, but was not interested in the updated rule systems I saw floating around the game shop. To me the 2nd edition is the "original," classic game and even researching the 1st edition on-line seems to indicate this is the feelings of others...apparently the 1st edition was released in a much darker, less humorous vein but with adventures that pushed the humor and satire. The second edition, published by the same company (West End Games) and the same designer simply made the game into what everyone was "already playing."

Not that it doesn't have great potential as a "straight" Orwellian/dystopian future type game...I don't think there's any game that could do that kind of genre as well as Paranoia (assuming you wanted to play out something like akin to Brazil or 12 Monkeys or whatever...even Equilibrium with a few modifications). But does anyone want to play that kind of depressing genre in an age where...well, all paranoia aside we HAVE taken some steps towards a constantly monitored society.

To me, I find it very interesting how art (specifically RPGs) imitate life and act as a "sign of the times." When first introduced to Paranoia, I immediately "got it:" the whole commie-mutant-traitor think, the turn-on-your-neighbor-to-get-ahead game play. Part of this is because it's a well-designed game pointing out huge, gaping flaws in human nature and exploiting them to their (extreme but logical) conclusions. Part of it has to do with the world I was living in at the time. I can't help but believe there was at least a tiny bit of subversiveness underlying the satire of a game like Paranoia being released in 1984 and (for the 2nd edition) in 1987.

[for those gamers that don't remember the 80s, having been born later, Ronald Reagan was a classic fear-monger when it came to Communists, helping to jump-start a Cold War by proliferating a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union...this after a decade where we had backed-off a lot from the paranoia of earlier generations...hell, even Nixon opened the door to China...but whatever...oh, yeah American Consumerism was off the charts as well...O Yuppie Where Art Thou?]

I'm kind of surprised that there haven't been more subversive RPGs published in the last decade seeing all that's been going on in the world. Oh, I know there are a couple (3:16 comes to mind as do a couple of other Forge-y games), but none with the kind of popularity that Paranoia enjoyed in its hay-day. I'm sure part of this is because the RPG has fallen out of favor of the general population...why buy a game you have to read when you can press "on" and start playing immediately (yes yes I am a cranky old man).

But I don't think it's a lack of creativity on the part of game designers these days, just a lack of will to do so. If D20 is what sells, well shit, that's what one is going to write for, right? How many companies converted their games to the D20 system? How many licensed IPs got made into D20 games? How much time and energy was spent trying to shove out D20 material before the door to that particular cash cow could be closed? (wow a REALLY cranky old man!)

Probably I am just exhibiting my own paranoia...spending time reading games like this (ones that are more substance than crunchy rules bits that need mastering) always starts those wheels turning, ya' know? It is quite a good little game, though, and I'm glad I was able to pick it up for such a good price. I'll bet my nephews would get a kick out of it...though of course I'll have to update it by changing the word "Communist" into "Terrorist." Otherwise, they probably won't get the humor.

Last Night I Dreamed of Kuo-Toa...

No seriously, I did! Though my dream did not involve being chased by monstrous Deep Ones or anything (point o fact: I very rarely if ever dream of anything "fantastic"...well, once I DID dream I was being menaced by a giant purple behir that was simultaneously the musician Prince; for some reason I was Han Solo in that dream and I did defeat the lightning-breathing many-legged wyrm...um, but that's kind of unusual).

No what I actually dreamed was that I was holding/reading an adventure module that had a very cool picture of a Kuo-Toa (or a couple of 'em) on the cover. And not the greenish, bulbous illustrations of yesteryear, but something more akin to the cool KT artwork of the 3rd edition.

What this means is anyone's guess but if I HAD to make a judgement call on interpreting it, I'd say it's a signal from the divine powers that it's time I got down to serious brass tacks when it comes to working on my writing stuff (my undersea adventure module is begging to be filled-in!).

Fact o the matter is I've been slacking...I've been spending way too much time PLAYING games and not enough time to writing (I believe I've mentioned before my deep need to "give something back"). Well, what can I say. The economy is tight, which means I've been spending more of my work time working and less time writing my non-paying side projects. *sigh*

I never would have made it as a starving artist...too lazy...

Plus, I've been ref'ing other types o games for the nephews. Yes, we did have a chance to play some B/X D&D last week, specifically Blizzard Pass (with all new characters), but the D&D time was only a fraction of the total "game time" which also included Dark Tower, Apples to Apples, Magic Cards, Blood Bowl, and of course WH40K. Oh...and REAL football, too (watching on TV, at the stadium, and...for the younger kid...playing on the field). Asked what his favorite games of the week were, S. listed (in order):

#1 Warhammer 40,000

#2 Dungeons & Dragons (and Labyrinth Lord by association)

#3 Blood Bowl (when playing his brother as an opponent)

#4 Dark Tower

#5 Magic Cards

#6 Blood Bowl (with me as an opponent)

[I really should introduce these kids to Mordheim one of these days, which I've always felt is really the closest thing to a D&D/wargame hybrid...it's a damn site better than WotC's Chainmail anyway]

I should note that I ended up occupying the referee spot more often than not in many of these games...guess I've just had too many years of being a "Dungeon Master." It was funny how many house rules got instituted to temper the bickering that might otherwise go on between the young players. Ahhh...direct competition. S. really was NOT interested in playing against me in any of these games as he doesn't like to lose and I tend to win handily when I play. Z. likes to play against me, but prefers to gang up with his brother as he tends to lose terribly otherwise (I can't remember exactly how many 20-0 games of Magic we played but it was at least five).

Even today, both S. and Z. came by to play Warhammer (they had the day off school and a couple hours to kill). I ref'd for S. and Z. but the game got cut short when S. had to go to a doctor's appointment. We then re-started with me using S.'s space marine army (which Z. had just played) against a fairly cheesy Eldar force that Z. created special. By the end of the second turn, I'd wiped out half his army and he'd conceded, having failed to remove a single mini from the field. And I don't even particularly LIKE space marines...

Anyhoo, the point is I've been playing (or watching or adjudicating) far too many games and have neglected my writing of the same. I think THAT is what my dream was trying to tell me (most of my dreams that I remember are of the worry/anxiety type so that's not surprising this one is tinged by those feelings o "guilt"). Perhaps tomorrow I'll actually get some stuff down on paper/laptop as there are currently no distractions planned (the kids are back with their parents, my wife has a baby shower to go to, and I refuse to watch college football). Hopefully I can turn out a productive Saturday.

Later, gators!

October's A Quarter Gone...

...and I've only got three posts for the month? What the hell?

On the other hand, I seem to have picked up another 2-3 followers (welcome amigos! hope it's interesting for ya'), which is kind o crazy but whatever.

Well, it was a busy last couple weeks for yours truly. Even today (my "day off") I've got kids coming over to the house this morning (in five minutes or less) to play a little Warhammer 40,000, so my posting is probably going to be cut short. No, I don't play them...I simply referee and provide the miniatures. Heh...for all my protestations of being a role-player and not a "wargamer," I sure do seem to promote the latter. I probably would have fit in with those folks of yesteryear with their Napoleonic battle fields.

Or maybe not. My painting skills are okay, but my patience level for painting kinda' sucks...AND I have a "thing" about playing with minis that I haven't painted (I don't buy pre-painted and I don't like fielding "naked" armies). It's kind of a bizarre dichotomy of moi, but what can you do. I sincerely doubt I'd have been able to paint a gazillion tin soldiers, all with the same poses and the same uniforms...and did they have greenstuff back in '74? Somehow I kind of doubt it....

Ope...kids just got here. I'll post more later...

Blast From The Past

No, I am not talking about Dio again.

Last Friday I didn’t get to blog (or write!) as much as I would have liked because I hung out with my old buddy Rob. Rob and I first met in preschool at the age of 4 and we went to the same Catholic grade school till 8^th grade before going our separate ways in high school. We saw each other a little during those years, and after college we had a brief music collaboration (I’ve sang with/for a half dozen or eight bands over the years…hey, Seattle, remember?) in a little rock outfit I like to describe as Gothic-Funk. I don’t remember if it had a name, we never got through more than a few jam sessions before the drummer got married (or something similar) and the keyboardist went off to grad school or some such.

Anyway, Rob joined a monastery (I like to say he became a priest, but he really was only a “Brother” of the Dominican order), and Friday was only the second time I’d seen him since 1997 or so. Ah, Facebook…so nice for re-connecting...

Rob is no longer with the Dominicans…he’s kind of on a temporary, self-imposed exile from the Church while he gets his head on straight. Trying out life in the “real world” so to speak (though still under vows) while he decides whether he truly is called to the ministry. I mean, he’s certain he’s called to a spiritual life, but perhaps not as a monk.

So we had a beer (and a whiskey) over lunch and talked about things and what’s been going on, and I revealed all about my newly re-claimed interest in RPGs and blogging, etc.. and he is totally down! Which is to say, supportive and encouraging.

Not to mention, more than a little interested in doing some play-testing and/or Old School gaming.

Totally cool…another adult that wouldn’t mind getting together (except these days I’m better at setting up Social Contract…ha!). Rob was never much of a D&D player…coming from a family of deeper religious fervor than my own (did I mention the priest thing?) I think he and his parents were smart enough not to take the whole "D&D is the Devil" -thing too seriously, but wary enough not to touch it themselves with the proverbial ten foot pole.

Though he did play on occasion…generally with horrific (for his character) results.

See, there is nothing "gamist" about Rob. Wait, let me back-up a moment. While he was not much of a D&D player, there were plenty of games he and I DID play. Old School (original black book) Traveller, which he owned. Star Wars D6 (which I owned). The James Bond RPG (which his FATHER owned, being a Bond aficionado). And war games too, including the original Starship Troopers, and Axis & Allies. I’m sure there were others I’m forgetting, too.

In fact, I am pretty sure that Rob is responsible for my introduction to West End Games in general, and one of the folks responsible for me not being totally TSR-centric (the other would be my buddy Scott, whose love of FASA games like BattleTech and Shadow Run also helped me “break the mold”). For that, I salute the guy heartily.

Now back to what I was saying…there’s nothing gamist about Rob. I told him about my reading and research into RPGs and gaming over the last few years, including a lot of the theory-hammer stuff from over at the Forge, and Rob was immediately intrigued. He himself always had a difficulty with the “traditional” game-play of many games (ESPECIALLY D&D). We both agree the guy’s creative agenda is of the narratavist variety, perhaps with a little "sim" thrown in for flavor. But this makes perfect sense.

After all, Rob was always interested in telling stories. He is/was a writer (of the creative variety) from a young age, using his paper route money to buy a typewriter for himself early on so he could work on short stories. In high school he submitted regularly to publications and writing contests, and (I believe) the need for telling a good story led to him having (in RPG game play) a distinct “um, I really don’t know what to do here” paralysis. If you see the POTENTIAL of RPGs to tell “collaborative stories” but the rest of your party is simply trying to overcome an obstacle, whatcha’ going to do? Well, in practice, you usually become the fodder/distraction/human sacrifice the rest of the group needs.

The idea of playing a game that actually addresses premise (a la Sorcerer) or that rolls dice to determine success of a goal rather than a task (a la Maelstrom) was a mind-opening idea to ol’ Rob. It got him a little excited.

Of course, Rob is a geezer like me (he turns 35 this month) so his mind of course wanders to the “good old games” of yesteryear. “You know what I wouldn’t mind playing sometime?” he asks. “Traveller. I really thought that was a great game with a lot of potential.”

So I quickly whipped out my copy of Mongoose’s new edition of Traveller. “It’s much like the original version we played as kids, except you’re not nearly as likely to die during character creation.” Rob thought THAT was a novel innovation in and of itself. We may have to re-boot Fromo’s Freebooter and set sail across the warp waves sometime in the near future. I mean, Rob is still writing after all…maybe a little freeform RPG play will provide him with some good fodder for HIS new blog.

On the other hand, maybe we’ll be doing other things together. Rob just bought a new base guitar deciding he wanted to get back into music again while he’s outside the quiet confines of the monastery. Maybe I need to go get a new mike and PA.

Rock! ; )

Temporary Parenting

Welp, it’s Friday, which means I finally have a break from the daily tasks and craziness in order to do a little writing, my teenage nephews have been staying with the wife and I since last Thursday, and that means my writing time has been shortened with the day-to-day tasks that come with being a temporary parent. Hey, this has been a crash course in teen warfare…you “old hands” at the kid-raising have had years of practice.

Fortunately, M and I are pretty smart and sturdy enough that we can force a little self-discipline on ourselves for the time being (skipping our adult TV shows, getting to bed early, getting up early to make breakfasts and drive the kids to school (actually, this only force M to get up early…I’m up at 5:50 anyway) and making healthy, wholesome dinners).

Not that it hasn’t been a blast entertaining the little nerdlings…I’ve played a lot of Magic cards the last few days, and I forgot how entertaining that could be. You know…kicking someone’s ass over and over again (and yet, they keep coming back for more…go figure).
: )

One thing the kids have been clamoring for all week is to play “D&D.” And I mean, every day since they got here. Now unfortunately we’ve played precious little which I know may seem like madness to regular readers of this blog. After all, I love B/X play (or so I’ve written) and it’s been hard the last few years to find folks who are as into these games as me (people with Old School game fetishes can surely relate).

But it IS tough when there’s so much else going on in life. As a kid, I had lots of free time and was a “self-starter” when it came to gaming…I’d get home, crack the game books, and set up the game. Now, I don’t get home from work till after 6, usually have to run errands, help with homework, drive/pickup kids from football/drivers ed, eat dinner, and then maybe an hour or two of entertainment (often continuing to watch a show or movie that got started during the dinner hour) before packing the kids off to bed by 10pm (the older one has a later bedtime, but he usually has some extra homework and/or “texting” to get to). If I was home by 3pm, I’d certainly be putting the extra hours to good use, but I’m not.

Is this why so many kids feel like they don’t get enough attention/entertainment from parents? Because after 10-15 years, parents are burned out of spending all their free time “playing” and so tell the kids to go read a book or whatever?

When I was a young kid, my parents played games with me (though perhaps not as much as I would have liked), but as I got older this trailed off…through mutual consensus as much as anything. I remember coming home with Dungeon! (the board game) and playing it with my brother and my mom…that was the closest thing to D&D I ever played with EITHER parent, and one of the last board games I remember playing with my Mom until adulthood. She liked Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble and knew how to play cards (being from Montana), but she just wasn’t much of a game player. I don’t remember my father playing games with us at all as a child (though I know he played cards and parlor games with other adults at social events). At least, indoor games…he was often up to doing things with a bat and softball or other outdoorsy activities. But I was always more of an indoor person.

[No, I am probably NOT going to be very well prepared for the 2012 Earth changes]

Huh, now that I’m thinking about it, I realize I have no idea where my inclination for game playing comes. Certainly I have an Mars in Aries in the 5th House which can make a guy highly competitive, and the 5th House traditionally rules “games of chance.” But as far as upbringing goes…I don’t know. Maybe I never got ENOUGH gaming as a kid…certainly we were never allowed to play much in the way of video games (the Atari 2600 spent most of its life locked in a closet and only brought out on the occasional rainy Saturday).

Anyway, back to the present…the kids have been clamoring to play D&D since Day 1, and M has been encouraging the clamoring though not so much that she wants to play (to be fair, she’s more than a little fatigued this week as she’s been getting up earlier than normal, working full days, and making dinner, all without the benefit of my usual foot massages in the evening. Hey, I offered to do “burrito night” last night and she turned me down!). I told S that we would play Saturday if he won his football game, which he did…but then we never did, getting distracted by Dark Tower and Magic Cards. And Sunday we had the Seahawks game to go to which is kind of an all day event with the Seattle traffic.

So it wasn’t until Wednesday night that we actually got around to making characters. Last night (Thursday) we had the opening encounters in the classic solo B/X module M1: Blizzard Pass. The players took a pounding but survived, and after many high fives between the players, we found a good stopping point and everyone got packed off to bed. However, having “whet our whistles,” I have a feeling that tonight is going to be a long and epic session to confront The Master of Blizzard Pass. Stay tuned!

: )