This past Saturday was Free RPG Day. If you didn't get the chance to hit up a game store you missed out on some cool freebies.
Free RPG Day is a great idea and pretty well executed on the distribution side of things, but I find that the stores I frequent don't really do any promotion or hold any events to make it more of an EVENT. So, while ultimately, I appreciate a few free games and previews, I'm not sure how successful the program is.
This year there was a bunch of nice-looking giveaways of which I grabbed only one; Khyber's Harvest for D&D 4th Edition. If you read my last post you know that I've had some issues with my D&D game and with 4th Edition in general. And I have to tell you, this adventure is a perfect example of how adventures should be written. It includes some background and world-setting information that's both interesting and important . . . and then the adventure goes on to actually use that information! The encounters are inventive (and include some interesting bits that I haven't seen elsewhere as well as a very cool use of the trap mechanics) and the overall adventure is mercifully short. Maybe not short enough to run in a single evening, but short enough that players will remember what they hell they're doing there. The adventure also introduces some new monsters, or at least monsters that are new to 4th Edition. Players familiar with Eberron will recognize them right off.
If you were lucky enough to pick up this adventure, I think you'll enjoy it. I already want to use it in my game -- or at least use the monsters and the trap. (Specifically the Living Darkness and the Baleful Eye.)
This is exactly what I want to see in a published adventure. String a bunch of these together and make an Adventure Path from them and I'll be a lot happier with my 4th Edition experiences.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
D&D Has Let Me Down
Sorry for the looooong break between posts. Briefly, I took a new job, moved (leaving my new house and fiance behind), started the new job, had to find some people to game with, and finally, find some time to blog.
And I have.
Shortly after moving here (Los Gatos, CA) I decided to get a D&D 4th Ed. game going. I'd only run one or two sessions previously, but I'd played in about a 20 sessions. (Rufus the dwarven cleric, donchaknow?) I wanted to run something that wouldn't require a ton of prep work for me, so I decided to run the Scales of War Adventure Path from Dungeon Magazine. Everyone was cool with that, they created characters, and we started playing. Everything was fine for the first session or two, although there were some slight grumblings about powers and effectiveness and so on, but we chalked that up to inexperience with the system for most of the players.
The thing is; things didn't really get better and the adventure path was a real slog. Quite literally one fight after another after another with very little chance to inject story or characterization. We play weekly for the most part, so over the course of a couple of months we made it through the first adventure and almost through the second, before things really seemed to fall apart. The old grumbings about powers and effectiveness were still there, but now they were paired with complaints about overpowered bad guys and a big, giant lack of any sort of story for the players and the characters to care about and get invested in.
I had to agree. I'd also been really unhappy and thinking it was time to make a change to the campaign. So now, I'm working up some ideas on what to do with the game so it has more story and isn't just a dungeon-crawl week after week. This will definitely mean more work for me, but I'm really going to limit the time I spend on it.
All this to say, D&D let me down. I was trying to run the game the way the creators intended -- using an adventure they created -- all in an attempt to play regularly without giving it too much of my time. And it sucked.
Rather than spend all my time complaining about it, I have a few suggestions on how to make games better for everyone (players and GMs):
1) Keep the story in the forefront of everyone's minds. Even if the story is prototypical and strightforward it gives the players something to base their characters' motivations on and makes the game more interesting.
2) Keep "dungeons" or "adventures" relatively short. Unending dungeon-crawls get old and don't provide much in the way of role-playing. By keeping adventures short you give the combat/tactical guys the chance to have fun in their element and you give the role-players/immersive types the chance to have fun the way they like (typically back in town interacting with folks).
3) Vary encounters. This is tied closely with #2 above. If you're going to have a long adventure, don't have one combat after another -- even if the bad guys fight in a totally different manner. It's still a fight and they get boooorrrrring. Instead, have a fight, then some sort of interaction, then another fight, then a trap/ambush, interaction, etc. It makes the game more fun and it makes it easier to insert story beats to keep everything moving forward in a way that makes sense.
4) Let characters shine. Also tied into the two above. Combat isn't some characters' strong suit. Sure, every class can contribute to a fight, but that shouldn't be the only place a character can shine. Elric, Conan, Fafrhd, Croaker, Locke Lamora, etc. weren't interesting because they could fight, they were interesting because of how they acted and what they fought for (or against). If your games are a string of unending combats, you and the players will never get to learn much about their characters and you'll never find out what defines the characters as a fictional person as opposed to a bunch of stats on the page. Finding moments in and out of combat to put each character into the spotlight will make the game more enjoyable for everyone.
5) Make rewards and punishment more immediate and scaled to level. If a dungeon goes on too long, players will forget what they hell they're supposed to be doing and why they're doing it. That's not good. Shorter adventures should have minor consequences and longer adventures should have major consequences. A short adventure about rescuing some townsfolk is good because players will remember, "Our goal is to rescue the townsfolk and get them home" for a session or two pretty easily, but the longer it goes on and the more damage they take and the more it looks like this could go on forever, the less immediate and important those townsfolk look. Whereas longer adventures that revolve around a major consequence such as, "Defeat Nedrebos the Necromancer before he can usurp the Raven Queen and raise an army of undead to take over the world," will stick in the players' minds a long time (as it should).
I'm sure I can come up with more of these, but those are what leapt to mind as I sat down to write this.
Going forward in my D&D game I'm going to try and take these teachings to heart. Hopefully that will make the game more enjoyable for everyone. And hopefully I can do it without writing up my own custom critters and sprawling plotlines. I want the game to be fun for me, too.
And I have.
Shortly after moving here (Los Gatos, CA) I decided to get a D&D 4th Ed. game going. I'd only run one or two sessions previously, but I'd played in about a 20 sessions. (Rufus the dwarven cleric, donchaknow?) I wanted to run something that wouldn't require a ton of prep work for me, so I decided to run the Scales of War Adventure Path from Dungeon Magazine. Everyone was cool with that, they created characters, and we started playing. Everything was fine for the first session or two, although there were some slight grumblings about powers and effectiveness and so on, but we chalked that up to inexperience with the system for most of the players.
The thing is; things didn't really get better and the adventure path was a real slog. Quite literally one fight after another after another with very little chance to inject story or characterization. We play weekly for the most part, so over the course of a couple of months we made it through the first adventure and almost through the second, before things really seemed to fall apart. The old grumbings about powers and effectiveness were still there, but now they were paired with complaints about overpowered bad guys and a big, giant lack of any sort of story for the players and the characters to care about and get invested in.
I had to agree. I'd also been really unhappy and thinking it was time to make a change to the campaign. So now, I'm working up some ideas on what to do with the game so it has more story and isn't just a dungeon-crawl week after week. This will definitely mean more work for me, but I'm really going to limit the time I spend on it.
All this to say, D&D let me down. I was trying to run the game the way the creators intended -- using an adventure they created -- all in an attempt to play regularly without giving it too much of my time. And it sucked.
Rather than spend all my time complaining about it, I have a few suggestions on how to make games better for everyone (players and GMs):
1) Keep the story in the forefront of everyone's minds. Even if the story is prototypical and strightforward it gives the players something to base their characters' motivations on and makes the game more interesting.
2) Keep "dungeons" or "adventures" relatively short. Unending dungeon-crawls get old and don't provide much in the way of role-playing. By keeping adventures short you give the combat/tactical guys the chance to have fun in their element and you give the role-players/immersive types the chance to have fun the way they like (typically back in town interacting with folks).
3) Vary encounters. This is tied closely with #2 above. If you're going to have a long adventure, don't have one combat after another -- even if the bad guys fight in a totally different manner. It's still a fight and they get boooorrrrring. Instead, have a fight, then some sort of interaction, then another fight, then a trap/ambush, interaction, etc. It makes the game more fun and it makes it easier to insert story beats to keep everything moving forward in a way that makes sense.
4) Let characters shine. Also tied into the two above. Combat isn't some characters' strong suit. Sure, every class can contribute to a fight, but that shouldn't be the only place a character can shine. Elric, Conan, Fafrhd, Croaker, Locke Lamora, etc. weren't interesting because they could fight, they were interesting because of how they acted and what they fought for (or against). If your games are a string of unending combats, you and the players will never get to learn much about their characters and you'll never find out what defines the characters as a fictional person as opposed to a bunch of stats on the page. Finding moments in and out of combat to put each character into the spotlight will make the game more enjoyable for everyone.
5) Make rewards and punishment more immediate and scaled to level. If a dungeon goes on too long, players will forget what they hell they're supposed to be doing and why they're doing it. That's not good. Shorter adventures should have minor consequences and longer adventures should have major consequences. A short adventure about rescuing some townsfolk is good because players will remember, "Our goal is to rescue the townsfolk and get them home" for a session or two pretty easily, but the longer it goes on and the more damage they take and the more it looks like this could go on forever, the less immediate and important those townsfolk look. Whereas longer adventures that revolve around a major consequence such as, "Defeat Nedrebos the Necromancer before he can usurp the Raven Queen and raise an army of undead to take over the world," will stick in the players' minds a long time (as it should).
I'm sure I can come up with more of these, but those are what leapt to mind as I sat down to write this.
Going forward in my D&D game I'm going to try and take these teachings to heart. Hopefully that will make the game more enjoyable for everyone. And hopefully I can do it without writing up my own custom critters and sprawling plotlines. I want the game to be fun for me, too.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Song of Ice and Fire Preview
I had a hand in writing some of the Campaign Guide for the Song of Ice and Fire roleplaying game based on George R.R. Martin's novels. I worked on that last year around this time and since I'm now working for Green Ronin I've seen a PDF of the core rulebook for SIFRP (as they call it) and it looks fantastic -- both in terms of visuals and rules.If you're as excited to see the final product as I am you'll want to check out the new preview that's been posted on the Green Ronin site. Here's the link. Honestly, I haven't been this excited about a new RPG in a while.
The book should be coming soon, but approvals are time-consuming especially for books with so much information in them. Despite the delay, I'm sure they'll be worth the wait.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Rufus Improves
Tuesday's D&D game was a better for me. I've posted before about how frustrating my dwarven cleric has been, but he seems to be getting better and I think there a few reasons for that.
1) I've changed the character's powers around so that he's able to keep up in combat (although my dice really aren't working with me on that front). I've checked through the Wizards forums on optimizing characters and while I generally find that approach to gaming as being lame and counter to what I really enjoy about roleplaying -- which is the actual role-playing of the character -- the tips there have helped me to get the character to a point where I feel like I'm contributing.
2) I and the other players have realized we work much better as a team when we're near enough to one another that Seth's warlod Valok and my cleric Rufus can use our powers to aid them. Sure, there are times when one of the characters needs to go outside our range, but they usually pay for doing it and/or shortly return to the group.
3) This last one bothers me a bit because it's very meta, but it's become more common for those of us sitting around the table to talk to the other players out of character to explain what we're going to do next and why. There are a couple of instances that stand out in which I told another player to either delay their action so I could set up a bonus for their daily power, or told them to wait until next round to pull out the big guns so I could get off an effect that would help them. Part of me likes the tactics that arise from this sort of communication, but the other part of me is bothered by the fact that such communication is necessary. Sure, I can rationalize it by saying the characters are barking commands and requests to each other, but the table talk that takes place between the players to set up this or that effect tells me that it would be impossible for the characters to communicate such concepts in the middle of combat.
Regardless, the game is going better for me. Wait, no, that's unfair, the game isn't; the game's been very good the whole time. Rather, my character is performing much better for me, so that's good.
Oh, and I finally rolled a natural 20 with my vicious warhammer, hit the big ice demon thingy, and did 20 or so points of damage. And killed the thing. Woohoo.
1) I've changed the character's powers around so that he's able to keep up in combat (although my dice really aren't working with me on that front). I've checked through the Wizards forums on optimizing characters and while I generally find that approach to gaming as being lame and counter to what I really enjoy about roleplaying -- which is the actual role-playing of the character -- the tips there have helped me to get the character to a point where I feel like I'm contributing.
2) I and the other players have realized we work much better as a team when we're near enough to one another that Seth's warlod Valok and my cleric Rufus can use our powers to aid them. Sure, there are times when one of the characters needs to go outside our range, but they usually pay for doing it and/or shortly return to the group.
3) This last one bothers me a bit because it's very meta, but it's become more common for those of us sitting around the table to talk to the other players out of character to explain what we're going to do next and why. There are a couple of instances that stand out in which I told another player to either delay their action so I could set up a bonus for their daily power, or told them to wait until next round to pull out the big guns so I could get off an effect that would help them. Part of me likes the tactics that arise from this sort of communication, but the other part of me is bothered by the fact that such communication is necessary. Sure, I can rationalize it by saying the characters are barking commands and requests to each other, but the table talk that takes place between the players to set up this or that effect tells me that it would be impossible for the characters to communicate such concepts in the middle of combat.
Regardless, the game is going better for me. Wait, no, that's unfair, the game isn't; the game's been very good the whole time. Rather, my character is performing much better for me, so that's good.
Oh, and I finally rolled a natural 20 with my vicious warhammer, hit the big ice demon thingy, and did 20 or so points of damage. And killed the thing. Woohoo.
Friday, November 14, 2008
The Home Team Returns
After last week's rather unsuccessful attempt to run M&M while the returns were coming in on the presidential race, this week's session was great!
The set up for the game was pretty standard, but most of the players are unfamiliar with the system, so I wanted an encounter that would serve as a learning experience for us. A number of the first few sessions will be like that. I want the players to experiment with their powers, their feats, and the combat system a bit so they can see what they like and what they don't.
During this game the PCs were asked to check out some weird goings-on down by the docks at the behest of their government liaisons Agents Nolan and Parish. The characters all split up because they had some time to kill before meeting up at the docks. A couple of characters did some legwork, then started their stakeout.
Time passed, nothing major seemed to be happening (other than finding a diner nearby with good muffins), so they changed their location and continued to watch for anything unusual. Eventually Bug spotted something happening on the docks far to the east of their location. Anemone checked it out astrally and told the others that the "longshoremen" were German and they were quickly loading a tramp steamer with crates. The Home Team charged into action. Bug moved into the steamer to sabotage it. Patriot set off his area of effect dazzle and blinded some of the thugs. Anemone teleported to the end of the pier and used Fearsome Presence to intimidate some of the men down there. And Sally Steel tried to intimidate some of the men into giving up.
The Nazi thugs put up a fight and one of their number tranformed into a werewolf -- who actually managed to tag Anemone with a claw. Unfortunatley, the fight quickly turned against the bad guys and when the thugs all fell or were entangled, Sea-Wolf dove into the water to make his getaway.
During the fight no one tried anythign particularly funky, although it was nice to see some of them actually take some damage and have to rethink their tactics a bit. Sally Steel took advantage of her high strength to grab one of the Nazis and hurl him into another, which knocked them both out and into the water. (Which was pretty cool.) Then tried the same thing with a crate, but she ended up burning through it and setting it on fire. But it didn't matter because the Nazi she threatened with it surrendered because he had at least that much sense.
After the fight, Sally watched the thugs while the other members of the team investigated the boat. Then she spotted some "amphibimen" who'd emerged from the water and were trying to steal two of the crates. With the aid of Anemone and Patriot they drove the creatures off, but it's still a mystery as to what they were up to.
Upon examining the contents of the crates the team discovered mystical tomes and ancient artifacts. Clearly a collection of morsels to feed Hitler's appetite for occult items.
After that long recap, I really just wanted to say how much fun the game was. One of the players said the fight had a good balance of looking pretty easy while also maintaining a bit of menace, which was good to hear. I had no interest in knocking out or seriously endangering any of the characters. It's important for me when running a game for players new to that game to have the first few sessions be mostly about fun and learning the system. No heavy story concepts. No major defeats. It's my time to lay some groundwork and set the tone of the game. Plus, most importantly, I want to make the players feel like they're playing heroes and not schlubs with powers.
After this session, I'm pretty jazzed about the game. Now I have to figure out exactly what the characters are going to want to do next. Investigating the books and artifacts will be high on the lsit, but I still have more story to tell that doesn't invovle that. I'll give it some thought.
Stand by for adventure!
The set up for the game was pretty standard, but most of the players are unfamiliar with the system, so I wanted an encounter that would serve as a learning experience for us. A number of the first few sessions will be like that. I want the players to experiment with their powers, their feats, and the combat system a bit so they can see what they like and what they don't.
During this game the PCs were asked to check out some weird goings-on down by the docks at the behest of their government liaisons Agents Nolan and Parish. The characters all split up because they had some time to kill before meeting up at the docks. A couple of characters did some legwork, then started their stakeout.
Time passed, nothing major seemed to be happening (other than finding a diner nearby with good muffins), so they changed their location and continued to watch for anything unusual. Eventually Bug spotted something happening on the docks far to the east of their location. Anemone checked it out astrally and told the others that the "longshoremen" were German and they were quickly loading a tramp steamer with crates. The Home Team charged into action. Bug moved into the steamer to sabotage it. Patriot set off his area of effect dazzle and blinded some of the thugs. Anemone teleported to the end of the pier and used Fearsome Presence to intimidate some of the men down there. And Sally Steel tried to intimidate some of the men into giving up.
The Nazi thugs put up a fight and one of their number tranformed into a werewolf -- who actually managed to tag Anemone with a claw. Unfortunatley, the fight quickly turned against the bad guys and when the thugs all fell or were entangled, Sea-Wolf dove into the water to make his getaway.
During the fight no one tried anythign particularly funky, although it was nice to see some of them actually take some damage and have to rethink their tactics a bit. Sally Steel took advantage of her high strength to grab one of the Nazis and hurl him into another, which knocked them both out and into the water. (Which was pretty cool.) Then tried the same thing with a crate, but she ended up burning through it and setting it on fire. But it didn't matter because the Nazi she threatened with it surrendered because he had at least that much sense.
After the fight, Sally watched the thugs while the other members of the team investigated the boat. Then she spotted some "amphibimen" who'd emerged from the water and were trying to steal two of the crates. With the aid of Anemone and Patriot they drove the creatures off, but it's still a mystery as to what they were up to.
Upon examining the contents of the crates the team discovered mystical tomes and ancient artifacts. Clearly a collection of morsels to feed Hitler's appetite for occult items.
After that long recap, I really just wanted to say how much fun the game was. One of the players said the fight had a good balance of looking pretty easy while also maintaining a bit of menace, which was good to hear. I had no interest in knocking out or seriously endangering any of the characters. It's important for me when running a game for players new to that game to have the first few sessions be mostly about fun and learning the system. No heavy story concepts. No major defeats. It's my time to lay some groundwork and set the tone of the game. Plus, most importantly, I want to make the players feel like they're playing heroes and not schlubs with powers.
After this session, I'm pretty jazzed about the game. Now I have to figure out exactly what the characters are going to want to do next. Investigating the books and artifacts will be high on the lsit, but I still have more story to tell that doesn't invovle that. I'll give it some thought.
Stand by for adventure!
Monday, November 10, 2008
WizKids: The End
I just had this announcement from Topps/WizKids passed along to me be Seth.
This makes me so very, very sad.
I wish I had some ability to do something about it. I'd love to take over some of those lines and turn it into a viable business again.
But, at the same time I'm thankful for the time I spent there. It changed my life. I moved to the Seattle area for that job. I loved working on the games. I loved the people I worked with. I advanced my career significantly. And I met my girlfriend.
I knew when I left two-plus years ago that it was the right time to get out. I knew I didn't want to be there for the (not-so-)long slide to failure, but it's still very sad to see it go away completely.
This makes me so very, very sad.
I wish I had some ability to do something about it. I'd love to take over some of those lines and turn it into a viable business again.
But, at the same time I'm thankful for the time I spent there. It changed my life. I moved to the Seattle area for that job. I loved working on the games. I loved the people I worked with. I advanced my career significantly. And I met my girlfriend.
I knew when I left two-plus years ago that it was the right time to get out. I knew I didn't want to be there for the (not-so-)long slide to failure, but it's still very sad to see it go away completely.
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