Tuesday, June 5, 2012
5e, Tinkering and Dragon Magazine
Well, D&D Next certainly has got people talking. And hurling insults at one another. So nothing really changes except the name of the game, eh?
I was sitting around thinking about earlier editions of D&D, trying to remember what it was like way back then, and comparing it to the advent of 4e, and now Next. I think the big difference is Tinkering.
Let me give you some family history. My father was born to an age where automobiles were still pretty simple things. He spent most of his early years up under a hood, fiddling with engines, tweaking performance - heck - even rebuilding the body if need be to suit whatever wild hair was up his ass. By the 70s, when I was growing up, he had the same love affair with computers, buying the home computer kits, tinkering, soldering, blowing out fuses, and spending thousands of dollars just to replicate PONG and Lunar Lander. There was no off-the-shelf, pre-made computer that your average consumer could buy. Even the most complete kits still had to be handcrafted with love, blood, sweat, and tons of cuss-words.
To me, D&D was the same thing.
When I was first exposed to D&D in 1981, it blew my mind. A game of make-believe with a rules framework so people over eight could still play Bovine Tenders and Indigenous Peoples without stomping off in too much of a huff. How awesome was that?
Actually playing D&D, well, that got me frustrated. The rules, well, they frankly sucked. After a few go-rounds, I found them limiting and not able to create the game I saw in my head. Chalk most of that up to the limits of an 11 year old mind. But luckily, there was Dragon magazine.
Every month, Dragon Magazine would come out and fill my brain full of gold. There would be articles on game theory and design, new adventures, and new monsters. But most importantly, there were the house rules.
It seems like in each issue, crammed somewhere, would be an article about how someone had tweaked or adjusted the rules of D&D to better fit their gaming style. That's where I learned about concepts like Critical Hits and Misses, THAC0, Death and Dying Rules, Zero-level Characters, and god knows what else. I internalized many of these ideas, and the amalgamation became my D&D.
It's funny that so many of those house rules from Dragon Magazine became so standard for so many people that they actually were codified into Second Edition AD&D. If I had really understood that that's all 2e really was - AD&D + Dragon Magazine - then I would have never cursed Zeb Cook's name for two decades.
Another nifty feature of Dragon was that it would contain articles on games other than D&D, and often, games that were not even owned by TSR. That exposed me to a lot of other game and their mechanics, without having to actually plunk down money that I did not have an a teen.
By the time I got back into D&D with 4e, Dragon Magazine was a paltry shadow of it's former self. Sure, it had advice for DMs and such, but it wasn't chock-full of a wide variety of articles on subject ranging from game-design to how to fix a broken mechanic in your game. Dragon had become just yet another corporate shill.
You had to look to blogs for advice on how to kit-bash 4e.
I tried - I really tried to take 4e, learn it, run it as intended, then go and house rule it until the damn game felt like D&D again. But no, it never did. Like Dragon, D&D was just a shadow of itself. The remaining skeleton wouldn't even support changes I tried to make to it very well. D&D was no longer a KIT. It was a highly tuned sports car, with a welded shut hood labeled 'no user serviceable parts,' driving in the wrong direction. Sigh.
So that leads my thoughts to D&D Type V. What is this monster? Currently, from what I've been exposed to, it seems like a nice little rules light game. It won't stay simple, I'm sure. But the core appears to be a good one. By good, I mean it will will stand up to a heavy amount of kit-bashing and not fly off the rails like 4e did. They called it 'modularity,' which is kind of a pre-defined kit bashing. I'm optimistic for D&D Next on this point.
The next step, in my mind, is let some really radical game designers in to write Dragon magazine articles that show how to take D&D Next, spin it on it's ear, and spit out marvelous home rules sets that could turn 5e into things completely different that were never intended. Imagine letting good old Zak in and speak through the corporate-horse's mouth? How cool would that be? Imagine letting Monte Cook write an article on game design in Dragon. Now. After all that has gone on. I mean, wow.
Okay, all of that is pie in the sky. Bloggers serve the purpose that Dragon Magazine once did. But imagine if it came from the horse's mouth? Innovation and exploration and wild ass ideas. Tinkering galore. It would set an entirely new tone for D&D. Well, a very old tone.
- Ark
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Dungeonspiration: NTRPGCON 2012
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| From 2011: A jovial Jim Ward planning to kill EVERYONE IN THE UNIVERSE. |
Last year's Con was very inspiring. I think the highlight for me was when Jim Ward offed my son's character in a game of Metamorphosis Alpha. Eaten by a giant plant in one gulp. I mean, can life get much better than that?
This year, a big bag of guests will be attending - Sandy Petersen, Tim Kask, Jennell Jaquays, Erol Otus, James M. Ward, Frank Mentzer, Jason Braun, Steve Marsh, Steve Winter, Dennis Sustare, Jeff Dee, Peter Kerestan, Zeb Cook, and Diesel Laforce. Things might get a little awkward around Zeb Cook. I mean, I did curse his name loudly for two decades because of second edition. But now, I PLAY second edition, and am thoroughly enjoying it. So I should probably just dine on a big plate of crow in front of him.
The Three Castles RPG Design Award is going to be judged by Dennis Sustare, Robert Kuntz, Sandy Petersen, Steve Marsh, and Zeb Cook this year. Up for the award are Anomalous Subsurface Environment, Realms of Crawling Chaos, Stars Without Number, and the Tome of Adventure Design. I think we all know I am rooting for Stars Without Number, so I'll shut up about it.
So, over the four days of the Con, I have some things scheduled:
- Thursday: Urutsk with Kyrinn! Yay! Last year, The Boy faced Urutsk's strangeness head on - causing bouts of hysterical laughter. I'm looking forward to another visit.
- Friday: OD&D with Tim Kask! I'm dead. I'm sure he kills people who make bad puns.
- Saturday Morning: Aliens? Like in the Movie? With Alan Grohe? I there!
- Saturday Evening: Petal Throne with Victor Raymond. Yes, time to introduce The Boy to the sweet smell of MUSTY CINNAMON.
- Sunday: Quicksilver with Jeff Dee. Did I mention Jeff Dee? I've got, like, piles of his Kickstarter artwork on my desk.
That leaves lots of unscheduled time to shop, hob-nob, and crash other games. The Boy and I are pumped, and I'm sure we will be very exhausted, and very inspired, at the end of it all.
If you are planning on attending, I hope to see you there!
- Ark
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Naming A Champions Superhero Character
Kaye has been working for, what, a week or two on his super hero. Suddenly this moring we get an email from him. This is the exchange:
Kaye: Quick! Give me some ideas for Superhero names!
Me: Putrid Pete. Engorged Man. Left Eyeball Lad. Lactating Larry.
Kaye: Yeah, I forgot to mention that he does not have the power to lactate. Good try though.
Me: Okay, well, what powers does he have? Or should we just go with the obvious and call him MinMaxMan?
Kaye: Well his powers are super strength, flight and energy projection. And he is not totally min/max. He has one weakness.
Me: Well obviously, he should be called Superman.
Kaye: God damn I hate you. I was about to reply about how he is nothing like superman then I looked at his powers again..........now I have the urge to rework all his powers again. Are you happy now!
Me: One day I will be able to breath again. Until them, I am laughing too hard to inhale.
Any email exchange with Kaye is normally a source of hours of amusement. :)
- Ark
Kaye: Quick! Give me some ideas for Superhero names!
Me: Putrid Pete. Engorged Man. Left Eyeball Lad. Lactating Larry.
Kaye: Yeah, I forgot to mention that he does not have the power to lactate. Good try though.
Me: Okay, well, what powers does he have? Or should we just go with the obvious and call him MinMaxMan?
Kaye: Well his powers are super strength, flight and energy projection. And he is not totally min/max. He has one weakness.
Me: Well obviously, he should be called Superman.
Kaye: God damn I hate you. I was about to reply about how he is nothing like superman then I looked at his powers again..........now I have the urge to rework all his powers again. Are you happy now!
Me: One day I will be able to breath again. Until them, I am laughing too hard to inhale.
Any email exchange with Kaye is normally a source of hours of amusement. :)
- Ark
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons
Ah. Hi there. Good. I'm glad I got your attention.
Some of you may recognize the image over there as the one created as an April Fool joke back in 2011. The reason I reposted it is really to just mess with your head. Calm down everybody. ;)
I've just finished reading through the D&D Next Playtest files. I was planning to write a breakdown of my feeling about each and every bit of it. I've got the notes right here - all my little scribbles and chicken scratching.
I'm not going to post them.
Why? Well, First off, I'm not sure exactly what I can say with the NDA - I need to read over that again as well - but honestly, It doesn't matter. No one really cares about all that minutia, anyway. So, I'll keep to larger, more sweeping observations.
In reading the rules, and taking a peek at other peoples' writings on the matter, I think it goes like this:
- If you want to like the rules presented in the D&D Next Playtest, you will, and
- If you do not want to like the rules presented in the D&D Next Playtest, you won't.
It's really simple as that. The ruleset is so basic, and the actual rules that would evoke interest or disgust are so absent from this playtest, that I think your mind will probably try to fill in the blanks with what it is expecting, for better or worse.
I'm not sure whether that is by design, or by accident.
So what do we really have here with the D&D Next playtest? I see this is an attempt to emulate old school style play using the 'language' of modern role playing games. There are a few mechanics that offer a different flavor - but none of them are too repulsive. The whole Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic intrigues the hell out of me. The en masse move of virtually all saving throws and checks to the Abilities appears to be wonderful.
I could see running the kind of D&D games I like to run with this very ruleset. I could see sitting down with a bunch of young punk gamers in a book store get-together, playing with them, and not projectile vomiting all over their manuals.
The big thing that worries me is the creeping in of character customization and specialization. Race - okay. Class - sure. Background - umm . . . well . . . hmm. Theme - umm . . huh? The character creation rules are absent from the playtest, so this minefield of a subject is just hinted at by the pre-gen character sheets.
Of course, I haven't playtested yet, so all my thoughts are worthless until put into action. Since one of our GM's games is on hiatus at the moment, I'll be running a playtest starting Wednesday. Crazy Ass Tim has got the lineup over on his awesome blog.
One thing I'll remind ya'll is that you must sign the NDA to playtest. This includes children. The boy is under 13, so of course he can't sign anything at all legally - but WOTC has provided something for me to sign, which allows his to play and give feedback to them.
If WOTC keeps on going in a good direction with this, I see 5e as something I would play. Not as my go-to game or anything, but as a game I could sit down with some kids and play without feeling the need for a shower. And really that what I am hoping for - a game that can get the punks and the grognards in the same room together - for at least a little while. Of course, I am filling in the blanks with my hopes and expectations (and fears) - as we are wont to do with anything in life.
- Ark
P.S. - WOTC, if you are listening right now, why not take this simplified ruleset and publish it as BASIC D&D, then throw the kitchen sink in and publish that as ADVANCED D&D. Completely foreign and bizarre idea, I know, but it just might work!
Friday, May 25, 2012
A Call to Arms
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| These are doll arms, not maggots. I think. |
I'm torn right now. We've got a hole in our gaming schedule, and I've been prepping to run a Champions game. But Next is staring at me in the face.
Now, I'm already playing a version of D&D I like, a version that I see no need to toss away. So why am I interested in D&D Next?
THINK OF THE CHILDREN.
Okay, this is where I'm coming from. I'd like to be able to plop down with any group of random whippersnappers playing D&D and not get violently ill and projectile vomit all over their ruleset. How does this happen? Well, the easiest way is for WOTC to put out a game that doesn't upset my stomach.
If new players are introduced to a ROLE-PLAYING GAME, rather than a miniatures based skirmish simulation system, well, that's a whole crop of people who will be that much closer to 'getting' old school type play. That makes more people who are prepped to come to my table and play a proper game of D&D.
WOTC really needs feedback to make that happen. They need feedback from grumpy old bastards who can identify the steaming piles and point them out. They need US, the Guardians of Grognosia (or something like that, since the term 'Grognardia' is already taken.)
In the end, WOTC will make whatever game they want to. Will they pour a bunch of crap on this simple ruleset and turn me off? Yeah, probably. But we have the opportunity to steer them, even if it's slightly, into the kind of game we prefer. The very fact that the adventure module in the playtest packet is the CAVES OF CHAOS points to the fact that they are at least listening a little bit.
Is all that worth three or four nights of learning some new old rules, killing orcs, and filling our some questionnaires? Right now, I'm thinking yes.
- Ark
P.S. Of course, I have a track record of being horribly wrong at important times, too. So get out your grain of salt. :)
Thursday, May 24, 2012
His Were Pink Too
You know, I really didn't think that I'd get this finished today, what with work being such a pain and me lately obsessing over the mega-picture of Glacia. But I did it! Well, not exactly 'on time,' because I shoot for before 7:00 AM CST, but heck - I got the day right at least.
Hey, do you mind doing me a favor? I know there are a handful of people that actually read this strip on occasion from the stats, but I really don't know who. If you read it, could you comment below? Just a Hi or a MEEP or UTINI will do. I'm just curious.
THANKS!
- Ark
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Weird West Miniatures
Stuart Robertson has got a Kicksta^H^H^H^H Indiegogo project going. He's putting together some minis for his Weird West game, which could lots of other uses. Reenacting Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter immediately comes to mind. Check it out and throw him some cash!
[Regretfully, I've been BANNED from giving any more money to projects for a while, so all I can do is be a cheerleaders for cool stuff at this point. 8) ]
- Ark
[Regretfully, I've been BANNED from giving any more money to projects for a while, so all I can do is be a cheerleaders for cool stuff at this point. 8) ]
- Ark
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