Friday, December 5, 2008

RPG System Overview: Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons and Dragons The one who started it all. The one RPG by which all others are measured. Say what you will, D&D is the granddaddy of all role playing games. Everybody plays D&D. It's the standard game. If you're in the hobby long enough, you'll play this at some point. Everyone is familiar with it, and most of the time it's the easiest thing to get everyone to agree on. It also established a lot of the conventions that other games follow.

D&D tends to do pulp fantasy very well. There's a Tolkien-esque flavor to the system, but high fantasy isn't really it's strong suit. The new edition is a fairly big departure from past versions, and may manage to do the LotR style better, but I haven't had enough experience with it to come to a definite conclusion.

D&D, more so than most games, tends to encourage a very strict division of labor within a group. Players must choose a class when they create a character. Only certain classes can cast spells, and those classes aren't very good at fighting. Only certain classes can wear heavy armor, and those classes aren't very good at picking locks or sneaking past guards. Despite this, characters are still fairly customizable, though there isn't the room for versatility that there is in a pure point system.

Characters take damage in the form of lost hit points. 3e and 3.5e had no penalties for losing hit points as long as you were above 0hp. 4e has some game effects that occur after a certain fraction of a characters hp have been lost, but it's still very cinematic. Armor makes characters more difficult to hit, so characters must exploit holes in the armor, rather than trying to pierce it.

The magic is integrated into the system, and a party would have a difficult time surviving an adventure without using magic. This is less true for 4e, but a lack of magic users would still be a handicap.

Dungeons and Dragons is the progenitor of the role playing genre. It was also my first RPG. It's not my favorite system, but some of my best gaming memories were made playing this game.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Effects of Genre on a System

Different genre tend to encourage different levels of detail in RPGs. That's not entirely true. Different genre tend to encourage details in different areas of the system. This is a natural result of more emphasis being placed on those areas.

Fantasy games tend to have more complicated rules for melee and mounted combat. Ranged combat is present, but is usually allows fewer options than melee. Part of this is due to the fact that sword fighting is much more complicated than archery. But the rest is due to the fact that few of the genre's tropes involve standing back and shooting at someone. The armor rules also tend to be a bit more complex, and usually involve attacking around armor as often as actually piercing it. Magic is usually an integral part of the game, and often is the longest chapter of the book.

Modern action games tend to have more complicated ranged combat rules, especially when it comes to aiming and long distances. The exception to this is the martial arts sub-genre, which focuses on melee no matter the time period. Vehicle combat tends to be more complex as well. The list of equipment is usually longer, as someone can open a catalog, point to an item and expect it to be available to a character. Armor rules tend to be abbreviated to how much Kevlar one is wearing and wear, occasionally with additional rules for ballistic plate inserts. Unarmored can usually be aimed at, but actually penetrating the armor is usually more successful. Modern horror games also have these tendencies, and tend also to include rules for measuring mental stress and the resultant breakdowns and psychosis. Fun stuff, those horror games. Special rules for things such as psychic powers or magic may be present, but are rarely as emphasized as with fantasy, and the game may even be played without it.

Scifi games tend to be similar to modern action games. Air and space combat rules are usually more fleshed out than in the modern games, but the equipment list is usually just as long. Melee combat is usually given even less emphasis than in the modern game. Armor rules may be similar to the modern game, or even non-existent. Force-fields and other such things may be present, and if so add another layer of complexity. Magic systems are uncommon, but psychic powers or other special abilities such as the Force may exist and function in a similar role.

Games with a specific setting or sub-genre usually have more specialized rules. The general use rules tend to be a mixed bag. Some of them tend to be more useful for one genre of game or another, and almost all of them have a specific tone that is hard-wired into the system.

Next post I'll walk through some specifics on individual games.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Realism in RPGs

Realism in gaming can be a touchy subject. This is especially true in RPGs, because you tend to be viewing things on a much smaller, more intimate scale than in a war game or TCG. The closer you get to something the more detail resolves, or in this case have to be resolved.

I should probably clarify things here. I'm talking about realism in combat mechanics. You can look at realism for things like lock-picking or tanning or haberdashery, but most people don't care about how to scrub a lock or the differences between chrome and brain tanning. They certainly don't want mechanics for the effects of mercury fumes from felt stiffening solutions.

Much of the contention is due to differing opinions on what is, in fact, "realistic." Debating what's "realistic" in fictional combat is a great way to start a six hour argument. The first problem you run into is that combat is really hard to analyze. This is a problem people struggle with in real life. Everything happens very fast, and you really just have to reconstruct everything after the fact. Factor in things like post adrenal shock and people flat out lying, and you'll have yourself tied for several weeks trying to piece together what happened in one knife assault.

Keep in mind that you're also trying to create an abstract, absolute system for simulating what is often barely controlled chaos. There's very little good data on the immediate effects of physical trauma on a person, and that makes it difficult to make realistic rules for it. Why does a knife deal 1d6 of damage and a sword deal 2d6? How long does the blade have to be before it deals the extra die of damage? And these are fairly minor philosophical problems. You should see what people come up with once they start actually playing the games.

There are a few things you can do to deal with the realism problem. First, decide the level of realism you want the game to have before you start playing. A lot of this will depend on the system you're using, but a lot also depends on the tone the GM sets. Match the tone and the system to what you're trying to do.

If you do run into a question of whether something is realistic, ask yourself this: Does it make sense? If yes, you don't have a problem. If no, find out what doesn't make sense and who has problems with that element. Chances are once you do that you can solve the dispute fairly in short order. If not, have something else happen. The goal is to play the game, not sit around arguing how a fictional universe adheres to abstract, arbitrary rules. Rule of thumb, gravity should be pretty constant. Everything else is mutable for the sake of the game.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Editions: TCGs (sort of)

No trading card games I've played actually had "editions" per se. What usually happens is that new sets of cards are released periodically until the game is either canceled or the company goes under. For games like Magic: the Gathering, that can be a very long time, during which many, many cards have been released and gone out of print.

This is good. It lends a lot of variety to the game. Unfortunately, what eventually happens is that you have so many cards floating around with wildly different effects that it becomes next to impossible to balance the game. When a game becomes unbalanced, people stop playing.

Additionally, if you've been playing a long lived TCG for a large fraction of its life, you're going to have a lot of cards. Eventually, you're going to have all the cards you need. Even though the company still makes new cards, you stop buying them because you don't feel like you need them.

TCG companies have to address these problems somehow, or they'll go out of business.
This is why cards become tournament illegal after a certain amount of time. The companies have to balance the games somehow, and they also need the players to buy more cards. As an added bonus, it also means that younger players aren't constantly having to deal with old, obscure cards from the 1993 whenever they sit down to play with an older gamer.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Editions: War Gaming

Editions in war gaming are a little different than those in RPGs. This is because the major revenue for war game companies comes not from books, but from miniatures. So this means that a new edition isn't going to make a company any money, right? Sort of.

New editions cause people to modify their army list. This can lead to people who own complete armies going out to buy new miniatures for units they never used in the old edition. New editions also mean new army books, which usually involve the release of new miniatures. Combine this with a solid marketing push, and not only do you see people buying new versions of units they already own, but often times people become interested in a new army because of the increased attention. This means they buy another army, meaning more miniature sales. The increased attention around a new edition can also bring in gamers who might have left the game for one reason or another, and then found that they like the new rules, or just miss the game.

The change in rules has another effect, though. New editions change the way people play. Tactics that dominated in the last edition might not work so well in the new one. Things that were questionable (read, suicidal) under the old rules might warrant another look with the new edition. This is, to some extent true with RPGs as well, but there's an important difference between RPGs and war games. War games are competitive. There is much more of an incentive to analyze rules and tactics with war games: the other guy certainly is.

This keeps the game from getting stale. It breaks up dominant army lists, and lets new players feel less outclassed by veteran gamers, for about a week. It keeps the game from getting stagnant. If you want to play a game that hasn't changed in a while, look at chess. This game hasn't changed in 200 years. And that was so they could deal with a tie. That's great, but I don't really have the desire to try and learn several centuries worth of strategy just to move little monochromatic columns around a checkerboard. The least they could do is give those poor pawns some cover to hide behind.

Monday, November 17, 2008

On Editions: RPGs

A lot of people complain every time a new edition of a game comes out. They see it as the company try to squeeze extra money out of the fan base. For the most part, they're right. Sort of.

Let's not kid ourselves here. Game companies exist to make a profit. If they don't end the quarter in the black, the investors do bad things to the management. Bad things involving thumbscrews. So in order to make a profit, companies need to sell things. RPG companies need to sell books, war gaming companies need to sell miniatures. With me so far?

The problem for RPG companies starts when they've done pretty much everything they can do with a system. After the core books there are only so many supplements a set of rules can stand. GURPS 3e is a good example of that. They had these wonderful little 100 page supplements on damn near everything. GURPS Imperial Rome. GURPS Celt. GURPS Steampunk. GURPS Undead. GURPS Vampire. You think they could have covered everything about vampires in the undead book. Nope, needed a seperate supplement for that. I think it was actually called GURPS Blood Types. They were fantastic books, don't get me wrong. I learned more from those books than some of the classes I've taken. But there cam a point where they couldn't put out any more books like that. They had covered everything worth covering, and a lot else besides. Plus, with the advantage of about a decade of hindsight, old SJ Games realized they had done some really stupid stuff. So they decided to fix all of that. Thus came GURPS 4e, with core books available in both normal and limited leather bound, gold embossed editions. Yes, it meant that if you wanted new GURPS content, you had to upgrade to 4e.

This was done on purpose. SJ Games sells, among other things, books. If they don't add new books to their line, they'll go out of business. Such is life. SJ games may be a bad example, as they've made every effort to make 4e compatible with the old 3e material, even if it means selling fewer copies of the new GURPS Animal Rights Activism.

A better example might be the new edition of Dungeons and Dragons. D&D 4e is a radical departure from the last edition of D&D, but 3e didn't exactly follow 2e's example to the letter, either. A large portion of the community genuinely seems to dislike 4e, and to that I say: tough cookies. Wizards owns the license, and this is where they've decided to play the game.

That being said, I don't remember any firemen kicking down my door and burning my 3e and 3.5 books. I assume they didn't do that to you. If you don't like the new D&D, play the old one. Write new content for your games yourself, or even switch to other games. It's your time, play how you want. Just don't expect a company to conform to your tastes simply because you've bought a few of their books.

Next post I'll talk about new editions in war gaming, and how the phenomenon manifests differently than in RPGs.

Friday, November 14, 2008

War Gaming: Design Philosophy II: Revenge of the Colon

Last month I posted about designing an army. While I talked at length about how to think about building an army, I never really gave any advice on actually building the army. Let's fix that.

When building an army the first question you have to ask yourself is "What do I want to do?" Do you want to be very shooty, and hammer volley after volley of fire, or do you want to be really stompy and chock full of close combat nastiness? Do you want to field massive engines of death and roll over your enemies, or do you want to overwhelm your opponents with hordes of infantry. The army you want to play is going to greatly affect your strategy, and therefore your model selection.

Once you've decided on a general modus operandi, start looking over the unit list for your faction, and see what jumps out at you. Are there any units that look especially useful, or that you can immediately think of special tactics for? If so, that's a good place to start your army. After that it's just a matter of finding what units work well together.

Here's a few other things to keep a few things in mind while designing your army:

Avoid point sinks. I know it's tempting to bring every Monster Unit of Doom your faction has access to, and to trick out everything you have with as much gear as possible, but keep in mind you're on a budget. Points spent on cool wargear and really big vehicles aren't going towards more units, meaning that your army is going to be severely outnumbered. I'm not telling you to take nothing but minimally equipped basic troops and one leader with no special gear. I just want you to exercise caution when making big purchases. How many tank do you really need? Will your general really use 100 points of war gear? Does that squad of snipers really need to take grenades?

Be Diverse. I've said this before, but like so many basic concepts it bears repeating: the battlefield is an ever changing environment. You won't always anticipate what's going to happen before it happens. Yes, you could take a horde of frenzied berzerkers lead by an nine foot frothing maniac who can tear a man's arms from his sockets, but what if your opponent brings tanks. They don't have arms to tear off. While individual units may be best suited to a specific role, your army can't function that way. You have to be able to respond to a variety of threats quickly and effectively. So, if you do design the above army, make at least some of your guys are carrying bombs to take out any inconvenient tanks.

Be Flexible. Similarly, your units need to be capable of taking on multiple roles. It doesn't matter if you have the best tank hunters in the game if your opponent is bringing nothing but infantry. Suddenly you have a really expensive unit trying to picking off individuals with antitank weaponry into infantry squads. That's just not very effective. Have a plan B for all your units, and have one or two general purpose units that can do most things capably.

Be Mobile. I've written an entire article on mobility, but it bears mention here. You don't have to mechanize your entire force (unless you want to), but you do need think about how you're going to get your guys where you need them. Imagine that your entire force is on one side of the board, and suddenly you need units on the other side. How are you going to respond to this? If you don't have a good answer, you need to rethink your list. Then again, I play Dark Eldar, so I may be a little biased.

Be Resilient. Bad things happen in war. Don't rely on one unit to perform a vital function. If you're playing a heavily opponent, and you anti-tank unit snuffs it, your out of the game. Versatile units can help you with this.

There's a few basic ideas about how to build an army, or more accurately, how not to build an army. Keep this in mind, and you should do well. Also look at sites specific to your game, and see what other people field. You can find army lists for a lot of games on the 'net. The Jungle is a good place to check out army lists for Warhammer 40k. Otherwise, just keep experimenting. Every game is a chance to learn.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

On Powergaming

We're gamers. We play games. The purpose of playing a game is to have fun. I have said this many, many times on this blog. That being said, there are many ways to have fun playing a game. One of those ways is to win. This is where powergaming comes from.

Powergaming is an attempt to gain every advantage possible in a game. This takes different forms depending on what game you're playing. With war games a certain amount of powergaming is to be expected. You're playing against someone, you might as well play to win. The problem comes from when that's you're only reason for playing. If you can't enjoy a well played game in which you lose, you're probably going to hate about half your games.

Powergaming while roleplaying tends to be a bit more problematic. While in theory being as good as possible at whatever your character does can be helpful to the party, in practice obsessively focusing on one part of the game can hurt other people's enjoyment. The danger here is becoming a munchkin. This can very easily start a bizarre game of one-upmanship, in which the offending player(s) constantly try to get one over on both the GM and his fellow players. This gets especially bad if the player(s) stops respecting the rules.

I've given this advice before, but it bears repeating: Don't try to cheat. You're inviting all kinds of pain on yourself when you do. Don't try to justify it, don't try and rationalize it. You will get caught, and you will get kicked out of the group. Good luck finding other people to play with. Gamers talk, especially about certain types of players.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Relating to Your Fellow Gamers: Being a Good Party Member

Roleplaying is a little different from playing a TCG or war game because you're working with the people at the table, rather than against them. As such the etiquette changes a little bit. More stuff stays the same than changes, though.

Be polite Accept the fact that other people are going to have different ideas about what is fun. You may not get to do everything exactly the way you want to, but compromise can mean that you at least get to do some of the things you like. Be patient when people have to stop and check rules. Yes, they should have looked it up beforehand. That doesn't make it okay for you to be rude to them.

Be efficient Do things as quickly as possible, so that the game moves on. Be ready to take your turn in combat, so other people don't have to wait to take theirs. Know your place in the initiative order, so you don't have to be reminded its your turn. Know the rules for your character. You don't want to have to keep going back to the book to find things every time you want to do something. Also, don't have your character go wandering off by himself for extended periods of time. It slows down the game and makes the others have to wait while you're off pursuing your own ends. "But that's what my character would do. He's a loner." There's an important point to remember when playing a character like that: don't. I don't care how cool you think your character is, everyone else thinks you're a tool for trying to hog the session. Roleplaying is a group activity, act accordingly.

Be helpful. A role playing party is a team. Each character needs to act in concert with the others to accomplish the parties goals. If you're constantly acting against the other party members, you need to stop and reconsider what your goals are. Along the same lines, don't just do whatever stupid, random thing you think of. "But that's what my character would do! She's doesn't want the party to succeed" or "He's impulsive." There's something very important you need to do when playing a character like that to make sure you don't become a detriment to the party. Get a new character. If you're too selfish or socially inept to understand why the above behaviors are unacceptable, then you might as well quit trying to roleplay now. Do us all a favor and lock yourself in a dark room with a video game console. Or just eat a bullet.

Be friendly. Make an effort to get along with everyone at the table. You don't have to be best friends, but you at least have to remain civil while you're playing.

Don't be too friendly. Roleplaying can be a great way to meet new people. Please don't be the guy that hits on all the women at the table, though. That guy's a dick, and nobody likes him. The women are there to roleplay, so put it on ice until after the game. Gaming with a significant other can be a great bonding experience. However, please keep the displays of affection to a minimum. They slow down the game and tend to annoy the more perpetually single members of the group. In game romances can be interesting, but check with everyone before hand to see what they're comfortable with. And make sure it doesn't take too much time away from the main plot. You don't want the uninvolved players sitting around waiting for you to finish hitting on Serving Wench #47.

Follow these rules, and you should get invited back to a game. Again, the mantra is: don't be a dick.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Relating to Your Fellow Gamers: Being a Good Opponent

I've made oblique references to professionalism and etiquette a few times on this blog, but I realize I've never really outlined what it is these things mean in gaming. If you haven't figured it out yet, that's what I plan to do here. This is a big topic, so I'll break this down into two chunks, games in which you compete against someone, like a TCG or war game, and games in which you work with a group, like an RPG. Most of the points are the same, but the application is very different.

Be polite. When you're interacting with another gamer, observe basic courtesy. Respect their personal space, and don't make any sort of rude comments. Don't make derogatory remarks about them or their tactics. If somebody uses something you don't like, deal with it. Don't let them get away with cheating, but don't complain about about a perfectly legal decision because you think it's unfair. Don't sigh dramatically or grumble if he makes a mistake or is taking longer than you think he should on his turn. Ask to touch his stuff, whether it's miniatures, cards, or blast templates.

Be efficient. Don't take too long on your turn. During your opponent's turn, be thinking about how you want to respond to his moves. This isn't just good strategic sense, it prevents him from having to wait while you stare contemplatively at the table. Along these same lines, show up ready to play. Don't sit and tweak an army list or deck while your opponent is waiting to play, and have your miniatures or cards ready to go out of the box.

Be friendly. Shake hands with your opponent before a game and wish him good. Do it again afterward and say good game, thank him for playing, congratulate him on his victory, or offer him a rematch if he lost. Smile and make conversation while you play. It doesn't have to be meaningful or intelligent, just so you're not sitting on the other side of the table silently glaring at him the entire game.

Don't be too friendly. Guys, I realize that women in gaming are as precious as diamonds and as rare as a Cadbury egg at Christmas, but keep it together. I don't care how pretty she is. I don't care how well she paints, or how great her deck is. Treat her like any other opponent. Look at her face. If she's wearing a v-neck top, ignore it. She may have to bend over to move miniatures or reach a card. Ignore it. She may have this really cute way of tucking her hair behind her ear and then smiling at you like you're the only person in the world. Ignore it. And unless she initiates something, for Gork's sake don't flirt with her. She's the enemy. The golden haired enemy, with alabaster skin and a radiant smile, with warm, full lips and curves like a country road and legs that go all the way up to her.....
So stay frosty. Keep it professional. She came to game, not to deal with leering game geeks. Ladies, it's generally considered bad play to use your feminine wiles to distract the men you play. Especially the really shy, nerdy ones. You know who I'm talking about.

Be gracious. Play to win, but also play so your opponent has fun. Don't celebrate his every reverse. Trash talking is completely inappropriate. Victory dances are right out. When you win, tell him it was a good game and offer him a rematch some time. If you can do it without being condescending, offer hims some advice. When you lose, smile and congratulate him. Thank him for a good game, and compliment him on some good move he made. Never blame the dice for a loss. When playing someone who you're just flat out better than, don't grind them into powder. When it becomes obvious that you're caning them, ask if they want some advice. Don't feel obligated to teach them every trick you know, but help them get to the next level. The better they get, the sooner you have a worthy opponent.

Some of these rules relax a little bit if you know you're opponent fairly well, but others are completely non-negotiable. The most important thing to remember: don't be a dick. Your opponent is there to have fun, not to provide you with entertainment. Look at my article on dice for information specifically on dice etiquette. Mav out.

Monday, November 3, 2008

War Gaming: Mobility

I realized that after posting on Friday that there was a common theme through all three of the points I made: the ability to move. Through mobility a player can seize objectives, strike at his weaknesses, and avoid his strengths.

Objectives tend to be fairly static in most war games. Occasionally you need to kill some VIP or leader type dude, but most of the time you'll be trying to get to a specific point. Mobility lets you do that faster. And the less time it takes you to get to an objective, the more time you can spend somewhere your opponent doesn't want you to be. A highly mobile unit can seize an advantageous position in the first turn, cause havoc for the next few, then on the last turn swoop down and take/contest an objective.

Striking at your opponents weaknesses is extremely easy a mobile unit. If you have a unit capable of flanking the entire opposing force by the second turn, you can basically choose whatever target you want. Target something squishy and expensive.

Avoiding strength using mobility seems like it would be the most straightforward of the three. For the most part it is. However, keep in mind that strength is relative. If your opponent charges one of your units that's weak in close combat (James T. Shootsalot) with something big and nasty (Johnny MacStabstab), he's in a strong position. However, if you counterattack with two of your close combat specialists (The Evisceration Twins), suddenly his world isn't so rosy. It's important to recognize the difference between counterattacking and the twins into a meat grinder, though. If you have more to lose from attacking him in that situation than he does, don't charge in to the rescue. A better thing to do might be wait for the engaged unit to break/die messily, then blow Johnny off the face of the table with a rocket launcher. Sorry, Jim, sometimes you have to take one for the team. Mobility is helpful here because it helps you get your shooty units into place to perforate Mr. Macstabstab.

And that's mobility. Some factions in a game have more options than others when it comes to moving fast, but everybody can take something that can move fast. Make sure you do.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Wargaming: Basic Strategy

Most tabletop games are about thinking strategically. This makes sense, considering that you're sitting at a table, there aren't a whole lot of other things you can test. Wait, arm wrestling happens on a table. Is beer pong a tabletop game? Okay, so occasionally strength and maybe the ability to bounce a ping pong ball and resist the effects of alcohol. But mostly if you're sitting at a table, it's a contest of minds.

The most obvious example of this is war games. In a war game you're pitting your little dudes against an opponents little dudes, seeing who can kill the other dudes the fastest. Except sometimes you're not. Here's a breakdown of things to do to keep from getting completely spanked at war games:

1.Keep the objective in mind. While you're playing, your goal is to win. Not to kill the other guys general. Not to take out that squad of snipers on the hill. Accomplish the objective. If you have to protect a certain area, don't send half your army chasing one guy. If you need to take something, don't do that either, unless he's holding the objective. In that case, send most of your army after him. It's easy to get caught up trying to accomplish a specific goal and forgetting what your actual mission is. Don't do that. In Warhammer 40k there's a mission called "Cleanse." The tables divided into four quarters, and you have to vie for control of them. A wise man once said "hold two, contest one." For those of you keeping score at home, that gives you two and a half of the four quarters. That's all you need to win. Don't waste time trying to dig your opponent out of the one quarter he's dug into like a World War One doughboy. Take his other quarter.

2.Don't play his game. Don't get into a pushing match with a sumo wrestler. You'll lose. If he's got some big close combat monster headed towards your line, charge it. Let your big guns take him out. If your opponents army excels at something, force him to do the other. If they've got great artillery, close with them. If they're great melee fighters, keep your distance.

3.Be evasive. Don't slam up against your opponents lines like some schmuck. Move around him. If he's defending an objective, and sends out a Daemon Prince to meet you, don't let it charge you. Split your forces and go to either side of the thing. Now suddenly he has to choose between engaging one of your units, or pulling Mr. Hellface back to protect the objective. That's three options, none of which work out nearly as well for him as "tie up half the opposing force with my close combat monster." Be flexible.

I may attempt to expend on this or add points in a future post, or I may just let you find advice from someone better qualified. Either way, I'll see you Monday.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

War Gaming: Army Design Philosophy

Building an army for a tabletop war game isn't like designing an actual army. You don't have to contend with the military-industrial complex, and it only seems like you're spending several billion dollars. You're also working on a much smaller scale: dozens of troops rather than hundreds of thousands. But the basic goal is the same: create a force capable of dealing with an enemy force of unknown composition and responding to rapidly changing conditions found on a battlefield.

This article is primarily based on my experience with Warhammer 40,000, which is what I've played recently, but the ideas should apply to other games with similar structures.

There are a few different ways you can approach building an army. One is to design everything with strategy in mind, refusing to spend a single point that doesn't fit into your overall goals. Another is to build an army with some sort of theme in mind. Finally, you can just pick whatever models you think look cool or fun to play and throw them all together into one box.

The first philosophy can be a good first step towards winning games. Understand, however that the product of this single minded focus on victory will produce a soulless killing machine. This may seem pretty cool, but focus on that first part of the phrase: "souless." By focusing on winning, you deprive your army of any sort of cohesive element or character. It's going to be very obvious to anyone who looks at this army list that you're playing to win, and only to win. There's nothing wrong with that, so long as you don't let that attitude completely control how you behave around the table.

The second philosophy involves focusing your thinking more outside of the rules. The "theme" of your army doesn't have to be an actual theme. It could simply be building an army around how you think your faction would actually field, based on the fluff (the story and lore behind a game that is unrelated to the rules). This can be a lot of fun, and can bring a lot of insight into the game. The other way to do this is to actually have a specific theme in mind. Maybe you want to build an army around some real life group, or a group from some other piece of fiction. As long as you stay within the rules, you can have a lot of fun with this. Or you might make an army based around a specific piece of fluff. You can find more on this style of army here.

The last design philosophy is often the most anarchic, and is therefore a lot of fun. Just look though the troop list or army book for your faction, and pick whatever looks cool. You'll probably have to adhere to some sort of rules about what you can take, like the force organization chart in Warhammer 40k, but other than that, just take whatever you like. This isn't necessarily the smartest thing to do, but it guarantees you like every part of your army.

That's really the most important thing. The goal isn't to create an implacable purveyor of death, or a brilliant work of art. It's to create an army that you enjoy playing, and that people enjoy playing against. If you learn nothing else from me, remember this: if you're not having fun, you're not playing a game. I don't know what you're doing, but games are fun, and if you're not enjoying yourself, then you're just going through an elaborate ritual to distract yourself from how miserable you are.

Monday, October 27, 2008

RPGs: Building a Better Fighter

Role playing games are a diverse bunch. That's a gross understatement. Role playing games are an extremely diverse bunch. They cover every genre imaginable and several you don't even know about. I write a blog about table top games, and I can't name half the rpgs on the market. But through every game I've ever played, every rule set I've read, every campaign setting I've visited, there has been one constant. There were fighters. Rough men who's job it was to hurt people. They brought to the table two things: a weapon and the will to use it.

It seems like this would get boring, tired out, formulaic. For some gamers, it does. They can't figure out why, when you can play wizard evoking blasts of sering fire, or a warlock conjuring demons from the seventh circle of Hell and binding them to your will, or a silent spy slipping through infinitesimal holes in security, why anyone would play a character that's just good at hitting things. I say those schmucks don't have any imagination.

The martial heritage of the world is one of the richest and most interwoven pieces of history available. Within it we find tools perfectly engineered to deal with problems. And not just any problems, like how to have hot coffee when you get out of bed in the morning. No, I mean real problems, like how to prevent X guy from placing Y object into Z vital organ, where X is rather determined, Y is sharp and rusty, and Z is squishy and belongs to you. There's got to be some interesting character fodder in there somewhere, right? You bet your shiny, handcrafted hematite d6 there is.

The trick to making a memorable fighter is style. In that regard it's not that different from any other character archetype. It's just more important with fighters.

So the first thing you need to do is choose a weapon. Sword, spear, crossbow, fist, shotgun, whatever. So long as it fits the campaign and you can hurt people with it, it's good. Then, you make the character very good with that weapon, because you'll be using it a lot.

Now decide how your character fights. Does she slam into a room with a blood-curdling roar, splintering the door and tossing aside enemies like rag dolls? Does he strike from the shadows, surgically destroying the enemies ability to counter attack and then disappearing once more into inky blackness? Does she harry here opponents, peppering them with a constant volley of missiles while staying just out of reach? Whatever you decide, make sure the style fits the weapon you chose. Claymores do not make good ambush weapons, nor does a sniper rifle do you much good while breaching a room.

Now it's time to add some character. You're not just some soldier guy, you're an ex-Spetsnaz GRU operative trying to put your life back together after a medical discharge. You're not just some guy with a big sword, you're the last student of Albrecht Hrendel, master swordsman and latest teacher of the tradition of Joachim Ringeck, greatest swordsman ever to descend from the mountains of Swabia. You're sidearm isn't just a gun, it's a Government Model .45 with a doublestack magazine and tritium night sights.

It's all about how you look at something. So next time you make a character, don't settle for making a fighter. Make a character worthy of the adventure your GM gives you. On second thought, make him better.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Introducing New People to Role Playing

Role playing is a rewarding and entertaining hobby. As you may have noticed, it's also considered somewhat unusual by the plebs. The more people that play these games, the closer it will come to being mainstream, and the more the art form will advance. We'll have a large selection of products to choose from, and our families will stop asking us when we're going to grow up and stop playing those stupid games every holiday. For the past ten years. Like I'm some sort of deviant for enjoying the occasional escapist fantasy. Nobody questions my cousin Jeff's fantasy football habit. No, that's a perfectly healthy preoccupation for a mature adult....sorry, lost my train of thought.

My point is, it is in every gamers best interest for new people to start playing our reindeer games. So how do you induct new people into role playing? First find somebody whose interested in learning, preferably several somebodies. Then, find somebody to run a game. This could be you, or it could be one of your more gullible friends. Then, get the aforementioned people together and play a game. That's really all there is to this. Like any other game, the easiest way to teach someone how to role play is to play a game with them.

Everything I've said before about game mastering is appropriate here, as is my article on running your first game. If you haven't read that article, take a few minutes and do that. If someone else is going to run this hypothetical game, direct them here. Seriously, I need the traffic. I got kids to feed. Well, not kids, but pets. Okay, technically there my roommates, but I spend enough time cleaning up after them I should get a tax deduction or the right to hit them with a rolled up newspaper.

Two unproffestional digressions in one post. I'm losing my touch. With reality, that is.

Choosing the system is probably your most important decision. You want it to be something easily grasped, but that they'll be playing for a long time. Whatever you usually play is probably the best bet, unless it's something hideously complicated. HERO would be a difficult first game. GURPS would require you to make the characters for them. Templates would be very helpful.

I have to mention D&D, even though it's not my favorite system, simply because it's so universal. I have yet to meet a gamer who hasn't at some point played it at one time. The rules are for the most part simple enough, especially the new 4e. As starting games go, you could do worse.

WoD would be acceptable, if you're into that sort of thing. It might traumatize them horribly, though, so consider the players carefully before you choose this.

As far as running the actual game, your only real concern should be making sure that everyone has fun and wants to do it again. That means you should avoid pulling out anything terribly nasty, like D&D's rust monsters. You don't want to frustrate these people.

One final word of advice: if there's a girl in this group, stay frosty. I know the instinct is to give her special treatment. Don't. Don't flirt with her. Don't faun over her. Don't stop to make sure she understands every little detail. She'll probably find it condescending, and even if she doesn't it'll be irritating to your other players. By all means, chat her up afterward. Once the dice go away, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of libido. But during the game, keep professional. You're there to teach other people how to play. Stay on target. Mav out.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Game Mastering: Managing Your Group

A game master has to wear several hats. You are the storyteller, unfolding the plot for your players. You are the supporting cast, interacting with your players and providing them aid and information. You are the adversary, challenging your players and giving them something to strive against. The most important role you play, however, is den mother. It's your job to make sure that everybody gets along and nobody get left out. One of the best ways to do this is to limit the number of people in your group.

I have never played in a game where having more than five players ended well. It may be possible for some gms to do it, but I've never met one. The problem comes from the fact that the more people you have in a group, less each individual person is doing. Add to this the fact that you have to split your own attention between each of the players, and running a game efficiently gets exponentially more difficult with every person you add. More people also means more potential schedule conflicts, and as we discussed last week, these are the death of games.

How do you do it? How do you keep a reasonable number of people in a game, when every time you turn around somebody is asking to join? Learn to say no. Be firm but kind. Explain to them that your game is full, and that you aren't comfortable adding another player. I know what you're thinking. "But Eric, what if a g-g-girl asks to play in my game." Steady on, lad. Do exactly as above, and make sure to look at her face the entire time. If you can swing it, get her phone number. Then take a quick lap around the block and a cold shower. You could probably use the exercise.

If a large number of people are asking to join your game, offer to start up another campaign. This is especially good if you have people who are new to role playing, as it lets them get a feel for the game without having to deal with experienced players giving them nasty looks for sullying their table. Hey, I think I just found my next post topic.
See you in 48. Mav out.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Game Mastering: Pandering to the Unwashed Masses

I know what you're thinking. "I've spent days doing historical research, crafting a magnificent and believable world for my players to inhabit. Every corner of it is inhabited by complex, three dimensional characters with genuine wants and needs. My villains are vile yet sympathetic. Their victims are pitiable yet unbowed. My King is a dauntless pillar of flawed regal nobility. How could anyone not enjoy this campaign, my greatest opus?" Well, Billy, it's simple. Your players probably don't care about any of that stuff. Most of them aren't interested in what you've done. They're interested in what their characters can do.

There's a big difference between writing good stories and writing good adventures. It's a lot like the difference between designing a statue and designing a toy. You can make an absolutely fantastic statue, with twenty paint applications and anatomy so exquisitely detailed you can see the Rhomboidius major underneath the Trapizius. But if you can't make it fight Optimus Prime, it's still not a toy. It has all the play value of a paper weight. And not one of those cool snow globe paperweights, or the deactivated handgun ones. No, this is just a brick of resin, pretty to look at, but not much else going on. Books are the same way. You can read them, and postulate what's going to happen next. You can speculate about the different characters motivations. But you can't interact with it. No matter what you do, events will unfold as the author wrote them. That's fine for literature, but we're talking about gaming. We need a little more interaction.

Continuing the toy analogy, there are things you can do to improve play value in an adventure. In toys, things like this are called finger food. For our purposes, we'll call them "player bait". The classical form of player bait is combat. Chuck them into a room full of orcs/werewolves/mooks and put the janitorial staff on standby. And there's nothing wrong with combat. It can be fun. It can be lots of fun. But you should accommodate other styles of play. Sneaking around enemies can be as much fun as fighting them. Let your players do things, don't just put them were they need to be. If they're walking down a dungeon corridor, put a fast moving underground river in their way. Then sit back and watch them. The best swimmer might take a rope across for the other members to pull themselves along. Somebody might be able to just jump across and do the same thing. You might be able to throw a smaller party member across. And these are just genre unspecific examples. You'd be amazed what happens when players have access to magic or technology.

The important point here is not just to let the players play, though. Let them play the game they want. That's more than a consideration of genre. Yes, a dungeon crawl when you're entire group wants to be in space isn't going to go well. It also isn't going to be well received if your party would rather be back in town interviewing suspects in a murder case. Style is going to effect the quality of play much more than genre. Get to know your group well enough to be able to anticipate what sort of bait they'll take. Also realize that play style preferences aren't going to be the same throughout the group. One player is going to really enjoy combat, another might prefer solving puzzles, while a third is interested in interacting with different groups. Put out bait for everyone. It'll keep the group happy, but it'll also add variety to the play.

That's your Game Signs for the day. See you in 48.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Game Mastering: Consistency

Role playing is something that takes a lot of time. Moving a group of characters through an adventure worth anything is going to take dozens of hours of play. The best way to get this time in is by playing consistently. You'll get more done meeting weekly for three or four hours than in one or two massive twelve hour marathon sessions. Even if you manage to stay focused through most of the session, after twelve hours few of your players are going to able to meet again for a while. Marathon sessions aren't by any means a bad thing. They can be fun, occasionally. But it's hard to run them very often. It's a big time commitment, and most people have lives outside of hobbies, even gamers.

Establish a time and stick with it. If everyone can meet on Monday night from six to ten, meet then every week. Don't try and move the game because you want to watch Heroes. Get a DVR. There are going to be times when someone can't make the game, so be accommodating. People have to cover strange work shifts. Children have recitals. Relatives get married, die, and demand sleep space in your home. Hopefully not all at once, though. It's awkward to explain why Zombie Aunt Edna's brains are now decorating the guest room wall.

If you're having to constantly move your weekly session, it's probably time to reevaluate the groups various schedules. Find a new time where everyone can meet weekly. I know I said not to change game night once you set it, but if you're constantly having to work around other people's schedules anyway, you're not meeting consistently.

The goal of all of this is to keep your players happy and interested in the game. If you only play once or twice a month, it's going to be hard for them to get engaged in the setting. Their characters won't develop, and they'll feel like they're just sitting around rolling dice.

That's it for me. See you in 48.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Game Mastering: Driving Play

Momentum is as important to gaming as it is to unpowered flight Without it, you nosedive into Mother Earth, shattering bone and rupturing your spleen. Metaphorically speaking. That's why it's vital that you drive not only the plot, but also your players. Otherwise, you end up like this guy.


While a lot of problems can be prevented by proper preparation, there are things that need to happen during the game as well. When you run a game, the most important thing to do is to be constantly giving the players something to respond to. It's fine to give them a little downtime to role play and such, but when the party is actively doing something, make sure they're doing something.

Players are funny. They're usually either leaping five steps ahead of where you want them, or they're so thick you have to bludgeon them over the head with a clue just to get the game moving. Occasionally you'll find yourself stuck on a sandbar, with the players standing around debating their next course of acting with an adventure hook is staring them right in the face. When this happens, set the hook and reel. If they should have discovered a treacherous baron working against the king's interests, have the party be attacked by the baron's men. If terrorists are saboteurs are targeting vital wartime industries, have a nearby bomb go off prematurely. Make the players respond to something. Sometimes you have to level a few blocks of (hopefully) abandoned buildings to get people moving again.

When you're in combat, make sure everyone knows the turn order. A dry-erase board with the initiative order is really useful. Even a laminated piece of paper hanging from the front of the gm screen will work. When it's someone's turn, make sure they know it's their turn. Say their name and make eye contact. If somebody's not focusing on taking their turn, keep looking at them until they get on with it. Glare a little.

Again, keep in mind, the most important things is just to keep the game rolling. As long a things are happening, the players will stay interested. Good luck, and see you Monday.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Game Mastering: Preparation

Preparing for a game isn't fun. I'll be the first to admit it feels a lot like work. But anything that's worth doing is worth well, and that means taking the time to do it right the first time. Here's what you need to do to make sure you have everything ready for your game.

Read through the entire adventure. All of it. Whether it's reading a premade or going through your own notes, intimate knowledge of the adventure is going to be vital to a successful game. Mark pages that you know you'll be going back to, like stats for characters, maps of different areas, or special rules for an environment.
Read through anything else that's referenced in the adventure. If you have a gray tentacle goblin attacking your players, make sure you know the special rules for it's paralyzing tentacle caress, and mark the page you found it on.

Have a plan B, and know it as well as you know the primary adventure. As much as possible, anticipate what the players could do in a situation, and be ready for it. If there's a town two days travel from the adventure that's not involved in any way with the quest, be ready for your players to go there. Have something for them to do, even if its just a hook to get them going the direction you want them to go. If there's a minor character that the players interact with, be prepared to answer questions that aren't pertinent to the adventure. This is especially important with premades, where they don't always give you a lot to go on.

Have anything random on your end already rolled up. If there are random encounters, roll those ahead of time, read the entries, and mark the pages. Likewise, roll up any random treasure ahead of time. You don't want this to happen: "You've slain the dragon! In his horde you find....hang on a sec ::rustle rustle clatter::...I could have sworn the treasure chart was in that book. Hand me that Game Meister's Guide...No, the 2.7 edition one. ::mrEOOW!:: Sorry, fluffy." It's annoying to the players, it breaks up the flow, and it's hard on the cat.

The goal is to be able to run the game without interruption. At no point do you want to have to stop and look something up, because that's time the players are spending not playing the game. If you prepare for the game, you'll have a better session, your players will like you more, and you'll probably be asked to run more games. That last one may not be the incentive I meant it to be.

Monday, October 6, 2008

What I look for in a GM

The biggest factor in a role playing experience isn't which system you use, or where you play, or even the quality of your snacks. It's the people you play with. And the person who has the biggest effect on the experience is the game master. Different games call it different things: Narrator, Storyteller, Dungeon Master. Actually, the "X Master" formula is rather common in these games, with X being something integral to the game, usually part of the title.
Being a good GM is both a lot easier and a lot harder than most people think. You don't have to be an accomplished writer, or a brilliant actor, or even capable as either. What you do need is dedication to making sure the players have a good time. That means keeping the game moving and giving the players what they want. Here are a few tips on doing the above:
1. Do the prep work. I know it's not fun, but making sure you know any special rules you'll need, as well as having pages for whatever you need marked and ready for quick reference does wonders for you games. The last thing you want to do is be sitting at a table trying to find the paragraph about Medusa's petrifying gaze while your players sit there twiddling their thumbs.

2. Drive the players. Don't let your players be passive. Some people are always going to be more outspoken than others, but don't let the group just sit there. When somebody's turn in combat comes up, let them know immediately, and keep looking at them until they finish their turn. When the party bogs down making a decision, kick them along a little. Make an explosion in the distance. Have a tunnel collapse. Make one of the choices obvious. You shouldn't do this every time the party disagrees, but if more than five minutes go by without the players doing something, get the ball rolling again. If you lose momentum, they'll lose interest.

3. Play consistently. Find a time when all your players can make it every week and stick to that. If someone can't make it that week, play without them. If someone's going to be late, start without them. It's great if you can get the group to meet at a different time, but don't exclude someone from the game because they can't make that time. The regular time should be changed only if everyone can make that time. Also stick to one campaign. I know it's tempting to start up a new game every time you have a great idea, but your players will get really tired of never being able to develop a character properly because you can't commit to a game.

4. Find out what the players want and give it to them. If the players want to do an Ocean's Eleven style heist, don't put them into a military game. Unless it's a Kelly's Hero style military game. They'd like that. Keep that example in mind. If you want to run one style of game, and your players want to play in another, try and combine the two. See if there are any sources that have already done this. If so, steal like the place is going out of business.

5. Give the players the opportunity to be awesome. Yeah, a complex plot full of intrigue and three dimensional characters is great, but some days you just want to hurt something. If you've set up an elaborate and dramatic court scene for the conclusion of your Gothic horror campaign involving multiple coup d'etas and a mind breaking revelation about one of the players, and the parties drunken master bursts into the throne room, ninja kicks the two bodyguards, and then blows a gout of flaming alcohol into the vampiric baron's face, run with it. He obviously wants to get on with the violence, and if the other players are half as flamboyant, you're going to see a fantastic floor show. Don't completely jettison your plans, but be flexible enough to let the players handle things their way.

6. Manage the number of players you have. This can be a real problem, depending on the type of group you hang out with. Any more than five players is going to be difficult to keep focused. I've seen it done, and done well, but it's difficult, and usually not very satisfying for the people involved.

Lastly, I want to again direct you attention to this column. It's now defunct, but it's still a very good primer for anyone interested in running a game. That's it for me. Keep these six points in mind, and your players will have no reason to break your knees. See you in 48.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Review: Demon Hunters Role Playing Game Part 2

Demon Hunters Review Part 2: GO!
Chapter four focuses on the actual system of the game. It uses the Cortex system, which isn't anything mind blowing, but it works well. You get a little more detail than Storyteller, but not so much the game bogs down whenever combat starts. What I really like about this game's system are things called plot points. A character starts the play with a few plot points, and can gain more with good roleplaying, by accomplishing goals, or just by being flat out awesome. You keep track of them with poker chips, or tokens, or more likely spare dice, and then use them to add extra dice to a roll, or give you a bonus to a failed roll. Several other systems have tried this sort of thing, but I like the way it's been implemented here.
Chapter five is the equipment chapter, and it's something of a disappointment. You get basic statistics for assorted weapons and things, and a little blurb about each piece of equipment. That's fairly standard in this business, if anyone wants more detail they can do their own research. My problem is that the much of the information in the weapons section is inaccurate. I take particular offense at the description of the longsword as a "weapon of brute force." Anyone who has watched a serious student of the Lichtenauer tradition can attest to the elegance and efficiency found in European sword forms. Likewise the statement that the rapier is "much thinner and lighter than any weapon seen on the continent" is also not wholly accurate. The blades of most rapiers, while narrow, were over a foot longer than most single handed swords of older forms, and were ofter just as heavy, if not heavier, than their predecessors. I could go on, but I'll surmise by saying do your own research on weapons, rather than taking the color text at face value.
Chapter six has for some reason been omitted from this book. This could prove to be a problem, as the table of contents list it as "How Not to Die."
Chater seven is the general chapter on how to run and play a game that you find in most RPGs. Some good work, but nothing to really get excited about.
Chapter eight is an appendix of useful characters and antagonists. It's also chock full to bursting with references to various Dead Gentleman films. Its a great addition to the book.
Chapter five's desperate need for a fact checker aside, I like Demon Hunters. It's got a good beat, and I can dance to it. The campaign world is original, and the book is genuinely fun to read, which is unusual in this genre of literature. If you're a fan of the DG, or you're looking for a heavily ironic slant on the urban fantasy genre, I heartily recommend the Demon Hunters Role Playing Game.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Review: Demon Hunters Role Playing Game Part 1


Remember when I promised to post something for the more experienced gamers? Today's the day. It's time to walk you through a game called Demon Hunters from the wonderful people at Dead Gentlemen Productions .
Remember The Gamers? Those people made a game. For those of you not familiar, this is the type of people we're dealing with.

In Demon Hunters you play an agent of the Brotherhood of the Celestial Torch, an organization charged by God with protecting humanity from supernatural entities, especial the forces of Hell.
The book comes with an intro DVD, done by the Dead Gentlemen and featuring characters from their Demon Hunters movie series, now available on DVD. This DVD is full of the morbid, ironic humor that is the DG's MO, and is in all honesty probably worth half the purchase price right there. If you weren't excited about this game before, you will be after watching this DVD.
The first chapter of the book to the in game world and it's version of history, which is just close enough to the biblical accounts for it to be sacrilegious. Within the first few pages you can tell that the DG's had a blast writing this game. There's an inherent sense of playfulness that you don't find in many games anymore. I'm happy to report this continues through the rest of the book.
Chapter two deals with character creation. This game is built in the Cortex system, which uses a point buy system broken into attributes (strength, agility, toughness, intelligence, alertness, and willpower), skills, and traits, and three levels of starting experience (recruit, veteran, and grizzled veteran).
Chapter three is about attributes and skills, which are fairly standard for the game, though the prose still contains the old DG charm. It also contains the big list of traits. This is one of the places where the game really shines. Traits are all the little abilities and problems that make your character unique, things like contacts, addictions, reputation, enemies, charming good looks, and the ability to produce an explosive on demand. Oh, and vampirism. That's there too.
Next post I'll talk a little more about the system, as well as the last four chapters of the book.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Getting Started: Collectible Card Games

Today we're finishing out the Big Three of tabletop gaming, as well as my "Getting Started" series, at least for a while. Collectible Card Games(CCGs) are the most accessible of the tabletop trifecta and probably the most widespread as well, due to many CCGs being marketed to a much younger demographic than either RPGs or war games.
CCGs are the easiest of these three to start playing. CCG publishers box eveything you need to play into one package, from cards to rules to life counters to limited edition game starting coins. They want any semi-literate person with the ability to understand the bare minimum of rules to start playing their games. Most even have special little flash games on their websites that walk you through an example of play.
CCGs also have the widest distribution channels. You might find a few RPG core books at larger book stores, but in order to find most of the supplements you'll need to hit a gaming shop. There was a time when you could find blind boxed style miniature games at most toy stores, but that's pretty rare these days. Games Workshop won't even return your calls if you aren't a dedicated purveyor of games. Not so with CCGs. You can still regularly find the latest expansion of Yu-Gi-Oh! at your local Wal-Mart.
CCGs are distributed similarly to the blind boxed war games. By that I mean blind boxed war games stole their marketing structure from CCGs. A starter box gives you a deck, rulebook, and at least basic versions of any other equipment you need to play the game. The cards provided won't stand up very well in competitive level of play, however. For that you're going to need booster packs. Lots of booster packs.
Buying booster packs is like buying scratch off lotto tickets for gamers. They only cost a few dollars each, and the potential rewards are astronomical.
I got my start back in the early days of this style of game with the Decipher Star Wars CCG. After that it was Pokemon, right at the beggining of that fad, before picking up Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic:The Gathering almost simultaneously. In between there were various shortlived tenures with everything from Battletech to MagiNation. All told I probably own several hundred thousand individual cards. I quit playing CCGs completely before I graduated high school, and I've considered myself a recovered addict ever since. I won't even watch people play for fear of getting sucked into something I no longer have the time for. If it's your thing, though, have fun with it. If you've got kids and a sizable disposable income, it's a great way to bond with them. The rules are simple enough for adolescents to understand, but most of them are complex enough to keep you entertained. Good luck, happy hunting, and I'll see you in 48.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Getting Started: War Gaming

War gaming's a very different animal from role playing, the topic of my last getting started article. While players in an RPG focus on controlling a single character, in a war game you take control of the entire side of a battle. It might be be better to call it miniature gaming because a number of games don't involve a war at all. Miniature gaming makes it sound like some sort of terrier, though, so we'll stick with war gaming.
War gaming involves two or more players plunking down miniatures and and rolling dice at each other until one side achieves a goal, or more likely, no longer has any units to roll dice for. Dirty looks and smug grins are exchanged, miniatures are cased, and rematches are planned.
Like role playing the first thing your going to need to is find a group to play with. Also like role playing, the best place to do this is the local gaming shop. They'll have dice, miniatures, rulebooks, and various other sundries there. Don't buy any of it. You want to find out what other people are playing before you commit to a game.
Ask whoever's around if the shop has a game night. Tell them you're looking to start and want to watch a few games. If everything goes well, you should meet a group of people who can answer all of your questions and show you how to play. See if it's something you would enjoy. If it's not, ask around to see if anyone plays anything else. It's not as diverse as RPGs, but there are still a lot of fish in this sea.
There are two basic types of companies that make war games: the type that sell miniatures unassembled and unpainted, and the kind that sell them in blind boxes. Games Workshop is pretty much the ultimate example of the first. Their Warhammer and Warhammer 40k are the definitely the biggest market share of the hobby. Wizards of the Coast and Wizkids both produce good examples of the second.
The big problem with the first type of game is that it's actually two hobbies. You can easily spend more time assembling and painting miniatures for these games than actually playing them. The other big problem is the expense. You can easily spend a hundred dollars to get a competitive army up and running. This is in addition to all of the rulebooks, dice, paints, and other stuff you need to play.
The problem with the second type is that with a few exceptions all the miniatures are blind-boxed. This means you're going to get 6-10 random miniatures, many of which you have no interest in owning. It also makes it difficult to get the miniatures you do want.
Once you've picked your game, you need to decide which army you want to play. Different games call them different things: armies, factions, sides, loose conglomerations of chance allies. The goal is the same, though: create groups with homogeneous looks and unique play style. Look around. See if anyone's playing anything looks like fun. Look at the website for the game designer and check out their miniatures gallery. See what you like the look of. If you're playing with blind boxed miniatures you won't have to decide right away, because you'll be getting the same miniatures no matter what. But don't start an army for a game like Warhammer unless you know that's the army you want to play.
That's all I've got for today. Check out The Jungle for some great articles on Warhammer 40k, as well as some other great links. See you in 48, Mav out.

--A psychologist would call spending eight hours moving tiny pieces of plastic around a table grounds for institutionalization. We just call it war gaming.

Monday, September 22, 2008

On Dice

Now seems like a good time to address one of the odder parts of gaming culture: dice. Except for most card games, almost every game uses dice to one degree or another. Typical shorthand for a die is the letter d followed by the number of sides. Multiple dice are given using an xda format, such as 3d6 for three six-sided dice. While the vast majority of dice are d6s, the range all the way from d2s, known to the rest of the world as "coins," to d100s, which are typically the size of tennis balls and are considered a novelty by sane gamers. The most common die besides d6s are probably d10s, followed by d8s and d20s, though d4s and d12 see a fair amount of use. There are also special dice, such as scatter die in some war games that show where artillery strikes land, or d%, which give you a percent. Usually d% are actually rolled as 2d10, either of two different colors, or with one die have sides marked in tens instead of single digits.
Gamers have a special relationship with their dice. War-gamers and role players especially seem to fixate on dice. While someone losing at Parcheesi might glare at the dice if they repeatedly turn up bad results, a tabletop general might go so far as to give unruly dice a disapproving lecture mid battle, with every belief that it will improve his rolls. Likewise, a role player may well swap out dice that are rolling poorly, or even pre-roll dice to select especially lucky ones. Much of that probably comes from the fact that the player has more invested in a wargame or RPG than in a simple board game. Army lists and character builds are oftentimes crafted with a care that can border on compulsion. It only seems fitting that we should obsess equally about the other deciding factor in this equation: the dice.
Finally, there is a bizarre mix of etiquette and ritual that has grown up around dice in the gaming culture. Here are a few simple rules to help you get along with people who may take gaming a bit too seriously:
1. Don't touch another person's dice without permission. This isn't just common courtesy, there are gamers who, upon seeing their dice contaminated, will wail mournfully, rend their garments, and proceed to perform a twenty minute purification ritual before rolling them again. To be safe, don't even touch someone's dice bag until you know how uptight they are about their dice.
2. Make all rolls where people can see them. This may not be as big a deal in an RPG depending on your game master, but in a war game you definitely want to make sure your opponent can see you roll. Addendum 1: war gamers, make sure that any scatter die are rolled as near to the target as possible without endangering miniatures. It makes life easier. Addendum 2: role players, never ask to see a roll from you GM. He may be fudging things a bit for the sake of the story, or to keep a player in the game. Trust him to be fair.
3. Don't try to cheat. There are all kinds of sneaky ways to alter the probability of dice, from "bowling" dice to prevent ones, to cooking dice in a microwave to alter their balance. For your own sake, don't. You're dealing with people who know dice better than a Vegas craps stickman. You're going to get caught, and it'll probably be fairly early. You'll likely get kicked you out of the game, possibly permanently. If you're really lucky, you'll just get a stern talking to about the importance of honesty and trust. Otherwise, you may end up hanging from the roof of a gaming shop by your shoelaces.
That's the scoop on dice. Weird as it may seem, this stuff becomes pretty normal before long. Also, don't be too concerned if you seem to accumulate dice at an alarming rate. I own over 100, as we've established, I'm a completely rational human being. See in you 48.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Running Your First Game

Running a game is pretty scary the first time you do it, especially if you haven't been gaming long. The first thing you need to do is get your players together. You're on your own there. After that you need to decide what system to play. If you've role-played before, you'll probably want to use one of the systems you know, especially if you already own the books for it. You'll be better able to teach any new players much faster because you've been through the system. If you've never role-played before, you're in a bit of a pickle. Assuming you have no access to any sort of game unless you buy it, you need to make a decision. What sort of game do you want to run? Do you want your players to carve into hordes of orcs on the field of valor, or stare down ancient evils beyond human ken? Now ask yourself what sort of game your players want to play. Do they want to be cybernetically enhanced swordsman, tearing into their enemies with blade and bullets, or do they want to be aged vampires, gliding through backroom intrigue and manipulating grudges centuries in the making. It's your game, but they don't have to play. And without players, you might as well just sit around playing with army men. No offense, wargamers.
As far as good starting games go, Dungeons and Dragons is a something of a staple. Most gamers cut their teeth on that, and the new edition is very user friendly, and would probably be ideal if you like sword and sorcery style gameplay. World of Darkness is also pretty simple, but it focuses more on supernatural horor and role playing, which is usually difficult even for experienced GMs. Stay away from HERO or GURPS, though. They're good systems, but there's a lot of math there you don't want to have to mess with while you're trying to make an adventure. You could try one of the free systems floating around on the internet, but I wouldn't recommend them. There's very little GM support with those, and you need support like an acrobat with double D's.
Speaking of support, I seriously recomend getting a premade adventure. DnD has loads, and WoD has at least a few. One of these will allow you to run a few sessions without spending much time writing. Fell free to modify the adventure, if you want. Your players probably won't notice, and if they do they won't freak out. You're doing this for fun, so if a few changes make it feel more like your game, then do it. Whether or not you use a premade, be sure to know the adventure. Don't just read it through, mark pages, write notes. Read the entry for all the monsters and traps that are in the adventure. The last thing you want to have happen is to reach the climax of your carefully crafted (or purchased) adventure, your players have just confronted the dread Lord Belron of the Guild of Immense Inconvenience, and suddenly the entire session comes to a grinding halt because you have to stop and look up the rules for his +5 girdle of horror.
Lastly, seriously consider getting someone else to do snack duty. It'll really help out your first time if all you have to do is prep the game. It'll also make someone else feel responsible for the success or failure of your game.
I haven't the space, time, or expertise to teach you everything you need to know to run a good game. As in most things, with GMing experience is the best teacher. Check out this series. Most of the articles are shorter than this post, but every one of them is extremely helpful.
That's it for this week. See you all Monday.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Getting Started: Role Playing Games

So you want to start playing rpgs. Fantastic, it's a great hobby. But how, you ask, does one start? Well, Billy, to get started you don't need to drop a wad of cash on books or dice. In fact, don't spend any money on any books yet. The best way to get started is to find a group of people who are already playing. They'll have the books, dice, miniatures, laminated battle-maps, and mortgages on their homes that you need to play. They'll also be able to teach you much more quickly than a book would.
One way to join a group is to already know someone who plays. Ask them if you can join their game. If they're not running things, they may have to clear it with the GM, but most gamers are happy to introduce new people to the hobby. After all, the more people that do this, the fewer weird looks we get in the grocery line. And don't sweat it if he says no. Its (probably) not you, he just has too many people in his game right now, or isn't at a place where he can bring in another player. Ask him to let you know the next time he's starting a game, and if he knows about any other games in the are that might take a new person.
You might be saying to yourself "Eric, you great thundering idiot, if I knew someone who played, I'd already have asked them that, you twit." First of all, there's no need to be insulting. Secondly, I'm getting to that. If you don't know anyone who plays, then you have a few options. If you're a college student, or live in a college town, there are often clubs that meet regularly to play. My college has three. Check around campus, or use the internet. You'd be surprised how happy they'll be to see a new face.
If you don't have access to a gaming club, your next option is probably to go to a gaming shop. These are small, usually independent stores that sell the above mentioned sundry books, dice, miniatures, and laminated battle-maps that are the trappings of this hobby. Many now allow you to apply for mortgages without even leaving the store. Talk to whoever's behind the counter. Most of the people who work in these shops are gamers, and they have at least a passing knowledge of their regular clientèle. Tell him you're looking to take up the hobby, and ask if anyone's running a game at the shop. A note of warning: I shouldn't have to say this, but don't go to a random person's house/apartment/abandoned meatpacking plant to play a game if you don't know the the group. That's good advice for everybody, but especially to you ladies out there. The hobby tends to attract somewhat socially inept people. Most of them are harmless, but much like the general population it's that tiny not so harmless fraction that you have to worry about.
What if you don't have a local gaming shop, or you've been banned from said shop for incident involving the owner's prized miniature collection and a gerbil? Well, then you've got a few options. You can try online role playing. There are a number of forums devoted to pen and paper style role playing on the 'net. Good luck with that. My experience is that those games fall apart like a house of cards in a wind tunnel, but maybe you'll have better luck.
Your other option is to try to start your own game. Get a few of your friends together, pick up a core rulebook, some dice, and a pre-made adventure, and have a go at it. I know what you're thinking: "But Eric, you tremendous dolt, I've never even played an rpg before. I don't know the first thing about running a game." My first experience with role playing was as a game master. Granted, I've never gmed since, but I managed to intrigue several of my friends enough to con them into running campaigns, so it all worked out. I'll post some advice on picking a system and starting your own game on the next post. While you're waiting, check out this article on character building, sans physical and emotional trauma. See you in 48!

--Role playing is a lot like sex. When it's good, it's really good. When it's bad, it's pretty awkward for at least a few days afterwards.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Welcome to Readers

Welcome to Game Signs, a tabletop gaming blog. In the coming weeks I will be posting, on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule, articles on various aspects of gaming, especially articles for those just entering our hobby.
Why? The reasons are several. First is that there aren't really many good sites about tabletop gaming on the net. There is a plethora of good forums, rpg.net being the first that comes to mind, not to mention a mind boggling array of news blogs. But there aren't many sites posting solid articles about gaming. I'd like to change that, and guide people to those sites that are putting up quality material. I'd also really like to help those who are just starting out. We as gamers don't often think about how intimidating our community can be, what with our 3.5e and our bell curves and our THAC0. (Does anyone actually talk about THAC0 unironically anymore?) My hope is that I can help a few of these new people join the fold, even if it's only by providing links to other people with better advice. I'll try to include at least two relevant links with every post.
Why part deux: why me? Why should anyone listen to what I have to say? I've been gaming as a serious hobby for 7 years now, which means I can just barely remember when ADnD was seeing widespread use. It also means I remember what it was like to not know what THAC0 meant, or to think that a dice pool is where your dice sit when you're not using them, or even that dice that weren't six-sided were just a novelty. We've all been there. It's just a little fresher for some of us. I hope that the links and articles I provide in future posts will be informative, or at least entertaining.
Eric Mav,
Gamer

Friday, September 5, 2008

An introduction to gaming

If you're reading this blog, chances are you're looking for one of two thing. Either you're a fellow gamer looking for information (or, more likely, delicious,delicious rumors), in which case hail and welcome, brother! I'll get to you in the a little bit. The other possibility is that you're a friend or loved one of a gamer, trying to discover just what it is they do until 4 o'clock in the morning. This article is for you. In fact, much of this blog is devoted to explaining this bizarre and twisted hobby.

First thing you need to understand is that tabletop gaming isn't a unified kingdom. It's broken up into various fiefdoms and principalities, not unlike Germany during the middle ages. Everything from the most minimalist card game to the most mind numbingly complex role playing game is encompassed within this header. Let's get down to defining these categories and providing a few examples of each.

1. Role-playing games(RPGs): These types of games center around a group of people, henceforth known as the players, creating and taking on the role of characters in a fictional world. Looming over this as a (hopefully) benevolent god is the game master. His or her job is to create and populate the world the player characters (PCs) inhabit, drawing them into adventures and providing them adversaries to slay. It's a bit like improvisational theater, except that the success or failure of a task is resolved by dice. If you're lucky, they're six sided.
Archetypal examples: Dungeons and Dragons (DnD), World of Darkness (WoD)

2. Collectible/Trading Card Games (CCG/TCG): The action in these games revolves around cards. The cards represent the characters, weapons, and actions taking place within the game. Want to summon a valient knight? Play a card. Want to equip him with a blazing magical sword? Play a card. These games are where I got my start, back in the heady days of the Decipher Star Wars CCG. These games are usually sold in several parts: a starter deck that gives you a legal deck, usually 40-60 cards, plus the rules and all the other things you need to play, like life tokens or asparagus counters or whatever, and booster packs, which give you seven to fifteen random cards that you can use to customize your deck, like a pack of baseball cards. Warning: these can get addictive. There's a little rush you get opening a pack of cards, wondering if this time you'll get the ultra-rare Gold Eyes Chartreuse Dragon you need to complete your deck. Counting all my TCGs, I own twice my weight in colorful little pieces of cardboard.
Archetypal examples: Magic: the Gathering (M:tG), Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh

3. Wargames: Sometimes referred to as miniature games, these games focus on moving tiny plastic or metal miniatures around a Lilliputian battlefield, vying for control of their 1:50 scale universe. Like rpgs, dice are the primary arbitrator is the mighty die. Unlike rpgs, the dice are not noteable for they're unusual shape, but for sheer numbers. Yahtzee has nothing on these games. In Warhammer you can roll upwards of 60 dice on an attack. Most war gamers wouldn't get out of their chair to pick up five dice. These games are also noteable for the expense necessary to play them. An army can easily cost over a hundred dollars to start. Did I mention the miniatures come unpainted? The miniatures come unpainted and unassembled. Painting and customizing these little guys has become a hobby unto itself. Alternatively, some games use less expensive pre-painted miniatures packaged in blind boxes. With these games you get into the same thing as with CCGs: you're constantly buying packages of figures to try and get that last one you want.
Archetypal example: Warhammer

4. Traditional: These are probably what you're most familiar with. While games like Monopoly and Uno are technically part of this group, most gamers tend to lead towards the more obscure games. This category is defined by games that are complete, self contained units. Everything you need to play comes in the box. While occasionally expansions are released for this sort of game, buying them won't give you an advantage over your oppenents, like buying more cards or miniatures might. They just offer the ability to play with more people or expanded rules
Archetypal examples: Settlers of Chattan, Munchkin.

What unifies all of these sundry pastimes? Mostly that their meant to be played on a table. Thus the name "tabletop game". The table isn't strictly required. Any clear flat surface will do in a pinch, but the games are designed to be played face to face, without the aid of any sort of electronic apparati. Not that I have anything against electronic aparati. I'm not posting this from some bizarre, WiFi capable typewriter. But the point is that these games are meant to promote human interaction without a computer or console.