I should really look into.. something.. dunno. make myself post more often.
The game design project rolls on, in my head if nowhere else. I think it's going to stall completely if I don't do some playtesting soon.
The last couple weeks have seen my busrides consumed by Game of Thrones. Don't want to do a review or spoiler. It is good, consider reading it. It is a hard world. At times it is painful to read about. It does not stop being fascinating for a second.
Anyhoo.. finished it last night, and this morning started thinking about the game project. Not going to really take anything from the book, or don't intend to. I do think I'll stick to the standard tolkien fantasy troperriffic races for now. Of course my elves are different. So are my goblins. Was giving them some thought this morning. Nothing on paper, but some definite thoughts going on.
Showing posts with label me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label me. Show all posts
Friday, May 6, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
when all you have is a nail..
everything looks like a hammer.
Seriously the last time I posted was october 25th?
Wow.. I thought to post today (I always think of posting, but doing so takes a bit more effort it seems) because I'm working on a new project. I decided to create a set of rules and run a play-by-post or play-by-email strategy game.
Without going into details at this point, my rough idea of what I want looks very much like Masters of Orion II, but probably will be more of a fantasy game. Nothing is set in stone.
Yesterday I tapped out a bunch of ideas on the busride home on my phone. Just composed it as an email to myself.
Last night I thought it would be good to organize my thoughts, commit it to a paper medium and use that for my game design document going forward. I knew it would be a growing, living document so I rejected using a tablet, considered using a hardbound notebook, then looked for a three-ring binder. After spending some time doing this, and ripping unrelated pages out of the hardbound notebook, and removing old campaign notes from the binder, I had used much of the time and energy that I could have spent actually working on my project. Also wasted time I could have spent with family.
It was really a big waste, and once I sat down in the living room to start writing it became moot as my son wanted to start writing notes on his idea for the game (and I certainly don't want to discourage him from writing of any kind). So with a nail waiting, I spent far too much time picking out a hammer.
Most of the work I've gotten done hitting it with whatever rock was close to hand. At this point in the project I have lots of ideas and little organization, and I think I should take advantage of this. Spill as many ideas into text as I can, so I'll have them waiting when my ideas are dry and it istimeto organize.
Someone who knows game design better might disagree with me, but I think I'm better off driving that nail however I can for now.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Curse these random thoughts!
My two-year D&D campaign wrapped up a couple weeks ago. Do I feel like talking about it? Yeah maybe, but not right now. Nothing really negative, I just feel ready to move on. Some analysis would be nice, when I can direct my thoughts to it.
I was thinking about Disney's Ducktales - you can probably find videos on youtube, articles on wikia. I figure you can find them because I am writing this from my phone.
Anyways, Ducktales has Scrooge McDuck, who has gone from being the principal character in some Dickens adaptation (I will leave it as an excercise to the audience to guess which one)
Scrooge has gone from being the subject of a morality play to being a heroic foil, somewhere between Daddy Warbucks and Howard Hughes, looking after his grand-nephews. Those boys don't apparently have parents or grandparents, just an uncle, and that uncle has an uncle who is also their uncle.. anyways..
These very new englander ducks live in Duckberg, a town populated by a lot of other ducks, and some dogs, notably the Beagle Boys (and their mother)..
Why are there dogs living in Duckberg.. are they immigrants? I don't remember a lot of other dogs in the show, but they were generally in a antagonistic role. Mean kids, or nasty rivals.. the poor folk who are always looking for chances to knock Scrooge and his ilk down a peg.
There were "badguy" duck-people in the show as well, but they were generally very high-class.. business rivals, or white-collar criminals.
Is the real message of this disney cartoon that disenfranchised immigrants are all untrustworthy criminals, always the bad guys? Am I overthinking this? These last two should also be left to the reader to decide.
I was thinking about Disney's Ducktales - you can probably find videos on youtube, articles on wikia. I figure you can find them because I am writing this from my phone.
Anyways, Ducktales has Scrooge McDuck, who has gone from being the principal character in some Dickens adaptation (I will leave it as an excercise to the audience to guess which one)
Scrooge has gone from being the subject of a morality play to being a heroic foil, somewhere between Daddy Warbucks and Howard Hughes, looking after his grand-nephews. Those boys don't apparently have parents or grandparents, just an uncle, and that uncle has an uncle who is also their uncle.. anyways..
These very new englander ducks live in Duckberg, a town populated by a lot of other ducks, and some dogs, notably the Beagle Boys (and their mother)..
Why are there dogs living in Duckberg.. are they immigrants? I don't remember a lot of other dogs in the show, but they were generally in a antagonistic role. Mean kids, or nasty rivals.. the poor folk who are always looking for chances to knock Scrooge and his ilk down a peg.
There were "badguy" duck-people in the show as well, but they were generally very high-class.. business rivals, or white-collar criminals.
Is the real message of this disney cartoon that disenfranchised immigrants are all untrustworthy criminals, always the bad guys? Am I overthinking this? These last two should also be left to the reader to decide.
Friday, September 10, 2010
The Path Unexpected...
So, like many others, labor day included a gaming binge for me.
I had intended to play a particular game, the official sequel to an old favorite, a title with nearly universal brand recognition and which which leaves a large stamps on my memories of years gone by.
It was a game that I have not played much, and have had mixed feelings concerning, but am eager to give more time to win my affection.
For reasons I will discuss at another time, I couldn't play this one, and ended up on another game, which we will call Simmo. The first will be Gameo.
Simmo comes from much the same origins, and uses many of the same concepts and conventions as Gameo's predecessor. These two are in many ways close cousins, but in so many ways very different.
Both have a "campaign" format, a series of fights that are interconnected by a storyline, but the differences start from there.
In Gameo, there is a mostly linear progression, the storyline (from what I understand) is often considered unnecessary, more of flavor text than a real gameplay mechanic. The progression from one fight to another isn't immediate and forced, but instead simply waiting for the player to exhaust the pre-scripted content before allowing himself to be lead by the hand to the next fight.
In Simmo, however, the campaign has a great openness. Characters exist as potential enemies and allies, but with interesting and varied attitudes towards the player. The world moves around the player, shaping and reforming but also dependent on the player's input. Choices made by the player are meaningful and have consequences.
The fights are extremely important in both, but executed differently.
In Simmo, there is a very concrete feel to the battle. Ranged attacks feel different than close up attacks. Morale is a concern, and enemies can be routed (scared off) and don't always fight to the death. The difficulty of fights can vary greatly depending on what choices are made in the campaign, and sometimes a very easy fight might follow a very difficult one.
In Gameo, fights follow a very particular progression. There are things to do outside of the fight that improve one's options, but each fight will almost always be an escalation from the previous one. This is not to say they are uninteresting.. one fight could require a pitched battle, another a siege mentality, but the format of these is tightly scripted, and there are bonuses within the combat that simply happen due to game logic, disassociated from any real situation.
Do I like one more than the other? So far I have probably made my prejudices clear. I am still looking to give Gameo more of an opportunity to win my heart.
I had intended to play a particular game, the official sequel to an old favorite, a title with nearly universal brand recognition and which which leaves a large stamps on my memories of years gone by.
It was a game that I have not played much, and have had mixed feelings concerning, but am eager to give more time to win my affection.
For reasons I will discuss at another time, I couldn't play this one, and ended up on another game, which we will call Simmo. The first will be Gameo.
Simmo comes from much the same origins, and uses many of the same concepts and conventions as Gameo's predecessor. These two are in many ways close cousins, but in so many ways very different.
Both have a "campaign" format, a series of fights that are interconnected by a storyline, but the differences start from there.
In Gameo, there is a mostly linear progression, the storyline (from what I understand) is often considered unnecessary, more of flavor text than a real gameplay mechanic. The progression from one fight to another isn't immediate and forced, but instead simply waiting for the player to exhaust the pre-scripted content before allowing himself to be lead by the hand to the next fight.
In Simmo, however, the campaign has a great openness. Characters exist as potential enemies and allies, but with interesting and varied attitudes towards the player. The world moves around the player, shaping and reforming but also dependent on the player's input. Choices made by the player are meaningful and have consequences.
The fights are extremely important in both, but executed differently.
In Simmo, there is a very concrete feel to the battle. Ranged attacks feel different than close up attacks. Morale is a concern, and enemies can be routed (scared off) and don't always fight to the death. The difficulty of fights can vary greatly depending on what choices are made in the campaign, and sometimes a very easy fight might follow a very difficult one.
In Gameo, fights follow a very particular progression. There are things to do outside of the fight that improve one's options, but each fight will almost always be an escalation from the previous one. This is not to say they are uninteresting.. one fight could require a pitched battle, another a siege mentality, but the format of these is tightly scripted, and there are bonuses within the combat that simply happen due to game logic, disassociated from any real situation.
Do I like one more than the other? So far I have probably made my prejudices clear. I am still looking to give Gameo more of an opportunity to win my heart.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
this post removed
due to excessive snarkiness. I'm depublishing it and hopefully no-one read it. excuse me while I go try to do something other than read arguments in blog comments.
Friday, July 9, 2010
The OSR Kool-Aid
is delicious, thank you! I'm not sure I qualify on either of Mr. Raggi's points yet, though.
I seem to be severely delinquent in my updating. Should try to correct this tonight. Maybe.
Played my first ever game of 4e last friday, playing my second one tomorrow. Still trying to form opinions which feel original. So far it seems to be confirming most of the positive and negative comments I have heard. Fun, gamish-over-simulationist, disassociated..
Trying to give it a fair shot.
I seem to be severely delinquent in my updating. Should try to correct this tonight. Maybe.
Played my first ever game of 4e last friday, playing my second one tomorrow. Still trying to form opinions which feel original. So far it seems to be confirming most of the positive and negative comments I have heard. Fun, gamish-over-simulationist, disassociated..
Trying to give it a fair shot.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
a little bit of what is going on
Matt [7:34 AM]:
Weren't they sealed 'forever' before the story started?
Grag [7:34 AM]:
well, yeah. but then something bad happened.
Matt [7:34 AM]:
Yeah. That is BS. You D E S T R O Y the evil
Matt [7:34 AM]:
you don't put it in a little box for a kid to come open someday
Matt [7:34 AM]:
Kid = adventurer with too much curiosity
Grag [7:34 AM]:
christmas just isn't as interesting if you don't!
Weren't they sealed 'forever' before the story started?
Grag [7:34 AM]:
well, yeah. but then something bad happened.
Matt [7:34 AM]:
Yeah. That is BS. You D E S T R O Y the evil
Matt [7:34 AM]:
you don't put it in a little box for a kid to come open someday
Matt [7:34 AM]:
Kid = adventurer with too much curiosity
Grag [7:34 AM]:
christmas just isn't as interesting if you don't!
Friday, April 2, 2010
"What are you running next?"
Today one of my players asked about my next planned game. He was wondering if I was still planning on a low/no-magic game, as I had mentioned this in the past.
As mentioned before, I am trying not to think forward to the "next" game, as I have this one to finish.
Still, I can't help but put forward some thoughts. Clerics are a common thing to be annoyed at, and it's tempting to want them out of the game, but what if we just make healing potions available?
Spellcasters in general can be annoying when running the game, but they are part of the fantasy trope. One can't have spell-slingers in the game without allowing them as a PC option, right?
One thought that has been percolating is the idea of having a clear divide between "gifted" magic users, and rule-magic.. Rule-magic is traditional vancian d&d casting, and gifted people are those born with a particular magical gift. This might be as simple as being able to throw some magic missiles, and as powerful as having an innate ability to disintegrate or raise dead. Maybe spend hitpoints or temporary con damage to cast, vis-a-vis microlite20.
The gifted magic users are sometimes hated or feared, sometimes become central figures in a cult. They are targeted by rule-magic users that want to dissect them and try to reproduce their power.
Or not. It is just one idea, and doesn't jibe with the sandbox concept that I've been considering, or at least it doesn't feel right to me.
I think there are some hard decisions I will need to make about what sort of game I want to run, which should shape what sort of system/rules I use. Maybe I'll even explore concepts with a series of one-offs.
As I mentioned before, it is important that I not really try to make these decisions. This will only lead to spending game-prep time working on a campaign that is not the one I am currently running.
I must remain focused.
As mentioned before, I am trying not to think forward to the "next" game, as I have this one to finish.
Still, I can't help but put forward some thoughts. Clerics are a common thing to be annoyed at, and it's tempting to want them out of the game, but what if we just make healing potions available?
Spellcasters in general can be annoying when running the game, but they are part of the fantasy trope. One can't have spell-slingers in the game without allowing them as a PC option, right?
One thought that has been percolating is the idea of having a clear divide between "gifted" magic users, and rule-magic.. Rule-magic is traditional vancian d&d casting, and gifted people are those born with a particular magical gift. This might be as simple as being able to throw some magic missiles, and as powerful as having an innate ability to disintegrate or raise dead. Maybe spend hitpoints or temporary con damage to cast, vis-a-vis microlite20.
The gifted magic users are sometimes hated or feared, sometimes become central figures in a cult. They are targeted by rule-magic users that want to dissect them and try to reproduce their power.
Or not. It is just one idea, and doesn't jibe with the sandbox concept that I've been considering, or at least it doesn't feel right to me.
I think there are some hard decisions I will need to make about what sort of game I want to run, which should shape what sort of system/rules I use. Maybe I'll even explore concepts with a series of one-offs.
As I mentioned before, it is important that I not really try to make these decisions. This will only lead to spending game-prep time working on a campaign that is not the one I am currently running.
I must remain focused.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Don't switch horses
I have been spending a fair amount of time on the various OSR/classic-gaming/DIY DnD sites lately.
If you want to see the ones I mean, OldSchoolJump is a veritable Decanter of Endless Linkage.
These have been giving me a lot of "grass is greener" feelings about my current 3.5 game.
I find the game I am running right now very frustrating. It means a lot to me and the players, but sometimes it feels like equal parts chore and challenge. I feel outmunchkinned by the party, thanks in no small part to the lazy-fair attitude I have taken towards the use of official supplements(spell compendium contains some gamebreakers).. and I have started to view a return to an old-school playstyle as the panacea to this. Manageable power levels, monsters that can effectively trample the players if not handled properly.
I find myself often looking forward to the next campaign, where I will run some mutated variety of OSRIC or Labyrinth Lord, or Microlite20.
It's not fair to my group, though. I get this. I know that devoting attention to the "next game" before finishing this one is a waste of energy.
When my current campaign is done with, I will take a nice holiday, slinging ten-siders to spend motes of essence, with someone else behind the shield.
I am looking forward to it, but it is important that I devote my energies to making the finale of my current game as good as I can.
One caveat, before I am called hypocrite-- I am going to run a one-off game using OSR with a module I recently purchased. Preptime is minimal and it is a very user-friendly module from what I have seen so far. So no rubbing my nose in this particular post when it is followed by after-action reports on a different game. Just don't.
If you want to see the ones I mean, OldSchoolJump is a veritable Decanter of Endless Linkage.
These have been giving me a lot of "grass is greener" feelings about my current 3.5 game.
I find the game I am running right now very frustrating. It means a lot to me and the players, but sometimes it feels like equal parts chore and challenge. I feel outmunchkinned by the party, thanks in no small part to the lazy-fair attitude I have taken towards the use of official supplements(spell compendium contains some gamebreakers).. and I have started to view a return to an old-school playstyle as the panacea to this. Manageable power levels, monsters that can effectively trample the players if not handled properly.
I find myself often looking forward to the next campaign, where I will run some mutated variety of OSRIC or Labyrinth Lord, or Microlite20.
It's not fair to my group, though. I get this. I know that devoting attention to the "next game" before finishing this one is a waste of energy.
When my current campaign is done with, I will take a nice holiday, slinging ten-siders to spend motes of essence, with someone else behind the shield.
I am looking forward to it, but it is important that I devote my energies to making the finale of my current game as good as I can.
One caveat, before I am called hypocrite-- I am going to run a one-off game using OSR with a module I recently purchased. Preptime is minimal and it is a very user-friendly module from what I have seen so far. So no rubbing my nose in this particular post when it is followed by after-action reports on a different game. Just don't.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Setting up shop
I decided to start a blog.. sometimes I have things to say that take more than four hundred and twenty characters. One hundred fourty is right out.
I suppose I should try to push that limit in this inaugural post, but no guarantee..
Did you know one of the first control panel options that blogger gives you after signing up is "monetize"? I expect that mean google ads. I don't recall ever getting any money from those in the past, but perhaps interesting content is required.
Don't hold your breath on that last part. Mostly I will probably post from my phone.
I suppose I should try to push that limit in this inaugural post, but no guarantee..
Did you know one of the first control panel options that blogger gives you after signing up is "monetize"? I expect that mean google ads. I don't recall ever getting any money from those in the past, but perhaps interesting content is required.
Don't hold your breath on that last part. Mostly I will probably post from my phone.
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