2011 Origins Report
Cthulhu Sculpture Made From Chains Outside The Art Show
Another year, another Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio. Since Gen Con tends to be both my super busy show and the one with more duties for me as Press anyway, I swore to make this year at Origins more of a “hang out and play” kinda show. That said, the advantage of Gen Con for playing is that it’s easier to just send out a tweet saying “hey, I’m looking for something to play” and actually get a group together.
So, I didn’t get in as many plays as I was originally planning, but that’s OK, I still got to play in a few pretty awesome games. I managed to fit in some playtesting (both of my own stuff and other people’s stuff) and conduct a bit of business as well, so for me, it’s easy to call the show a success.
More important to all of your for sure are the games themselves. So here’s a rundown of my games played, purchased, and perused that stood out. [Read the rest of this article]
The Architect DM: Give Your Cities Some Architecture
Not every D&D campaign or world map includes nations or regions that break the larger mass into more digestible pieces, but this is one of the features that I’m glad I chose to be a primary element of my current D&D campaign. Inspired by a 3rd Edition D&D campaign run by our friend Dennis (aka The Main Event) where the nationality of the PCs became one of the most memorable parts of the game for me and ended up factoring into the ongoing plots in interesting ways, I decided to present my players with a world divided into various nations each with a unique flair and often divided by racial distinctions. However, one of the elements that I failed to strongly present to my players and that I’m going to discuss today is the idea of giving a unique design and feel to each of those nations when it comes to locations and buildings.
I’m not going to say that every D&D game should have nations as I’m discussing them, but when it comes to precedents the worlds of Tolkien and Robert Jordan are strongly grounded in the idea of conflicting nations so it can’t be a bad idea to build on what they used to improve their stories. I am currently reading through the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan which is one of the main reasons this topic is so fresh in my mind. Throughout the books Jordan does an excellent job of describing (in detail, at length, constantly…) the different styles of architecture, fashion, and attitudes that are prevalent in each nation.
Details Grow Over Time
At first the intricate details that Jordan presents are simply descriptive and help us visualize specific people and places that we are reading about, but without knowing much about the nation as a larger concept they remain simple descriptions and are quickly forgotten. After numerous books and thousands of pages (I’m currently on the 11th book in the series, to give you an idea) these descriptions begin to grow into definitions and characteristics. What this means is that while Jordan will still go through the effort of describing the dress styles or architecture of a specific region, the reader already has a pretty damn good idea of what it’s going to look like from the precedents he has created. I have a strong feeling this same technique could become incredibly valuable over the course of a long campaign or several games set in the same world.
While I attempted to do this in my own game, the one place I fell short was on the architecture of each region. As ironic as it may be, in my own campaign I have developed a style of DMing that does not focus very much on the buildings or architecture. That said, if one of my players reads this and chimes in that they actually do have a very good idea of what the buildings in my game world look like, then I may just be harder on myself with regards to architecture (because damn it, I can do better)! [Read the rest of this article]
Let Sleeping Dukes Lie
When I was but a lad of 14, I used to play a lot of shareware games. It was much easier to convince my parents to pony up $2 for a disk full of PC games than it was to get them to blow $50 on another NES game. At the time, I was very much into games like Commander Keen and Jill of the Jungle. It was also about this time I played a little game by Apogee Software called Duke Nukem. It was pretty typical of PC platform shooters of the time, but I will confess to enjoying the crap out of it and its sequel. I liked the game’s catchy title and the main character’s crew cut and really didn’t think too much about it after that.
Imagine my surprise 5 years later when Apogee (now 3D Realms) drops another Duke Nukem game. This time, it’s in 3D, the graphics are better than Doom’s, and there are scantily-clad women. Also, he swears. Then I remember I’m 19, and these things aren’t really all that new to me. I regard Duke3D’s more lascivious offerings as an interesting novelty, and move on to more important things. Like blowing up aliens. Even back then I remember rolling my eyes at some of the jokes. Pigcops? Really? And with no other accompanying animal-stereotypes? I was at least expecting to kill some rabid were-weasel lawyers.
It does bear saying, though, that the joke where he threatens to rip off a boss’s head and *OMG S-WORD* down his neck and then does (complete with newspaper to read) may have been the hardest I have ever laughed. If you’re going to go over the top, go all the way.
After that, well, you’re all familiar with the story. Poor ol’ Duke got cancelled and sold to other companies and cancelled and put through the most spectacular development hell any of us have ever heard of. I was incredibly worried the day Duke Nukem Forever came out last month. I was about 12% sure the world was going to end. Conversely, after the Worst Development Cycle Ever, I was over 90% sure Duke Nukem Forever was going to be really terrible.
It wasn’t terrible. It was worse than that. It was disappointing. [Read the rest of this article]
Critical Bits for the week ending 2011-06-26
- From the Archives:: A 600 lb. Gorrilla http://bit.ly/leSOHF #charchive #
- RT @matt_james_rpg: Slavicsek to leave #WotC http://bit.ly/iozEtx #dnd #rpg #
- Live tweeting the 2011 Origins Awards winners to begin soon. Thanks to @rolling20s for use of his connection. #
- Origins Award for Traditional Card Game: BACK TO THE FUTURE by @LooneyLabs #
- Origins Award for Family, Children's, or Party Game: Zombie Dice by @SJGames #
- Origins Award for Best Hobby Game Accessory: Cthulhu Dice Bag by @SJGames #
- Origins Award for Best Gaming Publication: Shadowrun: Spells and Chrome by @catalystgamelab #
- Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game: Dresden Files RPG by Evil Hat Productions #
- Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Supplement: Dresden Files Our World by Evil Hat Productions #
- Origins Award for Best Miniature Rules: DC Heroclix Blackest Knight Starter Kit #
- Origins Award for Best Historical Wargame: Catan History: Settlers of America Trails to Rails #
- Hall of Fame Inductees for the Origins Awards: Alex Randolph (Twixt), Erick Wujcik (Amber Diceless Roleplaying), Sid Sackson (Acquire) #
- Origins Award for Best Play by Mail or Play by Email Game: The One Ring (A Legends Module) by Halequin Games #
- Origins Award for Best Board Game: Castle Ravenloft by @Wizards_DnD #
- That's all for the Origins Awards. Full list of nominees with winners to come in a post later. #
2011 Origins Awards Winners
The crew from Evil Hat Productions with their awards for the Dresden Files RPG. Photo by Jamie Chambers.
Here are the results of the 2011 Origins Awards, announced at the 37th annual ceremony.
Traditional Card Game
Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
Back to the Future
Hecho
Hex Hex XL
Railways of the World the Card Game
WINNER: Back to the Future [Read the rest of this article]
Review: Fiasco Companion
Companions are a tradition of the RPG hobby. Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon, Rolemaster, Runequest, Shadowrun and Warhammer have all had Companions at one time or another. Sometimes “Companion” was omitted from the title (like 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons’ Unearthed Arcana and Champions II and Champions III for, well, Champions), but for a while in the 80s it seemed like every RPG of consequence had one.
Companions are not 128-page volumes dedicated to a niche subject like the psychic alien zombies of Lichtenstein, either. Virtually a second (or third or fourth) corebook, Companions contain – cheek-by-jowl in a single convenient 64- or 128- or 256-page volume – new crunch (player options and antagonists), rules variants and extensions, GM advice and genre analysis. The advice and discussion of genre tropes in Champions II is still markedly better than half of the pap new DMs try to learn from today. While Companions aren’t always the best supplements available for their RPG, their batting average is good.
Enter the Fiasco Companion, the latest member of this proud cadre, which can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best of them. It ticks most of the boxes: variants, extensions, crunch (in the form of four new playsets designed to illustrate principles explored elsewhere in the text) and advice (including chapters on using Fiasco in the classroom and as a creative tool outside of roleplaying, plus tips for playing online and facilitating in the absence of the GM role). While Fiasco’s designer, Jason Morningstar, didn’t take this chance to share how his love for the Cohen Brothers (and similar flicks) inspired his greatest hit, and the “GM” advice is aimed at all players of this GMless game, it fits the mold well. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: “Conquest of Nerath” D&D Boardgame
Today we see the release of Conquest of Nerath, the newest D&D board game from Wizards of the Coast. Unlike the last two D&D board games from WotC, Castle Ravenloft and Wrath of Ashardalon, which focused on heroes and dungeon crawling this new game is a take on large scale strategy board gaming along the lines of games like Risk or Axis & Allies. At the same time the game includes heroes that can fight alongside your larger armies and delve into dungeons to uncover powerful treasure that will help your armies attain victory over the other factions.
Conquest of Nerath is meant for play between 2, 3, or 4 players and can be played in a short game that will last around 2 hours or longer games that can go on for much longer (4+ hours). The game is quick to learn, plays well, and is incredibly fun. It appeals to fans of classic strategy board games while bringing familiar fantasy elements to the genre which is traditionally modern/historic.
Rules of the Game
The game Conquest of Nerath involves four factions battling over a map of two continents and one central island, including the Dark Empire of Karkoth (warlocks and undead), the Vailin Alliance (elves), the Iron Circle (goblins and orcs), and the Nerathan League (humans and dwarves). Every game starts with each faction having control of their assigned territories with a set number of starting units, so set up is quick and easy and doesn’t involve random region selection or placing of units from player to player. If you’re playing with four players then each player controls one faction, but if you’re playing with two or three players then each player will control an alliance of factions battling the other players. [Read the rest of this article]
Preview and Interview: “Guestbook” RPG
Taco Girl, one of the Guestbook characters. Art by Jenna Fowler.
Pre-generated characters are common in RPGs for one-shots, convention scenarios, and for playing main characters from movies, TV, and books. Generally, if you’re playing for any longer amount of time than that in an RPG, you’re making your own character.
Then there are tabletop games where you bring your own character to the table to play, which is designed in such a way to attempt to be balanced again other characters in the game. Some of my favorites in this genre include Brawl, Button Men, and even games like Descent where purchasing a new character means you bring him to the table to play.
Combining some of these ideas is the upcoming Guestbook RPG by Machine Age Productions. You bring your own pre-made character, and link up with someone else with a different character. There, the two of you generate flash fiction (i.e. very quick, created in about 5 minute) stories for the characters you both are playing based on how the two character sheets (more like brochures) interact, some direction provided by the character having the story, and the results of some Rock-Paper-Scissors. In the end, you’ll come out with a story starring the character. Then switch roles with the other person so that each character gets a story. Finally, the two of your switch ownership of the characters, so you’re off to play with someone else with a new character in hand.
Guestbook RPG sounds like one of those “so simple I can’t believe I haven’t thought of it” ideas that game designers get immediately jealous of. Combine that with another classic game design challenge- make something playable while waiting in a line- and toss in some great Twitter use for the game (and not just as a marketing afterthought), and you have the recipe for a very intriguing game.
Thus, I reached out to the game’s designers David A. Hill Jr. and Filamena Young to ask them a few more questions about the game, how it will work, and if it’s unique as it all sounds. In addition to the answers, I’ve gotten a great preview from them of one of the first Guestbook RPG characters: Taco Girl. [Read the rest of this article]
Critical Bits for the week ending 2011-06-19
- From the Archives:: Notebook Campaign: How I got my Son into Tabletop RPGs http://bit.ly/mG49xF #charchive #
- Melee à Trois – If you’re anything like me, you’ve taken a look at combat in 4E, with all the different stat… http://tumblr.com/xcu2zahph8 #
- Now Rolling: Melee à Trois by Dixon Trimline http://bit.ly/lIVirN #
- Burning Wheel Gold edition announced, a 600 page complete hardcover volume of revised Burning Wheel text http://www.burningwheel.org/?p=276 #
- RT @Linnaeus: New on My Play: Good Reward Mechanics http://bit.ly/kG1UhM #
- RT @rdonoghue: Underpants Gnomes have something to teach you about adventure design. http://bit.ly/m7Lth4 #
- RT @RobinDLaws: 2011 Diana Jones Award Shortlist: http://bit.ly/iK8tTS #
4e CAN be Old-School!
A few weeks ago I wrote a column about my ponderings on this topic: can 4e rules be used to run an “old-school” style campaign? That column got (and continues to get) a lot of interesting feedback and many points of view. The two most prevalent opinions are (1) of course you can, because rules are rules and a campaign style is a campaign style, and they are two separate things; and (2) you could try, but why bother fitting 4e’s square peg into an old-school campaign’s round hole.
Now I was very careful to define what I meant by an old-school campaign. I stuck to the fact that a lot of the old adventures gave just a bare skeleton of what the adventure was, and it was up to the DM to create the story, doing a lot of ad-libbing with the help of the players. I talked a lot about adventure layout, where the adventure practically assumed that the DM had the Monster Manual, and that many times only the monster name and hit points were given in the text, and there definitely wasn’t a detailed map given for every encounter.
I began pondering this because I was doing design work on a project that put the question squarely in my lap, and at the same time I was thinking about starting a home campaign that highlighted some of that old-school feel. The experiment has continued for a few weeks now, and I’m going to try to begin putting my thoughts down on the results. [Read the rest of this article]
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