The One-Page Character Sheet
I offer no apologies for my appreciation of D&D 4E, as it gives me everything I look for in a heroic roleplaying game. For me, it’s not enough to act like someone different, or take on unbeatable foes, or tick off numbers on papers. Don’t misunderstand, I love all these bits, but I also love the cooperative side of the game, how a goal can only be achieved if the party works together. So here is a game that I really do enjoy, and yet, there is this scar on my beloved which prevents me from embracing it completely.
The character sheets are <hyperbole>8000 pages long</hyperbole>.
My brain is old and dusty, and has lost any ability to retain information, and this game of mine has lots and lots of things you really do have to remember. There are triggers and immediate actions and opportunity actions and conditional powers and situational feats, and this is all spread across a half-dozen or more pages in no detectable order, resulting in the following popular phrase at the gaming table: “Wait, wait, wait, I think I can do something now,” following by shuffling paper. This is running neck-and-neck with the phrase, “Wait, wait, wait, I could have done something last round / last battle / last week.” [Read the rest of this article]
The Architect DM: Winter is Coming
Recently I’ve been reading the Song of Ice and Fire books and really enjoying them, starting with A Game of Thrones and now I’ve just finished the second book A Clash of Kings. One of the major concepts of the series is that summers and winters can last for years at a time, and the books start during a long period of summer and focus on the Stark family whose motto is the very foreboding words, “winter is coming.” Though there are different seasons, the northern portion of the series’ fantasy world is always in a wintery climate and the narrative of the books returns to this area every now and then as a subtle reminder that winter is in definitely coming.
I found it incredibly appropriate that fellow blogger T.W. Wombat (@twwombat) decided to host a “Winter is Coming” blog theme week only a few days into Autumn. Though I’m not one to be melancholy during winter and in fact often love the season and look forward to it, I am a big fan of thematic blogging across as many people as possible and decided that I should participate in this one! It also synced up quite well with some inspiration I received while reading A Clash of Kings just a week or two ago, and I was not about to let the coincidence go by unacknowledged.
The Secrets of Castle Black
If you’re not familiar with the world of a Song of Ice and Fire, then not only should you go read it but I also have to give you a little bit of preface. In the series the northern part of the continent is always snowy and cold, and a giant wall of ice has been built along the edge of the civilized kingdoms to keep the lands safe from whatever threats may linger further to the north. Just beneath this wall is Castle Black, and it wasn’t until midway through A Clash of Kings when it was finally described how the castle was built to survive the decade long winters that are all the more harsh in the north where it was built.
Castle Black functions much like your typical medieval castle, but what really caught my attention was the little detail that the castle also has a series of underground tunnels constructed so that when the snows fall for months on end the inhabitants can still get from building to building within the walls. This detail added a whole new depth of character to the location as well as further defining the idea of long and harsh winters in the north. This is the kind of thing that can really sell a location in your tabletop RPG and D&D games!
Seasonal Design
I’m sure I’ve stressed it before in my posts here, but it bears repeating: the best way to add lasting character to a location is to think about its surroundings and how they impact the design of the place. The cool fact about Castle Black is nothing special or extraordinary, it exists for the simple fact of functionality during impeding snow storms. There is no special formula or recipe for designing a location with these factors in mind, simply pick some feature or aspect of the environment and brainstorm any ideas that might work to make the place more livable or more functional. [Read the rest of this article]
Be Careful What You Wish For
One of my favorite things to do when I first realized the joys of roleplaying a character was to do a little something extra between sessions. A journal entry, battle haiku, drawings of creative taxidermy made from the corpses of random encounters — that sort of thing. As a DM, it never fails to bring a smile to my face when a player does something similar. Seeing a player’s investment in their character inspires me to make the same investment in that character’s story — and in turn, everyone’s story.
We have a new player joining our group, and her character debut is going a little differently than I’d seen before. I’ve seen detailed backstories written. I’ve never seen a player bring a list of demands that must be met if her character is ever to see the light of day. Of course, I accepted her terms. You see, she hadn’t played D&D before, and she never knew about the credo of the Evil DM — “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!”
I also don’t think she remembered that, as a card-carrying RPG blogger, I have the ability to hang her pathetic dreams like a piñata above hordes of slavering evil DM’s willing to accept the bitter tears of demoralized players as payment.* It doesn’t matter if her demands were primarily tongue-in-cheek. She must be crushed just in case.
So it is that I ask you, my gentle readers, to help me…. shall we say, fulfill my player’s demands. What better return on investment could she ask for?
If You Want To See My Character In-Game You Will Meet These Demands
Here’s the list of demands my player gave me:
1. The character can shift perceptions, (i.e. if a bad guy sees someone from the group, I can make them think it is a rock instead, or make them think a rock is fire.) Limitations being I have to be within sight of the person.
Granted. Her character now has the power to make people of evil alignment within her field of vision think any member of the party is a rock, or that a rock is fire. I’m not quite sure what this gains her in the long run. Moving rocks are pretty suspicious. Rocks that look like fire just make sad children with unrealized s’mores.
2. The character must have the equipment, training, and financial cash flow of Batman, claws of adamantium like Wolverine, and a Spidey sense.
Granted! The PC has all of Batman’s stuff and training, which are totally awesome. She even has billions and billions of dollars that yield more interest in five minutes than I’ll make all year. Unfortunately, the establishments in the Forgotten Realms that accept U.S. currency are rare. That, and fuel and power to run all the cool gadgets. I’m sure a deal could be brokered with the right wizard (assuming they accepted dollars), so maybe this works out OK.
(Edit: I realized later a much better solution to this. The PC has all of Batman’s equipment and money AND HE WANTS IT BACK.)
The PC also has adamantium claws, just like Wolverine’s! However, the PC does not have Wolverine’s healing factor. Using those claws renders the PC’s hands useless for 3 weeks each time.
The PC’s Spidey sense activates every time she is about to extend her claws.
3. The character will enter the storyline by putting a knife to a character’s throat, however it must be done in a storytelling manner that will not end in my character’s demise.
Granted! The character enters the game with a knife to her own throat. I really don’t know why she would do that. Maybe she knows something she doesn’t. Either way, unless she trips or suffers a sudden muscle spasm, I’m guessing this won’t end with her untimely death.
4. The character will have a flying immortal tiger with its immortality tied to the moon of a planet many many many worlds and dimensions away.
(I made my new player a little scared when I told her this one was the easiest of the lot.)
Granted! However, the tiger is 2″ long and lives in her digestive tract. If the PC does not eat steak every three hours, the tiger begins to consume her from the inside out. Don’t worry. It can’t die.
5. The character will be able to read minds, and is a 1200 year old day walking vampire.
Granted! However, the nature of her telepathy translates everything she hears into Entish, and it takes four days of constant concentration just to hear three words.
I’m not really sure how the PC lived as a vampire for an entire 1200 years walking out in the daytime — but, if that’s what she wants to do, who am I to stop her? I may have the player preroll another character to bring to the next session. You know, just in case.
6. The character has the magical power of Meta, and thus can meta-game at any time.
Granted! Funny, all the other PCs in our campaign seem to have this power too, and they wield it frequently. Weird….
7. The character will be an expert swords(wo)man with a focus on short swords and daggers, although the can handle broadswords with stunning efficiency.
Granted! The character will gender-swap every time (s)he picks up a sword or dagger, and cannot do lethal damage with a broadsword (but critically hits on a 15-20).
8. The character does not worship a deity, deities worship her.
Granted! The gods themselves worship the PC. However, she has upon her the burden of listening to the prayers of the gods themselves, and the weight of their reality-shaping requests and prayers squishes her mortal mind like a grape.
Also, the Raven Queen wants the PC’s job, so she shows up with a crowbar and busts the windows out of the PC’s car.
9. The character is a seductress, and uses her own knowledge and noble standing to convince people to do what she wants.
Granted, on the provision that invisible wooden stakes always hover 1′ behind her character just waiting for an uncomfortable roleplaying situation to occur.
10. The character has the power to conjure Voldemort, although he is weak against “The boy who lived” so should not be conjured in the Potter dimension.
Granted! Voldemort might be hot stuff in J.K. Rowlingsville, but this is the Realms. You bring your pale, no-nose, can’t even get a wand to listen to you weak sauce in here and it won’t be 5 seconds before Bigby slaps you around with his Pimping Hand. Elminster wouldn’t even accept you as a cleaning lady. These are hardcore, mana-hittin’ wizards. Word to your Leomund.
Besides, I get to control him and he really hates seductress vampires. Especially ones who are rich in useless currencies, take strolls at noon, and have a tiger eating them alive from the inside.
Need Evil Input
Sadly, I’m new at this whole evil thing. I am certain that I was not even remotely as evil as was probably necessary for this job. So, as I said before, I need a little help crushing these dreams lest a tiny shard of hope survives – ruining an otherwise perfect day.
If you would like to lend an iron boot, please do so in the comments. Your utter lack of human decency is appreciated and will be rewarded in due time.
*I asked her permission before posting this, so nobody get your chainmail knickers in a twist. Also, anyone reporting me to the evil DM’s union for this gets to find out why my Twitter handle is @direflail.
Piledriver: The Most Popular Game Ever Played
Piledriver. You’ve all played it, sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident, but you play it more than you expect.
I can’t name all the times I played Piledriver, but I can tell you when I first knew I was playing Piledriver. I had just bought Settlers of Catan and rather than any one of us sitting down and thoroughly reading the rules, we blew through the instructions, thought we understood, and began to play. We randomly placed our numbers down, built settlements without a care for roads, and committed all sorts of unforgiveable sins that butchered every attempt at elegant and balanced game design, but most of all we had fun. During the evening of play, a friend read the rules and said that we had basically played a completely made up game bearing only slight resemblance to Settlers of Catan. I don’t know why, but when it was revealed we had been playing wrong someone said, “Pileeeeeeedriver!”
And thus, Piledriver was born. [Read the rest of this article]
Critical Bits for the week ending 2011-09-25
- “@mudbunny74: ICV2 interviews Greg Leeds, CEO of #WotC
Part 1: http://t.co/Ky5cAKpT
Part 2: http://t.co/bIdwC6MS” # - In his final L&L column, @mikemearls announces that @MonteJCook will be taking over the column and working on D&D http://t.co/lluEMN9p #
- “@mudbunny74: If you have any comments about todays #DDI update, please post them in the thread here: http://t.co/bwvtwjrX " #
- Check out @chattydm's DDI articles this month: playing level 0 characters http://t.co/iAOSMtfE and level 0 adventure http://t.co/5djBOScJ #
Why I’m Starting to Love Epic 4e D&D
I started playing and running 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons right when it was released. My current ongoing campaign began back then with a party of 1st level characters and now three years later I’ve run over 50 adventures and the party is up to 24th level characters. The campaign has had its share of rough spots and tough times, but overall I’d say it has been an incredibly fun experience and something that I look forward to every other weekend. Dave was also running a campaign that was on the same track as mine only slightly ahead (and in the same game world), but due to a myriad of reasons a few weeks ago we ran a day long, co-DMed finale that closed his game out in style with unrestrained awesomeness.
Since then I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to close my campaign out and thinking about exactly how much longer I want to run this game. What I’m discovering more and more as I think about it is that running epic level 4th Edition is some of the most fun I’ve ever had running or playing in any D&D game.
Some Disclaimers
As I’ve discussed a few times before, when I started running this campaign I was without a doubt a “newbie DM” and my attempts at writing, planning, and running my campaign definitely showed it. This is a disclaimer because now that I have 50 adventures under my belt and a lot of hours of DMing experience it should be expected that I’ve gotten better and that the games I’m running have improved as a result. In addition, I realize that many of these points may not be specific to 4th Edition D&D, they may also apply to any edition of D&D when it gets into the epic style of game play (or any RPG for that matter), but my experiences of running epic games are only in 4e so that’s what I’ll be focusing on.
Another part of this disclaimer is that player investment builds over time in a campaign and that adds to the overall enjoyment at the table as well. Last but not least there’s the simple fact that the epic tier is meant to be epic, and therefore awesome in its own right as the players become super powerful and go up against greater and greater threats. I believe all of these are fairly understandable reasons for why I am enjoying running epic level D&D so much, but I’d like to explore some of the other reasons and the finer points of the matter.
Everything AND the +5 Vorpal Kitchen Sink
The aspect that I’m probably enjoying the most about running epic level 4e is that I feel like I can throw practically anything I want at the party. Monsters that are 4 or 5 levels higher than the party will most likely be challenging but unless there’s a solo they stand very little chance of it getting anywhere close to killing the whole party. Even before level 24 when most Epic Destinies grant death defying abilities, many of my players have abilities that allow them to skirt the edge of death. My wife has been playing a cleric for the entire game and even despite her lack of focus on healing her Healing Word ability still gives characters an insanely high number of hit points.
I’ll freely admit that in the heroic and paragon tiers of play I was deeply concerned about the level of difficulty I was throwing at my players and how their characters could handle it mechanically. Being almost entirely free of those concerns is extremely satisfying as a DM and I’m sure it is contributing to the ease of my running the latest adventures of my game and the amount of fun I’m having doing it. There is a certain glee that can be found in the DM’s attempts at creating an all-out massacre and the players/characters abilities to disrupt those efforts. I know that some DMs run with the mindset of “unrestrained opposition” to the characters, and I know that there are some players who really don’t like that style of game, but my feeling is that in the epic tier the players don’t mind it as much and it has been incredibly fun for me as the DM. At least for me, I can’t speak for my players that much, my campaign has recently taken on an enhanced feeling of the DM vs. Players style of game but with an incredibly friendly vibe. [Read the rest of this article]
I Was A Teenage Movie Magic-User
The comments on my article on DM Fiat took an interesting turn last week when people started talking about how much more “cinematic” 4e is than previous editions. This is a claim I’d heard applied several times to 4e, but I’ve never really understood why. The combat is faster! All the classes have cool powers now, not just the casters! I can’t confirm or deny these things, but I am calling Shenanigans on them making anything more action-movie awesome on their own. As a matter of fact, I am extending these same Shenanigans to claims that any game system can do this.
Fantasy Film School
I guess it is too late now after having called such broad, sweeping Shenanigans, but it’s probably worthwhile to consider what “cinematic” actually means to people seeking it in their tabletop gaming.
To some I’ve heard, it means nothing more than having a lot of things happen in battle that would later see its players recalling it using some form of “Dude… that was SO COOL”. To some, it’s special effects. Things blowing up, other things glowing with eldritch fire, that sort of thing. 4e is positively replete with flavor text for powers. I have previously established in these pages my opinion that special effects alone do not excitement make. I suppose it is technically true that cool powers and effects can make a gaming experience like a movie. Unfortunately, that movie is Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. All style, little substance, and in some cases even the style speaks with a stupid accent.
The mark of a great action movie in my mind is that the crowd is on the edge of their seats. No matter how awesome something looks, no matter how many flips someone did to get atop an oliphant, no matter how big the guns are that are shooting a dinosaur, visuals alone cannot do the job. Drama is the gravitational force that draws us precariously toward the inglorious dark filled with long-forgotten stale popcorn and melted gummi bears. If a movie can get its audience invested in its characters, it will grab them by the face and do amazing things with their emotions.
Tension is one device used to do this. A writer can create tension by creating struggles between a character and another character, a character and some obstacle, or even some internal conflict in a character’s mind. Generally speaking, adventure stories tend to start with the tension low and dial it up as things progress toward to the exciting climax.
Interactivity (Now In Imaginary 3-D)
Roleplaying games provide a strange twist to this tool in that it’s no longer a single person writing the story. The players can introduce tension of their own, and they may not respond to the tension the DM provides in the intended way. (Which, I suppose, is its own kind of tension. Meta-tension?)
For me, tension is the catalyst for making “cinematic” happen. The DM has set up the story and a diabolical plot is in motion. A band of adventurers meets and gets to know each other as they overcome all manner of danger, eventually reaching the point where they come crashing headlong into their destiny and everything is riding on their success. For this, you need the DM to set the stage, control the pace, and put obstacles in the way of the PCs.
The players’ portion of this can come in with something as rolling a 20 at a do-or-die moment (which is made way better by the DM being awesomely descriptive of the results) — but my favorite is when a player gets a wild notion and tries something radical at a Dramatically Appropriate Time. I’ve been fortunate enough to have DMs that would not only let that sort of thing slide even if it was a little outside the rules, but to give bonuses for creativity and cool factor. This is what makes the game for me. This, cookies, and good company are the three reasons I show up at any given gaming table.
This is, in my opinion, what it means to be “cinematic” in a role-playing game. So-called movie magic is in all of us, not any particular game system, and it is far cooler than making someone’s forearms glow or something silly like that. (Unless you are really emotionally invested in those forearms, in which case you fill a very specific niche market.)
Photo Credit
The Future of D&D Might Be Its Past
This morning, in Mike Mearls’s regular Legends And Lore column on the Wizards website, he made this big announcement:
Starting next week, I’m turning this column over to acclaimed game designer Monte Cook.
Followed by:
Monte has an unmatched design pedigree in the RPG field, and for that reason we’ve brought him on board to work with R&D in making D&D the greatest RPG the world has seen.
If you speculate that this is the lead-up to a new edition of D&D, I certainly couldn’t disagree with you. 2013 was even when I predicted the next edition would come out years ago.
However, I’m going to do what I almost never do an engage in some wild speculation here, with a good chance that I’m totally wrong and off-base. I think it’s an interesting idea, so I’m sharing it here. Keep in mind that I have no insider knowledge about this: this is solely my speculation based on public statements and the Gen Con seminars I attended.
So if it’s not just 5th edition, what else could it be? Well, we know that there has been this sentiment: making D&D a game that players of all editions can enjoy. Likewise, we know from various blog posts and such that the R&D team made a journey playing through all the different editions of D&D. (Even the D&D brand team was in on this, as evidenced by Shelly Mazzanoble’s column.) Likewise, there’s good money on there being an open playtest, which is being refined now through the new miniatures game and which had undeniable success in the Pathfinder launch.
My guess from all this is that we’ll see a product that I’m calling “Dungeons & Dragons: Anniversary Edition” that attempts to be the Grand Unified Game of D&D – not in the “this is the best edition ever” sense, but in the sense that it takes every edition of D&D made and puts it into one game. It would use a modular approach that allows you to combine aspects of each edition to make your own D&D, effectively, while also providing plenty of tools to hack whichever version of D&D you’re currently playing.
The closest analogue I can think of is the Vampire Translation Guide put out by White Wolf designed to bridge the gap between Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Requiem. While that product covered many story concerns that I don’t think D&D: AE would cover, it would be something designed to bridge the gap between different rulesets. At the same time, I think it would have to be playable by itself, while also a manual that could be used with any existing D&D edition you’re already playing, while giving a menu of options for rules you want to tweak and change.
Such a manual (and it would almost have to become a whole game line in and of itself to support the amount of resources it would take) would certainly benefit from open playtesting, especially from people who play previous editions of D&D or have sworn off D&D entirely in favor of other alternatives.
And why would Monte Cook be an important element of this? Besides being a great designer in general (one of our favorites here at CH, in fact), he also underwent a similar D&D deconstruction when part of the team to build 3e, and who has continued to examine and tweak D&D in the years following. In fact, his company and Mike Mearls put out one of my all time favorite takes on D&D, Iron Heroes.
Now, I can’t speak to this being a great idea: while there is a large portion of the D&D community that loves to tinker, it remains to be seen if they would buy a product in such numbers to support the effort, or even if players of various editions would adopt the approach. Heck, I’m not sure if it’s something even I would play (though I’d certainly buy it.) It’s just a guess, but one I think is interesting. Have at it.
White Wolf Grand Masquerade 2011
The annual White Wolf Grand Masquerade convention in New Orleans just wrapped up over the weekend. As with other conventions for fans of a particular RPG company, there are panels, announcements, exclusives, and gaming. Unlike most other company cons though, there is much partying and pageantry to be had, especially given the New Orleans backdrop.
OchBad, our former server admin, attended last year and agreed to be our correspondant for the show this year, taking notes on many of the panels. Below is my edited compilation of his coverage of the panels.
World of Darkness 2.0 Seminar
With White Wolf having gone through a number of changes as a company in the past few years, the WoD 2.0 panel was a chance to talk about what products are coming down the line and how they’re going to be published. With Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition (V20) coming out at the Grand Masquerade, there was certainly a lot to cover. Eddy Webb, Senior Developer, moderated the seminar. [Read the rest of this article]
Critical Bits for the week ending 2011-09-18
- RT @Alphastream: [...] I cobbled together links and tips on writing DDI article submissions. http://t.co/vweLZCY #
- “@StvWinter: Big changes are coming to the online #DnD Adventure Tools this month. The screenshot gallery tells all — http://t.co/jyvtypp” #
- RT @Trollitc: Love RPGs? Help victims of child prostitution? http://t.co/yaZS6521 23 products, $80 value, $15 price. All profits to charity! #
- Memoirs of a Geeksha – I was born cursed, or lucky depending on who you talk to. My parents met through a… http://t.co/FHymynQs #
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