Articles by Danny Rupp
Danny works professionally as an architect and serves as managing editor here at CH, which means he shares many of the duties of being an editor but without the fame and recognition. He also writes about RPGs, videogames, movies, and TV. He is married to Sucilaria, and has a personal blog at Incorrect Blitz Input. (Email Danny or follow him on Twitter).
Gaming Now on the iPhone
It’s a good thing I was randomly floating around a few sites on the internet today, otherwise I might have easily missed the launch of Apple’s oh so appropriately named (haha!) App Store for the iPhone which allows you to download games for the glorious piece of sexy technology. I bought one back in september of 2007, so going to their site and see the “Twice as Fast, Half the Price” slogan for the new one doesn’t exactly make me all tickly inside, but I am very excited to see this new store launched. I’m not sure which direction they approached naming it from, whether its from their name Apple or from the fact that it provides you with Applications, it got at least a chuckle out of me but then I just had to go and describe it as being “app-ropriately named” and then came the pain.
I wouldn’t say that I’ve been waiting for games on the iPhone, as it has quite a lot of functions that even though the initial amazement of owning one has substantially faded I still haven’t been sitting around wishing my phone could do more. The idea has always excited me, but it’s not something that I would call grossly overdue. They claim that it is a service handy for both gaming and business, but I imagine the “business” applications as of today are few and far between compared to the gaming, but I might just be a naive so please enlighten me if this isn’t the case. [Read the rest of this article]
Let's Talk About Fluff
I was reading through a discussion on Paizo’s message boards that grew out of a post linking to our coverage of the panel with Mike Mearls at Origins, and one discussion in particular caught my eye. Several people began to discuss the amount of content provided in the 4E core books vs. the amount provided in the 3.5 core books, which I think is a funny comparison to begin with because you’re looking at a revised edition in relation to a whole new edition; naturally, things are going to be more polished and meaty in the revision because it’s based on existing material. I’d say it would definitely be more relevant to compare the 4E core books to the original 3rd Edition ones, but then you could also get into a huge argument over how much of the content that was provided in 3rd Edition was actually usable/functional, which I think would lead to some more interesting comparison also.
The discussions quickly jumped on the obvious fact that there is less fluff presented in the 4th Edition core books, in comparison to previous editions, and many feel that the amount of fluff has been decreasing over time as the game progresses through various editions. The question this brings up to me, is this a bad thing? Your gut reaction is most likely, “YES! Without fluff the game is just like every other game!” However, when you really think about it, do the progressing editions of the game really change that much of the fluff that goes along with the game? [Read the rest of this article]
Inq. of the Week: Types of Games
Last week we held the poll to determine the winner of our Gaming Quote Contest, the results are in and the winner is:
Player: “What did you say about foreplay and fornication?”
DM: “I said it was FULL PLATE of FORTIFICATION.”
Congratulations Happy Turtle! We will be in touch shortly. Thanks to everyone who contributed and voted!
This week we return to Inquisitions as normal, and with our D&D games starting back up now, I’ve realized that I haven’t gotten together with friends in a while to play some good old board games! After discussing briefly with Joshx0rfz, he expressed the concern that he doesn’t enjoy playing board games anymore.
I know that we’ve done a poll like this one before, but it’s good to update it every now and then to see what types of games our audience likes the most, and which they don’t really play.
Which types of games do you like to play the most?
- Computer Video Games (20%, 52 Votes)
- Console Video Games (15%, 39 Votes)
- Tabletop Miniatures Games (9%, 24 Votes)
- Card Games (10%, 25 Votes)
- Tabletop Roleplaying Games (30%, 78 Votes)
- Board Games (15%, 38 Votes)
- Other (explain in comments) (1%, 3 Votes)
Total Voters: 259
Loading ...4th Edition: Class Acts
In the convoluted web of intrigue that blogs create, Phil (the Chatty DM) led me to a link via a guest post at Geek’s Dream Girl, to a very cool fan-created Bard class for 4th Edition. Unlike some other fan-created classes for the new edition, this one actually boasts a complete list of powers/’sploits from level 1 to level 30 that is quite impressive. I’m tickled by this having just played my first (and one of the few) successful and long-running Bards in Dave’s game, it’s good to see some of the feel and flavor translated into the new edition. Naturally, this started the old gears a’turning!
We’ve had some very limited peeks at Wizard’s plans for the classes that recently became homeless (not in the PHB), the only bit of note were that the Sorcerer will have a different spell-list than the Wizard and will have a more primal/natural feel to magic – taking on aspects of what they cast such as auras of cold or bursting into flames. Oh and Andy Collins informed Dave and I, when asked if the Monk would be a Martial Striker, that we were “at least half incorrect”. [Read the rest of this article]
Venture Brothers: Watch It
I’m very happy to say that the third season of the cartoon the Venture Brothers started three weeks ago on Cartoon Network. You don’t know what Venture Brothers is, you say? Well that’s exactly why I’m posting this, to let everyone who just happens to come here but still doesn’t know about this excellent show in on what it’s all about.
Venture Brothers is a very adult themed spoof of Johnny Quest type shows, it runs on Adult Swim which should give you some idea of what I mean when I say “adult themed”. If you liked the animated The Tick series, then you will most likely love VB because the main creator (Jackson Publick) of VB worked on The Tick as well. The show’s title might give you the impression that it focuses on the adventures of the appropriately named Venture brothers, but they are really secondary to their father, former boy wonder Rusty Venture, and his hilarious bodyguard Brock Samson (voiced by Patrick Warburton). The show beautifully blends several themes like fantasy, super-science, and campiness into a supple goo of episodic television content. The first two seasons of the show are available on DVD, but what really inspired this post is the now running third season.
Right now it is only three episodes in to the season, but from just those episodes I can tell that the whole package will be worth buying on DVD. The animation seems to have significantly improved from the previous seasons, and the writing seems to have an extra layer of polish on it. [Read the rest of this article]
Gaming in Ancient Rome
A friend sent me a link for something really interesting, it’s an auction by Christie’s for a d20 from Ancient Rome! It looks like the Caesars may have been playing D&D pre-1st Edition.
From the site:
A ROMAN GLASS GAMING DIE
Circa 2nd Century A.D.
Deep blue-green in color, the large twenty-sided die incised with a distinct symbol on each of its faces
2 1/16 in. (5.2 cm.) wideAcquired by the current owner’s father in Egypt in the 1920s.
Several polyhedra in various materials with similar symbols are known from the Roman period. Modern scholarship has not yet established the game for which these dice were used.
Also of particular interest to us is that apparently it currently is the property of a Maryland Fine Arts professor. For just $17,925 it looks like you could possess the potential source of the first critical hit…or fumble.
I think we all know what game they were using it for…
How to Compare Birds to Fish
A common topic has come up several times throughout various discussions that has been wracking my brain lately. The discussions it has been most prevalent in are ones that pertain to game design, and specifically tabletop games or computer games. About two days ago a reader commented on my post which was mostly ranting about the intricacies of the comparison made between 4th Edition D&D and World of Warcraft. Part of the comment echoes something I’ve heard time and time again from people, usually ones who would rather not make any points and instead just wish the discussion to go away. The part of the comment I’m referring to is:
anyway its imho a bit hard to compare D&D with WoW, one is a Computer and one a P&P game, do you also compare birds to fish?
Let’s start simple here, and as I’ve said many people have used this argument to try and stifle any kind of discussion on the subject: all of them are wrong in their base assumption that when you compare two things they must be similar in numerous ways. This is a closed-minded assumption which limits our capacity for creative thinking. You can , quite easily, compare birds to fish. They are both animals, they have two eyes, they both need oxygen to live, birds do not live in water while fish do. That was a simple comparison of birds and fish, and yet when it comes to a game like D&D people make it sound like you’re killing the Pope by comparing it to a videogame. [Read the rest of this article]
Inq. of the Week: Which Edition?
Just over a week ago Dave wrapped up his 18 Adventure long, and final, D&D 3.5 Campaign with a definitively epic finale. This inspired him to ask you all how many campaigns you’ve been in that have seen completion, to which a huge 30% of you voted that you’ve never had a campaign finish, or been involved in only one ongoing campaign. 2-3 finished campaigns was the next highest option with 25%, followed by only one campaign at 12%, and a whopping 10+ campaigns finished came in next with 11%. Those seem like pretty good numbers, though there are 5 people who voted for not playing RPG’s or not playing in campaigns, for those people we’d love to hear from you because a vocal minority is always interesting to hear from!
Last Friday D&D was pretty much unavoidable, as the controversial and awaited 4th Edition core books launched with what seemed like a thundrous fury, we’re all extremely happy that the launch successfully sustained through leaked PDF’s and early shipments to still raise quite a bit of excitement. Dave expressed that he is a bit weary of talking about the flaws with certain games, and so I’m going to posit a question of positivity!
What is your favorite edition of Dungeons & Dragons?
- I don't play D&D! (3%, 9 Votes)
- D&D Original (all versions) (4%, 10 Votes)
- Advanced D&D (7%, 17 Votes)
- AD&D 2nd Edition (9%, 22 Votes)
- 3rd Edition D&D (3%, 8 Votes)
- 3.5 / 3.x Edition D&D (30%, 78 Votes)
- 4th Edition D&D (44%, 114 Votes)
Total Voters: 258
Loading ...Inq of the Week: Wii Wheel Rock You?
Oh, the pun hurts. Last week Dave asked everyone what their primary influences are in the Fantasy genre, and I’d say it’s no surprise at all that Tolkien Middle Earth and Lewis’ Narnia were the most common influence(77%). Next most influential were 70’s-90’s film, including Princess Bride, Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, and Willow with 44%, then Classic Myth, like Beowulf and the Odyssey with 40%. Not far behind those were modern fantasy movies like the LotR trilogy, followed by Howard’s Conan, Leiber’s Lankmar, Zelazny’s Amber, Moorcock’s Elric, etc, and then Weis & Hickman’s Dragonlance, and other D&D-inspired fiction. It’s very interesting to look at and sculpt a collective idea of what we all think Fantasy is by looking at our biggest influences and how they mesh together. Especially when it comes to any individual D&D game, which can incorporate elements from any number of the influences listed in that poll.
This week’s poll comes courtesy of my lovely wife, who has been playing Mario Kart Wii for the last two days almost non-stop. If you don’t own a Wii, or haven’t played Mario Kart on it, then surely you’ve at least seen the Wheel that comes with it and so please vote based on whether you like the idea of using it to play or not.
Do you use the Wii Wheel for Mario Kart?
- Yes, only losers don't use the wheel! (64%, 28 Votes)
- No, I use a different controller. (36%, 16 Votes)
Total Voters: 44
Loading ...Some people have scoffed at the $10 price tag to purchase more wii wheels, others just like the use a gamecube controller because it feels familiar and comfortable from Mario Kart Double Dash. My first encounter with using the wheel was confusing and painful, but a few times after that I started to adjust and think it’s quite fun to use. What are your thoughts?
