Just A Geek (And Forty Thousand Other Geeks)
I just spent the last five days in Indianapolis, as I do every year, among my people. This year, one of our high priests was in attendance, disseminating the gospel of gaming to the masses. I like putting it like that, because it makes it sound like the person in question is an elitist, pretentious ass. Any of you who have had the pleasure to meet Wil Wheaton understand he’s the antithesis of a pompous ass. In fact, I’m pretty sure trying to prevent himself from getting con crud wasn’t the reason Wil didn’t want anybody to touch him this year. I think he got word that the biggest jerk in the world was going to be at Gen Con. If they’d touched, it would be like matter touching antimatter, and the entire Midwest would have been wiped off the globe. He has saved us all.
I’m sure many of you out there have stories about meeting Wil this year. This is mine.
I originally had plans Friday morning to go to a World of Warcraft TCG tournament. When I found out Wil would be speaking, I decided my Orgrimmar shaman rush deck could get completely torn apart another time. I made the right choice. I was pretty astounded at the size of the line to get in. I got there about 45 minutes early, and before long the line extended all the way out of the Westin grand ballroom, around the upstairs lobby, and out into the skywalk leading to the convention hall. The part of me that used to get upset when people would hate on Wesley Crusher was doing a merry jig.
Wil’s talk was amazing. He talked about how gaming helped him through the gauntlet of his school years. He talked about how gaming was the mortar that held the most important relationships of his life together. He talked about teaching values to his children through gaming. He encouraged us all to keep doing what we all love most, to dispel the negative stereotypes and welcome others into our world, and to make the world a better place 1d20 at a time.
I’m not going to lie, I left that room feeling pretty damn good about being a gaming blogger. Additionally, I’ve also been struggling recently with writer’s block, and Wil made me realize something important: it doesn’t matter as much what I write about so much as why. I felt renewed purpose and fire in my belly again, and I wanted to thank him.
Fortunately, I would have the opportunity to do so in the exhibit hall at the end of a giant, slow-moving line. I would later discover why that line was moving slowly – the man takes the time to talk to everyone. Even me. When it was my turn, I told him I wrote for Critical Hits (since he mentioned this one time that he reads us), and he said he loved the site and that it helped his game mastering skills and thanked me. Sorry, Wil. I may have been somewhat disingenuous. My official role here at Critical Hits is to do the potty humor and Mega Man game reviews. Despite this, I did still have the writer’s block, and so I thanked him for getting me on my feet again. He gave me some advice a friend gave him when he had the same trouble: to give yourself permission to keep going, and to write for your audience even if you don’t feel like writing for yourself. At least, that’s what I got out of it. Every neuron was fried with too much awesome. I’m sure he said more. I’m sure his friend had a name. All I knew is that one of my childhood (and later adulthood) heroes just took the time to personally help me out. I felt like I was talking to a kindred spirit. A friend.
Naturally, I had to take one of the most excellent experiences of my adult life and blow it at some point.
As you may have heard, Wil had asked that everyone give him one of their gaming dice. In his talk, he mentioned that he wanted to know if there was a story behind these dice. I had such a die. I had a ridiculous story to tell. And I remembered that I had both of these about two seconds after the guy running the line at the autograph table asked me to move on.
In retrospect, the smart thing to do would have been to drop the die in the cup, tell Wil thanks, and walk off feeling good about the universe. But no, I just had to tell my story. It’s a very good story. It’s the tale of my heavy metal bard and how he did the deed on top of the legendary Tarrasque, eventually conceiving a child. Told right, it moves people to tears and inspires works of art. I had visions of Wil snort-laughing and Felicia Day high-fiving me for being super rad. However, given that I only had three seconds, I blurted out something along the lines of “OKAY I WILL MAKE THIS QUICK THIS DIE HAS A STORY AND THAT STORY IS THAT I CONCEIVED A CHILD ON TOP OF THE TARRASQUE”.
Wil looks at me and says, “uh huh…” in a very polite way, as I am shuffled away to let the next person through. Well, of course he did. I turned into that guy. And I realized something very important. Just as Gamera is the Friend to All Children, Wil Wheaton is the Friend to All Gamers. I genuinely believe the guy would hang out with every last one of us if he could, but he’s loved by so many that it’s just not possible. Also, there is that problem with his nuclear fire and impenetrable carapace.
So, anyway. Wil, if you’re reading this….. well, sorry about being a toolbox there at the end. And really, thanks for the advice, and for dispelling my writer’s block. Even my rolling a 1 in your presence made me want to write.
San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Friday
Liz Smith (@Dammit_Liz) is Boba Fett.
This day was a little less busy, with fewer panels and a little more wandering in the exhibit hall. I caught the Batman: Under the Red Hood premiere with Chris Tulach at night.
12:00 IDW and their ‘Bro
Panel for Hasbro tie-in IDW comics. I went hoping to get some info on the D&D comics. There was…a little.
Moderator: Andy Schmidt
- Larry Hama (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero)
- Robert Atkins
- Mike Costa (G.I. Joe titles)
- Denton Tipton (editor, Dungeons & Dragons comics)
- Michael Kelly (from Hasbro)
- Alex Irvine (writer, Dark Sun miniseries)
Transformers Ongoing Series
- Mike: They’ll go into space, find Hotrod, bring back Decepticons, 5-part arc.
- DRIFT 4-issue miniseries by Shane McCarthy, Alex Milne. Origin of Drift, introduction of Lockdown.
- Last Stand of the Wreckers TPB
- Transformers: Sector 7 (movie universe). John Barber and Joe Suitor.
- Transformers Prime (Oct.), prequel to November TV series on The Hub. By Mike Johnson.
Dungeons & Dragons Comics
- Denton Tipton: Aug. 11 issue #0 comes out for $1. Ongoing series (Nov.) by John Rogers (Transformers, Leverage) with art by Andrea DiVito and covers by Tyler Walpole (Wayne Reynolds for launch books).
- Dark Sun miniseries. Writer is Alex Irvine, artist Peter Bergting, covers by Andy Brase (a friend of Brom).
Alex: The main character is a broken-hearted mul gladiator. (Didn’t quite get the name; something like “Grupic.”) He was sold back into slavery, and believes he was betrayed by a noble woman he loves. He breaks out and escapes into the desert. There, he meets Aki, a bard/dune trader/slave hunter. They come to find the mul carries an artifact that causes people to come looking for them. They have to sneak back into Tyr.
I asked during the Q&A which classic monsters might be appearing in the two series, but had no luck getting an answer. [Read the rest of this article]
San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Thursday and w00tstock 2.4
As I trudged to the convention center in the morning, I noticed the usual crush of hired guns foisting advertisements wasn’t in full effect yet. (But no worries, they’d be crowding the streets by lunchtime.)
10:00 “Spark of Imagination” Panel
Guests
- Tony DiTerlizzi (Planescape, Spiderwick Chronicles)
- Travis Knight (lead animator, Coraline)
- Mike Mignola (Hellboy)
- John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda)
- Doug TenNapel (Ghostopolis, Earthworm Jim)
- Moderator: Geoff Boucher (Hero Complex blog, L.A. Times)
As soon as DiTerlizzi gets introduced, a guy in the audience says “Planescape!” in that growl usually reserved for dudes yelling “METAL!” This session is about the creative process and what inspires the panelists to create.
Q: Do you start small and grow big, or come up with the big idea first?
Tony: Start with character. The audience has to care about the character before caring about that character’s struggle. [Sort of a side track] We’re encouraged to imagine as children, but this becomes “There’s the art guy. Get him!” in high school. Working on The Search for Wondla, about the only human on an alien planet, raised by a robot. His take on Star Wars meets Miyazaki. He loved the maps in fantasy books like The Hobbit and the Chronicles of Narnia. Created an augmented reality map for Wondla. Video show uses mostly 2D images in a 3D space.
Travis: It’s hard to pinpoint the stop-motion creative process. “Artists in general, and stop-motion people in particular, are weird people.” You draw from the things to create: research, life experience, and imagination. When you get “first frame-itis” (animator’s block), you break it with research and thinking about the characters and how they behave. Researched how supermodels move to give the Other Mother in Coraline an “evil supermodel” look. Rehearsed in a mirror; not pretty. Used own experience with daughter for a scene with Coraline and her father, drawing specific expressions he’d seen his daughter and himself make.
Mike: Hellboy started as a sketch. He usually drew Batman for people, but a fan who already had a Batman from him said to draw whatever he wanted. He drew the first incarnation of Hellboy. The sketch kept popping up, and one time he randomly put “Hellboy” on its belt buckle. Later, he had an offer to do a comic and had no idea what he wanted to do. Hellboy was the only original character he had. At first, he didn’t know who HB was, and started vague until the characters took on a life of their own.
John: Put Mike’s art up in office while working on Kung Fu Panda to get inspiration to do the best work he could. The Sinbad movies originally inspired him to pursue a movie career. He worked on The Muppet Show early on, the creative cauldron where he learned most of the things important to his work, primarily from Jim Henson. Collaboration was extremely important to Henson, and he was one of the few people who would say “Thank you” for a good idea. Paraphrasing Frank Oz, “Jim wouldn’t have been such a great creator if he hadn’t been such a great appreciator.” So collaborate, and avoid fearing putting your ideas out there. When you have a big project, you have to say, “I need help to fulfill this vision.” Showed a video of some of his work on The Muppet Show.
Doug: The easy part of imagination is coming up with stuff, and some develop their imaginations more for jobs. Execution is the hard part. You have to communicate ideas to the crew, editor, yourself, or the audience. Separating the good ideas from trash is the hard part. Develop the skill of executing ideas. Really skilled creators, like the rest of the panel, show that it’s a “human trait” to be that good. It’s not impossible to achieve that level; use them for inspiration. Comics are great because they’re a “friendly medium.” You can just get a pencil and paper and write a whole book by yourself. Projects can fall apart, so there’s a whole lot of “nuttin’ to show for it” in the arts. Comics and novels let you have an end product, even if no film version comes through.
From the Q&A
Tony: I think, “What would 10-year-old-Tony want that 40-year-old Tony can make?”
Tony: (Ref: The specifics of inspiration for Planescape) People working with me on Spiderwick and Wondla wondered how the world was so fleshed out. If you played D&D, you have to design a world from soup to nuts. The design is Zeb Cook criscrossing world myths. The art was inspired by Arthur Rackham in large part, along with the otherworldly feel of Yoshitaka Amano.
Q: Do you feel a master plan or outlines constricts your creativity?
Mike: A really big idea is daunting. Start small.
Tony: Make a general outline.
Doug: Break into small, workable pieces.
John: Doing one piece will lead to the next.
After the Panel: Everybody around me was talking about Planescape and D&D.
11:00 The Red vs. Blue Infiltration
Guests
- Geoff Ramsey (Grif)
- Kathleen Zuelch (Tex)
- Gustavo Sarola (Simmons)
- Monty Oum (animator)
Jerry Holkins introduced them. I don’t think most of the audience recognized him. They’re wrapping up the RvB: Revelation DVD for Sept. 14. They’ll have a boxed set, RvB: The Recollection, with 3 most recent series and a bonus Grifball disc. They showed plenty of videos.
Protestors
The Fred Phelps crew had a few protesters outside Comic-Con, but they were far outnumbered by counter protesters. These included Bender and people holding signs saying things like:
- ODIN IS GOD
- Magnets: How the #%$! do they work?
- GOD LOVES FSM
- Jesus was nailed to a cross—Thor has a hammer
4:00 Robert Kirkman
***HERE THERE BE SPOILERS***
Much of this panel was Q&A. A summary follows.
He has a new imprint: Skybound. He is overseeing books by new creators. Skybound is not currently looking for pitches, but scouring online to find interesting talent.
In Walking Dead, expect turmoil arising in the community and trouble for Rick.
The first Skybound title is Witch Doctor by Brandon Seifert and Lukas Ketner. They came onstage for a bit. It’s a horror medical drama—Dr. Strange meets Dr. House. All the supernatural stuff has a basis in the weirdest phenomena of real biology.
Where’s the Walking Dead TV series filming?
Atlanta. The first season is almost done.
Did you give up creative control for the AMC Walking Dead series?
Kirkman is executive producer, hired Frank Darabont (The Stand, The Shawshank Redemption) to write and direct the pilot. Very experienced with adaptations that are true to the source material.
Is there an oversaturation of zombies?
No. Not as many zombie comics as there once were, and there hasn’t been a zombie TV series before.
Will you come back to write more Marvel Zombies?
No. Said his piece with 1 & 2.
What’s your favorite rock band?
“Probably Rock Band 2.” [Joking. Kirkman's very funny. See him in person if you can.]
[Skipping a bunch of questions. If you want to know about anything specific, ask in the comments.]
Did you consider doing the TV series in black & white to match the book?
Thought about it. Felt it would be too “stunty.” People might skip the channel thinking it was an old movie.
How do I break into comics as a writer?
Find an artist and make a comic.
Will the high mortality rate in Walking Dead affect how you cast?
We’re hoping we’ll get more big actors who can do short runs but not commit to an entire series.
I heard there’s a Science Dog t-shirt in Walking Dead TV.
Yes, but they had a bad reference for the symbol, so it looks more like a bear’s claw. I want to put a donut shop in the series called Bear Claw so it becomes an internal reference.
6:30–?1:00? w00tstock
There was a long line for w00tstock 2.4. They had two screens instead of the usual one. I had a special pass thanks to Liz Smith, the w00tstock Dungeon Master. I was in the top VIP area at first, the first guest there, and managed to contain myself when the next guests were Jamie Hyneman and his wife. Show was very cool. More controlled, focused than usual, but about the same length since there were more performers. Molly Lewis had to wait outside when she wasn’t on stage since it was a 21+ venue. (Free Molly!) Performers were:
- Paul and Storm (they are the opening band)
- Wil Wheaton (blogger, ubergeek, Wesley Crusher)
- Adam Savage (Mythbusters)
- Marian Call (folk musician, plays a typewriter)
- Matt Fraction (comics writer and madman)
- Jamy Ian Swiss (the Honest Liar, magician)
- Molly Lewis (ukulele YouTube sensation)
- Phil Plait (Bad Astronomer, showed trailer for new Bad Universe show on Discovery)
- Len Peralta, drawing the special show poster on stage throughout the night (Geek a Week)
- Jason Finn (drummer, member of Presidents of the United States of America)
- Chris Hardwick (Nerdist podcast)
- Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett (Rifftrax)
Themes of this show included double, triple, etc. rainbows, “Free Molly,” and beer. Special guests ranged from Jamie Hyneman (Mythbusters) to Aaron Douglas (of BSG, in his flight suit for a cheap “toast” joke) to Grant Imahara (Mythbusters, escorting Chewbacca) to Bill Amend (Foxtrot). Hope I’m not forgetting any people! Molly gave a free concert outside during halftime.
In a few days, you should be able to find videos of the show on YouTube. I’ll try to remember to post them to comments.
It was a late night, and it’s another late night typing this the next night. I’ll recap today tomorrow, and confuse you more.
-
- Optimus Prime stands guard near the entrance to the convention center. As far as I know, he didn’t blow up any innocent cars, thinking they were Decepticons.
-
- A shot of the (modest for SDCC) crowd in one of the large areas between the seminar rooms and outdoors.
-
- This year, there were a couple massive ads that covered the faces of buildings. This is one, the other is for the Scott Pilgrim movie.
-
- A promo area for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World outside the con. Long line is long.
-
- Across the street from the con, you can see a few protesters from Fred Phelps’s group, and a BUNCH of counter-protesters.
-
- Seen at the Splatterhouse booth
-
- The open gaming area
-
- The line for w00tstock
-
- Bunch of folks doing autographs this time: Marian Call, Len Peralta, Jamy Ian Swiss, Phil Plait (the Bad Astronomer), Paul, Storm, Wil Wheaton, Aaron Douglas, and Matt Fraction (who later did get a table).
San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Preview Night
Here’s a quick post to cover the tiny bit of Comic-Con that’s happened so far.
After a mistake that put me on the wrong shuttle and a nearly hour-long drive around downtown, I arrived at the house Chris Tulach and I have rented a room in. Then after a 30-minute walk back down to the convention center, I snagged my professional badge and headed toward the exhibit hall that was just opening up.
The first thing I saw when walking into the hall was a massive image of anime-style comic heroines with their boobs hanging out. Way to break those comic fan stereotypes, Comic-Con! Chris headed for the Hasbro line to pick up some Transformers Blaster exclusives while I wandered the hall. First awesome freebie: cardboard Alien face-hugger on a stick. The exhibit hall seemed really segregated, perhaps more so than last year, with video games on one far end, big movie company booths next them, then toy manufacturers, then comics, then small press. They carted in some huge movie props, like a giant golden throne from Thor. The Stan Winston booth had three Iron Man suits, Iron Monger, and the mecha from Avatar.
Preview night doesn’t really lend itself to details beyond “I saw this and this and this and this.” It’s just a night that’s not quite as busy and has all the stuff set up. So look forward to my recaps of the remaining days (and w00tstock!), where I’ll be taking more notes about panels and announcements.
-
- Stan Winston props from Iron Man and Avatar
-
- THRONE USED IN THOR MOVIE. ALL THOR CAPTIONS WILL BE IN ALL CAPS. MIGHTY!
-
- Tron: Legacy light cycle
-
- Statue at the Weta booth, promoting…a line of steampunk/retro future guns. I guess. Hard to tell what this really was.
-
- Mecha for Red Faction: Apocalypse, cold and aloof
-
- Mecha from Red Faction: Apocalypse, now open for business
-
- Rock Band 3 on display at the EA booth
-
- MJOLNIR, THOR’S HAMMER
-
- I totally want a gladius flash drive from Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
-
- Billboard for The Walking Dead
-
- This house set (post zombie attack) promotes the AMC series of The Walking Dead.
Movie Review: “Inception”
Inception is a wildly entertaining summer blockbuster wrapped in the packaging of a sleeper hit science fiction thriller/heist film. The film excels due to the stunning combination of well executed directing, inspired writing, spot on acting, and seamless production. Though primarily billed as a Leonardo DiCaprio movie there was a large majority of the movie that the ensemble cast took the reins, including a great performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt who didn’t threaten to outshine DiCaprio’s but provided an excellent balance to the movie. Inception is one of the first high concept sci-fi thrillers that should be accessible to a wider audience without relying on the appeal of spectacular gun fights and martial arts. If you want to see a technological and intellectual movie that pulls you along for one hell of a spectacular ride then Inception should be at the top of your “must see” list!
I decided to see a midnight showing because I am a big fan of supporting original, non-gimmicky (read: 3D) properties and I sincerely hope that this kind of movie gains popularity in Hollywood. Inception was not only directed by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Memento) but it was also written by him and is not directly based on any specific book, comic, video game, or any one previous movie. The movie is being compared to films such as Blade Runner and The Matrix, but I believe these comparisons are less direct and more based on similar themes, matching tones, and the shared moods that can be elicited by the films. For example, the style of storytelling that is used in Inception is very reminiscent of Blade Runner and it very clearly leaves a lot of room for interpretation by the viewer. [Read the rest of this article]
Dear Roger Ebert
When I was a young boy, one of my very favorite shows was At The Movies. In my 6 year old mind, you were the good guy and Gene was the bad guy. While I’m sure that Mr. Siskel was a wonderful person, to young me, you were the ultimate and nobody disagreed with you. You were almost as cool as Optimus Prime. Almost.
In college, I used to run a computer bulletin board system. One of my favorite things for my friends and me to do was to review the movies we saw in a place where we all could see . I still tried to keep up with your reviews. I didn’t always agree with what you said, but hearing your opinion always made me think twice about mine. We agreed on Judge Dredd. We were, however, at odds on The Guardian. In retrospect, it being one of the secret VHS tapes I hid from my parents when I was 14 in order to repeatedly rewind and watch the nude scenes probably affected my opinion somewhat.
Now, I’m a blogger. Occasionally, I review things. I blame this partially on you. You’ve always been one of those figures in my life that I would eventually like to grow up to be. You have always had my respect. Recently, you said things that made me lose some of that respect. No, this is not about you saying videogames are not art. While it would be quite the understatement to say that I disagree with you, I think you’ve taken more than enough flak about that. Please, allow me to give you some new, fresh flak.
Mr. Ebert, my beef with you today is in regards to your recent article, “Okay, kids, play on my lawn“. I appreciate your saying you should not have said videogames can’t be art without having more experience with them, though you still believe they can’t be art. You’re entitled to your own opinion. I don’t have a problem with that.
What I do have a problem with, sir, is that you’re not even willing to try. From your article:
And I didn’t want to play a video game. If I should dislike it, I already had a preview of the response awaiting me: I was too old, I was over the hill, I was too aged it “get it.” That became the mantra: “Ebert doesn’t get it.” I disagreed with them about age, which I know more about than most of them, but I had some sympathy about the concept of not “getting it.” There are many, many things I believe many members of our society don’t “get,” but I don’t think they’re too old or too young to “get” them, only differently evolved.
Really? You’re worried what people might say if you didn’t like the game you reviewed? You’re the best movie critic. Ever. It’s your job to call things as you see them, even if that means declaring your undying hatred for something the general populace inexplicably loves. You think videogames are still in their infancy? That they might someday become art?
I submit, Mr. Ebert, that you are uniquely qualified to help make that happen. I don’t know of too many videogame critics with your kind of experience. You know well what touches you emotionally when you view what you consider to be art. Can you find it in another medium? Why is it you became a movie critic in the first place? To endlessly kvetch about things you don’t like? Or to improve the state of the art?
I’m not suggesting you play through every mindless beat-’em-up or explode every enemy ship that ever flew in pixellated skies. Some games are designed just for white-knuckled excitement, or to be eye candy. Some are terrible. Just like movies. I am saying that people are telling you they’ve experienced an emotional connection by suggesting games to you. I, for one, would relish the chance to see what you had to say once you gave them a spin.
Will people disagree? Of course. But, really, can you honestly tell me this would be a worse use of your time than confirming that Sex & The City 2 was a giant turd of a movie?
Besides, if you do this for me, you will finally be cooler than Optimus Prime.
Your friend (for my whole life),
Matt
(photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/bsoist/514375711/)
Lost Words of Power
Greetings, travellers! I bring to you the lost arcana of the ages. Words of power not found in any spellbook!
- Power Word: Buttons – A powerful multipurpose spell, this can either summon an incredibly powerful kitten, or cause a PC’s fly to come undone with such force that it rips a hole through the Planes themselves. In the latter case, the player should roll percentile. On a natural 00, two buttons fly into Ravenloft and infiltrate Strahd’s favorite tuxedo. They eventually overthrow him and become the cruelest entities the multiverse has ever known. Don’t laugh. You know not the evils that lurk in the mind of a button.
- Power Word: Agnew – Spiro Agnew appears and destroys everything in a 1 mile radius with waves of fraud and anachronism, except for PC’s under the age of 30, who behave as if affected by a Sleep spell. Unless, of course, they have ranks in Knowledge(U.S. History). They die first.
- Power Word: Broccoli - The party dies of nutrition. All characters in the immediate vicinity must save or receive 1d8 points of education damage about the four food groups. Any player who mentions the food pyramid is sentenced to death by Mulligan Stew.
- Power Word: Femur - One of target character’s legbones becomes sentient for 1 turn, and is privy to many of the secrets of the universe. Unfortunately, no means of communication has been developed for femurs thusly affected. Polymorphing test subjects into femurs in attempts to make contact have only resulted in uncomfortable stories to be brought up at the annual Mages’ holiday party after a few drinks.
- Power Word: Detassel - Perhaps the most popular spell among teenage wizards in the plains. Also fun at parties.
- Power Word: Kegel - The other enemies may not even know the spell was cast. The target definitely will.
- Power Word: To Your Mother - All characters within earshot take 4d20 ice damage. The caster dies and cannot be resurrected because the gods now hate him. Forever.
P.S. All of these are completely legal At-Will powers in 4th edition, usable by any class. And farmers. Also, ducks.
Photo by Katkrieg, someone who deserves to be hired as an art director at WotC immediately. WTF people? Power Word: Hire!
Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots, Preorder Starts Today
Engine Publishing, owned by RPG blog legend Martin Ralya (creator of Gnome Stew and Treasure Tables) announced today the pre-launch of their first RPG publication: Eureka, 501 Adventure Plots. It is available as both a fully bookmarked and hyperlinked PDF and a soft cover book.
Engine Publishing announced today that everyone pre-ordering the book would get instant access to the PDF, weeks before the launch of the book.
Touted as a multi-genre adventure seed repository, Eureka offers GMs looking for adventure ideas that can be easily be fleshed out in full adventures. Each entry of the 312 pages book features:
- A plot outline detailing enough material for a complete adventure
- A hook to draw players in
- Summary descriptions of 3-5 encounters to run the adventure
- Game mastering notes
- Plot twists
- Advice to run the plot
The book is divided in 5 sections: Game Mastering Advice, Fantasy Plots, Sci-Fi plots, Horror plots and an index. The numerous, system neutral plots are presented as multi-paragraphs adventure summaries outlining the situation, the key scenes and the choices that PCs are to be presented with. The description ends with minor tweaks to the plot to change its flavor or function.
Each plot also features a list of genres into which the adventure can be adapted to. For example, an adventure about escorting a captive bandit lord through badlands with minions harrying the PCs to free their boss, is presented as a generic fantasy adventure. It is,. however, said to be adaptable to the following genre
Action Horror, Cyberpunk, Gothic Horror, Grim and Gritty Fantasy, Hard Sci-fi, High Fantasy, Horror, Post-Apocalyptic, Pulp, Sci-fi, Space Opera, Steampunk, Swashbuckling, Traditional Fantasy, Victim Horror, Western.
Finally, each plot presents a set of tags that can help game masters seek elements of interest while hunting for an adventure idea. In the above bandit example, the tags are featured as:
combat-heavy, escort mission, mass combat, sandbox, shady, travel, villain
This product is ideal for GMs that want to create their own adventures but need help to kick start their creative muscles.
For more details, including a cool dice contest, see Martin’s article and many preview links here.
You can pre-order the book here, for 34,95$ which will give you the hardcover as soon as it’s ready to ship AND a PDF copy as your order is confirmed.
Nine To Five
A few years back, I played a character prone to dying in a party that was, well, also prone to dying. Our DM was big on making resurrection easily obtainable, but with material components expensive enough to keep us from getting too daring. Problem was, it wasn’t usually us rushing into danger. It was almost as if someone had sprinkled us with Mrs. Lolth’s seasoning, and we were extra delicious. Oh, we could have gone with just plain old Resurrection to save some gold, but nobody was willing to lose a level just because, you know, their life force got snuffed out by a shambling mound. No, we would settle for nothing less than the motherf#&ing Cristal of coming back to life, True Resurrection, and it had expensive tastes of its own – a 10,000GP diamond. I knew at that point, only one thing could save the party:
Entrepeneurship.
Before long I had set up my own little business as a taxidermist in the nearby town. Well, sort of. We really didn’t know what to call what my character was doing, so we just called it “creative taxidermy”. We killed a roc, so my PC made a chair with built in backscratchers out of its talons (with deep-tissue penetrating action). He made undergarments from shambling mound vines, with self-wiping action so that no adventurer would ever have to do their business in the woods and worry about poison ivy ever again. By using every part of the wandering monster, like the barbarian tribes of Icewind Dale, he was able to overcome financial adversity and keep the same friends near him despite the frequent shufflings-off of their mortal coils.
Doing something like this, obviously, requires a DM with an open mind, patience, and a sense of humor. In our group, it turned into a fun little aside every session or so where I would unveil my latest creation, and our DM would hook us up with some GP (that he likely would have given us otherwise) to represent sales from my PC’s taxidermy shop. However, this is certainly not to say that the PCs (or perhaps the NPCs, if the DM is looking for a little flavor to a setting), wouldn’t use their skills in their day job. It could well be that they aren’t usually adventurers at all.
All sorts of classes probably have more utilitarian “day-job” skills, but the one that I enjoy thinking about most is mages. I’ve always enjoyed the concept of Clarke’s Third Law, which states “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. Applied to a fantasy setting, some would take a literal interpretation of this concept. I like to think that wizards, at least the kind that read books all the time and study arcane stuff, don’t really think magic is all that wondrous. It’s just knowing how to bend your environment to your will using skills practiced. It’s kind of like how a welder doesn’t stare at his torch in awe every morning. He knows it makes fire, what it can do, and why. On the same token, there’s certainly no reason why a wizard’s career options consist of roaming the countryside and lobbing magic missiles at the local wildlife or locking himself up in a tower to research endlessly until he invariably decides becoming a lich would be pretty sweet so he could keep studying and wouldn’t have to keep spending money on 10,000GP diamonds when his lab blows up. I really like the idea of the handyman wizard, who comes to your house and makes your roof mend itself, who uses concentrated fire spells to weld and repair the broken castle gate, who uses his power for the comparatively mundane because everybody needs to make a living. These could also simply be people with limited magical ability – perhaps not powerful enough to lay waste to an enemy army with a wall of spinning blades and lightning bolts, but certainly enough to provide a useful skill.
Remember, the game system is just guidelines. If it seems like fun, and you’ve got a wild idea, give it a try! It might require a little adaptation, but it might breathe some life into your setting or a character’s backstory. One of my few complaints with D&D 4th Edition is that most spells and abilities are geared toward combat, and Rituals (the majority of the non-combat stuff) take 10 minutes to cast. This makes it a little harder to adapt things for creative roleplay than it used to be, but you probably don’t need to assign stats to these kinds of magic unless a fight breaks out, and your DM can probably figure something out damage-wise if you do decide to weld two kobolds together.
Someone please weld two kobolds together. That sounds awesome.
Fear and Loathing in the Forgotten Realms
Real-life Skill Penalties
According to the CDC, about 15.7% of the population has been diagnosed with depression, and 11.3% of people with anxiety. Unfortunately for me, I am part of both groups. My issues are not so severe that I can’t function. I have a family, a job, friends, and lots of responsibilities to deal with every day – and I manage. Sometimes, barely. Fortunately, I have a good wife and good friends to support me, and some pharmaceutical bonuses to my will save as well. It definitely helps, because it’s a struggle some days.
I recently finished reading The Lord of the Rings to my 2 year old (note to new parents: Tolkien == sleep spell), and I was struck by how Sauron’s primary weapon was not military might. It was fear. Specifically, supernatural fear. You first see it when the Black Riders are hunting Frodo and Sam early in their journey. The hobbits can feel the presence of their pursuer before he even draws near – terror and despair clouding their minds, confusing them, tempting them to do something rash and reveal their position or taking the will from them completely. Throughout the books, many examples are given of the Nazgûls’ terrible power taking the very heart and fighting spirit of all but the stoutest warriors, changing a battle into a terrible slaughter. It’s easy to kill your opponent when he is fleeing in terror, or if he is so frozen with fear that he can’t fight back. Sauron even manages to unload the finest mass fear spell ever cast on the good guys in the form of a spreading darkness over all of Middle Earth, dampening spirits and hopes, sapping his enemies’ will to fight days before his forces even arrive, and confusing the hell out of any meteorologists in Middle Earth at the time.
This got me to thinking — I can’t remember one game of D&D in which a fear spell of any kind was used to good effect upon a PC. The groups I’ve been in typically use fear-based spells for tactical advantage, sort of the wizard’s all-purpose version of a cleric turning undead. On the few occasions I’ve seen a DM use a fear spell on a PC, usually one of two things happens. Sometimes, the player just hands the DM their character sheet and lets them roll to decide what direction the character runs screaming in for the current round. Equally likely is that some rules-lawyering is about to begin – and it’s that ugly kind that isn’t really backed by, well, rules. Anybody else here ever been in a situation involving magical fear (or morale checks, for that matter), and heard “It doesn’t affect me. My character isn’t afraid of anything.”? I have. Several times. Once or twice coming from my own mouth. A player trying to argue their way out of in-game effects using “roleplaying” rarely ends well, in my experience. Frequently, real-life subdual damage occurs.
The Nature of Fear
At this point, you may be wondering at this point what, if anything, my anxiety issues and the magical fear in The Lord of The Rings have to do with each other. Well, I found myself thinking back to my own experiences with depression and anxiety – and identifying with the victims of Sauron’s dark powers. Obviously, not to the full extent seen in the books. (I sure hope it never gets that bad!) I will say, however, that as a person who suffers from anxiety, me and nameless dread are well-acquainted with each other. We shared an apartment in college. He sleeps in our guest room now, and we share an office at work. A lot of people don’t understand what fear can do to you. It can be a lot more insidious than just quaking in fear or running away. Sometimes, it can affect my self-confidence. It can make it hard to write a blog post, to get stuff done at work, and it can do a number on a marriage too if you’re not careful. It can distort the way you see the world, make your friends look like they all think you’re an idiot are all laughing at you, or make your wife seem like a horrible person who doesn’t even like you when she just asked you to do the laundry. I’m a programmer by trade, and I generally get by on wit and reason to solve the problems around me. This utterly fails most of the time when my anxiety is kicking my ass. This kind of fear doesn’t make sense. Reading some of the things I write about things that are bothering me when I am experiencing a lot of anxiety frequently doesn’t make much sense when I’m not. As described in the Lord of the Rings, fear can (and frequently does) strip you of your defenses and take the very heart from you at times – and, like the vast majority of you, I live a peaceful life where I typically do not need to fight for survival (unless it’s crunch time at work). I cannot imagine what would happen if this were not the case. Who knows? Perhaps well-founded paranoia would be easier. At least then I would know what was out to get me.
Roleplaying Fear
With all this in mind, one way to roleplay fear effects in D&D becomes clear. I got this way over time, through social interaction gone awry or chemical imbalance (I really have no idea). Fear effects can turn this on, amplified greatly, in the blink of an eye. The nature of the fear and its effect on the PC, obviously, are up to the player and the DM. However, we now have a lot more tools at our disposal to decide how it manifests itself. It may just be a shock to the system, freezing the character in their tracks, or making them whimper for their mother in the fetal position. It may cause them to flee. It might cause the PC to get intimidated and lose confidence in their ability to defeat their enemy (or even to defend themselves). Fear could make a PC act rashly, affecting their ability to perceive things (and the level of actual danger), and greatly increasing their desire to run into and/or away from something (if the fear is potent enough, perhaps both). Sure, none of this is new to anyone – but now I have somewhere to start as to why this is happening to them (that is, what’s going on in their heads), which is a pretty good place to get a foothold from a roleplaying standpoint.
With a particularly nasty villain, and a long time to weave his nefarious plans, a truly evil DM could even work in more insidious fear effects. Through private communication, he could cause long-standing dread to distort the player’s opinion of other PC’s. This would probably have to be done through Perception checks and careful private messages to individual players to make them think their compatriots were up to something, maybe even working secretly against them. Admittedly, this would require either a group of very honest and skilled roleplayers, or at least one player at the table who everybody else doesn’t fully trust not to try to sell the entire party into kobold slavery at the first opportunity.
The Frightening Conclusion
I hope it’s obvious to everyone that in no way am I trying to trivialize anxiety, depression, or any other mental illness with this post, nor am I a professional who has any idea what he is talking about on any subject. Ever. Rather, I would just rather my issues did something useful for a change. I hope, at the very least, they’ve given some of you a few things to gnaw on the next time your DM decides it’s National Lich Awareness Week and the fear hits the fan.
Photo courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsvstks/19428230/
