My reaction to the article was a little contrary to Mr. (at)Large's. I am not a fan of 4E, so it has been important to me to see what kind of language is being used to bandy about the design philosophy for the new edition. I found Mike's previous articles on the Fighter, Cleric, and Rogue to be kind of comforting, if not terribly informative - and I really think that was the point of the articles. In each instance, Mike walked through the most important bullet points regarding design decisions for each class, and they seemed largely consistent with the classic concepts, if tempered in a few cases by more contemporary interpretations. And don't misunderstand - conceptually, the classes in 4E were still pretty much spot-on. My issues with the game had more to do with execution than conceptualization, which admittedly keeps me somewhat cautious in my enthusiasm at this point.
But the description of the wizard was a little more mechanical, and I'm not sure if I like it. So let's take it one point at a time:
Cantrips as At-Will Magic: Okay. Despite my cringing at the gamey term "at-will", this idea is definitely in line with my expectations. Even in my 3.5 game, I have developed a subsystem of house rules which allow the use of 0-level magic with virtually no limits and low-level magic with more significant scope. If the spell selection in the game is appropriately utilitarian and versatile, this one feature could calm any fears I have about the restrictions Mike is suggesting for higher-level spells. Traditionally, however, "cantrips" are very limited in scope and often of little to no use in mid- to high-level gaming. Still... I really like this idea.
Keep Spells Under Control: Again, this seems an important design decision when building the class. It's a little vague, but quite relevant.
Reducing Total Spell Slots: Here, Mike discusses the balancing factor for the unlimited cantripping (is that a word?). I get his point - with at-will cantrips, a tighter leash on higher level magic would seem appropriate. In my experience, however, the attrition of the game's overall balance should fall within the pillars of total capability, rather than versatility, and this tactic seems tailored to restrict a character's overall versatility. Admittedly, part of my fears may extend from the overt restrictions of the 4E powers, where wizards had such limited options.
Spells Don't Automatically Scale: This. This is interesting. It feels a little awkward to a gamer who has always lived inside a system with magic that scaled by level of spellcaster, but I think I shall endeavor to suppress my instincts and see how this idea develops. I have seen systems where the level of magic employed determined the outcome, rather than the raw potential of the caster, and I have always thought they were pretty cool.
Spellcasting is Dangerous: A lot of people will probably have mixed reactions to this idea. Inherently, it's a cool design philosophy, but the execution could be very swingy. Mike's example of a spellcaster taking damage while working magic is fairly classic, but it seems very obvious. Even in the olden days, we would often make judgment calls or use alternate systems to determine such things, and 3.xE had a system for it in the core rules. But what else could this idea mean...? Should there be challenges inherent in the use of magic, or potential sacrifices needed to control it? I have never been a fan of systems that require a die roll just to successfully cast a spell - if a traditional wizard (read as little martial skill or other abilities) can't get his spells off, he quickly becomes a liability - but sometimes a statistical element can be applied to manipulate the quality of an effect. There's potential in this concept... I'd like to see it developed a bit.
Keep Magic Items Under Control: D&D never had real magic item creation rules until 3E, and I thought they were very elegant. I loved the feel of using "life energy" or something similar to craft devices. I didn't so much dig it in play, however, so I have never been really happy with it. I'm glad they are planning to include some sort of rules. The revisions he discusses to the use of scrolls and wands, however, seem quite a handicap at first glance. Scrolls that require a caster to spend a slot might add versatility, but the wizard would have little call to craft them since he would never need a scroll containing one of his own spells. The limitaion on wands, obviously, depends entirely on the options presented.
Keep Buff Spells Under Control: As a DM, I'm all for this.
Creativity, Not Dominance: This is a very cool design philosophy, though the description makes me wonder what he has in mind. Often, to add versatility to a spell, you have to scale back its particulars. In my experience, some players work very well with a looser framework to draw from, but others want a little more hand-holding at that stage.
Like I said... my reactions are mixed. I'm excited to see some particulars in the playtest material next week. I'm crossposting this at our forums in case anyone would like to discuss with our community of gamers.
- Mood:
contemplative - Music:Captain Carl's Tuesday Nite Blues Band - Last Night
I could certainly do a post promoting the podcasts I have discovered and come to enjoy, and perhaps I will. But for now, let me just say that Happy Jacks is easily one of the most entertaining groups out there if you want to listen to people talk about tabletop roleplaying games for a couple hours, provide a slew of good advice for DMs and their players, employ a particularly crass degree of humor, and drink a lot of beer. It's serious quality, my friends. *grins*
One of the Jackers' passions, predictably enough, is the game systems they prefer, including such classics as GURPS, Traveller, and HERO System (or Champions), and a more contemporary construct entitled Savage Worlds. Released in 2004 (I think) as a system for Pinnacle Games' Deadlands property, Savage Worlds is a genre-neutral, rules-lite system with a focun on "fast, furious fun." And after years of D20 games, I was ready to check out something new. So I've started a couple of games with it. Keep in mind that these are hard-core, immersive roleplay, old-school D&D players, accustomed to a lot of crunch but addicted to narrative gaming. Here's a look at the results:
The first adventure I ran was a hard sci-fi offering at the back of the Savage Worlds Deluxe handbook, entitled The Salvage of the USS Kaine. In this scenario, the PCs run a salvage ship investigating a derelict deep space probe situated near a black hole. Without giving anything away, the PCs encounter a dangerous and horrific scenario aboard the vessel and have to decide how to deal with it. My group exercised a great deal of caution in their exploration and retreated as soon as they encountered the first real danger aboard the ship.
The players enjoyed the short adventure so much that they asked me to put together another one. So the following week, the PCs were docked at a space station while their vessel was undergoing repairs when they find out that the station administrator had a derelict probe vessel toed to the station. Needless to say, from the moment the crew learned of the arrival of the USS Kaine, tension mounted as they struggled to find a way off the station and the horrors they knew lurked aboard the ship began to affect everyone and everything around them. In the end, they hooked up with the pilot of a small military vessel and escaped the station, blowing it up in the process. It was, in a word... awesome.
Meanwhile, I also started a Savage Worlds Gaslight game with
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
roulette_, demi_sakura, and moonled. They wrote up characters for a Victorian horror scenario and ended up investigating a murder at a high society function. There ended up being a bit of sorcery involved in the plot, which was beyond the experience or expectation of anyone involved in the investigation, but they ultimately helped capture the villain and had her arrested.They, too, requested a follow-up, so I built a scenario where they had to actually break the enchantment cast during the first scenario by tracking down the man who taught the witch how to do it. They traveled to his estate in the north of France and found that he was some sort of vampire-like monster. At first, they were charmed by his demeanor, but they ended up confronting him in his lair when they uncovered his true nature and defeated him. In the process, they were able to secure the tome which explained how to break the spell.
In short, Savage Worlds is a hit with my group(s), and I'm working on the underpinnings of a large campaign. I'll be sure to keep everyone apprised of our progress as we continue to explore the intricacies of the system, but I am seriously enthusiastic about the results thus far and definitely excited about the adventures ahead.
- Mood:
artistic - Music:Angryfolkband - Plan B
Prismatic Tsunami
Promote Your Page Too
- Mood:
chipper - Music:Angryfolkband - Laser Printed Hero
Incidentally, if you are a gamer, feel free to join us in our newly revived online community at Prismatic Tsunami.
- Mood: artistic
- Music:Captain Carl's Tuesday Nite Blues Band - Bring Me Down
In essence, Monte discusses how we undergo a rapid change of self-awareness right around puberty, when we suddenly stop playing pretend and find the idea of roleplaying to be something of an identity crisis. This makes sense; it's an age where everything we know about ourselves is challenged. Our bodies change, our thinking changes, and we become hyper-aware of how others must see us. As our hormonal changes incur initial sexual impulses, confusion and shame can add to the experience, making roleplaying - particularly casual, around-the-table-with-some-friends-(and-p
But for many of us, the power of immersive roleplaying is a palpable experience that we would not trade for anything in the depth of our adult lives. That same vulnerability is there, of course; once we become conflicted about our core identities, the fears attached to the issue never entirely dissolve. (Just ask Freud!) But we come to surround ourselves with people we trust and enjoy sharing that vulnerability with - people who won't judge us because they are there for the same experience, to one degree or another. And "experience," as Monte points out, is the point of the thing.
As a game master, I have a front-row seat to the intimate byplay of subsumed behaviors and enthusiastic involvement that characterizes my weekly game sessions. Players focus their considerable wills on realizing the hopes and dreams of a fictional personality, experiencing their triumphs and their losses, and integrating themselves in a group narrative that spins a story that none of them will ever forget. They get to do things that they will never have the chance to do in their everyday lives... leading armies, fighting dragons, experiencing grand romances and dark betrayals, and making decisions that can save the world or let it fall into ruin. It's a powerful experience, with the right chemistry.
And because I'm also a psych major, I'll discuss yet another fascinating aspect of immersion.
As an interesting addendum to the vicarious experiences which drive us to immerse ourselves in tabletop roleplaying, the study of cognitive psychology suggests a stronger relationship between imagination and experience than many of us realize. It's plausible, in fact, that the ability to experience actual reality relies somewhat on our "imaginative" grasp of the experience. That is, after all, the mechanism which allows us to recall the experience in vivid detail.
As an example, neuroscientists have noted that an individual observing the behavior of another individual engaging in an activity the observer comprehends will experience activity in the very same sections of the brain as the other person. In essence, the observer engages his or her brain as if performing the activity him- or herself. They refer to this phenomenon as "mirror neurons." As a guitarist, for example, I have noted that I will sometimes unconsciously move my fingers in a manner related to the movements of a guitarist I am watching perform. Technically, as far as my brain is concerned, I may as well be playing the instrument myself if I am truly immersed in the experience.
So... does that make it any clearer?
- Mood: creative
- Music:Bullet for my Valentine - Tears Don't Fall
Enjoy!
- Mood:
restless - Music:Yes - South Side of the Sky
(continued from http://orryn-emrys.livejournal.com/50112.h
But I can’t actually reminisce about Iola too much without paying tribute to one of the absolutely most influential experiences of my life. You see… my friend Misty had an older brother. In reality (and with the sincere assumption that he is unlikely to ever read this bit of prose), Michael was kind of a prick. He was mean to his sister, made fun of us a lot, and was generally disagreeable most of the time. He had a kind of blue ball set into the base of his spine and walked with the aid of a crutch, and you always had the impression that he was uncomfortable sitting, standing, or reclining. But it turned that Michael had one thing going for him that rather made up for all that BS…
Michael had D&D.
I don’t know who his friends were… At the time, I’m pretty sure that he didn’t really have any. But D&D is, by its very nature, a social implement, so one would have to assume that he had had friends at some point. Whatever the circumstances, there was one Saturday morning when I was about 8 year old that Michael felt a strong compulsion to sit me and his sister down for a couple hours of high adventure…
As an aside, I’ve done this. Most of the old school gamers I know have done it at some point or another. You get a crazy notion that it might be fun to play D&D with some younger neighborhood kids or your younger sibling’s pals. It never really works out the way you imagine, of course. It’s inevitably an exercise in frustration as you try and make sense of the immature ideas and half-formed heroics and general stupidity that follows. And it isn’t usually that much fun.
As I’m sure Michael found out that morning.
He had a book or two… I remember that. And he had a bunch of cool, funny-shaped little dice. He drew a map on a sheet of notebook paper, labeling such notable adventurous locales as “The Castle of Doom” and “The Forest of Shadows”. I had a sheet of paper with my character statistics jotted down, including a rough inventory full of items I didn’t even know how to visualize. And then he ran a little game.
After about the third such session, I think Michael started avoiding me. I was rabid. My mother, I think, was intrigued… but none of my other friends – save Michael’s younger sister – could even be bothered. After he stopped succumbing to my adventurous demands, I started drawing my own maps and imagining my own high adventures. My life was already boiling with fantasy subtext during this period of my life, which was only fueled by my parents’ love for Tolkien and Zeppelin and sci-fi movies. I was already becoming an avid reader, and D&D helped propel my imagination further into the void.
The voice was still there, lingering in my head, soaking up the creative juices and the adoration of my adventure-loving childhood friends… but that’s another story for another time.
In 2nd grade, I read A Wrinkle in Time and the Chronicles of Narnia. In 3rd grade, I read The Weirdstone of Brisengamen and The Hobbit. During my 4th grade year, I coerced my mother’s cooperation to rent huge hardcover copies of the Lord of the Rings from the adult section of the public library. I discovered Stephen R. Donaldson and Terry Brooks, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Anne McCaffery, Andre Norton, Alan Dean Foster, Piers Anthony, and Roger Zelazny.
By the time we left Iola, half way through my 5th grade year, I was entirely submerged in swords and sorcery. But it was in the next town that I finally found my way back into the embrace of my most innovative lover for all the many years to come…
Dungeons & Dragons.
- Mood: nostalgic
- Music:Breaking Benjamin - Evil Angel
So let's recap.......
If you happen to be a part of my everyday life, or you follow me on Facebook, you'll likely have noticed that things have gotten really rough lately. This happens to my family a lot. It doesn't take any kind of supernatural karmic awareness to see that, despite our dedication to compassion, fun, artistic pleasures, and the welfare of our friends, family and the common man, we are subjected to a relatively disproportionate degree of bad luck. Don't get me wrong... we try very hard to keep a positive attitude, to take responsibility for our mistakes and relish in our successes, and to see the good side of every event in our lives. But recently, we have run amok of yet another series of challenges that make that difficult to do. I won't bore you with the details... most of which are largely financial... but I will say that I find myself less concerned with the hardships themselves than with effect it has on my family's welfare.
I am, as it were, still unemployed. Radio jobs are simply not out there to be had in this community. But I make enough from unemployment that just any ol' job won't do. It is not, however, enough to comfortably live on. Our debts really aren't bad at this point, but our mortgage and bills are still a pile.
So, today I found out that our van is a goner. The engine is shot. We've only had it a couple of years, and it's only an '02, and we took decent care of it... but that doesn't matter. Shit happened, and it's toast. The pickup has been parked outside the house for a couple weeks because its overheating too easily, without any obvious explanation... so I took it in today and found out that a head gasket is blown. Between the labor for the diagnosis on the van, the repairs on the pickup, and the tow to have the van hauled back to our driveway today, our savings, such as it was, is pretty much shot as well. Money we needed for the mortgage. And the roof that's now been leaking for almost two years. And.... ah! I said I wasn't going to bore you with the details, and there I go. Sorry.
*clears throat*
Point is... all this makes everyday life just a little tougher. We'll figure it out, obviously... but it won't be fun. I love my family more than anything... I can't even begin to sort out how this all makes me feel. And roulette_... well, this is a no-brainer. I couldn't handle this without her, and I find it easier to focus on her and everything she means to me and everything we've created together and hope to create together in the years ahead. I know it's corny, but that's a strength I wouldn't have without her. I've never faced the kinds of challenges in life that I do now, but I've also never had so much reason to.
I could meander through my thoughts on this for hours... which is something I'm prone to do at times. But I won't. We're gonna need to find some money down the line. If you wanna help... *laughs* Well, buy the album. It's really good. I know... I've listened to it many times. *smiles* At least then you're getting something out of it. If I can come up with the startup cash, I'll be offering T-shirts soon, as well.
I just needed to talk about it all a little bit. It's kinda therapeutic... Thanks for listening, friends.
~ Erik
- Mood: numb
- Music:Captain Carl's Tuesday Nite Blues Band - How the Story Goes
- MUSIC: Okay. So the CD is done. I have a master, and the artwork is now very nearly ready to roll... but now the money has suffered a hit. Our air conditioner broke last week - or more specifically, the motor in our furnace shuffled off it's mortal coil and left the air conditioner without a means of cool-air-magic dispersal. The motor - plus installation and some basic service on the AC units - cost about $350. Unfortunately, removing that much money from savings took a chunk out of my personal CD fund. Not a huge chunk, mind you... I've collected a nice bit of cash from the preorders (available if you're interested at our website)... but enough to slow the process. I'll be getting some more cash here in the next week or two, so it's just a slight delay. Which is annoying.
- SCHOOL: I'm really torn about my last two psychology classes - my current classes, that is; they're the last two classes for my Associates Degree. One of them - Abnormal Psychology - is extraordinarily interesting. It's pretty involved, covering a lot of clinical analysis in a kind of condensed fashion, but the material is fun to absorb and the assignments are actually pretty cool (if challenging). The other class - Biopsychology - is also interesting, but not nearly as much fun. I can understand why the functions of the brain and nervous system are extraordinarily relevant to psychology, but the material is very challenging to absorb and the assignments not nearly as enjoyable. Still... I'm only seven weeks from graduation, so it's hard to not be excited about it.
- GAMING: The War of the Burning Sky campaign grows ever nearer to completion. The group is in the second-to-last adventure, which means that the characters are around 17th level and the challenges are very, very cool. I stress again that this campaign is just exceptionally well written... the players are having a good time, and so am I. The challenges and puzzles of the campaign are starting to come together as the climax approaches, and the vast amount of original story I've been able to inject into the campaign - with original backstories, NPCs, personal drama, and events on the world stage - has given the campaign a lot of life. The characters are like old friends now... it will be tremendously satisfying to see them succeed in their epic goals, just as it will be hard to put them away and move onto something new after it's done.
- FAMILY: I should be getting the paperwork for the motion to adopt from my attorney by today. demi_sakura is, I think, ready to see it happen... I noticed that she opened a new GMail account the other day, and she used my surname. It's only one letter different, actually, but she's ready for the change. Unfortunately, she's also selected this particular period in which to act the petulant teenager. *shakes head* I could do an entry on that alone... she's never been a very disagreeable child. Not since I've come along, anyway. But she is lazy... stupidly so. And she's begun to paint herself a victim. She does everything she possibly can to avoid doing housework, to the point of outright disobedience. And her schoolwork... it's ridiculous. She's a bright girl. But she can't seem to make herself bother. She's made a fool of her mother and I... we took her out of brick-and-mortar school to get her away from the bullies and to give her an academic advantage with the tools available in an online school. But she's consistently fallen behind. And now... well, it's pretty obvious that she doesn't care whether she succeeds or fails; she's accepted her failure so that she can shrug off the effort of trying to finish her assignments. It's a daily battle.
- WRITING: I've recently started reading my book again. The one I wrote... well, was writing. I have more than 70,000 words down on digital paper, but after a couple years I just kinda stopped. I was trying to figure out why, so I picked it up and started re-reading the material... and it's GOOD. I need to finish this book. It may never see the light of day, but it's definitely got potential. Oh! And I'm reading the file on my Kindle! That somehow makes it much more fun...
Hmm... One bullet left. Russian Roulette, anyone?
- Mood: thoughtful
- Music:Captain Carl's Tuesday Nite Blues Band - Long Road Home
- MUSIC: The day has finally arrived! The CD is done, and I'm happy to report that it is every bit as amazing as I had hoped. If you're even marginally interested in quality original music - not to mention, supporting an independent artist who just recently crossed the threshold of a shiny, new dream - please check us out at http://www.tuesdayniteblues.com. There are samples uploaded for your listening pleasure, and some fairly cool videos documenting the recording process at the bottom of the main page. You can also join the mailing list or preorder the CD in the sidebar to the right. It's good stuff!
- EDUCATION: I am only 12 credits away from my Associates Degree in Psychology, which is very exciting. I graduate on July 4th... very nearly with a 4.0 GPA! I'm not gonna kid ya... it's been challenging, particularly while working on the album, holding down a full-time job (until recently), and being a full-time husband and father. I am really proud of myself, and I'm looking forward the Bachelors Program... nothin' but Psych classes, my friends... Oh, yeah.
- BUSINESS: roulette_ and I are considering going into business for ourselves, opening a tea bar here in Wichita. That's kinda like a coffee house with a focus on tea and tea culture. We're hoping to get a big enough room for the business to use it for various artistic and economic interests: art shows, blues and jazz shows, conventions, perhaps even weddings. Of course, we have no money... *grins*
- FAMILY: Gabriel is growing like a freakin' weed! It seems beyond belief, but the kid is almost 2-1/2 years old! What the hell!? He's workin' the potty chair now, and stringin' together pretty functional sentences in conversation. Additionally, I've begun the process of adopting demi_sakura... she's 16 now, and I promised her a father. Because of State of Kansas regs, we had to wait until her mother and I had been married a year. It's an expensive undertaking, but well worth it.
- GAMING: Still workin' our way through "War of the Burning Sky"... what an unbelievable experience. If you're considering running it, do it. The adventures are very well-written, easily adapted to most any need, and yet still very complex and full of original concepts. We're closing in on our last couple of adventures in the series, and the tension is mounting.
- PHILOSOPHY: I'm not real sure what's gonna happen in the months ahead. I hate being unemployed, and yet just any ol' job won't cut it. (Your average part-time gig won't even compete with the money from my unemployment.) I'm workin' the radio angle, tryin' to get in with one of the local corporations, but it's a tough business and getting tougher. And yet, I'm surprisingly at peace... My life is full of uncertainty, but the goals and motivations have never been clearer. I finished the album, despite the financial strain, and Roulette supported my every decision and expenditure. My friends and family turned out their pockets to help where they could. My bandmates have been extraordinary... No expectations, no drama! Just good, solid talent with a will to make it all work. And they're friends, true friends... that's almost a rare commodity nowadays. Amongst colleagues, I mean.
Cheers!
- Mood: accomplished
- Music:Captain Carl's Tuesday Nite Blues Band - The Guitar Song
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