Muses Dice - An RPG Blog

Elaboratus: A Dream to Pursue

2010-09-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time I was really into coming up with big plans for large companies that would help to unite the online gaming community, similar to services like Pen and Paper Games.

What I'd like to share with you is something I had been tossing around in my mind for some time, and had posted on an old blog that I'd like to post here for reference purposes (as the former hosting service is now shutting down). With that, I leave you with the following ideas.

From my experiences, there is a large market out there for people who like to host games relating to RPGs, though with the market leading to 3D MMO Environments, there hasn't been much buzz about actual internet text-based or voice based hosting programs. The dream I have was to be able to provide a set of services that would revive this industry and provide cash flow to the development of a truly dynamic RPG environment. There are some ideas that would go along with this as follows:

- Central Web Site: Private and Public Text and Voice Chat, Forums, and Calender (Free service for Private text based Chat , Public Forums and Calender. Subscription for Private Voice Chat, Forums, and Calender and more advanced invitation options for related services).

- Web based Flash or Java oriented Gaming platform: Gaming Service that allows for game hosting outside of regular forum/chat/calender with Game Chat Logging (Voice Logging with Subscription), Image Uploading (Temporary and Permanent, Temporary being free and Storage being Subscription based) and Universal adaptability across any Internet Connection/Computer Platform.

- Public and Private Game Library: A large database that has an assortment of Story Content, Character Content, Game Hosting Rules (Both Verbose and Simplistic) With a wide range of content being openly available for read strait from the website or download depending on content. This can be anything from Campaign Settings to Game Mechanics rulebooks for GURPS and d20 and White Wolf alike, the content having various permissions depending on the liscence agreement for each piece of content (Custom Content being part of a generic User Agreement or being part of a Agreement that protects the Libraries content and free sharing rights or making of money for distribution and what not). This would be the GMs heaven as it would include a large assortment of material for just about any hosting!

- Free Online Character Sheets: A piece of Flash or Java software that would be part of the GM hosting software that allows you to store, update, customize, and directly use inside the Gaming Software as noted above for both custom PCs and NPCs for GMs. GMs could also make custom sheets for players and be able to save it for open sharing on the public Library mentioned above. Library would essentially cross with this in that you could

- Character and Game Hosting Customization Services: Have a collection of people who are hired for the company who's soul purpose are to create custom content for GMs and Players alike. Services could include Custom Character portraits, NPC portraits, Custom Campaign Logos, and even more technical pieces of content such as World Maps that show Demographics, city type, borders, as well as elevation and biom maps for a custom campaign as well as editing services and publication services for GMs and players alike who would like to publish stories into the public or private library (Private essentially having a one time buy out of the content). All materials that are purchased this way are automatically put into storage permanently on our servers for life of the company and are free to store for even public accounts with unlimited downloads. This service could also be something that is purely part of a monthly service as well, where people pay a monthly service to have access to the custom material.

There is a lot of other ideas that could be built upon this, including paid hosting services where the company, in order to keep player interest, would have paid GMs to host games that focus on content already in the libraries that help demonstrate the usefulness of the subscription as well as Private Hosting parties where players can win special content from the sight for participating in subscription only events! The nice thing about this is that since its an online community, the company could be spread apart, letting players have the chance to apply to become GMs with the company and gaining access to special content because of it. If a GM shows good potential and good reviews, that player could in turn be payed to demonstrate the companies goals and content!

Given a larger investment in the idea, I could easily see the development of a modular design platform that allows players to construct entire encounters, story lines, passive and active content that can be used on the fly or is predetermined, allowing people to simply "pick up" the adventure and play without the necessity of a game master. The environment would preferably have a system that allowed for direct interaction and free form gameplay, with a user friendly programing language that allowed for easily triggered events that tie to actions, and on the fly action for anyone willing to get into the detail of any adventure.

This I feel would be quite an on-taking, but in the end would be quite the experience. I can see it combining elements of the common RPG online format with more user friendly programing elements from that of Neverwinter Nights.

Guild Wars: The Trinity Revolution!

2010-09-01T14:08:00.000-07:00

When it comes to a unique experience in online games, I've seen a lot of games that approach things differently when it comes to various classes and methods of blending roles. But even so, they usually fall into the Holy Trinity in some way or another.

Guild Wars 2 has made the claim that they are doing away with this convention, and instead are designing a game that focuses purely on action and initiative rather than the static skill cycling "Spank and Tank" that is so common in a lot of the current MMO's.
Arenanet has declared a new method of dividing up the roles in this article, and in it they describe that your actions can fill one of a number of roles in the combat: Damage, Support, & Control. Now, at first glance this doesn't really doesn't seem too different than other MMOs, Damage = DPS, Support = Heals, Control = Tank. So lets have a look at what this means, and how it differs from other games.

Damage
"Damage" itself will be balanced all around, but your class and weapon choice will determine how you apply the damage and how that will impact the combat itself. Here are some examples of what I mean:

Area of Effect Damage: Wards an area by applying a flow of damage in a specific area. Enemies may choose to stay in the area or be applied the damage, or can simply move around it and ignore the damage. If caught in the area, the enemy can simply move out of the area and take reduced damage.
Damage over Time: Damage over time is usually a secondary effect of direct damage (Bleeding and Burning to name a few). The damage itself, if left unchecked, can cause severe damage over a period of time. Best way to handle this damage is simply to use Control and Support: crippling, blinding, or outrunning the attacker (Refered in the original Guild Wars as "Kiting"), and providing boons that help to ignore, remove, or bypass the negative effect.
Ranged: This type of attack is applied at a distance. This allows the attacker to apply damage to an enemy before they come within range of another melee opponent, or even to shoot past area of effect zones. Best way to avoid the damage is simply to avoid the attack before it reaches you. Guild Wars 2 will be implementing a tumble in the game, making dodging ranged attacks even better. In this same instance though, control in the form of blind or using line of site obstacles works the best for evading these attacks.

In other MMO's, damage is simply a point and click, there is no real evasion and you have to rely on defensive abilities, rather than position to really make the difference. In this type of game, its where you fight, how you fight. The nice thing about Guild Wars 2 though, is that a player can "mix" these damage types in order to create mixed damage types. A Ranged attacker can shoot through an Area damage zone in order to amplify the damage and extend the zone to a single target on the other side (or a spread attack in the case of Spread Shot).

Support

"Support" isn't always specific to Healing. The way Guild Wars sees support is a combination of position and utility skills that can provide a player with the ability to use their own self heals. Support can be as simple as removing a stack of conditions on a single character, or providing an area of effect zone where allies get increased damage resistance and a small health regeneration in the form of boons.

These boons, more times than not, can be moved, applied multiple times over a span of time, or placed into a specific area in order to counter other offensive zones. In other situations, you can give an ally a speed boon that allows them to move outside of the range of a melee or ranged attack or to get outside of a deadly zone. And since movement is the name of the game, these support skills will allow you to ignore attacks all together, acting as a preventive measure as apposed to a reactive measure.

Control

"Control" is what allows a player to force an opponent to pay attention to you, or ignore you entirely. There will not be any "Aggro" in Guild Wars 2 (nor was there any in the original Guild Wars, also referred to as an aggression counter, which represents how much you piss an enemy off in order to keep its attention on the tank), instead, if you want an enemy to pay attention to you, you have to use snares and various conditions in order to prevent your opponent from reaching its target.

The best examples of this are Stun, Crippled, and Knockdown. Take the Warrior, with the shield set as your choice offhand, you can charge an opponent and stun them temporarily forcing them to stand vulnerable for a short time. That same warrior can use a large hammer and use various skills to force an opponent on their rear end, preventing movement all together and allowing the warrior to unleash his wrath on the unlucky victim. And then lets say you have a sword, you can then use crippling slash and slow down your opponent, allowing you to attack them more frequently as they try to escape.

Combine this with the multitude of other conditions, such as blind for negating melee and ranged attacks, and Area of Effect zones in the form of zones, wells, spirits, traps, and marks, and you have with you a large collection of options when moving around the battle field.

This forces a player to think more along the lines of whats more actively going on as apposed to simply clicking the same button over and over and applying the damage, aggression, or healing you want it to be, you have to actively move think and coordinate with your allies while placing yourself in the most beneficial situation where your combination of skills coordinate with other attacks for the best results!

Conclusion

In the end, in Guild Wars 2, a player will have the ability to specialize in any number of means of applying damage, and can specialize in either support or control, or have a combination there of. It will be up to the player to use these skills to the best of their ability, and doing so while moving about the battlefield in order to mitigate the damage being received. In my mind, this is one of the strongest motivations to work as a team, and if anything, really plays well to the Action RPG that Guild Wars 2 is working to achieve.

As Guild Wars 2 moves towards their Demo at PAX, I grow more and more excited about how the game will evolve and will promote the type of play style I've been looking for since the original Guild Wars came out. Awesome work Arenanet!

Rolling the Dice: And the hike continues...

2010-08-21T21:32:00.000-07:00

Its been close to three weeks now, and I haven't posted anything. I've been exploring various topics and really getting a feel for what I'm passionate about, and what can really give me things to talk about on a regular basis. Should I specialize? Should I broaden my horizons? Should I restrict how frequent (and alternatively how rarely) I should post my blogs?

All these things and more I have thought about, and with Guild Wars 2 and the Gaming Community being sent to various Conventions that I am not able to attend, I have found I have some time to really chew these things through, and take some time to really get an idea of the taste of this blog. All I need now is get the content to really give me something to chew on.

The Massively Multiplayer Online Experience

So a number of topics have been swirling around in my mind. One of them happens to be a pass-time of a lot of people are seeking an experience in order to fill that "Role Play Game" experience. The only problem is, this has become somewhat of a lacking element in some of the biggest games on the market right now, and in others the concept is so foreign that the idea of a "role" takes on a completely different definition.

What I hope to achieve here is to explain my ideas and explorations of this unique medium of role play games and what I find fits my specific interests. How often should I post in this? As often as it takes to demo the game. How long does it take to get a good feel of the game? We are looking at a couple of weeks to a month. In the event I don't have a game to detail, I can possibly revisit some of the features of previous games and to see how the company has tried to rectify some of the problems I had found in the game.

Some other ideas I've thought about elaborating on is the actual Multiplayer Social Experience itself. Having a mental disorder myself, I often find myself lacking in some of the common knowledge that is involved with social interactions, let alone those same interactions online. Is Online experiences social in some way, as limited as it may be? For sure! How exactly so? Thats something I'd love to detail on.

The Tabeltop Experience

With the experience of the RPG world coming to the focus, having been the original motivation for this blog, I've also thought about what it might take to get the topic to really take hold. Thing is, I'm only very specifically focused on games that are either free or have little investment. But if that was the case, how would people of the genre make a living on this said hobby?

Its this fact thats left me in a conundrum of sorts... what does it take to make a game worth while and what methods are other companies taking to increase accessibility of their product, and perhaps, how can someone else do the same thing with a limited budget? Thats something thats worth writing about, but how can I come across this information? Is it enough information worth blogging about?

It is often said that the journey to the goal is often the best part of life, and as such, possibly setting up a goal for self publishing would work out really well. So coming up with a project to work on that I can stay focused on for long enough is something I really need to work on, as staring projects that I rarely finish is a common thing in my life, be it for reasons of mental instability or just sheer randomness in my life.

Dealing with the Facts of Life

Life itself is something that has proven difficult for many people to take into consideration when gaming. There are just certain times in the year where its just not easy to game. The Summer time is notorious with this in that children come out of school, and seeing as how a lot of people are also parents, this is a big taxing on the game life. So various things can be talked about here, be it for managing one's own schedule to coming up with family outings, making compromises and the like.

The other thing is coming up with a decent schedule for gaming for players, how long of a game session is enough of a game session, and how long does it take to make an encounter last and the like. How can someone accelerate these processes and how you can apply them to real life situations?

Conclusion

In the end, I hope to get some more detailed information out, and if anything I'd like to set up specific posting times. I'd still like to have the same 3/week posts, or at the least twice a week, but limit it to just a single post a day. We'll see how well this goes as usual, as this is as always a work in progress!

Elaboratus: Valanas, a Call to Arms

2010-07-25T06:15:00.000-07:00

For those who are curious why I didn't get a Saturday Post up this week, I've been working on getting most of the information up and running on Obsidian Portal for the Valanas World Setting I've been working hard on. I've also been deciding on what it will take to get some more people involved in the project.

Those who originally inspired the setting have had a number of other things going on and different games of their own keeping them occupied, though I'd love to get a larger collection of people interested in Comics, and more specifically Manga, who'd like to come up with some ideas to keep the project alive.

If anyone reading this happens to know anybody who'd be interested in contributing to the material please let me know, and if you'd like to use the world in a campaign you'd like to run let me know what details you need and what you'd like to include as I'd love to include the material on the website!

Rolling the Dice: An Interesting Perspective

2010-07-25T06:02:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I got a chance to role play with some local people here in Fort Wayne. This was my first experience with a new group and I was eager to experience a new game setting. It was quite the experience, as the setting was very dark and the system very deadly on a lot of levels.

It was rather quick to find that the characters were indeed paper thin, and I was rather lucky to have had armor with the combat we had, as I found that a group of enemies were aiming straight for my head!

The players in the game seemed to have a lot more of laid back approach to their role play though, and I found this to be very interesting. Where my last group had to explain everything in exquisite detail, in essence acting out their characters and interacting with the environment on a completely detailed manner.

With this group I found that everything was mostly assumed, and I was quickly brought into the group and no real interaction was necessary, I was in the group no questions asked and I was my duty to protect "the Inquisitor" which was some power that a lot of people feared apparently.

There was still a number of elements that made the game quite different, and it was apparent that the characters had some interaction with the PCs, though it was more secondary to finding the information they needed. This came to a relief for me as I was still new to the game and I'm still understanding where my character fit into the whole scheme of things, having been mind wiped and kept alive from some unknown horror, or so I believe.

Luckily though the GM established a quick character concept and I have been exploring the different capabilities of the player, which although are very limited are at least easy to grasp. The use of stats ranging from 20 to 100 are a bit different, and how it works with the d100 percentile dice is also a really nice change. I'm rather curious to see how another game runs. From what I understand my character will be relatively paper thin and is very deadly, so not to get too attached with my character.

Seeing as how the whole group are Game Masters, and how they change games about once every 3 to 5 games I can see why frequent death can be a good thing!

World Spotlight: Valanas Return of Nightfall

2010-07-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to post something pertaining to Guild Wars today, though it seems like Arenanet hasn't done much other than showing up to ComicCon, which would be a lot of fun I think if I could ever get the chance to go. Though with my hopes still set on going to GenCon before the age of 30 is my current goal, and hopefully doing so with a group of friends.

In the meantime, I've been running a morning game with some friends of mine to help flesh out the Ugandi in Valanas. So far, the players are off to a great start, and they are having a lot of fun! Here are some of the Highlights from the past three sessions!

Interestingly enough, when I had the players put together their key relationships with family, tutors, and key conflicts, and interesting thing occurred. I looked over the character sheets and I had a brainstorm, what better way to introduce the players to the world than to include a unified force of Villains that are somehow working together, and tie in some of the character elements in the process?

One player, who's character's name is Thoasar, had put together a revolutionary judicial system to adapt to the philosopher oriented government that was spread across all of the nation. He had a rival of sorts who sought instead to bring a change in everything, including the government and the religion to something more centric revolving around a religious figure.

The other player, who's character's name is Anaya, happens to be both enjoying and suffering from her unique power, being loved by many and feared by just the same. Anaya happens to be the only infused who has had silver skin, and is the only one who happens to have her unique abilities like she has. Anaya also has absolute respect from the entire Capital of Earth, while the entire Capital of Air seem to be repulsed by her. Those of the other cities are unsure what to think of her, though she is known to be one of the most attractive women in all of Ugandia, ironically, second only to the greatest performer of the Capital of Air.

Through their explorations, the players have found that the performer and the rival are following along with a mysterious man who calls himself Quil, who happens to have the same elements of silver skin and almost magical properties having the ability to move through solid walls and walk on water. A series of questions were wanted to be answered as they discovered that the man was ancient, though they also learned he had plans to "purify" the world of Ugandia, with or without the help of the Infused.

It was really interesting how it all played out, as my original plan was to introduce the Nightspawn to the world as well as the Terrorist orginization. But instead now I have a staged plan to make the story a bit longer and in doing so allowing the players to shape the world itself. I still plan on including the Nightspawn, the ruined ancient city of the Giants, and the growing nation of the Nitol, but all in due time.

I will introduce one of these elements with the first terrorist attacks of the Followers of Night after this story arch is complete. I'm glad the players are all having a lot of fun though, and I look forward to enjoying even more of our 2 hour long sessions on a weekly basis!

For those interested on more detail pertaining to the campaign setting itself, I have been working hard on putting all of it online using Obsidian Portal's services. You can find the campaign setting below:

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/valanas

More information to come soon, though if you have any ideas or thoughts on an inspirational villain or hero, thoughts on edits or critique, please feel free to contact me!

Game Spotlight: Guild Wars 2, Heritage

2010-07-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

So to put it bluntly, I'm a rather "boring" player. I am one of those people who will get Guild Wars 2 just to play a human. Thats right, a Human. The very thing that I was restricted to play in the original Guild Wars. Why is this? Well a number of reasons.

First off, I have a lot of history thats built up on one of my characters in Guild Wars. I'd very much like to play out that history, and see how Guild Wars 1 puts together that part of it. I have seen posts on various websites about the possibility of bloodlines? Let the speculation begin!

In the original Guild Wars, my main character Mother Chaos played as a necromancer. Though as I played the game and followed with the history of the game and what conventions there would be when the sequel comes out the choices of the Durmand Priory.

The thing I'm really enjoying about what Guild Wars is doing is they are adding a completely new level to the game, and Humans in particular are going to have racial skills tied to the Gods, who have mysteriously disappeared for the better part of the past 250 years. Necromancy, for the most part, has survived this 250 year change, despite the lack of the presence of Grenth, the God of cold and death.

It is my impression that my character, if she had a choice, would have scoured the world of Tyria for clues and information about history and different elements of necromancy and as her generation had passed, how her offspring would pass on her heritage, or at least those she had influenced along the way. The heritage would bring with it a collection of practitioners of all arts, and not so much limited to necromancy but instead the pursuit of understanding and knowledge of spiritual enlightenment.

How Guild Wars will allow us to make our choices makes me curious, and if I can play as a Human Necromancer once again, just so I can say that I wield the blessing of Grenth and whatever other information that provides, having a mild hatred but understanding of the Char, a respect for the Asura for their advancements in the arcane understanding of necromancy, the Azura's unique interests in death and its intricacies, and possibly the Norn's strength in their power.

The questions arise, what choices will I have during character creation, will I be able to connect this character to my primary account in the original Guild Wars and build up a heritage and unique story for my characters, and alternatively, can I make a character that isn't tied to that account and have them their own account? How does the Heritage work or was that something still in draft? All questions that would be nice to have answered, and as each post comes out from Arena.net the better I hope to gain understanding!

In any case, its turning out to be a great game, and its keeping me excited with each release of info. So Exciting!

Elaboratus: The Temple of Serpentis

2010-07-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

In the world of Valanas, there has been a number of rumors and even situations where players have had a chance to experience a Temple that housed a dark and sinister race of humanoid snakes. For the most part, the snakes only played a minor part in the adventure, and the temple itself only played a minor part as well and got demolished to a minor extent.

Though the thing is, this temple is much darker than people realize. As I continue with this post, I'll detail some ideas that I've come across for this temple, and some of the detailed history that goes behind it.

The Rise and fall of Shidora

The Race of Serpentis existed during the first generation of Valanas, where they were once one of the man humanoids that had been fabricated by the great Giants of that generation. This particular collection of Humanoids where fabricated with sinister plans in mind.

The great Giant known as Shidora wanted a race of Humanoids to act as his personal guard and a means of gathering information for him. He gifted them all with the ability to slow down time to enable them to travel far distances in a short amount of real time. He also gifted them all with psionic abilities to read the surface thoughts of those around them, and to enable them to partially see into the future.

After gaining information from the other giants, Shidora wanted to fabricate an emblem of his knowledge, and a means to make him the most powerful giant in all of Cratora. He forged a weapon that he could use to channel his energy into, enabling him the ability to enhance the traits of his humanoid creations. It also allowed him to completely stop time.

Though after the sword was forged, and the ritual was cast, one of the shards of Nightfall crashed into the nearby valley, and the shock wave of energy that occurred disrupted the energy connection between Shidora and his humanoid creations. The ritual incompleted, the weapon he was enchnating cracked and shattered into 3 pieces, and Shidora's energy was trapped inside the remaining shards of the sword, and as the ritual spun out of control, Shidora soon began to lose his very life energy.

Shidora was slowly dying, and he knew this. He had only one option left. He knew that the release of his soul from his body could fuel the ritual circle enough to trigger a chain reaction, in effect reversing time and possibly insuring his survival. Taking one of the 3 shards, he pierced it through his heart, and as he had planned the ritual triggered the chain reaction he was planning.

The only thing he didn't plan for, was that his very flesh and the flesh of his creations were turned to stone, and the temple he had set up to make the sword was forever stuck in a time vortex. Time had indeed reversed itself, but those in the temple of the time of the cataclysm where either also turned into stone, or had survived the change but had gained the knowledge that was released by the death of Shidora.

The Corruption of the Serpentis

The time vortex now permanent, those still in the temples borders found that if they tried to leave the limits of the temple, they would find themselves unable to escape, the time vortex creating a dome that trapped them in time.

As time passed, the Temple itself did not age, though the trees and local animals did not seem to be affected by the time vortex, and it soon became apparent that it was a curse of those who dared try to finish the ritual. Those who survived the event, those who now call themselves the Serpentis, found their own rituals, and have been trying to use their own magic to instead stop the time for themselves.

As a result, the Serpentis found a demonic entity that granted them the snakes touch, and gifted them the ability to be immune to aging, and the ability to use their telepathic abilities to instead to travel through time, but only through the use of large rituals. The cost for this was gifting the demonic entity with one of the shards of the sword that Shidora had crafted.

With the sword, the Demon found himself with even more power as before, and became the master of all the Serpentis, and once again the Serpentis was able to march on the world of Valanas, which in and of itself is a completely different story.

Final Details

Through out the world of Valanas, the temple can still be visited, but in so doing time does not pass, but instead reverses and players can find themselves getting younger. For those who spend too much time in the temple find themselves stuck in the vortex itself, and must find other means of escaping the temple.

The three shards that have found themselves across the world of Valanas exists as the Blade of Seprentis, a vampiric sword that can steal a portion of an enemy's soul upon mortally wounding that enemy, and then be able to summon a duplicate of that enemy who is completely dedicated to the cause of the wielder. The second shard is forever trapped in stone and wood inside what remains of Shidora. The Third shard is hidden as well, but by the Serpentis themselves.

Software Spotlight: Obsidian Portal

2010-07-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not trying to find a solid way to keep track of all the campaign ideas that I've been working on and a means to keep up with whats going on as the game progresses. I like having a log to go back to in the event the game dies out for a short or long period of time, as well as a central place to discuss various parts of the world I've put together for my players.

Obsidian Portal is one of those ways of doing it, and for the better part of it, its is completely free to use, which is a big selling point in my book. The website has been nominated a number of times for the ENnies for good reason, and here is why...

Obsidian Portal uses a wiki like interface (see Wikipedia) where you can put up a campaign or character sheet, and within these pages you can put in links to other pages. The really nice thing about it is you don't need to make everything all at once.

As you make the document pages of a campaign, you can type in the link, and when saved, leaves the link in a red color. This indicates that there isn't a page for it yet. Not to worry, all you have to do is click on the link, and it will direct you to a page creation screen, where you can then flesh out the details.

The website uses a unique convention of code, that is really easy to reference and place into your code. For those who really like to customize things, they even allow you to establish a Campaign banner to display to the world wide web as they browse through your campaign wiki!

There is a place for comments, and a forum (though I have a feeling this part is more for paid customers), a place for the wiki, and a place for a running list of game info on sessions and the like. Players who join the obsidian portal have access to their character creator, which can be linked to the campaign under the Characters tab on the same page.

All in all, its a good piece of software. The fun part of using it though is getting your players to actually use it. If they are really enjoying the game and take an active roll in it the campaign page can really turn out nicely with lots of comments and lots of input in the form of the Adventure Notes.

For those who call themselves a GM, its a great place to put all your information, as theres even an part of each page that can be displayed to only the GM in the event that you need to include information pertaining to stats and the like.

Head there now, check out the various spotlights for the different campaigns and get an idea of how things are working and if its something you could use!

Game Spotlight: Example of M&M Character Gen

2010-07-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

Hello again! Its time again for another post, and while I work on material for my current Valanas weekly game that I'm running, I thought it would be fun to go through how I put together a character in Mutants and Masterminds.
This is just a basic example that I hope will help anyone else get a feel for how the system works and how to put together a relatively balanced character. So I bring to you the example of a character generation for my Slider character concept that I mentioned here.

Things you'll need to know
This post is designed to give you basic idea of how the system for MnM works. You will need at least the Pocket Player's guide for Mutants and Masterminds to really understand the different terms and basic point systems. I'll do my best to explain as I go along though, but just keep in mind that this is meant more of a framework than anything. Though as far as the specific costs to things I won't include too much specifics, you can check out the book itself for most of that information.

Optimization
So we have a general idea of what to expect with this kind of character. We have a person who is relatively athletic, and most definitely charismatic. With mutants and masterminds, the system does really well at creating general benchmarks for mostly everything you can expect. Though to keep things simple, MnM sets the baseline for abilities around PL 10.

This means that the Character will have 10 x 15 power points, or 150 power point total (Power Points are the main currency for buying skills, feats, powers, and traits). This also means that all the abilities of a character will be limited to PL 10 as detailed by the Power Level progression table. So what I do is write down the following:

ATK: +10 / DC: 10
DEF: +10 / Tough: +10

This represents the Attack Limit to Difficulty Class Limit ration and Dodge Limit to Toughness Saving throw Limit ration. For most people familiar with this, this is the basic ratio for an optimized character, or a character who has their limits optimized for balanced combat. You can not increase one without reducing the other. This will also determine how many points to spend in other attributes as we go through the character generation.

Now the character that I have in mind isn't very accurate, but is very athletic. Considering the character doesn't stick around for fights most of the time, I'd also assume the character has below average ability to resist damage, but above average ability to dodge attacks. If there is such a hit, the character simply "rolls" with the hit. We also assume the character relies on their ability to coat things with her energy shield, and as such doesn't really focus on accuracy that much, but instead has a much more powerful ability. This translates into a below average Attack bonus with an increased Difficulty Class for her powers.

In MnM you can exchange a +1 in one at the expense of a -1 in the other. GM's decide as to how much you can do so, but in this case I usually set a limit of a +4 to -4 cap on my exchanges. In the case of the Slider, I change the text to the following:

ATK: +6 / DC: 14

DEF: +14 / Tough: +6

Now all this does is set the limit of the character itself. I have yet to spend any points on the character. At this point, I'd like to optimize the character, spending the appropriate points to fill in the limits I've put together for the character. Attack and Defense cost 2pp per increase from +0. Ability scores do not affect either of these two traits, but when it comes to Toughness, Constitution does affect that ability score. Considering this character is an athlete, I can derive that she has a toughness thats above the average, if not more so than that (being very fit).

Looking at the benchmark table in the book, I know that a Constitution of 14 fits the bill nicely. We also then decide that the character is at least gifted in dexterous activities and has above average strength, and in my previous post I said I wanted her to be very Charismatic. Taking the benchmarks into account I update the text to the following:

14 (+2) STR

14 (+2) CON

18 (+4) DEX

?? (??) INT

?? (??) WIS

18 (+4) CHA

Ability Score Total: 24pp

+6 Attack Bonus

+14 Dodge Defense / +7 Flat Foot Bonus

+2 Fortitude (+2 CON)

+4 Reflex (+4 REF)

?? Will (+? WIS)

+2 Toughness (+2 CON)

Bonuses Total: 40pp

As you can see there is still quite a bit of stuff missing, and we haven't had enough ideas to put into powers yet. Though regardless, we now have the basic framework to move onto some other modifications to the above sheet.

Making it Real
So we mentioned in our second rendition that we had optimized the attack and defense. To make things fit how we want the character to fee we can use that benchmark table to get a better understanding of where the character's baseline fits with her skills.

To start off lets look at the Defense. Mutants and Masterminds allows you to take conditional defenses at a reduced cost. This allows you to see what parts of your character are conditional and which ones are more fitting for the character. When my character is caught off guard, I'd want that character to be considered very gifted, which is a +4 benefit. Double this for her dodge bonus, and we get a +8 dodge bonus. So what to do about the other 6 points?

Well considering the character is very athletic, we can assume that she has the Dodge Focus feat found in the Mutants and Masterminds feat listing for a +6 benefit, totaling her to the +14 Dodge and a Flat Footed bonus of +4 which is at a much cheaper approach than to our initial build.

As far as the character's ability to be accurate, lets keep them within reach of the human norm and say they are very gifted, which again is a +4 bonus. I also want to keep the character to a level that requires them to "touch" the surface that allows them to attack, and allow for an additional +2 attack focus on melee attacks, but no on ranged attacks. This will give us the same benefit but at a reduced cost power point wise.

And considering how acrobatic our character is, we ought to give this character points in the acrobatics skill as well as concentration to fit the concept as well. We will also add in a couple of ranks of Defensive Roll to fill out our Toughness. We also want our concentration to be at least a +10 to allow us a successful roll against the PL 50% of the time, so we will increase our Wisdom to 14 (+2 bonus).

When looking at the saving throws, its good to have them fit into a PL x 2.8 total bonus or something close to that number. So in that case that would be a +28 total bonus in all base saves (excluding Toughness). With that in mind, we modify the following stats and add the following under feats and skills:

14 (+2) STR

14 (+2) CON

18 (+4) DEX

10 (+0) INT

14 (+2) WIS

18 (+4) CHA

Ability Score Total: 32pp

+4 Attack Bonus / +6 Melee Attack

+14 Dodge Defense / +4 Flat Foot Bonus

+8 Fortitude (6 Base +2 CON)

+12 Reflex (8 Base +4 REF)

+8 Will (6 Base +2 WIS)

+2 Flat Foot Toughness / +6 Total Toughness
+12 Initiative (See Feats)

Bonuses Total: 44pp

8 ranks (12=8+4 Dexterity) in Acrobatics

8 ranks (10=8+2 Wisdom) in Concentration

Dodge Focus Rank 6

Defensive Roll Rank 4

Attack Focus (Melee) Rank 2
Improved Initiative Rank 2 (+12=4+8 Initiative)

Feat and Skill Total: 18pp

So at this point, we have everything optimized except for the powers and any touch up details. So far we've spent 94 out of 150pp, which is plenty for the powers we want to put together.

Powers Detailed

So when thinking about powers, we want to divide our powers into Offense, Defense, and Utility. The nice thing is we already spent most of our points enhancing our offensive ability with accuracy and defensively with our dodge bonus and our toughness saving throws. This means we can focus on Offense and Utility.

To start things off though, we can reference the Friction Control power in the Players Handbook for a collection of offensive powers. It states under the description a good grip of Alternate Powers as well as a good description of the most common traits of someone who has friction control. All the powers we want though will be touch ranged (-1pp/rank in most cases) with an area of effect of either a burst, cone, line, or trail.

So for the base we look at the primary power for Friction Control we find that it has perception range and has the burst effect built into it. We can reduce this down to Touch Range with a -2pp/rank making the power now 1pp/rank. We both want to increase friction and reverse it, and we also want a nullify ability on snares and a nullifying ability on machines, and we want the ability to cause damage to people who move through increasing friction heat for people who move. This will all have touch range and area of effect, though since we have such a large pool of points, we will think of including a selective extra (we want this character to be player friendly to our allies).

For Defense, they mention a weather control power to hamper movement. I'd like to include such a power with the selective extra to further increase the pure defensive ability of the character. This ability will be passive and is sustained, requiring only a free action to sustain.

For Utility, we will include a super speed ability to emulate "skating" and allow for free movement, and perhaps a high level of Wall Crawling to fit the "sticking" for the character.

Powers Outlined
Piecing the powers together, we have the following additions to our character sheet:

Primary Friction Control (Snare) Rank 14

Touch Range (-2pp/rank)
Burst Area of Effect (Included)
Selective (+1pp/rank)
6 Alternate Power Feats
Total: 2pp/rank
Power Pool Total: 34pp

Alternate Power Friction Control (Trip)

Touch Range (-2pp/rank)
Burst Area of Effect (Included)
Selective (+1pp/rank)

Alternate Power Friction Control (Snare) Rank 14

Touch Range (-2pp/rank)
Cone Area of Effect (+0pp/Rank)
Selective (+1pp/rank)
Total 2pp/rank (28pp)

Alternate Power Friction Control (Trip)

Touch Range (-2pp/rank)
Cone Area of Effect (+0pp/rank)
Selective (+1pp/rank)

Alternate Power Nullify (Mechanical Only base 1pp)

Touch Range (-1pp/rank)
Burst Area of Effect (+1pp/rank)
Selective (+1pp/rank)

Alternate Power Nullify (Snares Only base 1pp)

Touch Range (-1pp/rank)
Burst Area of Effect (+1pp/rank)
Selective (+1pp/rank)

Alternate Power Strike (Friction heat attack, 1pp/rank base)

Only against Moving Foes (-1pp/rank)
Burst Area of Effect (+1pp/rank)
Selective (+1pp/rank)
Concentration Duration (+1pp/rank)
Full Round Action (-1pp/rank)

Primary Environment Control (Hamper Movement) Rank 5

Quarters Movement Speed (2pp/rank)
Selective (+1pp/rank)
Total 15pp

Speed Rank 3

50mph top speed or 250ft/move action
Power Total: 3pp

Super-Movement Rank 2

Wall Crawling 2 ranks (no need for climbing skill)
Power Total: 4pp

Grand Power Total of 56pp

So I've included two different variations of the primary form, one that is centralized and the other is focused in a cone as apposed to a sphere. This gives the concept that the build "coats" everything with its energy to give its effect. Adding the 56pp with the 94pp we come out with the grand total of 150 character points. This fits the bill perfectly! But lets look into making some last minute modifications...

The Final Touch
The thing is, we didn't fit much into one of her key traits we wanted. Looking at what we had before, we had given her a substantial bonus to charisma, and we don't have anything that we can really use with it. So we've got the powers, we got the skills, and we got everything that fills out the character, but not so much the story.

As mentioned in the previous blog post, we mentioned that we wanted the character to be rather charismatic. Thinking about this character, I can see it a number of ways, but the one I like the most is along the lines of a roller bladder, and when I think of that I am reminded of how much my girlfriend LOVES to rollerskate, so a feminine figure comes to mind.

I'd like to see if I can't change some things to add in a level of Attractive which will add a +4 bonus on bluff and diplomacy checks against the opposite sex, and probably a grip of 4 ranks to put into those same skills, if not more. So what I do is I drop Charisma down to a 14 (+2 bonus) for 4 extra points and add in the rank of Charisma, this keeps her beauty within the human norms.

I'll invest 1 character point to add in attractive, and then another 2 character points to add another 4 ranks into each Diplomacy and Bluff. The remaining 1 power point I'd like to go further and add in the Leaping power at Rank 1 for 1pp. This emulates this character using her acrobatics and friction control at the same time for a bit of frictionless propulsion.

The final Character sheet still ends up as 150 character points, and looks like below:

Ability Scores:

Physical: 14 (+2) STR, 14 (+2) CON, 18 (+4) DEX

Mental: 10 (+0) INT, 14 (+2) WIS, 14 (+2) CHA

Ability Score Total: 28pp

Attack and Defenses:

+4 Attack Bonus / +6 Melee Attack

+14 Dodge Defense / +4 Flat Foot Bonus

+8 Fortitude, +12 Reflex, +8 Will

+2 Flat Foot Toughness / +6 Total Toughness

+12 Initiative

Attack and Defenses Total: 44pp

Feats and Skills:

+12 Acrobatics

+6 (+10 Attractive) Bluff

+10 Concentration

+6 (+10 Attractive) Diplomacy

Dodge Focus Rank 6

Defensive Roll Rank 4

Attack Focus (Melee) Rank 2

Improved Initiative Rank 2

Attractive Rank 1

Feat and Skill Total: 21pp

Powers:

Friction Control Rank 14 (Snare; touch range, up to 70ft burst or 140ft cone area, selective, 6 Alternate Powers: Friction Control Rank 14 (Trip; Touch Range, up to 70ft burst or 140ft cone area, selective); Nullify Rank 14 (Snares Only or Machines Only; touch range, up to 70ft burst, selective), and Strike Rank 14 (only against moving foes, up to 70ft burst area, selective, concentration duration, full round action))
Environment Control Rank 5 (Hamper Movement, one quarter movement, selective)
Speed Rank 3 (50mph or 250ft/move action)
Super-Movement Rank 2 (Wall Crawling, no need for climb check)
Leaping Rank 1 (2x jumping distance)

Totals: 57pp

28+44+21+57= 150 Total Character Points!

And there you have it folks, a fully optimized character using nothing more than the Players Handbook for Mutants and Masterminds!

Elaboratus: The Ghoster and Slider

2010-07-10T16:47:00.000-07:00

I've been reading more into comics now that I have a better idea of how to get them in digital format. In doing so I've been getting a flood of inspiration about character concepts and unique ways of explaining powers that are of a mutant origin. On top of this, I've also been generating various characters for my friend Natalia for a game she happens to be hosting currently.

In doing so I've had a number of ideas that I'd like to work on for the various histories of Valanas or if possible characters that I'd like to play as if I ever where to find myself in a game hosted by someone else.

The "Ghoster"
I've been toying around with the idea of a technopath that instead of the usual connection to electronics, had the ability to understand electrical currents in all elements, specifically those in computer chips and the human mind. This would instead have a small electrical charge ability that could be enhanced through constructs that would be made by this said character or even something that they would experiment with technology. This borderlines on telepathy though so I'm unsure of how to categorize it.

Unlike having control of metals and the like, the character would have more of a tie towards chemical reactions, seeing as how the combination of electricity along side that of various chemical compounds created an insanely fast reaction of discharges between receptors. I'm unsure of if a "synapath" would be the right word for it, but they wouldn't just be limited to electronics (as metal is a good conductor) but instead could act as a character that had control over electronic currents in living things, and how they function.

Potentially speaking, this would allow here to take living things and while using their abilities, would allow for the ability to completely rewire memories, and on a more extreme level, personalities in living creature minds or in any element that is influenced by electronic impulses. The character's abilities would be able to transform things and in some cases completely mess up the central nervous system of most living adversaries, targeting their very flesh rather than their will.

I would also believe that this said character could be able to change if not enhance the behavior of electrons in matter, allowing them to behave according to her will. This could take the form of an electrical construct that only had mental traits and would require a housing of some sort, and could possibly be used as a means of finding information in technological or living creatures.

This person would be insanely intelligent, and have advanced knowledge of electronic behavior and of the central nervous system of all living things. The character would have above average if not gifted dexterous abilities and would have an above average ability to resist telepathic invasions due to the very electricity flowing through them being enhanced by her abilities. I wouldn't be surprised if this character also had the ability to duplicate themselves in other creatures or objects that could retain her electrical footprint at higher levels.

With this particular build though, I would probably place it in the NPC pool, as the abilities could be taken as evil in a lot of cases and would require quite the investment of points to build most of her abilities. I'll have to pull out the MnM book and see what I can put together both ability wise and as a fun little background.

The "Slider"
The Slider is a twist on a character by the name of "Skid" that I held in my first Valanas adventure. He was by far very very fast, but it was due to a kinetic control and wasn't innate speed. He didn't have enhanced time sense or quickness and instead mostly skidded from point to point (hence the name) performing normal tasks at regular speeds. In situations where vision was impaired he was at a pretty sever disadvantage.

The Slider on the other hand wouldn't be a control of kinetic or potential energy, but instead on friction itself. The character would have frictionless movement allowing them to easily "slide" from place to place. I imagine such a character would use focused points or lines of friction to help propel them, but would always glide or slide to whatever place they deem worthy.

As far as abilities go, I could see the character moving from enemy to enemy and "sticking" them to the ground or forcing weapons to jam and the like. The question I couldn't find an answer to is would it make more sense to keep their abilities focused on melee or at range? The concept that I like the most is a combination of the both, where their abilities would instead be area of effect that focused on a burst, explosion, trail, and a line out from the character. Combine this with a longing area of effect and enhanced move speed and the character could move circles around enemies trapping them and keeping them from escaping.

This ability would be very strong in them, but the Character themselves would be more of a mover than a fighter, and if forced into a corner, would probably trip or restrain the enemy and then try to escape. At larger levels or even with more experience, this person could apply extra knock-back with their area of effect attacks.

The explanation of how this works is in essence the ability to control a frictionless forcefield that could extend out from the character, essentially coating whatever surface she touches and focuses on, making it stick as much as she wants or causing it to not be tractive at all, as if moving on slippery ice.

The character wouldn't have so much understanding of it and probably wouldn't be that smart, but could have above average physical traits and possibly a higher sense of personality, as the ability is somewhat comical in a lot of cases. They would have athletic skills and probably a common knowledge of recent events. When it comes to combat ability though, she would have below average aim for both melee and ranged attacks, and around average dodge ability, and would have a rather substantial reflexive ability and balance.

Final Notes
Both of these concepts stemmed from inspiration from the Playstation 3 game "Infamous" where you had a character that could "slide" across electric lines and had electrical abilities. This reminded me of a technopath with the ability to control technology, but as I thought more on that aspect, I thought what would make a technopath "work."

I have to say the result I have described above is rather scary, and if anything would make for a very mean NPC, especially if the NPC had access to experimental bodies and creatures. The NPC would have a rather large collection of bodies that they would find appealing, and would be working up an army for the ultimate experiment, or simply to study the various "personalities" of someones synaptic mental footprint.

The slider on the other hand fleshed out nicely, and could easily fit into things and probably would be easy to put together for a game. There would be no question on good/evil and would be light hearted and probably pretty charismatic. Aside from the powers, they'd be pretty human as well.

My next goal is to work on reading up examples of people who have put together Heroes with the Mech and Manga book and try to piece together a fun "Combo Finish" character. There is a lot of potential with it, and could push the limits of a game if the right number of combo points are achieved. Its a unique mechanic for the game system and is something I'd like to try out.

I'll be working on character sheets for the two above builds to share with you all before the end of next week using Mutants and Masterminds, and if I have the time, GURPS (though the sheer number of points to build these would probably be insane). So any thoughts or comments?

Balancing Acts: The Dynamic World

2010-07-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

I've been following a bit of blogs since I've indulged myself in the world of the blog-o-sphere, and I have come across a particular favorite of mine: NewbieDM. Him and a number of other blog specialists on online people who I also follow had a game they played over Skype and using an online white-board and I thought the idea was really cool and something I'd like to try out.

Though something interesting happened...

Due to a number of reasons, the players had placed themselves in a particularly dangerous situation. As a result, all the players where paralyzed for a long time, and one of the players were consumed by said adversary. The question that came up on the blogs of these players came out to start a blogging carnival that although I'm probably too late to join, sparked some interest for a post myself.

As I explore more and more into the world of comics, I start to understand that the world itself and even different characters have vastly different level of abilities, strengths, and even weaknesses that can pose something very unique to the world. In worlds where exploration is the key element though, you'll often find that the biggest enemy isn't the one Nemesis that happens to be trying to hunt you, but the world itself, as both the nemesis and the characters work to bend the world itself in their favor.

I am one who does happen to be the "I'd prefer to make everyone happy" type of GM's mind you, and will do what I can to keep a balanced fight in situations where I want the balance to be there. For example, having an overly-powerful enemy that defeats all the players in the first go with no effort at all, only at one point the enemy's weakness is discovered, which allows the players to make the fight with this enemy a "Fair Fight" as apposed to a push over.

I like this type of deal in an RPG a lot. As the players are forced to think outside the box and in a lot of cases make an adventure out of a failure, only to get another chance to turn the tides and allow the players to get an even ground with their enemy in an epic battle that is very memorable. Not only that, but you can really add to the hate of the enemy along the way as he does things completely unexpected, and drive the motivation of the group towards that goal.

There is also the element of "Epic Change" that are common in the world of Comics. And this isn't just in accordance to Super Heroes and the like, I'm also talking on the level of Fantasy genres, where you have this very dangerous world, and through the adventures of the players, results in the very landscape or even the mechanics of the world to change!

My favorite example of this is when I hosted my intro world to Mutants and Masterminds with my friends, at the end of the game, the enemy rushed a doomsday device to activate, and the players where unable to keep it from happening. With the doomsday device activated, those who had power were either outright killed, were banished into a different realm of existence, or somehow survived the energy explosion and instead became substantially more powerful! And just as it would happen, the very person who planned it all along was one of those who became more powerful, and now, with his new powers, was seeking to annihilate any others who had powers and take their abilities as his own.

All was not lost though, as those who never had powers randomly gained new abilities of their own as the mildest hints of genetics were awakened in all creatures across the world, giving magical abilities to creatures and humanoids alike, completely changing the landscape of the world itself. Now, the players have to rise up what forces they can to take on the new more powerful enemy, while at the same time try to find new ways of using (or avoiding) the various new creatures and humanoid abilities found across the world.

Allowing the players to have a world that is truly dynamic as well as in such a way that is differently scaled instead of having the "safety rails" that most of DnD 4e has right now, the players not only have a world that is fun to explore and able to gauge their own abilities, but is unpredictable enough that it keeps things interesting for the players and allows a new possibility for creatures that were once very powerful to be drastically different if the world did not allow them to explore that part of the world before.

Although, by far, I do like having different levels and different scaling of the world for my players. I find this leaves a better experience for them and not only helps them feel accomplished, but allows them to make the world a creation of not only my own, but a cooperative effort for the rest. The feel is far more different, and allows me to really make the world animated and still give a sense of Awe and Inspiration, while still allowing the players to develop themselves and their relationships, be it with actual NPC's or the world itself.

Balancing Acts: Death and the Game

2010-07-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

Death. Its something that most players come across in some point or another in most games. Some games handle it splendidly, some not so much. In effect, if your dying or even dead, you aren't really doing anything other than sitting out on the combat.

So how does one make even the death part of things fun? What are some things that you can do to continue your game?

Well it is my personal opinion that death or even a KO in a game should not lead to the end of that character. If anything it should be a journey for the character or even a plot device to get the character to another part of the game.

In the world of Eberron in one of my longest lasting games, Death was something that was very real, and there was no real known escape from it, unless you were blessed with immensive wealth and happened to know "the right people." But when the characters started their adventure, they always had tools to keep them alive, as the once warrior Sh'Caal once was very happy to have her companion Alexis handy with a wand of healing that was used every round to keep Sh'Caal alive while being assaulted by a kobold demolition squad.

As the game continued, the death provided me a chance to slow things down a bit, and even at one point, allowed the players to face a very dark dragon that seemingly slaughtered them, but instead teleported them to a hidden realm where they were able to train their bodies for even more dangerous perils that they had not yet known. They were provided information and a chance to reflect on the world around them.

Once one of the players did die, I provided a unique vision of their last moments, an image of a very playful dragon, that happened to be a small sprite of a Creator Dragon that had bigger plans for them, in effect preserving their bodies and spirit while the rest of the party brought her back to life.

In a game system like Mutants and Masterminds, death can also mean the end of a character, but the birth of something new all together. In other instances, death is simple a form of torture, and an evil villain may have the resouces available to bring them back to life, just to put them through another death trap or a chance to test their limits for future experiments that would lead to an even greater threat that the heroes then have to defeat, or even better, ally with the villain when the experiment goes out of control!

In another example, a player ends up leaving the party due to reasons beyond their control. Do you simply kill the player off? I have found that in most cases, the player has the opportunity to disappear or even have a very dramatic event occur that allows the player to return if necessary at a later time, or even live off a life that they truly dreamed of.

Death itself should not necessarily mean the end of your or anyone elses character, or your game. If you are unsure, always ask your game master how he feels he should handle such situations, as I assure you some game masters will have different views of such. Though in the games where I have found the players having the most fun, players always live or escape the clutches of death in an epic battle, and if they do die, its because the player has other plans for a new character or even the game.

Software Spotlight: Guild Wars 2, Healing, & Death

2010-07-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, GuildWars2.com released information about how their latest mechanics for death and healing are going to work in their upcoming new release.

For a lot of people, this a nice fresh breath that really adds new perspective to the meaning of a total knock out as well as how they are tossing out the "Holy Trinity" out of MMO's and RPG's in general.

This has been something that I personally have been looking forward to. If there is one thing I am not a big fan of its having to deal with a death penalty, equipment degradation, and then having to make up the penalty through combat, posing an even greater risk of death a second time (or more in some other cases).

Guild Wars 2 will simply allow you to continue fighting despite a weakened state. While you do so your still vulnerable to attacks, and if your attacked further you risk being completely KO'd but if you use the included "fallen skills" right you will be able to revive in the middle of a battle and continue fighting as if the fallen state never happened. Also, after (or even during hopefully) battle other players may be able to interact with the player to revive them! There are even some skills that do so automatically as part of some of the class features.

Also, something that I was rather looking forward to, they are bringing an end to the dreaded "Looking for Healer" question from the game entirely. Along with dedicated healing slot in all character builds, there will be a far more pronounced support roll that players may fill, but with the 10 skill bar, you are assured that everybody will be able to have both a heal, a support skill, and a large collection of offensive skills. movement and positioning will play a far more substantial roll and everybody will get the chance to play all the roles rather than just one of the 3 "DPS, Tank, Heal" builds.

Thats right, No more having a large handful of damage monkeys and no tanks willing to sacrifice their armor to death penalties and no healers to be found. The game will let you specialize in whatever tactic you want, but no matter what you'll be able to adapt and change your tactics on the fly as you progress through the game. You aren't tied to a single build or have to save up tons of money to re-skill yourself. Its all done outside of combat. Options seem to be the pick of the crop in this game!

If you all get the chance, check out the article for yourself here. You will not be disappointed!

Rolling the Dice: I have returned! (Again...)

2010-07-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

Hello there blog-o-sphere! I have (hopefully) returned to keep the world updated on my discoveries and great adventures.

So now that I've gotten internet and my computer situated, I can now return to the world of blogging. I know so far that I have only a few followers, and probably even fewer that keep up with the posts, but I contribute that to my lack of dedication on a solid posting schedule.

I'll be making an effort to get posts in at least twice a week now, probably once every Thursday to update on my latest discoveries of Guild Wars 2 and my thoughts on how the different online elements can be reflected at the game table. On the weekends I'll post again on Saturday and possibly on Sunday.

During the week I have been trying to stay productive. I'm currently working with a friend of mine who refers to himself as the "K" who I hope to start playing some of the original Guild Wars in the hopes of gaining any number of titles to show off when Guild Wars 2 comes out. I'll also be working on two other projects that relate to the game table.

These projects include the First and 4th Generation of Valanas, a world I have been piecing together on and off for the past 3 years or so. I've only briefly explained Valanas in one of my older posts and I hope to elaborate as to what First and 4th generation means exactly in a follow up post. While I piece together this information, I hope to also have a copy of the works at AtomicThinkTank, which happens to be Mutants & Masterminds forum for all things relating to the game, as well as some info on comics.

I also hope to keep up with the rest of the blog-o-sphere by reading up on my news feeds and other websites. Once I have found a good collection of posters that I like, I'll reference them here on the blog, and possibly leave comments on the other blogs for more information.

As always, I appreciate any input as I continue to attempt to keep an updated blog.

Best wishes to you all and happy gaming!

Rolling the Dice: Another long awaited return

2010-06-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

Hello people of the Blogosphere!

So I have returned, although only for a short update. I've recently had a rather entertainingly turbulent experience, having almost been homeless to having my own apartment that I can barely afford to being in a situation where I can afford the extravagances that come with living with income. I blog to you know from the comforts of the public library.

On this upcoming Friday I hope to have internet access once again, and I'll get the chance to update the world on my efforts towards putting together my first Campaign Setting for Mutants and Masterminds 2nd edition. It is based on Valanas, my original game that I had put together for people new to the game, and will have some unique story elements and fun twists. Its been a blast piecing all the stuff together for it, and after that I'm back into my role playing swagger, both online and in game stores.

Thanks again all for keeping up with this blog, you have no idea how much I appreciate it!

Aspirations: The Perfect Gaming Lounge

2010-04-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking of a number of projects that I've had in mind since I graduated from High School that particularly deal with acting as a host for entertainment. One of my biggest aspiring dreams I've had is to have a place people could go to hang out, a Boys and Girls Club for adults.

I remember back in my teenage years in Germany when I was moving around with my family where such a place existed and how much of an impact it had on my life, in that I found various activities that I could share with other people.

This place I had experienced I thought would be something fun to emulate if I were to ever get older, and as I host various games and the like I thought of how cool it would be to have a small room where I could host anywhere from 2 to 8 people in a single place where we could all have fun. The Room would need to be relatively cold year round, making a garage pretty Ideal. The Room would need to be able to host up to 6 people around a table (6' by 6' or a 6.5' Round Table).

One of my close friends had some bar tables that he used that were ideal for this kind of thing, only problem was that the two tables weren't the same exact hight which made drawing on the median a bit interesting, but not too difficult.

As far as current technology goes, I've been wanting to try even a virtual desktop battle grid on either a bunch of PC's connected to a single server, or even go as far as getting a projector that would display all the information I wanted for any war gaming or role play gaming adventures.

I have yet to piece together the costs for such things, or if doing a virtual desktop for LAN purposes would even be feasible. With the way current technologies are going right now, I could probably manage a bit of a hybrid level, but something of that magnitude wouldn't exactly be cheap, especially when considering the cost for games and the like.

So, having a room large enough for the tables, the PC's, and the players themselves would be the primary concern, and having enough power to apply to all those computers, be they laptops or what not, would be important. A mini fridge, microwave, and the like would also work out well for small snacks and holding hordes of caffeinated beverages would really help put the topper on the dream.

If anything, what would you consider to be the perfect gaming pad? What would be some things that you'd feel would be perfect for such an environment?

Rolling the Dice: Coming up with finances

2010-04-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of days I've spent some much needed time with family and friends, have been piecing together what I hope will be a big change in my life financially, and having spent some time with my girlfriend as she has been sick the past couple of days. The financial aspect of my life has been a bit rough, and is something that I constantly strive to improve.

When thinking of what I want to do for the rest of my life, and what I want to do to impact the world at large, I don't see myself doing too many significantly large things. Instead, I hope to bring together the people I care about in unique ways, and to further improve people's quality of life, regardless of my relation with them. Though, as life progresses, even such kind hearted things can be difficult.

Up till now, I've had the chance of going to college and getting a degree, with a company that I've found isn't necessarily a school, but instead a business. This means a number of things as I've found out that I'd love to share with you. First off, the school itself had great teachers, the books on the other hand were below par. Most of the books had been outsourced to another company in another country all together and seemed like they were lacking. Not until my last semester in the school did they actually have books that were credible and worth the large sum of money that I had invested in my education.

The school also did reward people who worked hard. I had gotten a really nice job that could have easily paid for my student loans before graduation. Once there, they had me working on a large number of projects and there was even potential for growth! Unfortunately, as life would have it, I was diagnosed with my mental disorder, and very quickly brought to the realization that my education was all for not. Why? As with bipolar, I can now no longer be a reliable source of employment for the companies that paid well enough to pay for my student loans.

After coming to this realization I did make some efforts to find work that did pay well enough to pay for these loans, I even was able to get a job at a Cell Phone Company that had some of the best benefits I've ever had in all my life! But, the stress of working at a job that I couldn't maintain my personal mental health proved taxing, and before too long I was finding myself in the ER trying to find help cause I didn't feel safe by myself or blacking out at work or having panic attacks that made it impossible to continue working at work.

Now its been close to 6 years since I've been in the hospital, and regardless of how hard I try to compromise with my Student Loan Provider, they refuse to help consolidate or even reduce the payments for my student loans to the point to where I can afford them. I've been very lucky to have families who support me as much as they do, but at some point I'd like to live on my own with my girlfriend without the hassle of paying an outrageous source of income to just my student loans.

So this upcoming week, I'll be working with an Attorney to see what my options are, as the more I research the more I find out that I may actually have a means of handling this debt.

Now for anyone who is currently having trouble or is needing help with dealing with their own student loans (which I'm sure there is a good handful of you out there) I'd suggest you check out This website as its helped me so profoundly up to this point!

http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/

The website is dedicated to keeping track of all the progress thats going in regards to student loan reform as well as various aspects of companies who help advocate for students in the world of student loans and education. Check it out, you never know if you yourself or a friend might need the info.

Rolling the Dice: Short break but back in

2010-04-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of days I've been relatively busy and have been on the PC one day and that was enough to spend some time with a good friend of mine. We both play Guild Wars, but have mixed enjoyment of the game. He enjoys the Player vrs Player aspect of the game, where as myself I enjoy the Player vrs Environment. We both like to dabble in either or the other, and find it comparable to playing games like Magic the Gathering, in that you have a build of sorts, a collection of skills, that you use to compete with other players.

As I've played with him, I've gotten a fun enjoyment in finding a means of fitting unique builds together for competitive play, and a reason for our guild to get together for some fun entertainment. It just goes to show even more how many people can have different means of enjoying a game, but still have a common grounds for sharing their entertainment...

This brings me to think of some of the games I've hosted before as well as those I've played with on a number of levels. Being social creatures that we are, we often times will get together in a common medium to partake in something we enjoy, in the hopes of sharing our excitement for the medium with other people. In the process of exploring the medium, we all will change our minds to the various parts of the game that we enjoy until we or others decide to change the way they play the medium, and it moves onto the next "fad" of the game.

Guild Wars in particular has a lot of facets that really add to this complexity. For instance, in PvE alone, you have Title Collections which compose of a collection of things you can do in the game that if completed will give you a fun title that appears just below your name when people select your name in a lobby like area. Some of these titles include the Skill Hunter, which there are a good 200-300 Elite Skills in the game, Skills that can only be acquired by defeating a large creature, or boss, and then "Learning" the skill from that creature. Yup, that means that there are that many monsters who will have that skill that you'll need to defeat.

And then there is the Guardian title track, which you acquire if you defeat all the various mission instances in the game, and doing so at the highest difficulty and getting the best result in the mission. Similarly, seeing as how Guild wars has explorable areas, you also have Vanquishing, which is the act of completely "cleaning" the entire map of all bad guys. By doing so, you get rewarded experience and extra gold, and in some cases, Faction points, points acquired to impress a city or alliance.

A lot of these titles can be accomplished all at the same time, especially if you do your research on them ahead of time. With these titles, each person will always have something to work on, and it gives each person a chance to find other people working on the same title. Being that its an MMO of sorts, your always going to find other people who are interested in what your looking for and if you suddenly have a change of interest you can just as easily find another guild or group of people to fit those interests.

For those Interested, I'm currently working with my friend to get some of our PvP titles up, as well as getting some new characters up to be able to fit in the current metagame (Or current builds being used by the top guilds of the game) for Guild vrs Guild, Alliance Battles, and Heroes Ascent, all of which are unique PvP arena's. For those interested in contacting me, feel free to do so by bugging me as Mother Chaos in Guild Wars.

Balancing Acts: Making the game fun for everyone

2010-04-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a bit of a hit and miss. We had finally gotten a chance to get to game this weekend, having been sick for two out of the three past weekends and the third missed weekend due to general grumpiness. Thing was, being the day before easter, the Girlfriend's Mother finally had a chance to be home for one weekend and the girlfriend had to bail last minute but said I should go either way. Then another one of our players had a church emergency of his own, and also had to call it quits for this weekend.

In any case, I still got to spend time with the other two players and introduce the basics of how Mutants and Masterminds works, and had some interesting lessons on what to include for what kind of players...

You see, as the Dungeons and Dragons books detail in their players handbook, you have a large collection of people who play the game, each with their own preferences. I've found that despite how you can have a large collection as detailed by Wizards of the Coast, it all comes down to two people: Those who like detail, and those who don't.

Mind you, if you have any player playing for a long period of time, they'll eventually get into the detail, or in some cases not at all. And in such games, players who are detailed have novels worth of material for just that same character that they've been crunching over for some time.

It really gets me thinking, what can I do to really further the enjoyment of everyone who plays though. The best thing I can really offer is that the more enjoyment the group has, the more work needs to be done on the Game Master's part. In the cases for DnD, there are a lot of pre-made adventures, and in them they have a lot of NPCs and campaign detail, but they don't have much in the way of characters that can be picked up and played, where all the math has already been done for them.

Mutants and Masterminds gives you all the basics and its pretty much up to either the player or the game master to really simplify things. Luckily, you only have to worry about a single dice, you have two numbers for each power to keep track of, one for your affect, the other to resist the effects of the affect. The rest of the character sheet is simply flavor.

For the player who is purely casual, as a game master I simply have to come up with a character sheet that has all the math done ahead of time. That way, if they want to do something, they simply refer to a list of 4 to 5 options and its done. Those same options are open for interpretation, allowing the player to go outside their norm from time to time and be rewarded for doing so.

Now for the detailed character, I'll have the pre-made character ahead of time as an example of what I expect in the game which helps to guide their character design. The longer I've hosted games though, I've found that I need to be detailed myself, and what I normally do is I set up spending limitations and guidelines to help determine what I'd like for the character to use. In a lot of cases, this helps to let the player be as detailed as much as they want, but doing so with the general expectation of the GM ahead of time. This cuts down greatly on the "I don't know what you want so I'll make a bazillion characters before you OK it!"

In the end, the detail for those who are detailed can vary, having those who are detailed about mechanics, and those about story, and those about group unison and having a good team build. Then you have those who are detailed about money and equipment, and those about the world around them. In the beginning though, having those pre-made character sheets and character templates help things go a lot faster and really goes a long way in regards to general game enjoyment.

Rolling the Dice: Super Sentai, GO!

2010-04-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

So I've updated my Layout a bit, the layout and background don't really have much to do with Role Playing, if anything it just makes it easier for me to read the posts and makes reading it on larger screens a bit easier.

On another note: Last couple of posts I've had a number of comments outside of the blog from various friends on a number of other networks. One of these friends made a rather entertaining comment about the idea I had. Essentially the concept of having the Gestalt and Mecha in one has been somewhat of a staple for shows that have had the name of Super Sentai, a word referring to the style of shows focused around Mecha Team Force! For those not familiar with the term, I'm sure you've heard of the name of Power Rangers, or any number of "Ranger" task force shows.

This came to a bit of surprise to me, and although a bit on the embarrassing side, still had some merit to the idea. Just because there are shows with people running around with strange colorful almost spandex costumes and rather cheesy poses and the like doesn't necessarily mean I have to host a story like that myself.

There are a lot of very cool elements to the genre that can be learned from to have a more mature style game, that is unless one is going for a more comical style game (which is unlikely). Even so, the shows had martial arts, unique weapons, entertaining Power Houses behind the task forces, and interesting plot points, that although had a level of comic to it and shallow depth, still had the core of what could make for a fun environment.

The setting I had in mind would allow the players to have a choice of half breeds focusing more on elements and animals (Following the Totem theme I've had in a number of my other games) and more specifically unique bloodlines, combined together with martial arts expertise set in a world that had one major nation and a subset of lesser houses in a very mountainous and forested areas. This would give ample uses for the climbing skill, jumping, acrobatics, stealth, and a large set of other skills and large landscapes to fight with in a mecha as well.

Now, if I so choose, I could really put some detail into the world and decide on the key players in the setting as far as player origins are concerned. I'd probably have a race of Half-Breeds (Composing of a Bear, Boar, Falcon, Panther, and Wolf) as well as a collection of Half-Breed Plant People, Those of the Elementary Masters, Half-Elementals with elements associating composing of Fire, Earth, and Water. The rest of the people would have their own specialties in either Technology or weapon mastery, and having all of them have a mastery of their own body to some extent. (Note, this concept is derived from Chinese Elements, one of the two elemental principals in Eastern Philosophy).

This by itself should open up a wide variety of options to choose from for both a person's race as well as general martial arts concept. Governing all this would of course be the inherent relationships between each of the animal elements, as well as an underlying properties of relationships similar to that of how the Chinese Elements correspond to each other which ought to help guide player relationships as well as behaviors towards other NPC forces.

Despite the very strong Chinese Influence on the core mechanic, I like combining the Japanese and Chinese elements to make their own unique settings. The question is though, where can I find some of the art work to introduce with this kind of game? I've browsed Deviant Art for some time and I have some in mind, but maybe its time to browse around a bit more for some other Art Forums and see if there is an artist that catches my fancy.

In any case, I highly doubt that the world I have in store would be too shallow than that of those of this Super Sentai! Haha!

Elaboratus: On Space Odyssey

2010-04-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, me and a friend of mine decided that we'd work on a campaign that would include the both of us as Game Masters. We always talked about the various elements to include in it but it never really got off the ground. I'd like to, if anything, post some of those ideas up now in the event that we end up picking it back up at another time, as an idea file at some point. The Original idea started when we thought about using GURPS as a means to identify player characters in the EVE Online Universe in their natural environment and we got thinking of an even better idea...

The game we had yet to name, but we had decided that the world would be of a mixed Tech Level. The world itself would be advanced in such a way that it would have whats called a Miracle Technology of sorts, the ability to transfer an entire person's "soul" or mental "ghost" into a device that is called a Sleeve. This allowed people to be relatively immortal.

The only people who had access to this kind of technology were people who had done unspeakable crimes, and those who were considered upper class financially, religiously, and politically. The concept was that if the crime was bad enough, your body would be destroyed, but your soul, or simply just your mind to those who were religiously against the sleeve, would be trapped in a simulated state until another body was acquired in order to force an identity crisis or to be "revived" when the government had a better use for them.

The idea was that the players themselves would be playing villains of their own kind and making. The player had a choice of deciding if their character was framed, or if they indeed made their own crimes and are rather proud of how they so easily got into immortality.

The players would be introduced as the players would be making dues on their characters, having been placed in stock market "Worker" Bodies. If they died, they'd simply be put into a new body and placed back into work. The work would be that of working in the asteroid belts mining materials for World Ships, ships so large that would transport entire worlds worth of population to planets so far away, Ships that Housed entire Sleeving Technologies allowing for instant transportation of military personnel and construction people.

The players would be introduced to a patron that would give them the ability to not only escape, but to do so in such a way that would give them access to new bodies in the event of their timely demise. The players would then have choices as to what to do next, to follow this patron or to follow their own interests to whatever ends they so wish.

The world would have a very dark, gritty feeling, and the players would have access to a lot of customization, allowing them to customize everything from weapons to ships to their own bodies. The sleeves would provide a quick fix for death, assuming their sleeves are not destroyed.

The world itself we had large plans for, as the world ships provided travel across long distances, but using technology that was faster than light. Communication was the only thing that provided fast travel, but it took a slow process to actually get to far away distances before it reached to that point. Technology would exist for some faster forms of movement through space, but it is held by those of the darker origins, pirate types and in some cases religious types.

Additionally, the world would include a variety of unique elements, people who originally discovered the Sleeve, people who were trying to copy the technology, Larger Corporations, Political and Religious types, consisting of key slants that would provide a wide range of interaction for the players and plenty to explore.

A number of things we were tossing around that were not too specific, were that of where the sleeves really did come from. I had devised some fantasy elements but it didn't take well with my partner, but one must ask how such a miracle technology would come to pass then? Would it be along the lines of someone like Mr. Tesla who had a Miracle Brain? Or could it indeed have a more fantastic origin?

A sentient race of creatures that had perfected the soul to such an extent that they could move from one object, or creature, to another, and that something had happened to where this race could have seen potential in the human race, could be planning something unique for them, or could be a potential effort to put the Humans into Enslavement, making those who are indeed Religious the ones who are left trying to fight for the Human race!

In the end, we were still working on the World Ships specifically and the different corporations tied with them. I'd be curious what it would take to finish this back up, but seeing as how so many different projects have come and gone I'd be happy to touch base on this again. I'll have to take this time to finish SPACE from GURPS.

Rolling the Dice: So much to do!

2010-04-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

So, as I move through life trying to find a means of making a living, keeping up with friends and family, and finding a healthy avenue for my seemingly overflowing brain, I've found that I have a habit of starting quite a bit of projects as new ideas come to my head. This blog was one of my attempts to really keep track of this, and I'd like to share with you some of my thoughts of some new ideas that have come across my mind as of late.

So recently I got my hands on a copy of the Mech and Manga by Green Ronin, a game supplement for Mutants and Masterminds. This book was a long awaited purchase, a good friend of mine told me about it and I just had to get it! Manga and Anime has been on of my favorite forms of Comics, some of my favorites were Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist, Dragon Ball Z, and Gundam Wing in all of its incarnations.

In the supplement, Green Ronin puts together all the various types, including that of games such as Pokemon and fantasy manga like Ah! My Goddess and martial arts like Dragon Ball. It has a very detailed section pertaining to Mech Combat as well, as mentioned with Gundam Wing, but also details some properties about transforming bots from anime such as Macross.

So this got me thinking. In the end of the book it goes over various settings and they had this one that goes over having all the things you wanted in one setting. It mentions about these special elements that fuel the character's imagination, for better or for worse. I'd love to have my own twist on things. What kind of twist?

One that includes Martial Arts, martial arts so exotic that they have supernatural effects when used. I'd also like to have an element to the story where large Mecha can be used. the idea of having spirit pets or animals like Pokemon or Monster Rancher isn't so appealing for me, but I did like the idea of having unique "teacher's" in the form of small or large animals, or small animals that had the ability to transform!

So when it comes down to it, I thought about the following: The setting would include a beginning: The School years. During the School years, the players would develop a martial arts of some sort learning about the different types of martial arts and how it can affect reality.

Each player would also have access to whatever exotic animal/creature/element racial combinations, and since technology would be allowed, cyborg type characters would also be allowed. Players would be limited to 1 power point per Power Level per Rank in powers and no more than 20% of their allotted power points combined in any power. This will force the players to be relatively super human but consist of more skills and feats than powers, giving it a unique feel. I'd allow any character template in the book plus whatever else I'd have cooked up as the "norm" of the setting.

Then as they each learn their unique elements (Similar to how each character in Naruto have their own innate elements) the players would come close to graduation, a graduation that would incorporate a cooperative treasure hunt that uses all the key elements of their classes prior. The projects that the players would go through would be rudimentary, and the challenges they would face would be in the form of rivalries and various combat scenes with other thieves and other clansmen/teachers.

As the graduation would come close, I could see the players having being introduced to their "special" teacher who would be watching over their progress, the "special" being the fact that the creature is a spirit companion of some sort, story wise I can see them being immortal in some way. As the graduation would finish, an event that would introduce unique alien like creatures to the world would put the players to the test, and introduce the very first Mecha to the players in the form of gifts given by these immortals and a fun new part of the game would come in the form of facing hordes of monsters and taking on a unique form that could take on the more epic monsters that the hordes were prepping for.

Something that I've always wanted to introduce in a game but never had a chance to was including the Gestalt power for the Mecha, and allowing the players to combine into a single monster with immense powers that combined the elements of all the other Mecha for an even more epic battle. I'd also introduce some of the more fun swarm tactics for minions that I have yet to see in any of the games I've played.

This would give the potential of having Really Epic Battles and having a chance for the players to have different power leveled characters and a lot of diversity. So the question would be if I did start a game like that, where I could find the Mecha that I'd want for that kind of a game.

Balancing Acts: Crunch Time

2010-03-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

So for the past couple of weeks, I've been tossing around various ideas to introduce in my first game for Mutants and Masterminds for my neighborhood game. I've been thinking what to focus around and what should be the most fun for the group, and I've finally decided on focusing around an Epic Battle Scene, good old Martial Arts style. The thing is, I've been diddle dadling on things for about two weeks now and I've only gotten so far as making the PC's each player will play and some general sketches of my first NPCs. So what to do next...

So lets sit down here and lay out what I need. I need a one shot adventure that introduces key elements and has a chance for the players to really shine in a final battle. I need to have PC's for each character (Already established) and need to have a character sheet that is easy to read and streamlined (I have a sheet that can possibly do this, found Here). Everyone already has their dice and are eager to play which ought to make things simple.

The only other element I need to work on is that of the game environment and where each combat should be focused at. Keeping the scene in mind ought to help in keeping it relatively fun! I've also been working on some story elements for each of the characters to help with RP, but the group I'll be introducing is more focused around small story elements, and more into the action of it, beat the monster, kick down the door, loot the treasure... heavy on the treasure.

So with that in mind, I figured I'd put the game together in such a way that they got to beat up the bad guy, get a clue to something, go to the third group (more difficult) with some interesting tidbits, and finally toss in the big boss battle afterwards.

So now with a couple days left, I think I can get the fun part out of the way of figuring out the big boss fight, and then have the setting figured out for the last battle and use some of the better examples in the Mutants and Masterminds book for some good intro adventures!

eAdventures: Quests of a Loan Necromancer

2010-03-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

So when it comes to Role Play Games, its often times a lot easier to play games that would be on the tabletop on a computer instead. In most recent years, games have diverged away from the story oriented genre's of online gaming, and instead, have become a feast of brain numbing beating up on monsters and having a 1 in 1000 chance of getting that one rare item that you could have gotten if you had talked with your real life Game Master.

In this bit, I talk about my favorite kind of Computer Game, Guild Wars, as promised in my last post, why I've been playing it on and off for so long, and what I hope will come to pass in its upcoming sequel, Guild Wars 2!

So first things first, Computer games have evolved in a number of ways, and there has been a lot of achivements made in regards to how they are done over a large network such as the world wide web. The biggest achievement up till now has been that of the MMORPG, or more precisely, the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (Yes, its a mouthful). These games revolve around the idea that you have a race and a class to chose from, just like you do in Dungeons and Dragons, and they revolve around being rewarded with experience and coin that allows you to grow in power, purchase new and powerful weapons, and conquer larger and harder foes.

The MM part of MMORPG represents the networking of these things, in that in the case of games like the original Everquest and the now more popular World of Warcraft, players from around the world can get together to join forces, or even compete, on a grand scale in order to conquer some of the most powerful forces in the game, some forces that are impossible to beat without the help of yourself and up to 24 other players! Such games have become so addicting that Millions upon Millions of people are playing the game on a monthly basis!

Where does Guild Wars Fit into all this? Guild Wars has been around since April of 2005 (Of which I started playing since October of 2005) and has since had 3 Various Installments and one universal expansion that builds off the core skills from all the 3 previous installments. Each installment has its own unique feel and look, but you can find similar elements in all of them and a history and geography that ties everything together! Unlike most MMORPGs, Guild Wars restricts you to just one race with a handful of classes.

The skill system in the game, also unlike a lot of other systems on the market right now, keeps things straight and simple. You can have any number of skills in the game and have access to a primary class and a secondary class, each class giving you access to their own unique skills that you can mix and match to suit whatever play style you may have. The only real limitation you have is that you can only be in an explorable area with one combination at a time, and are limited to only 8 skills at a time. Also, the game was designed for competitive game play, and has designed the game to limit your options in such a way to allow you to focus more on the game than on the controls.

Combine the easy controls, interesting story line, and some of the best visually pleasing graphics and easy going comfortable music and you've got an easy to play laid back game. Its real easy for me to pull up my computer and get lost in the game for either a short hour or as long as an all day escapade!

Seeing as how this game has been around for a good 5 years now, in the 6th year I'll be looking forward to seeing the sequel to the game, where they will be including other unique races, with no clue as to what kind of classes there will be. For those who have played the original Guild Wars, the achievement system that they've been using will be used in order to make a title system in the sequel as well, and hopefully some other perks but no real news on that exactly yet. As such, I've been working on keeping my titles almost all maxed out in the hopes that I'll eventually get the "Kind of a Big Deal" Title in the game sequel, one can only hope! Haha!

Rolling the Dice: Some thoughts on format and concept

2010-03-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks,

So Its been over a month now and no posts. Whats the deal? I can't really think of anything PERFECT to post. Most of my ideas have already been commented on, and no real solid opinion comes of it. So what should I do? Speak my mind, and if I can format it, great, if not, just go with the flow...

This still means that it will be RP heavy material, but I'll be including all things that I find interesting in my blog, which can include Guild Wars, which I'll explain in another post.

My Campaign projects for various RPG systems have been on hold as I learn about the processes needed to make my very own development, and if I can get an idea of how much it will be to publish my own works, I can see about making a (marginal) amount of money. I also want to get a better grasp of what generic systems there are on the market right now, so that I can tailer my campaigns to fit any of those systems more dynamically.

As for making money, by no means is it going to be something I can make a living off of, it ought to be something to work towards in the end and if anything allow me to do something I enjoy. First things first though, I have to make a better goal of keeping a routine going.

Plainly put, I just gotta make a more active effort to post more often, regardless if I have something to post that is "perfect." Part of the enjoyment is simply stating what you've got on your mind and having small projects to look forward to in between.

More to come as I go though, so for those still with me I send ya my thanks!

- Christopher

Elaboratus: Sifting through the Thought Cloud

2010-02-17T15:48:00.000-08:00

Bipolar Mixed mania includes some benefits, especially when it comes to the Manic side of things. For some its an aspect that they enjoy the most, but regret later when you realize that you aren't indeed flying any more, but instead are falling deep into a pit before the inevitable crash. Up till now, I've been trying to curb these Manic episodes, but during these times I find that I have some really interesting ideas for games. Only problem is, theres often times too much to sift through and most of which never really get realized.

In this installment of Elaboratus, I'll be going into detail about the various Campaign settings that I have been able to at least get a semi grasp on and what I've done to fill in the blanks.

The worlds I've put together thus far include the world of Valanas, the world of Atlas, and Neptunia. So far, I've only explored Valanas in complete detail, though as I progress in piecing things together, I hope to introduce my current gaming group to Atlas. Neptunia is something of an odd gem that at some point I'd like to try to introduce once I find a system that would really suit it the best, as detailed below.

The World of Valanas
The biggest Campaign idea I ever started with was basically a twist that I put on making an educational game for a group of friends of mine which I named Valanas. The game was centered around a civilization of Humans and Elf-Like humanoids that were contesting over technology to travel into the stars as the world itself was becoming overpopulated. The world itself was the size of mars and had a large expanse of water and was frequented by asteroids that bombarded the planet once every 10,000 years. Seeing as how some of these asteroids were also parts of comets, the planet itself eventually evolved to include a lot of tropical environments, a magnitude of bodies of water, and a large collection of craters across the planet's surface.

The game itself though started with me taking the introductory game in the Mutants and Masterminds Core Rule book and turned it into a small academy of gifted Humans. Each of the humans had somehow been gifted with a unique "Gate" that allowed them to tap into magical abilities that emulated mutations. When designing the gates, I had the the Elf-like humanoids, named the Ugandi, have mastered what they believed to be the Master Gates, which I based around the Japanese 5 Elements, with Chi representing the Heavenly Gate that provided the cardinal gate that governed all the other elements. I then decided that i wanted to make the gates a bit more dynamic, so I put together another table that combined each of the 4 greater elements to create 4 lesser elements. Ice was combined of Water and Air, Electricity was Air and Fire, Metal was Earth and Fire, and Nature was Water and Earth. This provided a solid framework for the players to build off of.

After making the framework that the players were going to build off of, I created characters that had tied into the history of the discovery and creation of these gates and before I knew it I had the framework for an entire campaign, when my only original intent was to put together a short adventure for the group. A campaign that the players explored fully as they made unique choices that pushed them beyond the basic core mechanic practices that were introduced in the MnM book.

These days though, I'm working on yet another variation of this story, placing the Campaign to a point when all the humanoids were discovering each other and the overpopulation was not an issue. In future installments of Elaboratus I plan to include details as to the different races and their specific histories.

The World of Atlas
The world of Atlas was an idea I cam up with after having looked at the various books that my players had been in and who I had hoped to introduce to the world of Comic Book Role Playing. Instead of building it around a core mechanic though, I looked at the various comic books out on the market right now, and I like the various elements associated with XMen and to an Extent Heroes the TV Show, so I thought "what would it take to make my own version of that?" The world we live in is a great setting for a Mutants type game where there is some level of urgency to the group dynamics of the game.

To do so, I took the concept from XMen's Xavier and created a unique character that had the ability to stop time completely and see into the past and perceive things in the future. For the most part, this character would never really have direct access to people he'd otherwise perceive as troublesome, and if so he would use time to either escape or even freeze an opponent in time. With his unique traits, I perceived the group that would work with him as being somewhat similar to the Matrix, having each character having met the Time controller as if destined to. Each one would have experienced in some way a monstrous force, people around them changing in ways they couldn't explain.

So far I've devised the main characters, the main NPCs, and have even located a place to host most of my adventures. Since I designed this campaign entirely around the various NPCs and PCs that I'd be expecting in such a game, I can easily make just about any adventure I want, as the enemy can be anyone and the troubles can be very dire indeed. As I'll detail in future posts, I'll go into detail about the various dynamics of character relationships and how they impact this particular story, as well as how I plan to guide character creation and how I plan to use Caper like adventures in the event a player disappears for a week or two.

Neptunia
This particular world was my attempt at something that was purely beautiful that had been partially traumatized by a natural catastrophe. This particular campaign setting I designed around the environment, having it based around a Oceanic Utopia with a collection of unique magical and spiritual elements. The various creatures in the world are based around various creatures found on our own earth, along side some more Elemental inspired creatures. The world consists of various types of water types and only an extremely small portion of the landmasses are above sea level.

The characters in this type of setting I plan to be more realistic, using a progressive system that makes the characters have a clear set of characteristics that they adapt as they gain experience, rather than having a class based system where everything is focused around combat. Instead, the challenges exist as combating the environement, solving puzzles, and dealing with internal conflict. The only thing I can imagine to fit this mold easier than others is the system known as GURPS, and as I explore the various ways of implementing environmental challenges, I hope to make this particular setting enjoyable for any hard core Role Player.

Rolling the Dice: A bout of silence

2010-02-16T15:51:00.000-08:00

So, going on about three weeks now of absolute silence on my part, and for that I apologize. About three weeks ago my computer died due to a problem with the computer's power supply and the connected power switch. There was a good chance that some of the parts in the computer were no longer salvageable, so I went through the parts that I thought would still work and went forward with making a more energy efficient and smooth running computer.

I now am posting from this new computer on Windows 7 and a 64bit Dual Processor with 4 Gigs of RAM that runs absolutely silently compared to the computer I had before making more noise than the television in some situations. In case that doesn't mean much to you, I've got the basic components for a really smooth running computer! During this hiatus though, I've had the chance to explore various interests that I've normally not been interested in up to this point, and as a result, have discovered some new areas of improvement for my game hosting and world building hobbies. Read on if you'd like to learn more...

Over the past three weeks, I've had enough time to periodically check my email, see what my friends on my various forums are posting, and even had a chance to watch football for the first time in a long long while.

In particular, I was able to spend some much needed time getting into some interests that the majority of my family share, having watched, and enjoyed, the Super Bowl and even had the enjoyment of watching the New Orleans Saints win their first Super Bowl in over 40 years. Having watched my father watch in disappointment as they ruined their chances for such a thing in all my 26 years growing up, this was something I felt was long deserved, and was a pleasure to have known that we got to see history made for his favorite football team despite the fact that we are so far apart. I'm normally not really a Sports addict, but I find that like most other hobbies it has its own unique elements that really keep you hooked to the TV screen, especially when various decisions are made combined with the sheer talent and skill of the players of each team in each match.

Its the very nature of the game, having a magnitude of players who are the peak of performance across the US, coupled with insane stratagems that could only be attempted after having experienced an entire season's worth of game play and equal number of time to practice. Couple this with the fact that the Saints were also playing for the hopes of a city that was previously demolished by a natural disaster not too many years prior, there was a lot of emotion tied into each action of the game, and there was enough intense action to keep things interesting through-out the game.

These same elements that made football interesting can be included in just about any RPG. A good story builds up a decent emotion with the first inclusion of the adventure brief, and as the game develops, the characters build up a unity between each other that rival even the best of the best combinations the GM has to throw at them, but the roll of the dice provide that unique environmental situation where even the best can make mistakes and fail.

As I look into this though, I plan to find new ways of getting information into an adventure together, or even a campaign for that matter, in such a way that it grabs the players attention emotionally and in a mental capacity that makes them excited to play that story using the rules I've included and provides them motivation to move forward and discover whats next within the very first couple of sentences. This way, when they do finally get to that climactic event, its something so intense that it brings forth that emotion of what they are doing will make the difference and will be worth talking about for days to come!

Given that thought, what are some of the various games or sports you have watched or played in that have brought about that level of anticipation and excitement? What elements did they include that interested you the most and what ultimately happened in the end?

Balancing Act: Limited or Toolkit?

2010-01-25T16:19:00.000-08:00

What are the various styles of systems out there and which ones are best for what I want to do? In general, I've found that there are two different formats out there: Limited and Toolkit game formats. In this article I plan to go into detail about my opinions on each of the format and which ones I feel are much more flavorful for the player and the gm.

So first off, what do I mean by limited and toolkit? Plainly put, limited means you have a set choice of abilities that you can choose to either Specialize in, or outright ignore, and regardless of the other elements on your character sheet, those elements are only different from other people due to a small extent, having either a different flavor descriptor or having a unique damage type (often times it just comes down to "You deal X amount of Damage and get a minor extra benefit" that repeats in every single class). Balance in such games is based around the limited number of choices you have and doing its best to keep everyone relatively on the same level numeric wise with only minor numeric differences.

A toolkit on the other hand is a word I've used for systems that allow you to piece together characters according to a point buy system, and your level determines how many points you have and its entirely up to you how you decide how specialized or how moderate (or non-existent for that matter) you are in a collection of abilities, which are also up to you to choose. In such systems, the balance of the game is purely set by the point system. In toolkit systems that span everything rather than just combat, it becomes more of a creative use of the knowledge of player limits and the host creating challenges based on those limitations that the players have set up for themselves.

For those of the technical orientation, the limited would be like Windows, where as toolkit would be more like Linux. For those of us who are not, you can compare it to either limited, which would be like deciding to purchase a collection of pictures from an artist you like, or for toolkit, using that same amount of money to make your own collection of art (Which more times than not would leave you with even more cash to do other things with) and simply using the artist you like as a means of inspiration.

Out of the two, my favorite format happens to be toolkit, mostly due to how it allows for absolute freedom of character management and character specialization, but it also allows for you to either specialize in a small number of abilities, or be moderately good in everything! Also, in such systems you can have two people who have similar specialties, but have two completely different ways of achieving said specialty. On top of that, but Toolkit systems are notorious for having content on how to make more of the books you already have, and provide unlimited replay value in the games that they help you put together! These books I've found provide some of the best guidance for putting a character together, as it gives you a set of benchmarks to help you add flavor to your character, benchmarks that help you figure out how you compare to others like yourself. Such a flexable system allows any players character to have a unique story element to themselves, as you can incorporate real life traits to an otherwise super character!

With a limited system, you know for a fact that you are either specialized or you are not, and the only thing that really will make the difference is either the chance of a die roll, or the inclusion of a minor but unique ability that gives you a new "trick" with that particular task. With this in mind, your doing your best to try to find a combination of "tricks" to give you a superior advantage in combat or in a story oriented situation. Unfortunately, more times than not, you won't be finding to many Limited systems with the inclusion of real life traits, as they are "back story" or otherwise unnecessary, made more or less for flavor but having little to no affect on your actual character.

With the limited style options, you are left with more options but you have not the ability to use those options without leaving you empty in something else that may or may not be crucial to the character. You are either Specialized or you are not, and if you choose to be broad minded in such systems you'll find your character is instead negated a lot of the use you'd have normally or extremely lacking. Toolkit on the other hand will provide tools to allow you to compensate for that, and more times than not, give you the advantages to make up for the gap. You won't be great at it, but you'll still be able to get by.

There is also the limited "Class" vrs the toolkit "Dynamic" where a limited system will try to publish a substantially large amount of options that you'll have to more than not have to pay substantial amounts of money to get, where as toolkit you can make do with just the core book to do everything you need, and the extra books only add things that have been put together for your enjoyment.

On the flipside though, games that are of the limited sort are very very quick to set up. Finding a character you want is often times as simple as picking your class, picking the class specialty, and with the rulebook in hand you are immediately set into the game! There is very little downtime between levels, and more times than not your character gains more options as they level, though the rest of your character progresses relatively linearly. Toolkit systems on the other hand require a bit more math and customization and a lot more approval on behalf of the person hosting the game. Not only that, but due to the complexity and dynamics of the system, there are more opportunities for your character to not fit the mold that the host has set up for you. This is also true for the game mastering aspect of the limited format. Limited will have a larger selection of choices, but since you only have to select a small amount of them, you can have an encounter or adventure ready to go with little to no effort. More times than not though, there will also be pre-formated adventures that you can purchase as well providing a format and standard for you to base any adventures you may wish to make later.

In either case though, this drawback can simply be ignored by the host establishing a collection of characters to choose from ahead of time, providing a general idea of what the host is looking for theme wise for your characters if you do choose to do your own as well as the chance to just pick up and get right into the action. Once a general idea has been established though, the characters who want to try their own thing will then have ample time to do so, and everyone will get a chance to play immediately with little to no downtime, but a bit more work for the host. This system also has guidelines for making non-player-characters as well, and if your lucky they'll provide some pre-generated NPCs to build off of. Though with a bit of time and preperation, you'll get your very own collection for future games, therefor reducing your downtime the more you get into games.

Given the differences of limited and toolkit formats, which would you prefer the most, and why?

Software Spotlight - Mind Mapping Software

2010-01-21T18:44:00.000-08:00

So you have a really big project, or you happen to be running a campaign for a group of people. What best way to put it all together? How do you keep it all organized? How do you keep track of your progress? Well a great start is to have a brainstorming software to help get it out on paper, or at least in digital format! In this post I'll go into detail about the various Mind Mapping Software out there, and how best to use them.

So first off, what is Mind Mapping? Its a style of brainstorming that focuses around declaring a central idea, and then creating relationships between this idea and any other ideas that may revolve around it, each different idea opens up another set of ideas until you come up with as much detail as you can manage. For those familiar with note taking, they'll find that Mind Mapping Software is a means to make a Hierarchical set of notes into a visual format, one that you can customize to your own liking.

Now, there are a lot of Mind Mapping software out there, and most have different ways of presenting it. Some are more commonly seen as flowchart software, which is a more technical presentation of visual elements for various Electronic Hardware and Software. A really thorough list of software that can be used for this purpose can be found at Wikipedia, though my brand of choice happens to be FreeMind. FreeMind happens to be open source, meaning that its managed and tracked by a group of users, and as such, the code is freely available for download, to be modified as you wish, or enhanced as you wish, as long as you follow their Software Licence.

In any case, the software itself can easily manage a number of icons as well as fonts and color modifications to suit just about any need. As I get into more posts about world construction, I use the mind Mapping software to help me keep things organized, as well as keeping track of what has detail and what doesn't, whats completed and what things I want to work on next using check marks, x's, and arrows and numbers to help prioritize things once I have everything cleaned up. And then when all is said and done, I open up another central idea that extends from the primary to act as the "Player" aspect of the game which helps me keep track of all player activity, as well as provide quick access to notes that I'd like to add to the campaign as the world evolves.

For those not familiar with the software, there is a really good tutorial on how to use the software found on Youtube. The software is Java based, and as such can be used on just about any platform (Windows, MacOS, or Linux to name a few). Once you get into the software, start branching out ideas and try to put them into the mind map as you would see fit. The more you use the software and the concept of mind mapping the more natural it will come for you, and you'll start finding ways to make it visually pleasing and if anything make it a lot more second nature.

Mind Mapping software isn't just for coming up with campaign ideas, its a great way to keep track of times for working on projects similar to that of a timesheet, for putting together ideas for studies and composition as detailed in the youtube video I mentioned earlier, and any other thing you'd feel would need a visual representation of ideas. Take a look at the various pieces of software and try out one of the open source ones. If anything you can keep using it or try to find a piece of proprietary software that fits more of your needs!

So for those out there who already use it, why is it that you use the software? For those who don't, have you ever had a chance to mind map a topic? If so, how much did it help you with said project or mapping out the idea? And for those who tried, what is your favorite Mind Mapping software?

Rolling the Dice: Down one PC, up some Motivation

2010-01-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

Life has its ways of tossing you curve balls that you don't expect, and more times than not, it hits you right in the gut. Well, as it turns out, with my life pretty much revolving around it, my PC has died. Not sure to what extent yet, as I have not the tools to look over it in detail. It is for sure that the Power switch to the case is busted, and power supply has seen its last days. Weather or not it has hosed the rest of my computer is another story...

In any case, its given me some time to focus on other things. Catching up on reading and otherwise finding more leads for a potential temporary job. I can make due working part time at this point in my life, though I'd like to work on getting my first publication as a Game Story Designer in the works. I've had some chance to look into it, and find that if I really want to do it, I can really be close to doing so. First off, I'd really need to get some playtesting done, get a better grasp of what is needed to host and play a game, and if my understanding of the rules is understood enough to allow me to make some changes to the mechanics.

In particular, I'd like to work on my very first attempt at a MnM game. It was originally a twist I made on the included material in the first Mutants and Masterminds Source Book, that introduced Player skill as well as player cooperation and trouble shooting/solving. I'd like to include something again, but with a better understand, as before I was ran for all I had. The players enjoyed the story and the game so much that it became a story all on its own, and I found myself working more and more on the world at large and how I wanted it all to pan out.

So far I have a really good idea of how I wanted the basic idea of how powers worked panned out (being any combination of mutations, ritualistic magic, evolution, and alien technology. I've got the basic concept of how two of the key "races" home lands will be arranged and what I plan to have them all managed politically.

The question is what will it take software wise to get things going? Can I handle making my own mistakes and editing problems to make a finished project/product? Will my ideas work well with the M&M Superlink Public Licence or any other Public Licences out there? Many questions to ask, just gotta find the answers!

Balancing Acts: Realistic vrs Fantastic - Part I

2010-01-16T18:48:00.000-08:00

So what is it that you perfer at the game table? Do you like things to be as realistic as possible to help you find it to make sense? Or do you prefer a more fantastic aproach, where all you want to worry about is how awesome you are, and ignore (to a limited if not total extent) the more realistic aspects of a game? First off, let me discuss how realism can, when used in the right way, help to create a fantastic if not inspiring experience!

It is my personal opinion that when it comes to gaming, realism should be completely left at the door, and the game that I will share with you ought to trigger the imagination and if anything give you a chance to explore such imagination in ways not thought of before! Realism in and of itself is something most people want to get away from on their time off with friends, and this is very well justified.

Though let me go into detail about how realism can very well make some fun in a world where realism acts as a means of challenging a player to do things that are completely out of the norm, or in essence, fantastic in their very own way! Think of the following situation: You are asked by one of your friends to play in the game and they want you to put together a character that is down right normal, with the only thing that is common between the players the fact that you have to ride the bus in some way to get from home to work. You think "Alright, whats the catch to this one?", and curious with what they might have in store, you put together your character using whatever rules they put forth for you. Maybe you put together a teenager who happens to ride the bus to get from the mall and her house, or you put together a taxi driver who doesn't own his own car yet, or finds that buplic transportation is cheaper. The game master puts together his world and has you all ride the bus together. You and the players decide as to what the relationships are with each other, knowing that you all ride the bus together at some point or another.

The Game Master then has a lot of options before him that can make the game fun in any situation. He can put the bus into the hands of a strange being that takes the bus to a special place that forces the players to do things that are outside of their norm, or he can have a special event occur that grants the players special powers, or even more so, he can have them all witness an accident and they are then key witnesses to an investigation, and they are given the choice to either help, or even investigate the strange event themselves!

In any of these situations, the realism of the setting acts as a key hindrance to the players and poses realistic challenges that force each player to think outside the box, using real life skills to come up with imaginative answers to their problems. It isn't absolutely necessary to kill anyone, but instead its the world itself that is the problem, and its the very players themselves who are the answer!

The possibilities are endless with the right application of realism. Though what are your thoughts on realistic settings and how do you normally manage such games as either a Game Master or Player?

Biography: Stories Worth Telling - Part II

2010-01-15T10:18:00.000-08:00

So what have been some of my favorite Campaigns or Adventures I've hosted? What are some of the key players in these games? In this part of my Biography I go into detail about one of my favorite campaigns that I've had the opportunity to share. I go over the key characters, key NPCs, and details about what made the campaign what it is and how it came to be.

Now it had been some time since I had gotten into a group and I was exploring a group of friends that I had just been introduced to back in 2004. At the time I had been gathering quite the collection of books, and a campaign setting by the name of Eberron had come out. I poured all over the book soaking in every detail as the whole concept of being in such a world was just awe inspiring! You had a train, flying boats, bound elementals, and a massive world where you could find an origin for any character suiting to your imagination. This was my first official Campaign Setting, after having experienced GURPS for the first time and my friend's attempts at playing a different game and a different story once every other week or so.

Out of the group though, I think I was the only one who ever dedicated themselves to a single story for longer than a couple of weeks. As a matter of fact, I had spent the last year playing in a solid campaign starting from a really low level 4 to a decent level of 12 out of a possible 20 levels! So after having read the campaign setting, I set forth to put together my first campaign.

The game started off as the various players where freed or paid to come meet a great librarian in the hopes of being hired for a series of adventure articles in the nationwide newspaper. The players where then set off to do great deeds for this librarian and start a grand adventure that would be sold right to masses! As the players investigated and learned more about the land, they befriended various characters I created for them and also discovered a sinister plot, were able to free a large collection of slaves, acquired their own flying ship, and eventually their own strongholds! And by the end of it all, two of the players had created characters that had so much content, that I include their characters in just about any other games I happen to be playing, their character concepts having a small hold in some of the more religious parts of each world I've put together.

The campaign as a whole lasted the better part of 2 years, and had anywhere from 5 players to just 2, and on occasion a small adventure with just one of the other players playing whenever we had the chance. The two players that remained at the end of it completed each of their own adventures and gained families and became gods of their very own Demiplanes, forging out to be the perfection of their realms, one of Knowledge and War, the other of Freedom and the first class-specific (Dragon Shaman, introduced in the 3.5 Players Handbook 2) god of that world.

There are a lot of good and sour memories in those games, but the fact it lasted as long as it did made it one of my largest achievements of my Role Playing Career. Now with that world under my belt, and a substantial more experience under my belt, I'm working on putting together my first Campaign Setting for the Mutants and Masterminds Gaming System which I'll be detailing in this blog, and hopefully, I'll be able to print out the book for those interested and even have a PDF file for free distribution, or so the plan is for right now. One can only dream right?

So for those who have played before, what was your favorite campaign and why? What really made it stand out for you and what kept you hooked?

Rolling the Dice: Thoughts, Blogging, and a Touch of Reality

2010-01-12T12:58:00.000-08:00

How much money and time can I devote to this blog? Do I ever plan to have advertisements? What do I plan to do with this blog? These are only a few of the many questions I ask myself each time I look over the various blogs that are already on the market right now. It's often times hard to find my own place in this world, though as I type and put things together things begin to fall into place...

So I've started off so far with a couple of Biography posts and a review of one of my favorite systems. As I put things together, I find that I'm full of ideas to type about, but I don't want to flood the blog too much. As such, I've been mostly making a list of ideas so that when the time comes to post to the World-Wide-Web I'll have a general idea of what to talk about. So as to help me piece things together, I thought I'd share with you some of whats going on right now in my life and the ideas I have in mind for this blog and where I feel things are are possibly going.

Originally, the blog started off as a general theme on games that I play in my life, anything from computer to card to tabletop games. As I type more and more I find I'll have PLENTY to talk about with just the tabletop Genre alone. In the meantime, I'm currently unemployed, living off of Social Security having been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. Most recently I've been told, after having worked insanely hard to recover or at least manage my disorder, that I was in partial remission. This means a number of things.

First off, it means I'm doing really really well at managing my bipolar disorder. Mind you the key word here is "Managing." Bipolar is not a disease that can be "cured", or at least not yet anyways. Instead, it works just like having an impairment of some sort that just doesn't go away, that you have to take medicine on a regular basis to keep it in check and when you least want it to gets out of hand for a short while. Think like Diabetes and the like, just instead of your blood its your chemicals in your brain that's the problem. Now having been able to manage my disorder, this means I'm going to need to make some lifestyle changes.

Right now with the Social Security and help from my girlfriends very supportive parents, my girlfriend and I can live a very relaxing lifestyle. With this lifestyle I have a lot of time that I can spend blogging, playing games, reading, and keeping up with family and friends. Once I'm considered a person who is "Functioning" my Social Security is very likely to go away. As such, I'll have to devote my time in other matters, such as working a full or part time job depending on if I want to get Health Insurance or not.

So as I work on this blog, I really have to ask myself, what do I want to achieve and how is it that I can achieve such? Right now, I just want to try to find a low key work atmosphere where I can do what I love, be it as simple as working part time, or working to update this blog on a more regular basis and make money through advertisements and turning this blog into a more commercial endeavor. I really don't want to flood this blog with advertisements, and if anything if I can make money off of it that would be nice, but I'm not going to put much thought into making it commercial. The idea is to keep it minimalistic and act as a source of information and inspiration to any who read it.

Which will bring me to my final point and original question: What do I plan to do with this blog? As I've typed, I've really got a feel for what it is that I like to talk about. I'll still be trying to make the most of what you have (money included) but I'd like to put as much motivation into inspirational ideas, be they character concepts or entire Game Setting Ideas! I have a number of ideas put together so far for conceptual blog posts and they are as follows in no particular order:

Game Spotlight - As Detailed in my last post, a series focused around the review of the various Gaming Systems for Tabletop Role Play games that I've had experience with or have had a chance to try out.
World Spotlight - A Series of Posts focused around the various Worlds Already out on the Market
Software Spotlight - Another Series about the different pieces of Software that I use and how the incorporate into the gaming room. I'll try to focus mostly on free games, or at the least, games that have a pronounced use in them that just can't be ignored.
Rolling the Dice - As in this post, a collection of ideas, goals, questions, and topics dealing with Real Life and the blog in particular.
Worldly Inspirations - This will specifically detail the ways that I put together worlds and adventures alike
Balancing Acts - This series will focus on the joys of player/game master relationships and the tools to make things easier to both. A lot of the time it will focus on the different concepts in each game and spotlight different styles of play.
Elaboratus - This series focuses on the construction of one of my many game ideas. I like starting stories, and some of these I wouldn't mind publishing someday, assuming I ever get the resources to do so.

Mind you, this is really just a rough idea of what I plan to include in this blog. If you have any other ideas or possible additions to this series please feel free to comment about such. I'm always open for ideas!

Game Spotlight: Mutants & Masterminds (M&M)

2010-01-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

I'd like to take a break from the normal "Biography" and dabble a bit into a review of one of my favorite Gaming Systems: Mutants and Masterminds.

Ask yourself this: Have you ever wanted to play a character from your favorite Comic, Manga, Cartoon, or Anime Series? Or maybe you've always wanted to play a cinematic game where you can be taking on an entire army of evil monster's one moment and then trying to save the world from a deadly catastrophe the next? If so, Mutants and Masterminds is the game for you!

The system itself was first put together by Steve Kenson back in 2002 after having been contracted with Green Ronin Publishing under the Open Game License. The game was revolutionary in its design due to the fact that you could put together just about any character you could imagine using a collection of basic Power Descriptors and a handful of ways to modify each one, giving it infinite flexibility in how you can make your character. The world of d20 gaming was changed forever and a new franchise was created, a completely unique system that rivaled even the most popular systems of its time (the HERO System for example).

I was first introduced to the system during 2008 when we played our first controversial "You are a mutant, and the government requires you to license your powers!" Ordeal after a series of classic dramatic events, everything from a big explosion leveling most of New York City that changes the world forever to overwhelming alien invasions! All in all, it was a fun introduction of the story and the speed at which combat was made was quick and fluid. We even had a moment where one of the players channeled what was left of the entire electric grid of the demolished city of New York City into a blast that completely leveled most of the alien NPCs (Non-Player-Characters)!

The amount of diversity and choices of powers a character can choose from is just mind boggling, and all of it fits into a single book, a book that includes everything you need to create a character, all the basic rules, and even a section for Dungeon Masters with a pre constructed adventure to boot. Example of monsters and Stereotypical Villain Archtypes for quick referencing is also included. And the simplicity of the system is also one of the easiest to pick up from all the games I've played so far. EVERYTHING is done through the single roll of a d20 (a 20 sided dice). No need for die pools, no need for keeping track of a handful of dice that you have to use for each attack. Everything is done with that one d20 (Percentage rolls included, which normally require two d10).

The game itself is very fast paced and makes for some very cinematic adventures. The only drawback that I've seen so far, is that the game's scaling is a bit obnoxious on some levels, where some players can affect an entire city, or nation, with some of their powers. This can be a hindrance in some cases, but that's to be expected with a game that is designed to emulate heroic adventures on a truly world-wide scale. The other thing is that if your looking for longer, drawn-out combat, you'll find that the game master will have to modify some of the rules to accommodate that style of play.

The Mutants and Mastermind Setting is also tailored to a specific style of play. The game flow starts off with the players suffereing a minor or major setback, at which point the characters are still left alive and must investigate further to figure out how to solve the problem or setback in a different light, earning what are called Hero Points for each setback they are put up against, a mechanic that allows you to push your character above and beyond their limits when spent, giving entirely new options to defeat the challenge set at the climax of each adventure! If you and your fellow players are willing to deal with the initial setback, this style of play can be a lot of fun, especially if you go out of your way to over-dramatize your setback, catchy rhetorics and all!

Now, in case the Super Hero Comic isn't for you, Green Ronin has come up with an entire collection of Mutants and Masterminds books that can suppliment any genre of game play based on the various sorts of comics that are in circulation right now, and they have plenty more to come!

I strongly encourage anyone interested to have a look at some of their previews and product information and try the game out for themselves. The book itself can be purchased for around $40, or one can purchase the game in digital format for half the price (Check your local game store for the Book, or if your more interested in the digital format, the PDF File and any of the other books can be found here), which will give infinite ways to play the game. A great investment for any group looking for a low cost/high use gaming system. I've had the game for a good two years now, and I'm always finding something new to try out.

So for those out there who have also had a chance to try the system, what are your thoughts?

Biography: Stories Worth Telling - Part I

2010-01-10T16:58:00.000-08:00

So over the span of a lifetime, from building Legos now to Building entire Campaigns for a collection of players, what are some of the greatest stories I have to share?

Well I have a number of stories I've worked on over the years, which can be divided up by my favorite Player Character and my favorite story as a Game Master. So first off I'll Detail my favorite character story, that of Tarbi the Crazy Tumbler!

My favorite character story wasn't even my most played character. As a matter of fact, the character played in only about 2 Months worth of game sessions (about 6 or so). The character's name was Tarbi Litherspoon, or more well known as the "Crazy Tumbler." He was my second attempt at a character that had a really detailed persona. He was a Halfling Rogue, with a dabble of Clerical abilities. He was a follower of the God of Luck, and he had a Mask of the God of Luck that was infused on half of his face. The other half he always painted like a clown to match the mask. I've included a picture I drew, link here, of the character in question, and as you can see, I had put a lot of detail into his possessions. All the way down to each pocket and each marking on all of his clothing. He stood 3'2" and weighed in about 35 pounds depending on what he was carrying.

Its stories like this, though, that really make a person proud to be a Role Player, because you can really get a feel for who the character is, and people who play with you can definitely see them in their minds eye. It is detail like this that I hope to inspire into my own player's during the games I host with each adventure that I put in front of them. As I get more skilled as a Game Master I hope to find the tools I need to inspire such detail in my players. And hopefully, in due time, I'll find the players who are interested enough to get into such a campaign that will make stories like the one I'll describe in my next Biography post.

Till next time, I'll ask the same in return: What was your favorite character and why? What where their traits that really helped flesh them out?

Biography: How I got Started

2010-01-09T19:05:00.000-08:00

So how did it all start?

What was it that inspired me to join the world of Role Playing?

Well, I've been Role Playing for the majority of my life! It all started with my first set of Lego Brick building blocks, after which there was no return...

My favorite memory was when I got my first Castle Set, which consisted of a Lego Castle (with a tower and hidden chamber no less!), a Horse, and a collection of army figurines. I would take all my other lego men and set them up so that my little army of wolfpack soldiers could embark on great adventures, or putting together large battles to raid the castle and its gaurds of the treasure found within! As simple as it may sound, it's acts like this that really triger the imagination to go to its limits, and make for great excuses to get into role playing games.

On the other hand, I often find myself amused at people who say that they never have role played before, when in fact, it can be as simple as going out and being a part of a Paintball Team and having ranks, goals, and objectives. Or even a young child putting together her first doll tea party, or someone piecing together all their stuffed animals for the latest round of gossip. Its seen all the time in childhood, in their various forms. It's this fact that I find that anyone who has an imagination can truly find themselves having a blast in this unique game environment.

As I've found out though, the world of Role Playing can take any form and use any set of rules, it merely takes creative applications of imagination to really help it come to life. This was no different from my initial group of friends that I gamed with when I first moved to New Mexico in my adventure to start a life of my own. The group of players consisted of a friend that went to school with me and small collection of people he gamed with. The Game Master at the time had a masterpiece of a campaign that he had assembled of the span of his childhood and most of his adulthood that he was willing to put up to the test of the Dungeon's and Dragon's Game System. So much so, that he allowed the players to play outrageous races such as ten foot tall Ogers and Gargantuan if not Colossal Dragons, which the rules of DnD didn't really recommend nor did they have solid rules for. This didn't really get in the way of the GM allowing the players to do what their imagination so desired.

I happened to be a new player, so I got to choose from the basic races of the 3.0, and eventually the 3.5, Dungeon and Dragons Role Playing Game system. So with so many large creatures around, how could I ever add up to their power? Instead I put together my first Halfling Sorcerer, an minuscule pest compared to the others, which at the time was rather funny, but eventually enabled me explore the world in ways no others could.

This eventually led me to buy my first 3.5 Character Rulebook, and such started my Game Book Collection which now spans two shelves of my bedroom book shelf. Over time I met with another gaming group and I had been introduced to GURPS (Generic Universal RolePlaying System), and eventually Mutants and Masterminds (A Game System centered around the concept of acting out characters found in Comic/Manga Stories). As time progresses, I hope to learn more of the systems available out there, as well as get a chance to find new uses for the books I already have.

So it comes down to this question: What childhood memories do you have that you think triggered your imagination? And more importantly, what was it that helped you to rekindle your interest in the World of Role Playing?

Into the Blogosphere!

2010-01-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

Thats right folks, my very first attempt at a solid Blog!

Up till now, I've been exploring online journaling, but find that there has been way too much Drama revolving around such things, and rather than being productive, its more of a downward spiral into a black hole in which there is no return!

Now, with a better grasp of what I want to talk about and how to proceed with doing so productively, I'm off to a great start. To get an idea of what this particular blog is about, I'll state some of my goals here.

The goal of this blog is to provide my personal insight and perspective on various role playing systems, which can include Dungeons and Dragons/GURPS/Mutants and Masterminds.
I'll be focusing rather heavily on Budget Gaming and how to get the most out of each dollar you spend.
I'll focus on how to make the most of the resources you have available, be it players to limited collection of books.
And finally, provide some insight as to my own methods in creating unique and entertaining game settings.

From time to time I hope to also include some character profiles with inspirations from other games and some nice links to resources that can potentially make life as a player, and a game master, a lot easier.

Here is to looking to the future!