What's Coming Down the Road

Well, it has been a busy couple of months and I am officially derailed from my goals for posting this year.  I hoped to be able to dedicate more time to the blog, but it just hasn't been working out as I had planned.  Family life and work have gotten in the way, but that is all changing soon!!  YAY!!  I am currently on my summer vacation, which means that I have to come to work, EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  Wow.  The Japanese education system is pretty crazy.  No actual work to do, but I do have to sit in the chair at the desk and try to get things done.  What this basically boils down to is 8 hours of down time away from the kid and the wife and away from any usable video games... this means more time for the blog and for reading through RPG books.  Thank god!

So, now that I can sit down and think about the blog and what I need to work on, I thought it would be nice to kind of give a bit of a preview of what will be coming for my site.

One of the things I am most excited about this summer is going to be the series of game reviews that I have coming.  I talked with some of the folks down at Cubicle 7 and they were nice enough to send me several of their games to try out.  You may have heard about their big news, with the Lord of the Rings RPG coming down the line, but maybe you don't know about some of their older titles.  I'll be bringing you reviews of:

Qin the Warring States - set in semi-historical China, this French made RPG is certainly very interesting and offers another option for gamers that are interested in an oriental setting outside of Japan and games like L5R.

Victoriana - Steampunk? I'm in.  This system and this setting are pretty cool and the artwork in the book is definitely interesting.  Looking forward to giving this a review in greater detail!

Legends of Anglerre - This is one hefty tome.  It runs with the FATE system, is full of some of the coolest, nuanced artwork that I have seen in an RPG that is both comic-book and old school at the same time.  Did I mention that the book is huge?  Awesome.  Stargazer is reading through this one right now as well! What a coincidence.  Looking forward to bringing you this review soon enough.  This review will be Dump Stat only! You won't need to go anywhere else to hear my opinions on how this book works. 

But, Cubicle 7 aren't the only folks I am looking forward to reviewing products for.  I also happen to have another L5R book to review! I will be reviewing Enemies of the Empire, for L5R, brought to you by AEG.  This book is pretty awesome from an appearance point of view.  The artwork, just from a precursory glance is just as beautiful as the stuff you saw in the core book.  I LOVED the artwork in that book.  This one doesn't disappoint either.  I really can't wait to give that book a review and then make use of that in my current game...

L5R over Google+ !!

I put out a call on Google+ and on Twitter to see if anybody would be interested in trying to do a PbP style game using the circle function in an experimental kind of way.  The response was pretty immense.  7 people volunteered for the game in 24 hours.  Seven.  I can definitely see some Seven Samurai jokes being brought in here.  I can't wait to discover how this whole Google+ thing can be used to run an RPG.  I feel like it has a lot of potential, even outside of the Video Chat method.  I might even try to use that at some point, but who knows. This is going to be a very big test, we'll see if our group can pass.

So, that is just a hint at what is coming from my site.  I hope you all stay tuned to the Dump State even when we aren't putting out 2 posts a week.  Game on!

RPG Blogger Carnival - Bad Ass Gaming - The Most Badass Kickstarter Ever!

You all know how much a fan I am of the RPG Blogger Carnival! Right?!  Well, this month, the Carnival is being hosted by none other than Nevermet Press!! How cool is that?  I had kind of liked there original idea for the carnival this month - technology at the gaming table - but the new topic is just as... well, BADASS!!

So, I guess the big question to you is...

What the hell actually is Badass???!!!

I find the term Badass to be a bit vague.  I love the term, but everyone really has their own definition for the word and so I guess it really all boils down to personal choice.

For me, Badass is all about emotion.  There are points in a TV show or in a Movie that you can point to and say "that was Badass" as you get that little snicker on your face.  The movie 300 had a lot of "That was Badass" moments in it... hell, the whole damn movie was full of Badass moments.  It was a freaking Badass movie.

Instead of talking about the Badass RPG's I've played, today, I really want to bring to you one of the most Badass RPG's that I have never played.  In fact, I don't even know if the game is done yet, but it looks like it has some serious potential.


A friend of mine, one Mr. Highmoon, directed me to this game and I have to say it looks so BADASS!!!  I am always really happy to see all of these RPG's getting backers and getting completed.  The development of the game seems to be pretty cool.  The fan community for the game has had a huge impact on how it has come together, and it seems like they have some big plans for the Far West "franchise" going forward.  If you check out their Five Movements, they even have plans to develop a web series based off of this.  BADASS!!

One of the things that I like the most about this game is how much the artwork reflects one of my favorite little movies, "Sukiyaki Django".  That film is BADASS!!  If you haven't seen it, you need to go and check it out.



If I had my way, I think I'd be playing this game on a weekly basis.  Check it out and if you have the spare cash, back the project.  They are getting really, really close to finishing it up.  Take a peak at the website for Far West as well!

Need inspiration for your Zombie Proof Compound???

Found a link to this in a forum that I happen to troll and I thought it was worth pointing out.  Considering how many survival horror games there are out there, and the popularity of Zombie filled Fantasy RPG plots, these pics might come in handy for some inspiration.  This, is the first Zombie Proof House.

The place has a bloody indoor pool and a drawbridge. The only thing that I see missing is a stairwell that leads to the roof where turret mounted machine guns are mounted.  Also, the property needs a robot that will dig graves and clean corpses because nobody really wants to have their lawn all covered in zombie parts.  It totally ruins the view.

Caladon Falls - Fundraising Project!

I was alerted earlier today about this little fundraising project on twitter and I thought I would do what I could to help out.  Savage Mojo is trying to get their setting book, for the Savage World's RPG printed and ready for Gen Con 2011!  They need your help and have set up a fundraising project to try and meet some of the financial needs.  I should make it pretty clear, I have never actually played a game of Savage Worlds.  I would very much like to give it a try at some point, but for now, I am left waiting.  I have however gotten a chance to look at this book, in PDF form, and I can tell you that it is 150 pages of pretty awesome stuff.  I haven't had a chance to give it a full read yet, and there is a lot of rules specific stuff that I don't quite understand (given my lack of Savage Worlds rules knowledge) but the setting itself seems to be made of awesome and I can totally see myself playing a game or three (or four... or many more) in this setting.

Currently, they are about one third of the way into their $7500 goal with only about 11 days left on the clock.  Time's ticking.  Here's some more info regarding the project and what they are aiming to accomplish with this fundraising effort.

Our Story
Caladon Falls is Savage Mojo’s first foray into fantasy setting books designed for Savage Suzerain, using Pinnacle's award-winning Savage Worlds rules. Kicked off in November as a PDF, we’ve been asked repeatedly when it will be in print. With your help, we’d like to answer that with, “Before Gen Con 2011!”
As the trailer shows, there are a lot of people who have worked their hearts out to produce a top-notch, high-art, high-quality roleplaying game (RPG) book packed with stunning visuals, intriguing plots, and inventive prose. Caladon Falls is brought to you by names you’ll know and those we hope will become some of your new favorites. And every one of us wants you to experience Caladon Falls the most complete way possible: by owning it for yourself – in print.
The Impact
Funds raised through this campaign go toward the production costs of a 750 book, limited edition print-run for Caladon Falls in its full glory. Each book is hard cover containing full-color interiors on high-quality paper. Those who choose to support us at qualifying tiers will get a copy shipped to them along with any other goodies at their chosen tier. Your generosity will help us gain the ability to put additional books on retailers’ shelves for others to access, increasing awareness of our company and introducing more gamers to the Suzerain Universe. If we do not meet our full goal, the funds will still be used to provide the perks promised and put some copies on our convention tables by way of an alternative printing plan.
What We Need & What You Get
We have twelve tiers to enable you to help as you wish. Every sponsor matters and every increment helps! From $1 to simply be remembered as helping to $39 to get not just the physical book, but also the accompanying PDFs of both the full GM's book and the player's guide to our super-crazy, $549 Patron of Suzerain tier with so much stuff you won't believe we're offering it. Printed Gamescapes maps, custom character sheets, short stories dedicated to you, and so much more are available just because you want to help us reach our goals.

It definitely seems like a worthy cause to me.  Try to do what you can! I'm sure they will appreciate it.

B is for BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy)

Continuing our Blogging from A to Z challenge.  Today, is day 2, which means that brings us to the letter B.  I can't think of anything more important to an adventure, or a character's story, than the BBEG.

The Big Bad Evil Guy is pretty much the reason that the adventure exists (unless your characters are just plodding around some open world and not really fighting anybody... who wants to play one of those game?? :P )

Every good Adventure, whether that adventure spans only a few levels, or if it spans the entire life of a character, needs to have a strong BBEG to keep the story interesting and create tension and action for the players.  A BBEG should be a complicated character, with an intriguing story, but the BBEG also needs to be able to kick some serious hind-quarters.  However, the BBEG shouldn't be someone right there in front of the players.  They need to be in the background, an ever looming threat, which finally shows up at the very end of the story and bring the smackdown to the players (who invariably return that smackdown obliterating said BBEG).

There are a lot of great BBEG's out there to draw inspiration from in movies, books, or gaming sources.  I want to talk about two different types of BBEG's, inspired by a film created a long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away.  I want to go over a few of the interesting differences between them.

The Emperor type BBEG

Sure, maybe the more recent Star Wars Trilogy wasn't that great (lots of hate out there), but I will admit, I really liked the way the Emperor rose to power throughout that trilogy.  It was great, seeing the bad guy right in the middle of all major action in the world.  Everybody in the audience knows this guy is as evil as it comes and is going to become the biggest bad-guy in the universe.

The Emperor type BBEG starts off as a subtle villain. He might even appear as a friend to the heroes of the story, but in the end, when it finally comes out that the players have been trolled by the bad guy, things start to seriously go awry and the players have to contend with a horribly evil power broker who wields massive influence and commands the loyalty of millions of evil little pawns.  This BBEG is all about working in the background.  The heroes have to go up against him every bleeding day, but they might not ever get to actually lay eyes on him until the final act.

Using an Emperor Type BBEG is a great way to develop an awesome adventure.  The only problem with this type of character though is the players are probably going to see it coming.  This type of BBEG is used so often in fiction and gaming that people are going to "game" the story, thinking in the meta, and try to figure out who the real bad guy actually is.  The way to fight this: be even more subtle about it.  Make the players think that even though the King is helping you all out, something about him seems to be a little off; maybe they will game it and come to the conclusion that he's actually the bad guy.  Then, when the players have pretty much made up their minds, throw them a curve ball.  It wasn't the king, it was Princess Peach all along!!

The Darth Vader type BBEG 

There are a lot of different ways to look at Vader, THE BOSS, as a BBEG.  I like to think that this type of BBEG is a lot less subtle.  He shows up more often in person than from behind the scenes.  He's a bad, bad man and he wants to be right out there in the open flaunting his power and strength.  Vader type BBEG's work great as recurring villains who constantly show up to thwart and generally despoil the characters, their families, and their friends.

But the Vader type BBEG also has a very involved story.  He's not a simple, one-shade of Evil.  He's many, many shades and one of them just might be good.  He might be really, horribly awful, but with the right motivation, and the proper persuasion, he might be finally turned to the forces of light in the final hour when the players are faced up against somebody even more evil than he is (see Emperor type BBEG for an example of one such "more" evil BBEG's).

There are plenty of other BBEG types out there.  Try to change it up when you're developing your adventure. Try not to get repetitive.  If you constantly abuse the same BBEG type your adventures are going to get stale. Hope that this BBEG advice has been helpful.  Adventure On!

A New Author Approaches - Obidancer Joins the Dump Stat

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you all know that we have a new author here on The Dump Stat.  Obidancer, a player in my current Shadowrun Play by Post game, has graciously accepted an invitation I sent him to join the site as an author and artist.  We can all expect some interesting stuff coming from him in the future.  If you hadn't noticed, I have been posting his artwork up here on the blog over the last few weeks; I'm a pretty big fan, so I'm really glad to be bringing him on board.

In addition to being a fantastic Digital Artist, Obidancer is also a big fan of the Star Wars RPG, something which I have actually never even touched. So, hopefully, we'll be hearing some interesting tales of the Star Wars RPG in the future too!  Hope everyone enjoys his artwork and RPG commentary.

Fightfest: Supernatural Zombies vs. Biological Zombies

Recently, I have been on a very Zombie minded train of thought. I’m not exactly sure what brought this all on, but the combination of listening to lots of old episodes of The Drunk Tank (the podcast by the Rooster Teeth guys) where the subject of Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising come up repeatedly, and me watching the anime High School of the Dead, has got to have something to do with it.

So, my mind has wandered onto some very interesting subjects; chief among these is the two-fold variation of the zombie in popular culture. Zombies have always been an integral part of D&D and RPG’s in general, so I think this subject is highly relevant to our collective interests. The variation I speak of here is this: supernatural or biological. If you put these two types of zombies into a boxing ring, who would come out the victor… I wonder.

So, in the red corner, we have the Supernatural Zombie. This one is the classic. Whether raised by black magic, or through a twisted ritual of the Necronomicon, the Supernatural Zombie has the power of pure evil on its side. In Fantasy RPG’s, the Supernatural Zombie has been the enemy of more adventuring parties than I can imagine. With their incredibly low level, they make great enemies for most early adventuring parties. They make great enemies to throw into a dungeon and with some skeletons on their side, they can make for a great undead encounter. If you haven’t seen films like “The Evil Dead”, or “Night of the Living Dead”… I’m not even going to finish that sentence; you have seen these movies and you know your supernatural, flesh-eating, undead friends.

In the blue corner, we have the Biological Zombie. Biological Zombies are a bit different in terms of their origin stories, but the flesh-eating fun remains the same. We see a lot more Biological Zombies in TV and movies now than we did 50 years ago. The Biological Zombie has been created through some type of horrible virus or man-made apocalypse. The Biological Zombie is quite the nasty little threat. We have seen in “Resident Evil”, “Shaun of the Dead”, and “Zombieland” (by no means an exhaustive, or necessarily even best of list of biological zombie films – these are just some of my favorites) that the Biological Zombie spreads its “undead plague” through the world when they bite. If you get bitten, don’t count on staying as part of the living.

So, who wins? Enter Zombie Pin-Up girl to declare that round 1 begins!  -  FIGHT!!!

Unfortunately, the fight quickly becomes a stalemate since neither side recognizes the other. The lack of living flesh and brains has resulted in both the Supernatural Zombie and the Biological Zombie ignoring each-other and turning against the audience!! AAAH!!!

Really, I’m not sure which zombie is stronger, but I know I’m a lot more afraid of the Biological Zombie in the real world; but, in my D&D game I am definitely not looking forward to fighting any necromancers and their zombie hoards – those zombies always dull my dwarven battle axe.

But, a 3rd Challenger enters the ring… the biological/supernatural zombie. Raised through a supernatural plague, Bio-Evil Zombies have the power of black magic on their side and spread their biological sickness just as fast. Nothing worse than a Bio-Evil Zombie plague (check these Zombies out in Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom by Nevermet Press).

Fightfest one is over. The fight is a draw. Sorry folks, stay tuned for match two wear we dangle a living human over the zombies and see if we can’t get some unlife out of them.

RPG Blog Carnival March Part 1 - Life and Death in RPG @ Campaign Mastery

Well, if you hadn't heard yet, the RPG Blog Carnival for March 2011 has been kicked off by Campaign Mastery.  The topic for this month is Life and Death in RPG.  I find that to be a very interesting topic right now.  Don't you?

Why, might you ask, do I think that?  Well, I think that a lot of people are currently forecasting the DEATH of 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, followed quickly by a resurrection of the D&D Brand with 5e.  I have not been one to chime in on any of these rumors up until this point (at least on my blog I haven't).  But, today, I guess I'm going to do just that...

Just Kidding.

I won't be posting anything on my blog about 4e/5e or whatever, so hold your flaming for someplace else.  This month, I will try to run with the carnival again though and in fact, I'm going to even be a bit more formal about how I do this and post a column each week dedicated to the topic.  Sound good?  I think this column will come out on your Wednesday (my Thursday...time changes can really be a pain sometimes).  Stay tuned.

But, today is not just an announcement post, it's an actual meat post.  I wanted to talk about a few of my personal character deaths which I have found amusing over the years.  You might find them amusing as well. 

Some of you might know, since I've talked about it here on the blog before, that the way I got my start in D&D was during high school, but the first games I ever really played were a series of con games called the "D&D 3.0 Player Vs. Player" and "D&D 3.0 Team Player Vs. Player".  These two events were pretty much all about power gaming, but they were sooo much fun.  The events were hosted at Strategicon, out in California, 3 times a year.  I think I played in maybe 3-4 of them, but I can't quite remember the exact numbers.  They were truly lessons in gaming. 

My first, most memorable character death happened in the Team PvP event.  I had brought along, what I thought, was a pretty powerful archmage (this game is made for characters around level 17-19).  The character had some seriously awesome spells, but the one thing I just didn't understand was the rules.  This was not a group that was particularly forgiving.  It was pretty much Tournament style D&D set in an absolutely killer labyrinth in which 10 other teams of nearly epic level characters were also trying to get through and kill you along the way.  This game was not designed for a beginner, and me, not knowing the rules very well, did not add up to be a very good combination.  In the first room, I decided to Wail of the Banshee on a pair of massive scorpions which were standing in front of me.  I did not, however, take into the account that they had reach, and, would be able to hit me once I cast on them (wasn't casting defensively so they get their attack of opportunity attack).  My archmage takes about 120+ damage from 2 hits and goes down like a ton of bricks.  I was out of the game on the first round in the dungeon... sad day.

One of my other legendary deaths happened in the same game.  This time, the Team PvP was set on a massive 3D tabletop with all kinds of awesome terrain.  Movement was actually measured out with a tape measure, in a rare new style of D&D play.  I thought that was pretty cool.  This game, I showed up with a fighter who was wielding himself a vorpal falchion.  I had done the whole improved crit+keen mumbo jumbo to give him a 12-20 crit range with it.  I got into combat, chopped off the head of a baylor, and was very proud of myself.  That event was made with decent amounts of praise around the table.  The next round, my fighter fell trying to jump over what I thought was a standard river... it wasn't.  The river was filled with swarming, flesh-eating insects.  He got pretty much eaten alive.  I think he was almost dead on r.1 of being in the river and on r.2 when he failed to get out, he was gone.  Goodbye my lovely fighter.  At least you got to take out that Baylor before you went bye-bye.

It's funny really.  I remember these deaths the most because I was so new to the game when they happened.  Also, I have never had a character of mine die in a long running campaign.  I have had some fall, but they always get right back up.  I play the DM so much, that I always remember the memorable experiences I have as a player. 

So my question today is:  What are the character deaths we remember the most?  What is the key to having a character's death be retold as players.  For me, it has always been the deaths of characters when I was new to gaming.  What about you?  Are the characters that die right after doing something awesome remembered the most? or do you remember the characters which you were attached to for a long time, but then perished in some odd, or anti-climactic way.  Fill me in.

L5R - Intro to Rokugan

L5R is a game played in the setting of Rokugan.  This fictional, fantasy world, is a combination of numerous elements from Asian Culture.  If you didn't know that already, you've got some catching up to do.

I setting is obviously most influenced by Japanese culture.  The characters that you play as are highly influenced by classic roles in Japanese society - Samurai, Ninja, Monks, and Courtiers.  My understanding of Japanese culture and from talking to my Japanese family, it would seem that the Spellcasting, magic side of this game, is more heavily drawn from Chinese mythology and Chinese culture than Japanese.  That is in no way a bad thing, just something culturally that you should be aware of.  I think they did a really good job in making it very clear that Rokugan was not supposed to be a strict copy of a real world society, but rather a fantasy setting based off of several real-world cultures.  That works for me.

It is actually pretty suprising how much they took cultural realism into consideration when making this game.  In one section, they happen to bring up the ideas of Sexism, and man/woman roles, in the world of Rokugan.  The game itself makes allowances for female samurai, ninjas, and courtiers, but it also makes the note that if you do want to go more realistic with it, you should probably take into account the fact that these cultures had very strict definations regarding the roles of women in society.

But enough with all that noise, let's talk about how cool this setting is.

The world of Rokugan is comprised of a number of different clans who are said to have descended from the gods.  On a side note actually, creation mythology in the setting is a mixture of what we are probably familiar with from Greek/Roman mythology and creation myths from Asian settings.  Getting back to the world, these clans control most of the power in Rokugan and are constantly wise to threats from within their power structure as well as to threats from outside the empire.  Enter the Shadowlands.  The Shadowlands is pretty much the source of primal evil in the world and the great corrupting force for all Samurai.

That summary might be pretty quick, but in all honesty, it would be really, really hard to wrap the entire setting of Rokugan up into one review.  Let's just say that the setting is pretty awesome.  I would have liked to know more about the major clans, and a little less about the minor clans, but I do have a lot of my old rulebooks that I can consult for fluff; it's not as if fluff in this book is lacking, it's just that I would have liked more in that one particular area, mostly because I think if they had expanded that section we could have gotten a few more full color pictures out of it :P

Regardless, I would like to show of the setting a little bit more.  For that reason, I am going to post here, 4 Characters that I made using the L5R Rules.  These 4 Characters will come from my 4 favorite clans - Crab, Crane, Lion, and Scorpion.  Those clans are just too much fun to play around with.  I might even add in a Mantis clan buji if you're lucky.  Stay tuned for my character posting fun.

Lots of Luck

Rating Player Skill in RPG's... How?

Given Bulletsorm's recent release and the awesome Demo that I played over the weakend, followed up by my post of the trailer this weekend, I thought I should bring up an interesting topic that happened to randomly pop into my head yesterday.

How does one exactly measure the "skill" of a RPG player?  I am in some ways at a loss for exactly how to do this...

A lot of RPG's have a huge luck factor involved in them.  It is part of the nature of the beast really.  Because Pen and Paper games use dice, rather than some type of computer interface or video game console, there isn't an easily accepted way to talk about gaming skill in our hobby, but I did think up a few ways that you could potentially evaluate player skill using these frameworks below:

Powergaming Mentality
As a powergamer, I think one of the easiest ways that you could rate skill is through the effectiveness of your character, or your group, in dealing damage.  This especially works well in 4e where party optimization has become the new power gamer craze in some respect.  Don't just optimize yourself, optimize everyone else with you.  Then, using this powergamer mentality, you have a pretty easy way to rate how well a character or group of characters perform. 

How much damage did you do in the encounter?
How much damage did you take?
How many monsters did you kill?
How many players were killed?
How many rounds did the encounter last?

Answering questions like these gives a pretty easy way to evaluate how powerful a given group is.  But, even if you are evaluating based on these rubrics, it is still difficult.

The Success Mentality
I recently read Revenge of the Iron Lich by Save Vs Death.  The delve is very interesting in that it presents a tournament style rubric for scoring the players as they attempt to navigate a potent and dangerous dungeon.  I thought that this was a really cool thing to have in an adventure/delve like this one, though it does seem like their scoring rubric is pretty intense.  It would require a very hardy group of adventurers to go through a dungeon like that one.  This adventure is part of a design methodology called fourthcore - a type of dungeon design created to challenge the living daylights out of a group of near mad players/PCs.  I really like the methodology behind the design of this adventure as well as the actual adventure itself.

One of the core principles behind this success mentality it seems is rating skill of characters/groups based on their success or failure in performing certain tasks.  Did they find the treasure?  How far along the adventure did they progress?  Did they defeat X?  These questions get a little bit further away from each individual combat and instead look at player skill from a bit of a larger scope.

The Roleplay Mentality
I don't really know how well I could evaluate skill of a roleplayer in this area.  Evaluating a player based on his or her abilities at roleplaying seems like I would be holding a little Oscars of my own right at the game table.  I don't know if I would have the talent to judge a roleplayer based on this criteria.  Might have to call in the Academy...  the award goes to... Natalie Port... wait.... Jerome the Bard.

The problem with evaluating player skill based on a roleplay mentality is that you really can't do that.  It would be impossible to provide any actual point based system for scoring or analyzing.  To me, this mentality seems a little bit like a lost cause.

What do you think?

How would you rate a player's skill?  Do you have a way to do it that is based on a single encounter rather than an adventure or delve? 

We need an RPG like this....

WARNING!!  NSFW WARNING!!

I don't usually post stuff that isn't clean on my site, but this weekend, after hearing all the related news to the Video Game Bulletstorm I decided that I was going to have to have a go at the demo.  I picked it up off of PSN and, well, it was amazing.  The demo was really, really fun and I can only imagine that the full version of the game will be as well.  I can't imagine how mad multiplayer in this game is going to be, but I am sure that it will be more fun than barrels full of monkeys. 

Check out the trailer for the game below.



If you're not sold on the game simply from the preview trailer above, you should download a copy of the demo for the nex-gen console of your choice.   It didn't last all that long, but I'll tell you a secret - If you play the demo, and finish it, you can get some cool stuff for the game when it comes out.

But, why do I bring all this up?  Well, it kind of makes me wonder if we could put an RPG together like this.  One that lives on a mantra like "KILL WITH SKILL!"

In my mind, that would be sweet.  It might not be something that everybody would want to play, or something that you could run long campaigns of, but I think it would fall into the category of games for me, like the new edition of Gamma World.  I would play it once in a whle and probably drink a beer while I play.

Getting rid of Weapon and Armor Proficiency the Demon's Souls Way

Pretty much as soon as the announcement that Dark Souls was going to be coming out, I got out my copy of Demon's Souls that I had put away since picking it up at Christmas and decided to give it the play through that it deserved.  I'm going for 100% trophy completion.  That is not going to be an easy task, but it should sure be a fun one.  Right now I'm about Soul Level 100 and about to finish my first run through of the game (that is only about 25 Hours of actual play time - I'm a quick one).  The other challenge I set for myself was that I was going to play the entire game offline - nobody will be helping me on this solo path towards greatness.  I will probably end up jumping online to PvP with people, but only because I'm a griefer who enjoys hunting and killing other collectors of souls.  ;P

My current character, Azmodeous (gotta love him) is a bucket of fun for several reasons.  One of those being that I decided I wasn't going to be taking him down a particular special road through the leveling process.  Instead, I decided to keep him pretty well balanced and try to make him have as much options accessible as possible.  He is turning out to be very mage-like, but he can swing one of the above big bad cloud swords like the best of them.

One of the reasons that is actually very easy in Demon's Souls is through the way that they deal with equipment and proficiency.  In order to use a particular weapon, all you need is the requisite minimum statistics.  There aren't any Feats you have to deal with, or any skills you have to train if you want to use something like a wand or a big huge sword.  All you need is a bit of magic power or a bit of strength or faith and you're good to go.  I love that. 

In the course of leveling this character up, I have tried to stay very general in the advancement process, though I have been putting a few more points into some statistics than into other.  I have tried to give him the ability to have as many magic spells as he can, as well as cast as many miracles as allowed (this game's equivalent of divine magic).  Right now, I am almost maxed out in both of these areas.  I can remember 5 of 6 possible magic spells and 3 of 4 miracles.  This gives my character a lot of flexibility as to what spells or miracles he can cast when.  Also, having both spells and miracles means that he has a pretty good balance of defense and offense making him a reasonably good PVE solo character.

But, spells and miracles are only half of it; there are also all the weapons.  There are actually suprisingly more magic weapons in the game than I remembered.  The reason for that is probably due to the fact that my first time playing through the game took me well over 200 hours.  I got beaten down badly all the time.  But, once you figure out the game, and get better at it, you learn to remember where things are difficult and where the bad things are going to come out of the darkness and the game's difficulty level becomes a bit more manageable.  Because the game took me soooooooo long to play, I remember using the same basic gear for a much longer period of time.

But now, that is a very different story.  I am going through weapons pretty quickly - I have gotten a bunch of new magical gear which keeps me entertained.  And, since I'm kind of middle of the road when it comes to stats, I almost never worry about not being able to use something - being a generalist certainly has its perks.

Maybe the simulationist has a perfectly reasonable explanation for why certain weapons may require proficiency to use well, or why some weapons are harder to use than others, or why a certain weapon might require special training to be able to actually hit someone with, but in the end, that all just feels like a lot of dead weight to me.  I don't want to have to tie myself down to using only Fullblades for the rest of my fighters career, when I pick up that Exotic Weapon Prof Feat at level 1.  Retraining aside, I think it is much more fun to simply allow people, within reason of course, to use whatever weapon they want whenever they want to use it.

The way that Demon's Souls does this is pretty clean and simple.  Every weapon has an associated set of abilities; maybe that is strength, or dexterity, or maybe it is faith, magic, or luck.  If you don't have the requisite ability score, you can't use that weapon to its full power.  You suffer some damage when wielding the weapon in question.  Most of the time though, weapons that are in the same category all pretty much use the same ability scores as a baseline.  If you're going to be hitting someone over the head with a big sword, you will likely need a high strength; the same can be said for medium sized swords, and other two handed weapons as well.  By doing this, the game allows you to pick from a lot of different weapons, keeping the game fun, and also keeping you from getting bored.  Variety is the spice of life and this system keeps life very spicy.

You could easily make whatever pen and paper RPG you are playing work the same way.  D&D 4e is particularly easy in this respect.  For example, you could simply rule that anyone with a strength of 18 can use a two-handed weapon and gain the proficiency bonus for it.  You could also say that 16 is required for things like axes; maybe 14 for stuff like one-handed swords, etc.  House ruling like this will let your players experiment with different types of weapons and will allow them the flexibility to pick up something new once in a while and try it out.

24 Hour RPG - Ghost Runners [Working Title]

Ok, I admit, I love the 24 Hour RPG Contest too much to let it go away.  I'm going to tackle the game design contest again, this time, I'll be using the films Ghost Busters, and Blade Runner.  Sound like fun? It does to me.  I'll probably start actually sitting down to design in about an hour or so.  Gotta pick up some food, etc, before I get onto my netbook and hit the design fiesta yet again.  As last time, I'll be tweeting the whole thing.  If you're interested in checking out the design process, go ahead and follow me on Twitter @Shinobicow776 - you can use the little twitter button at the top to do that.  Wish me luck!!

Marrying D&D 4e with FATE

In a conversation I had yesterday with @digitaldraco on Twitter, I brought up the legal question of whether or not you could unite the FATE system, which has an OGL with the D&D 4e system used under the GSL.  I'll get into the reasons for this in a second or two, but apparently it would seem there is some legal precedent for this.  Although I haven't played the Dresden Files RPG, I have heard a LOT of talk about it around the web; I am informed that the game uses the GSL for D&D right alongside the GSL for FATE.  It seems to me then that there is some precedent for using the open game license for FATE with 4e.  Cool.  Question pretty much answered (if this is wrong let me know).

The reason for this madness of mine is this:  I really love the tactical, miniatures based combat that D&D 4e provides, but I definitely see the problems it has for roleplaying.  I love me some 4e, but the groups that I have had play it usually ignore more roleplay opportunities in favor of hitting monsters with pointed sticks or blunt objects (or both).  I wouldn't say that the system used for D&D 4e discourages roleplaying; I just don't think that it goes out of its way to encourage it.

On the other hand, FATE is driven by roleplaying.  The narative power of Aspects is pretty amazing.  I feel like there is a lot of power behind that system which drives players to roleplay well.  Using FATE points to activate or compel a character's or even a creatures Aspect is an amazing game mechanic. 

I see no reason why these two system should not, or could not be wed into a blissful union that combines the best of both worlds. 

The power creep in 4e is pretty immense.  When you think about the fact that Fortune Cards recently hit the FLGS shelves, you can imagine that your characters will be getting a few new bonuses to their rolls which up until now they weren't getting.  What would happen if instead of giving these +X bonuses to your players based on some random card that they pull out of a deck, you gave them based on activating a character Aspect and thus encouraging roleplaying even during encounters? The answer: nothing bad. 

Aspects in FATE have a nasty double sided nature - they provide your character with a potential strength, but they also give the GM a pretty little weakness that he or she can exploit.  Giving Aspects to characters is a great way to change up the story and perhaps lead to some very, very interesting results. 

I can't say whether or not I really dislike the other elements of the FATE system because in all honesty, I have not really gotten to see stuff like Stunts and Skills in practice during a game.  My experience with FATE is limited to what I have read, or typed in PbP games.  I don't necessarily think the system is lacking in that respect; I just think 4e does it so exceptionally well that I wouldn't really want to move to a different system just to play other tactical fantasy combat.  My jumping ship to a different system is usually spurned by wanting to try something different, not try the same thing in a different way. 

My idea for combining these two would be to allow every character to start the game with 10 points to buy Aspects.  For every Aspect they pick up, they lose 1 point.  You start the game with whatever FATE points are left over and whenever you take an extended rest, you refresh X number of FATE points.  You can then invoke or compel Aspects whenever you want - you can use them to get a +2 to a single d20 roll (skill, save or attack) or gain a +2 bonus to AC (no rerolls allowed because of the difference in die size in the d20 system).  If you like that little houserule, why don't you give it a try and tell me how it works out.  I would love to know.  TTYL

Spotlight - L5R Kickoff!

Well, it has been a long road leading to this point, but, triumphantly, I am ready to kick off my review week of the 4th Edition L5R Core Rule Book.  I got this as a review copy and have been literally glued to this book for about the last two weeks.  I have been delving deep into both the setting and the system and feel like I am now prepared to tackle this monster tome of a roleplaying game.

L5R produced by AEG is, in my opinion, one of the lasting juggernauts of RPG's.  I was a pretty big fan of the game when it was out in its previous edition, because of my love of Asian settings, and I have a lot of those roleplaying books still locked away at home in my gamer trunk (this has spilled over onto several bookshelves now).

L5R is a game based around several Asian Cultures, most prominent of those being Japan. Since I'm such a big Japan nut, and have a major in Asian Studies, live in Japan, etc. etc. I thought I would probably be a pretty good person to give this a review.  The game came out some time ago, but it is still worth talking about now. 

I will say right up front that I was totally blown away by the quality of the book in every single aspect.  The artwork is fantastic and in full color.  The book itself is of superb quality and the cover is brilliant.  The formatting of the book is perfect; the sidebars have almost as much visual impact as the actual artwork of the book.  You would not be wrong to buy this book simply to have on your coffee table alongside other art books.  It has been said many times, but really, this is the best looking book put out this year, hands down.

But... what is inside this book?  That is what I will be talking about considerably this week.  And, consdering I have made about a dozen characters now, you will probably even get to see a few of my character creations up on the site.  Stay Tuned!