WoW Unethical?

Independent game designer Johnathan Blow has an interesting opinion. I heartily agree.

Mr. Blow says:

"It's considered best practice: schedule rewards for your player so that they don't get bored and give up on your game. That's actually exploitation."

He feels that games like World of Warcraft string players along with minor rewards through terrible game play. He feels this exploits the player - who is paying for this after all.

This is true. If I were approached by a GM who told me he wanted me to run around collecting leather and animal body parts to get random minor upgrades to my character - I would politely excuse myself and run for the horizon! Yet, I pay $15 a month to sit in front of my computer and do just that.

Early on in RPGs, this problem was encountered and, in my opinion, conquered. Players complained that games were basically running around a dungeon, killing monsters, taking their stuff and gaining levels. This was handled by making games more complex. Giving players more options. Opening up new game worlds like horror, sci-fi, espionage, etc. also gave depth to player options. Now, a game is as simple or as complex as a GM and players want it to be. It can be simple hack and slash, high fantasy, galaxy spanning space opera or anything else players desire.

Massively Multi-player games need to take a page from RPGs. Current schemes will work for a while, but gamers will get bored. Game designers who add new ways to play to their games will attract players who are bored with other games. This happened in the RPG world. Dungeons and Dragons was called boring more than once. Other games flourished from players looking for something new and different. D&D survived as a property to this day by updating their structure, broadening the game's scope and building a strong community. Today, D&D is a leader in the gaming world.

WoW will need to find new ways for gamers to play if they want to remain on the market. Constantly bumping up the level cap will only work for so long. I am already seeing chinks in the armor - Blizzard is now offering free play time to players who bring other players back to the game.

Blizzard is making in-roads to building new ways to play and form community. They have just released a patch to allow voice chat, thus improving the social aspect of the game. The next major release will add new game features.

However, I don't feel this is enough. Blizzard needs to add depth to the game. Find ways to have more player driven adventure - perhaps allowing individual players hire NPCs to raid local towns. Allowing players to build farms and other buildings. Allow players to set up shops in unused buildings. Allowing players to play more than a handful of races, classes and professions. I feel they need to do this sooner rather than later.

As an example, I have found a flash game that allowed a player to play a Murloc in a very WoW-like environment. After playing that - I wanted to connect to WoW and set up a mighty Murloc warrior!

WoW and the MassMOG world are in their infancy. They will go through the same or similar growing pains as the RPG industry has experienced. My hope is that someday, Massively Multi-player games will be as rich and deep as any current table top RPG. This way, I will be able to stop writing for my friends and just play!

The End of the Industry?

The debate has waged for decades, maybe since the industry came to be.

Every few years, sales of Role Playing games dies off. Then, something comes along to reinvigorate the industry. When I was in college, it seemed like the industry was in its last days. Then along came a little company from the Pacific Northwest with a little card game. Magic the Gathering players moved from collecting cards to collecting RPG books and the industry was alive again.

When I was a kid, the industry revolved around D&D. The media and people on the Religious Right set D&D as the main target of their agendas. TSR suffered, it probably never recovered. Many thought role playing would die off. I remember having conversations with people older than I at that time. I was just getting into the hobby and I wondered how others felt about it. I ran into several young adults who claimed to have played D&D once or twice. They were almost embarrassed to admit it in the light of all the media hubbub. I meet young adults now who admit they played a game or two of Magic. They, too, seem almost embarrassed.

Up until just recently, I usually explained to people that I was a role player almost as if I was making my own apology. "Yeah, I'm one of those D&D playing freaks" I would say, even though it had been years since I picked up a d20. D&D was the only RPG the masses knew, thanks to the bad press in the 80s and 90s.

These days, things are a little different. Everyone I know, including family members who looked at me funny for playing D&D, plays World of Warcraft! Okay, not everyone, but huge numbers of people. In my day, WoW would have been dismissed as hack and slash and not worth a gamer's time. So many people own Xboxes and Play Stations - if they aren't playing WoW, they are home playing Halo. Let's face it, Halo is just more hack and slash - but with guns.

Today, it's almost as if I have come out of the closet. I admit in, well, mixed company, if you will, that I am a role player. I likes me some GURPS! People still look at me funny, so I have to explain that it's like WoW or Halo except with paper, pencils and dice. Sometimes I have to go so far as to explain it's like D&D - that usually gets them to nod their heads. But, I don't get the same reaction I got when I was 25. At that age, it almost seemed liked people were sniffing me to see if I had recently showered, or they looked at what I was wearing, expecting Doritos stained tee shirts or something. I didn't live in my parent's basement, playing D&D by candle light - that came later! But people really did have an image: cultist. That image has changed a bit.

Many still think the industry is on the out. I don't think so. Geekly hobbies have been a growing trend for the last decade or more. As video games become more like paper RPGs and as table top gaming becomes more like video games, I think we will see new players. Players who want to do more than shoot at their friends and run around looking for ore and troll ears.

Already, Wizards has announced new electronic features for D&D 4th edition. If you haven't yet, click on our link to Dungeons and Dragons there on the right. You will see links off their main page about the new features in 4th ed. It's an hour well spent for those of us concerned about the future of the hobby.

For those of you looking for a way to make a mint off the Internet and gaming in general - there has to be a way to take the 3D gaming environment being proposed and use it more generically. As in, what if I want to play in a sci-fi or supers game? Setting up an SF street scene or the lair of an mad scientist would be great! If someone can come up with that and not restrict it to one game system - they will make the big dollars!

I think a lot of this can be done already. There are plenty of ways to chat on the Internet and there are ways to make electronic copies of character sheets and there are ways to share documents. A devoted enough group could set up an online game and I think they could have a great time. It would take some work, but I think it could be done. Give it a try and let us know what happened.

An Unholy Union

Sometimes I think people are running out of ideas.

I, like many gamers in my generation, started off playing D&D. I watched it evolve, albeit slowly. I was shocked by d20 - open source role playing. Intriguing. But, in all honesty, a long time player can look at d20 and see the layers. You see where D&D began and you can see where they added elements on top of the out-dated system. It may be true that d20 is the most popular system out there, but that's like saying Intel is the most popular computer chip. Both are the best sellers - but they are not the best on the market, merely the most used.

I've played plenty of other games, used plenty of other systems. I have my favorites. When I started playing White Wolf's Story Teller system, I didn't get it. It was too lite. I got that they wanted the players to worry more about role playing and less about rules - but I felt that the rules were just, well, not there. Now I get it - the rules were "not there" on purpose. If you were not acting as a rules lawyer, you had more time to think about the actions and motivations of your character. After playing for a while, I usually just stashed my character sheet and role played - really role played. It was quite liberating.

I see now that White Wolf has produced a version of the World of Darkness (WoD) for the d20 system: Monte Cook's World of Darkness.

This I do not get at all! White Wolf already has a working system. d20 already has plenty of books that you could use to run a WoD-like game. Do they really think the average person is going to shell out $50 for this book?

Okay, I want it understood that I haven't actually seen a copy of this book. I only found out about it a few days ago and I only have the advertising copy to go by - but I already have lots of doubt. Let's start with said copy:

"Dead souls returned to claim living bodies, creating blood-drinking undead fiends: vampires. Bestial spirits came as well, to create werewolves, and demons formed bodies from worldly matter. Magic crashed back into the world, and mages wield its power for whatever purpose suits them. Humans called the Awakened unknowingly keep the darkness at bay. These supernatural creatures struggle against each other and clash in the shadows ..."

Shadows ... you mean like Shadowrun? It's vampires and demons instead of trolls and dragons! Am I the only one seeing that? Instead of porting over the immensely rich World of Darkness to d20 - it sounds to me like they are reinventing the wheel and failing in the process.

For $50 bucks, I think you could do a lot more with your money. For example, if you must have d20 - and there's nothing wrong with that - hit eBay or Amazon or Half Price Books and buy a used copy of d20 Modern. I see it for about $20, which leaves room for a d20 Monster book - at less than $10 bucks used. There, I just saved you $10 to $15 even after shipping. Heck, grab d20 Call of Cthulhu and drive your characters insane! It's $50 and it, too, is written by Monte Cook!

I personally think you would do better with new or used copies of the WoD books. Amazon has the World of Darkness and Vampire: The Requiem hardcovers, new, for $40, you will qualify for free shipping, too. Your local used shop will have them even cheaper.

If you want my favorite, or if you just have to have lots of rules to lawyer over, you'll need to look a little harder. Start with the GURPS Basic Set, 3rd Edition or 4th Edition - whichever you prefer. Then, go looking for GURPS Vampire: The Masquerade. It's out of print, but you can find plenty of used copies out there. There are a few other GURPS/White Wolf books, but I leave it as an exercise for the reader to go find them. I bet you could put together quite the collection of used GURPS books for $50!

I guess you could also just wait a year for this $50 book to hit the shelves of your local used book store. It might almost be worth $25 bucks at Half Price books.

To sum up, I think the RPG industry, if it's going to survive, will need to do more than take a well known brand, affix it to a questionable premise, bolt that to a kludgey rule set and then over charge for the package.

QC rolls a natural 20 on a d12!

I'm a huge fan of web comics a.k.a. womics. I have a whole load I read daily. One of the reasons I am using Project Wonderful for advertising is that it's big in the web comics community. I'd rather give ad space to something I like and believe in than just any old thing Google throws at me.

Questionable Content is one of my favorite womics. Especially when they do the odd gaming joke.

Love me some QC!

Killer GM ... or not so much ...

For whatever reason, I have ended up doing the DM/GM thing for most of my gaming career. I rarely get to play. Right now is one of the few exceptions - I am a player in a Star Wars d20 game that a friend is running. But, that's coming off about two and a half years of my running games for that group.

I am not the world's best Game Master. I have played with several better GMs. I think it comes down to supply and demand. My friends have a demand: they wanna play! I'm willing to supply my humble talents. In the end, we usually have fun.

However, I know I have two weaknesses.

My first weakness is that I always underpower my enemy NPCs. The mooks I throw at the players are REAL mooks - a waste of time, easily disposed. The actual bad guys are usually just as easy to foil. Heck, half the time the PCs turn the bad guys into allies. It's no wonder I nearly stand up and cheer when I can get the PCs to run from a fight! I do believe my players have run from a few fights they could have won just to soothe my ego!

My second weakness is nearly as bad. I can't kill player characters. Can't do it. My players put a ton of work into their characters, I give them XP incentives for back story and good role playing, so I know they are invested. I can not just throw that work away - it's a waste of time. Maybe this is why I make the adversaries so underpowered.

I ran an AD&D game in high school. One of the players, Jess, was a complete ass! Okay, I'm a geek and I surround myself with geeks. Most of my geeky friends are computer nerds who get along better with machines than people. But, there is a certain type of geek - he is born with no social graces what-so-ever. This was Jess. We all liked the guy. He was our annoying little brother, even if he was older than some of us. But, there was many a night that playing began with the words "Shut up, Jess!" spoken in unison by the entire group.

Jess played an infuriating fighter character, I think its name was Brak. Between Jess' lack of social graces and his skills as a rules lawyer - Brak was nigh invulnerable. I so wanted to kill his character. Perhaps it would be enough to piss him off and then he would leave the group. I wasn't brave enough or mean enough to tell him to just go away. (I can do that now - this was the valuable lesson Jess taught me. Thank you!)

For example; Brak and the group got into a fight with an entire heap of goblins. As per usual, the group more than bested the underpowered little whelps. Jess, as Brak, decided to teach the goblin chief a lesson. He strapped the poor thing to his shield. Brak then finished the rest of the dungeon, feeding the goblin just enough healing potion to keep it alive. I came up with some stupid way for the goblin to escape when the adventure was over. I needed Brak to die!

I decided finally to grow a spine and wipe out Brak - and the rest of the party if need be! I set up a trap. The group found an injured ogre, but, unbeknownst to the group, the ogre wasn't alone. I sprung the trap! Ogres fell out of the nearby trees and jumped out of camouflaged holes! They were armed with huge cross bows and mancatchers! They fought well, but, in the end, I had the group!

Of course no one died! Are you kidding?

The ogres rounded up the group. Brak shouts out a challenge! He will best any one of them in one-on-one combat for the freedom of the group. I had him! I could kill off Brak and allow the rest of the group to live - perfect! I was so happy, stupidly happy! The ogres allowed Brak to choose weapons. Brak, being Jess, chose the most annoying thing he could:

A belching contest.

Beer was produced from saddle bags and backpacks. Both Brak and the Ogre Champion drank far too much. Brak made his Constitution roll - he was able to drink one more mug than the Ogre. Jess was pleased, the group was amused, so far so good. Finally, it was time. The ogre strode forward, aimed himself at a tree and let loose! I rolled. The ogre rolled quite well, better than Jess could ever hope to roll with Brak. I said that the ogre did so well, burped so loudly, he shook the mighty tree and scared all the birds away. Jess was DIS-pleased, the group was amused, so far ... so good!

Brak stood and aimed himself at the tree. I told Jess that the only way he could win was to throw a natural 20. He argued that he had more beer, thus more ammunition. I told him, no matter, the ogre had rolled that well. Roll a 20 or lose. Lose and you forfeit your life!

Jess warmed up his die and let fly ...





Brak let go such a walloping burp, it not only moved the tree, it uprooted it, scaring away a group of raccoons burrowed underneath. Further more, in places some of the bark was missing along with half the leaves.

Jess had been lucky and played the game well. I try to be a fair GM, so I relented and admitted utter, ego bursting, brain frying defeat! Foiled by the biggest dufus I knew! Brak had won the belching contest on an epic scale! The ogres fell about, laughing their fool heads off - even the defeated champion was laughing uncontrollably. The group stealthed away while the ogres were busy laughing and retelling the event they had all just witnessed.

Brak lived to fight - and annoy - another day.

To this day I can't kill off characters. Maybe it is a waste to throw away all that work. Or, maybe I fear being humiliated in another burping contest-like incident.

Maybe someday I will find a way to clear away the horror of Jess & Brak and become a Killer GM!

RPG Legos?

We all know that miniatures make gaming easier. Having that visual element while trying to figure out a fire fight is just so helpful. Plus, looking down at the board and seeing your character facing off against a bunch of foes is darned exciting. I think most of us love minis.

However, this is Dusty Dice - we adults don't have time to paint a bunch of pewter and plastic, not to mention the cost. While the new pre-painted figures that are coming out for several games are great, they, too, are pricey and they just don't have the variety of paint'em yourself minis - although they are getting better.

So, what's a time and cash strapped gamer to do?

A few years ago, when my friends and I started playing d20 Star Wars, I had to figure out this very problem. The books were expensive enough! The pre-painted figures were not on the market yet. There were no new metal figures out (because they were about to release the pre-painted figures - but I didn't know this). Finding old metal figures on eBay would have taken forever and would have been super expensive. The d20 Star Wars Core Rule book suggested using Star Wars action figures. At the time, I thought this was a pretty expensive and limited idea.

Now what?

I decided to go with Lego minifigures. Lego had been producing Star Wars sets for years. There was a pretty wide variety of figures, and at the time they had released several sets that widened that variety. No painting involved and for the most part a single figure only runs a few dollars. Plus, we're talking about Legos here. How many times have you rolled dice and knocked over all the minis on the table? Lego makes large grey and green base plates - the figures move around much less. Add to that that you can build walls and scenery with Lego bricks and there are dozens of pre-built bits already out there - it became something of a no brainer.

We stopped playing Star Wars and began a Super Heroes game a few years later. Instantly the Legos came out. With all the Legos that have been produced, you are sure to find minifigures and scenery to fit your game. We recently started a new Star Wars campaign - my character comes from a planet where the men wear turbans. I was able to find a purple turban from the Oriental Adventures sets, a head from the Extreme Sports sets, a black and purple shirt that belonged to Professor Snape in the Harry Potter sets, legs from a figure in the DinoAttack sets and a gun from the new Batman sets! Sure, it cost me a few bucks - but my figure looks awesome!

There are some pitfalls to this and you have to know where to look. Lego sets are not inexpensive, especially if all you wants are the minifigures and a few bricks. Lego does produce sets that are heavy on the figures - these are sometimes called Army Builder sets by those that use them for role playing and war gaming. Currently, Lego has two sets from Star Wars Episode 3, one of battle droids and one of clone troopers. If you are playing Star Wars - these sets, several of these sets!, are must haves. Watching your player's faces as you line up a couple of dozen battle droids is pure Game Master joy!

There are also ways to buy just figures. eBay is the most widely used source. A search for Legos or minifigures will bring up hundreds of hits. I have a few resellers that I like and that I stick with - I'm sure it won't take long for you to develop those relations as well. Then, there is my favorite: Bricklink. Bricklink is a Lego collector's paradise. If Lego ever made it, chances are someone is selling it on Bricklink.

As I said above, a minifig can be had for a few dollars. I use the $2 rule. I feel any Star Wars related mini is over priced if it is above $2, I try not to pay higher than that. I have bought several Star Wars minis for well below $2. I have bought Tusken Raiders for $.75 cents each when they were in an inexpensive set. I have bought battle droids for less than a dollar each even before this new army builder set came out.

There are times when you just don't have an alternative. Lego has a bad habit of putting out rare figures in expensive sets. For example, I have paid less than a dollar for an R2-D2 when there was an inexpensive set newly on the market. Currently, the low price for a domestic R2 (there are cheaper international prices - but that's before shipping) is $4.00. Lego produces a $100.00 set that has a black R2, R2-D5 - its current low price is $10 - that's down from $20 when the set came out. I can buy an R2-D4 (the red one) for about $5. And, Lego has just introduced a set with a green R2, R2-R7, which you can buy for about $30 on Bricklink, which is a third of the $90 price for the whole set!

Will I fork out $20 for a minifigure - Nope! I'll come on here and complain about it, but I won't fork up the cash! Lego often reintroduces popular minifigures in different sets and makes them less expensive. Lego has just released a set called Hoth Rebel Base. The set is $50 and features a white 3PO figure, K-3PO. However, this set also has two Snow Troopers, two Pilot Rebels and two Hoth Rebels. On Bricklink I would have to pay $65 before shipping from several different resellers - and I wouldn't get any of the cool bricks that come with the set.

I could put out $40 for an original Princess Leia, I could buy a rare Princess Leia for $20, I could buy an updated Leia for about $10, or I could scrounge around the site and put together something close for about $3 -it's all up to you.

By combining the strengths of eBay and Bricklink, I have built myself a respectable Lego RPG collection for a couple hundred dollars. It rivals what any pewter and plastic collector would have at that price and I didn't have to paint anything and I have all the advantages of using Legos. Give it a shot!

That's Better!

I've made a few modifications to the template. The all important ads are up.

She looks pretty good, doesn't she?

I swear the content will get better! :)