Gaming

WISH 42: Reusing Characters (original)… Do you ever reuse characters from game to game? When you reuse characters, what do you bring from game to game: a name and a personality, stats, or more? What kinds of characters do you reuse and why? If you GM, do you like to have players bring in existing characters? Why? I don’t ever reuse characters… wait, that’s not true. I’ve used Mange (half-orc barbarian) more than once, but that’s because I intentionally use him as a test character for 3e games. Any time I don’t want to burn a “real” character concept on a game before I know if I’ll like it, I’ll trot him out. He served as my NWN character as well. ...

I am slow as molasses in January, but here’s my thoughts on WISH 40: Preferred Style (original). The question: What style of game do you prefer to play in? Style here does not mean genre, although certain styles work better under some genres than others. Style is more about the elements that predominate in a game: combat, politics, mysteries/puzzles, romance/interpersonal relations, etc. What three adjectives best describe your favorite game style? Does this style lend itself to particular genres or games? ...

Warped setting idea for Sorcerer (original): high school cliques. Remember, in Sorcerer the demons don’t have to be demons per se. So in this setting, the demons are the clique leaders — the cheerleaders, the quarterbacks, the people who control the lunch tables. The sorcerers are the new kids in school. They have a choice: they can suck up to the cool kids (Binding, Containing, and so on) or they can maintain their Humanity (the amount of time they spend with actually interesting people). ...

It occurs to me that the ideal system for a Malazan Empire game would be Hero Wars. Which makes more sense the more I think about it; the Malazan Empire is heavily informed by Steven Erikson’s background in anthropology and archeology, after all. Glorantha is right up there with Tekumel in the upper echelons of similarly-influenced worlds. It seems you can’t write this sort of fantasy without an understanding of the way the mythic touches the everyday, and Hero Wars is admirably suited for that sort of thing. It is designed to scale from the mundane to the realms of the gods. ...

Promise to self: one non-war related post per day, minimum. I am not defined by my stance on this war. Atlas Games just released Ars Magica as a free PDF. Daring move, but it comes from one of the most savvy businessmen in the RPG business. I’m guessing it’ll work out pretty well and serve as a driver for sales of the supplements.

New week, new Game WISH (original). The question today: How do you prioritize gaming in your life to make sure it happens on an ongoing basis? Are there circumstances or scheduling issues that make it more or less likely for you to participate in a gaming session or a campaign? How do you work around these issues, or can you? I don’t really have that many commitments outside gaming — I tend to like to live a relatively unencumbered life. Even taking dating into account, I can swing a couple of biweekly games fairly easily. On the other hand, weekly games are a bit much of a commitment for me, which is the flip side of that attitude. ...

A generation ago, the City fell. The world fell. It is said that a great disaster marked the date, but that none knew of its significance until it was far too late. It is said that once, men did not believe in demons. If that is so, then disbelief was washed away by a torrent of winged creatures who eat memories and leave only shadows where men once walked. You are brookers, heirs to the tradition of your fathers, who fought the good fight on the Street of the Walls. You bargain with the merchants of the mainland, to ensure that every resident of the City can eat. You battle the demons that live in the tops of the fallen towers with sword and fire, because that is what your fathers did before they died, and you are better trained than your fathers. ...

What really amuses me about this review (warning: 100K GIF file) is how astoundingly accurate it is. I mean, yeah: In general, the concept and imagination involved is stunning. However, much more work, refinement, and especially regulation and simplification is necessary before the game is managable. The scope is just too grand, while the referee is expected to do too much in relation to the players. That’s the original three booklets in a nutshell.

I’m not in the habit of posting every little upcoming RPG release, but I gotta take note when Dan Brereton announces a Nocturnals supplement for Mutants & Masterminds. Brereton is a pretty decent writer and a great artist. His full color painted style is way outside the comic mainstream, but man is it lovely. Nocturnals is his horror comic — there’ve been a few minis and graphic novels over the years.

Gotta remember to do Game WISH (original) next week, if I have time, which I might not, since I’ll be at Dundracon and other West Coast points all weekend and my weeks are innnnnnnnsane!