Not So Famous…

Maddox grunted as the padded sword collided with his ribcage.  He slid to his knees, sweat pouring off his face. His opponent spoke with scorn.

“You fight like a fool in motley, Maddox.  Did Captain Jael take your manhood as well as your sword hand?”  Maddox mumbled as he pushed himself up from the ground.

“Daggar…the Awesome.  He’s gonna pay if it’s the….”

“Quit your mumbling, you fool.  Daggar did not take your hand.  Daggar did not unman you! The Ravagers strike like the wind.  They take what they need, and they’re gone before anyone notices they’ve been plundered! You were caught gloating over your success in that Inn.  It is a mistake for a new recruit…not a proven man of The Ravagers!”

“But I…” Maddox’s opponent drew his dagger and flipped it up, catching Maddox under the chin and cutting him before he could even think to move his clumsy, new sword arm up to block the swipe.

“…You make excuses for yourself, fool. Were you caught?  Yes.  Should you have been?  No.  You’ll think twice next time.  Were you unaware that the Whistling Pig was mere feet from the garrison? Then it’s your fault for being unaware of your surroundings! Did you not know how much time had elapsed from the time the tavern cleared out?  Then it’s your fault for being ignorant of the passage of time! Take your revenge on Daggar, if you like.  Revenge is the bread and butter of The Ravagers, fool! But if I hear you blame Daggar one more time for the loss of your sword hand, I’ll take the other bloody one! Now lift your sword and prepare to defend yourself!”

“Yes Dondarron!”  Maddox threw himself into his re-training with his entire being. It truly was an honor to be re-trained by Dondarron Ravager, himself. Dondarron was but a teen when he founded The Ravagers in Arz and began to strike fear into the hearts of the people of the Eder Soult. He was still in his prime these days, and took it upon himself to train new recruits to the evil organization. However, there were always more recruits than Dondarron could handle. Thus, training with Dondarron Ravager was something akin to officer training; a fast track to promotion in The Ravagers. However, Maddox had come to expect such treatment from Dondarron.

While Maddox appeared to agree with Dondarron Ravager for the moment, he knew it really was Daggar who had caused this all to happen to him. He hadn’t started the bar fight.  He had only defended himself. He just couldn’t understand why Kamaer Jael had sided with that fool, Daggar. There was a moment in that courtroom, while Daggar was speaking, where Maddox had actually been inclined to agree with him! There had to be some sort of magic at work. Daggar only confirmed this when, as he walked out of the courtroom with Maddox’s map, he dropped a wink.  It was as if he were saying that he, Daggar the Awesome,  orchestrated all of this to cause Maddox to lose his hand. Dondarron Ravager brought him back to the present by abruptly halting his attack.

“Maddox, my son, if you’re not going to pay attention to the training, I’m not going to waste my time.  I know you’re in pain.” Maddox moved to object, but Ravager forestalled him. “…Oh, I know.  It’s not physical pain. You’re well past that, my leeches tell me. And don’t think Jael won’t pay for denying you even a cleric of Benyar to clean your stump. No, lad, the pain you feel is the pain of a lost loved one. We rogues love our swords…we love our ability to take life.  Well, son, I’m here to give you that skill again. However, know this: I did not rescue you from that shopkeeper in Arz simply to have you unmanned when you suffer the fate so common to our brethren.” This man who had taken the place of Maddox’s father was a different person when he was not training his students, especially toward Maddox. This shift in demeanor and warmth was not uncommon.

“I have spoken with my contacts in the Arz Shadow Guild, and they have confirmed that a halfling thief matching the description of he who stole that map from you in Farzy showed up in Arz this week for training. They did a bit of searching and found Daggar at a nearby Kobar, studying to become a better fighter.  Now…” Maddox forgot himself in his rage.

“Sir!  You must instruct them to…” Dondarron Ravager was having none of Maddox’s insolence, however, and shoved him, causing him to try to catch himself with his stump and subsequently falling to his knees in pain. He put a hand on Maddox’s shoulder, and looked at him fiercely with his black eyes.

“Maddox, I ‘must’ do nothing of the sort.  My contacts in the Shadow Guild are of an informative sort.  I help support their guild, but they will take no actions on my behalf. What’s more, you are currently no match for even the mage that traveled with them at one time.  Now, it appears the cleric of Thor and the mage have parted company, but Daggar and the thief have been making noises that they are looking for buyers for magical items as well as hirelings: a map-monkey and a MICHARU. Wherever they’ve been, it looks like they’ll be going back.  You, however, will not leave this facility until you are ready, and I will be the judge of that.  So rest now, but be prepared to start your training in earnest again tomorrow. Good night.”

“Good night, sir.” Maddox was thought of as a son by Dondarron Ravager, but it was hard for him to see Ravager as anything other than a beloved commander. His own father had beat him both senseless and senselessly. Maddox refused to have a father. But he would continue his re-training on the morrow, and he would make fast progress…

…because he knew exactly where Daggar the Jackass, and the thief would be in a couple weeks, and he intended to meet them there.

William Harrison Bonney picked up his parcels from Old Man Hickart’s General Store, and took them outside to load them onto his wagon. His son, Billy, ran aimlessly around the wagon, oblivious to the danger that faced his young family. Katherine, William’s wife, had died the previous year of consumption, and William was of a mind to move out west. He had family in the Mormon nation of Deseret, and hoped they would take in young Billy, at least. The general store was his last stop on the outskirts of Batesburg before he made his long run into Deseret.

William had served in the National Army during the War of the Rebellion, and it seemed that he was doomed to run from the law from the day he got out. It didn’t help that he fought for a cause which he wasn’t entirely sure he really supported. Still, he was drafted from New York, and the State of New York was a Union State, sure enough. His discontent with the Blue Bellies and their aggression toward the Rebs was enough to cause William to consider other ways he might spend his time. Running guns seemed a good way to make a little cash, but it got him discharged from the army in short order. From then on, things just started getting worse.

He fell in with a railroading gang, responsible for the terrorizing of the Union Pacific railroad in the Nebraska Territory. The boys and he had knocked over many a train, and had secured them a virtual fortune. As soon as the gang had what they wanted, they set Bonney up in an ambush on a train job. It was then that William Bonney first came into contact with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

The Pinkertons had hounded his steps all the way to the Republic of Texas, where they joined forces with the Rangers. Bonney robbed a bank in Santa Fe for pocket change to feed his family, hastening his departure from Texas, and sending him toward Deseret. Rumor was that the Mormons weren’t allowing any lawmen from the United States of America, the Confederate States of America, or the Republic of Texas onto their lands. He didn’t much care for Mormonism by and large, but had family in their number, and he knew that the Mormons had a soft spot for family if they swore the oaths.

William lashed his goods into his wagon, and called for Billy to get in the wagon. Billy quickly obeyed. Suddenly, a voice rang out.

"William Harrison Bonney! You are hereby ordered to drop all weapons and surrender to Earl Jasper of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency immediately. I’ve got near 20 men here, and we’ve been deputized to bring you in, dead or alive. Don’t make this messy, Bonney. I know you’ve got your son with you!"

William looked around and saw that the posse hadn’t caught sight of him yet. He agonized for a split second that felt like an eternity, and made the most difficult decision of his life. He kicked the pin out of the harness holding the wagon, and vaulted onto his horse.

"Billy, you’ll be better off without my weight around your neck dragging you down." Just then, a shout let him know that the Pinkertons had caught sight of him. "Goodbye, Kid! HYAH!" He spurred his horse to a gallop and sped out of town, the Pinkertons hot on his trail.

The sun was high overhead, and William knew his chances were slim without water. His chances were slimmer being near the Pinkerton’s, however, so he spurred his horse toward Deseret. His thoughts, though, remained with a provision-filled wagon and a teary-eyed boy who would never see his father again. From that day forward, William "Billy" H. Bonney followed in his father’s footsteps, though he remained always…the Kid.

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that we’re starting up another Hackmaster campaign.  I created a blog site that will allow me to post my game logs from each session.  We had our first game this weekend, so I have my first game log up.  I’m posting them in narrative form because they’re more interesting that way.  Since I see P&P RPG’s as interactive storytelling, I felt that this fit better, and I’m getting very positive reactions from my players.

The site can be found at: http://savevsdeath.thedow.org

Needless to say (once you’ve read the log), the session did not go well.  :) There are some positives that could come out of it, though.  :)  I’m looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.

I’m really starting to get excited about this campaign, which might be starting up this weekend.

Therin, here is a Dwarven Cleric of Thor.  He is seen with his trusty warhammer, which also happens to be his holy symbol.  Don’t cross him, people.  :)

I don’t know if I mentioned this, but these portraits I’ve been posting are generated using the Hero Machine (ver. 2.5).  You can find it at:
http://www.ugo.com/channels/comics/heromachine2/heroMachine2.asp

Enjoy.  :)

(One of the co-creators of Original Dungeons & Dragons, E. Gary Gygax, died today. He was asked in an interview not all that long ago to state what his deepest desire was with regards to gaming. He answered, “…that more people would know what RPG’s are all about so that more people would be interested in them.” This is my feeble attempt to help further that worthy goal.)

This is a large topic, but I’m going to try to avoid creating an epic informational pamphlet, here. (I doubt I’ve succeeded.)
In its most simplistic form, an RPG is simply interactive storytelling in the form of an open-ended game.

Structure: The basic structure of a Role Playing Game is simple.

• Rules - There is a set of rules (often called the system) which attempt to simulate some form of reality.  In games like Spycraft, the rules attempt to simulate what we know as reality.  (To some extent…the reality of Spycraft is more like the reality of James Bond than our reality, but it’s not fantasy-based.)  In games like Dungeons and Dragons or Lejendary Adventures, the rules attempt to replicate an alternate reality based in fantasy.  This is much like J.R.R. Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth.  The rules simply say “Characters can move this far in this much time”, or “a fighter can swing his sword this many times in this amount of time.”  The rules often break time up into rounds, for ease of keeping track of things. The rules are often complex (like the laws of physics are complex), governing the creation of a character, the actions of that character on a day to day basis, and the potential death of that character in the storyline.  The rules are simply a framework upon which interactive storytelling can be accomplished.  Remember the old games of cowboys and indians (a very simple form of role-playing game)? Remember the whole “I shot you”, “no, I shot you first” arguments we all had?  The rules attempt to regulate who acted first, how long the action took, and where everyone else was when it all went down. The rules are often complex, since they have to represent the laws of physics, technology/magic, and everything else that happens in the interactive story. The rules often take into account things that are outside the players’ control, represented by a roll of various types of dice. (More on that later.)
• Setting - The setting of a game is just like the setting of a movie or book.  The setting is where the game takes place.  In a game like Dungeons and Dragons, the rules are kept somewhat generic so that they can be dropped into any setting.  In other games, such as Vampire: The Masquerade, the setting is integral to the rules; the two can never be separated.  The setting of the game can be as simple or as complex as the creator of the setting wants to be.  Famous in-depth settings for Dungeons and Dragons are Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Ravenloft. The setting can dictate such things as economics, politics, power shifts, nations or cities, among other things. Often, inventive players will create their own settings, preferring the creation aspect of things to buying a pre-built setting. Such an undertaking can take years to complete.
• Players - The most important element of a RPG is easily the players.  Without the players, there would be no one to tell the stories of their characters.  The players decide how their characters will act in various situations, interact with one another, and interact with various non-player characters (NPC’s) they meet in the course of the telling of an interactive story. In most games one player takes on the responsibility of being a sort of referee.  This position, often called the Game Master (GM) or Dungeon Master (DM) is one that demands in-depth knowledge of the rules, an equitable personality, and the ability to think quickly to rule on situations where the rules are vague. The GM takes on the responsibility of playing the NPC’s that the players will meet in the course of the game, while each player usually is only responsible for playing their own character. More on the GM’s job later.
• Plot - This is the story itself.  Now, as with any good story, the interaction between characters and how they choose to behave will be the entire telling of the story.  However, usually, the GM will come up with a story hook.  Maybe the group has come into possession of a treasure map, and now the group will head for the high seas to find this treasure.  Maybe an evil overlord has seized control of a city, and it is up to the players to free the citizens from the overlord’s clutches. This is the adventure hook.  It does not dictate how the players will act…that’s not the job of the GM.  The GM should have a basic plotline formed, but he should be ready and willing to adjust his plans based on the actions of the players.  The plot of an adventure is largely fluid, going where the players want it to go.  After all, it is their characters who are the protagonists of this interactive story.

Goal - Unlike many games, a true RPG has no real goal or winning condition that must be met. The goal is to tell an engaging story by interacting with player characters (PC’s) and non-player characters (NPC’s). To that effect, the goal of each player for their character is different.  A person playing a fighter-type character may only be interested in gaining money, power and fame for his character in the game setting world, such as many of the knights of the medieval times.  A person playing a thief may be supremely interested in robbing from the rich to help the poor, such as Robin Hood. A cleric may be interested in winning souls to the afterlife.  These characters all have goals that have been decided upon by their players.  Thus, the purpose of the game is to tell the story of these characters.  There are no winners; there are no losers.  The goal is to tell a story with your fellow players.

Dice - One of the most iconic elements of an RPG is the many dice that are used. Most people recognize the standard 6-sided dice with dots (called pips), but they might be a little confused when it comes to the “standard” set of role playing dice, which include a 4-sider, 6-sider, 8-sider, 2 10-siders, 12-sider, and a 20-sider.  The basics of these dice are simple: They represent different probabilities.  So if I tell a player that he will successfully dodge out of the way of a swinging blade trap on a roll of a 1 on a 4-sider, he has a 25% chance of succeeding in his action.  (1/4 is 25%.)  The 2 10-siders are often used to represent a number between 1 and 100.  (The first die roll is the 10’s place, and the second is the 1’s place.  So a roll of 4 and 2 is equal to 42.)  Those are called percentile dice.  (Representing numbers between 1% and 100%.)  There is nothing mystical or magical about dice.  A roll of a die represents an action or occurrence that is at least partially outside the players’ control.  In combat, not every attack attempt succeeds.  There are a number of factors completely apart from the skill of the character making the attack.  So if a player is very skilled, he might get a +3 to his attack roll on a 20-sided die, which would be helpful.  His skill sort of lessens the factors outside of his control.  When you have positive modifiers to an attack roll, you have a greater chance of rolling higher, which is usually good.  Dice are simply a way to get a random number.

So how does a game work? -  As is already described, one person takes the role of Game Master.  The GM is sort of like the director of a movie.  He knows what will happen from start to finish.  He can choose to reveal things to the actors (players) or he can keep these things hidden, revealing them only as their characters discover them.  Each GM has their own style of concealing or revealing information.  Generally, the GM has prepared an adventure beforehand, trying to anticipate his players’ actions in order to be ready to reveal to them what they are experiencing.  Since there is no screen showing the players what they see, the GM must rely on his storytelling abilities to help them “see” what is going on around them.  A very simple example of a game session follows.

Sara, Bob, Dave, and Brian are players in a game called Hackmaster run by their friend, B.A. They have just sat down at B.A.’s table to start a new adventure, having finished their last adventure last week. (Names borrowed from the Knights of the Dinner Table comic book, written by Jolly Blackburn.)  Try to spot the elements of structure I described above: Rules, Setting, Players, and Plot.

===============

B.A.: Ok, guys.  Good to see you.   You all finished the adventure last week, and did a good job, I might add.  So this week, we’ll start the next adventure I’ve prepared. If you’ll recall, we ended the night in your favorite tavern, the Tipsy Blacksmith.

Dave: And as I recall, I had just toasted the rest of the group with a nice pint of Dead Viking Ale.

Bob: Man, can we afford that? I’m just sticking with the house ale, B.A.

Brian: Actually, Bob, my character made out rather well.  Teflon Billy, the Magic-User is quite close to his goal of raising enough money to build his own Wizard Tower.  (With guest rooms for all of you, of course.) And B.A., Teflon Billy is smart enough to know that the water in this place comes from the horse trough. I’ll just have a glass of wine, thanks.

Sara: Why, Brian.  That is kind of you!

Brian: You’ll be paying rent, of course.

Sara: (grumbling).  Well, B.A. I’m drinking water from my waterskin.  What’s going on around me?

B.A.: Aside from the sight of your comrades in arms drinking to a successful campaign, not much. You notice a group of 3 people with their heads together in the corner of the tavern.  The largest of them looks around the room suspiciously pretty frequently.

Sara: (Trying to be heard over the sounds of Knuckles (Bob’s character), El Ravager (Dave’s Character), and Teflon Billy (Brian’s Character) toasting one another repeatedly.) B.A. do I know these guys?  Recognize them from any of the town meetings we’ve attended?

B.A.: No, you don’t recognize any of them.

Sara: Ok, B.A. I’m using my Glean Information skill to try and see if I can determine what they’re talking about.

B.A.: Alrighty, Sara.  Roll percentile dice.  (Sara rolls a 95 out of 100.)  Ooooh, not good Sara.  Not only do you have no idea what they’re talking about, but the big guy takes an interest in you listening in on their conversation and stands up.

Sara: Uhh…guys.  Can we postpone the toasting?  I seem to have annoyed one of our tavernmates.

Brian: B.A., is he brandishing a weapon, or making any other threatening gestures?

B.A.: Now that you mention it, Brian, yes.  He’s punching the palm of his hand with a fist.

Brian: I’m bringing a fireball spell online, B.A.  If he makes a move toward us, I’m letting loose.

Bob: Knuckles is patting his crossbow, which I always have slung over the back of my chair.  I want him to see that we mean business, and we can all walk away from this without violence.

B.A.: Bob, he sees your motion, but doesn’t seem to care.  He’s still slowly walking toward your group.

Dave: I’m not gonna take this!  I pull out my Hackmaster +12 sword, jump up on the table, and brandish it menacingly.  I’m going to use my Intimidate skill, too.

B.A.: Uh…Dave, that Dead Viking Ale is strong stuff.  You’ve had 3 of them between last week’s adventure and today.

Dave: El Ravager can handle it, can’t he?

Bob: I totally think he can, dude.

Dave: Alright, jumping on the table.

B.A.: (Consults the rules for alcohol consumption and rolls a couple dice.)  No, sorry Dave…he can’t. El Ravager slips when trying to step onto the table, falls, fumbles his sword, and nicks his leg pretty bad.  Take 5 points of damage for falling and cutting yourself.

Dave: Dude…that was so embarassing.

Bob: Can I help Rav up?  We’re going to need him in the fight, I think.

B.A.: Yeah, Bob.  Knuckles isn’t doing anything else at the moment, but the big guy is closer at this point.

Sara: I’m taking out my hand axes.  Perhaps a display of strength will convince this guy it’s not worth it.

B.A.: He’s still walking.  And now, he’s reached behind him and pulled out a wicked-looking knife.  You guys had better get ready.

Brian: That’s it…he’s drawn.  I’m done playin’ around here.  I’m letting loose with the Skipping Betty Fireball.  That probably won’t take him down, but might show him the error of his ways.

B.A.: Alright guys.  Roll for initiative.  We’re starting combat.

===============

You can see here that the rules accounted for El Ravager’s alcohol consumption and determined whether Sara heard anything of interest when she attempted to use her Glean Information Skill.

The setting was a tavern that the players appear to frequent.  Sara made mention of attending town meetings…sounds like the adventurers are involved in this town when they’re not adventuring.

B.A. made mention of the plot when he talked about the new adventure he’d created for his players.  This encounter with the angry tavern patrons was obviously something that B.A. had planned for.  Maybe they’ve got a map on them?  Maybe they’re plotting an overthrow of the mayor?  Rest assured, the players soon found out what the plot was.

Finally, it’s easy to see how the interactions between the players were what the game was all about.  Bob and Dave were enjoying themselves with toasts, though that seemed to hurt Dave later.  Brian and Sara were working together well to ensure that the group was not caught unawares.  This is your basic game session.  (The beginning of one, anyway…)

So what is the point of playing a RPG? - Playing a Role Playing Game is a way to get together with friends, enjoy one another’s company, and tell stories.  It’s not for everyone, sure. But it’s no different than getting together to play Scrabble, Sorry!, or any other board game.

What about when your character dies? - What about when your favorite character in a book or movie dies? There is sadness, as you’ve spent a lot of time developing your character, and now he must exit the scene with his hopes and dreams unfulfilled.  In some systems, death generally doesn’t happen; the character becomes unconscious or can be resurrected by technology or magic. But after the initial “awwww” factor, you roll up a new character, the GM works him or her into the storyline, and you continue.  Stories of people committing suicide based on the death of their character are either fabricated out of whole cloth (in every case I’ve ever researched) or else, the victim had far worse problems.  I can tell you that given statistics of groups of people, gamers have a lower suicide rate compared to any other group of people.  (I believe this is directly attributable to what I list below as the benefits of playing RPG’s.)  We’ve had a couple character deaths in my groups, and no one has passed more than a few minutes doing their best to try to escape their fate.  Generally, most players try to quickly roll up another character so they can join the action again!

What about what I’ve heard about Dungeons & Dragons being Satanic or containing real spells? - Nothing could be further from the truth, but an in-depth debunking of this popular myth is outside the scope of this post.  These types of claims are perpetuated by people who have never seen the rule book for D&D or any other Role-Playing Game, and are based solely upon the existence of the word “magic” in these books. (Or else adherence to some unprovable, anecdotal evidence sent to them by a friend.) The same people have no qualms about reading about the magic of elves and Gandalf in Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.  Their problem is based entirely on a belief that in a RPG, the player actually casts the magic spell, or actually does any of the things that their characters do.  In reality, a player whose character is casting a spell says “I’m casting thus and such spell.”  The rules determine whether the spell was successful or not, and play continues.  There are no rituals involved, no magic words, no incantations.  In fact, magic in a fantasy role playing game serves the same purpose as technology in a futuristic game.  A character might cast Magic Missile to attack their foes in a D&D game, whereas in Gamma World, they would fire a laser pistol.  Laser pistols are just as non-existent as the spell Magic Missile, but a laser pistol would not really fit into a fantasy setting, would it? To summarize, the people who say these things about RPG’s are either misled or else are blatantly lying to further their own goals. In any event, they are not speaking the truth. Rather than parrot what you’ve heard, do your own research.  Ask questions of gamers.  Gamers love to talk about their hobby, and they’ll be happy to tell you anything you want to know about the games they play.

So what if RPG’s aren’t bad, per se? Do they have any benefits? - Well, I’ve not done my own studies, but I can say for a certainty what values RPG’s promote.  RPG’s promote ingenuity and creativity in solving problems. In a RPG, players are presented with a problem they must solve.  A good GM doesn’t present his players with the solution…just the problem.  It is up to the players to come up with the solution.

RPG’s promote teamwork. The players usually must work together to a high degree to solve problems.  Lone Wolf style playing usually won’t get them very far.

In a world where we as a society are increasingly becoming unable to interact socially, RPG’s provide a way for people to interact with other, very real people. The games foster interaction.  Sitting off to one side is no fun, and someone who plays that way likely won’t enjoy it.  A good GM will attempt to integrate them into the plot, as well.

For the GM, but to a large extent the players as well, RPG’s foster the ability to tell a good story.  When our group tells stories about gaming experiences, those who weren’t there wonder when the heck we all got into a barfight because Matt couldn’t keep his mouth shut, or when a giant fly spit acid on James and Matt while they tried to knock it from the sky. These stories always get a laugh once our non-gamer friends realize the context of the stories. Storytelling is such a part of my life, that I can’t imagine not doing so.  As a result I try to encourage it in my players.

RPG’s reward overcoming overwhelming adversity…not giving in to it.  Depending on how the GM runs his game, they can also reward kindness, gentleness, meekness, self-control… You get the point.

Finally, and possibly most importantly, RPG’s foster imagination.  Back when I was a lad, we played games where we pretended we were space travelers.  We pretended that we were knights slaying a dragon.  We pretended we were pirates, sailing the seven seas. We pretended…  These days, children play computer games where the visual style or their surroundings are just handed to them.  They don’t have to create stories out of whole cloth, they just click the mouse, and there it is.  I’m a fan of computer games, you see, but I’m also a fan of writing, reading fiction and other stories…things that involve the imagination.  RPG’s are a GREAT way to foster this in a child or adult.

RPG’s are an excellent hobby and I commend them to everyone.  Whether Fantasy, Science Fiction, Spies, Pirates, or anything else is your cup of tea, there is a Role-Playing Game for it.  Find a group near you and tell your characters’ stories.

So it’s Friday, and I find myself removing spyware from one of my users’ computers.  It’s a particularly annoying infection, that I may end up just scrubbing if this doesn’t work soon.

I’m not complaining, mind you.  I am listening to Bach’s Art of Fugue on my new Skullcandy Noise-Canceling headphones, so it can’t be all that bad.  The thing is…I just don’t like spyware.

In other news, the Hackmaster campaign is gearing up fairly nicely.  I didn’t get any real work done on Wednesday, which is my planning day.  So that’s not so great.  I’m currently working on a city that my adventurers will start in.  I don’t even know if they’re going to spend any time here, but it stands to reason that they will want to come back here to replenish their supplies, etc.  So I’ve got to have it set up and ready to go just in case.  (If you’ve never gamed before, you ought to know that you never know what your players are going to do.  They might get it in their head that they ought to take over the military garrison in Farzy, and I have to have information on the surrounding buildings, etc.)

But I’ve got the story hook set up.  I just need to review the module we’re running through, finish Farzy, and help my players get their characters created, and we’ll be ready to go.  Hopefully within the next couple of weeks.

The weekend approaches!

Say hello to Lightfinger.  He’s a halfling who enjoys games of chance, though not as much as he enjoys a good dungeon-crawl.  It’s the prospect of serious injury and potential loot that makes him all giggly.

I was never into Role-Playing Games as much as many people.  There were a lot of people where the RPG’S they played defined their entire high school life.  Me?  I had band.  But I played occasionally.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned here that I started being interested in RPG’s when I saw some older kids playing D&D down the street from me.  It fascinated me, and though I didn’t know anything about dwarves, elves or fantasy magic, I admit that it fascinated me from the time I saw them to the time my friend Josh introduced me to Battletech.

Many of you will have heard of Battletech because you watched the cartoon when it was on Saturday Mornings back in the 80’s.  Many of you will have heard of Battletech through the Mechwarrior games (1, 2, 3, 4, and the numerous expansion packs and games.)  All of these are incarnations of the original FASA Battletech Franchise, but to me, the glorious crowning achievement of all forms of Battletech is still the miniatures game of Battletech, played on a hex grid with PPC’s, Gauss Rifles, and the mad scramble to grab a hold of Clan Equipment. Battletech was arguably not a role playing game, but it really introduced me to the defining element of good RPG’s, and that is dice.

Later, after Josh sold his Battletech stuff to another friend, we played a lot of Battletech. We even learned how to play correctly.  The correct method of play was more complex, and a lot more fun than the original, but something tugged at my heart strings.  I wanted to know what D&D was all about.

By the time I came to have the opportunity to run my own game, I had gotten involved in church.  Sadly, much of the beliefs I held at the time were completely based on extra-biblical sources, and thus they were of dubious veracity.  One of those beliefs is the widely-held belief that Dungeons and Dragons was the devil’s tool.  So when it came to us playing a fantasy-based RPG, the grandaddy of all RPG’s was off-limits to our ignorant butts.  We settled on a book that I happened across called The Darksword Adventures.  The game was called Phantasia, and it was poorly written, and poorly executed.  But we had a blast.  From turning trees into talking male members, to a trigger happy member of our party killing the main Non-Player Character before he could even get 2 words out, we had a lot of fun.

However, the game was clunky, as I said.  I wanted something with a little more meat to it, and it was a natural thing that I turned to Middle-Earth Role Playing.  The game was based on Rolemaster, which was also a lot of fun.  Our group fumbled along and we had a blast.  I’ll never forget when Derek tried to read a lvl 10 lightning rune at lvl 1 and blew his face off.  The critical hit and fumble tables were brutal.  Another of my friends named James B. cut himself in half when he tried to attack someone.  It was messy.

From there, we messed with Mechwarrior (the Pen and Paper RPG), more Battletech, a hybrid version of Battletech and Mechwarrior, and finally a hybrid version of Risk and Battletech that we called Maximum Risk.  We had a lot of fun.  The group waxed and waned, and usually included Derek or I running the games, and James, Buddha, and sometimes Gabe playing.  Good times. We even came up with a name for ourselves…Catastrophic Fumble.  “Rolling 1’s…with style.”

Then, we stumbled across what I consider to be the defining moment of gamerdom in each of our lives: Hackmaster.

Hackmaster was based on the old 1st and 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons rules, with new crunchy bits thrown in.  It was a parody, sure, but it was old school gaming at its finest.  I won’t even mention how much I spent on Hackmaster materials, but it was a lot…even thinking back on it.  But we had the most fun with this game than we had with any other system.  Our group went through some cataclysmic upheavals, sure.  From the splintering of our group after the creation of a party charter, to several of us getting married, to the entrance of MMO’s into our lives to help suck time….a lot happened.  But when I think about the good times we had…we had some seriously fun hours playing Hackmaster.

Well, ladies and gentlemen…a drastically reduced Catastrophic Fumble will be starting up a new game here in a month.  Mithicoron, who some of you will recognize from commenting on this blog, and Gabe, who others of you will recognize for the same, as well as being the person who’s over at our house almost as much as we are, will be starting up another game of Hackmaster.  I started working on Serenity, but I didn’t have the time to create the adventures I needed to.  I turned that over to Mithi, and to my knowledge, he’s working on getting a hold of the sole adventure book for Serenity.  I wish him well.

I’m going to be running the group through Quest for the Unknown and Little Keep on the Borderlands.  I’ve been looking through the books, and there is a lot of review ahead of me, but the nice thing is that I’ve got the adventure books I need to keep us playing for a couple of years.

I’m hoping that I’ll be able to post some game stories here, along with accounts from what’s happened.  Kim may join in from time to time.  James will even start playing with us again when he moves back to California.  All I know is that it feels good to be behind the GM Shield again, dice in hand.  I hear they’re even working on a new version of Hackmaster.  Who knows what the future will bring?  Whatever it is, Catastrophic Fumble will meet it, swords held tightly, ready to hack.

Ok.  Serenity: The RPG is gearing up.  I’m not ready to begin creating characters quite yet, but I’m putting some things in place to get ready for it. I’ve got some ideas I’m hoping to implement for our group that will help keep us close when we all live in so many different towns, but the first step in that is to create a mailing list.  This mailing list will contain one address from each of you, and I would appreciate if it’s an e-mail address you check somewhat frequently, as I’m going to use this list to help distribute news, etc.

Some of the other plans I’ve got in the works: A Forum so that you guys can talk about strategies, storylines, etc.  I’m also hoping to post what I call Game Logs after each session, so that if someone has to miss a game, they’ll know what they missed, or if you want to review something that happened, it’ll be up there.

Another thing that will be on the forum is a section for House Rules, and Group Rules. House Rules are rules of the game that we’ve either added, or changed from the original set of rules.  No game is perfect in print, and House Rules are very common.  Less common is the group that can remember all their house rules.  Having them up on the forums is one way to keep them all in view.  Group Rules are rules that we create for our particular gaming group.  These rules will apply no matter what game we’re playing.  They’re rules of conduct, etc.  Again, having them on the forums will make it easy for everyone to remember them.

Most of you have my address, and those that don’t can get it from someone you know.  If you’re planning on playing Serenity, or even if you’re not sure, but want to stay in the loop just in case, send me your address, and I’ll put you on the list.  Thanx.

I have had some people mention that they don’t really know what gaming is, or what types of people play Role Playing games.

To begin with, it’s not a gender-exclusive activity.  I mean, I’ve not really understood gender-exclusive activities, for the most part.  What is a “guy thing” or a “girl thing” anyway?  If a girl likes playing video games, why can’t she?  I don’t really understand what the point of limiting group activities to guy or girl things, but even if I wasn’t of that opinion, gaming is definitely gender-mixed.  I’ve had guys and girls in my gaming groups, and Kim will be playing Serenity the RPG with us, time permitting.

That having been said, what IS gaming?  Gaming is interactive storytelling, to be put quite bluntly.  What about all the dice and rolling and role playing, you ask?  Well, it’s a little more complex than storytelling, but we’ll get into it bit by bit here.

First off, I call gaming interactive storytelling, because at its heart, that is what role-playing is all about.  It’s telling a story of some sort using the medium of putting yourself in a role.  Role playing is used as an educational tool, it’s obviously a highly successful form of entertainment (seen a movie lately?  If you like, just call actors “role-players”.  lol.)  Put a group of people together, tell one that he’s a tavern-owner who charges too much for his (nasty-tasting) food, tell another that he’s a patron at said overpriced establishment, and you’ve got the beginnings of role-playing.

So what’s with the rules and the dice?  Well, it’s pretty simple, actually. Rules simulate a set of physics, basically.  Ever play Cowboys and Indians?  Or even more basic, ever play Tag as a kid? In Cowboys and Indians, or even any of the war games that I played as a boy (ok, THAT’S a gender exclusive activity, lol), the problem was always manifest in this way:

“I shot you!  You’re dead!”
“Nuh-uh!  You missed!”
“I did not, I aimed carefully!”

This can go on for hours.  The rules of the game simulate things such as, if you shoot someone, how much damage does it do, and how many shots can they take before they succumb to blood loss?  Or in the case of non-violent situations, can you use your skills as a diplomat to sway the President of a shipping guild to give you a job for less than the usual 30% cut off the top?  It’s just a way to resolve conflict of various sorts.  In the case of combat, you’re trying to determine whether the Cowboy really did shoot the Indian.  In the case of the diplomacy incident, you’re just trying to determine whether your use of your diplomacy skills made any difference in the final price of the job.  It’s just a way to simulate reality.  Various games have various rules.  Fantasy games often replace guns and technology with swords and sorcery, but the end result is the same in that they have a set of rules representing a fantasy-reality.

In the case of our tavern owner vs. the patron, we might have an incident where the patron wishes to appeal to a higher authority, so they speak with their contact at the tavern-owner’s guild to attempt to get the tavern’s prices lowered.  Now, the patron can claim that the guild demanded that the tavern owner lower his prices in the interactive story.  But does the patron REALLY have a contact with the guild, or are they just making it up to give themselves an advantage?  Rules help to cover this sort of thing.  Or what if the tavern-owner hovered in mid-air to convince the patron that he has the power to charge these prices?  Well, does the tavern-owner have this ability, or did he just make it up to give his character an unfair advantage?  Again, rules help us resolve this.

As for the dice, the much-feared aspect of role-playing games, it’s equally simple.  Dice represent an aspect of randomness.  Now, as a Christian, I don’t believe in true randomness, of course.  The Lord is sovereign over all.  However, that doesn’t mean that Christians need to fear or eschew dice.  The apostles used the casting of lots to pick the next apostle after Judas hung himself, didn’t they?  No, we acknowledge that though we may throw the dice, the landing thereof is determined by the Lord. (Proverbs 16:33)  So if it’s not random, then what it is?

Let’s imagine that I am walking across a field, and that I come across a trench that is very deep, and runs the length of the field.  In order to get to the other side, I’ve got to jump it.  It’s only a couple feet, and I figure I can probably make it, so I jump it, and land easily on the other side.  Sounds like no problem, right?  Well, what if I came across a second, visibly identical to the first? Simple.  I’ll just jump it like I did the last time.  Only this time, the grass I’m standing on is slick, the landing area on the other side is muddy and crumbly, and my knee gives out just as I leap.  This time, I fall.  The dice represents things that are out of our control.  Just because everything appeared to be the same as the original trench in my example doesn’t mean that I’ll just make it.  There are factors out of our control, and the dice represent that.  The Lord didn’t want me to make that last jump.  :) 

Dice in combat works much the same. I may be shooting a gun, but the wind is out of my control, the movement of my opponent is out of my control, and a myriad of other factors.  Sure, I can train my gun skills, and get better.  Maybe I’ll get large bonuses to my roll.  But there’s still the factors out of my control to contend with, and this is why dice were introduced to role playing games.

The basics of gaming are that you create a character, and then you play the role of that character as he or she journeys in the world that your Game Master (GM) has created for you.  Your GM introduces situations to you, and you play your character as they react to those situations.  In so doing, you create a story that no one has ever heard before.  Even if a different group of people were to walk into a tavern at the same time as your group walked into it, your subjective experience would be different.  Maybe one group engages in a game of darts, while another prefers to drink and tell jokes.  Yet another raucous group decides to get into a bar fight.  All of this can happen and how each character is played will determine what happens.  It’s like a giant version of the old Choose Your Own Adventure books, except in gaming, your options are only limited by the rules of the game.  Instead of “Turn to Page 15 if you want to play cards”, you are told, “You walk into a tavern. There are people everywhere, and the only table is near a group that looks pretty rough. Some are playing darts, some dice, and there is a loud game of cards in the northwest corner of the room.  What do you want to do?”  You can sit at the table and chance that the other group is looking for a fight.  You can join the dice, dart, or card games, OR, you can do none of the above, really.  It’s up to you.  You can turn around, walk out, and find another place to spend the evening.  That is the essence of gaming.  Tell your character’s story the way you want to.  Weave the choices of your companions into your story by your reactions to THEIR choices.  The game is nearly limitless as to the story you want to tell.

This is why I don’t feel it’s gender-exclusive.  Traditionally, RPG’s have been seen as being geared toward violence, but that’s only the choice of the GM, really.  Violence is an option in most cases, sure…but then again, how is that different from reality?  Someone starting a bar fight in a game will still have to deal with local law enforcement, just as you or I would.  It depends on how the GM runs the game, and how the players react.

I have found that females in the group lend an air of civility to the proceedings.  While a group of guys might be most likely to use their fists or swords to get out of a tight spot, much like Jayne, or Mal would on the Firefly, a woman will often seek to get out of a situation by talking, or paying a fine of some sort.  As a result, a female presence in a gaming group can really change the way a group resolves the problems with which they are faced, and I love that dynamic.

Well, I supposed I’ve rambled enough, but if this helps someone to see what gaming is or is not, then it’s been worth it.