ANYWAY… Today I overheard possibly the funniest encounter I’ve overheard in a long while. They are playing what appear to be vampires in a modern day setting that sounds more like True Blood than WOD Vampire.

One of the players was following someone into a kwikimart style shop but didn’t want anyone to know he was there so turned into a shadow and followed the next customer in through the sliding doors. I missed what actually happened as the canteen queue had moved by this point but on the way back I could see the player was getting very frustrated.

by akuban @ Flickr

Whilst the player was in the shop the lights went out and everyone ran out the front door leaving the vampire standing in the middle of the shop. With his target gone he went to leave as well only to find the automatic sliding doors wouldn’t open. At first he thought it was a powercut until he noticed the register was still working as were the overhead fans and air con. This was where his problems started.

He followed a belief system not far from The Masquerade and so he couldn’t use his powers in case someone noticed. He was quite happy that he wouldn’t show up on the CCTV cameras but he couldn’t force the door open. He jumped up and down on the door mat hoping to flick the switch to operate the door. He pushed over stacks of beer cans onto the mat hoping to trigger the same switch. It wasn’t until he lit his lighter to double check the lock on the door that it opened. He was going completely mental by this point.

I wonder just how many people that play vampires in roleplay games remember that in most systems they very rarely give off body heat and so infrared sensors will not work for them?

It made me laugh on a day that really needed it so I thought I’d share.

The Rocketeer @ Flickr

In later years we moved on to Vampire:TM where your actions had an impact on your humanity stat. This was the closest we ever came to a system that mirrored real life in that you could in theory do anything you wanted to but for every bad action you had a chance that you would start to spiral down into the abyss and lose touch with everything that made you human. Again though this was very black and white.

I guess what I’m getting at is why should we be relying on mechanics to mimic something that is so complex in real life that very few folk understand it fully anyway. Without being a psychologist do we need the system dumbed down that much that we revert to using lists of sins to judge how far we’ve moved from our original alignment? Why can’t it be roleplayed out? If a player chooses to make that jump it’s going to have a different affect on them than on another player and it should be worked through with the GM. That’s all you need. The repercussions of an evil/good act can range from simple self loathing to something far worse but it should be specific to that that character and not drawn from a table ina rulebook.

These are just a few quick thoughts that I might expand on later once I get back into the swing of things. Hopefully November will be a busy month here at The Dice Bag.

This post was brought to you by the letters N and E and the RPGBN carnival which this month is being hosted by Seamus over at Games of State on the topic of Morality: In-Game and Real Life.

During my Cyberpunk days we would run one off trauma team days. It would be a fun way to spend a few hours and every call out would be have a glut of combat as well as plenty of other things to keep the non-solos happy. From pilots bringing in the team to the medics working their magic under covering fire. I’ve never tried to move this format to any other setting or system with the exception of a Twilight 2000 game where we kitted the team out with every skill on the planet I think.

Plug1 @ Flicker

So is it possible to transfer this format over to a fantasy setting or even have it run successfully in a modern day system? I guess what I’m getting at is without the combat element just how do you keep your players interested in what amounts to constant skill checks in most systems? Is it possible to maintain the players interest in a gaming session without having an in depth knowledge of accidental wounds and a copy of Gray’s Anatomy sitting beside you?

How does a player roleplay first aid? It’s going to get old very quickly if every time someone comes across an injured body they have to run through first aid drills. Checking for dangers before checking the injured person. Checking breathing and circulation. Looking for obvious wounds. Performing CPR. Injecting them with whatever they need and getting in the ambulance. But if they just end up rolling dice and say they ‘perform the usual drills’ then it takes the feel out of the game. I’m actually watching the new TV series Trauma to see just how they keep it fresh week in week out. So far it’s working but I’m not sure how well it would work in game. Do you really need to have a slutty ‘nurse’ in your team to keep the guys interested?

I guess I’ll be writing more on this once I get the idea clearer in my head on how it might work.

Fast forward to today and I’d been invited along to my World of Warcraft guild ’s Guild Master’s house to play in his regular Talisman game. Also playing was another friend and another WoW player. If I get this right my experience until today had been almost all 1st edition with three or four games of 2nd edition before I stopped playing. We would spend all our RPG downtime playing this game so when I walked into his house and seen the 2nd edition box sitting on the table it started to come flooding back. They use the 4th edition board with the 2nd edition cards and we also had to the 4th edition Dungeon expansion set to play with.

Flicking through the character cards before we started brought back so many memories and so I picked my favourite from all those years ago… the Dwarf. Back in the day we played the game slightly differently from how most might play it. We actually played the characters as if it was an RPG we were playing. The Dwarf would like to go to the Tavern for a drink or two and the Druid would be more likely to go to an outdoor square than one of the corner ‘civilised’ squares. so when I chose the Tavern over another square because it’s what a Dwarf would do I was told, “Hey… this isn’t an RP server”.

My game started slowly but everyone else managed to die off pretty quickly and once they were reincarnated one of the players started to surge ahead. After we realised we could survive in the Dungeon it started to heat up pretty quickly. I found myself a horse and with a strength and craft pool almost next to one another I managed to get my character a good foundation before heading for the boss. I hadn’t read much about the implications of beating the boss so once I had received my loot and we worked out where I would teleport to we soon realised that I was going straight to the Crown of Command. The end game had started and noone had even started trying to get there. My dice rolling was that bad however that by the time I won almost everyone had found a way to knock on my front door. I cut it fine but I won in the end. It was a nice way to get back into playing.

Now should I continue playing with the RPG element to my characters or play it completely as a board game?

I have  a list of topics the length of my arm that I will get to… honest

In the meantime if your on the Balnazzar WoW server and see a guy running about called Dubh then say hi. I might be concious enough to return the greeting.

I’m torn on this one. On one hand I’m not a fan of fourth edition D&D but on the other hand I was a huge fan of the original version of Dark Sun for second edition. So much so it was all we played for several years until I joined a new group that only ran Forgotten Realms.

From the information that WotC gave out at the con it seems like we might actually get a faithful attempt at bringing Dark Sun into the current system. I was joking about on Twitter this morning about how they could mess it up but after looking again at the press release and the blogs of those that were there I’m quietly hopeful. So hopeful in fact that I might actually give up my card carrying hatred of the system and give it another go when it gets released.

So what is it that’s making think this is a good idea? Well aside from originally wanting Dragonlance to be the next setting I can completely understand their reasoning behind it all. They have a system that currently has a couple of settings on the bookshelves of stores but everything they have out there is very similar. They are being compared to computer games like World of Warcraft with the style as well as the game play. So they now want to push the boat out and show us just what the system can do with you give it something like Dark Sun to play with.

They have a couple of the original writing team on board who really want to get this project going and seem to want to keep it’s history and style rooted in the original books. I’m slightly worried about the comment they made about making sure that the re-release of the Prism Pentad novels fit in with the back story in a way that allows it to ‘one possible way things turn out’. But that aside going on their interview in Dragon 378. I’m quietly optamistic.

I also think that 4e’s reliance on mini’s and battlemaps may be able to improve on the one thing about Dark Sun that I really didn’t like. Structured one on one fights in a normal roleplay you can get away with but when it comes to gladiators and the games I think the 4e combat system will work fantastically well. I’m still not a fan of it for most settings but I think arena combat will really benefit from it.

Considering the changes brought in for the revised edition that made it’s way onto the shelves not long after the original setting was published I’m really curious to see where they are going to take this. It’s not a setting where you can just shove everything 100 years into the future as everything will be almost the same. Unless there were major uprisings the bad guys will still be there and if they are beaten then it changes both the feel of the game but also the earth itself will change as the amount of defilers on the planet drop dramatically with the Templars out of the equation.

Suffice it to say I’m looking forward to it and August next year can’t come soon enough!

The map is shaping up quite nicely now. I have the land down and the roads have been roughly drawn in to give me a little idea of the scale of things. I’ve also started work on the placement of the stone walled section and the keep.

I’m not sure about the road placement as I think I need another road further south connecting the market without heading through the barracks in the centre. I’m also not keen on the shape of the keep but it’s something to work on over the coming days.

Ignore the brush size comments as they are just my own notes so I don’t end up with random sized towers and walls when I forget how big they are supposed be.

Click to enlarge (hopefully)

Unfortunately I’ve been roped back into playing WoW so progress will slow down but it won’t stop as most of the map is being drawn up over lunch hours rather than at home. Check back every so often if you want to see how this pans out and what it looks like when it’s finished.

Anyway I’m currently at the point where I’m beginning to describe the capital of the my island nation and I’ve gone as far as broad statements can go without having something drawn up that I can use as a map for the city. I’ve been having a great deal of trouble getting it drawn up at the scale that I want it as my PC just can’t handle the file sizes and the tutorials I’ve been following are all for much smaller scales.

I’ve came to realise though that my original ideas for the city were too grand. I originally had a huge city 2-3 miles across and it would take forever and a day to map that out but the limits placed on me by my computer have actually made me realise that a) my nation could never support a city that size and b) if I cut up the land into blocks my PC can handle it far easier. Yet again I’ll be following a tutorial by Ascension from the Cartographers Guild but I’m taking a lot of hints from Coyotemax who put his own slant on the tutorial during his work in progress thread.

The as yet unnamed city is the capital of The Isles. Each island has their own ruling family and the King is drawn from the most powerful family. For many years the seat of government moved around the islands depending on who ruled the roost at that particular moment and this was fine until one year a neighbouring nation declared war and sacked the Kings island and kidnapped him looking for a ransom. The Islanders rose to the challenge and rescued their King but at was at this point that they decided a dedicated stronghold built to withstand any attack was needed.

First phase
Capital situated on a promontory in a bay who’s entrance can easily be defended. The land behind the castle is mostly deep bog preventing all but the most tenacious/foolhardy attacker attempting an overland assault. Keep, barracks, religious, diplomatic and council wards built and surrounded by wooden palisade. Only entrance to the palliated area is via small harbour beside the Keep. Siege weapons hidden at mouth of bay with Signal towers High up on cliff tops.

Second Phase
Wooden palisade upgraded to stone wall and gatehouse built to allow access to the the market and encampment that grew up around castle. Additional larger barracks added at this point and the harbour increased in size to accommodate military ships.

Third Phase
Shipyard built and market harbour built to increase rapid growth of market. Dedicated crafters quarter set up. Wooden palisade built around encampment and some permanent buildings appear within these walls. Mostly inn’s and taverns at first but as the crafters became more settled smiths and other heavy industrial crafts build more permanent premises.

Fourth Phase
Encampment is now 80%+ permanent structures. Land outside of palisades gradually converted to agricultural land. The city is still unable to be self sufficient and has to ship most of it’s food in from other towns and islands.

Fifth Phase – Current.
Market Harbour increased in size and coastal defences upgraded to safeguard the entrance to the city. Land surrounding city can now support the basic needs of the people but all luxury goods and foodstuffs still need to be brought in from outside.

This is going to be time consuming and most likely tedious at times but it is the heart of my small part of the setting and so it needs completing before I move on to the other islands.

In the beginning there was the original band of brothers that learned the true meaning of power gaming and the phrase munchkin. Then there was my brothers group of friends who I started gaming with so that they had a GM for their group. When I was sixteen I signed up for the new gaming group that was being organised by our FLGS but it wasn’t until I was leaving school at eighteen that I decided to actually go along. I brought along some of my brothers group and one of the players from my original group expecting to find this huge club. When it originally started they were getting something like 20 members coming along every night but when we turned up they had six players. By the following week my players accounted for two thirds of the club.

After a year or so the rent on the room we had in a local school became that high we couldn’t justify the expense so we went through a stage of hiring local community halls and when we knew the numbers would be low holding the sessions in each others houses. At one point myself and a few of the othe more experienced gamers were asked along to the original groups Saturday night World of Darkness game. This ran for a couple of years but eventually both the club and the Saturday night group disbanded. One of the original players ran off to Ireland to get married and never came back and a few others had to get night shift work. We went back to playing as an amalgamation of my first group and my brothers friends after this and very rarely seen any of the old club members.

On occasion we’d see Geordie out at the Cathouse Rock Club on a night out and I’d bump in to one of the Ian’s every so often purely because I’m sort of related to him in a “his brother is the father to my cousins who’s mother is my mothers fostered sister” kind of way. But that’s it. Or was until last night.

I was at our local shops buying a few essentials for dinner when I realised the guy in front of my was our old DM and club organiser. Apart from aging a few years there was really no difference and whilst I do have a beard these days it’s hard to not recognise me either. He stared indifferently around the store but when he seen me you could see his brain working overtime and then became a little hostile. What the hell had I done? Did he mistake me for someone else? I was sure the group disbanded on good terms but obviously there was something not quite right there.

I did have many happy memories of those gaming sessions but this morning I’m struggling to remember even one of them. Nothing happened other than being given an evil look, in fact if he’d have been a vampire his eyes would only have flashed red, but it’s still left a bad taste in my mouth. I know folk have problems with players or DM’s that just don’t get on with their groups but I’m failing to make much sense this morning of what happened. It was a complete non-event but it’s still had an impact on me.

When I first started writing for this blog all anyone in the RPG blogging scene was writing about was Gen Con. For years I’d wanted to go but with it being held on the other side of the Atlantic I was severely limited in my attempts to attend. As time went on and mortgage applications were signed and children were born I came to the realisation that I’m never going to get there any time soon.

As an beginner in the world of RPG’s I didn’t really know what to write about. I’m that out of the loop on new releases that I struggle to keep up to speed with my 4e news and don’t get me started on any of the 3rd party products for 3/3.5e that everyone seems to know about as well as the rules and laws behind publishing for them. I decided to follow the same guidance I’ve followed for every other blog I’ve ever written. Pick your 8-10 favourite blogs in your niche and take the topic that is doing well for them at that moment and write my own take on it. That is kind of hard to do when all anyone was writing about at that time was Gen Con. It’s not as if I could write about conventions in general as I have never attended any during my many years of gaming.

So what did I do? I changed the scope of my blog so that it was a place for me to just write. Hopefully it will end up being full of gaming anecdotes from my time playing but it will never be a successful site that people come back day in and day out to get the latest news from.

Olivier Bruchez @ Flickr

But what of Gen Con and my desire to attend? It seems my wife has had a burning desire to go to New York for years and hatched a plan to go later in the year. I had a choice. We could both go early next year for a few days for our anniversary or she could go later this year with her friend, catch an NFL game before heading over to LA to see relatives and I could attend Gen Con in 2010. Almost everyone has been putting on their Mon Calamari masks and shouting “It’s a Trap!” It isn’t. Honest.

So here it is. The planning starts now. Financial spreadsheets as well as a giant wall calender will be produced and I will be at Gen Con next year. I will. I will. I will. I will find the money and I will get play some games. I just better not end up talking to an alien in Area 51 or get lost whilst traveling by myself over 3,500 miles each way.