When I had the itch to start running a new RPG campaign I went with what I knew: Dungeons & Dragons. I picked up a few of the latest edition books and immediately set to writing a new version of my classic Vallhyn campaign. I was quickly surprised at how much D&D 4e was like an MMORPG and less like… well, D&D.

I don’t mean that in a negative light. It was just a very different experience and the classes truly were like the classes you’d find in an MMO. There were powers that a player could “click often” (At Will) and powers on longer cooldowns (Encounter and Daily). The large amount of skills from previous editions had also been distilled down into only a few major categories.

The Issues

The Vallhyn campaign and, honestly, any campaign I run is very story and roleplay driven. Combat occurs but it isn’t the centerpiece of the story. D&D 4e excels at combat and makes it the focus. It also has a ton of rules about experience and monetary progression. Characters are just constantly thrown items that by older edition standards seem very powerful. This all seemed to run counter to some of the basic tenants of my campaign. I see D&D 4e like this:

• Magic items are no longer super special
• If you’re good in a few skills you can do everything
• Combat is king
• It is basically an MMORPG in pen-and-paper format
• The traditional way spells are handled has been uprooted

The Winds of Change

I knew pretty early on that I’d want to eventually change back to the 3.5 edition of D&D but I was worried my players wouldn’t be able to have the characters they currently had. It would be somewhat of a struggle so I just continued to soldier on as things were. When something didn’t make sense I just ignored it.

I also found myself creating far more combat encounters than I normally would. D&D is all about running your players out of their resources to make fights challenging. I just didn’t enjoy that and it slowed down the game. It also made for a lot of throw away fights. I knew I had to finally change our system.

Converting

In all truth converting wasn’t that difficult. The rules at the basic level are very similar. One character had to pick a new race and we’re just “pretending” he’s the same to keep the story consistent. Two others had to pick different classes that are close to the 4e class but not perfect. Thankfully nothing seemed to be outright broken by the conversion.  We haven’t really started playing yet though! Hopefully all will go well.

At the end of the day you should consider what is best for your setting when selecting a ruleset. If something isn’t working out try making a change. You can always go back.

There is a big sentiment that Kickstarter is for people that cannot afford to do their project without the help of others. I would certainly agree that that is what it seems the site was originally created for. I don’t intend to get into the philosophical arguments on who can and cannot use Kickstater today. I wanted to look more specifically at the way the project is being framed and how I feel it violates the spirit of Kickstarter.

One of the aspects that sets Kickstarter apart from other funding platforms is that it is all or nothing. The team had this to say about it:

All-or-nothing funding is a core part of Kickstarter and it has a number of advantages:

It’s less risk for everyone. If you need $5,000, it’s tough having $1,000 and a bunch of people expecting you to complete a $5,000 project.”

The intent here is clearly for a project creator to ask for what they need to get a project done. Kickstarter would seemingly frown on the idea of a project that needed $6000 only asking for $1000 just to be successful. After all, once you’re successful, you are now obligated to fullfil. That is where I find myself in an interesting conundrum with this newest Penny Arcade project.

The initial ask for this project is $10. By setting the goal so low it is possible to read and implied message of “we don’t actually need any money, we’d just like it” and/or that “podcasts are basically free.” This also seems to violate the spirit of what Kickstarter is. I don’t feel that this addresses the all-or-nothing “core part” of the site. It is more let’s-see-what-we-can-get which is better served on a site like Indiegogo or doing their own donation drive at Penny Arcade itself.

I think this is partially why people have been so upset by the idea of this project. If the ask had been higher I think a lot of people wouldn’t mind as much. Of course you still have the “they have plenty of money” crowd but again, I’m not getting into that.

As a podcaster and successful Kickstarter project owner I’m perplexed by the strategy behind this. Podcasts DO cost money. I’ve been doing them for years and I’ve never tried to monetize them but rest assured that while they’re free to my listeners (and always will be) they are not free for me. Consider all of these items that go into podcasts:

• Hosting space
• Bandwidth
• Equipment
• Software
• Time to record
• Time to edit

These things all have associated costs. Some of those costs can be quite expensive too depending on the popularity of a show. I also consider my time valuable and, in the case of the Penny Arcade folks, they are paid and will be using work time to do these podcasts. Why wasn’t all of this explained and broken out? I can’t say but again this is why I take issue not with Penny Arcade running the project but in their implementation of it.

It just doesn’t seem to follow the spirit of what Kickstarter represents as a core value. I fear that because a big name was allowed to proceed in this manner other creators will assume that this activity has become acceptable. I also couldn’t blame them for thinking so. At this point what is to stop any other project from running with an exceedingly low goal just to be successful? Yes they may then fail on the backend but anyone that has tried to get a refund on Kickstarter will know it is exceedingly difficult. There IS risk when you back and I think this project has just increased that risk for backers.

Ultimately it isn’t good for future project creators and it isn’t good for the backers that support them.

An iOS app is usually a couple of dollars at the max. I “saved” $1.99 on it and then immediately went out and spent over $40. I would say that Days of Wonder did very well in this particular regard. It also solidified my belief that if you give someone something to try and they like it they’ll probably go out and buy it. Some people won’t but I have to ask if those people would have ever bought it in the first place?

I also think the app is a gateway to the full game. Ticket To Ride Europe is pretty entertaining on the iPhone. The AI is decent enough. I certainly win the vast majority of times at this point but it is entertaining regardless. There is support for multiplayer but I rarely have enough time to sit and play through a whole game with five remote people. When I do have time to do so I’d rather play the board game with my friends and family. Thus I picked up the physical copy.

The iOS app is an amazing approximation of what the actual game is and by automating everything it makes an already low time investment game go a bit quicker (when you’re not trying to play with a bunch of people sneaking in turns at work). You do lose some of the grandeur, however, of the giant map.

Neither version is that complicated of a game. You can pretty much have all the rules memorized in five to ten minutes and gameplay goes smoothly after a round or two. The goal is to collect tickets that link two cities around Europe and build connections between them on the map with train cars.

The depth of the game comes in how you plan your routes and how you compete with the other players. Once a route is claimed it is gone forever! Nobody knows exactly where you’re trying to get but they can guess and try to box you out. This leads to a game that changes every time you play and doesn’t get stale. My wife might suggest that it suffers “Mario Party” syndrome, however, in the sense that once you’re done you’ll hate all your friends! I’m not so sure about that but I did block her final route last night.

If you’ve never really been into board games, consider picking up the game on iOS and giving it a try. You might discover that it actually is your sort of thing. Then you can buy the board game and get on the path of converting from a digital gamer to an analog one!

Most podcasters seem to have certain sets of gear that they like. I’ve seen some recommendations for “must-have” setups that seemed to make sense. I even went so far as to go out, buy a condenser microphone, a stand, and a pop filter. The irony in that purchase is that the quality of my work suffered immediately. I don’t blame the equipment. It is mostly related to the acoustics of my office and how condenser microphones work. There was simply too much echo, too much outside nose, and the fact I had to be pretty close to be heard. I’m sure I could make it work but then sometimes the path of least resistance is best.

I switched from the expensive “professional podcaster” set to a Plantronics GameCom 780. Now the 780 isn’t exactly an inexpensive set up as headsets go but, by comparison, I thought it was pretty solid. I immediately noticed an improvement in the quality of my work. My co-host Chris even praised the quality of my audio. The microphone picked up a bit of outside noise but, in general, a simple noise removal took care of everything. It is a solid option for the podcaster that is looking for an “all in one” solution. It was the success that I had with the 780 that moved me on to the GameCom Commander.

Unboxing The Commander

To say that Commander comes in a nice box is like saying that David Bowie is a handsome man. It just doesn’t do anyone justice. Both the box and David Bowie are beautiful. The headset comes with a solid carrying case to hold it (it may even prevent the TSA from breaking the materials), a climbing carabiner, and a few interchangeable Velcro labels for the top (I chose Aperture Science). You also get the option of connecting the device via USB or standard microphone pins. The whole package was stunning really. It exuded completeness and quality. I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t impressed. To sweeten the deal further it comes in a cardboard box that just slides up instead of a terrible blister pack. Props to Plantronix for that!

The Feel

The Commander is a solid, heavy headset. It is made of formed plastic, leather, and metal. The microphone has a far greater level of mobility than the 780 and can easily be positioned close to the mouth but not where you’ll hear the sound of my breath brushing past it. The ear cups are made of leather and actually have sound dampening. That was a bit of a shocker at first as I was accustomed to hearing myself talk. I would imagine the noise canceling to be at a level equal to some lower cost ear protection. It certainly does more than the old ear plugs I used during my days working in the slaughter house. I was pleased with that.

My only gripe with the Commander versus the 780 is the feel on my ears and head over a duration. The Commander grips me pretty tightly and the leather gets hot. After about 30 minutes of extended use I start to get uncomfortable. After an hour things are pretty painful. I never experienced this with the 780 and I’m working to adjust the Commander a bit to relieve this. I’m not sure if everyone would experience this or if it is just me. For a 30 minute podcast it isn’t a deal-breaker.

Sound Quality

When I look at sound quality I look at two things. The first has to be how I actually sound through my speakers. I truly feel that from a subjective prospect I sound louder and clearer when using the Commander headset. You can listen to a recent episode of Game On to confirm that. You can also compare it against an earlier episode of MMO Radio to see the difference. It isn’t huge but it is there. Both blow away the quality from the Multiverse. There is simply far less noise on my microphone and I love it.

I am also huge on how audio looks visually during editing. For all of the perks of the 780 there is a lot of noise on the line even when I’m not speaking. It doesn’t cancel sound as well. It also picks up things I don’t necessarily want it to. I’ve noticed a huge improvement in the waveform during editing. So much so that even though I don’t find the Commander to be as comfortable I will still continue to use it.

Overall

The Plantronix GameCom Commander is an expensive headset. There is no doubt about it. As a gamer I’m not sure I can say with absolutely certainty it is far superior to less expensive competing devices. As a podcaster, however, I can absolutely endorse the Commander to the fullest extent. Podcasting gear is expensive and can run a lot more than this headset. I look at the two options as in the same ball park. At this point I simply won’t be picking anything else up. I have no reason to even look. I get everything I need and want out of the Commander and look forward to many years of podcasting with it!

This latest game picked up right where we left off. The dock’s district of Barrons had turned into an all out melee. Looting, pillaging, and setting things on fire was in full swing. This drew the attention of the city guard and the local army. That ultimately turned out to be fortuitous for the group as it was their intention to head to the north side of the city and disable the wind ships of the Barrons military. It was these ships that the regent intended to send to attack the principality of Pinnacle and reignite an ancient war.

The party snuck around a bit, using a rope and a tall building to get onto the wall that would take them to the docks. Once there they set some smaller vessels on fire and then moved on to bigger ones that turned out to be heavily guarded! The heroes and their NPC companions (Marcus, Zak, and Brother Jove) fought their way across one ship, setting it on fire before swinging onto another pirate-style. All the while our pet parrot Mango sat in her cage and added aptly timed but inappropriate sound effects (Twix the halfling made a successful roll and Mango shouted Nooooooo!)

The battle raged across three ships until the group was trapped on the last one. Out of loyalty to the lord of Pinnacle, Marcus used wind magic to throw the party to safety while he piloted the wind ship as it burned. He crashed it into several other vessels and greatly diminished the war capacity of Barrons. The party was saddened by the loss of their new companion but quickly sought out their ship, the MorningStar, and raced to Pinnacle.

Things took a turn for the worst when the shadow of a dragon crossed the deck. From its back several snake creatures jumped and engaged the party. Those were easily dispatched but fear welled up inside the heroes as the dragon landed on the deck. The battle was close and many of the MorningStar’s crew were killed by the dragon’s acidic breath. As the party finally landed fatal blows on the beast it staggered to the edge of the ship and started to tip it. As the dragon fell, it lashed out to grab Brother Jove and took the priest with it.

Morale on the MorningStar hit an all time low following the attack. The ship managed to make it to Pinnacle which gave the party the unenviable task of informing General Fidelis that Barrons intended to make war against the principality. To compound this, the General’s friend Marcus was dead. The General took all of this news in the best form he could and noted he would need to recall the soldiers he sent in support of the city of Devon at the heroes’ request. They convinced him to give them time to find him an ally instead. The general gave them seven days and that is where we left off!

Welcome to another episode of Game On: Epic Slant Press Edition! This week we’re pleased to be joined by Brian “Psychochild” Green of Namaste Entertainment. We talk about his company’s Storybricks platform and how it could change the face of MMORPGs forever. We also talk about last week’s launch of Defiance and World of Darkness, MMO and Tabletop!

Join Adam “Ferrel” Trzonkowski (@FerrelES) and Chris “Syeric” Coke (@GameByNight) each Wednesday as they chat about MMOs with a splash of tabletop and a lighthearted twist!

Chris’ Links: The Tourist @ MMORPG.com; Hooked Gamers; Game By Night; Vagary.TV

Adam’s Links: Epic Slant Press

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In this particular iteration of the Vallhyn timeline I’m using characters from the last game as NPCs. I have to make a few tweaks here and there but, in general, they are true to who they were when they were crewed by a person. That interaction has been fascinating. What is also fascinating is where I see pivotal points in the story being very important and then occasionally having them fall flat or go unnoticed by my players.

Allow me to give an example. At one point in our story the players seek out a really high powered NPC (Anzel) at the request of a high ranking religious figure (Faulk). It seemed the two NPCs had some animosity between them and, despite knowing the players weren’t powerful enough to kill Anzel, Faulk sent them anyway… along with an assassination squad (which was unknown to the players).

When the players found Anzel they caught him in combat with the assassins. He dispatched them all and noticed one of the corpses had a rod of return. He claimed it and then noticed the players, assuming them to be unsporting assassins. They talked their way out of a fight and instead engaged Anzel as a partner. They wanted him to just “get out of reach” of Faulk. He asked them for a favor and, should they do it, he would agree to be out of reach. The favor was done and the players returned.

Anzel gave an elaborate speech (full disclosure, my games are full of talking) and showed the players a very curious chess board that seem to mock up all the key figures in the conflict. At the end of the speech he explained he would, in fact, go out of reach as he agreed. He knocked over the silver king (a representation of Faulk) and used to rod of return. The implication was the death of Faulk. When I wrote the scene I had thought it was a clever idea. It practice, the moment fell flat.

I should also mention that the players had a rod of return and knew it would take them directly back to Faulk. It didn’t seem to dawn on them that Anzel had just used a similar device. There was also a slight disagreement over what knocking over a chess figure meant (which really deflated the moment). Ultimately, the sense of urgency I had hoped to invoke was non-existant and what I had planned so carefully was somewhat lost. That happens from time to time! You just roll with the punches and keep going.

The trick is to not get discouraged by these occasional failures. Not everything I write is going to be gold (lord knows writing is a numbers game. Each piece of gold is preceded by ten pieces of junk. In hindsight the players actually really enjoyed the scene. It was just lost on them in the moment. I would be curious about how other GMs lay out and plot pivotal moments. How do you set one up without basically saying, “Play close attention to this!” Any tips would be awesome!

I am very pleased to announce that Epic Slant Press is partnering with Tabletop Gamer to offer small and independent designers the opportunity to submit their fledgling games for non-reviews. What is a non-review? That is an excellent question! A non-review is exactly as it sounds: we’re not going to review your game. What we are going to do is play it, enjoy it, and find something we really like about it. Once we do that we’re going to head over to Tabletop Gamer and post a little article about it. We’ll introduce you and your game, discuss briefly how it is played, and what we really liked about it.

That will put it out in front of a community of tabletop gamers, let them get a feel for it, and then they can follow your game as it goes from beta to full production. You can even contact them and try to set up some play testing! It should, hopefully, be a win for everyone!

One of the core values of Epic Slant Press is to support small business and maintain positivity in any community we engage ourselves in. We are sticking with non-reviews because it isn’t our intention to ever tear down or denigrate the work of someone else. That isn’t what we stand for and there is plenty of that on the internet. We just want to focus on what is fun and positive!

You may wonder why you should trust us here at Epic Slant Press. Well, we are staffed by a published author, professional editors, and a whole bunch of fun-loving gamers. I have a long history of writing articles, too! It’s what I do, it’s what I love to do, and it’s what I want to do for you.

If you would like your work to be non-reviewed (we’ll accept everything that is at least in the beta stages) please send an email to positivity at epicslantpress dot com and we’ll work with you to get you onto the schedule. We’ll also make arrangements to get your game to us in a method that makes sense!

Table Top Gamer

Tabletop Gamer is the social media site specifically for the lovers of miniatures, pen and paper, and all things tabletop. Engage with gamers all over the world that share your interests from complex miniature battles to fast party card games. If you can put your passion on a table, you will feel at home on Tabletop Gamer!

Epic Slant Press

Epic Slant Press is a small publishing company based in North Carolina that currently focuses on books and games. Positivity is the driving force that guides each and every project that the company takes on. The team strongly believes that with a positive outlook anyone can achieve great things. Epic Slant Press strives to support small and local businesses, aid fellow entrepreneurs, and donate a portion of all profits to charities and good causes.

If you have something that you would like to work on with us or just want to get in touch, reach out to us on Twitter at @ferreles, Epic Slant Press on Facebook, or at positivity at epicslantpress dot com.

One of the most compelling parts about Portal 2 is the fact that you are just solving puzzles. Sometimes they’re simple. Other times they’re complex. There is a clear ebb and flow to the difficulty level. You achieve a hard one and then move through a few easy ones. New elements are added and it expands your experience. In general, I think it is brilliant. It also makes me consider how something similar could be achieved on the table top. Could similar puzzles work and be compelling? Possibly but I don’t think the puzzle solving is what really sells Portal and Portal 2.

Story

There has been a ton of talk about story lately in the MMO space. “The fourth pillar” or some other nonsense is the term there. Portal and Portal 2 has a simple yet extremely compelling story. If you break it down to the most basic statement it is, “something is wrong and I want to get out of here.” Despite that simplicity it works exceptionally well. Your character, who never speaks, is very endearing. The cast of robots and voices around you are very human and frequently hilarious. Trying to escape becomes a story woven with a lot of intrigue and mystery. If you took the same game and removed the story and cast I can’t imagine it would be remotely as successful. That makes it problematic when trying to create a non-RPG table top experience similar to this. Portal 2 is heavily dependent on the story and characters.

Humor

Humor plays a vital role in the Portal 2 experience. The situation is actually pretty dire the whole way through and yet I didn’t feel edgy. The humor made the game memorable and, most importantly, something that generally invoked happiness. I can’t imagine seeing the Space Core and not laughing. I finished the game a few days ago and I still won’t shut up about it. I haven’t had that experience with a digital product in a while. Humor is something I’ve always enjoyed in games. I don’t do horror or slashers. I get bored with constant action. I never get tired of humor. It is that reason that I try to jam some humor into anything I’m designing, working on, or doing.

Cooperative but not an MMO or shooter

Finding a game to play with your spouse can be pretty tough unless you’re both into shooters or you want to jump into an MMO. Neither of us really do shooters, although I want to play Half Life just because of how much I like Portal, and we’re pretty burnt out on MMOs and the time they require. We want simple things to play together. Portal 2 fits that need perfectly. It is a wonder that there aren’t more games that focus on cooperation and/or not killing things. The game was a huge success. This could be caused by the fact it is easier to make Call of Duty 27 than it is to craft something else. It could also be because Call of Duty 27 sells 3,000,000 copies. Either way, I’d rather have another Portal game.

On to Portal

Shamefully I never played Portal. Now I have to! I MUST. I feel like there should be more games like that out there. Hopefully someone will design one and, if you are, I’d love to get you on the show! Until then… spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace.

Welcome to the first episode of Game On: Epic Slant Press Edition! What is Epic Slant Press (ESP) Edition, you ask? Well, only your weekly installment of MMORPG goodness with a dash of tabletop spice, courtesy of MMORPG.com! Join veteran podcasters and MMO players, Adam “Ferrel” Trzonkowski and Chris “Syeric” Coke, as they explore the week’s hot topics with a lighthearted twist. Adam is a three-time MMO author, blogger, table top designer, and owner of Epic Slant Press LLC. Chris is a columnist for MMORPG.com, blogger, and games writer.

This week we open things up with an introduction of get-to-know-ya flare before moving into the resignation of EA CEO, John Riccitiello. What lead to the downfall? SimCity for one. SWTOR for two. We chat about each and get into the nitty gritty of what went wrong with SWTOR and how F2P might be its saving grace. If they don’t be evil. Can’t be that. Lastly, we talk about National Tabletop Day! Husband’s, I hope you weighted your wives’ die, because anything less than a d20 lands you on the couch.

5-star iTunes review giveaway: We’re kicking things off with a bang! Leave a written 5-star review of the Game On iTunes feed and be entered to win a copy of A Valley Without Wind 2, Strike Suit Zero, or Magicka!

Chris’ Links: The Tourist @ MMORPG.com; Hooked Gamers; Game By Night; Vagary.TV

Adam’s Links: Epic Slant Press

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