None Shall Pass!

I've been flicking through some of my RPG books recently and I was reminiscing about some of the games I've parted ways with. One of the games I sold was my original Red Box Basic D&D game and I regret that for two reasons - 1, it was a great little game and I get all teary-eyed and nostalgic sometimes for some classic gaming and 2, it was written in a style that eased new players into roleplaying games and didn't have them running for the hills because the rulebook seemed to be written in a different language and was so big you could beat someone to death with it.

And here lies my problem.

Rulebooks these days seem pretty impenetrable for the first-time or young gamer who's entering the hobby cold, that is without any kind of peer to help with explanations and examples. In fact, the whole hobby seems to be something of an enigma to those who don't know the game or haven't been involved with it for longer than a few years. I did a little digging by sticking the basics into a search engine, acting as if I was a new and interested gamer with no experience, and I was somewhat mystified by the results.

I got the basic details about roleplaying from Wikipedia - that much was sort of okay - and after sifting through computer and online roleplaying games I finally found some dedicated tabletop roleplaying websites. What I was greeted with was a whole mess of voices and opinions using words and phrases that, if I had been a new gamer, would have confused me straight away and possibly made me change my mind about getting into gaming, especially if I had been a (lot) younger and a bit shy. Lots of different posts from people, some of them vitriolic and confrontational filled with words and references I would have had no idea about. I don't want to surf the internet looking for translations or meanings, I just want to play a game and if I have to be made to work, or even seemingly earn, that privelige then what's the point? Gaming websites seem to cater to the experienced gamer and that will immediately put off new players as they don't want to seem like they're intruding and they don't want to look foolish.

Then there's the rulebooks. Some of them are somewhat accessible but otherwise they can be tomes of words that make no sense. They can be massive books filled with options and tables that have little meaning because the new gamer has no context. Sure, follow the rules as far as creating a character is concerned and learn the basics of dice-rolling, but how do you use it? The advice in some books can be cryptic and confusing as it doesn't talk about gaming in general but about gaming in that particular rulebook's world.

So, this is where I come back to basic D&D. It spoke to the new gamer as a kid, because it was kids that got this hobby fired up in the first place. Pre-teen and teenage kids who wanted to pretend to be warriors, wizards and elves. The books took them through everything, held their hand and explained it all in simple, kid-like terms. That's how I learned the game, and the only thing that made me nervous was sitting down for those first few games with other people. I didn't have these swathes of web pages making my head spin with words and phrases I didn't understand, or hundreds of experienced gamers telling how I should be playing a game of let's pretend.

I sometimes think that the RPG community is it's own worse enemy. They talk about the fading hobby but they spend so much time carping on about the minute details of their game using incomprehensible and sometimes offensive language that they don't realise that they're scaring away potential new gamers. We've managed to make the hobby this strange game in the shadows that people are afraid to approach because we simply make no sense - this was bad back in the 1980s when I joined in but the internet has only served to make that worse. How can we compete with the popularity and simplicity of MMORPGs and CRPGs if this is the case?

So this is what I miss. Simple, talk-to-them-like-children roleplaying games that ease gamers into the hobby with simple rules and long-winded explanations. A game that stands on it's own, like the different coloured boxes of Basic D&D.

Roleplaying games seem to be a dying breed and I have to wonder sometimes just who's fault that is.

A bit-of-fun campaign - BRING BACK VENGER!

So he was diddled by teenage kids every other episode! That doesn't stop Venger being one of the class act bad guys of the 1980s - not only does he need respect, he needs to be resurrected as a proper full-on bad guy. You know, like Darth Vader used to be before it turned out he turned evil because he was a whiny teenager that nobody liked.

Back in the 1980s I wasn't only playing Dungeons and Dragons I was watching the cartoon, in which a bunch of kids get sucked through a portal at a fair ride and end up in a fantasy world where they are helped by Dungeon Master. Yeah... Well, the kids sucked, but Venger made his mark as a kick-ass bad guy.

The Facebook page linked on the right has been set up to promote the best cartoon bad guy EVER! That's right! He was even better than Megatron! And that prat in Battle of the Planets who built those crappy giant robots! Let's get Venger back out there! D&D modules! Adventures! T-shirts! Movie deals! I want frickin Venger Dancers doing high kicks with one horn sticking out of their Vegas headresses!

If we do this right there's money in this - girls, fame, deoderant ads and some such crap. REMEMBER VENGER!

Videos I've been perusing

I spend a bit of time on Youtube scanning the vids as there's always a gem or two hidden in the trash. The stuff I like the most is the home-made stuff that oozes creativity and imagination, and every now and then I'll stumble across official stuff that's not being crowed about too loud because the movie industry is crowing about their multi-million budget blockbuster much, much louder.

So, draw the curtains and butter your popcorn - it's movie time.

First of all, some Mitchell and Webb goodness.



THis Judge Dredd fan film, I think, looks amazing.



Now for some more 2000AD goodness - ABC Warriors and an amazing Slaine trailer.





Now there's this grown-up, gritty version of the D&D cartoon which is all levels of awesome bonkers.



Finally, there's this. Because I love it. This is part one, so click on the video for the next few parts. It's what happens to the player characters in a D&D game, and I love it.



Ah, Youtube. Constantly a source of inspiration. And shit.

Warhammer Airships

So I'm reading 'Retribution Falls' and it's a damn good book. Some of the imagery makes me think of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, for some reason, and this got me thinking about running more WFRP games but with a slight twist.

I'm imagining the Old World as it is in the normal games, especially with some of the imagery from the Warhammer Online Collectors Box book, but the main mode of transport is by airship. I got some inspiration from the Gotrek and Felix novel 'Daemonslayer' and some imagery I found on the interwebtubes

Art by David Edwards

The one above I imagine to be some normal trader, plying their trade across the Old World as a private enterprise, with a small crew to keep things running. Some could be converted boats with gasbags above them, designed for air and water, and some could be purpose built or modified with a flat hull so that they could land anywhere. They would be expensive, so it's not done to destroy them or send them down, much like the attitude of mariners in the 18th/19th centuries - better to capture them intact as a prize instead of sending them burning to the ground.

Art by Kornel Ravadits

The next one helps to illustrate a central town or city where many airships come and go like a busy airport. Places like Marienburg and Altdorf would be central areas of commerce and activity and there'd be huge towers for docking, landing fields for longer stays and giant hangars for repairs.

Art by James Ng

Then there'd be other countries vying for trade, travelling huge distances in massive airships designed for long-distance travel, equipped with all the luxuries that dignitaries and ambassadors expect.

Powered by gas and magic (hey - 'Gas and Magic' - that's a good campaign name) these machines are helped up by gases but held up by powerful sorcery, much like they're being flown by WH40K Navigators. Using the stats for boats in the WHFRP 1st Edition rulebook, this could work a treat. It'd be like science fiction free traders in the WFRP world, with flintlocks and cutlasses.

Hmmm. I might do some work on this.

Books - Retribution Falls / Science Fantasy Stories

It's not a review, it's a small piece about a couple of books I've got my hands on.

First of all there's 'Retribution Falls' by Chris Wooding. I've not read any of his work before and it was the cover that grabbed my attention in the bookshop. After some perusing of the internet it seems that this novel is the kind of book I love and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to it.

Then, in a charity shop, I found a as-new copy of a hardback book I used to have when I was kid - Science Fantasy Stories. This is a 1987 printing by Cathay Books and I can't find an image to share, suffice to say that I lost this book 21 years ago and I always regretted that. Now I have it again, in a better condition than when I first owned it, I somehow feel incredibly content, like all is right with the world and karma and balance and some such shit. Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Fighting Fantasy: Interstellar Adventures

Considering that I'm a tad bored with game design, and the fact that I'm falling in love with old systems all over again, I decided to have a stab at messing around with the game system that got me started in the RPG hobby - the Fighting Fantasy system.

Taking my cue from the 'Fighting Fantasy The Introductory Roleplaying Game' book I set about getting hold of the rules (quite simple as they're all on Wizard Books' Fighting Fantasy website and can be copied and pasted quite easily) and then tweaking them to suit. I introduced a new set of skills and a Difficulty Number resolution system to keep the die rolling conventions similar. Physical combat remains the same and I've introduced the ranged and starship combat systems from Gamebook 4 'Starship Traveller' to the system. All in all it makes for pretty fun, simple game.

Right now I'm hoping to get some kind of nod from Wizard Books so that I can distribute the game for free across the internet. If nothing is forthcoming then I'll just change the combat resolution system and change the names of the stats. Simple as that. Hopefully, they'll say yes and then I can release:

3D Movies - It's RANT time!

The Green Hornet - great film. But in 3D? Impressive. Initially. Then twenty minutes later it annoyed the shit out of me. Not again. 3D movies really do put you there... if you wanted to be put fifty years into the past. Make movies, not spectacles.

It's why Avatar, in the long run, turned out to be a bit shit. It was great on that initial viewing because of the whole spectacle and the new 3D stuff, but ultimately it turned out to be a shallow story with dull two dimensional characters who were there to serve the special effects. I mean, come on. If I wanted a colourful spectacle I'd go and see a fireworks display.

You can't really excuse the triteness of some films because they made money to make other films, because that's the only reason why the big production companies make them - to make as much money as they can, and they'll produce any old tut and use any old gimmick to get people in the theatres to watch the films so that they can fill their coffers. This means that future big movies aren't created on merit but on market research and demographics which has turned studios into industrial mass-marketing machines of money-making mediocrity.

I think James Cameron saw an angle and went for it, made a an (initially) stunning visual feast and opened the floodgates for more fireworks displays. Now people are so wrapped up in the spectacle, the movie itself partially passes them by so characters, plot and development go out the window in favour of a dead scuba divers in a shark mouth reaching out of the screen with a grenade in their hand, to make the audience react physically and not emotionally. Sure, some films are probably made to utilise the 3D (I only saw it in 2D but I imagine Tron looked amazing in 3D - and, yeah, it was a great film) and any other technology but I think they fool themselves into thinking the movie will have any longevity after the 'wow' factor has worn off.

And the money being pumped into these spectacles are denying other films their chance, because studios won't want to do a 3D movie of a family drama, or a political thriller, or a slow-moving sci-fi epic. They just want wam-bam-thank you for your cash-maam. I understand that they're a business, but forcing the little guy out is the same as building a faceless Tescos or Wal-Mart in the middle of the city and watching the small personal-service shops dwindle and die, only visited by those who care and hardly making an impact or closing completely.

Now, movies that use technology the accentuate the film - fine. Subtle effects, tweaks and even full blown events to make a point, fine. But making it a technological marvel in spite of the movie immediately destroys any credibility the movie might have had.

Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game opens my eyes

Me and some friends sat down and did a Star Wars game last night, using the West End Games first edition Star Wars D6 rulebook, the first edition Sourcebook and the Gamesmaster's Pack.

It was absolutely bloody brilliant.

I've not run a full-on Star Wars game for my old group for years and it took me way back, long before I got really serious about RPGs and game design and even longer before Farsight Games was even a twinkle in my eye. It took me back to a time when I played the games because I loved to play, to a time when gaming was simple, fun and exciting. It took me back to a time when I enjoyed playing roleplaying games much more than I do now.

Yeah, that was quite a blow. It sort of hit me at the end of the game when everyone was really up for the next installment and seemed to really get excited about their characters, as new and as off-the-cuff as they were. There was no pretence - we weren't trying to delve into psyches, or experiment with new systems, or try a new way of or approach to gaming. We sat down, had fun and wanted to play it again.

I've not done that for years. Games that I've played or designed for recently have been an exercise in what makes the game tick, how it runs and how it works. Not if it was any fun. This is mainly because the fun is slightly sucked out of the game for me because I'm too busy juggling playing with note-taking and analysis. I'm a bit tired of that, now.

Playing Star Wars last night reminded me how much simple fun and excitement I've been missing out on. I kind of feel I've been reminded of a time when I used to play games for enjoyment, whereas now I've turned it into something of a job, almost a chore. I don't want to get under the skin of games and into the mechanics of a system anymore. I just want to have some fun. When did this happen? When did I forget the original reason why I got into roleplaying games in the first place?

So now I'm looking fondly at games of old that bought me great joy; Basic D&D, Star Wars D6, MERP, WFRP. Now I'm looking at having fun again.

Goodbye for now, game and setting design. Maybe I'll look to you again in the future if gaming becomes a little hard to come by but right now I want as much enjoyment out of the game as possible while I can still appreciate it.

Stars Without Number

I'm pissed off. I made a lot of notes about a D&D system science fiction game, even promoted the use of the original TSR Buck Rogers XXVc game that used the AD&D 2nd Edition as a great example of what a D&D-type sci-fi RPG could be. I even messed about with my own version.

Then suddenly Dave 'Grubman' Bezio comes along with 'X-Plorers', the game that asked the question 'What if the fathers of the role playing hobby were more into science fiction than fantasy when they wrote that first set of official rules back in 1974? What if that game was about humans expanding and exploring their universe, instead of delving into deep dungeons to kill monsters to earn treasure?' It was a great game.

Now we have an old-school old-skool D&D inspired game from [S.]ine [N.]omine Publishing, and they've kicked arse on several levels. Here's the blurb:

'Stars Without Number is a retro-inspired science fiction role playing game influenced by the Old School Renaissance. The contents are compatible with most old school clones and are designed to be easily imported to your own favorite gaming system. In addition to a complete pre-made stellar sector, Stars Without Number offers GMs and players the tools to create their own sandbox-style adventures in the far future. * Compatible with most retroclone RPGs * Helps a GM build a sandbox sci-fi game that lets the players leave the plot rails to explore freely * World building resources for creating system-neutral planets and star sectors * 100 adventure seeds and guidelines for integrating them with the worlds you've made * Old-school compatible rules for guns, cyberware, starships, and psionics * Domain rules for experienced characters who want to set up their own colony, psychic academy, mercenary band, or other institution.'

That's brilliant. And the fact that you can download the PDF for FREE is even better! It's what I want to see in a sci-fi game - creativity and an appeal to both current and new gamers. Well done both of these products for putting sci-fi space opera out there and proving that you don't need a convoluted technical system to represent high-tech games. It's good old dungeon bashin' - in spaaaaaace!

Hunting Deer - The Horrible Truth

I hunted deer at the weekend. No, not with a gun - I'm not that weird - but with a camera.

Ten minutes from where I live in the beautiful cathedral city of Lichfield is Cannock Chase, a huge conservation area forest where the wild things are. Me and my three year old (might-as-well-be-four-year-old) son Bruce went for a nice drive and a long walk across the hills and through the forests.

There's a great little place called Milford (there's a Wimpy burger bar there! Hooray!) and that's where we parked, slapped on our hiking boots and started our long trek into the deep, dark forest. It was hard going - after all, I'm trekking with a might-as-well-be-four-year-old so we're stopping every five seconds so that he can investigate bushes, run away from creaking trees and pick up rabbit poo. He finds a magic wand (stick) and then it transforms into a magic sword (he finds a bigger stick) and decides he wants to hunt for monsters (walk behind daddy and assure him he will help if we find one). Basically, I'm the tank and he's melee DPS.

We go a little off the beaten track (ie get somewhat lost), and then all of a sudden there's this thumping sound in the trees. I'm expecting a dog or something similar, but when a full-grown deer comes bounding out the bushes followed by three or four others I'm amazed. Wildly they crash off down the hill, across the path and then up the next hill. After convincing Bruce that they're not monsters and, no, he's not allowed to hug them if we find them we set off in pursuit, camera in hand.

Now, in a lot of fantasy roleplaying games I play a ranger/hunter type character. I've got a skill in tracking and hunting and he's usually quite competent. I mean, I've seen people hunt in the movies, how hard could it be? Pick up a track, make sure you're as quiet as can be and sneak up, and take the shot. In games we've gone into detail about what we would do to hunt game and it all sounded pretty plausible. The better the description the better the bonuses on the dice roll.

After more than twenty years playing RPGs I kind of like the little bits of factual knowledge I've picked up about hunting. Living in England I'd never get the chance to hunt for real - in fact, I wouldn't even consider killing a living creature even if I had the opportunity - so this will be the closest I ever get to tracking and taking a (snap)shot at a deer. It all seemed so simple in my head.

Alas, real life sucks really, really hard. I found the tracks, but they were so mashed up I had no idea where they were headed. Snapped and bent twigs and branches? They were all snapped and bent! By my reckoning there were roughly ten and a half thousand deer passing through this area every few seconds. Caught fur on fences and tree trunks? Erm... no. Even if I did find fur it doesn't tell me what direction they were heading in. The wind was so high that I couldn't hear them. What was I supposed to do?

After an hour we finally found them, deeper into the forest. Could I get close enough to get a decent picture? Could I bollocks. If I even twitched they'd bolt. At one time I'm pretty sure that a sparrow eighteen miles away farted, and that was enough to send them crashing away into the trees. If I couldn't get a picture from any distance with a simple line-of-sight snapshot, how on earth could I even hope to fire a weapon, bow or otherwise?

Another half an hour later we found them again. This time, I thought, I can't go wrong. Then the might-as-well-be-four-years-old jumped to his feet when he saw them and shouted, 'There they are!' All hope was lost. With a crash of tree branches they hoofed it.

It was then I realised I was slightly lost. I say slightly, I mean utterly. The only thing I knew was that Milford was to the north of us so I used the moss-on-trees trick and headed north. That bit of woodland knowledge helped me out, at least.

So there you have it, people. Forget all you know (or think you know!) about tracking and hunting knowledge you may have gleaned from the skills lists in roleplaying games. It won't help you. Using that information and taking a might-as-well-be-four-years-old with you is a bad idea.

This is why I play roleplaying games. Reality is such a let down.