Neverwinter Nights Trailer [MUDs]

This isn't about Neverwinter Nights itself...in fact, I don't even know if I intend to purchase it myself. Instead, I'd like to comment on the trailer they shipped with Baldur's Gate II.

This is one of the best put together trailers I've ever seen. For anyone attempting to put together a MUD promotion, I'd strongly advise a look at it, if you can download a copy. The way in which the music compliments the narration is beautiful...a very rousing trailer, and one that actually accomplished it's goal of making me look into NWN.

Nothing Today [Announcement]

Any readers will need to excuse the lack of content today; a lack of time and general illness are to blame. Check back tomorrow.

Food [Roleplaying]

I can't tell you how many times I've seen food represented as nothing more than a miscellaneous number. How can people do this? Food presents the opportunity for a lot of roleplaying, both with regard to it's content and the conversation occurring as it's eaten. Here are a few thoughts.

* Try presenting a large dinner as a quest in itself, perhaps diplomacy related. This way each course could mark a 'chapter', or somesuch, as the characters pushed for their political agenda.

* As a way to flesh out 'yet another dull tavern'. Often in fantasy novels the food at a tavern was specific to that tavern alone. This provides many more opportunities for detail than simply giving generic descriptions.

In my opinion the first actually holds quite a bit of potential. While admittedly not for every player out there, for those interested in serious roleplaying you might even hold the dinner in near-real time. While I've never been fond of actually holding a meal and such, as it rather prohibits the GM from taking on multiple roles, it may be considered by certain groups.

Festival Areas [Gamemaster Tips]

For those who've played any of the Simutronics games, the concept of a 'Festival' is generally an appealing one. The theory behind it being that every so often (around real world holidays in particular), a new area would be opened to the players...perhaps for a day, a week, even a month. Generally the items sold would be average and/or completely roleplay oriented, though the occasional Uber weapon could be found. The benefits of this concept are several fold:

1) A cash drain on the economy. If players are presented with a one-time-only chance to buy items, they will spend large sums on them. This can help to trim the economy of excess cash, lessening inflation.

2) A retention mechanism. If your players possess certain items of sentimental value, they're less likely to leave your game...in fact, this principle is evidently valid - in writing this, I remembered a tiny glass snowball (I can't recall scene what was in it...but when you shook it the snow even floated about). One of my characters owned in Gemstone III, with enough nostalgia to consider playing again. I don't suppose any of my readers has a log of one of those being shaken?

3) Participation. Festivals and other special occasions give players an opportunity to participate in your world. It gives a sense of importance to their actions, when they know, "Wow...never again will item X be sold. One day it may be a collectors item.". Likewise with any NPCs they meet, or just exploring the unique area itself. It feels a pivotal moment.

Collapse [Gamemaster Tips]

There are times in the life of a character where everything is suddenly different. One possible cause of this is the fall of their employer. While in certain games employers come and go (as in Shadowrun), in many AD&D games the players may become very close to their patriarch/matriarch. The collapse of their patron kingdom will send ripples throughout their lives. Formerly condoned practices may be outlawed by the new leadership...the characters could even be sought as outlaws.

If you intend to utilize collapse, either as an emotional tool or simply a change of pace in the game, here are several thoughts to keep in mind.

1) Your players will ideally be in a state of minor shock, especially if the leadership seemed formerly unshakable. You can play this up...any threat will seem more severe, and they're likely to be in a perfect state for a fear based adventure or two. (See my piece on Fear in the RPG.)

2) Just as it is potentially useful to play up the power and threat of whatever caused the collapse of the previous patron, it's of paramount importance that you do not cause the situation to take on a comical or unbelievable feel. The last thing you want is your players to lose that feeling of stunned disbelief because their new king is a three headed goat, or a goblin with pink fur that defeated the king through sheer luck. Believability.

3) Keep in mind that after a collapse, if the previous leader controlled substantial wealth/land/influence there will be a power vacuum, with others rushing to fill it. With this you can either dwell in the feeling of emerging anarchy, or use the situation as an opportunity to flesh out whatever power structure is in place in the area, and it's methods for replacing leadership.

4) If the collapse phase is simply to set the game in a different direction, it's less important to produce an emotional effect as it is to recreate your world in whatever manner you'd like to. In this case, provide quick and worthwhile routes to wherever you'd like the game to go, so as not to create a period of stagnation....But, why not achieve the emotional effect and then use the collapse as a path to new places?

Missed Opportunities [Gamemaster Tips]

There are many occasions in our real lives where we look back with regret, having missed a potentially rewarding opportunity. The feeling may be one of sadness, humiliation or anger, but very rarely is it a pleasant one. Ultimately we try to put it behind us and look ahead...

But why is this never (or so rarely) applicable to RPGs? Below I'll look at the two types of RPG individually and offer some thoughts.

Pencil and Paper -
The pencil and paper RPG offers many opportunities to be missed. Many times the GM is very clear about the specific time of an appointment, or the specific date upon which a volcano will erupt. Often theoretically irreversible events hang in the balance each time...and yet, the players rarely hurry up with such events. The fault is often upon the GM here, in an effort not to penalize the players for exploring. Much akin to how characters are never (rarely) killed off, so, too, does the benevolent GM prevent critical opportunities from being entirely missed. But there's another reason, too. Often times a critical plot hook is set by the GM...if this is entirely missed, the players will never see a portion of the adventure. Perhaps a portion their GM spent many long hours working on.

Thoughts: Try to remember that being kind to the players with regard to injury/death (i.e. unlucky rolls of the dice) is an entirely different matter than that of bailing them out of situations that go badly of the players own accord....but, also remember that occasionally a legitimate mistake may be made. If the players really wanted to be in time for an appointment, it may be alright to give them leeway. But if they didn't want to go in the first place, it's foolish to force them into it because you know there's a reward for them at the end.

Video -
With video games, unlike pencil and paper RPGs, the plot can never be completely open ended. Therefore, the game must include some forced encounters. Encounters where no matter what happens, the player will get said encounter. But there's another problem with video games - saving and/or replaying. If after beating the game, you see that you could've gotten a better score by going through door X, you may replay it and not miss said opportunity...but, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just keep it in mind as you design your worlds. The matter of missed content, though, is likely the biggest one for video games. For 3D areas, there are often many hours of work put into each room, often by more than one person. If a player fails to see an entire section of the game through a simple mistake, that's time and money wasted in design. Even in a MUD, where each room may not be carefully sculpted in 3D, there's often enough effort involved that we don't want players missing areas entirely.

Thoughts: Avoid encounters that grant access to new areas, instead relying upon them for quests and the like which make additional use of old areas. Further, to prevent the effect of replay/save, randomize some aspects of the game - akin to Diablo (If that's your goal; this is a major design feature with a vast ripple effect). Most of all, though, create the effect that the players can actually effect the world if they don't miss the opportunities to do so. If they feel their actions won't matter, they will mind less when they miss something. Obviously all encounters mentioned with regard to video games are of the sort that can be a missed opportunity; encounters without an implied time limit should be considered different.

Something important to remember is that, while the feeling of dejection after a missed opportunity can be a useful plot device, it should be used sparingly. And do not railroad your players into failing, for if they ever discover it, your GMing days are likely to be less pleasant for awhile.

Tapes [Storyline]

It's come to light in modern times that many prominent figures have made tapes - be they video or simply audio, we, the public, are fascinated by the idea. There's a very similar methodology in movies, wherein tapes are often used to tell a backstory or provide clues. It's only logical, then, that games would make use of similar devices.

Generally players will be suspicious if they're spoon-fed information, so insure that there's some work required in obtaining them. But after that, they can serve several functions.

1) Meanwhile, on the other side of the world...In this role, the tapes will tell a story occuring somewhere else...perhaps one destined to influence the PCs.

2) Dirty Laundry....Here, the tapes would reveal juicy little tidbits about some important person. These could be in the form of a diary, confession, even a videotaped interrogation.

3) Red Herrings....So much you can do here. Set the players running after something trivial, or perhaps just obscure the truth. But avoid repetition...if everything's a red herring, eventually the players won't bother.

4) Campaign History...When used this way, the tapes would really do no more than just to flesh out your gameworld for you, providing a method for doing so other than the generic 'musty old tome' or directly talking to NPCs.

Power Structures [Storyline, Gamemaster Tips]

It often fascinates us to read material on the infrastructure of a corporation, government, crime family or anything else you can think of. But in playing RPGs, we continually recreate the same drab feeling. A feeling akin to the Gods atop Mount Olympus, sitting high and inaccessable, their methods of rule and debate irrelevant to mortals. But as the Greek myths reiterate, ignorance of the Gods power structure hardly provided sanctuary for mortals. So, too, should it be important knowledge in games.

Generally RPG organizations fall into three categories:

1) Dictator/Monarch - the classic, "Evil Overlord" and/or, "Benevolent Monarch" both fall into this category.

2) Undefined Corporation - more prevelent in Shadowrun than AD&D, here you have a very loosely defined corporate board of some sort running the show.

3) Democratic Rule - The least used of the three, in my experience, but applicable to any setting.

Now...the above might be fine. In fact, it's a list comprising three of the main options. But the problem is that the definition stops here. Rather than ever expanding upon the power structure, it's left in the background.

For the GM, expanding upon the organizational structures of your game offers great opportunities. How is the thieves guild run? Who has power? Who wants it? This isn't the same thing as defining an organization's goals, which most GMs do. Rather, you need to work out how the organization operates internally to accomplish those goals.

For the players, looking more deeply into an organization's power structure can provide excellent opportunities. Blackmail? A coup d'état?

Remember...understanding an organization's leadership is key to any interaction with it, be such an encounter benevolent or molevolent. Do you really want to neglect this aspect of the game world?

Delay [Announcement]

Those of you reading this site and bothered by the delay in the update for today may feel perfectly justified in blaming Blogger, for it would not let me publish at all...as of this writing or otherwise. As it turns out this may be as late as to be posted with tomorrow's issue, I cannot be certain.

Thieves [Roleplaying, Gamemaster Tips]

Am I the only one bothered by the inability to port 'cool' theft scenes to RPGs? Be they pencil and paper, MUDs or video games, the epic 'high tech heist' is never pulled off correctly. How is it that the classic rappelling lines and glass cutters formula fails to perform outside of the movies?

There are naturally games that've come close. Metal Gear Solid was fantastic in this area, and I very eagerly await my copy of the sequel. But that's an exception, not the norm. And it's a video game.

I think the root of the matter may lie in the inability of games to keep a pace as well as a movie. In a movie, you can maintain the image of fluid, professional people doing a job with precision. In an game, this is doable, albeit with difficulty....until you start rolling dice and discussing rules...not to mention waiting for the next session.

While video games are theoretically better at keeping the pace, they fail dismally as well. I'm sorry...but if I were James Bond, I would not want to worry about running through an irrelevant area collecting keys. Such 'challenges' simply ruin the moment.

Try remember this when you're planning your next pencil and paper RPG heist...and that, no matter how mechanically correct the encounter was, it's a bust if the players don't leave it with the same feeling they have after seeing The Saint, Heat or (Insert favorite thief movie here).

Martial Arts [Roleplaying, Gamemaster Tips]

In preparing for epic fight scenes in a roleplaying game, one often goes the way of the movie director, planning a grandiose martial arts sequence to capture the emotion of the fight and wrap it up into something 'cool'.

But...after all that planning...it flops.

Here are just a few thoughts on preventing that flop from occurring.

1) Destruction of property. Sure...that flying kick can just miss. But what if instead the target ducks, the assailant flying a bit too high and shattering whatever was behind? It's important to destroy the surroundings whenever possible...often, in the movies who's fight scenes we try to emulate in games, there are numerous incidents of martial arts being used against inanimate objects, either inadvertently or as part of a strategy.

2) Speed. Under no circumstances should the game bog down when roleplaying something like this. Keep the action fluid and very fast, perhaps even having initiative modified/nullified by real world delays in giving actions (I like to have 5 seconds or so for announcing actions after you're called...this way, preplanning is necessary and there are no long strategy talks midfight.). The faster it is, the more tense and real it'll feel.

3) An interesting area. While if properly photographed or roleplayed the fight in the classic, empty dojo can be very dramatic, in general there are more opportunities for 'cool' scenarios when the fight takes place in a varied area...for instance, a bottle factory. You'd have conveyer belts, stacks of bottles, etc.

4) Interesting Maneuvers. Most games have optional rules for things like dodging, tumbling, etc. Use them. The more mechanical use a player gets out of his fight-roleplay, the better (s)he'll do it. Remember, without all the spectacular techniques, all you have is a boxing match and a table full of dice...avoid that.

Ideally, try to combine 1, 3 and 4. This is why the fight in an empty dojo is hard to roleplay; it's complicated to work those spectacular martial arts into the description of the fight. Given a complex area, there will be opportunities for combat in a confined space, more open spaces, rolling, jumping, etc. Make the players utilize it all.

Max Payne [Video Games]

Today's article is going to be a little bit off topic. For once completely unrelated to MUDs, roleplaying or game design, I'd like to offer my thoughts on this game; Max Payne.

The first thing that strikes one is the gimmicky feature of 'Bullet Time'. Of all the things this game could have gotten wrong, this is the biggest...and, they didn't. Instead what was delivered was a useful, clean and very beautiful playing tool, that added moments of strategy to an otherwise fast paced game.

Further, the enemies. While not the best in AI, they almost invariably had a bit of dialogue that was very nice...complimenting the story beautifully. And they were just challenging enough, thanks to the game's dynamically altered difficulty.

On the matter of story, Max Payne is rare amongst shooters. With most (ala Serious Sam), the story is a complete joke, a sidestory at best....but, in Max Payne, it was able to hold a candle to all but the best...while still dwarfed by Metal Gear Solid, it easily topped that of most other shooters ever released.

Camera Angle. Here is where Max Payne sets itself above all other third person shooters. It's perfectly playable. For the first time, I've found a shooter wherein the view never obstructs gameplay. Sure....once or twice. But nothing like the nonsense of Tomb Raider, and easily compensated for by the ability to pivot to look around corners with the floating camera.

The last matter I'll mention is the weapons. The game's last few levels aside, the weapons are very well balanced....throughout the first 50%, I cycled constantly through everything I had...and, through the latter 50%, I was still cycling, though now with the incorporation of some of the 'big guns' others were no longer in use.

A game I'd certainly suggest, by any standard....it will serve to redefine the genre of third person shooters, and I look forward to seeing what it leads to in the years to come.

Tardiness [Announcement]

Excuse the lateness of today's article. This'll likely be unnoticed, as the site is practically unread at this juncture. But, for those that may, my apologizes.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) [Video Games, MUDs]

For most of us, it's been a long time since the SNES has been dusted off and taken for a spin. And yet, despite it's now outdated graphics and nonexistent flow of new games, it can be looked at as the best system yet for RPG fans.

It featured such titles as Earthbound, The Legend of Zelda, The Secret of Mana, The Secret of Evermore and many more. Though by today's standards they are rudimentary in their grahics, these are games that have remained excellent RPGs...games I'd still now replay with zeal and enjoyment.

Laundering forgotten, it's in these games that lessons of design may be drawn. Lessons more applicable to text based games than most drawn from the 'next generation' RPGs.

For those of us who weave worlds of text, we will never be able to compete with the latest and the greatest in eye candy. But maybe, just maybe, we can create a game that, ten years from now, will provoke the same nostalgic tear that many of us shed looking back upon the SNES.

Enjoyment [Gamemaster Tips]

After years of play, it's hardly uncommon for you, as a gamemaster, to begin to experience boredom. Afterall, it's your plots the players are running through....and, no matter how good those plots are, they will never surprise you to any great extent, as you were following them from the end to the beginning in design.

It's very important you for, as a GM, not to burn out completely. This is especially true if you're the only GM in the group, and thus 'responsible' for all gaming that occurs. In the event, then, that you begin to experience boredom, please consider the following suggestions.

Look into an alternate GM. Even if they don't run as many sessions as you do, if you have someone to step in sometimes it will provide a very useful distraction...and, they might even enjoy their role.

Give the players a bit more control. If the plot progresses more unexpectedly, you may feel less bored and tied in...but, it's important that the game not get out of hand, or you'll feel more, not less stressed.

Take some time off. Your players should be willing to accept that after a long string of adventures you may want a week or two off....this would also serve the perfect opportunity to propose something akin to the alternate GM, advised above.

Burning out is the worst thing that can happen to a GM. It's crippling and may ultimately be lethal to the game...don't let it happen. And remember, the players need you...it's not a one way street.

Searching [Storyline]

Entire books are written about searching - for the missing person, the lost object, the buried treasure. These books captivate us, as each page brings new details to light, the great detective on his quest.

Bringing this sense of discovery to the gaming table can be a difficult task. Afterall, even the best GMs do not have the time to plan ahead in as much detail as the novelist, nor the graphic aid of the screenwriter. And yet, the element of searching for something must be created.

The classic techniques for this involve the red herring (diversion, false clue), the hidden and half truths, and the, "Wow, that was so obvious I didn't even see it" approaches. But these have all been covered ad nauseum by other authors, and I needn't go into the matter further. No, instead, what I'd like to address is the issue of player boredom.

So many times I've quit a game, or at the least forced the GM to change tactics because his or her 'search' adventures bored me to death. But they shouldn't need to. What is it that makes the RPG search so much less gripping than those in novels?

I think it's the element of distraction. While in RPGs there may be bandits, dragons, SWAT teams or zombies in your path, the goals are still fairly linear: Remove obstruction, find X.

Contrary to the RPG, novels of this sort are often interwoven with a plethora of different plot threads, continually twisting and turning, often carrying the players into something more pressing before they return to the ethereal strand that is their quest.

In this way, a RPG could be set up to involve a search for X as the underlying plot, but use many subquests to provide a diversion. This differs from the generic model of splitting the quests into different pieces, and running them sequentially.

A good example of such a woven plot structure is the common video game, wherein there's a continual goal, but on your way you're met with minor tasks that can be undertaken.

Lynx's Repository of Gaming [Announcement]

I have decided that the old website will be left as a housing for anything I write that does not get published here. It serves the purpose better than tacking modules onto this interface, and, once the two are integrated it may be quite comprehensive. More on this as I work out the details.

Longevity [Gamemaster Tips, Roleplaying]

Most games begin with high expectations, but, in the end, there's the inevitable piddling of interest until at last there are scarcely any players whatsoever, a problem compounded as the GM loses interest. Despite this, most players persist in planning for long, drawn out campaigns rather than one or two session adventures.

Assuming that you'd like to continue playing drawn out campaigns, it's important to look at the problem of longevity and determine precisely what's causing the game to fall to pieces. Is it the players? The GM? The game itself? Often the first thing people are apt to focus on in these cases is the game itself, but in my experience this isn't a valid approach.

It's often nothing more than a lack of attention span. If a campaign is designed to be played out over, say, 100 sessions, then things are liable to progress very slowly. This means that players ultimately feel they aren't getting anywhere.

Building upon the above hypothesis, we can then look at several ways of circumventing the problem.

1) Attempt to fit at least one crucial event into each session. This will keep the players interested, especially if said events really seem to matter to both them and the game world.

2) Increase the tempo. The faster things move, the less likely players are to become bored. So long as the players feel that they're moving the game, they won't object to the pace...but, if they feel that they're simply on a rapidly accelerating train, this will cause their interest to wane as well.

3) Throw in something extraordinary. Sometimes when my players have gotten bored or started to lose interest, I've taken this as a sign to make some large change - a new inter-dimensional rift, a big drug bust, a dragon burns down a city, etc. The specific event in question doesn't matter, but it must be relied upon to produce two things. First, an opportunity for direct, immediate action of some kind. And second, for this action to be vastly different from what's happened so far, if the players so desire.

In the end, it's important to remember that a long term campaign is still very challenging to hold together, and should be weighed against the players that will be involved before attempting to plan and execute such a game.

Containers

An often underused element in RPGs is the container. Often simply nondescript chests, boxes or crates, they're left as a nonentity. But, like Pandora's Box of legend, boxes themselves can be integral. Here are some thoughts for using boxes as an integral part of your game world.

1) Perhaps a quest to open a magically locked chest. This will also serve to hinder the party, if they're forced to carry a massive oaken trunk rather than the tiny scroll within.

2) As a red herring. There's nothing more frustrating than going through the enormous trouble of opening a well made box and finding nothing within.

3) Describe them well. Sure, some chests were plain and nondescript, as is typical of RPGs....but, there were also others that represented extraordinary artistic talent.

Excuse the brevity, but, this is written inbetween arguing with the site's layout...there will be more substantial tops as things progress.

Well then. There's still a lot to set up, but this will be the new look. Tomorrow morning I will add further to the site and write the material for January 1st, and from there the site can drift naturally.

All the material formally accessable at Lynx's Repository of Gaming will eventually be made accessable here, but I'm unsure as to when.