Dae-da-lus
n. Greek Mythology

A renowned craftsman, sculptor, and inventor and builder of the Labyrinth. He fashioned the wings with which he and his son Icarus escaped from Crete after their imprisonment by Minos.

Skill
Excerpt: "..., artistic, scientific, daedalian, shipshape; workman-like, business..."
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Unlike the other portions of the Repository, this segement may not always consist of solely game related material.


Thursday, December 13, 2001

I apologize in advance for the brevity of today's writing, it's been rather a hectic day and I don't have very much time.

Tapes
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.
Delphine T. Lynx - 6:11 PM link
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Wednesday, December 12, 2001

Collapse
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?
Delphine T. Lynx - 10:13 PM link
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Tuesday, December 11, 2001

Power Structures
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?
Delphine T. Lynx - 5:06 PM link
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Monday, December 10, 2001

Missed Opportunities
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.
Delphine T. Lynx - 9:30 PM link
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Sunday, December 09, 2001

Martial Arts
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.
Delphine T. Lynx - 9:02 PM link
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Saturday, December 08, 2001

Perfection
You know, it's been over a year now...and I've yet to get past the first room in Fallout I or II. By all accounts they aren't terribly difficult, nor complex. And yet, every time I install the game, I get nowhere. The sheer number of options afforded in both character generation and play causes a, "What if I'm not doing this perfectly?!" reaction, wherein I ultimately stop to rethink things and shelve the game for a month.

'Powergaming', or the obsession with perfection in the statistics of one's character (In the sense of efficiency, generally, moreso than fitting the character's personality perfectly), is a matter long loathed by hard core roleplayers. And yet, it's a topic so difficult to actually accept.

"Yes...I know. I'll roleplay her perfectly, and everything will make sense with the stats....oooh, is that the SuperDuperKiller power? A diplomat could use one of those!....And, wait, that must be the Can'tTalkButCanKill power...too bad she's a diplomat. But I'll take that anyway..."

I think it would be a mistake for any group not to accept that it'll happen, be it in character creation or in play. And yet, it's these incidents of obsessive rule adherence that cause problems akin to the one mentioned below, with regard to Thieves.
Delphine T. Lynx - 6:43 PM link
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Thieves
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).
Delphine T. Lynx - 3:20 PM link
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Friday, December 07, 2001

Advertising
It's something most administrators have tried, at one point or another. Be it for a website or MUD, it's something we all participate in. There's been numerous FAQs written on what to do...but, this isn't about that.

In looking through my e-mail today, there've been at least six pieces of Spam. Now, while I abhor random e-mail as a method of advertising, two of these six struck me as being even more offensive - they were typed poorly. The grammar, punctuation and spelling were so badly done that there's no way they'd even been run through a word program, much less proof read.

Sure...they sent out their e-mails. Had it been related to something I cared about, I may even have read it. But there's no greater turn off in advertising than poor writing. Why should I consider your MUD or website worth looking at if you can't even write up a legible advertisement?

Click through ratios go down by as much as 50% every year, and I think the figures are similar for responsiveness to e-mail based advertisement. Don't slash your chances further by causing the gut wrenching, "Lazy idiot" reaction in your readers.
Delphine T. Lynx - 9:16 PM link
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On Video Games
Is it just me, or is it getting harder and harder to find a mindless distraction these days? I was looking through Gamespot.com earlier, and their suggested action games all sport extra features galore. Now, don't get me wrong...I like complicated MUDs, RPGs, even adventure games. But every shooter these days is starting to take on that Mech Warrior feel...Where o' where is a Shogo: Mobile Armor Division sequel when you need it?
Delphine T. Lynx - 7:30 PM link
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Festival Areas
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.

There's more I could say on this subject, so perhaps at some point an article will be made of it.
Delphine T. Lynx - 1:32 PM link
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Ah, hello.
Well, that was interesting. For an 'easy to use service', Blogger.com is quite a bother to set up. Hopefully it's as far superior to straight FTP as they claim.
Delphine T. Lynx - 12:43 PM link
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