Wrapping Up Map Work

by dither on June 10, 2013 at 2:38 pm
Posted In: Create Expectations

I’ve completed work on the “dungeon” maps portion of my current RPG Maker VX project. What lies ahead are the maps to make of settlements and outposts, plus the “over world” map, and any incidental locations. There are still other dungeon-type maps I’d like to include in the game project, but only if time permits.

Current Project Development (May 21, 2013)

If you saw my Red-Green Antagonist Deck the other day, you might be able to figure out how I’m approaching the story from different angles — there are events taking place on several different levels between forces that threaten the world.

…Which is how it always seems to go in roleplaying games. I’m aiming to make the story operate on at least two levels — the straightforward and the bigger picture. Exploration is central to the game, and the bigger picture will be about the conflicts between the various protagonists and the central antagonist.

If you can call it a separate level unto its own, there will be minor conflicts, “subplots” that don’t necessarily tie into either of the others — exploration or “main plot” — that serve to help flesh out the setting. These aren’t exactly what you’d call side quests.

Whereas the main plot and the exploration elements of gameplay will be decidedly straightforward, the game’s ambiguity will largely be tied up in solving the problems presented by the various subplots, in a “no right answer” kind of way.

With the over-world map complete, I hope to differentiate the settlements and their respective stories according to their locations on the map — that’s a complicated way of saying that towns at crossroads will be more about trading, while comparatively secluded settlements on the fringes of the world will be more insular.

That might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how often that sort of thing is overlooked. Experience has taught me that making towns and settlements appear “inhabited” is one of the last things that game developers look at — they are more often based around what sorts of quests they can provide the player.

My thought is that a settlement should provide quests based upon the needs of the settlement first, with its relevance to the larger story being a close second. Whereas dungeons and a conceit of the genre and a place for the player to express their character, settlements are ideal for setting the stage and reinforcing immersion.

I’ll probably take another stab at that Magic deck before proceeding with the deck to represent the protagonists. So much to do…

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Red-Green Antagonist Deck

by dither on June 5, 2013 at 10:13 am
Posted In: Making Magic, Start in a Tavern

I consider the process of building a Magic: the Gathering deck as something akin to creating a Dungeons & Dragons character. I put a lot of thought and consideration into the decks that I build, and I try to find create a cohesive theme of some sort.

Over a year ago, I started sorting my cards into their respective blocks so that I might build decks accordingly. The big idea was to create something like a “gallery.” In the last couple years, I’ve grown to really appreciate the sealed deck format.

As a direct result I build 40-card decks, almost exclusively. I might be concerned if that meant I couldn’t play with friends but I don’t play constructed and I don’t have a bunch of friends who play Magic. I’m not even much of a collector either.

Now to bring this all into focus — I built a Magic deck to reflect the antagonist of my upcoming RPG Maker project. It’s a 40-card deck, limited by theme and card pool. I made selections based on the sealed format and used a combination of math and intuition to figure out about how many of what usable cards I might draw.

Red-Green Antagonist
Unlimited Edition only

Basic Lands (17)
x9 Forests
x8 Mountains

Creatures (18)
x2 2RR – Dragon Whelp (U)
x2 2R – Gray Ogre (C)
x2 3R – Hill Giant (C)
x2 1R – Ironclaw Orcs (C)
x1 1RR – Wall of Stone (U)

x1 G – Birds of Paradise (R)
x1 3GG – Cockatrice (R)
x2 1G – Grizzly Bears (C)
x2 4G – Ironroot Treefolk (C)
x1 3GG – Thicket Basilisk (U)
x1 2G – Wall of Brambles (U)
x1 G – Wall of Wood (C)

Enchantments (3)
x1 R – Firebreathing (C)

x1 G – Instill Energy (U)
x1 1G – Regeneration (C)

Instants (2)
x2 G – Giant Growth (C)

Beside the limitations I described above, this deck has a “primitive magic” theme. I avoided using much in the way of “flashy” magic and tried to apply a more modern deck-building aesthetic to an older card type and play style.

There are minor Deathtouch, Firebreathing, and Regeneration themes; there are no artifacts, to reflect the “primitive magic” theme; and there is no removal to speak of — artifact, creature, or enchantment. There are a couple Defenders and Fliers.

I realized after a bit, that I had nearly built a deck out of cards from my collection — not just from reprints and such, but from my collection of Unlimited cards. Then again, I have trouble telling them apart from Revised, so it’s possible I’m confusing the two.

This isn’t a flashy deck by any means, and far from optimal. The Ironclaw Orcs are strictly weaker than the Grizzly Bears — they’re included for thematic purposes, and for fitting into the card pool I imagined. They reflect a “less optimized” planeswalker, and help balance the colors a bit. Just a tad.

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The Front System

by dither on June 4, 2013 at 11:32 am
Posted In: Hey, Over Here!, Sly Flourish

Edit: This isn’t a criticism of Sly Flourish, but rather a mildly caustic analysis of Dungeon World’s Front System as viewed from a distance.

I swear I read about this only a week or two ago and it seems as though it has disappeared from the Internet. I know it’s on like, a zillion RPG blogs, but I can’t find any references whatsoever to the so-called “Front System.”

I initially dismissed the system as being functionally identical to the Arkham Horror concept of the Doom Track. As far as I’m concerned, you don’t get to put a new name on something until you distinguish it significantly from existing game mechanics.

The “Front System” … WAIT, I found it on Sly Flourish. It was from all the way back in March, and that’s why I wasn’t able to find it before. There goes my memory…

Dungeon World Fronts in DnD
on Sly Flourish

See, the main problem I have with the idea of “Fronts” is that they’re more ambiguous and overall less useful than Arkham Horror’s Ancient Ones. When you choose an Ancient One, it tells you what their followers are — usually augmenting one or more existing monsters, such as the Cultist — special effects in the world, and so on.

“The Impulse” is supposed to be the motivation behind the Front, but I think there’s a problem inherent with defining the motivations of the villains in a tabletop roleplaying game — the players might well agree with the villain and decide to join forces.

While that might sound compelling from a narrative perspective, you’ve suddenly eliminated the driving conflict of the game and must now find a suitable replacement — creating stats for towns and villages the party will now be looting and burning.

“Grim Portents” correspond to “Signs” of the progress of the eponymous Elder Evils from the Third Edition DnD book, Elder Evils. See, between DnD and Arkham Horror, I don’t think Dungeon Worlds has contributed anything new to the concept.

Admittedly, the name “Front” is probably the better contribution because it could be compared to a storm front, a war front, or simply the “most forward part” of some activity — economic, political, criminal, meteorological, volcanic, et cetera.

I guess it’s important that people know the tool exists for easing or enhancing the development of a campaign, it just seems like it isn’t enough. You don’t trumpet your achievements when they’re someone else’s achievements. Maybe I’m being a little too pessimistic here, but it doesn’t seem different enough, or even well-established.

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Game of Roles: The Hospitaler

by dither on May 25, 2013 at 3:14 pm
Posted In: Game of Roles, Start in a Tavern

So I wanted to wrap up my remix classes. That usually isn’t the best attitude to have when you go into a creative project, but that’s how it was with my Paladin remix.

Here’s the Heroic Hospitaler class:
Download: Essentials Hospitaler (Paladin) v.1

One of my other players expressed an interest in playing a class that had a power similar to the Guardian character theme — except as an “class thing” rather than a “theme thing.” It involves taking a hit for a nearby ally. I was down.

With the need for a Paladin remix, and the need to experiment with “Guardian”-type powers, I created Shield of Sacrifice. It isn’t like the “Guardian’s Counter” power at all, to be totally honest — but it is very much a Paladin power.

As an immediate reaction, you can lose a healing surge when an ally within five squares has taken damage from an attack, to grant the triggering ally temporary hit points equal to your surge value. It has a better range than “Lay On Hands.”

I don’t know that I really like the idea of a class having access to more than one sort of damage mitigation effect unless that’s part of their class’s schtick (like the Monk or the Healer, for example), so the Hospitaler has mostly the one power.

Important to note is the fact that temporary hit points don’t count toward hit point total, meaning that a bloodied ally with THP is still considered bloodied, which enables the Hospitaler’s Zealous Fervor — and who doesn’t like a +1 bonus to attack rolls?

Which is not to say the Hospitaler doesn’t have plenty of other great stuff going for it. Plate proficiency is hard to come by, but it’s a hallmark of the Paladin archetype. The Hospitaler prefers the use of a shield, as it’s a requirement for at least one power.

Bless Weapon draws influence from the Artifier’s “Magic Weapon” power, though here it only grants a bonus to damage, however using the Hospitaler’s primary ability score — kind of a big deal. The Hospitaler likes having allies nearby.

I borrowed quite a bit from the 3.5 Paladin class when working on the Hospitaler — Divine Health at 1st level provides the class with a bonus to surge value, and the Aura of Courage feature at 6th level grants the Hospitaler immunity to Fear.

Incidentally, Fear immunity is not totally unprecedented in Fourth Edition, it’s merely difficult to find. The odd power or magic item grants immunity to Fear effects. The Hospitaler has immunity, and grants a defense bonus to allies nearby.

While I don’t think I will ever be quite as proud of any class design as the Hellraiser, I do like what came out in the Hospitaler design. Take a look.

Play at your own risk.

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Game of Roles: The Hellraiser

by dither on May 24, 2013 at 11:40 am
Posted In: Game of Roles, Start in a Tavern

Want to play a character that really walks the line between light and darkness? How about something like the Warlock, but not as convoluted?

Here’s the Heroic Hellraiser class:
Download: Essentials Hellraiser (Warlock) v.1

The Hellraiser is a sleak version of the Infernal Pact Warlock without all the weird Christmas-Tree powers that WotC decided to hang on the Warlock because they couldn’t find another place to put them. No design space was wasted here.

The Hellraiser has a twinned themes: darkness and the Infernal Pact. This is reflected in basically every class feature and power. The Warlock’s former “Shadow Walk” has here been streamlined as Shroud of Shadows. Counting spaces was a pain.

There’s a simple matter of using a move action to walk, run, or shift. You still get the same basic effect — the Hellraiser moving every round — and knocking him down or immobilizing him proves a life-threatening handicap with his meager defenses.

Binding Curse replaces the bookkeeping-intensive Warlock’s Curse, and further references the theme of the Infernal Pact. The Hellraiser can literally attack his foes with the bargain he struck with the Lower Planes.

Pact boons have also been replaced with the straightforward Infernal Compact, which borrows a little from the Essentials Warlocks — Binder and Hexblade. The Infernal Rebuke power is the Warlock’s “Eldritch Blast” — albeit with more flavor.

Shadow Flay is a new addition, reflecting the Hellraiser’s vicious nature, and reinforcing the class’s role as a striker — it begs the leader classes to grant this character attacks — more attack rolls means more chances to crit.

And the pièce de résistance is the class’s encounter power, Burnt Offering. It is essentially the Executioner’s Death Attack feature in power form, but it more closely resembles “Power Strike” in form and function. Ten extra damage once per fight.

But, but – you can only use Burnt Offering when your attack reduces an enemy to within ten hit points of dead, and you can only use it once per encounter (at first), and you lose the choice of whether to kill the creature or knock it unconscious.

The beauty of the power? You’re doing the bidding of the character’s Infernal master.

The Hellraiser just gets cooler as it advances in level — overcoming fire resistance, gaining bonuses while concealed, and recharging your Second Wind whenever the infernal flames of your encounter power consumes yet another doomed soul.

At 10th level, you gain the Shadow Retreat power, which you can only use while in partial or total concealment. It allows you to remove yourself from play until the end of the encounter, or you decide to come back. It’s the coward’s way out. Beautiful.

Check it out. Play at your own risk.

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