I'm casting about the Internet for some concensus on what constitutes a tabletop Roleplaying Game. Here's an introduction put up on YouTube a little over a year ago. This guy's wit had me chuckling and I wish he did a lot more with the series he started. Chcek it out and I'll revisit the subject soon with more links to follow, pages to read, articles to absorb, before adding my own thoughts on the matter.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
The Hobbit (2001)
My summer Prince Valiant campagn took a break from the usual action this week to play a rousing game of The Hobbit (2001) from Fantasy Flight Games (and others, check the game link for more info). I have played this only once before some years back and had trouble remembering how it went. We sure had a lot of fun this time around, though.
The toughest part for some was being able to recite back the lyrics from the poem-songs to win adventure challenges. We had six players and played twice, both games being fairly close for several players. We had so much fun that we've decided that through the coming year we'd break out the other Lord of the Rings games we have and try to play them all before the first Hobbit movie comes out.
The toughest part for some was being able to recite back the lyrics from the poem-songs to win adventure challenges. We had six players and played twice, both games being fairly close for several players. We had so much fun that we've decided that through the coming year we'd break out the other Lord of the Rings games we have and try to play them all before the first Hobbit movie comes out.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Happy G-Day!
August 27th marks the anniversary of the birthday of Gary Gygax, the father of roleplaying games. I think it is fitting to commemorate this day by finding some time to game or create something for gaming, either written or otherwise artistic. One thing you could do is check out the details of Gary Con, a convention that takes place early each year to celebrate Gary's gaming legacy. You could also spread the word about the Gygax Memorial Fund, an organized effort to erect a bronze in Library Park in Lake Geneva, WI, in his honor. Whatever you do, just keep a good thought for the father of gaming and gamers everywhere. Game On!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Jedi Robot
Taking their cue from Star Wars, student at Stanford University have programmed a robot arm that can both attack and defend with a quasi-lightsabre.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Knights of Badassdom (2011)
Well here's a movie that could be funny and doesn't seem to take itself too seriously. Looks like a good cast, too.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Diagonal Measuring in Tabletop Games
As I fine tune some rules I am going to use in some games for autumn, I have come back around to the question of diagonal measuring and square grid use for miniatures. Having a wargaming background that stretches back to the early Seventies, I've naturally seen many different systems and ways to use grids and measurements in tabletop games. My first wargame was Tactics II which was a sort of introductory level wargame with generic red and blue armies fighting over fictitious territory. It had a square grid, very unusual for wargames that followed which primarily switched to hexagons as a standard. The switch to hexes appealed to the simulationist mindset that realized diagonal movement on a square grid allowed increased relative movement and range distances over hexes.
Of course, for miniatures wargaming the tabletop was wide open and sans grid, everything measured with rulers and tape measures. The foibles of each system so open often boiled down to rules about what part of a base was the starting point for measuring. Some would require measurement from the middle of a unit while others might stipulate measuring movement from the farthest moving corner of a base. Lines of sight, for command and combat, and lines of fire, for ranged weapons or magic (in fantasy battles), might use the middle of a unit or might allow that any part of a line measured from and to any part of of a base, unobstructed by terrain or obstacles, was fair game.
When tabletop RPGs came on the scene the defaults for those who used miniatures became hexes for outdoors and squares for indoors. These dictates seemed to have been guided but the fact that it was generally easier to represent indoor locations on square grids and that the great outdoors didn't need such straight lines for accurate simulation of terrain. It wasn't until later tabletop RPGs came on the scene that rules about counting movement and range on squares required some additional calculations, every other square essentially counting as double. This introduced another level of complexity when adjudicating area effects for explosions and spells of some varieties.
My own thinking is that the level of complexity in adding the simulationist touches regarding the diagonal calculations is detrimental to tabletop RPGs. Combat rules in tabletop RPGs risk overshadowing the RPing that can take place in even the simplest of systems. With a wargaming background, I am in favor of miniatures being used during gameplay but I also feel that a tabletop RPG should be flexible enough to do without miniatures. Therefore, rules that key too much on such aspects of combat, particularly which require calculations such as above, promote a mental distancing of players from their player character that is undesirable. I'm personally looking to simplify such things in rules I use in hopes of maintaining a deeper level of RPing immersion.
Of course, for miniatures wargaming the tabletop was wide open and sans grid, everything measured with rulers and tape measures. The foibles of each system so open often boiled down to rules about what part of a base was the starting point for measuring. Some would require measurement from the middle of a unit while others might stipulate measuring movement from the farthest moving corner of a base. Lines of sight, for command and combat, and lines of fire, for ranged weapons or magic (in fantasy battles), might use the middle of a unit or might allow that any part of a line measured from and to any part of of a base, unobstructed by terrain or obstacles, was fair game.
When tabletop RPGs came on the scene the defaults for those who used miniatures became hexes for outdoors and squares for indoors. These dictates seemed to have been guided but the fact that it was generally easier to represent indoor locations on square grids and that the great outdoors didn't need such straight lines for accurate simulation of terrain. It wasn't until later tabletop RPGs came on the scene that rules about counting movement and range on squares required some additional calculations, every other square essentially counting as double. This introduced another level of complexity when adjudicating area effects for explosions and spells of some varieties.
My own thinking is that the level of complexity in adding the simulationist touches regarding the diagonal calculations is detrimental to tabletop RPGs. Combat rules in tabletop RPGs risk overshadowing the RPing that can take place in even the simplest of systems. With a wargaming background, I am in favor of miniatures being used during gameplay but I also feel that a tabletop RPG should be flexible enough to do without miniatures. Therefore, rules that key too much on such aspects of combat, particularly which require calculations such as above, promote a mental distancing of players from their player character that is undesirable. I'm personally looking to simplify such things in rules I use in hopes of maintaining a deeper level of RPing immersion.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
GaryCon IV
Gary Con is an annual event that takes place around March of each year to celebrate tabletop gaming in honor of its namesake Gary Gygax, one of the fathers of roleplaying games, most notably Dungeons & Dragons. Gary's birthday is coming up Wednesday, July 27th, so I often have him and his legacy in my thoughts at this time of year. Recently they have announced that the event , coming up on its fourth year, will expand from a three day to a four day event taking place in 2012 from Thursday, March 22nd, through Sunday, March 25th. This coming Gary Con will be held once again at The Lodge in Lake Geneva (Geneva Ridge, more specifically), WI, birthplace of D&D and hometown to TSR, a company Gary Gygax helped found and that first published D&D in 1974. From the website . . .
"Gary Con is pleased to announce that Gary Con IV will be moving to a 4 day convention and the dates for Gary Con IV will be Thursday, March 22nd, through Sunday, March 25th, 2012. That' s 4 days of old school gaming in the place where it all began: Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Gary Con will be remaining at the Lodge at Geneva Ridge and has again secured a room rate of $79 per night for our attendees. For those that wish to close out Gary Con IV, we have a Sunday late check-out of 3pm at no cost and a 7pm late check-out for a $25 fee. For those in no rush to return to real life, the Lodge has offered a special rate of $49 for guests staying Sunday night.
The hotel will begin taking Gary Con reservations on July 1st, and we anticipate a full house for Gary Con IV so make your reservations early. We'll have some more great news to add soon!"
I've been a regular at Gary Con and hope to run some games at Gary Con IV. It's going to be lots of fun!
"Gary Con is pleased to announce that Gary Con IV will be moving to a 4 day convention and the dates for Gary Con IV will be Thursday, March 22nd, through Sunday, March 25th, 2012. That' s 4 days of old school gaming in the place where it all began: Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Gary Con will be remaining at the Lodge at Geneva Ridge and has again secured a room rate of $79 per night for our attendees. For those that wish to close out Gary Con IV, we have a Sunday late check-out of 3pm at no cost and a 7pm late check-out for a $25 fee. For those in no rush to return to real life, the Lodge has offered a special rate of $49 for guests staying Sunday night.
The hotel will begin taking Gary Con reservations on July 1st, and we anticipate a full house for Gary Con IV so make your reservations early. We'll have some more great news to add soon!"
I've been a regular at Gary Con and hope to run some games at Gary Con IV. It's going to be lots of fun!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
