Every game has its good and bad points. But like chicken rice, no matter good or bad, there is usually still the chicken and the rice. Which brings us to a role-playing game. It needs role-playing elements and of course, it must be enjoyable as a game.
4th Edition DnD.
It is a roleplaying game. With a filmsy Skill Challenge system for determining complicated role-playing encounters which doesn't work anyway, and an elaborate tactical grid combat model. We can definitely see where WoTC concentrated their effort on in 4th Ed.
This also conveniently allows WoTC to heighten demand for their overpriced plastic miniatures (some of them which I do admit looks quite okay in terms of mass-produced China-sweatshop standard).
All in all, the game sometimes degenerates into a hack-and-slash fest, sadly even when the DM does not want it that way, as the combat in 4th Ed takes around half an hour, all the way up to two hours for "epic" fights.
"No zombies or motorized hacksaws please as we continue to mow down the minions, thanks."
We experienced this quite often in our heroic-tier campaigns, and the players can expect the bulk of the four-hour long DnD sessions to be combat-oriented if at least two such 4th Ed encounters are thrown in.
Okay, you must be asking, but if the combat is fun and all, won't we want to spend more time in the part of the game which is indeniably the game's strength?
Umm, yes.
If combat was does not end up being an inevitable household chore (think washing stacks of dishes and plates after a hard day of work, and you had just wanted to go to bed in the first place.)
Combat in 4th Ed is fun on paper with the various at-will, encounter and daily powers given to us by the game, but pardon the cliche, after a while, it does feels a bit like an MMO, where I am clicking my character's special powers on his on-screen HUD. The various status effects inflicted on mobs/players is reminiscent of MMOs in general as well. (and boy does it feel like the dishes and plates analogy.)
Too many skills depend on tactical placement and the cooperation of the party, which is important for most games, but to keep track of all these on the battleground (kitchen table), means distracting one from roleplaying his fighter in the old days, where one can shout,
" I hack at him wildly with my great axe. Arrrrr!!!"
*rolls a 1 on a d20* - loses an arm and a finger according to Shell's Custom Crit System (CCS)
In fact, that might be the only thing that the fighter could do as an attacking option (besides Power Attack etc) in the old days. But by keeping it simple, it allows one to flesh out his toon (character) in his own unique way rather than allowing the name of the power to compensate for it.
Constantly having to wonder which three squares to move away to get concealment, which exact few squares to stand on to get the most out of the entire's party power array etc, starts to grate on the party and the DM alike, like say, an hour into an epic fight.
The sheer number of status modifiers accumulating on the mobs and players does not help with the ease of book-keeping too.
All in all, I feel that DnD 4th Ed is too clunky in combat form after playing firsthand, contrary to their boast of a cleaner/faster system. The "Powers" system did simplify the creation of a character, but not the actual time spent in a fight due to unforseen "splash damage" time taken from remembering the sheer number of status effect modifiers, the 202th time a mark moved in the same battle, and trying to optimize play between 4-6 players with individual powers requiring specific placement.
It is of no fault of the players or the DM that they want to optimize play, but the system itself is rather flawed when so much time have to be spent to do it efficiently. WoTC should buck up and start "patching" the existing game content first, before churning out endless sourcebooks/splashbooks in a short-term attempt to grab quick cash.
I am still having fun playing the game though.
I play the game primarily for friends, for their companionship and interaction, and of course, a four-hour journey into a different body/soul/mind. I enjoy the personal challenge, trying to keep myself in character, longer and longer as the weeks go by, until one day, when Pongtau, Shell, Lex or Shane ask me to buy a drink at the vending machine next to our gaming table, I can snarl to him in Deep Speech,
"Get it yourself, thrall, before I siphon your brain and mush your senses!"
By then, I would have hopefully snapped to my senses, and go about buying the drinks.
I never viewed myself as a great roleplayer, as all these things should come naturally to the great and the gifted. But I do try my best, and for what I lack in, I make up for it in intensity and the willingness to grind on and improve oneself.
Three words to all our players, vets included.
"Do-not-f*cking give up."
Peace all, and stay tuned next time when I will be touching on the original 4th Edition game which came into existence way before DnD 4th Edition. (Clue: It rhymes with Shallow Buns.)
p/s: Vek is selling his custom-made dice which rolls a 6 approx. 32.1 percent of the time. Word goes that the local casinos are trying to head-hunt him for his mad skills.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Two weeks of Real Life, Shell's campaign, King's Bounty and Shadowrunning? (A definitive belated New Year's post)
Hi all,
Firstly, a Happy belated New Year's to all my readers/fans/thralls !!!
I had been taking a break from my campaign for these past few weeks, making way for Shell's new DnD adventure. I was enjoying typical end of the year festivities (read: lots of sleeping, tennis, tuition-ing). But there were of course, exceptions from the boring same-old same-old. For the past week, the twitchy fingers of mine were occupied by the best game I have played in recent memory -
King's Bounty: The Legend.
This little gem of a game comes from the demented Russian makers of Space Rangers 2 - Katauri Interactive. They bought the engine of the game from a small company that was running out of resources, and added their own unique tongue-in-cheek humor/quest touch to it. Add the title "King's Bounty" to the mix and you got yourself a cult hit. (Only reason I can think of for now that KB:TL is not bigger, is due to the inept distribution and customer service of the crappy Atari distributor brand.)
It may look like a rehash of Heroes of Might and Magic and all its related TBS/RTS brethen at first glance, but after playing it for a couple of hours, the depth of KB:TL is astounding. I have to admit after countless hours on it, I am still learning new stuff and concepts e.g. stacks, race, morality, in the game itself.
Yes. The game has the morality concept floating about in the midst. And does it really well.
Some of your items are affected by the actions you make in the game, making them "living" items, with mood swings attached. The elven artifact that I retrieved in my particular game was not happy with me at all at first, due to my non-elven ways. I had to stop hanging about with undeads in my army, and killing random elven troops in the game to appease it. That did not stop the artifact from stopping its effect completely at times, forcing me to "suppress" it forcibly to maintain its effect.
Your actions e.g. helping/killing a tyrant, influence the game greatly, thus making you think twice before doing anything. I for one, roleplayed a vastly charismatic Paladin who was bent on ridding evil using Evil itself, except that the said paladin is now divorced and newly married, with his new wife correcting his ways e.g. a goodie Human/Elven army. KB:TL did not slap a "Role-Playing" tag to its genre, but yet makes you want to do it. Amazing stuff I tell you.
Pros: Humor,Off-beat, Deep, simple yet beautiful graphics
Cons: Time-consuming, some bugs that crashes you back to desktop
Rating: 9/10 ("Jizz in my Pants" standard)
Enough about KB:TL for now, before this post rapidly turns into a game review. You really have to play it to do it enough justice. Thank Caiphon for this to restore my faith in computer games after how Fallout 3 disappointed me greatly.
Back to Real Life. Last week, on a random trip to my local gaming store, I was lucky enough to find Shadowrun: 4th Edition propping up the shelves. Years ago, my friends and I had a blast playing the game in its 2nd Ed incarnation. The rules were rather clunky at parts and we had to constantly refer back to the rulebook for clarification. No longer is that the case.
The current edition boast award-winning credentials (Game of the Year 2006: Gen Con), and is basically a "reduced fat" version of the previous. The clunky was trimmed down, while the exciting (read: brutal combat, realistic wounds/death system, tons of firepower, immersive world) kept at its gory best.
I am still reading through the book but it bodes well for the future, and I am having thoughts about DMing a short campaign one day. Shane, Alex and Pongtau have already made characters for the game, and as they all say in 2070, we might be making a 'run soon! (More on this in a later post.)
And finally, Shell's campaign! These few sessions, our party of five had been hacking and slashing our way to gain Crowtel's "respect", and have reached character level 3 as I write this. We will be uncovering the mystery of the tainted corestones and their effect on the world, as the campaign goes on I presume.
I am playing Kharisma K. Karpenter, an intense mindflayer starlock who went to Crowtel to find out more about Caiphon- her patron star, when she met up with the other four ( Grim, Oshamus, BBW and whichever character Lex is playing that week), and instead, got herself embroiled in a world-changing plotline.
We are still looking for the city to give us due respect as they have been rather coy with their rewards and praises thus far. I cannot blame them for not trusting an illithid like me, but our numerous exploits should be able to speak for themselves.
Okay, this has been a long post, signing off here and I will be back very soon with more news regarding Shadowrun, Shell's adventure and my Caen adventure (which is returning after the New Year!)
Firstly, a Happy belated New Year's to all my readers/fans/thralls !!!
I had been taking a break from my campaign for these past few weeks, making way for Shell's new DnD adventure. I was enjoying typical end of the year festivities (read: lots of sleeping, tennis, tuition-ing). But there were of course, exceptions from the boring same-old same-old. For the past week, the twitchy fingers of mine were occupied by the best game I have played in recent memory -
King's Bounty: The Legend.
This little gem of a game comes from the demented Russian makers of Space Rangers 2 - Katauri Interactive. They bought the engine of the game from a small company that was running out of resources, and added their own unique tongue-in-cheek humor/quest touch to it. Add the title "King's Bounty" to the mix and you got yourself a cult hit. (Only reason I can think of for now that KB:TL is not bigger, is due to the inept distribution and customer service of the crappy Atari distributor brand.)
It may look like a rehash of Heroes of Might and Magic and all its related TBS/RTS brethen at first glance, but after playing it for a couple of hours, the depth of KB:TL is astounding. I have to admit after countless hours on it, I am still learning new stuff and concepts e.g. stacks, race, morality, in the game itself.
Yes. The game has the morality concept floating about in the midst. And does it really well.
Some of your items are affected by the actions you make in the game, making them "living" items, with mood swings attached. The elven artifact that I retrieved in my particular game was not happy with me at all at first, due to my non-elven ways. I had to stop hanging about with undeads in my army, and killing random elven troops in the game to appease it. That did not stop the artifact from stopping its effect completely at times, forcing me to "suppress" it forcibly to maintain its effect.
Your actions e.g. helping/killing a tyrant, influence the game greatly, thus making you think twice before doing anything. I for one, roleplayed a vastly charismatic Paladin who was bent on ridding evil using Evil itself, except that the said paladin is now divorced and newly married, with his new wife correcting his ways e.g. a goodie Human/Elven army. KB:TL did not slap a "Role-Playing" tag to its genre, but yet makes you want to do it. Amazing stuff I tell you.
Pros: Humor,Off-beat, Deep, simple yet beautiful graphics
Cons: Time-consuming, some bugs that crashes you back to desktop
Rating: 9/10 ("Jizz in my Pants" standard)
Enough about KB:TL for now, before this post rapidly turns into a game review. You really have to play it to do it enough justice. Thank Caiphon for this to restore my faith in computer games after how Fallout 3 disappointed me greatly.
Back to Real Life. Last week, on a random trip to my local gaming store, I was lucky enough to find Shadowrun: 4th Edition propping up the shelves. Years ago, my friends and I had a blast playing the game in its 2nd Ed incarnation. The rules were rather clunky at parts and we had to constantly refer back to the rulebook for clarification. No longer is that the case.
The current edition boast award-winning credentials (Game of the Year 2006: Gen Con), and is basically a "reduced fat" version of the previous. The clunky was trimmed down, while the exciting (read: brutal combat, realistic wounds/death system, tons of firepower, immersive world) kept at its gory best.
I am still reading through the book but it bodes well for the future, and I am having thoughts about DMing a short campaign one day. Shane, Alex and Pongtau have already made characters for the game, and as they all say in 2070, we might be making a 'run soon! (More on this in a later post.)
And finally, Shell's campaign! These few sessions, our party of five had been hacking and slashing our way to gain Crowtel's "respect", and have reached character level 3 as I write this. We will be uncovering the mystery of the tainted corestones and their effect on the world, as the campaign goes on I presume.
I am playing Kharisma K. Karpenter, an intense mindflayer starlock who went to Crowtel to find out more about Caiphon- her patron star, when she met up with the other four ( Grim, Oshamus, BBW and whichever character Lex is playing that week), and instead, got herself embroiled in a world-changing plotline.
We are still looking for the city to give us due respect as they have been rather coy with their rewards and praises thus far. I cannot blame them for not trusting an illithid like me, but our numerous exploits should be able to speak for themselves.
Okay, this has been a long post, signing off here and I will be back very soon with more news regarding Shadowrun, Shell's adventure and my Caen adventure (which is returning after the New Year!)
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
"Better Nate than Never." (Excerpt from "Finger Food for Oozes Cookbook" included)
Hey all,
For the past two sessions of my Caen campaign, our heroes have been a lil' bit busy. Their sword arms were working overtime and in the matter of a day, they had already cleaved off the head of the dictator, Mib Tranor and indirectly caused the death of their long-time nemesis - Nate Bankers after encountering him in the underground dungeon of Greenich.
Our resident transmuter/rich man's son/wayward gayboy was trapped by the party, and ravaged by hungry oozes in the cavern that he had been hiding in for the past week . They must have felt that Nate was quite a delicacy, as there was almost nothing left of him, except a partially digested lizardman decoration earring.
Kind of a mixed feelings thingy, as the party wanted to bring Nate back to Maya for trial. Technically, Nate is "still" going back to Maya, except that he would be testifying as a bone ornament in a tiny bottle I suppose.
As of now, we will be taking a short break from Caen, while allowing Shell to start a bit of his new campaign (slated all the way to Epic, I heard.) I will be bringing you more of the happenings, including 9d20's New Year's stuff for gamers.
Okay, now for the Finger Food for Oozes excerpt that I had promised to show you.
Enjoy and cook well, all.
Ooze's Babi Ponteh (Page 82: Simple Underground Delicacies of the North)
Ingredients
A slab of Human or Boar (Human preferred for tangier taste), Ooze's acidic goo, a dabbling of common salt, three teaspoons of vinegar, and grounded mud granules.
Directions
1.Take the slab of something and hack it into comfortable munching bite-sizes.
2.Fry the pieces in a pan for about six turns. Add in the common salt and the mud granules, taking care to dabble evenly on the exposed parts of the human/boar.
3.The vinegar should be added next onto the active stack. Let it simmer in the pan, allowing it to take ongoing fire damage (5) for another ten turns.
4.Finally, throw in the acidic goo as an aggressive afterthought, and serve the dish as an immediate reaction to a hungry stomach.
5. Done properly, the OBP should be gobbled up in no time at all , until save ends. (with a -2 penalty)
For the past two sessions of my Caen campaign, our heroes have been a lil' bit busy. Their sword arms were working overtime and in the matter of a day, they had already cleaved off the head of the dictator, Mib Tranor and indirectly caused the death of their long-time nemesis - Nate Bankers after encountering him in the underground dungeon of Greenich.
Our resident transmuter/rich man's son/wayward gayboy was trapped by the party, and ravaged by hungry oozes in the cavern that he had been hiding in for the past week . They must have felt that Nate was quite a delicacy, as there was almost nothing left of him, except a partially digested lizardman decoration earring.
Kind of a mixed feelings thingy, as the party wanted to bring Nate back to Maya for trial. Technically, Nate is "still" going back to Maya, except that he would be testifying as a bone ornament in a tiny bottle I suppose.
As of now, we will be taking a short break from Caen, while allowing Shell to start a bit of his new campaign (slated all the way to Epic, I heard.) I will be bringing you more of the happenings, including 9d20's New Year's stuff for gamers.
Okay, now for the Finger Food for Oozes excerpt that I had promised to show you.
Enjoy and cook well, all.
Ooze's Babi Ponteh (Page 82: Simple Underground Delicacies of the North)
Ingredients
A slab of Human or Boar (Human preferred for tangier taste), Ooze's acidic goo, a dabbling of common salt, three teaspoons of vinegar, and grounded mud granules.
Directions
1.Take the slab of something and hack it into comfortable munching bite-sizes.
2.Fry the pieces in a pan for about six turns. Add in the common salt and the mud granules, taking care to dabble evenly on the exposed parts of the human/boar.
3.The vinegar should be added next onto the active stack. Let it simmer in the pan, allowing it to take ongoing fire damage (5) for another ten turns.
4.Finally, throw in the acidic goo as an aggressive afterthought, and serve the dish as an immediate reaction to a hungry stomach.
5. Done properly, the OBP should be gobbled up in no time at all , until save ends. (with a -2 penalty)
Friday, November 28, 2008
"Heroes Encapsulated. It now comes in more munchable bits!"
Hey all,
One chapter. Three months. Twelve sessions.
That is the format that I will be aiming for my ongoing Caen campaign next year. It will allow me to pace the action properly and move the storyline along a definite path, littered with several sidequests.
For my current chapter, it has lasted about half a year and the time is ripe for a conclusion. The players themselves have grown considerably, and experienced the DnD system first-hand.
They now have a better grasp of the rules and how/what they might want to play in the years to come.
My players will be able to continue with their original characters next summer (with their items and where they left off). They also have the option to make totally new characters who will be buffed up to a certain control level, and given stock magical items to compensate for the loss of their original custom items.
Update
In the current Caen chapter, our party of six have now tailed Nate all the way to the village of Greenich-a collection of repressed villagers protected by their local "hero" Mib Tranor. Mib let slip that Nate had dealed with him a few days before. He allowed Nate access to his private dungeon, and has no idea where he was down there.
The party climbed down a deep hole in the ground as directed by Chriss- the architect, and were appalled by the conditions of the cramped and hastily built underground mudwalk. And being only able to walk in a single file, and running the risk of hurting allies with their ranged attacks added to their frustations. And everyone know that in small packages lies great surprises. (or something along that line.)
Can the party survive this wooden underground coffin of a place and find the pesky banker? Check out this space for more.
One chapter. Three months. Twelve sessions.
That is the format that I will be aiming for my ongoing Caen campaign next year. It will allow me to pace the action properly and move the storyline along a definite path, littered with several sidequests.
For my current chapter, it has lasted about half a year and the time is ripe for a conclusion. The players themselves have grown considerably, and experienced the DnD system first-hand.
They now have a better grasp of the rules and how/what they might want to play in the years to come.
My players will be able to continue with their original characters next summer (with their items and where they left off). They also have the option to make totally new characters who will be buffed up to a certain control level, and given stock magical items to compensate for the loss of their original custom items.
Update
In the current Caen chapter, our party of six have now tailed Nate all the way to the village of Greenich-a collection of repressed villagers protected by their local "hero" Mib Tranor. Mib let slip that Nate had dealed with him a few days before. He allowed Nate access to his private dungeon, and has no idea where he was down there.
The party climbed down a deep hole in the ground as directed by Chriss- the architect, and were appalled by the conditions of the cramped and hastily built underground mudwalk. And being only able to walk in a single file, and running the risk of hurting allies with their ranged attacks added to their frustations. And everyone know that in small packages lies great surprises. (or something along that line.)
Can the party survive this wooden underground coffin of a place and find the pesky banker? Check out this space for more.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
"Okay. Let's have a recap..." - xoxo, Gossip Girl. (1.06)
I have to admit that I am a fan of drama serials, even those crappy-ish ones, e.g. Gossip Girl, One Three Hill. I also love Laguna Beach when it first came out on MtV and its later editions. Who can resist LC, Jason the jerk etc. ( I draw the line at The Hills though, which sucks royally to the core.)
And my adventures, hooks and inherent pacing and cliff-hangers, yes, are of course influenced in a way or other, by all these drama-mama stuff.
That is why I ended one of my recent sessions at the start of a fight involving a bunch of "woodcutters". The players will be left hanging on a thread for a week or so wondering what they are up to, or at least have the opportunity to wonder why things happen the way it is.
I like to start my sessions with a lengthy recap. As we play once a week, it is good to re-tune the party's thoughts back to Caen. And of course, reminding the players of exactly what had happened a week ago, is not exactly a bad thing to do. Everybody has a life outside of the game and they may forget or not remember everything in its entirety. A recap is just good for everyone, and so is Robotech. (But that is another story altogether.)
As our chapter draws to a conclusion, I realized that I have learnt a lot from my first attempt as a 4th Edition DM. These are but some of the little "life" gems that I will take along with me for the upcoming rides.
(Do remember: This is not a jibe at any of my players. I value their participation above all else, and we have to recall that this is our first try at a new game. In all fairness, this is a first-child experiment to help our other adventures in the future.)
By the way, this is me voicing out my thoughts and calling the situation as I see it. From a DM's point of view. I like to think that improvement is always possible and that nothing is perfect. So with these points in mind, we can make future DnD runs even more enjoyable.
Okay, okay. Enough of thoughts and on to something non-humane and cowabunga-ly cool.
*cups hand to mouth and whispers*
I have managed to get my hands on a Palladium System "TmnT" Core Rules RPG in pdf. form. ( Thanks to Kizul from the US of A!) A TmnT campaign can be set in a ancient/modern/post-nuclear world; whereby the players are actually mutated animal-heroes/villains in every form imaginable. -------->
(Think mongeese Ninjas, owl scholar-scientists in a genetics-engineering lab, or Elephant Yakuza gang-members touting AK-47s. You get the idea.)
The character-rolling process is brilliant and TmnT is actually one of the rare games I do not mind making a character with the random generator. I will be able to bio-modify it to my tastes in the end, after finding out what the creature the system has picked for me. You will never play the same way twice and adds to a lot of replayability.
Pongtau is nice enough to help me print and bind it (Thanks man!), and I dare say that it might be one of the best books he will ever bind in his lifetime. *chuckles* Do give it a go when you guys have the time. You will not regret it.**
'Til we meet again next time, and remember- "The grass is always greener on the other side only if there is no shit on it."
* No, Freddy. You are not any of the students that I mentioned.
**If you are a fan of the Fallout series, TmnT, Wasteland, post-aplocalyptic stuff, Freeway Fighter, steampunk etc.
And my adventures, hooks and inherent pacing and cliff-hangers, yes, are of course influenced in a way or other, by all these drama-mama stuff.
That is why I ended one of my recent sessions at the start of a fight involving a bunch of "woodcutters". The players will be left hanging on a thread for a week or so wondering what they are up to, or at least have the opportunity to wonder why things happen the way it is.
I like to start my sessions with a lengthy recap. As we play once a week, it is good to re-tune the party's thoughts back to Caen. And of course, reminding the players of exactly what had happened a week ago, is not exactly a bad thing to do. Everybody has a life outside of the game and they may forget or not remember everything in its entirety. A recap is just good for everyone, and so is Robotech. (But that is another story altogether.)
As our chapter draws to a conclusion, I realized that I have learnt a lot from my first attempt as a 4th Edition DM. These are but some of the little "life" gems that I will take along with me for the upcoming rides.
(Do remember: This is not a jibe at any of my players. I value their participation above all else, and we have to recall that this is our first try at a new game. In all fairness, this is a first-child experiment to help our other adventures in the future.)
- First and foremost, I learn that in future, to play with people that I will enjoy DMing, and not just because I want a certain number of players in a campaign etc. Bad vibes from certain players who are not enjoying the game will sour the experience of those who are genuinely trying to enjoy the game. Now that I have seen things in a clearer light, I am wiser on sending invitations for a run in my future adventures. "Yes, Freddy! I am looking at you! Get a good shift job or something so you can start rolling!" (A similar analogy is likened to a choice between a bright but sulky/bad-attitude student or a dimmer but happy/willing-to-learn student. Give me the latter anytime.*)
- I see real-life personalities on the gaming table, and sometimes, they can be downright ugly. There is no "must-d0-or-you-are-stupid" because you are playing in the skin of another character. He/she might be that stupid. Thus, it should not be treated as a race to uberness. It is more about developing a strong party bond with different character types and forging ahead together at the expense of the unlucky baddies. Learning together. Sometimes, even dying together. But ultimately, having fun together. Something that I cannot stress hard enough. A general rule of thumb: Have fun, play fun. Fun is infectious, and goes a long way.
- I cannot point a finger at the players for not enjoying the game. My campaign is not everybody's cup of tea, and I respect that. And of course, I am not expecting everyone to think of Caen or Maya every day, every minute of their real-life week. I do feel that for the session's length at least, the players should try to get more involved in the proceedings , let go of their inhibitions in real-life, and play freely and happily in another skin. Players should at least know the gist of their skills/powers, remember to bring their own character sheets/dice/figurines, or just act interested for the few hours. It is not about basic courtesy for the DM or the game. Just think of it as indirectly smoothening the session for everyone there. (Likewise on the DM's side, if he is ill-prepared for the week, or is in a generally frustrated or disinterested mood, he will also adversely affect the session.)
- Everyone plays a part in helping the experience. Even Neekor. Be it noting down the initiative of the combat, helping with the book-keeping, tracking the gold, taking note of the hooks and clues that an important NPC gives instead of treating it like "Bah, another thing to note down, you do it then...". Players also play a part in shaping the world by developing the background of the character (discussing which part of Caen do they come from etc. They can even come up with their own names etc and check with the DM if it fits the campaign.) In many aspects, both the DM and the players play a part in making DnD an enjoyable experience.
- Sometimes, we must take a step back, and actually remember that I, the DM, am essentially just trying to tell a story, with my players as the focal point. We have fun on the journey, together. It is not supposed to be something whereby, the players sit around a table and expect everything to fall from the sky, with the DM as a separate entity. It does not work that way. Maybe I am equating a player's fun to how involved he/she is in the campaign, as there are many types of players in the world, as shown in the DmG. But think about it. If you enjoy something and is directly related to the storyline itself, won't you do a little bit extra to help make the experience better for everyone involved?
- You may think that "Damn if it is all gloom and doom as mentioned, why in the name of Black Zenith's arse are these guys still running the game?". Simple answer. It is not always like that. In fact, we have loads of fun most of the time, goofing about and role-playing serious stuff too. Many hours have been spent with them discussing amongst themselves on whether to partake certain quests/lines due to their differences in alignment. And better things are yet to come. --------->
- Shihao's upcoming campaign will be our group's new revised foray into DnD 4th Edition. Discussions are on the way. Shihao and me were discussing time-limit checks (2 minutes for the whole party to decide on their actions, to cut down on combat time). A bag with individual tiles numbering 1-20 for skill checks is in the mix too. It will be a brilliant hybrid between letting the player choose his own fate, but yet not knowing if what he chose is good enough to successfully finish the intended action. He will also be doing detailed encounters with much terrain in the mix, which is something my battlemap lacks at times. More power to him, and I look forward to playing my Mind Flayer.
By the way, this is me voicing out my thoughts and calling the situation as I see it. From a DM's point of view. I like to think that improvement is always possible and that nothing is perfect. So with these points in mind, we can make future DnD runs even more enjoyable.
Okay, okay. Enough of thoughts and on to something non-humane and cowabunga-ly cool.
*cups hand to mouth and whispers*
I have managed to get my hands on a Palladium System "TmnT" Core Rules RPG in pdf. form. ( Thanks to Kizul from the US of A!) A TmnT campaign can be set in a ancient/modern/post-nuclear world; whereby the players are actually mutated animal-heroes/villains in every form imaginable. -------->
(Think mongeese Ninjas, owl scholar-scientists in a genetics-engineering lab, or Elephant Yakuza gang-members touting AK-47s. You get the idea.)
The character-rolling process is brilliant and TmnT is actually one of the rare games I do not mind making a character with the random generator. I will be able to bio-modify it to my tastes in the end, after finding out what the creature the system has picked for me. You will never play the same way twice and adds to a lot of replayability.
Pongtau is nice enough to help me print and bind it (Thanks man!), and I dare say that it might be one of the best books he will ever bind in his lifetime. *chuckles* Do give it a go when you guys have the time. You will not regret it.**
'Til we meet again next time, and remember- "The grass is always greener on the other side only if there is no shit on it."
* No, Freddy. You are not any of the students that I mentioned.
**If you are a fan of the Fallout series, TmnT, Wasteland, post-aplocalyptic stuff, Freeway Fighter, steampunk etc.
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