So, most every place I look and listen this week, everybody seems to be firmly of the opinion that the New York Giants will do a little stomp dance on the face of the San Francisco 49ers. Or at least that seems to be the general public sentiment. The Vegas line favors San Fran, but in that Vegas-zoney way that seems to be based on making money off the rubes, and not on the actually abilities of the teams.
The New York Giants, as awesome as they looked last weekend, are a team built to beat the New England Patriots, the Green Bay Packers, the New Orleans Saints, or the Dallas Cowboys. (We'll also take Atlanta Falcons, San Diego Chargers, Pittsburgh Steelers and Detriot Lions as answers here.) The Giants are built to bring too much pressure up front with their base defense, while blanketing the other teams leading receivers - this forces high flying, high octane offenses into mistakes, and makes them rely on steady ball advancement, reducing possesions an offensive opportunity. At the same time, the Giants offense is built to exploit weak defenses, not overcome strong ones.
Look at the games the Giants lost this year - almost all of them were against teams playing the way the Giants play, disruptive pressure defense and opportunistic offense. Most of those teams do not have playmakers the quality of Eli Manning or JPP, and they still beat the Giants. I know the Giants are healthy for the first time all year, and if the Saints has beaten the 49ers last weekend, I would say they are the Super Bowl Favorite. But the Giants have to beat the 49ers, a team whose offense is used to taking what it can get and relying on the run, also a team whose defense is probably the best defense in the NFL this year. I dont see how that is a matchup that favors the Giants.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
DM Questionnaire, via Playing D&D with Pornstars
Another Survey via Zak @ http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/
1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?
1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?
A one-handed injection dagger for delivering swift action potions and poisons. Or a dark elder god revived in the format of a herd of cattle.
2. When was the last time you GMed?
September 2011
September 2011
3. When was the last time you played?
January 2012
January 2012
4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.
The party follows a criminal/murderer/villian into an underground cave complex that holds an entire village of hideous mutants and outcasts who the villian aids and assists as a spiritual leader.
5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?
Plan or tweak upcoming encounters, actions and moments to fuck with them as best as possible. If they take a REALLY long time, I'll get a snack, or hunt some extra forbidding music or pictures.
6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?
Depends, but usually one meal, plus many sugary or salty snacks.
7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?
No.
8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?
Trailing another PC and guiding him away from the knowledge that my PC had murdered his father.
Trailing another PC and guiding him away from the knowledge that my PC had murdered his father.
9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?
Both, really. The players are respectful of the setting in some sense, but it takes a serious second place to whatever their moods or desires are at the time of the game. Funny day for the players makes for a funny game, a serious day for a serious game.
10. What do you do with goblins?
Give them class levels and kills PCs with them, if I can.
11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?
Giant city catacombs beneath Montreal.
12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?
13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?
Legend, an OGL derivative. I was looking at it for design ideas for my homebrew campaign, specifically some role-playing mechancis.
14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?
High Energy, Very Unusual, A Little Dark.
This: http://www.circusfare.com/ or this: http://toxoplasm.org/
This: http://www.circusfare.com/ or this: http://toxoplasm.org/
15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?
Aside from a few attempts at true horror adventures, no.
16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)
I had an amazing time running the original Temple of Elemental Evil module with a group I played with in high school. Mostly the creative party solutions to navigating a dungeon of that size with all the personalities involved made the campaign oodles and oodles of fun.
17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?
Big screen behind me for pictures of the gameworld and npcs, a large table with battlemap and easily adjusted terrain pieces, small side tables next to each player for character sheet, dice, books or laptop. Warm, good natural light that is not overwhelming. Comfy, sinky chairs.
18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?
Savage Worlds and Palladium (FRP, TMNT, Rifts)
19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?
Viola Spolin (Theater Games and Improvisation) and The Legend of Zelda (dungeon crawling traps and puzzly goodness)
Viola Spolin (Theater Games and Improvisation) and The Legend of Zelda (dungeon crawling traps and puzzly goodness)
20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?
Someone who is ready to try anything once.
21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?
Losing camping gear, food, and extra clothing and setting up a camp in the dark woods at night.
22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?
Eh. There are so many great RPG products. A really good desktop/tablet app that allows a DM to easily fill in campagin/game content for players to create digital character records and campaign journals would be pretty awesome.
23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?
I know some game designers who do not play RPG's, but are interested in them. Those conversations are interesting because of how torn the designers are between the freedom and excitement of a tabletop RPG game and the fear of someone breaking their systems.
I know some game designers who do not play RPG's, but are interested in them. Those conversations are interesting because of how torn the designers are between the freedom and excitement of a tabletop RPG game and the fear of someone breaking their systems.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Secret Santicore Trap Tables
Here are a few linked trap tables that I created for Secret Santicore. Please enjoy them.
Transformation Trap
These two tables can be used separately, but are intended to be used together, so a player transformed by the trap would roll once on each table to discover what they have become.
New Form
1. Glinda, the Good Witch. Player becomes a Female Elf, S10 D10 C10 I13 W15 C17, and Primary weapon changes into Wand of Wonder with unlimited charges that is also a Mace +3.
2. Pigeon. Player’s possessions do not change, but the pigeon can only wear rings. Lose all racial and class abilities. Can fly at a speed of 40'.
3. Satyr.
4. Racial Enemy. Race changes to a race that hates the player's current race.
5. Unicorn. Player loses racial abilities, but retains class abilities, and gains a Unicorn's natural attacks, as well as a hatred of adult males of all kinds.
6. Slave of Dagon. Player becomes a horrible amphibious fish man. All statistics reduced by 2, all racial abilities lost, player gains the ability to breathe underwater, and land and swim speeds of 20'. The player must be immersed in water every 4 hours, or start taking Constitution damage.
Deformation
1. Tiny Hands. You always drop your sword on a natural 1 or a natural 20. It does not change the other results of the roll.
2. Massive Genitalia. Your Constitution increases by 2, but critical hits against you do additional damage (critical multiplier increases by 1).
3. Two Heads. You receive a -2 to Dexterity and Wisdom. You may take 2 Standard Actions instead of a Move and a Standard, but both actions are at -4.
4. Mucus Layer. Your skin becomes green and rubbery, and covered in a thin layer of mucus. You suffer a -2 to Constitution and Charisma, but gain Resist Fire and Electricity 5.
5. Marked. Your face in marked by evil. Good characters in your presence when your face is uncovered automatically dislike you, and suffer a -1 penalty to attacks, saves, and skill checks.
6. Tentacles. Each of your limbs becomes two tentacles. Your land speed changes to 10', and you can no longer wield traditional weapons, but you may hold items in your tentacles and strike with them. Each tentacle does 1d4 + 1/2 Str damage.
What is this corpse, and why shouldn't I touch it?
These two tables can be used separately, but are intended to be used together, so that a found corpse is defined and trapped.
Corpse
1. A troll at -8 hit points. In 5 minutes, it will stand at full hp.
2. The son of a local lord who has been missing. He wears his signet ring, and his parents will assume he was murdered by anyone wearing it.
3. Glinda, the Good Witch. Her wand has been cursed.
4. A leprous orc. Players touching it must succeed on a difficult (DC 18) Fortitude Save or contract leprosy.
5. A wizard's failed experiment at combining snakes and goats. Some snakes may still live inside the horror.
6. An ogre’s child, torn into a dozen pieces. Players waiting for 30 minutes will encounter the ogre, in an unstoppable rage.
7. A paladin whose blood has turned into holy water. A small pool of it sits next to the corpse. Any player willing to desecrate the body may harvest the water.
8. A pigeon with an extremely large ruby in its gullet.
9. A dead genie, and his now non-magical lamp. If players manage to resurrect the genie, he will grant one wish before disappearing.
10. Your mom. No, I don’t know how she got here. Player enters a rage in the next combat encounter.
Trap
1. Corpse explodes dealing high (8d6) fire damage to all within 20’, Reflex Save for half. Trap is a rune scrawled on corpse's back, and can be noticed with a difficult perception check.
2. Already claimed as food by nearby massive, rabid bear. The bear will attack anyone touching the corpse in a berserk rage.
3. Covered in Super Glue. Corpse sticks to player until that can succeed on an extremely difficult (DC 20) Strength Check. Each check takes 1 hour.
4. Smells truly awful. Player must succeed on a difficult (DC 18) Fortitude Save or be nauseous for 4 hours. Players succeeding are still at -1 to attacks, saves, and skill checks for 4 hours, and no one wants to stand near them for at least 1 day.
5. Corpse is made up of doppelganger ants. Doppelganger ants attack anything that touches them, swarming for 3d6 damage per round. Once they kill their prey, the ants mimic their victim as a corpse.
6. Corpse is lying in an acid pool. When touched, the corpse falls completely apart, and the player must succeed on a difficult (DC 18) Reflex Save or fall into the acid pool themselves, taking high (8d6) acid damage.
7. If moved, desecrated, or otherwise disturbed, the corpse rises 2 rounds later as a Skeleton Warrior or Death Knight.
8. The corpse is a sacrifice by a local kobold tribe to their god, an ancient black dragon. Interfering with the corpse will bring the anger of the kobold tribe. Killing the tribe will anger their god.
9. The corpse is inhabited a camouflaged alien intelligence that lashes out to control the mind of the first person to touch it. Players interacting with the corpse must succeed on a difficult (DC 18) Will Save or be possessed.
10. Corpse is under a collapsing ceiling. Trap can be found and disarmed with difficult (DC 25) skill checks. If the wall collapses, any player within 10’ of the wall must succeed on a difficult (DC 18) Reflex Save or take heavy (8d6) crushing damage.
Transformation Trap
These two tables can be used separately, but are intended to be used together, so a player transformed by the trap would roll once on each table to discover what they have become.
New Form
1. Glinda, the Good Witch. Player becomes a Female Elf, S10 D10 C10 I13 W15 C17, and Primary weapon changes into Wand of Wonder with unlimited charges that is also a Mace +3.
2. Pigeon. Player’s possessions do not change, but the pigeon can only wear rings. Lose all racial and class abilities. Can fly at a speed of 40'.
3. Satyr.
4. Racial Enemy. Race changes to a race that hates the player's current race.
5. Unicorn. Player loses racial abilities, but retains class abilities, and gains a Unicorn's natural attacks, as well as a hatred of adult males of all kinds.
6. Slave of Dagon. Player becomes a horrible amphibious fish man. All statistics reduced by 2, all racial abilities lost, player gains the ability to breathe underwater, and land and swim speeds of 20'. The player must be immersed in water every 4 hours, or start taking Constitution damage.
Deformation
1. Tiny Hands. You always drop your sword on a natural 1 or a natural 20. It does not change the other results of the roll.
2. Massive Genitalia. Your Constitution increases by 2, but critical hits against you do additional damage (critical multiplier increases by 1).
3. Two Heads. You receive a -2 to Dexterity and Wisdom. You may take 2 Standard Actions instead of a Move and a Standard, but both actions are at -4.
4. Mucus Layer. Your skin becomes green and rubbery, and covered in a thin layer of mucus. You suffer a -2 to Constitution and Charisma, but gain Resist Fire and Electricity 5.
5. Marked. Your face in marked by evil. Good characters in your presence when your face is uncovered automatically dislike you, and suffer a -1 penalty to attacks, saves, and skill checks.
6. Tentacles. Each of your limbs becomes two tentacles. Your land speed changes to 10', and you can no longer wield traditional weapons, but you may hold items in your tentacles and strike with them. Each tentacle does 1d4 + 1/2 Str damage.
What is this corpse, and why shouldn't I touch it?
These two tables can be used separately, but are intended to be used together, so that a found corpse is defined and trapped.
Corpse
1. A troll at -8 hit points. In 5 minutes, it will stand at full hp.
2. The son of a local lord who has been missing. He wears his signet ring, and his parents will assume he was murdered by anyone wearing it.
3. Glinda, the Good Witch. Her wand has been cursed.
4. A leprous orc. Players touching it must succeed on a difficult (DC 18) Fortitude Save or contract leprosy.
5. A wizard's failed experiment at combining snakes and goats. Some snakes may still live inside the horror.
6. An ogre’s child, torn into a dozen pieces. Players waiting for 30 minutes will encounter the ogre, in an unstoppable rage.
7. A paladin whose blood has turned into holy water. A small pool of it sits next to the corpse. Any player willing to desecrate the body may harvest the water.
8. A pigeon with an extremely large ruby in its gullet.
9. A dead genie, and his now non-magical lamp. If players manage to resurrect the genie, he will grant one wish before disappearing.
10. Your mom. No, I don’t know how she got here. Player enters a rage in the next combat encounter.
Trap
1. Corpse explodes dealing high (8d6) fire damage to all within 20’, Reflex Save for half. Trap is a rune scrawled on corpse's back, and can be noticed with a difficult perception check.
2. Already claimed as food by nearby massive, rabid bear. The bear will attack anyone touching the corpse in a berserk rage.
3. Covered in Super Glue. Corpse sticks to player until that can succeed on an extremely difficult (DC 20) Strength Check. Each check takes 1 hour.
4. Smells truly awful. Player must succeed on a difficult (DC 18) Fortitude Save or be nauseous for 4 hours. Players succeeding are still at -1 to attacks, saves, and skill checks for 4 hours, and no one wants to stand near them for at least 1 day.
5. Corpse is made up of doppelganger ants. Doppelganger ants attack anything that touches them, swarming for 3d6 damage per round. Once they kill their prey, the ants mimic their victim as a corpse.
6. Corpse is lying in an acid pool. When touched, the corpse falls completely apart, and the player must succeed on a difficult (DC 18) Reflex Save or fall into the acid pool themselves, taking high (8d6) acid damage.
7. If moved, desecrated, or otherwise disturbed, the corpse rises 2 rounds later as a Skeleton Warrior or Death Knight.
8. The corpse is a sacrifice by a local kobold tribe to their god, an ancient black dragon. Interfering with the corpse will bring the anger of the kobold tribe. Killing the tribe will anger their god.
9. The corpse is inhabited a camouflaged alien intelligence that lashes out to control the mind of the first person to touch it. Players interacting with the corpse must succeed on a difficult (DC 18) Will Save or be possessed.
10. Corpse is under a collapsing ceiling. Trap can be found and disarmed with difficult (DC 25) skill checks. If the wall collapses, any player within 10’ of the wall must succeed on a difficult (DC 18) Reflex Save or take heavy (8d6) crushing damage.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Easy Type D&D 3.5 Character Rules
Thank you for planning on running a character in a game I am DMing. These rules simplify the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 character creation process, and should let us focus on basics and getting to the actual playing of the game. These rules are heavily influenced by Zak S. quikie character generation rules.
We are using the 3.5 rules, which can be viewed at http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm
To create your character follow these steps:
1. Roll 4d6 six times, each time dropping the lowest die. Record the 6 values and place them, as you desire in the 6 attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma)
2. Choose a Race, and note the benefits below:
Human: +1 to any stat, 30' move, Choose 1 Skill
Dwarf: +2 Con, -2 Cha, 25' move, +1 to Attack Goblins, +2 to Save vs. Spells, +4 AC vs Giants
Elf: +2 Dex, -2 Con, 30' move, Cast Sleep 1/day, Add Search, Proficient in Rapier
Half Orc: +2 Str, -2 Int, 30' move, Proficient in Great Axe
Halfling: +2 Dex, -2 Str, 25' move, +1 to all saves, +1 to Attack with Thrown, Add Stealth
Gnome: +2 Int, -2 Wis, 25' move, Cast Silent Image 1/day, 4 AC vs Giants
3. Choose a 3.5 Class (http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/classes.htm). Note your BAB, Saves, and Special Abilities. Ignore skills and skill points.
4. If you are a Rogue, choose 4 of the following skills. If you are a Bard, Monk or Ranger, choose 1. If you are a Human, choose 1 additional. If your intelligence is 16 or higher, choose 1 additional.
Bardic Knowledge
Bluff
Climb
Disarm Device
Parley
Perception
Search
Spellcraft
Stealth
Thievery
Track
Tumble
4. Calculate Bonuses - Calculate your bonuses with Weapons (BAB + Stat) and Skills (Level + Stat). Stat bonuses are equal to +1 for every 2 points you exceed 10 (round down), or -1 for each 2 points you are below 10 (round up). At 1st level, you receive maximum hit points.
5. Ignore Feats. Choose spells, if necessary. Clerics and Druids can memorize any spells they would like from their spell list. Wizards must choose 3 known spells at 1st level. Add 1 armor, 2 weapons or shields, a dagger, a spellbook (if a wizard) and 10 gp worth of equipment from the SRD.
That should be all. We'll go over people's characters before we begin. Thanks,
Sam
We are using the 3.5 rules, which can be viewed at http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm
To create your character follow these steps:
1. Roll 4d6 six times, each time dropping the lowest die. Record the 6 values and place them, as you desire in the 6 attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma)
2. Choose a Race, and note the benefits below:
Human: +1 to any stat, 30' move, Choose 1 Skill
Dwarf: +2 Con, -2 Cha, 25' move, +1 to Attack Goblins, +2 to Save vs. Spells, +4 AC vs Giants
Elf: +2 Dex, -2 Con, 30' move, Cast Sleep 1/day, Add Search, Proficient in Rapier
Half Orc: +2 Str, -2 Int, 30' move, Proficient in Great Axe
Halfling: +2 Dex, -2 Str, 25' move, +1 to all saves, +1 to Attack with Thrown, Add Stealth
Gnome: +2 Int, -2 Wis, 25' move, Cast Silent Image 1/day, 4 AC vs Giants
3. Choose a 3.5 Class (http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/classes.htm). Note your BAB, Saves, and Special Abilities. Ignore skills and skill points.
4. If you are a Rogue, choose 4 of the following skills. If you are a Bard, Monk or Ranger, choose 1. If you are a Human, choose 1 additional. If your intelligence is 16 or higher, choose 1 additional.
Bardic Knowledge
Bluff
Climb
Disarm Device
Parley
Perception
Search
Spellcraft
Stealth
Thievery
Track
Tumble
4. Calculate Bonuses - Calculate your bonuses with Weapons (BAB + Stat) and Skills (Level + Stat). Stat bonuses are equal to +1 for every 2 points you exceed 10 (round down), or -1 for each 2 points you are below 10 (round up). At 1st level, you receive maximum hit points.
5. Ignore Feats. Choose spells, if necessary. Clerics and Druids can memorize any spells they would like from their spell list. Wizards must choose 3 known spells at 1st level. Add 1 armor, 2 weapons or shields, a dagger, a spellbook (if a wizard) and 10 gp worth of equipment from the SRD.
That should be all. We'll go over people's characters before we begin. Thanks,
Sam
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
20,000 Leagues
So I've never read the famous Jules Verne novel, nor have I seen the more commonly experienced Disney film, and so much of my knowledge of this important piece of science fiction is composed entirely of hear say and speculation. In an attempt to correct this serious oversight, I finally began to read the novel earlier this month, and here are a few of the wildly mistaken assumptions I had made about the story.
1. First, I thought Nemo's submarine would descend to actually be 20,000 Leagues beneath the surface of the ocean. This would likely put the submarine actually in the Earth's crust. The 20,000 Leagues spoken of in the novel's title are 20,000 leagues at Professor Aronnax (our erstwhile narrator) travels with Captain Nemo while under the sea.
2. Second, I always imagined 20,000 Leagues as a sort of Moby Dick under the waves, with a giant squid replacing the whale. After 80 percent of the book, there's just no particularly antagontistic giant squid*. The closest part of the tale so far to a classic hunt across the seas is the opening, where Professor Aronnax and the American military hunt Captain Nemo's sub, which they suspect to be some sort of super-whale.
3. I am amzed by the volume of text taken up in a blow-by-blow recounting of the animal and vegetable species encountered by our erstwhile professor, their classifications, scientific names, and physical characteristics. If my memory worked any better than a pasta sieve, I would now know more about the (speculative?) flora and fauna of the Ocean floor than I would ever have any need to. As is, I have a much easier time classifying the many types of sea creatures I do know of now, and could probably explain to you the difference between a seal and a sea lion (really, appears to be all about the teeth vs. tusks).
4. Finally, the book's central story is almost exclusively about Captain Nemo, who he is, and why he does what he does - this is the mystery served to the reader, wrapped around a travelogue of the Ocean. The key plot point that has been on tap since the first section is: when will Aronnax and his companions escape? And since one can tell from the makeup of the novel that once they do, it will be all over, I have become a reader rooting hard against the (theoretical) protagonist characters of the novel.
This final point is, actually, the aspect of the book I am enjoying the most. Verne positions the narrator as a man who is trapped, and who sees his companions wisdom when they speak of escape fro Nemo's wonderful ship, but who is drawn by the knowledge and wonder available to him to ignore his better senses and reason. Verne carefully puts the reader in the exact same situation, and thereby makes a passive and potentially uninteresting narrator someone the reader can connect with in a deep way, and whose struggles carry a great deal of meaning. Reminded me of all the fun things you can do with a narrator, other than just making him or her unreliable.
*POST UPDATE - I totally ran into the giant squid once I hit the last tenth of the novel. The point still stands, but the giant, evil quid (devilfish) is totally in the novel.
1. First, I thought Nemo's submarine would descend to actually be 20,000 Leagues beneath the surface of the ocean. This would likely put the submarine actually in the Earth's crust. The 20,000 Leagues spoken of in the novel's title are 20,000 leagues at Professor Aronnax (our erstwhile narrator) travels with Captain Nemo while under the sea.
2. Second, I always imagined 20,000 Leagues as a sort of Moby Dick under the waves, with a giant squid replacing the whale. After 80 percent of the book, there's just no particularly antagontistic giant squid*. The closest part of the tale so far to a classic hunt across the seas is the opening, where Professor Aronnax and the American military hunt Captain Nemo's sub, which they suspect to be some sort of super-whale.
3. I am amzed by the volume of text taken up in a blow-by-blow recounting of the animal and vegetable species encountered by our erstwhile professor, their classifications, scientific names, and physical characteristics. If my memory worked any better than a pasta sieve, I would now know more about the (speculative?) flora and fauna of the Ocean floor than I would ever have any need to. As is, I have a much easier time classifying the many types of sea creatures I do know of now, and could probably explain to you the difference between a seal and a sea lion (really, appears to be all about the teeth vs. tusks).
4. Finally, the book's central story is almost exclusively about Captain Nemo, who he is, and why he does what he does - this is the mystery served to the reader, wrapped around a travelogue of the Ocean. The key plot point that has been on tap since the first section is: when will Aronnax and his companions escape? And since one can tell from the makeup of the novel that once they do, it will be all over, I have become a reader rooting hard against the (theoretical) protagonist characters of the novel.
This final point is, actually, the aspect of the book I am enjoying the most. Verne positions the narrator as a man who is trapped, and who sees his companions wisdom when they speak of escape fro Nemo's wonderful ship, but who is drawn by the knowledge and wonder available to him to ignore his better senses and reason. Verne carefully puts the reader in the exact same situation, and thereby makes a passive and potentially uninteresting narrator someone the reader can connect with in a deep way, and whose struggles carry a great deal of meaning. Reminded me of all the fun things you can do with a narrator, other than just making him or her unreliable.
*POST UPDATE - I totally ran into the giant squid once I hit the last tenth of the novel. The point still stands, but the giant, evil quid (devilfish) is totally in the novel.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Systemic Stories
Found an old Choose Your Own Adventure in the bookstore underneath my office building the other day. It's from late in the series run, with a number well over 100, and is clearly after the writers had mastered the form, and well into when the writers were bored with the form.
Reading it again has reminded me why I always felt that the Choose Your Own Adventure books were pretty limited as entertainment - there is no logical system to determine whether or not you will succeed, or that will help you predict results. The Choose Your Own Adventure books are essentially large branched narratives - and the pleasure of them is exploring all of the nodes, and seeing the many possibilities, not figuring out how to reach a specific ending. This is clearly detectable in the very late entries in the series where the writers start to experiment with the format, even going so far as to include 'cheater's' endings which could only be found by leafing through the book - there was no way to reach those endings by navigating the book as expected.
I preferred the Lone Wolf books, and a series that escapes my memory at the moment that actually pitted two book equipped players against one another. Both of these series included mechanical systems whereby your player could use certain skills, items, or actions to influence the outcome of a choice. Players choosing options well suited to the task, that they had bonuses or advantages with would perform, on the whole, better. Very simple, and actually not the point I'm coming around to making, but something that remains very true for me.
When I am exploring a system as opposed to a place, I want to be able to poke the system and see what happens - I need access to levers or knobs, or inputs of some type, and then I desire to see how fiddling with different knobs will affect the outcomes of the system. In a broad sense, a Choose Your Own Adventure book can function this way, but in this case, every decision point is a different knob, and many knobs are totally non-pertinent to each specific outcome. The large number of knobs and difficult to parse interrelatability make that system much more difficult for me to explore, and therefore less interesting. Where a Choose Your Own Adventure book works well is as a way to explore a place or event - it gives you paths into the many different nooks and crannies of a story, without concern about probabilities, realism, etc - it makes it easy to tour those nodes or events, without providing any information about how they work.
So, I am wondering what it would look like to write a story about a system. To follow the logic above, a traditional piece of fiction gives a reader a guided tour of a place, time, or story - and that generally matches my personal expectation for a novel, and what I think I get out of a novel. So what interests me today is how I would write a piece of traditional fiction that did that for a system, instead of a story. Or perhaps, more interestingly, viewed its story as a system. Is a system even interesting if you, the reader, have no control over which levers and knobs are turned? Is that the same as asking why folks like on-rails storytelling video games? I think the two things could be different, but I am unsure on what that piece of fiction would look like. Off to do more thinking.
Reading it again has reminded me why I always felt that the Choose Your Own Adventure books were pretty limited as entertainment - there is no logical system to determine whether or not you will succeed, or that will help you predict results. The Choose Your Own Adventure books are essentially large branched narratives - and the pleasure of them is exploring all of the nodes, and seeing the many possibilities, not figuring out how to reach a specific ending. This is clearly detectable in the very late entries in the series where the writers start to experiment with the format, even going so far as to include 'cheater's' endings which could only be found by leafing through the book - there was no way to reach those endings by navigating the book as expected.
I preferred the Lone Wolf books, and a series that escapes my memory at the moment that actually pitted two book equipped players against one another. Both of these series included mechanical systems whereby your player could use certain skills, items, or actions to influence the outcome of a choice. Players choosing options well suited to the task, that they had bonuses or advantages with would perform, on the whole, better. Very simple, and actually not the point I'm coming around to making, but something that remains very true for me.
When I am exploring a system as opposed to a place, I want to be able to poke the system and see what happens - I need access to levers or knobs, or inputs of some type, and then I desire to see how fiddling with different knobs will affect the outcomes of the system. In a broad sense, a Choose Your Own Adventure book can function this way, but in this case, every decision point is a different knob, and many knobs are totally non-pertinent to each specific outcome. The large number of knobs and difficult to parse interrelatability make that system much more difficult for me to explore, and therefore less interesting. Where a Choose Your Own Adventure book works well is as a way to explore a place or event - it gives you paths into the many different nooks and crannies of a story, without concern about probabilities, realism, etc - it makes it easy to tour those nodes or events, without providing any information about how they work.
So, I am wondering what it would look like to write a story about a system. To follow the logic above, a traditional piece of fiction gives a reader a guided tour of a place, time, or story - and that generally matches my personal expectation for a novel, and what I think I get out of a novel. So what interests me today is how I would write a piece of traditional fiction that did that for a system, instead of a story. Or perhaps, more interestingly, viewed its story as a system. Is a system even interesting if you, the reader, have no control over which levers and knobs are turned? Is that the same as asking why folks like on-rails storytelling video games? I think the two things could be different, but I am unsure on what that piece of fiction would look like. Off to do more thinking.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
I call bullshit
I was going to update this once a week, so as I had a place to work out small ideas, and as a sort of healthy rigor thing, and then today has been epically shitty. So, no post today. But I will get something up tomorrow.
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