5 posts tagged “gaming”

Anthony and I hit our first ever Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day yesterday at Empyre Games and we surprisingly had more fun than we would have expected. We were a little worried at first when we found out that we were the most experienced D&D 3.5 players in the group (except for possibly one other player), as the DM had only run 1st Edition D&D games. However, the one-shot adventure designed for the event (The Fall of Frostsilver) really turned out great for what it was. The DM in particular did an awesome job at keeping everything moving along and staying fun.

One of the best things about the event was the diversity of players there. There was a four person family (a dad, mom and two teen/preteen boys) who all came to learn D&D 3.5 together that were completely hilarious. The two boys were completely bloodthirsty and in it for their own characters (as they tend to be at that age), which made for some pretty hilarious exchanges. The younger one that was playing a half-elf rogue/sorcerer kept wanting to search all the bodies of everything we killed (even while a combat still raged) and the older one who was playing a dwarf paladin (ostensibly the brother of my dwarf cleric of Moradin) threw away his paladin class abilities when he kicked his mother's halfling away from a corpse he wanted to loot instead (and he only got 30 gold pieces in exchange for all his paladin class).

Because Wizards of the Coast sent more free stuff than there were players at this event, we managed to walk away with some pretty good loot as well. I managed to add an assortment of new miniatures to my collection and got another set of dice for the wife. One of the most interesting things was the 4th Edition preview stat card of the Spined Devil promotional miniature. The stats look much more streamlined than 3.5, but I'm more wary than ever. Will Dungeons & Dragons turn into a tabletop MMORPG experience? If so, I think I'll be sticking with 3.5.

You're playing the most phenomenal game ever created.

(Via StumbleVideo on the Nintendo Wii.)

Although we celebrated two years of dOrange back in April, the origins of our little gaming group actually go further back. As much as I'm ashamed to admit it, the earliest history of our group can be traced to a New Year's Eve Party back on December 31st, 2004 where Jeremy, Sarah, Leslie and I played our first tabletop RPG adventure. The shameful part of the story is that the adventure was none other than the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game.

Consider the cheesy text on the back of the box:

Enter the world of adventure!

There's something moving behind that door...

Perhaps it's a vicious ogre waiting to tear you limb from limb.
Or a horde of zombies thirsting for blood.
Or maybe a terrifying dragon ready to engulf
    you in a maelstrom of fire.

Problem?
Nope. Not for you.
You're a hero--

a powerful wizard, a strong fighter, or a sneaky rogue.
You can handle whatever comes
at you in this introduction to the greatest fantasy
game of all time.

I'm surprised we weren't turned off by this blatant dumbing down of a rich roleplaying game, but somehow we persevered. (Since when zombies thirst for blood? Isn't that a vampire thing?) Even when the very first adventure had us saving a lame-o unicorn from a bunch of goblins, we still wanted to know if we could kill the unicorn for extra XP. (Instead, all we were told was that, Alabern the unicorn, "can touch wounded characters with its horn.")

We've come a long way since then. It's a Paragon night tonight and I'm itching to get back into it after Squibblequick smote Anthony's computer last week, forcing us to delay the session. And then we're kicking of Matt's newest "evils" campaign, Anathema, on Saturday, granting us a double dose of gaming. Who knows? Maybe we will finally get to kill a unicorn this time!

In dOrange, we're nearing the end of my third homebrew tabletop roleplaying campaign and it's gotten me to thinking about what sorts of things I've learned throughout the process. Looking back over the course of two years, I've definitely level-busted as a game master (and to a lesser degree as a player, since I've had less opportunity for that).

Certainly, there's a lot of things I've learned that I could riff on, but if I had to pick only a single concept, it would be this:

It's a bit of a simplification, but I do believe that a game's success depends hugely on how good or bad communication is between players and the game master (as well as the quality of communication amongst players).

A big part of this is communicating the expectations of everyone who participates in the game (whether player or GM). If one player wanted a game with lots of crunchy, complicated combats but they end up with a game of political intrigue and conversation, it's up to that player to be honest with the rest of the group about their unsatisfied expectations. Otherwise, how else are the rest of the players and the game master supposed to know? (Ruling out things like telepathy, as per the spell.)

Communication also dovetails nicely into one of my game mastering pet peeves: honestly communicating the ability to commit to any particular campaign. Unless a player says otherwise, I believe most good game masters will assume everyone is as committed to a campaign as they are. They probably will spend a great deal of time and creative effort trying to find ways to excite and engage each player (at least insofar as they understand each player's expectations). Therefore, they are at least a little put out when it turns out that all this work for a player is for naught because either:

• the player ignores the efforts of the GM on their behalf, or
• doesn't show up at all (with little or no advance notice to the GM).

After experiencing this a few times with any given player, a GM is likely throw up his (or her) hands and stop putting as much time or effort into anything involving that player. Of course, this can be more or less averted if the player is clear up front about how much or how little they can commit. (Real life events certainly should leave room for compromise, but more communication is always better.)

I've waxed on long enough for now, but this is certainly a topic worth revisiting. With all the gaming seriousness done, how about a little gaming silliness? A D&D Fan Film finalist awaits!

Squibblequick

I have many names. I am the Prince of Perversion, the Pontiff of Paraphilia, the Lord of Lechery, the Sultan of Sodomy, the Kangaroo King. I am... SQUIBBLEQUICK!
--Squibblequick

On Sunday, April 15th, we celebrated two gaming-goodness-filled years of dOrange with myself, L, Anthony, Erin, Anna, Nate and Colleen.

We started by hitting our "Waffle Haus" (a la Dead Like Me) at Shari's for appetizers. The main course was Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse, where Tony the Tiger cooked us a delicious dinner, dubbed Colleen with the new nickname "Miss Caldwell", and threw shrimp at Anna's eye.

Following the dinner escapade, Anthony brought his homemade dOrange dessert back to our place, where we hung out watching YouTube clips and reading old gaming quotes. Colleen and Nate managed to make their escapes before Anthony dropped us into his ambitious dOrange All Stars session, featuring characters from our older campaigns. The cast included:

• from Moreau: Mithran (me), Aurelia (L) and Marcus (Anthony)
• from Lathe: Remy (Erin) and Wu Jiao (L)
• from Shackled: Thea (Erin)
• from Treasure Hunters: Ilka (Anna)

Emmy and the Magus from Paragon made bit appearances as well, but truth be told, the most memorable character was the first appearance of Squibblequick, the vile deity. The mysterious rabbit first mentioned early in Paragon finally (and creepily) made Himself(?) known.

All in all, this two year celebration really was a critical hit! I'm sorry we couldn't have the whole awesome group present, but there's always next year, right? Whether you were present or not, many kudos to all of you that have made dOrange the shiny, crazy delicious gaming group that it is. Raise your d20s and join me in bringing forth another year of fantastic gaming goodness!