One of the things I bought at Gen Con this year, was Paizo's GameMastery Map Pack: Extradimensional Spaces which I was directly inspired to do so by Dungeon Siege III's use of the Causeways.
The Causeways are an outer planar feature that allows rapid movement between one location to the next.
This is not a brand new innovation, even in video games. Games like Diablo have used them for a long time, and I know that at least in places like the Wheel of Time, where you can enter another dimension to save some time on the material plane, in terms of travelling, they have been used.
The lure of such places fits a few things though. For one, teleportation, especially as a spell, if a very powerful tool and something many players, especially those who've actually played through to the level where they can gain it, will keep in their back pocket. This may at times leave the party in the lurch as their artillery suddenly decides that after taking 40 of his 45 hit points of damage in a single stroke, to get the hell out of there.
By introducing such a manner of movement, you allow the players to bypass having teleportation. sure, they may want it, but if customizing your campaign, don't give it to them. It doesn't exist. Movement of troops and small elite forces, such as adventurers, is often done through the use of these types of causeways. This allows the players to still have a means of moving rapidly without potentially unbalancing the campaign to the point where the GM has to have some viable reason why the player's can's scry, teleport and assassinate.
Showing posts with label Dungeon Siege III. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dungeon Siege III. Show all posts
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Dungeon Siege III: Anjali
If you check out the Dungeon Siege III homepage, you may notice a woman on fire with blazing hair and runes glowing about her apparently naked body. This is Anjali, an Archon of this setting.
While racial history does play a small role in the humans, such as Katarina being related to Lucas through the father, Anjali is the only non-human here.
Some of the things that makes her work though in terms of story and pacing and place, can also work for other esoteric races in fantasy games.
For one, she is human or at least human looking. When she uses her other form, her Archon form, she's still humanoid.
Two, she's been raised while not necessarily in secret, by those who know taht she is not a normal child.
Three, she is not the only one of her kind. The big bad of the series? Her mother was an Archon. The Archon's ages old origins and place in the setting? Important to the game, especially in their role as heralds to the old gods. The other Archons you encounter? Depending on how the initial encounters go, can either fight against you to the death, or provide you access to areas and put up a brief fight for the sake of a show.
Four, the Archons are rare. Remember when drow as players were rare? I'm not saying that they were 'cooler' back then, but the fact that they weren't meant to be a player race from the get go, as well as the other strange races that were introduced in the game, were rare. The disconnect some gamers have with more modern games that are fantasy based, is it's more like Star Wars and the Cantina scene where a thousand different aliens are mingling with the humans. There's nothing wrong with this appraoch. After all, some of the oldest takes on D&D, like Arduin, have some very strange races in them, but its not necessarily for everyone, especially those who grew up on Conan or Fafrd and the Gray Mouser or even Elric, who despite his heritage, didin't necessarily run into a lot of non-human character.
Five, because she's rare, she has questions about her background. She has questions about her role in the world. She doesn't quite know everything that she's supposed to be doing despite feelings she has. If she were a more common race, these questions are already answered. Its possible to play against type, but even that's playing type. How many noble drow, cambions or other evil races have we seen in addition to fallen angels, and other divine types?
By making the race of the character important and playing a role in the background and current adventurers in the campaign, you can add the unusual or the different. Beware of trying to including too much at one time or allowing players to step on each others toes with a thousand variants. Enjoy the rare character ever now and again if that's the style your going for but beware of the dilution of the default 4th edition assumption of "Yes."
While racial history does play a small role in the humans, such as Katarina being related to Lucas through the father, Anjali is the only non-human here.
Some of the things that makes her work though in terms of story and pacing and place, can also work for other esoteric races in fantasy games.
For one, she is human or at least human looking. When she uses her other form, her Archon form, she's still humanoid.
Two, she's been raised while not necessarily in secret, by those who know taht she is not a normal child.
Three, she is not the only one of her kind. The big bad of the series? Her mother was an Archon. The Archon's ages old origins and place in the setting? Important to the game, especially in their role as heralds to the old gods. The other Archons you encounter? Depending on how the initial encounters go, can either fight against you to the death, or provide you access to areas and put up a brief fight for the sake of a show.
Four, the Archons are rare. Remember when drow as players were rare? I'm not saying that they were 'cooler' back then, but the fact that they weren't meant to be a player race from the get go, as well as the other strange races that were introduced in the game, were rare. The disconnect some gamers have with more modern games that are fantasy based, is it's more like Star Wars and the Cantina scene where a thousand different aliens are mingling with the humans. There's nothing wrong with this appraoch. After all, some of the oldest takes on D&D, like Arduin, have some very strange races in them, but its not necessarily for everyone, especially those who grew up on Conan or Fafrd and the Gray Mouser or even Elric, who despite his heritage, didin't necessarily run into a lot of non-human character.
Five, because she's rare, she has questions about her background. She has questions about her role in the world. She doesn't quite know everything that she's supposed to be doing despite feelings she has. If she were a more common race, these questions are already answered. Its possible to play against type, but even that's playing type. How many noble drow, cambions or other evil races have we seen in addition to fallen angels, and other divine types?
By making the race of the character important and playing a role in the background and current adventurers in the campaign, you can add the unusual or the different. Beware of trying to including too much at one time or allowing players to step on each others toes with a thousand variants. Enjoy the rare character ever now and again if that's the style your going for but beware of the dilution of the default 4th edition assumption of "Yes."
Monday, August 15, 2011
Dungeon Siege III
I don't play a lot of video games. Between work, the g/f, my vast reading pile, and the occasional movie, it's rare that I'm willing to sacrifice a huge time chunk to a full fledged video game.
Dungeon Siege III is probably the first new game I've bought in quite a while. The last one probably being Assassin's Creed years after it was out.
Dungeon Siege III is far more character based and in some ways, limited than previous entries. You have a choice of four different characters to select. The interesting thing is that the characters all play different in terms of appearance, style, and abilities. They can be highly customized with various attributes that rise as you gain levels, allowing a user to play through the game multiple ways with the same character. I'll be mentioning some specifics below so if you want to avoid spoilers, read no further.
That reminds me of one of the strengths of D&D. As a whole, it's generally good to have a well rounded party. While 4th edition may have given these roles terms like striker, defender, controller and leader, in many ways, they've been a part of the game since thief, fighter, magic user, and cleric. Perhaps not always in exactly the same role, and perhaps some customization could change how classes worked in the game, such as multi-classing demi-humans in the OSR realms, but for the most part...
The game hits on a lot of high points I've mentioned in the past.
Religion plays a huge role. The main villain of the series is called the Living Saint and has a massive following in the East where the church is strong.
Family relations play another big role. The villain is after the heroes because they murdered her father. The villain is also related to the current queen and has a legitimate claim to the crown. Two of the selectable characters are related to each other. One of the characters is a direct descendant of one of the most powerful spellcasters in the history of the setting. These things have an influence on how people see each other, they provide illumination into motivations and provide insight into what someone might do.
The game isn't that open in some aspects, but it does allow a few variations including redeeming foes, sparing foes, and taking different paths that wind up crossing the paths not taken. The writing isn't bad and there are probably a few ideas that could easily be yanked for your own campaign.
The side quests aren't always fighting either, even if they may have an ultimate effect of providing some damage to the enemy. For example, while the Queen's forces are under siege, you can set up a cannon and prevent the enemy from entering the cave complex where the Queen is holding up. There are a few examples of this combat handy but not actual combat skill tests throughout the game. When setting up challenges for the players, see what options you can provide them that don't necessarily rely straight up on dealing damage.
Dungeon Siege III is probably the first new game I've bought in quite a while. The last one probably being Assassin's Creed years after it was out.
Dungeon Siege III is far more character based and in some ways, limited than previous entries. You have a choice of four different characters to select. The interesting thing is that the characters all play different in terms of appearance, style, and abilities. They can be highly customized with various attributes that rise as you gain levels, allowing a user to play through the game multiple ways with the same character. I'll be mentioning some specifics below so if you want to avoid spoilers, read no further.
That reminds me of one of the strengths of D&D. As a whole, it's generally good to have a well rounded party. While 4th edition may have given these roles terms like striker, defender, controller and leader, in many ways, they've been a part of the game since thief, fighter, magic user, and cleric. Perhaps not always in exactly the same role, and perhaps some customization could change how classes worked in the game, such as multi-classing demi-humans in the OSR realms, but for the most part...
The game hits on a lot of high points I've mentioned in the past.
Religion plays a huge role. The main villain of the series is called the Living Saint and has a massive following in the East where the church is strong.
Family relations play another big role. The villain is after the heroes because they murdered her father. The villain is also related to the current queen and has a legitimate claim to the crown. Two of the selectable characters are related to each other. One of the characters is a direct descendant of one of the most powerful spellcasters in the history of the setting. These things have an influence on how people see each other, they provide illumination into motivations and provide insight into what someone might do.
The game isn't that open in some aspects, but it does allow a few variations including redeeming foes, sparing foes, and taking different paths that wind up crossing the paths not taken. The writing isn't bad and there are probably a few ideas that could easily be yanked for your own campaign.
The side quests aren't always fighting either, even if they may have an ultimate effect of providing some damage to the enemy. For example, while the Queen's forces are under siege, you can set up a cannon and prevent the enemy from entering the cave complex where the Queen is holding up. There are a few examples of this combat handy but not actual combat skill tests throughout the game. When setting up challenges for the players, see what options you can provide them that don't necessarily rely straight up on dealing damage.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Gen Con 2011: Day 3 or the Day of Wallet Bloodletting
No games to run today so I brought out my check list and wandered the hallway. I made two trips as I convinced myself to buy some goods that I probably didn't need and weren't on my list but on well.
Wyrd Miniatures: Pupper Wars. It's a board game with goofy looking puppet miniatures and I'm hoping it's a big hit with my g/f. If not, I've spent a lot of money on a group of tokens that will go into the closet. I also bought the Dead Justice limited edition convention set. If nothing else more undead are always handy to have.
Coolminiornot: I picked up the preorder special edition dwarf berserkers regiment for Avatars of War as well as a painting DVD, Miniature Painting Secrets with Jennifer Haley. I was going to buy another fig but it was $40 for a medium sized figure due to its limited edition status so that sucker went back to the shelf.
Dark Age miniature gaming. I don't play the game, but one of the factions has some fantastic monsters in it. This was another unplanned purchase but the big resin brood howler, broodhound pack (2 of 'em), and mandible are mine.
Tablemaster: They have various base flocking material and if you bought the whole set it was fairly inexpensive so that's what I did. Another unplanned miniature purchase.
Mouse Guard boxed set. I'm hoping I can talk the g/f into some rpging if it involves some cute, battle axe using mice. Don't know how that'll roll as she wasn't tricked into it with other games, but she does enjoy some card games. By the way, the guys here had great bags, regular bags with good handles that you can use at your local grocery store.Archai I believe, same people who do the Artesia book.
Burning Wheel Gold and Bloodstained Stars: The guys doing this are right next to the Artesia both. When I first came there, I asked for Burning Wheel, but was on the Mouse Guard side. So pick up some graphic novels because Archai is running a fantastic deal there (bought the Cycle of Air and got the Cycle of Earth free for Okko) but then went to buy Burning Wheel Gold and Mouse Guard and couldn't get Mouse guard because that was the guys I just bought the graphic novels from. Argh! But nonetheless, cool bags. Bloodstained Stars and the graphic novels were unintended purchases. I'll have to check online as there's supposed to be another Okko novel and the books look fantastic.
Masks and Eureka: Both sounded like good all purpose gaming supplements. The former was on my shopping list, the later not but in for a penny...
Cthulhu Gloom: Speaking of card games my g/f likes... She's a big fan of Gloom so I'm blaming her for this purchase.
Maps of Mystery: I picked up the three for Deep Vistas and received a free adventure with it. Unplanned purchase but I'm a sucker for maps and miniatures as may be coming out here...
Gamemastery Map Pack, extra dimensional spaces and Swallowed whole, along with Faiths of Balance, Faiths of Purity, and Malevolent & Benign, a Pathfinder Bestiary. I didn't buy the extra dimensional spaces when it first came out because I wasn't tuned into the use for it despite something similar in say, Wheel of Time. However, after beating Dungeon Siege III... well, suffice it to say I'm at least a little motivated to have the map pack. Also received a free convention exclusive miniature that will probably be available on the website by Monday if it isn't already. All unplanned purchases.
Kings of War: I went there to see if they had Mhorgoth the Necromancer. I like the figure. The faceless necromancer with energy shooting out of his hands and playing about in front of him. So I did pick him up from my check list but... Abyssal Dwarves... I picked up an 'army deal' with a huge boxed set and the lord's war conclave and received a box of 20 undead as a bonus. Mantic will get my business again.
Dungeonmorph Cards and Font by Inkwell Press I believe. I wanted to buy the dice but they were not available so I gave him my information so that I'm on the list when it comes out.
That's the stuff I've got in front of me. When I get home tomorrow I'll open the other bags. Mostly Gale Force 9 products I'm 99.9% sure as well as stuff I bought with my store credit at Cubicle 7.
General notes...
There was at least one booth that only took cash. The guys who make the high end RPG dice and have done so for Cthulhu as well as the Pathfinder adventures. Listen, it's the year 2011. Most of the places I made purchases were using phones to run the credit cards. There is absolutely no reason NOT to be able to accept credit cards.
Year of the Smart Phone. Okay, not necessarily the year of, but man, at least the Gen Con of. I've had my phone over two years. It's a first generation G1. I keep wanting to upgrade but the data package is killing me. While there were lots of people with cameras, I think most pictures posted online have come from the phones.
Tablets... not so much, but still in presence. Interesting enough, it looks to be a mix of both the ever popular iPad's and well, everything else. Got my hands of a Kindle and man, that sucker is light compared to a tablet, it's also easy to read, and holds a charge very well. I'm very interested now in the kindle if only I hadn't spent all of that money already... argh...
Costumers... I'm not one to judge in terms of quality, effort, etc... but some general notes, as I've already said. Some of these fans are punishing themselves tremendously in the name of fun and I salute that. The humidity here is some of the worst I can recall in my time here. It's also hot but I'm from Chicago and it's hotter back home. Next, and this is for the women, the time to be pulling your skirt or tattered tassels or whatever, down below your ass is when you first put it on. It's not every five feet of the convention hall as you realize that darn it, gravity is not going to pull that sheer material past your ass. If you're going to show your ass off, go ahead. Just don't put together an outfit that you constantly have to be messing with. It can't be fun to do so and its gotta be annoying.
Dealer: No problems. Usually I have a smart ass or two that loses a sale or has me get in their face and ask them to repeat that but seriously, all dealers were awesome this year. All friendly, willing to talk, etc... The only real problem? Not enough people on check out, or in general, not enough people manning the booths. They were so busy running demos that when customers were ready to check out they had to halt the demo, run the bill, and then get back to the customer.
Technology: This should probably be filled under the year of the smart phone bit but... wi-fi is everywhere. Hotels have it, the food courts have it, the posh restaurants have it, etc... and with that, comes a freedom for charging people for internet access. I can't tell you the exact number of dealer who did NOT pay for internet access this year because the prices were stupidly high, but it's like how hotels used to charge for access to Wi-Fi. Get with the times or go home I guess is the message. Or something along those lines maybe?
Author's Alley and Paint Exhibit: Both of these were actually IN the dealer's hall. It was kind of neat and there were a lot of great pieces of art. If I owned a house or had someplace to display the art, yeah, that would have been me spending even more money I don't have.
The only thing that I am personally bummed about is the lack of my own inner circle amigos. One of them died in April of cancer. The others don't leave the state and pay to play. In the past they've come out for the dealer's hall, but as the tickets for just all around purposes are $48 a day, they are not driving 200 miles for that. It's always fun to hang out with your crew and shoot the breeze and see what other people you know think about things. Maybe next year I can talk a few of them into coming out for the whole convention and try the paint and take and the free movies and pick up games, etc... probably not. As much of a home body as I am, they are far far worse.
Anyway, that's enough rambling. It's time to read some Okko!
Wyrd Miniatures: Pupper Wars. It's a board game with goofy looking puppet miniatures and I'm hoping it's a big hit with my g/f. If not, I've spent a lot of money on a group of tokens that will go into the closet. I also bought the Dead Justice limited edition convention set. If nothing else more undead are always handy to have.
Coolminiornot: I picked up the preorder special edition dwarf berserkers regiment for Avatars of War as well as a painting DVD, Miniature Painting Secrets with Jennifer Haley. I was going to buy another fig but it was $40 for a medium sized figure due to its limited edition status so that sucker went back to the shelf.
Dark Age miniature gaming. I don't play the game, but one of the factions has some fantastic monsters in it. This was another unplanned purchase but the big resin brood howler, broodhound pack (2 of 'em), and mandible are mine.
Tablemaster: They have various base flocking material and if you bought the whole set it was fairly inexpensive so that's what I did. Another unplanned miniature purchase.
Mouse Guard boxed set. I'm hoping I can talk the g/f into some rpging if it involves some cute, battle axe using mice. Don't know how that'll roll as she wasn't tricked into it with other games, but she does enjoy some card games. By the way, the guys here had great bags, regular bags with good handles that you can use at your local grocery store.Archai I believe, same people who do the Artesia book.
Burning Wheel Gold and Bloodstained Stars: The guys doing this are right next to the Artesia both. When I first came there, I asked for Burning Wheel, but was on the Mouse Guard side. So pick up some graphic novels because Archai is running a fantastic deal there (bought the Cycle of Air and got the Cycle of Earth free for Okko) but then went to buy Burning Wheel Gold and Mouse Guard and couldn't get Mouse guard because that was the guys I just bought the graphic novels from. Argh! But nonetheless, cool bags. Bloodstained Stars and the graphic novels were unintended purchases. I'll have to check online as there's supposed to be another Okko novel and the books look fantastic.
Masks and Eureka: Both sounded like good all purpose gaming supplements. The former was on my shopping list, the later not but in for a penny...
Cthulhu Gloom: Speaking of card games my g/f likes... She's a big fan of Gloom so I'm blaming her for this purchase.
Maps of Mystery: I picked up the three for Deep Vistas and received a free adventure with it. Unplanned purchase but I'm a sucker for maps and miniatures as may be coming out here...
Gamemastery Map Pack, extra dimensional spaces and Swallowed whole, along with Faiths of Balance, Faiths of Purity, and Malevolent & Benign, a Pathfinder Bestiary. I didn't buy the extra dimensional spaces when it first came out because I wasn't tuned into the use for it despite something similar in say, Wheel of Time. However, after beating Dungeon Siege III... well, suffice it to say I'm at least a little motivated to have the map pack. Also received a free convention exclusive miniature that will probably be available on the website by Monday if it isn't already. All unplanned purchases.
Kings of War: I went there to see if they had Mhorgoth the Necromancer. I like the figure. The faceless necromancer with energy shooting out of his hands and playing about in front of him. So I did pick him up from my check list but... Abyssal Dwarves... I picked up an 'army deal' with a huge boxed set and the lord's war conclave and received a box of 20 undead as a bonus. Mantic will get my business again.
Dungeonmorph Cards and Font by Inkwell Press I believe. I wanted to buy the dice but they were not available so I gave him my information so that I'm on the list when it comes out.
That's the stuff I've got in front of me. When I get home tomorrow I'll open the other bags. Mostly Gale Force 9 products I'm 99.9% sure as well as stuff I bought with my store credit at Cubicle 7.
General notes...
There was at least one booth that only took cash. The guys who make the high end RPG dice and have done so for Cthulhu as well as the Pathfinder adventures. Listen, it's the year 2011. Most of the places I made purchases were using phones to run the credit cards. There is absolutely no reason NOT to be able to accept credit cards.
Year of the Smart Phone. Okay, not necessarily the year of, but man, at least the Gen Con of. I've had my phone over two years. It's a first generation G1. I keep wanting to upgrade but the data package is killing me. While there were lots of people with cameras, I think most pictures posted online have come from the phones.
Tablets... not so much, but still in presence. Interesting enough, it looks to be a mix of both the ever popular iPad's and well, everything else. Got my hands of a Kindle and man, that sucker is light compared to a tablet, it's also easy to read, and holds a charge very well. I'm very interested now in the kindle if only I hadn't spent all of that money already... argh...
Costumers... I'm not one to judge in terms of quality, effort, etc... but some general notes, as I've already said. Some of these fans are punishing themselves tremendously in the name of fun and I salute that. The humidity here is some of the worst I can recall in my time here. It's also hot but I'm from Chicago and it's hotter back home. Next, and this is for the women, the time to be pulling your skirt or tattered tassels or whatever, down below your ass is when you first put it on. It's not every five feet of the convention hall as you realize that darn it, gravity is not going to pull that sheer material past your ass. If you're going to show your ass off, go ahead. Just don't put together an outfit that you constantly have to be messing with. It can't be fun to do so and its gotta be annoying.
Dealer: No problems. Usually I have a smart ass or two that loses a sale or has me get in their face and ask them to repeat that but seriously, all dealers were awesome this year. All friendly, willing to talk, etc... The only real problem? Not enough people on check out, or in general, not enough people manning the booths. They were so busy running demos that when customers were ready to check out they had to halt the demo, run the bill, and then get back to the customer.
Technology: This should probably be filled under the year of the smart phone bit but... wi-fi is everywhere. Hotels have it, the food courts have it, the posh restaurants have it, etc... and with that, comes a freedom for charging people for internet access. I can't tell you the exact number of dealer who did NOT pay for internet access this year because the prices were stupidly high, but it's like how hotels used to charge for access to Wi-Fi. Get with the times or go home I guess is the message. Or something along those lines maybe?
Author's Alley and Paint Exhibit: Both of these were actually IN the dealer's hall. It was kind of neat and there were a lot of great pieces of art. If I owned a house or had someplace to display the art, yeah, that would have been me spending even more money I don't have.
The only thing that I am personally bummed about is the lack of my own inner circle amigos. One of them died in April of cancer. The others don't leave the state and pay to play. In the past they've come out for the dealer's hall, but as the tickets for just all around purposes are $48 a day, they are not driving 200 miles for that. It's always fun to hang out with your crew and shoot the breeze and see what other people you know think about things. Maybe next year I can talk a few of them into coming out for the whole convention and try the paint and take and the free movies and pick up games, etc... probably not. As much of a home body as I am, they are far far worse.
Anyway, that's enough rambling. It's time to read some Okko!
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