I posted a scenario to the Scion Wiki today (12/11/07), but am including the components here to preserve them from the editing hazards of the Wiki format.
Other Chambers inside Carlsbad Caverns
In addition to the Big Room, Bottomless Pit, and Bat Chamber mentioned in the Nemean Bat version of Carlsbad, the other chambers of the complex (listed below) may prove interesting for Scion gaming. These are additional real-world locations that r_b_bergstrom worked out Scion stats and descriptions for. Those his PCs visited are given more extensive details here.
Keep in mind that the lights to these areas are only turned on for scheduled guided tours and research. Light switches are discretely placed, and require a key to activate. Without the manmade lights, this place is cloaked by total darkness. There isn't even any murky vision. I'd be tempted to make the penalties exceed those indicated on page 186 of Scion Hero. Such complete sensory deprivation is something most humans never experience - if you haven't, you honestly can't imagine what it's like.
The Spirit World
This chamber is directly above the Big Room. This entrance is in the cieling of the big room, directly above the bottomless pit. Getting up here requires an arduous climb up a cable suspended far from the walls. An old and rarely-used cable dangles in the darkness. The cable was attached by means of a balloon and lasso system. Climbing such a cable takes an extended roll of Athletics, but it uses slightly different rules than most extended rolls. Potential climbers must roll Str+Ath, Dex+Ath, and Sta+Ath, once each. Difficulty on each roll is 1, and you add successes together. You'll need to get a success past threshold on at least one of the rolls.
0-3 successes (or failure/botch on any roll): You fall. Take 25 levels of Lethal / Piercing.
4-6 successes: takes 4 hours to get to the top.
7-8 successes: takes 3 hours
9-10 successes: takes 2 hours
11+ successes: takes 1 hour
The monkey climber knack will cut all the time estimates in half.
Flying up there takes less than 15 minutes.
Once you’re up there, this place is impressive and spiritual. A powerful spirit lives here, and the place was named for the angelic rock formations he sculpted - it looks like a chamber full of spirits. If the PCs get up here, and at least one of them has Death or Earth or Gami, they’ll be able to talk to said spirit.
Long ago the spirit had a wife, who gave her life to seal the gaping hole to the underworld. She plunged from the ceiling of the Big Room, and plugged the bottomless pit. Now, the work of evil Titanspawn has opened that gate again. Will the PCs convince him to join his wife? Or will doing so tragically collapse the worlds largest underground cavern? The fate of Carlsbad is in the player's hands.
Bifrost Room
Named for the Rainbow Bridge of Norse myth. To get here requires entering the lantern-lit "Left Hand Tunnel", taking it to series of large formations called "The Lake of the Clouds" and then climbing a cable up to the Bifrost Room's entrance in the cieling.
If nothing else, the place is likely of minor personal interest to Heimdall. Assume he's got it marked with Vigil Brand (Guardian 1) at all times, and may have it warded by a Ward (Guardian 3) providing a anti-Titanspawn forcefield if he's been here recently. Breaching such a forcefield might take 60 damage against Hardness/Soak of 10. Hiemdall becomes aware of anything happening here.
Depending on what is presented in Scion: God, you may choose to have this room be a touchstone to the actual rainbow bridge. An exciting early battle of Ragnarok could be staged from the Bottomless Pit to the Bifrost Room.
This is a high-legend, heavy-destiny area, where any Legend Point spent will result in a Fatebinding.
Hall of the White Giant
This room is officially named for the large pale stalagmite that dominates it, but in the Scion world there may be more to the story.
The Devil's Den
Again, named for fancy rock formations, or so the Park Rangers tell us. But do you think they'd own up to it if Pan or Lucifer lived here?
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Chambers relevant to the Nemean Bat
I posted a scenario to the Scion Wiki today (12/11/07), but am including the components here to preserve them from the editing hazards of the Wiki format.
Mundane Bat Chamber
This chamber is not part of the big room, instead it is accessed through openings in the ceiling above the natural entrance to the Caverns.
The Nemean Bat doesn't sleep in the same chamber as the mundane bats. He lurks much deeper. However, PCs don't automatically know that. Some rolls that could be used to clue them in:
Wits + Invest. or Awareness vs difficulty 3 to recognize (and be told by the ST) that if a Nemean lived here, people would have seen it by now. (Depending on how you let the PCs know the Bat exists in Carlsbad, they may still feel compelled to investigate this area personally.)
Int + Animal Ken or Occult vs difficulty 5 to learn that Nemeans are typically Cannibals. If it slept here, normal bats wouldn't.
Climbing up to the bat chamber to find out for certain would take an extended roll of Dexterity + Athletics. Individual roll difficulties is just 1, cumulative difficulty is 5, roll interval is 5 minutes. Feel free to skip this if a bunch of climbing rolls are uninteresting to your group, but it's included if you want to build some tension into the search, or in case a red herring sends PCs up there at an inopportune moment.
Suffice it to say, the chamber full of hundreds of thousands of mexican freetail bats is not where you want to be just after sunset or just before sunrise. While they won't attack humans, bats do spook easily. In the numbers you'll find them in, it's hard to maneuver around them, or even just hold your ground. It's like having 200,000 tennisballs thrown at you in rapid succession. This is an environmental effect with Damage: 1B/10 seconds(ticks), Trauma: 1. Chaos 1 or use of Animal (Bat) 1 render you immune.
Moving in such a "storm" requires rolls of Stamina + Athletics vs difficulty 3 every action. Success gets you 1/2 normal movement, +1m/threshold success (up to your normal movement rate). Failure means you move only 1 meter per tick for that action. Botching any of these rolls means you fall off a cliff - damage is 10 levels of Bashing with the Piercing quality. Unless you have Chaos 1 or the Animal (Bat) purview, you can't use Dex + Athletics to "roll with it".
The Big Room
The Big Room is a huge open chamber full of intricate detailed rock formations. It's 2,000 feet long and averages 600 feet wide and 200 feet tall.
It is 56 degrees year round. Air exchange occurs through the 1.25 mile natural entrance.
Man-made lights are scattered around artistically. They stay on 24 hours a day, but retain a subdued gloominess throughout the chamber. Clear vision ends at 1 yard, but murky vision extends 50 yards.
Finding signs of a flying monster's lair in such a large and poorly-lit area is not easy. This is an extended roll of Perception + Survival or Wits + Investigation. The difficulty of each roll is only 2, but the cumulative difficulty is 20 and the roll interval is 1 hour.
If you have the Instant Investigator or Predatory Focus knacks, you can make rolls far more quickly: Travel time results in the roll interval never going below a minute, and it takes 1 Legend per roll for Instant Investigator.
If any of the PCs lack Epic Stamina, it'll be worth the ST keeping track of how many hours they spend walking around and looking for clues. Rules for fatigue can be found on pages 181-182 of Scion: Hero.
Taking shortcuts off the clearly marked trails will result in massive property damage, and should take some heavy duty Athletics rolls.
Bottomless Pit
According to the Park Rangers, the pit only looks Bottomless. They say it's merely 140 feet deep. Even when that was true, it still would have been deep enough to do the full 25 levels of damage to those who fall in.
Recent seismic activity has opened the pit deeper, and thanks to the magic of the Titans, no mortals have noticed. The Nemean bat lives deep within this drop, in an area that also serves as a touchstone. The extended caverns of the underworld are left to individual StoryTellers to detail. The Nemean bat sleeps hanging over the touchstone.
Mundane Bat Chamber
This chamber is not part of the big room, instead it is accessed through openings in the ceiling above the natural entrance to the Caverns.
The Nemean Bat doesn't sleep in the same chamber as the mundane bats. He lurks much deeper. However, PCs don't automatically know that. Some rolls that could be used to clue them in:
Wits + Invest. or Awareness vs difficulty 3 to recognize (and be told by the ST) that if a Nemean lived here, people would have seen it by now. (Depending on how you let the PCs know the Bat exists in Carlsbad, they may still feel compelled to investigate this area personally.)
Int + Animal Ken or Occult vs difficulty 5 to learn that Nemeans are typically Cannibals. If it slept here, normal bats wouldn't.
Climbing up to the bat chamber to find out for certain would take an extended roll of Dexterity + Athletics. Individual roll difficulties is just 1, cumulative difficulty is 5, roll interval is 5 minutes. Feel free to skip this if a bunch of climbing rolls are uninteresting to your group, but it's included if you want to build some tension into the search, or in case a red herring sends PCs up there at an inopportune moment.
Suffice it to say, the chamber full of hundreds of thousands of mexican freetail bats is not where you want to be just after sunset or just before sunrise. While they won't attack humans, bats do spook easily. In the numbers you'll find them in, it's hard to maneuver around them, or even just hold your ground. It's like having 200,000 tennisballs thrown at you in rapid succession. This is an environmental effect with Damage: 1B/10 seconds(ticks), Trauma: 1. Chaos 1 or use of Animal (Bat) 1 render you immune.
Moving in such a "storm" requires rolls of Stamina + Athletics vs difficulty 3 every action. Success gets you 1/2 normal movement, +1m/threshold success (up to your normal movement rate). Failure means you move only 1 meter per tick for that action. Botching any of these rolls means you fall off a cliff - damage is 10 levels of Bashing with the Piercing quality. Unless you have Chaos 1 or the Animal (Bat) purview, you can't use Dex + Athletics to "roll with it".
The Big Room
The Big Room is a huge open chamber full of intricate detailed rock formations. It's 2,000 feet long and averages 600 feet wide and 200 feet tall.
It is 56 degrees year round. Air exchange occurs through the 1.25 mile natural entrance.
Man-made lights are scattered around artistically. They stay on 24 hours a day, but retain a subdued gloominess throughout the chamber. Clear vision ends at 1 yard, but murky vision extends 50 yards.
Finding signs of a flying monster's lair in such a large and poorly-lit area is not easy. This is an extended roll of Perception + Survival or Wits + Investigation. The difficulty of each roll is only 2, but the cumulative difficulty is 20 and the roll interval is 1 hour.
If you have the Instant Investigator or Predatory Focus knacks, you can make rolls far more quickly: Travel time results in the roll interval never going below a minute, and it takes 1 Legend per roll for Instant Investigator.
If any of the PCs lack Epic Stamina, it'll be worth the ST keeping track of how many hours they spend walking around and looking for clues. Rules for fatigue can be found on pages 181-182 of Scion: Hero.
Taking shortcuts off the clearly marked trails will result in massive property damage, and should take some heavy duty Athletics rolls.
Bottomless Pit
According to the Park Rangers, the pit only looks Bottomless. They say it's merely 140 feet deep. Even when that was true, it still would have been deep enough to do the full 25 levels of damage to those who fall in.
Recent seismic activity has opened the pit deeper, and thanks to the magic of the Titans, no mortals have noticed. The Nemean bat lives deep within this drop, in an area that also serves as a touchstone. The extended caverns of the underworld are left to individual StoryTellers to detail. The Nemean bat sleeps hanging over the touchstone.
Breaking In To Carlsbad Caverns
I posted a scenario to the Scion Wiki today (12/11/07), but am including the components here to preserve them from the editing hazards of the Wiki format. For the benefit of my future lawyers, and/or any crazed or vengeful Park Rangers or the Office of Homeland Security, I mention that this is a work of fiction. It is a scenario for the Scion RPG, a tabletop role-playing game. It would probably not be helpful at all in attempts to actually break in to Carlsbad Caverns in the real world.
Getting In
The park is open 363 days a year. Entry costs $6, and grants admission for 3 consecutive days. You can choose to take the walk-in path, or the faster and simpler elevator. But the collateral damage to this beautiful natural resource is likely to be bad enough without hundreds of panicked tourists getting in the way. A better idea is to sneak in at night while the Nemean Bat is out hunting, and tourists are sleeping in White's City. Then you can ambush the Bat when it gets back.
Distance from "Civilization"
From White's City to the park is less than a mile via the treacherous overland route that would work well for Scions with Epic Stamina. As an alternate route, there's also a scenic drive through the State Forest (don't let that title fool you, it's more scrub desert and badlands than forest) that covers 7 miles but is an easy ride or walk. About 2.3 hours walking for a typical human. If any of the PCs lack Epic Stamina, you'll want to keep track of how long they exert themselves and how much time it takes.
Sneaking In
Rangers are on-site even at night, and actively checking to make sure no one stayed around past the bat flight. They’re on edge ‘cause the Nemean Bat has been spotted once or twice and Rangers or late-night gate crashers have gone missing a few times. This is a contested roll of the PCs Dex + Stealth vs the Rangers Perception + Awareness. The Rangers get a few bonus dice to represent their knowledge of the land. Even still, they're probably only rolling around 8 dice.
In addition to dodging Ranger patrols, you'll need to hop the many fences and hike it in the long way, or break into the facility and power-up the elevator.
Hopping the fences
There's two fences denying access to the Caverns.
1st fence: This one's a little over head-hieght and easy to jump or climb. Dex or Str + Ath vs difficulty:2 Any character able to jump 3m up can pass it without rolling at the cost of taking 2 levels bashing (which they'll probably soak).
2nd fence: The second fence, which blocks access to the cave mouth, is much taller. The ground beyond it is lower, as well. Roll Dex or Str + Ath vs TN:5 Any character able to jump 7m up can pass it without rolling. To do so inflicts 5 levels bashing. This is falling damage, so it's piercing, but they can soak it as normal. Alternately, you can bend the bars to make opening. Doing so would take Strength+Athletics total of 9 or Epic Strength 2.
Breaking in to the Facility
Break a window: attack vs DV:0, Soak:0L/1B, 3 health levels to destroy (1 level cracks it)
Pick a Lock: Dex+Larceny difficulty:2
Disable Alarm: Wits+Electronics: difficulty:4 (failure brings 2 park rangers per success missed by)
Power-Up the Elevator: Wits or Intelligence + Academics or any Craft or Control ability that is even remotely related: difficulty: 3
The walk down
It's only 1.25 miles down to the big room, but it typically takes 1.5 hours for a mortal to walk that, due to winding paths and elevation changes. Add this to “walk to park” travel time to figure when fatigue kicks in if your PCs don't have Epic Stamina.
Getting In
The park is open 363 days a year. Entry costs $6, and grants admission for 3 consecutive days. You can choose to take the walk-in path, or the faster and simpler elevator. But the collateral damage to this beautiful natural resource is likely to be bad enough without hundreds of panicked tourists getting in the way. A better idea is to sneak in at night while the Nemean Bat is out hunting, and tourists are sleeping in White's City. Then you can ambush the Bat when it gets back.
Distance from "Civilization"
From White's City to the park is less than a mile via the treacherous overland route that would work well for Scions with Epic Stamina. As an alternate route, there's also a scenic drive through the State Forest (don't let that title fool you, it's more scrub desert and badlands than forest) that covers 7 miles but is an easy ride or walk. About 2.3 hours walking for a typical human. If any of the PCs lack Epic Stamina, you'll want to keep track of how long they exert themselves and how much time it takes.
Sneaking In
Rangers are on-site even at night, and actively checking to make sure no one stayed around past the bat flight. They’re on edge ‘cause the Nemean Bat has been spotted once or twice and Rangers or late-night gate crashers have gone missing a few times. This is a contested roll of the PCs Dex + Stealth vs the Rangers Perception + Awareness. The Rangers get a few bonus dice to represent their knowledge of the land. Even still, they're probably only rolling around 8 dice.
In addition to dodging Ranger patrols, you'll need to hop the many fences and hike it in the long way, or break into the facility and power-up the elevator.
Hopping the fences
There's two fences denying access to the Caverns.
1st fence: This one's a little over head-hieght and easy to jump or climb. Dex or Str + Ath vs difficulty:2 Any character able to jump 3m up can pass it without rolling at the cost of taking 2 levels bashing (which they'll probably soak).
2nd fence: The second fence, which blocks access to the cave mouth, is much taller. The ground beyond it is lower, as well. Roll Dex or Str + Ath vs TN:5 Any character able to jump 7m up can pass it without rolling. To do so inflicts 5 levels bashing. This is falling damage, so it's piercing, but they can soak it as normal. Alternately, you can bend the bars to make opening. Doing so would take Strength+Athletics total of 9 or Epic Strength 2.
Breaking in to the Facility
Break a window: attack vs DV:0, Soak:0L/1B, 3 health levels to destroy (1 level cracks it)
Pick a Lock: Dex+Larceny difficulty:2
Disable Alarm: Wits+Electronics: difficulty:4 (failure brings 2 park rangers per success missed by)
Power-Up the Elevator: Wits or Intelligence + Academics or any Craft or Control ability that is even remotely related: difficulty: 3
The walk down
It's only 1.25 miles down to the big room, but it typically takes 1.5 hours for a mortal to walk that, due to winding paths and elevation changes. Add this to “walk to park” travel time to figure when fatigue kicks in if your PCs don't have Epic Stamina.
The Nemean Bat Itself
I posted a scenario to the Scion Wiki today (12/11/07), but am including the components here to preserve them from the editing hazards of the Wiki format.
The Nemean Bat Itself
This beast can usually be found hanging above the touchstone in the Bottomless pit during the day. At night it prowls the desert. It wakes a few hours after sunset (long enough that tourists and rangers have generally left the area) hunts cattle for an hour or two and then returns. In the winter it migrates away - but it's unknown if it heads south to deep Central American jungles and a Camazotz master, or down to the Underworld instead.
Included are the stats I used for the Nemean Bat in my game. They are derived from the Nemean entry in Scion: Hero. For the bat base (to apply the Nemean template too), I crossed the stats for a raptor and a rat - it worked well enough. You may want to adjust the stats based on your PCs and your campaign's needs.
To make it much tougher, replace it with a Camazotz from Scion: Demigod and/or supplement it's numbers with allied Chupacabra from the Scion Wiki.
Nemean Bat Stats
Attributes: Strength:4 + Epic Strength:2 Dexterity:4 + Epic Dexterity:1 Stamina:5 + Epic Stamina:1 Charisma:0 Manipulation:0 Appearance:1 Perception:3 + Epic Perception:1 Intelligence: 2 Wits: 3
Abilities: Athletics:2 Awareness:3 Brawl:2 Fortitude:1 Integrity:2 Investigation:3 Presence:1 Stealth:3 Survival:4 Thrown(Dropped):1
Willpower:6 DarkVirtue:Zealotry:4 DarkVirtue:Ambition:2
Dodge DV:6 (plus can be boosted with Untouchable Opponent) Soak: Aggravated:5, Lethal:12, Bashing:14 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 -1 -3 -3 Inc
Weapons: It's many sharp teeth add +2 Lethal to it's attacks, and ignore Nemean Hide armor.
Crushing grip also empowers it's crushes to do lethal damage. Legend:3 Legend Points:9
Knacks: Uplifting Might (It has a 2,700 lbs lifting capacity), Crushing Grip, Untouchable Opponent, Inner Furnace, Predatory Focus
Assisting Low-Legend PCs
Here's a few ideas assist low-legend PCs in battling the Nemean Bat, since it's Nemeans tend to be hard to injure.
Intelligence + Science: Biology could be used to learn vulnerable spots on a bat, giving bonus damage dice to get through that Nemean soak.
Perception + Survival or Science: Geology could be used to scout out narrow cavern sections where the Nemean bat can't maneuver. Successes on such a roll could be applied as penalties to the bats actions or DV if fighting it from or within such a location.
Wits + Occult could be used to deduce that the Bifrost Room (see additional locations in Carlsbad) is warded vs Titanspawn by Hiemdall. If things go poorly it'd make a fine redoubt or break room.
The Nemean Bat Itself
This beast can usually be found hanging above the touchstone in the Bottomless pit during the day. At night it prowls the desert. It wakes a few hours after sunset (long enough that tourists and rangers have generally left the area) hunts cattle for an hour or two and then returns. In the winter it migrates away - but it's unknown if it heads south to deep Central American jungles and a Camazotz master, or down to the Underworld instead.
Included are the stats I used for the Nemean Bat in my game. They are derived from the Nemean entry in Scion: Hero. For the bat base (to apply the Nemean template too), I crossed the stats for a raptor and a rat - it worked well enough. You may want to adjust the stats based on your PCs and your campaign's needs.
To make it much tougher, replace it with a Camazotz from Scion: Demigod and/or supplement it's numbers with allied Chupacabra from the Scion Wiki.
Nemean Bat Stats
Attributes: Strength:4 + Epic Strength:2 Dexterity:4 + Epic Dexterity:1 Stamina:5 + Epic Stamina:1 Charisma:0 Manipulation:0 Appearance:1 Perception:3 + Epic Perception:1 Intelligence: 2 Wits: 3
Abilities: Athletics:2 Awareness:3 Brawl:2 Fortitude:1 Integrity:2 Investigation:3 Presence:1 Stealth:3 Survival:4 Thrown(Dropped):1
Willpower:6 DarkVirtue:Zealotry:4 DarkVirtue:Ambition:2
Dodge DV:6 (plus can be boosted with Untouchable Opponent) Soak: Aggravated:5, Lethal:12, Bashing:14 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 -1 -3 -3 Inc
Weapons: It's many sharp teeth add +2 Lethal to it's attacks, and ignore Nemean Hide armor.
Crushing grip also empowers it's crushes to do lethal damage. Legend:3 Legend Points:9
Knacks: Uplifting Might (It has a 2,700 lbs lifting capacity), Crushing Grip, Untouchable Opponent, Inner Furnace, Predatory Focus
Assisting Low-Legend PCs
Here's a few ideas assist low-legend PCs in battling the Nemean Bat, since it's Nemeans tend to be hard to injure.
Intelligence + Science: Biology could be used to learn vulnerable spots on a bat, giving bonus damage dice to get through that Nemean soak.
Perception + Survival or Science: Geology could be used to scout out narrow cavern sections where the Nemean bat can't maneuver. Successes on such a roll could be applied as penalties to the bats actions or DV if fighting it from or within such a location.
Wits + Occult could be used to deduce that the Bifrost Room (see additional locations in Carlsbad) is warded vs Titanspawn by Hiemdall. If things go poorly it'd make a fine redoubt or break room.
Crewing Weird Worlds
In the main game (no mods) of Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, you have no crew - or rather, the crew get barely any screen time and they don't really matter. They have no image. They serve only as NPC extras, a minor reinforcement of flavor. Sure, the science officer may figure out something about the Crystal Fish, and the whole crew celebrates if you smack the Kawangi, but they have no lives of their own.
The only way to impact them is to get the whole flotilla blown up. It seems that even if 4 out of 5 ships in your fleet get wasted by Urluquai, all hands survive and transfer to the remaining vessel. That, or it's assumed the Captain is a cold and heartless bastard who mourns no one. Not sure which. There are no funeral services, and no memorials to the nameless dead.
Esmeralda is the perfect example of your crew's passivity:
For my upcoming Wierdyssey mod, I've created crew (they sit next to your passengers), figured out how to track their morale and make it contribute to your final score, and how to cause events to deprive you of crew who get eaten or go AWOL. Just as Odysseus' crew got nibbled one-by-one before finally becoming lost-to-a-man, your crew will tick away, and their deaths will mean something to you. In keeping with the Homeric tradition, you still win as long as Weirdysseus gets home, but you have to choose how many redshirts get eaten by Scylla along the way.
It's not easy programming, and it's taking a lot longer than I ever suspected it would, but I hold fast to the belief that it will all be worth it when I'm done.
The only way to impact them is to get the whole flotilla blown up. It seems that even if 4 out of 5 ships in your fleet get wasted by Urluquai, all hands survive and transfer to the remaining vessel. That, or it's assumed the Captain is a cold and heartless bastard who mourns no one. Not sure which. There are no funeral services, and no memorials to the nameless dead.
Esmeralda is the perfect example of your crew's passivity:
Ask any WW:RTIS player about Esmeralda, and they'll tell you how devastating and infuriating she is. Yet, when she robs or sabotages your ship, the crew's only comment is "Oh, yeah, I saw her on board, but I thought nothing of it." Weak-willed mindless sheep, this crew of ours! They deserve to have their towels stolen."Esmerelda, thief, smuggler and saboteur, is wanted in five star systems for a variety of crimes. Her notorious reputation and shady background only add to her mystique. The price on her head? 500 big ones!"
For my upcoming Wierdyssey mod, I've created crew (they sit next to your passengers), figured out how to track their morale and make it contribute to your final score, and how to cause events to deprive you of crew who get eaten or go AWOL. Just as Odysseus' crew got nibbled one-by-one before finally becoming lost-to-a-man, your crew will tick away, and their deaths will mean something to you. In keeping with the Homeric tradition, you still win as long as Weirdysseus gets home, but you have to choose how many redshirts get eaten by Scylla along the way.
It's not easy programming, and it's taking a lot longer than I ever suspected it would, but I hold fast to the belief that it will all be worth it when I'm done.
Modding is Hard
"Tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers" - Tales of Brave Ulysses, by CreamI could have spent all day yesterday prepping for my Scion Campaign, or applying paint to a canvas, and not at all felt like I was wasting my time. My skills at both are honed enough that my wheels rarely spin in place, and I know how to work past minor blocks.
For modding, it's not the same. When I get done with 8 hours of modding and have but two minor visual jokes to show for it, I feel pretty underwhelmed.
I spent the whole day yesterday trying to debug a section of programming that absolutely should be working. Everything was going along smoothly till I tried to make mercenary ships add to your crew roster. For some unknown reason, the UVAR codes (user variables) in these quests aren't talking with each other, and/or the haveshiprace CONDITION isn't triggering, so the crew count isn't incrementing. I tried to pinpoint the cause, and then 6 hours vanished in the blink of a debugging eye.Behold the warships of Troy! Color-curve-altered spaceships with the Trojan condom logo on them.
Friday, December 7, 2007
What is Gaming?
When you say you spent the evening "gaming" or "roleplaying", people assume you spent the night hanging with friends and rolling dice. If you explain instead you were IM-ing an RPG with out-of-state buddies, or killing things on WOW, they'll still consider that gaming. I'm pretty sure the same goes for my pet nomiblogging project, but correct me if I'm wrong.
Let's say I spent the evening by myself working out stats for a group of Frost Giants I'll eventually use in my Scion Campaign. The next day we end up in a conversation, and you ask what I did last night. Would you accept me saying I spent the night "Gaming"? It seems a little misleading in that context. Yet for some (myself included) that's a goodly share of the fun that gaming provides.
It seems we lack a larger term for not just Gaming, but for the whole gaming-related enchilada: designing, writing, conceptualizing, crafting hand-outs, theorizing, researching, reading, xp-spending, threat-balancing, character creation, house-ruling, acting, gaming, etc.
Why is it that a hobby that's been in full swing for over 30 years still hasn't fleshed out such an important part of it's vocabulary?
Let's say I spent the evening by myself working out stats for a group of Frost Giants I'll eventually use in my Scion Campaign. The next day we end up in a conversation, and you ask what I did last night. Would you accept me saying I spent the night "Gaming"? It seems a little misleading in that context. Yet for some (myself included) that's a goodly share of the fun that gaming provides.
It seems we lack a larger term for not just Gaming, but for the whole gaming-related enchilada: designing, writing, conceptualizing, crafting hand-outs, theorizing, researching, reading, xp-spending, threat-balancing, character creation, house-ruling, acting, gaming, etc.
Why is it that a hobby that's been in full swing for over 30 years still hasn't fleshed out such an important part of it's vocabulary?
What is Art?
Many on the web feel gaming is not an art, though mostly they're talking about videogames. Not all of the same logic or arguments can be applied to table-top / pen-and-paper gaming.
My friend Brad posted this as a comment over at repeated expletives:
The artistic process is employed to create a set of rules that are not only playable, but also readable. That product is then taken by the GM, who uses it as a springboard to their own artistic process - the framing and prepping of a campaign. The notes and prepared concept of each session becomes the product that springboards a third artistic process, this the joint collaborative effort that is widely recognized as gaming.
Even a totally improvised game without prepwork leaves a product - as gamers are so strongly motivated to tell tales of their characters and exploits.
I say all four are art - the writing of the rules, the prepping of the campaign, the actual gaming, and the skillful telling of a tale after-the-fact. I get immense joy from all four, though less so from that last category when I was working game-store retail.
My friend Brad posted this as a comment over at repeated expletives:
"Art is a process not a product. Once the art process is complete all that remains is a byproduct of this process. These leftovers are merely a document recording the event. They can be enjoyed and valued but only the artist can experience the real art. Watching the creation or art process can get you closer to the art but still only the artist is experiencing the real art."That's an interesting thought. How does it apply to gaming? I think gaming is an art, whether you're talking about Process or Product, and that both P-words are nigh-on-inseparable within this medium.
The artistic process is employed to create a set of rules that are not only playable, but also readable. That product is then taken by the GM, who uses it as a springboard to their own artistic process - the framing and prepping of a campaign. The notes and prepared concept of each session becomes the product that springboards a third artistic process, this the joint collaborative effort that is widely recognized as gaming.
Even a totally improvised game without prepwork leaves a product - as gamers are so strongly motivated to tell tales of their characters and exploits.
I say all four are art - the writing of the rules, the prepping of the campaign, the actual gaming, and the skillful telling of a tale after-the-fact. I get immense joy from all four, though less so from that last category when I was working game-store retail.
Improvement by Time and Training
In general, I don't like systems that require or incentivize training. Frankly, training is rarely exciting. An occasional montage might work, like Luke with Yoda, but mostly it gets old quick. To make that the only method of advancement sounds uninspiring.
Enforcing realistic improvement rates slows character development to a crawl, so it's generally better to skip on this realism unless you have some way of guaranteeing the same playgroup for consecutive years. If you have a foolproof retention method, please publish it!
That said, Time & Training works admirably for Continuum. Largely because it's a time-travel game. The PCs control their own development, being capable of saying "I need to know about Art History to answer this question, so I'll jaunt off for a semester at MCAD before attempting the roll." Time & Training is not the only XP system therein, they also have an Improvement by Attempt sub-system. Players can fluctuate between actively seeking skill upgrades and just incrementing those things that the GM asks them to roll.
It can also work pretty well for any game that features sweeping leaps of narrative time. I don't recall what the XP systems of Pendragon and Orkworld are like, but I imagine you could work a fairly realistic advancement system into any game that uses their concept of "winter season".
My old "Hearts of Darkness, v2" LARP did so fairly effectively, though it was using a hybrid system of this mixed with XP by Accomplishment. The game featured immortal vampires as PCs. We'd run 6-8 session story arcs, then advance the timeline by 5 to 20 years. Experience could only be spent between story arcs. Your accomplishments in the previous arc made various things cost less XP. We'd give each player an individual list of things that had reduced costs due to their efforts.
What are your thoughts (or anecdotes) regarding games that use strongly simulationist methods of character advancement?
Enforcing realistic improvement rates slows character development to a crawl, so it's generally better to skip on this realism unless you have some way of guaranteeing the same playgroup for consecutive years. If you have a foolproof retention method, please publish it!
That said, Time & Training works admirably for Continuum. Largely because it's a time-travel game. The PCs control their own development, being capable of saying "I need to know about Art History to answer this question, so I'll jaunt off for a semester at MCAD before attempting the roll." Time & Training is not the only XP system therein, they also have an Improvement by Attempt sub-system. Players can fluctuate between actively seeking skill upgrades and just incrementing those things that the GM asks them to roll.
It can also work pretty well for any game that features sweeping leaps of narrative time. I don't recall what the XP systems of Pendragon and Orkworld are like, but I imagine you could work a fairly realistic advancement system into any game that uses their concept of "winter season".
My old "Hearts of Darkness, v2" LARP did so fairly effectively, though it was using a hybrid system of this mixed with XP by Accomplishment. The game featured immortal vampires as PCs. We'd run 6-8 session story arcs, then advance the timeline by 5 to 20 years. Experience could only be spent between story arcs. Your accomplishments in the previous arc made various things cost less XP. We'd give each player an individual list of things that had reduced costs due to their efforts.
What are your thoughts (or anecdotes) regarding games that use strongly simulationist methods of character advancement?
Experience Systems
All this talk about the clocks in Continuum has gotten me thinking about XP systems I have known, and what I have thought of them. I'll do a series of (hopefully) short posts to that effect.
Off the top of my head (and with poor, improvised titles) the dominant XP paradigms are:
Off the top of my head (and with poor, improvised titles) the dominant XP paradigms are:
- Improvement by Time and Training
- Improvement by Accomplishment:
- Improvement by Attempt
- Improvement for Acting
- Improvement Guaranteed
- Improvement Hidden
- No Improvement
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)