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John Buston sent us a couple of lines on the subject of the Universe Validity Test Kit The Earth worldbook defines A as the norm, so it is the norm, for this game. Folk who answered B or C are just being played by roleplayers who can't be arsed getting into character! JB Then he sent us a couple more in the subject of More Cyberwear for a Leisure Age Bubba, You missed out "PowerShower" - the bladder enhancement that means you will never lose the "high watermark" contest in the urinals again. Didn't someone else suggest something similar a few letters ago? I'm beginning to get worried about you guys. JB Eleanor Holmes sent us a rent about Scenarios I really enjoyed the essay on why gaming companies don't publish scenarios as much as they should. I think you missed discussing one vital factor in those decisions, and that is that gaming styles differ widely. The core rules for any given game are applicable to just about any style of playing that game (with the exception of systemless freeform, of course ;-). GMs and game groups can weed out the rules they feel unnecessary, and modify those they don't like, but by and large just about everyone is going to find most of the core rules for a game to be useful. Equally, sourcebooks have the same advantage - describing the gameworld or game environment as they do, they're applicable to just about every game. Scenarios/modules/adventures do not have this advantage, however. A gaming group that prefers RP-heavy social interaction games is not going to get much use out of a full-of-maps-and-stats scenario designed for numbercrunchers and old-style dungeon crawlers. Scenarios that aim for the middle ground are unlikely to satisfy -anyone- (at least without major revision); designing scenarios for particular styles of play will just disenfranchise a large part of your market, which is not a sensible decision. (Note that this factor obviously plays less of a part in games where the style of play tends to vary less wildly among the player base - World of Darkness games being the most obvious example.) Cheers, Elle Eleanor Holmes, Freelance RPG
Writer At Large It's true that it's very difficult to produce scenarios for some games (as described in our lead article). Jason Liebert sent us this on his Favorite Character Death I read the article about the shadowrun PC who got taken down a peg or three, and it made me think of my favorite character. It was during the begining of a new D&D; campaign, and we all were told to create a good roleplaying character. Having just been laid off from a job I was harboring alot of destructive vibes, so I created a priest who worshipped an elemental fire deity. To allow me a chance to unleash some negative feelings in a relatively safe way I decided to make him a degenerate pyromaniac and named him Friar Ashe. I loaded up on combustables, and joined the party in an expedition into the Keep on the Borderlands module. Friar Ashe was responsible for the deaths of almost every creature we came across, usually in a horribly fire related way, and more often than not preceded by me bellowing "They must be purified by the holy flames!". It is important to realize that the battlecry must be shouted and warbled at the top of the lungs. The first time I used that battlecry, everbody else in the party stopped what they were doing, and took a step back. The party got used to me and my destructive ways. As time went on, Friar Ashes ability to utilize the element of fire helped and hindered the party, with the group appreciating someone who could throw fireballs, but realizing that I was highly resistant to the backblast effects. Of course the party rather got upset with me when we were called upon in noncombative situations, and I still insisted upon some fire related answer. Alas, Friar Ashe's end came in the most unlikely of foes. We were attacked in the middle of the night by a group of trolls. Not having any armor, weapons, or spells readied, Friar Ashe dumped a flask of oil upon himself and jumped in the camp fire. Trying very hard to frighten the onrushing trolls, I claimed to be some trollish spirit of death. Unfortunately, we had been gaming for about fourteen hours straight, and nobody in the group was thinking properly. Thus, the trolls struck and killed this little unarmored, fiery human with very little effort and moved on. I was so much in shock from the attack and the effects of too much caffeine, that I didn't bitch at the DM about a creature who is supposed to be afraid of fire attacking a flaming creature, and my beloved character lay there bleeding. The rest of the group vanquished the trolls straight away, and rushed to Friar Ashe's side to give aid. Alas, he was still on fire and nobody could have given first aid or spell healing until the flames went out, but by the time that happened Ashe bled to death. The truly ironic thing was that the house rules we were playing by would have had the fire damage to me cauterize the wounds to prevent the bleeding, but due to my immunity to the effects of heat and fire that couldn't happen. So the one PC that I have ever had the most fun with bled to death under an ironic series of circumstances that prevented his own rescue. The druid in the party did keep a part of Friar Ashe for later reincarnation (the druid was a believer in the destruction of cities and he thought that Ashe could be manipulated towards that end). Unfortunately for the group, Friar Ashe was the only link in the group to the rest of the DM's campaign. which had to be scrapped from that point and started anew, so Ashe was never really called back from the dead. I hate to say it, but that character was more fun for scaring other players in the group than anything else. Jason Leibert Jonny has a character that sounds a lot like yours in some ways, he called him the Sword... of course my Paladin just seems to wonder through adventures chanting "is it evil" under his breath until he gets to hit something... :) A Gamer Chick wrote the following on her Gamer Fetish I am a chick. I will not vouch for my own attractiveness, cuz why would you believe me, but I shower regularly, have friends, groom, where skirts etc. And I have been told I am damn sexy, but why belive that. My point being, I think gamers are attractive. Most of the people I have dated have been gamers, and a bunch of my pretty female friends also date gamers. So girls like that exist. The "geeks" I know get as many or more girls then the guys I know who are in theory much cooler, and also bigger assholes. So here is a complaint from the chick side of things. i started playing myself, and had teh problem that i was viewed as "the girlfriend" 9which was especially annoying considering the guy i went with was an only recently ex) repeatedly, when I wanted to play with my male friends I was sort of patted oin the head and given no helpful advice. tehn they goit annoyed at me for not knowing what to do. When a new guy joined who had never played, they helped him with everything and took him more seriously. If guys want girls, and girl gamers, create them. invite females to play and take them seriously if/when they try to. ~a gamer chick Create them... I'm not sure it's that easy. Adam Barak seems to think that his First Issues of White Dwarf magazine for sale would interest us... I am now selling my copies of the very first 4 issues of White Dwarf magazine, volume 1, 2, 3 and 4. Am selling separately. All good quality. Make me an offer and I'll let you know if you are successful. This is a genuine once-only offer. Adam You want small ads, not letters. Fuck Off Adam... This one was simply called "A Comment on Americana by Kid Sinister" Kid Sinister, in your article you said that you "probably not being as objective as I should about all this". Objectivity? You thew that out the window. let me see now, your going to throw it right back... First of all, violence is nothing new in any society. Hammurabi's Code contains punishments for violent acts on others, and its the first and oldest written code of laws. Second of all, guns do have a place in society. At least they do in a civilized society (you might not want to live in a society that I think is "civilized", but civilization is relative.). In uncivilized societies (ohh, like Australia or Britain or most of the world), crime is out of control because of the lack of guns in society. Also, the next yotz you choose to be the Grand High MuckityMuck might take it into his head to start culling the sheeple of those he doesn't like-starting with your special race/religion/other group just cause he thinks you aren't fit for a first-class citizenship. And it'll be damn hard to stop his stormtroopers without a gun (this also assumes that you have the will to use it, possibly lacking in your case). Not that you would need to stop him with a gun, the yotz would not consider commiting his special crime against humanity on you, since you have a gun and can make his genocide really hard. For more details on this armed citizens stopping genocides, go to http://www.thehistorynet.com/WorldWarII/articles/2000/03002_text.htm This link is to a document describing the Warsaw Ghetto Uprisings, in which Jews armed with ragtag weapons held off the German Army. Proof that armed citizens can stand up to a modern army. So your trying to prove the point, about civilians with guns being able to stop an army intent on wiping them out, by linking to an article that shows how an army wiped out a group of armed civillians. You're a Moron... I don't understand the point you're trying to make, and I'm not sure you do either. Did you actually read that link? The Warsaw uprising of 1943 was a brave and inspiring act. The Jewish inhabitants of Warsaw decided that they would rather die fighting like human beings than be slaughtered like animals, and rose up in rebellion against the Nazis. For nearly a month they held off the might of the German army before weight of arms and numbers finally showed. Those that weren't shot there and then were taken away to concentration camps, where nearly all were either executed or worked to death. It was awe-inspiring. But in the end they died. Which I would have thought is proof that armed citizens *can't* stand up to a modern army. Sincerely, K.C. Garrett Charlotte, NC, U.S.A Peter wrote in to add his 2cents on Role-playing in the United States Hi, just read through number 6 and wanted to complain about the general ignorance of all US-Americans (i.e. contribute to your rant about "Role-playing in the United States"): We didn't write that. It was written by an outside contributor (an American). Hamburgers are not as such a foot that was invented by US-Americans, but by someone coming from Hamburg, a city in Germany, for a world exposition (do not ask me which one it was). I just wanted to be a little bit annoying. Peter No problem. Point taken. Tyco Kaine sent us the following simply entitled Stuff... I thought I'd just write to say I thought your Mag was great, Cool. And then I thought that since I was writing I might as well say something a bit more interesting.... The having thought for a while I still couldn't think of anything particularly original to say so I started with the old "I think your mag is great" line and hoped you wouldn't notice. It's true though. The mag is good. It's the one of the few writings on the world of role play that I've really thought, "yeah, that's how it goes...." Still, You don't want me to sit here blowing your trumpet for too long or you'll get embarrassed. (anyway, if you want someone blowing your trumpet you're gonna want it to be a real sexy babe, not some bloke from Reading.) Still, I'm glad the UK has finally got a voice on the Web for it's role-players.... (and there was me thinking it was a completely American thing... well actually to be fair... I do play most of my games set in the US or A... I wonder why?) They make the games. I've only recently found your mag... and ploughed though the back issues like Thomas the Tank engine going through the buffers at Swindon station... I really like the Lost In Cyberspace thing you did Issue 3 was it? I'm a Computer Profession myself.... well actually I'm lying I'm a stoode of Software Eng. but I do a lot of computer work to earn my beer money. I'd been wondering what was wrong with the whole Decker thing but I never quite put my finger on it... too busy putting my fingers other places I guess... still enough about my sordid lifestyle... Keep up the good work.... and the bad work.... and anything else in danger of succumbing to gravity... No I don't mean that. On the subject of gravity though... have you noticed how it tends to accumulate in stairwells? The higher the building, the more gravity there is and hence it's harder to walk up the stairs... no, really. Yeah, I find that. Still, I'd better be off.... If you're wondering why I'm rambling on like a nutter it's because I'm stuck in Belgium and no one here speaks any English... and I don't speak any French, Flemish, German, Dutch or Russian. So whichever side of the street I try I still can't be understood. So, since I'm stuck here being bored, (while all my fellow role-players in the UK are getting drunk, far more expensively that I am) I thought I'd pester you.... I would go on. In fact I will Have you ever heard of a game called "Tales from the floating Vagabond"? I don't know how popular it is at all; you may know it... or you may be thinking "What the fuck?" (But more likely you're thinking: "Is this idiot going to get to the point ever... I wish I'd just deleted this mail without reading it") Heard of it, played it, had fun with the extensive drinking rules. And also with the target vommeting skill. My first character was based on Indiana Jones so I innocently took the "whips and chains" skill... Still here? Right... ok It's a game based on a bar, on an asteroid, in the middle of a derelict dimensional corridor... (When God was creating the world apparently he used them to move stuff about... then forgot about them... you know how it is when you accidentally delete a pointer and bits get lost) I do, but I think you just lost about 75% of the readers. I'm still with you too... Anyway, the point was... it's a really great game... just for the rules.... it's a real laugh, all the way. I don't think anyone could ever actually play it... but creating the characters is so much fun that you don't really need to go any further. It's got skills like randomly mess with dangerous goo, Belching for effect and Shoot really big guns.... Brawling is "hurt people". Martial arts is "hurt people really badly". Sword skill is "Swing long pointy thing". Fencing is "Swing long pointy thing with panache". I don't know where it came from or who wrote it or why... Avalon Hill I believe, but now I'm sounding nerdy. but hey... if you see it someplace... (when I get back to England... when they let me leave that is.... only 2 weeks to go) I could let you know a few more details on this game (because I could dig out a rule book and read the publisher, really I think I'm capable. possibly) Right I really am going to piss off now.... so take care.... I'll look forward to the next issue.... errr whenever..... I put me on the mailing list so I'll know laters Goblyn King sent the following eloquently titled "CRITICAL MISS-kicking ass from everywhere to nowhere" G'Day. I just found this site yesterday and I gotta say it kicks some serious bumhole inside-out. ... Ahem. Well. If it isn't too much trouble, it would be very nice to read the second half of Body Minding. IMHO it's really good. I read that you got no feedback about it, so here you go. I probably will try to write the second half sometime. Very cool site you've got. It's everything you could want in a RPG ezine, with no money down and hilarity guaranteed. I especially liked your washing machine taking a walkabout. Good job and keep up the Good Work (heheh). Thanks. Well, I'm about done. Never tickle the foot that kicks you. Nancy Zorn sent us some "General Feedback" Okay...where to start? Oh yeah.... Great ezine. I look forward to the next issue already. (Alas, I can't get anyone to play 'Elevator' with me either. I set up the game, carefully explained the rules to my husband--who does not rp--and he gave me a look of pained incredulity before inquiring whether I had lost my ------n' mind.) I do think that your V:tM experience must have been near the bottom of the barrel as these things go. The local chronicle (Every Thursday!) has had a good plot as far as I've been involved....and, with regard to your lack of female companionship, there are almost as many women as men playing. (Something like 60% male.....) And the Camarilla has a lower age limit of 18. Then again, perhaps I'm prejudiced....many of the players in our little LARP are actually on the boards (other nights), thus raising the average level of character portrayal. (I don't do tabletop....for some reason it just strikes me as incredibly pathetic to huddle around a table with dice and papers and claim to be portraying vigorous warriors.) Well... yeah... Say, do you suppose you could
publish quarterly instead
of three times a
year? I hate to break it to you, but we don't even come close to three times a year. Until next time, N. Zorn Player of Rosalinde Delrose, Sapphira Louring, and Juliana Margrave....all of whom are still alive at press time. Perry Bingham sent the following I saw a letter about computer gaming and it's impossibility, I agree, in essence, the computer will never be an entertaining game-master that some jerk from down the street could be, but, e-mail games are fairly entertaining. I have characters in several e-mail games, and they take a long time, but are still entertaining. The hardest part is coming up with plots and worlds that work in that format. We usually have each character be the head of some group (A police chief, mayor, crime-lord, military officer, KKK wizard, etc)and they interact and compete within a town-country-world-spaceship-whatever. We haven't found any way to have the characters actually work together and still be fun, any ideas? No, but it sounds fun. Boris sent us this an amusing and interesting RPG site. Thanks for not filling it with stats and super character classes and bad-ass monsters. Great articles, too. If only I still had friends to play with... :) Cheers, Will Woodlief sent us this. Stumbed across this spot on the web. Laughed myself silly for about 20 minutes. ...and then you stopped? -Will Woodlief Will Woodlief Jesse sent us the following in responce to our Heros Unlimited Character Cookbook Challenge Hey, I just found your magazine a few days ago. By far the most entertaining RPG content I've ever found on the web! Only part way through the 4th issue at this point. Regarding unbalanced characters, I would assume you created the Freak using the most recent Heroes Unlimited rules. If you had tried to create an unbalanced character using the rules I have on hand (5th printing August 1990), you surely would have found the loophole in the Robotics section that adds new meaning to the term "unbalanced". Given an average robot budget roll of $9,500,000.00 a total game breaker can be constructed. For the basics, you would want: $2,250,000 Advanced Artificial
Intelligence Okay... looking obscene... $9,123,600 from $9,500,000 leaves $376,400. That amount could apply to better sensors, or cosmetic enhancements for a lifelike appearance, or weapons. But why do that... If one looks at the rules for increased PS for arms: "Increased P.S.: Cost: $2000 for each P.S. point beyond 10. The body frame must be reinforced for a P.S. of 24 or greater." Or greater? How much greater? It doesn't say. No upper limit, huh? How about we apply that $376,400 to Increased PS, for an additional PS 188, for a total PS 198! So, a punch from this fella will do what? Maybe the same damage as a human punch, plus his damage bonus? The combat section says a human punch does 1D4 damage. The attribute section says the PS damage bonus for attribute scores beyond 30 continues to progress linearly, 1 bonus point of damage for every additional point of PS. Since the bonus starts at +2 damage for PS 17, PS 198 would give a damage bonus of 183. So, a punch from my robot would cause 1D4 + 183 points of damage. If you need to do more damage, you could always kick for 1D6 + 183 points of damage. Hardly worth rolling really... "Oh no... a one... I'm so gutted." Now, if your budget roll is better than average... The maximum budget roll for a robot is $12,000,000. Once again, that additional $2,500,000 could be used on improved sensors or cosmetic enhancements, or it could be spent on still more PS. 1250 more PS, to be exact. With a total PS 1,448 punch damage would be 1D4 + 1,433. There seem to be big chunks missing in the robot creation system, but with even average combat abilities, you will eventually hit your enemies, surely vaporizing them. They can't easily run away, since you can chase them up to mach one. They can't easily take you down, since the Robot and Assault Vehicle Combat rules clearly state "There is no S.D.C. damage unless the roll is higher than the A.R." So to hit this guy, one needs to roll 18 or better to strike, he needs to fail his parry or dodge, and then you can start working on his 900 SDC. I sincerely hope an upper limit for PS has been stated in the newer edition of Heroes Unlimited. I shamefully admit that I know about this loophole because my DM let me use it. We were maybe 12 years old. I rolled the $10,000,000 budget, so with a few extras like improved senses and a spike/towline, my PS came out to maybe 341 if I recall correctly. I've never had more fun rolling for damage. How's that for unbalanced? Magnificently so. Gene Wirchenko sent us a mail saying Great Mag. I just found out about _Critical Miss_ and I have been busy getting caught up. Definite giggle value! I could comment on many things, but keeping it short: 1) _Bodyminder_ The ending was promised for issue 2. Where is it? I think I've explained this is earlier letters pages, but basically for a long time there was no feedback on it whatsoever, so I didn't write the second half (because I figured people thought it sucked). Then suddenly around issue 4 or so, people suddenly started to mention it. If I can, I'll try to write the finish. 2) _Backhanders and Dodgy Deals_ "Are We Serious? Of course not. This is the stupidest idea in history. Please tell us that you realised that?" Pity. It was a good premise. 3) _Dream Park On a Budget_ Brilliant idea! Many game systems have gotten so polished. This seems to have come at the expense of exuberance. This paragraph catches the essence beautifully: "Dream Park often ends up being used merely as a multi-genre system, and a not very good one at that. But an alternative setting, where the technology is not quite so good and not so seamless, can get the game back to what it is best at - gamers playing gamers playing heroes." 4) _Kill the Hippy!_ Hilarious premise. Very well written. A nitpick: Some of Shannon's "teen-age" angst might be related to that the access to the second floor goes through her bedroom. A misplaced door could emotionally scar her forever. Whoops! 5) _What I Hate About Percentile Systems!_, _Everything you never wanted to know about point nine recurring_, and the letters aftermaths For a bunch a dicechuckers, some people have little or no clue about probability and arithmetic. 6) _Pimp: The Free Collectible Card Game_ What a marvellous send-up of CCGs! It's not that I ever expect to play it, but the next time someone complains about the cost of CCGs, I can "help". This is not a send up, we've been trying to demo it at the last 2 conventions we have been to... 7) Compare issue 4's _The Trouble with Roleplaying_ and issue 6's _Brilliant Setting... How About Some Sodding Scenarios?_ They are on related subjects. 8) For the ultimate SUV, try this spoof ad at Dumbentia: http://www.dumbentia.com/pdflib/explosion.pdf As it says: Experience the SIZE and the POWER of the new Ford Explosion When REALLY BIG isn't big enough!" 9) Here's a map URL for University of Chicago: http://www.uchicago.edu/docs/maps/campus.html No floorplans that I've seen, but there are photos. Sincerely, Gene Wirchenko Computerese Irregular Verb
Conjugation: Paul sent the following Hey There Johnny! Just wanted to say a quick 'hey!' and add to the growing list of praise you must be recieveing for 'Critical Miss'. Thanks for adding some well deserved, and much needed humour and piss taking to this frankly ridiculous hobby of ours! Thanks. The continued efforts of self depreciating humour by you guys both here, and in your articles in 'Valkyrie', always raise a smile (and often quite a few belly laughs!) and helps me get a perspective when the munchkins start getting a bit too serious about the death of their characters! I'm glad you mentioned the stuff in Valkyre, because that's the first feedback of any kind I've had. It is very wierd to be writing stuff with no idea of whether people like it or not. So thanks. I'd be interested in knowing more about this superhero campaign you've started, especially as it's delaying the seventh issue that I sooo need to read! Can it really be that important? Come on guys, don't do this too us! It's going okay. Can't really say more than that. 'Til Ed Greenwood lets Harry Knowles play Elminster... See ya! Paul. GJD penned the following. Good mag, guys. I have just stumbled across it on a boring Friday afternoon at work and read bits from all 6 issues. On the matter of stupid deaths, the most irritating one I have had, aside from dying before I even got to play the character when rolling up a PC for Traveller, was when playing in my first game of RECON (in my adolescent gun bunny years). I created a PC, to join the established group, and we headed off into the steaming jungle. One short flight and an impromptu rendition of 'Paint it Black' later, we jumped out of our Huey into the LZ and our GM asked us to roll percentile. I rolled low and, apparently, became one of the 20% of people entering this clearing who had the misfortune to jump out onto a mine, which exploded and drove my PCs' femur up into his body cavity. Nice. I got 4 1/2 minuets of play, all of which consisted of another PC telling me to sit on my helmet rather than get my nuts blown off by ground fire. So I sat out the patrol, which turned into a full blown battle and then an extended search and rescue mission. I asked the GM if there wasn't a way to get back into the action and he said I shouldn't have been dumb enough to step on a mine. I pointed out to him that if we had been required to make some sort of awareness test instead of just a flat percentile roll then I would probably have seen that there was a mine there and not trodden on it - I had rolled really low. He told me to 'shut the fuck up and stop picking holes in his adventure', so I went home and played Elite on my Spectrum, instead. GJD Yeah, I think there were a few problems, both with the GM and the scenario. Lxnder wrote. Yo, First, I love the mag. Been reading the articles for a long time, but only recently found the IMHO section (as well as all the other sections on the side links, where they aren't clearly demarked with nice blue underlined text). Wish that you were publishing it more often, but I'll always wish it. Wish that I was writing for it, but I'm not funny often enough. :) I swear that the GM whose campaign I just ended not only is reading the Bastard GM's Guide, but is now trying to figure out ways to use it as a player (any chance that a Bastard Player's Guide is in the works?). It's a thought. Second, let me say that I agree with you about the percentile stuff, though I have since gotten used to the other system to the point where it would be hard to change my thinking yet again (on the other hand, 1-100 does WORK, as Damian said approximately here: http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue5/imho1.html#skipmath3; 00-99 is just more pleasing to the mathematical mind). As an addendum, the guy who wrote the letter that ends here http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue5/imho1.html#skipmath2 is wrong in one small but crucial respect. (Gee, all this defense of the percentile system from someone who dislikes it because it lacks an intrinsic bell-curve. Yet I still play (and love) Rolemaster. What's a dysfunctional gamer to do? Make his own system, I suppose. Too bad I enjoy post-graduate mathematics -- too bad for my players, that is. More seriously, I've come up with a rather unique dice mechanic that I won't tell you about. So bwahahahahaha or somesuch). Basically, if you change from 1-100 to 0-99, then yeah, you change your average roll, but what he neglected to notice is that YOU ALSO CHANGE THE CUTOFF. 1-100 is separated 1-50, 51-100. An average of 50.5 is good because that means that you're as likely to roll each section, since 50.5 is between 50 and 51. 0-99 is separated 0-49, 50-99 and guess what? -- the average is 49.5! *big dramatic gasp* So there's no mathematical difference; Nick was totally off-base in trying to claim otherwise... Third, I wholeheartedly agree about the difference between computer adventure games and actual roleplaying games! While one can roleplay online (places like webrpg.com notwithstanding), they have a human GM, and thus don't really fall under 'crpgs.' And I'm against Bubba's anti-maths comments, despite the fact that they gave me a perfect way to link to the math posts that I finally decided to respond to. :) So thank you Bubba for, in a backhanded way, setting up another math email to be sent. Wheehoo!!! I'm not anti-math, it's just not what I want to see in the letters page! And if I wanted too I could have broken all your links... Other things I liked: the Universe Validity Test Kit (sadly, my universe is real according to this test; no wonder I game so much), the Deckplans, the Elevator game, Ending Your Campaign, GMing with Nothing, the story at the beginning of "you guys must be the party," the cyberworld article and your take on cyberspace, the bullshitting ouija board, and 'yeah, my character doens't give a shit.' My biggest beef is with your scenario rant in issue six. Are your GMs in general so unable to come up with their own scenarios that they have to depend on written ones? Is it too much work to take D&D; scenarios and adapt them for a system that can be stomached? Granted, there's got to be business models that allow scenarios to be published better (perhaps selling subscriptions to an 'adventure magazine'?) but I don't see scenarios as the crux of a game system - the rules mechanics are. Actually, almost every time I try to use a published scenario it seems to go wrong, and generally I find it much more satisfying to write both the setting and the scenarios from scratch. But I still like the idea of there being scenarios. Certainly Jonny, as a computer programmer, you can accept that premise. Though maybe you're one of those types who thinks windows is better because 'there are more things available for it' too... Finally, I'm also anti-LARP. I don't really have to say why - I'm a dysfunctional gamer! I barely get out enough to socialize around a table; I have to roll dice to see if I succeed at seduction; why the hell would I try my hand at keeping a straight face in person??? :) Aloha, Lxndr William I Walley sent us in the following in the subject of Motivation Mr. Nexus Excellent article about actually trying to tailor a campaign to your players' personalities. More articles on the nuts and bolts of GMing are really needed, and less on things like mood and setting, as preferred by a certain gaming company named after an albino animal. Having seen far too many of my own carefully crafted out ideas collapse over the years because one player decided to try and crash the system, either intentionally or not, I really sympathize. However, there is a sizable component of players out there who think that this sort of activity is not only acceptable but justified. For example, in a recent article in a gaming magazine named after a mythical reptile, one of the designers of 3rd Edition D&D; actually promoted this type of disruptive activity as healthy for the game, since in his opinion it was all about keeping the players entertained. He gleefully related a story of how a character of his wandered off on his own away from his party while they were solving a boring riddle and attacked a horde of monsters, which then proceeded to devour the party. When the other players complained, he stated it was the GM's fault for not keeping him entertained. He then went on to encourage other players to be disruptive if the game was boring. My initial reaction, after years of encountering this sort of juvenile attitude, was to hell with it. Kill em off every time he does it, maybe he'll get the hint. Lord knows I've been in enough gaming groups were activity like that is a death sentence for the disruptive player, on the grounds that if you don't kill him now, he'll get you killed later. After I had cooled down I realized that, really, the things he was complaining about were issues that should have been handled out of game. if you game is slow, or boring, or not meeting your expectations, talk to the GM afterwards. Let him know your reservations, and try to work through the problem. Role players are supposed to be mature enough to handle this sort of thing without resulting to running around like hyperactive twelve year olds on amphetamines. The purpose of a campaign, and role playing in general is to have fun, everyone have fun, not just one person. If you want one on one entertainment, find a prostitute. For enough money, she'll treat you like you're the center of the universe. If you're in a RPG, you're in it because you don't just like to have fun, but because you like to have fun with your friends. If anyone has trouble with this sort of minimum required maturity, then a good GM should cut his losses and cut the fool loose. Talk with you other players and explain why you're having problems with the disruptive player. Nine times out of ten, they're upset too and they'll back you up in giving the player the boot. My personal recommendation is the "Reality Based Solution. " Just like in the real world, reward stupidity with death. Consistently. Every time. This should serve to get the hint across. If not, then you should really think of cutting personal ties with the player and report him to your local police as a stalker. In any case, keep up the good work. Will Da Pornlord sent us the following with the subject "How Fantastic is this site?!?!!" Hey buddies! Just to say, the only thing I've ever read in 12 years of gaming to come close to the coolness of your site is The Munchkins Guide to Power Gaming, and even that pales in comparison! Keep up the fantastic work! 8) Thanks. By the way do you realise that with an email handle like yours I nearly deleted the mail without reading it, thinking it was porn spam. Gabriel Stryfe aKa: Dave sent the following with the subject LARP I'm always surprised how little people seem to know about LARP in general. You had some questions in an article in issue 6: 1) How it is that the DESCRIPTION of what happens while LARPing is so much more exciting than the pictures? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Well, that's pretty much inevitable. It's like all the tabletop games that have the blurb about their "unqiue, well thought out world" and when you read it, it's got pointy eared elves in the woods, beardy dwarves in the mountains. Yawn. 2) How can a LARP possibly go on for more than one afternoon? Most of the LARPs I saw on the web had less than 20 members - TOTAL. Do the players and NPCs switch off every few hours? Do the orcs change out of costume and become barkeeps the next day? Well, yes is the answer. The NPCs play numerous parts usually - often one NPC and any monsters which are needed. Changes of costume, masks and make up can work wonders. Most LARP events go on for a weekend, and some groups run "linears" (simple adventures) which last one afternoon. 3) How likely am I to believe I'm in a city when the only buildings around are trees? I'm all for imagination, but please... Hmm - this sounds like idiocy on the part of the group - the best idea is NOT to run games set in cities - isolated taverns, cabins, small hamlets, ruined castles or hunting lodges work better as LARP settings. I personally am from the "if you can't phys-rep it properly, don't do it" school. So no sewers in the forest either. (oh, phys-rep is a term meaning to "physically represent" something.) 4) How likely am I to believe I'm in a city when I keep running into the same twelve people wherever I go? Again, don't run games in cities unless you're a titanic LARP group with a medieval city on hand. i.e. don't. As a dedicated LARPer even I'd be horrified by a cardboard box castle. 5) If I'm a warrior, and I keep whacking people with a fake sword from sunup until sundown, how am I different from any ol' member of the Society for Creative Anachronisms (SCA)? Well, LARP is somewhat similar, I suppose - but it's more about the roleplaying. Combat tneds to get into the photos since photos of people sitting around talking aren't overly exciting, but are often the main part of an event. Anyway, there ye go. Hope you haven't been permanently put off LARPing - there are some very good groups out there (I'll be running an event myself later on this year *Shameless plug, sorry*). Dave. I think the point here is that Good LARP can be both fun and stimulating, and Bad LARP boring... So for any more LARPers out there who want to write in I have a Challenge for you. If you want to defend your precious LARP then how about writing a counter article instead of cluttering up our letters page with this dribble! Just click on the Contact us link at the top of this page... James D. Jarvis wrote in on the subject of gamer funk: Do Gamers Have to Smell? Seriously what is up with gamer funk? Two of the players in my regular wednesday night game have never been to a gaming convention and I had informed them of that delightful aroma that is gamer funk, that (in the U.S. ) sickening and heavy mix of cheetos, mountain dew, old unwashed socks and even less washed gamer, they laughed a little and nodded as if they got the nerd reference I was making about many gamers in general, but they diodn't really beleave me. Well they just resently returned from a game con and were suprised how accurate my description was and how much the true stink of it really has to be experienced , one of them couldnt' even stay in one of the open gaming rooms for long becasue of the stench (she might be a little to sensitive). So, do gamers smell the same the world over or are there distinct variations and do they really have to stink? -James D. Jarvis Heikki Mmalaska wrote in on the subject of percentile dice in response to article "what I hate about percentile dice": I agree, it gets funny. Think about it, even with normal people, they talk about chances of 1-100 % (which counts as 100 different results), when actually they are dealing with 0-100 % of chances for success, because there is always the possibility of doing a total flop (so the scale includes 101 different results). How do you throw your chances among 101 different possible results with 10-sided dice? A little historical sideline. Ancient mathematics operated largely on principles of geometry, geometrical relations and geometrical progressions. Mathematics was viewed as a language for describing the structure of the universe, the structure of reality as people interpreted it. So the Indian race, for example, operated with digits 1-9 and had no working concept of 0, up until about 350 AD. The centre of their number system was not 0, but 1. The centre of universe in their view was UNITY, represented by 1. On both sides of this unity they had realms mirroring each other: the world of reality and the world as men chose to see it. To arrive at a particular human interpretation, you would take a "slice" of ALL THAT IS and concentrate on just that. It would be like looking at the real world through your personally biased value/expectation system and coming up with a partial interpretation of what all is. In math this was describes as taking any whole number above 1 (which all represented certain characteristics or properties), and dividing the unity (1) with that attribute - thus you would get a fraction that represented the partially biased interpretation (unity divided by 4 becomes �). How would one rate percentages for chances of success in that world? The basic belief already was that chances for anything are not equal but slanted one way or the other; either because of fate like the caste system, or because of appropriateness of karma, the concept of right work: if you try to succeed in something which is not "in your script" you have great chances of beating your head against the wall forever. If, on the other hand, you make genuine contact with your inner self and start to realise its potential, your chances increase in a geometric scale in proportion to the expansion of your awareness. In other words: do the right thing for you in this particular life, and you create self-sustaining momentum or wu-wei (not-doing) as Taoists call it - things are done for you as the path miraculously unfolds. You need not exert undue effort for things that have already been prepared. And yet this is not determinism - you can always choose to ignore it. In that realm they had no use for something like a 0. How do you describe in geometrical terms something which does not exist? By displaying a blank parchment? What is something that dos not exist, when universal energy in the form of awareness never disappeared anyway, even in death? What was death but a transition or transformation into other set of priorities? So the concept of 0 as functional mathematical entity was introduced into Indian mathematical awareness around 350 AD, but they had no practical use for it so they stowed it after digit 9 in their number system, which read 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0. Does that not sound a lot like treatment of 10-sided dice in many game systems today? So you get cumbersome rules about how to treat the 0-digit in different circumstances. In around 650 AD or so, the interpretation of reality according to Indian philosophy changed. This was reflected in the change of meaning of one rather famous sanskrit concept: "maya". In the former, unity-based system, Sanskrit word maya meant "ability to calculate", ability to filter your own particular interpretation of reality out of ALL THAT IS. After the change in world view the word "maya" meant "illusion", something that does not exist in reality even though it is believed that it would. In the former unity-based awareness there was no illusion as such: it was self-evident that any opinions a human being would come up with about the nature of ultimate reality, were approximations. You would have been an idiot to believe that your particular ego-based opinion about the nature of reality would be THE TRUTH. Everyone was assumed to be equally wrong in that. After the change, the power of the individual ego to start fooling itself by believing in its own hallucinations was given top priority; you were no longer considered a babbling idiot if you claimed your opinion to be THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH. You could claim your status as a prophet by coming up with an interpretation that no one before had thought about - THE EMBODIMENT OF THE LIVING TRUTH. But geometry-based mathematics was no longer sufficient to describe this situation, so digit 0 was put to good use finally: it was shifted below 1 and given supreme priority as the centre of the universe, around which everything revolved. On the one side you had positive numbers, the realm of the real properties. On the other side you had negative numbers, the distorted = interpreted mirror images of reality - the stuff that actually does not exist but seems to exist because you choose to believe in your own interpretations. The power of human imagination is enormous. So below 0 became the world of the unreal, the world of illusion - maya. "Calculate" did no longer mean "to focus on a partial representation of ALL THAT IS", instead it acquired the meaning of "to sincerely believe that what you can come up with in your private imagination would be all there is - and act accordingly". So the digit sequence becomes 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9. How's that in modern day gaming terms? You have the 0 represent the possibility of total failure in understanding how reality works (means: try as you may, you don't succeed because you have not even begun to grasp the rules). At the other end you never reach total pure 100% result - there is always some minor bias causing a distortion of understanding, even in the best moments there is always that tiny little "Auch - shit where did that come from? I thought I had it all covered!!" Just like the many gently sloping statistical curves that approach a threshold value as they reach for infinity, yet they never actually become the threshold value - not in this lifetime anyway. heikki malaska If you have something to say then send it to [email protected] If you don't have anything to say then say it anyway. Go on. You can do it. Copyright � 2002 Critical Miss Gaming Society |
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