A Gamer's Manifesto

1. I reject the fallacy that holding to a “One True Way” in gaming is an evil. Not all methods are equal, and we should strive not for the mediocrity that ‘everything is just taste’- but instead reach for and only accept the best.
2. I reject that assertion that all game designs are broken. They may not be a perfect one, but it's not difficult to get close enough for practical purposes
3. I reject the assertion that realism and simulation is impossible in game design. Again, it’s not difficult to get close enough to meet one’s needs.
4. I reject the assertion that the GM owes the players anything other than an impartial campaign that offers mysteries and excitement. Success and Failure is dependent entirely upon their skill in play, or its lack.
5. I reject the idea that GMs or RPG Design should seek to tell stories, they are games and should in themselves be fun and exciting enough that stories naturally result from play.
6. I reject rules that make decisions for the characters. Players should make decisions for their characters.
7. I reject the idea that RPGs cannot be played completely by the rules (or at worse the rules plus a reasonable amount of house rules) as written.
8. I reject the idea that playing by the Rules as Written is not role-playing. Rules are physics, Role-playing is decisions and expressions.
9. I reject the idea that GM judgment is the equal or superior of objective resolution in key areas such as combat and skill resolution.
10. The GM powers are restricted to creating the world, and ends both at the mind of the player character and the boundary of the physics engines presented by rules.
11. I reject the concept of play without the equal of a map and miniatures together with solid rules covering the elements of range, line of sight, and terrain. Any other style of play is lazy and nothing more than dependence upon GM handouts.
12. I reject the concept of 'rules getting out of the way'. RPGs are games, and the rules should engage and interest the players.

Returning to Middle Earth

We completed our trip back to Shadowrun, completing what was in effect a completely reworked adventure loosely based upon the original Shadow Run module Harlequin's Back- with no Harlequin (one of the worst NPCs in gaming history IMO), completely changed up meta-planes (after the first two) and so many other differences that really very little of he original remained. Consider the conversion to HERO System and all the other background changes I made, par for the course with SR. I really should come up with a different name for it as there's very little indeed of the original game in anything we do.

It all worked out nicely, and the SR campaign is back in the holding Parking Lot.

In its place we've turned to a period in Middle Earth of interest to one of my players. The island of Númenor at the beginning of the second millennium of the Second Age. The players want to explore the far reaches of Middle Earth as members of the greatest empire the world has ever seen. The setting presents a number of challenges as it's more magic rich than later eras and very little official background exists.

I'm expecting it to be a blast. Assuming that they don't all die, which judging from the last couple of adventures is all too likely. And assuming that the minor (and less capable actually) characters of the ship's crew don't keep showing them up like they have been.

Ah the joys of gaming.

RPGs and Markets, and the effect on Play

There are two types of gaming groups. Those that notice that they can make more money by the relatively safe method of stealing and fencing cars in Shadowrun than they can by running those very risky missions, and those that don't. Those that don't are easier on campaigns, but they also give me the impression that they're very tunneled vision- basically ignoring the world their characters exist in.
 
But let's talk about the first type. Put in other terms, these are the people who take notice of the in-game markets. What sells for what, how easy the item in question is to acquire, and the comparative risks involved.

All nice and well, except for the fact that such attention can derail the intent of the campaign from its original intent. One wonders for example if Luke would have been all fired up to leave Tatooine if the family business was actually making huge sums of money, or if he could have become rich by blasting wamp rats. With the right return, perhaps Luke would have ended up as rich as Jabba with his own slave girls- and the Empire would have crushed the rebellion.

Games often insert such alternative goals by setting prices for certain things very high in comparison to the desired game activity. Be it the value of cars in Shadowrun, or for example the price of herbs in ICE Middle Earth Role-Playing Game (MERP).

The later example is actually the one that sparked this post. Herbs in MERP could run hundreds of gold per dose. The intent seemed simple, make healing herbs (magical in their effectiveness) expensive and thus a drain on player resources. The actual result is entire game sessions where players forge for herbs to sell in order to finance both their own herb usage and whatever else they think they need. And given that ICE price lists are generally silver based and not gold- this is very wise thing to do indeed.

The correct approach to such things is to price items and services in the setting to match the desired play activity. Shadowrun missions should return more than the fence value of cars for example. The selling price of foraged Healing Herbs should offer a lesser return than adventuring.

There are two ways of achieving this end.

You can up the return on adventuring, but aware that his might spark widespread inflation (although that inflation will met your goal in this respect). Typically the better way is to reduce the price of the unbalancing activity. Yes herbs are useful, but maybe hundreds of gold for something that can be found with a few days foraging by a skilled character is too much even so. Maybe Shadowrun cars are overpriced compared to the much more sophisticated Cyperware and Magical formulas in the setting.

Perhaps the goal is best reached by increasing some things (adventure return) and decreasing others (cost of herbs and cars) as the same time.

Remember however that the adventures side of the question often has non-monetary returns. Those count as well on the final 'player balance sheet' and should be kept in mind. Everything in the end must take into account the mindset of your players as they will have different thresholds.

Skyfall- Cheering a Failure

Went to see the latest James Bond film.

Great actions scenes, wonderful music, exotic locations, over the top villains. All the cool elements of a Bond film with an excellent leading actor able to put off the image with more depth than any of the previous incarnations (although Brosnan had some weight on that scale). The newer darker and grittier tone has improved things greatly over the older films which with few exceptions come across as nearly camp in comparison. Plus there was some really cute nods to previous movies throughout the movie.

It was actually rather enjoyable.

But after a bit thought after walking out of the theater, I ended up not liking the film which is basically my reaction to all the Bond moves (with the 2006 Casino Royale being the exception).

I don't see misogyny in everything. But Bond movies are perhaps the most misogynistic film series of all time, While things have improved over the years, it’s still nothing to brag about. Of the three significant female characters in the new movie, two are killed and one proves (and accepts) herself unsuited for field work. The role of the Bond girl is a rather demeaning one consisting of a one-night stand followed mostly by death or (if they’re lucky)  irrelevance.

Meanwhile Bond himself is something of a failed hero in many of the movies, an almost Adam West Batman approach to spy craft. Not able to really investigate anything; his SOP is to get captured by the bad guy, have the bad buy spell his guts to him revealing everything, and then turn the table through an amazing action scene. It’s the power-gamer/ munchkin version of a successful Spy, buy up your combat and vehicle skills and push the win button when you get to the combat map.

Except Bond rarely wins, at least in the terms I would set for a hero. He consistently fails to save the damsel in distress (deciding instead to take advantage of her), and often ends up causing their death or the death of his fellow agents/allies. In Skyfall (spoiler warning for the following) he’s set five major tasks that I picked up on watching the movie for the first time:

• Stop the theft of a list of fellow spies (and thus prevent any of them from dying). Result: Failure. List is stolen, at least one fellow agent is killed as a result.

• Find the data thief, find out who he’s working for, and then kill him. Result: Mostly Failure. Kills him first gaining no information and thus no cookie. This is recovered solely because the bad guy put his payment chip in his assassin gear kit (you know, the heavy case that you might have to abandon if things go south) and not in his pocket or perhaps a safety deposit box somewhere. BTW, he allows the thief to kill some guy (heaven only knows who he was) before moving against him although he was nearly within arm's reach when the trigger was pulled. Makes me wonder of Bond just likes watching bystanders die or something.

• Help the wounded dove (the plaything of the villain) and use her to learn about the villain. Results: Failure. The wounded dove is killed instead of helped, and tells him basically nothing along the way. This is recovered only because the villain captures him and tells him nearly everything personally- because that's the villain's plan in the first place.

• Capture the major villain. Result: Failure, he succeeds only because the villain wanted to be captured.

• Protect M and defeat villain. Result: Abject Failure. Bond kills a villain who wanted to die anyway, and M is still killed (although she dies after the villain does and Bond does manage to spite the villain a little as a result). Along the way he also loses his original car (the Aston Martin I believe) and his family home is burned to the ground (although he claims he hated the place anyway).

If this had been a game, and I was running Bond- I would have considered the adventure to be a bust, mostly as a result of my own stupidity (although Q shares some blame, really who in their right mind would hook up a villains computer to your entire secured network controlling everything instead of using an isolated computer forensics and hacking setup).

And yet, the Bond series is the most successful of all time and this movie is getting excellent reviews. Perhaps it appeals to the inner Munchkin of the typical fan. Or perhaps I really shouldn't expect more than great action scenes.

Whatever the case, I'm clearly out of step with the moving going public.