Something to Actually Write About

It's been a long time since I've posted on this blog. In that time, blogs have fallen out of favor and I seriously doubt anyone will even read this. I'm doing it as a bit of capstone inspired by reading an old post of mine.

First, a bit of catchup before I talk about what inspired this post...

While I've still been playing RPGs in my own personal groups, I've had nothing to say about them publicly. The social discourse had descended to a level that I found unbearable then, and it's only worsened as time as passed. 

Beyond that issue (would could on its own had been ignored), game design had stagnated around D&D and its offshoots with things like story game designs and reworks of other systems swimming around in the shadows mostly unnoticed. There just wasn't anything of interest.

That too has gotten worse, the last time I visited the local mega hobby store I was told that basically anything not D&D wasn't selling at all although there is a collector's market of some type.

All that is in a way to be expected. I've reached that age where I'm an artifact of an effectively dead civilization. One that few even remember and certainly given their own tunnel vision, no reason to mourn. That happens to every generation. If they are lucky like the WWII generation, they may be respected for a period before they too are forgotten and/or despised.

To paraphrase Tolkien, 'Death is the gift of God to man'. I find an odd comfort and hope in that. This is not only the reality of the world, it's how it should be.

On to what inspired this post and from what I can foresee is the last thing I have to say on the subject of RPGs...

In 2009 I made this post answering set of questions about the future of gaming from RPG Blog Carnival. That article's link to those questions is now dead and the domain appears to be for sale.

Looking over my answers, I wasn't too far off base and feel I can take a victory lap given how completely wrong most such predictions are. How D&D has done over the last decade and a half I leave to others. I haven't been paying attention.

The one area I want to update is the question on how technology will become more integrated in RPGs. I was right for the "near future" given in the questions, but it is here that things have change. And it was this subject that stuck me as the right one to be the last gaming post on this blog.

In 2012, Roll20 came online. Together with first Ventrilo (2002) and then Discord (2015), this changed my gaming world. I could play with old gaming companions from my High Schools days no matter where everyone was located. While I would like in-person gaming better, that isn't as much of a option as it used to be. Plus the lack of travel time along with pre-game and post-game setup and clean-up is so nice.

But other than that, while some things were automated- the games were still the games I used to play. Tokens had replaced figures, and PNG maps had replaced sand tables. The die and some mechanics were automated to our taste- but all that was but surface changes. The real change was the lack of game food and in-person contact.

A bigger change hit a to significant degree this year with useful AI. Depending upon how this technology develops- we could see the end of GMs and Game Designers except for dinosaurs who want to do things the old way. 

It's nowhere near that now, and may in fact never get there. Every technology has limits to its development (notice how Moore's Law isn't a law anymore?) and I doubt this will be an exception. But I have no idea what that that limit will be. That's a question for others only be answered properly by the future.

In its current state, it leaves a lot to be desired. 

It's understanding of game mechanics is nearly non-existent. Ask it to generate a character, and it will break all sorts of rules giving you an illusion of a result. But a shallow and inefficient one for anyone who knows the system.

What it is capable of is adventure ideas and to a surprising extent artwork. If one is willing to spend too much time fine-tuning your questions, it can do rather well. But it's still at the level IMO of generating a concept best left to a real GM to fill out.

It's best feature to me is the ability to generate names and ideas for character backgrounds and appearance, something I've never been good at. Now in seconds I can get as big of a list of suitable names as I want to pick and select though.

For now, it's a great time saver for a GM. Doing some low level work so he's free to do more important things. My sons use it all the time, I use it for artwork, names, and little else.

The promise for the future however is immense. Maybe it can over the next decade or two completely replace the GM, providing the game system and play style to match its users. Maybe one could have it house rule or create entire systems to taste.

And to take it even further, maybe it could translate all that into our personal video game replacing the gaming table and figures with full 3D graphics with coop play on the fly. Or even VR (although that technology also leaves much to improve on).

Maybe. Might even be likely. I'm not an expert in the field.

Would that be a good thing? I'd say no, the path of game design has been to reduce players to an ever more child like being with simple systems by-passing any requirements of balance and simulation. Having a computer do everything for you will just accelerate that. People would play these games, but they wouldn't *understand* these games.

But my opinion here means nothing. That's for the current generation and perhaps the next to deal with. 

Good luck, my last piece of advice is that reality will in time overtake everything. It seems overdue.

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.

Lang's Rules and Age of Heroes

Last time I mentioned that Rob Lang was running a series of articles with suggestions (let's call them Rules, because it's easier to argue about rules than it is suggestions) for writing your own RPG. Very worthwhile articles they are.

I thought it would be fun to compare the development of my own Age of Heroes game with what's there. It will go a long ways to explaining why I expect to sell a dozen copies and those who follow Rob's Rules will sell... well more. Rob is free to comment on whatever I say here...


His first article was a Prologue defining his intent, Not many rules here, in fact only one. If you've played an RPG you're ready to design one. I'm hitting 100% so far, Age of Heroes was started after a number of years of gaming.

Chapter 1: Inspiration
 
Age of Heroes is doing well through this chapter. It was a design intended to more faithfully recreate various source fantasy works (all listed in its appendices) more faithfully than any of RPG published back then while providing niche protection, combat style balance, generational campaigns while providing highly tactical play along the way...

Oh wait. That isn't true. That's what it ended up being.

The truth is that it was basically a house rule replacement combat system, followed by a house rule replacement magic system, followed by a house rule character generation system, followed by...

In short it grew on its own and suddenly (one remembered day) became a its own game (IT LIVES!). There was no planing for the game as *whole* until perhaps a decade later.

However each individual section did in fact follow much of what's in the Chapter 1 article, but with a very narrow focus. It has however never been pitched, and I don't think it's possible to describe it in five words.

Result: Age of Heroes mix success


Chapter2: Research is better.

A huge amount of research was done with respect to the original source materials. And I was very familiar with basically *all* the games of the era for the simple reason that there wasn't that many. Some sections of the rules were based upon the real world, and that required its own research.

However at the time research was much harder, some things assumed weren't really true. Thus the game includes armor types that are more 'what's expected in an RPG' than 'Real'. But I'm giving that a pass since it's a fantasy game created in a era of more difficult research restraints

Result: Age of Heroes flawless victory


Chapter 3: Writing and Style

Now we're completely off the rails. In part because I'm a terrible writer, and in part because it was a the piecemeal design I spoke about above.

I almost did none of this 'right'. I have extensive Design Notes in the appendix. My pose sucks.The thing is a freaking textbook (if only a 262 page textbook). Optional Rules are just presented, it's explained why you'd want to use them (and why you wouldn't). I've lost track of the number of Rob's Rules I've broken here.

I did keep copies of basically everything written, there are examples- but not enough.

Most people who see it scream, drop the book and flee rapidly.

But my groups and I still love it. So goal achieved. Everyone else can just jump off some bridge somewhere.

Result: Age of Heroes utter failure



Chapter 4: Setting

Did this completely wrong too. The game doesn't include any setting. The bestiary is a good place for hints as to what it's aimed at (as are the Designer Notes), but the system is made to be a generic fantasy RPG, and intended to be paired with a campaign supplement.

Basically the same approach as GURPS and HERO. The problem here is that such an approach doesn't work now days. People don't want generic rules, they can't deal with them. They want setting first.

Result: Age of Heroes utter failure


So that means that of the 4 chapters I'm batting 50% + 100% + 0% + 0% or a total of 37.5%

Not bad for baseball, rather rotten here I think.

Rob of course is still writing the series, and I'll keep pace to find out my final score.

My Experience with Lulu

As I've commented on before, I ordered and received my hardback copy of my home grown rules. The book is nice, and it was a pure joy to be able to browse through it checking rule questions and doing other look ups during last weekend's game.

Binders holding hundreds of pages of rules are a thing of the pass for use now, although they remain for characters and are still useful for individual spell lists used by said characters.

I'd recommend anyone with significant homegrown rules to put them in a bound rulebook like this. Even so, I do have some comments on the process and not all are completely positive.

• The paper/binding combinations are odd. For example, you can get letter sized with soft covers but not in hardback. I'm sure Lulu has reasons for this, but it is a pain. Even worse is the limits on their abilities to offer your book through places like Amazon- the selection of format options there is quite limited.

• I used Word 2010 to produce the final PDF for printing. To do so I had to use a compatibility setting that prevented me from using some of the better formatting features (boarders and picture formatting). It pays as a result to verify what you're doing ahead of time by checking the PDF result. If one is willing to shell out the cash for the full version of Acrobat, perhaps this issue can be avoided.

• The production and shipping time is... notable. It took me the full two weeks to get my copy (and half that time for the one I sent to KC- but I used my 'proof' discount for that one). Needless to say, that was a impatient two weeks. But considering it was a custom order, it doesn't really upset me. It's just something to be aware of.

• Shipping costs are steep. I paid $10 for FedEx ground shipping that took a week. The only cheaper option was US Postal, without tracking. I'm so used to free shipping from Amazon that I was rather taken back by this. A person would be wise to keep the shipping cost in mind when making their plans.

•  The full process was very easy. Basically you download a word template so you get the margins and other settings correct, write your rules, add art if desired (I used a ton of Public Domain stuff) and save as a PDF (their online help held the correct settings for use). There after you upload the PDF, and create a cover using the online tools. You're done.

• I've read online that some have better experiences with other companies than Lulu. But I can't really speak to that (having no experience with them). Lulu did what I needed and did it to an acceptable level. Perhaps in the future I'll try another company and see how they compare.

• Unconnected to Lulu, I should note that over the years I've had a number of problems with Word (but still, little desire to change software). Basically it would lose it formatting at the oddest times. This time it was Word 2010 and it was far more stable and effective than in the past. However I found the indexing feature completely unusable.  It would automatically throw on fully editing symbol display and when I switched it back off- the formatting would be whacked. So no index, not that I'll miss it all that much.

Unreasonable Goals: Single Combat in RPGs

I remember the days when game designers were looking for really good kick-backside single combat systems. The one vs. one duel, the first attempt noticed I noticed was En_Garde! back in 1975, a game about duellists.

It wasn't very successful at meeting it goals. No one has been.

There are a number of problems that stand in the way. The most important one is the requirement is to come up with a system that involves the player to the same (or greater) degree as all the complexities of group combat- and do so in a why the presents meaningful choices that aren't effectively random (historical most attempts in this area present the player with random choices).

I consider this problem to be unresolvable, for if it was actually solved- the game becomes too complex to play with groups. An group play is really what the rpg is all about.

My own game (Age of Heroes) like many works acceptably with one-on-one combats in that it resolves them. But group battles are far more interesting tactically. They are also much safer, a single PC can easily be undone by a short series of bad rolls or decisions- groups spread these around and allow allies to aid stricken players.

A result that nicely mirrors the needs of table top gaming if you ask me.

Why does D&D hold the Market

And by D&D, I mean all its favors- OSR, 3.x and its copies, and now to a lesser extent the 4th edition version. Add together these make up most of the game sales and nearly all the online discussion one sees on forums and blogs (unless they are dedicated specifically to something else).

It's a difficult question, likely with a number of different answers. It would be fun to actually dig into it in a solid investigative fashion and determine what those answers are. But I don't have the time, money or contacts. And I doubt anyone else does (that would be willing to do so, and then willing to release the information). But that doesn't mean we can't make a good guess.

We know from previous WotC information that it isn't driven by play style as such. So that can be dismissed.

Other possible answers:

Market Penetration

D&D was the first to market, made the biggest splash, and from there on has the largest production budget and the largest amount of supporting materials on the gaming shelves (or in online catalogs).

The power of this simple fact cannot be underestimated. The same basic factors resulted in VHS winning over Beta, Windows over MAC, etc. The examples are nearly endless. You don't have to offer the best product, just the widest selection for use with your product.


Appeals to our Worst Nature

D&D combat is meant to be predictive, safe and lengthy (something clear in the writings and statements of Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax, such as this one to pick one example). So safe adventure with controlled danger that the player can still pat themselves on the back for. That's a easy draw, nice reward for little risk.

Add to this simple greed. The very act of leveling, and the fact that D&D offers a lot of levels to level through. The endless search for money and magic items. MMORPGs based their entire business model upon these things, but D&D was the first to offer it.

We see this in passing statements by D&D GMs and Players, such as Jeff Rients' comment here:

"The abstract concept of treasure appeals directly to the players, by tickling their normal greedy impulses.  This goes back to my thinking that D&D is about providing an acceptable venue for expressing one's less civilized urges.  I.e. if a scenario doesn't invoke at least one of the Seven Deadly Sins, you may need to rework the premise.  Greed is one of the easiest ones to work with in D&D thanks to all the gold pieces lying about the dungeons."

We see these concepts often expressed in reviews of non-D&D products, where any that offer dangerous combat are seen as 'unheroic' for some reason or those without treasure and extreme ranges for advancement are said to be boring or incomplete.


Return to Childhood

This is most telling in the OSR movement, but really works with version of D&D. It's all still going home, it's fun to go back and do those things you enjoyed as a kid. Even if you've actually forgotten what you did, or have covered it up with the rose glasses of middle age.

It's safe, it avoids the disappointment and effort of dealing unknown game designs. And it carries with the advantages of the above two points as well. What's not to like?



All the above have resulted in stagnation in the larger hobby. It feeds upon itself in a nearly endless loop,

- D&D has the largest supporting material meaning it has more players, and the OGL allows even more material which in turn attracts even more players.

- Old timers returning to old games means new players are likely to get introduced to the hobby with these old games, meaning that no one ever looks for something different or better.

- And appeals to greed and reward without cost? That almost goes without saying. Such things never end, they only ask for more.


And thus here we are. And here the hobby is likely to stay. It wouldn't be changed by a better product. It would take a change in the moral character of gamers themselves, but IMO the influence is working the other direction.

There will be other games, but they will have little hold or influence. On the bright side, if this hobby should die (be it from more sophisticated MMORPGs or other means), it would likely be a good thing.

The Age of Heroes Proof Copy Is Here

Just a bit more than 31 years after I first wrote down the core combat rules, I finally have a hardbound copy of the Age of Heroes rules.

We're considering this a playtest copy, a final shakedown of the rules to spot any last typos, remaining page layouts I can do better on, and one last pass to make the written rules match what we actually play.

This last point is more difficult than one might think. About a week after I put in the order I caught one rule concerning Huge Creatures and their parries that was missing- and a rather key one it was at that. It's far from easy to capture what's become second nature to us over the years. It's like writing an book on how to walk or breathe.

Oh well. That's what this copy is for. On the other hand it's close enough that I could stop here, once I put up what will hopefully be a short errata webpage. Others however want an even more perfect copy, and want it posted to Lulu for sale.

Using Lulu for the first time was quite the experience.

The book looks quite good and more professional than I am. The only compliant I've gotten so far is that the color of the cover is bland (that suits a playtest copy IMO) and they want it changed for the final version.

Lulu's printing and shipping times vary greatly. One copy I sent to KC arrived within a week, while my own took twice as long to reach me. The price was acceptable for a 260 page hardback, at least for me.

I wonder how the binding will hold up, only time will tell. If anyone has experience in such things, I'd be interesting in hearing it.

From here we'll spend the next couple of months doing playtest and final proof readings with my group, and with the much larger one in KC.

And It's Done...

Finished the play test draft of Age of Heroes last night. The wonderful wife did her proof reading, I created the PDF and sent it off to my other two proof readers.

But I'm counting it as effectively complete, the first time ever that *all* the core rules have been assembled in one place and formatted for prestentation and use. Previously there was a spiral bound copy of the very most imporant core rules. Nice but about half the size.

It ended up a bit longer than planned, 242 Pages with 116,030 words. Nearly all of it rules although a bit of our settings got in the Bestiary with the creature descriptions.

From here I'll let my two remainingg proof readers point out any lasting typos they can find (knowing they'll never find them all of course) and then order a couple of bound copies for final playtest. I'll give it a few months mostly to make sure I didn't screw up something mechanically as there is some new stuff (in detail, not in concept) in there before I call it really really done, remove the playtest stamp, add the designer notes and handout hardcopies to the players in our groups.

Interesting feeling to be here, even with something I don't intend to market. Likely due to my never imagining that I'd write anything that would result in a bound hardcover. When I was born, it was just something out of the realm of possiblity for the typical person, and is only reasonable now due to Print on Demand.

Just a Few Pages More

Still working on Age of Heroes, and it's looking like I'll finish the proof and play test draft this week and send it off to Lulu.It's currently at 230 pages with only five more creatures to write up (and a few paragraphs in the intro).

Exciting times, well at least for my gaming groups. It only took 31 years, although before print on demand there was almost no reason do it.

Infinity: An Example of a Bad Die Mechanic

One of my kids was into Warhammer 40K. He's realized now just how bad of a game it really is, and we've been looking for a replacement.

In this search, he came across a game called Infinity and I decided to take a look at it. It's not a very good game, and there's a lot to take apart as a result. In fact, I consider 40K better than it. It's not a RPG and so I won't delve too deep into it. But it so happens to have a rather brain dead stupid core die mechanic that I've seen in RPGs before. And that deserves a comment.

Basically the system resolves things with each player making a opposed d20 roll. Whoever rolls higher but still under his skill rating wins. So a skill of 14 with range weapons might fire at a defender with a skill of 12, whoever rolls higher wins, as long as the first guy doesn't roll a 15+ and the second roll a 13+.

There's some other minor details, but they don't significantly modify my core point that this system manages to meet the Two S Rule: Simple and Stupid.

Just consider it for a moment. In a game you don't want things missing most of the time, that's not fun for most players. But if you're using dice, you don't want to hit all the time either.

So what does that mean for the range of possible skill numbers? That's right, it's very narrow. I would expect them to range from... oh 12 up to about 16. And sure enough, that's where most of the units in the game fall (you can look at a number of them online at the link above). There's some exceptions (especially for cannon fodder type units), but most of the standard units fall right into that line.

To make that narrow range even worse, the game uses a linear die d20 die roll.

The end result is to make unit skill of minor importance, i.e. it's very difficult to move far away from a coin flip in your chances unless you really pile the modifiers on.

Makes for a very limited game, basically only those settings where everyone is roughly equal. That hardly seems the point of games like this but then I'm not a member in good standing with the modern wargame crowd. Maybe they dig pointless differences.

Combined with other issues, we quickly discarded it as a option.

Vortex however is looking interesting...

An Example Age of Heroes Creature

I've made a number of comments about working on my Bestiary, and this post is for Roequard who asked to see what one of the write-ups look like.

So here it is. It's a draft of the Goblin Chieftain, a not uncommon foe in our campaigns by any means. I converted it to PDF and from there to PNG so it's a bit blurry, hasn't had its final edit (I just completed this draft today), and is likely rather cryptic given all the game speak specific to Age of Heroes in it.

I picked it due to a lack of references to special rules and abilities, well beyond the morale effects anyway.

Looking at this I notice that I use a lot of white space, which certainly increases my page count. This for example takes up an entire page and most entries take up a half page.

On the other hand I think it results in a clean appearance so I'm sticking with it.

Up to My Elbows in Creatures

Been busy, putting most of my free time into working on the Bestiary section of the rules. So not much time for posting on the blog.

I had originally intended for that section to be short and sweet. maybe a dozen pages. As usual I couldn't keep it from growing beyond that. It's currently up to 25 pages, and I'm about half done I think.

The goal is to provide a good overview of what's possible in the system, while breathing some life into the various creatues so that enounters are more than just a stack of hit points to be degrades as is all too common in the gaming world. I hope to make each entry a springboard and inspiration for entitre adventures. Likely didn't succeed, but what the heck.  Worth the try.

Age of Heroes Status

Work continues on getting my homegrown rules into a form that I can use for Lulu.

I'm basically in the last section of the rules proper with 191 pages complete. This last part is the Bestiary, a short selection of sample creatures and people. It's going well, and even with my limited time I think I'll finish it up well before the end of the month.

I suppose I should admit that the last section isn't really the last section. Rather it's the last section of rules. There be a pages talking about what goes into a campaign setting. But that's just a couple of paragraphs so who cares.

Also after the rules are done, I have plans for appendices that will have a few items in it including some extensive designer notes. But that's for later. I'll order my first hard copy before the end of the month without the appendices. It will be used for final play test and one more proof reading.

The Shattered Hobby

Came across this blog post on Roll for Initiative today bemoaning the current state of the RPG world.

Have to say that I agree more than disagree. Too many games, often with very similar systems- none of which are really supported.

And thus there's little reason to buy into them. I already own such systems as BRP, HERO, and so on. And I can adapt them as easily to a setting as any designer, and do so to my own taste and not theirs.

And even better- I can continue to make adventures and expansions for them. Something the game companies no longer do.

As a result, to catch one's interest a RPG publisher would have to offer something new- but they don't. Instead they give us Fudge yet again or maybe yet another version of D20. And we yawn. And we keep our money.


The disagree part?

Small things. I think the OGL made much of the fragmented market possible and removed the entire OSR crowd from the hobby along the way.

I also think the Edition wars matter, be they for D&D or HERO System. Someone sticking with a edition abandoned by its publisher no longer needs anything from the publisher. The result is a publisher who has lost not only one of their best customers, but one of their best salesman as a result.

I doubt the hobby will recover, until it near dies. Shouldn't be long now.

Magic Items are Campaign Defining

Continuing to work on my homegrown rules in my spare time. Currently I'm well into the magic item section.

Basically the intent is to give examples of how some things are done in the game system, and provide a spark for imagination. The latter isn't really all that important considering that the system isn't intended for beginners, but for my own groups.


The nature of a campaign defines what sort of magic items are suited to it. A historical dark ages game without magic would reject any items while a 'magic paves the city streets' setting would require them by the hundreds.

My campaigns tends to be rather magic poor. Most characters can expect to get a minor item or two if they live long enough. Only a few will obtain an item of true power. And to be honest the core rules are written more for this sort of campaign than any other.

Despite that, it's important to give enough examples to cover a good range of possibilities. It's interesting however that the list of example items will likely be longer than the entire list of magic items that players have actually earned in my campaigns.

What the Rules Leave Out is as Important as What is Written In

I've long consider that (i.e. the title above) one of the key insights in RPGs, and sadly a rare one to encounter. At least with any understanding.

The rules of a a game can be 100% concerned with combat and loot. And that tells you nothing about the campaign using those rules. The total time spent gaming might be 90% role-playing out political infighting with not a single die ever rolled or rulebook opened, with 10% of it spent actually in combat that results from someone losing politically.

All that a missing rule means is that the designer may will expect you to handle it on your own- not that it must be ignored. I attempted to cover this in my Layers of Design article back in 2002.

What brings it up today is that I get to look at the same subject from a slight different point of view.  That of a game designer trying to fit a set of core rules into a single 200 page book. Layers of Design looked at the sum total of all the rules, not just core rules or a single supplement.

Page limits impose a completely different reason for leaving stuff out. There's not room to put it in.

So instead of more than a dozen or so types of magic we use in our campaigns, there will only be five in the core rulebook. Just a handful of sample monsters instead of hundreds. Nothing about the campaigns we play. Nothing on mass combat. All those will have to wait for expansions, or just remain in the disjointed notes form they are now because I'm horrid at writing and really would rather just avoid it.

Some stuff isn't missing completely, but has been simplified. In place of pages of equipment lists and details is an abstract encumbrance and gear section taking up a couple of pages. It works, but leaves some gaps by its nature.

All of the man-to-man combat however is present. All the character generation except some missing classes.

After all this, I think in the end should someone unconnected to our campaigns read the resulting core rules (unlikely I know) in the end they'll end up not really know anything about our campaigns.

Verisimilitude is a Lie

It is quite the fashion in today's gaming world to dismiss realism in game design as an impossible and undesired goal. Rather common wisdom claims that the real goal is verisimilitude, as if that's something different.

Let us consult the online Merriam-Webster definitions.


Verisimilitude means: having the appearance of truth : probable as the first definition. The second definition is simple: depicting realism (as in art or literature).

That second definition is highly interesting. We're after all talking about game design. Not much of an art IMO, but like art a created image.


Let's look at realism. First definition references the mindset, we're talking game design so that doesn't work. The second a philosophy, again- doesn't apply. The third and last seems to apply: "the theory or practice of fidelity in art and literature to nature or to real life and to accurate representation without idealization."


Ah, that one applies. And oddly enough it means exactly the same as Verisimilitude when applied to the same subject. Exactly enough that Merriam-Webster uses realism to define Verisimilitude.

Looks like we can lump the crowd screaming about "Verisimilitude Not Realism" into the same group as the discredit Forge Theorists. People who make up words and change common meanings of existing ones to suit their goals.

In short, people who can't make a good point and resort to two-bit words in order to give them the illusion of credibility.

Free Markets don't work in RPGs

As I was working a printable copy of my homegrown rules, I can across an old issue with the Artificer skill (i.e. the one that could under the right conditions make magic items).


In real life, I'm far more Hayek than I am Keynes (rather sneaky way of sharing two really cool videos that). I love free markets.

In the real world, I don't own a Seawolf Class submarine to cruise around the world for a simple reason. I can't afford it. Heck, I can't afford a simple sail boat. Well, I could but I have more important things to do with the money and I'd never get a good return on what a sail boat would cost.

Real limits those. And limits is what the free market is all about.

This doesn't work so well in RPGs. There reality is inversed, and players expect to to chase impossible pipe dreams. Destroy the dark lord, save the princess, and along the way gain a flaming sword and a mountain of loot. That sort of stuff.

Thus balancing a RPG based upon rarity is basically a fool's game. You're going to allow players to create magic items but control it by requiring rare materials? Won't work, you just made it more desirable and thus the players will bend all their will to getting it. Soon you're be drowning in magic items.

If you block them (i.e. keep rare stuff rare), nine times out of ten the reaction won't be to thank you for the game balance. It will be to find a better game that allows players a shot at reaching their goals.

I overstate that some of course.

Rarity works fine depending upon what we're talking about. One princess, one Excalibur, that sort of thing. It goes without saying that someone will get the princess and someone will get Excalibur (likely the same guy, success breeds success but one never knows. A jerk with Excaliber may still in the eyes of the princess be a jerk).

Good players will let you get away with that sort of thing.

But in general I'd suggest to avoid rarity as a method of game balance with anything that would have a 'market' price. That is, it just costs a bunch. Never works.

And with anything, if you don't want to the players to have something, don't put it in the game. If you do put it in the game, make it plain by what it is that it won't work for the players (Excalibur? Dude you're not the rightful King of all the Britons, it stays in the stone where it belongs).

It will save you trouble down the road.

Home Grown Rules Update

Things are going well with my attempt to get Age of Heroes into a printable form. I've recover from LuLu format changes, the first 152 or so pages have been proof-read twice by different people (which will only reduce the errors by 80% or so, but perfection isn't the goal).

Another 20 pages need to be proof read but are otherwise complete.

Just need to take a deep breath and push through the last of it. Getting a bit weary and I've been distracted by visiting friends and family.

We are our Fantasies

Looking back over the hobby started in the 70s is difficult in many ways. So much loss of potential. So much decay. Not that it ever was ideal, but foolishly we thought it could be- at least for us.

I (like so many others) snorted at the overblown worries of BADD, claims of satanism in D&D, and worries about kids dying in tunnels. And with good reason. They were overblown, founded on basically no facts, and they ignore the simple truth that games (like so much else) are tools. Games don't corrupt people, people corrupt people.

We didn't consider that corrupt people would produce corrupted games. And if those were accepted, the very nature of what defined corruption would be lost. In time, nothing would be off limits.

Archimedes said, "If you give me a lever and a place to stand, I can move the world". Games are excellent levers. Still, the world is a big place. Games are small things, and only one of many influences. It's impossible to say how large or how small their influence is, and I claim no outstanding significance for my little hobby.

But I do think it's something of a mirror. Where we stood. Where we now stand.

As recently as the turn of the 21st century, games such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess, or Courtesans would have been viewed as the filth they are with but the rare trollish defender. Now they are effectively accepted (online at least) as just another RPG. Slowly, things get worse year by year. And the moral corruption predicted by 70s turns out to be in too many ways correct, wrong only in the details.

Assisting in this was a major change in RPG design itself. Originally RPGs were an outgrowth of wargaming. And simulation of reality was a major goal of wargaming itself. For a while, RPGs continued in that path with many designs seeking a more complete and accurate simulation.

This changed with the move towards story focused games. With the move, games no longer worried about being a simulation of reality- but instead a vehicle to unleash the imagination of the player. To give them free reign, and the ability to wander where they will. As unconstrained as possible.

Freedom from even moderately complex games is freedom from learning. Freedom to create whatever story is desired is a surrender to hedonism. These games were meant to give the player more power. And power corrupts.

Lines have moved. And once moved, they become the new line to cross. Decay seeks ever more decay. I have a simple test for any doubtful reader. Come back in ten years and see if you can tell me that things are better, or if items like LotFP now look rather old fashion and innocent in comparison.


I greatly doubt games caused any of this. But they reflect it, and they certainly didn't stand in the way of it.

We are our Fantasies. They are what we seek to become.

Look in the mirror, are you proud of where you are going? Is that where you want your children to end up as well?

And sadly, I expect many of you will answer 'yes' for the simple reason you know not what you do.