Gametable: Suplemental

Here is the basic mode of Gametable. An aerial view of a gridded world, with drawn in surroundings, and movable 'pog' units. There's a chat window for player rolls and talk, and when combined with Ventrilo is the closest thing to a live D&D session I've seen online.

But it's not real D&D. At least not the way I know it. It WANTS to be D&D, but it is only a robot with dreams. Like instant messengers want to be conversations, and Pinocchio wants to be a real boy; Gametable is a wannabe. But as it neither lies nor shows my mother as a talking icon of an ant- I can accept it for what it is.

What it boils down to is that Gametable's greatest strength, and greatest drawback is its DM. A creative mind that can make full use of the wide utility GT offers, with an engaging story line and fun, sometimes skin of the teeth, battles- is what makes the 'game' worth playing.

The other side of the coin is that this IS a computer game. How long do you usually wait before you know your attack hit the enemy? How long does it take a computer to record and adjust your enemy's hit points and status effects? For a true computer game, this is all instantaneous. But we're dealing with a hybrid here, a computer game run by a human. Instead of the time-is-not-an-object pace of live D&D, there's a gas-brake-gas-brake feel as control of the game is traded between human and machine. For every instantaneous dice macro roll the computer makes at your request, there is several seconds of delay while the DM calculates, or tags are changed.

Maybe it's an aquired taste. For it's multiplayeriness and customizability it's better than alot of games out there. Players are also allowed to draw embellishments on the playing field, which is a worthy trick, and the easily designed dice macros are neat.

In conclusion, Gametable is like D&D on robo-crutches. Not quite as cool as it sounds though.

Gametable in Action!

I'll make sure to post a chronicle tomorrow, I've been slacking lately.

Earlier today we tried out the Gametable with Ventrilo. 3 of us were in The Green Hills, two at my place, and the other lives a few blocks away, while the 4th was in Connecticut. They had all made characters previously, and I had spent quite a few hours devising a dungeon for them to adventure in. This was meant to be a test run, and as I knew we would all be spending a lot of time learning how to work this new contraption, I was not going to delve too much into the plot.

When we were all settled down and ready to start, I had the players place and name their 'pogs'. Pog is the name they use in Gametable that basically represents a character or NPC or monster. I placed them all in the town hall, and gave them a short backstory as to how they met and started adventuring together. It was extremely brief, but had just enough detail to be believable. The first thing that happened when they got in the town, was they saw a bulletin board near the town fountain. The wanted poster basically sent them to the dungeon via instructions from the innkeeper. All of this played out fairly well, but still lacking in the fact that we were not able to look at each other and speak so openly as in person. Drawbacks aside, the postive aspects were still numerous though.

A lot has to be done ahead of time with this system, and it's important as the DM to understand exactly how everything is going to play out. You'll need to figure out how you're going to record initiative, how players will be able to take their movements, etc. Some parts are improved by this. For instance, even the town was mapped out, so players knew where they were in relation to other players when certain things were happening. It also made me realize how important a mapped town can be.

When the players finally showed up at the dungeon, it was slow moving at first. The first battle took a good while, and it was hard to tell if exploring the dungeon was faster or slower than in a face to face game. However, this didn't exactly matter, because the format that we were using allowed for little social time and fun things in between. They were still there, yet not as numerous as normal. Part of this might still have been due to learning how we work together to make this happen, and part is because of the lack of face to face interaction, and the fact that only person can talk at once on vent. Ironically, D&D is a game where most of the fun comes from the sarcastic side comments, or when you quietly interrupt someone with great wit.

All in all, Gametable works. It requires a lot of planning and preparation to make it work, but it does. All had fun, but it was clear that it was a different kind of fun than in a face-face session. Next week, we may try including our faraway friend via webcam!

Also, I'm going to ask Apples if she wants to write something on her thoughts of Gametable. She seems to have a different view of it than the rest of us thus far.

-Lance of the INTERTUBZ LOL DND ONZLINE People.

Mini-Review: Silk Road Online

Silk Road Online is a free to play, pay for premium, MMO. It is set in the 7th century, on the trading road between China and Europe. The game itself starts with a very haggard character creation. You have options, but it is difficult to understand the implications of your choices. Your first choice is your model, it determines your face, hairstyle, and body, and each model has their own name and storyline. While they are all interesting, I would be much more interested in being able to start my own story in a new world, than to play out the life of someone foreign to me. The other selections are fairly meager, you can choose height and weight, and your starting weapon.

Once we actually got into the this was a big drag right off, and it seemed like developing your character was a real chore. We were lost in a sea of possibilities, some of them available to us immediately, and others we would have no hope of doing until later levels. This is normally par for the course, but without any tutorial or even NPC guidance, it was extremely frustrating to start out.

We did not get very far in this game, in fact, we couldn't even finish the first quest. When we first started in the world, we found out early on that we could not even create a party until we reached level 5! .This was a big drag right off, as we were hoping to get into the world and immediately start leveling together based on the choices we made and had in mind during character creation. This was a big turn off to me, in any given MMO that I start, I want to be able to immediately start grouping with people, and on my terms if necessary.

Aside from the fact that you can use very little but autoattacks until almost level 5, and the fact that the first 5 levels were nothing but grinding, this game was simply a buzzkill from the beginning. My avatar needs a good, interesting, fulfilling beginning, or I'm just not going to be invested in it.

-Lance of the Hill People

Getting Comfy With Your Gaming

Everyone has their own little nuances and strategies of getting into the gaming groove. I would like to share mine today.

First off, it depends on the game that I'm playing, how long I have to play it, and what I'm looking for when I play. The default stance is to shove as much of my body below the chest underneath the desk, and recline as hard as I possibly can. The real goal is to get a 30 degree angle going here, so that I'm practically lying down, but still able to get into a straight sitting position of things get heated.

If I'm playing anything split screen, I like to sit cross-legged on the floor as close to the TV as I can without getting in the view of people behind me. This is mostly due to a vision problem that was likely caused by sitting too close to the TV screen when I was younger.

When I play just to mess around, I usually enjoy a drink or two, especially if I'm raiding in an MMO, and it's all old content. By the time we get to a new boss, I'll be sober enough to still perform well. My drink of choice is usually a glass of brandy, but I will also enjoy a fine, hand-crafted, ginger ale now and again. A steaming cup of hot chocolate goes well on a cold winters morning though.

If I'm playing a FPS, I don't want any food or snacks, because if I'm playing a FPS, I want to be as into the game as I can be, or I start to see my stats waning. I love to challenge myself to get good scores while still contributing to the victory of my team.

PvP on an MMO will usually find me drinking straight rum, and maybe even smoking a bit of sweet tobacco out of my friends hookah. This combination is extremely rare though, I usually don't smoke from a hookah more than once every couple months on average. The smoothness of the smoke coupled with the sting of a good rum is the exact combination to keep me from getting irate when PvP starts getting heated.

D&D I like to run with a full meal just before, and a short snack break at least mid-way through. If the players haven't had two encounters yet, I like to hold off until at least then. I also enjoy sitting in my rolly/swively office chair with one book in lap, and most of my DM tools scattered across the board. I personally don't mind when my players see what I roll, and I honestly have no qualms about telling them something hit or didn't hit when the die roll says it should or shouldn't have. It's mostly a personal thing, other DM's have different relationships with their players though, so that's not for everybody. Oh, and all the players fill up the two couches that are opposite where I keep my chair. It's hard to explain, maybe I'll have Apples diagram it in MS Paint with sweet illustrations for you guys...

Anyway, post your gaming pose in the comments by all means. I'd like to hear how other get comfy in their gaming.

-Lance of the Chill People

Mini-Review: Dungeon Runners

This post will be done in entirely in the style of what it feels like to play this free to play, pay for premium MMO.

Ok, made my character, didn't have a lot of options. Choice of Fighter, Ranger, or Mage, and all of the options were either satirical, sarcastic, or particularly dooming, but I choose fighter. I'm looking at a 3rd person view here, and it looks like someone nearby has a yellow eclamation point. I've seen that before. Ok, it appears to be a Noobsaurus. That's funny? I talk to the Noobasaur, Noobasaurus is HILARIOUS. I find myself reading every word of his tutorialistic quests, and can't read a single one without letting a full laugh escape the dungeon of my gullet.

So I guess I've got a quest from the Noobsaurus to try to get my support ticket answered. My number is 54,000,001?! Funny, but only because it's true. I guess I'll check out this guy with a quest. Turns out he's in line to get his support ticket answered, but he's willing to trade tickets if I do him a favor. This goes on, and eventually I trade with the guy with ticket number 2, and I get a quest that lets my leave the starting area.

MEANWHILE: I'm getting other quests from people, and townspeople are giving me rude and sarcastic remarks, while the hermit who lives near a bunch of people sounds exactly like Krusty the Klown. The quests almost all take place within a dungeon known as the Dew Valley Forest, and the gameplay is almost exactly like Diablo. They even have weapon and armor descriptions that involve 2-3 suffixes and prefixes that include lots of animal names and irrelevant adjectives.

I walk in with two of my friends, and we plow through waves of wolves and rat people to complete the first 3 levels of the dungeon. No problem. We take a trip back to town, and one of the guys gives us a quest to kill some rat boss at the bottom. We enter his lair, and hip hop music starts playing. Chalk it up to odd choice of exciting dungeon music and move on. I die. The death penatly is 100% negligible at this stage, and I simply teleport instantly (at no cost) to my teammates. Action resumes. We bust through the lair, fighting as hard as we can, and the final boss is a rat guy with a posse. The posse members carry a boombox and there are some huge subwoofers in the rats lair. I let out a couple laughs, and when I go to turn in the quest, the quest giver remarks that I'm the 109th person to inform him that Rattle is dead. He chooses to believe me though, and gives me the reward.

This goes on.

Long story short, download Dungeon Runners. Playing is free, so just give it a shot, and make sure to read what those quest givers are talking about!

The Denizens of Villehelm

This post is one of many that I will be doing to help structure my own setting, while giving examples and ideas to other DM's and world crafters.

The Denizens of Villehelm:

Innkeeper - Vinn Rin Talbin
Vinn keeps the Inn, that's his job, and it's his life. He is married to Celia Talbin, and has no children. He is of average height, and is a stocky but confident man. He always wears a particular vest that is light and composed of worn faded leather. He is often happy in his work, and is the unofficial town greeter when it comes to adventurers in the village.

Blacksmith - Letigit Stripe
Letigit is an Eladrin who was abandoned during a battle for contested lands between Dwarves and Eladrin. She was mistakenly taken from the Eladrin village by a pillaging Dwarf, and was raised by a kind family in the mountains. She is exceptionally tall and muscular for an Eladrin, and gruffly makes the towns weapons by day, while drinking a gallon of ale every other night.

Doctor - Truss Wilven
Average in appearance, and deliberate in action, Truss Wilven is the most well known and respected member of Villehelm. He has straight brown hair, light green eyes, and every bit about him is completely average and ordinary. Except for his pipe. You wouldn't notice him if he was the only person standing in the center of the town square, but as soon as you get to know the Doctor, you find out what he lacks in appearance, he makes up for in actions.

The MLA Ambassador - Gunvel Slantern
What's an MLA Ambassador? Well, you'll have to ask the neighborhood gnome, Gunvel Slantern. He knows all about the MLA, and will talk about if for hours on end. It is wise to not bring up such things around him, but if you need anything that you normally wouldn't find on the beaten path, this guy is your best bet. Certifiably Gnomish.

The Town Eldest - Arthur Jonathon Thomas
A former Paladin, and defender of all that is just, Arthur is the most bullheaded and stubborn man in the village. Which is why he's in politics. The council of elders consists of 4 members plus the eldest, who is not actually the oldest, but the most revered among the elders. Arthur is easily angered, and would not be caught dead offering his own solution to any sort of conflict or problem. He is deeply religious though, and is a devout worshipper of Pelor.

The Stable Boy - Tanigan Alabhad
From far off lands, it is unkown how Tanigan ever made it to the hills before the mountains. He has a darker skin tone than other humans in this area, and he is often ridiculed by others for it. He pays little notice, and does his work diligently, and happily. Tanigan has his own dreams of becoming an adventurer someday, and it is well known that his strongest desire lies in returning to whence he came.


Well, that's a good start for now. In future posts there may be some more detailed information about one of these characters, and there will certainly be more of these mini-bio's in the future.

DM'ing: Making a Success of a Derailed Session

This week we had one of our regulars missing from the campaign. Normally this can be easily accounted for, you make up some sort of reason why the character needs a sidequest, or even play them out through the battles and such. Sometimes though, you want to make sure that everybody is there for the session. My particular reason was that this was going to be the very first dungeon in 4E.

The players were all ready to make their way into a secret secret passageway beneath a tomb in the hills, and all of a sudden the Tiefling Warlock (our missing PC) dropped to the flour and started frothing at the mouth. At the same time, an NPC who happened to be outside keeping guard, ran in saying there were monsters approaching from the outside.

The DM'ing strategy here was to give some sort of plot twist that may have been related to the fire beetles recently battled that would cause the players to cease their descent. At the same time, I set up an encounter outside that would pose a threat and keep their interest.

What I had not planned on was that they sealed the passageway behind them with the Warlock inside. This was to defend the unconscious from the attacking monsters, but while they fought kobolds outside, I had a different scenario play out below ground.

The heroes fought a good battle against the kobolds, but had a surprise waiting when they went to retrieve their fallen friend. As they descended the ladder to the room with the Warlock, they heard munching and chewing sounds, followed by moaning. When one of them pulled out a fire beetle gland for light, they saw 2 zombies chewing on the Warlock, and two more coming out of the dungeon entrance, or exit, as they recently discovered.

When all of the battles were finished, the players decided they needed to get medical attention to the frothing Warlock. They started heading back to town, and one more random encounter on route to the village was enough to make a well rounded session. Unfortunately, with all of the combat, and such little mystique and intrigue, the Warlock will be behind in XP for next time. These kinds of situations can be remedied with solo side quests and things of that nature. And in this digital age there is also the option of running an RP only sidequest for the PC to have him earn some XP in ways other than quests and combat. An entire quest could be done through emails, or even online using Gametable and Ventrilo, depending on how deep you prefer to go as a DM.

One thing that is exceptionally important: If you take great care in designing your campaigns, don't let an absent player take advantage of you. The planning that you put into your game is at least worth the regular attendance of your players. If you let them come and go as they please, and this interferes with the continuity of the storyline and such, or hinders others gameplay experience, don't just give them the XP they missed unless it's really for a good reason. Conversely, if you improv every session, don't lecture players on attendance when the entire game is made up on the spot. Let your players know where your boundaries are, and be understanding of when it's appropriate to miss a session, and when it's not. Everyone has their reasons, and missing out on XP might not be a fair penalty for some of those reasons.

-Lance of the Hill People