Rifts - Duh, Duh, DUH

Let's hate on something different for just a minute.

It's 2am, and I'm having a 2nd glass of wine (after many beers today). O World Cup, you really haven't disappointed this year, what with the 7-1 smack down of Brazil (whom I dislike) by Germany (which is the team I always root for after the U.S. and Mexico are inevitably kicked from the tournament). The wife is out o town (with the baby) and D is asleep and I've just been surfing the blogs and whatnot for the last 90 minutes or so (Bikini Armor Battle Damage on tumblr is pretty funny...and depressing as well).

Rifts...you old son of a bitch.

I was thinking about it this evening, and I have probably spent more of my hard-earned money on Rifts than any other game system in my entire life, including Dungeons & Dragons. One thing about D&D, many of my TSR books were acquired as gifts when I was a youngster (from friends and family for birthdays and Christmas and whatnot), and while I did acquire the 3rd edition core and several of the "splat" (class) books, I really never invested heavily into its other stuff, and a lot of older edition stuff I've picked up was purchased used, or been indefinitely lent by folks.

Rifts on the other hand...well, that's stuff I tend to buy new. And then sell of in disgust. And then re-buy new. Because I have some sort of problem with Palladium games. Really...Palladium is like crack: a cheap high that doesn't last long and is O-So-Bad for you, with nothing really to redeem it. Hell, it ain't even all hard cover and glossy like White Wolf's stuff (I spent a ton of money on Vampire back in the 90's, but things were cheaper than and I never did the sell/re-buy thing)...there's no glamor in a softcover with B&W interior that curls up at the edges.

Palladium system is the ghetto RPG.

It's also the kind of shady drug you don't like to tell people about. I mean, you run into players often enough (Palladium's sold well enough to stay in business this long) but Palladium people always seem a little embarrassed to admit their enjoyment of the game. Fact of the matter is, I've found it hard to even PLAY Palladium games...all the Rifts "campaigns" I've started have invariably  ended after a single session, and I've never known ANY gamers who could really "stick with it"...at least not since high school (and I'm talking freshman/sophomore year high school).

[man...I sure did write a lot of Palladium-related posts back in 2009]

ANYway...

[*pause*]

Sorry...fell asleep. AND woke up late. What was I saying?

Here's the thing...this is what I was trying to get to last night/this morning...here's The Thing: I almost wish (almost!) that Palladium would fold and the game fall from the realms of print so that folks could start "cloning" the hell out of it. Cloning it without the threat of lawsuits.

Of course I do NOT wish the failure of a business on anyone, especially not Mr. Siembieda who has produced so much creative, inspirational work over the decades. This isn't really about hating on Palladium or its policies or its Head Honcho. But, man o man: if Rifts was available for cloning? To take the setting and run it with a system that's a bit more coherent? It would be so damn easy!

I mean, it already has a class/level structure (because Palladium was originally a D&D knock-off/heartbreaker...you're not going to convince me otherwise). It already has D20 combat (if overly complex combat) and hit points and whatnot. The ability scores and adjustments not terribly dissimilar from what you'd find in D&D (duh); tightening the game would be a piece of easy.

Of course, I'm sure a lot of independent publishers were licking their chops at this very prospect during the heyday of D20 and the OGL.

The obvious workaround is the usual one, I suppose...file the "serial numbers" off everything and publish it without using the trademarked IP or copyrighted material. Yeah, easy enough: that's pretty much what I did with Cry Dark Future after all (a cyberpunk-B/X mash-up heavily "reminiscent" of Shadowrun). It's what Bezio's X-Plorers appears to be (with its heavy resemblance of Star Frontiers...though minus the vrusk and dralasites).

But you know, one of the reasons why CDF hasn't actually found its way to publication yet is the sheer degree by which it resembles Shadowrun...and I want it to be a little more different. I mean, it IS different (*sheesh* I have some original ideas...). Yes, I was able to simply and elegantly (I feel) 'port the chargen system (circa 3rd edition SR) into a B/X chassis, but that carries with it the major flaw of the SR chargen system, i.e. the time taken to kit out characters with a high priority in resources (money)...not to mention the all-too-often accounting errors.

And besides: shouldn't a B/X style system really include halflings? Halflings with machine guns (or rocket launchers or bionic limbs) just sound awesome. And much as I like the orc and troll options, aren't those guys supposed to be "monsters?"

Maybe, maybe not. I just haven't had time (or rather taken the time) to work out an original setting for the game...it is nearly entirely derivative from its inspiration. I'm not certain I'm entirely on board with all that 5th World jazz.

And I don't want to make the same mistake again. There is a lot of dumb-dumb stuff in Rifts (or a Rifts-like game). Even adapting Mutant Future (itself almost derivative of its Gamma World source material) doesn't seem right, with its species-specific classes. Not that I object to race-as-class, mind you (and Rifts, too, has RCCs, i.e. "racial character classes")...but the fact that it divides adventurers into Men of Arms (various types), Men of Magic (various types), Scholars & Adventurers (various types), makes the thing just scream for a more traditional D&D type treatment.

Really like the air-powered spear guns.

A long, loooong while ago I was considering the idea of a post-apocalyptic world setting of the type found in the psychedelic PA art of the 60s and 70s. Things like Bakshi's Wizards and Heavy Metal Magazine. Something weird without being gonzo...where "mutant" is an epithet, not a source of X-Man-style superpowers. Dyson Logos did a great series on the (first) animated film, Heavy Metal, and how its disparate stories could be shuffled together to create a coherent and exciting setting for a Mutant Future/Gamma World campaign, and it provided a big push of inspiration...but at the time, I was more concerned with getting my B/X Companion book completed. The idea got dropped along with a lot of other "neat" ones.

[it doesn't help that I get side-tracked by cyborgs...and creating cool game mechanics for cyborgs...every time I get within spitting distance of their possible inclusion. Is my "borg love" a subconscious thing caused by my childhood fandom of the Six Million Dollar Man? No clue]

Now, the idea is back...but Palladium is still there, looming with its massive pile of Rifts "stuff" (ideas, concepts). Ready to pounce with a pack of lawyers at the very whiff of treading on their trademarked toes. Hogging all the post-apoc, mutant-magic mash-up potential.

Except, of course, the concept of such a setting isn't original to Siembieda and Rifts. Post-apocalyptic settings that include both can be found in sword & sorcery fiction. It even found a home on Saturday morning television with Thundarr the Barbarian, my absolute favorite cartoon of all-time (yes, yes, I was a big fan of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon back in the day). I know that Thundarr was adapted to at least one game system ("Under a Broken Moon," using the mechanics from Over the Edge), and maybe Savage Worlds, too. I suppose that a big difference between something like Thundarr and Rifts (besides the obvious) is that Thundarr and its ilk offers no explanation for the emergence of magic in its post-apocalyptic world, while Rifts goes out of its way to create an elaborate justification for the presence of the supernatural...even though the latter proceeds to go all wonky and inconsistent with its various different styles of magic (to make no mention of psychics).

What I probably need to do, instead of filing the serial numbers off Rifts or producing a different spin on Mutant Future, is create my own class/level game set in to post-apoc world. But, dammit, hasn't that already been done before? That's the whole reason why I wrote MDR (not yet available) using the DMI system...because I wanted a post-apoc system that had some heart and something different from the same old, same old fantasy adventurer tropes.

But, man do I love my fantasy adventure tropes.

Ugh. Round and round and round it goes. Maybe what I REALLY need to do, is make a list of all the things I HATE in existing post-apocalyptic games, and then write something that doesn't include those. Hmmm...

Yeah...that's the ticket. Sorry to all my readers that had to wade through the dross of my stream-o-consciousness rambling. I now have a mission.
: )

[congrats to Argentina, BTW...see you in the final]

Going with the Madness

Every now and then, its good to take a step back, inhale a nice big breath, and realize just how blessed we are to live in the age and world we do.

Well, folks reading this blog are probably blessed...I mean, you have access to the internet and the leisure time to find my little dot of light in the darkness.

Despite all the terrible things that continue to happen in the world, despite all the things we complain about...politics, religion, war, the latest version of Dungeons & Dragons...despite our being "down-sized" or divorced or passed over for promotion or that asshole that crashed your car and didn't have any insurance (or money) to reimburse you...despite all THAT, if you have time to check this blog, chances are you're probably doing OKAY. Which by today's standards is a shit-ton better than, say, 150 years ago (unless you happened to belong to some form of landed aristocracy). As a smarter man than me recently wrote (and I'm paraphrasing, not quoting), most of human history has been fraught with peril and atrocity on a scale that hasn't been experienced in our lifetimes. Genocide and dehumanization are not things that were invented by the Nazis the 20th century. It may be tougher to find the records for non-history buffs due to the lack of information dissemination in past centuries, but it's there. These days, the mere fact that we are aware of what tragedies go on in our world gives us the hope (at least that!) that maybe something can be done about it.

So, yeah, blessed I say. My kids (not even teenagers!) can be a real pain in the ass at times when I'd rather be writing or exercising or gaming. But they've made my life a thousand times better than it was. My wife...well, let's just say the list of complaints I could raise would fill its own blog...has made my life a thousand times better. My life has been crazy-nuts and has seemed like one big ball of discomfort more often than not...going all the way back to elementary school at least. But when I take the time to put it in perspective, I realize just how really, seriously fortunate I am.

To sum it up in rough fashion: the toilets in Mexico may not have seats, but at least there's indoor plumbing.

[except on the mountain road to Oaxaca...but let's not digress]

So living a pampered and privileged life of leisure (i.e. "unemployed with housing"), sometimes we (*I*) lose perspective and voice complaints and irritations that really matter very little in the scheme of things. Like why there's so little originality on stage and screen these days. Did they really need to turn A Room With A View into a musical? If the playwrights/composers are talented enough to make such a thing, aren't they talented enough to make something original?

But, as with my receding hairline, it's really not something to get worked up over. The tremendous outpouring of bile from Mexico over the way they went out of the World Cup (and to be clear, I am a fan and supporter of Mexican national team) only detracts from the greatness the team displayed after being on the outside looking in just a few months back. Like the U.S. getting beat by Belgium (and sure it hurt when Prince Harry netted that first goal)...yes, it was nice to dream about an underdog triumph, but we were clearly outclassed, and Gringos still got to watch some great soccer. There's nothing here to complain about...just go with the madness.

That's what I told my buddy, Josh, after we went to see the most recent film installment of The Hobbit. Despite the praise I wrote for the first film in the "trilogy," I really was disappointed with all the action-fighting scenes in the film.

[it was tedious in more than a couple places, and I found watching Bilbo get "stuck-in" with the giant orcs to be both ridiculous and truly counter to his character as told in the book]

But I still went to The Desolation of Smaug, even so (I'm a completist, if not a masochist). Afterward, walking out of the theater, Josh waited to hear my opinion, fully expecting me to lambast the thing (he knows me and knows I tend to have strong opinions and a love of vocalizing them loudly). Instead, I said I found it fairly enjoyable as a film. I didn't go into the film considering it The Hobbit...the book that I've read, re-read, and loved for many decades...and from the opening scenes I just decided to take the movie as it is and "go with the madness." Yeah, bring on the barrel-riding fight sequence! Bring on the hot, dwarf-on-elf romance! Let's friggin' do this thing!

It's not "why?" It's "why not!"

There's wasting time, and then there's wasting time. I could spend many precious minutes, hours, or days of my (truly blessed) existence complaining that they didn't do the book justice, and have wrecked it for generations to come...OR I could just ignore the book in relation to the film, content that there's still a fairly good adaptation (the Rankin-Bass cartoon) floating around the shelves of video stores, not to mention the book itself on the shelves of Barnes & Noble. And complaining about it would be a double waste, just by the way (because it would mean I wasted three hours of my life watching the thing as well).

Go with the madness. It doesn't mean you give up on your principles or your ideals or your interests, wants, and desires. But sometimes you've just got to roll with what life serves up. If you're still living, breathing, and reading (this blog or any of the multitudes like it) chances are that life's not serving you anything too terribly hard...even though you want to pull your hair out at times.

Having said that...

I'm still inclined to call BS on BS that I see, when I see it. And on this particular blog, that means there will be the occasional "BS posting" with regard to the game industry. Not always: "edition wars" are, for me, a thing of the past (really...remember when I buried my hatchet with Pathfinder?). No, no...people can play what they want. And really, despite a snicker or two in my post from a couple days ago, I wasn't bitching about the particular rules found in the Basic D&D PDF...I was complaining about the lack of a complete game in something that I feel is being passed off (and celebrated) as a complete game.

Well, the bitching is done and my complaint annunciated. Per requests from interested parties, I shall now take a look at what I find interesting/useful/cool in the Basic D&D PDF. I will, of course, have to  act on certain assumptions of gameplay, since I don't have a complete ruleset to review. Hmmm...but I'll do that in a new post, I think. This one's getting a bit long.
; )

Mordheim: City of the Damned

I've had an idea for a blog post that's been rolling around in my head for the last few hours, but after watching tonight's Portugal v. USA game, I'm really not up for it. It's funny...if your team ties the score in the last 30 seconds, you end up feeling elated that you didn't lose, but if the other team equalizes, you feel devastated that you didn't win.

Ah, well...so it means that Game 3 (versus Germany) matters. Make 'em work for it. Personally, I'd like to dream that this is our "payback year;" after all, Brazil won the World Cup on U.S. soil in 1994 (back when I didn't know there was such a thing as a "world cup").

[ugh...just thinking about that last goal really, really irritates me. Five minutes of stoppage time? And the guy scores at 4:36? Just...aaaaaRRGHH!]

Um, so ANYway...one thing I keep coming across in this blog is the fact that I write less than I actually mean to write. Which has (believe or not) been an issue even since the early days (pre-children) when I was writing scores of posts every month. I think of things to post, fail to post them, and then reference the very things I failed to post, thinking that everyone knows what the hell I'm talking about. Call it a pitfall of the diarrhetic mind.

Case in point: I've written extensively about the Mordheim game before, right? No...wrong. Not here, anyway. I did write a review of the (now out-of-print) GW skirmish game on Board Game Geek back in June of 2006 (about three years before the advent of this blog). Because, I'm feeling a little lethargic (i.e. lazy) at the moment, and because I want to get up earlier tomorrow, I'm going to copy and paste the thing here...my thoughts on it remain largely the same, strange enough. It also helps set up the aforementioned, soon-to-be-baked (I hope) topic on which I've been meditating.

*ahem* Here it is:

MORDHEIM: CITY OF THE DAMNED

Sorry...no longer available for sale.

Real Fantasy Wargaming

Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax (creators of the Dungeons & Dragons game) came from a wargaming background. Their creation of the RPG was an attempt to recreate stories like The Lord of the Rings into a workable game (killing monsters gets you treasure, getting treasure gives you (experience) points, gaining points rewards you with more effectiveness, allowing you to kill bigger monsters, etc). Very simplistic and very open in scope.

Mordheim takes these concepts to the next level of game play. First off, it is focused setting-wise. All the action takes place in the ruined city of Mordheim, a surface level dungeon filled with both treasure (precious “wyrdstone”) and opponents (mutated denizens and competing treasure hunters). You play a “warband:” a group of like-minded fellows looking for brawls and booty. These are represented both abstractly (on a roster that keeps track of each band members abilities) and with customizable miniatures that represent your warband on the game board.

The “board” is a number of small 3-D structures representing ruined buildings that can be configured in whatever fashion the players choose…it changes with every game, giving you a constantly evolving game board. You can also create your own models for use in the game to update your play area.

Gameplay is streamlined and tactical. Players alternate turns during each battle and actions are resolved by rolling dice. Careful positioning, movement, and use of special abilities/equipment (different types of warband have different gear and bennies) is more important than random chance. Cautious use of terrain, cover, and ranged weapons can be effective, but fortune often favors the bold, and hand-to-hand combat is resolved both quickly and decisively.

Once a battle is concluded, players check to see what treasure their warband found, and update their warband roster with new abilities gained from the experience of the battle. They can also buy new and additional equipment or hire new members for their warband.

The game is quick enough that you can play 2 to 3 battles in an evening.

A Word About Miniatures

A lot of wargaming hobbies require the purchase of scores of miniatures to field a decent playable army, often at exorbitant (imported) prices. Mordheim can be played with pretty much any fantasy miniatures of the 20mm range and as each type of warband has a maximum number of pieces allowed (usually 12-15) your cost is very small, especially if you only play with one favorite warband. I decided I wanted to kit out a dwarven warband (modeled after the dwarves of The Hobbit) and simply bought a box of dwarf footmen from the Warhammer Fantasy Battle line…no blister packs, no ordering, and highly customizable. You can spend your extra money on the beer and pretzels you’ll be consuming on game night.

The original game (no longer sold) came with pieces for two warbands; one human, one skaven (rat humanoids). Sadly, the boxed set is no longer printed as the quality and number of minis alone was worth the price of the game.

Is It Fun?

Absolutely. There’s no angsty role-playing involved in this game. Just simply laying the smack-down on your opponent. Gains you what treasure should: the money to purchase better arms and armor. Becoming a veteran of many battles makes your warband member a hardened killing machine.

The game is easily played as a one-off single session, no attachments battle. Different missions provide different goals/scenarios for victory, and a changing variety of opponents and terrain means the re-play factor of the game is high.

Using the campaign rules lends continuity to the game and gives a player a sense of accomplishment outside of simply “Did I win or lose the battle?” Sure you may have lost one night, but your warband gained something from the experience (money, training), and the next game night it will be your turn for revenge.

There are even supplemental scenarios for multiple warbands and semi-cooperative play (there’s one in which part of the mission involves slaying a dragon).

Comparison With Other Games

Many have compared it to Necromunda (another game by the same company) and have complained that it is not as detailed, that it doesn’t allow “cover fire” for example. However, this game is set in an earlier renaissance period, and the weapons and tactics for using a bow and black powder musket are not the same as those by, say, the U.S. military in CQC or house-to-house battle.

The movement and combat is similar in many ways to other Games Workshop miniatures games (like Warhammer 40K), but each member of the warband is an individual, unencumbered by squad cohesion rules…basically allowed to roam throughout the battlefield on their own recognizance. Again the game emphasizes, tactics; playing a couple times with the same warband will give you an idea on when to huddle for protection, when to take cover, and when to charge. Also members of a warband are much more customizable ability-wise and equipment-wise than your average wargame platoon.

The learning curve on Mordheim is pretty slight for folks with previous Games Workshop wargame experience. For those that haven’t played GW games (or that only know Blood Bowl), the curve is moderate. You can learn the rules in an evening, but it takes a lot of time to master.

Should I Get This Game?

If you’ve read this far, I’d strongly suggest getting this game. If you like the fighting/challenge aspect of certain fantasy role-playing games without the “role-playing,” then this game is for you. If you like the gritty, dark ages setting of the Warhammer universe you’ll probably like this game. If anything about “fantasy skirmish action” rings your bell, you should get this game.

If you really enjoy painting and customizing individual miniatures (individual stars or heroes) to the point where you give certain pieces names, or personalities, or “talk” to them…in other words, if you are a freak like me, then this is definitely the game for you. Your minis in this game are not faceless, nameless troops…heck, they’re not even the linemen (and “lineorks”) of Blood Bowl. A warband has personality…much like a pirate crew. They can be themed creations, or simple reflections of their owner (you). However, you won’t need to purchase 50+ miniatures to get a “themed” army like some games.

Softcover; killer interior art.

Oh, and yes the game is out of print now, but it is available for free as a download (see the link below). You can’t beat that price for this type of entertainment. Download a copy, kit-bash some structures from cardboard and whatnot, and break out those old Ral Partha miniatures!

[***EDIT: as of 2014, Games Workshop's "Specialist Games" site is dead; however, you can still find PDFs of the Mordheim rulebook with a quick internet search. Note that not all of these are the original, official rules released with the game***]

Limited Setting (last note)

Of course, the one disadvantage of a focused game like Mordheim is the limited setting…it all takes place in one ruined city. However there is another excellent setting available for download on the internet: Lustria: Cities of Gold. Lustria (in the Warhammer universe) is the name of the South/Central American continent. Like pre-Hispanic America, it is filled with rain forests, ancient pyramids, and deadly creatures. Unlike the real world, the main inhabitants are savage lizard folk living in the jungle. If you want to explore the new world and bring back gold in a fantasy setting, check out the Lustria sites. And please-oh-please post some pictures of any step-pyramid set pieces you design!

[***EDIT: Lustria: Cities of Gold can also be found rather easily...there's even a quick link in yesterday's post***]

A Different Type of Paradise

For fans of World Cup soccer, there's very little better than being unemployed in Paraguay with a great television set during the (not scorching hot) winter months. Even with two small children, it's not too bad as the wife's still on maternity leave, and she's a huge soccer nut (fast fun fact: I'd never heard of this "World Cup" thang prior to meeting her in 1998...and I played soccer for 8 or 9 years myself).

Great, great action so far, and quite a bit more exciting than I remember in past years (excessive scoring, great goal-tending, come-from-behind victories, more hustle, less "flopping"). Maybe I'm just getting a better appreciation for the game...who knows? Anyway, that accounts for about half of my non-posting distraction

[fast fun fact: when your lightbulbs explode in Paraguay, sometimes it's the electrical cables that need fixing!]

...but what accounts for the rest of you bloggers? Presumably, most of you are Americans who ain't much into "futbol" and have to work during the day anyway. Is it just the summertime thing starting up?

Well, more from me later (really!). Gotta' go pick up the boy from daycare, then I've got some shopping to do (still setting up down here), then I can  relax with a little England v. Uruguay action.

Later!
8 )

Damn Netherlands...Again?

Congrats to Spain for winning the 2010 World Cup...not the team I was rooting for but I have no great love for the Clockwork Orange (would've been nice to finally get that monkey off their back, but I'm sure a Dutch win would have triggered mixed emotions in South Africa).

Four years till the next World Cup. Thank God...I need a break from the television set!!!

: )

A Quick Word from "Beaglehaus"

Overheard during the German stomping of Argentina today:

"Oh, I love the Germans...they are so good, not crying and whining like other soccer teams. If only they hadn't had the damn Nazis..."

That's my wife, rooting for Deutschland. She did not read my blog this week.

I asked if she thought the Germans were ever going to live down the Nazis. "Well, they were so bad and affected so many people. No one else has caused destruction like that."

Um...what about the Spanish in South and Mesoamerica? (my wife is Mexican)

"Oh, yeah, that's true. But that was covered up with religion, so it seems more justifiable."

Ugh.

Well, we'll see how the Krauts fare in the rest of the tournament. As long as they keep playing humble, team soccer (with lightning fast counters), I'll be pulling for 'em to win it all.

: )

Are Germans Really That Scary?

I am, of course, NOT speaking about their soccer team, which is scary-awesome.

[yes, despite the USA and Mexico losing over the weekend, I am still watching World Cup action...I'm rooting for Die Mannschaft at this point, or La Furia Roja should they win out in the semi-finals]

No, I am talking about this tendency in RPGs to cast the Germans as the heavies/antagonists in their games. I mean really, are these makers of fine automobiles the epitome of a soulless scourge of evil?

I guess it's the whole Nazi thing...man, those guys are never going to live that down. I mean it's not like the English and Spanish and Portuguese and French and Dutch and Italians didn't wipe out whole civilizations all around the world during their Imperialistic/Colonial periods, right? You know...in Africa and Asia and the Americas and the Caribbean and Australia and the Pacific Islands, etc.?

But noooo, "Nazis" are the big bogey man, since they had the gall to bomb developed western nations. Well, and they did systematically murder millions of people (as opposed to the Russian pogroms only semi-systematically murdering hundreds of thousands or the French Revolution killing tens of thousands). However, as those murdered (for the most part) were German citizens, one would think the main people to fear the Germans would be, well, Germans.

Okay, sure...Nazis did awful, awful things. There's really no getting around it. But do Germans ALWAYS have to be associated with Nazis?

Recently, I've been sniffing around the Tannhauser board game, because it has all the kind of crazy ambience I totally dig and riff off for inspiration. Tannhauser is an alternate history type action game that throws steampunk and demons into a World War setting. Basically, you are acting as heroic Allied forces blowing demon Nazi soldiers all to hell with big guns...and trying not to get sucker punched with sorcery or a stick grenade.

Except that the alternate history is that the Tannhauser war is an extended WWI...and there weren't any "evil Nazis" in WWI.

At least as far as I know...I'm not a World War historian. I just like the ideas of trench warfare and barbed wire and gas mask goggles and bayonets and sharpened spades...you know, all that Charge of the Light Brigade stuff? Or maybe, I should say All Quite on the Western Front stuff...yeah, the Germans were at odds with MY country back in the day (that's America) but does that mean they were "Evil?" Or were they just on "the wrong side?"

I suppose I'll have to do some research on the subject. Right now, I'm pretty good with Nazis = Evil. But I'm not so sure I want to cast Germans as the Big Bad all the rest of the time.

And why am I bringing this all up? Well, maybe 'cause I'm working on a couple-four new games right now. Yes, the television watching has been quite a work-out (FINALLY finished Battlestar Galactica last night and the World Cup starts up again tomorrow), but there is some hope over that something might be coming out of La Casa Blackrazor (a.k.a. Beaglehaus) sometime in the very near future. I know I've been developing this TERRIBLE habit of over-promising and under-delivering, but I really REALLY plan on giving y'all some good stuff in the very near future. Hopefully, within the next 24-48 hours even...we'll see.

All right, gotta' run...

Relentless Gaming

Wow…I don’t know how anyone can concentrate with the World Cup on. I thought I’d take the day off (from watching it), but as I type this Slovakia is up 1-0 over Italy and the reigning World Cup champs are in danger of going home early (which is fine by me, as those dive-taking cry-babies are my LEAST favorite team in the tournament). Mama Mia!

Yesterday, I did NOT take the day off, instead going into work late AFTER watching the U.S. game. If anyone’s wondering why I wasn’t blogging yesterday, I was following the Germany-Ghana match anxiously through my entire lunch break, and then spent the evening watching high-lights from the games I missed and re-watching the USA match with my wife and brother. Yes, it was that good. My wife cried at the end of the game…both times!

Funny thing is, most Americans probably missed out on what may have been the coolest international sports moment for the U.S. since the American hockey team’s upset of Russia in the Olympics. I know the sports radio station I listen to spent most of the day talking about baseball. Crazy.

Well, at least the rest of the world was watching.

One way in which I’m driving my wife crazy about the game is the way I keep accidentally referring the players as “characters.” I mean, sure, some of them are “characters” in the funny sense of the term, and a lot of these players have plenty of “depth of character.” But the engrossing thing about this tournament is that it IS like a drama…like a TV mini-series…and the events that are un-folding episodically, game-by-game, ARE telling a story.

Kind of like an RPG campaign.

I can’t equate every player with a particular gaming archetype (they’d mostly be “fighters” though there’s certainly a magician or two sprinkled throughout the sides), but in watching their faces and performances over several games, you start to develop an idea of their personality, their personal style…it’s like watching gamers develop PCs over a series of adventures, though of course the soccer players are REAL people who are only now being REVEALED in the media spotlight, rather than imagined figments being invented around the table.

Still (and again, similar to gaming), it’s hard not to fall in love with the “characters” on the team…especially as you get to know them through each agonizing 90 minute match.

Clint Dempsey is the fearless badass striker for the U.S. team…during the National Anthem, he was literally licking his chops, presumably in the anticipation of the game. By the end of the match he was battered and bloodied, but the steel was still in his eyes. Personally, I think he’s got the toughest sounding name I’ve ever heard.

Then there’s the down-right elfin-looking Landon Donovan, team hero. He has practically willed his team into the Round of 16 through sheer determination and magical goal-scoring. The guy is frigging Legolas, all right? I mean, the Peter Jackson version (though his hairline is a bit more like Elrond). Plus, he has another cool sounding name.

There’s our slightly hypochondriac goal Tim Howard, who has the “charming” quirk of letting the opposing teams score on us a couple times before he warms up. Ha! No, he’s not that bad (though we’ve had better keepers in past tournaments), and he’s been playing pretty good for a guy with BUSTED RIBS. And his distribution from goal is fantastic.

Then we’ve got the 22-year old sparkplug Bradley, our starting center midfielder. The kid doesn’t have an off-switch and hustles tirelessly. As well he should since he’s the coach’s son (you can tell, ‘cause they both shave their heads). Seriously I haven’t seen that kind of nepotism since I was a kid playing soccer…but the guy’s good, one of the best on the team, and scorer of the game-tying goal in the Slovenia match.

I could say something about most of the players on the team: the promising young striker, Altire, that uses his size and speed to good advantage but still makes some rookie mistakes…the aging speedster DeMarcus Beasley, who I was afraid had been cut from the national squad (he figured prominently in past World Cup games), until he got into the game as a substitute…the tough-as-nails defender DeMerit who is the heart of the U.S. defense, like a brick-shithouse on an intercept course with opposing strikers…defender Bocanegra, our team captain whose amazing footwork and poise has also been a fixture of past World Cups…Buddle, the L.A. Galaxy’s top goal scorer but a rank novice in international play, etc., etc.

Now dear readers, you may say, “JB you are just an obsessive-compulsive Scorpio. We already know you are totally into your B/X D&D and your NFL football and your astrology…the fact that you know a bunch of soccer players, too, isn’t all that surprising…it’s just another personal obsession of yours that you are only now revealing.”

Wrong-O, pal. I watched the last World Cup in 2006 and 2002 and that’s why I remember Donovan (who could forget that hairline?) and Beasley and Bocanegra (another cool name). All these other names and faces? That’s not the Wikipedia…that’s just watching the games. The Americans ARE colorful personalities, full of fire and spirit. Maybe that’s just the coverage/editing of ESPN, but I’ve never been as sucked into the national team as I am this year. Hell, I don’t watch international soccer the rest of the years between World Cups (heck, I only made it to a couple-three Sounders games last year, and I haven’t PLAYED soccer in more than 20 years).

And Slovakia has just taken a 2-0 lead. Oh My God…I never thought they could actually do it, but they’re on the brink of sending the Italians home. Did I mention I can’t stand the Italians? Of course, Czechoslovakia had a history of being pretty good back in the days before it was broken up into separate countries…

[that last bit IS from the Wikipedia by the way]

The World Cup is the biggest “game” on the planet, folks, and the excitement surrounding it is contagious, the drama utterly addicting (I could write several blog posts on the French team alone…let alone Mexico, Argentina, Germany, South Africa...all of whom have great stories). I AM still working, but it’s tough to juggle writing, blogging, job-work, family, AND relentless television watching.

However, in honor of Donovan’s last game-winning goal, I am setting a “righteous goal” of my own…to put out some fun RPG-related stuff for the blog this weekend. Stay tuned…and go USA!

Slick as S**t through a Goose

SO…my apologies to, well, everyone. The last week and more has been spent obsessing over World Cup action. Many of my American and Canadian readers aren’t going to understand this, I realize…heck, ten years ago I didn’t get it either. But like sushi or steak tartar…or really ANY spectator sport…soccer is an acquired taste, and a frigging addictive one once you do “get” it.

Funny thing is, the U.S. used to be big into soccer back before the sport went professional. Hell, we went to the semi-finals in the first World Cup (1930) and were retroactively awarded 3rd place in the event by FIFA (at the time, there was no 3rd place award). That places the U.S. ahead of Mexico (whom we have a good history of beating in the tournament) for World Cup achievement, despite the latter country’s long history of passion for the sport.

In fact, it appears the only reason soccer died off in the U.S. is the rise of professional “American” football during the 30s and 40s (see the film Leatherheads for a fairly decent look at the early years of the NFL) at a time when FIFA was on hiatus due to World War II. If not for pro-football (that’s American football, Brits) and Nazi Germany, the U.S. might have become the same kind of powerhouse that Brazil is today. Don’t laugh…we won quite a few Olympic medals in the sport prior to the founding of FIFA. And the U.S. loves to throw money at their world domination of, well, everything.

ANYway…let’s talk about games other than soccer for a minute. I have in front of me, four glossy, soft-covers. They are:

- Deathwatch: Final Sanction
- Under the Rose for Exalted (2nd edition)
- Legacy of Disaster for Legend of Five Rings (4th edition)
- Athlon Sports Pro-Football Magazine

The first three are all things I picked up at Gary’s on Free RPG Day last Saturday. The last is a magazine devoted to scouting the NFL (mostly for the purpose of playing “fantasy football”). I’ve been playing fantasy football for about three years now…I’ve been buying Athlon Sports for more than ten. I find it gives me a nice overview of the teams for the upcoming season, plus compared to other “pre-season” magazines, it’s made with quality paper, has good photography, and excellent lay-out.

Of course, the predictions aren’t always the greatest. For example, this year they’re picking the 49ers to win the NFC West…something they’ve been picking three years in a row. I have to think the publishers are either from San Francisco or just downright retarded; I mean come on! Likewise, they’re picking Seattle to come in #2 which means the defending NFC champ (Arizona) isn’t even going to the play-offs? Bizarre.

But actually, this isn’t really a new trend for Athalon Sports. I can trace the beginning of their wonkiness back to the season following the Seattle's Super Bowl XL loss in which, despite ranking all of the ‘Hawks stats as better than the rest, they predicted we would miss the play-offs due to the “Super Bowl Loser Curse.” Ridiculous. Instead, the Seahawks ended up one game out of the Super Bowl, only losing to the eventual NFC representative Bears in Chicago in over-time.

[meanwhile, it was the “defending Champ” Steelers that completely missed the play-offs in the 2006 season…go figure]

So accuracy of predictions is NOT Athlon Sports’ strong suit. And yet, of the four documents in front of me, I find their publication to be the most accurate, most interesting, and most practically useful.

Let’s start with the one I WANTED to like: Deathwatch.

Of all the various game settings that have been created over the years…for ANY game…the Warhammer 40,000 universe is one of my favorites. Especially back in the days prior to 3rd edition 40K (with the introduction of the Tau and Necrons…jeez, undead in space?), it was sci-fi as dark, grim, and gritty as the Warhammer FRP world. O sure…you can use "magic" (psionics), but you might well be possessed by a bloodthirsty demon! And legions of psychotically loyal killer space marines will hunt you down for being an abomination in the Emperor’s sight…

Deathwatch is the 3rd “40K RPG” Games Workshop appears to be releasing, and this one is the somewhat-long-awaited “space marine RPG” (the first two were for Inquisitors and Rogue Traders, special character types dating all the way back to the original 1st edition of the wargame rules). Of course, space marines were never “special characters” like Rogue Traders and Inquisitors in the original wargame…they were grunts. So now we have an RPG where you play a badass grunt.

Hmm.

Okay, aside from the glaring discrepancies in the rules (I’ll give an example or two in a moment), let’s talk about theme/premise. Um…what? The party is a group of hand-picked marines from a variety of space marine chapters put into a special squad and now gunning for the Emperor’s enemies on “special missions?”

Just because you elaborate on the stat-line of your average 40K marine profile does NOT mean you have an RPG. Just because you add a handful of skills doesn’t make it an RPG. The fact that space marines are default “trouble-shooters” (in the literal sense…they are trained to resolve situations with combat), ultimately sets the game up to be all about blasting people…and there’s no elaborate stat-line needed for such a game.

Check out 3:16: Carnage Amongst the Stars…you can run a Deathwatch game simpler and with more role-playing and pathos using ITS rules than the stuff in this 30 page booklet. Really, honestly.

Of course, 3:16 doesn’t have nifty weapons with “special abilities” (well, abilities other than rolling bunches of dice and blowing xenomorphs all to hell). Take the power fist, for example. It has two abilities that are unique to it (i.e. no other listed weapon has either of these attributes):

- Power field: a field of power wreaths weapons with this quality, increasing their damage and penetration. Such modifiers are already included in the weapon’s profile. When the wielder successfully uses this weapon to parry an attack made with a weapon that lacks this quality, he has a 75% chance of destroying his attacker’s weapon.
- Unwieldy: huge and often top-heavy, Unwieldy weapons are too awkward to be used defensively. Unwieldy weapons cannot be used to parry.

Emphasis added to point out the retarded-ness.

Exalted barely deserves mention…at least, mention bereft of derision. I’ve never played/owned/read ANY edition of Exalted, despite owning half-a-dozen-plus other White Wolf games. I was interested to see what the game was all about.

Apparently it is about elaborate fiction masquerading as an RPG. What the F?

If I wanted to play a game that looked something like Avatar the Last Air Bender, I would probably go with Big Eyes, Small Mouth. This game is just…so…much…dross…ugh! I can’t even wade through all of it just to get to the super-elaborate stat block pre-gens at the end. Apparently, this isn’t an actual Quick-Start offering from White Wolf, but an adventure module for Exalted; you have to own the game to play the adventure (there are no rules printed un Under the Rose). After browsing the adventure, I have no desire to own the game. The over-the-top super-enriched fantasy world is…well, it’s a setting. One that probably deserves an elaborate series of novels or short stories. But NOT one I want to have to study (like taking courses in ancient Mesopotamia) in order to understand how the game is to be played.

There is a huge disconnect going on here, in my opinion. RPGs either provide rules for “adventure creation” (for example: D&D) or provide rules for playing a particular established IP (for example: Star Wars, Firefly). White Wolf is trying to give you the game AND the IP and it’s super-elaborate-as-hell…ugh.

No. No. No. I don’t want it. You can’t make me learn about it. Crap on that.

Finally we have Legend of Five Rings, 4th edition. Like Exalted, L5R is a game I’ve never owned, read, or played. Like Exalted I have heard of it…though I had no idea it was in its 4th edition (they still haven’t gotten all the bugs out yet?! Sheesh!). I know there is a substantial portion of the RPG community that LOVES the whole “samurai-thang.” Personally, I find samurai to have the same level of “interesting role-play potential” as space marines (i.e. not much). Yes, it would be cool to ride around and duel folks with your katana over honor…however, it would seem (to me) to get OLD after awhile. Like that Highlander TV show…how many times do they repeat the formula that ends with someone’s eventual decapitation before you stop watching?

And UN-like Ron Edwards (surprise! My game design hero!) I am NOT interested in exploring the human drama that comes with conflicts of honor mixed with soap opera family conflicts. Sorry, just not all that interested in what RPGs can teach us about the human condition (at least, not when it comes to blade-slinging ronin).

Actually, I found the L5R booklet better than expected. It had good art in a Magic: the Gathering kind of way. The rules provided appeared short and succinct, variations of a couple different games that are escaping my memory right now (perhaps shades of Deadlands). The pre-gen characters had fairly short “stat blocks” than what I anticipated (certainly in comparison to Exalted!). All in all, I was intrigued enough to do a little further research on-line regarding Legend of the Five Rings.

Having said all THAT, I have to say that in the end, I find the game to be kind of dumb. Why not just call it Samurai & Shugenja? After all, that’s all it seems to consist of. Do you want to play a Warrior or a Wizard? A space marine or a psyker? And most any dude between the age of 17 and 30 is going to be laughed out of the table if he belongs to “Clan Unicorn.”

Or perhaps I’m being unnecessarily hard on this game…or all these games for that matter. I admit I’ve been feeling a bit crusty lately, as I’d rather be watching World Cup games than working (and being forced to nip out to the bar across the street to catch scores on the sly).

But really, is THIS what RPGs are coming down to? I mean is this WHERE THE MONEY IS in the RPG industry?

I mean, just look at the common thread. Your "party" is basically a group of ass-kickers (samurai, space marines, “exalted” heroes) with various tweaks to distinguish you from one another (clan, chapter, caste) brought together at the behest of some higher power (daimyo, Emperor, whatever-the-hell-Exalted-has) to perform missions that require ass-kicking.

Lame. I mean really, just…lame.

One commentator either here or on another blog I was reading wrote something about how “if it’s an RPG it should include combat.” Huh? Because playing an RPG is all about playing an ass-kicker of some sort? That’s as stupid as exercising in the gym for the sake of “getting big muscles.” What exactly is it all in aid of?

Again, let me reiterate that, cool and interesting as it might be, I do NOT generally play RPGs for catharsis or therapy or to address the drama of the human condition. But I DO play them and enjoy them for something else…stretching the imagination. And there’s nothing fantastically imaginative about ass-kicking with dice. Go play a fucking video game, chumps.

I mean, really. Have you seen what’s available on the console these days? Plenty of cool games that allow you to adventure through a linear environment, ass-kicking in many graphically enhanced ways, with guns and without, acting in concert with other players or alone. What the hell do you need an RPG for if that’s all you want to do?

All right, I’ve wandered a bit off topic. Just to bring it back for the moment, understand that I hold table-top RPGs in hella’ high esteem, and if the three games I picked up at Free RPG Day are an indication of the general mold of commercial games being issued these days…well, that’s a bloody shame, that's what it is. But, whatever…this blog post is not any kind of attempt at resolving the issue, it’s just me venting my opinions about the nicely printed free booklets I picked up on Saturday.

Well, that and me taking a break from all this soccer watching.
; )

Outright Robbery

Starting with the U.S. 3-2 win over Slovenia being nullified by extremely poor officiating. English fans might feel it fair after the "cheap goal" that allowed the U.S. to tie their national team, but that's on England's goal keeper (an "own" error) not a gift from the referee. Of course, Seattle sports fans like myself are no strangers to "robbery" - the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL, the "theft" of the Sonics by Oklahoma City - but it's pretty irritating to see it take place on the international stage...especially when the sport is just starting to get legs under it in our historically disinterested country. After all, why am I bothering to get up so damn early anyway?

Between matches, I was down at Gary's Games shooting the breeze with Tim regarding game design, local companies, and the price of shrink wrap. And checking out the new inventory, of course.

[by the way...Big Note: don't forget that tomorrow, Saturday, is Free RPG Day around the country...be sure to rob your local game shop of the complimentary swag that's available!]

While at the shop, a youngish man (okay, probably my age, give-or-take a couple years) game into the store with his 3-4 year old son to buy some model planes. While there he asked Tim about the latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons, specifically regarding the new Basic edition that he heard about on the news, and wondering if it was something a dude in his 30s-40s could get back into after a multi-decade hiatus. He also mentioned he'd heard it was a little more "linear" in nature with set-piece encounters and a scripted story. The guy stated...really!...that he couldn't imagine how that could be "fun" when someone was used to having more leeway in creating their own settings and open-ended adventuring.

Well, at that point I couldn't sit quietly on the sidelines and keep my damn mouth shut...I told the guy about Labyrinth Lord.

Now is this robbery? I admit that, even at the time, I was feeling a little bad about giving the guy information on a game that can be downloaded for free, certainly purchased for cheaper than the core books of 4th edition, potentially depriving my favorite local game shop of a ton of cold hard ca$h. Was I thieving money from the till?

After consideration, I don't think so. For me, B/X D&D (the precursor to the Labyrinth Lord retro-clone) was a "gateway drug," allowing me to get into the RPG hobby and leading me to hundreds of dollars in game purposes over the years. For a returning "old dude" player, wanting to introduce gaming to his young children, I would think a game with an easier learning curve would be a good thing.

Likewise, I think that selling this same individual a stack of huge ass "core books" of arcane rules and phraseology is a surefire way of getting him to throw up his hands and say, WTF? Probably alienating him and/or his kids for good.

Which would suck, of course.

On the other side, getting the guy to purchase (or download) a copy of LL will mean, introducing newbies (and oldbies) back into role-playing...not to mention, adventure purchases, dice purchases, used book/game purchases (recycle and re-use, baby), etc.

At least that's the way I see it. As a guy with a family, a full-time job, and a house that needs upkeep, in addition to a couple random hobbies (like trying to self-publish my own RPGs), I know I don't have the time or patience for WotC/Hasbro's latest greatest. Even if I didn't already object to their stuff on general principle.

So I guess, the only folks I am intentionally robbing by speaking my opinion is the WotC folks. I'm pretty sure Gary's makes most of their money on things other than RPGs (like cards, dice, Bridge products, model kits, etc.). However, I'd certainly encourage ANYone (even a crappy World Cup ref) to give role-playing a try. I just wouldn't encourage them to give it a try with Wizards/Hasbro.

; )

All right...back to Algeria and England. Come on, tie!

Happy Birthday Doctor!

And a belated Happy Flag Day (the day before Kris's birthday, every year).

Man...I have been worthless the last few days. Too much sunshine (and walks with the beagles), too much World Cup (groups, pools, TV watching, and Facebook smack-talking), too much work at the office (picking up slack for folks on vacation), too much canning of strawberry jam (all day Sunday), too many doctor appointments...and not nearly enough sleep.

Ugh. Sleep...how I miss you!

Even right now, I can barely concentrate on what I'm writing...'course I'm just stealing a few minutes away from work at a local bar so I can watch Brazil versus North Korea. The People's Republic is hanging tough right now with a 0-0 tie near the end of the first half.

All right, I'll check in later tonight (I hope). I do have (non-soccer) news of sorts.

: )

Congrats...

...to both South Africa and Mexico on a great opening game for the World Cup. It would have been sad to see either team lose (especially after that blown call by the Uzbekistan ref). I can take a tie.

All right; two hours till the next game (France and Uruguay)...time to get some blogging in. For anyone who's curious, I've been up since 5:20am. No, I don't sleep much.

More World Cup Madness

I suppose the blogs have all been quiet because most folks are (like myself) gearing up for the World Cup opening tomorrow. Right? Right?!

I've spent pretty much the entire evening compiling the picks for our "fantasy World Cup tourney" and creating a Yahoo groups page. Me...I'm not very good with computers. I can type, and I can read, and for the most part that the extent of my ability which allows me to blog. D&D nerd, yes. Computer nerd, no.

Which is kind of funny when you think about it (or funny to me at least), when one considers how long the one has been associated with the other. I can recall watching that film Cloak & Dagger (circa 1984) with that kid, Elliot, from E.T. the Extraterrestrial. He played some kind of RPG type spy game with some over-weight uncle-type guy (who eventually gets shot between the eyes! What a way for an Old School DM to go!)...who, while an obvious D&D nerd-type is also heavily into computers, computer games, computer hacking...whatever.

I'm surprised War Games didn't have some sort of RPG reference imbedded in it. Maybe Twilight 2000 by association.

Anyway, it is officially 1am, I don't have to work tomorrow, and apparently no one else does either, as a whole passel of folks are coming by the house at 6:30am to watch Mexico versus South Africa. And eat breakfast, of course (I hope someone's bringing Bloody Marys...the red, green, and vodka will go well with the Mexican uniform). We're all rooting for my wife's home country, but I have a feeling South Africa is going to go pretty far in the tournament. Of course, I did just watch Invictus last weekend, which may be coloring my perception.

There will be more RPG stuff this weekend, I promise...my cover artist is trying to get things sewed up by the end of the weekend. However, the posting might be a bit sporadic depending on the excitement of the games (we've got eight or so to watch, I think).

All right...time for a few zzzzzzz's...

Other Fun & Games

No, I’m not talking about that Kings of Camelot game on Facebook, though it IS highly addictive constructing one’s mini-feudal empire (who says D&D’s endgame doesn’t sound fun? Managing one’s kingdom can be fun!)…thanks (kind of) to my brother, AB, for getting me hooked on THAT.

Actually, I was talking about the upcoming 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which promises to occupy a ton of my time…now that I’ve finished watching the entire first two seasons of True Blood and completed the Lost saga, soccer is going to be the only thing going on my television between June 11th and July 11th.

I know I’ve blogged before that American football is my armchair sport of choice. But World Cup soccer is a close second and NOT because I played soccer for 8 or 9 years in school. Like most non-transplant Americans, my early disdain and disregard for “the world’s game” was acquired over many years of apathy. I credit my Mexican (born and raised) wife with opening my eyes to the larger arena of international sport competition.

Anyway, for me the tournament holds more interest than the Olympics (well, at least the Winter games…). And while I think it’s crazy that anyone would travel halfway round the world to see one or five soccer matches, I will still be waking up early-early (if not in the middle of the night) to catch as many of the games as I can, just as I did in 2004 (when the Cup was played in Asia).

Expect the blogging to suffer somewhat.

As for whom I will be cheering…well, even though the American fans are incredibly annoying (to me), I like the PLAYERS on the USA team and hope they go deep this year. For the sake of peace in my household, Mexico will be the team that gets cheered until they start playing like buffoons (they always seem to self-destruct before the quarter-finals). The most recent European infusion into my blood is Austria, and so I’ll be rooting a bit for Germany, even though my own ancestry is mostly English and Scotch-Irish.

The ladder/schedule is pretty interesting this year…because of the draw, there is no way that any of the Top 5 FIFA-ranked teams will play against each other in the Final. Brazil, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Espana will all have to fight each other to end up in the championship game. On the other side of the ladder, only Germany, Argentina, England, and France are even in the Top 10 FIFA world rankings (Croatia at #10 did not make the tournament). It’s possible that the two best teams in the world will be playing each other in the semi-final round just to see who will be forced to play for 3rd place in the tournament.

Okay, okay…that’s enough soccer talk…though as a little bit of trivia for my American readers: do you folks know why the game is called “soccer?” Soccer is a shortened form of the English term “Association Football” as opposed to “Rugby Football” the other “football” found in England. It is not called football because of the use of the feet…it is called football because it is played ON FOOT, in contrast to more NOBLE sports played on horseback (like polo or, perhaps, jousting). Any ball sport played on foot would be a type of FOOTball by this definition. Soccer (Association) Football is just one type.

We now return to our non-Anglophile programming.
: )