Tag Archives: board games

My History with Role-Playing Games

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A few years ago I had never played a Role-Playing Game, but I’d definitely heard about them all of my life. I’d almost gotten to play a game of D&D 4th edition with a friend in school, but it looked too complicated and he/we didn’t find anyone else who wanted to play. I was still interested, but I didn’t feel like I had the energy, time, or money to invest in games with complicated systems that were in 350+ page books that I couldn’t get in any local store (I hadn’t access to Amazon yet). But I was aware of and in some cases a part of the RPG culture for most of the time I can remember.

Fast-forwarding to 2014, when I had moved out, and had been a part of a fairly successful board gaming group for a few years, I was investigating more possibilities of games to play, going in every direction that seemed interesting. At the time Dungeons & Dragons was going through a re-brand with D&D Next, which was soon being released as 5th Edition (which is just called Dungeons & Dragons on the books for some reason). It seemed to be created and marketed in such a way as to attempt to attract new players (but don’t all new editions do that?). It seemed that there would be no better (foreseeable) time to get into the game; the starter set had just come out and there was no convoluted supplements, expansions, or errata to deal with. And if I was going the get myself and a group of people interested in playing that starter set seemed like the best bet, so I ordered one.

I was quite surprised when it arrived (after a bit of a problem with the USPS) that even with my general knowledge of the subject and excited-ness to learn the book was hard to get through. Even this 30-page mini version of a 350+ page book was incredibly boring to read. I couldn’t believe that this product that was created for, and marketed toward, new players seemed so unfriendly to those new players. And after trying and failing a few times to read the starter rules I shelved it. But not before I looked up a few “simple” “1-page” RPGs online. I gave them a once over and thought maybe I’d play them, and if they went over well I’d take another look at D&D (at least I understood the little ones). But in the end my excitement had waned enough that I just put them in the box and forgot for a while. The box sat on the shelf unused. Occasionally I would think about playing one of the smaller games but it always seemed to be in the wrong place. For more than a year I barely looked at and RPG.

But then, when I was moving again, my games were getting shuffled around and I wanted to pick a core set of games to keep in a location where I could play them. In general I picked one game per genre and on a whim I put the only Role-Playing Game I had into the mix. I never got the play it with that group, and I probably wouldn’t have, considering I didn’t finish reading how to play myself, but I though maybe one of those smaller single-page games would hit the table at some time. Even still, just having it around and visible again piqued my interest once more. But, once again, I started looking at the smaller RPGs that were easily accessible and inexpensive. I went to see if any of them had been updated and amazingly some had been, and new ones (at least ones I hadn’t seen before) were floating around. I downloaded some more pages, organized them and started reading the more thoroughly. I really liked how much game was being put into these little packages. And that I could create the world I wanted to play in with them and didn’t feel restricted to what the games’ creators had come up with because of the structure of the game. I do know that I could do something similar with D&D, and create my own world, but when reading about the game or starting to play, the focus on (very) high fantasy and magic is obvious and very difficult to shake. I personally am more of a medium fantasy type of guy and games almost don’t exist in that category, preferring to go from Conan straight to Lord of the Rings. I liked being able to shape the world how I wanted it to be, and even with such tiny games (usually 1-page +”expansions”) I could still take the mechanics I liked and keep them in, throwing out or changing the other “suggestions” the game offered at my leisure. In fact the smaller size made it easier to do that, as I didn’t have to comb through hundreds of pages to find potential inconsistencies.

But still I couldn’t find the perfect one for me. I combed through forums, blogs, and RPG websites to find as many as I could and printed out the best ones (I’ve got 22 currently in the binder) and starting to look more seriously at the systems that were “universal” or just of a somewhat different theme. And there are a lot of good ones out there, but they still didn’t feel quite right. 1-page didn’t seem long enough for me, there needed to be a little more depth to the system, but 10 or more pages was more than a “simple” system could handle; at least I didn’t want to read that much for something I had to print off myself and seemed like it should be flushed out a bit more into a small book. I wanted something in-between. The “universal” games were generally longer in rules, but lacked the focus and mechanics shaped by the scenario that the “themed” games had (RISUS being a great example here). It seemed I wanted something like the “Dead Simple” RPG system. One that was essentially the same from game to game, but had various tweaks with each of the different themes to make it work.

After hours of searching and not finding just the right thing I wanted I got the great(?) idea to create my own system. That way I could control how everything worked and make it, if not the perfect system, just that much closer to the game I really wanted. I had jotted down a few notes previously about how I would’ve liked to improve RPG systems, so went back to those notes and started revising them. I found that with a little tweaking I got something workable in my head, and then that amazing thing that happens when you’re working on a project started happening; things just started to fall into place. The more I worked, the ideas just fit together and kept coming. Of course, this comes with the less-than-amazing part where I have to write it all down. And as I started doing that I found that the project quickly grew in scope. What I had envisioned as a simple “5-page” game that I might go back to and add a few things later became (first a little more squished to keep it 5 pages and) something that looked a lot more like a full game. Not one of the modern 300-pagers but closer to the “classic” home-printed, staple-bound games. Suddenly I had 5 pages of rules, 5 pages of game master guide, 5 pages of monsters, and then extra stuff about potions, spells, hirelings, stores and more. And suddenly I needed more games to research how they handled different gameplay aspects. I didn’t want to copy but I also didn’t want to flail about blindly for mechanisms or balancing. So I looked into a newer, smaller systems I could easily get my hands on to compare, most notably Chris Gonnerman’s Basic Fantasy RPG.

And after a few weeks of working on it I found out about a local RPG group starting up in my area (a rare thing in a small town) and I was able to join and start playing a game. (I had played several single sessions and playtested my system before so I wasn’t a complete n00b) It was D&D, but as it turns out that system is a lot more fun to play that it is to read the rules (I did have a good general idea of how to play before going in, just something I picked up from the internet and the video circles I watch in). It also gave me an excuse to purchase the rulebooks, which actually have way more fascinating information that the starter kit books but are still not excitedly written. Everything was stacking up. I had both smaller and larger systems to use as comparisons and I was working through what was now to become my RPG system and various “supplements”. I called it RPG LTE: Swords and Sorcery for various reasons, but mainly because I thought it was a good name and one that is expandable with other RPG LTEs to come in the future.

My plan was to finish up the “core rules” in three 5-page parts (consisting of: Game Rules, Game Mastering, and Monsters) and then follow that up with several single page supplements and a small book of this “beta” that would be available in limited quantities (I have already printed books with a PoD service, but I had no idea that would be the easiest part). That got all muddied up as I finished most of the final supplements before finishing the “monster” section (when creativity calls, sometimes you gotta follow it). So I printed the beta book and have had it along with several of my other books at the art shows and cons I attend. And, after a few more tweaks, I gave the beta a “soft” release on my website a few weeks ago, to which this is the follow up, and there will soon be a “hard” release with a post that is more focused on the game itself and what it is trying to accomplish.

That’s been my “journey” so far, and I’m sure it’s far from over. Hopefully as I continue to acquire, play, and work on RPGs I can keep this story going, learn more, and have fun indefinitely. It’s always hard, especially in this day and age where people do so much, to get a good role-playing group together and even harder to keep it together. But actually getting the games played, and exploring the world as well as the mechanics is a great experience, and one I will hopefully have many more times, with many more systems in the future.

-Austin

Board Game Creation Blogging Part 5 – Rethinking and Downsizing (w/ Making an RPG)

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Where I last left off this series I was failing at Kickstarter, which was actually quite some time ago now. I’ve made two household moves and published a dozen books (of my comics) since then, among other things, so it’s kind of crazy coming back now. I definitely re-evaluated my position and have been looking into why I was unable get my game off the ground. I have made several games (and game-related items) since then, but they need some more polish before I blog about them.

I had mentioned at the end of my last post that I would be working on a smaller game; one that could more easily be kick-started for next time. And I have been (I’ve got a couple of good ones), but I thought as I was working on them, “why not go smaller? Or with less cost?” It was a hard thing to think about, especially since I’m a bit of a stickler for components (I want them to last a long time). I didn’t want to create a game that used a PoD service like the Game Crafter or one that was print-it-yourself as both of those would be “less than perfect” (don’t get me wrong, GC is a great product. I use them, and what they’re doing is really cool, but it’s a bit more expensive than I would like for the quality). It then occurred to me at some point (I will have a separate post about it) that a type of game that I would be interesting in making and that could be downloaded and printed by people easily was a role-playing game.

I had recently started trying to get more into role-playing, and since most of the major books are huge, intimidating messes (and I mean that in the best possible way, they are endearing messes) I went looking for short, simple RPGs online. And I found quite a few (22 is the number I currently have printed off in my binder, and that’s not counting all of the ones I found online). Most of them ranged from 1-10 pages, but one seems the most common length. There is a certain sense of satisfaction that I can understand would come from both writing and playing a “single-page” RPG. But none of these were exactly what I wanted. I wanted mechanics that were slightly more “intuitive” but still something you could “sink your teeth into”. I believed there was and is some room for something closer to my “perfect” version of a role-playing game, so I set about writing it.

bookcoverimage-rpglte

It took me far longer to do that than I had anticipated, but that was because it ended up much longer than I had thought. Not the rules, necessarily: they’re only 5 pages (though a bit cramped at around 7,000 words), but the “everything else” that comes with making an RPG. I’ve ended up writing 27 pages full of stuff for it, and in my excitement to get my ideas down I was writing some of the later pages before finishing the “necessary” pages, which would be: rules for playing the game, rules for running the game, and some pre-built enemies to go in the game (a “3-book” structure if you will, a-la D&D but with only 5 pages for each section). My plan was to put these “core rulebooks” up online and maybe a few “supplements” (1-page extras) after that, then combine them all into a book that would be the “beta” for the game. Hopefully. people would then play it and I would be able to gather feedback and write some extra stuff for the “first edition”. I still hope to do that, but I did it a bit backwards and finished the book first (it took me far too long to write this post), so now that it’s already out in the wild (though at the moment only purchase-able through me personally) I will be putting the PDFs up for download on the dragoncompany.org site.

Core Rules Beta (PDF)

Game Master Guide Beta (PDF)

Monsters/Bestiary Beta (PDF)

Beta Character Sheet (PDF)

I’ve been using a print-on-demand service to print my comic books for a few years now; so going with them for the beta version was a simple choice. Even with them being PoD I don’t anticipate the print version of the beta getting a wide release. I think it is good and playable, but I’d like to add a little more polish before putting it up on Amazon like my comic books. Also the PoD service only does paperback books, and I do hope that after I’ve put the contents up online and gathered some feedback and done some more playtesting to get everything collected for the first edition in a hardback (or likely both formats, as I want the game to be as accessible {inexpensive} as possible), not just to look like other RPGs but because I like the feel and longevity of a good hardback. In any case I’ve put the beta files up, and I hope you use them, play the game and let me know what you think.

Lessons From Board Games – Xiangqi and Intimidation

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Xiangqi is a hard game to get to the table, for various reasons. I could really have picked a lot of games here. But the simplicity and abstract character of Chinese Chess allow me to easily make points about what makes it difficult to get people interested in playing games.

Traditional Xiangqi Set

Traditional Xiangqi Set

Theme – While one could say Xiangqi has a war theme, it is fairly clear once one learns about the game that it is essentially theme-less. The theme is conflict in a general sense, and the pieces don’t really behave in ways their names would suggest. This is a problem as the theme of the game both serves to get people excited about playing it, and also to give them a grounding in reality for when they might not understand why certain game mechanisms are the way they are. Essentially the game is more fun after you’ve played it a few times. But why would you play it if it doesn’t seem interesting?

Iconography – To many people icons symbolize complexity. Games like Monopoly have words written on them. And when the game mechanisms require too many words to fit on the pieces and are replaced by pictures, people don’t want to deal with them. And when the icons are things the have to learn, like a foreign language in Xiganqi’s case, they tend to tune out and look for other things to do.

Strategy – Abstract games and European style games have a lot of depth and strategy, and while hardcore gamers (of both the video and board varieties) relish strategy, regular people tend to know when experienced people will beat them, and don’t want to commit the time to learning something complex that they will lose all of the time at and feel bad afterwards. Glancing at Xiangqi will make it seem simple, but really looking at it will reveal complexities people just don’t want to deal with.

Time Investment – Chess has a reputation for being a long game (an undeserved one in my opinion), and Chinese Chess comes with this baggage as well. People don’t want to commit much time to something new, especially if it has the previously mentioned problems.

Player Count – People don’t like things that require very specific numbers of people because they want to be inclusive and to socialize. Two player games are hard to play for this reason, but so would be games that only play five, or only play eight.

Really, Xiangqi is just a bad game to try to get people to play. If they already like chess and want to learn new things, teaching them might be fun, but playing with people who already know the game is best, either from their heritage, or from discovering it online. People need to be eased into games, especially abstract games. That’s why “gateway” games like Ticket to Ride, Love Letter, and Catan are so popular. People need to be introduced to games that you as the gamer might not like as much but can still enjoy. Starter abstracts like Gobblet and Blokus should be used before introducing some one to Chess and Xiangqi. It’s important that people know they like games before letting these ones intimidate them. And more people gaming means more fun for you.

Lessons from Board Games – Hanafuda and Sorta Maybe Entirely Luck-Based

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I chose Hanafuda for this, but it really applies to most card games (I just want to talk about Hanafuda for a bit). Hanafuda are Japanese Flower cards (and refer to some of the games played with the cards): a deck of what is essentially playing cards that were invented in Japan after western cards were banned.  Hanafuda  then spread to neighboring Pacific areas. There are 12 suits (representing the months with flowers) and 4 cards in each suit.  The cards have values of either 1, 5, 10, or 20, though not all suits contain all values. To a western player the lack of numbers can be difficult to grasp, but since most of the games involve matching flowers, it’s easy enough to remember that in general the more decorated a card is the more points it’s worth and to just match cards.

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Hanafuda caught my attention when I was looking for a card set for Mah-Jongg. I had been aware the cards’ existence but hadn’t though much of it. I play a lot of board games and have enough regular decks of cards and American card games as it is. Then I bought a cheap copy of Mah-Jongg at a thrift store, and wanted to find an easier to learn and play version. I found a card version, in the related items section there were Hanafuda cards, so I bought those as well.

Now I play a lot of board games, and while in school I started playing cards and chess when I had finished my work. I’ve since moved on mostly to more “complex” (chess is pretty complex at times) games that are more fun and/or accommodate more people. In general, I stopped playing card games because they were so luck based. Even though it might not seem like if for those who used French deck-based games (or even Hanafuda to some extent), eventually, after playing far too many games, one realizes that winning is only luck in such games. And it seemed less fun to have no skill involved in the game. But since I was so fascinated by both Hanafuda and Mah-Jongg I figured I’d take a chance on these luck based games.

This is all far too much information leading up to my basic point: that I’ve played Hanafuda (Hawaii style with a bit of my personal flair) as well as a few other mostly luck-based card games (with a modified French deck) and had a blast. Sometimes it’s just fun to play a game and talk to people, which you can do when no skill is involved. I know I’ve said that before, and some luck-based games like Snakes and Ladders or whatever can be terrible. But the illusion that you are in control that many card games give you is great for masking that and providing a basis for social interaction. Hanafuda only lasts a few minutes for a round, and you only have to play one. But for that you can look at pretty flowers, have a good conversation, and not mind the sorta kinda, entirely luck-based game.

Dice Comics Hiatus

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Hello followers, and people just stopping by. I’m sorry to say, due to many recent problems that I have had, I will have to scale back on some of my projects. At the moment the only visible effect this will have will be the indefinite hiatus of Dice Comics. I believe I had to pick one comic to end (for a while at least), and the one I was getting the least feedback on and was the least excited about doing every week was Dice Comics. So the end of this chapter has already been written. If at some point in the future, enough people are interested, or I feel I’ve come up with enough fresh jokes I might bring it back up, but for now there are only 2 Comics left.